Primary Race Results, Trump's Plane Swap Ruse, Disarming Iraq's Iran-Backed Militias

0:02NPR Up First Team:Results are in from primary races in six states. How did progressive candidates fare against more moderate Democrats? And how did Trump-backed candidates do in this run-up to the midterm elections? I'm Leila Faudil, that's Michelle Martin, and this is Up First from NPR News.

0:20President Trump confirms he secretly swapped planes as he left the NATO summit in Turkey last month. Well, it's only up to Secret Service. I just follow what they'd like to do. The plane he did not take essentially turned into a decoy. How unusual was this ruse?

0:35NPR Up First Team:And Iraq's new leader wants to disarm the country's Iran-backed militias, groups that have hit U.S. military installations in the region in recent months. How challenging will that be? Stay with us for the news you need to start your day.

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1:56NPR Up First Team:Results from another round of primary races are in, and those results are mixed. And that's making it somewhat difficult to gauge what voters want and don't want in the upcoming midterm elections. We've got Minnesota Public Radio's Clay Masters on the line with us for more on the results. Hi, Clay. Hi there. Okay, let's start with a closely watched race in your neighboring state of Wisconsin. that was home to a competitive Democratic primary for governor. What do we know? Yeah, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, who is considered a more moderate candidate, narrowly beat out a state representative, Francesca Hong, who identifies as a Democratic socialist.

2:33That's according to an AP race call. This race was closely watched, of course, to see if it would replicate the results of another swing state, nearby Michigan, where progressive Abdul El-Sayed recently won the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate there. While that didn't happen, this was a very close race and shows that there's a good amount of Democratic voters who are looking for a significant change in their party. He'll face GOP Congressman Tom Tiffany, a Trump-backed Republican in this swing state.

3:01NPR Up First Team:In the Senate primary in Minnesota, where you are Democrats-backed, the more progressive candidate. Tell us more about that race. Yeah, that's the state's Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan. She won. The race between her and Congresswoman Angie Craig was really centered around President Trump's immigration crackdown this past winter here. That's what you heard a lot from in the ads. There was, you know, more than 3 ,000 federal agents that aimed at deporting undocumented immigrants that came to the state last winter, ultimately led to the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Preddy. Flanagan regularly really went after Craig during the primary for a vote she made in Congress backing a GOP-backed immigration bill.

3:40Craig said she regretted that vote. And last night, Flanagan had this to say. I know that we can fix our broken immigration system, secure the border, and create a real pathway to citizenship that aligns with our values. And noteworthy, Layla Flanagan would be the first Native American woman to serve in the U.S. Senate should she win.

4:02NPR Up First Team:And who will she be facing on the Republican side of this open U.S. Senate seat? Republican Michelle Tafoya, a former sportscaster who is not closely aligned with President Trump, here's what she told me last night. I am running to call balls and strikes to say, I think the president is right on this one. I think the president is wrong on this one. And I have the spine to stand up and say those things. And being able to say as a Republican you are willing to disagree with the president is important when it comes to a place like Minnesota because the state has not gone for Trump in the last three presidential elections.

4:34NPR Up First Team:What about the candidates that President Trump did back last night in competitive primaries? How did they do? Here in Minnesota, Trump backed MyPillow founder Mike Lindell, and he lost the state GOP primary for governor to the state's Speaker of the House, Lisa Damoth. She was largely seen as the establishment favorite with more money, despite not getting Trump's backing or even the endorsement of the state's Republican Party. Damoth will face Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar in the governor's race. Klobuchar quickly got in after current Governor Tim Walz decided not to seek a third term. And also, I just should note, in South Carolina, Senator Darlene Graham, who is serving out the remainder of her brother Lindsey Graham's term, did not secure enough votes to win Tuesday's primary outright.

5:18She was also endorsed by President Trump, and she's going to advance to a runoff later this month against Representative Ralph Norman.

5:26NPR Up First Team:Clay Masters of Minnesota Public Radio. Thank you, Clay. My pleasure.

5:36NPR Up First Team:It's the kind of cloak and dagger deception fit for a movie. The president of the United States facing an alleged threat from a foreign power secretly whisked away from Air Force One to fly on an entirely different aircraft. And yet, it is not fiction. President Trump has now confirmed that's exactly what happened in Turkey last month. Well, it's only up to Secret Service. I just follow what they'd like to do. So I go by Secret Service and the military. They wanted me to go on a different flight, a different plane. The concern was a threat from Iran. This is how Washington Post reporter Dan Lamothe, who broke the story, described it to her All Things Considered colleague, Juana Summers.

6:17What actually happened is that the president walked up the external steps to the old Air Force One, waved to the cameras, and then almost immediately, we're told, walked off the plane on the opposite side of the aircraft. onto an elevated airport catering truck. That catering truck then moved Trump to a nearby military plane.

6:37NPR Up First Team:For more context on this, we're joined by NPR's Tamara Keith. Morning, Tam. Morning. Okay, so it sounds like the president's regular plane was ultimately a decoy. Did the passengers on that plane know what was happening? There were White House staff, military personnel, Secret Service agents, and members of the press on the plane. the journalists thought they were flying with the president and were firmly instructed by the Secret Service to keep their window shades down, which is an unusual ask. I mean, the only time I've ever experienced that was on a secret Christmas night trip to Iraq with President Trump in 2018.

7:15What did the White House say at the time about Trump's trip back from Turkey to the U.S.? Well, Trump himself was later asked about the security precautions, and he made a joke about the press going down with him.

7:27NPR Up First Team:Were you aware of any credible threat by Iran against Irvus One? I have a threat all the time. I'm number one on their list before you. But if I go, you go. So perhaps someday you want to change professions. The statement that day from White House Communications Director Stephen Chung is pretty telling in retrospect. It said, quote, we use every tool at our disposal, including distraction and misdirection to address those threats. Little did we know just how much distraction and misdirection was really at play. Okay, Tam, it's one thing to fly with a president you know is always a possible target.

8:07NPR Up First Team:It's another entirely to unwittingly be on a decoy plane. And you covered the White House for a dozen years as president of the White House Correspondents Association in 2023. You were involved in planning the press coverage of President Biden's secret trip to Ukraine. How does this normally work? Is misdirection common? Yes and no. Take Biden's trip to Kiev. Two journalists who I selected were brought along to witness that long and perilous train ride through Ukraine. Everyone was sworn to secrecy. Like when I was brought in for the planning, they made me take off my Apple Watch. There's always been a level of cooperation between the press and the White House to make sure the president's movements are independently covered.

8:52including in high-risk situations. Often there are embargoes, so the information isn't released until the president is safe. But Trump and his team ditched the press entirely and went to great lengths to continue the ruse long after the immediate danger passed. The Justice Department even sent FBI agents to serve subpoenas at the homes of journalists who reported on the security concerns around that flight. And walk us through why this matters. White House journalists traveling with the president actually serve a function as independent witnesses. So the American people don't just have to take the government's word for it.

9:27This is something past administrations have understood and valued. And now in a time of war and rampant conspiracy theories, this matters even more.

9:38NPR Up First Team:NPR senior political correspondent, Tam Rakeet. Thank you, Tam. You're welcome.

9:49NPR Up First Team:Iraq's new prime minister has promised President Trump he will disarm powerful Iran-backed paramilitary groups that are on the Iraqi government payroll, but not under government control. Since the U.S. and Israel started the war in Iran, those militias have stepped up attacks on U.S. diplomatic missions and military installations in Iraq. NPR's Jane Araf joins us from Baghdad to talk about this. Good morning, Jane. Good morning, Leila. So, Jane, Iraq says it wants to stay out of any war, but with attacks on U.S. targets by these militias and retaliation by the U.S. and recently Saudi forces, it seems to have become a battleground.

10:29NPR Up First Team:What's going on there? Well, as you know, Leila, Iran has had a huge influence in Iraq after the 2003 U.S. invasion, right? And that includes both in the government and within security forces. Iran, for instance, backs a coalition that calls itself a resistance of militias, and that's resistance against the U.S. and Israel. And those militias have continued damaging attacks in Baghdad and the Kurdistan region of Iraq against U.S. interests. But the U.S. also has leverage. It's not just the U.S. forces here. They're pulling out by September 30th. But since 2003, the U.S. has controlled a lot of Iraq's oil revenue.

11:14It holds the revenue, for instance, at the U.S. Federal Reserve. So that's huge leverage. So the new prime minister here, Ali Azaidi, met President Trump in June, and he promised Trump that he would disarm these militias. Some of them have agreed, and others have not.

11:30NPR Up First Team:Now you met with one of the militias that says it won't disarm. Tell us about that. Yeah, this is Qatayb Syed Shuhada, one of the main Iran-backed factions. Now, the head of the group is wanted by the U.S., in fact. They offered a$10 million bounty on him three years ago. They've accused him of organizing attacks against U.S. targets in Iraq. So he's understandably keeping a low profile, but we sat down with a group's spokesman, Sheikh Qadim al-Fartusi, And he told us that diplomatic missions are forbidden to them as targets. But as we can hear in his answer, he says they believe because of the military and intelligence interests at the U.S.

12:14embassy, the diplomatic missions have lost their protected status.

12:23Therefore, the American embassy in Baghdad is not an embassy. The embassy is a very small part and has never been attacked or targeted. What is being targeted is the base located within the embassy compound. So the U.S. won't comment on damage, but Iraqi security sources and satellite images indicate that a helicopter landing strip and some air defenses were damaged in some of those attacks. And meanwhile, Leila, this group and others are vowing revenge against Saudi Arabia for recent attacks on bases, while others are advocating diplomacy. Now, U.S.

12:58NPR Up First Team:forces are in the process of withdrawing from Iraq, as you mentioned. That's while the war in Iran is still going on. Where does that leave Iraq, and particularly the Kurds, who run a semi-autonomous region in the north and are a close U.S. ally? Yeah, the Kurds, it leaves them deeply worried. They have no air defenses of their own, and they host Iranian Kurdish opposition bases that have come under frequent Iranian attack. We asked the Prime Minister's spokesman, Haider El-Abadi, about the issue, and he says Iraq is hoping to buy U.S. air defenses, but obviously that's complicated too. It's not clear what they'd get, and it's not clear how they would deploy them in the Kurdistan region.

13:38NPR Up First Team:NPR's Jane Araf in Baghdad. Thank you, Jane. Thank you.

13:45And that's Up First for Wednesday, August 12th. I'm Leila Faldin. And I'm Michelle Martin. Today's episode of Up First was edited by Alice Wolfley, Arazu Rizvani, Padma Rama, Rebecca Metzler, and Tina Kraya. It was produced by Ziad Butch and Milton Guevara. Our directors, Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Nisha Hainas. Our technical director, Zach Coleman, and our supervising producer is Michael Lipkin. We hope you'll join us again tomorrow.

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