Trump Administration Latest, USAID Ruling, Super Bowl Preview

0:02Elon Musk's team has been tearing through a number of federal agencies. Early today, a federal judge blocked their access to sensitive Treasury Department records. I'm Scott Simon. I'm Aisha Roscoe, and this is Up First from NPR News.

0:19President Trump wants to close the U.S. Agency for International Development. But yesterday, another judge blocked his administration from reducing the agency's workforce. This pause is also temporary, and in a moment, the latest on what's happening to USAID. And get your chips, get your guac, get your superb owls. Or your Philadelphia Eagles or your Kansas City Chiefs. We have a preview of the Super Bowl. So please stay with us. We have the news you need to start your weekend.

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2:19Rinse. It's time to be great. The moves of the second Trump administration just keep coming and some are now being met with judicious countermoves. Federal judge has altered Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, from getting access to some Treasury Department records, those containing sensitive personal data for millions of Americans. Another judge blocked the effort to slash the workforce of USAID. More on that in a bit. And a couple of days ago, a different judge blocked the federal employee buyout effort. All three rulings are temporary. This news on top of tariff threats and Trump's call to take over Gaza.

3:00We're joined now by NPR National Political Correspondent Don Gagne from Detroit. Don, thanks for being with us. I am glad to be here. Hi. Where to start? You first. We expected a lot of aggressive action from the Trump administration right from the jump because that's what they told us they would do. And we really are in a place where the fire hose is turned on. And every day, as you said, it is multiple big things. It's been less than two weeks since over two million federal employees received an email telling them they could resign by February 6th or stay in those positions without any assurances they would have a job.

3:40That deadline's been pushed to Monday. But where do things seem to stand now? Now we get the legal battles. A judge ruled that the White House could not do what it did, that there are so many questions unresolved about who has the authority to cut these jobs, where the funding to pay workers through September, as proposed for some, would come from. So look for direction from the courts, but that may not stop the administration. And now on top of this comes the judge's order regarding Treasury Department data, overnight data on individual citizens. We are going to see a lot of this, and we still don't know if or how the White House will view orders that they comply with the courts.

4:27Of course, in Detroit, you are on the Canadian border. How have President Trump's threats to place steep tariffs on Canadian goods being received in Canada, even as talks continue? And those tariffs were set to go in place this past week. The White House called a 30-day pause on all of that. But, yes, the threat really does still exist. And economists will tell you that the tariffs would be very destructive to economies on both sides of the border. Detroit, Windsor, that's the city right across the Detroit River, is the nation's busiest border crossing. Automobile parts flow across that border.

5:06Production schedules depend on that. Tens of thousands of jobs depend on that. There are civic and business partnerships of all kinds across the Detroit River. And all of that's just the start of it. So nobody has relaxed at all. Tuesday, while meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu, President Trump had this to say about the future of the Gaza Strip. We have an opportunity to do something that could be phenomenal. And I don't want to be cute. I don't want to be a wise guy. But the Riviera of the Middle East, this could be something that could be so bad. This could be so magnificent. Don, you, of course, have been reporting in the Arab American community in Dearborn, Michigan.

5:47What reaction has there been there? Dearborn is a majority Arab American city. Biden won big there in 2020. But this last election, it was close, but it went for Trump largely because of anger over the war in Gaza and the Biden administration's support for Israel. Again, it's not that these voters had great hopes for Trump, but they did seem caught off guard by remarks like what we just heard. People, to me, expressed offense no matter how they voted, offended at Trump saying Gaza would be taken over by the U.S., offended at the call to relocate Gaza's population, offended at the reference to it as a future Riviera.

6:31And there has been, Scott, some finger-pointing and blaming those who voted for Trump, but also even toward those who abstained, maybe stayed uncommitted. So it has been a difficult week in places like Dearborn, Michigan. And Pierce Don Gagne, thanks so much for being with us. It's a pleasure. Thanks, Scott.

6:58For 60 years, USAID has managed most of America's foreign aid programs. But the Trump administration paused all foreign assistance and put the agency's 13 ,000 employees on administrative leave. Yesterday, a federal judge stepped in to temporarily block that leave order for more than 2 ,000 of USAID's employees. NPR global health correspondent Fatma Tanis joins us. Fatma, thanks so much for being with us. Thank you, Scott. You've been speaking to many USAID employees. How do they react? Well, Scott, people are distraught. Since the inauguration, I've been talking to senior officials, agency staff, both here and overseas, and they didn't want to reveal their names because they're not authorized to speak to the press, and some were afraid of being targeted by the administration.

7:43They say that effectively one of the biggest aid agencies in the world doesn't exist anymore. They're shocked at the dizzying speed in which things have unraveled. And they say the way that they are being treated by the administration has also been shocking. And many people have lost access to their government accounts and emails. The ones staffed overseas have been ordered back to the U.S. in 30 days. And they say they feel completely abandoned by their government. You know, many are in conflict zones. They're concerned about their personal security. They're told to come back, but they don't have homes in the U.S.

8:14or jobs or insurance. And some are pregnant, close to their due date. so their delivery plans have also been appended. How does yesterday's orders from a federal judge about the agency affect USAID and its workers? So last night, a federal judge issued a temporary pause on the administration's move to put 2 ,200 people on administrative leave. Now, those are Union Foreign Service officers who filed the suit. The judge also reinstated 500 people who were already put on leave, and he paused the accelerated return of overseas staff that was supposed to happen this weekend Now, this was all pushed back until next Friday.

8:50And in the meantime, there will be a hearing next week on the legality of the administration's overall moves to dismantle the agency. What is the administration focusing on USAID? Well, President Trump is accusing the agency of corruption and fraud. No evidence has been provided to the public on that. And he and his advisor, Elon Musk, say that they want to shrink the federal government and the budget. Analysts say USAID is an easy target because it works overseas. Americans are less aware of what it does. And I'll say what's happening here is a playbook for the administration's plans for other agencies.

9:24But USAID has typically enjoyed bipartisan support for its projects. And some Republicans I've talked to are saying that there will be cascading consequences from all of this. Andrew Natsios is a former administrator of USAID who served under George W. Bush. And he said Americans don't realize how influential USAID was. Its logo, for example, had the American flag on aid packages distributed all over the world, and it said, from the American people. I see foreign aid as an essential instrument of American national power to protect our country and people who are allies and friends in the developing world.

10:02It's in both of our interests to do that. Now, one of the agency's key functions was helping with disease control. You'll remember the Ebola outbreak in 2014. So USAID worked to contain that. And they also supported programs curbing migration in Latin American countries, for example, which is one of this administration's key goals. Where does this leave many of the aid groups who worked with USAID? You know, Scott, the entire humanitarian aid industry is totally shaken by this. USAID partnered with NGOs, contractors to do the work that Congress allocated money for. And since the foreign aid freeze, no one's been getting paid by the U.S., not even for work that they already did back in December and January before all of this.

10:46So they're owed millions of dollars. Now, this has put everyone in a really bad spot. Thousands of people have lost their jobs in the past couple of weeks. And many of these companies, including some of the big aid groups, don't know if they will survive if the U.S. doesn't fulfill its contractual duties. So it's really not looking good for aid groups right now and for the people around the world who depended on their help. And Piers Vot-Mitanis, thanks so much for being with us. Thank you for having me.

11:16I am so glad I am finally getting a chance to say this. It's time now for sports.

11:33Yes, we are stealing that theme from your show, Scott, because it's Super Bowl time. And you do it with great sincerity, Aisha. The Chiefs are playing for history. The Eagles, revenge. Also a chaotic week in the NBA. Meadowluck Media's Howard Bryant joins us. Howard, thanks so much for being with us. Good morning, Scott. How are you? I'm fine, thanks, my friend. Super Bowl, of course, tomorrow. New Orleans. Kansas City Chiefs going for their third straight title. No team in NFL history has been able to win three Super Bowls in a row. In fact, they began that string two years ago by defeating the Philadelphia Eagles, who they coincidentally play tomorrow.

12:12Revenge time. What will be the key to the game? Well, I think the key to the game is going to be what all football games come down to, especially in the playoffs, injuries and turnovers. And that's always the battle. And if you protect the football and you play your game, you've got a really good shot to win. But, you know, games really steamroll when you go out there and you make a ton of mistakes. And then all of a sudden you're wondering why you're in the bad situation you're in. But obviously the Chiefs are a great, great football team. They haven't even really been that good this year. You've watched them all year and wondered why they've been this.

12:45And then here they are at the Super Bowl again. So this is going to be a great battle. Both teams heavily motivated to come out on top. I mean, maybe it's a cliche, but that defines a great team, doesn't it? They can play not up to their best and still win. Absolutely. Absolutely. It's true. And part of it is the difficulty of repeating and then repeating and then obviously repeating again. We've never seen it before. There are so many other things that get in the way, egos and money and boredom and pain and all of the things. But this team just has, they've got the best quarterback, they've got the best coach, and they've got a really, really good defense as well.

13:21I have to ask, what do you make of this, what I'll call conspiracy theory, that seems to have taken hold of so many NFL fans that the league is tipping the scales in favor of the Chiefs? I think it's extremely dangerous, and I think there's a lot of truth to it. When you look at the statistics, the NFL has come out and said it was ridiculous. The NFL Referee Association said it was ridiculous. But you look at the disparity of the penalties, you look at the timeliness of some of these things, and I get it. But I really think, Scott, the biggest thing here is we know across the board this is a very cynical time in this country.

13:55It's a very cynical time in every element of our lives. And I think that this is also one of the great byproducts, the unintended consequences of these professional sports, especially football, went in 1 ,000 % on gambling. And when you give your sport away to speculation, people don't trust what they're watching anymore. And every other commercial is a gambling commercial. Every other statistic is to sort of get you to make some sort of prop bet. And obviously the end result of that is people questioning the end result. Sports is all we have when it comes to the unscripted competition. If it's not real, if it doesn't feel real, the game has a huge problem.

14:37And that is what's happening now. I have to ask you about the NBA this week. Trade deadline, triple team trade between the LA Lakers, Dallas Mavericks, and Utah Jazz. Being called one of the most shocking trades in NBA history. How so? Oh, you don't see superstars at that level get traded for each other. And certainly when one of them is a 25-year-old Luka Tonshitz, who's considered one of the great, great players in the NBA and one of the great cornerstones of the Dallas franchise. And I think that when you have that, especially Luka, who took his team to the NBA Finals less than a year ago, then the Dallas Mavericks are sending a message that they don't like what they see in terms of his work ethic.

15:19They didn't like what they see in terms of his defense. They certainly didn't like what they saw. That you would take a cornerstone player and say, we don't think we can win with you even though we were at the NBA Finals last year. Yeah. Howard, one last question. Tomorrow, nachos, pizza, or tofu cubes? Always take pizza over everything. It's just the way it has to be, even at Super Bowl parties. All right. With your advice, Howard Bryant of Meadowlark Media, thanks so much. Happy Super Bowl. Good to be with you, my friend. Talk to you soon. Thank you, Scott.

15:53And that's up first for Saturday, February 8th. I'm Aisha Roska. And I'm Scott Simon. This podcast was produced by Martin Patience with help from a dynamic duo, Michael Radcliffe and Gabe O 'Connor. Our director is the mighty Andrew Craig. Editing this podcast, The Magnificent Five. Rebecca Davis, Deepar Vaz, Fernando Naro, Shannon Rhodes, and Melissa Gray. And there's more star power this Super Bowl weekend. Our technical director is Andy Huther. Blinding. Engineering support from David Greenberg, Zach Coleman, and Arthur. Eladay Laurent. I need sunglasses. For them and for Evie Stone, our senior supervising editor.

16:37Mercy. For Sarah Lucy Oliver, our executive producer. Heavens to Sarah Lucy. And for Jim Kane, our deputy managing editor. Zoinks, zoinks, zoinks. Okay, okay, okay. We got a little bit of Scooby-Doo in that. Enough of that, okay. Tomorrow on the Sunday Story, chatbots that sound and look more human with faces, names, and personalities. Some in the tech world say it's a way for companies to boost engagement. but what's good for their bottom line might not be what's good for you. And for more news, interviews, sports, and music, you can tune into Weekend Edition on your radio. Saturday and Sunday, go to stations.npr.org and find your local NPR station.

17:27Track it down. Exactly. And you'll get lots of sound effects that AI cannot do. They cannot do what we do. I think they don't want to do what we do. Exactly. We probably have better things to do.

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