NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-14-2025 9PM EST

Episode Date: February 15, 2025

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Donald Trump is back in the White House and making a lot of moves very quickly. Keep track of everything going on in Washington with the NPR Politics Podcast. Every day we break down the latest news and explain why it matters to you. The NPR Politics Podcast. Listen every day. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Spear. President Donald Trump has been using emergency authorities in unusual ways, much like in his first administration, when he declared an emergency to fund his border wall and prompted a showdown over the separation of powers.

Sen. Piroz Kamilodomorski explains that debate has been revived and expanded. In his first term, President Trump used emergency powers to claim billions of dollars for his border wall when allocating money is Congress's job. And the Supreme Court never made a final ruling on whether he could do that. Now Trump has declared another border emergency and a new energy emergency. And he's using emergencies to justify some of his tariffs. Will that stand up in court? Zach Nickaktar is a lawyer and was in the first Trump administration. I think that there's a real debate to be had, right? I don't think that is so obvious on its face.

Legal scholars have been concerned for decades about the lack of checks on emergency powers. Trump is now testing their limits again. Camila Domenoski, NPR News. Vice President J.D. Vance made his foreign policy debut speaking on behalf of the Trump administration at the Munich Security Conference, though not on the topic many were expecting. European leaders looking for more clarity on Trump administration plans toward ending Russia's war against Ukraine instead got a lecture on democracy. More from NPR's Rob Schmitz. One speaker who I think summed up Europe's reaction to all this pretty well was from

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. I've covered him for years and he usually gives pretty tame speeches, but today he just blasted the new Trump administration in a scathing speech. He called on Europeans to not be paralyzed by Trump's flood of executive orders and announcements. And he said this new US administration holds a totally different viewpoint from Europe. Vance telling European leaders the biggest threat to their continent is the quote, threat from within. That's already described as censorship of conservative and right wing views.

The families of Venezuelan migrants being sent to a detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba are speaking out. NPR's Adrian Florido spoke with the mother of one of the men. Last year, Joan Bastillas arrived at theS.-Mexico border and requested asylum. His mother, Peggy Paz, shares the story from her home in Venezuela. He was sent to a detention center in Texas and, for months, called her often. Several weeks ago, he stopped. On February 4th, a friend of his at the detention center called to tell the family

Joan had been sent to Guantanamo. Soon after, the Trump administration posted photos of the first Venezuelan men arriving there in shackles. I said, that's him, Paz says. He's even lost some of his hair. The Trump administration said the men were Venezuelan gang members. Paz insists her son is not in a gang, but a hardworking young man. The ACLU has sued to gain access to the Gitmo detainees.

Adrian Flaurido, NPR News. On Wall Street, the Dow was down 165 points today. You're listening to NPR. It now looks like the plans by the Trump administration to buy armored Teslas that was reported by NPR and others is on hold. That's after concerns were expressed over the appropriateness of the $400 million deal, which would involve a company run by one of President Trump's most ardent supporters. In addition to heading Doge, which is working dramatically to reduce the size and scope of the federal government, billionaire Elon Musk contributed more than $250 million to help Trump's election effort.

The National Park Service has taken down all references to transgender people from the Stonewall National Monument website. As Isabella Gomez Sarmiento reports, crowds gathered outside the Stonewall Inn today to defend trans rights. The Stonewall National Monument in New York City is the first U.S. landmark dedicated to LGBTQ rights and history. In 1969, the Stonewall Inn was a gay bar where patrons rioted against raids by the NYPD. People gathered at the spot to protest the removal of the word

transgender as well as the letters T and Q from the LGBTQ acronym on the monument's website. Angelica Christina is board director of the Stonewall Inn Gives Back initiative. It is deeply offensive and such a slap in the face for what the National Park Service did in attempting to erase trans people and queer people from their website. The agency did not respond to NPR's request for comment. Isabella Gomez-Sarmiento, NPR News, New York.

Critical futures prices closed lower today, oiled down 55 cents a barrel. To end the session, it's 70.74 a barrel in New York. I'm Jack Spear, NPR News in Washington. This message comes from NYU Langone. The NYU Langone Health app gives you access to your electronic health record. Keep track of your visits, lab results, and images all in one place.

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