NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-19-2025 7AM EST

Episode Date: February 19, 2025

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Live from NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Korova Coleman. President Trump is blaming Ukraine for starting the war that Russia launched three years ago in a full-scale invasion. That happened after Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula eight years earlier. Ukraine did not start the war. NPR's Danielle Kurtzleben reports Trump's comments came after U.S. and Russian delegations met for discussion about ending the war in Ukraine.

Piers Daniel Kurtz-Levin, P.S. American and Russian delegations met in Saudi Arabia to discuss ending the war in Ukraine. Ukraine was not invited to those talks, nor were Ukrainian allies in Europe. At a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago club, the president blamed Ukraine for the nearly three-year-long war. And I think I have the power to end this war. And I think it's going very well. But today I heard, oh, we weren't invited. Well, you've been there for three years. You should have ended it three years. You should have never started it. You could have made a deal. Trump made similar comments on the campaign trail. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky

has said his country will not recognize any peace deal made without their participation. Danielle Kurtzleben, NPR News. The Senate is moving closer to a final confirmation vote on Cash Patel to be the FBI director. NPR's Giles Snyder tells us about the vote late yesterday that advanced Patel's nomination. Cash Patel's nomination to lead the FBI cleared a key procedural hurdle on a 48 to 45 party line vote, keeping him on track to head the nation's most prominent law enforcement agency. Patel is one of President Trump's most controversial nominees. He is a Trump loyalist who worked as an intelligence and defense department official during Trump's first term. A loud critic of the FBI, Patel has proposed closing the bureau's headquarters and turning it into a museum for the deep state.

Democrats say Patel is unfit to lead the FBI. During his confirmation hearing, he sought to put to rest concerns about his independence from Trump, saying he wants to reform the FBI. A final confirmation vote is expected later this week. Trial Snider, NPR News. A group of privacy watchdogs and unions is suing billionaire Elon Musk and his Doge entity from getting access to the private information of taxpayers at the IRS. They say this information has special privacy protections that are guaranteed under federal law. The Doge team is also said to be looking at records at the Social Security Administration. NPR's Scott Horsley says the Trump administration claims that funding there

is being misspent. Scott Horsley, NPR's Social Security Administration Director, NPR Fraud does happen, but the agency's own inspector general combed through seven years of records and found less than 1% of payments were made in error. But as with tax records, Social Security has a lot of people's sensitive personal information on file and privacy advocates recoil at the idea of Elon Musk's deputies digging through that data without a lot of guardrails. NPR's Scott Horsley reporting. You're listening to NPR News from Washington.

A federal judge has called a hearing today in the federal corruption case against Democratic New York City Mayor Eric Adams. The Trump administration is moving to drop charges against him but several career prosecutors have resigned alleging the Justice Department wants to drop the charges so that Adams will help the Trump administration with its immigration efforts. They have denied that. The judge has instructed the Justice Department to be ready today to explain its reasons for

dropping the case against Adams. The measles outbreak in West Texas continues with confirmed cases more than doubling over the past week. From Member Station KTTZ in Lubbock, Texas, Samantha Larned reports there are nearly 60 measles cases spread across five Texas counties. The measles outbreak was originally identified in rural Gaines County along Texas border with New Mexico. Dr. Ron Cook is the public health authority with the city of Lubbock. With cases on the rise, including at least four among vaccinated individuals, he says

the focus is on containing the outbreak. Right now it's based on exposure and they're not knowing that you had measles or ever been vaccinated. If this thing were to really get carried away, then we would offer booster doses for many different people. Cook says that the state of Texas has vaccine reserves on hand if the measles outbreak continues spreading. For now, cases are expected to rise as more people get tested. For NPR News, I'm Samantha Larned in Lubbock.

Bitterly cold temperatures are in the central plains. Wind chill readings in North Dakota are more than 40 degrees below zero this morning. This is NPR. below zero this morning. This is NPR. Bella DiPaolo is glad if you're happily married, but she is perfectly happy being single. I would love to have someone who took care of my car or someone who cleaned up the dishes after dinner, but then I'd want them to leave. From yourself to your dog to your spouse are significant others. That's on the TED Radio Hour from NPR.