NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-20-2025 10PM EST

Episode Date: February 21, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Spear. President Trump's top national security aide says it's frustrated with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. NPR's Franco Ordoni reports on how the Trump team is pressuring Zelensky to take far-reaching terms of potential peace settlement. National Security Adviser Mike Waltz says Ukraine's president needs to recognize the, quote, historic opportunity and strike a deal over critical minerals as part of a peace agreement. The idea would be to pay back the U.S. by giving access to vast amounts of Ukrainian critical minerals.

President Trump is obviously very frustrated right now with President Zelensky. The fact that he hasn't come to the table, that he hasn't been willing to take this opportunity that we have offered. Well, skirted questions about whether Russia or Ukraine was responsible for starting the war, but also criticize Ukraine for what he describes as insults against the president that were coming out of Kiev. Franco Ordonez, NPR News, The White House. Not a ringing endorsement, but by a narrow margin, the Senate has voted to confirm Cash

Patel as the country's new FBI director. The 51-49 vote puts a loyalist to President Trump at the helm of the premier federal U.S. law enforcement agency. Patel's confirmation comes as many Democrats have expressed skepticism about his qualifications for the post. Trump's Justice Department has already forced out a group of senior FBI officials and asked for the names of thousands of agents who participated in investigations relating to the violent 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

Mitch McConnell of Kentucky says he won't seek reelection next year. It ends a decades-long tenure for Senate, as leader of the Senate Republicans from member station WKYU, Lisa Autry reports. As the longest-serving Senate party leader in U.S. history, McConnell gave up the top spot last year and has chosen his 83rd birthday to officially declare his decision to retire.

Seven times, our fellow Kentuckians have sent me to the Senate. Representing our Commonwealth has been the honor of a lifetime. McConnell received a standing ovation on the Senate floor. First elected in 1984, he intends to serve out his seventh and final term, ending in January 2027. McConnell's departure sets off a competitive GOP primary next year for what will now be an open Senate seat. Former State Attorney General Daniel Cameron has already announced his bid.

For NPR News, I'm Lisa Autry in Bowling Green, Kentucky. The word from the Vatican today on the condition of Pope Francis is he is improving slightly. Francis has been hospitalized since last week, was diagnosed with double pneumonia by his doctors. Vatican spokesman says the 88-year-old pontiff has no fever and continues to be stable. Francis was hospitalized after a case of bronchitis worsened. Stocks lost ground on Wall Street today. The Dow fell 450 points. The NASDAQ was down 93 points.

You're listening to NPR. The Trump administration is stopping a campaign aimed at increasing flu vaccination. That decision was shared with staff at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week. More from NPR's Will Stone. It was called the Wild to Mild Campaign. It featured juxtaposed images of wild animals, such as a lion, with cute counterparts like

a kitten. The idea was to draw an analogy for how immunization can help tame symptoms. Two current employees who are not authorized to speak publicly told NPR the Department of Health and Human Services advised CDC the campaign would end and that ad buys have stopped. A website with the 2024 images is also offline. A spokesperson for HHS told NPR that, quote, officials inside the CDC who are averse to Secretary Kennedy and President Trump's agenda seem to be intentionally falsifying and misrepresenting guidance they receive, unquote.

The Trump administration's decision to pull the campaign comes in the midst of a brutal flu season that's still raging. Will Stone, NPR News. President Trump apparently wants assurances the nation's supply of gold bullion really is at Fort Knox. And he says he's going to send his government efficiency chief, Elon Musk, to make sure. Speaking at the conservative CPAC gathering today, Musk joked they want to make sure, quote, somebody didn't spray paint some lead or something.

The U.S. has been storing gold at the U.S. bullion depository at Fort Knox in Kentucky since 1937. Recently appointed Treasury Secretary Scott Besson says there is an audit every year and that quote, all of the gold is present and accounted for. Critical futures prices closed higher, oil up 32 cents a barrel to $72.57 a barrel. I'm Jack Spear, NPR News in Washington.