NPR News Now - NPR News: 02-20-2025 11AM EST

Episode Date: February 20, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Korva Coleman. A new website is up that tracks savings that the government cost-cutting entity DOJ claims it's found. DOJ says the savings are worth $55 billion. But NPR has only been able to verify $2 billion in savings. Meanwhile, Pentagon officials are ordering the U.S. military to find $50 billion in more cuts by next year. NPR's Ryland Barton reports.

The cuts would shift funding to Trump's priorities, which include securing the country's borders, building a so-called Iron Dome for America missile defense system, and ending, quote, radical and wasteful government DEI programs. That's according to a statement from Pentagon spokesman Robert Solisis. The cuts amount to about 8% of the Defense Department's $850

billion budget. The move could rankle congressional Republicans who have been pushing for increases in defense spending in recent weeks. Earlier this week, the Defense Department was told to submit lists of probationary employees to Elon Musk's Doge service. It's part of the wave of firings that's already affected thousands of federal workers. Rylan Barton, NPR News. President Trump is escalating criticism

of Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky. Online yesterday, Trump referred to Zelensky as a dictator. This was a day after Trump falsely suggested Ukraine started the war with Russia. That's not true. As NPR's Lexi Shapitul reports, some Senate Republicans are distancing themselves from the president's comments.

A group of Republican senators are reiterating their support for Ukraine, including North Carolina's Tom Tillis, who was in Ukraine just days ago to mark the third anniversary of Russia's invasion. He says he's concerned about anything that suggests a moral equivalency between Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin. He's a very bad person, needs to be stopped. He's going to metastasize across Europe if we don't. Democrats, meanwhile, slammed Trump for his comments,

saying he's parroting Russian propaganda. Lexi Schepittle, NPR News, The Capitol. Meanwhile, Trump's special U.S. envoy to Russia and Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, has visited Kiev for talks with Zelensky. However, a joint press conference featuring both of them has been canceled today at the request of the Trump administration. Zelensky's office says he decided not to give a solo press conference. Israel has received the bodies of four Israeli hostages who were held captive in Gaza.

They include an Israeli woman and her two young sons. The fourth body is that of an older man. This comes ahead of Hamas's release of six living hostages this Saturday. In exchange, Israel is to free more than 600 Palestinians from Israeli jails. NPR's Kat Lonsdorf says this concludes the release of hostages in the first part of the ceasefire agreement.

This first phase of the deal ends on March 2nd, and so far talks for the next phase haven't started yet. They were supposed to start weeks ago. So we're really just waiting to see what happens with that. You know, meanwhile, there still will be dozens of Israeli hostages in Gaza. NPR's Kat Lonsdorf reporting. You're listening to NPR. A federal judge says he is reviewing the federal government's request to drop several corruption charges against New York City Democratic Mayor Eric Adams.

Several federal prosecutors have resigned, claiming the Trump administration is dropping the case in exchange for Adams' help on immigration. The administration and the mayor deny this. The judge says the case is complex and he'll soon decide whether it may be dropped. The Departments of the Interior and Health and Human Services have ordered lawyers representing unaccompanied migrant children to stop working. From Texas Public Radio, Paul Flav has more. TPR has reviewed the stop work order sent to attorneys under a contract with Acacia

Center for Justice, the prime contact for unaccompanied minors legal services The organization said in a statement that it represents nearly 26,000 children and that the decision flies in the face of decades of bipartisan work San Antonio immigration attorney Jonathan Ryan was ordered to stop work He says he's terrified for the children he represents and that they're susceptible to abuse and trafficking This is pulling the rug out from underneath the most vulnerable children who are in your country. Until resolved, many of these children will show up to immigration court without attorneys. I'm Paul Flav in San Antonio.

The U.S. Senate has confirmed former Georgia Senator Kelly Loeffler as the new chief for the Small Business Administration. In recent years, Loeffler has founded a conservative voter registration effort, and she's led efforts to raise money for Republican candidates. On Wall Street, the Dow is now down nearly 600 points. I'm Korva Coleman, NPR News.