Up First from NPR - Israel Strikes Iran, National Guard Ruling, Padilla Handcuffed, Rescission Vote

Episode Date: June 13, 2025

The Israeli military strikes dozens of Iranian targets including nuclear facilities. A California appeals court allows President Trump to maintain control of the state's National Guard until a hearing can be held next week. Democratic Senator Alex Padilla of California was forcibly removed from a Homeland Security press conference in Los Angeles. And, the House has voted to reclaim money Congress had allocated for the public media system for the next two years. Want more comprehensive analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? Subscribe to the Up First newsletter.Today's episode of Up First was edited by Alex Leff, Gigi Douban, Jason Breslow, Emily Kopp, Lisa Thomson and Alice Woefle. It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Kaity Kline and Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Neisha Heinis, our technical director is Carleigh Strange. And our Executive Producer is Jay Shaylor. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Israel struck nuclear and military sites in Iran, killing the country's top generals. The Israeli prime minister says they're not done. This operation will continue for as many days as it takes. How is Iran striking back? I'm Michelle Martin with Steve Inskeep and this is Up First from NPR News. A judge ordered President Trump to return control of the National Guard to California Governor Gavin Newsom. I hope it's the beginning of a new day in this country where we push back against overreach.

The judge said the president exceeded his authority. Why did a higher court pause the order? Also, why did Homeland Security personnel handcuff a U.S. senator and the House voted to reclaim funding Congress had allocated for public media. Stay with us we've got the news you need to start your day. This message comes from WISE, the app for doing things and other currencies. With WISE you can send, spend, or receive money across borders all at a fair exchange rate. No markups or hidden fees. Join millions of customers and visit With WISE, you can send, spend, or receive money across borders, all at a fair exchange

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Chances are you know our show. So instead, I'm going to tell you, we've just been on a run of really good shows lately. Some big epic emotional stories, some weird funny stuff too. Download us, This American Life. The House of Representatives has approved a White House request to claw back two years of previously approved funding for public media.

The rescissions package now moves on to the Senate. This move poses a serious threat to local stations and public media as we know it. Please take a stand for public media today at GoACPR.org. Thank you. People in Iran's capital heard explosions overnight and soon learned that their country was under attack. The Israeli military affirms that it struck dozens of Iranian targets, including nuclear facilities. Iranian state media say that some of its top generals and nuclear scientists were killed. Iran promised a response.

This is obviously a developing story. NPR's Hadil El-Shalchi is covering this from Tel Aviv. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Who is saying what as you and I are talking now? Well, let's start with the Israeli military. It announced that it actually completed a large-scale airstrike campaign in western Iran. It includes also the capital Tehran.

But Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has said there will be more attacks. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel targeted Iran's main nuclear enrichment facility called Natanz and Iran says that it did suffer damage. Both militaries also said that three top Iranian security chiefs were killed, including the Iranian military chief of staff, Mohammad Bagheri. That's a major blow to Iran's military chain of command, of course. Iran's supreme leader said Israel should expect a, quote, harsh punishment, and Israel said that Iran fired about 100 drones at Israel.

Really striking results, particularly since there'd been many signs that this attack might be coming, and the Israelis still had this effect. What is it like in Israel this morning as people wait for a response? Well, we actually all woke up pretty early around 3 a.m. local time to sirens across the country. It wasn't because there were any strikes. The Israeli military said they were a preemptive warning to Israelis to get prepared for a quote major threat. The Ben Gurion airport is closed, but all morning we could hear fighter jets overhead in the sky. This morning I went to the grocery store It was full of people stocking up on water other supplies just in case schools and public gatherings like the Tel Aviv Pride parade today

Are also canceled the timing of this is really notable. What else is happening at this moment when Israel chose to strike? I mean, this is all happening as the US and Iran have been actually holding talks for weeks now. They're trying to strike a deal that would see Iran scale down on its nuclear program in exchange for the US lifting sanctions, those sanctions have crippled Iran's economy. So Netanyahu has been adamant the entire time that the only way to stop Iran from developing a nuclear weapon is by war. Now, see, Iran insists that it doesn't want to develop a nuclear weapon is by war. Now, see, Iran insists that it doesn't want to develop a nuclear weapon. But then last month, the UN's nuclear watchdog said that Iran actually had enough enriched

uranium to theoretically develop a weapon. And then this week, the same watchdog, for the first time in 20 years, censored Iran over not complying with his inspections. But Iran is defiant. It also announced that it would start a third enrichment site in the country. How is the United States responding to this overnight news? So until just yesterday, President Trump signaled that a strike on Iran was possible, but not imminent. And then today on social media, he warned Iran that it will, quote, only get

worse and urged Tehran to make a deal, quote, before there is nothing left. After the attack, earlier this morning, the State Department said it was informed by Israel that it would strike. It said Israel carried it out unilaterally and that the US was not involved. Earlier this week, there was some foreshadowing. The US administration ordered the evacuation of non-essential staff from the US embassy in Iraq

and then authorized their departure from other embassies in the Middle East. And then the US envoy Steve Witkoff was due to meet with the Iranian negotiating team in Oman on Sunday. But of course, now Iran said it won't be going. And PRZDL, Shalchi has the latest from Tel Aviv. Thanks very much for the update and your insights. Really appreciate it. You're very welcome. National Guard troops in California remain under President Trump's command for now. A judge ruled the president violated the law when he took command of the California Guard without clearance from Governor Gavin Newsom. The judge said the power must return to the state, but an appeals court quickly put that ruling on hold.

CapRadio's Laura Fitzgerald is covering this story from California. Good morning. Laura Fitzgerald Good morning, Steve. Steve McLaughlin Okay. So what happened here? Laura Fitzgerald Well, the central question here is who is in charge of 4,000 National Guard troops that have been in LA for almost a week? Normally, governors control their state National Guards, but in this case, Trump federalized them against Governor Gavin Newsom's wishes. This happened a day after protests broke out in pockets of downtown LA in response to a series of ICE raids.

City and state officials have insisted they didn't need the National Guard there. They said they already had enough resources, local law enforcement to maintain order. And Newsom said Trump calling in the National Guard would only make tensions worse. And so Newsom sued the Trump administration. And this is essentially a constitutional argument. Why did the judge side with Newsom? Well, yesterday, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco, he's a Clinton appointee, he gave a 36-page ruling that said Trump's actions were illegal.

And it wasn't surprising, given the comments that he made during the hearing yesterday, he said that this country was founded in response to a monarchy, and he said that it would be a monarchy if the president didn't have to justify this action. He said the Trump administration didn't meet the threshold for federalizing the National Guard and part of the statute Trump used to justify deploying the guard requires a rebellion or danger of rebellion against the government. And the judge really took issue with this in his order yesterday saying that the protests in Los Angeles were far from what would be considered a rebellion. And in the end, the judge ordered that the National Guard troops be returned to Newsom's

control by noon today. And immediately after the ruling, Newsom claimed it a victory. I hope it's the beginning of a new day in this country where we push back against overreach. We bolt push back against these authoritarian tendencies of a president that has pushed the boundaries, pushed the limit, but no longer can push this state around. But that victory was short-lived. Why? Well, the Trump administration appealed Judge Breyer's order within minutes and a few hours later the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay blocking that initial

ruling. So that means the National Guard will stay in LA under Trump's authority. Trump officials have said the Guard is there to protect federal agents carrying out immigration enforcement and also to protect federal buildings. Officials also say they have the authority to temporarily detain people until law enforcement can make arrests. A White House spokesperson said in a statement to the Associated Press that Judge Breyer quote, has no authority to usurp the president's authority as commander in chief. So what happens now?

So the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will hold a hearing on the issue on June 17th, that's next Tuesday, but there's still this question of the 700 Marines that Trump deployed to assist in LA. They've been getting civil disobedience training at a naval facility in Orange Beach. And Newsom's lawyers during the hearing yesterday, they wanted Judge Breyer to address the Marines' involvement. But the judge said he wouldn't rule on that because the Marines, as far as we know, aren't in LA yet. When they are there, there's still an open question about what exactly they'll be doing on the ground. That's reporter Laura Fitzgerald. Thanks so much. Thank you, Steve.

Exactly what happened at a Homeland Security press conference yesterday? Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was talking to reporters when US Senator Alex Padilla, a Democrat from California, entered the room saying he wanted to speak with her. In this audio we can hear as security personnel blocked him. Senator Alex Padilla, I have questions for the secretary because the fact of the matter is a half a dozen violent criminals that you're rotating on your hands off. Federal agents had the senator handcuffed on the ground dozen violent criminals that you're rotating on your... on your... Hands off! Federal agents had the senator handcuffed on the ground after forcibly removing him

from the room. NPR congressional correspondent Claudia Grisales is covering this. Good morning. Good morning, Steve. Let's learn the players here. Kristi Noem, Secretary of Homeland Security, former governor of South Dakota. Senator Padilla is the other name. What should people know about him? Right. He was appointed to replace then vice president Kamala

Harris in 2021. He won an election to the seat the following year, and he's the son of Mexican immigrants and also the first Latino senator to represent the state of California. So these protests have been very personal for him. And he says he wasn't able to get a meeting with Gnome. So that's why he went to a press conference taking place in this federal building. And that's when this incident ensued. We should bear in mind there are different perspectives

on all of this. Republicans are saying, why did you show up disrupting this press conference and so forth? But in any event, he ends up on the ground, face down, if I remember correctly. What are Democrats saying about this? They're calling it an assault. Some said this is a defining moment for the country, and it's part of a series of actions by the administration signaling a new era of authoritarian rule. And as we know already, President Trump's decision to send the National Guard and U.S. Marines into L.A. has set off a firestorm. And this is on top of months

of bitter disagreements over the administration's aggressive immigration policies. So this just adds to an already volatile situation. Take a listen to Padilla after the incident. If this is how the Department of Homeland Security responds to a senator with a question, you can only imagine what they're doing to farm workers, to cooks, to day laborers. You can hear him getting emotional there again. For hours yesterday, Democrats took to the Senate, Florida, to announce what happened. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said he was sickened by the footage and called for a full investigation.

Now, I did notice that Secretary Noem said after the incident she did meet with Padilla for a little while. What else has Homeland Security said? Right. Initially, the department accused Padilla of, quote, disrespectful political theater. They said he didn't comply with requests to back away. And she said that it was not clear who he was, that no one knew who he was.

I mean, they were at least 10, 15 feet apart when he was announcing his name, so it's possible that she could not hear him. But clearly they met and not much was resolved. And of course he did announce his name. Are other Republicans talking here? I was with a And of course, he did announce his name. Are other Republicans talking here? I was with a group of reporters last night who spoke to Senate Majority Leader John Thune just outside the Senate chamber. And he said he was waiting to hear from all the relevant parties

before saying any more about the incident, other than saying it would be treated as if any other incident involved any other Senator. But his counterpart at the other side of the Capitol wasn't waiting. House Speaker Mike Johnson said Padilla acted, quote, wildly inappropriate and he should be censured. It's a reminder of a very politically charged moment over the president's immigration tactics and the fallout that continues. And Pierce Claudia Grisales, thanks so much. Thank you.

Some other news now. The House voted to claw back money that Congress had previously allocated for PBS, NPR, and the public media system for the next two years. The Senate still has to approve the measure. This is the closest public media has come to losing its federal funding. All right, well listen, NPR covers all stories as fairly as we can, and that includes this story

that involves NPR itself and its hundreds of local stations. NPR media correspondent David Folkenflick is on the line, and we will note that no NPR corporate leader or news executive has had a hand in the coverage you're about to hear. David, good morning. David Falkenflich, NPR News Executive Good morning, Steve. Steve McLaughlin Okay. So this is called rescission.

This is a process where the president asks Congress to cut money, get it previously appropriated, and Congress can agree by a simple majority vote. So what is in the bill that got through one of two houses yesterday? David Falkenflich So the larger part was that more than $8 billion was pulled back from foreign aid that had already been approved. But in this case, what we're looking at is $1.1 billion, small change in the grand scheme of things, but that was to fund public broadcasting, all of it, mostly local public television and radio stations for the next two years. This was something built on, in some ways, years of resentment, but also hearings earlier this year. There are two

objections about how much money is spent, but also what kind of news coverage and programming is put on the air. Let's hear from Ohio Republican Jim Jordan. He summed it up this way. Jim Jordan This bill is real simple. Don't spend money on stupid things and don't subsidize biased media. Patrick Shepherd Now, here's the funny thing. You will hear from some public media officials, particularly NPR's representatives, the law passed by Congress at the outset decades ago explicitly protects public media against pressure from all federal officials over its content. Presumably, that includes Congress. This, of course, is a small cut towards reducing the deficit, but also

clearly based on the fight over whether or not there's bias in its news coverage. Pete this has been a generations-old fight. Republicans have always pushed back against public media, even though we know from experience that a great number of them listen. But they've ultimately supported it. What's changed here? John I think that you've seen the culture wars. I used to cover Congress a generation ago. It used to be Congress led by people like then-house House Speaker New Gingrich wanted this as an issue. And now you're seeing the balance of power within the Republican conference and in the House of Representatives anyway want this as a win. There are a few Republicans who hold off on that. There's Mark Amaday. He's a Republican

from Nevada. He voted against this. He said, quote, I agree we must make meaningful cuts to shrink our federal deficit. However, I'd be doing a disservice to thousands of rural constituents in my district if I did not fight to keep their access to the rest of the world and news on the air. Rural constituents because NPR covers the entire country. How important though is the public money to NPR and PBS? There are other sources of funding. You know, on its face, it would seem to be not as important to NPR, a modest amount of money, but it could be huge for public radio and television stations.

Our chief executive, Catherine Maher, warned about stations going dark and Americans being sort of in news deserts, and it would undermine the system. It could really hit the networks much harder than the amount of money they directly get from the feds would suggest. Now this goes to the Senate. What can we expect there? Well, I think you have to look at particular moderates from purple states, especially those perhaps up for reelection next year. Think of Tom Tillis in North Carolina, Susan Collins,

who's already expressed some concerns over the foreign aid measures part of the bill. Both of them are in states led by Democratic governors and their Republicans up for reelection next year. But so far, other than Alaska's Lisa Murkowski, you're seeing few Republicans come out of the woodworks to explicitly assert that she's there for public media. It may be another razor thin vote in a closely divided institution. And Piers David Folkenflick, thanks. You bet. And that's Up First for this Friday, June 13th.

I'm Steven Skeep. And I'm Michelle Martin. The U.S. faces a housing crisis and growing threats from climate change. One European city is tackling both problems at once, and leaders of American cities are paying attention. These climate researchers, they kept repeating one word over and over. Vienna, Vienna, Vienna. Lessons from Vienna.

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