Up First from NPR - National Guard Ruling, Divisions On Iran, EU and Iran Diplomacy

Episode Date: June 20, 2025

A court says President Trump can keep control of the National Guard in Los Angeles, for now. Differences of opinion about whether to join Israel's war against Iran are dividing the MAGA movement, and EU Ministers are seeking a diplomatic solution to the conflict at a meeting with their Iranian counterparts in Geneva. 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 Krishnadev Calamur, Ryland Barton, Alex Leff, Miguel Macias, Janaya Williams and Alice Woelfle. It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Claire Murashima and Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Stacy Abbott. Our technical director is Carleigh Strange. And our Executive Producer is Jay Shaylor. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

A court says President Trump can keep control of the National Guard in Los Angeles for now. California's governor says he should control the Guard. What's next in this legal battle and what does it mean for other states? I'm Leila Fadid, that's Michelle Martin and this is Up First from NPR News. President Trump says he'll decide whether or not to bomb Iran in the next two weeks, but that has some of his most vocal supporters asking, what happened to Trump's promise of no more wars? You have to think this through at this level and the American people have to be on board.

How is the split playing out among his base? And a diplomacy effort is underway to end the war between Iran and Israel. EU ministers are set to hold talks with their Iranian counterparts in Geneva today. Stay with us, we'll give you the news you need to start your day. The best kind of celebrity interview is one where you find out that the person who made a thing you love also thinks in a way that you love.

Nothing is more foreign than when Ariel says in The Little Mermaid, I want to be where the people are. I don't want to be where the people are. I just don't. I'm Rachel Martin. Listen to the Wild Card Podcast only from NPR. But I thought, wow, this guy goes to work and he does Donald Duck. I'm Jesse Thorn on Bullseye, the one and only Mark Hamill, Luke Skywalker from Star Wars, on his life's greatest aspiration, doing silly cartoon voices in the moment that he realized his dream. I did a terrible Donald Duck, but it made me think that's what I want to do.

I want to do cartoon voices. That's on Bullseye for MaximumFun.org and NPR. 4,000 National Guard troops in Los Angeles will remain under President Trump's control. Yeah, that's after a federal appeals court in California blocked a lower court's order for Trump to return control of the Guard to the state's governor, Gavin Newsom.

It's the latest in the ongoing legal battle between California and the Trump administration over how to respond to protests in Los Angeles triggered by immigration raids in the region. Capradio's Laura Fitzgerald is with us now to tell us more about all this. Good morning, Laura. Good morning, Michelle. Okay, so why did the court side with Trump? Well, this ruling from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals wasn't very surprising given that

the panel of three judges seemed pretty skeptical of California's arguments during a hearing on Tuesday, but the 38-page decision gives us more insight. In it, they say the situation on the ground in Los Angeles likely warranted Trump calling in the National Guard to make sure federal immigration laws are enforced. The judges pointed to examples of protesters throwing objects at federal agents and vandalizing federal buildings as evidence of this. The ruling was unanimous, and the panel was made up of two Trump appointees and one Biden appointee.

They also rejected Newsom's argument that Trump didn't properly call up the guard through the governor. The administration did that through the state's adjutant general and the court said that's good enough because the general works on the governor's behalf. Now the judges did reject Trump's argument that the courts don't have authority to review a president's decision to mobilize the National Guard. And they emphasized that this decision was only about Trump's authority to deploy the National Guard, not what they can do once they're deployed.

So just remind us of why Governor Newsom opposed Trump's federalization of National Guard troops in the first place. So besides his argument that Trump's move was illegal, he said sending the National Guard to quell protests in LA would only make tensions worse. Newsom and other local leaders said the state had enough resources and local law enforcement to respond to the situation on the ground. Hundreds of people have been arrested for engaging in violence or vandalizing public property since the protests first broke out. But over the last week or so, arrests and also protests in general have died down a bit and the mayor of LA lifted a curfew that had been in effect for downtown.

So just as we are speaking now, this only happened just a few hours ago, but how are Newsom and Trump reacting to the ruling? Yeah, in a post on Truth Social, Trump called the Ninth Circuit ruling a big win. He also took a swipe at Newsom, calling him incompetent and ill-prepared. But perhaps most importantly, Trump said this ruling would have an impact, not just in California, but in any state where a president determines there's a difficulty enforcing laws and decides to call in the National Guard. Newsom released a statement saying he was disappointed by the ruling, but vowed to keep

fighting out this legal battle. He also took it as a victory that the court rejected the administration's argument that courts shouldn't decide whether a president can federalize National Guard troops. Okay, so is there a next step here? Yeah, well, California could try to appeal the ruling, but yesterday's ruling was just on the emergency order attempting to block Trump's actions.

Meanwhile, this case will actually continue in a lower court, today actually in San Francisco. Judge Charles Breyer, the same judge who issued the initial emergency order against Trump's actions last week, will hear the arguments again. This time the question will be whether to issue a preliminary injunction, which is longer lasting than the emergency order he considered last week. All right. That's Laura Fitzgerald from Cap Radio in Sacramento. Laura Fitzgerald, thanks so much for talking to us.

Thank you, Michelle. After a week of raising the possibility of launching US strikes against Iran, President Trump is suggesting diplomacy. Yeah, the White House said he will make a decision about US involvement within the next two weeks, a timeframe Trump has regularly used for other decisions that have not come within those two weeks. The move comes amid growing concerns from some of his most vocal supporters that he's betraying his America First principles.

The White House dismisses any connection between the criticism and Trump's delay in making a decision. NPR White House correspondent Franco Ordonez has the latest on the political divide in Trump's world. Good morning, Franco. Good morning, Michelle. So why is Trump's base so-called MAGA world so up in arms against the idea of U.S. strikes on Iran?

I mean, well, President Trump campaigned on ending long foreign wars. In his inauguration speech, for example, he talked about wanting his legacy to be one of a peacemaker. We will measure our success not only by the battles we win, but also by the wars that we end and perhaps most importantly, the wars we never get into. And now you have some of the biggest cheerleaders in MAGA world raising concerns about Trump escalating this crisis between Iran and Israel even more. Like who? Well I mean we've of course talked this week about concerns raised

by former talk show host Tucker Carlson who's warned the president's legacy is on the line. Another is Steve Bannon, who served as a senior advisor to Trump. He compared this conflict to Iraq and told reporters at a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor that the administration needs to be very careful. This is one of those ancient civilizations in the world, okay, with 92 million people. This is not something you play around with. You have to think this through at this level, and the American people have to be on board. Pete Now, Michelle, I should also point out that not everyone in MAGA world opposes U.S. involvement.

Folks like Fox host Mark Levin, as well as Senator Lindsey Graham have called for Trump to help Israel. Michelle Now, so that raises a good point there, Franco, that there are different factions of the MAGA movement now. I guess they have different philosophies about what America First means? Yeah, that's exactly right. I mean, like any political coalition, there is going to be some splits. For some, it's economic policy and bringing back manufacturing to the US. Others, it's about not spending any money overseas at all, whether that's on USAID or supplying weapons to Ukraine. And I was talking with John McHenry, he's a Republican pollster, who told me there are

also some exceptions among religious conservatives of the movement, especially as it relates to Israel. I think for a lot of folks in MAGA, Israel is the one exception, that it's important to support the Holy Land, to support Israel, and they will make an exception on this one country where they might not for a Ukraine, for a Taiwan, you know, for something else in Europe. Danielle Pletka Frank, do you have a sense of what impact this divide has had on Trump and the administration?

Frank DeRose I mean, certainly he hasn't liked it. I mean, he's lashed out at Carlson as well as reporters who asked about the divide. But I'm also not sure how much sleep he's really losing over it. You know, Trump doesn't need to and he can't run for reelection again. And the Republicans I speak with say he's more likely looking at his legacy and seeing here a potential opportunity to top a regime that Republicans have long looked to get rid of. But also balancing his own tendencies not to get involved with a war.

You can see that all kind of playing out when he decided to delay the action by two weeks. That is, White House correspondent Franco Ardenius. Franco, thank you. Thank you, Michelle. Europe is trying for diplomacy as Israel and Iran enter their second week of war. European diplomats are meeting Iran's foreign minister in Geneva today. While Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested Israel will continue attacking Iran's nuclear sites even if President Trump decides not to take part, an Iranian human rights group says more than 650 people in Iran have been killed by Israeli strikes, and Israel says

Iranian missiles have killed 24 people in Israel. We have NPR's Daniel Estrin on the line with us now from Tel Aviv to tell us more. Good morning, Daniel. Good morning, Michelle. Okay, so this started a week ago when Israel launched these strikes against the nuclear sites and against military officials and nuclear scientists. And now, of course, Iran has responded. And as we've just heard, there have been fatalities on both sides.

Now, Prime Minister Netanyahu gave a rationale for this when it first started. Has he said any more about why he chose this moment? He was asked that question again yesterday on Israeli public broadcasting. And he did say more. He said, this all goes back to September when Israel assassinated Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah in Lebanon. He was the head of Iran's main proxy in the region. And Netanyahu said that when Nasrallah was killed and Hezbollah largely collapsed, Iran rushed to try to create a nuclear bomb. And Netanyahu claimed Iran was less than a year away, though there have been debates and differing US intelligence assessments on that.

But analysts in Israel say other political factors are at play here. Netanyahu was under intense domestic pressure to end the Gaza war, to get Israeli hostages back. His government barely survived a no-confidence vote in parliament, and then a day later, he launched the Iran attack. And that gave Netanyahu a major political comeback. The majority of Israelis support the attacks on Iran. So what more can you tell us about diplomatic efforts now? Iran's state media says Iran's foreign minister is meeting with his counterparts

from France, Germany and the UK today in Geneva. The British foreign minister met Secretary of State Marco Rubio yesterday and said there was a two-week window for a diplomatic solution. And remember yesterday the White House said Trump would make a decision within two weeks whether to strike Iran. European diplomats have been calling for restraint but also have said Israel has the right to protect its security and its people. And Israel sees that as Europe actually supporting its attacks on Iran's nuclear sites, which is very different from Europe's explicit calls for Israel to end the Gaza war. Danielle, does Israel need the US to achieve its goal of destroying Iran's nuclear program? Well, Netanyahu was asked that question on Israeli TV yesterday, and he said, we will

achieve all our goals, all their nuclear facilities. It's in our power to do so." And he said it was up to Trump to decide whether to join in. I spoke to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, who told me Israeli officials believe Israel can destroy Iran's most fortified nuclear site, Fordow, on its own without the US bombing it, but that it would just be quicker if the US took part. Experts tell NPR US bunker busting bombs could do serious

damage to the Fordow site, but that wouldn't destroy Iran's know-how to actually build nuclear weapons in the future. That is NPR's Janelle Estrin and Tel Aviv. Janelle, thank you. You're welcome. And that's up first for Friday, June 20th. Daniel, thank you. You're welcome. And that's Up First for Friday, June 20th. I'm Michelle Martin. And I'm Leila Faldon. Since the fall of Roe vs. Wade,

abortion access has been banned or restricted in nearly 40% of U.S. states. But despite that, abortion rates have actually risen across the country, largely due to the growing use of abortion pills. If it goes the way that I think it will, in some ways abortion ironically will become more accessible but less legal. Tune in to the Sunday Story to hear about how a network of women in Latin America helped

pregnant people access abortion pills and eventually made its way to America. Today's episode of Up First was edited by Krishna Depp-Calamore, Rylan Barton, Alex Leff, Miguel Macias, Jenea Williams, and Alice Wolfley. It was produced by Ziad Butch, Clara Murashima, and Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Stacey Abbott, our technical director is Carly Strange, and our executive producer is Jay Schaler. We hope you'll join us again Monday.