Up First from NPR - Rescission Vote, Trump And The Wall Street Journal, Trump's Health

Episode Date: July 18, 2025

House Republicans passed a rescissions bill taking back $9 billion in funding for public media and foreign aid. President Trump says he intends to sue the Wall Street Journal after they published an article about his relationship with the late financier Jeffrey Epstein, and President Trump was diagnosed with a common medical condition affecting the veins in his legs.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 Gerry Holmes, Padma Rama, Jane Greenhalgh, Janaya Williams and Ally Schweitzer. It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas and Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from David Greenburg. Our technical director is Carleigh Strange. And our Executive Producer is Jay Shaylor. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Republicans in Congress agreed with President Trump's demand to roll back funding they'd already approved. Most of the money was for foreign aid. Some was for public broadcasting. So what's that mean for local public media stations? I'm Michelle Martin, that's Steve Inskeep, and this is Up First from NPR News. President Trump says he told Wall Street Journal owner Rupert Murdoch he's going to sue the paper. The paper published an article saying Trump once sent Jeffrey Epstein a birthday note filled with sexual innuendo.

Trump says it's fake. How is this landing with Trump supporters who say he's not being transparent? Also, images of the president's swollen ankles prompted the White House to disclose he has a chronic condition. The veins are very thin walled structures and they have valves. Over time, these valves can become dysfunctional. How's his health? Stay with us. We've got the news you need to start your day. If you're a robot, this might not be the show for you.

But if you're a human with hopes, dreams, and bills to pay, the Life Kit podcast might be just what you need. Three times a week, Life Kit brings you a fresh set of solutions to help you tackle topics big and small, from how to save money on groceries to how to bring the house down at karaoke. You know, human stuff. Listen to the Life Kit podcast from NPR. Presentado por mi, Mariel Segarra. A narrow majority in Congress took another step in ceding their power to the president. The Constitution gives Congress authority over government spending, but at the president's request, they overturned spending they'd previously agreed to for foreign aid and public broadcasting. The request was more of a demand.

He threatened consequences for lawmakers who didn't go along. Some voted in favor while publicly expressing concern or even saying they didn't know what they were voting for. The White House promises to use the technique again. The people affected this time include hundreds of public radio stations. NPR media correspondent David Falkenfleck has been covering them and will note, as we have been doing, that no corporate official or news executive in this company has reviewed the interview we're about to do. David, good morning. David Morgan Good morning, Steve. Steve McLaughlin People have sort of followed this, but it's

complicated. So what money are we talking about here? David Morgan Well, so there are hundreds of local public radio, public television stations across the country. They get money from a lot of sources, but a good chunk comes from what's called the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. That's the not-for-profit set up by Congress that funnels federal money to these stations, other actors in the public broadcasting world. So,

call it $1.1 billion over two years, a tiny sliver that comes to NPR, but about 8% to 10% of funding for public radio stations across the country on average comes from that federal source. About 15% of PBS's revenues and PBS member stations' revenues come from Corporation for Public Broadcasting. I wanna be clear, it's not the same for every station. So some stations might get 6%, 8%, some might be 20%, 30% in some cases, particularly rural areas, more like 50%. Pete Slauson Yeah, it varies highly. And they were funded two years in advance to avoid political influence. That's the money that is now canceled. What is the backstory of Republicans going after this

now? Well, look, it has been an episodic thing that has happened in the 50-plus years since the creation of public broadcasting as a federally subsidized thing back in 1967 under President Lyndon Baines Johnson. But nonetheless, public broadcasting has enjoyed strong bipartisan support, which has been reflected in recent polls that have been released by NPR, but also by others about this very issue. The real issue is that this used to be seen as something that Republicans wanted to run

on and now under President Trump, it's been something Republicans wanted to win. President Trump has talked about in campaigning last year about revenge and vengeance as part of his mandate. And he put the media as a center core of that. Having the lever of federal funding meant that he had a way in which to focus on the media. He wanted to take it away. He's been calling NPR and PBS sort of left-wing monsters. He described them again last week as monstrous. The eye charge of bias is one that the networks have rejected, and yet it comes up again and again from Republicans. This time, they wanted to score a win, and with his pressure, they did.

Pete Slauson Yeah. And we'll just note the reality for the record that many of the Republicans who accused bias or voted against public radio have been on NPR telling their own stories in their own words, and that's all a matter of just the transcripts. So, what do public media stations do now? Peter Bauder Well, I think what you're seeing right now in the hours after this, you're gonna start to see across the country a lot of folks fundraising. But they're really, with any luck, have been thinking about this hard. There's gonna be some consolidation.

Some stations may close down and go dark and not serve all 99-plus percent of the nation that we do now. And that's gonna be particularly in underserved areas, rural areas, perhaps tribal areas, although there's been some promises by South Dakota's Mike Rounds that some money will be set aside for them. But I think you're gonna see a radical reconstruction of what the public broadcasting system looks like in radio, in television. They're gonna have to meet a very different future. NPR media correspondent, David Falkenfleck. Thanks for your insights. You bet. President Trump's effort to silence talk about the Epstein files doesn't seem to be working.

Last night, the Wall Street Journal published an article describing what it said was a sexually suggestive note that Donald Trump sent to Jeffrey Epstein for his 50th birthday. This is before Epstein was first arrested for sexually abusing girls. Trump's ties to Epstein, the financier who faced sex trafficking charges before dying by suicide in federal custody, have rocked the president this week. Last night, Trump responded swiftly, threatening to sue the Wall Street Journal over the story and strongly denying the allegations. He called the letter fake. He also directed Attorney General Pam Bonney to seek release of some of the files related to Epstein's criminal sex trafficking case and insists continued questions about the investigations are a quote, a scam.

NPR's Stephen Fowler has been covering this story. Stephen, good morning. Good morning. Okay. We got to begin with the Wall Street Journal story. What do they report? This exclusive claims that Trump sent a letter for Epstein's 50th birthday in 2003 that included a drawing of a naked woman with the signature Donald below the waist, part of a leather bound collection of letters

from Epstein's friends and family. The letter supposedly concludes happy birthday and may every day be another wonderful secret. NPR has not independently confirmed that story. Yeah, and I guess we should note that the journal has not published an image of this letter, but there's a description and the journal says that they have reviewed the letter. How is the president responding? Well, he said in an interview for the article on Tuesday, quote, I never wrote a picture

in my life. I don't draw pictures of women. And in that interview, plus several truth social posts, Trump is threatening a lawsuit. The post said, among other things that, quote, the press has to learn to be truthful. And that Rupert Murdoch, owner of the Wall Street Journal parent company News Corp, said he would take care of it. But since the story published, Trump said that he was quote going to sue his you-know-what off Steve. Okay, interesting But Trump is now asking his attorney general to Release something related to the Epstein case. What's going on now? Well after Trump threatened the Wall Street Journal He made another post that said quote based on the ridiculous amount of publicity given to Jeffrey Epstein

I have asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to produce any and all pertinent grand jury testimony subject to court approval. So up until a week ago, Bondi and other Trump administration officials were the ones pushing claims that there were files to be released exposing the truth about the life and death

of the convicted sex trafficker. And what Trump is asking Bondi to do is probably not the Epstein files people may be expecting or hoping for. Now, Bondi said she would be prepared to move in court to have these documents released. They will likely have redactions to protect privacy of victims in the case and likely not have very much in the way of new information. Steve and I have one other question and it has to do with the president's effort to

make this story stop. Did he know the wall street journal was coming as he insulted his own supporters and tried to get them to stop talking about it? Here's the timing thing. Trump's interview with the journal supposedly came Tuesday, the very next day when Trump knew this story was in the works. That's when he called supporters who questioned the narrative around Epstein's death and called for transparency, quote, stupid and foolish and falsely claimed the Epstein files was a hope perpetrated by Democrats.

So a lot of the bad news cycle has been influenced and increased by the president's own action here. And there's also polling that shows in general the public doesn't approve of the way this has been handled including by many Republicans. Stephen thanks so much. Thank you. That's NPR's Stephen Fowler. So much news about the president this morning. The White House has acknowledged that the president has a chronic condition affecting the veins in his legs. The administration disclosed this after people online called attention to photos showing the president with swollen ankles among other symptoms.

NPR's Will Stone is here to tell us more. Will, good morning. Good morning, Steve. Okay, so what does the White House now say is the president's diagnosis? Well, the president has what's called chronic venous insufficiency. And put simply, this is when the blood in your veins

has trouble getting pumped back up to the heart. And as a result, the blood can start to accumulate, it can start to pool in your legs, causing swelling, as we've seen with President Trump. And specifically, this has to do with the valves in your veins not working all that well. Here's how Dr. Nitin Singh described it to me. He's a vascular surgeon at the University of Washington. The veins, particularly in the lower extremity, are very thin wall structures and they have valves so that when you stand up, all the blood doesn't rush to your feet. These valves

close. But over time, these valves can become dysfunctional. And this dysfunction most often happens just as a result of getting older. The condition can also be due to a blood clot, what's known as deep vein thrombosis. And of course, a clot can be serious. Although it's also possible the clot happened years earlier and that ends up damaging the valves and causing problems later on. The president's doctor did check for a blood clot using an ultrasound and found no evidence of that.

They also did not see any signs of arterial disease and his doctor concluded President Trump remains quote in excellent health. We're obliged to note here the president has said for a decade that he is in excellent health and has faced many questions over the years about exactly how much he discloses of what his doctors may or may not find. But let's talk about the condition itself. Is this common as the president's press secretary contends? Yeah, it's not unusual at all. The numbers out there vary quite a lot.

There are estimates that anywhere from 10% to more than 30% of adults are affected, and it's much more prevalent in older adults, although other risk factors are smoking, obesity, genetics can also play a role, and the symptoms are swelling obviously, which can build up over the course of the day. There can also be itching, dryness, pain. People can have these bulging purple or blue looking veins called varicose veins and brown discoloration on their skin. Now granting that many people have this,

can it sometimes be serious? It can. All the vascular experts I spoke with said, generally it's not a big deal. Of course it can be uncomfortable, but for a minority of people, less than 15%, depending on their risk factors, it's not so benign. They can have serious complications

where they develop these painful ulcers on their legs. Dr. Anita Dua is a vascular surgeon at Mass General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. This is what she told me. And some people who have severe chronic venous insufficiency over time, because that blood pools for so long, they start to get ulcers of the legs

and those ulcers can be very difficult to heal. Based on the description of the president and what was said in terms of the mild swelling, it's unlikely that he will ever have those symptoms. Now, in rare cases, these ulcers can even get infected. People may need to get surgery. But Dua says most who have chronic venous insufficiency can manage it simply by wearing compression socks

or stockings that help push that blood back up to their heart. NPR health correspondent, Will Stone. Thanks so much. Thank you. And that's a first for this Friday, July 18th. I'm Steve Inskeep. And I'm Michelle Martin.

How does a teenage boy take in painful lessons about life that his father thinks he needs to learn. I've started to see that the very people, you know, I look to to protect me, started to discriminate against and harm the community I hold most dear. Life Lessons About Race. This weekend, the Sunday story brings you a conversation about growing up Black from a father to son. Tune in this weekend right here in the Up First Feed. Today's Up First was edited by Jerry Holmes, Padmananda Rama, Jane Greenhalgh, Janaya Williams,

and Allie Schweitzer. It was produced by Ziad Bach, Nia Dumas, and Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from David Greenberg and our technical director is Carly Strange. Our executive producer is Jay Schaler. Have a good weekend.