Up First from NPR - Trump State of the Union Strategy, Mexico Cartel Violence, Epstein Files Naming Trump

Episode Date: February 24, 2026

Republican strategists say President Trump needs a reset in his State of the Union tonight, with new NPR polling showing 60% of Americans think the country is worse off than a year ago.Mexico is still reeling from cartel violence after a military operation killed the country's biggest drug lord, El Mencho, and triggered a wave of retaliation, raising questions about whether the government can take on the cartels without fueling even more violence.And an NPR investigation finds the Justice Department removed or withheld dozens of pages from the Epstein files database that include allegations mentioning President Trump, even as the administration says it has released everything.Want more 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 Rebekah Metzler, Rebecca Rosman, Megan Pratz, Mohamad ElBardicy, and Alice Woelfle.It was produced by Ziad Buchh and Nia Dumas.Our director is Christopher Thomas.We get engineering support from Neisha Heinis. Our technical director is Carleigh Strange.Our Supervising Senior Producer is Vince Pearson.(0:00) Introduction(02:16) Trump State of the Union Strategy(05:57) Mexico Cartel Violence (09:43) Epstein Files Naming TrumpLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Got a message for you here. Many people who listened up first have had the podcast directly shuffled into their feed, automatically shuffled into their feed. That's changing for some. So you need to be active. And make sure to follow up first in your podcast app to continue getting this service. That way you'll never miss the news, which comes right now. President Trump says a lot in public, but has not persuaded most of the public to support this.

policies. He has an opportunity to clarify in a state of the union speech. What can he say about issues from tariffs to Tehran? I'm Leila Faudil. That's Stevenski, and this is up first from NPR News. In Guadalajara, Mexico, burned out cars are still in the medians of empty streets. These are signs of the violence after Mexico's government killed a drug cartel leader. What is the government's strategy? Also, a new NPR investigation finds the Justice Department withheld or removed dozens of Epstein file pages that include allegations mentioning President Trump. What's missing? And why does it matter? Stay with us. We've got the news you need to start your day. President Trump speaks to Congress and the country tonight. It's going to be a long

speech because we have so much to talk about. The State of the Union address is any president's annual opportunity to set the national agenda or reset the agenda when it's not going well. Many Americans don't feel good about the state of the union. An NPR survey out this week finds that 60% of those responding six out of 10 say the country is worse off than a year ago. For the president, it's a chance to say why. Why he's pursuing policies that are unpopular so far. NPR White House correspondent Franco Ordonez has an assessment.

Franco, good morning. Good morning, Steve. What do you know about the president's approach? Well, I expect his team is finishing a speech that tries to do that, push the reset button, a speech that not only touts, his accomplishments, but sets the stage for the upcoming midterms, you know, focusing on how the administration plans to really tackle costs for everyday Americans. But I spoke with Ashley Cunning upholster from Rutgers University, who told me that the administration faces an uphill battle.

There is so much on the table right now with the president going into the speech between whether we're talking about the partial shutdown, the economy, immigration, or Iran, and then clearly him seeing his worst poll numbers right now during his second term. You know, and this thing is, Steve, you really don't know what Trump is going to say. And the reality here is the president says a lot of things in public. But he hasn't really explained some of the policies, in a way, at least, that many Americans would approve. So he has this opportunity to clarify those plans tonight.

Well, as you're saying that, I'm thinking, he's talking to the nation right after the Supreme Court found his tariffs were illegal. Yeah. I mean, a huge blow to his agenda. and a great example to what we're talking about. Trump's promising new tariffs under a different law, which really has some Republicans concerned because of the associated higher costs. John McHenry, a veteran Republican strategist, told me that Trump could take this moment

to give his reasons for a policy many Americans don't agree with. He has an opportunity to say, this is why I think these tariffs are important, and we are going to handle it in this manner because I'm trying to preserve manufacturing. jobs because I'm trying to preserve farming jobs, rather than just saying, I can't believe these people are against me, what losers and rhinos they are. I got a note when the court first ruled, the president took the latter course, Franco. He called the justices, quote, unpatriotic and disloyal, even though he appointed some of them. Yeah, and just think about this, Steve, those justices are going to be in the room with Trump. And as always the case with this president, the optics are going to be a big part of

the evening. So when Trump sees those justices, you know, walking in, and their black robes, you know, is he going to be able to resist attacking them personally, as he did so aggressively last week? So we'll watch for that and also watching this. What approach can the president take to the possible war against Iran? Yeah, I think a similar one. I mean, right now there's a real concern, especially from his own party, that the U.S. can be dragged into a long-term conflict, you know, the kind of conflict Trump himself pledged

to avoid. Again, Trump has not made the public case for why strikes may be. be necessary as presidents have in the past. And this could be an opportunity for Trump to do that, to explain his reasoning. And if he does, at least people will have understood why he made that decision. But that's obviously not Trump's MO. NPR White House correspondent Franco Ordonez, thanks for your insights, as always. Thanks, Steve. Okay, over the next couple of days, authorities in Mexico plan to reopen schools and welcome the reopen. of stores in the state of Halisco.

They've been closed during an eruption of violence. People responded to the military, killing a man known as El Meno, Mexico's most powerful drug lord. But there are big questions about what El Mancho's death means for Mexico's fight against organized crime. NPR's Adir's Adler is in Halisco's capital,

Guadalajara. Aider, good morning. Hey, good morning, Steve. Okay, so we followed the reporting in recent days. El Mentiona was killed, and then gunmen burnt down businesses and banks and blocked roads with burning cars. What's the scene like now?

I mean, here in Walalajara, it's quiet, it's eerily quiet. It's like a COVID lockdown. The streets are empty, the stores are closed. On some streets, there are still burnt out cars in the medians, but the violence that happened on Sunday hasn't happened again. And yesterday, I

saw people starting to venture out. I met one family of American tourists who were stranded. Their flight out had been canceled. They were scared, but they came out with their daughter to feed the pigeons in one of the plazas. I also stumbled into Miguel Quintero. He said the hotel where he was staying had ran out of food, so he had gone out to find something to eat.

On Sunday, he got caught in the middle of a shootout. But what he's worried about is the future. And he lives in neighboring state of Michoacan, and he thinks even there, the violence is going to get worse. And he says this from personal experience. Every time authorities have beheaded a cartel here in Mexico, It splinters, and it provokes a bloody fight for power. Knowing that, what is the Mexican government strategy here?

It's interesting because President Kleller Sheimbaum has said over and over again that she doesn't want to start a new war against organized crime here in Mexico because she says that governments before her have tried it, and they have only led to bloodshed. And she says that the way to deal with this, to actually deal with this, is with root causes, so education and jobs. She now also has the United States pressuring Mexico for a more frontal fight. President Trump has continually said Mexico is too scared to take on the cartels,

and he has threatened to take unilateral military actions to deal with it. Analysts, I spoke to say this decision to take out Nemesio or Segera-Servantes or El Mencho on Sunday, was Mexico responding to that pressure. And look, this does mark a major shift for the country. Remember that Mexico's previous president and Shane Bob's mentor, used to call his approach to organized crime hugs, not bullets. And this appears to be President Seymbaum,

charting her own course with a more muscular and violent approach toward organized crime here in Mexico. Okay, so if this is the approach, then, can the government keep it up? Can they keep using force? I think there's no doubt that they have the firepower to do it,

but it's going to be costly. Just during this operation, 25 national guardsmen were killed yesterday during a press conference General Ricardo Trevilla Trejo, the defense minister, was on the verge of tears, delivering his condolences to the families who lost loved ones. But he made it clear. Despite the losses, they completed their mission, he said. And what did they prove, he asked? They proved the might of the Mexican state, he said. So I would say there is some real tension here. It seems like a fork in the road.

And the big question is whether Mexico is about to go into an era where it fights drug cartels with some real firepower. NPR's data Peralta is reporting from Guadalajara and will continue to update us on whatever happens. Thanks so much. Thanks, Steve. We've heard a lot of revelations about what is in millions of pages of Epstein files. Today, we have a revelation that the Justice Department never released. An NPR investigation finds the government removed or withheld dozens of pages from the public database of Epstein documents. Those pages relate to accusations of...

sexual abuse that also contain mention of President Trump. It is the latest example of ways the Trump administration has not been transparent in its handling of the release of the Epstein files. NPR Stephen Fowler broke the story and is here. Stephen, good morning. Good morning. Okay, so let's figure this out. Of course, it's well documented that President Trump's name is in the Epstein files thousands of times they had a long friendship and then falling out. But what is different about what you found that seems not to have been there? When we were looking in the files, we found this email from the FBI dated last July and released last month. It listed all of the claims and tips that they'd received about Trump and what the disposition was.

There were plenty of things there that were unverifiable, fantastical, you had non-credible reports, except one. That one, to paraphrase, accused Trump of sexually abusing a minor around 1983 when she was also being abused by Epstein, and it was sent to a field office to investigate further. Okay, so what did that investigation find? We don't know. Other than it was notable enough to include on a Justice Department slideshow from last fall, also released last month, that summarizes the investigations into Jeffrey Epstein and Galane Maxwell. There's a slide of, quote, prominent names. At the top is Trump with two allegations, including this one about sexual abuse. What's unusual is that it's the only place you can find mention of this accusation. Wait a minute. Why is it unusual? That's the only place you can find it. Well, it's more what other documents have shown us about these particular missing pages. There's records showing the FBI interviewed this accuser four times. Only one of those interviews is in the public Epstein database.

And it does not mention Trump at all. And the Justice Department's own tracking indicates there's at least 50 pages that exist, but were not made public. Okay. So when you begin putting these documents together, it's like a jigsaw puzzle and it becomes clear that some pieces are missing. Did you find some kind of, I don't know, list or table of contents that outlines what is supposed to be there? Sort of. There are three sets of what's called Bates stamps on that interview. Think of it like serial numbers for these documents that go up sequentially. At the end of this interview document, the last page, the bottom tracking number for the Epstein Files Transparency Act, goes up by one to go to the next file.

There's a top number tracking documents related to this person interviewed that went up by six, and a third serial number jumped by 50. showing that there's likely something out there beyond what the DOJ is sharing. How does the Justice Department explain that? They didn't give an on-record answer to detailed questions, instead pointing back to the work they're doing to fix redaction errors and address victim concerns. Implying there might be just some error here, but what is the White House saying? Well, the White House and the Trump administration have consistently said that there is nothing incriminating the president in the files. They point to a Justice Department's statement

when the last batch was released that say, quote, untrue and sensationalist claims about Trump are in the files. Abigail Jackson, a White House spokeswoman, sent a statement to NPR that says in part that President Trump, quote, has done more for Epstein's victims than anyone before him by signing the law to release the files, among other things, and say that he's been totally exonerated. Now, Trump supporters are still split on his handling of the issue. Some members of Congress don't think the Justice Department has followed the law. this is something that will continue to be a big thing the administration can't ignore. Expect that to continue with the State of the Union tonight,

where some Epstein survivors will be in attendance as guests of lawmakers. Okay, NPR Stephen Fowler, and you can read NPR's exclusive reporting on the Epstein files at our website, npr.org. Thanks, Stephen. Thank you. And that's up first for this Tuesday, February 24th. I'm Steve Innskeep. And I'm Lel. Faudil. Today's episode of Up First was edited by Rebecca Metzler, Rebecca Rosman, Megan Pratz,

Mohamed Elberdisi, and Alice Wolfley. It was produced by Ziad Butch and Nia Dumas. Our director is Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Nisha Highness, and our technical director is Carly Strange. Our supervising senior producer is Vince Pearson. Join us again tomorrow.