Up First from NPR - USAID Ruling, Ukraine On Trump Putin Agreement, Gaza Ceasefire Collapse

Episode Date: March 19, 2025

A federal judge rules that President Trump's administration likely violated the Constitution when it shut down USAID, but Trump vows to appeal. Hours after Trump and Putin announced a limited ceasefire, Russia and Ukraine launched new attacks, raising doubts about the deal. And Israel breaks the ceasefire with Hamas and resumes airstrikes on Gaza, killing hundreds of Palestinians. 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 Jane Greenhalgh, Ryland Barton, Russell Lewis, Alice Woelfle and Mohamad ElBardicy. It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Destinee Adams and Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Neisha Heinis, our technical director is Carleigh Strange.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

I was just asked, back boys are in sync. Back boys? I mean, backstreet boys. Backstreet boys. That's a tough question. One that you'd have to tell it to my heart. You are so corny. A federal judge says Elon Musk did not have the authority to dismantle a key U.S. agency.

Critics of the unelected billionaire hope it reigns in his influence in government, but will it change what's already been done? I'm Leila Faldon, that's Amy Martinez, and this is Up First from NPR News. Within hours of President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin announcing a limited ceasefire, Russia and Ukraine launch strikes at each other. So is this agreement changing anything? And Israel broke the ceasefire in a surprise attack that was one of the deadliest in the entire Gaza war. The Israeli government says it's a pressure tactic to get hostages home, but do most Israelis want a return to war? Stay with us. we've got all the news you need to start your day. On the Embedded Podcast.

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The consequences for the country would have been enormous. It would have been a crisis. The man who saw a dangerous omission in the US Constitution and took it upon himself to fix it. Find NPR's through line wherever you get your podcasts. A lot happens in Washington every day, from the White House to Capitol Hill and everywhere in between. That's where we come in.

On the NPR Politics Podcast, we keep you up to date on what happens inside Washington and what it means for you and your community. The NPR Politics Podcast. Listen wherever you listen. A federal judge has ruled that Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency likely violated the Constitution

when they effectively shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development. But President Trump is promising to appeal the decision, calling the judge rogue for interfering in Doge's efforts to effectively shut down USAID. For the past six weeks, the Trump administration has been dismantling the agency. It's now a shadow of its former self. Here to tell us more about what this new court decision means for the administration and for USAID, we're joined now by NPR's Fatma Tanis. So tell us about the case that prompted this ruling.

So a couple dozen USAID employees and contractors sued Elon Musk and Doge saying that their actions to dismantle the agency were reckless. They were done in a slash and burn manner. And that Musk and Doge didn't have the authority because Musk is not an appointed agency head who wasn't confirmed by the Senate. Now this case is one of several other ongoing lawsuits around the dismantling of USAID, and it stands out because it directly sued Elon Musk and Doge, whereas other lawsuits

have named President Trump and senior officials as well. The defense argued that Musk and Doge, whereas other lawsuits have named President Trump and senior officials as well. The defense argued that Musk and Doge were only advising USAID officials and that the agency's leaders were actually responsible for what happened. Yeah, but the judge disagreed. Yeah, he didn't buy it. Judge Theodore Chuang wrote a 68-page opinion detailing why. He said that the evidence showed that quote, Musk made the decisions to shut down USAID's headquarters and website even though he lacked

the authority to make that decision. He said that Musk and Doge team members likely violated the constitution in multiple ways and deprived Congress of its authority to decide what to do with an agency that it created. Okay, so what does this all mean now for USAID? Well, there's not really much left of USAID. Most of its contracts have been terminated. The staff have been whittled down to just a couple of hundred people. Now, the judge has blocked Musk from any further steps to shut down USAID,

and he ordered Doge to reinstate access for current staff to emails and other electronic systems. But the impact of this ruling is quite minimal. It won't restore the work that the agency was doing before all of this. Humanitarian and development assistance programs, for example, are still cut. Okay. Now, what kind of reaction have you heard from this? Well, people who are critical of Elon Musk and Doge are saying that this is a big deal

because there are concerns about what Musk and his team are doing across the federal government and what their authority is. And they say that the administration has been sending mixed messages. For example, President Trump has publicly praised Musk as he and his team got federal agencies. Trump has said Musk is doing an unbelievable job to eliminate waste and improve efficiency. But in these lawsuits, we're hearing something else. Government lawyers are saying that Musk is not in charge, that he's only there in an

advisory role. Now, NPR reached out to the White House to get more clarity on this, but we have not heard back from them. And Norm Eisen, who leads the group representing the plaintiffs in this lawsuit called the ruling an important victory against Elon Musk and his attack not only on USAID but the US government and the constitution he said. And of course as you mentioned earlier President Trump weighed in yesterday and said quote I guarantee you we will be appealing so there's going to be more news to follow on this case. Yeah, more than likely.

It's NPR's Fatma Tennis. Thanks a lot. Thank you. Russia and Ukraine launched strikes targeting each other's infrastructure last night. This comes hours after President Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin announced a limited ceasefire in Ukraine where Putin agreed to stop targeting Ukraine's energy facilities for 30 days. That's far short of the end to fighting on land, air, and sea that the US and Ukraine

agreed to last week. With us to explain where all of this stands is NPR's Eleanor Beardsley joins us from Kyiv. So Eleanor, a deal between Presidents Trump and Putin. What does this mean for the war in Ukraine? Will that change anything? Well, so far nothing has changed because this is what the skies of Kyiv sounded like last night. I held my phone out our window. So you can hear the air defense shooting down drones. You know, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he's been seeking a ceasefire to end

attacks on people and civilian infrastructure, not just energy infrastructure. And he said on social media that these nighttime attacks by Russia are destroying the normal life of Ukrainians. He said the fact that these attacks continued right after Trump and Putin's call showed that maximum pressure must be put on Russia for the sake of peace. What has Zelensky said about the possible ceasefire deal and Trump's conversation with Vladimir Putin? Well, he does not trust Putin.

And there seems to be a constant fear in Ukraine now of being thrown under the bus by the Trump administration, you know, being forced to make concessions to capitulate. Zelensky had a long online press conference with journalists last night, and clearly the length of the two and a half hour call between presidents Trump and Putin was unnerving for him. And he was underwhelmed by the very limited agreement that came out of it, but he tried to show optimism because he has no choice really. Let's listen. You know, he's saying, if this is the first step and there are no other steps so far, then let's hear the details on how to proceed and we will. And he just said he really hopes that President Trump will be able to put as much pressure on Putin as possible.

But how far apart you think Ukraine and Russia are, you know, on the terms of a possible deal? Well, very far apart, actually. Analysts say there will have to be major concessions on both sides. And so far, the Russian demands are maximalist. For example, Putin wants land that his army doesn't even fully control in provinces that he's already annexed and is calling Russian. That's a red line for Ukraine.

And Putin has said he will only accept a deal if Ukraine stops getting military assistance from its allies. Ukraine and the EU have rejected that. So you mentioned the EU, that's the other party in this whole thing, the rest of Europe. What are they saying? Well yesterday, French President Emmanuel Macron met with the Chancellor of Germany, Olaf Scholz, and they said they will absolutely keep the military aid flowing to Ukraine and Macron said any ceasefire must be verifiable and Ukrainians must be at the table. You know, Macron has said many times that Europe cannot let Russia win this war.

Here he is speaking yesterday. He said, we will continue supporting Ukraine in this war of aggression because we know from our experience what it means to be occupied. And of course, he's talking about the Nazi occupation of France in World War II. Yeah, you know, US officials have been trying to reassure EU allies that they will be involved in any peace agreement. But the thing is, Eleanor, I mean, they haven't been.

So, I mean, how do people feel about that? Well, this is deeply shaking the continent. There's a view that Putin is stalling so he can continue the war and that he's playing with Trump, who Europeans believe is naive, has no experience with Putin, and wants a peace deal so badly he'll do anything. The former French ambassador to the US went on French TV last night, Gérard Arrault,

and he sort of summed up the sentiment. You must not anger Trump. He said, Putin is just signing on to the peace deal not to annoy Trump, but he's testing the waters to see how far he can go. He says it's Putin's dream for Russia to be treated as a superpower dealing one-on-one with the American president over the heads of the Europeans. That's NPR's Eleanor Beardsley in Kyiv. Thanks a lot. Thank you, A. Israeli airstrikes are continuing today in Gaza after Israel broke the ceasefire yesterday.

It was one of the deadliest days of the entire Gaza war with more than 400 killed. Those included five Hamas officials and women and children killed in their homes overnight. Israel says it wants Hamas to agree to a new ceasefire deal and release more hostages, but Hamas hasn't changed its position. And many in the Israeli public are opposed to the return to war. So why is Israel doing it? NPR's Daniel Estrin is on the line from Tel Aviv

with new details this morning about the attack. Daniel, so this was a surprise attack, so explain how it all came about. Well, a senior Hamas official told us that mediators were actually holding ceasefire talks with Hamas in the wee hours of the morning Tuesday when these surprise Israeli strikes began. And an Israeli official tells us deception was the point. It began around 2 10 in the morning.

Israel launched its first strikes, took about 10 minutes. This happened after weeks of preparations. These plans were kept inside a closed circle of the Israeli military. And it came as a surprise to many Israelis and the public too. Many recently freed hostages spoke out yesterday about this return to war. We counted more than half of the living Israeli hostages recently freed by Hamas said the move endangered the lives of other hostages still in Gaza. What is Israel's rationale for doing this, for deceiving Hamas and launching this surprise attack? Well, the old ceasefire deal was struck under the Biden administration and Israel sees itself

as having leeway to try to extract new ceasefire terms under President Trump. That's exactly what Trump's Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff tried to do. He presented a proposal last week for new ceasefire terms for Hamas to release more hostages before the talks to end the war began. And Israel said it's returning to war now to pressure Hamas to agree to those terms. And how is Hamas responding to that pressure? Well, a Hamas official tells us that the group's main demands still remain. And those main demands are to go back to the original terms of the deal brokered under Biden, and to begin discussing the permanent end of the war.

You have to understand, A, that in recent months, aid supplies were surging back to Gaza under the ceasefire, and Hamas was beginning to recover. And Israel saw that Hamas was benefiting from the lack of war and from talks continuing in recent weeks without giving up more hostages. And so here we are. Yeah. So how, but how does this move, Daniel, maybe benefit Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu politically inside Israel? It does benefit him politically because he has this deadline. He has to pass a national

budget in two weeks or his government could collapse. And so returning to war allows him to convince his far right ally, Itamar Ben-Ghver, to rejoin the coalition now. It strengthens his coalition. He can support a new budget. It allows Netanyahu to distract from a move he tried to fire his domestic security chief, which is sparking street protests, we could see this round of strikes in Gaza lasting another couple weeks until Netanyahu can pass a budget and until he has more flexibility to maybe resume a ceasefire then. That's NPR's Daniel Estrin in Tel Aviv. Daniel, we appreciate all the reporting on this. Thanks.

You're welcome, eh? Chief Justice John Roberts says impeachment is not the answer to legal disagreement in a rare rebuke of the president. He's pushing back on President Trump's call to impeach a federal judge after Judge James Boasberg ordered a temporary halt to the deportation of alleged Venezuelan gang members. In a social media post, Trump called the judge a quote radical left lunatic and demanded his removal. And that's up first for Wednesday, March 19th, I'm Ami Martinez. And I'm Lela Faldon. There's an easy way to stay connected to news and podcasts from the NPR network, the NPR app. Hear community coverage from your local station, stories

from around the world, and podcast suggestions based on what you like. Download the NPR app in your app store. Today's episode of Up First was edited by Jane Greenhalgh, Rylan Barton, Russell Lewis, Alice Wolfley, and Mohammed El-Bardisi. It was produced by Zia Butch, Destiny Adams, and Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Misha Hines, and our technical director is Carly Strange. Join us again tomorrow. Making time for the news is important, but when you need a break, we've got you covered I'm going to keep it real. I have no idea what the story is about. Hear new episodes of All Songs considered every Tuesday, wherever you get podcasts.