What A Day - What It’s Like To Have Trump Hold Your Science Research Hostage

Episode Date: August 18, 2025

The Trump administration’s crackdown on universities across the country for alleged antisemitism has made its way from the East Coast to the West Coast. Earlier this month, the administration demanded the University of California Los Angeles pay $1-billion to the federal government to resolve what it’s calling civil rights violations. That was on top of more than half a billion dollars in cuts to federal research funding from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and other federal sources. But, a federal judge on Friday said the cuts to UCLA’s funding violated a previous order and ruled some of the funding must be restored. To talk more about the impact the funding cuts have had, we spoke with Dr. Aradhna Tripati, a professor of climate science and geochemistry at UCLA. Joining her in the conversation is Monique Trinh, a program Manager in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine.And in the headlines: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is set to meet with President Donald Trump at the White House, Secretary of State Marco Rubio defends the department's decision to halt visitor visas for people from Gaza, and more National Guard troops are headed to DC at the behest of Trump.Show Notes:Call Congress – 202-224-3121Subscribe to the What A Day Newsletter – https://tinyurl.com/3kk4nyz8What A Day – YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcastFollow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday

It's Monday, August 18th. I'm Jane Koston. This is Waday, the show that is excited for Taylor Swift to release a new album and not excited for the absolutely deranged takes that will result from Taylor Swift releasing a new album. On today's show, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky returns to the White House to meet with President. Donald Trump. And former Texas congressman Beto O'Rourke is slapped with a restraining order for supporting the Texas Democrats redistricting fight. But let's start with universities. Imagine you're a researcher at a major university. You're working on something really, really important. Cures for cancer, ways to mitigate climate change, big-time solutions to big-time problems. But the president of the United States has decided that he is very, very mad at your university for reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with you, and your funding has been cut. But now a judge was saying

that the funding cuts were wrong, so what happens next? That's the very real situation. Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, find themselves in as the Trump administration continues its war on America's universities. Case in point, earlier this month, the Trump administration demanded that UCLA pay $1 billion, $1 billion, to the federal government to resolve alleged civil rights violations centering on anti-semitism. That was on top of more than half a billion dollars in cuts to federal research funding, to funding from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and other federal sources.

But then on Friday, a judge said, nope, here's LA's NBC affiliate. Remember that massive funding freeze impacting more than $580 million in UCLA science research grants? We first told you about it a couple weeks ago. Well, now a federal judge says that money has to be restored. In her ruling on a lawsuit, brought by faculty in the University of California system against the Trump administration, U.S. District Judge Rita Lynn found that the cuts to UCLA's funding violated her order stopping the administration from blocking NSF research grants to University of California schools. However, her ruling only restores funding for a portion of the UCLA grants that got cut. Hundreds of millions of dollars in research funding from the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Energy are still on hold.

So to talk more about the impact these funding cuts have had and how the judge's ruling will or won't help, I spoke to Dr. Aradna Tripati, a professor of climate science and geochemistry at UCLA. And Monique Trin, a program manager in pathology and laboratory medicine at UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine. Professor Aradna Tripati and Monique Trin, welcome to what a day. Thank you for having us. Yeah, thank you so much. We're delighted to be here, although sorry about the circumstances. Right. Definitely.

Speaking of those circumstances, a federal judge ruled that the Trump administration has to either restore some science grants or come up with a new rationale soon, like Tuesday, to hold back the money. We're trying to parse this out. So what is your best understanding of what money is being restored or will possibly be restored? There were about 800 grants that were suspended, NIH grants, NSF grants, and Department of Energy grants. We saw that about 300 NSF grants were restored. So great news, but the NIH grants and the DOE grants are still suspended, and the political football we're anticipating will continue. How much of your own work has been affected and what kind of work have you been doing that's been impacted by this?

Yeah, in case of my work, I've had now four grants, all of my federal funding impacted. But let me just give me an idea of what that means. That's about $10 million worth of federal funding that's supporting about 250 people. It's supporting community members, promotas, supporting veterans. It's supporting undergraduates and graduate students. It's supporting community college students, students at UCLA. It's supporting researchers at UCLA. It's supporting faculty.

It literally is disrupting 250. people's lives. And that's just four grants. What I've just told you the story is that there's more than 800 grants that have been impacted. Monique, maybe you could share a bit about which you've been hearing at the medical school and more broadly. Yeah. So in my professional life, I serve in roles that span quality improvement, health equity strategy, laboratory stewardship, and restorative practices in academic medicine. For me personally, when I think about these cuts and I speak about science and public health, I carry two things with me, my lived experience. as a first-generation college graduate and the lessons that my mom left behind,

who was a patient who received research-driven care at UCLA Health. And when the treatments no longer worked for her, she joined clinical trials because she deeply believed in paying it forward. And so her story, to me, really highlights the impact of these cuts on a personal level. And beyond that, as a staff member who's been at UCLA for 14 years, I've seen the impact firsthand to my friends, right, when these budget cuts happened. My colleagues lose opportunities, labs, closed projects early. Teams are stretched thin, and families, including my own, feel the strain.

I think one important thing I would highlight is that these cuts don't just slow innovation. They deeply create waste. They force skilled people to spend more time navigating bureaucratic hurdles, duplicating work, or shifting priorities midstream instead of working at the top of their license. And as a result, precious time and resources are spent on whiplash and paperwork rather than advancing research, improving care or addressing the needs of patients and communities. Can you tell me a little bit more either of you, like what kinds of research and science are specifically at risk? Like, I totally understand how I'm anxious thinking about the back and forth

and back and forth and back and forth, but I think for people listening, they might not be aware of the types of research that the Trump administration has decided, eh, not very important. So our grads were on issues relating to supporting climate resilience right here in L.A., across California and across the country by training graduate students from all disciplines to be able to work with external stakeholders, with businesses, with community partners, from housing authorities, folks that are working with tribal authorities to support land management and water management. practices that would lead us to be more climate resilient. There was another project that was impacted that's around issues of water right here in California and in the southwest and supporting research that's been done on water quality and water access and water education. There was a third project that was supporting veterans at East LA Community College and at

UCLA getting training, yeah, getting. STEM training, getting mentorship, and helping to prepare them for careers. And then a fourth project to support women of color faculty working across the UCs so that they can, you know, be in community, support undergraduate students and graduate students and continue with their professional development. The grants that are being impacted, though, from some of my colleagues, they include folks who are doing work on clinical trials, you know, just like those clinical trials that impacted Monique's mom. They're grants that relate to drug discovery, vaccine development, maternal disparities, you

know, that exist. I wanted to actually ask, like, these court actions surrounding research, you mentioned feeling like a yo-yo or a football, which is not how you should be feeling. How are you even doing your work at this point where you're like, oh, no and more grants, oh, new grant, oh, judge ruled, judge other judge rule. Like, how are you even doing your jobs? I mean, and that's the point, right? The chaos, the distraction is the point.

We are not meant to be able to focus on doing the work that is for the public good. And students are not meant to be the hopes of their families and communities and focus on realizing their aspirations. We're meant to be in this state of siege and terror, just like what has been happening with federal employees since the beginning of the year. And just like with what's been happening with the ice race. raids. This is my opinion that this is like a tried and true playbook style practice for how you dismantle institutions. So I beg people to realize what is happening. This is not about

anti-Semitism, right? The university is doing a huge amount to combat anti-Semitism. Freezing research does not do that, right? All that does, you can't turn research on and off. You can't turn education and training on and off. Even if you get funding restored for the time being, you know, we're early in this administration. Can you tell me a little bit more about that effort to basically make California a bulwark against whatever the federal administration might do? Because I just keep thinking about how you have at least three and a half years to go with a federal leadership that wants to undercut your work. And I'm just curious to know a little bit more about your thinking on how to stand up for the U.C. system and ensure that your work can continue

whatever the federal government is doing. Yeah, this is a time for solidarity. So it is not about my work or your work. It is about our work. And please, like, I would really ask people who are listening to see that the work of the U.C. system, it is a public good. Folks who get treated from the UCLA health system or folks who have family members who are employed by the U.C. UCs, but it also means impacts on K through 12 education. It means impacts on community college and Cal State budgets. And it also means impacts on funding for prisons, right? Because that all comes from the general fund. When we stand up for UCLA and the UC system and the public good we represent, we will continue to stand together in the face of this administration for the next

three and a half years. I think the only thing I would add is that as As a UC public school system, or like the public higher education, we're critical to enhancing social mobility for individuals. And as a first generation professional and student myself, I think that it's really critical for us to remember our role and our vision of not only sustaining and strengthening the University of California's position as the preeminent university system in the world, but also that as a health system, our goal is to take a collaborative approach and being recognized of the foundation for building the preeminent data-driven learning healthcare system that improves

the human condition. And as a safety anchor institute, we are tasked, right, with not only protecting the public good, but protecting those that are the least resourced. And those are going to be the ones that are harmed first and hardest when these budget cuts happen. Dr. Aradna Tripati and Maniq Trin, thank you so much for joining me. Thank you so much, Jane. Yeah, thank you. We appreciate you so much. That was my conversation with UCLA professor, Dr. Aradna Tripati, and Monique Trin, a program manager at UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine. We'll get to more than is in a moment. But if you like the show, make sure to subscribe, leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, watch us on YouTube, and share with your friends. More to come after some ads.

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and we are very thankful to the United States and to the President for such signal and therefore for everyone in Europe. This is a significant change, but there are no details how it will work and what America's role will be, what Europe's role will be, what the EU can do. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky spoke with European and NATO leaders at a news conference in Brussels on Sunday, ahead of his meeting with President Trump today. This comes on the heels of Trump's summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday in Alaska, which Zelensky was not invited to.

And the narrative seems to have shifted from a potential ceasefire toward Putin's agenda of making sure Ukraine doesn't join NATO or even the European Union. Leaders from Britain, France, Germany, and Finland pledged a united front of support for Ukraine. and said that they would be at Zelensky's side for this next round of negotiations at the White House. Basically, they wanted to go better than the last time he visited the Oval Office back in February, when this happened. Have you said thank you once? No, in this entire meeting, have you said thank you? You went to Pennsylvania and campaigned for the opposition in October,

offer some words of appreciation for the United States of America and the president who's trying to save your country. What an asshole. One strategist told the Associated Press that the European leaders will have to make sure they don't appear to be ganging up on Trump because he doesn't typically respond well to that. Because it would be terrible to get ganged up on in the Oval Office, wouldn't it? Wouldn't it? Speaking to the press, after his meeting with Trump in Alaska on Friday, Putin said that other European leaders could, quote, create obstacles to derail potential progress. The Russian leader also has not yet agreed to meet with both Trump and Zelensky together.

Why did the State Department just announce that they're halting visitor visas for all gossans coming here for medical aid? Why would some of these kids, for example, who are coming to hospitals for treatment be a threat? Great question from Margaret Brennan, host of CBS's Face the Nation Sunday. Secretary of State Marco Rubio must have a reasonable answer, right? Well, first of all, it's not just kids, it's a bunch of adults that are accompanying them. Second, we had outreach from multiple congressional offices asking questions about it,

And so we're going to reevaluate how those visas are being granted, not just to the children, but how those visas are being granted to the people who are accompanying them. I guess we'll see how long it takes for these visas spurred by medical emergencies to be evaluated. The State Department's pause came down Saturday. Just a day after conservative activist, Laura Lumer questioned them. That is, she posted a slew of racist and Islamophobic tweets calling the kids medical flights a national security threat and saying, quote, we are not the world's hospital. Lady, who is the we here?

But Rubio said there was evidence from congressional offices that some of the organizations involved in obtaining the visas have strong links to terrorist groups. So we are not going to be in partnership with groups that are friendly with Hamas. So we're going to pause those visas. There was just a small number of them issued to children, but they come with adults accompanying them, obviously.

We're going to cut them off there, so you don't need to hear him repeat himself without offering any other useful information. The organization Heel Palestine said in the statement Sunday that it was, quote, distressed by the State Department's decision. After treatment, it says the kids and family members who accompany them to the U.S. return to the Middle East. More National Guard troops are headed to the nation's capital to address the so-called hellscape of, as the president so eloquently described, quote, crime, bloodshed, bedlam, and squalor.

Republican governors of three states, West Virginia, South Carolina, and Ohio, said on Saturday they would be sending hundreds of additional troops to Washington. D.C. at the request of President Trump. West Virginia pledged to deploy 300 to 400, South Carolina will send 200, and Ohio will send 150. West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrissey said his state is, quote, proud to stand with President Trump in his effort to restore pride and beauty to our nation's capital. This is a significant escalation of the president's overhaul of policing in Washington after

he issued an executive order last week, putting local police forces under federal control, and deploying about 800 D.C. National Guard troops. The expansion came as protesters pushed back on. on federal law enforcement and National Guard troops over the weekend. Fuck Donald Trump! Fuck Donald Trump! National Guard members have been patrolling at horrifying crime establishments. Real dens of evil.

Like, the National Mall and Union Station and assisting law enforcement with things like crowd control. So it's not really clear yet why additional troops are needed. Hmm. It's up to you and me to show them that in Texas, our knees do not bend. In fact, thanks to everyone who has joined this fight, we were able to make more than one million dollar donation to the House Democratic Caucus, the Black Caucus, the Mexican-American

caucus, and we are going to continue to fight to raise, to organize, to register, to mobilize. That's former Texas Democratic Congressman Beto O'Rourke. rallying a crowd of protesters at the Texas State Capitol Saturday. He's talking about money his political group raised for the Texas House Democratic Caucus after 50 of its members left the state to prevent their fellow Republican legislators from redrawing the state's electoral maps to get more congressional seats in the 2026 midterms. Well, O'Rourke's fundraising didn't go over too well with Texas judge Megan Fahey.

On Saturday, she expanded a restraining order against O'Rourke originally issued by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. It officially barred him and his group from sending money to what she called, unexcused Texas legislators. The Texas Dems have been hanging out in blue states since early August. They get fined $500 for each day they fail to attend the legislative session. In a statement last week, the House Democratic Caucus said its members plan to return to their home state ahead of today's hearing, but each member has their own timeline, according

to CBS News. That means the redistricting measure could finally pass if enough of them returned to restore the quorum. And that's the news. Before we go, America's labor fight began long before Starbucks and Amazon, and it was a lot more violent. In season two of Shadow Kingdom, Coal Survivor, host Niccolo Manoni looks back at one of the most infamous and gruesome labor crimes in American history, and the band of kids who took over the country's richest union and transformed America. Listen to the trailer now on the Shadow Kingdom feed and tune in to the premiere on August 25th wherever you get your podcasts. Or better yet, friends of the pod subscribers can listen to the full season of Shadow Kingdom on the 25th. Join Friends of the pod at crooked.com

slash friends or subscribe through the Shadow Kingdom Apple Feed. That's all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, celebrate a true DC legend, and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading and not just about how we We've been talking a lot about D.C. on this show lately, so you should go enjoy the D.C. institution known as go-go music. Like me, what a day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at cricket.com slash subscribe. I'm Jane Koston. And this past Saturday featured a D.C. celebration of funk music pioneer Chuck Brown, who died in 2012. Because his band, his music, and the soul of Washington, D.C. will never die. What Today is a production of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Desmond Taylor. Our associate producer is Emily Four. Our video editor is Joseph Dutra.

Our video producer is Johanna Case. We had production help today from Greg Walters, Matt Berg, Sean Ali, and Gina Pollock. Our senior producer is Erica Morrison, and our senior vice president of news and politics is Adrian Hill. We had helped with our headlines from the Associated Press. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka. Our production staff is proudly unionized with the Writers Guild of America East.