--:-- [Sound of music fading out]
--:-- Michelle Martin: Israel struck nuclear and military sites in Iran, killing the country's top generals. The Israeli prime minister says they're not done. This operation will continue for as many days as it takes.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: How is Iran striking back?
--:-- Michelle Martin: I'm Michelle Martin with Steve Inskeep, and this is Up First from NPR News.
--:-- [Sound of music continues]
--:-- Steve Inskeep: A judge ordered President Trump to return control of the National Guard to California Governor Gavin Newsom. I hope it's the beginning of a new day in this country where we push back against overreach.
--:-- Michelle Martin: The judge said the president exceeded his authority. Why did a higher court pause the order?
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Also, why did Homeland Security personnel handcuff a U.S. senator? And the House voted to reclaim funding Congress had allocated for public media. Stay with us. We've got the news you need to start your day.
--:-- [Sound of music continues]
--:-- Announcer: This message comes from BetterHelp. President Fernando Madeira describes how BetterHelp Online Therapy has helped him.
--:-- President Fernando Madeira: For me, sometimes I just need to go and talk to somebody that is not going to judge me, right? It's going to be there and they're going to listen to me. And I can't start just saying, look, I'm not feeling right today. And it feels natural. I love it.
--:-- Announcer: off mattresses, plus get an extra $50 off with promo code NPR. That's L-E-E-S-A dot com, promo code NPR.
--:-- Michelle Martin: This message comes from the NPR Wine Club, a place to explore the exciting world of wine, including wines inspired by popular NPR shows, like all things considered Cabernet. Whether buying a few bottles or joining the club, all purchases help support NPR programming and fund quality reporting developed to connect people to their communities and the world they live in. More at nprwineclub.org slash podcast. Must be 21 or older to purchase.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: People in Iran's capital heard explosions overnight and soon learned that their country was under attack. The Israeli military affirms that it struck dozens of Iranian targets, including nuclear facilities. Iranian state media say that some of its top generals and nuclear scientists were killed. Iran promised a response.
--:-- Michelle Martin: This is obviously a developing story. NPR's Hadil al-Shalchi is covering this from Tel Aviv. Good morning.
--:-- Hadil al-Shalchi: Good morning. Who is saying what as you and I are talking now? Well, let's start with the Israeli military. It announced that it actually completed a large-scale airstrike campaign in western Iran. It includes also the capital, Tehran.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: But Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has said there will be more attacks. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel targeted Iran's main nuclear enrichment facility called Natanz, and Iran says that it did suffer damage.
--:-- Hadil al-Shalchi: Both militaries also said that three top Iranian security chiefs were killed, including the Iranian military chief of staff, Mohammed Bagheri. That's a major blow to Iran's military chain of command, of course.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Iran's supreme leader said Israel should expect a, quote, harsh punishment, and Israel said that Iran fired about 100 drones at Israel.
--:-- Hadil al-Shalchi: Really striking results, particularly since there'd been many signs that this attack might be coming, and the Israelis still had this effect. What is it like in Israel this morning as people wait for a response?
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Well, we actually all broke up pretty early, around 3 a.m. local time, to sirens across the country. It wasn't because there were any strikes. The Israeli military said they were a preemptive warning to Israelis to get prepared for a, quote, major threat.
--:-- Hadil al-Shalchi: The Ben-Gurion airport is closed, but all morning we could hear fighter jets overhead in the sky. This morning I went to the grocery store. It was full of people stocking up on water, other supplies just in case. Schools and public gatherings like the Tel Aviv Pride Parade today are also canceled.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: The timing of this is really notable. What else is happening at this moment when Israel chose to strike? I mean, this is all happening as the U.S. and Iran have been actually holding talks for weeks now.
--:-- Hadil al-Shalchi: They're trying to strike a deal that would see Iran scale down on its nuclear program in exchange for the U.S. lifting sanctions. Those sanctions have crippled Iran's economy.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: So Netanyahu has been adamant the entire time that the only way to stop Iran from developing a nuclear weapon is by war. Now see Iran insists that it wants to develop a nuclear weapon.
--:-- Hadil al-Shalchi: But then last month the UN nuclear watchdog said that Iran actually had enough enriched uranium to theoretically develop a weapon.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And then this week, the same watchdog, for the first time in 20 years, censored Iran over not complying with its inspections.
--:-- Hadil al-Shalchi: But Iran is defiant. It also announced that it would start a third enrichment site in the country.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: How is the United States responding to this overnight news? So until just yesterday, President Trump signaled that a strike on Iran was possible but not imminent.
--:-- Hadil al-Shalchi: And then today on social media, he warned Iran that it will, quote, only get worse and urged Tehran to make a deal, quote, before there is nothing left.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: After the attack earlier this morning, the State Department said it was informed by Israel that it would strike. It said Israel carried it out unilaterally and that the U.S. was not involved.
--:-- Hadil al-Shalchi: Earlier this week, there was some foreshadowing. The U.S. administration ordered the evacuation of non-essential staff from the U.S. embassy in Iraq and then authorized their departure from other embassies in the Middle East.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And then the U.S. envoy, Steve Witkoff, was due to meet with the Iranian negotiating team in Oman on Sunday.
--:-- Hadil al-Shalchi: But, of course, now Iran said it won't be going.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: NPR's Adil Al-Shelchi has the latest from Tel Aviv. Thanks very much for the update and your insights. Really appreciate it.
--:-- Hadil al-Shalchi: You're very welcome.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: National Guard troops in California remain under President Trump's command for now. A judge ruled the president violated the law when he took command of the California Guard without clearance from Governor Gavin Newsom.
--:-- Michelle Martin: The judge said the power must return to the state, but an appeals court quickly put that ruling on hold.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: CAP Radio's Laura Fitzgerald is covering this story from California. Good morning.
--:-- Laura Fitzgerald: Good morning, Steve. Okay, so what happened here? Well, the central question here is who is in charge of 4,000 National Guard troops that have been in L.A. for almost a week?
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Normally, governors control their state National Guards, but in this case, Trump federalized them against Governor Gavin Newsom's wishes.
--:-- Laura Fitzgerald: This happened a day after protests broke out in pockets of downtown L.A. in response to a series of ICE raids.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: City and state officials have insisted they didn't need the National Guard there. They said they already had enough resources, local law enforcement to maintain order.
--:-- Laura Fitzgerald: And Newsom said Trump calling in the National Guard would only make tensions worse.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And so Newsom sued the Trump administration.
--:-- Laura Fitzgerald: And this is essentially a constitutional argument. Why did the judge side with Newsom?
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Well, yesterday, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco, he's a Clinton appointee, he gave a 36-page ruling that said Trump's actions were illegal.
--:-- Laura Fitzgerald: And it wasn't surprising, given the comments that he made during the hearing yesterday, he said that this country was founded in response to a monarchy.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And he said that it would be a monarchy if the president didn't have to justify this action.
--:-- Laura Fitzgerald: He said the Trump administration didn't meet the threshold for federalizing the National Guard.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And part of the statute Trump used to justify deploying the Guard requires a rebellion or danger of rebellion against the government.
--:-- Laura Fitzgerald: And the judge really took issue with this in his order yesterday, saying that the protests in Los Angeles were far from what would be considered a rebellion.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And in the end, the judge ordered that the National Guard troops be returned to Newsom's control by noon today.
--:-- Laura Fitzgerald: And immediately after the ruling, Newsom claimed it a victory. I hope it's the beginning of a new day in this country where we push back against overreach.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: But that victory was short-lived. Why?
--:-- Laura Fitzgerald: Well, the Trump administration appealed Judge Breyer's order within minutes.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And a few hours later, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay blocking that initial ruling.
--:-- Laura Fitzgerald: So that means the National Guard will stay in L.A. under Trump's authority.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Trump officials have said the Guard is there to protect federal agents carrying out immigration enforcement and also to protect federal buildings.
--:-- Laura Fitzgerald: Officials also say they have the authority to temporarily detain people until law enforcement can make arrests.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: A White House spokesperson said in a statement to the Associated Press that Judge Breyer, quote, has no authority to usurp the president's authority as commander in chief.
--:-- Laura Fitzgerald: So what happens now?
--:-- Steve Inskeep: So the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will hold a hearing on the issue on June 17th. That's next Tuesday.
--:-- Laura Fitzgerald: But there's still this question of the 700 Marines that Trump deployed to assist in L.A.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: They've been getting civil disobedience training at a naval facility in Orange Beach.
--:-- Laura Fitzgerald: And Newsom lawyers during the hearing yesterday they wanted Judge Breyer to address the Marines involvement.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: But the judge said he wouldn't rule on that because the Marines, as far as we know, aren't in L.A. yet.
--:-- Laura Fitzgerald: When they are there, there's still an open question about what exactly they'll be doing on the ground.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: That reporter Laura Fitzgerald. Thanks so much.
--:-- Laura Fitzgerald: Thank you, Steve.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Exactly what happened at a Homeland Security press conference yesterday?
--:-- Michelle Martin: Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was talking to reporters when U.S. Senator Alex Padilla, a Democrat from California, entered the room saying he wanted to speak with her.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: In this audio, we can hear as security personnel blocked him.
--:-- Senator Alex Padilla: I'm Senator Alex Padilla. I have questions for the secretary, because the fact of the matter is a half a dozen violent criminals that should rotate on your hands off.
--:-- Michelle Martin: Federal agents had the senator handcuffed on the ground after forcibly removing him from the room.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: NPR congressional correspondent Claudia Grisales is covering this. Good morning.
--:-- Claudia Grisales: Good morning, Steve. Let's learn the players here. Kristi Noem, Secretary of Homeland Security, former Governor of South Dakota.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Senator Padilla is the other name. What should people know about him?
--:-- Claudia Grisales: Right. He was appointed to replace then-Vice President Kamala Harris in 2021. He won an election to the seat the following year.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And he's the son of Mexican immigrants and also the first Latino senator to represent the state of California.
--:-- Claudia Grisales: So these protests have been very personal for him. And he says he wasn't able to get a meeting with Noam.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: So that's why he went to a press conference taking place in this federal building.
--:-- Claudia Grisales: And that's when this incident ensued. We should bear in mind there are different perspectives on all of this.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Republicans are saying, why did you show up disrupting this press conference?
--:-- Claudia Grisales: And so forth. But in any event, he ends up on the ground, face down, if I remember correctly.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: What are Democrats saying about this?
--:-- Claudia Grisales: They're calling it an assault. Some said this is a defining moment for the country, and it's part of a series of actions by the administration signaling a new era of authoritarian rule.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And as we know already, President Trump's decision to send the National Guard and U.S. Marines into L.A. is set off a firestorm, and this is on top of months of bitter disagreements over the administration's aggressive immigration policies.
--:-- Claudia Grisales: So this just adds to an already volatile situation. Take a listen to Padilla after the incident.
--:-- Senator Alex Padilla: If this is how the Department of Homeland Security responds to a senator with a question, you can only imagine what they're doing to farmers, to cooks, to day laborers.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And you can hear him getting emotional there again.
--:-- Claudia Grisales: So for hours yesterday, Democrats took to the Senate floor to denounce what happened.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said he was sickened by the footage and called for a full investigation.
--:-- Claudia Grisales: Now, I did notice that Secretary Noem said after the incident she did meet with Padilla for a little while.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: What else has Homeland Security said?
--:-- Claudia Grisales: Right. And initially, the department accused Padilla of, quote, disrespectful political theater.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: They said he didn't comply with requests to back away.
--:-- Claudia Grisales: And she said that it was not clear who he was, that no one knew who he was.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: I mean, they were at least 10, 15 feet apart when he was announcing his name.
--:-- Claudia Grisales: So it's possible that she could not hear him. But clearly they met and not much was resolved.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And of course, he did announce his name.
--:-- Claudia Grisales: Are other Republicans talking here?
--:-- Steve Inskeep: I was with a group of reporters last night who spoke to Senate Majority Leader John Thune just outside the Senate chamber.
--:-- Claudia Grisales: And he said he was waiting to hear from all the relevant parties before saying any more about the incident, other than saying it would be treated as if any other incident involved any other senator.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: But his counterpart at the other side of the Capitol wasn't waiting.
--:-- Claudia Grisales: House Speaker Mike Johnson said Padilla acted, quote, wildly inappropriate and he should be censured.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: It's a reminder of a very politically charged moment over the president's immigration tactics and the fallout that continues.
--:-- Claudia Grisales: NPR's Claudia Grisales, thanks so much.
--:-- Claudia Grisales: Thank you.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Some other news now. The House voted to claw back money that Congress had allocated for PBS, NPR, and the public media system for the next two years.
--:-- Michelle Martin: The Senate still has to approve the measure. This is the closest public media has come to losing its federal funding.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: All right. Well, listen, NPR covers all stories as fairly as we can, and that includes this story that involves NPR itself and its hundreds of local stations.
--:-- Michelle Martin: NPR media correspondent David Fulkenflick is on the line, and we will note that no NPR corporate leader or news executive has had a hand in the coverage you about to hear David good morning.
--:-- David Fulkenflick: Good morning Steve.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: So this is called rescission. This is a process where the president asks Congress to cut money it had previously appropriated and Congress can agree by a simple majority vote.
--:-- David Fulkenflick: So what is in the bill that got through one of two houses yesterday?
--:-- Steve Inskeep: So the larger part was that more than $8 billion was pulled back from foreign aid that had already been approved.
--:-- David Fulkenflick: But in this case, what we're looking at is $1.1 billion, small change in the grand scheme of things, but that was to fund public broadcasting, all of it, mostly local, public television and radio stations for the next two years.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: This was something built on, in some ways, years of resentment, but also hearings earlier this year.
--:-- David Fulkenflick: There are two objections about how much money is spent, but also what kind of news coverage and programming is put on the air.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Let's hear from Ohio Republican Jim Jordan. He summed it up this way.
--:-- Jim Jordan: This bill is real simple. Don't spend money on stupid things and don't subsidize biased media.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Now, here's the funny thing you will hear from some public media officials, particularly NPR's representatives.
--:-- David Fulkenflick: The law passed by Congress at the outset decades ago explicitly protects public media against pressure from all federal officials over its content.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Presumably that includes Congress.
--:-- David Fulkenflick: This, of course, is a small cut towards reducing the deficit, but also clearly based on the fight over whether or not there's bias in its news coverage.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: All right. This has been a generations-old fight.
--:-- David Fulkenflick: Republicans have always pushed back against public media, even though we know from experience that a great number of them listen.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: But they've ultimately supported it. What's changed here?
--:-- David Fulkenflick: I think that you've seen the culture wars.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: I used to cover Congress a generation ago.
--:-- David Fulkenflick: It used to be Congress led by people like then House Speaker Newt Gingrich wanted this as an issue.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And now you're seeing the balance of power within the Republican conference in the House of Representatives anyway, want this as a win.
--:-- David Fulkenflick: There are a few Republicans who hold off on that. There's Mark Amaday. He's a Republican from Nevada.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: He voted against this. He said, quote, I agree, we must make meaningful cuts to shrink our federal deficit.
--:-- David Fulkenflick: However, I'd be doing a disservice to thousands of rural constituents in my district if I did not fight to keep their access to the rest of the world and news on the air.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Rural constituents because NPR covers the entire country.
--:-- David Fulkenflick: How important, though, is the public money to NPR and PBS?
--:-- Steve Inskeep: There are other sources of funding. You know, on its face, it would seem to be not as important to NPR, a modest amount of money, but it could be huge for public radio and television stations.
--:-- David Fulkenflick: Our chief executive, Catherine Marr warned about stations going dark and Americans being sort of in news deserts.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And it would undermine the system.
--:-- David Fulkenflick: It could really hit the networks much harder than the amount of money they directly get from the feds would suggest.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Now this goes to the Senate. What can we expect there?
--:-- David Fulkenflick: Well, I think you have to look at, in particular, moderates from purple states, especially those perhaps up for reelection next year.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Think of Tom Tillis in North Carolina, Susan Collins, who's already expressed some concerns over the foreign aid measure part of the bill.
--:-- David Fulkenflick: Both of them are in states led by Democratic governors and their Republicans up for reelection next year.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: But so far, other than Alaska's Lisa Murkowski, you're seeing few Republicans come out of the woodworks to explicitly assert that she's there for public media.
--:-- David Fulkenflick: It may be another razor-thin vote in a closely divided institution.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: NPR's David Falkenflick, thanks.
--:-- David Fulkenflick: You bet.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And that's up first for this Friday, June 13th. I'm Steve Inskey. And I'm Michelle Martin.
--:-- Michelle Martin: The U.S. faces a housing crisis and growing threats from climate change. One European city is tackling both problems at once, and leaders of American cities are paying attention.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: These climate researchers, they kept repeating one word over and over. Vienna, Vienna, Vienna. Lessons from Vienna.
--:-- Michelle Martin: Listen to the Sunday story this weekend right here in the Up First podcast. Vienna waits for you.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Today's episode of Up First was edited by Alex Leff, G.D. Dubon, Jason Breslow, Emily Kopp, Lisa Thompson, and Alice Wolfley.
--:-- Michelle Martin: It was produced by Ziad Butch, Katie Klein, and Christopher Thomas.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: We get engineering support from Nisha Hines.
--:-- Michelle Martin: Our technical director is Carly Strange, and our executive producer is Jay Shaler.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Join us again.
--:-- Michelle Martin: This message comes from NPR's sponsor, Odoo Business Management Software.
--:-- Announcer: Some say Odoo is like fertilizer because it promotes growth. Others say it's a magic beanstalk, scaling with efficiency. Odoo, exactly what a business needs. Sign up today at odoo.com.
--:-- Michelle Martin: This message comes from the Nature Conservancy.
--:-- Announcer: Nature is common ground for everyone, and uniting to protect nature can help solve today's challenges and create a thriving tomorrow for future generations. Discover why at nature.org slash NPR.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Support for NPR and the following message come from Pete and Jerry's Eggs.
--:-- Announcer: Their new organic pasture-raised eggs come from hens that roam lush pastures and enjoy a USDA-certified organic diet. The result? Delicious, ethical, healthy eggs, as nature intended. Learn more at PeteAndJerrys.com.
