Trump Pushes Hamas Disarmament, Ukraine Peace Talks, A Year Of DOGE
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President Trump doubles down on demanding Hamas disarm after meeting with Israel’s prime minister, and warned Iran not to rebuild its nuclear program.
Ukraine’s president presses the White House for decades-long U.S. security guarantees as part of a proposed peace deal with Russia.
And a year after DOGE’s push to shrink government, agencies are smaller, spending is higher, and millions of Americans’ data remains in play.
Want more analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? Subscribe to the Up First newsletter.
Ukraine’s president presses the White House for decades-long U.S. security guarantees as part of a proposed peace deal with Russia.
And a year after DOGE’s push to shrink government, agencies are smaller, spending is higher, and millions of Americans’ data remains in play.
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 Ruth Sherlock, Anna Yukhananov, Mohamad ElBardicy, and Alice Woelfle.
It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas and Christopher Thomas.
We get engineering support from Stacey Abbott. And our technical director is Carleigh Strange.
Our Supervising Senior Producer is Vince Pearson.
(0:00) Introduction
(03:13) Trump Pushes Hamas Disarmament
(07:25) Ukraine Peace Talks
(10:45) A Year Of DOGE
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Michelle. Good morning. Good morning, Layla. Only two more days left in 2025, which means I'm eating everything in sight. Same. Like her job. Like it is kind of, it's kind of our job. Yeah. But okay. So that means there's two more days to stand up for public media before the end of the year. Yes. This is the last week of the year. And the last week of the year is a critical fundraising period for NPR. And your donation today will help public radio as we enter our first full year without federal funding. And thank you so much. If you are already an NPR plus supporter, or if you have already made your year end gift. Yeah, because that is how we continue to do this work and bring you this podcast every day. And people who support us include listeners like Tim in Washington who says we're in this together and need to support each other and make sure knowledge is spread. Programs like Up First help me get through my commute and keep me informed each day. Tim, you know what? Thank you. That's what it's all about. Thank you, Tim. Yeah. Thank you, Tim. And you can join the community of public radio supporters today by signing up for NPR. Plus signing up unlocks a bunch of perks like bonus episodes and more from across NPR's podcast. Plus you get to feel good about supporting public media while you listen. Join us at plus dot NPR dot org. Israel's prime minister met with President Trump again. Trump rushed off Israeli attacks in Gaza and demanded that Hamas disarm. If they don't disarm as they agree to do, they agree to it and then they'll be held to pay. So does the peace plan finally move out of phase one? I'm Michelle Martin with Lele Fado and this is Up First from NPR News. The Kremlin says Ukraine tried to hit one of Vladimir Putin's homes, but Ukraine's president said the accusation is a lie to kill peace talks and continue Russia's war. Will it undermine already flailing negotiations to end the violence? President Trump and Elon Musk promised to save a trillion dollars in federal spending. They didn't and now doge is disbanded. We look back at doge and how the effort to lay off workers continues. Stay with us. We'll give you the news you need to start your day. Stay tuned for the following announcements and messages from our sponsors. This message comes from Schwab. At Schwab, you can get everything from self-directed investing to full service wealth management all in one place. No matter your investing goal, life stage, amount to invest or know how, you can invest your way with Schwab. This message comes from BetterHelp. Your brain has limited storage, so why is it still holding on to that embarrassing moment from years ago? BetterHelp is an online therapy platform that gives you space to talk about what's taking up too much of yours. BetterHelp is now in network with more than 125 health plans, with many co-pays as low as $15 for eligible members. And if you don't have eligible insurance, you can still get 20% off your first month. Visit BetterHelp.com/NPR. Cost and coverage may vary. Discount cannot be combined with insurance. This message comes from Dell. Shop at Dell.com for Black Friday and find great PCs, like the Dell XPS-13 laptop with a long battery life and powerful performance with Intel Core processors. Upgrade your whole setup for less. Dell.com/deals. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met in Mar-a-Lago on Monday with President Trump. There's six meetings since Trump returned to office this year. The two men discussed how to move Trump's Gaza cease-fire plan into the next phase and sent a stern warning to Iran to not attempt to rebuild its nuclear or missile capacity. And PR's Michelle Kellerman has been following all this from Jerusalem and joins me now. Good morning, Michelle. Good morning, Leila. So, Michelle, there had been a lot of speculation that the two men could be at odds over moving on to phase two of the Gaza cease-fire plan. Critics accused Netanyahu and his government of dragging their feet on that. Was there any friction that we could see in the meeting? Well, it was quite the opposite in public, at least. You know, the two men were really praising each other. Netanyahu said that Trump is getting the Israel prize, which is usually only given to Israelis. And Trump said that Israel probably wouldn't still exist if it hadn't been for Netanyahu's wartime leadership. He again said that he thinks that Netanyahu should be pardoned rather than face a corruption trial. And the other thing the two men agreed on was the need for Hamas to give up its power and weapons in Gaza. Here's Trump.
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