Pushback On Trump's Russia Policy, Competitive Midterm Races, DOJ Noncitizen Voting
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1Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is taking his concerns about delayed U.S. weapons and intelligence directly to Congress as lawmakers in both parties question President Trump’s approach to Russia.
Republicans are spending heavily to defend traditionally conservative territory as Democrats expand the midterm map two weeks before Election Day.
The Justice Department has charged 28 California voters it says are noncitizens while asking a federal judge to stop thousands of other ballots from being counted.
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Today’s episode of Up First was edited by Rebekah Metzler, Megan Pratz, Shannon Bond, Mohamad ElBardicy and Alice Woelfle.
It was produced by Iman Maani and Nia Dumas.
Our director is Christopher Thomas.
We get engineering support from Carleigh Strange.
Our technical director is Zac Coleman.
And our Supervising Senior Producer is Vince Pearson.
(0:00) Introduction
(1:54) Trump Russia Ukraine
(5:36) Midterm Latest
(9:20) CA DOJ Election Feud
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NPR Privacy Policy
Republicans are spending heavily to defend traditionally conservative territory as Democrats expand the midterm map two weeks before Election Day.
The Justice Department has charged 28 California voters it says are noncitizens while asking a federal judge to stop thousands of other ballots from being counted.
Want more analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? Subscribe to the Up First newsletter.
Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.
Today’s episode of Up First was edited by Rebekah Metzler, Megan Pratz, Shannon Bond, Mohamad ElBardicy and Alice Woelfle.
It was produced by Iman Maani and Nia Dumas.
Our director is Christopher Thomas.
We get engineering support from Carleigh Strange.
Our technical director is Zac Coleman.
And our Supervising Senior Producer is Vince Pearson.
(0:00) Introduction
(1:54) Trump Russia Ukraine
(5:36) Midterm Latest
(9:20) CA DOJ Election Feud
See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.
NPR Privacy Policy
A bipartisan group of lawmakers pushes back on President Trump's overtures to Russia. Ukraine's president brought his concerns to some of those members of Congress. He told him the Pentagon is delaying already paid for missile shipments. I'm Steve Innsky, with A Martinez, and this is up first from NPR News. For two weeks until Election Day, Republicans are pouring money into races in Kansas, Mississippi, and other places they've rarely had to fight for. Democrats are spending there too, so where is each party deciding to go all in? And the Justice Department is escalating its fight with California over allegations of non-citizens voting. Last week, it sued the state to stop thousands of ballots. How is that connected to a series of new criminal cases? Stay with us, we've got 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. Support for this podcast and the following message come from Carvana, where selling your car takes minutes, not weekends. Get a real offer online in minutes, they'll even pick it up from your driveway. Sell your car today at Carvana.com, pick up fees may apply. 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. And Republicans are opposed to President Trump's friendlier stance toward Russia. Senators from both parties are criticizing Trump's decision to lift diesel sanctions. The president said that move was meant to head off high energy prices ahead of the midterm elections. He's also paused sharing military intelligence with Ukraine. In a moment, we'll discuss all this with former U.S. ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul. We begin with the news. NPR's Emily Fang is with us this morning. Emily, so first run through what President Trump has done to roll back pressure on Russia. Okay. Here's just a brief list. He's had the Treasury Department lift sanctions on Russian diesel. He's effectively suspended a sanctions bill. He just signed into law that was named in honor of the late Senator Lindsey Graham. He said yesterday he was willing to sit down with China's Xi Jinping and Russia's Vladimir Putin to talk about the war in Ukraine, even if Ukraine's leader is not there. And then he cited a Ukrainian woman he heard speak about the loss of lives as a reason to end the war. She blames a lens. She said he's killing our men. And the fact is she said that it was very poignant. She said our men are dying. Our men have no legs.
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