On today’s show: What is USAID, the U.S. Agency for International Development? And why do Trump and Elon Musk want to gut it? NPR has more. Trump says President McKinley made the U.S. prosperous through tariffs and cites him as inspiration for his own tariff plan. Historians told the Washington Post that Trump has an incomplete understanding of our 25th president. How worried should you be about bird flu, and what could it mean for your health? Vox’s Jess Craig explains. Plus, the future of the Gaza ceasefire deal hinges on Trump and Netanyahu’s meeting today, former Spain football chief Luis Rubiales is on trial for kissing player Jenni Hermoso without consent after the team won the 2023 World Cup, and how a former NBA coach could cash in big if the Chiefs win the Super Bowl. Today’s episode was hosted by Shumita Basu.
Full Episode
Good morning. It's Tuesday, February 4th. I'm Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today. On today's show, why Trump keeps referencing the original tariff man president. How worried should we be about bird flu? And a critical meeting between Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. But first, it's been a dramatic few days at USAID, the U.S. Agency for International Development.
After Elon Musk's team entered USAID's headquarters over the weekend and announced his intentions to shut down the agency, staffers were told in a late-night email not to report into work on Monday. Then yesterday, workers showed up to find the lobby entrance was blocked by yellow tape. When some Democrats tried to enter the agency's headquarters, they were initially blocked by federal officers.
Congressman Jamie Raskin was one of them. Here's what he told NPR.
Well, I represent thousands of federal workers and a lot of them work in foreign aid and at USAID. And I wanted to go and see what's happening. They told me they were locked out of their workplace. And sure enough, we got inside and they said it had been closed.
And all of the workers there were told to be teleworking, which is also, I understand, against the law under one of Trump's new executive orders. But it's an attempt really to shut down an essential government function that
Now, Secretary of State Marco Rubio says he's the acting administrator of the agency, even though USAID is an independent body and has been for 60 years. And he appeared to walk back plans for a full shutdown, saying the agency's functions should be overhauled.
Also yesterday, Democratic Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii told The Wall Street Journal that he would block all of Trump's State Department nominees, effectively preventing Trump from installing his foreign policy team. Schatz said he'll delay those nominations from getting through until the administration's attack on foreign aid agencies ends.
So how did USAID, which funds disaster relief, medical services, access to clean water and other programs around the world, become the focus of President Trump and Elon Musk's efforts to slash federal spending? Here's what Trump told reporters on the tarmac outside of Air Force One on Sunday.
It's been run by a bunch of radical lunatics and we're getting them out. USAID run by radical lunatics and we're getting them out and then we'll make a decision.
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