Trump and Zelenskyy Feud, DOGE Savings Claims, Hamas Releases Four Hostage Bodies
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How did the Trump-Zelenskyy feud begin?
Works every time. Well. I get that. Not quite every time. President Trump is pressuring Ukraine's president with personal attacks.
Trump called Zelensky a dictator. Zelensky accused Trump of spreading misinformation. They both agree the war in Ukraine should end, so why are they so far apart on how to get there?
I'm Steve Inskeep with Michelle Martin, and this is Up First from NPR News. Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency claims to have trimmed billions of dollars from the federal budget.
What? Musk and Doge are doing is more cosmetic symbolic changes that won't save money, but might sound good.
Our correspondent added up the receipts and found a different number. What's the real bottom line?
And Hamas released the bodies of four Israeli hostages today. What's known about them and the circumstances in which they died? Stay with us. We'll give you the news you need to start your day.
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President Trump is escalating his personal attacks on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, calling him a dictator.
Trump is pressuring the Ukrainian to submit to peace talks that so far have not included Ukraine. The U.S. also pressed Zelensky to sign an agreement that would share Ukraine's mineral rights with the United States. Zelensky has said Ukraine needs to be included in any negotiations, and it's in this context that the American president made a stream of remarks about the Ukrainian leader.
NPR White House correspondent Franco Ordonez is here to tell us more about this. Good morning, Franco.
Good morning, Michelle.
So tell us more about these dictator comments. What's the backstory here?
Yeah, I mean, what Trump called Zelensky a dictator without elections, basically echoing Russian talking points that Zelensky is an illegitimate leader and that Ukraine needs new elections. Now, in that same social media post, Trump also mocked Zelensky as a, quote, modestly successful comedian who basically tricked the U.S. into spending billions and billions of dollars on the war. Trump also appeared to blame Zelensky for the Russian invasion. All this as Zelensky has raised concerns about, as Steve said, Ukraine being excluded from U.S. negotiations with Russia over ending the war. Here's Trump talking about it on Tuesday.
Today I heard, oh, well, we weren't invited. Well, you've been there for three years. You should have ended it three years. You should have never started it. You could have made a deal.
Now, just to be very, very clear, Ukraine did not start the war. Russia did. But Trump also suggested that Zelensky's popularity had fallen as low as 4%. It's actually over 40%, 50%.
So, okay, it's over 50%. Okay. I think it would be helpful here to go back into the history, dating back to the first Trump administration. I'm talking about the history between these two men. Remind us of that. And how does this play into what's happening now?
Yeah, I mean, it was that first call with Zelensky back in 2019 where Trump asked for a favor to dig up dirt on Vice President Biden that kicked off Trump's first impeachment. I did speak with Andrea Kendall-Taylor at the Center for New American Security, and she says Trump never really respected Zelensky and continues to carry a lot of negative baggage about him and Ukraine.
That definitely colors the lens through which he is approaching these negotiations with Russia and his sidelining of Zelensky in the process.
Now, of course, it's a complex relationship. And like many of Trump's relationships with foreign leaders, it can really be hot or cold depending on the circumstances.
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