Up First from NPR
Trump At The Superbowl, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Turmoil, Air Aid To Gaza
Mon, 10 Feb 2025
In a pre-Superbowl interview on Fox News, President Trump talked about his plans for the Department of Education and Gaza, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has been targeted for closure, and details from an NPR reporter's flight into Gaza with one of Jordan's humanitarian flights into the territory. Want more comprehensive 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 Roberta Rampton, Emily Kopp, Nishant Dahiya, Janaya Williams and Alice Woelfle. It was produced by Mansee Khurana, Kaity Kline and Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Arthur Laurent. And our technical director is David Greenburg.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
Chapter 1: What were President Trump's remarks during the Super Bowl interview?
President Trump was in the audience and did a wide-ranging interview that aired during the pregame show. What did he say about his plans for tariffs, Gaza, and other issues?
I'm Michelle Martin, that's A. Martinez, and this is Up First from NPR News. Employees at a U.S. agency set up to protect consumers from financial fraud have been told to stop doing any work.
Chapter 2: Why is the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in turmoil?
They're shutting down literally the cops on the beach.
What will it mean for Americans if the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau cannot function?
Chapter 3: How is Jordan providing humanitarian aid to Gaza?
And the country of Jordan has started sending humanitarian helicopter flights into Gaza. Our NPR reporter took one of the flights to get a rare look inside a territory few foreign journalists have been allowed to see. Stay with us. We've got all the news you need to start your day.
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Chapter 4: What were the public reactions to President Trump's Super Bowl appearance?
President Trump took a trip to New Orleans last night to watch the Super Bowl.
And the fans there had some mixed reaction to that. Some cheered, some booed. The game kept a whirlwind last few days for Trump, and he told reporters to expect another busy week.
NPR White House correspondent Franco Ordonez always gets cheered wherever he goes. He was traveling with the president, joins us now. So, Franco, before we get to the heavier news, let's talk about the game for a second. Tell us more about Trump taking it in.
Thanks, A. Yeah, Trump took the field about an hour ahead of the game to meet with first responders and victims of the terror attack in New Orleans on New Year's Day. And he got largely a positive reception from people who saw him that first time. But later, when they flashed a picture on the Jumbotron in his box during the national anthem. he really did get a strong mix of cheers and jeers.
Chapter 5: What were the key points from Trump's pregame show interview?
Now, Trump is the first sitting president to attend the title game. Ahead of the game, he said he thought Kansas City would win. That obviously did not happen. It was a very one-sided game. And I don't know about you, A, but I was pretty surprised by that.
No one expected what we saw in the actual game. Yeah, not even Vegas on the line. Now, Trump did an interview that aired during the pregame show. What are the highlights there?
Yeah, he says he's going to send Elon Musk to check out the Department of Education this week. And he expects more cuts like we've seen at USAID and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. But there was more questions that he took yesterday. Yeah. He actually also brought us to the cabin on his plane on Air Force One, flying to the game. This really doesn't happen very often.
And the reason was he wanted to highlight kind of the body of water that was below us.
Right now, we're flying over a thing called the Gulf of America.
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Chapter 6: What are the implications of Trump's new tariffs and foreign policies?
He was actually underscoring that executive order that he signed a couple of weeks ago, renaming the Gulf of Mexico. Now, next to him was Doug Burgum, the interior secretary. And Burgum added that the team is now calling map makers like Google Maps and Apple Maps to kind of put the name change into effect.
All right. So what else did he talk about?
Yeah, he promised to slap new 25% tariffs on all imports of steel and aluminum. That's going to happen today. On Tuesday or Wednesday, he's planning to announce reciprocal tariffs. He didn't say on what countries, but did promise that they would take effect almost immediately.
Reciprocal tariffs, and very simply, it's if they charge us, we charge them.
He also addressed the war in Ukraine. He confirmed that he's been speaking with Russian President Vladimir Putin about ending the war, but he didn't want to give any details about what they discussed.
Now, OK, new tariffs this week. There always seems to be a lot, though, in any given Trump week. So what else are you watching for?
Yeah, I think there's going to be a lot of focus on foreign policy this week. Now, Trump's expected to meet with the King of Jordan on Tuesday. That's important because he's calling for Jordan and other regional leaders to allow Palestinians from Gaza to live there. It's a plan that the Jordanians have so far rejected. Now, on the plane, he doubled down on his commitment to buy and own Gaza.
Now, he didn't outright deny the possibility of Palestinians coming to the U.S., but he did emphasize that it would be better if they stayed in the region. During those years, it would take to rebuild Gaza. And just one other thing, A, Trump is also meeting with the prime minister of India, Narendra Modi, this week. The two leaders are expected to talk trade and illegal immigration.
That's White House correspondent Franco Ordonez. Thanks a lot.
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Chapter 7: What concerns arise from the CFPB's shutdown?
it's quite troubling because the Bureau is the country's consumer finance watchdog, and it's an enforcement agency. I've talked with several CFPB staff and former staff in recent days, and they named a few big concerns. One is that a new stop work order from its new acting director halts the agency's supervision work.
They said the agency has hundreds and hundreds of employees who go across the country, who go into companies and make sure they're following important consumer protections. As Julie Margetta Morgan, who was CFPB's associate director of research and monitoring until she left the agency last month, put it, They're shutting down literally the cops on the beat.
They make sure your student loan company is actually processing your payments and that mortgage companies follow the rules put in place after the Great Recession. And there's a second big concern, which is that all of this is happening under Elon Musk, who is the CEO of Tesla and has talked about wanting his ex-company to be a whole commerce and payments platform.
And now it looks like he has access to all of CFPB's records, including company's proprietary information. That'd be a huge competitive advantage to someone like Musk. And of course, there are worries that that sensitive information will be mishandled.
I mean, it's been a mile a minute with news out of the CFPB. What's the latest?
Yeah, it's been a tumultuous few days. On Friday, staff from Elon Musk's government efficiency team were seen at CFPB headquarters, and they've gained access to those key internal systems. Then over the weekend, Trump tapped Russell Vogt as the new acting director.
Vogt was an architect of the conservative policy agenda, Project 2025, and he sent an all-staff email ordering a halt to virtually all of their work. Shortly thereafter, Vogt posted on X that he would not be drawing the agency's next round of funding from the Federal Reserve. And then just yesterday, an email was sent to all staff and contractors saying that CFPB's D.C.
headquarters would be closed for the week and that they have to work remotely.
All this kind of sounds like what we've been seeing happening with USAID.
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