DOJ Pauses Anti-Weaponization Fund, Iran Deal Complications, California Primary

[00:00] A. Yeah. [00:01] My script says you're in your feelings. Because I am. 24-7. It says that I'm in Washington, D.C., and you're... [00:08] In your feelings. That's my resting face. In my feelings. [00:15] The Justice Department says it will abide by a court order that temporarily blocks President Trump's anti-weaponization fund. Some Senate Republicans want the White House to end it for good. I'm Leila Faldil, that's A Martinez, and this is Up First from NPR News. [00:30] Thank you. [00:34] Iran said it was done negotiating if Israel didn't stop attacking Lebanon. Trump says he called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and told him to hold off on plans to strike the Capitol. Are the U.S. and Israel's interests in the Middle East diverging? And it's primary day in six states, including California, where Democrats hope a new congressional map will help them flip up to five Republican-held seats. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's retiring in her House seat is also up to grab. Stay with us. We've got the news you need to start your day. [01:01] Bye. [01:06] Bye. [01:11] This message comes from WISE, the smart way to manage your money around the world. With WISE, you can send, spend, and receive money in over 40 currencies at the mid-market rate. Learn more at WISE.com. T's and C's apply. [01:26] The World Cup is back in the U.S. and the NPR network is covering the fans, the tensions. When two teams take the field, their nation's histories take the field alongside them. The local transformations. Just world-class soccer right here.

[01:42] And of course, the games. Follow along on and off the pitch with the NPR app. [01:48] you [01:50] The Trump administration says it will not violate a court order. The order is about the president's $1.8 billion pool of money to pay people who claim that past administrations targeted them. Democrats and Republicans in Congress have opposed the fund since it was announced. A judge temporarily blocked the administration from creating it last week. And Monday, the Justice Department said it would, quote, abide by that temporary ruling. Here to make sense of all this is NPR political reporter Elena Moore. So, [02:20] Pop it up for us. [02:21] Yeah, so this all connects back to a different lawsuit. Back in February, President Trump announced he was suing his own government over a 2019 leak of his tax records. So he sued the IRS for $10 billion. But then last month, when a federal judge in Florida overseeing that case started questioning its merits, Trump dropped the case and the administration announced a settlement where the Justice Department would start this anti-weaponization fund to compensate people who were ill. [02:51] allegedly targeted by the government for their political beliefs. And A, that drew bipartisan backlash and concerns that it could be used to pay people who were convicted for storming the Capitol on January 6th. [03:03] What did the Trump administration have to say about that? Well, in a statement on X Monday, the Department of Justice said it strongly disagrees with the court's ruling. The DOJ also defended who would qualify for this fund, saying it was available to anybody who was, quote, weaponized, targeted or persecuted, whether they were Democrat, Republican, conservative, independent or otherwise, end quote. NPR also reached out to the White House for a comment, but a White House spokesperson pointed to this same statement.

[03:33] but is paused going to eventually lead to stopped? [03:36] Right. Well, at this moment, that is unclear. Right now, it's on hold, and the federal judge in Virginia overseeing the case has to decide whether that temporary restraining order should be permanent. There's a hearing scheduled for June 12th, next week, but we really can't say how the judge will rule, and we don't know how the administration will respond. So a bit of a holding pattern right now, and that's notable because this has caused a lot of headaches for [04:06] break with the president very often. But this is an issue where there has been some rare pushback within the party. Even after the DOJ's statement yesterday about, you know, abiding by the court's decision, we saw multiple Senate Republicans push for the White House to just end the fund. Yeah. So what might this mean for the president's agenda? [04:26] Well, remember, the midterms are fast approaching, and Republicans are trying to score some legislative wins. But we've already seen this fund become a distraction. Last month, it derailed Republicans' plans to pass some $70 billion for immigration enforcement. Senate Republicans want to try again to pass it this week, but the Anti-Weaponization Fund has been complicating that because Democrats have been promising to introduce amendments that would put GOP lawmakers on the record about the fund. [04:56] result for the White House. You know, we know that as many as 30 Republicans have indicated they might support a vote to ban the fund. Also, you know, I said it was rare for GOP lawmakers to break with the president. What's more rare, A, when his base does. An economist YouGov poll from last week found that less than a third of MAGA voters support this fund. That's NPR political reporter Elena Moore. Thanks a lot.

[05:22] Thanks so much, A. [05:23] Music [05:31] Israel has not bombed Beirut today. The fact that Israel did not attack the capital is news because Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that the attack was coming and would target Hezbollah offices in Lebanon's capital. Israel's war with Lebanon has complicated President Trump's negotiations with Iran, which threatened to suspend those talks yesterday. Here to discuss the latest is NPR international correspondent Ayah Batraoui in Dubai. So walk us through what happened. [06:01] a day yesterday in Israel when Netanyahu published a video in Hebrew saying there would be no situation in which Hezbollah attacks Israeli cities while its offices in South Beirut remain off limits. And then he said he instructed the military to bomb targets in the capital. And it's part of a broader offensive by Israel and Lebanon that's been rapidly expanding. And watching all of this closely is Ron. [06:21] Exactly. Hezbollah, an Iran proxy, got into this war when it fired rockets back at Israel following months of ceasefire on its end after Israeli airstrikes killed Iran's supreme leader in February. And since then, A, Israel's invaded southern Lebanon, as you know, raising villages, displacing over a million Lebanese and killing hundreds of women and children and more than 100 paramedics, according to Lebanese authorities. [06:51] in nearly three decades. So yesterday, Iran said enough is enough. And a semi-official news outlet close to Iran's Revolutionary Guard said it was suspending talks via mediators with the U.S. over all of this. And it was only hours earlier, I'll remind you, that Trump had said Iran really wants to deal with the U.S. and told his critics in a post online to, quote, just sit back and relax. But after Iran's threats, Trump called Netanyahu and said he asked him not to raid Beirut and to turn his troops around. He says he also spoke with representatives of Hezbollah and got them

[07:21] agreed to stop shooting at Israeli soldiers in South Lebanon. And he said, quote, let's see how long this lasts, hopefully for eternity. Now, Trump and Netanyahu launched into this war on Iran together. How aligned are they now on how to get out of it? I mean, it's increasingly clear they're not and that they're actually at odds. And this is playing out in Lebanon. We know the two men had contentious calls about Iran with Trump pushing for a diplomatic solution to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran now controls, and Netanyahu pushing back. [07:51] both these men are facing elections this year. The Iran war is not popular in the U.S., but it does have broad support in Israel. And expanding the war in Lebanon derails those peace efforts with Iran. And Netanyahu put out a terse statement yesterday after his call with Trump that sounded like he was the one calling the shots. He said he told Trump Israel would bomb Beirut if Hezbollah doesn't hold its fire, that Israel's position remains unchanged, and that the military will continue to operate as planned in southern Lebanon. Now, for its part, Hezbollah says it [08:21] to the war, a full Israeli withdrawal, but it does seem the group has accepted for now this partial ceasefire according to Lebanon's embassy in Washington. [08:30] But, okay, so if, as Netanyahu says, Israel continues to operate as planned in southern Lebanon, where does that leave talks between the U.S. and Iran? [08:37] Well, mediators like Pakistan, Qatar, Turkey, you know, they were all pushing yesterday to salvage these talks. There was a flurry of calls between them and Iran yesterday. But Trump told CNBC in a phone interview yesterday that talks with Iran were taking too long. He signaled he was losing interest. When asked if he thought the talks were collapsing, he said he didn't care and thought, quote, they started to get very boring. He said the only thing he cares about is Iran not getting nuclear weapons. But right after that interview, he posted online, quote, talks are continuing at a rapid pace with Iran.

[09:07] Trawi in Dubai, thank you very much. Thanks, eh. [09:10] Music. [09:19] It's primary day in six states today. Voters will decide general election matchups in South Dakota, New Mexico, New Jersey, Montana, Iowa, and California, where the rules say the top two candidates advance regardless of party, and Democrats hope to put a new map to use. Scott Schaefer is with member station KQED in San Francisco. He's keeping an eye on some of the more interesting races. [09:49] So how realistic are their hopes of replacing Republicans with Democrats in those new districts? [09:54] Yeah, well, the new lines were designed to weaken and potentially pick off five current Republican House members. And those new lines caused one Republican incumbent to retire. Another Republican switched his party affiliation from Republican to independent. And then a third Republican who would have faced a tough road to reelection in the new district suddenly died. So flipping three of the five seats now held by Republicans will be fairly easy. But then there are two which are not at all grand slams or slam dunks, I should say. [10:24] tough races where Democrats could win if things go their way. One of those is in the Central Valley, where Republican David Valadeo is the incumbent. Now, he's given Democrats heartburn in the past, very tough to beat. And this time around, although the district is somewhat more favorable to Democrats, it's still very purple. And there are two Democrats fighting it out there. One is an assembly member and a physician. She's the more moderate candidate. And the other is a progressive,

[10:54] Ocasio-Cortez. And then you've got CD48. That includes parts of San Diego County and Riverside, including liberal Palm Springs. And we've got two top Democrats slugging it out there. One of them will likely prevail, and they're going to face the main Republican running. He's endorsed by President Trump. So come November, Democrats could pick it up, but A, it's not at all guaranteed. You know, across the country, we've seen some very contentious primaries where two or more Republicans are facing off. Any of that playing out in California? [11:24] districting longtime Republican Congressman Ken Calvert moved to a neighboring district in Riverside and Orange counties. And he is in a bitter fight with the incumbent Republican there, young Kim. She's a bit more moderate than Calvert. But these two are really pulling out the stops. They're airing ads with each claiming they're more MAGA than the other. Kim's ads have also targeted some old corruption charges against Calvert, even an incident from 25 years ago where [11:54] face off again in November. One little wrinkle, though, polls now show it's possible that come November there will actually be two Democrats and no Republicans vying for governor. That could drive down Republican turnout and affect these down-ballot races. All right, now, Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, 86-year-old San Francisco Democrat. I'm sure everyone knows her name. She's retiring at the end of her term. What does the race to replace her look like? [12:19] Yeah, well, this is a safe Democratic district, but the race to replace Pelosi has been very lively, where the future direction of the party is being debated. The frontrunner is State Senator Scott Wiener. He's authored legislation to build more housing and to confront Trump in various ways. Vying for second are a progressive city supervisor, Connie Chan. She's a favorite of unions. And Pelosi recently endorsed her, which really should boost her campaign.

[12:49] and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, but neither of them has endorsed him. He's a former software engineer. He's plowed $5 million of his own money into the race, A, in hopes of at least making it to November. Scott Schaefer is with member station KQED in San Francisco. Scott, thanks. Thank you. [13:11] And that's Up First for Tuesday, June 2nd. I'm Amy Martinez. And I'm Leila Faudil. Today's episode of Up First was edited by Jason Breslow, Tina Kraja, Megan Pratz, Mohamed El-Bardisi, and Taylor Haney. It was produced by Ziad Batch and Nia Dumas. Our director is Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Stacey Abbott. Our technical director is Carly Strange. And our supervising senior producer is Vince Pearson. Join us again tomorrow. [13:37] Thank you. [13:41] you [13:53] This message comes from CBC. Discount Dave and the Fix is the true-ish story of a fake rock star, a real trial, and what it means to stop running, face yourself, and fight to heal. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts.