[MUSIC]
>> Voders in six states picked their midterm candidates. >> Iowa Republicans rejected President Trump's choice for governor. And Democrats chose a more moderate candidate to try and flip the states Senate seat. We run down the results from Iowa and across the country.
>> I'm Leila Faldin, that's a Martinez and this is up first from NPR News.
[MUSIC] >> Acting Attorney General Todd Blanch told Congress the Justice Department is scrapping President Trump's anti-weaponization fund. >> We are not moving forward to fund. >> Not moving forward ever. >> Correct.
>> Oh, but the part of the deal that shields Trump and his family from IRS investigations still stands. >> And President Trump named a new acting director of national intelligence to replace Tulsi Gabbard. Bill Pulti spent his career in housing with no intelligence experience, even some Republicans who's got to go.
“Stay with us and get the news you need to start your day.”
[MUSIC] >> New shows, new music, new movies, keeping up with pop culture sometimes feels like a full-time job. Thankfully, over at pop culture happy-hour, it's literally our job. We break down what's actually worth watching, listening to, and pretending you already knew about. So the next time someone says, did you see that?
You can say, yeah, obviously, follow NPR's pop culture happy-hour wherever you get your podcasts. >> Another round of primaries offer a glimpse into the midterm landscape. Last night, President Trump's pick for Governor of Iowa lost his race. The loss is a blow for Trump who has seen almost all of his chosen candidates. This cycle, sale to victory, or advance to run off elections.
Democratic voters chose candidates they hope give them the best shot at flipping congressional seats in November. >> NPR political reporter Steven Fowler has been watching all the primaries for us. He's here with some pretty important takeaways. So let's start with Iowa, a stay with a number of competitive races in November. What are the matchups look like?
>> Well, Democrats chose their nominee for U.S. Senate Republicans chose their pick for Governor. Three of the four house races are indeed viewed as the few competitive races in November. For Senate, the nominee of State House Representative Josh Turich,
“he's a Paralympian who holds a seat that voted for Trump and argued that his background and campaign strategy is the best way for Democrats to win in a red state.”
>> Primary voters agree, picking him over a progressive state senator by a two to one margin. Turich now faces Republican Congresswoman Ashley Henson, who had a nominal challenger in her race. What about Iowa's governor's race? >> Rob Sand is the Democratic nominee. He ran on a pose that is the only statewide Democratic elected official.
While Trump endorsed Republican Congressman Randy Fiendstra,
ultimately the associate press called the race for businessmen Zach Lane and a narrow victory.
That also allowed Iowa Republican voters to signal displeasure with a president. That race starts out as a true toss-up for November. >> All right, now Montana, another red state where Democrats are hopeful they could capitalize on Trump's unpopularity. Montana's first district is an open race where Democrats see a shot in this particular political environment, where Trump has lost a little bit of support from Republicans and a lot of it from basically everyone else.
The Senate race is another interesting one there. That's because of a candidate who wasn't on the ballot yesterday, independent Seth Bodnar outraged the Trump-backed U.S. attorney, and all of the Democratic candidates in another race worth watching. >> All right, so I'm in California, it takes a little while to count all the votes here. Thanks to the state's mail-in-boating laws.
“Anything that we do know based on what's been tallyed so far?”
>> Well, as you also know, in California, the top two advanced to the general election regardless of party. So for the governor's race, we do know that almost all of the 60 candidates on the ballot won't make that short list. Sorry, Baroque Diobama Shaw and Living for God and Country Demat. There is a three-person race for the top two spots, billionaire Tom Styer, former Health and Human Services Secretary, Hobby Erversera, and former Fox News host Steve Hilton, a Republican back by Trump.
This is important because it's possible that the two Democrats advance, leaving Republicans without a top-of-the-ticket champion to help them with some house races affected by redistricting. The past few weeks, we've been tracking the incumbents in both parties who have lost their primary anyone else to add to the list. Well, there are a number of older California incumbent Democrats who face challengers from younger candidates who want generational change.
So far, those older incumbents are all in first place, but November is the long way away.
After California redrew their lines late last year, several California Republicans are finding themselves in much more difficult races. Some of them retired, one became an independent, and then there's Ken Calvert and Young Kim. These two Republican lawmakers were drawn together in the nationwide redistricting war and will face off in November. And in the South Dakota Republican Governor's primary, the front runner heading into a runoff there is a political
Outsider who finished ahead of the incumbent governor, the state's sole house...
and speaker of the state house in a tight, four-way race. All right, to that is MPR political reporter Stephen Fowler, Stephen Thanks. Thank you.
The Trump administration's plan for a nearly $1.8 billion fund to pay people who claim to have
“been targets of politicized investigations are over. Yeah, that's what acting attorney general”
Todd Blanch told Congress on Tuesday. For almost two weeks, the Trump administration has faced political blowback over the idea that it would hand out money from what it called an anti-weaponization fund. MPR Justice Correspondent Ryan Lucas was watching that congressional testimony, Ryan. What was this hearing about? And what did that Blanch have to say? So Blanch was on the hill for a hearing for house lawmakers that was focused on the Justice
Department's budget, but there's been a lot of chatter about this nearly $1.8 billion fund that the department has created to compensate people who believe they were victims of politicized prosecutions. A day earlier, the Justice Department had put out a statement that it would abide by a court ruling, putting the fund on hold until at least June 12, while a lawsuit challenging it plays out the court. And then at yesterday's hearing, Blanch was asked what that
department's plans were after that date. He said that a department is dropping its plans for the fund's full stop. And Blanch then added this in an exchange with New York Democrat Grace Mang.
“The reasons for the fund, I think, were remain as important as they were before, but”
we are not moving forward with the fund. Not moving forward ever. Correct. Oh, there's no more funding. Now, Blanch was asked to put that into writing, and he said in essence, he's no reason to do that, which was caused for a bit of skepticism. Okay. So Blanch says no more fund ever, but as a legendary radio broadcaster Paul Harvey used to do, Ryan, let us know the rest of the story. Right. Well, remember, this fund was created as part of a settlement between Trump
in the Justice Department to end Trump's $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS over the League
of his tax returns. Trump wouldn't get any money from the fund, but as part of the deal, the IRS is barred from pursuing any claims and he probes any audits against Trump, his family, or his companies over past tax issues. In Blanch's hold lawmakers, that part of the settlement still stands. It is still in effect. So in other words, Trump, his family, his businesses are
“still shielded from IRS investigations of past tax returns. All right. So how did that go down with”
members in Congress? Well, look, from the beginning, Democrats have railed against this whole settlement. They say this was a slush fund for the president to dull out taxpayer money, to his supporters and allies at a time. Democrats know it went a lot of Americans are really struggling to make ends meet. And a lot of Democrats say Blanch's announcement just falls short. Senator Elizabeth Warren, for example, said that promises are not enough here. She says this
fund needs to be blocked in law. And she also noted that under this arrangement, Trump, as I just said, remain shielded from IRS scrutiny. What about Republicans? Well, yeah, Republicans are really the bigger question here. This fund has been a rare issue where we have seen a lot of members of the GOP, particularly in the Senate, publicly come out against President Trump. Many of the Republicans dislike the possibility that capital rires who attacked police on January 6, 2021 could have received
payouts. That Republican pushback has held up some of the administration's legislative priorities, including most notably funding for immigration enforcement. Now, Senate Majority Leader John Thune said yesterday he hoped that Blanch's statement would ease Republican concerns that have held up
immigration funding and give the party the votes that it needs to ultimately push that funding bill
over the line. All right, that's NPR's Ryan Lucas. Ryan, thanks a lot. Thank you. There is a new director of national intelligence. President Trump announced Tuesday that the head of the federal housing finance agency Bill Pulti will take on the intelligence role too as acting director. Pulti will replace Tulsi Gabbard, who is stepping down at the end of the month. The choice has already drawn sharp criticism for Pulti's lack of experience.
NPR White House correspondent Daniel Kurtz-Lavin is here to explain what's going on. So Daniel, who is Bill Pulti? Well, like Lila said, he is the head of the FHA which regulates Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and they guarantee home loans in the U.S. Now, Pulti's career prior to that was heavily housing related. His family owns a large home building company and he ran a firm that invested in building products. But his biographies on the FHA site and elsewhere do not show
any intelligence experience. So Daniel, maybe it's just me. But to be director of national intelligence, shouldn't you have national intelligence experience or at least intelligence experience?
Well, you sure might think so.
set up the position of DNI says all nominees must have, quote, "extensive national security
experience." But then, Pulti isn't a nominee, Trump is naming him an acting director. So he won't
“have to go through a Senate confirmation. And remember, this is really as a key position right now”
with the U.S. engaged with foreign threats around the world during a war with Iran. Now, even some Senate Republicans are skeptical of Pulti, by the way, here's Texas Republican
John Cornin when he was asked about the appointment. I don't see any evidence of any qualifications
for that job. So he was pretty blunt. Meanwhile, in GOP Senate leaders John Thune and Tom Cotton were asked about Pulti's qualifications, they just didn't have much to say yesterday. Now, in describing those qualifications in his in a social media post, Trump was vague. He said Pulti has, quote, "deep experience managing the most sensitive matters in America." But Pulti does have one attribute Trump likes, which is that he's used his position to legally pursue Trump's perceived
enemies. Okay, in what way? Well, as head of a housing agency, he has accused multiple people of mortgage fraud. There's, for example, New York Attorney General Latisha James. The administration has repeatedly attempted to prosecute her. She maintains she has done nothing wrong. Now,
“James, you remember, prosecuted Trump and the Trump organization for civil fraud. Similarly,”
the administration accused Democratic Senator of California, Adam Schiff, of this kind of fraud. Schiff has also denied wrongdoing. Schiff helped lead the Democratic effort to impeach Trump in 2019 and 2020. And the administration has also pursued Federal Reserve Board Member Lisa Cook for fraud. Trump cited that accusation in attempting to fire her. Now, Cook says she did nothing wrong, and the Supreme Court in January heard arguments in his attempt to fire her.
But that willingness to go after people that Trump does not like for any number of reasons.
“That's not new in this administration. Right, exactly. Trump even explicitly in a social media post”
less fall wrote a message addressed to then Attorney General Pam Bondi saying he wanted her to take action against James Schiff and former FBI director James Colmey. And yeah, there are others happy to go after his enemies. FBI director Cash Patel, even before he took the helm, had talked about doing so. We don't know how long Palty will be acting director, but intelligence is an entirely different avenue from housing for taking a bit of opponents.
That's MPR's Daniel Kurt Sleiband, thank a lot. Thank you.
And that's the first for Wednesday, June 3rd, I mean Martinez. And I'm Le Lafaldi. Today's episode
of "Up First" was edited by Megan Pratt's "On a Yukonon of Rebecca Metzler." How is it, Bertisi and Clancy Totti? It was produced by Zad Buch and Nia Dumas. Our director is Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from each highness our technical director, is Carly Strange and our supervising producer is Michael Lippkin. Join us again tomorrow.
