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President Trump claims to have reached a breakthrough in efforts to disarm him as
him as says today it will only give up its weapons of Israel withdraws from Gaza first. Israel says it wants the weapons gone first. I'm Leila Faldin. That's Michelle Martin and this is up first from NPR News. Trump floated the idea of temporarily withdrawing his nominee for attorney general until two Republicans pushing back leave office. What would that accomplish? And a new report from the Commerce Department shows that economic growth slowed in the second quarter.
I'd say the US economy is quite resilient and strong, but it's not balanced growth.
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While it seems like everything is being called a recession indicator these days. Yeah, like the box of hamburger helper in my pantry. Or the new Apple Neo book? Or the resurgence of press on nails, or lipstick, or no lipstick, I've lost track. There is only one way to know if these are actual economic warning signs, though. Listen to the indicator from planet money on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. The day's top headlines, local stories from your community,
your next podcast binge-listen, you can have it all in one place. You're pocket. Download the NPR app today. President Trump announced that his board of peace has reached a deal with the Palestinian militant group Hamas to completely disarm Hamas is disputing that. And Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has so far been silent.
And Pierre Whitehouse correspondent Franco Ardonius is here with us in studio to bring us latest commanding from Franco. Good morning, Michelle. So what are the details of what the president is claiming? Trump said last night that quote as disarmament is completed Israeli forces will withdraw. He added that the international stabilization force will then work with a new Palestinian police force to take responsibility for Gaza. And in a statement, Trump's board of
peace also said that it had agreed to a detailed plan with the help of mediators from Qatar, Turkey, and Egypt. But the condition that Hamas will disarm was already a key part of the 20 point peace deal that the US brokered nine months ago. And the execution of that part of the deal has been stuck and the Israeli military has continued to push into Gaza.
“What are we hearing for the actual parties in the war? Israel and Hamas?”
Yeah, I mean, Michelle, like so many of these things, a lot comes down to the details and
obviously the execution of those. The problem seems to be a disagreement over what comes first,
whether it's Israel pulling out of Gaza or Hamas handing over their weapons. Now, the board of peace says quote withdraw must move in lockstep with the decommissioning, but a senior Hamas official told NPR that they would only give up their weapons if Israel withdraws from Gaza first. Now, since the October peace deal, the Israeli military has really increased the amount of territory it occupies in Gaza. And in those nine months, almost 10 months,
that since the ceasefire, Israeli attacks have killed more than 1100 people in Gaza. Now, so far, Israel leader Benjamin Netanyahu is not commented on Trump's announcement. He did meet with Trump in Washington earlier this week, but there was no indication that this came both sides really just put out very limited statements. And this is all coming us Trump and Israel are the US and Israel are still involved in another war against Iran,
which a new poll from AP finds most Americans, almost two thirds say, is not worth it. So it's entirely reasonable to try and go to ask about the political context of all this. So what is the politics of all this? Yeah, I mean, Trump could use a win on Gaza as the war in Iran shows no signs of ending the US and Iran continue to trade more strikes in a widening war that now appears to have expanded into Egypt. Alex Cohen and a veteran Republican strategist says the Iran conflict
is a ways from turning into one of those never-ending wars like the ones that have plagued past
Presidents, but he says if fighting continues and gas prices keep rising, the...
consequences. And if you look through history, you know, every president who has entered a war
“in modern times, that's gone longer than people expected, whether it was Vietnam or the war on”
terror and Iraq war, it starts to weigh on them politically. Now, the midterms are still more than three months away, so there's still time to turn things around, but they're approaching fast. And many Americans disapproved, as you noted, polls show many Americans say the war is not worth the fight. The expanding conflict is really just testing Trump's vow to ensure peace through strength versus a reality of a conflict that has lasted months longer than the president promised.
That is, N.P. White House correspondent, Franco, or Daniel Franco, thank you. Thank you, Michelle. Todd Blanche's nomination for attorney general is in limbo, Blanche's rule recall, had been the president's personal lawyer, and he's been serving as acting attorney general. Yeah, two Republican senators want guarantees about the justice department's deal with President Trump to end his IRS lawsuit. Instead of providing those assurances, Trump says he may temporarily
withdraw Blanche's nomination until the two senators leave office. And P.R. Justice correspondent Ryan Lucas, who's also here in our studios. He's covering this and he's with us now coming
“to you Ryan. Good morning. So people may remember that the Republican majority Senate has been”
very compliant in confirming the president's nominees, even ones that they said they hit serious concerns about. So why does this one seem to be in jeopardy? Well, look, the hubbub around Blanche, all senators around the settlement that Trump struck with the Justice Department to end his lawsuit against the IRS over his leaked tax returns. That deal, remember, included the creation of a
nearly $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund, Blanche says that's dead. There's also a related
immunity deal for Trump, his family, businesses that shields them from IRS audits of past tax returns. That Blanche says it's still in effect. Now, the push back in the Senate right now is coming from two Republican senators, Texas's John Coran and Tom Tillis of North Carolina. They are both members of the Senate Judiciary Committee that has to vote on Blanche's nomination. And they want written guarantees from the Justice Department about this settlement that the anti-weaponization
fund is indeed dead. And about the scope of the tax immunity deal, they want that before they will support Blanche. The two sides have been negotiating for days, but the senators say they still don't have the assurances they need to get to, yes. And then yesterday President Trump floated the idea of temporarily withdrawing Blanche's nomination. What would that accomplish? Well, look, either way Blanche would be in charge of the Justice Department, either he gets confirmed or he'll
stay on as the acting attorney general and to be clear, the White House hasn't actually withdrawn his nomination yet. But look, Trump's suggestion was that he could temporarily withdraw Blanche's nomination if Coran and Tillis don't back down. And Trump said he then could just put Blanche back up for the job once Tillis and Coran are out of office. And yes, both senators are leaving office at the end of the year in no small part because of Trump. Trump has even crowed about that.
He pointed out that he had refused to endorse either Coran or Tillis. And he said that he may have ended their political careers. Trump, in fact, endorsed Coran's primary challenger,
which was a significant blow to Coran's ultimately unsuccessful reelection bid. But there is
a risk to Trump's gambit here if he follows through. And that's because there's no guarantee that the Senate math is any better after the midterms. But Coran and Tillis, as I said, they are leaving office at the end of the year. And now we see them sticking to their demands on Blanche, both sides, the Justice Department and the senators say they are trying to work all of this out. Staying on the politics of this for a second, is this hold up just a blip or do we think it's
something bigger? Well, look, I can't speak to the broader internal politics of the GOP, but focusing just on Blanche's nomination, he does have the support of the other 10 Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee. But there are a number of senators in the full Republican caucus that have similar concerns about this Trump IRS deal as Coran and Tillis. Coran and also had this to say to reporters yesterday about efforts to resolve all of this.
If this were just between me and Todd Blanche, we would have worked this out, but apparently he's getting some pushback from higher ups at the White House. I don't know who, but this doesn't
“need to be this hard. I think it's worth stressing here that Trump would rather at this point”
with draw Blanche's nomination than provide guarantees about the tax immunity deal that benefits
him, benefits his family and their businesses. That is the bottom line as of right now.
That is and Pierce Ryan Lucas Ryan. Thank you. Thank you. A new report for the Commerce Department suggests the economy has largely weathered the shock of higher energy prices caused by the war with Iran. The U.S. has grossed domestic product,
Grew at an annual pace of one and a half percent during the spring quarter.
than the economy saw earlier in the year. And Pierce Scott Horsey is on the line with us now
“good morning Scott to you. Good morning Michelle. So what's driving this economic growth?”
As usual, consumer spending is the biggest engine in the economy and Americans continue to spend pretty freely during the spring, even as gasoline prices were soaring. We also continue to see a lot of investment by big tech companies on data centers to power the artificial intelligence boom. Cathy Busjansik is chief economist at the insurance and financial services company nationwide. She says those are the pillars that are really propping up the economy at a time when we're seeing
slower growth in other areas like exports or housing. I'd say the U.S. economy is quite resilient and strong, but it's not balanced growth. It's really heavily reliant on consumer spending and AI investment that you'd like to see a broadening out is activity across different sectors. The GDP number would have looked better had it not been for a big jump in imports during the spring after President Trump's emergency tariffs were struck down by the Supreme Court.
A lot of imports may have seen a window after that to bring in cargo. Remember the D in GDP stands for domestic, so imports are a subtraction from that. How much is inflation weighing on that economic growth? It's not helping, you know, if consumers have to pay more for every gallon of gas and at least less money in their pockets to spend on everything else. And that's especially true for low-income households. The war with Iran has caused higher inflation on average and
people's wages are not keeping up with those higher prices. So far, that is not for most people to cut back on spending, but the Jansik says it has pushed them to dip into savings or put more of their spending on the credit card. Now there's some limit to the degree that they can do that,
“but I think for a short period of time, probably continue to see the consumer spending at a”
and at least a solid piece in the third quarter. Some analysts say a lot of today's spending
growth has been driven by upper-income families who are feeling pretty wealthy thanks to the moving stock market and rising home values. If there were to be a downturn in the stock market, though, that extra spending might dry out. Speaking about housing, though, the housing market has been in a slump. What effect is that having on GDP? Yeah, home sales are really anemic and that is a drag on economic growth. Earlier this year, mortgage rates briefly dipped below 6% and it looked as though
we might start to see a modest recovery in the housing market, but the Jansik says the war with Iran and rising inflation and now pushing mortgage rates in the wrong direction. Freddie Mac says the average cost of a 30-year home loan is now climbed to 6.66%. Not good news for the housing market,
“which has essentially has been stalled for several years now. Imagine how strong the growth”
would be if we could get the housing market, I can see. You know, whenever we talk about GDP, it's helpful to think compared to what compared to a recession when the economy is shrinking, a growth rate of 1.5% looks pretty good, but it is slower growth that we had last year and it's significantly slower than what we saw during most of the Biden administration. That is
Emperor Scott Horsey, Scott. Thank you. You're welcome. And that's up first for Friday, July 31st,
I'm Michelle Martin. And I'm Leyla Falded. Today's episode of up first was edited by Rebecca Metzler, Kate Bartlett, Anna Yucananoff, Raphael Naum, H. J. Mai, and Ali Schwitzer. It was produced by Ziyad Bunch and Nia Dumas. Our director is Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support for Nisha Hines. Our technical director is Zach Coleman. And our executive producer is Jay Shailer. Join us again on Monday.
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