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It's in retaliation to a foiled surprise attack on U.S. bases in Jordan. Do the attacks and counter attacks mean a return to all out war. I'm Michelle Martin Veslela Fattel and this is up first
from NPR News. Republican Senator Rand Paul wants to hold Dr Anthony Fauci in contempt. Fauci
repeatedly invoked the Fifth Amendment during a contentious Senate hearing. Why did he refuse to answer any questions? And the new Trump administration rule is making it even harder to seek asylum. What you're really seeing is a concerted attack on asylum from all fronts by the administration. asylum cases can now be sent without interviewing applicants to immigration court where asylum
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U.S. bases in Jordan came under Iranian attack. Saudi Arabia joined Americans attacks in Iraq on Wednesday. NPR's Janeraf joins us now to talk about this from a man Jordan. Good morning, Jane. Good morning, Lila. So just a few days ago, it looked as if the U.S. and Iran were pausing attacks to give diplomacy a try, and now we're back to attacks. What happened? Sent comes as it launched a heavy wave of strikes against Iran overnight. It said the targets
included military command centers and missile facilities. That's in retaliation for what the U.S. military called a surprise Iranian attack on Wednesday. At the Muafapazalti Air Base in the Jordanian Desert where the U.S. has a major military presence. It's also where three U.S. soldiers were killed in an Iranian attack this month. Iran itself launched more missiles at U.S. forces in Jordan on Thursday. The U.S. and Jordan said they were shot down. But a lot of analysts see this as Iran
testing the U.S. under a harder line regime that succeeded supreme leader Ali Khamani, who was killed by the U.S. at the beginning of the war. Yeah, and then the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, which has not been publicly involved before attacked Iraq. Tell us what's happening there. Yeah, Saudi Arabia has blamed Iran back militias in Iraq for damaging attacks on one of its
major oil refineries. But the Iraqi government says Saudi Arabia has never provided any evidence.
In retaliation, the U.S. and Saudi on Wednesday launched a wave of air strikes against at least
“seven militia bases, killing at least 20 people. And the key thing, as you know, Leila, these are”
militias fostered and supported by Iran that flourished after the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Some of them are now officially part of government forces. So that puts the new Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Al-Zadi in a huge bind. He promised President Trump and Washington meeting that he would bring
Those militias fully under government control.
and politics, it's proved impossible for previous governments and could be equally difficult for him.
“So the conflict is widening even further, it seems. What happens now with Iraq?”
Well, there's definitely heightened tension. The Iraqi Prime Minister held an emergency security meeting yesterday. Iraq has rejected attacks on its sovereignty, which is reference to U.S. and Saudi strikes, and they've noted that U.S. forces have already withdrawn from Iraqi bases at the Iraqi request. They are, of course, those still in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. Fighters and Iranian security advisors who are killed in those strikes were buried yesterday.
Here's a bit of what that sounded like.
That funeral procession in Baghdad included a chance of death to Saudi rulers and death to America.
The chief of staff of paramilitary groups attached to the Iraqi defense ministry said no one can
“disarm them. And the Iran-backed militias themselves, who called themselves the resistance,”
gave the Iraqi government a deadline of next Thursday to respond to the U.S. Saudi attacks. That deadline is a day after a hugely significant Shia religious commemoration already underway. It's where millions of people gather in Carbelah, the Holy City of Carbelah. It's a month-long event where religious sentiment is particularly high, commemorating the Battle of Carbelah and the killing of a mom Hussein, 1400 years ago. Many Shia's believe what's happening now
continues with ACA's historical injustice. That's NPR's Jainar Afin. I'm Man Jordan. Thank you,
Jain. Thank you. Senator Rand Paul is threatening to hold the government's former top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, in contempt of Congress. That after yesterday on Capitol Hill,
“Paul and other Republican lawmakers ask Fauci about the origins of the COVID pandemic and”
berated him about the government's response. Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment over 100 times that didn't answer. We have NPR's Ari Daniel with the latest good morning, Ari. Good morning. So what exactly was this hearing about? Well, Senator Paul subpoenaed Fauci to appear before the committee on Homeland Security and governmental affairs. Paul has argued for years that the SARS-CoV-2 virus came from a lab in China and says that Fauci who helped lead the federal COVID-19
response conceal this. Fauci strongly denies the accusation. He says the scientific evidence suggests the virus spilled over naturally from an animal into a human and many vyrologist's degree. Okay. And how did yesterday's hearing unfold? As expected, Paul's opening statement accused Fauci of funding the very research that may have helped engineer the virus. He encouraged Fauci to make a public apology. I hope today, Dr. Fauci, will come clean.
Admit it was a mistake to fund dangerous research in China. In his opening statement, Fauci said he believes Paul has a quote unhinged obsession with him. The sole reason he is calling me before this committee is to get me to say something. Anything that could vindicate his repeated public pledges that I end up in his words, quote, "behind bars." After that opening statement, Fauci didn't say anything else besides invoking the fifth amendment to every question, even the most
benign, like what color tie he was wearing. Oh wow. Fauci has testified a lot about these issues in the past. Why invoked his right against self-incrimination now? Before President Biden left office, he granted Fauci a blanket pardon covering him from 2014 through early 2025. But legal experts say Fauci could still be accused of perjury, if say he said something at yesterday's hearing, that contradicted what he said in the past under oath. It's worth noting that invoking the fifth
amendment is not an admission of wrongdoing. Jennifer Mason, Mack Award is a law professor at the University of Notre Dame saying that you are protected by the Constitution is just something you're entitled to do as a citizen of the United States. What happens next? Paul has already said he plans to hold a vote next week on whether Fauci should be held in contempt of Congress, and affirmative vote could eventually lead to a fine, jail time, or both. And what kind of
longer term impacts might this hearing have? Right. So George's Benjamin, the head of the American Public Health Association, told me that a hearing like this combined with recent cuts to federal
Agencies, it all adds up to undermining public health in the U.
It's inability to be found effectively to handle virus, needles, cyclists, etc.
Benjamin says the need for educated and evident-spaced health policy is more urgent than ever. Democratic Senator Andrew Kim said at yesterday's hearing, it may be harder to find people to do those things. These firing in these cuts, they're creating a chilling effect.
“Honestly, a chilling effect for the next generation of people who might consider stepping up”
to serve our nation, especially he says if they fear attacks like this. That's NPR's already annual, thank you, Ari. Thank you, Leila. A new Trump administration rule says asylum officers can send certain cases directly to immigration court. The goal is to reduce the backlog of asylum applications, but NPR's analysis shows this is one more way that government has chipped away at a program that thousands of people rely
on to escape violence and persecution. NPR immigration policy correspondent, Hemina Bustillo, is with me now. Good morning. Good morning. So what is this change? There are two ways that people can get asylum, which is illegal status. One is for people who the administration is trying to deport in a department of justice immigration court where immigrants can argue that they should not be deported. The others by applying directly with the branch of Homeland Security called the U.S.
citizenship and immigration services. An asylum officer would usually interview them to hear directly about their cases and either let them advance or they could be referred to one of those immigration courts. The new rule from U.S. this week says that asylum officers can send asylum
“seekers directly to immigration court without that interview. What are the standards for asylum?”
Immigrants can only claim asylum if they're already physically present in the U.S. and typically within a year of arriving. A siles need to prove a fear of returning to their home country based on one of five protected characteristics. Race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular
social group or political opinion. Now there are over three million cases waiting for a decision.
How does this latest policy fit into the administration's other changes to the asylum process? On Trump's first day in office, he shut down the application immigrants could use to schedule appointments to begin that asylum process. A asylum applicant said every stage of this system since then from interviews with asylum officers after hearings and immigration court or just while waiting for their next scheduled appointment have been at risk of being detained.
“And there have been delays and denials. At one point last year, the administration paused the review”
of all asylum applications. I spoke with lawyers like Ruby Powers who say that they're seeing more cases denied. We normally have a lot of approvals and we're not seeing that with the same quality of case types. It's as if the rubric, you know, is the valuation of the case types has changed because an asylum case approval is a rare to you now. And I analyzed immigration court data that shows asylum approvals are at their lowest rate in two decades. The White House has a
decline to respond to this. But in April, it promoted record low asylum approvals at immigration courts. In that statement, the White House said that they have replaced activist judges who, quote, slow walked deportations and granted asylum at sky high rates. Here's Matt Joseph, a former asylum officer who now works for the advocacy group, the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies. What you're really seeing as a concerted attack on asylum from all fronts by the administration,
they're really trying to keep people out of the asylum process to begin with. And if they are already in it, they are trying to find a way to take people out of it. So as these opportunities narrow, what happens to those who are waiting or even granted asylum? For those who have already been approved, their lives have changed. New policies make a siles in eligible for some safety net programs for food and health care and small business loans, for example. For those still waiting
on an approval or even a denial, new rules could mean delays in receiving work permits. And they're also at risk of getting deported since an application itself is not legal status. Immigration advocates say despite the policies, many may still try to stay because going back to their home countries could put them in danger from what they're trying to claim asylum from. That's NPR, of course, on it. Himena Bustillo, thank you, Himena. Thank you.
And that's up first for Thursday, July 30th, on Michelle Martin. And I'm Leila Faldin.
Today's episode of Up First was edited by Miguel Macias, Aminacon, Anna Yucananov, H.J. Mai, and Alice Wolfleet. It was produced by Ziyad Bunch and Niyadumas. Our director is Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support for Misha Highness. Our technical director is
Carly Strange and our deputy executive producer is Kelly Dickens.
This is Terry Gross. When I was celebrating my 50th anniversary hosting fresh air,
“I asked my guest, roastmaster general Jeff Ross, to roast me. Terry Gross, a barely living”
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On this season of Planet Money Summer School, we follow the money and not just the dollars,
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we're taking you on a world tour to meet the people, trying new solutions to old economic
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