Epstein Troubles In Congress, 2016 Election Interference, Columbia Student Discipline

Speaker 1 House Republicans are breaking early for summer recess to end a fight over releasing information about Jeffrey Epstein.

Speaker 2 I think that Americans want to see justice and transparency.

Speaker 3 Will the controversy die down on its own?

Speaker 1 I'm Michelle Martin. That's Sasha Pfeiffer, and this is Up First from NPR News.

Speaker 1 President Trump claims President Obama manipulated intelligence about Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

Speaker 1 Trump's Director of National Intelligence has released documents that she says are proof of this claim. What do those documents actually say?

Speaker 3 And Columbia University has suspended or expelled dozens of students for participating in a pro-Palestinian protest last spring.

Speaker 3 The university is still in talks with the Trump administration to try to get its federal research funding restored. Stay with us.
We'll give you the news you need to start your day.

Speaker 2 Support for NPR and the following message come from NBC News. When the news feels overwhelming, NBC News brings clarity by reporting on the facts that shape daily life for Americans.

Speaker 2 Coverage that looks deeper and stories that connect. NBC News, Reporting for America.

Speaker 4 This message comes from Charles Schwab. When it comes to managing your wealth, Schwab gives you more choices, like full-service wealth management and advice when you need it.

Speaker 4 You can also invest on your own and trade on Thinkorswim. Visit Schwab.com to learn more.

Speaker 4 This message comes from BetterHelp. President Fernando Madera describes how BetterHelp Online Therapy has helped him.

Speaker 5 For me, sometimes I just need to go and talk to somebody that is not going to judge me, right? It's going to be there and they're going to listen to me.

Speaker 5 And I can't start just saying, look, I'm not feeling right today. And it feels natural.
I love it.

Speaker 4 To get matched with a therapist, visit betterhelp.com slash npr for 10% off your first month.

Speaker 1 Today, House Speaker Mike Johnson is sending lawmakers home early for their annual August recess.

Speaker 3 Johnson is trying to avoid dragging out a fight among Republicans over releasing the details of federal investigations into Jeffrey Epstein.

Speaker 3 And Johnson defended the decision to shut down the House floor during the fight to release the records.

Speaker 6 We have a moral responsibility to expose the evil of Epstein, and everybody was involved in that. Absolutely.
And we're resolved to do it.

Speaker 1 But we also have an equal moral responsibility to protect the innocent.

Speaker 3 Republicans hope the controversy will die down while they're away, but some are betting that won't be the case.

Speaker 1 NPR congressional correspondent Claudia Crisalis has been following this and is with us now to tell us more about it. Good morning, Claudia.

Speaker 7 Good morning, Michelle.

Speaker 1 So the Republican lit house was due to leave Thursday for more than a month.

Speaker 1 They've already voted on some of their biggest priorities, and they were planning to get out of town by the end of the week anyway. Is leaving a day early really a big deal?

Speaker 7 It really is. It's pretty rare to see the house floor paralyzed like this, even for a day.
And they've been blocked all week from taking up significant bills.

Speaker 7 And this comes in a crucial last week before an extended recess, leaving House Republicans with pretty tight deadlines on pretty big legislation when they get back in September.

Speaker 7 And this is all tied to a controversy Republicans fueled during the 2024 campaign, including President Trump promising they'd force a release of Justice Department files tied to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, but they've yet to do so.

Speaker 7 And in a political calculation, Democrats on the House Rules Committee have forced a series of votes on the matter, even drawing some GOP support.

Speaker 7 So Republican leaders responded by effectively shutting down this panel. They're responsible for sending major high-profile bills to the floor.
And as a result, they're sending the House home early.

Speaker 1 So as you've just told us, this has eaten up a lot of oxygen on Capitol Hill and beyond. Is it realistic to think that taking a break is going to actually let things die down?

Speaker 7 It may not be. Many say the opposite will happen, and it's already happening.

Speaker 7 For example, Missouri GOP Senator Josh Hawley told reporters this week he's hearing about it from his constituents, and he's not alone.

Speaker 7 And another member, this is in the House, Kentucky Republican Thomas Massey, he's often tussling with the administration on a variety of issues.

Speaker 7 And now he's helping lead a bipartisan petition that could force a vote to release the Epstein records.

Speaker 7 Massey told me that this so-called discharge petition could trigger this vote when they come back.

Speaker 3 I think this will build momentum.

Speaker 2 I don't think it will dissipate. I think that Americans want to see justice and transparency.
And I think when we return in September, then it will become a problem for the Speaker and the President.

Speaker 7 And he says this is a watershed moment for Johnson, and it's such a significant decision before them that it could cost the party the midterm elections for control of the House.

Speaker 1 So, obviously, we know the Democrats are very interested in this for obvious reasons, but what about within the Republican Conference? How does this divide break down?

Speaker 7 It's a pretty deep divide. We've seen Johnson trade barbs with Massey, saying he doesn't understand his mind, and bless his heart.

Speaker 7 So, this is clearly an issue many Republicans do not want to talk about. However, we've seen Massey collect even more Republican signatures for his petition.

Speaker 7 And some of the more vocal members of the party, such as Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, say this is a betrayal to Republican voters.

Speaker 7 So the House may be going home, but this headache may not be going home anytime soon for the Republican Party.

Speaker 1 That is Enfios Claudia Crisadas. Claudia, thank you.

Speaker 7 Thank you.

Speaker 1 President Trump was asked about the Epstein case yesterday. Rather than talk about that, he pivoted to a nearly eight-year-old controversy, Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S.
presidential election.

Speaker 1 Trump's director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, said last week that she had released proof that President Obama and his national security officials had manipulated intelligence to go after Trump.

Speaker 1 Here's Trump talking about Obama yesterday.

Speaker 8 It's there. He's guilty.

Speaker 8 This was treason. This was every word you can think of.
They tried to steal the election.

Speaker 1 We're joined by NPR cybersecurity correspondent Jenna McLaughlin to tell us more about this. Good morning, Jenna.

Speaker 9 Good morning, Michelle.

Speaker 1 So can you explain exactly what the Office of the Director of National Intelligence has published?

Speaker 9 Yes. So there's two new publications.
The first is a document collating a little over 100 pages of newly declassified Obama-era emails.

Speaker 9 These were exchanged in the lead up to the 2016 election and afterwards. And then there's a timeline of events with some annotation and notes.

Speaker 9 Gabbard has been sharing a lot of her conclusions about those materials across social media and on TV.

Speaker 1 So you can read through those documents. You've been reading through those documents.
What is the gist of what they say?

Speaker 9 I have.

Speaker 9 Many of the emails are focused on the question of whether Russian hackers had or could successfully hack the election.

Speaker 9 By that, I mean cyber attacks, changing voting tallies at scale, taking over voting machines, things like that.

Speaker 9 Obama administration, national security officials from several different agencies said it was probably unlikely that Russian hackers could breach election infrastructure on a large scale, at least not without being detected.

Speaker 9 Then in 2017, right after the election that was won by President President Trump, Obama asked the intelligence community to come up with an assessment on everything that they knew about Russian interference in that election cycle.

Speaker 9 Within that assessment, the intelligence community concluded that Russia did attempt to influence the election and American voters' confidence about it.

Speaker 9 Now, Gabbard argues they changed their tune after Obama's request. Here, listen to her talk about it on Fox News.

Speaker 10 So, creating this piece of manufactured intelligence that

Speaker 10 claims that Russia had helped Donald Trump get elected contradicted every other assessment that had been made previously in the months leading up to the election that said exactly the opposite, that Russia neither had neither the intent nor the capability to try to quote unquote hack the United States election for the presidency of the United States.

Speaker 1 Do those emails actually say that? Is there actually a contradiction with the 2017 intelligence assessment?

Speaker 9 Honestly, they really don't say that. Gabbard appears to be conflating two separate things.
The intelligence officials who wrote this report never said that Russia hacked the election.

Speaker 9 They said that Russia had attempted to influence the election using disinformation on social media, hack and leak campaigns of the Clinton camp's emails, bot farms, things like that, all things that have been made public over the years.

Speaker 9 It's hard to measure exactly what impact those campaigns had, even to this day, but experts do broadly agree with the conclusions made back in 2017.

Speaker 1 Yes, we've been hearing about this for a long time. So what's been the reaction to these new claims?

Speaker 9 President Trump and his supporters are touting it as a major revelation. But notably, a representative for President Obama offered a rare response.
He called the claims outrageous.

Speaker 9 He said nothing that Gabbard published contradicts the conclusions from 2017.

Speaker 9 And finally, he noted that back in 2020, the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee, then led by President Trump's Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, affirmed those very claims.

Speaker 1 That was NPR's Jenna McLaughlin. Jenna, thank you.

Speaker 9 Thanks, Michelle.

Speaker 3 More than 70 student protesters at Columbia University are being disciplined for their participation in a pro-Palestinian demonstration in May.

Speaker 1 This comes as university officials continue to negotiate a deal with the Trump administration over hundreds of millions of dollars in frozen research funds.

Speaker 3 Education reporter Jessica Gould of Member Station WNYC is with us for details. Good morning, Jessica.

Speaker 11 Hi.

Speaker 3 Recap for us what that spring protest was about and then how the university responded then and now.

Speaker 11 Sure. So towards the end of last semester, a group of students protesting Israel's military actions in Gaza took over a section of the library at Columbia.

Speaker 11 They occupied a reading room to call attention to the deaths and humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and they chanted and there was some vandalism. And it was a disruption to the study period before finals.

Speaker 11 Ultimately, the police came and cleared the building and we learned this week that Columbia has suspended or expelled many of these 70 protesters.

Speaker 11 And this is significant because we know the Trump administration has been watching how universities handle protests and that's part of its calls to universities to combat anti-Semitism.

Speaker 11 The administration focused first on Columbia and as we've seen is putting pressure on Harvard. Harvard and others as well.
Right.

Speaker 3 And part of that pressure is withholding huge amounts of federal funding for the university to do research. Columbia is trying to get that money restored.

Speaker 3 What is the status of those money restoration talks?

Speaker 11 Columbia's acting president, Claire Shipman, says in a letter to the school community that they're working to make improvements to the campus climate, including addressing anti-Semitism.

Speaker 11 She said the fact that Columbia is getting this pressure from the government doesn't make those problems on campus any less real.

Speaker 11 Many of Colombia's Jewish students have said they've faced discrimination and hate, especially since the October 7th Hamas attacks on Israel nearly two years ago.

Speaker 11 And Muslim students have also said they've faced harassment.

Speaker 3 Go into a bit more detail about steps the university is taking to address anti-Semitism and then whether this is a direct response to the Trump administration's criticism.

Speaker 11 Yeah, Colombia has been clear that it's made the choice to work with the federal government on an agreement and they've said that they're continuing to work toward that goal.

Speaker 11 So there there have been changes to protest rules, campus policing, you know, disciplinary policies.

Speaker 11 That's what this is about here. And the university has also outlined new partnerships with Jewish groups.

Speaker 11 It's also adopting a new definition of anti-Semitism which is from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. But there's some criticism of that decision.

Speaker 11 Some faculty and students worry that this new definition, you know, equates some criticism of Israel with discrimination against Jews, and they worry about that chilling free speech.

Speaker 11 I also continue to hear from many students and faculty, including Jewish students and faculty, who warn that the Trump administration is using anti-Semitism as a pretext to control universities, and they worry that won't reduce anti-Semitism and might even make it worse.

Speaker 3 That is Jessica Gould from member station WNYC in New York City. Jessica, thank you.

Speaker 11 Thanks.

Speaker 3 The man who earned the nickname the Prince of Darkness, Ozzy Osborne, has died.

Speaker 3 I am

Speaker 3 Isborne hailed from the industrial English Midlands, which for a century was a hub of metal manufacturing.

Speaker 3 That region became known for creating a new kind of metal when Osborne founded the band Black Sabbath in 1968.

Speaker 3 The band's sound was defined by heavy, distorted guitars and lyrics inspired by the occult and by Osborne's keening wails.

Speaker 3 His struggles with addiction and outlandish behavior attracted controversy, but the new heavy metal sound he helped pioneer was the inspiration for a generation of musicians that followed.

Speaker 3 They learned to channel aggression and rage into music that is also sophisticated and skillful.

Speaker 3 Ozzy Osborne reinvented himself several times, notably in the 1990s as the bumbling father in his family's MTV reality show, The Osborns.

Speaker 3 Black Sabbath played its final show earlier this month in front of 40,000 fans in its hometown of Birmingham. Ozzie Osborne was 76 years old.

Speaker 1 And that's Up First for Wednesday, July 23rd. I'm Michelle Martin.

Speaker 3 And I'm Sasha Pfeiffer. Your next listen is Consider This.
We here at Up First give you the three big stories of the day. The team at Consider This takes a different approach.

Speaker 3 They dive into a single news story and what it means to you. Learn about a big story of the day in less than 15 minutes.
Listen now on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker 1 Today's episode of Up First was edited by Kelsey Snell, Christian Dev Callimore, Denise Rios, Janea Williams, and Alice Wolfley. It was produced by Zia-Butch, Nia Dumas, and Christopher Thomas.

Speaker 1 We get engineering support from Stacey Abbott and our technical director is Carly Strange. We hope you'll join us again tomorrow.

Speaker 2 This message comes from Jackson. Seek clarity in retirement planning at jackson.com.

Speaker 2 Jackson is short for Jackson Financial Inc., Jackson National Life Insurance Company, Lansing, Michigan, and Jackson National Life Insurance Company of New York. Purchase New York.

Speaker 4 This message comes from Jerry. Many people are overpaying on car insurance.
Why? Switching providers can be a pain. Jerry helps make the process painless.

Speaker 4 Jerry is the only app that compares rates from over 50 insurers in minutes and helps you switch fast with no spam calls or hidden fees. Drivers who save with Jerry could save over $1,300 a year.

Speaker 4 Before you renew your car insurance policy, download the Jerry app or head to jerry.ai slash npr.

Speaker 4 Support for NPR and the following message come from Home Serve. Owning a home is full of surprises, and when something breaks, it can feel like the whole day unravels.

Speaker 4 HomeServe is ready to help, bringing peace of mind to 4.5 million homeowners nationwide. Plans start at just $4.99 a month.
Sign up today at homeeserve.com. Not available everywhere.

Speaker 4 Most plans range between $4.99 to $11.99 a month your first year. Terms apply on covered repairs.