ADRIAN MA, HOST:
We start the show with a quick roundup of news related to President Trump, and for that, we are joined by NPR senior national political correspondent Mara Liasson. Mara, thanks for joining us.
MARA LIASSON, BYLINE: Happy to be here.
MA: Mara, let's start with the Russia-Ukraine war. President Trump seems to be growing more frustrated with Russian President Vladimir Putin. And this past week, he gave Moscow a 50-day deadline to reach a ceasefire with Ukraine. Meanwhile, Trump's director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, threatened to go after Obama-era officials for their assessment of Russia's interference in the 2016 elections, an assessment that led to an investigation of President Trump. So what's the strategy here?
LIASSON: I think the strategy for Gabbard is to get herself on the same page as Trump around something that is a huge irritant to him, which is the idea that Russia tried to interfere on his behalf in the 2016 election. But then there is this seeming shift of Trump away from Putin and towards Ukraine. As you said, he's put this 50-day deadline on, saying that if Putin didn't agree to a peace deal in 50 days, Trump would put tougher sanctions on Russia and secondary sanctions on countries that do business with Russia, including China. It's unclear if that will happen since Trump has blown through almost every other deadline he's announced, but there is big bipartisan support in Congress for tougher sanctions on Russia.
And, you know, Trump viewed settling the war in Ukraine as a very personal matter. He thought he had a personally good relationship with Putin, that he could negotiate with him, and he's been very frustrated that that hasn't worked out. And now he is threatening to get tough. He's also approved defensive weapons for Ukraine that Europe will pay for. So we'll see if this is a permanent shift or not.
MA: Back in the U.S., a lot of people in President Trump's base are still asking for all the files relating to the Jeffrey Epstein case, even though the FBI and the Justice Department had said no further information would be released. Now, though, under pressure, the president has asked for the Epstein grand jury records to be unsealed. So will this be enough for those in his base?
LIASSON: Well, yeah, he's asked for all, quote, "pertinent information" to be released, and we will see if Trump supporters feel that these records answer their questions - questions that Trump himself has raised repeatedly over the years. You know, Donald Trump has been a very effective promoter of conspiracy theories, whether they were about Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. It's one of the reasons he became president because he's sowed so much distrust in what he described as these shadowy elites and cabals running the government. Now he's in the position of telling his supporters that, really, there's nothing to see here, and some of them are asking questions about whether he himself is part of the elites covering something up.
You know, this past week he, in a post on Truth Social - his social media platform - referred to his supporters as past supporters, adding he doesn't want their support anymore. So we've never seen him this rattled before. We also know The Wall Street Journal had a story that NPR has not confirmed about Trump sending a birthday message with a lewd sketch to Jeffrey Epstein. Trump says that's a fake. He's now suing the paper for at least $10 billion.
MA: Let's turn to the economy. Not all of President Trump's tariffs have gone into effect yet, but consumers in the U.S. are starting to feel the effect on prices. According to the Labor Department, prices last month were 2.7% higher than a year before.
LIASSON: That's right. We've been waiting to see if Trump's policies, tariffs and deportations would have an effect on the economy, and they do seem to be starting to. Tariffs are a tax paid for by consumers on imported goods, and they cause prices to rise. Then you have Republicans from agriculture districts starting to hear from - complaints from farmers, saying if you deport large numbers of our workers, the farm economy can't functions. So we are seeing the beginnings of the effects of Trump's policies, although we should say that the U.S. economy has been very, very resilient up until now.
MA: And just briefly, Mara, President Trump is heading to Scotland this week. What are you watching for there?
LIASSON: Well, I guess I'm watching to see if Trump and the U.K. government can finalize the trade deal. They've agreed to a framework for a trade deal. It's one of the very, very few trade deals or frameworks that Trump has made, and I'm wondering if they can finalize that. And remember, this is a unique situation because the U.S. runs a surplus - a trade surplus - with the United Kingdom, not a deficit.
MA: That's NPR's Mara Liasson. Thanks for being here, Mara.
LIASSON: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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