AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
The faithful are in pews and clergy in their pulpits today in the Twin Cities, just days after the shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church there. We'll get a taste of today's sermons in just a few minutes. First, we'll lay out the week here in Washington. And to do that, we're joined now by NPR White House correspondent Franco Ordoñez. Glad you're with us.
FRANCO ORDOÑEZ, BYLINE: So good to be here, Ayesha.
RASCOE: The Trump administration started this weekend with another strike against this essential pillar of the president's trade policies and really just his policies in general. What has the administration said since Friday's ruling against Trump's tariffs?
ORDOÑEZ: Yeah. The White House is defending the legality of the tariffs and plans to appeal to the Supreme Court. I mean, Trump says the ruling, if allowed to stand, would literally destroy the United States of America. He wrote that on Truth Social. And just to step back a little bit, the court upheld a lower ruling that said Trump did not have the authority under what's called the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose these tariffs. And for now, though, the court has allowed the tariffs to remain in effect to allow for this appeal to the Supreme Court, which Trump has also promised is coming.
RASCOE: You mentioned the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which just rolls off the tongue.
ORDOÑEZ: (Laughter).
RASCOE: But I wanted to highlight the word emergency because that's a big part of the way this administration has been moving in all sorts of different cases.
ORDOÑEZ: I mean, since taking office, he's declared multiple national emergencies related to the border, to crime, to drugs and, of course, as an example here, trade. And that was the justification for sending the military to the border at the beginning of the administration, as well as sending National Guard troops to Los Angeles to quell protests about immigration and most recently to take over or try and take over law enforcement here in Washington, D.C.
And that's something also that local authorities are pushing back on, most notably in Chicago, the mayor, Brandon Johnson, who just ordered Chicago police not to cooperate with any forces Trump may send to the city.
And in this court case involving the tariffs, of course, the court wrote that it seems unlikely that Congress intended to grant the president unlimited authority to impose tariffs. So the outcome here of this could really have implications on other efforts where the administration is claiming an emergency.
RASCOE: Is it also an emergency that's sending warships to the coast of Venezuela? What do we know about what's happening there?
ORDOÑEZ: It's significant. I mean, it's a really big military buildup. I mean, several U.S. warships have been deployed there, carrying thousands of Marines, either deployed or expected to arrive there very soon. Stephen Miller - he's the deputy chief of staff - told us reporters on Friday at the White House that the military buildup was aimed to, quote, "combat and dismantle drug trafficking organizations."
And also, Ayesha, earlier this month, the Trump administration doubled to $50 million a reward for the arrest of Venezuela's president, Nicolas Maduro, accusing him of being one of the world's largest narco traffickers. When asked about the military strikes, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told us that she would not get ahead of the president, but she also said that he is prepared to use every element of American power to stop drugs from flooding into the country.
RASCOE: Tomorrow's the deadline President Trump set for peace talks to be scheduled between Russia and Ukraine. But so far, there's nothing on the calendar, right?
ORDOÑEZ: Yeah, nothing on the calendar right now. And the French president, Emmanuel Macron, said Friday that if Putin - that's Russian President Vladimir Putin - does not commit this week by Monday to meeting his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, then this is another example of Putin once again playing Trump. And I'll just point out that after the Putin meeting in Alaska, Trump was caught on a hot mic, telling Macron that Putin wanted to make a deal as a favor.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I think he wants to make a deal for me, you understand that? As crazy as it sounds.
ORDOÑEZ: Now, he's telling Macron there that Putin wants to make a deal for him, as crazy as it sounds. And now two weeks later, Putin keeps the status quo, not appearing to move forward toward a meeting. So it's raising a lot of questions about whether Trump, as he himself has put it, of being tapped along. So it's going to be very interesting to see and watch the next steps that Trump takes.
RASCOE: That's NPR's Franco Ordoñez. Franco, thank you so much.
ORDOÑEZ: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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