Vance and Charlie Kirk, Patel On The Hill, Fed Preview

Up First from NPR

NPR

Daily News, News

4.5 • 52.8K Ratings

🗓️ 16 September 2025

⏱️ 15 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Vice President JD Vance calls Charlie Kirk’s death personal and political, vowing to target groups he blames for fueling violence. FBI Director Kash Patel faces senators after his tweets during the Kirk investigation raised questions about his leadership. And the Federal Reserve is expected to cut interest rates as President Trump reshapes the central bank’s governing board.

Want more comprehensive analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? Subscribe to the Up First newsletter.

Today’s episode of Up First was edited by Roberta Rampton, Ana Yukhananov, Rafael Nam, Mohamad ElBardicy, and Olivia Hampton

It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas and Christopher Thomas.

We get engineering support from Stacey Abbott. And our technical director is Carleigh Strange.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Vice President Vance is turning Charlie Kirk's death into a mission.
0:05.8	We're going to go after the NGO network that fomence, facilitates, and engages in violence.
0:13.3	He blames the left for political violence.
0:15.3	I'm May Martinez. That's Michelle Martin, and this is up first from NPR News.
0:20.9	FBI director Cash Patel faces lawmakers on Capitol Hill today.
0:24.6	His tweets during the Kirk investigation caused confusion.
0:28.2	Could I have worded it a little better in the heat of the moment?
0:30.5	Sure.
0:31.0	But do I regret putting it out?
0:32.2	Absolutely not.
0:33.1	Was he being transparent or just reckless?
0:35.5	And the Federal Reserve is set to cut interest rates,
0:38.2	just as President Trump installs a close ally on the board.
0:41.7	So is the Fed following the data or folding under the president's pressure?
0:45.6	Stay with us. We'll give you news you need to start your day.
0:53.8	This message comes from Wise, the app for using money around the globe.
0:58.5	When you manage your money with Wise, you'll always get the mid-market exchange rate with no hidden fees.
1:04.6	Join millions of customers and visit Wise.com. T's and C's apply.
1:09.6	At Radio Lab, we love nothing more than nerding out about science, neuroscience, chemistry.
1:16.5	But we do also like to get into other kinds of stories, stories about policing or politics, country music, hockey, sex, of bugs.
1:26.1	Regardless of whether we're looking at science or not science, we bring a rigorous curiosity to get you the answers.
1:32.9	And hopefully make you see the world anew.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of NPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.