Transcript of Trump Warns GOP Over Ballroom Funding, Trump Gives Iran More Time, Castro Charged New

President Trump is furious that Congress might not give him the money he wants for his ballroom.

That's because several Republicans don't want to, including an incumbent he targeted in the primaries.

Are his efforts to get rid of some Republicans in Congress backfiring? I'm Leila Fawzan. That's A. Martinez. And this is Up First from NPR News. Israel is pushing the U.S. to resume the war on Iran. Gulf allies are pushing for the opposite. There was a contentious call between President Trump and Israel's prime minister. For now, Trump says he's willing to give Iran more time.

And federal prosecutors indict former Cuban President Raúl Castro. They say he ordered planes to be shot down 30 years ago, killing 4 U.S. nationals. Castro is 94 years old and not in U.S. custody, but the acting attorney general says he expects Castro will show up in court one way or another. Stay with us, we've got all the news you need to start your day. Republicans in Congress are racing to approve billions of dollars for immigration enforcement.

But President Trump is fuming about what may not be in that package— money for the White House ballroom. That's after several Republicans said they would oppose it. They include Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana. He just lost his primary after Trump supported someone else, and it's all fueling questions about whether Trump's efforts to target GOP incumbents are backfiring.

Joining us now to discuss is NPR congressional reporter Sam Greenblatt. Class. So, Sam, Leila just mentioned what may not be in that package. What actually is in the funding package?

Yeah, Republicans want to fund ICE and Border Patrol for the rest of Trump's term. We're talking about approving $72 billion using a tool known as budget reconciliation. That maneuver allows Republicans to circumvent Democrats who oppose more money for these agencies without reforms to limit the tactics of their officers. That is in part because Republicans already gave ICE $75 billion last year with very few strings attached.

So what you just said, what does that have to do with the ballroom?

So after the White House Correspondents' Dinner, some Republicans began pushing to tack on $1 billion for the Secret Service and include in that roughly $220 million for the ballroom. But lawmakers can't just pass anything through reconciliation. And over the weekend, the nonpartisan Senate parliamentarian nixed that funding, though even before that, it was not clear there would have been enough Republican votes to pass it.

All right.

So how is the president reacting?

Well, he pressed Senate Majority Leader John Thune to fire the parliamentarian and kill the filibuster, a demand Trump has made in the past and Thune has resisted. Trump also wrote on social media, get smart and tough, Republicans, or you'll all be looking for a job much sooner than you thought. Okay.

Clearly frustrated with his own party. Yeah. Um, this week he managed to stop Cassidy from getting reelected. He also endorsed a primary challenger for Senator John Cornyn in Texas. What could that mean for the dynamics in Congress?

Well, so far, Cassidy has come out against the ballroom money and provided the critical vote to advance an Iran war powers resolution after previously opposing it. He joined 3 other Republicans, including Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, one of the few Republican senators who has regularly broken with Trump.

This president is going to have to continue to deal and work with and, and partner with or battle with this group of lawmakers. Even though Bill Cassidy lost his primary, he is still a voting member of the Senate until January.

Murkowski said Trump may have forgotten that he needs Congress and said targeting incumbent Republicans like Cornyn could jeopardize seats in November.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, though, said Trump knows what's at stake, but added this: We need people here who are not trying to carve out their own lane and do something that's destructive or counterproductive, I think, to the agenda. That's the message.

So, Sam, I mean, that's not so subtle of a message there from the speaker.

Yeah. I mean, this spring, Trump has vanquished a lot of foes, not just Cassidy, also state senators in Indiana, a longtime House Republican, Thomas Massie. So while lawmakers like Cassidy could shake things up on their way out the door, others who want to survive may be less likely to step out of line, even amid warning signs for the party ahead of the midterms.

That's NPR congressional reporter Sam Greenglass. Sam, thank you very much.

You're welcome.

President Trump says he's willing to wait a little longer for an agreement with Iran before deciding whether to strike the country again.

Iran says it's ready for either scenario— peace or more war. It comes as Israel pushes for the war to resume and several Arab countries push back.

Joining us to discuss the latest from the Gulf is NPR international correspondent Ayat Batrawy in Dubai. So earlier this week, President Trump said he held off on striking Iran because the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates asked him to. But how much longer is Trump willing to wait?

Well, Trump told reporters yesterday the U.S. is dealing with impressive and talented Iranian negotiators now and that it could be several more days before he makes a decision, but he wouldn't commit to a timeline.

Hopefully those people will make a deal that's going to be great for everybody. But I don't know. I don't know.

I don't—

do I get what— I never get tired. But what I like to do, if I can save war by waiting a couple of days, or I can save people being killed by waiting a couple of days, I think it's a great thing to do.

Now, Iran's position is that they are negotiating the terms of a permanent ceasefire in good faith through mediators like Pakistan. But that they also have suspicion given that the last two times they were in the midst of talks with the Trump administration, the U.S. and Israel launched war. Now, Iran says it prefers diplomacy, but its armed commanders are threatening an even wider war if Iran is attacked again.

Do Gulf Arab states have much leverage with President Trump right now?

So these countries were not consulted before this war was launched by the U.S. and Israel back in February. Some only got a short notice to prepare their air defenses, while others got no warning at all. But the thing is, they have borne the brunt of Iran's counterattacks in this war. And countries like Saudi Saudi Arabia and Qatar want to see this war end. But Trump has also been speaking regularly with Israel's prime minister, and just this week they had a tense and contentious call. A person familiar with the matter, not authorized to speak publicly, told NPR Benjamin Netanyahu railed against a deal to end the war and that Trump told him he would continue to pursue a deal that prevents Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, but that Iran needs to show flexibility. Now, another factor to consider here is that Saudi Arabia is hosting 2 million Muslims from around the world for the annual Hajj pilgrimage next week, and Saudi Arabia's foreign minister publicly thanked Trump yesterday for granting more time for talks with Iran.

Now, right now, hundreds of ships are not able to get through the Strait of Hormuz. So what can you tell us about Iran's continued control there?

All right, so this really is Iran's most important point of leverage right now, and it has driven up oil and food prices globally, as we know. And the U.S. has in turn blocked Iranian ships from exporting its oil out at sea. But Iran has established a new body to collect tolls and coordinate the transit of ships through the strait. They're calling it the Persian Gulf Strait Authority. They published a map yesterday of what it says are waters under Iran's control now, and it encompasses the United Arab Emirates' territorial waters, including an oil terminal and a port that the UAE is using to bypass the strait. A powerful Emirati minister named Sultan Al Jaber, he also runs Abu Dhabi's state-run and state-owned oil company, said this yesterday at the Atlantic Council.

This sets a dangerous precedent. Once you accept that a single country can hold the world's most important waterway hostage.

Now, again, Gulf countries have borne the brunt of these attacks. And the UAE says drones from Iraq, where Iranian-backed militias are active, were launched at its nuclear power plant in Abu Dhabi on Sunday. It sparked a fire. It hit an electric generator. But, you know, attacks like this show that even in a ceasefire, Gulf countries, especially the UAE because of its close ties with Israel, remain very vulnerable.

That's NPR's Aya Batrawy in Dubai. Thank you very much.

Thanks a lot.

Raul Castro, the former president of Cuba and the brother of the late Fidel Castro, is facing a criminal indictment in the United States.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanch announced the charges in Miami on Wednesday. The case stems from the 1996 downing of two aircraft operated by a group of Cuban exiles based in Miami.

NPR justice correspondent Ryan Lucas is covering this. So, Ryan, what happened in 1996?

Well, look, in the 1990s, this exile group called Brothers to the Rescue was operating flights, small aircraft, over the Strait of Florida to rescue or guide Cuban migrants at sea. Um, the group was also dropping pro-democracy leaflets from the air that would reach Cuba. Now, the indictment says that on February 24th, 1996, Cuban fighter jets shot down two small planes that were operated by Brothers to the Rescue. Four U.S. nationals were killed. That includes three American citizens, Raul Castro was Cuba's defense minister at the time, and the indictment alleges that he authorized those planes to be shot down. It also says the aircraft were in international waters at the time. So now Castro is charged with conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals, destruction of aircraft, and murder. And there are also 5 co-defendants in this case who were Cuban pilots allegedly involved in the operation.

How did the DOJ announce this indictment?

Well, the department rolled this out at a splashy press conference at Freedom Tower in Miami, which is like Ellis Island for Cuban refugees. The room was packed with members of the Cuban-American community. Many Cuban-Americans want to see members of the Castro regime face justice, and the crowd cheered. It gave standing ovations a couple of times, which you just don't see at press conferences announcing criminal charges. Blanche said that he's met with members of the community, that he's heard their stories of heartbreak and pain, and he added this: Today's indictment, while it does not bring back the murdered victims, makes a statement. The United States government has not forgotten these innocent men who were shot out of the sky. Now, the U.S. attorney in Miami also spoke. He said his mother spent her first night in that very building after fleeing Cuba, and he said he made reviving this case a priority when he took office last year.

Okay, so how is Cuba responding?

Well, Cuba's president in a post on X called this indictment a political move. He says there's no legal basis for it, and he accused the U.S. of trying to fabricate things to justify a military move against Cuba. He also accused the U.S. of lying about what happened in 1996. He said Cuba acted in legitimate self-defense after repeated violations of its airspace, and he also says the U.S. government at the time had been warned about those violations but ignored them and allowed these flights to continue.

The Trump administration has had a pressure campaign running against Cuba, so how does this fit into that?

Right, the administration has been ramping up pressure on Cuba since early January, after the successful U.S. military operation to capture Venezuela's president, Nicolás Maduro, and bring him to the U.S. to face narcoterrorism charges. Since then, the administration has ordered a blockade of Cuba that's cut off fuel shipments. Cuba's economy is in freefall. The CIA director just visited the island for talks, and now we have this Castro indictment. Now, Castro is 94 years old. He's not in U.S. custody, but of course, the shadow of that Maduro raid hangs over all of this. Blanche was asked yesterday how far the U.S. would go to get its hands on Castro. He said there's a warrant out for his arrest. He expects Castro will show up on his own, or as Blanche put it, "by another way." NPR's Ryan Lucas, thank you very much, Ryan. Thank you.

And that's Up First for Thursday, May 21st. I'm Emilio Martinez.

And I'm Leila Fadel. Today's episode of Up First was edited by Kelsey Snell, Tina Krya, Krishna Duff-Kalamur, Mohammad Zebardisi, and Adam Bierne. It was produced by Ziad Butch and Nia Dumas. Our director is Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Zo van Genhoven. Our technical director is Carly Strange. And our deputy executive producer is Kelly Dickens. Join us again tomorrow.