Trump calls Ukraine's Zelenskyy a 'dictator without elections' | The Excerpt
On Thursday’s episode of The Excerpt podcast: Tensions continue between President Donald Trump and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. A judge holds off on deciding whether to drop a corruption case surrounding New York City Mayor Eric Adams. Paste BN Justice Department Correspondent Bart Jansen discusses a lawsuit over Trump's anti-diversity and transgender orders. Hamas has handed over the bodies of the youngest Gaza hostages taken from Israel. Paste BN Congress and Campaigns Reporter Savannah Kuchar talks through new 'sex-based definitions' from the federal government.
Hit play on the player below to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript beneath it. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.
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Taylor Wilson:
Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson and today is Thursday, February 20, 2025. This is The Excerpt. Today, the latest on tensions between President Trump and Ukrainian President Zelenskyy plus civil rights groups file a lawsuit over DEI orders and the federal government releases new guidelines on gender.
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President Donald Trump called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a dictator without elections yesterday in a truth social post. It's the latest in a sparring match between the two world leaders after US and Russian officials met without Ukrainian representation to discuss terms to end Russia's three-year-old invasion. Zelenskyy canceled an election scheduled for Spring 2024 saying it could not be held in the middle of a war in the imposition of martial law in accordance with the Ukrainian constitution. Ukraine's leader said earlier this week that Trump was spreading Russian disinformation when he claimed that Ukraine should never have started the war, which began with Russia's full-scale invasion three years ago.
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New York City Mayor Eric Adams proclaimed his innocence yesterday in front of a federal judge considering a Justice Department motion to dismiss corruption charges against him. US District Judge Dale Ho, who did not issue a ruling, said at the hearing, he had questions about the prosecutor's unusual request to drop the charges without prejudice, meaning the case could be brought again. Several New York leaders have called on Adams to resign alleging he is too beholden to the Trump administration and its immigration crackdown, a claim Adams has repeatedly denied.
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Three civil rights groups filed a federal lawsuit yesterday seeking to overturn President Donald Trump's executive orders by arguing they would lose federal funding under the directives, blocking spending on organizations with diversity, equity, and inclusion policies. I caught up with Paste BN Justice Department Correspondent Bart Jansen for more. Thanks as always for hopping on, Bart.
Bart Jansen:
Thanks for having me.
Taylor Wilson:
So Bart, before we get to this suit, can you just reset the stage for us? What are some of the things we've seen from Trump as he goes after diversity mandates during these first few weeks of his presidency?
Bart Jansen:
Yeah, he signed several orders on the subject starting with on the first day he was in office on January 20th, basically saying that the government shouldn't go out of its way to have policies on diversity, equity, and inclusion because he would argue basically everybody should be treated equal, but that if you focus on diversity, you are in effect being discriminatory against white people by doing programs that favor outreach or attention to minority groups. Of course, minority groups contend that they've been ignored or disparaged for generations, and so added attention to try to overcome those historical inequities is necessary from the government. So the tension remains, but Trump says that he basically wants to eliminate discrimination by getting rid of DEI programs.
Taylor Wilson:
All right, Bart. So fast-forward to this lawsuit, what does this suit in particular center on and who are the players here?
Bart Jansen:
This lawsuit was brought by three civil rights organizations, the National Urban League, the National Fair Housing Alliance, and the AIDS Foundation of Chicago. Basically, they were arguing that the administration was violating their rights to free speech and to due process by threatening to withhold federal funding that they've received in the past for their programs. Because by definition, these groups are reaching out to diverse populations. The National Urban League says many, many of their clients are Black Americans and the AIDS Foundation says many of their clients are homosexual or and including transgender individuals. And one of the executive orders that the lawsuit is challenging says basically that there can only be two genders and says that transgender people don't exist and that they are effectively lying about their gender identity. And so, these groups are calling these executive orders just an existential threat to the work that they do, that it would overturn their priorities, it would overturn the work that they do to help these folks get housing, get job training, and get healthcare.
Taylor Wilson:
So many Trump orders, Bart, to start this year have been in and out of the courts. Have we heard from the Trump administration at all after this latest lawsuit? How do they defend these actions?
Bart Jansen:
No immediate response on this latest lawsuit. A couple of others on transgender people in particular, in one case, there's a lawsuit challenging a Trump executive order to prevent healthcare on transitioning from being provided to people under 19 years of age. A judge last week put a temporary block on that, and so that litigation continues. And as part of the executive order, recognizing only two sexes, and so basically saying that transgender people don't exist, a group of military service members has challenged that executive order. There's a lengthy hearing in Washington this week about whether a judge is going to block that order while the case is argued. These soldiers contend that they're worried about losing healthcare and that new recruits might not be accepted into the military if this order is enforced. There are arguments continuing in that case. So this latest lawsuit about the funding that they receive from the federal government is in the same vein as those others where groups that would call themselves historically disadvantaged are seeking to continue to receive the government benefits that have helped them try to achieve greater equality.
And in the case of the AIDS Foundation of Chicago, they say that they've come close to within a handful of years of trying to wipe out the AIDS epidemic in Chicago but that if there is a retreat on healthcare provided in their community that the disease could spread. In the case of the National Urban League and the Fair Housing Alliance, the problem is that they want to continue providing job training that Marc Morial, the head of the National Urban League, said, located jobs for 250,000 people in the last decade. So each of these groups say that their constituencies are important and shouldn't lose the federal funding that they have received.
Taylor Wilson:
All right. Bart Jansen covers the Justice Department for Paste BN. Thank you, Bart.
Bart Jansen:
Thanks for having me.
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Taylor Wilson:
Hamas leaders turned over the bodies of Shiri Bibas and her two sons, Kfir and Ariel, yesterday, the two youngest captives taken by Hamas in their October 7, 2023 attack. Kfir was just nine months old and Ariel was four years old when they were kidnapped along with their parents. The group had claimed that the Bibas boys and their mother had been killed in an Israeli airstrike, but offered no evidence. Hamas also released the body of a fourth hostage, journalist and peace activist Oded Lifshitz. Hamas is expected to release six living hostages on Saturday in exchange for hundreds more Palestinians expected to be women and children detained by Israeli forces in Gaza during the war.
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The federal government has released new guidelines regarding sex-based definitions and a two-gender policy. According to an announcement from New Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. yesterday. I spoke with Paste BN Congress and Campaigns Reporter Savannah Kuchar to learn more. Hello, Savannah.
Savannah Kuchar:
Hi.
Taylor Wilson:
So let's just start with the guidelines themselves. I mean, what are these new guidelines and what are they really aiming to do?
Savannah Kuchar:
So these guidelines follow an executive order by President Trump that he signed on Inauguration Day last month, basically stating that the federal government would officially only recognize two genders and it tasked the Health and Human Services Department with seeing this through, issuing guidance for other agencies and such to enforce this. Now that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been confirmed as health secretary, he and the department have come out with this guidance. As part of it, it releases basically a list of definitions including defining sex as a person's immutable biological classification. It also defines what it means to be female and what it means to be male and lists, again, just two genders that's recognized.
Taylor Wilson:
And as part of this, the department has launched a new web page as well, Savannah. Can you tell us a bit about that?
Savannah Kuchar:
So on the Health and Human Services Department website, they have a new web page called Protecting Women and Children. Like I said, this is where you can find that guidance with the new definitions as well as some other information talking about other gender-related issues including transgender athletes in women's sports, which has been a huge debate and did come up during the 2024 campaign. On the web page, there's a video by athlete and influencer Riley Gaines, who has gained popularity for speaking out against transgender athletes in women's sports.
Taylor Wilson:
So Savannah, you mentioned this executive order from Trump from Inauguration Day. I mean, really, how is a move like this part of a broader push from the Trump administration?
Savannah Kuchar:
The Trump administration, since President Trump has taken office in January, he's really made an effort to overturn quite a bit of Biden-era policies regarding multiple different gender-related issues, including reinstituting a ban on transgender persons from serving in the military. That is being challenged. There could be similar challenges to some of the other efforts, and there has been criticism of Trump's executive order regarding the recognition of only two genders. So I think it's going to be a continued fight and definitely a space to keep watching.
Taylor Wilson:
All right. Savannah Kuchar covers Congress and campaigns for Paste BN. Thank you, Savannah.
Savannah Kuchar:
Thank you.
Taylor Wilson:
As Savannah touched on, Trump has sought to overturn Biden-era policy on a mix of gender-related issues, including reinstituting a ban on transgender people serving in the military. Some 1.6 million Americans aged 13 and up identify as transgender in the country according to an estimate from the UCLA School of Law's Williams Institute.
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As our population ages, men are increasingly finding themselves in the role of caregiver for older family members, and for men, the stresses can be different than for women.
Jason Resendez:
There's a bias against male caregivers because of these deeply ingrained assumptions around who caregivers are that lead to additional isolation and distress.
Taylor Wilson:
Jason Resendez, president and CEO of the National Alliance for Caregiving joins The Excerpt to share how men are taking on the role of caregiving and the challenges they face in a highly gendered role. You can hear this conversation with my colleague, Dana Taylor, right here on this feed beginning at 4:00 P.M. Eastern Time.
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And thanks for listening to The Excerpt. You can get the podcast wherever you get your audio, and if you're on a smart speaker, just ask for The Excerpt. I'm Taylor Wilson, and I'll be back tomorrow with more of The Excerpt from Paste BN.