Last week, F.B.I. agents searched an election center in Fulton County, Ga., seizing truckloads of ballots from 2020. The move escalated the investigation into President Trump’s claims of voter fraud in the state after his 2020 defeat in the state.
It has since been learned that Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, was present during the search.
Devlin Barrett, a Times reporter who covers the F.B.I., discusses the presence of the nation’s top intelligence official and the stunning phone call that shows how personally involved Mr. Trump has become in the investigation.
Guest: Devlin Barrett, a New York Times reporter covering the Justice Department and the F.B.I.
A partial government shutdown enters its fourth day as House Republicans weigh whether to back a Senate deal that would reopen most agencies while giving Congress two weeks to negotiate changes to immigration enforcement. The U.S. is set to reopen nuclear talks with Iran, as regional powers push diplomacy even while President Trump warns military action remains on the table. And investigators in Arizona say 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie, the mother of Today show host Savannah Guthrie, may have been abducted from her home as an urgent search continues.
Want more 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 Jason Breslow, James Hider, Miguel Macias,Martha Ann Overland, Mohamad ElBardicy, and Alice Woelfle.
It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas and Christopher Thomas.
We get engineering support from Neisha Heinis. Our technical director is Carleigh Strange.
Our Supervising Senior Producer is Vince Pearson.
(0:00) Introduction (01:54) Government Shutdown Day 4 (05:31) US-Iran Nuclear Talks (09:06) Guthrie Investigation
As President Trump calls for Republicans to “nationalize” voting processes, sources say the president was actively involved in an FBI raid on election offices. The Rafah border crossing opens to some Gazans desperate to flee. And inside a Las Vegas home, authorities discover what they say might be a dangerous biological lab.
My motivation for this episode is personal. One of my resolutions this year is to spend more time hosting and to make those gatherings more meaningful.
I think a lot of us wish we had better social lives and a stronger feeling of community around us. But it’s hard. We’re busy, we’re tired, and social planning and hosting can feel like just more work. So I asked Priya Parker on the show to help.
Parker is the author of “The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters” and a wonderful Substack, Group Life. She’s also a conflict resolution facilitator. And she just thinks about gathering and hosting in a different way from anyone else I’ve ever met. For her, it’s about more than just throwing a great dinner party; it’s about how we build community across differences, all the way up to how gathering can help create a better politics. The way Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral campaign thought about community and built community among its volunteers was partly based on her work and advice.
This episode is a bit of a break from politics — but also not. Because pulling the people we love closer and spending more time together rather than alone are as essential as any political or civic discipline could be right now.
This episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” was produced by Annie Galvin. Fact-checking by Michelle Harris with Mary Marge Locker and Kate Sinclair. Our senior engineer is Jeff Geld, with additional mixing by Aman Sahota. Our executive producer is Claire Gordon. The show’s production team also includes Marie Cascione, Rollin Hu, Kristin Lin, Emma Kehlbeck, Jack McCordick, Marina King and Jan Kobal. Original music by Pat McCusker. Audience strategy by Kristina Samulewski and Shannon Busta. The director of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser.
Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen.
Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, and Rob Gunther.
Located in the Papantla municipality of the Mexican state of Veracruz, El Tajín is a UNESCO World Heritage site but a lesser-known tourist destination and national symbol. The Indigenous Totonac residents of the region know well that the site’s relative absence from discussions of global archaeology and heritage belies a century of wide-ranging labor, extractive industries, and commodity exchange. In the Shadow of El Tajín: The Political Economy of Archaeology in Modern Mexico (U Nebraska Press, 2025) tells the story of how a landscape of ancient mounds and ruins became an archaeological site, brings to light the network of actors who made it happen, and reveals the Indigenous histories silenced in the process. By drawing on the insights of Indigenous Totonac peoples who have lived and worked in El Tajín for more than a century, Sam Holley-Kline explores historical processes that made both the archaeological site and regional historical memory. In the Shadow of El Tajín decenters discussions of the state and tourism industry by focusing on the industries and workers who are integral to the functioning of the site but who have historically been overlooked by studies of the ancient past. Holley-Kline recovers local Indigenous histories in dialogue with broader trends in scholarship to demonstrate the rich recent past of El Tajín, a place better known for its ancient history.
The Justice Department releases more than three million more files related to Jeffrey Epstein, and the list of powerful people involved with the notorious pedophile is ... long. Jon, Tommy, and Lovett react to the most notable revelations from the new batch, including the many mentions of Trump, and then check in on the president’s corrupt dealings, including a half-billion bribe from the United Arab Emirates and an attempt to steal $10 billion in taxpayer money in the form of a lawsuit against his own IRS, the release of 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father from ICE custody and the arrest of journalist Don Lemon, and Democrats’ incredible 31-point legislative flip in Texas. Then, Tejano artist and Latin Grammy winner Bobby Pulido stops by the studio to talk to Tommy about his race for Congress and Trump's weakening support among Texas's Latino community.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced Monday that all federal officers in Minneapolis will now wear body cameras. She also said the program would expand nationwide "as funding is available." The push for body cameras is a key Democratic demand to end the partial government shutdown. It also comes on the heels of major concerns over DHS immigration tactics. In January alone, two U.S. citizens were shot and killed by federal immigration agents in Minnesota. Radley Balko has been covering law enforcement misconduct for decades. We spoke to him about how federal immigration enforcement's actions feel different – and what worries him most.
And in headlines, Bill and Hillary Clinton agree to testify before Congress about their ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, RFK Jr. announces an initiative to address homelessness and substance abuse in eight unspecified cities, and the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt reopens – potentially offering hope for thousands of Palestinians.
