On Friday’s episode of The Excerpt podcast: President Donald Trump is expanding the pool of federal law enforcement officers who can investigate and apprehend immigrants. Plus, a judge blocked Trump’s birthright citizenship order. USA TODAY Chief Political Correspondent Phillip M. Bailey discusses Trump’s threats of withholding federal funds amid Los Angeles fires, ahead of his trip there Friday. President Trump orders a crypto working group to draft new regulations and explore the possibility of a national stockpile. USA TODAY White House Correspondent Swapna Venugopal breaks down Trump’s comments to the Davos World Economic Forum. Oscar nominations are out. Did your favorite get snubbed?
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 Friday, January 24, 2025. This is The Excerpt.
Today we recap a busy day of Trump administration immigration moves, plus Trump heads to California after threatening to withhold federal funds amid wildfires and the Oscar nominations are here.
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The Trump administration late yesterday deputized thousands more federal law enforcement officers to arrest immigrants in the country illegally. Two agencies typically enforce the nation’s complex Title 8 immigration laws, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE in the country’s interior and US Customs and border protection at the nation’s borders.
Yesterday, a Department of Homeland Security, Acting Secretary Benjamine Huffman, expanded the group of federal law enforcement officers who can investigate and apprehend the immigrants. It wasn’t immediately clear how many officers would be reassigned to immigrant enforcement.
Meanwhile, president Trump said yesterday that he would appeal a federal judge’s move to temporarily block his executive order ending birthright citizenship. A US district judge in Seattle who blocked the order yesterday blasted it as blatantly unconstitutional. He issued a restraining order preventing the Trump administration from carrying it out.
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President Donald Trump is threatening to withhold federal funds amid Los Angeles wildfires. The threats come ahead of his trip to the state later today, and as new fires have sparked in both the LA and San Diego areas this week. I spoke with USA TODAY, Chief Political Correspondent, Phillip M. Bailey for more.
Phillip, thank you for hopping on as always.
Philip M. Bailey:
Hey, Taylor. How are you?
Taylor Wilson:
Good, good. So let’s just start here. I mean, what is President Trump threatening here, Phillip, as it pertains to California?
Philip M. Bailey:
I think for all of us who remember the first Trump administration, not as much has changed about Donald Trump’s political style that he inherited from his business and reality TV life. It’s usually very bombastic, very wild commentary to get his point across really as a negotiating tool, and I think that’s what he seems to be doing here. He has threatened, Taylor, to withhold wildfire relief from California saying if it doesn’t reroute water to the southern part of the state, he also has at possible overhaul of the Federal Emergency Management Agency or FEMA.
And he actually issued an executive order this week ordering California too, to redirect that water from the northern part of the state, which he said that reiterate that in his interview this week, his first sit down interview this week with Sean Hannity. It comes at a time where the LA wildfires are at the forefront of national consciousness. California is still sort of reeling and dealing with those. We’ve seen the devastating photos and pictures from our colleagues out of USA TODAY out west. And I think this simply underscores how President Trump, whether it’s on energy issues, whether it’s on international stages or domestic politics, his first inclination, his first instinct, sort of these loud bombastic threats or promises really as, I guess, a negotiating tool or as a starting point.
Taylor Wilson:
Yeah, I mean, have California officials responded at all here, Phillip?
Philip M. Bailey:
Yeah. I mean, Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, who’s a longtime political foe of Donald Trump, his office, said in a January 21st post on X refuting some of President Trump’s false claims that using the water from Northern California for this fish conservation was the reason why these hydrants were dry. Newsom’s office saying that that is not in fact the case. They even put out their own little quip that, “The only thing fishy are Trump’s facts.” Saying the California pumps as much water as it now as it did in prior Trump era policies. There’s no shortage of water in Southern California is their point. So it’s not like, oh, water’s being used to conserve these fish at the expense of people’s homes being burnt to the ground or people dying. Newsom’s office is very adamant about, that’s not the case here.
Taylor Wilson:
Yeah. Well, I mean, Phillip, as you mentioned also in this same Fox News interview, he entered at this possible overhaul of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. This is FEMA. What exactly did he say on this point and what would this even look like, Phillip?
Philip M. Bailey:
That’s what we’re trying to get more information from the White House on. The President used that interview to slam FEMA, which has often been criticized. And conservatives, Taylor, I should point out, have been very critical of FEMA saying that it had an anti-Trump bias even during the campaign, which they alleged and lobbed at the agency. FEMA, as we all know is charged with helping the country before, during and after disasters.
Well, President Trump suggested on that Fox News interview that he plans to reform the agency. Again, we’re not really sure how, but that he would leave more of that financial burden to the states. He said that, “Unless you have certain types of leadership, it really gets in the way. And FEMA is doing this whole big discussion very shortly because I’d rather see the states take care of their own problems.” The problem with that, Taylor, and the questions that we have at USA TODAY, and I’m sure other news organizations do too, is they look, poorer states oftentimes can’t pay for these disaster relief efforts.
Oklahoma and Kentucky and Mississippi often are pulling from resources that other states like California, like New York and Illinois and others are putting into, it’s a national organization. So it’d be very interesting to see if the president is simply being bombastic here and threatening something to make a larger point, and the reforms will maybe be something less than this, or if he’s sincere in saying that, no, we believe that FEMA should be reformed or overhauled or maybe even dismantled. And we see how the states can sort of run their own problems. And I think that will be interesting to see the pushback that he might get from Republican governors. I’d be very interested to hear how Republican governors and state lawmakers who live in some of these poor areas, how they respond to the president’s overture.
Taylor Wilson:
Well, Phillip, President Trump is making these comments ahead of this trip to California later today, Friday. What can expect from that visit and just kind of how awkward will things be now after these comments?
Philip M. Bailey:
I think that there’s always a sense of when political leaders in our country take jabs or make nasty comments toward each other, the drama of that, the palace intrigue. But let’s all remember the lesson from our 2024 election, which is that average Americans saying, we are demanding that a government that’s efficient, right? Poll after poll show that what Americans really want is a government that serves them well, that is efficient here. And this is going to be a test for President Trump. You’ve seen the footage and the photos from our colleagues. It is hellscape in parts of California at this point, and California lawmakers Republican and Democrats have said, “Look, we don’t have California trying to withhold money when other states like Alabama or North Carolina are hit. Why are you doing it to us? And is it more about political reprisal? Because California is a big blue state that didn’t vote for Donald Trump in 2024.”
So I think if you talk to average folks, regular folks, particularly those who live in Southern California, they’re probably hoping that President Trump, Governor Newsom and Mayor Bass can put their differences to the side and serve the people.
Taylor Wilson:
Phillip M. Bailey is USA TODAY’s Chief Political Correspondent. Thank you, Phillip.
Philip M. Bailey:
No problem, Taylor.
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Taylor Wilson:
President Trump yesterday ordered the creation of a cryptocurrency working group tasked with proposing new digital asset regulations and exploring the creation of a national cryptocurrency stockpile. Move also ordered that banking services for crypto companies be protected, alluding to industry claims that US regulators have directed lenders to cut crypto companies off from banking services something regulators deny. The order also banned the creation of Central Bank digital currencies in the US which could compete with existing cryptocurrencies.
President Trump said America is back and open for business while addressing leaders gathered at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland this week.
President Trump:
If you don’t make your product in America, which is your prerogative, then very simply you will have to pay a tariff.
Taylor Wilson:
I spoke with USA TODAY, White House correspondent, Swapna Venugopal for more. Swapna, thank you so much for hopping on the podcast today.
Swapna Venugopal:
Oh, you’re welcome, Taylor.
Taylor Wilson:
So let’s just start with the basics here. I think folks have heard the word Davos before, but really what is this Davos forum?
Swapna Venugopal:
So it’s basically the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting, which is held in Davos, Switzerland. It’s a ski resort up in the Alps, and it’s where many heads of state and business leaders meet to discuss the major political and economic issues of today.
Taylor Wilson:
All right, so what did now President Trump say in his address? Some of his first, I guess really kind of public remarks this week as president.
Swapna Venugopal:
President Trump’s message was that America is back and open for business. And so he told international business leaders that they would see the lowest taxes of any country on earth, he said, if they made their products in America, and if they didn’t, they’d face tariffs or import duties.
Taylor Wilson:
And in terms of some of the issues, likely of interest to this group at Davos and World Economic issues writ large, let’s talk through some of Trump’s early rhetoric back in office this week, Swapna. We’ve heard a lot about this mantra of drill, baby drill ahead of his return to the White House. What’s he now saying about a national energy emergency?
Swapna Venugopal:
President Trump issued a bunch of executive orders on Monday, his first day in office, and one of them was a national energy emergency. So he said he would tap into the country’s reserves of oil and gas, and he’s dismissing the concerns of climate scientists who say burning fossil fuels releases greenhouse gases and leads to global warming, but he calls it liquid gold.
Taylor Wilson:
Meanwhile, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine just continues. What did we hear from him this week when it comes to that conflict? And it really, Swapna, how he aims to deal with Russia specifically?
Swapna Venugopal:
He said he was speaking to the OPEC nations to bring down the cost of oil. He basically said that the high oil prices are keeping the Russia-Ukraine war going because oil sales are what drives the Russian economy. He also said yesterday on his Truth Social post, that he would be forced to put high levels of taxes, tariffs, and sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States. So that’s how he’s approaching this whole issue.
Taylor Wilson:
All right. And President Trump has had strong words when it comes to NATO in recent years. This has been a big focus for him. What’s he said, Swapna, about these priorities and what they might mean for the world stage?
Swapna Venugopal:
As far as NATO, he’s long said that NATO has been taking advantage of the US, is how he frames it, and he’s not really happy with the amount that each NATO member country is paying towards their military defense. When you look at the guidelines that NATO issued a few years ago, it’s a suggestion of up to 2% of their GDP, and Trump thinks it’s not even really mandated. So he wants to see them more than double their contribution, and he wants it to be near 5% by every country. And that’s something that even the US doesn’t do currently. The US spends about 3.4% of its GDP, but he’d like to see the non-US NATO nations ponying up about 5% of their GDP.
Taylor Wilson:
Interesting stuff. Swapna Venugopal is a White House correspondent with USA TODAY. Great insight for us here as always, Swapna. Thanks so much.
Swapna Venugopal:
Thank you, Taylor.
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Taylor Wilson:
Nominations for the 97th Academy Awards are here. And Emelia Perez broke from the pack with 13 nods, including best picture and best actress, while the Brutalist and Wicked each picked up 10 nominations. The show itself is set for March 2nd, and you can check out a full list and some of the snubs with a link in today’s show notes from our friends in the entertainment team.
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And thanks for listening to The Excerpt. Were produced by Shannon Rae Green and Kaely Monahan, and our executive producer is Laura Beatty.
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 USA TODAY.
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