This week, President Trump falsely claimed that Ukraine started the war against Russia, ordered federal agencies created by Congress to answer directly to him and installed himself as the leader of Washington’s premiere cultural institution.

The Times journalists Michael Barbaro, Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Charlie Savage and Elisabeth Bumiller sit down to make sense of it all.

Guest:

Zolan Kanno-Youngs, a White House correspondent for The New York Times,
Charlie Savage, who writes about national security and legal policy for The New York Times.
Elisabeth Bumiller, a writer-at-large for The New York Times.

Background reading:

Trump flipped the script on the war in Ukraine, blaming Volodymyr Zelensky, not Vladimir V. Putin.
The president’s moves to upend federal bureaucracy touch off fear and confusion.
Trump said he would install himself as the new Kennedy Center chairman.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Photo: The New York Times

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CBS Evening News, 02/19/25