Hegseth Boat Strikes, Witkoff To Moscow, National Guard Shooting Suspect

A U.S. official contradicts the White House account of who ordered the deadly boat strike in the Caribbean, while President Trump considers his next moves with Venezuela. U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff heads to Moscow for high-stakes talks after revising the peace agreement with Ukrainian negotiators. And new details about the Afghan man accused of shooting two National Guard soldiers point to a long-running mental health crisis rather than radicalization. Want more comprehensive 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 Rebecca Metzler, Miguel Macias, Alina Hartounian, Mohamad ElBardicy and Alice Woelfle. It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas and Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Damian Herring. And our technical director is Carleigh Strange. Our Senior Supervising Producer is Vince Pearson. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy