President Donald Trump fires the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, plus the Defense Department is set to lose more than 5 thousand personnel. Hamas releases 6 more living hostages as part of its ceasefire agreement with Israel. Corrections officers in NY protest working conditions and some walk off the job, prompting the governor to send in National Guard troops to secure some state prisons. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

A look at the roots of the difficult relationship between President Trump and President Zelenskyy. DOGE says its saved taxpayers billions of dollars. How do these claims stack up against the evidence? And Hamas returns the bodies of four Israeli hostages held in Gaza since the October 7, 2023 attack. 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 Dana Farrington, Padmananda Rama, Didi Schanche, Reena Advani and Janaya Williams. It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas and Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Stacey Abbott and our technical director is Carleigh Strange. Our Executive Producer is Kelley Dickens. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy