Ayesha Rascoe
Ayesha Rascoe is the host of "Weekend Edition Sunday" and the Saturday episodes of "Up First." As host of the morning news magazine, she interviews news makers, entertainers, politicians and more about the stories that everyone is talking about or that everyone should be talking about.
Known for her southern roots and signature wit, Rascoe has been a mainstay on NPR's programs since joining the outlet in 2018.
Prior to her role as host, Rascoe was a White House Correspondent. She covered three presidential administrations, gaining a reputation for her sharp questioning in the White House briefing room. Rascoe's reporting included a number of high profile foreign trips, including President Trump's 2019 summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi, Vietnam, and President Obama's final NATO summit in Warsaw, Poland in 2016. As a part of the White House team, she was also a regular on the NPR Politics Podcast.
She's also guest hosted NPR's "It's Been a Minute" podcast and radio show and been a frequent guest on "Pop Culture Happy Hour."
Before joining NPR, Rascoe spent the first decade of her career at Reuters, rising from a news assistant to an energy reporter to eventually covering the White House. While at Reuters, Rascoe covered some of the biggest energy and environmental stories of the past decade, including the 2010 BP oil spill and the U.S. response to the Fukushima nuclear crisis in 2011. She also spent a year covering energy legal issues and court cases.
She graduated from Howard University in 2007 with a B.A. in journalism.
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Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was captured by American forces in the early hours of Saturday morning in an operation that the U.S. government said took months to plan.
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NPR's Ayesha Rascoe talks to Eduardo Gamarra, professor of politics and international relations at Florida International University, about the history of U.S. intervention in Latin America.
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Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro arrived in New York City to face criminal charges. There are now fears of a power vacuum in the country as President Trump says the U.S. will "run" the nation.
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We look at the drug and weapons charges against the deposed Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro as the U.S. Justice Department vows to prosecute him on American soil.
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NPR's Ayesha Rascoe speaks to Ambassador Fredrick Barton, now a lecturer at Princeton University, about the challenges of U.S. nation-building in countries such as Venezuela.
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NPR's Ayesha Rascoe speaks with Maria Snider, vice president of the Minnesota Child Care Association - an advocacy group - about the impact of the freeze on federal child care funds.
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We look at how "Sean Combs: The Reckoning," an explosive Netflix docuseries, is affecting the public's opinion of music mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs, convicted last year after a highly publicized trial.
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The dollar fell over 9% in 2025, its worst annual performance since 2017. The declines reflect a volatile year for the U.S. economy, with investors likely facing another unpredictable 12 months.
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We have analysis on President Trump's decision to topple Venezuela's leader, and how it will be viewed by his MAGA supporters.
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This week marks the fifth anniversary of the attack on the U.S. Capitol. An NPR investigation details how the Trump administration is trying to erase government information on the attack.