NPR News: 11-17-2025 7AM EST

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Speaker 2 Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Corva Coleman. President Trump has reversed course.

Speaker 2 Writing online yesterday, he's now telling Republican lawmakers to vote for a measure calling on the Justice Department to release all files on late sex offender Jeffrey Jeffrey Epstein.

Speaker 2 Speaking aboard Air Force One earlier, Trump dismissed the Epstein files as a Democratic hoax to hurt Republicans.

Speaker 3 They're using Jeffrey Epstein as a deflection from the tremendous success that we're having as a party.

Speaker 2 But a bipartisan group of lawmakers in the House already has enough support to force a vote on the release of the files. That vote is expected sometime this week.

Speaker 2 Last hour, the Federal Aviation Administration lifted all restrictions on air travel in the the U.S. imposed during the federal government shutdown.

Speaker 2 Air traffic had been reduced by up to 6 percent last week. That was due to growing staff shortages among air traffic controllers.

Speaker 2 NPR has learned that a former top Justice Department official told a group of prosecutors last February that the administration should target drug traffickers at sea.

Speaker 2 Former Acting Deputy Attorney General Emile Beauvais told the prosecutors that the U.S. should, quote, just sink the boats.
Six months later, the U.S.

Speaker 2 began blowing up boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. Venezuela's president says his country wants peace.
This comes as the U.S. boosts its military presence in the Caribbean.

Speaker 2 President Trump says the Venezuelan leader has signaled he wants to talk with the U.S. and Piers Kerry-Kahn reports.

Speaker 4 President Trump has been weighing military options against Venezuela. He says discussion with Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro may be coming and that the Venezuelans, quote, would like to talk.

Speaker 4 Over the weekend, the U.S.'s most advanced aircraft carrier arrived in the Caribbean, joining nearly a dozen other U.S. naval warships there.

Speaker 4 In Venezuela, Maduro repeatedly called for peace at a rally over the weekend and on state TV praying with religious leaders.

Speaker 4 On social media, leading opponent Maria Corina Machado urged Maduro's security apparatus to lay down its arms and join her independence movement. CarrieCon NPR News, Bogota, Columbia.

Speaker 2 Hundreds of National Guard troops will be leaving Portland and Chicago in coming days. The move was ordered by the Defense Department amid court battles, stalling the deployments.

Speaker 2 From member station KQED, Rachel Vosquez reports on California Governor Gavin Newsom's response.

Speaker 5 Newsom's office confirmed the news saying the troops' return was long overdue.

Speaker 5 President Trump federalized the troops over the summer, originally sending them to respond to immigration protests in Los Angeles.

Speaker 5 In October, Trump attempted to deploy guard members from California to Portland as the city saw protests outside of immigration enforcement offices.

Speaker 5 A federal judge in Oregon ruled against the deployment last week. For NPR News, I'm Rachel Vasquez in Sacramento.

Speaker 2 You're listening to NPR News from Washington.

Speaker 2 The U.S. Border Patrol fanned out over the weekend in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Agency leaders say they have arrested dozens of people and claim they are violent criminals.

Speaker 2 No evidence has been formally presented. Some Charlotte business owners closed their businesses while other Charlotte residents say the Border Patrol targeted American citizens and stores.

Speaker 2 Pennsylvania Democratic Senator John Fetterman has returned home after a brief hospital stay. He said he had a flare-up of a heart issue and fell while walking.

Speaker 2 Fetterman says he has recovered but had to get 20 stitches. Stargazers may have noticed bright streaks high in the sky overnight.
It's the Leonid meteor shower.

Speaker 2 NPR Chandeli's Chandeli's Duster reports it will continue through tomorrow morning.

Speaker 6 The Leonid meteor shower happens every November. The meteors are known to be bright, colorful, and very fast, traveling at 44 miles per second.

Speaker 6 Meteor rates are as low as 3 meteors per hour, but NASA says stargazers can catch up to 10 to 15 meteors per hour this year.

Speaker 6 The best chances of seeing the meteors will be after midnight and into the early morning hours.

Speaker 6 The American Meteor Society says to go to a dark location away from city lights and look to the eastern sky and the constellation Leo. Meteors will be seen streaking from there in various directions.

Speaker 6 The moon will also be less than 10% full, making it easier to see the Leonids. Chandaleese Duster, NPR News.

Speaker 2 On Wall Street in pre-market trading, Dow features are up slightly. I'm Corva Coleman, NPR News in Washington.

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