NPR News: 11-19-2025 9PM EST

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Speaker 2 Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Rylan Barton. President Trump has signed the bill forcing the Justice Department to release its files on late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Speaker 2 Congress overwhelmingly passed the legislation yesterday, which requires the Justice Department to publish all of its files within 30 days, with some exceptions.

Speaker 2 Liz Stein is an Epstein survivor and an anti-trafficking advocate. She says this shouldn't be a political issue.

Speaker 3 This has been ongoing throughout five administrations of both political parties. What we're looking at, but what we're not seeing clearly, is that this is a crime and it's a crime of sex trafficking.

Speaker 3 We are victims of a crime.

Speaker 2 The bill includes provisions to protect ongoing investigations. Just last week, the DOJ launched an investigation into prominent Democrats connected to Epstein.
A federal judge in Washington, D.C.

Speaker 2 is resuming an investigation into who in the Trump administration ignored an order to turn back planes carrying Venezuelan migrants to Central America.

Speaker 2 As NPR's Adrian Filarito reports, Judge James Boseberg's contempt inquiry could lead to

Speaker 2 criminal prosecution.

Speaker 4 Boseberg of the federal district court for D.C. had put his criminal contempt inquiry on hold while the Trump administration filed appeals.

Speaker 4 After an appeals court gave him the green light, he says he could start calling government officials to testify as soon as December 1st.

Speaker 4 Earlier this year, Bozberg ruled that the Trump administration had purposely defied an order he issued during an emergency hearing in March that it turned back planes carrying Venezuelans to a prison in El Salvador.

Speaker 4 He said he would find out who had ignored that order and hold them accountable. He has said he could go as far as appointing a special prosecutor to pursue criminal charges.

Speaker 4 Adrian Flarido and and Pierre News.

Speaker 2 Florida Democratic Congresswoman Sheila Sherfiles-McCormick has been indicted for allegedly stealing federal disaster funds.

Speaker 2 The Justice Department says she stole FEMA funds that her family's health care company had received through a COVID vaccination contract. Some of the money was then used to fund her 2021 campaign.

Speaker 2 Several North Carolina school districts are seeing an increase in absences as Border Patrol continue an immigration crackdown in the state. Sharice Piggett of member station WUNC has more.

Speaker 5 Amid the immigration enforcement enforcement operations, several districts in North Carolina reported high student absences.

Speaker 5 Wake County Public Schools, which includes Raleigh, reported more than 19,000 absent students Tuesday, with 110 schools reporting an absent rate above 10%.

Speaker 5 Elsewhere, Chapel Hill-Carborough City Schools says they saw 883 absences on Tuesday. That's 366 more absences compared to last Thursday.

Speaker 5 And roughly 30,000 students were absent on Monday in Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools, Schools, the second largest school district after Wake.

Speaker 5 Wake County district leaders say they are, quote, actively reaching out to families to ensure students stay connected to their classrooms. For NPR News, I'm Cherise Piggett.

Speaker 2 This is NPR News from Washington.

Speaker 2 Elon Musk made his public return to President Trump's orbit at the Saudi Investment Forum in Washington today. As a featured guest, he talked about the future of artificial intelligence.

Speaker 2 He made a prediction that in 10 or 20 years, work will be optional, saying it would be like playing sports or a video game. Musk left the White House in May, shortly before a public spat with Trump.

Speaker 2 Tensions are escalating in Lebanon after Israel attacked two villages in the south one day after launching a drone strike on a Palestinian refugee camp. NPR's Jaina Raff has more.

Speaker 6 The Israeli military bombed the two villages after warning residents to leave.

Speaker 6 Earlier on Wednesday, Israel killed one person and wounded several others, including students on a bus, in a separate drone strike, according to Lebanese authorities.

Speaker 6 That's despite a ceasefire signed with Lebanon a year ago, halting its war with the militant group Hezbollah.

Speaker 6 While Hezbollah has not attacked Israel, the Israeli military has launched almost daily strikes. It says it's targeting Hezbollah and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

Speaker 6 An Israeli attack Tuesday killed at least 13 people in a Palestinian refugee camp near the city of Tyre, according to Lebanese authorities, Palestinian officials said it hit a sports field.

Speaker 6 For NPR News, I'm Jaina Raf in Amman.

Speaker 2 Haiti is celebrating its first World Cup qualification since 1974, briefly setting aside recent gang violence and political instability.

Speaker 2 And the tiny Caribbean nation of Curaçao has become the smallest country by population to qualify for the event. Curacao has about 156,000 people.
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