NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-14-2025 9AM EST

Episode Date: January 14, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington on Corva Coleman, the Justice Department has published a long-awaited report from Special Counsel Jack Smith. This report is over charges of election interference against President-elect Trump. The charges were withdrawn. Smith says he stands behind his decision to prosecute Trump even though the case will never go to trial. And Piers Carey Johnson reports. After days of legal wrangling, the Justice Department issued a nearly 150 page report

detailing its case against Trump and his efforts to cling to power. Jack Smith walked away from the indictment after Trump won re-election last year because the DOJ believes a sitting president cannot face trial. But Smith says he's convinced there was enough evidence for a jury to convict Trump. He says standing up for the rule of law matters and so does fighting for justice in the face of relentless personal attacks. In a social media post Trump says the voters have spoken and returned him to power. His allies have pledged to investigate the people who investigated Trump. Kari Johnson, NPR News, Washington. A federal

judge has temporarily blocked the release of another part of the report. It's about Trump's alleged mishandling of classified documents. Weather forecasters say dangerous, powerful winds will blow across the Los Angeles area again today. These Santa Ana winds triggered the huge deadly wildfires in the region last week. Steve Fetterman reports from Los Angeles some gusts today could hit 70 miles per hour. Fire officials say they pretty much have done all they can do to be prepared for these increased winds. The LA County Fire Chief, the LA City Fire Chief both say they have pre-positioned fire crews in areas that they believe are most vulnerable. These are areas that are

prone to have fires and also areas that have been ravaged in the last week. But these winds can be surprising. They can go in much different directions than anticipated. Right now, everyone is on guard. Steve Futterman reporting. Israel and Hamas are very close to reaching a ceasefire agreement that would stop the fighting in Gaza. That's according to several officials involved in the talks. NPR's Kat Lonsdorf reports from Tel Aviv, the agreement would allow for the release of some Israeli hostages in exchange

for Palestinian detainees. It's been weeks of talks in Doha negotiated through mediators, including both the incoming and outgoing US administrations. Similar talks have fallen apart several times over the past year, but one Israeli official with knowledge of the talks told NPR that they have, quote, never been in such detailed negotiations.

The official spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the talks. A spokesperson for the Qatari Prime Minister echoed that same sentiment, saying the two parties have overcome major obstacles in recent days. Even if a deal is reached, it won't be implemented immediately. It will still need approval from the Israeli cabinet and could head to the Israeli Supreme Court.

Kat Lonsdorf, NPR News, Tel Aviv. You're listening to NPR News from Washington. South Korea's Constitutional Court opened impeachment hearings today against suspended President Yoon Sang-yol, but the hearing closed after only a few minutes because Yoon did not show up. This comes after he botched an attempt last month to declare martial law. South Korean police are trying to arrest Yoon but have failed so far they may try again tomorrow.

The New York Times and other publishers will be in federal court today in New York in a case against chat GPT maker OpenAI. As NPR's Bobby Allen reports, this will be the first court hearing in the high-profile copyright infringement lawsuit. The Times, the New York Daily News, and the Center for Investigative Reporting have sued OpenAI for allegedly copying millions of articles without payment or permission. The publishers say the chat GPT maker owes news organizations potentially billions of dollars in damages. The Times is additionally calling for chat GPT's entire data set to be destroyed. In response, OpenAI's legal team says it trained its artificial intelligence bot on material under

what's known as fair use. That's a legal doctrine that allows the use of copyrighted material for things like education, research, and commentary. The hearing in Manhattan is over whether the publishers can proceed to trial or if the case will be tossed. Bobby Allen, NPR News, New York. A Russian woman who was a stowaway on a flight from New York to Paris has been indicted by a federal grand jury in New York. Svetlana Dali sneaked onto a Delta flight last November, but she was returned and arrested. A different stowaway was discovered in December on another Delta flight about to take off from Seattle to Honolulu. I'm Korva Coleman, NPR News, from Washington.