NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-28-2025 3AM EST

Episode Date: January 28, 2025

NPR News: 01-28-2025 3AM ESTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Okay, so does this sound like you? You love NPR's podcasts, you wish you could get more of all your favorite shows, and you want to support NPR's mission to create a more informed public. If all that sounds appealing, then it is time to sign up for the NPR Plus bundle. Learn more at plus.npr.org. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shae Stevens. The acting U.S. Attorney General is moving to dismiss several prosecutors who investigated Donald Trump. NPR's Carrie Johnson reports on the upheaval within the Justice Department. More than a dozen Justice Department officials who worked alongside Special Counsel Jack Smith have received firing notices, according to two sources inside the building.

Acting Attorney General James McHenry wrote they could not be trusted in, quote, faithfully implementing the president's agenda. The termination letters were first reported by Fox News. Trump campaigned on a promise of retribution, and his appointees to lead the DOJ and the FBI have talked about wanting to investigate the investigators. Jack Smith resigned before he could be fired, as did another senior national security lawyer, but many more career prosecutors and agents on his team remained on the job. Both cases against Trump were dropped after he won last year's election.

Carrie Johnson, NPR News, Washington. Thousands of military service members who were discharged for refusing to get vaccinated against COVID-19 are being reinstated. As one of several executive orders, the White House says President Trump signed late Monday to reshape the military. Meanwhile, the Department of Veterans Affairs says it's placed almost 60 workers on leave as it works to undo diversity, equity, and inclusion policies there. In Texas, Governor Greg Abbott is sending hundreds of National Guard soldiers to the border to assist U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Texas Public Radio's Gabrielle Alcorta Solorio has the story.

Gabrielle Alcorta Solorio, Texas Public Radio's Gabrielle Alcorta Solorio, Texas Public Radio's Gabrielle Alcorta Solorio, Texas Public Radio's Gabrielle Alcorta Solorio, Texas Public Radio's Gabrielle Alcorta Solorio, Texas Public Radio's Gabrielle Alcorta Solorio, Texas Public Radio's Gabrielle Alcorta Solorio, Texas Public Radio's Gabrielle Alcorta Solorio, Texas Public Radio's Gabrielle Alcorta Solorio, Texas Public Radio's Gabrielle Alcorta Solorio, Texas Public Radio's Gabrielle Alcorta Solorio, Texas Public Radio's Gabrielle Alcorta Solorio, Texas Public Radio's Gabrielle Alcorta Solorio, Texas Public Radio's Gabrielle Alcorta Solorio, Texas Public Radio's Gabrielle Alcorta Solorio, Texas Public Radio's Gabrielle Alcorta Solorio, Texas Public Radio's

Gabrielle Alcorta Solorio, Texas Public Radio's Gabrielle Alcorta Solorio, Texas Public Radio's Gabrielle Alcorta Solorio, Texas Public Radio's Gabrielle Alcorta Solorio, Texas Public Radio's Gabrielle Alcorta Solorio, Texas Public Radio's Gabrielle Alcorta Solorio, Texas Public Radio's Gabrielle Alcorta Solorio, Texas Public Radio's Gabrielle Alcorta Solorio, Texas Public Radio's Gabrielle Alcorta Solorio, Texas Public Radio's Gabrielle Alcorta Solorio, Texas Public Radio's Gabrielle Alcorta Solorio, Texas Public Radio's Gabrielle Alcorta Solorio, Texas Public Radio's Gabrielle Alcorta Solorio, Texas Public Radio's Gabrielle Alcorta Solorio, Texas Public Radio's Gabrielle Al immigration law. Now with Trump in office, Abbott says the state will be working with the federal government. The 400 soldiers being deployed are from the Texas Tactical Border Force, established in 2023 to aid the thousands of Texas National Guard soldiers already mobilized

to the border. The Pentagon announced last week that it has begun deploying more than 1,500 active duty troops to the southern border. I am Gabriela Alcorta Solorio in San Antonio. House Republicans are holding their annual policy retreat at the President's resort, Trump National Doral, Miami. President Trump told those gathered that the GOP is forging a new political majority that's replacing the New Deal policies of the last half century. In a single week, I've taken over 350 executive actions. We've signed 300 and whoever heard of that one.

And as I said in my inaugural address, the American decline is over. It's over. Trump says he's eager to see Congress pass tax cuts. This is NPR. Billionaire investor Scott Besant has been confirmed as the new U.S. Treasury secretary. The Senate vote was 68 to 29. Besant says the U.S. faces economic calamity if Congress fails to renew key provisions of President Trump's 2018 tax cuts.

Southern California Edison says a preliminary analysis has found a fault on a power line miles away from those near the Eaton Fire north of Los Angeles. The utility's infrastructure is being investigated, although fire officials have not found any link between Southern California's transmission lines and the fires that devastated parts of L.A. Kennedy Senate President Deborah Rutter says she'll be stepping down at the end of this year. Rutter spent a decade leading the cultural center,

as NPR's Isabella Gomez-Armiento reports. Deborah Rutter arrived at the Kennedy Center in 2014. Under her leadership, the center hosted thousands of theater, dance, comedy, and musical performances, like the recent Kennedy Center Honors. ["Tonight's the Day"] Rutter led the Kennedy Center through an unprecedented period for live entertainment,

the pandemic. She's also made genres such as hip hop, core areas of programming for the institution, alongside ballet, opera, and classical music. It's yet to be seen how the new administration's arts policies will affect the Kennedy Center. In announcing her departure, Rudder said it was, quote, time to pass the torch. Isabella Gomez-Armiento, NPR News. U.S. markets are virtually unchanged in after hours trading on Wall Street.

This is NPR News.