NPR News Now - NPR News: 05-14-2025 5AM EDT

Episode Date: May 14, 2025

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These days, there's a lot of news. It can be hard to keep up with what it means for you, your family, and your community. Consider This from NPR is a podcast that helps you make sense of the news. Six days a week, we bring you a deep dive on a story and provide the context, backstory, and analysis you need to understand our rapidly changing world. Listen to the Consider This podcast from NPR. Listen to the Consider This Podcast from NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Dave Mattingly. This is day two of President Trump's visit to Saudi Arabia. In Riyadh yesterday, the president announced

$600 billion worth of contracts with companies in the US. They included the defense, energy, and high-tech sectors. NPR's Bobby Allen says many executives from Silicon Valley are also in Riyadh. Tech leaders took center stage during Trump's inauguration, and similarly, they flanked the president during his visit to Saudi Arabia. Billionaire Elon Musk, open AI Sam Altman, Palantir's Alex Karp, and other tech titans joined Trump, some with an eye toward investment dollars to fuel artificial intelligence infrastructure. A flurry of deals were announced, including from chipmaker Nvidia, which says it will

sell some of its top AI chips to the Gulf state. One big tech executive absent from the summit was Amazon's Jeff Bezos, who owns the Washington Post. Bezos has drawn attention to the 2018 killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, who U.S. officials believe was killed with the approval of the Saudi crown prince. Bobby Allen, NPR News. After Saudi Arabia, Trump is scheduled to visit Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. While in Saudi Arabia, President Trump also announced he's lifting U.S. sanctions on

Syria. To give them a fresh start, it gives them a chance for greatness. The sanctions were really crippling, very powerful. Speaking in Riyadh, Trump says he's hopeful Syria's new government will help stabilize the country and keep the peace following the ouster of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad. U.S. sanctions on Syria have been in place since 1979. Trump says he spoke with Turkey's president before making the announcement. He also met with Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharah for about 30 minutes in Riyadh. On Capitol Hill more than two

dozen Democratic senators have introduced a resolution to try to block the Trump administration from accepting delivery of a luxury 747 jumbo jet from Qatar. As NPR's Michelle Kellerman reports, the jet is worth $400 million and would be used by Trump as Air Force One. The ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Jean Shaheen, describes the Qatari offer as clearly illegal and corrupt

and says it raises national security concerns. Air Force One is not just an airplane that flies the president around it's also a White House in the air in that you have to have secure communications you have to be able to refuel in case there's an emergency. President Trump says only a quote stupid person would say no to a free very expensive airplane. Shaheen says she's heard private concerns from some of her Republican colleagues. Only Democrats have signed on to a resolution opposing this.

Michelle Kellerman, NPR News, the State Department. This is NPR News from Washington. A federal grand jury in Wisconsin has indicted Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan. She is accused of helping a man in the U.S. without legal status, of evading U.S. immigration authorities as he appeared in her courtroom. Dugan is expected in court again tomorrow to formally enter a plea. Her defense attorneys maintain her innocence. More testimony is expected today in New York in the sex trafficking trial of hip hop mogul

Sean Diddy Combs. His ex-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, took the stand yesterday where she testified about how Combs exerted his control over her. NPR's Anastasia Tsoukas' report includes mentions of physical and sexual assault. Cassie Ventura was a model and singer who signed a 10-album deal with Combs' record label when she was 19 years old.

She claims that rather than releasing her music and furthering her career, Combs instead subjected her to years of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse. On the stand, she said her main job was organizing and participating in multi-day marathons of sex and drug use directed by Combs. She added, quote, there was no space to do anything else but to recover and try to feel normal again. Combs is accused of racketeering and sex trafficking. His lawyers say domestic violence, while a crime, is not sex trafficking or racketeering. Anastasiad Sylkis, NPR News, New York. Ventura is expected to resume her testimony today. Wall Street futures are mixed this morning.

I'm Dave Mattingly, NPR News in Washington. These days, with all the information coming at you, it can be hard to know what's accurate, NPR News in Washington.