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Episode Date: June 5, 2025

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On NPR's Thru Line, witnesses were ending up dead. How the hunt for gangster Al Capone launched the IRS to power. Find NPR's Thru Line wherever you get your podcasts. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Korva Coleman. The White House is disputing estimates from the Congressional Budget Office that say the president's big tax and spending cuts bill will add trillions of dollars to the national deficit. As NPR's Tamara Keith reports, this comes as billionaire Elon Musk is posting on social

media the bill should be killed. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates the bill would add $2.4 trillion to the nation's deficit over the next decade. But White House Budget Director Russell Vogt, in a call with reporters, disputed the CBO's calculation. It will improve the deficit. It will help us deal with debt. It is historic levels of mandatory savings.

The fact that the Congressional Budget Office doesn't agree is not particularly new. As for Musk, who has called for members of Congress to be voted out of office if they support the bill, Vote said he isn't worried about opposing views from the outside. Tamara Keith, NPR News. China is ramping up its online influence operations by using artificial intelligence tools. That's according to researchers at OpenAI. As NPR's Shannon Bond reports, the company says it recently disrupted Chinese operations using OpenAI's tools that were creating fake social media posts and doing surveillance.

OpenAI says in the past three months it banned accounts connected to 10 different operations using its AI tools in malicious ways. Four of those likely originated in China. Ben Nimmo leads OpenAI's intelligence and investigations team. What we're seeing from China is a growing range of covert operations using a growing range of tactics. OpenAI says the accounts it banned used chat GPT to generate posts for social media and also to create performance reviews detailing that work for their bosses. The operations targeted multiple countries,

including the U.S., and posted AI-generated comments on TikTok, X, Reddit, Facebook, and other websites. Shannon Bond, NPR News. President Trump says he will block the entry of foreign students who aren are going to Harvard University. Trump is also considering whether visas should be revoked for current Harvard students. The university says Trump is retaliating against Harvard. The Trump administration's efforts to restrict visas for international students could help universities in other countries. As Willem Marx reports, British institutions are preparing for potential new applicants.

Education experts say interest in studying at American universities has dropped sharply since January, with internet search volumes for US study options down about 50% over the four months to April. More than 10,000 UK students are currently enrolled in US universities. But if that number falls in future, it could mean greater competition for places that elite British institutions that could disadvantage less privileged UK applicants. Villamarks reporting. On Wall Street and pre-market trading,

Dow futures are up more than 30 points. This is NPR. The Education Department is telling an independent reviewing body it believes that Columbia University has broken anti-discrimination laws. The agency claims that means Columbia University has failed to meet standards for accreditation. Columbia University says it's already working with the federal government to address the

issue. The suspect in the Boulder attack will appear in a Colorado state courtroom today. He's facing dozens of charges, including counts of first-degree attempted murder. He also faces one federal count of hate crime offenses. Separately, a federal judge has blocked the deportation of the Boulder suspect's wife and five children. The family is in federal immigration custody. Their lawyers say the family knew nothing

about any planned attack. Paramount Plus' Mobland and PBS' We Want the Funk are among the programs that NPR TV critic Eric Deggans recommends that fans catch up on before the summer really kicks in. Here's his look at this year's TV shows to watch right now. In the streaming age, great TV shows are like classic text sitting on a digital bookshelf. Like Netflix's Adolescents, with first-time actor Owen Cooper as a volatile kid accused of murdering a classmate. For comedy, there's Netflix's White House-set murder mystery The Residence, or Apple TV

Plus' movie industry satire The Studio. In drama, the Star Wars spinoff Andor on Disney Plus also entertains. Eric Deggans, NPR News. And I'm Korva Coleman, NPR News in Washington.