NPR News Now - NPR News: 06-07-2025 1AM EDT

Episode Date: June 7, 2025

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On Fridays, the 1A podcast is all about helping you cut through the info fog and get to what's important in the news. Close out the week with us on our Friday News Roundup. Hear from reporters who've been embedded with the biggest news of the week. Join us every week for the Friday News Roundup. Listen to the 1A podcast from NPR and WAMU. Live from NPR News, I'm Dale Willman. Five leaders of the far-right Proud Boys Extremist Group, convicted of felony offenses in connection with the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol, are suing the Justice Department.

The men have already been granted clemency by President Trump. They now claim they were victims of a corrupt and politically motivated prosecution. MPR's Ryan Lucas reports. In their lawsuit filed in the Middle District of Florida, the five Proud Boys leaders say that their constitutional rights were violated by the Justice Department and the FBI during the investigation into the January 6th attack. They alleged that they were victims of systemic abuse

to punish and oppress political allies of President Trump. They are seeking $100 million in punitive damages in their lawsuit. Four of the men, including the group's leader, Enrique Tarrio, were convicted at trial of seditious conspiracy and other crimes in connection with the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol in 2021. The fifth was found guilty of multiple other offenses. Trump pardoned or commuted the sentences of all of them on his first day back in office. Ryan Lucas in BR News, Washington. After first insisting that it did not have the power to bring Kilmar Abrego Garcia back from an El Salvador

prison after he was wrongfully deported, the Trump administration has now returned him to the US. He's in prison after being hit with federal charges as Jimena Bistillo reports. A grand jury in Tennessee returned a sealed indictment charging him with alien smuggling and conspiracy to commit alien smuggling. Attorney General Bondi said that the U.S. presented Salvadoran authorities with an arrest warrant for Abrego Garcia and they agreed to return him to the United States. She said that the grand jury found that over the past nine years, Abrego Garcia played a significant role in an alien smuggling ring.

The indictment alleges that he made over 100 trips transporting people without legal status. That's NPR's Samantha Bustillo. Veterans groups opposed to the Trump administration's plans to cut staff at the Department of Veterans Affairs gathered Friday on the National Mall. NPR's Quill Lawrence was there and filed this report. Hundreds, maybe thousands of veterans are out here on the mall at a demonstration they're calling Unite for Veterans, Unite for America. There have been a lot of people talking about

threatened cuts to the VA and how that could affect veterans' health care. People have been mentioning the changes in the Trump administration's policies on letting Afghan allies who worked with American service members overseas on letting them get visas and it's probably something of a partisan crowd but if you ask them they'll say that these issues are nonpartisan these are just about veterans health care and veterans benefits. That's NPR's Quill Lawrence reporting from the National Mall. An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.4 hit northern Chile Friday afternoon. The quake caused some structural damage in the area and cut power to more than 20,000 people. Some minor landslides were also reported,

but officials say there have been no immediate reports of casualties. You're listening to NPR News. Veterans gathered on the beaches of Normandy on Friday to mark the 81st anniversary of the D-Day landings. It was a pivotal moment during World War II that led to the collapse of Adolf Hitler's regime. Tens of thousands of people attended the commemoration, which included flyovers, parachute jumps, and historical reenactments. The Trump administration Friday authorized a nearly 60 million ton coal mine expansion in eastern Montana and it did it without public review. Montana Public Radio's Alice Julin has more.

The US Department of the Interior approved the Bull Mountains mines expansion citing the National Energy Emergency Declaration President Trump issued in January. The decision allows for expedited approvals of energy development projects. It also lowers the permitting requirements, meaning there will not be a draft environmental impact statement for the public to review and comment on. Opponents of the mine include environmental groups and local ranchers, who voice concerns over water depletion and pollution from the mine. The final destination of the mines coal has also been questioned since the majority is exported overseas to Japan and South Korea.

The company that owns the mine, Signal Peak, was found guilty of violating environmental and worker safety standards in federal court in 2022. For NPR News, I'm Ellis Ju Lin in Missoula, Montana. Brad Marshawn scored on a breakaway in double overtime to give the Florida Panthers a win over the Edmund Oilers in game two of the Stanley Cup Hockey Finals. It was Marchand's second goal of the game.

The series now stands at one game apiece. It's just the sixth time in NHL history that the first two games of the finals have gone into overtime. I'm Dale Willman, NPR News. Fall in love with new music every Friday at all songs considered. That's NPR News.