NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-21-2025 2PM EDT

Episode Date: August 21, 2025

NPR News: 08-21-2025 2PM EDTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. President Trump no longer has to pay a $500 million civil fraud penalty, according to a New York Appeals Court ruling today. NPR's Kat-Lonstarf reports a court has overturned the size of the penalty imposed early last year, not the finding of wrongdoing. In February 2024, a New York judge found Trump had engaged in fraudulent business practices, exaggerating his wealth and patting his financial statements for lenders and insurers. Trump was ordered to pay 355 million in penalties, now around half a billion with interest, a sum that threatened to wipe out his cash reserves. But a divided five judge panel in New York's mid-level appellate division court ruled that penalty was, quote, excessive and eliminated it while declining to overturn the case, meaning Trump can appeal it yet again to New York's

highest court. The case was one of several lawsuits against Trump working their way through the courts during the 2024 presidential campaign, including a criminal case in which he was also convicted and has also appealed. Kat Lansdorf, NPR News. President Trump says he plans to join National Guard forces and police in patrolling Washington, D.C. streets tonight. He told conservative talk radios at Todd Starn's show, quote, we're going to do a job. White House did not provide immediate confirmation of Trump's plans, but it would mark a high-profile

moment in Trump's federalization of D.C. law enforcement against violent, crime, which he argues is surging, contrary to local and federal data showing a nearly 30 percent decline in D.C. raids and arrests continued last night in the city. A White House official says in operation involving more than 2,000 federal officers netted 77 arrests, two dozen of which were related to immigration, and that officers confiscated 10 guns. Florida may be the next redistricting battleground. Today, Governor Rondi Santos said the 2020 census results were undercounted. He is now asking the Trump administration to allocate his state an additional seed in the U.S. House of Representatives and floated the possibility of an additional electoral vote. The White House has released new

details on its trade agreement with the European Union after the U.S. and EU announced a framework last month. NPR's Daniel Kurtzleben reports both sides are still negotiating. Under the deal, the U.S. will impose 15 percent tariffs on most EU imports, as previously announced. But the U.S. will also charge higher tariffs on European-made cars until the EU lowers tariffs on U.S. goods. The new information is not a formal agreement, but rather comes from a fact sheet released by the White House this morning. And there are still big questions. The fact sheet acknowledges that the two parties will still need to negotiate topics like cybersecurity and rules of origin. In addition, while Trump has touted an expected $600 billion EU investment in the

U.S., it's not clear that investment will actually hit those levels. Danielle Kurtzleben and PR News. The Dow is down more than 150 points. This is NPR. Israel suggests it is considering a new offer of a two-month ceasefire with Hamas. But as NPR's Daniel Estrin reports from Tel Aviv, the country is also speeding up preparations to capture Gaza's biggest city, which include calling up 60,000 new reservist soldiers for duty starting next month. It would entail Israel ordering the displacement of many hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, to southern Gaza near the Egyptian border, and aid groups are warning that would only exacerbate the humanitarian crisis. And it also makes Egypt very nervous about Palestinians streaming

potentially across the border into Egypt. NPR's Daniel Lestrian reporting, President Trump says he intends to expand his administration's review of the Smithsonian Institution to museums across the U.S. NPR's Anastasias Yulkas reports museum leaders and experts are worried. President Trump called museums, quote, the last remaining segment of woke, and the White House says he intends to, quote, start with the Smithsonian and then go from there. The U.S. has some 22,000 museums, including art museums, local historic houses, and botanical gardens. Many address topics like history, identity, and the environment, subjects that have become politically polarizing. Patty Gerstenblith is a professor at DePaul University in Chicago and a specialist in museum law. Museums have a First Amendment right of expression.

Artistic expression is protected by the First Amendment as another form of speech. But that doesn't necessarily mean that the federal government has to pay for that speech. Anastasia Zilkis, NPR News, New York. This is NPR.