NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-22-2025 5PM EDT

Episode Date: August 22, 2025

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Live from NPR News, I'm Janine Hurst. As soldiers and federal agents patrol Washington, D.C., President Trump suggested that he would send federal resources to Chicago. And Pierce Daniel Kurtzleben reports Trump also mentioned other cities where he would consider sending personnel. With J.D. Vance at his side, Trump called Chicago a mess. And the people in Chicago, Mr. Vice President, are screaming for us to come. They're wearing red hats. like this man, but they're wearing red hats. African-American ladies, beautiful ladies, they're saying, please, President Trump, come to Chicago. He later added that he hasn't taken concrete steps for this plan. Trump also suggested sending personnel to San Francisco and New York.

Under the D.C. Home Rule Act, a president can take control of the city's police for 30 days in cases of emergency, after which Congress would be needed to extend that time frame. However, the president does not have similar powers over other cities. Danielle Kurtzleben and PR News, the White House. The Justice Department has released transcripts of a recent interview with the former girlfriend of deceased sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein. And Pierce Carey Johnson reports on new details from Galane Maxwell, who's serving a 20-year prison sentence.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche traveled to Florida this summer to conduct an unusual interview with Maxwell. He released the transcripts on social media and what he called the interest of transparency. Maxwell told DOJ she may have met now President Trump because he was friendly with her father. She also called Trump a gentleman in all respects. The president's allies have been clamoring to see the Justice Department's files on Jeffrey Epstein in case they reveal new information about the source of his wealth and his sex trafficking of underage girls. David Marcus, a lawyer for Maxwell, says she told the truth and that she's a scapegoat.

After her interview, Maxwell was moved into a less restrictive federal prison in Texas. Carrie Johnson and PR News, Washington. Kilmar Abrego Garcia has been released from a jail in Tennessee and will be back in Maryland for the first time since he was wrongly deported to El Salvador in March. Mariana Bacayahu from Member Station W. PLN has more. Kilmar Abrego Garcia faces human smuggling charges stemming from a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee, where he's been held in custody since the Supreme Court mandated his return to the U.S. For now, Obrego-Garcia's lawyers have confirmed that he was in route to reunite with his family in Maryland.

It's not clear how long he'll be able to stay there, though. Federal immigration officials have warned that he could still be deported before his trial in January. For NPR News, I'm Mariana Bacayahu in Nashville. Bill. Wall Street sharply higher by the closing bell, the Dow up 846 points. You're listening to NPR News from Washington. The FBI today searched the Maryland home and D.C. office, a President Trump's former national security advisor, now a critic of the president. John Bolton served in Trump's first term. The FBI says it conducted a court-authorized activity in the area without giving further comment. Sources tell NPR that the search was tied to Bolton's handling of classified

documents. The White House released a list of specific art, exhibits, and live events at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., that it finds unacceptable. If here's Anastasia Siloukis reports, the unsigned memo from the White House is titled, President Trump is right about the Smithsonian. The memo lists 22 specific items and events across six Smithsonian. museums that the Trump administration considers objectionable. It also criticizes the yet-to-be-built American Women's History Museum. The memo does not specify any course of action that the White House plans to take. The list includes an exhibition of Afrofuturistic work by artist Ayanna V. Jackson at the Museum of African Art. Another is a video made for the National Portrait

gallery by the artist Hugo Croswate. It portrays Dr. Anthony Fauci, the infectious disease expert who frequently went head to head with the president during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Smithsonian declined to comment in response. Anastasi Azea Zulikas and Pierre News, New York. And I'm Janine Herbst, and you're listening to NPR News in Washington.