NPR News Now - NPR News: 10-21-2025 1AM EDT

Episode Date: October 21, 2025

NPR News: 10-21-2025 1AM EDTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shays Stevens. Former FBI director James Comey is asking a judge to dismiss the criminal case against him. As NPR's Kerry Johnson reports, Comey says, President Trump improperly singled him out for prosecution. The former FBI director says the Constitution bars the government from carrying out of vindictive or selective prosecution. But in new court papers, Jim Comey says that's exactly what happened. when a prosecutor close to President Trump moved to indict him on charges of misleading and obstructing Congress.

Comey says the case is pure retaliation because he's a prominent critic of the president. Trump has called the former head of the FBI a piece of garbage, a liar and a leaker, and a weasel who should be in jail. It's rare to get a case dismissed on the ground of vindictive prosecution, but Comey says at minimum, the judge should let him explore evidence within the Justice Department about how he came to be charged with a crime. Carrie Johnson, NPR News, Washington. The government shutdown is now in its 21st day. NPR's Giles Snyder reports on the latest rejection of a stopgap funding bill. The Senate voted 50 to 43 Monday evening on the House pass short-term spending bill,

and for the 11th time, Democrats blocked it. It needed 60 votes. Democrats are insisting on an extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies that are set to expire at the end of the year, saying it's a crisis that can't wait. Pellicans say discussions can't happen until the shutdown ends. Giles Snyder reporting. Columbia has recalled its ambassador to the U.S. As John Otis reports from Bogotam, the move comes after President Trump accused his Colombian counterpart of drug trafficking.

The U.S. and Colombia were once close allies and partners in the war on drugs, but relations have festered due in part to the controversial U.S. policy of attacking alleged drug trafficking boats in the Caribbean Sea. These military strikes have killed more than two dozen people. Colombian president Gustavo Petro claims that one of the victims was an innocent Colombian fisherman and has accused the Trump administration of murder. On Sunday, Trump, without providing any evidence, responded by calling Petro a, quote, illegal drug leader. He also threatened to cut off U.S. aid and raise tariffs on Colombia. Petro called Trump ill-informed about Colombia and ordered his ambassador, in Washington to return home. For NPR news, I'm John Otis in Bogota, Colombia.

Vice President J.D. Vance and U.S. Special Envoy Steve Whitkoff are heading to Israel to try to shore up the ceasefire in Gaza. They plan to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin at Yahoo to discuss recent developments in the region. The Palestinian Health Ministry says that dozens of civilians were killed in strikes across Gaza on Sunday after Israel accused Hamas militants of killing two soldiers. future is a little changed in after-hours trading. This is NPR. Several universities had until Monday to agree to a list of demands from the Trump administration or risk losing federal funding. The demands are dubbed the compact for

academic excellence in higher education. They include a ban on transgender people using bathrooms or participating in sports that do not align with their gender at birth and a cap on foreign student admissions, among other things. As of Sunday, six of nine schools, said they would not sign the document. In France, police are looking for criminals who used a moving truck and ladder to break into the Louvre and steal royal jewels. As NPR's Eleanor Beersley reports, the museum is closed, but that has not kept crowds away.

Disappointed tourists and curious onlookers stand outside the Louvre to try to understand what happened. Ischel Sintykaya and family from Dusseldorf, Germany, planned their Paris trip around the museum. We have already our reservation for today, and now we cannot get in. Yes, we are very disappointed. It's our unlucky. Police say the brazen daytime heist was likely carried out by an organized criminal gang

that had surveilled the Louvre and meticulously planned the operation. There is rising anger in France over what experts say was a lack of security at the museum. The heist has also set off a political blame game over who is responsible. Eleanor Beardsley and Pierre News, Paris. Bass guitarist Sam Rivers from the new metal band, Limp Biscuit, has died at the age of 48. Lent Biscuit emerged in the late 1990s with a sound that merges alternative rock, heavy metal, and rap. This is NPR News.