NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-12-2025 2PM EST

Episode Date: November 12, 2025

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Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. House Oversight Committee Democrats have released reams of emails from the late-convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. They said several mentioned President Trump by name. Hours later, their Republican colleagues released more than 20,000 pages of documents they said they obtained from the financiers' estate. President Trump has denied having knowledge of the sex crimes for which Epstein was charged or convicted. NPR Stephen Fowler has more. These latest Epstein files come as the House returns for votes that could reopen the federal government after the longest shutdown in U.S. history. House Democrats and more Republicans have been pushing for a vote to release additional files related to the Epstein case since before the government shutdown began.

But House Speaker Mike Johnson was able to delay that vote by keeping the chamber out and most recently by refusing to swear in Democrat Adelita Grijalva of Arizona. Today, that wait ends. Grajava will be sworn in seven weeks after she won, especially. election in Arizona. She is expected to then sign a petition to force a vote on a measure that requires a release of more Epstein files. As federal workers wait for the green light to head back to work, NPR's Windsor Johnson reports staffing gaps in flight cancellations could stretch into the busy Thanksgiving travel period. The government may soon reopen, but the nation's air travel system will need more time. Former FAA administrator Randy Babette tells NPR that it's not just the

control towers feeling the pressure. The TSA is equally burdened, and there'll be a surge of traffic, of course, and that'll challenge their system to get people through security into the boarding. So I think just patience and take as much caution as you can to keep in the information loop as to the status of your flights. Babbitt warns that longstanding staffing shortages mean it could take days, maybe longer, for schedules to stabilize. According to flightaware.com, more than 9,000 flights have been canceled since last Friday. Wednesday. Windsor Johnston, NPR News, Washington. Venezuela says it's readying a large force in case the U.S. attacks of South American country. And NPR's Kerry Khan reports a Pentagon announced that the USS Gerald Ford nuclear-powered aircraft carrier

reached the region controlled by U.S. Southern Command. Venezuelan officials have been showing off weapons distributions and military maneuvers in preparation they say for U.S. action. Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino says 200,000 forces are ready to, quote, fight to the death to protect the homeland. It's unclear what the U.S. plans are as the world's largest aircraft carrier makes its way into the seas off the Venezuelan coast. President Trump has talked about direct strikes and CIA operations to unseat President Nicolas Maduro. To date, the U.S. has struck at least 19 times against small boats suspected of transporting drugs. Colombia's president has cut off narcotics intelligence sharing in protest

over the U.S. actions. Carrie Khan, NPR News, Guayaquil, Ecuador. It's NPR. A Chinese tycoon accused of setting up illegal gambling rings in scam compounds, which defrauded people around the world, is being extradited from Thailand to China. His extradition ends a year's long battle in what NPR's Emily Fang reports is a murky legal case involving allegations of subterfuge and espionage.

The case against Shue Jiang could have been lifted from a spy novel. And in fact, he claims he was recruited as a spy by the Chinese state. Shoe became wealthy building big real estate projects in Southeast Asia and acquired Cambodian citizenship along the way. His most notorious project is the Shui-Koko compound in Myanmar, marketed as a resort for Chinese tourists, but activists say it's a hub for cyber scans. The Chinese government says thousands of Chinese nationals have been kidnapped and forced to work as scammers at compounds like Shuz. But Shus lawyers allege Beijing is extraditing him out of fear he will reveal state secrets from his time as an alleged spy, and they say they don't

fear for his life as he's sent back to China. Emily Fang and Peer News. Today marks the end of the penny, the new ones anyway, at President Trump's orders. The U.S. Mint in Philadelphia pressed the very last one-cent coin because its value is much less than the cost to make it. But there are still billions of pennies in circulation and changing hands for buying stuff, the give a penny, take a penny jar, or maybe picking up one for a little luck. I'm Lakshmi Singh and PR News in Washington.