NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-18-2025 5AM EST

Episode Date: November 18, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington. I'm Dave Mattingly. The House is expected to vote today on a bill that would require the Justice Department to release all of its files on the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The measure is supported by Democrats and some Republicans. President Trump is encouraging the GOP to support the release of the files, saying we have nothing to hide. Trump's name is mentioned more than a thousand times in Epstein-related. documents released by congressional lawmakers thus far. Former Treasury Secretary and one-time Harvard University President Larry Summers says he's stepping away from his public duties as he faces backlash for his email exchanges with Jeffrey Epstein, NPR's Giles Snyder has more. Larry Summers told Harvard student newspaper in a statement that he is deeply ashamed and takes full responsibility for what he said was a misguided decision to continue to communicate with Jeffrey Epstein. He said the move as part of an effort to rebuild trust and

repair relationships with those closest to him. Emails between Summers and Epstein were among thousands of documents released last week by the House Oversight Committee. They show the two remained in contact until just before Epstein's arrest in 2019 for sex trafficking minors. Summers has not been accused by any of Epstein's victims, but last week, President Trump named him and other prominent Democrats when he urged the Justice Department to investigate them. Trial Snyder in PR News. President Trump says the U.S. plans to sell F-35 military jets to Saudi Arabia. NPR's Franco Ordonez says the Saudi Crown Prince is scheduled to meet with Trump today at the White House. President Trump and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman are expected to discuss

the fighter jets as well as security and efforts to normalize relations with Israel. I am planning a good idea. You've got to sell that advice. You've been a great ally. They've got to like us very much. Look at the Iran situation, what we did in terms of obliterating, you know, we obliterated their nuclear capability. Yeah, I will say that we will be doing that. We'll be selling F-35. Experts say the sale of F-35s would change the military balance in the region

while raising questions about Washington's long-held position of maintaining Israel's, quote, qualitative military edge, which was signed into a 2008. law. Franco, Ordonez. NPR News, the White House. A CIA report found Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman approved the operation that killed and dismembered Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul, Turkey in 2018. The Saudi government and the crown prince deny any role in the slang. Stocks on Wall Street are coming off a day of sharp losses amid investor concerns about tech stocks. This is NPR news from Washington. A judge in California is denying class action status to thousands of black employees at Tesla's

flagship assembly plant in Fremont who were suing for racial harassment. Rachel Myro with member station KQED has more. Former assembly line worker Marcus Vaughn alleged employees and supervisors called him the N-word repeatedly, but rather than investigate, Tesla fired him, while Tesla still faces roughly a thousand individual lawsuits, Stanford Law Professor Emeritus Bill Gould says a class action case would have been stronger. Companies generally only are concerned about liability when they're confronted with large numbers of workers. No comment from Tesla, but the board has told investors it has taken steps to prevent and address harassment and discrimination. For NPR News, I'm Rachel

Myro. A federal judge in Oregon has decided there will be no prison time for a former Alaska Airlines pilot who tried to cut the engines on an airliner during a flight when he was traveling off duty. At the time in 2023, Joseph Emerson was riding in the cockpit's extra seat on a horizon air flight as it was heading from Everett Washington to San Francisco. There were more than 80 people aboard. Emerson was subdued by the flight crew as he attempted to cut power to the engines and the plane was diverted to Portland. Emerson had consumed psychedelic mushrooms days before the flight, and the judge sentenced him to time served, plus three years of supervised release. I'm Dave Mattingly in Washington.