NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-19-2025 10PM EST

Episode Date: November 20, 2025

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Support for NPR and the following message come from the Kreske Foundation with Pathbreakers, a podcast about transforming communities through innovation, from revolutionizing higher education to supporting artists who are driving change. Pathbreakers is available on podcast platforms. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Rylan Barton. President Trump has signed the bill forcing the Justice Department to release its files on late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. overwhelmingly passed the legislation yesterday, which requires the Justice Department to publish all of its files within 30 days, with some exceptions. Those include provisions to protect ongoing investigations. Just last week, the DOJ launched an investigation into prominent Democrats connected to Epstein. The gap between what the U.S. buys from other countries and what it sells them fell by nearly 24 percent in August as President Trump's tariffs pushed imports lower. Meanwhile, Supreme Court justices appeared skeptical of Trump's tariffs power, tariff powers during arguments earlier this month.

NPR's Danielle Kurtzleben reports. It's not just about whether those country-by-country tariffs will be found to be unlawful. The uncertainty is also around what the impact is on those country-by-country agreements, since those were created under the threat of tariffs. Here's Scott Linsicum. He's a trade expert at the Libertarian Cato Institute on how countries will react. I wouldn't be surprised if a few guys, governments that have agreed to these deals do back out, or at least suspend them and call for a renegotiation. Because again, one of the most fundamental terms of the deal no longer exists. So we're really in uncharted waters. There's just an array of different agreements, which means

there's no one way this will play out. NPR's Danielle Kurtzleben reporting, a veteran FBI employee is suing the agency saying he was fired after displaying an LGBTQ plus flag at his workspace. David Maltinsky had nearly completed special agent training in Quantico, Virginia, when he says he was fired by director Cash Patel and told he was being dismissed for inappropriate display of political signage. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll is in Ukraine today, along with Army Chief of Staff General Randy George. They're expected to meet with Ukrainian President Volodemir Zelensky

and PR's Tom Bowman has more. Driscoll and General George had already planned a trip to Ukraine to talk about drone technology and lessons learned from the Ukrainian battlefield. Then the White House last week asked the Army delegation to also help kickstart peace negotiations with Trump-onvoy Steve Whitkoff. A U.S. official tells NPR. The official was not authorized to speak publicly. Since Driscoll is an Army combat veteran, the sense was this delegation could more easily relate to the Ukrainian officers. The news of their trip comes amid reports of a new U.S.-Russia peace plan that calls for Ukraine to give up the rest of the Donbos area to Russia and also accept

a smaller army. NPR has not confirmed the plan first reported by the Financial Times. Tom Bowman, NPR News. President Trump says he will meet New York City Mayor-O-elect Zoran Mamdani at the White House on Friday. In a post online, Trump said the meeting will take place at the Oval Office and, quote, further details to follow. This is NPR News. Britain is warning Russia it is ready to handle any incursion into its territory after a spy ship was detected near its waters. Britain's defense secretary says the vessel directed lasers at pilots of surveillance aircraft monitoring its activities. He described it as part of a Russian fleet designed to threaten undersea infrastructure. Russia's embassy accused the British government of being

Russophobic. Chip company, NVIDIA, told investors it made another $32 billion in profit, but as NPR's Maria Aspen reports, fears are also mounting that an AI bubble is about to burst. Nvidia is the most valuable company in the world. It sells the semiconductors that are powering the AI boom, and it's making gobs of money. But for all the billions of dollars that tech companies are investing in AI, they're not seeing a lot of payoff yet. Now more top investors and CEOs are warning that the AI bubble is due to burst. That's a problem for the stock market, which has been hitting record highs thanks to tech stocks, despite lots of other economic uncertainty. Tariffs are cutting into company profits, consumer prices are rising, and the jobs market is weakening. Investors will get a delayed government update on employment, but in the meantime, they celebrated NVIDIA's Blockbuster Report Card. Maria Aspen and PR News, New York. An owl found partially encased in concrete after it got inside a cement mixer in Utah is expected to fly free again after it was cleaned by animal sanctuary workers. Workers removed the concrete after several grooming sessions.

It's expected to be released by summer next year. This is NPR News. This message comes from Wise, the app for using money around the globe. When you manage your money with Wise, you'll always get the mid-market exchange rate with no hidden fees. Join millions of customers and visit Wise.com. T's and Cs Apply.