NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-21-2024 4PM EST

Episode Date: November 21, 2024

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The election is over, but the story is just beginning. Listen to Here and Now Anytime. We're talking to everyone, Democrats, Republicans, Independents, covering the political stories that matter to you and your community. And we promise to bring you stories outside Washington too. That's on Here and Now Anytime, wherever you listen to podcasts. Live from NPR News. I'm Lakshmi Singh. Senate Republicans are reacting with a combination of surprise and relief at the news that Matt Gaetz, president-elect Trump's pick for attorney general has withdrawn. NPR's Deirdre Walsh reports.

A day after vice president-elect JD Vance accompanied Gaetz to a series of meetings with Senate Republicans, the former Florida congressman posted on social media that his nomination was becoming a distraction and dropped out. Several Senate Republicans acknowledged Gates faced an uphill battle. A House ethics panel investigated him for allegations of paying for sex, including with a minor. This week, the committee deadlocked over whether to release the report. Republican Senator Susan Collins said she was willing to let the confirmation process play out but added, certainly there were a lot of

red flags. Most GOP leaders declined to offer suggestions for Trump's next pick for Attorney General. Deidre Walsh, NPR News, The Capitol. A sexual assault allegation looms over another Trump nominee, Pete Hegseth. The former soldier and current Fox News host, Halford Defense Secretary, was asked about the accusation during his encounter with reporters on Capitol Hill today. Did you sexually assault a woman in Monterey, California? As far as the media is concerned, it's very simple. The matter was fully investigated and I was completely cleared and that's where I'm gonna

leave it. Thank you very much. Hexeth was on the Hill along with Vice President-elect JD Vance to try to build confirmation support among Senate Republicans. Russia has launched a new kind of experimental ballistic missile at Ukraine. NPR's Jeff Brumfield tells us the launch is likely intended to send a nuclear message. Russian President Vladimir Putin said his nation had used a new ballistic missile with a non-nuclear warhead.

Aaron Stein is president of the Foreign Policy Research Institute. He says even though this was a conventional attack, this new missile is clearly designed to carry nuclear weapons. They're showing everybody that they have the tools and the capabilities to carry out nuclear strikes throughout Europe. The launch of the missile comes just days after the U.S. allowed Ukraine to launch American-made missiles deep into Russian territory. Jeff Brumfield, NPR News.

Two developments at the Securities and Exchange Commission today. SEC Chair Gary Gensler is expected to step down January 20th. Separately, the SEC announced it's charged the Florida-based advisory firm, La Mancha, and its owner, David Kushner, with fraud. The company, which purported to make business loans to, among others, professional athletes, allegedly stole investor funds to pay for personal expenses. The Illinois Supreme Court has overturned former Empire actor Jussie Smollett's 2019 conviction over what police had said was a staged racist and homophobic attack.

Smollett's attorneys argued a special prosecutor should not have been allowed to intervene after the Cook County State's attorney initially dropped charges. Smollett always maintained he was innocent. From Washington, this is NPR News. Two former presidents of the Southern Baptist Convention, one black and one white, are seeking to bridge the racial divide in the Deep South. NPR's Debbie Elliott reports they've launched gospel-focused discussion groups in cities that were active in the U.S. slave trade.

The project is modeled after a group started in Mobile, Alabama, nearly 10 years ago. Pastor Ed Litton, a former president of the Southern Baptist Convention, says talking about the racial divide was hard. We're very much aware of it, but I think we just have learned to ignore it and to isolate ourselves by saying, you know, I'm not a bigot, I'm not prejudiced, but it's not my problem. To foster a broader dialogue, he teamed with another former Southern Baptist president, the first black man to lead the convention, the Reverend Fred Luter of New Orleans. We've got to learn some way somehow to live together.

Yeah, we may have differences about Democrats, Republicans, independents, but the fact is we're all Americans. They've launched the Unify Project to foster church-based racial reconciliation groups in the deep south. Debbie Elliott, NPR News. A museum curator at the New York City Library has unearthed a rare find, a waltz apparently written by composer Frederick Schoepan. The Morgan Library and Museum's Robinson McClellan says he stumbled on the untitled

and unsigned piece in May. It's reported to be the first new manuscript of the romantic era virtuoso to be discovered in nearly a century. The Dow is closed up 461 points or more than 1 percent. It's NPR News.