NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-01-2025 3AM EST

Episode Date: December 1, 2025

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Live from NPR News, I'm Dale Wilman. President Trump says he held a call with Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro as the Pentagon continues strikes in the Caribbean. As NPR's Luke Garrett reports, Trump continued to defend those strikes on alleged drugboats. Trump told reporters he spoke with Maduro by phone, but did not say when. The U.S. military has carried out at least 21 strikes on what they say are drug boats in international waters, killing more than 80 people. When asked how the call went, Trump said,

I wouldn't say it went well or badly. It was a phone call. Trump also said he wasn't aware of the controversy around Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's decision to strike a boat for a second time that still had survivors on board, as NPR and others have reported. When asked about these reported orders by Hegseth, Trump said... He said he did not say that, and I believe him. Trump said he had great confidence in Hegseth, but he'll look into the reports and he wouldn't have ordered a second strike himself. Luke Garrett, NPR News, Washington. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel.

has asked the country's president for a pardon. Netanyahu is facing charges of fraud, breach of trust, and accepting bribes. And Pierce, Daniel Lestrin, explains just what's at stake. What he's interested in is staying in power. And if he is convicted of bribery and the other charges, it could mean the end of his political career. This is really an issue that is polarizing the country. There's a new poll out today that shows about half of Israelis who were questioned do not support a pardon for Netanyahu. And the other half either does support a pardon or doesn't know.

Opposition leaders are opposing a pardon without an admission of guilt and a withdrawal from political life. President Trump's MAGA movement has been rattled by internal conflicts in recent months. The riffs raised questions about the future of the Republican Party after Trump, around whom the GOP has reshaped itself. NPR's Danielle Kurtzleben has more. Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Green is the face of multiple fractures in the Republican Party. She recently unveiled the slogan AFAO for America First, America only. Taylor Green has opposed Trump's focus on foreign affairs like the attacks on Iran earlier this year.

She is also one of several Republicans who led the charge to hold a congressional vote to release the Epstein files. White nationalist streamer Nick Fuentes is another focal point of GOP rifts as the party wrestles with how to deal with anti-Semitism. Earlier this month, he warned that if Vice President J.D. Vance condemns Fuenes' followers, known as G.riper's, The Groypers would oppose Vance in the 2028 presidential election. Danielle Kurtzleben and PR News. Hundreds of federal border agents are now expected to start a months-long crackdown Monday in New Orleans. It's the latest such operation by the Trump administration. It's aimed at targeting a Democratic-run city.

The operation is being called Swamp Sweep. And officials say they want to make at least 5,000 arrests while it's underway. Some residents have been attending rights-related workshops. ahead of the operation. You're listening to NPR News. A painting by Baroque Master Peter Paul Rubens sold this weekend for almost $3 million at an auction in France.

But perhaps more interesting is the fact that the work had been missing for more than 400 years before it was found inside a Paris home. Rebecca Rossman has more on our story. The newly sold painting titled Christ on the Cross dates back to 1613, but for centuries, was believed to be lost. Its existence was known only through engravings until a French auctioneer

discovered it during a routine inspection last fall of a Paris townhouse he was planning to sell. At first, experts thought it might be a workshop piece just worth a few thousand euros. But the auctioneer pushed for a full review, bringing the painting to the official Rubens Research Center in Belgium. Their scientific tests confirmed it was an authentic Rubens with pigments matching the artist's signature technique. Someday's $2.7 million sale makes it one of the most significant Rubin's fines in decades.

Rebecca Rossman and Peir News, Paris. The Ohio State Buckeyes remain at number one in the AP College football rankings. It's their 13th week in a row on top. Indiana is in second, and the two will be playing next weekend in the Big Ten championship game. There are the two remaining undefeated teams

in the top 25. Georgia, meanwhile, sits in third, while Oregon is in fourth and Texas Tech is in fifth. Old Miss, meanwhile, is in six while Texas A&M dropped a seventh following a 10-point loss to Texas. Oklahoma is an eighth, followed by Notre Dame and Alabama. I'm Dale Wilman, NPR News.