NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-13-2025 12AM EST

Episode Date: December 13, 2025

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Live from NPR News, I'm Dale Wilman. Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released two rounds of photos Friday that came from the estate of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. President Trump was asked later about the photos. He described them as no big deal. Well, I haven't seen it, but I mean, everybody knew this man. He was all over Palm Beach. He has photos with everybody. I mean, almost there are hundreds and hundreds of people that are photos with them. The photos are a small part of more than 95,000 photos released to Congress by the estate. The Trump administration, meanwhile, faces a deadline of next week to release the Epstein case files being held by the Justice Department. The Department of Justice is suing the biggest county in Georgia to obtain its 2020 general election ballots.

Fulton County has been at the center of baseless claims by President Trump that his 2020 election loss was rigged. From member station, WABE, Raul Bally, reports. The DOJ lawsuit filed in Atlanta names the Fulton County clerk of courts. The county has said the sealed ballots. and other records cannot be produced without a court order. The Department of Justice is now asking the federal court in Atlanta to issue one. The DOJ claims the U.S. Attorney General has the right to obtain ballots and other records under the Civil Rights Act of 1960 and that the Attorney General is investigating Fulton County's compliance with federal election law.

Trump and some of his supporters have long claimed widespread fraud leading to his 2020 loss in Georgia. Multiple investigations have not borne that out. For NPR news, I'm Ronald Bally in Atlanta. The man at the center of a months-long deportation fight has avoided being re-arrested, at least for now. As NPR's Martin Kosti reports, Kilmar Abrago-Garcia was released from detention on Thursday. Abrago Garcia had been ordered to check in at the ICE Field Office in Baltimore, and his lawyer, Simon Sandoval Motionberg, told a crowd of supporters that there was concern he wouldn't come back out. We'll never know what their plans were for this morning, whether it was a check-in, whether they were planning to arrest him.

But he's walking out the door and he's heading back to Prince George's County to be with his family, with his child, with his wife, or waiting there for him. A federal judge ordered ICE not to detain him while a legal motion is pending. Earlier this year, the administration deported him wrongfully to a prison in his native El Salvador. Abrega Garcia originally entered the U.S. illegally, but is shielded from being sent to El Salvador. He also faces criminal charges for human smuggling. Martin Costi, NPR News. Homeland Security Secretary Christine Noam is renewing an effort to end collective bargaining for TSA airport screeners. She says those employees serve a primary function for national security, so they should not be represented by a union.

The American Federation of Government employees says it's a violation of a preliminary injunction that blocked Noam's first attempt to terminate that contract. Stocks finished down on Wall Street Friday. You're listening to NPR News. The same atmospheric river that flooded parts of Washington State this week is also causing damage further inland tonight. Montana Public Radio's Aaron Bolton reports on flooding in one corner of that states. The small northwest Montana towns of Libby and Troy received several inches of rain over the past few days.

Local creeks and rivers washed away, several bridges. Libby resident Sandy Olivera and her daughter stood in awe as they looked at what remained of one bridge near their home. The only thing left connecting both sides was a metal guard rail. Our home is fine. A lot of water in the yard, but that has receded now. And about a half an inch in our shop of water. But we got that all cleaned up. Governor Greg Jean-Forte declared a state of emergency. Local officials are still assessing the damage. That could take a while with two inches of rain in the forecast. For NPR news, I'm Aaron Bolton in Libby, Montana. Russian athletes say they have visas allowing them to compete in a World Cup luge event at Lake Plac in New York

next weekend. They'll be competing under a neutral flag. They have not competed in a World Cup event since the Russian invasion of Ukraine almost four years ago. Ukrainian athletes say they should not be allowed to compete. Indiana's Fernando Mendoza. has won the Davey O'Brien Award as the nation's top college quarterback. Earlier in the week, he was also named the APA player of the year. The California Transfer led the Hoosiers to a 13-0 record this season. Indiana is now the top seed in the college football playoffs. I'm Dale Wilman, NPR News.

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