NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-20-2025 5AM EST

Episode Date: December 20, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington. I'm Giles Snyder. The Justice Department is coming under fire over the partial release of the Epstein files. Several members of Congress say the Trump administration has not complied with the law. Republican Tennessee Congressman Tim Burchett is among those who thinks the file should be released. But he's also defending the DOJ, telling ABC News that officials are working to protect victims and no one else. Are they complying by the law? Probably not, but I believe they will. And I don't think this is an intentional delay. I think the volume of files is just a little more than a lot of people really realize what's out there. The Justice Department faced a Friday deadline to release the files. Many have already been made public, others heavily redacted. The Justice Department says it's suing another four states for not handing over sensitive voter data to the Trump administration. There have now been 22 lawsuits filed. in largely Democratic-led states, as NPR's Ashley Lopez reports. These latest lawsuits have been filed against the District of Columbia, Georgia, Illinois, and Wisconsin.

So far, all the states being sued by the Trump administration are states the president lost in the 2020 election. Justice Department officials are demanding states turn over complete, unredacted copies of their voter registration lists, which include sensitive personal information, such as driver's license numbers and parts of voter social security numbers. Officials say this is an effort to, quote, protect American citizens from vote dilution. So far, only 10 states have complied or started the process of complying. Most states have refused citing privacy concerns. Ashley Lopez, NPR News. Speaking last night in North Carolina, President Trump called Friday's U.S. military attack in Syria,

a massive blow against the Islamic State group. The military says it hit dozens of targets across central Syria. Trump had pledged to retaliate. following a suspected ISIS attack that killed two U.S. service members and an American interpreter. Trump now in Florida, where he's spending the holidays. The Defense Department spending $2.6 billion meant for housing assistance on a bonus to troops. Steve Walsh, of member station WHRO and Norfolk reports. The White House is calling it the Warrior Dividend, 1.28 million active duty troops,

and 174,000 members of the reserves are in the process of receiving a one-time, payment of $1,776. President Trump says that the money is in honor of the country's 250th anniversary next year. The funds are actually from $2.9 billion set aside by Congress to supplement the money given troops to pay their rent or mortgage. According to a Defense Department official who was not authorized to speak publicly, the Defense Department says the $1,776 will arrive over the next few days. For NPR News, I'm Steve Walsh. This is NPR News. Elise Stefannick has dropped out of the race for the Republican nomination for New York Governor. Stefanik says she is suspending her campaign. And in a post on social media, she

said she will not seek re-election to Congress, where she is the fourth ranking House Republican. She says she plans to spend more time focusing on being a mom to her young son. Parts of the Pacific Northwest, are experiencing back-to-back heavy rain storms or atmospheric rivers bringing inches of rain in a short amount of time. An Oregon climatologist says these storms will be stronger and more frequent because of climate change. Oregon Public Broadcasting's Monica Samayor reports. Atmospheric rivers are essentially a jet stream or river of warm moisture in the sky, bringing in more rain than normal storms. That could lead to major flooding or landslides in

areas not prepared to receive a burst of heavy rain. State climatologist of Oregon, Larry O'Neill says the region gets about 10 to 15 of these kinds of events annually, and climate change can make it worse. What we're seeing is that some of these really strong events, extreme events, will become more common in the future. And so these are actually good tests at how resilient we are. So far, several flood advisories are in place as a region expects more rain to fall through Saturday. For NPR News, I'm Monica Samoa in Portland. The Power Bowl Lotteries Jackpot for tonight's drawing is an estimated $1.5 billion. It's among more than a dozen that have exceeded a billion since 2016. I'm Jail Snyder. This is NPR News. This message comes from WISE,

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