NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-20-2025 9AM 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. Groups that provide tax assistance for immigrants and advocate for them are asking a federal judge in Boston to stop immigration and customs enforcement from using sensitive data received from the IRS and the Social Security. Administration. NPR's Jew Jaffe Block reports that Trump administration has been collecting data to aid deportation efforts. Last month, the federal judge in Washington, D.C., found it was likely unlawful when the IRS turned over the addresses of 47,000 non-citizens to ICE in response to a request. Now, a separate lawsuit in Boston federal court seeks to stop ICE from using the data it received. It also seeks to block the IRS and Social Security Administration from sharing more. Plaintiffs argue it violates taxpayer confidentiality. Federal records show the Social Security Administration intended

to share 50,000 people's records with ICE every month. The federal government has argued the data sharing is lawful. Jude Jaffe Block, NPR News. A federal court has temporarily blocked the Trump administration's controversial overhaul of homelessness funding. NPR Center for Luddin reports a judge also accused the federal housing agency HUD of intentionally caused. causing chaos. In an oral ruling from the bench, Judge Mary McElroy in Rhode Island says it's likely HUD's overhaul is unlawful and agreed with critics that it could push many people back into homelessness in the middle of winter causing irreparable harm. Hutt has sought major cuts to permanent housing and instead wants to beef up transitional housing that requires people to work and get

treatment. But the overhaul was announced so late in the year, many places are set to run out of money before new funds flow. If HUD really wants to change policies so dramatically, the judge said, it needs to do the work and go through Congress. Instead, she said, the chaos seems to be the point. Jennifer Lutton and Pierre News, Washington. The Pacific Northwest is set to see more rain, the National Weather Service, expecting rain to move into Northern California this weekend. Forecasters say the rain could be excessive in that flash flooding as possible. And you're listening to our news. Special envoy's Steve Whitkoff and President Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, are expected to host a Russian

delegation in Florida today. The talks are the latest aimed at bringing an end to the war in Ukraine. The suspect in the deadly shooting at Brown University and the fatal shooting of an MIT professor was found dead in New Hampshire this week. Police identified him as 48-year-old Claudio Manuel Nevis Valenti, a former graduate student at Brown. Ocean State Media's Isabella Gibliant has more from Providence. Feelings were mixed on the Brown University campus. Some felt relief. Others questioned what had motivated the shooting.

Graduate student Yenek Attundi visited a memorial outside the Barrison-Hawley building where the shooting took place for the first time since the tragedy. He wondered about Brown's future. It's still enerving and still very frightening and terrifying, But at the same time, I think it's slowly coming to the realization that this happened and just thinking about what does, yeah, what does our day-to-day look like after this. Brown University has canceled most classes and exams. Students aren't due back until January. For NPR News, I'm Isabella Jabilian in Providence.

Blue Origin is expected to make some history today, the private space company, plans to launch a crew of six that includes aerospace engineer Michaela Benthouse. making Benhouse a first wheelchair user to make it a suborbital space. The launch is scheduled to lift off shortly from Blue Origins launch site in West Texas. I'm Jail Snyder, NPR News. Listen to this podcast sponsor-free on Amazon Music with a prime membership or any podcast app by subscribing to NPR NewsNowPlus at plus.npr.org. That's plus.npr.org.