NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-23-2025 8PM EST

Episode Date: December 24, 2025

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Support for NPR comes from NPR member stations and Eric and Wendy Schmidt through the Schmidt Family Foundation, working toward a healthy, resilient, secure world for all. On the web at theshmit.org. Live from NPR news, I'm Giles Snyder. Justice Department officials have released 30,000 pages of letters, flight logs, and other documents related to the investigation of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. They include a handwritten letter released and published on the DOJ website, but now that same agency is saying the letter is a fake. NPR's Gabriel Sanchez has more. Among the trove of documents released by the Justice Department are redacted photographs, court records, and a handwritten letter. A photo of the letter shows an alleged correspondence between Jeffrey Epstein and another convicted sex offender, former USA Gymnastics, and Michigan State University physician Larry Nassar.

The letter from 2019 describes Epstein's and Nassar's love for, quote, young ladies, and later describes President Trump as sharing their same passion. Hours after the release, DOJ officials posted on X they were vetting the validity of the letter they presented online. Two hours later, a second social post described the letter as fake. It wasn't immediately clear what information the department learned in the interim. The FBI declined comment. Gabriel Sanchez, NPR News, Washington. The Education Department's Office of Federal Student Aid is investigating Brown University

in connection with the campus shooting more than a week ago that left at least two students dead and nine injured in P.R.'s Caden Mills reports. The Department of Education says it will look into allegations that the university lacked adequate surveillance in the area where the shooting occurred and that emergency alerts of an active shooter threat were delayed. It's requesting several documents from Brown, including annual security reports from 2024 and 2020. as well as current procedures related to campus safety. The department says the university may be in violation of the Cleary Act, a law requiring schools accepting federal financial aid to meet specific security standards. Brown responded saying it would launch an independent investigation of the shooting

and that the campus has, quote, an expansive network of security cameras. The university also says its emergency alerts went out minutes after gunshots were first reported. Kaden Mills, NPR News. Millions of Americans on the move this holiday season. MPR's Joel Rose reports that more than 120 million people are expected to travel by plane, train, or automobile. If you're heading over the river and through the woods today, you are not alone. AAA predicts more than 122 million Americans will travel more than 50 miles from home during the peak end-of-year travel period that started last weekend. The vast majority, more than 109 million, will drive, according to AAA.

a slight increase over last year's record total. Air travel may set records as well. The TSA, the Transportation Security Administration, says it's preparing to screen more than 44 million passengers during this holiday season and could set a record for passenger volume for the year. Joel Rose, NPR News, Washington. This is NPR News. At least for now, the U.S. Supreme Court is preventing the Trump administration from deploying

National Guard troops in Chicago, the Justice of State. today declined an emergency request to overturn a lower court's ruling. Today's order is not a final ruling, but it could affect other lawsuits challenging National Guard deployments to other Democratic-led cities. Former Republican Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska says he has advanced pancreatic cancer. SAS was among the few Republican senators to openly criticize President Trump during his first term in the White House, NPR Sam Greenglass reports. SAS says he learned the diagnosis last week.

and that it's terminal. Elected to the Senate as a first-time political candidate in 2014, he won a second term in 2020. After the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol, Sass was one of seven Republican senators who voted to convict Trump of incitement of insurrection. SAS resigned halfway through his term to assume the presidency of the University of Florida. He left that job in 2024 after his wife was diagnosed with epilepsy. This week, Sass wrote on social media that he has a lot less time than he'd prefer. And that, quote, this is hard for someone wired to work and build, but harder still as a husband and a dad. Sam Greenglass, NPR News, Washington. Wall Street closed higher today following a strong report on economic growth. The Commerce

Department says the U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of 4.3 percent in the third quarter. The S&P 500 rose half a percentage point, up 31 points, to close 6,900. I'm Giles Snyder. This is NPR New. This message comes from Wise, the app for using money around the globe. When you manage your money with Wise, you'll always get the mid-market exchange rate with no hidden fees. Join millions of customers and visit Wise.com. T's and Cs apply.