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Chapter 1: What recent request did President Trump make regarding Israel and Lebanon?
Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janine Herbst. President Trump says he has asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reduce his country's attacks on Lebanon. Trump confirmed with NBC News that he made the request in a phone call on Wednesday. NPR's Daniel Kurtzleben has more.
President Trump told NBC that, quote, After a ceasefire was announced on Tuesday between the U.S. and Iran, Israel continued attacking Lebanon, where the Iran-backed group Hezbollah is based. There has been disagreement among the countries involved in the ceasefire as to whether attacks on Lebanon are a part of that agreement. Trump posted on social media late Wednesday night that U.S.
military personnel will remain in and around Iran until there's a, quote, real agreement. Vice President J.D. Vance will lead a delegation to Pakistan for Saturday peace talks. Danielle Kurtzleben, NPR News, the White House.
First Lady Melania Trump today says she didn't have ties to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein or knowledge of his crimes, which include sexual abuse of minors and accusations of sex trafficking. This even though the Epstein files include emails she sent to Epstein's accomplice, convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell, in which she praised a magazine profile on Epstein.
But Trump says that was only casual correspondence. My polite reply to her email doesn't amount to anything more than a tribal note. She's been photographed with Epstein at least once in the early 2000s alongside Donald Trump. Melania Trump says Epstein didn't work alone and that the truth needs to be uncovered.
Donald Trump appears many times in the Epstein files, all of which have not been released. Melania Trump is also calling on Congress for hearings to allow victims to speak publicly. Energy traffic in the Middle East remains snarled despite a tentative ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran. Empire's Scott Horsley has more on the economic ripple effects here at home.
Crude oil prices rose as a fragile ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran failed to provide much relief for bottleneck tanker traffic in the Strait of Hormuz. AAA says retail gasoline prices showed little change overnight, hovering around $4.16 a gallon. Diesel prices rose about $0.02 a gallon.
High gasoline prices are expected to push the government's cost of living measure up when March inflation numbers are released tomorrow. Even before the war, prices were climbing faster than the Federal Reserve would like. The Commerce Department says the U.S. economy grew more slowly in the final months of 2025 than earlier reports had indicated.
A final tally says GDP grew at an annual rate of just half a percent in October, November, and December. Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington.
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Chapter 2: What statements did Melania Trump make about Jeffrey Epstein?
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