NPR News: 07-17-2026 2AM EDT
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Live from NPR News, I'm Giles Snyder.
What did President Trump claim about U.S. voting system vulnerabilities in his primetime speech?
In his primetime speech Thursday evening, President Trump raised claims that American voting systems are vulnerable, but he did not provide evidence of widespread illegal voting. Trump has for years baselessly claimed the 2020 election was stolen from him. Here's NPR's Shannon Bond reporting.
President Trump says he's declassifying documents that he says reveal vulnerabilities in voting.
Unfortunately, the system we have today falls catastrophically short.
But in his speech, he did not detail allegations of widespread illegal votes. Instead, he focused on claims including that China accessed U.S. voter data and that non-citizens are found on some states' voter rolls. Some documents the White House posted during the speech did not appear to support the president's sweeping assertions. Trump has often spoken of election issues that fall apart under scrutiny. Numerous reviews over the years have debunked his claims about the 2020 election. Shannon Bond, NPR News.
A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington said China has never and will never interfere in U.S. presidential elections. Trump's remarks about China come two months before leader Xi Jinping is due in Washington for a summit. President Trump delivered his speech amid heightened hostilities with Iran. Iranian state television reporting at least seven people were killed as U.S. airstrikes have expanded to target bridges. Imperius Franco Ordonez reports a war could affect voters' decisions in the fall midterms.
Foreign policy rarely dominates midterm elections. This year may be the exception.
What evidence did NPR find about Trump's allegations of China accessing voter data and non‑citizens on rolls?
John McHenry, a Republican pollster with North Star Opinion Research, says exit polls, for example, are less likely to cite the war in Iran as a reason for people's vote and more likely to cite energy prices and the economy, which are driven by the war.
Because gas prices have a ripple effect on everything. Prices, you know, at every retail shop and at the grocery store will go up because... You know, a gallon of milk doesn't walk to the grocery store. It gets driven there by a truck.
That could change if the war expands and, for example, President Trump commits troops to the conflict, which he's been reluctant to do. Franco Ordonez, NPR News.
Now to Texas, where Governor Greg Abbott confirms that at least two people have been killed in the flooding that's hit the state.
One is a male near Comforts. who was swept away in an RV. Another is a female in New Valley who was swept away while driving on a road.
Abbott says the hardest hit areas are not yet out of danger. More rain is in the forecast and he says more than 2,000 first responders have been deployed. Hundreds of people have been rescued from their cars and homes. This is NPR News. Heavy smoke from wildfires darkening skies from the Midwest to the Northeast, prompting air quality warnings. The smoke is coming from fires that are burning mostly in Canada, but also in northern Minnesota. Officials are urging vulnerable people to stay inside or wear masks when outside. People with high cholesterol will soon have a new medicine to help. The Food and Drug Administration just approved a new kind of cholesterol pill that's not a statin. NPR's Sydney Lubkin reports.
Statin pills like Crestor and Lipitor have been on the market for decades, and they can lower patients' bad cholesterol. Doctors have turned to newer medications called PCSK9 inhibitors for patients who need more help lowering their cholesterol. But they're given by injections, and they're expensive. Merck's new drug is a PCSK9 pill. It's called Lipthendra. In clinical studies, it reduced bad cholesterol in patients who had an inherited form of very high cholesterol by nearly 60 percent after 24 weeks. The new pill will be available at a list price of $315 for a month's supply of pills, but most patients will pay a lower out-of-pocket price, the company says. Lipvendra should be on pharmacy shelves in a few weeks.
Sydney Lepkin, NPR News.
Major financial markets in Asia are sinking in Friday trading.
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