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NPR News Now

NPR News: 12-12-2025 4AM EST

12 Dec 2025

Transcription

Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?

1.718 - 5.125 Shea Stephens

Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shea Stephens.

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Chapter 2: What recent actions has Homeland Security taken regarding oil tanker seizures?

5.846 - 22.66 Shea Stephens

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is defending the seizure of an oil tanker off Venezuela. The Trump administration says the vessel was being used to transport sanctioned oil. Noem told a House panel Thursday that the seizure was part of an ongoing effort to protect the U.S. from illicit drug activity.

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22.94 - 35.075 Kristi Noem

It was a successful operation directed by the president to ensure that we're pushing back on a regime that is systematically covering and flooding our country with deadly drugs and killing our next generation of Americans.

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35.676 - 59.458 Shea Stephens

Noem also defended DHS deportations. When asked, she promised to review some of the cases, including that of a Purple Heart veteran who was forcibly sent to Korea. Gilmar Abrego-Garcia, the Maryland man fighting deportation, has been released from custody by order of a judge. Abrego-Garcia was wrongfully sent to El Salvador in March and then returned to the U.S. but kept in custody.

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59.919 - 73.377 Shea Stephens

He was accused of gang activity, which he denies. President Trump has signed an executive order to override state laws regulating artificial intelligence. As NPR's Bobby Allen reports, the tech industry lobbied for the move.

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73.697 - 88.577 Bobby Allen

The order instructs the Justice Department to challenge state AI laws it views as burdensome. States this year have passed more than 100 laws attempting to regulate AI, while Congress hasn't passed any. Trump says a patchwork of state laws could give China an edge in the AI race.

88.557 - 97.131 David Sachs

Every time you make a change, and it could be a very reasonable change, you still won't get it approved if you have to go to 50 states. So this centralizes it.

97.452 - 113.097 Bobby Allen

But trying to override state AI laws has been met with opposition from both parties and prominent members of the MAGA movement. White House AI and crypto czar David Sachs helped advance the order. Sachs is a longtime venture capitalist with deep connections to Silicon Valley. Bobby Allen, NPR News.

113.077 - 132.047 Shea Stephens

The House has voted to restore collective bargaining rights for about a million federal workers. President Trump issued an executive order in March to end those rights. Twenty Republicans sided with Democrats yesterday to repeal the order. In South Carolina, at least 254 people are in quarantine after being exposed to a measles outbreak.

133.023 - 138.96 Shea Stephens

As NPR's Maria Godoy reports, some state health officials have reported 27 new cases in the past week.

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