NPR News: 12-24-2025 2AM EST
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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 theschmidt.org.
Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Dan Roman. The Justice Department has released another batch of files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. These contain hundreds of references to President Trump. The DOJ says the nearly 30,000 documents contain untrue or sensationalist claims about Trump.
More from NPR's Luke Garrett. In a 2020 email, an unidentified federal prosecutor said flight logs show Trump had flown on Epstein's private jet, quote, many more times than previously reported between 1993 and 1996. Another file shows a 2021 subpoena to Mar-a-Lago for employment records during the investigation into Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's co-conspirator and a convicted sex offender. Other documents include a 2019 letter supposedly sent by Epstein to convicted sex offender Larry Nassar, the U.S. gymnastics team doctor. The letter mentions, quote, our president, though it's unclear whether the DOJ verified whether this was in fact written by Epstein. These documents continue a piecemeal release by the DOJ, despite Congress requiring them to make all the files public last Friday.
Luke Garrett, NPR News, Washington.
Two people are reported dead as Pennsylvania's governor says as many as 21 were injured this after a suspected gas explosion at a nursing home in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, outside of Philadelphia. An unknown number of people were trapped inside the rubble. Governor Josh Shapiro spoke with reporters.
We believe preliminarily that it was a gas leak that led to that. The explosion was really quite catastrophic.
What new information has the Justice Department released about Jeffrey Epstein?
Crews say they are still in a rescue mode, searching for victims using dogs, earth-moving equipment, and sonar to locate potential victims. A local fire official says at least five people still may be missing. The explosion took place Tuesday afternoon, shortly after crews responded to a report of a gas leak. An Ohio Democrat is suing President Trump for adding his name to the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. The lawsuit also names Trump appointees to the Kennedy Center board. NPR's Chloe Vettman reports on Representative Joyce Beatty's lawsuit alleging the new Trump-Kennedy Center name is unlawful.
Joyce Beatty's federal lawsuit argues that rechristening the Kennedy Center requires an act of Congress. One of Beatty's counsels, Norm Eisen, says the former name was established through legislation in 1964.
The law is very clear. The Kennedy Center is to be named after John F. Kennedy and only John F. Kennedy.
New signage bearing Trump's name appeared on the centre's website and facade late last week. In a written statement to NPR, the centre's Vice President of Public Relations, Roma Daravi, blamed critics like Congresswoman Beatty for having, quote, sat idly by while America's cultural centre slowly crumbled, and justified the change of name by pointing to the millions of dollars she says Trump has raised to... This is NPR.
Israeli airstrikes killed three men in southern Lebanon, among them a Lebanese soldier, according to statements from both Israel and Lebanon. From Beirut, NPR's Jawad Rizkallah reports.
The Israeli military says the three men were members of Hezbollah and attempting to reestablish the group's infrastructure, and that a review found one of those killed, quote, simultaneously served as a Lebanese army soldier in an intelligence unit. The Lebanese army mourned the fallen soldier as a first sergeant in the military's anti-tank regiment. Hezbollah confirmed only the two others as members of the group. Lebanon's defense minister said any claim of ties between soldiers and armed groups is slander that undermines the military. And despite the ceasefire reached last year, Israel continues to strike areas of southern Lebanon as it and the U.S. seek Hezbollah's disarmament. Jawad Rizqallah, NPR News, Beirut.
CBS and management at 60 Minutes are now trying to get copies of the cancelled story about the Trump administration immigration policies taken off numerous internet sites.
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