News
New Epstein files mention Trump. And, SCOTUS rules on National Guard in Chicago
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Today’s top stories
The Justice Department yesterday released about 30,000 pages of new documents, including flight logs, memos and letters, related to disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The files contain hundreds of references to President Trump.
President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Dec. 15.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
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Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
- 🎧 It’s well established that Epstein was well-connected and knew many influential figures, including Trump and former president Bill Clinton, NPR’s Sarah McCammon tells Up First. She emphasizes that Trump has not been accused of any wrongdoing, but notes that the documents continue to highlight the relationship between Trump and Epstein, raising questions about how much Trump knew about Epstein’s activities. She adds that it’s unclear which documents are credible and which aren’t. On social media, the DOJ has claimed that one of the files — a letter from Epstein to convicted sex offender Larry Nassar — is fake.
The Supreme Court has ruled that National Guard troops must stay out of Chicago — for now. The decision is one of several “emergency docket” cases in which the conservative majority court has ruled against Trump since he began his second term as president. The justices ruled 6-3, stating that the president failed to explain why the situation in Chicago warranted an exception to a law called the Posse Comitatus Act, which limits the military’s ability to execute laws on U.S. soil.
- 🎧 Because the ruling came through an emergency decision, it does not set precedent, NPR’s Kat Lonsdorf explains. The decision applies only to this specific case in Illinois, not to troop deployments elsewhere. But deployments in other cities are currently tied up in litigation in lower courts, and Lonsdorf says lower court judges tend to look to these emergency decisions for guidance.
The U.S. economy grew faster than economists expected from July through September, according to a delayed report from the Commerce Department on the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP). The agency usually releases this report in October, but it pushed it to this month due to the government shutdown.
- 🎧 Two factors helped drive the growth, NPR’s Alina Selyukh reports. The first was people and companies spending money on artificial intelligence and other technologies. The other is what Selyukh called the “perpetual motion machine” that is the American consumer. Americans are continuing to spend, despite recent polling showing growing uncertainty about their financial prospects. A new Conference Board report on consumer confidence found that sentiment declined for the fifth consecutive month, as Americans worry about inflation, the political landscape, and the labor market.
Today’s listen
Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” first hit No. 1 in 2019 and has topped the chart every holiday season since.
Denise Truscello/Getty Images for Live Nation Las/Getty Images North America
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Denise Truscello/Getty Images for Live Nation Las/Getty Images North America
Christmas stirs a mix of joy, anticipation and … yearning. That tender longing runs through holiday classics like Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” and Judy Garland’s version of “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.” Slate music critic Carl Wilson speaks with Morning Edition about why the holiday evokes this sense of yearning, and why these songs still resonate. Listen and grab some inspiration for your Christmas playlist.
Picture show
Mason “Bric” LaDue, a hip-hop music industry professional turned cattle rancher, takes the reins off of his horse, Valero, on Feb. 5, 2025, at his family’s ranch in Marquez, Texas.
Michael Minasi/KUT News
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Michael Minasi/KUT News
As the year comes to a close, NPR photojournalists are sharing a collection of images that defined 2025. The photographs capture the biggest headlines and quiet, powerful human scenes across the U.S. They’re representative of the fact that journalism not only documents factual events but also conveys the experiences and emotions felt in the many places we call home. Here’s a look at some of the images that resonated with the photographers this year.
3 things to know before you go
A family at their Victorian-era Christmas dinner, circa 1840.
Hulton Archive/Hulton Archive
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Hulton Archive/Hulton Archive
- Today, the word “yule” conjures up images of cozy Christmas cheer. But Yuletide traditions got their start in wild parties and animal sacrifice. On this week’s Word of the Week, dive into the pagan origins of Yule festivals.
- The Middle Collegiate Church, a centuries-old space in New York City, will hold its first Christmas Eve service tonight after a six-alarm fire destroyed the building in 2020. The church officially reopened on Easter this year.
- At the Ground Zero Hurricane Katrina museum in Waveland, Miss., an exhibit showcasing letters written to Santa in the wake of the storm tells stories of resilience and recovery. (via New Orleans Public Radio)
This newsletter was edited by Majd Al-Waheidi. Brittney Melton contributed.
News
Manhattan Building’s Columns Buckled Beneath New Addition, Images Show
At least two structural columns buckled and failed in a 37-story office tower in Midtown Manhattan on Tuesday, prompting evacuations of nearby streets and buildings. While city officials asserted that the tower was in no danger of collapsing completely, outside engineers said further failures in the structure could not be ruled out.
A pair of columns that failed completely were part of the tower’s existing structure. A New York Times review of images and videos from inside the building has found that several floors were added atop these columns.
City officials said in a news conference on Tuesday that the building was continuing to move, while they simultaneously assured the city that the building would not suffer “total collapse.” “The way this building is constructed, it’s a steel-frame building,” John Esposito, a chief in the Fire Department in New York, said at the afternoon news conference. “So, it would not be a total collapse. It would be more of a localized collapse.” Still, he said, “that remains our concern, that it’s moved.”
Engineers said that the movement itself was cause for concern. In a properly designed steel building, they said, loads should redistribute quickly to surviving structural supports if columns failed.
Joe DiPompeo, a former president of the Structural Engineering Institute at the American Society of Civil Engineers, said that if the structure had been overloaded, he would expect any movement “to happen very quickly,” rather than gradually.
“Generally when a column buckles, it’s a sudden failure,” Mr. DiPompeo said. He said that a full collapse remained unlikely given the redundancies built into the building codes.
Engineers often refer to the most dangerous possibility as a progressive collapse, a process in which structures near the initial failure become overstressed and also fail, potentially bringing down the building if the sequence continues. While unlikely, it cannot be ruled out, Mr. DiPompeo said.
Footage recorded from inside the building shows at least two structural columns appear to have failed completely, Mr. DiPompeo said. Other nonstructural, interior walls — or at least the metal “studs” that were in place to hold them up — also appear to have deformed.
“The only way that really happens is if the floor above them dropped. It looks like the floor above could have dropped a foot or two, which is obviously not a good situation,” Mr. DiPompeo said.
The 37-story building is in the process of being converted from office space into residential units. Four new floors and a large vertical portion were added onto the existing building in recent months. The vertical portion consists of a stack of over a dozen new floors cantilevered out over the existing building below.
Engineers said that there was nothing inherently wrong with adding residential floors or the cantilevered section above the columns that failed, as long as the original structure and the modifications had properly accounted for the added weight and wind loads.
“The cantilever alone doesn’t change anything,” Mr. DiPompeo said, but it does put additional load on the columns underneath — a factor that should have been reflected in the design.
Nathan Berman, managing principal and founder of MetroLoft, the developer overseeing the conversion, said on Tuesday that “this incident is nothing more than a typical construction mishap.”
He said two columns near the northwest corner of the tower had bent under the weight of additions to the building above, most likely because those columns had not been properly reinforced, though he said an investigation would determine the cause. The rest of the columns, he said, “picked up the weight.” He estimated the affected floors above the failed columns had sagged by a maximum of four inches.
Mr. Berman said that he expected the problems to be fixed and the project to be completed with, at most, a slight delay.
On Tuesday evening, installation of temporary shoring was set to begin shortly, in order to help stabilize the 20th and 21st floors of the building.
News
DOJ warns of criminal charges for state election officials if noncitizens vote
The Justice Department sent letters warning election officials in all 50 states and the District of Columbia that they could face criminal prosecution over noncitizen voting, a spokesperson for the Justice Department confirmed Tuesday.
The letters, signed by Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who heads up the department’s Civil Rights Division, give states five days to explain how they will comply with federal voter eligibility laws and how they will maintain “clean voter lists.”
“The Department sent these letters to all 50 states and the District of Columbia, asking for voluntary compliance in a timely manner with their obligations under federal law to ensure only citizens vote in federal elections,” a Justice Department spokesperson said in a statement.
Noncitizen voting in federal elections is extremely rare, but Trump and his administration have falsely portrayed it as a widespread issue.
Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, Nevada Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar and Utah Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson are among those who said they received the letters from the Justice Department.
The letters say state election officers “could be criminally prosecuted for aiding and abetting” noncitizen voting. They further specify that any election officer who knowingly retains noncitizens on a statewide voting registration list or who facilitates noncitizens’ receiving and casting ballots could be subject to criminal liability.
“An intentional act that is aimed at diluting the votes of citizens could also constitute a violation” of federal law, the letters said.
Henderson wrote on social media that the threats constitute “truly bizarre behavior.”
“Got another love letter this morning from the DOJ sprinkled throughout with threats of criminal prosecution,” she wrote. “I’m sure I’m not the only chief election officer of a state who is being targeted for following state and federal laws by resisting DOJ’s demands for private voter data that have thus far been ruled illegal by at least a dozen courts.”
The letters are the latest move in the Justice Department’s campaign to assert more federal control over state elections.
While some states have complied with the administration’s demands that they hand over voter roll data, the Justice Department has sued 30 states and Washington, D.C., for resisting. So far, 11 different federal courts have dismissed the Justice Department’s efforts to seize voter rolls.
News
Reigning champion Argentina escapes with remarkable World Cup victory over Egypt
Lionel Messi #10 of Argentina celebrates scoring his team’s second goal during their World Cup match against Egypt in Atlanta on Tuesday.
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Elsa/Getty Images
They looked beaten. And out. Argentina, the defending World Cup champion and No. 1-ranked team, was down 2-0 late against Egypt.

Then, in a span of 13 remarkable minutes, Argentina scored not once, not twice, but three times, capping a comeback for the ages and leaving Egypt stunned and shellshocked.
For much of the game in Atlanta, Egypt was in control, hobbling Argentina early. The Egyptian attack began almost immediately with a stunning header goal delivered by Yasser Ibrahim in the 15th minute. After that, Egypt’s defense closed ranks, making it practically impossible for Argentina to equalize.
It was downhill from there for the Argentines: team captain Lionel Messi failed to convert a penalty kick, and in the 67th minute, Egypt got a second goal from Mostafa Ziko (after an earlier Egyptian goal had been disallowed after a video review). It looked like Argentina was finished. On the brink of elimination.
But no one told the Argentine players that.
In the 79th minute, Lionel Messi began doing his thing. He fired a cross near the Egyptian goal, and Cristian Romero headed it in. Messi was not done. Four minutes later, he powered a shot past the Egyptian keeper. It was his eighth goal of this tournament, the most of any player. The score was 2-2.
Then, in stoppage time, yet another Argentina header and another goal, this time from Enzo Fernandez.
“This is the World Cup for you,” said Messi after the game. “It wasn’t easy to come back from two goals down. But as I always say, this group never gives up. We always try to fight until the end.”
French referee François Letexier speaks with Egypt forward Mohamed Salah during the World Cup Round of 16 match between Argentina and Egypt in Atlanta.
Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images
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Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images
Afterward, Egypt coach Hossam Hassan complained about the French referee and the officiating. “I am not convinced. I am not convinced with this outcome. I’m not convinced with the way things unfolded during this match,” said Hassan in a post-match news conference. “We have been treated unfairly today. We have suffered injustice.”
“We would have deserved to earn this win, but we are leaving with honor, with pride, regardless of this defeat,” said Hossan.
African soccer teams have been the stars of this World Cup. Morocco has yet to lose a game. Cape Verde qualified for the first time in its history and stymied Spain, Uruguay and Saudi Arabia. Argentina barely beat them in a nail-biter of a match.
For Egypt, getting this far in the tournament is historic in itself: it’s the first time the team has made it this far. For Argentina, it was a terrifying yet relieving victory: several players, including Messi himself, cried after the game.
Next, they move to the quarterfinals and will play the winner of today’s Switzerland-Colombia match.
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