Epstein Files Drop, Manhunt in Brown Attack Ends, and TikTok Lives On

Summary

Podcast Summary: "Epstein Files Drop, Manhunt in Brown Attack Ends, and TikTok Lives On"

Podcast: Here's the Scoop (NBC News)
Host: Yasmin Vossoughian
Date: December 19, 2025
Episode Runtime: ~22 minutes (content sections only)

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Episode Overview

In this December 19, 2025 episode of "Here’s the Scoop," host Yasmin Vossoughian breaks down three of the day's most compelling stories with in-depth reporting and expert guests:

• The much-anticipated release of the unredacted Jeffrey Epstein files
• The conclusion of a high-profile manhunt following shootings at Brown University and MIT—with a pivotal tip from an unexpected online source
• The resolution to the years-long saga over TikTok's fate in the U.S., as ByteDance signs a deal creating a U.S.-majority venture

The episode delivers quick, accessible updates and analysis, plus a rapid-fire news roundup at the end.

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Segment 1: Epstein Files Released

Timestamp: 00:55 – 01:35

Key Points

• The U.S. Department of Justice began publishing thousands of pages of Jeffrey Epstein-related records just after 4pm.
• Unprecedented transparency: Names of high-profile individuals are not redacted, per Deputy AG Todd Blanch.
• The release comes one month after President Trump signed a bipartisan bill mandating disclosure.
• Even more documents are expected over the coming days.

Quote:

"Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanch has said that several hundred thousand could be coming today, more at a later date, and the names of high profile individuals will not be redacted."
— Yasmin Desugin (01:22)

Additional Insight:
Listeners are directed to NBCNews.com for ongoing coverage as journalists comb through the new evidence.

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Segment 2: Brown University & MIT Shooting Manhunt Ends

Timestamp: 01:35 – 09:40
Guest: Tom Winter, NBC News National Law Enforcement & Intelligence Correspondent

Key Developments

• Background:

  • A shooting at Brown University was followed by the murder of an MIT professor.
  • After five days, suspect Claudio Manuel Neves Valente was found dead in a New Hampshire storage facility from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

• Breakthrough from Reddit:

  • Tip from a Reddit user (“John,” believed to be homeless in Providence) gave police crucial details—a rare win for online amateur sleuths.
  • John approached police, identified himself as the Reddit poster, and provided exceptionally detailed information (suspect’s vehicle, movements, attire).
  • The tip was instrumental in zeroing in on the suspect.

Quote:

"You're looking at kind of the perfect marriage of existing case information. Somebody who posts on Reddit some pretty detailed information. That information is passed along to police and then separately and without kind of knowing the two are connected... walks up to two Providence police officers and says, you know that guy that you want to talk to? That's me. I'm also the Reddit poster."
— Tom Winter (03:02)

• Investigation Details:
  • Law enforcement used Flock traffic cameras to identify the suspect’s vehicle—a late model blue-gray Nissan—as flagged by the tipster.
  • The rental car was traced to Valente; surveillance footage corroborated his involvement.

Notable Moment:

"John, really integral to connecting the dots on this whole thing."
— Yasmin Desugin (05:29)

• Suspect’s History:
  • Valente was connected to both victim campuses; he attended Brown (early 2000s) and may have known MIT victim Nuno Laryro from an academic program in Lisbon.
  • FBI agents in Lisbon are exploring potential backstory or motive.

Unanswered Questions:

• Motive remains unclear; no manifestos or explicit clues found yet.
• Investigation continues to ensure all aspects and possible accomplices are accounted for.

Quote:

"There are three individuals that are dead because of this person's actions. There were a number of other students that were shot, and...one of the students breaking down in tears, shaking, having such a visceral reaction to just seeing a photo of this person masked. Again, there are kids that have gone through a lot of trauma here."
— Tom Winter (09:23)

Immigration Policy Update

Timestamp: 09:42

• Valente’s status: Legal permanent resident via the U.S. “Green Card Lottery.”
• The Trump administration announced immediate suspension of the program in response—although legal challenges are expected, since Congress created the lottery.

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Segment 3: TikTok’s Future Secured in the U.S.

Timestamp: 11:42 – 19:13
Guest: Savannah Sellers, NBC News NOW Anchor

Breaking News Details

• Deal Terms:
  • ByteDance (TikTok’s Chinese parent) signs a binding deal to form a U.S.-based joint venture.
  • The U.S. version of TikTok will be majority-owned by American investors and governed by a U.S.-majority board.
  • Three key investors: Oracle (US), Silver Lake (California firm), MGX (non-U.S.).
  • ByteDance retains just under 20%—the legal maximum for foreign ownership.

Quote:

"A lot of outlets have been reporting that there's a TikTok sale. That's actually not true. This is not a sale... It's this new joint venture. This will be majority owned by American investors, governed by a new seven member majority American board of directors."
— Savannah Sellers (12:36)

• Algorithm & Data Security:
  • TikTok will "retrain the algorithm on US user data."
  • The U.S. joint venture is charged with all American user data protection, algorithm security, content moderation, and software assurances, as per a memo from the TikTok CEO.

Quote:

"They are going to, according to them, retrain the algorithm on US user data."
— Savannah Sellers (14:28)

• Uncertainties remain on algorithm changes and technical implementation.

• Congressional & Public Reactions:

  • Ongoing questions about the true separation from ByteDance and Chinese influence.
  • Security protocols (“Project TE”) mean American data is stored and managed by Oracle in the U.S., but oversight remains a top concern for lawmakers.
  • Expect heated Congressional scrutiny in January as deal formalizes.

Quote:

"Do I think that like China hawks on Capitol Hill are going to have a lot of questions about what does that mean with bytedance being there? Yes, I do. And I think that we are going to really watch that unfold in January."
— Savannah Sellers (17:27)

• Impact on Creators and Businesses:

  • Positive outlook for influencers and entrepreneurs reliant on the app, with both business and administration viewing it as a win.

• Timeline:

  • Deal expected to close by January 22. More clarifications likely in early January.

---

Headline Rundown

Timestamp: 19:13 – 21:38

Key Stories

• U.S. Foreign Policy:

  • President Trump leaves "military action" in Venezuela "on the table," despite a campaign focus on avoiding foreign entanglements.
  • New sanctions include an oil tanker blockade.

  Quote:

  "President Trump says military action in Venezuela is still on the table. ... This is notable because the president campaigned on keeping America out of foreign conflicts."
  — Yasmin Desugin (19:14)

• Russia-Ukraine War:

  • Putin projects confidence at press conference; EU approves $106 billion loan to Ukraine but hesitates to free Russian assets held in Belgium.
  • U.S.-Russia and Ukraine talks scheduled for Miami.

• Public Health:

  • Flu cases surge nationwide, driven by a strain that caused havoc in the UK. Vaccine strongly recommended.

• Sports:

  • Upcoming Saturday sees both major NFL matchups and college football playoffs, with viewing numbers expected to spike across both.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "Online sleuths generally having a mixed record to say the least, but apparently a success on this one. Getting a tip from Reddit."
  — Yasmin Desugin (02:28)

• "The reaction from one of the students breaking down in tears, shaking, having such a visceral reaction to just seeing a photo of this person masked."
  — Tom Winter (09:23)

• "It's not a complete sale... TikTok will be majority owned by American investors, governed by a new seven-member board..."
  — Savannah Sellers (12:36)

• "If anything, they're going to double down on like if they get the regulatory approval here...That is a bright spot. Which, by the way, one that the administration also likes."
  — Savannah Sellers (18:19)

---

Conclusion

This episode expertly distills a busy news day: the dramatic release of the Epstein files, the gripping conclusion to the Brown/MIT shooting investigation and its digital-age twists, and the historic resolution to TikTok’s U.S. drama. The podcast blends sharp on-the-ground insight with accessible explanations, making it a go-to listen for anyone needing the day's context fast, real, and clear.

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For Further Reading:

• Epstein Files: NBCNews.com
• TikTok Deal Coverage
• Brown/MIT Shooting Ongoing Investigation

---

Transcript

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[Yasmin Desugin]

Hey everybody and welcome to here's the scoop from NBC News. I'm Yasmin Desugin. So on the podcast today, police have located the suspect in the Brown University shooting with help from Reddit and it looks like you can keep your TikTok. The Chinese social media giant ByteDance has signed a binding deal to create a joint US venture. We're going to tell you all about it, but before we get to that, the Epstein files have dropped. Just after 4pm The Justice Department began publishing records related to late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Thousands of pages are already online, including photos previously not made public. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanch has said that several hundred thousand could be coming today, more at a later date, and the names of high profile individuals will not be redacted. It's coming a month after Trump signed a bipartisan bill ordering their release. For developments on this story, head over to nbcnews.com as our team is combing through all of those documents. Meanwhile, after a five day manhunt, the Brown University shooting suspect has been found dead in a storage facility in New Hampshire. Law enforcement officials saying the 48 year old Claudio Manuel Neves Valente appears to have died of a self inflicted gunshot wound and it appears he's connected to another fatal shooting of an MIT professor this week. Authorities saying they only discovered the connection after a Reddit user posted the clue that they needed. For more on this, I want to bring in Tom Winter, our national law enforcement and intelligence correspondent. Hi Tom.

[Tom Winter]

Hey Yasmin, how are you?

[Savannah Sellers]

I'm good.

[Yasmin Desugin]

Thanks for being here. Online Flutes generally having a mixed record to say the least, but apparently a success on this one. Getting a tip From Reddit. Take us through what happened here.

[Tom Winter]

Well, generally speaking, up until with the exception of the January 6 investigation, where there were a number of online sleuths that actually came up with the names of sites suspects, the online sleuth column was not doing so well. And as a matter of fact, in a number of cases had been a hindrance to law enforcement. So in this particular instance, you're looking at kind of the perfect marriage of existing case information. Somebody who posts on Reddit some pretty detailed information. That information is passed along to police and then separately and without kind of knowing the two are connected. There's this other person, goes by a pseudonym named John, is believed to be somebody who's currently homeless in the area in Providence. Walks up to two Providence police officers and says, you know that guy that you want to talk to? That's me. I'm also the Reddit poster. Sits down with police. And according to people that witnessed the interview or read the briefing of the interview, he is an incredible witness. Gives just super detailed information down to the details of the articles of clothing, the vehicle, when he encountered this person, which were multiple times, and really set it up for investigators to take kind of the pool of evidence they were already grabbing and then be able to get to work immediately on that and even identified the vehicle in some of the information once police were able to go out and get more evidence. So this person was cooperative for some period of time. Now, the FBI doesn't comment on who receives rewards. It was a $50,000 reward in this case. But every indication I get from talking to officials in Providence is that they're going to help this person out.

[Yasmin Desugin]

How did authorities then make the connection to the killing of the MIT professor?

[Tom Winter]

So they use something called a Flock camera. Flock is the name of the vendor. There's a number of different companies that have traffic cameras. So what happens is John says, you've got to look at this car, this blue gray Nissan late model car. This is the car this individual was in, and this is the car that I kept seeing around campus. And so they look for that car in the video that they have. They identify it, he confirms it, and then they can check the license plate and see where the car was from. Turns out it's from a rental company. So they go to the rental company and they say, okay, do you have a record for this rental? They do. And according to law enforcement, it's the individual that they eventually say is the suspect in this case now deceased.

[Yasmin Desugin]

Wow.

[Tom Winter]

Yeah. And so they were able to get that information and while they're there at the rental counter, they said, do you have any surveillance video? And so they're able to then get an image of the person who rented the car, again, the person that they've identified as a suspect. And they were able to use that then to really, really get on this investigation and get to the point where we got last night.

[Yasmin Desugin]

So, I mean, John, really integral to connecting the dots on this whole thing. And then the suspect's body being found, 48 year old Claudio Manuel Neves Valente. Walk us through what we know about him and his connection to Brown and this MIT professor.

[Tom Winter]

Yeah, so Valente's body is found last night. They had a pretty good sense that he was at this storage unit that he had rented, based on the evidence that they have. The problem is the FBI SWAT commander goes in and he sees the storage unit and it's locked from the outside. So they immediately had two concerns, particularly after they thought Valenti was really trying to deceive them all day. One, is there a bomb on the other side of that door? And two, if he's not there, where is he? But they really felt like he was going to be there. So they actually found him in an abandoned, not the one he rented, but in an abandoned storage unit. And this individual, according to our reporting, is somebody who attended Brown for some time back in 2000, 2001 time period, and had at least met this professor, the MIT professor, before. So he's got a connection to the school, he's got a connection to that building, and then some sort of a connection to the professor. And I know the next natural question is, okay, well, did he have an issue with the professor? Did he have the why question? Exactly right, Yasmin. That is something that law enforcement officials don't have an answer for today. That's something that they're definitely focused on. And last that we've checked in with people that have been briefed on this investigation, which is very much ongoing by the. Found anything yet? Any sort of writings, any sort of markings on any sort of shell casings, anything that we've seen in prior targeted shootings that could point us to the why? Why did this individual feel the need to do what they did? So that's very much a live question here as we chat today, Tom.

[Yasmin Desugin]

There's reporting to indicate that in fact there was a direct connection between the shooter, the suspect, and the MIT professor that he gunned down, Nuno Laryro. In fact, they attended the same academic program in Lisbon. Do we have that?

[Tom Winter]

As well, yeah, so we do have some indication that they had attended the same kind of the same school or university in Lisbon, Portugal. The FBI has a legal attache in Lisbon that's actively working on the details and trying to see if there was any sort of connection. Did they have a dispute in the past? What was kind of the nature of that relationship? I don't mean that relationship in a romantic sense, just how did they know each other and what's the backstory there? That is all part of the active, ongoing federal investigation, Tom, considering the fact.

[Yasmin Desugin]

That they found the suspect dead in the storage locker, what comes next here?

[Tom Winter]

Yeah, so I think a lot of times these cases happen and an individual's found deceased, and people sit there and say, oh, well, that's the investigation. It's over. And actually, that's not the case. There are some questions that they very much want to answer. And so you've got a ballistics mismatch between MIT and Brown. You've got some details as far as where this person, where were they staying? Obviously, motive is just such a huge question. They don't have an answer on that at this point. And so the FBI, broadly, having done a number of thesereporting on a number of these cases in the past, and local police, they really want to make sure they didn't miss anybody else. Not that they think anybody else was involved in this incident, but did he have help in any way? Is there anything that they can do to get a more complete picture? It's so helpful as far as knowing how to investigate these events in the future. But there are victims here. A lot has been focused on this suspect because of the unusual nature of the case and this individual. But. But there are three individuals that are dead because of this person's actions. There were a number of other students that were shot, and in the course of looking at the court paperwork, they had to go back to some of these victims in the hospital to try to make sure, hey, we've got this video. Is this the guy that you saw? And the reaction from one of the students breaking down in tears, shaking, having such a visceral reaction to just seeing a photo of this person masked. Again, there are kids that have gone through a lot of trauma here, so I think they really feel compelled to get. Get the most answers that they can about how all this went down.

[Yasmin Desugin]

Tom Winter, thank you.

[Tom Winter]

Thank you.

[Yasmin Desugin]

So the suspect in these shootings, Neves Valente, obtained legal permanent resident status in the US after getting a diversity immigrant visa. There's something known as the Green Card Lottery. Every year the program makes up to 50,000 green cards available to people from countries that are not well represented here in the United States. In the wake of the Brown and MIT shootings, the Trump administration says it's now suspending that program. But since the lottery was created by Congress, the Trump administration is likely to face legal challenges. All right, we're going to take a very quick break and when we are back a years long, back and forth over TikTok could be coming to an end. Stick with us this season.

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[Yasmin Desugin]

Welcome back to here's the Scoop from NBC News.

[Savannah Sellers]

Congratulations everybody.

[Yasmin Desugin]

Your doom scrolling has prevailed. TikTok is going to live on here in the United States. After years of uncertainty for the app's future in America, parent Chinese company ByteDance has signed a binding deal to create a joint US venture. The deal was brokered by the Trump administration and the US version of TikTok is going to be owned by a majority group of American investors. That is according to a memo obtained by NBC News. For more on this, I want to bring in NBC News NOW anchor Savannah Sellers, who has been covering this for quite some time. Hi Savannah.

[Commercial Announcer]

Hi Asmond.

[Savannah Sellers]

Thanks for having me.

[Yasmin Desugin]

A lot of folks are happy about this because there was a lot of worry that TikTok was going to go away, but in fact it has been saved. Take us through this deal. How did it come to be and what does it entail what is interesting.

[Savannah Sellers]

To me, I will just start with is they do say, and I'll read directly from this was a memo written by the CEO sent out to TikTok employees yesterday that I was able to obtain, which is how we were able to confirm some of this. And one thing I would say is a lot of outlets have been reporting that there's a TikTok sale. That's actually not true. This is not a sale. It's not a complete sale. It's this new joint venture. This will be majority owned by American investors, governed by a new seven member majority American board of directors. Though I will say we do not clearly yet have the details about it becoming factual, that this will be majority American owned. And I'll tell you why. We did get details with a couple names. We, we kind of got like three major investors. That's Oracle, who has been involved in business with them. They've been managing the data for TikTok, kind of like making it work here in the U.S. in addition to having invested in it. And then there's Silver Lake, that's a California based firm. And then there's MGX, which is not based in the United States. Those three each have a 15% stake. Then the other numbers that we have is about 30% will be affiliates of existing investors of ByteDance, that's the Chinese parent company. That has been the whole crux of the concern here is the national security implication there. And then just under 20% is gonna be retained by ByteDance itself, the company that caused all the issues and the congressional concern in the first place. Now keeping that just under 20%, Yaz does fall in line with the law here that says that it can only be like a maximum 20%. ByteDance, or foreign adversary is the language ownership. But like Yaz, when you hear that, don't you think, like, there's still a lot of questions about who is in the rest of those numbers. One of the other things that we got in this is that they've said, and we've heard this a couple times, but this was like confirmed in writing and sent out to all the employees yesterday is that they are going to, according to them, retrain the algorithm on US user data.

[Yasmin Desugin]

So the algorithm's gonna change.

[Savannah Sellers]

That's what you hear, right? If you're retraining an algorithm, how does it not start to feel different? There are questions from tech experts about like, what does that mean and how do you do that and how would you do that without TikTok, essentially like going offline for a or starting some type of new thing with only American content funneling into it. Nobody really gets how, but that's what they're saying they're planning to do.

[Yasmin Desugin]

I also think it's important to read this, this statement from the TikTok CEO saying the US joint venture will be responsible for US data protection, algorithm security, content moderation and software assurances. It will also have the exclusive right and authority to provide assurances that content, software and data for American users is in fact secure. There has been a lot of drama around TikTok for years now.

[Savannah Sellers]

Oh yeah.

[Yasmin Desugin]

Especially during the Trump administration. And it's taken a long time to get here. And I think a lot of folks didn't necessarily know we were even going to get here. Right. There was members of Congress, the intelligence community, having privacy concerns. Right. About TikTok Congress passing this bipartisan law requiring ByteDance to divest majority ownership of the U.S. version of the app or face a ban. That was kind of what initially set everything off. TikTok then went offline for about 24 hours at the beginning of this year. People freaked out.

[Savannah Sellers]

Yeah, that was a stressful 24 hours for me, let me tell you, as the TikTok reporter.

[Yasmin Desugin]

And then in January, the President signed this executive order pausing the ban. Right. But he kept kind of pushing the deadline back. The next one is coming in January and now we are here.

[Savannah Sellers]

What's also so interesting is if you go back even further and really start at the beginning of the drama, the concern about national security was literally, it was like invented by President Trump in his first term who had his then secretary treasury looking into different companies that could take a real piece of this financially. On that all goes away. Nothing ever really comes of it. And then flip side, President Trump is quite popular as candidate Trump on TikTok and develops what he was a self like professed soft spot for the app, which has got us to this point of like these like little band aids to keep on saving it and saving it and saving it.

[Yasmin Desugin]

I mentioned the TikTok CEO with the statement saying that the US venture will be kept secure by US entities. How can that be trusted considering that there is still a large ownership by ByteDance, a Chinese company? How are they handling data security with. With the US Version? Is there going to be a hard division between the two? I guess, is what I would ask.

[Savannah Sellers]

Yeah, it's a great question. So first of all, I will say TikTok says there already is and it's something called Project TE, which was essentially when they brought all American user data, they say, onto U.S. soil. And that is what Oracle, you know, American company, Larry Ellison's Oracle, has been managing and keeping safe, according to them.

[Yasmin Desugin]

What they.

[Savannah Sellers]

What is a new detail that we got in this memo from the CEO yesterday is that two things. First, the language here is a little vague, right. They say a trusted security partner. That's all we know. But that trusted security partner, they say, will essentially conduct an audit on as this new venture is formed. Once they have the answer to that, once they feel it's solid, they then say Oracle will essentially pick back up with being the American company here on American soil that makes sure American user data is safe. Do I think that like China hawks on Capitol Hill are going to have a lot of questions about what does that mean with bytedance being there? Yes, I do. And I think that we are going to really watch that unfold in January.

[Yasmin Desugin]

You talk about content creators, you talk about influencers, the E commerce feature on TikTok as well, TikTok Shop. How is this move going to impact the way these users on TikTok actually do business?

[Savannah Sellers]

That's been one of the things that I think really gave some heart to this story. And I think for a lot of people, there are a lot of Americans fully making their livelihoods on this app. My bet, yes, is that that is a real strength for TikTok that if anything, they're going to double down on like if they get the regulatory approval here. If this does seem that it satisfies the law and it can remain operational. That is a bright spot. Which by the way, one that the administration also likes. Right. Very pro business, very much happy to see this being an app that is providing a livelihood for Americans. And so I think that something like that, it would be positioned well.

[Yasmin Desugin]

What are we going to see the US version of TikTok launch?

[Savannah Sellers]

So they're actually saying that this deal, they're on track, they're working towards, is the language here, closing this deal on January 22nd. But I do think that those first three weeks of January is going to be like a lot of fact finding here.

[Yasmin Desugin]

Savannah Sellers, thank you.

[Savannah Sellers]

Thank you. Yeah, it's fun to be with you.

[Yasmin Desugin]

All right, let's get to some headlines. President Trump says military action in Venezuela is still on the table. And an exclusive phone conversation with moderator of NBC's Meet the Press, Kristen Welker. Trump said, quote, I don't rule it out. No, this is notable because the president campaigned on keeping America out of foreign conflicts. On Tuesday, Trump ordered a blockade of sanctioned Venezuelan oil tankers, increasing economic pressure on the country. Trump also discussed his $1,776 warrior dividend for troops, according to a senior administration official. That money will come out of previously allocated housing budgets, not tariffs. Russian President Vladimir Putin spent over four hours at his annual press conference Thursday projecting confidence about the war with Ukraine while refusing to budge an inch on peace terms. Meanwhile, EU leaders approved a $106 billion interest free loan to keep Ukraine afloat for the next two years. But the EU balked at tapping into the frozen Russian assets being held in Belgium. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky says Ukrainian negotiators will be meeting with US Counterparts this week. A White House official confirming to NBC News that US Russia talks are scheduled to be held in Miami on Saturday. Health officials are reporting a surge in flu cases across the country in the middle of the holiday season. Most of these flu infections appear to be caused by a strain that wreaked havoc overseas in places like the UK So if you have not gotten your flu shot yet, now is the time to roll up that sleeve and maybe, just maybe, take a family member or two with you. For football fans, Saturday is going to be a frenzy. And it is not just the teams competing against each other. On the one hand, the NFL has some critical games coming up. First, former super bowl champs the Philadelphia Eagles are facing the Washington Commanders. Then we have another round of the bitter rivalry between the Green Bay packers and the Chicago Bears. But before the NFL even starts the college football playoffs kickoff with Tulane versus Ole Miss, a similar scheduling showdown happened last year and the NFL crushed it with twice the viewership of the college football playoffs. But either way, it is a win win for fans everywhere. All right, that's gonna do it for us at. Here's the scoop.

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