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Nora Ramm (0:13)
Details@Capital1.com Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Nora Ramm. The Department of Justice began releasing documents yesterday related to the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, as required by a law Congress passed overwhelmingly last month. NPR's Stephen Fowler has more.
Stephen Fowler (0:35)
The Epstein Library contained well over 100,000 pages of court records, Freedom of Information act files, memoranda from the Justice Department and videos from outside Epstein's federal prison cell, where he died by suicide in 2019. And documents that the Epstein Files Transparency act, signed into law last month, compelled the Justice Department to hand over NPR's Stephen Fowler.
Nora Ramm (0:59)
But only a small fraction is information that had not been made public before, and many names and pages are heavily redacted. Justice Department officials say they'll continue to release documents that they are still reviewing hundreds of thousands of pages for possible release. The Supreme Court has stopped the Trump administration's effort to ban immigration judges from making public remarks about their work or the immigration system overall. NPR's Nina Totenberg reports.
Nina Totenberg (1:29)
At issue is a Trump administration policy that bars immigration judges from making any public remarks in their personal capacity about immigration or the agency that employs them unless the remarks are cleared first by administration officials. The judges, who are employees of the Justice Department, challenge the policy as a violation of their right to free speech. And when they won an interim victory in a federal appeals court, the administration promptly went to the Supreme Court, warning the justices of dire consequences if they didn't intervene. But in an unexpected action, the court, with no noted dissents, let the immigration judge's case go forward, at least for now. Nina Totenberg, NPR News, Washington.
Nora Ramm (2:15)
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says the US Launched a series of deadly strikes against Islamic State targets in in central Syria yesterday. Three Americans were killed by a gunman there last weekend. NPR's Greg Myhre reports.
Greg Myhre (2:29)
The U.S. attack involved fighter jets, helicopters and artillery rounds directed against buildings and weapons belonging to the Islamic State. In a post on X, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said, quote, today we hunted and we killed our enemies, lots of them, and we will continue. President Trump vowed to hit back after a gunman killed two members of the Iowa national guard and a U.S. civilian interpreter on Dec. 30. That attacker was a member of the Syrian security forces who was about to be dismissed because of his extremist views linked to the Islamic State. US Forces defeated ISIS years ago but have remained in Syria to prevent a resurgence of the group. Greg Myrey, NPR News, Washington.