Plus, legislation to make a trove of Epstein files public has landed on Trump’s desk. And Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI, is in advanced talks to raise $15 billion. Caitlin McCabe hosts.
Congressional Republicans on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a bill to release all of the files related to the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein — a bill that President Trump spent months trying to kill.
The Times correspondents Anni Karni and Carl Hulse explain how a rebellion started by a handful of Republican lawmakers became a partywide mutiny, and Representative Thomas Massie talks about his role in bringing about the vote.
Guest:
Annie Karni, a congressional correspondent at The New York Times.
Carl Hulse, the chief Washington correspondent for The Times.
Representative Thomas Massie, Republican of Kentucky.
Background reading:
The vote to approve was a stunning turn for an effort that Republican leaders had worked for months to block.
After a resounding vote to release the Jeffrey Epstein files, the bill is expected to head to President Trump’s desk. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman visits the U.S. for the first time in seven years. And the NTSB says a single loose wire caused a power outage on the cargo ship that ultimately crashed into Baltimore's Key Bridge.
The bill to release more Epstein files passes the House and the Senate, but new revelations create a possible nightmare for House Democrats.
Rob Bluey joins us to discuss what’s next for Capitol Hill.
Representative Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) joins us to explain what delays, diverts, and alters good legislation into the omnibus nightmares Americans detest.
We continue our first look at some highlights from last week's massive release of more than 20,000 pages of material from the estate of Jeffrey Epstein released by the House Oversight Committee, including Steve Bannon and ASU professor Lawrence Krauss among others. We also consider Megyn Kelly's appalling response before leaving the last word where it belongs: with the women who have come forward to tell their stories on behalf of themselves and those who will never be able to.
From the acclaimed author of The Fire Is upon Us, the dramatic untold story of Barry Goldwater and Martin Luther King Jr.'s decade-long clash over the meaning of freedom--and how their conflicting visions still divide American politics
In the mid-1950s, Barry Goldwater and Martin Luther King Jr. emerged as the leaders of two diametrically opposed freedom movements that changed the course of American history--and still divide American politics. King mobilized civil rights activists under the banner of "freedom now," insisting that true freedom would not be realized until all people--regardless of race--were empowered politically, economically, and socially. Goldwater rallied conservatives to the cause of "extremism in defense of liberty," advocating radical individualism. In One Man's Freedom, Nicholas Buccola tells the compelling story of Goldwater and King's dramatic decade-long debate over the meaning of an all-important American ideal.
Part dual biography, part history, One Man's Freedom: Goldwater, King, and the Struggle Over an American Ideal(Princeton UP, 2025) traces the actions and words of Goldwater and King over a crucial and eventful decade, from their dizzying rise through 1964, which ended with Goldwater's landslide defeat in the presidential election and King's Nobel Peace Prize. The book chronicles why Goldwater and King, who never met in person, came to view each other as perhaps the greatest threat to freedom in America. It explains how their ideas of freedom could be so vastly different, yet both so deeply rooted in American history and their times. And it shows how their disagreement continues to shape and explain politics today, when the bitter divisions between Republicans and Democrats often come down to the question of what kind of freedom Americans want--the one defined by Goldwater or by King?
The news to know for Wednesday, November 19, 2025!
We're talking about the votes in Congress to make the Epstein files public and what could still get in the way of their release.
Also, we'll tell you how President Trump defended Saudi Arabia's crown prince, despite U.S. intelligence linking him to a murder.
Plus, why some key functions of the Education Department are being handed over to other agencies, how so-called ghost job postings may be deceiving you, and calling all Santas: what to know about a classic effort to spread holiday cheer.
Those stories and even more news to know in about 10 minutes!
Join us every Mon-Fri for more daily news roundups!
President Donald Trump joyously welcomed Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, also known as MBS, to the White House on Tuesday. That's despite the fact that, according to US intelligence, MBS allegedly ordered the 2018 murder of Saudi dissident and journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The meeting was supposed to center on Saudi investments in the United States in exchange for military equipment and possible access to nuclear technology – as the US and Saudi Arabia become closer partners than ever before. So for more on what MBS's very friendly visit means for U.S.-Saudi relations, we spoke with Pod Save the World co-host Tommy Vietor.
And in headlines, Education Secretary Linda McMahon works to "break up federal bureaucracy", the US takes one step closer to maybe possibly finally seeing the Epstein files, and Texas Governor Greg Abbott says he'll take the state's redistricting fight to the Supreme Court.