Trump signs Epstein files bill, sets White House meeting with Mamdani
President Donald Trump officially signed a bill to release the Epstein files. His signature started a 30-day clock for the Justice Department to release the files.
Plus, Trump has agreed to meet with New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani at the White House on Friday.
And Border Patrol’s surveillance network is much larger than anyone realized. Is it smart enforcement, or something closer to Big Brother?
These stories and more highlight your Unbiased Updates for Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025.
Trump signs bill to release Epstein files, kicking off DOJ’s 30-day deadline
President Donald Trump signed the bill ordering the Justice Department to release all of its Jeffrey Epstein files on Wednesday night. The government now has 30 days to make all files public.
The law is sweeping. It requires the DOJ to run over every record tied to Epstein, including internal communications and documents related to the investigation into his death in federal custody back in 2019.
The only exceptions are information that identifies victims or interferes with ongoing investigations.
What the government can’t do is hold anything back because it’s embarrassing, politically sensitive or damaging to reputations.
The law also requires a second report within 15 days after release that explains each redaction.
“So we have released 33,000 — over 33,000 Epstein documents to the hill, and we’ll continue to follow the law and to have maximum transparency,” said U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi.
On Truth Social, Trump called the focus on the files a “distraction” from what he described as Republican victories, and again insisted Democrats have deeper ties to Epstein than he does. He wrote, “perhaps the truth about these Democrats and their associations with Jeffrey Epstein…will soon be revealed.”
The fallout from last week’s email release continues.
Former Treasury Secretary and Harvard professor Larry Summers announced he’s taking a leave from teaching and stepping down from the board of OpenAI and other positions. The news comes days after his emails with Epstein surfaced.
Earlier this week, Summers said he’d only scale back his public commitments. He’s now pulling back much further.
Mamdani to press safety, economy, affordability during Friday meeting with Trump
Trump says he will meet with New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani at the White House on Friday.
Trump announced the meeting in a Truth Social post, saying it’s at “Communist mayor” Mamdani’s request as he prepares to take over as leader of the nation’s largest city.
A spokesperson for Mamdani says it’s customary for New York’s incoming mayors to sit down with the president.
And he says Mamdani plans to press Trump on public safety, economic security and the affordability agenda that more than a million New Yorkers voted for just two weeks ago.
The meeting comes after months of tension. Trump has been openly critical of Mamdani ever since he defeated former governor Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary, even threatening to withhold federal funding if Mamdani won the mayor’s race.
Border Patrol monitors, tracks US drivers’ habits: Report
The Associated Press says U.S. Border Patrol has quietly built a mass surveillance network, using license-plate cameras to track drivers and flag “suspicious” behavior.
The AP reports the program, called the Predictive Intelligence Program, operates along both the southern and northern borders and has now expanded into large cities.
What started as a tool to spot drug trafficking and illegal crossing has grown as the Trump administration leans on Border Patrol for immigration crackdowns, including recent deployments in Chicago and Charlotte.
The system scans license plates, analyzes driving patterns, and can flag vehicles as “suspicious,” leading to traffic stops, even for minor violations.
In a statement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said it uses license-plate readers responsibly to “identify threats and disrupt criminal networks.”
Disability benefits remain secure as SSA halts plan affecting older workers
A major update from the Social Security Administration could save hundreds of thousands of older Americans from losing their disability benefits.
The agency is abandoning plans to rewrite how disability claims are judged after a wave of backlash that reached all the way into the Trump White House, The Washington Post reported.
At its core, it aims to eliminate age as a criterion for determining if someone is still able to work.
Advocates warned it would impact people over 50 the most, the very group the program was meant to protect.
That proposal was just days from being published, but The Post reported that SSA Commissioner Frank Bisignano has pulled the plug, telling disability advocates the rule will not move forward.
This issue was also becoming a political problem: reducing disability rolls would have violated Trump’s repeated pledge not to interfere with Social Security.
The agency has not issued a comment, but advocates consider this a relief for older Americans who rely on these benefits to make ends meet.
America’s new podcast leader: Rogan jumps to #1 on Apple’s 2025 list
Apple has released its year-end podcast rankings, and “The Joe Rogan Experience” has officially replaced “The Daily” at the top spot.
“The Joe Rogan Experience” secured the number one spot, followed by “The Daily” in second place. Surprisingly, “The Mel Robbins Podcast came in at number three — it wasn’t even in the top ten last year.
“Crime Junkie” and “Dateline” remain steady in the top five, showing America’s appetite for true crime isn’t going anywhere.
“Call Her Daddy” cracked the list, as did “The Ezra Klein Show.”
Rogan continues to excel on YouTube, with his two-hour marathons attracting millions of views weekly.
Apple mentioned that this year’s key highlights also include celebrity hangout shows, such as “Good Hang with Amy Poehler” and “Not Gonna Lie with Kylie Kelce,” which debuted at number two among new shows.
‘Azul’ rises again: Fire-scarred VW van returns as symbol of hope
Sometimes, a single image cuts through the chaos and reminds us what resilience truly looks like.
A viral photo from the January Palisades fire features a bright-blue 1977 Volkswagen van named Azul, standing untouched amidst the destruction.
It captured a moment of destruction, with a stubborn splash of color that refused to fade.
Well, Azul is back.
Restored. Repainted. Reborn.
Volkswagen’s class-car team in Oxnard spent months rebuilding the van piece by piece — replacing melted parts, scrubbing out the smoke and restoring the shine the fire tried to steal.
Azul will be showcased Thursday at the LA Auto Show, not as a collector’s item, but as a symbol: proof that even if everything around us burns, something can still endure.
More from Straight Arrow News:
Underdog no more, how soccer is surging in US less than a year from World Cup
Americans’ interest in soccer is reaching an all-time high as the World Cup draws near. A new study by Harris Poll found that up to 75% of Americans are interested in soccer, a 17% increase since 2020.
With 6.5 million people expected to attend the 2026 World Cup, fans, businesses and soccer officials expect next year’s tournament to be transformative. Experts and fans told Straight Arrow News that soccer’s growing popularity can be attributed to everything from the growth of immigrant communities to new TV deals expanding game accessibility, even to viewers being introduced to Ted Lasso.
Jason Takhtadjian, a Fresno-based news anchor, grew up playing soccer. As an adult, and a diehard Chelsea fan since the mid-2000s, he’s spent years waking up early to catch games at 5 a.m. before services like Peacock were around to carry Premier League games. He was excited to see stars such as Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard win titles and fight for a common cause. Read the full story now>
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
