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--:-- Leila Fadel: President Trump ends the week in conflict with the House of Representatives. A meeting in the White House Situation Room was just one of the tactics used in response to a new eruption of questions about Jeffrey Epstein.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: How does this end?
--:-- Leila Fadel: I'm Steve Inskeep with Leila Fadel, and this is Up First from NPR News.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Border patrol agents are packing up in Chicago. Charlotte, North Carolina is preparing for their arrival. City leaders say they got almost no details.
--:-- Leila Fadel: The public has the right to know what's happening and why it's happening. What's driving this sudden move and why Charlotte?
--:-- Steve Inskeep: And economists are tallying the costs of the longest government shutdown in American history. Our estimate of the White House is that each week that we were shut down is worth about $15 million off of GDP.
--:-- Leila Fadel: Is some of that money lost forever?
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Stay with us. We'll give you the news you need to start your day.
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--:-- Leila Fadel: President Trump is finishing this week in conflict with a majority of the House of Representatives. That conflict emerged just as the House returned to work and reopened the government.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Some Republicans joined Democrats to revive discussions of Jeffrey Epstein. As we have reported, a House committee released 23,000 documents about the convicted sex offender.
--:-- Leila Fadel: The more than 1,000 mentions of Trump in those documents include an email saying Trump spent hours at Epstein's house with a victim, and another in which Epstein says Trump, quote, knew about the girls.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: To discuss the White House's response, we have NPR White House correspondent Deepa Shipper with us.
--:-- Deepa Shipper: Good morning. Hey, Leila.
--:-- Leila Fadel: Hey, so the release of these documents has been a key demand of the president's supporters. What's the reaction been to this latest release of files?
--:-- Deepa Shipper: Well, Republican political strategist Alex Conant said the news around these documents isn't necessarily changing people's minds in the next election, say. But it doesn't exactly add up to a good week for Trump.
--:-- Leila Fadel: And I don't know that it's damaging, but it's very distracting. You know, with the government reopening, Trump arguably had a great week, but instead everyone's talking about this Epstein story that just won't go away.
--:-- Deepa Shipper: The White House says these documents don't prove anything. They say that Trump did nothing wrong. And the White House and the president are trying to frame the release of these documents as a distraction.
--:-- Leila Fadel: They're saying that Democrats who released some of these files ahead of the House Oversight Committee's release are trying to take attention away from the government shutdown ending.
--:-- Deepa Shipper: Trump on Truth Social called it the Jeffrey Epstein hoax and said Democrats are trying to use it to, quote, deflect from their massive failures.
--:-- Leila Fadel: But it was also Republicans who wanted these released some Republicans.
--:-- Deepa Shipper: Well, the other thing that happened this week is the House reached enough signatures for a discharge petition to force the release of more documents from the Department of Justice.
--:-- Leila Fadel: Does the White House feel any added pressure from this petition?
--:-- Deepa Shipper: Right. So this petition that we're talking about requires 218 votes. That's, of course, the majority of the House members. And what it does is force a vote on any issue, even if House leadership doesn't want it.
--:-- Leila Fadel: It's really rare that a petition would come together in the first place and even more rare in this political environment when we don't really see any level of bipartisanship.
--:-- Deepa Shipper: And one of the Republicans that's working with Democrats on this is Colorado Representative Lauren Boebert. She's been an ally of Trump's, but she signed on to this petition and she was called into the White House for a meeting in the Situation Room where the Epstein files and this petition were discussed.
--:-- Leila Fadel: It was kind of seen as this potential pressure campaign from the White House.
--:-- Deepa Shipper: White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt was asked about this meeting in the briefing earlier this week, and she said that the White House was just being transparent with members of Congress.
--:-- Leila Fadel: And Boebert herself spoke to Colorado Public Radio about it. There was no pressure, and I mean, everybody was great and worked just well with me.
--:-- Deepa Shipper: So it's not fully clear what happened inside the Situation Room, but the thing with this petition to keep in mind is that it probably isn't going to go anywhere after this House vote.
--:-- Leila Fadel: The Senate is controlled by Republicans. They're probably not going to take up this vote. And even if they did and it passed, Trump himself is the one who'd have to sign it into law, which is even less likely to happen.
--:-- Deepa Shipper: OK, so if this petition is likely to die, is the White House hoping then this just all goes away after that?
--:-- Leila Fadel: Yeah, you know, I talked to Conant about that, too. And he says the White House should have handled this Epstein story very differently by putting out all the information that they have.
--:-- Deepa Shipper: Now, the White House says that they've been transparent, but at the same time, Trump uncharacteristically doesn't seem to want to answer questions about it.
--:-- Leila Fadel: And keep in mind, there's been a lot of public interest in Epstein, in Trump's relationship with him, what these documents from the DOJ might say.
--:-- Deepa Shipper: And, you know, Trump has survived many political scandals before, right? But Conant says that Trump's strategy typically has been deflect, deflect, attack, attack, and then try to change the story.
--:-- Leila Fadel: But because of the slow drip of this Epstein story, because this was a campaign promise that Trump made to release these documents, he just can't shake this story.
--:-- Deepa Shipper: And he's really been unable to move beyond it.
--:-- Leila Fadel: I'm Paris Deepa Chivram. Thank you, Deepa.
--:-- Deepa Shipper: Thanks.
--:-- Leila Fadel: The sheriff in Charlotte, North Carolina, says the Trump administration has selected that city for its next immigration crackdown.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Now, Charlotte is in Mecklenburg County, and the county sheriff there says federal officials have told him that agents could arrive as soon as tomorrow.
--:-- Leila Fadel: And that's all he knows. This is happening as some Border Patrol agents are leaving Chicago after weeks of aggressive raids.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Nick Dillacanau with member station WFAE in Charlotte has been following developments and joins us now.
--:-- Nick Dillacanau: Well, we first started hearing reports a few days ago that this could be happening, but city officials said they were completely in the dark.
--:-- Leila Fadel: And then yesterday, the Mecklenburg County Sheriff, Gary McFadden, said he was contacted by two federal officials who told him Border Patrol agents will be arriving, possibly Saturday or early next week.
--:-- Nick Dillacanau: Now, there's still a lot that we don't know, like how many agents are coming, how long they plan to stay, what their assignment is, although perhaps we could look to Chicago as a precedent.
--:-- Leila Fadel: The sheriff, who is a Democrat, said he's not getting involved in any possible operation, and Charlotte police put out a statement saying they don't participate with federal immigration enforcement.
--:-- Nick Dillacanau: We did reach out to the Department of Homeland Security, and they told us they don't comment on potential operations.
--:-- Leila Fadel: So very little detail. How is the community reacting?
--:-- Nick Dillacanau: Well, there definitely fear even though advocacy groups have been urging calm.
--:-- Leila Fadel: I spoke with Daniela Andrade with the Carolina Migrant Network and she says that their ICE hotline has been ringing off the hook over the last few days mostly with false reports.
--:-- Nick Dillacanau: People have been calling, reporting anything they see on the street, which sometimes might be just CMPD or something completely different.
--:-- Leila Fadel: Most of these cases right now are not ICE, but it's just that fear in general that's already in our community.
--:-- Nick Dillacanau: Also, some Latino businesses shared photos on social media yesterday of empty parking lots in what are normally bustling immigrant shopping centers.
--:-- Leila Fadel: And what are local officials telling people?
--:-- Nick Dillacanau: Charlotte Mayor Vi-Liles has released a statement saying that the city is committed to following the law while protecting civil rights.
--:-- Leila Fadel: Some city council members are also speaking up, including a councilman-elect, J.D. Mazwera Arias, who himself is an immigrant.
--:-- Nick Dillacanau: He told his community to take a deep breath, not to keep kids home from school or skip work out of fear.
--:-- Leila Fadel: And he says Customs and Border Protection need to be transparent with residents and law enforcement.
--:-- Nick Dillacanau: Our community deserves clarity. The sheriff's department deserves clarity. If there is an operation or presence in Charlotte, the public has the right to know what's happening and why it's happening.
--:-- Leila Fadel: So that question of why, do you have any idea why Border Patrol agents are heading to Charlotte or appear to be heading there?
--:-- Nick Dillacanau: Yeah, we really don't have any idea.
--:-- Leila Fadel: We have seen ICE arrests in Charlotte, like in other cities. There was a workplace raid this summer and some isolated arrests, but never Border Patrol agents as far as we know.
--:-- Nick Dillacanau: Now, the city did draw national attention earlier this fall following the fatal stabbing of a Ukrainian woman on the light rail.
--:-- Leila Fadel: The suspect was not an immigrant. However, Republicans and the White House directed a lot of criticism at the city's Democratic mayor for that.
--:-- Nick Dillacanau: And there have been calls for the National Guard, even though violent crime is down 20 percent over last year.
--:-- Leila Fadel: Nick Dillacanau with member station WFAE. Thank you, Nick.
--:-- Nick Dillacanau: Thank you.
--:-- Leila Fadel: Now that the government shutdown is over, the damage assessments have begun.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Federal workers missed paychecks. Many people missed flights. Millions missed payments to help them buy food.
--:-- Leila Fadel: Gradually, all that is now being corrected, but what are the lasting economic costs?
--:-- Steve Inskeep: NPR Scott Horsley joins us now to help tally it up.
--:-- Scott Horsley: Good morning, Scott.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Okay, so this was the longest government shutdown on record. Is it also the most costly?
--:-- Scott Horsley: Almost certainly. Kevin Hassett, who directs the National Economic Council, told the Economic Club of Washington this week, the bill will likely be in the neighborhood of $90 billion.
--:-- Leila Fadel: Our estimate of the White House is that each week that we were shut down is worth about $15 billion off of GDP.
--:-- Scott Horsley: I think the Goldman guys have added all that up and guessed that it's between 1% and 1.5% reduction in the growth rate of GDP this quarter.
--:-- Leila Fadel: Now, some of that economic activity is not really lost. It's just postponed. Government workers who put off a big purchase during the shutdown might go out and spend that money once they get their back pay.
--:-- Scott Horsley: But some of it won't be made up. You know, if you skipped a haircut during the shutdown, you're probably not going to get two haircuts to make up for it.
--:-- Leila Fadel: Airlines are not going to recover all the money they lost.
--:-- Scott Horsley: So while some of the drop in GDP is merely a timing shift, some of it is gone for good.
--:-- Leila Fadel: And what about jobs? What's been the effect?
--:-- Scott Horsley: Well, we don't have a good read on that. The government's monthly jobs tally was delayed by the shutdown, along with a lot of other government economic data.
--:-- Leila Fadel: We should get the September jobs report pretty soon That was almost finished when the shutdown began
--:-- Scott Horsley: But when it comes to the October report on both jobs and inflation the government really starting from scratch and so it could take some time to reconstruct those
--:-- Leila Fadel: In fact White House spokeswoman Caroline Levitt suggested this week the reports may never come out The Democrats may have permanently damaged the federal statistical system with October CPI and jobs reports likely never being released.
--:-- Scott Horsley: And all of that economic data released will be permanently impaired, leaving our policymakers at the Fed flying blind at a critical period.
--:-- Leila Fadel: Now, after previous government shutdowns, a lot of economic reports were late coming out, but the government has never skipped issuing a major economic report altogether.
--:-- Scott Horsley: And most of the experts I talk to think the number crunchers will try very hard to avoid that this time.
--:-- Leila Fadel: The Bureau of Labor Statistics, which compiles both the jobs and inflation reports, put a note on its website yesterday saying it's assessing the situation and will issue an updated release schedule soon.
--:-- Scott Horsley: And the Bureau will also thank people for their patience.
--:-- Leila Fadel: Is the Fed, though, really flying blind here?
--:-- Scott Horsley: No, although certainly its visibility is not as good as policymakers would like.
--:-- Leila Fadel: During the shutdown, the Fed and others looked to other sources of information about the job market and prices.
--:-- Scott Horsley: And while that's not as good as the missing government data, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell says he thinks he and his colleagues would know if there were a sudden shift in the economy.
--:-- Leila Fadel: The Fed holds its next interest rate meeting in a little less than four weeks.
--:-- Scott Horsley: And by that time, we may have some additional government data.
--:-- Leila Fadel: But, you know, unless the numbers are really clear cut one way or another, it could still be a close call.
--:-- Scott Horsley: Right now, markets think it's pretty much a coin toss whether the Fed keeps cutting interest rates by another quarter point in December or takes a break and holds rate steady.
--:-- Leila Fadel: NPR, Scott Horsley. Thank you, Scott.
--:-- Scott Horsley: You're welcome.
--:-- Leila Fadel: And that's Up First for Friday, November 14th. I'm Leila Fadel. And I'm Steve Inskeep.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: This Sunday, we'll follow up on a big story. President Trump promised a Gaza peace plan would bring an end to the war between Hamas and Israel.
--:-- Leila Fadel: Can you believe it? And it's going to hold up, too. It's going to hold up.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: OK, it's been a little over a month since the ceasefire went into effect and forward progress has stalled.
--:-- Leila Fadel: Until all of the bodies of the hostages are returned from Israel's point of view, the next phase doesn't move forward.
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Israel and Hamas have accused each other of violations, but it is really President Trump who's holding it together.
--:-- Leila Fadel: This weekend on The Sunday Story, what will it take to keep a peace process on track?
--:-- Steve Inskeep: Listen to The Sunday Story right here on NPR's Up First podcast.
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--:-- Announcer (Voiceover): Today's episode of Up First was edited by Dana Farrington, Susanna Capelouto, Rafael Nam, Mohamad ElBardicy, and HJ Mai.
--:-- Announcer (Voiceover): It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas, and Lindsay Totty.
--:-- Announcer (Voiceover): We get engineering support from Stacey Abbott. And our technical director is Carleigh Strange.
--:-- Announcer (Voiceover): Our Executive Producer is Jay Shaylor.
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