Trump’s Surprise Pivot on the Epstein Files, and Why Crypto A.T.M.s Are a Hub for Scams

0:02From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Monday, November 17th. Here's what we're covering.

0:13Late last night, in a sudden reversal, President Trump said he's now backing efforts to release the Epstein files. For months, the White House had been urging Republicans not to support a bipartisan measure in the House that would compel the Justice Department to release documents from its investigation into the convicted sex offender. Now, Trump says Republicans should vote to release the files, quote, because we have nothing to hide. His dramatic shift comes as the president faced the possibility that dozens of GOP lawmakers were preparing to break ranks with him and support the measure in a vote this week.

0:49I think we could have a deluge of Republicans. There could be a hundred or more. I'm hoping to get a veto-proof majority. Republican Representative Thomas Massey of Kentucky, the longtime Trump critic who's been leading the effort to push for the file's release, said earlier on Sunday he was confident he had the votes. I've never said that these files will implicate Donald Trump. I really don't think that they will. I think he's trying to protect a bunch of rich and powerful friends, billionaires, donors to his campaign. That's my operating theory on why he's trying so hard to keep these files closed.

1:24Trump's connections to Epstein, who he was friendly with up until the early 2000s, have been under intense scrutiny, and that only ratcheted up last week when lawmakers released thousands of Epstein's emails. The messages included statements from Epstein that Trump, quote, spent hours at his house with one of his victims and that he, quote, knew about the girls. Now, in his post on social media announcing his reversal, Trump wrote, it's time to move on from this Democrat hoax perpetrated by radical left lunatics in order to deflect from the great success of the Republican Party. For the moment, it's unclear if or when the Justice Department, which Trump tightly controls, will move to release any of the files.

2:14In Charlotte, North Carolina over the weekend, Border Patrol agents fanned out across the city, making it the latest focus of President Trump's highly visible crackdown on immigrants. As word of the operation spread, El Salvadoran restaurants were closed, street vendors who usually sell mangoes stayed home, and residents shared videos of masked Border Patrol agents arriving at small businesses and home depots across the city. They arrested more than 80 people. According to lawyers and immigrant advocacy groups, they targeted a man who was participating in a church cleanup day and another man who was putting up Christmas decorations.

2:55An agent was also filmed smashing the window of a truck, handcuffing the driver, and detaining him for 20 minutes before he was let go. It turned out he was a U.S. citizen born in Honduras. A spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security said the agents were targeting people who posed a threat to public safety, though it's unclear how many of those who were arrested had criminal records. In similar operations in Chicago and L.A., just a few of the hundreds of people arrested had serious criminal backgrounds. Let me say this clearly. This is not about public safety. It is not about finding criminals.

3:31It is about fear. It is about quotas. And it's about control. The agent's presence in Charlotte has sparked protests and pushback from some local and state officials. North Carolina's governor, a Democrat, urged residents to use their phones to record, quote, any inappropriate behavior by the federal agents. Meanwhile, the Times has found that the administration's intense focus on its immigration crackdown has undermined a wide range of other law enforcement operations. Thousands of federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security have been diverted from their normal duties so they can carry out immigration arrests.

4:11According to internal documents and interviews with more than 65 federal officials, that has caused major criminal investigations to be moved to the back burner. For example, in the first part of this year, investigators spent 33 percent fewer hours on child exploitation cases compared to previous years. Efforts to fight human smuggling and sex trafficking have also slowed. And an investigation into how Iranian oil sales have financed terrorism has been significantly impacted. A Homeland Security spokeswoman denied that the focus on immigration has had any negative effect on other work, saying crimes like child exploitation, trafficking, and terrorism, quote, all have a nexus to illegal immigration.

4:57You can read the full investigation at nytimes.com.

5:09Now, two other quick updates on the Trump administration. As of 6 a.m. this morning, federal authorities are ending the flight restrictions that they put in place at 40 of the country's major airports during the government shutdown. The Secretary of Transportation had ordered the airports to reduce flights by 3 to 6 percent amid a shortage of air traffic controllers as they were forced to work without pay for over a month. Since the shutdown ended, those staffing issues have eased. And in another air travel development, the Department of Transportation is killing off a Biden-era proposal that would have forced airlines to pay customers for major travel disruptions.

5:49The rule would have guaranteed up to$775 in cash, along with meals and lodging, for people delayed three hours or more for non-weather-related reasons. It was a move that passenger rights advocates said would ensure a basic level of care for travelers and incentivize airlines to keep flights on time. But it faced pushback from the airline industry, and the administration says removing the proposal will allow airlines to, quote, compete on the services and compensation that they provide to passengers.

6:32over the last decade or so cryptocurrency atms have been popping up in coffee shops convenience stores gas stations all the places that you're used to seeing regular atms but instead of connecting you to your bank account the kiosks let you convert cash into crypto There's now more than 28 ,000 of the ATMs around the country, and the Times has been looking at how the machines have become a hub for scams as people get duped into depositing cash into them. For example, a real estate agent in Wisconsin made 19 deposits, thinking they were going to a man that she met on a dating app. He turned out not to be real, and she lost almost$100 ,000.

7:13Once those kinds of transactions are made, the digital currency can be quickly moved beyond the reach of U.S. law enforcement, and getting anything back is rare. Last year, the FBI tallied nearly 11 ,000 complaints about the machines, totaling more than$240 million in losses. In roughly the first half of this year, people have lost another$240 million in fraud at the ATMs. In response to questions from the Times, many of the companies that operate the ATMs say scams are only a small portion of their transactions. And some of them said they're trying to help fight fraud too. One company put in a policy to call customers who are over 60 years old when they register to use the machine.

7:56They then alert them to possible scams. The result? They stopped more than 80 percent of those customers from going through with a transaction.

8:14Here's what I want you to understand. This is not about the charts. And finally. This is about Bruce Springsteen. It was supposed to be a blockbuster season for Hollywood. In the past few months, studios have poured cash into marketing their latest slate of films, many of them with big names, like Jeremy Allen White playing Bruce Springsteen. I'm stuck between wanting to do something and not wanting to do anything at all. There was also the Jennifer Lawrence, Robert Pattinson drama Die My Love. Good luck. Good luck getting knocked out. And Sidney Sweeney throwing punches in the boxing biopic Christy, not to mention movies with Keanu Reeves, Dwayne Johnson, Russell Crowe.

8:57But not one of the 25 comedies or dramas released to North American theaters recently has become a hit. Many of them have completely flopped. After The Hunt, which starred Julia Roberts, cost$70 million to make. In its first month in theaters in the U.S. and Canada, it brought in just$3.3 million. There's been a lot of finger-pointing about what's gone wrong. Is it the audience's fault for only wanting to see big-budget franchises and superhero sequels? Is it the theater's fault for raising ticket prices? Is it the movies themselves, even though many were critically acclaimed? Or is it that everyone's just gotten too used to watching Netflix at home?

9:38There are a lot of questions, but no clear answers, just kind of a growing sense of doom. The October box office was the lowest on record, not counting 2020 when theaters were closed. And the chief film critic for Variety said, quote, it has seriously begun to look like the bottom is falling out. Now, there are still a few big movies left to come out this year, including Marty Supreme, a drama starring Timothee Chalamet. But it's a lot of pressure to put on a movie about a ping pong player from the 1950s. Those are the headlines. Today on The Daily, a look at President Trump's proposal to make buying a house more affordable, including his idea for 50-year mortgages.

10:24You can listen to that in the New York Times app or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Tracy Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow.