Daycare Fraud Claims Fallout, Epstein Files Mess, Swiss Nightclub Fire

0:02Somali-American daycare centers in Minnesota say they're being threatened. Our families and teachers work hard enough without feeling scared to come to work. Federal officials have not answered questions about what comes next. I'm Aya Martinez. That is Michelle Martin. And this is Up First from NPR News. The Justice Department missed its deadline to release the Epstein files. The documents that are already out are heavily redacted, disorganized and sometimes misleading. So is this transparency or a mess that's fueling even more conspiracy theories? And in Switzerland, at least 40 people were killed when a fire tore through a packed nightclub at a ski resort.

0:40Many others were injured at a New Year's party. Investigators are searching for what went wrong. Stay with us. We'll give you news you need to start your day.

0:53Fall in love with new music every Friday at All Songs Considered, that's NPR's music recommendation podcast. Fridays are where we spend our whole show sharing all the greatest new releases of the week. Make the hunt for new music a part of your life again. Tap into New Music Friday from All Songs Considered, available wherever you get your podcasts. Somali-Americans in Minnesota who operate child care centers say they've received violent threats and been targeted by vandalism. Yeah, this follows a posting of a video last week by a right-wing YouTube influencer who claims to have found evidence of fraud at Somali-American-run child care centers.

1:31The Trump administration responded to that video by cutting federal funding for child care centers, not just in Minnesota, but also around the U.S. And Paris, Brian Mann is reporting on this, and he's with us now. Good morning, Brian. Good morning, Michelle. So Somali-American daycare operators in Minneapolis say they're facing harassment and vandalism. What more can you tell us about this? Yeah, Nasrullah Muhammad spoke at a press conference at the Nokomis Daycare Center where he works in Minneapolis. And he said there's been a break-in, there's been vandalism, and some people in the community are scared.

2:00We've been receiving hateful messages through our voice notes threatening us, including one that happened yesterday morning after the break-in. This is frightening and exhausting. Muhammad says sensitive documents have been stolen. After that press conference on Wednesday, President Trump posted on social media calling Mohammed's account of the break-in a total fraud. As this situation unfolded, Trump has again attacked Somali-Americans in Minnesota, calling them, and I'm quoting here, Michelle, lowlifes. How did this escalate so fast? Yeah, the day after Christmas, Nick Shirley, a 23-year-old MAGA-connected social media influencer, posted a video.

2:38He claims it shows Somali-American-run daycare centers are cheating the federal government out of millions of tax dollars. The video doesn't offer clear proof, and it appears these social media claims have not yet been independently investigated or verified. But the video went viral. A lot of conservative media outlets jumped on the story, and so did Trump on his social media feed. So now the Trump administration is halting funding for child care programs around the country. Health and Human Services Deputy Secretary Jim O 'Neill spoke in a video posted online. He said child care funds will be released only when states prove they're being spent legitimately.

3:14Starting today, we require a justification receipt or photo evidence before we make a payment. Now, this disruption is going to affect hundreds of thousands of children, especially in low-income families in all 50 states. O 'Neill says he took this action based on what he describes as intrepid journalists making shocking and credible allegations. NPR asked the Department of Health and Human Services press office if they have concrete evidence of serious or widespread wrongdoing, but we've had no response. So what happens now to these child care centers, those in Minnesota and around the country?

3:44Yeah, this is interesting. Speaking at that press conference this week, Mary Solheim, a child care provider in Maplewood, Minnesota, said this funding freeze could be devastating for kids and their working parents around the country. Child care is incredibly expensive, of course, and these subsidies are make or break for many families. Solheim also voiced dismay that one social media influencer could disrupt the child care system so dramatically. Now, again, Michelle, NPR has asked federal officials for clarification about what evidence they have of any wrongdoing. We've also asked what process states will have to go through now to scrutinize thousands of child care providers around the country in order to get these federal dollars flowing again.

4:36We just don't yet have answers to any of those questions. That is NPR's Brian Mann. Brian, thank you. Thank you.

4:51It's been two weeks since the Justice Department was supposed to release all of the Epstein files in its possession. Now, the DOJ has not fully met a deadline set by a law signed by President Trump. The relatively few documents that have been made public also have extensive redactions. It isn't clear that those redactions are justified or in line with what the law intended. The government also says some of what is released should not be trusted. And all of this has fanned the flame of conspiracy theories, old and new, about the life and death of Jeffrey Epstein. We're joined now by NPR's Stephen Fowler.

5:24December 19th, Stephen, that was the day that hundreds of thousands of Epstein files were supposed to be released. My desk calendar says it's January 2nd. Small fraction of that release. So what's the deal? Well, the Justice Department says it's working on it and there could be well over a million more pages to come. They say they're taking time to review and redact information to protect victims required by the law. What we do have is about 40 ,000 pages, most of them redacted in ways that make them unreadable, and there's very little new information. Here's one example. I found a file that blacked out part of the zip code of the very public U.S.

6:01Attorney's Office in New York City, plus hundreds of pages completely blanked out with no explanation. And at some point, the DOJ is supposed to explain to Congress what's under those black boxes and why they haven't shared it. Speaking of sharing, these new files are posted publicly but aren't organized in any sort of chronological or contextual order in a way that's led to numerous controversies and conspiracies swirling about in the absence of full files and full transparency into what we're looking at. Such as what? Well, there are some documents made public that are fake but are included because under the definition of the law, they are files related to the investigation that are supposed to be released.

6:40There are unverified fantastical claims about Donald Trump, Epstein, and others included in FBI tip forms, fake video purporting to show Epstein's death by suicide in his federal prison cell, and a forged letter that appeared to be written by Epstein for convicted sex offender Larry Nassar that claimed Trump shared a, quote, love of young, nubile girls. In fact, when the Justice Department posted about the Nassar letter being a forgery, they also said that, quote, just because a document is released by the Department of Justice does not make the allegations or claims within the document factual.

7:13All right, so just so we're clear, the federal government is saying that the Epstein files that they have released very little of are not to be trusted. Well, pretty much. This outcome of distrust across the board was in some ways inevitable, though. During the 2024 election, President Trump promised to release the Epstein files. It was part of a campaign message arguing the government was run by powerful people hiding the truth from Americans. At the start of 2026, many people agree and believe that President Trump is now one of the powerful few keeping the public in the dark. The White House disagrees, and I'll note conspiracies are not limited to Trump supporters.

7:52I've seen recent viral social media posts that use these unverified, salacious allegations and out-of-context court records to claim without evidence that Trump is accused of criminal wrongdoing and that the government is altering records to cover it all up. All right, so what are you watching for in the coming weeks related to this? Three things. One, what is Congress going to do about the Department of Justice failing to meet the deadline and over-redacting documents, especially since the law doesn't include punishment or enforcement mechanisms? Two, what actually comes from these million-plus documents that do eventually get published?

8:25And three, what will the political fallout continue to be, especially as President Trump continues to call this a hoax, attacking Democrats and Republicans who disagree with him? That's NPR's Stephen Fowler in Atlanta. Stephen, thanks. Thank you.

8:48Switzerland declared five days of mourning for the victims of a New Year's Eve fire that tore through a bar at a luxury ski resort in the Swiss Alps. Authorities say at least 40 people have died and more than 100 people are injured, many of them seriously. NPR's Ruth Sherlock is a Rome correspondent and she's with us now to tell us more about this. Good morning, Ruth. Good morning. So what can you tell us about the latest information? An investigation is underway in the resort town of Gransmontana in the Swiss Alps. Officials do say this was not a deliberate attack. Overnight, mourners gathered in the freezing temperatures, holding vigils and laying candles and flowers outside the bar.

9:24And this bar, La Constellation, was a favoured hangout for young people, including sometimes teenagers as young as 15. This fire happens during a crowded New Year's Eve celebration. At about 1.30am, smoke was reported coming out onto the street. Police say emergency services got there in minutes, but it was already too late. The regional intensive care ward is full and some of those with the most severe burns have been flown to Italy for specialist treatment. Switzerland's president, Guy Parmelan, has called the incident one of the worst tragedies that Switzerland has experienced. And flags will be lowered for five days.

10:02We've been hearing from people who were in or near the bar that night. What are they saying? Well, I mean, just awful eyewitness accounts. This was a basement nightclub, and 16-year-old Axel Clavier described trying to get out from there to the BBC.

10:21He says, we thought we were going to suffocate because of the smoke. We didn't know where to exit. There was a huge crowd, and I was alone. I told myself I wasn't going to make it. He eventually did manage to get up the one narrow staircase and smash a window to escape. Witnesses outside the bar described seeing people coming out, some of them with their clothes on fire. And this is high season for skiing. You know, there's about three million visitors to this town each year, according to official statistics. It's believed that there are people from several countries among the dead. Italy says six citizens are missing after the fire and 13 are wounded.

10:56So you were telling us earlier that the officials don't believe that this was deliberately said. So what do we know about the cause of the fire? Well, officials have not yet confirmed a cause for the fire. Two women who escaped the club told French media that they saw a barman carrying a barmaid on his shoulders and that she was holding a champagne bottle with lit sparklers and that that had set fire to the wooden ceiling. Videos shared on social media appear to show flames spreading above the bar. And there's a YouTube video from 2024 posted by a channel with the bar's name that shows women wearing motorcycle helmets, carrying bottles of alcohol topped with sparklers as they walk through the establishment.

11:34Another question is whether the bar was full beyond its capacity of 300 people that night. So there's clearly lots here to look at in this investigation. For now, though, officials say their priority is to identify the bodies of the victims, and they say that that itself could still take many weeks. That is. NPR's Ruth Sherlock. Ruth, thank you. Thank you so much.

12:00And that's up first for Friday, January 2nd. I'm Michelle Martin. And I'm Martinez. Fear of civil unrest or domestic political violence is driving a new group of people to gun ranges. What I'm talking about is protecting myself from a situation where there may be some kind of chaotic civil unrest and the streets become something we don't recognize. Some of the political left feel targeted by the administration. policies and decided to arm themselves to protect their families and communities. This weekend on The Sunday Story, NPR's Frank Langford joins us to explain what's driving more liberals to exercise their right to bear arms.

12:40Listen to The Sunday Story right here on NPR's Up First podcast. Today's episode of Up First was edited by Louise Clemens, Dana Farrington, Miguel Macias, Mohamed Elbardisi, and Alice Wolfley. It was produced by Ziyad Butch, Nia Dumas, and Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Nisha Hines, and our technical director is Carly Strange. Our executive producer is Jay Shaler. We hope you'll join us again on Monday.