00:01President Trump flips the script, now telling Republicans vote to release the Epstein files.
00:06What's behind the move?
00:07Plus, the U.S. military buildup near Venezuela grows.
00:11And now we're hearing something new.
00:13Maduro may want to talk.
00:15And just in time for holiday travel, the FAA clears the skies.
00:20Flights are back to full speed at 40 major airports.
00:24The stories that matter, clear and credible.
00:28From across the country to around the world, these are your unbiased updates from Straight Arrow News.
00:36Good morning, I'm Craig Gagrelli.
00:38A late-night reversal from President Trump has upended one of the most volatile fights on Capitol Hill,
00:44the push to force the release of all remaining Jeffrey Epstein files.
00:48After days of pressuring Republicans not to move forward, the president is now urging them to vote yes.
00:54On Truth Social, Trump said House Republicans should vote to release the files because, quote,
00:59we have nothing to hide.
01:01He also called the Epstein fight a, quote, Democrat hoax, and said it's time for the GOP to move on.
01:07The turnabout comes after a week of mounting pressure and a very public feud with one of his most loyal allies,
01:15Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, referring to her as a, quote,
01:19traitor and disgrace to our great Republican Party on Saturday.
01:23Then again last night, as a traitor that no one cares about.
01:27Words that clearly stung.
01:28The most hurtful thing he said, which is absolutely untrue, is he called me a traitor.
01:34And that is, that is so extremely wrong.
01:38And those are the types of words used that can radicalize people against me and put my life in danger.
01:46Greene told CNN she's now done with toxic rhetoric.
01:50I would like to say humbly, I'm sorry for taking part in the toxic politics.
01:58It's, it's very bad for our country.
02:01Um, and I've, it's been something I've thought about a lot, especially since Charlie Kirk was assassinated,
02:07is that we, I'm only responsible for myself and my own words and actions.
02:13And I am going, I am committed, and I've been working on this a lot lately,
02:18to put down the knives in politics.
02:21I really just want to see people be kind to one another.
02:25The falling out follows days of vitriol from Trump and a growing block of conservatives,
02:30Greene among them, pushing to release the files, despite his earlier opposition.
02:35But the momentum was already shifting.
02:38A bipartisan discharge petition hit 218 signatures, forcing a vote this week,
02:43something the White House had tried to avoid.
02:46On ABC, Republican Thomas Massey, co-author of the bill, said GOP support is surging.
02:52I think we could have a deluge of Republicans.
02:54There could be a hundred or more.
02:56I'm hoping to get a veto-proof majority on this legislation when it comes up for a vote.
03:01And, you know, the president's been saying this is a hoax.
03:04He's been saying that for months.
03:06But in 2030, he's not going to be the president, and you will have voted to protect pedophiles
03:11if you don't vote to release these files, and the president can't protect you then.
03:16This, this vote, the record of this vote, will last longer than Donald Trump's presidency.
03:21But Speaker Mike Johnson, one of Trump's strongest offenders, says the president is not worried about the issue.
03:27He had nothing to do with it.
03:28President Trump has clean hands.
03:30He's not worried about it.
03:31I talk to him all the time.
03:32He has nothing to do with this.
03:33He's frustrated that they're turning it into a political issue, and it's not surprising,
03:37because the Democrats have nothing else to talk about.
03:39What have they accomplished in 10 months?
03:41Epstein is their entire game plan.
03:42The vote could come as early as tomorrow.
03:46The U.S. is now making its biggest show of force in the Caribbean in a generation.
03:51And late last night, the pressure on Venezuela's regime escalated again.
03:55The Navy says the USS Gerald Ford, the most advanced aircraft carrier in the fleet,
04:00crossed into the Caribbean Sea on Sunday.
04:03The Trump administration calls it a counter-drug mission.
04:06But experts say it's a direct warning to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
04:10And just hours later, the U.S. turned up the heat even more.
04:14Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the U.S. will designate Cartel de los Soles
04:19as a foreign terrorist organization.
04:22He says the cartel, allegedly led by Maduro and top figures in his regime,
04:27is responsible for terrorist violence across the hemisphere
04:30and massive drug trafficking in the United States.
04:34The designation takes effect November 24th.
04:36Last night, President Trump added a new twist,
04:39saying the U.S. may be having talks with Maduro,
04:42claiming the Venezuelan leader appears to want to engage.
04:46We may be discussing, we may be having some discussions with Maduro,
04:53and we'll see how that turns out.
04:55They would like, they would like to talk.
04:57The U.S. has already carried out strikes on at least 22 vessels in the region
05:01over the last two months.
05:03The latest strike happened this weekend,
05:05a drone hitting a boat in the eastern Pacific, killing three men on board.
05:09So far, the administration has not released any evidence that those killed were narco-terrorists,
05:14and some key allies, including the U.K. and Colombia,
05:18have stopped sharing intelligence over legal concerns about the U.S. operations.
05:22The USS Gerald Ford, along with fighter jets and guided missile destroyers,
05:27are now part of what Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is calling Operation Southern Spear.
05:32Commanders say it's designed to protect the U.S. from narco-terrorism.
05:36Southern Command says the Ford Strike Group, 4,000 sailors,
05:40dozens of fighter jets and three warships,
05:42is now joining a growing U.S. naval force already positioned off Venezuela.
05:47After weeks of crippled air travel and the worst disruptions the country has ever seen,
05:53the FAA says the sky is finally open.
05:55The FAA announced late Sunday it's lifting all restrictions on commercial flights.
06:00The emergency limits put in place at 40 major airports during the record-long 43-day government shutdown.
06:07Airlines went back to full schedule starting this morning at 6 a.m. Eastern.
06:12The FAA and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said air traffic controller staffing has steadily improved,
06:18enough that their safety team now recommends ending the order.
06:21The cuts led to thousands of cancellations, including 2,900 in a single day.
06:27Conditions only eased as more controllers returned to work and Congress moved to end the shutdown.
06:32Air traffic controllers were among the federal workers who worked without pay throughout the impasse.
06:38Airlines say they expect operations to steady quickly, just in time for Thanksgiving travel.
06:44The Reverend Jesse Jackson, one of America's most influential civil rights leaders,
06:49remains hospitalized this morning in Chicago and is now on a form of life support to stabilize his blood pressure.
06:56A family source tells CNN the 84-year-old founder of the Rainbow Push Coalition
07:00has been on medication to regulate his blood pressure after a significant drop over the weekend
07:06and that his medical team is trying to wean him off.
07:10CBS News reports Jackson has shown brief moments of awareness, but his condition is said to be weakening.
07:15Family and friends are now flying in from across the country to be by his side.
07:20Jackson has been under observation for progressive supranuclear palsy,
07:25a rare degenerative neurological disorder similar to Parkinson's disease.
07:30The Trump administration's latest immigration crackdown has jumped from Chicago to Charlotte,
07:35and it's already setting off a firestorm.
07:38A weekend sweep led to more than 80 arrests and loud pushback from local leaders
07:42who say they don't want federal agents surging in their city.
07:46Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino, who helped lead the Midway Blitz in Chicago,
07:50posted video of suspected undocumented immigrants now in custody in Charlotte.
07:55He's calling the operation Charlotte's Web, writing that the breeze hits Charlotte like a storm
08:00and that agents go where the mission calls.
08:03But community groups say what's happening on the ground is far more intense.
08:07The executive director of Charlotte East told the AP the federal presence has been, quote,
08:13overwhelming and difficult to quantify, with reports of agents at churches, apartment complexes, and local shops.
08:20Democratic Congresswoman Alma Adams says she is extremely concerned about Border Patrol and ICE operations in her district,
08:27writing on X that she will not stand by and watch her constituents be intimidated and harassed.
08:32Finally today, move over morning commute.
08:36Nuremberg just had a sheep show.
08:38Take a look.
08:39Hundreds of bleeding, fluffy traffic jams over downtown Nuremberg.
08:45That's in Germany on Sunday.
08:46This is pretty fascinating, actually.
08:47About 600 sheep clippity-clopping their way through the city on their annual move to winter quarters.
08:54Kind of like, well, bears going into hibernation, I suppose.
08:57People stopped, posed, took selfies.
08:59The sheep didn't seem to mind the paparazzi.
09:01They were, like, in formation there, right?
09:03They spent their summers mowing the city's meadows the old-fashioned way, one bite at a time.
09:09Eco-friendly and very good for biodiversity.
09:12Plus, they saved the city a ton of money on lawn care.
09:16Who knew?
09:17A busy day on the national radar.
09:18Here's what we're tracking.
09:19This morning, the U.S. Supreme Court is set to drop new orders in several major appeals.
09:23Out west, Lil Nas X heads back to court after pleading not guilty to four felony charges tied to an alleged confrontation with police back in August.
09:33Later today, demonstrators hit the White House gates for another round of protests over U.S. policy.
09:39And tonight, the stars step out in New York for the Wicked for Good premiere, the final big launch before the film hits theaters nationwide.
09:47News without the junk calories.
09:49All the facts.
09:50Zero fluff.
09:50Sign up for the Unbiased Updates newsletter, san.com slash newsletters.
09:55Those are the Unbiased Updates for this Monday.
09:58We'll see you back here tomorrow.
09:59For all of us here at Straight Arrow News, I'm Craig DiGrelli.
10:02Have a great day.
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