An inside look at the men Trump sent to a notorious Salvadoran prison

Here & Now Anytime

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4.1 • 953 Ratings

🗓️ 23 July 2025

⏱️ 24 minutes

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Summary

A new investigation from ProPublica sheds light on some of the Venezuelan men President Trump sent to an infamous prison in El Salvador. Melissa Sanchez, a member of the team that reported on the prison, explains why the men are now being set free. And, the Associated Press' Eric Tucker shares the latest on the ongoing controversy surrounding Jeffrey Epstein. House Speaker Mike Johnson this week abruptly sent lawmakers home as they pressed for a vote on a measure that would compel the Trump administration to release details about the investigation into Epstein. Then, NASA's Parker Solar Probe passed into the outer atmosphere of the sun and took incredible images of the sun's corona. Nour Rawafi, astrophysicist and Parker Solar Probe project scientist, explains what scientists can learn from the probe.

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0:00.0	Support for here and now anytime comes from MathWorks, creator of MATLAB and Simulink software for
0:06.2	technical computing and model-based design. MathWorks accelerating the pace of discovery in engineering and
0:13.0	science. Learn more at MathWorks.com. WBUR Podcasts, Boston.
0:30.7	A lot of the families that we've talked to are so frustrated because they feel that their sons or their husbands were used as political pawns in this whole thing.
0:35.6	And it's clear to them, now that their loved ones are home with them, but they're not criminals.
0:42.2	Remember the 230 or so Venezuelan men, the U.S. sent to prison in El Salvador,
0:47.8	and accused of being gang members, while most of them have now been released and deported.
0:50.5	And we're learning more about their ordeal.
1:06.2	It's Wednesday, July 23rd, and this is here and now anytime from NPR and WBOR.
1:07.2	I'm Chris Bentley.
1:14.6	Today on the show, the Jeffrey Epstein scandal is bringing down the House.
1:20.1	Speaker Mike Johnson sent Congress on vacation early to head off a vote that might have forced the release of more documents related to a sex trafficking ring allegedly run by a one-time
1:25.8	friend of President Trump.
1:30.3	Also, scientists recently flew a probe closer to the sun than they've ever been able to before. And that required
1:35.6	some serious heat shielding. When probe is closest to the sun, the side facing the star will be
1:42.2	glowing at about 2,000 degrees.
1:47.7	About one yard behind, we are almost at room temperature.
1:49.3	What SPF is that?
1:56.8	The findings of the Parker Solar Prove coming up in about 15 minutes. But first.
2:04.3	In the four months since it sent more than 230 Venezuelan men to a prison in El Salvador,
2:11.4	the Trump administration has released almost no details about their cases or their living
2:15.9	conditions.
	...

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