Trump backs Witkoff after leaked call with Russian aide. And, Thanksgiving air travel

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Newly released transcripts by Bloomberg show U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff coached a Russian adviser on how to pitch a Ukraine peace deal to President Trump. The transcripts were released just as Trump's peace plan appears to be making headway. During the phone call, Witkoff allegedly advises Yuri Ushakov, Russian President Vladimir Putin's foreign policy adviser, on how to manage Trump. The news outlet says the recording is from a call in mid-October, right after Trump sanctioned Russia's two biggest oil companies. NPR has not independently verified the contents of the transcript.

🎧 NPR's Eleanor Beardsley tells Up First she spoke with Ukrainian parliament member and chair of the foreign affairs committee Oleksandr Merezhko, who says he is not surprised by this development. Merezhko called for Witkoff's replacement six months ago, citing incompetence and lack of understanding regarding Ukraine and the origins of the war. Merezhko says that Ukrainians know they are dealing with people in Trump's entourage who take Russia's side, but they have to deal with them regardless of who they are.🎧 Trump remains focused on ending the war in Ukraine and is sending top aides to both Moscow and Kyiv to work through differences in his latest peace plan. NPR's Franco Ordoñez reports that Ukraine and Russia are not necessarily closer to reaching a deal, even though the two countries are exchanging ideas on how to end the war with the U.S. Trump seems to show genuine interest in the loss of life, especially children, but Ordoñez believes that the president's quest for a Nobel Peace Prize could be a partial motivation for ending the war.

Federal regulators say the U.S. aviation system is back to normal after the government shutdown, just in time for the millions of Americans who are expected to fly for the Thanksgiving holiday. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy revealed a new civility campaign this week called "The Golden Age of Travel Starts with You," urging travelers to respect airport and airline staff.

🎧 Critics of the administration say the campaign places a lot of pressure on passengers while allowing airlines to evade responsibilities for making flying less civil. NPR's Joel Rose says people heading to the airport should expect big crowds. The Federal Aviation Administration says this could be the busiest Thanksgiving in 15 years.

Louisiana's surgeon general, Dr. Ralph Abraham, who has called COVID vaccines "dangerous," will become the principal deputy director at the CDC, making him the second-highest-ranking official. The position has been vacant since Dr. Nirav Shah, who served under the Biden administration, stepped down in February. Abraham has been a vocal supporter of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and has even previously supported investigating the debunked link between vaccines and autism. The link between the two is a topic the CDC recently revived. Here's what else we know about him.

Deep dive

Drugmakers have created pill versions of GLP-1 medicines designed to treat obesity, offering a potential alternative to injectable drugs. While the Food and Drug Administration has not yet approved these medications, the agency is expected to approve the first pill by the end of the year. Here's what you should know about the new medication:

💊 The FDA is expected to approve Novo Nordisk's obesity pill first out of the oral options. It contains semaglutide, the same ingredient found in Wegovy and Ozempic.💊 The pills should cost less than injectables, which have list prices of over $1,000 a month. According to Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly's deals with the Trump administration, if their oral obesity medicines are approved, they will sell them directly to consumers for $149 a month.💊 A 25 mg semaglutide pill resulted in an average weight loss of 16.6% over 64 weeks, according to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine. That's about the same as Wegovy.

Picture show

The powerful Campi Flegrei volcano, located near Naples, Italy, is stirring once again, causing ground tremors that scientists say have not been felt for centuries. Researchers are concerned that the volcano could erupt soon. Campi Flegrei's prehistoric eruptions were so significant that they blocked out the sun, transforming summer into winter and coating Europe and Russia in a thick layer of volcanic ash. For everyone to survive a modern-day eruption, more than half a million people would need to be evacuated from an area surrounding Campi Flegrei's eight-mile-wide crater, which Italian authorities have designated the "red zone." See photos of the densely populated area and listen to a resident describe what it is like to live there.

3 things to know before you go

It's estimated that Gramma the Galápagos tortoise was born in 1884, a year when the U.S. had only 39 states. The "sweet and shy tortoise," who lived for a century at the San Diego Zoo, died Thursday at 141.Thanksgiving is peak season for Jiffy corn muffins, which are one of the top-selling dry goods in the U.S. grocery market, according to the company. The iconic, low-cost pastry staple has been around for 75 years. Here's how Jiffy manages to remain a staple for Americans.NPR's Word of the Week is examining the history of turkey, just in time for the holidays. The bird has a history filled with uncertainty, according to historians and etymologists.

This newsletter was edited by Suzanne Nuyen.