NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas - ‘Here’s the Scoop’ – an all-new podcast from NBC News, hosted today by Morgan Chesky

Episode Date: June 24, 2025

Listen to today’s episode of Here’s the Scoop, the new daily news podcast from NBC News. Click below to follow the podcast on your favorite platform and add it to your evening routine:Apple PodcastsSpotifyAmazon Music

Hey everyone, I'm Morgan Chesky. You're listening to an episode of Here's the Scoop, the new daily podcast from NBC News to help you get caught up on all the day's biggest stories. Enjoy the episode. Hey friends, Morgan Chesky here, and welcome to Here's the Scoop from NBC News. Today on the pod, the prosecution rests in Diddy's trial, it's election day in New York City, and the 2000s tech that's making a comeback one click at a time. But first, to Israel and Iran. President Donald Trump sang both sides

violated a ceasefire and not holding back when he spoke on the White House lawn this morning. And if there's any parents listening with kids, you might want to tell them earmuffs. We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don't know what the fuck they're doing. Here to respond to that statement from President Trump, I want to introduce Chief International Correspondent Keir Simmons. Keir, you're in Iraq.

Safe to call this the F-bomb heard around the world? Yeah. It certainly got people's attention. And I think it was designed to do that. It was a way, I think, of President Trump trying to get one person to listen, specifically that Prime Minister Netanyahu. We haven't seen maybe any president in US history call out and criticize an Israeli prime minister the way in which President Trump did earlier today. Do you see this forming a rift or is this more performative?

I think it's both. I think President Trump knew very well what he was doing when he used that expletive. He knew that that would have an impact. I think though the anger was real. I know from his friends, and he says it publicly, that he really does want to be the president of peace. Whether you think he's doing the right thing to get to that stage, Prime Minister Netanyahu was threatening that. I think that really got to him. They have a hot and cold relationship anyway. them. They have a hot and cold relationship anyway. And I think it's interesting, isn't it? Because many, many of the Arab countries where I am now have been looking for an American

president to kind of put their foot down with the Israelis. And they didn't get it from President Biden. And now it looks like they got it from President Trump. So Kier, you're based in Dubai, but you traveled to Iraq essentially as soon as the missiles started flying. What impact is this that you've seen so far that I have to imagine was pretty tough to get to? Yeah, it was. And that's part of the story.

It's been destabilizing in a region that wants stability, particularly countries in the Gulf, for example, because they want to get their economies to be doing better. The journey here is incredibly difficult right now. I flew into Istanbul, took another flight across Turkey to the Syrian border, drove along the Syrian border for five hours, changed vehicles, crossed the border into Iraq, but that took hours to get the visa and then a few more hours to a bill. Imagine you live in a place where you can't fly in and out. That's not going to lend itself to a thriving economy. And so that's just an example of where this is something that many of the countries in

this region will be hoping to put in the rearview mirror. I know you've been digging into the biggest question perhaps of all right now, and that is where is the missing 880 pounds of enriched uranium that was believed to be at that Fordo site in the mountains where the US dropped those massive bombs? Satellite imagery showed a line of trucks there in the days prior. Iran says they were able to move it out. US intelligence says perhaps not all of it.

And UN inspectors haven't gotten a peek themselves. So it's a great question. It is, I think, one of the crucial questions to state the obvious. The uranium that Iran has enriched the most, highly enriched, they call it 60% and anyone will tell you that that's a slightly confusing number. You have to get it over 90% for it to be weapons-grade uranium, but actually it's a lot quicker to get from 60 to 90 than it is to get to 60. So that's important stuff and where is it is one of the major

questions. I was told that the Israelis thought they knew where it was. As we speak right now, it's possible that the intelligence agencies, the Israelis, the US are close to establishing where it is or where it was and whether it has been destroyed. And Kier, just to add to this saga, how worried should the world be? How worried should the US be about Iran turning to Russia in a time like this? I think the Russians are gonna turn out to be a pretty fickle friend for the Iranians.

They did agree a partnership some months ago. That partnership though does not compel either of them to go to each other's aid. And I think also the Russians would very much like to improve what has been a deteriorating relationship with Israel for lots of reasons. So I'm not sure that, and this is cynical stuff from President Putin, I'm not sure that despite the Iranians providing drone capability to the Russians for their fight in Ukraine, that necessarily President Putin is going to be rushing in.

And I will say this too, I wouldn't underestimate how much the Russians don't want the Iranians to have nuclear weapons either. They don't want to see nuclear weapons in Central Asia or in the Middle East, I think as much as anybody. Here, I have a few colleagues that I'm convinced rarely, if ever, sleep. You are certainly one of those people. Can't thank you enough for making time. Oh, bless you.

All right, time now for a quick break. But when we're back, we're talking about who could be the next mayor of New York City. Stick around. Hey guys, Morgan here and we are back with Here's the Scoop. Voters in New York City are heading to the polls today because it is primary day for the mayoral election. And while there's only one candidate on the Republican side, the Democratic field is incredibly crowded with 11 hopefuls in the running.

But it's largely come down to a race between former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, you'll remember him, and New York State Representative Zoran Mbamdani, a political unknown, no longer. I'm at 30 Rock this week, so I just had to call up our national political correspondent, Steve Kornacki, who's taking a break from the big board to hang out with us here in the Pot Studio. Steve, so good to have you. It's an election day. Always happy to be here and get to talk about it. It is an election day, and I do have to give you a bit of a confession here. I am a native Texan that currently resides in Los Angeles, West Coast sky, but right now, of course, visiting 30 Rock for the launch of Here's the Scoop. So the city's definitely been abuzz with the news of this primary. This isn't even a general election.

So the big question, why should anyone outside New York care? Totally fair question. And I mean, we do have a tendency to over inflate the importance of New York stuff in the national media. But I do think there's a couple reasons here. One is just personality. Look, Andrew Cuomo, former governor of New York, one of the biggest states in the country, all sorts of controversy, going back to COVID, the actions he took as governor, those in some ways had a ripple effect nationally, the circumstances where he left office, sexual harassment scandal. So can he stage a political comeback here? Also, New York City, it is the largest city in the country.

So in many ways, it can be a bit of a bellwether in certain ways, at least. But also I think the question here is about this contrast between Andrew Cuomo and then this insurgent very progressive force That's represented by Zoran Mondani The question here is can they get a win the progressive side here in New York City and if they do I think that could have a ripple Effect nationally as well Mom Donnie polling it around I think like 1% not too long ago now. He's looked at a potential contender. What happened?

Yeah, I mean part of this is look, part of this is the evolution of media. Well, what he's done, a lot of it is through social media. It's through videos on social media that have gotten a lot of attention. I do think there's an element of this where he's a very good public performer, social media performer. And Cuomo, meanwhile, you know, he's nearly 70 years old, who kind of came up in politics in a very different media age. And I think one of the interesting things about this is potentially the power of social media

and how this younger candidate is connecting with that. And Cuomo, I don't think has. Steve, you're a guy who can look at the entire country and break down an election state by state, county by county to the city. What through line from this race in New York City do you see potentially emerging elsewhere in elections? I think this is a story about the Democratic Party here.

And I think Cuomo represents, and if you look at the polling coming into today's primary, his appeal has been sort of to the traditional Democratic Party base, very strong with African Americans, with senior citizens, with blue collar voters, voters who don't have college degrees. When you look in the poll, and that's who Cuomo is doing the best with.

Mondani's campaign has been fueled by younger voters, by college educated voters, by self-described very liberal voters, very ideological voters. And that in many ways is sort of the emerging power of the Democratic Party, certainly in New York City. But we see this happening nationally as well. So there's a longer term question about the future of the Democratic Party. If that Mondani wing can get a win here,

I think that'd be a pretty dramatic statement about momentum for that side of the party. And some pretty serious questions for sort of that traditional side of the party that Cuomo represents. Hitting the table to make sure that emphasis is loud and clear. Steve Kornacki, always a pleasure to have you here. No creases in the khakis, but no judgment.

It's my casual look for the podcast. You nailed it, man. Appreciate you. You got it. Polls close at 9 p.m. tonight, but because of New York's ranked choice voting system, we probably won't know the results until sometime next week, but we'll be sure to update you as soon as we get those numbers in. And now, let's hit the headlines, starting with what's being called the largest child

rescue operation in US history. Over the past two weeks, the US Marshals have helped rescue 60 missing children across the Tampa Bay area in Florida. The operation, dubbed Dragon Eye, targeted at-risk youth between the ages of 9 and 17, many of whom had been missing for years. Authorities arrested eight suspects on charges that include human trafficking, and they tell us those kids are now receiving much-needed medical and psychological care. And the trial of Sean Diddy Combs looks like it's wrapping up.

After 29 days of testimony, the prosecution rested, and in a surprise move, Combs' defense team said it wouldn't call any witnesses of its own, instead telling the judge that they would submit additional evidence. That sets up the court to hear closing arguments this Thursday. Combs faces five criminal counts, including racketeering and sex trafficking charges, which he's repeatedly denied. And we're crossing our fingers that many of you have found a place to cool off with a heat wave now impacting around 160 million people from Texas all the way to Maine. Timps in NYC and our nation's capital now rivaling California's Death Valley and in New Jersey.

It got so hot, more than 100 people were treated during outdoor graduation ceremonies with dozens of record highs already set. Everyone's looking forward to a little relief that might not come till Thursday. And hey, speaking of what's hot. Guess who's back, back, back, back again. Okay, so what's up with Slim Shady? Well, we wanted to give a nod to a trend you've probably noticed.

Nostalgia is king, aka everything old is new again. Everything from low rise jeans to that early arts music is apparently back in fashion. And now, Gen Z setting its sights on the status symbol of its time. New Blackberry, huh? Yeah. Me too. How sick is the web browsing? Yep, the Blackberry making a comeback, believe it or not.

That iconic clickety-clack keyboard suddenly cooler than any sleek touch screen. Why? Well, Gen Zers say they're snagging up discontinued models because it's all about focus. No endless TikToks, no doom-scrolling spirals, just the pure joy of texting like it's 2006. Sure, some may chalk it up to nostalgia or desire to unplug, but let's be real here. A big part of its pull, something that's as timeless as ever, right? Looking cool in front of your friends.

Well, hey, that's gonna do it for us today at Here's the Scoop. I'm Morgan Chesky, kind of wondering where my CD collection actually ended up right now. Signing off from a toasty New York City. We'll see you next time. you