NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas - Saturday, March 28, 2026

Episode Date: March 29, 2026

Thousands of ‘No Kings’ protests against the Trump agenda; Airport chaos lingers as Congress fails to fund TSA; Pentagon reports new American casualties from Iran war; and more on tonight’s broadcast.   Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This is NBC Nightly News with Jose Diaz Ballard. Good evening. We begin tonight with a protest movement and rallies in cities and towns across the country. Organizers say millions of people are expected at the demonstrations against President Trump's agenda. Issues including immigration, the economy, and the war with Iran bringing out protesters in cities like New York, Boston, Washington, D.C. and San Francisco. The main rally is this one in Minnesota. The state where two American citizens were killed by federal officers earlier this year. Stephen Romo is covering it all for us tonight. This is what democracy looks like.

Tonight, organizers estimate millions are hitting the streets from coast to coast and beyond protesting the Trump administration and its policies. We are all fighting. We are fighting for America. Thousands of marches planned in all 50 states. It's round three of major demonstrations in the No Kings movement. Organizers predicted it to be the single largest nonviolent day of action in American history. And choosing St. Paul for the flagship event. Justice for bragging.

Justice for good. Joe McCoy from our Minneapolis NBC affiliate is there. People arrived at the Minnesota State Capitol starting at 8 a.m. today. Concerns over immigration enforcement are top of protesters' minds following the killings of Renee Good and Alex Preddy earlier this year. And in New York. People filling the streets here in Midtown Manhattan, many of them have been to the previous No Kings rallies, but they say the enforcement action on immigration and the war in Iran have brought them out to the streets again. What brought you personally out here to No Kings today? What brought me out here is that war?

that war and how things are being done in this country now. Dana Griffin is in Los Angeles. LA crowds are known for pushing the limit. So steel gates have been installed at nearby freeway on ramps to prevent protesters from disrupting traffic. People also rallying around the world in Rome, Madrid, Paris, and Athens. At another march in London, one protester telling our Danielle Hamamgen

this about the United States. What are your views on America at this moment in time? A sad, sad story. People on a California beach spelling out this message with their bodies. And hundreds gathering in reliably read Brunswick County, North Carolina. Demonstrations peaceful nationwide. The White House dismissing it all, saying in a statement, the only people who care about these Trump derangement therapy sessions are reporters who are paid to cover them. Steve Romo joins us now from New York.

Stephen, what are organizers saying about how widespread these events are? Yeah, Jose, it's interesting. The organizers say more than half of the official protests events happened in battleground states or Republican-leaning areas, something they say they're encouraged by. Jose? Stephen Romo in New York, thank you. There seems to be no relief in sight

and the airport chaos across the country, as the number of TSA officers calling out has reached the highest level yet. Julie Sarkin has the latest. There is no relief tonight at airports around the country. The line was crazy. Friday night, House Republicans pushing back against their Senate counterparts deal on how to fund the Department of Homeland Security over a lack of funding for ICE. This gambit that was done last night is a joke.

Members of both parties in Congress then left town on recess, without a solution, guaranteeing at least two more weeks of a partial government shutdown. And Americans are feeling the results. Online, they tell you to come here a little bit, like four or three hours earlier since the lines are really long. From Miami to Houston to New York and Baltimore, lines for airport security spilling out the doors and wrapping around in loops. Some relief now on the way. President Trump signed a memo Friday to temporarily pay TSA workers as expeditiously as possible,

according to a senior administration official. The White House not yet answering questions about how long the emergency funds will last, or if the memo applies to all TSA workers. Rebecca Wolf is a TSA officer and local union chapter president. We have not heard anything. We were just told that we would be receiving our back pay and that everybody needed to be at work on their next scheduled workday. 43 days without a full paycheck has already taken.

in a toll. More than 500 TSA officers have quit. And on Friday, more than 3,500 called out of work. Over 12%, the highest rate since the shutdown began. Julie, Circuit, is traveling with the president and joins me from West Palm Beach tonight. Julie, we also

have word that a key ally to President Trump has gone from his post of the Department of Homeland Security. That's right, Jose, a department spokesperson telling NBC news that Corey Lewandowski no longer has a role at DHS. It comes just three weeks after President Trump fired Lewandowski's former boss, Christy Knoe.

Jose? Julie Circuit in West Palm Beach, thank you. And Kristen Welker will have more this Sunday on Meet the Press right here on NBC. Tonight, more American troops have arrived in the Middle East, even as we're getting reports of new American casualties from an attack by Iran. Matt Bradley reports from Tel Aviv. Tonight, more American troops are in the Middle East as the one. War expands.

Cedcom announcing the arrival of 3,500 sailors and Marines aboard the USS Tripoli. And more reports of U.S. casualties. Several American servicemen were injured, according to the Pentagon, after an Iranian missile and drones slammed into this American air base in Saudi Arabia Friday, shown here before the attack. In Iran, civilians are finding themselves an American and Israeli crosshairs. Iranian health officials say around 2,000 people have been killed. But Iran can still launch attacks throughout the Middle East.

Like this strike today on oil tanks at Kuwait's airport. And several have recently evaded Israel's air defenses. The damage here outside Tel Aviv is relatively minor, but it just goes to show that after a month of Israel pounding Iran, the Iranians are still able to punch back. With Iran's other fist, it strikes Israel with Hezbollah, its proxy in southern Lebanon, where Israel is expanding its weak-long ground offensive

against the group. Today, a Hezbollah-affiliated news channel said Israeli strikes killed three of its journalists in southern Lebanon. Israel's military accused one of them without evidence of working for Hezbollah intelligence. And now another fresh front. The Houthis in Yemen, which are backed by Iran, fired a missile at Israel for the first time this year. Israel says it shot the missile down without any damage or injuries. But the Houthi's attempt throws Yemen into a widening regional war. Iran has fired at all the Arab Gulf monarchies, aimed attacks toward Jordan, Iraq and Turkey, and with more U.S. troops on the way, this war looks set to widen even further. The Houthis have vowed to continue their attacks against Israel.

That's raising some concerns that the Houthis might once again block shipping in the Red Sea, snarling international trade, even more. Jose? Matt Broadly in Tel Aviv, thank you. And now to our NBC News exclusive and more on that. Iranian strike on the U.S. base and injured American service members. Ukraine's president, Zelensky, says Russia recently took satellite images of that base and that he has no doubt they're sharing that war intelligence with Iran.

Here's Raf Sanchez. Tonight, in an interview in Qatar, President Zelensky revealing Russia's intelligence support for Iran as it strikes U.S. forces in the Middle East. Do they help Iranians? Of course. How many percent? 100%. Wipping out his phone to read from his daily intelligence briefing, which says Russia took satellite images of this U.S. airbase in Saudi Arabia three times in the days before

Iran attacked the facility, wounding U.S. troops. I think that in Russian interest to help Iranians, and I not believe, I know that they share information. The war is consuming huge numbers of U.S. U.S. made missile interceptors. How worried are you about American weapons that are supposed to go to Ukraine and instead coming here to the Middle East? I'm worried. I hope that the United States will not make such mistake.

Zelensky has been visiting Arab states under attack, offering his country's hard-won expertise in drone warfare. The U.S. has lifted some sanctions on Russian oil. Yeah. The Kremlin is benefiting from higher oil prices. Is Vladimir Putin the big winner from this war? He has benefits, a lot of benefits of this war. Prussia needs long war in Middle East,

because the focus will be on Middle East. You think it's in Vladimir Putin's interest for this war, at least to drag on? 100%. Let me just ask you very directly. Do you think President Trump cares about the future of your country? Hope so. But you don't know for sure. The policy of the United States today, they care about the United States more.

It's understandable, by the way. We understand it. Raf Sanchez, NBC News, Doha, Qatar. From rising gas prices to the following stock market, the U.S. is facing serious new economic risks as the war rages on. Here's Brian Chunk. From rising gas prices. To falling markets, to soaring mortgage rates, the warning signs are growing. We are facing a real shock that is probably beyond what we can imagine at the moment.

That's Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank, arguing the disruption from the war with Iran could last years. Brookings Energy experts Samantha Gross agrees. I feel like markets are so far underestimating the effect of the war. It seems that they expect this war to go quickly. and they expect that we can go back to the world before when it's over. And I don't think either of those ideas is true. And there's a growing sense among Wall Street traders that the Fed will have to raise interest rates to fend off inflation.

That worry driving mortgage rates to their highest levels in almost eight months. What are people not understanding about this war's impact on the economy? The thing that people don't understand is that this will impact the price of everything. everything we buy that is made with or transported with oil. And the longer this goes on, the more expensive it's going to be. One key international economic group now predicting inflation in the U.S. will nearly double this year. It would slow the economy. Consumers will eventually stop spending or stop spending so much

which could lead to stagflation, which is slower growth, rising prices, and higher unemployment. And that could eventually lead to a recession. Both Wall Street and Main Street, bracing for more pain from the war, half a world away. Brian Chung, NBC News. Major League Baseball is in full swing this weekend, and this summer women will be back on the field playing professional baseball for the first time in decades. Stephanie Gosk has a closer. The crack of the bat. The ball snapping into the glove.

The sounds of Florida spring training. With a big difference. These players are women getting ready to compete in the first professional women's baseball league in more than 70 years. Today they're wearing the uniforms for the first time. They're joining their teams for the first time. Most of these players grew up just playing with the boys. So this, right now, this is the real field of dreams. Four teams, L.A., San Francisco, Boston, and New York will play for about seven weeks starting August 1st.

It was an answer prayer. Pitcher Kelsey Whitmore went number one in the draft. I love it because God put it on my heart. It sets my heart on fire. For Monet Davis, softball was never an option. I was the only girl that played baseball. She was also the only girl to pitch a no-hitter in the Little League championship back in 2014. But there was no path to play professionally until now.

What are you most looking forward to in August? That first game, first pitch, I just can't wait for that. The new league comes as women's sports are soaring in popularity. Viewership has nearly tripled since 2020, driven by the success of the WNBA. League Commissioner Justine Siegel wants to capture this moment in women's sports. Now all girls know that they can dream with being a professional baseball player. Just like their brothers, they now have a league of their own. But don't expect this league to look like the one from the 40s and 50s, or that movie from the 90s.

There's no crying. In this league, there will be no skirts. People can expect passion. People can expect emotion. Oh, so much emotion. I mean. Crying? You know, I'm dead.

definitely cried in baseball because of how much I love it. It turns out crying in baseball is just fine, and women can really play the game. Now we all have a chance to watch them. Stephanie Gosk, NBC News, Fort Myers, Florida. WBL! We want to get investor in-court. When we come back, there's good news tonight about hard work paying off, and these moments, these future doctors have been waiting for.

There's good news today. You know, so often the good news doesn't get as much. much attention is the bad. So every Saturday we highlight the many people who spread joy and love. And this week, we've got a closer look at some life-changing moments for med school students across the country. Now this is what hard work paying off looks like. ObgyYN at Orlando Health. We're going. The UNCI matched into family medicine. OBGYN at Monte Fior. Go to New York City. This is matched it. medical school students find out if and where they're matched into a residency program

before they officially start their careers as doctors. It's the moment they've all been waiting for with big celebrations for big dreams coming true. Three, two, one. For Tiffany Wong, match day was a family affair. She was moved to tears after learning she matched into her top choice program for pediatrics. It's such a validating feeling that the program, you felt was best for you also felt the same way and that you were one of the best candidates for them. So I'm truly honored.

Laura Garcia wanted everyone there for her big moment, even on FaceTime. That's because she's the first in her family set to become a doctor after she matched at a hospital in California for emergency medicine. It brings me so much like joy and pride to represent not just like my family, but our community, like to represent like the hard work that my parents. have both done. Ajoa Baffabani knew she had to share this moment with her mom. I was overjoyed, just happy to see everything she's worked for, every sacrifice, every prayer, all through this process, come to a circle in that moment.

Adjewa thanking her biggest cheerleader after she matched with Columbia. She's just been with me through everything. She's just so supportive of me, so can't thank her enough. And Match Day had this young man jumping for joy. That's Brandon Brissuela, finding out he matched at his top choice for pediatrics at the University of California, San Diego. Celebrating years of effort surrounded by his family who left their home and worked so hard to give him this opportunity in the land of opportunity. We've often heard of the term, you know, the American dream. in so many ways, you and your family are living the American dream.

Yeah, I would say so. I remember my dad studying organic chemistry with me at San Diego State, quizzing me on the flashcards, and, you know, his name is my middle name, so his name is right on that diploma, too. And now, Brandon wants to help heal people as a doctor and inspire others along the way. It's never too bad to dream big. Be vulnerable, be willing to share these wild dreams, because you never know who knows somebody and is able to open a door for you. That's NBC Night News for this Saturday. I'm Jose Diaz-Walk.

Thank you for the privilege of your time. Good night.