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- [00:05]
A
Good morning. As airports and embassies are hit, thousands of Americans scramble to get out of the Gulf.
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B
So we're honestly trapped. It's really frustrating that right now the US Is saying Americans come home, when in reality, we can't come home.
- [00:19]
C
The Associated Press explains how the relationship between Netanyahu and Trump is influencing the conflict.
- [00:24]
A
And NBC's data chief shares his takeaways after major primaries in Texas. It's Thursday, March 5th. Hi, I'm Cecilia Ley.
- [00:33]
C
And I'm Gideon Resnick. This is Apple News.
- [00:36]
D
Today,
- [00:39]
A
on the same day the US Struck an Iran tanker, the Senate gathered to debate reining in President Trump's war powers and bringing the conflict to a halt. A few Republicans expressed some reservations, but a measure brought to the floor ultimately failed. The vote fell almost completely along party lines, allowing Trump to continue military action without the need for congressional approval. Democrat Senator Tim Kaine authored the resolution.
- [01:05]
E
We can't afford to hide under a desk and let any president, Democrat or Republican, send our best and brightest, our own kids, into war to risk their lives. Unless we have debated it, we have determined it's in the national interest, we have voted and thereby put our signature and our thumbprint on the notion that it's worth sending our best and brightest to risk their lives.
- [01:28]
A
But Republican Majority Leader John Thune told Fox News the President had his party's support.
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F
This is an attempt again to try to derail or step on the president's messaging around that and create a political issue where there really isn't one. What the President is doing in Iran is something that frankly, should have been done probably arguably a long time ago.
- [01:51]
A
In the opening days of the conflict, a big part of Iran's response has been to strike out at neighboring countries. That's taken many Americans staying there by surprise, with thousands now desperately trying to get out something we wanted to spend a few minutes looking at today. On Monday, the U.S. state Department posted a warning on social media telling its citizens to leave immediately. But that's much easier tweeted than done.
- [02:16]
B
It's terrifying. I mean, we're not used to it in the US where you just hear fighter jets going on all day long and you certainly don't hear the missiles actually landing and blowing up. We are finally evacuating Kuwait on our own terms by land. The government has not helped us at all. We are doing this on our own. Please wish us luck. It turned dark and we heard over the phones that all of a sudden we're in the middle of a war zone. So we're begging for somebody in the States to kind of help us out.
- [02:47]
A
Nearly 3,000Americans have asked the State Department for assistance, and a state official told CBS that they believed over a million US Nationals were in the region. Initially, people were advised to find their own way out via commercial routes. But then Iranian bombs began FL towards airports in the Gulf, which led to airspace closures, making a quick exit all but impossible. Five days into the war, Dubai's airport, the world's busiest hub for international travelers, remains mostly closed to commercial flights. Also, several key embassies have been forced shut by bombings. According to reports, calls to the State Department hotline were met with a pre recorded message that said no help was available. And multiple embassies issued a notice warning they were in no position to assist evacuations. When reporters asked Trump on Tuesday why an evacuation plan wasn't ready, he said this.
- [03:42]
E
Well, because it happened all very quickly. We thought, and I thought maybe more so than most. I could ask Marco, but I thought we were going to have a situation where we were going to be attacked.
- [03:55]
A
Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged people to register on the State Department website for updates and insisted the government was in fact working on a plan to help people out.
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G
We have identified and continue to identify charter flights, military flight options and expanded commercial flight options, meaning working with the airlines to send bigger airplanes with more seats. And the combination of those three things, the impediment we're facing now in many cases we've had a couple instances in which we have planes in the air and on the way and unfortunately the airspace gets closed and they have to turn back around. So we're working through those challenges.
- [04:28]
A
Meanwhile, social media has been filled with stories of wealthy influencers celebrating spending big sums to get out of the Gulf. Semafor reports that the Saudi capital, Riyadh, has become the premier exit route for the super rich. One private jet brokerage quoted tickets to Europe costing $350,000. But as Bloomberg reports, the reality for most people is to either stay put or attempt a long, expensive journey home. They spoke to traveler Callie, who was about to board her flight when projectiles started flying. She and another traveler got lucky, but but at a price. They paid out $1,000 for a six hour ride to Riyadh and then bought a ticket to London for $2,000. At the same time, large numbers of people caught up in the US Israeli strikes are also fleeing in search of safety. The UN Refugee agency says the intensifying violence has already triggered significant movement in populations. In the first two days of the strikes an estimated 100,000 people have left Tehran and tens of thousands of displaced people in Lebanon are in she according to the agency. The European Union Agency for Asylum echoed the UN's concerns, warning that the ongoing conflict in Iran could lead to refugee movements of a, quote, unprecedented magnitude. How the US and Israel fight Iran in the coming days will in part be shaped by the dynamics between two leaders.
- [06:03]
H
When America, the indispensable ally for Israel and the greatest power in the world, and Israel, America's model ally, as the National Security Council called it, when we work together, amazing things happen.
- [06:18]
A
That's Prime Minister Netanyahu speaking shortly after the initial attacks. His close partnership with Trump has played a vital role in the planning of the past week. Axios reports that Netanyahu tipped off that Iran's supreme Leader and a host of other top officials would be meeting meeting in the same place at the same time. That call, according to Axios, was pivotal. It helped persuade Trump to seize the moment and strike. Both leaders have pushed back hard against reports that a planned attack by Israel forced America's hand. In fact, Trump suggested the opposite was true, undercutting earlier comments from Secretary of State Marco Rubio. For Netanyahu, the fall of Iran's leadership represents the culmination of a years long ambition.
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I
Netanyahu is being seen as kind of, at least in the short term, the big winner of this conflict.
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A
Tia Goldenberg is the Government Policy and Impact Editor for the Associated Press. She was previously a reporter in Jerusalem.
- [07:18]
I
Pretty much for the length of Benjamin Netanyahu's political career. It's been decades now. He's seen the Islamic Republic of Iran as a major existential threat for Israel. He worked against essentially the Obama administration while it was negotiating a nuclear deal to rein in the nuclear program.
- [07:37]
H
This deal has two major concessions, one, leaving Iran with a vast nuclear program and two, lifting the restrictions on that program in about a decade.
- [07:50]
I
And he has increasingly over time seen the current leadership of Iran as intolerable and is something that Israel cannot accept. And that has of course culminated in the events that we've seen over the past few days.
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A
Goldenberg told us that both leaders have utilized their respective leverage in a way that has been mutually beneficial to their agendas, she said. This alliance has helped redefine the region more broadly.
- [08:15]
I
Netanyahu and Trump have grown increasingly close, especially since Trump returned to office this past year. So this is obviously following Israel's battles against other militias in the region. It's taken out Hamas leadership, it's taken out Hezbollah leadership, and this follows that trend.
- [08:33]
A
But even as Israel's position in the region strengthens, Netanyahu still faces challenges with his own electorate at home. And longer term, the war's outcome could shape future U. S. Israeli relations.
- [08:45]
I
Working with Donald Trump and getting Donald Trump to join in on this operation, on this war was a major success for Netanyahu. But the question is, does it come at the cost of a decline in public US Support for Israel? We've already seen that support declining throughout the war in Gaza. So is this war eventually, even though it's come with major and important American support, could it eventually lead to a further decline in US Public support for Israel?
- [09:12]
A
We could get some clarity on those questions soon. Elections in Israel are scheduled in the fall, around the same time that Americans go to the polls for the midterms. Gideon has another story next.
- [09:33]
C
The closely watched Texas primaries on Tuesday marked the start of the midterms and maybe the first opportunity for pollsters and pundits to pore over some results in search of nationwide lessons. The state is a long shot for Democrats, but James Talarico's winning campaign against Jasmine Crockett has some wondering if his message could ultimately deliver Democrats their first statewide win in more than 30 years. On the Republican side, the state's scandal prone Attorney General Ken Paxton, took the incumbent, Senator John Cornyn, to a runoff. To dig a little bit deeper into what all of it means, I spoke to Steve Kornacki, NBC News's chief data analyst, about what he saw and what stood out to him.
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D
I think the common theme is just, you know, sky high interest here. I think particularly on the Democratic side, the turnout level in Texas and the Democratic primary really is kind of, you know, astronomical. They got more votes in their primary total cast than in the Republican primary. That hasn't happened in like a quarter century there. And I think that's just a story we've been seeing since Trump came back to the White House. Is the energy, energy in opposition to him in the Democratic Party Kind of that resistance energy is running really high.
- [10:42]
C
Yeah. And are there any particular constituencies or parts of the electorate that really jumped out to you for either the Democratic side or the Republican side?
- [10:50]
D
I think in, in Texas, the story we've been looking at now for, you know, for years has been the Hispanic vote down by the border in South Texas because that's a region that for a long time was deeply Democratic. But with Donald Trump in the last two presidential elections, it has moved dramatically toward Trump, Trump. And so I think there was a big question here yesterday about, you know, how that vote was going to shape these primaries. And I think you saw two things. Number one was in that region, the border region of Texas, the turnout was much higher in the Democratic primary for Senate than in the Republican primary for Senate. And that turnout in the Democratic primary overwhelmingly went to James Talarico. He's winning the Hispanic vote in south Texas by 2 to 1 margins, at least in that primary yesterday. Now, can Democrats hold onto that in the general? General election is going to be a question because that would be a big story if they do.
- [11:42]
C
Yeah. And so the Texas Senate matchup not quite set yet, but in North Carolina, the Senate matchup is set. That's another state that is going to be critical in terms of overall congressional control. What should people know about North Carolina?
- [11:57]
D
Yeah, I think, as you said, this is one of those states where Republicans control the Senate. Right now Democrats have a difficult path to getting a majority. And any path for Democrats getting to a majority in the Senate necessarily depends on them winning North Carolina. Carolina, it's a Republican held seat. The Republican incumbent, Thom Till, is not seeking reelection there. The Democrats have put forward what they think is their best possible candidate, a former governor, Roy Cooper, who easily won his primary. So a lot of things are going to have to break Democrats way if they're going to win the Senate. And on that list of things that has to break their way, one of the, I don't want to say easy and I don't want to say even less difficult, but sort of the foundational thing for them is to win North Carolina, then they'd have to do some much harder things like win a Texas if they were going to get the Senate.
- [12:46]
C
And so what are you going to be looking for in the primaries next week and in the months ahead?
- [12:51]
D
I think the two things here that we're looking for coming out of this one is, is this turnout trend we saw in Texas where the Democrats again looks like they're actually going to have more voters in their primary than the Republicans did. Do we see this in other states, in other sort of unlikely states? This hadn't happened in Texas since 2002. It's that rare. And the other question is, look, I said we saw one House incumbent, Dan Crenshaw, go down. We may end up in these runoffs, seeing several others go down. There's the potential here over the next few months in these primaries that we see a number, an unusually high number of members of Congress lose in primaries. A whole bunch of them got scares yesterday. Some of them are still getting scares and as they're heading into runoffs, at least one of them's lost. And I think this could be a story over the next few months too.
- [13:36]
C
Steve Harnacki, thank you so much for your time. Really appreciate it.
- [13:38]
D
You guy, thanks for having me.
- [13:40]
C
In that Texas Senate race, President Trump said that he plans to endorse soon and that the other candidate should drop out. You can find more coverage and takeaways of these primaries in the Apple News app, and Cecilia is back with you next.
- [13:59]
A
And finally, a few other stories we're following. In an extraordinary move on Wednesday, the House Oversight Committee voted to subpoena Attorney General Pam Bondi to answer questions about the Epstein files. Republican Representative Nancy Mace from South Carolina introduced the resolution to bring Bondi before the panel if she testifies. Bondi would be the highest ranking sitting official to appear before the committee after the vote, Mace posted on X We want to know why the DOJ is more focused on shielding the powerful and than delivering justice. The Hill notes that Bondi has faced criticism over the handling of the files. The DOJ faces scrutiny over redaction errors in the released documents and accusations that the department failed to release all of the files. A judge has ordered the Trump administration to start paying back the tariffs it collected from businesses. It leaves the White House with a big bill around $130 billion. The Wall Street Journal reports that more than 2,000 lawsuits have been filed seeking to recoup their money. That includes big names such as Costco, wholesale FedEx and Pandora jewelry. The executive director of a coalition of business groups called We Pay the Tariffs called it a victory for small business. It could prove short lived, though the administration is certain to appeal. And finally, a new fast food game of one upsmanship is playing out on social media and it's pulled in the CEOs of America's biggest burger chains. It all started after McDonald's CEO Chris Kopcinski went viral after tasting the restaurant's newest burger.
- [15:39]
D
All right, the moment of truth. Mm, that is so good.
- [15:44]
F
That's a big bite for a big arch.
- [15:47]
A
Droves of people online noted that Kopchinski appeared not to enjoy the burger very much and that his bite was pretty small. One user posted, quote, he's acting like he's afraid of it. Not to be outdone, Burger King then posted a video of their CEO taking a monster bite out of its signature whopper, though they denied it was in response. Response to anything. And finally, the CEO of Wendy's joined the trend yesterday, posting a video of himself taking multiple bites of a burger. The Wall Street Journal notes that because these companies are trying to use their chief executives as pitchmen, their every move, including facial expressions and, yes, bite sizes, are being watched, scrutinized and skewered by millions of people online. You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And if you're already listening in the news app right now, we've got a narrated article. Coming up next, Women's Health explores the world of youth sports and how pricey private leagues are driving fierce competition and a cutthroat culture. If you're listening in the podcast app, follow Apple News Narrated to find that story. And I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
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D
Sam.