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Here's the Scoop
Congress Weighs War Powers Legislation, And The Human Toll of Strikes in Iran
00:23:44
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A
Hey, everybody, and welcome to here's the scoop from NBC News. I'm Yasmin Vesugin. Today on the show, the deadliest civilian incident since the start of the Iran war was an attack on an elementary school. We're gonna bring you voices from the community, plus updates on last night's primaries. And everything old is new again. I'm gonna give you a hint. Please be kind and rewind up. First, though, lawmakers have been briefed by the Trump administration on the war in Iran. Today and tomorrow, both houses are set to vote on similar war powers resolutions requiring the president to get congressional approval before launching military action. While the bills are expected to fail, they are giving Democrats and a handful of Republicans more fuel to push back against the president's unilateral military actions. For more on the reaction from Congress, I want to bring in Capitol Hill correspondent Julie Circuit. Hey, Julie.
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B
Hi, Yaz.
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So I want to start with what happened this morning, and it's this press conference with Secretary of Defense P.T. hagseth.
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C
I stand before you today with one unmistakable message about Operation Epic Fury. America is winning decisively, devastatingly, and without mercy.
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A
This war, it seems, in hearing from Hegseth this morning, is clearly escalating. Julie, what was the reaction in Congress to what Hegseth had to say at the Pentagon?
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B
Well, even yesterday after these congressional briefings that happened behind closed doors, Yasmin, it was very clear that the biggest takeaway from White House officials to Congress is that this war is going to escalate further, not de escalate. And so over the next two to three days, especially this is what Republican lawmakers told me they heard in the room, that the US Is going to really step up their munitions and that regional partners will apparently assist the US in its mission. Now, the reaction from Republicans, by and large, including from Speaker Johnson, who I talked to this morning, has been overwhelmingly positive. They are continuing to support the administration's war effort without calling it such. They are calling it an operation strategically asmin, because in order for this to be an official war, Congress would need to declare it. So Republicans are walking a tightrope here. For now, on day five of this operation, they are in the administration's corner, but we'll see how long this lasts.
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So putting that on the side for just a moment because we're going to circle back to it. There was also this classified briefing, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio telling lawmakers to expect a, quote, unquote overwhelming and bigger wave of military strikes on Iran in the coming days. And then you got the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Dan Kaine, opening his remarks this morning by sharing the names of the six U.S. soldiers who were killed by Iranian strikes and offering his condolences. What has been the reaction when it comes to what they have learned in these classified briefings from both sides of the aisle, especially as this is coming at a cost to American lives.
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Speaker Johnson started his remarks this morning by talking about those service members that is unique in the sense that when I covered the President from Palm beach this weekend, he tried to avoid the conversation of these service members. Obviously, it's not good optics for the administration that campaigned on no American lives at risk, boots on the ground, no foreign interventionism to now admit, as the President has done, that there will be American lives lost in this. So this is the question for the president's base and Republicans, and it's one they are asking. So far, they are comfortable with Republicans that is parroting the administration's lines that for now, boots will not be on the ground, but that remains on the table. That's what briefers told Congress yesterday, Yasmin, that there is a possibility they will put boots on the ground. And then that is why Democrats are so frustrated by this, the fact that Congress, Congress has not weighed in. They say if this is a war, if service members are getting killed, if more troops will be put on the ground, potentially Congress has to have a say. And so far, they're completely cut out of the conversation.
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A
So I want to talk about the War Powers resolution being brought by both chambers. And as we said, the Senate is actually expected to vote today. This resolution would order the removal of armed forces from, quote, unquote, hostilities within or against Iran that have not been authorized by, by Congress. You have nearly all 53 Republicans backing the President when it comes to what he's doing in Iran, aside from, with the exception of Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. But then you have Pennsylvania Democrat John Fetterman, who is expected to cross party lines and vote with Republicans.
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D
Yes, I'm the only Democrat because I'm not afraid of my base to just say, you know what, this was overall a good thing.
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A
What happened to the anti interventionalist wing of the GOP that pushed back on Iraq, that pushed back on Afghanistan. That was for the President when he was campaigning and pulling America out of wars.
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B
And even the hawks like Senator Lindsey Graham, who was for interventionism, but deeply critical of past Democratic administrations. After Benghazi, after Americans were left stranded in the Middle east after the Afghanistan withdrawal. I asked Senator Graham about that and he just completely deflected as our Republicans about that key question that you asked Yasmin of. How is this putting America first? I'll give you an example. Congressman Chip Roy, somebody who was the head of the House Freedom Caucus, who was against any kind of foreign interventionism, didn't want to pass funds and extra weapons for Ukraine under Biden. I talked to him just last night and he told me, at this point, this is a limited operation, limited in time and scope, meaning no boots are yet officially on the ground. And we are just in day five of this. When you talk about the War Powers Resolution, that Act of 1973 technically gives the administration 60 to 90 days to conduct military operations before Congress is expected to weigh in in accordance with that law. So for now, that is exactly the excuse Republicans are using. We are not on day 60 of this war. We are on day four or five. So for now, they are sticking with this administration. But I got to tell you, Yasmin, beyond war powers, the White House is about to ask Congress for funding to fund their war effort in Iran. That is going to an even bigger sticking point because that is going to be an opportunity for Democrats and Republicans to really push back if they want to.
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A
We're officially, as we all well know, at this point in primary season, the war probably did not play a big role in Texas and North Carolina and Arkansas because there was early voting for weeks. But we have a lot of primaries coming up before we get to November. How are lawmakers thinking about this war in pitching it to their constituents, especially Republicans? And then how do Democrats use it in getting elected?
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Yeah, Republicans are definitely stressed about this privately. Speaker Johnson was asked about this this morning and he called it a hypothetical and then said they're not thinking about politics when there's such an imminent threat coming from one of the US's biggest adversaries. Now, that's what they're talking about.
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A lot of hypotheticals. A lot of hypotheticals.
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I gotta say, a lot of hypotheticals. That is the answer that we're getting from Republicans on just about everything when it comes to this operation in Iran. But this is definitely going to be a for Republicans. And I find it so interesting when you look at Vice President Vance and how he has carefully tiptoed around this entire situation. He was nowhere near the president when these strikes were launched. He was at the White House, and he hasn't weighed in in any kind of public statement of support. And we know that according to his past views, he does not support this kind of interventionism. But the president ran on keeping American boots off of foreign soil, about keeping American sons and daughters, as he liked to put it, from out of harm's way. And he was deep critical of the past Democratic administrations for doing the opposite. So Republicans are going to have to explain to their voters how they're supporting something, especially as it drags on. And Yasmin, I'm told they're watching very carefully and closely to see if casualties tick up. That is going to be the point in time where it is going to get very difficult for Republicans to defend this. And for Democrats, while most of them are criticizing this operation, a lot of them support the outcome, right? Khamenei being dead, the Iranian people being uplifted. So this is more challenging for them when it comes to this war powers vote than let's say, the Venezuela operation.
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Julie Cirkin, thank you.
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Thank you.
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After our conversation with Julie, NBC News released a poll about American sentiment towards the war in Iran. 52% of those surveyed think the United States should not have taken military action against Iran. And 41% say they approve of President Trump's handling of the situation inside the country. As expected, that was split along party lines. Only 8% of Democrats approved, compared to 79% of Republicans. And only about 1 in 4 independents say they approve of the president's handling of the situation with Iran. There's the military and political impact of the Iran conflict here in the United States, but there's also a human toll of the war on the ground there. We're going to take a very quick break and when we come back, a school in Iran was reduced to rubble during airstrikes on Saturday. The question is, who's responsible? Stay with us. And hey, while you're at it, why not subscribe to here's the Scoop. Wherever you get your podcasts, just press the subscribe button and then you can get Here's a Scoop in your feed whenever it's available. See you after the break.
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And we are back with here's the scoop from NBC News. Since the US And Israel began striking Iran, the death toll inside the country has grown. According to Iran's Red Crescent, at least 940 people in Iran have been killed. That includes 168 people, mostly children, that Iranian state media say were killed when an elementary school in southern Iran was hit in the first wave of strikes on Saturday. But in the days since, many details about the strike still remain unclear, including who was behind it and what was the intended target. For this, I want to bring in NBC News foreign correspondent Molly Hunter who has been gathering information from people inside Iran. Hey, Molly.
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G
Hey, Yasmin.
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We are five days into this war now and this has been the deadliest civilian incident so far. This bombing at the school. What are the details that we have gotten so far out of Iran?
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So Yasmin, we heard about this strike almost immediately on Saturday. When the war started Saturday morning, one of the main headlines pretty quickly that afternoon was that a school had been hit. And all of the information that we were getting was from Iranian state media, from Iranian officials. Their account is that Saturday morning airstrikes multiple. They say the numbers vary. The education minister put it at three hit a school at the time they said a girls school. We now know that it was a co ed school and killed mostly students. And that death toll rose very quickly to 168. The biggest question that we do not have an answer to and not for lack we are asking every single day is who is behind the strike? The Iranians were very clear. The Iranian foreign minister was very clear, pointing the finger directly at America and Israel. The school is in a city called Manab. It is a southern city. It is a pretty small city about 870 miles south of Tehran. It is not a port city, but it's pretty close to the Strait of Hormuz. And this compound where the school is for many years was an IRGC military base. What we have learned from satellite images and from talking to people on the ground, Yasmin, is that it is no longer a military base. That in 2011, military personnel, military equipment and all military activity ceased and was moved elsewhere. Now, the IRGC built this school possibly originally for military families who were living there, but also for the local community. And when the military activity ceased and military personnel moved, the school stayed open. And we have geolocated that school building. We know that it was operating as a school. The rest of the compound in the last 15 years has been built up. Now, the school, according to the Education Ministry, is co ed. It has 264 students. One floor was girls and one floor was boys. And on Saturday morning, the parents got a call around 10 o' clock to say, the war has started, come pick up your kids. And we spoke with one mother who lost her seven year old and she was too late to pick up her son. Let's take a listen to what she told us.
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I'm going to translate that for people as you're listening. The mother is incredibly distraught and she says they said war had started, that we should come and pick up your children. I work in healthcare myself. There were three pregnant women there. I said I would see them first and then go to get my son. By the time we arrived, she said the entire school had collapsed on top of the children. People were pulling out children's arms and legs. And she ended on seeing children's decapitated heads being pulled out of the rubble. Molly, that is devastating. As a mother of a seven year old myself, and knowing what that woman is now dealing with, the reality, the new reality she's living in.
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Her son, Yasmin, was named sahel and his 8th birthday was on Monday. She told us we have now seen video. We have geolocated that video to the scene of the school. There's no doubt that this was a school day. Saturday is the first day of the school week in Iran. There's no doubt that there were kids at that school. And one first responder and local official as well told us that at the time of the first strikes, there was actually a classroom of girls playing outside during that time.
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A
Molly, you spoke to the principal as well?
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Yeah, we spoke with the first principal of the school. We're going to play you some sound. The first. He talks about the logistics of Saturday morning of calling the parents. In the second part, part of this interview that we're Going to play you. He talks about the context of the compound where the school is.
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A
So I just want to translate again what the principal just said to our team there, saying for about four or five years this building had not been used. Then they decided to turn it into a school. In fact, it had not not been a barracks for about 15 years. Everything had been moved to Imam Alley, which is a different, obviously, area. He goes on to say, for about 15 years, it has no longer been a military facility. Around 10 to 1015, they called the parents and told them to come and take their children because the war had started. Some parents who had come to pick up their children were also affected. I don't know the exact number, but they were both fatalities and injuries. Amongst them, we have families where a student and their mother were killed together. I mean, this is extremely devastating for this community. And yet it is really, you know, four, five days in now that we are finally learning the details of this devastating loss. Molly. And it speaks to the challenges that we are facing right now as journalists explain to us how difficult it has been in just getting the details of this story and why it happened.
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So I think right away we started asking the American military, we started asking the Israeli military, were they in the area? What did we know about this? And the fact that five days later, you know, two militaries who claim to have the best intelligence in the world can't tell us on or off the record who is behind this is really shocking.
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Can they not tell you or are they not willing to tell you?
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Yasmin, we are going back to the Israeli military, the IDF and to CENTCOM every single day with new details. And the standard everyday answer that we have received from the Israeli military is they were not aware of any operations in the area. That's not a denial. They even referred us to centcom. The CENTCOM answer has not changed since Saturday, since over the weekend when they said they were aware of reports of civilian harm and they were looking into it. Hitting a school, striking a school deliberately in wartime is against international humanitarian law. Schools are protected spaces under international humanitarian law, and kids, students under the age of 18, have special protections as well during wartime. This is a major, major incident. The UN Human Rights Office has called for accountability, and there has been no account.
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Secretary Hegseth this morning held a briefing of the Pentagon, and at this briefing, he had a map, essentially, of all the strikes that Operation Epic Fury have carried out in the first 100 hours of this war. And one of those strikes was in the town where this school is located very clearly.
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When you look at this map, map of all of the strikes, and there's a key which says what, you know, what symbol are strikes? What is that? What does that red symbol mean? Over the city of Manab, there is a kind of strike symbol which says it is a US Israeli strike. It does not differentiate on this graphic on this map between American and Israeli strikes. And then there is a little red dot which denotes Iranian air defenses. We have gone back to the Israeli military today. We have gone back to CENTCOM today to ask them specifically about this. So the Americans are not denying that there was a strike in Manape. It's a small city. There's not a lot else there. The fact that we have satellite imagery from this morning showing this compound, you know, completely destroyed the school, quite obviously in the satellite image took a direct hit.
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Molly Hunter, I'm really thankful for you bringing us this reporting. Thank you.
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Thanks so much, Yasmin.
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Coming up, results are still trickling in from the primary elections in Texas. We're going to have those and reactions from Washington in the headlines. Stay with us.
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Learn more at GoToBank.com tax Green bank member FDIC. And we're back with. Here's the scoop from NBC News News. Let's get to some headlines. After a long night and delayed voting in Texas, NBC News now projects that Texas State Representative James Tallarico has won the Democratic nomination for Senate. He beat out Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett. It's still unclear, though, who he's going to be up against. Talarico's Republican opponent could be incumbent Senator John Cornyn or State Attorney General Ken Paxton, who are going to be in a runoff in May. It is a huge race and our chief Capitol Hill correspondent Ryan Noble says Washington is watching.
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The big question is, will President Trump get involved? The president signaling today that he is ready to make an endorsement in this runoff and taking it a step further. He wants whoever he doesn't endorse to get out of the race completely. There is some sense that he is leaning in the direction of the incumbent, Senator John Cornyn, after a better than expected performance in the primary on Tuesday night. Certainly that's what Republican leadership in the Senate wants. The Senate Majority Leader John Thune repeating his desire that President Trump weigh in and support Cornyn. It's still an open question as of right now, but Cornyn's path to winning the nomination ultimately would be much easier if Donald Trump got in his corner.
- [23:20]
A
Also in Texas, we project that Representatives Al Green and Christian Menefee are going to head to a runoff in the Democratic primary for Texas 18th district after neither of them won a majority. Greene is seeking a 12th term in the House and opted to run in the Texas 18th after redistricting made his previous district more Republican. Menefee has only been a member of the House for a few weeks after winning a special election in January. The US And Ecuador say they're launching joint operations to combat drug trafficking. That is According to the U.S. southern Command and Ecuador's Defense Ministry. Neither side gave more detail earlier this week. Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa framed the effort as a, quote, new phase against narco terrorism and illegal mining. A new US Military led task force also played a role in a recent Mexican military raid that killed the cartel leader known as El Mencho. In a memo seen by NBC News, Attorney General Pam Bondi says she's ending restrictions barring political appointees at the Justice Department from participating in political activities in their personal capacities, including fundraising and campaign events. This move reverses a Biden administration order which former AG Merrick Garland had instituted to avoid, quote, even the appearance of political influence at the Justice Department. And finally, have you ever done that thing where you sit down to watch something and you literally just start flipping through channels for like 20 minutes and then you move on to streaming services before just giving up entirely and deciding to do something altogether different, while some of us are actually dealing with content overload and streaming price hikes by ditching streamers entirely. If you can believe it, according to this recent survey from Consumer Reports, about half of American adults are still watching DVDs and Blu Rays, and another small but growing chunk is going back even further to VHS tapes. It's not big money just yet, but the trend line is definitely there. So maybe it is just time to reboot some blockbuster, go and get a big box of Hot Tamales and maybe watch some Overboard. That is going to do it for us. Here's the Scoop from NBC News. I'm Madison Vesugin. We'll be back tomorrow with whatever the day may bring. And if you like what you heard, subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And you can also subscribe to our daily newsletter, the Inside Scoop. It is a deeper dive on the main stories of the day that comes out every weeknight straight to your inbox. You can sign up for the Inside Scoop as part of our paid subscription@nbcnews.com we'll see you tomorrow.
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