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Jonathan Allen (3:10)

Take it easy.

Yasmin Vesugin (3:11)

The images, they were striking as well. One photo from the AP showed signs from cbs, from abc, Reuters, Fox News. Signs that would have labeled news organizations desks discarded. They were essentially thrown in a pile. In a statement, the Pentagon Press association called it a, quote, dark day for press freedom. And they said the moment raised concerns about a, quote, weakening U.S. commitment to transparency and governance, to public accountability at the Pentagon, and to free speech for all. So with that, I want to bring in senior national politics reporter Jonathan Allen, who's been reporting on this. Hey, John.

Jonathan Allen (3:44)

Hi, Yasmin. How are you?

Yasmin Vesugin (3:45)

I'm good. Glad to have you. John, I can't help but say this. This doesn't sound like journalism to me. Hegseth though the Secretary of Defense said on X, the press does not run the Pentagon. The people do. The press is no longer allowed to roam the halls of a secure facility, wear a badge and follow the rules, or go home. But the only way the people know about what's going on inside the halls of the Pentagon is through the press.

Jonathan Allen (4:12)

And I mean, it's a silly, misleading thing that the Defense Secretary said that the reporters were wandering through classified areas. I mean, that's just not true. And if it were true, the fault would lie with the inability of the world's strongest army to prevent reporters from walking into classified areas. I mean, it's a red herring at best. What he's upset about is that sometimes things get reported that he would like to have reported. And to your point, I think he was surprised to find out that even what he would consider friendly media, even Fox News, which he was a host on, said that this is a sort of ridiculous thing for the government to ask and not one that they would abide by. And for good reason. Because someday Pete Hegseth won't be the Defense Secretary. Someday Donald Trump won't be the President. Someday the Republican Party will not be in power in this country. And if Fox News abided by what Pete Hegseth wanted, then they would have to abide by what a Democratic administration and a Democratic appointed Defense Secretary said and not be able to report on the things that they were doing, Wouldn't be able to report on elements of the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan under President Biden as an example, wouldn't be able to report on the lack of up armored Humvees for soldiers during Iraq and Afghanistan, all kinds of stories that the Defense Department didn't want out there that ended up protecting American soldiers and serving, informing American voters.

Yasmin Vesugin (5:43)

John, what is up with the Secretary of Defense's relationship with the news media here, considering that is exactly where he came from? Since he was appointed Secretary of Defense, he's evicted several news organizations from their workspaces. In the early weeks after his appointment, including, by the way, NBC News, he barred journalists from using any of the press briefing room. There have been, in total, since he took the job, only two press briefings. Why is that?

Jonathan Allen (6:16)

Yeah, I can only judge from his actions, right? I mean, his actions suggest that he does not believe that the press is an essential part of our Republican. You know, I also think, you know, he was angry. There were stories that were written about him when he was under consideration, when he was going through a Senate confirmation process that detailed allegations about his personal conduct in the past. And he certainly didn't like that. He certainly didn't like it. The fact that it was reported that he was communicating sensitive information over an open app signal early on in the administration, you know, and obviously, you know, he's pointing a finger at journalists and saying that they're a potential source of security breaches when he, in fact, himself had a pretty high profile moment where he left sensitive information, you know, potentially vulnerable to interception.

Yasmin Vesugin (7:06)

JONATHAN so there have been even instances in which the very reporting that is coming from abc, NBC, cbs, all the major news organizations have in fact, benefited the very people that work for the Department of Defense and work for the American people, service members.

Jonathan Allen (7:21)

There are so many examples of that. Yasmin I mean, you talk about squalid conditions at Walter Reed Medical center that were reported, I believe, first by the Washington Post, you know, where the Defense Department didn't want that information out there. And yet once it got out there and it became scandalous, the Defense Department had to make sure that these wounded veterans were actually being taken care of. Sexual assault in the military, something that obviously the Defense Department tried to suppress over the years, dating back as far as the Tailhook scandal in the 1980s. The reporting on this made conditions better, made the rules change, made it better for the men and women fighting in uniform to do their job and to make sure that they were as protected as possible, that they were living in the best quarters possible, that they were not afraid of being assaulted by their superiors so that they could go out and protect the United States of America in a better way. And the independent journalism talking to people in the Pentagon, talking to people at military bases is responsible for calling attention to those serious issues that make our war fighting machine better.

Yasmin Vesugin (8:27)

But you don't need to be inside the Pentagon to report on those stories. You don't need to be inside the Pentagon to understand that there was sexual assault happening in the ranks of the military.

Jonathan Allen (8:34)

You don't have to be inside the Pentagon to do that. I think it is somewhat easier the more access you have, of course, to the more people you have. But you're right. I actually believe that the Defense Department reporting from the Pentagon press corps or what was the Pentagon press corps is going to continue to be tough and it's continued to be aimed toward, you know, to calling out failures where they exist and will continue to provide the American public with a check on what its Defense Department is doing. And by the way, not for nothing, I think across the political spectrum there has been, you know, a very large concern about how the Defense Department acted over the course of the last quarter century. Whether you're talking about the run up to the Iraq War or the conduct of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the withdrawal from Afghanistan, I mean, regardless of your political stripes, you can look at things and say they have not always gone perfectly. And journalism has been there to help correct when the government, whether it's a Democratic run government or Republican government run government, is failing the American public.

Yasmin Vesugin (9:38)

Jonathan Allen, thank you.

Jonathan Allen (9:40)

Thank you, Yasmin.

Yasmin Vesugin (9:43)

We are going to take a quick break and when we come back, a tale of two economies. Stay with us.

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Yasmin Vesugin (10:23)

Who's ready for some football?

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We are going to get this party started.

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Yasmin Vesugin (10:41)

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Yasmin Vesugin (10:56)

Welcome back to Here's a scoop from NBC News. Call it a split screen economy. Wall street is partying like it's 1999. While Main street is clipping coupons, stocks keep smashing records fueled by this AI gold rush. But for everyday Americans, the only thing going up faster than the markets might grocery bills. And Trump's tariffs aren't helping either. And while Wall street is cashing in on this AI gold rush, some analysts are asking the billion dollar question, is this the real deal or just another tech bubble waiting to pop? So to give us some insight into this and try and answer some questions, I want to bring in NBC News senior business correspondent Christine Romans. Hey, Romans, as we like to call you. Hi. Good to see you in studio.

Christine Romans (11:39)

It's great to be here.

Yasmin Vesugin (11:40)

So let's talk first about the earnings report, the quarterly earnings report that came out on Tuesday from JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Wells Fargo as well, all essentially describing them as resilient. The economy is resilient. What does that mean?

Christine Romans (11:57)

It's so interesting that they all used that word. And you also heard from the Walmart US CEO, so not a bank, Walmart, saying that the economy is really strong and consumers are, well, they're resilient. They're able to continue to keep spending. When do you use the word resilient? You use the word resilient when somebody is doing well despite all the bad things that are happening around them. And you've got a job market that's starting to weaken. You've got tariffs and uncertainty. Right. You've got inflation that's still higher than normal. You look at grocery prices, food at home, groceries, it's up like almost 18% since 2022.

Yasmin Vesugin (12:33)

Wow.

Christine Romans (12:34)

So the grocery bill is this nagging concern, but the stock market is on fire. Home values are near record highs. So I feel like what I see is the person who has a house with some equity, who's got savings and investments, who has a job and feels comfortable in their job, they're driving the economy. They're spending money. They feel fine. Paycheck to paycheck people. They're concerned.

Yasmin Vesugin (13:00)

So amidst kind of this resilient report from the banks. Right. From these quarterly earnings, you also have this debate that is ongoing over the AI boom and whether or not it's going to bust. Right. Are we looking at 1999 all over again with the Internet bust? And we know there's a lot of money that's being poured in to AI, Right. That is driving much of what we're seeing on Wall Street. The question is, is that going to trickle down to everybody else, A, and.

Christine Romans (13:28)

Then B, is it going to bust it is unknowable. What you have asked is unknowable. I mean, we are seeing so much money going into this sector, like trillions.

Yasmin Vesugin (13:39)

Of dollars at this point.

Christine Romans (13:40)

Trillions of dollars. And then we're watching these circular investments when they're investing in each other, it's just so much energy. Is this spending boom just so big that this is like 1999. And what you hear from semiconductor makers and from some big hedge fund managers is that, no, this time is different. This is a transformative technology. This is a revolution, like the steam engine, like the Internet. So this is a juicy, juicy debate on Wall Street. And for every person I can find who says this is gonna be worse than 1999, I can find two people who are like, you don't understand AI. You don't understand what's happening here.

Yasmin Vesugin (14:19)

Can you kind of take us back to 1999 real quick just to remind folks what happened, what went bust.

Christine Romans (14:29)

It was so wild, right? Everything went up. These IPOs for companies that didn't make anything yet and didn't have any, barely had a headquarters, like what type of company. All these dot com.

Yasmin Vesugin (14:42)

There was also.

Christine Romans (14:43)

There were a lot of mortgage companies in there too, but a lot of.com, a.com anything, you just put.com on the end of it and investors would just flood you with money. And then you take it public. And then after a couple of quarters of reporting, all of a sudden, wait a minute, there's nothing here. There's no there there. I'll tell you something interesting. In 1996, Alan Greenspan, the Federal Reserve chairman, in a very dry testimony to Congress. La la la. And he said there's irrational exuberance in the stock market. Irrational exuberance, which is his Fed speak way of saying this doesn't make any freaking sense. And he was 100% right. And do you know what happened after 1996? The stock market rose for three more years. The Nasdaq, I think, doubled. So he was right. You can call a bubble. A bubble is when something doesn't make any sense and there's just money rushing into it and driving shares higher. He was absolutely 100% right. But timing a bubble is impossible.

Yasmin Vesugin (15:42)

So the folks that are saying that this is not a bubble now are essentially saying that money's not necessarily rushing in for no uncertain reason. They're actually very deliberately investing in places.

Christine Romans (15:54)

Exactly.

Yasmin Vesugin (15:55)

Versus just rushing towards an asset that they feel as if will create a lot of profit. Like the Internet and the dot com thing.

Christine Romans (16:02)

They see a Real technological change here. In 1999, the Internet was the highway. And then I would say all of these bubbly stocks and companies were riding on that highway. But when you're talking about AI, you're talking about. You're talking about the actual technology. We don't even know how it's gonna change things. It is very early stages, and there's a lot of enthusiasm about it, I'll tell you.

Yasmin Vesugin (16:25)

So amidst all of this, again, I can't help but go back to what's happening on Main street, as we say, right, because you do have this kind of weakened what it seems job market. You have grocery prices up. What'd you say, 18%? Folks are still continuing to spend, but is that gonna slow down even more? And you are now in the midst of this government shutdown in which we're not even getting continued jobs reports, to know whether or not we're adding any jobs to the economy.

Christine Romans (16:53)

I'm super, super worried about affordability. I'm worried about childcare costs, and I have been for a decade. Childcare costs, college costs. People want value because their budgets are really stretched. And I do think people's budgets are stretched and the job market is slowing a little bit. So we're job hugging. Have you heard that phrase? No, we're holding onto the jobs that we have. Whereas the last couple of years, people were jumpers, people were jumping for new jobs, looking for better wages and raises. Now people are like kind of a little feeling a little more defensive.

Yasmin Vesugin (17:23)

So then what do you think the spending is about? If we're continuing to spend, but we're holding onto our jobs for dear life, we don't feel like there's other jobs out there.

Christine Romans (17:32)

Well, that's the big mystery when you look at these earnings reports, because these CEOs, when they say, surprise, surprise, the consumer is resilient, it's because maybe they didn't think they were going to be so resilient, but they still have. People are still figuring out how to spend money. And I'll go back to the fact that they have the money to spend. If you have a job, you've got equity in your house, and you've got a 401k or a different kind of retirement stock investment, you're feeling a little bit more comfortable. You know, you feel like you're able to spend a little bit of money.

Yasmin Vesugin (18:00)

Clip your coupons. Christine Roman's all the Unknowns. Thank you. All right, let's get to some headlines. President Trump had a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Today ahead of his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House tomorrow, Trump said that at the conclusion of the call, both sides agreed their high level advisers will meet next week. The US Delegation will be led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio alongside other officials yet to be named. With the meeting location still to be determined, Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are then expected to meet in Budapest, Hungary, to determine whether they can bring what Trump called this inglorious war between Russia and Ukraine to an end. The president also confirmed yesterday that he has authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations inside Venezuela, marking a significant and unusual public disclosure about an intelligence directive.

Donald Trump (18:56)

I authorized for two reasons, really. Number one, they have emptied their prisons into the United States of America.

Yasmin Vesugin (19:04)

The second reason, he said, was narcotics trafficking. The confirmation follows recent fatal US Military strikes against suspected drug smuggling vessels in the Caribbean. The announcement immediately drew condemnation from Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who accused the US of orchestrating a coup d'. Etat. Meanwhile, there are growing concerns from lawmakers in Washington over a lack of information from the Trump administration about the intelligence and strategy underlying these strikes. Six sources telling NBC News we are less than three weeks away from election Day and it is debate night in America. In Virginia, the candidates for attorney general are squaring off. Then down in my the candidates for the mayor will also debate tonight. They're preparing for one of the most competitive elections in years, with a total of 13 candidates running for mayor and 11 for city commissioner. The top four mayoral candidates will be on the debate stage tonight, but all eyes are on New York City and the mayor's race there. There are a lot of personalities in this one that are going to be at that podium tonight. You have got the front runner, Democratic Socialist Zoran Mamdani. Mamdani beat out the establishment candidate, former new Governor Andrew Cuomo, in the Democratic primary, but Cuomo is now running as an independent in the general, hoping to swing some independent and Republican voters over to his side. And then, of course, there is the Republican Curtis Sliwa, who's famous for wearing his red beret everywhere. Not present tonight though, current New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who dropped out of the race last month after a campaign plagued by scandal after scandal after the family of Oscar winning actress Diane Keaton says the beloved Hollywood icon died from pneumonia after what they described as a sudden decline in her health. Keaton passed away Saturday, October 11th at the age of 79 years old. She was known for her unforgettable performance in the Godfather. Annie hall, father of the Bride and countless other films. She was celebrated for her wit, her timeless style and trailblazing presence both on and off screen. In a statement, her family thanked fans for the outpouring of love and asked that those wishing to honor her memory make donations to local food banks or animal shelters, two causes very close to her heart. Snapple is bringing back its glass bottles, but only in one City yes, the Big Apple is getting its glass back. The company says it is a limited time love letter to where Snapple was born, right in the heart of the city. Fans in New York are going to be able to snag those nostalgic bottles from now through December in flavors like apple, peach tea, kiwi, strawberry and lemon tea. It is the first time in years that Snapple's returned to glass after making the switch to plastic bottles back in 2017, a move, by the way, that didn't exactly thrill longtime fans. Now they're leaning into nostalgia, saying it's all about celebrating Snapple's New York roots and letting fans relive that satisfying pop when you twist off the cap. All right, that's gonna do it for us. Here's the scoop from NBC News. I'm Yasmin Vesugin. We'll be back tomorrow with whatever the day may bring and if you like what you heard, then like us back. Subscribe to Here's a scoop. Wherever you get your podcasts, we'll see you tomorrow.

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