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- [00:03]
A
Hey, everybody. And welcome to here's the scoop from NBC News. I'm Yasmin Vesugian. Today on the show as ousted Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro calls for his case to be dismissed, how people inside his home country are faring. Plus AM or PM does it even matter what time you work out? We're going to have the answer in the headlines. But first we begin in Washington, where the partial government shutdown continues with funding for the Department of Homeland Security state still in limbo. More than 500 TSA agents have quit in the past few weeks, others continuing to work without a paycheck for almost six weeks now. But the crisis at DHS does not stop at the airport. The Coast Guard and FEMA are also running on empty. So the question is, can lawmakers reach a deal before their two week recess for the Easter holiday and will they actually stay behind if they don't? With that, I want to bring in NBC News chief Capitol Hill correspondent Ryan Nobles. Hey, Ryan.
- [01:02]
B
Hey.
- [01:02]
A
Yes, here we are again talking shutdown. I spoke to Senator Alyssa Slatkin on the podcast yesterday.
- [01:10]
B
I listened. Great stuff.
- [01:11]
A
Yes, she said, listen, Dems are ready to make a deal. But she also said that it is hard to even negotiate with the Republicans or make a deal with the Republicans when she feels as if they are being undercut by the president of the United States. Where are we right now with any kind of deal making on the Hill and getting the government back open?
- [01:36]
B
Well, I think she's right to be concerned about that because Donald Trump has a track record of kind of pulling the rug out from underneath his Republican colleagues when they negotiate in good faith and when they get to a deal. That's happened in the past. But I do think this time around, if we got to the point where the House and Senate were able to pass something, you know, as much as the president has made noise about the Save America act and trying to tie these two things together, I think if he had a bill in front of him that would reopen everything and get everything up and moving, I'd be hard pressed to think that he would not vote yes for that. And he's signaled to Republicans, bring me something I can sign and I'll probably
- [02:17]
A
sign it even without the Save America act attached to to it. Because right now he seems like he wants that on his desk before he signs anything else.
- [02:26]
B
Well, I mean, let's talk realistically about that. If the only way to open the Department of Homeland Security and end these lines at the airports and prevent these TSA officers from just leaving the job en masse is tied to some passage of the Save America act, then the Department of Homeland Security is never opening. That's just not. Those two things are not going to coincide. So it's not uncommon to use leverage points over the course of negotiations to get what you want. But there is no realistic way that you pass DHS funding along with or tied to something related to the Save America Act. Does it lead to. Okay, then we're gonna have a conversation about putting this on the floor. Does Thune do something like where they pass the DHS bill and they do a separate vote on Save America? Those things are all possible. But. But the idea that you're gonna. That the one thing doesn't pass without the other thing, if that's truly where Republicans are, and I actually don't think they truly are there, if that's where Republicans are, then the Department of Homeland Security is never getting funded. I mean, never. Because that's just not something that's viable at this point.
- [03:38]
A
So then where are we on a deal? Are they gonna get this thing done before the spring recess? Anybody going out of town?
- [03:44]
B
I find it hard to believe that both Republicans and Democrats would allow the optics of a bunch of lawmake jetting out of Washington D.C. with amidst massive TSA lines everywhere, people waiting six or seven hours to get through security lines and just saying, hey, I'm going on Easter vacation. The Senate Majority Leader has said that they can just continue negotiating over the break and not everybody needs to be here and they can just call people back when they have a deal. Usually the one thing that is a unifying motivator for both Republicans and Democrats in fights like this is the threat of recess being taken away from them. I just was checking. And it appears that Senator Thune said that the Democrats are on the verge of what they describe as their last and final offer. I don't know what that means, but I do think that I would be very, very hard pressed to believe that they would have the audacity to leave town without this resolved. But stranger things have happened and I don't see them any closer to a deal. And how they resolve that, I think is still pretty much an open question.
- [04:51]
A
So let's say they pass something tomorrow or they pass something on Tuesday because they decide to stay and skip the beginning part of their spring recess. At this point, we know of the 50,000 TSA workers, 500 of them have quit. If DHS actually gets funded, how long is it going to take for people to get paid.
- [05:11]
B
So they've already missed a month's worth of paychecks. And so what the Office of Personnel Management has told us, which operates kind of the human resources end of the Department of Homeland Security and all federal agencies, is that they will attempt to get a lump sum payment out to them as soon as possible. But that's a process, so they can't even begin that process until the president signs this legislation into law. And it could take five to 10 days, depending on where you are in the processing queue to get those checks. So best case scenario, like if they pass the bill Friday afternoon, that people aren't getting their paychecks until maybe this time next week, that's the best case scenario.
- [05:58]
A
Wow.
- [05:58]
B
The TSA administrator testified yesterday and told some pretty harrowing stories about how these TSA officers are coping with this. You know, obviously they're doing a lot of gig work, but they're also having to take as dramatic steps as selling their own blood, selling plasma, just to keep their heads above water. So it's a very dire situation. And I think one of the things, Yaz, that we haven't talked enough about is that this group of folks already went through this in the fall. I know they've spent more time over the past six months without a paycheck than they have with a paycheck. Think about that.
- [06:34]
A
That's insane.
- [06:35]
B
Is there anybody listening to this podcast right now that would tolerate that and just stay working in a job like that? Because keep in mind, this problem is gonna crop right back up in September when the fiscal year ends and we've gotta do this all over again.
- [06:50]
A
You make a really good point. I wonder if there is a real fear, even if members of Congress are talking about this, of attrition. Right. That folks don't ever want to come back. People don't want to work for the government anymore because they see these continuous government shutdowns and they get caught in the middle of it.
- [07:06]
B
Yeah. I mean, if you're a federal worker, think of what you've gone through in the past year. First, you had the DOGE cuts, where you were worried every day you were going to get an email that told you that your 15 to 20 years of government service were no longer necessary and you should go find a job in the private sector. Then you got through doge, but then you went right into the longest government shutdown in history, where you weren't paid for that entire time. Then if you work in the Department of Homeland Security, you get through that, and then the rest of the Federal government gets funded, but you are still left out in the cold, and you're 100% right. And I've probably made this point on your podcast before we made a deal with public sector employees in this country. We said to them, you are never gonna get rich. But in exchange for that, we are gonna offer you a job with stability. A job that you can be proud of, a job that you can feed and clothe your family and retire comfortably. That contract has been completely ripped up over the past year for a wide range of reasons. And if I'm somebody who runs a government agency or is trying to just get the basic functions of government served, I've gotta be really worri worried about the talent drain that's going to have to occur as a result of the fallout from the last year.
- [08:25]
A
And Ryan, we've been talking a lot about the TSA workers, but there are other agencies that have been affected as well who are also not getting paid. I'm talking about, for instance, the Coast Guard, who has not had enough funding to operate and pay its workers for 85 of the past 176 days. FEMA's Disaster Relief Fund is rapidly depleting as well. What is happening inside these agencies amidst
- [08:47]
B
this shutdown, and you know, what's important to point out about that, Yaz, is that these are the frontline national security workers who do the jobs that we're not thinking about every day that give us the freedom to go about our business without being worried about being attacked, without being worried about our computer system being hacked, without, you know, worrying that if some sort of natural disaster were to hit that there wouldn't be support there to help us rebuild. You know, FEMA and employees have gone without pay. Cisa, which is the Cyber Security Information Services Administration, they have gone without paychecks. The Coast Guard rank and file military have been paid. But a lot of the infrastructure that goes to support the work that they do has been unfunded. And you know, we're entering a period of time where there's a lot of big national events that are taking place, that the Department of Homeland Security is the primary department that's in charge of keeping everybody safe. The best example is that the World cup is coming back. For the first time in 30 years, you're gonna have people from all over the world that are coming here to participate in that, not to mention the Americans that are gonna be going to these massive venues to watch these games. And DHS is worried that they're not gonna have the resources in place to Try and take care of all of this.
- [10:06]
A
Congress is juggling a bunch of stuff right now. And so as we're talking about the shutdown, they're also dealing with the fallout from the war with Iran. I want to talk about the defense and intelligence officials who briefed lawmakers on the House Armed Services Committee yesterday. Walk us through what, you know, happened in that briefing.
- [10:27]
B
Well, I think it was more what didn't happen in the briefing is kind of the reporting that we've been able to pull out of that meeting. Our colleagues Melanie Zenona, John Allen, and Garrett Hake did a really nice job of kind of outlining that. Melanie, I know, in particular talked to a lot of lawmakers that were in the room at the time, sources that were in the room at the time. And there was just a sense that the administration was not able to answer some basic questions about a the reasons for the war beginning and then what the plan is to get out of it, what the goals and objectives are. And, you know, the House Armed Services Committee, by and large, is a hawkish group. This should have been a friendly audience. These aren't the doves of the Republican and Democratic Party. And so the fact that they are the ones that are so upset that the administration isn't giving them the kind of answers that they're looking for is pretty telling. Where the rub is gonna exist for the Trump administration as they move forward in this effort is that they're gonna come to Congress asking for some sort of supplemental, probably in the range of 100 billion to $200 billion to help fund this campaign going forward. And the mood right now on Capitol Hill is not one where they're just willing to open up the checkbook to make that happen. I think that they feel that they need a lot more information before just handing over money to continue this effort. And it doesn't seem right now that the administration seems all that compelled to go that route. And I'm not exactly sure why this was a classified briefing. They could have been as forthcoming as they wanted, and for some reason, they just chose not to.
- [12:04]
A
Ryan Nobles, yet another day talking about the shutdown. Thank you.
- [12:10]
B
Thank you.
- [12:13]
A
All right, we're gonna take a very quick break, and when we are back, why ousted Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro is trying to get his case dismissed in New York and what life looks like inside Venezuela. And while you're waiting for us to come back, do me a favor. Go open up your favorite podcast app. Search for here's the scoop. Hit the subscribe button. That way you'll never miss an episode. All right, we'll be right back.
- [12:40]
C
Do you love hair raising allegedly true stories about the paranormal? Then you should summon the podcast Scared to Death. It's the popular horror series with more than 60 million downloads to its name and is co hosted by me, Dan
- [12:53]
D
Cummins and me Lindsay, co host and also Dan's wife. Each week on Scared to Death, we share bone chilling tales from old books and creepy corners of the web and even some submitted by our listeners, all designed to make you want to sleep with the lights on.
- [13:09]
C
Think you can handle the horror? Tune in to Scared to Death every Tuesday at the stroke of midnight to find out.
- [13:16]
E
Finding the music you love shouldn't be hard. That's why Pandora makes it easy to explore all your favorites and discover new artists and genres you'll love. Enjoy a personalized listening experience simply by selecting any song or album and we'll make a station crafted just for you. Best of all, you can listen for free. Download Pandora on the Apple App Store or Google Play and start hearing the soundtrack to your life.
- [13:40]
A
And we are back with here's the scoop from NBC News. The ousted leader of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, and his wife, Celia Flores, appeared in a Manhattan federal courtroom on narco terrorism and drug trafficking charges today, almost three months after they were captured by the U.S. government. Lawyers from Maduro and his wife moved to dismiss the case. They argued that the US Government has improperly restricted their ability to pay for their defense by blocking access to money from sanctioned Venezuelan entities. NBC News reporter Adam Reese was inside the courtroom.
- [14:13]
F
Yasmin Maduro's attorney said he should be allowed to have counsel. It's a Sixth Amendment right and he should be allowed to have counsel of his own choice. This is going to be an expensive trip trial and he should be able to access Venezuelan sovereign funds. And if he can't do that, if the court and the government will not allow that, then the case should be dismissed. Judge Alvin Hellerstein said the case will not be dismissed, but he did seem amenable to allowing Maduro to have access to some Venezuelan sovereign funds. Prosecutors said that should not be allowed. This is a national security issue. He's welcome to use some of his own funds, but should not be able to tap into third party funds in Venezuela. Meanwhile, while that was happening inside court, outside court, dozens of protesters both for and against Maduro chanting. One of them had a sign that said Maduro rot in jail.
- [15:08]
A
Back in Venezuela, interim leader Delsey Rodriguez has been in power for the past few months, backed by the US Government. So we wanted to know how has life changed for Venezuelans? We called upon NBC contributor Ana Vanessa Herrero, who is in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas. Hi, Ana.
- [15:27]
G
Hi, how are you?
- [15:28]
A
I'm good. It's great to talk to you.
- [15:30]
G
Thank you.
- [15:31]
A
So we saw protesters outside of the courtroom in Manhattan today, some calling for Nicolas Maduro to be freed. What is the scene like in Venezuela right now? How much are people paying attention to the trial that is happening here?
- [15:48]
G
Well, people are definitely paying attention to this day. A lot of them have been waiting for a long time to see this day coming, but it's not happening the way you might expect. We don't see the streets, for example, flooding with people supporting the trial or asking for mother's release. Instead, we see people watching this privately and talking about this privately because most people in Venezuela don't. They don't feel comfortable with sharing what they think or what they expect publicly. But the government, of course, called to the streets to the small group who are still supporting Nicolas Maduro and the following government, the government that is now ruled by Del C. Rodriguez, and they are. They are in the streets right now. They are asking for Maduro to be released. Let's not forget that since Maduro was arrested, the government started this campaign, bring them Home, basically asking the United States to bring Nicolas Maduro and Celia Flores back to Venezuela. They claim that Maduro is still the president and that he was kidnapped and that he has to be lawfully returned.
- [17:06]
A
Interim leader Delsey Rodriguez is in Maduro's party and backed by the US Government. She has been making some changes. Right. She's replacing some of Maduro's allies in the government, reorganizing some agencies, appointing ambassadors as well. She has also reestablished diplomatic ties with the United States and the United States had subsequently eased some sanctions on Venezuela. Does it feel as if right now life has gotten any better for average Venezuelans?
- [17:38]
G
Well, that's actually a wonderful question. I think everyone is asking themselves exactly that because we're seeing some major changes on the macroeconomic atmosphere of Venezuela and in the government, within the government. And it looks like things are changing. But on the ground, people are feeling exactly the same. And some of them are actually worried that there's a continuance of the old government and that they might stay for the long run and this might not change and we might not see elections. And I've been talking to a lot of people lately and they fear two things. First, that the political sphere that is now ruling the country, it's going to be there and maintained as long as they keep Donald Trump happy. And of course, the majority of people don't want that. They want fair elections and their chance to elect a democratic leader, whoever that is. And the other thing they worry most is the economy because there are so many major changes in the economic life for the country. New laws, new deals with the US we're expecting more investments from huge names. But the regular Venezuelan is still struggling to eat three times a day. Just recently I spoke with this teacher, this professor, a college professor, she's retired, and she told me that her pension is less than $1 a month. And she lives with her mother who's 89 years old. And she has to take care of herself and her mother with less than a dollar. So how can she really survive $1 a month? You can imagine that that is her pension. That is how much she gets from the state after 40 something years, serving so many generations that are now lawyers, engineers, journalists, professionals. So it's like the international arena. It's moving so fast, but the ground is staying the same the old way. And every Venezuelan is feeling that, and it's starting to feel heavy on them.
- [19:58]
A
You have painted a somewhat dire picture of what is happening on the ground in Venezuela. Yes. Delcey Rodriguez, the interim leader, has been making some changes. It seems as if she is somewhat separating herself in one respect from Nicolas Maduro, but in the other respect also people still going into the streets and chanting for his release. Right. It's very much a split screen moment, it seems, for not only her leadership, but for the people inside Venezuela as they look towards the future. Venezuelans, that is you mentioned, they want free and fair elections. They worry they will never get that. What else do they want? What do they hope for? For their own future,
- [20:37]
G
basically. That is one of the main things people talk to me about when we talk about the future. Venezuelans are very used to not having a clear future. Up until very recently, young people, elderly, and the majority of the population in Venezuela thought about their future in whether I would leave the country or not. Now they have a small chance, or at least the people I'm talking to, they believe they have a chance of staying in the country. And that is huge. I mean, we're talking about a country that has seen at least 7 million people flee acute crisis, a humanitarian, very complex Crisis for over 10 years. And just having that on their minds and hearing that, for me, it's absolutely different from what I heard in the past. But really, still no one projects themselves six months from now, or a little bit further. They don't know what's gonna happen.
- [21:38]
A
Ana. Vanessa Herrero, thank you.
- [21:40]
G
Thank you so much.
- [21:43]
A
All right, coming up, why the IOC is barring trans athletes from women's competition and more from Hoda Kotb's interview with Savannah Guthrie. The headlines are next.
- [21:58]
C
Do you love hair raising allegedly true stories about the paranormal? Then you should summon the podcast Scared to Death. It's the popular horror series with more than 60 million downloads to its name and is co hosted by me, Dan
- [22:11]
D
Cummins and me, Lindsay, co host and also Dan's wife. Each week on Scared to Death, we share bone chilling tales from old books and creepy corners of the web and even some submitted by our listeners, all designed to make you want to sleep with the lights on.
- [22:27]
C
Think you can handle the horror? Tune in to Scared to Death every Tuesday at the stroke of midnight to find out.
- [22:34]
E
Finding the music you love shouldn't be hard. That's why Pandora makes it easy to explore all your favorites and discover new artists and genres you'll love. Enjoy a personalized listening experience simply by selecting any song or album and we'll make a station crafted just for you. Best of all, you can listen for free. Download Pandora on the Apple App Store or Google Play and start hearing the soundtrack to your life.
- [22:55]
H
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- [23:30]
A
And we are back with. Here's the scoop from NBC News. Let's get to some headlines. Israel says it has taken out the Iranian naval commander responsible for mining and blockading the Strait of Hormuz. Iran did not immediately confirm or deny Alireza Tangsudi's death, but the news comes as Tehran is being accused of illegally charging ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. The International Olympic Committee is banning transgender women from the Games starting with the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. The IOC says the decision will protect, quote, fairness, safety and integrity in the female category. It is unclear how many, if any, transgender women are competing at an Olympic level. No woman assigned male at birth competed at the 2024 Summer Games in Paris. The IOC's 10 page policy document also restricts some female athletes that have medical conditions known as differences in sex development or dsd, but still have the SRY gene. That includes two time Olympic champion South African runner Caster Semenya. It has been more than seven weeks since Nancy Guthrie disappeared from her home in Tucson, Arizona. In an interview on the Today show, her daughter and TODAY co anchor Savannah Guthrie shared her experience. As the investigation has gone on, Savannah said she's grappling with the possibility that her mother may have been targeted because of her fame, which is
- [25:02]
I
too much to bear. To think that I brought this to her bedside, that it's because of me, And I just say, I'm so sorry, Mommy. I'm so sorry.
- [25:25]
A
We're going to be sharing Hoda's full interview with Savannah in our feed on Saturday. In the meantime, anyone with information on Nancy's disappearance is urged to call the FBI tip line at 1-800- call FBI. The Justice Department says it erroneously relied on an ICE memo to justify arrests at immigration courthouses. In a court filing, the Trump administration admitted that it had justified the arrest based on an ICE memo from May of 2025 which said that ICE officials could make arrests in or near courthouses when they had, quote, credible information that a targeted person would be there. But in its filing, the DOJ said that the memo, quote, does not and has never applied to immigration enforcement actions in or near immigration courts. The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ice, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. And finally, the day is winding down at here's the scoop, which for some of my colleagues means it is time to hit the gym. But according to a new study, those colleagues who will remain unnamed might be better off if they had just gotten their butts up for a workout this morning like me. So in this study, Researchers looked at HealthInfo for more than 14,000 people. Participants who got their sweat on between 7 and 8am had lower rates of type 2 diabetes and obesity and a 31% lower risk of coronary artery disease compared to people who worked out just as much. But later in the day, the study still needs to be peer reviewed. But as a morning gym rat myself, well, listen, I'm not a gym rat, right? So I go to the gym sometimes I go for a run, I go to classes. It depends on the day. But I'm gonna take this as a win. And at least I'm doing one thing right that is gonna do it for us. At 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, subscribe. We'll see 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@NBC news.com.
- [27:53]
J
Hey everyone, it's me, Morgan Stewart, and I have a new podcast called the Morgan Stewart Show. Join me each week as I talk about pop culture, fashion, my personal life. And just a warning, I'm going to be giving my opinion on everything. I'll also have some really fun guests to join in on the fun the Morgan Stewart show is out now. Listen and follow wherever you get your podcasts or watch full video on YouTube.