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Here's the Scoop
“I’m at DEFCON 4 of my shutdown meter” on Capitol Hill; A step closer to a TikTok deal
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- [00:01]
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- [01:01]
Yasmin Vesugian
Welcome to here's the scoop from NBC News. I'm Yasmin Vesugian. Today on the show is your TikTok scrolling under new management plus a multi billion dollar settlement for Amazon. What it could mean for your prime subscription. Up first, though, we could be just five days out from the government shutting down as Republicans and Democrats are once again locked in a game of chicken over funding. And before I sound like I'm the ghost of looming government shutdowns past the White House really raised the stakes overnight. The Trump administration is now threatening to potentially fire some federal employees if a government funding deal is not reached in just under a week. And usually when we talk about government shutdowns, some workers face unpaid leave. But now they're facing losing their jobs altogether. That is according to this memo coming out of the White House obtained by NBC News. Democrats like Senate leader Chuck Schumer are calling the move an intimidation tactic. And they were supposed to meet with President Trump in the White House today, but the president abruptly canceled their sit down and then announced his threat to fire workers. Want to bring in chief Capitol Hill correspondent Ryan Nobles to talk more about this. So, Ryan, we've been here before with a looming government shutdown, but this one's a little different because there's now a threat to fire federal workers if the government shuts down.
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Ryan Nobles
Yeah, I think this raises the stakes in ways that these previous government shutdowns have never been raised. I think it also comes on the heels of this same Office of Management and Budget, which is a government agency that most Americans have never heard of, who was kind of the group that spearheaded the huge reduction in workforce of the federal government in the spring. Russ Vogt, who is the director of the Office of Management and Budget. He is a co author of the Project 2025 roadmap. Russ Vote has long been of the belief that the government workforce is way too big and that it needs to be dramatically shrunk. This now provides him the opening to do that. And what he's essentially saying in this guidance that they provided the agencies last night was that if Democrats, they're blaming Democrats for this, choose to not vote to keep government funding flowing, well then if we don't have any money, we're just gonna fire everyone. In the past, what has happened is people get furloughed if you're considered what they describe as an essential employee. You've gotta come to work, but you're not gonna get paid. This is a much different situation now. If you're one of the millions of federal workers all across the country, you do not know that if there's no guarantee for you right now that if the government doesn't shut down that you could be given a pink slip. And so that raises the stakes dramatically. I'm sure it is by design. Democrats believe it's an intimidation tactic by Republicans. But given the fact that you, someone like Russ Vote running the show here, it may be just posturing. But it's posturing you have to take seriously. Because I think given the opportunity to fire people and to cut the federal workforce, I think Russ Vote would take that opportunity. And it seems to be that we may be on the verge of that.
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Yasmin Vesugian
I want you to, Ryan, lay out for us what the Republican budget looks like and what the Democrats actually want to change about it.
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Ryan Nobles
So it's not that hard. Actually. The Republican budget is we're just gonna keep spending at its current levels for another seven weeks to give us some Runway to negotiate a longer long term spending plan. There's really not that much different from the budget as it currently exists. Democrats want more. They're really concerned about healthcare. They are fearful that in these elongated budget negotiations that Republicans are not going to extend some subsidies that are connected to the Affordable Care act or Obamacare, which Republicans hate.
- [04:52]
Yasmin Vesugian
So what could that literally look like for someone who is on Obamacare right now?
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Ryan Nobles
It's not everybody that's connected to Obamacare. It's certain groups that qualify for these very specific subsidies and tax credits. Basically, those are set to expire at the end of the year. And it's millions of Americans that benefit from these subsidies. And if they are not extended, those subsidies will go away, which means their premiums will go up. And in some cases it will mean they'll go up at such a rate that they won't be able to afford it anymore and they'll be without health insurance. That is a very real possibility. Republicans believe that's too expensive. That's part of the reason that it wasn't put into the bill permanently. But that's a realistic problem that's gonna happen between now and the end of the year. But Republicans are arguing is this particular juncture of the negotiations isn't the time to deal with this. That's why we have an appropriations process. We need seven more weeks to hash out those fine details, and then we can decide if extending the Affordable Care act subsidies is worth it.
- [05:55]
Yasmin Vesugian
Usually in times like this, Senate leaders are talking right from both sides of the aisle. Are they talking now?
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Ryan Nobles
No. That, among every other thing, is the reason my shutdown meter is spiking right now. I'm at DEFCON 4 of my shutdown meter because they're just not talking and they don't seem to want to talk. Initially, they were supposed to have a meeting today, Thursday with Donald Trump. And Trump canceled it. He canceled it because the Republican leaders told him to cancel it. So if you're not talking, there's no way you're gonna just cut a deal. At the very least, we're in the save face stage of these negotiations where there has to at least be some indication that one side budged a little to break the logjam. That's just not happening right now. And I think the big question that I have, and no one's been able to answer it for me yet, is what do Democrats specifically want? They've talked broadly about these ACA subsidies, They've talked broadly about clawing back some of the Medicaid cuts. They've talked broadly about assurances that Donald Trump's gonna spend the money. What is the Democrats endgame? I don't think we know that right now. Yasmin and Republicans have an end game, right? They just wanna keep the government open at the current levels. I think that makes their negotiating posture a little bit clearer to the American people. But then when you add in the prospect of mass layoffs, when you add in the prospect of people losing services, when you add in the prospect of these healthcare cuts, then Democrats can start to make a stronger argument with their voters. But this could be a pivotal moment. Cause right after this, we're gonna be heading in a degree of fierceness into the 2026 midterms. And this is one of the biggest issues that people will be who is.
- [07:36]
Yasmin Vesugian
Winning the war on the PR of this whole thing that if they, in fact go into a shutdown, whose fault is it?
- [07:43]
Ryan Nobles
The most direct answer to that is no one wins in a shutdown. I've been through many of these. There's a political cost that's taken by everyone involved in a shutdown almost every single time you do it. But the gamble that Democrats are gonna make right now is that when you look at Donald Trump's approval rating right now, specifically on a couple of kitchen table issues that people care a lot about, healthcare, inflation, the economy in general, his numbers have plummeted. His overall approval rating is also down. And you tie that into the fact that the Republicans have the majority in the House and Senate and they have the White House. They believe that they can make the case to the American people that it is the responsibility of the Republicans to pass a spending plan to keep the government open. Whether or not the average American believes that nuance, I think, is an open question. And Donald Trump is a master messenger when it comes to stuff like this. He'll just call it the Schumer shutdown over and over again. So I think there's a lot at risk for both Republicans and Democrats if this shutdown does happen.
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Yasmin Vesugian
Ryan Nobles coming to us from a tiny tracking booth at the Capitol.
- [08:47]
Ryan Nobles
It's all about location, location, location, location. Yasmin, remember that.
- [08:50]
Yasmin Vesugian
Ryan Nobles, thank you.
- [08:52]
Ryan Nobles
Thank you.
- [08:55]
Yasmin Vesugian
All right, we are going to take a quick break. Coming up, TikTok's latest trend cutting a deal to stay in the U.S. we're going to tell you what's on the table. P.S. we love making this podcast for you, and we love it even more if you told us how we're doing. Head to NBC news.com survey and let us know. Again, that is NBC news.com survey. Don't leave us hanging. All right, we'll be right back.
- [09:26]
McCormick Brand Announcer
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- [09:54]
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Ryan Nobles
I need a coffee.
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- [10:24]
Willie Geist
Hey, guys, Willie Geist here reminding you to check out the Sunday Sit down podcast. On this week's episode, I get together with one of the biggest stars in the world, Gloria Estefan, on the extraordinary life story of a young Cuban exile who became a music icon. You can hear my conversation with Gloria for free wherever you download your podcasts.
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Yasmin Vesugian
And we are back with here's the scoop from NBC News. After literal years of back and forth, the Trump administration says it's landed on a deal with China to facilitate the sale of TikTok's American operations. The president signing an executive order today to allow it to go through. But there are still so many questions, questions about it. So to help us get some answers, I want to bring in Savannah Sellers. She's an anchor at Morning News now and has been following the story from the jump, all the twists and the turns.
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Savannah Sellers
Feels like I came out of the womb covering TikTok at this point.
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Yasmin Vesugian
Can you take us back for a moment and walk us through how we actually got here from ban to ban to now?
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Savannah Sellers
I think the most fascinating part of how we got here is that Donald Trump started this in 2020 in his first term. He was the first one to raise concerns, say that he believed that TikTok was a national security threat because of its ties to the Chinese government. This got far enough along that he had his then treasury secretary fully working up a deal. It kind of goes dormant. It a sale does not happen. It doesn't move forward. Biden becomes president on the Hill over on Capitol Hill, we have lawmakers who start to, in a very bipartisan way, by the way, have concerns about Tik Tok and it being a national security threat. Lawmakers essentially say, hey, Tik Tok's parent company, it's this company called Bite Dance, it has these Chinese ties in China. The Chinese government can basically say, hey, excuse me, you, company, and peek in on really anything that they want. They also have to be involved in certain quote, unquote exports as the algorithm is an export considered to be. So they have this ability to be highly involved with any type of company that is based in China. And the app knows a lot about you obviously like your basics, but also what you like, what type of content you're going to respond to, what type of things. You're going to spend your money on how you feel about certain things. And that leads me to the second concern, which is that they could have essentially manipulated content that Americans were receiving in that algorithm. Can they, you know, sort of pump up one political perspective and tamp down another? And that's the type of content that Americans are seeing.
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Yasmin Vesugian
So the deal now does still have ByteDance ownership in it. Right? 20%.
- [13:02]
Savannah Sellers
Right. And so. And also we now know that there'll be seven boards, seats, one of which will belong to ByteDance 6, we are told, are American investors. One thing I'm certainly looking out for in the days and weeks to come is do lawmakers who are not the president feel that this deal actually satisfies first, the law, by the way, because this was signed into law, had major bipartisan support across the board. Republicans and Democrats agreeing on something. Agreed this was a problem.
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Yasmin Vesugian
Can you walk through that law for me real quick?
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Savannah Sellers
Yeah, absolutely. So this is the law that that President Biden signed. And what it said the. Is that this app either cannot operate in the United States or you still want to operate here. Okay, here's your option. It has to be sold away from that Chinese ownership. There's a lot of fine print that gets into exactly what it's called, a qualified divestiture. That's the language that the law uses about what that sale looks like. Here's the big thing, though, Yasmin. It specifically also says that the definition of a qualified divestiture is up to the president. President Trump, therefore, has a lot of control in what he's going to essentially bless as a sale that he's comfortable with.
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Yasmin Vesugian
So when you talk about the concerns, do we know if this deal will address those concerns? We'll keep, for instance, our data and our information safe.
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Savannah Sellers
Here's what the administration has said at this point. A senior White House official has explained that the way that the algorithm is going to work is that they're saying that China has essentially agreed to export a copy. That's a big concession, by the way, on the Chinese part. If that comes to be what we see happen, that algorithm will be trained, retrained with US User data. An algorithm is right, you know, like a code, sure, that that code can be exported. However, we know that what makes TikTok, as good as it is, as addictive as it is, is that that algorithm is constantly changing and adapting because it's soaking up all of this information and data. So the algorithm that we're going to get has essentially already been built Right. On all of the global data, not just US user data. To me, that sounds like the White House trying to use that as a way to ease national security concerns, to say, hey, it's only going to be TR user data, therefore it's not going to be manipulating you because it's just US user data that is telling it what to do, not anything.
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Yasmin Vesugian
Storage of our personal information.
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Savannah Sellers
The storage of our personal information, in theory, Tik Tok, I should point out, says that it has been safe and secure for months since something called Project Texas. Project Texas was one where they brought all US User data, like physically it is stored in the United States and managed by Oracle. In this new deal, they are saying that that only strengthens Oracle, takes a larger role protecting that data, but now also essentially being the people who are in charge of the algorithm, rather than that happening over in China, does it.
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Yasmin Vesugian
Change the user experience?
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Savannah Sellers
I think that the question on the algorithm is a big one, right? Because the whole thing that people have been worried about is, okay, even if you find some way to quote, unquote, save TikTok, and I'm saying that as a quote, because that's what President Trump has said several times is what he wants to do is, is there a way to save it without it changing if the algorithm is in any way changed? What we are hearing is sort of a mixed bag on that, right? On one hand, we're hearing the algorithm is a copy of it's being sent. On the other hand, we're hearing we're retraining it. I think two things. The change to the algorithm could certainly mean you just feel like you're being recommended different things. And. And if you're not on TikTok, it's kind of hard to even understand the way that it almost feels like people say, like, the app's like, inside your brain. Like, how does it know what content I want? It's because the algorithm is that good. So does them changing it in any way change that? And then the second question on that front is just, do personal individuals, American individuals who not only are just passive investors now, but maybe on a board, get to start to have a say in the way that the app works?
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Yasmin Vesugian
Savannah Sellers. Thank you. Thank you. All right, let's get to some headlines. The Justice Department is weighing charges against former FBI Director James Comey for allegedly lying to Congress to DOJ officials. Telling NBC News the potential charges stem from Comey's 2020 Senate testimony about whether he authorized a leak of information about Trump Investig, which Comey denies. The U.S. attorney who had overseen the case resigned last week, citing lack of evidence. But Attorney General Pam Bondi has since installed Lindsey Halligan, a former Trump attorney with no prosecutorial experience, to take over. A representative for Comey denied comment. A DOJ spokesperson also declined to comment on any matters relating to Comey. But with the statute of limitations expiring next week, the DOJ has only days to decide. Amazon has agreed to a historic $2.5 billion settlement with the Federal Trade Commission to resolve allegations that it deceptively enrolled customers in its prime membership service and made it difficult for them to cancel. The settlement was announced as the trial in the case was just underway. It includes a $1 billion civil penalty and a 1 1/2 billion dollar fund for consumer refunds. The FTC had accused the company of using manipulative quote dark patterns in its website design to trick millions of shoppers into auto renewing subscriptions. As part of the agreement, which does not include an admission of wrongdoing, Amazon will be required to make its prime signup and cancellation process more clear and easier for customers to navigate. In a statement, Amazon said the company and its executives have always followed the law and this settlement allows us to move forward and focus on innovating for customers. A historic ruling out of Paris Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has been sentenced to five years behind bars. A court found him guilty of criminal conspiracy tied to allegations his 2007 campaign was bankrolled with cash from the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. Sarkozy was cleared on other corruption charges, but this still marks the first time a former French president has been sentenced to prison. He continues to deny any wrongdoing, but even if he appeals, as he has promised to do, Sarkozy will still serve time behind bars.
- [19:08]
Ryan Nobles
Fly ball to right field, number 60.
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Yasmin Vesugian
Seattle finally has something to shout about besides the rain. Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh smashed his 60th home run of the season. With only four games left in the regular season, Raleigh's only three home runs away from passing New York Yankee Aaron Judge's home run record in the American League. He is also the seventh player in MLB history to hit 60 home runs. The blast came in a 92 win over the Rockies that also locked up Seattle's first American League west crown since 2001. So it looks like Raleigh is going to make it rain in Seattle just in a different way. Move over, Marseille, the coolest neighborhood on the planet for 2025 is now in Tokyo. Jimbocho snagged TimeOut's top spot thanks to its perfect blend of old school charm and modern edge, the historic Book District is home to more than 130 bookstores, along with cozy curry houses, indie cafes and jazz bars that spill out onto the streets. It is a neighborhood where students, locals and travelers all cross paths, making it one of the most vibrant corners of the city. And with that, I'll see you in Jimbocho. All right, that's gonna do it for us at Here's a 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.
- [20:43]
McCormick Brand Announcer
McCormick knows unbeatable flavor starts with the right spices. It's why we created Flavour Seal, so anytime you peel back the seal of McCormick herbs and spices, you can be confident they will pack the same amount of flavor as the day they were packed. The kind of flavor that brings out the best of your favorite recipes and keeps everyone coming back for seconds or maybe even thirds. McCormick flavor sealed for unbeatable flavor.