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- [00:03]
A
Hey, everybody. Welcome to here's the scoop from NBC News. I'm Yasmin Bissugan. Coming up on the show today, Israel is partially reopening the Rafah border crossing. What does that mean for phase two of the fragile Gaza cease fire? Plus, the south continues its struggle to recover after massive winter storms and venting at work. Coco golf style. Up first, though, we're checking in on Minneapolis, where the president is reshuffling his immigration enforcement operation. Border Patrol's Greg Bevina is leaving Minneapolis and losing his commander title. Border czar Tom Holman is taking his place, meeting with local lawmakers in the state today. The move comes amidst widespread backlash after weeks of protests against the ICE operation in the state and after a second person was shot by federal agents in Minneapolis since the crackdown began. I want to bring in Julia Ainsley for more on this. She is NBC News's senior Homeland Security correspondent. Hey, Julia.
- [01:00]
B
Hey. Thanks for having me.
- [01:01]
A
Great to have you. Let's talk about the chess pieces that are moving now. You got Bavino out, Homans in. What does this kind of personnel shift indicate to you in terms of the Trump administration strategy for this ongoing operation, especially in Minnesota?
- [01:19]
B
You know, I've been asking myself that a lot today because I don't want to go too far here and say that Trump is suddenly softening on immigration because this has been his key campaign issue. He campaigned on mass DEP and that is still something he believes strongly in. And Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem still has her job. And as we understand, she had a meeting at the White House last night for two hours with her right hand man, Corey Lewandowski. They were behind Greg Bovino and putting him in Minneapolis to begin with. But she still has her job. And I was told by DHS that it was overall a positive meeting. And instead, what you have is a faction of the administration that was always for going after criminals, immigrants with criminal records and really targeting specific people rather than doing these like widespread sweeps through Home Depot parking lots. That faction was on the sidelines since June and just this week they triumphed over the other side. That is what's happening. The question is, will that really mean a policy that looks more humane than what we've been previously seeing?
- [02:22]
A
Well, what about Pavino losing his commander title?
- [02:24]
B
Well, he's been sent back to El Centro in California. It seems that someone was going to take the blame for this. And as usual, as we see in all sorts of administrations, a lot of times they go for who might be the public face but is kind of the lowest level. He's not Senate confirmed. He's not pivotal to the Cabinet or anything like that. Lewandowski is so closely tied to Kristi Noem that the two of them will really reign there together. And so Bovino could be a scapegoat with everybody else kind of still keeping their jobs at the end of the day. And they've been very clear to say he'll still have his job, but he's back at the border. And without him, what Border Patrol has been doing in cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, Charlotte, New Orleans, and now Minneapolis really comes to a halt, and they're starting to pull those agents out.
- [03:11]
A
So Pavitna reported to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Krissy Noem. The president has said that Homan is actually going to report directly to him. Now, at the same time you have the president, you just mentioned it, kind of defending Secretary of Homeland Security Noem on the White House lawn today on his way to Iowa.
- [03:31]
C
I think she's doing a very good job. I think she's doing a very good job.
- [03:35]
B
The border is totally secure.
- [03:37]
A
You know, you forget, what does this shift mean for Noem?
- [03:42]
B
I do think that this means he's giving her another shot, but I think that her power is diminished because Tom Homan has always reported directly to the president. This borders, our thing was invented under this second Trump administration. And there was a big question we're all asking ourselves a year ago. What will Kristi Noem do? Because Tom Homan will obviously be running all of these plays and calling the shots. He's the one with experience. He's been with ICE since it was INS when he joined in 1988. She has no law enforcement experience. A lot of people thought she was just going to be maybe a pretty face of the operation while he was really calling the shots. And instead, she ran everything and he was sidelined. And so the fact that Homan is now stepping into a more prominent role, where he's going to be calling the shots in Minneapolis and working with the governor and really trying to come to some kind of resolution there, really takes away a lot of the power of Kristi Noem. But it's an ongoing battle. I don't think this is the end of the war.
- [04:38]
A
Well, and I'm glad you say that, because the president is also weighing politics amidst all of this. Right. That is the November midterm elections looming just a few months away. At this point, you have the largest federal workers union calling for Noem. And also White House Advisor Stephen Miller to be fired or to resign. Is any of that, you think, going to play into the decision as to what happens to them and specifically Noemi?
- [05:02]
B
Yeah, I think that it would be a real shock if Stephen Miller were fired or was really bruised in any way, even though he is clearly behind all of these decisions and put Bovino in his position of power. He has been so closely aligned to President Trump since before he even stepped into the White House. He has been the architect of all of his immigration policies. Everything he says about immigration on the campaign trail, it's hard to see that that would go anywhere. But certainly there is an expectation going into midterms that if they go too far and people worry that Trump is really using immigration to be an authoritarian and to push against protesters and the wishes of states, and that maybe there's a crack in the argument that they're standing up against these radical left brainwashed agitators, as we've heard Stephen Miller and others call them, that maybe they could lose some voters.
- [06:03]
A
So with that, what are the expectations of Homan in Minnesota and what he may do? Is he going to dial it down? Is that his job? Especially after this call that the president had with Governor Walz.
- [06:13]
B
I get the sense they don't want Minnesota to be in the headlines for much longer. And I think it's Homan's job there to find some kind of resolution that can make the Trump administration at least walk out with its head held high. And so what we're seeing from these calls between the governor and the president and the governor and Homan, they met today, it seems as though there's going to be some kind of resolution where Homan could at least say the state has agreed to help us find the criminal immigrants that we want to focus on there and that we will no longer have 3,000 immigration agents going through the streets and checking people's papers. Thing is, Governor Waltz actually holds more cards now because he's not running for reelection and Trump is up against the midterms, and he obviously wants ICE out of his state and wants Border Patrol out of his state, but he's really under no pressure to work with these people, and he has the support of all those thousands of protesters you see in the streets.
- [07:12]
A
I want to talk about the investigation into Preddy's shooting. Alex Preddy shooting. You have Republican lawmakers breaking with the president. A dozen senators calling for an investigation into Alex Preddy's killing. We know, thanks, by the way, to your reporting that DHS investigators are reviewing body cam videos from immigration agents involved in the shooting as well. This could potentially serve as evidence, but there are lawsuits that are pending over whether state officials will get access to that evidence. How unusual is it, Julia, that DHS is running point on this investigation?
- [07:46]
B
It is unusual because typically an investigation like this would be have a DHS component where the Office of Professional Responsibility looks into whether or not that person should be disciplined, which is totally separate from an ongoing criminal investigation that DOJ usually runs, usually in partnership with a state or local jurisdiction where this occurred. DOJ would be investigating whether or not they criminally violated civil rights by using use of force. But in this case, they're having DHS be the point. And that was a decision made Saturday before a lot of this backlash started. And since then, we've heard the president say numerous times that he wants an honest and open and independent investigation. So now it could be that DHS is going to be under more pressure to show why they're capable of handling this investigation. And if they find enough, they can then refer it to DOJ to do a criminal investigation.
- [08:36]
A
Do they have a obligation to show their work?
- [08:39]
B
Definitely not publicly. If you do not charge, you do not have to show your work.
- [08:43]
A
That is senior national security correspondent Julia Ainsley. All right, we're going to take a very quick break, but when we are back, the remains of the last hostage are back in Israel. What is next for the ceasefire deal and will it hold?
- [09:04]
D
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- [09:34]
A
Hey guys, Willie Geist here reminding you to check out the Sunday Sit down podcast. On this week's episode, I get together.
- [09:40]
D
With Hollywood superstar Jason Momoa to discuss his professional journey from those early days of Baywatch, Hawaii to Aquaman and now.
- [09:49]
A
His his new movie, the Wrecking Crew. You can get my conversation with Jason for free wherever you download your podcasts. Welcome back to here's the scoop of NBC News. The remains of the final Israeli hostage in Gaza will return to Israel on Monday, a prerequisite for Israel and Hamas to move into phase two of the US Brokered ceasefire. The next stage includes Israel partially reopening Gaza's Rafah border crossing into Egypt, but will also determine the future of security forces in the region, a much trickier issue. So I want to bring in NBC News foreign correspondent Matt Bradley from Tel Aviv. Hey, Matt.
- [10:33]
C
Hey, how are you, Yasmin?
- [10:34]
A
I'm great. So it has now been over two years since the October 7th attack, and the last hostage, Ron Gavili, is now finally coming back to Israel. How has the country been marking this moment?
- [10:50]
C
Well, what they marked it with was a very small, very somber ceremony that I just got back from just in the past couple of minutes. And what was Hostages Square, I don't know if it's still going to be called Hostages Square in central Tel Aviv. It was christened that by a lot of the protesters. And, you know, they literally stopped the clock on the hostage crisis in the Gaza Strip. There had been a huge LCD display clock, counting the days, the hours, the minutes, the seconds since the start of those October 7 attacks, since the beginning of this ordeal for those hostages. And even though all of the living hostages were released several months ago, around the time that that ceasefire came into effect, there was still that one last body of ron Gavili, the 28th dead. He was killed during the firefight. He was engaging Hamas, and he's been celebrated here over the past week. His body was returned yesterday after a pretty big search. And as you mentioned, this is more than just the end of the hostage crisis. It's also opening another chapter in this ceasefire. Phase two.
- [11:54]
A
Let's talk about phase two and what comes next. We reported yesterday on this pod that there are plans to partially reopen the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt. What do we know about a potential timeline here? And also, I think it's important, Matt, for us to talk about the significance of what this could provide for Palestinians with this border crossing opening.
- [12:21]
C
So the Rafah border crossing is actually supposed to open on Thursday. That's what we heard in the Israeli media. There was no time given. Now the Rafah border crossing is already open for those Palestinians in Gaza who want to leave the Gaza Strip. Now, with the opening of the Rafah border crossing to allow people to come both ways into Gaza and out of Gaza, those who had left the Gaza Strip will finally be allowed to return those who left during the past two years of fighting. There's also hopes that more aid will be allowed to flow in from Egypt into the Gaza Strip. The Israelis are still going to be keeping quite a close eye on the Rafah border crossing. The idea is that it will also be monitored by United nations border force personnel. And there is talk that there could be the hiring of an American security firm, which is what we've seen in various other parts of Gaza over the past two years. It's unclear whether or not this is going to really open the floodgates to more aid going into the Gaza Strip. And we've been hearing aid organizations, advocacy groups, they've been saying that the amount of aid that's going into Gaza is still woefully inadequate considering the demand. And remember, it's not just food, it's medicine, it's also construction materials. And that's particularly crucial right now because not only is huge numbers of the population living in tents, temporary shelters, and in partially destroyed buildings that lately, during these high winds, have had a habit of collapsing and killing people who are staying in them because they have nowhere else to live. This also will hopefully provide people with the kinds of equipment that could provide more permanent shelter. Add on top of that that the Palestinians, the health authorities there, say that nearly 500 people have been killed by Israeli attacks, whether it be artillery, airstrikes over the past couple of months, ever since the ceasefire came into place. And that's why when we talk about this, you know, turning off the clock, literally on that hostage crisis, it hasn't turned off the clock on the war, not as far as the Palestinians are concerned. There still is a lot of violence, and in fact, a couple of Israeli troops have also been killed from attacks since the ceasefire came into place. So we're seeing a new phase in the ceasefire. It looks a lot like the old phase right now for a lot of people who are still living in the Gaza Strip.
- [14:33]
A
Some of the details that you have mentioned so far in this conversation involve some of the other kind of tenets of phase two, and that is the deployment of an international security force, potentially, which you just mentioned, especially when it comes to possibly securing the Rafah border crossing, the pulling back eventually of Israeli soldiers, the rebuilding of Gaza, and the disarmament of Hamas. When we talk about the disarmament of Hamas, how do they, and this is a question I've had from the beginning, how do they plan on doing that when they can't necessarily even identify who believes in the ideology that Hamas follows?
- [15:13]
C
That's why phase two is so murky and so difficult. Unlike phase one, where we saw Hamas does something, Israel does something, Hamas does something else, Israel does something. There was a timeline, there were steps, there was a progression. There's no timeline in phase two. There's no quid pro quo between Hamas and the Israelis to guide the whole thing forward. The Israelis, during that first phase, withdrew to this so called yellow line and the Israelis are supposed to withdraw further. Hamas is supposed to disarm. We don't have Hamas saying that they're going to disarm, even though they agreed to the ceasefire deal, which included phrases and language saying that they would have to disarm. One of the clauses in this Donald Trump's 20 point plan is complete disarmament of the Gaza Strip. So we're not just talking about putting down a weapon. We're talking about an enormous logistical infrastructure construction undertaking that is going to be presumably going along alongside reconstruction, which presumably also has to go alongside the clearing of debris.
- [16:18]
A
At the end of the day, the priorities right now, it seems for both sides are security, rebuilding, essential needs like food, water, health care. And you mentioned how there's not necessarily any body, it seems to oversee how this is all going down and making sure that it's fair with that. We know the President has proposed the Board of Peace as the entity who would oversee these phases. You've got 20 countries that have said they're going to join, including Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan. He signed that charter in Davos last week. There was no mention of Gaza being a part of this, any governance from Gaza being a part of this. How realistic is it that this quote, unquote, Board of Peace will have a real ability to oversee this next phase?
- [17:16]
C
Another great question, and the fact is, is that when we're talking about the Board of Peace, it really changed under everybody's feet, right? It was agreed upon by the parties to the 20 point plan who signed onto this deal back in Sharm El Sheikh. Now, the Board of Peace means something totally different. As you mentioned the Charter, the Board of Peace doesn't include the word Gaza. Instead, it talks broadly about solving conflicts throughout the entire world. And it includes on the Board of Peace some characters that are kind of like pariahs in the international community. So it's unclear what role the Board of Police will even play, if any, in Gaza's reconstruction and governance, though presumably it will have this as outlined by Donald Trump's 20 point plan. It will have a supervisory roll over the whole effort. And Donald Trump himself now will have veto power over anything that this Board of Peace does. So I think that when we're talking about what actually happens on the ground in the Gaza Strip, there are two other committees, an executive committee and this technocratic administrative committee that's populated mostly by senior officials like Ali Shah. I was mentioning who's a deputy minister of the Palestinian author. So, you know, the whole Palestinian polity is so badly fractured. It's unclear how a new administrative body backed by the US Very much backed by the Israelis, is going to be able to seize authority in the Gaza Strip, particularly if Hamas remains armed. So Hamas has said that they accept this administrative body, that they will allow for it, and they've even seen some of the appointees to this. But at the same time, it's unclear how all of this is going to fit into this project, which right now is so germinal. We can't really see where this is going, particularly because President Trump keeps moving the goalposts and changing things around, like we saw with this board of peace, which was supposed to be running the show and now it's running the world.
- [19:12]
A
Matt Bradley, thank you.
- [19:13]
C
Thank you.
- [19:16]
A
All right. We're gonna take a very quick break, but when we are back, victims families have filed the first wrongful death lawsuit against the Trump administration over their strikes on alleged drug boats. We're going to give you the headlines. Stay with us.
- [19:31]
D
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- [20:02]
A
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- [20:32]
D
On the night before Halloween in 1975, 15 year old Martha Moxley was murdered. But police failed to make an arrest until in 2000 her one time neighbor Michael Skakel was arrested. He was also a cousin of the Kennedys. The Kennedy connection is the reason that most people know about this case. But the deeper I dug, the more I came to question everything I thought I knew. Dead Certain the Martha Moxley Murder. All episodes are available now wherever you get your podcasts.
- [21:06]
A
Welcome back to here's the scoop from NBC News. All right, let's get to some headlines. More than 500,000 customers remain without power following the weekend winter storm, with outages hitting Tennessee and Mississippi the hardest.
- [21:19]
B
We cannot cook anything. We cannot do anything.
- [21:22]
A
You know, we are paralyzed, to be honest with you. Extreme cold warnings are now in place for 160 million people across the eastern third of the United States. The National Weather Service says temperatures will stay well below normal through the rest of this week and into next. The first wrongful death lawsuit has been filed against the Trump administration over its drug boat strike campaign. Families of two Trinidadian men killed in an October strike off the coast of Venezuela are accusing the US of extrajudicial killings, challenging the administration's claim of armed conflict with drug cartels. According to the Department of Defense, the strike was the fifth in a campaign that has killed at least 125 people across three dozen boats since September. The Pentagon has declined to comment on the lawsuit. President Trump says he's heightened tariffs on South Korean imports from 15% to 25%. The President claims that the country has not implemented a trade deal from last year that included a promise to invest $350 billion in the United States. South Korea imports nearly $150 billion worth of goods to the US every year. The announcement sent South Korean automaker stocks down as much as 6%. Meanwhile, India and the EU are hedging against Trump's unpredictable trade policy by sealing what Prime Minister Narendra Modi is calling, quote, the mother of all trade deals. After nearly two decades of on off negotiations, the deal will pave the way for India to open up the world's largest but very guarded market to free trade with the 27 countries of Europe. The EU is already India's biggest trading partner, and the deal represents 25% of global GDP and 1/3 of global trade. And finally, tennis phenom Coco Gauff just did what everybody feels like doing these days, smashing the heck out of a racket. After losing in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open. It is not the first time that golf has broken a racket during a match, but she says it's better to, quote, let out the emotion by herself than take it out on her team. And at least this time she didn't lose her cool on the court, although there are always cameras. That is going to do it for us at here's the scoop from NBC News. I'm Yasmin Bisugin. We'll be back tomorrow with whatever the day may bring. And if you like what you heard, subscribe. Wherever you get your podcasts. We'll see you tomorrow.
- [23:59]
D
The new year brings new health goals and wealth goals. Protecting your identity is an important step. Your info is in endless places that could expose you to identity theft leading to lost funds. LifeLock monitors millions of data points per second. If your identity is stolen, our restoration specialists will fix it, guaranteed, or your money back. Resolve to make identity, health and wealth part of your New year's goals. With LifeLock, save up to 40% your first year. Visit LifeLock.com SpecialOffer terms apply.