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Here's the Scoop
Trump Delays Strikes Amid 'Productive' Talks and LaGuardia Collision Under Investigation
00:25:45
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A
Hey, everybody, and welcome to here's the Scoop from NBC News. I'm Yasm Desugin. We have a big show for you today. An Air Canada flight colliding with a fire truck at New York's LaGuardia Airport overnight. Officials are looking into whether air traffic control staffing was an issue. Plus, if your mail in ballot arrives the poll after election Day, should your vote still count? The Supreme Court is hearing the case and and there are no perfect brackets left, the men's NCAA tournament after just the first weekend of March Madness. What teams to watch as we head to the Sweet 16. Up first, though, this morning the president announced on Truth Social that the US Would postpone strikes against Iran's power plants for five days, just five days. It's coming just hours ahead of a deadline the president had set for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face the U.S. threat to, quote, unquote, obliterate the Iranian energy infrastructure. He was asked about this reversal, and the president cited, quote, productive talks with Tehran to end the war. That news sent oil prices plummeting and global markets soaring. But Tehran has not confirmed any talks and had previously vowed they would not negotiate. So why did President Trump suddenly change course? And what does the path forward look like for the US For Israel and for Iran? To try and answer all of those questions for us, we want to bring in NBC News senior White House correspondent Garrett Hague.
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B
No pressure, no pressure.
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A
No pressure. Garrett, let's talk about this decision first from the president. So he set this deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face attacks on the country's entire energy infrastructure. And then hours before this attack was set to be launched, he switches gears. Take us through about what you know of the timeline here when it comes to the president's decision.
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C
Well, look, we don't know nearly as much as we want to. And this is all complicated by the fact that the president, even in his comments to reporters this morning before leaving Palm beach, tends to kind of contradict himself. But what we know is roughly what you laid out on Friday. He was in an escalatory mood. He was headed to Palm beach for the weekend, and he made this threat on the Strait of Hormuz, which has become really the pivotal geographic center of this war and the strategic center of this war, saying that if Iran hadn't fully opened it up, he was going to order these strikes on their energy infrastructure. Iran responded saying, if you do that, we're going to target all of these infrastructure projects all over the Middle east, not just other power plants and oil depots and things like that, but the desalinization plants that provide the water that people in Qatar and Saudi Arabia drink every day. And that this cycle of escalation seemed ready to go up and up and up. And what we now know, looking backwards, at some point over the weekend, the President's envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, started talking to someone in the Iranian government and we still don't know who that someone is about off ramps. The President was briefed on those discussions sometime between Sunday night and Monday morning and then put out this truth social post, which if it wasn't all about the markets, wasn't. Not about the markets, but the timing of it, the fact that it came out in that 7 o' clock hour before the markets were open, but what everyone could see, what the futures were doing, and the fact that he immediately turned around and whether it was his calls that he put placed outgoing or calls that were coming into him, just so happened to be with CNBC and Fox Business, the channels that people will be watching as they're getting ready to log into their Bloomberg terminals and start their trading days.
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You mentioned the markets specifically. The President had faced a lot of criticism over the impact of the war on the economy. Oil and gas prices have soared. Global markets have been rocked. How much is that driving the President's decisions in this war? Understanding that it does not bode well for him politically, for the economy to doing what it to be doing what it's doing and the markets really to be doing what they're doing.
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C
Yeah, look, I can't say that it's the primary factor, but it's among them. It is a major, major factor in the President's decision making. And this is an asymmetrical war. And in some ways, that works to our advantage militarily. The United States is dominant. We have militarily, in every, you know, way you would score this won the military conflict. The President says that it's true, but that's not what wars are always about. And Iran has these asymmetric advantages on the economic side where they don't have to have a dominant navy to close the strait. They could lay mines or they can have the credible threat of laying mines. And Iran has used those asymmetric advantages as best they can to try to stave off these future attacks or to try to, you know, protect the parts of their economy and their, you know, system of governance that they can. And it works to a certain degree. And I think The Iranians could look at President Trump and understand that across his two terms, he's sensitive to what the markets are doing, he's sensitive to what oil prices are doing. It's a politic. It is an election year here in the United States. And all of this is gonna be front of mind for the President. And they don't have to look that far back. They can look at what happened in April when he rolled out his tariffs globally and then fairly quickly started walking them back. I mean, Wall street dubbed that Taco. Trump always chickens out. And you're seeing a lot of the online discourse today suggesting that there may be a similar chickening out here by the President when faced with the markets. I can't say whether or not that's true, but it's sort of like the kind of open source information that if you're Iran and you're fighting a losing battle militarily, you know, you will use the pressure points that you have to try to forestall defeat. And that seems to be exactly what they've done here.
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So then let's talk about the meeting and what evidence we have to back up the President's claim that, in fact, these meetings are happening. You mentioned there's a meeting possibly happening between Witkoff, Jared Kushner, and someone inside of the Iranian government. The President has told reporters this morning that the Strait of Hormuz is going to be open very soon. If these talks go well, then when asked, the President said he could jointly control the Strait of Hormuz with Iran's Supreme Leader, maybe me, and the Ayatollah,
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whoever the Ayatollah is, whoever the next Ayatollah.
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Iran has not confirmed any of these talks. They have said that the United States has tried to have talks through intermediaries, but they have not had any participation in any of these talks with any of these intermediaries. And they're just not really interested in these talks right now. So do we have evidence to suggest these talks are actually, actually going on? Are there pictures, are there readouts that have been released? Who's having these talks and what are the objective of these talks?
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C
Look, to be clear, there is no evidence that these talks have happened. All we have to go on right now is the word of the President. The White House isn't commenting on this. I've been trying to call Steve Witkoff all morning, and his phone is off. The Iranians haven't just not confirmed this. They have denied it in every which way possible. They've denied generally that there are any kind of talks with the United States. And as different reports have popped up throughout the course of the morning about maybe we were in touch with this official or that official, or in this context, they have denied those reports specifically. So we are in a situation now where we are essentially the word of the President versus the word of the Iranians and no other supporting evidence of any kind. We do know that the President trusts Jared Kushner, his son in law, and Steve Witkoff explicitly, implicitly to handle these talks, should they come up. But I think it's a huge question about who on the Iranian side would even want to have these conversations. Everybody involved says it's not the new Ayatollah, the son of the original Ayatollah, this Mujtaba Khamenei, he's not involved. The President seems to suggest it's somebody else who might be in charge. But in the Iranian system, it's not at all clear who that could conceivably be. What I do think is interesting here is the President's language suggests what he wants to see happen, which is something very much like what happened in Venezuela, where they. They were able to essentially remove one leader who was unwilling to work with the United States. The President has said repeatedly, including to me in phone conversations, that that's sort of the model that he would like to see. A popular leader from inside the country that the United States can work with. Who that person could be is probably a pretty short list. The President says he doesn't want to unveil the name because he doesn't want that person to end up dead again, who would be killing him. They're only at war with two countries, US and Israel. So a ton of questions and not a lot of credible evidence to base any. Any conclusions on.
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So then I think it begs the question of how much the United States is in coordination with Israel and with Prime Minister Netanyahu. Because while the United States is announcing that these talks are happening between the US And Iran, Israel is continuing to bomb Tehran. And Netanyahu has said outright he wants regime change inside Iran. The President has not said he wants regime change really since day one of this war. He said it then, but he has not continued to say it the rest of the time since then. Right. So what is the coordination between these two? Because if the President's objective is one thing, does it mean he can then tell Netanyahu to stop bombing Iran and for Iran to stop bombing Israel?
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C
I think he could. I don't know that he would, but I think the president does have that ability, given how dependent ultimately Israel is on the US for things like powering the Iron Dome missile defense system that they have in Israel. Yeah, this is a fascinating point, and I've been focused on this for a month now, which is the president put out very specific military goals for this conflict and very unspecific political goals. Israel, to your point, has gone the other way. They've said like, we only want regime change. These people cannot still be in charge. But the president has sort of resolutely refused to be pinned down on that question, which I think is part of the way he operates in general, where he sort of likes to keep this ability to declare victory at any time. And if you don't have specific political goals, then you can't be held accountable for not achieving your specific political goals. So, yeah, look, I think that's an open question. I do think Israel has proven to be incredibly effective militarily across this whole last year when it comes to Iran. But I still think they're the junior partner here. So I don't think the president or the White House wants to be sort of like dictating terms to the Israelis. But I think they understand the real politic here, which is if the US Decides that enough is enough, it's gonna be pretty tough for the Israelis to argue against that unless they really wanna go it alone in that neighborhood for a long time afterwards.
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Garrett Hake, thank you.
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You bet.
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We are going to take a very quick break, but when we are back, the latest details on that deadly collision at New York's LaGuardia Airport. What role did staffing in the control tower play? Stay with us, but while you're waiting, why not take a moment to subscribe to our podcast? Wherever you listen, you'll get all of our new episodes right into your feed so you don't miss us. We'll be right back.
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of regular Gatorade now available nationwide. And we are back with here's the scoop from NBC news. New York's LaGuardia Airport reopened a single Runway this afternoon after a crash that killed two and injured dozens led to a ground stop on Sunday night. In a press conference, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy shared an update on the investigation.
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It's incredibly sad. It's troubling. And I just want to let America know that we are working our hearts off to make sure that when people travel, whether by rail or car or by air, that they travel safely.
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So I want to bring in NBC News senior correspondent Tom Costello, who has been all over this. Hey, Tom.
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Yeah, hey, Yasmine.
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There's a lot of questions out there about what actually took place. It happened close to midnight last night. Two pilots we know, are, in fact, deceased. Dozens of passengers and others were injured. But a lot of the details of what happened, how this happened are still outstanding. What new information are we learning today about what actually took place at the airport last night?
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So the FAA chief, Sean Duffy, is confirming that one controller was doing two jobs. That's not necessarily a bad thing or an unusual thing. That's not uncommon, especially on a Sunday night, 11:30 at night at LaGuardia, one controller was handling both the ground traffic. In other words, telling planes, turn left on this taxiway, turn right on this taxiway, and then also handling the final descent. Planes coming in and landing right the final 3,000ft. And then as they come to a halt, telling them, turn left, turn right. But as a part of both jobs, if you're handling the ground traffic, you're also getting the calls about ground vehicle traffic, including firefighting apparatus. So what happened was at about 11:30, a United States flight cancelled its takeoff because it had an odor in the plane that was making flight attendants ill. So they, they shut down their takeoff and they requested the fire department come and check them out out on the ramp. That was happening at the same time that the inbound Air Canada flight, Jazz Aviation flight was coming in. The firefighting apparatus, the truck Came from the Port Authority police and Fire Department. It requested permission to go across Runway four at taxiway Delta. And you heard this ATC audio, Truck One and company with water tower requesting to cross four at Delta. And the controller said, you are clear go across Runway four at taxiway Delta. Truck One company, cross four, Delta. But that unfortunately set up this disaster because there was this immediate impending doom as that Air Canada flight, which had already dramatically decreased speed. It was down to about 30 miles per hour. But obviously it is moving at a fairly good clip, Slamming on the brakes, and suddenly a big fire truck is in front of it and you can't swerve and you can't avoid it. Stop Truck One. Stop Truck One. Let's make it clear that's not the pilot's fault in any way, shape or form. When you're at an airport, planes always have the right of way, especially on a Runway. And that is why that fire apparatus requested permission to cross the Runway. So the fire department, from the radio comms, it seems that they did what they were supposed to do. And it seems that this plane was just simply following directions and landing properly on Runway four. But that controller, it appears, may have. May have made a mistake and allowing that fire engine to cross in front of the plane.
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As we're talking about this, I think a lot of people are wondering, whose fault is this, Right? Who made the error? I know that Secretary Duffy is headed to LaGuardia today and part of his mission there, and this investigation that they have now launched is answering that question, right? Who is at fault and how do we prevent this from happening again? What are they trying, what else are they trying to drill down on in this investigation?
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Well, by the way, it will be an NTSB led investigation. The FAA will play a role. But the FAA is a party to the investigation because the controllers work for the faa, right? So that's why the NTSB takes ownership of this. I actually had a text exchange back and forth with the secretary earlier today, and I asked him, is there any suggestion that ATC staffing levels had a role in this? And he said, we will look into that. You know, as I've reported many, many times covering aviation incidents, it's almost always not a single thing. It's a series of events that come together. And in this case, you had a United plane out on the Runway calling for a fire engine, right? You've got rain going on and you've got a controller who has now is now working two positions. Now that in and of itself, those three things not Unusual. But when you line them all up together, did that all create or feed into this chain of events that may have caused this catastrophe?
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I want to be clear here that the FAA is not impacted by the ongoing partial government shutdown in the same way that TSA officers are. But that doesn't mean that these air traffic controllers are not under a tremendous amount of stress. As you mentioned, we have heard some tape of a conversation between the LaGuardia air traffic controllers after the fact of this incident. And I want to play for you a moment that stood out for me.
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It wasn't good to watch. Yeah, I know. I was here. I tried to reach out to my stuff. We were dealing with an emergency earlier. I met them. No, man, you did the best you could.
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You hear one controller say he messed up, he was dealing with another emergency, and then the other one say, you did the best that you could. These workers, Tom, are juggling so much. And this is not the first time that we have seen a crash like this. I'm thinking of the incident at Reagan International Airport last year as well. The question is, is, is this systemic? Is there a larger issue here going on with air traffic controllers that needs to be addressed?
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Well, listen, as we have reported for years, I mean, I've been reporting for 10 plus years about the shortage of air traffic controllers. Not enough of them working in the towers and the tracons and the in route centers and they have been trying to hire up. But there's a very high weed out factor and a very high attrition rate. People just simply don't last in this very stressful job. So I think this is going to have to be something that they look at and they may decide that as the NTSB looks into this and they will go through all of this staffing levels, the controller's behavior, the pilot's behavior. Was there any consideration with not enough rest? Did anybody have any drug or alcohol in the system? That's all normal. They will do that on every single incident. But they will also look into task saturation and to what extent staffing levels played a role, if any.
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So I differentiated between the FAA and the tsa. So while this is happening with this crash overnight, we do still have what is going on with the TSA and the government shutdown, the partial government shutdown, I should say. And now you have the Trump administration saying, well, in order to backstop what is happening with the TSA and the long lines in which people are in line for maybe two to three hours, we're sending in ICE Agents to help with security at airport entrances and exits. What do we know about the role in which ICE is going to play?
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Well, our own correspondents in the field have said that the, they've seen some ICE agents at airports today and that they don't really seem to be involved in screening passengers to get on a plane. Keep in mind it takes quite a bit of training before you can be a certified TSA officer. Right. You just can't step into the job and suddenly start reading the screens that look for any sort of a hazardous item in your baggage. And some of these ICE agents seem to be involved in escorting elderly people through the lines. They've been accused or the administration has been accused of using ICE as a leverage. And that, that, that's really what this is about, trying to create kind of a more fear and intimidation in airports. I can't speak to that. I can tell you though that on average right now we're seeing 25 to 35 to even 50% of officers calling out, not showing up. And we now have more than 400 who have quit because they're not getting paid. So this is an ongoing serious problem with officers simply not able to make ends meet. I've talked to TSO's who say, Listen, I gotta feed my family. Yeah, I gotta put gas in the car. Have you noticed where gas prices are? My kid needs braces. I gotta pay the orthodontist. I mean, there's a whole long list. And these people are usually living paycheck to paycheck.
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You've been affected by this travel nightmare that is happening up here in New York City. It's, you're down in Miami right now, obviously for a shoot, but you're supposed to come back sooner than you will be coming back because of what's taken place at LaGuardia Airport. What can people expect now with LaGuardia shut down at this point on Monday? And you know, in the future, the
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NTSB is out on the Runway, they've got to do a thorough evaluation and document the entire, all of the wreckage, they call it capturing perishable evidence, any evidence that that might be lost due to the weather, for example. So that's a priority for them. But the residual effect will take at least 24 hours or so. So if you're trying to get into or out of New York, really the entire tri state area, it may be a rough couple of days.
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Tom Costello, thank you and best of luck getting home.
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Thanks.
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A
Coming up, the Supreme Court considers one of the most closely watched election cases and what to make of your busted bracket? Stay with us for the headlines.
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and we are back with here's the scoop from NBC News. Let's get to some headlines. A flood watch is still in effect on Hawaii's Big island and an advisory in Maui while residents returning home assess the impact from historic flooding that brought parts of the state to a standstill. Some islands saw up to 3 inches of rain in a single hour, triggering evacuation orders for thousands of people. Hawaii's governor says the damages from the floods have already topped $1 billion. In one of the highest stakes election fights to reach the Supreme Court in years, the conservative justices seem to be skeptical of counting mail in ballots that arrive after Election Day, even if they were postmarked before it. President Trump has been pushing to restrict mail in voting, calling on Congress to end the practice. According to a brief filed by former national security officials, 29 states allow extended deadlines for voters abroad and in the military. NBC News legal correspondent Gary Grumbach says the debate that unfolded during oral arguments was about more than just timing.
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For more than two hours this morning at the Supreme Court, the justices took this topic of whether ballots postmarked by Election Day but received by states after Election Day should count. And they turned it into a debate about a variety of topics, from who is delivering the ballot to the state, talking about concerns about ballot harvesting to issues related to voters potentially recalling their ballot altogether, using USPS or FedEx to even the length of time the state chooses to allow ballots to be accepted after Election Day, whether that's a week, two weeks or even longer. Now, conservative Justice Samuel Alito was predictably upset about all of this, suggesting we now have an election month or even an election month, not just an election day. And legendary attorney Paul Clement, who was arguing on behalf of the Republican National Committee, he was in favor of striking down this Mississippi law that is also a similar law in 13 other states. And he was really focused on history. He said during the Civil War, nobody said let's get them a month to get their ballots back. His argument that was that it was done by Election Day back then and it should be done by Election Day now as well. Now it does appear this is going to be one of those cases that comes down along ideological lines. We do have a 6:3 conservative majority at the court right now, and the court's likely going to rule by the end of June, which should give states plenty of time to get their processes in order as it relates to the election before the midterm elections.
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A
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been reappointed winning the country's parliamentary elections with, get this, 99.93% of the vote. Now, while the result was not a surprise, state media did note that 0.07% of voters said no, the first acknowledged dissent in a North Korean election since 1957. And finally, just when it seemed like March Madness had lost its bite, this year's tournament reminded everyone why we watch blowouts everywhere this weekend. Not a single Cinderella insight and two stunning finishes back to back in a matter of minutes. Here's NBC News sports reporter Rohan Nodkarni. For what it all means for your bracket, if it hasn't already been busted.
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First, the Kansas Jayhawks lost in a buzzer beating layup to Rick Pitino's feisty St. John's team. Later, the defending champion Florida Gators were denied a repeat when they were stunned by a late 3 by the Iowa Hawkeye. That's it, Iowa, for the first time since 19, head to the Sweet 16. Although we finally got some late chaos, seven of the top eight seeds are still alive in the men's bracket. Keep an eye on the Duke Blue Devils, led by potential top NBA draft pick Cameron Boozer. With Florida out, Duke's path to the championship could certainly be a little friendlier.
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That is going to do it for us. And here's the scoop from NBC News. I'm Yasmin Vasugin, and we'll be back tomorrow with whatever the day may bring. And if you like what you heard, subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And you can also subscribe to our daily newsletter, the Inside Scoop. It is a deeper dive in the main stories of the day that comes out every weeknight straight to your inbox. You can sign up for the Inside Scoop as part of our paid subscription@nbcnews.com we'll see you tomorrow.
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