Uncle Sam’s Unpaid Vacation; Extreme Makeover: White House Edition

Summary

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Podcast Summary: “Uncle Sam’s Unpaid Vacation; Extreme Makeover: White House Edition”

Here’s the Scoop – NBC News | October 21, 2025
Host: Yasmin Vossoughian
Key Contributors: Shaquille Brewster, Gary Grumbach, Tom Costello, Ryan Nobles, Kelly O’Donnell
Duration: ~15 minutes

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Episode Overview

In this episode of "Here's the Scoop", host Yasmin Vossoughian leads coverage of two major stories: the ongoing federal government shutdown and the unprecedented construction project at the White House. The show delivers on-the-ground reporting on how the shutdown is upending social safety nets, courts, and air travel, then pivots to explore President Trump’s controversial White House ballroom project, probing the implications for history, funding, and political norms. The episode finishes with a rapid news roundup on global politics, sports, and business.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Government Shutdown: Unpaid and Uncertain

Day 21, No End in Sight — Becoming the Second-Longest in US History

• Impact on Social Programs

  • Shaquille Brewster (Chicago, 01:54): Describes looming SNAP (food assistance) funding shortfalls across the Midwest:

    “In Illinois, the number is put at 1.9 million families without that funding for basic food… Food banks say the need is higher than it was during the pandemic.”

  • Dire consequences for food security in Wisconsin, Missouri, and Illinois with up to 3+ million people at risk if shutdown continues.
  • Food banks are scrambling to meet increased demand as more workers are furloughed.

• Judiciary on Hold

  • Gary Grumbach (03:06): Federal courts and the Supreme Court are closed to the public. Judges are still paid, but:

    “Thousands of judiciary and courthouse staff… are not being paid but are expected to continue working… Filing deadlines in some civil cases… paused until the shutdown is over.”

  • Some nonessential judiciary staff furloughed, stalling parts of the legal system.

• Air Travel Delays

  • Tom Costello (03:56): Air traffic controllers are working unpaid, with rising callouts:

    “Controllers have called out sick—citing the stress of that work environment... 1,400 delays nationwide today; 6,700 yesterday; 7,900 on Sunday.”

  • Public starting to feel travel disruption; safety not at immediate risk but system is under severe strain.

• Congress at an Impasse

  • Ryan Nobles, Chief Capitol Hill Correspondent (05:14):

    • No meaningful movement in Congress; President Trump inviting Republicans for a “Rose Garden Club celebration” to thank them for “holding the line.”
    • Unique aspect: Unlike prior shutdowns, no pre-passed relief measures to keep parts of government running—making this unusually comprehensive and severe.

    (06:26) “This is unique in that it impacts all of government. There has been no relief valve…”

  • Democratic Perspective (07:22):

    • More Americans feel the pinch, especially over healthcare premiums as subsidies expire.
    • Nobles shares an anecdote of a cancer survivor:

      "If these premium subsidies go away, he is going to end up with a payment that’s double his current mortgage."

    • For many, the only options may be forgoing healthcare, selling a home, or sacrificing their children’s schooling.

  • Outlook: How Long Will It Last? (08:49)

    “At this point, I find it hard to imagine a scenario in which it does not reach the longest shutdown.”

    • Election Day is seen as a possible “inflection point” when political pressure might force action.

• Other Political Developments

  • Paul Ingrazia’s Controversial Nomination to Whistleblower Agency (09:28):

    • Nominee faces bipartisan opposition; criticized for lack of qualifications and “incendiary, inflammatory, racist comments.”

    “He also has a sexual harassment accusation… [and] conceded he had ‘a little bit of Nazi’ in him…” (Ryan Nobles, 09:43)

    • Senate Republicans prepared to break from the White House on this.

  • January 6 Defendant Arrested for Threat (10:45)

    • Recently-pardoned January 6th rioter arrested for plotting to assassinate House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
    • White House refuses to discuss blanket pardons; issue of political violence affects all parties.

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2. White House Makeover: Ballroom Controversy

Biggest Physical Change to Presidential Residence Since the 1940s

• Scope and Rationale (13:34–15:31)

  • Major demolition underway on the East Wing. President Trump is building a lavish ballroom for up to 900 guests, funded mainly with private money.
  • Kelly O’Donnell:

    “If you picture the heavy equipment of a typical construction job… pulling away part of the facade… exposing the inside where you could see bits of what had been there, offices and public spaces.” (14:23)

    • The East Wing historically signified "the rising role of a first lady," and housed military and social offices.

• Historical and Legal Questions (16:29–16:52)

  • No precedent for this kind of structural change since the East Wing’s own addition 80 years ago.
  • Standard local planning and historic oversight do not easily apply to the White House; President bypassed traditional approvals.
  • O’Donnell notes:

    “The President, to our knowledge, has not sought any oversight… The White House has said, ‘this is all private money. The taxpayers are not being charged for this.’ But that’s a separate question than whether there is any historical vision for what this will be and how it is changing things.” (16:52)

• Funding and Donor List (18:18–20:00)

  • Funding is a blend of Trump’s own money and contributions from corporate and private donors.
  • High-level dinner guests included leaders from T-Mobile, Union Pacific Railroad, Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft, the Winklevoss twins and NBC’s parent company, Comcast.
  • “We don’t know what, if any, contributions were made from any of these individuals or corporations.” (Yasmin, 19:19)
  • This blurs the line between campaign-style fundraising and official White House business, raising ethical concerns.

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3. Rapid Headlines Roundup (20:34–24:21)

• Trump-Putin Hungary Peace Summit on Hold

  • Talks for an end to Russia-Ukraine war stall; both sides “not ready to talk peace.”

• Virginia Giuffre Posthumous Memoir

  • Epstein accuser’s memoir out now. Family pushing Congress to release Epstein files; procedural holdup tied to the shutdown.

• Japan Elects First Female Prime Minister

  • Sanae Takaichi, 64, wins top job. Critics question her commitment to women’s rights.

• France: Sarkozy Imprisoned

  • Former president starts serving a sentence for illegal campaign financing.

• Media & Business News

  • Warner Bros. Discovery considering sale or split after stock spikes on merger rumors.

• Sports

  • MLB: Toronto Blue Jays pull off dramatic comeback, reach first World Series since 1993.
  • NBA: Season tips off with doubleheader on NBC; LeBron sits out opener due to sciatica.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “I'm just a bill. Yes, I'm only a bill and I'm sitting here on Capitol Hill.”
  — Kelly O’Donnell sets the tone for a stagnant Congress (01:10)
• “This is unique in that it impacts all of government. There has been no relief valve…”
  — Ryan Nobles, on the never-before-seen reach of the shutdown (06:26)
• “The bottom line here is that air travel is said to be still very safe. But clearly when you have a shortage of air traffic controllers and potentially TSA officers, the public starts to feel it and see it firsthand.”
  — Tom Costello, on the shutdown’s impact on air travel (04:41)
• “You could see bits of what had been there, offices and public spaces… [the East Wing] more than just physical space, it was an affirmation of the rising role of a first lady…”
  — Kelly O’Donnell describing historic White House demolition (14:23)
• “He conceded that he had a little bit of Nazi in him, suggested that the Martin Luther King holiday should go away… Senate Republicans… prepared to draw a line.”
  — Ryan Nobles on the controversial whistleblower nominee (09:43)
• “Attendance at the event… that’s the difference.”
  — Kelly O’Donnell, on the unusual nature of using White House space for donor gatherings (20:00)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [01:16] — Day 21 of government shutdown; impacts overview
• [01:54] — Effects on SNAP and social safety nets (Shaquille Brewster)
• [03:06] — Judiciary system slows down (Gary Grumbach)
• [03:56] — Air traffic and travel delays (Tom Costello)
• [05:14] — Inside congressional stalemate and the “Rose Garden Club” (Ryan Nobles)
• [06:26] — How this shutdown is different: more severe, no relief
• [07:36] — Americans facing health insurance dilemmas
• [08:53] — Will the shutdown hit the record? (Ryan Nobles)
• [09:28] — Paul Ingrazia’s nomination controversy
• [10:45] — Pardoned January 6th rioter arrested for new threat
• [13:34] — White House ballroom demolition described (Kelly O’Donnell)
• [16:29] — Historical context, lack of oversight in White House construction
• [18:18] — Donor dinner; ethical questions around White House and funding
• [20:34] — News headlines: Trump-Putin, Giuffre memoir, Japan PM, Sarkozy, Warner Bros., MLB/NBA updates

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Style & Tone

The episode is brisk, newsy, and conversational, with moments of wry humor (as in the Schoolhouse Rock reference) and palpable urgency around the shutdown’s fallout. The reporting blends human impact, political maneuvering, and the underlying drama of US governance in crisis.

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Useful for:
Anyone seeking a concise yet thorough understanding of the shutdown’s sweeping effects, high-stakes White House changes, and other major headlines, with clear sourcing and expert analysis.

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Transcript

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[Yasmin Vesuigian]

Welcome to Here's a scoop from NBC News. I'm Yasmin Vesuigian. Today on the show, it is extreme White House Edition. Japan just broke the glass ceiling electing a female prime minister. And get ready for the sweet squeak of sneakers on the court. The NBA is back, but up first.

[Kelly O'Donnell]

I'm just a bill. Yes, I'm only a bill and I'm sitting here on Capitol Hill.

[Yasmin Vesuigian]

It is day 21 of the government shutdown and after 11 failed Senate votes, that Schoolhouse Rock bill is getting real comfortable. Republicans and Democrats have made no progress and if the shutdown continues into tomorrow, it will become the second longest shutdown in U.S. history. When the government first closed for business, we rounded up some of our NBC News colleagues to fill you in on the ways this shutdown would affect everyday Americans. Now three weeks in, we are checking back in with our reporters around the country. We want to start with NBC News correspondent Shaquille Brewster in Chicago on the urgency for funding social safety net programs.

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There are several states across the Midwest warning that there would be dire consequences if that SNAP or food assistance funding runs out at the end of the month, as the Trump administration has been warning. We heard from Wisconsin's governor this morning saying that there would be 700,000 Wisconsinites who would not have basic access to food and groceries if that funding runs out. State agencies in Missouri saying that's about 650,000 people across that state. And here in Illinois, the number is put at 1.9 million families without that funding for basic food. This is all happening as you have some of the food banks warning that the need right now is higher than it was during the pandemic. The spokesperson for the Greater Chicago Food Depository saying that they are very worried about these snap cuts, saying that they are racing to put in these food orders. All as we know that there are more furloughs, more workers who are not getting paid as this government shutdown drags on.

[Yasmin Vesuigian]

And then there is the court system also facing major blows. Here's NBC News legal affairs reporter Gary Grumbach.

[Gary Grumbach]

The government shutdown is beginning to impact courts around the country. Here at the Supreme Court, the justices are continuing their work, but the court itself is closed to the public. And while judiciary funding has run dry, federal judges and the nine Supreme Court justices are continuing to be paid through the shutdown through something called the Anti Deficiency Act. Thousands of judiciary and courthouse staff, however, are not being paid but are expected to continue working. NBC News has also learned that furlough notices were sent out across the judiciary to some non essential employees. Given the burden this shutdown is putting on court staff and government employees, filing deadlines in some civil cases around the country has also been paused until the shutdown is over.

[Yasmin Vesuigian]

And talking about moving around the country, there are concerns that air travel isn't getting you where you need to go. Take a listen to NBC News senior correspondent Tom Costello, who's the expert on all things aviation.

[Tom Costello]

Let's talk about air traffic controllers. There are 10 to 13,000 of them if you include the support staff who right now are working without a paycheck. Now, they've already gone with half a paycheck. Next Tuesday, a week from today will be a full missed paycheck. We already know, according to the faa, that some controllers have called out sick, essentially citing the stress of that work environment. It's not an organized effort, but individuals. I went back and looked. In fact, we had 1400 delays so far nationwide today. We've had 6700 yesterday, about 7900 on Sunday. It's impossible to know how many of those delays are because control towers or air traffic control facilities don't have enough people. But that clearly has been a contributing factor in all of this. The bottom line here is that air travel is said to be still very safe. But clearly when you have a shortage of air traffic controllers and potentially TSA officers, the public starts to feel it and see it firsthand.

[Yasmin Vesuigian]

But we keep asking, when will the government actually reopen? Let's head to the heart of the negotiations inside the Capitol building. So want to bring in now the man of the hour, the man of the last couple of weeks or so. Chief Capitol Hill correspondent Ryan Nobles. Hey, Ryan.

[Ryan Nobles]

Yep. I'm the man of the last couple of weeks, Yasmin, which means I've talked to you more than my children. But that's okay. It's all right.

[Yasmin Vesuigian]

That's not a great thing. Your dad still loves you kids, just FYI, before we get into the direct impacts, there is this lunch that's happening. Republican lawmakers heading to the White House. How much are Republican lawmakers taking a page out of the Donald Trump book of negotiating and doubling down on their position and not wanting to budge?

[Ryan Nobles]

We're told the reason he's inviting them to the White House for this Rose Garden Club celebration, as he calls it, is to thank them for holding the line, as he put it, and then also to thank them for ushering through some of his administration nominations. So this is a president that right now seems satisfied with where things currently stand, because I do believe he's the only person that could really begin to break through this stalemate and see some progress.

[Yasmin Vesuigian]

And by the way, what's different about this shutdown than shutdowns that we've experienced in the past is there were measures passed beforehand that were actually keeping some federal workers paid. This time around, none of that is actually in place. Right.

[Ryan Nobles]

This is already a record breaker. We've set the record for the longest full government shutdown. It's already in second place now, as of today, tied for second place for the second longest government shutdown. But both the shutdown that it's tied with and the shutdown from 2018 that went 34 days, those were partial government shutdowns. And there were significant swaths of the government that were still open during that period of time, which is part of the reason they went so long. This one is unique in that it impacts all of government. There has been no relief valve for any of these different agencies. There have been two attempts here. They tried to pass a Pentagon budget last week. Democrats pushed back on that. This week. They're gonna try and put something on the floor that would at least guarantee pay for federal workers that are currently on the job, because there's this whole class of federal workers that still have to work even though they're not getting paid. But you don't get the sense that Democrats want to even entertain that they want negotiations on healthcare to open things back up. And Republicans are resistant to that right now.

[Yasmin Vesuigian]

And it seems like Democrats are feeling more empowered by the day as more and more people are coming out of the woodwork saying, we don't want our premiums to go up. And I heard this anecdote, I believe, in a piece that you put out. I'm going to have to choose what I'm going to pay for if, in fact, I want to keep my insurance at all.

[Ryan Nobles]

I talked to a cancer survivor in North Carolina for our Meet the Press now program who talked to me at length about how he's been in recovery for 10 years. He has essentially what has become a chronic illness that he's able to maintain, but he's able to maintain that because of his healthcare benefits. And he has healthcare benefits under the Affordable Care Act. And if these premium subsidies go away way, he is going to end up with a payment that's double the cost of his current mortgage. And there's a lot of Americans that are in this position, right, where he would not consider himself poor, but he's in that middle area where he makes enough to support his family, but he doesn't make enough to just pay out of pocket for healthcare. And that's what the Affordable Care act was designed to do, was to help people in that kind of middle space. And he's come to rely on that. And he's like, I literally don't know what I'm gonna do. Try and get through this. And for some people, it's gonna mean maybe selling a house. For other people, it might mean pulling their kid out of a school. For some people, it might mean just rolling the dice and going without healthcare. In fact, I think that'll probably be the vast majority of people that find themselves in this position. They just will choose not to have healthcare.

[Yasmin Vesuigian]

Do you foresee this as going down in the books as the longest government shutdown if you were to be a betting man?

[Ryan Nobles]

I find it, at this point, I find it hard to imagine a scenario in which it does not reach the longest shutdown. I do think Election Day is a key inflection point. That Election day almost directly coincides with the record of the longest shutdown ever. And then you'd have the first opportunity voters have to go to the polls and voice their frustration directly about this. And, you know, not every voter's gonna be directly voting on the shutdown, but it's gonna be in the back of their minds. And if one party does really, really well and another party does poorly, maybe that's something that could shake things up.

[Yasmin Vesuigian]

So while I have you, I got two other things that I want you to touch on. One is this nominee, President Trump's nominee to lead a key federal whistleblower agency, Paul Ingrazia, There actually might be some bipartisan support in making sure this guy does not get through the nomination process.

[Ryan Nobles]

Yeah, I mean, there's a wide range of concerns that both Republicans and Democrats have about Ingrassia's nomination. There were, you know, just, first of all, many senators just did not believe he was qualified for a position like this. They thought he was way too political and just didn't have the necessary legal chops to take on a job like this. But then he also has a pretty dramatic and long history of making incendiary, inflammatory, racist comments on multiple different Internet platforms. He has a sexual harassment accusation against him. The latest bombshell came out in a political report that found a text group that he was a part of, where he conceded that he had a little bit of Nazi in him, suggested that the Martin Luther King holiday should go away. The administration has stuck by him. And the pattern that we'd seen with Senate Republicans is that even when they didn't feel comfortable voting for someone because Donald Trump wanted him, they would give him that nomination. This seems to be where they're prepared to draw a line. So this is a pretty significant break from Senate Republicans in the White House.

[Yasmin Vesuigian]

And then you have this January 6th defendant who was pardoned by the president, just arrested for making a, quote, unquote, credible death threat against House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

[Ryan Nobles]

Yeah.

[Yasmin Vesuigian]

What do we know about this guy?

[Ryan Nobles]

So he is among a group of January 6th convicted felons who were in jail or in prison as a result of January 6, some for significant periods of time, who were all released. President Trump did blanket pardons for anyone involved in January 6th for any sort of crime connected to January 6th. Federal authorities found evidence that he was planning to execute Hakeem Jeffries and arrested him. You know, I asked the Speaker, Mike Johnson, about it today. He very specifically said that we are opposed to political violence of any kind. They condemn this. But I took it a step further and asked, did he think it was appropriate for President Trump to pardon all of these people? Just a blanket pardon across the board, and he just would not engage on that topic. And again, I think it's important to point out that when we talk about political violence, this is a widespread issue that's affecting both political parties that puts every single elected leader at risk. And I think this is another example of that.

[Yasmin Vesuigian]

Ryan Nobles, thank you.

[Ryan Nobles]

Thanks, guys.

[Yasmin Vesuigian]

We are going to take a quick break, and when we're back, the White House is getting a makeover.

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[Yasmin Vesuigian]

Who's ready for some football all season?

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The Today show takes you inside the game.

[Yasmin Vesuigian]

We are gonna get this party started.

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Join us every week as we go behind the scenes with your favorite NFL teams for the biggest stories on and off the field. Big game tonight, plus game recipes that dial up your tailgate.

[Kelly O'Donnell]

Football food soup to nuts.

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From stadium lights to game day bites, the Today show is your home for all things football every morning on NBC. This week on Meet the Press, after meeting with President Trump about more military support for Ukraine, President Zelensky sits down with Kristen Welker for an exclusive interview. Plus, Senators Rand Paul and Tim Kaine on the government shutdown this week only on Meet THE Press. Listen to the full episode now, wherever you get your podcasts.

[Yasmin Vesuigian]

And we are back with here's the scoop from NBC News. Capitol Hill might be quiet, but if you listen very closely, you might hear the beep of a construction truck just down the road. That is because major construction is underway at the East Wing of the White House. An administration official confirming that demolition is going full speed ahead to make way for a new ballroom that the president wants to build. It would be the biggest change to the White house since the 1940s and a sharp turn from Trump's earlier pledge not to mess with the current building. My colleague Kelly o' Donnell has been all over this story. She's our chief justice and national affairs correspondent and is joining us now. Hi, Kelly.

[Jane Coston]

Hi there.

[Kelly O'Donnell]

Good to be with you.

[Yasmin Vesuigian]

Can you describe for us the construction that is now underway at the White House?

[Kelly O'Donnell]

It was a surprise to people who were at the White House, people in the immediate environment. And if you picture the heavy equipment of a typical construction job with the scoop at the end of a piece of heavy equipment reaching in and pulling away part of the facade of the east wing of the White House, exposing the inside where you could see bits of what had been there, offices and public spaces. The east swing goes back to the 1940s. And in many ways it was more than just physical space. It was in some ways an affirmation of the rising role of a first lady, where a first lady would have a staff, would have a portfolio, an agenda of issues to work on. Also parts of what would be sort of the social piece of the White House, the military offices in the East Wing. So it has been a vibrant living space, and visitors to the White House would be able to go through those corridors and see pieces of that history. And that's what's changing.

[Yasmin Vesuigian]

So what does the president want to do now with this ballroom with the East Wing?

[Kelly O'Donnell]

The president has talked for a long time, even before he was a candidate for office, that he believed the White House needed a big entertaining space. Currently, the largest room in the White House is the East Room, and it can hold roughly 200 guests. And in times gone by, 200 might have been a plentiful number. President Trump's vision is to have as many as 900 guests in a ballroom. He wants that entertaining space and believes it will be to the benefit of the White House and future presidents to have one. He has talked about building this White House with private funds, and that project is underway. What we did not know is that it would actually encroach on the physical space of the East Wing, taking down part of the existing East Wing to build that new structure. And so that's where a lot of alarm bells have gone off with people concerned about history that's lost. What are these changes? Has anyone had any real indication of these plans?

[Yasmin Vesuigian]

Can you give us some historical context here? And what I mean by that is, first off, when was the last time there was a major construction project like this happening at the White House? And secondly, can you just go ahead and change structures with the White House, considering it is a historical building?

[Kelly O'Donnell]

Such an interesting question.

[Yasmin Vesuigian]

And is there no oversight to that type of potential change?

[Kelly O'Donnell]

Well, first, let's say that every president has the ability to do redecorating, and that is a big part of what happens in an extraordinary exchange on every Inauguration Day, where the Oval, for example, is completely turned over, meaning the new president gets to select the furnishings, the art, the carpets, those things. A structural change of this size we have not seen since the addition of the east wing 80 years ago. Now, the Planning Commission, the typical oversight that would affect any other building in Washington, where there are so many historic sites, that doesn't directly apply to the White House. What is sort of expected is, is that there would be public disclosure, there would be public oversight. Congress is not saying anything. The commission, the National Capital Commission, is staffed by White House team. So if they attempted to seek an approval, it's their own team making it but within this specific project, the President, to our knowledge, has not sought any oversight, has not consulted on the outside, directly hired the architects and the building firm. And when we asked questions about it, the White House has said, well, this is all private money. The taxpayers are not being charged for this. That's a separate question than whether there is any historical vision for what this will be and how it is changing things.

[Yasmin Vesuigian]

So I'm glad you brought up the financing of it all, because the President has already said, along with the White House, that he is paying for this along with some private donors. There was this dinner in which the President invited a whole bunch of different people that, in fact, were dubbed as those who have supported construction of this new ballroom. Right. Do we know who was there and what involvement they had in supporting the construction of this new ballroom?

[Kelly O'Donnell]

We don't know all of the specifics there. There was a camera that recorded the President's remarks to these guests. So some people were visible and reporters could try to establish who was in attendance. But we don'. Know exactly how that list was formulated. And raising private funds for things associated with the presidency is not entirely unusual. You know, they raise money for the inaugural balls. They raise money for some of those outside things that are related to a campaign, period. What is unusual now is doing it using the space of the White House.

[Yasmin Vesuigian]

Here's some of the names that were on this list of folks that attended this dinner. T Mobile, Union Pacific Railroad, the Lutnick family, Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft, the Winklevoss Twins, Comcast, our parent company as well. And again, important to note, we don't know what, if any, contributions were made from any of these individuals or corporations to the building or the reconstruction of this ballroom. But do we know, Kelly, how it is the President, if in fact he was soliciting donations, how he was soliciting these donations?

[Kelly O'Donnell]

Well, that's a good question, because typically, again, the physical spaces of the White House are not fundraiser events. The president, certainly during the COVID period in the 2020 campaign, that was an enormous break of norms to hold part of the Republican Convention and to accept the nomination for another term. All of that happened at the White House. It was also happening when Covid, with lots of restrictions and public gatherings, having people who are donors as guests has probably happened many times throughout history. The difference would be is the event itself. Is attendance at the event correct? Ask. That's the difference.

[Yasmin Vesuigian]

Kelly o', Donnell, as always, we are grateful. Thank you.

[Kelly O'Donnell]

Pleasure to be with you.

[Yasmin Vesuigian]

By the way, we reached out to NBC News parent company Comcast for comment and did not hear anything back. All right, let's get to some headlines. That Trump Putin summit that was supposed to take place in Hungary to try to end the Russia, Ukraine war is now looking much further off. A senior White House official saying planning talks are, quote, on hold after the president was briefed on what was described as a productive call between Secretary Rubio and Russia's Foreign Minister Lavrov. The president then concluding neither side is quite ready to talk peace. Meanwhile, the Kremlin is pushing back the deputy foreign minister telling state media, quote, we cannot postpone what hasn't even been agreed upon. One of Jeffrey Epstein's most prominent accusers, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, is finally sharing her story in her own words months after her death by suicide. Her posthumous memoir, nobody's Girl, which was written with ghostwriter Amy Wallace, is out today. The book recounts the abuse that she says she suffered under Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, whom she described as an apex predator. Giuffre's family sat down with NBC News NOW anchor Hallie Jackson and they're pushing for accountability. A bipartisan bill in the House aims to force the release of the Epstein files. It's just one vote short, but a newly elected Democrat says she'll back it. The catch, Speaker Mike Johnson says she won't be sworn in until the government shutdown ends.

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[Yasmin Vesuigian]

That's your message to Speaker Johnson.

[Ryan Nobles]

Do your job.

[Yasmin Vesuigian]

Do your job.

[Ryan Nobles]

Absolutely.

[Yasmin Vesuigian]

A reminder to our listeners, if you or someone you know is struggling, you can call or text the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988-A- Quick Foreign News roundup for you. Japan has just made history electing its first female prime minister, sanae tak. The 64 year old Conservative lawmaker was chosen to lead the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and has already appointed two other women to her cabinet. But while her rise is a milestone, not everybody is celebrating, critics point to her, quote, poor track record on empowering women. According to Professor Jeff Kingston of Temple University, a feminist author put it more bluntly on X, saying Takachi, quote, sees herself as the Japanese version of Margaret Thatcher, who just happens to be her political hero. Meanwhile, in France, the jewel thieves who pulled off that heist of the Louvre may still be on the run. But former President Nicolas Sarkozy certainly is not. Not that he ever was. He just reported to prison to start serving his five year sentence. Sarkozy was convicted of conspiring to illegally finance his 2007 presidential campaign with money prosecutors say came from Libya. He denies any wrongdoing. Warner Brothers Discovery says it is exploring its options. Corporate speak for we might be up for grabs. The company, home to Warner Brothers studios, HBO and cnn, says it is weighing everything from selling the whole empire to breaking it up, to sticking with its plan to split into two public companies by mid-2026. The move comes after weeks of Hollywood gossip, including reports of a bid from Paramount, Skydance, and with shares jumping on the news, it looks like Wall street has given this plot twist two thumbs up, at least for now in the never ending saga of media mega mergers. And to my scoop, co host Morgan Chesky Sorry buddy, it looks like you didn't get your all West Coast World Series after all. The Toronto Blue Jays won Game seven of their series last night when hitter George Springer delivered a home run that gave the Blue Jays the lead when they were down three to one.

[Ryan Nobles]

High fly ball, left field arose arena. Where does it go?

[Yasmin Vesuigian]

That three run shot in the seventh inning sealed the deal. And now the Blue Jays will be in their first World Series since 1993, facing off against the defending champs, the LA Dodgers. Good luck, boys. In other sports news, you might hear something familiar. The NBA season starts tonight, and for the first time in 22 years, the league is making its return to NBC. It is a doubleheader. The Houston Rockets take on the defending champs, the Oklahoma City Thunder at 7:30pm Eastern. Then the action heads west at 10pm The Golden State warriors take on the Lakers in LA, where King James, also known as LeBron, is going to be sitting out due to sciatica on his right side. Aging is a real all right, that's going to do it for us. Here's a scoop from NBC News News. We'll be back tomorrow with whatever the day may bring. I'm Yasmin Bisugin, and if you like what you heard, then like us, back wherever you get your podcasts, we'll see you tomorrow.

[Jane Coston]

Hi, I'm Jane Coston, former writer and podcaster for places like the New York Times, the Atlantic and National Review. And now I'm here to hang out with you five days a week on what a Day. Crooked's daily news podcast. That's right. Now, who's respected on both sides These days, it's hard to separate what matters from all the noise, especially when the noise is an elderly guy mumbling conspiracy theories he heard on Newsmax. That's why every weekday the team and I scour the headlines to bring you the stories that matter most to the way you live in just 20 minutes. You can listen to the show wherever you get your podcasts.