← Here's the Scoop
Here's the Scoop
“We got him." Suspect arrested in Charlie Kirk shooting; South Korean workers return home
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B
Brian, thanks for having me.
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A
So walk us through what happened at the Naval Academy yesterday.
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B
It seems like what happened here at the Naval Academy was a misunderstanding of the situation that led to someone getting seriously hurt. There was a former midshipman, we're told, who had sent a veiled threat to the campus. He masked the IP address that he was sending the threat from to make it appear as if the threat was coming from the campus and that put the campus into a lockdown mode because the campus was in a lockdown mode. Everybody was on guard. And another midshipman ran into a member of law enforcement, mistakenly thought they were a threat, and actually went up and confronted the member of law enforcement. There was some sort of an altercation between the two, and the member of law enforcement shot this midshipman. He was taken to the hospital. We're told that he's in stable condition, so everyone's hoping that he'll be okay. But I think it indicates just kind of the level of tension that exists all across the country right now. And, you know, we don't have any specific evidence that would connect it to what happened in Utah, but it does appear that many college campuses across the country, including a place as secure as the Naval Academy, which is right behind me, are reacting and responding and just being way more careful than they would under normal circumstances.
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And we have to acknowledge the craziness of the last few days, such that it's not just what happened at the Naval Academy. There have been these other threats around the country at HBCUs that have had the lockdown, the DNC having to lock down, some scares on Capitol Hill. It almost feels like the initial earthquake of what happened in Utah has set off these aftershocks across the country on college campuses in the nation's capital. I mean, does that speak to the sensitivity of everyone right now and wondering, are we all safe?
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B
I think that's a great way to put it, Brian. And the way I would also frame it is I think that this is something that those of us that have been covering politics and covering Capitol Hill in particular, have been worried about for quite a while. The incident with Charlie Kirk is not even close to the first incident of political violence that we've seen in this country. It's not even the first death that we've covered. You know, we had the lawmaker in Minnesota, the two lawmakers that were attacked, one killed, her husband killed. You had the shooting at the congressional baseball practice that injured the majority leader, Steve Scalise, who still serves in Congress. So we see him every day, still has a limp from the aftermath of that attack. You obviously had the assassination attempt on President Trump when he was campaigning for the office during the last election cycle. These just keep cropping up. And I talked to a long list of lawmakers yesterday, both Republican and Democrat, who said that they're rethinking the way they do public events. They're rethinking the way they advertise those public events, they who they invite to those public events, and that Just means that good people that want to talk to their member of Congress are going to have a harder time getting that access and making their voice heard.
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A
You mentioned the lawmaker in Minnesota, Melissa Hortman, who was assassinated at her home. That was about three months ago. And I think that that's an example of how even though if you're going through metal detectors, when you're going through a state Capitol building or at the US Capitol itself, you might be safe there. But do you get the impression, talking to lawmakers, that even outside of their place of work, they might be unsafe?
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B
So I'll give you the best example. And it's not just members of Congress, right? I mean, people that are public servants up and down the spectrum are more and more concerned about their own personal safety. And I talked to Senator Tim Kaine yesterday from Virginia who told me that he was talking to a school board member who said that she wasn't going to run for reelection and he was trying to figure out why. And, and her simple answer to him was that she did not make enough money on the school board to pay for a funeral. And she said it's one thing for me to get death threats, but when my kids get death threats and I look at what a funeral costs and I look at what I'm paid to be a school board member, I'm not doing. And that's a school board member we're talking about here who feels so nervous about the political climate that they're worried for their lives and it's just not worth it to serve anymore. You know, I remember when I first started covering politics in upstate New York in the Utica, New York area, that Congressman Sherry Bowler was famous. His phone number and address was in the phone book. Anybody could walk up and knock on his door and ask him, you know, about something that was happening in Washington or a problem that they were having with the federal government that he could help them with. These members of Congress can't do that anymore. They have to hide their addresses and where they live. The climate is changing every single day. And the more and more of a threat this becomes, the. It's just going to make it harder for average, everyday Americans to have access to their leaders.
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A
Given that you can't give every single lawmaker presidential like, security detail, what's the solution here? We've heard so much about taking the temperature down.
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B
So there's a short term issue that needs to be addressed immediately. And then there's a longer term, perhaps more complex issue that needs to be dealt with. The short term one is that all these lawmakers are going to have to reevaluate every single public event that they do. They're going to have to be more aware of every single person they come into contact with. In some cases, they're talking about engaging with local law enforcement. The longer term issue is just changing the culture of our politics and our political discourse and the way that we talk to each other about these issues. Most of the members I talked to yesterday were like, I'm not blaming anybody. I've got to look in the mirror. I talked to Kevin Kramer, a senator from North Dakota, a Republican, who told me, for me, this is a moment of self reflection. What am I doing to contribute to this? We're in a time when the impulse to a tragedy is to blame somebody else and in a political situation to blame an opponent or an adversary or what you think of as an enemy. And I think there's enough responsibility for everybody to hear some of it. And so much of our politics right now is about pointing fingers at who's doing what wrong. And I don't think the solution at this stage is to point fingers and say, you're doing this wrong. The solution is for everyone to take a step back and look at the mirror and say, how can I be better? And I don't have a lot of hope that that's gonna change the calculus, at least anytime soon. But you have to wonder if this is the kind of wake up call that could at least begin the process of turning things around.
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Capitol Hill correspondent Ryan Nobles, thanks so much.
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B
Thanks, Brian.
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We're going to take a quick break and when we're back, that Hyundai raid in Georgia is now straining US Ties with South Korea. Brb. AI had the time of my life. Hey, I never felt this way before.
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All season, the Today show takes you inside the game.
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We are going to get this party started.
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Join us every Monday week as we go behind the scenes with your favorite NFL teams for the biggest stories on.
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And off the field.
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Big game tonight. Plus game day recipes that dial up your tailgate.
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Football food soup to nuts.
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The Today show is your home for all things football every morning on NBC. Welcome back to here's the scoop. The week long ordeal appears to be over for hundreds of South Korean workers detained in an immigration raid in Georgia on September, September 4th. Over 300 South Koreans arrived in Seoul today aboard a chartered flight, arriving to applause after what some workers described as an intense experience. Federal officials and U.S. immigration said they were investigating allegations of unlawful employment practices focused on an electric vehicle battery plant that was being jointly set up by the South Korean companies Hyundai and LG Energy Solution. That raid becoming an international incident with ripple effects both diplomatically and economically. I want to bring in NBC News forum correspondent Janice McAfreher. Janice, it's good to talk to you. Set the scene for us. What was it like at the airport as they arrived?
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C
Well, there were more than 300 South Koreans who were returning, 316 to be exact, including 10 women. And they came out of the baggage area in groups escorted by police and South Korean officials. There were some onlookers in the arrivals area who started applauding for them and they waved. And we talked to one of the workers who said that it felt like he was in a movie. I'm going to read his quote for you. He said it was even more intense than we imagined, with armored vehicles and guns pointed at us. There was no way we could resist. So we all just surrendered and were taken in. And then there was another worker who was describing what it was like in the detention facility. He said it was everything you would expect from a prison. It was cold, the food was terrible. And he said he feels, quote, nothing but joy about being home.
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Did you get the sense that there was a sigh of relief or was it just tense, given that this is now kind of an international incident?
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C
There really was a sense of relief, a sense of joy for people here in South Korea. All they saw were the images of South Korean workers, university educated, a lot of them there to build this factory and create American jobs. And they were being put in handcuffs and shackles and lined up like they were criminals. And there's no way to understate how that resonated here, the fact that it was happening in a country that is a close friend and longstanding ally of South Korea. So there was a lot of attention being paid to the imagery today, the sense that these workers were coming home, they were safe, and they had dignity.
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A
There were some posters that I believe you took photos of that kind of illustrate some of that frustration.
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C
There were two protesters who were at the airport and they did their protesting before the workers were arriving back to ensure that they didn't distract from what was the true main event. But one of the protesters had this huge banner that he got on a ladder and he unfurled the banner and it was this likeness of President Trump wearing an ICE police uniform, carrying a gun and a bag of cash that had a South Korean flag on it. And the caption on this banner said, we. We're friends, aren't we? I talked to the protester afterwards and he said, look, I'm a regular guy. I'm not a professional protester. I'm just somebody who's really troubled by what I've seen. The fact that so much South Korean money is being invested in the US and the US Is rounding people up, making a government charter, an airplane and negotiate directly with the White House in order to get these workers back.
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A
It seems like universally, in a country like South Korea, which has gone through a lot of political turmoil lately, that on all sides of the spectrum, they seem to all be frustrated with how the United States is treating their nationals that were working to build that plant here in Georgia.
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C
The level of foreign investment by South Korean companies in the United States is at about half a trillion dollars. For LG and Hyundai who are partnering on this battery facility, there's $26 billion wrapped up just in LG investment alone. The companies are now saying because of this raid, things are going to be delayed. They're going to delay the opening of the facility by probably two to three months because the construction is being set back. There's going to be a delay in the creation of those 8,500American jobs. And the bigger issue from this, Brian, is that there are a lot of companies here with very deep pockets and very big plans for investment in the US who may be hesitant. And it's South Korea's president himself who is suggesting that because businesses like Predictability and this raid has sent a message to South Korean businesses about the risk of investing in projects in the United States and the fact that there isn't a visa system that is consistent with the sort of work that's being expected of these South Korean companies.
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A
These South Korean workers were in the US under these short term visa programs. Was that part of the confusion here? Were they lawfully or unlawfully in the United States working?
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There's still a lot of confusion over what kind of visas they were on, what their visa statuses were on B1, some on the visa waiver program, some had the proper work documents and were still forced to leave the country.
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A
And as we wrap up here, you've been in Korea for a few days. What is the temperature of how people on the street perhaps are viewing these headlines coming out of the United States?
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C
We talked to people who would talk to us and they were ranging in age from university students to retirees. A majority of people didn't like what they saw. Some were going so far as to say that it really raises a lot of questions about what's happening in America. They don't recognize the country. There were others who were saying they would still want to go to the US to be able to pursue this sort of work. So it's not deterring them. Overall, the sense among people here seeing these images play in a loop over the news channels and the newspaper headlines screaming at them was that we deserve better than this. The US Is our friend and we deserve better treatment.
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Foreign Correspondent Janice McAfeeer, thanks so much.
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Thank you.
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All right, let's get to some headlines. Nepal has a new leader after a Gen Z revolution toppled its former government. So Sheila Kharki, a former chief justice, will now serve as interim leader after a youth driven revolt that saw parliamentary buildings and politicians homes set ablaze. The trigger, a short lived social media ban. Now the protesters are saying it's not just about Facebook and YouTube but about political corruption. Adding to the fire police who fired on the crowds earlier in the week killing 19 people. The army is now in the streets of Kathmandu trying to restore order as leaders scramble to assemble in interim government. These days it feels impossible to remember what app a specific show is streaming on. Well, get ready for some more reshuffling which could be on the way as Paramount, Skydance, the home of SpongeBob and CBS could be coupling up with Warner Bros. Discovery. That's Batman, cnn, hbo, Paramount and Max or HBO Max together. Well, that could be possible thanks to David Ellison's billions of dollars which already led to Skydance's merger with Paramount and can now roll into a mostly cash offer for Warner Bros. Discovery. The potential deal's got Wall street buzzing and WBD's stock popping. But regulators and industry analysts are already raising eyebrows, asking whether fewer players in Hollywood means less choice for viewers and maybe more reruns of the same old corporate playbook. In short, get ready for another episode in the never ending saga of as the Media World Turns. Also this morning on Fox and Friends, President Trump said he's sending the National Guard to yet another city, Memphis, Tennessee.
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B
So we're going to Memphis. I'm just announcing that now. And we'll straighten that out. National Guard and anybody else we need. And by the way we'll bring in the military, too, if we need it.
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Trump framed the move as a crackdown on crime, and he said the idea came up after a conversation with the FedEx board member who flagged Memphis's crime rate. FedEx, of course, is headquartered there. FBI data shows violent crime in Memphis has hovered around roughly 15 to 16,000 incidents a year over the past five years. That's several thousand more than a decade ago. As for local leaders, Republican Governor Bill Lee issued a statement today saying he has been in constant communication with the Trump administration to develop a plan to combat crime in Memphis, leveraging the full extent of both federal and state resources. Some people say fall begins with the autumnal equinox, that perfect day when the sun sits right above the equator. But let's be real. The true kickoff to fall isn't about science. It's about vibes. The smell of pumpkin spice, the crunch of leaves underfoot, and yes, the re emergence of Twilight. Because nothing says cozy season like vampires in flannel weather. Right now, the entire Twilight Saga is at the edge of your fingertips. The official Twilight account is streaming all five movies on YouTube for free. This 24. 7 movie marathon kicked off last Sunday and will end this Sunday at midnight. If you're anything like me, you haven't seen any of these movies. This is your chance to be in the loop 16 years later. Although it might feel feel like 16 years for me to actually sit through and watch all of this. That's going to do it for all of us here at Here's a scoop from NBC News. Have a great weekend. We'll be back here on Monday. Signing off, I'm Brian Chung.
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D
So, folks, you might have noticed the weather's changing out there. The sun appears to be out. The days are longer. This is in the Northern Hemisphere, of course, and it's got me excited for road trips, days out exploring, and long walks to castles on windswept crags. And if you're looking forward to all that too, I've got the perfect companion podcast to join you on your adventures this summer. I'm Dan Snow, host of the Dan Snow's History Hit Podcast, where I whisk you away into the greatest stories of and history. Join me on the high seas as we follow the swashbuckling escapades of Francis Drake on the Spanish Main. We unravel the myths of the Spartans at the Battle of Thermopylae. I'll tell you everything you need to know about how the American Revolution started and what it would have taken for you to survive the Black Death in medieval Europe. Brackets luck. This is the podcast you need if you seek to escape into history. And we can all use a little escape at the moment. Check out Dan Snow's history at wherever you get your podcasts.