What Lebanon’s Got To Do With Iran’s Stalled Talks; Plus, Graham Platner’s Sexting Scandal

Summary

Podcast Summary: Here’s the Scoop – June 1, 2026

Episode Title: What Lebanon’s Got to Do With Iran’s Stalled Talks; Plus, Graham Platner’s Sexting Scandal
Host: Yasmin Basugiyan (NBC News)
Guests: Richard Engel (NBC, Chief Foreign Correspondent), Jonathan Allen (NBC, Senior National Politics Reporter)

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Episode Overview

This episode dives into the escalating tensions in the Middle East—specifically the interactions among the US, Iran, and Israel, and how the wider conflict, especially Israel’s actions in Lebanon, is affecting diplomatic progress. The second major story examines the latest controversy surrounding Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner, dissecting whether personal scandals will impact his standing with voters. The episode closes on a lighter note as Richard Engel shares some behind-the-scenes stories from his reporting career.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Middle East Tensions: US, Iran, Israel, and Lebanon

[00:00–08:00]

The Current Landscape

• Negotiations on pause: Diplomatic talks between the US and Iran have collapsed amid rising military exchanges. Engel describes the progress towards a deal as, “it feels a bit like the horizon or a mirage. You know, the closer you get to it, the further it seems to recede into the distance.” (Richard Engel, 00:00)
• Escalating clashes: The US and Iran are engaged in a series of “self-defense” strikes, both accusing each other of violations but avoiding direct, large-scale conflict.
• Israeli advances in Lebanon: Despite a supposed ceasefire, Israel is escalating its campaign in Lebanon, capturing symbolic targets (e.g., Buford Castle), and issuing mass eviction orders in southern regions.

Risk of Escalation

• Engel warns against assuming this tense limbo will hold:

  “Every day that goes by and each one of these incidents is a near miss… What if one of those ballistic missiles today had gotten through and killed half a dozen American soldiers or something like that, or something similar happens tomorrow…” (Richard Engel, 01:58)

• Despite outward signs of control, Engel highlights the unpredictability of conflict zones, noting the risk of miscalculation turning simmering tensions into broader war.

Conflicting Strategies

• Trump administration: Expected a “quick and easy” resolution, likening Iran’s situation to prior US actions in Venezuela.
• Israel: PM Netanyahu has long advocated a regime change in Iran, now with US alignment.
• Iran: Leadership upheaval has brought a tougher regime, now refusing talks and flexing military muscle in the Strait of Hormuz.
• Engel’s assessment:

  “I think there isn’t a strategy. You have competing strategies.” (Richard Engel, 04:07)

Lebanon’s Role

• Israel’s direct actions in Lebanon have led Iran to halt nuclear negotiations.
• Massive eviction orders are effectively displacing around 17% of Lebanon’s population.

• “What we've been seeing…is Israel intensifying its strikes, moving deeper into South Lebanon… Prime Minister Netanyahu said he's also going to extend attacks to the Dahia neighborhood, which is a Hezbollah stronghold in South Beirut. And that's causing a tremendous amount of concern in Beirut itself.” (Richard Engel, 06:28)

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2. Graham Platner’s Sexting Scandal and Maine Politics

[09:46–15:48]

Scandal Details & Political Impact

• Platner, Democratic Senate candidate and frontrunner in Maine, is embroiled in a new scandal involving sexually explicit messages from early in his marriage, which began in 2023.
• His wife pre-emptively disclosed the texts to the campaign.
• Platner’s response has been to attack the accuser while his campaign admits the texts’ existence.

Voter Reaction and Platner’s Appeal

• Platner has a history of controversies: a Nazi-linked tattoo (since covered up), explicit Reddit posts, and now sexting.

• Despite baggage, he remains popular, with his principal rival, Governor Janet Mills, exiting the primary due to his lead.

• Jonathan Allen:

  “He's largely responded to them with some celerity, some quickness, and tried to put it behind him and move back to the issues, which is, I think, what campaign operatives would advise him to do.” (Jonathan Allen, 11:49)

• The recency of the sexting incident sets it apart from older scandals.

• Allen notes:

  “I do think that there's not much room for him to get into a war over who's got a better history or worse history of sexually explicit texts between him and Susan Collins, the septuagenarian main senator…” (Jonathan Allen, 12:23)

• Platner’s sustained lead in polls suggests issues-based campaigning and authenticity are winning over many Democratic voters:

  “The Democrats like him because he's a little bit different. Because he does not feel like the typical establishment candidates that they've run in the past who feel inauthentic.” (Jonathan Allen, 15:03)

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3. Favorite Flavor: Richard Engel’s Behind-the-Scenes Tales

[17:46–21:46]

A playful closing segment where Engel selects questions from the “extra scoop” category.

Most Unusual Food for an Interview

• Engel recounts being bedridden with illness in Baghdad (2004/2005), when a local producer brought him a pot of pacha (Iraqi sheep head stew), believed to restore one’s health and vigor:

  “I was too debilitated to say no... I appreciate what you're doing. Will you please bring that awful thing out of this room immediately…But, eventually, yes, I got better. But I would put that at the top of the list.” (Richard Engel, 18:51)

Ever Almost Got Fired?

• Engel shares being fired from his Cairo news editor job in 1997 for publishing too many controversial stories that attracted attention from Egyptian authorities:

  “I was being followed by the security services at the time... I was doing so many stories that were causing problems for the paper that the publisher told me and called me one day and said, can't keep you here. He was getting too much heat.” (Richard Engel, 20:28)

• Engel’s punchline:

  “But it was still better than eating the soup.” (Richard Engel, 21:39)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the Middle East:

  • “The closer you get to it, the further it seems to recede into the distance.” (Richard Engel on peace negotiations, 00:00 & 06:28)
  • “There's so much unpredictability of it. When you're firing explosive things at, at great distances, at each other, things go wrong.” (Richard Engel, 02:29)

• On Platner’s Scandals:

  • “Opposition research has gotten a lot better.” (Jonathan Allen, 14:41)
  • “I'm very thankful that, you know, some of these sites were not around when I was in college. Let's just say that.” (Yasmin Basugiyan, 14:49)

• On authenticity in politics:

  • “They…do not feel like the typical establishment candidates that they've run in the past who feel inauthentic.” (Jonathan Allen, 15:03)

• On unusual field experiences:

  • “Yes, I did get sacked from that job… but it was still better than eating the soup.” (Richard Engel, 21:39)

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Important Timestamps

| Segment | Topic | Timestamps | |---------|-------|------------| | Middle East / Iran–US–Israel–Lebanon | - Status quo, risk, strategies, peace prospects | 00:00 – 08:00 | | Graham Platner controversy | - Description, impact, political analysis | 09:46 – 15:49 | | Favorite Flavor: Richard Engel stories | - Fieldwork anecdotes, personal tales | 17:46 – 21:46 |

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Conclusion

This episode of “Here’s the Scoop” delivers an in-depth look at both international geopolitics and US campaign drama, balancing expert analysis with moments of levity and candid storytelling. The discussion on Middle East tensions offers sobering insights into the unpredictability of militarized stand-offs, while the breakdown of Graham Platner’s personal controversies examines both the challenges and shifting standards in today’s political landscape. The episode wraps up with Richard Engel’s revealing and entertaining stories from the field, rounding out a news-packed program with a dash of personality.

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For further reading and daily updates, subscribe to the Inside Scoop newsletter at NBC News.

Transcript

[Richard Engel]

Negotiations which have kind of been stumbling along and they look like they were getting close to a deal, but it feels a bit like the horizon or a mirage. You know, the closer you get to it, the further it seems to recede into the distance.

[Yasmin Basugiyan]

Hey everybody and welcome to here's the scoop from NBC News. I'm Yasmin Basugiyan. So we have new strikes in the Middle east from the US Military, Iran and Israel. Is this the new status quo? Plus, Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner is facing another scandal. This time it's sexting. But do Maine voters even care? And our very own NBC News chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel is dishing on culinary quirks of his job. All right, so the US Military says it carried out self defense strikes on Iranian radar and drone control sites. While Iran says it targeted an air base used in the US attack. But is it an all out war again? Not yet according to both of them. Instead, Iran says it has stopped talking. They say they've called off negotiations, the US and are again considering fully closing the Strait of Hormuz. Why, you ask? Because Israel has expanded the war in Lebanon even with a quote unquote ceasefire still officially ongoing there. That is according to Iranian state media. So is this simmer of war the new normal? And will Israel and Lebanon be the real nail in the coffin of peace? With that, I'm going to bring in NBC News chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel.

[Richard Engel]

Hi Richard, it's great to talk to you as always. How are you?

[Yasmin Basugiyan]

Good to have you. US and Iranian militaries are back at it again. They are continuing, Richard, to accuse each other of breaking their agreements. But there is no serious consequences or harm so far it seems. Is this the new status quo, this kind of simmer of war? At least until November?

[Richard Engel]

I would be very cautious in thinking that it is because every day that goes by and each one of these incidents is a near miss. And just today for example, there was an exchange of fire. And as you rightly described, both sides say this is self defense. Both sides accuse the other of starting it. American troops are at war. They're enforcing a blockade against Iran which is an act of war. They are off their shore, they are attacking ships. CENTCOM just put out a statement trying to dock in Iranian ports. So from Iran's perspective, it is acting in self defense as well, whenever it fires. So there was this latest incident. We don't need to go through all the details, but the US destroyed some radar command and control sites. Iran responded firing two ballistic missiles at US Troops in Kuwait and both of them were shot down and no one was injured. But what if that had gone differently? What if one of those ballistic missiles today had gotten through and killed half a dozen American soldiers or something like that, or something similar happens tomorrow, or one of these ships in Hormuz hits a sea mine and goes down. Anything like this could happen at any time. So I worry about this sense of complacency that, well, things will just keep bubbling along like this. President Trump told NBC short while ago that he's not in any rush and he thinks that this can go on for a while. And if it stays like this, I guess in theory it could. But there's so much risk. And the reality of covering conflicts for a long time is there's so much unpredictability of it. When you're firing explosive things at, at great distances, at each other, things go wrong.

[Yasmin Basugiyan]

So then what is the strategy? I mean, like, is there a strategy because there is negotiations, then there's not negotiations because Iran has now stopped talking because what is happening in Lebanon, Iran and the US Are continuing to kind of strike each other with no real, it seems, strategy behind it?

[Richard Engel]

Well, I think we have three different strategies. So you have President Trump who clearly thought this was going to be quick and easy and it was going to be another Venezuela, and he keeps talking about Venezuela transposing the names of Iran for Venezuela and in waxing on nostalgia about what a great operation that was, where US Commandos moved in, quickly removed Maduro and put an American friendly government in place without even having to change the regime. He thought it was going to be something pretty similar and has said that much. Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu has wanted a war with Iran and a regime change war in Iran for decades and finally got an American president who would help him do it. So he has his own strategy and you have Iran. And Iran was trying to negotiate and now it has faced tremendous leadership upheavals and a new, much harder line government is there than the one that was in power before. And it's very bad news, at least as things are now for the people whose name the revolution was or the war was launched in the protesters in Iran who took to the streets demanding change, demanding moderation, demanding more rights. What they have now is a government that is tougher, less willing to give people rights. At least that's what it seems at the moment and is, feels in a position of strength and is asserting dominance over the Strait of Hormuz. So I think there isn't a strategy you have competing strategies.

[Yasmin Basugiyan]

I want to talk though, about Lebanon and to talk about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu because strangely, the US and Israel started this war with Iran together. The US and Iran are engaging, as we just talked about kind of these incremental strikes, but not pushing forward into an all out war. Israel, though, is pushing further and further into Lebanon. Now they just took this historic crusader, Buford Castle. Could the war between Israel and Lebanon, which by the way is still in a ceasefire in spite of all of the fighting that's still going on between them, could that be the ultimate nail in the coffin for a potential path to peace between Iran and the us?

[Richard Engel]

I don't know. There's so many nails and there's so many coffins. Let's just talk about this one particular war. And they're all interrelated because as you mentioned, Iran broke off negotiations, negotiations which have kind of been stumbling along and they look like they were getting close to a deal. But it of kind, it feels a bit like the horizon or a mirage. You know, the closer you get to it, the further it seems to recede into the distance. The reason the Iranians broke it off is because the war in Lebanon is intensifying. What we've been seeing now over the last couple of days and even just over the course of today is Israel intensifying its strikes, moving deeper into South Lebanon, moving more and more people out of the area. There have been mass eviction orders given to the people that living in South Lebanon, telling them get out of the way because we're going to bomb Hezbollah. So for your own safety, leave. But those orders apply to about 17% of the country, an enormous amount of the country. Prime Minister Netanyahu said he's also going to extend a tax to the Dahia neighborhood, which is a Hezbollah stronghold in South Beirut. And that's causing a tremendous amount of concern in Beirut itself. And China just a few minutes ago, Israeli media report that the Americans have asked the Israelis to hold off on those strikes in Dahi, at least for the moment. But either way, you're seeing a war that had been escalating quite significantly.

[Yasmin Basugiyan]

Thank you, Richard.

[Richard Engel]

Thank you.

[Yasmin Basugiyan]

By the way, though, we're gonna ask you to hang tight because we're gonna take a very quick break. We're gonna talk to John Allen about Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner. And then we have got a special segment for you today. You, Richard, get to choose your favorite flavor. I'm going to explain to you. Is that, is that cool, though? Are you going to Stick around with me.

[Richard Engel]

Is this a scoop theme? Is this an ice cream flavor?

[Yasmin Basugiyan]

It's a scoop theme. Let's do it.

[Richard Engel]

Let's do it. Let's do it.

[Yasmin Basugiyan]

And for our listeners while you're waiting, want you to do me a favor as well. If you are a regular, I know you've already subscribed, but why don't you take a second and share? Here's the Scoop with a friend. Just text them your favorite recent episode, maybe this one, maybe the one with Richard Angle telling us some inside scoop and then tell them to get on board. We would really appreciate it. We'll be right back.

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[Kate Snow]

Hi, it's Kate Snow, NBC News anchor and host of the NBC News podcast the Drink. And this month, I'm grabbing a Hugo Spring with former reality star Lauren Conrad. Here at the Drink, we love learning about someone's journey to the top. And Lauren and I, we go back to the very beginning of her extraordinary story. We talk about why she always saw reality TV as temporary for her, the scrutiny she faced in the public eye, and why she says she'll never watch Laguna beach again. Hope you'll join us for the drink. Listen and follow wherever you get your podcasts.

[Yasmin Basugiyan]

And we are back with Here's a scoop from NBC News. So Maine's primary is June 9, and we are watching the big race for Senate. Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner has dealt with a lot of controversy since launching his campaign, but he's also gained a lot of popularity in spite of them. He is the presumptive nominee, but he's got another controversy now, sexting. He sent sexually explicit messages to women in the early days of his marriage and his campaign confirmed that he was married back in 2023. So will Maine voters care about Platner sexting? And if they do, could it hurt Democrats chances of taking the Senate? For that, I want to bring in Jonathan Allen, senior national politics reporter for NBC News. Hi, Jon.

[Jonathan Allen]

Hi, Aspen.

[Yasmin Basugiyan]

So Graham Platner, he's been talked about a lot in the lead up to the main primary. His wife actually was the one who basically told the campaign about these text messages to get ahead of any potential opposition research. Right. How is he now responding to this latest controversy?

[Jonathan Allen]

Well, the response has been from him to attack the messenger Basically to say the woman who was working on his campaign as political director was not truthful. And, you know, in talking to the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, however, he seems to be parsing very closely when he says that, because the campaign has acknowledged that these texts exist. So this is a problem for him, but unusual for him also in that he is somebody who has been trying to focus on the issues and has spent a lot of time in the last several weeks talking about his past posts on Reddit, sexually explicit messages with other women, the Nazi link tattoo that he had, and on and on.

[Yasmin Basugiyan]

Yeah, and he had that tattoo covered up. And he has said that he didn't know that the image was associated with Nazi police. But he's had to deal with a lot of these controversies, and he's done it somewhat successfully because he is now the presumptive nominee for the state of Maine for Senate for the Democrats. So how has he maneuvered through those controversies, and how is he maneuvering through this one now?

[Jonathan Allen]

Well, he's largely responded to them with some celerity, some quickness, and tried to put it behind him and move back to the issues, which is, I think, what campaign operatives would advise him to do. We'll have to see with this one. This seems like it might have a little bit more legs just in the short period that it's been out there. You know, his campaign has really been put on its heels also, I will

[Yasmin Basugiyan]

say, because some of the controversies that he was dealing with previously, whether it was the tattoo or the Reddit post, those things happened kind of more than a decade ago or the tattoo he got more than a decade ago. This happened in 2023, so not that long ago when.

[Jonathan Allen]

When he got married. Right. I mean, that's the other thing. And it's, you know, the nature of his relationship with his wife is between him and his wife, you know, and I think there are some people who are certainly going to, you know, to say, you know, if she makes her judgment and it's not a problem, they're okay voting for him. Other people say he's terrible for that or for some other reason, not vote for him. I do think that there's not much room for him to get into a war over who's got a better history or worse history of sexually explicit texts between him and Susan Collins, the septuagenarian main senator, who probably does not have a record of sexually explicit texts. So, like, if he wants to make a contrast with her, he's probably going to want to talk about the price of gas or the price of eggs or housing affordability or even local issues in terms of, you know, he's an oysterman, so the local main fishing industry,

[Yasmin Basugiyan]

which, by the way, he has been successful at doing up until this point. Right. He is kind of like the likeness he's made in the likeness of Bernie Sanders. He's gotten the endorsement of Bernie Sanders. Right. He's talks a lot about kitchen table issues. It's one of the ways in which he has maneuvered away from these controversies and keeping it more focused on what main voters are most worried about. And you think about some of the baggage he's dealt with. I mean, his biggest primary opponent, Maine Governor Janet Mills, she dropped out of the race because Platner had gained so much popularity in the state, and she just didn't see a path to winning. So I think the big question is here, do Maine voters care? Are they gonna care about this latest controversy?

[Jonathan Allen]

I think we're gonna have to wait to see if they care about this latest controversy, or more importantly, whether they care about the baggage. Like the ultimate wait, which is what the critics of Platinum hope they do, is that they kind of get tired of him and say, oh, well, this guy's got too much baggage, and we really don't want him because of all of these things, not just the single one. He. And, you know, polls recently has been leading so that these stories have not hurt him or at least not prevented him from having a lead so far. I don't know that there's any reason to think that this will change. This is not, you know, on the level of some of the other things that have come out, like, you know, where he had Reddit messages downplaying sexual assault. Like, you know, I think that that is more broadly offensive than the question of whether he is faithful to his W and his texting relationship. I think it's been a sort of new phenomenon to see all of these candidates have so many things come out about them in such a short period of time. Opposition research has gotten a lot better.

[Yasmin Basugiyan]

But it's also the age of social media. I mean, it's the age of, like, having more places to put things on.

[Jonathan Allen]

Right. Like, don't you tell your kids, don't put anything on social media ever.

[Yasmin Basugiyan]

I mean, I'm very thankful that, you know, some of these sites were not around when I was in college. Let's just say that.

[Jonathan Allen]

Well, what did you put on there? Yeah, exactly.

[Yasmin Basugiyan]

No, but what do you think Platner's biggest draw is? The biggest draw his biggest draw. Like why do you think that he's

[Jonathan Allen]

a little bit different? I think the Democrats like him because he's a little bit different. Cuz he does not feel like the typical establishment candidates that they've run in the past who feel inauthentic. Not just feel inauthentic, but in some cases have been lying to them. We came off a presidential election where the president of the United States and the people close to him hid his capability. Right. Like, I mean, I don't want to say that there was a cover up. I think that goes too far. But they certainly weren't straight up with the American people about his ability and some of the, the things he was struggling with. They're coming off of the DNC and others around it telling them that he was fine, telling them that Kamala Harris was going to win. And so I think a lot of Democratic voters are just looking for somebody that isn't, doesn't feel like they're spinning bs.

[Yasmin Basugiyan]

Jonathan Allen, thank you.

[Jonathan Allen]

Thanks, Jasmine.

[Yasmin Basugiyan]

All right. We are going to take a very quick break and when we come back, Richard Engel returns with some dishy moments from overseas. Stick around.

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[Laura Jarrett]

Who gets to be a citizen of the United States at birth? When it comes to sports in school, who gets to to compete with the girls? And how much power does the president actually have? These are some of the key questions before the U.S. supreme Court this term. And as any good lawyer knows, whether you win or lose in the highest court depends on the facts, the evidence, and how you frame your arguments. But that's not the only thing that matters. I'm Laura Jarrett, senior legal correspondent for NBC News. This month I'm talking to legal experts and lawyers whose past legal victories are now the building blocks for the biggest cases still left to be decided. I want to know how they convinced the court they were right when the stakes were high, what special sauce locked it in? And what could be different this time around? Join us for here's the Scoop. Supreme Court Edition new episodes every Saturday, wherever you get your podcasts.

[Kate Snow]

I really love the Start Today app.

[Richard Engel]

They care about how I feel.

[Kate Snow]

It's the staff on the app.

[Yasmin Basugiyan]

It's the connections you make.

[Richard Engel]

Without good mental and physical health, you have nothing.

[Yasmin Basugiyan]

It tells me how to cook to Keep myself healthy.

[Richard Engel]

I look at my app and I'm

[Jonathan Allen]

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[Kate Snow]

Start Today meets you where you are. Download the Start Today wellness app now on your Apple or Android device terms. Apply C app for details.

[Yasmin Basugiyan]

So before we wrap up today's episode of here's the Scoop, I'm going to bring back chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel for a new game that we are playing called favorite flavor. Richard, you ready?

[Richard Engel]

Let's do it.

[Yasmin Basugiyan]

Here is how it works. I've got three categories for you. You're gonna pick the category. I'm gonna ask you a question based on that category, and you control your fate. You control the questions that you are asked.

[Richard Engel]

All right, Do I have a buzzer in 60 seconds or something like that?

[Yasmin Basugiyan]

All of it.

[Richard Engel]

All right, let's do it.

[Yasmin Basugiyan]

The first category is the dish. The second category is cherry on top. And the third category is an extra scoop. So which category Richard Engel, would you like to go with?

[Richard Engel]

Ding, ding, ding. I'll go with the extra scoop category.

[Yasmin Basugiyan]

Okay. What is the most unusual food you've ever had to eat? To get an interview.

[Richard Engel]

To get an interview? Yeah.

[Yasmin Basugiyan]

Like you sit down with a dignitary and you have to eat this.

[Richard Engel]

Well, it wasn't exactly to get an interview. It was to get well enough to go to an interview. Does that count?

[Laura Jarrett]

Yes.

[Yasmin Basugiyan]

What was it?

[Richard Engel]

So I was just. It's funny you should mention this. I was just talking to someone about this yesterday, remembering a time when I was in Baghdad. This was in 2000, after the 2003 invasion. So it must have been. I was there for five years. So sometime in that period, I think it was like 2004, five, six. And I was sick as a dog. Something had happened. I'd eaten something. I was sweating. I was sore. I couldn't get out of bed. It was just miserable. We've all been there where you just want to sink into the bed and you get out of it and you just. The bed is wet with horror. It's a horrible thing. Anyway, I needed to go to work, right? I needed to keep doing the job and whatever. And one of my producers, fixer, local guy, a rocky guy named Zohair, brought a. And he brought the whole thing right from the kitchen, the whole pot of a dish. It's an Iraqi dish called pacha, and it's sheephead stew, and it has the whole thing. And it's supposed to make you big, strong man in every way and get better quickly. I had some. I was too debilitated to say no. And I was like, okay, and did you feel better? No, it didn't really make me feel better. And then he was, I liked the guy. And I was like, thank you. I appreciate what you're doing. Will you please bring that awful thing out of this room immediately so I don't have to, so I don't feel even worse. But eventually, yes, I got better. But I would put that at the top of the list.

[Yasmin Basugiyan]

All right, the other question from that category, have you ever almost gotten fired and why?

[Richard Engel]

Well, the day is young, so we will see. But, but one time I did get fired. I was working at a local paper in Cairo and it was a newspaper and we had to kind of, it was one of these papers that used to put on under the, under the door at hotels and it was in English language, was printed, it was distributed in Egypt, printed in Athens. I was the news editor at this newspaper. We're talking a long time ago. This is 1997. And I was doing a lot of stories that were pretty, let's say, controversial. Some of them were censored. And I was being followed by the security services at the time. This was during the days of Mubarak. And I was doing so many stories that were causing problems for the paper that the publisher told me and called me one day and said, can't keep you here. It's. He was getting too much heat. He was getting too much pressure and said, thanks, but no thanks, you got to go. So I became a freelancer. So, yes, I did get sacked from that job.

[Yasmin Basugiyan]

Even Richard Engel gets fired from a

[Richard Engel]

job, but it was still better than eating the soup.

[Yasmin Basugiyan]

All right, that's going to do it for us. And here's the scoop from NBC News. I'm Yasmin Dasu again. 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 on the main stories the day that comes out every weeknight. Straight to inbox. You can sign up for the Inside Scoop is forever paid subscription@NBC news.com.

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