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I think the best shade of green to describe it, because there's a wide range of greens, is it's kind of Kermit the Frog green, if you want to picture that in your head.
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Hey, everybody, and welcome to here's the scoop from NBC News. I'm Yasmin Bisugin. So President Trump has spent a ton of green to renovate the reflecting pool on the national mall. But now, $14.6 million later, it is also turned green. Plus, Trump's pick to lead the Fed makes his debut. And he now faces a balancing act as leader of the central bank. Up first, though, it has been days since President Trump announced an agreement with Iran to end the war. But we didn't know the details of what was in that agreement until now. A senior US official has shared the 14 point memorandum of understanding between the US and Iran with NBC News. Now, to be clear, this is not a final deal. It's a framework that sets up negotiations for the next 60 days. And the key issues that still need to be negotiated in that time include control of the Strait of Hormuz, sanctions relief, and Iran's nuclear program. And the president said this today, if Iran does not stick to the terms,
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if they don't honor that, we'll probably go back to bombing them until they honor it. You know, it's amazing what bombs can do.
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Also, the agreement includes a permanent end to military operations in Lebanon. But Israel, which has been fighting with Hezbollah in Lebanon, has not signed on to this agreement. So will this really lead to an end to the war? And if it does, will President Trump have achieved any of his goals for this? I want to bring in Gabe Gutierrez, NBC News senior White House correspondent. Hi, Gabe.
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Hey there, Yasmin. Good to be here.
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Great to have you. So let's go through some of these points in this memorandum, and I wanna start with Lebanon, because it was point number one, in which, quote, this memorandum states the immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including Lebanon. Now, since the US And Iran digitally signed onto this agreement a few days ago, Israel has carried out multiple attacks on Lebanon, where Israel says it's continuing to target Hezbollah. That includes an Israeli attack just yesterday that killed four people. According to Lebanese media, Israel has said they are not party to this memorandum, and yet the US And Iran are saying that the fighting in Lebanon is actually going to stop. That is number one on this memorandum. Make sense of this commitment for us, if you will, Gabe, from what you've been hearing from the White House, well,
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it can be difficult to make sense of that particular point, because you're absolutely right, Israel has said that it is not a part of this memorandum of understanding. And Prime Minister Netanyahu earlier week said he had not even seen the text of this agreement. Now, the president today said that they had sent a copy to the Israelis and asked a senior US Official, did they dispute that Netanyahu has seen this or not. And the response I got was that Netanyahu had not asked to see this specific text, but that the US had briefed Israel along the way so that they were up to speed. Still, though, the President over the last several weeks, his frustration has been building with Prime Minister Netanyahu. And while he says he still has a good relationship with Netanyahu, he has sort of chastised him for carrying out these attacks in Lebanon against the Iran back group Hezbollah. And there are real questions about whether Israel will abide by any sort of ceasefire given that the relationship has been strained in the last several weeks between the US And Israel. So you're right to highlight that as one of the major questions surrounding this memorandum of understanding. And at this point it remains unclear why, whether it will hold and whether Israel will refrain from attacking Hezbollah or whether Hezbollah will refrain from attacking Israel. Senior US Officials and the President himself have stressed that Israel does have the right to defend itself. But the President is saying that he wishes Netanyahu would use better judgment.
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Another big point in this is what's happening with the state of Hormuz. They said within the next 30 days the US is going to lift the blockade, that Iran is gonna allow free passage over the next 60 days. What is to stop Iran after this 60 day period from not charging passage through the state of Hormuz, considering the fact that they have figured out a way to both weaponize and profit off of the passage of the Strait of Hormuz?
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Well, Yasmin, you're absolutely right. You'll remember before this war ever started, there was free passage through the Strait of Hormuz. So we've come a long way since then. The administration and senior US Officials are saying that now with the reopening of the strait, that it will mean toll free passage through the Strait of Hormuz. But pressed earlier this week by our colleague Tom Yamas, the vice President seemed to give a kind of a we'll wait and see answer when asked about this idea about Iran charging what they've called maritime service fees that might be different from a toll. They might charge fees for either to help with navigation or if a ship were to break down in the Strait of Hormuz. Those finer details appear to be up in the air right now. And it's part of what could be discussed in this next 60 window where both sides will talk about a wide variety of thornier issues, including the future of Iran's nuclear program.
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Then there's a $300 billion in which they have committed for reconstruction economic development inside of Iran. Do we know where that money is actually coming from?
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Well, look, the Trump administration is stressing that that is not US Money. The president saying that a cent of US Money will be used for that reconstruction fund. The fund itself, as outlined in this memorandum of understanding, will be created by Iran's Arab neighbors to pray for damage inside Iran. Still, critics of this agreement will look at that and say, well, isn't that appeasing Iran? Isn't that making it so that they're getting rewarded, as you know, following this war? Now, the Trump administration is trying to argue they will only have access to that fund if they meet certain benchmarks, if the President is satisfied with how Iran is implementing this agreement. So the finer details about how exactly they'll have access to that money, that is still unclear and will likely be discussed more and more detail under this next 60 day window. But there's another point of this agreement, Yasmin, that is also raising a lot of eyebrows, you know, allowing critics to really question whether Iran is being appeased here. And this is one provision where there is some immediate sanctions relief, a waiver for Iranian exports of oil that kicks in immediately and that is seen as potentially, you know, giving a reward to Iran up front. And a senior US Official who I asked about, who was asked about this, they're responding by saying, look, they're acknowledging that this is a concession, but one that they feel is appropriate in part to reduce global oil prices.
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Lastly, I want to talk about the nuclear, because that is what we have heard from the President most. And when it comes to the nuclear program, it says this, and I quote, the Islamic Republic of Iran reaffirms that it shall not procure or develop nuclear weapons. This, Gabe, is almost the exact same language as the jcpoa, which the President pulled the United States out of in his first term in the White House. Beyond that, what is this memorandum actually promising when it comes to negotiations with regards to nuclear development?
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Well, look, the President today reiterated that this agreement was held up for a little while at least because the President insisted on having that Iran would not produce nor procure. In other words, they couldn't go ahead and buy a nuclear weapon. That was something that the president felt was unacceptable. He wanted to add some language there. But you're right, it is similar to what was in the Iran nuclear nuclear deal under the Obama administration and for decades even before that. Iran has insisted that it would not go after a nuclear weapon, that nuclear power was only for civilian use. And so, yes, the Trump administration is emphasizing that part of the agreement, but critics of the agreement say that it's something that Iran has agreed to well before this time. With regards to the finer points of the future of the nuclear program in this next 60 day window, there are a lot of questions about these technical negotiations and these are really tricky specifics that are going to have to be discussed by the US And Iran. And at this point, we genuinely don't know where that will fall. But again, this 14 point memorandum of understanding which the administration laid out today, this kind of sets up these next 60 days of more specific negotiations. Yes.
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Gabe Gutierrez, thank you.
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It was great to be here.
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All right, after the break, all eyes were on Kevin Warsh as he took the mic for his first presser as leader of the Federal Reserve. What he said and what it could mean for your wallet. That's next. And while you're waiting, just go ahead and send your favorite episode of here's the Scoop to a friend. Doesn't that sound like a great idea? We would love your help getting the word out. I'll see you after the break.
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And we are back with here's the scoop from NBC News. So Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh was at the podium on Wednesday afternoon for his first public appearance as leader of the central bank after President Trump nominated him to succeed the former chair, Jerome Powell. Everybody pretty much expected the Fed to hold interest rates steady at Warsh's first meeting, which it did for now. But all eyes were on the news conference because a lot of economists and investors, they're looking for any clues about how he plans to handle rates, inflation and the Fed overall moving forward. So for that, I want to bring in NBC News chief business correspondent Christine Romans. Hey, Christine.
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Hi, Yasmin.
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So ahead of this meeting, economists at the bank UBS wrote in their note on Monday that Warsh's first press conference could be, quote, unquote, pivotal. Was it?
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Yeah. I mean, this is a new chapter. And he said it himself that this is a new chapter for the Fed. He wants to look at many of the things that the Fed does and point some task forces to decide if they are doing the right thing for the Fed and for the consuming public in this moment. And he started right away with a much shorter statement than we're used to. Usually that statement's about a page and a half. This was just a half page, very bare bones about the strength in the economy, the challenges ahead and leaving it there.
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So one of the reasons, and you and I have talked about this numerous times at this point, one of the reasons why Kevin Warsh got the job was because he was interested in lowering interest rates. And that's what the President had wanted. Right. But as I mentioned, they have decided to keep interest rates steady. How did they.
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It was a unanimous decision. All 12 voting members decided to keep interest rates steady here right now. In that very short statement, it pointed out that inflation was elevated in part because of what's happening in the Middle East. You know, energy prices have spiked. The President, when he started asking for lower interest rates, inflation was a little too high, but much lower than it is today. And you didn't have this energy price shock that has really rippled over the past four months through world economies and through global markets. So now you've got Kevin Warsh, who's been hired ostensibly because the President wants lower rates. Facing a Fed board, nine people on that board suggested that they would like to see higher rates and a market that is suggesting that rates will be higher by the end of the year, too.
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So give us an economic picture here, because as we are looking at a potential end to this war, we just got the 14 point plan of this memorandum that has been signed by Iran and the United States to be signed officially, I believe, this Friday. They're going to then negotiate more over the next 60 days for a final quote, unquote deal. You had these, I would say, pretty bad numbers that came out not that long ago, 4.2%. Consumer prices were up. Right. What does that tell us about the Fed's next move?
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The Fed is in a real pickle here because we thought not long ago that the next move from the Fed would be an interest rate cut, which is something anybody wanting to buy a house, refinance a house, get a new car, companies who need to borrow money, they would like lower rates. The President would like lower rates. If you cut rates, it would be because you're trying to support the job market a little bit. You're trying to goose the economy a little bit. But the economy doesn't look like it needs to be goose. It is doing just fine. The job market, we recently learned, was actually stronger than expected. You lower interest rates to stimulate an economy. You raise interest rates when economy is hot and inflation is running too hot. So now that we've seen stability in the job market and we're still seeing inflation too high, the risks have tilted toward raising interest rates, trying to tap down some of the. Some of the bubbles or euphoria in the economy. And that's not something that homeowners, car buyers, companies like to see. Higher rates slow things down.
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So prices are everywhere going up. Right. We saw that. With inflation rates, are they doing anything today? Is the Fed doing anything to stop that?
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No, the Fed did not move interest rates. Did not. It has this important lever. It did not pull that lever one way or another. So it's the status quo for the American public, which is a 4.2% rate of inflation. That's uncomfortable. 2% is an inflation rate. You don't feel that's what the Fed was like? We don't talk about prices, Yasmin. If it's a 2% inflation, we don't even notice it. We worry about other things. Now we're really worried about prices because that rate is too high. That measures. Everything has been going up. He was even asked. Chairman Warsh was asked by our own Brian Chung, you know, what do you say to someone in the grocery store aisle about what you're doing to bring their prices down? And he essentially said, what we're doing here can't meaningfully change prices today. But he did go on to say that the target of the Federal Reserve is still 2%. An inflation target of 2% and he's determined to get there somehow.
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How are businesses, how are economists responding to what we've heard from Fed Chair Warsh in keeping interest rates steady at this point and the potential to not see as much forecasting as we saw from the Jerome Powell administration leading the Fed?
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Yeah, Chair Warsh has said he's not a big fan of forward guidance, and that is something that has become routine from the Fed in the days since the great financial crisis when it was really important to telegraph to the public in Wall street where we were going so there weren't big shocks and uncertainties. It was seen as actually a stabilizer. All of that communication from the Fed was really seen as a shock absorber in the system. Kevin Warsh wants to kind of step back from that and give less information. So that'll be an adjustment for markets, I think.
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Is that coming from the president, you think, or not?
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Unclear. Warsh has been on the record that he thinks that the forward guidance, he said, well, we only know what we know. We only have the facts before us. Conjecture doesn't, doesn't really help. But economists forecast so that you can have a range of options in the
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future, understand what's to come, possibly.
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It's just he has a different worldview about how the Fed should operate, and this is just the very first day of him trying to implement his new worldview.
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Christine Romans, thank you.
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Thanks, Yasmin.
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We are going to take a very quick break and when we are back, we're going to check in on the battle President Trump is waging against algae. Stay with us.
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Visit betterhelp.com and we are back with here's the scoop from NBC News. So President Trump's Washington, D.C. makeover is feeling a lot more like a botched home renovation. It's over budget, and the color is just all wrong. Let us take, for example, the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. President Trump had a vision to turn the water into a shimmering shade of blue just in time for America's 250th birthday.
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We used a dark blue. It's called American flag blue.
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But then after a $14.6 million renovation to the reflecting pool that was supposed to cost $13.1 million, a massive algae bloom has turned the water green in just a matter of days, leaving Washington, D.C. residents with the same old, same old.
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It looked green before when there was algae.
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It would get cleaned, be, you know,
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kind of blue for about a week, and then it'd be be right back to this.
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Anyways, so what is going on with the National Mall? For this, I want to bring in our expert, NBC News Chief Capitol Hill correspondent Ryan Nobles, who took a trip down to the National Mall from our NBC Bureau in Washington, D.C. and got a good look at this algae. What did you see?
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I've been a resident of the greater Washington, D.C. area now for a little more than a decade. I've been to the reflecting pool many times. I have never seen it the way it looks right now. I think the best shade of green to describe it, because there's a wide range of greens, is it's kind of Kermit the Frog green. If you want to picture that in your head. That is certainly not at all what President Trump was hoping to do when he went over this huge, massive renovation where they emptied the pool. He drove the Beast limousine over the empty pool as a way to demonstrate how beautiful it was going to look. And right now, they are working overtime to try and fix this problem so that it looks the way he wants it to look, look in time for the Fourth of July. But time is running out. And, you know, the experts that we talked to said the conditions for algae to flourish right now are perfect. You know, you've got this massive stagnant body of water 2,000ft long that's shallow. That's another part of it that's important. And you've got warm weather. It's cooled down a little bit here in D.C. but it was 90 over the weekend. It's gonna be 90 again this weekend. So in many ways, they're fighting a losing war against science. And it's not clear that they're gonna be able to get it the way they want it to look here in the next couple of weeks.
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So, look, this is, Ryan, a time of year that, you know, people visit D.C. kids are out of school. Let's go. Let's go see the National Mall. Let's go see the monuments. Let's see the reflecting pool. And so you have tourists that are visiting Washington and they're showing up and they're seeing this green algae reflecting pool. And you spoke to them. What did they tell you?
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Well, the first thing is everyone is shocked by it. We only got here about 20 minutes ago, and that was the first thing
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we noticed, was that it was green.
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I wasn't expecting something tropical, clear water, something Caribbean, But I just thought it would look just a little bit nicer.
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It's definitely something, especially given the investment that the administration put into it that they need to try and find a way to get a handle on.
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You mentioned crews are at it, trying to change the color back to this American flag blue by Independence Day. Is there any optimism it's actually gonna happen? And how are they doing it? Are they just pouring a bunch of chlorine in to get rid of the algae?
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Well, so it's funny you used the word chlorine. Cause that's what they don't wanna use.
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Good. I'm not doing it then.
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I've had a lot of people ask me. I've all of a sudden become a standing water expert. Why is it that this pool is so gross, but yet the pool in my backyard, which is also a stagnant body of water, why is that not filled with algae? And the reason is chlorine. Right. We take swimming pools and we chock them full of chemicals so that nothing grows in them. That's not what they want the reflecting pool to be. First of all, they don't want human beings in it. They specifically don't want people swimming in it. But secondly, they want the natural wildlife that lives in and around the pool to be able to take advantage of it. And so they want to be very careful about the type of chemicals they use. They did over the past couple of days, you know, pour hydrogen peroxide into the water. The goal would be that the peroxide is not as toxic to animals as chloride. But then the other thing they're doing is that they're putting in this technology, this nanooxygenator technology, these bubbles essentially that are naturally occurring, that they're kind of putting into the water. And these oxygenated bubbles will eat the food that the algae eat. The goal being that then you would starve the algae out of the pool. So that's the Interior Department's promise. But, you know, the promises are, I think, an important part of this story. And people ask, why are you making such a big deal of this? Making a big deal of it? Because President Trump has made a big deal of it. He finds a way to talk about it even when there's nothing else related to it in a press conference. So it's a promise that he made. It's a massive investment of taxpayer money to try and fix this problem. It was done largely through no bid contracts, which is a whole other part of this conversation. So I think there's an expectation that the American people want to know how their money's being used and why, at this point, it looks like it's not working.
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King Ryan Nobles, thank you.
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Thanks, Yas.
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All right, that is going to do it for us. Here's the scoop from NBC News. I'm Yassin Bissugin. 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 of the day that comes out every weeknight straight to your inbox. You can sign up for. The Inside Scoop is forever paid subscription at NBC News.
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This episode delves into two major stories shaping U.S. and global affairs:
The podcast concludes with a lighter—but surprisingly contentious—update on President Trump’s renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, which has become a metaphor for mismanaged expectations.
Key Segments: 00:11–09:29
Key Segments: 11:03–17:24
Key Segments: 18:52–24:24
This episode provided exclusive details on the delicate and high-stakes U.S.–Iran framework agreement, bringing to light lingering questions about enforcement, regional repercussions, and economic consequences. It then pivoted to Kevin Warsh’s debut at the Federal Reserve, exploring how his distinct approach may reshape monetary policy communications amid economic turbulence. The lighthearted yet pointed final segment underscored how even cosmetic government projects can become symbols of deeper governance challenges—especially when taxpayer money and presidential promises are on the line.