Here's the Scoop

A potential warning sign for Republicans in Tennessee. Matt Van Epps, the party's nominee, won the special election in the 7th District and thanked President Trump for a boost. Both parties poured money into the race, but Van Epps' single-digit margin of victory is a far cry from Trump’s 22-point win there in 2024. So, what does the result signal nationally? Chief Data Analyst Steve Kornacki joins host Ryan Nobles to break it down. Plus, San Francisco is taking on big food, in a first-of-its-kind lawsuit. The city is suing 10 of the country’s biggest ultraprocessed food makers, accusing them of knowingly selling products designed to be addictive and harmful to Americans’ health. The defendants include household names like Kraft Heinz, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Nestlé USA. NBC News Legal Analyst Danny Cevallos joins us to break down the case, what’s at stake and why legal experts are watching this one closely. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

President Trump met with his Cabinet this morning as questions continue to intensify over a U.S. strike on a shipping boat allegedly carrying drugs in the Caribbean. The White House now confirms that in a September anti-smuggling operation, the military launched a second strike that killed survivors of the first attack, a move some lawmakers and legal experts say could be a war crime. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt has said the operation was legal and Adm. Frank M. Bradley acted within his authority. NBC News senior national security correspondent Courtney Kube joins host Anne Thompson to break it all down. And amid ongoing bloodshed in Ukraine and fragile cease-fire negotiations, Russian President Vladimir Putin is meeting today in Moscow with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and President Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Witkoff is expected to brief Putin on the newly updated peace plan hammered out in recent days by U.S. and Ukrainian and European negotiators. As these high-stakes talks unfold, we’re checking in with our team on the ground: NBC News chief international correspondent Keir Simmons is in Moscow, and chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel is in Ukraine. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Luigi Mangione is back in court today for a pivotal pretrial hearing in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. The 27-year-old has pleaded not guilty to nine state counts and four federal charges, the latter carrying the possibility of the death penalty. His defense team is now fighting to exclude key evidence, a process that could take more than a week. NBC News legal analyst Misty Marris joins host Laura Jarrett to break down what this means for the case. Adobe Analytics is predicting Americans will drop a record-breaking $14 billion on Cyber Monday deals today but, where there are shoppers, there are scammers. Not even our host was immune, getting caught up in a gift card scam herself. NBC News chief consumer investigative reporter Vicky Nguyen is here to break down what went wrong, what’s being done to stop it, and the red flags you need to watch for while you shop this holiday season. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

President Trump’s base may agree on illegal immigration, but legal immigration is tearing open new fault lines — and at the center are H-1B visas. Months after cracking down with costly new restrictions, the president now appears to be reversing course, jolting his party and escalating his feud with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Georgia Republican who announced this week that she’ll resign her seat in 2026. NBC News senior politics reporter Jon Allen joins host Yasmin Vossoughian to break down the policy whiplash and the GOP split that's fueling it. Plus, after box office sales fell to a historic low last month, Hollywood film studios are hoping moviegoers turn out this Thanksgiving weekend. NBC News Entertainment Correspondent Chloe Melas joins the show to give a look into the movie business and preview some of the upcoming films that could save the industry this year.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We’re starting with a political firestorm at the Pentagon. Defense officials have launched a misconduct investigation into Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly over a video he and other former service members recorded, urging people in the military and intelligence community not to carry out illegal orders from the Trump administration. Kelly, a retired Navy pilot, appears alongside several Democrats with national security backgrounds, and the question now is whether their message crossed an ethical line. NBC News senior national security correspondent Courtney Kube joins host Yasmin Vossoghian. And President Donald Trump has launched the “Genesis Mission,” a new executive order meant to turbocharge America’s artificial intelligence capabilities. The plan ramps up federal computing power, opens access to massive government data sets and pushes AI research toward real-world deployment. NBC News reporter and writer Jared Perlo joins the pod to break down what’s in it and what it means for the U.S. tech race. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

A federal judge has thrown out the criminal cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, a sweeping setback for what critics have described as an effort by the Trump administration to use the justice system for political payback. Legal affairs reporter Gary Grumbach joins host Yasmin Vossoughian to break down one of the sharpest judicial rebukes yet of the administration’s prosecution strategy. And President Trump’s self-imposed Ukraine peace deadline is fast approaching, as U.S. and Ukrainian officials say they’re making headway in Geneva, despite Russia’s continued absence. NBC News’ chief foreign affairs correspondent Richard Engel is on the ground in Switzerland, tracking the negotiations. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Allan Smith, an NBC News reporter specializing in national politics, discusses the upcoming meeting between New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and President Trump, emphasizing its political significance. He highlights Mamdani's grassroots campaign and plans to discuss affordability with Trump. Meanwhile, NBC's Anne Thompson delves into the rising trend of microdosing GLP-1 drugs for weight loss, sharing insights from users seeking manageable solutions. Concerns about safety and the absence of clinical trials add a layer of controversy to this wellness phenomenon.

We’re breaking down the September jobs report: The U.S. added 119,000 jobs, stronger than expected and a sign the economy was still hiring steadily before the government shutdown. But a closer look from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows a more uneven picture, with a labor market starting to wobble amid high-profile layoffs at major companies. Wall Street? Pure chaos. Stocks surged, plunged and snapped back as investors tried to make sense of it all. Host Yasmin Vossoughian is joined by Caleb Silver, the editor in chief at Investopedia and the chief business editor at People Inc. Our new NBC News–Bloomberg Law documentary is out, exposing what happens when women give birth behind bars. We spoke with mothers who delivered alone on jail cell floors, screamed for help that never came and, in one case, delivered a stillborn baby into a toilet. Others didn’t survive their pregnancies at all. These stories reveal a devastating reality inside U.S. jails and prisons, where basic care and dignity are often denied. Yasmin is joined by NBC News staff writer Jon Schuppe, her reporting partner, to break down what they uncovered. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Erica Meltzer, national editor at Chalkbeat, delves into the U.S. Education Department's controversial reorganization and its potential to disrupt educational oversight and funding. She highlights concerns over fragmented services and resource losses for schools. Meanwhile, Amin Khodadadi, an NBC News producer in Tehran, paints a grim picture of Iran's water crisis, detailing overwhelmed infrastructure and government responses. He emphasizes the urgent need for solutions as the capital faces possible evacuation amid severe shortages.

The House votes on a bill that would force the Justice Department to release all its records on Jeffrey Epstein. It’s expected to pass, a major win for the bipartisan group pushing for transparency. So, what would this bill require? And what could surface in any new document dumps? NBC News National Law Enforcement & Intelligence Correspondent Tom Winter joins host Yasmin Vossoughian to discuss his reporting. And President Donald Trump hosts Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the White House. A striking reset after a CIA assessment tied the crown prince to the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The U.S.-Saudi relationship appears to be warming under Trump, with LIV Golf ties, reported Trump Organization real estate talks and the sale of F-35 jets to Saudi Arabia, despite the Pentagon’s warning that China could gain access to the tech, all as the White House looks to Riyadh for help shaping Gaza’s reconstruction. White House correspondent Monica Alba joins the pod. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.