The Trump administration is quietly moving to carve up the U.S. Education Department, shifting key responsibilities to agencies like Labor and State in a renewed push toward its long-standing goal of dismantling the department altogether. It’s a striki ng look at how far the administration is willing to go to bypass Congress to make it happen. Host Yasmin Vossoughian is joined by Erica Meltzer, national editor at Chalkbeat, to unpack what this maneuver means for students, schools and federal oversight. Meanwhile, Iran is staring down its worst water crisis in decades, and the warning signs are plastered across Tehran. New government posters read: “There is a water shortage! It’s fall and there is still no rain.” With reservoirs drying up and no relief in the forecast, officials are raising the unthinkable possibility of evacuating the capital city of 10 million people. NBC News producer Amin Khodadadi joins us from Tehran to break down how the crisis got this bad and what happens next.

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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.

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President Trump is now calling for the full release of the long-sealed Jeffrey Epstein documents, saying, “We have nothing to hide,” and urging Congress to make the files public. It’s a sharp reversal from years of efforts to keep parts of the record under wraps. So, why now? NBC News Now’s Hallie Jackson joins host Laura Jarrett to break it all down. And we’re in Charlotte, North Carolina, where federal immigration raids ramped up over the weekend. Border Patrol agents began making arrests across the city, with the Department of Homeland Security saying the operation is meant to “ensure Americans are safe and public safety threats are removed.” But tense videos of agents clashing with residents are sparking fear in immigrant communities. Some local business owners say they plan to close their doors to protect their neighbors. We’ll get into what’s behind this ramp-up and what it means for families on the ground with NBC News correspondent Ryan Chandler.

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Some big news out of Wall Street this morning: Longtime Walmart CEO Doug McMillon is stepping down. The 59-year-old has led the company since 2014, overseeing its transformation from a budget big-box chain into a true e-commerce powerhouse and helping drive Walmart’s stock up roughly 300% along the way. It’s a major shake-up at the nation’s largest private employer. Host Yasmin Vossoughian brings in NBC News senior business correspondent Christine Romans to break down why McMillon is leaving now, what it means for the retail giant and how the markets are reacting. And six months into his historic papacy, Pope Leo XIV is turning to Hollywood, inviting Spike Lee, Cate Blanchett, Judd Apatow and others to the Vatican this weekend. The church says he wants to “deepen dialogue with the World of Cinema” and tap into the power of storytelling to advance human values. NBC News correspondent Anne Thompson joins the pod to explain.

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Today on the pod, we’re heading to Europe, where NATO countries are reporting a spike in mysterious drone sightings over airports and other sensitive sites. It’s a trend that has only accelerated since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Now, European leaders are pushing for a coordinated “drone wall,” a new defensive shield designed to protect their airspace and critical infrastructure. We break down what’s driving the surge, what this wall would look like, and why it matters right now. NBC News foreign correspondent Raf Sanchez, who visited a factory that makes defensive drones, joins host Yasmin Vossoughian. And new data shows just how hard it’s gotten to break into the housing market. The median age of a first-time homebuyer has reached a record high of 40 years old, according to the latest data from the National Association of Realtors. President Donald Trump’s latest idea to tackle affordability? A 50-year mortgage. Supporters say it could shrink monthly payments, while critics argue it would create new problems. NBC News business and data correspondent Brian Cheung talks numbers.

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Jeffrey Epstein mentioned President Donald Trump in multiple emails to his associate Ghislaine Maxwell and a journalist, at one point writing Trump “knew about the girls as he asked Ghislaine to stop,” according to messages newly released by House Democrats. The House Oversight Committee made public three email chains sent between 2011 and 2019, which they say came from Epstein’s estate as part of their broader investigation into his network. Republicans on the committee later released what they say are 20,000 additional pages from Epstein's estate. Host Yasmin Vossoughian is joined by chief Capitol Hill correspondent Ryan Nobles and senior national politics reporter Jon Allen to unpack what’s in these emails, what they could mean and what might come next. Meanwhile, the House is back after more than a month away and set to vote Wednesday night on a deal to reopen the government. The plan, crafted in the Senate, skips funding for Affordable Care Act subsidies. Lawmakers will vote on that separately, but Republicans want to tie any extensions to new abortion limits, setting up the next big fight in Washington. NBC News senior national political reporter Sahil Kapur explains.

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The U.S. military has launched another strike in the eastern Pacific, hitting two boats and killing six alleged “narco-terrorists.” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the attack but offered no proof nor identities of the victims. It’s the latest in a series of U.S. operations targeting so-called terrorist-linked drug networks, drawing sharp criticism from Colombia and Venezuela. And with the Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group now in the region, signs point to a possible escalation. NBC News chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel is in Colombia and joins host Yasmin Vossoughian to break down what he’s learning on the ground. And a new lawsuit accuses an Army gynecologist of secretly recording a patient during an exam at Fort Hood. The suit names Dr. Blaine McGraw and claims the Army ignored years of sexual misconduct complaints, and a military official said at least 25 women have been contacted by Army criminal investigators. NBC News senior national security correspondent Courtney Kube joins the pod from just outside Fort Hood with the latest.

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Senators worked through the weekend, and for the first time in weeks, there may be light at the end of the shutdown tunnel. Lawmakers appear to have struck a preliminary deal featuring a “minibus” package: three full-year spending bills to fund key departments through next fall, plus a short-term measure to keep the rest of the government running through January. Is this the breakthrough Washington’s been waiting for or just another bump in the road? Yasmin Vossoughian breaks it down with NBC News chief Capitol Hill correspondent Ryan Nobles, who was really hoping for a quiet weekend. And another gambling scandal is rocking pro sports, this time in Major League Baseball. Federal prosecutors have charged Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Leandro Ortiz with rigging their own games by intentionally throwing balls instead of strikes. At the same time, prosecutors say co-conspirators bet on their performance, netting about $450,000 over two years. The case, brought by the office behind last month’s NBA betting indictments, charges the pair with conspiracy, fraud and bribery. Lawyers for both players denied the charges. Sports betting reporter and author Danny Funt joins the pod.

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