The Weekend

October 3, 2026; 7am: In a new court filing last night, the administration argued against the motion MS NOW, CNN and Politico filed on Monday seeking a longer-term block on trump's media ban, again reiterating their belief that the move is lawful under the First Amendment and not retaliatory or viewpoint discrimination. The filing came just a day after the White House blocked CNN for a second time...

September 27, 2026; 9am: President Trump’s false claims of noncitizen voting collided hard with reality in Nevada after the state pressed DHS for evidence. DHS’ initial claim of 16,000 noncitizen voters got downgraded to a list of just 185, but it appears to be zero cases. This comes as the Supreme Court handed the president a legal win this Friday, clearing the way for voter screening ahead of th...

September 27, 2026, 8 AM;During his testimony before the House Judiciary Committee in January, he defended the investigations he led into Donald Trump’s efforts to subvert the 2020 election as well as Trump taking classified documents to Mar-a-Lago after he left the White House. Smith faced hostile questions from Republican lawmakers, who accused him of political bias and overzealous prosecution....

September 27, 2026; 7am: On Saturday, President Trump said he had rejected Iran's latest proposal for a ceasefire and the opening of the Strait of Hormuz. Before rejecting the proposal, the president posted an image of the Strait of Hormuz on Truth Social labeling it as the “Trump Strait.” And as the war enters its 8th month of fighting, there are new reports about the human toll of the war on Ame...

September 26, 2026, 9 AM; ICE arrested 43K people in June, more than 50K in July, and nearly 51K in August, according to an analysis by The New York Times. Now, a shooting in Austin, Texas, is drawing renewed attention to the extremes of Trump's immigration crackdown. And a warning: some of the footage may be disturbing. Wilber Rafael Garcés Pérez, a Venezuelan immigrant, was working as a DoorDash...

September 26, 2026, 8 AM; The dismal picture for Republicans in the midterms has led to an increasing number of Republicans breaking from the president on a host of issues. most notably the Iran War. Despite claims they want an end to the conflict, this week Senate Republicans blocked a measure to direct Trump to end the war, but in the face of voter anger over high fuel prices a chorus of Republi...

September 26, 2026; 7am: CNN announced last night that the White House is barring the network from flying on Air Force One today as part of the White House TV press pool. Instead, the White House has replaced the network with Lindell TV and Real America’s Voice. This comes after a federal judge ordered the administration to restore White House press access, at least temporarily, to the three news...

September 20, 2026; 9am: “It's a very inexpensive price to pay for what we've done.” That's what President Trump said about the rising cost of gas due to the war in Iran. The war has sent the national average up 50% since its start in February, and analysts warn huge jumps in the prices of gasoline and diesel are yet to come. New York congressman and combat veteran Pat Ryan, a member of the House...

September 20, 2026, 8 AM; FBI Director Kash Patel is suggesting that federal agents could be sent to polling places. A top Justice Department official warned that prosecutors would be fired if they do not go after cases of alleged voter fraud. The DOJ has denied that. Election officials across the country say they are ready to combat the chaos and are taking steps to protect voting systems. Fulton...

September 20, 2026; 7am: Iranian-backed Houthi rebels say they fired a barrage of missiles and drones at Riyadh and Saudi oil facilities, landing the first strikes on the Saudi capital in months. This comes on the heels of President Trump telling Axios he faces a big decision on Iran, "Do I want to go in and annihilate them, or do I not?" Axios says the president was referring to the Iranian regim...

September 19, 2026, 9 AM; As the Wall Street Journal points out, mortgage rates are apprroaching 7%, gas prices are near their highest level since 2022, and the Federal Reserve just raised interest rates for the first time in three years. For millions of Americans, keeping up with everyday expenses is getting harder. While this is screaming trouble for Republicans in the polls, the Trump administr...

September 19, 2026, 8 AM; This week, Open-AI disclosed six new instances in which artificial intelligence systems hid mistakes, made up data and moved files onto the open internet without permission. In one case, during the development of a specific A.I. model, the system wrote hidden notes to remind itself to hide errors from users. Some of those notes directed the system to invent missing data a...

September 19, 2026; 7am: As early in-person voting for the November midterms gets underway, there are new signs that President Trump and his economy are dragging down his party's chances of keeping the majority in both chambers of Congress. Two new polls from The New York Times and Fox News show that voters trust Democrats more than Republicans on the economy. And this week, MS NOW added Kansas an...

September 13, 2026; 9am: New alarms are being raised about what could happen after all the results are counted on Election Night in November. Retired Judge J. Michael Luttig, who served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, joins “The Weekend” to discuss what he is calling the final battle for America's democracy. For more, follow us on social media: Bluesky: @theweekendmsnbc.bsky.s...

September 13, 2026, 8 AM; In a 3,800-page essay released Saturday, Dario Amodei the chief executive at the AI research company Anthropic warned. "We really do earnestly believe AI could kill all humans! I personally think it is greater than 10% within the next decade." Sam Altman, the chief executive of OpenAI, and Elon Musk even took to social media, agreeing that the pace of AI growth needs to s...

September 13, 2026; 7am: President Trump is wrapping up his two-day trip to Ireland with an appearance at the Irish Open at his golf course. Thousands of Irish citizens took to the streets in protest yesterday, making clear their opposition to Trump's agenda and anger at the Irish government for welcoming him to their country. MS Now’s International Reporter Ines De La Cuetara joins “The Weekend”...

September 12, 2026, 9 AM; That was his message to Republicans in Dallas this week as he closed out a two day, so-called Trump-a-palooza convention that was ostenibly supposed to gin up enthusiasm for Republican candidates. One of the realities Republicans now have to live with is Trump's promise of a payment to Americans if Republicans hold Congress. Those government checks have not been authorize...

September 12, 2026, 8 AM; The captured island is a key alternative shipping route for Saudi oil. It comes after Saudi Arabia said it shut down its crucial East-West oil pipeline on Friday as a "precaution" from being targeted by drones launched in Iraq. Despite having knowledge of the sobering information, Vice President J.D. Vance along with President Donald Trump and other top White House offici...

September 12, 2026; 7am: As Republicans attended the ‘Trumpapalooza’ midterm convention in Dallas, Democrats provided a counter message to voters. Illinois Governor JB Pritzker was among those calling out President Trump's historic unpopularity and voters' growing dissatisfaction with the war in Iran and high prices. The Weekend’s Eugene Daniels spoke exclusively with Governor Pritzker about what...

September 6, 2026; 9am: As mail-in ballots are already being sent out to voters, the Trump administration is still trying to change the rules over those very ballots. A federal judge on Friday extended her temporary injunction barring the USPS from advancing Trump’s new vote-by-mail restrictions. But, now the Justice Department is appealing that decision, while its earlier appeal of the judge’s or...

September 6, 2026, 8 AM; The event dubbed "Trump-a-palooza" by some kicks off Wednesday in Dallas, with the President the star of the show he's called "a rally like none other!” With just days before the two day event starts, it's already plagued with concerns about turnout and Trump fatigue. Michael Scherer and Jake Traylor join The Weekend to discuss the convention. For more, follow us on social...

September 6, 2026; 7am: Trump special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrived in Kyiv for their first visit to Ukraine as part of a renewed push from the Trump Administration to end Russia's war. Just yesterday, Witkoff and Kushner met with Vladimir Putin in Moscow for more than three hours. Former DHS Chief of Staff Miles Taylor and Former Congresswoman Susan Wild, join “The Weekend” to dis...

September 5, 2026, 9 AM; The President is urging Republicans to run on his record and says he is going to hit the road for candidates despite his sagging popularity. If he can’t win over skeptical Americans, he seems determined to block some of them from casting their ballots. But so far the courts are standing in his way. Rep. Joe Neguse (D-CO) joins The Weekend to discuss the the final stretch o...

September 5, 2026, 8 AM; The latest report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows the U.S. added 162,000 jobs in August - far more than expected - while the unemployment rate remained steady at 4.1%. But with midterm elections less than two months away, Americans continue to sour on what President Donald Trump calls a "roaring" economy, as his tariffs and the ongoing war with Iran threaten to i...

September 5, 2026; 7am: President Trump suggests all Republicans have to do ahead of the midterms is talk about his record but his actions from the Iran war to his trade war with Canada have become increasingly unpopular. MS NOW has confirmed President Trump will speak Wednesday and Thursday night at next week’s convention in Dallas. However, some congressional Republicans are planning to skip the...