March 28: ‘No Kings’ protests, Airport chaos

This is NBC Nightly News with Jose Diaz-Balart.

Good evening. We begin tonight with a protest movement and rallies in cities and towns across the country. Organizers say millions of people are expected at the demonstrations against President Trump's agenda. Issues including immigration, the economy, and the war with Iran bringing out protesters in cities like New York, Boston, Washington DC, and San Francisco. The main rally is this one in Minnesota, the state where two American citizens were killed by federal officers earlier this year. Steven Romo is covering it all for us tonight. This is what democracy looks like!

Tonight, organizers estimate millions are hitting the streets from coast to coast and beyond protesting the Trump administration and its policies.

We are all fighting.

We are fighting for America.

Thousands of marches planned in all 50 states. It's round three of major demonstrations in the no kings movement. Organizers predicted it to be the single largest nonviolent day of action in american history and choosing ST paul for the flagship event.

Joe McCoy from our Minneapolis NBC affiliate is there. People arrived at the Minnesota State Capitol starting at 8 a.m. today. Concerns over immigration enforcement are top of protesters' minds following the killings

of Rene Good and Alex Pretty earlier this year. And in New York. People filling the streets here in Midtown Manhattan, many of them have been to the previous No King's rallies, but they say the enforcement action on immigration and the war in Iran. It brought them out to the streets again. What brought you personally out here to no Kings today? What brought me out here is that war

that war and how things are being done in this country. Now, Dana Griffin is

in Los Angeles. L. A. Crowds are known for pushing the limit. So steel gates have been installed at nearby freeway on ramps to prevent protesters from disrupting traffic. People also rallying around

the world in Rome, Madrid, Paris and Athens.

At another march in London, one protester telling our Danielle Hamam

gin this about the United States. What are your views on America at this moment in time?

A sad, sad story.

People on a California beach spelling out this message with their bodies.

Don't drop!

And hundreds gathering in reliably red Brunswick County, North Carolina. Demonstrations peaceful nationwide.

I believe that we were right.

The White House dismissing it all, saying in a statement, the only people who care about these Trump derangement therapy sessions are reporters who were paid to cover them.

Steve Romo joins us now from New York.

Steven, what are organizers saying about how widespread these events are?

Yeah, Jose, it's interesting. The organizers say more than half of the official protests events happened in battleground states or Republican leading areas, something they say they're encouraged by Jose.

Even Romo in New York.

Thank you.

Well, there seems to be no relief in sight and the airport chaos across the country as the number of TSA officers calling out has

reached the highest level yet. Julie Serkin has the

latest. There is no relief tonight at airports around the country. The line was crazy. Friday night House Republicans pushing back against their Senate counterparts deal on how to fund the Department of Homeland Security over a lack of funding for ICE.

This gambit that was done last night is a joke.

Members of both parties in Congress then left town on recess without a solution, guaranteeing at least two more weeks of a partial government shutdown. And Americans are feeling the results.

Online they tell you to come here a little bit, like four or three hours earlier since

the lines are really long. From Miami to Houston to New York and Baltimore, lines for airport security spilling out the doors and wrapping around in loops. Some relief now on the way. President Trump signed a memo Friday to temporarily pay TSA workers as expeditiously as possible, according to a senior administratio

House not yet answering q the emergency funds will applies to all TSA workers a TSA officer and local u

We have not heard anythin told um that we would be pay and that everybody needed to be at work on their next scheduled work day.

43 days without a full paycheck has already taken a toll. More than 500 TSA officers have quit. And on Friday, more than 3,500 called out of work, over 12 percent, the highest rate since the shutdown began.

Julie Zirkin is traveling with the president and joins me from West Palm Beach tonight. Julie, we also have word that a key ally to President Trump has gone from his post to

the Department of Homeland Security.

That's right, Jose, a department spokesperson telling NBC News that Corey Lewandowski no longer has a role at DHS. It comes just three weeks after President Trump fired Lewandowski's former boss a role at DHS. It comes just three weeks after President Trump fired Lewandowski's former boss, Kristi Noem.

Jose.

Julie Serkin in West Palm Beach, thank you. And Kristen Welker will have more this Sunday on Meet the Press, right here on NBC. Tonight, more American troops have arrived in the Middle East even as we're getting reports of new American casualties from an attack by Iran. Matt Bradley reports from Tel Aviv.

Tonight, more American troops are in the Middle East as the war expands. CENTCOM announcing the arrival of 3,500 sailors and Marines aboard the USS Tripoli and more reports of U.S. casualties. Several American servicemen were injured, according to the Pentagon, after an Iranian missile and drones slammed into this American air base in Saudi Arabia Friday, shown here before the attack.

In Iran, civilians are finding themselves in American and Israeli crosshairs. Iranian health officials say around 2,000 people have been killed. But Iran can still launch attacks throughout the Middle East, like this strike today on oil tanks at Kuwait's airport. And several have recently evaded Israel's air defenses. The damage here outside Tel Aviv is relatively minor, but it just goes to show that after a month of Israel pounding Iran, the Iranians are still able to punch back.

With Iran's other fist, it strikes Israel with Hezbollah, its proxy in southern Lebanon, where Israel is expanding its week-long ground offensive against the group. Today, a Hezbollah-affiliated news channel said Israeli strikes killed three of its journalists in southern Lebanon. Israel's military accused one of them, without evidence, of working for Hezbollah intelligence. And now another fresh front. The Houthis in Yemen, which are backed by Iran, fired a missile at Israel for the first time this year. Israel says it shot the missile down without

any damage or injuries. But the Houthis' attempt throws Yemen into a widening regional war. Iran has fired at all the Arab Gulf monarchies, aimed attacks toward Jordan, Iraq and Turkey, and with more U.S. troops on the way, this war looks set to widen even further. The Houthis have vowed to continue their attacks against Israel. That's raising some concerns that the Houthis might once again block shipping in the Red Sea, snarling international trade even more.

Jose? Matt Bradley in Tel Aviv, thank you. And now to our NBC News exclusive and more on that Iranian strike on the US base that injured American service members. Ukraine's President Zelensky says Russia

recently took satellite images of that base and that he has no doubt they're sharing that war intelligence with Iran. Here's Raf Sanchez.

Tonight, in an interview in Qatar, President Zelensky revealing Russia's intelligence support for Iran as it strikes U.S. forces in the Middle East.

Do they help Iranians? Of course. How many percent? One hundred percent.

Whipping out his phone to read from his daily intelligence briefing, which says Russia took satellite images of this U.S. airbase in Saudi Arabia three times in the days before Iran attacked the facility, wounding U.S. troops.

I think that in Russian interest to help Iranians, and I not believe, I know that they share

information.

The war is consuming huge numbers of US made missile interceptors. How worried are you about American weapons that are supposed to go to Ukraine

instead coming here to the Middle East?

I'm very worried. I hope that the United States will not make such mistake.

Zelensky has been visiting Arab states under attack, offering his country's hard won expertise in drone warfare. The U. S. Has lifted some sanctions on Russian oil. The Kremlin is benefiting from higher oil prices. Is

Vladimir Putin the big winner from this war? He has benefits a lot of benefits of this war. Russia needs long war in Middle East because the focus will be on Middle East.

You think it's in Vladimir Putin's interest

for this war at least to drag on?

Yes, of course, 100%.

Let me just ask you very directly.

Yeah. Do you think President Trump cares about the future of your country?

Hope so.

But you don't know for sure.

The policy of the United States today, they care about the United States more. It's understandable, by the way.

We understand it.

Raf Sanchez, NBC News, Doha, Qatar.

From rising gas prices to the falling stock market, the US is facing serious new economic risks as the war rages on.

Here's Brian Chun.

From rising gas prices to falling markets

to soaring mortgage rates, the warning signs are growing.

We are facing a real shock that is probably

beyond what we can imagine at the moment. That's Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank, arguing the disruption from the war with Iran could last years. Brookings

energy expert Samantha Gross agrees. I feel like markets are so far underestimating the effect of the war. It seems that they expect this war to go quickly and they expect that

we can go back to the world before when it's over. And I don't think either of those ideas is true. And there's a growing sense among

Wall Street traders that the Fed will have to raise interest rates to fend off inflation. That worry driving mortgage rates to their highest levels in almost eight months. What are people not understanding about this war's impact on the economy? The thing

that people don't understand is that this will impact the price of everything, everything we buy that is made with or transported with oil. And

the longer this goes on, the more expensive it's going to be. One key

international economic group now predicting inflation in the U. S. Will nearly double this year.

It would slow the economy. Consumers will eventually stop spending or stop spending so much which could lead to stagflation, which is slower growth, rising prices and higher unemployment. And that could eventually lead to a recession.

Both Wall Street and Main Street bracing for more pain from the war half a world away.

Brian Chung, NBC News. Major League Baseball is in full swing this weekend and this summer women will be back on the field playing professional baseball for the first time in decades. Stephanie Goss has a closer look.

The crack of the bat, the ball snapping into the glove, the sounds of Florida spring training with a big difference. These players are women getting ready to compete in the first professional women's baseball league in more than 70 years.

Today they're wearing the uniforms for the first time. They're joining their teams for the first time. Most of these players grew up just playing with the boys. So this right now, this is the real field of dreams. Four teams, L.A., San Francisco, Boston and New York will play for about seven weeks starting August 1st. It was an answer prayer. Pitcher Kelsey Whitmore went number one in the draft. I love

it because God put it on my heart. It's it sets my heart on fire. For Monet Davis, softball was never an option. I was the only girl that played baseball. She was also the only girl to pitch a no-hitter in the Little League Championship back in 2014. But there was no path to play professionally, until now. What are you most looking forward to in August?

That first game, first pitch, I just can't wait for that.

The new league comes as women's sports are soaring in popularity. Viewership has nearly tripled since 2020, driven by the success of the WNBA. League commissioner Justine Siegel wants to capture this moment in women's sports. Now all girls know that they can dream of being a professional baseball player, just like their brothers. They now have a league of their own. But don't expect this league to look like the one from the 40s and 50s or that movie from the 90s. There's no crying in baseball. In this league, there will be no skirts. People can expect passion. People can expect emotion. Oh, so much emotion. I mean, crying.

You know, I've definitely cried in baseball because of how much I love it. It turns out crying in baseball is just fine and women can really play the game. Now we all have a chance to watch them.

Stephanie Gosk, NBC News, Fort Myers, Florida.

WPBL!

All right.

We want to get investor and co-

When we come back, there's good news tonight about hard work paying off. And these moments moments these future doctors have been waiting for. There's good news today. You know so often the good news doesn't get as much attention as the bad so every Saturday we highlight the many people who spread joy and love and this week we've got a closer look at some life-changing

moments for med school students across the country. Now this is what hard work paying off looks like.

OBGYN at Orlando Health. We're going to Disney, baby!

UNCI matched into family medicine.

OBGYN at Monte Fiore. Go New York City.

This is matched in with medical school students find out if and where they're matched into a residency program before they officially start their careers as doctors. It's the moment they've all been

waiting for with big celebrations for big dreams coming true.

3, 2, 1!

For Tiffany Wong, Match Day was a family affair. She was moved to tears after learning she matched into her top choice program for pediatrics.

It's such a validating feeling that the program you felt was best for you also felt the same way and that you were one of the best candidates for them. So I'm truly honored.

Three, two, one.

Laura Garcia wanted everyone there for her big moment, even on FaceTime. That's because she's the first in her family set to become a doctor

after she matched at a hospital in California for emergency medicine

It brings me so much like joy and pride

um to represent not just like um my family, but our community like to represent like the hard work that my parents have both done

Aja wa bafobani knew she had to share this moment with her mom. I love you. Ah!

Ah! Ah! Ah!

I was overjoyed, just happy to see everything she's worked for, every sacrifice, every prayer, all through this process come full circle in that moment.

Ajuwa thanking her biggest cheerleader after she matched with Columbia.

She's just been with me through everything. She's just so supportive of me, so can't thank her enough.

3, 2, 1. You're going to win!

And match day had this young man jumping for joy. That's Brandon Brizuela finding out he matched at his top choice for pediatrics at the University of California, San Diego, the American dream. He's a pediatrician, a pediatrician who's been a pediatrician since he was 12, finding out he matched his top choice for

pediatrics at the University of California, San Diego. Celebrating years of effort

surrounded by his family who

left their home and worked so hard to give him this opportunity in the land of opportunity. We've often heard of the term, you know the American dream in so many ways, you and your family are living the American dream.

Yeah, I would say so. I remember my dad studying organic chemistry with me at San Diego State, quizzing me on the flashcards and, you know, his name is my middle name, so his name is right on that diploma too.

And now, Brandon wants to help heal people as a doctor and inspire others along the way.

It's never too bad to dream big. Be vulnerable, be willing to share these wild dreams because you never know who knows somebody

and is able to open a door for you.

That's NBC Nightly News for this Saturday. I'm Jose Diaz-Balart. Thank you for the privilege of your time.

And good night. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.