U.S. troops killed in a drone attack, Nikki Haley says the RNC hasn’t been an honest broker: Weekend Rundown

Three U.S. troops were killed and dozens more were injured following a drone attack on a base in northeast Jordan, according to United States Central Command.

President Joe Biden said the troops were killed by “radical Iran-backed militant groups operating in Syria and Iraq,” adding that “we are still gathering the facts of this attack.”

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was “outraged and deeply saddened,” and said, “We will respond at a time and place of our choosing.”

The news of the attack came as negotiations continued on a possible deal that would see a temporary suspension of Israel’s war in Gaza with the “parallel” release of some hostages held by Hamas, a Hamas official with knowledge of the talks told NBC News.

A senior Israeli government official who spoke on the condition of anonymity told NBC News there was a “serious effort underway to secure a hostage release.” Israeli officials said they could not elaborate further given the sensitivity of the talks.

The summit in Paris to discuss a deal concluded Sunday, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office. A spokesperson said, “The meeting was defined as a constructive meeting. There are still significant gaps in which the parties will continue to discuss this week in additional mutual meetings.”

Follow NBC News’ live coverage here.

• The Biden administration is discussing using weaponry sales to Israel as leverage to convince Netanyahu’s government to heed long-standing U.S. calls to scale back its military assault in the Gaza Strip, according to three current U.S. officials and one former U.S. official.
• Multiple countries have paused future funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) amid an investigation into allegations that some workers participated in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
• On “Meet the Press,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez argued that Americans should not “toss someone out of our public discourse” for accusing Israel of genocide.
• Rep. Nancy Pelosi said Sunday she hopes to ask the FBI to investigate protesters calling for a cease-fire, suggesting that some of the antiwar demonstrators are linked to Russia.

The battlefield in Ukraine appears to have ground to a stalemate, but behind the scenes, diplomatic divisions are widening over whether to push for a negotiated settlement to end the war with Russia. Looming above any push for peace, however, is former President Donald Trump.

With a U.S. election approaching later this year that could see the former president returned to office, skepticism appears to be growing among Republicans about continuing aid to Ukraine, an issue that has become a central sticking point in a dispute over President Joe Biden’s border policy and the fight over a looming government shutdown.

A number of influential developing countries are also becoming more vocal in calling for a deal to end the war. Four senior diplomats told NBC News that voices from the Global South pressed harder than ever for negotiations at a meeting earlier this month attended by national security advisers from 81 countries.

Gilbert Wyand had been healthy his whole life until he was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a type of cancer that can be caused by radiation exposure.

As his son tried to make sense of his illness, he stumbled upon a newly published Navy report outlining efforts to address radioactive materials that have contaminated the now-closed Long Beach Naval Shipyard in California for decades. It was the first time Wyand, a Navy veteran who lived and worked at the shipyard in the late 1980s, learned he may have been exposed.

The Navy has known about multiple environmental contaminations at the base for more than 20 years, but a spokesperson said there is no mechanism in place to notify veterans of possible exposures after a base is no longer operational.

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, the last remaining GOP opponent of Trump’s, has said the Republican National Committee is not an honest broker in party’s 2024 primary race.

In an appearance on “Meet the Press,” moderator Kristen Welker asked if the RNC has been an “honest broker” in the contest after a committee member floated and then dropped plans to name Trump the “presumptive nominee.”

Haley replied, “I mean, clearly not.”

“If you’re gonna go in and basically tell the American people that you’re gonna go and decide who the nominee is after only two states have voted? I mean, 48 states out there?” she said. “This is a democracy. The American people want to have their say in who is going to be their nominee, we need to give them that.”

You can watch the full interview here.

• First-of-its-kind fundraiser: Biden’s campaign is trying to organize an event it hopes would energize Democratic voters: a fundraiser with Biden, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton together.
• Inside the White House: Surprisingly strong economic news is boosting the Biden administration as it ramps up selling its record to Americans.
• Immigration clash: House Republicans are introducing two articles of impeachment for Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, alleging he has displayed “willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law.”

Right-wing influencers, politicians and media outlets are using recent news about air travel to stir up opposition to corporate diversity programs, attacking efforts by airlines to find more job applicants who are women or nonwhite.

But the outsized criticism of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs in the airline industry and the speculation about their effects doesn’t reflect reality, according to airline employees who spoke to NBC News.

The claims connecting airline DEI initiatives to safety issues have bordered on the absurd. One podcast host claimed on X that “the diversity hire brigade” was to blame for tarmac delays at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport.

Days after sexually explicit deepfakes of Taylor Swift went viral on X, users noticed Saturday that her name was no longer searchable on the social media platform.

When the singer’s name was typed into the search box, the message “Something went wrong. Try reloading” would appear.

The images set off new outrage over deepfakes created using artificial intelligence. Between the Swift images and an AI-generated George Carlin comedy special, the Screen Actors Guild called for deepfakes to be made illegal.

“The development and dissemination of fake images — especially those of a lewd nature — without someone’s consent must be made illegal,” SAG-AFTRA said in a statement.

• Six people were hospitalized for minor injuries and later released following the “hard landing” of an American Airlines jetliner in Maui, Hawaii, on Saturday.
• 80 years after the Holocaust, a South Carolina woman discovered she had an 83-year-old second cousin who is a Holocaust survivor living in Israel, thanks to a DNA testing service.
• Jay Leno filed for a conservatorship of his wife Mavis’ estate. The petition states that she is unable to execute an estate plan because she suffers from dementia.
• A form of cybercrime called “financial sextortion” is rapidly rising in North America and Australia, with a major portion driven by a non-organized cybercriminal group in West Africa, a new study finds.
• Bestselling author J.D. Barker is facing fallout after several TikTok creators said they were encouraged to make sexually suggestive videos to promote his upcoming erotic thriller novel.
• Typing may be faster than writing by hand, but new research suggests it’s less stimulating for the brain.
• A third grade math teacher has gone viral online for her creative take on teaching financial literacy: requiring her students to pay rent for classroom essentials.