Trump Zigzags on When War Will End, and Investigators Search Epstein’s Ranch in New Mexico

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0:37Today's Tuesday, March 10th. Here's what we're covering.

0:46Mr. President, you've said the war is, quote, very complete, but your defense secretary says this is just the beginning. So which is it and how long should Americans be prepared for this war? Well, I think it could say both. It's the beginning. It's the beginning of building a new country. President Trump offered contradictory messaging yesterday on how long the war with Iran could last. Are you thinking this week it will be over? No, but soon. I think soon. Okay, and with respect to— Very soon. Earlier in the day, when he said the war was pretty much done, markets rebounded and the price of oil dropped.

1:17But he seemed to switch gears later, leaving the timing open-ended. To date, at least 1 ,300 people have been killed in Iran, according to the Iranian ambassador to the UN. Iran's retaliatory strikes across the Middle East have killed seven U.S. service members and more than 30 others. My colleague Eric Schmidt, who covers the Pentagon, says one key question at the moment is how much of an arsenal Iran still has. In confidential briefings to Congress late last week, Pentagon officials told lawmakers that the Iranians still have as much as 50 percent of their overall missile fleet still intact.

1:56Now, that's getting hammered away every day. But more important is the drones are probably even more than that. They can still manufacture these drones at this point. They still have huge stockpiles. So even though the United States and Israel pose significant damage on these stockpiles, the Iranians still have a fair amount left. And that's the race that we're in here. Between Iran's ability to fire off as many of these missiles and drones as possible to inflict as much pain as possible, physical pain, economic pain, political pain, versus the United States and Israel's ability to knock out that ability to fight back.

2:32That's the race that's underway. How quickly can the Iranians fire enough of this stuff off to really increase the pain to its maximum point? And how quickly can the U.S. and Israel suppress that Iranian ability? Eric details more on the state of play in Iran on today's episode of The Daily.

2:54Meanwhile, Israel is pushing further into Lebanon as its forces target Hezbollah, the Iran-backed armed group there. Yesterday, Israeli troops advanced into the southern part of the country, and Israeli fighter jets launched the heaviest bombardment yet on the southern suburbs of Beirut, sending huge explosions echoing through the city. The fighting there reignited last week after Hezbollah launched a rocket attack against Israel in solidarity with Iran. At least 600 ,000 people in Lebanon have fled their homes to escape the violence, and nearly 500 people have been killed, including more than 80 children, according to Lebanese authorities.

3:31The president of Lebanon said he'd like to hold talks with Israel under international supervision about ending the escalation and disarming Hezbollah. It's not clear if the group would participate. Hezbollah has long operated as a powerful state within a state, holding sway over parts of the country. But the group has been facing rising frustration from the public, with many people in Lebanon saying they feel like the militia has dragged them into a deadly confrontation with Israel with no clear benefit. For its part, Israel has vowed not to retreat, and military analysts say they could be preparing for a wider ground invasion.

4:12Now, a quick update on the midterms. Yesterday, House Republicans gathered at one of President Trump's golf clubs near Miami for their annual policy retreat to strategize on what legislation they can focus on ahead of November. Some are in tight races, and polls suggest the GOP's chances of keeping control of the House are slimming. Facing that reality, a big thing they want to tackle is economic issues, something top of mind for voters. But Trump is complicating that. I'm for not approving anything. I'm for not approving anything. I don't think we should approve anything until this is approved.

4:47In a speech to lawmakers, Trump threatened that he won't sign any measures into law unless Congress passes strict voting restrictions first. He's pushing for not just the Save America Act, which deals with voter ID and is stalled in the Senate, but also for limits on mail-in voting. It'll guarantee the midterms. It'll guarantee the midterms. If you don't get it, big trouble, my opinion. In the Senate, Majority Leader John Thune acknowledged the president's threat is hovering over their work, saying his party hoped to get some measures through, quote, but that's a question I think probably for him.

5:31In New York City. This was a planned attack motivated by extremist ideology and inspired by a violent foreign terrorist organization. Authorities have filed federal charges against two men accused of trying to detonate homemade bombs at a protest near the mayor's residence. According to a criminal complaint, the men told police they had been inspired by ISIS. After being arrested, one said he had pledged allegiance to the group. He also told investigators that he had hoped to carry out an attack even bigger than the Boston Marathon bombing, which he noted resulted in only three deaths. The attempted attack unfolded on Saturday when police say the two men drove from Pennsylvania to New York, where far-right protesters had gathered for an anti-Muslim rally outside Gracie Mansion, where Mayor Zoran Mamdani lives.

6:21Videos and photos from the scene show one of the men lighting a makeshift bomb, then hurling it into the crowd of people. A second, similar device was dropped near police officers. Neither exploded, and both men were quickly arrested. Authorities have increased security in New York ever since the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran over concerns of retaliatory terror attacks. While ISIS has seen its power diminish over the past decade, counterterrorism experts say it still has influence, especially in radicalizing younger men online to carry out attacks around the world. The suspects in this case are 18 and 19 years old, and one told police he had watched ISIS propaganda on his phone.

7:09Yesterday in New Mexico. I mean, this is all happening, it feels like, in real time with us just trying to piece together the story of what happened at Zorro Ranch. State investigators descended on the vast desert ranch once owned by Jeffrey Epstein. While other locations Epstein owned have drawn a lot of scrutiny, like his island in the Caribbean, the ranch has largely flown under the radar. Epstein owned it for more than two decades, dubbing it Zorro Ranch and building a private runway, a helicopter pad, and one of the largest mansions in the state, all surrounded by barbed wire fencing and hidden security cameras.

7:47Despite the fact that some of Epstein's victims said they were trafficked at the ranch, New Mexico officials have said there's never been a close look at any criminal activity that may have occurred there. The state was looking into it, but their inquiry was taken over by federal prosecutors in 2019, and that effort apparently fizzled out. Now, state lawmakers are pushing for answers after unverified tips about the ranch surfaced in the Epstein files. That includes one anonymous claim that Epstein concealed the deaths of two abused girls by ordering them to be buried in the hills outside the property.

8:21Though a search is finally happening, authorities have warned that their efforts could be complicated by the fact that so much time has passed and that the property has changed hands. The current owner has said he's cooperating fully with investigators. He's a Dallas real estate magnate who has renamed the property since purchasing it and said he plans to turn it into a Christian retreat.

8:49And finally, I couldn't stop really imagining what it would be like to stand in a sunlight spot that we generated ourselves. A startup based in California is looking for approval to launch an idea that seems straight out of a sci-fi movie. Let there be light! The company Reflect Orbital has a big vision for sending mirrors into space to orbit the Earth and bounce sunlight down to the dark side of the planet when it's night. The pitch goes that that reflected light could help power solar farms after sunset, illuminate city streets, or provide lighting for first responders in emergencies. The CEO said they're trying to, quote, build something that could replace fossil fuels and really power everything.

9:30They're looking at launching just one mirror to start as soon as this summer, and they're asking the FCC for permission to put their prototype into space. The idea has kicked up a lot of criticism. There's questions about how many mirrors you'd need to get a useful degree of sunlight, and opponents say space mirrors could distract pilots, mess up astronomical observations, and interfere with circadian rhythms, the light and dark cycles that help people, animals, and plants know when to sleep, when to bloom, when to migrate, etc. The FCC doesn't generally factor any of that into their approval process.

10:05The agency's stance has been that activities in space, as in not on Earth, aren't subject to environmental review. One skeptic of the project, an astronomer at Princeton, said it's not the concept as a whole that he questions, just where it's aimed. He said space mirrors would actually be very helpful for lighting up the moon. NASA and other space agencies are looking to build lunar outposts in the coming years, and reflected sunlight would be a good energy source and help brighten things up, considering that nights on the moon last for two weeks.

10:43Those are the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow.

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