Welcome to the beat, everyone. I'm Ari Melbert. We begin where we were. If you happened to be watching the news last night, it was at this hour, 24 hours ago, where Donald Trump made another series of statements to contradict his own timeline. And so the New York Times and other serious outlets in the news section, not some big opinion attack, have just reported the fact that on this

matter of life and death for Americans and everyone in the Mideast region, the president has been

sending confusing, clashing, and sometimes downright contradictory messages about what we're

doing in Iran and how long we'll be there, sometimes within one day, more

typically every couple days. It is, if you will, the opposite of a doctrine and more of a,

what's he going to say today? He is also being pressed by his own White House team at the highest

levels as people inside the Trump administration who report to Donald

Trump and may want to carry out his goals as best they can are seeking an offer. We have that reporting

for you right now. We also can tell you there are new strikes rattling Tehran. As of tonight,

eight confirmed U.S. deaths, roughly 140 Americans injured, according to the Pentagon. The AP estimates

the Iranian death toll at over 1,000, around 1,200, which is a number that does keep changing,

obviously as this goes on. Some of Trump's advisors privately urging him to look for an exit plan,

the journal reports amid the spiking oil prices and concerns over

a lengthy conflict sparking a backlash. That backlash in the polling has already begun.

And so the journal reports are encouraging him to at least, quote, articulate a plan to extract the

U.S. from the war. And make the case, the military had largely achieved its objectives.

Trump officials, we want you to know, deny this report, although clearly the journal had multiple sources.

This is a matter of war.

They don't just push this out lightly.

There may be people inside the White House who desperately want Donald Trump to hear about this,

whether that's through the journal or the

television coverage of it, which is a dynamic we've seen in the past, because they're putting this

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