NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas - Friday, December 6, 2024

Episode Date: December 7, 2024

Manhunt for suspected shooter of UnitedHealthcare CEO in third day; Judge drops most serious charge against suspect in subway chokehold death; After a week of snow, yet more for the Great Lakes region; and more on tonight’s broadcast.

Tonight, the major new turn in the manhunt for the killer of UnitedHealthcare's CEO. The NYPD now saying the person of interest likely fled the city. And just in, the gray bag discovered in Central Park. Is it the same one the suspect was carrying? It comes as police reveal the person of interest may have escaped New York. The path they say he took from the crime scene to Central Park and then into a taxi. And possibly onto a bus. Destination unknown.

And that photo, the flirty exchange that may have led him to pull down his mask. Also tonight, the dramatic move in the subway chokehold trial. The jury deadlocked. The judge dismissing the top charge. So what happens now? The bitter winter blast sweeping across the eastern U.S. and the new lake effect snow threat. Our NBC News exclusive, President-elect Donald Trump, his first network interview since winning the election, speaking out about his embattled

Pentagon pick, why he's standing by Pete Hegseth despite mounting allegations. Our broadcast exclusive with the head of the FAA, we ask him about Boeing and its safety scares. Is Boeing too big to fail? I would say that they failed. And his biggest concerns this holiday travel season. This is NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt. Good evening and welcome. The manhunt that has riveted the nation has now become a nationwide search, as New York City police now say they believe their person of interest in the ambush killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson has fled town. More than 48 hours after the shocking early morning ambush, the NYPD continuing to build out a map of the individual's movements before and after the

deadly attack, a trail ultimately leading to a Manhattan bus station, where it appears to end, leading to the possibility he skipped town on a bus. Since Wednesday's shooting, police have gathered a pile of potential evidence from DNA to digital images, including the full face photos of the person of interest now being distributed nationwide. Meantime, the murder of Brian Thompson is sending shockwaves across the health insurance industry. Sam Brock has late new details for us. Even with a growing trove of images captured on camera connected to the brazen and targeted killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson Wednesday morning. Tonight, no suspect has been named by the NYPD. And New York City's police commissioner, Jessica Tisch, said in an interview with CNN she believes the person of

interest in the case has escaped Manhattan. We have released the photo yesterday. We would appreciate you getting that photo out to your audience because we also have reason to believe that the person in question has left New York City. Tisch telling CNN the NYPD has a massive camera canvas as well as a combination of fingerprints and DNA evidence. The department's chief of detectives Joseph Kenney said to CNN that surveillance video allowed them to track the shooter's whereabouts from the crime scene up to Central Park, where he traveled on a bike exiting the park at West 77th Street. Eventually, we have him on 86th Street and Columbus Avenue walking.

He loses the bike. And then from there, we have him in a taxi cab. And the taxi cab takes him up to 178th Street and Broadway, which, as we know, is a Port Authority bus center. Those buses are interstate buses. That's why we believe he left. He may have left New York City. Those officials noting there is video of the man entering the station, but not leaving, which is why police believe he was on a bus out of the city and that they don't know which bus he was on. One possible break in the case coming late today after police launched a drone search over Manhattan Central Park looking for the backpack worn by the shooter. A gray bag was located, according to two senior

law enforcement officials. Investigators now looking to see if it is the bag used by the suspected shooter. Police officials hopeful that releasing this image of the person of interest, the only visual revealing his face, will lead to tips from those who know him. The snapshots coming from a hostel on Manhattan's Upper West Side, where according to a senior law enforcement official, the man only took his mask down in order to flirt with an employee at the hostel's front desk. The images essential to NYPD's efforts to establish an identity through facial recognition to help solve a calculated murder that's also rattled an entire industry. This is so unprecedented. It

has really made a lot of executives very much on edge. The insurance sector now making dramatic changes. Some leading companies taking profiles and information about their top executives off public websites with CVS Health confirming they did just that. Insurance companies sent team with a late pivot also, moving its in-person investor conference scheduled for next week to virtual. Bertha Coombs is CNBC's senior health care reporter. A number of companies are not wanting to talk about it, understandably, because they also don't want to exacerbate the conversation.

But they are very much concerned, and they're very much concerned about the type of discussion that has been happening online. Vitriol and frustration with the health insurance industry over denied claims spilling out on social media in the wake of Thompson's murder. Security and protection firms say across industries, executives and companies are calling for help. This rocked the soul of the industry. It really did. Matthew Dumper runs Kroll's Enterprise Security Risk Management. Our phones are ringing off the hook and our email inboxes are flooded with folks that we have a relationship with

and those that are reaching out to establish a dialogue. And Sam, police continue to stress this was a targeted killing in their belief, but security is a top concern. There are, of course, many big events in a part of New York where the shooting was. Look, Lester, there's a major business summit scheduled for less than two weeks from now right here in midtown Manhattan. I am standing on the street where the shooting took place and right over my shoulder. That's the venue with dozens of top corporate CEOs. The organizer telling us tonight that they will have a platoon of police on hand to calm nerves. Lester. All right, Sam Brock tonight. Thank you. Now to the other breaking

news here in New York, a judge dismissing the most serious charge against the man accused of using a deadly chokehold on a disruptive subway rider after the jury deadlocked on that charge. Here's Laura Jarrett. After days of deliberations tonight, a jury in Manhattan going home, deadlocked on the most serious charge facing Daniel Penny, accused of putting a fellow subway rider in a fatal chokehold last year. Late today, the judge dismissing a second degree manslaughter charge, leaving jurors now to consider only criminally negligent homicide, which carries far less prison time. The case sparking fierce opinions and questions about race, mental illness, and public safety

after this video spread widely, showing Penny, a white Marine veteran, putting Jordan Neely, who is black and homeless, in a chokehold for roughly six minutes as his body went limp. What happened? We got a room. It was, uh, if you want. Yes, yes. Guarding that 20. cold for roughly six minutes as his body went limp. Witnesses described a harrowing subway ride last May. Neely, a former Michael Jackson impersonator with a history of mental illness, shouting and erratic that day. I was sitting over there. I heard the young man that's on the floor saying, you know, hey, I'm willing to die, you know, I'll do anything. I'm willing to die. I'll go to jail. The defense had tried to cast Penny as a protector,

concerned for the safety of others, asking jurors, who would you want on the next train ride with you? Prosecutors argued Penny was reckless and went too far, holding on to Neely even after the train had stopped, and other passengers begged him to let go. Telling jurors, even though the defendant started out trying to do the right thing, as the chokehold progressed, the defendant knew that Jordan Neely was in great distress and dying, and he needlessly continued. Okay, Laura, joining me right now, the jury obviously has been struggling. Any indication today's move will help move them along? It's hard to say, Lester. You know, they came back 10 different times with questions not only on the law, but the evidence. They wanted

to rewatch that infamous video. Really, the question now is whether they can reach consensus now that they only have that one charge to consider. OK, Laura Jarrett, thank you. After a week of almost nonstop early season snow along the Great Lakes and in parts of the Midwest, the end, for now, may be in sight. Erin McLaughlin is in Willoughby, Ohio. Erin, plenty of misery left behind there. That's right, Lester. This has been a brutal week for many, with one last round on the way, up to eight inches of snow expected to fall overnight. The Great Lakes region has been getting snow for seven straight days, and it keeps coming down. More than five feet crippled the town of Girard, Pennsylvania,

bringing basic services to a halt. This is the first day Funkin' Junk shop owner Gretchen Cash has been physically able to open her doors during this critical holiday shopping period. Is this storm the Grinch that stole Christmas for your store? Let's hope not. We lost Black Friday and Small Business Saturday, and that's pretty crushing to a small business in a small town. The snow also a major setback for her dad, Chris Jensen. He has stage four lymphoma, and we could not get him out of his driveway to get him to his blood work or his last two chemo treatments. Local stores running out of the basics. Milk, eggs, all the essentials. People are getting mad. There's nothing we can do about it. The trucks can't get here.

Today in Ashtabula, Ohio, despite a winter whiteout, they're clearing snow from school rooftops. An all-out effort to make sure this doesn't happen again. Over the weekend at the local high school, the roof caved in under the weight of the snow, forcing more than 800 students to go remote. I feel for the students, the staff, but you know what? We're going to make it work. Tonight, a blast of arctic air is pushing as far south as Florida, capping off an icy week full of misery. Erin McLaughlin, NBC News. We turn now to our network exclusive with President-elect Donald Trump. Meet the press moderator Kristen Welker wrapping up her interview with Mr. Trump just moments ago at Trump Tower. It comes as the President-elect came out with a show of public

support today for his embattled pick for secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth. Trump brought up Hegseth's chances at the top of the interview. And later, Kristen followed up about his prospects for being confirmed. It looks like Pete is doing well now. I mean, people were a little bit concerned. He's a young guy with a tremendous track record, actually. He went to Princeton and went to Harvard. He was a good student at both, but he loves the military, and I think people are starting to see it. So

we'll be working on his nomination along with a lot of others. Since you bring him up, do you still have confidence in Pete Hexeth? Yes, I do. I really do. He's a very smart guy. I've known him through Fox, but I've known him for a long time. And he's basically a military guy. I mean, every time I talk to him, all he wants to talk about is the military. He's a military guy. Have you gotten assurances from senators that he's going to be confirmed?

Do you think he can make it? No. I think he will, yeah. I've had a lot of senators call me up saying he's fantastic. You don't drink yourself. You've talked about how devastating drinking can be. No. How concerned are you that the person who you picked for this top job at the Defense Department, at least according to those who've worked with him, has struggled with drinking.

But I've spoken to people that know him very well, and they say he does not have a drinking problem. All right, Garrett Haig joining us now. Garrett, President-elect Trump sounding pretty optimistic about Haig-Seth's chances of confirmation by the Senate, but he still has a steep hill to climb among Republicans. Yeah, that's right, Lester. Haig-Seth is still short of the 50 votes he'll need for confirmation, with as many as a half a dozen Senate Republicans still harboring some degree of reservations, multiple Republican sources tell us. Now, if, as expected, all Democrats vote no, he could only lose three GOP votes. President-elect Trump's public support of Hegseth earlier on social media and in this interview may help somewhat. And so might the

private lobbying that his vice president-elect, J.D. Vance, said today he's been engaging in with earlier on social media and in this interview may help somewhat. And so might the private lobbying that his vice president elect J.D. Vance said today he's been engaging in with senators, including Joni Ernst of Iowa. Now, Ernst is a combat veteran and a sexual assault survivor. And she said just yesterday she wants to see a more thorough vetting of Hegseth, including his FBI background check. Hegseth just posted on social media that he spoke with Ernst today and will meet with her again next week. Meanwhile, President-elect Trump is heading to France tonight, where the French president has invited him to join the celebration for the reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral. Lester. All right, Garrett, thank you. And if it's Sunday,

you can see Kristen's interview with the president-elect on Meet the Press here on NBC. We'll take a break right here. And in 60 seconds is TikTok, one step closer to being shut down here in the U.S., a federal appeals court's new ruling and what may come next right after this. The USDA ordering the nation's milk supply to be tested for bird flu amid a growing outbreak. Dairy producers will have to submit raw milk samples to the USDA upon request. Cases have been confirmed in more than 700 herds in 15 states. We'll turn out of the new legal blow for TikTok, the mega popular video app, losing its appeal over a law that could ban the platform in the U.S. next year. And now the fight could be headed to the Supreme Court.

Here's Savannah Sellers. Today, federal judges unanimously upholding a law that could ban TikTok in the U.S., citing national security concerns. The three judge panel saying TikTok and its Chinese owned parent company ByteDance have a demonstrated history of manipulating the content on their platforms, including at the direction of China, adding TikTok never squarely denies that it has ever manipulated content. The TikTok ban is coming. This decision enforcing legislation that requires ByteDance to sell TikTok to an American owner by January 19th or face that ban, ricocheting across the app that 170 million Americans use. Money, means of income, our small businesses are going to be affected by this.

The judges unmoved, writing TikTok's millions of users will need to find alternative media of communication. But TikTok vowing to fight, arguing the ban was based on inaccurate information and pinning hopes of a reversal on the Supreme Court taking up the case. Noting the court has an established historical record of protecting Americans' right to free speech, and we expect they will do just that. We could see the court decide to take the case and put the ban on hold until they rule, likely in late spring or early summer of 2025. Is there a world where Trump has a magic wand and can make this ban go away? There's no magic wand here. This is law. If the Supreme Court upholds it and says that this is

not violate the First Amendment and that it is constitutional, there's not many options left for Trump. This is not an executive order that he can just reverse on day one. Savannah Sellers, NBC News. Coming up as we continue here tonight after a door plug close call, a strike and shaken confidence. I asked the FAA chair if Boeing is too big to fail. His answer in my exclusive interview next. With the busy holiday travel season well underway, today I sat down with the administrator of the FAA, Michael Whitaker, at Chicago's O'Hare Airport. I began by asking him about Boeing and if the company is adequately addressing the safety and cultural issues exposed after the incident on that Alaska Airlines plane

last January when a door plug blew out mid-flight. Is Boeing too big to fail? I would say that they failed. And I think if you look at what happened in January, that was a failure. And they're going through a pretty substantial reset. They have the resources to do this reset and rebuild in a much higher quality, safer manner. And that's this process. Whitaker says the FAA is monitoring that process very carefully. Earlier this week, he visited Boeing's plant near Seattle. The company is also dealing with the aftermath of a machinist strike, which lasted from September to November, halting production, including on the 737 MAX. The FAA had put Boeing on a pretty short leash, and then comes the strike. What are you seeing in terms of their recovery from the strike and the overall sense of how they're doing on changing culture?

So if you go back to the comprehensive plan, which we agreed in May, Boeing has started executing on that. The strike stopped production for two months and it ended about a month ago. So what we've done is we've stayed in very close contact with Boeing during this time to make sure they're following safety management protocols. They've taken the last four weeks to get ready to start production, making sure their employees are trained, and importantly, making sure the supply chain is ready to feed the production line. The fact that they have not immediately resumed production, you take that as a good sign? I do. And I know in previous strikes, they've just come right back and started production. This time, following safety management principles, they've been very systematic. So that is a positive development.

In a statement, Boeing told NBC News, we continue to work under the FAA's oversight to improve our company and continue delivering safe, high-quality airplanes. I also asked Whitaker about a major problem that could impact everyone who flies, the shortage of air traffic controllers blamed for delays nationwide. Just this week, United said significant delays at Newark Airport were due to staffing issues. We now have two dozen fully trained controllers who are training to work the Newark airspace, so we expect that staffing situation to improve dramatically. This feels like we're walking into an actual

tower. That's right. Today we visited the O'Hare Tower and a simulator where controllers train. Whitaker says 1,800 new controllers were hired this year, but the FAA has previously said it could take five to seven years to fully staff up. Why is it so difficult to get enough air traffic controllers? Well, it's a hard job. It takes a long time to make a controller. The pass rate is about 70% at the academy, and then when you get in facilities, not everyone succeeds there. So it takes 18 to 36 months, and it's a long road.

And as for the busy weeks ahead, are you fretting at all about the Christmas, New Year's holidays coming up? Well, we fret about the weather because that's the major source of delay. So far, we've been managing that pretty well. And that is nightly news for this Friday. Thank you for watching. I'm Lester Holt. Please take care of yourself and each other.

Good night.