NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas - Saturday, March 29, 2025

Episode Date: March 29, 2025

Death toll skyrockets to more than 1,600 after Southeast Asia earthquake; Small plane crashes in Minnesota after close call near Reagan National Airport; Report: Pete Hegseth's wife attended sensitive meetings with foreign leaders; and more on tonight’s broadcast. 

This is NBC Nightly News with Jose Diaz-Balart. Good evening. We are following two major stories tonight, including our exclusive interview with President Trump. But we start overseas, where the search for survivors from that powerful earthquake in Southeast Asia is growing even more frantic and even more tragic. This was a terrifying scene in Thailand's capital of Bangkok when it hit. The violent 7.7 magnitude quake reducing this 33-story high-rise to rubble. And tonight, the death toll is astonishing. In neighboring Myanmar, where the epicenter was, more than 1,600 people have been killed. That number is expected to rise even more in both countries as the race is on to find survivors.

Our Janice McEfrayer starts us off tonight from Bangkok. In Thailand, the desperate race to find survivors from a catastrophic earthquake, search dogs and drones being used to spot any sign of life. As international aid is pouring into the region, U.S. soldiers are now on the ground in Bangkok. Honestly, we're just trying to get a handle on what's going on right now. They're assisting in recovery efforts, where today a massive pile of debris remains.

After a 33-story high-rise that had been under construction, buckled and collapsed, sending workers running for their lives and trapping dozens of others. It is painstaking work. The heavy equipment has been working to peel back the layers of concrete and debris, trying to reach those people trapped inside. The 7.7 magnitude earthquake had its epicenter in neighboring Myanmar, a poor and isolated country with an ongoing civil war. State television today announcing the death toll there is now greater

than 1,600 people. Thousands more are injured. The hospitals overrun as patients can be seen in beds outside this hospital in the capital. On Friday, President Trump pledging U.S. assistance in the region. It's terrible what's happened. It's a real bad one and we will be helping. In Thailand, family and friends of the missing construction workers are desperate for any news. Leaders are promising to continue recovery efforts. We always have hope. We work tirelessly. The earthquake that had this man clinging to the side of a building for dear life and water cascading from a rooftop has other survivors still recounting their luck.

I was in my hotel and I was very scared because everything started shaking and I've never experienced something like it. Here in Bangkok, the fuller picture of the devastation is still coming into focus. And Janice joins us from Bangkok. Janice, how widespread does the destruction there appear to be? Well, Jose, they've been continuing to work through the night on the scene behind me, but the destruction in Myanmar is far more wide scale and not a lot of information. The electricity and Internet have been down. There's also heavy censorship. But the sense is that even as international aid is pouring in, there are logistical challenges in trying to get it to the people who actually need it. Jose? Janice, Maggie Freyer in Bangkok. Thank you. Here at home, emergency crews are on the scene of

a small plane crash in Minnesota. It comes after a separate incident, a close call at Reagan National Airport in Washington, not far from where that deadly passenger jet crashed two months ago. Marisa Parra has the latest. Looks like a plane crash. A shocking scene in a quiet suburban neighborhood just outside Minneapolis. Planes ripping through a home after a small plane crashed inside it. There's a lot of like black smoke. It was just everywhere. The FAA says the single engine plane left from Des Moines International Airport in Iowa, bound to Anoka County Blaine Airport just north of Minneapolis. Late today, officials with sobering confirmation.

There are no survivors from the aircraft which struck the home. There were no occupant fatalities. Everybody was exited the home safely. Today's crash coming just one day after an unrelated aviation incident in Washington, D.C. This time, a near miss with a Delta passenger plane cleared for takeoff at Reagan National Airport as four military jets flew nearby. The Delta Airbus, bound for Minneapolis with 136 people on board, came dangerously close to one of the jets. There are actually about 500 feet below us.

The near miss prompted a swift alert and the Delta cockpit called a resolution advisory, which warns pilots to make maneuvers to avoid dangerous flight paths. Anytime an airplane receives a TCAS resolution advisory, it's a serious situation. Now it's up to the investigators to find out just how close those two aircraft came and why they got that close. But the close call coming two months after that deadly midair collision between a commercial plane and a military helicopter in the same airspace near Reagan National, raising new scrutiny and a new investigation. Marzipara, NBC News. And now to our exclusive interview with President Trump speaking to NBC News, defending his national security advisor and defense secretary over their bombshell

group chat about a U.S. military strike. It comes as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also faces new questions about meetings with his wife attending. We'll have more on an interview with the president in a moment. But first, here's Yamiche Alcindor. Arriving in Japan for a World War II memorial service today, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth had no comment about the latest controversy he's facing. Mr. Secretary, does your wife attend meetings with sensitive info? Mr. Secretary, does your wife have a security clearance? Hegseth had already been facing scrutiny over the messages he sent in the Signal group chat

about the U.S. strike on Houthi rebels that inadvertently included journalist Jeffrey Goldberg. Now questions for the Pentagon leader are growing over a report in the Wall Street Journal that Hegseth brought his wife to two meetings with foreign military counterparts where sensitive information was discussed, according to multiple people who were present or had knowledge of the discussions. Back in early March, cameras captured Jennifer Hexeth entering the room of a bilateral meeting with the United Kingdom's Secretary of Defense. The Pentagon released a photo showing her seated in the room. That meeting coming just a day after the United States said it was ending intelligence sharing with Ukraine. Neither the White House nor the

Pentagon have responded to requests for comment about why Jennifer Hegseth may have attended sensitive meetings or what her level of security clearance is. Jose. Yamiche Alcindor in West Palm Beach, Florida. Thank you. Let's bring in the moderator of NBC's Meet the Press, Kristen Welker. Kristen, you just spoke to President Trump about the controversy surrounding Walton Hegseth's group chat on Signal. What did he tell you? Jose, in a phone interview that lasted just over 10 minutes, President Trump was defiant in defending Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, who played key roles in that Signal text chain in which attack plans were discussed. The president calling the matter fake news and arguing the strikes against the Houthi rebels in Yemen were successful. Now, notably, Mr. Trump said he had read the group text exchange.

I pressed the president about reports that he'd been advised to fire Mike Waltz. He responded, I don't fire people because of fake news and because of witch hunts. Jose, I guess you also asked the president about tariffs, those already in place and those about to take effect. What were your key takeaways? Jose, I asked President Trump if the 25 percent tariffs he just announced on cars and auto parts are permanent. His response was absolutely they're permanent. And I pressed him on reports he urged auto CEOs not to raise prices. The president telling me, quote, No, I never said that. I couldn't care less if they raise prices because people are going to start buying American made cars. And, Jose, I asked the president about his desire to annex Greenland.

Mr. Trump saying there's a good possibility it could be done without military force. But added, I don't take anything off the table. Jose. Kristen Walker, thank you. And don't miss more from Kristen's exclusive interview with President Trump, as well as Atlantic editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg. That's tomorrow morning on Meet the Press on NBC. There were protests today at Columbia University, this coming after a major shakeup in the school's leadership. Columbia University's interim president, Katrina Armstrong, announcing she has stepped aside. The move comes about a week after the university agreed to a list of demands from the Trump administration

to keep about $400 million in federal funding. Also tonight, we're tracking hundreds of protests across the country today at Tesla dealerships around the world as well. More than 200 protests were scheduled by what organizers call a global day of action at Tesla showrooms, most of them happening without incident. In Watertown, Massachusetts today, the side mirror of a pickup truck struck two people. No serious injuries were reported. It comes after a series of incidents targeting Tesla vehicles over CEO Elon Musk's role in the Trump administration. Tonight, the FDA's top vaccine official has resigned from his post, blasting vaccine misinformation,

along with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Steve Patterson has our report. Tonight, a blistering rebuke from Dr. Peter Marks, the FDA's top vaccine regulator, suddenly resigning his post after being told to step down or be fired. In his resignation letter, Marks took aim at Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., saying he was hoping to work with Kennedy on his concerns about vaccinations. But it has become clear that truth and transparency are not desired by the secretary. He wishes subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies. Marks was instrumental at the FDA, playing a key role in the approvals of several vaccines,

including for COVID-19. We know from clear and compelling evidence that vaccines save the lives of millions of children and adults every year. In response to his resignation, an HHS spokesperson tells NBC News if Peter Marks does not want to get behind restoring science to its golden standard and promoting radical transparency, then he has no place at the FDA under the strong leadership of Secretary Kennedy. Dr. Paul Offit leads the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. I feel like the world has turned upside down. I feel like we've been invaded by a foreign country, and the goal of that foreign country is to destroy our entire public health system.

Marks' resignation comes as Kennedy's HHS hired analyst David Geyer to examine links between vaccines and autism. Geyer, known for spreading misinformation that vaccines do cause autism, a conspiracy theory that's been widely debunked. All this as measles surges through the country. With now more than 500 confirmed cases, the CDC says 97 percent are in those unvaccinated or with an unknown status. Steve Patterson, NBC News. We are back now with an inside look at the fight against fentanyl on our southern border. Federal officials say more than half of all fentanyl in the U.S. passes through Phoenix. Kandalanian reports. Federal drug enforcement agents seizing smuggled fentanyl in the epicenter of America's opioid

crisis. U.S. officials fighting the drug war say 60 percent of all the fentanyl entering the United States comes through the Phoenix area. We see it in the mail, tunnels, catapults, drones, anything that you can imagine. Although the CDC says overdose deaths dropped 24% from their high, tens of thousands of Americans are still dying each year from opioids. The DEA has seized more than 125 million pills containing fentanyl just here in the Phoenix division since 2016, and some of that is here in this room. Officials here tell us that under the Trump administration, they've been empowered to go harder after the Mexican cartels that import

and sell these deadly drugs. President Trump designated key Mexican cartels as terrorist organizations. Officials say the CIA and the military have dramatically stepped up intelligence gathering in Mexico. Mexico is going to be penalized. They're not going to come through Mexico anymore. And these efforts appear to be working. Last month, Mexico handed over 29 alleged cartel figures to the U.S., including a drug lord convicted of ordering the murder of a DEA agent in the 1980s. The gloves are off. The gloves are off. This is our drug vault. Still, enforcement alone can't stop the flow of drugs entirely.

We have a couple hundred pounds of methamphetamine, about 1.3 million fentanyl pills. One week in Phoenix. This is one week in Phoenix. The DEA is deploying new mobile labs used to analyze seized drugs quickly. We're seeing this stuff as it comes directly in. So we get to see what precursors they're using, what materials are they mixing it with. As the Trump administration debates whether to take military action against the cartels, law enforcement officials tell us their intelligence suggests the drug lords are on their heels.

I think in a few months, we're going to start seeing really the rewards from our efforts. Hopeful signs in a struggle that has ravaged America. Ken Delaney in NBC News, Phoenix. There's good news tonight. 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 these are just some of those stories this week. This is the moment beloved longtime Philadelphia mail carrier Andre Kirkland made someone's day. A doorbell cam catching the sweet reunion at Abby Guido's house after she moved away off Andre's route.

Andre instantly recognizing Abby's 10-year-old daughter, who he hadn't seen since she was a baby. Abby overjoyed to see Andre again. He's always smiling. He's always going to take that extra moment to make sure that he takes the time to acknowledge everyone. I consider them a second family. They are a second family. Well, look, good to see you guys. Love you guys.

And I'm holding you down. And in the midst of tragedy, there was music, songs of hope. After a deadly tornado ripped through Arkansas, destroying the Souls Harbor Pentecostal Church in Cave City. Salvaged from the rubble, the church piano. Pastor Sam Manuel and his wife Nina say it's a symbol of their unshaken faith. In Strongsville, Ohio.

A massive show of support for school bus driver Janet Neal, who's been battling cancer. 60 school buses from the district pass by her house, delivering messages of love and hope. I love you. Janet's daughter Lily says it was just a boost her mom needed. She was overjoyed. I have not seen her that happy. I don't think it's been months. It meant the entire world to her. Love you, girl! Love you! What is that?

What? Oh my gosh! Just look at what showed up outside Nanja Jovanovic's home in Florida this week. Some of the coolest sports cars ever. Look at that. They came for you. Nadja had posted on social media asking one or two cars to show up for her son Costa's birthday. But then Mike Malozzi, a local car enthusiast, rallied his community to get a dozen to come.

Nadja, what is going through your mind when you see that smile on that four-year-old boy who loves cool cars? Mike is awesome. Everybody that came with and was down to come early Sunday morning, no questions asked, just to make someone smile is just the sweetest thing ever. Mike, what's the bigger message here? Just give back to the community and do well. The children are our future, so we've got to lead by example. Yes. Amen. And that's NBC Nightly News for this Saturday. Hallie Jackson will be here tomorrow night.

I'm Jose Diaz-Balad. Thank you for the privilege of your time. And good night.