NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas - Sunday, December 1, 2024

Episode Date: December 2, 2024

Arctic blast sweeps northern U.S., threatening post-Thanksgiving holiday travel; Trump taps loyalist Kash Patel in controversial pick for FBI director; American hostage video release prompts new calls for ceasefire in Gaza; and more on tonight’s broadcast.

Tonight, the monster snowmaker jumping up to six feet of snow around the Great Lakes on one of the busiest travel days ever. Unrelenting snow pounding western New York and Pennsylvania. Cars either trapped on roads or skidding off of them. Look at that. People told to stay home. Don't travel unless you absolutely have to. All of it as fans help dig out Buffalo's stadium ahead of tonight's Bills game. Holiday travel smashing records today in the air and on the ground. So how smoothly did it go? Plus, that stowaway who snuck onto a Delta plane to France now detained again on another flight.

We'll tell you why. The firestorm over President-elect Trump's pick to lead the FBI. Critics blasting Kash Patel as unqualified. The promises he's made to purge the agency. Inside look at how stores are gearing up for Cyber Monday. This shipment facility, the size of 26 football fields. Millions of items come into this building and millions go out. And there's good news tonight. Families made permanent.

Our cameras are there as one judge grants adoption after adoption with so much to be thankful for. This is NBC Nightly News with Hallie Jackson. Good evening. We are coming on the air with that Arctic blast dropping a ton of snow in the northeast and Midwest. And it's not just the temperature, but the timing here that's brutal. Highways and runways buried on what's expected to be one of the busiest travel days of the year. I want to show you this. Cars stranded in Watertown, New York. You see that where they're getting more than three feet of snow this weekend. In Buffalo, just hours before the Sunday night football kickoff,

you see the scramble to shovel out the Bills Stadium, thanks to the help of some very motivated fans. Forecasters are now warning of more snow stretching into tomorrow. And even for people well south of this system, like in Georgia and Florida, freeze alerts are now in place. All of it making travel tricky, even dangerous, as millions of us head home or try to after Thanksgiving.

We've got team coverage tonight, starting with George Solis outside Buffalo. Tonight, a life-threatening monster storm hitting in the Great Lakes region. Blizzard-like conditions from Ohio. Across New York, travel treacherous. Nearly four feet of snow and counting. Sometimes I travel with steps off. It looked like a complete whiteout. You couldn't see anything in front of you. The roads you couldn't even see. Nothing. So much snow, it even shocked residents used to big winters.

This snow appears to be a lot more dense, a lot more heavy. You know, it's heavier. It's just, my snowblower won't even move it. A nightmare in neighboring Erie County, Pennsylvania too. The governor declaring a disaster emergency for communities already buried in two and a half feet of snow. With more on the way, officials there with this dire warning. My message to the public is simple. Don't travel. Stay home, stay home, stay home. And it's not just snow. Bitter cold sweeping the plains and southeast in the days ahead.

Back in western New York on football's biggest weekend. Heavy machinery and fans rushing to dig out Highmark Stadium here ahead of tonight's Bills game. Some fans braving the elements and getting here hours ahead of kickoff to dig out their tailgate spots. We just get ready, got to dig out all the gear. We knew it was coming eventually, so just got to get ready. And George is joining us now from outside Highmark Stadium. George, the snow is still coming down, but the game is still on, right? Yeah, that's right, Hallie.

We're deep in this tailgate zone. These fans spending hours trying to clear out about two feet of snow here from the stadium. Now, it's looking like that snow might taper off by kickoff, but that cold, yeah, that's sticking around. Hallie? George Stolese, stay warm. Thank you.

Also tonight, the record-breaking holiday travel rush leading to massive crowds as millions of people drive or fly home. So how did the nation's airports do? Maggie Vespa reports. Tonight, a record-smashing post-holiday rush hitting its peak with the nearly 80 million Americans traveling for Thanksgiving now racing home jamming the roads and the skies. If you are worried about crowds, please do not go here. Congestion mounting around major cities like New York and Chicago. Oh my God, all these people are everywhere. Why don't they go home? Where our team got caught in the holiday traffic firsthand. This traffic has been bumper to bumper, like we are crawling. Meanwhile, with TSA

predicting by the day's end, a record three million people will have taken to the skies. How have you all at American Airlines been able to keep things moving and keep everything on track? For us, it really starts with a solid plan, building a schedule that we know we can execute. We start planning for the holiday peak, even during the height of the summer. Our teams were training on de-icing, even in the midst of record summer heat. The historic holiday rush colliding head-on with an early winter weather blast and marred by a bizarre headline overseas, where a source tells NBC News the Russian woman who mysteriously stowed away on this Delta flight from New York to Paris last week.

It's a police to the captain, which is waiting for the police to come on board. Caused a disturbance yesterday on her return flight to JFK. The source confirming she was removed from that plane by French authorities and remains in their custody. It's unclear when she'll be returned to the U.S., where tonight, a record holiday travel rush rages on. Maggie is joining us live from Chicago O'Hare. And Maggie, not to jinx it, but it seems like airlines have pretty much managed to avoid a travel meltdown like we've seen in past years, right? Yeah, Hallie, exactly. We haven't noticed the hair travel nightmares of holidays gone by. An airline saying they've learned from those mistakes, basically updating their technology, adding extra staff,

and in a lot of cases, extra flights to get all these passengers where they want to go. Allie. Maggie Vespa, thank you. New fallout tonight over President-elect Trump's controversial pick for FBI director, Kash Patel, a Trump loyalist who has previously pledged to dismantle the agency. The big question tonight, will the Senate confirm him? And so far, at least some allies are sounding supportive. Ali Rafa is with the president-elect in Florida. Tonight, President-elect Donald Trump's pick of hardline loyalist Kash Patel to lead the FBI,

sparking mixed reaction. He represents the type of change that we need to see in the FBI. So I will vote no and I will organize not just my colleagues, but the American public. Patel says he'll return the agency to its rightful mission, protecting the American people. I am honored to be here in support of Donald J. Trump. Despite holding several positions in the first Trump administration, Patel is facing criticism for a lack of experience as well as his controversial positions. We will go out and find the conspirators not just in government but in the media. I'd shut down the FBI Hoover building on day one and reopening the next day as a museum of the deep state. Mr. Trump's pick underscoring his dislike for the current FBI

director whom he appointed, Chris Wray, whose term isn't set to end until 2027. Apparently, he has demonstrated too much independence and objectivity in the job for Donald Trump. Wray now faced with the choice to either resign or wait to be fired. The FBI reacting in a statement saying, Director Wray's focus remains on the men and women of the FBI, the people we do the work with and the people we do the work for. Patel's Senate confirmation could be an uphill battle. While many Republicans agree with his goals for the FBI, others have previously said it should operate free of presidential influence.

The news capping a busy few days at Mar-a-Lago after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spent Friday night making his case against Mr. Trump's plan to impose tariffs on Canada and Mexico in an effort to curb the flow of undocumented migrants and drugs into the U.S. Ali joins us now from South Florida. Ali, Mr. Trump has already chosen his daughter's father-in-law, that's Jared Kushner's dad, to serve as ambassador to France. We're talking about real estate developer Charles Kushner. And now there's another announcement with family ties. That's right, the president-elect picking his other daughter, Tiffany's father-in-law, Lebanese lawyer Mossad Boulos, as his senior advisor on Arab and Middle Eastern affairs.

Hallie? Hallie Raffa, thank you. New pressure tonight for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas after the release of a propaganda video of an American held hostage in Gaza. Hala Gharani reports from Jerusalem. Tonight, the release of this video of 20-year-old American hostage Idan Alexander held in Gaza by Hamas, My name is Idan Alexander.

reigniting calls for a ceasefire deal. His mother today meeting Israeli President Isaac Herzog. There are negotiations taking place behind the scenes, he said, and it can be done. The first time when I watched the video, I was shocked, you know. Shaken but finding hope in the video, his mother telling me she pleaded with the prime minister yesterday to make a deal. I asked him, please, be strong for the country, be strong for Israel and release them. Talks had been stalled, but there are signs of movement, with the Hamas delegation traveling to Cairo this weekend to discuss a possible framework.

While President Biden says an effort involving Qatar, Egypt and Turkey is in the works. We are doing everything we can to get those hostages home safely to their families. In Gaza, meanwhile, the attack on a car killing three World Central Kitchen aid workers is making a dire humanitarian situation worse. The IDF claiming one of the men was directly connected to the October 7th attacks. World Central Kitchen denying it has any knowledge of those allegations. It, alongside the United Nations, announcing a pause in aid deliveries because of safety concerns. With starvation taking hold in parts of the Strip, according to aid groups,

desperation leading some to breaking point. Three people were crushed to death Friday trying to buy a few loaves of bread. Hala Ghorani, NBC News, Jerusalem. The situation nearby in Syria getting worse fast tonight as rebel forces there launch a surprise attack to try to topple the government. Matt Bradley is tracking this from neighboring Lebanon. And Matt, this is a big escalation. That's right, Hallie. Syrian rebels launched a surprise offensive against the regime of Bashar al-Assad. In response, the regime and its Russian allies have fired airstrikes against the Syrian cities of Aleppo and Idlib, and that's killed more than a dozen civilians. This, according to a UK

based human rights organization. So the offensive was led by a group called Hayat Tahrir Hasham, an Islamist militia that had been affiliated to al-Qaeda. More than 300 people have been killed so far. It's the biggest threat to the Assad regime since the civil war there started in 2011. Middle East analysts have said the attack is exploiting the weakness of Assad's biggest backers, Iran and Russia, whose forces have been weakened by other wars. Hallie. Matt Bradley, thank you. We are back in a moment with an inside look at how some of the nation's biggest stores are getting ready to ship your Cyber Monday packages.

One new facility the size of 26 football fields. We are back with that record-breaking box office weekend. Disney's Moana 2 pulling in a massive $221 million over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. That's nearly twice the previous record set five years ago. But it's not just Moana. Both Wicked and Gladiator 2 are also keeping theaters packed, setting another record for the biggest Thanksgiving period ever. The grand total for all three, $422 million.

Stores are finishing up their final preps tonight for the biggest online shopping day of the year, Cyber Monday. Many of them already investing hundreds of millions of dollars to build new shipping facilities. And as Brian Chung shows us, they're handling more orders faster. Inside this massive Walmart fulfillment center in Greencastle, Pennsylvania. So this is our newest next-gen fulfillment center. 20 miles of conveyor belts race through a facility the size of 26 football fields. I mean, how many packages are coming through on a daily basis? Hundreds of thousands. This center opened just six months ago, now ready for its biggest test yet. Is Cyber Monday like your Super Bowl?

It's the Super Bowl. We plan all year for this event. Over 1,000 workers gearing up for what is still the biggest online shopping day of the year, Cyber Monday. Over $13 billion expected to be spent. And Walmart trying to capture as much of that money as they can. Our business is growing. Walmart U.S. e-commerce sales have grown 22% in the last quarter. This new facility, part of a sort of supply chain arms race. Amazon's planning on hundreds of new facilities, and Target will invest $100 million into its supply chain over the next two years.

Retailers are under more pressure now than ever to get more things to customers faster, and Walmart says 95% of their U.S. customers can get next-day or two-day shipping thanks to facilities like this one. Using artificial intelligence and robotics, Walmart cut down on the steps it took for a package to leave its facilities. Right down to this sticker. This is where we're applying the shipping label to the box. I almost got clocked by that one.

So this is like a custom cutter for boxes? That's right. This is a small factory. A smart machine churning out boxes spec'd out just for you. And we optimized the right size box just for that order. The goal, cut down on waste and time to get those gifts to you faster than ever. Our customers want speed. They want great prices. They want value and convenience. A Cyber Monday battle for your dollars playing out behind the scenes. Brian Chung, NBC News, Greencastle, Pennsylvania.

When we come back, there's good news tonight about the special moments that changed the lives of these kids forever. Let's sprinkle a little extra joy and start serving up these sweet family moments. Meet Judge Randy Shelton, that man you just saw right there, dressed up for the holidays. And our cameras joined him for the most joyful day of the year inside his Jefferson County courthouse in Texas when nearly 20 children found their forever homes. The judge granting adoption after adoption. Kiri! Kiri! Everyone get on your feet! Today we're baking up something sweeter than cookies.

Forever Families. We're here with the Connor family today. This is Frankie Connor. And this is Yolanda Connor. And this is Brayden. And the adoption is granted and rendered. Yay! Yay!

It's been a long journey. They're ours, and there's no more back and forth. We love them so much and just happy that they can just be happy kids. Ho, ho, ho. Ho, ho, ho. Ho, ho, ho. Ho, ho, ho. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. We have Miss Kendra Francis.

Are you asking the court to grant this adoption? Yes. The court will find that all the requirements have been met, and this is a lovely family, and the adoption is granted and rendered. Yay! Ho, ho, ho. Ho, ho, ho.

Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. My family means to me everything. Today our family is official. I'm just glad that I am able to do it for them. They have given me the opportunity to be a mother because I didn't have any kids. It's the best day of the year because we've got all these families and all these children and we're making the homes final and permanent and it's just a day to celebrate. Well, Baker Santa is very, very happy. This is a sweet family. I'll find that all the requirements have been met and the adoption is granted.

Yay! Yay! Today my family is loved. Today my family is complete. Layla, would you like to be adopted today? Your Honor, I have rested my case and I would like for the court to grant this adoption. Well, y'all are a very sweet family and I'm happy to grant the adoption and we'll make it official. Yay! Layla means everything to me. So it's nice to know that she's forever mine.

I just hope that she always feels loved and wanted because I've always loved and wanted her. Cheers! Family means to me everything. Without family there's nothing. Now, I'm mama. I'm glad that we finally made it to today and it's official. My family means to me joy. My family means to me everything, everything. That's what I live for,

my family. So many with so much to be thankful for. That's nightly news for this Sunday. Stick around for Sunday Night Football. I'm Hallie Jackson. For all of us here at NBC News, thanks for watching and have a great week.