NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas - Wednesday, October 16, 2024

Episode Date: October 17, 2024

Liam Payne, former One Direction singer, dies in Argentina; Harris interviewed by Fox News in pitch to anti-Trump Republicans; Elon Musk makes big push to get Trump elected again; and more on tonight���s broadcast.

Breaking news tonight, the tragic death of a former member of one of the world's biggest boy bands. The news just coming in, Lee and Payne, former singer with the band One Direction, dead at just 31 after a fall at an Argentina hotel. What we're learning from officials in Argentina tonight. Also this evening, with just 20 days until the election, the candidates on a media blitz. Vice President Kamala Harris giving her first formal interview to Fox News, looking to broaden her appeal to Republican voters. Former President Donald Trump appearing at two town halls

and hoping to close his gender gap with women, declaring himself the father of IVF to an all-female crowd. The push to resentence the Menendez brothers to the 1989 killing of their parents. Nearly two dozen family members rallying for their release. The New Jersey detective fatally shot in a home invasion. What was the motive? Weeks after our jailhouse interview, the Texas death row inmate with autism denied clemency just one day before he set to become the first person in the U.S. to execute it based on the now highly controversial shaken baby syndrome diagnosis.

And some call it southern caviar. A one man selling it from his roadside stand is taking on child hunger. This is NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt. Good evening and welcome. We begin tonight with the breaking news in the music world. Confirmation from medical officials to Telemundo in Argentina that Liam Payne, the British singer and former member of the band One Direction, has died in Buenos Aires. Payne was 31 and became a member of the hit-making boy band when it formed in 2010.

Sam Brock is following this for us. Sam, a tragic night in the music world. What else are authorities telling us? Yeah, very tragic. So far, Lester, the majority of the information that we have is coming from a police statement on the ground shared with Telemundo, which confirms that the 31-year-old died after falling from his third-floor hotel balcony in Buenos Aires earlier today. According to police, there were calls placed to 911 prior to that, reporting an aggressive man believed to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Now, the news of Payne's death, shocking to fans around the world.

He's known as one of the founding members of One Direction, one of the most successful boy bands of the last couple of decades, Lester, which shaped pop music around the globe. Local networks right now are reporting that Payne was believed to be with a woman, his girlfriend potentially, at the time of his death. She had recently posted photos about their trip in Argentina. As for the actual death and the events preceding it, still that is coming in, but there is no question tonight, Lester, that Payne's death is going to have ripple effects throughout the music. Yeah, a lot of reaction. All right,

Sam, thanks very much for that. The race for president took some unusual detours today in the name of finding undecided voters, whether it was Kamala Harris taking questions from Fox News or Donald Trump trying to close the gap with women voters. With 20 days left, Garrett Haig reports. Vice President Harris tonight in her first formal interview with Fox News. Harris pressed on her record on immigration. Jocelyn Nungeri, Rachel Morin, Lakin Riley, they are young women who were brutally assaulted and killed by some of the men who were released at the beginning of the administration, well before a negotiated bipartisan bill. You owe those families an apology. Let me just say, first of all, those are tragic

cases. There's no question about that. There is no question about that. And I can't imagine the pain that the families of those victims have experienced for a loss that should not have occurred. If a border security had actually been passed nine months ago, it would be nine months that we would have had more border agents at the border. The appearance part of a concerted pitch for anti-Trump Republicans. Harris in must-win Pennsylvania with former GOP Congressman Adam Kinzinger, blasting these controversial Trump comments about some Democrats. We have the outside enemy and then we have the enemy from within.

He considers any American who doesn't support him or bend to his will to be an enemy to our country. Donald Trump is increasingly unstable and unhinged. Former President Trump responding. I wasn't unhinged. I'm not threatening anybody. They're the ones doing the threatening. They do phony investigations. I've been investigated more than Alphonse Capone. Trump also on Fox News for a town hall with an audience of women voters and talking about his support for in vitro fertilization. I'm the father of IVF, so I want to hear this question. The Democrats tried to attack us on it, and we're out there on IVF even more than them. So we're totally in favor of

it. Harris firing back today. I found it to be quite bizarre. I actually called himself the father of IVF. He should take responsibility for the fact that one in three women in America lives in a Trump abortion ban state. Garrett Harris was also pressed in that Fox News interview about her earlier comment that she couldn't think of anything that she would do differently than President Biden. Yeah, that's right, Lester. In this interview, she said she would not be a continuation of Joe Biden's presidency and that she represents a new generation of leadership that has not spent her whole career in Washington. Lester. Garrett Haig, thank you.

One man who has rocketed his way into former President Trump's orbit, Elon Musk. Hallie Jackson tonight on how the founder of SpaceX and Tesla is going all out to help Trump win. For the world's richest man, it's one of his most valuable resources, time. And Elon Musk's giving plenty of it to support former President Trump, starting tonight with a series of talks in Battleground, Pennsylvania. Just the latest boost from the billionaire. I'm not just MAGA, I'm dark MAGA. New numbers out today show Musk gave $75 million to the pro-Trump fundraising group he founded to help turn out voters. The SpaceX and Tesla founder, despite Mr. Trump's frequent criticism of EVs, becoming a close confidant. Elon Musk is a very good friend of mine. He endorsed me like, and you saw him the other night in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Was he having a good time? Musk jumping on stage at that rally. President Trump must win to preserve the Constitution. He must win to preserve democracy in America. And hosting an X Spaces with Mr. Trump, who joked about Musk firing striking workers. I mean, I look at what you do. You walk in and you just say, you want to quit? They go on strike. I won't mention the name of the company, but they go on strike and you say, that's OK. You're all gone. While some tech titans like Mark Zuckerberg have leaned out of politics, others like Mark Andreessen are leaning in or, in Musk's case, all in.

We'll have a new position. Secretary, of course course cutting, okay? Elon wants to do that. But it's a relationship some Democrats have seized on, pointing to Tesla's anti-union position. Musk is building his new auto plant, not in Michigan, in Mexico. And using Musk to illustrate their warnings about a second Trump term. Billionaires like Elon Musk will get their giant tax cut again.

Keep in mind, Musk's involved in a regulatory fight with the feds and has had to apologize for controversial posts on his X platform, which itself has been criticized for allowing misinformation to spread. Lester. OK, Hallie, thank you. In Los Angeles, new developments tonight in the case of Eric and Lyle Menendez, who were serving life sentences for killing their parents. Now more than a dozen relatives are calling for the brothers' release in light of new evidence under review. Liz Kreutz has late details. It's the latest twist tonight for the notorious Menendez brothers, several of their family members calling for their release. Their actions, while tragic, were the desperate response of two

boys trying to survive the unspeakable cruel of their father. Among those supporting Eric and Lyle Menendez, the 92-year-old sister of Kitty Menendez, who was murdered by her sons in 1989, along with her husband Jose in their Beverly Hills home. If Lyle and Eric's case were heard today, with the understanding we now have about abuse and PTSD, there is no doubt in my mind that their sentencing would have been very different. Relatives of both Kitty and Jose, arguing new evidence under review by the L.A. District Attorney, backs the brothers' longstanding claim they acted in self-defense after years of abuse by their father. I grew up knowing and feeling something wasn't right. The feeling

in their house and the father-son interactions were just off. The brothers, currently serving life without parole, getting renewed attention sparked by the popular new Netflix series. But the family is split. An attorney for Kitty's brother says he believes his nephews were motivated by greed and wants them to remain behind bars. Does your client believe the brothers claim that they acted in self-defense after years of physical and sexual abuse? Milton Anderson does not believe that. But should those allegations have been true, it doesn't excuse what they did to their parents. And it doesn't excuse the murders that they committed.

And tonight, the L.A. District Attorney tells me he does believe the brothers' claims they were molested, and he does not believe they should spend the rest of their lives in prison. He hopes to make a decision about his recommendation within the next 10 days. Lester. All right, Liz Kreutz tonight. Thank you. Time is running out for a Texas man we have been reporting on in this broadcast who is scheduled to be executed tomorrow night in a case that has sparked wide outrage. Today, a Texas board denied Robert Robertson's request for clemency. Convicted in the murder of his

two-year-old daughter, he will be the first person in the U.S. to be executed for a case of shaken baby syndrome, a controversial diagnosis. I recently spoke to Roberson on death row. I'm at peace if it happens, but I'm not ready because I don't think I should be executed when I'm innocent. His supporters include a bipartisan group of Texas legislators and the detective who arrested him, who now calls it a mistake. Roberson's lawyers are asking the Supreme Court to stay his execution. Texas Governor Abbott can also issue a 30-day stay. No word from his office tonight. We turn now to the investigation after a New Jersey prosecutor's office detective

was killed in a home invasion. Officers responded last night to a report of people kicking in a front door and found 51-year-old Detective Sergeant Monica Mosley fatally shot. One person has been detained for questioning, but no one has been arrested after being treated at a hospital for a gunshot wound. And in the Deep South, almost three weeks after floodwaters swept through western North Carolina, Kathy Park reports that one of the biggest challenges remains getting the schools reopened. Tonight, classrooms remain closed for thousands of students in North Carolina after Hurricane Helene wreaked havoc across the state. Some schools scrambling to

restore water, even installing wells. In Asheville, officials aim to have kids back in class by October 28th. How realistic is that? We are full steam ahead because we know our kids need to be in school. With no power and spotty internet, virtual learning was not an option, disconnecting so many students. So I was like alone with nothing to do. This week, the school system stepping up to address the learning loss with optional class time. This is, to me, one of the most important things that we could do as a school system to help our students feel like they are still part of our community. What is the biggest challenge right now when it comes to the recovery? Right now is a huge tourism time for us in Western

North Carolina. Our school depends on a lot of the sales tax to fund our school. So we're seeing a loss in that right now because we don't have tourists coming into our city. It's a critical time for Asheville, a popular tourist destination for the fall. A lot of our businesses aren't going to have the revenue that they need in order to make it. Among them, Wedge Brewery. How much did this business mean to you? This business is my life. General Manager Lucius Wilson says they're all taking the recovery day by day. I need help. My family needs help. My community needs help. We need help from everybody. Typically, this area would be packed this time of year. If the tourism dollar is lost now, could mean some businesses will stay closed indefinitely. Lester. Kathy Park, thank you. In 60 seconds, the time, the frustration.

Is there anything more annoying than trying to cancel a subscription? Well, now a new rule could make it just as easy to cancel as to sign up. We'll tell you all about it right after this. Back now with a consumer alert. If you have ever been frustrated by how difficult it can be to cancel memberships and subscriptions you no longer want, the Biden administration has a new rule you'll want to know about. Here's Tom Costello. Consumer advocates call it the loop of doom, the endless runaround that comes when trying to cancel gym memberships, streaming services, or online subscriptions that customers no longer want, with some folks venting on TikTok. The amount of prompts. Are you sure you want to cancel? Are you sure you don't want $10 off? How about 30% off? How about instead of $80, it's $20? How about, no, I hit the cancel button?

Velkom Maluznik says quitting shouldn't be so hard. They're doing every possible thing to just hold on and you're just like, no, we're done. You're trying to just push them off of you. It does feel like they're like clinging to your body. The Federal Trade Commission says it's received 16,000 complaints and counting from consumers who feel tricked and trapped. The principle here is quite basic. No American should be stuck paying for a service that they no longer want. Today, the FTC announced new consumer protection rules requiring companies to provide customers with a simple mechanism to cancel a subscription and halt charges and obtain a customer's informed consent to the

negative option, which assumes customer silence means they want to continue with their plan. Companies have to make it as easy to cancel the subscription as it is to sign up for one. This is crazy. This is insane. And illegal. The tougher rules take effect in six months with thousands of dollars in penalties. Lester. Okay, Tom, thanks. In the homestretch coming up, homestretch of the campaign, how foreign propaganda floods the information pipeline to try and influence your vote. Our months-long reporting project is next. As the election enters the homestretch, the risk of foreign propaganda influencing voters is high.

But how do these bogus stories take hold in the first place? Brandi Zdrozny has our special report on the spread of disinformation. Late last year, this strange, and let's just say from the outset, false story started going around about Ukraine's Vladimir Zelensky. Ukrainian President Zelensky somehow managed to buy two multi-million dollar yachts. Now to be clear, nothing about the U.S. aid for yachts story was true. What was true? Vladimir Zelensky is the president of Ukraine. That checks out.

And there is an ongoing debate about U.S. financial support for Ukraine. But there are a lot of these phony stories. NBC News has followed more than 40 over the last year. Clint Watts is an NBC News contributor. You've likely seen him in our coverage when there's big breaking stories. He's also the head of Microsoft's Threat Intelligence Center. Stories like these, Clint says, come straight through a pipeline, straight from Moscow, via something called Storm 1516. Storm 1516 is what you would think of for the old troll farm, the internet research agency, 10 years later, in that they need to adapt to a new medium, which is video, and they need to

come up with a way to make disinformation. Think of Storm 1516 almost like a disinformation production company. They follow a reliable path, one that starts like a disinformation production company. They follow a reliable path, one that starts with a cheaply made video. Hey guys, my name is Olesya and I'm a former employee of the so-called Troll Fabric. I'm a senior associate scientist at a Pfizer facility in Kiev. My name is Shahzad Nasser. I'm here to share an interesting discovery of mine. The videos usually don't stay online long. They don't have to. They are just the kernels of so-called evidence in the pipeline.

According to this agreement I have managed to acquire, the yacht was referred to as Zineski's yacht. In this video, this isn't an actual journalist. His bio is faked. His true identity, unknown. But his story is repackaged and amplified through the next part of the disinformation pipeline. They then take those videos and they launder it through Telegram.

Telegram is a social media site popular with people kind of on the fringe. But also through a series of websites that are made to look like local news sites. The stories on those sites are shared on social media, first by known Russian propagandists, but then, if the plan works, by a U.S. audience. In this case, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene sharing the story with her 3.7 million followers. Her office didn't respond to our multiple requests for comment. The pipeline that began in Russia, now practically flooding American voters with disinformation. And here's the thing. These videos that kick it all off, they're not even that sophisticated.

Darren Linville, director of Clemson's media forensics hub, says they don't have to be. More than half, I would say, almost completely fail. But it doesn't matter because they're so cheap to do that you only need a few of them to hit to make it entirely worthwhile. And they've had more than a few hits. These videos are now targeting U.S. voters trying to conflate fact and fiction and create havoc heading into the election. All right, Brandi, thanks. Up next, there's good news tonight about the man who's paying it forward, and it's adding up to much more than peanuts. Finally, there's good news tonight about a Southern delicacy people are going nuts for, all while helping families.

Here's Caitlin Ross from our Atlanta affiliate, 11 Alive News. Alongside a stretch of road in Cleveland, Georgia, you can find peaches, watermelons, and a farm stand classic known to some as Southern Caviar. Boiled peanut, would you like to try one? From April to November, you can find Michael Meadors, Papa Mike as regulars call him, selling boiled peanuts. And like caviar, it can be an acquired taste. I'm not a fan. If they say they like them, I'll tell them you're hooked. But it's not just the taste that makes customers crack a smile. For years, Mike has been paying it forward with peanuts.

$14. Yes, sir. How about $15? They got a change coming back. Just put it in the kids' lunch thing. That makes you feel good. Collecting change at his stand to clear lunch debts for students at schools in White County. It started after one conversation with the district in 2017.

It's very meaningful to the kids. We have a lot of families who are struggling right now. So Mike decided to help. In total, the district says he's donated nearly $16,000 from donations and profits. I cry some day. Some people just break your heart. I cry sometimes. You do. Some people just, they break your heart. Even though I got tears running there,

it still makes me feel real good that I've gotten to help someone. Small gestures creating a lasting impact. Caitlin Ross, NBC News, Cleveland, Georgia. And that is nightly news for tonight. A programming note, join us tomorrow night for an exclusive interview with the acting director of The Secret Service. Thank you for watching. I'm Lester Holt. Please take care of yourself and each other. Good night.