NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas - Friday, June 20, 2025

Episode Date: June 21, 2025

Iran’s Foreign Minister: Iran will not resume talks during Israeli strikes; Man accused of trying to kidnap Memphis mayor; Juror from Karen Read’s trial reveals what led to acquittal; and more on tonight’s broadcast.

Tonight, no signs of de-escalation in the Middle East and our exclusive interview. Iran accusing the Trump administration of diplomatic betrayal. The new strikes breaking through, hitting a high rise in Israel. And the new explosion caught on surveillance video. Plus, our exclusive with Iran's foreign minister. The highest level interview since it all began. Why he said he doesn't trust the US after trying to make a nuclear deal

and what he said about possibly retaliating against America. And this just in, President Trump responding directly to that interview, Andrea Mitchell, reporting from Geneva. Record-shattering heat stretching coast to coast, dangerous temperatures, and extreme humidity making it sweltering for 139 million Americans from Arizona to Massachusetts.

The chilling kidnapping plot targeting the mayor of Memphis, a man arrested with rope, duct tape and a taser after scaling a brick wall outside his home. The deadly rock fall sending giant clouds of dust in the air. The hikers fleeing as the sides of this cliff come crashing down. What happened at the National Park millions visit every year. Karen Reid was found not guilty of murder. Now we're hearing from the jurors who decided her fate. The key piece of evidence about a tail light that helped change minds in the jurors box. Love and poison, the couple plotting to kill several women with cyanide.

Even breaking into their cars to lace their water with a deadly mixture. Home prices approaching all-time highs while the suburbs are turning into rental meccas. The massive volcano on Kilauea erupting again firing lava more than a thousand feet into the air. The new images nightly news starts right now. This is NBC nightly news with Tom Yomas. And good evening. President Trump tonight responding directly to our exclusive interview you're about to see as he considers whether to strike Iran. Israel and Iran still battling

it out from missiles blasting this building in Haifa in the north to this surveillance video capturing an explosion down south. And while world leaders are in Europe trying to find a way out of a spiraling regional war in the Middle East. We are hearing straight from the Iranian foreign minister himself in an exclusive interview with NBC News. He says Iran doesn't trust the U.S. and accuses the Trump administration of pretending to want to negotiate while Israel launched an assault. And we'll hear about what he said, whether Iran could retaliate against this country. Andrea has our global exclusive tonight and leads us off.

Tonight, the news strikes, a surveillance camera capturing an Iranian missile hitting a residential building in Israel. Shoo, shoo, shoo, shoo! Hey, hey! And this Iranian strike hitting the northern Israeli city of Haifa, while Israel striking missile launchers in Iran.

Today, in an exclusive interview, Iran's foreign minister calling on President Trump to demand Israel stop its attacks. What it needs is only a telephone call from Washington to Tel Aviv to stop everything. Tonight, President Trump responding, saying Israel is winning. I think it's very hard to make that request right now.

If somebody's winning, it's a little bit harder to do than if somebody's losing. But we're ready, willing and able, and we've been speaking to Iran, and we'll see what happens. All of it is President Trump again met in the Situation Room as he decides whether to launch a U.S. airstrike on the underground Iranian-Fordo nuclear facility. Only the U.S. has the Bunker Buster bombs capable of destroying it. Within a matter of weeks or certainly within a matter of months they're going

to be able to have a nuclear weapon. We can't let that happen. He said he'll wait up to two weeks to give diplomacy a chance. Just a time to see whether or not people come to their senses. Tonight Iran's foreign minister tells us they won't resume talking to the U.S. until Israel stops attacking them. Can diplomacy produce a solution in two weeks? Well, I think it's up to, you know, Americans, the United States, I mean, to show their determination for going for a negotiated solution. We have come to the conclusion that negotiations by the U.S. was in fact a cover for what Israelis

did. So they had perhaps this plan in their mind and they just needed negotiations perhaps to cover it up. We don't know how we can trust them anymore. What they did was, in fact, a betrayal to diplomacy. While Iran vowing to respond to any U.S. strike. Would Iran retaliate against U.S. targets and U.S. forces in the region or elsewhere? When there is a war, both sides attack each other. That is quite understandable. And self-defense is a legitimate, both sides attack each other. That is quite understandable. And self-defense is a legitimate right of every country.

President Trump again rebuking his Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who said Iran has an unprecedented amount of enriched uranium for a state without nuclear weapons, but that Iran's supreme leader has not yet authorized the nuclear weapons program. My intelligence community is wrong. She's wrong. Tonight, Gabbard says her previous comments were taken out of context, while Iran's foreign minister told me Iran's nuclear knowledge cannot be destroyed by bombs. Andrea Mitchell with that big exclusive tonight. Andrea, we thank you. Back here at home to the record heat stretching from the desert of Arizona

to the coast of Massachusetts. Across the West, look at this cruiser trying to stamp out wildfires like this one in Utah. I do want to bring in Bill Karens and Bill, you rarely see so much of the country facing so much heat at the same time. From the Rockies to the East Coast, Tom, we are all in this together. Today has been brutally hot in many areas of the Midwest, some Some areas in Nebraska approaching 108 degrees with all the dots and all the cities on here. Over 100 are going to challenge record highs over the next couple of days. Now we're expecting the worst of it tomorrow.

This is in the shade, adding in the temperature and the humidity. This is the heat index, 108 in Omaha, 106 in Minneapolis, Chicago, 104. Then as we go through Sunday, Monday into Tuesday, we watch the heat building to the east. Detroit 104 on Sunday. Look at northern Vermont on Monday, feeling like 106. And from DC to New York, Philly to Raleigh to Richmond, Tom, the worst of this will be Monday and Tuesday. It's a hot one. All right, Bill, we thank you for that. We want to head to Canada now where horrifying new video shows the moment where a part of a rock wall gave way, triggering a deadly slide, trapping hikers below.

Our Morgan Chesky has the terrifying details. In Canada, a frightening rumble turning into a deadly roar. A lone hiker seen scrambling for their life, chased by a rock slide, unleashing a terrifying cascade of boulders and debris. I got up and just started running. Ellie Jackson says the wall came down with so much force it just exploded.

I thought I was going to die. It is when I when I saw the rock coming down I knew I couldn't survive that. Caught in its path members of a local hiking group with multiple members caught in the slide enveloped by a massive dust cloud. The fatal slide happening at Banff National Park, Canada's most popular. The hike near Bo Glacier Falls,

a well traveled area near Lake Louise. Tonight, authorities confirmed that rescuers recovered a second body, adding three others were airlifted and remain hospitalized. Canadian geologist Dan Sugar says it's not the first time this pristine area has posed a problem as of right now, were there any clear warning signs that

essentially this hillside would give away? I don't think that it would be possible to have kind of forecasted or predicted this particular, you know, this particular rock fall sharing a smaller slide two years ago, injured several when it struck the same area. Every steep mountain slope, you know releases rocks from time to time. Experts believing the slow but steady impact of water and hidden Springs may have played a role compromising the rock wall.

Sugar believes based on video and images this slide was 160 feet wide and up to 30 feet deep. Authorities don't believe anyone else is missing, but say heavy rain tonight could raise the landslide risk even more. Morgan Chesky, NBC News. Tonight, a juror in Karen Reed's trial is revealing what led her and 11 others

to acquit Reed for the murder of her boyfriend. The juror pointing to a critical piece of evidence, the broken pieces of Reed's tailight here's Emily Kett. 3 what's the tonight a window into the deliberation room what Karen Reid's fate was decided. You're guilty. So say you all I do believe she was innocent. Paula Prado a trained attorney was among the 12 jurors who

found read not guilty of murdering her police officer boyfriend John O'Keefe with her car, a key piece of evidence. Having a close look at the pay light and the liberation room Prado said that damage was inconsistent with video of reads red tail light after the alleged crash the defense suggested it was tampered with as for her impression of read at first she gave me a vibe of being too confident, she was very focused on the trial and very alert of everything that

was going on after a while I admire that. Reeds parents sitting down with NBC Boston after they say their first restful sleep in years. We know Karen is our daughter had she done something and struck John O'Keefe, she we would have been the first to you know be notified. While Reed's acquittal was met by an eruption of cheers from her supporters Prado left the courtroom in tears. As much as I'm confident that we did the right thing and she's not guilty. I Feel sorry that justice wasn't served to John O'Keefe and a member of O'Keefe's family calling the verdict heartbreaking

But telling Dateline there's relief in closing this chapter a positive is Johnny can be at peace in the family and friends Can grieve Emily I'm Lee Ketta, NBC News. All right, we're also following a developing story out of Memphis. The mayor there was home with his wife and kids when police say a man walked up to the house angry and armed with a taser. The suspect now faces charges including attempted kidnapping. It's just the latest alarming case threatening the safety of lawmakers. Here's Aaron Gilchrist. In court today, the man authorities accused of stalking and attempting to kidnap the mayor

of Memphis. Raise your right hand. Police say 25-year-old Trenton Abston admitted that he tracked down Mayor Paul Young and went to his home, angry and armed with a taser. The mayor lives in a subdivision that is both gated and guarded, but that didn't stop the suspect. Police say he jumped right over this brick wall. Inside with his family, Young says he watched on a doorbell camera as Abston walked straight to our home, knocking on the door with gloves on, a full pocket and a nervous demeanor. It happened on Sunday, less than 24 hours after a masked man went on a rampage

targeting lawmakers in Minnesota. When Memphis police arrested Abston this week, he gave them permission to search his car. They found gloves, rope, duct tape and a taser. Police say Abston, who is licensed as an armed security guard, stated he planned to confront Paul Young about crime in the city of Memphis. But in court today, his family says he's remorseful. He wants to talk to the mayor. Hear his heart and you'll understand.

Across the country, elected officials are seeing a rising threat of political violence. I'm a little shaken, to be quite honest. Police arrested a man after Ohio Congressman Max Miller says he was targeted for being Jewish while driving to work. Thank God my daughter was not in my vehicle. And in New York, the NYPD says it's investigating a bomb threat and racist messages directed at mayoral candidate Zoran Memdani, some members of Congress calling for more protections.

Public servants and ordinary citizens should not have to fear their lives simply for doing their jobs. Aaron Gilchrist, NBC News, Memphis. ordinary citizens should not have to fear their lives simply for doing their jobs. Aaron Gilchrist, NBC News, Memphis. And tonight in our series Priced Out, a stunning trend for the American suburbs. How home sweet home increasingly comes with a rent payment, not a mortgage. Our Christine Romans explains. America's suburbs undergoing a transformation. We're priced out of the market right now and we're not the only ones.

The dream of owning the house with the white picket fence increasingly giving way to white picket renters in Lake Villa, IL outside of Chicago, engineer Andrew Decker earns a six figure salary and only wishes he and his fiance could buy a home. Goodbye house tomorrow.

If the price was right, if the interest was right, if the interest rates were where they needed to be. But mortgage rates are near 7% and home prices at record highs. Since the pandemic, the median single-family home price has soared almost $100,000, now topping 400 grand. How is that changing the suburbs?

Well, basically what you see is that renting obviously is a much more economical option than buying. And developers have seen this trend that started in 2021 with COVID, and they've really built a surge of apartments. According to new analysis of census data, renting in the Burbs is surging so much, 203 suburbs across the country are now majority home renter rather than homeowner. In 15 suburbs, the number of renter households

more than doubled between 2018 and 2023. I don't see any end in sight. I really don't. And I foresee it getting worse and worse over the next five years. Renters like Andrew Decker left wondering how they'll ever be able to buy their piece of the American dream. Christine Romans NBC News when we returned, did a man and his girlfriend try to poison women he used to date with cyanide? Why one of their victims says she no longer feel safe in her own

home. That's next. why one of their victims says she no longer feels safe in her own home. That's next. We are back now with a couple charged with carrying out a wild plot to poison and kill women, one of them used to date. Prosecutors say victims' water bottles were spiked with poison, including cyanide. Here's Shaquille Brewster. A hazmat team in Wisconsin investigating what prosecutors call an extensive poisoning plot. Paul Van Dyne Jr. and his partner Andrea Whitaker used elaborate poisons, including cyanide,

to try to murder women Van Dyne had previously been on dates with, according to court documents. Investigators say these vials of hazardous materials were found in his car. One of the alleged victims, a mother of two, speaking out anonymously today during a hearing. Well over a year ago I went on just two dates with this man and now my entire life has been turned upside down. According to court documents, Van Dyne attempted to poison the first victim at least three times, beginning on April 26 when he broke into her car filling her gym water bottle with cyanide and thallium. Then on May 4th, they say he put a toxic and corrosive gas in her trunk. How close was this to becoming deadly? Our victim within Rock County got hospitalized.

Um, she currently still is in a wheelchair. They had to fly in an antidote out of California for the poison that was used for her. Investigators say Van Dyne tried to poison a second victim soon after breaking into her car twice outside of a Costco. The woman told police her mouth felt funny after sipping from her water bottle. Police say they started tracking the pair, a Princeton educated engineer and a pharmacy student arresting Vandine Sunday near the home of one of the women after he placed a trail camera pointed at her house to surveil her. V Dyne and Whitaker now facing charges including attempted first degree intentional homicide

and stalking. A judge today setting Van Dyne's bond at $10 million. Today his alleged victim says she's terrified and no longer feels safe in her own home. The truth is I barely knew him and yet he and his accomplice decided that I should die. Shaquille Brewster, NBC News. And we're back in a moment with a huge shakeup in court after a judge ordered the Trump administration to release a pro-Palestinian activist that's a college student. That's next. Welcome back. A federal judge today ordering the Trump administration to release Mahmoud Khalil from custody. He's the pro-Palestinian activist and Columbia University grad student

at the center of the Trump administration's crackdown on immigrants opposed to the war in Gaza. He's been held since early March. Also, the Shandidi Combs sex trafficking trial is getting closer to the end. The defense indicating in court today they might be able to get through their entire case in just a couple of days. Closing arguments could happen as soon as Thursday and check out this massive volcano eruption in Hawaii.

You can see Kilauea shooting hot lava more than 1000 feet into the sky. The eruption began overnight. Kilauea is one of the most active volcanoes in the world and it was the 26th eruption since late December. Alright, that's nightly news for this Friday. Remember, tonight and always, we're here for you.

I'm Tom Yamaas. Have a great weekend.