NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas - Friday, June 5, 2026

Episode Date: June 6, 2026

Emergency “safe haven” order for Space Station astronauts; Exclusive interview with President Trump; Hollywood actor James Handy stabbed to death; and more on tonight’s broadcast. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Tonight, the scare of the International Space Station, NASA's emergency order sending astronauts scrambling. The alarming leaks hundreds of miles from Earth, forcing the crew to rush to shelter in a space capsule. The efforts to repair those cracks right now, and you'll hear the urgent emergency order from NASA. Also tonight, our exclusive sit down with President Trump, why he tells our Kristen Welker, there's no deal yet with Iran. Dramatic video of a Marine veteran fending off a group. of teens trying to carjack him at gunpoint how he was able to disarm them. Russian leader Vladimir Putin responding to an offer to meet face-to-face with President Zelensky are Kier Simmons in St. Petersburg. The husband who plotted to kill his wife with his

au pair just sentenced how much time he'll spend behind bars. Lester Holt takes us inside the investigation into Luigi Mangione, two retired detectives who worked the case speaking out for the very first time. College sticker shock, the list of schools that now cost more than $100,000 a year. Heart stopping car rescue, a woman saved just before her SUV is fully submerged. And our series, Great Americans, tonight the best-selling author, John Grisham, how he turned his life as a small town lawyer into literary gold and how he's working to make the country he loves even more just. Nightly News starts right now. This is NBC Nightly News with Tom Yamas. And good evening. It is so great to be with you tonight. We begin with the urgent race to contain a leak

aboard the International Space Station and this scare that had five astronauts taking emergency precautions on alert to evacuate. NASA ordering these three American astronauts. You see them right here, along with a French astronaut and this Russian cosmonaut, to move out of the space station and into a SpaceX spacecraft docked to it as sort of an escape pod. The fear? The two new leaks on the Russian side of the space station and a risky procedure the Russians were considering to use to seal one of them. The space station, some 250 miles above Earth, is divided into two parts, one controlled by the Americans and international partners, the other with the Russian. and a catastrophic accident in one half could take it all out.

Our Tom Costello picks it up from there. The urgent call from mission control this morning ordered astronauts on the space station to begin an emergency procedure move to the dot SpaceX dragon capsule. For all U.S. OSOS crew members need you to execute procedure, eber procedure, 3.4, crew dragon established safe haven. The order came as Russia worked to patch two new air leaks on its side of the station. Russia says it was able to repair the first, but fixing the second leak might involve using a saw to gain access. Then Russia decided to pause the work to take more measurements.

The astronauts allowed to return to the station. So with that, we are comfortable backing out of the Safe Haven config. For years, Russia has dealt with cracks and leaks in its module that NASA says have always been a concern that it watches very closely. Today, the Russian Space Agency said there is no threat to the safety of the crew. Former astronaut Steve Robinson. Well, it's been a slow leak of air to the vacuum of space. And of course, when you're in space, that's not a good thing. You want to keep the air on the inside of the space station.

No word on when Russia will again attempt to patch the leak. This is the simulator view from the space station looking out at the Earth, from the cupola. Now, this has been continuously crewed since the year 2000. The interior of the station is packed, equipment, piping, and experiments. It's certainly concerning it's something they want to do something about, and so they're trying. Tom joins us now. Tom, as we follow this, we understand the Russians. They could attempt this repair in the future, triggering a similar reaction from NASA?

Yeah, I think it's possible NASA could again tell the astronauts, take shelter, when and if Russia tries to make this patch again. You know, Tom, just like trying to do home repairs, the worry is you can make it worse, and they don't want to do that on the station. Incredibly dangerous right up there in space. Okay, Tom, we thank you for that. Now to our exclusive interview with President Trump. Meet the press moderator, Kristen Welker, sitting down with the president in Wisconsin where he was holding a midterm campaign event.

She pressed him tonight on why there's still no deal with Iran. Gabe Gutierrez has more. Tonight, President Trump saying the Iranian regime has no choice but to make a deal during an exclusive interview with Meet the Press moderator, Kristen Welker. You have been saying for months, Mr. President, that Iran is begging to make a deal. They are so desperate to make a deal. Why haven't they made a deal with you yet? Because it's a very hard thing for them.

They've had great independence. They've dealt with very weak and ineffective leadership on behalf of the United States and other countries, frankly, that allowed them to get away with murder. And I think they can't believe they're in the situation where they've been virtually decapitated. But if they're so desperate, Mr. President, why haven't they said yes to the terms of your president? strong. They're proud. There are things they never thought they'd be doing that they're going to have to do. They've got no choice. And it takes a little while, you know, you're talking about 47 years of getting away with whatever they wanted. I mean, this should have been done long ago. This should

have been done by other presidents or other countries. When pressed, President Trump adding that Iran has 21 or 22 percent of its missile capacity left. Today he arrived in Wisconsin, backing Republicans here ahead of the midterms, touting progress in the Iran conflict and on the economy. The jobs numbers, I guess you saw them this morning. They just got released and they smashed all expectations by actually three times. Making a push on the economy, touting today's stronger than expected jobs report. The U.S. adding 172,000 jobs.

the national gas price average has dropped more than 30 cents in two weeks, but prices are still up since the Iran War began. Jody Loftus's family owns a trucking company. What impact has rising gas prices had on your life? A lot. We have faith that it's going to get better, and we have seen it going to go down. She supports President Trump. Still, Democrats here think they have an opening. Farmers are feeling the squeeze in particular with the rise of diesel prices, as well as the rise of fertilizer prices. As for that interview, Kristen and the Meet the Press team conducted it here in Wisconsin, inside a barn at the request of the White House.

There were multiple interruptions when Rain repeatedly was hitting the metal roof of the barn. Following those challenges, as well as a back and forth about election integrity where the president disagreed with the questions. President Trump ended the interview about 50 minutes after it began. Tom? Gabe Gutier is traveling with the president, and you can see those moments. and much more of Kristen Welker's exclusive with the president this Sunday only on Meet the Press. And we have dramatic new video out of Maryland tonight showing a Marine veteran fighting off a group of teenagers after one of them points a gun right in his face.

He's now speaking out to Array Nobles. Jake O'Borda was working on his truck in his quiet neighborhood in suburban Maryland when he noticed a group of teenagers walked by. They start putting hoodies on. I felt something is going to happen. Surveillance video from the Marine Veterans Home Security camera shows one of the teens pull a gun and stick it in Borda's face. I told him I raised my hands up and the keys are in, the car is on, and he saw my phone, he was like, give me your phone too. But then his hand-to-hand military combat training kicked in. It was that split moment when he moved his hand from my head to the side of my head. That's when I grab it and pull it up, pull it my way.

You can see Borda wrestling the team with the gun to the ground. His brother rushes into help. Listen as the gun fires during the struggle. In the midst of the melee, the teen's gun went off. But fortunately, no one was hurt. The only gunshot ended up here in the truck. Borda's father then charges in right behind. Together, the family subduing the teens.

Police say two suspects on the scene were taken into custody. Was there anything in the back of your mind's like, maybe these guys messed with the wrong dude? Nothing. The first thing I thought was, How am I going to work if they're going to take my car? That's the first thing I thought. Ryan Noble's NBC News, Oxen Hill, Maryland.

We want to head overseas now because Russian President Vladimir Putin tonight rejecting an invitation from Ukraine's President Zelenskyy for face-to-face talks. Part of a major address in St. Petersburg tonight and Chief International correspondent, Keir Simmons, is there in the room for us tonight. Tonight Russia's President Vladimir Putin saying he sees no one. sense in meeting with Ukraine's President Zelenskyy face to face. And addressing Russian soldiers in Ukraine, Putin urging them, keep working brothers, to applause from a hall of senior Russian officials.

President Trump had encouraged a meeting, and his representative here in Russia was sitting in the front row. I do give a good hello from your friend, President Trump. Earlier speaking to NBC News. Do you think you're making progress with potential for peace and one is always hopeful? But in a long, open letter, Zelensky told Putin, war was Putin's personal choice and suggested Putin's existence was threatened if it continued. A letter, the Russian leader, called Rude.

How long can Russia keep fighting? Until the goals of the special military operation are accomplished, Russia's deputy prime minister told us tonight. Despite all this, President Putin's envoy tells NBC, news, he's still talking to the Trump administration and predicts progress. Tom. Keir Simmons, great to have you on the broadcast. When we return in 60 seconds, Lester Holtz new reporting in the Luigi Mangione case. For the first time, you'll hear from the detectives who worked the case revealing the big slip-up that broke the case wide open. This just

in the man who plotted with the family au pair to have his wife murdered, how long he's going to prison. And our series, great Americans, how John Grisham went from one novel that flopped to more than 50 bestsellers. Welcome back. Two former NYPD detectives are speaking out for the first time about how they tracked and captured Luigi Mangione after he allegedly killed that United Healthcare CEO in broad daylight in Midtown Manhattan. Lester Holt spoke with them exclusively for a Dateline NBC special. When United Healthcare CEO, Brian Thompson was murdered on a street in Midtown Manhattan

in December 24, Detective Sergeant John Griffin of the NYPD's major case squad helped coordinate the hunt for the killer. Was your initial hunch targeted? Yeah, 100%. Now retired, this is his first interview about the investigation. He says hundreds of tips flooded in, many about health insurance disputes. These people were fingering someone who they thought had a big enough of a grudge to commit violence?

Yeah. When they were legitimate tips, you had to make sure that that person wasn't here in New York when this happened. To track the shooter, investigators tapped a resource all over the city, surveillance cameras. So that's control by the New York City Police? Correct. So if something happens here, the case detective's going to look at that camera from his desk and figure out where you went. Detective Joe Mitsopoulos also now retired was on the major case squad then too. I remember us reviewing tons of the cameras that are always on the corners like that, and then it led to another block and then to another block. And investigators did something that sounds counterintuitive.

Sometimes the best thing to do was go backwards. Somebody commits a crime, and they just want to get out of there. Sometimes the 12 hours before that, they may not be thinking about the crime. There's going to be little slip-ups. But that's what you count on is the slip-up. Exactly. The slip-up happened at a hostel on Manhattan's Upper West Side. a camera captured an image of the suspect with his mask lowered, exposing his face.

That was the one where he was smiling. That's when we were like, oh, we had something here to run with. Number one, what is the address of your emergency? Five days later. It's not really an emergency. I have a customer here that some other customers were suspicious of, that he looked like the CEO shooter, New York. Luigi Mangione was arrested and charged with murder.

He has pleaded not guilty in his. set to go on trial in September. Lester Holt, NBC News, New York. And make sure to watch much more of Lester's new interviews about the Luigi Mangione case tonight on an all-new date line at 10, 9 o'clock Central. We're back in a moment with the deputies who sprang into action. Look at this, to save a woman from her sinking car. That's next. Back now with the prison sentence for a former IRS agent who plotted with his opair to kill his wife and another man. Brandon Banfield was sentenced to life in prison. He was previously convicted for the plot to kill his wife and a stranger. The opair, you'll remember, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to a decade behind bars. This also

tonight, the cost of college is hitting a new milestone soaring above $100,000 per year. New York magazine was first to report big names like NYU, Duke, and Georgetown, and a dozen more will cross that mark. That $100,000 price tag is the estimated all-in cost. So that includes tuition, room and board, and other added expenses like books. And talk about bravery. Take a look at this, the dramatic rescue body cam video showing sheriff's deputies in Broward County, Florida, rushing to save that woman from her vehicle as it started sinking in a canal. Deputies throwing that flotation device out to the driver, pulling her towards them and carrying her from out of the water. the department says the car disappeared in just seconds. Pretty incredible. When we come back tonight,

our series, Great Americans, and John Grisham is up tonight. He opens up about his blockbuster books that came alive on the big screen and why he's a far better writer than lawyer. That's next. Finally, tonight, our weekly series about Great Americans, where we talk with those who have achieved so much and help so many about their life and this country. Tonight I spoke with a master's story storyteller, the king of the legal thriller, whose books have been turned into major blockbusters, and now his mission to make the country even more just. Our great American this week, John Grisham. What do you love about America?

I love the history. I love the different cultures. It's just such a diverse country. For John Grisham, the most compelling slice of America is found in the South. Writers write about what they know. And that's where I come from. When you have a place with such a tortured history and a long period of conflict and suffering, you have great stories.

Writers are thieves. We steal stories. We still everything. We still names. We still scenes. We still dialogue. Grisham has turned those stolen moments into a massive global empire. Out of an abundance of caution, advise my client to take the fifth.

The undisputed king of the legal thriller. We sacrifice the liberty. The framers thought. Guaranteed us. Spanning several star-studded blockbuster films and 52 number one bestsellers. 52. When you think about that, I mean, does it hit you or is it just what you love to do? Both? When I started 40 years ago, I was a lawyer in a small town in Mississippi. I had no idea what I was doing. I'm lucky to get it published in 89. It was a total flop. Time to kill. We couldn't give them away back then. When the firm came out 35 years ago, it was a big book immediately and changed everything.

The son of an Arkansas cotton farmer, Grisham grew up in a family of five children, eventually working his way through law school, becoming an attorney, and even serving in the Mississippi state legislature during the 1980s. Were you a good lawyer? I don't know. Most of my clients went to prison. Most of them were guilty. You know, I was a good lawyer for the first five years.

and then I got the bug to write. But it was his time as a criminal defense attorney that provided the ultimate raw material. And for Grisham, no story was more personal than his very first protagonist. Is there a character you started writing that you just loved everything about them? Jake Brigantz from A Time to Kill.

Your Honor, I believe Deputy Looney has earned the right to speak here today. That was very autobiographical. I was living that life, small town lawyer, struggling with a pretty young wife having babies and wondering about the future in Mississippi and wanting things to change down there after so many years of injustice. It never happened in real life. I had to create it in fiction. That real world injustice eventually pulling Grisham out of the realm of fiction,

leading to his work with the Innocence Project, fighting to free the wrongfully convicted. There are tens of thousands of innocent people in prison, and most folks don't believe that. Once I started meeting them and researching, it still keeps him awake now. Writing about the American legal system, what has it taught you? It's taught me that for the most part, our legal system works, but there are so many problems that could be fixed, and I'm very frustrated by the fact that we can't fix these problems. An American literary icon, still capturing the soul of a complicated nation. The American dream is still. real. You know, almost all of us believe that where you are born and what you're given,

you can always improve. And a lucky break here or there, some hard work. You can get ahead. You can still make the dream come true. John Grisham, this week's Great American. And that's nightly news for this Friday. I'm Tom Yamas. We thank you so much for watching. Tonight and always, we're here for you. Good night.