NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas - Tuesday, January 6, 2025

Episode Date: January 7, 2026

Venezuela on edge amid regime crackdown; WSJ: Trump wants to buy Greenland, not invade; Widespread protests escalate in Iran as economy spirals; 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 new crackdown inside Venezuela with the captured leader Nicolas Maduro in an American jail and the U.S.'s new plans to possibly gain control of Greenland. Gunfire erupting outside the presidential palace in Venezuela as massive pro-Moduro crowds march on the streets of Caracas. Our new reporting about how Maduro and his wife were bruised and bleeding during that raid and the U.S. soldier that took multiple gunshots to the leg. reporter tonight on the country's border. The White House's new threat on taking Greenland, how the U.S. could acquire the territory without using force. Deadly protests growing in Iran, a demonstrator taking on police with a makeshift flamethrower. Protesters tear gassed, the threat from the Ayatollah saying rioters must be put in their place. Back here at home, a terrifying close call at a Michigan middle school, a suspected gunman opening fire,

as he tried to break into the building, how that man was stopped just in time. Plus, the emotional opening statements in the trial of a former police officer first on the scene of the deadly Yuvaldi school shooting, why prosecutors say he could have saved lives. The manhunt for the person of interest in the killing of an Ohio couple,

what investigators are now revealing about the timeline of the murders. Shocking NFL shakeup, the coaching legend, fired. And there's good news tonight, the man tackling hunger from his own front yard, getting the surprise of a lifetime. Nightly News starts right now. This is NBC Nightly News with Tom Yamas. And good evening tonight.

We start with those growing aftershocks from the American raid in Venezuela. Inside that country, new signs of a dangerous crackdown. While across the world new concerns of American expansionism with the Trump administration, considering a range of options for taking Greenland. In Venezuela, though, these are the chaotic scenes from the presidential palace, security forces, opening fire on drones. The U.S., NBC News, has confirmed,

was not involved, while in the streets of the Capitol there, protests and arrests with the Venezuelan regime arresting people who celebrated the removal of the brutal leader Nicolas Maduro during that daring U.S. military mission. And we have new reporting on U.S. soldiers who were injured, and how Maduro and his wife were both bruised and bloodied when they were

captured. Plus, our White House team with new details tonight on action the U.S. is considering to take possession of Greenland. We'll get to that in a moment. But we begin tonight with Gabe Gutierrez at the Venezuelan border. Tonight, inside Venezuela, a regime trying to hold on. A large crowd that State TV says supports ousted authoritarian leader Nicolas Maduro, while the government crows. down on any dissent, detaining journalists and police saying they arrested these two people for celebrating Maduro's arrest by U.S. forces. People really don't want to leave their homes, this Venezuelan man who just crossed the border

says, adding there are armed groups outside conducting searches. The region also on edge after gunfire near the presidential palace in Caracas overnight. Witnesses say security forces fired at unidentified drones. Two White House officials tell NBC News the U.S. was not involved. Today, President Trump again touting the stealth military mission that captured Maduro and his wife, bringing them to the U.S. to stand trial. It was so brilliant. The electricity for almost the entire country was, boom, turned on.

That's when they knew there was a problem. The country's future now uncertain under Maduro loyalist Delci Rodriguez. A U.S. official tells NBC News at a recent classified intelligence. assessment determined that top members of the Maduro regime, including Rodriguez, were best positioned to lead Venezuela's government and maintain stability if Maduro lost power. That assessment was a factor in the administration not backing Maria Corino Machado, the exiled opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner. Over night, Machado is saying she supports President Trump's move against Maduro. January 3rd will go down in history as a day justice defeated a tyranny.

Venezuela's border with Colombia. Relief, Maduro is gone. Do you support the U.S. coming into Venezuela? Yes. He was good stuff, and Trump was right. Joanne Hirado says his father has been a political prisoner in Venezuela for more than four years. That is the government of Venezuela, a tyrannic government. Maduro was a dictator. Gabe joins us now live, and Gabe, you have some new reporting on the U.S. troops who were injured during that extraordinary U.S. mission. Yes, Tom. The Pentagon says seven soldiers were injured. Five are already back on duty. One is still recovering after sustaining multiple gunshot wounds to the leg.

Meanwhile, two sources familiar with Malletellis that Maduro and his wife were either bruised or bleeding after bumping into a wall before U.S. forces arrived. Tom. Okay, Gabe Gutier is leading us off. Now, to President Trump's push to acquire Greenland and the new report that the U.S. may try to buy that Danish territory. And President Trump's new warnings to Republicans that if Democrats win the midterms, they'll focus on trying to impeach him again. Here's Peter Alexander. Tonight, the White House revealing President Trump and his advisors are discussing a range of options for acquiring Greenland, adding that utilizing the U.S. military is always an option. But Secretary of State, Marco Rubio tells lawmakers the administration is not eyeing an imminent invasion and that the goal is to buy the island from Denmark, according to the Wall Street Journal,

citing people familiar with the discussions. Well, worry about Greenland in about two months. Let's talk about Greenland in 20 days. Right now, Greenland is covered with Russian and Chinese ships all over the place. We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security. And Denmark is not going to be able to do it. But Denmark and other European allies are strongly pushing back at President Trump's renewed comments about taking over the Danish territory, writing Greenland belongs to its people.

Overnight, top White House aide Stephen Miller dismissed the need to use the military. Nobody's going to fight the United States militarily over the future of Greenland. It comes as the president rallied House Republicans ahead of the midterms, warning them if Democrats take back the House, they'll try to impeach him for a third time. You've got to win the midterms. Because if we don't win the midterms, it's just going to be, I mean, they'll find a reason to impeach me. I'll get impeached. Peter joins us tonight live from the White House, and Peter, back to Greenland for a minute here. There's also an impact on NATO.

Walk our viewers through this. Tom, that strongly worded statement from the Europeans emphasizes that Denmark, including Greenland, is a part of NATO, adding that security in the Arctic, must be achieved collectively alongside NATO allies, including the United States. Tom. All right, Peter, thank you.

In Michigan today, frightening scenes at a middle school. when a man allegedly opened fire while trying to break in. He standoff with police caught on camera. Stephanie Goss tonight with that video and the story. Frightening moments at a middle school in Romulus, Michigan. He's shooting at the door, trying to get in the locks, shooting at the door. Officers confronting a 44-year-old man on school grounds after receiving reports that shots were fired and he was waving a gun, according to authorities. Come in your hand.

In this video, police can be heard telling the man to put his hands up just after 10 a.m. As backup arrives on the scene, the man appears to be tackled by multiple officers and then let away. The school on lockdown, while the tent standoff played out just feet from the front entrance. Tonight, the police say they recovered a handgun, and there is no ongoing threat to the school or the community. But some parents are still rattled. It's getting crazy. unfortunately for our kids we didn't grow up this way but they do the superintendent commending his staff for quick action everything worked out everybody is safe and insecure our protocols were followed in a

statement a school official says the man attempted to gain access to the school with a gun just a day after classes resumed following the holiday break confirming that no one was injured and tonight all the students are safe stephan aghask NBC news We turn to Texas now where there's a trial of a former school police officer in Uvaldi. A trial began today. He's accused of not doing enough to protect children during that awful mass shooting at Rob Elementary in 2022. Ryan Chandler was there for opening statements.

Former school police officer Adrian Gonzalez was one of the first on the scene as a gunman attacked Rob Elementary, and he could be the first held criminally responsible for the delayed police response. Today he pled not guilty to 29 counts of abandoning or endangering a child. Waited nearly four years. We want to see justice for our baby girl. Inside the courtroom, Gonzalez sat stoically as prosecutors pointed their fingers at him, telling the jury he didn't do enough to stop the gunman before 19 students and two teachers were brutally murdered.

When you hear gunshots, you go to the gunfire. Instead, prosecutors charge, he stood around waiting for help to arrest. He enters the building three minutes and 45 seconds after he got there and after the damage hit down. Defense arguing Gonzalez was trying to assess a fluid situation and did not fail to act. If government wants to make it seem like he just sat there, you know, he didn't just sit there. He did what he could with what he knew at the time. They encouraged the jury to not blame Gonzalez for the crimes of the shooter. The monster who hurt those children.

She's dead. The jury was presented with these photos of the shooter's vehicle and a rifle nearby, security footage, and frantic 911 calls. Of the hundreds of officers on scene, Gonzalez and former Yuvaldi School's police chief, Pete Aredondo, are the only two being charged. Gonzalez faces up to two years in prison for each charge. In the room, family members watched a day they've demanded for years. Justice finally is going to be served. Juanita and Jesse Rizzo's 9-year-old niece, Jockey Casares, was killed in her classroom. What does justice really look like for you?

Allowing the families, survivors, you know, victims, some sense of closure, some sense of understanding, accountability. That's justice to me. Ryan joins us now live. Ryan, we're being told just moments ago the judge made a late decision to release the jury until Thursday. Do we know why? Tom, some dramatic moments unfolding in the courtroom just now. The defense objecting to one of the prosecution's top witnesses, a third grade teacher who was on the scene that day,

calling her story inconsistent and suggesting this is, quote, trial by ambush. The judge now has the jury out until Thursday as they sort that out. Ryan Chandler for us, Ryan, thank you for that. We head overseas now to Iran, a country that does not tolerate dissent. But tonight protests have broken out across that country, and the death toll from the government crackdown is rising. Kier Simmons reports. Stunning moments on the streets of Iran, a man with a makeshift flamethrower facing off with security forces. Protests over the spiraling economy, only growing, demonstrators packing into the Grand Bazaar.

Tear gas as security forces try to break up the crowd. Protesters scrambling to escape a crush of people. Today's demonstrations, the largest so far and in their second week. Flames and fury over the country's currency falling to a record low. According to an NBC news producer in Tehran, oil and some food costs five times more than it did last week. Two human rights groups say at least 20 people have been killed, President Trump issuing a warning to the Iranian government Sunday. We're watching it very closely.

If they start killing people like they have in the past, I think they're going to get hit very hard by the United States. Iran's foreign ministry spokesman, saying the Iranian armed forces will show, quote, no negligence or hesitation. The people are truly exhausted, says this man. I sincerely ask those who are able to help to ease the people's pain. Kier Simmons, NBC News.

Back in this country, growing anger tonight over. Elon Musk's social media platform X and its new AI program that allows anyone to make images of real people, including minors, and make them sexually explicit. Gotti Schwartz explains. Tonight, Grock, the AI tool from Elon Musk's company X, is under fire. The app, which has an image editing feature, is now being used to create non-consensual and sexualized deep-bake images of women and children. Grock was producing at least a dozen inappropriate images. every minute, people are commanding the chatbot to take people's clothes off, basically. An uptick in those pictures after Grok enhanced its image generation abilities with a new model

last month. I was disgusted. Content creator Ashley St. Clair, who has a child with Musk, says she's seen countless explicit images of herself, which she says were generated by the chatbot and shared across the platform. She's asked Grok to stop sharing the images. There should be consequences because this is a much. larger issue that's outside of me. One analysis found more than 50% of images generated by GROC between December 25th and January

1st were non-consensual sexual images primarily targeting women, and 2% of them depicting a person who appeared to be 18 or younger. With GROC, imagine, you can turn any of your pictures into videos. An NBC News Review found, even though many of the inappropriate images were taken down, GROC continues to produce sexualized images of non-consenting parties. Musk did not respond to NBC's request for comment, but posted on X that anyone using GROC to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they uploaded illegal content. Though Musk, also using GROC to make a deep fake version of himself wearing a bikini,

calling the app's creation perfect. Gotti Schwartz, NBC News. When we return in 60 seconds, the murder mystery, a couple killed, no suspects. But now, this shadowy video of a person of interest emerges. The new details we're learning. Tonight, that's next. We're back now with new developments in the murder of an Ohio dentist and his wife. Police are now asking for the public's help identifying a person of interest caught on surveillance video near their home on the night of the murders.

Tonight, Maggie Vespa asking the victim's relatives, who would want to do this to them? Tonight, a murder mystery in Columbus, Ohio, deepening with police asking the public for help identifying this hooded person of interest, spotted investigators say, in an alley near Spencer and Monique Teppie's home, the morning of the killings. Do you recognize that person? No. No. Not at all.

No. Audrey Mackie is Spencer's cousin. Do you have any idea who would want to do this? I have no idea. they were, you know, warm and welcoming. I can't think of anyone. Investigators now saying they believe the dentist and his wife were shot between 2 and 5 a.m. on Tuesday, December 30th, adding this grainy surveillance video of that person walking

nearby was taken during that three-hour window. Police say the couple died in the upstairs level of their home with a police report, noting three spent nine-millimeter casings were found at the scene. I can hear kids inside, and I swear, I think I heard one yell, but we can't get in. Friends finding the couple's four-year-old daughter, one-year-old son, and family dog unharmed after Spencer didn't show up for work. He appears dead. Investigators saying there were no signs of a break-in, Audrey saying Spencer and Monique always locked doors and windows. They were very careful and not forgetful. They felt completely safe.

They felt safe at home. One week later, still no answers as to who killed this couple. Maggie Vespa, NBC News. Okay, we're back in a moment with newly discovered videos from the Brown and MIT shooter, what he revealed after carrying out those deadly shootings. Plus, the latest high-profile NFL firing, the Super Bowl winning head coach, suddenly out of a job. That's next.

We are back now with new details in the vandalism of vice. President J.D. Vance's home. The suspect 26-year-old William DeFour making his first court appearance, you see him there, facing local and federal charges. His lawyer and family says he has mental health issues and was not motivated by politics. The vice president said today his home was, quote, attacked by a crazy person with a hammer. Also tonight, new reporting on the man who carried out that deadly shooting at Brown University and also at MIT, and the videos he left behind. They were filmed after the shootings from inside the storage facility where he later died by suicide. He admits, in Portuguese, to planning the Brown shooting for months, confessing

to the murders and describing an injury to his eye from a bullet. And this just in tonight, the Baltimore Ravens announcing Super Bowl winning head coach John Harbaugh has been fired after 18 seasons. Harbaugh said he was disappointed, but also full of gratitude and appreciation. Get this, Harbaugh is the seventh NFL coach to be fired this season. All right, when we come back tonight here, there's good news about the power of giving back and the major surprise for a Pittsburgh Steelers fan who helped feed his community. That's next. Finally, there's good news tonight about a Pittsburgh Steelers fan.

His front yard food pantry went viral, helping to feed hundreds of families. Now the team is pitching in with a major surprise. My kids and I woke up this Steelers Sunday and decided to do something good. When AJ Owen saw people in his Pittsburgh community going hungry, he stepped up. I walked into just so many donations. Opening a food pantry in his front yard. A lot of people came. I would say 70% of it went.

It started small, continuing to build. People dropped off a ton of stuff. the Steelers super fan, even getting a remarkable delivery. You're stocking all this stuff, and then all of a sudden. The team's defensive end, Y.A. Black, and his wife, dropping off bags and bags of food back in November. You never know what a day's going to unfold. Thanks, guys. And this weekend?

We were looking for a jersey, right? Another incredible surprise. Owen thought the Steelers were presenting him with a jersey to thank him for all he's done. to thank him for all he's done for Pittsburgh. You know what else is for you, though? Look. No, you're kidding me. No, no, no, no, no, no.

Two tickets to the Super Bowl next month. No way. You're... What? Can I hug you? Yeah. I wanted to just jump off and give him a big bear hug because he is a large man and he has an even larger heart.

A heart-filled surprise for a man tackling hunger in his town. Nothing short of being a good human, man. Oh, my God. You're going to make me cry. Dude. Come on. I, God. My children and I started this food pantry simply to feed people. We didn't expect anything out of this. It really is nice to see that people want to help. If you give them an opportunity, they will do it.

Enjoy the Super Bowl, AJ. You've earned it. That's nightly news for this Tuesday. I'm Tom Yamis. Thanks so much for watching. Tonight and always, we're here for you. Good night. Thank you.