NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas - Wednesday, May 13, 2026

Episode Date: May 14, 2026

Trump arrives in China for high-stakes summit; Alex Murdaugh’s convictions for murder of wife and son overturned; New video shows incredible rescue of plane crash survivors; 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, we're live from Beijing. We're just beyond those walls. moments from now, President Trump will meet face to face with China's leader in a critical meeting for both countries and the world. President Trump landing in Beijing to an elaborate welcome ceremony. Air Force One met by cheering crowds. But that's just the beginning. The final preparations at the Great Hall of the People, just minutes from here, where President Trump and President Xi will swear off. But he's a very tough negotiator. Our new reporting on the issues the president will raise. The

American CEOs tamed with him and the 11th hour addition to the trip. How the White House got this key AI leader to meet the president's plane in Alaska and get on board. Can the president open China up to more big business from America?

And what does China want from these talks? Is China looking for a fight? Plus, the new fallout from these comments from President Trump. I don't think about American financial situation. The reaction today. Whose side is the president on? I don't get it.

Also tonight, the stunning reversal, South Carolina Supreme Court, overturning Alec Murdoch's convictions for the murders of his wife and son, why the justices say a court clerk placed her fingers on the scales of justice, and what happens next? New video of a dramatic rescue at sea, a plane carrying nearly, a dozen people crashing into the Atlantic, how those survivors clung onto a raft for hours. This just in what the CDC is now saying about those American cruise passengers in quarantine, how long will they stay? The mother who wrote a children's book about grief in the wake

of her husband's death now sentenced in his murder the time she'll spend behind bars. Scare in the skies, video capturing the view from the wing as a seaplane crash lands on a busy Phoenix Street. Back in China, the lasting legacy of the one-child policy. The people hold for decades to have only one kid. Now, population growth is stalling. We take you inside the new push for more marriages and more children. The wedding industry is that much more competitive.

The drone shows promoting marriage, even offering newlyweds cash bonuses. And we hit the streets of Beijing. That's delicious. In search of the new food trends that could come to America, like the Beijing-style hamburger. It's almost like a chopped steak. And I try a dish that legend says you have to be born and raised in Beijing to life. There you go.

So, how did it taste? We're covering it all as history unfolds in China tonight. This is a special edition of NBC Nightly News. President Trump in China reporting tonight from Beijing. Here is Tom Yamas. And good evening from here in Beijing where the day is just getting started

and that high-stakes summit is about to begin. We are in the heart of the Capitol coming to you live, just steps from the forbidden city. And just beyond those walls is Tiananmen Square. And what's known as the Great Hall of the People where the two leaders will meet face to face. President Trump arrived. to massive fanfare and high expectations. Traveling with him, a who's who of top American CEOs.

You can see them right there, Elon Musk, and a last-minute edition, the leader of the AI chipmaker Navidia. So last minute, he had to hitch a ride on Air Force One by meeting it in Alaska. A big focus today is expected to be AI and whether the U.S. will provide more of the chips that China so desperately needs to grow its AI industry. It was more than 50. 50 years ago when President Nixon came here to China, opening up diplomatic and trade relations. President Trump's larger goal today to open up China to more American business, reversing previous U.S. policy to separate the two economies, and that CEO firepower will be a big part of it. But there is the war with Iran looming over all of this, and China's hope to change America's

policy on Taiwan. All of it at stake today in a summit the whole world is watching. Tonight, President Trump arriving in China to a lavish welcome. Hundreds of kids waving Chinese and American flags as the president prepares to begin his high-stake summit. Among the president's entourage, top American CEOs. You can see Elon Musk, and that's Jensen Wang, CEO of American AI chipmaker, Navidia. President Trump posting he'll be asking President Xi to open up China to American businesses. You're going to have a great meeting in China. The wonderful guys.

Tonight, we spoke with retired Chinese senior colonel Soboa. What do you think the Chinese government thinks of President Donald Trump? I think we definitely would just lay out the red copy to welcome him. He's coming when China is much stronger. Yeah, and when China is more confident. President Trump trying to level the playing field for U.S. companies here. He's hit China with some of his business. biggest tariffs. And the U.S. trade deficit with China dropped 30% last year to around $200 billion.

And there's a new battle over AI. A source tells NBC News, Navidia's CEO was included in the delegation after a last-minute call from President Trump. The Trump administration accuses China of an industrial scale effort to steal U.S. technology on AI. And there's a fierce debate over whether more American companies should sell AI computer chips to China. Those chips allow us to be ahead in AI, and quite frankly, the Chinese want access to them. And the new reaction tonight over the president's response when asked if America's financial situation motivated him to make a deal with Iran. I don't think about American's financial situation.

I don't think about anybody. I think about one thing. You could not let Iran have a nuclear weapon. The American people understand when it's over, you're going to have a mass. have dropped in the price of oil. Democrats slamming the president. He said, I don't think about Americans' financial situation. Can you believe it?

Republicans firing back. The president thinks about American's financial situation, and we talk about it constantly. Then there's Taiwan, the Democratic, self-governing island that China's communist government claims as a part of its territory. How will President Trump respond when China's expected to push the U.S. to soften its stance on defending Taiwan. What do you think the most important aspect of these negotiations is for China?

From American side, I think it is more about the deals, different deals. But from Chinese side, I believe that Taiwan issue would be the top agenda. And make sure to watch tomorrow night for my one-on-one interview with Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, from the summit right here in Beijing.

We're also following a shocking twist in a double murder case back home. South Carolina's highest court, throwing out Alec Murdoch's guilty verdicts in the killings of his wife and son. Here's Laura Jarrett. It was the case that captivated the nation, but tonight, Alec Murdoch getting a new trial. South Carolina's top court tossing out his convictions for the murder of his wife and son, finding shocking jury tampering by then court clerk Becky Hill. Hill, long accused by the defense of trying to cash in with a teller.

book about her role overseeing the jury denied accusations she tried to influence jurors. I did not pressure the jury. But the court today in a unanimous decision called her behavior disgraceful, saying she wrongly placed her fingers on the scales of justice by telling jurors deliberations shouldn't take long, advising them not to be fooled by evidence from Murdoch's defense attorneys and suggesting they watch Murdoch's body language when he took the stand in his own defense. in 2023. Some jurors tonight in disbelief at the court's decision, undoing their verdict. And I was like, what? Why? The evidence was overwhelming. He was guilty.

Murdoch's attorneys praising the ruling, saying in a statement, Alec has said from day one that he did not kill his wife and son. We look forward to a new trial. But Murdoch will not walk free, the disgraced lawyer admitting, to stealing from clients and pled guilty to a litany of state and federal financial crimes. Yet he always maintained his innocence for the shooting deaths of his wife and son. I'm innocent. I would never hurt my wife Maggie, and I would never hurt my son, Pawpaw. The family's drama and those grisly killings, the subject of multiple series and documentaries. The law did not pertain to them.

Tonight, the state vowing to retry Murdoch for those murder. When a state believes that it has credible evidence that someone committed a murder and the state wants to pursue those charges, the state has a right to. Laura Jarrett joins us now live. And Laura, if the state does go back to trial, the court is restricting the evidence they can use this time around. Yes, Tom. Prosecutors have to be far more disciplined this time around. In offering any evidence of his alleged financial misdeeds, the court saying today they went too far afield in that first trial. Tom. Back to you. Laura, with that major update tonight, make sure to watch tomorrow morning for an exclusive interview

with Alec Murdoch's legal team only on today. We have dramatic new video we want to show you from an Air Force rescue team that saved 11 people after their plane crashed into the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

Our Jesse Kirsch with that video tonight. This is the moment U.S. Air Force power rescuing and saved 11 Bahamians whose plane crashed. They were stranded in the Atlantic Ocean roughly 80 miles from the Florida coast, a thunderstorm moving in.

Video edited and just released by the U.S. military shows the operation in detail. For all those people to survive is pretty miraculous. The American military says flying between Bahamian Islands Tuesday morning, the group's twin-engine prop plane reportedly experienced engine failure crashing into the water. That's when an emergency beacon alerted the U.S. military. And luckily, the Air Force was already flying in the general area for a training mission. We had the less known position, went out there, plugged in our GPS, and started our search pattern. And within about a minute, we found the raft.

Remarkably, everyone on board the plane survived. They'd been stuck in a raft for about five hours. You could tell just by looking at them that, you know, they were in distress physically, mentally, and emotionally. They didn't have communication, so they didn't even know that we were coming until we were directly overhead. The Air Force dropping a survival kit with food, water, and extra rafts. Then these highly trained divers helped hoist all 11 people to safety. The U.S. military says the Coast Guard also helped with the rescue. And once everyone was hoisted out of the water, they were back on land in about 30 minutes.

Tom. Jesse Kirste with that incredible rescue tonight. Jesse, thank you. We have an update tonight from the CDC about those American passengers on that cruise ship exposed to the deadly hauntive virus outbreak. Camila Bernal is at the medical facility in Omaha. hall where they're staying. She joins us now live. And Camila, there have been a lot of questions about whether their quarantines should be mandatory. Yeah, Tom. So the CDC says it is encouraging those passengers to stay at this facility for the duration of the monitoring period, which is 42 days.

That period started on May 11th, the day the passengers got off the plane from that cruise ship. We're told all of them remain asymptomatic. And at least one has been posting videos daily, giving us an inside look at what quarantine life is like. Now, for that one passenger, who tested mildly positive and is in the biocontainment unit here in Omaha. He says he's feeling great. And the CDC says they're expecting fresh test results within the next day or two. Tom? And we hope he recovers.

All right, Camila, we thank you for that. When we return in 60 seconds live here in Beijing, the lasting legacy of the one-child policy and the new population problem in China, the extremes the government is going to to now convince people here they should get married from drone shows to cash bonuses. We're back with nightly news, live from Beijing in just a moment. And welcome back, a look around Beijing. For decades, it was a strict, at times brutal policy here in China, the one-child policy. The government ended it some 10 years ago, but the effects are still being felt.

And now China is pushing for more marriage and more kids. Janice Mackey Freyer explains. Once the world's most populous country, China is no longer growing, hitting its low. lowest birth rate on record, mainly because fewer young people are getting married. It's not that I don't want to get married, says Ding Ying. It's just life pressure. The reasons for the declines are partly economic, with youth unemployment and housing costs on the rise. For the waiting ceremony, we have spent a lot of money. The marriage rate now, the worst since the pandemic, when China was locked down. But values.

around marriage and family have also changed, especially among China's urban women, like Angela He, who's choosing to own a gym and raise a dog instead. We've got more freedom than before, so people can decide what is their life going to be? It's not like a traditional China anymore. It was only a decade ago that the Communist Party ended the one-child policy that imposed family planning rules to control population. Couples who defied them were punished as unpatriotic, with fines, shaming, even jails.

Now caught in a democratic squeeze, China's government is trying to reverse it, giving bonuses to newlyweds, offering marriage vows at spots that look good on social media, and spelling it out in drone shows with diamonds in the sky. To rewerever, wire thinking, this university even has a bachelor's degree program in marriage, covering the whole cycle from matchmaking to counseling. In the past, people were more willing to marry and have

children to feel secure, says the school's dean. Now they believe they can live well on their own. For the most part, experts doubt the government's campaign will lead to any sort of marriage or baby boom here. The challenge for China, remaining strong. with a population that's shrinking. And Janice joins us now live here in Beijing. And Janice, in addition to those incentives, some cities even offer money to newlyweds? Cold hard cash, Tom.

Some cities are offering bonuses. Others are giving vouchers for things like furniture. There's even paid leave to take a honeymoon. All of these measures, trying to get people to get married and have families. The challenge, of course, is whether people are going to go for it. Yeah, and we've heard about that in our conversations here. Beijing's young people. We thank you for that. We're back in a moment with our food tour across Beijing, what we tried here that's hard to get in the United States. And later, a plane's camera

capturing the moment it had to make a risky emergency landing. That's next. Welcome back and news from Utah, where the woman who wrote a children's book about grief was sentenced to life in prison for fatally poisoning her husband. Corey Richens' own sons called for her to never be released after she put a lethal dose of fentanyl in their father, Eric's cocktail in 2022. She cried appealing to her sons in court saying she's done many things she's not proud of. And in Phoenix, the camera on a seaplane's wing capturing the moment, it made an emergency landing. You can see a 360 degree angle of the plane losing altitude last month before landing on the road as cars drive just behind. A passenger said the pilot was forced to turn off the engine as it malfunctioned and the

cockpit filled with smoke. Incredibly, no one aboard was injured. And when we come back tonight here on nightly news, you're going to want to stick around for this. We check out locals' favorite places to eat in Beijing, some dishes more extreme than others. That's next. Our view getting around the busy streets of Beijing by Rikshah, as we traveled to tour one of the great food cities of the world, trying some of Beijing's most popular and daring local dishes. deep inside the second ring road in the heart of Beijing we're on the hunt for China's delicacies

at a cost of around 10 U.S. dollars we're going to eat explore and try dishes like these it's almost like a chopped steak. Showing us the way our food guide, Kelly Jong. So Beijing style is the goal today. Of course, because you're in Beijing now.

Our first stop, Liu Beijing Xiaobing, which translates to So this is the burgers and this is also the name for this restaurant. That's right, a Chinese burger joint, but not like back home. Maybe you order. Of course. Kelly orders dumplings, steam buns, tofu pudding, the Beijing burger, and this thing.

A fried dough stick known as Yotiao, but you can call it. It's a Chinese chourouro. Chinese churro. We sit to feast. First up the burger, a chopped steak between two sesame patties. Mmm. It's delicious. We call it Imperial beef burgers. Because in Asian China, only the royals can get access to beef.

The dumplings are delicious and came with a history lesson. Kelly tells me legend has it, dumplings are meant to look like ears. In ancient China, they were used as a type of medicine. Okay, and that's why it's shaped like in here. Yes. The Chinese churro, a big winner. This is a very local way to have the food.

Mmm, it's very good. From there, Kelly is on the move again. to a 100-year-old food store, serving up traditional Chinese snacks. And she lets me order. Yaubeong? Our bag filled with fried pancakes, glazed in brown sugar. This is delicious. Very good.

What I didn't realize was Kelly was just buttering me up for the ultimate food challenge, our final stop. This Michelin-rated restaurant called Insan Dozier. Kelly quietly order something at the counter, Bring it back, something confusing. This is a Beijing signature breakfast. And it's very challenging. But I should say it's not only a challenge for you guys like foreigners,

but still a challenge for most of the Chinese is not from Beijing. It's a Beijing super unique. This traditional Beijing breakfast item, Dozier, is fermented mung bean juice. And you're not a legit local if you can't take this down. There you go. Spoiler alert. I cannot. Oh, this is very tough to eat.

It's a quiet taste. It's a bitter, sour, pungent soup that Kelly tells me to try once more. But this time, the way most locals like it, with the dough ring and pickled vegetable. Second time wasn't a charm. But a meal I know I will never forget. So did I pass the challenge? Finish the whole bowl, then you pass. Okay.

And I am still full from all that food. That's nightly news for this Wednesday. I'm Tom Yamas. We'll be back here. tomorrow for the president's historic summit where we'll go one-on-one with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and will take you inside China's push to lead the way on cutting-edge tech with humanoid robots. We thank you so much for watching tonight and always we're here for you. Good night.