Top Story with Tom Llamas - Friday, April 17, 2026

Episode Date: April 18, 2026

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Breaking tonight, the tornado outbreak underway right now with multiple twisters reported across at least four states, people running for shelter. The monster funnel clouds ripping across the Midwest at this hour. This possible twister sending dirt and debris flying neighborhoods underwater, the state of emergency as historic floods move in. We're tracking these extremely dangerous storms as they charge east. Also breaking tonight, Iran's surprise announcement declaring the Strait of Ormuz is back open. but President Trump insists the U.S. blockade will remain in place until a deal is struck. Could both sides come to an agreement as soon as this weekend? Plus, the stock market soaring and oil prices plunging how long until gas prices come down.

New details in the stunning arrest of the singer David, months after a teenage girl's body was found inside his Tesla. The video of his arrest obtained from TMZ and where the case goes from here. The terrifying crash throwing a man from this army vehicle and sending it roars, holding down the highway and update on his condition tonight. The daring bank heist robbers taking two dozen people hostage, ransacking security deposit boxes, then escaping into the sewers. We hear from one hostage about these scary moments inside. Robot race malfunctioned, the humanoid bot exploding at the starting line

and taken away on a stretcher. And our new series, Great Americans in honor of the nation's 250th anniversary, were highlighting those who bring the country together. Tonight, my sit down with the most decorated Olympian in history, Michael Phelps, how he's living proof of the American dream. Plus, actor Alec Baldwin, going to trial again over that deadly rust movie set shooting. We'll explain. Top story starts right now.

Good evening, as we come on the air right now, a dangerous tornado outbreak unfolding across the Midwest. 38 million at risk tonight as twisters, heavy flooding, and strong winds slam the region. Look at this time-lapse video of a likely tornado consuming the town of Lena, Illinois. This is wild. The local sheriff saying to avoid the town completely, adding that there is no way to get in due to the amount of trees and wires down right now. Several other tornadoes touching down in Illinois. You can see lightning cracking through the storm there and leaving behind this path of destruction. Homes damage, trees scattered in the street. And take a look at this huge twister in Minnesota. You see just how quickly it is moving. And this close-up look, a tornado sending debris flying as it crosses a highway. Multiple funnel clouds seen across the state. tonight with at least 40 confirmed tornadoes in the U.S. so far this week. And in Wisconsin, days of heavy rainfall leading to this historic flooding, the National Guard now activated. Some residents even using kayaks to navigate washed out roads and barricading their homes with sandbags to keep out the rising waters. Right now, Kansas getting pelted with hail,

one of the major threats as we head into the evening and look at Coors Field in Colorado, covered in a late spring snow just before the Dodgers' Rockies game. We're tracking all this wild from the weather from coast to coast. We begin tonight with our Shaquille Brewster and that dangerous tornado and flood threat in the Midwest. Tonight, a menacing funnel cloud swirling near Rochester, Minnesota. There's indeed a tornado on the ground. Sirens blaring as it tore through. These people watching the twister form in disbelief. Here you can see debris flying through the air. This is the first look at the damage. Trees toppled, home after home, ripped to shred. A suspended tornado also ripping through Lena, Illinois, leaving this trail of damage. It caps off a week of dangerous weather with at least 40 confirmed tornadoes across the country.

Tonight, 38 million people at risk for severe weather. That's the airport. Including in Wisconsin. Completely underwater. Where homes and buildings have been swallowed by historic flooding. A state of emergency is in effect. Flood water surrounding this home, a line of sandbags keeping it back. for now. The swollen Wisconsin River is now threatening the town of portage. We have many homes that are underwater, many roads. This is the one road in and out of Black Hawk Park. You see it's already partially covered in some areas. Officials now ordering mandatory evacuations saying they're concerned about the structural integrity of the levy. The fire chief telling me the situation is very serious. Water is seeping through the levee. Yep, water is seeping through. Yeah, we have the roads that are shut down our base,

based on water coming through the levee. This whole sidewalk was not covered yesterday. Erin Daley worries if there's any more water, her home will be in trouble. I'm concerned if it gets any closer, we're going to probably have to start talking about doing some sandbags. And Tom, right here you see why officials are so concerned.

There's usually about eight feet of land before you get to the Wisconsin River. That is clearly not the case tonight. Now you have residents on this side of the street lining up sandbags as a tornado watch is in effect tonight. Tom. Check, thank you. Let's go right over to NBC News meteorologist Bill Karens. Bill, a lot is popping off right now. Walk our viewers through what's happening. It's a violent and dangerous night. Tom, we're in the middle of a tornado outbreak. We've officially had 12 reports of tornadoes so far. We've had a lot of wind reports and all the white dots here. Large hail with a lot of these thunderstorms. And you notice on the map, it goes from Oklahoma. All the storm reports head up into Minnesota in Wisconsin. Most of the tornadoes have been in areas here just outside of Rochester, Minnesota. That was one of the spots that was the worst. Also, we were watching the

the storms here racing through areas of southern Wisconsin. Numerous tornado warnings are still active at this time. All these red polygons, we got about five in Wisconsin. We have two in extreme eastern portions of Iowa, a couple that are now crossing into areas from Missouri into Illinois. So far, Kansas City, mostly problems with a lot of flash flooding and heavy rain. So here we are on the radar. We've had three tornado reports. We showed you at the top of the show that tornado tornado going through Lena, Illinois. That looks like it's probably one of the worst ones and the most destructive one we've had so far. That storm is now moved into areas of southern Wisconsin with active tornado warnings right along Interstate 43. So we're going to track these storms further to the

south as we look towards areas around Davenport, Illinois. Tornado warning just to your north and to your south. Davenport, you're probably going to have some hail and gusty winds going through the next half hour or so after that you'll be in the clear. So to stay in your shelter, stay inside for just a little bit longer. Tomorrow we still have a severe weather threat, but it's not like it is right now. Not as dangerous, not as many tornadoes, isolated tornadoes. We're talking Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Charleston, hail and damaging wind. So we'll continue to track this. That tornado watch, Tom, goes for Chicago and St. Louis until 11 p.m. this evening.

So we still have a ways to go. And throughout top story, if things start to break, Bill, I know we'll check back in with you. We thank you for that. We also now want to turn to our other big story, a sea of change in Iran. Tonight, the country says it has finally reopened the strait of Hormuz, less than 24 hours after the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon began. Richard Engel has the latest on whether this could be a turning point for the ceasefire and even the war. Iran today made a surprise announcement.

The country's foreign minister posting that because of the Lebanon ceasefire, Iran is opening the Strait of Hormuz to all commercial vessels. Markets jumped, oil prices dropped, and President Trump, in a flurry of posts and phone calls with journalists, said a final deal with Iran to stop the war is coming. perhaps this weekend in peace talks in Pakistan. But Trump said the U.S. military's naval blockade, which is preventing ships from docking in Iranian ports and choking the country's economy, will continue until a final deal is reached. This process should go very quickly that most of the points are already negotiated and agreed to.

Trump posted that Iran is now even helping the U.S. remove sea mines from Hormuz, a complete reversal, from fighting to cooperation, suggesting the costly seven-week war with Iran may be ending. President Trump told Bloomberg that Iran also agreed to suspend its nuclear program indefinitely. Iran hasn't confirmed that or much of what Trump is claiming. Trump said he also instructed Israel to stop attacking Lebanon, writing, enough is enough. And today, both Israel and Hasbullah held their fire, as tens of thousands of Lebanese returned. to their villages, many only finding ruins after Israeli attacks against Hezbollah. I'm right now on Israel's border with Lebanon. In fact, those houses on the hill over there

are inside Lebanon. And just yesterday, this entire area was a closed military zone. Now it's open. But there are risks of a breakdown. Thousands of Israeli troops remain in Lebanon. And Israel's defense minister today said Israel will hold all areas captured in Lebanon even after the 10-day ceasefire. Hezbollah says it has the right to fight against foreign occupation. All right, Richard joins us now live from Tel Aviv tonight. Richard, what else do we know about the timeline for the talks this weekend between Iran and the U.S.? Well, we know that they are supposed to take place again in Pakistan. There is talk that they could happen on Sunday, but a lot of what President Trump was describing today has not been fully nailed down.

President Trump was describing this deal as if it is a done deal and that all that remains is to put the signature on the dotted line. But we don't exactly know who's going to be negotiating on the American side, whether it will be Vice President Vance once again. And we don't know how many of these points that President Trump talked about today Iran has actually agreed to. So President Trump sounds very confident that this weekend, potentially Sunday, this is going to be wrapped up. And that is possible because both the U.S. and Iran have an interest in putting this war behind them. But there still might be quite a bit of negotiating left to do. Yeah, a good reminder that both sides have very firm points they don't want to move on. Richard, we thank you for all your reporting.

With the movement expected again in the straight-of-hormuz, NBC's Brian Chung, our good friend, is here to break down what it means for your wallet. So, Brian, stocks again, we're up today. Wall Street. Earlier we were reporting this. They sort of bought into that this peace deal was going to happen. They like to predict the future. They went up even higher today on Iran's news. Walk us through for people looking at their 401ks.

Yeah, I mean, I think the upshot here is that we got record highs on the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ composite, which were both up over 1% in trading today. And I should point out it's crazy to think, Tom, that at one point we were down like 8% on the year on the S&P 500. We're now up for the year, 4%. All of this coinciding as oil prices fell. They fell 11% to $83, $84, let's call it. That is a sharp drop from where we were. We were over $110 in the midst of this conflict.

But Tom, you should look at this, right? We're still $20 above where we were pre-war, which implies that prices could remain elevated for a while. So I want to get back to gas in a second. The Strait of Hormuz, we were talking there with Richard. It's opened up. People are a bit skittish. He's reported that out.

What do we know when more ships will be kind of passing through there? Yeah, and that could be the story behind getting this back to those pre-war levels. If you take a look at some of the volume, some of the actual travel happening through the Strait of Hormuz, We are still not yet back to pre-war levels. On the left is what we were seeing before the war where there were 110, 120 ships a day going through there. And again, the white is the straight.

The white is the straight. Yeah. So again, those red arrows would be inbound. The green arrows would be outbound. You could see the healthy flow in and out. Again, 110, 120 a day. And then after the war began, you could see essentially no movement at all whatsoever. And again, I think the question here, Tom,

has we've heard from some shippers so far today. They said, until they get more clarity about, insurance until they get clarity about where in the straight they travel, they're not going to advise ships to move through there. They don't want to hit a mine. They don't want to get hit by a drone. They're not sure what's going on. When can we expect prices here on gas? That's the big question, right? We ask you like every day about this. When do we think gas prices are going to come down? Yeah, and regular people aren't looking at the straight of Hormuz and seeing what traffic looks like. They just want to know what the prices are at the pump today. The average is $4.11 by AAA's measures.

It's $4.8. But here we have projections from gas body. As a result of the Strait of Hormo's opening by Memorial Day, we could be as low as 365. Check this out. By July 4th, goes down to as low as 350. Again, on a national average. And then by Labor Day, we could be as low as 335. But again, people might be looking at this. It's a good point, though.

You know, like, we were under 3 before. We were under 3 before. And it's going to be four months potentially for those prices to get down to that point. Again, we were $2.98 before this war began. So the story here is that prices are likely to remain elevated. And for people that are wondering, why does it come down slowly? than it went up. The reason for that is because there's a lot of damage to those oil producing facilities in the strait, even if there are boats moving through there. If the tankers can't fill

up because they can't produce the oil, that's going to be a problem for prices. And jet fuel still still very expensive. People may want to do those road trips, but it's still going to be pricey. Okay, we thank you for that, Brian. Next tonight, President Trump trying to hold his base together amid growing tensions with the first American pope. The MAGA movement weighing in on that feud and Iran. NBC's Gabe Gutierrez is traveling with the president, joins us live from from tonight there at the event where the president just spoke at a turning point USA rally, the organization founded

by the late Charlie Kirk. So Gabe, what was the president's message tonight to his young MAGA base? Hi there, Tom. Well, several thousand people attended to hear the speech just wrapped up moments ago. And the president really trying to, as you said, hold that MAGA coalition together and strengthen the

conservative movement, special among young conservatives, heading into the midterm elections. Now, Tom, he also talked about the war in Iran. and he really tried to make the case for intervention here. We heard him speak about that in stronger terms than he had before. Certainly many members of his MAGA movement, some have been skeptical of going to war in the first place,

skeptical of foreign intervention. But the president seemed to take on that skepticism directly tonight. Listen to what he said. Unlike past leaders, this administration does not apologize for American power. We are not ashamed of American might. and we do not hesitate to defend the American people, which is what we've been doing for the last two months, because Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.

It's very simple. So do not listen to the craven and cowardly voices who tell you America needs to think small or to shrink from our duties or potential. Most people, they wanted to, you know, this recent situation, they wanted to do it, but they said, to not get involved. Sometimes you have to get involved. You have no choice but to get involved. The president adding that if the country wants to remain great, sometimes you have to get involved, Tom.

Yeah, and then, Gabe, you've been talking to younger conservatives throughout the day. What did they tell you about how they feel about this war with Iran and the president's feud with the Pope? Well, certainly, look, this event was at a church, a mega church here in Phoenix. So certainly a lot of religious conservatives here. We spoke with several of them. waiting in line outside the event. And look, they placed their trust in President Trump. But as I said, some of them were skeptical as the president went to war. I spoke with one man a little earlier today who, while he says he still supported the president, he's 29 years old, he's in that constituency that the Trump administration and the president himself realizes need to turn out in these midterm

elections later on this year. I spoke to him about his skepticism with the war. Let's listen. And what most concerns you about the war dragging on? Well, I mean, I don't want to see Americans die fighting in foreign lands. You know, I think that focusing on America is a priority that I would like to see happen more. And regarding the escalating feud with Pope Leo to I did also speak with some of those conservatives in line. And look, many of them agreed with President Trump,

and they felt that Pope Leo was attacking the president. Even though the Pope has been advocating for peace, they took it as an affront the President Trump and his policies. And some others told me that they felt each of the two leaders should stay in their same lanes. But no matter what President Trump has said about this, all of them still support him heading in to these midterm elections. The question for this administration is can they get enough of these voters to turn out during the midterms? And as one speaker earlier today put it, to keep the Democrats out of power, to keep them from running the House

because they see that as a direct threat to the president's agenda during his remaining time in office time. All right, Gabe Gutierrez for us. We want to turn now to that search for that American woman missing in the Bahamas for nearly two weeks. In an emotional dateline exclusive, Lynette Hooker's daughter making her way to that country in search for answers. George Solis has this one. For the first time since her mother, Lynette Hooker went missing in the Bahamas. Carly Aylesworth is now seeing the boat her mother and stepfather Brian called home before Lynette disappeared nearly two weeks ago. Now you have no idea where she is.

Yeah. I never imagined my mom would disappear. In a dateline exclusive, Aylesworth emotional in her desperate search for answers. I'm still trying to grapple with the fact that she's just. is not here right now. The Hamian police say Brian Hooker told them Lynette went overboard in their dinghy while in rough waters. We're finally leaving Kema. Aylesworth says the couple's relationship was volatile and she expressed suspicions of Bryant since before he was arrested and questioned. Pardon me feel like he's going to get away with this and walk away a free man and

I really hope that doesn't happen. Police released Brian Hooker Monday after five days in custody. He has not been charged with any wrongdoing and denies having anything to do with Lynette's disappearance, telling us he plans to keep searching for his wife. I don't think I've ever been apart from her in 25 years for this long. But he left the country the next day. Carly Aylesworth says she won't get closure until her mom is found. She was a great person and she didn't deserve this. George Salis joins us live from Miami. George, is Brian Hooker expected to return to the Bahamas anytime soon again?

He told NBC News he was going to be searching for his wife. Yeah, that's right, Tommy. If you remember, he also said it would basically be half to stop searching for her. Now, his attorney told us that he left the country because he wanted to tend to his ailing mother to be at her bedside. We reached out to her today and said she can't comment on when he plans to return and even get his sailboat. We also spoke to the Royal Bahamas Defense Force tonight. They say they still continue their search and recovery mission tonight. Tom.

Okay, George. We're back in a moment. New details on the arrest of singer David, the musician facing questions over the death of a teenage girl found in the trunk of his car, what we're learning about the case. Plus, the stunning daytime heist robbers breaking into an Italian bank holding dozens hostage before slipping out through the sewers, how this all happened.

And the deer running wild after leaping into a source. store almost hitting people inside. You'll see that footage coming up on top story. We're back now with the arrest of the singer David, the musician now behind bars in connection with the murder of a 14-year-old girl. He's been under suspicion since the teenager's body was found in his Tesla last fall. Here's Camila Bernal. This video shows police descending on a home in the Hollywood Hills and arresting singer David for the murder of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas. In the video from TMZ, officers put in hands behind his back and handcuff him. The teenagers decomposed remains were found in the front

trunk of the singer's abandoned Tesla last September in this tow yard. An intense odor led authorities to the discovery and put David at the center of the investigation. Authorities say the 21-year-old singer, whose real name is David Anthony Burke, had not been cooperating. Charges have not been filed, but the case is expected to be presented. to the district attorney Monday. Burke's attorneys saying in a statement, the actual evidence in this case will show that he did not murder Celeste Rivas Hernandez, adding that they will vigorously defend David's innocence.

The singer rose to fame on TikTok. The internet is really what I claim as my home. He has millions of followers and was on tour when Rivas's body was found last summer. Law enforcement sources have said her remains were not intact. And according to the medical examiner, it appeared she was dead inside the Tesla for an extended period of time. Okay, this is a terrible story. Camila joins us now live from Los Angeles. Camila, where does the investigation go from here? And when can we expect some charges?

Yeah, Tom, so it goes to the DA on Monday. And the team at the DA's office will review the evidence and then decide whether or not they want to charge. If they do charge, we may get more information in sense that we could get. at charging documents. We could see him appear in court, maybe enter a plea. And what we really want to know is where this link is, what investigators have? Is it interviews? Is it witnesses? Is it forensic evidence? Is it digital evidence? Or is it a combination of all of this? This is probably going to be a circumstantial case because the body just sat there for so long and decomposed. So we'll see what investigators really have in this case. And hopefully we'll get some answers on

Monday, Tom. Okay, Camila, we thank you for that. Coming up here on Top Story, the new legal trouble for Alec Baldwin. The actor facing a civil suit over that deadly shooting on the Rust movie set when the case is going to trial, we'll tell you. Plus another big flop for a road running robot. What happened here? We'll show you the chaotic scene ahead of that humanoid half marathon this weekend. Stay with us. We're back now with Top Story's news feed. President Trump expected to nominate the former head of FEMA to lead the agency nearly a year after he's was ousted from the job. An administration official telling NBC News, Cameron Hamilton, went to the White House on Wednesday to talk with the president about opportunities at FEMA.

But the Homeland Security Department has not confirmed any official changes. Hamilton was fired after he testified before Congress and defended the agency's existence. Shocking new video of a military vehicle crash in the UK that left two people in the hospital. You can see the vehicle here swerving to avoid a car that pulled in front of it, the driver losing control, flipping onto its roof and rolling several times. Police now handing the driver of the car a six-month prison sentence. An actor Alec Baldwin is set to head back to court this time for a civil case over that deadly shooting of a cinematographer on the movie set of Rust. A worker filed a lawsuit allegedly alleging that he narrowly missed being hit by a bullet while on

this set in 2021. He claims the incident caused him emotional distress and accused Baldwin of negligence. Today, a judge ruled that the case can go to trial this fall. We reached out to a rep for Baldwin but have not heard back. And a wild video out of Texas showing a deer crashing into a store's front window. Look at this. You see the animal running right then leaping through the glass. Here's the view from inside. The deer almost hitting a bunch of people sitting around a table.

That's crazy. Store officials say nobody was hurt, but the incident did cost some damage inside the shop. Sure did. Okay, we are going to head overseas now to Italy where authorities are investigating a daring bank heist Thieves allegedly busting into a bank taking hostages and ransacking safety deposit boxes. Those bank robbers still at large because of the way they escaped. Tonight, NBC's Danielle Hemamgen has more. It was a regular Thursday morning in the southern Italian city of Naples

until the crowds started to form. All eyes on the local branch of the French Credit Agricol Bank, where a brazen daytime robbery was underway. The bandits, according to local media, breaking in, taking 25 people hostage. Police rushing to the scene, smashing the windows and making their way in. The sound of apparent stun grenades could be heard. Moments later, customers and staff had been held hostage for nearly two hours were rescued. One by one released, no injuries, but some visibly in shock.

One hostage telling Corriera de la Cera, they locked us inside a room and said leave all the phones here. By the time police got inside, the robbers had vanished, leaving behind dozens of empty safe deposit boxes. Local media reporting that the thieves escaped through a tunnel leading to the sewers. Water company workers later seen with tools believed to have been used by the robbers. No arrests have been made and a hunt is now underwent. way. Italy's leading news agency, Ansa, citing internal surveillance footage, says the robbers entered the bank with their faces covered in tights, and at least one apparently wore a mask resembling an actor's face. It also reports police found prop weapons left at the scene. How much

was stolen is still unclear. Customers lined up outside the bank this morning to find out if their belongings were still safe. Danielle joins top story right now. And Danielle, do local officials or law enforcement know or have an idea of who exactly may be behind this? Hey, Tom. Well, the mayor of Naples said that this was the work of highly professional people, a job out of a movie, he said. Mayor Gaetano Manfredi also said that he was surprised, shocked even, that so many people had worked underground in the city center for so many months and nobody had noticed. Tom.

Thank you for joining the broadcast tonight. We're going to stay overseas with Top Stories Global Watch and check of what else is happening around the world. And we start with the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, officially restoring ties with Venezuela. Relations have been paused since 2019. The move is significant because it could eventually unlock billions of dollars in funding for Venezuela. Both groups say they're now working with the country's interim president, Delci Rodriguez. She describes the changes as a very important step for the Venezuelan economy. And a scary scene in Syria when a fuel tanker went up in flames.

Here you can see the truck driving down the road, leaving a massive trail of fire. State media there reporting the flames broke out while the tanker was unloading gas. Then the driver pulled away trying to get the burning truck to a fire station. They say seven people were hurt and nearly a dozen vehicles destroyed. And Beijing is gearing up for that robot half marathon, but one runner just learned the hard way that training is not easy. Video shows a humanoid going berserk after tripping over the starting line. and shattering into pieces, a crew rushing in with a stretcher to carry it off the course. The mishap reportedly happened during a practice run ahead of the official race.

This Sunday will keep you posting on how it goes. Now to the Americas, where tonight we have several new developments on the Cuba front, the Wall Street Journal reporting that a Cuban businessman tried and failed to send a secret message directly to President Trump, that effort led by the younger generation of Castro's who are coming into power on the island, moving to bigger roles possibly behind the scenes. The biggest rising players, Raul Castro's son, Alejandro, Castro Espine, known as the one-eyed man after he injured one of his eyes. And Castro's grandson and bodyguard, bodybuilder Raul Rodriguez Castro, known as Raulito, and the crab, because he has six fingers on one of his hands. Joining us now for more is the author of Back Channel to Cuba, the Hidden History of Negotiations between Washington and Havana.

Peter Cornblum, we thank you so much for joining our broadcast. So Peter, first, for our viewers who aren't so up to speed or so familiar with everything that's going on in Cuba, talk to us about this new generation, or the younger generation, I should say, of Castro's that seem to be in power. And why is the U.S., especially Secretary of State Marco Rubio in some cases, dealing with them instead of Cuba's official leader, Diaz Canal? Well, Raul Castro, Fidel Castro's brother, who served as defense minister during the revolution all the way up until 2008. and then took on the role of president of Cuba until 2018. Still remains kind of the maximum symbolic leader of Cuba. The Castro name is a very forceful name,

even though Cuba is run by the Communist Party with President Diaz-Cannell, who's also Secretary General of the Communist Party. And so that's why the Castro family has a cachet, Both Alejandro, Raul Castro's son, and Raulito, El Congrejo, as you called him, Raul Castro's grandson, are playing a role as intermediaries in secret back-channel talks with the United States. For the obvious reason, not because they have so much power or in power, but rather because they are the trusted emissaries of Raul Castro, their father and grandfather.

And Alejandro, actually, his son, the one-on-on-a-hundred, the one-on-a-hastroes of Raul Castro, their father, their father, man who, as you called him, he was the secret intermediary between Raul Castro and Barack Obama's team in the White House some 12 years or so ago. A historic rapprochement was agreed to. When that thought was supposed to happen but never materialized, what do we know about this younger generation of Castro's? Are they as loyal to the Cuban Revolution? Are they diehard communist? Are they as ruthless? I don't think that they're diehard communists. I don't, they've never been. They've never been in a position of power to exercise repression, either one of them really.

So at the moment, their role is representing their father and grandfather. They are particularly the grandson, Raolito, of a new generation. He's not just the bodyguard of his grandfather, but has also been his grandfather's liaison to Gaesa, which is the military's administrative corporation that runs much, of the economy in Cuba. And he's known as an international businessman, a jet setter, a more modern, younger Cuban, who the United States felt not only had as Shea,

but also they could deal with. So they had been dealing with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and then the Wall Street Journal comes out with this report that they tried to enlist a Cuban businessman to get to the U.S. and deliver a message to President Trump. And some people are framing the story that they were trying to go around Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Why do you think they would do that?

What do you think the purpose of that was? There's any number of reasons. One could be that Marco Rubio has cut off talks with them, possibly because NBC News aired this very long interview with Diaz Canal that may have upset President Trump, and that the Cubans are trying to reach out directly to Trump since their talks with Rubio has been cut off. Another possibility is they're trying to get a message quickly to Trump, and they're not sure that going through Marco Rubio would be the way to do that.

And the third possibility is that they don't see Marco Rubio, who is Cuban-American from a Cuban-American family. They don't see him as a dispassionate interlocutor, and they believe that getting a message directly to Trump would be a more effective way of getting their position known to the president, who, as you know, is tinkering with the answer. idea of a military attack on Cuba. Yeah, on the issue of that interview that Kristen Welker did with the leader of Cuba, is that just your speculation, that lengthy interview that we did on Meet the Press, and we had excerpts here on Top Story in Nightly News? I mean, there's no doubt that Donald Trump pays attention to what his targets are doing. He did the same thing with Maduro in Venezuela.

And there's, you know, there was two messages that Diaz-Cannell gave to NBC and Kristen Welker. One is Cuba is willing to talk about the things that concern the United States, and the other is that Cuba will defend the revolution if attacked. And who knows what Trump's reaction was, and we really don't know what is going on behind the scenes. Backchannel diplomacy is supposed to be secret, and we're in a context here where it has come out into the open with leaks to the press and statements by the president of the United States. And so it's really an up and down situation right now. looking good for diplomacy. Peter Cornblum, it was great to have you on the show. We thank you for coming on tonight.

Still to come tonight, our new series, Great Americans, where we sit down with the true heroes who inspire us while doing so much for our great nation. First up, the most decorated Olympian of all time Michael Phelps, our conversation right after this break. Welcome back. As we prepare to celebrate 250 years of this great nation, a new weekly series here on Top Story and on Nightly News

about great Americans, where we talk with those who have achieved so much, much and have helped so many about their life and how this country contributed to their success. Tonight, a true American hero. He is the winningness Olympian of all time. We cheered him on across five summer games. But after he left the sport, his new mission began. Our great American this week is Michael Phelps. What do you love about America? I mean, I guess the long pause is just what's not to love. The world saw a machine, a shark in the water. And here comes Phelph to the wall.

Superman. A swimmer, our swimmer, that no one could beat with a staggering 6-7 wingspan. Double-jointed, elbows, wrists, ankles, kind of everywhere. So, yeah, I guess I was built to swim. Michael Phelps, once a boy terrified of the pool, grew up to find a sanctuary in it. You were growing up with ADHD, but when you were in the pool, you're completely focused. Why do you think that was? I think it was just peaceful for me.

With my parents separating and stuff that I was dealing with as a child, it was a quiet place, right? It was almost therapeutic. And I could swim with anger. At just 15 years old, he made his Olympic debut in Sydney, but missed the podium. Whenever I had a defeat, that was more motivating than any of my victories. By the time he got to Beijing, he went eight for eight. A feat never before.

foreseen in the history of the games. Everything had to happen perfectly at that Olympics for me to win eight. You know, being able to win a race by a hundredth of a second, eight one hundredths of a second, right? Like all of these small things had to go in my favor. And to be able to say that I did it, I think now being retired, you know, I think the proudest part about it is the hard work that I put in, you know, like no one outworked me through those 20 years of my career. That's a fact. while he juggled a private, painful struggle with depression. You break this record in Beijing and you stay motivated. So when you're waking up those next four years, what's kind of driving you?

To be honest, those next four years were brutal. I'd accomplished something that no one ever had thought about maybe before. And I was kind of like, cool, what's next? What am I supposed to do? My mental state was not good. I was spiraling. Were you questioning your ability? Could you do even more?

I just don't think I wanted to anymore, right? I think I was kind of lost. For years, his solution was to dive back in. And that climb to the top of the mountain, he says, left him with nowhere else to go. You know, I was prescribed to Ambien at that time. So, you know, I'm happy I only had 30 milligrams left. What if I had 100? Probably would have taken it all, right?

Like, and who knows if I'm sitting here today? So, you know, for me at that point, I was just like, something's got to change. So for the first time in his life, Michael, Phelps asked for help. My whole career, I looked in the mirror and saw somebody with a pair of goggles on and a swimming cap, not somebody with feelings and emotions. That was the first time I ever saw myself. Like, I see me now, and it's gray beard and a man bun, and I love it.

Because I'm able to talk about my feelings and emotions. Today, through the Michael Phelps Foundation, he's teaching a new generation that the mind needs training as much as the body. You have people that stop you when you're out in public, and they say, you saved my life, that's got to be, that's just heavy. It's wild. For me, that's better than winning an Olympic gold medal, right? There's nothing you can say, nothing you can do that's better than that.

Phelps returned to the pool for one final act. In Rio, carrying the flag for a nation that had watched him grow up. This moment, he earned. You hold that flag, you have Team USA behind you. What does it feel like? I'm getting chills talking about this because we walked out as one. We walked out together. And for me, I think that just speaks volume about who we are as a nation.

The more we come together as one, the things that we're able to accomplish is unbelievable. And it's so powerful. He looks back now. It's not the heavy weight of gold he misses most. Being able to hear the national anthem play, gosh. Every time I hear it, I cry. just because I mean, I had an opportunity to do something that I loved, yeah, and represented my country. That chance for what people do for our country.

They fight for our country, right, to give us the chance to do what we do every day. And to that question, what do you love about America? An answer, born of hard work in the pool and out. I know we have, we all have our. political things that we go through as countries. But the chance to just be our own authentic, free individual, I think is something that's really powerful. No matter who we are, what we want to do, who we want to be, we're allowed to be that.

Michael Phelps, our thanks to you. It was a great interview. Coming up, a check on everything worth binge watching and listening to this weekend. The surprise hit beef is back for season two, and the comedy series Hacks returns for its final season. Plus, a look at the new music video from Olivia Olivia Rodrigo, all that and more. Right after this. We're back now with Bingeworthy. Our look at the best things to watch and listen to this weekend.

Joining us tonight is NBC News Entertainment contributor and CEO of Pop Viewers, a good friend to the show. Chris Witherspoon, you know him as a spoon. Chris, so great to see you. Thanks for being here. What on Tom? We got a lot of good stuff. We're going to start on Netflix. Full Swing.

It is a docu series. If you love golf, you've probably heard of this, you've seen versions of this. This is full swing on Netflix. Let's take a look. And started to get aggressive. They started to get pursed up. It was against the spirit of what we did in riding cups. Whoa!

It was wild. One of the beauties of golf is the failures and the heartbreak can change with one pot. And if you love Rory McElroy, this follows his 20-25 Masters. He just won the Masters this year as well. So if you love golf, you're going to love this. But you were just telling me, Spoon, it converted you to a golf fan? I mean, Tom, I'm not a big golf fan. Don't know a lot about golf.

But I love good stuff. story. And when I watch this, it really does help you understand and humanize these guys and realize that like the stakes are really high. And there's a lot of triumph, but also immense failure and kind of like mindsets of getting over that. And for me, it hooked me. And like you mentioned, Rory's incredible, JJ's Fawn, Tommy Fleetwood. These guys are household names in the golf world. And now they're really vulnerable in this show. Okay. Now to something I can understand, the heartbreak kid becoming Sean Michaels, professional wrestling is the documentary on John Michaels and you hear from him as well.

Let's take a look. I just felt like I had to go out and be different and entertaining on a whole other level. Bill Michaels is number one. He is the best. He wanted to be the best. I don't think there's any difference between him and George. This generation of young talent. All right.

So many of them will say, who's your biggest influence, Sean Michaels? No. Sean Michaels was so big at one point. This one's on Peacock, the Mother ship, so you know it's going to be good. I will admit, Sean Michaels was sort of after my era when I was watching a lot of wrestling, but I respect him. I know he was a huge star, and I love how he's still involved, right? Yeah, yeah, he's still involved in the W.E. He's 60 years old now, and this is him kind of like putting it all out there. It's a documentary film, his daughter's involved. You have big names that are

in as The Undertakers, Brett Hart, but it really is about his rise to fame, but also all that he went through, drug addiction, losing money, kind of reinventing himself. And now, as you mentioned, he works for WWE now. And he's still kind of missed a wrestler. Mania. All right, let's go back to Netflix. We got Sadie Sandler, right? She stars. Is this her first one she stars in?

Yes. Like her first one she's starring in. Yeah, yeah. You may recognize her she's Adam Sandler's daughter, also an actress in her own right. She's been in a lot of the Adam Sandler movies. And here's her first big one.

Let's take a look. At the start of the year, you were inseparable. We have ID. It's so confusing sometimes. I'm not looking for just a roommate. I'm looking for a ride or die. I need to take Alex home.

Okay, so give me the background here because I'll admit the Yamas girls over at the Yamas compound, they love the Sandler girls, and they love like this, you're totally not invited to my Bar Mitzvah, which was a great one. But anyways, this one is roommate Sadie Sandler. It might not be appropriate for kids, right? It's like, ready to our? Yeah, no, it's not appropriate for kids. She's 19 years old, and she's playing a college freshman who basically gets matched with this roommate,

and it's all fun and games at first, that it turns very, very toxic, lots of, like, sexual innuendos. But as you mentioned, she's Adam Sandler's daughter, and it is so cool to see her. How did she do? How was she doing? She's an incredible. She was incredible in the film you mentioned, but she was also in Jay Kelly. Happy Gilmore. She's been in a bunch of stuff.

She's working. She's making money from a family. Totally forgot about that one. Okay, next up we're going to HBO Max, Hacks, the final season, season five. People love this series. Let's take a look. Everything that we have worked on for the past five years is gone. They're not just rewriting me.

They are erasing me. You are going to be remembered for comedy. Because you're a comedian. Because you're a comedian. You know, when you're away from the spotlight. You have time to think about what really matter. The spotlight. Again, final season, it's an Emmy Award-winning show.

I will admit, I've never watched a single episode, but the staff of Top Story loves this. They rave about it, and you're telling me it's great. I mean, you're in for a treat. And Gene Smart, I loved her back in the day in designing women, and she's in this show. She plays a comic in Hollywood who's kind of navigating ageism, but it's drawn out over four seasons now, and this is the final season, fifth and final season.

And people are excited, and it's kind of launched also some other supporting actors. Megan Stalter is hilarious. She's also in this and become a huge household name. But Gene Smart, she's won four Emmy Awards already for lead actress, and she might get another one. Our next two clips here, our next two shows we're talking about, are getting the most press that I've seen in a long time. We're going to start with Euphoria Season 3. We have a lot to talk about. Here's the trailer.

We had to make a choice. About who we were and what we wanted. The network loved our storyline. Really? But what we didn't realize was how far we were willing to go. So if you watch Euphoria, it started out in high school. Spoon, this is much different.

Explain to our viewers. This one jumps five years ahead. So five years after senior years. Yeah, season three is five years ahead. Rue is now a drug mule, a fuel bone drug mule. But you've got to look at these stars like Zendaya, Zendaya, but also Sidney Sweeney. All these folks became household names from this show, Jacob Ellorty,

and they were all back. Sydney Sweeney as well. So it's, you know, euphoria, it got a lot of press and had a lot of fans, and I had a lot of critics, too, because it was very graphic. Yes, people loved it, but it was also very graphic. How is season three? This one is doing really well. The first episode came out last Sunday.

8.5 million people tuned in up 20% from the season two. So people are loving. Graphic? People are very heavy. Very heavy. Next up, beef and you have a personal connection here. We'll let you talk about it after. Beef was so amazing.

Season two, several. How many years has it been? It's been like three years. Three years. It was such a great show. I was one of the best shows I think I've ever seen. Here's season two. I think deep down we both knew it was a temporary Band-Aid.

Bandaid for work? How did I not realize this, you know? I'm going to record it. Seems intense. A little different from the first one. The first one was, you know, it could get intense too, but it was so well written. How is this? Mistakes are high for this.

The first one was a huge sugar not success for, you know, critics, for voters, for Emmy, for fans. And this one is a whole different cast, Carrie Mulligan, Oscar, Isaac. And instead of a car incident, it's like a blackmail incident. It's the same beef or new beef and a whole new drama. but the cast and this is incredible. And also shout-outs. So as you mentioned, I have a personal connection. Lee Sung-Jen.

I knew him as Sunny Lee. He was a former NBC page with me 20 years ago. You guys worked together. Started out. In this building, he's the creator and writer. And you guys are still friends. That's so awesome. Okay, some music we're going to get through quickly.

First up, Olivia Rodriguez got a new one. Let's listen. Yeah. It's got coming, right? Her new single called Drop Dead. How is it? Crazy story here. This video is filmed at the Palace of Versa of Versa.

Whoa. Inside? Yes, inside. She's running around. There's art work everywhere. She's in Marie Antoinette's bedroom, but it's very emo kind of pop music. And you give it two spoons up. Oh, I give it all the spoons. All the spoons. Also, somber. Yeah, oh, I love that. Some of our top story people are crazy for somber. Crazy for. I don't know what the guy has. Let's listen. All right. So spoon, does he have it? He got that aura. He got that or all the girls. Everyone loves him. This song is called Potential. He debuted at Coachella last weekend. And now, we had the video and he's going on a worldwide tour kicking off in July. Okay, a lot of people talking about him. Okay, Le Fay, it's called Mad Woman and I'll let the clip play, the music play and you

tell me about it on the back end. Okay, it's like the cards above a stone to approve. Okay, so there's a lot going to you're just telling me she's from Iceland? Yes, I love this sound. It's like jazz and classical, kind of like iconic elevator music. She's from Iceland, her mother is Chinese, so the video is like Asian excellence. Okay.

have Alyssa Lou in this, a heated rivalry star, also Lola Tongue from Summer I Turn Pretty. But it's like a great little summer party. Yeah, it sounds good and a lot of people are talking about the video and another fan favorite for Top Story people as well. Spoon has been great to see you. You're always doing so good. Go Yanks. I know we'll watch some games together. We thank you for watching Top Story all week. I hope you have a great weekend. I'm Tom Yamas here in New York. Stay right there. More news on the way.