Top Story with Tom Llamas - Friday, July 19, 2024

Episode Date: July 20, 2024

Tonight's Top Story has the latest breaking news, political headlines, news from overseas and the best NBC News reporting from across the country and around the world.

Tonight, a massive tech meltdown bringing computer systems around the world to a screeching halt. Airlines, businesses, and emergency services left reeling after a major software glitch brought Microsoft cloud services to a grinding halt. Error message is blinking on screens at hospitals and airports leaving millions in the dark. So what caused this worldwide outage? Travel nightmare, those outages leaving frustrated. travelers stranded in airports, myself included. People huddled for hours by their gates as more than 2,000 flights were delayed. Why I was able to get home and what experts say you should do if you're still stuck. Also tonight, sources close to President Biden say we are close to the end.

As support from some of the biggest names within the Democratic Party continues to wane. But the embattled president still recovering from COVID-19 remaining defiant saying he will be back in action next week. How much longer can this campaign continue without the backing of crucial party members? Trump's victory lap, former President Donald Trump closing out the Republican National Convention and officially accepting his party's nomination just days after the attempt on his life. The former president striking a tone of unity before going off script and blasting the Biden administration. Trump shooter investigation. New details revealing the suspect may have planned his attack at least a week in advance, as authorities continue to search his emails and online accounts for

some sort of motive. This as thousands gather to pay tribute to the firefighter killed at that rally. And tanker collision, video showing thick black smoke rising from oil tankers just after they crashed into each other, the desperate rescue effort off the coast of Singapore. Plus, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich handed a harsh sentence in Russian prison. The latest on the secret negotiations to get him home. Top story starts right now. Good evening. I'm Ellison Barber in for Tom Yamis.

Tonight, a near total tech breakdown hitting 911 operators, airports, offices around the world, and news operations. Even this one. More than 2,000 flights canceled as airlines scrambled to process crowds of travelers. Computer screens that should say. flight information, instead flashing that blue screen of death. Some emergency services across the country also shut down, impacting 911 calls, and social media video showing error messages on hospital screens, medical staff forced to reschedule surgeries and switch to paper systems. We'll hear from a handful of the millions of Americans impacted by one of the biggest outages

in history, including my journey that started at 4 a.m. But first, we want to turn to NBC's Senior correspondent Tom Costello, who leads us off. It is a massive computer outage affecting all corners of the globe, which could well be the biggest outage the world has seen. Not a cyber attack, but a software update gone bad affecting Microsoft Windows computers using CrowdStrike cybersecurity software. CrowdStrike is aware of reports of crashes on Windows Force. Among the first affected global airlines, their screens suddenly showing. the so-called blue screen of death, from Thailand to Portugal, Spain to Scotland.

And I think it's fair to describe this as organized chaos at the woman. U.S. Airlines went offline overnight, unable to process thousands of passengers. Every 15 minutes, we kept getting these text messages. Your flight is delayed a half hour, your flight is delayed an hour, your flight is delayed two hours. Major airlines grounded flights, with flight radar 24 showing U.S. Air Force. space thinning out as endless lines wound through airport terminals. We received no, no, you can't get through to the, to the airline. I don't think it's even in their hands.

NBC's Guadvenegas in Atlanta. Passengers here reporting waits of up to four hours waiting on a line that stretched to the end of the terminal. By late today, 9,500 delays in the U.S. 2,700 cancellations, akin to the impact from a big winter storm. We're deeply sorry for the impact that we've caused to customers. The CEO of CrowdStrike, which pushed the software update, appeared on today. So we know what the issue is. We're resolving and have resolved the issue. But it wasn't just airlines and airports. Hospitals were also knocked offline. Nurses switching to paper orders. We can't scan the medicine to make sure

you're not allergic to it. We can't scan the medicine to make sure that it's even yours. Many hospitals forced to cancel procedures. Allison Balo's father was supposed to have open heart surgery. They called and said that due to a global IT outage, they had to reschedule the surgery. Also affected banks, 911 systems, trains, buses, and subways, retailers, FedEx, and UPS, court systems, and driver's license offices. New York's governor trying to reassure the public. There is no risk to personal sensitive information that we're aware of.

X Microsoft said it's working closely with CrowdStrike and across the industry to safely bring their systems back online. Doesn't this speak to a vulnerability that you have with Microsoft Windows that one line of code can break down the entire system? There is no vulnerability based on our knowledge. What we understand right now is that the CrowdStrike update itself was flawed in how they accessed the system and that is what has caused the global IT outage. And Tom Costello joins us now from Washington. Tom, do you have a sense of how long these impacts could last? I mean, my mom is one of many still stuck in an airport right now.

Is there any end in sight? Oh, well, listen, the airlines seem to be getting back up. However, they have had such a day. The ripple effect from the delays and the cancellations could well run into the night, maybe into the weekend, depending on the airline. And listen, it could take hospitals. shipping companies, retailers, days, or even weeks to fully recover. If you're supposed to fly tonight or over the weekend, get there early, be patient,

and hopefully you'll get out at some point over the next 48 hours. All right. Tom Costello, amazing reporting. Thank you. We appreciate it. For more on this worldwide computer outage, I want to bring in Shelley Palmer, a consultant of Fortune 500 companies and a professor at Syracuse University's Newhouse School of Public Communications.

Shelly, thank you so much for joining us. I mean, we can talk about the travel aspects, and that's frustrating for people, but we're also talking about issues at 911 centers, at hospitals. That sort of thing can be deadly. Talk to us about these blue screens that can kind of be this catch-all error. Breakdown for those of us who aren't super tech savvy here. What is causing this crash? Is it really just about one line of code? Well, it's not really one line of code, although it could be that simple. CrowdStrike, who is a security company, has a piece of software called Falcon Sensor, which is incredibly popular, and it's a security piece of software that prevents things bad from having your computers, specifically cyber attacks on the what. Unfortunately, they pushed a bad update, and what this means is that people who are very good about making sure their computers are protected from bad guys actually destroyed their operating systems with this piece of code.

and the fix is kind of funny. You just do what you normally do at home. You reboot your computer. The problem is that that may not work, and some of the things we did today, we had to reboot up to 15 times to get it to work. And when it didn't work, we literally had to go in

and then manually correct this one configuration file. It's not one line of code, but the fix is literally deleting one file. The problem is it takes a minute, and it infects each computer individually and each server individually. So we've got a lot of computers to go and re-update. So how long do you think it will take to truly fix this issue?

And then when we look ahead to the future, what should be done, what can be done to prevent this sort of thing from happening again? I think every help desk person in all of America and probably around the world is rebooting computers as you and I sit here and then going in and trying to manually fix the ones that won't reboot. We are vulnerable in ways that people don't understand.

the Microsoft Vice President of Security said, well, they don't see this as a flaw. I'm sorry. It took one bad piece of software to take down the transportation system, part of the health care system, the 911 system. If that doesn't scream vulnerable, I don't know what does. So look, we as people can do nothing about this. We're threaded through very, very small groups of very large companies that have an outsized impact on our economy and in our lives. But this is a good day to figure out, what you should do to back up your data and make sure that you are prepared to use paper records in your business. It's called business continuity and resiliency, and this is the big lesson of today. Could the hospitals use paper records? No, was the answer. Why? Because they didn't expect they'd ever need to. So I think this is happening everywhere. A couple weeks ago, we had 15,000 auto dealerships crippled by ransomware. They couldn't write a car lease for over a week. These are the kinds of vulnerabilities that we have as a society in our digital world, and we need to be very vigilant about it. CrowdStrike has a lot to answer for it. So does Microsoft, but so do we.

Could Congress, could some of these oversight committees that are so vast or seemingly vast in the United States particularly, could they step in and do more to try to make sure this doesn't happen again, or are we just looking at a new normal, so to speak? My supposition is that no regulation can solve, or this was an honest mistake. The part you'd want to ask is, if this was a nation state coming at you with intentionality, could they do the same thing? And the answer is probably yes. That's the scarier part. And there, I think, the military and the Congress and the government do play a role. But for this, look, the best software always wins. And CrowdStrike, today, not in a good example, Crowdstrike is some of the best software.

And let's face it, every business computer in the world is basically running Microsoft Windows, some version of it. Yes, there are other software platforms, but vastly, vastly. We're in Microsoft And apparently, it's very vulnerable to this kind of mistake. Yeah, I'm looking at a blue screen in front of me under the desk here. Shelly Palmer, thank you. We appreciate it. This outage, of course, hitting air travel, arguably the hardest. Thousands of travelers stranded after flights were grounded across the globe.

Some people documenting their long journeys on social media. And just hours ago, I was one of those passengers. Here's what I and so many others experienced as we tried to get to our final destinations. My flight got canceled, and I'm at the airport right now, and I'm out of a state. I do not live here. I do not know what to do. Scenes of mayhem in airports across the world Friday after that massive IT outage brought flights to a standstill.

It was very chaotic. I've never seen it like this before, especially in this airport. Unacceptable. Plains stranded on the tarmac. Airlines forced to handwrite boarding passes. Passengers sleeping on the floor. I was supposed to be on a 6 a.m. flights. On my way back to New York from Milwaukee, I joined the tens of thousands of travelers whose

flights were disrupted. It's just like a standstill, most of the signs where you normally see like boarding times and zones. It's just an error message and it looks like this. Those so-called blue screens of death disrupting air travel, causing long lines and leaving travelers flustered. And all of the kids with us, it's really tiring, and they're all tired, too. So our flight was really twice.

For some passengers, direct flights turned into whirlwind journeys through packed airports to catch connecting flights. Hopefully we make our connection. One U.S. airline seemingly unaffected, Southwest. A spokesperson telling NBC news operations were not directly impacted, but urging customers to still check their flight status. It's a hard contrast to the airline's 22 meltdown during the holiday season when its computer system crashed following a reset, triggering 17,000 flight delays and cancellations, and landing the airline with a $140 million fine from the Department of Transportation. Razily, we just got on.

After waiting hours to board, I made my flight to New York. And tonight, airlines slowly recovering from the disruption. travelers trickling into their final destinations. And I'm definitely one of the lucky ones who actually made it home today. We're joined now by Eric Rosen. He's the director of content for the travel site, the points guy. Eric, talk to us about why this hits some airlines harder than others. I mean, I was surprised when I was able to get on a plane,

and I sort of thought it was going to be a trick, like get on, then get back off. But when we got on the flight attendant said it was a Delta flight, but she said we're technically WestJet. And on board, we have a different system. noticed it was an older plane, like didn't have TVs on the back of seats, that sort of thing. Was that part of the reason why some got hit more than others and like Southwest was totally okay here? Well, first of all, let me say, I'm glad you got home and I really like your travel glasses. So I'm glad that you didn't have too hard of a time getting home. You sort of hit

it on the head. Some airlines are using different systems running on different software. As we all know, Southwest seemed to be running on totally archaic software. They're probably still updating it, which is why they probably weren't hit as hard by this. And you, like you said, we're flying SkyWest, which is sort of a subsidiary that Delta contracts with to do certain flights. So it's not the main line, as we call it, those big jets that fly, you know, across the country or overseas and stuff. So certain parts of the network weren't as affected as others, I would say. So, Eric, if someone is traveling today or within the coming days, what can they do? And should they expect to see these delays and cancellations persist maybe into next week?

Unfortunately, the answer to that is yes. I think if you look at those destination boards at the airport, you see that flights are coming in from all over the country. They're stopping at the gate for about an hour to offload and then load passengers and carrying on with their next flight. While that can be really efficient when things are working normally, it also means that if there's one knot in the system, suddenly everything else comes to a standstill. So a delay of one flight means the next one's delayed even more, followed by more and more delays. And if there's a cancellation, chances are the subsequent flights that were supposed to be operated by that airline will also probably have issues. It's not just planes, though.

Remember, there are crews that have to get to various places as well. So if one crew is stranded or delayed in one outpost, chances are they're not going to get to their next flight on time. And then we run into rules like them timing out. So, passengers can do a lot to stay armed with the knowledge they need to make sure their plans don't go too far awry. First of all, if you haven't downloaded it yet, get your airlines app. It'll be a good source of information for your flight's timing and whether it might be delayed where your plane is at any given moment. But it's not the only source of truth. If you are flying, have a look at flightradar.com as well, Flight Radar 24, pardon me.

And you can type in your flight number and airline, and it'll show you where your plane is. is, right? So even if your airline app is saying, oh, your flight from San Francisco up to Portland will be on time, flight radar might show you that that plane is actually still in Seattle and not likely to get to your origin anytime soon. So you can come prepared. That said, even if your flight is showing up as delayed, you still need to get to the airport right around on time because you never know they might be able to swap that equipment. A new crew can be found and you might be taking off. So be sure that you arm yourself with the knowledge that you need and give yourself plenty of time at the airport,

even if you think you're going to be delayed for a long time. All right. Eric Rosen with the points guy. Great tips. Thank you. I'm sure we will probably be talking to you again sooner than we wish. We appreciate it. Thank you.

Now to our other major headline tonight, the growing calls for President Biden to step aside as the presumptive Democratic nominee. New reporting from NBC News showing Biden's family is having discussions about how to end his campaign. And the two new senators pleading with Biden to drop out. Senior White House correspondent Kelly O'Donnell is traveling with the president in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Tonight, more evidence of a widening split inside the Democratic Party over who should lead the fight to November.

New resolve from the Biden campaign. Joe Biden is more committed than ever to beat Donald Trump. But new rejection from Democrats who say a new leader is needed. At least 12 more congressional Democrats came forward today, calling on President Biden to leave the race. more than 30 so far. The president is not capable of delivering the message in an effective way. Including senators in tight races, New Mexico's Martin Heinrich and Montana's John Tester, and unease from Pennsylvania's Bob Casey, who has a long relationship with President Biden and has not called for him to drop out. I don't think there's a specific timeline, but I do think it's going to be very soon where we have to begin to move forward.

Today, House Democratic leader Jeffries standing firm. President Biden, as I've said repeatedly, is our nominee. He has a tremendous track record of success. The Biden campaign chair calls this a tough several weeks. There's no doubt that it has been. And we've definitely seen some slippage in support, but it has been a small movement. Isolating in Delaware, still COVID positive, and taking Pax-Lovid, the president released a statement today, writing,

I look forward to getting back on the campaign trail next week. But in a new and parallel development, members of the president's family have discussed what an exit could look like, according to two people familiar with the conversation. Another source close to the president said, he is hurt and he is angry by the Democratic pressure campaign. Among those standing by the president, key coalitions from black and Latino communities and progressives who are concerned about a push by Democrats. against Vice President Harris, too.

A huge amount of these elites and a huge amount of these folks in these rooms that I see that are pushing for President Biden to not be the nominee also are not interested in seeing the vice president being the nominee. Today, the vice president stepped out with extended family for ice cream. While privately, she spoke with donors on a call. Officials say the president's team asked her to fill in. According to a source on the call, the vice president touted the Biden-Harris ticket and said, tell your friends, too, we are going to win this election.

And Kelly O'Donnell joins us now from Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Kelly, we just learned moments ago that another senator has called on Biden to step aside. That is Ohio's Sherrod Brown. He is a three-term Democrat. And, of course, if you think Ohio, remember, of course, his co-senitor in the state is J.D. Vance, who is now run with Donald Trump as his running made. And Sherrod Brown is in a very tough re-election bid. And so he is in that class of senators

who are concerned about what the impact of President Biden at the top of the ticket could be on their own races. Obviously, Ohio has been going for Donald Trump in the last couple of elections. So Sherrod Brown is saying he wants President Biden to stay in office but not run as the top of the ticket.

Ellison? Kelly, I want to go back to your reporting on the Biden family's discussion about a possible exit from this race. Do we know how receptive the president has been to those conversations in recent days? Well, it is hard to really get a picture of what the president is himself thinking at this point. But what we know is that at this point, he wants to stay in the race, but a parallel set of activities have to happen. People who are close to him, whether AIDS or now we've learned family, are talking about what would it look like if he reaches a decision that he is willing or is prepared to step aside?

And part of that would be looking at how to deal with legacy. What would the mechanics of it look like? He controls the delegates. So it is prudent to make plans. At this point, the president is still saying he intends to stay in the race. Ellison? Kelly O'Donnell in Delaware, thank you. The Democratic Division coming just one day after former President Donald Trump

accepted the Republican Party's nomination at the RNC last night in Milwaukee. The former president going into detail about that assassination attempt on his life last Saturday before returning to the divisive rhetoric he said he would avoid, including baseless claims of election fraud and repeated attacks on his successor, President Biden. For more on where both campaigns stand at the end of this incredibly historic week, let's bring in Michael Star Hopkins, a Democratic strategist who worked on both the Clinton and Obama campaigns and Republican strategist Joe Pynion. Thank you both so much for being here. Michael, let's start with you. President Biden and his campaign are staying defiant, despite the

fact that almost everyone in the Democratic Party has either publicly or privately expressed concerns about his candidacy. What more does he need to hear before stepping aside? Let me first say, what a week. It has felt like a month in this last week. And I think really we're now at the point where the drip, drip, drip, drip is becoming the drip, drop. You know, when you hear Sherrod Brown come out, you hear, you know, tester come out, we know that we like Joe Biden. We know that his policies have worked. But at this point, health in his age is something that can't be changed. And so we've kind of hit that point where Democrats really have to be ready to have that

conversation about Kamala Harris being the nominee moving forward. Joe, I want to quote for you something from an article that was written. It was in the Atlantic. It is written by Tim Alberta. And he was reporting on former president, Donald Trump's two sort of de facto campaign managers. This is what he wrote. And this is about Susie Wiles and Chris LeCivis. He said, quote, they know that their campaign has been engineered in every way from the voters they target to the viral means they create to defeat Biden, and privately, they are all but praying he remains their opponent.

Do you think that's accurate? And from your standpoint, is it concerning if Biden steps out and you have a different candidate to go against? Would Biden be an easier win? Well, look, I think first and foremost, we have to acknowledge the fact this is not a Democratic Party crisis. This is an American crisis. Joe Biden remains the president of the United States of America. And so his panic becomes the world's panic. So that's the first thing we have to confront.

The second thing is, yes, this campaign is built around defeating President Biden because it is the opinion of a great many Republicans, and I think many Americans writ large that the policies have not worked, unlike my friend Michael believes. So I think that becomes the issue that whether it's going to be Joe Biden, whether it's going to be Vice President Kamala Harris, that in the end, we're looking at. a border crisis that in many ways is a result of those policies. We're looking at a world in disarray brought to us by a man who says that electing him would be the return to normal presidency. So all of those things apply, irrespective of whether it's Joe Bond at the top of the ticket

or whether it's somebody like Vice President Kamala Harris. Michael, let's pick up on something Joe mentioned sort of at the top there, this idea that this isn't just about candidate Biden, but also the fact that he is the sitting president. J.D. Vance, the now Republican running mate for Donald Trump, he wrote this on X earlier today. If Joe Biden doesn't have the cognitive function to run for re-election, then he certainly doesn't have the cognitive function to remain as commander-in-chief. How can any dim pushing him to drop out of this presidential race argue in good faith that he should stay on as POTUS? How would you respond to that? Yeah, easily. There's a big difference between running for president and doing the functioning job of being president.

Joe Biden absolutely can be in the White House running the country through November, rather through January 20th. Can I stop you on that? Isn't being president harder than running for president? No. Having worked on campaigns and seen administrations, crisscrossing the country, having to go from Michigan, Ohio, Virginia, Pennsylvania, or so much more responsibility than being a candidate. It is. But trying to do both at the same time is my point. That's really where the difficulty comes in. He has no problem being president. But trying to combine that with running for president, it's just too much for him. And I think Democrats not being able to admit that has become almost, it's created a trust deficit. And so now we're in this situation where a lot of Democrats are starting to feel like they're

being taken hostage by the Biden campaign rather than being able to have a conversation about what the best path is moving forward. Joe, you pick that up for us. I mean, look, I love Michael, but the reality is that a gaff on the presidential trail only loses you the election. A gaff at 3 o'clock in the morning when the world has erupted into violence or chaos is something where millions of lives will hang in the balance. And so it is more difficult to be the president. I would submit that, yes, doing both at the same time is quite difficult. But ultimately, this election, in many ways, has been turned into a cluster

by the Democrats' own actions. Nobody forced them to invalidate the delegates in New Hampshire. Nobody forced them to cancel the primary in Florida. Robert Herr came forth, arguably doing his civic duty and told the country openly that the president was a old man with poor memory. And we had people like Congressman Schiff who eviscerated him in an open congressional hearing suggestion that he was trying to play politics. And now that same congressman joined by many senior leaders of the party are trying to push the man out of the race for the exact same reasons that were delineated in that report by the special counsel. This is a mess of their own making, as much as they want to try to soften the ground to get the American people to go along with it. In the end, we are facing an unprecedented situation where the Democratic Party could end up with a nominee without a single vote cast in their name. And the reason they don't want Joe Biden pushed aside, the quiet part they don't say out loud, is because that would mean that they would be elevating Kamala Harris to the presidency.

Well, also at the same time trying to make sure she is not their nominee in 2024 and revealing to many people that she was the token. pick black people hope she wouldn't be. She's a historic figure, irrespective of your politics, and the fact that they wouldn't automatically elevate her. The fact that they don't want Joe Biden to actually point to her as a successor shows us that once again they have taken the black vote and our needs and are paying for granted. Let me ask this last question of both of you. I'm going to play a little bit of what former President Trump had to say in his speech last night. He did start off on a unity note, right, describing the attempt on his life in excruciating detail, having that jacket, the firefighter helmet from the man who lost his life, shielding his family.

He appeared to be working off of his script, but then about a half an hour in, he seemed to return to some of that divisive rhetoric that he is so famous for ad-libbing a lot of those moments. Listen to some of what he had to say. And then we had that horrible, horrible result that will never let happen again. The election result, we're never going to let that happen again. They use COVID to cheat. All right, we have 30 seconds for each of you. Michael, do you want to take it first or you want to take it last? I'll start this one off. Look, Donald Trump is who he is.

We're not going to see unity from Donald Trump because he's the same person who fomented January 6th. And look, if he wanted to try to chip off some of that black vote, he could have picked Tim Scott. He could have picked Byron Donald to people that I think Republicans have tokenized. But he didn't. And so, you know, Donald Trump is who he is. And it's why Democrats are still in this. race after the RNC because he's a weak candidate. Now the question is, what are Democrats going to do to make it closer? I mean, Joe, I mean, the president did say this is going to be a

unifying speech. He was ad-libbing divisive rhetoric, lying about the 2020 election. Why didn't he stick with that unifying tone he promised he would have? Look, I think President Trump has never been accused of being the next coming of Barack Obama. What he has been heralded as is somebody who had the right message at the right moment. And I think as you look at people, black people, Hispanic people, who are starting to open their eyes to the possibility of Trump, they're not doing so because they're looking for a black person on the ticket. They're doing so because they believe the policies are not working, including the inflation that has critically damaged the veracity of the middle class where wages continue to trail that inflation.

All right. Joe Pinyon, Michael Star Hopkins. You could both have your own show, and I would watch it. Thank you. I appreciate it. Good to see you, Mike. Hey, I'm glad you made it back. Thanks, Mike. All right. Still ahead tonight. New details on the shooter. who tried to assassinate former President Donald Trump. What law enforcement says the gunman purchased in the days leading up to the attempt and the trail that he left online? Plus, Wall Street Journal, Evan Wall Street Journalist Evan Gershkovich,

sentenced in a Russian courtroom today. The time he is facing after the U.S. says he was falsely accused of spying. And two oil tankers colliding near Singapore, the images coming in tonight of both ships on fire as authorities investigate a cause. Stay with us. We'll be right back. We're back now with the ongoing investigation into the attempted assassination of former president Donald Trump. Federal investigators still piecing together a motive behind the 20-year-old who opened fire at that rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, leaving one person dead. Earlier today, that victim, 50-year-old firefighter Corey Comparator, laid to rest.

Hundreds of mourners gathered to honor the life of a father and husband. who died shielding his family from the gunfire. For more on this, let's bring in NBC News correspondent Shaquille Brewster. He joins us now from Butler, Pennsylvania. Shaq, NBC News is learning that law enforcement has evidence that this shooting was planned, possibly days in advance. What can you tell us? That's right, Allison.

And, you know, we've gotten a sense, and there have been hints that there has been some level of sophistication to this, some level of planning. The fact that he was found with improvised explosive devices. in his car and at his home, the fact that he had a transmitter on him connected to a firework detonator. But now we have a time period to that. And according to two sources familiar with the investigation, we're learning tonight that when FBI reviewed his search history, dating back to May of this year, there were searches for explosive devices. We also know that throughout their review of his search history, they found that he searched for a Michigan school

shooting and details about that, that he looked for more information about how to build explosive. So we're getting a clearer sense that this is something that was well beyond the days before the shooting and thought about in the days before the shooting, but something that extends to potentially months before the shooting, as we still don't have an idea of why he acted. And Chuck, do we know how this shooter was able to seemingly conceal his digital footprint? He's a young guy, seems like, based on the bits we know, that he was someone who spent a lot of time online. Did he have some sort of advanced experience with technology to maybe be in this position where police are struggling so hard to find evidence? That's all part of the investigation, Ellison.

You know, it's striking that this is not someone who left a manifesto who had a huge social media footprint. But one thing that we are hearing is that there was possibly a gaming stream platform or a gaming platform. called Stream where he did have an account and left a cryptic message saying that he would be in the news on the Saturday of the shooting. Now, investigators are saying they are trying to confirm that this account is associated with him and that that post was actually posted by him. But that could be a key piece of evidence. As again, they still have no idea why he acted. There's no sense of a motive despite the more than 200 interviews that they've conducted and the full review of his search history and the full review of his search history and the the photos that were on his phone, Ellison.

Shaquale Brewster in Butler, Pennsylvania. Thank you. When we come back, new video showing the moment a crane smashed into a car during rush hour traffic, missing people inside by just inches. That is next. We're back with Top Stories News Feed, and we began with an update on Evan Gershkovich, the American journalist detained in Russia, a court sentencing Gershkovich to 16 years in a maximum security prison after he was convicted of spying. The Wall Street Journal reporter was arrested on

espionage charges in March last year when he was covering Russia's war with Ukraine. The Biden administration and the paper, they say they are continuing to try and negotiate his release. Two oil tankers erupting in flames after colliding near Singapore. Black smoke seemed billowing above the two ships which were sailing under the flags of Singapore and Sautom and Prince Pei. Authorities say two crew members were airlifted to the hospital. It's not clear what caused the collision, which happened in one of the world's busiest refueling ports. And new video shows a deadly crane collapse in Florida earlier this year. Fort Lauderdale police releasing two new videos showing a piece of the crane crashing onto a moving car during rush hour back in April.

Everyone inside that car miraculously surviving, but a construction worker was killed. Police say the collapse was an accident and no charges will be filed. Coming up next, we have an NBC News investigation into Gaza's health care system. Our team interviewing more than a dozen doctors inside the war zone, what those doctors, their colleagues who have been killed since the start of the conflict have to say. Back now when we turn overseas to the deadly drone attack near a U.S. Embassy branch office in Israel, the country's military believes the drone. was Iranian designed and was launched at Tel Aviv from Yemen.

The Iranian-backed Houthis have claimed responsibility for the attack. It comes as the Israel-Hamas war continues to take a toll on Gaza's besieged health care system, which has all but collapsed from repeated bombings and raids striking medical facilities. NBC's Hala Gaurani has this exhaustive, months-long investigation on the growing crisis impacting doctors in many of these hospitals. Filmed from inside Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunus, cell phone video of the moment the Israeli army surrounds the medical complex in southern Gaza, a tank in the distance, the sound of automatic gunfire. Plastic surgeon Dr. Ahmed al-Mograbi describes the day the Israeli military stormed

the hospital. He says targeting health care workers. They attacked the orthopedic department that killed an injured patient. The corridor was chaos. People ran there and there. At that time, I had only two options. Either they will kill us or they will detain us. The IDF says they are going after. Hamas in Gaza's hospitals. But NBC News spoke to 14 doctors and two nurses for this investigation who say the Israeli military is going far beyond that, deliberately destroying medical facilities and decimating the health care system. Their colleagues killed in their homes and at work

and giving largely similar accounts of arrests and IDF incursions like the one in this image shared with NBC News, geolocated to a hospital called Al Khair, 1,600 yards from Nasser, showing an Israeli military raid. The U.N. Human Rights Office says at least 500 health care workers have been killed since October 7, including 50 specialist doctors, according to the Ministry of Health and Relatives. Dr. Hassan Abu-Sita was last in Gaza in November. The ones that I know, the colleagues and friends, have all been killed within less than half an hour of getting home.

So Medhat Saidam, who was a plastic surgeon, who was working with us at Shifa, just went to take his sister to his house. Within half an hour, that house was bombed, and he was killed. Hammam Al Loha, Gaza's only renal physician, kidney specialists. Dr. Hany, Abu Haitham, the head of the emergency department at Shifa Hospital, the same story. A Gaza physician's WhatsApp group, Dr. Abu Sita, shows us... That was a group between the trainers and the trainees. At first, used for medical advice, soon becomes a forum to share news of the missing, dead, and arrested,

and from which doctors sometimes drop off without notice. Dr. Ahmed al-Makadma is confirmed dead with his mother, reads one exchange. This is when we were together last. And every time you get a message from this group, your heart sinks thinking there's another piece of bad news. In addition to the doctors killed, at least 214 medical staff have been detained at their place of work, like the head of Al-Shifa Hospital, released from Israeli prison July 1st after seven months without charge. He told NBC news prisoners were being humiliated, physically and psychologically daily. Among the missing and killed some of Gaza's most senior specialist doctors, Dr. Adnan

al-Busch, a prominent orthopedic surgeon, died in captivity after four months in detention. Dr. Iad Runtizi, a 53-year-old physician, who ran a women's hospital, also died in detention. intelligence service Shinbet says the circumstances of his death are being investigated. Since the start of the war, out of 36 hospitals in Gaza, at least 20 have been destroyed or are out of commission, with the rest only partially functioning, according to the World Health Organization. Dr. Mads Gilbert has worked in Gaza on and off for over 30 years. They keep strangulating health care systematically. Why do they do that? Because they want to destroy the civilian society of the Palestinian people. And the hospitals are the cornerstones

of the safety network for the people, for any civilian population. In total, the WHO reports 466 attacks on health facilities since October 7. The Israeli military says hospitals like Nasser are routinely used by Hamas. We have credible intelligence from a number of sources, including from released hostages, indicating that Hamas held hostages at the Nasser hospital. In the past, posting images of what they say is proof. The group has used some of these locations to store weapons, like here at Nasser. Even issuing a photo montage of what it called 358 terrorists arrested at Shifa Hospital on March 21st.

But based on interviews with friends and colleagues, two are physicians who were never detained, and at least another three doctors were released soon after. The IDF itself later acknowledged there were duplicate images in its post, calling into question the overall accuracy of the original montage. Of the over dozen physicians NBC interviewed for this investigation, all denied seeing militants or hostages or Hamas activity within hospital walls. And among allegations of abuse in detention, NBC News spoke to a nurse whose name we are withholding at their request because they fear repercussions. There's no hygiene.

There's no bathroom. Their account closely resembles images broadcast in a February Israeli television report about a detainee camp in southern Israel. So images to be in a sitting position for 18 to 19 hours, and the day can you imagine being at the same position for this long period, for 19 hours, for like four months, two months. They describe repeated interrogations about the whereabouts of Israeli hostages and whether they are Hamas members, as well as beatings, withholdings of food and toilets and verbal insults.

The Israeli military did not respond to follow-up messages from NBC News on allegations they employ these tactics. Khaled El-sur, a 32-year-old surgeon working in Khan Yunus, and whom NBC interviewed at Nasser hospital on March 11th, is also feared detained. He has not been heard from since March 24th. NBC News has lost contact with him and could not verify his status. We asked the idea for information on his whereabouts twice. Their response reiterated accusations that hospitals are used by

Hamas but did not address our repeated questions about Dr. Al-Sir. And Israeli intelligence services Shinbet did not respond to a request for information on the men. But NGOs like Human Rights Watch say the Israeli militaries repeated apparently unlawful attacks on medical facilities should be investigated as war crimes. Doctors still working in what is left of Gaza's health care system. Now find themselves overwhelmed with cases, many of their colleagues gone, amid destruction that will take years to rebuild and even longer to retrain the specialists lost. For the sick and injured in Gaza, there will be almost nowhere left to turn.

Hala Gorani, NBC News. Thank you to Hala and her team on the ground. We will be right back. We are back now with Bingeworthy, our look at the best things to watch and listen to this weekend. I'm joined now by Darren Karp. She is a pop culture expert and Bravo personality. Darren, as always, thank you for being with us. Okay, busy week, lots of things to watch. Yes. A lot of news, but lots of things to watch. So let's watch things that we can just pretend the world does not exist in, and we'll start off with a movie that is starring Natalie Portman.

This one is on Apple TV, and it is called The Lady in The Lady. the lake. Watch. Your writing dreams ruined your life. Now you wanted those same dreams to rewrite it. But why did you need to drag my dead body into it? Why did you know? Know what? Where to find her? Obviously a story about a mom that takes a vacation. They love to swim in the Yeah, and she's just like having, she's just having fun. It's about murder, is your favorite. Not dark at all. Okay, so this is actually based on a novel by Laura Lipman.

So if you've read the novel, I will say you should still watch it because there's some different twists and turns from that original one. So like you said, Natalie Portman stars. This is a seven-episode series on Apple TV. The first two are out today, so you can kind of start your binge. You know, I really like it. I've been looking forward to it. I'm hoping it gets a little bit more expansive as we kind of go on. Maybe it's because I've read the novel.

I'm looking out for certain things. But essentially Natalie Portman, this takes place in Baltimore, in 1966. She plays a Jewish housewife who's trying to prove herself, reinvent herself, and becoming an investigative journalist, and goes on the hunt to find this missing black woman who was found in the lake, not on a family vacation, and their two stories kind of collide and combine. It's a little tiny, scary, but mostly just mystery and thriller. Okay, but not like Imnight Shamelon.

No. Not like, not twisty in that way. It's not meant to trick you, but it's more so like to make you think. It's like more of a psychological thriller. Did it start slow to start? Is that why we're skeptical? Just it's a little self-serving to me. Like, it's a little bit like white woman helps black woman and it's a little too on the nose.

I wanted to have a little bit more nuance. But we'll see. We're only two episodes in. We got a couple episodes. Okay, I like that. That one is on my list. The next one we have is a movie. This one is called Land of Bad.

It's an action war film with Liam Hemsworth and Russell Crow. It's on Netflix. after a CIA asset that's been captured. Is this your first mission in theater, J-TAC? Second. Do me a favor. Keep up. The last thing we need in this office have to save your ass.

What the hell are these guys? Local mission? You'll hand over in five. I'm ready. I'm your eyes in the sky and the bringer of two. Settle. I got movement. We got a situation.

Okay. Russell Crow can do anything. we think of this one. Listen, if you're into hunks, I recommend this movie, okay? But when this movie originally came out, it only grows about $7 million. I didn't even know it was out. Yeah, a little bit of a flop. This came out back in February, so a lot of news and stuff has been happening. But yes, it is a war film. It has a lot of good CGI-I, a lot of good effects. It does have two Hemsworth brothers. And it's Liam and Luke, not Chris. Oh, we slapped on Luke. So you got 60, yeah. Luke's good at it. You got 66% of the Hemsworths in this movie.

Anthony Hopkins is in it. Like you said, it's got Russell Crow. It's got a lot of good, you know, it's hunky. I wouldn't say it's amazing, but it's just, it's a decent action. Big names to only do $7 million. I know, which is why the story just isn't popping for me. I'm going to say that. So maybe low on our binge.

Low on our bitch. Okay, the next one that we have. This is a series about ancient Rome. Gladiators should have Russell Crow in it, but I guess it doesn't. It's on Peacock, and it is called Those About to Die. Take a look. Life is of little value in Rome. living in the shadow of the rich and powerful.

But all of this is about to change. Soon I shall cross to the kingdom of darkness. But nothing is more important than protecting our beloved role. You like it, hate it. Okay, I know, okay, so I messed up. This one has Anthony Hopkins in it. Russell Crowe was in the old one. Anthony Hopkins did this one.

This is like Rome reimagined. The only reason I'm sort of interested in this is I love the original Macs series. I believe it was on Max from like 15, 20 years ago, Rome. Amazing part about history. It really got me into the Roman Empire and how irrigation systems were created. This is more gladiator based. Thank God you know about the irrigation system. Listen.

It would be a real personality flaw if you still didn't know that. Thank you, Alison. I can continue doing binge-worthy. Thank you. You know, this is up my alley because in this sense, it's about the gladiator of it all, giving their lives for blood and entertainment, how killing someone was really a sport,

certainly back in Roman times. And so this really dives into it. It's got a 54% on Rotten Tomatoes, so give or take what you will. Critics and audience score kind of agree. So that's rare for people to agree. But you know what? If you're interested in Rome, which I was,

I think this is worth a lot. And Anthony Hopkins is really amazing. Yeah, he's all right. You should watch an Anthony Hopkins thing's always. Okay, yes, right? Yeah, great. Easy. Watch it after this.

We love peacock. Okay, the last thing on our watch list is a fun one to get you ready for the Olympics. This is a new docu-series on The Goat herself. You can watch it on Netflix. It's called Simone Biles Rising. So, having these mental blocks in the gym recently. Simone Biles is out of the competition tonight. People love to watch the come up.

I'm smelling. As soon as you win. God, I hate her. But everything that happened, it's a trauma response. I love Simone Biles. Like, I cannot even do a cartwheel. She's the goat. She is the goat. Sure, there have been historical figures that have been great in gymnastics,

but she has really brought it to the forefront. I mean, she is the face of women's, at least the United States gymnastics. You know, she obviously dropped out in Tokyo 2020. Just for mental health reason, she was having, like, the spins and whatever it's called, in the air, which obviously can gravely affect, you know, how you balance and everything. This documentary is actually four parts. The first two parts are out on Netflix right now, follows with her and her husband,

goes into her personal life. The other two parts are going to come out later because it's actually following her along in the Paris Olympics this year. So we actually can kind of be part of it in real time, which is really cool. So you're going to remember these moments that we're going to see in Paris

and, you know, 10 short days or whatever that is in a week, and then get to watch it on Netflix as soon as they sort of edit it down. But if you are a fan of Simone Biles and how could you not be, even just this humanizes our athletes. You understand that they're not just machines. Even though they train eight hours a day and this is their job,

they are human beings who have to deal with the emotion of it all. And it's touching. I love reading anything and everything about her. I was watching clips last time around when she came back to Houston with her like grandparents, all that. She's amazing. She's never doing NFL star. I mean, those babies are going to be.

Oh, my goodness. Athletes. Or they're going to be book nerds and it's got really awkward. Yeah, I really love them. Okay, last one we have. This is music. Madison Beer. She has a new song out. It's called 15 Minutes, and I think it's shorter than that. We'll listen.

underrated pop star who's just come out with this amazing song. You can hear that beat. You kind of want to dance to it. Even if you don't know the lyrics, it's very rare for me to hear a pop song and not have to listen to it again for me to understand why people are obsessed with this. This I got instantly. So if you know Madison Beer, maybe you and are a little too old to really know her. But she is this underrated pop star that's really coming on to the scene.

And I think this song, you know, will contend for a song of the summer. Good for her. We love to see it. Yeah, why not? 15 minutes. We love it. Darren Karp, thank you for being here. Thank you at home for watching Top Story. For Tom Yamis, I'm Ellison Barber in New York. Stay right there. More news now is on the way.