Top Story with Tom Llamas - Friday, June 20, 2025

Episode Date: June 21, 2025

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, no signs of de-escalation as Iran and Israel exchanged new strikes with a decision on U.S. involvement hanging in the balance. President Trump pressed on what role the U.S. could play in the conflict. His response tonight, both sides trading a barrage of missiles, security cameras capturing the blast as a rocket strikes an apartment building in Israel. Plus, our Andrea Mitchell speaks exclusively with the Iranian foreign minister what he says about. reaching a deal with the U.S. Also tonight, terrifying video of a deadly rock slide at Banff National Park. Hikers running for their lives as the wall of boulders comes crashing down. We hear from a survivor how she escaped just in the nick of time. Memphis kidnapping plot.

A man arrested after allegedly scaling a wall near the mayor's home armed with a taser rope and duct tape, what we're learning. Dramatic dash cam video of a semi-truck crashing then. erupting into a fireball. What we know about that driver. The triple-digit heat wave stretching from Arizona to Massachusetts, nearly 140 million bracing for the brutal temperatures. Bill Carrens is standing by and opening the window to a taste of Italy in the heart of New York City. The wine window service dating back centuries just installed in Times Square. Plus, we're going to need a bigger boat, marking 50 years since the making of Jaws.

Top story starts right now. Good evening. I'm Ellison Barber in for Tom Yamis. We begin tonight with Israel and Iran in limbo. Reporters questioning President Trump today as the conflict enters its second destructive week. Security cameras capturing the moment in Iranian missile landed near a residential building in Bersheba, a ball of fire and shattered glass. filling the lobby there. Another blast also in southern Israel sent this building up in flames

and a missile blasting this building in Haifa to the north. President Trump's new two-week deadline at the forefront of this conflict. Trump speaking with Arvon Hilliard on the tarmac today about where things stand at this hour. Prime Minister Netanyahu said that they had the capacity to take out all of Iran's nuclear facilities. So what role would the U.S. be able to play and why would they, if it's Israel says that they have all of the abilities of their own military. I'm not sure he said that, but they really have a very limited capacity. They can break through a little section, but they can't go down very deep.

They don't have that capacity. And we'll have to see what happens. Maybe it won't be necessary. And as Trump weighs if or when the U.S. should get involved. The voices of dissent are growing louder within his own party. What intelligence do you have that Iran is building a nuclear weapon? And your intelligence community has said they have no evidence that they are at this point. Well, then my intelligence community is wrong.

Who would the intelligence community said that? You're a director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard. She's wrong. We'll have the latest reporting on who's currently in and out of the president's inner circle. Plus, the exclusive interview with Iran's foreign minister. Are Andrea Mitchell questioning him on the state of this war? Can diplomacy produce a solution in two weeks? We have come to the conclusion that negotiations by the U.S. was in fact a cover for what

Israelis did. So they had perhaps this plan in their mind. And they just needed negotiations, perhaps, to cover it up. And in Iran, protesters gathering to condemn Israel's strikes. Could all of this unrest lead to a regime change? Arkear Simmons is on the ground in the region. There's a lot to unpack tonight, so I want to get right to NBC's Garrett Haik,

who joins us live now from Washington, D.C. So, Garrett, we weren't sure if we were going to be hearing from the president at all today, but as we saw, he did end up speaking with reporters this afternoon. What more can you tell us about that conversation and where does it put us in terms of this conflict? Yeah, Alison, the president's been kind of jogging in place with his comments over the last couple days

about his decision-making process today, indicating that the two-week time frame the White House put out yesterday is the upper end of his decision-making patience, and then he expects to make a decision one way or another about the U.S. joining Israel's bombardment of Iran within that time frame. He also continued to stick by his idea, unsupported by the intelligence community, at least publicly, that Iran is much closer to developing a nuclear weapon than has been publicly acknowledged. I think the more useful interview of any of these today was actually from the vice president, J.D. Vance, who has remained in the president's inner circle, who told an interviewer today that the president wants to try for as long as possible to essentially exhaust the opportunity

for diplomacy before he makes a decision to try to end Iran's nuclear program the hard way, if you will. So the president biding time. How long that timeline goes, I think, is very much the open question here in Washington. And, Garrett, I want to talk about who the key players are in Trump. inner circle, some of your new reporting on who's in and who's out. We heard him there saying Tulsi Gabbard essentially doesn't know what she's talking about in his view. What are your sources telling? Yeah, that's the second time in a week. The president has dismissed Tulsi Gabbard, his director of national intelligence. Our sources, senior administration officials,

defense department officials, indicate that she, and to a lesser degree, Pete Hegsteth, are kind of on the outside of the decision-making process here. Gabbard, for her part, is known to oppose any kind of military action in the Middle East. She said that very publicly. The people who the president's really listening to are largely on the top row of that graphic there. I already mentioned the vice president, Susie Wiles, the chief of staff, Stephen Miller, who's kind of Donald Trump's most indispensable aid at this point. And of course, Marco Rubio, who wears multiple hats as the Secretary of State and National Security Advisor. Those are the people who the president really trusts most in those moments. And I think those are the people he's relying on the heaviest. That's what

our reporting indicates. But of course, with President Trump, he is always casting a wide net in who he talks to. And there's always a little bit of an element of he tends to lean in the direction of the last person he talks to, who, particularly if there's someone who's reinforcing what he already believes. That's part of the reason why you see a lot of traffic around the West Wing when he's there. Everyone wants to make sure they are in the meeting in which he makes a decision, because once he decides, if you're on the outside, your point of view gets lost in a shuffle, Ellison. NBC's senior White House correspondent, Garrett Hake. Thank you. Inside Iran tonight and from family members of abroad, desperate pleas for the conflict with Israel to stop.

At least 639 people have been killed in Iran since Israel's first strike last week. That's according to a Washington-based human rights group. One resident in Tehran telling us with limited internet, it's becoming increasingly difficult to stay connected with the rest of the outside world. NBC News's chief international correspondent, Kier Simmons, is in neighboring Iraq with this report. Tonight's videos going viral on social media include American Iranians terrified for their loved ones. Whoever's out there begging to call this necessary. This is not a theoretical. This is my family.

These are people's lives. Far from calling for regime change, many are asking for the bombs to stop. Israel is doing is not liberating the Iranian people. The Islamic Republic has been brutalizing its own people for decades, and Israel bombs are not aimed at dismantling tyranny. Just three years ago, Iranians took to the streets over the death of a 22-year-old woman who had been detained for wearing the wrong clothing in Iran. Their protests with the slogan, women, life, freedom were brutally repressed.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeated those words as he called for a new Iranian uprising. Woman, life, freedom. But a US intelligence firm that utilizes AI to analyze sentiment in closed countries says Israel's campaign is not encouraging a revolution. What we're seeing in Iran is a somewhat unsurprising rally around the flag effect, and we're seeing this on a range of media,

whether it's social media, messaging, app, groups there, that people are under attack from Israel. This week, we were able to reach an academic who lives in Tehran with his family and says just talking to the outside world is getting harder. Right now we do have electricity, we do have food, we do our water, so there's no problem in terms of water supply or something like this. Yes, the internet connection is not that much reliable.

Yeah, it was quite difficult to do this call. It's been quite difficult just to talk to each other. The overriding feeling, he told us, is that Iran is under attack. I know that there are a group of people who are criticizing the government, but most of the people do not criticize the government because this war was not started by the Iranian government. It wasn't started by the Israelis. Iran's supreme leader did refuse to completely roll back his nuclear program,

and the filter labs analysis suggests the 86-year-old is losing support. People are supportive of Iran, but that's not necessarily making people rally around the supreme leader. Today, Israel's defense minister again threatened his assassination, saying he can no longer exist. But a week into Israel's campaign to stop Iran gaining a nuclear weapon, the intelligence suggests a striking shift. Is there any kind of a shift in people's view about whether Iran should have a nuclear weapon? Well, what we started to see in the last few days is actually Iranians say this is the reason why we should have a nuclear weapon. that if they had one, they would be more protected. And NBC's Keir Simmons joins us now from Erbil Iraq.

Kier, we heard in your piece, so many Iranians are saying they just want the bombs to stop. We have seen those long lines of cars as people try to evacuate Tehran. But for those that are staying, how are they surviving in that city? Well, Mohammed, you saw in my piece there speaking from Tevran, said, look, Tehran is a city of 9 million people, if just 20% of them decide that they want to get out, then that is chaos. That is jams as people try to flee the city. He said families are pulling together, helping each other. He said half the people, some of the people are really frightened. Others are kind of sticking it out and being brave and confident. We can see from the pictures that there are hits on residential areas. Those appear to be targeted. against scientists, for example, military leaders. I've come up close and seen an assassination hit by a drone by apparently the Israelis in other parts of this region.

It can be very precise. But hundreds of people in Iran have died so far just in one week, and not all of those were military targets or scientists. Keir Simmons in Iraq, thank you. And at this hour, we were following some major breaking legal news with the federal judge ordering the Trump administration to release Mahmoud Khalil, the pro-Palestinian activist and Columbia University graduate who's been in federal custody in Louisiana for more than three months now.

Halil, a permanent resident of the U.S., has been at the center of President Trump's crackdown on students opposed to the war in Gaza. His wife praised the judge's order, but right now we do not definitively know when Khalil will be set free. Now to Los Angeles and the top Trump administration official visiting the city at the the center of immigration protests this week. Vice President J.D. Vance touching down in LA just a few hours ago. The visit comes as a court of appeals ruled the White House was within its authority to deploy

national guard troops in response to protest in that city. On the ground covering it all for us is NBC's Jacob Soberoff, who first broke the news of the vice president's visit. Jacob, we heard from the vice president moments ago. What did he have to say? Allison, so the vice president came here to the federal building where after two weeks of ongoing immigration enforcement operations. He heard from federal law enforcement agents and operators here about the ongoing effort to engage in the largest mass deportation program in American

history. You can see him there shaking hands with some of the Marines inside. He renewed some of the calls of the administration that Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles, Governor Gavin Newsom of California, were inciting what he called violent mobs on the streets of Los Angeles. Of course, it has been a largely peaceful two weeks here in Los Angeles, and I can tell you that as a reporter who has been on the streets. While there have been some clashes, it has been the exception rather than the rule. He also made reference to Alex Padilla, the California senior senator, who was placed into handcuffs in this building just one week ago when he showed up at the press conference for Christy Nome, the secretary of Homeland Security. But he called him by the wrong

name. Watch this. Well, I was hoping Jose Padilla would be here to ask a question, but unfortunately, I guess he decided not to show up because there wasn't the theater. And that's all it is. Jose Padilla was the name that he used there. Of course, California Senator Alex Padilla has been a senator as the senior senator, and before that was a longtime public official here in Los Angeles. He went from here to the Republican National Committee's fundraiser in Beverly Hills, and he will only be on the ground here in Los Angeles for about five hours. So he won't get that view of Los Angeles so many of us have watching these events play out over the last couple of weeks.

It was a very quick trip in and out of Los Angeles, Ellison. And, Jacob, the New York Times has some new reporting tonight that community leaders are calling on the L.A. Dodgers to take a public stand against immigration rates. You've done a lot of reporting in and around Dodgers Stadium. Talk to us about what we know in terms of those requests and what are federal agents asking of the Dodgers. There's actually some late-breaking news on that front, Ellison. The Dodgers have just announced they're going to be donating a million dollars

to affected families, the families that have been affected by this series of ongoing enforcement operations in Los Angeles. Where exactly that money is going to go or to whom we don't have the specifics on yet. But as you said, it comes in the wake of criticism from local officials and certainly citizens here in Los Angeles after they saw the pictures that you're looking at on your screen of federal agents outside Dodger Stadium who had come face-to-face with protesters. We were there as well after a series of raids yesterday morning, starting with a Home Depot in the Hollywood air. And so we're going to be waiting to find out where that money is going to go and to whom exactly. But that is some news at this hour from the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Jacob Soberoff with that breaking news. Thank you. And Canada, horrifying new video shows the moment a portion of a mountainside gave way triggering a deadly rock slide and trapping hikers below. NBC's Morgan Chesky with the details. In Canada, a frightening rumble turning into a deadly roar. A lone hikers seen scrambling for their life, chased by a rock slide, unleashing a terrifying cascade of boulders and debris. I got up and just started running. Ellie Jackson says the wall came down with so much force, it just exploded.

I thought I was going to die because when I saw the rock coming down, I knew I couldn't survive that. Caught in its path, members of a local hiking group with multiple members caught in the slide, enveloped by a massive dust cloud. The fatal slide happening at Banff National Park. park, Canada's most popular. The hike near Bow Glacier Falls, a well-traveled area near Lake Louise. Tonight, authorities confirmed rescuers recovered a second body, adding three others were airlifted and remain hospitalized. Canadian geologist Dan Sugar says it's not the first time this pristine area has posed a problem. As of right now, were there any clear warning signs that essentially this hillside would give way? I don't think that it would be possible to have kind of forecasted

predicted this particular, you know, this particular rock fall. Sharing a smaller slide two years ago, injured several when it struck the same area. Every steep mountain slope, you know, releases rocks from time to time. Experts believing the slow but steady impact of water and hidden springs may have played a role compromising the rock wall. Sugar believes based on video and images, this slide was 160 feet wide and up to 30 feet deep. Authorities don't believe. anyone else is missing, but say heavy rain tonight could raise the landslide risk even more. And Morgan Chesky joins us now on set. When you look at that video, it's almost hard to believe more people weren't hurt or killed. I mean, talk to us about how one of the people who survived

this actually helped other people get out, right? Yeah, Alison, Ellie Jackson was there. She ran essentially to save her own life. But once that slide came to a close, she reached into her backpack and pulled out a first aid kit. And she credited multiple survivors in that area for essentially, pooling their resources together to help the people that were suffering, were injured, at least minor injuries in that area. They're able to locate them before first responders arrived, treat them as best they could, kind of stabilize them in that horrific scene until they could be airlifted. And as for the three people that were taken to an area hospital, we do know that they are being treated but are in stable condition tonight.

NBC's Morgan Chesky. Thank you. Now of the triple-digit heat wave and severe weather threatening millions of people. Take a look at this. this. A car in Bethesda, Maryland, lit on fire by down power lines after a fast-moving thunderstorm. Trees uprooted cars and homes heavily damaged across the region. Residents there also on alert as a dangerous heat wave rolls through much of the country. Skyrocketing temperature set to impact nearly 140 million Americans. Let's get right to NBC News meteorologist Bill Karens. Bill, it is a busy weekend of weather ahead. Talk to us about what you're watching right now. Alison, so we go all week long watching the severe thunderstorms, all the wind damage, the tornadoes,

and now we're straight into a really big widespread early season heat wave. All the dots on this map show you where we're going to possibly see record highs as we go throughout the weekend into early next week. I mean, look at my, I can't even read this map. There's too many dots here in the northeast. It gives you an idea of just how widespread this is going to be. We mentioned the 100, almost 40 million people impacted. Now, areas that have warnings, that's the next level up. That's the even more dangerous. Check on your elderly, especially we go through the second and third nights of this. St. Louis, Chicago, Minneapolis to Omaha is all in that. And eventually we'll see these warnings issued on the east coast, likely from Carolina's all the way back up into New York City by the time we get to Monday and Tuesday. So tomorrow, the worst of it, Minneapolis to Omaha, to St. Louis, to Chicago, everyone feeling like 105 to 110. And remember, these numbers are in the shade when you factor in the temperature and the humidity.

It's what we call the feels-like temperature. And the feels like temperature on Sunday, Chicago is still 100. Now we start getting into it in the east. D.C. feeling like 103. By the time we get through Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, we really jump up here. D.C. feeling like 105 each and every day. New York City, near 100. And even our friends in northern Vermont, about half of Northern New England does not have air conditioning. And if it feels like 106, that gets very dangerous for a lot of people. Plus, the schools from New York City northwards are still in session. The most of them are getting out in the middle of next week. As far as severe weather goes, we have a little area of concern heading now into areas of North Dakota tonight. This will travel through Bismarck. You'll probably be woken up by

storms in the middle of night in Fargo and eventually towards Duluth. Tomorrow we'll watch these severe storms diving down through the Great Lakes. But, Alison, I don't think we're going to see anything too widespread severe weather-wise, unlike the heat, which is here for just about all of us. All right, Bill Cairns, thank you. We're learning more about the not guilty verdict in Karen Reed's high-profile retrial. Tonight, one of the jurors in the case speaking out detailing what they say played a key role in deliberations. NBC's Emily Aketa has the details. Tonight, a window into the deliberation room

where Karen Reed's fate was decided. So say you, Mr. Foreman? So say you all? I do believe she was innocent. Paula Prado, a trained attorney, was among the 12 jurors who found Reed not guilty of murdering her police officer boyfriend John O'Keefe with her car.

A key piece of evidence? Having a close look of the pale eye in the deliberation room. Prado said that damage was inconsistent with video of Reed's red taillight after the alleged crash. The defense suggested it was tampered with. As for her impression of Reed,

at first, she gave me a vibe of being too confident. She was very focused on the trial and very alert of everything that was going on. After a while, I admire that. Reed's parents sitting down with NBC Boston after they say their first restful

sleep in years. know, Karen, as our daughter, had she done something and struck John O'Keefe, we would have been the first to, you know, be notified. While Reed's acquittal was met by an eruption of cheers from her supporters, Prado left the courtroom in tears. As much as I'm confident that we did the right thing and she's not guilty, I feel sorry that justice wasn't served to John O'Keefe. A member of O'Keefe's family calling the verdict heartbreaking, but telling Dateline there's relief in closing this chapter. A positive is Johnny can be at peace in the family and friends can grieve. Emily Ikeda, NBC News. And we're back in a moment with the chilling kidnapping plot

targeting the mayor of Memphis. A man arrested with rope, duct tape and a taser after scaling a brick wall outside the mayor's home. And the trial of Sean Diddy Cones that could be in the hands of a jury sooner than most thought. We're back now with the latest case of a government official safety being threatened. The mayor of Memphis, Tennessee, was home with his wife and kids when police say a man walked to the front door, quote, angry and armed with a taser. The suspect now facing charges, including attempted kidnapping. NBC's Aaron Gilcrest has this report. In court today, the man authorities accused of stalking and attempting to kidnap the mayor of Memphis.

Raise your right hand. Police say 25-year-old Trenton Abston admitted that he tracked down Mayor Paul Young and went to his home, angry and armed with a taser. The mayor lives in a subdivision that is both gated and guarded, but that didn't stop the suspect. Police say he jumped right over this brick wall. Inside with his family, Young says he watched on a door camera as Abston walked straight to our home, knocking on the door with gloves on, a full pocket, and a nervous demeanor. It happened on Sunday, less than 24 hours after a masked man went on a rampage targeting lawmakers in Minnesota. When Memphis police arrested Abston this week, he gave them permission to search his car. They found gloves, rope, duct tape, and a taser.

Police say Abston, who is licensed as an armed security guard, stated he planned to confront Paul Young about crime in the city of Memphis. But in court today, his family says he's remorseful. He wants to talk to the man. Hear his heart, and you'll understand. Across the country, elected officials are seeing a rising threat of political violence. I'm a little shaken, to be quite honest. Police arrested a man after Ohio Congressman Max Miller says he was targeted for being Jewish while driving to work. Thank God, my daughter was not in my vehicle.

And in New York, the NYPD says it's investigating a bomb threat and racist messages. directed at mayoral candidate Zoran Memdani, some members of Congress calling for more protections. Public servants and ordinary citizens should not have to fear their lives simply for doing their jobs. And Aaron Gilchrist joins us now from Memphis. Aaron, upsetting stuff there. I also understand we're getting reports

that a Texas man has now been arrested after allegedly making online threats against lawmakers. What can you tell us there? Yeah, Alison, this was in the San Annes. Antonio area. The police arrested 55-year-old Joseph Velo. They say that he made these comments posted on YouTube comments that they described as violent and racist and threatening, obviously, in particular against a few members of Congress, the minority leader in the House, Hakeem Jeffries of New York, Congresswoman Maxine Waters of California as well, as well as several other people, prominent people and groups in some of those posts as well. And as we understand it, these posts were discovered through the work of the local police department along with the FBI. Google played a role in helping to track down the digital footprint of this suspect and that helped lead police in San Antonio to arrest him. Alison, this though is just another example of the political threats, the political

violence that we've been talking about and hearing more and more about in particular since January 6th. And it's something that we've heard lawmakers at all levels. Federal, state and local say is something that needs to stop before someone else. gets hurt. Ellison? NBC's Aaron Gilcrest in Memphis. Thank you. Up next, the bizarre plot that sounds like something straight out of Hollywood. A man and woman accused of trying to murder women he previously dated with cyanide, even trying to poison one of them three times. Our Shaquille Brewster has the chilling details. Plus, the first summer blockbuster ever turns 50. We're talking about Jaws, of course. The film that made so many of us

afraid to enter the water, what the locals from the actual filming location told us next. But first, Top Story's top moment. Tonight, the baseball fan who looks like Spider-Man. Here's what he did after a brewers batter swung and lost control, sending his bat into the netting at Chicago's Wrigley Field. Take a look. And it's stuck. Sir, be careful, please.

Sir. Sir, the Milwaukee. Journal Centennial identifying that bold front row fan as Lou Farnella of Des Plains, Illinois. After the game, the Brewers returning that bet to the fan who went to such great heights with this handwritten message, nice climb. Stay with us. We'll be back in just a minute. wild plot to poison and kill women that one of them used to date. Prosecutors say victims' cars were broken into and their water bottles were spanked with poison, including cyanide.

NBC, Shaquille Brewster has this one. A hazmat team in Wisconsin investigating what prosecutors call an extensive poisoning plot. Paul Van Dyne Jr. and his partner, Andrea Whitaker, used elaborate poisons, including cyanide, to try to murder women Van Dine had previously been on dates with, according to court documents. say these vials of hazardous materials were found in his car, one of the alleged victims, a mother of two, speaking out anonymously today during a hearing. Well, over a year ago, I went on just two dates with this man, and now my entire life has been turned upside down. According to court documents, Van Dyn attempted to poison the first victim at least three times, beginning on April 26, when he broke into her car filling her gym water bottle with cyanide and thallium. Then on May 4th, they say he put a toxic and corrosive gas in her trunk.

How close was this to becoming deadly? Our victim within Rock County got hospitalized. She currently still is in a wheelchair. They had to fly in an antidote out of California for the poison that was used for her. Investigators say Van Dine tried to poison a second victim soon after, breaking into her car twice outside of a Costco. The woman told police her mouth felt funny after sipping from her water bottle. Police say they started tracking the pair, a Princeton educated engineer and a pharmacy student, arresting Van Dynne Sunday near the home of one of the women after he placed a trail camera pointed at her house to surveil her.

Van Dine and Whitaker now facing charges including attempted first-degree intentional homicide and stalking. A judge today setting Van Dines' bond at $10 million. Today, his alleged victim says she's terrified and no longer feel safe in her own home. The truth is, I barely knew him. yet, he and his accomplice decided that I should die. And Shaquille Brewster joins us now from Chicago. Shaq, do we have any sense of how the cyanide was obtained in this case? We don't, Allison.

And you saw the sheriff in that piece. I asked him directly if we know how they were able to get these chemicals. He said they're not ready to reveal that yet, but he pointed to Whitaker's background as a pharmacist or studying pharmacy. He said that she knew how to make these chemicals essentially effective and successful. And when you look at just how toxic these chemicals were, these are chemicals that not only threaten the lives of the women who were involved here, but it also threatened their family lives and even threatened the lives of the investigators throughout this investigation. The sheriff telling me that multiple people were rushed to the hospital as they were

investigating these chemicals. He also said that more charges in this case are certainly possible, Alison. NBC's Shack Brewster. Thank you. Let's take a look at Top Stories News Feed. We're going to begin with an update in the trial of Sean Diddy Combs. The judge saying closing arguments could happen as soon as next week. Prosecutors expecting to rest on Monday and the defense says they could wrap their case by Wednesday. Combs stands accused of sex trafficking, racketeering, conspiracy and transportation for prostitution.

He faces life in prison if convicted. He has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges. A fiery semi-truck crash in Oklahoma, sparking a manhunt for the driver who miraculously was not hurt. Look at this, dash cam video showing a car swerving out of control into the semi before it falls off the side of the road bursting into flames. Photos showing the charred aftermath of the wreckage. Neither driver was seriously injured, but the driver of that car that fled the scene. Police searched for three hours before ultimately finding him, they say, hiding in the woods. The 21-year-old is now facing multiple charges, including reckless driving, driving without a license, and leaving the scene of a crash.

Tempers flaring at the field at last night's game at Dodgers Stadium. The benches for both the Dodgers and the San Diego Padres emptying after a Padres player was hit by a pitch. The team meeting face-to-face at home plate for a shouting match that ended with both managers being ejected. Later in the ninth, Padres pitcher Robert Suarez ejected for hitting Dodgers superstar Shohei Otani. in the back. A wild video of a deer flying through a window at a New Hampshire restaurant early this morning. You've got to see this one too. The restaurant posting security video of the deer smashing through the front window flying several feet into the middle of the room. The restaurant saying the deer was not injured and a chef safely got it back out of the door. It has been 50

years since NBC's Universal Jaws swam onto the big screen. Locals of Martha's Vineyard, where that movie was shot reflecting on the monster legacy of the blockbuster film. The big question tonight, are they ready to get back in the water? Our Stephanie Gosk heads back to the beach to find out. Fifty years ago. Shark! Science is a punch! A generation got hooked on the summer blockbuster and more than just a little afraid of going back in the water. You're going to need a bigger boat. Jaws, a 25-foot great white shark torments the fictitious Amity Island, surely Massachusetts Martha's Vineyard.

We're going into the pond, which today is like an open-air museum to the classic thriller. When they say there's a shark in the pond, you see Chief Brody. He starts running down these rocks. On a sunny June day, people gather on the same beach where the little boy went too far out on a raft. You guys sit here on the beach a lot? Yes. Yeah. I swim sometimes out there. Do you ever think about the shark?

Every single time. Hollywood's first ever blockbuster, launching a new era in filmmaking. Another thing about a shark, he's got lifeless eyes. Stephen Spielberg's movie is deeply woven into the folklore of this idyllic New England island. But in recent days, a cloud has appeared on the horizon of this beautiful resort community. A cloud in the shape of a killer shark. One of the lesser known lines, but admittedly, pure genius. The island looks a lot like it did 50 years ago.

It's the same ferry. Same fairy. The same ferry we're on. From this fateful scene with the film's despicable mayor. You yelled shark. We've got a panic on our hands on the 4th of July. James Haggerty leads the town today. Do you bristle a little bit at the depiction?

I do sometimes, and people often give me that 1974 sport jacket with the anchors. Sick vandalism. Beyond the terror, Jaws is really a hero story. Smile, you son of a... It may be 50. I think it ties with us. But it never gets old. You kick it.

Stephanie Gosk, NBC News, Martha's Vineyard. Turning now to Top Story's Global Watch, starting in Ukraine, where new video shows a woman escaping a... burning building following a Russian strike. You can see the woman climbing out of a window and then down a ladder trying to get to safety after that overnight drone attack in the city of Odessa. Ukrainian officials saying at least one person was killed and 14 others injured. They say high-rise buildings and railway infrastructure was targeted. U.S. Customs and Border Patrol shutting down a half-mile smuggling tunnel connecting a commercial warehouse in San Diego County

to a home in Tijuana, Mexico. Officials say it was equipped with lights, ventilation, and a track system. They claim it was used to transport things like drugs and weapons. Contractors are expected to pour thousands of gallons of concrete into that tunnel to prevent any future use. And good news tonight for K-pop fans. All seven BTS members are done with their mandatory military service. Sugar, the final BTS singer, will be officially discharged tomorrow.

No official events are planned for his release out of concern for overcrowding. The band plans to reunite as a group, they say, sometime this year. We want to turn now back to the escalating conflict in the Middle East. As Trump remains on the fence about U.S. involvement, our Andrea Mitchell with an exclusive sit-down interview with Iran's foreign minister. Today, in an exclusive interview, Iran's foreign minister calling on President Trump to demand Israel stop its attacks. What it needs is only a telephone call from Washington to Tel Aviv to stop everything.

Tonight, President Trump responding, saying Israel is winning. I think it's very hard to make that request right now. If somebody's winning, it's a little bit harder to do than if somebody's losing. But we're ready, willing, and able, and we've been speaking to Iran, and we'll see what happens. All of it is President Trump again met in the Situation Room, as he decides whether to launch a U.S. airstrike on the underground Iranian Fordo nuclear facility. Only the U.S. has the bunker-buster bombs capable of destroying it. Within a matter of weeks or certainly within a matter of months,

they were going to be able to have a nuclear weapon. We can't let that happen. He said he'll wait up to two weeks to give diplomacy a chance. Just at time to see whether or not people come to their senses. Tonight, Iran's foreign minister tells us they won't resume talking to the U.S. until Israel stops attacking them. Can diplomacy produce a solution in two weeks? We have come to the conclusion that negotiations by the U.S. was in fact a cover for what Israelis did.

So they had perhaps this plan in their mind, and they just needed negotiations, perhaps, to cover it up. We don't know how we can trust them anymore. What they did was, in fact, a betrayal to diplomacy. While Iran vowing to respond to any U.S. strike, would Iran retaliate against U.S. targets and U.S. forces in the region or elsewhere? When there is a war, both sides attack each other. That is quite understandable. And self-defense is a legitimate right of every country. Our thanks to Andrea Mitchell. We're going to pause now for some breaking news. Mahoud Khalil, the grad student who was taken into custody, seen as a figure to so many representing the protest campaign. against the war in Gaza and the Trump administration's response.

He has just been released from where he was being detained and held behind bars. Let's listen in. Why he left behind me shouldn't be there in the first place. The Trump administration are doing their best to dehumanize everyone here. Whether you are a U.S. citizen, an immigrant, or just a person on this land, doesn't mean that you are less of a human. Thank you so much, everyone. Question from a quick question from the Guardian.

So the Trump administration has labelled you a national security threat. They have fought tooth and nail to keep you detained in one of the most renowned and punitive detention centers in the country. Do you have any message for the Trump administration? The Trump and his administration, they chose the wrong person for this. That doesn't mean that there is a right person for this. There's no right person who should be detained for actually protesting a genocide. for protesting their university, Columbia University, that is investing in the genocide of the Palestinian people.

So this is my message. I will be able to give more comments at the press conference in New York tomorrow. I really need to catch the flight. What is the first thing you'll do when you get home tonight? Just hug my wife and son. That's as simple as that. It's not get back. I did not actually spend time with my son.

The only time I spent my son was in a specified one hour limit that the government had imposed on us. So that means that now I can actually hug him and Noor, my wife, without looking at the clock that now it's 59 minutes and they have to give him back to his mom. and then an ICE officer is coming to escort me out. That's what actually is. What's your message to all other immigrants in this country today? No one is illegal. No human is illegal. That's the message.

The message is just as we prevail, no matter what this administration may try to portray, portraying that immigrants are, whether criminals or any of that, trying to do all of this now. This simply is not true, and just to keep the fight against this administration. Mahmoud, you spent three months inside that detention center, as you say, spent 104 days, so more than three months. Reflecting on that time, has it changed you as a person and your politics as well? Absolutely. I mean, the moment you enter this facility, your rights leave you,

leave you behind. So once you enter there, you see a different reality. Just a different reality about this country that supposedly champions human rights and liberty and justice. But once you cross literally that door, you see the opposite side of what actually happening on this country under just the eyes of everyone. But I will leave it here. Thank you so much, everyone. And again, like, I would be able to give more comments in New York. But thank you so much. Thank you so much.

Take care. Thanks, Mahmaine. And we have been listening there to a press conference out of Louisiana. That is Mahmoud Khalil, who was speaking and taking a couple questions from reporters before heading to the airport, he says, to get a flight back home to New York. You will remember he was someone who was associated with the pro-Palestinian protest and said to be a key leader that took place on Columbia University's campus. He was a graduate student previously at Columbia University.

He was also a permanent resident of the United States, but despite that, he was taken into federal custody, sent to a detention center in Louisiana where he has been for more than three months. Correcting reporters there, he said it has been a little more than three months, 104 days. His wife had a baby while he was in custody. He says he plans to go home to see his wife and spend time with his new son. was released from federal custody after a judge ruled and ordered that he should be released. We will stay on that developing story as the night progresses.

But for now, let's carry on with some of the other news that we are following this evening. We're going to add to our ongoing series priced out and a stunning new trend for American suburbs. How Home Sweet Home increasingly is coming with a lease instead of a mortgage. Our senior business correspondent Christine Romans explains. America's suburbs undergoing a transformation. We're priced out of the market right now and we're not the only ones. The dream of owning the house with the white picket fence, increasingly giving way to white picket renters. In Lake Villa, Illinois, outside of Chicago, engineer Andrew Decker earns a six-figure salary and only wishes he and his fiancé could buy a home.

You could buy a house tomorrow if the price was right, if the interest rates were where they needed to be. they needed to be. But mortgage rates are near 7% and home prices at record highs. Since the pandemic, the median single-family home price has soared almost $100,000, now topping 400 grand. How is that changing the suburbs? Well, basically what you see is that renting obviously is a much more economical option than buying. And developers have seen this trend that can start it in 2021 with COVID, and they've really built a surge of apartments. According to new analysis of census data, renting in the burbs is surging so much. 203 suburbs across the country are now majority home renter rather than homeowner. In 15 suburbs, the number of renter households more than

doubled between 2018 and 2023. I don't see any end in sight. I really don't. And I foresee it getting worse and worse over the next five years. Renters like Andrew Decker left wondering how they'll ever be able to buy their piece of the American dream. Christine Roman's NBC News. When Top Story returns the segment, we know you've been waiting on all week. We are talking about the new Netflix series from the creators of Scream, the return of the Gilded Age, Ride Sallie Ride, and new music from Lord. Benjeworthy is next.

And we are back now with Bingeworthy, our look at the best things to watch and listen to this weekend. We're joined by friend of the program, NBC News Entertainment contributor, Chris Witherspoon. Chris, as always. Hey, Alison. Thank you for spending a Friday with us. It's Friday. Can we start with a new show? Is it new?

It's brand new. Brand new Netflix. Yes. The creators of Scream and Dawson's Creek, they are behind this one. It's called The Waterfront. It is on Netflix. All eight episodes are out right now. Let's take a look.

We're struggling. We're going to lose the restaurants and the harbor. We have to come up with $2 million in less than three months. What are you going to do? I'm going to take control of things. $10 million with the cocaine and opiates. You realize we've crossed the line, there's no coming back from this. Don't have a meltdown right here in the mud.

I'm sorry. Do not apologize. I mean, it's spicy, but this is like what about a fish empire? Yeah, a fish empire. this turns into a drug business. So think Ozark, think Succession, think Bloodlines. Do you watch Bloodlines on Netflix? It was a really good show about like a fishing empire also.

It's okay. But Kevin Williamson, who you mentioned, you know about his shows. Vampire Diaries, as you mentioned, Dawson's Creek. This is in that same vein, but also a lot of escapism. It's shot in a very beautiful location down south. I think it's one of those summer binges people need right now. And we'd love to drop when all episodes come out at the same time. Yeah, all eight.

It's a true easy watch, but also a lot of twists and turns and a little bit of horror in there too. Ooh, all right, we like it. That's a fun one to start with. Next up is on HBO, the Gilded Age. People have been, like, really waiting for this to come back. I'm wearing a corset right now. You are? Just to be ready.

No, I'm joking. I mean, it looks good. No, don't say you're not wearing it. We stick to it. We've all worn courses today, and here's a clip. When you have a nice house, money, you're invited everywhere. What more is there? I'm not sure you understand.

Some people want more. Do I sense rebellion in our myth? We are in the next generation. I think we should fight for that. You promised I could marry for love. Let me be my own person. I want to know if I get a say in our children's lives. You got to wait until Sunday to see this one.

Carrie Coons. I'm going to try and breathe through the corset right now, but just know it is like Downton Abbey, but it's more messy and it's American. Just think that. If you like that show, that is why you should watch this show. But Carrie Coon, who you mentioned, from White Lotus has been in this show for two seasons.

Now she's back for her third season. She's like the matriarch of the family trying to sell her daughter off to this, like, British Duke. It is very messy, but also I want to shout out Leslie Uggams, this Broadway legend who's in this show. She plays the member of the Black Elite from Newport, Rhode Island. So a lot of history in this show,

not about just New York, but about that whole era, the Gilded Era. It's so good. That is really fascinating. It's a slow burn, but it's so worth it. Okay, this is one that has been on my, I should probably try it again. I'll take your word for it.

I'll report back. Up next on Hulu, though. Love Me, which stars Kristen Stewart and Steve, I can't read the last name. Steve Yon. Steve Yon, great. Tell me, well, actually, let's just watch a clip. Gromance sci-fi.

You are a human being. Human being. You're special. You're worthy. You're you. I'm me. The coolest part is you get to be whatever you want to be. I can be me.

If you need help finding friends or contact. We can be friends. pick a face how about this face this is how life forms make friends okay I'm not so sure I'm following let's move in together in here we can create a world just for us

okay so obviously I accidentally skipped this one in the pre list I didn't know Chris and Stewart had a new thing out I thought she was just doing movies you know what's crazy this came out to the picture show to the movies back in January now it's coming to Hulu now it's on Hulu but it's like Wally but it's kind of like more sci-fi it's like Wally meets her

remember that movie her with Joaquin Phoenix so So it takes place in the future. Human extinction has happened. And Kristen Stewart plays a buoy. Stephen Young plays a satellite and they're falling in love. And they're kind of learning about the human existence and human experience with the internet. It is very quirky, but it's Christian Stewart. And we're here for Kristen Stewart and whatever she does. We love a quirky sci-fi rock. Whatever. And people loved it when it came to the movies. Critics love that it's very futuristic. But now it's on Hulu. All right. We love that. This next one I have already seen. And it was extraordinary, in my unqualified opinion. Yes.

which is on Disney Plus, it's a documentary about Sally Ride, the first female astronaut, American female astronaut, but first female astronaut in general to go to space. Take a look. Main engine starts and liftoff. We have America's first woman astronaut. Houston here, Latin, clear now. She was the most famous person on Earth for a while.

It was really hard because she was very private. Dr. Sally Ride. Sally Ride. Sally Kaye Ryan. Sally Risk everything. to make history. But telling the world about us was a risk she just couldn't take. I love, love, loved this.

And I loved getting to hear from her partner after so many years, because a lot of people I don't know until after she died that she had been in a relationship with a woman and that she was gay. Yeah, and they were, like, closeted. You know, this was Pride Month.

So what a great time to drop this. This also did really well at the Sundance Film Festival. Now it's on Disney Plus. It's on Hulu, and I think it's a learning experience for young people. I didn't know who Sally Ride was. I don't really remember hearing about her in my history classes in high school. But to, you know, your point, she was the first female asterizant from the United States to go to space in 83.

I wasn't even born yet. I kind of was. But bottom line, her love story, all that she kind of endured just through sexism and being in that industry comes to life. She passed away, unfortunately, in 2012, but her partner is still kind of over the estate and kind of leading away with this project. Yeah, I mean, it's so good. And I love any sort of documentary when you get to go, like, deep back into the art. Because it's so cool to just see the dress, just the way, and just remember those moments through the lens of, like, TV news and things at that time. And it's also a beautiful love story.

Like, when you hear them talk about their love story, it's just stunning. That's really sweet. Okay, should we do music? Let's go to music. Because a lot of people are pretty excited that Lord has a new single out. I'm still into that song, Royals. Well, you've got to get into Hammer now. Take a listen.

I might have been born again. I'm ready to feel like I don't have the answers. There's peace in the madness over our head. Let it carry me a, uh, ah, uh, uh, uh, and I just love Lord. A lot of folks don't realize she's from New Zealand, and I think she's just so cool. It's her fourth studio album. It's out now. It's called Virgin.

And this song Hammer is about just love and it's kind of like a midnight meltdown. It's messy. And it's Lord. It's like quirky, wet hair don't care the whole video. People really love her. I think she has an audience of all different ages, really. Awesome. Okay, so the next one we have is Heim. It's called I Quit. Let's take a listen. It is their fourth album, and it's these sisters.

It's kind of like a California breezy vibe. People are really loving Hine right now, and this album has so many bangers. It's rock, but also like a little bit of R&B and pop in their tune. And it was so perfect that we had, I quit kind of as our last song, because Carlin McCarthy, who produced this segment, who's an extraordinary producer here,

is moving on to other wonderful things, grad school things, but she produces everything from all the hard news to this, and so shout out to Carlin on that song. And Chris Witherspoon, thank you for being here. As always, we appreciate it. And thank you at home. much for watching Top Story. I'm Ellison Barber in New York. Stay right there. We'll be right back.

Thank you.