Top Story with Tom Llamas - Friday, June 5, 2026

Episode Date: June 6, 2026

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 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Tonight our exclusive sit-down with President Trump, what he just told Kristen Welker about why there still isn't a deal with Iran and why he thinks the Iranians are holding out. Plus, the president's push on the economy as prices at the pump begin to fall. Will it be enough to win over Americans before the midterms? Also tonight, the scare on the International Space Station, NASA's emergency order sending astronauts scrambling. The alarming leaks hundreds of miles from Earth, forcing the crew to rush to shelter in a space capsule. efforts to repair those cracks right now. The undecided elections in California votes for governor and L.A. mayor still coming in. Could we get a call tonight? Our Steve Kornacki, he's back and he's at the big board. Dramatic video of a Marine veteran fending off a group of teens trying to carjack him

at gunpoint. Wait till you see and hear all of the story, how he was able to disarm them. Heart stopping rescue a woman saved just before her SUV is fully submerged. Hacking meta's smart glasses, our tech analysts, investigates the trick some are now using to secretly record you. And our series, Great Americans, tonight bestselling author, John Grisham, how he turned his life as a small town lawyer into literary gold. Plus, college sticker shock will show you the schools that now cost more than $100,000 per year. Top story starts right now. Good evening. We begin tonight with the NBC News exclusive interview with President Trump. Meet the press moderator Kristen Welker going one-on-one with the president.

She pressed him on the war in Iran, and he says Iran is desperately trying to make a deal. So why are peace talks stalled? The president also revealing new details about how much missile capacity Iran has left nearly 100 days into this war. That interview happening on the road in Wisconsin where the president is making his economic pitch to Americans, tithing a stronger-than-expected jobs report in front of a room full of farmers. also mentioning gas prices, which have come down in recent weeks, but remain well over $4 a gallon on average. And we're following more breaking news on the war in Iran.

Moments ago, U.S. forces shooting down four Iranian drones that were launched towards the Strait of Hormuz. More on that in a moment. But first, NBC's Gabe Gutierrez has more on what we heard exclusively from the president. Tonight, President Trump saying the Iranian regime has no choice but to make a deal during an exclusive interview with Meet the Press moderator, Kristen Welker. You have been saying for months, Mr. President, that Iran is begging to make a deal. True.

They are so desperate to make a deal. Why haven't they made a deal with you yet? Because it's a very hard thing for them. They've had great independence. They've dealt with very weak and ineffective leadership on behalf of the United States and other countries, frankly, that allowed them to get away with murder. And I think they can't believe they're in the situation where they've been virtually decalcedure. But if they're so desperate, Mr. President, why haven't they said yes to the terms you're proposing?

They're proud. There are things they never thought they'd be doing that they're going to have to do. They've got no choice. And it takes a little while, you know. You're talking about 47 years of getting away with whatever they wanted. I mean, this should have been done long ago. This should have been done by other presidents or other countries. When pressed, President Trump adding that Iran has 21 or 22 percent,

percent of its missile capacity left. Today he arrived in Wisconsin, backing Republicans here ahead of the midterms, touting progress in the Iran conflict and on the economy. The jobs numbers, I guess you saw them this morning. They just got released and they smashed all expectations by actually three times. Making a push on the economy, touting today's stronger than expected jobs report. The U.S. adding 172,000 jobs. Plus, the national gas price average. has dropped more than 30 cents in two weeks, but prices are still up since the Iran war began. Jody Loftus's family owns a trucking company. What impact has rising gas prices had on your life?

A lot. We have faith that it's going to get better, and we have seen it going to go down. She supports President Trump. Still, Democrats here think they have an opening. Farmers are feeling the squeeze in particular with the rise of diesel prices, as well as the rise of fertilizer prices. As for that interview, Kristen and the Meet the Press team conducted it here in Wisconsin inside a barn at the request of the White House. There were multiple interruptions when rain repeatedly was hitting the metal roof of the barn. Following those challenges, as well as a back and forth about election integrity, where the president disagreed with the questions.

President Trump ended the interview about 50 minutes after it began. Tom? Gabe Gutierrez traveling with the president, and you can watch all. all those moments that Gabe was talking about. And more of Kristen Welker's exclusive with President Trump this Sunday on NBC's Meet the Press. For more on that breaking news, though, out of the Middle East, I want to bring in NBC's Courtney, QB, Courtney. This is sort of stunning coming right out of that interview.

What can you tell us about these U.S. strikes? Yes, so we've just learned from U.S. Central Command that the U.S. struck not only four Iranian drones that Sentcom says were a direct threat to maritime operations in the Strait of Hormuz, But the U.S. has also taken airstrikes on at least two different sites inside Iran. Now, these were coastal radar sites, one on Keshem Island and the other in Garuk. Why, that's kind of significant here, Tom, is it's not the first time we've seen them strike those sites. But one is basically at the base of the Strait of Hormuz up towards the northwestern side of it, and the other is on the other side of the Strait of Hormuz. So the U.S. military hitting both sides of the Strait of Hormuz with these strikes here.

Again, it's not the first time that we've seen it, but this has been a consistent escalation where the U.S. and the Iranian military, or in this case, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, have traded back and forth strikes that just continue to escalate, Tom. And it speaks to why we may be so far off from a peace deal. Have we seen any response yet from Iran? Not yet, but if passed as precedent here, what we've seen over the last several weeks is the U.S. takes strikes against Iranian military sites, and Iran retaliate, by firing a series of either ballistic missiles or drones or both at either U.S. allies in the region

or in some cases they've even targeted U.S. officials and U.S. personnel in the region who may be co-located at some of those military bases that are owned by some of those allies. Tom, we have to watch over the coming hours to see if, in fact, Iran retaliates in that way again. Okay, Courtney Kubing, always great to have you on that breaking news. Courtney, thank you. We're also following the emergency evacuation on the International Space Station. American astronauts alerted to shelter inside a separate spaceship as Russian crew members race to fix two leaks on their side of the spacecraft. Tom Costello picks it up from there. The urgent call from Mission Control this morning ordered astronauts on the space station to begin an emergency procedure, move to the dot SpaceX dragging capsule. For all U.S. OSS. crew members need you to execute a procedure, eMER procedure, 3-decule 4.

Crew Dragon established safe haven. The order came as Russia worked to patch two new air leaks on its side of the station. Russia says it was able to repair the first, but fixing the second leak might involve using a saw to gain access. Then Russia decided to pause the work to take more measurements. The astronauts allowed to return to the station. So with that, we are comfortable backing out of the safe haven config. For years, Russia has dealt with cracks and leaks in its module that NASA says have always been a concern. that it watches very closely.

Today, the Russian Space Agency said there is no threat to the safety of the crew. Former astronaut Steve Robinson. Well, it's been a slow leak of air to the vacuum of space. And of course, when you're in space, that's not a good thing. You want to keep the air on the inside of the space station.

No word on when Russia will again attempt to patch the leak. This is the simulator view from the space station looking out at the Earth, from the cupola. Now, this has been continuously crude since the year 2000. The interior of the station is packed with equipment, piping, and experiments.

It's certainly concerning it's something they want to do something about, and so they're trying. It is possible that NASA could again tell the astronauts to take shelter if and when Russia decides to try the patch again. You know, just like home repairs, the concern is trying to fix it could actually make matters worse, and you don't want to do that. Tom. Okay, Tom Costello, yeah, that's a wild one there up in space. Tom, thank you. We're going to turn now to Texas and the intense day in court as a trial. trial for that deadly stabbing at a high school track meet unfolds. The suspect Carmelo Anthony accused of killing 17-year-old Austin Medcalf. Today, emotions running high as several young witnesses

took the stand. And prosecutors showing body cam video of the moments after the stabbing. The case of dining in debate over race joining us now as NBC News legal analyst, Misty Mayors. Misty, I want to read to you a few quotes from that emotional testimony today. We heard one woman say she heard Carmelo Anthony tell Austin, if you wanted me to move me, you have, if you wanted me to move me, you'd have to move me. And another, a 17-year-old witness said, he heard Carmelo tell Austin, touch me and find out. And another witness said he heard Austin tell Carmelo, I'm not going to fight you at a track me. What else did we learn from this testimony today? It doesn't sound like this was a good day for the defense. No, so this testimony related to a bunch of different

individuals who were there in that tent. And we know, Tom, that there's video, but the video is very hard to discern. So the testimony of these eyewitnesses is key to both the prosecution's case and the defense case. So from the defense perspective, raising a self-defense case, they need to show that Carmel and Anthony acted reasonably and proportionately to a threat that he believed, reasonably believed, was deadly. And so some of this testimony, would tend to refute that. And the other issue is that if Carmelo Anthony is deemed by the jury to be the initial aggressor,

meaning that he provoked the altercation, then he cannot avail himself of a self-defense action. So that's where this testimony relates as far as the prosecutor and defense case. Yeah, and then prosecutor is also playing body cam video today of the chaotic moments after the stabbing and Carmelo Anthony makes a pretty stunning. studying admission in the video that we had heard about before.

Yes, so he makes an admission. He says, I'm not alleged. I did it. And that's in the body cam footage. But keep in mind, Tom, that when somebody does claim self-defense, they're admitting that they committed the act. They're just saying that there was legal justification. So today, during cross-examination of one of the witnesses who was in that tent,

one of the individuals who saw what happened, there was something that the defense grabbed onto. And it was that a group was crowding around Carmelo Anthony, and they were standing and he was sitting. So I would expect to see more of that pursued by the defense and cross-examination. Remember, they say that Carmelo Anthony acted in a split-second decision because he was in fear, and they continued to point to the difference in size between Metcalf and Anthony. So these are all of the factors that go to that critical question that the jury will decide. Was Carmelo Anthony acting reasonably to a threat that was deadly under the circumstances?

Yeah, and this testimony about Carmelo Anthony apparently having the knife before the sort of physical part of this starting that he had reached into his bag. That's going to be very, very tough for the defense to sort of counter. Misty, we thank you for your time tonight. We really do appreciate it. We're going to head overseas because Russian President Putin tonight rejecting an invitation from Ukraine's leader, President Zelensky, for face-to-face talks, part of a major address in St. Petersburg tonight, and Chief International correspondent Kierre Simmons is there in the room for us. Tonight, Russia's President Vladimir Putin saying he sees no sense in meeting with Ukraine's President Zelenskyy face-to-face.

And addressing Russian soldiers in Ukraine, Putin urging them, keep working, brothers, to applause from a hall of senior Russian officials. President Trump had encouraged a meeting, and his... His representative here in Russia was sitting in the front row. I do give a good hello from your friend, President Trump. Earlier speaking to NBC News. Do you think you're making progress with potential of a peace in your... One is always hopeful.

But in a long, open letter Zelensky told Putin, war was Putin's personal choice and suggested Putin's existence was threatened if it continued. A letter the Russian leader called Rude. How long can Russia keep fighting? Until the goals of the special military operation are accomplished, Russia's Deputy Prime Minister told us tonight. Kier Simman joins us now live. He continues his reporting there out of St. Petersburg.

Kier has Putin given any indication that a diplomatic resolution to this war is still possible? Well, he would like that, but he would like it on his own terms. You know, Tom, the irony of this war continues to be that, on both sides, honestly, President Putin and President Zelensky would like to see the war end, but on their terms. And that's really what we saw from President Putin today to read what he said, and it was hours of Q&A

after a speech that he gave. Really what he is signaling is that he still believes that Russia can win on the battlefield, despite the fact that the front line is frozen, and that he still believes that he can get a deal with Ukraine, where Ukraine agrees to surrender. territory, all of Donbass, if for those who know Ukraine well enough. And of course, Ukrainians are saying very clearly that they are not going to agree to that

kind of surrender of territory. And then there's another part of this, which is that's supposed to be a security deal for Ukraine in exchange. But President Putin today, talking about wanting to change the politics of Ukraine, seemed to sort of undermine that idea too. So we say President Putin is doubling down on his maximalist goals. Well, that's really what he did today. And, you know, he described, as I said in my report, the letter from President Zelensky is rude.

This gets very personal between these two. And clearly President Putin took what President Zelensky said, talking about his age, for example, as a personal affront. And I don't think that's helped. Ultimately, the Ukrainians appear to think that. they can push Russia to capitulate, that eventually Russian people will stop supporting President Putin and this war. And while there have been shifts in Russian opinion, I'll be honest, Tom, being here in Russia, you don't get the impression at least that that's coming anytime soon. So for President Trump, it's hard to see how his aim of ending this war so quickly that he talked

about before the election, that that's actually really going to come to pass. All right, Keir Simmons, with so much perspective and reporting from there in Russia, Keir, we appreciate you being there for us. We're going to bring it back home now. We are closely watching, as you know, the results of the election out West in California and the races for governor and L.A. mayor. Those mail-in ballots still coming in. I want to get right over to Steve Kornacki, who joins us now.

Steve, we've been here for a moment now. We left off last night with 64% of the vote in. I know you and I are both watching that 64% number because we understand that votes coming in at any second, but they just haven't dropped yet. Yeah, Tom, the folks in L.A. have told us they expect to report out there next batch of votes in L.A. County and in this mayor's election at 4.15 local time, 715 Eastern Time. That is right now. Last night, they were right on time with this. So I'm looking at these numbers like a hawk. But while I keep an eye on them, just set up what is about to happen here. Again, we've already projected

in the mayor's race that the incumbent Karen Bass will advance to the general election. The question is, will Spencer Pratt or Nithia Rahman be her opponent in the general election? Pratt with that lead over Rahman, but the story has been that lead is shrinking as more and more of these late vote-by-mail ballots are tabulated and released. So you can see right now that is a six-point margin, Pratt Rahman. That is 33,076 votes. That's the difference right now. Pratt's lead over ramen. Now that may sound like a lot, but again, remember, we're not even quite at two-thirds of the vote in here. like a quarter of a million votes or more still to be counted here. And Rahman has been running more than 10 points ahead of Pratt in these late arriving mail ballots. So you could just project

that out. If that continues at that pace with that many votes left, this is certainly something she could do in terms of overtaking Pratt and making it into the general election. So again, that is what's happening there in the mayor's race in simultaneously. I don't know, time. You want me to show the governor's race or just stay. Keep going, man. Yeah, keep going. You're on fire. This is what happened last time. It came in while you were talking. I get scared. It's going to flip and we're going to miss it.

But the other thing that's also going to happen, I think, when this L.A. result comes in, implications here for the governor's race. Because look how close it is right now between Steve Hilton, Republican, who right now leads. But look how close Javier Becerra is. That's a difference of just under 9,000 votes in a state this big. And again, L.A. County expected to report any second now. It's overwhelmingly Democratic. It's where Bacera's from.

It's his political base. So the expectation is this update in L.A. County is also going to propel Bacera ahead of Hilton and into first place. He has been closing that gap steadily as the vote by mail comes in from around the state. We've already had in the last few minutes, Sacramento County, Alameda County, San Bernardino County. They've all come in with updates in the last few minutes. It's brought Bacera to the cusp of overtaking Hilton. If and when that does happen, Bacera moving into first place, then really that's going to crystallize the drama here as the remaining third of the vote is tabulated in this governor's race, it'll then be Hilton,

if he does indeed fall into second place there, can he hold off Tom Steyer? Because again, that looks like a giant difference between Hilton and Steyer. That's a sizable difference, but again, because of how overwhelmingly democratic these late arriving vote-by-mail counts have been, with that much vote left, the possibility still exists that not only would Bessera leapfrog Hilton, that seems like it's on the verge of happening, but that Stottieck. Tire ultimately could pass Hilton get in the second place. And the runoff in the governor's race would be between Bacera and Steyer, two Democrats with the Republican being locked out. So that's sort of the suspense there in the governor's race. And again, that L.A. update. Boy, I hype this thing, Tom. They were right on time last night. And I'm thinking it was going to be right on time again tonight. But so far, 715 is come and going. They haven't updated it. But that's what they've told us. And when it happens, that's the clarity we're going to get. Steve, let's just tap dance for a little bit. Let's give it like, let's give it a breather. And see, see, see, see. it happens. I don't know because I've worked that machine before. I don't know if you come out

and you come back again, it'll refresh, but we don't know. Right. You know, Republicans are saying tonight that this election is a sham without any evidence because it's taking so long. Explain to our viewers why that's not necessarily the case. It's just the mail-in vote takes time to get processed. Yeah, look, it's a, there's a lot of criticisms of the system in California. There's a lot of talk that, hey, can this be changed? Can this be reformed? The reality is this about a decade old. California pretty much went to a universal. vote, or almost universal vote by mail system. There are still some folks who cast votes, you know, in person on election day, but the vast majority is cast by mail. And one thing that

California allows, not every state allows this, is for ballots to continue to come in if they're postmarked up to a week past election day. So that adds certain uncertainty. I mean, if you were watching last night, when you're seeing this number up here, this percent in, that's NBC's estimate of how many votes, you know, our total are out there that were cast. And that number is Our estimate has moved around a little bit because as each day comes, we find out how many ballots arrived in the mail and it changes that calculation a little bit. So that's a little bit of the flux right there. I do think one of the things that might have happened in particular this year to make the late arriving mail a ballot so overwhelmingly Democratic is if you remember, there was a lot of, I'll go off the mayor's screen here. I'll leave it on the mayor's screen to just talk about it.

The governor's race there, remember, that Democratic primary on the Democratic race on the governor's. side there. It's kind of an unusually wide open race. You had a candidate who appeared to be the frontrunner, Congressman Eric Squalwell, who dropped out fairly late in the campaign. And so there's one theory out there that Democratic voters, in particular, more than Republican voters, were kind of waiting till the end to make up their mind in that governor's race and therefore put their ballots in the mail much later than Republicans did because of that. So that's one of the theories out there about why it might be particularly overwhelmingly Democratic. Though I will say in general, in the history of this vote-by-mail program that California has been doing,

it does tend to favor the Democrats that late-arriving count. And we've certainly seen, you know, I'm talking about the possibility in the governor's race here, you know, of the Republicans, you know, kind of being overtaken later or Pratt being overtaken. We have seen that happen. We've seen that happen in the last decade to some Republican candidates. Yeah, I appreciate you. I appreciate you tap dancing. It clearly didn't happen. I will say this. So, Steve, I'll tell you this. I just check some other sites. It hasn't come in. Nobody has. It hasn't come in yet, so something's delayed. The watch the pot doesn't play, right? As soon as you leave, I'm sure it'll pop up.

We're back in a moment with the killing of a Hollywood actor stabbed outside of his home. What we're learning about the suspect and his connection to that family. Plus, our NBC News investigation into those popular meta-smart classes, how some are alerting them to secretly record you. And the attempted carjacking gone wrong, a Marine veteran fighting off a group of teens after one of them flashed a gun in his face. That dramatic new video right after this. We were back now with the death that has stunned the entertainment world.

Authorities say veteran actor James Handy was stabbed to death in L.A. And now new video shows a suspect in the case walking through the neighborhood right after the crime. Steve Patterson has a story. An apparent chilling confession captured in the moments after the brutal killing of beloved actor James Handy. We have a possible detained is going to be a male wife. The description fitting a neighbor's haunting surveillance video. This suspect identified by police's 44-year-old Michael Gledhill, now charged with murder. The LAPD says he flagged himself to authorities.

The victim is going to be on the west side of the house by the tarred street, grabbed in a blue blanket. Authorities saying it started with a call and an ominous admission. Wednesday morning, someone dialing 911 telling the dispatcher, I am the son of man, I just killed the man of sin. I don't see any guano. Handy was a prolific 90s character actor with several big screen roles and a string of TV appearances. That was fun. No, you're not. Recently, he appeared in Blockbuster's Logan and Top Gun Maverick.

Hey, Matt. Police say Glethill was living with his mother at this home in Los Angeles, and that she was dating the 81-year-old actor. Responding officers finding handy unconscious in the front yard stabbed in the chest, a representative confirming his death. In a statement to NBC News, the suspect's mother, Wendy Glethill said, I love James. This should have never happened to him.

I'm sorry to his family and his friends. Tonight, a veteran actor's own story cut tragically short. All right. Steve Patterson joins us tonight from Los Angeles. Steve, that suspect now being held on bond. What else do we know? Tom, we're learning. Of course, he was arrested, charged with murder as we learned today. And we're learning tonight with a special allegation of a use of a deadly weapon,

which, of course, would require more prison time if he's convicted. He's being held on $2 million bail. Tom. Okay, Steve Patterson, we thank you from L.A. tonight. Also tonight, a Marine veteran in Maryland. fighting off a group of teenagers after one of them points a gun in his face. The dramatic incident captured on his home surveillance camera, he's now speaking out to our Ryan Nobles. Jake O'Borda was working on his truck in his quiet neighborhood in suburban Maryland

when he noticed a group of teenagers walked by. They start putting hoodies on. I felt something is going to happen. Surveillance video from the Marine Veterans Home Security camera shows one of the teens pull a gun and stick it in Borda's face. I told him I raised my hands up and I thought keys are in, car is on, and he saw my phone, he was like, give me your phone too. But then his hand-to-hand military combat training kicked in. It was that split moment when he moved his hand from my head to the side of my head. That's when I grab him and pull it out, pull it my way.

You can see, Borda, wrestling the team with the gun to the ground. His brother rushes into help. Listen as the gun fires during the struggle. In the midst of the melee, the teen's gun went off. But fortunately, no one was hurt. The only gunshot ended up here in the truck. Borda's father then charges in right behind. Together, the family subduing the teens.

Police say two suspects on the scene were taken into custody. Was there anything in the back of your mind's like maybe these guys messed with the wrong dude? Nothing. The first thing I thought was, how am I going to work if they're going to take my car? That's the first thing I thought. Ryan Noble's NBC News, Oxon Hill, Maryland. All right, coming up tonight, the soaring cost of college. Look at the growing number of schools that could run you.

More than six figures a year all in, we'll explain. Plus, we sit down with the best-selling author, John Grisham, in our weekly series, Great Americans. But first, top story's top moment and the incredible moment on the diamond. Philly's pitcher Christopher Sanchez getting a standing O for giving up a hit. That's because it marked the end of his historic score. streak which stretch, get this for more than 50 innings, and then look what happened. Left side. There's a base in it to left field. Marsh gets to it quickly. Rounding third,

heading for home as France. The throw to the plate is not in time. And Christopher Sanchez is finally allowed her on after 50 and two-thirds innings. And here comes the crowd to their feet. The crowd kept applauding. The umpire kept wiping home plate to make sure they could cheer him on. What a great moment there and what a great picture this season. Sanchez's Street, the fifth longest in baseball history. Stay with us. More Top Story on the way. We're back now with Top Stories News Feed. We start with an update in that Opaire Affair murder case. Brendan Banfield sentenced today to life in prison. He's a former IRS agent who was found guilty of conspiring with his family's opair in a deadly catfishing scheme targeting his wife and another man. The judge called his actions

evil and calculated. Banfield now has 30 days to appeal. The Opaire is. Peer pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to a decade behind bars. As the cost of college keeps skyrocketing, the price tag for some schools now topping $100,000 a year, New York Magazine was first to report big names like NYU, Duke, Georgetown, and more than a dozen others you see right here have crossed the six-figure mark. This list includes some smaller liberal arts schools, too. To be clear, that's the estimated all-in sticker price with tuition, room and board, and other added expenses like books and transportation.

And a dramatic rescue Colin Cameron in Florida. Look at this body cam video shows sheriff's deputies in Broward, rushing to save a woman from her car as it started to sink in a canal. First responders throwing that flotation device out to the driver, pulling her towards them, and carrying her to safety. The apartment says the car disappeared in just seconds. She was able to get out. Okay, now on NBC News investigation into smart glasses

that could be secretly recording you in the public. The high-tech frames once just a future. feature and spy movies are now a present-day reality. The maker of META's AI Rayband glasses say they sold more than 7 million pairs in 2025. That's triple the sales from 2024. But as more and more people sport smart glasses, privacy concerns are mounting. Meta says their glasses feature a light on the frame that turns on to indicate its recording. But our reporters found Facebook ads offering to alter the glasses to turn that light off. NBC's chief tech analyst Joanna Stern's or look. Sometimes you find yourself in a stranger's garage with a drill and a dental probe. So your

smart glasses can now be spy glasses. This light tells you I'm recording. But by my count, thousands of people are out there recording without this light. They're hiring people on Facebook marketplace to drill out the light for as much as $100. According to our reporting, folks are offering this service in at least 30 states, despite Meta's attempts to stop it. When people come to you, do they ever tell you why they want to do this? No. I don't ask, they don't tell me. There are lots of people doing this, but there are also a lot of questions.

How easy is it? Is it illegal? And can anything be done to stop it? Yeah, it's my mother glasses, right? It's already difficult enough to film in public. I don't want to have a blinking light on my face. There are plenty of reasons someone might want to obscure the light on these $250 meta-ray-band smart glasses. Here's one trend that's exploded online.

Riz-Camming, where people hit on others while recording the interaction, sometimes secretly. There are other reasons people would remove the light, too. One journalist I talked to did it so she could cover ICE in Minneapolis, without drawing attention to the fact that she was recording. Others told me they just don't want people asking questions when they're recording. Hey, Meta, record a video. Quick Rayban Meta anatomy lesson. The lens on the right side is the camera.

The one on the left side is the light to indicate recording. Meta and Esselor Lexotica sold over 7 million pairs of smart glasses in 2025. So I bought a new pair of glasses to see how hard it would be to turn that light off. Meta explicitly says on its website that if the light is covered, you'll be notified to clear it before taking a photo or video or going live. So next, I bought these LED blockers on Amazon. They let just enough light through so recording still works. But it can be noticeable, which is why there's now a whole cottage industry. on Facebook Marketplace, where people advertise stealth mode,

where they remove the light entirely and make the glasses look brand new. So I contacted one of the sellers. I agreed to his $100 price, and he agreed to let us film if we didn't use his real name or show his face. So let's call him StealthCamp Steve. Just driving to get my light removed.

This little light of mine, not gonna let it shine. These are set to go. StealthCamp Steve took us through his whole process, which he learned himself by watching others on YouTube and TikTok. That's really flat and looks like a lens. Hey, Meta, start recording. No light. And no alert on my phone. So no errors totally able to record now. We searched Facebook Marketplace in every state for this service, and we found ads for it in 30 states. In most states, we found multiple listings. In the New York and

Jersey area alone, there were 23 listings. When I reached out to META, a company spokesman said, we aggressively target anyone advertising tampering tools, have removed thousands of violating ads and marketplace listings for these services, and pursue legal action when appropriate. And with that, Joanna Sirr joins us now. I guess, Joanna, my first question is, is this illegal, right? I mean, do people need to know whether other people are recording?

and I'm sure it's got to depend state by state. Well, it is not illegal to drill this little hole or this little lens on the camera. It is in breach of META's terms of service, so it means that you might void the warranty on these glasses, but you're not going to be arrested. You're not going to get a ticket or a fine for destroying the light on these glasses.

What could be illegal is recording people without their consent. And there are different states, state by state, whether there's two-party consent, one-party consent, so you want to be aware of that. depending on where you live and where you are in terms of a public space or a private space. From your report there, the man you spoke to said he doesn't ask his clients why they want the lights turned off. Are there non-nefarious reasons people would want to do this?

There are. Some people I spoke to said, I'd actually be interested in that because when I record, either when I'm at a park or doing something with my kids, people are looking at me weird. They're thinking I'm recording them. And so I'd rather just people not know I'm recording, even though they're not recording something nefarious. And then there's the idea that someone might want to record things that might be bad that are happening to them. They don't want to have other people know. One reporter I spoke to said she was using this to record ICE in Minneapolis and didn't want to, didn't want them to know that she was recording or using a camera.

And I guess the flip side of that is if you are that person in the park wondering if you're being recorded, is there anything you to find out if you're being recorded? Well, this is where it's a brave new world. There are now a number of apps that are popping up in the app stores on Android and iOS where they will alert you. You can turn this on and there's a Bluetooth setting where you will alert you if there are cameras or glasses nearby. The issue is that you don't know if they're recording and you don't know if they're doing anything nefarious. So it's just really a way to see which glasses are in the vicinity of where you are. This is a whole new world. You're absolutely right.

I want to ask you about this new reporting from WIRE that we have here. Here's what the headline says. Meta silently added face recognition code for its smart classes to millions of phones. It goes on to explain that the code is, quote, designed to identify people via biometric data stored in users' phones. Okay, so explain to us what this means, and should people be concerned about that feature? Well, this is a feature that is not yet shipped or is not on the meta-glasses. But the idea of how this would work is that you'd wear your glasses, you'd look at someone. I'd be looking at you, Tom Yamis, and it would tell me, that's a feature.

That's Tom Yamis. He's the guy, you know, from that place you know, right? Not from television, obviously, right? It would actually be looking at more of the personal information, right? That would be the way that this would probably work. And so what META is saying, or what WIRED is saying is that they found this code in the META app, but META has responded. And they have said specifically nothing has shipped to consumers and no final decision has been made on what to do here, if anything. So we know that Meta is exploring this type of technology, but they have not shipped it yet. You love testing out products. That is sort of why you're a guru in this space. Give me just the quick, your quick hot take on these glasses. I've been wearing these glasses for many years,

and I use them all the time to when I'm skiing with my kids, biking with my kids. It's a great way to not hold your phone out in front of you all the time. And the weekends, I use it a lot to not have my phone in front of me. But there is this other side of it right now. And so hopefully we are going to get to a place where there are better standards around this and that we have more awareness that these cameras are really literally on our faces. Yeah, I'm going to ask you to take your sunglasses off the next time we have dinner. But Joanna, it was great to see you as always. Thank you for everything. You can watch her full video with an NBC News subscription. That's right. Scan the QR code on your screen to download the NBC News app now and subscribe for extended

interviews, exclusive content, and fewer ads. Again, you can just get that great stuff on the subscription. All right, time now for our weekly series, Great Americans, where we talk with those who have achieved so much and help so many about their lives and this country. Tonight, a man who penned 52 number one bestsellers, many that have become blockbusters on the big screen, his early career as a lawyer inspiring so much of his work

and inspiring him to give back. Our Great American this week, John Grisham. What do you love about America? I love the history. I love the different cultures. It's just such a diverse country. For John Grisham, the most compelling slice of America is found in the South. Writers write about what they know.

And that's where I come from. When you have a place with such a tortured history and a long period of conflict and suffering, you have great stories. Writers are thieves. We steal stories. We steal everything. We still names, we still scenes, we still dialogue. Grisham has turned those stolen moments into a massive global empire.

Out of an abundance of caution, advise my client to take the fifth. The undisputed king of the legal thriller. We sacrificed the liberty the framers thought they guaranteed us. Spanning several star-studded blockbuster films and 52 number one bestsellers. 52. When you think about that, I mean, is it hit you or is it just what you love to do? Both? When I started 40 years ago, I was a lawyer in a small town in Mississippi.

I had no idea what I was doing. Lucky to get it published in 89. It was a total flop. Time to kill. We couldn't give them away back then. When the firm came out 35 years ago, it was a big book immediately and changed everything. The son of an Arkansas cotton farmer, Grisham grew up in a family of five children, eventually working his way through law school, becoming an attorney, and even serving in the Mississippi,

state legislature during the 1980s. Were you a good lawyer? Uh, I don't know. Most of my clients went to prison. I don't know about that. Most of them were guilty. You know, I was a good lawyer for the first five years, and then I got the bug to write.

But it was his time as a criminal defense attorney that provided the ultimate raw material. And for Grisham, no story was more personal than his very first protagonist. Is there a character you start writing that you just loved everything about them? Jake Brighance from Time to Kill. Your Honor, I believe Deputy Looney

has earned the right to speak here today. That was very autobiographical. I was living that life, small-town lawyer, struggling with a pretty young wife having babies and wondering about the future in Mississippi and wanting things to change down there after so many years of injustice. It never happened in real life.

I had to create it in fiction. in fiction. That real world injustice, eventually pulling Grisham out of the realm of fiction, leading to his work with the Innocence Project, fighting to free the wrongfully convicted. There are tens of thousands of innocent people in prison, and most folks don't believe that. Once I started meeting them and researching, it still keeps him awake now. Writing about the American legal system, what has it taught you? It's taught me that for the most part,

Our legal system works, but there are so many problems that could be fixed. And I'm very frustrated by the fact that we can't fix these problems. An American literary icon still capturing the soul of a complicated nation. The American dream is still real. Almost all of us believe that where you are born and what you're given, you can always improve. And a lucky break here or there, some hard work. You can get ahead. You can still make the dream come true.

John Grisham, this week's great American, we thank him for a great conversation. Still to come tonight on top story, the investigation into Luigi Mangione. Lester Holt previews the latest Dateline episode, revealing new details from detectives who worked on the murder case. That's coming up next. We are back now with new interviews with some of the people closest to the Luigi Mangione investigation, two now retired detectives speaking out for the first time about how they tracked down the alleged killer of the United Healthcare CEO. Here's our good friend Lester Holt. When United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson was murdered on a street in Midtown Manhattan in December, 24,

Detective Sergeant John Griffin of the NYPD's major case squad helped coordinate the hunt for the killer. Was your initial hunch targeted? Yeah, 100%. Now retired, this is his first interview about the investigation. He says hundreds of tips flooded in. Many about health insurance disputes. These people were fingering someone who they thought had a big enough of a grudge. Usually, yes.

To commit violence? Yeah. When they were legitimate tips, you had to make sure that that person wasn't here in New York when this happened. To track the shooter, investigators tapped a resource all over the city, surveillance cameras. So that's controlled by the New York City Police? Correct. So if something happens here, the case detective's going to look at that camera from his desk and figure out where you went. Detective Joe.

No Metzopoulos also now retired, was on the major case squad then, too. I remember us reviewing tons of the cameras that are always on the corners like that, and then it led to another block, and then to another block. And investigators did something that sounds counterintuitive. Sometimes the best thing to do was go backwards. Somebody commits a crime, and they just want to get out of there. Sometimes the 12 hours before that, they may not be thinking about the crime. There's going to be little slip-ups.

But that's what you count on is the slip-up. Exactly. The slip-up happened at a hostel on Manhattan's Upper West Side. A camera captured an image of the suspect with his mask lowered, exposing his face. That was the one where he was smiling. That's when we were like, oh, we got something here to run with. Number one, what is the address of your emergency? Five days later.

It's not really an emergency. I have a customer here that some other customers were suspicious of, that he looked like the CEO shooter from New York. Luigi Mangione was arrested and charged with murder. He has pleaded not guilty and is set to go on trial in September. Lester Holt, NBC News, New York. And you can catch much more of Lester's new interviews about the Luigi Mangione case on an all-new episode of Dateline tonight at 10 p.m. Eastern 9 Central on NBC.

Still ahead, everything you can binge watch and listen to this week, and including Mindy Kaling's news series about a group of friends navigating post-college, life. That sounds fun. Plus a new documentary about the making of the legendary band, Earthwinded Fire. And Taylor Swift, did you hear about this? She's got a new song connected to the new movie Toy Story. Stay with us. Welcome back. It is time for bingeworthy. Our look at the best things to watch and listen to this weekend. And joining us tonight, USA Today's Senior Entertainment Correspondent, diehard Yankees fan, a guy who knows style, he knows a good suit, he knows a good tie combination. Ralphie Averza. Ralphie, thank you for being. You're always great to see you.

man. Always great to see you as we did not coordinate. I just want the record to show. We did, you know, great minds think alike. Great minds think alike. Look good. Let's start off with Mindy Kaling's new comedy series. It's about five young people juggling corporate careers in Manhattan. This is called Not Suitable for Work. It's on Hulu. Let's watch a clip. You're not willing to sacrifice everything for this job. My coworkers? They don't take me seriously. What have you done? The exit is right there. Someone bring a gurney. And you go.

If anything goes wrong, I will kill you. Our young and very connected staff at Top Story says this is a great show. Very funny. Obviously, maybe for a younger audience, on Hulu, what else do you like about it? Well, it's kind of like the third of this trilogy that Mindy Kaling's had, all of these semi-autobiographical series. She had the first one, Never Have I Ever, which was on Netflix, Sex Lives of College Girls, HBO Max. Now, this one is on Hulu. first two episodes streaming now.

We'll get new episodes each and every Tuesday until the finale on the 23rd. I also love that this is set in Murray Hill, for those who don't know, Murray Hill and neighborhood here in Manhattan, where a lot of students post-graduation live. It's one of those places where they advertise... It's like post-graduation post-maybe first job. You for a little more money. You can move to Murray Hill.

Yes. Yeah. It's one of those places where we're looking for an apartment. Yeah. This was just about to say. They advertise a two-bedroom, but it's like a three-bedroom flex. In New York City terms, they basically put up a temporary volume and you jam five people and that's it. Anyways, this is getting great reviews.

Okay, no, a lot of people love it. Ralphie, next up, my question is going to be why. And here it is, Cape Fear. It's been now remade for the third time. This was a great film twice, but now they're doing it one more time. The clip is great. How are the reviews so far? Awesome.

And I'll tell you why in a second. Okay, let's watch the clip. Let's go. You do too. Don't lie to me. I am not lying to you. Why? What I want to hurt.

Amy Adams playing the lawyer this time around. If it is still a lawyer, I don't know if they change the story up a little bit. Javier Bardem playing that character that we know, played famously by Robert De Niro in the second remake. I was, I'll be honestly, I was a little suspect of this because I love the second one so much. I love Scorsese. I know he's behind this one, too. Tell me why it's great. Not just Scorsese.

Spielberg. You're both EPs on this. And you got Javier Bardem is the lead. It doesn't get much better than that. No, I'm just joking. We all love him. We all love him. Yeah, he's a great actor.

He is very good. I will say half the time when I see him on these red carpets, he doesn't want to talk about his projects. He wants to talk about what's happening in the world. Yeah, he does. He's got a lot of opinions. A lot of opinions, yes. And people have opinions about this.

And like I said, getting good with you so far. About bingeworthy? About bingeworthy? Yes. About top story, sure. About me. But definitely about this series on Hamilton. So this is good.

Let's just get to it. Great actors. I'm joking around about Javier Barre. He is a great actor. Amy Adams, I think, is maybe one of the best, if not the best right now. Great cast. It's good. Worth it. On Apple. Watch it. First episode right now. You could judge for yourself about an hour, and then new episodes, I believe, on Monday. Apple TV Plus.

Okay. All right, Ralphie Aversa, two thumbs up. Love Island, Peacock, the mother ship. You know you love it. Don't lie to yourself. Here's a clip. A fresh wave of Islanders is moving into the villa with a high chance of charm and flirtation. You ready to meet them? I'm a nursing assistant. Women love men in health care. If you're a man, you have scrubs, your muscle

showing a little bit. They're going for that every time. Women love men in health care. All right. That's the stuff you learn from Love Island. People are obsessed with this show. Remind me why. And I know it's like people hook it up that are good looking. What else do you need really, right? It's really a fast-paced dating show, which I think is one of the hooks.

And then they have bombshells who come in. So basically, these people come into the villa. And by the way, they do this in like Fiji. Like, what a gig if you can get a shot. Shout out to Arian Maddox, the host. But they have these bombshells that come in, and basically they're like surprise entrance into this competition. To break people up.

Break people up, disrupt the whole thing. No one has gone home yet, Tom. I know you're wondering about that because you've got to catch up here. Nobody has gone home yet, but we got a new episode tonight, Friday night, and then we'll be on a normal schedule after the premiere week, which is this. Popular, not only in the U.S. all over the world. Again, you can watch it on Peacock. We love Peacock.

This one I read about in The New York Times. It sounds incredibly creepy. It's on HBO. It's called Bring Me the Beauties. It's a documentary about models, people that look incredible, but they're also an occult, and it's real, and it happened in the 80s and 90s. Let's take a look.

You want to know what I really think? I think you found some young, impressionable people who are on a quest for spiritual, moral values. Don't anybody try to tell me that I am an cult. I'm against cult. We're just friends. We're everybody's friends. But if you leave the group, we will crush you.

My experience went from happy to scary in a heartbeat. All of that and the director of Tiger King. I'm all in on this one. I can't wait to binge this one this weekend. Three-parter, first one's out now. We're going to get the following ones in these upcoming weeks on HBO Max. Hoyt Richards, basically, it centers around his story as a male model that gets caught up in this cult. The guy behind the cult.

And he was the model making the male model making the most money at the time. Yes. He was hot, as they say in the industry. Yes, very hot. I mean, we're talking New York City, 1980s, Studio 54, the whole line. Gray suit, black tie. He was killing it. He was doing it.

Was he wearing socks or no? Probably not. Probably not. Yeah, anyway. So, yeah, but this is very, very, very, Frederick von Mears is the guy that was behind the cult. He claimed that an alien basically came into his body and was offering people in this cult,

this chance at like a higher life. So, yeah, fascinating three-part or first part, HBO Max right now. People bought into it. Okay. Next up, we're going to stick with HBO. Earthwind and Fire, the documentary you have been waiting for this. It's from The Roots' Quest Love.

He's been making great films. Let's take a watch. I'm saying to myself, if they can do that, what can I do? Earthwind and Fire, we're making a whole different sound. No people are playing no music like that. You're thinking they're coming from Africa or from outer space. It wasn't even a show. It was theater.

This looks like a lot of. fun, man. I think I'm going to binge this one, too. Is it good? Absolutely. It's getting great reviews. It premiered last night, Thursday night, to open, or, excuse me, Wednesday night to open the Tribeca Film Festival, sold out, Beacon Theater, Upper West Side, chatted with some of the living members of Earth, and Fire. They loved working with Questlove, who has an Oscar, as you mentioned. Yeah, he's doing great. He's doing great. Fantastic. And a star-studied cast in this one. One of the things I'll tease, we learn the story behind the day. 21st night of September. I got to watch it now. Finally, Sunday night, you'll be able to watch at HBO Max.

I love it. Taylor Swift, I didn't know this. Got a new song. Yes. Connected to Toy Story. Yes. It's crazy. Is it good? Yes. Okay. Okay. Let's listen. Really cute. So it's connected to Toy Story, and this was her, the outfit, obviously, kind of a little connected to Toy Story there, too, right? Yes, absolutely. I mean, she, like all of us, big fans of Toy Story.

We're getting a new Toy Story, by the way, Toy Story 5 on June 19th. But we have this new song from Taylor right now. She worked out, by the way, with Jack Antonoff as well. Early maybe entry for best original song at the Oscars. I think it's that good. She kind of returns to her country roots here with this song. My kids were already listening to it. I didn't have to tell them. They knew about it. Finally, Shabuzi, who I love. He's got a new song, new video. Let's watch. If you love Shabuzzi, I think you're going to love this one, right? Also, if you love Sierra Miller, who was involved in the big Summer House super scandal, that's a whole other.

Don't even know that, but okay. That's a whole other binge. That's her? She stars in this as well. So that's got a lot of buzz for this song online. As for Shibuzi, won a Grammy this year. Of course, he does the theme to Thursday Night Football on Prime Video, and he's got a new album coming out July 30. I heard he's great in concert too. Ralphie, always a pleasure to see you. Go Yankees. You're the man. We thank you for being here. We thank you for watching Top Story all week long. I'm Tom Yamaz in New York. Stay right there. More news on the way.