Top Story with Tom Llamas - Friday, May 8, 2026

Episode Date: May 9, 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, the new details in the operation to get Americans off that Honta virus cruise ship, where they'll be brought in America, and the new state now monitoring residents for the disease. New plans in place to get 17 Americans off that ship. The State Department plane being sent in, and the facility in the U.S. they'll travel to that once quarantined Ebola cases. New Jersey now monitoring people for symptoms are reporter where their passengers will arrive first. Also, tonight the UFO files released hundreds of previously secret documents. detailing mysterious objects flying in the sky, the unexplained images and files going back 80 years. Will this bring us closer to learning

if there's really life beyond Earth? Deadly volcanic eruption, at least three believed killed, hikers sent running for their lives. Ash, you see it here, shooting miles high into the air. What this guide saw as you race to safety. Learning platform hacked schools across the country in the dark after canvas and education system used by millions is breached. what it means for students in the midst of finals.

Humans behaving badly, a tourist in Hawaii, hurling a rock at an endangered seal, the charges he could face. A car split in two after getting hit by a suspected drunk driver, how the teenage girl at the wheel survived. In our series of The Great Americans might sit down with legendary country music star Brad Paisley, how this great nation shaped his iconic songs

and how he and his wife are giving back. Plus, where does the agreement to end the war, with Iran's stand. Our new reporting. Top story starts right now. And good evening, as we come on the air, a plan now in motion to get those Americans stuck on board that virus-plagrued ship back home. The operation just announced after three passengers died and several others contracted haunt a virus. Today, mass protest erupting in the Canary Islands with anxious locals voicing their opposition to the ship heading their way. And here's what we know about the journey ahead for those 17 Americans. This week in the cruise

will dock just off the island of Tenefrife, passengers will then be transported to small boats to shore and then to a nearby airport. They will then board a U.S. government flight bound for Nebraska where upon arrival, they will be taken to a security facility on the Nebraska Medical Center campus. Those passengers will isolate in the National Quarantine Unit, the same facility that helped people exposed to COVID and Ebola

when those outbreaks began. And tonight, New Jersey, now the latest state to monitor people who may have been exposed to infected passengers. that brings the total to six states. Danielle Hamamjin is in the Canary Islands tonight and starts us off. New details on the exit plan to get the 17 Americans trapped on this luxury cruise ship back home. When the MV. Hondias anchors off the coast of Tenerife this weekend, they'll be met by a team dispatched by the CDC before flying home on a repatriation flight

arranged by the U.S. State Department. They'll isolate in the National Quarantine Unit at Nebraska. Nebraska medicine in Omaha, the same facility that housed people exposed to COVID in 2020 and Ebola in 2014. On arrival, we receive an epidemiologic assessment, and at that point, the quarantine period will be determined. But at this point, we don't have a defined quarantine period. New Jersey now monitoring two people who never boarded the ship, but were potentially exposed to an infected passenger during air travel. On the Canary Islands, there are fears even one case of. The virus could keep the desperately needed tourists away.

The ship is now hours away and people here are angry. They're shouting things like yes to tourism, no to the virus. Meanwhile, authorities now paying close attention to that April 24th KLM flight from Johannesburg to Amsterdam, where one of the cruise passengers with the virus was removed before takeoff and later died. The flight attendant from that flight who was hospitalized yesterday, Now testing negative, along with two other passengers who developed symptoms. The virus is not that contagious that it easily jumps from person to a person. But now a woman in Alicante, Spain, who also wasn't on the ship, but was on that KLM flight,

is showing symptoms consistent with a haunted virus infection. Her test results expected this weekend. And Danielle, joins us now live from the Canary Island. So, Danielle, you have more details on how once the cruise ship is there, docked behind you, How will the people on board be able to move to land? Yeah, Tom, Spanish authorities saying that small boats will ferry about five passengers at a time, bringing them back to the port. They'll be completely isolated from the rest of the public.

They'll then be taken to the airport where they will board their repatriation flights. And local authorities say they hope to have everybody evacuated within 24 to 48 hours. Tom? Okay, Danielle, we thank you for that. Back here at home to a major file release from the Pentagon, detailing more than 400 UFO sightings from the last 85 years. But do they bring us any closer to knowing if there is alien life out there in the universe? Tom Costello has more.

Tonight, more mysterious images just revealed. 160 government files detailing 400 alleged UFO encounters, including this infrared military video from 2013 of what appears to be an eight-pointed star streaking across the sky. mysterious white and black aerial blips that defy the laws of physics. More grainy, still images of the unexplained. And this image taken from the moon by the Apollo 17 astronauts of what appears to be lights hovering overhead. The astronauts later suggested it could have been ice crystals.

Today, President Trump posted with these new documents and videos, the people can decide for themselves. But there are no reports of aliens or spacecraft in government custody. Many leading astrophysicists remain skeptical. Just because you see something and you don't know what it is, you can't then say it must be aliens visiting from outer space. The documents date back to the 1940s, including an FBI report from an Air Force colonel, reporting a flying disc. More recent reports from fighter pilots, this diagram from people who claimed they witnessed a cigar-shaped object and a 2023 video of three concentric circles flying

in unison. I have not seen anything to suggest that we've been visited by any intelligent life forms out there. Okay, and with that, Tom Costello joins us. Tom, there is a pattern here, though, right? A lot of these images come from military pilots that are near or around military facilities or ships. Yeah, that's right. And that race is concerned that some of these unexplained aerial phenomenon with the military calls, UAPs. They could include technology that America's adversaries here on Earth possess, but we don't. And then, you know, to pick up on Jared Isaacman's point, as it relates to the universe, there are two trillion galaxies out there, two trillion, trillions of stars. So that leaves open. The question, is there life out there

somewhere? Maybe it hasn't visited us, but life could still be out there somewhere, Tom? Tom, I'm curious. I see your backdrop there from what planet are you broadcasting from tonight in the cosmos? We can't discuss that, Tom. Oh, okay. Tom Costello, all right. He's got classified info there for us. Tom, we appreciate that. For more on whether anything or anyone is out there, I want to bring in Adam Frank, an author and doctor of astrophysics at the University of Rochester. Adam, great to see you again. The latest drop of documents includes what the government says are 400 alleged encounters, images from the last few years, from the 2010s, even from the most. moon landing. Is there anything new in there? Yeah, unfortunately, it's for me, at least, as someone, you know, who studies life in the

universe, it's just more of the same. It's more blobby photographs and, you know, discussions with people who said they saw something. You know, given the kind of explosive testimony we've heard from Congress, you'd expect there'd be something, you know, a little bit more factual, like, you know, maybe an actual picture of the spaceships that they have in a, you know, in the garages, or a picture of the alien bodies, or some test results that someone's done on the alien bodies. So this just feels like it's really more of the same. Most of these, if you examine them, you probably will be able to find reasonable explanations, as you usually do. So this is not very exciting. One image that's been getting buzz in the newsroom is this rendering,

the FBI recreating an object, people said, materialized from a bright light in the sky. This is the so-called cigar in the sky. Is this all just based on word of mouth? And again, this is a rendering. Yeah, exactly. It's a rendering. It's like somebody photoshopped this picture into a, you know, a picture of a field. I mean, there's nothing here that a scientist could grab hold of and do anything with.

And again, those claims are so extraordinary. You'd expect a lot more than a photoshopped, you know, Tick-Tac. Do you think there's stuff the government isn't showing us? You know, listen, there's a long history of the government and UFOs during the Cold War, using UFOs for misinformation. I don't know, but I certainly know that there's nothing that we've seen yet, that would, not even close, would give us any hint that we're being visited by anything extraordinary from another planet. When we do these stories and these segments when these things happen in the news,

I'm always reminded of the late columnist Charles Krauthammer, And he wrote for the Washington Post once about space. And it just really captures what's going on, at least the debate, right? He wrote, and this is in part, he wrote this back in 2011, as the romance of man's space exploration has waned, the drive today is to find our living, thinking counterparts in the universe. For all the excitement, however, the search betrays a profound melancholy, a lonely species in a merciless universe,

anxiously awaiting an answering voice amid utter silence. That silence is maddening, not just because it compounds our feeling of cosmic isolation, but because it makes no sense as we inevitably find more and more exoplanets where intelligent life can't exist. Why have we found no evidence, no signals, no radio waves that intelligent life does exist? You made it clear that you don't think alien life has come to Earth, but do you think life is out there? Well, this is the thing. We are living in the most exciting moment in history, when it comes to the search for life in the universe. Because we now have the technologies to go find life, aliens,

where they live on alien planets. And in the next 10, 20, or 30 years, we're gonna have actual data to answer this question. I don't know what the data will say, but we can go get it. And because we found trillions of planets, right? Every story you see in the sky hosts a family of worlds. That really, the evidence now is really,

or the arguments really push towards actually getting the data and answering this question. Because I think right now we're in a position to answer it. But to be clear, with all the telescopes, all the satellites, all the technology, everything that is floating in space that is man-made, looking into the cosmos, we don't have any evidence yet of any life on any other planet. Correct? That's a good way of putting it, but let me be clear, we really have never looked.

People think that every day astronomers are out there looking for life in the universe. In reality, that was, we were never funded to do that, right? but barely able to scratch the surface. So we've actually never really looked. And only now do we have the technology and the funding finally, to begin an actual search. So there is no great... What do you mean we've never looked?

I mean, because we have found other planets, we have found meteors, we've found other things out in the universe. What do you mean we've never looked? Because to find... This is a great point. Because to find evidence of life on another planet orbiting another star, you have to have a very particular kind of telescope. kind of telescope and a very particular kind of way of looking. And we never had that in the past.

So here's an interesting fact. All of the seti searches that have been done with the big radio telescopes, that actually equals if the sky is like an ocean, all we've looked at so far is a hot tub worth of water. We just have never really looked. And now finally we have the technology and the funding and we understand enough to really begin that search. And it's so exciting. Well, this has been exciting two talking about this, and hopefully we'll have more chats in the future. So great to have you. We thank you for joining us. A real pleasure. Thank you. Okay. We're going to turn out of the war with Iran, a new video of the U.S. attacking Iranian oil tankers trying to break through its blockade. This all comes as the U.S. is waiting for the Iranian regime to respond to its peace proposal.

NBC's Courtney Kuby has more. Tonight, the new showdown in the strait. U.S. FAA 18 fighter jets firing on two Iranian oil tankers, small guided bombs seen here striking their smokestacks using delayed fuses to disable their propulsion without destroying the ships. Sencom saying the ships violated the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports, which has been squeezing Iran's economy to try and get the Iranian regime to make a deal. While Iran is again firing on civilian targets in the United Arab Emirates, UAE officials say its air defenses intercepted Iranian ballistic missiles and drones. You know, they don't have a Navy anymore, but they bring out these little Boston whaler fishing boats. All is we're learning more about Iran's attack on U.S. ships Thursday. Iran launching missiles, drones, and fastboats at these three U.S. Navy destroyers.

The U.S. repelled the attacks, but also responded with strikes on Iranian military targets, the first strikes on Iranian territory during the ceasefire. Of course, we fired back at them. They were shooting at us. That's what I would expect to do. Only stupid countries don't shoot back when you're shot at. And President Trump saying the ceasefire is still in effect. They trifled with us today. blew him away.

In a phone interview with NBC News today, President Trump saying the war is not over, again, insisting, quote, we're pretty close to a deal with Iran who's not yet responded to the U.S. offer to end the war. It's an offer that basically said they will not have nuclear weapons. They're going to hand us to nuclear dust and many of the things that we want. Okay, with that, Courtney, joins us live tonight from Washington. Courtney, I know you have some new reporting for our viewers on signs of tension between the U.S. and our Gulf allies. Yeah, that's right, Tom. So when President Trump made his announcement on Sunday on social media that the U.S. was launching Project Freedom, this was an effort where the U.S. military would support civilian ships transiting through the Strait of Hormuz using military aircraft, ships, radar, and even personnel to keep those ships safe as they made their transit. Now, that surprised Gulf allies who were not notified in advance that the president was going to announce it. When the U.S. started circulating the ideas for how this was going to be implemented, some of those as we're not happy with the plan. What we've learned, Tom, is that the Saudi government decided to pull or restrict any allowance of U.S. military to use bases or their airspace to support

Project Freedom. And now we know that the Kuwaiti government did the same. But it wasn't just that they were upset about being surprised by the announcement. We've learned, according to two U.S. officials, that in fact, the Saudi government was upset because they saw Project Freedom as too risky. They worried that it could lead to infrastructure attacks in the region, and they were concerned it could escalate into ongoing and enhancing combat operations against Iran. Once again, President Trump spoke to Muhammad bin Salman, the crown prince in Saudi Arabia. The issue was not resolved, and then he quickly and once again surprised people by posting on social media that he was pausing Project Freedom. Now we know exactly why it was that the Saudi government was, in fact,

upset about this, Tom. Okay, according to Qube, a lot that's happening there in the region as we try to get to a peace deal. Tonight, there could be new evidence in a 30-year-old cold case in California. Authorities are searching the property of a man who was convicted of murdering college student Kristen Smart who went missing in 1996, but whose body has never been found. Our Steve Patterson has this update. Tonight, a potential discovery in the three-decade-long search for any sign of Kristen Smart. San Luis Obispo County Sheriff Ian Parkinson says they may be close. His deputies serving a search warrant at the home of Susan Flores. Her son Paul was convicted of killing smart in 2022.

Today, the sheriff's sparking hope, saying ground scanning results for signs of human decomposition at the home have been positive, meaning there could be evidence of a body. We believe that based on what we're looking at evidence-wise, scientific evidence, that a human remains were there at one time, we're still there. The college students, 1996 disappearance captivated the country. She was never found and pronounced dead in 2002. For years, investigators focused on Flores, the last known person who was with Smart before she vanished. Flores was arrested in 2021 at his father's home. At the time, investigators found what prosecutors described as disturbed soil, roughly the size of a casket, along with the presence of human blood. Paul's father, Rubin,

Flores, also arrested as an accessory to murder, was acquitted. Tonight, the family of Kristen Smart, optimistic, telling NBC News, we remain hopeful that this current search will be successful and look forward to the outcome. The heart-wrenching 30-year story of a family's deserved closure may be closer than ever to ending, but still stalled on that final page. And Steve Patterson joins us tonight from Los Angeles. Steve, the search for Christian Smart's remains is coming four years after her killer was convicted. Why renew the search now?

Tom, I guarantee you if you talk to that, Sheriff, he would tell you that the search never stopped. They just have the probable cause necessary to enter the home, although he wouldn't go into what exactly that evidence was. And by the way, this has been a source of the investigation really from minute one. This is not the first time that investigators have been to that home. But even if they find something geographically in that yard, they need more probable cause because not only did they have the search warrant to enter the home, they need one to dig through. through the yard. This is something that is going to take some time. All right. Steve Patterson for us. Steve, great to see you there. Still ahead. The deadly volcano

emergency overseas hikers running for their lives. Some left stranded, the urgent rescue effort to get them out. Plus the massive refinery explosion, a blast just outside of New Orleans sending thick black plumes of smoke pouring from the facility. An outrage in Hawaii after a tourist threw a rock at a seal in protected waters. Could he face charges? Stay with us. We're back now with the Terrifying images out of Indonesia, a volcano erupting, sending hikers running for their lives. Multiple people believed to have been killed. Kierce Simmons has the video. Oh, the rock are coming. Tonight, terrifying scenes on a volcanic mountain in Indonesia.

Oh, my God, they die. Oh, they die. Here, the moment Mount DeKono on Halmahera Island erupted, shot by a guide whose frightened voice is heard over the video. Tourists scrambling down. Three hikers presumed dead. according to local police. It killed them. Many people up there. About 20 tourists were in the group defying a ban on climbing the volcanic mountain, say local authorities, as it was on high alert for an eruption.

We are lucky. We already climbed down. The climbers were all from Singapore and Indonesia, say officials. There are still many local tourists. Oh my God. Oh, I hope they're alive. Despite warnings not to climb into the restricted zone, many people still do, according to the local police chief.

When it's very quiet, it means the big eruption is coming. The eruption was seen for miles around, spewing a thick ash column, six miles into the air. 17 people were safely evacuated, say officials. Five were injured. For those who survived. When we are there, I already heard the deep eruption. And I make the decision to have, we have to climb down. Those images now being seen around the world are stunning.

and they are of the moment of the eruption, and then of those terrifying moments afterwards, as some of the tourists on that mountain realize that others of the tourists on the mountain weren't going to make it. And tonight, that does appear to be true. It does look as if three have died, Tom. Incredibly dangerous and incredibly sad tonight. Okay, Keir, we thank you for that update.

Back here at home, another deadly encounter involving hikers, and this one at Montana's Glacier National Park where a hiker was attacked by a bear, It comes just days after another violent incident at Yellowstone. Morgan Chesky following this one. Tonight, multiple trails closed in Montana's Glacier National Park. Signs warning of bear danger. After what authorities suspect was a fatal bear attack.

Park officials sharing they found a hiker's body Wednesday in a densely wooded area about 50 feet off the popular Mount Brown Trail. The park is home to roughly 1,000 bears, with an estimated 300 of those. being grizzlies. Just days ago in Yellowstone National Park, a bear attack left two hikers badly mulled. Definitely. Bear, it's claws. Park officials say the attack happened on a trail not far from the iconic old faithful geyser. And last month, this video capturing a black bear in Southern California, charging a hiker, no one was hurt. Wildlife biologist Jeff Corwin says this time of year can pose additional risk when crossing paths with a bear. They're very afraid of other bears, and you don't want to fall prey to being a victim of misidentification.

Now, tonight, it's still unknown what kind of bear may have attacked at Glacier, but wildlife officials say that they are scouring that area for any animal activity. Tom. Okay, Morgan. Just ahead, the heart-stopping video of a car splitting in half after a horrific crash. The woman inside this somehow survived that, what she told us. Plus, the major security breach impacting a learning tool used by millions of students across the country. Who was behind that hack? But first, top story's top moment in a very special anchor from our Today Show family, proving she can double as a backup dancer. Pop star Zara Lawson kicking off the Today Show summer concert series bringing up a surprise guest to perform Lush Life.

Take a look at Today's show co-anchor, Chanel Jones, nailing every. move. Larson's dance with fans on stage has become a viral sensation and Chanel did not miss a beat. You see her here practicing before the show as she took the stage. Stay with us. Good job. Chanel making us proud. Stay with us. More Top Story on the way. We're back now with Top Stories News Feed starting with a massive explosion at a refinery near New Orleans.

You can see those huge plumes of smoke rising into the air. This is in Chalmet area. Thankfully, the refinery says everyone working in the area is safe and accounted for. Still unclear, though, what caused that explosion. A scary scene in upstate New York, a pickup truck slams right into a school bus moments before a student got on board. Look at this. Video shows the teen just steps from away from the bus when you see that truck smash right into the back of the school bus. And then moments later, look at this too.

The student's dad running out, you'll see it here and hugging his son after he realized how close he came to getting hurt. Several people suffered minor injuries from that crash. An outrage in Hawaii and rightly so over the shocking video is Seattle man caught on camera throwing a rock at a monk seal. Our Hawaii affiliate says the seal has been identified as Lonnie, a fixture on the shoreline apparently for decades. That man was arrested and later released and the mayor of Maui promising charges are coming. Monk seals are protected by Hawaii state and federal laws. A woman in Michigan says she lived through a miracle after a shocking crash that split her car in half. Video captures the back half of her car flipping, rolling, sparks flying.

The 19-year-old driver was still strapped into the front half of the car. She told us she's dealing with neck and back pain, but is grateful to be alive. Turning now to a cyber attack that shut down an online education platform used by thousands of schools across the country. Hackers now threatening to release private data just before the end of the school year. NBC's Valerie Castro takes a deeper look. A cyber attack leaving college students like Claire Daly in the dark. All of a sudden it just wasn't loading, and I got the little note from the hackers. Canvas, a popular cloud-based learning platform used by millions of students and teachers across the country,

infiltrated by online hackers, forcing the platform's parent company in structure to temporarily take it offline, calling it a cybersecurity incident. It was crazy. It was crazy. For like six hours, I couldn't log in. The digital classroom can hold learning materials and allow students to submit assignments, With more than 30 million active users, according to the company, the platform serves a range of grades from kindergarten to college. The attack hitting at a critical time during spring final exams for some students.

It was definitely a little stressful because it was like, I got some soft to do. A hacking group using the name, shiny hunters, appearing to take responsibility. But cybersecurity experts say that name doesn't point to just one group. So this name is a name that has been used by multiple different groups operating independently, accusing each other of stealing the name. One student telling NBC affiliate WTMJ, this message popped up during the breach. The group appearing to threaten a data leak if it doesn't hear from in structure or affected schools by May 12th. These actors have a history of lying. They're operating under a stolen name in the first place. And the act of deleting the data in exchange for money, that is fundamentally unprovable.

Universities like Penn State, Mississippi State and the University of Illinois, all say they were impacted, in some cases, postponing exams. If this was a strategic attack, which it seems like it was, then that makes sense to do it right during finals week, because that's going to be the highest impact time. Some of the country's biggest public school systems, including New York cities, also impacted. Instructure confirming Canvas is now fully back online

and available for use, though some students are wary of future incidents. If they can hack Canvas and affect everybody, what else can they hack? Valerie Castro joins us now. And Valerie, do we know what data those hackers may have gotten? So in structure, which is the parent company of Canvas, says it has done its own investigation. And it says the hackers did get access to some information, including email addresses, student IDs, names, and some messages that were sent by users within the Canvas app. But the good news is that they say there's no evidence that passwords, dates of birth, government identifiers, or financial information was accessed.

It says its investigation is still ongoing. and the company says it did notify the FBI and international law enforcement agencies about these incidents. All right, Valerie Castro, good to see you. Thanks for bringing us that one. Now to a moment of celebration for one of our colleagues in this news business, the Washington Post reporter whose home was raided by the FBI earlier this year, winning the most prestigious journalism award there is, the Pulitzer Prize for her reporting on the Trump administration. Agents seized Hannah Nathanson's iPhone, smart watch, work computer, and personal laptop in January. as part of an investigation into a government contractor,

officials say she was in contact with. The seizure and search condemned by her employer of The Post and countless other journalism organizations, including by the courts as well. Joining me tonight for more on this is Eric Wemple of the New York Times. He spoke to many of Hannah's current and former colleagues about her and her work. So Eric, thanks for joining us here on Top Story.

It's good to see you. What did the Washington Post reporters tell you about the reaction in the newsroom when they learned she had won this prize? I think there was a start of the story There was shock throughout the newsroom, and I think there was also just like a scramble to figure out really what had happened here, in part because this was unprecedented. You know, as the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press has said the federal government

had never before done a search and seizure of a reporter's home in connection with the national leak, excuse me, a national security leak investigation. So this was altogether uncharted territory. uncharted territory. Eric, we know about this case because it's somebody in our industry we've been following this. For our viewers at home that may be not as familiar, walk our viewers through exactly what happened in this situation. So what happened in the situation was you have a reporter who had been covering President

Trump's efforts to reshape overhaul or gut the federal government, depending upon your perspective. And she had done that for a year, and she had gotten sources from all over the place. she had gathered more than a thousand sources. And around the same time, the government was investigating a government contractor in Maryland that they suspected was leaking classified information, very sensitive information. And they saw an opportunity here to help their investigation by raiding the reporter's home at 6 a.m. on January 14.

And it shook the entire journalism industry, to say the least. You had a chance to sort of learn about her life post this raid. What did you learn about what happened to her and how she continued to report and live her life? Well, I mean, I think that the initial answer there is that it stopped her dead in her tracks. She was working on about 14 projects at the time. She's an incredibly industrious reporter. She had more than 200 bylines in 2025. But it basically stopped her dead in her tracks because they took away all of the tools of the trade.

that she had, all of her contacts, story notes, all kinds of information, and she just couldn't do her job for a while there. And the Post actually argued in court that this was a First Amendment violation. There was a prior restraint against her speech because she couldn't deliver on projects that were in the pipeline. And she wasn't the one who had stolen the documents. She wasn't the one who had obtained this information illegally. This was leaked to her, and this has happened in the past, and it's part of, you know, I don't want to say the history of journalism, but it really is in this country. And time and time again, news organizations have won in court on these situations. Tom, that is a great distinction that you're making, an important one here.

She wasn't the target of the investigation. She wasn't charged with any crime. Sometimes when people get caught up in searches and seizures like this, people have, you know, this idea that they're culpable of something. She was culpable of nothing. She was only doing her journalism. And so that's a really important point to make. But it's been, you know, all the people, the advocates and the people who study this will tell you that the government in recent decades has been more and more aggressive in these leak investigations and that incursions like this were foreseeable, although the Trump administration really crossed the line with this one. You know, Eric, let me ask you a bigger picture question, right?

Just to put things in perspective, because I think sometimes we cover stories like this. This clearly was wrong. the court said it was wrong, and ultimately, she was vindicated for this. But, you know, there has been a lot of reporting about is the Trump administration going too far, specifically the Justice Department, and sort of either harassing journalists, investigating journalists, when it comes to the Department of Defense closing journalists out. At the same time, you know, we obviously have the First Amendment here. In countries across the world, journalists are killed by their governments.

They're in prison, whether it be in China or Cuba, they're kidnapped in all over Latin America. So journalists experience different things in different parts of the country. Not to say what happens here is right, especially if the government violates the law. But how do we put how the Trump administration is treating journalism right now versus other administrations in this country? That's a really, really good question. I think that the Trump administration has taken things to a new level, and that's very easy to document. It's been well documented. Whether there are access issues, say at the Department of Defense,

they just decided that all the reporters need to move out of the report. need to move out of the Department of Defense into a neighboring annex. They're requiring escorts for all visits to the building. That's one example. They also ordered a review of the broadcast license of ABC because of apparently—well, excuse me—the stated reasons for their DEI policies, but this FCC move happened to overlap with a fight between Donald Trump and Jimmy Kimmel, the late-night host. And also, I think you need to take into account the suits from Donald Trump himself against the news media.

That itself is unprecedented. So we see a lot of activity on a lot of different fronts. And the raid of Hannah Nathanson's house is just a really, really troubling example, I would say. Eric Wemple, always great to talk to you. You can read Eric in the New York Times. We thank you for being here tonight, Eric. And a programming note, President Trump is heading to China next week for a high-stakes meeting with the president of China, and we are going to be there every step of the way.

We will be live in Beijing all next week here on Top Story and, of course, on nightly news. Our special coverage begins on Tuesday. Coming up next, our series, The Great Americans, as we count down to America's 250th birthday. This week, we sit down with country superstar Brad Paisley. He tells me about what he loves most about our great country and how his small town roots inspired his music, plus how he reeled in the love of his life. If you're going to love that story, stay with us. Back down with our weekly series, Great Americans.

I sat down with legendary country music star Brad Paisley, ahead of this country's 250th anniversary, to talk about how America influences his music and how he's giving back to his community. Here's that interview. What do you love about America? What do I love about America? I love everything this country has to offer.

For more than two days, decades, those lyrics, and that voice have been resonating with Americans. Brad Paisley, the country music icon from West Virginia, says it all began when his grandfather gave him his first guitar. He's like, this is not a musical instrument. It's a what? Well, he would say to me that this is like, you know, he didn't use the word therapist, but he was meaning that. He was like, this is your best friend. Like, if there's something that you want to get

off your mind, pick that guitar up, if you learn how to play it, you can sit there a few hours in, you will be thinking about nothing except that. Paisley says those small town roots still inspire his music. That was idyllic. And it was such a sheltered place to grow up.

And how much of that is still in your music? That's still in there. And in fact, there's been a lot of it bubbling up lately with some of the things I'm writing that are new. I find myself sort of leaning on that mentality, that sort of small town sensibility, sense of values.

The three-time Grammy Award winner has written 21 of his 25 number one country hits, including I'm going to miss her. known as the Fish and Song. Well, I love her, but I love the fish. The song brought him more than fame, requesting the lead actress from Father of the Bride, Kimberly Williams, be cast in the video. The two fell in love and got married.

Do you remember a moment where you felt most American? One was I flew to Afghanistan with President Obama in the middle of the night and played for the troops on Bogram Air Force Base. It was a secret mission. I mean, that's pretty hard to top. The music played me on each other close. We're sure you looked out and saw a lot of young faces. Oh, my God. Well, I went around after I was done and shook every hand I could, hugging the people over the, the,

like barricades. Back at home, we need all the help we can get. Haisley and his wife are also giving back to their community, opening the store, which now has two locations, a food pantry that feels just like a supermarket. It's an amazing place that really did the concept of dignity and choice. You know, there's dignity in that. And that when a family shows up and they want to, you know, get some food because they're, they've fallen on hard times. all your items, you check out, the person at the checkout stand gives you a little thing, and you're on your way, and the kids have no idea that their parents are at what is a charity. What do you think is inherently American about your guy's desire to open the store?

I think empowering people to be the best they can is very American, allowing people to be all that they can be. And that's what I hope that we can do with the store is bridge the gap for someone that's going through a hard time and help them get back on their feet and become the people that they want to be. Through his music, Paisley hopes Americans can feel more unified and connected. What have you learned from playing small venues, big venues, all across the country? I've learned that, first of all, music is this sort of evaporator of conflict. It feels like when you get out there and you're performing for an audience, there's nothing more unifying than everybody enjoying the same music. And people are more alike than it would seem.

I feel like there's a hunger to get along. A lifelong dedication to his passion and his country. When it comes to the small town mentality and the way that they want to honor, they want to love this country. They live here. I mean, look at the place we are. It's so beautiful. We have it all in this country. Brad Paisley, such a great guy.

It was a pleasure to meet him and his wife. Brad will be on tour this summer across the globe and here in the U.S., and he has new music coming out next week from a special project he's calling Tackle Box. And speaking of things to watch and listen to, our binge-worthy is coming up next. A new documentary on SNL creator Lauren Michaels, plus legendary actress Sally Field is back with a feel-good flick and Harry Stiles breaking out his dancing skills in a new music video. Stay with us.

We're back now with Bingeworthy. Our look at the best things to watch and listen to this weekend. And joining us tonight, one of our good, good friends, NBC News Entertainment contributor and CEO of pop viewers. Chris Witherspoon. Chris, happy Friday. So good to see you. Tom, TGIS. I'm excited.

I know I'm so happy it's Friday. We made it. We made it. I'm excited to see you too. We're going to start in-house, right? Can we Lorne? The documentary about Lorne Michaels. Yes.

How is it? The first and final stop. This is like the last. documentary. He will ever do. It is so good. It's a good. Okay. As you know, it is binge-worthy. We have a little taste for you. Here it is. What I wanted was

a voice in the culture. And as you know, was that vehicle. He has this man behind the curtain. Mystique about him. I don't know, Lauren, the way Alec Baldwin knows Lauren. I've never stood in the ocean with Lauren. He's going to have notes that are impossible

to understand. So, it's Lauren Michaels, S&L, but it's on prime video. Isn't that interesting? It's a separate conversation. Hello. But it was first released in theaters. It's now, obviously, we can stream it this weekend.

Here's my thing. And I'm not trying to be like, you know, there's been so many documentaries about SNL, about literally every part of SNL. But this one, you tell me this one's good. I mean, this one to me is the most candid look at Lauren Michaels. And he's like the last man standing. This show came out in 1975. It was called Saturday Night, NBC.

Not SNL. It became SNL in 77. But he really is this kingmaker, too. He made all these folk stars like Kristen Whig, Tina Faye, Steve Martin, Conan O'Brien. And you really understand that he's like the last executive who's been around for almost 50 years. And this show is still huge. And it's like, it's a raw, candid look. I don't think we'll ever see a look at Lauren Michaels like this again.

Here's my question. SNL, besides launching the careers of so many people, right? It's also launched, I think, about like 400 podcasts. And so people just talking about their times on SNL. And a lot of them talk about Lauren, sometimes in glowing terms, sometimes they're making fun of him. Is it like sort of like an unapologetic look at Lauren Michaels or is it very positive? 100%. Oh, it is.

Okay. You see that he's not as funny and fun as to show that he's burned and the good, the bad, and the ugly. And I've met Lauren many times. Oh, excuse me. I used to work for the CEO of the company many years ago. Okay. And Lauren had a direct line. And he's one of those guys that when he calls, is straight to business.

Even like you want to talk about the show, you know, it's straight to business. And I'm sure you were such a nice guy you wanted to talk about. And he was like, what's your name? Let's just send me, transfer the call. Next up, we're going to go to Netflix now. Remarkably bright creatures. I'll be honest with you.

I'd heard about the book. I don't know anything about this. The book is huge on Book Talk, but Sally Field, I mean, she's starring in this. It has a huge fandom. We're going to play a clip pretty fast. Well, look, no, you're just taking this over. So let's roll that clip.

I can deduce that the cleaning. lady and the juvenile share a similar affliction. I wish you could tell me how to move on. I honestly don't know what the hell I'm doing. I know the feeling. There may be potential for mutual repair. Oh, what the hell? Go ahead.

Yvon won't hurt you. So I'm getting vibes of the shape of water meets my octopus teacher. And now it's this, right? Like we just said, this has a built-in audience. Folks love this book. And Sally Field is playing this one. woman, she's a widow. Sally feels like he's 79 years old. It looks incredible and amazing, but she plays a widow who's a janitor at this aquarium on the night shift, and she befriends

this octopus who is voiced, so as the actor who's voicing the octopus. It's a very weird concept, but again, people love Sally Hawkins, the other Sally in the shape of water, and this one's already getting Oscar buzz, which is kind of wild. I will tell you something personal here. I'll make a confession. Did you ever see the octopus teacher? Yes. It was an incredible documentary. Oh, my God. I used to love to eat octopus. Oh, okay. We eat it. It in Miami on La Parriya, on the grill. Very delicious. After watching that documentary, I will never eat octopus again.

I'm not going to judge you. If you like octopus, you do your thing, I can never eat again. They are incredible creatures. They are. No, and then you're still eating it. You saw the documentary? I can't stop. I'm learning a lot.

Okay, next up, we're going to stay on Netflix. So many Netflix series. This is Season 2 of Worst X Ever. This is one of your favorites. Oh, my God. I'll let you wax poetic after. Let's roll the clip so people can get it like, again, they can understand what this is about.

I came across smoke shots. This guy that I'm dating as a felon. Lies upon lies upon lies. He used the children to manipulate me. We were starting to kill my dog. I was like, who are you? Like, what is happening right now? This girl can be crazy, and you don't know what she would do.

She said, you don't leave until I tell you you can later. Okay, so Chris, I thought this was like feel good Friday, laugh a little bit. Nope. Reality. This is scary as hell. This is like pull the sheet over your face while you're watching at 2 a. X ever. Yeah, but I mean, everyone has that one X that gave you those red flags.

And most of us got out alive. This is like... This is about people who nearly died in their relationship. Some people actually did die. It's from Jason Blum and Blumhouse, who's known for like Get Out, The Purge, Megan, all those scary, like scripted films. This is not scripted. This is like real docu-series.

And I love how they kind of do like reenactments in firsthand accounts. But it's just so raw. So, people should watch it. Yeah. Only four episodes. It is so easy to get through. Chris, I'm surprised. I'm surprised.

Seeing a new side of you. I know. Eating the octopus after watching the movie and then now you do this one. Okay. Next up is Citadel on Netflix. A lot of people are talking about this. They like this one. This is season two.

Priyanka Chopra. People love her, of course. Oh, sorry, Priyanka Chopra and Jonas. There we go. There we go. There we go. I got to say that. Let's watch it.

If we have any chance, we need my old team. Mason's impossible to trust. If Mason's impossible to trust. If Mason Kane is good at one thing. It's killing people. Stanley Tucci in the house. We love the Tuch. Also, I'm seeing this note here.

Is it the most expensive television series? 300 million dollars for the second season, which is crazy. Is it worth it? Is it that good? I'll tell you why. Let me tell you why. I love the business of this TV stuff. And Prime Video, this is the show putting them on the map internationally. It does huge in India.

It does huge in Asian overseas. You've got to know, Prika. Chopra Jonas is a household name around the world, and this has gotten the international audience to watch Prime Video. It's incredible. The second season, though, Stanley Tucci is kind of the lead. He's the person who's kicking butt and taking names at 65 years old. He's still going. No, it's incredible.

He's eating on the weekends in Europe, and then he's coming here kicking some butt. Yes, this is not Stanley Tucci in Italy. This is like kicking butt overseas. It's so good, though. And Eva Longoria, she's found France. Did you hear about that one? That's the other one. Everyone's finding these European countries.

It's interesting. Let's do our own. Tom Yamas finds Miami. We'll do. We can do, we can, we can, we can, Tom Yama's find downtown right here. We'll eat something. Okay, speaking of Miami, which is great, Peacock, finally the mothership, a show we love that we can support. This one, and the note here is about a young woman living in the Florida Keys, whose family is killed by the cartel and she's seeking revenge.

And Chris said, I could relate to this because I'm from Miami. That's actually messed up. Let's, it's called MIA. Let's watch it. Twelve men killed my family. And I'm going to find them. kill them. All of them.

Someone needs to find out. The wrong people could be left them for. Make an example of her. Put a bullet in your head. All right. We have you got some people from Edward James Almost, man, from Miami Vice. Is it good?

It's so good. Oh, great. The guy who created this, Bill DeBuque, also created Ozark, the show on that Flick Swit has that same NFL. I'm in. I'm in. And I love a revenge, a revenge, like, crime. This woman, her whole family was killed by 12 people.

She's the only one who lives. She goes back and tracks down or tries to, I can't give it away. 12 different people to kill them. It is so good. And she could fight. Love it, love it. Nine episodes. We are running out of time.

We've got to get to Harry Styles. New single Dance No More. Play the video. It's Harry Styles. I know it's got all the clicks, Chris. You're telling me this. I know Harry Styles is a massive fan base. Is it good?

Is the music good? The music is good. I mean, and the Poon Pum shorts that he's wearing, I got to co-sign those. Like, whether it's a silk blouse or these little red shorts, Harry Styles, all witties. What are they called? I've never heard that. Oh, Pum-Pum shorts? Okay, okay. Yeah, Pum-Poom shorts.

Like, you know, he is working it. He's giving his legs for days. He's got a lot there. In 2 billion interviews already in one day. Finally, we have to talk about her. One of the Queens, Shakira, who's amazing. It's called Dai-Dai or Dai-Di. It's the official FIFA World Cup anthem.

We've run out of time, but I don't care. You gotta play it. We love Shakira shaking those hips, right? Give us a global anthem, Tom. We need a global anthem. We need a global anthem. Since Waka. I can't believe 16 years?

My kids still listen to that one. I love to see her. We love her. This was filmed in Rio. Also has Burnaboy, I should say. Good song. Is it going to be like a global dance now, too? Will people be doing this?

That's only a snippet. It's a teaser. The official song comes out May 14. So strange. Next Thursday. They're kind of teasing it. I didn't get that. Burn of way's not even in that clip.

Yeah, I know. The one May 14. Okay, Chris Witherspoon, we thank you. We went over time, but you know what? It's okay. What are they going to do? They're going to cut us off? They're going to cut us off?

All right. Thanks so much for watching. We appreciate you. Stay right there. More news on the way.