Top Story with Tom Llamas - Monday, April 27, 2026

Episode Date: April 28, 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 armed suspect to open fire outside the White House correspondence dinner charged with attempting to assassinate the president what we're learning about how he allegedly planned the attack. The new details including a so-called manifesto the DOJ says shows his intent and his targets. Plus, the wild video is the gunman rushes past law enforcement. The new images of the gunman's weapons, including a shotgun, handgun, and knives. Chaos inside the dinner. President Trump swarmed by Secret Service. president and cabinet officials shuffled out. The growing questions over the president's security. Plus, I speak with mentalist Ouse Perlman, who was with the president when the shooting started.

What he says happened in those frantic moments and when fear suddenly settled in. Dangerous tornado threat millions on alert for destructive storms. This barn collapsing after taking a direct hit. Bill Carran's tracking it all. New details in the killings of two doctoral students. What the suspect allegedly asked chat GPT about disposing of a body. Carnival ride horror, a ride snapping midair, then crashing to the ground, what we know about those inside. The True Crime podcast credited with helping solve a decades-old cold case, we speak with the host. And Taylor Swift's new move to protect yourself from artificial intelligence, how she's fighting deep fakes. Plus, King Charles' historic royal visit, will it repair

the growing rift between the UK and the U.S.? Top story. Starts right now. And good evening. We begin tonight with that scene that was just chaos at the White House Correspondents dinner, shots ringing out as the president's and top administration officials and hundreds of members of the press all gathered. Now prosecutors are laying out their case against the man, they say, tried to kill the president. These are the chilling moments President Trump was rushed off the stage after shots were fired outside the Washington Hilton Ballroom Saturday night in what is now the third attempt on the president's life. New angles show the chaos in the room, secret service agents evacuating. Vice President J.D. Vans and top cabinet members as guests ducked for cover under tables. Surveillance video shows 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen sprinting past security.

Seconds later, he's detained and on the ground. Today, the DOJ revealing the slew of weapons he was allegedly carrying a pump-action shotgun, a pistol, multiple knives. He's now facing three federal charges, including attempted assassination of the president, which could carry a sentence of life in prison if convicted. Our team who was inside that ballroom when shots rang out is covering it all, including new details about what may have inspired the attack. I want to begin tonight with Garrett Hague, who leads us off from the White House. Tonight, the armed suspect authorities say rushed through a security checkpoint outside the White House correspondence dinner and open fire is charged with attempting to assassinate President

Trump. The defendant making clear what his intent was. Cole Tomas Allen appearing in federal court, the DOJ displaying photos of weapons they say he had, including a 12-gauge pump-action. shotgun, pistol, and knives. Charging documents say he ran past a magnetometer firing a long gun. A secret service officer who was injured returned fire, but did not hit Allen, who was then detained in the lobby above the ballroom. Law enforcement did not fail. They did exactly what they are trained to do. But amid growing questions about how the president is protected,

the White House saying they'll consider security changes. All of it after that alarming scene Saturday with a dinner just beginning. You could hear the gunshots. Secret service agents swarming the stage. Vice President Vance rushed out. The president piled on by agents at first resistant to being hustled off stage. I wanted to see what was going on and by that time we started to realize maybe it was a bad problem. Inside the ballroom, mass confusion as attendees ducked under tables. We saw top officials hurried to see. safety, including the health secretary and the Speaker of the House. It's still unclear exactly what happened, but it was a very serious security breach.

At this point, it's clear that the president has been evacuated from the ballroom, but not necessarily from the property at large. This is the third attempt on President Trump's life in just two years after he was shot in Butler, Pennsylvania. Weeks later, another assassination attempt by an armed suspect at the president's golf course. Why do you think this keeps happening to you? Well, you know, I've studied assassinations. The people that make the biggest impact, they're the ones that they go after. Tonight, the White House blaming anti-Trump rhetoric. The left-wing cult of hatred against the president.

And all of those who support him and work for him has gotten multiple people hurt and killed. And it almost did so again this weekend. On Saturday, I asked the president about political violence. Is that just the cost of doing business to do politics and do politics? America anymore? What does it say about our country? We're not the only country. Good question. Would you turn that temperature down at this point? Well, probably if I decided to just not do much, you know? Okay, with that, Garrett Hake joins us tonight from the White House. And Garrett, the president's talking about holding the dinner again sort of in a different capacity. And the White

House says maybe without the vice president. Yeah, Tom, the White House may want to keep the VP at a separate location for continuity of government reasons if this dinner is reschedule. like what you see the State of the Union with a designated survivor. Now, there's been no decision made on whether this dinner can happen. The White House has said that they think that the Hilton is demonstrably unsafe. They've used this opportunity to argue for the need for a large, secure event space, ideally right here on this property, namely the president's ballroom project. Tom?

Okay, Garrett Hake, leading us off on top story tonight. We're going to continue our coverage as we learn more about how the alleged attacker planned his assassination plot. and what may have inspired it. Here's Kelly O'Don. New details tonight about the shooting suspect and the plot that frightened but ultimately failed. This man was a floor above the ballroom with hundreds of federal agents between him

and the president of the United States. During a brief first court appearance, Cole Allen responded, yes, Your Honor, when asked if he understood his rights and the three serious felony charges that could send him to prison for life. Top Justice Department officials saw this case unfold in person.

This one hits a little differently. We were all there. Many of you were there. Cole is a test prep teacher and trained engineer. A senior administration official says Alan's sister said he attended a no-kings protest. FEC filing show he donated to Democrats. In this FBI affidavit, investigators lay out new details. On April 6th, Allen made a hotel reservation at the Washington Hilton Hotel for three nights.

April 21st, the suspect boarded a cross-country train. Also new, authorities say Alan used a setting to pre-schedule his email to family, to reach them at about 8.40 p.m. as chaos erupted. In that message, he expressed anti-Trump sentiments. He writes of administration officials, they are targets, prioritize from highest ranking to lowest. But President Trump is not named. While claiming he did not intend to harm dinner guests or hotel staff,

they too were at risk, writing, I would still go through most everyone here to get to the targets. Okay, Kelly O'Donnell joins us from outside the Department of Justice. And Kelly, I know you have some new reporting for our viewers tonight about what the suspect was doing inside the hotel before the shooting. We're learning some of those details based on video that investigators are reviewing. I'm told by an official that they have one particular clip that shows the suspect who had been staying on the 10th floor of the hotel, not using

the elevators as most hotel guests would do, but he descends during an interior stairwell going floor by floor by floor until he reaches the terrace level. That was one flight above. His target, the ballroom where the president and all those guests were. Investigators, also tell us they are still pouring over more digital evidence and additional video trying to piece together the events. They're also looking for other things in his digital footprint that might help to explain motivations or some event or influence that set all of this off. Tom? Okay, Kelly O'Donnell with that new reporting, Kelly, thank you. For more on this, I want to bring in the man who is hosting the White House correspondent's

dinner, Ouse Perlman, also known as Ouse the Mentalist. We thank you so much for coming on again. To Top Story, you are a friend to the show. I want to ask you first, how are you doing? Because I know you had to sort of witness this and live through it, but personally, how are you doing? Honestly, I'm feeling like a bit tumultuous. It was a crazy night of ups and downs,

and an adrenaline dump of when you're in that type of situation. You don't really know how you'll feel until you're in it because you don't expect to. It tends to happen in movies, and what I feel like is on TV. I've just never been a character in that type of hyperalienable. profile incident that was so scary. So today I'm kind of getting back to normal, unwinding a bit, came home yesterday and hugged my kids, kissed them. I'm on the road quite frequently, so I see

them and it's exciting, but this kind of hit different because of the feeling of, wow, what if it would have been a different situation that night? What if I didn't come home to them? And so it just felt different in a way it never has before. Feeling very grateful, very blessed, really, really thankful for the Secret Service and the Washington, D.C. police. I've heard a lot of things about what happened with security that day. But at the end of the day, that was a huge win. This could have been a massive tragedy. No one was killed. It was, I want to thank them tremendously, not just for me, but what they did for everyone. There were thousands of people in that room. Yeah, including myself. O's, we're going to roll the video of just before this whole thing went

down inside the ballroom. You were performing a trick. I think it was for Caroline Levitt, the White press secretary, walk our viewers through because we're going to roll the video as you sort of talk through it. You're showing her a trick. What's the trick about and what's going on on the dais? So I met, we were in a line behind when POTUS showed up, when the president showed up, we were all in a line before we get brought out and introduced. And I had met the press secretary. And we were just chatting and we're both parents. And she's expecting her second child. And she said to me in a funny way, like, can you guess the name? And I go, I don't know if you know this, Caroline. I specialize in guessing the names of people.

And if this is a challenge I'll take on, and the president walked in and everybody's at attention. I had a chance to meet him, say a very quick hello to the first lady who I'd never met before. And I said, let's put a pin in it. I'm going to come back to this, Caroline. And so it was just a very funny thing where later on the dais, I walked over and I said to her, I said, Carolyn, I'd love to give this a shot. And that's when I was standing right next to Ouija, who was hosting the first lady and President Trump. And I started kind of the same thing I did with you on the show once.

is I started watching her expression, guessing how many letters were in it. And if you watch me speaking, I guess a letter, and you see kind of a reaction from the first lady. And then I write down a name, and I show it to the first lady, to Ouija, and the president turns his head at this moment. And right then is when I say,

what are you naming your daughter? And I rip it off, and at that peak moment, the timing is just so insane. I show it to her. You see reactions from all three of the women. You see President Trump starting to turn our way, And right then, in the room, is when we noticed the main commotion. I didn't notice all the people starting to duck underneath tables at that point,

but I saw it afterwards when I watched the video. But that's when I saw all of the Secret Service, the SWAT team, running in and going full force at a specific spot in the room, is what I saw, because we're at an elevated position. I'm trying to assess what is this because it doesn't seem like a medical emergency, and I'm kind of starting to hear right at that moment next to me. I believe it was Courtney from Bloomberg. I saw her out of the corner of my going down first,

if memory serves me right. And then they don't say down, but I go, oh, my God, it looks like they're going at one table. And I just think in my head, I just remember vividly, oh, my God, is there a bomb in here? That's the first thing I thought. I didn't really think shooter, because I hadn't heard any noises. Other people have said different things.

I just thought there's about to be an explosion. I get down. I just muscle memory, I gotta get down right now. I'm on all fours, and I kind of face to the left, I just went down this way, and I'm looking up out of the corner of my eye and seeing the president getting up, two men behind him, he's starting to go down. He's going down kind of slowly, so I just vividly remember them going on top of him.

What I would have described is pretty forcefully. It was not like a subtle, like, let's go down slowly, Mr. President. It was them protecting him. And I think that's when the fear really hit me. because I just said this wasn't a dress rehearsal, or they would not be putting the president of the United States down this forcefully on the ground. And I think that's when the adrenaline really hit of,

oh, my God. And when he went down, you know, this is by pure chance. I turn, we're next to each other, and our faces are the opposite direction, but we look right at each other. And I think that's the only moment where the full fear of this hit me of, oh, no, like, are we going to die?

Like, I, you know, I've seen this on TV. He's been shot. there's been assassination attempts, and it's just hitting me that is this happening right now here? How can this be? And then within about two seconds, it felt much longer in the moment. He gets up. He's kind of getting up and not fully, and they take him out. And so I don't know what to do because no one is taking me out.

So I'm just kind of like waiting and we turn and we face because there's three of us who all see each other on all fours. And I go, is there shooting? Because I'm thinking like, am I hearing shooting? Like, you just, there's so much noise and commotion in the room. I thought I had heard shooting at this point, or at least two or three loud noises. I don't know if they are shooting. I've read reports, so I can't tell for sure. And I go, is there someone still shooting?

And they go, I don't know. That's what Courtney said to me? And I go, what do we do? And so we start army crawling out behind the curtain. There's like a gold curtain. And we keep going. I would say probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 to 20 seconds before. And then I get up and I run.

I just run low until we're in what I would describe as safety, because at that point, there's no vantage point from the stage. We are backstage, and there are people with guns everywhere, like more than I've ever seen in one room. Going, coming, handguns, secret service people, some are in tuxedos, where it looks like there were probably somebody who was part of, you know, the party, as well as full tactical SWAT gear. I would say at that moment, the fear for my own personal safety kind of subsided because I felt as if there's just no way anyone's getting back here. But at that point, all of us were figuring out what's going on. Was the president shot? I did not know when he went down what his situation was. We looked at each other's eyes.

There was no communication. There was just full, like, shock from my part. I haven't spoken to him to know if he was in shock, but I was very fearful. So I looked at him and we didn't know if he'd been shot, if the First Lady had been shot. There was very, very scant information for about five minutes before we were told POTUS is safe, First Lady is safe. We thought a shooter had been killed. So I don't know if you heard the same reports, but we were told somebody was killed that

there was shooting and that they were searching for another shooter in the building potentially, but they didn't know if there was any active threats. And we are not allowed to go anywhere, no bathroom, nothing. And I was just trying to find out if my wife was safe as well. Yeah, O's, you know, you were on stage, and I don't know if this thought crossed your mind, but I know when I was sitting there, we had, you know, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and also the Secretary of Energy, Secretary Wright, that was sitting at our table. And now that you say this, it did look like the Secret Service was headed towards one table.

I do remember that. I remember thinking, you know, we have secretaries at our table. They're probably going to come over here to either protect them or get them to safety. Did it cross your mind? if there's somebody in here with a gun or with a bomb, they're coming after President Trump, and I'm right next to President Trump. Oh, 100%.

So, again, my thought was never because of, again, the security at these types of events, somebody getting outside in is near impossible, was my thinking. But having someone in the room that somehow snuck something in, that was my fear. That's much more of a great fear in my mind in this type of event that somebody's already in the room, and that's why everyone was coming in the room so fast.

Again, my thought was truly not of a shooter, and I don't know why this is. I thought the room was about to explode. That was my, that's what, like, the adrenaline in my body was I was bracing because I thought there was about to be an explosion in the room. I was also thinking my mind that my wife's table was very far away from I saw everyone going. So it was like both thoughts. Again, this is racing. I don't know how you were, but you don't really know how to prepare for a situation like this

because I typically thought this would never happen to me. Again, I know it's silly, but when it's happened. it's very sudden and it's very quick, and you don't know what you'll do in that moment. Yeah. And O's, I would say, you almost have a false sense of security because you go through those metal detectors. You were with the Secret Service.

You're with the most powerful people in the entire planet, in the world, the president and his cabinet are all there. I didn't know your wife was there. I cannot imagine what that was like. How long until you reached her, and what was the first thing you said to her? So we couldn't get phone calls. No phones worked. I don't know about you, but there was no signal because everybody was doing the same thing I was.

2,800 people are all trying to call out and say, what's going on? So I couldn't get anyone on the phone. I was sending text to different people, and all of them were just staying in the blue and not going through. And then finally one went through to my friend, and like five of his got through to me instantly because I guess Wi-Fi kicked. And he said, you know, your wife's really worried she's not doing well. Like, I think because I was on the dais and I was performing, they were watching me because I was on the screens and they were like, what's he doing for the president? It was kind of a, it wasn't a show for everyone, but I was warming up the crowd because my intention was to hopefully get the president, the vice president, and some of the other dignitaries to want to take part in my later show, which was going to be televised for everyone. So I was kind of sweetening them up, warming up the room, letting them know what I do so they would feel comfortable with me.

And that's why I went over there and kind of performed a few tricks for the vice president and the president right when we sat down. It was a warm up. And they were watching me, and the next thing they know, my wife, this is what she told me later. is that they just saw me disappear, the president get put down, we didn't know if there were shots fired. People told me they heard shots in the room. I thought I heard shots as well. I don't know the timeline, so I don't know if what I was hearing was trays falling, tables falling, but my wife thought the worst.

She just did not know, and there was no way to get information for what felt like a very long time. Yeah, terrible night. You know, I know you're an entertainer. You make people happy. You know, in a lot of ways you make people remember an event or a night, right? because you have that gift. You experience political violence on Saturday night.

In our industry, we see this a lot. We cover it. It's terrible. What's your impression after having lived through something like this? My impression is that I know that as a country we're divided, but I think that that night specifically, and why I was honored to be hosting, is to celebrate this right now.

The First Amendment, the freedom of the press, the fact that we can have dissenting opinions. You can have an opinion that's not the same as someone else, that you don't like what somebody's doing in terms of policy. But the way I think to exercise that right and that power is at the voting booth and not by going out and committing political violence. Because even the people that think that that might be a solution, that solution can happen on both sides. Against you, against them. That is never the way to handle things in a democracy.

So I just think that everyone together should state emphatically that this is not the way we should be moving forward as a country. This should not be normalized. This thought that this is staged or fake, which I just find to be obscene. You and I were there. There's nothing fake or staged about what I saw. The bullet holes I saw, the fear in everyone's face. I don't know. I just, I find that reality and truth are becoming a scarce commodity and that there needs to be more of a united front in this country from democracy. It is, yeah, it's a wild and it is a scary time, and that's why it's so important to make sure you have the right and correct information, and you're getting that from the right and correct sources. O's Perlman, we thank you so much for taking the time. I'm sorry you had to go through that. I know you did not sign up for that. You too. You too. Listen, we're alive and well. It could have been a whole different night. I just feel blessings and gratitude.

Yeah, you're a great guy and thank you for sharing with our viewers, your experience. We appreciate it. Thanks, Tom. All right, I want to bring in our panel tonight to analyze the assassination attempt against President Trump. Evie Pomporez is an NBC News law enforcement analyst and former Secret Service Special Agent. And we're joined tonight by political scientist Barbara Walter, a professor at UC San Diego, who specializes in political violence. Evie, let's look at the floor pan for a second. The gunman was on the upper terrace level, right? He rushes the security checkpoint, and he was apprehended right there. He never made it down the stairs or escalator that connected to the concourse floor below where the ballroom was located. But help us understand how the suspect was able to make it so far into the Hilton with guns. And I do want to stress the system did work as far as where the security perimeters were set up. The gunman did not get to the ballroom or even near the ballroom.

You are correct. The system did work. The system that was designed work. When you're doing something like this, any venue, any hotel venue, and I've done dozens of these, Tom, you don't shut the hotel down. I know everybody thinks you can walk in, Secret Service, I'm here, I'm shutting it all down. It's a working business. People are coming in. They're checking in. They're in rooms. There's a movement. So what you do is you look at where your protectee is going to go. Where's my president going? He's going to this specific ballroom. Okay, now I'm going to build my security perimeter around that ballroom. And one of the first things you do is, where are my magnetometers going to go?

Because the magnetometers are the first point of that layer of security. To some degree, right? You'll have some stuff outside that maybe people see or don't see. But essentially, that's the point where people are being checked. This is where you line people up. You'll check tickets if you're going to check tickets. or IDs or both. That's typically a White House staff function,

not a U.S. Secret Service function. The U.S. Secret Service function is clearing people and make sure people are coming in clean. Now, I think where some folks are having a bit of heartache here is the distance, meaning why was the perimeter so close, should have been pushed further out, also some of the reporting that he used one of the stairwells to come down. Here's the thing with the stairwell.

A hotel like that has many stairwells. I've walked stairwells my whole career. We literally walk them to make sure they're unobstructed. I need to know where every stairwell dumps, whether it's on that mezzanine level or on the street. Like you check them all. But for him to take that specific stairwell and for it to be unmanned, so to speak, no secret service, it means it was outside the perimeter, right? The outside the security perimeter.

So he goes from his 10th floor, which he goes from his 10th floor, which he's not. which is where we're hearing he was saying. He comes down. Of course, he's not going to take an elevator. And then he bumrushes, goes through the mags. And that's where the incident happens, and they take him down. Now, as far as a security plan internally, both the president and J.D. Vance are removed separately.

There's some questions here because a couple of people are asking, why does J.D. Vance get pulled first? Why does President Trump get pulled second? When you look at security details, they each have a detailed leave. It's called. That detail is going to decide what they're going to do on their own. They don't, it's not, I don't want to say they don't talk to each other, but the vice president's detail has their own plan. They're hearing comms. They're making their own decisions. The president's detail has their own comms. They're making their own decisions. So you see J.D. Vance getting pulled. You see POTIS getting pulled.

And at that point, you're figuring out, do we depart? Do we harden up? And I don't want to give too much away, but sometimes you can harden up. Hardening up means I take my protectee somewhere where, let's say, I'm not sure if I should evacuate because I don't know what's waiting for me on the other side. I don't know if it's safe to get to the vehicles. So you'll find typically a room or an area that has no windows, no other access points. Yes. Sorry, we just have some other guests here. I appreciate the take. It's very, very, very, very good. Barbara, my question to you, are we living in sort of a unique time? Do you think you know, in hindsight, it's always 2020. People should be able to gather and they should be able to do the things they want to do.

But in a time of war and a time when there is so much political violence, is this a good idea to host this event with so many political leaders and essentially almost the entire cabinet there? No, that's not a good decision. Political violence in this country is higher than it's ever been. The previous peak was around 1995 when Timothy McVeigh attacked the building in Oklahoma. city. It decreased since then. And then it started increasing again in 2008 and has pretty much consistently increased since then. The vast majority of that was violence on the far right. But since

2024 with Trump's second term, violence on the left has started to increase. And that's known to experts. I'm sure that's known to the Trump administration. This is the third attempt on his life. no, it probably was not a great decision to have everybody in that single room. Is this time any different? I mean, this country has experienced some horrific incidents, the assassination of President Kennedy, the assassination of his brother, the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., assassination attempts on President Ronald Reagan. Is now any different from those times?

Now is much, much more volatile. The underlying conditions for violence, are one, you have to have sort of a loss of hope, hope that you can work through the political system if you're unhappy. And we know that increasingly, especially the younger generation, increasingly believes that violence is justified

for political reasons. You have to have easy access to guns. And we've had no gun control in this country for years, so it's easy to get guns. And most of the political violence today, most of the domestic terror, is perpetrated by lone actors. And they're usually young men

and they've been radicalized online. So the big difference today is the Internet and social media and the fact that it's unregulated and algorithms are pushing out really incendiary, extreme messages. And you have individuals out there. Every society has individuals who, for whatever reason, do things like this. but it's much, much easier for them to become radical than it was ever before.

Evie, if you were advising the White House, one, would you have the vice president and the president ever in the same room, at least for the time being going forward to any kind of sort of public event, public outing? And two, has the president, even though, you know, one of the reasons he wants to build this ballroom is for safety, he's made other reasons as well why he wants to build a ballroom, is the ballroom a good idea in light of what we've just witnessed? I'll start with the ballroom. I will tell you, from a completely neutral position, working in the White House, they need a ballroom. I mean, we're putting up tents, we're putting up, you know, these porta parties. And it's extremely costly when you put these events together. So you do need some type of facility. Now, could you use this facility for everything? I don't know,

but you do need some type of facility because I can control the ballroom. I can't control the Hilton. I can't control a married hotel. If I'm on somebody else, property, I have to work within their rules. Now, as far as the president and the vice president being in the same room, I think it's okay. But at this point, I think the best course is if you can lock it down. What I mean lock it down is truly lock it down. But you don't have so many variables about going in and out. And was this interesting about what Mr. Pearlman was saying before? He was also worried about an IED, something we didn't even talk about. We were just worried about weapons with this specific incident. It's a good point. Evie, so great to have you,

Barbara as well. We thank you for joining Top Story. We're back at a moment with the dangerous, severe weather tearing across the country. Buildings ripped apart as tornadoes touched down, our Bill Carrons is tracking it all. Plus, the investigation to those two doctoral students who disappeared in Florida, a man now facing murder charges. What prosecutors say, he asked chat GPT days before they vanished. And the carnival catastrophe, a handful of people hurt when a cable on a right, suddenly snapped that terrifying scene ahead on top story. Back now with the dangerous storm threat, putting millions at risk at this hour. New video showing intense winds and rain whipping through Missouri.

Look at that right there. It's where a tornado watch is still in effect. This barn just east of Kansas City taking a direct hit, leaving a mangled mess behind. It comes after a weekend of deadly tornadoes that left a trail of destruction. NBC meteorologist Bill Karens joins us now. Bill, these storms are not letting up. What are you tracking right now? No, we have a lot of thunderstorms, just not so many tornadoes yet.

So that's great. We're happy about that, but we still have many hours to go well into the night. So we've had about 79 storm reports. We have numerous tornado watches that go from central Illinois all the way down to Memphis. We're concerned with these storms maybe about 9 p.m. to midnight from Memphis up to Paducah. Those storms are now in Missouri, and we do have about three active tornado warnings. So there are tornado warnings. We just haven't had any confirmed yet, but there's still plenty of time. Obviously, conditions are very favorable for some very strong storms. We're watching those near Springfield, Illinois. And we also have a chance of some flash flooding. Numerous areas are under flash flood warnings. So it's kind of that dual threat as we go throughout the night.

And then tomorrow we're going to do it again a little further to the south. Little Rock to Shreveport are the areas of concern. But again, Tom, the next three to four hours is when we expect the strongest storms. Okay. And we'll stay on top of it throughout the broadcast. I'm sure they are next hour as well. Now to the new details about the grad student who vanished in Florida. Police alleging they were murdered by the man's roommate.

And get this, he allegedly asked Chat Chippet for advice. Jesse Kirsch has more. Prosecutors say these Florida grad students' murders were planned, and the suspect message, ChatGPT, before and after his victims vanished. Jamil Limone and Nahita Bristie were last seen alive April 16th. Three days earlier, the man's roommate, Hisham Abu Garbilla, allegedly asked ChatGPT about putting someone in a trash bag and throwing them in a dumpster. According to this court filing from prosecutors, the AI chatbox.

replied that it sounds dangerous before the suspect asked how would they find out. Limone and Bristie were both Bangladeshi doctoral students in Tampa. After they disappeared, the suspect allegedly sent ChatGPT several more messages, including has there been someone who survived a sniper bullet to the head. Now Florida's Attorney General says his office is investigating OpenAI, the company behind the popular AI chatbot. OpenAI telling NBC News, the company is looking into these reports. and will do whatever we can to support law enforcement in their investigation.

Limone and Bristie's disappearance sparked a frantic search. I spoke with Bristie's brother before police declared this a murder case. This is definitely concerning and my family's the keep his stated. Now following Friday's dramatic standoff with police, the alleged killer is behind bars. He faces numerous charges including first-degree premeditated murder. Jesse Kirsch has been on this story from the get-go. joins us live from Miami. Jesse, police have found the body of the missing male student. Where does their search stand for the woman? At last word, Tom, that search is ongoing, but authorities

did say that over the weekend they discovered another body in the area where Limone's body was found, but this second body has not yet been identified. They are working through that tonight, Tom. Oh, such grim discoveries. All right, Jesse, thank you for that. Still ahead of top story. President Trump and the first lady pushing to get Jimmy Kimmel kicked off the air. take action, Gabe Gutierrez standing by at the White House for us. Plus, Taylor Swift, fighting back against AI, the new legal action she's taking to protect her voice and likeness. We're back now with President Trump's call for Jimmy Kimmel to be fired.

The First Lady also slamming the late-night host after a joke that aired before the shooting at the White House correspondent's dinner made light of the president's death. Here's Gabe Gutierrez. Tonight, President Trump is calling on Disney and ABC to fire late-night host Jimmy Kimmel. for these comments during a parody of the White House Correspondents' Dinner that aired last Thursday. And, of course, our First Lady Melania is here. Look at, so beautiful. Mrs. Trump, you have a glow like an expectant widow. The segment aired two days before prosecutors say a gunman tried to assassinate the president, who today slammed Kimmel for what he called a despicable call to violence, labeling the skit something far beyond the pale. The First Lady today saying his monologue about my family isn't comedy.

words are corrosive and deepens the political sickness within America, adding, enough is enough. Though Kimmel has not explained what he meant by the joke, the White House argues it was violent rhetoric. Who in their right minds says a wife would be glowing over the potential murder of her beloved husband? The backlash comes seven months after ABC briefly suspended Jimmy Kim alive following the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. With the Maga Gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charles. Kirk is anything other than one of them. Days later, Kim will return.

You understand that it was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man. ABC, its parent company, Disney, and Kimmel's publicists have not responded to request for comment. Tom? All right, Gabe, we thank you. Not at Top Stories News Feed, and we're going to stick in Washington with the royal arrival of King Charles and Queen Camilla.

They met at the White House with President Trump and the First Lady. The trip meant to celebrate 250 years of a moment. America's independence and highlight the close relationship between the U.S. and the UK, which has come under scrutiny during the war with Iran. Tomorrow, King Charles set to address a joint meeting of Congress. In California, wild video of an officer getting trapped inside a getaway car with a robbery suspect. You can see the vehicle slamming into a grocery store. Minutes later, police arrive on the scene. An officer tries to stop the man but gets knocked inside the car

as the driver peels away. After refusing to pull over, police say the officer shot the suspect in the leg. He crashed into a parked car before running away on foot. Authorities eventually caught up and arrested him. The suspect has pleaded not guilty felony charges. And a terrifying moment at a fairground in Spain, video shows people on this bungee-style ride before a cable suddenly snaps midair, sending the capsule crashing down. Emergency crews say four people were hurt, including two who were taken to the hospital. Police are now investigating what went wrong. And Taylor Swift is taking new steps to protect her voice and likeness from being misused by AI and deep fakes. The Grammy winner has filed to trademark two audio clips as well as an image of her on stage.

It comes just months after Matthew McConaughey became the first A-List actor to make similar legal moves. We reached out to Swift's reps for comment but haven't heard back. Okay, coming up, the decade's old cold case finally cracked. Multiple men now facing charges over the killing of a young girl, how a podcast helps solve the murder mystery. That's next. We're back now with a stunning break in a decades-old cold case with police crediting a true-crime podcast with cracking it wide open. In 1982, 16-year-old Roxanne Sharp's body was discovered in the woods of St. Tammany Parish just north of New Orleans. Police struggled to solve the case

due to a lack of evidence and witnesses. Decades later, investigators partnered with a local media company to produce a podcast titled Who Killed Roxanne Sharp? The six-part. series aired last year generating new leads and witnesses previously unknown to investigators. That crucial information along with DNA technology leading police to arrest these four men. I want to bring in the podcast host and vice president of the North Star Media Group, Charles Doughty. Charles, we thank you for joining Top Story tonight. You say in your very first podcast episode that advocating on Roxanne's behalf 40 years later might be a lost cause, clearly that's not the case.

What is it that made you decide to pick up the story? Well, that's a good question. We had pretty low expectations out of the gate. We weren't sure what we were going to be able to accomplish, but we did want to give it a try. The case, I feel like, is a unique collaboration between our company and Louisiana State Police. And I think one of the things we realized early on was this was a situation where perhaps people were afraid to come forward. There was a sense of fear that came out of a neighborhood where this crime kind of originated. And I think by doing this podcast, we helped ease that fear, and a good many people apparently did come forward.

Yeah, talk to me about the tips. When you started the podcast, did tips start to flood in? Was it a trickle? I mean, how did you know you were on to something? I knew I was onto something because I was paying attention to the, I guess, the main character in the podcast. That's the investigator, Stefan Montgomery. And when I saw the way he was kind of reacting, I knew we were getting some things done. Keep in mind, a lot of the tips that came in, most of the information that came in, I was not privy to. This was a conduit between these witnesses, the Louisiana State Police, and now the DA's office, Colin Sims. Again, we were trying to tell Roxanne's story in a way that helped people come forward. But the main—what we really wanted to accomplish at the end of the day was that we wanted to prosecute and convict whoever did this to Roxanne. Yeah, was there a moment for you? I mean, I know you talked about sort of observing that main investigator, but did you know that they were zeroing in on suspects that you were getting closer?

It took a good bit of time after we put out the podcast for things to get to a point where I felt like, okay, something might happen. Now, if you had told me this was what was going to happen, I wouldn't have believed you. But I did feel like probably within the last few months that, yeah, we were doing something. Something was happening that was really important. And yeah, they told me about the press conference. They allowed me to be a part of the press conference, which was great. And just an amazing, amazing day. And then, you know, what was it like partnering with law enforcement? Did you feel, I don't want to say, did you feel like you were being used? I mean, did you, did you like this partnership? I did. I very much like the investigator that I'm working with.

I don't think there was ever a direct instance where he would vet the episodes. He would listen to the episodes prior to them airing. There was never an instance where he was like, you can't do this or you can't do that. And I certainly speculate in plenty of the episodes. But it was a collaboration. We were trying to craft a Roxanne's story in a way that people, you know, that embraced her story and decided to come forward. And it apparently worked. And then I do want to ask you, as you're doing this podcast and you're working on this, why do you think it was the podcast that sort of police wanted to turn to? I mean, why do you think after all these years, all this police work dedicated to this case? Maybe not enough time was dedicated, but why do you think it was the podcast that sort of sparked new lead so many years later? Well, I do think the passage of time in this instance helped a little bit.

And I think podcasting, it's a way that you can tell a story where you don't have to rush. Again, keep in mind, this is a crazy story. There are two serial killers outside of the four men who were charged with raping and killing Roxanne. So it was something that took a little bit of time to explain, and I think podcasting that format fit this story very well. Now that you see how this story, you know, I don't want to say it's ended, but what really happened to this poor, poor young girl, are you surprised that they didn't solve this case earlier? No, I'm not surprised. I mean, we'll all learn more once the DA presents his case and we're able to see what happens in a court of law. But, again, you're talking about a real sense of fear within that community, and it silenced people from coming forward.

And again, you'll have to listen to the podcast to fully understand it, but it was not a typical situation. St. Tammany is a lovely, wonderful. place. I know the area. Charles Dowdy, we thank you for joining Top Story tonight. We look forward to listening to your podcast and really great work. Hopefully this woman's family gets some semblance of justice down the road. Still to come tonight, the controversial Michael Jackson movie notching the biggest opening weekend for a music biopic ever. We'll talk to a journalist about why fans are still showing up despite his complicated legacy. Stay with us. We're back now with the movie that broke records this weekend. Michael, which details the life and

Michael Jackson bringing in $97 million, domestically, and $217 million worldwide, making it the biggest opening weekend for a music biopic ever. The movie depicts the King of Pop's meteororic rise in the Jackson 5 and his enormous success as a solo artist. Though notably, it does not address the child sex abuse allegations against Jackson, many of them detailed in the documentary leaving Neverland. After his death, of course, this movie came out. Jackson and his estate have denied those allegations. Just this February, new allegations surfacing four siblings suing the Jackson estate, telling the New York Times, Mr. Jackson had repeatedly sexually assaulted each of them. The Jackson estate denied those allegations as well, calling them, quote, a scheme to obtain

hundreds of millions of dollars from Michael's estate and companies. All that to say, the legacy of Michael Jackson is extremely complicated for his fans who must grapple with the allegations that loom over his impact as a performer. Earlier today, we spoke with Nekesa Mumbi Moody. She's a former music editor for the Associated Press, and a former co-editor and chief of the Hollywood reporter. Here's a portion of that conversation. Nekessa, thank you so much for joining Top Story. I was just telling you I had read your op-ed in the New York Times over the weekend. And it was sort of stunning to me because after I had read your op-ed, I read about the new allegations against Michael Jackson from this group of

brothers and sisters who spent a lot of time with Michael Jackson and who each of them say they were molested by him. And, you know, we can talk about the Michael Jackson Renaissance and about your op-ed in a minute, but I just want to start by understanding this. I get Michael Jackson's music. It is incredible. I mean, he broke racial barriers. He did so much. You could argue there's never been anyone like him again since he was on this planet. But the allegations are horrific against him. There are several allegations. It's not just isolated. How can you ignore that? Because the molestation of a child, it's just one of the worst crimes you can commit. And again, he's never been convicted. He's never been convicted.

I want to be very clear about that, and they've denied all the allegations. But there are so many allegations, and as a journalist, I know you have that skeptical bone that we all have. Yeah, I think that you can't deny how horrific these allegations have been. I think that you can just look to Jackson's denial. And I think that over the years, there has been. There are have been denials from his camp. And if you look towards certain evidence that people might say on that side that, hey, there's a chance that it might not be true. I think the thing about Michael Jackson is he's had such a huge career and such a long legacy

that people really believe, there are so many people to believe that these charges are not true. And I think that because he had such a long career and there's such a mythology about it, that people believe that, hey, this person that I grew up with and that has this aura about them, or not even just an aura, just a legacy behind him of doing goodwill and being that type of person that they believe that these things are not. true. Let's get to your op-ed. I want to ask you more about this later in our interview. I know you've seen the film. You wrote in the essay in the New York Times this week entitled, Why I Still Love Michael Jackson in it. You say you were in an MJ Renaissance, and then at the premiere, you felt like you could be out and proud Jackson fan again. Why do you feel that way? I think that over, since his death, that there has been another way to look at Michael Jackson, and people have re-examined his own. He's a re-examined his

legacy, I think that prior to his death that he was in a period where he was very much tarnished. And even if you did believe that Michael Jackson was innocent, there were so many bizarre things in his life that it was hard to really celebrate who he was as a person. And I think, obviously, death changes things. People look at people differently and look at the legacy differently when someone has died. And then I think that over the past 15 years, he's been dead more than 15 years, there's been a new look at so much of his music. There's been a new generation that has accepted and become Michael Jackson fan.

So I think that there's been this whole reimagining of who Michael Jackson, what his legacy stood for. Do you believe any of the alleged victims? I haven't had a chance to unpack and look at what they've said. I believe, you know, I grew up with listening to Michael Jackson. I grew up also being, I don't want to say indoctrinated, but really believing the magic behind Michael Jackson who he was. And as I say in my essay, you kind of want to believe that like the fugitive, the one-iron man who's the murderer, that that implausible can be true. I want to make clear that, yes, I do believe that Michael Jackson was innocent. I have to say that.

You know, I don't want to make it seem like I don't, I believe that Michael Jackson maybe did something, but it's okay because his music is so great. I don't believe that. You know, I think- So you think Michael Jackson is completely innocent? I think that Michael Jackson's conduct with children was troubling. I don't think that any child should be. in a situation where they're with...

Yeah, because he admitted that sleeping with children. He admitted to sleeping with children as an adult. But I also think that Michael Jackson, if you look at what he's... If you look at Michael Jackson over the years, that he was someone who was trying to relive a childhood. And that's the narrative that, you know, if you have grown up and listened to his music

and listen and read so much about him that it seems on the outside is implausible, you know. If there are more allegations, if allegations keep coming out, if more people come forward, would your mind ever change, or do you think, in your mind, it's settled? No, I don't think you, I think you have to look at everything. I think whether if more allegations and, you know, you have to look at what the allegations are and so forth. I think when the first allegations happened, you know, there were, um, you know, looking at what the father's motives, this, the custody battle, there's a lot of things and you could say, oh, you know, maybe this isn't true. And I think that because of growing up

with Michael Jackson, you sort of feel like maybe that there is a benefit of the doubt. I think when there's multiple allegations, you have to sort of wonder, well, is there when there's smoke, is there fire? There was a point in time when, in journalism especially, you would not believe victims until there was a court case, until there was testimony, and then people started realizing... I actually just agree. I actually think that you always used to believe victims. I mean, that's why... I mean, a lot of women, I mean, I don't even tell you this,

but I mean, the Me Too movement, part of that was women said they would come forward with allegations and nobody would listen to them. Jeffrey Epstein, I mean, you can see in his history, you know, families did come forward and they weren't really listened to until much later, and he beat that case as well. And I'm not equating the two, but I'm saying people tend to... give the victims a little bit more leeway, I think, with Michael Jackson. I think that Me Too definitely, you know, was a watershed moment. And I think it's also important to... But let me just finish my point. My point is Michael Jackson fans don't, I'm not sure if they give leeway to the alleged victims of Michael Jackson.

I think that Michael Jackson's fans don't believe that he did that. But I also think that that Michael Jackson, you know, as an entertainer and as a, and for many years, many people did believe that he did that. So I think that, you know, there are still many people who believe that he is guilty. And I think that his career, you know, was greatly affected by that. You know, many people still have felt that he was a child molester. And back in, and back in, But I think it shows how popular that he was that even despite all the negativity around him, that he still was able to do a 30th anniversary special in 2001. They had cameos and the men in black that, you know, he still was putting out.

Yeah, I covered his death here from New York, and there were people in the streets crying. Nikisa, Mumbai, Moody, I thank you so much for joining Topsoord. This was a difficult conversation. I thank you for coming on and being honest. And I appreciate your time. Thank you. And we thank you for watching Top Story tonight. I'm Tom Yamous in New York.

Stay right there. More news on the way.