Top Story with Tom Llamas - Monday, December 16, 2024

Episode Date: December 17, 2024

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

Breaking tonight, a student opening fire at a Christian school in Wisconsin. A teacher and student killed. The shooter also found dead. Officers swarming the school after reports of gunfire. At least six people rushed to the hospital, parents frantically searching for their kids what were learning about the tragedy tonight. Also, Trump meets the press. The president-elect doubling down on selecting RFK Jr. as Health and Human Services Secretary during his first news conference since the election. his response to skepticism over Kennedy's stance on vaccines. Trump also wane in for the first time on the CEO murder suspect, Luigi Mangione, and if he would consider a pardon for New York City Mayor Eric Adams. The surprising $15 million settlement from ABC News, the network agreed to pay President-elect Trump in his defamation suit, the terms including an apology from anchor George Stephanopoulos,

will this set a precedent for other legal battles with the press? Jay-Z's attorney speaking exclusively with NBC News after our sit-down with the woman accusing him of rape when she was 13. What the hip-hop mogul's lawyer is saying about the inconsistencies, our report found with her account, and why he thinks Jay-Z will be cleared in the coming days. Desperate for a deal, our team on the ground in Gaza, just as Israel launched a deadly air strike on a school, sheltering displaced families. What Israel says was inside that building. We speak with survivors about the moments of sheer panic searching for those trapped under piles of rubble and pleading for the war to end.

And incredible video as police rushed to save a man locked inside a burning home, an officer pulling the steel door off its hinges to get inside. Plus this just in the woman who stood away on a flight to Paris arrested again where she was caught trying to cross the border. Top story starts right now. Good evening. Tonight, a community in shock and grieving after a teenage student walked into a school in Madison, Wisconsin, and opened fire. The shooter killing a teacher and another student at abundant life school, police say the suspect was also found dead at the scene. At least six others were left injured when gunfire broke out, parents rushed into the school to get word about their child. Police say first responders were able to get on scene fast because they were actually

already training for such a situation nearby. They left the training center immediately and came down here and doing in real time what they were actually practicing for. This all happening at a local private Christian school in Madison, Wisconsin. The school serves about 400 students ranging from kindergarten to 12th grade, new video showing some of those students being released after the lockdown loading buses and going home to their families. Right now, investigators are looking into a...

motive behind this tragedy. NBC Shaq Brewster is on the ground tonight in Madison with the latest. Tonight, heartbreak hits the Midwest after a shooting at abundant life Christian school in Madison, Wisconsin. We know that three people are dead, including the suspect shooter. We know that the suspect shooter was a teenage student who attended the school. A teacher and teenage student were killed in the shooting. Everybody can come in. All E&S can come in, shooter down. Police are not releasing the shooter's age or gender, but say they injured six others. They say the scene was confined to one space in the small private school, which houses kindergarten through 12th grade. Two students are now in critical condition in the hospital, and these

injuries are considered life-threatening injuries. Police crediting a team of medics who were conducting a training exercise nearby for rushing in to aid the response. Neighbors witnessed the scramble. of kids coming out of the school in groups into the church sanctuary, probably as they were in lockdown and clearing the building and slowly taking out the kids bit by bit by bit. According to an NBC News tally, this is the fourth active shooting in an American school this year. Police say a handgun was used, but say they don't yet have details of a possible motive. The police chief says the shooter's family is cooperating. The White House says federal officials have offered support to local authorities to aid with the investigation.

Last year a shooting at a Christian school in Nashville left six people dead. The shooter, a former student, was shot dead at the scene. Tonight parents in Wisconsin left shaken as another community is again left in mourning. This is not okay. If your kids have school, they are not okay. If they are church, they are not okay. If they are outside, elsewhere they are not okay. are they going to be safe?

Okay, Shaq Brewster joins us tonight from the scene there in Madison. And Shaq, I think it's important to go back to this because the chief of police there was mentioning this as well. I mean, what are the chances, right? There was a team of first responders that were actually training for a situation like this when a real one unfolded right next to them? That's exactly right, Tom. And you heard the chief really tout the extensive training at multiple levels that helped in the response to this shooting. You mentioned there were a group of medics that were training just like.

a couple of miles away from the school and they essentially dropped what they were doing and went straight to the school and got to perform what they were training on. But the chief also saying that from the police response perspective, we also know that officers were just doing a mass shooting response drill or training just about two weeks ago. And then we of course know that this is something that the school and the staff have been training for as well, Tom. Yeah, and of course our thoughts and prayers with those families that lost loved ones and those students that are still recovering in the hospital tonight. Shack, Bruce, on that breaking news, Shaq, we appreciate it. Next tonight, to other big headline, President-elect Trump speaking out today at his first

major news conference since winning the election. President-elect Trump addressing a number of topics, including his pick for health and human service secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Trump's strongly defending his choice as Kennedy met with senators on Capitol Hill. NBC's Garrett Hake has the latest. Tonight, Donald Trump's pick to be the nation's top federal health official, long-time vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., making the first Capitol Hill appearance of his confirmation process, as the president-elect held his first news conference since winning the election. Trump defending his Department of Health and Human Services selection, Kennedy, repeatedly.

What do you say to people who are worried that his views on vaccines will translate into policies that will make their kids less safe? No, I think he's going to be much less radical than you would think. I think he's got a very open mind, or I wouldn't have put him there. Kennedy has pushed discredited theories that link childhood vaccines to all. autism and has been under fire after the New York Times reported a top advisor had petitioned the FDA in 2022 to revoke approval of the polio vaccine. You're not going to lose the polio vaccine. That's not going to happen. But we're going to

look into finding why is the autism rate so much higher than it was 20, 25, 30 years ago? Kennedy pressed today on if he supports the polio vaccine. Trump asked directly if schools should mandate vaccinations, pivoting to COVID. I don't like mandates. I was against mandates. Mostly Democrat governors did the mandates. But school vaccination requirements are decided by states, with the federal government providing only recommendations and schedules, limiting the direct influence Kennedy or Trump could have. The president-elects press conference called to tout a $100 billion investment from Japanese tech firm SoftBank, which Mr. Trump claimed would create 100,000 new American jobs.

He's kept a low profile since his election victory, rarely straying thought. from his Mar-a-Lago club, as tech titans and foreign leaders have flocked to Florida to see him. The first term, everybody was fighting me. In this term, everybody wants to be my friend. I don't know. My personality changed or something. But the biggest difference is that people want to get along with me this time. Today, commenting for the first time on the killing of the United Health Care CEO.

It was cold-blooded, just a cold-blooded, horrible killing. and how people can like this guy is, that's a sickness, actually. All right, Garrett, Hayk joins us tonight from West Palm Beach. Garrett, a lot of news happening there in Mar-a-Lago. I do want to ask you about some news that's breaking late tonight about TikTok CEO, who's apparently meeting with President Elect Trump at Mar-a-Lago. And this meeting came just hours after TikTok asked the Supreme Court to block the law that would ban the app used by more than 100 million Americans

if it's not sold by its Chinese parent company by January 19. And Gary, this is interesting because there are people, members of President-elect Trump's team, that want this app band as well. But apparently he doesn't? He has had a journey on whether he wants this app band or not, Tom, going back to his administration the first time when he first suggested that it should be. He's gone back and forth, including today, saying TikTok has a warm place in his heart. He credits the app for helping him do so much better this time around with younger voters. Now, this meeting today, probably continuing into tonight over dinner, as so many meetings with Trump at Mar-a-Lago do. It's not entirely clear what Trump, who is still a private citizen until January 20th, can do to help TikTok, given the deadline for them to either divest from their Chinese parent company or be shut down, is one day before on the 19th.

And, Gary, I do want to go back to the presser this morning. He also made comments about the mayor of New York City and his ongoing legal battle, with the Justice Department. Let's take a listen to that. Would you consider pardoning Eric Adams? Yeah, I would. I think that he was straighted pretty unfairly. Okay, kind of a big statement there, Gary.

You know, it's interesting because Mayor Eric Adams, though, at one point he was a Republican. He's now a Democrat. He was at odds with the Biden administration over immigration. At one point, touting New York City as a sanctuary city. He changed his tune on that. What's going on here? because a lot of people are saying he's kind of playing to President-elect Trump to get this pardon.

If he is, it may very well be working, Tom. This is a case in which Donald Trump and Eric Adams have the same perceived enemies in the form of the Biden Justice Department. Trump has long said, and he says, believed that Adams was targeted by the Department of Justice for his views on immigration, which have come to Hugh closer perhaps to Donald Trump's than they do to Joe Biden's. This offer of a pardon comes after we know there's been some outreach, perhaps some conversations between their teams. I think this is going to be something to keep a very close eye on with Adams, a Democrat whose politics are not always in line with those of the rest of the Democratic Party. And Trump, who has politics all his own and a former New Yorker, who I think is looking to keep some connection to the politics, to the vibe, to what's going on in New York City. What happens with Adams' case in the future and how Trump views it as president next year could be a major topic.

All right, Garrett Hake for us tonight, Garrett, we thank you for that. We're also following the latest on that settlement reach between President-elect Trump and ABC News after Trump says anchor George Stephanopoulos defamed him during a contentious interview with a congresswoman this march. Ken Delanyan has more on the terms of the agreement and why some journalists have been critical of it. You don't find any offensive that Donald Trump has been found liable for rape. Tonight, the fallout from a bombshell settlement in President-elect Trump's defamation suit against ABC News. endorsed Donald Trump for president. Judges and two separate juries have found him liable for rape and for defaming the victim of that rape. The lawsuit stemming from this March interview by anchor George Stephanopoulos, where he grilled South Carolina Congresswoman Nancy Mace, a survivor of rape, on how she could support Trump.

I'm asking you a very simple question. And I answered it. You're shaming me for my political choices. I'm asking you a question about why you endorse someone who's been found liable for rape. It was not a criminal court. This was a civil court. It was a civil court. Stephanopoulos, falsely saying Trump was liable for rape more than 10 times over the course of the interview. It has been shown to be raped.

The judge affirmed that it was in fact rape. Donald Trump was found to have committed rape. That's just a fact. In fact, the jury in the E. Jean Carroll case found Trump liable for sexual abuse and explicitly not for rape. Mr. Trump sued, claiming that Stephanopoulos and the network knew or should have known the statement was false. His lawyers citing this interview Stephanopoulos did with Carol months earlier. The first announcement was made and it was that he was not found liable for rape. What were we thinking at that moment? Robbie and I were sitting together and we were holding hands. Her

hand was ice cold. Complicating the dispute, the judge in the Carroll case clarified in a written opinion that New York's definition of the term rape is narrow. And that the jury's finding, quote, does not mean that she failed to prove Mr. Trump. Trump raped her, as many people commonly understand the word rape. The jury found that Mr. Trump, in fact, did exactly that. It was against my will, and it hurt, and it was a fight. Carol alleged Trump assaulted her in a Manhattan department store in the mid-90s. Trump is appealing two jury verdicts, ordering him to pay Carol nearly $90 million.

In the settlement, ABC agreeing to donate $15 million to Trump's presidential library, pay $1 million to his legal team and add a statement to their article on the interview, reading, ABC News and George Stephanopoulos regret statements regarding President Donald J. Trump made during the interview. In a statement, the network

saying, we are pleased that the parties have reached an agreement to dismiss the lawsuit on the terms in the court filing. The deal widely seen as a win for President-elect Trump, who has made attacking the news media part of his political brand for years. We have to straighten out the press.

is very corrupt, almost as corrupt as our elections. Some journalists criticizing ABC's decision to settle. Paul Farhe, former media reporter with The Washington Post, calling the agreement an awful precedent and a huge sellout. Kendallanians joins us now. Ken, a lot going on, a lot of people talking about this one. I understand President-elect Trump is now promising even more defamation suits against news organizations.

That's right, Tom. Today he announced his intention to sue the door. Des Moines Register over a poll published in that newspaper just before the election, showing that Kamala Harris was up four points. It was by a really well-known pollster, Anne Seltzer, who subsequently retired and acknowledged that that poll was wrong. It was an outlier. And this is one of many, if he sues, it would be one of many defamation sues he has going against the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Pulitzer Board, Bob Woodward. Mr. Trump portrays himself as a crusader against the news media. All right, Ken Delanyan for us, can we appreciate that? For more on this, settlement of what it means for news coverage of the incoming Trump administration. I want to

bring in our panel tonight for a very important discussion. NBC News legal analyst, Danny Savalos, you know him. He's a good friend to Top Story, and NPR media correspondent David Fulkin Flick, who's been covering the beat for a very long time. I thank you both for being here. So, Danny, you heard what George Stephanopoulos said there in that interview, and I do want to tell our viewers. I worked at ABC News. I worked with George Stephanopoulos. I have a lot of respect for both the news organization and for George. I do want to put that out there. But I do want to do want to I want to ask you, what did you think? Did Trump have a good case here? It was not the best defamation case. I mean, only because of what we already talked about,

which is the nuanced difference between sexual assault and rape. And by the way, it's defined differently, even among the several states. I mean, they all have their own definition. So it wasn't black and white. The case, it wasn't a slam dunk for Trump. No, some defamation cases are slam dunks. Those are usually defamation per se. You say someone committed a crime that they clearly did not. arguably that's what happened here but instead of accusing someone of a crime where there was no crime whatsoever there was at least some suggestion of a crime somewhat closer to the crime that was alleged filed in Miami Florida South Florida which turned red for the first time in a very long time on the political spectrum would that have any effect on you if you were representing ABC News and saying should I take this case or not well what's interesting is that if

you're a plaintiff that's somewhere you don't want to file whether it's defamation or any other case. You generally want to file in urban city environments because the jury pools there are used to paying more money for things and they're used to bigger dollar amounts. They know someone who makes a multimillion dollars. So a multi-million dollar verdict is something they're not afraid to give. But it's very interesting that a plaintiff would choose to file in Red Florida in a place that isn't probably the most appetizing place. If you've got a great defamation case, file it right here in Manhattan. You normally, if you're a regular plaintiff, have a good jury but if you're Donald Trump, you're with a jury poll in Manhattan that isn't that fond of you.

David, put this in a perspective, right? And not only for us who obviously work in the media, but for our viewers who are watching this, what kind of message do you think this sends for the American media in general, or is too much being made about this and maybe ABC News made a mistake? How do you see this? I guess I think that we have to be in living in a world where we can hold more than one idea in our head at the same time. You know, if you take it. the focus on to George Stephanopoulos. He screwed up, and the network didn't clarify or correct it. He was speaking adjacent to the facts, but it wasn't factual, and it's about something serious. Was the former president found to be liable in a civil trial for rape under New York state law?

No, in fact, they expressly decided not to find him liable on that. But they found it guilty of sexual, excuse me, liable, different term, of sexual abuse, and that's a very serious thing as well. that should have been corrected. Secondarily, this is a generally would be thought of as a very tepid case. I would, you know, affirm what Danny said, but also, you know, the Supreme Court's ruling of 60 years ago that's still binding, at least at the moment, called Times v. Sullivan, about, you know, how much free reign you have to criticize public officials and get it in some way somewhat wrong, you know, offers real amount of running room to afford Americans as well as journalists, the right to have a strong public critique of their officials, and not have to be

technically accurate in every single scintilla of detail. So what this says, I think, is, you know, it's hard to look away from this. That $15 million plus an extra million dollars of legal costs is a huge and gaudy figure for ABC News and even for its huge corporate parent, Disney, to cough up. It compels our attention. It puts ballast, you know, on Trump, it puts a wind beneath his wings, as he goes after the press, as our viewers have just seen a moment or two ago in the preceding report. So I think that this does give confidence for Trump and his allies to continue a multi-pronged strategy, rhetorical, legal, and political against the press to try to hold it down so that Trump himself can be the one who's the ultimate arbiter of what's fair and what's appropriate for the press to be doing, which as a journalist as well as a citizen is not necessarily something I want to give. over to our public officials. Danny, David mentioned the settlement costs $15 million going to that museum plus a million for attorney's fees. Is that a big number for a defamation

case like this? I'm a plaintiff's attorney and Tom, what I'm about to say is heresy. It'll probably get my card pulled. But we have lost our mind with defamation cases. They are so far out of the window. Let me give you an example. I'm a plaintiff's attorney. If I have a client with a shattered femur or traumatic brain injury here in New York where jury verdicts are high, maybe I get a couple million dollars. You're talking about a life-changing accident. Life-changing quadriplegic, people who have, you know, life-shattering physical injuries. And then these high-profile defamation cases, people are routinely getting 15 million, 50 million.

In fact, in some of the more recent high-profile defamation cases, 15 million doesn't seem like a whole lot. But it sure is for every other member of the plaintiff's part. Now, I say that for another reason. You might look at this as ABC. Hey, sometimes a defendant will say, look, let's make, we'll make it. kind of a low-ball settlement offer to make this go away, nuisance value, we call it. $15 million is not nuisance value. That is an indicator that the defendant wanted the case to go away

and wanted it to go away quickly because they could have at least litigated through discovery and maybe they just didn't want the risk of discovery because you have to turn over a lot of emails and you really don't know what's going to be in there. David, and that brings me to my next question to you. How much of that do you think ABC was concerned about looking at the emails, the text messages, getting depositions from people like George, from possibly the producers of that show, people, part of the political team. Do you think there was that fear? I think that's that fear every time you get into the weeds of discovery, when you have to

give over your private documents and exchanges, what you say on Slack or texts. You know, we saw that with the now infamous Fox News defamation suit in which they paid $787 million after so much of that had already come to light. But just before it, went to a jury for a full trial. That said, I think you can't look at this outside of the context of where we are. We're at a time where you've seen major news organizations, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, owned by billionaires, independent-minded figures, entrepreneurs with businesses outside the news business, that decided to kill editorial endorsements of Kamala Harris just days before the election. Not that anybody thinks those endorsements would have swung

major people who are readers of those papers. But just the very symbolic nature of, you know, Trump is quite possibly returning to office. We don't want to stick him in the eye right before he does it. Similarly, you know, you saw one of the top executives over ABC news, over ABC, meet with Susie Willis, the incoming chief of staff for the second Trump administration, down in Mara Lago in recent days. Jeff Bezos is making plans to go down there himself. You see all these tech and media figures showing a concern and affinity to Trump right now. That's the context in which it's hard to detach what we just learned about ABC. Danny, last question to you, and I know you're a lawyer and you also work for NBC News, but I'd like as straight of an answer as you can. Would you advise

news organizations to muscle up their legal departments in light of this? No, I don't think this is, this seems to me like an anomaly. It didn't follow traditional litigation strategy because they could have fought this for longer. They could have gone through discovery. They could have taken depositions. And like I said earlier, I don't think it was a slam dunk case of defamation. It might have been, had there been no legal proceedings whatsoever, and you called someone a criminal and said they raped someone. But here there was an argument to be made that the finding by the judge was, it was confusing but close, and you could have maybe had a margin of error. Although I do see the plaintiff's theory of the case, and probably ABC did too. Danny, David, really smart conversation tonight.

I want to thank you both of you guys, some of the best in the business doing what you do. So we thank you for being on top story tonight. We want to move now to the story that has captivated people across the country and had them looking to the skies. Thousands reporting drone sightings, sparking concern along the East Coast. We're now learning the House Intelligence Committee will receive a briefing on the ministry tomorrow, according to two sources familiar with the matter. But authorities continue to emphasize the drones do not appear to be a threat to the public. Tom Costello has the late details. Tonight, the flashing lights from thousands of reported drone sightings across the northeast may,

becoming into clearer focus. Homeland Security says infrared technology is now helping police on the ground identify drones in the air. In New Jersey, the epicenter for most drone sightings for nearly a month. Lawmakers continue demanding answers. I won't let the federal government insult the American people and claim they aren't seeing things that they're seeing with their own two eyes. Over the weekend, an FBI official said there had been more than 5,000 reported sightings, but only 100 warranted review. The vast majority appear to have been planes, helicopters, and legitimate drone operations. Though President-elect Trump today suggested the government or military knows more about the drones than they're saying.

Something strange is going on for some reason they don't want to tell the people. We have not identified anything anomalous or any national security or public safety risk over the civilian airspace in New Jersey or other states in the northeast. Meanwhile, a company specializing in drone radar, Robin Radar, is now working with state police in New Jersey. How small of a target of a drone can you identify? Yeah, so we can, everything in radar comes down to how big it is, what's it made of, how fast is it moving. Because drones fly so low, FAA aviation radar typically doesn't spot them. FBI and FAA officials have said most drone sightings appear to line up with airport, takeoff and landing patterns, suggesting the public might be mistaking regular air traffic,

even passing satellites for drones. Drones are legal in daylight and nighttime. The FAA requires they remain under 400 feet, they must stay at least five miles from airports and restricted areas, be in the line of sight of the drone operator, and the drone operator must have a license for larger drones and any commercial activity. Like other news organizations, NBC News uses drones for news gathering. According to FAA regulations, we have a white strobe flashing on top. Plains on the other hand have white strobes on the wings, a solid red, a solid green light, and then a flashing red. Former FBI counter-dron chief Rob DeMico. They're 400 feet below. They have their lights on and they can see the drone. There's nothing illegal about it. Even if it's over your own property,

you don't own the airspace. Most drones have less than 30 minutes of battery life and limited range. It's hard to deny that there's a lot of rules out there, and some people will follow them. Some people won't. Tom Costello joins us tonight from T-neck, New Jersey, just across the George Washington Bridge from where we are here at 30 Rock. So Tom, I know now there's a late warning from the FBI. What do people need to know? The FBI in Newark is warning people. First of all, you cannot shine lasers at planes.

This has been an ongoing problem for years. They've had some recent reoccurrence of that. pilots complaining they're being lit up. You can't do that. That's a felony. But also, you cannot shoot at what you think is a drone. Let's underscore. Drones are legal. They're legal to fly in daylight and in nighttime. And if you shoot at something you think is a drone, it could end up being a plane, a helicopter, a medevac chopper, or a legitimate drone. And that is a felony. It could also result in serious injuries on the ground. An important warning. Is it possible, Tom, that all these new reported drones are now just enthusiasts playing into the public's obsession? I know this sometimes happens when there's a UFO sighting that, at least in years past, there would be a UFO sighting, and then there'd be a ton of them in the same area. And we do have to mention, right, some lawmakers have jumped into this issue, which has added fuel to the fire. Yeah, and some of that has been disinformation that's been proven to be false. Listen, every expert I talk to say that's exactly what they believe is part of the equation here.

There are more drones in the skies. Again, they're legal. In addition, you've got this now everybody looking to the sky for drones, and pretty soon you start seeing things, whether it's a plane, a helicopter. And oh, by the way, the Starlink satellites that now on a very low orbit come across the sky flashing. Some people are seeing that. And then also some people may be thinking they see something. In fact, there's really not much there. So all of this together, in addition to, yes, there are more drones, maybe more hobbyists out there. They're kind of having fun with this, getting everybody worked up. All of that creates the big picture. At least that's the thinking right now.

All right, Tom Costello on that drone beat again tonight. Tom, we thank you for that. Still ahead tonight, our exclusive one-on-one sit down with Jayce's lawyer. As the hip-hop mogul faces a civil suit accusing him of raping. a woman when she was a teen, what his attorney is saying tonight after our recent interview with the accuser. Plus, the former co-founder of Aussie media, remember him? Sentenced to prison time. The years behind bars, Carlos Watson now faces after lying to investigators. And the dramatic rescue caught on camera, an officer prying open a door with his bare hands to save a man that was trapped

inside as his house was on fire. Stay with us for more of that video. It's coming up after this break. We are back now with an NBC News exclusive. Jay-Z's attorney is firing back tonight after NBC News uncovered inconsistencies surrounding the rape allegation made against the music mogul. But the accuser who NBC spoke with last week is still standing by her story. Chloe Malas with the interview. Tonight, Jay-Z's attorney, Alex Spiro, is pushing to get a judge to dismiss the rape lawsuit against his client, citing an NBC News exclusive that found inconsistencies with the accuser's account. We expect Mr. Carter to be fully cleared of all of this in the coming days.

Almost nothing that she says has checked out because this never happened. This in the wake of our interview with a 38-year-old mother from Alabama, who accuses Jay-Z, whose real name is Sean Carter and Sean Diddy Combs of raping her when she was 13 years old. She asked us not to reveal her identity. What made you want to come forward? because I think that I've been quiet long enough. She says that she might have some facts wrong, but that she says the incident happened.

What do you say to that? You know, anybody, when they make up a claim, they can just keep repeating it and repeating it and getting it right, but you never get the details right. And what happened during her interview with you is that the story began to unravel. On the night of the MTV Video Music Awards in 2000, she says Combs' limo driver took her to an after party.

There she says she spoke to music. musician Benji Madden and his brother. I'm talking to Benji Madden about his tattoo. That's the last supper. In a statement to NBC News, a representative for the Maddens confirmed they did not attend the 2000 VMAs and that they were on tour in the Midwest at that time.

At the after party, she says she had a drink that made her feel woozy. Then she says Combs and Carter both raped her. She says she ran to a gas station where she called her father, who picked her up. We wrote home in silence. She didn't ask me what happened. In an interview with NBC,

news, her father said he could not corroborate her story. I feel like I would remember that and I don't, he said. The woman revealed to us that she has autism and previously suffered a head injury. In a follow-up phone interview, we asked her about the contradictions, and she said that she stands by her statements. This woman is standing by her story. It happened over 20 years ago. Maybe her memory is hazy. Maybe her father doesn't remember that night. No, no, she's doubled down on certain of these details. She says, I'm positive. She points out the tattoo. She talks about the tattoo in vivid detail. Turns out that's completely false. And the father is supposed to be picking her up. 10-hour drive, round trip to pick her up in the middle of the night, has no memory of that.

No one has come forward about this in nearly a quarter of a century, and that's because this never happened. Spiro said he's not only seeking justice for Jay-Z. He says that he also wants to expose the accuser's attorney, Tony Busby. He takes away the voices from real victims, and he causes real harm. If this lawyer has any sense, he's going to dismiss this claim. I don't know whether he is any sense. Busby, who has filed more than 20 lawsuits against Combs, told NBC News that he is continuing to vet the accuser's claims and that she has agreed to undergo a polygraph this week. A representative for Combs called the suit a shameless money grab. Since your attorneys refiled the lawsuit against Combs naming Jay-Z, he has come out with a very long statement saying that this is

completely not true and that this is all about trying to get money from him. What do you say about that? I haven't asked for a dime from him. It's not, not everything is motivated by money, and I'm sorry that he feels that it is. This woman also told us on camera last week that this isn't about money. Well, let's be serious. A lawyer like this is not sending out these letters, not to make money. He wants money and fame. He doesn't care about truth and justice.

And that's what's going on here. Chloe Malas joins us in studio. So, Chloe, explain this to me. The attorney for the plaintiffs, Tony Busby, right? He's sticking by his client, even though you've been able to report these inconsistencies and they are now out there in the public? Yes, and because of our exclusive report here on Top Story, he's actually going to have Jane Doe do a polygraph test.

He says he hasn't done it yet, but that they are going to be doing it this week. He also said in a statement to us moments ago, that their conduct throughout all of this has been beyond reproach and will continue to be, even though that's not what you're hearing, Alex Spiro, Jay-Z's attorney, what he's saying. Also, I just want to show you, Jay-Z's team created a timeline. Obviously, they are, even though this took place allegedly 24 years ago, right? They are saying that there is just no way that he could have been at the VMAs. He's on camera there until the end of the VMAs, which ended right after 11,

and that there are photographs him at the Lotus Club in Manhattan, and they say he was there until 3 a.m., and then he went to the music studio. So, again, they are adamant that they're... That he was not at that party. He was not at any sort of after-after party. I do want to ask you this. What is Jay-Z's sort of legal team strategy

in describing the relationship between Diddy and Jay-Z because there are a ton of photos out of them over the years, obviously before these allegations came out? And this civil suit, Tom, originally just named Combs. And then it was amended last weekend to include Jay-Z. What Alex Spiro said to me today is that although publicly, Jay-Z supported Diddy, they were not best friends. They were not as close as you thought that they were. So in terms of knowledge of what went on allegedly at these white parties and what took place allegedly in these civil suits and this criminal charge and the trial, he says, J-Z has no knowledge of any of that.

Again, he publicly supported him as a fellow musician and someone where they came up together in the industry. but that they weren't as close as you thought. Chloe Malas, who has broken a lot of news on this case. Chloe, we thank you for that. When we come back, more news tonight here on Top Story. You remember the woman who snuck onto a Delta flight to Paris? Well, she's just been detained again, where the stowaway was just caught trying to flee the country for a second time

after breaking free from her ankle monitor. Stay with us. Okay. Welcome back. Time now for Top Stories News Feed. We start with the FBI, now looking into a shooting that happened at a federal courthouse in Pennsylvania earlier today. Law enforcement officials say a federal courthouse security guard shot a man multiple times after he allegedly stormed the courthouse with a knife and then attempted to attack an officer. The suspect is in stable condition, but his identity has not yet been released. No one else was injured. Okay, an update tonight, the founder of the failed media company, Ozzie, sentenced to nearly 10 years. prison for fraud. Carlos Watson, you may remember him, he was found guilty in July on three

charges, including wire fraud conspiracy. Federal prosecutors say he misled investors about the company's finances and audience size. The digital media startup raised millions and millions of dollars before shutting down in 2021. Watson has pleaded not guilty and denied the allegations he does plan on appealing. In Arizona, a fearless deputy saving a man from a house fire. Look at this. The new body cam footage just out. It shows the officer. are running towards the burning home when he hears the homeowner screaming, trap behind that locked door. The officer then repeatedly kicks the door to no avail,

eventually ripping the steel door off its hinges with his bare hands and safely rescuing the man who was treated for minor injuries at the scene. The deputy was taken to the hospital, but he is expected to be okay. Okay, and tonight we are following even more breaking news. You'll remember that stowaway caught aboard a Delta flight from New York to perish. The woman was brought back to America earlier this month, but now she's been arrested again. This time near the Canadian border

for more on this incredible story. Jonathan Deans from our NBC station in New York joins me now and said it's one of these stories that you can't believe, right? So what happened here, Jonathan? So that Lana Daly, she was in custody. She was released on an angle bracelet for allegedly...

Flying without a ticket. Flying without a ticket on this Delta flight to Paris. So she was in court. She was released. She was sent back to Philadelphia. live with her boyfriend, with an ankle bracelet, GPS. Well, apparently yesterday, the boyfriend found the ankle bracelet cut off, and she was nowhere to be found.

So the FBI, he alerted the FBI and the U.S. Marshals. They began this manhunt, and it turned out, according to authorities, she was on a Greyhound bus about to cross the border near Buffalo, New York, into Canada. Canada authorities found her, stopped her, and turned her over back to the FBI. She is now in custody, arrested. for a second time now, and she's in custody in Buffalo, and will appear in federal court there to be sent back to New York to be charged with fleeing after she had been charged

as an alleged stowaway. You know what the million-dollar question is, right? Did she buy the bus ticket? Do we hope she got the Greyhound bus ticket? We have no idea. All right, Jonathan Deans, we thank you for that update. Sure, Tom. Just ahead, the growing desperation to reach a ceasefire deal in Gaza. Terrifying video as Israel targets a school sheltering displaced families while they were sleeping. Our team on the ground as it unfolded. Those compelling pictures in the story coming up after this. We're back now and one ahead overseas. Syria's ousted dictator is breaking his silence for the first time since fleeing to Russia. It comes as families torn apart by his brutal regime are scrambling to reunite. Richard Engels in Damascus tonight and a warning

the details are disturbing. Bashar al-Assad offered his version of events tonight a week after he was overthrown. In a statement, Assad claimed he was overseeing combat operations against the rebels he called terrorists and only left after a Russian commander ordered him to evacuate for his safety. At no point during these events did I consider stepping down or seeking refuge, Assad said, on the Syrian presidency telegram channel, although we cannot verify if Assad still controls the account. He said nothing about the mass graves now being uncovered daily, or the more than 100,000 Syrians still missing.

She said, please, please, please, please put this one on camera. Everyone here is hoping behind hope. But what's so disturbing is not a single person here has said that they've received a phone call. Samira Zakur is looking for her son, Rashid. I've been searching for him for 11 years now, she says. Some reunions are happening. These two cousins were freed by the rebels from a regime prison. They say they were savagely tortured.

They used scissors to just cut off his fingers. These men were in the Seidnaya prison, where we reported last week how deep Detainees described how Assad's guards used the hydraulic press to torture and kill people. They told me they heard the press and the screams, and that now they are restarting their lives with children who barely know them. Syrians are demanding that Assad be returned for Moscow so he can be tried here for war crimes. It's unlikely Putin will hand over his former ally. Tom.

We thank Richard for that report, and parts of Syria being bombed by Israel, Prime Minister Netanyahu says they are taking out weapons and military storage facilities used by the former regime. This says there appears to be new momentum towards a ceasefire deal in Gaza. Israel's defense minister saying, quote, a deal is closer than ever, but as negotiations continue, so do Israeli strikes. Ralph Sanchez takes us inside the aftermath of one of those strikes, and we do want to warn you the following images are very graphic. Our team arrived at this school in Han Yunus minutes after an Israeli strike.

Pedals of ash falling like snow as what were once classrooms burned. Survivors streaming out and scenes of horror within. Where are you? Answer me, this man screams. In the chaos of the stairway, he finds his sister, searching for her missing daughter. Another man, barefoot, steps through rubble, reaching what looks like a pile of blankets. But beneath the bodies of his family. family. Sixteen people were killed in the strike, hospital officials say.

Most of them are children and women and about 20 of seriously injured. Hundreds of displaced Palestinian families had sought shelter in the UN-run school. But Israel's military says Hamas operatives set up a command and control center inside the compound, and we're planning attacks on Israeli troops. The IDF says it took steps to minimize harm to innocence, including using precise weapons, but has not provided evidence of Hamas activity inside the school. All right-a-a-abar. More than 45,000 people have now been killed in Gaza since the October 7th Hamas attack,

according to the health ministry. That figure does not distinguish between civilians and military. When the sun rose, our team returned to the site of the attack. Survivors picking through the rubble, trying to salvage their few belongings. Bissana's duty lost both her husband and mother in the strike. I have no one left. I swear no one is left. No one. Oh God. And remember the man in bare feet. His name is Shadi Tafish. He has few tears left to cry as he helps lift the remains of ten members of his family.

Part of an exhausted procession heading to the graveyard, carrying small bodies and praying for this war to end. Ralph Sanchez joins us tonight from Tel Aviv. These were some horrific images that our team documented, and it's a horrific time for the people of this region. When we see these images, it's hard to imagine. that a ceasefire is around the corner or any one leader is going to bring both sides to the table. And yet, is there still hope?

There is hope, Tom, even though these ceasefire negotiations have collapsed so many times in the past. I'll give you a couple of indications of that optimism. Israel's defense minister was testifying in front of a closed-door parliamentary hearing earlier today. And I spoke to a lawmaker who was in that hearing. He told me the defense minister said, we are close. closer to a ceasefire deal than we have ever been. And what's really notable, Tom, is this is Israel's new defense minister. He's very loyal to Netanyahu.

He would not be out there raising expectations if he didn't have the green light from his boss to do so. Another indication, Jake Sullivan, the president's national security advisor, was here in the Middle East last week. He met with Netanyahu. He met with the leaders of Egypt and Qatar. He has gone back to Washington, but he's left behind the president's most senior, Middle East advisor, Brett McGirk, and that is being taken as a sign that a deal may be coming

together, McGurk staying behind to try to get it over the line. And finally, Tom, President elect Trump has really injected a sense of urgency into this process. He was at Mar-a-Lago today, and he repeated his pretty brash threat that there will be, in his words, hell to pay if there is not a deal in place by the time he's inaugurated on January 20th. Tom. for us tonight, Raf. We thank you and your team for that report. Next to Top Stories Global Watch and a check of what else is happening around the world. We start with a shake-up in European politics. German Chancellor, Olaf Scholes, losing a no-confidence vote. The Chancellor was expected to lose the vote after his three-party coalition collapsed when he fired his finance

minister. Germany's president, Frank Walter Steinmeier, now must decide whether to dissolve Parliament and call for a snap election, which would have to be held within 60 days. Fiered dead after a cyclone hit the French territory of Maya off the coast of Africa. The Category 4 storm pummeled the island. Look at this. Madagascar. It's near the island of Madagascar. It flattened the entire villages. At least 20 people have been officially declared dead. But authorities say that number is likely to be much higher. The French military sending rescuers and supplies to the devastated island. And in Fiji, seven tourists were hospitalized, possibly poisoned at their hotel bar. The guests, including four Australians and one

American fell sick after drinking cocktails at the Warwick Fiji. Fiji's health ministry says they suffered from neurological symptoms, nausea, and vomiting to remain in the hospital in stable condition with the rest discharged. Police are investigating the cause of the illnesses. Warwick Fiji says it's taking the matter very seriously. Okay, when we come back, what if you could learn all about your neighbors before even moving in? A new real estate platform will let users access an unprecedented amount of neighborhood data,

including political affiliations. So could this be the future of home buying? That's next. Well, Amanda, if you guys ever need anything or we get too noisy, just talk to me or talk to Pete. We'll take care of it. Same with us. I mean, we get pretty loud over there.

Game of Thrones, we get loud. When Calisi comes on, I'm like, ah! Yeah, it's crazy. All righty. Well. Dope. Cool. All right.

All right. That, of course, is a clip from the Seth Rogen movie Neighbors, and if a fraternity ever ends up moving in next door to your house or if your neighbors are just too loud, there's a new app that could maybe help you find this out. It's a headline we first saw on Axios this morning. Tech startup, Oisy, is giving home buyers a block-by-block data from the political affiliations of their future neighbors, even how many dogs could be living on their new block. But is this the ultimate nosy neighbor app? Here to help us answer that question is Axios Miami reporter Martin Vassolo Martin. Thanks for joining Top Story tonight. So break down how this app works. Yeah, so this new real estate platform, OEC, is really house hunting taken to the next level.

Prospective home buyers can check block-by-block data to see the political affiliations of their future neighbors using voter records, political contributions. and the CEO says this is a way to find community, to find similar communities for the home buyer looking for their future house. So, Martin, let me stop you there just so our audience understands this. You're saying basically this platform, this app will let you search a neighborhood and figure out, hey, is this a Trump neighborhood or is this a Harris neighborhood? Do Republicans live here? Do Democrats live on this block?

That's the goal, yes. When this is soft launching this month, it's going to have the most up-to-date president. results block by block. So exactly that, yes. Do you think this is important to home buyers? I mean, you cover South Florida there for Axios in an area, obviously, that is exploding. The real estate market is always up or down. Lately, it's been very, very high. But how important you think data like that is to prospective homeowners? Well, the company is saying that they believe this sort of social data, you know, political affiliation, demographics, income is something that is pushing buyers even more so than the physical conditions of a home. So they're really

banking on this being a big selling point. Yeah, so walk me through that, right? Because there's Zillow out there, there's different real estate apps. How is this one going to be better? I mean, it's going to give you essentially inside information, if you will, about your neighbors? Yeah, they are pitching this as never before available data. That doesn't take you house by house, but it takes you block by block. And you can see if it's a red or a blue street. You can see how many dogs are living in the future condo building. You can see the typical Zillow details of, you know, typical home descriptions. But this is the next level of that, yeah.

Let's sort of look at this from 30,000 feet, if you will, right? I mean, is this a platform and app that can further divide us, right? And I ask that because, I mean, maybe you don't want to live in a neighborhood that voted for Kamala Harris. Maybe you don't want to live in a neighborhood that voted for Donald Trump. But, I mean, conversations are important, right? And if we keep dividing ourselves, even block by block, couldn't that make the country even more polarized? That's the exact question I posed to CEO Hugh Nirenberg.

And I asked him, is this just going to let us, you know, self-isolate more, be in our bubbles? He said this is more about bringing people together. He thinks if someone is falling in love with a home, knowing that their street identifies with their beliefs, could push them over the top into buying the home. so it's more of building community, but personally, I live on a street in Hollywood, Florida, and I don't know the voting affiliation, the party affiliation of my neighbors. We don't really talk about politics, so I think that's a very fair question when I asked them.

Yeah, it'll be interesting to find out, too, how they sort of break this down if red neighborhoods gain more value than blue neighborhoods and how that all works. But it's interesting data and a very interesting read. We thank you for joining Top Story tonight. Thank you so much. All right. And we thank you all for watching Top Story. I'm Tom Yamison, New York. Stay right there. More news on the way.