Top Story with Tom Llamas - Monday, March 30, 2026

Episode Date: March 31, 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, President Trump's new threats against Iran and the deadline set as more U.S. troops arrive in the region. The fireball today in Israel after a key oil refinery was hit and new images tonight of an American air base attacked by Iran. Parts of planes blown out. The barrage of missiles over Israel tonight and the new message from the administration, the Strait of Ormuz will be opened. Also breaking, the FBI says the man who rammed his truck into a Michigan synagogue was inspired by the Iranian-backed group Hezbollah, the new evidence tonight. Students rushing out of the building after a 15-year-old opens fire on a teacher at a Texas prep school, how the student ended up dead at the scene and an update on the teacher tonight. Scare in the air, frightening scenes on board a

Delta flight after one of the plane's engines explodes into flames, new videos of the chaos inside the plane, how they finally landed safely. The crisis at America's airport suddenly easing TSA agents finally paid today and those long lines now down to just minutes. But is the relief temporary, we'll explain. Controversial flyby, the U.S. military helicopter seeming to drive by the House of Kid Rock. The Army is now investigating and facial recognition gone wrong, a Tennessee grandmother demanding justice after she was jailed for months for a crime she says she didn't commit, how AI may have mistakenly connected her to the case. Plus, the show will go on. Celine Dionne, announcing her comeback tour, when and where the superstar will take the stage.

Top story. It starts right now. And good evening. We begin tonight with President Trump's new threats against Iran as some 3,500 more U.S. troops arrive in the region. And questions mount about the possibility of a ground invasion in this widening war as both sides ramp up attacks on key energy infrastructure. Video capturing huge flames and plumes of smoke seen in Israel after Iran struck an oil refinery there. And right now we're getting a new look at that attack on a U.S. air base in Saudi Arabia that left U.S. service members injured. Images showing the charred wreckage of an American warplane. All of this is the president not only sets a new deadline for the Iranians to open the street of Ramos, but also reveals who the U.S. is negotiating with inside of Iran. Embassy Stephanie Gosk is following at all, and she leads us off tonight from Tel Aviv.

Just hours after Iran targeted Israel's largest oil refinery, igniting a fuel tank into a fuel tank into a while. a ball of flames. President Trump revealing tonight one of the Iranian officials he says the U.S. has been indirectly communicating with to try and get a deal. The country's hard-lined speaker of parliament, Mohamed Bogar Ghalibaf, a former general of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard. The president posting, great progress has been made. These folks are appearing more reasonable behind the scenes privately in these conversations than perhaps some of the previous leaders who are now no longer on planet Earth. President Trump, giving Iran until April 6th to accept a deal, threatening to, quote, obliterate Iran's power plants and oil wells if it did

not agree to terms, including abandoning its nuclear ambitions and reopening the Strait of Hormuz. The Straits of Hormuz will be open. When this operation is over, it will be open, and it will be open one way or another. All as U.S. Central Command says 3,500 additional U.S. troops arrived in the region. President Trump considering deploying potential ground troops. For now, Iran is unleashing new attacks. In Saudi Arabia, these new images of a U.S. radar plane hit by an Iranian strike on a U.S. base Friday. And here in Israel, a local priest showing me the destructive power of an Iranian cluster bomb hitting this house in the northern part of the country. Father, what would have happened if the family didn't leave? Big disaster.

Destroying the kitchen. The children, a 9-year-old and a 13-year-old, were actually playing video games here when they heard the siren. So they were making their way into the safest part of the house when the bomb hit. Remarkably, neither of them were injured. And late tonight, more rockets launched and intercepted over the center of Tel Aviv. A violent start to a fifth week of the war. Stephanie Goss joins us now live from Tel Aviv. Stephanie, the president is now giving new details about those indirect talks tonight.

What's he saying? Yeah, Tom. He was asked in that interview specifically, has any progress been made with the speaker? parliament. And he said, I'll tell you in a week. Well, that's the April 6 deadline. But the big looming question is, if a deal is not struck by April 6, what happens next? And the president has said that the United States could target key infrastructure in Iran, civilian infrastructure, including a desalination plant, which could potentially limit the amount of fresh water that the country has access to. And then that huge looming question that you mentioned at the

top of the show, will ground troops go in? Will they see? sees Karg Island, that critical island that controls 90% of Iran's oil experts, or perhaps a more dangerous option, according to our sources at the Pentagon, try to go in and secure the enriched uranium in Iran, a whole bunch of issues with that kind of operation. A lot of people saying it could be the riskiest military operation in decades, Tom. Stephanie, Goss, now in the region for us. Stephanie, we thank you for that. I want to bring in our experts to discuss everything that's happened over the weekend.

And today, Colonel Steve Warren is an NBC News military analyst, NBC News, senior national security correspondent Courtney Kuby, and Aaron David Miller is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. I thank you all tonight. Colonel, I'm going to start with you. The president has weighing a number of next steps in this war. Earlier today, threatening to obliterate Karg Island, which exports 90% of the country's oil. The president also telling the financial times that the U.S. could very easily take over the crucial oil hub. How would an operation like that work, in your opinion? Well, the obliterate part of it would simply be a bombing campaign, right? That would simply be targeting that facility with everything from long-range missiles to Tomahawk missiles to direct attacks from bombers. So that part fairly easy. The Seas-Carg Island operation, a little more difficult.

That would probably be the Marines who are now in position there, conduct some sort of an amphibious landing, although paratroopers could also do it, but I think the Marines are probably more suited for this island. They could seize it. The problem then becomes holding it, right? Seizing the island, it's about one-third the size of Manhattan, a little bit smaller than Iwo Jima, a historical reference there during World War II. So seizing that island, I think we have the forces on the ground there to do it. The problem would be how to be holding it. And I don't mean to cut you off, but we had this great map up showing Karg Island in relation to Iran. I want to show this to our viewers, right? It is literally right off the country. coast of Iran. You talk about defending that island. Is part of the concern here, and I know we've obliterated a lot of the missile launchers, but is part of the concern here actual attacks coming from the mainland onto Karg Island? That's the biggest problem. Because you're so close to the mainland,

because you become a stationary target, right, the troops on the ground, they're not like airplanes that are flying or ships that are in the ocean and moving at 30 knots. They're stationary in one position. They essentially become much more vulnerable because they're stationary. targets and easier to hit from both the land, from the sea, and even from the air. Courtney, you know, every week I feel like we're reporting breaking news that more troops are sort of being activated or being moved to the region. What has history taught us, at least in the second term, of this president, when he moves forces to a region, because we saw it in Venezuela, we're now seeing it, we're seeing it in Iran.

Do we think this troop buildup is because something's going to happen with ground troops? Yeah, so there's really two reasons that the president would move them. Number one is for deterrence, right? If there is this ongoing diplomacy, which is just so opaque what's really happening with that, then if you are talking and telegraphing that you're moving additional forces into the region, that could force Iran to take a step back and think maybe we should make a cut-a-deal here with the United States, something that the United States might want in this case. But the other reason, Tom, is simply watching what they're doing and realizing that they're doing it

because they're trying to get troops in place to potentially meet one of these planes. that the U.S. has been working on now for weeks. And those are, we've talked about them here, the potential to go after Carg Island, which you've just been talking about with Colonel Warren there, the oil infrastructure and that the U.S. could, you know, cut off revenue and then potentially use that as a leverage point. There's also the possibility of using U.S. troops to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or at least provide some security for commercial shipping through that narrow waterway. And then, of course, there is the most dangerous option, and that is going in to try to secure and retrieve the highly enriched uranium. All of these,

are not a quick and easy effort to go in. It's not like the Maduro raid. We're talking days, if not longer, for troops to be on the ground to carry out any of these actions. Aaron, I'm glad we have you here. I'm going to give you a couple of data points. I want you kind of take everything in and explain this to our viewers. The headline right now in the New York Times is Iran's fractured leadership is struggling to coordinate officials say. I wanted to read that headline because this happens at a time that we've just reported at NBC News because the president said this. They're dealing with the hardline speaker of parliament, Mohammed Bagger Galabaf, we should say that they're saying these are indirect talks.

So the president has now said who they're indirectly talking to. What happens in Iran? What happens to this man? And do we know anything about him? Do you know anything about him? Look, let's be very clear about something. New York Times doesn't know. CIA probably doesn't know. Every Iranian analyst I talked to doesn't know. The internal workings of what's actually happening in the wake of the killing of Ali Khan on February 28th, and a large part of the Iranian national security elite and senior clerics has created a situation of extreme uncertainty. What we do know is that if you want to rule Iranian, he'd access

to gun, oil, and money, there's only one group in Iran that has that capacity, and that's the IRGC. And someone said the other day, we're seeing a shift from divine power, that is to say the clerics, what I call the malocracy, to hard power, which is the IRGC. And remember, they're making decisions in the middle of a war. Their primary objective is regime preservation. But in essence, I think they believe that they can survive by exhausting. And which is why, again, and Steve Warren can comment on the to-dos with all of these military opportunities. The real question is, what is the objective? Is it to affect Iran's risk calculation to make it more flexible at the negotiating table?

Or is it to demonstrate that the U.S. could not only put 10,000 Marines on the ground, but bringing more? I'm at a loss to know, frankly, right now, what the strategy is. Final point. To me, the most likely conclusion of this will be a stand down by both sides. no agreement, something that resembles status quo ante. Because I see very little possibility of a serious negotiation, given the galactic separation in terms of what the Trump administration wants and what the Iranians won. Appreciate the analysis.

I'll go back to my original question, which is, what do you think happens now to this figure in the IRGC who's been named by President Trump to the world? I mean, he's one guy, Mohamed Khaliv. He has close ties to the IRGC. He probably has the most credibility of any of the senior IRGC-related leaders. We also don't know what's happened to Mosheba Khomeini. Is he wounded? As Pete Hegsa said, is he severely wounded and had to add disfigured?

Is he in a Russian hospital somewhere? We just don't know. And to load everything on this one guy, some. comes me like typical Trump analysis. All right. Find me a Delci Rodriguez that I can deal with, and I don't think one exists. Colonel, we've reported that President Trump is weighing a military option to extract highly enriched uranium.

And I'm going to ask Courtney for the follow-up here. What would an operation like that look like in your estimation? It would be a highly complex and very dangerous operation. You'll have to penetrate troops several hundred miles into the Iranian interior. They would have to be projected either from the same. or from the land, maybe Kuwait. They'd have to penetrate and secure the area where they believe the uranium is. That's going to take hundreds, if not more than a thousand troops to just hold that area safe. And then they have to dig that uranium out. We don't know exactly where it is. Is it

underground? Is it hidden? We don't know any of these things. So the general estimates are that they would have to get earth movers, excavators, and dig it out of the ground. And then finally, they would have to exfiltrate, leave the area, which often is the most dangerous part of any military operation. And Courtney, I guess the follow-up to that is, you know, we know our troops were looking for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, we understand that, but have our troops ever done anything like this taking out that uranium, but doesn't sound, we know it's not an easy process? Yes, so 30 years ago in 1994, I think it was Project Sapphire, the U.S. military, went in to take highly enriched uranium out of Kazakhstan after the fall of the Soviet Union.

But the huge difference here, Tom, is that was done with the coordination and conjunction with the government there, as opposed to a contested environment where they would almost certainly come under constant fire from the Iranians throughout the course of this operation that Colonel Warren was just laying out there. The one benefit that they have is air superiority that would provide them some cover for this. But this would be a days-long and very dangerous operation. They've done it before. they can physically move the material. One other big difference here, if, in fact, they're taking it out of one of these locations that was hit by the U.S. last June, it's not clear if the canisters have been compromised, if there's potentially uranium gas that is inside the facility. It's a hugely dangerous and logistically difficult undertaking. Courtney QB, Aaron David Miller, and Colonel Steve Warren, we thank you for your time tonight. I'm sure we'll talk again this week. Just after the U.S. started its war with Iran, a U.S. citizen from Lebanon, drove his truck into a synagogue.

in an apparent terror attack. He died, and today the FBI released new details on his motive. Tom Winter covers law enforcement and intelligence and joins us with the new information and the images just released. So, Tom, walk us through what we're learning here from the FBI, because some of this I feel like we knew, but they're starting to put the pieces together. That's exactly right, Tom. I mean, we knew within a day or two after this attack, which happened on March 12th by a person the FBI has identified as I'm in Muhammad Ghazali. That Ghazali had relatives that were part of Hezbollah, that is a relative of his, was actually killed an Israeli airstrike targeting Hezbollah in their operatives. So that part we knew. The question

was, was he directed specifically by Hezbollah, just to make it completely simple, picking up the phone, sending an email, sending a text, saying, hey, we need you to conduct this attack because Iran is under attack. Was he inspired by Hezbollah? But, oh, by the way, on that same day, as you know, from covering it, March 12th, we had an ISIS-inspired terrorist attack, totally unconnected in Old Dominion University. So there was a big question as far as, what was actually happening here, who was talking to who, if anybody, and now the FBI putting it together today and saying, look, we've looked at all the evidence from his phones. It clearly got into that. We found out that he'd been researching for a number of days trying to purchase weapons, was denied

by two people, but ultimately it was able to buy 300 rounds of ammunition, approximately, an AR-15, and then you're looking there on the image in the center of the screen, the fireworks that he was able to purchase. The idea between that and the gasoline is that he would create some sort of an explosion or incendiary device in that school. Look at the stroller on the left side of that screen. Look at all the canisters of gasoline in the back. It is a miracle that nobody else was injured in this other than one of the security guards. They taking proactive action, firing rounds at him, but he's able to get that truck into the hallway of that school

and remember the black smoke pouring out of it. So it's a troubling case, Tom, but he's inspired by Hezboa. If he was still alive, the U.S. attorney says they would have charged him with terrorism. Okay, Tom, Winch, are breaking that down for us. Tom, we thank you. Also, tonight we're tracking that down. a deadly shooting in Texas, a high school placed under lockdown after a student opened fire on a teacher at his prep school. Ryan Chandler has the latest.

Tonight, a terrifying scene at a Texas Hill Country High School where authorities say a 15-year-old male student open fire. There is a gunshot wound to the head. Just after 8.30 this morning, first responders rushed to Hill Country College Preparatory high school in Bolverdi, just north of San Antonio. The Comal County Sheriff says the student was found dead at the scene after shooting a teacher who was transported to a San Antonio Hospital. It looks as though the student turned the gun on himself and shot himself.

The school placed on lockdown. About 250 students later transferred to a middle school to reunite with their families. And that's where police encountered the suspect's parents. That's students, parents and kin folks were in the reunification line. And so that's part of our investigation. And some of the questions were asked of where the firearm came from. The relationship between the teacher and the shooter is still unclear. Tonight, a community shaken after a day of horror as investigators continue to search for answers.

Ryan Chandler joins Top Story tonight. Ryan, I understand you just got an update from the school's principal? Tom, that's right. Principal Julie Wiley in a message to her community tonight, letting everybody know the school will be close tomorrow to allow staff and families to begin the process of what she said begin healing. Now, we also still don't know any update on the condition of that teacher, Principal Wiley, only saying that the teacher was taken to the hospital for medical care. Okay, Ryan Chandler, we thank you for that.

Now to the terrifying scene in the skies, the engine on a delta plane bound for Atlanta bursting into flames just after taking off from Brazil. Witnesses describing the panic as fiery debris rained down during a dramatic emergency landing. Here's Morgan Chesky. Terrifying moments on board Delta Flight 104. Inside the plane, you can hear passengers fear. After a fireball engulfed a jet engine just seconds after takeoff, seen in this sped-up video. The Atlanta-bound Airbus 330 departing from South Paulo, Brazil,

with 14 crew and 272 passengers on board. Delta 104, Mayday, Mayday, where's my phone? This video appearing to show sparks before fiery streaks, billowing out of the plane's left engine. John Cox is an NBC News aviation analyst. In that first 60 seconds, when the engine starts throwing flames and you have that initial mayday, what is the pilot's priority? First and foremost, the pilot priority is to maintain control of the aircraft. The airplane's climbing away normally, and you can see the airflow distortion begin

because you see those fireballs come out the back end. That says airflow distortion. Tonight, Delta sank Flight 104, returned to the airport soon after takeoff Sunday evening, following a mechanical issue with the aircraft's left engine, adding it landed safely. We're also learning more about the deadly collision in New York last week between an Air Canada jet and a fire truck.

The family of flight attendant Solange Trimbley posting this photo from the hospital. Trimbley now recovering after she was ejected more than 300 feet from the wreckage. Still incredible that she survived. Morgan Chesky joins us now from L.A. Morgan, going back to that Delta flight, do we know what may have caused the engine failure? Yeah, Tom, still very much under investigation. We do know that the FAA has offered to assist Brazilian aviation authorities as they tried to piece together. What went wrong as that video shows just a few moments after takeoff.

Aviation experts say they're likely going to be scouring that area by the runway, looking for any part of the internal components that made up that engine, because they do fear it was an uncontained engine failure, Tom, meaning that pieces from the inside broke through the outside and caused catastrophic damage to that one engine. Again, any passenger plane today can safely fly on one engine alone, but still terrifying scene there. Yeah, Tom.

Yeah, especially if you're on that plane. Okay, Morgan, we thank you for that. Back here at home, a dramatic reversal at America's airports after days of hours-long security lines that went all the way outside. finally some relief. TSA officers are now getting paid and back to work, but is this all just a temporary fix? Priscilla Thompson explains why. Tonight, a welcome site for worn out TSA officers and weary travelers. What do you see it right now? Not that long, not as long of a wait as I expected. In Atlanta, Baltimore, New York, and across the country, vanishing airport security lines.

What do you see? It looking great. At Houston's Bush Intercontinent. presidential wait times that topped four hours for days, now down to just minutes. All as those dollars are finally depositing into TSA officers' bank accounts following six weeks of working with no pay. DHS confirming most TSA employees received at least two full paychecks today. After President Trump ordered the use of existing funds to pay them. Still, it's a temporary fix as the shutdown of the Homeland Security Department enters a seventh week. House Republicans on Friday rejected a bipartisan Senate deal to fund all of DHS except for

ICE and Customs and Border Protection. All 100 of us voted before we left to fund everything in homeland security except ICE and CBP. Speaker Johnson has refused to take up and pass that bill. That's why there's still a problem. Democrat members of Congress are more than happy to put your safety at risk because they oppose the president's administration and his administration's efforts to enforce our nation's immigration law. Now lawmakers are out of session for two weeks as the shutdown drags on. Meanwhile, TSA officers have worked more than half of the last six months without pay during three separate government shutdowns.

Since this shutdown began, more than 500 have quit the job entirely. People will look at this and say, do I want to be in federal service? Priscilla Thompson joins us now live from Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston and Priscilla. You have some new reporting on how long ICE officers will stay at those airports? Yeah, Tom. DHS is saying that ICE will continue to work with the TSA for as long as the president determines is necessary. We are certainly still seeing them on the ground here, but as you can see, still no lines tonight. Tom. Okay, it's a good sign. Priscilla, thank you. We're back in a moment with the new details on the arrest of Tiger Woods as questions grow about his future, both on and off

the course. Plus a grandmother locked up for crimes. She says, She never committed is an AI facial recognition tool to blame. We'll tell you about this one. And the big announcement from Celine Dion after health issues kept her off the stage for years. What we're learning about her concert comeback ahead on top story. We are back now with golf legend Tiger Woods' uncertain future with the Masters teen off next week.

Fans are left wondering if he will attend following his Friday DUI arrest. Here's Jesse Kirsch. With the famed Masters tournament just days away, Tonight, the big question, will Tiger Woods be in Augusta, Georgia? Over the weekend, Woods bonded out of the Martin County Jail. The golf star was driven away as a passenger with camera flashes illuminating his stoic face. Investigators say Woods's SUV collided with a pressure cleaner truck's trailer in Jupiter Island, Florida on Friday afternoon. His SUV wound up flipped on its side.

The sheriff says no one was injured, but Woods was charged with driving under the influence and with property damage. We will never get definitive results as to what he was impaired on at the time of the crash. The sheriff says Woods was lethargic at the scene and passed a breathalyzer test. But investigators suspect he was impaired by a medication or drug. And the sheriff says Woods was also charged for refusing to provide a urine sample. Defense attorney Scott Eggleston, who is not involved in the case, says that decision may help Woods. Why does it help his legal outlook that he would not give him? the urine. Because that in and of itself does not prove impairment. You have to look at all the other

facts and circumstances surrounding the arrest. Jesse joins us now from Miami. Jesse, we're hoping to learn additional details about the incident in the coming days. Explain to our viewers why. Yeah, so Tom, we were hoping today would be the day, but it's now looking like tomorrow we could be getting the arrest affidavit. And that could potentially include more information from investigators about what they discovered at the scene. And then separately from that, the Martin County Sheriff's Office tells us there is footage involved with this case. It has to be reviewed and redacted, so it's unclear when we will get that. But the Sheriff's Office tells me there is a lot of footage to be going through. And that is something we will certainly be looking for when it is

available. Okay, Jesse, we know you're on it. Thank you. Coming up on top story, why the Army is investigating a helicopter flyby outside of the home of Kid Rock. Plus, how crews managed to catch this kangaroo that busted out of a zoo and went on the lamb for days. That little dot right there. Yeah, that's that guy. But first, top story's top moment and an incredible buzzer-beater. Yukon freshman Braylon Mullins hitting a three with 0.4 seconds on the clock last night to clinch an unbelievable win over Duke in the Elite 8.

Take a look. Oh, who better than this guy? Get it into Boozer. Back for Sarr. Ahead. Boozer. That ball deflected and stolen by Mullins. Caraband two seconds.

Mullins tosses it up. Goes in front. The 19-year-old star joined the Today Show this morning to talk about that bracket-busting moment. I wanted to get the ball to Alex. He had just hit a shot like, I think a minute before that. And he ended up telling the ball back to me. And I knew like that up on the clock. So I thought that was the best opportunity we were going to get.

Yeah. That was the one I hit yesterday. I couldn't hit the easy ones, but the hard one went down. What a shot. That's the one you practice for. your backyard every single day. That's why they call it March Madness, folks. The Huskies will now face off against Illinois in the final four. Stay with us. More news after this. Back now with the countdown to the historic moon mission. The launch is 48 hours away and the mission sending four

astronauts to orbit the moon for the first time in more than half a century. And as Tom Costello reports, as of right now, all systems are a go. Tonight, the clock is ticking down. Artemis is on the pad. And after some technical delays earlier this year, the astronauts are ready for a Wednesday launch. We do live in a world of preparation without expectation. We're ready to go. We're also ready to stay. The first human test flight of the Artemis rocket and the Orion spaceship on top, a 10-day mission taking astronauts farther than ever before.

It is going to be a big, long loop around the moon, 280,000 miles from Earth, and for the first time in more than 50 years, putting human eyes on the far side of the moon. There's about 60% of the far side, I think, that has never been seen by human eyes because of the lighting conditions. Artemis 2 is Commander Reed Weissman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Cook, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hanson. On the first day, the astronauts will perform a full systems check, manually test flying the ship for future flights that will involve rendezvous and docking maneuvers. 23 hours later, Orion will begin its four-day journey to the moon and a figure-eight path, extend. extending into deep space. Failure is not an option, but I think it is often misunderstood.

It's not that we never fail, is that we don't quit. Like today, mission managers all voted yes. Go for launch Wednesday evening. They're going to start fueling at about 7.40 in the morning on Wednesday. So far, the weather is cooperating. 80% chance of a go. Again, the two-hour window opening at 624 p.m. on Wednesday evening. Tom?

All right. Tom Costello, we will bring in all that action to you. We want to turn out of Cuba where today a Russian oil tanker approached the country, which has been plunged into crisis in part because of a U.S. oil blockade. The Trump administration press today says there's been no policy shift, but when asked about the Russian ship, President Trump seemed open to letting it arrive. Take a listen. If a country wants to send some oil into Cuba right now, I have no problem with it.

Do you worry that that's not? Whether it's Russia or no. NBC senior White House correspondent Garrett Haig joins me to break this down. can even break that down, Garrett. And the reason why I say that is because how does this square with the White House's Cuba policy right now? It's incredibly confusing. Yeah, in and of itself, it's a pretty direct break from what's been an embargo on any energy going into Cuba that's been, you know, leaving the power off there, leaving people without heating or lights and putting even hospitals in jeopardy. The press secretary was asked several questions about this today

and essentially answered all of them the same way that these kinds of decisions will continue to be made on a case-by-case basis. But I think overall the policy on Cuba, and where I think this probably lands is this confidence that the administration has, the president and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, specifically, that the Cuban government is going to fall, that their economy is too fragile and that it doesn't work for their people, and that a little bit of humanitarian assistance at this moment when the Trump administration is laser-like focused on Iran, at least when it comes to, you know, foreign policy is enough for now. I don't see a big change coming. I don't see a lot of other ships coming. For example, the press secretary was asked about, you know,

would there be more ships would be allowed to come from Mexico? She said, probably not. That's going to be a case-by-case basis. The policy holds, but the timeline for the president's desire to see a new regime in Cuba, I think, has to wait. Yeah, and the one dictating a lot of this policy, we know, Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Are there connections to draw with Venezuela, with Iran? It seems like every night we were talking about this on our show here. Everyone's talking about the Delci Rodriguez model. It's unclear if that is the model of Cuba and Iran. Yeah, I look, I think that's the president's preference. So it started as a joke, but it is a real thing around here, this idea of the Don Roe doctrine, that in the Western Hemisphere, the United States is king, is the big

dog, and that everybody else here is going to have to work with us. The president got something He's sort of an example of that that he very much likes in Venezuela. And I think the administration would like to see a similar situation in Cuba, whether that means the whole of the government has to be replaced or whether that means that the government could be brought into a situation to be more compliant. That's ultimately where they're going. But the war in Iran also destabilizes this all the much further time because of what it's done to global energy markets.

That's why you have a Russian tanker coming across here. The Russians have oil they can't sell. Iranians have some oil that they can't sell. Venezuelans are out of the game, and Cuba is desperate. And so you've got Russia taking an opportunity here to try to move some oil, and the president, I don't think, has the bandwidth to be across all of these things at the same time. But he and Rubio have consistently said they think the Cuban government will fall. And lately they've started using language like Cuba is next.

I don't think that means there's going to be an invasion or a war or even something like we saw in Venezuela. But it's very much on the to-do list, if you will, for this investigation. administration, especially Secretary Rubio, for whom this has been a big issue since his time in Congress. Yeah, before we go, I've talked to a lot of Cuba watchers, people who are invested in what happens between the two nations. And a lot of people are saying the president's timeline sort of ends around the midterms. Do you think that is the case with Cuba, or does he have even more time than that? I think with Cuba, he might have a little bit more time because the idea of a free Cuba, of Cuba not under communist control cuts across the traditional party divide. That said, if you do have Democrats in

control of even one House of Congress, almost anything the president wants to do is going to come under much more oversight and be much more challenging. He won't have the same kind of free hand act unilaterally, even within the bounds of the U.S. system come January next year that he might have if it's something that he can at least start the process of sort of addressing before the end of 2026. All right, Garrett, hey, great to have you on top. story tonight on this issue. We appreciate it. We do want to turn out of the growing questions tonight about some viral videos posted online by Kid Rock. The singer sharing this footage over the weekend appearing to show Army helicopters, at least one of them, flying near his Nashville home.

NBC's Courtney Cuby joins us again. Courtney, I know it's double duty for you tonight, but good to see you again. Help us understand what exactly happened here, and what is the Army saying in the fort? Yeah, we don't really know what happened here. You can see in a longer version of this video that what appear to be two Army Apache helicopters that are flying close to Kid Rock's house there, which he calls the Southern White House. You can see it in one of those videos as well. Now, the Army is reviewing this.

We know that the helicopters, they are believed to have come out of Fort Campbell, Kentucky, right nearby to here. And according to the Army, they were on a routine training mission in the Nashville area. But that's really all that we know beyond this. Of course, this would be extremely unorthodox. for the U.S. military, the U.S. Army, to fly to helicopters so close to a private residence like you see here.

I mean, look at the video. Look at how close that helicopter is to Kid Rock's home. But again, it's under review. And Army officials who we've spoken to about this just don't know exactly what happened here. Tom, it's not really clear if this was something that was sanctioned by the U.S. Army, by the 101st Airborne Division out of Fort Campbell, or if these may have just been a couple of pilots who were, you know, being cowboys and flying their helicopter nearby to Kid Rock. And we know that Kid Rock is a good friend of the president, so we'll see if anything at all happens. Courtney, thank you for the double duty. We appreciate it. Now to Top Stories News for you, the dating app giant match group agreeing to settle a lawsuit with the Federal Trade Commission. This is important. The company is accused of sharing personal data belonging to millions of users of the OkCupid app without their approval.

That includes photos, locations, demographic details. In a statement, an OKCupid spokesman did not have been any wrongdoing saying the alleged conduct does not reflect how the company operates today. Out west, a massive brush fire threatening a shopping mall near San Diego. Video shows huge flames and clouds of smoke enveloping a neighborhood in Santee. Officials say the fire ripped through five acres, forcing evacuations at several stores, including Walmart and Michaels, if you like crafts. Before Cruz got it under control, a heat-sensing drone chasing after a kangaroo that got loose in Wisconsin. This is a wild one. This is Chesney. Is that little dot kind of running around there? A 16-month-old kangaroo, he has a heat-scented drone. He is

escape from a petting zoo by scaling an eight-foot-tall fence, leaving him on the lamp for three days. Nobody knows where he was. He was eventually captured and returned to the zoo in good health. And a big announcement today from superstar singer Celine Dion. I'm getting the best gift of my life. I'm getting the chance to see you to perform for you once again in Paris. There it is. 58-year-old returning to the stage this fall for 10 concerts, all of them in the Paris, as she said there. Dion putting her career on hold in 2022 after being diagnosed with a rare neurological disorder,

which essentially left her unable to sing. Tickets for the show are set to go on sale in April. Okay, we're going to take a turn now to a fatal police shooting in Wisconsin in the newly released body cam video, showing the officer hanging on the side of a suspect's truck as the suspect speeds off for multiple blocks. Here's Maggie Vespo with that video. In Wisconsin, a Milwaukee police officer clings to a moving truck as body and dash cameras roll. The video at times blurred by police shows the officer drawing his weapon, his frantic partner following after watching them take off.

My partner's on the side of a flatbed. He's going about 30 miles an hour. It all started the morning of March 12th. Watch as an officer approaches the white flatbed looking investigators say for 35 years. year old Jonathan Otto. He's in the back. He's out. Dump the car.

Otto takes off a woman riding in the passenger seat. Wisconsin's Department of Corrections saying he'd missed multiple parole appointments stemming from a prior charge of fleeing or eluding an officer when they learned of assault and strangulation allegations against him. The officer hangs on for roughly two minutes warning he'll shoot. Suddenly, you hear him say, then he fires the fatal shot. Otto was killed. His family outraged. I feel like he executed my son. I mean, yes, he was fleeing, but absolutely there was no reason to shoot him.

With that, Maggie Vespah joins us. Obviously, emotions are very high here. Police are being tight-lipped from what we understand about the officer. They won't tell us his name, but we know he was injured. What's the latest there? He clearly was being dragged for two minutes. I mean, we want to make that clear. He clearly was. I will say critics online are noting that he could have let go of the truck when it first

took off. So I think the term being dragged is actually being debated right now. But as far as his injuries go, police say that he was taken to the hospital with what they're calling minor injuries. You're right. They're not releasing his name. They are telling us he's a 21-year veteran of law enforcement and that right now he's been treated, he's okay, and he's being placed on a.

administrative leave pending an outside investigation from independent agencies in that area. It's also worth noting you heard that woman screaming inside that truck during the entire ordeal. Police say she, at least physically, is unharmed. Okay, okay, good to know. All right, Maggie, we thank you for that. Turning out to a shocking case, a woman jailed for months. Arrested for crimes, she says she never committed in a state that she says she's never been to. It happened after police linked her to alleged bank fraud using AI facial recognition technology.

Kathy Park has this one. Tonight, a Tennessee grandmother demanding justice. After spending months in jail wrongfully arrested, she says, after an AI tool falsely linked her to bank fraud. 50-year-old Angela Lips says she was babysitting in Elizabeth in Tennessee last July when armed federal agents showed up and arrested her. More than 1,000 miles away, the Fargo and West Fargo Police departments have been investigating a string of bank fraud incidents, where they say a suspect was using a fake military ID to withdraw thousands of dollars. An AI software known as Clearview AI was used to help crack the case, or so they thought. West Fargo investigators said the technology identified a potential suspect with similar features to Angela Lips.

They, through their AI system, made that identification of mislifts. They forwarded that information to our detectives, who then, assumed wrongly that they had also sent in the surveillance photos with that photo ID. Lips, who says she's never been to North Dakota, was arrested for the crime, spending months in jail before an attorney was able to use bank records to prove she was in Tennessee the whole time. They charged her and issued a nationwide warrant based on extremely limited evidence that didn't connect her to the crime and didn't address basic questions. They dragged her to Tennessee to North Dakota. They weren't able to connect the stolen money to Angela in any way.

Ultimately, the charges against Lips were dismissed. How rare is something like this? Unfortunately, it's not rare at all. For many places, it's a wild west. And in the absence of strong rules and guardrails, you see mistakes like this because there simply isn't a proper set of procedures for how you're supposed to handle these new technologies. Clearview AI says its technology generates leads.

It does not make identifications, draw up. conclusions or recommend arrests. Police and Fargo say they're working to update its policy on the use of AI and facial recognition tools and that the investigation isn't over. We're happy to acknowledge when we make errors and we've made a few in this case for sure. Meanwhile, Lipp says that one mistake cost her everything. Kathy Park joins us now. Kathy, is the woman arrested in this case planning to pursue any legal action against authorities in North Dakota? Yeah, Tom, so hurt. attorneys are now looking into possible civil rights violations and a lawsuit is likely, but they're still gathering information and building her case. But Tom, as a result of sitting in jail for

months, Angela says she lost just about everything her house, her car. She's now living with her neighbors. An online fundraiser has been created for her. It's already raised over $70,000. So her story is definitely gaining more traction. Tom. Okay, Kathy Park, good to see you on this one. Just ahead here on Top Story, the Art Heist Overseas. paintings worth millions taken by a group of mass thieves, how they got away. Plus the apocalyptic scene in Australia. Look at this. Why blood-red skies blanketed the region. Stay with with us. Back down with Top Story's Global Watch, French authorities say they're investigating potential links to Iran after thwarting a bomb attack. It happened Saturday morning when police

spotted two suspects carrying a shopping bag near a Bank of America office in Paris. Five people are now in custody. France's interior minister says they suspect ties to Iran because of other recent attempted attacks in Europe, which a pro-Iranian group claimed responsibility for. And an eerie scene in Western Australia looks like something right out of an apocalyptic sci-fi film. The sky turning blood red, meteorologists say it changed color on Friday as dust filled the air ahead of a tropical cyclone. We're told the soil there has a lot of iron giving it that reddish, Mars-like tint. That is true. And a massive, of heist hitting the candy world. You heard me right. Nestle says about 12 tons, 12 tons of

Kit Kat bars were stolen after leaving a production site in Italy earlier this week, en route to Poland. That's more than 400,000 chocolate bars. The Swiss food giant warns the shipment could be sold across other markets, but if that it happens, all the products can be traced using codes on each piece of candy. All right, we'll see what happens. Now to another big European heist, thieves breaking into a museum in northern Italy and allegedly making off with three paintings worth millions of dollars. Italian police say the works were from artists like Renoir and Matisse. It comes as Europe has been rocked by several high-profile robberies over the past year,

including that dramatic jewel heist at the Louvre, of course. Camila Bernal joins us now. Camila, walk us through how this happened and what you're learning about the thieves. Yeah, Tom, it's incredible because it's three works of art in less than three minutes. And authorities saying essentially these thieves walked in, through the front doors, forced their way in, and in minutes took the Reno, the Seizan, and the Matisse. We know they're worth millions of euros. And authorities saying, yes, the alarm went off, and yes, there were security members, but they were able to escape.

The museum is in the countryside in northern Italy, and they were able to leave through the gardens of this beautiful museum with these three works of art. And so authorities saying they don't know exactly how they were able to get in. We know that they did specifically say that it happened actually a week ago on the night of March 22nd and 23rd, and the museum and authorities waited essentially a week before telling the public that this had happened. But it is clearly a breach of security. There are a lot of questions as to how they were able to do this going in through the front door of this museum, Tom. Yeah, and then while we have you here, Camilla, especially after the Louvre heist that we mentioned, this is raising even more questions about broader security at museums there in Europe.

Absolutely. Critics have a lot of questions in terms of security. Can more be done in museums in Europe? Because like you mentioned, this is not the first time that it happens. And there's a lot of questions as whether there is problems or vulnerabilities in these museums and in terms of their security. In this case, they're saying the alarm did go off. They had people there. And so they believe this could have been a lot worse. They could have taken many other paintings. But they did take three. They took three that were worth millions of dollars. And there are, extremely significant. When we talk about jewels, for example, they can be taken apart, they could be melted. In this case, it may be harder to sell for these thieves because you have to have the painting itself be sold, maybe in the black market or for ransom. We just don't know. But like we keep saying, there's just a lot of questions as to what more can be done. And we may be left with months or maybe forever of just not knowing how this was done and where the art ended up going. Tom. Okay, Camilla. Thank you. When we come back tonight, it is one of the most recognizable noises in all of sports, the squeaking of the sneakers on the basketball court.

We take an in-depth look at this at the surprising science behind that signature sound, plus a remarkable story of resilience, the golfer who just returned to the winner circle after undergoing brain surgery. That incredible comeback next. Welcome back. March Madness is in full swing with the final four just around the corner. And when you watch the games, you might notice, of course, the sound of shoes squeaking on the court. It's a staple of any game of hoops. A recent study diving into the science behind those sneaker squeaks and what they found might surprise you. Here's Stephen Romo. It's one of the most iconic sounds in sports.

That squeaking of sneakers on a basketball court. Right now, echoing through courts across the country during March Madness. The omnipresent is the squeaking sound. Researcher Adele de Jolie looked into the science behind that iconic sound. What is causing all those squeaking sounds? Well, Stephen, it's a deceptively simple question. When you look under a shoe, what you observe are opening slip pulses. Why?

You make a lot of noise. What are slip pulses? DeJuley describes them like wrinkles that travel at the speed of sound into the shoe, almost like super small earthquakes under your foot. Findings that surprised him. When you think about rubbers, it's quite a boring slow phenomenon that take place. Here, when you slide the shoe, you would see these kind of very violent events that you would never expect. The Julie likening those not-so- sneaky squeaks to mini-expl explosions on the core.

even at your local pickup gang. Can we call that squeaking sound? Can we call those shoe quakes? Yes. It's very similar to earthquake dynamics. The science of shoes helping us learn about our world a lot farther beneath our feet.

You probably will gain some insight, hopefully, and create many earthquakes in the lab. Proving that curiosity can make some waves big and small. Stephen Rommel, NBC News. Finally tonight, an emotional comeback for golfer Gary Woodland, winning his first PGA tour title since brain surgery and a battle with PTSD. That moment of success, hard fight.

With one putt as the crowd held its breath. Gary Woodland became a champion once again, winning the Houston Open with an emotional victory. Nearly seven years in the... making. Just a few years ago, this felt like an impossible dream. I've told myself the whole time, I wasn't going to let this thing in my head win. In 2023, Woodland had brain surgery to remove a tumor. It had been pressing on the part of his brain that controls fear and anxiety. He wrote letters to his wife and kids in case he didn't make it. The surgery was successful, but a battle with PTSD followed.

And it's been hard. It was a struggle he carried closely. Until just a few weeks, weeks ago when he opened up publicly for the first time. And right now I hope somebody that's struggling that's battling this sees me out here still fighting him battling and trying to live my dreams and that gives him a little hope. You just can't do this on your own. And Sunday, he wasn't on his own, walking up the 18th Fairway to chance of his name. This final shot, a celebration of all he's overcome on the course and off. Golf's latest improbable comeback. Come back story. We play an individual sport out here, but I wasn't alone today. Anybody that's struggling with something, I hope they see me and don't give up. Just keep fighting. An incredible moment

and an incredible win there. All right, we thank you so much for watching Top Story. I'm Tom Yomis in New York. Stay right there. More news on the way.