Top Story with Tom Llamas - Monday, May 19, 2025

Episode Date: May 20, 2025

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.

Tonight, tens of millions threatened with life-threatening weather as tornado warnings spread out across the southwest. The community's bracing for a direct hit just days after a devastating tornado outbreak killed dozens across the Midwest and the South. More tornadoes predicted to fire up tonight. We're tracking it all as the storms churn east. Former President Joe Biden speaking out about his cancer diagnosis. And the new questions tonight, how did his disease?

progressed so far without being detected earlier. High stakes call President Trump and Putin on the phone one-on-one. How the new Pope Leo may now host peace talks with Russia and Ukraine and the major victory for President Trump at the Supreme Court, what it means for the fate of hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans in the U.S. Explosive evidence shown in the Sean Diddy Combs trial. Our first look at the drugs he allegedly took at his parties, A knife wedged in a door and the photos of his then-girlfriend with what she says are bruises he gave her.

All-out man-hunt for the fugitives who escaped a New Orleans jail. Two more captured, but seven dangerous alleged criminals still on the run as we learn more about the possible inside help that aided their escape. What went wrong? The shocking crash as a Mexican Navy ship smashes into the Brooklyn Bridge. The investigation tonight into how it happened. Two people dead, many more injured. And foul play, the WNBA investigating racism at its games after a heated match over the weekend.

What's fueling the hate in the stands? Plus, the DNA company 23 and Me has been bought by a major pharmaceutical company. So what does it mean for all the data it has on you? Top story starts right now. Good evening. In for Tom Yamis. Tonight, dangerous storms on the move as a deadly tornado outbreak ramps up across the country. Right now, 30 million Americans are at risk. Take a look at this. A massive wedge tornado charging across western Kansas. That state forced to issue a tornado emergency

last night as catastrophic twisters moved through. Plus, startling video, just a few miles outside of Denver, a towering funnel cloud swirling above a densely packed neighborhood in Aurora. And in northeast Colorado, more destructive tornadoes like the one you see here touching down and forcing residents to run for shelter. Deadly tornadoes striking parts of Missouri over the weekend, drone video showing homes completely ripped apart, some of them reduced to rubble. A new video just end from Tulsa, Oklahoma, as violent winds, heavy rain and lightning slam that region. And this is just the beginning. At this hour, tornado watches stretch across four states with storms set to charge across the country, the overnight hours and several major cities are at risk tomorrow as that dangerous weather

persist. We have a whole lot to get to tonight. We're going to start with NBC Shaquille Brewster, who is in the heart of the storm zone. Tonight, another round of dangerous weather threatening millions, all clashing with the scramble to clean up. There's a lot of need and there's a lot of severe weather in the forecast. At least 102 tornadoes were reported since Thursday. From Colorado, Oh, my God. Oh, my God. To Oklahoma. Wow, dude. To a deadly twister in St. Louis that damaged more than 5,000 buildings.

On the ground, you see the impact of those 150 mile-in-hour winds. Home after home after home completely destroyed. Devastation expanding not just for blocks, but through entire communities. They tarped it up yesterday after they removed the tree. Geraldine Yergan is now rushing to clear debris for her daughter and four grandchildren after a tree. after a tree crashed into their home just days ago. We're going to stick together. We're going to stand strong. We're going to survive.

We're stronger than the winds. The same system that killed 19 people in Kentucky. Kathy Park is there. It took seconds for people to brace for impact. The tornado came through with so much force. The house across the street launched hundreds of yards right here. An unrelenting pace of severe weather coming as about 40% of the nation's weather forecast offices are facing significant staffing vacancies.

including in Jackson, Kentucky. But the agency telling NBC News, emergency alerts went out and the office remained fully staffed through the duration of the event using surge staffing. Tom Fahey's organization tracks those staffing numbers.

How exhausted are some of these meteorologists at this point? These individuals, they've been carrying a great load for a long time. We have to wait to see what happens here with the administration to give us more relief to get more employees hired. And Shaquille Brewster joins us

now from St. Louis. Shaq, how is the federal government responding to all of this? Well, Alison, actually, in just the past couple of minutes, we heard from the state's governor that he's put in a request for FEMA to provide about $5 million in immediate assistance to the state. The mayor earlier today said that she hasn't been aware of any FEMA presence on the ground just yet, but later in the afternoon, we heard from county officials that you'll see FEMA assessors here later this week on Wednesday. And look, there's a lot to assess. Just look at some of the damage on this street, and I'll tell you, this is some of the milder damage that we have seen. We've been seeing over the past couple of days, people

putting up those tarps trying to clear out the streets ahead of what we know is going to be another round of severe weather. We're already feeling some of the winds start to pick up. You can expect to see rain and possibly hail later today, Ellison. NBC's Shaq Brewster, thank you. Out of the other big headline tonight, former President Joe Biden speaking out today about his cancer diagnosis. The 46th president announcing on Sunday that he was battling an aggressive form of prostate cancer that has spread to his bones. That serious progression has some in the medical field wondering how he went undiagnosed for this long. NBC News, chief White House correspondent Peter Alexander reports from Wilmington, Delaware.

Tonight's sympathy and support for former president Biden, after his office revealed the 82-year-old has an aggressive form of prostate cancer that has spread to his bones. This morning, the former president posting, cancer touches us all. Like so many of you, Jill and I have learned that we are strongest in the broken places. Thank you for lifting us up with love and support. Biden received the diagnosis Friday after experiencing increasing urinary symptoms, which led doctors to find a small nodule on his prostate. President Trump writing, Malani and I are sadden to hear about Joe Biden's recent medical diagnosis. We wish Joe a fast and successful recovery. Biden's vice president, Kamala Harris, posting, Joe is a fighter, and I know that he'll face this challenge with the same

strength, resilience, and optimism that have always defined his life and leadership. A source familiar with Biden and his family's thinking tells NBC News they're now assessing multiple treatment options, including hormone therapy. With modern day medical management, you know, this may not shorten his life at all. The diagnosis as Democrats were in the midst of a reckoning following new accounts Biden's aides and allies may have concealed his mental decline as president. Biden recently dismissing those accounts. They are wrong. There's nothing to sustain that. Leaked audio clips from Biden's 2023 interview with special counsel Robert Herr were released Friday showing the former president at times struggling to recall names and dates. Well, if it was 2013,

Um, when did I stop be vice president? 27. So I was vice president. Now some allies are questioning why the cancer was not detected sooner. There's a little surprising to many of us on colleges that he wasn't diagnosed earlier. He did not develop it in the last 100, 200 days. He had it while he was president. Late today, President Trump raising his own questions.

Why did it take so long? I mean, when you, this takes a long time, can take years to get to this level of danger. So it's a look, it's a very, very sad situation. I feel very badly about it. And I think people should try and find out what happened. Tonight, friends are sending the former president love and strength. He'll get through this. He'll fight.

But this is hard. I mean, this is a tough diagnosis. And Peter Alexander joins us now from Wilming. And Peter, cancer has tragically personally impacted the Biden family before. Remind us of that history. Yeah, Alison, that's exactly right. Former President Joe Biden knows the pain of cancer. Well, he lost his son, Bo Biden 10 years ago next week to brain cancer.

And notably, former President Biden helped launch what is called the effort, the cancer moonshot initiative, which invested federal money into research projects, creating new treatments, including some treatments that could help him in his own cancer fight now. Alison. NBC's Peter Alexander. Thank you. And let's bring in Dr. David Schusterman. He is a New York-based board-certified urologist.

His office detects and treats prostate issues, including things like prostate cancer. Dr. Schusterman, thank you so much for being here with us. Look, as Peter's touched on there, there are a lot of layers to this story, right? It's a tragedy. Anytime you find out anyone has cancer, but given who the... there are also questions that come with that about widened the public. No, he did have a doctor, a great doctor you usually would expect for the commander-in-chief treating him. How could they have missed this? For those of us who don't have a medical background, take us through your thought

process when you heard this news. Do you agree with what we've heard from some other medical professionals that it's surprising and hard to believe that it wasn't noticed or detected earlier? I fully agree with the oncologist that was on earlier. They basically said my thought process, which was when someone actually gets prostate cancer, usually it starts off very small and low grade, and then it progresses further. Sometimes you get it when it's higher grade, but still it starts out in the prostate and then it spreads from there. So we catch it early in the prostate. It increases survival to about 90% when it's before it's metastatic.

And then if we wait for it to kind of spread, then the survival goes down significantly. And so when I heard this, it's very rare for someone who's actively being monitored, such as the president, to actually get this metastatic prostate cancer at presentation. Typically, we see this in a VA population or an underserved population where they haven't been followed for five to 10 years and then they present with metastatic prostate cancer. So typically, the way that this is monitored is you don't have to go in and say, I have a specific concern. You're saying this is something that has done usually, at least annually, varying, I'm sure, from patient to patient. But talk to me about what PSA means. That's a thing that can be detected in blood levels, correct? So PSA is just simply a marker that is only found in the prostate, and it is elevated in people who have a higher chance of having prostate cancer.

So just because you have an elevated PSA doesn't mean you have prostate cancer, but you should get a biopsy to determine if you have prostate cancer if the PSA is high. You could also figure things out with an MRI, you know, so if you do it an MRI of the prostate or a transrectile ultrasound, or in this case, they said that they actually did a digital rectal exam, which is also very surprising because typically it's rare nowadays. for prostate cancer to be detected simply on a digital rectal exam. The questions I have here is, what are the PSA going back when he started being screening at age 50? So when we started screening him at age 50 to now, it's about 30 years of PSA data that we're missing. I think if we get that PSA data, it'll answer a lot of our questions.

But of course, there's HIPAA compliance issues, so Joe Biden would have to release that data. And in addition, I would love to see his testosterone because he could have been on castration therapy during his pregnancy. Let me ask you, is it possible? And some doctors, some other doctors have told NBC News that it is possible sometimes for tumors like this to not produce PSA and therefore it would not have been picked up. Is that a possibility here as well? That is a possibility. But remember, he also has benign prosthetic enlargement. And they've been closely monitoring his prostate size and prostate nods.

And this is not the first time you would have a digital rectal exam in his life. He has it at least once a year. So then the questions are, was this the only rectal exam that showed a nodule or was there prior exams that showed nodules? So, you know, you get into the weeds here. But ultimately, most prostate cancer is diagnosed at an early stage. When it starts getting to be this late stage, we start asking questions like, how was it missed? And this was any patient. So if any patient comes to my office and we detect this kind of a cancer,

which happens very rarely, we would have to go back and see how is this missed because this doesn't happen often anymore. Thank God. Yeah. Thank you so much for being here tonight and helping us understand some more of that. We appreciate your time this evening. Thank you. Thank you. We're going to head now to the current occupant of the White House, President Trump, in a high-stakes phone call with Vladimir Putin today, the goal of that call to jumpstart the Ukraine peace negotiations, but that call came immediately after a brutal attack by Russia on Ukraine. NBC News, White House correspondent Gabe Gutierrez, has this report. Tonight, just hours after what Ukraine says was Russia's largest drone attacks of the war.

President Trump saying his high-stakes phone call with Russian President Putin went very well, adding Russia and Ukraine will immediately start negotiations toward a ceasefire. Big ego is involved, I tell you, big ego's involved. but I think something's going to happen. And if it doesn't, I'd just back away, and they're going to have to keep going. The president saying that Pope Leo offered to host peace talks at the Vatican. I think it would be great to have it at the Vatican. Maybe it would have some extra significance.

Still, there was no immediate breakthrough on a ceasefire. I said, what are we going to end this, flatter me? I didn't know him for a long time now. I said, when are we going to end this bloodshed, this blood bath? I did say, it's time. You've got to stop this thing. And I believe he wants to stop. President Putin describing the call as very constructive, adding Russia is ready to work with the

Ukrainian side on a memorandum on a possible future peace treaty. President Trump then spoke by phone with European leaders as well as Ukraine's President Zelensky, who, unlike Putin, has already agreed to Trump's unconditional ceasefire proposal. Vice President Vance met with Zelensky in Rome Sunday. These smiling photos, a sharp contrast from that tense Oval Office meeting in February. Since then, the Trump administration has grown increasingly frustrated with Putin. I think one open question is, is Vladimir Putin serious about negotiating peace? And senior White House correspondent Gabe Gutierrez joins us now from the North Law.

And Gabe, we have a new ruling from the Supreme Court today that could speed up the president's efforts to deport hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans who were originally allowed into the country. Explain that to us. Yes. Allison, the Supreme Court just gave the Trump administration the green light to revoke temporary protected status for almost 350,000 Venezuelan immigrants, which could pave the way for them to be deported. Now, that status had been extended during the tail end of the Biden administration. Immigrant advocates say it will be dangerous for these immigrants to return to their home country. But the Trump administration has repeatedly said the temporary protected status is meant to be just that. temporary. Alison.

NBC's Gabe Gutierrez at the White House, thank you. The second week of the Sean Diddy Combs trial heating up today, a member of Diddy's former girl group, Danadie Kane, testifying that he threatened her life, and the prosecution releasing some of its evidence that allegedly shows some of the injuries his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura had detailed during her time on the stand. NBC's Chloe Malas has the latest. Today, for the first time, images shown to the court in the Sean Diddy Combs' criminal trial made public.

Prosecutors releasing these exhibits. Pictures of Diddy's former girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, with what she says or bruises on her back and legs, as well as a gash above her eye. During her more than 20 hours on the stand, Ventura testifying that these injuries occurred during alleged assaults in 2013 and 2016. Also released today these pictures from when Diddy was arrested at the Park Hyatt Hotel in New York in September of last year. A special agent with Homeland Security testifying last week that the items found included bottles of baby oil and drugs including pink packets of ketamine.

Meanwhile, on the stand singer Don Richard offering dramatic and at times tense testimony about the years she spent working for combs. Richard describing an incident in 2009 when she allegedly saw Diddy assault, his then girlfriend Cassie, testifying the next day she received a call from Diddy with a warning. Rashard testifying, quote, he said you could go missing, that we could die, going on to say, I was shocked, but also scared. Combs is charged with five counts, including sex trafficking, racketeering, and transportation to engage in prostitution, and faces up to life behind bars. He has denied all of the allegations against him. Combs discovering Richard on his hit MTV reality show, making the band three. Signing her to the hit girl group, Danity Kane.

And then later the group Diddy Dirty Money. Diddy's defense team saying Richard's retelling of events has been inconsistent. When challenged today by Combs' attorney Nicole Westmoreland, as time progresses, your story changes. To which Richard responded, yes, adding that it's been difficult to remember these alleged incidents because she's, quote, tried to erase those memories. Combs's lawyer also arguing that Richard filed a civil suit against Combs in 2024. shortly after Ventura went public with her own accusations, saying that Richard only wanted money. But Richard saying it was about justice.

Today's testimony wrapping up with a former friend of Ventura and a former personal assistant of Diddy. And Chloe Malas joins us now from just outside that Manhattan courthouse where everything is playing out inside. Chloe, day one of week two, you have been in and out of that courtroom since the very beginning. We have already heard dramatic testimony and seen these pictures from the prosecution.

What do we expect to happen this week? So we expect to also have Combs' assistant take the stand once again, a personal chef who once worked for Combs, who is going to talk about a violent night and potentially other violent incidents. We could even hear from Cassie Ventura's mother this week, barring that she doesn't go into labor. And again, the prosecution, they have six weeks' worth

of witnesses. Chloe Malas, thank you. And NBC News legal analyst Danny Savalos joins us now with more. All right, Danny, a lot of new evidence today, right? Petering out, including photos that we have from the prosecution. Walk us through this new evidence, and what has stood out to you so far? Well, stood out as a relative term. Standing out in terms of making out the elements of the government's case, it's going

to be things like drugs, just like it is things like violence, because those are are key to some of the charges here. But stands out in a way that has very little to do with the government's elements of their case, baby oil. Baby oil is one of those pieces of evidence that the government is very good at. They find a sticky, and I'm using that term figuratively, a sticky piece of evidence that jurors will hook on to. A good example is the gold bars in the Menendez case, for example. This is the kind of stuff that jurors remember. They understand it, and they put it in front of them in picture form, and it's a lot of them. And it it's something that they remember when they go to the jury room. Does it have a whole lot to do with

the elements of the crimes charge? Not really, but that doesn't really matter. Sometimes it's that kind of evidence that's more compelling than the evidence of the actual elements. So talk to us about what we heard from some of the witnesses on the stand today, because we heard that former Dana B. Cain member, Don Rashard, testify that she saw Diddy allegedly assaulting Cassie back in 2009. When we're thinking about the charges that he is facing and the five counts that prosecutors are trying to prove here. How does a story like that seemingly witnessing a singular act of violence actually play into the case and what prosecutors are trying to say Diddy has done? The recurring theme is violence, violence, violence. Not because Diddy's been charged with a crime of violence, so to speak. He's not charged with assault. He's not charged with rape. But the violence goes toward coercion. That's one of the elements of the sex trafficking charges. And why is that important? Because coercion requires the or threat of something like violence. Consider some of the other evidence today. Ventura

apparently told James, Diddy's assistant, that she felt like she couldn't leave because she depended on Combs for everything. That sure feels like coercion, but it may not be coercion as it's defined in the sex trafficking law. So the elements are always key, and the violence really goes to the issue of coercion for sex trafficking, which is arguably the government's strongest charge. It carries the most severe penalties. So thus far, do you think prosecutors have been effective at trying to prove that? Yes. And the government, traditionally, federal prosecutors engage in what we defense attorneys call overkill.

They shove a lot of evidence. So you're not just going to get one or two witnesses talking about violence. You're going to get a lot. And there are more to come. People that work for him, prostitutes, escorts, and you're going to hear all of these elements. They're going to sound redundant at some point. But the government does that because they don't like to lose. And they want to overprove every element of their case.

All right. NBC's Danny Savalos. Thank you. And we will be back in just a moment with the city on edge. The manhunt in New Orleans for seven fugitives still on the run after that massive jail break. And what we know about the help they may have gotten from inside to get out. Plus, collision course, the investigation into that Mexican Navy ship that smashed into the Brooklyn Bridge, what exactly went wrong? And hate in the stands, the WNBA investigation into racist incidents at its game. what's behind the rise. We're back now with the growing manhunt for seven inmates still on the run after a massive prison break in New Orleans. One of them, a convicted killer.

The district attorney says he fears for the safety of victims and witnesses in their cases, as authorities question how they were able to get out in the first place. NBC's Ryan Chandler is in New Orleans tonight. tonight mounting fear in new orleans as the manhunt for seven of these escaped inmates intensifies this is absolutely absurd and it is absolutely dangerous the jaw-dropping jailbreak unfolding in the early hours of friday morning one inmate ripping open this cell door behind the toilet inside a hole cut through the wall the inmates appearing to leave parting messages that say too easy catch us when you can before fleeing across a busy row quote. Police say seven of the 10 inmates remain at large. I am personally afraid, not just for myself, but for my lawyers. New Orleans District Attorney Jason Williams now fearful for the safety of witnesses and prosecutors involved in the inmates cases. Those who wanted to be relocated could be relocated and they're very afraid. The fact that they have not hurt someone trying

to steal a car, that is the grace of God. Of the seven still at large, one is a convicted killer. are charged with murder or attempted murder. Authorities now offering a $20,000 reward per inmate for information about their whereabouts. The FBI and our law enforcement partners have been working 24-7 to follow every lead. Three of the escapees have since been recaptured, one spotted in the French quarter before police caught up with him, leaving some shop owners on edge. That's something that keep up at night, but it certainly makes me at night. You know, these guys running up down hiding in your bushes hiding things like that three jail employees have been placed on administrative leave as the sheriff alleges this may have been an inside job

it's almost impossible not completely but almost impossible for anybody to get out of this facility without help from the outside i think there were a lot of issues a theory former new orleans police officer mike con says could be plausible you couldn't have cut that rebar from inside where the inmates were which was indicative that someone else assisted with this escape. And Ryan Chandler joins us now from New Orleans. Ryan, these inmates have been on the run for nearly four days now. How much harder does this search become as every hour, every minute passes?

Yeah, Alison, to give you an idea that Louisiana State Police gave their last update about 25 hours ago. There they said they hope to apprehend the remaining fugitives within a matter of hours or days. But now seven fugitives remain on the run. as the search enters its fifth day, and they are really stressing that the public is their greatest partner to bring them back behind bars. They are stressing that if anybody recognizes those men, if anybody knows of their whereabouts to reach out and bring this city's anxieties to an end. Alison. NBC's Ryan Chandler on the ground in New Orleans. Thank you. When Top Story

returns, new videos of the moment that Mexican Navy ship crashed into the Brooklyn Bridge and new details on what might have caused the accident. And Hatchet Man, the hunt for this man who allegedly attacked a car after a road rage incident. And we are back now with Top Stories News Feed. With an update on a story we brought you last week, the New York town official accused of shooting

a door-dash driver has been indicted. John J. Riley III, the highway superintendent for the town of Chester, New York, now facing criminal charges for his actions on the night of May 2nd. According to New York State Police, a door dash driver was attempting to deliver food in Riley's neighborhood when he got lost. The app's navigation feature wasn't working, so that driver stopped and asked for directions. But when he drove towards John Riley's house, Riley yelled at the victim to get off his property and quickly opened fire.

All of that, according to police, they say he fired multiple shots at the victim as he drove away. of those bullets hitting and seriously injuring the driver. Town officials have called on Riley to resign, but so far he has not done so. And Boston police are looking for the person, they say, attacked a driver and his car with a hatchet. Video shows a man smashing the windows of a Prius with a hatchet. The driver of the Prius says he was run off the road by a pickup truck. Then the driver of that truck came up and attacked his car and chased him down the road with a hatchet. Police are asking for the public's help identifying the suspects.

And Netflix stepping in to save Sesame Street, the streaming giant making a deal with Sesame Workshop, securing new episodes for season 56 of the show. It comes after the show was not renewed to stream on HBO Max. No release date has been set for the new episodes, but Netflix says fans can't expect to see a little bit of a different format. Episodes will also run on PBS. And a man in Florida arrested for smashing,

smashing a del taco window after being denied tacos. Police say the man pulled into the taco chains drive-thru around midnight Sunday but was told by workers that restaurant was closed. Moments later, workers say they heard popping noises and then saw that man smashing the drive-thru window with a wrench. Police tracked down the man arresting him for criminal mischief. Officials estimate that he caused about $2,000 in damages to that Del Taco window. New details tonight in the deadly ship crash that killed two.

people here in New York City. The NTSB releasing its preliminary findings, detailing the moments just before the Mexican Navy vessel slammed into the Brooklyn Bridge. NBC's Emily Aketa has the latest. Tonight, the NTSB ramping up their investigation into what caused this stunning scene in New York City. Saying the Mexican Navy ship was supposed to head south on the East River on Saturday, but instead went in the opposite direction. direction, backing out with the assistance of a tugboat at 8.20 p.m. A call for help came in at 824. And 45 seconds later, the ship's first mass struck the famed Brooklyn Bridge, according to investigators. As the ship was backing out over the pier, it was going about two to two and a half knots. The NTSB telling NBC news, the ship accelerated. Approaching what appeared to be the middle of the channel, you would have thought it maybe would be slowing down. But then it accelerated. up to six knots when it struck the bridge. Moving in the wrong direction.

That's correct. The Mexican president today offering her condolences to the families of the two people killed on board. Both have been standing on the upper yards of the ship, according to the NTSB, as part of a tradition when the crew sets sail. Video showing some crew members dangling from the rigging after the crash. Built more than 40 years ago, the ship is used for naval training and as an ambassador of Mexican culture. Its stop in New York City was part of a planned 254-day voyage to 15 countries. Most of the crew members on board returning to Veracruz today as investigators zero in on their damaged ship. Local officials have said there may have been a mechanical issue on the ship,

but the NTSB today who has yet to board the boat would not speculate with plans to interview crew members. Ellison. Emily Aketa, thank you. Now to Palm Springs and the explosion at a fertility clinic that the FBI has deemed an act of terror, calling it possibly the largest bombing scene they've ever witnessed in Southern California. Tonight officials there detailing how they race to save eggs and embryos stuck inside. NBC's Camila Bernal has this story. Chilling new details tonight on the extremist beliefs of the man suspected of bombing a fertility clinic in Palm Springs, California.

We have one cook up in Dallas on Palm Stadium. The FBI officially identifying the suspect as 25-year-old Guy Barkis through DNA, who died when his car exploded just outside the American reproductive centers around 11 a.m. Saturday. It's certainly a huge concern that somebody would take out their personal grievances in a way that would harm other people. Two senior law enforcement officials briefed on the incident telling NBC he appears to have been driven by an anti-natalist ideology, A belief that no one should have children. His online presence now under intense scrutiny, according to the FBI, along with a 30-minute audio recording.

What investigators say is part of a possible manifesto and an attempted live stream of the blast. But despite the chaos, the clinic's doctor says the eggs, embryos, and reproductive material were saved. Deputy Fire Chief Greg Lyle and an FBI agent entered the surgical center in the aftermath. I was just looking at a bunch of medical equipment and I knew it just needed to get powered back on the team restoring electricity that powered the incubators and tanks storing eggs and embryos and later retrieving patients critical medical records I'm super proud of everybody in the team effort and Camila Bernal joins us now from Palm Springs California Camila what more do we know about the status of those embryos tonight So we spoke to the doctor who runs this clinic and he did say they are operating, but at a different location. He says thousands of embryos were saved and says that he checked on them today and all are in good condition.

In terms of the documents, we learned that law enforcement agents crawled into the building closest to the blast. They were able to form a human chain and get all of those documents out. The deputy chief telling me today that this was also a full circle moment for him because one of the members of his team told him his embryos were in that clinic and they had. had an appointment this week. Ellison? NBC's Camilla Bernal. Thank you. A new first of its kind law cracking down on sexually explicit deep fake images online. President Trump signing the bipartisan Take It Down Act earlier today in a ceremony at the Rose Garden. First Lady Melania Trump, who led the effort to pass this bill, appeared at that event,

saying in part, quote, artificial intelligence and social media are digital candy for the next generation and can be weaponized. For more NBC's Kate Snow joins us now in studio. Kate, we have reported on the rise of these deep fake images on Top Story in the past. You have reported extensively on everything sort of associated with this idea of revenge porn, also deep fakes. Keeping kids safe online. Yeah, keeping safe online. This is so specific. So explain to us how it breaks down.

It is. What are the impacts for individuals posting these images? It is, but it's kind of big when you think about it, Ellison, because we're talking about now taking action against. a couple of different things. As you mentioned, the deep fake imagery or videos that can be made of someone that are fake, completely made by AI, usually. They're not real and they're not consensual, right?

That can happen to even teenagers, middle schoolers. On the other hand, you've got what's called revenge porn, right? Where somebody really does have legitimate images or videos and they post them without consent. All of that would now be criminal behavior and could actually be prosecuted. So what would happen if, say, someone had posted this on a social media site? Would that company be involved in removing it?

How would that play out? Well, that's what we think is the idea is that companies, we know from the law, that companies would be told you have 48 hours if someone complains and says this was not consensual. You need to take it down. 48 hours they have to take that material down. Every company already, most of them have, the social media companies, have processes you can go through to report something. But exactly how it would work, we're not sure. The FTC, the law says, will be in charge of enforcing this.

But how that would mechanically work to make sure every single thing is taken down, we're not exactly sure yet. When you speak with sources and contacts you have who are advocates or maybe have been victims in the past, how are they feeling about this passage? They're elated. Elated. I spoke with a mom who was at that White House ceremony today. And she lost her son to a slightly different issue, but also online. She's been an advocate for just generally internet safety, and she said, this opens the door. This is a first of its kind law that opens the way for other protections for kids online in general. I also, we talked, not me, but you Michelle Sindor at the White House earlier talked to the young woman who was really inspiration for this.

She's from Texas. She brought her story to Senator Ted Cruz. It led to this legislation. She was a victim of a deep fake where a classmate made a completely fake picture of her. when she was in ninth grade and posted it all over social media for all of the high school to see. She said, this now protects the future. This won't happen again, hopefully, because of this law.

NBC's Kate Snow, thank you. We appreciate it. Heading overseas now to Israel's growing attacks in Gaza. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying the objective is full control of the enclave. And tonight we're hearing for the first time from the family of the last American Israeli hostage to be released.

Adon Alexander, his parents sitting down with our Matt Bradley. Tonight, Israel is expanding its attacks in the Gaza Strip. Moving toward the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calls full control, saying he wants to essentially take over all of Gaza. Israel's military says it struck more than 670 Hamas-related targets in the past week. But the Hamas-run Ministry of Health in Gaza says more than 600 people, Mostly civilians have been killed in three days, including most of Warda Al-Shaar's family, killed in an Israeli airstrike in an area Israel calls a safe zone.

We're exhausted, get us out of this, she says we can't live any longer. But one family's prayers have been answered. When Hamas freed him last week, Don Alexander became the last known living American hostage to leave Gaza. You must have imagined that moment of reunion so many times. Did it live up to how you imagined it? It was better than I imagine it. I was running to him.

I was screaming, and I was holding him so tightly. It looks a little bit thinner, weaker, paler, but still, it's he done. It's the same laughter, the same smile, the same kind eyes. And I don't know, this is our boy, you know. It's amazing. And Matt Bradley joins us now from Tel Aviv. Matt, there's movement tonight on aid getting into Gaza for the first time in quite a few months, right? What do we know?

That's right. Nearly three months. The United Nations says it's been allowed in nine aid trucks, and Israel says five aid trucks were allowed into the Gaza Strip. But no matter how you slice it, Ellison, this move hasn't really mollified critics of Israel and its policy of blockading the Gaza Strip. Amnesty International came out and said that this was just whitewashing Israel's ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip. Alison. Matt Bradley, reporting in Tel Aviv. Thank you.

In Top Stories, Global Watch, heavy rainfall in Argentina, forcing more than 2,000 people to evacuate. Video from this weekend showing bus passengers being rescued on jet skis. They were stranded overnight for more than 10 hours, with floodwaters rising around them. days of heavy rainfall in the rural areas north of Buenos Aires, washing out roads and also entire neighborhoods. New reporting that a Lufthansa flight to Spain last year went without a pilot for 10 minutes. The German news agency, DPA, saying the co-pilot of a flight from Frankfurt to Seville fainted while the captain was in the restroom. The active auto pilot allowed the plane to continue flying in a stable manner. DPA reporting strange noises recorded in the cockpit

consistent with an acute health emergency? The pilot made an unplanned landing in Madrid where the co-pilot was taken to the hospital. And Britain's Queen Camilla introducing a new member of the royal family, the queen posing with a rescue dog named Moli, the royal family saying that the puppy was adopted from an organization that works to rescue and re-home cats and dogs in need.

Moli found his new home after the queen's Jack Russell Terrier, Beth, passed away back in November. And we are back in a moment with the court, house or the court side rather slurs being thrown at w nba star angel reese the league they say they are cracking down now on this racist behavior from the stands and is your DNA data for sale the deal announced today 23 and me set to be bought by a pharmaceutical company how is all of your information going to be used we are back now with the investigation launched by the wnba after fans allegedly hurled racist comments at Chicago Sky Star Angel Reese during Saturday's game against

the Indiana Fever and Caitlin Clark. The WNBA releasing a statement saying in part, quote, the WNBA strongly condemns racism, hate, and discrimination in all forms. They have no place in our league or in society. We are aware of the allegations that are looking into the matter. Both teams saying they're committed to keeping their players safe and are cooperating with the league's investigation. We're joined now by Renee. Washington. She is the co-host of front office sports today. Renee, thank you so much for joining us. But we can get into the nitty-gritty details here of kind of how tension was building or appearing to build on the court. But let's start with playing a little bit of sound we have heard from Angel

Reese. This is from her podcast unapologetically Angel last fall. She talked about how she said she has been in multiple instances on the receiving end of a lot of hatred. Let's listen to that and then we'll talk right after. It's really just the fans, her fans, the Iowa fans, now the Indiana fans that are like, they ride for her. And I respect that respectfully, but

sometimes it's very disrespectful. I think there's a lot of racism when it comes to it, and I don't believe she stands on any of that. And the Hershey's talking about in there is Caitlin Clark. Take viewers through how we got here, essentially. Because what

she's alluding to is tensions and issues with Caitlin Clark's fandom prior to even coming to the WNBA. It started with the Iowa LSU rivalry that happened in March Madness when Angelry's had the famous You Can't See Me, John Sina reference to Caitlin Clark. And as we know, the Iowa fans have always rocked with Caitlin Clark and been so supportive of her. And so they've really taken that. And as she mentioned in her comment, it has evolved to now the WMBA as well. Now the positive is the W has struggled with bringing their fans from the college game into the pros. So there's a positive. But the negatives is unfortunately,

as Angel alluded to, that there is on a large group of fans for Caitlin that are sharing these racist discriminatory comments to Angel and other players in the league as well. So they take everything, a foul, a hard defense of play, and unfortunately escalate it to a level that it's not, where it's really just a basketball play. So how did this particular incident play out on Saturday? Well, when you look at this matchup, every single fever sky game, all five of them this season are nationally televised. They've been hyped up as rivalry games. We've been hyping up the Angel versus Caitlin matchup. And as the game was building, tensions were there. And not just in this game, and other games as well. I think of the Aces Liberty game as an example, where we saw another

technical and players going at it. But this one's different because it's Caitlin versus Angel. It's like Magic Johnson versus Larry Bird. It has this rivalry feel that everyone's on the edge of their seats. And as the game escalated and the fever were dominating the sky and won by 35 in that game, it shifted the focus to how players were reacting. And Angel felt she was getting fouled in previous plays. And that possession, it was Caitlin, Clark coming in to stop her from a layup, which is a good basketball play to force her to go to the line, but again, it's Caitlin and Angel. So nothing with them is ever simple. It's always escalated to a higher level. Talk to us about the fans in this instance, and even past instances, because we heard Angel Reese saying that she doesn't believe Caitlin Clark stands for that. But apparently there is a consistent issue Angel Reese feels and others do as well with her fans treating other players in this former fashion. Is there a consensus amongst other players in the WNBA or other fans of the sport, that they think Caitlin Clark should more directly be essentially reprimanding her fans and saying, hey, I'm not okay with this. Could she do more to stop it? And that's the tricky

line that you have to tow because for Caitlin and even for the WMBA, they're excited about this booming fandom that you're getting. I mean, from social media to game attendance to even the TV ratings, everything's been drastically increasing from last season to this season and definitely from two seasons ago. So you have to be delicate about how you handle this. I will say for Caitlin specifically and for the league, they can continue to come out with these types of statements, the WMBPA, the WMBA, the Fever, the Sky, they all came out with anti-racist statements. But you do have to continue to do more and find a way to show we're competing, but we also are going to be able to step off the court and still be fine. There's no need or no room, I should

say, in space for discrimination. So I do think there's a way that it can be done. But I feel like right now, Caitlin and both Angel continuously keep saying, it's just basketball. We respect each other. We're just playing hard. And they just want to play. And we see the same thing on the men's side all the time, yet we don't talk about it. Because we look at it as just, like, good basketball competition. So I will say they can continue to just be politically correct, supportive, and just continue to lead with, it's a basketball first mindset. That is, in fact, their job is they are playing everything else impacts them, but also not necessarily on them. I will say Caitlin Clark has said so far in part, quote, there's no place

for that in our game. There's no place for that in society in reference to the alleged remarks made over the weekend at that game. Renee Washington, front office sports today. Thank you for being here. We appreciate it. And we're back in a moment with Top Story and the new fears about your DNA data. Now that a pharmaceutical company is buying 23 and meat, what you should do right now if you're worried. The air with breaking news. We are live tonight from Juarez, Mexico, reporting over the skies of Lahaina. Here in Florida.

The time to evacuate has come and gone. You were seeing people just running for their lives. People running for their lives. We've seen this almost unbelievable power struggle. What does this mean for Ukraine? It's the battle off the field that's inspired the world. Every night, it's your news playlist. Top Story with Tom Yamas, streaming weeknights at seven on NBC News Now.

Finally, tonight, a major shakeup in the world of at-home DNA testing. The company 23 and Me just purchased by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals for $256 million. The sale of the drug maker raising new questions. about where the DNA of millions of customers could ultimately end up. Joining us now to talk about all of this is NBC cybersecurity reporter, Kevin Collier. Kevin, thank you so much for joining us. We will start with the caveat that as is the case with a lot of these things, we're finding a lot of this out in real time,

and this is where we know we are right now. But a lot of people's brains sort of pinged when they heard this was happening and I think panic for a lot of people was the first feeling of, Oh my gosh, I did do my DNA, but I just wanted to know where my family was from. What is happening next? For people who are worried about their data, their DNA, their information, going to this new company that they probably have never heard of until today, what do we think actually happens to our information if we gave it to 23 and me?

Well, I think it's important when we talk about biometric information. If someone steals your password, someone steals your credit card information, that sucks, you change it, you never go back to that. your immutable information, like your DNA, your retina scan, your fingerprint, that's, if bad guys get a hold of that, you never get it back, you never retain custody again. So Regeneron has said that they're going to abide by, they're going to keep running 23M8, and they're going to, they've indicated that they're going to start using it for research. You know, they do a lot of medical research. They have been pivoting to AI, like a lot of medical research companies have. And I can tell you, having spoken with people who work in AI doing medical research, the most valuable thing. It's not computing power.

It's not the latest model for AI. It is data. And so it's extremely valuable for any medical research company to obtain millions of people's DNA information to train data sets on that. So what should people do if they're worried about it and say they're like, okay, I understand that even if they're saying that, I just don't want them to have it. Is there a window where you can kind of go into your account and opt out of it being transferred? How does that work? They have not said so specifically, purely just speaking from a privacy perspective, not my personal advice, but the best time to have signed up for a service that shares your DNA would probably never.

The second best would have been when the bankruptcy was announced. There was, you know, the California and New York, several state AGs recommended people delete this. It probably wouldn't hurt if you are concerned about that to delete it now because, again, it's kind of a new frontier. So talk to us a little more about what we expect to happen moving forward, because this is one of those things where it feels like, yes, we're talking about it with this company, but as AI expands, as medical research expands,

this is all really valuable information. A lot of us have given our faces, our eyes, over to Apple, to Google, to log into our phones. Is this a warning moment for people who are maybe worried about privacy down the road? Are we going to see more of this? Absolutely. I mean, in terms of this, this stuff is all immutable. We are so at the precipice.

We're very, very just starting to look at what biometric is going to be, what it's going to use for. People are going to watch this segment in 5, 10, 15. Well, I don't know if they're going to watch it. And I'm sure it will be laughable and our inability to predict where this is going. But that's precisely why it is so scary for most privacy advocates. It's because there's no turning back. And we don't know what's going to happen once you lose custody of that information. All right.

So for now, it's kind of just wait and see. We'll see what this company does. We'll see how the deal plays out if you have an account, delete it, if you're worried about it. And that's sort of, and we're all on this ride together, I guess, is the takeaway. Kevin Collier, thank you for helping us and making us a little bit smarter tonight. We appreciate it. Thank you, Kevin. And thank you at home so much for watching Top Story.

I'm Ellison Barber in New York for Tom Yamis. Don't go anywhere. More news is on the way right now. The story is coming to you live from Juarez, Mexico, reporting over the skies of Mahina. Every weeknight, it's your news playlist. Top story with Tom Yamas, streaming weeknights at seven on NBC News Now.