Top Story with Tom Llamas - Monday, September 18, 2023

Episode Date: September 19, 2023

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, breaking news of fighter jet that mysteriously disappeared just located. The U.S. military losing track of an F-35 fighter jet worth $100 million after the pilot ejected in the skies over South Carolina. The stealth aircraft, which was on autopilot at the time, nowhere to be found for more than a day. The debris field just discovered moments ago, plus the directive late today from the Marines why they're ordering a two-day grounding of all their aircraft. Hunter versus the IRS, the president's son, going on the offensive,

suing the agency for allegedly trying to damage his reputation by releasing confidential information about his taxes. But will this case stand up in court as Hunter Biden stares down criminal charges in a separate case and as his father runs for re-election? Border surge, a record number of migrants making the dangerous journey along the Darien Gap, the only land route connecting South America to the U.S. Tonight we'll talk to two New York Times reporters who have been reporting along that route to the U.S. all year.

The groups and politicians they're seeing move in to profit off the mass migration, even offering wristbands to keep track of everyone. Explosive allegations out of the U.K., comedian Russell Brand, accused of rape and sexual assault by four different women in a new documentary. one of them just 16 years old what we're hearing from the brand from brand and the comments resurfacing from his ex-wife katie perry tonight plus almost perfect heist burglars breaking into a jewelry store using sophisticated devices to jam the building's alarms before running off with half a million dollars worth of goods but the one critical mistake they made that could least police right to them and land shark a wild video showing a massive maco stuck on a florida beach the moment bystanders came together to get that predator back in the ocean.

Top story starts right now. Hey, good evening. We begin top story tonight with the big question of the hour. How in the world can you lose track of an F-35 fighter jet? Tonight, that's a question the U.S. military is still unable to answer after one of their aircrafts disappeared for more than a day. What we do know right now, the jet, which looks like the ones you see here, went missing on Sunday after the pilot ejected while experiencing a, quote, mishap near Charleston, South Carolina. The pilot tonight is okay. That's a good news. But it appears his $100 million ride is not.

The Florence County Sheriff, which joined the search by land and by sky, announcing moments ago that a debris field has been recovered, though details are still limited. And now the Marines ordering a two-day grounding of all of their air. aircrafts as they try to work out what happened here. NBC Pentagon reporter Courtney QB leads us off with the latest on the search. To mystery in South Carolina, where the U.S. military is searching for a missing F-35 fighter jet. And now all marine aircraft are grounded. The jet was flying near Charleston, South Carolina, Sunday when the military says it experienced a mishap, but is not providing any details on exactly what happened.

safely and was taken to a nearby hospital. The jet, on the other hand, continued to fly and disappeared. Right now, we just don't know where that aircraft is. Leading Joint Base Charleston to ask the public for help finding it, tweeting, if you have any information that may help our recovery teams locate the F-35, please call the Base Defense Operations Center. Officials are focusing around two lakes north of the base near its last known location. I do believe based on the data that the Pentagon does have, that they know its precise location.

Tonight, Marine Corps leadership ordered all their aircraft grounded for two days in the wake of the missing F-35 and two deadly crashes last month. An F-18 crashed near San Diego, killing the pilot, and an MV-22 Osprey went down in Australia, killing three Marines on board. The F-35 stealth fighter jet is the Pentagon's most expensive weapon system with a whopping $100 million price tag. Its ability to hide put to the test as search and recovery continues. All right, Courtney, joins us live from the Pentagon tonight. So, Courtney, it was good news they found that debris field. Do you have any more information about exactly what they located? We don't.

All we know is that it was a very rural area. It was about two hours north of Joint Base Charleston. So that had been one of the areas that officials were telling us they were sort of focusing in on. But at this point, the military isn't even saying with 100% certainty that this is absolutely the F-35 that went missing. Now, of course, as far as we know, there aren't any other F-35s that went missing in that area. So it makes sense that this would be the one. But again, they're not even saying with 100% certainty until they make a positive identification with the actual aircraft that this is the one that they've now been searching for. There has been this massive search for about 24 hours now looking for this aircraft, Tom.

So, Courtney, people at home may be thinking this thing cost $100 million. I get it's a stealth jet, but we have Find My iPhone technology in my old iPhone. How were they not able to locate this thing? Yeah, and it's not just that it's a stealth jet, but it has tremendously advanced communications capabilities as well. So this is the U.S. military's most advanced fighter jet. So it's a fair question to say, well, how come it was able to disappear for nearly 24 hours? According to an official we spoke with late today, it appears that the transponder may have malfunctioned. That may have been the problem here.

But what we still don't know is what exactly this mishap was that even occurred on Sunday that caused the pilot to eject and started this, unfolded this entire incident. If, in fact, the transponder wasn't working, it's possible that there was some larger electrical issue here. And that may have been the culprit. But again, we really don't know many details about what happened here still, Tom. And we're happy the pilot survived that that ejection. Okay, Courtney Cueby leading us off here tonight on Top Story. Our other major headline tonight, Hunter Biden, suing the IRS, claiming the agency tried to embarrass him by publicly disclosing confidential tax information.

It comes as the president's son is facing charges for gun crimes with more charges possible against him in the coming weeks. Ryan Nobles has the latest. Tonight, Hunter Biden suing the IRS, arguing the agency and two whistleblower employees have sought to publicly damage his reputation. Those two agents testified under oath. The Justice Department gave the President's son special treatment in its tax investigation. Biden's lawsuit says the whistleblowers, quote, sought to embarrass Mr. Biden via public statements to the media in which they and their representatives disclose confidential information about. a private citizen's tax matters. Career IRS agent and whistleblower Joe Ziegler recently telling

NBC's Tom Winter, investigators were prevented from interviewing witnesses. We were hamstrung by prosecutors assigned to the case constantly. Attorneys for whistleblower Gary Shapley calling the lawsuit a, quote, frivolous smear by Biden family attorneys to intimidate any current and future whistleblowers. Biden was just indicted on three gun charges and faces the possibility of additional tax charges after the plea deal struck with prosecutors that would have allowed him to avoid prison time

imploded under a judge's scrutiny. And a spokesperson for the IRS tells NBC News they do not comment on pending litigation. Tom. Okay, Ryan Noble's for us tonight, Ryan, we appreciate that for more Hunter Biden's new lawsuit and the legal challenges he's facing. I want to bring in NBC News Justice and Intelligence Correspondent, Ken Delanian and NBC News legal analyst Angela Senadella. Thank you both for being here tonight.

Angela, I'm going to start with you a simple question. Does Hunter Biden have a case? I don't think he has a real case that's going to win. Is there a germ of a case? Maybe. I mean, his lawyers are acknowledging the whistleblower protections. And they're saying just outside of that is what these whistleblowers said to the media. So there's like a slight case, but not one that's going to. But Angela, so what's the strategy here? Because he's going to have to pay his attorneys to work on this case. to file these legal documents, and now there's more scrutiny on him. Well, Tom, look, I think sometimes the best defense is actually an offense, and that's what he's doing here.

He's trying to deflect. He's trying to show he's fearless. He's aggressive. He's not going to cower. It's PR. Yeah, it's PR. I don't know how the White House is going to interpret this, though. Ken, I want to move over to you.

Hunter's team is making this allegation that the IRS and its agents publicly disclosed Hunter's confidential tax information. But to be clear, they're not being accused of going on the air and just reading off his tax forms, right? What information are we actually talking about? That's right, Tom. Hunter Biden's lawsuit says that these two IRS whistleblowers disclose specific information about tax deductions, tax years, amounts owed that they said could only have come from reading his confidential tax returns. And yes, tax information is confidential by law.

But these two IRS employees came forward under a prescribed whistleblower process. They went to Congress. They testified behind closed doors under oath to Congress. And then only after that that they start talking about their testimony, they say that the law authorizes them to do that as long as they stick to the text of their testimony. Now, Hunter Biden's lawsuit says that there were occasions where they went beyond what they testified to in Congress. And it looks like the courts are going to have to sort that out. But basically, the bottom line is they had a right to report what they believe was improper conduct within the IRS to Congress. And in the course of doing that, talk about confidential taxpayer information time.

On this point, Angela, I want to read you something from the Wall Street Journal. They kind of laid it out, and Ken was talking about this as well. In the Wall Street Journal today, this is how they report it. IRS employees are generally forbidden under the tax code from disclosing information from tax returns, and there are both criminal penalties and potential civil liabilities for disclosures. There is a crucial exception. The chairs of the congressional tax writing committees can request any taxpayer information from the IRS, and then the committees can vote to make that info public in a report.

The House Ways and Means Committee voted earlier this year to publish transcripts of interviews with the IRS employees in the Hunter Biden case. And we should remind our viewers this happened to former President Trump as well. So does this hurt Hunter Biden's case? Yes, majorly so. And that's because Congress did vote to make all of this public. But the difference that his lawyers are saying is that once they went through every single transcript, every single word, compared that to all the words that he spoke in his media interviews, there were small discrepancies. So they are arguing about a very small delta here.

But I think a trial would go look at the meaning behind the congressional statute and say, look, they meant to protect whistleblowers. They meant to protect these IRS agents. This case is not going to be in Hunter's favor. Ken, you know, Angela brought up a great point, which is a good defense, is actually going on offense or something like that. I just chopped that up, Angela. But you said it a lot better than I did. I want to play something for you because Hunter Biden is facing three charges for alleged gun crimes in the special counsel investigation. Additional tax charges are possibly coming in the next couple of weeks we don't know.

I want to show you a little bit of what his attorney, Abby Lowell, told CNN about them. Take a listen. They knew all the facts for years. The law, if it has changed at all, as you pointed out, there have been at least two federal courts that have found this law in particular to be unconstitutional. And therefore, you have to ask what changed. And what changed, you also just talked about. It is the folks like Chairman Comer and the Republican. MAGAR crazies who have been pressuring this U.S. attorney to do something to vindicate their

political position. And guess what? They succeeded. So, Ken, I point this up because we've talked about this before, right? And the White House, including President Biden, has tried to distance himself from this investigation saying the Justice Department acts independently. But what we have now are Hunter Biden's attorneys going after the Justice Department in a very public way. What do you think is happening here? Well, I think it's in part, as you guys were talking about, a brushback pitch designed to deter both these whistleblowers who have been giving dozens and dozens of interviews in public and also to deter the IRS and the Justice Department from filing potentially felony tax charges, because that's the other shoe to drop here. They've filed the gun charge already, but they haven't filed any of the tax charges. But what he was speaking to was the specific felony gun charge. And he's right that that charge is rarely brought against non-violent people without criminal records, such as Hunter Biden, in this context, you know, he owned that gun or had that gun allegedly for 15 days. And so they may have

a point there, and they may have a point that it's unconstitutional. But we have yet to see what the Justice Department is going to say and charge in terms of Hunter Biden's admitted tax violations. Angela, we know the plea deal collapsed, right? That's old news. What is new is sort of this new offensive, as you point out here. As an attorney and somebody's seen the strategy here and seen sort of the PR strategy as well, this along with reporting that the Wall Street Journal had that the relationship between Attorney General Merrick Garland

and President Biden is incredibly icy at the moment. What do you think this all means for Hunter Biden? What do you think he's trying to do? I think he's trying to just distract. We've also seen this with Trump. Delay, delay, distract. I think similarly we're seeing that with Hunter. And that's because when you go to trial,

you think it's all about justice, just the evidence on trial. But that's not really true. There's so much flexing that happens. Jurors are influenced by optics, by all sorts of strategies. We also saw Hunter doing another lawsuit last week against a Trump aide. So I think his lawyers are just firing off lawsuits left and right. Yeah, Ken, I want to go to you. We are obviously entering the election cycle,

and President Biden has a re-election to try to win. What do you think is happening here? Because, again, Merrick Garland, we've talked about this before. he's in this incredible position, but he has appointed the special counsel. And you can correct me if I'm wrong here, but things seem to be getting more complicated. Absolutely right. And much more serious for Hunter Biden. I mean, he's the biggest loser by that plea deal collapsing. And now there seems to be a process in motion here. It's going to be much harder now to craft a plea deal. They've charged him with a felony gun charge. Will they insist that he plead guilty now to a felony?

And so you have this all unfolding as President Biden is trying to run for re-election. And we have a lot of reporting that he's personally, deeply concerned about the well-being of his son, as any father would be. So it's a political nightmare for the White House and a personal distraction for the president. Ken Delanyan, Angela Senadella, thank you so much for explaining this tonight. We appreciate it. Next, the Biden administration is celebrating the homecoming for five Americans. It says, were unjustly held by Iran. Their freedom, part of a prisoner exchange and controversial agreement to unlock $6 billion of Iranian money.

Josh Letterman has this. For five Americans locked up for years in Iran, freedom at last. First, boarding a charter plane in Tehran. Their plane is now finally on the ground. They are out of Iran, and they are on their way home. Huge smiles when the Americans walked off the plane in Qatar. Hugs as they're greeted by waiting American diplomats. Three of the released prisoners, dual Iranian-American citizens, sharing an embrace as they walked into the terminal.

The other two Americans have asked for privacy and have not been identified. Siamak Namazi, who the U.S. says was arrested on false espionage charges, saying in a statement, for almost eight years I have been dreaming of this day, adding he can't wait to get to an Apple store. I am dying to find out what gadgets now exist. Tonight, the Biden administration downplaying whether the release could lead to better relations with one of America's most bitter enemies, even slapping new sanctions today on Tehran. We continue to be determined to take whatever step is necessary to deal with actions by Iran. The prisoner swap is controversial. The U.S. and Iran both exchanging five prisoners,

but the Biden administration going further, additionally unlocking $6 billion in Iranian oil money frozen by U.S. sanctions. The White House says Iran can only use the money for things like food and medicine, with U.S. officials approving each transaction. But Iran's president telling Lester last week, Iran will spend the money on whatever it wants. Do you believe you have the right to use that money in any way that you see fit?

This money belongs to the Islamic Republic of Iran, and naturally, we will decide, the Islamic Republic of Iran will decide to spend it wherever we need it. Republicans blasting the Biden administration, over the deal, arguing the money was a ransom and won't be spent on humanitarian needs. You can rest assured that $6 billion will be spent to fund terrorists who use it to murder Americans and to murder Israelis. Tonight, the released Americans all believed to be in good health.

We spoke to Namazi's attorney. My phone rings, and it's him again and said, Jared, I'm free. Tomorrow is the beginning of the rest of his life. After a few hours on the ground here in Qatar for medical checks, those Americans are now on another plane heading to the Washington, D.C. region where they'll be reunited with their families and also offered a specialized U.S. military program for reintegrating after wrongful detention. Tom? Josh Letterman for us tonight, Josh, thank you.

Back here at home, we want to turn to an NBC News exclusive we have tonight on the number of illegal border crossings. Officials from the Department of Homeland Security telling NBC News that the number of migrants illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border has risen since the start of September with Border Patrol apprehending 7,500 migrants just on this Sunday alone. NBC News Homeland Security correspondent, Julia Ainsley, joins us now with that exclusive reporting. Julia, I want to put that 7,500 number to perspective, right? According to the latest data that is available to us on border crossings from July border

crossings, the average just over 4,300. And we saw this decrease in border crossings with the expiration of Title 42 in May, but now there's a much different story to explain. Yeah, that's right. Tom, you and I were down there when they got to record highs near 10,000 a day just before the end of Title 42. Then new policies came into place to make it more restrictive for asylum. And when we talked to people who were on the other side of the border in Mexico thinking about crossing, they were kind of in a wait and see moment to see how tough these restrictions might be. We saw the numbers start to increase

over the summer and now they are really rapidly increasing. We've been able to see in certain sectors some rises, some evidence of that rise, street releases, when they're not able to find enough room for shelters in cities like San Diego and Nogales, Arizona. Then we've also been able to see the numbers of families rising in areas like Tucson and Rio Grande Valley. Now this actually takes into account a snapshot of one day across the entire border where they saw 7,500 crossings in a single day. And I'm told that's really on average about what they've seen the past week or so as these numbers are starting to rise as they typically do this time of year. but it's significant now because it's showing that those new policies put in place in mid-May

just when you and I left the border because of the end of Title 42. Those new policies are not having as big of an impact as they did initially. And a lot of it is because Mexico can only take back so many migrants per day that they turn away. Migrants are learning that, starting to take things into their own hands and starting to get frustrated when they're not able to get appointments or try to get into the U.S. the legal way. Yeah, we have some reporting from the Darien Gap coming up. later in the broadcast, that is sort of shocking about how many more are coming through South and Central America right now as we speak. I do want to ask you, tell our viewers where

on the border we're seeing this sort of crush and the cities around them. Well, we know that the busiest sector right now is the Rio Grande Valley, it's seeing about 1,800 per day, but that's a sector that's used to seeing a lot of migrants. And so they're able to get them quickly into shelters, into charities. But the second busiest sector is actually in Del Rio, Texas. The area of Eagle Pass, very remote, very small, is seeing a large number of migrants. In fact, Fox News reported that they saw 2,200 crossed just between midnight last night and 10 a.m. this morning. Now, NBC News hasn't independently verified that, but we have seen pictures, large numbers of migrants crossing there, and it's in areas like that where they

don't have the infrastructure to quickly process, shelter, and try to figure out who can actually stay in the United States to make an asylum claim. Those are the areas they get the most overwhelmed the fastest. We're also seeing the areas of Tucson and El Paso at number three and four in terms of the busiest border sectors, Tom. Our Julia Ainsley, with some new reporting from the border tonight. Some of the migrants now reaching the U.S. have been traveling for thousands of miles, many of them crossing the treacherous Darien Gap. The only land route to the U.S. from South America, you see it here. It's that dangerous terrain we've been telling you about, from Colombia to Panama. It's already seen more

than 360,000 people cross so far this year. To put that number in perspective, look at that. It's up from 250,000 in all of 2022. That according to the Panamanian government. New York Times reporter Julia Turquowitz and Frederico Rios have been reporting along the Darien Gap for more than a year now and capture this footage you are seen right here, the crush of migrants. Look at how long that line is crossing through that stream. With a growing number of people desperate to reach the U.S. local politicians and business leaders in Colombia are actually cashing in. We're joined now by New York Times, Andy's bureau chief, Julie Turquowitz, who is in Bogota, and New York Times photo journalist Federico Rios, who is in Meijing, with more on their latest reporting. Julie, I'm going

to start with you. Your report for the New York Times was really surprising. It was that first graph, and it showed how much these migrants are paying. Talk to me about the business you've uncovered in crossing the Darien Gap. Sure. So just as you said, there are not just thousands, but tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people who are making this very dangerous journey. And what is happening is for every step of that route, there is payment, right? To get to the towns that are just at the edge of the airing gap, folks have to pay $40 for a boat ride. Then once they get to these towns, there is a $170 fee for permission to cross the jungle. Once they are in the jungle, they can buy food from people who live at the edge of the jungle,

who are now sort of building camps inside the jungle. That can cost $10 or more. And what we've seen is that so many people are showing up to these border towns in the dairy end, that the people of the dairy and the people who live in these communities had to do something about it. And that is why they are charging all of this money. And you're saying it's been good for their economy and they're telling you for their bottom line, they're making a ton of money because of all these migrants coming through. Sure. It's really, really, really important to point out that the communities that people who live at the edge of the dairy end are from

very poor communities that have been abandoned by the Colombian state for generations and generations. And so when all of these migrants started showing up and trying to cross the Darian gap, these communities asked for help from the national government and that help never came. And so they have essentially taken this into their own hands and said, we are going to organize this and we can't organize this for free. And so they see themselves as offering a humanitarian service to these people who at the end of the day are not that different than them. All of them, all of the people who run this business describe themselves as doing humanitarian work and of relating to the very people that they're helping. Federico, you're the man behind the camera capturing these really powerful

images. What have you noticed since when we last talked to you? The image we're showing our viewers, the couple of images are from September of 2022. Now you have fresh images. You and your team went back. What difference are you noticing? Well, the biggest difference is the amount of people, As you mentioned that in the beginning of this piece, up to August this year, there was 310,000 people crossing the airing gap. That's more than 100,000 people more than last year in total. So we are expecting much and more people for the end of the year. People are desperately crossing, and there's people coming from 97 different. nationalities to cross dering up, aiming to reach the United States.

Julie, on the other side, officials in both Costa Rica and I believe Panama have said they can't handle this surge. So what's to be done? It's a really good question, and I wish that I had the answer, but I definitely don't. One thing that I think is really important to point out is that it's not just Panama and it's not just Costa Rica that are very frustrated with this surge. You know, the government of Colombia signed a deal with the U.S. government and the government of Panama in which all of them agreed that it was their mutual goal to halt this humanitarian crisis. At the end of the day, this is a humanitarian crisis. And I sat down with President Pedro of Colombia, and he said

the opposite. In our interview, he said that it was not, in fact, his goal to stop migration through the Darien, at least not in the way that a lot of people conceive of it, which is basically that he said, I'm not going to put my soldiers in the Darien. I'm not going to go after migrants, he said, with horses and whips. And so there really is a, there's a major question about what to do about this humanitarian crisis, and it's a question that I think needs to be addressed by the governments of Colombia, by the government of Panama, also by the government of Venezuela, which, of course, is the root country of many of these migrants, but not all of them.

Many of them are also coming from Ecuador, from China, from Afghanistan. The U.S. obviously needs to be a part of this conversation. And I think that one thing that is clear, I think, for both Federico and I, is that the current situation where there is a lack of government and international presence has essentially handed this industry over both to the local. who I was talking about, some of whom are just everyday people trying to make a living, but also over to a criminal group. The region is run. The region is really controlled by a criminal group known as the Abdo Defenses Caetanis de Colombia or the clan del Gulfo. And so the absence

of any real government or international presence is not necessarily the answer. Julie, we're running out of time and I want to get to Federico again, but I do want to ask you, it takes months to obviously make this journey. Should Americans expect a new surge at the border? Our reporter, Julia Ainslie, was reporting on that earlier in the show. Is that what you expect? And is that what America should expect with these numbers? I mean, we're seeing that the numbers are already going up, right?

We saw a very deep, a very brief dip after the, you know, the changes in May. But really, we're already seeing those numbers go up. And so, yes, I would imagine that those numbers are going to continue to be very high. And I think the one thing that we've really tried to emphasize in our reporting is how important it is to think about this, not just as a flow or a search, but as individuals who are fleeing many, many, many different problems. And we have tried to think through our reporting to show that this is both a political crisis, but even bigger than that, it's a humanitarian crisis. Rico, before we go, I do want to ask you, you had an image that really captured our attention and really our hearts. We couldn't believe this, right?

I know you've had a chance to catch up with this dad, Luis Miguel Arias, and his young daughter. What have they told you since you took this photo? Well, it's been more than a year since I took that photo. They cross all Central America that made it to Mexico. After that, they made it to the border. They phone a lawyer. and the end of the states, and now they are waiting for legal permission to work in the states. The whole family is together.

They have two kids, Luis and Melissa, the wife, Thesserie, and the father, Luis Miguel. Oh, incredible. They made it out of that jungle. Okay, Federico, Julie, we appreciate your time. Thank you so much for joining us here on Top Story. Still ahead tonight, the bombshell accusations against Russell Brand, four women coming forward a new documentary, accusing the British comedian of sexual assault and rape, his response to those allegations tonight. Plus, a dramatic standoff in California, the moment police captured a man accused of killing one of their own. And an almost perfect high, skilled robbers

snatching half a million dollars worth of goods from a Florida jewelry store, but the one clue they left behind that could lead to their arrest. Top story. Just getting started on this Monday night. Back down with disturbing allegations against comedian and actor Russell Brand. They're being revealed in a new investigation and documentary by British media outlets. Four women alleging Brands sexually assaulted or raped them between 2006 and 2013. Our Valerie Castro has the latest on his response and what police are now learning. Tonight, British comedian and actor Russell Brand fighting back against numerous allegations of sexual assault. seriously refute are these very, very serious criminal allegations. Four women coming forward in the

British media and telling their stories in a documentary entitled Russell Brand in plain sight, a joint investigation by the Sunday Times, The Times and Channel 4 dispatches. I was like, oh my God, he raped me. Their allegations spanning the years from 2006 to 2013 include rape, sexual assault and abuse. One woman says she was 16 years old at the time of her, alleged assault. I was pushing him away and pushing him away and he wasn't backing off at all. And so I ended up having to punch him really hard in the stomach to get him off. Another woman sharing text messages with the times she says are between her and Brand following her alleged assault in 2012 in Los Angeles, writing,

When a girl says no, it means no. Brand allegedly replying with an apology, quote, I'm very sorry. The 48-year-old rising to fame for his often lewd and crass comedy and stand-up routines. You're making a laugh and your sweetheart. Tell me his name! In this appearance on the Jimmy Fallon show in 2013, he made jokes

of a sexual nature towards actress Catherine McPhee. I find Catherine very attractive. When she said exchanged numbers, I thought things that I'd like to exchange with her. Numbers! Numbers! He likes numbers.

He's not the numbers. And jeans. Genetic info. In his video statement, brand not shying away from his past. These allegations pertain to the time when I was working in the mainstream, when I was in the newspapers all the time, when I was in the movies. And as I've written about extensively in my books, I was very, very promiscuous.

Now, during that time of promiscuity, the relationships I had were absolutely always consensual. I was always transparent about that then, almost too transparent. And I'm being transparent about it now. The fallout already leading to consequences. The remaining dates of Brand's UK stand-up tour bi-polarization now, postponed with ticket refunds announced by the promoter. Brand was employed as a BBC presenter during the time frame of the allegations, the broadcaster issuing a statement saying they are urgently looking into the issues raised.

His talent agency and book publisher both cutting ties with the actor who played prominent roles in Hollywood hits. I respect you for doing that, but the content of what you said has made me hate you. And had a short-lived marriage to pop star Katie Perry. In a Vogue interview 10 years ago, Perry making this cryptic remark about their marriage, saying, quote, I found out the real truth, which I can't necessarily disclose because I keep it locked in my safe for a rainy day. Brand opening up about his struggles with alcohol, heroin and sex addiction in an interview with 60 Minutes Australia. How is it destructive for you? Well, if you're sleeping with so many people that you can't get to work or you're not being properly discerning about who the people are that you're sleeping with,

You know, eventually you're going to get into trouble. In the wake of the allegations and publicity, London police confirming they've now received an allegation relating to a 2003 incident and calling on any other alleged victims to come forward. Okay, so Valerie, in light of all these allegations, we just heard what you said there. Have any criminal charges been filed? No, so according to reporting by the Times and the Sunday Times that put together that documentary, None of these women complained to police back when these alleged incidents happened. But there is one woman who claims that she filed a complaint with Brand's representatives back in 2020.

Since these allegations all came out, his representatives put out a statement saying, Brad categorically and vehemently denied the allegation made in 2020. The agency says they were misled and they have now severed any professional ties with Brand. Another one of the alleged victims who says she was assaulted in California in 2012, She tells the paper that she went to a rape crisis center after that incident. So police were notified, but she says she didn't file a police report back then, just worried that she wouldn't be believed. Right.

Okay, Valerie, Castro, Valerie, thanks for that. We want to head now to South Florida, where three suspected burglars stole an estimated $500,000 from a popular jewelry store in a matter of minutes. The suspects taking extreme measures to elude any alarms or security systems will show you how they did it, but they missed one camera that managed to record it all, Marissa Parra has the story. Tonight, a half a million dollar heist, all caught on a ring security

camera. Three suspects are seen ransacking a jewelry store in Hollywood, Florida, when one of them finally spots the camera and takes a startled step backward. When a flashlight illuminates his face, his wide eyes of surprise become clear. I think they would have done

a lot more damage if they didn't catch that ring camera right at the last second. The suspects went great length, to avoid security measures. These are the ladders the store's owner says the thieves used to break in through the roof. They took their time. They had a ladder. They took the ladder.

They duct taped. They covered the cameras. I mean, they knew what the hell they were doing. The owner tells NBC South Miami he found this black box after the break-in, which may have been used to disable the alarm systems. This is the device, which I think was able to jam the alarm. This was all plugged in. It was all hanging from the ceiling. But it was game over once they noticed.

the ring camera. The three suspects then quickly took off with more than $500,000 worth of jewelry and other collectibles. They stole a very unique rare orange Chanel bag. They stole it's empty now, but there's a big bottle of Louis to 13, which is like a $3,500 bottle of liquor. I mean, all kinds of stuff. Hollywood police telling NBC News they're investigating the incident. As the search continues, the store owner says he's offering a $10,000 reward for any information leading to an arrest, and he has a stern message for the thieves. We know who you are, we saw your face, and we're going to find you. Rissapara, NBC News.

Okay, when we come back, a reality star arrested, one of the real housewives of Orange County taken into custody in Newport Beach, the charges she's now facing. We will explain. All right, we are back now with Top Stories, News. News Feed, we begin with the arrest in the deadly ambush shooting of a Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputy. The 30-year-old deputy was shot and killed in his patrol car while he was stopped at a red light on Saturday. Video shows a 29-year-old suspect being taken into custody by SWAT officers following an hours-long standoff at a home in Palmdale today. Officers eventually deployed chemicals inside the house to force the suspect out.

Real Housewives of Orange County star Shannon Bador arrested in Newport Beach. Police confirming to NBC news that Bador was booked for driving under the influence and a misdemeanor hit and run. TMZ reporting the reality star drove her car into a house and then pretended to be walking her dog when police arrived. Authorities have not released any other details. And the terrifying moments, beachgoers rescued a stranded Mako in Pensacola, Florida. Look at this. Video showing the group trying to pull the breached predator by its tail back towards the water. but the shark lashing out in distress.

After a few more tries, the group is able to get the shark into the sea where it rests for a moment before swimming away. No one was hurt. Okay, now to an NBC News investigation into one of the largest water contamination cases in U.S. history. Numerous government studies say up to a million people who lived or worked at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina from 1953 to 1987 may have been exposed to a drinking supply

contaminated with chemicals, linked to severe health problems, including cancers and birth defects. Cynthia McFadden tonight with some of the victims. It's known as Baby Heaven. Across the street from North Carolina's massive Marine base, Camp Lejeune. Records indicate hundreds of babies are buried here, many in unmarked graves, and an untold number of them with one thing in common. Oh, baby girl.

The daughter of Jericho's Barich was one of them, buried here 54 years ago. We think of you every day, and I wish you were here. I love you, sweetie. In 1969, she was a young bride, eight months pregnant, with a husband about to deploy to Vietnam. The doctor said your baby is dead, and it's not my fault. Looking back now, she says, there were warning signs. The first came at a reception for officers' wives. I saw a woman who was even more pregnant than I was, and I said, when are you due?

And she looked at me, she said, my baby's dead. And she turned her back. It turned out all the wives in the squadron. They all had either birth defects or they lost their babies. What was going on? The federal government now acknowledges that between 1953 and 1987, some of the water wells at Camp Lejeune were contaminated with known carcinogens detected at toxic levels, up to 280 times the safe level for humans.

The barracks water was brown, and it had an awful odor. In 1980, after three miscarriages, Crystal Dickens lost another baby at six months pregnant. Were the doctors at the time on the base, were they understanding and compassionate? No, they were not. Your baby's dead. We're going to take it. Crystal. Yes, they don't care. She now has renal failure. One of the 15 serious conditions the U.S. government recognizes as linked to the contaminants. The CDC now says babies exposed in the womb are up to.

four times more likely to develop serious birth defects, which can lead to death. When we poison the water, we poison ourselves. Environmental activist Aaron Brokovich told us that as women came forward telling of multiple miscarriages and babies who died in the womb, a pattern began to emerge. Those voices weren't being heard. So NBC News interviewed two dozen women who lived at Camp Lejeune and brought some of them together. Most now sick themselves, each of them, lost babies. Why you keep lying? Why you keep stalling?

Documents show that officials at Camp Lejeune were warned about the toxic water at least four years before doing anything about it, including at the Bayes Hospital, where all the women were treated and the highest levels of contamination were found. Last year, Congress passed the Camp Lejeune Justice Act, which allows those exposed to file for damages. For years, even after the wells were shut, the possible health effects were hidden or minimized, including in this pamphlet, produced by the Marines three decades after the initial discovery, which sparked a congressional inquiry. Was there a continuing cover-up? General Gray Payne then at the Pentagon was called to testify. I don't think we were factually wrong in the brochures.

He says he no longer stands by his contents. In the booklet, it says, each and every well that was affected was a, immediately shut down. That's page three. Well, we know that wasn't true. That's correct. But General, with true respect, his book shines it all up pretty to try to make what went wrong look better than it was. I think that it understated in many cases the situation. I did not know that that was not the case in 2010. And I can tell you that the Commandant did not know because we had been briefed over and over that those were the facts, or we never would have published that.

Hold it. Absolutely. What you're saying really is even worse. They were lying to the general at the Pentagon about what the facts on the ground were. That's pretty damning. It is. Brokovich argues the lack of transparency by the Marine Corps is sadly common. Every single time, for 30 years I've seen this over and over again, it's a secret.

It's a cover-up. It's the lie that becomes the silent killer. The Navy says they remain committed to addressing all claims. Cynthia McFadden, NBC News, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Time to get a check of what's happening around the world, so that means it is time for Top Story's Global Watch. We begin with the latest on the catastrophic floods in eastern Libya. New drone footage, you see it here, shows the complete devastation

in the coastal city of Durnah. A week after the storm caused that collapse of two major dams, entire roads washed away, buildings destroyed. The UN says the death toll has surpassed, get this, 11,000 people. But that number is still expected to rise with thousands more, still missing. A terrible disaster there. More than a dozen tourists were killed after a plane crash in Brazil's Amazon rainforest.

Authorities believe the small plane lost control and skid it off the runway. while attempting to land in heavy rain. The plane was carrying 12 passengers, all tourists, along with a pilot and co-pilot. No one on board survived. The Brazilian Air Force is now investigating this crash. And a massive fire engulfing the landmark skyscraper in Sudan's capital.

New video circulating on social media shows flames shooting from the iconic 18-story tower in Khartoum. So far, no injuries reported. That's the good news. The cause of this fire, though, is still under investigation, but it comes as fighting between the Sudanese army and a rival paramilitary force continues. Okay, coming up, the major reversal from Drew Barrymore.

The star now saying her talk show will not return amid a rider's strike after she received massive backlash online for trying to bring it back. The other big name who just announced they are also reversing a decision to resume shooting. We'll be right back. Back now with the controversy surrounding Drew Barry,

Barry Moore, the talk show host initially saying she was going to move forward with the new season of her show despite the ongoing writers and actor strikes. But after lots of criticism over the weekend, Barrymore now says her show will not continue shooting. NBC's Chloe Melas has the details. No lights, no cameras, and no action for Drew Barrymore. The star announcing Sunday that she no longer plans to debut the new season of her talk show. The reversal coming just one week after Barrymore said that she'd start to. shooting again, a decision that drew immediate backlash online and from Hollywood. The National Book Awards also rescinded an invitation for the star to host its event. Over the weekend,

Barrymore writing on Instagram, I have no words to express my deepest apologies to anyone I have hurt, adding, we really tried to find our way forward, and I truly hope for a resolution for the entire industry very soon. I would just take full responsibility for my actions. Barrymore announced the pause two days after she released an emotional now deleted video explaining why she was restarting her show amid the dual strikes. I just wanted to make a show that was there for people. And I thought if we could go on during a global pandemic and everything that the world has experienced through 2020, why would this sideline us? Barrymore's initial decision drawing the ire of the Writers Guild, who picketed outside her New York studio last week, as well as famous actors,

including Deborah Messing of Will and Grace Fame, who wrote online, there are thousands of union members' jobs and livelihoods that are at stake. I hope you will reconsider. And Alyssa Milano. It impacts the strength of our movement. While the WGA condemned Barrymore's show going on air, a spokesperson for the Actors Guild told NBC that the talk show's return did not violate their ongoing strike. I'm calling you out there. Following Drew Barrymore's decision, the talk, the Jennifer Hudson show and Bill Marr's real-time, all announcing they would also delay their premieres.

While other daytime shows like The View and Tamron Hall have continued taping. The WGA and studio representatives are expected to resume negotiations on Wednesday, a small step forward in the labor dispute after a week's long freeze in negotiations. Chloe Malas, NBC News. Okay, we thank Chloe for that one. come back, Ukraine's lost children. Officials in Ukraine estimating hundreds of thousands of children have been illegally deported to Russia since the start of the invasion. How one mother is now trying to find her son herself. That's next. Finally tonight in Ukraine, hundreds of thousands of

Ukrainian children have been illegally brought into Russia since the beginning of the war. In a new NBC News.com documentary, NBC's Molly Hunter follows one mom from a poor small, Ukrainian village on her journey to find her son with the help of the organization save Ukraine. Here's a clip from the documentary. The city of Paravalsk is just about 200 miles from Harcive, but getting there through Ukraine was impossible through dangerous active fighting and a constantly moving front line. So to find Nikita, Oksana had to travel some 3,000 miles through four countries just to wind up pretty close to home.

It was scary. I'd like I'd like I'd go to I'd put in Harkov, you go and blucais, but also even in Belarus and also in Poland and like all all right

before every cordon. We provide trainings because it is very dangerous to go there and they had to be prepared for interrogation of FSB. Save Ukraine is protective

of their methods, the ways they get kids back. They say that the FSB at Russian intelligence agencies are on the lookout for their volunteers. They use trusted contacts, even lawyers inside Russia, to help facilitate the return of Ukrainian kids. I'm trying to figure out a little bit why Russia is giving them back. They are not giving them back.

We're taking them back. They don't want to give any child. Molly joins us tonight from London with more in her reporting. Molly, we're talking about so many children here. When you think about 100,000, hundreds of thousands, how are they going to bring all those kids back? Yeah, Tom, the numbers are just staggering. And the short answer, according to Ukrainian officials, is that they won't. And they know that.

Now, Ukrainian officials tell me they have two big fears right now. With the older children, that is indoctrination. With the younger children, Tom, the worry is they're so young, so vulnerable. They may just disappear into the system. The big point, though, is the window to rescue these children and bring them home is shrinking. Tom? Molly, I know you know President Zelensky is in New York tomorrow. He'll be addressing world leaders.

Do you think he's going to address this issue? He's spoken powerfully about this issue before, Tom. He is a father, of course, and Ukrainian officials that I spoke with for this documentary see this as an issue that is vital and that they need international support and pressure. They say they cannot do it on their own. They also think that it's really an issue that President Zelensky is able to rally international support around. So I wouldn't be surprised if it showed up, at least in some of his conversation. tomorrow. Tom? All right, Molly Hunter here on Top Story for us. Molly, thank you. And you can watch

Saving Nikita the fight to return Ukraine's children on NBCNews.com. We thank you for watching Top Story tonight. I'm Tom Yamas in New York. Stay right there. More news on the way.