Top Story with Tom Llamas - Thursday, March 27, 2025

Episode Date: March 28, 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 protest and outrage after a Tufts University grad student was arrested and taken away outside her home. Students and supporters taking to the streets, the video of her arrest by six officers sparking new fears and new questions about why she was targeted. And the new number just revealed how many others had their visas revoked like this. Gang leader captured. The attorney general praising an early morning raid in a late. The alleged top leader of the MS-13 gang arrested at his mother's home in Virginia. RFK Jr.'s massive health cuts. The Health and Human Service Secretary slashing his agency, cutting 10,000 workers, what it means for everything from disease prevention to Medicare.

Tesla terrorist caught. The arrests today and the attacks on Tesla is at a Las Vegas service center. Why authorities say he torched those cars. Deadly voyage under the sea. The tourist submarine sinking six people killed, what went wrong? And breaking late tonight, King Charles hospitalized what the palace just revealed about his health battle. Plus, parole denied. The woman who killed superstar singer Selena will remain in prison.

The decision just in. Top story starts right now. Good evening. I'm Ellison Barber. in for Tom Yamis. Tonight, anger pouring onto the streets after a Tufts University student is detained by ICE. The latest arrest raising new questions about the Trump administration's immigration crackdown now appearing to specifically target student visa holders. New video showing crowds outraged as demonstrators demand the release of Rumisa Ozturk. This is a surveillance video

as Ozturk was approached by Homeland Security agents in plain clothes, arrested, and then whisked off of a suburban Boston Street. DHS says that she was engaged in activities that support Hamas, but they did not give any proof or additional explanations. Her friends telling the Associated Press she was not involved in campus protest and that the extent of her activism at Tufts is this, co-writing an opinion piece published in Tufts student paper, quote, demanding that the university acknowledged the Palestinian genocide and, quote, disclose its investments and divest from companies with direct or indirect ties to Israel. This comes just weeks after Mahmoud Haleo, an organizer for pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University, was also detained by ICE.

Both students take into separate facilities in Louisiana. A federal judge ordered Ozturk to be kept in Massachusetts, but she was already transferred out of the state. NBC correspondent Stephanie Goss starts us off tonight from outside Tufts University in Massachusetts. Tonight protest calling for the release of Tufts University graduate student Ramesa Ozturk. The 30-year-old Turkish citizen here on a student visa, according to her attorney. Video obtained by NBC News shows her being detained Tuesday by six federal agents not wearing uniforms and masked, telling her they are the police and taking her away. And there was no allegation that she has violated any law whatsoever.

Massachusetts Democratic Attorney General Andrea Campbell is working with Oz Turk's attorney. What information specifically are you looking to get from the federal government. What's the timeline here? Is she a threat to any community? Because based on every assessment we've done here in Massachusetts where she was attending school, she is not. DHS posting DHS and ICE investigations found Ozturk engaged in activities in support

of Hamas, a foreign terrorist organization, but gave no further details. A year ago, Osserk co-wrote an opinion article in the school newspaper that called on the university to label the war in Gaza a genocide and divest from company. ties to Israel. Immigration law gives Secretary of State Rubio power to deport visa holders who would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences to the U.S. We revoked her visa. We gave you a visa to come and study and get a degree not to become a social activist that tears up our university campuses. During the campaign, President Trump promised to deport foreign students involved in pro-Palestinian

protests on campuses, where some Jewish students reported being harassed and assaulted. If you hate America, if you want to eliminate Israel, we will throw you out of our country so rapidly your head will spend. DHS has not revealed evidence of Ozturk's role in protests, and her friend called her detainment shocking. There's definitely a feeling of feeling very unsettled and scared right now and people not knowing what to do. And Stephanie joins us now from Medford, Massachusetts. Stephanie, do we know anything else about the time? in terms of how OzTurk went from Massachusetts to Louisiana, despite apparently not being supposed to be sent out of the state? Yeah, I mean, Alison, that's a really big question about

this case, because according to her attorney, she was taken to Louisiana on Wednesday, which would have been the day after a federal judge ordered she stay in Massachusetts, at least until the court could determine whether or not she was being detained legally. Now, I specifically asked that question of the Attorney General when I spoke with her, the Attorney General in Massachusetts, and she said that actually the timeline remains a bit unclear. If it took place the way that her attorney says it did, it would be an open defiance of a court order here in Massachusetts and unclear what ramifications there would be if that was the case. Allison? All right, a lot to watch there. Stephanie Gosk, thank you.

Now, of the arrest in Virginia of a man who the Department of Justice is describing as a top MS-13 gang leader. MS-13 is considered to be one of the most violent gangs in the world, with members stretching from the United States to Central America. Here's how Attorney General Pam Bondi described the arrest. Early this morning, one of the top leaders of MS-13 was apprehended. He was the leader for the East Coast, one of the top three in the entire country. Right here in Virginia, living half an hour outside of Washington.

D.C. Ken Delanian covers the Justice Department for us and joins us now with more. Ken, talk to us about how this all happened, how were authorities able to track this individual down to this home, his mother's in Virginia? Officials aren't saying exactly how they located Henry Hoseu Viatora, Ellison. Court documents say this was his mother's home, as you said, and she had reported a burglary at that address in August 24. The records say FBI agents conducting surveillance had seen Viatoro entering and exiting that residence throughout March of this year.

And Ken, we heard their Attorney General Bondi calling this individual one of the top three MS-13 leaders in the entire country. MS-13, unlike some of the other gangs that people might be familiar with, they're usually thought of as sort of the least organized in terms of having a higherarchy and having a real organized crime structure, to other criminal outfits. But we haven't really gotten a whole lot of details beyond what Pam Bondi has said, right? I mean, what else do we know about this guy? How high up was he in MS-13? Well, there actually was a striking difference between what Attorney General Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel said at their morning news conference and what court documents say about Viatoro. Bonnie and Patel have not explained their basis for calling him an MS-13 leader. And court records don't explain it either, Ellison. The documents say that the 24-year-old

native of El Salvador is in the country illegally and was arrested on an administrative warrant. And after they discovered firearms in his possession, he was charged with illegal gun possession by an alien. The court papers go on to say that law enforcement officials observed indicia of MS-13 association while searching his bedroom, but the documents made no other reference to MS-13 in his alleged leadership rule. Now, of course, it's possible the government is withholding intelligence that they have because they're trying to catch some of his associates, But it is unusual for top officials to make a public claim like this without backing it up. Viator made a brief court appearance today and was held pending a detention hearing.

Worth noting that the MS-13 gang was one of eight Latin American criminal organizations declared foreign terrorist organizations by the Trump administration last month, Ellison. Candelanian, thank you. We appreciate it. We're also following massive cuts announced today at the Department of Health and Human Services. Kennedy Jr. saying he will eliminate roughly 10,000 jobs across multiple agencies. Together with previous departures, this means a roughly 24% reduction in HHS workforce since the start of the Trump administration. The cuts could impact everything from food safety to Medicare. Our senior White House correspondent, Kelly O'Donnell, is tracking this from the White House,

or from Washington, rather, just outside of the White House there, and joins us now. Kelly, walk us through these cuts. When we're talking about agencies that could have cuts, which ones do we expect to be impacted? Well, one of the things that is striking about this is the Department of Health and Human Services, which is vast and covers all kinds of aspects of American life that ordinary citizens will feel. The agencies that do disease prevention, that provide approvals for the new drugs that we might be taking, and also seniors would be affected by Medicare and others would be affected by Medicaid. So it affects a broad swath of American life.

the agencies that operate underneath the department from 24 into 15. They're cutting jobs at things like the Food and Drug Administration, a fewer number of jobs, only a few hundred in the Medicare and Medicaid services area. And Kennedy says that what he wants to do is streamline some of the programs, like things that deal with disease prevention and chronic health and substance abuse into one department and to not have all separate offices. Now, advocates are concerned about this. because having such steep cuts in personnel for an agency that has a lot of outreach to the American people

and people who want to call and get information and have to deal with specific offices. By reducing that, there are those who question how can they do more with significantly less, and these cuts are considered deep. At the same time, this is in line with what the Trump administration is trying to do, reducing the size of the federal workforce. And in many ways, Kennedy is remaking this in the ways that, his view of public health, which is more of a focus on healthy food and questions about different kinds of drugs and wanting to reduce the impact of big pharma. So it's a significant change that's coming. They're saying this is the only expected cuts that are coming, but it will take time and will be difficult, he acknowledges, to try to streamline this agency.

And Kelly, we've also heard tonight about a court order on those vortex that we've been reporting on so extensively. What more do we know? Well, there was a court hearing, and it was a brief one, and Judge Boasberg, and if you've heard that name before, he has been presiding over some other matters related to the Trump administration. That use of which judge comes up is a random thing that the court assigns. And this one was about preserving the conversation that was in text form in the signal commercial app, the encrypted app. And so what the The watchdog group that brought the action for a temporary restraining order wants to have that information preserved. There's a question about presidential records when senior officials are having meaningful conversations in writing about important policy matters.

That is supposed to be preserved on behalf of the American people. So the judge is saying, yes, try to preserve that. The government is saying they are trying to gather the specifics from the text from March 11th through the 15th to try to have a full record. Kelly O'Donnell in Washington, thank you. Tonight, U.S. car dealerships are bracing for a major price hike as new tariffs on imported cars and auto parts are expected to go into effect soon. Higher prices expected to impact consumers on both domestic and foreign vehicles. NBC News senior business correspondent Christine Roman has more on how much more you might have to pay. Tonight, at car dealerships across the country, your phones are ringing.

They're ringing. Customers are concerned. We first met George Glassman last month. He owns Mitsubishi, Kia, Hyundai, Subaru, and Genesis dealerships in Michigan. They want to make sure that they're getting in if they need a car and making that deal before the tariffs kick in. Consumers are going to bear the brunt of this, and it's going to be painful. Car shoppers, dealers, and manufacturers bracing for higher prices, as the president puts 25% tariffs on imported cars. and auto parts. If they're made in the United States, it's absolutely no tariff. But almost half of cars sold in the U.S. and 60 percent of auto parts are imported.

Goldman Sachs estimating tariffs could add $5 to $15,000 to the price of foreign-made cars, and 3,000 to 8,000 on cars made in the U.S. because of border taxes on the parts. For Damon Jefferson, who works on an assembly line in Detroit, that cost may be worth it. American people have to realize that Trump is putting these tariffs in place to be able to keep the American people working. The Trump administration banking on tariffs to spur more investments and bring factories back to the U.S. But retooling a factory is slow and costly. The president would love to see all vehicles in the United States built in the U.S. with 100% U.S. made parts. That's not going to happen. The industry is set up on a regional basis.

So there will still be production in Mexico and in Canada. Canada's prime minister says the U.S. is no longer a reliable partner. We will respond forcefully. Nothing is off the table to defend our workers and our country. Here in Miami, the Canadian government paying for billboards telling Americans, tariffs are a tax on your grocery bill. And Christine joins us now from New York. So, Christine, with these tariffs going into effect,

what does any retaliatory action look like from the European Union? Well, the President of the United States has threatened America's trading partners that if they retaliate against the United States, he'll retaliate more, potentially raising even more tariffs. That's what a trade war looks like. When everyone's sort of firing in a circle here and raising costs overall, the French president said that telling journalists that he told the president that his trade war was a waste of time and would raise costs for everyone and not a good idea,

But clearly, Donald Trump and the Trump administration think it is a good idea. It is America first. So we can expect more trade action from the U.S. side and potentially more retaliation in the days ahead, Ellison. Christine Romans, thank you. We're following some breaking news out of the U.K. Where Buckingham Palace says King Charles was taken to the hospital after receiving a scheduled cancer treatment. So let's get right to NBC's Ralph Sanchez, who joins us now from London. Raff, walk us through this.

What's the latest? So, Alison, Buckingham Palace is saying that earlier on today, the King suffered what they are calling temporary side effects from that cancer treatment. We don't know exactly what it was he was going through, but he was taken to hospital for a short period of observation. Whatever it was, it wasn't serious enough that they felt that he needed to overnight in the hospital. He was there for a couple of hours. He then returned to Clarence House. It's his residence here in London. Now, he is said to be in good spirits. He continued to work from home over the course of the day today.

But this did scramble his schedule. It meant his whole afternoon plans were cleared. And he was supposed to be on a trip here in the UK tomorrow. That has now been postponed. Elson. And, Raf, I mean, it's been more than a year now since the king announced that he had cancer. At the time, Buckingham Palace and the royals, they weren't saying what kind of cancer the king had. What do we know about his condition?

You know, we really don't know much, Ellison, either about his sickness or about his treatment. As you say, he was in hospital early last year. He was treated for an enlarged prostate. And the palace says that in the course of that treatment, they discovered the cancer. They have never said exactly what kind of cancer it is. They have said it was not prostate cancer. And we also don't know a whole lot about his treatment, whether it involves chemotherapy, whether it involves radiotherapy. You can see the king day by day looks to be in pretty good health.

He is keeping up a pretty active schedule. But the palace says that they keep his medical treatment in mind when they are thinking about how much he should travel, how much he should be interacting with the public. And they are saying they do not believe that the king is worn down by his duties. And that's why he was in hospital today. Awesome. Ralph Sanchez in London. Thank you.

We're back in a moment with late breaking news. Selena's killer up for parole for the first time in 30 years. The decision just in from the parole board. Plus, who was torching Tesla's? The arrest just made in Las Vegas what we know about the man who allegedly set these cars on fire. And home invasion, the alligator in this Louisiana home, how the police wrestled him away.

We're back now with late breaking news. The woman convicted of murdering Mexican-American music star Selena has been denied parole. 64-year-old Yolanda Saldivar, who once ran Selena's fan club, is currently serving a life sentence for the 1995 killing that shocked the music world. NBC's entertainment reporter Chloe Malas joins us now with the details. Chloe, walk us through this decision from the Texas State Parole Board. Was it a surprise? So so many of Selena's family members and obviously her devoted fans, they want Yolanda Salvidar to remain behind bars. So it is a win for all of them. Here is what we know because it's really shrouded in secrecy as to how this decision was made. But we know that it was a three-person parole panel, and Yolanda Selvedar did not appear before a hearing.

We don't know if anyone from that parole board spoke to her, but we know that they did their own investigation. They re-examined documents. They did interview some people. be a majority vote. And although we don't know what that vote was in a statement today, they did say that Yolanda is still a continuing threat to public safety. But what is interesting, Ellison, is that in five years, Yolanda Salvedar will be up for parole again, and she will go through this process all over. Chloe, have we heard anything from Selena's family or even Yolanda's?

Yes, so we haven't heard anything from Yolanda's family. But Selena's family, they did just release a statement moments ago. And what they said is that they are very thankful to the parole board for coming to this decision. And they go on to say that although nothing can bring their daughter, the wife of this family, back, that they are so grateful that Yolanda Svalvidar continues to remain behind bars. And I do want to point out, though, that Yolanda and her family have been very vocal over the last few years. And last year on Peacock, there actually was a documentary called Yolanda and Selena, The Secrets Between Them. And Yolanda has maintained the this shooting was an accident, that it's not how it was portrayed in the movie that famously starred

Jennifer Lopez, that Yolanda, who was running Selena's fan club, was embezzling money and that that's why they met at the days in motel that day. Yolanda has always maintained that Selena allegedly was having an affair with a local doctor, and that Yolanda was the only one who knew this deep secret, and that that's the reason why they met that day to discuss it, and that although Yolanda had a gun that it accidentally went off, but authorities, Ellison, have always said that Selena was shot in the back and that it's very clear, based on their investigation and evidence at the crime scene, that she was trying to escape that day from that motel room. Obviously, an incredibly sad story, and this is a breaking news just happening moments ago.

Chloe Malas, on that breaking news for us. Thank you. Now to South America, where the cause of death of three American women found in a Belize hotel has been revealed. Local media now reporting a toxicology report shows the three women who were vacationing from Massachusetts died of exposure to carbon monoxide poisoning. For more on the latest in this investigation and what we can do to protect ourselves ahead of this summer season. Let's bring in NBC's George Solis. George, this news comes after the families of these three women had been advocating and pushing for answers, right, after no substances were found in their body. Walk us through what we know about all of this. Yeah, Alison, authorities believe the women may have

been exposed to carbon monoxide from a faulty water heater in the room they were staying at at the Royal Cajal Beach Resort. Now, the police commissioner there noted their body showed no signs of injuries. Authorities also finding alcohol and gummies in their room, but toxicology tests, this is crucial, revealed none were in their systems. Now, the three women were identified as Kautar Nqad, Iman Mala, and Wafay El Arar. Now, in a statement from the families of the three women, they note they are shattered by the loss, but continue to await the results of a separate independent review done by authorities in Massachusetts. Now, however, the families also note the findings did put to rest their initial concerns about the circumstances of the case, but urged

authorities in Belize to continue their investigation and thank them for reexamining the case. The families, Ellison, also asking for patience and privacy. George, talk to us about the advice experts have for people traveling. I think for a lot of us, we know carbon monoxide is dangerous. You don't always sense it, but we don't really think of looking out for it when we are traveling. What should people do to protect themselves from potentially being exposed if they're on vacation? Yeah, Alison, one of the key things you could do is to go out into any hardware store and purchase one of these, a portable carbon monoxide detector. Now, this is not going to replace your smoke alarm or anything like that, but if there is carbon

monoxide in your room, this will detect it. This is going to run you about $50. There are cheaper ones out there, but you just want to make sure that they do have a battery installed. There's usually a green light telling you, and they do detect that dangerous carbon monoxide and can give you that first sign and warning to get out of any situation that may be dangerous. Now, again, we're not clear if there was one working in the room or not at this time, but nevertheless, again, something like this could make that difference between life and death. Allison? Really helpful advice. Great reporting. George Solis, thank you. When we return, we're going to take you to Greenland. Our correspondent on the ground there, what residents are saying about President Trump's interest in

their country. And horror below the sea, the tourist submarine that sank today, killing six, how dozens of others survived. We're back with Top Story's news feed, starting with the school bus crash in New Jersey that left at least one child seriously hurt. Video shows the bus on its side, and it appears the roof was cut open. Authorities say the bus collided with a van about an hour outside of New York City. The school bus driver and three other children were also hurt, but they are all expected to be okay. In Kansas, a child's complaint of a monster under the bed kind of coming true. Police say a babysitter was checking under the child's bed when she discovered a 27-year-old man hiding underneath it.

The suspect struggling with the babysitter and allegedly knocking over the child before fleeing the scene, He was arrested the following day. And catch this. Police called to a family home in Louisiana after an alligator broke in. Watch as deputies try to wrangle the gator as it rives around on the family's porch. It was captured and released back into the water. This is not the first time the department has encountered a gator, the sheriff saying it's just part of the job. And late actress Betty White's legacy will live on in the United States with a U.S. postage stamp.

The U.S. Postal Service unveiling the new purple stamp. with her portrait. If you look closely, you will see that she is wearing a paw print earring that's paying an ode to her animal advocacy work. The stamps are now available for purchase. The Golden Girl Star died in 2021 just weeks before her 100th birthday. And in parts of the South today, firefighters in an all-out battle against those massive wildfires. Officials in both North and South Carolina now declaring states of emergencies with hundreds of people forced to evacuate as the flames grow. NBC's Marissa Pora. is there with the latest.

The race is on to fight the flames in the Carolinas. The Table Rock Complex fire now doubled in size within one day, leaving more scorched earth behind it. You can see how intense the flames got when the fire came through here. The Table Rock and Persimmon Bridge fires in South Carolina torching nearly 6,000 acres, stoking a new wave of evacuations and aggressive measures to keep it from spreading further. This is a technique we use called a burnout. So essentially, we're using this to bolster our containment lines and to burn out the unburned fuel between the fire break and the wildfire.

Quite literally fighting fire with fire. Exactly. This is what we've been seeing. Helicopters like the one you see behind me dropping down so they can connect that orange bucket beneath it. They're going to use that to fill it with water and then drop it where they need to. But slowing down efforts, the debris left from Hurricane Helene. During Hurricane Helene, you stayed here. I did. I did.

From his Hendersonville sandwich shop in North Carolina, Matthew Rogers tells us how the home he called to the cabin of hope survived to lean, but it didn't make it through the fires. I saw on Facebook the house on fire burning. Honestly, I'm thinking about my neighbors, but I kept thinking of firefighters. I kept thinking of because hurricane in that community brought us together. Rogers, like so many here, clinging to hope once again. And Marissa Parra joins us now from Pickin, South Carolina. Marissa, you are at the command center there. Talk to us about what you're seeing. What's the plan to attack these fires moving forward? Hey, Allison, so this is the center of firefighting planning, if you will.

All of these cars, these belong to the crew members who are working hard to keep that fire at bay. Now, the one we're right next to is table rock fire, to be specific. And I want to show you the progress that they've made. You see this ridge behind me. It was very difficult to see this even this morning. And if you remember, our live shot from yesterday, we were with you live, and this looked very different. We could see the flames creeping over the ridge. But what we saw today was the controlled burn that we talked about in that piece that you just saw.

It seems to have been working because those flames have definitely been, you know, kept at bay, look very different than they did earlier. They're going to continue doing exactly that. those water drops in Ellison, of course, hoping that we do not see a repeat of what we saw yesterday, where that fire doubled in size. Of course, they're hoping these efforts today that we just showed you are going to help keep this fire contained within that perimeter. Alison. Marissa Parra on the ground there in South Carolina. Thank you.

Police in Las Vegas tonight saying they've caught the man responsible for setting fires at that Tesla service center last week. That man accused of shooting out security cameras and using Molotov cocktails to destroy multiple cars. It comes amid a string of violent attacks on Tesla locations around the country. NBC's Liz Croyd's reports. Tonight, authorities announcing the arrest of a 36-year-old man, who they say is responsible for using Molotov cocktails to torch several Teslas at a Las Vegas service center. The suspect's name is Paul Kim.

According to officials, Kim is facing both state and federal charges, including arson, unlawful possession of an explosive and discharging a firearm into a vehicle. Our searchers revealed numerous items of interest to include multiple rifles, a shotgun, as well as a black backpack with pink paint, face masks. Police say when Kim arrived at the Tesla Service Center last week, he began shooting into the surveillance cameras before spray painting resist across a front door and setting multiple cars on fire. Authorities say they're looking into his social media to determine a motive. The preliminary assessment of the suspect's social media activity indicates some very loose but self-proclaimed ties to the Communist Party USA. social media group, as well as social media groups called Revolutionary Communists International, hidden Palestine, Palestine action.

The arrest coming amid a rise in violence and vandalism of Tesla locations and cars nationwide. Earlier this week, a 33-year-old man in Texas was arrested for allegedly ramming a mini four-wheeler into multiple Tesla's around the city of Texarkana, just one day after incendiary devices were found around a Tesla showroom in Austin. And Liz Kreutz joins us now live in studio. Okay, Liz, we know the FBI has launched a task force to investigate these attacks on Teslas. Were they involved in this arrest? Yeah, they were.

The FBI Local Las Vegas Division worked with local Las Vegas authorities to track down this suspect. It was a complicated tracking thing that they had to do. They did case 700 different locations looking at surveillance video to nail down this suspect. They are currently actively looking into whether they're currently actively looking into whether this incident is coordinated all with some of the other incidents that we've seen across the country. Right now, they say that there's similarities, but it's so far, according to officials, seems like these are isolated incidents that we're seeing. And when you look at the totality of what has been happening as it relates to Tesla and just sort of the association with the brand now,

is there an impact that we're seeing on their sales at large? Well, Europe, according to an industry trade organization, says that they've had a 40% drop in sales there. We're going to get Q1 delivery numbers for Tesla next week. So that is what everybody is waiting to see to see if there's been kind of an impact from these protests. We'll see. We do know that Edmonds has reported that this month, March, breaks a record for the most people turning in their Tesla's. Really interesting stuff. Liz Croyd's great reporting. Thank you. Moving overseas now to Greenland, where tonight the island is preparing for a visit from Vice President J.D. Vance and his wife. The two are expected to arrive tomorrow,

but the president not backing down on his call for the United States to take control of Greenland. And not everyone is ready for the Vance's to come. Molly Hunter is there. On the eve of an unwelcome scaled-back U.S. visit to Greenland, the competition over the Arctic is heating up. As Vice President J.D. Vance, Second Lady Ushavans, National Security Advisor Mike Walt, and Energy Secretary Chris Wright, prepared to fly to the remote Northwest B.D. Fook's space base to meet with U.S. military personnel skipping out on the originally planned cultural tour stops in Greenlandic cities, Russian President Putin cautioned the U.S. is serious. Everybody knows very well, he said today, about the U.S. plans to take over Greenland.

And yesterday, President Trump doubled down. We need Greenland, and the world needs us to have Greenland, including Denmark. Denmark has to have us have Greenland. But why the fixation on the largest, least populated island in the world, a territory of Denmark. Greenland is 80 percent ice. And as the ice melts, as you can see right here, due to global warming, that's where Trump sees opportunity. Underneath all this ice lies the prospect of an estimated 1.5 million tons of rare earth elements, as well as oil and natural gas reserves. Strategic Arctic shipping lanes also opening up, and Russia and China together

already working on the key northern sea route. Here in the capital of Nuke, Anders Larson, who says they like America here, but not enough to want to be American. You feel backstepped and feel like it can be difficult to depend on America in the future. But it's all about collaboration, says Greenlandic MP Kupanoek Olsen. We need to learn to dance with the U.S. Yeah, we need to figure out how to get the best. But dance together.

Yes, dance together. And Molly Hunter joins us now from Nuke Greenland. Molly, we heard some of the people you spoke to there, but how seriously are they taking this idea from President Trump that the United States could gain control. Allison, in short, very seriously. So we spoke and you heard in that piece, Anders Larson. He runs a water taxi company here in the capital of Nuke, 20,000 people, everyone knows everyone. And he said back in 2019, people kind of rolled their eyes when President Trump first brought it up. Very different story here. And he said when Donald Trump Jr. came in January,

that is when they realized really that the U.S. business. He talked about how for years, and he's actually Danish, but he's lived here for the last two decades. He thought of the U.S. is kind of the big brother. They looked up to the American dream. They had a lot of mutual respect. So he thought he now really feels like that big brother is bullying him. And that MP who we ended on the piece, Alison, she talked a lot about collaboration, that Greenland is open for business as long as it's not kind of exploiting the people here, as long as it really works in the best interest of Greenlanders. Alison. Molly Hunter in Greenland. Thank you. Tonight for the first time, Elon Musk and his Doge team sitting down for a televised interview.

Brett Bayer of Fox News speaking with the members of Musk's team that are focused on slashing government spending and reshaping the federal workforce. One of them, a co-founder of Airbnb, now overseeing the digitization of millions of federal retirement records. Take a listen. It turns out there is actually mine in Pennsylvania. that houses every paper document for the retirement process in the government. Now, picture this. This giant cave has 22,000 filing cabinets, stacked 10 high to house 400 million pieces of paper. It's a process that started in the 1950s and largely hasn't changed in the last 70 years.

Will it be digitized? Absolutely. So this will be an online digital process that will take just a few days at most. For more on this, I want to bring in Victoria Elliott. She's a reporter for Wired who has been covering the work of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency. Victoria, thank you so much for joining us. Help us understand some of this, right? Because we've been hearing a lot of reporting, a lot of rumors that Doge is made up of young people,

recent grads who don't have real experience in the workforce. But that seems like, based on the group we've seen here, that was not the case, at least with this group. Is the group that we saw in this interview with Fox News an accurate depiction of Doge and the people working under that umbrella? You know, I think it's hard to answer that question because Doge has not exactly been transparent about its membership. So I think that's a primary thing. And there are, to be clear, young engineers working with Doge who do not have a lot of government experience or any government experience and don't have a ton of work experience. But as Doge has brought on more and more people over the past several weeks, we are seeing it draw heavily specifically from Musk's companies and other closely aligned companies within Silicon Valley. So Palantir and then obviously Joe Gebia of Airbnb is also a Tesla board member.

Vittoria, I want to play another section where a Doge employee from the Office of Personnel Management and Budget is talking about the workforce cuts that Doge has been overseeing. Listen, and then we'll talk right after. Once those decisions are made, there's a very heavy focus on being generous, being caring, being compassionate, and treating everyone with dignity and respect. And if you look at how people have started to leave the government, it is largely through voluntary means. Less than 0.15, not 1.5, less than 0.15 of the federal workforce has actually been given a RIF notice. So they've selected if they're a leader. It is. Basically almost no one's gotten fired, that's what we're saying.

Is that true? Vittreya, I mean, he said less than what 1.5 percent had actually been laid off. most of the people who had left have voluntarily left at this point? What does your reporting show? I don't know that we have specific percentages, but I think another really important thing to note is that they have tried to fire several people, and those firings have not happened or do a reduction in force, a riff, for thousands of people. And those things have largely been capped because of legal action. You know, they tried to shudder the entirety almost of the U.S. agency for international development. And the only reason they haven't necessarily been able to do that

is because there's a court order not allowing them to. And there have been several other court cases brought by federal employees because of how these riffs have been handled. So I think that's one really important point. And then agencies across the board have been told they're expected to see double digit reductions in staff, but that hasn't necessarily happened yet. So we are certainly probably not at the end of this. And to their point about compassion and, you know, delicacy with which these things have been handled, I think we saw with USAID people being left in certain parts of the world overnight because they thought they were working for the U.S. government.

They thought they were going to have access to the support of the U.S. government, people having to figure out how to leave possibly dangerous countries that they've spoken about in affidavits that have been filed around this. You know, I don't necessarily know that many federal workers would agree that they feel they've been dealt with with care by the way Doche has handled its approach to the federal workforce. Victoria, why do you think Musk and his team decided to do this interview now? Do you think the recent polling we've seen reflecting some unfavorable views among Americans as it relates to Elon Musk and the power he seems to have?

had something to do with it, or was there anything else going on behind the scenes? I think Doge has faced a lot of scrutiny, partly because of its opacity, right? They face several legal challenges around their access to sensitive data at various government agencies, the layoffs and riffs that I mentioned previously. So I think they've come under a lot of legal pressure and a lot of external scrutiny. And, you know, I think if we want to be very cynical about, it because Musk also brought this up in the interview. There's pressure on Musk's businesses now because of how Doge is approaching the federal government. And I think that's also something

that we could consider as a factor. What else stood out to you in this interview? Well, I think the thing that's most interesting is that Amy Gleason, the Toge administrator, the person who is meant to be reporting directly to Trump's chief of staff, Susie Wildes, was nowhere to be found in this interview. I think that obviously there's been a lot of, you know, hemming and hawing over what exactly Musk's role is. You know, he's not the Doge administrator, but Trump has frequently said that he seems to be the one calling the shots. You know, there's been a lot of opacity about what Doge's leadership structure is. And I think the fact that Amy Gleason, who is the person on paper, who is the administrator for Doge, not even being

present in this interview was definitely something that stood out to me. Before we let you go, what is the thing? Help us kind of get in your head. What are the things you're going to be watching for as it relates to Doge and Elon Musk in the coming days and weeks? What should we as citizens be watching for here? You know, I think a big part of the pressure that Doge has felt from the public has really been around their access to the Social Security Administration. And Musk said, you know, a couple of times in the week's surrounding when my colleagues broke the people who were actually at Social Security, he made certain allusions to maybe

needing to cut entitlements. And that's something that I think has a lot of Americans really nervous. And so I think the timing of this interview and the fact that so much of this interview was really focused on Social Security was very. interesting, and I think that's something we're going to be looking at in the coming weeks. All right. We look forward to seeing more of your reporting. Vittoria Elliott. Thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate it. Thank you. Over on Capitol Hill, Senate lawmakers holding a hearing today to address January's deadly mid-air collision over the Potomac. Members of the Senate

Commerce Committee grilling the nation's top flight officials as investigators still piece together exactly what went wrong. Here's NBC's Tom Costello. weeks since January's mid-air crash, the FAA today announced all helicopters flying around Reagan Airport must turn on their geopositioning transmitters called ADSB. But with some exceptions for national security aircraft, ADSB could have provided more precise location information to controllers. Investigators say the Army helicopter was flying too high when it crashed into the regional jet that night. Today, a commanding general told senators the chopper was flying within its ADSB transmitter off to avoid public flight tracking software.

The crew, however, was approved to operate with that capability off in accordance with Army policy. Army policy that continues around D.C. I am at a loss to come up with any justification for risking the lives of the traveling public with that decision. Meanwhile, the FAA concedes its own database included more than 15,000 proximity warnings, potential close calls between planes and choppers over a recent three-year period at Reagan. Yet it took no action. Since the crash, the FAA has restricted chopper traffic around D.C. and is now using AI to identify potential conflicts at 21 other airports. The next big accident is in the data right now. Inside the hearing today, family members of the 67 people who died. Tim Lilly's son, Sam, was the first officer

on the passenger jet. This has been the hardest two months of months. life. And Tom Costello joins us now. Tom, you mentioned the FAA is using AI technology to identify possible crash risks at 21 other airports. Do we know which 21 or some of those 21? And big picture, how long is this investigation expected to take? Yeah, so the airports or the cities that they're looking at include Boston, the New York metro area, Baltimore, Detroit, also Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, along the Gulf Coast and Houston as well. So as you know, those cities often have multiple airports. They're looking at the data to see has there been a series of close calls between choppers and planes that they haven't identified yet. The AI hopefully will help do exactly

that. The NTSB says its investigation will take a full year, Ellison. Tom Costello, thank you. When we return the deadly sightseeing trip under the sea, this submarine sinking in a popular tourist destination, killing six people. What went wrong? We're back now with a horror under the sea. At least six people killed after a tourist submarine carrying 50 people sunk off of the coast of Egypt. Officials are still investigating how it all happened. NBC's Raf Sanchez has this report.

It was billed as an unforgettable tourism experience, a miniature submarine voice, through the Red Sea, admiring coral reefs and exotic fish. But today, it ended in tragedy. The Egyptian government saying six Russian tourists, including two children, killed when their submarines sank around half a mile off the shore. The cause, unclear and under investigation. But authorities say it happened around 10 a.m. At the resort town of Hergada, of the 50 people on board,

29 were taken to hospital, four of them in critical condition. The survivors were visited by the regional governor. He says the company was authorized to operate the sub and that its captain had the right paperwork. The company did not respond to our request for comment. Oh my God. This man says he took the submarine last year. At the time, it felt safe. But realistically, if you go in 25 meters down into the ocean into a submarine, it can't be that safe, can it?

It comes after a deadly disaster involving tourists last November when a yacht, capsized and sank in the Red Sea, leaving 11 people dead. Today's tragedy also reviving memories of the Titan submersible, the miniature sub that imploded during an expedition to the wreck of the Titanic, killing all five people on board. Another undersea adventure turned deadly. Raf Sanchez, NBC News. In Top Story's Global Watch, at least five people hurt in a stabbing attack

in Amsterdam, including two Americans. Police say the attack happened in Dam Square. That's a popular tourist area, bystanders tackling and holding the suspect until police arrived. Right now, they say the motive is still under investigation. Durencial rains and flooding in Bolivia, leaving at least 50 people dead and hundreds of thousands displaced. Aerial footage showing flooded homes and farmlands in the highlands near La Paz. Bolivia's president declaring a national emergency, allowing the government there to purchase supplies and deploy soldiers to deliver aid. And Kurdish security forces seizing more than two million pills of an addictive amphetamine stimulant in northeastern Syria.

Two people were arrested with the bags of Captagon pills in their possession. Kurdish security forces saying the drug dealers previously worked with Bashar al-Assad's regime. Capdagon has been mass produced in Syria for years. When we come back, baseball is back. Stadiums across the country packed for opening day, we are taking a look at all of the excitement as teams began their new seasons, with fans hoping to see a World Series run. Finally, tonight, Major League Baseball kicking off a new season today, with fans all across the country showing their support on opening day.

Here's a look at the sight, sounds, and, of course, smells of America's favorite pastime. It's the sound baseball fans have been waiting all winterfall. Welcome, welcome, welcome. As they're welcomed back to stadiums from Coast to Coast to Coast. Most. Open Day special. It's a holiday. I mean, it's a new beginning.

You know, you wait four months. A lot happens in the off season, but that first game of the season is what it's all about. It's like the family reunion almost. I joke it's 30,000 of my closest friends. This is safe. I already looked into it. Oh, hey, nice. Not bad.

Not bad. Look, even the babies are cheery. Let's go. Dodgers. In Cincinnati, opening day ushered in with a parade. And superstitious alive and well in St. Louis. This is my retro coat. I wore it to game six, so in 2011, so hopefully the tide will turn.

While no game is complete without a hot dog, hot dogs, hamburgers, hot dogs, fans also lining up to try some new foods this season. I'm eyeing the ribs. And in New York, that all came with the side of hometown rivalry. Screw the Mets, man. Forget about Soto. He's on the JV team now, right? Sorry, Soto.

All teams starting fresh, hoping this year they enter the history books. Everybody's just clapping and cheering them on. It's wonderful. And this year, I think they're going to go all the way to the series. Thank you so much for watching Top Story. I'm Ellison Barber in for Tom Yamis. We leave you with the first walk-off win of the season, the Marlins, celebrating after beating the Pirates.