Top Story with Tom Llamas - Thursday, October 9, 2025

Episode Date: October 10, 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. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Breaking tonight, Israel's cabinet approving the peace plan to end the war in Gaza. Celebrations in Israel and in Gaza helped President Trump's plan came together and his decision to go to the region to see the deal through when we could see the hostages freed. And we speak with the father of an Israeli-American hostage hoping his son's remains will be returned in just days. Also breaking tonight, New York Attorney General Letitia James, indicted by the Justice Department for bank fraud after the president publicly called. called for her prosecution, her vow to fight tonight. Will military members get their next paycheck as the government shutdown continues? And I press House Speaker Mike Johnson on if he supports firing furloughed federal workers. The TikTok prank sparking panic, people using AI to send realistic images of a home intruder to their loved ones, the 911 calls prompting police to issue urgent

warnings. A judge putting an end to Drake and Kendrick Lamar's rap battle, the lawsuit over the distract, not like us, just dismissed. So who really won will explain? The sudden bear attack caught on camera on the streets of Japan, how this 82-year-old managed to escape. And their mock conclave went viral. Now they're meeting the Pope in person. The adorable moment at the Vatican and what Pope Leo said to the mini Pope, Cardinals and the Swiss Guard. Plus, the powerful Nor'easter set to target the East Coast, could hundreds of thousands lose power, build Karen standing by with the timing. Top story starts right now.

And good evening. We begin tonight with that historic breakthrough in the push for peace in the Middle East as new details emerge about the phase one terms that both Israel and Hamas have agreed to. President Trump tonight also announcing he'll travel to the region soon for a signing ceremony in Egypt, calling the phase one plan, a quote, phase one of the plan, a quote, momentous breakthrough. So here's what we know about phase one right now. Along with a pause in fighting, the president says Hamas will release the hostages Monday or Tuesday. Israel has also agreed to release thousands of Palestinian prisoners. News of the deal leading to celebrations like

these in Israel and Gaza, both sides hopeful this marks an end to a brutal two-year war. And moments ago, the Israeli government officially approving the ceasefire deal, but the big question remains, what's next on the path to peace? We have team coverage tonight. We start off with Garrett Haake at the White House. Two years after the Hamas terror attacks that sparked Israel's bloody war in Gaza, tonight President Trump celebrating his landmark agreement set to bring it to an end. It's something that nobody thought it was possible, and we're going to end up having peace in the Middle East. Who would have thought?

It's a major diplomatic victory for President Trump, Israel and Hamas, both agreeing to his peace plan. The hostages would be coming back Monday or Tuesday. I'll probably be there. All of it following a momentous 24 hours, from Secretary of State Marco Rubio passing that note in front of the cameras to Trump's call moments after the announcement. What do you guys have to say to President Trump? Thank you. Breaking the news to families of hostages held by Hamas. The hostages will come back, they're all coming back on Monday.

All right. Rubeo today outlining key turning points in the negotiations. The president selling his plan to leaders of Muslim-majority nations at the UN last month and getting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept it at a White House visit, then delivering this ultimatum to Hamas to get on board. I have a feeling that we're going to have a positive answer. But if not, as you know, baby, you'd have our full backing to do what you would have to do. The president tonight saying the deal offers new hope for Gaza.

You can't live right now in Gaza. We're going to create better conditions for people. But there are still key unresolved issues, including will Hamas disarm and who will run Gaza. The first thing we're doing is getting our hostages back, okay? And that's what people wanted more than anything else. They wanted these hostages back that have lived in hell like nobody has ever even dreamt possible. And after that, we'll see. All right, Gary joins us tonight from the White House.

Garrett, we know President Trump is heading to the Mideast. And I know you have some new reporting about U.S. troop deployments to Israel as well? Yeah, Tom, the president was invited today to speak to the Israeli legislature and said he intends to do so early next week, likely on Monday. And tonight, two senior U.S. officials said there would be some 200 U.S. troops involved in this broader peacekeeping effort. Initially, it sounded as though they would be deployed to Israel specifically. Now it's not clear whether they might be elsewhere in the region. We know where they won't be is in Gaza itself. Those U.S. officials say the security component inside Gaza is likely to be handled by some of the regional Arab neighbors like Qatar and Egypt, Tom.

All right, Garrett Hick, leading us off tonight. And phase one of this plan, sparking celebrations across the region, as communities in both Israel and Gaza are hopeful this deal could mean peace. Our Richard Engel is in Jerusalem tonight. For the first time in recent memory, tonight both Israelis and Palestinians are celebrating the same thing. The arrival of President Trump's peace plan. In Tel Aviv, the long, somber hostage square was transformed, with Israelis singing, waving Israeli and American flags, and it's clear who many credit for the breakthrough.

They are cheering not for victory, but for peace and closure. Mikhail Iluz wore a t-shirt showing his son Guy. Guy was at the Nova Music Festival when Hamas attacked on October 7th. He called his father, who jumped in his car and rushed to save him. Michal arrived 15 minutes after Hamas kidnapped his son. Now he's waiting for his remains. This must be such a complex day for you. It's a nightmare.

It's a nightmare for me. I will be for sure. I'm going to recognize my son. I want to touch his bone. I want to be able to know that I'm going to make closure. In Gaza, similar mixed emotions with celebrations that are more like relief. Local health officials say more than 67,000 Palestinians were killed in Israel's war on Hamas. Lind al-Nawadja, like nearly all Ghazans, was displaced from her home.

I am happy today is the ceasefire because my father was killed. And now I will be able to go home and kiss his grave, she said. Richard Engel joins us tonight live from Jerusalem. Richard, walk us through the timeline for the next few days here and how this hostage release will work. So the Israeli government, Tom, has just formally approved the deal. So now the Israeli military has 24 hours to pull out of parts of Gaza. Then Hamas has three days to gather all of the hostages and hand them over.

And if this goes well, phase two begins, which is even more complicated concerning the future of the Gaza Strip, who will govern after Hamas and will learn more about this international security force that the Pentagon has now said it will support by sending those 200 troops to Israel, not into Gaza, but to help. coordinate the effort. All right, Richard Engel, with the first phases of this peace plan. Richard, we thank you. Joining us live tonight is Ruby Henn. His son, Etai, was the youngest American hostage taken by Hamas. He was serving in the IDF on October 7th, and his family has been waiting for this moment, hoping his remains will be returned as part of the first phase of the peace deal. Ruby, I thank you for joining us tonight. I spoke to you right when this news broke last week.

How are you feeling right now? I think it's a mixed bag of emotions, Tom. You know, on one hand, there's the excitement that you saw people wanting to see this vicious cycle of violence end from both sides. Anticipation that finally we will see those 48 hostages back, but also some anxiety because the deal is built in such a way that Khamas's best effort to get all those 48 out and might be a situation where my son, for example, a U.S. citizen might not be found and be left behind. So we still have that anxiety, making sure that they're able to bring all of them out. Ruby, explain that a little more to me. Some people may not be familiar with sort of the machinations of phase one.

Explain to me why you think this could possibly happen to your family, because I can't imagine if that were to be the case, you've already suffered for two years. I would hate for you and your family to have to suffer anymore. Yeah, so the deal is built in such a way that the, 20 living hostages, you know, they are counted for and most likely will be able to come out. But when it comes to the remaining 28 hostages that have been the finest deceased, my family actually is still challenging that piece of information. Hamas are in a best effort type of process where they said that they will do their best to find those

and bring them out, but it's also the possibility that some of them are not found. And as such, there is a mechanism that was put in place, a task force, multinational task force with the U.S., Qatar, Egypt, and Israel, that are tasked with finding those that are not found. So it could take a few weeks, could take a few days, probably might not find them. Right. Ruby, throughout this process, at times you've been critical of how Prime Minister Netanyahu

and other Israeli officials have treated the hostage families. Does this deal change your opinion in any way? Look, at the end, I'm a business guy, Tom. And, you know, he, Netanyahu was the CEO when October 7th happened. He has an obligation, a responsibility. And a lot of the families question, you know, getting to this point, did we need to wait two years for that? to happen. I've been talking a lot, even with the previous administration, about the need for an international summit. You get all the people together at one place, you know, you ham out the details, and you get a deal. And, you know, just asking ourselves, you know, maybe this could

have happened six months ago, maybe a year ago. You know, we welcome the prime minister for finally understanding, getting us to this point where you understand the total victory is not victory, year of Hamas, but actually bringing the hostages out, all of the hostages out. That is the three victory that the people of Israel are waiting to see. And myself, as a U.S. citizen, we've been asking the previous administration to get all of the 12 U.S. citizens that were taken out. That didn't happen. Mr. Whitcroft came with the president and his American First policy. Getting American citizens out is a priority of this administration. Just last week, we saw the U.S. citizen from Afghanistan

held by the Taliban come out and when we met Steve in May last year, May earlier this year you know, we had hopes that he would be able to get all of the U.S. citizens out when he bought Eidon Alexander out, the U.S. citizen from Tenafla, New Jersey.

And, you know, he took me and my wife aside when he came to the hostage square and he looked me in the eye and he said, look, just isn't your time. And he said to me, your time's coming, I promise you that. And I hope to God that indeed this weekend, or the beginning of this week,

Steve will look green in the eye again and say, look, it's your time now. Here's your son. Ruby Hen, we hope that's so much for you and your family as well. We thank you for always talking to us, and we know this is a difficult time, but again, we have so much hope for you and your family and we'll be covering this day by day. We thank you for your time. Thank you, Tom. How bless.

Now to our other breaking news that we're following tonight, a federal grand jury indicting New York Attorney General Letitia James for alleged bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution. This coming after President Trump publicly called for the Justice Department to bring charges against James who won a judgment against him for hundreds of millions of dollars that was later overturned. NBC's Laura Jarrett has more details. Tonight, New York's Attorney General Letitia James indicted by a federal grand jury, a dramatic escalation against another longtime foe of President. Trump. Just weeks ago, he called for James's prosecution after lambasting her for years.

You have an attorney general who's a total stone call a crook in New York State, Letitia James, a total crook. Tonight, she faces charges of bank fraud and lying to a financial institution, prosecuted by the same office in Virginia that brought the case against former FBI director James Comey last week. James saying tonight she did nothing wrong and this is payback. These charges are baseless, and the president's own public statements make clear that his only goal is political retribution at any cost. Interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan saying in a statement, no one is above the law. The charges, as alleged in this case, represent intentional criminal acts and tremendous breaches

of the public's trust. The indictment alleging James falsely represented a home in Virginia was her secondary residence to get better loan terms. While in fact, prosecutors say she intended to rent it out as an investment property. But the top prosecutor in the district was ousted late last month after he concluded there was not enough evidence to charge Comey or James. She became a prime target of the president after successfully suing Trump, his sons, and his namesake company with fraud, securing a $500 million civil judgment against his real

estate empire last year. But some Republicans always viewed the case as political. that eye-popping penalty was recently overturned on appeal as excessive. Okay, with that, Laura, Jared joins us now live here in Top Story. So, Laura, you know, a court will decide the merits of this case. Regardless, this is going to affect Letitia James in a major way. She's going to have to hire a team of lawyers, and she's going to have to go through the process.

She's already hired those lawyers because she knew for a while she was under investigation. Remember, the former U.S. attorney quit over this case, and so we've sort of known for a while it was headed this in this direction, but we now have some more details. She's still the Attorney General of New York. She'll have to go in that courtroom. She'll have to put in her plea, which we would expect to be not guilty. She'll have to go through the booking process, all the normal legal steps. And we expect that first appearance in court in two weeks in Virginia.

All right, Laura Jarrett for tonight. Laura, we thank you. Breaking tonight also a federal judge temporarily blocking the deployment of National Guard troops in Chicago. It comes just hours after the National Guard was deployed to an ICE facility just outside. It comes as tensions flare over the immigration crackdown. Look at this. New video capturing a man smashing the back of a window of a moving DHS vehicle. NBC's Maggie Vespa has more of this, and she joins us tonight from outside the Broadview Ice Facility. Maggie, walk our viewers through what you're seeing there and what this ruling needs.

Well, Tom, that video that you showed at the top there of those National Guard troops kind of behind this fence, which you can see behind me. That was video that was shot today. And as you said, basically, that was new overnight. It continued throughout the day. We could see those National Guard members outside this facility, some on the roof at times. We haven't seen them since this ruling came down, but that doesn't mean they're still not there. And as far as what this means for their immediate future, it remains to be seen. This ruling came down late today. This judge saying this federal judge that she's going to grant the state's motion for, in their words, a temporary restraining order. We don't know for how long against the Trump administration to bar the deployment of troops, again, some of which have already been deployed.

So it's kind of a messy situation. The judge saying, quote, the National Guard will only add fuel to the fire that the defendants, meaning the federal government themselves. have started. So in other words, saying this would only exacerbate the situation. But yeah, we have hundreds of troops here on the ground as it is. We were told we have roughly according to court documents, 300 more from Illinois that are kind of on deck to be deployed. Obviously, they haven't been yet. But as far as what this means here at this ice facility, we'll see how quickly these troops presumably roll out in the wake of this hearing that just came down in the last hour or so. At Maggie, Homeland Security Secretary

Christy Nome said today, her department would buy property to operate out of Chicago in other cities. Could this signal an escalation in the fight over immigration over there? It could. I mean, she was something that she openly told the president, letting him know this was something they were eyeing. She didn't name specific properties. She didn't say in the Chicago area or in the city of Chicago or kind of give any indication there. But it was definitely something that raise a lot of eyebrows here in the city as this battle escalates. And in fact, if we could bring back that video that you showed in the intro, Tom, of the cell phone video, of the protesters today, smashing the back windshield of that vehicle that's owned by, we're told,

the Department of Homeland Security. This was a protest that was happening outside the city of Chicago, if we have that video. But either way, it's just one more example that DHS has said is showing attacks, an increase in attacks. There it is, on federal officers, on Border Patrol officers, and ICE officers. And that's been the Trump administration's rationale for bringing in the National Guard, right?

That's what they said. They had to come in. They had to guard federal personnel. They had to guard federal buildings. So that happened today just hours before this ruling. So you kind of see both sides. ratcheting up whatever kind of tools they have in their tool bag to really walk their argument forward and try to either deploy the National Guard on the federal side or get them out of here as quickly as possible on the state side.

Really just the temperature here keeps rising, frankly, Tom. All right, Maggie Vespa for us, we're also tracking that powerful Northeaster set to slam the East Coast this weekend. Right now, millions from the Carolinas up to Maine are bracing for coastal flooding and high winds. It could get worse from there. South Carolina already getting a hint of what's to come as drivers in Charleston deal with high tides, inundating streets. I want to get right to NBC meteorologist Bill Cairns. Bill, this is going to be a little heavier and a little more serious than we first thought, right? Yeah, this storm in the last 24 hours has trended closer to the coast, so that means the core of the storm. The highest winds will be right

at the shore, and that means higher waves, that means more coastal flooding and more wind damage, too, and even some rainfall problems all the way through the I-95 corridors. Let's take it through This is going through Saturday morning as during the day Saturday, the worst of the weather will arrive in the outer banks. This is not going to be that much worse than, say, some of the glancing blows you got from some of the hurricanes. The area of greatest concern is going to be from, you know, Virginia Beach, Norfolk, up through Maryland, Delaware, all of coastal New Jersey. This is 4 p.m. Sunday. This is when the peak damage will be occurring from what should be an exceptionally high tide as we go throughout early Sunday afternoon. Just to give you some perspective on this. The forecast just out for Atlantic City is, is only six inches lower than it was for Hurricane Sandy.

And so all of a sudden, you start making a comparison like that. That gets everyone's attention. People are going to be yanking boats out of the water up and down the mid-Atlantic areas. People are going to need the rush to completion. You got about 48 hours before the storm arrives. And the storm does a loop-to-loop right off the Jersey Maryland shore all the way through Monday. It'll be weakening as that happens. But we could see some areas in the Jersey shore with 40 to 50 to 60-mile-per-hour winds for 36 straight hours.

So there's still leaves on the trees. of a lot of power outage problems and all the way up through Long Island, maybe even Southern Connecticut too. So this is the wind gust forecast for the outer bank. You can handle this. You can deal with this. Starts getting a little more serious when we get to Virginia Beach. Then when we see these 50 mile per hour gusts all the way through Wildwood Atlantic City, I think tomorrow when we check a look at this forecast, we'll start to see 50, maybe even 60 mile per hour gusts forecast for Long Island. The forecast has the storm going further north. And in addition, the heavy rain forecast is now with, yes, we're in a drought. So we can deal with a lot

water, but this is some hefty rainfall totals, and if high tide coincides when the heaviest rain comes, then we could see water levels even higher, Tom. All right, yeah, a lot of issues. Bill, I forecast you being very busy over the next few days. All right, man. We were back in a moment with the devastating fire in Colorado tearing

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