Top Story with Tom Llamas - Thursday, September 19, 2024

Episode Date: September 20, 2024

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.

Breaking tonight, Israel unleashing a new wave of strikes on Hezbollah targets as the group's leader vows to retaliate. At this hour, Israel launching heavy strikes on southern Lebanon, the intense barrage of rockets along the border marking an escalation and fighting since the coordinated electronic blasts. Israeli fighter jets breaking the sound barrier, shaking buildings in Beirut. Arir Simmons on the ground in Lebanon as doctors raced to save the wounded. Is this the start of a wider war in the region? We sit down with former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett with where the volatile situation stands. Also breaking tonight the scandal rocking the North Carolina gubernatorial race. CNN reporting that Republican candidate, Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson, made disturbing comments on a porn forum.

Robinson denying the accusations and vowing to stay in the race. Will this have larger implications for the key battleground state in the president? election. Terrifying home invasion, armed men posing as delivery drivers forcing their way into a Houston home. A woman zip tied and held at gunpoint while her two young kids were inside the house. The violent confrontation between the suspects and police officers leaving one cop shot. We hear from the homeowner about his daughter's horrifying ordeal. A luxury yacht up in flames as fireworks explode on board. Shocking video shows the boat completely. engulfed by the blaze. The investigation into what sparked that inferno. Starry Night Discovery

is Van Gogh's most famous painting, hiding a scientific secret. Researchers arguing that the artist had a deep understanding of a physics phenomenon, his brushstrokes and colors painting a different story than what meets the eye. An orca ambush mystery, viral video showing killer whales slamming into boats, even sinking some of them. So what is causing? causing these generally peaceful animals to suddenly turn violent. We head to a hot zone to find out what's behind those deep sea attacks. And the breaking news just coming in, a sheriff taken into custody for fatally shooting a judge in his own chambers. What we're learning about that arrest. Top story starts right now.

Good evening. I'm Ellison Barber in for Tom Yamis. We are following breaking news out of North Carolina, where the state of the governor's race is in jeopardy. Republican candidate Mark Robinson vowing to remain in the contest following a CNN report that he made disturbing comments on a porn site. Calls for him to resign are growing, but the deadline to do so is just hours away. In a moment, we'll break down what that could mean for the presidential election as the news jolts the battleground state. But first, we start with more breaking news overseas as Israel intensifies its attack on Hezbollah. Right now, Israel launching a barrage of rockets into Lebanon. New video just in showing the nighttime bombardment, the country ramping up its assault on Hezbollah militants. During the day,

air sirens wailed as cross-border fighting escalated. You can hear the intensity of those rockets, some even sparking fires along Israel's northern border. It comes as Hezbollah vows to retaliate, the leader of the Iranian-backed militant group pledging to strike back after deadly device explosions rattled Lebanon for two straight days. Though Israel has not claimed responsibility for the communication attack, the defense minister signaling a broader offensive. Yoav Galant saying today, quote, in this new phase of the war, there are significant opportunities, but also significant risks. While the situation in Israel's north is intensifying, war is raging on nearly all sides. In Gaza City, rescue crews digging through the rubble after an Israeli airstrike. And in the West Bank, smoke seen rising as the IDF surrounds a Palestinian neighborhood.

In just a moment, we sit down with former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, what he has to say about the rising tensions and what Israel's next move might be. But first, we begin with Chief International correspondent Kier Simmons on the ground in Beirut. Israeli air and artillery strikes pounding southern Lebanon today, targeting Hezbollah as the leader of the Iran-backed militia appeared from a secret location, vowing revenge for two days of unprecedented attacks. Five thousand pages. and walkie-talkies were booby-trapped by Israel, he said, calling it a massacre in minutes. The number killed rising today to 37, according to Lebanese health officials, and thousands

more wounded. Israel has not said it was them. Airlines today banning pages and walkie-talkies from flights out of Beirut. And images like this, children close to an explosion in a grocers, emerging a milaki-aqi of international law violations. Among those killed 9-year-old Fatima Abdullah. We have 12 operating rooms and all our teams are exhausted. Dr. Sala Zaladin at the Beirut Medical Center has been treating a heavy stream of those injured by the explosions. Most of the patients are very sick, injuries to the eyes, to the hands.

The synchronized assassination was clearly long in the planning. Masterminded by Israel, two U.S. officials tell NBC. tell NBC News, a clandestine trail of companies from Hungary to Taiwan to Japan denying involvement. But one former senior Israeli official tonight now says the timing was not part of a wider escalation, saying the chance to detonate the devices was slipping away, a use-it-or-lose-it situation. Tonight, Iran promising a crushing response and the U.S. Secretary of State in Paris trying to de-escalate the conflict.

the population in both northern Israel and southern Lebanon has had to flee their homes, and we all want to see them be able to go back to their homes, and that requires a secure environment. And Keir Simmons joins us now from Beir, Lebanon. I understand you also have new reporting tonight about an alleged Iranian assassination plot foiled by the Israelis. What more can you tell us? That's right, Alison. The Israelis saying that they have arrested an Iranian assassination plot foiled by the Israelis. agent who they say was aiming to try to assassinate senior Israeli leadership, including Prime Minister Netanyahu. It feels, doesn't it, as if with the series of attacks that are

pointing the finger at Israel, and then that claim from Israel, we're kind of putting the curtain back a little bit on the kind of espionage, the kind of intelligence activity, both by Israel and by Iran, a kind of shadow war. And Kira, as you mentioned Iran and Hezbollah both saying they will respond to these attacks. Any word on the ground there or from your sources on what that response might actually look like? Yeah, Iran vowing today to carry out what it calls a crushing attack on Israel. The same kind of attack that it has been promising for weeks and even months now in response to the killing of a Hamas. mass leader in Tehran back in July. And bluntly, so far, it hasn't happened. There is a new

Iranian president who is talking about the possibility of negotiations with the West, including America, all be it on Iran's terms. And it raises the question, what does Tehran really want here? I think there are two crucial questions that will decide. What happens on the border with Israel here in Lebanon? What do the Iranians want? and what do the Israelis want? Kier Simmons, thank you. The recent pager explosions are just the latest chapter in a long history of sophisticated, covert attacks attributed to Israel, with tactics ranging from cyber attacks on nuclear facilities

to assassination via remote-controlled machine guns. The Israeli government rarely taking responsibility for operations it's believed to have conducted. The device blast in Lebanon have shot the world in part. in part because of their complexity and the reputation of Israeli intelligence. Most famously, Mossad is world-renowned. From the decades-long search and capture of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann,

where Mossad agents tracked him down in Argentina, then abducted and smuggled him out of the country to stand trial in Israel. To the agents tasked with hunting down the alleged masterminds behind the Munich Olympic massacre and killing one of them, killing one of them with a phone call. A moment dramatized in the film Munich.

Yes. Israeli intelligence has a history of being tied to elaborate operations, but rarely taking public credit for them. It's something out of a Hollywood script, but it's not actually out of the realm of what Israel has done in the past. In 2020, Iran accused Israel of carrying out the assassination of a top Iranian nuclear scientist, allegedly using a remote-controlled machine gun to kill him as he was traveling in a car

outside of Tehran. Israel did not deny their involvement. Instead, they stayed quiet, repeatedly declining to comment. Then just a year later, Iran blaming Israel again. This time, they said for attacking an Iranian underground nuclear facility with a series of explosions and carrying out a cyber attack that led to rolling blackouts. These are the types of things that are the types of things that that the Israelis have done over time to find ways short of full-scale war of mitigating their adversaries' military capabilities. In 2010, a Mossade hit team allegedly carried out an elaborate assassination of a top Hamas operative in a Dubai hotel, reportedly surrounding him over the course of 19 hours.

Given the reputation of Israel's intelligence, most of the world is now waiting, wondering. are walkie-talkies and exploding pagers the only thing in store for Hezbollah. For more on what could be Israel's next move, I want to bring in former Prime Minister of Israel, Naftali Bennett, who is in office from 2021 to 2022. Prime Minister, thank you so much for taking the time to join us. We really appreciate it. Let's start with there. You say the name Masad, Shenbet, Israeli intelligence, and in some circles, it sparks fear and other circles admiration. As we said, Israel has not publicly taken responsibility for these communication attacks inside

of Lebanon, seemingly on Hezbollah militants. But if Maasad was behind this, as has been speculated, do you think this is going to likely be part of a bigger plan? Is Masada won and Dunn group, or is this something that would likely have more plans in the works? I don't know who did this, but I wish and hope they do much more, because it's a blessing to kill terrorists. And the more terrorists dead, the better the world is for that.

My understanding from the media is that this was an incredibly targeted attack on Hezbollah terrorists. And I just want to set the stage in the frame. For the past year, 11 months actually, Chisbalah totally unprovoked, has nothing to do with Gaza. It's a whole different area. As it shot over 8,000 rockets on Israeli. citizens has murdered several dozen of them, including 12 children who were playing soccer.

Twelve Israeli children who are playing soccer. So they're doing everything they can to indiscriminately kill civilians. Whoever is behind this clearly did the opposite. Did everything possible in a very targeted way to kill only terrorists. And in that sense, whoever did this, I just hope they do much more. If you were Prime Minister right now, knowing what Nasrallah has now said, vowing to retaliate, claiming that all red lines have been crossed here, would you have given the order to Mossad to say, okay, carry something out like this inside of Lebanon, or do you think this really does put Israel in a position where there could be a full-fledged war on the northern border? Well, I have news. There already is a full-fledged war. Imagine the state of Florida being evacuated by all its people and having 8,000 rockets shot at Florida in Miami, and everywhere there, killing children in Florida. That's exactly our situation. And we did nothing to Chisbalah. We've been restraint and restraining ourselves. And the attack tonight of the IDF on a thousand, rocket barrels, I think, should be the beginning, but we need to hit Chisbalah, push him away

from our border, and defend our people. If anything, this is way, way too late attacking these rocket barrels tonight. And Kier Simmons was there in Lebanon reporting on this alleged assassination attempt that Israel says they have foiled. I understand your name was included in that list. What could you tell us about it? Well, as was publicized, Iran. was trying to murder me, and they found some operative in Israel, paid him money to kill me,

and that's because they know that I'm after them. And, you know, I introduced about a decade ago the idea that we have to go after the head of the octopus, which is Tehran, and not only fight the arms of the octopus, which are Hezbollah, Hamas, and all the hootis and these proxies, they don't like that. And I guess that's why they're trying to do that. You know, when we're talking about the history of Mossad and operations, they have been speculated sometimes publicly, like Eichmann saying, yes, we were involved in that. But these elaborate covert operations they've been able to carry out.

I remember being in Israel in the days after October 7th on the border with Gaza and looking at the numbers of the hostages and thinking, well, if anybody could go in and find them and pull them out really fast, it'd be Massad. I saw what they did with Eichmann, and I feel like a lot of people were saying that. Go in, get them, it'll be over quickly. When you look at what has happened with the hostages, how many are still there now, the protests that the families have had in recent days in particular, do you think that enough is being done at this point in time, are the right moves being made to get the remaining hostages back home? We have to bring the hostages home. They were kidnapped from their beds in the morning of a Sabbath, and they're being held in horrible conditions and executed by Hamas point blank. This is just a horrible thing, and we need to be bringing them home with applying tremendous military pressure on Hamas while being able to bring him home.

also want to tell you something about Hezbollah, though. I think American viewers may have forgotten, but Hezbollah murdered 241 American Marines. This is the same Hezbollah that's been hit over the past several days. And again, talking about this attack tonight of our Air Force on them, Israel is doing the work of the world to fight the most horrible and savage terrorists on earth. And we do hope that people will appreciate it back us and certainly not boycott us or censor us in any way. If you were in office, would you have done things inside of Gaza differently than Netanyahu has now? Look, I don't want to criticize the government. Obviously, we're different people.

I think this war has been dragged on way too long. I believe Israel should conduct wars that are high intensity but short in time. The attrition approach of dragging it strategy, I don't think it's the right strategy. I would go harder, stronger, faster. And before we let you go, I have to ask, in Israeli media, it has been reported that you're possibly considering getting back into politics, maybe challenging Prime Minister Netanyahu to return to that office. Is that true? I've not made a decision.

I'll come to this show, Ellison, and let you know. I will say the following that the only thing I care about, two things are my family and my nation. That's all I care about in life. I don't care about money or material issues. And if I need to sweep the floor from my country, I'll do it, and I'll be at any place that I need to be to help my country out of this terrible crisis.

Lots of people are in pain now. Lots of Israelis are suffering because of the lack of leadership, and I'll do anything necessary to help them. Right. Former Israeli Prime Minister, Nafthali Bennett. Thank you. We appreciate you joining Top Story. Thank you, Alison. Thank you. All right. Turning now to our other major headline tonight, a new bombshell report released on the Republican candidate for governor in North Carolina, Mark Robinson. It details disturbing comments he allegedly made on a porn website before holding office. The current lieutenant governor of the state denying these reports, calling them tabloid trash. NBC News, senior legal correspondent Laura Jarrett has more.

Tonight, Republican candidate Mark Robinson vowing to stay in the race for governor in North Carolina, vehemently denying an explosive new report purporting to show dozens of his disturbing comments online. They want to focus on salacious tabloid lies. We're not going to let them do that. We are staying in this race. we are in it to win it. The current lieutenant governor facing a swirl of speculation about the fate of his campaign after CNN today published what it called a series of inflammatory comments on a pornography

website's message board more than a decade ago before Robinson began his political career. NBC News has not verified the authenticity of the posts. CNN says include Robinson referring to himself as a black Nazi and expressing support for reinstating slavery. Writing, slavery is not bad. Some people need to be slaves. I wish they would bring it back. I would certainly buy a few. CNN also reporting Robinson, who publicly supports a six-week ban on abortion with exceptions, wrote that he did not care if a celebrity got an abortion, writing, quote, I don't care. I just want to see the sex tape. CNN says the comments were all made under the same username, and that Robinson used it elsewhere on the internet, including, reviews on Amazon. But tonight, Robinson blasting it as tabloid trash.

Let me reassure you, the things that you will see in that story, those are not the words of Mark Robinson. You know my words. You know my character. And you know that I have been completely transparent in this race and before. No stranger to polarizing comments, Robinson has come under scrutiny in the past for calling the Holocaust hogwash, which he later said was a poorly worded remark that wasn't anti-Semitic. Come November, I plan on being the first black governor of North Carolina. He's a social conservative who's been endorsed by former President Trump. This is Martin Luther King on steroids.

North Carolina, a battleground state in the presidential race, but a tough one for Democrats, who haven't won it since 2008. And Laura joins us now with more. Laura, with Robinson under this immense pressure to withdraw from the race, There's not a lot of time to do it, right? The deadline for that is upon us. Oh, he's got less than five hours to drop out of this race. Now, he has shown no indication that he wants to do that, Ellison. We should be clear. He's vowed to stay in this race. But if a candidate wants to get out, they have to do it in writing by 11.59 p.m. tonight.

That's the only way the Republicans would be able to replace him under the law. But even if they were to do that, Ellison, get this. His name would still be on the ballot because it's been so late into this process, which could obviously cause a fair amount of confusion for voters there in North Carolina, Allison. Laura, Jarrett, thank you. For more on this controversy and the state of the governor's race in North Carolina, I want to bring in Brian Anderson. He is a journalist who covers North Carolina politics on his substack Anderson alerts.

Brian, your reporting on North Carolina politics is phenomenal. You broke the news that Robinson was canceling events this morning and lifted the paywall on your story so voters could access it for free. You had a source telling you this CNN story that everyone's seems to be talking about was coming. And you also had some early insight into what the allegations were. Now that this CNN report is out in full, did it track with what your sources were staying? What stands out to you here? Well, first, Alison, thanks for having me on. It did track with what I've been hearing from sources. And the timing on this is very interesting for when

this came out. This came out very, very, very late. My understanding is people have had this for months and have held on to it for a moment like this because it is a tight deadline in North Carolina for a candidate to withdraw. And this is putting the Republican Party in the defensive to act to answer for whether they want Lieutenant Governor Robinson to be their nominee. And Brian, Robinson has had a controversial candidacy for those who aren't as familiar with Robinson. Could you explain what some of the past comments and actions that have raised eyebrows are and talk to us about how voters in North Carolina have responded to the allegations in the past. Yeah, Robinson has come under fire for a number of reasons. I was actually there with him

on maybe what is now his second worst newsday in his political life. Back in 2022, I was with him at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base when the story broke that he had paid for an abortion for his then girlfriend, now wife back in 1989. And that was something he had made. known publicly about a decade or earlier through Facebook comments. And it's the same social media posts. It's these same comments that are made on what is now pornographic website that have heard him politically. Brian, when you're talking to your sources tonight within the Republican Party there in North Carolina, do they think that he is going to drop out or will he stay in this race regardless. There are certainly some people who want him to drop out of this race. Notably, there is a

Wake County legislator who is, I should say, a legislative candidate in a swing district who thinks Robinson could hurt him politically, who is calling for Robinson to step down. I had asked Michael Watley, the chair of the RNC. I had asked Attorney General candidate and Congressman Dan Bishop what they thought, haven't heard back from them, but over the weekend, they had told me they were supportive of Robinson. And so by all accounts, Robinson is still planning to stay in this race. And people I had spoken to even before this story broke told me the race is over in their mind, and those include supporters of Robinson. And really quickly, before we let you go, what about the possible down-ballot impact? Is this something that your sources think will

negatively impact the Republican Party and former President Trump on the ballot? Yeah, there's certainly a potential for a big down-ballot impact. The conversation I'm more hearing is up the ticket, where usually you talk about the governor and how they could impact things lower in the ballot for legislature, council of state races. People are talking about what this could mean for President Donald Trump. In North Carolina, if President Trump doesn't win this state, his pathway to 270 electoral votes diminishes greatly. And there are people in Robinson's, or I should say in Trump's orbit, former Chief of Stack Mick Mulvaney, have expressed concern that Robinson could, quote, weigh it down. And so that's what's at stake here. It's not just

up and down the ballot. It's all the way to President Trump as well. All right. Brian Anderson, thank you. We appreciate your time tonight and your reporting. Thanks for having me. Still ahead tonight. We're following breaking news in Kentucky. A district judge shot and killed in his chambers. A local sheriff now reportedly under arrest for the killing. Plus a terrifying home invasion in Houston, a woman zip tied while her children were home, the disguise the suspects allegedly wore to get inside. And an unbelievable sight on a Georgia highway, a deputy climbing into the window of a truck to save an unresponsive driver. We speak to the deputies behind that heroic rescue. Stay with us. Welcome back. Tonight, we are tracking severe.

storms in the Midwest. 10 million people on alert for rain, strong winds, and very large hail. Tornado is also possible. So let's get right to NBC News meteorologist Bill Karens. Bill, what areas are of most concerned tonight? Yeah, we're going from the Central and to the Northern Plains. I already had two reports of tornadoes. Thankfully, no reports of any significant damage. We have a typical dry, cool air bumping into very warm, humid air in the plains, almost like a spring-like setup, very common in fall. And our tornado watch does include the Duluth area, Minneapolis is now in the clear, very strong storms racing with wind damage in Wisconsin. But that tornado threat, we have numerous tornado warnings here north of Duluth.

It looks like Duluth itself is just going to be under severe thunderstorm warning, some gusty winds and some large hail for you, but a dangerous next couple hours, especially in northern Wisconsin. And Bill, what about the tropics? You're watching some stuff there, right? Yeah, we're still at the peak of the hurricane season. We've been a little bit quiet. We've had a couple storms here and there. Nothing is imminent. But as we head towards the weekend into next week. This area of development includes the Western Caribbean and the Southern Gulf of Mexico. And obviously, anyone that lives in the Southeast U.S., you know that's where the storms breed and sometimes even big storms. So our American computer model does, this is Wednesday, middle of next week,

have a storm near Cancun. I don't want to show you where it goes from here because our computer models have been all over the place, from Mexico to Texas, all the way to Florida. We just don't know yet because it's too far away. This shows you all the possible locations, what we call an ensemble forecast. There's about 18, out of 30 that show the different locations here of the storm. So that's the bottom line, Allison. We don't know yet who's most at risk, but it does look like we will have a storm to talk about all next week. It'll head somewhere. We'll figure it out as it gets a little closer. All right, Bill Carins, thank you. Now to a terrifying home invasion near Houston, a man posing as a food delivery driver forcing his way into a home where he and a second suspect reportedly

zippedide a woman in front of her young kids as they went with. room to room searching for valuables. Her father spoke to our Valerie Castro about the ordeal that he says has left his entire family traumatized. The piece of a bright sunny Texas morning shattered by unexpected visitors. When authorities say two men forced their way into a Houston area home with guns, one posing as a food delivery worker. Ben Bates owns the home but was away. It was his daughter who answered the door to tell them they had the wrong house. He came with a door dash bag and knocked on the door, and that's when my daughter answered, and then as soon as she opened, he forced his way in.

Bates says the suspects zip tied his daughter's wrists. Her one and three-year-old sons were also there. Your daughter and your grandkids, how are they doing right now? Have you talked to your daughter? I have. What does she say? She's terrorized, but she's okay. A quick-thinking neighbor realized what was happening and called 911.

I got a message from my neighbor who said, you need to get home because, you know, the police are there and there's gunshots. Bates quickly pulling up the video from his ring doorbell camera to see what had happened. I can see the guys when they entered and I hear my daughter scream in terror and it's kind of the worst thing a father can ever experience, you know, They were threatening her, threatening a killer, you know, just, it was just the worst thing. Police arrived in a matter of minutes, finding the armed men inside. The suspect came out of what we think is a living, a bedroom, and shot immediately at the officer. The officer returned fire did not strike the suspect, but that was the suspect that ran out of the back. That officer, Scott Durfee, was shot in the leg while his partner found the second suspect in another room and arrested him.

In the midst of the chaos, Bates says his daughter managed to break free of her restraints and grab her children. We don't know how, you know, maybe it was adrenaline or the grace of God or whatever, but as soon as the police came in, she just pulled her arms apart and the zip ties were free and ducked behind some couches before the gunfire started. The suspect who ran off after firing shots was taken into custody nearby in another neighbor's yard. I mean, to look out your kitchen window and see three, police officer with guns drawn, telling him not to move. We scared the hell out of me. Police later announcing the arrest of a third man believed to be a getaway driver of this

white Toyota Camry seen leaving the scene on this neighbor's doorbell camera. All three men charged with aggravated robbery. The officer who was shot later released from the hospital the same day. Bates' daughter and grandchildren left physically unharmed, which he credits to that neighbor and Houston police officers who didn't hesitate to enter a dangerous situation. neighbor and those two officers that came in are true heroes. They protected our family. And Valerie Castro joins us now in studio. What else do we know about those suspects now in custody? So all three are set to make their first court appearance tomorrow. And the district attorney says two of the three were actually out on bond for charges related to another criminal case. As for that door

dash ruse, we reached out to the company. And they say that one of the three men used to work for them as a delivery driver, but he hasn't made a delivery or worked for DoorDash since 2023. Listening to the father there, you just feel for him and the whole family. I mean, this is everybody's worst nightmare. What else did he have to say? He says the lesson learned in all of this, he says the family had gotten complacent about opening their door.

And he says, even though they had that ring doorbell camera, they never used the feature where you can look to see who's at your door or talk to the person at your door without actually opening the door. he says they will now be using that feature in the future. Valerie Castro, thank you. When we come back, a dangerous scene at a California marina, a yacht up in flames with ammunition and fireworks on board. The race to extinguish the fire as explosions erupted from the vessel.

We'll be right back. Back now with Top Stories News Feed, Starting with breaking news. A Kentucky sheriff arrested for fatally shooting a judge. A county coroner confirming to NBC news that a district judge was shot and killed in his chambers at a Letcher County courthouse. A local sheriff reportedly surrendering to police. No word yet on a motive. Authorities say there is no threat to the public, but several schools in the area were temporarily placed on lockdown. A luxury yacht going up in flames at a California marina. Video from the citizen app showing the yacht engulfed in flames in Marina del Rey as firefighters raced to the scene.

Officials working to extinguish the fire when fireworks on the boat began to explode. Officials say 1,000 rounds of ammunition and fireworks were on board at the time of the fire. Luckily, no one was on the boat and no one was hurt. Operations to clean up fuel spill are now underway. And those venomous flying spiders we first told you about in June have made their way. North. Researchers who are following JORO spiders say they have now been spotted in southeastern Pennsylvania. The invasive spiders are native to East Asia and are believed to have been brought to Georgia about a decade ago. They've been seen across the south but seem to be

spreading. Experts say they do not pose any real risk to humans or pets. Now to a jaw dropping rescue in Michigan, sheriff deputies there acting fast when they saw a pickup truck with an unresponsive driver drifting down the road. One deputy literally leaping into the vehicle to try and stop it. NBC's Maya Eagland tracked down those heroic deputies and has this report. It's a scene that looks like it's straight out of an action movie. A now viral video showing a McCone County Sheriff's deputy trying to climb into the window of a moving vehicle on a busy Michigan highway. I was just willing to do whatever I had to do at that point to stop them because we were running out of options. Deputies Nicole Mirren and Anthony Gross saw

a GMC truck that was swerving and hitting the curb. After trying to stop the car with no success, they realized something was wrong. I had him pull up next to the vehicle so that we could kind to get a visual on what was going on and could tell it was an elderly male in the vehicle driving seemed as if he was having some sort of medical issue maybe. Feeling everything out, we finally just decided on it like, hey, this is what we're going to do. I attempt to use a punch to break out the window that didn't work. But it did give us attention a little more to the fact that the driver ended up attempting to roll down the back window and in doing so we kind of partially did it but also must have hit the front driver window which rolled down fully and at that point I let him know

I said I'm going to jump in the vehicle so I hopped right over and put the vehicle in park the driver was able to hit the brakes and stop the car momentarily and in just a few seconds Nicole hopped over from the patrol car window Nicole were you scared to do that jump on that busy highway I was not. Honestly, it was so natural and normal. It didn't seem like anything too crazy to me at the moment. At the time, he kind of like hit the break. So I was able to jump over at a perfect time. Once inside the truck, Mirren was able to put the vehicle in park and call the driver's family. We met with his family and they, you know, thanked us and told us how thankful they were for us to be able to intervene and make sure that he was safe and everyone else was safe as well. That driver now safe and recovering. Today, both deputies are surprised by their viral moment. But they say,

They were just doing their jobs. We're a little bit overwhelmed, but it wasn't as crazy, I guess, in the moment for us to have to go through and do. But after the fact, looking back, I think we looked at each other like, oh, my God, I can't believe we just did that. You're good? Maya Eglan, NBC News. Turning now to Top Story's Global Watch, authorities in Portugal arresting 14 suspected arsonist over deadly wildfires raging across that country. The fires have destroyed tens of thousands of acres and left at least. seven people dead. Experts say some of the blazes were scattered and started at night,

and they believe they were caused by humans. Fires are still burning, fueled by unusually dry and hot temperatures. An update tonight on that contested presidential election in Venezuela. Opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez says he was coerced to sign a letter admitting defeat. President Nicolas Maduro said in a televised press conference that Gonzalez voluntarily signed a letter confirming Maduro's victory, but in a social media, media video. Gonzalez said authorities found him and forced him to sign it, saying he would face prosecution if he didn't. Gonzalez, who the U.S. and other countries recognize as the winner of the July election fled to Spain. And shocking video shows the moment a woman was freed from

the grip of a python in Bangkok, Thailand. Officials say the 64-year-old woman was doing dishes in her kitchen when the snake that was about 16 feet long coiled around her. The snake had her in its grasp for two hours before she was freed by authorities. She was treated for several bites, but amazingly, is expected to recover. Now to the desperate fight to bring Americans detained in China home. The families of four U.S. citizens putting pressure on the Biden administration to free their loved ones from Chinese incarceration after the surprise release of American pastor David Lynn after nearly two decades in custody.

Our Janice McEugh-Frae speaks with the family of one man still fighting to come home. For nearly a decade, Nelson Wells Jr. has been imprisoned in China, convicted of trying to smuggle drugs after he says he was coming here from Japan to get medical treatment. His family in Louisiana says Wells never got to tell his story in court. In 2019, his life sentence was reduced to 22 years, but at age 51, his health and hope are declining. It ebbs and flows. Sometimes we will have calls that make us tear up and cry because he's having a rough time. And on other times, he tries not to put too much on us. At least 200 Americans are detained in China, according to rights groups. Many imprisoned, but several others stuck under exit bans that prevent them from leaving while the case is open.

One American told us his exit ban is mostly living in perpetual fear that the hammer is going to drop at any time. Many of the cases are for non-political crimes, like drug possession, trespassing or fraud. conviction rate more than 99%. So it came as a surprise last week when David Lin, an American pastor, the State Department, declared wrongfully detained, was quietly released after 18 years. In a statement to NBC News, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said only, China is a country governed by the rule of law, and the relevant Chinese authorities handle related matters in accordance with the law.

Even one American detained as a political prisoner in China is one. Too many. Lynn's release pushed the issue of detained Americans into the spotlight. Justice, the Congressional Executive Commission on Detentions in China held hearings on Capitol Hill. What about my dad? When will it be his turn? Where the families of four jailed Americans urged the government to do more to bring them home.

I'm just asked, as a brother, Just bring my sister home. Americans facing trouble here are entitled to consular help, and U.S. officials say prisoners are routinely discussed in high-level talks. Getting detained Americans released here, even to facilities back home, is complicated because there's no treaty or agreement between the countries to transfer prisoners. However, a 2018 law in China does allow for prisoners to be sent to their home country on a case by case basis, usually humanitarian grounds. I pray and hope that my daughter will be

released. That's what the family of Don Michelle Hunt is hoping for. They say her health is failing. Hunt was given a life sentence for what Chinese authorities say was a drug trafficking scheme, one that Hunt says she was tricked into by scammers who told her she had won a contest that would take her to Australia. The last time I talked to down was about a year ago. The Wells and Hunt families are pushing for more dialogue with China. The only way that we're going to get Nelson out is for our federal government step up and negotiate and open up a dialogue with China and bring him home. The way I would describe Mark is he's a good man.

Two Americans, Mark Swarden and Kai Li are considered by the State Department to be wrongfully detained, a designation that can take years of review to reach, time that families worry they don't have. I don't want no ashes brought to me. That's not what I want. I want to be able to at least touch my son. Our thanks to Janice Mackie Freyer for that important report. When we come back in a new theory about a famed painting, the starry night.

Physicist in China suggesting Vincent Mungo may have been depicting atmospheric turbulence with those iconic swirls and colors. We ask an expert if he thinks this masterpiece goes beyond art. We are back now with a story that caught our eye about Vincent Van Gogh's famous Starry Night painting. Here's a look at that painting. I'm sure you recognize it. He painted it in 1889, but it is now one of the most recognizable works of art in the world, known for its iconic swirly skies that are thought to reflect Van Gogh's stormy state of mind when he painted it. But new research finds that these famous swirls actually match up with our current models of atmospheric turbulence. And scientists think the troubled artist may have had a deeper understanding of these movements by studying the clouds and atmosphere. If that all went over your head, don't panic. I'm right there with you. And luckily, we are joined by astrophysicist Adam Frank to help us understand it all.

Adam, thank you so much for being here. So first of all, let's just back up and explain these findings to me like I'm a five-year-old. What are we talking about when we say atmospheric turbulence? Well, really, let's start with turbulence itself. So, turbulence is this fluid motion. Fluids is like gases or liquids that we're all very familiar because we've all seen boiling water, right? Fluid turbulence is any time in a fluid where there's enough activity that you get those roiling, tumbling motions. You get big swirls, and then you get little swirls, and they're all happening at the same time.

And the amazing thing about turbulence, whether it's happening in a pot of water, you know, a pot of water, or on the surface of the sun, or an interstellar cloud, or in the atmosphere of the earth, it's all the same. It all behaves the same. And as much as it might look like chaos, there's actually these beautiful, deep relationships, physical relationship is about energy and momentum

that happen in any turbulent flow that it seems like that Van Gogh intuitively may have sort of understood understood by watching clouds, et cetera. So it is not only the shape in this painting that's similar, right, but it's also the brush strokes and the colors. I mean, does that surprise you? Are these patterns, things that you could typically see with the naked eye?

Well, here's the thing that really is amazing to me about this. And this is like a deep geek dive. Yeah, give it to us, please. It's the mathematics behind the pattern, the mathematical pattern. that when you look at turbulence, which just looks like a mess, when you cast it as a scientist and you take data and you examine the data in very abstract ways, you suddenly see that this isn't complex.

It's very simple. For example, how many big swirls in the turbulence there are, compared to how many little swirls there are, there's actually a very precise mathematical law that tells you that. And what it seems like is that when Van Gogh was painting those brushstrokes, The number of big brushstrokes, the number of little brushstrokes, follows the same pattern. So it's almost like he was engaging with that mathematical law without knowing anything about the mathematics. He'd watched the world, watched water flowing over a waterfall or water boiling or clouds in the sky.

And he kind of intuited what was happening there. You know, there are some people who will say, Van Gogh's style, it's fluid, he uses short brush strokes in a lot of his works. this is all just a coincidence. Do you think it is more than that? I mean, it seems like you really think he was understanding something, even if maybe he couldn't articulate it in the way that we would today. I think, you know, art has the capacity to capture truth just like science does. Often those are different truths. Like, you know, you look at Shakespeare and the, you know, the emotional understanding that he had about leadership, for example. You know, that's not something science is really going to get. But also, sometimes art can capture physical

truths that also are expressable in science. Da Vinci did lots of drawings of turbulent flows, of waterfalls, trying to capture—he was trying to see what really was happening there. So I think that—I don't think this is a coincidence. I think that Van Gogh was responding intuitively, emotionally to what he was seeing in the sky and was therefore sort of recapturing those patterns that then a detailed mathematical analysis would also find. Talk to us about where the math and science was at the time he was painting this, 1889. I mean, were there people in academic spaces in the math and science

understanding or starting to understand some of these more complex theories of physics and atmospheric dynamics? Or was he really kind of just out there on his own in some ways? He was out there on his own. Fluid dynamics, you know, had been around for a while, but it didn't, you know, we were still very early stage in the late 1880s in terms of the kinds of things that would eventually we'd come to understand about turbulence. Like there's this thing called the Komalogorov spectrum. You know, there's your buzzword for the day that, you know, that we had to wait until the 40s, really.

So, again, I don't think he was like getting the mathematics. It wasn't like he was, you know, could write down the mathematics. It was that he was a human being in the world, responding to the world's, beauty, you know, the detail, the response to the motions that he saw on the sky, and was capturing a sense of what would mathematicians would later on capture in mathematics. Because, you know, the mathematics, it's beautiful to me, right? Any mathematician, it captures in a different language. Like what he was doing was capturing in the language of painting what would later be captured in the very beautiful language of mathematics.

All right, astrophysicist, Adam Frank. Thank you so much for being with us tonight and helping us to understand a little more about the universe. We really appreciate it. My pleasure. Coming up, when Orca's attack, in recent years, killer whales caught on camera, sinking boats on the high seas.

So what's going on? Our Josh Letterman traveled to one of the Orca attack hot zones to find out. That is next. Finally, tonight, the trend that is puzzling scientists, the uptick in killer whales, ramming and even sinking boats off the Strait of Gibraltar. That's the critical passage connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and one of

the busiest waterways in the world, just eight miles wide at its narrowest point. But new research suggests these run-ins with orcas shouldn't be considered attacks on humans. Josh Letterman traveled to the strait for this report. He's going for it. It's a terrifying mystery on the high seat. Why are orcas, better known as killer whales, attacking boats by the hundreds, slamming into sailboats, ramming their rudders, even sinking at least half a dozen vessels since 2020?

Baffling marine biologists who say orcas and humans have always gotten along. But now new research may explain what's happening. Scientists in Spain say older orcas are training the young how to hunt Atlantic bluefin tuna, fast swimming fish that can go up to 13 feet long. Once endangered, the population of these tuna have recently recovered and become a critical part of these orcas diet. The orcas, they need to ram, they need to hit, they need to bite to isolate this large tuna. How do they reinforce this technique practicing?

But not all scientists agree. I traveled to the Orca attack hot zone, the Strait of Gibraltar, to find out why run-ins with the ocean's top predator are on the rise. Yannik Andre runs wee whale, which tracks works orcas at sea and works to keep them safe. Is it accurate to call these attacks? Actually, not at all, because it's an attack and blast something equestive towards humans.

Some scientists believe it's like the kind of fads teenagers go through, a learned behavior that, for whatever reason, becomes popular for a while and then fizzles out. At Spain's southern tip, we board a 30-foot boat and set sail. Despite their nickname, killer whales, orcas are actually massive dolphins. to 27 feet long and weighing as much as six tons and extremely intelligent with their own language of clicks and whistles the subspecies striking boats is called the iberian orca and it's considered critically endangered just 35 still believed to be alive is there a real risk the iberian orca could become extinct definitely i think we are just on the path to it unfortunately iberian orca spend the

colder months near northern spain but when the weather gets warmer they follow their prey the tuna to the Strait of Gibraltar, one of the world's busiest shipping lanes. This is the Strait of Gibraltar. Spain is right here. Gibraltar's behind me. Africa is off in the distance this way, and this is ground zero for where Orcas have been sinking boats. There have been no deaths, but a lot of scares. Since 2020, roughly 700 Orca interactions with boats. Yeah, my God. It was in these waters in May that Orcas ramped this 65-foot British yacht for an hour, breaking the rudder and flooding the the engine room, prompting a May Day call and an emergency rescue.

In the coastal town of Barbate, Spain, everybody has a story. Manuel Mariana was followed by a pot of orcas during his nightly fishing trip. He says, of course, they can sink you. Once the water enters, there's nothing you can do. As a fisherman, do you consider these orcas to be your enemy? No, no, no, no, no, he says, we're the ones in their habitat. Sailors have tried all kinds of ways to deter orcas when they show up. like making noise, throwing sand in the water, or turning off the engine and playing dead.

Do you think we'll ever know for sure why these orca interactions are happening? No, because we're not workers. So you can do a lot of science and studies and whatever, but in the end it's such an unknown world for us, what's happening below the water. Scientists tell me that for better or for worse, these orca run-ins are not going to stop anytime soon. After all, this is their habitat. Humans and wildlife are simply going to have to find some safe way to share these waters. Josh Letterman, thank you.

And thank you at home for watching Top Story. I'm Ellison Barber in New York for Tom Yamis. Stay right there. More news is on the way.