Top Story with Tom Llamas - Tuesday, April 1, 2025

Episode Date: April 2, 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, the first big test of President Trump's power this term, the special elections tonight, and the live results coming in right now. Key races in Wisconsin and Florida, much tighter than they were just months ago. What it says about how voters feel about President Trump and Elon Musk, who went all in on one race. Steve Kornacki in the House tonight breaking down the results as they come in. Another Walt's breach? New reporting tonight that President Trump's national security advisor was using. G-mail for government work, were state secrets at risk the pushback from the White House tonight. Out of control, the truck plowing into pedestrians in Boston, slamming into a building.

Six people hurt what we know about the driver. Spring slammed the massive storm system, putting 70 million at risk. We time it out. Death penalty for Luigi, the Department of Justice asking that the man accused of killing that health care CEO be put to death as donations in support of Luigi Mangione now approach a million dollars. Crash test dangers. The new push to include female crash test dummies in testing. How not having them is putting women at risk. And the new Fab Four take a look. The actors cast to play the Beatles in a new series of new movies. Do they look the part? Plus the big change to the NFL just to prove no more moving the chains for a first down. We'll explain. Top story starts right now.

And good evening. We are coming on the air tonight with breaking news as several special elections in Florida and Wisconsin hang in the balance. These elections are the first major test for President Trump and his agenda, just 71 days into his second term. The big question tonight, will he lose his tight grip on key Trump territory? And could these races provide new clues into how next year's midterm elections could go. We want to take a look at some of the results just coming in that we can report at this hour. The polls in Florida's sixth congressional race

closing moments ago. You can see right here where we can have, we have about 23% of the vote in right now. Very, well, it was a tight race. He just changed again, 52% for Josh Wheel, the Democrat in this race, 45% for a state senator, Randy Fine right there. And this vote is coming in fast and furious.

We're going to check in with this in just moments. So how could these races, shake up the current political landscape. Let's explain. Florida and Wisconsin are the states holding special elections today. In Florida, there are two deep red congressional districts at stake areas which Trump won in a landslide. Polls are closing in under an hour in a congressional district one, CD1, located along the Florida Panhandle, the Pensacola area, for former Congressman Matt Gates' seat. You may remember he was nominated to be Trump's Attorney General, but later bowed out, where Republican Jimmy Putronis is facing off against Democrat Gates.

And in the 6th Congressional District, the one we just saw, as we just mentioned there, that race is for Michael Walts' seat, Michael Walts, who, of course, is currently Trump's National Security Advisor. That's where Republican State Senator Randy Fine is running against Democrat Josh Weill, as we just saw there. And a race Republicans have raised concerns about as we'll outraised fined by millions. And north of Florida voters in Wisconsin, as you see here, are deciding who should have control of the state Supreme Court. will the liberal-leaning bench change to a more conservative one? It's a heated race breaking spending records with Elon Musk backing Brad Schimel and billionaire megadoner, George Soros, backing Susan Crawford. This could be, this court could be deciding cases on everything from abortion to voting rules.

And as we mentioned, those congressional races could change the already razor thing, Republican majority in the House, and NBC News poll shows President Trump with the highest approval rating he's ever had with 40% approving and 51% percent. disapproving. But now it's the voters' chances to have a say, at least in a few races, about how they feel about his policies using their ballots. We have reporters spread out across those high-state contests, Jack Brewster in Madison, Wisconsin, and Marissa Para in Daytona Beach, Florida first. But we want to first break it down with NBC News National Political Correspondent, Steve Kornacki, at the big board for us tonight. So, Steve, we should tell our viewers here,

full transparency. People are still voting in Florida, Wisconsin, and CD-1, and that's Supreme Court, as well. But here in CD6, the ballots that they've closed, and now we have some results, and what are you seeing? Yeah, I mean, they're coming in fast again. This is the 6th district we're talking about. It's right here, sort of south of Jacksonville, down to Daytona Beach, and then working inland. And you can see, Tom, almost a quarter of

all of the vote has already been counted. In the Democrat right now, Josh Wheel, leading the Republican by a little bit under eight points in the vote that's counted right now. Now, if you're a Democrat, you're looking at this, and you're getting very excited right now, because this is a very Republican district, how Republican Trump had carried this district by 30 points last November. Here's the thing you have to keep in mind, though, about how they count the votes

in Florida. The reason why we have so much coming in so early, all of the early votes, the mail-in votes, the votes cast before election day, they're allowed to get those ready, process, tabulate those, and they just spit them out as soon as polls close. And what you find in Florida is those votes, those mail-in votes, those early votes, tend to be more democratic, than what comes later. What's going to come later, a lot of the remaining vote here is going to be folks who turned out and voted today. So that's a more Republican vote. So what this actually is right now, we can break this down even a little bit further. We're getting numbers from two counties here, Volusia. This is where the mother load is in the district, and a little bit inland and Lake. And we just got, we could check in St. John's County. This is a smaller portion of it.

But again, consistent with what we're seeing. Yep, Democrat. These will be, all of these initial numbers will be the best the Democrats get here. will get. The question then becomes when that same-day vote is counted in, does it erode this? Because this is looking like an overperformance for the Democrats, certainly from what they did in November. But that's a mountain they're trying to climb here. And the saving grace for Republicans could be that there is that same-day vote to come. And throughout the broadcast, I mean, we're going to see this number come up as the votes get in, as they get counted and tabulated. And Florida usually does a pretty good job in counting those votes. This is really of all the big states in the country. I don't think there's a state that's faster than Florida.

You mentioned the Panhandle where that other district is 8 p.m. Eastern Central Time Zone, but expect what you're seeing here to happen there at 8 very quick. And to be clear for our viewers here, we're not expecting an upset. It could happen. Anything could happen. But we want to see the margins. How much do Republicans win by? And does that match Trump's 20-24 support? That's exactly. That's the question. And again, just checking back in, you can see 30% in that wheel margin, you know, ticking down there a little bit. But to put this in some perspective, we said that Trump won this district. the 6th district by 30 points. Huge number. Huge number, because of all of the Democrats in the House of Representatives, more than 200 of them, the most pro-Trump district that any of them represents, Trump won by nine.

So this is that much more Republican than any Democratic district. But yes, if the Democrats are able to slash that margin by 10, 15, 20 points, certainly they'll be out there saying this indicates some momentum. Yeah, 30% and again, 51.47, that's going to change throughout the hour. I do want to bring in Marissa Parra. She's live tonight there in that district, CD6 in Daytona Beach. We've seen a lot of money flow into the Democratic candidates campaign from around the country. How have those resources impacted this race, Marissa?

Hey, Tom. So as you mentioned, we're in CD6. Two different races happening. So the other one, they're still voting happening in CD1. But I want to take you to what we're seeing. So this is the watch party for the Democrat candidate, Josh Weill. And of course, you might have heard yourself. Because people in this room here were probably hearing the same thing that Steve Karnacki was reporting to us.

There was a round of applause and there were some cheers. Now, you mentioned yourself, Tom, the Democrats in both races, not just here and CD6, but as well in CD1, have vastly out-fundraised their Republican challengers. And so the big question is going to be how much does that matter, right? The Republican candidates leaning heavily on President Trump's endorsement with the messaging. We know that President Trump did a virtual town hall for the Republican campaign. candidates, including State Senator Randy Fine here. Big question is how much will it matter with the fundraising versus the endorsement tonight. Very soon, we're going to find out, Tom. All right, Marissa Par for us there in Daytona Beach, Marissa. We thank you for that. I do want

to talk about the other race we're watching tonight, the battle for a seat on the Wisconsin State Supreme Court. Shaq Brewster is at an event for the liberal candidate in that race. Susan Crawford. Shaq, this race has really put a spotlight on one of Elon Musk's PAC's, his America PAC has spent roughly 12.3 million bucks and independent expenditures on this race, roughly 25% of all the outside spending on this race. Voters are feeling that influence. What do you hear them saying? And explain to our viewers, why does Elon Musk want to spend so much money on this state Supreme Court race? Yeah, Tom, they're feeling the influence, they're feeling the pressure. I'll tell you, here in Wisconsin, polls don't close for another two hours. We're here

at, as you mentioned, the Susan Crawford event. It is empty right now, but that is. is by design. They want their supporters, they want their volunteers to go out knocking on doors. They want all those last-minute votes to come in because they expect this race to be extremely close. Now, you mentioned the multiple dynamics here. Wisconsin State Supreme Court, of course, is up for grabs here. This is a court that regularly hear some of the most thorny issues from abortion rights to voting rights to challenges to those legislative maps. But this is also a race that you've seen Elon Musk almost overshadow. Yes, there's. There's the spending.

He's one of the top spenders in this race, but he's also someone who's mobilizing both sides of this. Republicans mobilized by the fact that he's knocking on doors and his Super PAC, rather, is knocking on doors. Democrats unhappy with what's going on in D.C., unhappy with the president coming out and using this as a way to protest his involvement in that race. So Musk making a lot of attention here, and this race is being used as a test almost of his power to mobilize those low turnout voters, but also what he does and what Democrats do in response

to that time. And Shaq, as we said, the polls haven't closed there just yet, and we should probably tell our viewers there. I assume you're pretty early to that, whatever that is, that victory watch party or whatever event that is right there, because it looks like it's just you and your colleagues there tonight. Doors don't open until polls close, so they're keeping people away, making sure that they vote first. All right. Shaq Brewster, we appreciate that. I want to bring back, Steve, my good friend here. Steve, let's talk about Wisconsin. What are you seeing, if anything? I know the polls haven't closed just yet, but what are some of the things you're watching tonight? Yeah, I mean, I think the big dynamic here is you think about this. It's April

1st. It's the state Supreme Court. This is not going to be the turnout you see in a presidential election. I think that's really the test here. The Democratic side or the Republican side is one side more motivated than the other. And that's the challenge for Republicans because the answer for the last few years has been the Democratic side is more motivated in elections like this. The last time they had one of these Supreme Court races in Wisconsin, the Democratic-aligned candidate won it by 11 points. That's a landslide in Wisconsin. So a couple of places to watch tonight. One would be right here, this is Dane County, Madison University of Wisconsin. This is as Democratic as it gets in Wisconsin. And the key here, I mean, we could just show you what it

looked like. Look, in the presidential race, this is what Dane County looked like. And the question here is Crawford's going to win it. How much does she win it by? You know, the last time there was a court race, the margin was over 60 points for the Democrats. And just what is the here, the turnout level in a place like Madison compared with, I'm not going to show you one county, but I'm going to kind of paint a region here. This is the Mississippi River in here. Along the Mississippi River, from the Iowa border up to sort of,

this is the far Minneapolis suburbs and inland. You're talking about small towns, blue collar, rural areas. This is the heart of the Trump base. Trump did extremely well here last November, but the last time they had a court race, the turnout level was very low here compared to here. If the Republicans are going to have a change, Republicans are going to have a chance. The turnout here has got to match the turnout in Dane. That's the ball game for them.

Yeah, along with the wow and the bow counties, but we can't go into there, right? We're not going to go there. Since I have you here and we can do this, let's go back to CD6. Any changes there? I think we've got some more votes. And I'm curious to see where that race is right now because it literally is changing minute by minute. Let's take a look here. So look at that. We are 50% in, yeah. And you can see the big change. Randy Fine the Republican now has pulled ahead of wheel in the vote. I think you could tell the story of this in one county right here. This is the biggest one in the district. This is Volusia County where Daytona Beach is.

And you can see here, the Democrat is leading this by eight points right now, Josh Weill. But what you're starting to see with 56% of the vote coming in, now the vote that was cast today. Republicans are making those inroads. And you can expect this to tighten. 30% or 30 points. That's the high water mark. We'll be watching that all night. Steve, great to have you here tonight.

We appreciate it. We also have breaking news tonight out of the White House. The Washington Post reporting National Security Advisor, Mike Wals, the guy we were just talking about his district. Well, apparently they're reporting that some of the members of his staff have been using Gmail accounts for government business. That, again, according to the Washington Post, Waltz is already under heavy scrutiny for starting that now infamous signal chat, which copied a journalist into the attack plans against the Houthis over a commercial messaging app. For more and all of this, I want to get right to NBC News Senior White House correspondent, Gabe Gutierrez. Gabe, what do we know tonight?

Yeah, Tom Lee today, the Washington Post, as you mentioned, it's citing documents that it reviewed in three anonymous U.S. officials. And it's reporting that members of the White House National Security Council, including the National Security Advisor Mike Walt, may have received government documents, including calendar invites on personal Gmail accounts. And we just got a statement from the White House strongly pushing back on the report. A National Security Council spokesperson says Waltz received emails and calendar invites from old contacts on his personal. email and that he ced government accounts for anything since inauguration day to make sure that he complied with record retention laws. Now, the White House insists that Walt has never sent classified material over his personal email account or any unsecured platform.

NBC News has not reviewed the documents of Post sites, and the National Security Council says the Post has not shared the documents. As you said, Tom, this all comes after that separate controversy last week where the Atlantic published those contents of a signal group. with top administration officials discussing military strikes in Yemen. There now appears to be an ongoing dispute over what is too sensitive to discuss over unsecured systems. But again, the White House stresses that in this case, the national security advisor did nothing wrong. Yeah, but we do have to ask, right? This is the second headline in as many weeks involving Mike

Walls on an issue of national security. Do we have any idea how the president is viewing him right now? Well, over the last couple of days, Tom, we have heard that the president has no plans to fire Mike Waltz. And look, when you speak with White House officials, they have really doubled down, at least publicly, in their support of him because on the one hand, the enemies of the White House and critics of the White House want to see him be held accountable. And for that reason alone, the White House typically does not like to bend to that pressure. So as far as we understand it, Mike Walt is in a good standing with the White House, with the President so far that could change, though, in the coming months. But as far as we know it, this has not changed standing in the White House time. All right. Gabe Gutierrez first, Gabe, we thank you for that. President Trump's saying he said to announce new tariffs tomorrow on what he is calling Liberation Day.

Hundreds of U.S. trading partners and businesses are now bracing for how it will impact them. NBC's Christine Romans has more on the uncertainty. On the eve of President Trump's efforts to reshape the global economic order, the White House is offering only breadcrumbs. He is with his trade and tariff team right now, perfecting it to make sure this is a perfect deal for the American people and the American worker. The White House says the specifics of the president's tariff's plan will be announced tomorrow in a Rose Garden event and go into effect immediately. Tariffs already in effect include 20% on Chinese imports, 25% on. on aluminum and steel, and 25% on certain goods from Mexico and Canada, and scheduled to start tomorrow, 25% fees on auto imports. In Skokie, Illinois, Jeremy Gleason says over the past week at

his Subaru dealership, the pace of sales has more than doubled from what's typical as people rush in. What were customers asking you or telling you when they came into the dealership this weekend? Just with, yeah, so much uncertainty they'd like to just get it over with and get the car locked in at current pricing prior to anything changing. In Pimona, New York, Stuart Leventhal owns this outdoor furniture store that imports from around the world. You're ordering for Christmas already? It's ordered already.

It's ordered. But you don't know what it's going to cost. Doesn't that sound stupid? In January, he ordered inventory that won't arrive until July under a new set of rules. It's an uneasy time because there seems to be no certainty, no certainty with respect. to what the cost of goods are, and no certainty as to where the policies are taking us. An uncertainty weighing on both business and consumers. Christine Romans joins us now in studio. So, Christine, how are the markets now reacting before

Liberation Day? They've had this sort of strange relationship in the second Trump presidency with some of these plans. I mean, remember in the first presidency, he basically used the stock market as his personal poll or his personal scorecard. And now you have stocks down. in the first Trump presidency overall, the worst quarter for the S&P 500 in three years, because they're worried about tariffs. They're worried about what it will be mean for the cost structure of companies. And that's, of course, what the stock market reflects, not what's happening on Main Street, but what's happening for companies and their costs, and those costs are expected to go up. So we'll see when this announcement comes, anything could happen in the

stock market. Before you go, are the Liberation Day sort of thoughts already baked into the market? I always say the market likes to predict the future or we don't know yet. I think it's the uncertainty that's baked into the market. So there will be certainty tomorrow. And depending on just how far the president goes with these tariffs, there could be more pain in the stock market. There also could be a relief rally, as they say, if Wall Street perceives that maybe the worst case scenario didn't happen.

So stay tuned. Okay. Christine Romans for us tonight. Christine, we thank you for that. We're also following breaking news right now from Capitol Hill. Democratic Senator Cory Booker is just about to break the record for longest filibuster. We want to look at this live right now. This is a live look at the House floor. The New Jersey Senator has officially been speaking for about 24 hours and 19 minutes straight. There was a small

break with a chaplain that came in for a while, but he has been going nonstop. He now surpasses the record held by the late Senator Strom Thurman, who filibustered for 24 hours and 18 minutes in in 1957 in opposition of the Civil Rights Act. Let's listen in to Cory Booker. Thank you. Julie Serkin is following this for us. And Julie, Senator Booker had been rallying against President Trump and his second term. Tell us more about what he was talking about throughout that day.

in this filibuster. 24 hours, Tom, and 19 minutes. And Senator Cory Brooker has broken this record. He was talking about everything that the Trump administration has done in the first two months that Booker says has harmed and will continue to harm Americans. He stayed on message, which is rare and notable for even the list of the longest speeches before him. Some read children's books, some quote, something entirely off message.

But Booker here talking about education, about immigration. about the cuts to the federal government, ending in the last 20 minutes before he officially broke this record, talking about the legacy of the late John Lewis, of course, his legacy in the civil rights movement, which is notable in terms of Booker breaking the record because the person that he took that record from was Democrat Strom Thurman, who in 1957 spoke on the floor for a long time in what's known as a filibuster to try and prevent the Civil Rights Act from passing. and now Booker becoming the first black man, the senator from New Jersey, to reach this point and to take that record for himself.

Yeah, quite the irony there in history. We should also mention, right, Democrats are looking for some momentum, if you will, some energy within the party, as the party sort of looks to pick up the pieces after the 2024 presidential election, it feels like, and it looks like Senator Cory Booker, at least on the Democratic side, is trying to meet that moment. Absolutely. He is trying to meet that moment, especially when they were home in the last couple of weeks during recess and heard from voters the immense anger, the palpable frustration that the Democratic base has right now at their party leadership in Washington, and you can't see it at home. But the Senate gallery around the entire perimeter of it is full with people who came here to hear Cory Booker's speech. That is who he was looking up at and kind of placing his hand on his heart as they applauded him and stood in a standing ovation. There are also people outside of the Capitol, by the way. One moment, a couple of moments ago, spotted by somebody on our team had a sign thanking Booker for using his voice. They were listening to it, had a little speaker near them. And so here, obviously, Booker using this moment, again, not in this case, filibustering any specific piece of legislation. There's nothing on the calendar for the Senate to work on today or tomorrow. But using this moment to make sure that voters who want to support Democrats are hearing from somebody who potentially wants to be in leadership.

maybe even another run for president in 2028. I couldn't help but notice some of the language he used there in praising and giving thanks to the late John Lewis that kind of hinted at that perhaps, but certainly Democrats looking to fill that void that they have right now. The speech isn't going to do it, but it's a sign that they are using their very limited power in the minority, Tom, to speak up and speak out as much as they can.

Okay, Julie, circuit for us on this historic moment. Julie, we appreciate that. When we return, Luigi Mangione, now facing the death penalty, how the announcement today led to a spike in donations to the accused killer. We'll explain that. Plus, mistakenly deported the man the government says should not have been sent to a prison in El Salvador. So why isn't the government trying to bring him back? And was she framed the retrial of Karen Reid accused of killing her husband?

Did police set her up? Stay with us. back down with the latest in the case against Luigi Mangione, the suspected shooter of a United Healthcare CEO of the United Healthcare CEO. Attorney General Pam Bondi announcing today she's directing prosecutors to seek the death penalty against the alleged killer calling the shooting an act of political violence. NBC's Kendalini has this report. It was a crime that shocked the nation. A health care CEO gunned down on the streets of Manhattan by a masked man wielding a silence pistol. Completely out of touch.

Tonight, Attorney General Pam Bondi has ordered the Justice Department to seek the death penalty against the accused killer, Luigi Mangione. Bondi calling the killing a premeditated, cold-blooded assassination and an act of political violence. Authorities say Mangione wrote a note complaining about American health care policy and saying, these parasites simply had it coming. The victim, United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, was a. father of two young children. We, the people, what will we be free? The stunning crime, yielding an even more astonishing reaction.

Millions of Americans expressing support for Mangione online, and even at his court appearances. The health care system is corrupt. We need to fix it. A legal fund from Mangione growing to nearly $800,000 in donations, including thousands raised after today's news. And a court filing last week revealing these heart-shaped notes. slipped into a pair of socks Mangione was given as a gift.

One note reading, we are all rooting for you. Know there are thousands of people wishing you luck. A recent USA Today Suffolk University poll showing that 28% of Americans said they understand Mangione's anger with the health care system, though 65% said he should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. It's the job of both the defense and the prosecution to make sure that they're going to have fair jurors who aren't going to say out of the gate, he needs to be punished or he doesn't need to be punishing. Mangione, a member of a prominent and wealthy Baltimore family,

educated at an elite private high school in the University of Pennsylvania. He has been charged both in state and federal court and has pleaded not guilty in both cases. New York State doesn't have the death penalty. It's Bondi's first effort to try for a federal death sentence since she reversed a moratorium on capital punishment imposed by Attorney General Merrick Garland when he took office in 2021. Trump has made it clear. and now Pambandhi has made it clear that this is an avenue to keep quote-unquote America safe again. Mangione's lawyer calling the move barbaric, saying in part, while claiming to protect against murder, the federal government moves to commit the premeditated state-sponsored murder of Luigi.

Ken Delanian, NBC News, Washington. All right, we have some more breaking news in those special elections. I want to get right over to Steve Kornacki. Steve, we have an official winner in CD6. for Mike Walsh's seat there in Florida. Randy Fein, the state senator, the projected winner. The big question now is, by how much does you win? What do we know?

Yeah, Tom, that's right. Randy Fein wins, and we don't know where this is going to land exactly, but the indications from the returns are this final outcome, this final margin will probably be lower, substantially lower perhaps, than Republicans won this district by last November when Donald Trump was their candidate for president. Remember, in November, the margin was 30 points for Donald Trump. in this district and currently Fine is leading by eight. Now, some of the clues that we have,

I'll give you the main clue that we have in the results right now. It's right here in Lake County. You could see Lake County on the map. This is about 15% of the district. Just about all the vote is in, in Lake County here. And you can see Randy Fine has won here by 17 points. By 17 points. What was Donald Trump's margin in this same county in November? It was 34 points. So that's a 17. Trump's margin in this county was cut in half tonight by Democrats. They're going to lose it Democrats are by 17, but they lost it by 34 last time. Now, that's one county in this district. There's a number of them in here. But again, if something like that pattern is holding across the district, then you can expect, again, that 30-point margin for Trump perhaps lands somewhere in the teens

tonight in this race. So that's the Republicans breathe a sigh of relief that, you know, the absolute worst-case scenario for them is avoided to actually losing the seat. Democrats, if that's what ends up happening, though, in terms of the margin, certainly you can expect to hear them crowing about keeping it a lot closer than maybe it should be in a very red district. Yeah, and the margin's so tight in the House right now. Steve Kornacki, we appreciate that. When Top Story returns, 70 million Americans at risk, the major storm system set to sweep across much of the country. We're timing it out. Plus, crash test dangers why the gender of crash test dummies may be a matter of life and death, the new push to make everyone safer.

We're back now with a terrifying scene out of Boston. After a box truck swerved out of control, striking multiple pedestrians. Four people were sent to the hospital, and at least one is still in critical condition. Authorities saying the crash appears to be a tragic accident. NBC news correspondent Sam Brock has borne this investigation. In the middle of the day, a jarring site in downtown Boston, an upturned Penske box truck. Back up, please. Chaos on the streets with several people injured. Upon the officer's arrival, they observed a box truck turned over on its side, as well as multiple people

who were struck by the vehicle. In what law enforcement is calling an accident, witnesses describing those initial moments. Oh my God, and my first thought was, is everyone okay? Like, are they alive? Boston PD says one person is critically injured, while three others are at least in stable condition, including the truck's driver. The fire department posting it used extrication tools to remove the trap driver. Multiple law enforcement officials telling NBC news they're looking into whether the driver had a medical issue that led to the crash, as the DA weighing in on an active investigation. At least at this preliminary juncture, we don't have any reason to believe that this was an intentional act. Penske noting in a statement, they are fully cooperating with

authorities, adding, based on our records, the truck involved was out on rent to a commercial trucking company. Now is street covered in debris and residents shaken as officials try and unpack what happened. Sam Brock, NBC News. Okay, also tonight we're tracking that major storm system we've been telling you about growing in the planes tonight, putting more than 71 million people from Texas to Michigan at risk for severe weather, including tornadoes and large hail all of this tomorrow. NBC News meteorologist Michelle Grossman is tracking it. tonight for Top Story. Michelle, the storm system is developing as we speak. Talk to our viewers about what you're watching. That's right. We're just starting to see this severe risk pop tonight,

and we're going to be seeing this severe risk through the weekend. So many days ahead had really tough weather-wise. So what we're looking at right now, see those little cells right there just starting to pop. This is an indication of what's to come over the next several hours. We have a tornado watch that is in the pink until 12 o'clock local time, and then we're starting to see these severe thunderstorm warnings. This one just popped up to the south. So we're going to start to see this really get going as we go throughout the next couple of hours. For tonight, 14 million Americans under the threat for severe storms. That includes tornadoes. It includes large hail, two inches or larger, and winds gusting up to 60 miles per hour, the lightliest area where you see this orange

here, from Kansas City to Wichita, Oklahoma City, down to north of Wichita Falls. But look what happens tomorrow. It grows in number, it grows in size, and it grows in intensity. We're looking at 71 million people tomorrow at risk for really strong storms. We're talking EFTA. two or greater long tracking storms as well. Winds gusting over 75 miles per hour. That's over Hurricane 4 speed. And we're looking at very large hail, especially where you see the red shading.

On top of that, we are concerned about life-threatening, potentially catastrophic rainfall over the next several days. This gets going tomorrow through Thursday. Where you see this pink here, that is a moderate risk. So we are looking at a four-day event, a really historical rainfall, five to eight inches of rain. But, Tom, we could see up to 15. in some spots. Wow. Okay. We're going to be watching it all. Michelle, we thank you for that.

Now, I know to NBC News exclusive on the Trump administration's deportation flights to El Salvador. Tonight, two women who were on those planes speaking out on what they witnessed. This, as the White House reveals, it made a mistake sending a Maryland man on one of those flights, leaving him stuck in a notorious mega jail. NBC's Julia Ainslie's following it all. The images sparked a legal showdown over President Trump's mass deportations. Alleged gang members arriving on flights to a notorious prison in El Salvador. And tonight, two women who say they were on those planes speaking exclusively to NBC News.

We were lied to. When we arrived at our destination, that's when they told us we were in El Salvador. Hey Maramoia Tones tells us she was arrested by ICE and was expecting to be deported home to Venezuela. Scarlett Rodriguez said she used the Biden administration CBP1 app to get across the border. We are from Venezuela.

We know that airport. And we were like, no, we are not in Venezuela. Both women say they have no criminal history and are not part of a gang. Consistent with court declarations, she said she witnessed an official pushed three men to sign papers claiming they were gang members. And there was a man who said no that he wasn't going to sign it because he had nothing to do with that. And the official came and said whether we sign or don't sign the paper, they were going to leave us there. The women are now back at a U.S. detention facility after El Salvador's president refused to take female prisoners. Moya Tonez says she's worried about her two-year-old son, left with a relative in Pennsylvania.

I am very afraid because I've always been with my son. There's now a legal battle over the Trump administration's use of wartime powers for some deportations. Just today, the administration said it mistakenly sent a Maryland man to El Salvador, despite an immigration judge's order saying he could not be deported there. His attorney says he was not a gang member. Vice President Vance posted, this man is an illegal immigrant with no right to be in our country. It was an administrative error. This individual who was deported to El Salvador and will not be returning to our country

was a member of the brutal and vicious MS-13 gang. The Trump administration touts its hands. handling of border security, with illegal border crossings now the lowest ever recorded. A new poll shows 58 percent of Americans approve of the president's deportation efforts. But an ACLU attorney says mistakes have been made. Whoever heard of sending someone potentially for a life sentence in El Salvador without giving them any due process to show they don't belong. We spoke to Rodriguez's mother back in Venezuela, who said her daughter hoped for a better

future in the U.S. Now, both women just want to be deported to their own country. What will you do the moment you see her for the first time? My God, it is going to be the happiest day of my life, she said. Julie Ainsley joins us now in studio. Julie, I want to speak a little bit more about that man that you profiled there at the end of your report, because I know we have some new reporting on him as well, and the administration is saying two different things about him.

His wife says that she noticed images of him inside that El Salvadorian prison. She claims it was him because of some of the tattoos. she saw on his arm as well as some scars on his head as well. Here's apparently video of him being led when he was in that maximum security prison. What exactly is happening here? Because it sounds like the administration is saying, yeah, we've made an error, but he's also part of MS-13. What's the truth? Yeah, because it's hard for them to argue that they did not make an error because in 2019 court papers, a judge said that he had a withholding of removal. In other words, you can't deport this man. They often do that if there's a pending asylum claim or other information

that needs to be brought to light. But he's been living here under that order, and obviously it's a violation of that to go ahead and deport him anyway. They're saying that was an administrative error, but that the country is safer because they say he was a member of MS-13, and that that's why they sent him back to El Salvador.

Now, his family and his lawyers say that he is not a member of MS-13 and that he is not a criminal, Tom. All right, Julia Ainslie, for us, Julia, great to have you in New York. We want to head back to Capitol Hill and the fight within the House to allow new.

parents to vote remotely for up to 12 weeks after the birth of their child. House Speaker Mike Johnson had refused to bring the bill to the House floor, but today, nine Republicans siding with all the Democrats to essentially bypass the speaker and force a vote. The bipartisan bill championed by two moms in Congress, including Democratic Representative Brittany Peterson of Colorado, who you see here, brought her two-month-old baby to the House floor today. To explain all of this, I want to bring in NBC News Chief Capitol Hill correspondent Ryan Nobles. And Ryan, Ryan, just to be really clear for our viewers here, This concerns lawmakers in Congress voting remotely because they're new parents.

So what's happening here? And why would anyone be against this? Well, the reason that the House Speaker and, to his credit, all of his leadership team have been opposed to this, Tom, is because they're worried that it creates a slippery slope, that if you allow this exception for new moms and dads, then what do you say to cancer patients that are going through treatment, someone that breaks a leg and wants to be able to vote remotely. and they just believe that opening that door would lead to a constitutional problem that they just don't want to deal with. They believe that you need to be in person to cast your ballot, even if you are a new mom or dad. And that's part of the reason why they are attempting to block this process.

The problem is that the rest of Congress doesn't feel that way. An overwhelming majority of the members of Congress would like to offer up this carve-out, which is why these two members of Congress, Republican and a Democrat, have found a way around that process. what the speaker and his leadership team are trying to do is block them from getting to that point with a procedural move. And they were unsuccessful today, but there is the real possibility that the leadership team takes another stab at it and puts pressure on rank-and-file members to prevent this from happening. And this is causing a bit of drama on the Republican side, right? Because as you mentioned, there is bipartisan support on this.

You have a Democrat, and you have a Republican who came together on this. That Republican, of course, is Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, a very very important. very outspoken supporter of President Trump. She stepped away from her role in the House Freedom Caucus this week over this bill. Yeah, that's right, Tom. A very conservative Republican and a pretty progressive Democrat that have teamed up for this. And what it shows us, that Luna's willingness to leave the Freedom Caucus, to leave, and kind of buck leadership shows how empowered rank and foul members are in this Congress. And why it's been so difficult for leadership to get anything done, that includes even the most conservative members who've shown a

willingness to stand up to their leadership. They've done it this time around. There's a good possibility they could do it on other big issues like the upcoming budget resolution, which will be a big debate in Congress over the next couple of weeks. Okay, Ryan Noble's first, Ryan, we appreciate that. Anticipation is swirling tonight over the retrial of Karen Reid. She's the Massachusetts woman accused of murder and the death of her police officer boyfriend. After a highly publicized mistrial last year and the recent firing of the lead investigator,

day one of the new trial wrapping up just hours ago. NBC's Rahma Ellis has the latest. Accused killer Karen Reid, mobbed by people as she left court today. Jury selection began in her second murder trial for the 22 death of her boyfriend, veteran Boston police officer John O'Keefe. Do your best to resolve this case based upon the evidence and law without sympathy, bias, or prejudice to the best of your ability as human beings. Reed's last trial ending in a hung jury after several bombshell developments, including allegations that the lead investigator, State Trooper Michael Proctor, had disparaged Reed with offensive texts to coworkers and friends.

Proctor reading some of those messages on the witness stand. These came from me. Funny, I'm going through his client's phone. No nude so far. Read Karen Reed. Reed's supporters gathering in the lead-up to the retrial. The investigation into the death of Boston police officer John O'Keefe was hindered right from the beginning. Echoing her claims of innocence, but the judge keeping the focus inside the courtroom. People outside of this building have rights, and we know that they have voices, but this criminal trial will be decided by an independent jury. Prosecutors alleging Reed, furious over a deteriorating relationship with Officer O'Keefe,

drunkenly backed her Lexus SUV into him. and left him for dead outside in the snow. But Reed's defense team argues that someone else killed O'Keefe, and Reed is the victim of an elaborate conspiracy by other officers to frame her. That's also when the defense accused the lead investigator, State Trooper Michael Proctor, of leading a biased investigation. Ladies and gentlemen, there was a cover-up in this case, plain and simple. Pointing to those text messages, he sent to friends and supervisors with vulgar language about Reed.

The rest of the unprofessional and regrettable comments are something I'm not proud of. The prosecutor's case faltering. I'm declaring a mistrial. And Trooper Proctor fired for violating agency rules when he sent the messages and for sharing confidential case information with non-law enforcement personnel. Proctor has not commented on his termination, but is now on the witness list for both sides in the retrial. Will he feel more constrained or less constrained now that he has been fired as a state trooper?

On the one hand, you might think that this is a witness who might have an axe to grind with his old employer, who is also part of the prosecution against Karen Reed. But on the other hand, he gave sworn testimony the first time around, and he knows that if he deviates too much from that sworn testimony at the first trial, that he could find himself in even more trouble at the second trial. Another change for the retrial, Reed has added an alternate juror from the first trial to her defense team. This is a really good test person for what worked and what didn't work the first time around. Rahma Ellis joins us now.

So how has the public interest in this case sort of affected this trial now in the second iteration? There has been so much interest in this case. What the judge is determined is that they are going to have a 200-foot buffer of people to keep supporters away from the court room with the courthouse. Those that get into the courtroom cannot wear pins in support of Karen Reed or have t-shirts on in support of her as this trial goes on. And I should tell you, today they managed to pick two of the 12 jurors for this case. All right, Rahima Ellis First Rahima. We thank you for that. We're back in a moment with why there are no female crash test dummies. How that oversight is putting half the population at risk.

Stay with us. Welcome back. We are back with the major change in the NFL, the league saying goodbye to the chains and replacing them with Sony's Hawkeye virtual measurement system. You see it here. The league says the 8K on-field cameras

will be able to track first downs with better accuracy, saving up to 40 seconds over chain measurements. The Hawkeye system will be operated from the NFL's new. New York Game Day Central officiating center. Traditional first down crews will still remain on the sidelines, of course, as a backup. Okay, now to a new push to make cars even safer for women.

There are currently no test crash test dummies used in crash tests that resemble the size of the average American woman. Experts say it's why women are more likely to be hurt and even killed in a crash. Here again, is Julie Sirkin with the new effort by lawmakers to try and change this. 19-year-old Maria Weston-Coon never imagined her family vacation would end like this. We were driving down a winding countryside road, and all of a sudden, there is a car in front of us, and it hit, it hit us. It just came out of nowhere. It happened in Maria's home state of Maine over Christmas in 2019.

Maria sat in the back of the car with her mom and sister. Her dad was in the driver's seat, her brother in the passenger seat beside him. Did you and your mom sustain worse injuries than your brother and your brother? your dad. We did strangely enough. I remember we all thought at the time it's so strange that the people farthest from where the car actually hit were the most hurt. The only difference is that you and your mom are women and your brother and your dad are men. The injuries that my mom and I suffered were exactly the ones that are most common for women to suffer in car crashes. The seatbelt Maria wore pinned her intestines against her spine, but it wasn't until she got home from

the hospital that she realized her injuries were part of what experts agree is a troubling pattern. The seat belts and airbags are not designed to predict us. More than five years have passed since Maria's accident. And today in the United States, there are still no dummies used in car crash tests that represent the average woman's height, weight, and body type. If you look at a typical crash test dummy. Chris O'Connor, president and CEO of Humanetics, the world's largest producer of crash test dummies, says this means cars are not designed to ensure the safety of women.

His company makes these smart dummies. have 150 sensors which correspond to every potential injury you could have in a car accident and there are anatomically accurate versions for men and women if you look at the lower lakes has like 50 more sensors than what that would have it they're built in this century with updated technology the only problem these aren't used in the US the regulation says you only have to use the old standard which is from 40 50 years ago why are the car companies still using this because it's a and it's easy.

And because car companies have little incentive to change their ways, unless mandated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, or NHTSA for short. This 4'11-108-pound dummy is a small version of the male dummy, designed in the 1970s. But O'Connor says the sensors are not concentrated in the areas women are most likely to be injured, including in the legs, where according to a study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, women are two and a half times more likely. to be hurt in a crash. They put a female chest jacket on it and called it a female. This is a man-sized car. When safety requirements were first put in place, cars were marketed for men

who did most of the driving, but not so today. There's more licensed women driving than there are men driving. How many more women die every year than men do? A woman now today, in the same condition, same accident, same belted driver is 73 percent more likely to be injured. And almost 20% more likely to be killed than a male. Inspired by Maria's story and the staggering statistics, lawmakers took notice. This seems like such a no-brainer. Well, sometimes manufacturers need to be pushed a little bit. The She Drives Act would require the use of those smart dummies, including the representative

female version. It's a big safety problem, and there's a simple fix, so let's do it. They are doing it. The legislation could even pass this year. How does it feel to be the driving force behind action that could save so many women in this country? It's been quite a journey to get us this far. I had no idea this was an issue. I did not know how much work there was to be done.

And Tom asked to where this bill goes next. The She Drives Act was reported unanimously out of the Commerce Committee. That is the Senate panel that has jurisdiction over both the Department of Transportation and NHTSA, that agency that we reference in our story. told me that this bill is being fast-tracked right now, meaning it could potentially pass on the Senate floor by voice vote if all 100 senators agree. That process could come together very quickly,

bringing welcome news to Maria and millions of women who get behind the wheel every single day. Tom? All right, when we come back, the new Fab Four, have you heard about this? Some of Hollywood's biggest male stars cast to play The Beatles in a four-part film series, but the casting getting some backlash.

Do they have the look to pull this off? That's next. Finally tonight, the cast of the highly anticipated Beatles movies has officially come together. Paul Ringo, John and George, will be played by some of the biggest stars in Hollywood. Take a look here. Joseph Quinn will portray George Harrison,

Barry Keogan as Ringo star, Harris Dickinson as John Lennon, and Paul Mascall as Sir Paul McCartney. They will portray the iconic music group in four separate feature-length biopics directed by Oscar winner Sam Mendez. Mendez saying the films will then all premiere in April 2028 and will be the first bingeable theatrical experience. Chloe Malas joins Top Storytime to talk about this. So wait, Chloe, that first part there, explained to our viewers, all the movies are going to come out at once, sort of? All of them in April 2028.

And the head of Sony Pictures, Tom Rothman, he said at CinemaCon that it wasn't possible to tell the Beatles story in one movie. They didn't want to do a show and that this is the first bingeable theatrical experience, right? I mean, ever since the pandemic, movie theaters have been trying to figure out how to get people back in the seats. You've had Tom Cruise, you've had big names saying there's nothing like watching a movie with your peers alongside you instead of at home on your couch. And now they're thinking that audiences are going to get off the couch and not just see one movie, but see four of them. And it doesn't hurt that they've cast some of the hottest actors right now. Let's talk about that, right? Because these are huge names. Some people are saying

they don't necessarily look just like the Fab Four. Let's put up the graphic here. Who cares? Hair and makeup. What do you think? What is the internet saying? It's brilliant. I mean, so you have two British actors. You have two Irish actors. A lot of people are joking about will they get the accents right? Paul Mescal, he was in Gladiator. Oh, he was so good. I mean, he's going to do a great job as Paul McCartney. Barry, it's been a really big past few years for him. Huge. He's had a huge career.

Not just because of, you know, the movies and TV shows. He was dating Sabrina Carpenter. So that was a big deal, too. Now, I don't know if you guys saw the movie Baby Girl, but the guy who starred alongside Nicole Kidman, he is now going to be in this movie, too. His name is Harris. And so this is a huge moment for him.

Right. So this is casting brilliance. This is casting at its finest, because they know that they're also trying to appeal to a younger generation, not just Beatles fans to get in there. So you said 2028, that's a long time from now. They're essentially going to shoot all the films back to back? I mean, yes. I mean, they've already started doing it now. But if you think about it, Tom, it's not that much, much time.

If you think about post-production, editing, marketing, 2028, it's going to be here before you know it. And these four films, now here's the thing, though, this is what I was thinking about today. Which one is going to exactly come out first? Are they all going to come out on the same day or spread them out over the course of a few days? And are people going to see maybe the Ringo movie and then go see the Paul movie and then go rewatch them out of order? Because you're going to see the same events. and history happening, but from their different vantage point. So it's going to be a fun moment for people. And I wonder if young people want to see all these films about the Beatles.

I hope they do, because they're amazing. Before we go, your favorite Beatles song, I'll put you on the spot. Help. Oh, all right, help. Somebody. Okay, I'm not a really bad singer, but I can play the piano. Can you sing? I love, I can't, but I love it in my life. That's a great one. There's so many great Beatles songs. Yellow submarine. Is that the Beatles? That's a good one, too. Yeah, yeah, it is. I think we're going to have to brush up on our Beatles history, Chloe. Thanks so much for watching Top Story. I'm Tom Yamison, New York. Stay right there. More news on the way.