Top Story with Tom Llamas - Tuesday, January 10, 2023

Episode Date: January 11, 2023

At least 15 people killed as California is battered with a string of deadly storms, pressure mounts for President Biden over the classified documents found at his former office, the humanitarian crisis unfolding over the staggering surge of migrants, Prince Harry's memoir finally hits the shelves, and heart-stopping avalanche in Utah caught on a snowboarder's camera.

Tonight, California under a state of emergency and the death toll is climbing. This state battered with a relentless string of deadly storms. At least 15 people killed. A monster sinkhole, swallowing cars hole near Los Angeles. A mother and daughter pulled to safety. Tens of thousands forced to evacuate, including celebrities like Ellen DeGeneres. Two first responders will join us live in just moments to take us inside the heroin rescues by boat and by plane. Pressure mounting on President Biden after that stunning revelation late last night,

classified documents from his time as Obama's vice president found out one of his private offices. The discovery made just one week before the midterms. So the growing question tonight, why is this just coming to light now? The new investigation, House Republicans are preparing to launch. Border crisis, the president meeting with leaders of Mexico and Canada to deal with a staggering surge of migrants arriving by land and by sea. both Texas and Florida facing a humanitarian crisis. The lawmaker representing the Florida Keys

where hundreds have been arriving in makeshift vessels joins Top Story tonight what he's calling on President Biden to do. The dramatic video out of Utah snowboarder caught in an avalanche, how he lived to tell the tale you'll hear from him tonight. Plus, in his own words, Prince Harry's memoir, finally hitting the shelves, the explosive new details you have not heard, including the first time Harry heard about his family,

calling him Williams' spare, and why Megan was not allowed by the Queen's side in her final days. And the wild images from a rock Royal Caribbean cruise ship, a waterfall raining down on the deck, with the cruise line says caused that spectacle at sea. Top story starts right now. Hey, good evening. We begin Top Story tonight with that state of emergency in California. Listen to this. Right now, 90% of it. of that state. That's nearly 34 million people are under flash flood watches at this hour, and already 15 people have died because of these storms. The images coming in like something

out of a disaster movie. Water rushing towards and down roads, turning them into rivers, and the loss of life and property has been catastrophic. I want to take, show you some of this video here, rescue teams across the state pulling off dangerous swift water rescues. The Santa Barbara County Fire Department able to save the driver of this truck luckily. a massive sinkhole swallowing two vehicles in Los Angeles. Pretty incredible there. Mother and daughter, though, pulled from the bottom of the pit safely. And daylight revealing just how enormous that sinkhole was.

Nearly half of the road was washed away into the river. And mudslides, another huge concern tonight, this one trapping roughly 400 people at an RV resort outside of Santa Barbara. Cruise responding to 911 calls around the clock. In a moment, a captain and pilot from the Sacramento County Fire Department will join us live to tell us how they are dealing with this. seemingly endless onslaught of dangerous storms. But we begin with Miguel Almaguer at the scene of that massive sinkhole we just showed you in Los Angeles.

Miguel, it's quite a scene there just behind you. I understand emergency crews are still on the scene. Yeah, they're still here, Tom. And the pictures you have been showing are just incredible, and so is the scene behind me. The storm that slammed into central and southern California was incredibly violent. The road behind me just buckled open. I want to show you some drone video overhead of this sinkhole. There is not one, but two separate cars that have plummeted 35 feet down.

Incredibly, everyone inside those cars somehow made it out alive. But this has been a very violent storm, and not everyone's been so lucky. As a new monster storm barrels across every major city in California again. We're seeing more water rescues, flash flooding, and mudslides unfold. These disasters killing at least 17, also shredding apart new sections of the state. It was like two feet of mud and water coming down the street and out of the houses, so it was pretty scary. This time, California's historically sunny cities, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, and Montecito were lashed with a biblical deluge as mountains crumbled toward the sea. Sinkholes opened up in L.A.

Firefighters lifting car passengers from the underground crater. The historic storms washing over cities from San Francisco to San Diego are literally redefining the state. Cracked and crumbled, California's battered coastline is perhaps as dangerous as it is beautiful. Some of the state's most iconic properties are also some of the most vulnerable. On Ticito, an enclave to the rich and famous like Ellen DeGeneres. This is crazy. It's still under citywide evacuations as authorities fear the return of deadly mudslides. Notable cities since the start of the new year are all drenched in rainfall, running well over 100% of average.

It is right up there with some of the most extensive rainfall we've seen, definitely in the last 80 years. From drought to downpours, California's swing from extremes comes as a new report confirms. last year's annual precipitation in the U.S. was more than an inch and a half below average, making it one of the driest years on record. But another punch is to the wallet. Disaster costs for 2022 easily exceed $165 billion. Climate change is warming the whole planet. That includes the atmosphere and the oceans. What that means for us is that the atmosphere is able to hold more moisture. So these storms can be bigger. our changing planet as our new normal becomes even more extreme.

All right, Miguel Amaguer joins us now live again from Los Angeles, from that massive sinkhole. So Miguel, explain this to us. What made this rainfall so dangerous? Was it the back-to-back-to-back storms? That's right, Tom. The ground is just totally oversaturated. California, Southern California in particular, is not used to these massive delugees. They actually began just before the new year.

We've had six atmospheric rivers, one on top of another, just roll in here. It's like a wet sponge, Tom. At some point, there's only so much water it can hold, and then it just overflows everywhere. And that's the situation we're here in southern and northern California tonight. So, Miguel, at the top of the broadcast, we talked about 90% of your state there is under some type of flash flood warning. I have to ask you, are power outages now an issue as well? Major problem all across the state. earlier this morning, there were hundreds of thousands of people without power.

By this afternoon, it got down to a couple to maybe 20, 30, 40, 50,000 people without power. But those trees, Tom, from that oversaturated ground, are still falling. They're slicing through homes. They're bringing down power lines. That means more people are going to lose electricity over the next couple of days. And cruiser scrambling all across the state to get energy back up. But that won't happen quickly, Tom. Yeah, and more bad weather's on the way.

We're going to hear about that in a moment from Bill Carrens. All right. Miguel Almaguer leading us off here on Top Story tonight. For more on the devastating flooding, I want to bring in Capons, Bryce Mitchell and Parker Wilborn from the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District. We've been seen a lot of their video, the rescue video. Guys, thanks so much for joining Top Story tonight. As I understand it, you and your teams have done at least 100 water rescues since New Year's Eve, which is a wild number, including 12 helicopter rescues. We're looking at one of those right now.

The water is so brown. You cannot see through it. It looks like absolutely like mud. covering almost tree tops. Talk to us about how these rescues went down and how difficult they were. Parker, I'll start with you since you're the helicopter pilot. I'm sorry, Bryce. Yeah, so these conditions range from extreme downpours with high winds

and right on the edge of what the aircraft can form all the way to having daylight conditions. Whether they're operating at night or during the day, they were all very difficult just due to the varying conditions. and with the weather. We're seeing you guys rescue some person that was in the middle of a field that looked like. Had they abandoned their vehicle or had they get there? That just seemed so bizarre. Well, actually, what occurred on that

particular rescue was that was an individual that we actually witnessed it swept away from his vehicle. And so we had to take fairly quick action to be able to trace him down the fast moving waters and be able to recover him from the water. And we hauled him to a dry location. We then loaded him into the aircraft

and transported them to more definitive care. But we were able to get to him just in time. We happened to be there for another rescue that was taking place at the time. And just we're lucky enough to witness him, leave his vehicle, get away from his vehicle, and we're able to get to him in time. Parker, can you put this in a context? I mean, we cover a lot of extreme weather here on Top Story. Some of it's out of California.

But I can't remember a time where we saw rescues like this happening in your state. You hit the nail on the head. And California is very experienced in natural disasters, whether it's wildfire season, earthquakes, or now bloods. We have a very robust incident management system, and that system is transferred, no matter if you're working for Sacramento Metro Fire or Sacramento City or all the way up and down the state. We also have the luxury of a master mutual aid system. So if we need additional resources, those resources will be coming. We will always be able to respond for our community. On top of that, we have a really good working relationships with all of our partnering,

agencies, whether it's Sacramento OES or the state of California OES or federally. We have a ton of resources that are coming in to aid this effort, and it is a statewide effort. We've been into this for almost a week or more than a week now. Bryce, if you can tell me, I mean, what are your teams like? Are they exhausted? They're obviously still rescuing people and saving lives, but at some point, I'm sure you guys have to hit a wall. It has definitely been a long couple weeks for us. for sure. And everybody is stretched to the max. That doesn't just end at our cruise, though,

all the fire crews around this area, all the way to the energy companies. Everybody is working as much as can possibly be worked to help get us through this time. And the ability for us, the capabilities that we have an organization is help when other organizations like CalOES are able to give us additional resources and additional help. And it really takes the burden and off the strain from the local systems and enables us to scale it to a statewide incident. Bryce, what's been the biggest challenge over these past couple weeks? I would say just the conditions in general. We really are launching at night in very low visibility and right on the edge of what we can do. And the goal is to not just perform the rescue,

but perform it with confidence performance performance safely. Luckily, the training and the background and the dedication that these crews have provided has just been phenomenal. And it's really enabled people to get back home to their families and be able to get to the next day. Parker, have you guys dealt with any type of injuries and are you prepared for the next round of bad weather that we're about to talk about here in the show?

At this point, we, as an agency, we have not encountered any injuries. We're not done yet. We still have storms on the way. So we're going to continue to provide that high-level service that we do. We need our community to be diligent. Have a plan. If you're going to evacuate, make sure you have a to go bag that does include a couple changes of clothes, your hygiene

products, pictures, personal, important paperwork. All of those documents have a way out and make sure you communicate that with your families. And please, one of the main significant issues that we've had is people driving through standing water. That water then potentially sweeps them away. So we really need our community to heed the evacuation orders. Make sure you have a plan. and drive through safe, safe roads. Okay, captains, Bryce Mitchell and Parker Wilborn, we thank you for everything you're doing there in California. We thank you for taking time to talk to our audience tonight.

For more on the forecast ahead, I want to get right to NBC News meteorologist, Bill Kerrins, who joins us now. Bill, I mean, it is just wild out there in California. Like they said, they've never seen anything like this. And I'm looking at your radar, and it's been the same story every night, right? We're seeing more and more bad weather just off the coast of California. And that's the bright way clouds this year. This is tomorrow storm. So we're getting rid of today's and yesterday's storm.

Still snowing hard, still raining in some areas, but not too many problems. Then we get this heavy rain event tomorrow. Now, this isn't going to be an atmospheric river event, but it will cause issues, but it's going to be in a different location. This last storm really hit from San Francisco, Santa Cruz, southwards. This is going to be north of the bay up towards northern California. So they can probably take a little bit more because they didn't get hit as hard last time, but we're still going to have problems with flash flooding, landslides, debris flows, all that stuff tomorrow afternoon, tomorrow evening. And then, Tom, it looks like the next atmospheric river event. That's going to be

Saturday afternoon. Okay, Bill Cairns for us, Bill. We appreciate that. We want to turn now to question surrounding around the classified documents found out in office Joe Biden used after his vice presidency. Two sources familiar with the matter now saying less than a dozen documents were found at the office just before the midterm elections. NBC News Chief White House correspondent Kristen Welker has the latest on the Justice Department's review and the fallout for President Biden. Tonight, President Biden at a Mexico summit defending his handling of classified documents. After that stunning White House admission, they were found inside Mr. Biden's private office

space at his Washington think tank. People know I take classified documents and classified information seriously. I was briefed about this discovery and surprised to learn that there were any government records that were taken there to that office. Less than a dozen classified documents were inside the office Mr. Biden used after he left the vice presidency. Two sources familiar with the matter tell NBC News. The White House saying they dated back to the Obama administration and were found by the president's personal attorney in a locked closet and handed over a week before the midterm election. But the White House did not disclose the discovery until last night in response to a media report.

It comes after that unprecedented FBI search at former President Trump's Mar-a-Lago home, where 100 classified documents were seized. At the time, President Biden slammed Mr. Trump over his handling of the classified documents. How that could possibly happen, how anyone could be that irresponsible. Now, Republicans are blasting the Biden administration for a double standard. Where's the FBI raid? Where is this big show of force to make sure they're supposed to make sure they're no other classified documents there.

Republicans demanding a damage assessment from the intelligence community and accusing the White House of a cover-up. Mr. Trump writing, why didn't the Justice Department announced the highly classified documents found in the Biden office before the election? While the two cases share similarities, the White House notes key differences, including that the Biden documents were not the subject of an archives request and that once they were discovered, they were quickly turned over. Now, Attorney General Merrick Garland has asked the U.S. Attorney General, Marrick Garland, has asked the U.S.

in Chicago, a Trump appointee, to investigate how the classified documents ended up in Mr. Biden's private office space. All right, Kristen Walker joins us now from the White House. So Christian, Republicans who now control the House say they're going to investigate? That's absolutely right, Tom. In fact, the House Oversight Committee says it's launching an investigation into the handling of those classified documents. Important to note, it's just one of several investigations.

House Republicans are planning against the Biden administration. And there is also a move by Democrats. Senate Intel chair, Mark Warner, is asking for a briefing about both the Biden and Trump cases, Tom. So, Kristen, it looked like the president read from a prepared statement when he's asked questions today about the classified documents during that press conference with Mexico's president and the prime minister of Canada. I have to ask you, though, the White House was quick to point out the differences between what happened at Mara Lago and what happened with President Biden's office. But have they said why they didn't announce this? I mean, the president had sort of pledged to be more. transparent than the Trump administration. That is the key question. That's the question I've been putting to administration officials here throughout the day, throughout the night when this first broke. And look, the White House is really not weighing in on that answer right now and on

the timing of all of this. We did get a statement from a spokesperson from the counsel's office. Let me read you a part of what it says. It says, quote, this is an ongoing process under review by DOJ. So we are going to be limited in what we can say at this time. But we are committed to doing this the right way, and we will provide further details when and as appropriate. But, Tom, taking a step back, look, this is looming large as the president inches closer to announcing potentially a second run for office. And politically speaking, there could be a whole lot more fallout, Tom. Yeah, it could be. Okay, Kristen Welker, we thank you for all of that. With the DOJ now reviewing those documents, many are asking if Attorney General Garland

followed the proper course of action. I want to bring in our panel now, NBC News Legal Analyst, U.S. attorney, Joyce Vance, she was appointed by President Obama and NBC News political analyst Stephen Hayes. He's editor and CEO of the dispatch. Joyce, I want to start with you. Why didn't the DOJ announce that they found these documents sooner? Well, typically DOJ doesn't make any form of announcement about a criminal investigation, which is what this is, although no one is suggesting that the former president committed crimes if we are able to give countenance to the White House's statements, the current president didn't even know these documents were in his office.

But DOJ is nonetheless reviewing to determine whether there's a need to have a special counsel. That's the sort of matter that's held close until DOJ is ready to make an announcement. You'll recall, I think it's important to note that the only reason that we know that there's any investigation into the former president, President Trump, is because, after the search warrant was executed at Mar-a-Lago, Trump himself made that public. DOJ had bent over backwards to conceal that from public view, even to the point of having FBI agents dress up like they were guests at Mar-a-Lago. So I think that that should be sufficient to satisfy concerns about whether or not there should have been an early disclosure.

Joyce, you're 100% right. It was the former president, President Trump, who announced that that Mar-a-Lago was being raided. But, Stephen, I got to ask you, there's something about this that may not pass the smell test. I mean, even Democrats like Senator Mark Warner, I'm seeing here, chairman of the Senate Senate Senate Committee on Intelligence, he's quoted to saying, we expect a briefing on what happened, talking about what happened at Biden's office here. Do you think maybe the president and his staff sort of misplayed their hand a little bit? I mean, should they have said something? This was so close to the midterms, and clearly the president was on the record attacking the former president for having classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.

Yeah. I mean, I think it should have been disclosed at the earliest possible moment. And as you were talking about with Kristen, I think there are real questions about why it wasn't disclosed earlier. And when it was disclosed, it was only disclosed in response to a news report. I think we need to learn a lot more about the nature of these documents, what's in them. And in particular, the chain of custody, how they ended up where they were. This is a serious thing. Some of these documents are reported to have been marked SCI sensitive compartmental information. That's among the highest classified kinds of materials that the U.S. government has. These are not the kinds of documents that you should be finding in a closet, even if the magnitude of the discovery, it doesn't match or isn't close to the Trump and the Trump discovery. And there are all sorts of other reasons that the two are not similar. You know, Joyce, I have to ask you, if an investigation is launched by the DOJ, then the Biden family, because there's still an open investigation against Hunter Biden, the current president and Hunter Biden will have two. separate investigations by the same Department of Justice, what kind of position does this put

Attorney General Merrick Garland in? Well, look, DOJ is used to divorcing politics from the law, and Merrick Garland will oversee investigations. I get it, but we really haven't had a great history over the last four or five years, if you will, of separating the politics from these investigations, at least in this country recently. I think that's fair to say. Well, look, DOJ has a long trajectory of doing that. That's not. That's not. Not to say that there haven't been serious missteps, certainly during the Trump administration, certainly with Jim Comey's announcement and repeated announcements about the Hillary Clinton investigation. But what DOJ aspires to do and what Merrick Garland has committed to do is to let the facts and the law drive these investigations.

That's why there's a Trump holdover U.S. attorney in Maryland who's taking a look at the Hunter Biden case. That's why this initial determination here was also placed with a U.S. attorney. who was appointed by Trump, but he remains in office in Chicago. But there's an important point here that we haven't looked at yet, and that's the distinction between the national security assessment and the criminal investigation. And of course, any time that there's spillage of top secret information, you have to have that national security assessment. It's appropriate for the congressional committees who engage in national security work

to get briefed on that. That's a very separate inquiry from determining whether, or not there's a criminal case that needs to be looked at. I think what you're asking is whether ultimately this makes Merrick Garland's job difficult. And although I can understand how folks who have never worked at DOJ might think it would be impossible for an attorney general to set aside the politics in the moment, in the reality, your job as a prosecutor is to uncover the facts. That's what's going on right now. Joyce, I get it. And I talk, Joyce. How did these documents get there? I get it. I totally respect your opinion. I think you bring up a

of great points. But at the same time, you have Hunter Biden under investigation, possibly the current president, and the former president, President Trump, as well under investigation. It's a lot to handle for one attorney general, but I do take all of your points. Stephen, I want to turn to you now. The new House Republicans saying they most likely will launch an investigation to this. Will they uncover anything? Will it go anywhere? And is the president in some trouble right now? Well, look, I think the House Republicans should launch an investigation into this. This is precisely the kinds of things that House oversight committees, you know, exist to look at. The House Intelligence Committee, the House Oversight Committee

should be investigating exactly this kind of disclosure. Look, I think on a practical level, this is bad news for, certainly for Joe Biden. I think bad news for Merrick Garland. I think it makes it more difficult to potentially prosecute President Trump for what he had done with respect to his documents, even if the points that Joyce makes about the differences are relevant. the reality is for people who aren't paying careful attention, who aren't following the story from moment to moment inside the Beltway, they are going to hear, certainly they're going to hear from Republicans, that everybody does this. Look, President Trump did this. Joe Biden did this. And yes, it's true. President Trump took these documents, apparently refused to return

them. There were many more of them. There are national security implications that we already know about. There are major differences so far between the two different cases, but the Republicans will make it their job to scuttle those differences, to muddy those differences, and to make it look like this is all the same, and that everybody does it. Yeah, we're talking about hundreds versus less than a dozen from what NBC News is reporting is. Joyce fans, Stephen Hayes, thank you so much for that spirited discussion. We learned a lot tonight.

We appreciate it. Next, the growing outrage over a shooting death of a 13-year-old in Washington, D.C. The shooter who has yet to be identified or arrested telling police, they suspected the teen, Karen Blake was breaking in the cars in their D.C. neighborhood when they shot him early Saturday morning. Police now say they are working with the U.S. Attorney's Office to review the case for any potential criminal charges. For more, I want to bring in NBC News, Justice and Intelligence correspondent, Ken Delaney. And Ken, our viewers at home may be thinking, this sounds like a horrific crime, possibly an accident. It happened in Washington. We wanted to

have you on because the U.S. attorney now is looking at this. Can you explain why that is happening? It certainly wasn't an accident, Tom. Well, the U.S. attorney is essentially the local prosecutor in D.C. because it's not a state. But what happened here is D.C. police responded to reports of gunshots early Saturday morning, and they found 13-year-old Karan Blake with severe gunshot wounds. Police said an unidentified homeowner had confronted and shot the 13-year-old after claiming he was breaking into several vehicles along the street. An investigator said that when officers arrived at the scene, that same homeowner was performing C.P. on the boy. He was taken to the hospital and pronounced dead. Now, some states have laws

against the, allowing the use of deadly force against intruders, Tom, but D.C. does not. A person claiming self-defense in D.C. has to show they were at risk of imminent bodily harm or death and that they could not retreat. So the key question in this case is whether the man who fired the shots was acting in self-defense. And police have not said whether the 13-year-old had a weapon. They have said that the shooter, who they say was African-American, has retained a lawyer and is cooperating with police. And the police chief today warned against misinformation that he said was circulating in the community. He is consulting with the prosecutors about whether charges are warranted in this case, Tom. Yeah, I think you were talking about the so-called Stanger ground law there that we've covered a lot on this show and really that always garners headlines.

Everyone is being very careful in this case, and obviously because we're dealing with a child here who was shot. and killed. What is the sense from authorities in Washington so far as far as anything they've said publicly on this case? Well, they've said that two other juvenile males were seen running from the scene and there were two cars damaged on the block and that they found a stolen car near the scene which they believe Karan Blake had used. So they're making it pretty clear. They believe these kids were up to no good that night. Now, obviously, that doesn't mean any of them should have been shot. Right. So the question here is, was there, you're not allowed to shoot someone who's breaking into your car.

The question really is, was that man who fired the gun? It was a registered firearm, by the way. Was he acting in self-defense? Did he believe that somehow his life was threatened? And the facts on that are really unclear. The police have not said much about what they think that confrontation involved and whether that man was justified. But we do know they have not arrested him or file any charges as of yet against him.

Okay, Kendallan, thank you for all the reporting on this very sensitive story. we appreciate it. Still ahead tonight, crisis at the border. Migrants flooding points of entry in Texas and arriving by boat in the Florida Keys will have full team coverage of the growing crisis. Plus, Prince Harry's memoir is out and already smashing records. The explosive new details you haven't heard yet, including the moment King Charles suggested he might cut off Harry and Megan financially. And oh dear, where cameras captured the moment this dough came crashing through a glass window, you won't believe where he ended up. stay with us welcome back despite the endless headlines and even documentary tonight even more

revelations you haven't heard from prince harry's memoir the tell-all finally hitting the shelves in its entirety even after weeks of leaked stories and speculations there are still startling more revelations keir simmons has the details for many fascinated by the lives of british Royals. Tonight is a pretty good night. All 400 pages of Prince Harry's new book, Spare, can be poured over. My mother, legendarily, said there were three people in her marriage, but her maths was off. She left Willie and me out of the equation. Despite the book leaking last week, readers now seeing those bombshell revelations in context and even hearing them in Harry's own voice. The estranged royal wasting no time digging into the family drama in the very first

pages describing a tense conversation with Charles and William at Philip's funeral. It got so heated that Paul raised his hands. Enough. He stood between us, looking up at our flushed faces. Please, boys, don't make my final years a misery. And in just the second chapter, the Duke of Sussex revealing the stinging reality of the book title. A phrase, he says, was not just used in tabloids, but within his own family. I was 20 the first time I heard the story of what Parr allegedly said to mummy the day of my birth. Wonderful. Now you've given me an air and a spare.

My work is done. Prince Harry also repeatedly referring to now Queen Consort Camilla as the other woman, who he frequently accuses of leaking stories to the British press. We sense the presence of the other woman because we suffered the downstream effects. Throughout the book, the prince writing about how his mother's, his mother's death impacted his mental health, sharing that while visiting Paris once, he made the driver go through the same tunnel where she died. We zipped ahead, went over the lip at the tunnel's entrance, the bump that supposedly sent

mummy's Mercedes veering off course. But the lip was nothing. We barely felt it. Harry goes on to chronicle his evolving relationship with Megan, the pushback from his family, and the fallout. They took it all away, I thought, even my military associations. I'd no longer be Captain General of the Royal Marines, a title handed down by my grandfather. Furthermore, the statement continued, we'd no longer be doing any service whatsoever for the Queen.

They made it sound as if there'd been an agreement between us. There was nothing of the sort. The fanfare surrounding today's release, drumming up chatter and sales, readers lining up at bookstores at midnight, spare already becoming the fastest selling non-fiction book ever in the UK, and the audiobook, now a bestseller on Amazon, Spotify and Audible. I like him. I like him. I like the Royal Family.

I was here, went down, I bought her book out, and I just, I queued up then. And now I'm queuing up again, and I'm enjoying myself. But some readers, not so keen on the full court press the Prince is now pushing on Buckingham Palace. I thought it was completely unnecessary. I hope it puts it all behind him and moves forwards. but who knows with it. Harry calls into question his father's generosity, alleging he asked whether Megan will carry on working. Well, darling boy, you know there's not enough money to go around.

I can't pay for anyone else. It was par with all his millions from the hugely lucrative Duchy of Cornwall trying to say that our captivity was starting to cost him a bit too much. And towards the end of the book, Harry with a final revelation, that his father requested Megan didn't come to the Queen's bedside in her final moments. He said, I was welcome at Balmoral, but he didn't want her.

Many now left wondering if this is the final chapter for Prince Harry and the royal family. I was brought into the world in case something happened to Willie. I was summoned to provide backup, distraction, diversion, and, if necessary, a spare part.

And with that, Keir Simmons joins us now from London. So, Kier, now that the book is officially out, have we heard from the palace or any member of the royal family because there are so many accusations in there. There are so many, and no, we haven't, and I guess that's probably not surprising because there is a lot to pick through. There are royal events later this week, the Prince and Princess of Wales, for example, are likely to be seen out in an event. In the coming days, will they say anything? We don't know. But, you know, Tom, I mean, just take one example.

Prince Harry's description of the days after Diana died when he was told by his father. We've always thought that the Queen was there consoling him, and that's one of the reasons she didn't come back down to London. He doesn't mention that. He doesn't seem to mention that anywhere in the book. So I think there's a lot for historians to find here and question, but also correct the record, and that goes for the royal family too. This is controversial, but it's also very difficult.

It's family and it's detailed, and I think all of that means. means if we do hear from them, I'm going to take a risk here. I'm going to say it will be a while potentially. And then, Kier, on the lighter side, there is some videos, some photos that are making headlines here in the United States, and they are of Prince Harry doing tequila shots with the late-night talk show host Stephen Colbert. It was part of a bit. He's going to be on the Colbert show. I was going to ask you, you know, I was thinking, I mean, for us, this doesn't seem that wild here in the United States, but he is still a prince. I can't I can't imagine Prince William doing that. I definitely can't imagine King Charles doing that. How is this playing in the UK?

There's lots of stories in his book of him doing shots and all kinds of other things. In his teenage years, in his wild years, you might call them, Tom. I don't know. I mean, you're taking shots at your family, then go do shots. Sounds kind of like a natural progression to me. Listen, here's the thing. There is going to be a lot of backlash. There really is. And again, I mentioned that there's a lot of detail in this. I think that backlash is going to take time. Let me give you a serious example. He in this book picks out particular journalists and is incredibly disparaging about them. And now those journalists are answering. There are others who are going through it. Historians, for example, and questioning some of the facts and the detail. So I think there is going to be a slow burn of backlash over this book. And here's the irony about that. You get this sense that Prince Harry is trying to pull himself away from this, escape from this. But he can't. because these stories about Prince Harry, and we're seeing it with the sales of the book,

these stories about Prince Harry are selling newspapers, they're earning clicks, they're still going to be written, and you just worry that there's going to be a vicious cycle here as we look ahead to the months, maybe even years ahead. Kear, that's some new reporting we had not heard about. Some people were not questioning some of the sort of historical facts in that book. This leads me to think that we're going to be talking about this for a long time. Kier Simmons, we appreciate you here on a Tuesday night on Top Story. Thank you so much. When we come back, the desperate search for a missing mother here in Pennsylvania,

the woman reported missing after she failed to pick up her son from a bus stop a week ago, what police found outside of her home. Stay with us. All right, we are back now with Top Stories News Feed, and Pennsylvania authorities on a desperate search for a missing mom. Jennifer Brown failed to pick up her son from a bus stop on January 4th. She was last seen the night before. Her car was found outside of her home with her car keys, wallet, purse, and work cell phone inside. Her personal cell phone has not been found yet, and according to police, has not been communicating since she disappeared. Okay, you've heard of a bull in a china shop, but what about a deer in a butcher shop?

New video out of Minnesota shows the moment a deer crashes through the window of a butcher shop, shattering the glass door in the entryway and slamming into a wall. That deer running around the shop before leaving through the same door, it smashed through. Luckily, no one was hurt. Okay, we want to turn now to some politics and some international relations. President Biden's trip to Mexico marks the first one by a U.S. president to that country. Get this in nearly a decade, and this comes amid growing tension over the humanitarian crisis at the U.S. southern border. NBC's Gabe Gutierrez is there with the late-breaking news.

President Biden today meeting with the leaders of Mexico and Canada amid a record-breaking influx of migrants crossing into the U.S. Our entire hemisphere is experiencing unprecedented levels of migration, greater than any time in history. The White House says the leaders will now share more information to combat drug trafficking and make it easier for migrants to apply for asylum before they reach the U.S. The Biden administration recently announced they will send as many as 30,000 migrants per month and will unlawfully from four countries back to Mexico. This new policy that this administration has been putting forth is going to be dangerous. Fernando Kidos is a migrant advocate who says the new Biden policy will cause more migrants to take riskier routes here.

People will suffer because of this change. Renewing calls for immigration reform today, a bipartisan group of senators visited Yuma, Arizona. A city still under a state of emergency after facing a record number of illegal border crossings for a year now. The Border Patrol is seeing many nationalities here. It's just after dawn and some of this group just arrived from Russia. We expect our president and our vice president to lead on national issues. You can't lead from afar. Overnight, we met this family from Colombia,

who spent hours in the cold waiting for border agents to process them. Underneath those blankets, a nine-month-old baby boy. It's been hard, his mother says. Tonight, she's applying for asylum, but her future, and that is so many others here, is uncertain. All right, Gabe Gutierrez, joins us now from a border wall there in Arizona. Gabe, you know, I want to go back to something in your report. You spoke with that immigration rights advocate who said that the new Biden policy of actually sending 30,000 migrants from the U.S. back to Mexico from those certain countries, was actually going to encourage more illegal immigration. And I'm confused.

Can he explain why he predicts that? Yeah, he and other migrant advocates, Tom, think that this will make this more dangerous for migrants because some of the migrants, because they're no longer encouraged to turn. themselves in depending on what country they're from, they may circumvent the system and go through more dangerous routes here in Arizona and elsewhere. And that would make the whole system more dangerous for these migrants. It is disincentivizing them from coming to either ports of entry or here and turning themselves into the Border Patrol. So then he thinks and other advocates think as well that that will make this more dangerous for migrants overall, Tom. And then, Gabe, we know there's been an ongoing news conference today between the leaders

of Canada, the U.S. and Mexico. And I know you have some new reporting that President Biden sort of revealed that U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents have been embedding with Mexican Border Patrol. Yeah. So, yes, Tom, that news conference laid today between those three leaders, Mexico's President Lopez Obrador, you know, thanking the Biden administration for its cooperation. And Tom, as you know, the two countries have had a very complex relationship, especially when it comes to drug investigations. Well, President Biden thanking AMLO, as he's known,

for allowing American border agents to embed with Mexican patrols to arrest 7,000 human smugglers over the past six months. Tom? Okay, Gabe Gutierrez for us from Arizona tonight. Gabe, we thank you for that. The migrant crisis also felt down in the Florida Keys, as we've been reporting here on Top Story. For 10 days, authorities have seen an influx of Cuban and Haitian migrants arriving in makeshift boats across the Keys. Republicans now calling on the Biden administration to do more. Governor DeSantis calling on the National Guard to help out as well. Wad Vanegas has more.

Another makeshift raft making landfall off the Florida Keys. On board, wet clothes, next to a towel resembling a $100 bill. U.S. Border Patrol tweeting with it, 19 migrants were encountered. Hundreds of Cuban and Haitian migrants touching ground since the new year. In response, Governor Ron DeSantis calling on the National Guard and over 100 guardsmen. All of this is going to help deter that and help us if they do make land. On Friday, DeSantis declaring a state of emergency, providing a dozen planes, helicopters, and bolstering marine patrols. For weeks now, local officials pleading for more support.

I'm experiencing about 10 migrant loads coming a day in my small county, which for me, resource-wise, is very challenging. Dry Tortuga's National Park shutting down temporarily last week, overwhelmed with migrants, some needing medical care. Over the weekend, authorities responding to two landings with at least 53 Cuban migrants and in Puerto Rico, Coast Guard rescuing 19 Haitians who say they were abandoned by smugglers on this cliff. Last week, President Joe Biden announcing every month 30,000 migrants coming from Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, or Haiti. will be accepted, but they must enter the country legally. If you're trying to leave Cuba, Nicaragua, or Haiti, or have agreed to begin a journey to America,

do not, do not just show up at the border. A message they hope will reach asylum seekers, risking their life to flee political and economic crisis. I think that there's a lot of people already on the way, which makes it difficult because what do they do, stop and go back. You know, they've already paid certain coyotes to get to the point where they reached. Republicans, including Senator Mark Rubio and Keyes, Representative Carlos

Jimenez, calling in the administration to do more. Rubio and Jimenez's staff traveling to South Florida to speak with a coast guard, all hands on deck, as the surge of migrants arriving continues on land and water. All right, Guad Vanegas joins us now from our Telemundo Center there in Florida. Guad, Governor DeSantis did call the state of emergency on Friday. Do we know if any of those guardsmen or any of the planes promised have made it to the keys and are actually doing something to stop this flow of migrants to the state of Florida? Well, Tom, we've been informed this could be any time, but the exact time and date when they will arrive has not been shared with us. Now, we also have to keep in mind that that support is

important for the humanitarian mission. These are migrants that have traveled in the ocean for days, and we know how deadly that can be, and that's why that support is also important, Tom. Guad Vanegas for us tonight from Miami, Guad, we thank you for that. While Florida tries to handle the influx of migrants coming to its shores, I want to bring in one of the lawmakers calling on the White House to do more. Congressman Carlos Jimenez, who we just heard from in that piece there from Guad, he joins us now from Capitol Hill. He represents Monroe County and part of Miami-Dade, so he's included in all the keys,

Key Largo all the way down to Key West. So, Congressman, why call in the National Guard? Why do you think the Governor is doing this? And is the National Guard actually doing anything yet? Or is this a political play, if you will, to embarrass President Biden? No, I don't think so. I think that the National Guard is there to help with the Sheriff's office that they're overwhelmed. Sheriff Ramsey down there has called for help.

He doesn't have the resources to deal with the thousands and thousands of migrants that are flowing into the Florida Keys every day and every week. And so, look, they have to close down a national park. They're being overwhelmed. The Florida Keys, they don't have that many resources. So, yeah, I think that the governor did make the right call. And now I'm calling for President Biden to do what the federal government needs to do. It's our responsibility.

And it's his responsibility to take care of the problem that's occurring under his watch in my county. Congressman Jimenez, do you know why this is happening now? And I want to say now, because I want to give you some stats, which I'm sure you're aware of. Fiscal year 2020 to 2021, in Florida, off the coast of Florida, they were intercepting about two people a day, two migrants a day. Now they're at 50 per day since August. We're talking about 8,000 intercepted, 4,400 have made it to our shores, Haitian and Cubans. Why is this happening right now?

We know the situation in Haiti is dire along with Cuba, but the timing here, do you think it had to do with Title 42? It possibly could have, that there was rumors that, Title 42 was going to go away and all that, and that gets back to the migrants. But, you know, I think a lot of it had to do with that. The actual problem shifted over to the southern border. If you went to the southern border, you'd see a lot of Haitians, a lot of Cubans, a lot of Venezuelans were actually crossing at the southern border.

They weren't making that trek, you know, through the water anymore because that's frankly more dangerous. Why they're going back to the water, I really can't tell you. But we know that we had upticks, you know, four times the number of interdictions last year than we had the year before. And so it's been an increasing problem, and now it's coming to a head. Don't you think you have to figure out why they're coming right now to help stop it? Well, I think, oh, I know why everybody's coming. They're all coming because the policy's changed.

The policies changed the day that Joe Biden took office and got rid of the Trump-era policies. And so the word gets back to the immigrant community, to the back to those countries and says, hey, if you want to make a trip to the United States, now is the time, because now is the time that your chances of getting in and then staying in the United States are a heck of a lot better than they were under President Trump. And that's what caused the entire wave to start. Now we've seen the wave in the southern border. Now we've seen that wave also now crossover into the Keys and then doing it, you know,

through the oceans. And so, you know, that's all due to policy. It's not really due to resources due to policies. Finally, Congressman Amanda, you're critical of the Biden administration. Do you have solutions? I mean, you were responsible for the Florida Keys. What are your ideas to stop this flow? Well, right now, the federal government needs to have more resources, but also the policies need to change. I mean, we need to reestablish some of the Trump era policies like Remain in Mexico. Look, you should be able to apply for asylum, but wait for your hearings, you know, in the country which you're coming from, when the Biden administration changed that policy, it changed the entire dynamic.

Where before, he used to have a 10% chance of actually getting into United States, staying into United States, because that's the percentage of the asylum claims that were actually been approved. Now it's 90% chance you're going to get into the United States. Even though the percentage of the applications are going to still be 10% to 15%, you're not going to have that hearing for months, maybe, because of this vast number of migrants that they've encountered at the border. I get that for the southern border, but what about your border in Florida?

You know, that's a great question. I still don't have all the answers as to why it's now becoming more attractive to come in through, you know, through the straits. I don't have the answer. Maybe there are more smugglers now operating. Human traffic smugglers are operating now in the straits. Remember what's happened at the southern border, the Mexican border. The Mexican cartels are making billions of dollars in human trafficking. Maybe a lot of the smugglers have figured out, hey, I can do the same thing now, smuggling them through the Florida Straits.

Congressman Humanez, we thank you for your time tonight, joining Top Story. Coming up, the scare on board a cruise ship, the moment caught on camera when a waterfall came pouring down onto the deck of a Royal Caribbean ship will tell you what caused it to make a sudden turn. That's next. Okay, we are back now with our global watch and the deadly protest erupting again in Peru. Demonstrators clashing with security forces near the Bolivian border, at least 13 people so far have been killed in these protests. The deadliest day since the unrest began in early December. The protesters are demanding immediate elections after former president

Pedro Cartillo was ousted last month. U.S. naval forces making a shocking discovery on a fishing boat in the Gulf of Oman. The U.S. Navy seizing, get this, more than 2,000 AK-47s from the vessel traveling from Iran to Yemen. Officials say the boat was taking a popular route used to smuggle goods to hooty militants. And a wild moment caught on camera on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship off the coast of Florida. Imagine your vacationing and you see this. Video captured by a passenger shows a massive waterfall cascading onto the deck of the ship. This is not one of the amenities.

Royal Caribbean says the ship turned to help a nearby raft, causing the water to spill out of an onboard pool. Luckily, no one was hurt here. All right, coming up, the harrowing moment, an avalanche hits. The snowboarder, look at this, nearly buried alive. We're going to hear from him in just moments, the critical action he took to survive. That's next. Finally tonight, some heart-stopping video of an avalanche in Utah, a snowboarder getting caught in the slide and the surviving and surviving the whole thing.

It's all captured in his helmet camp. NBC's Valerie Castro. Has more. Logan on sliding. Logan on sliding! snowboarding in the backcountry. I'm staying on top, but I am sliding. Quickly turning into a story of survival on top of an avalanche.

Logan, I'm staying on top, but I am sliding. The snowboarder Blake Nielsen eventually coming to a stop after sliding some 300 feet down Kessler Peak in Utah, the length of a football field. What was going through your mind when that was happening? Yeah, just stay on top, you know, like. Were you scared? Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Definitely, definitely spooked, but like there's just no time to freak out.

One technique, according to an avalanche forecaster, proving to be a lifesaver. You can see from the video that he's swimming, and that's what we recommend people do, is that they treat an avalanche as if they were in a river, and so you're going to want to try to swim and work yourself to the edge of that avalanche. Avalanche danger in Utah rated considerable or high across most of the region right now has led to human cause slides. Three skiers escaped this one just north. of Salt Lake City. One of them triggered an avalanche. It triggered cracking around his skis

and a small wind slab avalanche ensued. But in the Colorado back country, four lives have already been claimed this season. Two snowmobilers buried over the weekend. Search and rescue teams using helicopters and dogs eventually recovered the bodies. Two others found in Montana and Nevada bring the season's death toll so far to six. With more snow so far this winter, the danger is packed in, calling for those willing to risk a ride to be prepared. Experts say check the forecast at avalanche.org and pack a probe, shovel, and transceiver that emits a radio signal. What the transceiver does is it allows someone else in the party to switch their transceiver to search mode and be able to find the person that's been buried under

the snow. Staying in constant communication with a partner or team. Logan, I'm staying on top, but I am sliding. Crucial when every moment. minute matters. Read the avalanche report, go with people to know what they're doing, have good partners, and be prepared. Do you think it'll stop you from getting back out there? No, it's snowing right now, so I'll probably get out later this week. A scare on the slopes, not enough to bury this adventurous spirit. Valerie Castro, NBC News. All right, he's going to be out there. Thanks so much for watching, Top Story. See you tomorrow.