Top Story with Tom Llamas - Tuesday, July 9, 2024

Episode Date: July 10, 2024

Tonight's Top Story has the latest breaking news, political headlines, news from overseas and the best NBC News reporting from across the country and around the world.

Tonight, rallying behind Biden, Democrats pledging their support for the president despite internal divisions following his debate performance. Biden making his case on a public stage, reassuring NATO world leaders and his own party, he's the man for the job. Behind closed doors, House and Senate Democrats airing their grievances over their nominee. What they're revealing about those high-stakes conversations as Representative Jerry Nadler walks back his remarks after privately saying President Biden should drop. out. Tonight, former President Trump back on the campaign trail as the clock ticks over his VP pick. How President Biden's debate fallout is shaking up the timing of that decision. Also tonight growing disaster, Texas reeling from Hurricane barrel, shocking images of downtown Houston submerged two million without power as a triple-digit heat wave takes hold. Officials warning

it could be days before the lights turn back on. The storm unleashing tornadoes now widespread destruction across several states. Al Roker tonight standing by as excessive heat bakes 140 million from coast to coast. Menendez closing arguments prosecutors wrapping up their case arguing New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez sold the power of his office. The alleged bribery scheme stemming from accusations the senator helped foreign governments and local businessmen in exchange for gold bars and cash. Menendez's lawyers urging the jury to acquit him on all charges with the senator faces if he's found guilty. Closing the Dary and Gap, Panama cracking down on migrants attempting to reach the U.S.

The new barbed wire fencing sparking panic among those using the major route, but is it stopping the flow of people? We'll show you what we found. Wheelchair killer? A disturbing crime in New York City as a woman's body is discovered in a sleeping bag, dumped in a pile of trash. Chaos unfolding as an angry crowd, attacked the alleged suspect, charge in connection to the gruesome crime will show you that video, the new details about the suspect.

Plus, the mid-air scare just hours apart, new video inside a United Airlines flight that lost a tire during takeoff, flight attendants urging passengers to brace for landing. In Syracuse, the two planes coming dangerously close to colliding. And serving up the American Dream, the culinary training program, helping migrants create a recipe to a better life. Top story starts right now. And good evening. Tonight, top Democrats getting in line behind President Biden, House and Senate Democrats, refusing to cast aside the president for now, after hashing out deep concerns over his age and mental acuity in private meetings.

The internal party crisis coming at a pivotal moment, President Biden kicking off the NATO summit you see right here in Washington, convincing not just his own party, but world leaders that he is fit to serve four more years in office. with the Democrats at a crossroads over how to handle Biden's disastrous debate performance, the caucus gathering privately to address mounting concerns. New York Representative Jerry Nadler changing his position after privately expressing doubts while others stood firm in their unwavering support. So at this point, he's the best candidate.

He is the only candidate. All I'm going to say is that the president has very clear he's running and we have to support it. I'm with our nominee, Joe Biden. riding with Biden. All right, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer asked several times about Biden's fitness to lead and stuck with one answer. Are you confident that President Biden

has what it takes to win in November and serve the next four years? As I've said before, I'm with Joe. First lady Jill Biden pushing back at reporters questioning if her husband will drop out of the race. How are you feeling about this state? All right, ladies.

Why are you screaming at you? You know me. Don't scream at me just, like, talk. Legendary Democratic strategist, James Carville, who helped get President Bill Clinton into the White House, releasing this scatting op-ed in the New York Times, saying, quote, mark my words, Biden will be out of the 2020 race, 20-24 race, whether he is ready to admit it or not.

And another Democratic representative calling on Biden to step down, a congresswoman from New Jersey saying President Biden should withdraw from the race. We're breaking down all the latest developments, but we start tonight with NBC's Gabe. Gutierrez in Washington. Tonight, President Biden on the world stage, kicking off a high-stakes NATO summit with 38 world leaders here in Washington.

It's good that we're stronger than ever because this moment in history calls for our collective strength. President Biden and European allies announcing new air defense systems for Ukraine late today. Putin wants nothing less, nothing less than Ukraine's total subjugation to end Ukraine's democracy, but make no mistake. Ukraine can and will stop Putin. But looming large, the president's political standing with deepening divisions among anxious Democrats on Capitol Hill, who met today behind closed doors.

I don't think he should stay at all right. Asked whether they were on the same page. They're not even in the same book. Ten House Democrats have called for the president to step aside, but one is now backtracking. We're concerned tonight is beside the point. He's going to be our nominee, and we all have to support him. Still, while some rank-and-file Democrats are torn, their leadership is holding firm. We are riding with Biden.

I'm with Joe. Right now, President Biden is the nominee, and we support the Democratic nominee. Republicans hope the infighting helps them in November. Joe Biden is not fit for that office, and it's a terrible thing. The Democrats have misled us, and they need to be held accountable for that. The political chaos comes after President Biden's personal doctor confirmed overnight in this letter that a neurologist who specializes in Parkinson's did see the president, but only during his annual physicals. The specialist, Dr. Kevin Kinnard, visited the White House eight times in eight months,

according to public visitor logs. The president's doctor saying Kinnard held, quote, regular neurology clinics at the White House medical clinic to support military staff. It was being incorrectly assumed and insinuated that the president was being treated for Parkinson. I said right here that the president was not being treated for Parkinson's. Gabe Gutierrez joins us now live from outside where President Biden is making that speech tonight. Gabe, I want to go back to your piece. It's clear from your reporting that the vast majority of elected Democrats for now are standing by the president. Yeah, Tom, at least publicly they are.

But we're going to have to watch it in the next couple days. He has a very busy week here. Tomorrow he's meeting with world leaders again, then he's hosting them for dinner. And then on Thursday, it's that rare solo press conference, the first one all year. So a lot of lawmakers will be looking at that. It's one of our Capitol Hill colleagues said earlier today, the political storm a couple days ago, may have been a Category 3 hurricane. It's more like an intense tropical storm now, but it's still churning time.

Yeah, and speaking of the intense tropical storm or hurricane, however you want to call it, James Carville, legendary Democratic strategist wrote an opinion. opinion essay for the New York Times. In it, he says this, we're at the stage where we need constructive ideas for how to move forward. Representative Jim Clyburn and the Times opinion columnist Erza Klein, Ezra Klein, have spoken about a Democratic mini-primary, and I want to build on that. I want to see the Democratic Party hold four historic town halls between now and the Democratic National Convention in August. So, Gabe, Carville is part of that Democratic establishment that wants President Biden to step aside. Is what he's suggesting even

impossible? Is there any more reporting on how something like that could work? Yeah, Tom, it's so interesting, right? Because President Biden once embodied the Democratic establishment, he's now fighting it. Look, I was talking to James Carville a few days ago, and he was telling me about this idea. It's far-fetched at this point. He's a guy that has very big ideas, according to a DNC Rules Committee member. In order for any of this to happen, President Biden himself would have to leave the race, because he already has accumulated so many delegates. So at this point, It's more of a fantastical idea, something that James Carville perhaps wants to draw attention to this race and perhaps getting some enthusiasm behind Democrats.

But as of now, nobody's really saying or taking it very seriously. We're going to have to see over the next couple of days what Capitol Hill, how Capitol Hill responds, especially to the President's News Conference on Thursday. And then he'll be back out campaigning in Battleground, Michigan on Friday, Tom. All right, Gabe Gutierrez, first. Gabe, we appreciate you leading us off tonight. for more on the state of President Biden's 2024 presidential campaign. Our next guests have done extensive reporting on what the people closest to the president,

including aides, lawmakers and staffers, are saying about his fitness to run for re-election. Their explosive reporting at the beginning of June, titled, Behind closed doors, Biden shows signs of slipping, prompted pushback from the White House and led to a lot of criticism by fellow members of the media. That original reporting came out weeks before the debate. Their newest pieces, titled Prominent House Democrats, want Biden to exit 2024 race, and how Biden's inner circle work to keep signs of aging under wraps, reports more on Biden's debate fallout and what is happening behind the scenes.

Join us now live is Annie Lindschi, a White House reporter for the Wall Street Journal, and Chavon Hughes, who covers Congress for the Wall Street Journal. Ladies, we thank you so much for joining us once again. We had you on when you broke your big story in June, so I do want to ask you. Annie, I'll start with you. What were the reactions from your sources after the debate? Yeah. You know, I started hearing pretty quickly from my sources as the debate was progressing. And what they were saying to me is, look, you know, this is very much consistent with what we told you for the story that you did. So, you know, there's that batch of people. And then there was another batch of people who are saying, yes, look, what we read in the Wall Street Journal is exactly what we're seeing right now. Shavon, you also worked on a piece after the debate where you reported on the major shift

where Democratic lawmakers started to doubt Biden's ability to win in November. Based on your reporting, do you think the debate was the first time these lawmakers had concerns or do you think it opened the door for them to air this publicly? You know, so it's always hard to know what is inside a lawmakers' head, but the reporting suggested that whatever unease or inkling people might have had initially, They went back and replayed in their heads the times they had had occasion to interact with President Biden, or the times they'd witnessed him, and a little voice in their head told them that something was not quite right.

The degree to which people were aware of the problem, I think, obviously, varies. A component of that was that the number of meetings Biden was doing intimate meetings with lawmakers had begun to shrink. But there was some level of awareness, and when the debate hit the people that the people who had an inkling. For them, it was confirmatory. For the people who didn't know, it was just shocking. Annie, you had a byline. You were a reporter on another bombshell report yesterday, and you referenced some of your earlier reporting. I want to put it up for our viewers here. What you wrote is it says news reports about the presidential's mental acuity have triggered

White House rebukes and denials from Biden's allies. The offices of Senator Patty Murray and Representative Gregory Meeks alerted the White House earlier this year when the Wall Street journal asked questions about Biden's performance at a January meeting. Murray told the journal in April that she hadn't seen a change in Biden's acuity during her years of working with him. Quote, he engages in a very personal way asking questions, she said. He is listening and absorbing. On Monday, though, Murray said in a statement that Biden should consider his legacy in deciding whether to remain in the race. Quote, we need to see a much more forceful and energetic candidate on the campaign trail in the very near future in order for him to convince voters he is up to the job.

What do you make of this change? And have more people spoken to you about this? Yeah, that piece of the story certainly got a lot of attention. And I think we wanted to, what we were trying to get at the story is how is it that people were so surprised by the debate and Biden's performance in the debate? And we wanted to point out that there are people in Washington who have met with the president in small settings. And, you know, they have said one thing publicly to us. but after the debate, it illustrates the very shift that Chavon just mentioned, that something changed after they saw it. And so we wanted to sort of track the sort of initial comments that we had from Senator Murray and next to what she said after seeing the debate.

Shavon, you know, you cover Congress. It feels like there was maybe a little bit of a groundswell, but you have, I think it's nine now. If you now talk about Nadler switching sides once again, you have nine out of all those elected Democrats, right? I mean, what do you think happens? What's the next step? So right now, the Democrats are confronted with a president who simply does not want to step down. He is the immovable object. And the question for Democrats is whether they plan to mass into some type of unstoppable force to go up against him. You are clearly in no way there yet.

The Democratic leadership, the infrastructure, has done a very, very good job at holding the critical voices at bay. But it's also not over yet. As you pointed out after all of this, a New Jersey Congresswoman, Mikey Cheryl, late tonight, came out and said that President Biden did need to step aside. So this is very, very much an ongoing conversation. Annie, your recent reporting has included how top Biden aides have tried to help protect the president from showing sides of aging, right? You write, Biden's team feels Washington is out to get him,

and this Us versus Them worldview has led to what some Democrats described as a bunker mentality. blinding the president and his aides to Biden's political liabilities. It's sort of interesting, right? Annie, are you hearing that sort of the punker is getting tighter? Because the whole, I guess, strategy right now is to put him out there more, to make it more accessible, or is there paranoia right now in the Biden White House? You know, I was with the president all weekend, and you certainly saw a shift in the way that he was doing events. First of all, there were an awful lot more events than he typically has on a weekend schedule. schedule. You know, he went to two swing states. But the other really remarkable thing is he

wasn't using teleprompters at all. So that was a big change. There was one event where he started and he had notes. But the teleprompters were gone. However, the, you know, his appearances were just extremely brief. And, you know, it was sort of no more than 10 minutes, you know, he wasn't speaking for more than 10 minutes in these exchanges. And so I think, you know, is that going to be enough to satisfy what Democrats are sort of calling for is something that it remains to be seen. But you certainly saw him much more frequently than you did any other weekend, really, that I've been with him, which have been many. Yeah, Annie Linsky, Shabon Hughes, we thank you for joining Top Story, as always.

I know you guys got a lot of flack and a lot of incoming when you first started breaking these stories, and now it's almost coming full circle. We do thank you for coming on here and always sharing your reporting. Thank you. We're also tracking former President Trump's movements tonight as he prepares for the Republican National Convention next week. Trump holding a rally in his home state of Florida, just his second since his debate with President Biden. But new polling shows that despite Biden's poor performance in that debate, the state of this race is essentially the same. Dasha Burns breaks down the new numbers and what voters are saying.

Tonight, nearly two weeks after President Biden's disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump, The presidential race still remarkably stable. I am running and going to win again. New national polling shows President Biden still trailing former President Trump, but his debate performance only costing him a point or two. In the battlegrounds, Biden actually making up ground, pulling one point closer to Trump after their primetime clash, but still running behind.

The question every voter should be asking themselves today is not whether Joe Biden can survive a 90-minute debate performance, but whether America can survive four more years of crooked Joe Biden in the White House. In our polarized, deeply divided country, even seismic political events like the debate or Donald Trump's conviction really haven't moved polls all that much more than one or two points. Despite Biden's insistence that he's staying in the race, Democratic voters to Biden about the best path forward. I love Joe Biden. I think he's done a great job. However, I think that now's the time for Joe Biden to be the statesman, step down, be the advisor to the candidate.

If he felt that he needed to step down, that he would come forth and say that. But when he says he's in and he's running, I believe him, and I believe he's going to do a good job. There is no other alternative, so I'm going to be supporting Joe Biden all the way. Let's go get him, North Carolina. Biden's decision about whether to stay in the race, influencing one of the other big choices of the 2020. campaign. Thank you very much. Who will join his opponent, Donald Trump, on the Republican ticket. Trump telling Sean Hannity of Fox News, no final decision has been made. But Biden leaving the race could sway him. We wanted to see what they're doing, to be honest, because

you know, it might make a difference. NBC News reporting Trump has narrowed his search to three finalists, Senators J.D. Vance of Ohio and Marco Rubio of Florida, along with North Dakota Governor Doug Bergam. A potential Trump running me. Vance appearing on Meet the Press Sunday telling Kristen Welker, he hasn't been asked to join the ticket yet. I have to ask you about deep stakes. Of course, have you gotten the call from Donald Trump? Has he asked you to be his running mate? I have not gotten the call, Kristen.

Two campaigns at a crossroads as November closes in. All right, Dasha Verne joins us tonight from Derao in the great area of South Florida, where former President Trump is holding a rally tonight. Dasha, we know the R&C is coming up in less than a week, right? We're going to be watching that rally. I know you have your ear to every single single. speaker there. But what else does the former president have on his calendar where he may make an announcement about his running mate? So look, tonight is a possibility, Tom. He even sent out a

fundraising email, teasing that he could possibly announce as soon as today. But then he has another rally on Saturday in Pennsylvania, another battleground state, where that could also be an opportunity to rally with a possible running mate. And then there is the convention that starts on Monday. So sometime either leading up to the convention or at the convention is when we will finally learn who his running mate will be. We've been reading the tea leaves. We have those top three contenders. But again, as we've said all along, it's the former president. He loves a competition reality show.

And that's a little bit what he's been doing with this VP picked on. All right, Dasha Burns there, a mix of Poverati and James Brown behind you. I do want to ask you if it goes to the RNC, do we know what day it could happen? By the way, the playlists here are always very eclectic. If it goes to the R&C, Tom, what we do know is that a VP speech is likely to happen on Wednesday. And so theoretically, we would have to know before then unless he decides to really pull a reality show moment and just have that person walk out onto the stage. He has said, including last night on an interview with Fox News as Sean Hannity, that he wants to announce either a little bit before. or during the convention.

So here we wait to find out the who and the when, Tom. And then finally, you know, I know you're down there in South Florida. Senator Marco Rubio, who's on that VP shortlist, is going to be speaking at the rally as well. He's one of the guests of honor, if you will. But it's interesting, right, because recently Donald Trump Jr. took some shots on his podcast at Senator Rubio, saying essentially he was to establishment, that he was a rhino. What do we think about Trump world attacking Senator Rubio just before? you know, former President Trump makes this big decision.

Well, so Don Jr. is one faction in Trump world, of course, an important one given he's family. He is a big Senator J.D. Vance supporter. They have a very strong relationship. He's been pushing for Vance this entire time. And so his attacks on Rubio, you know, could potentially be damaging. But at the same time, that's kind of been an ongoing conversation. You have another faction within his campaign that is heavily Florida-based. his campaign manager, Susie Wilde, some other others on his staff are our longtime Florida operatives who have a strong relationship with Senator Marco Rubio. And of course, Governor Doug Bergam is viewed by a lot of people as sort of the safe choice that won't outshine former President Trump.

So every day that I talk to sources, there's someone else that's the new frontrunner. And at the end of the day, it's going to be former President Trump. But you'll notice things like Don Jr., people are trying to be the last voice. in his ear before he makes this announcement, Tom. All right, Dasha Burns, reporting from that Trump rally in Durala. Dasha, we appreciate all your reporting. Now to Washington, where tonight an 18-year-old is in custody after an attempted carjacking near the home of Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

Police saying the incident unfolded earlier Friday as U.S. Marshals there were trying to protect the justice's home, then shot the suspect who they say was armed. NBC's Aaron McLaughlin has the details. Tonight in Washington, D.C., an investigation into an alleged carjacking attempt near the home of Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. According to the Metropolitan Police, it happened hours after the 4th of July fireworks on this block in the heart of the Capitol. Two deputy U.S. Marshals charged with protecting Supreme Court justices were parked outside when the suspect identified as 18-year-old Kentrell Flowers allegedly armed with this firearm approached. one of the marshals and pointed a handgun at him in an apparent attempt to carjack him. According to police, the marshals opened fire. The suspect survived taken to the hospital

with non-life-threatening injuries. It's the latest in a series of high-profile carjackings to strike the Capitol. Late last year in nearby Georgetown, two teenagers were arrested for allegedly breaking into a secret service car assigned to protect Naomi Biden, the president's granddaughter. Local residents say they're not surprised by this latest violence. near Sotomayor's residents. Do you feel safe? It comes and goes in waves. Still, for the first time in six years,

carjackings in the Capitol are actually down. 46% compared to last year's spike, as police cracked down. While we have not reached our destination, we are on the right path. A source close to the investigation tells NBC News, they believe this attack was random

and not related to the Supreme Court justice. The suspect has yet to enter a plea. Tom. Okay, Aaron, we thank you. Now to the weather and hurricane. Beryl gone, but the Houston area still suffering, with more than 2 million people without power and stifling heat. At least 10 deaths are now blamed on the storm. Priscilla Thompson is there. The scope of hurricane barrel's destruction seen from above. Downtown Houston flooded,

cars washed away and homes crushed. I was just so scared the whole tree was going to fall into the house. Today, this family watched as crews removed a fallen tree from their house. They were inside when it came crashing down and the water began pouring in. I could just see this huge trunk right there on the window and then that's when the rain really started pouring in. A tree can get taken down, a house can get fixed, a life cannot be replaced. The U.S. death toll from the storm now up to 10, including two from carbon monoxide poisoning and one person whose oxygen machine ran out of battery. The remnants of barrel now wreaking havoc in the Midwest.

Overnight, 110 tornado warnings were issued, the most ever for a day in July. In Louisiana, mangled metal and debris strewn for miles. Back in Houston tonight, another threat. What does it feel like in your house right now? Feels like an oven. More than 2 million people are without power in scorching triple-digit heat, including Tracy Timmons, who's diabetic. It can be nice for best for me.

Because it drains you even more. It makes you, it just physically just makes you sick. Now spending her days at a cooling center and praying for power. How many days can you go like this? I don't have a choice. I just have to keep coming back and forth to the cooling center. I mean, what do you do? You feel for all those people when you see those stories, Priscilla.

You're live in Houston tonight. How much progress is being made on the cleanup efforts? Yeah, Tom. Well, the family that lives here managed to get this giant tree that snapped and left that gaping hole in their roof off of their home today. They're getting ready to get a tarp put up there. And this is what we're seeing up and down the street. There are tree limbs at the curb. And so the next step is really going to be trying to get all of this debris picked up so that folks can really begin to figure out what comes next.

And then give us a sense of exactly how hot it's been there in Houston with all the power outages. Yeah, so we're dealing with temperatures that are in the 90s. It feels more like triple-digit heat here, and you've got just under two million people across the state of Texas without power. Now, CenterPoint Energy, the main supplier here, says that they hope to have one million customers restored by the end of day tomorrow. But meanwhile, you also have the president just approving a federal disaster declaration, so that is going to be able to bring in about 60 emergency generators to help provide power. but certainly a lot of folks who maybe don't have damage but are having to spend their days in cooling centers trying to escape this extreme heat. And I should note that the death toll has increased to 10 people and three of those deaths, two are from carbon monoxide poisoning,

and one of them is from someone's oxygen machine that ran out of battery. So the heat is going to be an issue and could also be potentially life-threatening. Tom? Priscilla Thompson again for us out of South Texas. Priscilla, we hope those folks get some relief out. there. As Priscilla mentioned, they're the impacts of Beryl not over just yet. Let's get right over to Al Roker, who joins Top Story tonight. Al, before we get to the heat, let's start with the severe weather potential over the next two days. That's right. And Tom, we do have it right now. You can see the remnants of Beryl making its way through Illinois on into Indiana. And we've got tornado watches right now, and we'll probably see some tornado warnings pop up

over the evening. These are in effect until 11 o'clock central time. The potential for flooding is really strong between here and Thursday. We're looking at the risk for St. Louis, Indianapolis, Detroit, Buffalo. Some places could be looking at about eight to five inches of rain time stretching from Springfield, Detroit, all the way into upstate New York, New York, and parts of New England. All right, Al, besides that, let's talk about the heat now, all those folks down in Houston and South Texas without air conditioning because there's no power. How is that continuing, and does it change at all over the next couple of days? Fortunately, for our friends down there in Houston, where those power outages are happening,

not much of relief in sight for the next 72 hours. 140 million people impacted coast to coast, heat advisories, heat watches, heat warnings. We've got a double-barreled high pressure system, both sides of the coast. We've got heat and humidity coming up from the Gulf and the east. In the west, it's unrelenting heat with no humidity. So look at these heat indexes, Baltimore, Richmond, Raleigh, down to Charleston, and making all triple digits. But then temperatures will start to moderate a bit in the mid-Atlantic into the northeast. But as you can see, temperatures stay into the low to mid-90s throughout much of the south.

And then out west, it is just going to be awful. Next several days into Friday, Tom, we are talking triple digits from Medford, Oregon, Sacramento, Las Vegas in the high teens. These are air temperatures, not feels like, but air temperatures, Salt Lake City, triple digits as well. And this is going to last right on into the weekend. Tom. Al Roker for us tonight. Al, we appreciate that. The temperature also hot inside of a New Jersey courtroom, closing arguments in the trial of New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez, who stands accused in a federal corruption scheme. The prosecution calling Menendez's actions a, quote, clear pattern of corruption. Say Menendez and his wife, Nadine, accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes, some in the form of gold bars in exchange for official acts from the senator. For more on the trial and the prosecution's arguments, I want to bring in NBC News Chief Justice contributor, Jonathan, Deans. Jonathan, we're getting to the finale here, right? The jury soon will hopefully have the case in their hands. Talk to me about the closing arguments of what you took away.

Quite a finale by the prosecutors today. They called it a case of classic corruption on a massive scale. They talked about $500,000 or so of cash and gold bars found in the senator and his wife's home much more than he ever withdrew from any of his accounts, that according to prosecutors. And they say that the source of that money were businessmen who were seeking to bribe the senator for favors, for special treatment on a whole wide range of alleged schemes, ranging from fixing criminal cases to attempting to secure an overseas contract with the government of Egypt worth millions and millions of dollars. The prosecutors going for two days now, and they finished this afternoon wrapping up for the jury saying they need to come. convict the Senate. So Senator Menendez decided not to testify on his behalf, saying essentially that prosecutors didn't meet the bar, that they were able to prove their entire case. How is that going to affect him, do you think, with the jury? Well, that's what the defense began today,

and they're going to continue tomorrow, hammering away, saying the government did not prove their case, the burden of evidence to show an agreement. Where's the video? Where's the audio recordings? Whereas any evidence of a direct agreement between these New Jersey businessmen and the senator, the defense says it isn't there. The prosecutors say use your common sense and that don't lose the forest for the trees as the defense picked out little or singular instances where FBI agents got things wrong. So the question will be, what is the jury's takeaway between these two competing arguments? So Nadine Menendez, right, the senator's wife is also charged. she has pleaded not guilty, but her case was delayed because she's battling breast cancer. If Senator Menendez is found guilty, how does that affect her case?

Well, more so is what if he's not found guilty? His defense is those gold bars, that cash, is hers. It was locked in her closet. She was the one who got some of that gold from her family. Some of that money was hers. He says the other money he withdrew over decades because of his upbringing, and his family's upbringing in Cuba, and the concern that money, might be seized so he stashed cash in his apartment. That's his defense. The prosecutor

scoff at that argument saying the gold bars had serial numbers and those link right back to one of the defendants who had those in his possession. So a lot of the evidence seems to point that the cash and the gold did come from those businessmen, the business and said, hey, we were just giving gifts to Nadine Menendez. We were not trying to bribe the senator. That's the defense's argument. We'll see as they continue to make those claims to the jury over the next couple of days, and then it will be in the hands of the jury by the end of this week, and we'll see if the senator from New Jersey gets convicted on the bribery charges.

Jonathan Deans first, Jonathan, we thank you for that. Still ahead, outrage boiling after the gruesome murder of a woman in New York City and enraged crowd surrounding the alleged suspect charged in connection to the murder, how he's being tied to the victim after her body was found dumped in a pile of garbage, and could disgrace movie mogul Harvey Weinstein face new charges, the investigation into additional sexual assault allegations as he is set to face a retrial. And a Google map shortcut leaving a driver stranded

the wrong turn that left him trapped in the dark for hours. Stay with us. Back down with a disturbing story right here out of New York City, the body of a 31-year-old woman found wrapped up in a sleeping bag on the sidewalk, police now arresting a man who uses a wheelchair in connection to that crime. Residents who live in the area and the victim's mother confronting him as he was taken into custody. Ellison Barber has the details, and we want to warn you, some of them are troubling. The mother of a murder victim coming face to face with the man she believes shot and killed her daughter.

Justice for Yazee. I'm so happy. I'm so happy. Surrounded by an angry mob at a Manhattan public housing complex. New York police officers arresting 55-year-old Chad Irish in connection to the grizzly killing of 31-year-old Yasmin Williams. Irish uses a wheelchair and was handcuffed to a gurney. At least one punch was thrown. Others spit. Many screamed.

Kill him! Police put Irish in the back of an ambulance. He's going to how he's going to get what he deserves, and I'll make sure that, wherever the fuck he is. Irish is currently charged with the concealment of a corpse and has yet to enter a plea. But in the Manhattan Public Housing Complex, where he was arrested, there's little doubt of his guilt. According to police, William's body was found in a pile of trash, on a sidewalk in Midtown Manhattan. She was in a sleeping bag, wrapped in plastic trash bags, and police

said she was shot in the head. Investigators seemingly zeroed in Irish with the help of surveillance video. NYPD sources telling NBC News unreleased video appears to show a person in an electric wheelchair pulling the sleeping bag towards the pile of trash. How inhumane you're dragging down the block somebody's daughter. You know, he should be lucky that the police got him before that community. The NYPD confirming to NBC News that Chad Irish has a long rap sheet with at least 21 prior arrest, including charges of murder and arson in 1994, for allegedly blowing up a house as his uncle walked inside. The NYPD declined to provide additional details.

on that case. Now, Irish facing a new charge as Esmine Williams family pleads for justice and tries to remember the good their daughter brought to the world. She was a good daughter. She was my best friend. She was my best friend. All right, Alison Barber joins us in studio. So, Alison, what more do we know about this suspect, Chad Irish?

So interestingly, according to the NYPD, he is actually facing charges on another different case. We don't have a lot of details, but what the NYPD is telling us is that he's facing charges of menacing and criminal weapons charges on a different case. We're asking for more details on that, but we don't have it yet. Okay, Ellison Barber, we thank you for that. Coming up, the Americas, the new border crackdown, barbed wire fencing put up to stop migrants from crossing the Darien Gap, but are people still getting through? We're going to take you there. That's next. We are back down with Top Stories News Feed.

We start with an update in the retrial of Harvey Weinstein. At a court hearing today, the Manhattan Assistant District Attorney saying the office is investigating additional allegations of sexual assault and could present new charges to a grand jury by the fall. You may remember Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction in New York was overturned in April. He remains behind bars in New York for a conviction on a separate rape case out of Los Angeles. A man in Utah rescued from a mountainside after following a shortcut. route recommended by Google Maps. According to local police, the man drove his car through a rough dirt road and became stuck. He was trapped in his car for three hours in the woods

at night before authorities arrived. Authorities say Google recommended the route through a dirt road. He was not hurt. The majority of medical students at Johns Hopkins will get free tuition after a $1 billion donation from Michael Bloomberg's charity. Tuition will be completely free for students whose families earn less than $300,000. Living expenses and and other fees will also be covered for students with families who earn $175,000 or less. Two-thirds of all medical students are expected to be covered. The donation will also increase financial aid for students in nursing and public health. And New York City will finally have trash bins.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams quite literally rolling out his latest initiative to help combat rats. Buildings with nine units or less will now have to put trash in the containers. Yes, this is just starting in the city of New York. instead of putting the bags directly on the sidewalk, which is very commonplace in the city. Larger buildings will need to join the container trend in spring 2025. Okay, time now for the Americas in the latest efforts to curb migration to the U.S. Panama installing barbed wire fences blocking entry to the Darien Gap. The treacherous pathway is the only one that connects South America to Central America.

It stretches 30 miles wide and 100 miles long. Last year, a record 520,000 migrants made the journey. New leadership working to try and close it off, but new video obtained by NBC News shows massive crowds gathering along the barbed wire, some people appearing to crawl under it. NBC's Julia Ainsley has done extensive reporting on the Darien Gap. She's just going to walk us through this new move by Panama. Tom, those images that you see are obtained from a WhatsApp channel where immigrants are explaining whether or not it's too dangerous to come through the dairy and gap. That's that piece of land that's connecting South America to Central America, one of the most well-traveled but most dangerous paths for migrants who are on their way to the United States. Now, the Panamanian government says they have put this wire in place at different points so that migrants have to go to legal

checkpoints where their identities can be checked and their documents are showed. and they know exactly who's crossing through their country. But we're also able to see from the video that there are some migrants who are digging underneath these fences to come through. So at this point, it seems to be a deterrent. A lot of migrants talking about how they're really worried about it, but whether or not it will really keep numbers down

remains to be seen. But it comes as the U.S. has increased cooperation with Panama to try to mitigate and deter migrants from crossing through that region on their way to the United States. As you know, it's a key issue for Biden going, going into the November election, and we do know that Panama has increased a number of deportation flights for migrants who are stopped there going back to their home countries, and that's in part

because of U.S. help. The fencing, on the other hand, has all been from Panama's own volition. In fact, the White House said in a statement to NBC News that this fencing has nothing to do with U.S. government involvement or funds in any way. But it also comes as the number of migrants crossing the southern border has dropped to its lowest point at any point in the Biden administration. In June, the same month that Biden announced his new asylum restrictions. Those numbers of illegal border crossers apprehended by Border Patrol thought at 84,000, the lowest point since it was at 75,000 in January 2021 when Biden took office. That is not yet at the point, though, where he might lift that asylum restrictions. The number they put in place for that is 1,500 migrant

crossings per day is the point they would lift those restrictions, and it doesn't look like they're getting close to that. It could also be a number of reasons why those numbers have fallen the weather, for example. A lot of agents I'm talking to say the extreme heat is not something many migrants want to go through, particularly those who might have health conditions or traveling with young children. And also the rain in that dairy and gap. That same issue we were just talking about that region with the fencing. They've had some extreme rain through the month of June. That's kept a lot of people from being able to cross through because the mud gets so thick. It can be incredibly dangerous. So all of these factors are something to be taking into account. As you know,

It's important to look far south of the border to figure out just what might be influencing migrants to come as we head into this November election. Tom? Okay, Julia, thank you. Not at Top Story's Global Watch. We begin with a deadly elephant attack in South Africa. Officials say a Spanish tourist was trampled to death by elephants and a wildlife preserve about 100 miles from Johannesburg. The incident took place after the man reportedly left his vehicle to photograph a herd of elephants, which included young calves. Despite warnings, fortunately, no one else was hurt. It's terrible. Peruvian authorities discovering the body of an American climber who had been missing for more than two decades.

The 58-year-old mountaineer was reported missing in June of 2002 after being caught in an avalanche on a mountain in Peru. According to police, his body and clothing were well preserved by the ice along with all of his belongings. And French authorities cracking down on counterfeit ahead of the Olympics, authorities say they seized more than 60,000 counterfeit items from a local flea market in a recent raid near Olympic sites. The confiscated goods include fake Olympic gear

as well as counterfeit Louis Vuitton and Nike items. This crackdown comes just two weeks out from the highly anticipated summer games. And we are counting down to the Olympics with special coverage right here. Tonight, Keir Simmons, our good friend at Top Story, will take viewers to iconic sites and inside key venues as Paris gets ready

to host athletes from around the world. That special begins right here on News Now at 1030 Eastern. All right, coming up, the scare in the skies, a very close call as two passenger jets come dangerously close in flight and a Boeing plane losing a tire on takeoff the crew preparing for an emergency landing that's next we're back with new investigations by the FAA into two mid-flight scares the incidents taking place on opposite sides of the country one of them involving a close call of two passenger jets in flight here's Tom Costello with more police dash cam video shows what a appears to be a very close call over Syracuse. Two to the five, 11th, 30th, got to go around. An American Airlines, Blue Streak Regional Jet and a Delta Regional Jet coming within 700 feet of each other. Moments earlier, controllers had cleared the Delta flight for takeoff.

On the same runway, the American Regional was about to land. Wait, who's cleared to take off on QA? Blue Street, 511, Thursday, go around. Run around, Blue Street, 5511. Ben Augustine was on the American flight that waved off. And then all of a sudden there was this whip of like you're going up a roller coaster and you just felt the altitude go, you just felt yourself go way up. The FAA is investigating whether it was controller or pilot error.

Both airlines are cooperating. Also on Monday, yet another close call. We were just told a tire came off your aircraft. A United Flight leaving LAX for Denver losing. a tire on takeoff, the Boeing 757 continued on to Denver, where flight attendants prepared for an emergency but landed safely. United tells NBC News the wheel has been recovered in Los Angeles and we are investigating what caused this event. It comes as United's maintenance operations remain under increased FAA scrutiny following a series of high-profile incidents, including a tire that fell

from a United Triple 7 departing San Francisco for Japan. Tonight, new questions and scrutiny. Tom Costello, NBC News, Washington. Coming up, a recipe for success, a new program enrolling asylum seekers in English classes and cooking lessons. They are then set up with jobs in the hospitality industry that businesses have been trying to fill.

Our Valerie Castro speaks to some of those enrolled about their emotional journey over thousands of miles to achieve the American dream. That's next. Finally, tonight, a special program right here in New York City. The Big Apple is home to a booming hospitality industry that includes 23,000 restaurants. But tens of thousands of hospitality jobs, including line cooks, are open. Our Valerie Castro gives us a first-hand look at one organization now training asylum seekers

who are looking for work to fill those jobs. On today's menu in this New York City kitchen. Cut. Cut. A chance at a better life. Head Chef Candy is teaching her students the art of slicing and mincing. But this isn't just any cooking class. Each student here comes from another country, newly arrived and seeking asylum, as one of millions

of migrants who've crossed the border in search of the American dream. Thirty-eight-year-old Escarly fled Venezuela with her daughters, where she says the government seized the restaurant she owned. The government us quitted all, us quitted and I decided to to go to

get a better opportunity of her classmate, 41-year-old Maria fled Ecuador after her husband passed away,

making the treacherous journey to the U.S. with her mother and children. We had much problems at the reason that my husband

said, you understand what is what is in the Both women now enrolled in English-language courses and kitchen training at New York City's Manny Cantor Community Center through a program provided by the nonprofit Hot Bread Kitchen. We use the food industry as a catalyst for economic mobility. The culinary career pathways for New Yorkers program accepts migrants with temporary

protected status or work authorization permits, giving them the skills for a stable future. What are you hearing about why they want to take part in this? The migrants and asylum seekers that we are working with want to be independent, they want to have agency, they want to work. And there are jobs to be filled. The challenge for us now is there's so many jobs open that it actually has potential to cripple our economy if we don't find more people to take these jobs. It is that dire.

The New York State Department of Labor has identified more than 45,000 jobs open to migrants and asylum seekers as part of a statewide initiative led by Governor Kathy Hokel. 20% of businesses who say they're willing to hire the new arrivals are in the food and hospitality industry. The Hot Red Kitchen Culinary Program, now training its second cohort, only growing in popularity. We've had 800 applications to date for somewhere between 60 and 75 spots. Maria and Scarley thrilled to be enrolled. 10 years, me says that she

feels happy for having a chef like mom. And anxious to prove themselves. To show that we're to make a cargars, but to do with what much or what we can we can, we can afford to this after six weeks of training

in an industrial kitchen like this, members will graduate and go on to work in restaurants and even bakeries all around New York City. Holston Potisserie, a Brooklyn-based bakery, based bakery hired program graduates Carlos and Brianna working to fulfill their dreams. No, I was getting to fulfill their dreams.

And after the program, well, really, really just I only started and to the next semester, I began to work. Each graduate learning the recipe for a successful future. I want to stay escalando, escalando, until getting very high. Valerie Castro, NBC News. We thank Valerie for that report, and we thank you for watching Top Story tonight. I'm Tom Yammis in New York. Stay right there. More news on the way.