Top Story with Tom Llamas - Tuesday, May 21, 2024

Episode Date: May 22, 2024

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

Breaking news as we come on the air, a deadly tornado outbreak in progress. Twisters ripping across the Midwest, a violent storm firing up with more than 50 million Americans in the path. New video just in as massive tornadoes demolish homes, a wind turbine up in flames, destructive hurricane force winds striking the region, and disturbing allegations out of Houston. The investigation into a senior living facility after staff allegedly abetting. abandoned residents at the height of last week's storm. Also tonight, deadly turbulence, horrifying moments as a flight drops 6,000 feet within minutes. Passengers carried out on stretchers after the plane is forced to make an emergency landing.

Startling video of the aftermath, blood-stained seats and debris scattered across the cabin. Why extreme turbulence could get worse in the years to come, we'll explain. Instructing Trump's jury, the time has come to hash out the legal instruct. to the jury that will decide Trump's fate. The defense resting its case without calling Trump to the stand. What the case hinges on with closing statements a week away. A new criminal investigation launched months after actor Matthew Perry's sudden death. The details discovered in his autopsy, now sparking a federal inquiry into how the beloved friends actor got his hands on ketamine.

Million-dollar Hermes heist, mass thieves caught on camera swiping dozens of designer bags in just seconds. the duo shoveling high-end purses into garbage cans before taking off. Plus, tower danger, nail-biting video showing a man, tightrope walking between LA's infamous graffiti skyscrapers. The abandoned high-rise is plagued by criminal activity, including this daring stunt that could land a man in handcuffs. And we'll show you the new meals the Ozempic craze is starting. The new trend in frozen food for people on weight-lossed drugs, what they look like. Top story starts right now. And good evening, a dangerous tornado outbreak unfolding in the Midwest at this hour.

This storm system turning deadly, officials in Iowa confirming at least one person was killed as several violent twisters charged across the region. New video just in, a massive tornado. Look at this thing. Crossing a road in Carbon, Iowa, debris lifted into the air, a storm chaser jumping out of his car, revealing immense destruction left behind. A boat in a tree and a home completely ripped apart. A number of twisters spotted across the region.

This one touching down in Red Oak, Iowa, just outside of Omaha. And a wind turbine erupting into flames. We're going to show it to you here. A tornado taking down a number of massive turbines. Ahead we speak with the storm chaser who watched the monster twister move through this community. Tonight, 50 million Americans are at risk for torrential rain, flash flooding, hurricane force winds and large hail. It is incredibly dangerous out there. Bill Cairns standing by to time it out. But first, NBC's Maggie Vespa is in the threat zone with the latest on

the path of destruction. That thing is growing. Tonight, the onslaught continues with more tornadoes barreling across America. Late today, at least 12 twisters reported and counting all in Iowa. Everybody take cover. Tornado warnings. Everybody take cover. Unfortunately, it may have just hit a farm as well down here. And again, this just highlights the fact that you need to take these warnings very seriously. This one with potentially multiple vortexes touching down near Greenfield, southwest of Des Moines. Storm chasers also hitting torrential rain and hail. As they drive, alarms blaring. Minutes later, coming upon jaw-dropping damage, with homes shredded, pieces of them tossed on top of cars, an entire neighborhood is gone.

And for millions, the threat is just beginning. Despite 50 million people from Texas to Michigan are once again in Mother Nature's line of fire for severe storms, including wind gusts up to 90 miles per hour, large hail and possible tornadoes. A danger all too familiar amid a relentless spring. As the supercell storms that spawned tornadoes become more common, close to 300 tornadoes have been reported this month. April had close to 400, twice the average. Tonight, another round unleashing as we speak. Vespa joins us tonight from Des Moines. Maggie, I can see in the distance the radar where Bill Cairns is standing by. It looks like it's incredibly active tonight. What's it looking

like where you are right now? It looks like clear skies, but I know that can quickly change. I know. That's kind of the eerie factor of these storms. Right about an hour ago, our team was actually taking shelter in the basement of our hotel. During a tornado warning, we heard sirens going off. That part of the storm seems to have moved through. Now you can see it's just really windy here, but the sun is out. It does seem like Tom, the worst of the damage. A lot of which you just saw in that piece is southwest of us. But again, this system, at this point, Tom, is still on the move. So you talked about having to take shelter with your team there.

Was there enough warnings ahead of time? I mean, you know as well as I do. When those sirens go off, you don't know how close the tornado is. We got a tornado warning on our phones. Then we heard the sirens going off. So everybody took shelter as quickly as we could. We had time to get down below. Here, it seems like we only had strong.

kind of straight line winds. But you see the video of those tornadoes that tore across parts of kind of western Iowa a little farther south. You saw that storm chaser video of that family that was inside their shredded home. We've only heard of reports of one death. Authorities say here in Iowa thus far, we're still waiting on official details as to how that happened. But again, we're just seeing entire neighborhoods demolished, hoping to speak to people who were inside those homes and lived through this as soon as possible. Yeah, some devastating images out of Iowa. Okay, Maggie, you guys stay safe tonight.

For more on the major storm slamming the Midwest, I do want to bring in a storm chaser, an owner of live storms media. Brett Adair, he's been chasing these storms on the ground in Iowa all day and joins us live from his vehicle. Brett, walk us through your video and talk to us about what you've seen so far. Tom, we saw this major tornado come across US 34 between Volica and Corning, Iowa, And that tornado moved up to carbon where we saw such devastation. We saw some homes destroyed.

We saw vehicles that were thrown to the north side of State Road 148 there in carbon. Unfortunately, we don't know about any injuries. We know the homeowner there was okay. And also you see the windmill farm that we encountered that had several of the windmills completely bent over and snapped. And we had one that had caught fire there as the oil busted out of that turbine, I believe. but it was still on fire as it just a little bit of good when we left. Yeah, we're seeing some of your video right now as you're talking over. Your signal's breaking up, so we're going to keep on the video right now.

And just to let our viewers know, you're a storm chaser, but we're going to assume right now, as we're talking to, you're obviously taking precaution and you're making sure there's no twisters popping up around you. Did you guys find multiple twisters, or were you chasing just one massive tornado all day? There were several individual tornadoes that touched down from that particular storm, Tom. We actually left a tornado to watch doing form, and that is also the one that

ended up going through the Greenfield area and doing such your destruction of the region too. Right now, apparently southeast Des Moines, there's a tornado warning in effect to the Oscaloosa, Iowa area, and we're actually right beside that storm approaching the new sharing. So storms are still ongoing at this point. Yeah, Brett, stay with us. I actually going to ask our director to fire up the radar right now, the live radar where we can see where the storms are headed. And Brett, remind us exactly where

exactly are you right now? What town and what city are you in? We're near you. Sharon, Iowa, just southwest of Barnes City. That is located in, let's see, that's going to be located in Mahaska County, Iowa. There's a tornado warning in effect right now for this area just to the east of us. We're riding up U.S. 63, north. Bound. It's the Lone tornado warning around us at this point. But again, it looks like several more hours of this to come, especially east of the Des Moines metro area. So you guys are east of Des Moines. We're seeing the radar right now up to Waterloo through Mason City, heading into Wisconsin and other states there. It looks like the northeast corner of Iowa right now is

incredibly active. Brett, you please, you stay safe. I want to bring in Bill Cairns right now, who's going to pick it up from here. And Bill, talk to us what's happening in Iowa right now and where are these storms headed? Yeah, and just to explain where Brett was. So, Brett's on this storm right here with this tornado warning, just north of Atumwa. Brett started, in the video we showed you of the turbines on fire, he started in the southwest corner with all these. So this is what the storm chasers do.

They start where the tornadoes form, then they chase the line of storms across the state. The Greenfield area, the one where the most devastation was, it looks like a good section of the southwest portion of the town was hit by a violent tornado. I saw trees with the bark stripped off of them. I've seen a couple slabs. In other words, there's no house left. It's just the concrete. That's usually at least in EF4, and it's possible maybe even a rare EF5, which is like a cat five hurricane, extremely rare.

We'll see what they rate this as. But the one that was right here, just north of Creston, that was Greenfield. We're also getting numerous tornado reports that are just north of Des Moines. This showed as another violent possible tornado. So what we're looking at now, worst of the weather is right over the top of Waterloo, Iowa. We have one tornado warning to the south view. that doesn't look like it's a big violent tornado, but it's still going to be a small one.

Now it'll be heading towards Laporte City here, just south of Waterloo. Further to the south, the one that Brett, our storm chaser, on the phone with, he's right near this one, near Akalusa, heading up towards Rose Hill and Gibson,

so that area is also watching their tornado sirens going off. The tornado watches, the dangerous, the particularly dangerous situation, that continues till 9 p.m. includes the Quad Cities from Davenport up here towards Waterloo and Cedar Rapids. That's the area of greatest risk

over the next hour or two. But we now just had this tornado watch extended to St. Louis until about 2 a.m., and even areas all the way in Oklahoma and as far as Southern Wisconsin. So we're by far not done with this. And Tom, tomorrow, another violent day. It does not look like to be a huge massive tornado outbreak like today, but our friends from Dallas, Fort Worth, the Little Rock, we're going to watch you closely this time once again tomorrow. We're not done yet. This just keeps going day after day. Yeah, it's going to be a very dangerous night. Okay, Bill, we thank you for that. We know you're going to stand by for us. We now want to turn to a dire situation out of Houston.

After deadly storms tore through the city last week, the mayor says elderly and disabled residents were left abandoned in an apartment complex with no power for days causing medication and food to spoil. NBC's Kathy Park has this story. Tonight, the mayor of Houston demanding accountability after he says management and an apartment complex for the elderly and disabled abandoned their residents following Thursday's severe weather outbreak. The mansion didn't do nothing by. They wouldn't come out. and they didn't want to come out to see nobody or nothing. Did they do anything to help me? They bring you ice?

No, no food, no ice, no nothing. Some wheelchair-bound residents reportedly stuck in their rooms as food and medication like insulin began to spoil, saying management didn't get them the health they needed in a timely manner. There was people sitting outside trying to keep cool, nothing to eat, no place out of the elements. And so it was a dire situation for them. Management said they were on site within an hour of the storm hitting and have been there every day since.

They also noted the complex is not an assisted living facility and does not provide any supportive services. Center Point Energy, which according to local reports, provides power to the building, did not immediately respond to NBC News's questions about why it took three days to restore power. Houston's mayor, John Whitmire, visiting the site after his administration was alerted to the conditions. is not just from the storm. The units, 260 of them, have been neglected for years. You have an absentee owner placing a manager that doesn't have the resources to address these life safety issues. Last month, the complex was flagged by the city for improper electrical permits, and now the mayor is planning to pursue possible criminal charges. We're discussed with

HPD, the criminal neglect, abandonment of the owner and leave people living in these conditions. Management telling NBC News, the city housing department inspected the property in February and gave it 100% clean bill of health. In response to concerns about on-site electrical work, management saying the outage was due to power lines that were down off-site. Power has since been restored to the complex, but the damage from the storms continue to impact residents across Texas with over 100,000 customers still waiting for power to be restored. All right. So Kathy joins us tonight. Kathy, what are conditions like now for residents? Can they return there? So Tom, we had a chance to reach out to the management company. And the good news is

that power has been restored. But we are told that we asked them, were residents displaced at any point? And we were told no. So the good news is they have access to electricity, the food and water. But this really is a stark contrast from just a couple of days ago when some of those residents, as you heard, that vulnerable population with underlying health conditions couldn't get access to those critical resources fast enough. Tom? Okay, Kathy Park first night. Kathy, we want to thank you for that. We want to turn to another big story we're following. You may have seen these headlines cross on your phone or online. A Singapore Airlines flight forced to make an emergency landing in Thailand today after hitting extreme turbulence. One passenger ended up dying and dozens of people on board

suffering serious injuries. Researchers reporting turbulence only getting worth with rising temperatures. Here's Tom Costello with more. On the tarmac in Bangkok, a mass casualty response to a terrifying high-altitude flight. Singapore Airlines says at least 30 injured, some critically. A local hospital says it's trading 71 passengers, one person died. The airport general manager says a 73-year-old British man, apparently. suffered a heart attack. It happened when the Boeing triple seven flying from London to Singapore hit sudden turbulence on the edge of a powerful storm over Thailand. Flight radar 24 data shows the plane bucking like a Bronco at 37,000 feet, climbing and falling, then a controlled

emergency descent to 31,000 feet. Photos from inside the cabin show the damage and chaos, overhead panels ripped off, food and bottles scattered on the floor, bloodstains on the sea. lane. Multiple victims evacuated on backboards. It was incredibly scared. It's been seeing a pretty from the fly three 500 years ago. Atmospheric researchers report clear air turbulence has only gotten worse with climate change. So we know that the amount of wind shear in the jet stream is now 15 percent stronger than it was when satellites first began observing it in the 1970s.

Heat makes the jet stream more volatile. and difficult to predict. Pilots do rely on other pilots who report turbulence that they encounter. It happens every day, 5,500 times a year. Seven were injured in March of 2023 when a Lufthansa flight hit severe turbulence over Tennessee. In December 22, three dozen injured

on a Hawaiian air flight. Broken backs, broken skulls, brain injuries, a severed limb. And these are, these are, very serious conditions. It really underscores the need to always wear your seat belt on a plane for unpredictable turbulence. An infant should always be in a car seat on a plane, not in their parents' arms. The NTSB is sending a team to investigate four Americans were on board this flight.

Tom? What a crazy flight. Okay, Tom, we thank you for that. Next tonight to former President Trump's hush money trial with testimony wrapping up today. Closing arguments scheduled for next Tuesday, the defense deciding not to call. call Trump to testify. NBC's Laura Jared has been covering it all for us and has this report tonight. Tonight, the defense resting its case with former President Trump choosing not to take

the stand in his first criminal trial. Jurors left today hearing only from Robert Costello, a lawyer who briefly advised Michael Cohen. Prosecutors today again trying to paint Costello as a Trump-allied emissary, dispatched by Rudy Giuliani to prevent Cohen from flipping on Mr. Trump, confronted with emails suggesting he was frustrated Cohen refused to hire him, including one where he wrote, Cohen, quote, continues to slow play us and the president. Is he totally nuts? He's playing with the most powerful man on the planet. Costello suggested Monday Cohen's entire story

that former President Trump plotted to silence Stormy Daniels to protect his campaign was all a lie. Costello telling jurors that Michael Cohen said numerous times that President Trump knew nothing about those payments and that Cohen said he did this on his own. Costello, only one of two witnesses called by the defense team. The testimony all told, running just over 90 minutes. There's no crime. There's no crime. It's a kangaroo court. It's never been anything like this that I've ever seen. The judge working with both sides for hours today to hash out critical instructions jurors will receive next week to aid their deliberations on the 34 counts Mr. Trump faces for allegedly falsifying his business records.

The outcome likely to largely come down to whether jurors believe Cohen, the only witness to testify that Mr. Trump directed the payoff to Daniels and then disguised his reimbursements to Cohen, all of which Mr. Trump denies. The event spent three days grilling Cohen, who's been convicted of lying under oath and was to spark. It found guilty on the low-level felonies here, Mr. Trump faces anywhere from four years in prison to just probation. All right, Laura joins us tonight from outside the court in Lower Manhattan once again.

Laura, it was another big day. I want to start where the day started, and that was Bob Costello, one of the defense witnesses. He was cross-examined. He finished, the defense has rested. How do you think he did, right? Because he was sort of the final act for the defense, really the only act. Did he help or hurt Donald Trump's case? Tom, I think on balance, he really didn't do either side any favors.

He's called there to try to undermine Cohen's credibility. because he can talk about what he saw Cohen acting like right after the FBI raided his home. He describes him as sort of panicky and acting crazy and saying things like, I don't have anything on Donald Trump when the jury has heard plenty of what he has on Donald Trump. But yet the prosecution is pointing out that he was sort of acting as this back channel for Trump and Rudy Giuliani. He couldn't back away from some of his own emails today that I thought were pretty damning. And so I think on balance, the jury isn't really going to know which way he comes out. He's really an ancillary, tangential character in all this.

And then, you know, the big issue today, too, was the juror instructions, and there were some back and forth between prosecutors and the defense on what they want in those instructions. Give our viewers some details about those instructions, but I also have a bigger question for you. Will the jurors need a law degree to sort of understand what this case is about? Because you have a misdemeanor, but if the misdemeanor is committed in the way the prosecutors are describing, it's a felony. I mean, we've talked about this for weeks now, and I've got to admit, it's even confusing to me. Because it's confusing, Tom. It's not straightforward. It's sort of like a conspiracy on top of another crime, on top of another crime. And even today, the prosecutor is sort of walking it through. And all I could think of, they're going to have to try to find a way to make this convincing during closing arguments. Because right now, it's really messy. The jury is not supposed to need a law degree to get through these jury instructions.

But the judge saying today, it could take him roughly an hour to walk through him. So just imagine you're sitting there trying to make sense of all of this. Now, of course, the jury does have two lawyers on our. We don't know exactly how that will weigh in these deliberations. But I think it's going to be a real slog to work through this. But on balance, the prosecution scored some wins, Tom, and got the judge to agree to instruct the law and some stuff that they wanted. Yeah, you know, those lawyers on the jury, you just wonder, are they going to help prosecutors by explaining the instructions and the crimes? Or because they're lawyers, they're going to look at the law and say,

wait a minute. I don't know if this adds up. Finally, I do want to ask you is there's going to be a lot of time. And as the country waits for this trial to wrap up, we're going to have to wait a little longer, right? Does this help the prosecution? Does it help the defense? Does it matter at all? It's really hard to say. I think generally any large gaps are tough for the prosecution because they're the ones who have the burden of proof to try to prove that he's guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. But it might just be that they are tired, Tom. They've been sitting in this room for stretching on six weeks now, a lot of very, very dense testimony. I think having the long weekend to sort of refresh, come back right and early on Tuesday morning, might be a good reset for both

sides. Laura Jarrett for us, Laura, we thank you for that. We want to turn now to the latest on the war in Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sitting down with our Stephanie Rule in the wake of that announcement from prosecutors with the ICC calling for his arrest. Netanyahu pushing back hard saying Israel is doing all it can to protect civilian lives. Here's part of that interview. What is your response to the ICC sicking an arrest warrant for you? Well, I think my response is no different from President Biden, who said this is outrageous. And many people across the political spectrum in the United States and leaders of democratic

countries around the world have called it exactly that. It's a rogue prosecutor who's out to demon. the one and only Jewish state. U.S. aid has said famine is present. We've heard from Cindy McCain, who runs the World Food Program, who has said there's massive famine there. Are you saying that they're lying? I'm saying that Cindy McCain, unfortunately, is misinformed,

and I'm saying that the facts prove otherwise. We flooded Gaza with humanitarian aid, but before that, we supplied it with more than minimal amounts. October 7th happened, and now you're in a full-blown world. full-blown war. So did you underestimate what Hamas was capable of? Well, we certainly were surprised on that day. There's no question about that. But we got back on our feet immediately, and we're driving Hamas out. We're doing it in the most difficult, the most difficult urban warfare conditions of modern times, because they

have 35,000 terrorists in a dense urban area, 50 meters above ground, 50 meters in a territorial system of 500 kilometers of teratomoles, it's enormous. And I think they underestimated the fact that we could take them out once we turn things around, and we are. And we're committed to doing it, to finish it. It's not easy. We're getting a bum wrap in the international scene. I mean, you have this travesty where the leaders of Israel are being called war criminals.

When we're fighting war criminals, we're fighting these genocidal Hamas monsters. And then a court that was set up to prevent. The event, the repeat of the Holocaust genocide and other such savagery is accusing Israel of such crimes. It's absurd. All right, Stephanie, Ruhl joins us tonight from Chicago. Stephanie, let's pick up towards the end of that clip there. Prime Minister Netanyahu, saying his country has gotten a bum rap on the international stage. Does he take any blame for that?

I know you pressed him on it. What do you think, Tom? He absolutely doesn't. And just think about it. For the better part of the last 70 years, Democrats in the country have stood kind of in lockstep with Israel, for the most part. But over the last 10 years, that hasn't been the case. And so what I was pressing him on is, is he responsible for that rift?

He says absolutely not. You know, there's people on the far left. There's people on the far right that aren't standing with Israel. But he believes, for the most part, the majority of Americans are. He thinks this war for them is about defending democracy. And what's upsetting to him is that when you look at the war in Ukraine first, example. People look at that as though Zelensky is standing up for democracy. He doesn't feel like countries around the world are standing with him and standing up for Israel in the name of

democracy. However, when you think about all the aid and the support Israel's gotten, you can't say they haven't gotten U.S. support. They've gotten a ton. Yeah, and we're about to talk about Ukraine in just a moment. I do want to go back, though, to some of the things you just mentioned there about other countries, right? It's clear the U.S. is standing by Netanyahu after the announcement about these ICC arrest warrants, which you asked him about. But some other allies haven't done the same. France, Belgium, spoken out in support of the court. Germany has said it respects the court's independence.

Did Netanyahu seem concerned at all about a loss of international support as a result of this? Listen, he must be somewhat concerned, Tom. Why else is he doing international interviews, right? In the last day, he's done interviews with U.S. media. He has not done sit-down interviews with local media in Israel. to be a concern for him. Because remember, he wants to say that these charges are absolutely unfair. He should never be compared to terrorists. But when you look at the actual charges, and you know, we just played some of that in that clip, saying that an act of war is starvation.

You've got Cindy McCain saying there is mass starvation happening there. You hear the same thing from USAID. The suffering that's happening in Gaza to civilians is real. And so, yes, he wants to talk about a path to peace, and all of this is about what happened on October 7th and getting those hostages home. But the road, the path to peace, is riddled with death and destruction. You've covered this. You know it. And then, Stephanie, you know, one of the big questions looming over the war is what happens when it's over? How does it end, right? Netanyahu has been criticized for not clearly articulating a plan for Gaza after the war, even by his own military leaders this week. Did he give you any sense of what that could look like?

Listen, he lays out this theoretical plan and this plan for peace. But when you actually get down to it, Tom, things don't entirely make sense because he's made the argument. They've got to go into Rafa because that's where Hamas is. But our own government, and his military has said that Hamas is popping up in all different parts of Gaza. So while he says, yes, I can see a plan, it's tough to actually see how that's going to come to fruition, given where things are right now. Stephanie, rule for us. And you can see more of that interview tonight. on the 11th hour with Stephanie Ruhl on MSNBC.

We want to move on now to the war in Ukraine where President Zelensky is criticizing his Western allies for not doing enough to help his country defend itself from Russian attacks. In a new interview with the New York Times, Zelensky calling on President Biden to allow him to carry out strikes on military targets inside Russia with U.S. weapons,

but also asking neighboring countries to help shoot down Russian missiles over Ukraine. Take a listen. But probably is not. Ukraine and NATO, and so they're they're taking, because they're going to in the right of

our partners. For example, the merges gas which is in the right in the country, we're going to be the way to do

the way. Lytocke is so up in the other other than our other people. Then I'm a question, and

why the problem why we can't do you? It's a attack, that it's not, it is not, it's not, you,

you're not, you're And there are Russian pilots and there are Russian pilots? No. But what here is the question to do you know in the war?

No, no question. It's a safety. All these rockets will fly these countries. No. No, question of the time.

Why not to be rakeets? In what there is there is a luchin? For more on this, I want to bring in retired four-star Army General Barry McCaffrey,

who is also an NBC News military analyst. General, thank you. Thank you so much for being here. General, I wanted to have you on because I want to explain to our audience, and I really want to know as well, why haven't the U.S. and NATO allies agreed to help Ukraine with its air defense in the way Zelensky is describing? He's not saying attack Russia. He's saying when missiles are going to hit Ukraine, can your anti-missile defense help us out? Why is the answer no right now? Well, I think President Biden and his

team, in particular Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, and Tony Blinken, the Secretary of State, have been adamant to keep NATO and U.S. forces directly out of the war. And I think bringing in NATO aircraft to shoot down missiles from Russia would inevitably lead to an expansion to our involvement in ground combat. They're not going to do it, and they shouldn't do it. Now, The larger issue, however, is how can Ukraine, how can this courageous President Zelensky survive, defend a democracy, keep 20 million refugees from flooding Western Europe, if we hamstring his ability to use the weapons he has to include directly attacking Russian forces across the border that are shattering the energy system of Ukraine.

killing civilians. It's not clear to me why we're that hesitant to allow them to defend themselves. In addition, we had a six-month pause in support from the United States to the Ukrainian armed forces, and that was devastating. So Ukraine's in serious danger, and we need to step up the support, but not with active engagement of U.S. Why is it okay for the U.S. to help Israel defend itself from Iranian drones, and we blow them out of the skies, and yet we can't help Ukraine the same way with Russia? Well, a great question. I mean, at the end of the day, what we were responding to,

and by the way, I'm sympathetic to Biden, pointed the NFC situation room in the White House, and listening to the threats of nuclear war from these irresponsible, polemical Russian leaders to include Putin. and saying, look, we have to take this into account. They can't just disregard it. Overwhelmingly, the belief is these are empty threats to intimidate us with nuclear attack.

But I think Biden had to take that into account, and that's the difference. There's a giant Russian military supported by, to some extent, by Iran and China and North Korea, that pose a danger. And Israel has been a long-term ally, and we're committed to. their defense and have carried out operations, shoot down missiles headed toward Israel. You know, the original theory with what Russia wanted to do ultimately was take eastern Ukraine and then say that's it. But it sounds like they haven't stopped there and they want to keep marching further and further west. Where do you think this goes, General? Honestly, what happens to

Ukraine in, say, a year? Well, I'm optimistic in the longer run. I think the Europeans have been galvanized to understand a direct threat to France, to Germany, to the Baltic states, to Poland. So I think this massive GDP of the European Union will be devoted to supporting Ukraine. I pray that the United States remains subordinate to NATO objectives, but also provides extensive support. If they do, I think the courage and the commitment and the clever, so the Ukrainian armed forces will keep them free. But Putin is after subjugation of all of Ukraine. And then, I think, in the longer run, he's trying to restore the Soviet Empire.

This is a major threat to U.S. national security objectives. Is there anything, and we're running out of time here, is there anything that would stop Putin right now? I think he will respond to a growing economic disaster in Russia, which will get worse over time. He's taking major casualties which will alienate his own people, and he's running a corrupt, incompetent oligarchy government. That's all to his detriment. His only allies are criminal regimes like North Korea, who is providing tremendous amounts of artillery ammunition. So we shouldn't give up on Ukraine. It would be a disaster.

if it goes under to Russian aggression. General Barry McCaffrey, always great to have you on Top Story. Still ahead tonight, the investigation into the murder of a soldier stationed at Fort Campbell. The 23-year-old found dead in her residence, the plea from police tonight for any information about her killing. Plus, the LAPD launching a probe into the death of Matthew Perry months after the beloved actor was found dead in a hot tub with large amounts of ketamine in his system. We're going to explain what's going on here. And thieves in Miami Beach swipe nearly two million dollars worth of handbags in just seconds. The bags they got away with

worth up to $35,000, some more than $100,000. Stay with us. Top story just getting started on this Tuesday night. We are back now with the death of Friends star Matthew Perry and a very big update in the investigation. The 54-year-old died last October. You'll remember from what an autopsy revealed to be the acute effects of ketamine. Perry opening up about his struggles with drugs and alcohol shortly before his death. Tonight, the LAPD confirming they are working with the DEA to know and determine the source of that ketamine. Chloe Malas is here with some new reporting. And Chloe, the big update here is that this case is not closed. It's actually still ongoing. Look, at the time of the autopsy

results in December, it's said that Matthew Perry, like you said, died of acute effects of ketamine, but ruled the death an accident. They also cited that he had heart issues, that he was also on, you know, drugs that help with opioid addiction. And you saw him in this hot tub in the days before his death. We knew he loved being in his hot tub. He had just moved into this new home in Pacific Palisades. And we know that an assistant of Matthew Perry's found him unresponsive in that hot tub in October. So there were a lot of questions as to, okay, well, maybe he had a bad heart. It was the years of all of the drug use. He was on, he had been open about his drug use and addiction and he was on ketamine.

He had talked publicly about being on ketamine as an option for him to, you know, wean himself from the other addictions that he was on. And ketamine is a very popular drug these days. It is FDA approved to help certain psychiatric disorders under a doctor's care. So where is the investigation going? What do they want to know? So the investigation, they want to know how did Matthew Perry have such extreme amounts of ketamine in his system, potentially things that they could be looking at is who provided

that ketamine to him. Was it a doctor that was giving him prescriptions? You're supposed to be under a doctor's care. Was he taking this on his own? At home, without a doctor's care? Here's something I want to point out. Let me break this down for you. In the autopsy, it states that a week and a half before his death, he had a ketamine infusion. Well, if you read about ketamine, I'm no doctor, but you would know in the autopsy states that would have metabolized in his system, meaning it would have already been flushed out pretty much. The amount that he had in his system was the amount used for general anesthesia. Can you imagine how much ketamine that must be in his system? So how did that happen? A lot of questions. And law enforcement, obviously, they would

potentially want to hold somewhat accountable for that. I mean, look, not to draw an extreme parallel here, but look at what happened with Michael Jackson when he was taking propofal and he was under a doctor's care. And we saw that doctor on trial. So, I mean, I'm not saying that it's a doctor and I'm not saying that that would happen here, but there are a lot of questions. And, you know, you had people like Jennifer Aniston, his friend's co-star, coming out saying that she spoke to him the morning of his death over text message, that he was happy, that he was healthy, that he was on this road to recovery. You also had friends of his saying that he was playing pickleball. I spoke to someone that played pickleball with him that morning. So there are questions.

A lot of questions and lining up. And also truly sad. Very. Chloe, Melasphoros, Chloe, thank you. when we come back, the new product line marketed specifically to people taking Ozempik, Nestle releasing a range of frozen foods for people on weight-loss drugs,

what it contains, and when you can get it. That's next. All right, we are back now with Top Stories News Feed, and we begin with the investigation into the murder of a soldier stationed at Fort Campbell in Tennessee. Police say private first class,

Katia Duenas, Aguinal. from Texas was found dead in her home, less than four miles away from the base. The 23-year-old was assigned to the 1001st Airborne Division's Combat Aviation Brigade. Police are asking anyone with information to please come forward. A $1.8 million handbag heist was caught on camera in Miami Beach. Newly released security camp footage shows the two masked men. You see them right there rushing into the store at a hotel, filling garbage bins to the brim with more than 60 Hermez Berkin handbags,

which costs $20,000 to $35,000, they can go for even more. One of the suspects was arrested when police tracked him down in a stolen car back in March. Police have not yet released details on that second suspect. And Nestle launching a new line of frozen food designed for people using drugs like Ozempik. The company's Vital Pursuit brand features sandwiches, grain bowls, pastas, and pizzas that are high in protein and essential nutrients. The meals are portioned to match the appetite of people using weight loss. and diabetes medications like Wagovi, Zepound, or OZemphic, which an estimated one in eight Americans are now using.

Each meal retails for just under five bucks, which is pretty good. Vital Pursuit is expected to hit stores later this year. Okay, next tonight to power in politics. President Biden going after former President Donald Trump for a video posted on his social media site that invoked Nazi language. NBC's Peter Alexander explains this one. President Biden tonight is touting his commitment to those who served, announcing more than one million health care claims approved as part of the Bipartisan Pact Act he signed to expand benefits for veterans exposed to toxic chemicals. Veterans, you are the solid steel spine of our nation.

The camouflage colored appeals have become familiar for both President Biden and former President Trump, who's repeatedly slammed the Biden's chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan. He failed on every single thing, including Afghanistan. Mr. Trump has won the military vote twice, but that support has eroded. Gulf War veteran Jeff Zamoida says President Biden is a more unifying commander-in-chief. Joe Biden is the person that I identify with more clearly as a candidate. Because? Because of his staunch commitment to bipartisanship. Vietnam War veteran Luchipola argues President Biden is leading the military.

in the wrong direction. Downhill, they brought in the woke. It'll kill the military. Meantime, the former president is facing fierce criticism for this video shared on Mr. Trump's social media accounts. What happens after Donald Trump wins? The 32nd clip uses a term associated with Germany's Nazi government, referring to the creation of a unified Reich,

among fictionalized newspaper headlines covering a Trump victory in November. The Trump campaign telling NBC News the video was created by a random account and reposted by a staffer who they say did not see the word. The posts were removed this morning. A unified Reich? That's Siddler's language. That's not America. Tonight's response to the latest example of President Biden trying to seize on any Trump misstep looking to warn voters about the dangers of a second Trump term. Tom.

Our thanks to Peter, coming up next, the deadly mystery in Mexico, dozens of howler monkeys dropping dead, alarming, residents, what authorities believe is causing this troubling trend. Stay with us. We're back now as funeral ceremonies begin for the Iranian president, Abraham Raeisi. His sudden death rocking the country as thousands of people gathered to mourn amid growing regional tensions. NBC Keir Simmons has some new reporting tonight. Tonight, after day one of a three-day funeral, with huge crowds, the procession inching past mourners, holding up posters of President Raeisi, clamoring to touch the coffin. Iran is hearing more about the helicopter crash that killed him.

This video capturing the moment rescuers arrive at the scene. Found it, found it, one shouts, then the grim reality takes hold. They cry, pray and sob. On Iranian State Television, his chief of staff, who was in an accompanying helicopter describing turning back to search and hours of desperate calls with one of those who had been on board, now one of the dead. Criticism of the late president is dangerous, a hard liner who the U.S. says have blood on his hands, Iran's prosecutor warning people not to celebrate his death. But as Iran's state TV broadcast rolling coverage of the funeral today, Iranians

opposed to the regime spoke out to NBC's partner Sky News, their identities concealed to protect them. People have been handing out suites, and in many other Iranian cities, people celebrated the news by fireworks. I'm not upset at all, even though I never wish death on anyone. Kier Simmons joins us tonight from the Gulf region. Kier, let's dig a little deeper where you entered your report there, right? There seems to be a mixed bag when it comes to mourning versus celebrations with people that

were very unhappy with the Iranian. regime. That's so right, Tom, and you saw in the report there that even the people that spoke out had to be anonymous because it is so dangerous to speak out. And that's why when you look at those pictures of the people on the streets for the funeral today, you can't just read those pictures just as they are. Many people in Iran are grieving. Many of them are upset to see the death of the president like that.

That's true. There will be others who will be performing, if you like. what they're supposed to do, and so, therefore, they will be out on the streets like that. But then there are many, many others, and we've seen them rise up in previous years, just two years ago, for example, the demonstrations for women's rights who are opposed to the regime in Iran are furious about the lack of jobs, the inflation, all of the domestic challenges that there are now there. How many of them are there? Well, it's hard to count because they're not allowed to speak up.

And then, Kira, I do want to ask you about something else in the report where, you know, because there's been sort of conspiracy theories on, were the Americans behind this, was Israel behind this? There's obviously no evidence to prove either of those. But it's interesting that Russia says, actually, the Americans can be to blame here because of the sanctions and the old equipment they were using. Well, that's right. And of course, the Russians would say that, wouldn't they?

because it's in their interests to try to say to Iran, you see, you're suffering from the Americans the same way we are. I mean, let's just remember the overarching message from the Iranians, from the Russians, from the Chinese, from the North Koreans, that group of countries, if you like, their message is that we are being persecuted by America and that we're all in this together and trying to recruit others around the world with that same idea. Now, I will tell you this, Tom, on Iranian State TV, you heard him in my piece there, we heard a witness talking, who was in another helicopter, talking about the conditions,

and he said it wasn't foggy. Now, whether you believe that or not, that does raise questions about exactly what did cause this crash, and there will be those who will jump on it, and as you say, there will be conspiracy theories. But right now it does seem as if, though, that there is either a technical error here or there is whether to blame for what happened. Keir Simmons, our thanks to you for that. We want to get a check of what else is happening around the world, so it's time for Top Stories Global Watch. We start with the EU passing the first major law regulating AI use. 27 countries agreeing to regulate AI based on risk,

placing the strictest regulations on high-risk AI. So the prohibited uses include, and this is obviously sort of very general right now, manipulating or distorting people's behavior, AI cannot categorize people by race, gender, or social class, and then profiling risk of potential criminal activity as well, also compiling facial recognition databases that somehow would be controlled only by the AI. That's going to be illegal. The EU planning to open an AI office to monitor developers and the laws implementation, any company that violates the law will be subject to a fine of as much as $38 million. I'm sure it's going to be quite complicated to regulate that.

A Japanese town has taken the drastic measure of blocking an iconic view of Mount Fuji because it's been overloaded with tourists. New video shows authorities mounting a black mesh screen to obscure the views of Mount Fuji in the Yamanashi district. This comes after local residents complained about tourists flocking to the popular location to take photos of the mountain behind a local convenience store. then causing overcrowding, littering, and also causing high traffic. And in Mexico, a breed of monkeys are dying amid a brutal heat wave.

According to local reports, at least 80 howler monkeys have died in the Tabasco Gulf State as temperatures in the region exceed 100 degrees. Howler monkeys are one of the noisiest land animals, and they're known for swinging from tree to tree using their long tails. Authorities are looking into this alarming trend. Okay, when we come back, wild video out of L.A. at Daredevil, out on a tightrope between two abandoned high-rises, known as the graffiti towers. That man says it was performance art, but now the LAPD says it's investigating.

The ongoing effort to keep trespassers out after developers abandoned that construction project. Stay with us. Finally tonight, the wild moment caught on camera, a daredevil in Los Angeles, tightrope walking across two abandoned high-rise buildings, 40 floors above the ground. The LAPD now investigating the sun. stunt, and it's just the latest incident involving these so-called graffiti towers we've told you about. NBCLA's Alex Rozier broke this story and has been reporting on the issues plaguing the halted downtown development for months now.

Foot-stopping video shows a man on a slack line, moving between two graffiti-filled skyscrapers downtown Los Angeles. I wanted to create the greatest art piece Los Angeles has ever seen. Ben Schneider says he's a performance artist who walked on this slack line Sunday 40 floors up more than 500 feet high. The only thing that was going through my mind when I was walking was pretty much just don't look down, don't fall, and don't die. There's fire trucks underneath me. There's police officers. There's, they were still at the bottom. They didn't come up and do anything. They just were watching from the bottom, I guess. We did it like six to seven times, and then we were like, well, we're probably going to arrest it pretty soon.

Let's get out before the cops arrest us. This is just the latest issue at the Oceanwide Plaza developments. The unfinished towers have been abandoned since 2019 when the Chinese developer ran out of money. Since then, dozens of floors were tagged with graffiti. There have been bass jumpers here. Now slackliners, too. I was just stunned. In February, Kevin Day Leon and the rest of L.A. City Council,

unanimously approved more than $1 million to build a fence around the property, and LAPD still surrounds the site 24 hours a day. Do you think the city should invest more to have a more secure property? I'm a little more hesitant. I don't want more taxpayer dollars. The LAPD, our law enforcement agency, they are not the security guards of this private developer that went belly up. As for the slack line stunt, Ben said he wore a safety harness in case he fell. Still he knows he could have died. But it is still scary because it is like, what if the horse doesn't catch me or like, what if the rope breaks or something? You know, it's still like pretty scary. But I need to show you one more thing. And I want to give you a look from way up there. That's the best vantage point

from News Chopper 4. Days later, the slack line is still in place. It's my addition to the building. I didn't graffiti it, but I left my own mark. He left his mark on this problematic development supposedly secure. Every time I drive by the highway, I look at it. I'm like, hey, I walked that. Ben said they used fishing line and a drone to attach the slack line between the two towers. The group selling those abandoned towers

say they expect a new owner will be in place by the end of the year. With NBC 4 News in Los Angeles, I'm Alex Rozier. Tom, back to you. Big thank you to Alex and our friends at NBC LA for that. And we thank you for watching. watching top story tonight i'm tom yamas in new york stay right there more news on the way