Top Story with Tom Llamas - Tuesday, May 7, 2024

Episode Date: May 7, 2024

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

Breaking tonight, President Trump's classified documents case in limbo as a judge indefinitely postpones a trial. That decision coming less than two weeks before the trial was set to get underway. The federal judge saying there are a number of questions that need to be answered before the case goes to a jury. The details just coming in. Also tonight, Stormy Daniels, the most anticipated witness at the core of former President Trump's hush money trial takes the stand. The adult film star testifying in extreme detail about her sexual encounter with Trump. At times, the judge saying her explicit recollection went way too far. The heated moments on the stand over the payment that bought her silence.

Tornado outbreak, massive twisters carve a destructive path across seven states. People rescued from destroyed homes in the middle of the night. Those dangerous storms now on the move, 18 million at risk with Chicago and Indianapolis in the threat. zone. Ukraine foils a Russian plot to kill President Zelensky, the assassination attempt an alleged gift to Russian President Vladimir Putin for his inauguration, the details of the plot, and what we know about the two people arrested for treason. Betting before 18 and alarming surge in teens placing wagers despite being below the legal age on sporting events. One high schooler speaking a top story why he thinks the issue is getting out of hand.

Plus, Panera dropping its controversial charged lemonade. The restaurant chain phasing out the beverage linked in wrongful death suits and special delivery. A postal carrier, shocked to find letters written by a World War II soldier in his bin 80 years after they were originally said. What happened here? His emotional mission to return those pieces of history. Top story. Starts right now. Former President Trump spent his day in a New York courtroom listening to bombshell testimony from adult film star Stormy Daniels.

But tonight, breaking news out of Florida where the classified documents case against Trump has been thrown into jeopardy. Good evening. We're following new developments as a judge in that documents case indefinitely postpones the trial scheduled to begin in just 13 days. This has one of four criminal cases against the former president. the federal judge saying a number of pre-trial issues have yet to be resolved. The decision making it less likely Trump will face a Florida jury before the November election. The former president is facing dozens of felony charges related to classified documents found at his Mar-Lago home and his refusal to return them. That announcement coming after a dramatic day in a New York court as Stormy Daniels took the sand in Trump's hush money case.

We'll break down our highly anticipated testimony in just a moment. But first, let's bring in NBC News Justice and Intelligence correspondent, Ken DeLanian, to start us off tonight. So, Ken, let's get right to that breaking news now. How big of a setback is this for the federal government? It's not a surprise, Tom, but it's an enormous setback. The judge had put this case in legal quicksand. Not only did she postpone the May 20th trial date, which we all saw coming, but she hasn't set a new one, and she set five separate hearings on various motions by the defense, all of which,

she's going to spend time in court, hearing the arguments, asking for briefings, some of which many legal experts say do not require hearings, but nonetheless she is holding them. And it really does raise questions, as you said, about whether this case, which arguably is the most serious and consequential case against Mr. Trump, or at least the most cut and drive one, whether this case can go to trial before the election. And obviously, if Donald Trump is elected president and this case is still pending and he takes office, this case can be made to go away, Tom. Yeah, Ken, I want to ask you So, Jack Smith, obviously, the special counsel here, is there anything he can do at this point? Sure.

The special counsel could file a motion to recuse the judge, to ask the judge to disqualify herself and then take that up on appeal. But that is a really tough thing to do, Tom. Jack Smith would have to prove that this judge acted in a way that causes a reasonable person to question her impartiality. And it's not clear that she's done that, even though many legal experts say that some of her rulings are out. outside of the norm. Because what she's essentially doing here is she's asking for more time to hear the evidence and to hear the arguments. And how can you really argue with that except to say that, you know, a more experienced judge would have already had this case to trial? It's not clear that she's biased in favor of Donald Trump. But what legal experts say is she's an

incredibly inexperienced judge who is taking way too long on a lot of technical issues that don't really require the time that she's devoting to them. And then, Ken, is there any chance this trial is going to happen before the election now? It's possible because we have these hearings now in June and July, and if she resolves these matters quickly, both sides have said that they could go to trial once at August, the other said September, but really it seems unlikely because a lot of these things can be appealed by the defense if she rules against them. And it's worth remembering, Tom, Jack Smith could have brought this case in Washington, D.C. He might have drawn an entirely different judge, but he decided that most of the conduct happened in Florida, so the right thing to do is bring it in Florida. And this judge was assigned by a random chance. Donald Trump is arguably one of the luckiest politicians in American history the way this case has gone. Okay, Ken Delaney on that breaking news, Ken, we appreciate all your reporting. We want to stay on former President Trump's legal battles and that dramatic testimony on day 13 of the New York hush money trial. The jury hearing from a star witness at the center

of this case, Stormy Daniels, NBC News senior legal correspondent Laura Jarrah was in the courtroom and has that report for us tonight. Tonight, Donald Trump seated just 10 feet away as the woman at the center of his hush money cover of trial, Stormy Daniels, testified in vivid detail about their alleged sexual encounter nearly two decades ago that prosecutors say he was desperate to hide from voters before the 2016 election. The adult film actress speaking quickly at times, looking directly at the jury, recounting how she first met Mr. Trump at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe in 2006 and went up to a hotel suite where the pair ultimately had sex, which Mr. Trump says never happened.

Mr. Trump, I was covered in there. Did she told the jury she was not threatened and wasn't drugged, but her testimony about an imbalance of power and blacking out during the alleged encounter, prompting the defense team to ask the judge to declare a mistrial, arguing the lurid details were only meant to embarrass the presumptive GOP nominee, saying the testimony is impossible to come back from. The judge refusing to declare a mistrial, but a great. some of Daniel's testimony would have been better left unsaid, all leading to a heated

cross-examination. The defense zeroing in on testimony Daniels gave about an unknown man, she says, confronted her in a parking lot in 2011, a story she recounted to 60 minutes. A guy walked up on me and said to me, leave Trump along, and then he leaned around and looked at my daughter and said, a beautiful little girl, it'd be a shame of something happened to her mom. The defense, pressing her about why she didn't call police or tell her then-boyfriend at the time. The testimony stretching far afield from the criminal charges the former president faces for allegedly disguising how he reimbursed Michael Cohen, his former fixer and attorney, who paid Daniels the $130,000 to stay quiet just before the 2016 election. The judge chiding Daniels to move it along at times. Their case is totally falling apart.

They have nothing on books and records. Daniel's telling the jury today. She was focused on selling her story, but my motivation wasn't money. It was to get the story out, adding she didn't feel safe after the parking lot threat. Mr. Trump's defense attorney taking direct aim at her credibility and passed denials of their alleged encounter, grilling her. You are looking to extort money from President Trump, right? Daniel's responding, false. Okay, Laura Jarrett joins us tonight from Lower Manhattan.

and Laura, there were times during this trial, I know that maybe for the jurors seemed a little bit boring, very technical on the way payments are made. That was not today. Talk to me about how the jurors looked as they were hearing this testimony from Stormy Daniels. So, Tom, when she first walks in, her voice is trembling. She calls herself Miss Stormy Daniels, and you just could feel the tension in the air. The former president is seated just feet away from her as the jury is listening to her. Describe all these details, as I laid out in the piece, it was awkward. It was uncomfortable at times. The jury was looking away from her at certain times, taking notes. Other times, she's making direct

eye contact with all of them, and it's all very focused. But they certainly sort of, I think, lost a little bit of attention as she was describing some of their later encounters, not the alleged encounter, as we all know it, but some of the later back and forth conversations they had. I think their attention waned. The judge was really trying to force her to stay on track and not meander in her testimony, and that was something she really struggled with, Tom. You know, in a moment, we're going to break down her testimony, but since you were in court, I do want to ask you, you know, there was a point there where the judge sort of admonished her for going a little too far, saying a little too much. Did prosecutors lead her down that

road, or did she sort of take that and go a little further than she should have? Part of the problem is that the alleged encounter is not the crime here, right? The sex is not the crime. say it's the cover-up that this crime. And so the judge has allowed them a little bit of leeway to tell that story because they say it's what he was trying to cover up. But the judge has tried to cabinet and narrow it down. But where the boundaries of that is really anybody's guess. And it was kind of question by question. And she would sometimes take a question and run with it and answer way beyond what the prosecutors asked her. But they needed to try to get out at least the basic facts so the jury could understand what they say he was trying to cover up

and to try to explain why it could have been so damaging if the voters had found out about it in the fall of 2016. I think at the end of the day, Tom, the jurors were probably left with a very clear impression of what she says happened, and clearly they're going to soon hear about Mr. Trump's all of his denials. So, and then finally, Laura, we know the stormy chapter isn't over yet in this trial. She's back on the stand Thursday?

She is, and she was questioned a lot about today her motivation, and sort of pressed on some credibility issues, some past inconsistent statements, but she was not pressed on the alleged encounter and questioned. Tom, voices were raised. The defense team, Susan Nichols, went at her very hard, but she didn't actually question her about the alleged sex.

And so I'm looking to see Thursday about how far they want to go down on that road since they say this is the type of stuff that's inflaming the jury, Tom. Yeah, it could get heated again on Thursday. Okay, Laura Jarrett for us outside the courthouse. Laura, we thank you for all your reporting for more on the bombshell testimony

of Stormy Daniels today in Trump's New York Hush Money trial. I want to bring in our legal experts tonight. NBC News legal analyst Angela Senadella and Sarah Azari, a criminal defense attorney. We thank you both for being here tonight. Angela, I'm going to start with you. We're going to have you play the role of the prosecution here, if you will. What did this have to do with Trump, the businessman, committing fraud? I'm trying to understand why are the pointed questions about the alleged sexual affair

in the hotel room? What did this have to do with the crime, or was this done to embarrass the former president, as his team is saying. So all the above, but I do think a couple things were effective. First, it's the origin story. It's the motive. It's the allegation that this is the reason why the entire criminal scheme unfolded. And it was from the mouth of the woman who was there in the room, the only one who knows how it went down, allegedly, according to her version of the story. The second thing, though, is that it closed the loop on the money. So that is the basis of all of this business fraud allegation. That what was claimed to be legal services was

actually this. Now, we know she is not a lawyer, and now we know what really allegedly was. So the fact that before we just had the lawyer receiving the money, and now we know those funds then went on to her really closes the loop. Okay. So, Sarah, you know, the defense's motion for a mistrial happened here. The judge said it wasn't warranted, but he did agree that some of the color stormy Daniels added may have crossed the line. What do you make of this motion? Was it expected, and is it going to hurt this case on appeal? Yeah, Tom, that was very, like, very much mixed messaging by the judge. Granting a mistraw based on the elaborate testimony would mean that this judge is admitting his own judicial errors by allowing that testimony.

And because, remember, he could have struck her response. He didn't. He could have stopped her response. He didn't. He just admonished her. And so, of course, he was going to deny that motion. But I expected the motion and I expected the denial. I believe that, just like any other trial, what we're seeing is objections.

motions being brought to make a record and preserve that record for appeal. Because if Trump gets convicted, you better bet he's going to appeal his conviction. So, Angela, did the prosecutors make a mistake here? Did they go too far with Stormy Daniels setting up the scene that Sarah just set up here with this mistrial? And if there is a verdict that doesn't go Trump's way, he goes to appeal. And then, hey, the judge is on the record saying she went too far. So I don't think so. This happens all the time where the judge requires certain things to be struck from the record. And I think the prosecutors knew exactly what they were doing. And they knew this judge was not going to grant a mistrial. So that's that the damage that was

done to Trump's character was so significant that I think the prosecutors played it perfectly. Sarah, talk to me about the defensive strategy here, right? Because I'm trying to understand it. They went very hard against Stormy Daniels, but it was more about her wanting money and where she was financially in her life. Explain to me why they would want to sort of, I don't want to say trash her, but almost trashed her on the stand in front of the jury when they had already won some points with the whole mistrial situation. Yeah, I mean, to me, there was a very stark difference, Tom, between Stormy on direct and stormy on cross. She went from relatable and measured to like very on guard and punchy.

And there were a lot of questions about money, as you said. You know, getting a name and fame because of Donald Trump, retaliation for failing to get her on the apprentice. And then the disgust and regret she had because she had sex with them and she regretted it. But I think what was shocking to me was that emphatic testimony about her deep hatred and disdain towards Donald Trump. I mean, you know, any other witness who has that disdain is going to downplay it, at least. But she was very clear that she hates him. If he's convicted, he should go to jail. And so I think that's fodder for the defense. They'll argue that she's biased here. And she didn't get what she maybe had bargained for at the time. But I think she has something much bigger going for

her, Tom. She was very, very likable. She connected with this jury. She looked at them. She said us. She said we. And that was very effective, even though usually that's what an expert does. I thought that she was very, and where there's lackability, there's credibility, no doubt. But Sarah, what do you think the strategy is going to be going into tomorrow, or Thursday, I should say, on the cross-examination? What more do they have to do with Stormy Daniels to try to win their case? Well, I think they're going to go for her credibility, not so much about, like Angela said, the actual details of the Sex Act, but money as motive. You know, that publicity that she's talking about saying, I wasn't after money, I was after getting my story out, you know, there's more

longevity with publicity, and that longevity turns into money. So even though it's not immediate remuneration, that's still money. And so I think they're going to really try to nail her on the fact that she was after something very specific. She didn't get it. It's retaliatory. She's not credible because she had money as motive. And then, Angela, I do want to ask you, are prosecutors do you think concerned that they're now trying to sort of sow this doubt with Stormy Daniel? She was on a podcast with Michael Cohen. She has these tweets where she hates them. She testified that she hates them. I mean, is that going to hurt her in front of the jury? Yeah, so look, I think they knew she was going to be a risky witness overall, but it was a calculated risk they took.

And I do think it was strategic, it came on the heels of Hope Hicks' testimony. Because what did she do? She said that he was very concerned about his wife, Melania. Well, guess what? Having stormy up on that stand and talk about how the chase wasn't just one time, but it was repeated, well, what is the jury left with? This man clearly doesn't care that much about what his wife is thinking if he's very openly chasing this woman. Sarah, do you think that's true? Do you think that's going to affect the jury?

Absolutely. I think that it's so important, you know, yes, there was a lot of details. There's some blurred lines about where she should have stopped and didn't. But remember, Donald Trump has always denied this relationship. And it's almost like she's saying, this wasn't even just a one-night stand that he's denying. This was ongoing. You know, he was blowing up my phone. I finally ignored him.

He went away. But, like, it went on for a year. So I think the details matter to really lay out the extent and scope of the relationship because he's just doubled down. and he's always denied this. Sarah, the prosecution announced they're probably less than two weeks away from resting their case.

Do you think the defense puts up a case? I mean, I don't expect Donald Trump to testify. I think perhaps maybe if they have witnesses who can, you know, they can go on a smear campaign with the credibility of these witnesses that, you know, have credibility issues. But I don't know. It's hard to tell.

It's hard to tell. I just think that there are. bigger sort of reliance is going to be on poking holes in the prosecution's case. Angela, who do you think is on top right now? I actually think it's defense, Tom. I think the prosecution has so much to prove here. It's chaotic. It's going to come down to the closing arguments. If they can weave this all together and prove that it was really election interference, campaign violations, then they've got it.

But I have just seen just this... They're too scattered. They're too all over the place. Is that what you're saying? I just think it's so much for the jury to follow. I mean, frankly, it's a lot for legal analysts to fault. And there's two lawyers we should remind the viewers on the jury. Right, but there's a lot of steps that the prosecution has to prove. It's not a direct line. It's misdemeanor felony with X, Y, Z, and they have to prove all of it. Angela and Sarah, always a pleasure to have you guys both on the show. We thank you for that. Next, we're turning to some breaking news tonight. Dangerous weather across the country. A tornado touching down in Michigan late today. We'll have those details in

just a minute. But first, we want to turn to the deadly tornado strike in Oklahoma. Those storms killing one person as they ripped through small towns in central and southern states, causing devastation and disruption for millions. Sam Brock reports tonight from a region and ruins. Barnes-Dall, Oklahoma, tonight is a site that won't easily be forgotten. Homes twirled in the speckles of wood and mangled metal after a vicious tornado tore through the city of 1400. We need a lot of prayers. Claiming one life and prompting hours of search for a missing person. Yet the sheer force of Mother Nature. How did you survive?

This is your Lord. Countered by the resolve of residents like Carl Kelly, who used his body to shield his 80-year-old mother. How long were you covering your mom for? How ever long it was. Five seconds, ten seconds, a minute. I don't know. Time stops.

It didn't stop for me. Are you okay? Barnes-Dahl's authorities say they rescued around 25 people. Get out of here. One of the stunning aspects of this storm is that the tornado could be so violent that it would shear the side off of a home, snap a tree in half, take an entire home in life possessions, and stack them like this on top of property, and flip over a car which still has a headlight on, and to this point, the casualties are only a handful. Many here know

that could have been different. Everything's literally like kind of exploding, blowing everywhere. Chase Shore nearly drove into the tornado to reach his panicked girlfriend. The only thing that completely stopped me from completely going through the tornado itself was somebody coming out of it flashing the lights at me while feet away at bartleville's hampton inn there was a partial roof collapse and families holding on for dear life and we all just went running and the windows popped out of the hallways and the suddenness of the severity was shocking tonight gratitude to be alive for loved ones despite the physical destruction surrounding them tom as far as the depth of the destruction survey is still ongoing right now but the national weather service says this is at least

in EF3, if not an EF4. As for that other tornado that happened exactly here one month ago, the mayor says this is far more devastating, 30 to 40 homes damaged or destroyed. That is hundreds of people more than likely without housing right now. And he says, just like many cities in America, there's just not available rentals at the moment or affordable housing, which pushes a lot of them into a very dire situation. Back to you, Tom. Okay, Sam Brockford, Sam. We appreciate that. Sad news over there. Those severe storms, they're not over yet. More than 50 million still in the risk zone, as we've mentioned, and we're following some breaking news right now out of Michigan.

We're a suspected tornado just touched down outside of Kalamazoo. Video circulating. You see it right here on social media showing significant damage to a FedEx facility. We're also hearing reports of damage to homes and roads. I want to get right over NBC News meteorologist Bill Karens. I think this might be the first time you're seeing that video as well. Any word on what you're tracking tonight and what hit that area of Michigan? Yeah, this is the suburb south of Kalamazoleon.

So here's Kalamazoo right here, and this was the storm that was just south of here with that tornado. We just saw the damage. It's in the town of Portage. And we know that there's search and rescue ongoing right now. On the scanner reports, they said a mobile home park has been decimated. So our thoughts and prayers with them as they go through, you know, the hour and two after the recovery, the chaos of it, the power is out. Phone lines are down in the area, and that's taking place right here just south of Kalamazoo. And unfortunately, another storm is right over the town.

top of them. Like, this isn't an old radar. So that storm was here. This is a new tornado warning for the same area that was just hit. And you see this little icon here? Just outside of where the tornado hit about an hour ago, a new tornado was just reported in the last minute. So, I mean, you can imagine the chaos of that. So you got all the search and rescueers going over trying to see if, you know, rescue people, help the injured. And then you have another tornado warning and a tornado you know, right next door. So I'm sure that that's caused a lot more chaos. Other storms in this area have produced tornadoes. We've got about at least one, two, three, four others. I haven't seen significant damage with those. I know Union City. I'm worried about that. Had a tornado emergency

for the city. So we'll give you reports to be anything new on that. This is further to the south. This is in Indiana. This is Fort Wayne. And when you see a hook like this, that's when you get a super cell and there's likely a tornado right here. So our friends in Monroeville need to be in their shelters, getting underground if possible, or in the middle of your house, blankets, pillows over the top of you if this is coming your way again that's in monroeville heading right on the border here of indiana into ohio uh other storms that we're going to track tonight will spread into ohio eventually they'll develop a little further to the south cincinnati and louisville and tom tomorrow we're going to do this all over again we got a huge area that's today tomorrow

almost 50 million people at risk this time tomorrow i'm sure we'll be tracking additional tornadoes and maybe even strong tornadoes too okay bill we appreciate that we'll stay on top of it we want to turn out of the where tonight Israeli troops descended on the southern border city of Rafa. The humanitarian zone for more than one million Palestinians now is staged for war. The escalation coming amid the ongoing talks of a potential ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. NBC's Richard Engel reports from Jerusalem on those talks. The Israeli military today said the only language Hamas understands is force. And all day, Israel shelled the southern city of Rafa.

Israeli tanks rumbled in, trampling over Palestinian signs. Taking over a border crossing with Egypt, it says Hamas uses for terrorist purposes, but also stopping the flow of aid. The White House says the operation is limited, not Israel's long-anticipated major offensive, which President Biden opposes because the city is packed with more than a million civilians ordered by Israel to come here for their safety. Israel's defense minister says the operation. is designed to pressure Hamas to free its hostages, but that Israel is also prepared to

make concessions to bring them back. As we're learning more about Hamas's counteroffer, claiming it will free all hostages in stages in exchange for releasing Palestinian prisoners of Hamas's choosing and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, Israel says the proposal doesn't meet its security needs. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dispatched a negotiating team to Cairo to discuss the proposal. But today, he sounded dismissive, calling the offer an attempt to sabotage the Rafa operation, which he said is vital to destroying Hamas. In Rafa today, our crew filmed at one of the only remaining hospitals,

where Mohamed Abu Amra cries for his nine sisters, brothers, and niece, all killed in an Israeli strike today. He's racked with guilt. He invited them to stay in his home because it's further away from Israel's new positions. Then he says, for reasons he doesn't understand, Israel bombed his house. No one is left, he cries, it's just me, and the rest are here. The CIA director is in Cairo, along with negotiators from Israel and Hamas. The Israeli military says it will intensify its operations in Ruffa, unless there's a deal.

Tom. Okay, Richard Engel for us. Richard, thank you for that. We want to stay overseas now, but to Ukraine is where we head. where officials there say they thwarted a plot to assassinate President Vladimir Zelensky and other top military figures. Two colonels responsible for protecting Ukraine's top officials were detained on suspicion of treason for trying to carry out a plan by a Russian spy agency. For more on this, I want to bring in NBC News Foreign Correspondent. Megan, tell us what we know so far.

Well, Tom, look, we know that those two colonels who were arrested were in the very agency that's supposed to protect top officials. That's according to Ukrainian authorities. We also know that they were recruited before the war broke out, and this plot was supposed to be carried out just before President Putin's inauguration, which was today. This is a plan that Ukraine says was backed by Russian federal security services, Tom. And then, Megan, remind our viewers, this is not the first attempt on Zelensky's life since war broke out there. Yeah, you're absolutely right. So Ukrainian officials say that there have been at least 10 attempts to assassinations. President Zelensky since the war broke out in February of 2020.

One of the latest ones was just last month when a Polish man was arrested by authorities for allegedly trying to assassinate the president of Ukraine. And that, of course, was another plot that they say was backed by Russia, Tom. And then finally, you know, has Russia responded to these allegations of any type of involvement? So, Tom, so far Russia has not responded to these allegations. But look, you know, Russia is infamous for kids. carrying out these types of plots on anyone they feel is an enemy of President Putin, Tom. Okay, Megan Fitzgerald from London.

Megan, thank you. Still ahead tonight, an update on a missing American woman who vanished in Florida, her estranged husband, now in federal custody in connection to her disappearance, the evidence authorities say has put the focus on him. Plus, the tragic discovery at the scene of the Baltimore Bridge collapsed, the body pulled from the water that has officially put an end to the recovery efforts. and a major change coming to the Boy Scouts, why the company says it's changing its name

after more than a century to scouting America. Stay with us. Back down with an update on the search for a Florida woman who went missing in Spain more than three months ago while she and her husband were in the process of getting divorced. That husband now in federal custody. NBC's Priya Shrether has more on the clues investigators

followed that led to his arrest. Tonight, 36-year-old David Kuzenevich behind bars, arrested by federal authorities at Miami International Airport in connection to the disappearance of his wife. Court documents revealing the trail they followed that led to the arrest. Three months after Anna Maria Kizenevich vanished from her apartment in Madrid, Spain, where she had moved for a fresh start while the couple was going through a divorce, according to an FBI affidavit. On February 3rd, she was reported missing by two friends who received these suspicious texts from her phone, saying she was running away with a man she had just met.

I tried to respond saying that I got worried about her, like it didn't sound safe, like what is she talking about? Like, this makes no sense. And my message just didn't go through. According to the affidavit, David Kaczynovich sent those texts to a woman he was dating, asking her to translate them into Spanish. the same day they were sent from his wife's phone. FBI agents say the day before those texts were sent. A man who resembled David Kaczynovich was captured on surveillance video outside his wife's apartment. Anna Maria's friend who reported the disappearance detailing what investigators say the video shows.

A man with a helmet sprayed the surveillance cameras on the directory outside of her apartment building. and waited for two people to leave the building and took the opportunity to go inside. Police say Kizenevich purchased the same brand of spray paint and duct tape just hours earlier. David Kizenevich's lawyer has maintained his client was in his home country of Serbia the day Anna Maria went missing. He has not responded to NBC's request for comments since the arrest. In the affidavit, FBI agents say David Kizenevich rented a car in the Serbian capital of Belgrade, four days before Anna Maria went missing and returned it weeks later with the license plates replaced and the windows tinted, having driven it more than 4,700 miles.

David Kenezovich is being charged with kidnapping. He was arrested in the Miami airport after his return flight to the United States from Serbia. He's next expected to appear in court on Friday. Tom. Okay, thank you for that. When we come back, the alarming trend in teen gambling, a new article published in the New York, Post reporting 60 to 80% of high school students reported gambling with real money in the past year. The teen author of that article joins Top Story, along with an expert in adolescent gambling research, what they believe is leading the surge and why it could create harmful behavior

for life. We'll explain. Okay, we're back now with Top Stories News Feed in an update tonight. Authorities were covering the final victim from Baltimore's key bridge collapse. Salvage teams saying they located the sixth and final body today. Police identifying the victim as 37-year-old Jose Minor Lopez. Salvage crews are still removing large pieces of the bridge to restore full access to the port of Baltimore. Another update tonight, Panera phasing out. It's controversial charged lemonade.

Employees at the chain telling NBC that the restaurants are no longer ordering ingredients to make the highly caffeinated beverage. The era has faced three separate lawsuits over the drink, which has been blamed for at least two deaths. The products can contain as much as 390 milligrams of caffeine. And the Boy Scouts of America changing its name for the first time in the organization's 114-year history. The organization will now become Scouting America. The CEO says he wants all use to feel welcome in the program's ranks with the new name. The group has become more inclusive of LGBT members and leaders in recent years and began accepting girls in 2017. The organization is also emerging from bankruptcy after a flood of sexual abuse

claims. Okay, now to an alarming trend surrounding teens and gambling. New York high school student Colby Cottrone voicing his concerns on the issue in his article, high stakes for high schoolers. Want to bet teens need gambling education? It was a winning submission just published by the New York Post as part of their scholars contest. In it, he cites that 60 to 80 percent of high school students reported gambling money in the past year despite the legal age ranging from 18 to 21. According to the National Council on Problem Gambling, gambling has become incredibly accessible in recent years

after the Supreme Court's 2018 decision to strike down the federal ban on sports betting. That move paving the way from more than 30 states plus Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, to legalize online betting. For more on this, I want to bring in the author of that article, Kobe Cotron, himself, as well as Dr. Mark He's a board-certified psychiatrist at Yale School of Medicine, specializing in adolescent gambling.

Thank you both for being here. Colby, I'm going to start with you. First, congratulations on the article being published. Talk to me about why you decided to write about this and why it's so important to you. Yeah, thanks so much. Thanks for having me on the show today. After just seeing how prevalent gambling has been in my high school and just seeing my friends gambling, sports right at their fingertips on their phones.

Just the conversation about sports has gone from the actual game, right, to more of like the spreads and the money lines. So you just hear it being talked about in classrooms at the lunch table in the hallways. It's just so prevalent everywhere. So let me get this right. Like you're walking in class or you're in class, you're in the hallways, and you're hearing people talk about money lines and people have the gambling apps on their phones? Yeah, it's just become such a casual thing.

Once it was unheard of to have almost anyone gambling outside of Las Vegas or certain states. But now it's just casual conversations about teenagers and high schools betting right on their phones. You know, Doctor, so it's no surprise that sports betting has exploded with all these states and obviously the apps on the phones. Talk to me about the dangers that kids are doing this now. And we should make it clear, it's illegal for a lot of these high schoolers because in most states to gamble, it's 18 or 21. That is correct. However, many students do gamble as we're hearing.

And this is a very alarming trend that is occurring in the setting of the Internet allowing people to place bets anytime, anywhere, and large amounts of money betting on just about anything. Doctor, I want to ask you, you know, there are so many influences with the sports gambling, right? commercials all throughout the games, you walk into a stadium, you're inundated with the advertisements. How much of an impact is that having on kids? It's something that we need to understand better, but one could think of this as perhaps a perfect storm, where there is the increased availability, the legalization, the social acceptability, and the access via the Internet in the setting of heavy advertising and coverage in the sports media.

Colby, I want to read a portion of your article that was published again in the New York Post. Here's what you write. You write, it's time for schools to focus on the root cause of online teen sports gambling by implementing gambling prevention education in all high schools. Health class curricula across the nation covered the typical health risks for teens, such as smoking, vaping, drinking, et cetera. Yet gambling education is nowhere to be found in our schools. Do you really think that needs to be implemented, Colby?

Yeah, so, I mean, with drugs and alcohol and things along that sort of along those lines, we're taught about the effects of it and, and the, yeah, all the effects of it. And gambling, it's such a recent topic that students, they don't know what the effects are when it comes to it. They don't, we don't know what will happen and they don't know what will happen later down the line as they get a, addicted and just see negative effects throughout their life. Colby, do you have any friends who have already gotten into debt because of this? I'm not sure the numbers too much with specific people, and it definitely depends on who it is, their addiction levels, what they're betting on, and all of those sorts of variables.

But there's definitely an increase overall in trend of teens gambling. in high schools. Yeah. Doctor, what would sort of a curriculum where kids would learn about gambling and the dangers of gambling when you're too young, how would that work in school? I think it's like other risk behaviors, like with substance use behaviors, gambling and heavy gambling can get people off track in their educational endeavors and in their progression towards becoming young adults. So it's very important to understand the risks that are associated with underage gambling. Are you seeing already young patients? Are kids coming in where you're surprised at how young they are? So we have seen an increase in calls for help in our state.

Our state operates a gambling helpline. And since the legalization of sports gambling, we've seen a 90% increase that is coming from... 90% increase that is coming largely from young males with sports gambling problems, either calling for help themselves or... or a parent, usually the mother, calling for help about their son's sports gambling. So sad. Colby, what do you hope happens, or what do you hope you can accomplish with the article that was just published? Yeah, the goal of the article is just to shed some light on how big of an issue this is, as it's not really talked about in the media as much as many other common issues. And I think high schoolers just need to be aware of the effects of what they're getting into when they think they're just doing something as simple as, as rooting for their favorite players, but it's turned more into making money than watching the game and having fun as a fan.

And Dr. Potenza, for anybody out there who may have a problem or for parents out there concerned, what's the best thing they should do? I think they should talk with their child about the potential problems and seek help. And there is a national helpline for people with gambling problems to reach out for help in their local jurisdictions. at Colby Cotrone. We thank you both for joining Top Story tonight. Okay, time now for Top Stories Global Watch, starting with the deadly building collapse in South Africa. A home security cam capturing the moment the five-story apartment building gave way in the city of George in South Africa's Western Cape. At least five construction workers were killed, but dozens are still missing tonight. About 30 people have been rescued. No word yet on what caused this collapse.

The search for a suspect tonight after Drake's security guard was shot. outside the Rapper's Mansion in Toronto. Police say the security guard was shot by someone who was inside a car which then took off. The unnamed victim was taken to the hospital and is in serious condition, but is expected to survive. It's unclear if Drake was home at the time. Police say there is no suspect or motive, but they will be investigating if a recent and very public feud between Drake and rapper Kendrick Lamar has any connection to this shooting. And a new study finding sperm whales communicate in a way that's similar to the human language.

Researchers studying whales in the East Caribbean found that the mammals are using a complex structure of clicking noises. They believe make up a phonetic alphabet. One of the lead scientists saying they believe they found the first signs of what he called a whale language. All right. Coming up, the streaming leap forward, one company not named Netflix, turning some heads in the media game, what this means for the future of streaming, cable, and how you watch your favorite shows and movies. Stay with us. You hear that?

She's purring like a nuzzle shrew. No complaints. Still faster than I know what to do with. Well, I'll tune her up just the same. So, uh, where's my guy? Huh? There he is! Woo!

Who! Who! Who taught you how to leap like a lermen, huh? Was that his first word? Welcome back. That, of course, was Baby Yoda and a clip from The Mandalorian, the marquee show on Disney Plus. A major moment happened in entertainment and streaming this week. Okay, maybe not major, but if a certain trend continues, we could look back and see this as a turning point. Here's why. Disney nearly making a profit on its streaming service for the first time in the fiscal second quarter,

losing just $18 million between Disney Plus, Hulu, and ESPN Plus. in large part did his shows like The Mandalorian. For more on Disney's upturn in the future of streaming, I'm joined now by CNBC media reporter Alex Sherman. Alex, you know, you put this headline out there on CNBC and it got on our radar. Explain to our viewers why this is such a big moment. And people might be saying, well, they still lost millions of dollars,

but it is a big moment. Yeah, look, I mean, an $18 million loss in this quarter, a year ago was close to $700 million. So losing $18 million dollars doesn't sound. great, certainly, in comparison to wildly profitable businesses, but we're getting closer. And Disney also said that in its fourth quarter, which was something it has said in the past, too, it will turn a profit in its streaming business. Why is this important?

Because for the past five years or so, Disney has launched its streaming services, Disney Plus being the flagship one, but also Hulu and ESPN Plus, with the thinking that over time these businesses would take over, in essence, for cable TV. as the big moneymaker. So as cable TV subscriptions declined, streaming would eventually become a big, profitable business for Disney. It has taken five years. But finally, we are on the precipice of this happening,

and that is key for investors looking at this stock, if they want to invest. It is the new growth story and actually profitable business instead of a money-losing one, which has really weighed on Disney over the past few years. You can only lose so many hundreds of million dollars in a quarter before investors start to lose a little patience, especially

if you're a legacy media company rather than a tech upstart, say, like Netflix. Yeah, and I have to say, like, to explain to our viewers that aren't following this like we are. I mean, Netflix obviously makes a profit, but this is sort of a moment where all the streaming chips can maybe see some land out there, right? And it's not a mirage anymore.

What do you think the secret sauce was for Disney? Because I know they added new Disney plus subscribers, and that's sort of surprising to me in the sense that, and this is all anecdotal, but you talked to parents, I'm a parent. The Disney Plus platform doesn't change a lot. Kids can kind of burn through it. They don't offer as much new material as say a Netflix does. So how are they still bringing so many subscribers in? So this is multi-pronged. One thing that happened in this past

quarter was Disney signed sort of a landmark deal with a pay TV company known as Charter, which many viewers watching this perhaps get their cable TV or their internet from Charter. In that deal, all charter subscribers that already paid for ESPN got ESPN Plus for free and got some other Disney content for free that maybe they didn't have before. So that deal with charter, including Disney Plus, helped bump the subscribers up of Disney Plus because suddenly these customers that maybe never had got Disney Plus before, now we're getting it included in their bundle. Also, ESPN has done, excuse me, Disney has done a really good job of bundling ESPN with Hulu and Disney Plus. us, offering those three services for a cheaper price than it could for each individual service. That, too, has enticed people to sign up for all three services. Then look, the last one here, I think, is that in the grand scheme of things, Disney has reached

profitability actually by cutting back. Disney has cut billions of dollars from content spending and overhead in order to get closer to profitability. So that is not some sort of grand, great story. it's by cutting that Disney has gotten closer to profitability. It's something that investors like, but only to a point, because in the long term, they're looking for growth, not cutting back. You need that new content because people are watching so much.

Okay, so that $47 million profit for Hulu and Disney Plus, right, if you take ESPN out, it is encouraging. But Cable, just a decade ago, was garnering more than $10 billion in ad commitments. Will streaming ever command that kind of cash? Will they get near that territory? Look, we don't know is the short-term answer. This is the whole question with the transition of media. The idea, as I said before, is that one day, streaming will take over for cable

and will basically replace the revenue loss from cable with streaming. But we don't know if we'll ever get there. It is possible that the cable business will just get more eyeballs than the streaming business will ever get. The good news for Disney is that streaming is global. So if you look at Disney Plus subscribers, it's well over 117 million core. Disney Plus subscribers today. That's way more people than ever subscribed to cable TV in the United States, which had a peak of about 100 million. So theoretically, streaming offers Disney a longer

growth ramp because it can go to all different countries in the world and give their product for different prices. So that's the good news. The bad news is we don't know if the dollar amount of the advertising will ever be as big on streaming as it's been on cable. Before we go, some people who hold Disney maybe saying, wait a minute, they turn to profit. Disney Plus is looking up and up, but the stock took a hit. What happened there? Yeah, I think a lot of people that have been in the stock recently have actually been it for the parks business

because the media business has suffered, as I said, with the streaming business is losing so much money. The parks business actually offered a forecast that maybe was a little bit weaker than analysts thought in terms of demand going to the park. So that's why I think we saw the stock sink almost 10% today. A lot of those investors were in the stock for the parks, which has been so good for Disney over the past several years.

Alex Sherman, our good friend and colleague from CNBC, Alex, always great to have you on Top Story. Coming up, the incredible discovery of postal worker finding long-lost letters from World War II. His search for relatives of that war veteran and the emotional moment he delivered them a family treasure. That's next. Finally tonight, the pieces of history found a postal worker in Texas stunned to find a soldier's letters from World War II at the bottom of his bin, that mailman, a veteran himself, setting out on a mission to find the intended recipient, eventually driving hundreds of miles to make that very special delivery.

Valerie Castro has this one. The stamp reads, U.S. Army Postal Service dated December, 1942, a few years out of date from what letter carrier Alvin Gosea usually sees at his Grand Prairie, Texas post office job. Well, I was getting ready for my route. found basically some letters that were dated back to 1942, so World War II. Dispatches from the South Pacific and from Alaska, some handwritten and some typed. One reading, I feel much better after the mail call we had last night.

All sentiments that resonated with Alvin, who penned plenty of his own letters home while serving in Iraq. Being a veteran myself, you know, World War II, and I'm like, man, this is like some history, because, once again, mail brings boost morale for all soldiers. So my main thought was I have to find this family. That mission led Alvin far from his normal postal route to a home hundreds of miles away in Jackson, Arkansas. I'm delivering the mail to Arkansas. I'm very excited and very terrible.

These letters, a key part of Joanne Smith's family history, recently lost in the mail system when a package from an Another family member in Tennessee was shipped across the country. It didn't look like someone had opened and it just the package came apart. The original sender back in 1942, Joanne Smith's brother, Marian Lamb. For me, it's a connection with my family. She could hardly wait to read these letters for the first time. Asked Joanne if she remembers me.

Thankful for the letter carrier who went out of his way to see this delivery through to its final destination. I just appreciate Alvin. He has really gone out of his way. People connect on different levels, and I feel is connected to Alvin as I do my family. He made bomb cry. We thank Valerie for that story. We thank you for watching Top Story tonight. I'm Tom Yamis in New York.

Stay right there. More news on the way. Thank you.