Top Story with Tom Llamas - Wednesday, April 29, 2026

Episode Date: April 30, 2026

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 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Tonight, state of disaster, neighborhoods in North Texas completely decimated, relentless severe storms pounding millions across the country, drone video showing homes and businesses flattened, intense hail blasting the region. The powerful twister sending debris sky high of family and three children rescued from rushing floodwaters, our reporter in the storm zone. Also tonight, new images of the suspect accused of attempting to assassinate the president, the selfies and weapons inside his hotel room. And what we just learned about the shots fired that night. London stabbing attack, disturbing video capturing the violent assault on Jewish men, new body cam of police taking down the suspect, why officials are declaring it a terrorist incident.

Oil reaching a new four-year high and gas prices soaring two months into the war with Iran. Drivers across the country outraged could cost climb even higher. The bizarre social media trend going viral, teens filming themselves busting into the Church of Scientology, Racking up millions of views what's behind it and how police are cracking down. Maha Moms versus RFK Jr., the growing rift within the Make America Healthy Again movement over a popular pesticide. Could it shake the Republican base ahead of the midterms? Robot Rescue how a Ukrainian woman on the front lines of the war was saved by an unmanned vehicle will show you the moment. Plus, the sprawling indictment accusing Mexican officials of conspiring with the cartels to import drugs into the U.S.

What we're learning. Top story starts right now. And good evening, as we come on the air tonight, a new round of severe storms targeting millions at this hour. After a week-long stretch of dangerous weather left parts of the country devastated. Tornadoes, massive hail and powerful winds slamming the south and Midwest. This is the view from inside a twister in mineral wells, Texas, debris flying, a driver caught right in the middle. The widespread destruction now coming into homes completely gone, warehouses flattened, entire neighborhoods unrecognized. The National Weather Service confirming it was an EF3 tornado packing winds of 105 miles per hour. It comes after days of devastating weather in the region.

Body cam footage shows the heroin moments officers rescue a family from raging floodwaters in Texas. We're also tracking violent hailstorms pounding multiple states. Baseball-sized hail smashing into this yard in Arkansas. In Missouri, massive hailstones shattering car windshields, even breaking through the skylight in Walmart. Look at that. Illinois also getting struck. You can see just how big those pellets are. We begin tonight in hard-hit Mineral Wells, Texas,

where George Solis is speaking to those who lost everything. In Mineral Wells, Texas, a rain-wrapped tornado sending debris sky high with life-threatening winds up to 145 miles per hour, turning highways dangerous for drivers. The severe storm, leveling homes and buildings, flattening this warehouse, injuring five. This video shows. the vast destruction.

It's hard at all. Like it hit us from the side. Chris Hester and his girlfriend Rebecca Scott survived the storm inside their home. According to this video of the aftermath. So we went outside to collect our stuff so it didn't blow away. They say the tornado ripped their roof off. We just saw like the walls being torn away piece by piece and then all of a sudden just a torrential downpour of water just came and all of a sudden.

Because we should not be alive right now. The couple alive, but devastated. I said everything, man. Oh, tornado right there on the road. Across the south and Midwest, the past 24 hours alone, seeing more than 200 storm reports. I'm going to give you some tables. I'm going to wrap around you. In White Settlement, Texas, authorities say these officers jumped into action to rescue a family stranded in rushing floodwater on Saturday.

In the car. Across the south, large hail wreaking havoc, punching through this skylight at a Walmart in Missouri. watching over us. Back in Mineral Wells, Macy Nix is working to help her neighbors find a place to lay their heads tonight. The focus is on the people that lost everything. It's a miracle with what happened that so many people were able to make it out. George Solis joins us now from Mineral Wells, Texas. George, you just see that damage everywhere you look. And I know even though the tornado's gone, there's still some danger there tonight. Yeah, that's absolutely right, Tom. Especially when you look at the scope of the damage. And officials here have been combing through

it going through homes just like this one several times to make sure the threat is over. And again, because there's so much debris here, officials are now urging people despite them wanting to help to stay away for right now. But still, Tom, families are still going into some of these homes, getting whatever belongings they can just to have something to remember some of this tragedy and hopefully clean up and continue to recover as the days go on. Tom. Okay, George, thank you. And new tonight forecasters just upgraded the severe storm outlook for the evening. And scenes like this are why new videos showing an intense hailstorm blasting the pool in Athens, Texas. We're seeing this all across the region right now.

I want to bring a meteorologist Bill. Cairns, Bill, what are you tracking at this hour? Yeah, we're watching big thunderstorms that aren't containing tornadoes. And I don't mean the jinx it, but we haven't had a tornado reported yet today. This could be the first time in seven days. But we have storms producing huge hailstones. We saw it can smash windshields and you saw what's doing there in people's yards. So you can see all the white dots on the map here.

A lot around Texarkana and Shreveport outside of the east of Dallas. We have some really large hailstones. If we get any monster-sized hail, that's considered like softball size. It would be later tonight from Del Rio heading just to the west there of San Antonio. That's that upgraded area. But I'm also keeping my eye on all of these storms with wind damage in Mississippi. And this is starting to slide down towards the Gulf Coast. We'll watch areas from Baton Rouge and Slide L, Biloxi, and Mobile.

Things are improving now in Shreveport. You've had a rough day. but still Interstate 49 heading down to Alexandria, some of the worst of it. We get a little bit of a break tomorrow. By the time we get to Friday, that's the next storm of concern. But this one's going to be different. Not a lot of severe weather. Some very heavy rain and a flood risk for Texas.

And Tom, this is actually the good part of this storm. We've shown you all the flooding and all the problems that we've had in areas in the west, but in areas of the south, we are begging for rain. And all the fires are horrific still going on in Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas. you get a soaking rain on Saturday. So that is just what we ordered up. All right, Bill, we thank you for that. Now to the new images tonight of the alleged gunman,

moments before he opened fire at the White House correspondence dinner. One selfie showing him in his hotel room just minutes before the attack. Here's Gabe Gutierrez. Tonight, new images inside the alleged plot to assassinate President Trump. Prosecutors say this is Cole Allen, taking a selfie in his Washington Hilton hotel room that he checked into the day before the White House correspondence dinner. The Justice Department highlighting an ammunition bag, a shoulder holster, as well as

pliers. Plus, the arsenal he was allegedly carrying, including a 12-gauge pump-action shotgun, a 38-caliber pistol, and six knives. But it's these higher-resolution screenshots of surveillance video obtained by the Washington Post that capture the chaos of the breach. You can see when prosecutors say Alan sprinted through a magnetometer with the intent of bursting into the ballroom to kill the president. The images appear to show him holding a shotgun, followed by a Secret Service officer firing at least four shots. The first thing that happened that actually freaked me out a little bit, Will, is that we heard that an agent had been shot. And in the fog of war, I thought, you know, oh my God, this guy's actually seriously injured or may be worse. And then we found out later, of course,

that he was uninjured or not seriously injured. Three law enforcement officials familiar with the case tell NBC's Kelly O'Donnell investigators have now determined that Allen did fire him. his weapon striking a Secret Service officer and that it was not friendly fire from another member of law enforcement. Tonight, Alan's public defenders are asking a judge for confidential access to their client in accordance with the Sixth Amendment, ahead of a detention hearing tomorrow. All right, Gabe Gutierrez joins us tonight from the White House. And Gabe, I know you have more new reporting about the suspect.

He was tracking the president's movements in real time? Yes, Tom. Prosecutors say just minutes before the attack. Alan used his cell phone to view live media coverage of the president exiting his vehicle to attend the dinner. As for the event itself, a source familiar with the planning tells NBC News, the White House Correspondents Association Board is having active conversations about rescheduling. And earlier this week, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, convened a meeting with Secret Service and Homeland Security officials to discuss security protocols. But as of now, Tom, it's unclear whether the event will happen in the time period of the third.

30-day time period that the president has suggested, Tom. All right, Gabe Woutier's, Gabriel, thank you for that. In Washington tonight, Secretary of Defense Pete Higsteth grilled by lawmakers over the cost and timeline of the Iran war. It comes as President Trump doubles down on a U.S. blockade to pressure the Iranian regime to open the Strait of Hormuz. Here's Ryan Nobles with the details. Tonight, President Trump saying he won't lift his blockade of Iran's ports until Iran

signs a nuclear deal, saying the blockade is breaking the Iranian regime. to cry uncle. That's all they have to do, just say, we give up. We give up. But their economy is really in trouble. A new report showing the U.S. blockade is squeezing Iran, which is losing $250 million a day in oil revenue, with only enough space to store its oil for the next 12 to 22 days. The president rejecting Iran's offer to reopen the Strait of Hormuz if the U.S. ends the blockade and delays talks over Iran's nuclear program. They've come a long way. The question is whether or not they're going to go far enough.

So at this moment, there will never be a deal unless they agree that there will be no nuclear weapons. All of it, as Pentagon leaders, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegeseth, were grilled by Democrats over the war. The president has got himself in America stuck in the quagmire of another war in the Middle East. He's desperately trying to extricate himself from his own mistakes. It undermines the mission. your hatred for President Trump blinds you to the truth of the success of this mission and the historic stakes that the president is addressing. And for the first time, the Pentagon putting a price tag on the war to this point,

$25 billion, but still unable to forecast how much more money or time it will take to bring the war to an end. Ryan joins us now from Capitol Hill. Ryan, the president also said he spoke to Vladimir Putin today. What do we learn? Not all that much, Tom, but the president said that he and Putin talked for quite a while. They talked about the situation in Iran, and they also talked about the situation in Ukraine and the Russian war in Ukraine. President Trump said that he suggested to President Putin the possibility of a ceasefire in that war, and he said it is something that Vladimir Putin is open to, but he did not offer up any sort of timeline for something like that happening.

Tom. All right, Ryan, nobles for us. Ryan, we thank you. now to a new ruling from the Supreme Court that could drastically weaken the U.S. Voting Rights Act. In a 6-3 decision, the justices struck down Louisiana's 2024 election map, agreeing with Republicans that a second-majority Black District was a racial gerrymander, even though it was originally drawn to protect minority voters. To help us understand what this means and the significance, I want to bring in NBC's Kelly O'Donnell. So, Kelly, first walk us through what the judges decided today.

Good to be with you, Tom, and this is getting a lot of reaction with very different responses, and the case itself is specifically dealing with that district in Louisiana. And what they found is that the way the map was drawn for one congressional district, which is currently majority black voters, stretched along a 200-mile route across the state. And that that, they felt, was too sprawling because they believe it was drawn explicitly using race as a leading indicator for why they put the boundaries where they did. And they said that that, that meant it was unequal to other kinds of voters. Now, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which has been updated over the years and aspects of it, certainly remain in effect, but it was intended to make

certain that minority voters get representation so that districts would not be drawn to keep them from voting in members who reflect their own community. So that's where you see Democrats, people who are civil rights activists, responding very negatively to this ruling and very fearful that this will harm those voters access, while Republicans and the White House are saying that this is the kind of move that they want to see, giving them potentially more opportunity to pick up seats down the line. Tom? And then, yeah, on that point, this has the potential set of precedent right for redistricting cases down the line in other states and as we approach the midterms. Exactly. So it's about one district in Louisiana, but it sets up the conditions so that other

state legislatures around the country, and let's say in this case, run by Republicans and states where they have control, they could change their maps to try to reflect pockets of their communities that they think would vote in the direction of their party, and that that could reshape the landscape of the elections. Now, it might be difficult to get that done between now and the midterms, but this has a broader future. Today, Florida, passed a change in its own map. So it can happen quickly, and the ramifications can be significant, which is why you're seeing such intense emotions from both sides responding to this ruling, which, as you pointed out, was all six conservative justices made this decision. The three liberals on the court were against it.

All right. Kelly O'Donnell, for us. Kelly, we thank you for that. Now, of the soaring gas prices across the country reaching their highest point since the start of the war with Iran and a new warning tonight about how long the pain at the pump could last. NBC's Dana Griffin has more. Tonight with oil now at a four-year high, gas prices surging. The gas prices are insane. They are too high. At a nationwide average of $4.23 per gallon, gas prices now at their highest level this year and since the war with Iran began.

Here in California, the state with the highest gas taxes, the average nearing $6 a gallon, premium users shelling out 40 cents more. Global oil prices soaring with Iran blocking the of Hormuz. Overnight, President Trump meeting with energy industry executives about minimizing the impact for American consumers, including increasing domestic production. A White House official tells NBC News. It's pretty painful. But experts warned the ripple effect of the straits closure could last for weeks, even when it reopens. Oil prices could, in theory, drop 10 or 15 percent, but it still may take 60 weeks for oil inventories to completely heal from this. Americans will be

lucky to see a sub-3 dollar price before the end of the year. Right now, the most affordable states include Oklahoma, Texas, and Louisiana, with prices below 380 a gallon, the most expensive out west, California, Oregon, and Washington state. One hopeful sign long term, the United Arab Emirates, a major oil exporter and U.S. ally, saying it's leaving OPEC and will pump more oil. Ultimately, it's a good thing for getting the price of gas down. But for Dog Walker Kim Zucker, who drives across LA for appointments. This is my only source of income, and I've been doing it for years,

so it's not like there's anything else I can do. All right, Dana Griffin joins us tonight live from Los Angeles, and Dana, everyone wants to know when relief is coming, but you're hearing Americans should not expect to see lower gas prices this summer? Yeah, Tom, simply put, things are expected to get worse. Even if the Strait of Hormuz war to open, our experts tell us that the best case scenario,

best case scenario for those summer gas prices would be the mid-3-dollar range. And they're also forecasting over the next 24 hours that we could see gas prices rise yet another nickel. Tom? Okay, Dana, thank you. Now, to the royal visit that has New York City buzzing security on high alert as King Charles and Queen, Camilla come to town, heavy scrutiny and security and celebrations, British flags lining some major Manhattan streets. NBC's Aaron McLaughlin has been following their every step. And joins us now in studio.

Aaron the Royals wrapping up a visit just across the street. They were here in 30 Rock, and you were there. Sort of. I was across the street. There was a massive security presence. We're talking snipers lining the roofs of midtown. We're talking large, orange trucks barricading the whole area. So it was very difficult to see anything. Nevertheless, we have the pool photo or video, rather, showing that this event did in fact happen.

A cultural event that was the final stop of this leg. of their New York tour. The big poignant moment, I would say, today happened earlier in low, earlier today in lower midtown Manhattan. And you see it right there at the 9-11 Memorial, King Charles, Queen Camilla, laying flowers, white flowers, locally grown flowers with a note of solidarity with the victims of 9-11. It was interesting yesterday in his address to Congress, that joint meeting of Congress. He talked about 9-11 and how it was the first time that the NATO alliance invoked Article 5 of the NATO treaty, that collective defense.

And he used that sort of as a through line to talk about the importance of Ukraine and standing for Ukraine at a time when aid here in the United States to Ukraine has been frozen. President Zelensky this morning tweeting out his thanks for those remarks. But it was interesting to see the king and the queen at the memorial earlier today. laying those flowers, meeting with victims, families, as well as dignitaries. Yeah, and I know we saw some video there. Are Jenna Bush got a chance to speak with Queen Camilla? Yeah, that's right. Queen Camilla was at the New York Public Library for a literary event, star-studded event,

Anna Wintour, Sarah Jessica Parker, are Jenna Bush there as well, and they had a chance to catch up. Take a listen. You've been to a lot of places to quite a few. We have, but it's been wonderful, and everybody's been very kind and welcoming. And that full interview will air tomorrow on today. But as I said, the king and queen have packed up and left New York City. They're on the right back to Washington, D.C.

All right, Erin McLaugh, and we thank you for that wrap up. We really do appreciate it. Okay, we're back in a moment with the tense scene on board a Delta flight. Crazy video. A passenger demanding to get off the plane, even yanking open the door, how the pilot stepped in. Plus the strange new social media trend, TikTokers trying to run inside buildings connected to the Church of Scientology. What's behind the stunt? And the massive blast caught on camera home exploding into pieces that's shocking video ahead on Top Story.

We're back now with a startling scene on a Delta flight. One passenger taking his frustrations with delays to an extreme, opening up a plane door and demanding to get off, even forcing the captain to get involved. Our Stephanie Gossk has that story. Tonight, new video of an unruly passenger demanding to get off a plane, fed up with his Delta flight being repeatedly delayed. How long has it been delayed already? Three, four hours, and now you're talking another.

Get me to the gate. I want off. Or I'll take myself off. Okay. He actually yanks open the boarding door after the plane left the gate and was waiting on the tarmac. The flight attendant trying to close the door and the pilot even getting involved. Sir, this is the captain speaking.

We are going to go back to the gate. They're a good idea. Bad weather on Monday delayed the plane's takeoff from Atlanta to Chicago, according to Delta. In a statement, the airline apologized to other passengers saying the safety of our customers and crew comes before all else, and Delta has zero tolerance for unruly behavior. Delta says the flight did eventually take off, but first the man who wanted off the plane was taken off by law enforcement. All right, Stephanie, Goss joins us here. And Stephanie, what more are we learning from the criminal complaint?

So the criminal complaint alleges that this passenger actually got up several times while they were waiting on the tarmac. He was acting aggressively. The plane goes back to the gate. The police come. They take him into custody and then back to the precinct. But they are accusing him of intimidating the flight crew and basically just getting in the way of them trying to do their jobs. Yeah. People on their phones today, maybe at work on their computers, looking at the news like we do,

may have seen these headlines about this plane and that it might have hit a drone. but we've sort of been chasing this all day. What do we know tonight? Yeah. So it looks like it may not have hit a drone. This was a United flight coming from San Francisco to San Diego. The pilots, as they're descending into San Diego, they call up air traffic control, and they say, we think we see a drone.

It's a small red object. But then United says the plane landed safely. There was no damage to the plane. Passengers got off. You know, Tom, the FAA says that there are a lot of sightings of drones around airport. and they remain really high, and it's important to remember just how dangerous that is at an airport and also the FAA says illegal. Yeah, the weird one about this one, too, they said it was red, which I, you haven't released a red

a red drone, yeah, a little weird. All right. Stephanie, we thank you for that. We're going to turn out to a bizarre social media trend. TikTokers attempting to run inside buildings affiliated with the highly secretive Church of Scientology recording everything as they go. But one of the first creators to do it now says it's gone too far. and police who are investigating. Sam Brock has this one. This is just one snapshot of so-called speed runners, including a man dressed like Jesus,

stampeding right through security at a Scientology building on Hollywood Boulevard, screaming as they sprint into the organization's notoriously clandestine halls. But let's go in. Others taking a more subtle approach. Even signing in looking for access. Hi. Can you sign in? Oh, no.

Let me do that real quick. Or apparent content for social media videos that are suddenly everywhere. They're calling it speed running Scientology. Get out! Inspired by video game slang, here the players are not just confronting guards, but unlocking maps of the buildings. Former Scientologist turned critic Leah Remini, slamming the efforts as failing to highlight anything substantive. It's it feels like it's about clicks and it's turning something serious into content.

And in doing so, it completely loses the point. Their purpose isn't entirely clear and some participants appear to be teenagers. One creator credited with beginning the trends known only as Swiley telling the Hollywood reporter, I didn't do this whatsoever to come out against them or anything. I do not condone what I did, even though I didn't break any laws. With the Scientology spokesperson telling NBC News, these are peaceful spaces. Turning them into targets for viral stunts is not journalism, protest, or civic activity. It is trespass, harassment, and disruption of religious facilities. The spokesperson adding they're taking protective security measures and reporting the incidents to police.

After a recent incident last weekend, the LA Times reporting that the LAPD's major crimes division has been tasked with investigating it as an alleged hate crime. Just get out. Thank you. Go! Get out! Go! As Remini has cautionary words for the content creators and their legal exposure.

This trend creates chaos. It creates a spectacle. And worst of all, it hands Scientology exactly what they want, the ability to position themselves as the victim. So, yeah, we are talking about private property here. Sam Brock joins us. I mean, what is the criminal investigation showing? So we reached out to the LAPD. They have not responded to us yet.

You look at these videos and you see people clearly forcing their way onto private property, right? Is that a crime? LAPD says to NBC, L.A., that they are investigating right now, at least two people from this incident this past Saturday, both for vandalism and robbery, that no one is in custody at this point. But they also say that they're beefing up their patrols, Tom, around that area off of Hollywood Boulevard and are monitoring this ongoing trend. At this point, it should be very clear to anyone in the region that there are individuals. trying to break into these several buildings. As far as additional security measures that the church itself had talked about, they wouldn't specify, but they did, apparently, according to video and reporting that we've seen, take the door handles off of the main entrance.

So if someone wants to try to come by and slam their way through, you no longer can at least open the door. There's so many people in there. It's going to get dangerous and something's eventually going to happen. A literal stampede, as you saw. Okay, Sam, great to have here. Thank you. Coming up, a new update on that prison break in New Orleans nearly a year ago. Now the outgoing sheriff is facing charges, what prosecutors are alleging. And Elon Musk testified in a blockbuster trial that could change the future of AI,

the heated exchange on the stand today. But first, top story's top moment, boy, do we have a good one. Hockey fans with the ultimate assist at last night's NHL playoff game in Buffalo before the puck even dropped. Singer Kamie Kloon took the mic. You heard her there for a second to sing the Canadian National Anthem. But when the audio cut out midway through, the fans didn't miss a beat. Take a listen and grab the Kleenex. Glory.

A touching moment of unity there, bringing the crowd together. The Sabres lost game sixth, though, in overtime to the Boston Bruins in pursuit of the ultimate hockey prize, the Stanley Cup. Stay with us. More Top Story on the way. We're back tonight with a major update on the high-profile New Orleans prison break we covered here in Top Story. Susan Hudson, the outgoing sheriff who was in. charge when 10 inmates broke out of the Orleans Parish Prison last May. Tonight, facing 30 felony charges from Louisiana's Attorney General for enabling the escape. You might remember these images.

This is where the prisoners, some convicted of murder, made their break through a whole cup behind a toilet. Surveillance footage from that night just shows them running on out. Look how many of them there are. Just taken off outside of jail, sprinting away, shedding their orange outfits for gray sweatsuits. It wasn't until almost five months later in October that all 10 escape. were back in custody. Here to discuss is NBC's Priscilla Thompson. Priscilla, they're not saying the sheriff actually helped the eminthe escape, right? But what's she being charged for? Yeah, Tom, so they're not saying that she physically did anything to aid in this escape,

but they are pointing to some mismanagement issues at that sort of sheriff level with these counts, including malfeasance in office and conspiracy to commit malfeasance in office, filing or maintaining false public records and conspiracy to compete. commit that crime and also obstruction of justice and conspiracy to commit that crime. Now, we know that the sheriff in the past has said that she takes full accountability for this jailbreak and what happened here, but she has also emphasized the role of some of those jail employees that paid a role in this. But I will tell you, the Texas Attorney General today talked about that specifically in her statement saying, quote, while Sheriff Hudson did not

personally open the doors of the jail for the escapees, her refusal to comply with basic legal requirements and to take even minimal precautions in the discharge of her duties directly contributed to and enabled this escape. So the attorney general saying that these charges are warranted, and this is part of her doing this big investigation to ensure that something like this doesn't happen again. And then Hudson's not the only one indicted. Her chief financial officer also faces 20 counts. When we'll see them in court? Yeah, 20 counts of all similar charges. They are both due in court tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. The attorney general says that they have also been asked to surrender their passport

so that they are not going to be allowed to leave the state of Louisiana. And while it is possible that they will work out a plea agreement in the coming weeks and months, if these two are ultimately convicted, they could be looking at potentially decades in jail. And then Louisiana's attorney general says she's talking to the new sheriff about improving operations. Do we know what changes might be coming? Yeah, so they're talking about things like securing the facility and also just greater financial oversight as they look at the various ways to improve operations. The attorney general says that she has full confidence in this new sheriff and her commitment

to do that. And the new sheriff has also said that she ran on a mission and a word that there would be accountability, transparency, and integrity. And she's again promising that to the people of New Orleans and Louisiana. Okay. Briscilla, we thank you for that. We're also keeping a close eye on that blockbuster AI trial we told you about last night. Elon Musk, who is suing OpenAI, CEO Sam Altman, over the company's for-profit restructuring back on the stand today, cross-examined by OpenAI's lawyers. NBC's Brian's Brian is here to break it down. Brian, I think he's got a little heated today. What happened?

Yeah, well, you know, as is expected with anything that Elon Musk as part of, there are some interesting exchanges, let's call it that. He was facing questions from Sam Olman and OpenAI's lawyers today. Asking a lot of these questions, questions that he was trying to frame his yes or no. And Elon Musk seemed to disagree with the, you know, framing of these questions as easily answerable with yes or no questions. So he was refusing to answer certain questions. And at one point in a very bizarre exchange during this testimony, Elon Musk asked the attorney for OpenAI something to the tune of, when are you going to stop beating your wife? It was a hypothetical question basically designed to say, okay, I can't answer a question like that with yes or no. The judge said, whoa, time out. We're not going there. And in another

point, you had the lawyer going to the judge and saying, Elon Musk is not answering any of my questions to which the judge responded, that's your job. So it was a very interesting situation. Elon Musk didn't get to the bottom of perhaps what the questioning attorneys wanted to get at. But again, there's $134 billion in the wings of this. So even if that sounds kind of fun, this is an enormously consequential case that could have an impact on the future of artificial intelligence. Open AI's lawyers have repeatedly brought up that Elon Musk has a relationship with President Trump. What's the strategy here? Yeah, well, of course, everyone knows about his work with Doge and his ties with the president at times fraught.

But the attorneys that were asking Elon Musk about Trump, which interestingly didn't come up in his own attorney's questions to him before the cross-examination began, tried to paint this picture of Elon as someone that was trying to talk to the administration and had enormous levers of power with regards to where artificial intelligence goes from here. A lot of the specific lines of questions with regards to Trump were about interactions with David Sachs, who is the zone. of artificial intelligence as appointed by Trump in this second administration. Again, Elon, like a lot of the other questioning in this kind of denying or not answering those in full. But again, we'll have to see he is set up for a day three of testimony tomorrow. When can we expect Altman to take the stand? So right now he's not currently on the docket. Again, that doesn't mean that he won't appear

in testimony. We're watching also in addition to Altman, potentially the Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella, perhaps appearing as well. In terms of who we do know we'll be testifying after Elon's done. Presumably tomorrow it would be Elon's financial fixer, Jared Birchall. After that, there's going to be an AI safety expert followed by OpenAI President Greg Brockman. So again, there could be some other high profile people

testifying in this case in the weeks to come. Okay, Brian, great to see you. Thank you for that. Now to Top Stories News Feed, we start with the first court appearance for former FBI director James Comey indicted for a second time. Comey turning himself in today before attending a brief hearing in federal court. He did not speak or enter a plea.

Comey was charged after posting photo of seashells formed to read 86-47. The DOJ argues it's a threat to the life of President Trump. Comea said he's innocent. A disturbing video out of Indiana showing a Twitch streamer getting hit by a car while he was walking across the country. I know there's a lot there, but watch. Isaiah Thomas was in the middle of a 3,000-mile journey from Philly to California.

His goal is to raise $200,000 to create a new trade school designed for students who don't have the resources for traditional college. Thomas was taken to the hospital, but he says he plans to continue to trek. Okay, in Ohio, a neighbor's doorbell camp captured a deadly home explosion. Here you can see the massive blasting smoke and flames into the air. The home in Steubenville totally destroyed. The fire chief there says one person inside the home was killed. So far, no word on what caused the explosion.

And a hero's welcome for runner Sebastian Sawway. Returning home to Kenya after posting the fastest marathon time in history. His plane got the water. cannon salute. Look at that. With massive crowds gathering to congratulate him at the London Marathon, Sawaway becomes the first person to run a marathon in under two hours. Okay, next tonight to the Federal Reserve Chair, Jerome Powell, confirming today that he will step aside at the end of his term, but in an unlikely move will remain on the Fed board. It comes as President Trump's nominee to replace Jerome Powell past a key hurdle in the Senate today. NBC's Christine Romans was there for the

meeting with Powell. Christine, what did he say about the future? Tom, he's breaking with 80 years of tradition and staying on as a governor on the Fed board once his chairmanship is up. Now, he's framing this as a fight for the Fed's very independence. He singled out the Justice Department's criminal probe against him, which has been dropped, but which the U.S. attorney warned she could reopen at any time. These legal actions by the administration are unprecedented in our 113-year history, and there are ongoing threats of additional such actions. I worry that these attacks are battering the institution and putting at risk the thing that really matters to the public, which is the ability to conduct monetary policy without taking into consideration political

factors. It comes as the Fed is clearly a house divided while policymakers held rates steady today. Four Fed officials dissented. That's the most since 1992. Three opposed the signal of future rate cuts. It sets up a high-stakes handoff to Kevin Warsh in May as Powell hands over the keys but is staying on board. Also today, Tom, after the closing bell, four leading tech companies reporting earnings. Google Parent Alphabet stock jumped after it reported strong cloud computing revenue and advertising growth. Meanwhile, meta, Amazon, Microsoft, more mixed. You know, Tom, even solid earnings can sometimes disappoint given the record stock market rally as AI spending takes center stage. Tom.

Point. Great to see you, Christine, as always. Just ahead on top story, the horrific stabbing attack in London wounding two Jewish men the moment police confront the suspect caught on camera, why police are treating the attack as a possible act of terror, and robotic rescue the unmanned vehicle that saved an elderly woman from Ukraine's front lines. Stay with us. We're back now with a terrifying stabbing attack on two Jewish men in London, police declaring a terrorist incident in the predominantly Jewish neighborhood that has been the target in a series of recent attacks. NBC's Danielle Hamamjan is tracking the latest from this scene and a warning some of these videos are disturbing.

This is the terrifying moment officers, armed only with tasers, came face to face with a man on a rent. Stabbing two Jewish men, one in his 70s, the other in his 30s, in a suburb of northwest London, home to a large community of Jewish Brits. The suspect refusing to drop his weapon.

Police releasing blurred body camera footage showing officers tasing him, and pinning him to the ground before finally arresting him. Minutes earlier, CCTV shows the exact moment the suspect lunged towards one of his victims appearing to stab him. This has now formally been declared a terrorist incident. Police say the 45-year-old suspect is a British national born in Somalia and has a history of serious violence and mental health issues.

It is worrying to walk on the streets, not knowing what's going to happen next. In this same neighbourhood last month, four Jewish volunteer ambulances were set on fire in the middle of the night. Police now investigating whether today's stabbings are linked to previous attacks on other Jewish sites in London. On the streets here, there is fear, but also anger. The root causes anti-Semitism, and that needs to be unacceptable in this country. Anti-Semitism, they equate issues in Israel with Jews everywhere in the world. And as a result, we are subject and we are the recipients of this anger and oppression and abuse. Danielle joins us now from London.

So Danielle, are officials taking any action to protect these communities after those series of attacks? Yeah, Tom, authorities saying today there will be a bigger police presence. But what residents here have been telling us is that nothing about this is normal. You shouldn't have to have police officers outside synagogues and schools. They hear the words of condemnation by authorities and politicians, but what they say they want is concrete action to counter this wave of anti-Semitism. Tom. Okay, Danielle, we thank you for that. We're going to stay overseas now with Top Story's Global Watch.

We're going to start with a deadly plane crash in South Australia. Police say a small plane slammed into an airport hangar, killing two people on board and injuring 10 others on the ground. Here you can see smoke billowing as emergency crews responded to the scene. Investigators now working to figure out what caused that. accident. Also in Australia, the government is proposing a new tax on meta, Google, and TikTok. The goal to put that money towards paying journalists. Officials say they want the proposed legislation to incentivize the tech giants to reach deals with news organizations to pay for reporting. In response, spokespersons for meta and Google both criticized the tax. We reached out to TikTok,

but so far have not heard back. And in Ukraine, video shows troops using an unmanned robotic vehicle to help rescue an elderly woman fleeing the fighting. Here you can see this machine approaching the woman on crutches as she walks down a dangerous section of the road. Ukrainian forces say they didn't want to scare her, so they cover the vehicle with a blanket, along with a note that said, Grandma, sit down. We're told the 77-year-old was loaded up and taken to safety.

Now to the Americas and breaking tonight, U.S. prosecutors indicting several current and former Mexican officials accusing them of conspiracy to help the Sinaloa cartel smuggle drugs into the U.S. The defendants include the governor of the Mexican state of Sinaloa. I want to bring in Chief Justice contributor Jonathan Dean. So, Jonathan, this is a sprawling indictment, alleging powerful Mexican officials were involved with cartels. Yes, the Sinaloa governor and nine others accused, some of those nine others, police chiefs, current and former, other politicians, all accused of helping that drug cartel ship drugs, get weapons. One former police official, even accused of helping arrange the kidnapping and murder.

of a DEA informant and some of his relatives, that all part of the charges that carry up to 40 years to life, if convicted, if they're ever brought back here. All of them, not in custody currently, but they are now indicted and sought out of the Southern District of New York for prosecution. That's the big question now. So have we heard from the Mexican president, Claudia Scheinbaum?

She has said in the past that she knows of no officials affiliated with her party being involved in the drug trade. This indictment lays out, point by point, some very serious allegations that some of the officials there were literally on the payroll of the Sinaloa cartel. That's the cartel that's famous for Joaquin El Chapo Guzman and his children, that they were allegedly paying off these officials to help them with these drug trades. So she has said she knows of no evidence. Now the U.S. authorities say they have it. The question now,

will they be sent back here to face trial? All right. Jonathan Deans, with that. big story. We thank you for bringing that to us, Jonathan. Now to the growing political rift inside the Make America Healthy Again movement. Some mothers who say they help deliver President Trump's 2024 victory walking back their support because of a controversial pesticide, they say, is making their kids sick. Now, they're taking that fight all the way to Washington. Our Julie Circon has this one. What began as a movement focused on health, now causing a political rift on the right. Glyphosate in our cereal, in our oatmeal, in our breads. You're in your garden, be sure you're not using things like Roundup.

Make America healthy again, or Maha moms helped elect President Trump and Republicans in 2024. I'm thrilled about some things that have happened. But tonight, many say they're not getting what they voted for when it comes to pesticides and food, specifically calling out glyphosate, the active ingredient in the weed killer Roundup that sprayed on many crops before harvest. The pesticide issue has been severely disappointing. It's been a huge slap in the face. Michaela Bardosa, a self-described maha mom and nutritionist, says she thinks RFK Jr. built a bridge between mothers and the government. But some maha moms feel like that road now leads to nowhere.

We're seeing a huge coordinated push at every level of government to shield pesticide companies from accountability. President Trump in February signed an executive order to prioritize production of glyphosate, declaring it critical to national security. RFK Jr. defending the move last week. It's not increasing production. It's increasing domestic production to displace the Chinese production. People versus poison. On Monday, Bardosa's and other activists rallied outside the Supreme Court, amid arguments in a case involving allegations that the Roundup weed killer contains an ingredient linked to cancer. Roundup is manufactured by Monsanto, owned by Bayer. If our leaders won't protect our children, we will.

Fani Hari, a key influencer in the Maha movement who supported RFK Jr's confirmation as health secretary, now says there is a clear line in the sand. Do you feel like Secretary Kennedy is doing everything he can? Secretary Kennedy is in a unique position. I think he could do more and push more at the executive branch. Bayer telling NBC News it stands behind the safety of its glyphosate-based products, which have been tested extensively, approved by regulators and used around the globe for more than 10. 50 years. The EPA has maintained glyphosate as not a carcinogen. The WHO and other scientists disagree. Some Maha-Aligned Republicans have threatened to withhold support for the long-debated farm bill, which provides key assistance for farmers, unless the pesticide provision is stripped. The president was asked about it today. Well, we want the farm bill. The Democrats don't.

Now some in the Maha movement are making it clear that in the lead-up to the midterm elections, their votes are not guaranteed. If you want to stay in power, then listen to the people that voted for you. Listen to the moms. Julie Serkin joins us tonight from Washington. So Julie, President's supporters are famously loyal, as we know. Is this the first time we're seeing a group like this turn on the administration?

It is, but you have to remember, Tom, these aren't really the president's loyal supporters. This isn't a group of people who voted for him in 2020 or even in 2016 or even knew that they were voting for him until RFK Jr. aligned with the administration, and they thought that they were going to get an advocate for the Mahama movement within this administration. But it's very clear, based on the conversations that I've had, Tom, that it's not going that way. I mean, we talk about glyphosate in the piece. It's additives. It is other pesticides. It's a string of things that have happened

over the last couple of months that leads some of the most prominent faces of this movement, who sat behind RFK Jr. in his confirmation hearing last year to say, you know what? We voted for these people, we can use our power at the ballot box in a different way. So this is a warning sign, I think, for Republicans, for people in this administration who very well may have been put over the edge and into office because of these Maha moms who are now saying they don't feel like they're getting what they voted for. Tom? All right, Julie, we thank you for that.

When we come back, the heartwarming reunion after months apart, a U.S. soldier returning home just in time for a special birthday surprise. We'll show you that moment right after this. Following tonight, an Army father making his son's birthday wish come true just in time for the celebration. What is going on? What is going on? Wait. For his 10th birthday, Noah Samayoa wanted one thing. His dad, home safe. He's been deployed with the Army for more than 250 days. But finally, after months apart, this incredible moment. His dad, Urban, back home, and Noah running full speed straight into his arms.

I could just hear him from his top of his line, just yell, dad, very loudly. It was really emotional. I felt like my heart was going to come out of my chest. For Noah, that first moment back with his dad meant everything. That was the best thing that ever happened to me. This was Urban's first deployment. He said service to his country is a sacrifice. but it's one he and his family are proud to make.

I wouldn't change it for anything. Happy birthday to you. The family back together again just in time for Noah's birthday. Now I can do all these things with him and it's been awesome having him back. This emotional reunion, a birthday wish come true. Thanks so much for watching Top Story. I'm Tom Yamis in New York. Stay right there.

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