Top Story with Tom Llamas - Wednesday, August 3, 2023

Episode Date: August 3, 2023

The FBI announces the arrest of a man they say held a woman captive in a makeshift cell in Oregon. An American woman is arrested in the Bahamas for allegedly plotting to kill her husband. New dash camera video shows Arkansas state police using a PIT maneuver to stop a daughter rushing her mother to the hospital. Surveillance video shows a dog owner abandoning their pet in a Miami park. A Scottish court allows the extradition of a man wanted in the U.S. for rape — despite the suspect’s claims that he is a different person. And country music star Craig Morgan announces he is re-enlisting in the U.S. Army at 59 years old.

Tonight, breaking news, kidnapped and cage, a shocking discovery inside an Oregon home. A woman held captive in a cinder block cell after the FBI says she was drugged, abducted, and driven across state lines. Investigators warning tonight that her captor, who used multiple identities across multiple states, could be linked to several other crimes. The chilling details just coming in. Preparing to surrender, former President Trump expected to appear in court in person tomorrow after he was charged with four felony counts for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, the scathing response from former Vice President Mike Pence tonight, after it was revealed Trump repeatedly pressured him to aid in his alleged scheme. Rebound or recession. Mixed messages on the economy tonight, more than 300,000 jobs added as the nation's credit rating takes a hundred. hit Wall Street tanking on the news. So are we in the clear or is there trouble on the horizon? What we're hearing tonight in a sit-down interview from the CEO of the country's largest bank,

J.P. Morgan Chase. Murder plot in paradise, a former Georgia beauty queen arrested for plotting to kill her husband in the Bahamas with the help of the man she was having an affair with, and a third accomplice as well. The text message is discovered by police that alerted them to this gruesome scheme. Speeding to the hospital, a police chase coming to a dramatic end in Arkansas after officers employed a pit maneuver, but the woman in the driver's seat says she was racing her mother to the hospital. So does a medical emergency give you a license to speed? That answer tonight, plus what we're hearing from police and that family. Adopted and abandoned surveillance video showing the moment a bulldog was left behind in Miami, part of a troubling rise in people

giving up their pets. Remember all those dogs getting adopted in the pandemic? Not anymore. Why people are ditching their dogs and contributing to these heartbreaking scenes. And the terrifying moment of plane plummeted into traffic in the middle of Nigeria before going up into flames. How everyone on board somehow survived that crash. Top story starts right now. And good evening. We begin top. story tonight with that gruesome and shocking news out of Oregon. In a stunning announcement, the FBI revealing they have captured a man accused of kidnapping a woman, taking her across state lines, and holding her captive in his garage in a makeshift cage. That suspect, you see

him right here just behind me, a 29-year-old husband and father. He is in custody tonight, and the FBI is now warning everyone. There could be more victims out there. The disturbing evidence uncovered to date points to an individual's ongoing and escalating pattern of violence targeting women in multiple states throughout the country. And as we report this out tonight, I do want to warn you some of the details are very graphic. We want to walk you through the disturbing discoveries that led federal investigators to that conclusion. Police say on July 15th, they responded to a 911 call in southern Oregon after a woman. whose hands were bloodied and bruised went running out into the street,

flagging down a passing car. And this is what they found inside a residential garage nearby. Makeshift cinder-block cell. Right there in the middle of the garage, a metal door that locks attached to one end. Inside that cell is where police said the suspect, Nagazi Zuberi, held his victim captive.

That woman whose identity is not being revealed was hired as a sex worker in Seattle by Zubari who posed as an undercover cover showing the victim his badge before shackling her wrists and legs. She alleges she was kidnapped, shackled, sexually assaulted, and locked in this makeshift cell. So let's take you inside that cinder block cage right now, a single chair, two bottles of water. Take a look at this right here and a fan left on the stained concrete floor. The woman trapped inside for hours, fighting her weight of freedom.

The woman fought for her life, beating the doors in the walls of this cell with bloodied hands. Through her perseverance, she broke free and waved down a passing motorist asking for their help to call 911. After his victim escaped from this torture chamber, if you will, Zuberi fleeing to Reno, Nevada, where he was arrested following a standoff with police in a Walmart parking lot. We want to show you his face once more to see if you recognize. him as authorities plead for other victims or their families to come forward. Police believe Zubari could be connected to crimes in at least nine other

states. You see them right here in this map, possibly even more. Federal agents say he used multiple aliases as he moved around the country. Chilling notes recovered from the house where his victim was found revealing a possible M.O. reading, quote,

Operation Takeover. End quote, make sure they don't have a bunch of people in their life. Police hoping these clues will push others to come forward with information. It's an active investigation. You can't say too much, but what we'd like to say is that the victim, if she didn't do what she did, we wouldn't be here today. All right.

And with all of that laid out right there, let's bring in Dr. Casey Jordan. She's a criminologist and a behavioral analyst. Casey, thanks so much for joining Top Story tonight. Investigators are saying that Sue Barry is linked to at least four additional sexual assaults and used multiple methods including drugging, threatening, and impersonating law enforcement to get control of his victims, really. If these allegations are indeed true, and you saw what police are calling that makeshift sell there, what can you tell us about the profile of a criminal like this? Well, I think what's most disturbing as these details come out, because again, this young

woman who escaped, this was over two weeks ago. So they've clearly been really digging in, doing an investigation trying to see if they can get Zubari to talk. But the idea that he moved to Oregon just a few months ago. And in that space of time, apparently constructed the cinder block cell within his garage. I mean, that's scary enough. It raises the question as to whether the victim who escaped was the first or whether there could be others. But the amount of planning that he put into abducting her, driving more than seven hours to Seattle, and then having a ruse or a con, an undercover officer, having a fake badge that he flashed at her, a stun gun that he threatened her with, handcuffs, ankle shackles, put her in the car, told her she was under arrest,

no doubt, and that he was taking to the police station. And instead, it's a seven-hour drive, back to Oregon. That plus the notes that the police found, which basically said Operation Takeover, leave your cell phone at home, and make sure that whoever you abduct doesn't have any people in her life because you don't want to start an investigation. That's what's most chilling, the amount of thought that he's going into this abduction. What do we know about the types of criminals, again, if these allegations are true, what do we know about the types of criminals that create, you know, I would describe them as a torture chamber for their victims?

Well, they usually don't intend to let those victims go. I mean, we have seen this very rarely that they will keep a sexually motivated captor might keep a victim for a few days, a few weeks. but they eventually do kill them and dispose of them. And if they like what they've experienced, they're going to want to do it again. So even though the police are looking for him for a series of other sexual assaults,

at least four others that they know of, I think the overarching vibe of what the police are putting out there is that they could be looking for somebody who's responsible for women's deaths. And he's lived in more than 10 states in the last seven years. So you can be very sure they're going to be looked for similar ammo

and trying to figure out if there have been previous victims who have not survived. So we mentioned the top of the broadcast, the alleged suspect here. He is also a husband and a father. We're looking at the Gilgo Beach case, and we've been talking a lot about the serial killer and the suspect who's been arrested in that case as well, also a husband and father. What is it about these men sometimes that are living these double lives? Why? Well, because the family man disguise is the best disguise to throw people off.

No one would ever think that a man with a small baby and a wife would be planning these sorts of things. The real question is how much the families know. And I've interviewed families who have been in this situation and the answers, they don't know anything. But we've seen this, yes, not just with the alleged Long Island serial killer Rex Herman, but with Robert Hanson in Alaska, Robert Yates, we saw it with BTK, Dennis Raider, Kendall Francois. It is not unusual for these people to have a very rich family life. because that again is how they get away with it hiding in plain sight nobody expects the family man to be building a torture cell in his garage and abducting women and holding them captive there if there are other victims case you get away if I can and I don't mean to interrupt you but if there are other victims out there do you think they're still alive I think that there are other victims and they're very likely vulnerable street women or sex workers who have been captured by this man perhaps sexually abused, raped by him, and who do not want to go to the police because

of the nature of their lifestyle and their work. They're extremely vulnerable. This is why the police are going full-fledged PR with this, because they want any other victims who've survived to come forward and not be afraid to come forward with the information they have. But again, the subtext of what the police are telling us is that there could have been other victims who did not survive. So it is entirely possible.

Not unlikely that this young man could be a serial killer. If they link him to cold cases, unsolved bodies that have been found in the states that he has lived in, you can be sure this will be a very expansive investigation. Criminologist Casey Jordan on Top Story tonight. Casey, we appreciate your time. We do want to turn out of the other major headline we're following the growing fallout

for former President Trump facing yet another federal indictment. The special counsel charging him with attempting to overturn the 2020. the 2020 election, as we reported last night. But the former president defined as ever sending a flurry of fundraising emails asking supporters to show that the MAGA movement will quote, never surrender our country to the left's tyranny. NBC's Garrett Hake has been covered it all for us. Former President Trump tonight thanking his supporters for standing by him in the face of what he's slamming as a new unprecedented indictment. Mr. Trump now accused of leading a conspiracy in a desperate bid to hang on to power after losing the 2020 election.

Pursuing what special counsel Jack Smith's prosecutors say was a, quote, criminal scheme, culminating in the violence of January 6th, though the indictment does not charge Mr. Trump with inciting the riot. The Department of Justice has remained committed to ensuring accountability for those criminally responsible for what happened that day. This case is brought consistent with that commitment. Mr. Trump facing four felony counts. conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiring and attempting to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against people's right to vote and have their votes counted. The indictment says then President Trump knowingly spread lies about the election,

adding the defendant had a right to claim falsely that he had won, but that he went too far, pursuing, quote, unlawful means of discounting legitimate votes and subverting the election results. The indictment lists six unindicted and unnamed co-conspirators, including, according to their attorneys, Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman, who first allegedly tried to overturn the results in seven states, including in Georgia, where the former president was recorded pressing the Secretary of State for help. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more that we have, because we won the state.

When that failed, allegedly moving on to enlist the vice president, to use his ceremonial role on January 6th to fraudulently alter the election results. Prosecutors say Mr. Trump repeatedly pressured Mike Pence, including in a Christmas day phone call. When Pence refused, Mr. Trump allegedly telling him, quote, you're too honest. Sadly, the president was surrounded by a group of crackpot lawyers that kept telling him what his itching ears wanted to hear. And later, the indictment says, attempting to use the angry crowd summoned on the 6th to pressure Pence more direction. The indictment says Mr. Trump's own attorney general and White House counsel told him he had lost.

But tonight, his defense attorney insists Mr. Trump still believes he won and was acting on what his lawyers had told him. Everything that Mr. Trump requested to be done was done with the advice of counsel, was done with lawyers giving him advice. Those lawyers are going to come in and testify. Arguing the charges against the Republican frontrunner are from a partisan prosecutor. So now we have the criminalization and the weapon is. of public policy and political speech by one political party over another. Presiding over the case will be federal judge Tanya Chutkin, an Obama appointee known for handing out longer prison sentences in January 6 cases than prosecutors have requested.

All right, Garrett Hake joins us tonight from Washington. And Garrett, you know, you never want to put a bet on what President Trump is going to do. He's set to be arraigned tomorrow. Will we see him in court? It's likely not, Tom. This courthouse is one where he can enter and exit under. ground and there are no cameras in federal court. But don't be surprised to see his campaign try to program another event around this arraignment, just like they did when he was

arraigned in Miami. These arraignment have been huge fundraising boons for the Trump campaign at a time where they very much need the money to help pay for all their legal costs. Tom? All right, Garrett Hake for us. Garrett, we appreciate that. With former president blasting this latest indictment as politically motivated, his other Republican opponents have mixed reactions. NBC's Kristen Welker has that part of the story. Tonight, former President Trump firing back, accusing federal prosecutors of targeting him again because he's the strong Republican frontrunner against President Biden, posting, why didn't they bring this case 2.5 years ago? They wanted it right in the middle of my campaign.

That's why. The dramatic third indictment of Mr. Trump with the potential to shake up the GOP race, some rivals are starting to sharpen their tone, including Mr. Trump's former Vice President Mike Pence, who cited in the indictment refusing his boss's request not to certify President Biden's election win. Anyone who puts themselves over the Constitution should never be president of the United States. And anyone who asks someone else to put themselves over the Constitution should never be president of the United States again. But Mr. Trump's top Republican challenger, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, criticizing the indictment that could land with a jury in deep blue Washington, D.C. A D.C. jury would indict a ham sandwich and convict a ham sandwich if it was a Republican ham sandwich. I think Americans need to be able to remove cases out of D.C.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy dismissing the indictments as DOJ's attempt to distract from Republicans' investigation of the Biden family finances. With each new indictment, Mr. Trump has expanded his lead, making his growing legal peril a regular rally talking point. Our enemies want to stop me because I am the only one who's going to be able to stop them. But while his legal battles have been a political boost, they've also taken a financial toll, draining Mr. Trump's campaign cash, his main political action committee spending $20 million on legal fees this year. Tonight, voters reacting. I'm delighted, absolutely delighted. If ever he has earned and deserved something, it's another indictment.

For me, it will not affect how I vote. the ballot, my plan is to vote for him. For me, it's about the economy. All right, the voice of the voter there. Kristen joins us tonight from right here in New York. Kristen, I know you have some new reporting on a private conversation on the 2024 election between former President Obama and President Biden.

That's right, Tom. This happened during a June lunch between those two. Two sources familiar with the discussion tell us that former President Obama vowed to help President Biden get reelected, but also stressed the ongoing strength of the Trump base. This is significant because a lot of Democrats with whom I speak say that they think that former President Trump is Biden's best bet of winning re-election. All right. Kristen Walker with that new reporting, Kristen, great to see you here in New York. Former President Trump and some Republican allies echoing claims that the DOJ is rigged against

him, but how will that argument actually hold up in court? I want to bring in our panel tonight, former U.S. Attorney and Deputy Assistant General Harry Littman. He's also the host of the Talking Fed's podcast, and Shan Wu, he's also a former federal prosecutor and current defense attorney who previously represented Rick Gates, Trump's deputy campaign manager in the Mueller probe. So, Harry, I'm going to start with you. There's not necessarily a smoking gun, if you will, in that indictment. I'd argue there's a smoking person, and that's Vice President Mike Pence. How comfortable would you be putting someone like Vice President Mike Pence on the stand if he's currently running for the Republican nomination? I know what he said in this book,

I know what he said in interviews. We don't know what he told the grand jury. But would you be comfortable putting him on as a witness? Oh, yeah. I think he's a great witness. I'll bet Shan agrees because he's going to have this pained kind of Pence-like resistance to telling the truth. And it'll be clear to the jury that even though you're pulling teeth, what you're getting is the actual words that he said. Do you think that is the strongest piece of the indictment, the exchanges with Vice President Mike Pence,

what the president asked him to do and what he's saying on the record, Pence is? sure up there. It's one of the freestanding crimes themselves. Pence's a very strong witness. And, of course, the indictment's just a part of what we're going to be seeing. I think Mark Meadows and others are going to give great and copious evidence. Shan, I'm going to disagree a little bit right here with our former U.S. attorney. If you were going to cross-examine Vice President Mike Pence, I got to think you'd be chomping at the bit, right? Because you have someone, I want to say again, who is running for president. He needs to get Republican votes. He's not going to want to come off. And I know that the American people aren't going to be watching this,

but they'll get transcripts. They'll be able to hear what he has to say later. I'm just curious if you'd want to cross-examine him and if you think he would be as strong as he was in his book and in interviews. Oh, I'd love to cross-examine him. I think Harry makes a great point to be like pulling teeth, but on the defense side, you can use that to your advantage.

I could use his reluctance to answer questions and then get some points out of them to use in closing and talk about his reluctance, how he's not going to full nine yards to say that Trump told him to break the law. Similarly, on that point, because he's been reluctant, I think he's going to come across this kind of stiff and wooden in court, and I don't think that'll be that much of a boon to prosecution. Substantively, I agree. There's a lot to overcome there. And to your point, he's running, that's a great way for defense counsel to turn that into bias, which is you want to look

good, you want to put down Trump, you want to take him down because you're running against him. So there's a little bit of fodder there to use. Harry, prosecutors aim to bring a strong case, obviously, to grand juries. They want to make sure they can prove exactly the charges they bring. You wrote a column in the L.A. Times. I want to put it up for our viewers a portion of this column here. It says Smith, talking about the special counsel, could have gone for broke by charging Trump with seditious conspiracy. He chose not to, wisely, in my view, the crimes he has been charged with are simpler to prove and less vulnerable to appeal on reversal down the line.

If he can secure a conviction for those crimes, it will adequately hold Trump guilty in fact and in history. So are you essentially saying that you believe they could not have proven that former President Trump caused the January 6th riot? Well, cause is a big word. What I think they'd have trouble proving is that he was in a conspiracy with the actual marauders. We know he was jubilant about it, but man, it would be a tough road to hoe. And he doesn't need to do it to really hold him accountable in history. But simply speaking, there's First Amendment problems. We haven't done this since the 19th century.

It's smart to a good prosecutor simplifies, and that's what Smith did. Break it down like I'm a five-year-old. Okay. Why if, in your opinion, what he did on January 6th doesn't constitute seditious conspiracy, at least the special counsel didn't think that they could prove that, but what he did before and right after the election, calling the election officials, talking to his former vice president, Mike Pence, these are all his words. Why is that not the same?

Why did he cross the line there and not on January 6th? Conspiracy. It's an agreement. So we really don't have great proof that he reaches across the aisle to guys like... The proud boys or anybody. And say, hey, let's do that. And these other things, you've got words and the very people he spoke to where he's saying, do this and that, and it's against the law. Shan, I do want to ask, you know, the former president is, of course, innocent until proven guilty.

We have already sort of heard what his defense is going to be, which is he was convinced he won the election. Can they prove that to a jury? They can prove what he was told. They can make it unlikely that he believed that. If I were his defense counsel, I would make them feel like they need to prove that he really did not believe that.

Because they don't really have to. They really need to prove that he did these illegal acts, knowing they were illegal. If I, as a defense counsel, could move the whole fight to what did Trump, really believe, I've got a little bit of traction there because you'll never be able to prove that that's what he really believed or didn't believe. Harry, you know, some legal experts have pointed out that it's a little odd that there's

six co-conspirators that have not been named. Do you think they're trying to put pressure on them, or do you think they're eventually going to be charged? Both, but I think first and foremost, what they're trying to do is get to trial fast. Seven defendants, lots of delay. One defendant, build for speed. Is there still time for these people who have been, not named, but, I guess not identified, but named as co-conspirators, is there time for them to flip if they think they're in legal jeopardy?

I guarantee right now they're huddled with their lawyers thinking about doing it tomorrow. Shan, given that the former president also stands alone in this indictment, do you try to pin Trump's actions on one of them, on one of those co-defendants as well, co-conspirators, I should say? Yeah, it's a little bit of a trick box because since they're co-conspirators, it's kind of hard for them to take the stand to help with his potential advice of counsel defense. But on the other hand, you can do a lot with an empty chair. So, yeah, absolutely. He should be pinning the blame on them. They told me to do these things.

It wasn't my idea. I was just trying to do the right thing. Just one thought on the speed, too. I think it is slimmed down with just Trump. But I think that as a defense counsel, I would be arguing you cannot push us too hard because the government has had a lot of time to prepare. We don't. And, you know, if you really want to push us hard, be my guest. If you're lucky enough to get a conviction, there's going to be an appellate issue.

I do think Tanya Chutkin, who I knew from the Public Defender Service in D.C., is going to be very cautious about pushing too hard. She'll run a tight ship, but you can't push so hard that you create an appellate issue. You just opened this up, so I'm going to ask you, we were going to wrap this up. Do you think she moves the dates on this? Do you think the Trump team keeps trying to delay this still after the election? Oh, absolutely. I think it's much harder for the delay this one as compared to the Mar-a-Lago case, but they'll absolutely be trying to delay it.

And usually in trial dates, the trial date will slip some, no matter how tight a ship the judge is running, as Harry knows. Shan and Harry, we thank you both for joining Top Story tonight. Again, if you want to read Harry's columnist in the LA Times. Great conversation, guys. We do want to move on. We do want to move on out of the economy and the dueling narratives playing out with the new strong data on jobs and more voices saying a recession is not in the cards. And yet, markets falling today after credit rating agency Fitch stripped the U.S. of its triple A status, citing political dysfunction.

Here's Tom Costello with the mixed messages. From his juicery named after his grandmother, Chris Good has his hand on the pulse of the Kansas City economy. He's convinced it's time to expand. into a wholesale juice provider to whole foods. Well, our economy in Kansas City is growing. I think, as you all know, and we as a small business are also growing in concert with that growth. Chris Good's good news is also reflected in new jobs numbers. ADP reports 324,000 private jobs added in July, 73% coming from small businesses.

Amid solid economic growth, receding inflation and unemployment near a 54-year low. One of Main Street's biggest banks, Bank of America, today joined the Fed and reversed its prediction for the economy. Paraphrasing John Lennon, imagine no recession. It's easy if you try. But the optimism comes as credit rating agency Fitch downgrades the U.S. from AAA to AA plus, citing the insurrection, political polarization, and growing debt. And given the kind of deterioration and governance and unwillingness to really tackle these issues, We don't think that's consistent with the AAA anymore. The White House quickly pushed back on the downgrade.

What they're doing is punishing the cleanup crew when the guy who wrecked the room is long gone. And sorry, but that just doesn't hold water. Tom Costello joins Top Story tonight. And Tom, give us a quick check on inflation, right? America is still a very expensive place for so many Americans, but there is some hope out there tonight. Well, especially we're seeing prices at the gas pump, which are pretty steep, right? The national average is now 380 a gallon, that's up 27 cents in a month. Analysts blame Russian and OPEC production cuts and extreme heat, slowing refinery or operations in the United States.

And meanwhile, higher interest rates are making it more expensive to buy a home. 30-year interest rates now running at more than 7.5%. But inflation's coming down from peak a year ago of more than 9% to about 3% now. All right, Tom Costello for us tonight. Tom, thank you. Despite the credit downgrade, Tom just reported on. Jamie Diamond, the CEO of the largest bank in the U.S., J.P. Morgan Chase, sat down for a one-on-one with CNBC in a wide-ranging interview, and reassured investors the U.S. economy is very robust, but also caution against too much optimism, especially after the heightened government spending during the pandemic, saying that spending comes with consequences. We're not done paying just yet. We spend $5 trillion over the two years of COVID.

Right. That is extraordinary money that went into the hands of consumers and small businesses. The government did the right thing to get us out of this terrible COVID. Remember, unemployment went from 4% to 15% in my, remember like three months. But we continue spending and we continue QT, QE for too long. And we're going to pay, we're paying a price for that and hopefully it won't be too big a price. Well, we ultimately start to see the effect of that, you know, when the tide rolls in. Yeah, that's what I'm talking about.

The storm clouds down the road. Or, you know, fiscal spending, QT, higher rates. We haven't had the full effect of that yet. I don't know what that's going to do. All right, joining me now for more on this economic downgrade in the ongoing fears of a recession is Peter Coy, a writer for the opinion section of the New York Times, an author of the Peter Coy newsletter. His recent op-ed, sorry, but I think a recession is still coming, paints a less rosy picture

of the country's economic forecast, and yes, people, we are talking about the recession once again. And I want to start with the headline. And I know writers don't write headlines, but you had to put the word sorry in there because the conventional wisdom is that, hey, maybe. Maybe it's going to be a soft landing. Maybe we're out of the woods. You say not so fast.

So that is the new conventional wisdom. Nine months ago, a year ago, people did expect a recession, but because the economy has soldiered on, continued to grow. A lot of people who were in the recession camp have pulled away. But I'm sticking with a recession call for now. And explain to us why. Explain to our viewers what you're seeing. So first of all, I'm not an economist.

Don't claim to be one. I'm a journalist, but I follow the numbers, and I am impressed by a couple of numbers that predict recessions with a high degree of reliability. One of them is the leading economic index, which is put up by the conference board. It's a compilation of a bunch of different measures that tend to be reliable predictors of both upturns and downturns of the economy. That has declined for 15 months in a row. Last time that happened was the deep recession of 2007 to 2009.

And it's predicted every recession. When it goes down for that long, a recession follows. The other one is a component of that leading economic index, which is the shape of the yield curve, that is the relationship between short-term and long-term interest rates, again, strongly indicating the recession is coming. Could be wrong this time? Yes, but my argument is, look,

if something predicts a recession again and again, you have to have a pretty strong reason to think that history is not going to repeat itself. And do you think all that money that was pumped into the system is one of the reasons why we haven't hit recession just yet? People still have those COVID savings? They have. They've been spending them down. So eventually that all those excess savings do get spent down

and then there's nothing left in the tank. What do you think... What do you think happens with this credit downgrade? Wall Street obviously didn't like it. The markets were down today. Does it affect anything at all? in your calculation with the recession? Not much.

I don't think there was a strong market reaction, and that's because people have a pretty good feeling for how credit worth of the United States is. Hearing something from Fitch that it's a AA plus rather than a AAA probably doesn't have not have a big influence on their actual beliefs about how credit worthy of the United States is. Wall Street is not always right, and I always like to remind our viewers that they like to predict the future.

That's the way they invest. and the market has been great this summer. The summer has been on a tear. So what is Wall Street seeing that you're not seen? You know, people tend to be optimistic when they see rising earnings and so on. I think they're looking at the current situation and projecting it forward. What I'm looking at is that the Federal Reserve has been raising interest rates rather dramatically, and there's a lag between when the Fed takes its action and when it's.

hits the economy. That lag is variable. So you never quite sure. Some people say it's eight months. It's strange. It's right. Sometimes it's eight months, sometimes it's 14 months, whatever it might be. I think we have not felt the full force yet of the interest rate increases the Fed is already put through, and there may be more on the way. So, Peter, the question is then when do you think it will hit? Do you have any idea? Do you think it's three months, six months next year? I mean, again, not an economist, but I can imagine the recession hitting before the end of 2023. Although with the strength that's still in the pipeline, it may take until 2024, which, by the way, would not be good news for President Biden's re-election effort. Joe Biden.

Peter Coy, we really appreciate this conversation. I like your tie. It says it's a money tie. I love it all. Thanks for being here on Top Story. Thank you very much. All right. Still ahead tonight, the murder plot in Paradise, a former beauty queen arrested for planning to kill her husband with the help of a man she was having.

having an affair with, allegedly, how police caught on to that plot, we'll explain. Plus, speeding to the hospital, police using a pit maneuver to pull over a woman racing to get their mother to the ER, how police are defending that tactic, and are you allowed to speed to the hospital? We'll explain. And an incredible rescue in Texas, officers pulling an unconscious man out of this burning car with just seconds to spare. Stay with us.

All right, we're back now with the American woman arrested in the Bahamas for allegedly plotting to kill her husband. Lindsay Shriver, a former pageant queen and mother of three, is accused of conspiring with two other men to kill her estranged husband, a former Auburn football player who also had a brief stint in the NFL with the Atlanta Falcons. Some reports alleging she was having an affair with one of the other suspects and that their whole plot was uncovered from WhatsApp messages. Valerie Castro has been following this story for a couple of days for us now in. joins us now in studio. So Valerie, what else do we know at this point? I know it's been difficult to report out because it's taking place in the Bahamas.

Exactly. Because it is taking place there, there's not a lot of information that we've been able to gather, including the specific details of that alleged murder plot. But the Royal Bahamas police confirmed that Lindsay Schaever, along with two male co-defendants, have all been charged with murder conspiracy. And as you mentioned, local media, including the Bahamas Port News, reporting the murder plot was uncovered during a separate investigation into a break-in at a local business. police recovered a cell phone from that business, and that's what contained those WhatsApp messages

that detailed this apparent alleged hit. The apparent intended target of that plot is said to be Robert Schiver, Lindsay Schiver's estranged husband, who is here in the United States. There are some photos out there in the public that seemed to show a happy family. That wasn't the case? No, Lindsay documented lots of her family on social media, on TikTok videos, pictures of her children, and her husband. There are photos that show her spending time in the Bahamas where the couple said to have owned a property there. She and Robert met at Auburn University where he was on the football team. She was a one-time beauty queen in Houston County, Georgia. But earlier this year, Robert filed for divorce, and in court documents, he claims Lindsay engaged in

adulterous conduct, and he called their marriage irretrievably broken. Lindsay's attorney filing documents in response saying the affair was legally condoned by her husband during their separation and claiming he physically abused her. The divorce battle and fight for custody over the children was all playing out. That's when Lindsay was arrested in the Bahamas in July. Okay, and so what's next in this case? So we've been in constant contact with her attorney in the Bahamas. He says his client was granted bail by a judge there, but it's still in clear if she's been able to post that bail. The courts there are not releasing that information. All right, Valerie Castro for us, Valerie, we appreciate all that. Thank you for that. Now to a high-speed chase caught

on police dash cam. An 18-year-old woman in Arkansas facing charges after desperately rushing her mother to the hospital, so she was speeding to the hospital. A state trooper forcing her car to a stop using a pit maneuver. Stephen Romo has our interview with the daughter behind the wheel and her mother, who tells us she thought she was going to have a heart attack. Tonight, new video emerging of a high-speed chase on an Arkansas highway. Arkansas State Police using a pit maneuver to stop this car carrying to hear a heart and her twin daughters. You know what?

Police, unaware, they were in the middle of a medical emergency. Heart started experiencing chest pains hours after being discharged from Baptist Medical Health Center in Little Rock following a surgery earlier that week. I got a shooting pain in my left arm and my hand went numb. So at this time, I'm thinking I'm having a heart attack. Her 18-year-old daughters racing her to the hospital with their hazard lights on, Little Rock Police pursuing that car for five miles before the state police took over. They turned their lights on, but they turned them right back off, and they were following us.

Officials say the car topped 100 miles an hour during that chase and even sped up after police turned on their blue flashing lights. We was actually just going to stop and let the police take us on to the emergency room, but then we got hit. A state police trooper executing that pit maneuver, driving his cruiser into the side of their vehicle, spinning it around and stopping the chase. We got a pit. We got a pit. From what I saw in this video, it looks like it was appropriate. It's a good spot to try this because if the car veers off, there wasn't anyone there or anything there that could be harmed. The women inside terrified, screaming with their hands raised. The driver, Kenosha Moss, says the police, pointed guns and flashlights at them. I'm like, please just don't kill. Please just don't kill me.

But I've got my hands up, I got my eyes closed, and I'm just walking towards them. I thought that I was going to get shot. Moss placed in handcuffs at the scene, written a ticket for fleeing police. I'm sorry. She says they then let her go and followed her as she finished that trip to the hospital. In a statement, Arkansas State Police say a troop

supervisor reviewed the incident and approved the use of the pit maneuver, writing, quote, any medical emergency that would warrant high rates of speed necessitates calling an ambulance or dialing 911. Driving to the emergency room does not give someone a free pass to speed, violate laws, and endanger the public. We didn't think to call 911 or nothing like that. By the time an ambulance would have got here, we would have already been at the hospital. The law is always going to apply. You don't have the ability. to break the law, even if it's a traffic law, because you think that it's warranted. Whether someone feels ill, or they're asking you to take them to the hospital or not.

Kenosia pleaded not guilty to these charges. She is due back in court, though, on September 6th. Tom. All right, Stephen. We appreciate it. When we come back, the brazen, smash, and grab caught on camera. Look at this. Thieves using hammers and a plastic trash bin to rob a California jewelry store with customers inside.

You won't believe how much they took off with. with us. All right, we are back now with Top Stories News Feed, and we begin with the sentencing for the Tree of Life Synagogue shooter. Jurors unanimously handing down a death sentence for Robert Bowers. In June, he was found guilty on 63 federal charges for the murders of 11 worshippers inside of Pittsburgh Synagogue in 2018. It is the worst anti-Semitic attack in U.S. history. Police in California is searching for a group behind a smash-and-grab robbery that was caught on camera. Surveillance footage shows three people using hammers to break display cases at an Irvine jewelry store and filling up plastic garbage bins.

The store says the trio made off with more than $900,000 in merchandise. Customers and staff were inside of the time, but no one was hurt. And a Texas man is lucky to be alive after officers rescued him from a fiery crash just outside of Fort Worth. You can take a look at this. It's body camp footage. It shows the officers bravely racing towards a burning car and pulling an unconscious man out from the flames. Another officer then trying to extinguish that fire. According to police, that man's fiancé had fallen asleep at the wheel, striking a pole.

Both of them were taken to the hospital but are expected to be okay. That's good news. Okay. Turning now to a disturbing incident out of Miami, a pet owner seen abandoning their dog in a park before speeding away. Police searching for that owner now, and it comes as very. prices for pet owners jump at animal shelters are over capacity. NBC Sam Brock explains it all. It's the heartbreaking scene caught on surveillance camera, a driver speeding off as they leave their bulldog abandoned in a Miami park.

The bulldog, sunflower, left wandering around the park before an animal rescuer brought her to a local shelter. I wish they would have reached out for help, and maybe they did and they hit a thousand dead ends, but keep reaching out. Like, don't just dump a dog out on the street and a park. Miami police are looking for the owner, as shelters in South Florida see a spike in owners giving up their pets. We are facing a 60 percent increase in owner surrenders across shelters and rescues. While the pandemic saw 23 million Americans adopt a pet, rising costs are forcing some families to make difficult decisions. In just the last year, prices for pet food has jumped

15%. Lillianna Gomez is one of the veterinarians seeing the effects firsthand. It's do you feed yourself or do you feed your pet? And when it comes to that, like, it really is, like, what do you do? At her care center, they have double the typical amount of both dogs and cats. The situation growing so crowded, staff are forced to pile crates in offices to make more room. We are absolutely overpopulated, looking to find places. all over the shelter where we can stick animals because there's so many of them. Other major cities like Dallas and San Francisco reporting shelters well over capacity. We have about 814 animals currently in care in the shelter. Our capacity is less than half of the hut. Honestly, we're way over capacity. As for Sunflower the Bulldog, she's going through

medical evaluations. Her rescuers hoping she can be adopted in a new home. Sam Brock, NBC, News, Miami. All right, we hope Sunflower gets adopted, and we thank Sam Brock for that one. Coming up, an update on the bizarre case of Nicholas Rossi, an international fugitive captured in Scotland. He'll now be extradited to the U.S. to face rape charges. However, the suspect alleges authorities have arrested the wrong man and that this is a case of mistaken identity. Well, one of the American prosecutors told top story about his claims, and the strange interviews will play for you. It's all coming up. Next. All right, we are back now with the intrigue around an international fugitive in court.

Authorities say Nicholas Rossi used multiple aliases to evade arrest. In the U.S. alone, he's wanted for rape and assault charges. But the man in jail swears this is a case of mistaken identity. The Scottish court now moving forward with the extradition of Rossi to the U.S. Ellison Barber picks it up from there. Tonight, a Scottish judge ruling that this man, who is wanted by American prosecutors on rape charges, can be extradited to the United States. I conclude that he is as dishonest and deceitful as he is evasive and manipulative. He swears he is Arthur Knight, an Irish orphan, sick and in a wheelchair, unfairly thrust into an international manhunt.

I do not prefer to be called Arthur Knight. arm of the night. But U.S. and Scottish authorities say that is an elaborate lie, and he is actually Nicholas Rossi. An international fugitive wanted on a rape charge in Utah under that name, but also known as Nicholas Averdean in Rhode Island. A man who thought he could fake his own death, flee the country, and create a new life to avoid prosecution. Investigators say, In a sentence, how would you describe Nicholas Rossi? Nicholas Rossi is a pathetic character. I am not Nicholas Allenworthy, and I do not know how to make this clear.

He stuck to a story in an interview with Dateline's Andrea Canning. People say that's an act. Let me try to stand up. Let me try to stand up. Exactly. Authorities say they were able to identify him by distinctive tattoos, recognized when he was in the hospital for COVID. in late 2021. His identity already in the system for a previous sex crime conviction.

David Leavitt was the Utah County attorney who charged Nicholas Rossi in the outstanding Utah rape case. Are you confident this man is Nicholas Rossi? Well, I've never met Nicholas Rossi and I've never met Arthur Knight. What I can say is that the fingerprints match, the tattoos match. I'm confident that when we start looking at DNA, it matches the photographs match. Today in court, his lawyer saying extradition would be a violation of Rossi's human rights due to health concerns. Rossi lashing out, calling the sheriff in charge a disgrace to justice.

But for those who have worked the case in Utah, they hope all of this, the upcoming extradition, will be a giant leap towards justice. And with that, Alison, now joins us in studio. So, Alison, I guess the next question is, when will we see Rossi here on U.S. soil? We don't know for sure. It could happen really any day. Ultimately, what this judge decided is that there is no legal barrier to extradition. Now, since they say this is Nicholas Rossi, his case will go through the normal extradition process. It goes to the Scottish ministers next. Basically, Scottish government, they'll make a decision on whether or not to extradite it. All right, Ellison Barber, on that very bizarre story, we appreciate it. When we come back,

the plane crash caught on camera, a small plane slamming into a busy roadway in Nigeria, for bursting into flames, as you see here. What we're just learning about the two people on board who somehow survived, will show you more of that video when we come back. Welcome back to Top Story. Time to get a check of what's happening around the world, and we start with our global watch

and the plane crash caught on camera in Nigeria. New surveillance video shows the small tourist plane crash onto a busy road in Lagos before bursting into flames. You see it right there. Officials say the aircraft was on a test flight, and both people on board somehow survived that crash. Four people on the ground, though, were hurt. The cause of this crash is now under investigation.

On this side of the planet, El Salvador ramping up a massive gang crackdown that we've reported extensively on here on Top Story. The country deploying 8,000 soldiers and police to raid the rural province of Cabanas, an area larger than New York City, to try and find alleged gang members who are believed to be hiding out there Since March of 2022, El Salvador has arrested 70,000 people in an attempt to limit gang activity. And a major upset at the FIFA Women's World Cup, Jamaica, one of the lowest ranked teams heading into the tournament and knocking out Powerhouse Brazil with a zero-zero draw. It is the first time the country will move to the round of 16 and get this, the team wasn't even sure they'd be able to play in the World Cup.

They had to launch a go-fund me in order to afford the trip. It sounds like cool runnings. It's the first time Brazil was eliminated in the group stage since 1995. Okay, finally tonight, a country music stars renewed oath to serve. Musician and veteran Craig Morgan is now back in an Army uniform at the age of 59. He says this new commission in the U.S. Army is an opportunity to put politics and personal ambitions aside. Here's Julie Serkin. Have this thing in uniform in a long time.

It's a decision two decades in the making. Country music star Craig Morgan's surprising fan Saturday night. At 59 years old, he's re-enlisting in the U.S. Army. Yeah, he gets a round of applause for that. He's a hell of a patriot. On stage at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee, Morgan becoming the first to commission at the historic home of country music. Why are you choosing to do that after this successful music career that you've built and a lot on your plate?

So it was very difficult to feel like that I had quit something that. I didn't want to quit. Before he became a touring musician, Morgan served tours in Panama and Korea with the Airborne, all part of a military career that spanned 17 years, three short of what he needed to retire. I feel like an 18-year-old kid, I can tell you, excited, nervous, but I'm humbled for the opportunity. He spoke to us while Chris crossing the country, performing hits from his latest album, inspired by his time in the military. second to his personal goals Morgan has a bigger purpose in putting the uniform back on

so help me God so help me God at a time when the military is on track to miss recruiting goals across three branches if a guy like me who has the career that I do can go in and participate in the Army reserves anybody can do it he says those who have second thoughts about service due to political disagreements need to put all of that aside. You know, I might not agree with everything this administration does, but I still go do my job and be all I can be so that I can be all I can be for everyone else. Now the award-winning country star ready to perform his encore of service. Craig Morgan, we thank you for your service.

And we thank you for watching Top Story Tonight. I'm Tom Yammis in New York. Stay right there. More news on the way.