Top Story with Tom Llamas - Wednesday, December 13, 2023

Episode Date: December 14, 2023

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

Tonight, breaking news, the Republican-controlled House just voting to open an impeachment inquiry into President Biden. Every House Republican voting to support the inquiry, despite some in the party voicing concerns that an investigation into the president has yet to produce any evidence of wrongdoing. The vote coming just hours after the president's son, Hunter, defied a Republican subpoena, calling for him to appear for a closed-door deposition today. Hunter instead making public remarks outside of the Capitol, offering to appear at a public hearing instead. Could the President's son be held in contempt of Congress? Also breaking tonight, the judge presiding over former President Trump's election interference case, halting all pending deadlines and court dates in the case,

as Trump appeals a decision on whether he has immunity from criminal prosecution. This could delay the scheduled March 4th start of the trial, pushing it even closer to the 2024 President Trump. election. Brink of war, the presidents of Venezuela and Guyana will meet less than 24 hours from now. As Venezuela threatens to take control of an oil and mineral region that makes up nearly half of Guyana ahead of the high stakes meeting, the Guyanese president speaking exclusively to top story. His message for Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro, who he calls an outlaw, and if he thinks his country is prepared to defend its land. The massive recall affecting nearly every Tesla in the U.S.

The company now limiting its autopilot feature following a federal investigation into hundreds of crashes when the feature was on. Plus, the alarming headline regarding popular weight loss drugs, poison centers saying they've seen a 1,500% increase in calls about drugs like OZempic, including accidental overdoses, what users need to know. And just like Steph, the incredible half-court buzzer-beater by a student in Arizona. An NBC News report on that shot getting the attention of his favorite player, Warrior star, Steph Curry, the incredible moment the two men on the court and the incredible story of this young man. Top story starts right now. And good evening. We begin with that breaking news, the Republican-led House voting moments ago to open an impeachment inquiry into President Biden. The 221 to 212 vote right along part.

lines with all House Republicans voting in favor. They have alleged the president has financially benefited from his family's foreign business dealings. However, they have not publicly released any evidence to support those claims, but have accused the White House of hampering their investigation. The vote came after hours after the president's son Hunter Biden defied a congressional subpoena to testify, but still showed up on Capitol Hill, blasting the investigations into his father, but Republicans highlighting something Hunter said today. Is Hunter's description of his father's involvement with his former businesses changing? So let's get right to NBC Capitol Hill correspondent Ryan Nobles with the late-breaking details.

Tonight, President Biden now facing an official impeachment inquiry. After the House voted along party lines to formally authorize a Republican investigation already underway. GOP leaders say the move will help them gather more documents and witness testimony into Biden family finances. We are now at a pivotal moment in our investigation. But we are facing obstruction from the White House. Democrats blasting the vote. This whole thing is an extreme political stun. And it came just hours after Hunter Biden defied a congressional subpoena to testify,

saying he would only do it in a public setting. With the committee room set up in anticipation of a closed door deposition. For six years, I have been the target of the unrelenting Trump attack machine shouting, where's Hunter? Well, here's my answer. I am here. Slamming the GOP inquiry. In the depths of my addiction, I was extremely irresponsible with my finances. But to suggest that as grounds for an impeachment inquiry is beyond the absurd. After making brief remarks, Hunter Biden ignored reporter questions. Hunter, why won't you answer these questions under oath? President Biden has repeatedly insisted he's never.

talked to his son about his foreign business activity. I've never spoken my son about his overseas business. Today, Hunter Biden saying his father was not financially involved. My father was not financially involved in my business. Republicans zeroing in on that comment. He said my father was not financially involved in the business. That is a huge change. Mr. President, should your son have defied the subpoena?

Meanwhile, the president not answering questions about his son. Ryan Noble joins us live from Capitol Hill. Ryan, there's still a lot to get to on this story. So first, what is the White House saying tonight now that the vote has been had? Well, Tom, the president himself issued a statement. He accused Republicans of attacking him with lies. And the White House also said that this impeachment is nothing more than a political stunt that at this point has not revealed any illegal activity. Let's move to Hunter now. The contempt of Congress charges. When do you think those would come to a vote? Well, it's going to take some time. They have to file a report on contempt of Congress. have to outline their arguments as to why they believe that he is in contempt of Congress.

It has to go through the committee process. Congress is scheduled to leave town for the holiday recess tomorrow, so it's likely that this won't come up for any kind of vote until they return sometime in early January. So, Ryan, this is going to be a first, I think, at least for myself. You asked Hunter Biden a question. So I want to ask you, do we know why Hunter won't answer these questions under oath? Well, I think part of it is the setting, right? He does not want to be in a closed-door situation with Republicans asking him questions that they can then piecemeal and only put bits and pieces out and, you know, with the removal of the context that he thinks is necessary in telling this story.

He'd prefer to answer those questions under oath in a public setting where everyone can see every single question asked and there'd be an equal number of questions from Republicans and Democrats. But he is very careful with his language because the other part of this is he is facing a long list of charges right now. He's under indictment in two different cities on federal charges related to taxes and gun charges. Anything he says can be used against him in a court of law. So he has to be very careful in the way he answers those questions. And that leads exactly to my next question here. We saw on your report that Republicans are honing in on this phrase, financially involved. And, you know, to be fully transparent here, the White House, President Biden, his campaign at the time when these allegations came up,

they have not been completely truthful about the relationship between Joe Biden and Hunter. Biden when he came to these business dealings. This seems to be a new phrase. Are Republicans and Democrats saying different things about this, or is this just a case of semantics? It could be either, Tom. And I think that's part of the reason that Republicans want to get Hunter Biden in a room and specifically ask him what he means when he says that he has no connection to his financial dealings. And there is a bit of a change. You know, both President Biden and Hunter Biden himself have never really been specifically pressed on just how much President Biden was involved or not involved in his business dealing. So when he made a specific

characterization of it today, that's something Republicans seized on more than anything because they just haven't had a ton of opportunity to ask specific questions to him about this. But to be clear, Tom, Republicans have also not uncovered anything that would lead you to believe that there is a direct link to President Biden in any sort of official capacity with the business dealings of Hunter Biden around the world. So they may be seizing on something, but they don't have a heck of a lot to back up any claims that they have that would certainly lead to a high crime and misdemeanor, which is the standard, of course, for articles of impeachment. An important point to always highlight, Ryan Nobles, who had a very long day on the Hill today.

Ryan, we appreciate all your time. Thank you. We're also following several headlines tonight involving former President Trump. But let's start with the biggest one, which could delay the start of his federal election interference trial, really the biggest trial he's facing. Late today, the presiding judge halting all proceedings in the criminal case, pending the outcome of Trump's appeal, arguing that he's protected by presidential immunity. On Monday, special counsel, Jack Smith, requested the Supreme Court take up the case to speed up the process. Trump was charged with four counts in August, including conspiracy to defraud the U.S.

over allegations. He tried to overturn the 2020 election results. He pleaded not guilty to those charges. Today's decision by the judges pauses pending deadlines and court cases, but they will not be vacated. This could delay the start of the trial, which was set to begin on March 4th, 20th. It does not affect conditions of release, gag orders, or protective orders. So earlier in the day, lawyers for Trump slammed special counsel, Jack Smith's proposed schedule for an expedited appeal that could begin right after Christmas, comparing Smith to the Grinch, and even using a quote from the classic Christmas tale.

So there you go. For more on all this, I'm joined now by NBC News Justice and Intelligence Correspondent Ken Delanian and NBC News Legal Analyst, Angela Senadella. Thank you both for being here. Angela, I want to start with you. Explain to us like I'm a five-year-old exactly what happened today. Well, the judge did not want to stop these hearings. She wants the trial to start on March 4th. But if the Supreme Court rules on this issue in Trump's favor, there is no case. It goes away. Presidential immunity is at the heart of the trial. It was raised by Trump in a motion to dismiss. If the Supreme Court agrees, the trial would not happen.

So does anything really get delayed right now? I mean, is there sort of legal actions, machinations happening right now that are going to be put on hold or are both legal teams moving forward? Well, the team, so Trump's team has until December 20th to provide a reply to the Supreme Court about why they do not want this process expedited. Now, jury selection is supposed to happen in February. We are getting really close to that. So that is going to be paused if there's been no decision before February. So, Ken, I guess one of the Trump team's main legal strategies has been to delay any and all

proceedings against the former president, at least until after the election. Is this a win for Trump in a way? Well, they're certainly proclaiming this as a big victory, Tom. The campaign said in the statement that this is, quote, a big win for President Trump and our rule of law as it derails, deranged Jack Smith's rush-to-judgment strategy of interfering in the 2024 presidential election. Whether it actually does delay the trial remains to be seen.

It all depends on, first of all, whether the Supreme Court agrees to hear this case, and if they do, how quickly they do it. There was also action tonight. The circuit court said, briefing schedule because the Supreme Court could just decide not to hear this case or defer action and wait for the appeals court to take action, in which case that could delay things. It's really, it's up in the air. The Supreme Court can move quickly when it wants to.

Remember, it decided the famous Bush v. Gore case in 2000 in four days. So if the Supreme Court justices decide that there are important issues for the country at stake here, they can move this quickly. Yeah, and let's talk about the Supreme Court, Angela. So walk us through this, the Supreme Court has decided to hear this, right? And then what exactly are they going to be deciding on, the immunity factor? Is there precedent for this? Yes, so the Supreme Court hasn't agreed to hear it yet.

They've agreed to consider whether or not they will hear it. And the question of presidential immunity, there is precedent with regards to civil liability that presidents cannot be sued during that time. But with regards to criminal liability, which is the case here, there is not much precedent. So they're going to be considering whether or not the president was acting in an effect. So how do they decide on this if there's no precedent? Where do they go? Well, they go to the statute. They go to the Constitution. They go to also the impeachment judgment part of the Constitution, which is something that I believe Trump's team will bring

up. And so they see whether or not he is immune based on what he was doing at the time of the allegations. Were those official acts or were they not? Ken, the DOJ, how were they interpreting the special counsel, Jack Smith, sort of his play to get this at the Supreme Court fast and to get them to answer the story? quickly. Well, it's very clear. Jack Smith wants to get this case to trial, and his argument to the Supreme Court is, look, there are huge issues, constitutional issues at stake here. But there's another possibility. They may not even get to the immunity question if they decide that everything President Trump was doing, then President Trump, to try to overturn the election, was outside the

bounds of presidential acts. And that's what a civil, a judge ruled in the civil context and a different lawsuit regarding Mr. Trump, that basically, when you're acting political, When you're talking about votes and election fraud, you're not acting as the president. You're acting as a candidate. That's well established in the United States. And so the Supreme Court could decide that he wasn't acting as the president. Therefore, they don't have to decide whether a sitting president can face criminal charges. Angela, where do you think the Supreme Court is going to land on this?

I know it's a very complicated question. I think they're going to agree to hear this. And I also think that they are not going to agree that there is presidential immunity here. I think that that would set a terrible precedent with regards to whether or not presidents in the future never have to face criminal liability for anything they do in office. There's a lot of holidays from now up until March. I'm just wondering in the timeline, and Ken pointed out, the Supreme Court can act fast. Do you think this delays? Did you think we're not going to get to March 4th? Man, I was hoping we get to March 4th. I don't think we will

because really due to jury selection, which would start in February. The trial doesn't just start in March. The wheels have to be moving way before that. Okay. Angela Senadella, Kendallanian, we thank you always for joining Top Story. We turn out of the Americas. where the presidents of Venezuela and Guyana are scheduled to meet tomorrow. After threats from Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro promising to take over more than half of the South American country,

his neighbor, Guyana. Tonight, the White House reaffirming their support for Guyana as the country's president says his country's land is not on the negotiating table. In a moment, our exclusive interview with him, but first, Guadvanegas, with the latest on this high-stakes meeting.

Tomorrow, two South American leaders coming face-to-face I'm in a growing territorial dispute. The meeting coming after weeks of threats from Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro seeking to annex more than half of the country of Guyana. Guyana will participate. Guyana's president agreeing to the bilateral meeting, but emphasizing Guyana's boundary is not up for discussion. We are entering into talks with goodwill. We're entering in those talks, wanting peace.

We want peace. We're not aggressors here. What kind of conversation or agreement can we expect when these, these talks. two leaders meet. I think it's going to be very complicated because the Guyanese leader, Ishaan Ali, has said that territorial sovereignty is not on the table. I would not anticipate anything concrete coming out of their discussions other than statement of positions and restatement of positions. It's a century-old dispute over an oil-rich territory known as the Issaquibo region, a stretch of land that in the 1840s, an international tribunal of arbitration decided it belonged

to Guyana. But Venezuela has always disputed that decision and following the discovery of oil reserves off the region's coast, its leader Nicolas Maduro holding a referendum vote with the majority who voted approving to claim ownership over the Achequivo. On Monday, Maduro hailing the, quote, great achievement of securing talks with Guyana on his weekly show on State TV.

The meeting is set to take place in St. Vincent and the Grenadings and is expected to also include the President of Brazil, Luisinacio Lula da Silva, whose nation also shares a border with both countries. No, there's no problem to the conflict. Guyana now betting on support from the international community, a National Security Council spokesperson, telling NBC News, the United States supports a peaceful solution of the border dispute between Venezuela and Guyana and reaffirms the United States. United States unwavering support for Guyana sovereignty. I would anticipate that most of the effort that's going on right now is to try to reduce tensions and then channel this aggression from Venezuela back into appropriate organizations like the International Court of Justice or the OAS. And the involvement of the Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, where the meeting

will take place, is essential because of his close relationship to both Venezuela and Guyana, which gives hope that they will find a peaceful resolution. Tom? Guad vanegas for us, Guad, thank you for that. President Mohamed Irfan Ali joins us tonight from Georgetown, Guyana. Mr. President, thank you so much for joining Top Story. It's a pleasure being here. Thank you for having me. I want to get right to it, Mr. President. Do you think Venezuela is capable and willing to invade Guyana over these oil fields?

I think Venezuela is capable of acting. recklessly and acting in a manner that can destabilize the peace that exists within this region. And why I say so is directly related to the type of rhetoric, the type of narrative that is coming out of Venezuela and the action that they are taking. As you know, the ICJ at National Court of Justice made it very clear that Venezuela could not act upon the outcome of the referendum they held a few weeks ago. Now, after that referendum, we saw Venezuela in face of this order by the ICJ, ignoring the order and moving towards announcing a series of measure that would allow them to act upon

the outcome of this referendum, which includes moves towards the occupation of the occupation of territory and also move to the establishment of administrative mechanism that seek to lead to the annexation of Ghana's territory. So Mr. President, I'd like to ask you, why do you think Venezuela wants land that world leaders and international treaties show belongs to your country of Guyana? Beyond great. I think that Venezuela is acting highly irresponsible. These are lands and borders that were settled in 1899, completely settled.

Venezuela and Guyana participated together in the establishment of the falls that outlined the borders. When we were going to independence, Venezuela raised a controversy. That controversy was dealt with under the Geneva Agreement. The Geneva Agreement provided that if the two parties did not agree, the United Nations Secretary General, would appoint a point. the proper mode of settlement the United Nations Secretary General appointed the ICJ to have the responsibility of settling this controversy and we encourage Venezuela to participate fully in the ICJ if they believe in any way shape or form

that they have any case or any legal footing any morals put in any ethical footing any historical footing then let them take it to the court mr. President I would like to play you some of Mr. Maduro's own words what he told his country and some of his lawmakers. Here's what he had to say. of exploitation, of petrolio, gas and minas in all the area of our Guayanes. Mr. President, he said both the exploration and exploitation of the oil fields there in Eskevido. What do you have to say to that? What I would say is that President Maduro is a reckless in that statement.

He shows that he's an outlaw because the anti-international community, all our regional parties, partners, CILA, CARICOM, Commonwealth, the OS, everyone has made it very clear that these lands belong to Guyana. And any move by Venezuela to occupy any space within Essequo that belongs to Guyana will be illegal, illegitimate, and against international law, and against the peace and stability of this region. This is a man that I think is seriously not concerned about peace and stability, a man that is trying to detract attention from whatever circumstances the people of Venezuela are faced with. And that is what the people of Venezuela must ask themselves. Mr. President, are you ready for an invasion from Venezuela?

We are ready for peace and stability. We are working for peace and stability, but we are not naive. We are also working with our partners and ensuring that any reckless or at adventurous behavior behavior by Venezuela, Guyana is prepared for also. Mr. President, I have to tell you, and I know you know this, that your military is not the same size as Venezuela. They have a larger military than your countries, though it can be debated whether their military is even functioning. They have more troops than Guyana has. And yet, I listen to you, and you do not sound like someone who is afraid. Why?

We are not afraid, because we know that we are standing on the right side of the national level. We're standing on the right side of history. We're standing on the right side of facts. We are standing on the side of the truth. And we stand with that confidence from our partners. But we are also a people, our army will be small. But trust me, trust me. We are fully dedicated.

We are committed to the defense of all our territory, our sovereignty, and we will do everything it takes to ensure that what belongs to Ghana continues to be. continues to be ours. Have you spoken with the White House or anyone with the U.S. government recently? And what did they tell you? Well, we have spoken, of course, we're in constant communication with Salkom, with the White House, with Secretary Blinken, National Security Advice.

So there's a lot of conversation that is going on between the U.S. and Guyana. Secretary Blinkin has issued a very strong statement. That is the borders as established in 1899 must be respected. International law must be respected. And the outcome of the ICJ must be respected. We also have very elaborate and expanded collaboration and cooperation with the Department of Defense. There's a lot of joint training program, joint exercises that is being conducted now. That is being ramped up and we'll see more and more of this as the days go by.

go by. You are set to meet with Mr. Maduro tomorrow. What are you going to tell him? Very clearly. Asi Qaeda belongs to Ghana. And very clearly that we are not exiting the ICJ. There is no absolutely no negotiations on the issue of Esikubo. That shall be, that controversy shall be settled at the ICJ. And he must respect the outcome. But there are a lot of things that we have to talk about in terms of living as neighbors, the co-eague. the development of our region, regional energy security, ensuring this region remains peaceful and stable. And importantly, having President Maduro understand

that he needs to work in accordance with international law and follow the orders of the ICJ. Would you be willing even to give up an inch of land in the Escobilo region? Not a single inch. As the Cuba belongs to Guyana. We are not giving up a single inch, not even in thought or idea, much as physically. We, the controversy Venezuela raised is before the ICJ, and we will abide with the outcome of the ICJ.

We are confident of what is ours, and we are going to abide by the ICJ as they determine the merit of the case. If we look at this from a global perspective, we've seen with Russia, right? right, what started with potentially a territorial dispute with Ukraine. At least Vladimir Putin told the world that, right? That was part of the reason why they invaded. We see China encroaching on Taiwan. Do you think Mr. Maduro has seen these other world leaders and saying maybe now it's his time to seize this land?

That is why here in the Western Hemisphere, we must never allow this. We must never allow even any leader within the Western Hemisphere to entertain the thought that they can ever do something like that. this. That is why every single one of us in the Western Hemisphere, we must let Venezuela understand, and we're doing this. In no uncertain terms that we're going to tolerate this type of reckless behavior in the Western Hemisphere. It has no place here. And you know what? President Maduro has been speaking to his population and saying to them that this is an American agenda with an American company, Exxon, and this is imperialism. There is

absolutely no, this is absolute nonsense. Wasn't it imperialism when Exxon was investing in Venezuela? Why wasn't it imperialism then? So our only intention is peace and stability. We have no ambition to take anyone land. We are not the aggressor here. Venezuela is the aggressor and we have to take a strong stand. President Mohamed Irfan Ali, we appreciate your time. We know this is an incredibly stressful point for you and your country. We hope to speak you again very soon. Thank you very much and I'm very happy to be able to spend this time with you and I look forward to speaking to you soon in the future. Still ahead tonight, the deadly crash at a military base in California, a marine killed and more than dozen wounded. When a combat vehicle

rolled over during a training exercise, what we're hearing from the military tonight. Plus, Tesla recalling nearly all of its cars in America after a string of crashes connected to the autopilot feature. The major changes the company is now making. And the warning tonight about Ozempic and Wagovi poison control centers reporting a surge in overdoses of the weight loss drugs, the signs to look out for, and when you should call 911, how a doctor explains what may be happening here. Stay with us. We're back now with some concerning news about popular weight loss drugs. Poison control centers in the U.S. saying they are seeing a nearly 1,500 percent increase in calls related to injected

weight loss drugs like Ozympic and Wagovi, with some people even reporting symptoms of accidental overdoses. For more on this, I'm joined now by Dr. Caroline Messer, who specializes in endocrinology and diabetes. So Dr. Messer, this is the first time that we've been reporting this, and it sounds so strange. I mean, what are the dangers here? So when they say accidental drug overdose, it sounds a lot more exciting than what it really is. Or a lot scarier.

Or a lot scarier, I should say. It's just patients taking the wrong dose. And it's not that you can die from taking the wrong dose. It's just that when you're taking more than you should, you're going to have unnecessary amounts of nausea vomiting. And it can only get dangerous if you become so dehydrated that you have to end up in the hospital and require IVs. Why do you think people are calling poison control centers?

What are the symptoms that you would think you're being poisoned by one of these weight-loss drugs? Just what we call intractable nausea and vomiting. You just can't stop. I don't think it's really appropriate, honestly, to be calling the poison control centers. But I suppose if you can't reach your doctor and you're panicking, then you do what you have to do. Also, if you're scared and you're not a licensed professional, you're going to call 9-1-1 and maybe a poison center. You took the wrong dose. But basically, what you need to do, the only danger with these medications is if you get so dehydrated that your kidneys aren't seeing any fluid, that's when you can start seeing kidney damage.

What exactly, how would this happen, right? Like, how do you get too much OZMPIC in your body? So, actually, it's a little bit bewildering to me that with the traditional, the FDA-approved pens, you could get too much. You would literally have to dial it up four times, which is unlikely to happen. I have a feeling this is happening more with the compounded versions, which are the non-FDA-approved versions. You know, they're accredited a lot of them by the United States, but they're not actually FDA-approved. And when you mean, are people getting them in places they shouldn't? What does that exactly mean?

It's not that they're illegal, but yeah, they're getting them in compounding pharmacies, some of which have been sued by Nova Nordisk and Eli Lilly for, you know, copyright issues. But basically, all the medicine comes in a syringe, and then it's a little confusing for the patient. Like, are they supposed to inject the whole syringe, or are they just supposed to inject one millimeter of the syringe? So that's, I have a feeling. It's not that the poison control actually stated one way or the other, but I have a feeling that most of these calls are coming from the compounded drugs. So if you get OZMPIC or Wagovi from a licensed medical professional, like maybe say yourself,

you explain to people how to do this or are you injecting them? You're controlling the injections. Right. So before anything happens, we bring them into a room. We have a medical assistant who's trained to teach the patient. We usually do the first injection with them using samples. So the patient leaves knowing exactly how to do it. Sometimes I have patients who are nervous to do injections who come in for the first few.

Unfortunately, a lot of these drugs are being sold online. and so you never actually see a doctor face-to-face. You know, you don't have that same interface where we're showing you exactly where to do the injection or making sure you understand how the pen works, how to dial up your dose. Are there places people, you say you inject it into your stomach or into your abdominal area?

It can be. It's subcutaneous tissue, so it can be here, like where you get a little floppy. It can be in the abdomen, it's just not in the belly button, or it can be on the thighs. Why do you think someone would inject too much? I mean, because when you get the injection, I would think I've obviously never taken it, that you would get filled up, right? So, like, why would somebody, would they think that it would make them lose weight faster?

I'm trying to understand, or do you think it might just be accidental? I think most of the time it's accidental. I mean, I can't imagine that patients are intentionally trying to take too much. It works so well. But also, you don't feel the effects right away. So it's possible somebody takes an injection and they feel perfectly fine. And then, you know, 24 hours later, that's when the side effects really hit. 24 hours later, they could start profiting.

Give me your one piece of advice because we have to wrap up two people thinking about taking those MEPIC or about to take it. What's your one piece of advice? See a doctor in person and really learn how to use the pen or syringe. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with compounded, but you have to be properly trained. Dr. Caroline Messer, we thank you so much for joining Top Story tonight. Thank you so much. When we come back, the Supreme Court agreed to take up a major case related to abortion.

The Court agreed to hear a body administration appeal to make an abortion pill easier to access. How soon they're expected to hear those arguments. Stay with us. All right, we're back now with Top Stories News Feed. We begin with a deadly crash at Camp Pendleton. The Marine Corps says an amphibious combat vehicle like this one rolled over during a training exercise at the base. This happened near San Diego. At least one Marine was killed and 14 others taken to the hospital.

The vehicles are currently banned from water use following several training accidents as of now they're allowed to be used. on land. The Supreme Court today agreeing to hear a challenge to abortion pill access. The Biden administration and the drug maker behind Mepresterone asked the High Court to overturn a lower court ruling that limited access to the key abortion drug. The

justice set to hear oral arguments early next year and a ruling is expected by the end of June, which would be two years since the court overturned Roe v. Wade. Tesla recalling nearly all of its cars in the U.S. over autopilot safety concerns. The two million affected vehicles include

models, SX3 and Y, produced between 2012 to 2023, which are equipped with auto steer. The recall comes after an investigation by U.S. safety regulators found drivers were not engaged while the system was in use, raising the risks of crashes. Tesla issuing a free software update to impacted vehicles that will include alerts. We want to turn to the latest now on the Israel-Hamas war. President Biden meeting the families of the American hostages still being held by Hamas, as Israel continues to bombard Gaza. despite international pressure to change their strategy.

Here's NBC's chief foreign correspondent, Richard Engel, with the latest. Families of American hostages met President Biden behind closed doors in the White House in person for the first time. It was a terrific, terrific meeting and conversation. At least eight Americans are still held in Gaza. Four-year-old Abigail Idan is one of the few to have been released. Both of her parents were executed by Hamas, her great aunt, tonight. They are just not numbers and they're just not faces. They are sons.

They are sons. They are grandparents. They are mothers. And that is what the president and his team understand. In a statement, the group saying they asked the president to do everything in his power to negotiate a swift and total release of the remaining hostages. 24 hours after President Biden's rebuke of what he called Israel's indiscriminate bombing in Gaza and an overwhelming U.N. vote calling for a ceasefire.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying Israel will press on with its campaign against Hamas, telling Israeli soldiers, in the face of international pressure, nothing will stop us. In Gaza now, conditions are beyond miserable, heavy rains and shattered infrastructure. Today led to floods. 50 miles away in the Palestinian city of Bethlehem, the mood is sour. In the town where Christians believe Jesus was born, there are not. No tourists or pilgrims. No tree in manger Square.

Christmas celebrations have been cancelled in solidarity with Gaza. Inside the Church of the Nativity, we met Reverend Mitri Raheib. When you bring your gifts, think of the people in Gaza who are starving today. Starving not only for food, but starving for justice. In the grotto under the altar, where the faithful believed the manger once lay, We were the only ones to witness the rituals that have continued here for centuries. Where it began, no one is in the mood to celebrate Christmas. Richard Engle joins us tonight from Jerusalem.

Richard, you know, I'm struck by what we saw in your report there, the reaction from the American relatives of the hostages in Gaza. It's very different than what we've seen in your reporting from what's happening in Israel with Israeli officials and Israeli families. Do we have any sense of what the White House told these families? The briefing was confidential, so we don't know if they were passed on any particular intelligence. But there was a visible react difference in the body language. When we talked to Israeli families of hostages about their government, about Benjamin Netanyahu's

government, the prime minister, many of them are angry because they hold him responsible for the security failures here. They hold him responsible for not reacting to the attack in a swift way. But mostly, they blame the government, from their perspective, from walking away from a ceasefire, that a ceasefire was working briefly now, but about 100 hostages got out during a truce that was helped negotiate in part by the United States. And that's what they want to return to. And they believe that Hamas and Israel broke that deal and they want to get back to the deal. And they believe that President Biden also wants to get back to that deal. That is something that he's talked about openly. So in a sense, they feel that he's more, I don't want to say

on their side, because they believe the Israeli government is on their side, but sharing the same, the same short-term goal, which is to pause the fighting and then go back to the war against and the prime minister saying just again tonight that he would not go for a ceasefire, that he will continue the military campaign despite international pressure from the UN and also from the Biden administration. On that point, and that's my next question, Richard, to be clear, there's been no change in Israel's war strategy, even after the U.S. and the UN are voicing their concerns over what many are calling the indiscriminate bombing of Gaza?

None at all. And Prime Minister Netanyahu made that point again tonight that he won't back down. And that's why many of these hostages are appealing to hostage families and released hostages are appealing to the Biden administration, appealing to NGOs, appealing to Qatar, appealing to anyone who could help because they want to pressure both Hamas and their own government to get back to the negotiating table. and then perhaps find a different path or resume with the war, but they want the hostages out first.

Richard, we thank you, as always. Not a Top Story's Global Watch and a check of what else is happening around the world. We begin with the tropical cyclone slamming northeastern Australia. The Cat 2 storm hitting Queensland with winds of up to 87 miles per hour, forecasters warning of potential life-threatening flooding, and officials have urged some communities along the coast to evacuate. Tens of thousands of people are now without power. Argentina's new president already starting shock measures to treat the country's hyperinflation.

The new government announced it will slash the value of its currency, the peso, by more than 50% against the U.S. dollar. The exchange rate now about 800 pesos to one single dollar, as we reported the president vowed major changes to the country's economy in his inauguration speech, but warned the situation could get worse before it can get better. And Pope Francis revealing surprising plans for his burial breaking away from papal tradition. In a recent interview, the Pope said he has chosen to be buried in Rome's Basilica of St. Mary instead of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City. He would be the first Pope not buried there since the early 1900s. The Pope said he chose this because of his strong connection to the Roman Church and one of its statues. He also said he will be simplifying his funeral compared to other popes, but did not elaborate.

Okay, coming up, a new app that could change the way you think about health care. Have you ever felt sick and decided to Google it? that can be a big mistake. This new app called Rune connects patients with expert information from real doctors all across the country. We'll talk to two of the founders about what they've set out to do and why. That's next. We're back now with the new app looking to change the way patients access information about their care. It's called Rune. It's an online medical information service providing patients and caregivers with videos from real health care providers, answering their questions about a variety of conditions.

Join us now are two of the founders of Roon, CEO Vikram Bascaran, and Chief Medical Officer Rohan Rami Krishna. Thank you both for being here tonight. So, guys, when you look at Google, right, and you Google a nosebleed, 10 million things will pop up, and some of it might be, oh, you know, just get a paper towel and put your head back, or go straight to the hospital. Vikram, Rune hopes to change the way the Internet helps diagnose people, right? Yeah, absolutely.

So, Rune, you know, I started Rune really through my journey as a caregiver with my dad. My father had ALS, and he was in India at the time. Because of access issues, there's 4,000 neurologists in India, which is the same number of neurologists in Massachusetts. We went on the Internet like everyone does. And the Internet today, you know, 7% of Google searches are actually health-related. And we are embarrassed of the Internet. Most doctors will say don't go online, but that's where we go because of access.

to doctors. And today, there's so much of fragmentation, and there's too much information. We don't know who to trust. We don't know where to go. And that's what Rule hopes to reimagine. And that first initial search can really change the entire process, right? Because if you get bad information, misinformation, it can lead you down a path that could potentially be dangerous. Absolutely. In my dad's case, the first thing that'll show up is ALS will kill you in three to five years. And so that moment... And that's terrifying, right? Absolutely terrifying. And that's, you know, It's for one condition, but really all of health when you start there, it's an absolutely anxiety-inducing. So I want to show our viewers how Rune operates and why it's different.

Rohan, I'm going to ask you about to explain it. We have a clip of real doctors answering patients' questions online. Here's how it work. Let's roll that video. This little prion protein makes more and more and more copies of itself in the brain until it actually fills up the brain and destroys brain cells and cause it. is dementia. Caregiving, especially around glioblastoma, it can be a very heavy thing to do, and it is a very heavy diagnosis, and you are already living in the anticipatory grief of what your normal used to be, right? Nothing is the same now. I'm sure nothing feels the same.

Maybe there's appointments that you never had. There might be cognitive difficulties that didn't exist, maybe physical impairments that didn't exist. Everything looks and feels different. So, Rohan, you had two scenarios there, one where a patient asks about dementia, what exactly is happening in the patient's brain, and that second one, what happens with my loved one, has a brain tumor? Yeah, so, you know, our goal with Rune is, and you saw that through these videos, is... And those are real doctors. Real doctors, and that was a caregiver that you saw as well. And our goal with Rune is to build a place where everybody has access to a trusted, personalized guide to their health journey. And so to do that, we've done this through a video-based Q&A platform, where people, people...

People can access this information through bite-size, video-based Q&A. Our attention spans are such that no one wants to watch an hour-long video about their condition. They want to get the answer to their question and be guided through the journey. And so what we also offer our perspective, sometimes it's the, you only want the doctor's answer. You know, what do I do about this condition? But then sometimes you want to know what the patient experience is like, what is it like to have chemotherapy? What's that experience? And so we offer that range of perspectives around any question that comes up during the health journey.

These are a lot of questions that come up when you're going through a process with yourself or a loved one. You'll ask the doctor what's chemotherapy like if they've never been through this. Rune hopes to sort of edit that time with your doctor. So when you finally sit down with your healthcare professional, you have better quality time, I would think. Absolutely. I mean, we only have eight to ten minutes with our doctors to begin with.

And so how can we get everything off our chest and have the doctor really diagnose and treat in that short amount of time? What Rune hopes to do is blow up that space and really expand medicine. medical time. Vickram, what diagnosis does Roan work with right now? What sort of ailments, if you will? Yeah, so our vision is to do this for all of health and disease. Today we focused, we started with glioblastoma, which is the condition Rohan treats as a neurosurgeon, ALS, which is brain tumors, correct? Just because remember, we're talking to people here who aren't

Yeah, brain tumors, ALS, which is a neurodegenerative condition. But we just launched our third condition, which is dementia. And dementia affects 6.8 million Americans, if you just take the patient population, 55 million people globally. And so it's been really exciting to see the impact of the app on something that really affects a lot of. How does the technology work? Are we talking about AI here, or is this straight tech? I don't even know.

Yeah, absolutely. So the first sort of like simple technology is just short-form video. I think the big human insight we've had is people want the experience of someone like Rohan looking into their eyes, into the camera, answering their question in a, in a, a way that gives time and space to the answer. And so it's a video platform, but we've started to invest in AI in really interesting ways. I think we have this thesis that nobody wants a generative AI when it comes to cancer, when it comes to your health.

It's such a sensitive space. And so we use AI to kind of enable the platform. We do things like AI summaries, recommendations, but trust is at the very foundation. Right. So how much does this cost people that want to log on to the app? Today the app is free. The app is free. The app is free.

Anyone can use it. And, you know, in thinking about the company, we have two core principles. We want to make sure access is really at the heart of it. I built this really for my dad in India. And then also the healthcare is just filled with kind of misaligned incentives. And so we want to get us in a way. I mean, but to be completely transparent here, Rune is just in the launch phase right now.

If you get more doctors, more patients, you're going to have to make money somehow. How do you envision the website, or I'm sorry, the app making money? Yeah, so as I said, we have, you know, one principle is just on access and the other is really about avoiding any misaligned incentives. And so our goal is to make sure that it's almost free for patients and it's eventually a service that is paid for, whether it's hospital systems, insurance, you know, bears, companies. But we're in early days of figuring that up. And Ron, just to be clear, it's not a one-stop shop, right? This is sort of where you start the journey, right? Because at some point, I have to think the advice is go seek out your medical professional, right?

Yeah, we are not a telehealth service, right? But so many of the questions, I would say 90-plus percent of the questions that you have in your health care journey can be answered in an app like this in a way that's broadly applicable to anyone going through the journey. And so we don't do that last mile. We still want you to see your doctor. That's the most important step, honestly. But to be a better educated patient is a healthier patient, and that's what we want to achieve with Rune. On the app store now, anybody can get it? It's up and running.

Up and running. Rohan Vikram. Thank you so much for being here. I really do appreciate it. When we come back, a buzzer-beater and a dream come true, a high school basketball player who sank this incredible shot from half-court, getting the surprise of a lifetime, a chance to meet his all-time favorite player, and it didn't disappoint. But wait until you hear about this incredible student. That's next. Finally tonight, a half-court miracle you need to see to believe. an Arizona student with special needs sinking a buzzer beater at his high school basketball game. And if one incredible moment wasn't enough, that student surprised with an invitation to meet his basketball hero.

NBC Stephen Romo has the heartwarming story. Facing pressure on all sides with just seconds left on the clock, junior Tonati-Remeres making a little bit of magic. Sinking that buzzer beater, during Liberty High School's first ever unified intramural game. His classmates inside this packed Peoria, Arizona gym, storming the court to celebrate. Ramirez, who most of his friends just called tea, is part of a program that brings together students with disabilities and general education students through sports. I always believe myself. Always.

A perfect outlet for this team whose eyes are set on. much bigger goals. He wants to be a professional. He told me, Mom, I said, I'm going to, I have to do it. What Tee didn't know as he sunk that glorious shot was that the end of this game was the beginning of something even more special. The video catching the attention of T's favorite professional basketball player after it aired on NBC Nightly News. You and your family are going to to get to go to the game, but you're going to get to arrive early because there's somebody that wants to meet you there. Do you know who that is? His name's Steph Curry. The Warriors letting T suit up for the pregame warm-ups with Curry, giving him a signed jersey

and hooking him up with the best seats in the house. But the best gift of all, some words of encouragement from his icon, the team sharing that moment on their TikTok account. My dream could be a professional basketball player and be like you. You have a confidence in the show just like you did in that video. Yeah. Whatever you want to do, man. A once-in-a-lifetime pet talk from his sports hero, leaving tea with even more encouragement to reach for the stars.

Stephen Romer, NBC News. That was one great shot. We thank you for watching Top Story tonight. I'm Tom Yamis in New York. Stay right there. More news on the way.