Top Story with Tom Llamas - Wednesday, December 21, 2022

Episode Date: December 22, 2022

100 million Americans on alert over a dangerous winter blast, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy makes surprise U.S. trip and addresses Congress, the Texas National Guard puts up new barriers as crowds of migrants gather at the border, an 11-year-old girl's family didn't report her missing for weeks, and the top 5 holiday movies of all time.

Tonight, the dangerous winter blast putting more than 100 million Americans on alert. A powerful winter storm creating treacherous conditions on the roads as millions of Americans head out for the holidays. High winds and snow making it almost impossible to see. The system barreling across the country, Chicago right in the bullseye, delays and cancellations already coming in at a crowded O'Hare Airport. What you need to know if you're trying to rebook your travel tonight. Zelensky's major address, the Ukrainian president making a historic visit to Washington, his first foreign trip since the start of the war. Zelensky meeting with President Biden in the Oval Office expressing his gratitude for

the U.S.'s $1.85 billion aid package, then addressing a joint session of Congress. Our team is standing by on Capitol Hill with full coverage. Chaos on the border. Crowds of migrants desperately trying to cross into the U.S. The National Guard putting up new wire barricades as, people gather at the border. Families sheltering intensities bracing for the cold. Guadvanegas is there for us tonight. Search from Madalina, an 11-year-old girl from North Carolina missing for nearly a month. The new video just released by police and where they say she was last spotted.

Plus, the former king of crypto, extra died into the U.S. after he was arrested in the Bahamas. The charges he'll now face in an American courtroom. And the experts have made their list. They've checked it twice. Tonight, we are counting down the... the top five holiday movies of all time. Can you guess which Christmas classic took home the top spot? Well, Top Story starts right now. Good evening. I'm Jake Board in for Tom Yamas. We begin Top Story tonight with that dangerous winter blast on a collision course with some of the nation's busiest airports and major highways, just as millions of Americans are trying to get home for the holidays. The situation

rapidly deteriorating in South Dakota, extreme whiteout conditions making driving treacherous, and travel restrictions in place east of Rapid City, cars and trucks pulling over to wade out the squall. Those heavy winds and snowmaking are way east. Much of the Midwest bracing for impact on Thursday into Friday, heavy snow and blizzard conditions expected with wind gusts up to 70 miles per hour. Airports preparing for mass delays and cancellations expected. Chicago's O'Hare Airport getting cots ready. for passengers stranded overnight. And the other major concern, the frigid temperatures.

This Christmas, potentially the coldest in 40 years. Wind chill alerts in effect from Wyoming all the way down to Texas. Your full forecast coming up in minutes. But we begin first tonight with Tom Costello, who leads us off from Chicago. Wednesday night and with snow already hitting a crowded Minneapolis airport, Chicago O'Hare is also running at full throttle. We're going to steal them for a San Diego outbound, send them to Bravo Five, please. Counting down with the storm expected to slow air traffic across the region to a trickle within 24 to 36 hours. The Kaplanman family among the thousands who decided to leave early for Florida.

We looked at our schedules and it made sense just to try to beat it and hopefully not have cancellations and deal with issues come Friday. Airlines are waiving change fees and encouraging passengers to rebook if they can. 165, United Airline Service to Miami. Omar Idris runs United's O'Hare operations. This is exactly the kind of glitch you don't need this week, right? The timing of the storm is challenging, for sure, but we're ready, we're prepared. We've got good procedures, good policies. Nationwide passenger volume is approaching 2019 levels.

We're expecting winds 30 to 50 miles an hour in Chicago and midway starting tomorrow. To keep the system moving, the FAA Command Center in Virginia, has opened military airspace to commercial flights. Alaska Airlines, the country's fifth biggest, focuses on the West Coast and is also navigating volatile weather, CEO Ben Minnacucci. You know, we operate in the 30 to 40 degree range. You don't know if it's going to be rain. You don't know if it's going to be snow, so you always have to be ready. You're right on the edge.

Right on the edge, yeah. A lot has changed since last summer when Alaska was among the airlines forced to cancel flights and cut schedules as they struggle with the pilot. shortage. Alaska has since signed new labor agreements and hired more pilots. And we've learned a lot in terms of staffing and resourcing in volatile periods. So I think we're in a pretty good spot heading into 2023. No repeat of the summer meltdown. We're going to make sure that we don't let our customers down going forward into 2023. Alaska is also rolling out new RF technology to speed the check-in process, permanent bag tags. Customers simply touched the itinerary on their phone,

to the tag, which then displays the new flight information. You'll show up to the airport, drop it straight onto the conveyor belt with an agent, and get on with your day. Tom Gucilla joins us now from Chicago's O'Hare Airport. Tom, I know you have been watching those flight delay and cancellation numbers all day. Where do things stand at this hour for America's travelers? Nationwide, right now, we have about 460 flight cancellations, about 5,500 delays today.

Now, about tomorrow, we're already at 1,000 flight cancellations tomorrow. And as you know, Jake, that's only going to snowball as the snow comes into the Midwest. Just brutal conditions. And for passengers, Tom, who get stuck there overnight at O'Hare, what plan does the airport have in place? So you mentioned off the top of the show that O'Hare has cots ready? Yeah, they do. They will pull them out if needed. The bottom line is every airline is pushing out the old.

alerts to passengers' phones. If your flight is going to be delayed or canceled, people should have plenty of notice. The hope is they don't show up here. Now, they could be stuck here on a connecting flight, but the hope is they will be at a hotel. They will be at home, and they're not going to spend the night on a cold floor. But, you know, best laid plans, and we usually do have people on the floor or on a cot. Tom Kisela For us at Chicago O'Hare, Tom, thank you. For more on this monster storm, I want to bring in NBC News Meteorologist Bill Kese. Bill, give us the latest here. What is going on with this track? We're starting to see the storm on the move now. So this is all day long, all the cold air was

stuck in Wyoming and Montana. We hadn't had a lot of snow just a little bit. And now the storm is starting beginning to intensify. Not a blizzard yet, but that'll happen likely tomorrow evening. So the snow is in blue, now snowing in areas of Iowa, Minneapolis, snow breaking out in areas of Nebraska, and the winds are really starting to pick up too. Earlier today, Denver hit 52 degrees. Currently, it's negative 19. They've had a 70 degree temperature feels like temperature as we've gone throughout the last couple hours. That's how dramatic it is. When this cold front goes through, just instantly the temperature will drop about 20 to 30 degrees in about two to three hours. So you can picture how that's going

to feel and along with it gusty winds. So the coldest air has been situated in Montana. Earlier today, we had a negative 70 wind chill. There's still a couple spots. Cupbanks at negative 51. A harlot town's at negative 54. So that's the source of all the cold air and it's going to dry to the south that's why we have these wind chill warnings all the way down to brownsville texas even areas of alabama too and the windchill forecast the coldest on friday around dallas look at kansas city and chicago near negative 30 and saturday the east coast that's your cold this morning and bill i you know i know you to be a very even-tempered person so when you get alarmed i get alarmed i mean tell me what makes this such a brutal storm in your opinion

for people heading to airports and driving on the roads the travel implications of it's not the fact that we're get the snow. It's the fact that we're going to get these temperatures coming in so quickly. So in other words, we're going to have the winds. We're going to have power outages. That's horrible for anyone that loses power over Christmas and for the power crews that have to turn it on. But as far as the snow goes in the ice, we're going to see six to 12 inches, and that's not going to be a huge problem. But then it's going to be blowing and drifting. So if they plow it away, it just blows right back. And then this is the thing that's really going to concern me Friday evening, Jake, where you're going to watch heavy rain and then a flash freeze Friday on the eastern seaboard, that's going to mean black ice and a lot of accidents.

And, of course, then you get your delays on the roads. Bill Karens on the tens of millions of people affected by historic conditions, Bill, thank you. For more on holiday travel and the tips and tricks, you need to know for dealing with those delayed and canceled flights. We're joined now by Scott Keyes. He's the founder of Scott's cheap flight. Scott, thank you for being here. Now, we are already in the midst of holiday travel, but for people who have not left yet, what can they do in advance to avoid stress at the airport with that severe winter storm coming? Absolutely. Look, the best thing that you can do as a traveler is to switch your flights and do so free of charge.

Airlines across the board are waiving change fees, even for flights that have a fair difference, you can switch for free. And so either pushing your trip up, not trying to get out before the storm, especially if you're on the East Coast, pushing your flight back if you have flexibility on your dates or even switching to the types of flights that have a higher on-time arrival rates. That's morning flights. Early morning flights arrive 25 percentage points higher than afternoon flights or non-stop flights, which tend to have a seven or eight times better likelihood of getting you there versus a connecting flight where you are at risk of missing that connection and with so few empty seats could be a long delay to get to your final destination.

And, Scott, you know, what if the worst happens here? Let's say people are out the door, they're at the airport, and then they find out that their flight has been canceled. What do they do at that point? A couple things that you're going to want to do. First things first, you need to get through to an agent as soon as possible because it is a first-come, first-served basis to get one of the empty seats to your final destination. And as we mentioned, there are not many of them this winter holiday season, air travel is basically fully rebounded to 2019 levels. The quickest way to get through to an agent is not to stand in line at the airport. It's not even to call the airline's main U.S. hotline. The secret quickest way is actually

to look up your airline's international hotline. Airlines have offices in Mexico, in Canada, in United Kingdom, in Australia, and you can call those offices and get through to an agent right away. those agents can handle your rebooking just as quickly as a U.S. agent can, but you won't have to have hours of wait time to get through to them. That is a great tip. And looking ahead here at the tail end of the holidays, I mean, you've heard the forecast. We're looking at frozen conditions on the East Coast. I mean, what can folks do to make sure they're going to be able to get back home without added headaches?

What advice do you have for people now? Yes, so there are a few things. First, see if your return flight still falls under the umbrella of making those free changes. Airlines are allowing folks flexibility to switch without any fee, any penalty, in many cases, up through the end of the year. So you can push that trip a little bit longer and miss the bad weather that hopefully by next week will improve. Second, even if you're outside those dates, most airlines actually have gotten rid of change fees as long as you don't have a basic economy ticket, which means that you can switch your travel dates to a different date. even if you're outside the winter weather waiver and not have to pay any penalty to do so.

So taking advantage of that flexibility and especially doing it proactively because we talked about how it's a first come first serve basis for empty seats. If you make that switch before another traveler does, you're going to be able to get that empty seat, whereas if you put it off until the last minute, you might have far fewer options to choose from and you could find yourself unfortunately facing a long delay. Really fantastic advice from Scott Keyes. Scott, thank you so much for being with us. Next, our other big headline tonight, Ukrainian President Volodymyr of Zelensky's first trip outside Ukraine since the war began. Zelensky thanking Biden and the American people for their support as he makes his case for continued assistance directly to Congress in a joint meeting tonight.

Chief White House correspondent Peter Alexander has more. Tonight, Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, before a joint session of Congress. Ukraine didn't fall. Ukraine is alive and kicking. Capping off a dramatic and historic visit to Washington. Earlier meeting President Biden at the White House. It's an honor to be by your side. This Oval Office visit, a defiant and daring show of solidarity.

President Zelensky, the United States stands with the great people in Ukraine. President Zelensky thanking President Biden, Congress, and the American people. Thanks for all of us. Just ordinary people to your ordinary people, Americans. I really appreciate. I think it's very difficult to understand what does it mean when we say appreciate, but you really have to feel it. Zelensky presenting Mr. Biden with a medal.

A Ukrainian soldier wanted him to give the American president. He's very brave, and he said, give it too, very brave. Bradstack? Undeserved, but much appreciate it. Thank you. Zelensky overnight seen arriving at a train station in Poland, later touching down at Joint Base Andrews for a red carpet welcome. After flying aboard a U.S. military plane with NATO allies at times providing fighter jets as an escort, officials tell NBC News. His high stakes trip the culmination of days of secret planning after President Biden formally invited Zelensky to the White House one week ago. The top concerns Zelensky's security, his

ability both to leave and to reenter Ukraine safely. This visit comes at a pivotal moment in the war. Just hours ago, Zelensky was on the front lines in eastern Ukraine, with Putin now trying to weaponize winter through punishing airstrikes on Ukraine's power grid, plunging Ukrainians into the cold and darkness. After Zelensky's pleas for air defenses, President Biden announcing the U.S. will provide a single Patriot missile defense system and will train Ukrainians to use it in a third country. Today's meeting punctuated by a clear personal connection. His answer is yes.

I agree. With Mr. Biden pledging more American assistance, the U.S. has already provided more than $50 billion in aid to Ukraine with lawmakers about to vote on an additional $45 billion. But the top House Republican says he's skeptical of more taxpayer dollars for Ukraine, with America facing a possible recession. Before the election, I explained to, everybody. No more blank checks for Ukraine. Zelensky tonight saying he's confident of bipartisan

support and answering what his message is to the American people. My message, I wish you peace. I think that is the main thing and you understand it only when the war in your country. And I wish you to see your children alive and adults. We really fight for our common victory against this tyranny that is real life and we will win and I really want win together

thanks so much not want sorry I'm sure Peter Alexander joined us now from the White House Peter how is Russia reacting to the U.S. sending that Patriot missile system to Ukraine yeah they're already criticizing that decision

the Kremlin says that it will escalate the war. President Biden, for his part, Jacob, he's responding tonight saying that it is a defensive weapon. And he says, if Russia does not want Ukraine to use the Patriot Air Defense system, that they should stop the attacks in Ukraine. Jacob. Peter Alexander Ford is at the White House. Moving now to the U.S. southern border, where migrants are still trying to cross into the country, despite the Texas National Guard's show of force, blocking migrants from entering the United States with wire barriers. That has pushed some of the asylum seekers to find other means of entrance. NBC's Guan Vinegas has the latest. Tonight, new crowds of migrants desperately trying to enter the United States after the Texas

National Guard and state troopers blocked a section of the border. Title 42, the Trump-era policy restricting access to many, was set to expire today, but it is still in place with the Supreme Court decision hanging in the balance. On Tuesday, Texas National Guard members stationed themselves on the banks of the Rio Grande and erected concertino wire barriers in an attempt to turn back migrants from the U.S. My family, de vera, was very illusioned with that country and, de vera, progressaramos, but you see how it's the life. But then, a potential opening.

Overnight, migrants were directed by the National Guard to travel less than a mile east to this point where Border Patrol agents, federal officers, are still allowing migrants to across. Here in Ciudad Juarez, migrants continue to cross the river and arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border. Border Patrol taking them in in small groups, with a line only getting bigger, hundreds waiting for their opportunity to seek asylum in the United States. Vanessa says she walked from Nicaragua with her brother and son and is hopeful. So she's going to tip one of these guys that will take her across like they're doing with a lot of people. Right across the border, in El Paso, the community is navigating a humanitarian crisis.

The city's mayor talking to MSNBC's Jose Diaz Valard about why he declared a state of emergency. Well, I think it was important to see that we didn't want people sleeping in the streets, and the temperature were dropping around 20 degrees. Texas Governor Greg Abbott saying today the National Guard's presence at the border will be ongoing. To make sure that the people who were crossing into El Paso should be. be blockaded. We're here basically until the governor or colonel say, okay, our time to assist is over. Back in Mexico, the director of human rights in Juarez describes the difficulties of tracking the number of migrants. It's complicated. He says it's very complicated to know how the migrants

arrive. They arrive by train, by bus, by airplane, private vehicles. So it's very complicated to really know where they're at and how many there is. More than 600 miles away in Reynosa, Mexico, A similar story unfolding. We have much time here. We can't go dormiening here. The children are infirm, all the moment.

Migrants setting up makeshift camps, bracing for the cold and waiting for any news about their next steps in this long journey. And here in El Paso, migrants are still sleeping

on the street, as you can see. You heard the mayor saying that the temperatures are expected to drop into the 20s. The National Weather Service says that might feel even colder because of the windshield as this cold front comes in. Authorities here are scrambling to find shelter. They just opened a new space and block away. They have capacity for hundreds as they do what they can to make sure that everyone in El Paso has a place to sleep and stay away from the cold weather that's coming in.

Back to you. Well, Vanegas, with the tough situation at the southern border, still ahead tonight the worsening flu crisis across the country. Some pharmacies are running out of certain medications as millions come down with the flu. The new move from the White House to get drugs back on shelves. Plus, the dramatic scene in Maryland, first responders racing to save a man from a burning car, how they got that driver out. And the search for Madalina. An 11-year-old girl who went missing last month.

The new video just released by police and where they say she was last seen. Stay with us. Tonight marks 30 days since 11-year-old Madalina Kojasari was last seen in public. A report from police reveals new details about her family who noticed that she was missing weeks before they reported it. Now, the community is on edge. As the mystery continues, Valerie Castro has more. Tonight, police in a desperate search for 11-year-old Madalina Kojikari, now missing for a month. last seen in this recently released surveillance video from police. It shows Madalina on her school bus getting off at her neighborhood stop on November 21st.

That was the last time Cornelius police say she was seen in public. Her mother and stepfather now charged with failing to report her disappearance, police saying they waited three weeks before reporting her missing on December 15th. Her mother reporting it after school officials looking into her absence first raised concerns. Now the FBI has joined the search, creating these schools. flyers while local law enforcement has scoured the family home and a nearby lake for any signs of the middle schooler who police say loves ice cream and horses. I've spoken to one of one of the educators at her elementary school who told me that she was a quiet girl. Another one of her

teacher just her teacher just last year stated I saw on Facebook that she was a very smart young girl. So we miss her. A police report detailing what led to her parents arrest. Her mother, Diana, telling investigators, she and her husband, Christopher Palmer, Matalina's stepfather, argued the night of November 22nd, and the next morning he drove to his family's house in Michigan to recover some items. Diana said she noticed her daughter missing a day later on the 24th. When asked why she waited so long to report Madalina's disappearance, her mother said she worried it might start a conflict between her and Christopher, and she believed her husband

put her family in danger, but she did not know what happened to Madalina. Adding Madalina doesn't have a cell phone, but a backpack and some clothes were missing from her room. Neighbors nervous about the circumstances and the search. It's very concerning that something like this could happen that it was so close to us. Community members holding candlelight vigils. Hoping for answers. Just the outpouring of love and prayers that everybody wants to be a part of this. has really touched us even more.

And hopefully that will help get the parents to open up. Madalina's mother says she also told police that she reached out to her family in Moldova. When she first noticed her daughter had gone missing, she says they encouraged her to report it to police, but she was still hesitant to do so. The Mecklenburg County clerk says both defendants have been appointed a public defender. We reached out to the public defender's office for comment, but have not heard back. Jake? Valerie Castro reporting.

Valerie, thank you. When we come back honoring a legend, the man behind one of the greatest plays in NFL history, the immaculate reception dying at 72, how he's being remembered tonight. Stay with us. Here now with Top Stories News Feed, and we begin with the new move from the White House to battle one of the worst flu seasons in decades. The Biden administration announcing it will tap into the strategic national stockpile and release doses of the prescription flu medicine, Tamiflu. is an effort to ease the pressures on pharmacies where customers have been finding shelves empty the flu has already led to 150,000 hospitalizations and 9,300

deaths this year dramatic video out of Maryland shows the moment a driver was rescued from a burning vehicle dash cam footage shows paramedics from the Prince George County fire and EMS pulling up to the scene of the wreck and then immediately jumping into action one of the men using his elbow to break the truck's driver's side window and the We're out then able to pull that driver out. That man was sent to the hospital. No other injuries were reported.

Reports of a suspect armed with a gun triggered a panic on a California campus. A woman barricading herself inside, a library bathroom at San Jose State University late today. Police swarming the scene. The woman eventually surrendering after attempting to flee through the ceiling. Police say the gun she had with her turned out to be a toy weapon. She's been taken into custody. No injuries were reported. And legendary Steelers running back, Franco Harris, has died.

The Hall of Fame are best known for his Immaculate Reception, the unbelievable shoestring catch made in the final seconds of a playoff game against the Oakland Raiders. The Steelers had planned to retire his number 32 during Saturday's game in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of that play. His cause of death has not been announced. Harris was 72 years old. Now to the latest on former President Donald Trump's taxes,

the House Ways and Means Committee voting to be. six years of the former president's tax returns public, ending speculation about his business dealings and wealth. Vaughan Hilliard joins us now from West Palm Beach, Florida. Vaughn, we of course have not seen the full tax returns yet, but the Joint Committee on Taxation released a 39-page report on the returns last night. What does that report reveal? Right. The report reveals primarily the fact that Donald Trump's audits of his tax returns has not been completed, dating back now six years here. The IRS didn't start until 2019, auditing his tax returns from 2015 and 2016, and that audit

is yet to be completed. Of course, it's important because Donald Trump, throughout the course of his initial presidential run in 15 and 16, continually maintained that he wasn't releasing his tax returns because he said the IRS was auditing them, and there were a lot of questions at the time. I mean, it was even lakes of Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who was suggesting that Donald Trump was hiding his tax returns because there were, quote, bombshells in them. Of course, that is why you saw over the course of years Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee work to try to obtain them. And over the course of years of litigation, finally here, just two weeks before they will be out of power in the House, they have now been able to gain access to these tax returns. and now overnight, we are expecting them to continue to redact some more private information

and then ultimately release those tax returns of Donald Trump here in the days ahead. Well, and of course we are now learning, right, that presidents face a mandatory audit by the IRS, but those rules do not seem to have been followed for three or the four years Trump was in office. I mean, there's the fact of his sort of concealing the truth of things, as you mentioned there, but now focus sort of turns to the IRS here. I mean, what can you tell us about that? Right. Right. We don't have answers as to why the took the IRS till 2019 to ultimately begin to audit his tax reference from 2015 and 2016. And when you're talking about the four years in which he actually was president, those audits did not begin until after Donald Trump left office back in 2021. And that audit has also not been completed here. And so we really don't have a true picture of Donald Trump's finances from the IRS here at this time. From that initial report, though, from the

the Ways and Means Committee last night. They did outline that Donald Trump paid $1.1 million in federal income tax over the course of the first three years of his presidency. As for 2020, he paid $0 in federal income tax. There's a lot more questions outstanding, though, right now, Jacob. Vaughan Hilliard for us in West Palm Beach. Vaughn, thank you. Next, the former crypto mogul accused of one of the largest financial frauds in history being returned to the U.S. after his arrest in the Bahamas. And the big question tonight, will he be granted? NBC's Gabe Gutierrez has the story. The one-time Crypto King is heading back to the U.S. after agreeing to be extradited from the Bahamas.

Former billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried faces charges including wire fraud and money laundering, stemming from the dramatic collapse of his massive cryptocurrency exchange, FTX. This case is one of the biggest financial fraud cases to ever come through the federal court system. Billions of dollars vanished when the crypto firm imploded. suddenly last month. Bankman Freed denies that FTX misappropriated customer funds when it made loans to another one of his companies, Alameda, a hedge fund. I made a lot of mistakes or things I would give anything to be able to do over again. I didn't ever try to commit fraud on anyone. Investor Rebecca Gallagher says she lost nearly one and a half million dollars in FTX's

collapse and flew to the Bahamas to look Bankman Freed in the eye. All my dreams for my retirement, they're out the window unless I have some kind of restoration, and it's the same for thousands of other people. A key question now, whether Bankman Freed will be granted bail as he awaits trial like Bernie Madoff was. A former federal prosecutor says this case will come down to intent. At the core of it, this actually isn't a case about cryptocurrency. It's a case that is as old as fraud is, which is a Ponzi scheme. Bankman Freed is now expected to make his first U.S. court appearance tomorrow. Jake?

Gabe Gutierrez for us tonight. Thank you, Gabe. For more on SBS return to the U.S. and this crypto crash, we're joined now by New York Magazine Features Writer Jen Vietzner. She interviewed the disgraced CEO after the implosion of FTX. Jen, thank you so much for being here tonight. Now, like I mentioned, you had the opportunity to interview Sam Bankman-Fried about a month ago. That was a big get in my world.

And in that interview, he explained to you how bad he felt. Tell me what more he had to say about what happened and his attitude toward it. Well, it seems like he's kind of relating to it in a different way than everyone else is. You know, he sees this not as stealing customers' money or taking customers' money, but just, you know, he borrowed it and, you know, the hedge fund used it, and it was just borrowed money, you know, in the normal course of business. Like, that was a completely normal thing to do. And in his eyes, you know, the bad thing that happened was that it didn't all work out.

You know, he very much regrets even filing for bankruptcy. I think a lot of people would see it differently. But, you know, he doesn't really relate to it on the same level that you and I do. And I think, you know, what is interesting to me is to see everything that he's said that happened is actually very, very consistent with the charges that were filed recently by the Justice Department. So, you know, this case, it seems, you know, they're going to be able to make a lot of it just with Sam Beckman-free's own words. Well, SBF, I mean, he certainly throughout your conversation seemed to be pretty confident in his defense

that this was not a case of fraud, but more mishandling of finances. How do you think he will move forward in this case now that he is back in the United States? That's right. He does seem to, you know, see it as more of a mistake, not an intentional fraud. And I think that we're going to hear a lot of that in this case of, you know, he didn't mean to commit fraud. He didn't really mean to steal it. It was just, you know, oops, I wasn't paying attention. I was distracted, you know, lobbying in Washington, you know, and I wasn't really, you know, involved in what was really happening. at the firm. And this collapse of FTX has, of course, really shined a light on the lack of transparency in the crypto industry. Do you think we'll see a shift, or is FTX only the beginning

of the unraveling of this industry? So I think regulators are going to have to take a really, really hard look at crypto now. The firms that I've spoken with are really kind of wondering if the U.S. is even going to be a future for them. When firms in the past, we're talking about expanding in the U.S., I think the U.S. is going to really crack down hard. I mean, you have to realize there's, it's a huge black guy for many of these regulators who were taking meetings with Sam Bankman-Fried. You know, it's just a huge embarrassment that they were taking him seriously when clearly, you know, that was the wrong thing to do. New York Magazine's Jen Wietzner with us tonight. Thank you so much for being here. Thanks. Turning now to more news out of Twitter,

CEO Elon Musk tweeting, he will resign, quote, as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job. Of course, he'll stay the company's owner, but his short tenure running the social media company has faced criticism for the suspension of journalists and mass layoffs. To break down all of this, Wall Street Journal Technology reporter Tim Higgins is with us now. Tim, thank you for being here. This decision was influenced by a user poll on the platform with more than 57% of voters saying he should step down. Now, many people, of course, like this sort of transparency, but I want your perspective here, was running the company through these kinds of polls, contributing to the volatility there, and is the criticism of that management style warranted, in your opinion?

Well, the reality is whether he's the day-to-day guy or the CEO, he owns the company. He owns Twitter. And if you look at the kind of history of the way he's operated his other companies, he's not going to be a shrinking violet, and he is going to ensure that his will is imposed, even if there is another CEO running the show. So ultimately the way I think about,

it is Elon is most likely looking for somebody to handle the boring day-to-day stuff that he does not want to be involved with so that he can then have the time to do the engineering and kind of big picture stuff that really kind of fires his soul, if you will. So I don't take a lot of stock in this poll, you know, other than that it has created a lot of drama and a lot of interest and helped him increase engagement on the platform, which is really what he needs at this time, bringing eyeballs there. It is amazing to imagine anybody reporting up to this guy in some way, or sorry, the other way around, him reporting up to anyone else. Now, after posting that poll to users, Elon Musk tweeted out, no one wants the job who can actually keep Twitter alive. There is no successor. What's your feeling about this? Can Elon find someone willing to take over as CEO? Who would be on your short list? Yeah, it's a tough thing to find at this point, in part because, you know, the company's in a lot of chaos.

I'm not going to say it's broken, but it's almost as if he bought the toy and now it's broken and he's looking for somebody to help kind of fix it. And who wants to step into that environment at the level that he's kind of talking about? And in some ways, he's right. He's looking for somebody who's a top-rate manager who understands the complexity of one of these kinds of businesses. Content moderation is enormously complex. And on top of that, you have the downfall or at least the retrenchment of the digital ad industry, we potentially go into a recession. So lots of fires to deal with and not a long list of people out there who could probably step into this role. And the people that maybe are on the short list

have said they don't want it. So it's kind of unclear at this point to figure out kind of who he actually will pick. My bet would be it has to be somebody that he knows, has to be somebody that he trusts, because ultimately kind of over the course of his history, those are the key ingredients for taking power within his kingdom is that he has to trust the person. And it's very hard to win his trust. Well, speaking of other fires, quickly here, tell me, you know, let's look at Tesla here, right? There's a lot going on there. Since Musk announced his plan to buy Twitter, Tesla stock has tumbled. It's lost over half its value, accelerating downward in recent weeks. So is this latest news good for Tesla shareholders in the last moments we have here? What

What does this mean for the future of the electric car industry? Yeah, investors in Tesla are hoping that Elon pulls back from Twitter and puts more time into their company. That's what they've been clamoring for. They want to see his magic, if you will, at Tesla, not Twitter. Tim Higgins from the Wall Street Journal. Thank you so much for being with us. Thank you.

Turning now to Money Talks. As holiday shopping continues, small businesses are seeing changes in consumer habits. Some are having to raise prices to keep up with inflation as shoppers are choosing to buy fewer gifts this year. NBC's Katie Beck has the inside look at how small businesses are coping. Customers at Red Barn Mercantile in Alexandria, Virginia can find anything from a card to a couch. Did you guys have any questions about the rugs? The eclectic small business welcoming a return to the register this season after feeling the squeeze of slowed shopping during the pandemic. It was rough.

Owners like Amy Rutherford now hopeful for a comeback. It's been a nice rebound for us. I've got new customers coming through my door. And for small shops, the holiday season is make or break. We will do half of our business in the last three months of this year. But now another pinch. Inflation, higher costs to Rutherford and her customers. Shipping prices and cost of goods, it's across.

the board. While the national retail federation expects shoppers to spend between six and eight percent more than they did last year. Inflation accounts for most of that. Seventy percent of consumers are taking inflation into consideration this holiday season and about half are buying fewer gifts as a result. In terms of shopping, yeah, I would say yes, actually. We did cut back. I'm cognizant of where and what I spend money on. But Rutherford says her spirit for small business survival ever strong. I think she'll want it right there. Working to lure customers with 11 decorated trees inside her store. My message to people is thank you, thank you, thank you for shopping small and shopping local. The season of giving. This year also one of gratitude. Katie Beck, NBC News.

Coming up, the deepening college murder mystery. The police telling us the case has not gone cold that new tips coming each day, but families are still waiting for a breakthrough. That's next. Back now with the mystery that's kept a community on edge for more than a month, the unsolved murders of four University of Idaho students. Tonight, the Moscow-Idao police chief is speaking out telling NBC Steve Patterson the case is not going cold. Six weeks later, the murder investigation of four University of Idaho college students seemingly stuck in neutral. No publicly known suspects or motive. And every week, questions outweigh. answers. This is a complex case. Despite the public's impression, Moscow police chief

James Fry says there is, in fact, movement in the case. He just can't talk about it. Is there anything new in the investigation? What I can tell you is this case is not going cold. We're still receiving hundreds of tips daily. We are following up on those tips. We're still building that picture. Police say one of those pieces is a white Hyundai Alantra in the area at the time of the murders. Investigators asked the public for help who responded with thousands of tips, but hopes were dashed yesterday when police looked at a car matching the description and found it was unrelated. Another threat unraveled, the public desperate for any information. I know that's very frustrating. It's frustrating to family members and the community,

but our end goal is to bring somebody to justice. That frustration, in part, leading to a surge of internet sluice, online communities trying to crack the case themselves. Police say it's led to misinformation, they've had to spend resources dispelling. How much does that interfere with your investigation? I think rumors always hurt us in an investigation, but it's our job to go back and utilize our resources and to continue to vet those. But 10,000 tips later, no arrest, only hope from a community haunted by a killer still on the loose and a pledge from their police chief. We are committed to this case. We are committed to solve in this case. And Jacob, I pressed him on the fact that a lot of people feel like there hasn't been a proper release of information to the public or at least that the department is withholding details.

And the chief tells me that is an absolutely tactical decision that whatever is in this investigation that is complex, it requires the public not knowing certain details, that they are moving forward, but that some of those details need to stay exactly where they are. Meanwhile, this is the holidays. A lot of these families are now going to experience Christmas without their loved ones. certainly a tough time for the families, that one answers. Jacob? Steve Patterson with a difficult holiday assignment. Well, coming up, let's talk about the Christmas classics. We'll tell you the most popular holiday movies of all time.

Who made the list and who didn't, along with our favorite Christmas characters? Some are nice, but some are naughty. Time for the announcement. Okay. Okay, people, tomorrow morning, 10 a.m., Santa's coming in. Santa! Oh my God! Santa here? I know him. I know him. To be here to take pictures with all the children. Just keep your receipts. 10 a.m. tomorrow. 10 a.m. tomorrow. Santa's coming to town. Yes.

That, of course, is a clip from the iconic Christmas movie Elph, and let me tell you, the holidays are not complete in my house until my wife has done that bit. A new list out by Fandango has the top best-selling. holiday movies this season. And we are fortunate to be joined by Fandango Managing Director Eric Davis to help us break it all down. Thank you so much for being here. Hey, your sweater, I, uh, does that say Fred Gile? Yes, it does. Frajule. This is a nod to my personal favorite Christmas movie, Christmas story for sure. Oh, yeah, that's fantastic. So give me the methodology here. We're talking what? Best selling Christmas movies. Define our terms here. What does that mean?

Yeah, so Fandango Voodoo is part of Fandango, and Voodoo, you can buy and rent movies at home. And so every year we look at, you know, what are the movies, the holiday movies that people are watching at home the most? And so when we look at that list, this is a list of those best-selling movies. And so this is a list of those films that people are watching every year the most. Fantastic. So first I want to start with the third, fourth, and fifth slot in your list here. In fifth place, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. This is the old school one, the animated one.

Fourth place, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, and third place, Polar Express. So let's first do Rudolph and Christmas Vacation. I mean, you know, tell us a little bit about this. I remember watching that one vaguely in my childhood that Rudolph won. Tell us a little bit about that one in your view. Yeah, I mean, two very different movies there, Rudolph and Christmas Vacation. But, you know, Rudolph really speaks to nostalgia. And when you look at this list, the entirety of the list, it's very much nostalgic, things we grew up with.

Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer, just like one of those first classic characters that you learn about when you're learning about Christmas and the holiday itself. And so these classic cartoons really do kind of go in that direction of nostalgia, and Rudolph is always near the top of the list. And then, of course, you've got Polar Express. I mean, I've got to say, I'm surprised here that this took such a high slot. I mean, in my world where I think about technology all the time, Polar Express is the example they use for when you do animation that's a little too realistic of faces and it freaked kids out. That's sort of what in my world this movie is famous for.

What accounts for this, do you think? Yeah, I think part of it is Tom Hanks because Tom Hanks is just Tom Hanks. But also, yes, it was freaky for its time. This is one of the first movies that employed motion capture technology. But this is also a classic story. It's got great themes in it. And the music, especially, hot chocolate, believe, when Christmas comes to town, those are songs that a lot of kids grew up with in their household and their attachment to that movie

is because I think of the music in it. Right. So the number two slot goes to Elf, which for me was a sleeper when it first came out, and then suddenly everyone in my life was quoting that movie all the time, including my partner. What's your feeling about this one? Yeah, this one I think exactly. It is kind of taken over like a Christmas story as a film that a lot of families are watching every year as a tradition. This is just a great film. And Will Ferrell is so funny. The humor in it is inventive and really curious. And they're all over in New York City, which is so marvelous at the holiday season. There's snowball fights. It's got everything that you want, especially as a kid watching a film about the holidays. I think this film has it in. included and it's just a classic Santa I know him and finally the number one pick he's a mean one

what happened then when in whoville they say that the Grinch's small heart grew three sizes that day and then the true meaning of Christmas came through and the grinch found the strength of ten Grinch So, Eric, the animated classic taking the top spot here. It has that sort of Tom and Jerry animation quality. It really speaks to me. And I guess we're finding that it speaks to more than just me, lots of people. Yeah, I was actually a little surprised by this, too.

But I think similarly in the way that Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer is there, that 2D animation, that old-school, nostalgic feel, that song that you were alluding to in the beginning. I think all of that together, you know, plus the Grinch. The Grinch may be next to Santa and Rudolph, the third, you know, most classic Christmas character. And I think it's got a really great story, too, because I think there's always a part of us that is a bit grinchy around the time of Christmas. But really, it's about opening up and being with friends and families and loved ones. And that's really the spirit of the holiday. That's what the Grinch learns at the end of the film. And I think those themes really do speak to the holiday itself.

year after year. So speaking of grinchiness here right now, there are movies that did not make the cut for the top five. One of them, at the time, was supposed to be this kind of modern interpretation of the thing that connects us all, which is, of course, love.

When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know, none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge. They were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that love actually is all around.

So Loeb actually didn't even crack the top 10 here. I find that hard to believe. Yeah, I think because maybe it's not as kid-friendly as some of those other films. And so this one is more... That is definitely true. Yeah, this is more for adults. This is more for like the rom-com lovers out there, the people that maybe want to get away from the traditional Christmas movies and watch something else, but that still speaks to the holiday in some way. And I think that's why Love actually is here.

So, you know, if you're a sentimentalist, if you love romance, then I definitely think this film, Best Man, Holiday, the Holiday, those are the kind of films that you're looking for come holidays. And finally here, we cannot, of course, forget the characters that make these movies special. One of my favorites is from a film that I don't care what you say. I think this is a holiday movie. Have a look. Oh, oh, huh. Hans Gruber settling the long-argued debate there about that one. You know, I don't care about John Clean.

I don't care about Bruce Willis. I care about Hans Gruber in that movie. You know, for me, that movie is like, if you've been at all traumatized by being home with your family and you just want to burn it all down, there's something about that movie that just really does it. But not family-friendly, as you say. I'm curious for you, what are some of your favorites that maybe weren't on this list? What are some iconic characters for you? Yeah, I love John McLean.

I think he's great. So I completely agree that Diehard is very much a Christmas movie. But like John McLean, like Clark Griswold from National Christmas Vacation, you know, I think it's just people that, you know, John McLean just wants to come out to the coast and have a few laughs. Clark Griswold just wants to get a nice Christmas for his family. And I think those relatable characters are the ones that I connect with the most, as well as like Ralphie, who just really wants that special gift.

and that's all he really wants. You know, because those are why we celebrate the holidays. There's, yes, there's the grumpiness of it. There's the, I just want to go and have a few laughs. But then there's the magic of it. And it's like, I really want this special gift. And there's a magic to the holiday that is always running and coursing through us this time of year.

So that just as a juxtaposition is very interesting to me. And I think those are the characters that I relate to the most personal. I love it. I love that you've inspired me here to go home, take off a jacket and sit down and watch such a wide variety of movies. I forgot about a few of these. Eric Davis, thank you so much for being here. Thank you so much for watching Top Story. For Tom Yamas, I'm Jacob Ward in San Francisco. Stay right there. More news now. He's on the way.