Top Story with Tom Llamas - Wednesday, February 5, 2025

Episode Date: February 6, 2025

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, gutting the government, President Trump and his administration taking new steps to shrink Washington. The White House offering buyouts to federal workers. At this hour, at least 40,000 people have accepted it, and that number is expected to grow. The CIA also included in that offer. So what does that mean for our national security? Elon Musk championing many of the cuts, leading to protest across the country. Also tonight, the FCC releasing the 60 Minutes transcript at the center of a lawsuit filed by President Trump, we'll let you hear the edited and unedited versions of the sit-down with Vice President Harris for yourself. Fake ICE agents will show you video of a man impersonating an immigration and customs officer, taking a Latino driver's car keys, and telling him he's going to be sent back to Mexico.

The warning tonight amid a nationwide immigration crackdown. A decade after a Philadelphia teacher was discovered dead, a pathologist now admitting he was wrong to rule her death, a suicide after she was found with 20 stab wounds. How did this happen? New video of a captain incapacitated, the boat spinning out of control, how first responders were able to save that man on board. And bring back the flip phone. Tonight you'll meet someone trying to start a movement to quit using your smartphone, downgrading to a no frills device. wise, what she learned, and the steps you can take to disconnect and, you know, not be addicted to your phone. Plus, the breaking news just in the NCAA changing its policy on transgender athletes after Trump's new executive order. Top story starts right now. And good evening, a lot of news. Tonight, President Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk working

in tandem to shrink government by dismantling. agencies and institutions. But the question is, at what cost? Government workers on the chopping block, some being offered a buyout, while thousands of others are being abruptly let go. That deferred resignation offer includes the CIA and NSA, agencies which were originally believed to be exempt. So what does that mean for our spies around the world? And we're just learning of that. More than 2 million workers eligible for the buyout, more than 40,000 have accepted. Many of these measures coming at the directive of tech billionaire Elon Musk. Musk tapped by president, the president, to lead the newly created Department of Government

Efficiency, or Doge, which seemingly has no limits. And at this hour, we're learning that Doge will stretch its reach to air traffic control towers. We're going to explain that in a moment. But Musk is sparking outrage, thousands of protesters gathering from coast to coast to denounce his role and some of President Trump's early actions. And right now, fear and panic is swamping the U.S. Agency for International Development with 10,000 aid staffers around the world leaving their post on the heels of the president's announcement that he's dissolving that organization.

And at this hour, the NCAA making a major announcement that it will change its policy after the president's executive order banning transgender athletes in women's sports. We have a lot to get to. NBC senior White House correspondent, Garrett Haig, starts us off. Tonight, President Trump's latest move in his campaign pledge to slash the size of the federal government, all employees at the U.S. Agency for International Development, which distributes foreign aid, receiving this email saying most staff will be placed on administrative leave at noon Friday. Hey, ho, oh, Elon Musk has got to go! Democrats protesting the cuts quarterbacked by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency.

We don't pledge allegiance to Elon Musk. We are here. to fight back. No one elected Elon Musk to nothing. While Republicans defending Musk. USAID has got to actually serve the interests of American foreign policy. It ought to be to promote the interests and well-being of the American people, not some left-wing woke agenda. Musk posting overnight, Democrats quote, hysterical reactions are how you know that Doge is doing work that really matters. This is the one shot the American people have to defeat bureaucracy. In another cost-cutting move, the Trump administration now offering buyouts to most

employees at the CIA and other intel agencies. More than 40,000 federal employees so far have already accepted an earlier buyout offer, according to a source familiar. From now on, women's sports will be only for women. And this afternoon, the president signing a new executive order banning transgender women from competing in women's sports and withholding funding from schools that don't comply. We will defend the proud tradition of female athletes, and we will not allow men to beat up injure and cheat our women and our girls. The Human Rights Campaign responding, quote,

this order could expose young people to harassment and discrimination. All right, Garrett Hague joins us tonight. Garrett, I'm sure you're probably checking your phone because I know there's a lot of breaking news. It's been fast and furious like it's been every night. But I know you have some new reporting that Muscus Doge has access data from Medicare. and Medicaid. What can you tell our viewers? Yeah, Tom, these Doge engineers are getting into more and more government systems as Elon Musk continues to expand his hunt for what he considers to be waste and fraud and government spending. The Wall Street Journal broke this story today that Musk and his team were looking at payments from Medicare and Medicaid through those systems there.

Musk confirming as much in a post on X. He said he believes that's where the fraud is and whether that's found or not, I can't say. but it is where a huge portion of federal spending actually occurs. The stuff that Congress is especially unlikely to touch, I think it's going to be a major story in the days ahead what he and his team are finding there and whether they are able to put their hands on it. Remember, the White House has taken great pains to say that the Doge team is read only when they get into these systems.

They still have to come through the White House or through the agency that's in charge to make any actual cuts. Tom? Yeah, he's seeming to touch every part of government. Okay, we appreciate all your. reporting tonight. And this major overhaul by the Trump administration to the federal workforce has some employees feeling shock, panic, and despair tonight. Many concerned about how Elon Musk's moves to slash federal spending could impact them and their families. NBC's Hallie Jackson

tonight spoke to some about how they're handling it all. From fury to fear. Will my position remain? A range of reactions from federal workers. None of this is okay. As the president pushes to scale back the size of government across all agencies, including USAID, which officially terminated Christina dry just this afternoon. It's heartbreaking because we know that people are going to be less healthy, less safe, through no choice of our own. What does this mean for your life for the short term here? Yeah, I think in 10, 15 days, you know, this whole thing has just been turned upside down

through no fault of my own. I don't know where my rent is coming from. Nearly 2.3 million civilians work for the federal government. 80% live outside of the Washington area. It has been chaos. After 10 years in the Navy, Andrea Galbraith shifted to a career in the federal government, at least for now. Nobody wants to work in this type of condition where we're going to be in a psychological warfare for how long. Other federal workers, not revealing their names because of concern over retribution, described to NBC News, fear and panic.

an Orwellian nightmare. Shelly told us she has concerns about Elon Musk's role in the changes. I did not vote for him, and I have a huge amount of issue with the access that he's getting. Vice President Vance today arguing many Americans did vote for Donald Trump, who promised repeatedly to have Elon Musk root out wasteful spending in our government. And the White House has said a bloated federal bureaucracy has cost American taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars each year. Dry suggests she understands streamlining, but... There has to be, you know, a mechanism by which that occurs that offers basic decency and

basic respect to that worker. The political, getting personal. For top story, Hallie Jackson, NBC News, Washington. And as we report at the top of the broadcast, the Trump administration is looking to make cuts in another critical sector, the intelligence community. We've now learned that buyout offers have gone out to employees of the CIA and other intelligence agencies, giving some workers the option to stop working with eight more months of pay and benefits. And to be clear, some employees, including those assigned high-priority tasks, will not be eligible. But the move comes as the agency turns over an unclassified list of employees hired in the last two years to the White House, alarming some in the national security community that the list could be leaked

and endanger the lives of those men and women. For more on what these moves mean for the CIA, I want to bring in Larry Pfeiffer, former chief of staff at the CIA and senior director of the White House Situation Room, and Matt Gorman, he's a Republican strategist and former senior communications advisor to the Tim Scott 2024 campaign. We thank you both for being here. Larry, I guess the big question is this. Viewers at home are going to be hearing about the government layoffs, and I'm going to get into that with Matt, but when they hear about the CIA being offered buyouts, the NSA, and you've got to think about the intelligence aspect of this, right? It takes decades, generations, sort of build contacts. Are we talking about letting go spies who keep us safe? Well, that's not entirely clear. The buyouts have been offered to all employees, but there has been some suggestion that there will be a review done, and some certain individuals may not be allowed to retire based on the roles they're currently playing at the different agencies. That presents in and of itself its own challenges. I don't know. an employee, I think maybe I want to take advantage of this retirement offer. I go ahead and

file the paperwork to then be told, oh, no, you can't go because of your role. What does that now do to my career moving forward when my bosses and my coworkers all thought I was ready to leave? That's challenging. At the broader construct, though, this is going to probably hit two populations most. The more senior, more experienced individuals who are near retirement or close to, retirement who can afford to take this opportunity. So you're going to lose years of experience, lots of training, lots of credibility built over time with sources. And then the other population is going to hit is going to be the younger population, folks who are new. This list of probationary employees that was provided to the White House is with this idea that perhaps they're going to

terminate some of these brand new employees. So seems to run counter to what Director Radcliffe said was one of the purposes of this buyout, which was to help. infuse the agency with new energy by bringing in new employees, but you may be getting rid of a group of employees that have just gotten on the job, many of whom who were brought in to work, very important targets like China. Do you think this is going to make us less safe? I think in the short term it could, depending on exactly on how it plays out. You know, there have been times in the past where a new president comes in. He has different national security priorities. We saw it when the Clintons came in. Clinton administration came in and climate

chain suddenly was a very important topic to work. We saw it back when George H.W. Bush was president and the Cold War came to an end. And the communities were offered the opportunity to do early retirements early out, but they were applied in a much more surgical manner. You know, you would, for example, with the end of the Cold War, there were early outs offered to this large number of Russia Soviet Union analysts or Soviet Union collectors that we had. This one is not being done. taking a hammer to kill a fly instead of a more surgical approach, you know, if they want to realign the agency to go after Western Hemisphere targets that they feel perhaps are not as broadly covered, there are different ways to do that. I would also note the CIA has got to be one of

the most talented, skilled and agile workforces that I've ever been involved with. They can turn on a dime when mission priorities change. We saw that happen after 9-11. The agency turned on a dime, and they were the first people on the ground in Afghanistan taking the war to the people who had killed all those Americans up in New York City. So it can be done. This notion that you have to get rid of a lot of employees because you're changing priorities is just incorrect. I asked you this to be fair. Is it seen as bloated or is it seen as lean and mean? Or maybe it's somewhere in the middle. CIA takes its global responsibilities very seriously.

They are one of the only agencies that does have people on the ground in just about every country in the world. So there's that point. The second point, however, is, are they bloated? No. I've never been in a meeting in CIA where we didn't wish we had more people to come. all the responsibilities that are being levied upon us by the policy community. So I would not say it's bloated. It's very agile. There's not a lot of, not as much bureaucracy as there

might be in some of the larger departments and agencies. So lean and mean in that respect, but definitely not bloated. I got it. Matt, I want to transition out of the politics of this, right? Because I think the American people are watching this at home and they're going to obviously have different takes on this. But it was interesting to see sort of the news sites across all the major news organizations, because a lot of them weren't leading with this story, right? A lot of them were leading with the story of the president's comments on Gaza, the issues with transgender. You could say maybe it was clickbait, whatever. My thinking, maybe, is that the argument that shrinking the government, it's actually a winning argument. But does President Trump

have to be careful here? Sure. I mean, look at the two fights he's picked, right? It's attentively, and I'm not talking about this to the CIA, but like bureaucrats, right? USAID, as Halley's package mentioned, but also in foreign aid. Those are two things that I think a lot of folks can kind of get along. Note also where he stopped short, right? Domestic politics. Once that spending freeze hit some of the domestic politics, he did back off that. So he's kind of seeing where the lines are here, what he can get away with and what he can't,

and what's going to give him public support and what he can't. And I think a lot of this, where you're seeing, you know, kind of protests, whether it's in Washington, D.C. or other areas, protesting essentially the elimination of government jobs. individual in many respects that helps Trump. So that's not going to deter him. I was around in 2017 once a health care protests were really big or abortion in 2022. That's very different. This is not that sort of thing. Do you think this is a winning issue politically, like shrinking the government and obviously you feel for all those government workers that are going to lose their paychecks and not have to find new work, but across the countries is something that works politically for the

president? Sure. Because also, let's face it, right? We've all, our companies, or we've all either been a part of or been close to someone who has been unfortunately laid off or has been offered a buy-out. For most folks who are not in government, these are not foreign things to people, right? People understand it. And I think that, you know, people recognize that a government job, it's a great job, but it's also not a lifetime job necessarily. And I think that, you know, to the extent where Democrats could overplay their hand a little bit on this sort of thing. I think I would feel very comfortable as a Republican or a member of the Trump White House going out there. and defending this sort of thing.

Matt Gorman, Larry Pfeiffer, pleasure to talk to both you guys tonight. Thank you. All right, and another headline. Trump administration and federal agencies. Late today, Elon Musk and Transportation Secretary, Sean Duffy saying Doge will be working to upgrade the country's air traffic control system.

Musk posting on X with the support of President Trump, the Doge team will aim to make rapid safety upgrades to the air traffic control system. Just a few days ago, The FAA's primary aircraft safety notification system failed for several hours. To break this down, I want to bring in NBC News Senior Aviation Correspondent Tom Costello. So Tom, we're having you on tonight to kind of connect the dots for us. First, what is most talking about that system that went down over the weekend?

Yeah. He's talking about No-TAM, and that's the system, you may recall, that went down back in 2023, and it literally paralyzed air traffic control for, I think, about half a day or so before they finally got it back up. ended up that that was caused by a problem with some computer guys who have been working on the system. But listen, it is symptomatic of a real problem at air traffic control. They're operating in many cases antiquated systems that go back 20, 30, 40, 50 years, and they need to upgrade. However, FAA has been calling for years to do this. Congress hasn't allocated the money, enough money anyway. It will cost a fortune. You know, we see the video of air traffic controllers kind of moving those paper slips around

in the tower as they keep track of planes. Yeah, that dates back to the 50s and 60s. And they do need more modernized equipment. It costs money. And they also have to make sure everything works perfectly before it's introduced. So if Elon Musk can bring that kind of tech savvy into an air traffic control tower and then spread it out nationwide, I think it would be welcome. So, you know, when we think about Elon Musk, we know he brought the electric car to the marketplace. He's been a huge player in space doing things that people have never done before. Do any of those technologies, will they help systems like air traffic control systems? Boy, listen, I'm no computer genius here, but I can tell you that what they need is a faster approval process for this equipment to be certified, you know, calibrated, certified before it ever goes into a tower.

And today I was at the news conference with the new Transportation Secretary who said they're going to do this on Trump time, not on bureaucratic time. That may be easier said than done. But they've got a bigger problem here or another problem. That is, they don't have enough controllers. And this has been something we've reported on for years. They are thousands of controllers short. They have a mandatory retirement age of 56. They're struggling just to keep up with those retirements.

They've got a high washout rate in the academy and also on the job. They're flooding the academy with recruits, trying to get them out. But then a lot of them quit on the job because this is not a nine to five job. So they've got multiple issues here, and it will take likely years to get this fixed. All right. Tom Costello for us on that aviation beat, Tom, we appreciate that. Next to the new development in the legal battle between President Trump and CBS. In late October, you'll remember the president sued the network over an interview with then Vice President Kamala Harris that aired just a month before the election.

The network aired two different versions of her answer to the same question about Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. One version airing on Face the Nation, another on the flagship news magazine 60 Minutes. Once Trump took office, the FCC also began investigating CBS over this matter. Now for the first time the public can judge for themselves, CBS and the FCC have released the full transcript of that interview, along with raw, unedited video from that day. In a moment, we're going to show you the full question and answer at issue right now. On the bottom of your screen, we're going to walk you through this. you'll see the raw feeds for both CBS correspondent Bill Whitaker

and Vice President Harris. So again, these are the two raw feeds right here for the correspondent Bill Whitaker, Vice President Harris, right? It's one continuous clip. On the top left, you're going to see the teaser clip that aired on Face the Nation, right? That came out first. And on the top right here, this is 60 minutes.

This is the one that aired on the broadcast. When these two screens go black, that's where something was edited out. Here's that full exchange. But it seems that Prime Minister Netanyahu is not listening. The Wall Street Journal said that your administration has repeatedly been blindsided by Netanyahu. And in fact, he has rebuffed just about all of your administration's entreaties. Well, Bill, the work that we have done has resulted in a number of...

movements in that region by Israel that were very much prompted by or a result of many things, including our advocacy for what needs to happen in the region. And we're not going to stop doing that. We're not going to stop pursuing what is necessary for the United States to be clear about where we stand on the need for this war to end. Now, CBS has repeatedly defended that edit and said the Trump lawsuit is without merit. in a statement, we want to put it on the screen for you here, today writing, The Reporting, the News, Journalists regularly edit interviews for time, space, or clarity.

In making these edits, 60 minutes is always guided by the truth, and what we believe will be most informative to the viewing public, all while working within the constraints of broadcast television. Joining us tonight for more, Washington Post Media Critic, Eric Wemple, who has written a lot about this case. Eric, thanks for coming on Top Story tonight. I like talking to you on cases like this, because even though you work for a mainstream media outlet,

when people get it wrong, you do call them out, and I think you're pretty fair in what you do. So I guess my first reaction to this is what is this about, right? Because we showed our viewers, and we can talk a little later about the rollout and maybe were some mistakes made. But it doesn't seem like the spirit of the bite was tampered with. Correct.

I mean, I think that to give the complaint its most fair airing is that the CBS, 60 minutes presentation contained a part of that answer that was more flattering to Harris than the Face the Nation clip, which did not air on prime time. So basically, the idea here, the argument, as best I can sort of abridge it, is that by so-called—by airing the so-called word salad on Face the Nation and the more coherent answer on 60 minutes, that CBS essentially did a favor for Kamala Harris and screwed over Donald Trump. It's basically the argument.

And that might be a fair argument, and you could have that argument. But the edit itself, just because I want our viewers to understand this, I mean, we showed you the entire extended version, and then Face Nation obviously used one portion and 60 minutes used another portion. But the spirit of the bite, I mean, they didn't sort of jumble things together or take one answer from a different question. None of that was done. No, this is, I think, a demonstration that any bogus little quibble can, in today's media environment, can snowball into a major media crisis or controversy or whatever, even though there's really nothing here, absolutely zero here.

And I would point out, I think it's really important to point out, that the only reason we knew to begin with that there were these two. answers to the same question was because CBS News's face the nation disclosed the first one and then 60 minutes did a second one. It was something that was fully disclosed by CBS News, if you understand what I'm saying. I understand what you're saying, but I will say this, right? And again, we can Monday morning quarterback this. You know, maybe it was a little sloppy, right? Face the nation, it's confusing to the viewer. You can definitely say it was a little sloppy and they should have been better. Here's what I don't understand. They should have been better. Why didn't they release the transcript, right?

Why didn't they release a transcript earlier? On big interviews like this, most news organizations that I know I've done interviews like this, you release the transcript so the readers and viewers can see the full interview and you don't hide anything. Because there are constraints in broadcast television, just like this great segment we have on Top Story, we can't talk for 30 minutes, right? So we have to sort of edit things down. But why do you think they didn't release a transcript? Unquestionably.

First of all, I cannot condemn enough CBS News for not just coming. out with the transcript. There's nothing embarrassing here. There's nothing wrong, as they've said. They issued statements before in the fall saying, you know, this is two parts of the same answer to the same question. And it turns out that's the case. So why not just show your proof? One fundamental aspect of journalism is show your work. And they had these goods, these basic, you know, these artifacts the whole time long. My guess as to why they didn't do it is because news organizations are essentially risk-averse, and they saw a public backlash to all of this.

They saw social media lighting up, and they just hunker down. And news organizations behave like the way a lot of other companies do, which is they just suppress everything. They say, screw it. We're not going to make any more statements. We're not going to give you anything. And they hope that it just peters out. In this case, obviously it didn't.

This leads to my next question. Before the raw interview, the transcripts were released, today. You wrote an opinion piece about the possibility of CBS settling the Trump lawsuit, calling the discussion of a settlement bad news. Now, I really want to ask you about this, because now I'm really confused. They've released the raw video. They've released the transcript. It doesn't appear like they've done anything wrong, anything wrong to the tune of $10 billion. Why are there even talks about a settlement? There are, well, I mean, there shouldn't be. It's a farce that there are talks about settlement. It's

embarrassment to all of us who work in this industry, that there are talks, that they are even considering a settlement. This suit is based on a Texas State Consumer Protection Act or something saying that that 60 minutes defrauded Trump and the election interference, all kinds of garbage. But the reason is, and this goes to a bigger issue in all of media, there's a bigger story here, which is that news organizations tend to be attached, at least big television news organizations tend to be attached to conglomerates, which have other interests, entertainment divisions, all kinds of other companies, all kinds of other corporate interests, and Paramount, which is CBS News's parent company, is interested in merging with Skydance Media.

And in order to get that merger accomplished, and a lot of money is riding on that, they need FCC approval. They need the Trump administration to help. So they sort of view, the way this has been reported is that a lot of executives at Paramount's guidance want to see perhaps maybe they could make a concession to help sort of grease the wheels so grease the skin so that this will go through. That is, and I know that's a theory that's out there, and we'll see how this all plays out. Do you think part of this also is the fear that if it does go to trial, if there is a case, then they have to start investigating.

They have to start pulling cell phone records. They have to start pulling emails. It could be embarrassing to CBS. There was some thinking that in the ABC settlement, when they settled with Trump and they paid to build his museum north of $15 million, that there was a fear that when they started investigating ABC News, they were going to be sort of shamed or embarrassed by what would come out in discovery. Do you think that could be part of this as well?

You know, I don't think you really need me here. all the right analysis. Look, Fox News, a couple of years ago, 2020, was tremendously embarrassed by a discovery that came out in its trial with Dominion voting systems. Huge embarrassment to Fox News, all the emails and text messages that came out. Huge embarrassment, Fox News took a while to get over that. They did recover. CNN just got through a trial. I watched the whole thing. I covered the whole thing. It was tremendously embarrassing to see their internal text messages and their internal slack messages. Totally embarrassing. Help turn the jury against them, and it was arrogant stuff. You don't want that coming out. ABC, I do believe, have the same

concerns. I think it's undoubtedly one of the reasons why ABC News had a great case when it was sued by Donald Trump, but they settled. And I do think that that's the reason. If your case goes to discovery, which these companies try to avoid by getting a motion dismissed early in the process. If it goes to discovery, they don't, they're not even sure what kinds of junk are in their computers, on their computer servers. They don't know whether journalists have been gossiping in embarrassing ways about the people they cover. So that's a huge consideration. It's an enormous consideration, and it's one that's being exploited by people who sue the media. Yeah. CNN, ABC, CBS, 60 Minutes, they all do incredible journalism. They're still doing

incredible journalism, just like we do here at NBC. In your reporting, have you heard of how our news organizations sort of getting ready for this maybe new phase of journalism? Are they ramping up their legal departments? Are they ramping up their standards department? I mean, you have to be bulletproof when you go on the air. You hope to be bulletproof. You're not always, but you hope to be bulletproof, especially when you have an investigation. So are newsrooms changing at all? Because the strategy can't be, well, we're just going to settle. The strategy cannot be. We're just going to settle. There is a lot of lot of legal activity, a lot of activity across news organizations to get trained up on

the libel, trained up on the law. All that is happening. All I can do is hope that they don't allow these concerns and these fears to get in their way of reporting the facts. Thus far, I think the record is good so far on what's been going on with the Trump administration. We've seen a lot of very aggressive coverage of what they've been doing with respect to the federal government and other initiatives. I believe we're learning a lot. It's impossible to know what we're not learning. You can never particularly know that. But I think that there's been in very aggressive posture. And I think it's also been fair and measured, too. Eric Wemple, you could read him in the Washington Post. Eric, we thank you for joining Top Story. Hey, thanks for having me.

Still ahead tonight, the renewed investigation to the death of a Pennsylvania teacher who was stabbed 20 times after the pathologist said he shouldn't have ruled her death a suicide. What we're learning about that stunning reversal. Plus, civilians impersonating ice agents now under arrest. The incident caught on camera as a man pretends to be an officer and tells a Latino driver, you're going back. And the scare on Capitol Hill after Senator Mitch McConnell slips and falls, how he's doing tonight.

Stay with us. We're back now with the new development in the death of a first grade teacher in Pennsylvania. More than a decade ago, her death was ruled to suicide. But tonight, the investigation is ongoing after the medical examiner, who initially handled that case, says his opinion has changed. NBC News correspondent Stephen Romo has the details. More than a decade after Ellen Greenberg was found dead in her apartment, her family says the justice system has finally made a step in the right direction. It's monumental for 14 years we've been dealing with the suicide label. In 2011, the 27-year-old first grade teacher was found dead by her fiance with more than 20 stab wounds.

Her death ruled a suicide by a Philadelphia medical examiner at the time. But her parents, Sandy and Josh Greenberg, never believed she took her own life, taking the medical examiner and the city to court. I've lost count of all the amount of monies and efforts and emotions that we've been working at to try to clear our daughter. After 14 years of the Greenberg's fighting and on the brink of the Greenberg's civil case heading to trial, a reversal. Medical examiner Marlon Osborne seen here in a deposition for the case, now changing his professional opinion of Allen's death in a letter filed on Friday and obtained by NBC Philadelphia, citing new information, including whether Ellen's fiancee was witnessed entering the apartment before placing the 911 call. And the findings from a state. hired pathologist seen here in a deposition for the case and what's significant here is that there's no hemorrhage and in your experience no hemorrhage can equate to the person having been deceased at the time of the administration of the trauma yeah I mean in general no hemorrhage means no pulse if a person has no pulse they are not going to self-inflict

or stab themselves period now attorneys for the greenbergs say the philadelphia medical examiner's office will reopen and reinvestigate Helen Greenberg's manner of death. So hopefully that'll be a new investigation. All the information that we've acquired over the years will be presented. And I don't see any reason why they wouldn't reach the same result that Dr. Osborne gave. The city of Philadelphia telling NBC News, the terms of the settlement include an independent review of the autopsy file and an express waiver of any claims that might be brought as a result of that process. The criminal investigation, into Greenberg's death remains inactive but open, according to the Chester County District Attorney.

In a statement released last November, they note, there is no statute of limitations for criminal homicide in Pennsylvania, and because investigations can take new directions, we are not closing the case. A grieving family now one step closer to closure. I hope today we made Ellen proud of us because we certainly were very proud of her as her parents. Stephen Roe. NBC News. All right, we thank Stephen for that, and we want to note Greenberg's fiancé, who called 911 after he says he found her dead, has never been named a suspect in the case. And in fact, no suspect has ever been named, as this case had been until now considered a suicide. Okay, when we come back, the airport collision in Seattle, a Japan Airlines flight hitting the tail of a delta flight on the tarmac, an update on the ground.

Stay with us. We're back now with Top Stories News Feed. Two planes colliding on the ground at Seattle's CETAC Airport. The wing of a taxi in Japan Airlines plane striking the tail of a parked Delta flight. Passengers of both flights safely deplained and no one was hurt. A brief grounds drop was issued but has since been lifted. The FAA is now investigating. Senator Mitch McConnell falling on steps near the Senate chamber.

McConnell was seen using a wheelchair after the fall. A spokesperson from McConnell saying he is okay and that the incident will not disrupt his work schedule. The spokesperson adding he's using the wheelchair as a precautionary measure because he has lingering effects of polio in his left leg. The 82-year-old has had multiple health scares in the last few years, including in 2023, where he froze while speaking to reporters. And Florida police saving an unresponsive man inside of a spinning boat. Look at this. The video is showing the man face down in the vessel, turning in circles in a lake. outside of Tampa. Police crews sailing alongside it until an officer jumps into the boat,

shutting off the motor. Authorities took the man to shore for treatment. He's expected to be okay. Next tonight, we're following cases in several states where men have been arrested for allegedly impersonating immigration officers. One of those incidents caught on camera and now raising concerns from some civil rights groups that we could see more. NBC's Priya Shrether has this one. As ICE agents carry out the sweeping immigration crackdown, President Trump has ordered in cities across the country. Where are you from? Mexico? You're from Mexico? A warning tonight from authorities about people impersonating those agents. You're going back to Mexico. In a video shared widely on social media, a South Carolina man, police have identified as Sean Michael Johnson, is seen telling the Latino driver of this train. truck, he's going to be sent back to Mexico.

No, no, no, no, no, no. You cannot drive, boy, you have not a license. At one point, taking the keys out of the ignition, dangling them in front of the driver and mocking his accent. I don't be speaking that pig Latin in my country, though. Johnson, who police say tried to report the driver for not having a license, was charged with kidnapping and impersonating. a federal officer after the video circulated. Johnson could not be reached for comment.

We are very concerned that this will continue to grow and spread. Juan Proaño is the CEO of the League of United Latin American Citizens, the U.S.'s largest Latino civil rights organization. Vigilantism is not new in America, but the January 6 pardons have really emboldened right-wing extremists. Over the weekend, Philadelphia police say three men, three men wearing black t-shirts with ice written on them, impersonated federal officers to gain access to a resident hall at Temple University. Police only identifying one of them as

22-year-old Aidan Stiegelman. The Defender Association of Philadelphia, which is representing Stiegelman, declined to comment. You can protect yourself first and foremost by not opening the door. You are not obligated to open the door of your private property, even if law enforcement essentially comes knocking. Last week in North Carolina, another horrifying incident when police say this man, Carl Thomas Bennett, was arrested for allegedly impersonating a law enforcement officer and sexually assaulting a woman at a motel six, threatening to deport her if she didn't comply. Bennett's attorney did not return NBC's request for comment. This is a really terrible time in our country. I don't think we've ever seen anything like this. The Latino communities just

so resilient at the end of the day. And so there's no question in my mind that we will overcome these challenges, both short-term and long-term. Priya Shrether joins us tonight. Priya, you look at all these cases and you really can't believe it. Let's go back to that first one. What more do we know about the impersonator there in South Carolina? That's right, Tom Wolfe Johnson posted bail on Saturday, according to court records and was released from custody. He's due back in court next month. And according to a local police chief in South Carolina who spoke to NBC news, he's not being charged with a hate crime. And that's because South Carolina is actually one of the few states in the country that doesn't have hate crime laws on the books. Tom?

Priya Shreida for us tonight, Priya, we thank you for that. When we come back, the new lawsuit against social media platform X, the activist demanding access to data ahead of Germany's upcoming election, their concerns over disinformation before millions cast their vote. We'll explain what's going on. We are back now with Top Stories Global Watch. We start with the U.S. deportation flight landing in India, a defense official telling NBC news the flight was carrying and estimated 100 Indian nationals deported by the U.S. when it arrived in the northern state of Punjab. It was the first deportation flight back to India and comes ahead of Indian Prime Minister Modi's visit to the White House next week. German activists groups suing social media platform X demanding data to track disinformation.

ahead of Germany's national election on February 23rd. The group saying X is violating the European Union's Digital Services Act by not allowing them to track the reach of public debates posted on the platform. The website's owner, Elon Musk, has publicly expressed his support of Germany's anti-immigrant far-right political party, AFD. And emotional reunions in Ukraine after both Ukraine and Russia exchanged 150 prisoners of war on each side. Video showing Ukrainian soldiers returning home on buses after the UAE helped broker another swap between the embattled countries. Ukrainian president Vladimir Zelenskyi saying some of the service members had been in captivity for more than two years. Okay, when we come back, a very important question, can you ditch your smartphone? Up next, we speak to one millennial who is giving up modern technology and going back to a flip phone,

why she thinks others should make the switch, how it's changed her life, and come. Could it become a new trend? Stay with us. Bethann. Your cell phone bill is what's up. All this texting. OMG, I and VD. It is a big deal. Who are you texting 50 times a day?

I decay my BFF Jill. Tell your BFF, Jill, that I'm taking away your phone. TIS and F. Me paying this bill, that's what's to S-N-F. That was almost 20 years ago, but AT&T got it absolutely right. If you're old enough to remember flip phones, you're probably old enough to remember that AT&T commercial. While teens' attachment to their cell phones is clearly nothing new, it has exploded since the introduction of smartphones. Look at this. According to the Pew Research Center, 95% of teens have access to a smartphone.

They found that 38% of teens say they spend too much time on their phones. but 44% say not having their phone actually makes them feel anxious. Are over-reliance on smartphones leading some people, of all ages, to ditch them altogether. Joining me now is someone who did just that. August Lamb, she's an artist and a writer, and she recently published an essay in the New York Times called I gave up my smartphone for a dumb phone. You can too. August, thanks so much for being here.

Thanks for loving me. Your piece was great. I invite our viewers to read it in the New York Times because it was excellent in the print edition or online. Yes. So talk to me. Is it working? You're campaigning against the smartphone.

Is it working in your life? I've been off the smartphone for three years now, and I cannot ever imagine going back. It's been life-changing, and the frustrating thing now is trying to convince other people to try it, because we've forgotten what it's like to live without them. It's been so long that we can't even remember. What's the thing that's been the hardest to deal with without your smartphone? Well, getting around is difficult at first before you learn your neighborhood, and then there are real hurdles that people cannot overcome if they have jobs. I'm personally freelance, so I don't have to do dual-factor authentication. I don't have an electric car.

So those are things that people really struggle with parking. You don't Google things. Like, if you're somewhere in your loss, you don't Google it. I sometimes write down what I want to Google, and then I wait until I get home. And you do this? Why? Because I want to be present in my real life. And I want to set an example for other people to be present, so they'll join me. Because at this point, I am off technology, and I'm present. And when I get bored, I don't have anything to do but look around and entertain myself,

but everyone else is still glued to their smartphone. So it doesn't really make a difference for me. I'm basically still using a smartphone. I want to tell our viewers essentially how you got here, right? Because you're an artist. So you were relying heavily on social media at one point in your life, especially for your business, right, to show your artwork and things like that. Then you got shut out of your Instagram a few years.

ago and you were incredibly panicked and you say you wrote this. I was financially insecure and socially isolated. Online I was a public figure. Offline, I was anonymous, adrift. Talk to me about that moment because that's very deep. Yeah, I was living in Berlin at the time and my whole social life and my career was online. And once that was shut down, I just remember this feeling of being alone in my apartment and realizing I didn't know anybody in the city. I didn't have any friends. I didn't have any real art network. I had no way to make money. or to make connections, or to even just talk to people without social media. And so right now, just because I'm sort of fascinated by this,

you don't text your friends or family? I text my friends on a dumb phone. I'm actually more responsive than the average. You brought your phone. Sure of yours, what you have here. This is my favorite phone. This is the Nokia that I have from 2002, which I love. It still works.

It doesn't work in the U.S. anymore because they've upgraded the network. So I use this when I'm in Europe. Okay. And then this is another phone. It's called The Punked. And I use this when I'm in the U.S. Yeah, I want to get a close-up of this. Hold it up for us.

It looks like a bad remote controller, like a toy, something like my kids would have. That actually works. That's your phone? Yes. And when you're out there rocking that, or people ask you, like, what is that, or what are you doing? You know, people do come up to me and people ask me on the subway what I'm doing and whether that works, and I use it as an opportunity to proselytize.

Are you ever afraid that you're going to be left behind? Left behind in what way? Left behind just in the world? No. In the sense that you miss things, right? You're missing things. You're missing things. You're missing part of the human.

experience? I'm not missing things. Other people are missing things. But I'm worried about other people missing out on the human experience. And it's, they're getting other people's lives delivered to them all day on their phones, but they're not experiencing their own lives. And so when they look back on the years, they'll remember reading about other people's experiences, but where were they? You know, it's interesting because this is sort of a growing movement, right? How big it is? I'm not exactly sure. I do want to put up something for our viewers here. The majority of people are still sort of hooked on their smartphones. This much we know, but the movement away from them, that's something new.

There's the Luddite Club, I think I'm pronouncing that, right? Luddite. Luddite. That was started right here in New York City where teens and young adults are ditching their smartphones. There's now clubs at multiple high schools and colleges across the country. There's another group that, as a parent, I've been familiar with, which is called Wait Until 8, which is basically parents encourage families to delay giving their kids smartphones until the 8th grade. And there's the no-so move that encourages people to give up social.

media for the entire month of November, which kind of sounds easy, but I'm sure that's hard for a lot. Do you think this is really a movement that is growing, or do you think this is just something that some people, like you, maybe have been enlightened and are trying this, but it's so difficult. It's definitely growing. I get emails every single day from people who have successfully switched to a dumb phone and who want to, and I host events, and they're always packed. So this is something that people really want to do and that some people are able to do. And I will say it's not that difficult once you've made the decision because it's so wonderful being present in real life and in not being distracted and not being anxious and your

sleep improves and your relationships improve and so you don't miss it at all yeah do you end up calling people a lot more too are you having like real conversations as opposed to texting email that kind of thing yeah it's it's annoying to text on these devices thankfully so it gets you to either stop texting or to pick up the phone and call do your relationships the people your relationships with friendships, what other kind of relationships with family, are they annoyed, or are they okay? Is it like, is it a struggle to be friends with you or in a relationship with you because you're not connected? I actually think I'm more connected than the average smartphone user because the average smartphone user is very distracted

because your phone isn't just your friends reaching out to you and your your loved ones, your family. It's also the news. It's also work. And so you receive a message from a friend and then you're also inundated with all this other stimulation. And so it's hard to focus on that one thing. for me, my phone is just me and my friends. Have you talked to sort of big thinkers about this and the movement away from this? I mean, what are some of the sort of future dire predictions that you've come across? You've sort of been shocked, like, wow, that's what we're moving as a society when it comes to smartphones.

Whenever I read anything about tech, I feel demoralized and I'm unable to do my work and my activism, so I try to avoid looking into and try to focus on the people who are questioning it and moving away from it. And there are a lot of people I hear from great writers every day reaching out and working on similar projects. And so, yes, it is something other people are thinking about. But the tech part is not something that I'm very familiar with. And often I'm caught off guard. Like you mentioned with my essay, I didn't know that there was a TikTok ban. And that was the seed of the essay was that a friend had brought that up to me as the anti-tech expert. But I had no idea that it was happening.

things, if people want to get rid of their smartphones and live sort of your life, if you will, and I know maybe you're on an extreme side of this, but give three like actionable things they can do to sort of move away from their smartphone. Well, I think moving away from your smartphone gradually does make it more difficult than just making the decision to completely switch. I think that a lot of people spend years in this cycle of trying to resist, trying to set boundaries and limits, but these devices aren't designed to be used moderately. They're not designed to be used moderately. They're not designed to have limits on them. They're designed to take over your life.

So it's going to be difficult to be moderate. But people have found success with deleting certain apps, with making it black and white. But you're not going to get all the way there with those strategies. August Lamb, you are so fascinating. I hope to have you on again as you continue your movement. If people want to find you or read about you,

how do they do that? I do have a website. And I have an email address. So you're somewhat connected. I am online, yes. OK. And you're going to keep this, because now you said, you're essentially an anti-tech activist. This is your life. It's my life as long as I think that

people are paying attention and that we have a chance to make a difference. And as long as that happens. What is the difference? The difference is to get people to be in real life, you know, to focus on each other and themselves and to be okay, being bored, and to get out of this loop of feeding into tech companies and making money for other people with their time and their attention to feel less anxious and to feel more alive. And so that's what I want for other people. I get to experience that, but, you know, it's lonely experiencing that all of my own.

August Lamb, I'm sure it is. But you were definitely married to your cause, and we appreciate that. We thank you for being here and talking to us. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you so much for watching Top Story. I'm Tom Yamas in New York.

Stay right there. More news on the way.