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

Episode Date: July 30, 2026

Tonight's Top Story has the latest breaking news, political headlines, news from overseas and the best NBC News reporting from across the country and around the world Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Tonight we're live outside the Pope's summer palace in Italy, where we spoke with the first American Pope as he hosted a concert for the world. The Concert for Peace, helping to bring the world together. This is the experience of beauty. And my time with Pope Leo, his most extensive comments yet on what it means to be an American and the Pope. I think of myself more as the Pope who happens to be American. why he thinks America is great. So many things. The question so many Catholics back home are wondering.

Will Americans see you soon in America? And what he just spoke about publicly for the first time, that some of his ancestors were slaves. We have exclusive access to the extraordinary event hosted by the Pope, his call for peace. I pray that peace may rain in your homes. The schoolchildren who have survived so much now celebrated. And the moving performance,

from one of the greatest tenors ever. Also tonight, heated hearing, Dr. Anthony Fauci, invoking the Fifth Amendment more than 100 times, refusing to answer questions about his handling of the pandemic. Now, Republican senators are threatening to hold him in contempt. Right now, violent storms whipping across the Northeast an apparent twister peeling off this roof. A mill collapsing in rushing waters, streets cut off,

were tracking it all. President Trump vowing revenge after Iran attempted a surprise missile attack on U.S. basis, and our new reporting, his furious outburst at his national security team. Actor Jared Leto facing new allegations of sexual misconduct, multiple women telling the BBC he pursued them when they were teens. How he's responding. The wild road rage chase caught on camera, a driver going in reverse, appearing to chase down a couple. What happened next? Plus, new body cam video of ex-N-N-Fel star Tony Romo's DUI arrest, what it shows.

And Europe's raging wildfires, hundreds of thousands forced from their homes, are reporter on the front lines as flames ravaged France's wine country. Plus, why one of the world's biggest bands is boycotting the Grammys. Top Story starts right now. This is a special edition of Top Story, a visit with Pope Leo, reporting tonight from the Post. summer residents in Italy. Here is Tom Yamas. And good evening. We are live tonight from Castel Gandolfo in Italy, about an hour outside of Rome. And right behind me there, those large wooden doors, the entrance to the Pope's beautiful summer palace. The stunning grounds below it have played host to emperors, popes, and world leaders

going back centuries. And just hours ago, I spoke face to face with Pope Leo himself. I asked him about making history as America's first ever pontiff, the American vans, the American he brings to the papacy, and for the first time he speaks publicly about his family's history with savoury. Earlier today, these were the scenes during an extraordinary event, Pope Leo's Concert for Peace, featuring performances from legendary tenor Andrea Bocelli, as well as a choir of children who have faced incredible hardships, many from war-torn regions around the world. Pope Leo delivering a message calling for peace and unity during a time of global conflict. We'll bring you all of that, but we begin with my meeting with the Pope and our questions to the

First American Pontiff. Your Holiness, thank you so much for speaking with us. You are the first American Pope. It's something you don't speak about often. I'm curious, how important is being American to you? And what do you love about America? Well, first of all, just to clarify, I think of myself more as the Pope, who happens to be American. Not to be little what it means to be American.

I was born in the United States. My family is still in the United States. I have great love for America. But I understand my mission as having a very important dimension, which is precisely being pastor of a universal church, and having a voice and an opportunity to speak to people throughout the world. So I will put things in that order, and yet at the same time, I will acknowledge that for myself,

as well as for the people of the United States, judging by the response that we've seen since May 8th of last year, that there is great significance in being the first American pope. We asked the first American to lead the Catholic Church what he still carries from home. What do you love about America? So many things. In a sense, speaking about principles,

what America stands for, the sense of freedom, the sense of opportunity, the sense of having invited for generations, people from around the world to be part of America, I come from a family that my grandparents were immigrants. On my mother's side, we have people who were both slaves and slave owners. There's a history of, if you will, growing up and the kind of experience that helps me to recognize myself, one of the greatest wealths of the United States.

And I continue to hold the principles that have been a part of being American for so many years, that that will continue. A history traced by a genealogist only after his election and one he has never spoken about publicly until tonight. Pope Leo the 14th speaking with us just after hosting a concert for peace in the Papal Gardens at Castel Gandolfo.

Where Andrea Bocelli, an a choir of children from parts of the world, gripped by crisis, performed. It was beautiful to see children from different parts of the world singing together. I've heard Andréocelli sing other times, and so to have, if you will, the blessing of Andréocelli and his voice together together with this choir put together by foundation. But all these children coming together from different parts of the world was just a very uplifting experience. Very nice. And then the question so many Americans have been wondering. Will Americans see you soon in America? They will see me there.

By coincidence today, we were looking at the calendar for the next couple of years. Nothing is set in stone yet, but I certainly hope to be there soon. But next couple of years, I heard you. Your Holiness, thank you. No date, no city, but for the first time, the first American pontiff may be coming home. Joining us out to discuss what we heard from Pope Leo, Father Patrick Briscoe, he's a Dominican friar and host of the godsplaining podcast, and was here with us during the Concert for Peace.

So, Father, my first question to you about what Pope Leo said about being the Pope first and also American. He wasn't trying to disparage his American identity, but he says he is a leader of a universal church. That certainly, that was on display for all of us to see tonight, I think, wasn't it, Tom, where we had children from all over the world there, we had guests from all over the world. And you get a sense here from Rome, from Castle Gandalfo, that the Pope is really thinking globally. He certainly has a mind of the United States, very concerned. about the situation of the United States on the global stage,

but he's really thinking about his job to be the pastor of the world. It was the first time he publicly on camera spoke about his heritage and being the descendants of both slave owners but also slaves themselves. This was something that was discovered by genealogist once he was elected. How was that shaping, you think, is papacy in some way, at least in America? Well, it was very moving to hear him speak about that tonight, because as you say, he hadn't directly. We saw a beautiful nod to this.

in his encyclical letter, Magnificca Humanitas, where he made an apology for the church's role in any part of the slave trade, in any part of slavery. And I think this is key, because what the Holy Father is doing is he's undermining this lesson he asked for all of us to respect fundamental human dignity. And he's saying, this is part of my family's story, and that's why the lesson matters so much to him.

There is no secret that there is a tension between him and President Trump. We know that Vice President Vance has met with Pope Leo, Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, both Catholics. They've met with Pope Leo, but it's unclear if Pope Leo and President Trump have ever spoken. I asked him when he was coming to America. Do you think he'll wait for a formal invitation, or can Pope Leo come when he wants to come? I think he certainly has already been invited by the bishops of the United States, maybe not in a formal way. But it's clear that we Americans want the Holy Father to come.

It will be a homecoming. You know, the Holy Father's teaching is not just theory. It's lived, and he wants to bring that to the United States. So I think that encounter is going to be very important. We know, as you say, that he's speaking with Vice President Vance, that these conversations are ongoing. And I think a visit would allow them to flourish would bring to the forefront, actually,

some of the conversations they're having. Can the Pope and his role as peacemaker really get anything done? And I just ask that because these wars are so complicated. They've bogged down countries like Ukraine and Russia. Two American presidents now, Israel, what happened with Hamas and Gaza, and of course now we have the issues with Iran that can't seem to be solved. What is Pope Leo's role, do you think?

From the 20,000-foot view, it does look like. There's nothing that any one person could do. And yet his lesson, the lesson we saw tonight from the choir, voices singing together in unity, is that every person actually can't do something. And that's why the visit would be so beautiful, because what the Pope has taught us is an encyclical, what he's taught us in this beautiful concert we witnessed tonight,

is that relationships are at the forefront. And that when we're building human dignity, when we're working to build peace, it's building and nourishing those relationships. So can one man do something? I think absolutely yes. We're into year two of his papacy. How would you describe Pope Leo?

I think he's proved himself to be very charming, that he's playful, he's funny, he's very gentle. He's very serene. And I think in a world, this underscores his mission of peace, actually, in a world where so much seems tumultuous and that could change at any moment to meet someone who's so calm and steady, I think really captures people.

Is it hard for maybe people that want to get to know Pope Leo, that he is very different from Pope Francis, very different from Pope John Paul II. Pope Benedict was sort of his own Pope, right? What do you think Pope Leo fits in that mold? I thank God that they're all so different. I really do, because otherwise we'd be forced to compare them in a kind of one-on-one's one way. There'd be no podcast.

Yeah, exactly. And it really would undermine this beauty of relationship and of getting to know one another and seeing the different gifts. I was speaking to my driver tonight. I said, who's your favorite pope? And he said, well, in my lifetime, John Paul II. And there are ways, the point of mentioning that is to say that there are ways that each individual Pope resonates with each individual person. So thank God for their differences.

Father Patrick Briscoe, so great to have you here with us in Rome as we cover this historic event, this historic concert, and of course our chat with Pope Leo as well. Thank you for having me. And we will have much more on this historic day here in Italy on Pope Leo's Concert for Peace featuring Andrea Bocelli later in the show. but we do want to turn out of the other major stories we're following back at home, beginning with the contentious day on Capitol Hill for Dr. Anthony Fauci, who repeatedly invoked the Fifth Amendment, declining to answer questions about the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. NBC's Monica Alba has more. On the advice of counsel, I respect.

Dr. Anthony Fauci today invoking his Fifth Amendment right more than a hundred times. I respectfully declined to answer. Declining to answer lawmaker questions about his handling of the pandemic, citing what, called GOP Senator Ram Paul's unhinged obsession with prosecuting him. The sole reason he is calling me before this committee is to get me to say something, anything that could vindicate his repeated public pledges that I end up in his words, quote, behind bars, unquote. Fauci's attorney was removed after he interrupted the hearing to speak, Democrats defending Fauci.

fear of the intent of this hearing is only meant to further a purely partisan agenda. All of it after Paul published more than 1,100 pages of Fauci's personal diary, including where Fauci gushed about praise he received from celebrities like Bono, Julia Roberts, and Barbara Streisand, writing, it is not hyperbole to say that today I am the most famous and talked about person in the country. You wanted to be on TV. You wanted to be the sun god of science. You could sit for in-style magazine. But you can't answer questions for the American people.

In one entry, Fauci also wrote about a phone call where he said he successfully convinced New York City's mayor to close schools. Republican senators grilling him over those COVID lockdown measures. Who the f*** do you think you were for doing that? It is a total disgrace what you did to this country. Former President Biden pardoned Fauci for any potential offenses during an 11-year period before 2025. But it would not cover his statements today. Senator Paul's committee plans to hold a vote next week on whether to hold Dr. Fauci in contempt of Congress, but it would ultimately be up to the DOJ to prosecute him. Tom?

Monica, thank you. Now to the dangerous storm system charging across the northeast. Millions under flood alerts at this hour after days of storms ravaged the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic. Our Emily Aketa with the new images just coming in. Tonight, powerful floodwaters ripping apart buildings, carrying pieces of this mill downstream. As the parade of perilous storms dumps more than eight inches of rain on parts of upstate New York and New England. Alexa Dringis from our affiliate, WMYT, is south of Albany. The water is actually roaring all these tree limbs aligned up here along this gauge here. Road completely blocked off.

Nearby, first responders rescuing a grandmother, her granddaughter, and two pets by boat from a home surrounded by water. In northern New Jersey this morning, crews rushing to this scary scene after utility pole came crashing down onto cars. Within like 20 minutes, all these cars were like detonating. Like you could hear the gas just blowing up on them. The fire totally incinerating a line of parked vehicles. It comes on the heels of powerful storms and likely tornadoes that touched down south of Knoxville, Tennessee. And on Maryland's eastern shore, peeling off. building's room.

Tragically in Wake County, North Carolina, officials say a man was killed when a tree slammed into this home. All part of an unrelenting week of severe weather across the country. Emily Ikeda, NBC News. Let's bring in NBC Miami meteorologist Larissa Abra. So, Larissa, this serious storm threat lasts through the evening. Walk us through the timing now. And we're still dealing with some of these flood events, Tom.

You could see it nicely here on radar behind me. Heavy rain right now impacting places like upstate New York back towards New England. Some big city is currently under several flash flood warnings that are in effect like Albany, back towards Binghamton and then over into parts of Connecticut. So heavy rain with 7 million people impacted by this heavy rain. And I must mention this is a slow moving system, which is why some of these hard hit neighborhoods are. still getting dumped on. It's just really not moving too quickly. And because of it, it's going to stick around at least for the remainder of this evening. We're talking plenty of rainfall across some of these locations, anywhere between three to up to five inches before it is all said and done.

And then we have another top story, which remains the heat advisories that remain in effect for about 72 million people that span from the west coast to the middle of the country and through the deep south. This is where several heat advisories, heat watches, and heat warnings remain in effect, as people are sweating it out with triple-digit heat. Larissa Bray, you're great to have you on top story

tonight. We thank you. We turn to Washington and President Trump tonight promising a retaliate against Iran for its failed attempt to attack American troops in the region, saying, quote, we've got to smack them a bit. Garrett Haik has the latest. Tonight, smoke rising over a U.S.-owned gas storage tanker

in Egypt, following what President Trump suggests was an Iranian drone strike. And it comes after Iran's unsuccessful ballistic missile attack against American assets in Jordan. Five missiles going 8,600 miles an hour, big ones, coming right at us, and all five were shut down. And Saudi Arabia now joining the U.S. in launching precision strikes against Iran-aligned militias in Iraq, with President Trump tonight vowing more retaliatory strikes on Iran. We're going to smack them a little bit. They hit back when they strike? Will I always hit back?

Yes, pretty much. The conflict flaring up again in recent weeks after the Iranian regime broke the ceasefire it signed and fired on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz. Since then, both sides trading attacks. But Americans are souring on the war. 72% of respondents in a new poll disapproving of the president's handling of Iran. A U.S. official and person familiar telling NBC news, the president's own frustrations about his military and diplomatic options to end the war erupted during a meeting last week with some of his top national security officials. At one point, the president yelling expletives.

But the White House says that description is false and that the president trusts his team. Tom? Garrett Hake for us tonight. Garrett, thank you. We want to continue our coverage here. And I want to bring in NBC's Courtney Cubey, who has. New reporting on the behind-the-scenes conflict brewing in the Trump administration. Courtney, take us inside that heated meeting between top officials. The president reportedly yelling expletive, so what happened?

Yeah, so according to the officials we spoke with, the president was frustrated because they weren't making progress in these talks of this diplomatic effort with Iran. And the president was saying that he just didn't have any good military options. So as you mentioned, Tom, the officials who we spoke with said that it exploded into this expletive-laden yelling. by the president among some of his more senior national security officials. Now, we know that we keep hearing from Trump administration officials that talks are ongoing, that Iran wants to make a deal. President Trump's saying that publicly himself. But the reality is we don't have any indication that there is any actual diplomatic overture by either side that seems to be taking hold.

And in fact, what we saw occur just about just over 24 hours ago was Iran breaking a relative piece of several days. and conducting strikes, launching ballistic missiles at allies and Americans in the region. Now, one thing that's really notable about this right now, Tom, is the U.S. military, in conjunction with Saudi Arabia, took strikes inside Iraq last night. But that was not in direct retaliation for the strikes that Iran carried out that surprise attack. In fact, that was against Iranian-backed militias who have been carrying out drone attacks for a number of weeks now. So the big question now is, will the U.S. response?

We have seen them retaliate for the kinds of attacks that Iran carried out last night, Tom. Yeah, Corny, I guess the big question is, do they expand? Do they change in their nature? And I know you kind of broke down what we can expect. But, you know, the president has always surprised the world sometimes in events like this. But it sounds like he's been growing incredibly frustrated with the people around him that are advising him on Iran. Yeah, absolutely. And one of the big challenges militarily right now is that the U.S. military has taken out a lot of the Iranian assets along the coast. that are directly threatening the shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. So the president is at close to an inflection point right now where he's going to have to decide if he does want to expand and move strikes further inland, maybe go after additional targets,

go after more ballistic missile launchers like the ones that may have carried out the attacks last night, or if he wants to just continue going after the exact assets, so that's drone launchers, missile launchers along the coast that are threatening commercial shipping. At this point, we don't have any indication of where President Trump's head is on this, but he keeps making these public pronouncements about how the U.S. is going to go after Iran even harder. So it's just not really clear where this is going to go. I will say, Tom, the ballistic missiles that Iran launched last night, the U.S. military has been retaliating against those kinds of attacks.

So I wouldn't be surprised if we see that in the very near future. Courtney Cupid and Cuby, with a lot of new reporting on this first. Courtney, we thank you for that. We're going to send you back to the Top Story Studios in New York, where our good friend Kate Snow is tracking the other major headlines tonight. Kate, great to see you. Good evening. Yeah, you too, Tom. Good to be with you. Thanks. Still ahead tonight on Top Story. As prices and inflation keeps soaring, the Federal Reserve deciding not to change interest rates, what it means for your wallet. Plus, wildfires tearing across Europe now threatening some of France's most iconic vineyards are Raf Sanchez is on the front lines. And a frightening road rage arrest dash cam, capturing a suspect appearing to chase down a couple, at some point even driving in reverse, how it all came to an end ahead on top story.

We're back now with scary video out of Oregon, an apparent road rage confrontation that spiraled into a wild car chase. Morgan Chesky has the video and the story. Oh, my God, this guy's crazy. He's driving in reverse right now, trying to... to follow me in reverse. Tonight, new video capturing an Oregon couple's drive turned nightmare. I have a disturbance that someone's following me. I don't know.

He seems like he has a weapon or something. The couple's dash camp capturing the stunning moment Sunday as a driver aggressively cuts them off, leading to a frightening chase. Look, what the fuck's he doing? Driving in reverse? He's driving in reverse with me. Police say 29-year-old Armand Hastings intentionally swerved into oncoming traffic. Don't worry, sorry.

Dash cam then shows Hastings vehicle backing up down the road, tracking the couple in reverse for more than a mile as they tried to escape. It isn't clear what led to the incident. Concerned Hastings was reaching for a firearm. The couple drove straight to the Beaverton Oregon Police Department, where officers were waiting. You're under arrest above a guard. Body cam video shows police pulling a black airsoft handgun from Hastings jacket pocket. His criminal history includes a 2024 conviction for assaulting an officer. Tonight, the 29-year-old is pleaded not guilty to four new charges, including reckless driving and menacing. And Morgan Chesky is with me now.

Morgan, it's unbelievable. What more are we learning about how that all happened? Yeah, Kate, the video is stunning. And the police were very quick to praise the actions of that couple, saying that they did the exact right thing in driving directly to the police station. not trying to engage that driver in any way, shape, or form. As for the suspect, he is in custody. No word yet on if he's speaking to authorities tonight. Kate. All right, Morgan Chesky for us. Thanks. Coming up, new safety measures in schools, the pepper spraying drones meant to stop an active shooter. We'll speak with one of the developers about how it all works. And just in tonight,

a truck erupting into flames, halting traffic on the nation's longest bridge. But for First, Top Story's top moment and the heartwarming reunion, five years in the making, according to an Indiana shelter, a dog named Chong went missing way back in 2021, but his family never stopped trying to find him. Well, five years later, with the help of microchips and social media, he was found hundreds of miles away. Take a look at this reunion. What you do? Not just with the owner, he was also reunited with his own. Not just with the owner, he was also reunited with his brother. The shelter says there was not a dry eye in the house that day. Stay with us. More top story on the way. We're back with a major decision from the Federal Reserve voting to keep

interest rates steady despite opposition from some policymakers who wanted to see a rate hike. The new Fed chair, Kevin Warsh, insisting the economy is still going strong, even as concerns grow about inflation and rising prices. Let's bring in Brian Chung, who was at the Fed meeting today, in Washington. Brian, I know you pressed the Fed chair about this decision to hold things steady. What did he tell you? Yeah, well, look, I mean, just to rehash exactly what the Fed did here, they held steady on interest rates. And this is despite the fact that there were some questions over whether or not the Fed might want to hike interest rates today. This was kind of the first meeting in quite a while where there was a real toss-up and that we could have seen

a surprise from the Fed in the form of a hike. The Fed opting not to do that despite the fact there were members of that Fed committee that voted against the decision because they did want to see the central bank hike interest rates today, three. It was a vote of nine to three. But of course, the question is going to be messaging that to the rest of the American public. How are you saying that you want to be tough on inflation when you don't use the tool that you would use, which is hiking interest rates to tamp down on inflation? Here was his message to the average American with regards to what the Fed did today. Take a listen. For some households, businesses, and market professionals, five years of high inflation have left a mistaken impression that's hard to shake, that the Fed's implicit inflation target was somehow above 2%. Let me reiterate, there is no soft inflation target. There is no soft implicit target, not on this committee's watch. There's only a target, and it's 2%. And so let's take a look at where we are on that 2% target. If you take a look at the rate of inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index,

you can see that since the war began in February of this year, we have been pretty above the 2% target. But if you zoom out and look over that 5-year period, we've been above that 2% target for the duration of that time. Kevin Warsh has said we're over 60 months in a row. We have seen inflation above 2%. So why didn't they use that tool? I asked the Fed chairman exactly that.

how does he message us to the American people? He said that the Fed is on the job. They're trying to address that. And so for that reason, there's a lot of confusion over here over exactly how the Fed is messaging all this with interest rates holding study today. And Brian, how rare is it to have three of the members of the board dissent like this and say, oh, no, we maybe should raise interest rates?

Yeah, it's a pretty significant move. And we have seen multiple Fed officials dissenting against decisions before we saw that happen earlier this year. when there were words in the statement that they just simply didn't like. But this is the first time in quite a while that we've seen three members at the same time voting for an entirely different policy action. Again, the Fed holding rate steady, but three of them said we should have just hike rates today. I think the challenge is that despite the fact that the Fed did hold interest rate steady today,

you still have the expectation that they're going to hike by the end of this year. If you take a look at Wall Street bets over what the Fed's moves are going to be by the end of 2026, the lion's share of them will say they'll have to hike at least one time. before the end of this year. That's certainly going to be, you know, impactful for the borrowing costs for mortgage rates, for credit card rates, which all depend on the Federal Reserve's benchmark rate. Yeah. And so today, Brian, how did markets react to all of this? And is there a sense when what you just described might happen? When are those rates going to go up? Yeah, well, I mean, the next meeting where the Fed could do that would be in the middle of September, so we'll have

to revisit that then. But when you take a look at the market action today, it was a red day across Wall Street with the Dow Jones down over 2%. The S&P 500, the NASDAQ, both down over 1 and a half percent. Also, there was some fascinating moves in the bond market where you saw 30-year bond yields nudge higher even after the Fed chair had made his press conference remarks at 2.30 p.m. Eastern time. And so there's a lot of volatility in markets right now. I should point out not all of it is because of the Fed. You also have a meta. Of course, Big Tech is a big weight inside the stock market.

And so for that reason, that could be part of the stock market story as well. Fed chair has said he doesn't want to offer forward guidance, offer tea leaves into what the Fed does next. That's a form of volatility and perhaps a reason for why markets have been rocky as of late Kate. All right, Brian Chung for us. Brian, thanks. Now to Top Stories News Feed, starting in Japan where emergency crews are still digging through rubble and debris.

They're searching for survivors from that devastating earthquake that destroyed homes and buildings, including part of a shopping mall. The company says it was filled with thousands of people when the quake hit. According to the Associated Press, officials confirm at least 18 have died, more than 60 others are hurt. And the U.S. is banning new humanoid robots, but only robots made overseas. The Federal Communications Commission says it's all because of national security risks that could leave supply chains vulnerable. The move is seen as directly targeting China, which dominates the global market for robots. Beijing now pushing back on the ban, saying it will only hurt American companies.

companies and consumers. New video of deputies arresting former NFL star Tony Romo. He was taken into custody last week in Milwaukee on suspicion of driving while intoxicated. Body cam shows Romo seeming to argue with officers after telling them he had not been drinking. Listen. Will you submit to an evidentiary chemical test of your breath? No. Like I said, I want my lawyer for the eighth time.

You can see Romo appearing to struggle to follow directions, even asking to stretch before doing some sobriety tests. NBC News reached out to Romo's team, but we have not heard back. He's due back in court in September. In New Orleans, a truck bursting into flames on a bridge. You can see black smoke here flying from that orange fireball. It happened earlier on Lake Pontchartrain on the causeway. It's the longest bridge in the U.S. nearly 24 miles. The fire blocked off traffic for about an hour as crews worked to put it out.

It's unclear exactly what caused all this, but our local station says luckily nobody was hurt. Now to a new security measure designed to combat active shooters now being deployed in several school districts across the country. The drones are equipped with pepper spray and flash strobes, and they have the capability of smashing through windows and ramming an attacker at top. speeds. They will be tested this academic year. They're being installed in at least nine schools across Florida, Georgia, and Colorado. I want to bring in Bill King. He's a retired Navy SEAL and co-founder of Mithril Defense. That's a drone company behind this technology. Bill, nice to have you with us. Thanks for being here. Can you kind of walk us through how these drones work in a worst-case scenario? Who activates them? How are they controlled?

Sure. So we come in and we scan the school ahead of time, annotate that scan with all the information that we need to know to be able to shave seconds off of our decisions, things like where the cameras are, which way do they point, you know, which windows have ballistic resistance film and which ones don't so that we know which ones to fly through. And then we install the drones, boxes of three into the school. How many boxes depends on what the full. floor plane is, how big the school is, so on and so forth. And then we fly those drones remotely from Austin using world-class racing drone pilots as the pilots. And then we have 911 dispatchers. We have paramedics on our teams. And then controlling the whole operation is somebody with hostage rescue experience like myself or, you know, we have former SWAT operators. So is it like a teacher would push a button in a classroom and that would activate you guys to get involved? Or how does that work? Yeah, so we can, we have an app that the teachers and staff could have and the SROs could have at the school. They can notify us with that.

There's an alarm button on it. Or we can integrate with any alarm button or panic button that the school already uses to be able to get the indication of, you know, what, something's happening, where it's happening, and who we need to talk to to to learn more. These drones have been tested, right, in simulations. we're seeing video of that. But have they ever been used in an active shooting? And is there any way to guarantee that they'd be effective? What about harming bystanders or students or teachers? Yeah, so they have not been used in a real shooting.

We've continued to run training exercises and all the different scenarios that we can think of. And, you know, really, the people that are controlling the operation or the protection against a bad decision, right? So target identification is really what this is all about. We're using people that spent their entire lives running into rooms trying to figure out, you know, who's the bad guy, who's the good guy, how much time do they have.

And when you do that with a machine, you can take extra time. So we can always take extra time before we make a decision on target identification. And then we can also wait for the right opportunity. if the assailant is not actively shooting, we could wait for a clearer background or something like that. Bill, that was my biggest question. What if an armed intruder just starts shooting the drone down? Yeah, so they're really difficult to hit.

In a lot of our demonstrations, we'll bring a, you know, like a paintball gun that we let people shoot at the drones, and they're not, it's not impossible, but it is incredibly hard. And then when you've got these, these pilots behind them, they're really good at being able to make evasive maneuvers, and they're also talented enough to be able to get into these tight spaces in a way that's effective to be able to reach the shooter and then start to degrade or incapacitate. Really, we're trying to buy time for that first human being to get there, and we're trying

to get that first human being there with more situational awareness and more advantage. Bill, one of the parents of a victim in Florida's Parkland High School shooting, Tony Montalto, he said these drones aren't patrolling, they just pop up when needed, and that's part of the problem. He said, we need to focus on the prevention piece rather than the reaction piece. What's your response to that? Well, so we're trying to solve a problem right now. And if we can, you know, if we can get to other solutions that are harder, that are harder to develop, that's great. But what we're trying to do right now is be able to solve, intervene in seconds when something like this happens. And really the way that you have to do that is you have to be there already and you have to have a team standing by. And that team has to be elite and they have to be trained and they have to spend all of their time thinking about this one type of an incident. So sort of a managed service for hostage rescue, if you would.

Bill King, thanks for your time tonight. Really appreciate it. Yeah, thank you. Just ahead, actor Jared Leto, accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women in a new documentary how the Oscar winner is responding to those allegations tonight. Plus, why one of the biggest bands in the world, BTS, is boycotting the Grammy's, the new award category that could be to blame. Stay with us.

Back now with Top Stories Global Watch and the wildfires tearing across parts of Europe, including in France's wine country, where one fire is four-time the size of Paris. Our Raf Sanchez is there now with crews as they battle the flames. Tonight, the battle to stamp out the raging wildfires in France is hanging in the balance. After three days of intense firefighting, crews here say they've stopped the flames spreading deeper into the iconic Bordeaux wine region. But the threat isn't over. We followed one of those teams deep into the fire zone. As you drive along here, it is just mile after mile of devastation.

You can see this house completely burnt out, charred trees as far as the eye can see. Along this country road, the situation at first appears under control. But intense heat and strong winds mean that a single glowing ember can, in an instant, turn to flames. And this is the danger. This fire just came absolutely out of nowhere. It is so dry here. Dry kindling sparked. And now you can see there is this desperate effort to keep it from becoming something bigger. These are basically just pickup trucks with water. on the back doing what they can to douse the flames.

Commander Machu Jaman says tracking small fires over a vast area is a difficult task. It's like candles, these little candles everywhere have to be stopped immediately. The professional firefighters supported by teams of volunteers, many driving their own vehicles into danger. Without these volunteers, we can't win this war. Some of them are local farmers trying to protect their fields. Others, like construction worker Kevin Garshin, just doing what they can. Are you getting it under control?

No. When we stop one fire, another one start over there. In neighboring Spain, the fight is just as intense. Temperatures today reaching 100 degrees as crews try to contain the biggest wildfire in Spain's modern history. A monster blaze west of Madrid that is now burned in area larger than Philadelphia. An intense fire is also breaking out in Greece, where authorities say two firefighters were killed tackling a blaze on the island of Cree. And a third died on the mainland, according to Reuters. A struggle against the flames now stretching across Europe.

When you're out here, you really get a sense of the scale of the mobilization of these fire crews. One commander is saying nearly every firefighter in France is, involved in this effort. I'll send it back to you. Back here at home, we're following new allegations of sexual misconduct against Oscar-winning actor and singer Jared Leto, four women coming forward in a new BBC documentary accusing Leto of criminal conduct when they were teenagers, something Leto denies. Chloe Malas has more.

Tonight, Oscar-winning actor Jared Leto, accused by multiple women speaking to the BBC of sexual misconduct. Four women, three of whom spoke to the BBC with their faces concealed, recounted their experiences from between 2002 and 2016, when Leto was in his 30s and 40s. The women each teenagers at the time. The BBC says it corroborated a number of the women's accounts with friends and family. But it quickly moved into, oh, well, you were a virgin.

Leto now 54 is a Hollywood heavyweight, winning an Oscar for his role in Dallas Byers Club. starring in films like Suicide Squad. In the BBC story, a woman identified as Isabel. So she met with Leto in a Las Vegas motel when she was 17, and he was in his 30s. She says he called her over to the bathroom while he was in the shower. He grabbed my hand and he started touching himself with my hand. She says she then left.

In a statement, Letto said, I have never sexually assaulted anyone in my entire life. These claims are absolutely and categorically false. Another woman told the BBC when she met Leto in California, she let him know she was only 17, and that he pursued sex with her anyway. He told me, I would like you to call me Daddy, and it was either pretend to be a little girl or my little girl. A growing number of allegations now swirling around one of Hollywood's biggest stars. Chloe Malas joins us now on set. Chloe, this is not the first time that Leto has been a huge.

accused of something. That's right. So there is a well-known DJ who has a big following in Los Angeles that took to social media last year making claims against Jared Leto saying that he assaulted her. He came onto her when she was a teenager. And it prompted a lot of response on social media. As we've seen in other high-profile situations when it deals with sexual misconduct, especially in the Me Too movement, as you did so much reporting Kate during that time, where a lot of people shared their own experiences when it came to Jared Leto. All allegations, nothing has been proven in a court of law. He's not facing Jared Letto any sort of civil cases or criminal cases right now against him, and he denies all of it. And I think that the big question here, too, is did Jared Leto, if these women were,

according to the BBC report, some of them underage at the time, did he know their ages? You know, like I say in my report, the BBC says that they corroborated these accounts from many of the women with text messages, their family members. But again, he's denying all of this. Right. All right, Chloe Malas, thank you. Let's turn now to the Grammys, K-pop supergroup, BTS, announcing they will not submit their most recent album for consideration. It comes after the Grammys unveiled a new category for Asian pop, the group posting that they hope that music can be heard and loved for what it is rather than be differentiated by region or language. The boy,

band is no stranger to the Grammys. They've been nominated five times before. Back in 2022, they performed their hit song, Butter. Smooth breaking into your heart like that. All right, we remember them. The Recording Academy did not answer our request for comment tonight. For more on this, I want to bring in Tamar Herman, a pop culture journalist and K-pop expert. Tamar, nice to have you with us. Was this a surprise this announcement from BTS that they won't even try to be considered for a Grammy? I think it's pretty surprising.

They came back for the first time in several years after their military list in Korea with their album, Aiyong, and it's the first big comeback since the pandemic. They have a huge world tour. So I think it's a bit of surprise that they're not going to be submitting themselves, but it also says a lot in the way that they all posted it simultaneously, and they have a very concise but very intentional message to, I think, the Grammys. Well, it certainly sounds like that statement is alluding to what the Academy did last, recently, right, and created this new category, I guess, last month.

Do you read it that way? I think it's the most likely reading in that they mentioned specifically regionality and linguistics. And the Asian pop category is coming at the tail end of a lot of critique of towards the Grammys over the years. Grammys has diversified their academy and opened up more categories. So it's like seen as both a positive, but also a lot of people have called them out for if there's a successful artist, they'll create a new category and make them go

into that category. So like hip hop or Beyonce coming out with CalBic Carter, now they make more country categories. So now this is seen as a very similar trend, so a lot of people feel like it's othering rather than inclusive. So I think it's still a surprise that BTS have been quite so determined in what they're not going to do in this case.

And I think it's going to be interesting to see how the Grammys react. Yeah, yeah. And as we said, they haven't given us any comment yet. You know, BTS revolutionized the genre of K-pop, We recently have seen, though, a lot of groups having a lot of success worldwide. Do you think that category will be welcomed by some performers? I think there's obviously performers who, you know, regardless of the actual title,

Seth Galdi, the Grammys is such an honor. It's a sign that the industry insiders, you know, producers, executives, other artists are voting for you. So it's really seen as an artistic award that people really want. and it's like the ten amount thing of their career. But at the same time, you want to make sure that it's something that is really meaningful. So I think that obviously a lot of artists will want it, but if you're going to be just like othered into a category that didn't exist until a few months ago,

it probably isn't the best feeling in the world. But at the same time, those categories, those awards really mean something. So I think that we'll see other artists still, you know, submit themselves who maybe weren't eligible for previous years awards. So it will see some more inclusion. But I think that we might also see some artists also reacting. We've seen one or two artists already announced that. that they also feel like that the the BTS decision is the right thing.

So it might be interesting to see what the next few days look like. Yeah, right. If anybody else follows suit and follows BTS's lead. This is not the first time that artists have boycotted or not submitted music for the Grammys, right? Is that kind of an effective way to start conversation and create a change? I think that wasn't BTS's intent. They would have done something very differently and how they approached the Grammys because obviously right now, you know, viewing numbers are really important for an award show like the Grammys and BTS's army are very impactful and very

intentional in how they support BTS or support institutions that they think BTS doesn't feel like supporting. So I imagine that the Grammys right now are probably maybe stressing about their viewership because they won't have this sizable audience. So there might be some interesting overtures in the next few days happening so that BTS are at least included in the award show even if they're not submitting their music. Tamar Herman, great to have you with us for some perspective. Thanks so much. When we come back, we go back to Tom in Italy for more of the sights and sounds from Pope Leo's concert for peace. What Andrea Bacheli told Tom before he took the stage with the children from war-torn parts of the world,

and you're going to hear from those children as well. All of that is up ahead next on this special edition of Top Story. I'll look tonight at the town of Castel Gandolfo, and as we close out here tonight from Italy, we want to revisit the children who were part of that historic concert for peace. young singers from parts of the world gripped by crisis coming together alongside legendary singer Andrea Bocelli to share in the power of music. The children of the choir, the voices of angels. A historic performance singing before Pope Leo alongside legendary Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli with that iconic voice. When you sing and you hear all these children behind you singing as well.

How does it feel? It's beautiful because they are angels, you know. Everyone has an incredible story. Their voices carry more than just music. They carry stories of hardship and war. Father, we are children and we only ask not to be afraid of the dark. War is a dark night that takes away our friends, our parents, our schools and our homes.

The 164 children and teenagers making up this choir brought together by the Andrea Bocelli Foundation. They come from Uganda, the Holy Land and parts of Italy. It must be so so gratifying to help these kids find these moments. I am lucky for this and I can do it because I received the present from God. Today's concert named Cantico di Pache, or concert for peace. As you were singing, did you notice how music drew all of us into an experience of something new? Something that was greater than any one of us alone could create.

I spoke to a few of the singers right before their performance. Who's excited about singing for the Pope? Everyone is all of us. 14-year-old Amy is from the Holy Land and already has experienced a lifetime of grief. This is a concert for peace. What does that mean for you personally? Personally, it means everything because we can't find peace in our country. There's war and children are scared. They're dying and it's really hard. So this is an amazing opportunity.

I have learned that teamwork is so important because if we worked on this project individually, we wouldn't have been here today. We thank you so much for watching this special edition of Top Story reporting from Castel Gandolfo. I'm Tom Yamas. Stay right there. More news on the way.