Top Story with Tom Llamas - Wednesday, March 11, 2026

Episode Date: March 12, 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.

Breaking news tonight, President Trump saying he will tap the nation's strategic petroleum reserve to stop gas prices from climbing as the war in Iran chokes global oil supplies. Right now a new barrage of strikes lighting up Beirut as oil warfare escalates. The fiery explosion at an oil depot. New strikes on the ships in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran holding the critical trade route captive tonight and countries agreeing to a historic release of stockpiled oil. Will it slow the surging prices here in the U.S.? and why you should fill up sooner than later. Also tonight, our team inside a hospital in Beirut,

speaking with some of the youngest victims of the war, hurt in the growing conflict. Deadly tornado outbreak, a monster twister, tearing across the highway, entire neighborhoods flattened. You're going to see them. Baseball-sized hail, shattering windshields. Right now, millions at risk from Texas

all the way to New York, Bill Cairns, you know he's standing by. Our series, the cost of denial, hundreds suing State Farm, alleging the company is systematically denying their homeowner claims why one state's attorney general is comparing them to the mob. Axe attack, a group of car wash employees, tackling a man armed with an axe, what led up to the confrontation.

Drama on the diamond, the world baseball classic upset, leaving Team USA's fate hanging in the balance. And sleepcation boom, while more vacationers are seeking a snooze instead of the views, will take you inside the growing trend. Plus, how the Epstein files are being used as a tool of pro-Iranian propaganda. This is a strange one, but we're going to explain it. Top story. It starts right now.

Good evening. Tonight, President Trump making an emergency move to rain insurging gas prices, planning to tap into America's strategic petroleum reserve as oil in the Middle East becomes an increasingly pivotal pawn in this war. Iran unleashing a wave of new attacks on ships. You see it right here. This is in the Strait of Hormuz, including this Thai cargo vessel, shrouded in smoke. It's one of at least three ships hit by Iran in the crucial passageway today,

as the majority of tankers remain at a standstill. The regime also targeting energy infrastructure by land as well. In Oman, this is the moment in Iranian drone makes an impact at an oil depot erupting in that massive fireball. The explosion blanketing the skies there with flames and smoke and ash, the global oil supply at this center of the widening war. It's triggering a new commitment today from dozens of countries to release a record-setting 400 million barrels of oil from emergency stockpiles in an effort to ease those prices. All this, as Israel, you see it here, launches another extensive wave of attacks in Lebanon. Beirut rocked with heavy explosions in the southern part of the city

as they ram up their strikes, ramp up their strikes against Iran-backed Hezbollah. And on Israel's opposite border, IDF airstrikes setting this Gaza tent camp on fire as violence from this conflict crosses borders each day. And tonight, officials at the Pentagon telling Congress the first six days of this war have already cost the U.S. $11.3 billion. We've got all the angles covered again tonight. We begin with Garrett Haig, who leads us off from the White House. You can see the drone above the oil depot in Oman before it makes impact. As the Iranian regime unleashes new attacks on ships in the Strait of Ormuz, including this Thai cargo vessel.

Iran vowing to drive oil prices to $200 a barrel. by stopping tankers from using the strait. And now, in an urgent effort to keep oil prices down, the International Energy Agency and its member countries, including the U.S., agreeing to release 400 million barrels of oil from emergency stocks. Tonight, oil prices holding steady around $87 a barrel, with the president explaining why he's tapping into the U.S. Strategic Oil Reserve. Well, reduce it a little bit, and that brings the prices down.

We have to get rid of the evil. There's great evil taking place in Iran, as you know, and our military has been unbelievable. The president recently warning the Iranian regime against blocking the strait, just 20 nautical miles wide at its narrowest point, a critical corridor for more than 20% of the world's oil. If Iran does anything to do that, they'll get hit at a much, much harder level. Iran turning to unleashing these new attacks on oil after the Pentagon says it has decimated the Iranian military. To date, we have struck more than 5,500 targets inside Iran. President Trump saying he will end the war, quote, soon, because there's practically nothing left to target. NBC's Peter Alexander with the president today.

What more do you need to do militarily for this operation to end? More are the same, and we'll see how that all comes out. Right now, they are, they've lost their Navy, they've lost their Air Force. They have no anti-aircraft apparatus at all. They have no radar. Their leaders are gone. Most Republicans support the operation. The president's been very clear about those goals,

about destroying the missiles and the drones, destroying the nuclear program. But the president facing pressure from some allies. He ran on no more wars and these stupid senseless wars, and then we have one that we can't even really clearly define. why we did it. All as inside Iran, a top security official now threatening that police are ready to shoot anyone who protest the Iranian regime after a deadly crackdown in January. Though tonight, a key advisor to Israel's prime minister is hopeful Iranians will take to the streets again. Over 85%

of the Iranian people detest the Ayatollah regime. All of these people have the once-in-lifetime opportunity to do the right thing, and I'm sure they'll do it. All right, with that, Garrett Hake, joins us tonight from the White House. Garrett, another headline that we're tracking, we still have not seen or heard from Iran's new supreme leader, and the reason may not just be his security. Yeah, Tom, another factor is that he was apparently injured on the opening day of the conflict.

That's according to Tehran's ambassador to Cyprus and the son of Iran's president. At a government rally on Monday, the new Ayatollah was represented only by a photo on stage. Tom. Okay, Garrett Hague for us. Garrett, thanks. We also have some new reporting on that deadly missile strike

on a school in Iran that killed 170. people, most of them children. A preliminary military investigation finding the U.S. was likely behind the attack. NBC's Courtney Kubi, who covers the Pentagon for us, joins us now with the latest. Courtney, we're learning outdated intelligence was to blame? Yeah, that's right. So what we know already is that according to this preliminary investigation, it looks increasingly likely that the U.S. was behind this strike. We've been seeing things like video showing what appears to be a tomahawk missile, striking that school. But what we learned today that's new, Tom. is that according to the preliminary results of this investigation,

and officials who are familiar with it, they tell us that, in fact, the U.S. may have been relying on old intelligence, and that may have been how they targeted this school. Now, of course, the school was at a site that used to be in Iranian military facility, and there was an active Iranian military facility right nearby. The officials telling us that, in fact, that it was clear that the defense intelligence agency had this target, This target validated, found it was a legitimate target. They gathered information from multiple sources, including from the Israelis, and they validated

the target. But it's supposed to go through a process after that where multiple other agencies look at the target, determine whether it's valid or not, and that is how it's verified before the strike actually happens. Right now, this investigation that is ongoing, the big question that they must be looking at, Tom, is where did this process break down that led to this strike that, as you mentioned, was deadly more than 170 people killed, most of them little kids. And so much of the other intelligence has been spot on, but yeah, that's the big question

they're going to have to answer. Courtney, we thank you for that. I want to bring in our panel of experts tonight. Colonel Steve Warren is an NBC News military analyst, and John Kilduff is a founding partner of, again, Capital and Energy Analyst as well. Colonel Warren, I want to first pick up on Courtney's reporting there on the strike on an Iranian school. If old intelligence is to blame, how could the U.S. military have let that happen, or just someone? Sometimes these things happen. Yeah, this is, Tom, a tragedy of war. This is why no one really likes wars.

You know, we struck, according to Admiral Cooper, the commander of U.S. Central Command, we've struck more than 5,500 targets. That's a lot of targets. That's a lot of activity. That's a lot of analysis. And these things, unfortunately, occasionally they slip through. It appears that according to some great reporting from Courtney Q. that, you know, this was a validated target, but based on older intelligence.

And even though every target goes through a, quite frankly, a rigorous process of checking, rechecking, validating, and revalidating. And I've seen this process work in U.S. Central Command, and it is a very detailed process. Occasionally, something will slip through. We just learned from the Energy Department, John, that the U.S. is set to release 172 million barrels of crude from strategic petroleum reserves. How big of an impact do you expect that to have on oil prices? Unfortunately, the situation here this time around is so great.

It's going to be very difficult for any magnitude of strategic petroleum petroleum reserves to do very much to the pricing here right now. I do applaud the move globally, the 400 million barrels, and whatever the United States is contributing here to that, it's very important. It would at least stave off. It could be become spot shortages. But look, we are staring down a deficit right now of 20 million barrels a day. It's pretty easy to do the math on that in terms of how much 400 million barrels will cover.

Not very much. We need to get that straight of Hormuz reopened, make it navigable, and get this oil back on the market. If all the in-country military targets are being consumed here, I really don't understand. the reluctance or the inability to open and make the straight navigable. It's really the key to this whole situation for the global economy. This needs to be fixed immediately. And then John, Iran is vowed to stop tankers from using the straight to drive oil to $200 a barrel. Do you think there's a world where we actually see barrels get that expensive?

If this persists, yes, it's going to be a slow grind higher. I mean, we're already back over $90 a barrel here this evening. for the U.S. crude oil. And to the extent that these supplies continue to be choked off, absolutely. The global inventories will be, it will dwindle. There will be spot shortages. And then what price you pay for that last available barrel will be to the highest bidder, which will go through the roof.

So, yes, this is a big problem. The problem we're having that's compounding it is that the countries in the region, Saudi Arabia and the rest of them, are now curtailing output. and it's going to take them time to bring that oil production back online. So whenever they say the strait is open, the longer this goes, the longer it's going to take for normalcy to come back to the oil market in terms of supplies. Colonel Warren, President Trump says the U.S. has struck 28 Iranian ships that could lay mines there in the strait. Explain to our viewers why those mines would be so dangerous

in exactly how they work in the ocean. Sure. Naval-laid mines are fascinating. It's fascinating, inexpensive, and very deadly weapon system. They're magnetic. So they are laid at various levels, sometimes anchored to the seabed floor, sometimes floating on the surface, and then at various levels in between, and they float. And when they sense, you know, through magnetism, a ship coming nearby,

they attach it and explode. And these are powerful weapons. You know, war ships are equipped to often deal with a mine strike, and they can prevent from sinking. They have systems that they use to seal off compartments. But a commercial vessel, particularly a tanker, which is obviously full of oil, this will be a massive fireball. It will be an environmental catastrophe. And I frankly don't blame, you know, commercial shipping for not wanting to take the chance of going through that straight.

John, if we can bring this back to consumers here in the U.S. gas prices have only been going up, right? Should drivers be filling up their cars now if they can as often as they can because they're just going to keep going higher and higher? I mean, I don't want to cause a run on the pumps, but yes, that's exactly what we're seeing here. We've got a poll back in pricing over the weekend into early this week, which gave us something of a break at the pump. Certainly stopped the price rise. Given tonight's price action, there's going to be more ahead. And yes, it's only a shot higher from here. So I would not tarry. on not filling up when you can. All right, guys, we thank you for joining us, John and Colonel Warham.

Right now, millions on alert across the country as a deadly tornado outbreak charges east, twisters ripping across the Midwest, killing at least two people and leveling entire neighborhoods. NBC's Maggie Vesbettel reports from the storm zone. Oh, shit. Tonight, John dropping video of this monster tornado barreling across an Illinois highway. Part of a deadly tornado outbreak. Tornado down. It's on the ground. That ravaged America's midsection overnight, ripping down power lines. Watch again as this power line appears to spark. And just seconds later,

here you can see hail pummeling parts of Illinois. This photo proof some pieces as big as a baseball. These cars left smashed and dented with windows blown out. At least 17 reported twisters carving a devastating trail from Texas through Illinois to Indiana, where drone video in the small community of Lake Village shows home after home completely destroyed. I just wanted to hold onto my mom. It was scary. What was going through your mind? Just keep my mom right by me.

Mia walked her and her family huddled in their cinder block laundry room as a massive twister raced toward them. It looked like black dirt just spinning. Now much of their home and the neighborhood around them gone. It's just the only place it's ever felt like a home. It's just weird to see it all now. I don't recognize it. Authorities say at least 10 people across multiple states were injured and two killed. Family confirming Ed and Arlene Kozlowski died when a reported tornado hit their home. The couple married more than 60 years. Tonight, their memories and the memories of so many others in pieces. And here you can see up close just how intense these storms were.

This truck just flipped over on its side. And then over here, we walked this way. That's just piles of pieces of homes that were ripped to shreds, including the home of Arlene and Ed Kozlowski. Their grandson telling us their home, or what's left of it, is in that pile. Back to you. It's terrible. And I know it's all around you there, Maggie,

with the threat continuing overnight and into tomorrow. I want to get right to meteorologist Bill Cairns. Bill, walk us through the track and timing of these dangerous storms because we just saw those communities where Maggie was right there, and it's horrific. Yeah, that was happening last night at this time. So we do have new tornado warnings now, but they're not for extreme storms like we saw last night.

We can get ones that maybe our tornado could take a roof off, but not like level a house down to its foundation. So the storms that we're concerned with are now rolling through Pennsylvania. A lot of wind damage reports. We've only had two reports of tornadoes today, no significant damage. But with this tornado watch, these storms are now approaching Interstate I-95. Washington, D.C., has got some storms in the Beltway, but just north of there are the strongest of the storms. So here's areas from Harrisburg heading into areas towards Allentown. These are

severe thunderstorm warnings, and now we have a severe thunderstorm warning for the Baltimore area, so you could briefly get high gusty winds, possibly some small hail. There was a tornado warning with this about 10 minutes ago. That has since been dropped, but we'll continue to watch those storms approaching Baltimore. If you're in the Baltimore area, just head inside, let this blow past you as we go throughout the next half hour or so. So considerable threat from the winds could gust up to 60 to 70 miles per hour. And I want to give you heads up. March is known for these wild weather swings. And we're about to see one. A lot of people have experienced incredible warm. And now we're going to see a quick moving storm system into the middle of the country. If you're in Minnesota, Wisconsin or Michigan, Sunday into Monday could be a blizzard. Some areas could get two feet of snow. And at the same time, we have an acceptance. exceptional heatwave that's going to develop in the West. Tom, we're going to be talking about all-time March records being shattered in areas like Phoenix, Denver, Tucson, possibly Los Angeles. So, yeah, March is known for these wild swings. But, you know, this pattern right now, this is

exceptional. All right. Bill Cairns, we're going to be watching this all week. We thank you. We're back in a moment with more on the Iran War on a look inside a hospital in Beirut, where we hear from injured patients and families caught up in the conflict. Plus, our investigation to the challenges some are facing when dealing with insurance, why a state's attorney general is now comparing one company to the mob, and the terrifying takedown in Florida team jumping into action when a man starts threatening others with an axe, that wild scene ahead on top story.

We're back down with our series of The Cost of Denial, where we investigate the challenges people face with insurance. Tonight, NBC's Laura Jared on why hundreds of people in Oklahoma are suing state farm and why the state's attorney general is comparing the insurance giant to the mob. The roof is very steep. Billy Hirsch couldn't believe what he was hearing from his insurance company. There's a hole in the roof. And State Farm comes out and it's in fair condition.

We're like, there's a hole in the roof. The police officer and his wife, Lacey. Look, I'm losing a turn. Live with their five-year-old on a cul-de-sac just outside Tulsa, Oklahoma. That hole in their roof, they say, the result of a vicious hailstorm in 2023. Billy says he spoke to multiple contractors and everyone agreed. If you need a full roof replacement. And for them, it seemed like a no-brainer.

They would say, who's your insurance provider? We'd say State Farm, and their heads would drop. Despite having a policy that covered accidental damage to the home, State Farm denied their claim, finding the roof was in fair condition. Eight months later, another hailstorm. And the Hershey say they found even more damage to the roof. This time, State Farm acknowledged it, but called it minor and refused to pay for any replacement. Did you feel like, well, wait a minute, I paid, I paid my premiums on time. Why am I not getting my roof fixed?

Absolutely. It makes you feel like the entire system of insurance is rigged. Afraid of what might happen when the next storm hit, the Hershey's put on a brand new roof. Every shingle up there is new. The cost? More than $22,000. We had to borrow against the equity in our house. You had to borrow against the equity in your house to get your roof a place.

Yeah. It forced us to reevaluate our financial planning. by decades. The Hershes are now suing State Farm, alleging the company devised a fraudulent scheme to deny or underpay valid hail damage claims, saying State Farm knew its scheme would work only if it was kept secret. We've discovered and reached a conclusion that State Farm has a scheme of deception. The State's Attorney General Gettner Drummond now joining in this legal battle, after a state

Court granted his office the power to investigate. I think that as we go deeper into this lawsuit, we'll discover that State Farm has reaped billions of dollars of profits off of Oklahomans, and that's not going to be tolerated. The Hershey's aren't the only one suing. Law firms tell NBC News there are now more than 600 similar cases against State Farm in Oklahoma. The company, which is the number one property insurer in the state, declined our request for an interview. in legal filings has denied any wrongdoing. State Farm telling us it has paid more than

$1 billion to Oklahoma customers for wind and hail damage to their homes and property over the past two years. But Attorney General Drummond is investigating possible racketeering or RICO violations by the company. An allegation, State Farm calls frivolous. People think about RICO laws applying to the mob. Is State Farm the mob? It may very well be. There may be a scheme. inside of State Farm's leadership to intentionally defraud Oklahomaans. And if that can be proven that RICO will cross into the criminal world.

Whatever comes next, the Hershey say, a roof over your head is worth the fight. If I can help protect my family and maybe help protect someone else's family, it's worth everything. Okay, Laura Jarrett joins us now in studio. So Laura, there are so many of these cases you and your team have found that some have already settled. Some of them, including at least maybe 125 actual cases, and they're just like this one, just like the Hirsch family, about the wind and hail damage. They've settled, but they're confidential settlements, Tom. And that's one of the things the Attorney General, you heard there. He's investigating to find out what, if anything, did State Farm have to admit as part of those settlements?

Now, that's before the Supreme Court in that state, so we'll wait to see what exactly the High Court does there. But as of right now, the Attorney General does have the power to investigate. And at the heart of this case, you were telling me is, and the Attorney General's true, trying to figure this out what their formula was to determine damage, right? From wind and hail. We still don't know. But the allegation is that it's so narrow, it's barely covering anything. So, in fact, they're really not insuring you in the way that they say that they are.

That's the allegation. All right. Laura Jerich, great work. We thank you. I know you're going to stand top of it. Coming up, why a pro-Iranian propaganda network is allegedly posting fake videos of Jeffrey Epstein will help you make sense of the misinformation swirling online. and a close call caught on camera, an SUV soaring over a road just missing a person and several cars.

We'll show you that video. But first, top story's top moment and the history-making game for one NBA player. Miami Heat Star Bam Adebio scored 83 last night, 83, surpassing Kobe Bryant for the second most points ever scored an NBA game. Take a look. Atabio, they're celebrating afterwards with his girlfriend, WNBA player, Asia Wilson, and his mom on the court. Right back. Back down with power and politics, and President Trump hitting the road touting his economic agenda to voters in Ohio and Kentucky, but also making a campaign stop in the congressional district represented by one of the president's most outspoken Republican critics.

Kentucky Congressman Tom Massey. Massey stuck in a bitter primary against Trump-endorsed candidate. Let's bring in NBC's Ryan Nobles on Capitol Hill tonight. Once again, Ryan, the president is taking the fight right to Massey's backyard in yet another test of how much weight his endorsement holds at this extremely pivotal time. Yeah, and Tom, there's no doubt that one of the most predictable things that you can measure is Donald Trump's support for someone in a Republican primary. It is far and away the most valuable currency for a Republican running in any district or in any

state across the country that votes Republican. And Tom Massey is certainly testing it. Now, there are small examples here and there of people that have been able to buck Trump and buck those trend lines. in order to hold on to their seats in Republican primaries, but there are far fewer that have faced the fate of being either losing their seat or being forced to retire as a result of getting sideways

with Donald Trump. Massey has not shied away from any of this fight. He has taken the fight directly to Trump. He's argued that he is as conservative as they come and that he represents his district well. And the areas in which he's parted ways with Trump are issues that his constituency specifically cares about. Things like the war with Iran and the interventionist nature of American foreign policy and the Epstein files.

It's a big gamble for Tom Massey, but it's one he hopes he can buck a trend that has been very pretty much consistent since Donald Trump became the leader of the Republican Party. Yeah, and as you know, this happened in the first term as well. Massey is just one of many former allies that have fallen out with him and face some kind of retribution. Yeah, that's right. And if you look just at this cycle, Tom, as an example, you have a number of U.S. Tom Tillis, who decided not to run for re-election. There was a real risk that he was not going to be endorsed by Trump. In Louisiana, Bill Cassidy is facing a challenger that has already been backed by Donald Trump. You'll remember that Cassidy voted to impeach Donald Trump during his second impeachment trial. Joni Ernst from Iowa had her disagreements with Trump chose not to run for reelection. Bob Good was the former chair of the Freedom Caucus. He faced a challenger that was supported by Donald Trump, and he's no longer in Congress. So there is a clear,

track record of Republicans not towing the line and then facing the consequences as a result of it. And what's interesting, Tom, is it's not always just specifically about policy differences with the president. It's often personal. It's often related to loyalty. Folks like Tom Massey, Tom Tillis, Bob Good, have some of the most conservative voting records in Congress. But that's not enough for Donald Trump if you don't show him undying loyalty. And as a result, many of these folks are either heading for the exits or are already no longer here on Capitol Hill. All right, Ryan Noble's for us. Ryan, thank you. We're going to continue this conversation as we head into Top Stories News Feed because we have an update on the special election in Georgia. Republican Clay Fuller and Democrat, Sean Harris advancing to a runoff in the race to replace former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Green, who of course got sideways with the president.

The two candidates emerged from a crowded field, but neither won a majority of the vote. The runoff is now set for next. month with Fuller entry as the favorite after getting President Trump's endorsement. And a wild scene outside of car wash in Florida, the Marion County Sheriff's Office releasing this video of a man allegedly waving an axe at two employees. That's when one of them jumps in tackling the man and pitting him to the ground. You see it there until officers arrived and arrest him. We're told that 18-year-old worker is trained in Jiu-Jitsu, able to keep him down there. And the superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District breaking his silence about

that FBI raid at his home in a hospital. office. In a statement from a spokesperson, Alberto Carvalho maintained his innocence and denied any wrongdoing. It's still unclear why the FBI agents searched the properties last month. School officials voted to place the superintendent on paid administrative leave as the investigation plays out. And shocking video of an SUV going airborne across a road, narrowly missing a pedestrian in multiple cars before slamming into a building. Look at this. It happened yesterday in White Plains just north of New York City. It's unclear what caused the driver to lose control, but he right into a Buffalo Wild Wings,

officials say somehow nobody was seriously hurt. Okay, turning overseas now to Lebanon, where the government says more than 600 people have been killed since the war began. Israel issuing warnings to residents to flee as it targets Iran's allies in the region, Hezbollah. Hundreds of thousands have already been displaced

according to the country's government, and a humanitarian crisis is looming. NBC's Danielle Hamamjan takes us inside a hospital in Beirut where she spent time with some of the youngest victims caught in the conflict. And a warning, some of these images you're about to see are hard to watch. In this central Beirut hospital, a grandmother's grief echoes through the war. Forgive me, she says, I didn't want to cry in front of you.

Amina is consoling her granddaughter and mourning her own daughter, who was killed in the first few hours of the war, shielding four-year-old Malika, who suffered shrapnel wounds to her. to her face. She lost her life trying to protect her daughter, she says. And just like I raised your mother, she tells her, I will raise you. Malika and her family were in the process of evacuating, Amina says, when their car was hit. And then there's an 11-year-old girl, one of three sisters severely injured. She's just come out of surgery.

How did it go? The doctor operating on all these patients, Dr. Rassan Abusita. A plastic and reconstructive surgeon who made headlines around the world for his work in Gaza in the months after October 7th. He then started a foundation solely focused on the children. If these things become normal to you, then you've lost something very important. You need to be continuously outraged. In the first week of the war, an average of 10 children a day were killed in Lebanon, according to government. officials as Israel targets Hasbullah, a paramilitary group funded and backed by Iran.

Lebanese children are not the only children here being treated due to Israeli strikes. Some of them are from Gaza. Like six-year-old Omar, the sole survivor of an Israeli strike that killed his entire family. He says he was playing on his bicycle in December 2023 when he was blown away by an explosion. This is him right after. Part of of a generation of amputees from Gaza. Today he's got a new prosthetic arm, an infectious laugh, and a few English words in his vocabulary. Zebra.

He says he wants to become an engineer to rebuild Gaza and a doctor to help the people of Gaza. But not too far away is once again the all too familiar sound of Israeli strikes, this time on Beirut, where the death toll is quickly rising. You need to be outraged when a child tells you that she was sitting on her mom's lap when her mom was killed. That moral outrage is what keeps us human

and what differentiates us from those who do the killing. Danielle is in Beirut tonight. Danielle, it's been an intense day of strikes. We've been tracking them all night. What have you and your team seen? Well, it's all happening right behind me just over my shoulder. you can see the police lights and hear the sirens.

There's been an extensive wave of airstrikes hitting the southern suburbs of Beirut, Dahlia, over the bay over there. But just in the past few minutes, as we were on air, actually, we heard two loud bangs. In fact, we didn't just hear them. We felt the vibration on this balcony. In Lebanese media right now reporting

that a vehicle was targeted behind me and that so far the death toll is five. Five people killed in that what it appears, to be a targeted strike on this vehicle. This is along the promenade here. And this fits into what appears to be a pattern by Israel in the past week or so, not just targeting the Hezbollah stronghold of the southern suburbs of Beirut, but targeted attacks throughout the city, particularly central Beirut. And that has really triggered quite a bit of panic for people here in Beirut because those strikes in central Beirut are quite rare. And really,

Now, people don't know where this is going or how long this is going to last, Tom. All right. Danielle, Hamam, Jim. Danielle, we thank you. Please be safe. We want to stay on the war in Iran tonight in a recent headline that caught our attention. A new Washington Post report describing a pro-Iran propaganda network that, get this, has gained traction online with posts about Epstein. So what exactly does that mean? The Post found more than a dozen accounts that experts say are tied to an Iran propaganda network. The accounts churning out fake and AI-generated content, first sharing posts about convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, then posting pro-Iranian content about the war. These are some of the posts gathered by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue and Independent Research Organization. Many of them have now been deactivated. To help us understand it all, I want to bring in Will Oremus.

He's the tech reporter for the Washington Post behind that story. Will, thanks for joining Top Story. Walk us through exactly what your team found, and since we can't show many of them, describe the types of AI videos. these accounts were posting? Yeah, so these are accounts that are posting mostly pro-Iranian regime propaganda. However, they found viral success on X, the social network, with posts that tapped into conspiracy theories about Jeffrey Epstein, Donald Trump, posted that Trump suggested that Trump went to war in Iran in order to distract from the Epstein files.

Now, to be clear, pro-Iranian propaganda accounts aren't the only source of this idea. but what they're doing is they're using it to draw more engagement to the state's propaganda. So there's the war, and then there's what Iran calls the soft war, the battle for hearts and minds. And the messaging that seems to be resonating most outside of Iran right now is the idea that this war is illegitimate, and that the U.S. and Israel are part of a corrupt and depraved Epstein class or Epstein regime, and that's been the message that's working for them right now. And then why post about these two particular topics, Epstein and Iran? Yeah, I think the biggest reason is they get a lot of engagement.

So there was a fake video that was made at least partly with AI that appeared to show an underwear-clad Donald Trump with young blindfolded girls. It then showed fake footage of Trump with Jeffrey Epstein. It was purportedly leaked footage. Now, it wasn't real. It was fake. However, these posts of these videos got. One got 6.8 million views on X. Another one got 4.5 million views on X.

When Iran does state propaganda, it usually doesn't get a lot of traction outside of Iran, but this does because a lot of people already believe that this is the case, and it's resonating with people. Yeah, there have been so many AI-generated videos since the start of the war. We want to make it very clear. These are some of them that our social news gathering team has debunked as totally AI-generated. Again, these are fake videos. With all this misinformation out there, how can you tell who's a troll and who's doing this on behalf of Iran? Yeah, it's really hard to tell.

I mean, the ordinary person can't tell anymore, an AI video from a real video, if it's well done. It's very hard to tell. And I just want to be, I'm sorry, I just want to let people know. These are just completely fake. We get the idea. These are fake videos. We completely get the idea. But they are very hard to sort of decipher.

Yeah, it's hard to tell apart. especially you're scrolling through your social media feed. I mean, you see a building getting bombed. You know, there's a war going on. It looks like the Middle East. And it says that, you know, downtown Tel Aviv was just bombed to smithereens. You say, oh, my gosh, wow, that's amazing. And then you keep scrolling.

Well, maybe it wasn't Tel Aviv. Maybe it was, you know, Beirut five years ago. But in any case, this is part of why disinformation travels so well with, you know, we're all distracted scrolling through our feeds and the social networks. They don't check to make sure something's true for the most part. although I will say that X took down the accounts that I showed them after I reached out to inquire about them with the company. And then, you know, you just mentioned X, it takes the accounts down once they're flagged. Have they said anything else about how they're moderating content and what is the White House saying about all this?

Yeah, no, X hasn't said much else. What they did do, though, is a few days into the war because of the problem you described with fake or misleading footage that purported to be from the war, they did implement a policy where anybody who's sharing AI-generated fakes of a military conflict will get suspended from their creator monetization. Basically, you can't make money on X for 90 days. If they catch you do it again, you're out. But they haven't said anything about the videos that I flagged to them, or even under what policy those were taken down because they weren't all war videos.

As for the White House, I reached out to inquire. They said, yeah, there's a lot of disinformation coming from Iran. and that's why we warn the fake news not to amplify it. I think by the fake news, I think they meant us. All right, we thank you so much, Will, for joining us. Still to come tonight, more turbulence at airports, the urgent warning from TSA, and why your spring break plans could turn into a travel mess.

Plus, the rise of sleepcations, the idea of taking time off and booking a luxury hotel just to get some Zs, we'll take you inside the trend next. We're back down with more travel troubles brewing, with spring break just around the corner. The TSA now warning that a growing number of officers are quitting or calling out sick as they work without pay during the partial government shutdown. Tom Costello has this one for us. The concern tonight, those long TSA lines could soon turn spring break travel plans into a travel nightmare, with TSA officers set to miss their second paycheck on Friday.

Out of 50,000 TSA officers, the agency says 300 have quit since the start of the shutdown. and 6% are now calling out. But on Sunday, more than half the TSA officers failed to show up for work at Houston Hobby, leading to a three-and-a-half-hour delay with lines snaking through the terminal. For people worried about spring break, should they be expecting three-hour lines? It depends on where you're coming from, and we're going to have to adjust operationally depending on what we see. But we want folks to come to the checkpoint early, prepared, and please do be respectful to the TSA officers. All of it, as Democrats say, they're open to funding TSA, but are demanding ICE, police. policing reforms. Yet again, front-line TSA workers are struggling to pay the rent, gas, and groceries.

Today, Denver Airport asked travelers to donate 10 and $20 gas and grocery cards to TSA officers. Angelita Reed is already behind on her rent. Some bills might be put on pause until I get my check. Gas has gone up, so that's another expense. It does get old. This is our third shutdown. So it's is very frustrating and is stressful at the same time. Tom Costello joins us tonight from Reagan National Airport in Washington. Tom, you feel for every single one of these government workers not getting paid. We've seen the long lines throughout the week, and you wonder as people aren't showing up or quitting, how this is going to happen, because we're not even at the peak of spring break season yet.

Yeah, I think that's right. I mean, this has been the college spring break week, typically, not exclusively, but this has been a heavy college week. And then we start into the middle and high school and elementary kids and families over the coming weeks. And the concern is as these TSOs, officers go longer without paychecks, more of them will either quit or call out sick because they take a job driving for Uber to put food on the table. And therefore, the lines will get even longer at the worst possible time during the spring break travel crush, Tom. Yeah, they've got to figure this out. All right, Tom Costello for us, Tom, we thank you. And if you want to avoid flying altogether, this next trend might be. for you. A growing number of hotels are catering to clients looking for a sleepcation. That's a

vacation with no sightseeing, no excursions, just rest. Our Stephen Romo has a closer look at the hotels offering the perfect night's sleep. Skip the ziplines and park those paddleboards. Many travelers are now trading adventure for catching some zees. Welcome to the sleepcation. You're dedicating that time to slow down. The best vacation are the ones where you go just to travel blogger Colby Holiday was recently invited to a sleep focused getaway at Conrad Orlando. Were you skeptical and did it change your mind? Yeah, because it's like why would I spend my hard-earned dollars and my very minimal PTO to go somewhere and do something that I can do at home? But when you're at home, it's your office, it's the kids' playroom, it's laundry needs to be done, dishes need to be done.

Start your day with direct sunlight. It helps reset your circadian rhythm. At her sleepcation, Holiday says everything felt snooze-centric, even the beverages, steering gas toward mocktails instead of cocktails, as alcohol can disrupt sleep. Everything from the menus, which were low in sugar, having that robust breakfast, a lighter lunch and an even lighter dinner, which is completely opposite from how I died. And one in three adults in the U.S. report they're not getting enough sleep. The market to help them is growing. Hotels like the Park High at New York and Post Ranch Inn in California,

encouraging guests to check in and stay in. Sleep Lab should be a new era in complete restoration. And the Equinox Hotel in New York City, creating a sleep sanctuary for guests, including a sleep well menu and customized circadian lighting. We're trying to create a revolutionary sleep optimization program. And like so many things these days, AI is joining the fight against fatigue.

Once you've got these super accurate sleep trackers, combined with AI data crunching, you could have some really interesting things on the horizon for sleep. But even without the gadgets and luxury escapes, Holiday says any sleep-focused getaway can truly be a dream vacation. Give yourself permission to rest and not have to worry about all the things that you need to do back at home. Stephen Romo joins us now with more. So, Stephen, how much of this is sort of a new experience and how much of this is just marketing. Yeah, a great question. I was really doubtful about this at first before talking to people who had actually done it. And setting time aside just to sleep, the hotels, they're really

leading into it. Royal Sinesta offers a pillow menu so you can choose anti-snore options, different heights. Free-end hotels in New York City, they offer melatonin gummies, just try to really tailor a sleep experience for people so they can try to catch up and also give them some habits to take with them throughout the rest of the year. Yeah, my problem is not falling asleep, It's staying asleep, right? Yeah. So hopefully these asleep case you could do that. Romo, so great to see you, as always.

When we come back, drama on the diamond, the shocking upset for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic, but I hope isn't lost. We'll break down what needs to happen for Team USA to move on. Stay with us. And we are back as sports fans around the world are celebrating the success of the world baseball classic, which has already delivered incredibly powerful moments on the biggest stage. And the moments of drama as well, Team Italy beating Team USA. saying a stunning game last night. Now the American team's future rest in the baseball gloves of

others. NBC's Tam Brock explains. Judge, swings and misses, and Italy has pulled off a stunner. It was a shocking upset at the World Baseball Classic. The U.S.'s fate now up in the air in a tournament captivating sports fans around the globe. Consider it baseball's version of the World Cup, where your favorite players, like the Mets Juan Soto. Soto, first pitch swinging or bashing baseballs for their home countries. It means that for some, these games mean a little more. Team Dominican Republic bringing the celebrations and the swag. How about this moment? As fans equally euphoric watching underdog heroics like 29-year-old electrician and check pitcher Andre Satoria, purling nearly five innings of shutout ball against

Juggernaut Japan. And if you need a boost, Team Italy's got you. Take a shot of that espresso. With their own espresso machine in the dugout and double Cheekis celebrations. Fans from Tokyo to Texas overjoy. It's like an Olympic experience for us. But the U.S. also feeling the pressure with their quarterfinal spot now in jeopardy after losing to Italy. And completely misread misread the calculations. Their fate now depends on the outcome of Italy and Mexico tonight. Aaron Judge strikes first for Team USA. The Americans and their four MVPs learning what everyone else already knew that so many teams are more than worthy of this world stage. All right with that, Sam Brock joins us now. And Sam, there was also history made on the field?

In two decades of WBC competition, there had never been a walk-off home run until about a week ago. Ozzy Albies for the Netherlands hit a three-run home run with his team down two against Nicaragua. Hours later, a player for the Puerto Rican national team, Daryla Nias, he also hit a walk-off home run. And we saw this with Juan Soto and the Dominican Republic as well when he hit a home run to basically trigger a mercy rule a few days ago. The fans just go absolutely nuts. You could just absolutely feel the palpable energy around it, Tom.

And in the same year, as it comes back to the U.S. team, that we had an Olympics, obviously, in Italy. We have a World Cup coming up this summer. There is a sense of patriotism and a sense that I can really contribute from my country. And we're seeing more stars this time around for the U.S. than we did back in 2020. And a lot of pressure, my friend, Sam.

A lot of pressure on Team USA. So we're going to continue the conversation there. I want to thank you for everything you do for this show and for this network. I appreciate it. Sam, we thank you for that. I'm going to head over to the big board now because we're going to talk a little baseball, but this is really a story about the world, right? Because it is the world baseball classic.

We are with baseball super fan, Ralphie Averza, good friend, too, top story. He's in the house. USA Today, Senior Entertainment Correspondent. Who noticed the promotion I did? First of all, Rafi, congratulations. That's amazing. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Let's talk baseball because we love talking baseball with you. Explain this to me, right? Explain the bracket. Explain why we're watching and now rooting for Italy to beat Mexico. All right. So we have four different pools. They're playing right now in four different cities.

And we have the winner of each pool and the runner-up advancing to the quarterfinals. Obviously, everybody's trying to get to this championship here in Miami. So some of these pools have already crowned winners and or, other ups. However, we're really going to focus on pool B with the USA, Mexico, Italy. Great Britain and Brazil are already out of it, but this pool hasn't crowned anybody yet. Yeah. And so what's next? What do we hope happens here? All right. So if you're a fan of the U.S., you're hoping really for one of two things, either A, and this is the cleanest thing, you're hoping that Italy just wins and they beat Mexico. Or the second scenario, Mexico wins and USA then wins a tiebreaker. How does that happen?

well, based on this crazy formula that the World Baseball Classic has, Mexico has to basically score five or more runs. If they beat Italy by five or more runs, if they do, that triggers, then this tiebreaker that the U.S. wins. But if they

win by four or less, the runs allowed, divided by defensive outs recorded, favors Italy. Italy moves on with Mexico. You lost me. As soon as you got into the math, you lost me. Yeah, same. I failed calculus. So Italy wins. Italy wins Team USA advances. That's the cleanest in. Mexico wins. They got to win by what for Team USA to advance?

You want them to win by five or more. Five or more. They got to really destroy Italy. Yes, correct. Okay. And then Italy gets knocked out? Yes. And then Italy is out. Gosh, this is so crazy. I don't understand this. See, I mentioned some of the fun moments. I mean, this has been incredible. We're both baseball fans. It's been so fun to watch. The Italians are drinking espresso. The Dominicans are dancing. I mean, like, everyone has their thing. What has been like the best thing for you? so far. I mean, Venezuela watching their national anthem has been pretty spectacular as well. But this is like upstaging the MLB. Yeah, in some ways, yes. You know, I think watching Juan Soto,

you talked about it earlier, in triggering a mercy rule, I don't know if that's something MLB would ever consider, but it was kind of cool to see him do that. And the fact that, you know, how much this means to the Dominican Republic, Juan Soto told his manager Albert Pujols, don't take me out even though we're up by a lot. I want to stay

in and I want to hit a home run, which he did. Yeah, and then so who are you picking to win? Win at all? I mean, look, the Dominicans, they have Julio Rodriguez batting seventh. It's hard, really, if their pitching is on. Japan, obviously, they're going to be big. And they're playing with heart, Ralphie. Talk about this, because I feel like we were talking about this backstage.

They're playing with so much heart, the DR. Like, they're enjoying every moment. They're supporting each other. I just feel like they have the big momentum. Not to say Japan doesn't either. Japan is playing with like a lot of love for the game, too. Yeah, you know, it's interesting. I mean, Juan Soto, one of the stars on that team,

He doesn't have to worry about money. Obviously, Vlad Guerrero got paid as well last year. So, yeah, these guys are really playing for pride. I'm seeing out of the corner of my eyes some espresso here. What are you doing? Are you teasing me? What are we doing here? Look, we're rooting for Italy because that's the cleanest way that the U.S. advances.

So have you seen the Italian home run celebration that they do with the shots of espresso and then the air kissing? Yeah, yeah. So here, I'm not going to double kiss you. I don't worry. I don't know if I can slam this. Mmm. I'll double kiss you. Like a lukewarm espresso.

There we go. Ralph. Buffy, buy that kiss, okay? Team USA. We hope that kiss right there. Bless the game. Ralphie, we thank you for being here. We thank you for watching Top Story tonight. Go Team USA. I'm Tom Yamerson, New York. Stay right there. More news on the way.