Top Story with Tom Llamas - Wednesday, March 26, 2025

Episode Date: March 27, 2025

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

Tonight, the new calls for an investigation coming from Republicans over that now public group chat of Trump's War Cabinet. The secret text revealed laying out specific targets and timing for air strikes. President Trump, Wayne in late today, will show you what he said. Was his top national security team texting classified info on a compromised thread as key cabinet leaders face another brutal round of questioning? The urgent search for four U.S. soldiers missing. while training in Lithuania.

New details on the last time they were seen. The new auto tariffs just announced by President Trump, 25% for cars not made in the U.S., what it means for buying your next ride. Wildfire evacuations in South Carolina, the growing emergency across the east as millions face the threat of dangerous fire-fueling winds.

Taken away the moment six federal officers swarmed a Tufts University grad student and took her away in handcuffs, all caught on camera why Homeland Security says the visa holder was a threat. Also tonight, why a Democratic Congresswoman may be censured for what she said about the governor of Texas, why she claims she wasn't mocking him for his wheelchair. And new dino discovery the giant claws just found, why researchers think they came from a new species of dinosaur that looked like this. And imagine winning an $83 million lottery jackpot only to be denied it on a technicality. It's happening to one woman who joins us to make

her case. Top story starts right now. And good evening. The big question tonight, what is and isn't classified information? As those secret messages between top Trump administration officials are released by the journalists accidentally invited to the group chat. The Atlantic publishing several He exchanged this today after Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth said, quote, nobody was texting war plans, but this message, the one that you're going to see right here up on the screen at some point, reads otherwise. He says, quote, strike don't drones on target when the first bombs will definitely drop. You can see it right there.

Hegsteth goes into further detail about the timing, types of weapons and military planes being used. Now a Republican senator is breaking ranks, calling for an expedited investigation and saying this today. The information, as published recently, appears to me to be of such a sensitive nature that, based on my knowledge, I would have wanted it classical. And take a look at this. We're getting a clearer look at who was in that chat. Many recognizable names, if you look closely, 19 people in total, including the Atlantic Editor-in-Chief. Back on the hill today, our nation's intelligence leaders, Tulsi Gabbard, and CIA director John Ratcliffe locked in heated exchanges with lawmakers as they doubled down arguing that information was not classified. But a number of lawmakers raising the questions on if our service members were put in harm's way.

We'll have more on the reaction inside the Pentagon in a moment. But first, we start tonight with NBC Chief White House correspondent Peter Alexander. Tonight's Secret No More. the reporter who was mistakenly added to that group chat with top Trump national security officials releasing what he says are all of the messages exchanged. Among them, this from Defense Secretary Pete Hegsef, sent just 30 minutes before the U.S. struck Houthi targets in Yemen on March 15th, detailing exact times and the weapons to be used. Hegzeth writing at 1144 a.m. just confirmed with Sencom, we are a go-for-mission launch,

previewing that at 1215, F-18's launch, the first strike package. At 1-45, strike drones launch, 2-10, more F-18's launch, and writing that five minutes later is when the first bombs will definitely drop. Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg releasing them after he says multiple officials said no classified information was sent on the encrypted commercial app signal. If the timing of a combat mission, it imminently launched, Combat mission is not sensitive government information. I simply don't know what is.

They know it's not war plans. There's no units, no locations, no routes, no flight paths, no sources, no methods, no classified information. You know who sees war plans? I see them. Every single day. Late tonight, President Trump was asked if the administration is down. downplaying the chat.

I don't know about down playing. The press up plays it. I think it's all a witch on thing. And about Heggseth's role? Heggseth is doing a great job. He had nothing to do with this. In a heated hearing House Democrats grilled CIA director John Ratcliffe

and director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, who were on the chat. It is outrageous and it is a leadership failure. The idea that this information, if it was presented to our committee, would not be classified. You all know it was a lie. But Republicans emphasize what was not

included in that group chat. Were there any names in the signal chat? No. Any targets? No. Any locations? No. And this from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was also in the chat. Someone made a big mistake and added a journalist and the White House is looking at it, but that none of the information on there at any point threatened the operation of the lives of our servicemen. The White House tonight stands by its assertion that nothing classified was shared. The DOD manual details classified information as significant military plans saying that is secret, that that's classified. So what is it about what Pete Hexeth wrote that makes you say this is not classified?

Well, it's not just me saying that, Peter. It's the Secretary of Defense himself who is saying this as well. And again, this message, there was no classified information transmitted. There were no war plans discussed. You said it's not war plans. Would you characterize these as military plans, military operation plans? this messaging thread as a policy discussion, a sensitive policy discussion, shortly, amongst high-level cabinet officials and senior staff. Peter Alexander joins us tonight from the White House. Peter, we heard the Secretary of State there saying, someone made a big mistake. The President talked about this today. What more did the President say about the text threat and who was added?

The President, speaking to reporters there inside the Oval Office, who was asked more specifically about Pete Heggsett's rule and all of this, and he said that he was open to asking Hegseth to review the contents of that group chat and whether they should have been classified. The question is where this goes now with the top Republican calling for an independent review. That is Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi. He's the chair of the Armed Services Committee. That's the committee that has oversight over the Pentagon. He wants the Pentagon's Inspector General Tom to investigate, but it's not clear who would lead that investigation since President Trump fired that independent watchdog at the Pentagon when he returned to office. Tom.

Okay. Peter Alexander, leading us off tonight here. As Peter mentioned, a key dispute here is whether these texts were sharing classified information. You heard Peter there trying to get an answer from the press secretary. I want to bring in senior national security correspondent, Courtney Kuby, who's at the Pentagon. Courtney, look, this is your bread and butter, right? The Trump administration and the people in the text chain have reiterated that this was not classified info. But from your reporting at the Pentagon, would details like this about an airstrike be considered classified? Generally, yes.

And here's the distinction here, Tom. There are very specific policy guidelines that lay out whether information is classified or not and the level at which it's classified. Now, according to DOD policy guidance, which was just recently updated in 2025, it specifically says that information military plans or intelligence operations would be classified as secret. Now, it could actually be higher, a more restrictive level of classification if there's cyber operations, if there's cyber operations, if there's, other components to this of human intelligence or human sources were involved. It could actually be classified at a higher level than secret. But at a minimum, information like was exchanged in this text would be considered at a classified level. Now, there's one more distinction here, Tom, and that is individual pieces of information about an upcoming operation or a mission by themselves

may not necessarily be classified. For instance, when the secretary says the operation is a go or the weather is good. Okay, that in and of itself may I be okay. But then when he starts talking about the exact time that fighter jets are taking off, the exact time bombs will start dropping and landing in Yemen, the aggregate of that information then will become classified in every case I have ever seen. All right, Courtney, Cuby at the Pentagon first. Courtney, we appreciate that. We want to head overseas now to Lithuania, where four U.S. Army soldiers went missing during a training exercise. The soldiers were at a training area near the border with Belarus. You see right here, authorities say they had been training there with Lithuanian armed forces and law enforcement.

A search and recovery effort is now underway. NBC's Danielle Hamnijin joins us now from London. So Danielle, the Army is reporting that the vehicles these soldiers were operating was discovered. What more do we know about what happened to the people involved? Yeah, Tom, the details are still coming in, and we don't know a whole lot. But it is confirmed that it was an M-88 turkey. armoured recovery vehicle, and officials say it was discovered submerged in a body of water in a training area. That vehicle, by the way, is used for battlefield rescue and recovery missions.

As you say, the search for the soldiers continues working closely with Lithuanian forces, and they've posted on social media, and I quote, at the moment, there is no evidence of information or information confirming the death of the troops. Now, the U.S. Corps commander saying in a statement, It's this kind of teamwork and support that exemplifies the importance of our partnership and our humanity, regardless of what flags we wear on our shoulders. The Army says they were conducting scheduled tactical training when they went missing on Tuesday. It's certainly not unusual for the U.S. military to conduct training missions there. Lithuania, after all, is a NATO country.

And Tom, the soldiers were all from the First Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, which is based in Fort Stewart, Georgia. Okay, we get some information that they find those service members. Danielle, we thank you for your reporting. Back here at home, again, though, at the White House, President Trump announcing a 25% tariff on all cars coming into the country

saying he expects automakers to relocate to the U.S. and build new sites or expand existing operations. Here's what you had to say earlier. But if you build your car in the United States, there's no tariff, and what that means is a lot of foreign car companies. A lot of companies are going to be in great shape because they've already built their plant, but others will come into our country and build, and they're already looking

for sites. For more on this, NBC's senior business correspondent, Christine Romans, joins me now. So, Christine, I mean, and we've learned this from you and your reporting. Cars are made sort of in parts all over the world. Does the car have to be made soup to nuts here in the U.S? Or is it just if a door is manufactured here? I mean, look, he really wants to, and he's been consistent on this. He wants to see cars made in the U.S. He wants the high value-added components to be made in the U.S. He doesn't want this just to be a place where you assemble all the stuff and call it America-made car. He wants a made-in-America car industry. He really harkens back almost 30 years. And he's someone who over decades has disdained foreign cars on U.S. roads when he thinks that the United States does have

so many barriers when it tries to export. So the big question is what cars will be affected? 7.4 million cars were imported last year that would meet this definition. So you're talking about millions of cars with a 25% extra cost on them essentially. You do the math force. Is it 25% more? Will it be? Well, there will be some brands who have said that they will think about eating some of it. There was BMW has a luxury line that it imports here, that it will eat the cost, at least in the near term.

There are other automakers who have told me they're going to try to figure out to work with their suppliers where they can scrimp and save and absorb some of the cost. But their margins all along, all along the supply chain are so, so thin. There's not a lot of places to go other than what the MSRP is. is on the sticker and the dealer shallot. Put on your personal finance hat for a second. Should people, if they're in the, buy cars now? I would say, yes. I would say you've got 60 days of supply on dealer.

And I don't mean to jump your gun, but I know exactly what you're going to ask me. The 60 day supply on those dealer lots, they were made for a certain price. The cars that will be coming in later will be a higher price car. Also, don't forget stealing aluminum tariffs. Yeah. So American-made cars, even if they are in American-made car, they're being made with steel and aluminum. half of a car is steel, 11% is aluminum. If any of that's imported, it'll take time to build up the production,

which is what Donald Trump wants. In the meantime, there could be higher costs along the supply chain. Wow. Okay, Christine Romans, we thank you for all that. Appreciate it. Next tonight, millions are under fire threats tonight from Maryland to Georgia. Fire crews in the Carolinas, as we've been showing you all week, working around the clock to contain the flames as wildfires there force new evacuations, impacting residents still recovering from Hurricane Helene.

Marissa Para reports tonight from South Carolina. A towering inferno, teetering dangerously close to homes in this Florida neighborhood. This is a growing ring of fire forces Carolinians to flee the flames. In Poe County, North Carolina, three wildfires burning nearly 7,000 acres of land. I'm hoping that it doesn't jump, and we get it over there and burns up our property. Multiple fires in the Carolina sparked by a combination of warm temperatures and strong winds. The region still healing after Hurricane Helene just months ago. In Greenville, South Carolina, crews have been working around the clock doing whatever they can to contain the blaze.

The Table Rock fire burning nearly 2,500 acres, Wendy Clark leaving last night with whatever she could carry. This feels like back-to-back natural disasters. Never in my 52 years did I think that I would be running from my home from a fire. The fallen trees left over from Helene further feeding the flames. I mean, it's just like a tinderbox, just ready. All right, Marissa Paro joins us tonight from Marietta, South Carolina. So, Marissa, what's the latest in the conditions there? We can kind of see foggy, smoky conditions where you are right now.

They're going to help hurt the fire, the weather ahead. Hey, Tom, so I want to kind of set the scene for you. Over here, to my right, what you can't see is this is the incident command center. And this is essentially ground zero for establishing the efforts to fight the fires happening here in South Carolina. This one behind me, this is part of the table rock fire. And you can see it continues to burn. It is difficult to see through the smoke, through the camera lens. But I can tell you right now, even 20 minutes ago, we could see flames.

And Tom, as one would expect, what they are hoping for is rain for the wind to die down and for more humidity to make it less favorable for fires. But unfortunately, I did just get an update within the last few seconds right before you and I started speaking with somebody with this incident command center who said that unfortunately there is no immediate respite in sight. We are seeing those strong winds and we are not seeing rain at least as soon as they would like, Tom. Okay. Marissa, par for us in the fire zone. Marissa, we thank you for that. Up next, the arrest caught on camera, the graduate student surrounded by federal officers taken away in handcuffs what Homeland Security is accusing her of doing. Plus, the American

couple locked up in Mexico why their family says a dispute over a timeshare landed them there. and the woman being denied an $83 million lottery jackpot because of how she bought the ticket. She joins Top Story. You're not going to believe her story. Okay, we are back now with the arrest of another international student expressing pro-Palestinian sentiments. A Turkish National enrolled in a PhD program at Tufts University

detained by DHS Tuesday night while walking down the street. She's now being held at an ICE facility in Louisiana, and immigration authorities say there are grounds for her visa to be terminated. NBC's Antonio Hilton has this one. This is the moment Tufts University graduate student, Rumaesa Ozturk, was arrested and taken into federal custody. Doorbell camera footage obtained by NBC News shows two plain-clothes officers approaching the 30-year-old in Somerville outside of Boston.

Oz Turk at first appears to back away before more agents approach, one eventually taking her phone out of her hand. Officers then take her backpack off, handcuff her, and lead her across the street to a car. An onlooker heard questioning why the officer's faces are covered. Oz Turks lawyer says she was on her way to break Ramadan fast with friends on Tuesday night when she was detained without explanation. She says her client, a Turkish national, was in the U.S. working to work. a Ph.D. in child study and human development on a valid F1 visa, which allows foreign

nationals to pursue academics without the intention of immigration. In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security today, writing in part, DHS and ICE investigations found Ozturk engaged in activities in support of Hamas, a foreign terrorist organization that relishes the killing of Americans. Glorifying and supporting terrorists who kill Americans is grounds for visa issuance to be terminated. DHS did not reference. specific incidents. But in March of last year, Oz Turk co-authored an op-ed for tough student newspaper, condemning the university's dismissive nature and condescending tone when responding to calls for the school to acknowledge the Palestinian genocide and divests from companies with

direct or indirect ties to Israel. Oz Turk's attorney says no charges have been filed to her knowledge and that she's been unable to contact her client. Ice detention records updated today say that Ozturk is now in ICE custody in Basile, Louisiana. Tufts president says the school had no pre-knowledge of this incident and did not share any information with federal authorities prior to the event. Adding, from what we have been told subsequently, the student's visa status has been terminated, and we seek to confirm whether that information is true.

The arrest comes on the heels of the high-profile detention of Columbia grad student activist and permanent resident Mahmoud Khalil in New York. Spreading fear in the community. The fact that someone can just be disappeared into the abyss for voicing an idea is absolutely horrifying. Antonio Hilton joins us now in studio. So, Antonio, we're hearing that the attorney for that student has filed a habeas petition with the court. Walk our viewers through what that means. A habeas petition is basically a fancy term for a legal action where you're asking a court to determine

is this person's imprisonment or detention even legal in the first place. So that's what Azturk's attorney is trying to find out here. But part of what's at issue right now is the fact that she is now in the state of Louisiana. This is after a judge specifically said the government should not bring her out of Massachusetts without notifying them. The open question is whether this happened, the transfer happened, before that order came down. A whole lot of open questions in this case, Tom. Yeah, and Louisiana is where that other student is being held as well, correct? Okay.

Antonio, we thank you for that. Thank you. And over in Mexico tonight, a dream vacation turned not. nightmare. One couple from Michigan spending more than three weeks in prison all over a timeshare dispute with a luxury resort chain. Our Maggie Vespa sat down with their daughter who is now asking the U.S. government to step in. For years, Mexico is where Christy and Paula K.O. vacationed with friends. Celebrated birthdays, holidays. Lindsay Hull is Christy's daughter. They love being there. That's just where they like to travel. Three weeks ago, the couple flew to Cancun,

cited for another trip. But shortly after landing, Paul called Lindsay. He just said we're being arrested for fraud. How do you process that? I said fraud for what. Mexican authorities had issued a warrant for the couple's arrest over a year's old dispute with an all-inclusive luxury timeshare chain, Palace Elite Resorts. This photo shows Christy at the notorious Mexican prison where she and Paul have been ever since. She's sitting there on the phone crying to us that she's starving. She has nobody to talk to. She can't trust anybody. According to the criminal complaint back in 2021, the Akeos bought an elite membership contract with Palace for exclusive benefits. But within months, Pallas and the Akeos were at odds.

In a post on Facebook, Christy wrote that Pallas accused her of wrongfully posting photos to profit off the resort and canceled stays racked up through a referral program. The complaint says Paul then successfully disputed nearly $117,000 in American Express charges tied to their membership. The family's lawyer says Pallas failed to provide the goods and services. They're sitting in a Mexican prison right now indefinitely over a contract dispute. For more than two years, the Akeos assumed the ordeal was over. Lindsay says they had no idea there was a warrant for their arrest when they flew to Cancun. past weekend the Akeo's lawyers say Pallas offered a settlement if the couple paid $250,000,

signed an NDA about the ordeal, and publicly apologized, which the family turned down. Palace Resorts declined NBC News' request for an interview. The company's lawyer saying in a statement their complaint was filed in accordance with Mexican laws, writing the conduct of the Akeos appears to be criminal and pointing to Christy's Facebook posts instructing others how to report similar charges to the detriment of the palace. Lindsay says she's been in touch with the State Department, which tells NBC News they are aware of the case. We need help. We need help from our politicians. We need help from our government. She says she's desperate to bring her parents home to their grandchildren. I was picturing that moment of them being able to come

home and like taking our daughters there to see them and um sorry. and just having our family there to hug them. All right, with that, Maggie Vespah joins us tonight from Lansing, Michigan. So Maggie, we know you have some new reporting regarding a settlement offer from the company. What can you tell us? Yeah, Tom, this is first on top story. Just in the last few hours, NBC News has confirmed that the palace attorneys, palace resort attorneys have effectively reiterated that settlement offer, again,

telling the family they can pay the $250,000, they can sign that NDA, and post that apology, the apparent caveat to the NDA, and this will all go away. The family, again, declining, telling us in their words, they see this as extortion. In the meantime, you heard the daughter, Lindsay Hull, in that piece saying that they're in prison indefinitely. The only timeline they've had, Tom, was their last Mexican court appearance in which the judge said that the company had six months to gather evidence in their case. And it seemed, according to the kids, that all signs point to their parents staying in that Mexican prison that entire time, unless something major changes. All right, Maggie Vesp, this is a messy one.

We thank you for that. We're back in just a moment with the Congresswoman facing censure over what she called the Texas governor. She's speaking out now saying she wasn't making fun of his wheelchair. Plus, the major discovery why researchers believe these bones are from a brand new species of dinosaur. We'll show you what it look like. Stay with us. Back now with Top Stories News Feed, an anti-vaccine activist and discredited researcher

has reportedly been hired to head a federal study on immunizations and autism. According to two sources familiar with the matter, the CDC is expected to hand over vaccine safety data to HHS analyst David Gear. He has a history of spreading misinformation that vaccines do cause autism, which has been widely debunked. Some of his studies have also had to be retracted. Neither here nor HHS responded to our request for comment. Yolanda Sal DeVar, Selina Cantalas Killer,

will be up for parole for the first time this weekend. Sal DeVar has been serving a live sentence since 1995 for shooting and killing the beloved pop star. According to online records, a petition for parole is under review. A spokesperson for the Texas Board of Partons and Parolees says the cause the case is expected to be voted on within the coming week, but there's no exact date set. March 31st, March 30 years since

Celiana's murder. And a somber ceremony in Baltimore today, one year after the Francis Gotti Bridge collapsed, Maryland state leaders gathering with family members of the victims to honor the six construction workers killed last year when the Dolly cargo ship crashed into the bridge. Officials also announced a replacement bridge should be finished by 2028. It's expected to be Maryland's first cable stayed bridge. Okay, and the first trailer for the movie Rust has been released. The trailer dropping more than three years after the film's cinematographer was accidentally shot and killed by Alec Baldwin on set.

The film is set to be released in theaters and video on demand. On May 2nd, Baldwin was acquitted on manslaughter charges for that shooting. However, the film's armor was convicted and remains in prison. Okay, turning now to the Americas as Homeland Security Secretary Christine Nome touched in El Salvador today. for a tour of the notorious high-security mega-prison holding Venezuelans deported by the U.S. The visit comes as an appeals court upholds a block on deportation flights, a legal blow for the Trump administration's immigration crackdown.

Here's senior White House correspondent Kelly O'Donnell. Tonight, the Homeland Security Secretary beyond the border. Kristi Noem, under heavy guard in El Salvador. There to see firsthand the prison holding alleged Venezuelan gang members recently deported from the U.S. Do not come to our country illegally. The president touting the deportations. You see the ones were taken out.

Trend Diaragua, the toughest of all gangs. But late today, a new legal setback. An appeals court backed up the federal judge who had ordered deportation flights halted temporarily to review whether the administration can legally remove migrants without due process

under the Alien Enemies Act. The government says 137 Venezuelans accused of being in the gang Trende Aragua were deported. However, a lawyer for 31-year-old Andre Hernandez says he was wrongly swept up based only on his tattoos. He is, in fact, a makeup artist and absolutely no association ever with any type of gang. Kelly O'Donnell joins us tonight. Kelly, we've covered these prisons a lot here on top story. Activists have said that the administration is sending these people to prisons there in El Salvador, known for human rights abuses.

What more do we know about the conditions there? Well, it's known as a mega prison where inmates are packed sometimes 50 to 60 in one cell, and they're not allowed any opportunity to go outside. So there have been a lot of questions raised about that. El Salvador's president has, of course, worked on this prison as a means to try to send a message about being tough on criminals. Part of the secretary's visit included trying to try to. to make arrangements with the president,

to look at ways to have more deportees from the United States transferred there. Certainly some human rights advocates have been very concerned about those inmates being in conditions that are known to be especially harsh. Tom? Kelly O'Donnell for us at the White House, Kelly, thank you. We want to stay in Washington because the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Biden-era regulations today on ghost guns, which allow people to build homemade firearms that can't be traced. They can be built through kits or 3D printers, like the one police say was found in the backpack of accused United Healthcare CEO shooter, Luigi Mangione.

The 7-2 decision by the court allows the federal government to continue subjecting those ghost gun kits to the same rules as traditional guns, which requires licenses, background checks, and serial numbers on individual parts. For more and all of this, I want to bring in NBC News Senior Legal Correspondent Laura Jarrett, so Laura some viewers at home may be thinking the Supreme Court has a conservative majority. They've ruled a lot of times in favor of gun owners. Why is this different? I think because this one was not squarely about the Second Amendment. This was not about an individual's right to bear arms. It was really much more focused on what can the federal government do when it's regulating these kits.

Are these kits more like a firearm or is it something short of that? And because the court found that it was actually more like a firearm, more like an explosive projectile, that's why they decided that they can be regulated. So I don't think we should read any sort of tea leaves to say, oh, now the court's going to be much more open to gun regulations. And these are real guns. I mean, as we've seen, they can kill people. So these regulations, they've

been in place since 2022. Does anything change now? No. So it's going to be status quo as normal. And I think we sort of saw the court tip its hat when it decided not to block the regulation back then and allowed it to go through all this time. We sort of saw where this was headed then. Do we have any reason to believe the Trump

administration would want to reverse this? No. And I think it would be a really uphill battle for them to do that, Tom. They'd actually have to pass a new rule to try to up in what they've done here. And now that the court has spoken, it's going to be much harder. All right, Laura, Jared, for us here on top story, Laura, thank you. In power in politics, a Texas congresswoman is on the defensive tonight. After disparaging comments she made about Texas's governor Greg Abbott, who uses a wheelchair,

Representative Jasmine Crockett calling him Governor Hot Wheels, sparking a fierce backlash from Republicans. NBC News Chief Capitol Hill correspondent Ryan Nobles has her defiant response. Tonight, Texas Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, attempting damage control over comments she made about Texas Governor Greg Abbott. Y'all know we got Governor High Wheels down there. Come on now. In a social media firestorm, Crockett accused of mocking Abbott's use of a wheelchair during a speech at a human rights campaign event. House Speaker Mike Johnson, blasting that remark as, quote, shameful and outrageous. There's another day and another disaster by the Democrats.

The Texas governor who was paralyzed more than 40 years ago when a tree fell on him during a run, responding on Fox News last night. The reality is they have no vision, no policy. They have nothing to sell but hate. President Trump also weighing in on a conservative online talk show. She's a low life, and she's a very low IQ person and a low life. In a lengthy post on X, Crockett now saying she wasn't thinking about the governor's disability, but rather, quote, the planes, trains, and automobiles he used to transfer migrants into communities led by black mayors. In her statement, Crockett also calling out what she believes is hypocrisy from those who support President Trump, despite his use of disparaging nicknames and this moment.

You got to see this guy. Oh, I don't know what I said. I don't remember. When he mocked a reporter with a disability while on the campaign trail back in 2015. But the criticism for Crockett, not just from Republicans. Former Obama advisor Van Jones, saying he's not sold on her explanation. You have to be very careful when you're talking about people with disabilities. And I don't think she was careful. And I don't know her enough to say she's not being honest. I'm going to tell you, it sounded bad.

It's not the first time Crockett's been involved in a public dispute with a Republican official. Last May, she got into a tense personal exchange with Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Green during a House committee here. I think your fake eyelashes are messing up. If someone on this committee then starts talking about somebody's bleached blind, bad-built butch body, that would not be engaging in personalities, correct? A what now? The liberal firebrand, now finding herself in the middle of controversy once again. And with that, Ryan Nobles joins us tonight from Capitol Hill.

So, Ryan, I understand one of Crockett's fellow house members is now making an official motion against her for these comments. Yeah, that's right, Tom. Congressman Randy Weber, who hails from Texas, which is, of course, where Governor Greg Abbott is from, has filed a resolution to censure Crockett. Now, at this point, it's not clear whether or not that will actually come to a floor, come to the floor, I should say, for a full vote. But Weber does have the option of making it a privilege resolution, which would force the entire House to vote on it. At this stage, the Speaker of the House has not weighed in specifically on the censure motion, but he has been critical. the way that Crockett handled herself in the comments that she made about Greg Abbott. Tom. Okay. Ryan Nobles for us. Ryan, thank you. We're going to head overseas once again,

this time for Top Story's Global Watch, check of what else is happening around the world. We start with three people who survived a mid-air plane crash in France that was caught on camera. Social media video showing these two French Air Force jets colliding while rehearsing a stunt in northeastern France. Three people inside the jet were able to eject before the crash and parachute to safety. is still under investigation. Brazil's former President Jair Bolsonaro will stand trial for an alleged attempted coup. The five members of Brazil's Supreme Court voting unanimously for the trial to go forward. Bolsonaro is accused of trying to plan and launch a coup following his 2022 election loss.

The 70-year-old faces years in prison if convicted. He's called the court's decision, quote, political persecution. And a new species of dinosaur has been discovered by paleontologists in Mongolia. According to a new study published in the journal Eye Science, claws, you see him here, belonging to the dinosaur, were unearthed in the Gobi Desert. The new species has two foot long clawed fingers on each hand instead of three. Researchers say it stood about 10 feet tall,

might have looked like this, weighed roughly 570 pounds, and were herbivores. All right. Coming up, the battle over an $83 million lottery jackpot. Wait till you hear this story. A woman who says she's been denied her. her prize on a technicality joins top story why she says the money is hers. Plus the new book from a member of the NBC News family, Vicky Wint, opening up about the amazing story of how

her family came to America. Stay with us. We are back now with a strange but very interesting story. It's a controversy over an $83 million jackpot. The winner may never see the mega payout. Here's why. A Texas woman bought the winning ticket in February on the app Jackpocket. It's a lottery courier service that allows users to buy lottery tickets online for a service fee. But the Texas Lottery Commission decided the app is illegal after the woman's win. They're refusing to hand over the millions until an investigation into her winning and others is complete. That winner and her lawyer, Randy Howrie, join us now.

We do want to mention that the winner wants to remain anonymous. That's why they look the way they do on the screen. We're distorting her face as well as her voice. But I do want to start with you, Ms. Anonymous, if you will. Just to be clear here, you bought the ticket on the app when this was all legal. You win the jackpot. And now they're telling you, wait, hold on, we can't give you the money just yet. So I do want to start.

First off, why did you use the app? And how does the app exactly work for people who aren't aware of how they work? The app is just generally something that you can download on your phone. There's other platforms as well, but I use the jackpocket. You are able to purchase either QuickPix or you can pick your own numbers. You can play scratch-offs. And it's a convenient. And I consider safer avenue of playing these things rather than going to your local gas station.

or wherever else you might purchase tickets. You can do so many things online now, even apparently buy lottery tickets. So talk to me about the moment when your numbers hit and you find out. I didn't find out until the next morning when I was at work, and I saw the email. It said big winner, and I thought, okay, I won a little bit of money, no big deal. And then I clicked on it, and it said $83.5 million. and I had to stare on it for a little while and for it to kind of sink in.

And then it was just happy tears, excitement. I've always thought about this moment. I love playing the lottery. I will admit that. I mean, did you feel like you were going to have a heart attack? I mean, what is that feeling like? I got real shaky. My coworker was telling me, you know,

you need to sit down, you need to sit down. Just pure happiness. And then I got to ask you, what happened when either they called you or your lawyer called you and said, they're not going to give you the money? I was surprised because at the time, everything was okay. You could use these career services to purchase the tickets. Everything that Jackpocket does is on the up and up. but they had all the proper licenses and whatnot, according to reports. And I just feel like I've been caught up and now this political tornado of controversy

that I don't think I need to be involved in. I mean, it's taking a toll for sure. I can't imagine it is. It's also costing you money. Randy, pick up the story from there. You're representing her. why isn't she getting her money? So that's the question we have posed.

Why isn't she getting her money? For the last six years, the Texas Lottery Commission has allowed these apps to be used and have paid off hundreds of millions of dollars for those who've won using an app to purchase their ticket. What we're being told right now is that although they've done their, the Texas Lottery Commission has done its investigation, has identified that this is the winning ticket, that she's the holder of the winning ticket, they say, we're not going to pay you. We're not going to pay you now. We don't know when we're going to pay you. We're waiting on the completion of at least

one investigation that's been ordered by Governor Abbott and potentially another investigation that's been ordered by the Attorney General. And we're being told when those investigations are complete, we'll let you know if we're going to pay you. You have any reason to believe, any reason to doubt that they are going to eventually pay your client? I have a lot of reason. This is the first time we've been told that they've ever refused to pay a lottery ticket that's been purchased on the app. And we know that there is a great deal of interest in the use of these apps. That's what the politicians are talking about.

And so I'm very concerned for my client. She may not see this money. I do have to ask you, we've done the story about what's happening with the Texas lottery about these apps. Also that entity, whether it be a person or a business or a group of people that bought 25 million lottery tickets and ended up winning the big jackpot. Is there anything, any reason to believe that your client did anything nefarious? Nothing at all. Absolutely nothing. She spent $20 the night of this lottery.

She played by all the rules. Now it's time for her to be paid. Does she play? And I can ask you, Ms. Anonymous, do you use the app a lot? Was it the first time you used it? No, this was not the first time. I have used it in the past. You have one money off of scratch-offs, and, you know, it's never been a problem collecting that. I do want to ask you before we go, if you do get your money, you get more than $80 million. What are you going to do? What's the first thing you're going to buy? For me, it's not about material things. There's some special things that I want to do in memory of my late husband, and

looking into a animal sanctuary for animals. So purchasing some land and taking care of the fur things. Miss Anonymous, if you did everything by the book and you deserve the money, I hope you get that money. Randy Howary, we appreciate you coming on Top Story. We'd love to talk to you guys again as this story develops. Thank you. Thank you. We're also following an interesting story out of Utah tonight. A major victory for kid influencers.

A new law now requires some children to get a cut of the profits that their parents make by posting videos of them online. The change coming in the wake of the conviction of the mom behind the eight passengers' YouTube channel on abuse charges and growing calls to protect kids being put online. NBC's David Noriega has this one. In Utah, a far-reaching measure to protect the children of online influencers

is now the law of the land. Some days, parenting requires uncomfortable conversations. After a disturbing child abuse case against mom fluencer Ruby Frankie shocked the nation. Frankie's ex-husband testifying in support of the law. Putting my children into public social media was wrong, and I regret it every day. The new law requires parents who make more than $150,000 annually by putting their children online to set aside 15% in a trust for their kids. And it gives people the ability to scrub the internet of content that featured them when

they were minors. Frankie, a Utah mother of six, gained notoriety for the family's YouTube channel called Eight Passengers. She was sentenced to four to thirty years in prison last year after pleading guilty to four counts of child abuse. In her plea agreement, Frankie admitted to forcing one child to stay outside in direct sunlight for several days, resulting in serious sunburns with blistered skin. She threatened him with suffocation and drowning.

And to prevent him from running away, she handcuffed his wrists and ankles so tightly that they cut through the skin and damaged the tissue. The horrific abuse detected only when that child escaped to a neighbor's house, bloody duct tape around his ankles. Frankie's channel depicted her large family as joyful and tight-knit. But outtakes featured in a new Hulu documentary. If I hear you one word, get out. Tell a different story. Fake being happy. Ruby's eldest daughter, calling it an industry that exploits kids.

It is a full-time job with employees, business credit cards, managers, and marketing strategies. The difference between family vlogging and a normal business, however, is that all the children are employees. In the multi-billion dollar influencer industry, children can be especially lucrative, with some kids' accounts earning tens of millions of dollars from streaming. The new Utah law building on similar decades-old California laws protecting Hollywood's child actors, recently expanded to include influencers. Minnesota and Illinois also adopting protections, with similar bills proposed in five more states since 2024.

Momentum building nationwide to protect kids whose lives are broadcast online during their most vulnerable years. By some estimates, the influencer economy as a whole is worth $250 billion. And these state-level laws are all that kids in that industry have by way of protections. There is no equivalent at the federal level. So this is an industry that remains, by and large, unregulated. Tom. All right, coming up, fleeing to freedom.

NBC's own Vicky Wynne out with a new book about her parents escaping Vietnam with a baby in tow. That baby, now a news anchor and correspondent, how she says that journey shaped her own life and why she wants to share that story with the world. That's next. Finally tonight, an unbelievable story about the experience of one family who fled communist Vietnam in the 1970s, whose daughter would go on to become a network correspondent and anchor. Our very own Vicky Wyn is out with a new memoir called Boat Baby. That follows her experience as a Vietnam refugee growing up in America.

I sat down with Vicki to talk more about her family story and how it made her the person she is today. In 1975, Saigon falls and the scramble is on to get out. For the Wynn family, living in South Vietnam, there's no escaping the war. My dad recalled to me joining the war effort. My dad's older brother, whom went missing in action. Three years later, refusing to live under communism, we win and his wife, Lien Doe, know they need to flee to the U.S., but now they have a baby, and the journey to freedom will not be guaranteed. That baby, our very own Vicky Wyn. Do you ever think back on your parents

when you were just a baby leaving their country, crossing an ocean? So to have an eight-month-old baby and think, we are going to wrap our baby in a towel, we are going to smuggle ourselves out through a jungle and hope that we can get onto a fishing boat and cross an ocean to safety, to a refugee camp. I feel like you only make that decision. if you are desperate and hopeful. It means that you can't survive where you are and that you are willing to risk it all in the hopes that you will realize a dream

and that you have a daughter worth making that risk for. That trip, the new life the winds found in America and how a refugee toddler grew up to be a network correspondent and anchor is the basis for Vicki's new memoir, Boat Baby. I look back and I think about all of the things my parents survived, all of the things they went through, they went through. And their attitude was always never complain, never explain, focus on what you can control, keep moving forward. And a lot of that rubbed off on me. The wins would eventually

become citizens, Vicky growing up in America in the 1980s. But early on, the family learned that life in the U.S. would not be a fairy tale. My uncle Tham was at a party and gathering, got into an argument with someone, and was stabbed to death. And that, devastated my mother especially. The winds would carry on in their new country. Vicky's dad eventually starting a furniture business. Her prom date would become her husband, and she would build a lasting career in news, but with obstacles. People would, you know, drive by and be like, hey, it's Connie Chung. I mean, look, I took it as a compliment, but I also knew what they meant. They meant we know one Asian American reporter, her name is Connie Chung, you're Asian, we're going to

call you her. There are worse insults. But it indicated to me that representation matters and that there's still a long way to go. Despite it all, she calls herself a proud American, an immigrant who is living the American dream. I don't think my parents ever imagined I would go from Boat Baby to Network Correspondent and Anchor in one generation. But my success is their success. There is no me doing all of these things without them, the support that they give me every day to this day with raising my daughters. Can you believe this is your story? That little girl learned how to walk on a beach in a refugee camp.

We were there for 10 months in Malaysia and to sit across from you and talk about this book with a little picture of me as a baby who survived a two-day, two-night journey across an ocean and eventually landed here. I can't even say it's a dream come true. This is a dream that was too big for my family to have, for me to have, and yet it's coming true every single day. And you can pre-order Boat Baby now before it hits shelves on April 1st. We want to thank Vicki for sharing her story, and we thank you for watching Top Story tonight.

I'm Tom Yamis in New York. Stay right there. More news on the way.