Top Story with Tom Llamas - Wednesday, May 20, 2026

Episode Date: May 21, 2026

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

Tonight, the landmark indictment against Raul Castro, the U.S. Department of Justice, charging the former leader of Cuba with murder decades after the deadly shootdown of two American civilian planes. The question now, will the U.S. go into Cuba to arrest him? The indictment against the 94-year-old brother of Fidel Castro, a stunning escalation in the Trump administration's pressure campaign. Is there enough evidence to convict him? I asked the man who brought the charges if he thinks Castro will ever step foot in a U.S. court, Also breaking right now, flash floods swamping the Atlanta metro area. Drivers left stranded, severe storms slamming the East Coast, plus wildfires spreading in

Southern California. The smoke nado spinning up a tower of ash and did this shipwreck sailor spark a massive brush fire with a flare. Fireball in lower Manhattan, a car exploding sending people running near Wall Street. What set off the blast? Campus intruder the search for this man after he allegedly tried to a little bit. assault a person in their Harvard dorm and then was spotted inside a dorm building at nearby MIT. The CEO of Airbnb joins Top Story Live. The major changes the company just announced as fewer

Americans plan to travel this summer. Also tonight meet the man taking over Stephen Colbert's CBS time slot. How Byron Allen is shaking up late night with his unorthodox business model. Wait till you hear what he's doing. Plus saved from the flames an officer catching a baby dropped from the second-story window of a burning home, and the sinkhole scare at LaGuardia forcing a runway to shut down will tell you what it means for flyers. Top story, starts right now. And good evening.

We begin tonight with that bombshell indictment by the U.S. Department of Justice. Former Cuban leader Raul Castro charged with murder 30 years after the deadly shootdown of Cuban-American pilots. The DOJ indicting Castro on multiple charges, including murder, conspiracy to kill, American nationals and destruction of aircraft. While the 94-year-old no longer formerly runs Cuba, he and his family still wield immense power. Raul is, of course, the brother of Fidel Castro,

the communist leader who ruled for many decades. The charges against Raul Castro centered on this 1996 shootdown of planes belonging to the Brothers to the Rescue, an American nonprofit that opposed the Castro regime and helped save Cuban refugees that were stuck in the water. Two of their planes hit by the Cuban military killing all four men on board. Three of those men, Americans, and one of them, a U.S. resident. These are the faces of those victims and some of their families today speaking out, alongside top justice officials in an emotional news conference at Miami's Freedom Tower, a powerful symbol of resilience for Cuban Americans.

The move already drawn in comparisons to what happened to Venezuela's leader, Nikolaas Maduro, who was first indicted before the U.S. military, went into the U.S. military, to Venezuela and took him out. But one major difference here, the indictment of Castro contains few details that specifically linked the Cuban leader to the alleged crimes. You'll hear as we press the acting attorney general about what's not in the indictment. It comes as President Trump ramps up his economic pressure campaign on the island nation, worsening widespread blackouts and fuel shortages that have occurred under the Cuban regime for decades. The big question tonight, where exactly is Raul Castro? And how and when will he actually face the world?

of the American justice system. Our Gabe Gutierrez leads us off from the White House. For the first time in almost 70 years, tonight the Trump administration charging senior leaders in Cuba's government with killing Americans. Those who kill Americans cannot simply weight out American justice. 94-year-old Raul Castro, the communist regime's powerful former leader, indicted by a grand jury for murder, conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals and destruction of aircraft.

Prosecutors say he ordered Cuban fighter pilots in 1996 to shoot down two unarmed civilian planes piloted by the humanitarian group Brothers to the Rescue, which helped Cuban migrants trying to flee to freedom in the U.S. Five other men allegedly involved in the shooting were also indicted. The announcement coming at Miami's Freedom Tower, an iconic site for Cuban exiles. Merta Mendes is the sister of Carlos Costa, one of the four men killed. My brother was an American board, and he was murdered by the Cuban government. Back then, Raul Castro was defense minister under his brother, the late Fidel Castro, and the U.S. said audio showed the Cuban pilots celebrated the takedown. President Clinton announced sanctions, but decades later, President Obama tried to thar relations with the island,

even attending a baseball game in Havana with Castro. The new indictment raising questions about whether the Trump administration will arrest him, much like Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro. We expect that he will show up here by his own will or by another way. President Trump, Lee, today. There won't be escalation. I don't think there needs to be. Look, the place is falling apart.

It's a mess. Cuba's government calling the new indictment lies, arguing that Cuba acted in legitimate self-defense within its jurisdictional waters. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche with Tom late today. Do you think Raul Castro will set foot in the United States and stand trial? That's the goal. I mean, there's an arrest warrant, and I certainly hope that any defendant that's indicted in this country stands trial. All right, Gabe Gutierrez joins us tonight from the White House. Gabe, the big question, do we know why the indictment came now?

Well, Tom, that Florida grand jury returned this indictment almost a month ago on April 23rd. The DOJ chose to unseal it today, symbolically, on Cuban independence debt. This all comes as the Trump administration ramps up its pressure on the Cuban government, which is facing growing economic turmoil and fuel shortages. Tom. Okay, Gabe, thank you for that. Joining me now is Todd Blanche, the Acun Attorney General of the United States. Mr. Attorney General, thanks for joining our coverage tonight.

I want to start first with the news conference. It was a bit different. I'm from Miami, I'm Cuban-American, so I understand the reasons why it was set up that way. What were your thoughts on presenting this indictment in that manner? Well, look, I mean, I think this is an indictment that reflected something that happened over 30 years ago. And so it's been something that's been on the minds of Americans for a long time, especially Cuban-Americans in Miami. The case was indicted in Miami. There's a lot of local law enforcement that worked on the case.

And we, when it was indicted last month and it was under seal, and we knew that today was coming, May 20th, which is a very important day, obviously, for Cubans and Cuban Americans, we thought it most appropriate to do the press conference there. Yeah, I've read through this indictment, I'm sure you have as well. I also read through the Maduro indictment. They are very different. And you said it clearly, this is not a show indictment. I want you to explain that to our viewers in a second. But I want to know where the smoking gun is here. Is it essentially that Raoul? Castro was the leader of the military, and the military had been trained these pilots to shoot down these small aircraft, knowing they were unarmed, knowing they were civilian aircraft. Is that essentially the smoking gun? And is that enough to get a guilty verdict if you were to stand trial? So look, that would not be enough. I mean, if it's just a mere position under our laws, that doesn't mean that you are guilty of murder, which is, in conspiracy to commit murder, which is what these defendants are charged with, including rural Castro. So,

So, no, there has to be proof of every single element. And so this was a case where we got some information very recently that allowed us to take the case to the next level and seek an indictment. But I can't talk about beyond what's in the indictment, which it's a very detailed indictment, and there's a lot of information there. So that tells the American people a lot about the charges. But beyond that, I can't get into the specific evidence that was presented to the grand jury. I get that, but you've opened the door now, and now you've piqued my interest. I know that there's someone mentioned here that is an unindicted co-conspirator, someone who's essentially running the air base where these these mid-jets took off from. Is that person someone who has come forward now, have they always been sort of in this case from the get-go?

Yeah, I definitely can't talk about that. I appreciate that it piqued your interest and I understand why, but it goes back to the show indictment, which is that this is not a show indictment. And there are times, especially over the past several years, where the United States has sought to. indictments of individuals that they know they're never going to get. That is not the case here. I think we're actively, as you all have been reporting on, we're an active. Cuba is a big part of this president and the secretary, Secretary Rubio and others. We need to get control of this situation. And so we hope that one day soon, Roel Castro is in a courtroom in Miami facing these charges. And he will be, if he chooses to do so, go to trial. Do you think Raul Castro,

will set foot in the United States and stand trial? That's the goal. I mean, there's an arrest warrant. And we indict people, as I said earlier today, we indict people outside of the United States all the time. And there's a lot of ways that we can get them. And I certainly hope that any defendant that's indicted in this country stands trial for what they've been charged with doing. Florida Republican Congressman Mario Diaz-Balard says that officials and lawmakers have for decades known about a recording of Raul Castro admitting to that deadly shootdown of the 1990s. This is something you'd have to prove in court. Can you confirm that as part of this investigation?

No, I can't confirm that at all. I've read those reports as well. But I can only talk about what's in the indictment, and obviously that's not part of what's stated in the indictment. Yeah, there have been multiple Republican and Democratic administrations who had the same evidence. This starts with President Clinton back in the 90s. You have other administrations.

You even have the first Trump administration. Why is this being done now? Well, look, like I said, well, first. one, there's no statute of limitations on murder. So the fact that it's being down now is certainly allowed under our laws. And the other important factor is that this case was never dropped. This case, not only Cuban Americans, but law enforcement stayed on this case for a long time. You had Senator Moody, when she was the Attorney General in Florida, was very focused on this case and figuring out whether there's a way to go after the Castro regime and for what they did here.

And so this is not as if we picked up a dusty old case file and said, let's see what we have here. This is something that the law enforcement in this country has been focused on for a long time. And we were able to recently get the evidence and be in the right situation to be able to indict. For our viewers who may be surprised about this case, they may not know the history like I have because I live through this down in Miami. There was a thing called the WASP network, right? and this was a spy network that was set up by the Cuban government that infiltrated not only brothers to the rescue, the organization that was eventually shot down in the sky,

but also the CIA and also Congress. How sophisticated of a spy operation was that? And why is this now part of this indictment in your case? Well, this indictment is just, it's about the murder of four Americans, and it's not about some vaster effort by Cuba to infiltrate this government or infiltrate the Miami community or the Cuban community,

in Miami. And so, yes, there's a lot of history with Cuba and the United States. And that's not all addressed. That's not all charged or remedied in this indictment. This indictment is a small part of that. But certainly, this is a big step forward in bringing justice to those Cuban Americans, the families, the friends, the loved ones of the four men who were murdered 30 years ago. Your DOJ news conference earlier revealed that there were 16 FBI teams involved to secure this indictment. How many U.S. resources are out there right now dedicated to Cuba? Well, a lot. I think what the FBI said is there were 16 separate investigations that helped make this case, right? So there was a lot of different investigations where there's certain parts of the investigation that helped us with the evidence.

And that happens in a lot of cases, and it's why the FBI and our law enforcement partners do such a great job. And so there's a lot from DOJ's standpoint. There's obviously a lot of resources in everything involving Cuba. I can't speak to Department of War, Department of State, or others, but we certainly have a lot of effort, as you saw today, into Cuba. I have two more questions for you. You see a lot of cases. You see a lot of indictments. You've worked on a lot of legal issues.

What surprised you about this case? Well, look, I think what surprised me, if anything, is that it shows it wasn't really surprised. I think it was appreciation for hard law enforcement work. I think what happened here is there's a group of prosecutors and federal agents and state and local agents and state and local prosecutors who would not give up. And when you see that, I prosecuted a cold case murder when I was a federal prosecutor. It takes a detective, it takes a prosecutor, it takes somebody who's committed to justice and bringing justice. And this was a refreshing example of the great work law enforcement can do. Finally, Mr. Attorney General, what is your message to?

tonight to Raul Castro? Well, I don't have a message to him. He's a charged defendant in a now unsealed indictment charging him with not only conspiracy but substantive murder of four Americans. And we welcome him to come to Miami and stand up to a judge and stand up to a jury of in this country and address those charges. Mr. Blanche, we thank you for your time tonight. Thank you very much.

It was good to be here. Here you discuss the DOJ's indictment of former Cuban leader Raul Castro and other regime officials. I want to bring in Congressman Mario Diazbollarda, Republican representing South Florida, who has worked at this for decades. Congressman, thank you for joining Top Story. I know this is a historic moment for you and for your community. The first U.S. action against the Cuban regime official in almost 70 years on Independence Day for the Cuban people. Our teams have been analyzing the indictment. I've taken a look at it. I'm sure you've looked at it as well. If you compare this indictment with the Maduro indictment, there was a lot of evidence in there.

And I know the acting attorney general said, this was not a show indictment. What do you say to people who say, listen, I'm looking at this indictment and it's a little bit of thin soup here? Well, look, the facts are that this was a premeditated, cold-blooded murder about 30 years ago of three Americans and one U.S. resident, legal resident. And as of today, there have been no consequences to the people who ordered that murder, cold-blooded murder. And so this indictment goes a long way to bringing justice finally to those who have murdered Americans and have done so, by the way, with impunity for three decades. So this is way overdue. And, you know, a criminal indictment for murder is never a light thing. No, it's a good point.

You told USA today that U.S. officials have had recorded evidence of Castro's involvement in the shooting since the Clinton administration. So why did family members like Miriam de la Pena have for? to wait 30 years to see him indicted on these murders. That's frankly a really good question, because when that happened, members of Congress then, by the way, in bipartisan way in those days, asked for action such as indictment, and the U.S. Attorney's Office in Miami started preparing an indictment, my understanding, and this was reported also in USA today, this is common knowledge, but for some reason in the Clinton administration, they basically put that indictment in a drawer. There was also another indictment for

narco-trafficking of the Castro brothers, and that was also stopped, it seems, by the White House or by somebody in the Clinton administration. But murder doesn't expire. There is no statute of limitation for murder, which is why we were insisting on pursuing this, and we're exceedingly grateful that finally these families will have justice for their loved ones who were murdered in cold blood by the Castro brothers. Congressman, there's two key pieces of evidence in the indictment that point to Raul Castro, one being that the pilots, trained to attack small aircraft, just like the Brothers to the Rescue says Nut Plains. That's number one.

Number two, he was the leader of the Defense Department there, right? The head of the military. So everything had to go through him. Do you think that's enough, if you were ever to stand trial here in the United States? Do you think that's enough to get a conviction of Raul Castro? Tom, there's an article where Fidel Castro mentions that his brother, Raul, who gave the direct order, there's the audio recordings. There's more than enough evidence.

Why do you think that wasn't in this indictment? Congressman, it's great points you're raising, and that's why I'm a little bit at a loss with the indictment. And I know it was incredibly tough to get to this point. And again, the acting attorney general said this was not a show indictment. They could bring that in a court for evidence. But why do you think they didn't put that in the documents we see today? Yeah, look, that's a good question for the prosecutors, but it's pretty clear that this is a serious indictment. These are serious charges.

This is a much more serious charge than what Norie. had or Maduro had. Theirs was for drug trafficking. This is for murder and for conspiracy to commit murder. This is a serious indictment, serious charges for an individual that has a lot of American blood on his hands. But again, finally, these four families can rest assured that justice will be coming to Raul Castro and others involved in the murder of their loved ones. Congressman, this is a two-part question. And once you answer the first part, you'll understand the second part. Does the American government know where Raul Castro is right now? Yes. Will they be able to? Do you think they're going to extradite him from Cuba?

The president of the United States, this president has not been willing to stand by while Americans are hurt, murdered, killed, unjustly imprisoned. He's a man of action. And when he comes to protect the national security interests of the United States and the American people, he has been assertive and aggressive. So if I were the, you know, Raul Cash on his family, I'd be looking for a safe place to get out of Cuba and find a safe place to go out of here and go live someplace else because I think his days are numbered. Congressman, I interviewed the Secretary of State Marco Rubio, as you know, in China. I asked him, what is the plan for Cuba? He did not want to divulge the details. I understand that, right? You want to be strategic here. But if one were to read the tea leaves, we have the indictment today. We had the CIA director in Cuba. You have the oil. embargo as well. You put the things together, but I'm still trying to wrap my head around. What exactly is the plan? Because if the Castro's have not waived the white flag of surrender in more than 60 years, why will they now? You know, do I think that Raul Castro has all of a sudden become a nice guy and decide,

oh, I made all these mistakes and I'm going to go to the United States for justice to be served? No. But let's be very clear. The United States has a lot of options as to how to deal with rogue terrorist state, which is what we're dealing with 90 miles away from the United States. The question is there's always been lack of political will. President Trump has no lack of political will when it comes time to defend the American people and the national security interests of the United States. He has plenty, plenty of options.

But this is just one more avenue and one more detail that shows you just how dangerous this Castro regime is, has been, and continues to be not only for the national security, but security interests of the United States, but again, it has American blood on its hands. As somebody who represents South Florida, and South Florida, of course, includes Key West and the Florida Keys. Is your community, are you preparing for a refugee crisis? You know, the Castro regime has used this refugee crisis, but it's only happened under Democratic presidents as a tool to try to get concessions. They never did it under Reagan. They didn't do it under the Bushes. They didn't do it under Trump. and I doubt very much they'll do it under this president

because, again, they know that they cannot blackmail or try to pressure this president to get concessions. This president, the President of the United States, will protect the American people, the national security interests of the United States, and it will not be pressured or blackmailed by a terrorist regime 90 miles away from our shores. Finally, Congressman, for viewers at home

who may not be so familiar with this case, the Brothers to the Rescue case, and this indictment, and people may be even skeptics who are, watching this going, oh, this is purely a political play. The president's trying to appease his Cuban-American base in South Florida. Can you make it clear to our viewers? These were Americans who were killed by the Cubans in the air performing a humanitarian mission. These are three Cessnais, who were actually flying over the Florida states looking for folks in rafts, in makeshift boats, floating in the ocean. And if they would see them, they would call the U.S.

so that these folks would not get eaten by sharks who would not drown. That was what they were doing that day. The Castro regime in a premeditated fashion, planned, premeditated and trained, sent out make fighter jets, blew two of those unarmed Cessnais out of the water. They chased the other one and were not able to get it. Killing three Americans, including one, by the way, a Vietnam veteran, and one American legal resident. These were innocent people who were on a humanitarian needs.

on a humanitarian mission on unarmed Cessna little airplanes that were shot down in a premeditated murder again, planned, premeditated in cold blood. This administration finally has said those that ordered the premeditated cold-blooded murder of Americans will now get indicted because for too long they have been able to escape justice from the United States and for too long different American. U.S. administrations have looked the other way. I am so grateful that this administration is finally bringing justice to these American families whose relatives were murdered by Raul Castro and the Castro regime. Congressman Diaz-Balard, I know there are votes you need to get to. We thank you for your time on such a busy day. Thank you, sir. We are also tracking a lot of other news out there right now, including the fast-moving wildfires out west that are prompting evacuation orders for tens of thousands in Southern California.

Steve Patterson is out there on the fire line for us. Tonight, the race to contain a wildfire outbreak now raging across California. In Simi Valley, the sandy fire repeatedly flaring up, keeping more than 40,000 people under mandatory evacuations. They got it under control, and then within an hour or two, the wind's picked up. The fire now expanding to more than 1,600 acres. So far, one home gutted by flames. More than 800 firefighters are. on the front lines trying to keep it that way.

This is the fire line. We hiked with crews in treacherous terrain, working around the clock to keep the hot spots down. This is incredibly dry fuel. That's why I say this fire is still has so much potential. And you can see the air attack behind me. Crews trying to knock out these flames, dropping water on problem in hot spots, those flare-ups, so they can avoid it from encroaching into the community. To the east in Riverside County, a cluster of brush fires broke out, even spawning this

smoke NATO, residents on roofs scrambling to save their homes. We've never had anything come this close. The state's largest fire burning some 40 miles off the California coast, chewing through the largely uninhabited Santa Rosa Island. Authorities are investigating if it may have been sparked when a 67-year-old sailor was left stranded after crashing against the rocky shore, then shooting emergency flares into the island's bone-dry brush. The sailor even carving an SOS into the ground, awaiting rescue as the flame scattered. All right, Steve Patterson joins us tonight.

Now, Steve, right now, when those winds pick up, what usually happens? And firefighters, are they fighting these sort of infernos into the night? They are, Tom. Yeah, in fact, right now consistently, we've seen the last few days of show what called crosswinds happen, right? So we have winds going one direction all day long, and then right about now, they start going in the other direction, causing essentially what you see behind me. You may be able to see some of that white smoke in the canyon. That's because there are columns of fire. Firefighters are doing everything they can to knock that down,

fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters using water drops, dropping retardant, as much as possible to create a perimeter and knock it out so it doesn't get to the communities below because, Tom, it really only takes one ember for this fire to move to a whole new front and cause more fears. Tom? It is a good point. All right, we thank you for that, Steve Patterson. Also, breaking right now, severe storms are slamming the East Coast.

Post flash flood swamping the Atlanta metro area. Look at this. Video showing drivers in those rising flood waters. That's terrible. A Waymo getting completely stuck. I want to get right to NBC meteorologist Bill Cairns right now. He's going to walk us through what's happening. It's a dangerous situation unfolding.

We see it there right over your shoulder. Yeah, the water really rose in a hurry. We had a thunderstorm just sit right over the top of downtown Atlanta, where 75 and 85 converge. And the result was pretty catastrophic. For about a two-hour period, everyone was stuck. in rush hour traffic. No cars should go. People were stranded and, you know, we were getting up out of their cars in case they need to rescue. That situation is now improving.

And this only took about, you know, 90 minutes to unfold in downtown Atlanta. The water is receding now, but it's left its mark. We also have severe thunderstorms rolling right through New York City at this hour. We're okay in D.C. Philadelphia, your storms are over with, but a severe thunderstorm warning for Brooklyn, Queens out onto Long Island. This will have wind gusts with it possibly at a 60 miles per hour. Downtown Manhattan, it looks like just some rain over the next half hour and then it lets up. But the airports are a disaster out there. One to two hour delays all through the mid-Atlantic region.

We're also going to be watching as we head towards the holiday weekend time. Some very heavy rainfall, especially down along the Gulf Coast and eventually on the eastern seaboard. It doesn't look like anything close to the 90-degree temperatures. It's going to be jacket weather on the eastern seaboard. Bill, I respect you. I love you. I hope you're wrong in that forecast, all right? We're back in a moment with the high-tech burglary crackdown, a group of thieves accused of breaking into homes in L.A.

using hidden cameras and even Wi-Fi jambors. We're going to show you some of the wild tools they were using. Plus, college campus is on alert police at MIT and Harvard searching for a suspect to allegedly burst into a dorm and assaulted someone. And the massive explosion in Manhattan sending people scrambling in the streets. That's seen ahead on top story. We are back now with the burglary ring bus. Several suspects arrested in connection to the... The thefts in California.

The suspects using high-tech Wi-Fi jammers and surveillance cameras to break in. Liz Kreutz has more. Tonight, Los Angeles authorities arresting seven people in connection with a series of home break-ins across Southern California involving high-tech tactics, including hidden cameras and Wi-Fi jammers. These criminals generally get more sophisticated, whether they're coming from South America or their local criminals. Officials say the suspects are part of a South American theft group that's burglarized dozens of homes. stealing jewelry, handbags, money, and at least one case of firearm. Today, police displaying one of the hidden cameras the burglars used, which was disguised to blend in with bushes on the property.

It is a box, a wooden box wrapped in artificial turf. What's in it is a phone and a camera with extra batteries. Authorities also say the thieves will sometimes place food delivery bags on front porches and then ring the doorbell to see if anyone's home. They'll then turn on Wi-Fi jails. jammers like these to disrupt home security systems. This doorbell camera footage shows thieves holding jammers as they approach a home. You can see the security camera starts to glitch.

The latest arrest, part of an ongoing effort to crack down on the rash of raisin break-ins in the region. This video shows thieves appearing to use walkie-talkies to coordinate during a robbery. Yeah, we did? Yeah, y'all good, y'all good. And here, mass suspects running away once spotted. Liz joins us tonight from L.A. Liz, some of those tools they are using are really mind-blowing. What can people do to protect their homes from these high-tech burglars? And I know also you have an important tip about people who may have a second story. Yeah, Tom, so first and foremost, if you're going to put cameras at your homes, they're more expensive, but if you hardwire your camera system, those cannot be impacted by Wi-Fi jammers because they don't rely on internet to work. So that is an important tip, number one. Number two, we all want to post on Instagram and social media about your fun vacations, being out with your friends out of the house, but that can often tip off these thieves that you are away. They can then go in when you're out of town. And as you bring up the second stories,

Officials today said that many of these thieves are starting to target the second story of homes, bringing ladders or chairs to get inside because they found that there's less surveillance on the second story of a home. So something to keep in mind, and we should say that people arrested today, most of them face up to six years in prison, Tom. Okay, Liz Kreutz, we thank you for your reporting. Coming up, our series, Business in America, the CEO of Airbnb joins Top Story Live, the new changes to the company and what it means for travelers. Plus, the hard-stopping video of a police officer catching a baby dropped out of a baby, dropped out of, a window of a burning home. Look at that. Catches it right there. That's coming up next.

All right, we're back down with Top Stories News Feed. We started Massachusetts where two college campuses are on edge. Police at MIT and Harvard looking for this man after he allegedly broke into a Harvard dorm and assaulted someone. That same suspect reportedly followed a different individual at an MIT residence hall later that same night. Campus police say anyone with information should contact them. Major disruptions at one of the nation's busiest airports because of a coal near one of the runways. It happened today at LaGuardia here in New York, forcing the runway to shut down and causing serious delays. Airport officials say crews found the hole during a routine inspection and that they're working to get it fixed as quickly and safely as possible.

State in New York City shocking video showing this car exploding into a massive fireball. Look at this. You can see the fire there, then the huge blast sending people running. This happened in lower Manhattan right near Wall Street. Authorities say it was a city vehicle that exploded. Luckily, no one was hurt. And a remarkable video out of Michigan showing an officer saving a woman and a baby from a burning home. You can see them rushing to the fire when he finds that mother. He tells her to drop her child out of the window and then the officer catches the baby. You can see the feet there.

The mother was then helped out. Everyone in that building walked away. Okay. All right. Now to our series, Business in America, where we speak to some of the world's leading CEOs about the issues impacting millions of Americans every day. Tonight our focus is travel, an area where some are scaling back. Only 45% of Americans are planning to travel this summer. That's kind of sad.

According to a Deloitte survey, that's a six-year low in part due to rising cost driven by the war with Iran. My next guest is a business leader who is all too familiar with the trend of travel cutbacks, the CEO of leading vacation rental site, Airbnb. Brian Chesky joins top story tonight. Brian, thank you for being here. Thank you for talking to us. You deal with Americans every single day who are trying to spend money. What is the state of the economy right now?

Well, I can't speak for the entire economy, but I can speak for the economy of Airbnb, and it's quite resilient and it's actually quite strong. What we are seeing is that there's more last-minute travel, so there's fewer people are pre-booking, although we do have a feature called the Reserve Now Pay Later, so maybe that's offsetting it. But, you know, in Milan for the Olympics, initially we thought bookings would be down. It just turned out people pushed the bookings back. We're now expecting for the World Cup to have the largest event in Airbnb history.

It's in 17 cities and three countries, and we're actually expecting a lot of travel. So maybe perhaps counter to the broader narrative that travels down, we're actually seeing pretty healthy growth in the United States. Brian, but at the same time, I know your business is expanding here, right? You guys are doing stuff like groceries, you're trying to find new clientele in other spaces. If business is so good, why are you trying these other spaces? Well, you could say that's because business is so good, and we can expand, and we people, you know, people want more from Airbnb.

And we spent 17 years or 16 years being kind of just one thing for people, which is a home. But our guests have told us that they want more. They said they love our homes. They love kitchen at our homes, but they like to have groceries and they arrive. They say, you know, sometimes Uber is not as reliable in some cities, and they want someone to pick them up to the airport. They say they get to a city early. They don't want to carry their luggage around. They want luggage storage.

They want to rent a car. They want to do it through Airbnb. Some people say, hey, I'm on Airbnb, but I want a boutique hotel so we can offer that. So we're really responding to what people are asking for. Yeah, no, it's great. That is true. Sometimes when you get to an Airbnb, it's nice to have the groceries already there. Take us back to the beginning, right?

How did you convince people to sort of open up their homes and rent them out? Well, we, the history is important. We started in 2008 during the Great Recession. And so that was probably a clue that many people were struggling to pay rent. They were struggling to pay their mortgage. They were losing their homes. And ultimately, I think a lot of people turned to Airbnb. to earn extra income. I mean, I started the company with my co-founder because we couldn't afford to pay rent.

A design conference to come to San Francisco. All the hotels are sold out. We didn't have any beds. We had three-air beds. We pulled them out of the closet. We called the Air Bend and breakfast. So I think, you know, the other point is rising inflation may also attract host. And we're seeing a lot of people becoming hosts. And the fastest growing demographic hosts are Gen Ziers, young people. A lot of young people are becoming hosts. Maybe it's because there's economic uncertainty. There might be other reasons why. So I think economic uncertainty tracks a lot of people to want to find new ways to make supplemental income, and hosting is a great way to do that. Are you using AI right now? How is it part of your business? Oh, it's kind of top to bottom we're using it,

and it augments people for the most part rather than replacing them. 60% of our code is now authored by AI, but engineers work with the code and they're prompting it and they're checking it. Our customer service, you know, 40% of contacts are now resolved by AI assistant. This isn't as you replace the people, but allows our human agents, or real agents, to be able to handle more complex topics and more trust and safety incidents. Many of our features we announced, we now use AI to summarize information. There's a billion reviews in Airbnb. That's a lot of reviews to read.

AI can summarize them and point into the right reviews. So I think of AI is something that amplifies Airbnb. But ultimately, you know, Airbnb is a deeply analog idea, you know, traveling, staying in the real world, meeting people, having member of experiences. This could have existed a long time ago and will exist a long time from now, irrespective of AI. You made some recent headlines when you warned that pure people managers will not survive the AI era. Explain what you meant by that. And do you see AI taking any more jobs at your company?

Yeah, what I meant by that is that, you know, at a lot of large companies, there are, layers of middle management that aren't close to the work, and their job is to manage people. And in the future, of course, there'll be people managers, but a pure people manager, as in somebody who's not steeped in the work, is not going to be as valuable. The reason why is the following. A lot of managers' jobs were communication. They were coordination. They were moving information throughout the company.

But AI now moves information faster than people. So ultimately, you want people to be closer to the information. Additionally, managers aren't just going to be managing people. They have to manage agents. And so I think you're going to see these hybrid managers of managing people and agents. And so people are calling them like player coaches. And so ultimately, I just think all leaders are going to have to be a little more hands-on and manage not just the people, but manage people by managing the work that the people do.

Now, this is probably, if you work at a small business, you would probably have no idea what I'm talking about. If you're at a large corporation, thousands of people, you probably know what I mean. And ultimately, I don't think this is necessarily bad for people. people. If they're willing to get their hands dirty, willing to use AI tools, I think they'll be okay. As far as will AI replace jobs Airbnb, I think it will replace tasks, more than replace jobs. And I think most of the people's jobs will change. I don't know anyone's job that won't change. My job will change, but I do anticipate that people will remain having jobs. They're just going to have different jobs than before. But I expect us to be hiring a lot in the future.

Congress, as you know, is investigating a number of companies that are using Chinese AI models. Does your company use Chinese AI models, and are you concerned about data privacy? Let me, three things. Number one, yes, I'm concerned with data privacy. Privacy and data security is one of the most important things at Airbnb. I think we have a great track record of data privacy and security. Privacy companies rate us very, very highly, and that's number one. Number two, I've said in the past that we have used open source Chinese models, but here's the key. All data is vaulted and secure. No company or country has access to Airbnb data is

vaulted. With regards to what we're currently doing, I'm in direct contact with the Congressional Committee, and I've promised we've said that we would like to be in direct contact with them and answer all their questions one-on-one directly before we answer questions publicly. So I will definitely comment more after they've had an opportunity to hear from us. And I want to cooperate and I want to tell them everything we're doing. Are you finding that AI, that Airbnb, I should say, the growing sector in Airbnb, is it still sort of private homeowners, or is it people that want to use Airbnb as an investment model, or even large companies that said, listen, wow, you can make a profit off this? It's still primarily individuals. Let me give you some stats.

87% of hosts on Airbnb, this 5 and a half million, 87% have one or two listings. The number, we asked people, what is your profession? if you're not full-time. One in four people are retirees. The other top five job occupations are, I think, health care, government workers, manufacturing, health care, and, I think, retail. So those are the top professions. Now, there are property management companies, but it's overstated.

Another thing that's overstated is how many Airbnb's are in a city. We surveyed people, and the average person thinks around 20% of the homes in a typical city or an Airbnb. In most places, it's like 1 to 2%. And many of them are people renting occasionally. So I think Airbnb is not as big as people perceive in their own city. That's just what the data says. Before you go, I'm just curious.

What's the craziest Airbnb you've ever come across or heard of on your site? There's a lot of them. The dog B&B, which is a giant dog that you stay in. You enter through the rear. And you sleep in the mouth. That's pretty unusual. Somebody built a giant potato in Idaho that you can sleep inside of. I guess, you know, Airbnb, you can get the traditional and you can get the unique,

and there's some things you can never imagine on Airbnb. Brian Chesky, you just gave me some ideas for our next family vacation, so I thank you for that. We thank you for joining Top Story and answering all our questions. Thank you very much. Still to come tonight here, a new video of the American Surgeon with Ebola rushed in an ambulance for emergency treatment. the race to contain the spread of that deadly virus. Stay with us.

We're back with the race to contain the growing Ebola outbreak, the death toll tonight rising in Central Africa, as an American surgeon infected there is now in Europe for treatment. NBC's Maggie Vespas more. Tonight, as the global race to contain Africa's surging Ebola outbreak intensifies, new video shows the American surgeon infected in the DR Congo arriving via ambulance at a German hospital. This as a report in the Washington Post says the White House resisted allowing Dr. Peter Stafford to return to the U.S. for treatment, delaying his evacuation and care, according to five people familiar with the Ebola response. A White House spokesperson telling NBC News the report is absolutely false. Directors of the missionary group Dr. Stafford was traveling with describing

his condition as crews guided him onto a plane. He's hanging on them barely able, strong enough to walk. He looked really tired and really sick. Health officials say Dr. Stafford's wife, four kids, and another American physician were also exposed and transferred to hospitals in Berlin and Prague for monitoring. So far there are 139 suspected deaths and close to 600 suspected cases now tied to the outbreak. Those case numbers nearly tripling in the last five days. Meanwhile, back in the U.S., these are the two federal quarantine orders issued to one of the 18 American passengers exposed to 100.

haunta virus on this cruise ship and now isolating at this Nebraska hospital, which the passenger calls a prison. A 30-year-old New Yorker, he asked to remain anonymous amid online threats to his fellow passengers. The orders saying leaving early to isolate at home would potentially endanger the public's health, adding if he does leave, he could face a criminal fine or up to a year in jail. The passenger telling us, quote, no one here is asking not to be under quarantine, adding he's very angry about not being. allowed to leave. The passenger we spoke to says he's considering all options, including potential legal actions, stressing he wants to remain under strict quarantine for the full six weeks just at home. Tom. All right, Maggie, we thank you for that. When we come back here on

Top Story, our Chloe Malas catches up with comedian and entrepreneur Byron Allen, the man taking over Stephen Colbert's late-night slot. How he's planning to shake up the media industry. That's next. We're back now with the man who's betting big on the future of late-night TV. As Stephen Colbert gets ready to sign off from the late show, Byron Allen is preparing to step into his time slot on CBS. The comedian and businessman says it's part of his plan to build the world's biggest media company. But he's doing it in a strange way.

Here's Chloe Malas. When Colbert got unexpectedly canceled, I said, okay, do you like money? They said, yes. The way Byron Allen describes it, getting Stephen Colbert's coveted time slot was the easy part. I'll buy the time period and you can save over $110 million. Allen's comics unleashed a long-running comedy talk show moves to 1135 on CBS starting Friday, ushering in a new era of late night with its unorthodox business model. Alan says he will lease the time from CBS and sell the ad revenue himself.

I'm putting a lot of money in their cash. register. I am a gift from the money gods and the comedy gods. CBS did not respond to our request for comment, but last year said canceling the late show was purely a financial decision. You look like an exquisite tootty road to me right

now. Comics Unleashed will trade in Colbert's pointed political commentary for broad evergreen comedy. I don't care who you vote for. I just don't care. That's your business. Go do what you're going to do. You know, I'm just here to make you laugh.

He got on. Alan says, don't expect him to reinvent the show. The format's the same. Nothing political, nothing sexes, nothing racist, nothing anti-Semitic, nothing homophobic. Just be funny. I know that you had lunch with Stephen Colbert. What is he had to say? He is a phenomenal human being.

Stephen Colbert is truly special. I mean, I love him. He is so gracious, so kind, so genuine. and he texted me and said congratulations on getting the time period. For Allen, this is a dream decades in the making, one that started as a kid on the NBC lot watching Johnny Carson. I thought what a wonderful way to go through life, making people laugh. Make him feel welcome, would you? Byron Allen. And years later, that kid would get his own shot on Carson's stage, becoming one of the youngest comedians to perform on the Tonight Show.

Can you imagine that? What'd you have for lunch? I don't know. Today, Allen is the owner of Allen Media Group, which owns more than 20 local broadcast stations and eight TV networks, including the Weather Channel. He's grown his empire with the same playbook, take a media brand past its prime and find new value in it. His latest move, taking control of BuzzFeed to use its content on his ad-supported streaming service Local Now. I'm going to make BuzzFeed a streamer using the technology of Local Now. We're building on it and we're going to have user-generated content. Allens built his business on the idea of ownership, but for him, it's about more than money. In the history of television in almost 100 years, you've never had a black person at 1130 on ABC, NBC, CBS.

So I think that's important to control our images and control how we're produced and depicted. And I also think it's important that we own something. America is America, Inc. African-Americans, we own very little in the way of business. I want to serve as an example to kids growing up that look like me. Hey, I don't have to just play the game. I can own the game. Chloe Malas joins us tonight.

Chloe, he's clearly taken a gamble by Payne, CBS, for this new time slot. What's his first episode going to look like? So he says it's the same format. He pre-taped this about a week ago, and it's going to be comedians sitting around on couches. this show has been around for over a decade. And he says it's going to be comedy for the whole family. He wants this to not deal with politics, religion,

nothing too sexy. This is something that if the kids turn on the TV late at night, he wants this to be for everybody. At 1130? Okay, we'll see what happens. When I was in middle school, I stayed up late, Tom. I don't know about you. I'm not one day. Were you bet it like eight?

No, I'm not one to give him any business advice. He's clearly made a lot of money. But he's buying BuzzFeed. buying late night. He's investing in all these properties you think would be dying. But again, the guy is incredibly successful, so I'm not one to say anything. What does he see here that the rest of the media world

doesn't? So the biggest motivation for him is that his mother was a teen mom. She gave birth to him when he was 16. He told me the story of how his mother would bring him to NBC News when she was an intern, and he would come along, and he got to see Johnny Carson. He got to see how TV was made. And then, obviously, full

circle in 1979 when he got to do stand-up comedy with Johnny Carson. But he realized after meeting all of these people throughout his career that the ownership, the money to be made is behind the camera. So no, he's not stopping. He wants to become the majority shareholder of stars. He wants to continue to build his empire because he says that it's also an emotional play because he wants to make his mother proud. But at the end of the day, he wants to do this for the black community. He goes back to 40 acres in a mule. He goes back to what was promised after slavery ended. He wants to do this to show young black women, young black men everywhere that you can own something. And so he feels a great sense of responsibility. And actually, it was a

really incredibly fascinating interview. I know it was only a few minutes what you saw, but we actually sat down for over an hour. I think Byron Allen, he's an incredible storyteller. And he has a lot stories to tell. And when he talks about Stephen Colbert, he also says that, you know, there's a lot of friendship there, too. They got to know each other really well. So I think it's going to be interesting to see. And anything you do and any of your interviews are always fascinating. So thanks so much for doing that. Appreciate the time. Yeah. All right, that does it for us tonight. Thanks so much for watching Top Story. I'm Tom Yamis in New York. Stay right there. More news on the way.