Top Story with Tom Llamas - Wednesday, May 22, 2024
Episode Date: May 23, 2024Tonight'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. ...
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Tonight, deadly spring storms on the move after tornadoes leave neighborhoods and ruins.
Parts of Iowa leveled communities grappling with the destruction as they mourn the loss of their neighbors.
A woman describing the moment she was trapped beneath her collapsed home.
Twisters, damaging winds and large hail threatening 44 million tonight.
Americans from Texas to New York at risk for severe storms as this multi-day outbreak refuses to let up.
Also, tonight, worker opens fire, shots ring out at a Pennsylvania linen company, leaving at least two dead and several injured, employees running for their lives.
Officials calling the alleged shooter a disgruntled worker as investigators pieced together a motive.
Nearly two years after the Uvaldi School shooting families of the victims filing a $500 million lawsuit, their new calls for justice after officers waited over an hour to confront the shooter.
standing by as 19 students and two teachers were killed.
And the new settlement with the city of Yuvaldi
as families searched for closure living with an unimaginable loss.
New developments in Trump's classified documents case,
newly unsealed court filings revealing confidential documents
were discovered in the former president's bedroom.
The new pictures of Trump's aides carrying classified materials
as a hearing to dismiss charges in the case
breaks into an all-out screaming match.
We're going to explain.
Zell scam, former Miss New York falling victim after she was swindled by teen soliciting donations.
Her big mistake that led her to lose thousands and just seconds and why it's hard to get
your money back after using the popular app.
Country star Zach Brown and is a strange wife's divorce battle spilling onto social media.
The Grammy singer suing his wife over four months of poems on her Instagram account.
The dramatic turn as their once united front spirals into a fight for all to see.
Plus, deep-sea detective, a veteran ocean explorer dedicating his life to rediscovering lost
war-war II submarines, his next big discovery being announced exclusively on Top Story.
And this breaking news just in, Nikki Haley, saying she will vote for President Trump.
All that and more.
Top Story starts right now.
Good evening.
Tonight, relentless spring storms taking aim at millions of Americans following a series of violent
Twisters leaving neighborhoods in the Midwest unrecognizable.
New video just in from Jonesboro, Arkansas's destructive winds and hail charge across the region.
And just north of Arkansas, look at this, pictures of widespread devastation.
Drone footage of Greenfield, Iowa showing the aftermath of a massive twister.
The community and disbelief, as you can imagine, and grieving after several people were killed.
How can anyone survive that?
Nearly two dozen twisters touching down in the Hawkeye State.
And check out this traffic cam video showing a traffic cam video showing a.
tractor trailer caught in the crosshairs of a tornado. Flipped over like that. As we mentioned,
storms now firing up spanning 1500 miles from Texas all the way up to New York. You can see the
stretch here. Bill Karen standing by the time it all out. You might have noticed it's been a very
active few weeks, though we are at the height of severe weather season this year. It's shaping up
to be breaking records. 2024 is already above average for tornado reports compared to years past.
NBC's Maggie Vespa starts off our coverage tonight.
Tonight in Iowa, a sprawling landscape of destruction after the latest deadly tornado outbreak.
That's a tornado, guys.
More than two dozen reported twisters sliced through the Midwest, mostly Iowa, yesterday.
One leveling the city of Greenfield.
Initial surveys, dubbing it at least an EF3 tornado, packing winds up to 165 miles per hour.
Everything was on top of me.
Joan Newell was trapped under the rubble of her home for 45 minutes before her Apple Watch, alerted rescuers.
At one time, they didn't think I was down there and I kept hollering.
I am here.
This entire neighborhood is just obliterated.
I mean, pieces of homes are scattered everywhere.
And one woman who tells us her house was on a lot down the block says the cars that are now sitting on her front lawn, she has no clue where they came from.
Iowa authorities only saying multiple people were injured and killed, adding they're still in search and rescue mode.
The state's governor declaring an emergency in 15 counties.
What would you say to people who feel like they're seeing an increase in the frequency and the severity of these storms?
No, it's cyclical, but I think right now we're going to take it pretty seriously.
When they say you need to take cover, it means take cover.
A warning amid a ruthless spring with jaw-dropping twisters from Oklahoma to Michigan to Tennessee.
So far this month, we've only seen two days without a tornado reported.
Total, 2024 seen more than 860 tornadoes reported across 37 states,
marking the third most active start to the year ever recorded.
I've never seen a tornado like that.
Back in Iowa, Donna Pruitt's house used to sit across the street.
It was a matter of 30 seconds, and it was gone.
They said, Donna, if you would have been here, I wouldn't be here today.
All right, amid all that destruction, Maggie Vespa joins us now live from Greenfield, Iowa.
Maggie, adding to the chaos there in Greenfield, the local hospital was damaged as well?
Yeah.
Yeah, Tom, it wasn't.
By the way, you can see the chaos behind me, right?
You can see cleanup crews.
You can see power crews over here.
But look in the distance.
That red brick big building, that's the hospital that we're talking about.
And we found out in that press conference today with the governor that, indeed, several windows there were blown out.
It seems like it sustained some minor damage, but meaningful damage.
So yesterday, volunteers, people around here, they were moving patients out of the hospital,
we're told to a lumber yard, which was being used, they say, as a makeshift hospital.
Today, we're told that the triage center in town is now the local high school.
Tom?
Maggie, Vespa, wow.
Okay, all right, Maggie, we thank you for that.
44 million, as we mentioned, still under the threat of severe weather tonight.
Let's get right over to NBC News as meteorologist Bill Karens.
Bill, is there any end in sight to all this severe weather?
No.
We have to get them through the weekend, too, which is going to have some severe.
I'll talk about that in a second.
First, as we're going through this afternoon into this evening, we do have one tornado
watch that's issued from Dallas to Fort Worth, the Waco over to San Angelo.
We've had two reported tornadoes today.
They didn't do any damage.
They're out in open areas.
So that's so far so good.
But we do have numerous storms that we're watching closely.
They could be producing a tornado right now or at any time they can.
This first one is just to the south of Waco.
So Waco, you've got some strong winds in hail.
But from Kaleen, Texas to Temple,
Texas. This hook in here and this supercell, this has the potential to produce a tornado. The
sirens are going off. Everyone's getting to their shelters. Further to the north, this is just
south of Interstate 30 and just north of Interstate 20. This is Pittsburgh, Texas, under a tornado
warning. Again, these are radar indicated. They haven't been spotted on the ground. It just
means that that thunderstorm is capable of producing one at any time. Tomorrow, we shift our focus
northwards once again in Nebraska, South Dakota, Kansas, and still Oklahoma, Texas, and Arkansas. It's just
round and round and day after day. And then as we watch the threat tomorrow,
mostly going to be a large hail threat, isolated tornadoes. We're not expecting a tornado
outbreak, but that could change. I fast forward this map. If you have your holiday weekend plans,
this is for Sunday. We're giving you a big heads up from Memphis up to Mississippi River
towards Paducah and St. Louis, here, the Ohio River, towards Louisville. A severe weather
outbreak is possible, along with a tornado outbreak, Tom. And I know that's right in the heart of the
weekend, people need to pay close attention. It could be a very dangerous day.
Yeah, they've got to track the news and the forecast all weekend.
Okay, Bill, we thank you for that.
We want to move now to Pennsylvania, where we told you a mass shooting happened outside of Philly
and has left two people dead and three injured.
The gunman described by officials as a disgruntled employee.
NBC's Airman McLaughlin is there with the details.
In Pennsylvania, a community shaken by gun violence.
It's pretty bad.
Tragedy unfolded this morning at a local linen company west of Philadelphia in the city of Chester.
This is a workplace shooting incident.
An incident, employee came to work today with a firearm, took out his anger.
And opened fire, killing two and injuring three employees who were transported to a nearby
hospital.
Adelina Orozco was there at the time of the shooting.
She says workers ran for their lives.
Resident James Pierce heard the shots and called 911.
Pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop.
Went to the door and I looked out, I see people running.
out of the building.
Authorities later arrested the alleged gunman in a nearby city.
They've yet to name him, but he's believed to be an employee of the linen company.
The possible motive is the subject of an ongoing investigation.
The information I have right now is the employee had had some issues with fellow employees,
but nothing that would lead to what happened today.
This is just everyone's worst nightmare.
Today's shooting now counted by the gun violence archive as the 169th mass shooting so far
this year.
It speaks to guns in America.
It's heartbreaking.
It's tragic.
It has to stop.
Tonight, yet another American community in shock
and an all-too-familiar call for change.
Tom.
Okay, Aaron.
And this Friday will mark two years
since the deadly school shooting in Uvaldi, Texas.
Today, families of the victims
filing a $500 million federal lawsuit
against individual police officers involved
and the school district.
The parents demanding justice after officers
waited over an hour to confront the shooter.
Tonight, the families who lost so much in Yuvaldi now ready to fight back.
We've been let down so many times.
The time has come through the right thing.
Filing in one by one, mothers and fathers, gathering right across the hall from where they waited
for news on that terrible day, now announcing a $500 million federal lawsuit against more
than 90 officers from the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Uvaldi School District.
Their call for justice coming nearly two years after a gunman killed two teachers and 19 students inside Rob Elementary School.
These were the last lines of defense for these children, but they were failed long before the shooting.
More than 300 officers from local, state, and federal agencies were on the scene that day, but waited 77 minutes before taking out the gunmen.
Body cam footage inside the school shows officers fumbling with keys, hesitating to move in and waiting in the hallways as children were killed inside classrooms.
The school district acknowledges the lawsuit and says it is open to exploring a resolution.
The Texas Department of Public Safety telling NBC News the department does not discuss pending litigation.
The families today also announcing a settlement with the city of Yuvaldi for a total of $2 million.
$10. An attorney for the family says they didn't push for more than what the city had in its insurance fund.
The last thing they would want to do was to inflict any financial hardship on their friends and neighbors in this community.
Their friends and neighbors didn't let them down. Last May, one year after the attack, I spoke with three mothers who lost daughters on that day.
As the days go by, it gets much harder. It's hard waking up every morning. I know a lot of you have just
decided to stay here and not move away. What has that been like?
I think it's more difficult. I hate this town. I hate living here. My daughter's here, though,
so how do we leave? The city of Yuvaldi agreeing to mark May 24th, the date of the shooting as a day of
remembrance. But at today's announcement, one parent noted the mostly empty auditorium, suggesting
some may have moved on, but these mothers and fathers never will.
Okay, next tonight to power in politics and Nikki Haley making a surprise announcement
that she will vote for her former presidential race rival, Donald Trump,
despite her criticism of him on the campaign trail.
Haley making that announcement during her first public appearance since dropping out of the presidential race.
Here's more of what she had to say.
Trump has not been perfect on these policies.
I've made that clear many, many times.
But Biden has been a catastrophe.
So I will be voting for Trump.
For more on that announcement, let's bring in Republican strategist and former communications director for the National Republican Congressional Committee,
and who also worked on the Tim Scott campaign, Matt Gorman.
Matt, we thank you so much for joining Top Story.
So did we expect this?
I certainly didn't.
I'll say this.
I didn't expect it today in her first public event since dropping out.
I thought she would last a little longer in terms of keeping the suspense.
But look, in the aggregate, no, I'm not that surprised.
I mean, this is somebody who spoke out against Trump in 16, ended up working for him,
said she wasn't going to run against him, then ran against him.
So I'm not surprised in long term, but I'm surprised to happen today.
Yeah, Matt, do you think she's making a political calculation here that possibly former President Trump
might do better than many expect come November?
and she doesn't want to be in Republican limbo forever?
I think you're right.
If Trump was, say, down five, seven points to Biden consistently,
maybe he doesn't come out today, if at all.
But I think the fact is, look, if the polls are where they are today,
he is looking very good to possibly win.
So get in front of the crowd and call yourself the leader of the parade
instead of falling from behind.
And I think that's probably factors into this a little bit.
Let's take a little trip, though, down memory lane
to see what Nikki Haley has said about Trump just recently.
Donald Trump is turning the Republican Party into his own playpen, where it's all about him.
He is unhinged. He is more diminished than he was.
You know, there's something about former President Trump that he loves to lash out at his rivals,
but then once they sort of kiss the ring, he welcomes him into them into the Maga Kingdom.
He's doing that with Governor Doug Bergam, who at one point said he would never do business with Trump
because of the kind of person he is, and now he's by his side every two seconds.
Do you think Trump brings in Nikki Haley?
I mean, there were a lot of people who voted for her in the primaries.
I think one thing you're right.
He loves converts.
I wouldn't be surprised if there's sort of a Mitt Romney moment where maybe they go and they dine
at Mar-a-Lago and they invite the press in.
Look, Trump likes converts, but he also likes to make sure they kind of work a little bit for,
and I wouldn't be surprised if you see something like that this time.
What do you think, Nikki Haley, where do you think she's positioned for a future
in the party.
Look, I think this kind of buys her seat at the table, whether it's certainly if Trump
loses in 2028 or, you know, maybe another role if she wants it in a second Trump term.
Look, if Trump loses in November, the party isn't going to all of a sudden do a 180, right?
This is going to be a more populous party, so having a seat at the table is important if you're
Nikki Haley for that.
So look, with Nikki Haley, you have a diverse candidate, you have a woman, you have somebody
who moderates, at least during the primary process, really liked. Is there any shot she would
be on the ticket with him? I mean, it wouldn't be bad for him to at least consider her. You're
right. Let's say she never ran for president. She would be almost a no-brainer. I think it was
certainly, you know, what you say in the campaign, there's going to be some hard feelings. But
on paper, she's already worked for him once. So it does make some sense.
Matt Gorman, one of the great political minds of his generation, Matt, it's always a pleasure
to have you on Top Story. Now to the latest on former President Trump's classified.
documents case in Florida, the new images unsealed, appearing to show his assistant moving
classified materials set to be returned to authorities. And the explosive hearing in court
today, after that assistant tried to get the case thrown out, Dasha Burns in Fort Pierce with the
latest. Tonight, stunning new images unsealed in former President Trump's classified documents
case, appearing to show his longtime assistant, Walt Nata, moving boxes of classified materials
out of storage at his Mar-a-Lago home, where they were set to be reviewed by Trump's attorneys
and handed over to federal authorities.
NADA, charged by special counsel, Jack Smith, with conspiring to help former President Trump
retain and conceal classified documents after Trump left office.
Today, Nata and Trump's legal team in a Florida court asking Judge Aline Cannon
to dismiss the case for what they say is prosecutorial misconduct.
accusing special counsel Jack Smith, the Biden administration, and the National Archives of colluding to prevent Mr. Trump from winning the 2024 election, which the prosecution has denied.
Deranged Jack Smith. He's a deranged human being. He's a huge record of failure because he goes so far out and people end up not being convicted. He goes too far.
Not as counsel in court today arguing he was only indicted as retaliation for not cooperating with the government, sparking an explosive exchange, prosecutor David Harbach calling the defense team's reasoning a garbage argument and a fantasy. Judge Cannon at one point saying to Harbach, I'm going to ask that you calm down. The new documents unsealed Tuesday also revealing more classified materials were found in Trump's bedroom at Marilago months after the FBI raided the estate. A district court judge overseeing the grand jury.
jury in the case writing, no excuses provided as to how the former president could miss the
classified marked documents found in his own bedroom at Mar-a-Lago.
The photos and additional documents are just more evidence in this document's case.
The real challenge for the government isn't assembling evidence so far.
It's been getting the case moving forward to trial.
I'm thrilled to be back.
The former president has sought to delay the start of the trial originally slated to begin
May 20th until after the election.
Earlier this month, Judge Cannon indefinitely suspending the trial date, bogged down
and unresolved issues about the case.
It's a fair criticism that Judge Aline Cannon has delayed this case longer than was necessary.
It's been suggested that because Judge Cannon is a new judge, that she may be taking
longer with these motions and issues than another more experienced judge might.
Trump also seizing on the new trove of documents lashing out on truth social overnight.
The former president posting that the unsealed documents revealed a plot from the FBI to use
deadly force in the raid of Mar-a-Lago.
The FBI quickly debunking that claim, issuing a rare statement saying the FBI followed standard
protocol in this search as we do for all search warrants, which includes a standard policy
statement limiting the use of deadly force.
No one ordered additional steps to be taken and there was no departure from the norm in this matter.
And Tom, at the end of the day, Judge Cannon said she would take all of these arguments
under advisement did not say when we begot a ruling. So really, it could come any time she
decides to. This has been, as you heard from Danny, there, a pretty drawn out process. So
no idea when a actual ruling could come down. What I can say, though, is that these are not
the first motions to dismiss. The defense has tried this before, and she has shot down previous
motions to dismiss in this case, Tom. Okay, Dasha Burns covering that case for us. Now, an update
on something we've been following closely here on top story. As schools review how they respond
to campus protest, the UCLA police chief has now been reassigned. Earlier this month, we broke
down what happened at UCLA's campus, minute by minute, this pro-Palestinian encampment
coming under siege from counter-protesters. The clash is lasting for several hours before
police moved in. At the time, the school told us they had opened an independent review of
authorities' actions that night. Then, of course, there was the raid by police the next night.
NBC news correspondent David Noriega has been following the latest developments out of UCLA and joins us now.
David, what are we learning about the school's decision to shake up the leadership there with the police department?
Yeah, Tom, so they have reassigned the chief of the UCLA Police Department, John Thomas.
We don't know exactly where he's been reassigned to, but we know that he is no longer in that position.
And this is part of a larger overhaul of the university's entire security system after this incident that you pointed out,
this attack on the encampment and the ensuing confrontations between counter protesters
and protesters, the university created a new position of chief security officer who is now overseeing
the UCLA Police Department and is undergoing what they say is a review of their overall security
practices, not just with regards to this encampment and these confrontations, but in general,
this removal of the police chief is a part of that, and especially given some congressional
testimony coming up, which we'll be talking about, I think that we are likely to
see more changes coming up with the university administration and particularly their security
personnel. And just to be clear, I want to go over this again. Has Chief John Thomas been public?
Has he said anything tonight? So he confirmed to the Daily Bruin, which is the student
newspaper at UCLA, that he was reassigned. So we know that that has happened. Other than that
since this news today, he hasn't pronounced himself. He did defend his conduct to the LA Times
in an interview earlier this month, saying that he did everything he could to keep students safe,
saying that he had advised university administration not to allow this encampment to take root in the first place and generally defending his conduct.
And then tell our viewers what's going to happen with the president of UCLA.
They're in front of Congress tomorrow?
Yeah, so Chancellor Gene Block is going before the Republican-controlled Committee on Education in the Workforce tomorrow in Congress.
These hearings have been happening since the fall.
They're very high stakes for these university administrators.
Remember, these hearings led to the resignation of the presidents of Harvard University and UPennessee.
And they really reflect the way that these protests have put these universities between Iraq
in a hard place, right?
On the one hand, they face severe backlash from people who criticize them for cracking down
on these encampments and what those critics say as violations of First Amendment rights.
And on the other hand, from people who criticize them for allowing these encampments and these
protests to happen in the first place.
Very few university administrators have been able to successfully walk that tightrope.
We'll see how UCLA does tomorrow.
Yeah, those hearings are definitely contentious.
All right, David, great to have you.
still ahead. The Republican National Committee headquarters put on lockdown. Did you hear about this?
The building briefly evacuated after a suspicious package was sent to the headquarters in D.C.
What has Matt teams found inside that piece of mail. Plus, an alarming new study showing a link
between marijuana use and psychotic disorders in teams. This is no joke, what the data reveals.
And a former Miss New York falling prey to a new donation scam in which teens asked for money through Zell
before instantly stealing thousands of your dollars,
how it works, and what you can do to protect yourself.
Stay with us.
We're back now with a warning of former Miss New York
says she was the target of a scam on the money app Zell.
It starts with a suspect sharing a story to draw the victim's sympathy
and it ends with their bank accounts being drained.
NBC New York's Melissa Colorado has this.
one.
It's a sunny day in Madison Square Park.
And in this video, police say you're watching a scam unfold.
Two suspects, possibly teens, strike up a conversation with a woman sitting on a bench.
They look for that soft target that's a loan.
Why?
Because nobody's going to intervene.
You know, what do they do?
They pull on those hard strings.
It's literally like the kids on the subway saying, I'm collecting money for my school.
But instead of asking for cash, these suspects want donations sent through Zell, the
electronic payment system.
It's almost as if they had a script.
They were like, don't worry, we take Venmo and Zelle.
Just like the woman in this video,
Brianna Seyaka fell victim to this scam too.
They were telling me about their team
and how they're performing and kind of distracting me.
And one of the boys was like,
oh, don't worry, ma'am, I'll put my information in your phone.
She made the mistake of handing her phone over
to one of the suspects.
Within like 15 seconds, they were like,
thank you, ma'am.
And they ran, ran away.
Siaka checked her bank app and discovered $2,000 was gone.
Word is out, you know, bad guys are communicating via social media, telling them how easy this scam is.
In less than one month, scammers have stolen $35,000 from 15 victims, mostly women hanging out in parks.
Well, I call my bank right away. I try to get things frozen. Then I called the police.
Unfortunately for victims, Zell fraud is not treated like credit card fraud. Of the 87 scam cases, NYPD has investigated.
they say no one has received their money back.
We reached out to Siaka's bank, Chase, who sent us this statement.
We want to remind everyone using peer-to-peer payment services
to never hand your phone over to someone else.
It's the same as handing them your entire wallet.
Chase is actively investigating Siaka's case.
In the meantime, she's sharing her story in hopes that the next person with an open heart
doesn't hand over their unlocked phone to a stranger.
Be careful.
This could happen to anyone.
I'm a New Yorker for over 12 years.
Okay, Melissa, Colorado, we thank you for that one.
Time now for Top Stories News Feed a little earlier than usual.
We begin with the investigations into a suspicious package sent to the Republican National Committee in D.C.
The R&C headquarters was briefly evacuated and put on lockdown.
After someone sent a package containing two vials of blood, the package was eventually cleared by hazmat teams.
D.C. Capitol Police are now investigating who sent that and why.
Terrifying moments for students on board a bus in Greenville, South Carolina. This is wild.
Newly released video shows the moment the bus veers off the road, crashes through a fence before slamming into a mobile home.
The school district said no one on the board the bus was hurt and the home was empty at the time of the crash.
The bus driver was given a ticket for speeding and is no longer employed by the district and clearly had a lot of cameras on that bus.
A new study finding teens who use weed are more likely to develop psychotic disorders.
We're not joking about this.
Researchers from the University of Toronto finding the risk was 11 times higher for teens who use cannabis compared to those who don't.
And 27 times higher when the analysis was limited to hospitalizations, there was no association between cannabis use and psychosis for people age 20 to 33.
The findings come as the U.S. government works to loosen federal restrictions on the substance.
Pixar, beginning major cuts to its workforce, the studio will lay off 14% of its employees.
About 175 people, according to a spokesperson for the parent company, Walt Disney.
Pixar's last significant job cuts came last year with 75 positions eliminated.
The animation giant also plans to move away from making original shows for streaming services like Disney Plus and shift its focus back to the movies.
Okay, when we come back, a deep-seat detective joins Top Story Spotlight.
Veteran Ocean Explorer, Tim Taylor, making one of the biggest discoveries of his career,
and he's going to show us what he found more than 3,000 feet below the ocean surface.
He'll be here in a moment to walk us through what he found. That's next.
Welcome back. It's time for Top Stories Spotlight. And tonight we welcome to the show a very special guest.
Veteran Ocean Explorer Tim Taylor, who has just made possibly the biggest discovery.
of his career and bringing a mystery
deep beneath the sea to life.
Tim and his team have just discovered this right here.
The USS Harder in the South China Sea,
3,750 feet underwater.
The USS Harder, one of the most iconic submarines
of World War II, it sank the most Japanese warships
and received the presidential unit citation,
an honor given to military units
for extraordinary heroism
against an armed enemy during World War II.
World War II. This is the ninth World War II sub-discovery Tim has made. He has dedicated so much
of his career to discovering, educating, and preserving the lost 52 submarines from World War II.
In 2021, he was awarded the Distinguished Public Service Medal, the U.S. Navy's highest civilian
award for his work on this mission. Tim is also the CEO of Tiberone Subsea, an Ocean Technology
Solutions Platform. And tonight he joins Top Story in studio. Tim, first of all, congratulations.
on this discovery. Let's talk about the big news first, which you're revealing exclusively
here on Top Story. You found the USS harder. How did this happen? Well, we target, we go out
looking for submarines, last year to do submarines. We targeted several in this area, and we were looking
for the harder. We specifically went out this year looking for the harder. It is such an iconic
submarine. And these are images that you captured with your team. When you saw this, when this
comes back, what is that, an octopus on top of the hatch there? When you see these images
come back, what does it feel like for you? I know you've done this a bunch, but it has to be
special. It is, there are men here. This is a tomb. This is a graveyard. And submarines are designed
to keep water out. They keep men in. And one simple example is when they found the USS Monitor
after 150 years and they brought up the turret, the park services did, they found two men still
entombed in that. So these people are there. They're inside this. And you do this in part for the
families, right? I mean, these are families, military families, who lost their loved ones, and they
never really got closure because they died at sea and they were buried, as you mentioned, in this
tomb at the bottom of the ocean. Yes, yes. We found nine submarines or eight submarines in a destroyer,
but we found 452 men is what we found. How did you get into this? Why did you get into this?
this is a journey. I guess I started with, my dad fought in Okinawa. He was in the invasion
force of Okinawa, late in the war, was kamikaze. And that generation does not speak, didn't
speak about the war, all right? So when I started, when I discovered the R12, which years ago
you covered, we began to talk about the war and we began to share. And he, the harder was a
special one because it was lost about the time he was shipped overseas and he knew about it.
And it was a legend in his time. So sharing this with my dad and moving forward, it was kind
of the foundation of starting the Lost 52 project. And how did you get into, is it ocean
exploring? Is it marine biology? What exactly was your profession? How did you get into this
as we look at one of the vessels you work with? Well, I've done this all my life, but I've always
been on the cutting edge technology, whether it's deep mixed gas rebreathers, deep.
up to 300 feet deep, filming, designing and building digital cameras, running operations
for other people.
So we're field guys, we're out there doing and looking.
And essentially, diving wrecks up to 300 feet deep.
And then when you want to go deeper, it is mechanics and robots now.
What have you learned searching the floor of the ocean, the bottom of the ocean?
The ocean is our life on this planet.
People don't understand that there's so much involved with fisheries and energy and weather.
We are just starting to study them.
We are just starting to understand them.
The blue economy is like a $1.5 trillion economy, and by 2030 it'll be a $3 trillion economy.
Now that's blue economy.
That's a lot of stuff.
A large part of it is collecting data and understanding what's out there.
And you hear a lot of times that we know less about the oceans that we do about space.
Correct.
You hear that all the time.
Is that true?
And most of the things that live on the planet live in the ocean because it's three-dimensional.
It's not just the surface.
It's all the water depth.
There's life all the way to the bottom.
Tim, some of our viewers may recognize you because when there was that horrible incident
with the expedition crew that went to go see the Titanic and it imploded.
Where do you think that type of sort of exploration goes?
Because that was, I think, a turning point for the industry, and I know you came out, you were very concerned that people were going down and not taking the right precautions.
Yes, I was.
And I find it from, if you spend it on what I've just accomplished and what we've just were sharing today, these sites are war graves, right?
So you and I can go over across town and visit Grant's Tomb.
We can go to Arlington Cemetery.
They are kind of tourist attractions, right?
underwater, there's no one watching you.
A tourist or a pirate can go to these sites and vandalize them.
And so it's kind of a double-edged sewage.
I discover these things, I put them on the map, and now they become target.
So I'm very much a proponent for protecting these sites.
Underwater tourism has to have some kind of regulation on it.
You can't just have anybody just get these numbers and go out there and dive these sites.
So it's a big thing.
We're opening up the world for people to see these places and they need to be protected.
Inside this part of the studio, we are covered with images, both the images that you found, but also vintage war images.
And I'm looking over your shoulder, and I can see all the sailors that were on that submarine.
I know you've had a chance sometimes with your other discoveries to meet the families.
You haven't met the families here yet because you're just announcing you found this one.
When you meet these families and they see the video and they see sort of the last place their loved ones were alive, what is that moment like?
It is cathartic.
It is extremely emotional, and it seems cliche, but it's closure.
These men went missing in the war.
It's a classified as missing.
It's not gone, so everybody thinks they're missing.
These people grew up, these children grew up, thinking that their dad's going to come home because he's just missing.
And it is understanding and seeing where they are is full circle.
We're writing the last chapter of these heroic guys.
retelling a story of these men and these submarines that will resonate with the next generation.
These men fought for freedom in a free country and democracy in this world, and they gave
the ultimate price. And it's an amazing story.
People watching this may be curious. How does this work? Is it a business? Are you funded?
Does the Navy pay you? I mean, it's got to be millions and millions of dollars.
It's a lot of money. It's philanthropic.
It's philanthropic. Yep. So people donate money so you can do this?
I have an organization that does outreach, ocean outreach, it teaches and shares this information.
Our expeditions are kindly, I was able to raise money with like-minded people from New Orleans and other areas that are sold their businesses and have lots of money, but they're into the World War II.
They've sponsored wings of the World War II Museum down in New Orleans.
They've chosen to donate their money because they know the importance of this.
Yes, and it started out with our first fine, and my wife and I, Christine, did a documentary
on it, and when we were presenting it at a trade show, Paul Allen's people came to us and
asked us to put a project together, and I was putting this together anyway, so we started
our presentation to Paul Allen.
He went a little different way.
He was going to give me an underwater robot that he was moving off his ship and
put a new one on and fund my expeditions.
And then he decided to put all that on his ships.
The project was well received by Paul.
But in the course of presenting, we ran across other benefactors that wanted to put some
money into this.
So they have contacts in the industry, and we did real well by performing and finding.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, with results.
Correct.
What has been the strangest or most amazing thing you've seen that deep in the ocean?
Oh, God.
Man's impact.
be on these things and you'll see Coca-Cola cans, all right? So it just shows you how small
the ocean is getting. Things find their way to these locations.
And then so now you're also on our show tonight to announce that you're sort of transitioning,
right? You've done this for so many years since I've met you at least for more than a decade.
And now you want to sort of change gears. Why?
I realize finding all these submarines is a valiant mission, but we're not going to be the only ones to find them.
other people are going to find them. We've learned so much. We've developed our own patented
technology. And I started a company, I started a startup to build these systems and make them
available. What else can they be used for? The whole blue economy, everything from security on
pipelines, count fisheries and maintenance, shoreline scanning and understanding, autonomous vehicles
are like satellites. If we want data from the ocean, we have to have hardware. And
Hardware has to be in the form of robotics.
And the more we can get them out there in mass quantity, the more we're going to learn from the planet.
How deep can your technology go right now?
Right now we're focused on about 400 meters, but I'm working with 6,000 meter systems.
So we'll be able to build deeper.
6,000 meters.
6,000 meters, almost full ocean depth.
Wow.
Okay, Tim Taylor.
Congratulations on this big fun.
I know there's going to be a lot of news.
Thank you.
Once you get to meet the families and talk to them, and thank you for everything you've been doing
and locating these war relics.
We appreciate it.
Thanks.
Coming up next, the country music star
suing over poems.
That's right, poems posted about him on Instagram.
Zach Brown filing a civil lawsuit
against his estranged wife
after she posted poems that allude
to an abusive relationship
why Brown is claiming she violated
a confidentiality agreement.
But does he have a case?
We'll explain it all.
Next.
Okay, we are back now
with a celebrity legal battle
unfolding over Instagram.
Country music.
star, Zach Brown, filing a claim against his estranged wife after she posted poems to her
Instagram account. Brown says she's defaming him, but she says she's not letting her soon-to-be ex-husband
get in the way of her art. NBC Stephen Romo explains this really weird legal battle.
Tonight, Grammy-award-winning country singer Zach Brown embroiled in a legal battle with his
estranged wife over poems posted on Instagram.
falling in love the leading man of the zach brown ban filing a civil suit against kelly yazdi
who he married in august of last year demanding she immediately remove an instagram post
arguing it threatens to cause immediate and irreparable harm to mr brown what will become of
this story inside my chest while the suit doesn't name a specific post the 33-year-old actress
and model has posted a series of poems, hashtag butterflies don't belong in nets, since the couple
announced their divorce back in December.
It's been piecing together for a while now.
The spoken and written poems, never mentioning Brown by name, but alluding to a past relationship,
saying the wild horse who once roamed free but chose to trust her partner, only to realize
along their journey that his intention was to bridle her spirit.
Going on to write projections, gaslighting, threatening, stonewalling.
Those are the ingredients of narcissistic abuse.
I believe her defense artistically to this would be strong.
The claim alleges Yazdi signed a confidentiality agreement while working for the Zach Brown Collective, a lifestyle brand.
It appears that that was signed in 2022 in this employer-employed context, and yet they got married in 2023 a year later.
So that to me is a good argument that it doesn't cover their marital relationship.
This statement is very important to me.
Yazdi responding to Brown's civil claim on Sunday with a video and written statement on her social media saying no one, not even Zach Brown with all of his money, power, celebrity, and lawyers may silence my right to freely express myself through art.
Continuing, it is beyond ironic that Zach's first act after filing an unnecessary public divorce.
lawsuit was to release a music video that deliberately mocked our wedding party.
Seemingly referencing the only video the Zach Brown band has posted since their divorce
called a beautiful drug, depicting a brunette woman partying, drinking, and taking drugs.
Brown did not respond to Yazdi's latest video, but in a statement to NBC News said,
I took the steps necessary to enforce an agreement between us to maintain personal and business affairs
in confidence and to protect my family from online harassment and speculation.
Yazdi says she intends to respond swiftly and robustly to his meritless complaint.
All right, Stephen Romo joins us now.
So, Stephen, I mean, this is a very interesting legal argument.
Do we know what happens next in this case?
Yeah, a good question, especially when it comes to the First Amendment.
But our legal expert, Angelus and Adela, saying, in her instinct, this judge is not going
to side with Zach Brown.
And another important point, Zach's statement saying that he really wants to limit this
speculation that's going on particularly online here. And that doesn't seem to be happening.
More people are now talking about. It's all drawn attention to these poems and people are going to
try to interpret them. Okay. Anyway, Stephen Romo, great to have you as always. When we come back,
the top 10 albums of all time, as decided by Apple Music, just released a highly controversial
list if you love music, Beyonce, the Beatles and Prince, all in the top 10. But can you guess who
took the number one spot and some big, big surprises that reveal right after this break?
I've earned out his money, but they never take the country I'm in here, as we're
to the top story recording studios.
And that's because tonight we're breaking down Apple music.
They just named their top ten best.
albums ever on the platform. They actually went to 100. Rounding out the back half of their
top 10 list, Nirvana's Nevermind, Back to Black by Amy Winehouse, Kendrick's Good Kid, Mad
City, and songs in the Key of Life by Stevie Wonder. But do these albums stand the test of time?
Joining me now to break down the rest of Apple's top 10 list. A friend of Top Story, Shagoon,
Odulowoo, Shogun, it's been a while. Good to see you again. And E-News co-hosts Kelty
Kelti, thanks so much for joining Top Story.
Shagood, I'm going to start with you.
I want to get your take on the first half of that top 10 list.
What do you think?
Well, Tom, it's great to be back.
The list did what it was supposed to do.
It understood the assignment.
It has got us talking.
Thriller at number two, if they had made it number one like it's supposed to be,
we probably wouldn't be having this conversation.
I mean, Thriller went 33 times diamond.
For people who don't understand that, you've got to go 10.
million albums sold to go diamond once. It did 33. It's the top-selling album of all time.
But my biggest beef with the top five is Frank Ocean Orange at number five. There is no
earth that Frank Ocean should be ahead of Stevie Wonder in the key of life. That to me was a
travesty. We asked you about the back half of the top ten. But it's all right, bro. You jump to
the controversial part. I get that. Let's talk about the top, the rest of the top 10, because we haven't
done that yet. Frank Ocean's blonde, as Shagoon just said, purple rain by Prince, the Beatles
Abbey Road. And at number two, MJ's thriller, Kelty, what's your take on this side of the top
five? And we should mention, because this is getting the segment's getting a little crazy,
this is number one, the Miseducation of Lauren Hill right here, a beautiful and incredible
album. But again, debatable is the greatest album ever. Keltie, talk to me about the top five
than what you thought.
The Miseducation of Lauren Hill was such a big record in 1998.
I mean, nominated for 10 Grammys, it took home five, including album of the year.
There's no denying.
It was one of the greatest albums of all time, deserves a spot on that album music top 100.
But the fact that there's no Whitney, there's no Mariah, there's no Queen, there's no
Billy Joel, there's no Sergeant Pepper in that top five.
It is bizarre and wild, and I would like to know the scorecard and how we rated the albums, please.
Shogun, do you think Apple, I mean, I think you're right.
They wanted us to obviously talk about this, so they wanted to be maybe a little edgy and maybe have some picks that would get people talking.
Do you think that was the sole purpose of this and maybe to get other people to buy music as well?
Absolutely.
And I was with you, Kelsey, too.
You said Billy Joel.
Billy Joel, there's no album by Billy Joel that needs to be in the first half of the five of the ten or the second half.
Like, Billy Joel, like, let the piano man play himself off pretty silently somewhere.
But if we were going, but to your point, Tom, if we go to the back half, I actually thought the back half was fine.
Nirvana might have been a little bit higher if you really want to argue because it was the birth of grunge.
Beyonce's Lemonade is an incredible album and what it was coming off of, even, you know, her issues with Jay-Z, and then just the way it was put together with the singles, with the visuals that went along with it.
I didn't have a problem, really, with the back half, except for number six.
and Stevie Wonder, you know, being behind Frank Ocean.
That I couldn't wrap my mind around.
And again, best album of all time, the highest selling is thriller.
If you put it at number one, we're not talking about it.
Miseducation of Lauren Hill, it's great.
But I would argue that Wyclefts the Carnival, if you're going by Fuji's album and the score,
those two are up there with Lauren Hill.
I don't know about the Carnival.
I'm with you on the score.
I don't know about the carnival.
I want to put up if we can, if we have this graphic, ready to go.
Here are some albums that the producers at Top Story and myself thought should have made at least the top 10 as well.
If we put that up here, look, Bob Marley, not in the top 10.
This is like almost a crime.
Kaya, I think, his greatest album.
Boston, self-titled Boston, one of the great classic rock albums.
And I also want to make the point.
These are albums.
So there's no skips allowed.
That album right there, there are no skips on that album.
It's perfect.
I would say there were other Beyonce albums that were better than Lemonade.
I know this could be debatable, but some might agree with me there.
We're not done yet.
We still got more albums of that.
Let's put that graphic back up.
Pink Floyd the Wall, of course, Adele 21, Pet Sounds, Fleetwood Mac, the notorious BIG,
Bruce Springsteen, of course, Miles Davis, maybe the greatest jazz recording.
What do you guys think of this one?
To me, this is a real top 10 right here.
I mean, Tom, my problem is, and I speak for all the Swifties out there,
1889 needs to be in the top 10, okay?
One of the greatest albums all the time.
You talk about no skips.
You talk about a generation of fans.
I mean, that is an album.
It's later in Apple's 100 when it gets more extended.
But the fact that there's not a Taylor Swift
and what she's done for music
and changed music for women,
I would have expected maybe one Taylor Swift album.
I would have expected most of her albums
to be in the top 100.
This is the only time she appears is 1989,
and it's not even in the top 10.
And I do want to say, just as a girl of the two early aughts in 2000s,
justice for the Baxter Boys Millennium, okay?
Backstreet Boys changed the musical genre.
I mean, where is millennium?
Millennium changed a generation.
It is so important.
And the fact that there's also, I just want to say, no blues, no gospel, no world music,
no live music, very few country music artists on this top 100, none in the top 10.
Garth Brooks.
I mean, we just made some.
I hear you.
Shagoon, is this like a thankless job?
I don't wait.
Kelsey, wait a second.
Kelsey, you said that 1989 has no skips.
I skipped it entirely.
Like there was, look, and I'm a fan of Taylor Swift, but I don't think that 1989,
oh no, the Swifties, let the Swifties come for me, the beehive, we're ready, we're good.
But I will say that there was a lack, I think there was a lack of diversity where different music genres were really represented in the top.
20. And Bob Marley, Exodus, not showing up until the 40s, the godfather of reggae, if he's not
up there, higher, that, again, it gets us talking. I thought Jay-Z, the blueprint, was a little
too high, especially ahead of a quimini. So there's a lot of different things we can quibble about.
It's tough and it's a thankless dog. We've run out of time here, and that's a problem.
We can talk about this great music for years to come. Anyways, Kelty Shagoon, thank you so much
for being here. You guys are great. And we thank you for watching Top Story tonight.
I'm Tom Yamous in New York.
Stay right there.
More news on the way.