Top Story with Tom Llamas - Wednesday, October 4, 2023

Episode Date: October 5, 2023

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

Tonight, the race to be speaker, who will emerge? Or maybe tonight the question is, who will survive the vote? The House of Representatives paralyzed tonight with no one in charge after Kevin McCarthy was forced out of the top job. Two high-profile Republicans, Steve Scalise and Jim Jordan, throwing their hats in the ring. Tonight, we'll break down what either man would mean for the future of the GOP and how soon that vacant podium could be filled.

Activists stabbed in cold blood, a disturbing deadly attack in New York City, a prominent public policy advocate killed at a bus stop in front of his girlfriend, apparently at random, the desperate manhunt for that assailant tonight, and what it means for New York City. Border breakdown, a man who appears to be a Texas National Guardsman, caught on camera, yelling at a migrant as he crawled under a barbed wire fence along the Rio Grande with a child, asking him, quote, Do you like how you're suffering?

The moment capturing the frustrations on both sides as authorities struggle to keep up with the surge. Haley rising, a new poll showing Nikki Haley, gaining momentum in the race for the Republican nomination, moving into second place behind Trump in New Hampshire and South Carolina. So is this a blip, or can she continue to rise? Philly Biker busted the wannabe tough guy seen smashing the windshield of this car with two young children inside, before confronting and headbutting their mother with his helmet on, nabed by police after a days-long manhunt, the charges he's now facing and what police say they found when they arrested him.

Plus, chilling video capturing the moment, a plane fell out of the sky in Oregon before slamming into a suburban home. Two people on board killed, a third somehow surviving, an investigation into the cause now underway, and a fireball erupting inside of a hostel overseas. The flames barely missing two backpackers, why authorities say an e-bike is to blame. Top story starts right now. And good evening.

Tonight, the House of Representatives is a House in Chaos with no speaker at the helm and no clear timeline of when that position will be filled or by whom. The lower chamber is at a standstill. The House tonight in uncharted territory as a speaker protest. is holding the gavel, this following that stunning vote to oust Kevin McCarthy, who now holds the distinction of being the only speaker of the House to be voted out of the position. So now the question is who will take his spot? Tonight, that short list we brought you last night, seeming to get even shorter, two lawmakers officially entering the race. First up, Ohio Republican Jim Jordan, throwing his hat in the ring, the fiery conservative,

also a staunch Trump ally, writing a letter to his Republican colleagues, seeking their support. And the second name, Louisiana Congressman Steve Scalise, who was already serving as McCarthy's second in command. Straight ahead, we will have much more on those two contenders and the likelihood either man could get the necessary votes. But first, NBC Capitol Hill correspondent Ryan Nobles leads us off with the very latest from Washington. Tonight, the Republican scramble to find a speaker with the House now at a standstill. I think the view from the outside is that the House is paralyzed. That's a good description.

The House is largely paralyzed. The House won't return to vote on a new leader until next week. Already jumping into the race, current number two, Republican Steve Scalise. This is really important that we get this right. And conservative firebrand Jim Jordan. I feel like I can unite. Conservative voters in possession. Overnight, former President Trump posting,

why is it that Republicans are always fighting among themselves? Why aren't they fighting the radical left Democrats? Now some lawmakers floating his name for the job, too. A lot of people have been calling me about speaker. I'll do whatever it is to help, but my focus, my total focus is being president. Until there's a speaker, critical work is left to languish, including another potential shutdown showdown just 44 days away. And tonight, President Biden concerned about funding for Ukraine, speaking to NBC's Peter Alexander.

It doesn't worry me. But I know there are a majority of members of the House and Senate in both parties who have said that they support funding Ukraine. All of it after that historic move yesterday, eight Republican hardliners joining with every Democrat to remove Speaker Kevin McCarthy. That handful of Republican holdouts upset after McCarthy worked with Democrats to avoid a government shutdown and empowered by a new rule allowing just one lawmaker to call a vote to remove the speaker. I don't regret standing up for choosing governing over grievance. Those conservative hardliners are not backing away. I just want someone who's going to keep their word to us and everyone that they do deals with. And GOP moderates are pleading to change the process.

I think no speaker should ever have a proverbial gun to their head at the threat and the whim of one or in this case eight members. Right now, Republican resentment running high against those conservative rebels. I think if we hung around here right now, you would probably see some folks breaking out in a fist fight, and I'd love to tell you, I'm kidding. All right, Ryan Nobles joins us tonight from a busy Capitol Hill, or at least it was busy. I know it's changed a little since last night. Ryan, we're going to talk a little bit more about the possibility of former President Trump being the speaker because that may have thrown viewers for a loop there.

But I do want to ask you, how soon could there be a new vote for speaker? Well, the earliest it could happen, Tom, is Wednesday of next week. The way the House schedule currently works is that Tuesday, the Republicans will gather for an internal discussion about who they think their best candidate will be. If they get to a point where there's one person who has the votes necessary to win the speakership, they will then move to put the vote on the floor. But it could take days, weeks, maybe even months before they get to that point. So while they're hoping to have this wrapped up by next Wednesday, it could still take quite a bit of time. So last night there was obviously a lot of drama on the GOP side, but then there was also some drama on the side of the Democrats, in part led by some Republicans. Can you explain the reporting about the office that former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi worked out of and Steny Hoyer as well?

Well, you know the old adage in real estate, right? It's all about location, location, location. And there's a very prized few members of Congress that actually have offices inside the United States Capitol. And when Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer stepped down from their leadership positions, out of a bit of graciousness, the House Speaker Kevin McCarthy did offer them small offices in the Capitol so that they could continue working out of that space. Well, after everything played out with the Speaker's battle and no one knows for sure the exact reason behind it, but after all of those Democrats sided with the Republican rebels to vote Kevin McCarthy out and Nancy Pelosi wasn't even a part of that vote, the new Speaker pro tempore, in Patrick McHenry decided that Pelosi and Hoyer would no longer have those offices inside the Capitol. That is his prerogative. And, of course, there is the possibility that Kevin McCarthy may be one of the people that takes over those offices when they return next week. All right, Ryan Noble's leading us off tonight for a closer look at the top contenders for the speakership.

NBC's Ali Vitale has been in Capitol Hill covering it all for us. Ali, I want to walk our viewers through who these two men are that have sort of emerged as the leaders, possibly to be the Speaker of the House. First up is Representative Steve Scalise. What can you tell us about him? Yeah, look, long-time Congressman from Louisiana, just outside of the New Orleans area, a place that you and I know well. He's someone who is currently serving in leadership,

technically the number two House Republican, not surprising to anybody that he's putting himself up now for this role. The only thing that could make this difficult are his personal considerations here, which he seems to have put aside, given the fact that he did not. make it official earlier today, sending a letter to his conference saying that he wanted to run for speaker. But you'll remember, back in 2017, he survived a mass shooting at a congressional baseball field. He credited in that letter to his colleagues today, his Republican conference family, in his words, for helping him through that difficult recovery. And then

just several weeks ago, during the August recess, Scalise announced that he'd been diagnosed with blood cancer. It's why in so many of these videos, you see him wearing a mask. It's because he's still actively undergoing chemotherapy. Nevertheless, making this bid, and he'll be expected to continue making phone calls to all of the other Republicans. Frankly, I've heard from several who say that they've heard from at this point, Scalise and Jordan. So, you know, when we describe his politics, Representative Scalise, and I know sort of the terms moderate, conservative, they've all sort of evolved over the last several years. How would you describe Representative Scalise's, I guess, Republican or conservative politics? Look, he is a,

died in the wool, conservative, but at the same time, that word conservative doesn't mean the same thing to everyone here who uses it to describe themselves within this conference. So Scalise might have problems, according to my sources and the conversations that I've been having, with people like the House Republican Freedom Caucus. They may have other people that they prefer for this job. We're talking about a voting block of like 15 to 20 Republican lawmakers there. That could be a problem for Scalise. It's also interesting to note that Jim Jordan, the other man, officially vying for this spot. And again, there could be more that jump in between now and Tuesday. But Jim Jordan is a founding member of the House Freedom Caucus. He's strayed from their ranks

recently, coming to the aid and allyship of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, for instance. But nevertheless, Jordan is someone who's leading on an impeachment inquiry. That's something that Scalise has not been leading on, but certainly said he was supportive of in that letter he sent to colleagues today. all of them really trying to shore up any spots that they might have to make sure that they can get as many votes as possible because the magic number this time around, Tom, is not 218 because attendance here is always shifting. Now the magic number is 217. Just because it's one less, though, doesn't mean it's going to be any easier for other than this.

Yeah, it could still be critical to get that 217. Talk to us a little bit more about Representative Jim Jordan. Our viewers at home may know him as a congressman who is unafraid to go after Democrats, almost made it his mission, somebody who's incredibly aligned with former President Trump, and at times has sort of been an attack dog for the former president. Absolutely. An attack dog and a first line of defense here on Capitol Hill, he's someone who, when you think about Republicans wielding their subpoena power and their gavel power, Jordan has certainly done that, not just as the head of the House Judiciary Committee,

but also as the head of the Select Committee on what Republicans call weaponization of government. Jordan is so central to all of these different oversight inquiries that we're seeing mounted against the Biden administration, against his son Hunter, and against various people who have moved to indict former President Trump. The fact that Jordan is such an ally of the former presidents, though, is critically important here when we think about the ways that that could impact how he gets support within his conference. There are some people who are saying that they want to see Trump in this job. Yeah, technically, he could do that because you don't have to be a serving member of Congress to be speaker. What's more likely is that Jordan can appeal to these folks who might want to vote for Trump, and instead that could help bring them to his cause, too. All right, All right, Ali Vitale from Capitol Hill for us tonight.

Allie, we appreciate all your reporting. We are now going to take a sharp turn to a story of video and an attack that has shaken us. A Brooklyn man who made it his life mission to help people addicted to drugs and to find ways not to penalize people who had become addicts fatally stabbed while sitting on a bus stop bench with his girlfriend. The attack apparently completely random and now a young man is dead in a city that has been battling

a major problem with crime. Police saying they have a suspect but have yet to make an arrest. NBC's Valley Castro has the details and a warning to our viewers this video is disturbing. Tonight, a horrific attack in Brooklyn caught on camera.

Surveillance video showing the moments 32-year-old Ryan Carson and his girlfriend were waiting at a bus stop in the early hours on Monday morning, making their way back from a wedding when a man started kicking scooters in the street and shouting at the couple. Carson then seemed trying to calm the man down

in an effort to de-escalate. The man appearing to hold a knife in his hand, then taking a swing at Carson's face. Carson seemed running away but tripping over the bench to the ground where the suspect stabbed him multiple times. Surveillance video showing the moments after the fatal attack, when the suspect comes back to spit at the girlfriend and kick Carson. According to police, Carson was transported to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.

We have received several leads in regards to this case and have developed a suspect. My name is Ryan Thoracin Carson. A devoted policy advocate and poet, Carson was beloved by his friends and family. He is a larger-than-life character. He's very, very jovial, charismatic staff loved him. The students loved him. He was also remembered as a rising star in the social justice field, focused on issues like climate change and working at the New York Public Interest Research Group.

It's a terrible tragedy. The world will be somewhat less well off because of his absence. We're hoping that his work will continue, but we'll have to be. done differently without him. Police say it was 3.50 in the morning when Ryan Carson was stabbed at this bus stop. During the day, it's a busy intersection, a vibrant corner of Brooklyn, but neighbors here say they don't feel safe. I worry about the randomness of it all.

You know, that's it. You know, and just you're not sure what can happen, when it can happen, and it can happen in broad daylight. Random and violent attacks in recent months have sent shockwaves throughout the city. Oh, my goodness. including this brutal encounter at a Harlem subway station, a man beating a disabled elderly woman with her own cane just last month. NYPD data shows murderers are down from last year, but felony assaults are up with more than 2,300 reported cases so far this year.

I don't feel comfortable with the fact that someone can just be carrying a knife, and then they're just walking around, and they can just decide that someone's life has to end just because they're in a headspace where they're just clearly not. not thinking. Ryan Carson, now another victim of senseless crime, but remembered by those who knew him for more than the way he died. Valerie Castro joins us now. Valerie, do police have any more information about the stabbing suspect? They have identified someone, correct? Tom, that's right. And at that press conference earlier today, the NYPD chief of detectives did say they are trying to

establish probable cause to make an arrest. We want to show you a picture of the suspect that was taken from that surveillance video. It's a closer look at the person. You can see he's wearing a black champion hoodie that was released by the 81st police precinct in the Bedstye area of Brooklyn. That is the neighborhood where this happened. Police say there were also some other clues in the surveillance video. An unidentified woman was seen in the area immediately after the incident. They say it sounded like she apologized to the couple and she mentioned a name Brian. Again, that's according to police.

So far, there is no word that there is anyone in custody. And police have not released any other details about the suspect that they have. identified. Tom. Okay, Valerie Castro, with a lot of new reporting on this story that people are following all across the country. Valerie, we thank you for that. With New York City, supposedly, the greatest city in the world and so many New Yorkers shaken by the recent string of violent attacks, what's driving this and what can be done to stop them? Former NYPD lieutenant and criminal justice expert, Darian Porcher joins us now live on Top Story. Darian, thank you so much for taking the time. Big picture here. Then I'll dive a little deeper into this horrific case.

Is there a crime problem in New York City right now? What do the stats show us? Or is this simply that there's a lot of social media out there and there's newspapers like the New York Post that highlight these incidents? We have a genuine crime problem that's plagued in the city of New York. One of the components is we have an attrition rate within the NYPD, meaning we don't have a proper backfill to facilitate the cops that are on patrol.

One of the key components is omnipresence. When you have a uniformed officer at areas that have the greatest propensity for crime, then it deters criminals. That has been gone as it relates to this particular administration. Is it just a problem with the NYPD police, or are there policies in place in the city? Are there things that have happened post-pandemic? Are there issues with the mayors that have happened that is sort of tied into all of this? I want to say this is a national problem.

It's just not localized to the NYPD as it relates to the attrition rate. But in addition to that, as you mentioned policy, one of the things that we really need to focus on is something that we refer to as precision-based policing. Precision-based policing focuses on placing officers at areas where you have the greatest probability of crime. That strategy is what's key, and it's lacking because we have a lack of officers on the scene in areas like this. And we don't know about this case. When you look at this video and you see this story, is there anything larger we can pull from this? Is there anything larger you pull from this? Because

You know, people, unfortunately, are killed in New York City. This is a young man who, you know, to me, he was trying to make the city better. He made it his life's mission, and he was killed in cold blood just on a bus bench with his girlfriend. What can we get from this? Well, what we can gather from this is us as common citizens, I don't expect people to intercede when they see crimes like this occur. But at the same token, capturing information and provided to authorities so they can affect them. effectively take this person in custody as the NYPD now has a suspect in their cross-hands. Do you think criminals in New York City are afraid of the police? Do you think they're worried

about being arrested? Unfortunately they're not. In the wake of bail reform, we're operating in catch and release streams. People get arrested, they get out the next day, and they continue to commit more crimes. So as a result, there's no ramification for their crimes. Therefore, we need to make those changes as it relates to the arrest policies in the city of New York. talk about crime in New York City, you think of the 70s, you think of the 80s when crime was really bad, the subways covered in graffiti, gangs running rampant. New York City is not at that level right now, but it is having problems, correct? Well, it's subjective. You know, one may argue that the social contract is not being held by the city of New York because

innocent citizens are being victimized by criminals. Therefore, government should have more protections in place as it relates to police officers. So when I mentioned that it's subjective, we do see crime numbers that are going up in some categories and they're going down in others. However, violent crime has been a real problem here in the city of the other. Let's put the stats up here for our viewers because I think it's important. And when we put up this graphic here, you can see the NYPD is touting the fact that murders are down, but as you can see, felony assaults, as you mentioned, are still up. What do you think, and you look at some of these, right?

You see robbery and rape are down, murder down, but felony assault is up. Grand Larsoning Auto is up as well. And these are obviously stats that come from the NYPD. What does that tell you as somebody who studied crime and studied police work? We have a problem. Whenever we have felony assault, as we saw in this particular case, is going up. That means that there's no level of deterrence on the street. Grand larceny auto, you have in your car stolen.

We have a genuine problem that needs to be addressed. So although we have categories where we've seen precipitous drops, we see increases in violent crimes which are plaguing the city of New York. What is your take on Mayor Eric Adams? He was a former police officer himself. He ran on a platform where he would fix the crime problem in New York City. I'm a resident of New York City. I've lived here.

I was. I've just moved. But I lived here for a long time. And when I speak to people who still live in this city, they tell me they don't notice a difference between when Mayor de Blasio was the mayor and when Mayor Eric Adams has taken over. And he ran on a platform that he would change New York City. Is he to blame at all for this?

I think the mayor, as the chief elected official, holds a great deal of accountability. His agenda has fallen short in the wake of public safety. We see crimes going up. Why do you think that is? What do you think is happening? Because he ran on a platform stating that as a practitioner in law enforcement, he knows how to get it done. However, it since not come to fruition based on his incumbency. So if this was the testament that you ran on and it's not working out, then you bear the brunt of the responsibility.

And do you know what he's doing wrong? What should he do differing? I think there's a collaborative approach that's not being introduced. One of the things is you need a reorganization of the cabinet. You need to focus on the precision-based policing by placing officers in these high-profile, high-crime areas. And that's just not happening. Granted, the attrition rate is an issue, but you have to fix this thing. If you are that person that ran on this platform, then it's your job to get it done.

If you're not get it done, you have to bear responsibility. Former NYPD Lieutenant Darren Porcher, we thank you so much for joining us tonight on Top Story. Now the ongoing migrant crisis in the newly obtained video showing a man that appears to be a Texas National Guardsman yelling at a migrant. Video capturing the moment, a migrant crosses under a barbed wire fence while carrying a child. The heated exchange capturing the growing frustrations at the border on both sides. Quadvanegas has the video and the story. Tonight, the border chaos continues, with the motions spilling out over the razor wire installed by the National Guard at the southern border. A video obtained by Reuters capturing the moment, a man is seen crawling under the wire with a child in hand.

You can see the moment another child takes the toddler, leading to this exchange with someone that appears to be in the uniform of the Texas National Guard. The video appears to be filmed from the Mexican side of the border in Juarez last week. The short clip does not show what happened before or after the exchange. The Texas military department did not respond to our request for comment, but for weeks. But for weeks, Republican lawmakers have addressed holes in the barbed wire that have allowed migrants to enter the country. And people are coming over here despite the Constantine wire because they know they're going to get through, because there's areas in the wire where they can come through. Nothing has changed here except for this. The numbers are going through the roof right now.

Activists say it highlights the growing humanitarian crisis. How do you feel about this interaction? What is your opinion about what you see in the video? And I think it speaks to how. borders get militarized when human rights are not centered. And essentially it's all about enforcement and not meeting people and ensuring that their basic human needs are being met. This incident, as countries on both sides of the border

are struggling to handle the number of migrants traveling north. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez-Obrador now estimating last week alone, 10,000 migrants reached the U.S.-Mexico border every day. In major U.S. cities like Chicago, 13 buses full of migrants arriving today from Texas. We have to have better coordination with every single level of government, and that includes the state of Texas. An urgent call for solutions,

as thousands more make their way through Mexico attempting to arrive in the U.S. Guad joins us tonight from the Telemundo Center there in Miami. Guad, we were both just at the border a few weeks ago in Eagle Pass. And I know you did a lot of reporting from right up there as migrants were crossing in, and you sort of heard and documented some of the interactions that were happening. Tom, so many things happening at the border at the same time. I witness an interaction very similar to this one between a migrant family and a Border Patrol officer. Very similar thing.

A mother arrived with three kids. One of those children was up front right next to the wire. I saw a Border Patrol officer yell at the mother and then help pull the child out of the area with the wire. The board patrol agent then told me he was very upset because of what the mother was doing, right, blaming her for bringing the kids over to the wire. But then the mother also said after the weeks or months that they all travel, they don't think the wire is going to stop them. And she told me, you know, I have to keep going. So nothing's going to stop us. There's only one way to go into the U.S.

And, of course, it's getting across this wire. So you can see both sides. But it's important to keep in mind, Tom, that at that point, board patrol and National Guard aren't really policing the border. at that point, they're making a rescue when they find themselves in this situation, Tom. Yeah, these law enforcement border military troops are all being pushed to the limit as these migrants, as you mentioned, we've been walking for months, are trying to come in. It's just, it's chaotic and it's a crisis. Okay, Guad vanegas for a squad, we appreciate your reporting.

We want to turn out of the forecast and an autumn heat wave stretching from the Midwest to the northeast with record-shattering summer-like warmth, hitting millions. This says Tropical Storm Philippe is set to bring heavy rainfall and strong winds to New England, an area already hard hit by damaging flooding this fall. I want to get right over to NBC News meteorologist Bill Carrons. And Bill, this has been such a wild few months of weather. Yeah, we keep breaking these incredible record highs. So we have daily record highs and then we have monthly record highs. When you break monthly record highs, especially with a period of record that goes back 120 to 130 years in Syracuse and Burlington, you know, there's no one alive that's

ever in these areas to experience in October Day as warm. as it was today. 89 in Syracuse and 86 and wrong. I mean, this is, you're talking areas that can get snow in October. And we had other record highs, too, like Albany, Glens Falls, Manchester, even Bradford, PA. Very unusual to be having peak leaves in temperatures that are in mid to upper 80s like they would be in July. Now, as far as tomorrow, still exceptionally warm, not quite upper 80s, but 82 in Buffalo, Burlington's still at 80. Then things will change.

We have a lot of cold air that's now tracking through the Midwest. tomorrow. It moves through Iowa, Kansas, Chicago, St. Louis. That'll make it to the East Coast, but not until the weekend, which I think we're going to get to now. Yeah, I know. Talk to us about Tropical Storm Philippe. We were actually tracking this storm. I think it was a week ago or at least 10 days ago, but now it's approaching the East Coast. Talk to us about what's happened. Yeah, it's been a hot mess of a storm, and it's never been that strong. The last couple days brought a lot of heavy rain to Lake, the Virgin Islands. It's only got 40-mile-per-hour winds, but there's a lot of clouds and a lot of moisture with it.

And this is going to head due north. remind you of what Lee did not long ago, and it's going to head up here either towards Nova Scotia or down East Main, but it's also going to combine with that storm I just showed you bringing the cool air and the Great Lakes, and those storms combined are going to drop a lot of rain up to two to three inches in all the northern half of New England. As I mentioned, the leaves are at peak, rainy weekend after rainy weekend. There's a lot of businesses with fall that are losing a lot of money. Okay, Bill Kerrins versus Bill. We appreciate that. Still ahead tonight, a deadly plane crash in an Oregon neighborhood. The small

plane falling from the sky before slamming into a home the details just in about who was on board. Plus, a major update on that wild confrontation in Philadelphia. The biker who kicked in the windshield of a car and headbutted a mother of two with his helmet, now under arrest, the charges he's now facing. And actor Kevin Spacey rushed to the hospital while at a film festival overseas what we're learning tonight about his condition at this hour. Stay with us. Top Story just getting started on this Wednesday night. We're back now with a deadly plane crash in Oregon. At least two people are dead after a plane from a pilot train school plummeted from the sky and crashed into a home.

Authority's just announcing everyone on board that plane. We're in their early 20s. Aaron McLaughlin has the late details in the chilling new video. Yo, what the f***? A deadly plane crash caught on camera. An eyewitness capturing the harrowing moment to small plane dropped 5,000. and feet spiraling out of the sky and into a Newburgh, Oregon home. I'm in shock, kind of. And I ended up getting a glimpse and being someone else has to see this to confirm what I'm

seeing. Tonight, police confirming a 22-year-old flight instructor and a 20-year-old student pilot were killed. Another 20-year-old survived. She was pulled from the wreckage and airlifted to a local hospital. She remains hospitalized in critical condition. We express our condolences. We're going to be doing everything within our facility skill sets to try to determine the probable cause. Officials say multiple people were at home at the time of the crash, but incredibly, everyone inside the house managed to safely evacuate. Thank goodness. Somebody's looking after them.

The neighbors terrified at the thought of what could have happened to their children playing not far away. I ran out to see if my boy was okay and they were crying. I said, did the plane hit the house? They go, yeah, I hit his buddy's house. Quite aware, the plane is owned by Hillsborough Arrow Academy, a flight training school. Took off just after 6 p.m. and crashed 30 minutes later after appearing to lose speed suddenly. It doesn't really feel like it's real. I truly do feel sorry for their family and their loss.

The cause of the crash is unclear on the subject of an ongoing investigation. We reached out to Hillsborough Arrow Academy for comment and have yet to hear back. Tom. McLaughlin for us. Aaron, thank you. Now to an arrest in Philadelphia after a day's long, manhunt, a man accused of smashing the back window of a woman's car with her young children inside before pointing a gun at her. The video of that mother fending off the armed attacker and the charges he's now facing. Ron Allen has the latest. Tonight, an arrest after a shocking confrontation caught on camera on the streets of Philadelphia, a mother with her two children in the backseat facing off against an armed assailant after he jumped on her car. Video posted

on social media shows a group of dirt bikers driving past City Hall in and an apparent street takeover. Nikki Bullock and her family were in a car nearby, on their way to deliver food. They're not paying attention to lanes. They're just doing whatever. So now I'm turning in the lane and it hits the side of the car. The collision leaving a dent in the side of the car, that man getting off his bike and going on the attack. George Coloni was visiting the city from Florida and shot the now viral video of the

incident. Next thing you know, this guy hops off and jumps on this lady's car. He jumped up here with two feet. He stepped his first foot down. Didn't work. and then he was like, it went through. The man shattering the back window with Bullock, her girlfriend, and those two children just five and two years old inside.

The man jumping off the car, dropping a gun to the ground. As Bullock gets out to confront him, the suspect picks up the gun and points it right at her head. It was a little gun, and then at that point, my windshield was already broken, so like, what was he really going to do to make for him? So I just started going off. The two squaring off on the street,

the attacker headbutting Bullock, before getting back on his bike. Bullock pushing him back down before he drove away. She's then seen taking one of her children out of the vehicle before walking away from the scene. For him to take it that far is just out of control. I mean, to the point where, like, many people could have died in the middle of, in an instant. This afternoon, police announcing the arrest of Cody Heron, now facing felony charges of aggravated assault. Heron has not yet entered a plea.

Police have previously used images of the alleged attacker highlighting his firearm, tattoos, and helmet decal, hoping to get tips. Today, prosecutors releasing new images of his gun and helmet seeming to match the one seen in the video. Dispicable behavior when you see an individual that feels that it's okay to jump up on a car and smash the back window with a young lady inside with her two children, not going to be tolerated. A first step toward accountability after an incident that could have ended very differently. I'm just grateful that my kids are okay. There's not a scratch on them. It was just the simple fact that I had kids in the car. That's why I jumped out like that.

That's why I reacted like that. It was just to protect them, honestly. The district attorney pointing out, these street takeovers are especially tough for police because they can't conduct high-speed chases without endangering pedestrians and motorists nearby. Tom? Ron Allen first. Ron, thank you for that.

When we come back, an important consumer alert, a popular electric skateboard recalled after the deaths of at least four people, why regulators say those boards are dangerous. Stay with us. All right, back now with Top Stories News Feed. We begin with the health scare for disgraced actor Kevin Spacey. TMZ reporting Spacey was rushed to a hospital and used Beckastan after having a heart attack,

or at least heart attack symptoms. He was there for a film festival, which he ended up attending later that night, reportedly telling the crowd he was fine. Spacey was found not guilty of sexual assault. charges during a trial in London, you may remember, back in July. A consumer alert, 300,000 one-wheel, electric skateboards have been recalled after the deaths of at least four people. You've probably seen these in your neighborhood. The Consumer Product Safety Commission says the board can stop balancing the rider. According to the agency, there have been multiple

reports of major injuries like paralysis and traumatic brain injury. Three of the riders who died were not wearing a helmet. We have much more information on the recall on our website, NBCNews.com. And you can now return a package through Uber. Okay, this is a new one. The ride-sharing company announcing drivers will now be able to pick up your packages and take them to UPS, FedEx, or the post office using the Uber or Uber Eats app. Customers can send up to five packages at a time for a $5 flat fee or $3 for Uber 1 members.

This could be a game changer during the holiday season. Okay. Next tonight to Power and Politics. 24 race for the White House. It has been one week since the second GOP primary debate, and we could be starting to see a new candidate emerged to the number two spot. A new poll out of New Hampshire, take a look. It shows former South Carolina governor, Nikki Haley is polling second in the first primary state. You see it right there. And then just obviously behind former President Trump, who's at 49 percent. Haley is at 19 percent, though, while Florida

Governor Ron DeSantis is now in third at 10 percent. And in South Carolina, and look at this right here. You have obviously Donald Trump, again, leading the pack there at 51%. But you have Nikki Haley in second at 17%. Governor Ron DeSantis, again, third percent. And Senator Tim Scott was from South Carolina polling in the single digits in his home state.

I want to bring in GOP strategist and former Trump Deputy Press Secretary, Sarah Matthews for this conversation, and former Republican Congressman Charlie Dent. Sarah, I'm going to start with you tonight. What do you make of this recent momentum? I mean, I know it's a distant second, right? but it seems like Nikki Haley has picked up some steam after those first two debates.

That's exactly right. I think that she had two back-to-back very strong performances in the debate, where she gave, in my opinion, the most substantive policy answers and articulated a vision for the future. And on top of that, she showed that she could land some punches on her opponents. Obviously, she's had some sparring moments with Vivek Ramoswamy in both of the debates. And so I think that she was able to have those breakout moments and capitalize on it. And we've seen her poll numbers and fundraising go up since then.

Charlie, I want to put up a poll for you. This is nine months ago, and this is sort of incredible. I wanted our viewers to see this. You have Governor Ron DeSantis. At this point, nine months ago, he was in first. He had a commanding lead over Trump. And now, you see this, this is again, nine months ago. This was New Hampshire, first place, beating Donald Trump.

And now he's in third place, barely breaking in the single day. digits is at 10%, Nikki Haley's second. You've run for office, you've won races. What do you think? Is this just sort of a flash in the pan for Nikki Haley? Is there something there? By the way, I've run 13 races and I'm undefeated. Well, there you go.

And unadited. But look, what's happened here is that Nikki Haley is an appealing candidate. And she and the other candidates that are making a fundamental error, and most especially Ron DeSantis. They failed, it really failed to draw a sharp contrast to Donald Trump. I mean, too many of them were basically running as many Trumps. And that is no way to win an election. You have to draw a sharp contrast.

They should have been tearing the bark off of Donald Trump from day long. Do you think that's why Nikki's emerging? I mean, she is going after him in these debates. A bit more. I know it's not what you're talking about, but it is a bit more in that vein. But they have to, because otherwise they're simply playing for second place, which is last place in a race like this. So I can, for the life of me, understand, for example, right when Trump was indicted up in New York, you know, over the Stormy Daniels matter, the hush money payments, many of his opponents stood up and more or less defended him and said it was a deep state. But that was a, but that was a malpractice, political malpractice. I mean, they should have been saying he's too great a risk. It's terrible conduct. They could have done all kinds of them.

Let me ask you a bigger question here. I brought up that poll about Governor Ron DeSantis because Governor DeSantis has drawn the distinction. He has made the case. case. He has gone on the attack against former President Trump. But it's interesting because, as you saw, he was the favorite to a lot of these voters. I remember after the 2020 election right before the inauguration, I asked a lot of Republicans, who are your top three choices? And I heard Governor Ron DeSantis over and over again. That's anecdotal. But my point is this, after voters have gotten to know Governor Ron DeSantis more, they seem, according to these polls, to like him less. Well, yeah, because for those of us who know Ron DeSantis, he's socially awkward. You know, he is he's not a very sociable person.

He's not real cheerful. You know, he's kind of running on a very angry message. It's rather nativist. It's, you know, rather Trumpian, and, you know, the whole isolationism, protectionism, culture wars. I don't think it's a very appealing persona. You know, at least with Donald Trump, whether you love them or not or you hate him, at least there's an entertainment factor in it where you don't have that with dissent.

It's that rule of who would you want to have a beer with. Sarah, in a recent Iowa poll, Nikki Haley is polling third behind Trump and DeSantis. If you're running the Nikki Haley campaign now, are you moving resources or as much resources as you can with your funds to Iowa to try to win there? Because from what we have some other reporting as well, it sounds like Governor DeSantis is moving and sort of putting all his chips on Iowa as they move ahead closer to the caucuses. I think that her team should have resources in Iowa, but I don't think that they need to focus solely there. Obviously, they're showing strong in New Hampshire in recent polling, coming in second place in multiple polls in South Carolina, an early nominating state. They're also performing well.

I believe there's a recent poll that had them in second there as well. And so I think that while DeSantis' campaign is now essentially a one-state strategy, they're polling all their resources and focusing only on Iowa. Nikki Haley, at least, her campaign can say, look, we are currently at play in multiple states. The only issue is that for her campaign to get anywhere and actually have a chance at defeating Donald Trump for the nomination, folks need to start dropping out. Guys, yeah. And so real quick, before you go, because I want to get your answer to this, do you think there's still a chance for another candidate to beat Donald Trump in this primary

process? I think that there is only a chance for someone to defeat him if folks drop out and they drop out now, because right now we have about 60 days until we actually start voting in the primaries. And unfortunately, Donald Trump, in my opinion, is unfit to hold office ever again. I wouldn't like to see him be the Republican nominee. But right now, it seems like it's inevitable just based on the fact that the vote is split among too many people right now. So I think that folks need to drop out, throw their support behind one person if we actually want to defeat him in a primary. Sarah, I love you. I said real quick. So Charlie, real quick, 10 seconds here, do you think there's a lane for someone else? Yes, at some point, Republican voters are going to have to

recognize Trump is too great a risk. Right now, it appears to be Nikki Haley, but somebody else could emerge. There's still a lot of time. Sarah Matthews, Charlie Dent, we thank you both so much. Love having you both. And we will be right back. Now to Top Stories Global Watch and two devastating earthquakes in Western Nepal. Surveillance footage captures the moment a 6.3 and 5.3 magnitude quake hit right after other quakes, triggering landslides, damaging homes. Look at this video and schools. Tremors were even felt in India's capital of New Delhi. At least, one person was killed, dozens more injured. An explosion captured on camera at a hostel in Sydney. This is crazy. Surveillance footage showing flames erupting from a room. As two people run out,

one of those men suffering minor burns, authority saying a defective e-bike, and they're so popular now, as you know, a defective e-bike battery left on a charger sparked the explosion. No other injuries were reported. And major news for soccer fans around the world, FIFA announced the 2030 World Cup will be hosted by six countries across three continents for the first time in the Federation's history. Spain, Portugal, and Morocco will co-host the soccer tournament, but the matches will also be played in Uruguay, Paraguay, and Argentina. 2030 will mark the 100th year anniversary of the first World Cup. Okay, coming up next, the price of watching your favorite shows could be going up again. Netflix, planning to raise the cost of its ad-free subscription plan, when that change could go into effect and what

says about the state of streaming, everything you need to know about streaming, including the best newscast on streaming, which remains top story right after this break. The famous open to Netflix, we know it so well, listening to that and watching Netflix is about to get a little bit more expensive. We're back now with the rising cost of streaming services. The Wall Street Journal reporting that Netflix plans to raise its prices after the actor strike ends. It comes as the cost of major ad-free streamers has jumped nearly 25% in the last year. The market responding positively to the news, take a look at this, Netflix stock jumping more than 3% after the Wall Street Journal's exclusive report. And here's what the

current membership tiers are for Netflix. The standard $6.99 a month, that comes with the ads, and then the premium membership is $1999 a month. For more on the decision and what this means for consumers, I want to bring in the Wall Street Journal's deputy media editor, Jessica She helped break that story for the Wall Street Journal. Jessica, thanks so much for joining Top Story. So talk to me about why Netflix finally decided to do this. Well, I think it was inevitable. As you pointed out, all the streaming services have been raising prices over the past year.

The cost of streaming has gone up around 25%. So Netflix, and Netflix has the most content than anyone else. So it was inevitable that they were going to make this move eventually. Waiting till those strikes end makes the most sense, since they're not going to have any new shows until that's all over, so you can't raise prices before them. Do we know how much it's going to be and when can consumers expect that to hit? So our reporting found that the discussions are around like six months-ish after the actress strike ends.

So I would imagine it'll be spring, sometime early next year, spring. Sometime in 2024, we don't know how much it's going to go up. We would not able to discover how much it's going to go up. But remember, Netflix isn't the most expensive service, which is pretty striking given how much they have. And they've been on the longest, almost you could say they're the dominant one in this space, right? You would definitely. They are definitely the 800 down gorilla. Are both tiers going to go up and is the ad-supported tier sort of the place where there's the most profits for these companies? What is your research finding? So our understanding, our reporting is that Netflix is just going

to raise the price of the ad-free version. They are not going to raise the price of the ad-supported version because that's still growing, right? That's still up and coming. And they do make the most money. They make more money from that, even though it's only $6.99, than they do from the ad-free version because of the advertising dollars. We're seeing a lot of experimenting going on with streamers and Netflix, live events. I'm thinking of the Chris Rock special. Got a lot of attention, a lot of views. Places like Amazon Prime doing live football. Netflix hasn't gotten into sports yet, at least live sports programming. What do you think's going to happen with that? I think Netflix is trying to figure out how they are going to do live sports without having to do.

to pay billions of dollars to do it, right? All these sports rights are really... But isn't that also the future? I mean, we've seen a lot of success with Amazon, with football games. We've seen success with Peacock, World Cup, gymnastics, Olympics. Is that the growing future, live events? I think, yes. And obviously, Netflix is experimenting with live in general, right?

I think they want to get that right. As you may recall, they had a big glitch a few months ago with the Love's Blind reunion. Right. Oh, yeah. You don't want to have that in a middle of a football game. But having said that, I think what you'll see Netflix do with live sports is something more tangential. Think about what they did with Formula One. They had that show and it, like, exploded. They're going to find a sport that, like, not everyone knows and make that huge and then start doing live.

And they've leaned in the big sports documentaries on tennis, on golf. There's one on NFL quarterbacks right now. It's been very popular. What do you think's going to happen also? Where is your reporting leading as far as the bundles are going? Because we are seeing all these sort of tech companies and media companies start with the bundle. And then you have someone like Netflix that is sort of on their own because they've been out there in the space. Are people going to have three or four bundles or will one or two bundles essentially survive?

I think you're going to see the tech companies. Like you're already seeing Apple and Amazon try to be the new cable companies, right? They're bundling the different streaming services. I do think Netflix thinks of itself as its own kind of bundler, but it's a little different, right? You can go to Amazon and get like 10 streaming services and watch it on one app. So I do think that's what we're going. What we're not going to have, hopefully, is like, all the hidden fees and poor customer service, All the things we hated about the cable bundles, hopefully will not be in this new generation of bundles.

And are these companies trying to figure out the user experience because we were talking earlier about how people, they may not like cable companies, but the cable grid was a great way to watch, or at least know what's out there, right? On streaming, it's very difficult to know what's on because you have to just keep scrolling and scrolling and searching. And by the time, it's been an hour, you still don't know what you can find. Are there technologies that are trying to do that better? Well, I think YouTube has really nailed that, right? They're doing the best job of that. And so I think everyone is going to figure out, like, how do we better compete with YouTube? Because, frankly, YouTube's eating everyone's lunch right now.

Yeah, YouTube. Yeah, just both online and then with the YouTube TV. Yes. The platform that's growing. Jessica Tungle from the Wall Street Journal, we thank you for joining us tonight. And we thank you for watching Top Story. I'm Tom Yamison, New York. Stay right there.

More news on the way.