Break Tuned NOW with Gadi Schwartz – Feb. 28 | NBC News NOW

hey there I'm Gotti Schwarz welcome to stay tuned now and we are starting with breaking news out of DC tonight the Supreme Court has just agreed to take up former president Donald Trump's immunity case and the implications there are huge we've heard Trump say again and again that he's immune from prosecution for.

What happened while he was President because that's how presidential immunity works but it's not that simple at all so now the Supreme Court is going to take up the issue and whatever they decide is going to have some massive ramifications going forward and however it turns out just by deciding to pick up the case the high court is delaying the actual trial.

By weeks if not for months meaning that we could be well into the election before we get a concrete decision NBC News justice correspondent kelan joins us now Ken this could set a massive precedent right would would this just affect the federal election interference case that Trump is looking at or other charges from some of the other cases as.

Well well Gotti certainly if the court rules that there is some level of presidential immunity that could certainly affect the Georgia prosecution which remember uh is along the same lines as the election prosecution in DC except it's involving State charges so uh certainly relevant there the classified documents case which is being.

Heard in Florida probably less relevant because the conduct alleged there happened mostly after Donald Trump left office but nonetheless as you said this is a huge issue on so many levels first of all as you laid out well it's going to delay uh whether this case can go to trial before the election that's in question.

Right now uh and then secondly no the Supreme Court has never weighed in on this momentous question of whether a president is in any way immune for his actions while in office uh remember Jerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon on the assumption that he was going to be charged after Watergate so it's long been assumed that presidents are liable.

And and and are not don't have a get out of jail free card but there are other there are things that presidents do as commander-in-chief that you can you can sort of postulate that the court may say that's something they shouldn't be prosecuted for so it's a big case it could take a while and it's certainly going to delay things and we got to talk.

About the makeup of the court that three Trump appointees are serving on the Supreme Court is this case going to go in his favor just based on the numbers no not not in that partisan sense but it is true that conservative justices something particularly some of these members of the Court take a more expansive view of executive power than.

Perhaps some of their liberal col and that may influence how they see the question of presidential immunity but most legal Scholars think that the argument that Donald Trump made his lawyers made before the appeals court which is essentially that a president could order the assassination of his political opponent and couldn't be.

Prosecuted unless he was first impeached that's just absurd it goes against all uh American legal jurist prudence and nobody thinks the Supreme Court is going to go there but there may be some level of presidential immunity that they find and can you walk us through some of the timing of this CU there there's a a lot of cases and there's this flurry of.

Court dockets that we're looking at leading up to the election what what happens next yeah right so this election case which most people think is the most consequential case the Jack Smith prosecution of Donald Trump alleging that he tried to overturn the election that was going to go to trial in around April now it's on hold the Supreme.

Court's going to hear this case in April potentially turns around an opinion by June that's best case scenario and then perhaps that case could move forward to trial over the summer meanwhile you've got the classified documents case down in Florida there's a hearing on Friday about the scheduling there that's really far up in the air the Georgia case.

Doesn't seem close to going to trial the one case that does seem ready for trial is the uh New York case that's about hush money uh remember Donald Trump accused of violating campaign law uh paying a porn star um that's sort of seen as the least consequential of all the criminal cases against Donald Trump but it may be the one that certainly.

Goes to trial before he is on the ballot and speaking of court docu court dockets new court dockets some more breaking news we just saw that an Illinois judge has removed Trump from the primary ballot there uh but then possibly stayed that order paused that order hoping that Trump's lawyers will respond soon what what is going on there yeah this is the.

Third uh state that has removed Donald Trump from the ballot on the grounds that he committed Insurrection and then under the 14th Amendment he is disqualified of course the Supreme Court heard an appeal of the Colorado decision on that and it seemed like a majority of justices uh were not buying that argument and so it's widely expected.

That fairly soon the Supreme Court is going to come out with an opinion saying that Donald Trump can't be disqualified from the ballot on those grounds so this Illinois decision May ultimately be moot but we'll have to see exactly what the Supreme Court does Gotti a lot to watch out for kindelan we appreciate you thanks so much you you bet meanwhile in.

Texas at least one person has died because of those fast mov moving wildfires ripping through the Panhandle one of those fires is already one of the biggest in State history and right now there are evacuations and power outages throughout the area including near the town of Canadian Texas that's not too far away from Amarillo and dozens of.

Homes there have burned the biggest concern right now is the SmokeHouse Creek Fire which has quickly become the second largest wildfire in Texas history now for some context here it is burning an area almost the size of the State of Rhode Island and it's already grown to 20 times its original size in just 48 Hours That explosive growth is making it.

So hard for firefighters to keep up you have these super high winds um come into the area with low humidities and just will push and cause massive fire growth these fires are just moving quicker than anybody can kind of get around at this point NBC's guad Vegas is following the latest sad this looks like one of those terrifying fires that is so big really.

The only way to slow it down is is going to be like a break in the weather right Gotti that sounds like that's what they need you know for a lot of these large fires the weather can either make it better or worse and of course having the infrastructure to do that containment but a fire this big over 100 miles long stretching over various.

Counties here in the Panhandle area in Texas of course does require help from the weather what I can say is that today the conditions we've seen have not been so windy compared to what the neighbors here told me they saw in the days before I spoke to one of the neighbors uh in this area where you can see some of the homes burned down they told me that when.

The fire came through this area there were very very strong winds that took the fire essentially uh a neighbor told me they were standing outside their house just over to my left and it took 20 seconds from the moment they saw the fire far away to the moment when their neighbor's home was on fire that because of the wind so of course if the.

Conditions improve for the fire fighters to keep fighting this fire and for that containment also to be much more effective then this can slow down uh the fire but as of now uh we know it's more than 850,000 Acres so it's a large fire that authorities are keeping an eye on and still a lot of communities with EV people that have had to evacuate their.

Homes because of that fire Gotti yeah the devastation behind you is is incredible where where are people going when they lose their homes so every county is setting up evacuation centers for example uh here we have an entire neighborhood uh that burned down uh this is just one of the homes that you can see behind me and.

Just down the road there's a church that has space for anyone that lost their home in this area I've spoken to some of the neighbors who tell me if they can they're going with friends with family members so there are resources the community is coming together to help those that have lost their homes as everyone waits for this fire to finally.

Be over but it's going to be some more time because when we look at the map and the updates that are offered by the state of firefighters here in Texas we see how large it is and how it's still growing if I look at the distance over to my left we can still see the smoke where that fire continues to burn Gotti and in Amarillo I know that there was a.

Lot of fear about a nuclear weapon site there what's the latest with that site right so that's about 30 miles south of us it's it's just a little bit east of Amarillo uh the plant this is a nuclear weapons facility that was shut down uh when we heard about it being shut down it was informed that this was out of out of an AB abundance of caution.

But uh if you look at the map that facility is very close to the areas that have been closed down there's roads nearby that we try to get on today to get to this area that were also shut down so because of that uh the plant has been closed the workers were evacuated as everyone waits to see what happens in the next few days in the next few days.

And again as you mentioned a lot of attention will be paid to the weather to see how the conditions either improve or become much more difficult for the firefighters uh over the weekend Gotti no tragic and the devastation behind you is just heartbreaking guad Vegas thanks so much for joining us and now to a cancelled execution in Idaho that's.

Because a medical team there failed eight times to lethally inject a serial killer on death row 73-year-old Thomas Cree was scheduled to be executed this morning but after failing over and over again to successfully put an IV into his arm Idaho's Department of Correction director finally decided it was a no-go and now the death warrant for Creech has.

Expired and his status as one of the longest serving death row inmates in the United States continues so let's go to NBC News correspondent elen Lopez for the latest Ellen a botched execution what happened today and and what is an expired death warrant weren't even mean yeah Gotti this was going to be Idaho's first execution in more than a.

Decade but after more than 40 minutes it was halted serial killer Thomas Creech was said to be executed by lethal injection but that medical team as you mentioned they were unable to tap into a vein to place that IV they tried eight times they started with one arm then they started with the next they moved onto the legs and at one point he said.

His legs hurt a little officials say that was just a cramp they lifted them up to help relieve some that pain but after trying over and over to get access to a bin they stopped the execution altogether the big issue they said Gotti was that it was the quality of his veins not just access points we know that they even did a physical exam on him and they.

Didn't see any issues then but ultimately State officials believe that it was that quality of the veins that did not allow for that execution to be carried out so now they are going back to the drawing board the state is going to let that death warrant expire as you mentioned we know that after the ordeal the 73-year-old.

Old killer met with his wife then he was taken to a cell and now we're waiting to he what those next steps will be Gotti this is such a weird weird case we found some archive footage that you're looking at there of Creech from 1981 explaining how he felt back then about the death penalty let's take a quick look Tom can you tell me why you pleaded.

Guilty because I'm guilty and I want death penalty you want the death penalty yes why I'm ready to die it's pretty hard sometimes to live with all the things I've done I mean you have dreams about it Lake up in the middle of the night you think you see somebody in your cell that you've killed or something it's kind of it gets kind of hard.

Sometimes cre has been locked up since like 1974 right do we know if he still feels the same as he did in that video and and can you remind us again what he did to end up on on death row in the first place yeah got I want to point something out that in that same interview he told that reporter that he hated needles that.

He wanted to be executed by being hanged or by firing squad but fast forward to now four decades later we know that his attorneys filed a flurry of appeals trying to stay that execution his supporters say he's a changed man but we know that this is someone who not only has been convicted of killing five people in three States including a.

Fellow inmate of his in 1981 that same year as that interview and he confessed Gotti to dozens more NBC's Ellen Lopez thank you so much and another day of dramatic testimony in the manslaughter trial against the armor on the movie Set rust Hannah Gutierrez Reed today the lead detective on the case and one of the.

Film's line producers took the stand and testified about the moments that led up to the shooting which killed cinematographer Helena Hutchins the search for the source of those live round continues prosecutors say Gutierrez Reed was responsible for any live bullets that were in the gun Alec Baldwin says he was holding when it went.

Off she's been charged with manslaughter and tampering with evidence in faces up to 18 months in prison let's get right into it with NBC News correspondent Dana Griffin who has been covering this trial from Santa Fe she joins us now Dana thanks so much for being with us today we saw more police interrogation video of Hannah gueras.

Reed right what what did we learn exactly so we learned what Hannah Gutierrez read the day of that shooting also what she did not do she says that the box of ammo that was marked dummies she had never seen before and that she took at least one round from that box and loaded into the Baldwin revolver she also talked about how she checked that.

Weapon before lunch locked it away in the gun safe but she missed a key step just moments before that deadly shooting listen I wasn't able to do that last check before Alec got it because I had no idea that the gun had been handed off next thing you know I hear like on the in the Earp like set medic emergency I go over to the front of of the church.

And I look in and I see people on the ground and I'm like oh my God I said was that the gun after that shooting Hannah Gutierrez Reed says that Dave holes brought her the gun she looked at it could see that one of the the rounds had been fired but that the rest she said we're dummies GTI just taking a quick look at that.

Interrogation room again we heard from the detective who took over the investigation uh here's how she described an interview with Gutierrez Reed when detectives were trying to figure out how those live rounds ended up on the set let's play that she was the one that handed that box to Lieutenant Benitas stating that.

That was the box that she was pulling from um along with you know the various banders that we collected with that live ammunition she identified as bringing from her previous set that she worked on you know the the other box of dummies just it didn't match the the box that she had brought it was identified as one brought by Seth Kenny the rounds inside.

That box um did not even just the dummies themselves didn't match in the way they looked um so all all of this in totality um is what we used in our investigation in Hannah's interview she told me that she was the one that loaded Alex G and yet where did those live rounds come from any any more light shed on.

That that's a million dooll question Gotti investigators though did conclude that Hannah Gutierrez Reed was the source of those live rounds ending up on set but during cross-examination the detective also noted that she did not have direct evidence of when of when those live rounds actually appeared on set Gotti so still a mystery and we also.

Heard from the man who handed the gun to uh to Alec Baldwin right what did he say today so we were expecting to hear from Dave Halls today but because there was so many delays in court they actually are planning to call him tomorrow we expect to hear from him and just another key we have seen Alec Baldwin's attorney in court her name is Heather LeBlanc.

We've also seen her outside of court she has been diligently taking notes listening to every bit of testimony so obviously obviously she is preparing for that case which is expected to go to trial in July Gotti Dana Griffin Santa Fe for us Dana thanks so much and today a hearing was held for Brian cerer the man accused of killing four University.

Of Idaho students back in 2022 the judge making it very clear that a possible trial won't happen until at least next year NBC News correspondent Aon McLaughlin is here with the latest from the courtroom hey there Gotti well going into this court hearing the prosecution had filed a motion asking for a trial date to be.

Set for summer of this year but during the court proceeding even the prosecution acknowledged that was not enough time and that they wouldn't have the discovery in the case fully to the defense by the end of the summer instead arguing for a March 2025 court date the defense pushing back very hard on that saying it was simply.

Not enough time given the volume of Discovery in this case and pushing for a change of venue hearing the judge citing with the defense on their request for that change of venue hearing that hearing is now set for May the defense has been pushing for a change of venue they don't want the trial to happen in Moscow Idaho they want it to happen.

Somewhere else where the jury pool is larger arguing that the amount of publicity the stakes in this case and the salaciousness of the allegations require that larger jewelry pool the prosecution pushing back on that we're expecting to hear much more in terms of the Contours of those arguments in that may hearing and then after that the.

Judge saying that he will consider a trial date also setting another deadline in today's proceedings giving uh the defense until mid April to substantiate The Alibi Brian cober has long maintained that he was out driving the night of the murders his lawyer today in court saying they have more expert testimony to bolster that the.

Judge setting that may the mid April deadline for that expert testimony to be put forward but the defense is pushing again for more Discovery from the prosecution Gotti Aaron mclin thanks so much and don't go anywhere we are just getting started coming up Hunter Biden testifying today in that impeachment inquiry into to his father the details.

Of what happened behind closed doors plus apparently smoking weed as little as once a month is linked to a higher risk of heart attack and stroke we're going to tell you about this new study later this hour and back to the Moon tonight on the future of everything we are going to hear what NASA is saying about that historic moon landing we told.

You about last week all that is just ahead so stay tuned hey welcome back Hunter Biden was back on Capital Hill today we're going to tell you why in a minute but first here are some of the other headlines we're watching tonight the judge who ruled against Donald Trump in that civil.

Fraud trial Arthur and Goron was sent an envelope with white powder today the source telling NBC News there was an emergency response at the judge's Courthouse the judge wasn't exposed to the substance but officer of the Court opened that package and that's when the powder fell out President Biden today issued an executive order aimed at.

Protecting sensitive data from so-called hostile countries and the this new measure targets businesses that sell people's personal information and the White House is worried that all that personal data could end up in the hands of countries to take advantage of Americans it looks like Mitch McConnell is stepping down as the Senate minority.

Leader at the end of this year after the longest leadership stretch in Senate history McConnell's had some recent health issues in months and falling last year which led to a concussion in a fractured rib an election to replace him will happen in November and today hundreds of patients and providers protested out inside the Alabama State.

House calling on lawmakers to change that recent IVF ruling the governor there says she expects a bill protecting IVF to land on her desk soon meanwhile some clinics across the state have stopped IVF treatment since the state Supreme Court ruled an embryo is considered an unborn child and legendary comedian Richard Lewis has passed away.

He died in his home in Los Angeles Tuesday night after having a heart attack Lewis revealed last year that he had been living with Parkinson's disease but was still r regularly appearing as himself on Curb Your Enthusiasm he was 76 years old and a really busy day today on Capitol Hill and a lot of it happening.

Behind closed doors where Hunter Biden testified as part of the House Republicans impeachment inquiry into his dad they want to know if President Biden was linked to Hunter's international business deals now because that hearing was closed to the public we don't know the details of the questioning but NBC News has obtained part of his opening.

Statement where Biden accuses Republicans of quote trafficking in innuendo Distortion and sensationalism all while ignoring the clear and convincing evidence staring them right in the face let's bring in NBC News legal analyst Angela candella so good to see you in person before we get started I I think that because we don't know the.

Details of what was said inside let's take a look at what was said on the outside from the oversight committee chairman uh before that meeting started let's take a look with each interview we learn more information uh we do we find uh more uh potential evidence that needs to be obtained more uh hints more accusations that need to be investigated.

So uh as long as we keep getting you information in we're going to continue to pursue more potential evidence more new information like what do we know what he's talking about so Gotti it really depends on who you ask what sort of evidence there is because the Republicans are saying there's a treasure Trove of evidence and then you.

Have Democrats saying it's all smoke and mirrors but what the Republicans have brought forth so far is that through bank records they've determined that between 2014 and 2019 Biden's family members received $15 million in business deals with foreign entities but it's important to note that it has not been proven that any of those business deals.

Were actually illegal or that Joe Biden himself technically benefited so that's what we have so far but muddying it a little bit is that Joe Biden claimed that he didn't really meet these people but it appears he did but maybe just for social reasons so that's where the Gap widened and opened for the Republicans to charge forth what happens next how.

Long could we see this inquiry go forward well it could really go on for a really long time there's no technical rules there and it's really about strategy so right now it's in the house oversight committee and the Ways and Means Committee they then could wrap up these investigations and then punt it to the Judiciary Committee at that point.

They'd hold a hearing of their own and then take a vote and then decide whether or not to draft these articles of impeachment but it's unclear it will get to that stage because to your question earlier it's also possible that they will just keep doing these subpoenas keep having more witnesses and possibly just delay this to the election and.

While we've got you there was this decision that just came out here in New York uh when it comes to that Trump verdict on him having to pay and it now looks like he may be able to still sit on boards and do business here in New York can you explain that to us yes so it is pretty tricky so we know he had this huge judgment that was put against.

Him by Justice Andor the New York civil fraud lawsuit and with that judgment Trump today and his lawyers went to an appell IT judge and asked if they could only put up a $100 million as a bond and then not have to pay the rest of that it was actually very memorable that his lawyer said not even Jeff Bezos not even Elon Musk not even Donald Trump have.

$500 million just laying around so the point is that in order to have 500 million they would need to take out loans but they can't do that because they were bored for doing that by and Goron so the judge almost split his ruling here and he said look I'm going to make you still pay that whole amount but I will let you take out loans which.

Will then allow him to pay the fees and in addition to that I will allow your adult sons to remain as owners and officers of the company until the appell court makes the decision meanwhile does that interest still stand it's something like it still stands it just keeps on growing it's like $100,000 a day or something a little more than that yep.

Got Angela thanks so much for being here and the Biden campaign is celebrating last night's primary win in Michigan but it wasn't the easy slam dunk they thought it would be that's because of those 100,000 or so people who voted uncommitted instead of voting for Biden they use their votes to make a statement protesting Biden's handling of the war.

In Gaza take a listen even as a single issue just that issue alone was enough for me to not Circle next to his name so I voted uncommitted to send hopefully send him a message that there's a big enough uh population that believe like this is this is a very important issue and this we want to see certain actions from him.

That he hasn't done up to this point which is a permanent ceasefire so next up on the primary schedule is the big one super Tuesday that is next week and the organizers of the uncommitted effort are now looking to keep the momentum going in other states NBC News correspondent sha Brewster has more hi there Gotti well organizers from.

Listen to Michigan essentially that group that was was organizing this protest campaign against President Biden they were certainly celebrating the results of the Michigan primary last night they say that they've already been in contact with organizers from other states in upcoming primary contest to see if this is something that can be.

Replicated down the line and let's be clear here President Biden did have a commanding and convincing Victory here in the state of Michigan he won every County in this state he got more than 80% of the vote in this state but while that is true it is also true that this group feels as if they overperformed they beat out their own metrics they.

Were able to win two cities across the state of Michigan and the tone that you heard from them in a press conference that they heard had earlier today is that their clear message was sent they believe that they were sending a message to President Biden and to the Democratic party that they don't like what they're seeing overseas they want an immediate.

Ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in that ongoing war and they want to stop and cut off the United States military support for Israel meanwhile the Biden campaign they acknowledge uh the uncommitted uh votes that were received they say that they share the president shares the same goals in terms of having a lasting peace and to coming and.

Forming some peace in that region but the question is and the ultimate test as we look ahead to the general election would be will be whether or not that message was received and whether there is any change that can be made that would lead those 100,000 people who voted against President Biden in this election to flip their votes and support.

Him in November got it and coming up a new study shows a connection between smoking weed and heart attacks in what will definitely be a buzz kill Dr s will be here in a couple minutes to explain but first you got to see this what you're about to see is the birth of a new IPA watches this worker goes to check on the tank and oh boom you can.

Say that beer has a little bit of a kick to it apparently the valve on the tank malfunction causing that epic jet stream of beer all the workers are okay this incident actually inspired the Minnesota Brewery to name their new IPA blowback because obviously you know it'll M here sus be right.

Back and welcome back a new study has links between marijuana and heart attacks we're going to get to that in just a second but here are some of the stories we're following out west police in Los Angeles arrested two more people for breaking into that Infamous downtown graffiti covered highrise now this happened this morning and they were.

Apparently part of a larger group who broke in late last night a lot of them were suspected to be kids and police have put up this new metal fence around the building to try to keep people out but as you can see those break-ins are still happening and congresswoman Lauren bobert's 18-year-old son had been has been arrested in Colorado he faces 22.

Two possible charges related to a string of alleged thefts and car break-ins now this is just the latest drama involving that family last month btt's ex-husband was arrested for an alleged assault and California says it seized enough Fint fentol last year to get this potentially kill everyone on planet Earth twice that would be around.

62,000 worth with States seeing a dramatic surge of the synthetic opioid recently authorities have seized more than 5,000 PB in 2021 and then 28,000 lb in 2022 now we have heard a lot about the benefits of medicinal pot but a new study published today might make some people think twice about headed to The.

Dispensary because it found that smoking vaping or even eating marijuana is linked to significantly higher risks of heart attack and stroke even if the person had no pre-existing heart conditions the study is among the largest to show a connection between marijuana use and heart health and people who don't also smoke tobacco so.

Joining me now to break this down for us as NBC News medical fellow Dr a Sall Dr s thanks so much for joining us uh a lot of people are blazing it these days we have a lot of heart disease like what do we know for sure here so got a lot of people yes are blazing it these days almost one in five Americans actually the latest survey suggests have used.

Marijuana in the past year and it's it's going up and by the time next year survey is up it's going to go up even more we think so what is going on and who needs to be concerned um you know I've talked to almost a dozen people about this in in the past year about the you know are there risks to marijuana that maybe we're not so aware of because.

A lot of people think you know it's a plant it's natural it's it's benign it's legal now in most places so people think oh I can't it can't really harm me and you know what we're learning is that there is some link emerging between between heart attack and stroke um even if you don't actually have heart disease or even if you don't even smoke.

Cigarettes and that's new with this study they're actually able to to separate the cigarettes from the marijuana and find even if you didn't smoke cigarettes this could still cause you to have a heart attack or stroke or be associated with with the heart attack or stroke so who needs to be concerned right it's it's people with pre-existing.

Heart disease you know everyone I talked to about this said if you have heart disease do not smoke marijuana now how did we get here how did researchers come up with this kind of clean cohort separating tobacco users who also use marijuana from people that just use marijuana right so they look back at CDC data from 2016 to 2020 over the course.

Of four years and they looked at you know about 400 people looking at you know did they have a heart attack did they have a stroke and did they get heart disease and what were their marijuana habits most people actually did admit to smoking about 75% said you know if I use it I smoke it um and you know the million-dollar question here.

Got is if I use Edibles does that take away the risk um Everybody I've talked to about this said theoretically it should be better so if you know if you have to use marijuana you want to try to use Edibles as opposed to smoking because with smoking um you get some damage maybe from the THC but you also get that that inhaled smoke which may.

Contain some of the same carcinogens as cigarette smoke so we're talking about a difference of eating it and ingesting it versus what we saw in the early days of tobacco which is clearly some damage to the lungs and also the heart exactly and got I want to tell you what Robert Paige told me he's a pharmacist a doctor of pharmacy at University of Colorado and.

He said you know he's worried we're making some of the same mistakes here with with cigarette smoking um because we all know smoking is bad and we didn't really you know back in the 50s and 60s little signals started to emerge that oh it might be bad it might be bad but people kept smoking right people were smoking even when the windows rolled up.

Um but now we're at the point where these signals are starting to emerge from marijuana and everybody I've talked to said we need to take this seriously we need to study it more and we need to find out more information about what it does to our heart a fascinating study and so you're saying Edibles brownies those probably aren't great for the.

Heart either but uh yeah if you have to use marijuana you want to pick you want to pick one of those ingestibles perfect Dr SLE thanks so much for joining us anytime now to an NBC News investigation new legislation introduced today in the Maryland state senate to protect your money from gift card scams now that is a major problem that costs Americans.

Hundreds of millions of dollars a year and our Vicky win has more on what's being done to protect you people don't know to even look for the tampering Maryland state senator Ben Kramer says he first learned about gift card draining scams from our report in December NBC's senior legal correspondent Laura Jarrett lost more.

Than $1,000 after buying these gift cards from a Manhattan CVS these do not appear to be tampered with at all right not even a little bit all the seals look totally fine gift card scams cost users more than $228 Million last year with gift card draining among the newest schemes that's when you buy a physical gift card load it with money and a.

Scammer somehow steals that money had I not seen your segment this bill would not have been introduced it is a problem across the country and consumers are being ripped off Kramer says his bill would require gift cards to be sealed in a manner that is not easily opened without signs of tampering for retailers who can't comply the bill mandates they.

Secure their gift cards in a location only employees can access all they have to do is glue this back down you don't think this is enough to protect a consumer not nearly sufficient but Houston officer and police Union director Ray hunt says based on the Union's experience he suspects the scams start before gift cards ever get to the.

Stores it may go all the way back to where the card is created where someone who's working there is giving these numbers to them before it's even scratched off there I'm just telling you that I I based on what we've done I cannot trust gift cards you're saying it could be an inside job absolutely he says The Union lost thousands of dollars.

In Kroger gift cards that were drained almost immediately after they were activated with no signs of tampering what our our research tells us is they're getting the number on the back of the card they're entering that into program and that program constantly checks it to see when it's activated as soon as it's activated it charges $98 to.

An Amazon account somewhere puts that money on account for someone the union recently filed this class action lawsuit against Kroger alleging the company failed to take reasonable measures to protect its Visa gift cards against unauthorized tampering and failed to refund the officers the missing balance Kroger did not reply to our request for.

Comment but offered to reply the gift cards the retail gift card Association says it's possible for scams to originate within a supply chain however we have extensive controls as well as sophisticated processes in place that maintain the highest levels of security considering the gift card industry's total volume fraud losses are relatively.

Small Susan says she welcomes any attempt at making gift cards more secure and won't buy another after her experience $800 in Walmart gift cards drained money meant for families in need at our Houston Church I have not bought a gift card since I am not inclined to buy a gift card because I have absolutely zero confidence that.

The money will be there says Walmart declined to refund her money but after we contacted the company a Walmart spokesperson said quote we take fraud allegations seriously and will be reaching out to miss Coons to avoid being scammed consider an EEG gift card but be sure your recipient knows it's coming use all gift cards immediately to.

Reduce the risk of draining and give cash when possible cash is came Vicky win NBC news thanks Vicky and still to come the pope had to head to the hospital today for some testing we're going to tell you what have doctors concerned with his health that's coming up so stay.

Tuned hey welcome back we are going to get into the latest on those ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas in just a moment but right now let's take a quick look around the world today the French Senate approved a historic bill to make abortion a constitutional right French president macron promised this in response to abortion rights in the.

United States saying he wanted the right to abortion protected by their constitution so that it was irreversible next week the bill goes before a joint session of the parliament where it's expected to pass and down in Australia at least 30,000 people have been ordered to evacuate the southeast area because of an intense heat wave that officials.

Believe could create fire dangers so bad they are calling them catastrophic hundreds of firefighters are still battling that massive Blaze west of Melbourne from last week and that fire has destroyed several homes and burned nearly 50,000 acres and a carnival cruise ship rescued a group of migrants on a raft about 20 mi north of Cuba this.

Happened last weekend the cruise ship passed the group of about 20 migrants turned back to get them and called the US Coast Guard to help with the rescue it sounds like no one was hurt and those migrants will be sent back to Cuba and the number of babies born in Japan last year fell for an eth straight year in a row that's the lowest since the country.

Started keeping track back in the 1980s number of people getting married also dropped below half a million for the first time in 90 years surveys show that a lot of younger Japanese are frustrated by high costs of living and not enough jobs Japan's primee minister is calling it Japan's biggest crisis and Israel and Hamas are shutting down the idea that.

There could be a ceasefire deal as soon as this weekend even though that's exactly what President Biden said Could Happen by the end of the weekend neot ators say they are pushing hard for a deal the start of Ramadan which is on March 10th this deal would make sure gazin get the aid they need right now the UN says child malnutrition levels in.

Gaza are the worst in the world and all this as Israel is doubling down on its plans to invade Rafa NBC News International correspondent Raph Sanchez has more as the fighting rages on in Gaza and the humanitarian crisis in the strip deepens there is really very little evidence on the ground to support.

President Biden's earlier optimism that a ceasefire deal is possible by Monday I spoke to an Israeli official earlier today they say the talks at this point are basically stalled that Israel and the United States are waiting for a formal response from Hamas to that framework that was hammered out in Paris with the CIA director over the weekend.

We spoke earlier to a senior Hamas official Basim n he confirms that Hamas is still studying that proposal but he says there are very significant obstacles standing in the way of a deal at this point he pointed to a couple of them one this perennial question of whether a ceasefire would be temporary which is what Israel says needs to.

Happen that it will resume its military campaign on the other side of any deal or whether the ceasefire will be permanent which is what Hamas wants they are saying any pause in fighting must lead to a permanent end to the war there's also this question about whether Israeli forces will withdraw from population Centers inside of Gaza during.

The deal or whether they will leave the Gaza Strip alt together which is what Hamas is demanding every day that goes by without a deal fear is growing for the 134 hostages still being held by Hamas there is a special urgency about getting those female hostages out following testimony that some of them may be facing sexual abuse at the hands.

Of their captors and there is also growing urgency about the humanitarian crisis inside of Gaza the UN today saying a quarter of all the people in Gaza are just one step away from famine at this point and that borderline starvation particularly concentrated in the north of Gaza where the UN says Israeli military restrictions and a.

Complete collapse of Law and Order means they can no longer deliver food to the north of the strip our teams in Gaza have seen families that are trying to feed their children with flakes of barley intended for donkeys they say they are sending their kids out dodging gun battles to try to find firewood because there is no cooking gas and.

Every day that the fighting continues is another day that this crisis deepens back to you rap Sanchez thank you so much and Pope Francis was hospitalized today after some complications from the flu NBC News Chief International correspondent Kier Simmons has more on how the pope is doing tonight Kier hey there good day to you this is.

Going to worry many Catholics around the world and other folks who love uh Pope Francis news that he has attended the hospital again today for a CT scan according to reports now now a quick visit but it it has people worried because he had to have an aid read a speech for him at the general audience today after telling uh people there that.

He was suffering from a cold the Vatican saying over the weekend that he was suffering from flu like symptoms and now in a statement the Vatican saying after the general audience Pope Francis went to the jelli hospital for some diagnostic tests at the end he returned to the Vatican but of course Pope Francis has been suffering from Health.

Complaints in recent years in 2021 he underwent abdominal surgery and just late last year he had to cancel a trip to the cop climate conference something that he very much wanted uh to do because of again respiratory challenges so he's been sicker than he appears to be now and of course remember he's 87 years old he is missing part of a lung.

That was removed when he was a young man consistent challenges with respiratory illnesses like colds like flu and of course this is cold and flu season in Rome and yet Pope Francis being Pope Francis has continued to meet many many people he does pick up these bugs it does worry people but so far as I say in that statement he's back at the Vatican.

Perhaps in people's prayers a little bit more today Kier Simmons thank you so much and before we go it is time for the future of everything we are learning more tonight about that historic moonlanding that went a little sideways details from NASA are straight ahead so stay tuned and time now for the future of.

Everything and according to a new National survey of drivers who have switched over to Electric there is a pretty big disconnect going on when it comes to access to Chargers a lot of EV drivers are complaining that America's charging infrastructure is getting worse and not keeping up with the record number of EVS out on the road which has.

A lot of people considering Alternatives National Climate reporter Chase Kane has the latest Americans with electric vehicles love driving them I would never go back to gas after this what they don't always love is charging them the latest JD Power survey of EV owners shows widespread frustration drivers in cities.

Like Miami Dallas Denver and San Francisco struggle to find working Chargers as often as one in every four stops fueling hesitation to hang up the pump we must be able to just charge and go which right now we're not able to we have to map that out nearly one in 10 new cars sold last year was electric but the B Administration may be pumping the.

Brakes the New York Times reporting EV milestones for automakers may be pushed from 2026 to 2032 at the same time trying to build a lot more charging yeah clearly we need more we have about 170,000 charging stations across the country now the Pres president's goal is to get to 500,000 we're going to think we're going to get there by by 2026 you.

Know I think the unevenness of this whole push will uh even out over time and it's an important push because in the US the biggest source of Planet heating emissions comes from Transportation 29% it's also the fastest rising Source but maybe you've heard about another way to drive with no emissions no mining for a big battery.

And no time spent charging hydrogen fuel cell Vehicles which I first reported on in 2021 while covering the Olympic Games in to the really cool thing about them is that instead of producing greenhouse gas from a tailpipe the only exhaust from these cars is uh just a little bit of water for now in the US they're only sold in California with 18,000 on the.

Road so far and I've had the hydren car for about 8 years now I'm not going back there's got to be a catch right well yeah making hydrogen fuel requires a lot of energy that's why a champion of hydrogen at UC Irvine says personal cars should still go electric if you have light duty vehicle you're not carrying too much stuff you're not going too far.

You should use a battery but if you do have heavy duty long range or fast fueling that's required hydrogen offers those features hydrogen also can decarbonize things that could not be decarbonized otherwise but expect to see hydrogen replacing more buses and trucks in the near future and a lot more electric charging stations popping up in.

The next few years thanks to a federal investment of $7.5 billion in California I'm National Climate repor Chase Kane Chase Kane thanks so much and now to an update from the Moon we got some new images beam back today from the first americanmade Rover to land on the lunar surface since the Apollo missions you're looking at the landing gear of odys.

Making contact with the surface of the Moon and and here's another angle despite rolling over basically sitting sideways the company partnering with NASA on that mission is calling it a success so far and they are still receiving data as of earlier today so for more let's bring in Dr Paul Sutter he is an astrophysicist and NASA advisor.

Uh Dr Sutter what do you make of the updates that we've seen so far this is a a remarkable achievement all around you know landing on the moon is incredibly difficult especially doing it autonomously the last 15 minutes or so of the spacecraft had no human intervention whatsoever it was only onboard systems that were in charge of.

Guidance propulsion landing and yeah it wasn't perfect it it it essentially tripped on a rock on the way down but nothing perfect this is how we learn this is how we adapt this is how we solve challenges to make the next one even better and I got to ask you about this other piece of space news this near Miss today between a NASA spacecraft and.

A big old hunk of space junk this dead Russian satellite coming within I don't know 65 ft of each other I feel like we were just talking about this possibility like last last week and now this what what' you think of that yeah this is a very real problem there are over 10,000 satellites in orbit around the Earth about 9,000 of them are still active.

Plus there's another 25,000 just pieces of junk little bits of metal uh strung around in orbit and the problem with this is that these are traveling at tens of thousands of miles per hour these two satellites that almost crashed were not steerable we could not avoid the Collision if they were on a collision course and if they.

Were to spash into each other they would create a debris Cloud that would continue to orbit the Earth for years if not decades to come posing a hazard to every other satellite mission in orbit around the Earth how far away do you think we are from having a I don't know an orbiting dump truck that can clean some of that stuff up unfortunately this.

Is in a very very difficult challenge because it's very expensive to get objects up into orbit and so to have a dump truck essentially means you have to get the dump truck up into orbit it needs to maneuver to attach onto the satellite and then either needs to bring it down into the atmosphere or kick it way up into a much higher orbit all of.

That takes energy all of that takes propellent and usually involves sacrificing the dump truck in the mission itself so there are no easy solutions the best path forward is for governments and private companies to work together to ensure that all missions all satellites have a life time have a way of.

Deorbiting themselves at the end of their missions and when you talk about deorbiting you're talking about something like a like a Thruster that just pushes it gently back into into the atmosphere to burn it up exactly that's exactly it either push it into the atmosphere where it burns up or push it up into a very very far orbit where we.

Don't have to worry about it for a long time more thrusters in space fingers crossed Dr Paul Sutter thank you so very much for joining us and that does it for us tonight I'm Gotti Schwarz this is stay tuned we'll see you tomorrow stay.

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