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good day I'm Tom Costello I amm for Hy Jackson with a Breaking News special report Donald Trump on trial and perhaps the biggest bombshell day of testimony yet the dramatic moments as the woman who had a a front row seat to everything that this trial is about breaks down on tears on the stand uh this woman whole.

Picks and Aid who the former president really treated like a daughter she led Tre Trump's campaign Comm Communications when the alleged scheme took place to BU embarrassing stories that was before he brought her to the White House for some of its top roles but now she hasn't spoken to Trump in two years today prosecutors wanted to know what happened.

Behind the scenes when this moment made headlines the infamous acts as Hollywood tape then candidate Trump caught on camera making vulgar comments about assaulting women Hicks who was Trump's press secretary at the time says she did not know about the tape until she heard from a reporter and that there was in fact a consensus at the time that quote.

This was going to be a crisis the big question why does that matter for this case now we're going to hit the rewind button really quickly to go through that hick says she called Michael Cohen Trump's former vixer at the time to ask if there was another tape that would need damage control that happened in early October 2016.

Later that month prosecutors say damage control kicked in with the alleged hush money payments to Stormy Daniels who claims she had an affair with Trump he denies it and that this is the reason that we're here right now why the former president faces 34 counts of falsifying business records to which she has app pleaded of course not guilty for the.

Next 20 minutes we're going to take you inside all the rooms the cameras could not be in today so if you weren't glued to every word every note coming out of court or if you had other things to do don't worry about it we've been on it and we've got the details our team of reporters of legal and political experts is ready to break it all down everything.

You'd like to know in the special report to look inside and behind the scenes at the Trump trial we're starting with NBC's yasma vugen who is live outside the courthouse in Manhattan and Yasmin H pic's testimony is really big for the prosecution right because they want her to create a direct line from everything that happened in this campaign to in.

Their words a criminal conspiracy to influence the election in 2016 did that happen today their objective was to create intent their objective was to create motive that was the objective of the prosecution and the leadup of their of their testimony with hopex and and and they built that timeline um Tom costell.

I I don't know necessarily if I can answer whether or not they they have that direct um they created the direct line that's really up to the jury to decide but but they built this picture this idea um of an individual of a man who was running for president of the United States in 2016 the revelations of this Access Hollywood tape in early.

October in which hope piix received the email from a a reporter saying there is this Access Hollywood tape out there uh do you have statements that you want to release pertaining to this Access Hollywood tape she ran up uh to Trump hour in which they were preparing for the debate just a couple of days later and she talked to the team about the.

Revelations of this AIS Hollywood tape the content of this Access Hollywood tape the veracity of this Access Hollywood tape and it went on from there Tom I would say from there to the end of October in which the payouts were made to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougall painting this picture of a man running for election um for president of the.

United States desperate to keep these details these sorted details uh quiet not sure if they were going to affect the outcome of the election Tom yeah are we though are we yet getting that key element that direct connection to Mr Trump's involvement in this alleged H hush money scheme because she did not have a lot of positive things to.

Say about Michael Cohen she didn't let me read some of the back and forth for you if I C if I Canen Tom um specifically she said I didn't know Michael to be an especially chable person he is the kind of person who takes credit Trump thought it was generous of him to do and he appreciated the Loyalty Michael felt like it was his.

Job to protect him this was in regards to the payoff after the Revelation in New York Times article in 2018 about the payoff to stormmy Daniels this is how hope hick saw Michael Cohen and then in cross-examination it got even better when it came to Michael Cohen saying uh asked was Mr Cohen part of the campaign she said no he would try to insert.

Himself at certain moments but he wasn't supposed to be on the campaign in any official capacity there were things he did in a voluntary capacity because of his interest and then this moment Tom which really drove things home I believe for the defense by the way where she said he liked to call himself a fixer or Mr Fix It it was only because he first.

Broke it I would say Tom one of the biggest takeaways I had from Hope pix's testimony was that she was credible for both sides both for the prosecution and the defense the prosecution painting this woman who was loyal to Donald Trump but also knew of the interworkings of the Trump campaign with the defense she served as someone.

Painting the former president as a family man who was worried about embarrassing his family and his wife Melania uh and also we mentioned that hicks became emotional on the stand and remember Hicks and Trump haven't spoken for years what did our NBC colleagues in the courtroom see in terms of the Dynamics the interplay if there was any.

The look between Trump and Hicks at the beginning of cross-examination actually Hicks got fairly emotional they took a momentary break to allow her to gather herself and then she retook the stand for cross-examination my takea away from that moment was considering kind of the history that she has with the former.

President let's not forget at 25 years of age she took a job back in 2014 with the Trump organization just two years later she was a top adviser to the former president incredibly loyal not only to the former president along with his family as well in 2022 uh that relationship soured because of her testimony on J about January 6th and the.

Event leading up to January 6th as well so certainly there were some interactions although the former president was watching Moro pix's testimony uh directly through the monitors versus making eye contact with her uh directly despite their CL close relationship Tom uh for so many years interesting Yasmin thank you very much.

Yasugi and who's on the site right there in Manhattan let's go now to NBC News legal analyst danis saal and Georgetown constitutional law professor Michelle Goodwin uh Danny let's talk about some of that emotion how might a jury react to that emotion from uh Hicks and did it appear sincere oh I think it appeared very.

Sincere and hope Hicks didn't need a lot of help on The credibility meter but of course that show of emotion and jurors are very good at telling whether or not something is sincere or not in fact the entire jury system is premised on the idea that we're all hardwar with this sort of truth and lie detector uh ability and so that is really what the.

Jury system is it's people assessing credibility of other regular folks and deciding who to believe and who not to believe so emotion on the stand can go one of two ways or actually can go several ways I mean it can be credible in some contexts and completely incredible in other contexts but when you look at the total picture of hc's.

Testimony on the whole I think uh a show of emotion probably came across as genuine to this jury based on the fact that she had really didn't have any credibility issues like some of the other prosecution witnesses uh let's go to uh Professor Goodwin you've been reading the notes all day as well none of us is in the courtroom we're reading.

The notes back and forth does it appear to you that the prosecution did a good job of connecting the dots from the Access Hollywood tape all the way through to the time of the White House well they did what they needed to do and the fact that hope Hicks appeared credible for both sides is actually could be argued to be something that is.

Successful for the prosecution much of the backdrop of this are some people saying that this is politically motivated what's taking place and it's important to remind people that these are 34 felony counts these are felony counts associated with the former president doing business in New York so it's not related to January 6 it's not.

That kind of political iCal hysteria that has been framed but rather he is a businessman in New York he must comply with the business laws of New York that is what this stems from so this hush money trial itself is hush money could be something that's a misdemeanor offense why this has been elevated to felony counts is because the allegation.

From the prosecutors is that there was an attempt to conceal something more hick seem to suggest yes in fact right that they were very much front Center thinking about the election that's exactly right in October with this salacious video Reeve of hearing the former president before he's elected before the election um explaining how he.

Grabs women um about how he violates with women how he has no consideration of this and that he does it all the time the fear that there could be more allegations such as that coming out and let's be clear this is a former president who has already been found guilty of having sexually violated someone and many other allegations over.

Time so right to be concerned okay let's quickly go back to Dany and Danny there's these competing images of the former president playing out right here right we have one and that he would like to push that he's just a guy who signs the checks and there's the there's also the one that hope Hicks describes of trump who is intimately involved in.

Every aspect of of his business and and life what picture is coming off as was more compelling right now or more dominant I talked about this earlier there are really only two Avenues here there's either Trump as the boss of a large corporation that requires minions who act independently and they hand him checks and he signs them that's going to.

Be the defense's view of the world and then the prosecution's view which is that Donald Trump uh in this closely held family company was a micromanager and he was on top of everything and so really only one of two choices are available to the jury and so far the people have put in plenty of evidence uh and some of it is kind of snuck in but.

The idea that hope pick conveyed was that Donald Trump was somebody who was intimately involved in all aspects of the business that's going to help the prosecution make their case that once they've proven the transaction from Cohen to Daniels that it's something that Donald Trump Not only would have known about but would have had to.

Approve not tacitly but directly appr approve this payment so really uh it's hard to say which way it's going but only one of two is true Michelle the defense really played hard on this idea that Cen describes himself as Mr Fixit does that help the defense does it hurt the prosecution well what they're trying to do is frame Michael Cohen is someone.

Who has poor character someone who can't be trusted this is something that Donald Trump has said in social media using the term liar to describe Michael Cohen and that's what they want to leave the jury with is that someone who EX exceeded what the boundaries were of what he was called to do not supposed to be involved in the presidential campaign at all so.

Anything that he did was pretty much on his own without any kind of guidance or any way implicating Donald Trump the idea was he was Rogue yeah that's that's the idea that they are trying to paint whether that's successful before this jury remains to be seen thank you Professor Goodwin and thank you Danny savalos uh both great interpretations.

And Analysis as we mentioned hope hick played a key Communications role at Mr Trump's company in his campaign and the White House and her testimony today was all about how they got that message out to the public for more on that let's bring in Washington Post media critic Eric wimple Eric at one point Hicks was asked about her press duties during the.

26 2016 campaign asking if there was you know what about the team around her and she said it was quote just me and Mr Trump and quote there were all we were all just following his lead she said she was right out of college a lot of responsibility for somebody that age does that suggest that Trump had really an intense control of the messaging with.

Hicks at his right hand well that's correct um I think uh on that point I think history Bears out exactly what she was saying uh at the time it was very clear that Trump the Trump campaign or I should say the Trump campaign wasn't really much in terms of like your your traditional campaign it was very skeletal there wasn't much and it was.

Mainly a Communications operation I mean she would pass along um you know questions to Trump and they get on the phone and Trump would just basically riff off the top of his head and those quotes and so on and so forth many of them outrageous all almost all of them lies um we go straight into these in the papers and and onto the air um and all.

Of a sudden reporters were scrambling trying to figure out what was true and what wasn't as I said most of it was not um but yes Trump was they were following his lead in part because he just lied lied and lied um and I think that even the people around him who chose to associate with him were not willing to go as far as he was and I think the.

Other thing here is that it was working at least if you looked at the polls uh Trump was beating his rivals in the polls so it was a strat strategy managing yeah micromanaging the messaging all day mhm absolutely I mean everything um and it was media driven campaign I mean he was getting all of his rallies covered by CNN some some on.

This network and and fox too I think most of the cable industry is taking a second look at that um but you know he was getting all this stuff covered and it was it was just going straight into other media it was a remarkable time uh and nobody was prepared for it yeah but but knowing all of that what can we actually trust from Hope Hicks someone.

Who back in 2018 acknowledged that working for Mr Trump occasionally required her to quote tell White Lies she said as someone who observed how she interacted with the media and public on behalf of Mr Trump can we trust what she says now um well obviously she's under oath and one of the things you learn about.

Like working for Donald Trump is sooner or later you're going to have to raise your right hand and uh she was under oath when she said that in Congressional testimony and she gave an example like oh white lie would be when I would say Mr Trump is unavailable when in fact he was available but as we know the the falsehoods and the lies coming from uh.

The Trump establishment were much more uh Grievous much more damaging than all that and also much more creative um but I don't you know many of your people on there this afternoon have said that hope pick managed to sort of uh sort of um winnow her way through all that without damaging her credibility too much that is an assessment that I don't really.

Disagree with I think that of all the people in the Trump orbit she managed to and but by seeking a low profile she never was seeking the spotlight too much she did manage not to say not to get slimed with all of this stuff personally she runs a strategic Consulting operation now I'm not sure exactly how it's doing but um I don't think you know.

I'm not a legal analyst but as far as people in Trump's orbit I would have to rank her among the higher people in terms of credibility granted that's a very low bar but you know I I'll just leave it at that okay Eric wimple thank you very much let's bring in now our political Pros Mark short the former Chief of Staff to vice president Mike.

Pence and Democratic strategist Amisha cross mark your time overlapped a little bit with hope pix right as you are watching her testimony in court does it appear she has any agenda or any a to grind here I don't think so Tom I don't think she does have an A to grind I will tell you that when vice president Pence was tapped to join the campaign in the.

Summer of 2016 when we joined the campaign it was really only hope pick and Steven Miller were the two staffers I mean there was that seems stunning to me it it was stunning it was a remarkable campaign because because former president Trump really ran it himself and so you had the Carousel of various uh campaign managers going.

Through but the two Stables were Stephen and hope uh am Misha we've talked a lot about you know the B the the Biden campaign here is looking for any opportunity to potentially turn something here from this testimony into a campaign item for them for the Biden campaign uh did you see anything so far that might work uh to the Biden.

Campaign's Advantage as of today no I think that hope Hicks is somebody who um has been a strategist with Donald Trump for quite some time um she was fresh out of college when she went to work for the uh the Trump organization uh a lot of her career has been based on loyalty to Donald Trump and today all that she honestly did was further you know throw.

Mud on uh Michael Cohen which we've already heard many people do so I I don't think that anything from thus far has been able to Showcase itself as oh this is the Smoking Gun we can run with in ads or anything else yeah Coen is not looking good coming out of this trial um Mark can we go back can we go to 35,000 ft here because uh normally Trump has.

Found that he can get a bit of a boost to his fundraising efforts at least for his small base his his diar base when he goes through these various uh you know legal problems um however he's pretty far behind the Biden campaign now right look at that $90 million so far uh presidential numbers in terms of how much they've raised 155 million cash on.

Hand and Biden is is quite a way or rather Trump is quite a bit behind that um does he have any opportunity to make up ground here with a broader B with a broader group of constituents uh in the middle maybe or is he really kind of isolated to to his far right base I think he can make up ground I think that that there'll be more and more.

Republicans to back on board but Tom I think it's important to remember in 2016 Hillary far out raised Trump too and as we just talked about he runs a very small operation in the campaign and he gets all the earned media he wants and so there's a lot of focus on the money he doesn't need the campaign ads he's on TV every day and so the money deficit I.

Don't ever think is as big of a deal as I think some in the media make it out to be yeah that's a very good point hey Amisha also uh this uh this meeting is a big part because he's going down to Mar Lago I should make that point he's going down to Mar Lago and that's a big part of a So-Cal called vep Stakes right to replace Mark's old boss uh Mike.

Pence it almost sounds like he's trying to make this almost kind of like an episode of his former reality TV show here are some of the uh top contenders were told any one of those uh would would any of those be a democrat's Top Choice in other words it would be uh better for the Dems if he picked one of them and.

Also why do it this way is it all sort of creating a show and kind of creating the whole kind of I don't know the same kind of excitement that he had on his TV show yeah I I I think that he he loves and he resonates with um being able to make a show out of his VP candidate Choice uh we we recognize that you know the the polling is what it is and again.

I think this far out U we probably shouldn't pay as much attention to it as media does however um Trump's base is not movable they are going to be there regardless and quite frankly we know that voters vote for the top of the ticket not the vice president so he could choose any one of those people and at the end of the day his people are.

Still going to be there I think that for those swing voters and those individuals who he's trying to who you would think that he would be trying to grab outside of his base voters um it's going to take a little bit more we do recognize that he most recently said essentially that he was going to track women's pregnancies um in in a push to basically.

Quill any abortion rights across this country that's really frustrating and I think that for Women Voters in particular that is something they will be looking at as we see voting uh as we see abortion rights restrictions continue to expand and that's going to be something that I don't think anybody who was just listed is going to stand.

Against that's going to be something that hits him hard Marquee has such a lock on his base on that far right portion of the Republican Party do you has that expanded at all do you see it expanding at all uh just just I mean the country is pretty well locked into who they like and don't like at this point aren't they I think the country is very.

Polarized and locked in I think that there's something pollsters are coming more to call Double hate and that's the question for the people who dislike both who's going to be the one that they view as least unattractive and I think that that there will be some Republicans who continue to come back to Trump because you're looking at the.

Chaos on campuses concerned about inflation of the border and that rallies them back to Trump but I you know I I think that one of the differences as well from the VP Stakes jisha's point is that in 2016 he did need somebody to Rally the party behind him he was a blank slate he doesn't need that now and so the vice presidential pick is not as.

Cons quential as it was I think eight years ago I think to your point though Amisha people vote for who's the top of the ticket right and the the vice presidential candidate is just kind of like a an afterthought almost yeah it's a little bit of icing on the cake but it's not going to make or break the ticket and they think that for Trump.

He's doing this at Mara Lago and kind of uh auditioning people more so for fundraising purposes because every day that he is in this trial he's not able to be out there campaigning and um to a point that was made earlier um he's also getting a lot of free media attention he doesn't have to worry about ads because they're covering him 24/7 even though.

He's not on the campaign Trail no lesson was learned from 2016 it kind of feels like another episode of The Apprentice when we're going into the mar logo VP Stakes right sweep Stakes guys thank you very much thanks for your expertise uh a lot of other big headlines to tell you about today we're going to catch you up on all of it on this very busy Friday.

When we pick up regular programming right after the break here we go the news continues tonight a bombshell indictment for a sitting Congressman the doj says he and his wife took hundreds of thousands of dollars and bribes from foreign groups the charges that could put him away for the.

Rest of his life in Texas the state is bracing for more devast Stadium flooding and possibly tornadoes just as they started to pick up the pieces our team is in the thick of it this evening and the Pensylvania man who had a ton of ammo in a bag in turs and caos will find out his fate at the end of the month he's facing 12 years and the judge is.

Not taking it was an accident for an answer in tonight's original a group of tech entrepreneurs wants to build a brand new city in a rural part of California from the the ground up why some locals say they're being duped into going along with that plan good day I'm Tom Costello I am in for Hy and just in the last few hours a house Democrat has.

Been hit with serious Federal bribery charges Congressman Henry quar of Texas as well as his wife charged by the doj with accepting bribes from a company controlled by the government of aeran as well as a Mexican Bank the endgame prosecutors say influencing US policy to benefit those countries and the bank the indictment comes after a raid on qu's.

Home and campaign office back in 2022 you can see some of that footage right there quar was at one point the co-chair of the Congressional aeran caucus in a statement he denies all wrongdoing saying he still has plans to run for re-election in November house Democratic leader hakeim Jeffrey says quar will take leave from one of his committee.

Assignments but he is not calling for the indicted Congressman to step down he becomes the second member of Congress in less than a year to face bribery charges New Jersey Democratic senator Bob Menendez said to go on trial later this year NBC's kend Delane is following all of this for us and Ken what kind of picture now does this indictment paint.

Of the congressman a shameful one Tom it essentially says he sold his office to do the bidding of a foreign government and the charges include an array of the kind of crimes you typically see in a corruption case bribery male fraud and money laundering but then it adds this wrinkle of acting as an unregistered.

Agent of a foreign government and it's because this indictment says that as you said he was doing the bidding of the government of azerbajan pursuing their foreign policy in Washington where they have a significant agenda and the indictment says he and his wife accepted nearly $600,000 in bribes over a 10-year period which seems like a lot of money.

But actually isn't when you think that a congressman can retire and earn that much in 6 months as a lobbyist but what it says is that this money was laundered through sham contracts uh paid to Shell companies owned by the congressman's wife the indictment says the congressman's wife did little or no work but the congressman agreed to take.

Official action in exchange for this money now qu's lawyer says to NBC news that the justice department is making significant leaps here they don't have the evidence to establish quid pro quot um and look these corruption cases are not easy to make so we'll have to wait and see exactly how this proceeds Tom hey Ken we're already seeing one star.

Difference here in that members of Congress aren't calling for quara's resignation in Mass what does that say to you about comparing the Menendez case and the qu case right so qu is the second lawmaker in a year Menendez being the first to be accused of selling his office to on behalf of a foreign government in the.

Menendez case Tom the the the evidence was so St dark was so significant and it was his second corruption case remember he uh narrowly got off on on the first one a few years ago gold bars and cash found in his home that evidence was just so visceral that I think it led more people to say he needs to go this case I think people are saying let's wait and.

See they know that these corruption cases it sounds really bad when you read the indictment but they are difficult to make the justice department has to show a quid proquo here they have to show evidence that the payments were made in exchange for official action and Henry qu is saying that didn't happen so we'll wait and see kelan thank you very much.

We have more breaking news coming into us in just the last few minutes a confirmed tornado touching down in Texas uh meaning that the state is now hitting its ninth straight day of tornado activity you can see some of that right there Texas just can't catch a break from these Twisters check out this near Holly a huge a massive cone at the very.

Very tip of that tour Tado and they can't catch a break from other kinds of bad weather either with the Houston area right now bracing for a long weekend a more intense flooding weather experts are warning locals that you should evacuate now if you can or be ready to stay put for days millions of people in and around Houston are at the center of.

All of this dealing with flood watches in effect right now the evacuation order comes after that region took an absolute beating on Thursday with as much as 12 inches of rain coming down on some parts of Texas causing Rivers there to overflow with intense flooding and that has led to scary scenes look at this folks pulled from their cars after flash.

Floods came out of nowhere NBC's Kathy park is in Conroe Conroe Texas I should say uh and Kathy what are folks bracing for where you are right now tonight and into the weekend so Tom they are bracing for unfortunately more severe weather and I can tell you the ground is already extremely saturated so any more moisture.

Any more rainfall could make matters worse uh what you're probably seeing behind me I can tell you this isn't a Lakefront home it actually just happened overnight this is a San dento River and we're told by the property owner that yesterday the Water started Rising sometime in the 9:00 hour and she had to evacuate because the water was Rising.

That quickly um this has covered her entire property this is roughly 3 acres and now it it looks like a lake um she actually gave us a tour inside her home we just saw the damage inside the water came up about a foot she said a lot of the furniture is now just uh damp with the moisture and there is just a huge clean up ahead so a lot of stories like.

That just all across the area homeowners just picking up the pieces now cleaning up and bracing for more storms but businesses are also suffering too in fact we spoke with the DM of a nursery not too far from here and he said he lost hundreds of thousands of trees plants and trubs take a listen being as though they opened up.

The dam in the middle of the day we just kind of had to watch our our our business float away in a sense um it's definitely tough but you know we're going to going do everything it takes to to get back into gear and be ready for our customers and our staff you know these guys this is everybody's career so we're going to take it super.

Serious and Tom we were told by that GM that really this is the busiest time of year for them and they were bracing for just large crowds this weekend because they had a big promo going on but now today they're spending the day cleaning up trying to salvage what they can of course they'll be keeping their eyes to the skies yeah you know everybody.

Remembers uh hurricane Harvey that storm that brought devastating fluns to the Houston area back in in 2017 I had friends who just were devastated by that any lessons learned that are helping to guide their operations right now yeah it's it's interesting you up Harvey because a lot of folks we spoke with are drawing comparisons to Harvey.

Because that was the last significant natural disaster and a lot of folks are still recovering from that storm believe it or not um in fact the homeowner who lives right here she she said she just finished up repairs not too long ago and now she's going to have to do it all over again a second time around six years later Tom okay Kathy thank you.

Very much uh let's get you over now to the five things our team thinks you may want to know about tonight number one demolition started today on that I 95 overpass in Norwalk Connecticut you may recall parts of the highway shut down yesterday after a fuel truck collided with two other cars and burst into flames the state's Governor says heat.

From that fire damaged the overpass so Crews have to tear down the bridge on the critical Interstate demolition could take 24 hours or more to finish the highway itself could be closed until Monday number two the justice department announcing today that a California man has been indicted by a Federal grand J jury in Atlanta for threatening fton.

County DA fonnie Willis according to the indictment he posted multiple threatening comments on YouTube the doj says it'll be arraigned next month the FBI is investigating number three the US economy added fewer jobs than expected last month while the unemployment rate grew now listen that could actually be good news because it means the economy.

Is slowing which could allow the FED to consider cutting interest rates as soon as the fall and the stock market likes that news it rallied on that possibility number four basketball Superstar Caitlyn Clark is gearing up to make her first at WNBA debut tonight her team the neana fever will play the Dallas wings for their preseason opener Clark will make.

Her regular season debut when the fever played the Connecticut sun in a couple of weeks number five San Francisco's famous Fisherman's Warf now covered look at covered with sea lions more than a thousand of them hanging out on the warp just this week that's the most the warp has seen in the past 15 years why the.

Pier's Harbor Master says the sea lions are chasing down a huge School of anchovies one of the animals one of those sea Lion's favorite foods you can also put it on a sea lion pizza coming up the stunning new details in The Race Against Time to find missing vacationers who mysteriously have disappeared in Mexico plus the almost remake of Snakes.

On a Plane in Florida only they're in a guy's pants stay stay with us okay we're back an American Tourist waiting months to learn his fate must now wait a couple of weeks longer after he says he accidentally brought ammunition in his luggage to Turks and kikos 39-year-old Brian hegerich appeared in cour today for the first.

Time since he was detained back in February he was heading home with his family when he was arrested and he faces up to 12 years in prison the judge's decision is expected later this month and could have an impact for other Americans who are detained on the British territory for similar reasons NBC Sam Brock is joining us now Sam.

There were no cameras allowed in in court I understand walk us through what happened at this hearing today in some respects time it was kind of stunning because I think I think the expectation was sure there's a mandatory minimum of 12 years but there's been previous cases where there were only fines or in one case in 8 month sentence under.

Exceptional circumstances but 12 years that is exactly what the prosecutor asked for today nothing less than 12 years and so he's going to be sentenced on May 29th the judge I'm told has not tipped her hand either way but to give you some general context this is a law that was constructed to really root out gun violence and just this wave of.

Ammunition and Firearms coming into Turks and Kos from places like Haiti and even the us but it was not meant to sweep up dads from Oklahoma and Pennsylvania who checked their bags or even took their bags through TSA checkpoints and still managed to get ammunition through there but then it was found in Turks and Kos and now you have.

Someone like Brian hegr and Ryan Watson who are there facing those very circumstances and as a result of these previously lighter sentences the country corrected course the prosecutor who lost those now says well look the court of appeals here says you've got to issue a jail sentence I want 12 years we talked to the spokesperson for hg's family.

About what that would mean what's the stakes take a lesson they're going to miss their kids growing up and it's pretty obvious from the record at the moment that their kids need their dads you know to hear um about the impact of particularly on on Brian and Ashley's daughter has been um profound for.

Me and you talk Tom about exceptional circumstances Mr hegr is ATT there arguing in court not just that he came clean right away and said these are my bullets I certainly didn't mean to do it but his kids are six and four years old his older daughter having a really hard time right now trying to process this obviously and he has a mom with.

Parkinson's disease who needs his help and he has medical complications and the prosecutor is arguing nope no extenda circumstances here so that's kind of where we find the situation right now so as you suggested and as that interview suggested he's one of several Americans who's being held right now uh and the country passed tougher laws because it's.

Trying to fight gun violence right coming from Haiti and the Dr and elsewhere uh you could imagine the judge is also Under Pressure not to give an exception to a guy from America she is there was uproar in Turks and Kos after you had these series of cases that were ending with a fine and some of them included Americans with.

Firearms and they were only fine so now yes you are seeing sort of the other end of the pendulum on this and the reality as far as how this is going to affect the other cases so many of these stories Tom are exactly the same fathers of young kids who had ammunition in bags from hunting trips months prior didn't realize they say that the ammunition was.

Actually in the bag until they got to Turks and cacos and then tried to leave and now they have family members who are depending on them and wondering are you really telling me I'm going to spend six seven 8 10 12 years in a prison hundreds of miles away from my family that is the reality of the situation and we'll see where the judge lands in less than a.

Month yeah I I think it's worth underscoring to anybody who's traveling you need to know what the laws are in the country you're traveling to uh and your excuse that you left ammo in a bag in America may not cut it in another country and oh by the way you can check your B your gun and your ammo but you got to do it legally with the TSA using.

A certified case but that's for domestic travel doesn't matter if you're going overseas a lot of these countries have no tolerance for guns and ammo uh Sam thank you thank you very much Sam Brock on the story for us uh we're getting new details about The Disappearance of two Australian Surfer brothers and an American as tonight family members say.

They are desperate for answers now we told you about these brothers Jake and Callum Robinson and their friend Jack Carter we talked about it on the show yesterday they've been missing since Saturday while they were on a surfing trip to the Baja California area Callum was regularly posting updates on social media for the first two days of the trip.

And then suddenly he just stopped we now know police have found abandoned tents and evidence linked to those three men local Mexican authorities say they're communicating with the FBI in this case and we also know drug cartels are active in the area and Baja California's Chief prosecutor says they can't rule anything out until they find the men we're.

Waiting on more details as police of Mexico questioned two men and a woman possibly in connection to the case mbc's Blaine Alexander joins us now Blain the the State prosecutor in Mexico says even though the missing person's report was filed 48 hours after they were last seen police started looking into this right away right as soon as they had social.

Media post that caught their attention yeah Tom and the story is one that's getting a lot of attention because this really is troubling on so many fronts you know this is an investigation that is already kind of spanning at least three different countries two continents authorities there in Mexico say that they are in.

Touch with officials both in the US and in Australia this is an area Bala California Mexico that's very popular uh among Surfers in fact growing in popularity over the past few years and so that's why there's been so much social media chatter on this and concern over these three men so let me kind of break down this timeline for you you.

Know we know that as of April 27th last Saturday that was the last time that their family had been in contact with them we're talking about two Australian Brothers uh their mother posted on Facebook and basically said that that was the last day that she had heard from them the missing person's report was filed 2 days later on the 29th and then.

We know from Mexican officials that they have been uh kind of been searching the area where they believe that these men were last seen they found some pieces of evidence including a white pickup truck that that's something that they're looking into as well in addition to questioning three individuals right now Tom and the brother's mother back in.

Australia I understand has been posted on social media asking for help talk about that effort the social media effort and whether it's gaining any any traction on the ground in Mexico I'll show you one of her statements just a piece of her statement she's basically talking about her son saying and Jake are beautiful human.

Beings we love them so much this entire situation she says breaks their heart our only comfort right now is that they were together doing something they passionately love it's something that struck a chord among so many people uh one of the Suns Callum was a professional lacrosse player both of them were Avid uh uh Surfers and so.

That's why so many people really have been joining in this search especially in the surfing Community Tom oh boy all right well we certainly are hoping for the best Blain thank you very much NBC News covers hundreds of stories each day and it's awfully tough to read watch or listen to everything so our teams our Bureau teams have done it for you this.

Is what they tell us is going down in the regions and we call this the local from our Western Bureau one person is dead from a tuberculosis outbreak at a hotel in Long Beach California nine others were hospitalized investigators say roughly 70 people might have been exposed to TB City Health officials though have declared while they've.

Declared a public health emergency they say the outbreak appears confined and the general public is not at a big risk out of our Northeast Bureau the new curfew starts tonight in nework New Jersey it goes from 11:00 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. kids under 18 have to stay within 100 yards of their homes if they break the curfew police could reach out to a.

Violence prevention team who would then contact the parents it's starting with Fridays Saturdays and Sundays but will expand to 7 days a week come mid June the mayor says it's meant to help keep kids safe and bring Crime down and from our Southern Bureau take a look at this TSA officers found these snakes hidden in somebody's pants they said that they.

Were searching a passenger at the Miami Airport and they found the snakes in what seems to have been a sunglasses bag the snakes were handed over to state fish and wildlife officials and you can have the sunglasses too coming up the battle Brewing over some Billionaire's big plans to create a Utopia in rural California okay listen to this it's from.

The ground up and a lot of locals are not so happy we're coming back with that back now with tonight's original in-depth reporting on a topic we've been watching and tonight there's a fight brewing in a rural part of California how does this sound a brand new town from the ground up all sparkly new tech.

Entrepreneurs have a big bll plan to build exactly that but many people who live nearby are not happy about it some say they're being deceived by the developers NBC's elen Lopez has the story right now a major controversy hit hitting a fever pitch over this land in Northern California a group of developers called California forever.

Have bold plans to turn this into the country's newest City this week announcing they collected over 20,000 signatures to put the project on the ballot in November and let voters decide if it should move forward but some locals have been questioning the ways in which petitioners gathered those signatures one person saying on Facebook.

That she was asked to sign a petition about Healthcare but claim that among the petition she was handed and on the same clipboard was one for the group trying to build the city California forever stated in part that opponents have quote been spreading misinformation regarding the petition and are quote attempting to create confusion we spoke.

With the Solano County registar and they confirmed all of the petitions are legitimate we are a right to farm County those against the developments are deeply concerned about the plan to build a brand new city with room for more than 400,000 people that's basically the population of Miami or Minneapolis they don't want to listen to our concerns.

Tech founder Yan traic is spearheading the project backed by a group of Silicone Valley investors land where for years and years nothing much has been able to grow until now we used to build new cities all the time but we haven't done it in 50 years and so we knew that this would be controversial The Proposal is that this giant City would be built.

From the ground up in a rural area with walkable neighborhoods public Transportation sustainable homes and California forever has pledged to create about 15,000 new jobs in sectors like manufacturing and renewable energy I am super excited it's a major departure from Car- centered cities growing in spots like Orlando or Houston but the.

Way they've gone about it has ruffled feathers from 2017 to 2023 California forever operated as a company called flanner Associates buying up $800 million worth of land in Solano County before ever revealing its plans then Flannery sued a group of land owners to the tune of $550 million accusing them of conspiring to drive up the price of.

Land the lawsuit is still playing out in the eastern district of California and Solano County leaders are pushing back with other concerns over zoning power and water rights what do we need to do in the next 30 years is it this project stie Wilson is part of a new coalition called Solano together she believes the Project's timeline is unrealistic can we.

Work together to make make sure that we we are building on our existing cities and investing in our communities but traic says it will solve the need for more housing and jobs he also promises to invest in surrounding areas we have this amazing economic engine that produces all of these Innovations and we have been slowing it down by our.

Inability to create room for growth and homes that people can afford there's so many people pieces that we agree on that there is a need for housing there is a need for good jobs um but that is not what's on the ballot both sides agree something has to change but whether that means solely reinvesting in existing communities or starting from scratch.

That is all up to the people of Solano County elwin Lopez NBC News Los Angeles eln thank you good story there still to come from us the very real concerns hanging over all the buzz and the excitement and one of the most iconic horse races in the country are the horses safe this weekend we'll be right.

Back you know it's early May and that means millions of people are set to tune in to the 150th annual Kentucky Derby tomorrow at the iconic Churchill Downs Racetrack in louville it's the fastest 2 minutes in sports they say with a top prize of $3 million for the winner you know there's all the excitement the big Derby hats the mint julips my personal.

Favorite but there are also real concerns over the safety of the horses after 12 connected to last year's Derby died within just days of the race NBC's Jesse Kur is joining us now from Churchill Downs Jesse what's different this year when it comes to monitoring and caring for the horses that are competing in the in the.

Derby yeah and Tom I I want just want to emphasize no horses in the Derby last year died right there were horses that were in undercard races that were uh involved with the facility here in the days and weeks surrounding the Derby and on Derby day but not in the derby itself last year uh that died a total of 12 that led to a suspension of racing here.

At Churchill Downs at one point as well and we've asked Regulators as well as the track about what changes were made this year for the tracks part they're saying they're constantly trying to improve it doesn't take injuries it doesn't take deaths uh for them to make changes they're constantly trying to improve here similar story from the.

Regulatory body Heist of the horse racing integrity and Safety Authority and what's interesting about that organization is this year they essentially have their full force on hand because their anti-doping regimen came online in time for this year's Kentucky Derby so they are at full force with the regulatory oversight Nationwide.

Uh at this point as for the track we talked with uh the the the chief equine officer the the chief veterinarian officer here at the The Churchill Downs Racetrack about changes they make here incorporation of technology and the like here's part of what he shared with us we're working with a couple different thirdparty companies to help develop.

Some risk factor assessment tools uh we in our industry we know what many of our risk factors are for horses we're trying to look outside the box and see if we can use computer aided technology to help us identify risk factors that traditionally we haven't known about he also said they had a piloted sensor program they're now using on all.

The Der horses again Tom hey buddy what's the vibe there right now given the you know the past that that they're trying to work through and correct but what's the feeling is it is there a feeling of excitement right now yeah oh I don't know if you can tell Tom it just started raining here it just wrapped up the Kentucky Oaks which is.

The big Friday race here so everyone is clearing out the rain held off just in time for that race to wrap up hopefully the skies will clear tomorrow but we met some people earlier who were here in the morning excited because it is Derby weekend in Louisville Tom okay grab your top hat Jesse thanks very much Jesse kers who's right there outside of.

Louisville that is a wrap for us at this hour the coverage resumes on news now right now top of the hour tonight a bombshell indictment for a sitting congressmen the doj says he and his wife took hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from foreign groups the charges that could.

Put him away for the rest of his life in New York one of former president Trump's closest former AIDS broke down at his criminal trial today the grilling on the stand that pushed hope Hicks to tears in Texas more tornadoes touching down tonight as the state braces for more devastating flooding our team is in the thick of it and new details tonight on.

How one man caught bird flu from a cow why Health officials are urging the public not to worry at least not yet then China launching its most ambitious moon mission yet how they're trying to make history on The Far Side of the Moon that's coming up good day I'm Tom Costello I'm in for Hy and in just the last few hours a house Democrat hit with.

Serious Federal bribery charges Congressman Henry quar of Texas as well as his wife charged by the doj with accepting drives from a company controlled by the government of aeran as well as a Mexican Bank the end game according to prosecutors was to influence us policy to benefit the country and the bank the indictment.

Comes after a raid on qu's home and c campaign office back in 2022 there's the video you can see the footage quar was at one point the co-chair of the Congressional as aan cacus in a statement quar denies all wrongdoings saying he still does plan to run for real election in November house Democratic leader hakeim Jeffrey says.

Quar will take leave from one of his committee assignments but he is not calling for the indicted Congressman to step down at least not yet quer though becomes the second member of Congress and less than a year to face bribery charges New Jersey Democratic senator Bob Menendez set to go on trial later this year NBC's kend delanian is.

Following this for us and Ken just what were these aani and Mexican deals LED all about what were they hoping to get out of quar official acts Tom and in particular the government of aeran according to this indictment was seeking qu's help in trying to influence us policy in the direction of azaran they're in a war.

With Armenia American foreign policy has some interest there and they were looking for specific things and and the indictment doesn't say exactly whether they got them but it says that quar essentially sold his office and agreed to do them it says quer and his wife took nearly $600,000 in bribes and laundered them.

Through sham contracts which were paid to Shell companies controlled uh by Amel dequ and it says that she did little or no work uh for for those companies but that the congressman again promised official action uh and and what's really significant here is that in addition to being charged with bribery and money laundering and honest Services mail.

Fraud which are typical corruption charges he's charged with acting as an unregistered agent for foreign government and like Bob Menendez he's essentially the second lawmaker in a year charged with selling his office to a foreign government that's deeply significant Tom well I was just going to ask you about that because people are.

Going to draw comparisons between this case and Senator men men menendez's case uh is that fair should they yes absolutely they're very similar cases now the evidence against Bob Menendez in terms of the gold bars and and cash seized by the FBI in his house is so visceral and so strong that you have people calling for his resignation.

We're not seeing those similar calls at least from Democrats today with Henry qu and that may be because look everyone in Washington knows these cases are hard to win the justice department has had some of them blow up in their face before they really have to show a quidd pro quo here they they have to show evidence that he actually got paid to do official.

Acts and that's difficult we don't know all the evidence in this case but the indictment Tom seems very strong kendan in covering it all at Justice thank you very much now to potentially the biggest bombshell testimony yet in Donald Trump's trial the Democratic moments make that the dramatic moments when the woman who had a front row seat to.

Everything that we've been talking about in this trial she then broke down in tears on the stand this woman hope Hicks an aid who the former president treated like a daughter she led Trump's campaign Communications when the alleged scheme took place to very embarrassing stories that was before he brought her to the White House for some of its top roles.

But now she hasn't spoken to him in two years today prosecutors wanted to know what happened behind the scenes when this moment made headlines the infamous Access Hollywood tape then candidate Trump caught on camera making vulgar comments about assaulting women Hicks who was Trump's press secretary at the time says she did not know about the.

Tape until she heard from a reporter and that there was a consensus that quote this was going to be a crisis the big question why does the ma why does this matter rather for the case let's hit the rewind for just a moment to get through all of this hick says she called Michael Cohen Trump's former fixer at the time to ask if there was another.

Tapam that would need damage control that happened in early October 2016 later that month prosecutors say damage control kicked in with the alleged hush money payment to Stormy Daniels who claimed she had an affair with Trump trump denies it and that is the reason that we are here why the former president faces 34 counts of.

Falsifying business records to which he has pleaded not guilty mbc's Von hilard is outside the courtroom he's been watching this all along throughout the entire case Von let's start with what the prosecution was hoping to get out of hicks today to paint this picture of Donald Trump as fully in control and to make this line from the Access Hollywood.

Tape to the Stormy Daniels situation and the and the payoff what did we hear today to that end right Tom they wanted to use op piix to set her up to this jury that she was such a crucial witness because of how small Donald Trump's Inner Circle was particularly in 2015 and 2016 on that campaign when she was serving as his.

Press secretary when she was asked by the prosecution who was doing comms for you guys who was doing press she said it was just me and Mr Trump she said the team that included The Bodyguard as well as the campaign manager were all just following his lead this really for the jury was the prosecution's opportunity to present to them somebody who had been.

A longtime Confidant even before he became a presidential candidate when he worked for uh when she worked for him at the Trump organization in 2014 to say this testimony is credible this some is somebody who had the ear all the way to the end of Donald Trump's presidency but the defense helped her out a little bit on cross-examination.

Right because specifically there was this criticism of of Michael Cohen right Michael Cohen is going to be that key witness here that will potentially take the stand who is the one who paid that $130,000 of Stormy Daniels and when H Hicks was talked about uh Michael Cohen she said look he never actually had a formal role on the.

Campaign and that for all intents and purposes he would insert himself at certain moments she said but he wasn't supposed to be on any campaign in any official capacity there were things he did in a voluntary capacity because of his interest she said but then when asked about her conversations with Donald Trump in 2018 when the story was.

First coming to light about the Michael Cohen stery Daniels arrangement she said that Donald Trump had you know suggested to her you know that it was being happy that you know and kind of surprised that Michael Cohen would take this stance and that she herself said he wasn't exactly a charitable or selfless person in her own words he was the kind of person who.

Seeks credit sort of surprised that Michael Cohen would somehow do this arrange $130,000 from its own home equity line of credit to pay off Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election without that $130,000 coming from somewhere yeah the idea that he did it on his own she argues is just too much to believe listen we mentioned that.

Hicks became emotional on the stand and we remember that hicks and Trump haven't spoken for years what what what did our NBC colleagues uh because you weren't able to be in there but what did our NBC colleagues in the courtroom see in terms of the Dynamics between Trump and Hicks right they said this is somebody.

Again who worked for him for about eight years and when she entered the courtroom there and took the stand she did not make eye contact directly with Donald Trump but instead while he was staring at her she openly admitted to the court that she was nervous and then when cross-examination began when Donald Trump's attorney began asking questions.

Within about a minute she broke down in tears and Court had to pause for a moment is she was able to collect herself and regroup and upon leaving the courtroom our team inside of producers and reporter said that there was sort of a solemnness when she walked out again this was somebody who she was very close to very loyal that she not only had the.

Trump organization the Trump campaign but then ultimately he made her the communications director and this is a moment in which she acknowledged that she hadn't talked to him since 2022 and she was paying her own legal bills not Donald Trump yet one where these were two individuals had a close relationship and as well as their families and one.

That was clearly a difficult day for her and she testified under oath Tom Von Hillard who's been on the story all week thank you Von we have breaking news just into us in the last few minutes a bunch of tornado reports all across Texas are popping up just one after another that means the state's hitting its ninth straight day of tornado activity and you.

Can see some of it right there uh tornadoes out there in what is called a multivortex an incredibly dangerous situation basically involves two separate tornadoes spinning around each other Texas has really been struggling cannot catch a break from these Twisters check out this near Holly a massive cone right there and they can't catch a break.

From other kinds of weather either with the Houston area right now bracing a long for a long weekend of more intense flooding weather experts are warning locals evacuate now if you can or be ready to stay put for days millions of people in and around Houston are at the center of all of this they're dealing with flood watches in effect right now.

The evacuation order comes after the region took an absolute beating on Thursday listen to this as much as 12 Ines of rain coming down in some parts of Texas that caused rivers to overflow with intense flooding and it's led to scary scenes imagine being in that car folks pulled from their cars after flash floods came out of nowhere mbc's Kathy.

Park is in Conroe Texas for us Kathy how are folks there dealing with this extreme weather and more on the way well Tom I can tell you A lot of these folks were kind of caught off guard by the storm they received the warnings but they weren't anticipating the damage that we're seeing right now in fact U let me give you an example.

We're standing in a a backyard yard and right behind me this is now the sand just into River typically we're told that this is roughly 3 acres of land and the river is several hundreds of yards away uh from where we are standing right now so this is just an incredible scene um and the water Rose very quickly in fact the homeowner told us earlier today.

That the water came on early yesterday morning and she had to evacuate grab what she could and got out she came back earlier today just to kind of assess the damage and you can see all the dirt debris inside the home um and she said she got about a foot of water inside her home so a lot of clean up ahead but Tom um businesses are also suffering too in.

Fact we spoke with the GM of a nursery not too far from here his business is also right by the river and he's saying U his losses are in the hundreds of thousands take a listen being as though they opened up the dam in the middle of the day we just kind of had to watch our our our business float away and sense um it's.

Definitely tough but you know we're going to going do everything it takes to to get back into gear and be ready for our customers and our staff you know these guys this is everybody's career so we're going to take it super serious and that was Steve he was telling us that he was looking forward to a busy weekend ahead and now he is.

Spending the day cleaning up with his staff and hopefully they're able to salvage some of those plants trees and shrubs so not only are they cleaning up but also keeping close watch on the skies because we are monitoring more severe weather in the forecast now through the weekend you know anybody who's had a dishwasher overflows knows.

What a mess that is imagine a foot of water in your house goodness gracious Kathy Park thank you very much all right tonight tonight college campuses are trying to bring some semblance of normaly back after two weeks of arrest and chaos though it looks like in some places that may not be stopping protesters take a look at protesters.

Headed to New York make that myu in New York just in the last few minutes the scene across the country really uh is going one of two ways to slow down the sort of thing either by force with deals with University administrators being the other option on the one hand you have scenes like this the NYPD today clearing out encampments at the new school and.

Myu 43 people arrested at the new school 13 at myu at Portland State University cus is back open after police evicted protesters occupying in the Campus Library threatening to use Force if people resisted arrest but there's also schools working with protesters Rutter's President says protesters there the protests ended peacefully once College.

Management reached an agreement with protesters that happened after the school set a 4M deadline yesterday to clear the encampment NBC Steve Patterson joins us now from UCLA Steve it's it's a quieter Friday relatively but that doesn't mean student activism is not spreading right where do things stand where you are right.

Now well much quieter here at the campus of UCLA the loudest thing I can hear right now are birds chirping which is incredible to think about just about 30 hours or so ago you wouldn't be able to see the space behind me this is now transformed back into a college quad uh a little while ago was a city of tents and plywood that is so thick that Royce.

Hall which is behind me wouldn't be visible at all that of course is all changer that police action The Sweep that was here police using essentially shock and awe to take down this encampment very swiftly throughout the night the latest numbers we have more than 200 arrests that may be somewhere now around 210 the official line is that.

There were very very few injuries that that comes from police it is a different story though when you speak to protesters and we have now spoken to several post that police action including one her name is Blair who says she was struck with a police baton over and over and over again before being arrested here's what she told me listen.

To this I was repeatedly being hit by a baton over and over and over again until I couldn't breathe I came because I had friends who said they were in danger and I didn't want my friends to be in danger we were there peacefully we were just there peaceful student protesters trying to protest the genocide there is of course reporting.

Across the country about outside agitators about outside groups infiltrating these movements I asked that question to some of the protesters they said this is largely a student movement but the chancellor has promised a full-throated investigation of everything that went on here Tom you know Steve we've also heard from uh.

Jewish students who couldn't even get to class were not allowed to walk down the sidewalk on campus they were being asked for their political affiliation in order to walk on their own campus that they' paid tuition for but I understand that you talked to a media liaison from the encampment and what is she telling you about where their movement goes from.

Here yeah I just spoke just a few minutes ago I asked that she's fresh from being arrested as a lot of their movement is there were several several arrests and she's claiming multiple injuries as well so they're still sort of recuperating licking their wounds as it were she tells me though they're going to be back in force here is.

Exactly what she told me listen to this we're not done as long as the university has not divested as long as there's a genocide happening in Gaza we are not done and I have started to elaborate does that mean establishment of the same encampment does that mean a fresh new encampment somewhere else on campus will.

Campus allow that they said at this point again they are still recuperating after that police action they don't have those answers but they said also that until the university divests until their demands are made they aren't going anywhere we don't know what that means yet Tom but that's the official line back to you okay Steve thank you very.

Much new details tonight about one of the first cases of bird flu spreading from a cow to a human a Texas dairy worker caught the virus from a sick cow back in late March he did not have any typical flu symptoms no fever no coughing no sneezing he did have a bad case of pink eye swabs of the man's eye and no showed the same strain of bir flu.

That was circulating in dairy cows he was treated with tofu and told to isolate as he recovered but there's a real concern that the virus could mutate as it spreads from birds to cows and humans and that there may be more cases out there NBC's Erica Edwards is joining us now Erica how concerning is the threat that this virus could spread on.

Cattle Farms let's just first talk about Farms itself yeah well it's pretty clear that this virus has been spreading undetected on dairy farms for months and will likely continue to spread so far more than 100 people have been asked to monitor themselves for symptoms after coming into contact with a Sit cow about.

25 of those have been tested so far all of those test results have come back negative and there's no evidence yet that this is spreading from person to person but you're exactly right that's the fear that the longer this circulates uncontrolled among cattle the more likely it will be that it could mutate to spread more easily from person to.

Person the reports authors today said that rapid implementation of preventive measures is recommended to reduce human exposures to any infected animals and environments contaminated by them uh and you know experts say that there are very likely additional cases because a lot of farmers simply don't want to be tested for fear that a positive result will in.

Will impact their livelihood Tom absolutely and you know we just R through this Global pandemic and we're we're not there yet but are we prepared if bird flu were to mutate and then spread into another type of pandemic situation this past week the CDC said that they have two vaccines prepped just in case it's ever needed both of those.

Are in the nation's emergency stockpile right now there aren't many doses but the CDC said that they could ramp up quickly and begin shipping doses within weeks Tom okay Erica thank you very much a rare successful piece of bipartisan legislation is waiting on the president's signature tonight A bill outlining new steps to monitor the.

Online explo exploitation of children the bill called the report act helps strengthen the national tip line that deals with reports of online wrongdoing against kids that tip line the national Center for missing and exploited children said that it has received more than 36 million reports of online exploitation or abuse in 2023 a.

360% increase compared to a decade ago a stat that resonates with parents like Jennifer bhah whose son died by suicide after a falling victim to a so-called sex tortion scheme where he was blackmailed over sending an intimate photo mbc's Julie cirin spoke to her once he sent that photo everything changed for him they put the pressure on.

They wanted money restrictions need to be placed on these companies that have applications that are allowing these predators to just go online freely and come for our youth so NBC's Julie cirin joins me now and she's also got an exclusive interview uh with the two Senate co-sponsors of the bill Julie break down why some are.

Calling this a GameChanger when it comes to protecting kids online well Tom believe it or not this is one of the only pieces of legislation in recent years I should say the most major piece of legislation that actually cracks down on what's going on on social media platforms online when it comes to kids when it comes to minors and really.

Forces them to act when it comes to reporting those sexually explicit images of minors some that lead to the extortion schemes like you heard Jennifer lay out there unfortunately she is part of a very long list of parents who had to deal with this over the last couple of years the growing use of social media unfettered access no matter.

What they do no matter how much they try to help she told me it's really up to the social media companies to be held accountable for what goes on on their platform so this bill is a big deal I I want you to take a listen first to what Senators oaf and Blackburn they're Republican and a Democrat really couldn't be more different what they did.

To come together on this issue and now one that passed the house and the Senate unanimously is sitting on President Biden's desk waiting for a signature children get online and it's the wild west and there are bad people lurking on the internet who want to pray on children with we need to fix this because once you identify a pedophile.

And uh once you want to get this individual into court then sometimes they were getting off simply because of constraints that were in the way Tom this bill will completely modernize the way these tips are processed by nickm by that Center for missing and exploited children they said in a statement quote we're thrilled that.

This bill will be signed into law very soon so we can begin to plan for and Implement many of the measures the report act will will enable while we applaud the passage of this act there is definitely more to be done legislatively and I have to tell you having covered this issue there is a lot that Congress is trying to do in the coming weeks all.

Right Julie thank you good reporting from Capitol Hill thank you so much coming up new warnings tonight in Berlin why people there are being told to stay indoors plus the US economy added fewer jobs than expected last month but that could actually be good news especially for your wallet and we're going to explain when we come back.

and we're getting new details about The Disappearance of two Australian Surfer brothers and an American as tonight family members say they are desperate for answers and we told you about these brothers Jake and Callum Robinson and their friend Jack Carter on the show yesterday they've been missing since.

Saturday while they were on a surfing trip to the Baja California area Callum was regularly posting updates on social media for the first two days of the trip and then suddenly he stopped we now know police have found abandoned tents and evidence linked to the three men local Mexican authorities say they are communicating with the FBI in the case.

We also know drug cartels are active in that area and Baja California's Chief prosecutor says they can't rule anything out until they find the group we are waiting on more details as police in Mexico question two two men and a woman in connection with the case NBC's Blain Alexander joins me now Blain the the state prose says even though the missing.

Person's report was filed 48 hours after they were last seen police started looking into this right away right as soon as they had social media post that caught their attention yeah Tom and the story is one that's getting a lot of attention because this really is troubling on so many fronts you know this is an.

Investigation that is already kind of spanning at at least three different countries two continents authorities there in Mexico say that they are in touch with officials both in the US and in Australia this is an area Bala California Mexico that's very popular uh among Surfers in fact growing in popularity over the past few years and.

So that's why there's been so much social media chatter on this and concern over these three men so let me kind of break down this timeline for you you know we know that as of April 27th last Saturday that was the last time that their family had been in contact with we're talking about two Australian Brothers uh their mother posted on.

Facebook and basically said that that was the last day that she had heard from them the missing person's report was filed 2 days later on the 29th and then we know from Mexican officials that they have been uh kind of been searching the area where they belied that these men were last seen they found some pieces of evidence including a white pickup truck.

That that's something that they're looking into as well in addition to questioning three individuals right now Tom and the brother's mother back in Australia I understand has been posted on social media asking for help talk about that effort the social media effort and whether it's gaining any traction on the ground in.

Mexico I'll show you one of her statements just a piece of her statement she's basically talking about her son saying Callum and Jake are beautiful human beings we love them so much this entire situation she says breaks their heart our only comfort right now is that they were together doing something they passionately love it's something that.

Struck a chord among so many people uh one of the sons Callum was a professional cross player both of them were Avid uh uh Surfers and so that's why so many people really have been joining in this search especially in the surfing Community Tom oh boy all right well we certainly are hoping for the best Blain thank you very much tonight.

Disturbing new reporting about a police youth program linked to nearly 200 allegations of sex abuse and misconduct across the country an investigation by The Marshall Project in partnership with NBC News finds the law enforcement Personnel are accused of grooming sexually abusing or engaging in some type of inappropriate behavior with.

Teens and young adults enrolled in an Explorer program as it's called the majority of those affected are teenage girls some as young as 13 the program was created by the Boy Scouts of America it's sort of a mentorship or even an internship program with local law enforcement agencies it's been running for decades according to the.

Investigation officers accused of abusing teens spanned in the ranks from patr TR men all the way up to Chiefs of police some were Department veterans known in their communities for the work they did others had been barely working at their agencies for a year or so now a lot of those cases have led to criminal charges but in some cases officers were.

Not even required to register as sex offenders in other cases officers got to keep their jobs after a reprimand or just a short suspension the Boy Scouts which sets the guidelines for the Explorer pro programs tells The Marshall Project and a statement it is committed to holding offenders in its words accountable.

Luc one of the reporters who's working on the peace Force right now is helping us to break it all down she's a writer on the project and she joins us can you uh give us a little bit more here now we understand that many of these cases resulted in some sort of charges or Consequences but there's one community near Boston where people are still.

Asking for justice tell us more about that yeah so our story really centers on one uh woman in particular her name is Sandra birchmore and when she was 13 years old she joined her local police explorer Post in Stoten Massachusetts which is about an hour outside of Boston and um she really admired police officer she wanted to become an officer one day.

And she stayed in the program from age 13 all the way through high school about a decade later so February 2021 she was 23 years old and newly pregnant and she was found dead from an apparent suicide uh one of the last people believ to have seen her alive uh was one of the officers that she met um through the program through the Explorer.

Post and an internal police investigation conducted after her death found that that officer as well as his brother who was an officer and also an Explorer uh Mentor as well as a third officer who was a veteran who oversaw the program had they had SE separate sexual relationships with uh Sandra in her early 20s um after her death her.

Family filed a wrong forde lawsuit against the three officers as well as the studen police department um in the town of Stoten that lawsuit is ongoing and earlier this year a judge uh in a ruling allowing that lawsuit to continue um his a part of his decision included text messages that the police investigation uncovered in which one of.

The officers acknowledges having sex with Sandra when she was 15 years old um the officers have denied any wrongdoing uh they have all resigned from their jobs with the police department and they are not currently facing any criminal charges um you know it's been just over three years since she died and thousands of people have signed an online petition.

Calling for further investigation into her death and the circumstances of her life and more than 5,000 people have joined a Facebook group called Justice for Sandra birchmore um calling for the same yeah lra this investigation found that there was really a lack of oversight right and that that kind of allow the abuse to happen I knew a lot.

Of my fellow high schoolers back in the day and that were in this in these explore programs any indication at all that things have changed uh that there's more oversight or better oversight or is set up to individual police departments that's a great question you know um what we found in terms of the response from police departments really.

Depended on the local um some departments when officers were charged or convicted of sexual abuse or misconduct um they just ceased operating their explorer programs while other departments have tried to put uh more rules in place for instance explicitly Banning fraternization between Explorer participants and officers or limiting.

Certain aspects of the program uh one huge aspect of Explorer post is the Ride Along where participants can accompany officers um but this can take the entire Patrol shift and sometimes happen overnight so some departments have um reduced that to maybe one or four hours or there's a debriefing that might happen um afterward or they've tried to.

Ensure that participants are not just um interacting with one specific officer that they are interacting with several officers in the program and what experts have told us is that a crucial part of continuing explore programs is um less isolation for participants and more transparency when it comes to the rules and policies that are in place place and.

Communicating that not just to the officers but to the participants and their uh parents the shavas who is with The Marshall Project lra thank you for your reporting nice job thank you let's getch over now to the five things our team thinks you should know about tonight number one a disturbing situation in Pittsburgh a woman now dead.

After a strange construction accident an initial investigation found that a large metal drum somehow escaped the construction site rolled down a hill broke through a fence then eventually hit the woman on the sidewalk she was pronounced dead at the scene number two Canadian police have arrested and charged three men in the.

Murder of a seek separatist leader you'll remember the leader was killed in Canada last year they're looking into whether the suspects are tie to the Indian government and Canada's prime minister Justin Trudeau is suggesting the Indian government might have been involved starting a big feud between Canada and India number three demolition.

Now underway on that 995 overpass in Norwalk Connecticut remember parts of the highway shut down in the last 24 hours after a fuel truck collided with two other cars bursting into flames the state's Governor says heat from that fire damaged the overpass so Crews have had to tear down the bridge on the critical Interstate demolition could.

Take 24 hours or more to finish and the highway itself could be closed until Monday number four the US economy added fewer jobs than expected in April while the unemployment rate grew by a tick now that may actually be good news because that means the economy is slowing which could allow the FED to consider cutting interest rates in the fall as soon as.

The fall the stock market liked that development it rallied before the closing bill on that possibility number five the White House presenting the presidential medal of freedom to 19 recipients in just the last hour including civil rights activist Clarence B Pro swimmer Katie Lei and former New.

York Mayor Michael Bloomberg you can see the ceremony right there the White House says those honored have made exemplary contributions to the prosperity the values or the security of the United States when we come back China launching a historic mission to the moon and our team saw it happen firsthand live what mission officials are telling our own.

Janice Macky fryer about The Far Side of the Moon don't call out the dark side plus the dramatic rescue caught on cam in Brazil we're coming back NBC covers hundreds of international stories every day and because it's tough to read watch or listen to all of them we've got teams.

Around the world doing it for you and for me here's what they say they're watching we call it the global out of Brazil heavy rains in the southern part of the country have have now killed at least 39 people local emergency rescue teams are saying that 68 others are still missing in the worst flooding Brazil has seen in 80 years take a look.

At this you can see a helicopter rescuing people from a rooftop authorities say more than 20,000 people are getting forced to evacuate from their homes from Pakistan now take a look a bus plunging into a ravine killing 20 people and hurting more than a dozen others that according to the local authorities the bus was headed.

Towards a popular tourist spot in the northern part of the country before the crash and from Germany huge smoke clouds rising from a metal working Factory building in Berlin after a big fire broke out there firefighters are worried the smoke might have toxic chemicals in it and they're asking people to stay inside close their windows turn off the.

AC the cause of the fire there is still not clear China today launched what may be its most ambitious lunar Mission yet to The Far Side of the Moon by the way the dark side is a Pink Floyd album so it's a rocket now it it it's racing to get there and if successful it'll be the first mission of its kind the goal collect rocks and debris that could help.

Us understand the moon's Origins it's a huge milestone for China which is aiming to land astronauts on the moon astronauts on the Moon by the end of the decade and it's a marker of a new space race shaping up not just for the moon but for all of that space between the Earth and the moon NBC International correspondent Janice mcky fryer was on.

The launch and joins me now Janice you know me I'm jealous uh this was quite in a historic moment right what was it like to watch you from the ground well we uh arrived at the launch site uh the skies were somewhat clear we could see the rocket uh ready in the distance and then then it got darker and darker Tom and there was one point where.

We weren't sure the launch was going to happen because there was Heavy Rain uh and a thunderstorm rolling in but as scheduled it lifted off at 5:27 p.m. local time we couldn't see the rocket uh with much Clarity but boy could we feel it the the ground was shaking the noise became deafening as this historic Mission uh lifted off and around this.

Island and there were tens of thousands of people who were watching too earlier in the day we went to one of the beaches that offered one of the better views of the launch site some of the people there have been camping out for 3 days just to be able to claim a spot to watch this Mission because along with China's uh space Ambitions and and the growth uh of.

Its uh program here and the advances that the program has made there's been the the rise of this space tourism industry and it is a source of excitement it's a source of national pride and for the towns around here uh it's the source of a new economy as China is uh pushing towards these new goals and that big one of Landing.

Chinese astronauts on the Moon by 2030 yeah so let's talk about the Space Race be because America has been hoping hoping that uh next year uh they would have astronauts looping around the moon and then landing on the moon in 2026 or 27 I think that's looking increasingly unlikely we just had a new uh you know Inspector General report suggesting NASA.

Is has got significant engineering challenges right now but this is a real race and oh by the way China is targeting to put humans on the exact same spot that NASA wants to put humans on at the South Pole well it is a real race that's shaping up and one that experts say is going to take innovation technology.

Ology and of course huge infusions of capital um in order to win the race and that's what China has as part of its momentum uh China space program is a goal of uh the president here XI Jim ping uh it is being push through and they have very clear targets they want to be landing on the lunar South Pole in 2026 and they expect to be building a.

Lunar Base by 2036 the issue of course Tom is uh the Coalition that China would bring with it to lunar explan exploration there are concerns about this partnership with Russia that was announced last year that they would work together to build this lunar base so beyond the scientific uh implications and possibilities that China's.

Exploration would bring there are also the geopolitical considerations and the geopolitical concerns the head of us space command uh saying recently that China was advancing at breathtaking speed and that uh for him is a worry Tom yeah Janice thank you Janice mcky freyer who's on the ground for us there an American Tourist waiting months to learn.

His fate must now wait a couple weeks longer after he says he accidentally brought ammunition in his luggage to Turks and Kos 39-year-old Brian hagerich appeared in court today for the first time since he was detained back in February he was heading home with his family when he was arrested he faces up to 12 years in prison the judge's.

Decision is expected later this month and could have an impact for other Americans who are detained on that British territory for similar reasons NBC Sam Brock joins us now Sam there were no cameras allowed in in court I understand walk us through what happened at this hearing today in some respects time it was kind of.

Stunning because I think the expectation was sure there's a mandatory minimum of 12 years but there's been previous cases where there were only fines or in one case an 8mon sentence under exceptional circumstances but 12 years that is ex exactly what the prosecutor asked for today nothing less than 12 years and so he's going to be sentenced on May 29th.

The judge I'm told has not tipped her hand either way but to give you some general context this is a law that was constructed to really root out gun violence and just this wave of ammunition and Firearms coming into Turks and Kos from places like Haiti and even the us but it was not meant to sweep up dads from Oklahoma and.

Pennsylvania who checked their bags or even took their bags through TSA checkpoints and still managed to get ammunition through there but then it was found in Turks and Kos and now you have someone like Brian hgich and Ryan Watson who are there facing those very circumstances and as a result of these previously lighter sentences the country.

Corrected course the prosecutor who lost those now says well look the court of appeals here says you've got to issue a jail sentence I want 12 years we talked to the spokesperson for hg's family about what that would mean what's the stakes take a list they're going to miss their kids growing up and it's pretty obvious from.

The record at the moment that their kids need their dads you know to hear um about the impact particularly on Brian and Ashley's daughter has been um profound for me and you talked Tom about exceptional circumstances Mr heg Rich's attorney's there arguing in court not just that he came clean right away and said these are.

My bullets I certainly didn't mean to do it but his kids are six and four years old his older daughter having a really hard time right now trying to process this obviously and he has a mom with Parkinson's disease who needs his help and he has medical complications and the prosecutor is arguing nope no exua circumstances here so that's kind of.

Where we find the situation right now so as you suggested and as that interview suggested he's one of several Americans who's been held right now uh and the country passed tougher laws because it's trying to fight gun violence right coming from Haiti and the Dr and elsewhere uh you could imagine the judge is also Under Pressure not to give an.

Exception to a guy from America she is there was uproar in Turks and Kos after you had these series of cases that were ending with a fine and some of them included Americans with firearms and they were only fine so now yes you are seeing sort of the other end of the pendulum on this and the reality as far as how this is going to affect.

The other cases so many of these stories Tom are exactly the same fathers of young kids who had ammunition in bags from hunting trips months prior didn't realize they say the ammunition was actually in the bag until they got to Turks and Kos and then tried to leave and now they have family members who are depending on them and wondering are you.

Really telling me I'm going to spend six seven 8 10 12 years in a prison hundreds of miles away from my family that is the reality of the situation and we'll see where the judge lands in less than a month yeah I I think it's worth underscoring to anybody who's traveling you need to know what the laws are in the country you're traveling to uh and.

Your excuse that you left ammo in a bag in America may not cut it in another country and oh by the way you can check your B your gun and your ammo but you got to do it legally with the TSA using a certified case but that's for domestic travel doesn't matter if you're going overseas a lot of these countries have no tolerance for guns and ammo uh Sam.

Thank you very much Sam Brock on the story for us coming up the battle Brewing over some billionaires big plans to create a Utopia in rural California okay listen to this it's from the ground up and a lot of locals I'm not so happy we're coming back with that back now with tonight's original.

In-depth reporting on a topic we've been watching and tonight there's a fight brewing in a rural part of California how does this sound a brand new town from the ground up all sparkly new tech entrepreneurs have a big bull plan to build exactly that but many people who live nearby are not happy about it some say they're being deceived by the.

Developers NBC's Owen Lopez has the story right now a major controversy hitting a fever pitch over this land in Northern California a group of developers called California forever have bold plans to turn this into the country's newest City this week announcing they collected over 20,000 signatures to put the project on the.

Ballot in November and let voters to decide if it should move forward but some locals have been questioning the ways in which petitioners gathered those signatures one person saying on Facebook that she was asked to sign a petition about Healthcare but claiming that among the petition she was handed and on the same clipboard was one for the group.

Trying to build the city California forever stated in part that opponents have quote been spreading misinformation regarding the petition and are quote attempting to create confusion we spoke with the Solano County regist and they confirmed all of the petitions are legitimate we are a right to farm County those against the development are deeply.

Concerned about the plan to build a brand new city with room for more than 400,000 people that's basically the population of Miami or Minneapolis they don't want to listen to our concerns Tech founder Yan traic is spearheading the project backed by a group of Silicone Valley investors land where for years and years nothing much has been.

Able to grow until now we used to build new cities all the time but we haven't done it in 50 years and so we knew that this would be controversial The Proposal is that this giant City would be built from the ground up in a rural area with walkable neighborhoods public transportation sustainable homes and California forever has pledged to create.

About 15,000 new jobs in sectors like manufacturing and renewable energy I am super excited it's a major departure from Car- centered cities growing in spots like Orlando or Houston but the way they've gone about it has ruffled feathers from 2017 to 2023 California forever operated as a company called Flannery Associates buying up.

$800 million worth of land in Solano County before ever revealing its plans then Flannery sued a group of landowners to the tune of $550 million accusing them of conspiring to drive up the price of land the lawsuit is still playing out in the eastern district of California and Solano County leaders are pushing back with other concerns over zoning.

Power and water rights what do we need to do in the next 30 years is it this project stie Wilson is part of a new Coalition called Solano together she believes the Project's timeline is unrealistic can we work together to make make sure that we we are building on our existing cities and investing in our communities but traic says it will solve.

The need for more housing and jobs he also promises to invest in surrounding areas we have this amazing economic engine that produces all of these Innovations and we have been slowing it down by our inability to create room for growth and homes that people can afford there's so many pieces that we agree on that there is a need for housing there.

Is a need for good jobs um but that is not what's on the ballot both sides agree something has to change but whether that means solely reinvesting in existing communities or starting from scratch that is all up to the people of Solano County elwin Lopez NBC News Los Angeles eln thank you good story there still to come from us the very real.

Concerns hanging over all the buzz and the excitement and one of the most iconic horse races in the country are the horses safe this weekend we'll be right back you know it's early May and that means millions of people are set to tune in to the 150th annual hocky Derby.

Tomorrow at the iconic Churchill Downs Racetrack in louville it's the fastest 2 minutes in sports they say with a top prize of $3 million for the winner you know there's all the excitement the big Derby hats the mint julips my personal favorite but there are also real concerns over the safety of a horses after 12 connected to last year's Derby.

Died within just days of the race NBC's Jesse Kur is joining us now from Church Hill Downs Jesse what's different this year when it comes to monitoring and caring for the horses that are competing in the in the derby yeah and Tom I I want just want to emphasize no horses in the Derby last year died right there were horses that.

Were in undercard races that were uh involved with the facility here in the days and weeks surrounding the Derby and on Derby day but not in the derby itself last year uh that died a total of 12 that led to a suspension of racing here at Church Hill Downs at one point as well and we've asked Regulators as well as the track about what changes were.

Made this year for the tracks part they're saying they're constantly trying to improve it doesn't take injuries it doesn't take depths uh for them to make changes they're constantly trying to improve here similar story from the regulatory body Heist of the horse racing integrity and Safety Authority and what's interesting about that.

Organization is this year they essentially have their full force on hand because their anti-doping regimen came online in time for this year's Kentucky Derby so they are at full force with the regulatory oversight Nation wide uh at this point as for the track we talked with uh the the the chief eoin officer the the chief veterinarian.

Officer here at the The Churchill Downs racet track about changes they make here their incorporation of technology and the like here's part of what he shared with us we're working with a couple different third party companies to help develop some risk factor assessment tools uh we in our industry we know what many of our.

Risk factors are for horses we're trying to look outside the box and see if we can use computer AED technology to help us identify risk factors that traditionally we haven't known about he also said they had a piloted sensor program they're now using on all the Derby horses again Tom hey buddy what's the vibe there right now given.

The you know the past that that they're trying to work through and correct but what's the feeling is it is there a feeling of excitement right now yeah oh I don't know if you can tell Tom it just started raining here they just wrapped up the Kentucky Oaks which is the big Friday race here so everyone is clearing out the rain held off just.

In time for that race to wrap up hopefully the skies will clear tomorrow but we met some people earlier who were here in the morning excited because it is Derby weekend in Louisville Tom okay grab your top hat Jesse thanks very much Jesse kers who's right there outside of Louisville that is a wrap for us at this hour the coverage resumes on news now.

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