Hallie Jackson NOW – Could perchance well also honest 2 | NBC News NOW

H Jackson with a Breaking News special report Donald Trump on trial as testimony in the former president's criminal trial wraps for the day taking its inside the lurid details of sex tape sales in Hollywood and what exactly Mr Trump's former right-hand man Michael Cohen may have actually been thinking.

Want to show you here Mr Trump just leaving Court here he is and as he was walking out he seemed to back away from suggesting he' testify in this trial we're going to get to that in a second but let's start with today's key witness Keith Davidson he's a guy we've talked about during these special reports before he's the former lawyer for Stormy.

Daniels and Karen McDougall who negotiated sixf figure payments for both of them over their allegations of affairs with Donald Trump allegations he denies and both sides wanted to paint two very different pictures of Michael Cohen through Davidson's testimony now for prosecutors they wanted to show him as a guy who do anything for Donald.

Trump with Davidson talking about the lengths Cohen would go to to slam Daniels threatening to re legal hell down on her saying you don't know who you're effing with the defense instead painting Cohen is somebody who is out to get Donald Trump that he had this personal Vendetta as Mr Trump's attorneys also slamed Davidson as.

Somebody who tried to extort people over celebrity gossip they brought up his past associations with celebrities like Hulk Hogan Charlie Sheen Lindsay loen Manny Pacquiao just to name a few for the next 20 minutes we're going to explain why that matters we'll take you inside all the rooms cameras could not not be in so if you weren't glued to.

Every note every word coming out of court today if you had other things to do we didn't we got you and this report is all you need with our team of reporters legal analysts political experts ready to break down everything you need to know I want to start outside Court in Manhattan with rahima Ellis and just in the last 20 minutes or so rahima.

We heard from former president Trump walking out of court talking about that partial gag order that he's under but tying it to something else let me have folks listen well I'm not allowed to testify I'm under a gang order I guess right I can't even testify on that now we're going to be appealing the gang order I.

I'd love to answer that question it's a very easy question the easiest question so far but uh I'm not allowed to testify okay Ry you see him kind of looking back at his attorney Tod blanch he's the guy that was behind Mr Trump there but but give us the reality check because the gag order does not prevent him from testifying in court if he wants.

To right absolutely hie uh the former president seems to have his terms confused a Gago refers to what he says outside of the courtroom in reference to sayings making some disparaging remarks about potential Witnesses what he says inside the courtroom were he to become a witness who goes on the witness stand it's not.

Subject to a gag order so the former president is absolutely wrong in the way that he categorized what the gag order is preventing him from do from doing outside of the courtroom versus is what he is U certainly permitted to do inside the court when he gets on the witness stand he says he wants to do it but there are a lot of legal experts some of.

Who you have that you will talk to who doubt that he will hie so let's talk about this Davidson testimony right because he's the person who continued to be on the stand now prosecutors are trying to weave together this narrative tying these alleged hush money payments to what they've described as election interference and they brought some.

Receipts including some never before heard recordings of phone calls right yeah they did and it's all about as you point out they're trying to put pieces through the puzzle together to create a picture that Donald Trump was involved and what this all was about you can see a full screen here from Keith Davidson and he says after the election and this.

Is coming at 3:00 in the morning what have we done Dylan Howard who was the uh editor-in chief of the national inquire text back oh my God and then from Davidson our activities may have in some way assisted the presidential campaign of Donald Trump again for those who may and the defense may try to draw a line that they didn't know that Donald Trump.

Was directly involved in all of this at 3:00 in the morning they're saying they believe that they know that he knew that what they were doing was trying to help him uh by keeping these stories about stormmy Daniels away from the public and that deal was being signed just two weeks just days before the election in 2016 hie give us a sense of what's going.

On inside the courtroom here Rima because you know we can't see in it we're getting notes from our producers in there but what's interesting is Donald Trump pushing back on something there are long periods of time where his eyes appear to be closed he says he's not falling asleep that that he just closes I'm quoting him here he closes.

What he describes as his his beautiful blue eyes sometimes just to listen intensely and take it all in today regardless he seemed way more engaged right yeah he did particularly during the the hearing around the gag order and his attorneys were discussing why they think it's so important for Donald Trump to be.

Able to make comments about the people who are going to be coming and testifying against them that he was waving his arms as if to say that he is being hog tied or that his hands are tied if you will from being able to defend himself out in the court of public opinion he was very engaged in this level of back and forth in the.

Courtroom between the attorneys the prosecuting attorney and the defense attorney when they were making argument about why this gag order should be imposed or his attorney saying why it should be lifted call LS live for us there in downtown Manhattan rahima another busy day for you thank you I want to bring in our legal experts now.

Our resident defense attorney uh Danny savalos along with Debbie Hines former Assistant Attorney General in Maryland thank you both for being here Danny let me start with you at the top of this special report we talked about people not named Donald Trump or Michael Cohen or Keith Davidson we talked about Hulk Hogan and and Lindsay loen and Manny.

Pacquiao the famous boxer why how do these celebrity issues fit into this whole thing well the defense is going to try to argue that this is something that had been going on with lots of celebrities for a long time irrespective and independent and unrelated to the election itself but what's Happening Here hi is this we're hearing a lot of.

Testimony that is scandalous interesting compelling sey uh you know kind of uh Unbecoming that is certainly interesting but really at the core someone like Davidson is there for really one purpose and that's to iron down that there was a transaction that Michael Cohen paid stormmy Daniels money all the other stuff about the CD underbelly of.

Celebrity payoffs is really just window dressing this is what they need Davidson for and as much as he may be portrayed as a a slimy kind of guy it really doesn't matter if the jury finds credible that there was this transaction where sent money to Stormy Daniels because the remainder where they need to show that Trump was involved they'll get.

That from another witness probably not Davidson I want to explain to viewers what we're seeing now on the left side of our screen let me pull that back up actually if I can ask our control room to do that because those are live pictures now coming into us from like the parlance of former White House reporters in OTR in other words a stop.

An impromptu stop that the former president has made this is at a looks like a fire station in New York City uh you see that shot there we understand he is there he just moved behind some people if I'm looking that looked like maybe Jason Miller walking out too who is obviously one of the former president's top campaign advisers now.

You see the former president on the right walking out he is greeting people there this is an indication here and we'll talk about this with Mark Murray in a second of how the former president is looking to do some campaigning even while he has to be in that criminal trial in court it is a collision of these two things as the former president.

Is trying to show that he can still get out there still try to do some campaign even as he's facing these legal issues and we heard a lot about those legal issues today Debbie as prosecutors have laid out through Davidson some of the storyline here right correct and they've done a really good job I mean I think the best thing happened really at the.

End with the recording uh that I don't know if you wanted to get there that fast but with the recording that was with um Michael Cohen and talking to Donald Trump to basically in the words and the voices that you hear to basically say that Trump knew that Mr Cohen had to go to him and had to get approval for things.

And he basically knew at least as to the McDougall um pay out there's also interesting here because this interesting moment where Davidson wouldn't bite on one of the terms that the prosecution wants to use the idea of quote unquote hush money right talk me through that because he says it's a consideration in a civil seil civil.

Settlement um but saying it's not you know it's not a relationship quote unquote help us understand why that semantic matters okay so he was trying to stay strictly with what lawyers say I mean that's what I say when I have settlements this is just a settlement it's in um it's consideration it's a legal term it's consideration we're.

Giving you money for your settlement and he was trying to just stay strictly with that he was not going to say it was hus money which isn't a legal term so even though he did all these sorted details and everything he doesn't want to use the word hush money and he wants to get so technical about whether it was an affair whether it was a relationship but.

He was just trying to strictly say this is what it would say in the document which is true in a settlement document it's going to say in consideration of this we're giving you this like you're not going to find the word tush money in that documentation basically correct that's where he was going so Danny do you think the prosecution got what it.

Needed to how to keep Davidson oh definitely they didn't need that much from him and the fact that he may be part of a world that people are not accustomed to that they may find kind of uh really kind of shady uh isn't really that harmful to the prosecution number one prosecutors routinely use as cooperating Witnesses people with bad.

Morality or credibility issues so this is nothing new and all they really need Davidson for is the bookend of this transaction this payoff from Michael Cohen to Stormy Daniels that's really it and the defense can cross-examine him all they want about other things about his memory about how uh Donald Trump wasn't around which is significant but.

They the prosecution's gotten out of him what they needed which wasn't all that much let me pivot to the gag order here with both of you because there was obviously another hearing this morning on some other times when the prosecution alleges that the former president violated again what is a partial gag order on him.

Related to some of the things in this case and at one point the judge kind of sounded a little fed up uh I think this is what we're showing here uh saying nobody's forcing him to talk to the press the judge is pointing out Donald Trump doesn't have to stop and talk to the cameras on the way in and out of court here explain this piece of it Dan.

Do you believe that the former president and his legal team are maybe pressing their luck here well wait we need to divide those because I believe I don't know I believe that defense counsel is ready to pull his hair out at what his client is making him do no law no defense lawyer in the middle of trial wants to stop preparing for Witnesses.

And preparing exhibits to have gag order violation hearings in the morning and have to figure out which tweet came when this tweet came it's a nightmare it's hard enough to be on trial you work almost Around the Clock after trial ends you go home and you work or the office and you work on the next day's uh testimony so uh the last thing that Todd.

Blanch wants to do is be in a gag order violation hearing but he's got to argue for his client and I have to say the argument the political speech argument it's not completely without Merit and it's bolstered by the fact that Michael Cohen is out there talking and if marshan goes Trump's way which I don't think he will it will be because Michael.

Cohen's been out they're talking too much prosecutors are really pushing hard here Debbie they're saying that the former president has created an air of Menace they've called his comments corrosive but they didn't want necessarily jail time for him that is maybe an option on the table eventually how far do you think michan will go so.

While the prosecutor may not want jail time this might be the time that the judge does something for once that the prosecutor doesn't want and here's what I was thinking about that they could do because the prosecution doesn't want to delay the trial in any way so we don't want them in court and you know then Tak it off in shackle somewhere like most.

Other people are but here's what the judge could do the court is not the trial is not in session five days a week there's usually a day off right so the judge could technically put him meaning Trump in a Lockup in Riker's Island for the day that they are not in court and that will not delay the trial in anyway is that not a stick of dynamite though.

This is a trial and there is no other person in the US or the world for that matter who is going to be tried in a courtroom in the United States that has gotten away with as much stuff as Donald Trump has so do you think the Judge is treating him differently because he is the former president that if this were any other defendant he'd already be.

Behind bars for is treating him differently than any other defendant and let me say this too than any other if it were a lawyer because I've actually been in court where I have seen a lawyer press a judges you know too far and they have ended up not in jail but they've ended up which is what I said in the lockup for that particular day so he's.

Pressing it farther than any other person period uh Debbie that is super interesting thank you so much that' be great to see you here in Washington Danny thanks to have you uh back in New York that is where the action is that you're seeing on the left side of your screen we'll keep an eye on that we'll see if the former president makes any.

News so far it's been obviously a photo opportunity for him as he is making his way obviously now out of court heading back to whatever his events are for the evening let me bring in now as a bit of a reset here Yasmin vugen who's following all of this Force you've spent time yes down obviously in downtown Manhattan you're there there's somebody.

We haven't heard from yet Stormy Daniels but we are hearing from obviously her former loyal lawyer in Keith Davidson he's talking about getting her story out there the efforts by Michael Cohen to try to get her to stop like this letter in 2018 that was allegedly signed by Daniels in January in which she denied the affair right she denied allegations.

Of the affair she then appeared on Jimmy Kimmel in November of that year with a different implication listen this letter was written and released without your approval do you know where it came from do you have any idea I do not know where you did not know where it came from I think people might forget now.

Some some years later um how much the Stormy Daniels situation burst onto the scene in those years yeah so so two let's go back let's take a time capsule go do back weend to 2006 that is when that is when it was alleged that stery Daniels and Donald Trump first met at the Celebrity Golf Tournament back in 2006 allegedly they.

Had a one night stand in which Donald Trump subsequently denies he promised to put her on Celebrity Apprentice the the show that he was hosting at the time on on NBC um and he did subsequently not do that that that is also part of the defense by the way that for instance Stormy Daniels has this kind of Axe to grind right because he didn't follow on.

His promises to her after they had this alleged one night stand which once again Donald Trump denies in 2011 she was approached about this story she did not come out with it and then in 2018 right to the matter that you were just talking about this statement this letter released by stery Daniels in which she writes I'm not denying this affair.

Because I was paid hush money I am denying this affair because it never happened let me read you the verbate between Davidson and Stein glass an attorney for the people when it comes to what he believes that meant Stein glass says how would you characterize the truthfulness of this statement Davidson says it's technically true I don't think.

Anyone had ever alleged there was a relationship between stormy and Trump a relationship is an ongoing interaction Stein glass says it denies stormy received hush money would you give the same denial um as January 10th 2018 so so they're kind of parsing the difference how right between a relationship and a quote unquote one.

Night stand because that is what Stormy Daniels has technically alleged now let's not not forget and this is a really important factor in all of this timeline hie is that it was August in 2018 in which Michael Cohen pled guilty and alleged it was Donald Trump who directed him to make these hush money payments and that is crucial in this.

Entire timeline the other fascinating piece of this from what we heard from Davidson today back when David pcker was on the stand last week people remember the sort of former tabloid King there was like all these details about the dirty sort of world and you know just the the interesting world of the tabls when they try to buy stories here you're.

Getting the other side of it right the people trying to get the payments for celebrities on some of this unsavory stuff we talked about it with Danny the Charlie Sheen of the world Etc did you get the sense from testimony today that that's out of the ordinary it sounded kind of like Davidson was trying to say this is just how the biz.

Works it's it's kind of I guess how the biz Works thankfully I don't necessarily know because it's not the business that I'm in nor are you true and I'm thankful for that I'm thankful for that but it seems as if that is in fact how how the business works and part of the strategy here it seems from the defense was painting Davidson kind of as this Shady.

Character right the Shady underbelly of celebrity culture in which he's kind of an ambulance Chaser per se right kind of knocking away at his credibility as a witness so even one jur could say well I don't necessarily believe this guy look at him he's going after this story he's going after that story the problem with that is they're trying to redirect the.

Jury in a different direction right look over here look over here the problem with that is that is not what this case is about right and the prosecution is Led with the fact that we have a lot of witnesses that have some credibility issues right Michael Cohen is a convicted felon um Stormy Daniels is um a former uh porn star a former.

Adult film star Ken McDougall a former Playboy Playmate right potential witnesses there um Keith Davidson right sort of this ambulance Chaser in Celebrity culture going after some of these cases it's not about that it's about falsifying business records and that is why it is so important for theu here to present the receipts right the.

Evidence the emails the text messages for the jury to focus more on that versus the characteristics and the morality issues uh possibly with some of their Witnesses hie yeah Asian live for us there in Manhattan the as great to see you as always thank you friend for sticking around on what I know it's been a long day for you appreciate it Mark.

Murray is also joining us now for this special coverage of the Donald Trump trial okay Mark me move this let's talk about what we just saw in that live shot I don't know if we still have it that split screen we were showing at the top of this because Donald Trump made his way out of court and made a bit of a stop there at this Firehouse in New York.

City at this fire station an indication that he wants to be seen still out and about we saw him for the first time on the campaign trail yesterday since his criminal trial began talk to me about the Optics here this is someone who always wants to control the Optics at least how he sees it and of course we've seen some other kind of movements that.

He's had in Manhattan to kind of get out of the courtroom which hie remember it's not being televised to something that actually has his image where he can interact with some of his supporters being able to actually seem like hey I'm vigorous I'm up to all of this and of course allows him to actually that becomes the image of the day as opposed.

To all the courtroom drawings that you end up seeing and all of our great reporting on what happened in the courtroom but that that's the image I I wonder it's the image because it has to be the image because there's no cameras in court right there's the the image of the day is probably the sketch artist from inside court but Donald Trump.

Understands the power of a camera and understands that there are not cameras on him when he's sitting at that table just had this mental exercise if there were cameras happening if this was the OJ Simpson trial of the 1990s again we would I think be having a completely different conversation about the Optics and all you're right he's been talking a.

Lot um about something else that's less about the visual and more about the uh auditory if you will and that is that partial gag order that's on him he's been online on a social media platform demanding that the judge remove the in his words unconstitutional gag order we're going to show folks it is again constitutional and then he was talking.

About even outside of Court how he is gagged he's suggesting it means he can't testimony he can if he wants to what he's also doing is sending out fundraising emails for him is that what this is about using this partial gag order to try to raise some money I think a lot of it has to do with money and do remember that he's behind President Joe.

Biden in the money rat for president does it work when he talks about this stuff does he get more Camp it has really worked when he is actually ended up saying hey I'm being persecuted Ed remember after every indictment his fundraising did go up and so I think they're trying to go back to that well as many times as possible uh and so hie.

That is one thing and so what we end up seeing from his social media feed to me is the message that he wants to get out like I'm being persecuted this is unfair but you know what's really interesting we saw him on the campaign trail yesterday and here was someone who was actually getting a different message out but he so he was he was talking about.

Other issues as well not just the child but he's also talking about his election grievances these election fraud lies that he's that he's been pushing now for years and he did this in one of the local papers out there he did not commit to the election results in Wisconsin if he loses I want to show this to folks because this is making a lot of.

Headlines today he says if everything's honest I'd gladly accept the results if it's not you have to fight for the right of the country again absolutely new newsworthy for us to cover uh we end up seeing uh President Biden and his campaign smack that down um but also it's important to note this is out of the Donald Trump.

Playbook over the last eight years he said this every step of the way before the Iowa caucuses against Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio if you remember Hy uh he said it in the final days of his race against Hillary Clinton in 2016 he said it constantly in 2019 and 2020 when he was gearing up for re-election he's saying it again and this is just a.

Pattern that he has done because for Donald Trump can't ever end up losing and it is also worth noting our colleagues on NBC digital and our campaign EDS have this great story up about how this is really translated over to Donald Trump's own supporters where when you ask them hey could Joe Biden end up winning legitimately Donald Trump.

Supporter States no way even though when we end up looking at all the data in this race H this is a 50-50 race I think any man could end up winning uh the election but Donald Trump supporters don't think there's any chance of how Joe Biden can end up winning because they're hearing it from the principal himself goes without saying and I think.

It's worth reminding people yet again though no proven election fraud have changed election in 2020 absolutely and and again you know but this has just been a pattern of him you know regardless of what the polls say regardless of the results that oh if I don't win this is going to end up being skewed or somehow corrupt and it's not.

Hie it's uh absolutely something to be watching for and something to be talking about a lot Mark Murray thank you so much for joining us for the political impact of all of this a lot to cover more coverage right here on NBC news now because we have some other big headlines to catch you up on tonight we'll have that when we pick up regular programming.

In just a minute we are coming on the Air Tonight with police in riot gear from Portland to California to New York moving in arresting thousands in a massive push cops now naming names of the people arrested deadlines now ahead we've got live team coverage in just a minute then.

We'll take you to Mexico and the huge search right now for the brothers who mysteriously vanished on a surf trip why police are looking to one woman for answers plus new layoffs and next a new CEO more on what's behind the dramatic rise and fall of that pandemic era Fitness hero pelaton then why these new pictures of Britney Spears are.

Triggering a new round of concern about her health we'll show them to you later in the show hey there I'm hie and tonight we are starting about 90 minutes just past a deadline set at Ruckers for protesters to clear out that was at 4:00 Eastern it is now 5:26 Eastern as police are clearing some other campus encampments Coast to Coast these.

Dramatic scenes you see them here playing out in some instances on live TV you hear the yelling there you heard those flashbangs being set off by police in the background that's in the campus of UCLA all according to reporters on the ground there more than 200 people have been arrested with officers tearing down the tent city that demonstrators.

Had built the lawn by the main hall at UCLA now looks a lot different than it did just a couple of days ago and in the last few minutes we're learning that one state lawmaker now wants a federal civil rights investigation into how the school handled these protests a bit further north of Portland State University campus is now closed after the school.

Called in police to clear out protesters who have been there since Monday police you're under arrest if you res we will use more you see police they're going into the school's library and and that shouting at the end was that they would use Force if protesters resist they've arrested 12 people so far four of them.

Students I want to bring in Dana Griffin who's at UCLA Tom winter in New York Antonia Hilton at Columbia University and Dana very dramatic scenes for anybody who's been watching overnight into the morning that police presence at UCLA overnight it looks wildly different behind you than it did not even 10 hours ago.

Right yeah hie this Plaza that had hundreds of people camped out for nearly a week now only has a single person in it the guy who is power washing the sidewalks we saw Crews coming in to dismantle the tents to remove the garbage we had heavy machinery out here actually picking up that trash and dumping it into these movable garage or.

Garbage bins a much different scene here but what happens next is the big question protesters have made it clear that they are not done we know that a lot of them will be charged with misdemeanors but others may be facing more serious charges so what the campus will look like over the next several days we'll have to wait and see we know.

Classes have been cancelled today and tomorrow will they've been moved online line so we haven't seen many students here today but how the university plans to move forward is going to be a big question I want to read part of a statement from the UC UCLA chancellor who just put this out moments ago he talks about how they are going to.

Investigate the violent incidents of the past several days especially Tuesday's nights Tuesday night's horrific attack of a mob of in instigators his words here he goes on to say that this past week has been among the most painful periods our UCLA Community has ever experienced he says it has fractured our sense of togetherness and frayed our.

Bonds of trust and we've seen just such an overwhelming amount of emotion from people who were here protesting the war in Gaza and even just other students who believe that they feel unsafe on this campus some 209 students have been arrested we are still trying to work out who how many of them actually are students here.

Hie there's also back here where I am in Washington Dana a Nexus to the white house so the president making his first sort of longer form remarks on this movement we're seeing let me play a little bit of that we are not an authoritarian Nation where we silence people or squash descent there's the right to protest but not the right to.

Cause chaos we are seeing some of those consequences now play out though at UCLA with more than 200 people arrested and some of those protesters could end up facing more serious charges right absolutely for the most part most of them will face misdemeanors but other others are facing charges of assault.

Battery trespassing and vandalism we know that one officer was hurt during that raid last night so there's going to be a very lengthy investigation into what all happen here the university is vowing to investigate what happened here and you could likely see some people possibly expelled or not be able to continue their education here because of.

What went down but we've also heard from the school that they want to allow people their right to protest and that they believe that that is something that you know they welcome that here on the campus but for them taking it too far was the violence and the graffiti and the Damage that was also done to this campus hie Dana Griffin live for us.

There in Westwood thank you Tom witer is joining us now on the other side of the country in New York at our 30 Rockefeller headquarters part of the the issue here right is that we watched here live on this show during a news conference from mayor Eric Adams in which he suggested that quote unquote outside agitators.

Were involved in what was happening at columia at the time since then we haven't learned much more right about who specifically they're talking about who specifically has been arrested Etc why not uh two columns here hie one is as far as the outside individuals and they're calling them agitators I would call them.

Influencers uh in a in a current day uh kind of speak uh basically these individuals and we wrote about one of them yesterday showed up on the night that they took over a hall at Columbia kind of directing students what to do the NYPD put out a separate video on that um that there have been some other individuals who have appeared to and we.

Still in the process of reporting this out coach some of the students how to engage with police those individuals were not around when the NYPD uh entered campus and are not among those being arrested there were some individuals as NBC News was first to report several days ago that had the NYPD quite concerned and you're looking at some of.

Them now James Carlson AKA Cody t that's just one of his aliases this individual was arrested uh in in back in 2005 at the G8 protest in San Francisco assault and battery with a deadly weapon on a police officer uh numerous charges related to that uh he's a person of interest in a hate crime arson investigation by the NYPD for the.

Burning of a counter-protesters Israeli flag Amelia Fuller another person who's been arrested here this is at the City College of New York um and was uh fired from the New York Botanical Garden for comments she made involving October 7th uh and then uh Jacob Gabriel and Rudy Martinez both of these individuals have a significant history of protest arrests.

Here in New York City for Gabriel he was involved in the mac's Thanksgiving Day Parade uh protest and and an arrest associated with that so these are some of the individuals the MPD says uh that theyve arrested as a result of this this information uh coming from a senior law enforcement official and so we expect a lot lot more information on the types of.

Individuals that they say they arrested hie uh I think probably by the time the clock strikes midnight Tom Winter thank you very much let me bring in Antonia Hilton at Columbia University and Antonia I got to tell you this is probably what at least the eighth broadcast now that we've come on the show and talked about what's happening.

On these college campuses these demonstrations Pro Palestinian protesters um and it is sort of again and again we've seen these scenes these encampments now colleges Coast to Coast it has felt like it has built and built and built hit a Tipping Point in maybe the last 48 hours as you saw police move in as you saw these schools start to.

Respond to some of what they've been seeing on their campuses and now a bit of a divide in the way that schools are dealing with it at Colombia where you are on the one hand you've got professors calling for a vote of no confidence in the schools president on the other hand some other schools are getting to agreements with their.

University leadership um tell us more about that and where you see this going as somebody who's been covering this really from the jump absolutely hie I mean there is this split here I can tell you at Colombia the mood right now is Solemn students faculty staff uh incredibly upset and that's people actually on all sides of.

This I just spent time with a Jewish student who said that many of his friends have already fled campus that in a way the action that we saw happen on Tuesday night was too little too late for them and then also with Pro Palestinian students just an absolute disgust at what they saw happen at their campus and what they call their home.

Take a listen to a conversation that I had with a Jewish student who's a member of the pro Palestinian organizing groups the police came in and they came in and droves in dozens students ran from them screaming seemingly out of fear I saw my students be pushed be shoved I saw one of my fellow students shoved down a flight of stairs outside.

Of hin Hall you saw that with your own eyes with my own eyes and they're feeling this and processing what they saw that night and comparing it to what we're seeing at places like brown and Wake Forest uh and Northwestern and and In Minnesota where the schools have managed to come to these agreements where for at Brown for.

Example the Board of Governors are going to at least take this to a vote and students feel like that is a democratic way to address such a painful issue and many people here on the ground feel like how did we not get to that here at Columbia Antonia Hilton uh again near the campus of Columbia University tonight we'll see what happens tomorrow.

Antonio and what what that day brings us thank you for being there yet again let's take you overseas now because Hamas now says it's sending a delegation of leaders to Egypt to push ahead in ceasefire talks between Israel and some other key world leaders an Israeli official had told NBC news they believe Hamas would respond to this latest.

Truths proposal that would include the release of at least 33 hostages in exchange for a 40-day ceasefire in Gaza you see the terms there and if Hamas agrees boy that would obviously be very significant the last time we saw any kind of pause in fighting was about 5 months ago but here's what's making things more complicated already in the.

Middle East it is after midnight now and no official response from Hamas at this point meaning still a very big and a very real question mark on any kind of a deal let's bring in Matt Bradley for a gut check Matt what is it where do things stand yeah hiy I mean you know you mentioned the timing it's was still.

Looking unlikely even before that because we heard from a Hamas leader in Beirut today that the group has a quote negative attitude toward the draft they've been presented and the fact is this has been at an impass for the past several months it's always been like this and the Biden Administration even though they're billing this latest.

Proposal which the Israelis actually helped to draft as a very generous offer toward Hamas and said that the group and its demands Remain the only obstacle in the way to peace you know this is a two-phase plan the one that the Israelis just came up with the first would see 20 to 30 hostages released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and what could be.

The longest period of calm yet in Gaza since The Crisis began up to 40 days and all this is according to the Wall Street Journal the first phase could then be extended kind of at an ad hoc basis with periods of Peace exchange for hostages and Palestinian prisoners and Israeli jails the second phase and this could be big could amount to a six week long.

Ceasefire during which more hostages and Palestinian prisoners would be released and crucially the sides could discuss extending the ceasefire even more but this is hardly the first time we've been through this T and the fundamental disagreement that has dogged every round of negotiations is still there the Israelis keep offering temporary.

Ceasefires while Hamas has hued to their one demand for a permanent ceasefire and that has made it almost impossible both sides are not budging but there is one really crucial difference here I know this sounds like history repeating this time around these talks do look like the last best hope to stop Israel from invading Rafa that City on the Gaza.

Border where Israel right with Egypt on the southern part where there's supposedly thought to be 1.5 million Palestinians who were thought to have taken Refuge now Israel has said week after week that they are determined to invade Rafa even though the United States the UN and other countries throughout the world they've warned that.

An invasion of Rafa could create a humanitarian catastrophe hie Matt Bradley live for us there overseas with the latest on that much more to watch Matt thank you let's get you over to the five things our team thinks you should know about tonight number one the number of deaths related to pregnancies now falling back down to prepandemic levels.

In this country new CDC data shows fewer than 700 women died from what they call maternal causes last year that number was something like 1,200 in 2021 the highest number in half a century experts blame covid complications for that Spike number two Google's laying off hundreds of people from its so-called core teams and moving some of those roles to India.

And Mexico that core unit is responsible for helping to build some of the most important and high profile products for Google and for protecting people's safety online a Google VP says the changes are in service of their what they call broader goals number three check out this new picture the Prince William and Princess Kate are sharing.

That is their daughter princess Charlotte her ninth birthday Kensington Palace says Kate took this photo in the garden of their home number four hey guess what you probably already know this if you've been on Tik Tok today and you probably have but your favorite music is coming back Tik Tok and umg the Universal Music Group announced they've.

Reached a deal which means you will hear sounds from Drake from Ariana Grande Billy ish Etc you name it this ends that monthlong pretty messy battle between those two companies over things like how much artists should be paid and new regulations on AI number five if you've ever wondered what a 75,000 year-old Neanderthal woman looks like now you.

Know according to researchers her remains were found in 2018 in a cave in Iraq an archaeologist spent years piecing together hundreds of bone fragments these Cambridge researchers eventually creating this 3D replica of what she would have looked like coming up here on the show floods in Texas knocking out power for tens of thousands.

Of people we're going to show you one town left unrecognizable plus a fiery crash shutting down one of the busiest highways in America we'll talk about the rush to reopen 95 let's take you to that desperate search tonight for two Australian serfer.

Brothers who went missing during a trip to Baja California we're learning three people have now been arrested in connection with their disappearance we're talking about Jake and Callum Robinson their family members say they haven't been able to get in touch with them since Saturday Callum had regularly been posting updates online for the.

First couple days of the trip then all of a sudden those updates stopped coming one local news Outlet reports one of the people arrested had a phone that belonged to either one of the brothers or their friend who was with them this woman also allegedly had some sort of methamphetamine with her we still don't know who she is or how she might be.

Connected to these brothers Miley Hogan from our partners at 7 News Australia is joining us now from enata Mexico Miley we're good to have you this is a glad to have you I should say huge search for these two guys and for the friend they'd been traveling with bring us up to speed where do things St well H this investigation has really.

Taken a significant step forward with authorities revealing that three Mexicans are now in custody that woman the 2 5-year-old was arrested yesterday she is the one that was found with her phone in a possession that is believed to belong to one of the three missing men overnight authorities took those other two men into custody right now.

They are questioning all three of them hoping that they may provide some information as to the whereabouts of the two Australian brothers and their American friend we know that this search is really focused on a remote Coastal area south of enada uh locals there tell us that is an area that is popular with fisherman but that you really have to.

Know where you're going if you're heading out there to camp and Surf and it is believed that that is where these three men were camping now they hadn't been they hadn't made contact with their family since Saturday the mother of the Australian Brothers issuing that desperate plea on Facebook to see if anyone had seen her sons we know that.

She is now trying to get here to Mexico to search for her boys and hopefully bring them home hie Miley Hogan thank you very much for that reporting more to watch on that front NBC News covers hundreds of stories every day and because it can be tough to read or watch or listen to them all our Bureau teams have done it for you this is what they.

Tell us is going down in their regions in a segment we call the local out of our Northeast Bureau officials say they recovered the body of a fifth missing person from The Francis gaki bridge collapse the victim identified as Miguel anhel Luna Gonzalez a construction worker who died along with five others when that container ship lost power and.

Struck one of the bridges columns one member of that construction crew is still missing out of our Western Bureau of California school district fired at superintendent after she allegedly threatened students for not clapping loudly enough for her daughter at a softball team awards ceremony the superintendent allegedly sent players on.

The team messages promising to take away their graduation privileges unless they apologize to her kid the firing came after a pretty lengthy investigation into the superintendent's conduct that of our Southwest Bureau remember the house from up it's now one of the newest listings on Airbnb you can enter for the chance to stay in that house in New.

Mexico as part of the company's new icon experience they say it'll help bring pop culture moments to life it's apparently going to float I don't know it's it's not going to be held up by the balloons but by likely a crane all right there's your chance to Connecticut now where tonight we're just learning that some pretty serious damage.

Is going to shut down parts of I95 in that state for what officials are calling an extended period of time after a major crash earlier this morning you see that that's what it looked like this fuel truck burst into flames after it collided with two other cars traffic ended up backed up for miles here's Maggie.

Vesa today a fiery crash shutting down both sides of I95 through a part of Connecticut for hours holy dude a tractor trailer a fuel truck and a car colliding early in the morning that fuel truck loaded with thousands of gallons of gas burst into flames under an overpass you can see firefighters there trying to put out the fire Connecticut.

Governor Ned Lamont saying no one was seriously hurt adding the bridge above the highway is damaged I know what an incredible inconvenience this is for people and all I can ask you to do is um uh stay away from that area as best you can the incident backing up traffic for dozens of Miles leaving drivers frustrated and stuck stop start stop.

Start C win uh having a re route I95 is the main North to South Highway that runs along the east coast and is one of the most d dangerous interstates in the country with 278 deadly crashes in 2022 hundreds of thousands of vehicles drive across stretches of that Highway every day including trucks so when something goes wrong the problems can snowball oh.

My God case in point last April when a fuel tanker rolled over on a bridge in Grotton Connecticut killing the driver spilling fuel into the river below and shutting down I95 for hours then 2 months later that Mass M bridge collapse in North Philly a tractor trailer flipping on an off-ramp and catching fire causing an overpass to collapse the.

Driver died and the section of the highway was shut down for 12 days until a temporary fix was ready this major artery crucial to keeping the East Coast moving Maggie vesa NBC news our thanks to Maggie for that reporting still ahead pelat trying to keep the wheels spinning after losing their CEO and laying off hundreds of.

People inside there potentially troubled turnaround next let's talk about that shakeup today at pelaton with its CEO stepping down ASAP and the company laying off about 15% of its staff that's like 400 people that is a massive blow to pelaton and a big turnaround for the company that used.

To be super pandemic popular remember that it was like everywhere as folks were stuck at home trying to like keep up their heart rate keep up their Fitness Etc cnbc's Gabrielle fou is here to break it down for us um you know if you look at Paton stock price it is now down lower than it was before the pandemic they couldn't seem to sustain.

The popularity at its peak what happened so hie a lot of things have happened you know first of all pelaton has tried a lot of things to turn things around it's partnered with big Brands like Lulu Lemon started offering a bike rental program uh partner corporations like Hyatt hotels and Hilton um but probably the most important thing that.

It did was a Rebrand you know we all know that when Pelon started out it was reserved for a certain type of person at a certain type of income level and obviously that limits the number of people that you can make money off of and sell to your customers um so they started to Rebrand and started to focus more on the app they opened up a tiered.

Pricing strategy for their app which started with free $12.99 $24 that allowed them to reach all sorts of people who may not have $6,000 to Shell out for a treadmill but the reason why things have went wrong is a Confluence of events it's a little bit of the macro and it's a little bit of the micro on the macro sense consumers right now are.

Pulling back on spending from all consumer segments people just don't have the money to Shell out thousands of dollars for exercise equipment and also there's a limited number of people who would buy exercise equipment for their homes it's only reserved for a certain type of person and then also on the micro level their balance sheet pelaton.

Has a broken balance sheet it has about $1.5 billion in debt it hasn't turned a profit since December of 2020 and Wall Street can see the writing on the wall if you can't turn things around if you can't grow sales if you can't generate cash there's only so much time you can keep going like this mie what if you already have a pelaton and you're paying.

That $40 or whatever a month fee to keep it I mean that's a great question if you have a pelaton it's obviously still going to work the company isn't going anywhere um and pelaton users right now they should rest assur that this company isn't going anywhere at least not yet the restructuring that they announced today is expected to save the company2.

200 million do and then by fiscal 2025 and so with those savings the company doesn't need to return to growth in order to generate free cash flow which is what they need to kind of keep the business alive that's what executive said today but it's unclear whether or not this company can continue to be public when you have Wall Street.

Watching you like this when you have these demands that you need to meet every single quarter these expectations um you know it's unclear you know it might make sense for a private Equity Firm or some other type of firm like that to buy the company out kind of Shield it from the public be able to generate it some cash flow but it's not.

Going to be able to do that until it fixes its bance sheet Gabrielle F Rouge thank you very much super interesting appreciate it still to come we are hearing from Britney Spears for the first time since some new photos created new concern over how she's do it we'll tell you what she's saying about a late night visit for medics.

tonight some new concerns about how Britney Spears is doing after this dramatic scene outside that iconic Chateau Marmont Hotel in Hollywood Spears herself in just the last 30 minutes putting out a new statement saying Medics showed up at her hotel room door she says illegally the LA fire.

Department says they responded right after midnight California time overnight to reports of an adult woman who was hurt they didn't say what happened or how but photographers caught this moment the one that you see right here showing Spears standing outside the hotel wrapped in just a blanket holding a pillow at least that's what it looks.

Like uh with a lot of fans raising concerns about this scene because it's giving them a little bit of deja vu with some suggesting it's echoing some of what we saw back in 20 2007 when it was reported that Spears had been struggling with her mental health Reps for Spears did not return our request for comment but obviously Khloe Mass joining us now.

Obviously Chloe we have that insta post from Britney right talk us through it yeah I mean hi this is what we know two sources close to Britney Spears telling us that there was an incident at the Chateau Marmont last night involving Britney Spears and her on and off again boyfriend Paul celiz that one of her feet was injured uh that paramedics.

Arrived onto the scene and that Britney declined treatment that she actually went home with her security Team without celiz um and that she's safe and you know just a little bit ago we did see that Britney has posted a lengthy message to social media and it's concerning in it she says that all it was that it's much to do about nothing.

That she Twisted her ankle um and that paramedics arrived to her door assuming her hotel room door uh without her consent that she uses the word illegal hlee that they illegally showed up and that she felt harassed um NBC News has reached out to the Los Angeles Fire Department who has c onfirmed that they were called to the Chateau Marmont in.

The early morning hours of today but they did not say that it was Britney Spears uh you know because they really can't usually um and they are declining to comment on Britney's version of what happened this goes beyond just like you know sort of celebrity photo dujour if you will or or or or picture because of so much of what Spears went through and.

The way that she became at the center of this Firestorm over her mental health over her competency she wrote a book about her experience uh with the conservatorship that she had previously been under here I mean there's so much backstory here there's so much to unpack um and obviously you know these images of Britney Spears from the early 2000s.

Of her shaving her head or her with the umbrella you know there's been so much coverage of that her these documentaries that have come out and Britney in her own book talking about going through postpartum depression going through her divorce with Kevin Federline this tough situation that she was in where she wasn't with her children and she's been.

Been very open about this very sad breakdown um and this 13-year conservatorship that she was released from just two and a half years ago came under a lot of public scrutiny so many of her fans are saying let her live her life if she wants to walk around Barefoot and you know spend her money and do these things it's her life to do.

So and that she has Free Will and it's every right for her to be able to do that obviously there are those close to her that are concerned and want her to be okay so there are many layers hie to and obviously this is very conning in Mass thank you very much for your reporting appreciate it that does it for us for this hour I will see you on.

Sunday on NBC Nightly News wherever you watch your local NBC station and of course right back here Monday on NBC news now more coverage picks up right now we are coming on the Air Tonight with police in riot here from Portland to California to New York moving in arresting thousands in a huge push cops.

Now naming names of those arrested we've got the deadlines just ahead with our live team coverage in a minute then breaking in just the last hour Donald Trump now saying he may not actually testify in his criminal trial we'll talk about this possible backtrack and why Lindsay loen and Charlie Sheen were part of today's testimony too at least by.

Name plus why Google is coming to its own defense in a first ofit kind Monopoly trial that could have have a big implication on the whole tech industry then we'll take you to Mexico with the huge search right now for the brothers who mysteriously vanished on a surfing trip why police are looking to one woman for answers and the explosive.

Crash on one of the most important highways in this country the question now when will drivers be able to get back on track we've got that later in the show hey there I'm hiy and tonight we are starting this show just about two hours past a deadline ruter had set for protesters to clear out that's the latest with police clearing other campus.

Encampments Coast to Coast you're seeing these dramatic scenes playing out in some instances they played out on live TV watch you hear the screaming there before that you heard the flashbangs going off according to reporters on the ground being set off by police on UCLA's campus at least 200 people have been.

Arrested there as officers ripped down the tent city that was built by demonstrators look at the lawn by the main hall now you see the before you see the after definitely looks different and we're going to show you in just a second it looks even more different now in the last couple of minutes we've learned one California lawmaker now wants a federal.

Civil rights investigation into how UCLA handled these protests further north at Portland State University campus is shut down after police were called in to clear out the demonstrators who'd been there since Monday police you're under arrest if you resist we will use Force you heard the yelling at the end.

There if you resist we will use Force that's police obviously in the school's library 12 people have been arrested so far four of them students Dana Griffin is at UCLA Tom winter in New York and ton Hilton is also in New York at Columbia University Mora Barrett is joining us as well so Dana in just the last hour or so we heard those calls.

From one lawmaker about a potential federal investigation talk us through that and what it looks like behind you I'm struck by the scene or I should say the lack thereof Dana not 10 hours ago that was packed with demonstrators with police uh it was dark it was sort of wild here very different now so different and when you look at it.

It almost you it doesn't look like the scene that we saw playing out pre Dawn where you saw officers move in arresting people breaking down what was plywood barriers and several tents right now the plaza is now empty you've got just one person who's out there pressure watching the sidewalk a much different view now getting back to that request for a.

Federal civil rights investigation that was launched by a local lawmaker who was asking for this investigation into alleged instances of of freedom of speech being um impacted by this protest including claims that one guy was not allowed a Jewish student wasn't allowed on campus Because He identified himself as a Zionist and and this this law this.

Lawmaker is also asking for the UC Regents to also initiate their own investigation we've heard from UCLA the chancellor put out a statement saying that they are investigating so that will likely be part of this um but again as you mentioned a much different scene where this campus goes in the next day or two still a lot of questions we are.

Hoping to get answered we you're told the school will be making a press conference sometime today Dana Griffin thank you very much let me bring it Anon Hilton who is live for us at columia University uh also a different scene there Antonio you know and I just want to like say this here because I think for some folks it's a little bit of deja.

Vu because night after night we've come on the air and night after night we've shown these scenes of these encampments of these protesters of clashes between demonstrators and police does it feel different to you now and what happens from here well hie it certainly feels different here now there is calmness.

There are a lot of students who are fle campus at the moment and that is both Jewish pro-israel students and pro Palestinian students all of whom have felt Fed Up in their own different ways in the last several days the one thing that seems to unite them is a disappointment in the administration for students who have been harassed who have.

Experienced anti-semitic incidents there's this feeling that the administration should have done so much more for them months before it got to this point and then for pro Palestinian students there's this feeling that the administration hasn't respected their free speech and that the police response that we saw Tuesday night literally.

Right behind me here that it was disproportionate I had a conversation today with two separately two Jewish students here on Colombia's campus one who is pro-israel and the other who has been part of pro Palestinian demonstrations take a listen to some of these conversations I don't really have faith.

In the faculty Administration I'm definitely nervous it definitely does seem like our University is trending in a very dangerous Direction I do empathize with my Jewish community on campus who do feel unsafe but I think it's important to recognize that there's a difference between safety and.

Comfort the other thing that both groups seem to agree on when I talk to students is that there's a possibility in the coming days as we get closer and closer to May 15th that is when commencement is supposed to happen as planned that there will be protests all over again with the police presence expected to be here at Columbia through May 17th it's unlikely.

That we'll see encampments or people re-enter a hall like Hamilton here but the seem to believe that there's likely going to be some kind of disruption just because of how upset people seem to be with the way things have unfolded here I mean look at some other universities for example you think of brown Northwestern Wake Forest these are schools that.

Manage to come to agreements and get their encampments shut down in a pretty quiet and tame way many people that I've been speaking to here question why that wasn't possible here at Columbia hi uh Antonia Hilton live for us there at Colombia and of course the mayor the MPD commissioner saying that both Columbia and City College they say nearly 50% of.

Those protests included unaffiliated parties Antonia thanks Mora Barrett is in Wisconsin for us at the Madison Campus there and the school says talks with student organizers are still happening now they are not calling police at least not at this moment right they've advised hie that they're not going to be calling police until at.

Least tomorrow we've learned that the university officials uh and campus leaders protest organizers here had a meeting this morning discussed the violence that they saw yesterday student leaders tell us uh and the chancellor promised that police would not move in until they had another meeting that meeting would be set in the next 24.

Hours as of this morning and so we haven't gotten details on when the next meeting will be specifically in terms of tomorrow but they've reassured them that police uh will not come again because remember this is a very different scene than what we saw on Wednesday morning it was 7:00 a.m. the students were just waking up here at this encampment when.

Police moved in with riot shields uh and there was a conflict a clash between protesters and police uh 34 people ended up being arrested four officers were injured and so the the university says that the dialogue is ongoing all of this unfolding uh because of the encampment specifically the university saying that they're not against the students rights.

To free speech they want they want them to be able to exercise that but there's a state law that says that the encampments are not allowed the university has the authority to say hey it's actually fine for them to do this but the university has not done that so in terms of why the tents are back up behind me I spoke with some of the.

Protesters today about why it was so important for them after everything almost everything was cleared out yesterday why the tents went back up today and what message they were trying to send the university I want you to hear some of my conversation with Abby Klein the messages is that we're going to be here indefinitely until they meet.

Our demands until they just close and divest and so I just spoke with a few students uh who were arrested yesterday they walked me through the experience of being brought across the street and held in a community theater here on campus until they were released they were just Ed they were not charged and I asked them about do do you feel reassured that.

That they say they're not going to come in again at the police and and they said you know we're not we we are appreciative that they they have said that that they've you know put this promise out there but we're not so sure that we can trust that uh and they there is some reassurance they say that maybe we won't be woken up in such a jarring.

Way that they were Wednesday morning uh but there's a lot of uncertainty in terms of how the university will respond um and how productive these talks will be going forward hie NBC News Mora Barrett live for us there uh in Madison MOA thank you so much want to take you back now to New York because you have other developing news for us.

Tonight and that is of course the criminal trial of former president Donald Trump with the newest testimony there taking us inside some of these lurid details of sex tape sales in Hollywood and what exactly Michael Cohen was actually thinking he of course is the former right-hand man or the former president he didn't testify today but.

This guy you see here did Keith Davidson the key witness former attorney for the women women you see on the right of that screen stormmy Daniels and Ken McDougall who negotiated six figure payments for both of them over their allegations of affairs with Donald Trump allegations he denies now both sides the prosecution and the defense they wanted to paint.

Some very different pictures here of Michael Cohen prosecutors wanted to show him as a guy who would do anything for Mr Trump look at this Davidson talking about the links Cohen would go to to slam Daniels threatening to rain legal hell down upon her saying you don't know who you're effing with trying to deny her story David in SS to protect his.

Client the defense instead painting Cohen is somebody who was out to get Donald Trump who had this personal Vendetta and at just the last hour we heard something very notable from the former president he seemed to backtrack on testifying after saying initially that he wanted to I want you to listen to this well I'm not allowed to testify.

I'm under a gag I guess right I can't even testify on that no we're going to be appealing the gag goer I I'd love to answer that question it's a very easy question the easiest question so far but uh I'm not allowed to testify okay Laura Jared is outside that courthouse in Manhattan so Laura listen you saw the former president kind of.

Looking back at his attorney there over his shoulder correct us if or wrong here he can testify if he wants to that has nothing to do with that partial gag order he faces right absolutely he can testify whether he should I will leave that up to his legal counsel I cannot imagine that that's the advice being given given the.

The brutal cross-examination that would happen but H really the G the gag order is meant to make sure that no Witnesses are intimidated and what we saw today is the defense saying look Michael Cohen is out there attacking our client so he should be able to defend himself and the judge is saying wait a minute forget Michael Cohen what about the other.

Witnesses that are watching this ongoing and might have their testimony chilled so that's really where the source of the debate is right now hie take us inside um the the sort of arguments here because I think people might go well wait a second why did Lindsey Lohan and Hulk Hogan and Manny Pacquiao and Charlie Sheen come up during like the.

Testimony today and that's because it was all about this interaction between various parties and celebrity gossip here explain that piece of it and why Davidson's testimony was important to that regard why it matters so so the defense council is trying to undermine Davidson's credibility because of course Davidson.

Is the one who's at the center of the hush money payment to stormmy Daniels and so the defense uh strategy today was to do everything they could to muddy him up in front of the jury make him look sey make him look sketchy and shady and by doing that they started digging up old past settlement agreements and essentially accusing him of shaking down.

Other celebrities sort of the Assumption being that you shook Donald Trump down just the same way you shook down Charlie she now of course Davidson contests all of that and push back up against it vehemently but it was sort of this moment where you kind of saw just this sort of CD underbelly of how all of these past deals and non-disclosure.

Agreements went down I don't know how much the jury actually took away from it hie I think it was a long detour and what the defense did that was most effective was to say you have never met Donald Trump you've never talked to Donald Trump in fact the first time you've ever been in a room with him was Tuesday that's the heart of it right.

Because that gets to Donald Trump's knowledge of the alleged scheme and I was surprised the defense met so much time trying to make Davidson look bad instead of getting out to the heart of it real quick Laura were you in overflow today were you in court both a little bit I was I I was in court I was there with the former president I saw the.

Jurors dutifully taking notes as they have been in the past very attentive very queued in did you see the former president closing his eyes because that has been a thing that's happened apparently that he appears to shut his eyes he's pushing back you've probably seen it this post where he says he was just I think um resting his beautiful.

Blue eyes uh to like listen intently basically but he did seem more engaged today uh let me put it this way he rests his eyes a lot and for long stretches and so that has led to all of sort of the speculation about whether or not he's sleeping but it is true that he was way more engaged today mostly because his defense attorneys were doing a very.

Heated fiery cross-examination and so of course he was paying a lot more attention his lawyers are they're using a lot of uh invectives and and raising their voice so he was definitely awake for that and the jury was too hie fascinating stuff Laura jar we're glad to have you there we're glad to have you in court as always thank you very much.

Uh four or five more weeks to go we'll see thanks Laura sure overseas now and some developing news there because Hamas now says it's sending a delegation of leaders to Egypt to push ahead in those ceasefire talks between Israel and some other key world leaders an Israeli official tells NBC news they think Hamas May respond to this latest truce.

Proposal a proposal that includes what you see here the release of at least 33 hostages in exchange for a 40-day cause in the fighting if Hamas agrees obviously this would be incredibly significant the last time we saw any kind of ceasefire was about five months ago now but here's what's kind of complicated it is already right now well.

After midnight in the Middle East and no official response from Hamas just yet meaning still a very big and a very real question mark on a deal let's bring in Matt Bradley for a gut check what is it where do things stand yeah hie I mean you know you were mentioning the timing it's was still looking unlikely even before that.

Because we heard from a Hamas leader in Beirut today that the group has a quote negative attitude toward the draft they've been presented and the fact is this has been at an impass for the past several months it's always been like this and the Biden Administration even though they're billing this latest proposal which the Israelis actually.

Helped to draft as a very generous offer toward Hamas and said that the group and its demands Remain the only obstacle in the way to peace you know this is a two-phase plan the one that the Israelis just came up with the first would see 20 to 30 hostages released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and what could be the longest period of calm yet in Gaza.

Since the Crisis began up to 40 days and all this is according to the Wall Street Journal the first phase could then be extended kind of at an adhawk basis with periods of Peace exchange for hostages and Palestinian prisoners and Israeli jails the second phase and this could be big could amount to a six week long ceasefire during which more hostages and.

Palestinian prisoners would be released and crucially the sides could discuss extending the ceasefire even more but this is hardly the first time we've been through this hle and the fundamental disagreement that has dogged every round of negotiations is still there the Israelis keep offering temporary ceasefires while Hamas has hued to their.

One demand for a permanent ceasefire and that has made it almost impossible both sides are not budging but there is one really crucial difference here I know this sounds like history repeating this time around these do look like the last best hope to stop Israel from invading Rafa that City on the Gaza border where Israel right with Egypt in the southern.

Part where there's supposedly thought to be 1.5 million Palestinians who were thought to have taken Refuge now Israel has said week after week that they are determined to invade Rafa even though the United States the UN and other countries throughout the world they've warned that an invasion of Rafa could create a humanitarian catastrophe hie.

Matt Bradley live for us there overseas with the latest on that much more to watch Matt thank you back here at home Google com to its own defense today in some pretty historic closing arguments in what's being called the first tech Monopoly trial of the modern internet era how about that for a headline the doj and.

Something like 35 State Attorneys General say Google paid company bill paid companies billions of dollars why well to be the default search engine on your phone on your browsers breaking Federal anti trust laws to dominate the market and make more money now Google says wait a sec that's not really the case they say hey customers turn to us.

Because we're the best there is Aman Javers has more that's right hie it's two days of closing arguments here in Washington DC for the doj trial involving Google in this question of antitrust as you say comes down to the issue of whether or not the tens of billions of dollars that Google pays to platforms like apple to.

Be the default search engine there whether or not that's anti-competitive Behavior or as Google suggests that's just good business practice so this was a 10-week trial now we've got two days of final arguments we expect a final decision here not until sometime in the summer but everyone's watching judge am meta here he's the guy who's going to.

Make that decision he's been asking very skeptical questions of both sides I've actually written down a couple of the questions CU he came right out of the gate this morning uh asking some tough questions of the US government side saying that search today looks a lot different than it did years ago isn't that because Google's been innovating.

His suggestion there is that Google is doing all the things that the government suggests it's not doing it's investing it's making a better product it's improving quality the government says it's a monopoly power and so therefore doesn't have to do all those things but meta has also had some tough questions for the Google side as well asking the.

Google side at one point why there hasn't been really any effective competition at all for these multi-billion doll contracts with apple and others saying there hasn't really been any competition for that in 10 to 15 years if it's such a competitive landscape as Google suggests that it is well then you'd think there'd be some.

Actual competitors showing up to try to get some of those big lucrative contracts so a lot at stake here hiy uh we'll see what the judge says throughout the day on Friday to see if we can get any more indication of where this is going but all the participants I've talked to have said uh that it's really unclear now which way the judge will.

Decide a whole lot at stake for the tech industry back over to you our thanks to AMA Javers for that reporting some other new reporting tonight just released from NBC News looks at young independent voters in this year's election because yes we are just about six months away from November and yes the youth vote could make a difference you're looking.

At folks from the student from the University of Wisconsin these are students speaking with our focus group we call it the deciders because hey that's what we all are this election and what's interesting this group says that the Israel Hamas war is is a top issue for them that probably doesn't surprise you we've been reporting on these Pro.

Palestinian encampments on college campuses literally across the country 52 campuses look at this 24 States plus DC but the participants in our focus group say even though that's so important to them it's probably not going to affect their vote for president this fall if you're curious about that why that is listen to the.

Explanation I don't think B is doing a great job I don't think Trump would do a better job as it stands I can't see it see it changing um how I vote Sor is joining us now she was part of that focus group there and students say that the Israel Hamas War matters to them that President Biden's handling or as they see it.

Largely mishandling of that war matters to them um tell us more about that piece of it about what they said about protests and the president's handling of that so A number of these I should say independent voters under the age of 30 they were all college students they they don't believe that Joe Biden President Biden is handling the Israel Hamas War.

Right that in a way that that they consider to be right they have said they said over and over again that they really believe that there are too many civilians being killed in Gaza that they really feel passionate about this that the that colleges should disinvest in Israel they also said that they were supportive of the encampments though.

They said they were not part of the encampments because they were worried about being arrested which tells you a little bit about this group and that they were supportive but not to the point where they would sort of join the actual movement but as you said and pointed out after saying over and over again this is my top issue they said.

It's not going to impact the way that they vote because they don't see former president Trump who is of course the presumptive Republican nominee they just don't think that he's going to be any better on this issue in their mind it's actually in their mind going to be worse on this issue so as a result they're not voting for anybody because of this issue.

They said so what issues will affect them we've talked a lot about abortion access we know that Arizona governor Katie Hobbs just today is signing a bill into law that would repeal a very controversial 1864 abortion ban one of the strictest in the country makes no exceptions for rape incest only for life of the mother that will ultimately get.

Rolled back at some point although it might temporarily go into effect because of procedural rules Democrats think Reproductive Rights is going to be huge for them come November is that what you're getting from these focus groups that is what I got from this focus group um they said that abortion was the top issue that they would be voting on they.

Also said though that the Tik Tock ban is something that's top of mind so they are pro-abortion rights anti- Tik Tock band take a listen so it's about uh Trump if he defends Tik Tok but he's against a woman's right to choose how do you make up your mind how you how you're voting i' probably go towards the woman's right.

Okay I could probably without Tik Tok but not being able to voice what I what I can I can't do would be impact on my life so there you heard these are people who are on social media young people who are on social media but when it comes down to it they do think that abortion rights definitely ranks over Tik Tok but at least one of them said that they.

Might think about voting for former president Trump if he got behind a movement to to get away from this Tik Tock band and to reverse what H what's what's going to happen these are such fascinating glimpses this is what the third or the fourth you've done yes been participate in um fascinating glimpses into what folks think and I'm glad we're.

Able to shine a light on them here on the show and to have you do it thank you f appreciate it later in this show you may have gotten lucky but have you ever gotten win the lottery twice kind of Lucky yeah we'll tell you we'll tell you who did spoiler it's her plus Echoes of the Vietnam War protests right now on campuses across the country we'll talk.

About 1968 and the shadow now of 2024 the chaos on campuses across the country we told you about at the top of this show Echoes some of the unrest and division we've seen at universities during so many conflicts it's not just schools it's also far from the first time political.

Turmoil over a war has drawn big divisions among members of the same party in a key election year watch clashes between police and protesters on college campuses across the country Echoes of another time of turmoil one that helped Define an election and reshape politics for.

Decades 1968 protesters in the streets encampments on college campuses demonstrators opposed opposed to the war in Vietnam a Tipping Point for civil rights here at home this is a moment where you have these building social movements then galvanized by this International conflict in Vietnam and the Cold War at Colombia student.

Protesters occupied Hamilton Hall in part to push back on what they saw as a segregated expansion by the university into Harlem's black neighborhoods police moving in 56 years later to the day police were back Tuesday to clear that same Hall more than a 100 arrested and now moving off down Balo Street and the by the summer of 68 the Chicago.

Police are now in the aisles here with billy clubs clearing people out thousands of War protesters faced off with police outside the Democratic Convention in Chicago surely is the first time that policemen have ever entered uh a convention the floor of a convention a year that saw unrest and violence including two political.

Assassinations we shall have order in the United States Richard Nixon making disorder in the streets and college campuses a centerpiece of his campaign America's in trouble today not because her people have failed but because her leaders have failed ultimately defeating Democratic vice president Hubert Humphrey even if the Electoral outcome.

The immediate one doesn't match the results of what the social movement wants we do know that these movements produce enormous political and cultural change and social change in our country and they have in the past and I and I suspect that they will continue to do so in 2024 and Beyond and as we talk about 2024 another.

Parallel here interestingly the DNC the Democratic Convention will be in Chicago in just a couple of months that same city of course where there were those protests at the 1968 convention President Biden will be there Monica Alba is covering the president she's posted up near the White House in the president today Monica talking about.

These present Day protests and you and our team have more reporting on how he and his administration are trying to navigate this moment and it's a tricky one hie and for days they had been weighing whether the president needed to come out and speak more forcefully to really make an on camera statement to reiterate what the White House has been.

Saying for more than a week and a half now which is that any protest that's peaceful and lawful is totally okay by them but anything that veers into the violent or anti-semitic is completely unacceptable and has no place on college campuses or really anywhere in the country and that was the message from the president today in these really.

Hastily arranged remarks that only lasted about 4 minutes and L but we're key we're told according to people familiar with the matter in addressing something that they say was unavoidable for the president to stay quiet any longer here's a little bit of what he had to say we are not an authoritarian Nation.

Where we silence people or squash descent there's the right to protest but not the right to cause chaos and after all it was the Charlottesville protests and anti-Semitism there that motivated them candidate Joe Biden to get into the race in 2020 so he says he has a lot more to say about the rise of anti-Semitism in particular and he's.

Going to be speaking at a Holocaust Memorial ceremony next week but in the meantime the White House is trying to navigate this issue because for days they had really said that it was up to University leadership to decide how best to proceed with either calling in local law enforcement to clear out some of those encampments or not and they wanted.

To take a little bit more of a hands-off posture but I'm told by those people who understood why he came out to speak today that it was the president and others who saw those striking images of young people clashing with police in the last couple of days at Colombia and at UCLA that eventually led the president to decide this morning that he did want.

To come out he did want to speak very forcefully and very clearly on this and he also said that he doesn't think that the National Guard should be called in to deal with any of this and he also told reporters that he doesn't see any of this changing his policy or his handling right now of the Israel Hamas War hi Monica Alba outside the White.

House mom thank you let's get you over to the five things our team thinks you should know about tonight number one the number of women dying from pregnancy related issues has now fallen back to what it was before the pandemic according to these new CDC numbers 700 women just about who died from maternal causes as they describ it last year in.

2021 that number was 1,200 the highest it's been in more than a century experts blame covid complications for for that Spike number two Google's laying off hundreds of employees from its so-called core teams moving some of those roles to India and Mexico that core unit is responsible for helping to build some of the company's most important products a.

Google VP says the changes in their words are in service of our broader goals number three if you've been on Tik Tok at all today and I'm guessing you might have been you probably noticed your favorite music is starting to trickle back in we're talking about Drake Ariana Grande Billy ish that's because Tik Tok and umg Universal Music.

Group have now come to a deal that ends this pretty messy monthlong fight between these two companies over things like how much artists should be paid and new regulations on AI number four here in Washington RFK Stadium guess what cleared for demolition according to the National Park Service it hasn't been used for like games in years it needs.

Major repairs it was supposed to be torn down at the end of last year but they had to do kind of an environmental review first the Washington commanders have said they would like to use the site for their new stadium we'll see if that actually happens number five a woman from Massachusetts hit the jackpot and then she hit the jackpot again in.

The span of just three months each time winning a million bucks in the Massachusetts state lottery Christine Wilson you got a hot hand girl keep it going much more to come tonight here on the show including overseas this desperate search for two Australian Surfer brothers who went missing during a trip to Baja California we're learning.

Three people have now been arrested in connection with that disappearance you see Jake and Callum Robinson here their family members say they haven't been able to get in touch with either of them since Saturday Callum was posting a bunch of updates on social media for the first couple days of the trip and then suddenly those updates stopped one local.

News Outlet reports one of the people arrested had a phone that belongs to either one of the brothers or the friend who is with them this woman also allegedly had some sort of methampetamine with her we still don't know who she is or how she may be connected to the brothers Miley Hogan from our partners at 7 News Australia is.

Joining us now from enata Mexico Miley we're good to have you this is a glad to have you I should say huge search for these two guys and for the friend they'd been traveling with bring us up to speed where do things stand well H this investigation has really taken a significant step forward with authorities revealing that three.

Mexicans are now in custody that woman the 25-year-old was arrested yesterday she is the one that was found with her phone in a possession that is believed to belong to one of the three missing men overnight authorities took those other two men into custody right now they are questioning all three of them hoping that they may provide some.

Information as to the whereabouts of the two Australian brothers and their American friend we know that this search is really focused on a remote Coastal area south of enada uh locals there tell us that there an area that is popular with fishermen but that you really have to know where you're going if you're heading out there to camp and Surf and.

It is believed that that is where these three men were camping now they hadn't been they hadn't made contact with their fam since Saturday the mother of the Australian Brothers issuing that desperate plea on Facebook to see if anyone had seen her sons we know that she is now trying to get here to Mexico to search for her boys and hopefully.

Bring them home hie Miley Hogan thank you very much for that reporting more to watch on that front right now millions of folks in Texas and Louisiana are under flood watches with a ton of rain lashing that area something like a 100,000 homes do not have power people in parts of Eastern Texas now have to evacuate you've got Crews sending out.

Rescue boats to try to get people out you've got power lines cars look at this parts of homes pretty much submerged at least partially one Houston Airport putting in place a ground delay because of the bad weather and now look at this streets and highways in and around Houston pretty unrecognizable one Sheriff's Office reporting an emergency.

Rescue for a car stranded in the middle of a couple feet of water they're telling people get off the road do not get out there and try to drive city leaders say you should be bracing for more too more heavy rain more flooding all of it as we're just now seeing reports of a tornado possibly touching down in rural Missouri in just the last.

Hour it is now day seven of tornadoes slamming the Heartland we're going to keep watching all of these developments and keep you posted as we get any news out of that still to come here on the show a fiery crash shutting down one of the most important interstates in America the rush to reopen 95 in just a minute plus forget the vet this.

Orangutang took matters into its own hands a first in primate medicine coming up we're just learning tonight that some pretty bad damage is going to shut down parts of I95 in Connecticut for what officials say is a quote unquote extended period after look at this this huge crash happened earlier this morning.

A few truck bursting into flames after crashing into two other cars backing up traffic for Miles here's Maggie vesa today a fiery crash shutting down both sides of I95 through a part of Connecticut for what officials say could be an extended period holy dude a tractor trailer a fuel truck and a car colliding early in the morning that fuel.

Truck loaded with thousands of gallons of gas burst into flames under an overpass you can see firefighters there trying to put out the fire Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont saying no one was seriously hurt but that the bridge above the highway is damaged and unsafe and needs to be torn down I know what an incredible inconvenience this is for.

People and all I can ask you to do is um uh stay away from that area as best you can the governor filing an emergency declaration requesting federal funds to rebuild the incident backing up traffic for dozens of Miles leaving drivers frustrated and stuck stop start stop start C we have a route I95 is the main North to South Highway that runs along.

The east coast and is one of the most dangerous interstates in the country with 278 deadly crashes in 2022 hundreds of thousands of vehicles drive across stretches of that Highway every day including trucks so when something goes wrong the problems can snowball oh my God case in point last April when a fuel tanker rolled over on a bridge in Groton.

Connecticut killing the driver spilling fuel into the river below and shutting down I95 for hours then 2 months later that massive bridge collapse in North Philly a tractor trailer flipping on an off-ramp and catching fire causing an overpass to collapse the driver died and the section of the highway was shut down for 12 days until a temporary fix was.

Ready this major artery crucial to keeping the East Coast moving Maggie is joining us live so crucial that you know Crews officials will do almost anything they can to get it back open ASAP so how s is the p in other words how soon will it be open yeah it's really good to break apart that acronym uh they're working as fast.

As they can and they tell us actually both lanes of traffic Believe It or Not despite that video will be back open they believe as early as Monday morning in the meantime they're going to zero in on that bridge and you saw in that video no surprise it's really badly damaged they say it has to come down so demolition of that bridge that goes over.

The highway hi is set to begin at 3 a.m. so basically overnight in less than 12 hours so we'll see how fast this goes lots to watch Maggie vesa thank you NBC News covers hundreds of international stories every day and because it can be tough to read or watch or listen to them all our teams around the world have done it for you here's a look at what they're.

Watching in a segment we call the global out of Brazil local officials say at least 13 people have died because of a lot of rain in the south of that country the storms have left more than 20 missing thousands of people are out of their homes tonight the government's now declaring a state of public Calamity as they call it to try to handle this out.

Of France Paris designating a huge water storage bin to help clean up the sen river which as we've been talking about that's the venue for the swimming legs of this year's summer olympics that's after canceling some practices last year over the bad River quality organizers say the reservoir will take rainwater and treat it before circling it back.

Through the river they're going to test the water every day of the Olympics to make sure that it's safe and out of Indonesia researchers say this orangutang treated its own injuries with a medicinal plant scientists watched him he had a big gash on his face they watched him chew up leaves and then rub those juices on its cheek this.

Is not a normal food for orangutangs but humans know this Leaf is kind of a pain reliever it's the first time scientists have ever seen a wild animal apply medicine directly to a wound you see the before and after that's the after you saw the before with the cut I mean you barely even noticed the injury just incredible the China now where officials.

Are giving an update on a deadly Highway collapse that killed dozens of people overnight saying they're trying to identify three people they're concerned that the death toll could go even higher so much rain caused this piece of road to crumble near the city of Mao in Southeastern China NBC's Janice Macky fryer is in the south of China with.

More H for a second day Rescuers are digging for survivors after a section of Highway collapse and cars tumbled down the side of a mountain the death toll has climbed to 48 and officials expected to Edge even higher it happened around 2:00 a.m. on Wednesday the first day of a 5-day national holiday here when a lot of families are traveling State media.

Say at least 30 people have been injured some of them seriously it's a terrible scene according to officials in the city of Meo in guangong Province where one side of this four-lane highway gave way after a month of heavy rains more than two dozen cars plummeted some of them Catching Fire the rescue efforts now being hampered by bad weather and.

Conditions there this is a narrow stretch and officials say that gravel and Earth uh keep sliding down the hill there are several cars that are still buried and it's difficult to get heavy equipment in to help because roughly 2,000 ft of the highway has simply disintegrated and they're worried about secondary disasters because there has.

Been so much rain there at least 22 in in the last four weeks that's four times more than the area is used to getting it's part of this pattern of severe weather that's been hitting Southern China causing flooding high level warnings and last weekend even a rare tornado there are now more than 500 Rescuers who are at the scene of this.

Collapsed Highway one witness told State media that he heard a loud bang and then struggled to control his car as he looked behind and saw Vehicles simply disappear with the road beneath them Callie our thanks to Janice for that reporting still ahead much more to get to here on the show including pelaton trying to keep those Wheels spinning.

After losing their CEO and laying off hundreds of employees inside their troubled turnaround next let's talk about that shake up today at pelaton with its CEO stepping down ASAP and the company laying off about 15% of its staff that's like 400 people that is a massive blow to pelaton.

And a big turnaround for the company that used to be super pandemic popular remember that it was like everywhere as folks were stuck at home trying to like keep up their heart rate keep up their Fitness Etc cnbc's Gabrielle fou is here to break it down for us um you know if you look at pelaton stock price it is now down lower than it was before the.

Pandemic they couldn't seem to sustain the popularity at its peak what happened so hie a lot of things have happened you know first of all pelaton has tried a lot of things to turn things around it's partnered with big Brands like Lululemon started offering a bike rental program uh partnered corporations like Hyatt hotels and Hilton um but.

Probably the most important thing that it did was a Rebrand you know we all know that when peleton started out it was reserved for a certain type of person at a certain type of income level and obviously that limits the number of people that you can make money off of and sell to your customers um so they started to Rebrand and started to focus.

More on the app they opened up a tiered pricing strategy for their app which started with free $12.99 $24 that allowed them to reach all sorts of people who may not have $6,000 to Shell out for a treadmill but the reason why things have went wrong is a Confluence of events it's a little bit of the macro and it's a little bit of the micro on.

The macro sense consumers right now are pulling back on spend from all consumer segments people just don't have the money to Shell out thousands of dollars for exercise equipment and also there's a limited number of people who would buy exercise equipment for their homes it's only reserved for a certain type of person and then also on the micro level.

Their balance sheet Paton has a broken balance sheet it has about $1.5 billion in debt it hasn't turned a profit since December of 2020 and Wall Street can see the writing on the wall if you can't turn things around if you can't grow sales if you can't generate cash cash there's only so much time you can keep going like this mie what if you already.

Have a pellaton and you're paying that $40 or whatever a month fee to keep it I mean that's a great question if you have a pellaton it's obviously still going to work the company isn't going anywhere um and pelaton users right now they should rest assured that this company isn't going anywhere at least not yet the restructuring that they.

Announced today is expected to save the company $200 million and then by fiscal 2025 and so with those savings the company doesn't need to return to growth in order to generate free cash flow which is what they need to kind of keep the business alive that's what executive said today but it's unclear whether or not this company can continue to be.

Public when you have Wall Street watching you like this when you have these demands that you need to meet every single quarter these expectations um you know it's unclear you know it might make sense for a private Equity Firm or some other type of firm like that to buy the company out kind of Shield it from the public be able to.

Generated some cash flow but it's not going to be able to do that until it fixes its bance sheet Gabrielle F Rouge thank you very much super interesting appreciate it still to come we are hearing from Britney Spears for the first time since some new photos created new concern over how she's doing we'll tell you what she's saying about a late.

Night visit from Medics tonight some new concerns about how Britney Spears is doing after this dramatic scene outside that iconic Chateau Marmont Hotel in Hollywood Spears herself in just the last 30 minutes putting out a new statement saying Medics showed up at her hotel.

Room door she says illegally the LA fire department says they responded right after midnight California time overnight to reports of an adult woman who was hurt they didn't say what happened or how but photographers caught this moment the one that you see right here showing Spears standing outside the hotel wrapped in just a blanket holding a.

Pillow at least that's what it looks like uh with a lot of fans raising concerns about this scene because it's giving them a little bit of deja vu with some suggesting it's echoing some of what we saw back in 20 2007 when it was reported that Spears had been struggling with her mental health Reps for Spears did not return our request for comment.

But obviously Khloe Mass joining us now obviously Khloe we have that insta post from Britney right talk us through it yeah I mean hi this is what we know two sources close to Britney Spears telling us that there was an incident at the Chateau maral thanks for watching stay updated about breaking news and top stories on the NBC News app or follow us.

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