Top Story with Tom Llamas - April 20 — NBC News NOW

[0:01] tonight the final hours of the ceasefire between the u.s and iran and the confusion tonight [0:06] will there even be talks to make a new deal president trump says jd vance is ready to head [0:11] to the negotiations but iran isn't committing and we get new video of a dramatic confrontation at sea [0:18] u.s marines seizing an iranian flagship and the new polling tonight the pressure the president [0:23] may be under to end this conflict also tonight global outrage after an israeli soldier is seen [0:29] smashing a statue of jesus will he be held responsible the deadly shooting at a popular [0:34] tourist spot doesn't set running for their lives as gunfire erupts at a pyramid near mexico city [0:39] the terrifying close call at nashville's airport two jets narrowly avoid colliding plus the airport [0:46] airplane bomb scare sending passengers scrambling down emergency slides this is new tonight the [0:52] shake-up at one of the world's biggest companies tim cook stepping down as ceo of apple so who's [0:57] taking over circus chaos a tiger escaping into a crowd during a performance after a stage [1:03] malfunction sparking panic in the stands what happened next marathon mania the runner breaking [1:09] a course record in boston and the dramatic photo finish in delaware proving why you should never [1:15] celebrate too soon plus inside the president's move to fast track psychedelic drug reviews we hear from [1:22] advocates who say this kind of treatment could save lives top story starts right now good evening we [1:35] begin with that chaos and that confusion surrounding the u.s and iran ceasefire questions are swirling [1:41] over whether peace talks stand and at the 10-day truce deadline rapidly approaches the center of this [1:47] conflict the strait of hormuz iran shutting the vital waterway down again and new images show the u.s [1:53] seizing an iranian ship they're saying it ignored this warning motor vessel toska motor vessel toska [2:01] vacate your engine room vacate your engine room we're prepared to subject you to disabling fire [2:07] the u.s says they sent warning messages for six hours before firing at the ship and taking out its [2:12] engine nighttime video shows marines approaching the ship by helicopter repelling down and taking control [2:18] of the vessel as the u.s enforces its naval blockade president trump says vice president vance will [2:24] head to pakistan to meet with iranian negotiators but at this hour iran says it will not show up so if [2:30] there are no talks and there is no deal what happens when the ceasefire deadline passes garrett haig following [2:36] it all from the white house tonight tonight just hours until the fragile two-week ceasefire between the [2:42] u.s and iran is set to expire president trump saying in a new interview he's quote highly unlikely to [2:49] extend the truce maybe i won't extend it but the blockade is going to remain that blockade resulting [2:55] in this dramatic confrontation in the gulf of oman between the u.s navy and an iranian flagged cargo [3:01] ship under u.s sanctions called the tuska a u.s destroyer sending this warning to the vessel for six [3:08] hours low of us atoska vacate your engine room vacate your engine room we're prepared to subject [3:15] you to disabling fire and then firing a deck gun to disable the vessel which was then boarded and [3:22] seized by u.s marines centcom says 27 other ships have complied with orders to turn back the u.s [3:29] blockade costing the iranian regime an estimated 435 million dollars per day all of it happening after [3:36] iran reversed its own pledge to reopen the strait of hormuz by firing on two european ships saturday [3:43] but tonight the prospect of peace talks in pakistan remains uncertain president trump says vice [3:49] president vance will lead a u.s delegation while a top iranian official says they won't negotiate [3:55] under threat we're talking to them they wanted to close up the strait again you know as they've been [4:01] doing for years and they can't blackmail us it comes as nbc news new polling shows that two-thirds [4:08] of americans disapprove of the president's handling of iran today oil prices rose to around 89 a barrel [4:17] and stocks closed lower with the nasdaq snapping its 13-day streak of gains gary haig joins us tonight [4:24] from the white house and gary while we have you here i know there's late word of another shake-up [4:28] inside the trump cabinet yeah that's right tom labor secretary laurie chavez deremer tonight [4:32] becomes the third cabinet secretary to depart the administration in less than two months deremer [4:37] resigned today saying she was going to the private sector but she was also facing a misconduct [4:42] investigation for which she was supposed to sit for an ig interview this week and tom she was supposed [4:47] to be in front of congress next week for an oversight hearing where she would have faced some [4:51] difficult questions yeah the allegations were mounting against her all right garrett we thank you for [4:55] that to break down what we're seeing in iran i want to bring in bobby goes she's a geopolitical [5:00] analyst and columnist who has reported from and on the middle east for decades and colonel steve warren [5:05] is an nbc news military analyst and former pentagon spokesperson i thank you both for being here so [5:10] so bobby in light of everything that's happening in the strait do we think that these peace talks are [5:14] actually going to happen well it's a little hard to predict at this moment tom the pakistani still [5:19] seem to think so and they're the ones hosting it they're the ones that playing the role of the [5:22] mediator the latest out of pakistan and i was watching just before i came on air is that the [5:28] pakistanis expect uh the president trump uh to announce the extension of the ceasefire overnight uh [5:35] they still expect that the talks to go ahead uh we know that both sides are keen for talks to take [5:42] place both sides do want uh the conflict to end um you know president trump as you you said at the top of [5:48] the that segment faces uh so growing unpopularity here and iran has taken a severe beating over [5:56] several weeks now and they too need a pause but both sides need a face saving way out you don't get [6:03] that without actual talks so they have to figure out how to get to that table yeah and colonel we saw [6:09] what happened this weekend right videos of the u.s seizing that ship from a military perspective [6:13] right how does the commander-in-chief president trump sort of decide listen we have this ceasefire [6:18] but this is getting a little too crazy there in the straight-up for moves and we have to take [6:22] aggressive action right well i think this thing this this action uh over this weekend really shows [6:29] three things tactical operational and strategic right tactically it sort of demonstrates to every [6:34] ship in the region that the united states navy is prepared to prevent anyone from running this [6:39] blockade operationally it sends that message to the to the iranian sort of military whatever's left of [6:45] their navy that the u.s military the u.s navy is ready to go but the most important thing into [6:50] what we're talking about is the strategic message i think it shows it sends a signal to the iranians [6:56] that while we want things to cool down we are ready and prepared uh to continue kinetic operations [7:03] if you don't come to the table and start talking etc and then colonel you know the president's made a lot [7:08] of conflicting statements about when this ceasefire ends if that deadline comes and there is no deal [7:13] does the fighting immediately start again well i think you know you'll hear a phrase out of the [7:18] pentagon regularly called you know we will begin at a time and place of our choosing right that's a [7:24] phrase that we use often in the military and i think so i think the switch will flip to on but admiral [7:29] cooper the commander of the forces there he will direct when that first bomb drops and that will be [7:36] you know based on the tactical situation what we see the iranians doing etc but i think to answer [7:41] your question the switch will flip uh you know on wednesday for sure bobby so we just saw in garrett's [7:46] report you mentioned it a little bit that the the war is very unpopular here in the u.s clearly the [7:51] polling shows that there was an interesting piece in the new york times magazine over the weekend which [7:55] had it was talking to two iranians in tehran and basically one was aligned with the regime the other [7:59] one wasn't by the end of the interview over all the the weeks of war the one who was was not [8:05] aligned with the regime was starting getting very frustrated with israel in the u.s i know there's no [8:09] polling in iran but do we know what the people of iran want we we know that they want the war to [8:13] stop if their country has taken a tremendous beating the cost of human lives cost infrastructure [8:20] um i saw one calculation that the damage done even in this short period of time [8:24] is equal to or more than the physical damage done to iran over an eight-year war that they had with [8:30] iraq in the 1980s so that's an enormous and and the cost of rebuilding the time it'll take [8:35] they need to start right now so ordinary iranians i think it's safe to guess even without the benefit [8:40] of polling they want the war to stop the we're also hearing that there's conflict within the regime [8:47] there are reports coming out that when they went to islamabad last week that people within the the [8:53] delegation represented two different points of view that they were the the military side [8:58] that was very aggressive and very hard line and there was a political side the revolutionary guard [9:03] versus the foreign minister and president if you will the moderates if you will so-called [9:06] moderates yeah um so there is division as as you would expect in the case of war there's division [9:12] in this country um what does that tell you though they go to the negotiating table with maybe two [9:17] different vested interests it tells you that they're still recovering from the first blow of this war [9:23] which is when the first when the previous supreme leader was taken out and a whole bunch of top [9:27] leaders alongside them when that happens when a decapitation strike happens like that [9:33] even in the best of circumstances it takes a while for a regime to reorganize itself no matter how [9:39] efficient that regime is and to try to do that in the middle of a bloody war is so much harder so we [9:45] shouldn't be surprised that there's division within the the regime the question is can they get it [9:51] together and come to the next round with a clear message we want peace we're willing to make a deal [9:56] colonel you know i'll remind our viewers the u.s the president says we got into this war because [10:01] they did not want iran to have a nuclear weapon there's a front page story in the new york times [10:05] today that describes two different sites where the iranians could have their enriched uranium right [10:10] one ishfahan which it's buried under under a lot of mountain it's been bombed it's hard to access the [10:16] other pickaxe mountain which is sort of a new site the iranians were working on in the wake of [10:21] ishfahan and other ones getting bombed i bring this up because it seems like we went to this war to make [10:27] sure they wouldn't get a weapon and it's unclear where this uranium exactly is and if anyone including [10:32] the iranians can get access to it how does the u.s handle that right it's a very tough nut to crack [10:39] you know to put it simply you know continued bombing doesn't guarantee the united states [10:45] that that uranium is no longer in play the only way to know that that uranium is out of play [10:51] is for us to get our hands on it and we've seen now based on this reporting from the times that [10:56] uranium may well be in two places half of it in ishfahan half of it in pickaxe mountain and and [11:01] pickaxe mountain is very well protected so much so that our bombs may not even be able to get in [11:08] there penetrated and destroy it so it's a tough one the idea of a ground operation very very difficult [11:15] we just saw two weeks ago as we tried to rescue a single american pilot that was down in iran how much [11:22] energy that took how many aircraft how much you know we lost several aircraft you know it was a [11:27] major just for bringing one pilot you know out of the ground or off the ground to get this uranium [11:34] almost a thousand pounds of it in two places deep in the center of the country very difficult real [11:38] quick bob because we're running out of time here do you see any deal that the u.s can cut and save face [11:43] if they don't get some of that uranium out of iran based on what the president said no i when you start [11:49] and you repeat over and over again they can't have uranium they're not allowed to enrich they're not [11:53] allowed to have a bomb and you have to acknowledge at the end of the day that they still have that [11:57] material i can't see how you get away how you come away with having saved face bobby gosh colonel [12:03] steve warner we thank you both for joining top story tonight also in the mid east tonight outrage [12:08] after an israeli soldier appeared to have damaged a statue of jesus with a sledgehammer molly hunter joins [12:15] us now and molly the israeli military is responding to that image tom that's right this disturbing photo [12:24] shows an israeli soldier smashing a statue of jesus after it has been torn off the cross [12:29] and tonight the israeli military say the photo is real adding the soldier's conduct is wholly [12:34] inconsistent with the values expected of its troops now here's the statue before it was desecrated in [12:40] the christian village of devil in southern lebanon and u.s ambassador mike huckabee posting rare [12:45] criticism of israel writing swift severe and public consequences are needed and tonight a state [12:51] department official and an israeli official tell nbc news a second round of direct ceasefire talks [12:56] between israel and lebanon are expected on thursday no confirmation yet from the lebanese side tom [13:03] tonight molly we thank you for that we're also following breaking news out of mexico gunfire erupting [13:08] in a popular tourist spot sending people running for their lives at a historic pyramid just outside of [13:13] mexico city the incident leaving at least one person dead mbc's priscilla thompson with the video [13:17] as the shooting was happening gunshots ringing out at a busy tourist site near mexico city yeah get out [13:29] of there people running frantically and jumping off the teotihuacan pyramid as a barrage of bullets [13:38] rain down now he's climbing up witnesses filming a man seen here pacing atop a pyramid appearing to hold a [13:45] gun oh they're shooting at him the shooter fired multiple times investigators say killing a canadian [13:51] woman before turning the gun on himself six other people were injured authorities say they recovered [13:57] a gun bladed weapon and live cartridges at the scene mexican president claudia scheinbaum saying the attack [14:04] deeply pains us promising a thorough investigation officials say the popular tourism hot spot visited by [14:10] more than a million people every year is now secure after a terrifying and deadly afternoon [14:16] priscilla thompson joins top story live tonight priscilla that is a very big area do we know how [14:22] that person brought the gun into the site yeah tom so the government website for this [14:28] archaeological site makes no mention of weapons or guns being banned nor does it talk about security [14:34] screenings and in fact the associated press is reporting that in past years they have done security [14:39] security scans staff have of people entering this area but that for some reason they stopped doing [14:45] that and it's unclear why exactly they stopped doing that but certainly an important question as [14:49] we're looking ahead to that country hosting the world cup and potentially getting an influx of [14:54] visitors looking to visit these very popular sites tom okay priscilla thompson priscilla thank you [14:59] back here at home several terrifying moments for air travelers from near misses to bomb scares our sam brock has [15:05] the latest as many remain on edge about flying tonight jarring details about a near miss at nashville's [15:12] airport yeah i don't know why they did that the confusion clear on air traffic control which indicates [15:18] controllers gave an arriving southwest flight permission to execute a go around saturday aborting the landing [15:25] and bringing it directly into the path of a departing southwest plane pilots in both aircraft taking evasive [15:31] action the faa says the crews responded to on-board alerts to avoid a collision course southwest says [15:38] the arriving plane approached in gusty winds and landed uneventfully at the same time get away from the [15:44] plane a series of bomb scares sewing chaos from pittsburgh to denver this weekend passengers scrambling [15:51] through the cabin and rushing to the wing sliding down to the ground while another aircraft searched front [15:56] to back people in bulletproof vests and helmets they opened all the overhead bins and we're looking [16:03] inside all the overhead bins the latest incident stopping a plane in its tracks sunday night in denver [16:08] he advised we're currently on the phone with a uh a bomb threat these still images show the rush of [16:14] late night emergency crews as the fbi denver said no dangerous materials were located on the aircraft [16:20] i was terrifying the whole experience they put us on buses and they didn't take us away from the plane [16:25] just 24 hours earlier this alarming mid-air warning came from a pilot on a united flight from chicago to new york [16:32] we got an item on board we're gonna have to start treating this as a potential bomb there were no reported [16:42] injuries united saying only that the plane landed in pittsburgh to address a potential security concern [16:48] all right sam brock joins us now live on set here on top story let's go back to the one in nashville so [16:53] there was that alert that went off how exactly does that work this is what's so wild about this entire [16:57] situation it's not like a pilot could just choose tom to decide to do a go around which is when they [17:01] abort a landing because they see something on the ground they don't like whether it's the weather [17:04] conditions or something dangerous in this case the pilot did that the atc gave him permission to go [17:09] back into the pathway of a departing flight where they would have crashed the technology you ask about [17:14] is called tcas it's collision avoidance system it alerts when planes are in a certain proximity that's so [17:19] close that it has to force some sort of change the pilot in this case moves the flight typically [17:25] ascends upwards and avoids a direct collision but given what we've seen in recent months [17:29] you can understand why people would be unnerved by this all right sam brock for us yeah it's wild we [17:33] thank you for that now the 250 million dollar defamation suit filed by the fbi director over a [17:38] report he calls a false hit piece designed to drive him out of his job kelly o'donnell has the late [17:44] details tonight a battle over reputation and reporting you want to attack my character come at me bring it on [17:53] i'll see you in court today fbi director cash patel filed a defamation suit seeking a staggering 250 [18:00] million dollars against the atlantic monthly group after its april 17th story citing anonymous sources [18:07] reported that bouts of excessive drinking and erratic behavior have put his job on the line [18:14] nbc news has not independently verified that reporting the story claims on multiple occasions the director's [18:20] security detail had difficulty waking patel and states that a request was made late last year [18:27] for breaching equipment to gain entry patel's lawsuit calls that claim pure fantasy and states that [18:34] breaching equipment is provided to all fbi protection details patel had faced criticism for this moment [18:42] when he partied with u.s men's hockey winning olympic gold he responded that he was extremely humble to [18:49] celebrate with the boys all right with that kelly o'donnell joins us live tonight kelly we're hearing [18:55] from the atlantic tonight what are they saying they are responding to this lawsuit as you would expect [19:00] and part of what they're saying is that it is a meritless lawsuit and they go on to say we have full [19:06] confidence in our reporting on cash patel one of the issues here is because he is a public figure [19:11] he is asserting something in the law known as actual malice meaning a media company would have to [19:16] knowingly publish false information that'll all play out in court but that's what patel is saying [19:22] he is claiming that the publication did not respond to some of the things that the fbi provided in [19:28] advance of publication they are saying that they spoke to current and former fbi officials on numerous [19:34] officials on all of the different elements of the story again we did not independently confirm this [19:41] reporting but it shows you the kind of sort of tone that's in the administration right now when [19:46] there are when there are critical stories there are times when officials fight back themselves this is [19:51] cash patel in his personal capacity filing this lawsuit against the atlantic monthly group tom okay kelly [19:58] thank you we're going to be back in a moment here on top story with the new investigation into [20:02] jeffrey epstein this one focused on a sprawling new mexico ranch our hallie jackson actually went there [20:08] she's going to show us what she found plus the growing push for psychedelic research [20:13] why the white house is calling for a fast-track review of certain drugs we'll explain and rodeo rampage [20:19] have you seen this video a horse stampeding through a crowd several people trampled we'll show you what [20:24] caused the chaos ahead on top story we're back now with our inside look at jeffrey epstein's new mexico [20:36] ranch where several women say they were sexually assaulted it's never been searched by the feds but now [20:41] the state is reigniting its investigation hallie jackson reports from new mexico jeffrey epstein's [20:48] zorro ranch stretched for miles its centerpiece the enormous mansion he built with its pool and [20:55] library stables nearby none of it searched by federal investigators after epstein's 2019 arrest [21:01] to the shock of hector balderas at the time new mexico's attorney general do you think the feds [21:06] should have searched the ranch back in 19. absolutely by 2019 balderas had opened a state [21:11] investigation into the ranch but says he was asked to stand down by the feds so they could [21:16] build their case we assumed with their reputation for being aggressive that they were going to be [21:22] aggressive and then share that evidence with us it was a very simple one-two punch and that's [21:27] happened before in other cases absolutely but it didn't happen here it didn't happen here now new [21:32] mexico is trying to make up for lost time opening a new state investigation i think what bothers me [21:38] the most knowing the extent of what happened why nothing was done new mexico lawmakers this spring [21:44] also established a bipartisan commission to investigate zorro after the release of the justice department's [21:50] epstein files at this point we don't have the full story and what we understand is that most [21:55] information was provided to the federal government and has not been provided back the doj declined to [22:01] comment on those specific materials but says they welcome new mexico undertaking additional [22:06] investigations of zorro and if those uncover potential federal crimes they stand ready to work [22:11] closely together to prosecute outside the ranch now a memorial with signs pictures and crosses this is [22:19] the main driveway leading up to the ranch but this is as far as we're able to go you can see the no [22:23] trespassing signs that have been put up around the property the ranch was purchased in 2023 by a texas [22:30] real estate developer who wants to turn it into a christian retreat renaming the road here san rafael [22:36] after the patron saint of healing i don't think that you could turn this space around with the horror [22:42] that has happened here we believe you amanda and sky roberts the family of virginia roberts jufre [22:49] who died by suicide last year she's one of at least 10 girls or young women who say they were groomed [22:54] or assaulted by epstein at zorro we have to give survivors and victims of space to come forward [22:59] and let them feel heard this is their time and i asked the current new mexico attorney general about [23:05] the timeline for his new investigation he says it'll be complicated and time consuming but they're [23:10] going to do everything they can to get to the bottom of what happened at zorro ranch she says no [23:14] matter how uncomfortable it is or how long it takes tom hey jackson for us hallie good to have you [23:20] be on the show tonight thank you there are new details tonight in the investigation into the [23:24] singer david who tonight has been formally charged with the murder of 14 year old celeste rivas whose [23:29] body was found in the trunk of his tesla the singer whose real name is david burk pled not guilty i [23:34] want to bring in nbc's camilla bernal who has been following this case from la since the beginning so [23:39] camilla we heard from prosecutors today about a possible motive why do they say david allegedly did this [23:47] yeah tom so first they charged them with first degree murder and it's actually the special [23:51] circumstances that they added on that really give us some insight into the motive they say [23:57] one of them is lying in wait that is because the last time she was seen was when she went to david's [24:03] house april of 2025. they also say financial gains because he did not want to lose his career his [24:11] followers he had millions of followers on social media the money he was gaining from all of this [24:16] and then the next one was murdering a witness and so how does that play into all of this [24:21] prosecutors alleged that there was sexual abuse happening since 2023 and it was that continuous [24:28] sexual abuse that was possibly in the eyes of law enforcement one of the things that caused him [24:34] to kill her because he did not want this to come out because he wanted to keep his career and he wanted [24:39] to continue his fame and so they say she was just 13 14 years old that was a child and he was [24:46] an adult so there are additional sexual abuse charges and that they believe is part of the [24:51] motive here in this case although they didn't specifically say that that is the only reason why [24:56] he did this they say there's a lot of evidence that they're going to present in trial and that they [25:01] have and they believe that that's how they're going to be able to link everything the da was asked [25:06] about a smoking gun and he said look there is not one smoking gun is the totality of the evidence we then [25:12] saw him here in court his lawyers denying the allegations the family was just feet away from [25:20] david burke they were emotional they actually chose not to speak we were waiting for a family attorney to [25:26] speak and instead they chose not to do so this is clearly a difficult situation for this family as [25:32] this moves forward but this is just the beginning as we do expect this to continue to move through the [25:38] courts tom okay camila bernal for us outside of court there camila we thank you for that [25:43] still to come tonight here on top story the major shakeup at apple tim cook stepping down as ceo so [25:49] who's taking over plus the stunning view from space will show you the shot of earth and the moon [25:54] few before have ever seen all right we're back with breaking news in the tech world apple announcing [26:05] a new ceo john turnus the company's senior vice president of hardware engineering will take over [26:10] as chief executive chairman on september 1st and the man currently in the role tim cook will move [26:16] on as chairman of apple's board of directors joining us tonight someone who's been predicting this move [26:20] would happen for months bloomberg managing editor mark german who covers all things apple and tech [26:25] mark thanks for joining top story tonight and congrats on on being right because it's nice to be right [26:30] every now and then uh apple ceos especially steve jobs and now tim cook have really transcended the [26:36] business world they've been cultural touchstones whose decisions impact millions around the world [26:41] so what do we know about john turnus and how does he fit in this mold john turnus is a product guy at [26:47] heart he bleeds uh six colors it's the six colors of the original apple logo developed under steve jobs way [26:55] back in the day uh he is apple through and through there was no other option for ceo he's 50 years old the [27:02] same age that tim cook was when he was appointed ceo this gives apple someone who can sit in the seat [27:08] for 15 to 25 years and have that runway in charge of the company he's been leading the company's product [27:14] development for the last half of a decade uh he was named to his previous role head of hardware [27:20] engineering in 2021 uh he was mentored by some of the best at apple when it comes to product development [27:26] uh he worked a little bit in the steve jobs days uh overseeing product design for the original ipad [27:31] uh and if you remember if you ever used the original ipad everyone when they took it out [27:35] of the box was just amazed of how high quality that thing felt uh how durable the ipad was and you know [27:42] apple products have become more durable over the last several years you know they've become more [27:46] recyclable environmentally friendly uh and lasting a lot longer you know you could use a mac now for five [27:52] years that all comes down to turnus so he's really taken apple's products and hardware and have made [27:57] them something that can really last a long time uh and really just you know some of the most top [28:02] performance machines on the market right now so he's taking apple hardware to new heights yeah and [28:07] i think it's going to be exciting to see what he does for the rest of the business now why do you [28:11] think they chose this moment i got the part about his age but what about tim cook was he ready to move [28:17] tim cook is 65 years old he's been in charge of the company for 15 years and there were some concerns [28:24] that maybe you know his tenure he was getting a little bit long in the tooth uh apple obviously [28:29] missed the artificial intelligence revolution uh the board felt that someone new and fresher [28:36] someone with an eye for artificial intelligence and these new age technologies uh to really run the [28:42] company in that new direction uh needed to come in here right tim cook wasn't forced out by any means he [28:47] made this decision uh himself uh last year and certainly he deserved to write his own ticket and [28:55] part of that own ticket is remaining involved as the company's uh executive chairman in that role [29:00] obviously turnus will report to tim cook still uh but tim cook is going to continue to manage the [29:06] relationship with president donald trump in dealing with governments and china and all that uh on the [29:11] world stage so this is going to be an interesting setup it's not unique by any means you've seen [29:17] other companies do this uh amazon obviously has jeff bezos still this large towering figure as [29:23] executive chairman but andy jesse runs the place you're now going to see the same thing uh with with [29:29] apple yeah you know you mentioned artificial intelligence apple's still the top of its game [29:33] you've been closely following their new launches including rumors about an upcoming glasses product to [29:38] compete with meta's goggles uh what does this leadership shakeup mean for the larger ecosystem [29:44] and and you know apple may not have been at the at the front end of that ai wave but will this hurt [29:49] them in the long run because people think whether apple likes it or not that it's the apple products [29:54] that people love around the world uh ai will not impact apple in a negative way in terms of how far [30:01] behind it has come they're doubling down on hardware and it's crazy to say but as far behind as apple [30:08] is in ai technology they are ahead of everyone else in terms of being the hardware and the platform [30:13] company to run ai so they've got the hardware working great thanks to the two new people at [30:19] the top of apple john turnus and johnny sruji now his deputy the chief hardware officer uh their software [30:25] when it comes to ai lags pretty much everyone else in the industry uh so now they need to catch up on [30:29] software but in the near term in june they're going to announce a revamped version of siri that plays [30:35] nicely with ai from google uh from chat gpt from anthropic and so that's the approach they're taking for [30:40] now going all in on their hardware expertise while i have you here how much heat are they feeling on [30:44] the phone front do they they still feel that that the iphone is a superior product to everything else [30:50] that's out there in the market are they feeling the the effects of of whether it be a google or [30:54] even a motorola that wants to come back there's been no effect uh of ai in the improvements you're [31:00] seeing to competing products on the iphone uh the iphone is still the quintessential apple product [31:05] it is still the market leader from basically any metric you look at i think it's far and away the [31:11] the best smartphone on the market uh if you look at the integration between hardware and software [31:17] from an ai perspective it's terrible uh but they'll catch up there especially by letting in [31:21] third parties to help them out there you've seen china do remarkable things with their phones but i [31:27] still think for most people the iphones ahead of the game and turnus has been in charge of this [31:31] thing since 2020 so he's got the experience to take it to the next level and this fall turnus [31:37] will be on stage announcing the biggest revamp in the iphones history with the iphone ultra the [31:42] company's first foldable phone uh and as someone who's watched apple and uses all these products [31:46] for all these companies uh this is one of the things that i've been excited about for a very long [31:50] time and probably one of the most exciting new things we're going to see from apple in a while [31:54] that sounds good mark german you can read him of course in bloomberg we thank you so much for [31:58] joining top story tonight this was a fascinating conversation time now for our news feed and we [32:02] start with the federal trial in virginia for an afghan national accused of playing a key role [32:08] in the deadly bombing at a kabul airport in 2021 it happened during the chaotic u.s withdrawal from [32:13] afghanistan mohammed sherifullah faces charges related to that attack that killed nearly 200 people [32:19] including 13 u.s service members he's pleaded not guilty if convicted he could spend the rest of his [32:25] life behind bars and chaos erupting at a rodeo in south carolina video shows horses stampeding through [32:32] a crowd trampling several people first responders say about 10 were hurt most of them treated at the [32:37] hospital multiple other people will get this they were arrested because they were throwing beer cans [32:41] and other objects allegedly at officers police say the horses were spooked by the giant fireworks you [32:46] see right there and in north carolina massive dust devil spinning through a youth baseball game [32:51] you can see the so-called dust nato sweeping across the diamond there in wake forest the funnel of dirt [32:57] sending players coaches and the umpire scrambling for cover luckily nobody was injured there but it [33:02] did knock over some tents after blowing off the field and a remarkable view from space that only a few [33:08] humans have ever seen check this out the earth slowly disappearing behind the moon nasa astronaut reed [33:15] weissman captured it on his iphone while commanding the artemis mission he compared the scene to [33:20] watching the sunset at the beach but with the most foreign seat in the cosmos pretty cool okay now to [33:27] the disturbing shooting in louisiana a father going on a rampage killing eight young children most of them [33:32] his own and now the community is left grappling with how something like this could have happened [33:37] ryan chandler's there tonight new details on gunman shamar elkins who shot and killed seven of his [33:44] his children and their cousin he may have shot them out the shooter's brother-in-law troy brown [33:50] shocked telling nbc news 31 year old elkins recently sought mental health treatment through [33:55] veterans affairs he stayed there a week and a half he came home he was happy elkins left the louisiana [34:02] army national guard in 2020 after they say he served for seven years as a private he loved his kids [34:08] he loved his wife i just don't know what happened you never know what a person's going through [34:14] the horrific act of violence happened inside this home early sunday the kids all between 3 and 11 [34:21] years old authorities say the gunman also shot his wife and a woman believed to be his girlfriend [34:27] before he fled in a stolen car home security video capturing the moments officers caught up to him [34:32] and exchanged gunfire he was later pronounced dead what is it like to return to this scene today it's just [34:40] unreal i can't believe it it is tragic what is going on and this has affected everyone ryan chandler [34:49] joins us tonight from shreveport so ryan what more do we know about the investigation into the gunman [34:53] well one urgent question that authorities have tonight is how did the gunman get the firearms that [35:00] police say he used in this shooting they say he used a handgun and a rifle style pistol in this terrible [35:07] crime but he was a convicted felon authorities say he was convicted in 2019 of the illegal use of a [35:13] weapon so legally he was not allowed to own those firearms tom okay ryan we thank you for that now to [35:19] a story that's taken on a life of its own online the fbi investigating a series of cases involving [35:24] missing or killed american scientists could they be connected nbc's gabe butierrez has more retired [35:32] major general william neal mccaslin was last seen in his home in new mexico in late february my husband [35:39] is missing tonight his case is at the center of swirling online conspiracies over the deaths or [35:45] disappearances of at least 10 scientists that have caught the attention of the white house i just left [35:51] the meeting on that subject so yeah pretty serious stuff an fbi spokesperson now confirms the bureau is [35:57] spearheading the effort to look for connections into the missing and deceased scientists so far [36:02] there's no evidence linking the cases but among the disappearances fueling speculation online monica [36:08] reza a former nasa scientist who vanished this past summer while hiking in california [36:13] and alabama-based anti-gravity researcher amy catherine eskridge whose death in 2022 was ruled a suicide [36:21] others have ties to nuclear research aerospace programs and classified projects that's definitely [36:27] something i think this government and administration would deem work worth looking into mccaslin's [36:31] disappearance has drawn a lot of attention because at one point he worked inside an air force base in [36:36] ohio long rumored to house extraterrestrial debris despite repeated air force denials and his wife [36:43] wrote on facebook it seems quite unlikely that he was taken to extract very dated secrets from him he also [36:51] retired from the military more than 12 years ago so there are still a lot of unanswered questions [36:56] when it comes to his case as well as all of the others that are drawing so much online speculation [37:02] now today the house oversight committee also said that it would conduct its own investigation formally [37:08] asking for a briefing from the defense department the energy department the fbi as well as nasa tom [37:16] okay gabe thank you for that meanwhile in washington president trump directed his administration to [37:21] speed up reviews of certain psychedelic drugs it's a movie says is directed at helping veterans as the [37:26] war with iran drags trump's approval rating down nbc news's white house correspondent julie sirkin has more [37:33] no you're not hallucinating these experimental treatments have shown life-changing potential [37:39] president trump signed an executive order on saturday speeding up reviews of certain psychedelic drugs [37:45] easing restrictions for medical research on psilocybin or magic mushrooms and ibogaine a natural [37:51] psychoactive drug even joking he'd be open to trying them can i have some please popular podcaster joe [37:58] rogan says he helped push the president on the issue i sent him that information the text message [38:04] but came back sounds great do you want fda approval let's do it it's a far cry from the 1970s when richard [38:13] nixon declared war on drugs public enemy number one in the united states is drug abuse while psychedelic [38:21] drugs remain banned federally some states and localities have decriminalized possession and use [38:27] though researchers say there are serious potential safety risks but a growing movement of veterans and [38:33] advocates have pushed for more research into the drugs potential medical benefits professor alex kwan [38:39] studies psychedelics and their effect on the brain at cornell university if you think back into the [38:44] 1970s and 1980s i think these drugs are viewed negatively but i think you know some of that could [38:50] be not fully warranted and i think now we're seeing more research and science into these drugs to [38:55] explore their potential positive benefits news some combat veterans like joshua wall are glad to hear [39:01] spent time in both iraq and afghanistan wall says he turned to the va when he returned home in 2009 [39:08] he was suffering from ptsd and spinal injuries i proceeded to go ahead and get on all the various [39:15] medications that the va prescribed to me try that for over a period of two years and it may be a shell [39:22] of a human being 10 years later the husband and dad tried microdosing on mushrooms would you say that [39:28] psilocybin healed you very much so do you know veterans personally whose lives have been saved by [39:34] psychedelics yes hundreds and hundreds veteran suicide rates are 58 higher than the general [39:41] population wall says he hopes this new research push could bring that number down dramatically we [39:47] just got tired of losing people we have the ability to say hey this is something that worked for me [39:52] and we can help you get better okay with that julie joins top story tonight julie the eo is meant to [39:58] speed up the review process right for sort of these drugs how fast are we talking well the president tom [40:04] was asked that exact question he made sure to highlight that this is still going through the [40:08] late stages of the advanced clinical trials to make sure these drugs are as safe as possible [40:13] veterans groups that i talked to though tom say this fast tracking eo may lead to approval in the [40:19] rescheduling process in a matter of months that would be huge but i think the point to take away from [40:24] this is that while this is still a substance under the controlled substances act meaning it has high [40:29] potential for abuse that professor that i talked to said look americans are seeking these treatments [40:34] anyway oftentimes going out of the country to mexico or south america wouldn't it be safer [40:40] if they could do it here under a controlled environment with scientists and doctors present [40:44] tom okay julie circuit for us julie we thank you for that still ahead tonight circus nightmare look at [40:50] this video a tiger escaping its enclosure after a malfunction on stage leaping into the crowd filled with [40:57] families of tiger people what happened next also one giant step for robot kind humanoids going [41:03] head to head against actual humans in a half marathon who came out on top we'll show you next [41:10] okay we're going to turn now to top stories global watch and we start in japan where the country is on [41:21] alert after a powerful earthquake today it hit in northern japan sparking a tsunami alert and leaving [41:27] at least two people hurt that according to an emergency agency the 7.7 magnitude quake also caused [41:33] authorities to warn of a possible mega quake for some areas along the coast we will stay on top of that one [41:38] and an investigation in europe over jars of baby food that german police say were deliberately tainted [41:44] with rat poison they say they found five contaminated jars across austria the czech republic and slovakia [41:51] so far no reports of anyone getting sick but police say one more tainted jar [41:55] is still unaccounted for officials say the incident may have been part of an attempt to extort the [41:59] manufacturer and shocking video out of russia of a tiger getting loose during a circus the video shows a [42:05] net barrier dropping down allowing the animal to leap into the crowd you can see that tiger [42:10] moving throughout the seats before a worker appears to try to wrangle it russian state media reports [42:15] people were escorted out of the arena and that nobody was hurt okay earlier in the show we told you [42:20] about that superhuman feat accomplished at this year's boston marathon but another race across the globe [42:26] in beijing is setting records for robot kind nbc's janice mackey frayer was at the world's only robot [42:32] half marathon where people run alongside the machines in the race to build robots that are faster and [42:39] smarter big strides are being made here in china at a half marathon pitting more than a hundred humanoid [42:47] robots beside 12 000 real life runners the machines were on the move some whipping by at speeds up to 15 [42:56] miles per hour leaving the entire field behind the winner called lightning finishing the 13 miles [43:04] faster than any human ever 50 minutes 26 seconds shattering the current world record by nearly seven [43:11] minutes it was a technological leap from last year's race when only six of 21 humanoids finished and the [43:19] rest fizzled this time nearly half the robots were autonomous running on their own without people [43:26] controlling them while it all seems a bit science fiction the spectacle here speaks to a bigger race [43:32] between china and the u.s to develop machines that think and move like people intercity technology robots [43:41] can run groove even get sassy you're making my circus feel all warm and fuzzy [43:48] robots today have the body of mike tyson but need the brain of stephen hawking says the ceo [43:59] once that's solved the scope for imagination here is immense you ready go humanoids are expected to [44:08] someday be capable of doing nearly any job from critical repair work to caring for the elderly [44:14] in that sense it was reassuring the race was not without its setbacks there were face plants and [44:26] stretchers some finishes showing more flair than others suggesting humans still have skin in the game [44:37] for now compared to last year's race the advances in speed and endurance are really kind of hard to [44:43] compute a lot of the human runners were slowing down or stopping running the marathon altogether so they [44:49] could watch the robots whiz past it's like this very public stress test for the robotics industry [44:55] with the teams already working on adjustments to their humanoids to make them even better for next [45:01] year's race all right janice mackey frayer for us we thank you coming up another competition that's [45:08] raising eyebrows our brian chung takes us inside the world of competitive rock paper scissors is there [45:14] really a strategy to the age-old game we'll explain and we put his skills to the test right here we're back [45:24] now with the game as old as time rock paper scissors and while it may be popular on the playground [45:29] some are taking the sport yes sport to the next level mbc's brian chung tries his hand at some high [45:35] level rochambeau rock paper scissors shoot it's a game of strategy and chance with simple rules rock [45:49] beats scissors paper beats rock scissors beats paper a playground pastime passed down through generations [45:56] from the classic to seemingly endless variations that's fire beats everything does it beat water [46:04] balloon but did you know according to the world rock paper scissors association it goes back more than [46:11] 2 000 years to ancient china where the original game called so she ling is said to have included three [46:17] animals a frog a snake and a centipede in japan it evolved to a fox village headspin and hunter and [46:25] finally to today's modern hand signals now played by billions worldwide and beyond it appears they are [46:31] going with rock paper scissors but make no mistake for some it's a sport with real tournaments like this [46:37] one at notre dame and in china where 10 000 people competed in the largest rock paper scissors tournament [46:48] back in 2019 before attending a local tournament myself i spent over 15 minutes mastering the art of [46:58] throwing rock paper and scissors as ready as i'd ever be i headed to new jersey here the state [47:04] lottery is hosting hundreds of rock paper scissors enthusiasts vying for a ten thousand dollar grand [47:10] prize i'm trying to win ten thousand on the line man get that paper and then can i pull it what's this [47:15] is this a secret one this one has a typo what's the type of don't throw don't throw rock i think [47:21] people get it but yeah you know we can do a little spell check the rules are strictly enforced paper looks like [47:26] this okay this is the one that people mess up a lot i want to make sure their paper looks like mine [47:30] with your palm flat and their fingers together tell me about the the mask first uh it was in case all [47:36] else fails put on the mask some players saying it's a game of psychology it's based on their previous [47:42] throw the odds of what the next throw will be and whether they're going in order through rock paper [47:48] scissors which most people will do it's elbow movement you can actually see what somebody's [47:55] going to throw out you pay attention paper first why i read it was better i read everybody does rock [48:01] first others say there isn't any one winning strategy whatever came out of my hand no strategy [48:09] whatever my hand shows it shows i'm italian so they talk we had a tied tutu but i was feeling very [48:16] papery and she just happened to be there with the scissors i didn't see that coming what's that [48:22] postseason prep going to look like for you yeah honestly the grind never stops honestly me and coach [48:26] have talked about it we need more forearm grips a lot more chin-ups after three days of competition [48:32] beating 383 people on the way 29 year old veterinary assistant julio rivera emerged victorious so you [48:40] have no strategy it's just it's just my gut wasn't the heart it was the gut rock rock rock until paper [48:48] now it was my time to suit up and take on the current champion the regular pace [48:55] the tension building my heart racing he keeps so he keeps the money either way so [49:13] i get a participation trophy i got it i beat the first let's go all right brian joins us now brian [49:20] great story i see you're taking this role very seriously training is really important um so you [49:25] look like you're pretty good i'd love to take you done some rock paper scissors of my day okay so if [49:29] you're ready to go all right that's the one right here best of one okay and you go on shoot by the [49:33] way that's what that's what the referee said all right ready i'll go one paper six three no okay okay [49:39] okay right rock paper scissors shoot oh sweet i don't know about that i want to re a replay felt like [49:47] like he was a little bit i'll give it to you bud you're good bud you're good great story bro [49:52] really thank you so much appreciate it all right that does it for us tonight thanks so much for [49:55] watching top story i'm tom yamas in new york stay right there more news on the way we thank you for [50:05] watching and remember stay updated on breaking news and top stories on the nbc news app or watch live on our [50:11] youtube channel