Transcripts For KNTV NBC Nightly News With Lester Holt 20240917

The suspect now federally charged. The new body cam, the suspect arrested after fleeing the area of mr. Trumps West Palm beach Golf Course. Cell phone records indicating he had been lying in wait for nearly 12 hours. A secret Service Agent spotting the rifle in the bushes and opening fire. The agency now saying the suspect never got off a shot. What he allegedly left behind, a Semiautomatic Rifle with a scope, a Digital Camera and backpack. The investigation. Tonight the suspects criminal history and the questions how did this happen again. Also tonight, the massive Pipeline Explosion near houston, a pillar of Fire And Smoke forcing evacuations. The storm battering the carolina coast. Lifethreatening Flash Flooding and strong winds. Were tracking it. Our Nbc News Investigation. The family who didnt know their Loved One had died, only to learn he had been deemed unclaimed, his Body Parts sold to science. The Medical School thats built a thriving business off people like him. The first image of the Titan Submersible wreckage on the Ocean Floor after it imploded, and one of the final messages from On Board. And on tvs biggest night, shogun and The Bear making history at the emmys. Announcer this is Nbc Nightly News with lester holt. Good evening and welcome, everyone. The Acting Head of the u. S. Secret service said today that the Security Plan in Place Yesterday to protect former President Trump during a Golf Outing worked, saying the gunman who was flushed from a concealed spot by his secret Service Agent did not have line of sight of mr. Trump. In a Press Briefing late this afternoon, federal Law Enforcement officials revealing Cell Phone data shows the suspect, ryan wesley routh, appears to have remained hidden for 12 hours before he was discovered hiding in a tree line, fired at by an agent, and leaving an Assault Rifle and other gear behind before being apprehended peacefully following a traffic stop. It was the second such attempt on the former president s life since july. That Attempt Prompting beefed up security for mr. Trump. Today the suspect appeared in Federal Court in West Palm beach. Garrett haake leads us off tonight from florida. Keep walking Reporter Tonight newly released Body Camera Video showing the suspect in the apparent Assassination Attempt of former President Trump as he was arrested sunday in florida. Whats your name . Ryan. Ryan . He was just driving with the flow of traffic. Yeah, i i think that he may have thought he got away with it. It was probably the highest profile stop this Sheriffs Office has ever made. Reporter all of it just two months after the Assassination Attempt against trump in butler, pennsylvania, with new Questions Tonight about how another armed suspect was able to get close to the republican nominee. The suspect in Sundays Incident ryan wesley routh, charged today in Federal Court with possession of a firearm by a prohibited Person And Possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number, with more charges likely to follow. Our Fbi Agent then attempted to interview him, and he invoked his right to an attorney. Reporter according to court documents, Rouths Phone Signal suggests he had been hiding in the bushes by the fence of trumps Golf Courses for nearly 12 hours, from 1 59 a. M. Until 1 31 p. M. Thats when while according to the documents, while trump was golfing, a secret Service Agent spotted a Rifle Poking out of the tree line. The agent opened fire and the suspect fled. This Photo Showing what he left behind, including the Semiautomatic Rifle with scope, Gopro Camera and a backpack. With Ceramic Tiles as potential body armor. A witness saw a man fleeing, giving information to authorities critical to his arrest. Tonight the acting Secret Service director saying hes talked to trump. Have you briefed former President Trump on your findings so far . And has his campaign asked for any changes in his security going forward after yesterday . So ive had a conversation with the former president. The president is aware that he has highest levels of protection that the Secret Service is providing him. Reporter and tonight were learning more about the suspects background. His north Carolina Home was searched by authorities overnight. Court records show a lengthy criminal history, including a conviction for possession of a machine gun. He had some problems with feds and stuff. I would never have thought he would try to kill the president. Reporter routh was an outspoken supporter of ukraine who visited the country in 2022. From every country around the world come to kyiv. Reporter on social media, the suspect called trump his, quote, choice in 2016 who had since become a disappointment. Routh contributed to democrats in 2019 and voted in the democratic primary in 2020. He also criticized trump, writing in april, quote, democracy is on the ballot, and we cannot lose. Today trump arguing the suspect, quote, believed the rhetoric of biden and harris, and he acted on it, comments echoing last weeks debate. I probably took a bullet to the head because of the things that they say about me. They talk about democracy, im a threat to democracy. Reporter trump has also used incendiary language against democrats, and authorities have not yet revealed a motive in either incident. Vice president harris condemned political violence writing, quote, i am thankful that former President Trump is safe. And this today from President Biden. In america, we resolve our differences peacefully at the ballot box, not at the end of a gun. And garrett, we just heard the suspect is not talking, but it sounds like authorities are finding a lot of information rather quickly and starting to piece things together. Reporter yeah, thats right, lester. Authorities say the suspect never had a direct line of sight on former President Trump, and never fired a shot thanks to the fast action of that agent. Officials believe this person acted alone, but they still dont know if or how he knew that the former president would be here yesterday. Lester . All right, garrett haake, thanks very much. The Secret Service already under scrutiny from the first attempt on mr. Trumps life, now facing new questions, including how an armed suspect was able to hide along trumps Golf Course for nearly 12 hours. Kelly odonnell is at the white house. Reporter a dire challenge for the Secret Service tonight, doing more amid real dangers. What happens [ gunshots ] reporter and heightened threats. Keep walking we cannot have failures. In order to do that, were going to have some hard conversations with congress. Reporter while the agent who spotted the and fired on the suspect is getting praise, The Agency is also facing questions, including why the Secret Service had not searched the bushes where the alleged assailant hid for nearly 12 hours. The Acting Director says that kind of advanced search is not part of an unscheduled stop. This wasnt an offtherecord movement. It wasnt a site that was on his schedule it wasnt part of his schedule. There was no posting up of it because he wasnt supposed to have gone there. Reporter earlier today President Biden said more funding is necessary. The service needs more help, and i think the congress should respond to their needs. Reporter the scope of the Agencys Duty has grown larger with more protectees. Now more than 40 individuals, current and former officials, candidates and families under protection. House Speaker Johnson says mr. Trumps security must get more. Were demanding in the house that he have every asset available, and we will make more available if necessary. Reporter in july, President Biden ordered an increase of the Security Force around former President Trump and Vice President harris. Today the Acting Director said those changes are in effect. The Secret Service moved to sustain increases in assets and the level of protection sought. And those things were in Place Yesterday. Kelly, there is a lot of talk about the difference in Secret Service protection between a sitting president and a candidate like former President Trump. What is it . Reporter well, lester, the sitting president has extensive Military Support and sophisticated communications required to carry out the duties of the office. That remain different. But mr. Trump and Vice President harris are getting more assets like drones and greater number of agents. Lester . All right, kelly, thank you. Well turn now to the massive inferno forcing evacuations in texas. A Pipeline Explosion sending a massive pillar of flames and smoke into the sky that could be seen for miles. Our Priscilla Thompson is there for us. Priscilla, good evening. Reporter lester, good evening. That fire is still shooting flames up into the air, and you can feel the heat on the ground here as firefighters are preparing to possibly work through the night. An explosion of flames consumed the skies in deer park, texas after officials say a natural Gas Pipeline erupted. What do you remember about this morning . The boom. I mean, it was a loud explosion. It was a big fiery ball that went up above those trees. Reporter behind rose marie allens home, flames and billowing black smoke. At least one firefighter has been injured, officials say. No word on how many structures may be damaged or destroyed. A lot of the house structures that are adjacent to that are still catching on fire. It keeps getting bigger. Reporter homes, schools, and several businesses ordered to evacuate. This Video Showing just how close the flames were to shopping centers. Students at nearby San Jacinto College forced to shelter in place. Um, it was just scary because what if it explodes again. Reporter the cause of the inferno remains under investigation, officials say. The owner of the pipeline, energy transfer, saying in a statement an unknown car may have hit a pipeline valve. Officials say theyve turned the pipeline off, but tonight the community still on edge. It will be hours, if not into tonight or tomorrow. It will be a while before it goes out. Reporter Priscilla Thompson, Nbc News, deer park, texas. In the southeast tonight, an unnamed Storm Unleashing Lifethreatening Flash floods and strong winds on the coast of the carolinas. Roads washed out, vehicles submerged and multiple rescues as more than 15 inches fell in some areas. A critical day for tiktok. The popular video app, the company in court challenging a law that could force its chinese owner to sell the platform or face a ban in the u. S. Here is savannah sellers. Reporter tiktok in court today. Save Tiktok Reporter getting its first chance to fight back against a law passed in april that could essentially ban the app in a matter of months. The governments concern, that its chinese owned Parent Company could secretly influence americans by manipulating what content is seen and exploiting user data. The problem is that lets say data is extremely valuable to a foreign adversary trying to compromise the security of the united states. Reporter in heavily redacted court documents, the Justice Department and a senior u. S. Intelligence official say they dont have direct evidence that china has used tiktok for propaganda in the u. S. , but they say there is significant risk that could happen. Tiktok arguing thats not enough. They dont claim anything has happened yet. They claim there is future chinese control, and therefore we can burden in a very significant way the speech of the u. S. Entity and its users. Reporter the judge is appearing sympathetic to claims from tiktok and a group of content creators that the law violates the first amendment, but they pushed lawyers on why those protections should apply to a foreignowned company. Right now the app used by 170 Million americans is on the clock. If tiktok loses in court, it would have to sell to an American Company by january or it would face that effective ban. Now the judges are expected to rule by december, and the losing side of this case is likely to request the u. S. Supreme court to step in, meaning any potential ban could still be years away. Lester . Okay, savannah, thank you. In just 60 seconds, the dramatic new image. The wreckage of the Titan Submersible on the Ocean Floor, next. A perfect day for a Family Outing shingles doesnt care. But shingrix protects. 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Were back now with an update about the Titan Submersible disaster, with new details about what went wrong as we see the first image of the vessel on the Ocean Floor. Tom costello joins us. Tom, some pretty disturbing insights today. Yeah, absolutely. And the Coast Guard Today released animation of titans submersibles fatal dive in 2023 and revealed that one of the last messages from the five people On Board was simply all good here. And a short time later they sent a code that they were dropping weights, possibly to surface, before titan suddenly imploded. A new photo shows Titans Tail Cone resting on the Ocean Floor, not far from the wreck of the titanic oceangates former Engineering Director said he was fired for refusing to pilot titan, and warning the Ceo Stockton Rush that the Carbon Fiber Hull would not withstand crushing ocean depths. Others issued similar warnings, but rush insisted and rush was among those who died in the accident. Lester . All right, tom costello, thank you. Were back in a moment with one our tenmonth investigation. When one veteran died, his corpse went unclaimed and parts of his body were sold for medical research. Tonight the dramatic step officials took when they learned about our report. After a Tnf Blocker like Humira Or Remicade . Put them in check with rinvoq. Rinvoq works differently and its a oncedaily pill. When symptoms tried to take control, i got rapid relief with rinvoq. Check. When flares tried to slow me down, i got lasting Steroidfree Remission with rinvoq. Check. And when my doctor saw damage, rinvoq helped visibly reduce damage of the intestinal lining. Check. Rapid symptom relief. Lasting, Steroidfree Remission. And visibly reduced damage. Check, check and check. Rinvoq can lower your ability to fight infections, including tb. Serious infections and blood clots, some fatal; cancers, including lymphoma and skin; Heart Attack, stroke, and gi tears occurred. 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If you are on eylea or a similar type of treatment, ask your Retina Specialist about Eylea Hd today for the potential for fewer injections. It is a distu it is a disturbing story out of texas. A Medical School thats been studying and leasing out the Body Parts of unclaimed people without the consent of any survivors. After an Nbc News Investigation exposed its findings, the center suspended the program, despite months of defending its practices. Here is liz kreutz. Reporter Victor Carl Honey was a u. S. Military veteran who served in the army for nearly a decade. He was very friendly. He was outgoing, a nice dresser. Reporter after being honorably discharged, he began struggling with mental illness and homelessness. Then in 2022, he died of an apparent Heart Attack while living alone on the streets of dallas. [ taps playing ] honey was entitled to a burial with military honors, but instead, something else happened. I think they think homeless black man, he aint got no family, they dont care about him. Youre wrong about this one. Reporter an nbc investigation found that honey was more than 2300 people who died in the dallasfort worth region and were given to a state Medical School that used and made money off their Body Parts at times as their own families searched for them. For honey, within a month of his death, the dallas medical Examiners Office deemed him unclaimed, Reporting Phones for Family Members they tried were disconnected. And yet he did have relatives, some living right there in dallas. His exwife kimberly and their two adult children say they had even visited honey in a hospital months prior to his death. To hear that your exhusband has been deemed an unclaimed person, whats your reaction to that . Thats crazy. Were here. Weve always been here. His son has his same name. How can he be unclaimed. Reporter this is where victor Honeys Body was then taken, the university of north Texas Health Science center, where according to government documents, his body was then frozen, cut into pieces and sent out to different medical groups across the country, all without his prior consent or his familys knowledge. Those documents show honeys severed right leg sent to a swedish medical Device Maker for 341. His torso shipped to a medical Education Company in pittsburgh which paid 900. And for 210, a pair of bones from his skull went to the u. S. Army for military medical training. His right leg was sold . Yes, maam,. Reporter his temporal bone, his torso . Yes, maam. Reporter do you think he would have wanted this . No. He never wanted to be the ten years we were married, he never wanted to be an organ donor. We talked about it. Reporter and honey is not alone. Nbc News Reviewed Thousands of pages of government records and data that reveal repeated failures to reach Family Members before declaring a body unclaimed. Our team has identified 12 cases in which families learned months or years later that a Loved One had been provided to the Medical School. Five of those families found out what happened from Nbc News, including honeys, a year and a half after his death. I dont believe they tried to find us. I dont believe they did. You can find people. Nbc found me in a day. You can find people. Reporter why do you think they did it . For money. They did to it him, a decorated military veteran. Theyll do it to anybody. And thats not okay. Reporter for five years, the university of north Texas Health Science center has had agreements with dallas and tarrant counties to take their unclaimed bodies for free, saving them a combined million a Year And Cremation in burial costs. It also helped the school, making it about 2. 5 million a year by leasing Body Parts to outside groups, according to financial records. Somebody needs to answer for what they did, what theyre doing. Reporter for ten months, our team has been seeking answers from both counties and the Health Science Center. All three declined our repeated requests for interviews, but in statements, the counties told us they would be reviewing their contracts. The Health Science Center at first defended its program, arguing using unclaimed bodies is critical in the training of future doctors. But just days before this story was set to air, it made a stunning reversal, telling Nbc News it was suspending the program and firing the top officials who led it. Writing in a statement, as a result of the information brought to light through your inquiries, it has become clear that failures existed. Theyre hiring a Consulting Firm to investigate the programs operations. My kids want answers. They want justice for their dad. Reporter Honeys Family recently received ashes that the county told them were his. We dont believe those are his ashes, but we gave him and did what he deserved as a decorated military veteran. Reporter and so this summer, nearly two years after he died, the family finally laid honey to rest. You would think in this days time, this doesnt happen here in america. But, yeah, it does. It did. Liz, is this a common practice . Reporter well, lester, its actually legal in nearly every single state nationwide, but there is no national data that tracks it, which is why we conducted our own survey. We reached out the 51 major u. S. Medical centers to get a sense of how pervasive this actually is. We will bring the results of that survey on a story coming up soon here on nightly news. A very troubling story. Liz, thanks very much. 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There is good News Tonight about the historic firsts on one of entertainments biggest nights. Here is steve patterson. Reporter In A Celebration Of Hollywood that can sometimes feel like its following the same decades long sprint and the Emmy Goes To reporter Last Night was filled with new age firsts. Shogun. Reporter sure, shoguns showstopping success was somewhat expected. But for a partially translated japanese period piece, this was a samurai style conquest. Arigato reporter raking in a record 18 emmys in its first season including best drama and a sweep of the best acting awards. Hiroyuki Sanada Reporter crowning the first japanese actor to win an emmy, and just moments later and the Emmy Goes To Anna Sawai Reporter Anna Sawai became the first asian actress to ever win best Female Lead in a drama. To all the women who expect nothing and continue to be an example for everyone. Reporter fxs The Bear sizzled again in the Comedy Category with several wins, but it was Actress Liza colonzayas emotional win that stole the show. I just to see you make it. Reporter colonzayas making history as the first latina awarded outstanding supporting actress in a comedy. To all the latinas who were looking at me, keep believing and vote. Reporter An Old Celebration highlighting a night of new achievements. This Show Tonight has proved that our industry is making progress. Reporter steve patterson, Nbc News, hollywood. And that is nightly news for this monday. Thank you for watching. Im lester holt. Please take care of yourself and each other. Good night