Good morning. It's 10 a.m. Eastern and 7 a.m. on the West Coast. I'm Christine Romans. Let's get you current. The midterm countdown: just 12 days to go. The president back on the campaign trail tonight as a controversial attack ad puts Republicans on the defensive. Plus, an American teacher detained in Russia now back on U.S. soil — the negotiations that secured his release. Meta ordered to pay billions over allegations it misled users about data privacy; the company's fiery response to the penalty. And a major security flaw found in more than half of the world's websites and apps — the urgent race to patch it.
And good to be with you this Thursday, October 22nd. We've got a lot of news to get to this morning. Let's begin this hour with the battle for power in Washington. Election Day 12 days away, but there's a chance your friends and neighbors have already voted. NBC News is tracking nearly 17 million early votes cast across 46 states. Last night, President Trump was in South Carolina, one of those reliably red states that Democrats are trying to make competitive. It's part of the president's big midterm blitz. He's on the campaign trail almost every day now leading up to November 3rd. Next up, a rally tonight in the great state of Iowa. The state is home to nearly 87,000 individual farms. That means those sky-high diesel prices, which took off after the U.S. went to war with Iran. Diesel will be top of mind for many Iowans when they head to the polls. President Trump last night asking voters to wait just a little longer.
Interest rates are very soon going to be falling, just like oil, gas — everything is going to be. We watch what's going to be happening very soon.
All right. NBC News senior White House correspondent Gabe Gutierrez is here. Gabe, in Iowa tonight, the president will be alongside the Republican running for Senate there, Ashley Hinson. She told our Tom Llamas she disagrees with the president on Russia and Iran. Listen.
What are you going to tell him about Russia and Iran?
I think that's a bad idea. I don't think we should be making deals with Russia. I do want to see the war come to an end as soon as possible. I want it to be successful.
Your opponent says that a vote for you is a vote for President Trump. Is he wrong?
My vote for me is a vote for Iowa.
It speaks to the interesting dynamic in these close races.
Yeah, that's right, Christine. Look, in not just the Iowa race, but also the one in Michigan, where we saw another contentious debate overnight, it seems candidates on both sides are actually trying to go more towards the center. You just heard Ashley Hinson there talking with Tom Llamas, trying to make the case that she is not tied directly to President Trump. But Christine, she was just here at the White House a couple of weeks ago. I was in the event with her in the Oval Office, and yes, she had started to criticize the Iran war. But I spoke with a senior White House official, and I asked this person whether she had brought it up directly with President Trump. This person said that she had not. And it seems that the White House is giving some of these Republican candidates some leeway when it comes to establishing some daylight between themselves and the president over the Iraq war, just as long as they don't go too far and directly attack the president — which is something Maria Salazar did in Florida when it came to immigration, came out more strongly against the president, and the president pushed back considerably. But in Iowa, yes, the president heading there today. A close race between the Republican and Josh Turek as well, who I know Tom spoke with as well. But very close races where both candidates — the Democrat is kind of trying to paint the Republican as too close to President Trump, and the Republican is trying to paint the Democrat as radical left and communist, as the president says. Should be interesting to see how this plays out in the coming days.
Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, the president is now responding to that controversial attack ad in the Ohio governor's race. Republican Vivek Ramaswamy releasing this ad. You can see this woman there — that's the estranged mother of his opponent, Amy Acton. In it, that woman calls Acton a liar. What the ad leaves out, Gabe, is that that woman lost custody of her kids decades ago amid accusations of child abuse, because when Acton was 12 years old, her stepfather was indicted for raping her. Now Democrats condemn this ad. Ohio's Republican senator said he would not have released it. Now, President Trump and Vice President Vance weighing in.
I don't know anything about it. I heard that there's something where his — her mother went against her. It's a very unusual situation to have a mother hate a daughter that much, but I don't think that has anything to do with Vivek.
Vivek Ramaswamy had the audacity to run a TV commercial, which calls it out like it is, and calls Amy Acton a liar.
And the vice president also telling Republicans to stop whining about that ad.
Yeah, that's right, Christine. The vice president coming out yesterday, strongly sticking by Vivek Ramaswamy and saying that he was disgusted that Republicans — some Republicans — were whining about this ad. And it wasn't just Senator John Houston that said he wouldn't run it; there have been others across the country. For example, Nancy Mace in South Carolina, who, by the way, has been open about the fact that she was sexually assaulted in the past. She came out and strongly condemned the ad. But the vice president, you know, expressing some disgust, some frustration that Republicans are even complaining about it. But this all comes as this race in Ohio is getting uglier and uglier. Yes, Vivek Ramaswamy, his campaign now saying that it plans to spend several million dollars — $4 million — for that ad to air on TV statewide. So certainly he's not backing down. And it appears that this administration, the vice president and the president, they aren't condemning the ad either.
All right, Gabe Gutierrez, thank you so much for that. I want to bring in Democratic strategist Julie Roginsky. Julie, about 750,000 people already casting ballots in Ohio, early voting. You know, many people have made up their minds. Do you think this ad and the controversy around it change any minds here?
I do. I mean, listen, I've been in politics for 30 years. I've cut my share of negative ads, but there are lines you just do not cross, and Vivek Ramaswamy crossed that line about 100 miles ago. I don't care where you are on policy — this is a disqualifying factor as a human being. Is this somebody you really want running your state? He has zero sympathy for little girls who get raped and raped by a member of their family. The fact that this woman, her mother, fled with her, with her husband, to another state and stayed with him until his death, chose this rapist over her own daughter, is disqualifying not just for her but for the people who are platforming her, for the people who are saying that her word means something when her own daughter was allegedly a victim of rape. I mean, this is — you know, I don't care where you are on taxes, I don't care where you are on paving roads. This is not somebody who should be anywhere near making any kind of decisions for our children and our families. And if this were a Democrat, I would say exactly the same thing. This is way beyond partisan politics for me and for a lot of other people.
Hey, Julie, last night was also the final Michigan Senate debate. Both of those candidates going after each other on the economy and the war with Iran. Watch this.
Democratic Senate Candidate
7:35 ↗
He supports this war, and I want you to understand exactly what happened. Now, the consequences of this war are that you are paying nearly $5 in gas. You're paying more in groceries because of the price of diesel.
Republican Senate Candidate
7:46 ↗
If you are going to go to the United States Senate, we need to know: are you for America or are you for these terrorist groups overseas? Well, you can grin and you can smile and you can talk real pretty, but I'm going to tell you what — that is a risk to our national security.
What, Julie, are the issues that are going to decide that race?
I mean, look, you've got a kind of very interesting dynamic here. You've got an old-school Republican in Rogers who's, you know, pro-military intervention, lower taxes, the whole gamut — almost in a pre-Trump way, although Trump has obviously moved to that point now in a way that he hadn't in the first term. And then you've got a candidate who just doesn't go along with a lot of the things that previous candidates felt they had to go along with in order to get a broader coalition of Democrats to support them. And so it's going to be interesting to see not just whether — look, I think ultimately, I'll say he's going to win. It's a Democratic year. He's going to be swept in. The question for me is, what is that margin, and what does the Democratic Party take out of this race? Do they think that he signals some sort of future, no-compromises way of campaigning? Or do they understand that if he does win, it's going to be largely on the back of this huge Democratic wave that is apparently coming in November?
All right, Julie Roginsky, nice to see you. Thank you. 12 days to go. You can all dive deeper into the 2026 midterms with the NBC News polling page, early vote data, expert analysis and more subscriber-only content. Scan the QR code on your screen to subscribe below. All right, we want to turn to some breaking news here. Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel are set to hold a news conference any moment now in Virginia. We've just learned Virginia State Senator Louise Lucas has surrendered in a public corruption case involving her cannabis business. Joining me now, NBC News legal affairs reporter Gary Grumbach. Gary, walk us through what we know right now.
Yeah. This is a remarkable indictment, Christine. She's one of the most powerful Democrats in the Commonwealth of Virginia, now indicted on five counts of drug and finance-related charges. She's self-surrendering, along with a number of members of her family and close associates. There are a total of seven people charged in this indictment for racketeering, conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute marijuana, along with other charges. This is a really significant racketeering and drug enterprise that prosecutors are alleging here, saying that she arranged for the acquisition and distribution of more than 220 pounds of marijuana, and that she was making money from this business. She was warned, apparently, according to this indictment, several times by high-level senior law enforcement officials that this was in fact illegal, because in the state of Virginia you cannot sell marijuana if it is not for a medical purpose at this particular moment. But she had responded several times that she wanted generational wealth, and she said, quote, 'I am too old not to be greedy.'
All right, Gary Grumbach, we'll continue to watch that when that press conference happens. Thank you. We'll monitor and bring you any new information as we have it. Thanks, Gary. A retired American teacher released from a Russian prison, now back on U.S. soil after more than four years. Steven Hubbard touching down at Lackland Air Base in Texas overnight. The news of his release breaking just before a meeting between U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Russia's Vladimir Putin, where Moscow also agreed to resume talks with Ukraine. And yet, within hours, Russia launched a new wave of strikes on Kyiv, killing more than 20 people. I want to bring in NBC News White House correspondent Monica Alba. Monica, Hubbard is a 74-year-old retired teacher. He was detained by Russia after being accused of fighting for Ukraine. What do we know about his condition?
Well, we know that his family is speaking out, Christine, and is so grateful to the president, to the Trump administration, that he was able to return to the U.S. He will now undergo the typical medical and psychological evaluation that anybody who has been held hostage like this for a number of years would undergo. That's why he is in Texas at that facility. Though, the president says that he may come to the White House in the next few days or so. We know they spoke by phone yesterday, but here's a little bit more that our own colleague, Garrett Haake, was able to learn from Steven Hubbard's son yesterday.
I think my father was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I think it served the interests of low-level military men to say, 'Hey, we got this American. It's a trophy.' He got bumped up the chain of command, and, you know, things happen. Things happen in war. Unexplainable, tragic. We're glad that he's home.
And we know, Christine, that the president said that he personally requested the release of Steven Hubbard in a phone call with President Putin just in the last week or so. And his family is saying today that they are extremely surprised at how quickly this all moved, and they're just so happy to have him back home.
Hey, Monica, there's bipartisan backlash today after Witkoff called Putin a humanitarian, and yet we've got new reporting that maybe flattering Putin might be a strategy here.
I mean, this is something that sort of follows a pattern that we have seen with this president over the last couple of weeks, in making moves and saying things publicly that have been a bit more complimentary, a bit more in the flattery category to President Putin. And the president is defending that, saying that he's basically doing that as part of a multi-pronged strategy for negotiation. On the one hand, he said that he had to give Russia that sanctions relief, that pause; otherwise, he doesn't think he would be able to say that Steven Hubbard is now back home and released and free. And on the other hand, he's saying, Christine, that there is still this larger negotiation to see if a war between Russia and Ukraine can actually be brought to an end, after the president promised to do that on his first day in office of this second term. So the president is basically defending this strategy while being extremely critical of Ukrainian President Zelenskyy in recent days, saying that that country needs new leadership. But all of that is raising questions about whether there could be a trilateral meeting in the next month or so between Russia, Ukraine and the United States. The Kremlin saying there's a possibility for that to take place in Abu Dhabi. The White House has not weighed in on that yet.
Christine.
Monica Alba at the White House. Thank you, Monica. Meta is vowing to appeal a New Mexico judge's order that it is to pay $25 billion in penalties. Meta owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. Last month, the jury found Meta misled users about the privacy of their data on its apps. Meta saying the decision, quote, 'makes it all but impossible to do business in the state of New Mexico.' Here's NBC senior legal correspondent Laura Jarrett.
Hey there. The penalty here, $25 billion, marks the largest fine ever against Meta in a year with a string of legal blows. But this latest one is now resurfacing long-running questions about what the tech giant says it does to protect your data versus what it does in practice. This — Meta facing another massive penalty.
This is a $25 billion message that should be read loud and clear all across this country.
A judge in New Mexico now ordering the parent company of Facebook and Instagram to pay $25 billion after a jury found Meta misrepresented how it safeguarded user data years ago. The judge finding the harm in this matter is difficult to overstate: 'Facebook promised users that they controlled their data. This was false.' At trial, jurors watched a video deposition of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, where he was confronted with a 2010 op-ed he wrote saying Facebook does not share personal information with people or services you don't want.
I think saying that you will never do something is different from saying you do not do something.
The state of New Mexico first sued Meta back in 2021, following revelations that Cambridge Analytica, the now-defunct political consulting firm, collected data from Facebook for voter profiling and targeting. Meta eventually admitted that data from as many as 87 million Facebook users had been improperly shared with the firm, which had worked with the Trump campaign ahead of the 2016 election. Savannah pressing Facebook leader Sheryl Sandberg in 2018 on why the company didn't immediately tell its users their data was taken.
We thought the data had been deleted. That's why.
But that doesn't mean you don't tell the users, 'Hey, this was stolen from you.'
Yes, you're right, and we should have done that.
Because it feels like Facebook was trying to get away with it.
I don't think that's true. But of course you're right.
The tech giant now vowing to appeal this ruling, saying in a statement, 'This lawsuit seeks to impose a tax on speech and to enforce new rules for what people can say online.' New Mexico's Attorney General Raul Torres firing back.
This has nothing to do with Meta's claims to be protecting speech, and everything to do with their misconduct and their pattern and practice of lying to people about what they do with consumer data.
As for what the real impact this latest penalty will have, Meta said in its earnings report Wednesday that its third-quarter income would have been nearly $10 billion more if not for that other major settlement back in August with states over protecting teens on social media platforms. Back to you guys.
All right, Laura, thank you. I want to bring in NBC News legal analyst Misty Morris. Misty, Meta is vowing to appeal, but clearly juries have not been very favorable to this company.
No, absolutely. And what they're going to do is they're going to appeal not only the jury verdict, but also the penalty. And the legal theories are going to be with the penalty that it's excessive, that it violates due process, the Eighth Amendment. There also you see in that quote regarding the First Amendment. The argument Meta has made is that all these lawsuits should be precluded by Rule 230, which protects social media companies from what third parties post on their platform, and they say these consumer protection laws are being used in the wrong way, and that actually these lawsuits should have never been brought to begin with. But the most interesting argument, Christine, the one that has legs, is that the violations were calculated based on New Mexico's entire population. The argument was that the entire state was deceived, as opposed to just those residents who used Facebook. That's a novel argument, because you always have to prove harm in order for an award. So think about how that could bring it down when you're talking about a per-violation penalty, if there's less people that that would relate to that calculation.
Yeah. Most people know this company as Facebook or Instagram. The company is called Meta, and it has a stock that trades on Wall Street. And that stock is getting hit today. That earnings report — the company said it would have made more money if it weren't for some of these losses it's had. This is still a very big company. $25 billion, I guess, technically is a drop in the bucket. They make a lot of money.
$25 billion — that's a huge penalty. But you're right, they do make a lot of money. But I think that's where you see the global strategy of Meta from the legal perspective. They have some cases that they're settling with 48 states just this past August, $18 billion. They're controlling that risk. Others going to trial. So I don't think they're looking at any of these individual cases in a vacuum. They're approaching it strategically with everything going on across the country.
All right, watch this space for sure. Thank you. All right, the race to protect the world's websites is on. AI discovering a bug that could threaten nearly 70% of global websites. The creators of the technology that powers those sites saying the bug could allow hackers to take control of any system running its software. Yesterday's disclosure triggering an all-hands-on-deck cyber emergency. According to the Wall Street Journal, web administrators are now scrambling to protect themselves; some government and commercial sites even taking their sites offline. Joining me now, NBC News business and data correspondent Brian Cheung. And Brian, all of this revolves around something called PHP. Very simply, that's the software that runs websites. So explain what the threat is and how it was discovered.
Yeah. Well, I mean, how it was discovered was really fascinating. It was artificial intelligence models from both Google as well as OpenAI that said, 'Hey, whoa, there is a huge issue here.' And the issue concerns PHP, as you mentioned. This is a coding language that goes into a lot of websites — by some estimates, 55 million web properties. That would be about 69% of the entire internet. Now, I should point out, 69% of the internet therefore was vulnerable when these AI models said, 'Hey, there's a security issue here.' But it doesn't necessarily mean that all of those websites were hacked. It essentially began a scramble among all of these companies, governments, organizations to try to patch this issue before hackers could exploit that vulnerability — a relatively narrow period of time, because that patch was available as early as yesterday morning. But even if a website was vulnerable for just a few minutes, it could have made files, data embedded in those websites vulnerable to these hackers. So this is a very interesting story, because we could see similar episodes like this in the future as AI continues to get smarter. Christine.
Hey, Brian, what's interesting here is that AI discovered these problems, these issues, but it could also exploit them. How would that work?
Yeah, well, I mean, that is the challenge with this so-called agnostic technology, is that yes, models from Google as well as OpenAI were able to identify these issues. But you imagine if there are some bad actors, some bad guys that have access to these AI models as well — they could try to use that to then exploit those vulnerabilities. And so this is kind of the wild west world that we live in. In addition to the concerns over whether or not the companies themselves that are developing these AI models are able to control these new models in their sandbox — you remember the Hugging Face incident just a few weeks ago, where it actually broke out of containment, connected to the internet, was able to hack into another company all on its own, almost like a monster out of a sci-fi film. So these types of episodes are likely to become more common. But I should point out, for anyone that's worried whether or not their personal information was compromised in this big vulnerability, just stay alert to some security alerts from your companies or government websites that you frequent for anything suspicious. And again, in the meantime, this is something that we'll be continuing to monitor to see if any companies...
Sunday between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the New Orleans Saints is very high right now.
In France, protesters and police are in the streets after its president, Emmanuel Macron, met with intelligence officials and warned that, quote, 'illegitimate protests will be banned.' Macron blamed last weekend's violence and destruction on ultra-left groups and vandals. Live now in Paris for us, NBC News chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel. Richard, today's planned protests are seen as a prelude, really, to the weekend. There is currently a ban until 8 p.m. local time on any protests in Paris, but apparently that's not stopping some people.
It is not. And there's been a lot of back and forth about these demonstrations — should they go forward, under what parameters. What we're seeing today is a relatively small student-led demonstration, and initially this was supposed to be banned. But then a court in France said that the ban went too far and allowed the student demonstrations to go ahead. I'm in Bastille Square. You can see some of the riot police behind me, the student demonstrators, and you have some pictures of them; we're anticipated to be coming in this direction. The riot police here have told me that if they do try and enter Bastille Square, where there have been many protests in the past, have also been some clashes, they will not allow them to enter the square. And as you said, today is seen as something of a bellwether for much larger protests that are expected on Saturday. Those are much more significant, much more likelihood of turning into clashes.
And Richard, what more are we hearing from President Macron about how they're preparing for the weekend?
So President Macron, just a short while ago, made what is seen as a controversial statement here in France. He said that only people that come from, quote, 'legitimate groups' — that is, political parties, labor unions — are able to request permission to have a demonstration, and that if they get permission, they will be limited to designated routes, preferably outside of city centers. The authorities are also going to be deploying many CRS, the riot police who are here, but also SWAT teams, militarized police, a huge security force presence on the streets. That's expected on Saturday, along with these new issues that only legitimate groups can take part and only on certain routes. But the demonstrators themselves, at this stage, don't appear to be accepting that. So on Saturday, despite these comments from President Macron, we are still expected to see large crowds gathering in Paris, at least.
Yeah. Okay. Richard Engel for us in Paris. Thanks, Richard. Joining me now, foreign correspondent Laura Haim, based in France. Laura, nice to see you. Is Macron's ban too little, too late?
That's the feeling that all the French have, and the disappointment over President Macron is huge here. 80% of the French, even 85% of the French, do not want any more President Macron staying in power in France. This is huge. The next presidential election is in six months, and you have a lot of commentators saying that maybe the crisis is so huge that at one point the political crisis will force President Macron to resign. This is something we never experienced in France. There are a lot of tension, and there's also a lot of sadness about what's happening at this moment.
Yeah, the pictures are just — are sometimes hard to watch, especially those pictures of the bell tower and clock tower in Limoges. You know, this movement originated with young people protesting school funding. Now other groups with different priorities are joining in. In your latest Substack, you write, 'Farmers may join as well.' Why?
Because the farmers are extremely angry. They're disappointed. They want to come early November. But the next test is going to be, Christine, next Saturday. Why? Because now the Yellow Vests are asking people to go to the street and to demonstrate against President Macron and against the French government. You have to remember that two and three years ago, the Yellow Vests were in the streets; it was extremely violent. So now it's not anymore about only young people protesting. There's a large group of people which is not happy with what's happening in France, and next Saturday will be a very important test for the French democracy, with Yellow Vests asking people to come to the streets.
All right, Laura Haim, we'll continue to follow it from here. Thank you so much for your insight. Coming up, we take you inside a key midterm House race in California — why at least one Latino voter who supported President Trump is now changing parties. And the possible mega merger that could combine Tesla and SpaceX — how Elon Musk could cash in. We've got more.
Dangling on a freeway to an update on Pope Leo's health. Let's get you current this morning. We start with an update in that chemical leak that forced people to evacuate in Toledo. Some people can now go back to their homes after the city reduced the evacuation zone down to just half a mile around the leak. Officials said that an industrial coating chemical was released. Many people in the Ohio city say they experienced burning eyes and throats, and that a thick haze made it hard to see, though officials say there is no immediate danger and are monitoring the situation. Turning to a scary scene on a Southern California highway — look at this. A truck left dangling over the divider between lanes after crashing with another car. The truck's cabin caught fire, and fire officials say fuel spilled across the road. The driver of the truck was ejected while the passenger was helped out through a window. They both refused medical care, while all four people in the car went to the hospital. Pope Leo XIV will not need further treatment following lung surgery. That's according to his doctors. The pope had surgery last week to remove a cancerous lung nodule. The Vatican's press office said the disease had not spread. He was discharged Saturday and returned to his public duties the next day. The pope still scheduled to begin a 12-day journey through South America in two weeks.
One of the biggest political shifts that could swing the midterms: the Latino vote. And when it comes to the economy, they're starting to shift away from the Republican Party. A recent NBC News poll reveals 74% of Latino voters disapprove of how President Trump is handling the economy, and a majority want to see Democrats in control of Congress over Republicans. NBC News correspondent Liz Kreuz traveled to a battleground district in California, where this shift could have major consequences.
In the heart of California's Central Valley, in one of the tightest House races in the country, some voters are looking for change.
Right after I bought it and started seeing everything that was happening, I felt so guilty. I just had to officially change parties.
Two years ago, Efrain Bobadilla voted for President Trump, a decades-long registered Republican. He says he joined the party after former President Ronald Reagan granted nearly 3 million undocumented immigrants amnesty in 1986.
I kind of promised that I was going to be a Republican.
But earlier this year, after feeling dismay over the ICE raids and the economy, the 61-year-old real estate agent in Bakersfield, California, says he changed his party registration to Democrat. What did you see in those early days of the Trump administration that made you feel so guilty?
Broken promises. He said he was going to deport people with records or criminal records, and it was just the opposite.
Bobadilla lives in California's 22nd congressional district.
When we work together, there's a lot more we can accomplish.
Where Republican incumbent David Valadao, a former dairy farmer currently serving his sixth term in Congress, is facing a challenge from a political newcomer.
I'm Randy Vargas, and I approve this message.
The 31-year-old progressive Democrat is leaning into his story as a son of Mexican immigrants as he campaigns to flip the district blue.
Central Valley families deserve better. People in this district will drive seven to eight hours to Tijuana to go get cheaper dental work done, cheaper prescription drugs, and that shouldn't be happening in the richest country in the history of the world.
This race has become a test for both parties. For Republicans, whether they can hold on to this majority-Latino district, as polling shows Latino voters souring on President Trump. And for Democrats, whose successful redistricting efforts should give them an advantage here. Is that going to help you?
Potentially. But this is a district that, you know, should have been Democratic on paper over a decade ago.
Republicans have long overperformed here. GOP political analyst Cathy Abernathy explains why.
We produce here. We produce food. We produce fuel. That makes a lot of these Democrats, small-d, maybe appreciate what the Republican agenda has been.
People fought and died to defend democracy.
She says a recent campaign stop by Bernie Sanders could even backfire on Vargas and the Democrats.
That's showing that he's pretty far off the mainstream of what most people consider the Democrat Party.
But Valadao is still.
Battling the headwinds all Republicans are facing right now.
I don't know how your conscience tells you to rip away health care from 70,000 of your constituents.
At a recent debate, Valadao was pressed to defend his vote for President Trump's big, beautiful bill — legislation that reduces federal Medicaid spending in a district with the second-highest rate of Medicaid enrollment in the country.
There are no actual cuts. If those people have the ability to do that and have no disabilities, they should be able to put in a fair day's work. And that's all that we ask.
NBC News has reached out to Valadao repeatedly, and his campaign has not responded. You're planning to vote for the Democrat?
For Bobadilla, he says voting for Villegas is his way of sending a message to President Trump. Do you feel like you were duped?
Absolutely. I mean, when you see your own people being treated the way he's treating them, it's painful.
Liz Kreuz, NBC News, Bakersfield, California.
All right. Thanks, Liz. Elon Musk may be consolidating his two biggest companies, SpaceX and Tesla. A merger of those two could potentially create a $3.5 trillion mega company. Musk, of course, is the chairman and the largest shareholder of both of those companies. He thinks the merger is a good idea, but acknowledges the obvious conflicts of interest.
This is definitely a kind of question where I feel like I'm tap dancing through a minefield because I'm a conflicted party. I can't actually be in the discussions of the special committees. I think some people out there assume that a SpaceX and Tesla merger is a certainty, and I think that would be overstating it. Do I think it would be a good idea? Yes.
Joining me now, NBC News contributor and chief business editor of People Inc., Caleb Silver. When he's talking about those special committees he's talking about, each company has executives who are deciding whether a merger would be good for them. So those are those special committees he's talking about. I'm wondering, does folding Tesla into SpaceX maybe take the pressure off Musk that Tesla isn't really growing like it used to? It's pretty flattish here.
Yeah. Christine, a lot of people just think this is an inevitability, and this is the way this was going to go all along. There are some, what we call, vertical integrations and synergies that these companies should be taking advantage of. And he's the largest shareholder of both. So when he says he's a conflicted party, he wants this to happen. And those executives and directors know that he wants this to happen. He's also the largest shareholder in both companies. But this is all about creating a super AI platform that is going to enable the robo-taxis, the Optimus robot, the cyber cabs, the space data centers out there on the rocket launches. And if you put it all together, it could be one of the biggest companies ever in history, but also it could be a lot more streamlined.
Look, SpaceX, we heard its earnings report, as it's called, when the company opens up its books to the public because it sells public shares. Look, profits surging 161%. These are some big numbers for such a new company. AI earnings driving a lot of this. But the projection here is that it's going to be really big in the pretty near future.
Yeah. That profit, Christine, is coming from cloud services, from enabling data storage and AI, the AI buildout. And they're building that out in space. And that's what a lot of these rocket launches and satellite launches are all about. And if you think about Tesla, Tesla really started as a car company, but it really hasn't been that in many years. Yes, it delivered 486,000 cars in the last quarter. At the same time, it's really been about the battery. It's been about the cyber cab. It's been about this new robot called the Optimus. It's been about that new roadster that they used SpaceX rocket launchers for, and that incredible show last week to show people the capabilities here. So this is kind of where this has been going all along. And this may be just an inevitability. We may even hear about it by the end of the year.
Yeah. Rocket thrusters on cars. That was something. All right, Caleb Silver, nice to see you.
Still ahead, New Mexico suing two of Jeffrey Epstein's associates. The lawsuit accusing them of helping to hide his sex trafficking operation. Plus, the New York City Council voting today on whether to ban horse-drawn carriage rides. The push to end them after a deadly accident involving a young tourist.
The attorney general is suing Jeffrey Epstein's former attorney and accountant. He's accusing Darren Indyke and Richard Kahn of facilitating and hiding Epstein's sex trafficking operations at his Zorro Ranch. Attorney General Raul Torres's suit is looking to prevent the two men from cashing in on tens of millions of dollars from Epstein's estate — money he says should go to survivors. Joining me now, NBC News legal affairs reporter Gary Grumbach. Gary, break this down for us. How could Indyke and Kahn benefit from Epstein's estate?
So these two individuals are the sole beneficiaries and sole executors of Jeffrey Epstein's $107 million estate. They're also former attorney and former accountant, which puts them in a very unique position to be able to actually make a whole lot of money off of Jeffrey Epstein's estate. In fact, Darren Indyke was designated a $50 million individual bequest, it's called, and Richard Kahn was promised tens of millions of dollars from this estate as well. So the New Mexico attorney general is trying to stop this from happening, and he's doing it by filing a civil lawsuit claiming that these two individuals engaged in racketeering and that these two individuals engaged in what he called trafficking activity in violation of not only New Mexico state law, but also federal law. Christine.
We also heard from two survivors at Torres's press conference yesterday. Listen.
Accountability cannot end with Epstein and Maxwell. It must extend to those who knowingly made their abuse possible, especially those who stand to profit from it.
I find it deeply troubling that Darren Indyke and Richard Kahn stand to receive millions from the Epstein estate while survivors continue to live with the consequences of his abuse.
Both Indyke and Kahn testified before a congressional committee and said that they did not know about Epstein's abuse. But we just heard from survivors, and they are holding them responsible.
Yeah, that's right. The survivors are not a monolith here, right? They all have varying views on what happened with Jeffrey Epstein. But one thing that they all agree on is the need for accountability. And that's something that's so important. Jeffrey Epstein is dead. Ghislaine Maxwell is in prison for a very long time, but they do believe that there are many others that deserve to be held accountable. And they're going to the New Mexico state attorney general because of the Zorro Ranch connection there in New Mexico to try to help make that happen.
All right. Gary Grumbach for us in D.C., thank you so much. New York City Council members are voting today on a proposal to end horse-drawn carriage rides. The argument for the ban: public safety. The bill, called Romance's Law, is named after an 18-year-old tourist who died after he was thrown off a carriage back in June. It would make rides illegal across the city starting June 1st, 2028. Until then, carriage operators can continue working; their licenses would expire the day before the ban takes place. Joining me now, NBC News correspondent Valerie Castro. Valerie, this has been decades in the making. I mean, people have been questioning whether this should be happening in New York for a long, long time.
Yeah, that's right, Christine. Three consecutive mayors have actually called for this ban, but it just never seems to go through. But every year we hear about more and more incidents, either people getting hurt or horses collapsing, either in Central Park or on their way to the stables. Earlier this year, a horse died when it ate a poisonous plant in Central Park. You mentioned the 18-year-old that was killed earlier this year. This proposed ban has been renamed in his honor, and his father telling NBC New York, 'We want a complete ban on horse-drawn carriage rides in New York City. We cannot bring Romance back, but we can try to make sure that no other family suffers what we have suffered.' As you mentioned, the full City Council will be voting on that later this afternoon.
Horse carriage industry leaders say that they need better protections, not an all-out ban. Is there a plan for transitioning the people who work in this industry out of this job if it were to go away in 2028?
Yeah, that is part of this proposed ban. And the Transport Workers Union says it represents around 300 horse-drawn carriage drivers and owners, so a lot of jobs will be impacted. So a job transition plan will be implemented under this proposal. If it passes, the plan would help with job training, job fairs, education. That is something that will be in place by spring of next year. And then, of course, the ban would be in place officially the following year. The city would also consider some financial compensation for the owners of these businesses, because if you think about it, they're investing not just in the horses, but also the equipment and the licenses that it takes to operate. So there could potentially be some compensation from the city there. But the workers union says they would like to see just more safety measures in place in the park, a designated area where they can keep the horses during the day until the rides are in place. They say that would make a big difference.
If the carriage operators keep riding after a ban goes into effect, what happens?
Potentially hundreds of dollars in fines, or up to 15 days in jail, or both. So some very serious penalties here. A civil violation would carry a penalty of at least $10,000. Christine.
All right. Valerie Castro, thank you. All right. After the break, a family's search for answers after their young son was declared dead, only to be found alive in a morgue. And next hour, our NBC News exclusive: how Goldman Sachs is helping small businesses make the most out of the AI revolution.
A family in Arizona is demanding answers after their toddler was found alive inside a hospital morgue. Doctors had told the 18-month-old's parents they were unable to revive the child after a drowning accident. The boy was found stirring just hours later. Gabriela Becerra, with our affiliate in Phoenix, has the story.
They spent 18 minutes on him.
Eighteen unforgettable minutes in a day that changed Alexis's life forever.
It feels like a long time, but in retrospect, it really wasn't.
Last Super Bowl Sunday, her then 18-month-old son, Vincent, fell into a backyard pool.
How are you at compressions?
Heavily redacted body camera video obtained from Gilbert Police shows the boy being rushed to Mercy Gilbert Medical Center, where doctors and nurses took over life-saving efforts.
He told me it would kind of just be pointless, that he'd be brain damaged, and his organs, they just wouldn't be sufficient for life.
That's when a police officer tried to relay that Vincent still had a pulse. Doctor Arian Tosi can be heard quickly dismissing his concerns.
I went to medical school for a reason.
The toddler was pronounced dead at 6:20 p.m.
At 18:22. We have a moment of silence.
And I go to hug him and I feel a release of air. So now I'm like, whoa, wait a minute.
Concerns dismissed again.
The worst part is that he felt really cold. I was expecting him to be, like, a little warmer, you know? But he wasn't. He was ice cold.
Vincent was taken to the hospital morgue, where he stayed for almost five hours before a medical transporter found him alive.
It's unimaginable. No one deserves that. And it's not fair. And they found him there alone.
Now, both Alexis and her attorney have questions about her son's care.
What made my child not worth saving? What made my child not worth the time?
Attorney John Brewer tells me there are several red flags, claiming critical test results weren't completed until after Vincent was incorrectly declared dead.
The wake of destruction from Doctor Tosi's grossly negligent and reckless decision to do what he did destroyed a lot of people's lives.
Doctor Tosi's attorney tells me he can't speak to the details of the care provided due to pending litigation and patient privacy laws, but says his thoughts are with the young patient and family, and he wishes the child continued healing and recovery. A spokesperson for Mercy Gilbert Medical Center tells me they also can't comment due to the patient's privacy.
To a whole different life.
Vincent is now recovering from a hypoxic brain injury at home.
It will never be the same.
Time now takes on a different meaning for Alexis. Each minute, she's grateful her son is still here.
God stepped in for me that day. God stepped in for my son.
Gabriela Becerra, thank you for that story. Now to a closer look at how the rising cost of living is straining household budgets, even for people working full time. Making ends meet is a daily struggle. Sasha Jones from our South Florida station shows us the toll it's taking and where some families are finding relief.
Is your dollar not stretching as far? Does it seem like the price you're paying at the grocery store, gas station, and for your housing keeps going up, up, up? For South Floridians, this isn't a game. It's reality.
Everything is expensive. The rent, mortgage, cars.
This is their story of being squeezed in South Florida. Even with four years in the Navy and experience as a military medic, Isaiah Niblack says it was hard to find stability when he moved back to South Florida.
Cost of living in South Florida is expensive. Everything is expensive down here.
He's a single dad with full custody of his daughter, works full time, and works on the side.
The main thing is to make sure that she has what she needs.
But as expenses added up, he ended up in an apartment he could afford, but one he says wasn't suited for raising a child.
It flooded a lot in there. The mold was the main thing.
He resorted to couch surfing.
We were back and forth over my grandparents', helping out my mom over there, or at a friend's house. Even though I had a place to live.
And that's when he decided to ask for help.
