Breaking news tonight, John Bolton indicted by a federal grand jury. The former Trump national security advisor turned fierce critic, now facing federal charges. Bolton charged with mishandling classified information. The indictment after the FBI raided his home and office, and the president publicly called for his prosecution. The accusation tonight that he shared top secret information through his AOL account.
Also tonight, the second summit. President Trump announcing he plans to meet with Russian leader Vladimir Putin once again. And the key weapon, Ukrainian President Zelensky, will ask for tomorrow as he meets the president face to face. The shocking military shakeup. The admiral overseeing those strikes against alleged drug running
boats in the Caribbean suddenly announcing he's retiring the dramatic rescues after a massive storm sent floods sweeping through parts of Alaska homes washing away hundreds packed into military planes in one of the largest airlift operations ever there is the a eye bubble about to burst on Wall Street. The new warning signs and is your 4, 1, K safe. The cost of denial, the nightly
news viewer who saw our series and reached out after his procedure was denied twice what happened after we investigated the cause of Diane Keaton's death revealed and the sumo spectacle taking over London. We take you along the rare visit that has stars of the sport snapping photos, reading fans even crossing Abbey Road nightly news starts right now.
And good evening. We're coming on the air tonight with more breaking news. Former Trump National Security Advisor John Bolton, who became a fierce critic of the president, has just been indicted. He's accused of mishandling classified information. Prosecutors allege Bolton transcribed notes into Word documents and sent top secret information
through his AOL email account. And they allege he shared a thousand pages of information with his family. The FBI swarmed Bolton's home and office this summer as part of that investigation. President Trump today calling Bolton, quote, a bad person.
And Bolton late tonight saying, I have become the latest target in weaponizing the Justice Department. Bolton is now the third Trump critic to be indicted by the Justice Department in recent weeks. Former FBI Director James Comey
and New York Attorney General Letitia James are also facing federal charges. And President Trump has called for more people to be indicted. We start tonight with senior legal correspondent, Laura Jarrett.
He once served as the national security advisor to the president. But tonight, John Bolton facing 18 counts of mishandling national defense information, indicted by a federal grand jury in Maryland. President Trump reacting tonight just as the indictment was made public.
I think he's a bad guy. Yeah, he's a bad guy.
Bolton's feud with President Trump, well documented. The former National Security Advisor publishing a scathing memoir in 2020, detailing his time in the first Trump White House. The meticulous notes he kept while working for Trump, now at the center of tonight's indictment.
Prosecutors alleging Bolton often took handwritten notes on a yellow pad, later transcribing them into word documents, and then secretly emailing two family members diary-like entries, including details about future attacks and foreign adversaries, spanning over 1,000 pages. Prosecutors adding that years after Bolton left office, someone believed to be associated
with Iran hacked Bolton's personal email account and gained unauthorized access to the classified information. Bolton's attorney tonight saying he did not unlawfully share or store any information, adding Bolton kept diaries, that is not a crime. For years now, Bolton and Trump have traded barbs
with the president criticizing his handling of classified documents.
Classified information, that's illegal, and you go to jail for that.
Bolton has maintained the book he published contained no classified material and a lengthy FBI probe ultimately ending during the Biden administration with no charges. But this summer, the FBI conducted searches of Bolton's home and office,
officials seen with boxes in hand, also seizing his phones and computers.
He's already come after me and several others in withdrawing the protection that we had. I think it is a retribution presidency.
All right, Laura joins us now live on set. Laura, we said earlier that John Bolton has released a statement, and he's really going after President Trump.
Yes, Tom, it is lengthy. He's saying that he's just become the latest target in weaponizing the Justice Department, even making a comparison to Joseph Stalin here. He goes on to say, quote, these charges are not just about his focus on me or my diaries, but his intensive effort to intimidate his opponents.
He says he's gonna fight these charges, Tom.
All right, Laura Jarrett on that breaking news, Laura, great to have you. Now to President Trump's major announcement that he'll hold a second summit, meeting with Vladimir Putin to try and end the war in Ukraine, all after his critical phone call with the Russian leader earlier today. Here's Peter Alexander with some details.
Ah!
Tonight, after securing that historic but fragile peace deal between Israel and Hamas that freed the last remaining hostages, President Trump is turning to the Russia-Ukraine war
that shows no sign of ending.
That was a very good phone call I thought very productive
today a two hour call with Russian president Vladimir Putin, the president announcing that second meeting between the 2 in Budapest Hungary, no date has been set. It follows their face to face in Alaska that made no progress toward ending the fight and fueled president Trump's public frustration with Putin.
I thought this would have been an easy one to settle.
All of it a day before President Trump hosts Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky. Zelensky has been pressing the President to approve the sale of U.S. Tomahawk missiles that would allow Ukraine to strike deeper in the Russian territory.
But tonight, no commitment from President Trump.
You know, we need Tom Hawks for United States of America to we have a lot of them, but we need him, I mean we we can't deplete for our country so I don't know what we can do about that.
And a new warning from the president about his Mideast peace deal responding to those disturbing videos showing Hamas conducting public executions. President Trump posting, if Hamas continues to kill people in Gaza, which was not the deal,
we will have no choice but to go in and kill them. While again saying US troops would not be involved
in a fight against Hamas.
They also said they're gonna behave, we're gonna find out if they behave, if they behave good. If they don't behave, we'll take care of it.
Peter Alexander joins us tonight live from the White House and another headline I know you're tracking there. President Trump announcing a new deal for a massive discount on a popular fertility treatment. Tom, that's right. President Trump said the cost of drugs for IVF will in his words decrease dramatically announcing his administration has negotiated lower prices with the maker of several key fertility drugs without that
discount each IVF cycle can cost 10's of thousands of dollars worth noting the president's plan would not
mandate insurers cover IVF.
Tom all right here we thank you now to that shakeup at the Pentagon, the admiral overseeing those US strikes on alleged drug boats near Venezuela is now stepping down. Courtney Kubi joins us, saying, Courtney, this comes as a surprise.
Yeah, that's right, Tom. The commander of US Southern Command, Admiral Alvin Halsey, said he is retiring after just one year on the job. His command is responsible for the deadly strikes on boats the Trump administration says are carrying drugs and cartel members to the United States. President Trump saying the strikes are necessary to protect Americans though some lawmakers have questioned the legality of these strikes. In a
statement Admiral Halsey said it's been an honor to serve but he didn't say why he was retiring. It comes just after President Trump floated the idea of strikes against cartels inside Venezuela and that he authorized covert action there.
Tom?
All right, Courtney Kubi tracking that breaking news. Courtney, thank you. Now to the devastation in Alaska and rescues happening right now. Thousands forced to evacuate after floodwaters swept entire communities away. Here's Liz Kreutz.
Tonight, one of the largest airlifts in Alaska history. Hundreds of people packing into military planes and helicopters to be flown 500 miles to safety after a massive storm hammered the state, leaving people trapped in several low-lying villages along Alaska's west coast.
A lot of mist right here that washed all the way up.
Remnants from a typhoon triggered widespread destruction. According to state police, a 67-year-old woman was killed
and two of her family members are missing.
She was the kindest person.
She opened her doors to people.
Several people rescued. Some communities, like the village of Kipnuk, nearly wiped out after water levels rose more than six feet above normal high tide. Here, you can see one of the many homes that was swept away.
A lot of houses were taken off their foundations. A lot of houses are floating, floating down the river with people in them.
Unable to return home as many as 2,000 displaced residents, overwhelming makeshift shelters in the remote communities, prompting an urgent evacuation. The National Guard airlifting evacuees to Anchorage, where the city has set up a large shelter at the Alaska Airlines Center.
We're anticipating upwards of 1,400 people, I think is the number. This is traumatic. Folks are coming in here with just clothes on their back in some cases.
And Tom, the Red Cross says evacuations are expected for several more days. Many of these towns are only reachable by air or water and the destruction so bad that officials are calling this a prolonged relief operation that could last for months. Tom. Devastating
images there. Okay, Liz. Stocks closed lower today with the Dow dropping 300 points. But this year, the stock market has broken all types of records and that's fueling concerns Wall Street's in the midst of a bubble that could soon burst. Here's Brian Chung with what it all means for your 401k. It's bringing back memories of the dot com bust in 2001 or worse the housing crisis in 2008. It's a bank rescue like we haven't seen since the Great Depression. Today's market breaking new records as an artificial intelligence boom pushes investors to pour money into the stock market. Some say that's an early sign of excitement.
I think we are, could we be in the third inning?
So, I think this is just taking off.
Third inning of investment in AI?
Oh sure, sure.
But others suggest it could be the makings of another financial bubble.
You know, the problem with bubbles is it's hard to know if they're really what you think they are
until it's too late. The big banks seeing both sides of the coin. They reported knockout earnings this week, but Jamie Dimon, CEO of the nation's biggest bank, warned that some at-risk companies may be hiding behind this roaring stock market.
I probably shouldn't say this, but when you see one cockroach there probably more. And so we should everyone
should be for more than this one. It's not just diamond. A new survey of 130 CEOs showed a majority expect a mild economic slowdown with slightly increased inflation pressure. There are also mixed signs from investors. The S&P 500 broke several new records this year but so did gold as skeptical traders turn to what's typically a safe alternative in uncertain times. The average person with stocks what should they be doing right now in
this market moment. Really just stick in there. Don't make any big changes. I mean any sort of attempts at market timing can
fall flat. All right. Brian joins us now live. Brian, not everyone's in the stock market. Yeah, well, actually, recent data shows that almost 40% of Americans don't own any stocks, so they missed the boat entirely on this. And recent research showing that it's actually the wealthiest that are likely driving this economy.
They've been vastly outspending the middle class, which has basically been spending flat and all of that pointing to very much a divergence in this economy, Tom.
Okay, Brian Chunk first.
Brian, thank you. Now to the cost of denial, our series on the challenges Americans face with their insurance companies. Tonight, the viewer who saw a story on our broadcast so similar to his case, he reached out to us,
Anne Thompson, on his battle and the care he finally got after we investigated. Bernie and Diane Hoffman are avid hikers.
In years past, walking Spain's Camino de Santiago.
123 miles.
So no back pain on the Camino.
No back pain.
Pain free in Italy and Ireland too. Now the 68 year old grandfather in Wichita, Kansas can't walk more than 10 yards. How fast did this back pain come on?
I use the term it went
from zero to holy crap. Since December adapting nearly every activity to live with pain that's literally turned him upside down in search of relief. I've got
shooting pain, I've got burning pain, I've lost feeling in about a half my
foot. Even going so far as getting a human dog bed. When you're in this position, are you in pain?
Yes, but it's minimal.
His doctor says he needs spinal reconstruction.
This is the vertebrae that is moved.
To fuse vertebrae and take pressure off nerves. His insurer, Aetna, said no.
Good boy.
We actually had dates penciled in in early May for the surgery. Then we get the decline for the procedure.
They declined it in part because you hadn't had physical therapy.
Correct, to which my doctor said, we can't physical therapy your back into position.
Bernie did it anyway, but the surgery was denied again.
It's so hard to watch someone you love go through something like that and think, okay, we can fix this though, and then not be allowed to get that done.
Of course, then the physician says, well, we'll appeal, right? So there is an appeal process.
An appeal Bernie says didn't seem to be going anywhere.
This.
Then he turned on the news.
One family struggled to get coverage for the surgery needed by a young woman.
So we see this story, the cost of denial, right? And it's about a woman who has severe back pain, who's had multiple denials from the same insurance company.
And we look at each other like, that's us, right?
And like that story, within 24 hours of NBC News reaching out, Bernie learned this.
I get an email from Aetna saying, we've approved your procedure. So I don't think that was a coincidence.
Aetna tells NBC News that Bernie's doctor had two opportunities to engage with its medical team and declined to do so. After NBC News contacted Aetna, the company says it proactively contacted Bernie's physician for documentation that had not been previously provided. They now say they plan to cover the spinal surgery. Bernie disputes that the information was not provided
when Aetna requested it, and his doctor declined to talk to us. Now Bernie looks forward to the day he can pick up his grandchildren again. What has this denial cost you?
Well, if I get the surgery on the 21st of October, which is the schedule, by the time I recover, I will have lost an entire year of normal life.
Time he will never get back. Ann Thompson, NBC News, Wichita, Kansas.
All right, we thank Ann for that one. We'll be right back with the record rise in robocalls and what you can do to stop them from spamming your phone. That's next. We're back now with the frustration that virtually every American experiences daily those annoying robocalls and
text if it feels like you're getting more than ever new data shows you're right here's Tom Costello. Nearly everyone with a cell phone gets them. I'm calling in reference to your federal student loans.
This message is from the loan department.
It's imperative that I speak with you as soon as possible before this pre-approval expires.
Spam and scams.
I keep getting spam calls.
Consumer watchdog, Purg, says spam roboc calls are up 20% to a six year high.
These calls come from multiple different area codes all throughout the country and they're
nonstop. 420 million more calls each month as criminals use AI to trick their victims.
And they only need just a teensy tiny percentage of them to work. And all of a sudden, they've got thousands of dollars
that they didn't have a couple of minutes before.
Most people hang up, but the average victim loses almost $3,700. Researchers say fewer than half the phone companies have installed the FCC-required caller ID or filters to block the calls. The U.S. telecom industry tells NBC News robocalls have actually been declining and phone companies have rolled out blocking and
labeling tools for their customers to successfully trace these malicious scammers and fraudsters to their source and work with law enforcement to shut them down. The expert advice don't answer any call or text from a number you don't recognize. Delete and report them on your cell phone, and never provide personal information or your credit card info to cold callers. Tom?
OK, Tom, thank you. We are back in a moment with breaking news late tonight. We're learning about the death of one of the founding members of the rock band KISS.
That's next.
We're back with some sad news in the music world. KISS lead guitarist Ace Frehley has died at the age of 74. His family releasing a statement late tonight. Frehley didn't just shred on the guitar with Kiss, he's also known for his solo career, including songs like New York Groove.
Also tonight, Diane Keaton's family revealing her cause of death. Keaton's family saying the Oscar winning actress died of death. Keaton's family saying the Oscar-winning actress died of pneumonia. It comes less than a week after she died at the age of 79. Her family also encouraging fans and loved ones to donate to local food banks and animal shelters in her memory. All right, when we come back, the sumo wrestlers
taking London by storm, even strolling by Abbey Road. That's next. Finally, there's good news tonight, they've been seen at Big Ben and at Buckingham Palace, the dozens of sumo wrestlers hitting the streets of London with our Molly Hunter ahead of one of the sport's biggest competitions.
Across London this week they are impossible to miss about 40 elite sumo wrestlers known as Ricky she some tipping the scales at more than 500 pounds have come to town with great fanfare spotted crossing Abbey Road riding e bikes strolling with another Japanese superstar hello kitty taking in the city sites and greeting very very eager fans.
I can't wait to go.
It's a really exciting seen them over here and being like that so close to us and like yeah, we thought we take the opportunity to try and bump
into a few of the guys got back and mid conversation and opportunity presented. He's your favorite. Yeah,
absolutely.
But it's really a very unconventional fight. Very
acrobatic these tickets have been sold out for months in the last time sumo came to London was 34 years ago. Selling out Royal Albert Hall in 1991. And NBC News covered that event that the first grand tournament in 1500 years to be held on foreign soil, the British fans
love this samurai superstar you win by forcing your opponent out of the ring, the dohyo, or throwing them down inside of it. Outside Royal Albert Hall, eight-year-old Haluto from Nagoya, Japan, knows all the rikishi names. And tonight, for the first time, along with those lucky enough
to nab tickets, he'll see all the heavy hitters in one place. Molly Hunter, NBC News, London.
Those are some big boys. All right. That's Nightly News for this Thursday. I'm Tom Yamas. Thanks so much for watching. Tonight and always, we're here for you.
Good night. Good night.
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