Nightly News Full Broadcast - March 15

tonight the lead prosecutor in the Georgia election interference case against former president Donald Trump resigning after the judge's ultimatum the judge saying either fton County DA fonny Willis or lead prosecutor Nathan Wade had to step aside over their past romantic relationship hours later Wade resigning the judge saying Willis made a tremendous lapse in judgment what it means for the case and now word another of Mr Trump's trials is delayed and just in Mr Trump's former vice president ref

using to endorse him what Mike Pence said today about his former boss also tonight the deadly tornado outbreak across eight states at least three are dead major damage to homes and businesses we're in the storm Zone the terrifying shooting on a New York Subway the fight that led to it and why the da says the shooter won't face charges Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu defying the US and approving plans for a Rafa invasion as the first Gaza Aid ship arrives that midair plunge on a South American a

irliner was it caused by a mishap in the cockpit The Landmark settlement with the nation's Realtors how it could drive down the cost of buying or selling a home this is NBC Nightly News with Lester H good evening and welcome everyone there are major developments in two of Donald Trump's criminal cases tonight including one that had been scheduled to go to trial this month but late today the judge in Mr Trump's Manhattan hush money case granting a month-long delay just 10 days before the start of

jury selection the defense being provided the additional time to review newly provided documents and from Atlanta tonight the special prosecutor leading the Georgia election interference case against Mr Trump is out Nathan Wade who had been in a romantic relationship with Fulton County DA fony Willis submitted his resignation this afternoon just hours after a judge gave Willis an ultimatum while denying a defense motion did disqualify her office from the case we'll go to Georgia in a few moment

s but first Laura Jared has more on this latest delay in the Trump prosecutions what did the judge say Lester the judge has significant questions about a massive Trove of documents the former president's legal team only just received and has decided to push the trial date back instead of the trial date beginning in just 10 days the judge now says it won't happen before mid April at the earliest and he will hold a hearing first the documents are related to Michael Cohen who prosecutors say made t

he hush money payment before the 2016 election that is at the center of this case luster all right Laura let me ask you to stand by while we turn to Georgia again it was a high-profile shakeup in a high stakes case against Donald Trump over election interference Blain Alexander is there in Blain this is another case that has been slow to move forward absolutely Lester these were bombshell allegations that delayed this case here in Georgia for more than two months now tonight a judge has ruled th

at da Fon Willis can remain on the case but without her lead prosecutor he was front and center when fonny Willis announced her criminal indictment of Donald Trump but tonight Nathan Wade the man leading the prosecution against the former president for allegedly trying to overturn georg's 2020 election results has resigned the culmination of a monthlong spectacle after one of Trump's co-defendant Michael Roman exposed a romantic relationship between Wade and Fulton County DA fonnie Willis who hi

red Wade on the case Roman accused Willis of financially benefiting from her relationship with Wade after the two went on vacations together while working the case in a ruling today Judge Scott McAfee said while he did not find an actual conflict of interest in the case he did find a significant appearance of impropriety that infects the current structure of the prosecution team and gave Willis an ultimatum either she and her office leave the case or Wade in a letter Wade writes today he's resig

ning to move this case forward as quickly as possible for Willis today's ruling is a legal Victory but a professional blow following this stunning two-hour testimony it is a lie it is a lie Judge Scott McAfee scolding what he called her unprofessional manner on the stand and while not dismissing the case outright as the defense had asked McAfee takes Willis to task over quote this tremendous lapse in judgment tonight Trump's attorney Steve sow says he will use all legal options available as we c

ontinue to fight to end this case also tonight Trump's former vice president Mike Pence tells Fox News he will not endorse Trump in part because of his actions on January 6th Donald Trump is pursuing and articulating an agenda that is at odds with the conservative agenda that that we governed on during our four years and that's why I cannot in good conscience uh endorse Donald Trump in this campaign yet another political headwind for a candidate already facing several legal ones Blaine Alexander

NBC News Atlanta and Laura Jared back with me Laura we know the Manhattan case is delayed we talked about that but what's the story in Georgia where does that move forward from here well Lester this case was already unlikely to happen before the election and after this two-month detour over the prosecution team the chance is now even more remote the da now has to figure out a new lead prosecutor plus the judge still hasn't resolved Mr Trump's claims of presidential immunity and that's also a ke

y issue that could Wipe Out the federal charges yes exactly especially the special council's election interference case that will be before the US Supreme Court to resolve a decision could come as late as June putting any trial before the November election again in Jeopardy and the case in Florida over classified documents the judge there still hasn't set a trial date Lester all right lower J thank thank you scenes of Destruction today after tornadoes ripped through parts of at least nine states

killing at least three people the severe weather coming early and the worst of the year so far Shaquille Brewster now with late details tonight a violent start to tornado season toppling buildings while tearing others apart tornadoes ripping through nine states flipping boats and smashing brick walls including in Ohio where the Logan count Sheriff says at least three people were killed the damage is very very significant and it's just quite it's quite quite extensive search Crews spent the day

scouring collapsed buildings traversing down power lines and bringing in caver dogs to search for victims many places back there that are collapsed uh and we need to go back with heavy equipment to move those to make sure that there's anybody injured back there or possibly deceased Susan young was trapped inside this home in Lake View Ohio yelling for help as the storm barreled through it just took a roof and then just blew me down the hall you saw your roof yeah fly off yeah what did you think

when you saw that help I didn't know if I'd make it her entire block devastated the result of the most active severe weather day of the year so far more than 300 storms reported Nationwide Thursday we have houses level to the ground here in neighboring Indiana search and rescue teams are on the ground Jess kers is there here in Winchester Indiana One hospital says it's treated more than two dozen people for injuries including broken bones some businesses and homes here devastated in Missouri hai

l smashed through windshields and battered homes experts say the warming climate is leading to more frequent tornadoes happening earlier in the year and further north than usual on a day many lost everything Susan tells me it could have been worse really glad to be alive cuz it was it was scary Shaquille do authorities feel like they've accounted for all the missing Lester the county sheriff tells us tonight that the search and rescue mission is complete and everyone in the path of this tornado

has now been accounted for and while the governor said that this will be a long recovery road ahead he says that despite the displaced homes and the businesses that have been destroyed he vows this community will be back Lester all right Shaquille Brewster tonight thank you in New York scary moments when a man opened fire on a subway during the Thursday evening rush hour commute another man Gravely wounded but the da saying the shooter will not face charges because he was acting in self-defense

here's Aaron mcglaughlin let me out let me out terrified commuters run for safety as shots are fired on the subway in Brooklyn in the video filmed by a passenger you see two men in a fist fight one dressed in black the other wearing a yellow shirt the confrontation escalates a woman rushes in repeatedly stabbing the man in Black who eventually pulls a gun the man in yellow somehow gets a hold of the weapon police say they believe he was acting in self-defense the man in Black is now in critical

condition FBI data shows that Nationwide violent crime has been dropping since a spike in 2020 but here in New York City Transit crime is up 133% year to dat the real victim is the people on that train cuz they have their ability to live their lives in New York depends on feeling safe going into public space including Subways just a week ago the governor deployed the National Guard to secure the city's subway system you have to have patrols out there randomly you got to be on the platforms you h

ave to be on the trains you have to have a presence in that system that's why multiple cities are taking steps to crack down Philadelphia which just saw a rash of violence on city buses is focusing on making public transportation safer while Washington DC will Target Fair evasion starting Monday hoping to prevent nightmare scenarios like this Aaron mlin NBC News New York let's turn out of the Middle East Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approving plans for a ground defensive against Ham

as in Rafa and it comes as a long awaited Aid ship has just arrived in Gaza Richard angle has been following it for us crews in Gaza tonight are finally unloading this desperately needed food and humanitarian Aid off a barge that took 3 days to be towed from Cyprus earlier Palestinians waited as the most difficult moment approached docking in the rough Seas the shipment was not sent by a government but Chef Jose Andre charity World Central Kitchen which refused to wait for a ceasefire or take no

for an answer the group arranged for local truck drivers to gather pieces of destroyed buildings and Rubble to create a jetty for the barge but the relief may be shortlived today Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu approved plans for an invasion of the city of Rua where some 1.5 million Palestinians are taking shelter Israel says Hamas is hiding among the civilians President Biden has called a military operation against Rafa a red line and today in another sign of growing tensions with the prime m

inister the president praised a speech on Thursday by the Senate's top Democrat Chuck Schumer calling Netanyahu an obstacle for peace he made a good speech and I think he uh expressed a serious concern shared not only by him but by many Americans Israel is downplaying tonight hopes of a breakthrough after Hamas presented a new proposal to free some of its hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners but Israel is nonetheless sending negotiators Lester Richard angle thank you also t

onight what could be a game Cher in the way we buy and sell homes a landmark settlement that will lower realtor commissions and could potentially lower home prices cnbc's senior real estate correspondent Diana olik explains DC area real estate agent Dana rice they can keep the contract in play could be about to see her entire business change but she says she welcomes it I think is a benefit to both buyers and sellers the change is coming because today the National Association of Realtors the lar

gest trade group in the nation agreed to pay $418 million to settle class action lawsuits over broker commissions as part of the settlement they admit to no wrongdoing this is hitting the reset button on the housing market and this is great for Americans and this is great for for homeowners the lawsuit argued that the Nar violated Anti-Trust laws in the way commissions for home sales were set and split between the selling and buying agents the settlement means buyers and sellers could soon be ab

le to negotiate the fees to agents upfront the norm had been 5 to 6% commissions the N says commissions have always been negotiable and that it has always been our goal to preserve consumer choice and protect our members to the greatest extent possible this settlement achieves both of those goals but without the standard 6% commission competition among agents will likely increase and buyers may choose not to to use agents at all that's a concern for Rice my fear is that in looking at the fee str

ucture and what it costs people will think well how hard could this be I don't need representation you're walking in you've never purchased a house before and the seller has sold 10 housing prices were pushed to a record high during the pandemic but if commissions start to drop from competition that could drive down the cost of a home Lester Diana ol thank you in 60 seconds was it a mishap on a seat in the cockpit that led a pass plane to make a terrifying midair plunge the new reporting on the

story right after this we're back now with that terrifying midair plunge aboard a South American airliner on Sunday that injured dozens of passengers and crew members Tom Castello is with us Thomas may have been a mishap in the cockpit yeah that's one Theory tonight Boeing is telling Airlines to fly the 787 to check the switches that control the Pilot's seats because they could get stuck The Wall Street Journal reports investigators believe a flight attendant delivering a meal to the pilot may h

ave accidentally hit a switch that moves the pilot seat forward that could have pushed the pilot into his controls forcing the nose of the plane down and sending passengers flying more than 50 injured some with broken bones in a statement Boeing says we are recommending operators Airlines perform an inspection at the next maintenance opportunity this could contradict what one passenger told us that the pilot complained his his flight computer screens when suddenly dark importantly investigators

have not reached a final conclusion about what caused this plane to do a nose dive over the ocean Lester and Tom there was another incident today where a plane landed with a missing panel beneath the aircraft what can you tell us yeah this is late breaking it was United flight from San Francisco to Medford Oregon a 25-year-old Boeing 737 landed apparently missing a piece of panel on the bottom of the plane no injuries the United tells us it and the FAA are investigating all right Tom thanks very

much we'll take a break up next a new class of weight loss drugs are showing promise if you can get them the rising American divide next we've all heard about the effectiveness of those new weight loss drugs but it turns out that some who need them most are finding them most hard to get here's Stephanie GS 17.6 there are plenty of testimonials touting the new class of weight loss medications it works what is less common the stories of people who can't get it are there people out there who despe

rately need this medication and don't have access to it absolutely our Medicare and Medicaid populations are some of the most at risk and they do not have access Dr Lori deadia works at a weight loss clinic outside of Oklahoma City so we've talked about Healthy Living are you back there uh I have been one of her patient is 67-year-old grandmother Susan beam I have hypertension uh which is I think directly related to the extra weight I've had to have hip replacements and uh rheumatoid arthritis a

nd sleep apnea if you could if you could snap your fingers right now and lose the weight how many pounds would you like to lose would you hope to lose I would hope to lose about 120 to 130 lbs which is basically like another person beam's Medicare coverage will not cover the new class of drugs that the FDA has approved for weight loss she hopes Congress will pass legislation to change that well I think it's extremely urgent I don't know at what point uh it will impact my health even to the point

of death Oklahoma has the third highest obesity rate in the country but according to healthcare analytics company purple lab the state ranks 27th in rate of prescriptions written for OIC and wovi and the price of those drugs is high roughly $1,000 a month many health plans don't cover the cost getting insurance coverage is a constant headache for Dr dadia so difficult that we hired someone who specifically deals with just prior authorizations for the medications that's their only job that is th

eir only job purple lab's data also shows that while black people in the US account for 32% of obesity cases they are only getting 12.5% of Oe and wovie prescriptions I hope that people have enough Grace to You Know understand that this is bigger than just willpower Liz shate is another of Dr damia's patients I don't think the goal for me is perfection but it's to be in good health she's hoping to get the newly FDA approved Zep bound at a discount but even discounted that's $550 a month and stil

l a stretch out of pocket obesity is a disease these patients that have this disease are humans and they need treatment and there's a treatment out there that works there's a very effective treatment that works and we're really struggling to get it to the people who need it the most being part of what doctors call a weight loss Revolution often comes at too high a price Stephanie gos NBC News Norman Oklahoma and that is Nightly News for this Friday thank you for watching everyone I'm Lester Holt

please take care of yourself and each other good night thanks for watching stay updated about breaking news and top stories on the NBC News app or follow us on social media