Nightly News Full Broadcast - Feb. 16

[Music] tonight a massive penalty for Donald Trump the former president facing major consequences for lying about his wealth the judge ordering Mr Trump to pay over $350 million plus Millions more in interest in his civil fraud trial barring him and his oldest sons from running his Fame real estate company for years the judge is harsh words for the former president and now he's firing back Alexi Nali Vladimir Putin's fiercest critic dead in a Russian prison noani seen on court video just yesterd

ay smiling and joking how did he suddenly die in Siberia tonight President Biden putting the blame squarely on President Putin charges filed against two juveniles in connection to that deadly cansas City shooting as one of the youngest survivors speaks out about his own terrifying ordeal plus Chief Superstar Patrick Mahomes visiting fans still in the hospital the West in the bullseye for another double punch of danger dangerous storms can already saturated areas handle more flooding the groundbr

eaking new treatment for the deadliest form of skin cancer just FDA approved how doctors are using a patient's own cells as treatment and could it work against other Cancers and the stunning new AI technology blurring the lines over what's really real can you tell the difference this is NBC Nightly News with Lester Hol good evening and welcome it was a case that cut straight to the heart of Donald Trump's brand as a highflying successful Real Estate Mogul but tonight the business Empire he built

and road to fame is teetering out a judge's decision ordering him and the Trump organization to pay more than $350 million in civil penalties plus Millions more in interest for lying about his wealth for financial gain the suit was brought by New York attorney general Leticia James it names Mr Trump his Close Associates and the company itself the judge had previously found the former president liable for falsely inflating his net worth by billions of dollars in order to land favorable bank loan

terms Trump has denied the accusation the judge also Banning Mr Trump from running a business in New York state for a period of three years his sons Donald Jr and Eric banned for two years the Trump organization calling today's ruling a gross miscarriage of Justice Laura Jared has details tonight A crushing blow to the Trump family's real estate Empire a judge in New York handing down a more than $350 million civil penalty against Donald Trump plus interest for lying about his wealth for financ

ial gain barring him from obtaining loans in the state for three years Banning Mr Trump's adult sons from running any company for two years ordering they pay more than $4 million each today justice has been served today we prove that no one is above the law the former president tonight assailing the decision and slamming the suit brought by New York's Democratic attorney general these are radical left Democrats they're lunatics and it's election interfering if I weren't running none of this stuf

f would have ever happened with no jury at trial today's ruling left solely in the hands of Judge Arthur and gorin who decided the heart of the state's fraud case months ago finding the Trump family wrongly exaggerated the value of some of its most iconic properties on financial statements to receive better deals on bank loans this trial was to sort out the penalty Mr Trump and his adult children all took the witness stand in the hopes of fending off a decision with massive consequences for thei

r real estate portfolio and family Legacy I became president because of the brand Mr Trump's defense team arguing there was no victim the banks were repaid and testified they did not rely on Mr Trump's valuations the former president's attorneys had implored the judge not to impose a fine Ain to the corporate death penalty but today the judge writing quote Donald Trump is not Bernie maid off yet defendants are incapable of admitting the error of their ways instead they adopt a See No Evil Hear n

o evil speak no evil posture that the evidence belies and Laura Mr Trump making it clear he will appeal that's right Lester but if that appeal should fail Mr Trump is facing not only a massive penalty but the number itself could balloon with all the interest a real question for the company will it be forced to sell off some of Mr Trump's most prized assets to pay for this judgment Lester all right Laura thank you now overseas to the shocking news that Alexi novali a longtime Crusader against Rus

sian President Putin has died in prison suddenly Richard Engle has more on the mystery surrounding his death and who President Biden is blaming 47-year-old Alexi navali was looking healthy joking with a judge via video link from his Arctic prison just yesterday naval's mother saw him Monday and said he was in good spirits yet somehow Alexi Nali Russian President Vladimir Putin's fiercest and most energetic critic dropped dead Suddenly at a penal colony in Siberia prison officials say navali went

for a walk but felt unwell and quickly lost Consciousness they said Medics could not revive him President Biden blamed President Putin make no mistake Putin is responsible for naval's death Moscow supporters laid flowers to honor Naval despite a warning from the state prosecutor that protests would not be allowed when a woman tried to unfurl a sign she was taken away by authorities nalii started out as an anti-corruption blogger exposed in on his YouTube show the lavish Lifestyles enjoyed by Pu

tin and his inner circle naali was a central figure in massive protests against Putin in 2012 he was jailed and harassed and attacked with a green D that damaged his right eye in 2020 while on a flight in Moscow naal suddenly fell ill he was poisoned by a nerve agent and flown to Germany to recover he blamed Putin for the assassination attempt the Kremlin denied responsibility and then came the most consequential decision of his life Naval returned to Russia after recovering from his poisoning h

e deliberately put his life on the line and his principles first until his death today which is not confirmed by his family but who don't seem to doubt it naval's wife ulia in Munich called for President Putin to be punished we should come together and fight against this evil she said in 2021 President Biden warned Putin of devastating consequences if anything happened to navali in Russian custody NBC's Peter Alexander pressed him on that today what consequences should he and Russia face that wa

s three years ago in the meantime they faced a hell of a lot of consequences and we're contemplating what else could be done Richard what is the Kremlin saying about all this tonight well the Kremlin is calling Western accusations unacceptable and says it doesn't yet know how navali died but critics point out that many of Putin's opponents have died just like this mysteriously either falling out of Windows or poisoned or in this case dropping dead in jail all right Richard Engle thank you more c

ourtroom drama today in Georgia to determine whether da funny Willis could be removed from the Trump election inter interference trial after fiery testimony from Willis yesterday her father took the stand in her defense today Blain Alexander was there in the Georgia election interference case against former president Trump all right this Fulton County hearing could determine the future of that case for a second straight day Judge Scott McAfee heard evidence on allegations that da Fon Willis fina

ncially benefited from a personal relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade who she HED fired on the case now Trump and several codefendants are trying to have her removed it is a lie it is a liot after more than two hours of surprise fiery testimony yesterday today the state declined to call Willis for cross-examination I have one daughter uh fonnie Willis on the stand Willis's Father John Floyd pressed on what he knew about her relationship with Wade at issue when that relationship bega

n before or after she hired him Wen Willis said it was after did you ever meet Mr Wen uh the year 2019 absolutely not how about in the year 2020 absolutely not also a focus the issue of cash which became Central yesterday when Willis said that's how she would reimburse Wade for their vacations it's a black thing okay you know I was trained and most black folks they hide cash and I've told my daughter you keep 6 months work of cash always now the question for judge McAfee will Willis be allowed t

o remain on the election interference case what's at stake here well what's at stake is that I I I'm pretty sure that if the da is disqualified I think the case is pretty much dead in the water because the chances that any new DA is going to be appointed to the case before the election is almost nil and blame with testimony W now when would we be likely see a decision on whether Willis will be taken off the case well Lester the evidence has all been presented now but the judge now has to hear su

mmaries from both sides that's set to happen either late next week if not the week after so it could be sometime in March before we know the judge's decision Lester all right bla Alexander for us thank you President Biden is weighing in tonight on the indictment of a longtime FBI informed at the heart of the House Republicans impeachment inquiry Peter Alexander here he joins us Peter asked the president about that today ler that's right President Biden is now joining top Democrats in demanding H

ouse Republicans abandon their impeachment inquiry after the indictment of that longtime informant here is our exchange on that earlier today should the inquiry be dropped he is lying and it should be dropped and it's just been a it's been an outrageous effort from the beginning Alexander smirnov was arrested Wednesday charged with lying about financial ties between the president his son Hunter and the Ukrainian Energy company barisma allegations that have been Central to the Republicans impeach

ment push barisma as you know had hired Hunter onto its board but the justice department says smyrnov falsely claimed that the company paid the bidens five million each in bribes tonight the top house Republican says the impeachment inquiry does not rely on that informance accusations but on a quote large record of evidence and that they're going to continue to follow the facts Lester all right Peter thank you overnight the Northeast including Philadelphia and New York are preparing for snow but

in the west potentially dangerous flooding tonight and into tomorrow from Oregon down to Central California and a second storm not far behind will start pouring Heavy Rain on the California coast Sunday afternoon raising the risk of floods and mudslides next week the first charges have been filed in the deadly mass shooting in Kansas City at the chief Super Bowl victory celebration and Maggie vasper reports we are learning more about the children injured in the shooting 48 hours after the mass

shooting at Kansas City's Super Bowl celebration two unnamed teenagers now facing gun related and resisting arrest charges juvenile court officials saying additional charges are expected Wednesday's mass shooting the police say started with a fight left one woman dead and 22 injured most of them children including 10-year-old Samuel Ariano I was happy and then when it ended that's when everything happened we're going for that piece the Kansas City area fifth grader went to the parade to see his

favorite player Patrick Mahomes minutes after the rally gunshots rang out Samuel ran behind a trash can and Instinct honed in active shooter training at school at one point raising his arm that's when he felt a sharp pain what did it feel like like something burnt like a knife burnt with the lighter stab like stab St like someone stab me and did you know right away I've been shot Samuel ran trampled in the crowd leaving a shoe print on his jersey inches from where the bullet grazed his ribs we h

ear five juveniles down I go yep I go I go to it and that's what we're trained to do doctors Erica Carney and Jennifer Watts were on site treating wounded kids how are you responding though um not well you know I um it's been a couple of nights since I've slept a community pain shared by their championship team tonight Patrick Mahomes and his wife visiting kids in the hospital and for Samuel who wants to play for the chief someday a message for his role models anything you would say to them big

fan of them stay safe Maggie Vasa NBC news Kansas City we're back in 60 seconds the groundbreaking new trep and to fight a deadly form of cancer how it uses patients own cells to battle back [Music] today the FDA approved a groundbreaking new treatment for advanced melanoma a type of skin cancer and Thompson reports it may one day be used to fight other cancers as well how's your workout it was good Dan Bennett gave his daughter Faith Life she saved his 13 years ago I had a brown Freckle on my n

eck and she told me I should go get that checked out that freckle was melanoma a deadly form of skin cancer starting 3 years of surgery and radiation as it spread through Dan's body nobody can tell if something's going to move from your right armpit to your left armpit uh to any other lymph node it also went to his brain I was stage four melanoma and at that point in time I didn't even know what that meant what did you think you would miss everything graduation being a grandparent he would live

because of a treatment called till tumor infiltrating lymphocyte it was developed in Labs like this at Tampa Moffet Cancer Center here's where we take the tumors using a patient's own immune cells taken from inside the tumor multiplied and stored in these Vats the immune cells are in there says Moffet CEO Dr Patrick who we would take out a tumor and then send it immediately to the lab where the lab would grow out the immune cells from the tumor expand them to billions and then give them back to

the patient ultimately in clinical trials 30 to 40% of patients saw their cancer shrink or disappear now called M tagv it will be produced by drug maker ioans with a $515,000 list price for the onetime treatment the goal of till therapy is to get rid of the cancer and have it stay away since getting till in a clinical trial 10 years ago Dan has had no new tumors and the lesion on his brain is in check now he's planning to dance at Faith's wedding I get to watch her grow up such exciting potentia

l here so back to that question could this be applied to fight other cancers well scientists are working on that question right now because they are hoping that they can use this treatment in other cancers it could be years away but they think Lester that this treatment could be used perhaps for a solid tumor lung colon bladder and other types of cancer I know you'll be following it for us thank you still ahead our special report inside Gaza on the thousands of starving people why Aid trucks are

struggling to reach them up next tonight the war between Israel and Hamas has thousands of civilians in Gaza facing starvation Molly Hunter reports Aid trucks loaded with desperately needed food are not getting through tonight desperation growing a crowd of displaced Palestinians in Rafa descending on an aid truck these are familiar scenes now as hunger grips the entire population thousands lined up every day to bring food back to their families magdi Hussein stands patiently above the crown fo

r God's sakes magdi says every time we come we leave with nothing please he says I have 25 people at home but on this day the food at this distribution Point runs out the world food program warns one in four Gins are facing emergency levels of food insecurity and an additional half a million are at risk of famine by may people are so scared that they don't know what where the next meal is coming from children scrape at the bottom of the empty pan straight into their hungry mouths and one little

saving each tiny finger full to share with his family magdi walks two and a half miles home there's nothing today he tells his waiting family elsewhere people are resorting to eating animal feed we're forced to do this he says there's no alternative tonight the red crescent says 150 Aid trucks are lined up waiting to get into Gaza only 75 entered today not even close to what's needed Aid agencies say It's a combination of a lengthy Israeli inspection process a lawless chaotic situation inside an

d continued Israeli attacks that prevent the aid from getting to the people who need it most Molly Hunter NBC News Jerusalem up next tonight is it real or really fake the new AI technology leaving people doubting their own eyes finally tonight Stephanie Goos reports on a new AI video tool that you have to see but shouldn't necessarily believe the podcast no one knew they needed just a couple of Dogs Sharing stories on a Mountaintop this looks like a Sleek commercial for an SUV or here's a sweepi

ng opening shot to an old school Hollywood Western all three are text generated AI videos new technology announced by the Microsoft funded Company open Ai and just the latest way AI could rattle the world it's called sora the company says the videos it's released are generated with a text prompt like woolly mammoth snowcapped mountains wispy clouds and there it is it is not available to the public yet but the company wants feedback to help test capabilities according to a statement open AI says

safety is also a concern testing Sora with experts and building tools to help identify misleading content this ship has said we are never going to to be able to know what's true what's not that is true and we have to learn to deal with for a lot of people that's kind of terrifying but it's what's happening and like other forms of AI the more advanced the technology gets the more likely it could eliminate jobs Hollywood is probably paying attention for now it's definitely not perfect but some of

the videos are incredibly realistic both of these clips show Big Sir one was shot on a camera the other created by Sora can you tell which is AI it's this one open AI says it cannot predict all of the beneficial or harmful ways Sora could be used which means that just like the AI that's already out there Sora is both incredibly exciting and deeply unsettling Stephanie gos NBC News amazing potential that's Nightly News for this Friday thank you for watching everyone I'm Lester H 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