Nightly News Full Broadcast - March 26

tonight the state of emergency here in baltimore after a cargo ship crashed into a major bridge causing a catastrophic collapse the dramatic video in which a massive container ship crashed into a pillar on the francis scott key bridge in a matter of seconds the bridge collapsed into a huge twisted Metal Moments before the collision, the ship issuing a mayday call, authorities stopping traffic with just seconds to spare tonight, my conversations with the mayor, the governor and the witnesses who captured some of the stunning images, what do you think about when you watch the video now? in shock definitely incredulous and now that urgent search a construction team filling potholes in the bridge now two missing found alive but six missing the total effort by sea and by air and the questions why the ship lost control and how it could happen in one of the largest ports in the country our

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coverage is also ahead tonight the high-stakes battle in the Supreme Court over the abortion pill the important case that could restrict access even through the mail what the judges point out today the new details on what was found in federal law Raids on Shah Diddy's homes come and his lawyer responds tonight, this is NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt reporting tonight from Baltimore, good evening everyone, from Baltimore, it was Described as a cathedral of American infrastructure tonight, the Francis Scott Key Bridge is a shattered ruin.

Daylight reveals the twisted wreckage pinning the ship below. Two people were rescued, but six missing road workers are now feared dead, Construction Company officials say a mayday call from the ship just before impact gave officials enough time to stop traffic and avoid more cars. and people fall into the water, thousands of people crossed this bridge every day and although President Biden promises to rebuild it, it could take months after a disaster that no one saw coming right now, we don't think we're going to find any of that. these individuals are still alive we are suspending active search and rescue efforts what remains of that structure is now piles of twisted metal on top of a container ship after a nightmare unfolded early this morning the entire bridge fell down A camera was recording around 1:30 a.m.

Cars can be seen crossing the bridge as a ship named Dolly with smoke coming out of it comes dangerously close to one of the bridge's pillars and then hits it, causing the massive bridge to fall into the water. We informed the entire Key Bridge at the port, officials say an eight-person construction crew was on the bridge repairing potholes. Lights can be seen flashing from their parked vehicles before the road collapsed. Rescuers found two survivors. Authorities say six people are missing. The construction company told NBC News that they are presumed dead. Toby Guttermouth had just gotten off work and captured this awesome video.

I saw what I thought was a load falling from the front of the ship causing some splashing so I started recording, what do you think of when you watch? In the video now, still in shock, definitely, disbelief, I can't believe what happened. You know, Toby and his friend Christian Miller told me they narrowly escaped the disaster. You crossed that bridge. Yes, we crossed that bridge in about 30 minutes. of the Y accident and we are ready to leave and cross that bridge again at any time. What did it sound like when the ship hit? You could hear metal debris scraping, debris hitting the water and tonight we are learning about remarkable things. efforts that likely save lives The video shows the last two cars crossing the bridge about 30 seconds before the bridge fell, the ship had sent a mayday signal before the collision, allowing authorities to stop the passage of any another vehicle and one of you on the south side.

One of you on the north side stop all traffic on the Key Bridge. There is a ship approaching and it has just lost its way, so until it is controlled we will have to stop traffic. How come the traffic stopped in time? Civilian traffic across the bridge is heroic work by some of our state law enforcement officers, they undoubtedly saved lives with their actions. Authorities say the ship had lost power and propulsion. The lights can be seen going off and on several times before hitting the bridge. Shipping company Synergy Marine Group says the crew was not injured and is cooperating with the investigation, President Biden promises the bridge will be rebuilt.

My intention is for the federal government to pay the

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cost of rebuilding that bridge while the governor tells me that he met with the families of the missing. It was heartbreaking when you're working on a bridge, you don't think it's a dangerous place to work and what gives you hope, what continues to give me hope is the commitment that we made that we are a place where we say We leave no one behind and we take that on. commitment to families and we will continue searching. We are seeing the scale of the disaster from the air.

Tom Yanis joins me. You spent some time on this today. It's really a huge area, I'm Lester, good evening, we're flying right over the disaster zone, there's a huge circular perimeter filled with all kinds of ships, but what you feel and what you see immediately when you fly over this disaster is that the port of Baltimore is not there Tonight the view from the air on this disaster will soon open. Devastating chunks of bridge and strips of steel interspersed across the front of the freighter Dolly. Crushed containers marking the point where the structure folded the rest of the Francis Scott Key Bridge underwater later this year.

In the afternoon we took off over the accident site as we flew over this disaster, you can actually see how the bridge collapsed, the cargo ship crashed into those concrete pilings and they essentially cracked sending the bridge with all that steel into the cargo V and then to the river. the water is 47° and the bridge was 185 feet almost 20 stories above the Patapsco River the tides and currents mean the wreckage could be unstable, yet another challenge for rescue workers from up here you can also get an idea How big is this ship right, it's about 950 feet long and to put it in perspective it's about the size of the Empire State Building and when you look at the deck almost every inch is covered by containers stacked 10 high when I received the phone call, I thought it was fake just hours before the collapse, sailor Sean Jackson was loading cargo onto the ship.

Did you notice anything strange yesterday with the boat or the crew or anything when you were loading it? No, it wasn't just a normal day, you know he would have done it. I never thought in a million years that would happen. How dark it is here at 1:30 in the morning. It is dark. It is dark. I mean, even during the day you can't see through the water because it's cloudy. Know? At night. Worse yet, tomorrow at 6:00 a.m. we hope to put divers in the water and begin a more detailed search to do everything possible to recover those six missing people and tonight we will learn more about the missing construction equipment that was at the contractor of the bridge.

Jesús Scampos worked with the missing men, he says they are from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, they came to Baltimore in search of a better life and they have families waiting at home, he said, they say they were good people, people who came here to work tonight for what you are praying for. a miracle Tom yamas NBC

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Baltimore we come out of the investigation that will be led by the NTSB the agency, as they said, will be investigating why the ship apparently lost power as we are already seeing significant impacts on shipping here is Tom Costello, it was Totally black when the dolly left the port and headed out to sea traveling at 8 knots, just over 9 mph, just 4 minutes passed from the first signs of trouble to the moment the ship crashed into the bridge at 1 :24 a. m., the lights suddenly went out.

When they returned to the ship's deck a minute later, when dark smoke began to rise from the chimney at 1:26 a.m. m., the dolly seemed to turn, but at the same moment the lights went out again. 2 minutes later, at 1:28 a.m. m., the ship collided with the bridge the super structure quickly crumbled into the river below we searched better we could simply suck the ship between the questions for investigators if the bridge had sufficient barriers to protect its supporting structures once the bridge was directly impacted one of its peers Key Bridge or another Bridge that will be the end under US law ships entering and leaving our ports must use a local pilot to help navigate the waters have all the knowledge of the waterways memorized charts you can literally draw the chart from scratch on a piece of

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paper early this morning the local pilot was on the boat there is nothing worse on the bridge of a ship when everything calms down already tonight the boats that can't get in are stuck outside from the Port of Baltimore now 24 NTSB investigators are on the scene will recover the ship's data recorders examine the ship's safety and maintenance records any type of maintenance that has been performed on a ship an online database shows that The ship has had 27 inspections since 2015 with two deficiencies found last year a problem with the propulsion in 2016 the ship arrived at port in antp damages its hole because the ship is Singapore flagged.

A team from that country is also responding. Built in 1977, the Francis Scott Key Bridge was built to withstand heavy traffic. Experts say removing the remains from the water and then rebuilding the bridge could take years and Tom. We understand that the FBI is also involved in the investigation The FBI says there is no indication of terrorism The fire department says there is no indication of contamination in the water at this time but we are going to see a significant impact on the supply chain automobiles and Products from Europe and abroad cannot enter and Carnival Cruise Lines just announced that they will be moving their operations for now from Baltimore to Norfolk for the foreseeable future.

Lester, okay, Tom Castello, thanks. Meanwhile in Washington, the arguments today before the Supreme Court on the issue of abortion and the effort to limit access to abortion pills, the most common abortion method in this country. Here's Laura Jared. Hundreds of people demonstrated outside the Supreme Court today as judges inside poured cold water on an effort to roll back access to the most commonly used abortion pill. In the country, the pill has been on the market for more than two decades and is now increasingly used, but a group of doctors and anti-abortion rights advocates filed a successful lawsuit last year to make the pill more difficult to obtain.

The first time a court invalidated an FDA approval. drug, the FDA violated federal law and its duty to keep women safe, women must now receive these medications in the mail or in their bedroom without being examined by a doctor for life-threatening conditions, which It is reckless today, the judges found highly dubious doctors who have never prescribed mff aistone and cannot be forced to do so under federal law have the legal standing to sue. I don't think they have it for any of those doctors. The legal fight over Mistone now focuses on ways the FDA made the drug more widely available, including allowing the pills to be mailed to women for use later in their pregnancy and to other providers. of medical care to prescribe them.

Changes that, if not maintained, would limit access to the pill, particularly in red states where in-person abortion procedures are now largely cut off. The Biden administration and the drugmaker are urging the justices that questioning the FDA here could jeopardize the approval of any drug on the market. We won't go out again. I came here today because I want to see the abortion. industrial complex to be dismantled Melanie Salazar came from San Francisco. I am hopeful that one day we can live in an America free of abortions in all 50 states. Others like Alysa Greenwood, a mother of two who went to court the day the decision was overturned.

Today, with her 2-year-old daughter, I want her to look back as an adult and say we are on the right side of this. For all I know, I get pregnant and I don't want to be, or I get pregnant and I can't carry it to term and it's a danger and I have to be alive for my children who are here. The court is expected to issue its decision in June. Lester. Alright. Laura Jared. Thank you. President Biden and Vice President Harris are making aweird joint campaign appearance today in Battleground North Carolina her message highlighting a debate over whether the state should expand access to Medicaid our Gabe Gutierrez is there Darcy Gill was recovering from a car accident she says the $700 a month for health insurance she was paying were unsustainable how scary it is to not have insurance She didn't know what she was going to do here, but in December she was among the 600,000 people in North Carolina newly eligible for Medicaid after the state expanded the program as part of Obamacare Now .

Adults ages 19 to 64 who earn slightly more than the federal poverty line are also covered. There are no words to describe the relief because I have multiple sclerosis. You know, a rare joint appearance on the campaign trail today. President Biden and Vice President Harris visited This critical state is putting pressure on rural voters on health care and that's why the Affordable Care Act is so important. Democrats have argued that by not expanding Medicaid, the state was leaving more than half a billion federal dollars on the table each month. Health care and rural communities will be more stable, it also means we will have a healthier workforce, but 10 other states are still holding out, including Florida, there is a significant cost.

Republicans in Florida argue that expanding Medicaid is fiscally irresponsible and takes resources away from the most vulnerable populations, we do not want a group of healthy working-age adults arriving and affecting the health care of those children and also of people with disabilities, but as the 2024 campaign intensifies democracy Health care is a winning issue that is also on the way today Independent presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr announced his running mate Silicon Valley lawyer Nicole Shanahan Lester gab Gutiérrez thanks the raids in 60 seconds bombs at Sha Diddy Coles properties will have new details of what was found inside and how his lawyers are fighting back tonight with our new report on those federal raids on Sha Diddy Combes' homes and what was found inside as that we learn late that the music Moguls' lawyer is fighting back against Steve Patterson. with us Steve, what are we learning Lester?

Those sweeping federal raids are part of what a family source tells NBC News is a Homeland Security investigation focused on alleged sex trafficking. Multiple law enforcement sources say guns were seized at both properties tonight during the raid and while law enforcement sources say a known associate of D's, Brendan Paul, 25, was being arrested in a civil suit alleging Colmes operated a criminal enterprise, a lawyer accuses Paul of being a mule for drugs and weapons that NBC has not been able to re Paul but com, but later today com's lawyer called the raids an unprecedented ambush and said that the man has cooperated with the authorities and that his client is innocent and will clear his name Lester, okay Steve Patterson, thanks below for tonight's news about the American journalist. he is still detained in a Russian jail his fame is fighting for his freedom a year later American journalist Evan Gersich returned to a Moscow court today almost a year after his arrest his family tells Andrea Mitchell they are not even losing hope when i was a kid evan was a future reporter i was always curious i wanted to know this story uh why we came to the united states always interested she and mik left russia during the cold war growing up the family spoke russian at home her mother gave them to evan and his sister Russian names he is Vana, yes, his parents say that he made friends everywhere, which helped him as a journalist.

What interested him most was people and telling people's stories. When Evan decided to move to Russia in 2017, they were excited for him to visit six years ago. We saw Russia. Through his eyes, we were looking at a great guide to the new Russia that we had not experienced before everything changed. When Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, Evan moved to London and still often reported in Russia, but last March his mother received a disturbing call: it was Evan reporting. in a remote Russian town he said he needed to finish the story and will return next week 2 days later he was arrested accused of espionage it was nothing, it's hard to feel something, it's hard to think about something, the Blanco House calls the charges ridiculous, his parents They are grateful for the administration's support, but say it is not enough.

Evan is not here, it has been the year he spent all four seasons there, he spent his birthday and all the holidays and on a visit to the courtroom they spoke with him. a glass cage in Russian with guards monitoring every word, but still his family remains hopeful. We remain optimistic, that is the best way to deal with it. There is no pessimism. Pessimism will end all hopes. If you could talk to Vladimir Putin, what would you say? There is a human cost to this, we miss him so fiercely that we don't want another day of his freedom to be taken away from him.

Andrea Mitchell NBC News Philadelphia and when we return, a final thought from Baltimore, now from Baltimore, Francis Scott Key. A bridge was built where the famous poet watched in horror as the British fleet fired on Fort McKenry at the Battle of Baltimore in 1814, but after all, the infant nation's famous flag was still there tonight. I can't help but think of Star Spangled. Banner when you imagine those moments of heroism today, the acts that save lives and the Rescuers searching for survivors in the first light of dawn, now the national anthem, Key's poem speaks of the resilience of this community and the flag that unites us everyone, that's Nightly News for this.

Tuesday, thanks for watching. I'm Lester Holt, take care of yourselves and each other. Good evening, thanks for watching. Stay up to date on breaking news and top stories on the NBC News app or follow us on social media.