NEW YORK (AP) — A 40-year-old New York man faces hate crime charges following a confrontation with “Today" show host Craig Melvin at NBC's studio in Manhattan.
The man was arrested Thursday morning inside 30 Rockefeller Center in Midtown by an officer responding to reports of a disorderly individual inside the building, police said Friday.
NBC News says in a statement that an individual approached Melvin after entering an unauthorized area in a vestibule near Studio 1A. Melvin notified security, who held the man until police arrived, according to NBC.
No altercation occurred and no injuries were reported. NBC did not say how the man gained access to the area.
“We are reviewing the incident and our security protocols and remain committed to providing a safe and secure environment for everyone who works at and visits our studios,” the network said in a statement.
The man has been charged with burglary, menacing and criminal trespass as hate crimes, as well as harassment. It was not clear Friday if has appeared in court or if he has an attorney.
Police did not say what led to the hate crime enhancements on the charges. Police records show a court date has been scheduled for Wednesday.
Melvin, who is Black, discussed the incident on-air Friday morning.
“Unfortunately, an intruder made his way into an unauthorized area here at Studio 1A,” Melvin said. “Thankfully, he was apprehended quickly. He was placed under arrest. We are just very happy that everyone is safe.”
Melvin also posted about the incident on Instagram.
“Hey everyone. I’ve heard from so many of you over the last few hours,” he wrote on Thursday. “I’m doing just fine. Thanks for reaching out."
Longtime “Today" show meteorologist Al Roker also took to social media to thank everyone reaching out to check on Melvin.
“We are both okay,” Roker posted on Instagram. “It’s moments like these that serve to pull us together. You all, like Craig, said ‘You come after one of us, you come after all of us.’”
Melvin and Roker are among a relatively small group of prominent Black journalists and anchors with regular, highly visible roles on national broadcast network news programs.
Melvin joined NBC and MSNBC in 2011, according to the “Today” show’s website. He replaced Hoda Kotb in 2025 as co-host of the 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. hours of “Today.” He had been hosting the show’s third hour while serving as the news anchor during the first two hours.
Roker also is a feature anchor on “Today” and co-host of the show’s third hour. He joined the show in 1996. Roker also co-hosted the “Wake Up with Al” morning show on the Weather Channel from 2009 to 2015.
This combo image shows Al Roker, left, and Craig Melvin attending the 31st Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame Awards gala at the Ziegfeld Ballroom on May 3, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo/CJ Rivera, File)
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin pledged to aggressively pursue voter fraud cases at the White House complex on Friday after President Donald Trump revived debunked election theories in his primetime speech Thursday night.
Trump used the primetime address to the nation to elevate his yearslong push to raise doubts about the legitimacy of U.S. elections and dispute his 2020 loss — this time, to justify his push to pass a strict voter ID bill. His allegations of interference and influence didn’t include key context. Nor did he produce evidence that votes had been manipulated or that the election outcome had been altered.
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The United States and Iran escalated their attacks across the Middle East on Friday, trading strikes aimed at infrastructure and military targets as their battle over the Strait of Hormuz intensified.
The U.S. expanded its attacks against Iran by hitting more bridges and energy sites and collapsing a tower at a key Iranian port, following through on President Donald Trump’s threats to pressure Tehran to ease its chokehold on the waterway vital to world energy supplies.
In response, Iran launched missiles into U.S.-allied nations in the Mideast, including Qatar, a mediator in the war, and Kuwait, where one of the desert nation’s water desalination plants was damaged.
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The president said he was “holding Canada responsible” for the U.S. “being unnecessarily invaded by filthy, polluted, and unhealthy air.”
In a post on his social media site, Trump called the situation “totally unacceptable” and said that summer smoke from fires in Canada is “becoming a yearly occurrence.”
He said he’d call Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Friday, and added that the “cost of this pollution must of necessity be added to the TARIFFS Canada is currently paying.”
The Trump administration has imposed import tariffs on some Canadian products, though the Supreme Court declared many such levies unconstitutional.
Unmentioned was the World Cup final in New Jersey on Sunday, but the White House says administration officials are monitoring the wildfire situation.
President Donald Trump said Friday that Darline Graham, the sister of the late Lindsey Graham, has his support to run for a full term to replace her brother in the U.S. Senate.
He wrote on social media that she “has been a WINNER all of her life and, should she accept, has my Complete and Total Endorsement.”
“RUN, DARLINE, RUN!” Trump added.
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The number of service members injured in the Iran war has gone up by 13 troops since Monday, according to the Pentagon’s official casualty count.
According to data in the Defense Casualty Analysis System, the 13 injured troops include 10 Army soldiers and three Navy sailors. No additional information was available, including the date or location of their injuries.
The new injuries come during a week of renewed and intense fighting between Iran and the U.S., with both sides launching strikes for several consecutive days.
Capt. Tim Hawkins, spokesman for U.S. Central Command, declined to offer any details about the injuries or what U.S. bases and assets have been hit in the renewed wave of fighting.
The total U.S. casualty count for the conflict now stands at 14 dead and 427 wounded. Central Command has previously said the majority of the wounded suffered traumatic brain injuries.
Mullin said the department is ramping up enforcement and hitting records for the number of arrests.
“Our arrests are up. We’re hitting single day records every single day,” Mullin said.
Mullin also said the agency deported 442,637 people in 2025 and so far this year has deported 403,294.
“We’re trying to perfect our ability to work with local law enforcement, state law enforcement,” he said.
ICE and DHS do not release regular data related to deportations, arrests and detention, leading to criticism that there’s no way to verify their work.
Unlike his predecessor Kristi Noem, Mullin has attempted to keep a lower profile for immigration enforcement operations. But the recent shooting deaths of two people who were killed by ICE officers during operations has brought the department back into the spotlight.
The billionaire U.S. ambassador to Italy was met by protests when he arrived in Venice on Friday aboard his luxury yacht as part of a coastal diplomacy tour marking the 250th anniversary of American independence.
Hospitality mogul Tilman Fertitta’s arrival represents an unwelcome display of American wealth and influence for many Italians at a time when they see the Trump administration as upending the post-World War II international order.
The so-called Coastal Diplomacy 250 tour of 13 Italian coastal regions on a super yacht is intended to celebrate “our shared history, our economic partnership, and the cultural bonds that make the U.S.-Italy relationship so special,” Fertitta said in a social media post.
In Venice, many of the same groups that protested the wedding last year of Jeff Bezos to Lauren Sanchez are mobilizing against Fertitta’s arrival aboard the 117-meter (384-foot) luxury yacht, Boardwalk, which features two helipads, a pair of swimming pools and a fully equipped spa and gym.
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The Homeland Security secretary said during a news conference that he hadn’t heard about allegations of violent behavior against a deportation officer who shot and killed a Colombian man in Maine earlier this week.
Relatives of the officer told The Associated Press he struggled with serious mental health issues, had a history of violent behavior and never should have been given a badge and gun.
Mullin said the shooting was being investigated and he’d allow the investigation to go forward.
“We understand that it’s being investigated, and we’ll allow the investigation to go through. That’s all I’m going to say about that,” said Mullin.
He wouldn’t comment on whether the officer was on leave but said that was standard practice in the aftermath of any shooting.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said if anyone votes illegally in the upcoming midterm elections, “we will hunt you down, we will find you and we will prosecute you.”
In a White House briefing doubling down on Trump’s primetime election claims, Mullin also threatened fines, penalties or prison time for state election officials who refuse to hand over sensitive voter data to DHS.
He said states that don’t elect to use DHS’s recently updated tool for identifying noncitizen voters, will become “a priority” for investigations.
The comments come as a federal judge has blocked the use of DHS’s updated system, citing voter privacy and the fact that it can result in the wrongful purging of eligible voters.
In his speech to the nation Thursday evening, President Trump said Americans deserve secure elections, and he claimed to be using federal authority to prevent them from being “stolen.”
In fact, one of the strongest security features of U.S. elections is the fact that they aren’t conducted at the federal level. America votes in more than 10,000 different election jurisdictions, each with different rules set by state and sometimes local governments.
That structure makes the nation’s elections extraordinarily complicated — and also safe from widespread fraud. And when misconduct does happen — rarely — security protocols frequently catch it.
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In January, Homeland Security said it had hired 12,000 new officers and agents since the hiring surge began and said thousands of those new officers were already out on the streets assisting with investigations. The number includes both deportation officers and agents for Homeland Security Investigations, a separate agency that falls under ICE.
ICE has said the majority of new hires are police and military veterans. But evidence has been mounting that applicants with questionable histories were either not fully vetted before they were brought on or were hired in spite of their past, an investigation by The Associated Press earlier this year found.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been rapidly expanding its workforce, hiring thousands of new officers as part of the Trump administration’s attempt to ramp up immigration arrests and deportations.
The supersizing of ICE — fueled by an infusion of billions of dollars granted by Congress — has raised concerns about the agency’s hiring practices and whether officers being brought on are receiving proper vetting. Those concerns have been rejected by the Department of Homeland Security.
Relatives of the ICE officer who shot a Colombian man in Maine this week told The Associated Press he struggled with serious mental health issues since early childhood and never should have been given a badge and gun to patrol American streets.
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Democratic members of Congress demanded answers about Homeland Security’s vetting and training of immigration enforcement agents after it was disclosed Thursday that the ICE officer involved in a deadly shooting this week in Maine had a history of mental health issues and violent behavior.
The Associated Press reported that David Brouillette, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who shot a Colombian man in Maine, is an Army veteran who’s struggled with serious mental health issues since early childhood, according to several of his close relatives.
The AP reached out to congressional leaders and several key lawmakers of both parties for response.
The top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, said Brouillette’s history of violence and mental health issues, as well as the death in Maine, “directly call into question the supposed vetting and training ICE does of its recruits.”
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As President Trump threatened sanctions for those who didn’t cover his address live Thursday night, the nation’s broadcast and cable news operations wrestled with the thorniest of questions: To air or not to air?
Networks and their news operations, broadcast and cable alike, spent the hours leading up to Trump’s address debating how to cover it — and struggling to balance delivering the news with handing over their airwaves to potential falsehoods about the 2020 elections.
In the end, a patchwork quilt of coverage was largely united by one common strategy: real-time fact-checking as much as was possible even while the president was still speaking.
The dilemma took place against a backdrop of deep tension between the media and a president working to exert control over it by whatever means he can. Even in his speech itself, Trump excoriated networks that chose not to carry it live.
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Secretary of State Marco Rubio is heading to the Philippines next week to attend meetings with foreign ministers at a gathering of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN.
The State Department says Rubio is going to meet with his counterparts and senior officials from governments in the region as he pushes for a free and open Indo-Pacific.
Rubio is scheduled to leave for Manila on Sunday and head back to the U.S. on Thursday.
China on Friday said it has never interfered in U.S. elections and has no interest in doing so, urging Washington to stop making what it described as “groundless accusations” after President Trump accused Beijing of meddling in the 2020 election.
In an address to the nation Thursday, Trump again raised doubts about the U.S. elections results in 2020 and accused China of interfering in them.
“The relevant allegations by the U.S. are entirely fabricated and aimed at vilifying China,” said China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian. “We have no interest in interfering in US elections and have never done so.”
In a daily briefing in Beijing, Lin called on the U.S. to stop making groundless accusations against China.
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Sue Gordon, principal deputy director of national intelligence in Trump’s first term, called the president’s address “a dangerous speech about an incredibly important topic.” She said the intelligence community throughout Trump’s first term was alarmed about foreign interference in elections, but Trump scoffed at them, angered at the investigation of his campaign’s relationship with Russia.
“He had an entire term to deal with it and I don’t know how you can believe how the same community that told him about it, that was excoriated about it” wouldn’t warn him in 2020, Gordon said on CNN.
Conservative commentator John Solomon, who joined the White House staff last month and was seated in the East Room for Trump’s speech, later told MS NOW “the intelligence community has zero evidence that someone has flipped — that a foreign power flipped — a vote in 2020, ’22 or ’24.”
But, he added, “We’re not through all the documents.”
President Donald Trump began Thursday night with a stark warning about what he described as flaws in the voting system and said he was releasing previously classified documents related to the 2020 and 2018 elections, when he lost the presidential election and when his party suffered losses.
Trump’s speech presented allegations of interference and influence in ways that lacked key context and did not produce evidence that votes had been manipulated or that the election outcome had been altered.
Notably, he focused on China but glossed over Russia, a country intelligence officials have said favored Trump in 2016 and 2020 and engaged in wide-ranging influence campaigns aimed at boosting him over Democrat Joe Biden in the latter campaign.
A twice-elected president complained about his one personal defeat, alleged a cover-up by officials in his own first administration and surfaced claims about countries attempting to harm his own prospects while staying silent on steps taken by other nations to boost him.
Trump used the remarks to justify his push to pass a strict voter ID bill in Congress that hasn’t advanced because it lacks enough support from his fellow Republicans.
“America is back and doing really well, but we still have a major challenge that must be urgently addressed, because no country can be great without fair and honest elections,” he said.
President Donald Trump speaks in the East Room of the White House, Thursday, July 16, 2026, in Washington. (Saul Loeb/Pool via AP)
President Donald Trump speaks in the East Room of the White House, Thursday, July 16, 2026, in Washington. (Saul Loeb/Pool via AP)
