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today, thursday, november 21st, 2024, breaking news. gaetz drops out. the president-elect's controversial pick for attorney general, matt gaetz, announcing that he's withdrawing his name from consideration. we'll tell you how he's explaining the move and the trump team's reaction. also breaking, conviction overturned. actor jesse smallette's conviction gets thrown out. off-campus, new data shows freshman enrollment across american college campuses has declined. why now and where are students going instead? i'll simply explain. and the long road home. more than 40 years ago, a texas father gave up his prized possession, a beloved car, so he could afford diapers for his newborn son. how his son found a way to show his dad how much that meant

decades later. it's a beautiful story. >> it will definitely have you in all of your feelings. and we are get there. but we'll start this hour with that breaking news on the potentially incoming trump administration. >> president-elect trump's pick to lead the department of justice, matt gaetz, has withdrawn his name from consideration. gaetz announced the news in a post on "x" saying in part that his confirmation was becoming a distraction from the critical working of the trump/vance transition. >> gaetz was investigated by the department of justice for allegations of sex trafficking and having sex with a minor. no charges were ever brought against him and gaetz has repeatedly denied the allegations. gaetz resigned from the house several days before a report my the house ethics committee was reportedly set to be released. >> leading us off this hour, nbc news correspondent vaughn hillyard in west palm beach near mar-a-lago, and nbc news congressional correspondent, julie tsirkin is with us as well. vaughn, i'll start with you. i know we have new reporting on how this decision by gaetz was reached. what's the latest?

>> right, multiple sources tell our colleagues here at nbc news that it was matt gaetz's decision to ultimately step aside and not continue. after it was clear there would be a majority of senators who would vote to confirm him. and matt gaetz eight days after being nominated by the president-elect coming from capitol hill, that he had sex with a minor, but also, the fact

that he was a bombastic figure, who had even republicans said that they would use the department of justice like john cornyn of utah, who worked to promote his primary opponent.

>> when you combine that with all of the things that are continue ing continuing what gaetz is going to do to transform the department that gaetz had a sexual encounter, allegedly, with one minor, but both two times in one night, allegedly, from what we're hearing from the lawyers here. and this is just continuous revelations of the multi-year long investigation that the house ethics committee, a

bipartisan handle, has held after the department of justice decided not to charge gaetz, but never cleared him, to be clear of potential wrongdoing, of potential sex trafficking. and those are exactly the concerns that senators are talking about when they say that there is potentially more information that could come to light, that maybe even president-elect trump wasn't aware of. >> so, vaughn, do we have any sense of what the reaction has been like inside the department of justice? which he could have overseen. >> right, there were concerns among career prosecutors who have long worked at the department of justice about matt gaetz' promises to root out what he called the deep state inside the department of justice, including firing prosecutors, who they made the case do not have donald trump's agenda in mind. and our colleagues, ryan reilly and ken dilanian and i are reporting that some of these unnamed prosecutors, currently in the doj, are breathing sighs of relief that matt gaetz is not going to be the next attorney general

general. the question is, who does come next? he has suggested that he's going to nominate his ersonal attorney, todd blanch, to be the number two. the deputy attorney general, could he instead be nominated for attorney general? but there is a list of others that could be nominated in place of matt gaetz. >> vaughn hillyard, julie circumstance i know, thank you both so much. in a stunning news, the illinois state's supreme court has overturned the conviction of actor jesse smallette. he was accused in 2019 of falsely reporting a hate crime against himself to chicago police. >> he was later sentenced to 150 days in jail after he was found guilty of five counts of disorderly conduct. he has continued to claim that he is innocent. joining me now, chloe melas. so, chloe, notably, smollett has only served six days of iz sentence. walk us through why the court ultimately did overturn it. >> this is fascinating, and

ultimately the buck stops here and jesse smollett never has to even think about this again. here is what happened. at the time in 2019 when he was accused of staging this elaborate hate crime, he says he was brutally attacked by two men, and he still maintains that this really happened and he had nothing to do with staging it. he says he was targeted because he was black and gay. at the time, the cook county state attorney, kim fox was her name, she struck a deal with him and said, i'm not going to bring charges if you pay $10 ,000 and pay some community service. that's what happened, but then a special prosecutor got involved, brought it before a grand jury, it was re-charged and that's when he went to trial, that's when he was convicted and like you just said, sentenced to 150 days behind bars, had to pay back all of this money to the city of chicago, had to do community service. but what we're seeing here is that the illinois state supreme court is saying, because he had that original non-prosecutorial

deal that he had originally struck, it's against his due process, that you have to stand by that original decision, that deal that was struck. all the other stuff and the jury trial and the grand jury never should have happened. >> so he's an actor. do we have any idea if he could now go on and have an acting career? >> it's so hard to say. hollywood is a forgiving place. i've been in this business covering it for 16 years and you've seen all sorts of people get a second chance, but this really maligned his reputation in hollywood. there are several people who have been advocating for his innocence, who have stood by him over the years. there are little things here and there in terms of projects. i don't know if this completely brings him back in terms of hollywood. >> we will see. chloe melas, thank you. time now for cnbc's money minute. there are new rules for your digital wallet. >> a uk farm is selling a cup of

coffee. kate rogers will tell us why. >> consumer financial protection bureau expanded its oversight of purchases from non-banks qualify under the rule, including apple and google, as well as peer-to-peer services, venmo and zell. the fda found bacteria in tooth paste from tom's of maine, and inspection found specifically investigations of a black mold-like substance in the water used to make that tooth paste. the fda did send a warning message to colgate poll mollive, accusing it of not following procedure. it was in the simply white clean mint paste and the kids wicked cool paste. and a scottish dairy is offering the most expensive cup of coffee for $344. for people who purchase 34 shares of the farm, they'll get a certificate for the flat white that can be redeemed at coffee shops that use the dairy's milk

and the investments will grow towards growing the farm's sustainable operations. you're getting a little bit more than just a cup of coffee. >> i like that. >> it's a little steep for me. >> i'll start saving. kate rogers, thank you. well, coming up, could google's chrome browser be headed to the auction politic?b? why the justice department is trying to force its sale. and an investigation into those home burglars targeting star athletes. star athletes. why if you're living with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis or active psoriatic arthritis symptoms can sometimes hold you back. but now there's skyrizi, so you can be all in with clearer skin. ♪things are getting clearer♪ ♪yeah, i feel free to bare my skin♪ ♪yeah, that's all me.♪ ♪nothing is everything♪ with skyrizi, you can show up with 90% clearer skin. and if you have psoriatic arthritis, skyrizi can help you move with less joint pain, stiffness, swelling, and fatigue.

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both coasts of the u.s. are dealing with major storms, bringing relief to the east and new worries to the west. >> a one-two punch of a bomb cyclone and an atmospheric river hitting the pacific northwest and northern california with dangerous rain and snow. at least two people have died in the seattle area. the winds so powerful they've knocked down massive trees like the one you see there in washington state. according to poweroutages.us, more than 300 customers in the u.s. are still without power. >> rain has alleviated some of the fire danger, but not expected to make much of a dent to end the ongoing drought. >> let's go to chase kaine in eureka, california. landslides are among the most dangerous threat. what are you seeing?

>> reporter: we're in the calm between the storms. that first round brought a lot of impacts to washington state. it's this next round that's moving later today and tonight. is this entire area is under a high risk for flooding. it's important, because it's those kind of alerts where we see 40% of all deaths from flooding and the vast majority of all damage. as the rain picks up with, that's going to be a problem. this area has been soaked for a couple days. add 6, 8, 10, 12 more inches on top of that, you get the risk of trees falling. landslides and rock slides. just so the south of where we are now, a popular tourist attraction in the area. a two-lane road that takes us through the scenic grove. they had to close down that road because of flooding overnight last night. and that's the kind of thing we're expecting more of as we go into the next few hours. roads being closed from flooding and also potentially from landslides and rock slides. the winds are also going to pick up later this evening, 30, 40,

maybe 50-mile-an-hour winds. that's why all of these weather alerts and advisories are starting to pop up. i should also mention, five rivers under a flooding warning. things are kind of ramping up here. local officials are saying, get your supplies, be prepared for power outages, and get home by this evening when things certainly start to get worse. >> chase kaine, thanks so much. >> let's bring in nbc news meteorologist bill karins. it seems pretty dangerous in northern california. what do people need to be bracing for and when could they see a break? >> it's more after dark tonight when they go through northern california that's what's left of that bomb cyclone from two days ago. to the south of it is a brand-new storm. and this one may actually get strong enough to be called a pom cyclone. at the same time, this atmospheric river still pointed into california. it's been this way the last three days. the rainfall totals are going up. if we get that batch of heavy rain expected later on tonight, that's when problems are going

to really exist. we have steady-to-soaking rains from santa rosa northward. we believe it's going to creep northward through ft. bragg up towards eureka. 3 to 6 inches of rain expected. we do no have any flash flood warnings at the moment. that should change later on tonight. eureka, around that 1 to 3 inch range also. in areas of the east, they're dealing with their own big storm. areas of wisconsin, 2 to 4 inches of snow. and that will be a story you'll see tomorrow in areas of new york and pennsylvania and the appalachians. two big storms on both coasts. >> bill karins, thank you. the justice department wants google to get rid of its search engine, chrome. >> the doj is asking a federal judge to force google to sell that browser in a move to break up the tech giant. it comes after that same judge ruled back in august that the company holds a monopoly in the

search market. nbc news business and tech correspondent, brian cheung, is here with us with more details. brian, let's back up a step. we mentioned stuff happened over this summer. this has some history. what is -- why is google being accused of being a monopoly? >> that was what a federal judge ruled in august after a case that was brought forth by the department of justice in 2020. so this has been flipping through the legal system for a while. the judge said, i think this is a monopoly. basically, what do they think, the justice department of justice would recommend as a remedy to fix what could be breaking up this company. what the doj said in a filing late last night is there are a few ways to do this. first, they are proposing to have google sell its browser chrome. that's a big one. a lot of people use that one. and they also want them to basically, in some cases, if they can't resolve some of the issues that the judge has brought up, even sell an android mobile operating system as well. these are really big questions. again, this is just what the doj is recommending. google is going to have their own recommendation, which they say they're going to file next

month. >> to that end, there are so many facets to google. google maps, google chrome. you mentioned android. how practical would it for them to do that? >> this is basically the doj's wish list. and it's up to the judge to decide whether or not they'll impose this actual remedy on google. so there's a lot of legal questions about whether or not that would happen. you can make the argument that what the doj is asking for is a little bit aspirational. when it comes to the suite of google, it's important to note that youtube, google maps, google docs and drive, that's not really part of it. basically, the doj is looking at the way that google is trying to put in things like the search bar and also their chrome browser on an detroit phones, as an example. >> bottom line, i know we need to hear what google had to say, but is that affecting people who use android phones, or -- >> not immediately. google is fighting this. and i think that's what the next step of this court case is going to be. they have said in a statement that they feel that this is an

overreach of their power. they said that the doj choosing to push a radical interventional agenda, saying that the way that these apps function could be disruptive if the doj has its way. it's really up to the judge to decide, and we're far from a ruling from that judge yet. >> has google faced this kind of pressure yet? >> the last time there was any kind of substantial anti-trust case, you have to rewind to 2001, which was microsoft. been a while. >> brian cheung, thanks so much. still ahead, a warning for all holiday shoppers. the simple steps you can take right now to protect your money when you're buying gifts or spending gifts using popular payment apps. that's coming up on "nbc news daily." i'm barbara and i'm from st. joseph, michigan. i'm a retired school librarian. i'm also a library board trustee, a mother of two, and a grandmother of two. about five years ago, i was working full time, i had an awful amount of things to take care of.

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or chest pain, muscle spasms, blood pressure changes, tiredness, shaking chills, bad taste, breathing problems, or face, tongue, or throat swelling. ultomiris is continuous symptom control. ask your neurologist about starting ultomiris. (♪♪) of climate weather alert, with an atmospheric river parked over the north bay and the storm nowhere close to being done. here's meteorologist kari hall with our forecast. we're still dealing with some heavy rain across northern california, and the north bay has been hit the hardest. and that's where we continue to focus our energy today with more heavy rainfall that will continue into the evening. it lifts to the north, but then look at what happens tomorrow morning. we start to see it shifting farther south, and more of the bay area that hasn't yet measured a lot of rain will start to see some heavy downpours, gusty winds and

the rainfall totals adding up. and then it looks to stall over the south bay. by friday evenin, as we do still see the rain continuing for the north bay. there's the potential of flooding that will continue. we'll be watching this and another storm behind that. we'll talk more about it coming up in the next 30 minutes. thanks, kari. let's check in with nbc bay area's ginger conejero saab now. she's in the north bay where the rain is not letting up. we have been to various cities in sonoma county this morning. we've been to novato, forestville, santa rosa, and the rain has just not let up. which is why we are seeing the roads start to look like this. we're at mark west station road at starr road in santa rosa. you can see the road is completely flooded also. now shut down to any vehicles. cars not allowed to pass this road. not far from here a vehicle was stranded in standing water over by river road and slusser. sonoma county fire district and other agencies responded to a couple calls after six. this morning involving a vehicle flooded in several feet of water. now, that

intersection is a problem area with permanent flooding signs and a permanent flood gauge. we were told the driver made it out uninjured, he came back to the scene this morning. however, the vehicle stayed in the water because tow trucks were unable to get to it with running water. yeah, the rain is not stopping, right? we're supposed to be continuing to get pushes of rain coming in through the weekend, and with that, the water will continue to fall and then flow into these storms like this. the creeks and streams and flow into the russian river from there. and with that, as that continues, it will fill continue to flow on some of these roadways. now, as the ground gets more and more saturated, we are also seeing downed trees, this one on bohemian highway just north of occidental in sonoma county. it happened around 230 this morning. we were told the tree took down power lines as well. another downed tree this time in forestville. it came down yesterday

afternoon, but crews still assessing the damage and how to clear it this morning, an 80 to 100 foot tree fell on a home and a car that was parked outside. a woman suffered minor injuries but was brought to a local hospital. her husband and daughter, neighbors say, were fortunately not home at the time the tree came down. sonoma county. adding to its list of school closures this morning. you can see them on your screens. they include fort ross, guerneville, casa monte, rio, montgomery and horicon. now, we saw that vehicle that was left in stranded water earlier this morning. a perfect opportunity for officials, authorities to remind the public not to drive in water. that you may deem is dangerous, potentially flooded. do not take the risk of driving into it. we're in the north bay this morning. okay. you can download our app. just go to the app store and you can check out the radar and stormranger tracking this latest storm.

we're going to move on to some other news. now sharks fans are getting ready to honor an absolute legend on the ice. the team and the city are holding a joe thornton retirement weekend. all starts today at city hall. that's when mayor matt mahan and others will officially declare saturday joe thornton day. then tomorrow, thornton will take part in the 2024 legends game at tech cu arena. and on saturday night at the shark tank, they retire his jersey number 19 and we continue our important and sometimes uncomfortable conversations about race and history in our ongoing series race in america the conversation. now, one person we spoke with is jose antonio vargas. he's a pulitzer prize winning journalist, filmmaker and author. he's also undocumented and hasn't seen his mother in 31 years. since coming to the bay area, my mom put me on a plane. she said. the last thing she said that, you know, it might be cold there. she didn't come with your mom. my mom did not come with me. she introduced me to a man whom she said was my uncle. i landed in mountain view august 3rd, 1993.

it's a fascinating story, and you can watch it and watch new episodes of race in america. the conversation tonight at 730. and that does it for this edition of the fast forward. i'll be back with hourly updates. have a with hourly updates. have a great afternoon. oh, so many medicare plans. that's why you're comparing all in one plans, all in one place with ehealth. oh, hey. based on what we talked about. your doctor. my pharmacy. your budget. my medications. you have a match. whoa. how is all this a free service? insurance companies pay us to find you a match. you really are a medicare matchmaker. i'm going to use that. thanks for the help. do you need help finding a medicare match? maybe you're paying too much for too little. maybe your current plan is changing, or your needs are changing, or you simply have questions. either way, now is the time of year you can do something about it. so give us a call and speak to an advisor

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♪ robitussin ♪ ♪ you gotta give the people ♪ chew on a ♪ you gotta give the people ♪ ♪ you gotta give the people ♪ ♪ what they want ♪ wait till you see this. bottom of the hour now, here are some of the stories making headlines on "nbc news daily".

>> police have tracked down this culprit that was stealing shoes out of a kindergarten classroom in japan. after police installed security cameras, they found out the shoe stealer turned out to be a weasel. staff at the school say they were pretty confused when the steve was only stealing single shoes and not pairs. the location of the missing shoes is still unknown, but the school is covering those cubby holes with nets to prevent this thief from striking again. the international criminal court has issued arrest warrants for israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu and his former defense minister, yoav gallant. they accuse netanyahu and yoav of war crimes. israel has rejected the charges as absurd and false, calling the icc a biased political body. neither israel or the united states recognize the jurisdiction of the icc, but the

warrants put the israeli officials at risk of arrest in other countries, including much of europe. and the las vegas police are under scrutiny after a father who called 911 for help was killed by officers in his own home. newly released body camera video from earlier this month shows police approaching the home of 43-year-old brandon durham. he called for police after a reported break-in. investigators say the responding officer saw durham and an intruder struggling over a knife and issued commands to drop the weapon. the officer then fired multiple times. durham was pronounced dead at the scene. the intruder was arrested. the officer is currently on paid leave while an investigation is underway. we are getting new information on a bizarre missing persons case out of the state of wisconsin. we're talking about ryan borgwardt. he's a father of three who authorities say faked his own death and was reported missing back in august. officials today have confirmed that he is, in fact, alive, and that he left the country under his own free will.

nbc news correspondent shaquille brewster has been following this story for us. so, shaq, this is a bit strange. investigators in wisconsin gave an update. i know you've talked to the sheriff. what do we know? >> well, they still don't know specifically where he is, but we learned in that press conference earlier today that they've been constant daily communication with him since he sent them that selfie-style proof of life video back on november 1th. now, they're working right now to see if he had any help getting out of wisconsin and leaving the country. and they said that in their communications with him, they've been able to figure out exactly how he was able to leave, almost undetected for nearly two months. listen here. >> he stashed an -bike near the boat launch. he paddled his kayak in a child's-sized floating boat, out into the lake. he overturned the kayak and dumped his phone in the lake.

he paddled the inflatable boat to shore and got on his e-bike and rode through the night to madison. >> that's about a 60-mile ride on his e-bike. and once he got to madison, the sheriff says he took a bus that took him through detroit and into canada. and that's when he was able to board a plane and they believe he's somewhere in europe at this point. >> shaq, the details are just unbelievable here. now that the sheriff's office knows that borgwardt seemingly staged his own death, i imagine he could be facing some charges? >> they say he's facing obstruction charges to be filed sometime in the next couple of weeks. they also say that they're going to go after the money that was spent on this extensive, nearly two-month-long search. they put a price tag at that at about $40,000. but i think the biggest point that you heard from the sheriff is that he wants borgwardt to come back home, instead, and got emotional when that the biggest

gift that he can give his three children is for him to be home for christmas. >> shaq brewster, thanks so much. major new developments this hour on the home burglaries of high-profile sports stars. two senior law enforcement officials tell nbc news that the fbi is investigating the possibility that those robberies could be tied to an international crime ring. this includes break-ins at the homes of kansas city chiefs stars travis kelce and patrick mahomes. both had their homes burglarized just hours apart last month. nbc news correspondent morgan chesky has been following the story for us. so morgan, kelce and mahomes aren't the only athletes that have been targeted, right? what more do we know? >> we have seen a string of high-profile burglaries over the last few weeks, impacting both of those chiefs football stars, and two nba players that play for the milwaukee bucks. that has risen the profile of these crimes. investigators have made it clear, kate, that there may be over crimes they're looking at,

in addition to those high-profile cases. but they have acknowledged, according to those senior law enforcement officials, that the fbi is working in conjunction with local authorities, trying to compare notes, trying to see what adds up here. and if they can, indeed, trace this back to these transnational crime rings that we do know exist in south america, both in chill e and other countries as well. they have become such a large problem, kate, that law enforcement across the country says that they've been taking part in what's now known as burglary tourism. flying crews in to do these jobs under the cover of darkness and flying them out. i want you to hear what one law enforcement expert said, detailed their kind of m.o. take a listen. >> they can do the reconnaissance, they fly a crew in to actually do the physical break-in. so none of those people are even in the country when they start investigating it. >> this entire criminal strike force could be wrapping up their burglary in the span of less

than 24 hours. >> that's what they try to do. >> so the big question, where does the investigation go from here? obviously, the federal investigators now looking into this issue, kate. one of the key obstacles they're going to be running into is exactly what that expert said, and that is, in some of these cases, the very culprits they could be trying to track down may already be long gone, back in their home country, in potentially south america here. when i had a chance to follow up with that security consultant, i posed the question, these people are so high-profile, why does a high-dollar security system not fit the bill here? kate, he said that these crews are so organized, so efficient, they can shut off power to a house, cut off internet to a home, allowing them to gain access, and that they're incredibly confiscated here, and that's why he says one of the main ways they can stay safe is really manned security personnel, and that is why he thinks this is persisting here.

kate? >> morgan esky with a great update. thank you. the fall semester is coming to a close. and college students may have noticed their campuses look a bit different this year. new data shows that freshman enrollment dropped across the country for the first time since 2020. why are high school graduates passing on higher educational and where are they going instead? let's take a look with enrollment simply explained. it's epitomized in pop culture, a rousing high school graduation followed by a coming of age journey to college. but today for first time since 2020, u.s. college freshman enrollment is on the decline. more than 5% from last year. put simply -- >> all the students who are actually in college this fall, that number has actually grown. new freshman, particularly freshman coming straight from high school, has declined quite dramatically. >> reporter: doug shapiro is the executive director of the national student clearinghouse research center that released this enrollment data. >> why do you think we're seeing this dramatic shift in first-area student enrollment? >> i think there are a number of

reasons. the financial aid situation or the affirmative action situation. but also, a lot of students who i think are actively making a different choice about their futures. >> quick history lesson. back in 2020, the coronavirus pandemic meant a rapid transition to online learning. first-year college student enrollment experienced an unprecedented one-year decline. since then, schools have remained under pressure. in 2023, the supreme court struck down affirmative action, effectively ending admission based on race. and earlier this year, the department of education came under scrutiny for their botched rollout of the new fafsa form, the free application for federal student aid, in turn, complicating the enrollment process for families. >> how many schools accepted you? >> five or six. >> how many of them have told you whether or not they will offer financial aid? >> none. >> the fafsa form was rocky this year. and it was delayed. >> we work really hard with college counselors, financial aid advisers through the spring

and summer to get people the help they need, paying for college. >> reporter: james kvaal is the undersecretary of education at the department of ed. he says more students received federal aid this year and points to larger reasons for declining freshman enrollment. >> there is a hot job market. there are questions about the value of college and a lot of people are accusing shorter-term credentials to get into the job market more quickly. >> so that's insight into why college enrollment is down. as for who declining enrollment is impacting, four-year colleges with the most low-income students lost the most freshman this year, and community colleges saw an increase, according to the study. shapiro says freshen enrollment declines serves as an important harbinger of what's to come. >> i think that suggests that we're not likely to see many of the missing freshman this year get back on to the college track. >> reporter: and that's enrollment simply explained. >> with the holiday gift-giving

season fast approaching, chances are you may soon be using a payment app to buy something or send money. >> but there are some important things to know before using these apps so you can keep your money safe. joining us now, "nbc news daily" anchor and senior consumer investigative correspondent, vicky nguyen. so vicky, not all of those payment apps are made the same. walk us through the difference this year. >> let's start with the big ones, paypal and venmo which is owned by paypal. you fund these with your bank account or a debit card or a credit card. keep in mind, you may pay a small fee if you're using a credit card linked to paypal or venmo. you can send money to friends, split the bill. cash app works very much the same way, but you can buy crypto and stocks with cash app. zelle is a little bit different. this is owned by the major banks. it is linked to thousands of financial institutions. . and when you send money to someone using their phone number or their email address, it goes to them right to their bank account. that can be harder to walk back

at sometimes, because it's bank-to-bank. and finally, everyone's familiar with the big tech platforms, those digital wallets, apple pay and google pay. apple actually had apple sh, which allows you to send the cash via imessage. >> it's almost too easy, i'm just going to say. >> exactly. >> some of these payment apps let you keep a balance in there. i think i have a balance on venmo. is that a good idea? what should you know before doing that? >> a lot of people don't know about the consumer protections here. and justed to, the consumer financial protection bureau said that it's approved new rules to allow it to have more federal oversight over these apps. unlike your money that you keep in a banking or checking account that is insured by the fdic, you have protections, right? up to $250,000. if your bank goes kaput, your money is safe. it's a little different with these apps. they're regulated by different states. the financial technology association, which is an industry trade group that represents these apps says there's pass-through insurance and other ways that they protect your money. the bottom line is, read the

fine print. you may want to carry a big balance on these payment apps. that's not what they're designed for. >> and to the point of protections, holidays often bring along scams with them. how can we protect ourselves? and if we have fallen victim, what can we do? >> this is a time to brush up on your cyber hygiene, making sure your passwords or pass phrases are really long, unique characteristics. turn on every single protection feature in that app, facial recognition, multi-factor they think so authentication, when you log in, they send you a text code that you have to enter. and make sure you are not falling for things that are too good to be true. they're going to be sending you offers often through social media through that hard-to-find toy or dget that's a great price. it happens with imposters reaching out saying, your venmo or paypal account has been compromised. we need you to enter this information. same thing for charities.

never scan a qr code or click on a link. always go directly to the website. >> vicky nguyen, thank you so much. >> you bet. up ahead, the white house dolivers a tremen

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there's good news today about a tree that survived hurricane helene getting a big holiday honor at the white house. here's nbc's stephanie gosk.

>> reporter: the fraiser fir grows best in the mountains of north carolina. millions will decorate homes this holiday season. cartner's christmas tree farm, a family business started in the 50s, has a special honor. after beating out the competition, one of their firs is going to the blue room in the white house. the trees are planted when they're saplings, about a foot or so tall, and grow a foot every year. this tree has been in this spot for 25 years. now this spot for 25 years. now it's time to head to the show. today, friends and family gathered to cut down the tree. >> why was it chosen? >> it's got absolutely perfect taper on it. >> what makes perfect taper? >> it's not too this way, it's not too slim. just right. >> co-owner sam cartner even has a name for the perfectly shaped 20-footer. tremendous. >> tree-mend-us.

so three is going to mend us >> reporter: this area of north carolina needs mending after hurricane helene. many of the tree farms, including cartner's, suffered damage from mud slides. >> you ready? >> reporter: today was a moment to take pride in their resilience. >> all of those good things in life. faith, hope, and love. that's what we want this tree to represent. >> have you felt that spirit in this area? >> absolutely! absolutely, we have! >> reporter: and like every year during the holidays, north carolina is sharing that spirit with the rest of us. stephanie gosk, nbc news, newland, north carolina. >> steph, thank you. 40 years ago, a texas father gave up a beloved car. he did it so we could afford diapers for his newborn son. decades later, his son found a way to show his dad just how much that meant to him. ali spillyards from our nbc station in dallas has the story.

>> reporter: earl was 22 years old when he bought his dream car. a 1967 chevrolet camaro. >> it was blue with white stripes. >> but when his son, jared, was born -- >> here's a picture of me and jared. >> reporter: he didn't think twice about selling his beloved car to pay for diapers. >> i used to tease jared quite a bit. you know, i used to have a car like that over there. but no, you needed diapers, that's what happened to that car. >> i thought he was full of it. i used to have a camaro. like the guy at the bar aub the high school championship. >> reporter: for more than 40 years, that car was the part of the family's fabric of stories, which jared heard time and time again. >> it's a 1967 polina blue camaro ss with a 350 small block v8, an automatic three-speed transmission. >> reporter: jared knew his dad loved that car. so he set out to find it.

>> i began the quest to get my dad's car back. >> reporter: it took years to find a similar model, and fix it up. but this year, on his dad's 65th birthday, jared shared his surprise, decades in the making. >> that is not just a 67 camaro, that is your '67 camaro. that is your car. thanks for the diaper money, dad! dad! it was a moment that brought earl to tears. after getting reacquainted, earl will tell you this '67 camaro isn't exactly like the car he gave up. it's better. >> wanting dad to really understand how much i love him and how important he is to me. i'm like, what is the greatest thing possible? and it's the camaro. it was always going to be the it was always going to be the (cough cough) (sneeze) (♪♪) new alka-seltzer plus cold or flu fizzy chews. chew. fizz. feel better fast. no water needed.

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