NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (Sept. 5)

Good evening and welcome to NTD News. I'm Tiffany Meyer and here are today's top stories. Former White House official Peter Navarro is going to trial for contempt of Congress. In another January 6th related case, the ex-Proud Boys leader faces sentencing. All 19 defendants in the Georgia elections case have now pleaded not guilty. Mark Meadows just today. Find out what's happening tomorrow. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell back in Congress after freezing up for the second time last week. A congressional doctor gives a health update. In Texas, the impeachment trial begins for suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton. A prosecution urging a conviction. The defense declaring there's nothing to this. And authorities in Cuba make a startling announcement. They say their citizens are being trafficked to fight for Russia in its war against Ukraine. And coming up, President Biden is masking up. That's after the first lady tested positive for COVID-19 right before Biden's scheduled to travel to India for the G20 summit. How will that affect his meeting with world leaders? We'll dive into our political coverage in just a moment. But first, we have an update from Pennsylvania where the manhunt for an escaped murderer continues into the 6th day. Authorities are expanding their search and warning residents to be vigilant. Danilo Cavalcante was convicted of first degree murder last month for killing his former girlfriend in 2021. He escaped from the Chester County Prison on August 31st. Authorities say the fugitive has been spotted outside the original search area around 30 miles west of Philadelphia. Two school districts in the region closed today after authorities said the manhunt had shifted. Authorities have advised residents to keep their doors and cars locked, warning that Cavalcante is extremely dangerous. Former White House senior advisor Peter Navarro's trial began today with jury selection. He's accused of not cooperating with Congress during their January 6th investigation. NDD's Melina Wyskup is outside the D.C. courthouse with more updates for us. Melina? Good evening. Yeah, so the first part of this trial phase began and was completed today with that jury selection process. 14 jurors were selected after some were weeded out after the defense team tried to pick out certain ones who they think would be biased in this case. Now, Peter Navarro right now is being charged on two counts of contempt of Congress charges. He's charged with failing to comply with subpoenas from the January 6th committee when they requested for his testimony and documentation from him when they're investigating the events on January 6th. Navarro is the second former Trump aide to be convicted of this, or not convicted, to be tried in court of being in contempt of Congress. Steve Bannon was the first. He was found guilty and sentenced to four months in jail, although Bannon is not in jail right now because he's pending an appeal decision. As for Navarro's case, his legal defense team has lost a key strategy, that is, using a privilege, being exempt on an executive privilege that former President Trump says that he instituted at that time or argued at that time. Navarro said that since Trump actually tried to claim privilege in this case, that he was justified not going to Congress and testifying. Ultimately, last week, the judge ruled that there was not enough evidence here to prove that Trump actually made that executive privilege claim, so he wouldn't approve that, losing that key piece of defense for Navarro. But Navarro, upon arriving at the courthouse early this morning, told reporters that he plans to take this case to the Supreme Court. Here's what Navarro had to say. Getting that this case is headed inexorably towards the Supreme Court, because this case is not really about me. It's about the constitutional separation of powers and executive privilege. This will be, at the end of the journey, a case costing over a million dollars or more. And so I'm asking people to go to www.defendpeter.com. Defendpeter.com. And contribute to my legal defense fund if you want to stand up for the Constitution. And when Navarro was asked by our colleague Jackson Richmond over at the Epoch Times if he was willing to take a plea deal, he said, we'll wait and see how this process plays out, not denying that he would take this plea deal, but, of course, not supporting that idea either. The judge says that this trial should be a quick one for Navarro. And, Melina, there was another January 6th related legal proceeding in that D.C. courthouse today. That is the fifth and final Proud Boys member facing sentencing. What was the outcome of that? Yeah, so he was the fifth and final Proud Boys member, but he's not just one of the members. He's the ex-Proud Boy leader, and he was charged. We just got the sentence just moments ago. He was sentenced to 22 years in prison, which is the most of any of the Proud Boys members. They have been charged with 18, 15, some with 10. So he has the maximum charge here, 22 years out of all of these Proud Boy members that have been charged so far. Now, that is much less than what the federal prosecutors wanted. They asked for 33 years, arguing that the peaceful transfer of power is just a fundamental thing here in the United States. But, of course, it's much more than what the defense team wanted for Tarrio in that case. They wanted 15 years. And the defense team today argued over and over again that sentencing him to any more than 15 years would put him on par with those other Proud Boys members that were actually here on January 6th. Because, remember, Tarrio was actually not here on that day. He was arrested a few days earlier for burning a BLM flag that belonged to a church, and actually he was charged with that as well. So he does have some criminal background here. But, ultimately, he was sentenced to that 22 years. We did hear from witnesses, including his sister, his fiancee, his mom. They all came out and just spoke, of course, with tears about how much they wanted the judge to show him mercy here with this case. But, of course, the judge has his own ruling and his own analysis to go by here. We heard from the judge multiple times today that he was very moved by something that Tarrio said about comparing one of the Proud Boys members who actually launched into the Capitol building, comparing him to George Washington. That apparently touched the judge quite a bit because he mentioned that throughout the case and right before he sentenced Tarrio to 22 years, saying that it actually slanders the founding father to make that comparison. So that was the ultimate ruling, sentencing of 22 years in prison, the most of any of these five Proud Boys members that have been charged. And, yes, he is the final one to be charged today. Melina, thank you for that update. And now over to the elections case in Georgia. All 19 defendants in the case, including former President Trump, have pleaded not guilty, meaning none will appear for an arraignment tomorrow. Six of them just waived their arraignments today, including former Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. Fulton County District Attorney Fannie Willis is accusing him of violating Georgia's anti-racketeering RICO law and soliciting a public official to violate their oath. Mark Meadows has been fighting to move his case to federal court. But there will be something happening tomorrow. The judge in the case just set a hearing for one in the afternoon to discuss scheduling. Some defendants are seeking an early trial, while others, like Trump, have asked for a late trial. The hearing in Atlanta tomorrow is set to be televised after a judge ruled to allow cameras into the courtroom. In another case against Trump, New York Attorney General Letitia James has just asked to sanction the former president and some of his family members. She says they keep raising arguments that have been rejected by the court and wants them fined $20,000 for wasting time. Turning now to the 2024 presidential election, a new poll finds that former President Trump is still dominating the GOP primary field by a large margin. But there's a surprising second place candidate in New Hampshire. NTT's Sam Wong brings us the latest. According to a new survey from the Wall Street Journal, former President Trump is now the most favorable candidate for nearly 60% of Republican voters. Trailing him is Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is dominating the rest of the field by a very slim margin. The gap between the top two contenders has nearly doubled since April, with Trump leading DeSantis by a staggering 46%. A major takeaway from this poll, the former president continues to enjoy rock-solid support, even as he battles a string of criminal investigations targeting him and some of his associates. Most GOP primary voters said that the indictments were politically motivated, and the overwhelming majority of them believe that Trump's response to the 2020 election was legitimate. It's kind of this idea of the left and the deep state don't decide who our nominee is, we decide. And so the more the status quo pushes to control this primary, the more they want to push back. Moving on to President Biden, over 70% of registered voters believe that the 80-year-old commander-in-chief is too old to serve another term, and around half of voters said the same about Trump, who is only three years younger. As for the current second-place GOP candidate, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley is catching up to Ron DeSantis in the state of New Hampshire. An NMB research poll shows that support for each of the two contenders is sitting at roughly the same level. For the mainstream audience, I think there's no question Nikki Haley came out first. You know, for those who kind of establishment, who want to return to that type of Republican, Nikki just showed out. The first official GOP primary will be held in New Hampshire early next year. Sam Wong, NTV News. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and a congressional doctor addressing concerns over his health. This comes after the senator froze in front of cameras last week for the second time in two months. Now, one particular moment of my time back home has received its fair share of attention in the press over the past week. But I assure you, August was a busy and productive month for me and my staff back in the Commonwealth. Capitol attending physician Dr. Brian Monahan said there's no evidence suggesting McConnell has a seizure or movement disorder or that he experienced a stroke or mini-stroke. The doctor said he conducted an exam on McConnell following his second freeze-up. The test included brain MRI imaging and EEG study and consultations with several neurologists for a comprehensive assessment. The doctor didn't provide an explanation for McConnell's freeze-ups. The Senate GOP leader returned to the Senate floor today after the chamber's August recess and said he'll be focused on passing the annual Appropriations Act. Today, Ken Paxton pleads not guilty on day one of his impeachment trial. The prosecution is urging the Texas Senate to convict him. NTD's legal correspondent Arlene Richards has the highlights. Attorney General, how do you plead? Not guilty. Ken Paxton pleading not guilty Tuesday to 20 articles of impeachment. In May, the Republican-led Texas House voted 121 to 23 to impeach Paxton. On Tuesday, after a morning of pretrial requests, the trial began. Texas Representative Andrew Murr, the chair of the House Investigating Committee and the impeachment manager, gave the opening statement for the prosecution. While impeachment is rare, the drafters of our state constitution recognize that there are times when this extraordinary remedy is needed to protect the state and its citizens from a public officeholder who has abused the power of his office by putting self-interest above that of the people of Texas. Murr urged the Senate to have the courage to convict Paxton. Defense Attorney Tony Busbee countering. The prosecution and the press, and I'm sure here, will tell a whopping story. It's a tale full of sound and fury. It signifies nothing. Busbee said he was confident that both parties would realize that there is nothing to this. The impeachment was triggered by accusations from four former staff members. They alleged that Paxton used his leverage to benefit a real estate agent, and after they reported it to the FBI, he fired them. Paxton eventually agreed to pay them a $3.3 million settlement and asked House lawmakers to approve it. Lawmakers didn't respond to the request, but instead conducted an investigation, leading to the adoption of 20 articles of impeachment. Paxton has been suspended since then. The trial will cover 16 of the 20 articles. The Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick is serving as the judge over the trial with help from a former Texas court of appeals justice. Earlier in the day, the Texas Senate rejected Paxton's efforts to dismiss the case. 24 nays, 6 yays, the tally is confirmed, the motion is denied. Paxton's attorneys had introduced a series of pretrial requests, including a motion to throw out all of the articles of impeachment for lack of evidence. The prosecution needs a two-thirds vote from the Republican-led Senate to permanently remove Paxton from office. If convicted, Paxton could be barred from holding any elected office in Texas again. Tiffany? Are masks coming back? At least for now, President Biden will be wearing one. How's the president doing after the first lady tested positive for COVID-19 right as he's scheduled to leave the country for the G20 summit? NTD's Iris Cao has more from the White House. We're now just days away from the high-profile G20 summit in India, which President Biden is scheduled to go to. But today, the White House announced that President Biden will now have to start wearing a mask when he's around people indoors, although he can take it off when he's far away enough from other people. Today, while attending an awards ceremony at the White House, the president wore a mask when he was walking in through the crowd, but took it off shortly after he arrived on stage and before he was about to speak. And this, of course, is after First Lady Jill Biden, who last spent time with the president together just the last Labor Day weekend, tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday night. President Biden tested negative on both Monday night as well as on Tuesday morning. The White House says that he's going to continue to get tested on a regular cadence, though without specifying what that cadence would mean. And today, the White House press secretary was also pressed on what seemed to be some coughing by the president on Monday. Watch. I was wondering if he had any other symptoms or if there's any concern about that. No, no symptoms at all. What about a regular cadence? Regular cadence is up to really in consultation with this physician. I can tell you right now, as I said, all travelers are certainly going to test, right, before they head out to India, and that's including the president. The White House today would not tell us if there's any contingency plans made in case Biden tested positive for COVID. But it did hint at the possibility that Biden might have to attend the G20 summit virtually. We've seen various leaders at various times participate virtually in events. Biden said on Monday that he's disappointed that China's Xi Jinping will not attend the G20 summit. But right now, it's really unclear if Biden will become the third world leader to have to be at least physically absent at the summit after both Russia's Vladimir Putin as well as China's Xi Jinping pulled out from the summit. Reporting from the White House, Iris Tao, NTD News. An unexpected revelation coming from Cuba. Authorities have uncovered a human trafficking ring sending Cubans to fight for Russia in Ukraine. NTD's Jason Perry has the details. Cuban authorities have uncovered an international human trafficking ring. The victims are being sent overseas to fight for Russia in the war against Ukraine. That's according to a statement by Cuban authorities released on Monday. Cuba's foreign ministry said Cuba is not part of the war in Ukraine, and Cuba will act against human trafficking aimed at recruiting Cubans as mercenaries. Cuban state-run media added this. The interior ministry detected and is working on the neutralization and dismantling of a human trafficking network. Cuba said it had already begun prosecuting cases in which its citizens had been coerced into fighting in Ukraine. A Cuban resident gave his take on the matter. Cuba is against all illegal human trafficking. People said it was to send them to war in Ukraine. The Cuban revolution is against that. And if true, this could mean Russia is having trouble recruiting people from its own citizens. But why Cuba? Russia has longstanding political ties with communist Cuba, and Cuban citizens often migrate to Russia for economic opportunities. Russia is also looking elsewhere for help in its war against Ukraine. On Monday, U.S. National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said North Korea leader Kim Jong-un and Russian President Vladimir Putin could be planning to meet. Clearly, Russia running short of our ammunition right now and having to go to North Korea. Patricia Lewis, the head of the international security program at the think tank Chatham House, explained that North Korea may want more than just currency. Obviously, it would like real high-tech missile technology, et cetera. It may also want a show of strength with Russia, such as military exercises, naval exercises, and so on. That may be part of the discussions. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on Tuesday said that it says a lot that Russia is trying to obtain weapons from North Korea in September 2023, especially for a war that Russia said would be over in a week. Jason Perry, NTD News. Coming up, are people behaving worse after the pandemic? Many seem to think so. We consult with health care experts to find out what's going on. And tens of thousands of Americans losing their jobs this summer. This is as the U.S. economy shows signs of slowing down. We'll have details on this and more here on NTD News. My employees and I are excited to announce it's our 20th anniversary. And to celebrate, we're bringing you a limited edition MyPillow. The Giza Elegance MyPillow is made with the most amazing cotton, 2-inch pipe gusset, comes in four custom loft levels, and it's machine washable and dryable. When I got MyPillow, I'm asleep almost immediately. I stay asleep at night, and I wake up more well-rested in the morning. 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What's going on? NTD's Yuqi Shi asks the experts. Public behavior seems to have deteriorated since the pandemic. Public outbursts, fans throwing objects at musicians, more rudeness. I'm seeing it with children in schools. I'm seeing it with adults. We're seeing it on the roads, with road rage in the workplace. Therapist Sarah Rollin says we're seeing a nervous system response to the COVID pandemic. There was an attack from a virus that we couldn't escape as a society. And so what happens is our body, our nervous system, goes into a fight response, a flight response, or a freeze response. Fight behaviors look like anger, frustration, so that could be more fighting, more yelling, more aggressive behavior. And then on the flight, it could be more anxious behavior. Rollin says that even though the pandemic is over, the trauma from it isn't completely gone yet. One way to recover is for people to use the logical part of their minds more than the emotional part. Some ways to do that… Breathe in, 2, 3, and hold, 2, 3, and exhale, 2, 3, 4, as long as you can. Dr. Irene Copps says there are many ways to get your brain thinking more clearly. Deep breathing is one of them. Another way, be aware that your actions impact your feelings. If you sit like this, how does that make you feel? You probably feel awful. I feel awful just doing this. Whereas if you sit up straight, chin up, gaze straight forward, smile on your face, it sends the message to your brain in milliseconds that, oh, she has a smile on her face, she must be happy. Copps says performing these actions can literally make you happier. Yuqi Shi, NTD News. Tens of thousands of Americans are losing their jobs. This is according to Forbes' layoff tracker. The cuts come from Yellow Corp letting go of all 30,000 of its employees and from layoffs at a number of other large corporations. We spoke with NTD Business' Don Ma about the situation. Don Ma, thank you so much for joining us. Great to have you back on the show. Yeah, thank you, Tiffany. It seems more than 65,000 employees lost jobs in major cuts this summer. Why are so many people being let go? Well, Tiff, here are some possibilities to that. One possible reason is we got some economic data last week, all of which seem to point toward a slowing inflation and a slowing economy, economic growth. So during an economic slowdown, businesses may experience reduced demand for their products and services. And when demand for goods and services declines, businesses may cut back. And that may include letting go workers. So CVS Health last month slashed roughly 5,000 positions. Layoffs have also hit the technology and biotech industries hard over the past three months with layoffs in the thousands. T-Mobile also conducted a round of cuts of roughly 5,000 positions. So with a slowing economy, this perhaps is normal to see. And in terms of this slowing economy that we're seeing, what economic data is pointing to that? Sure. Well, one of them is that more than 136,000 U.S. employees lost their jobs in major rounds of layoffs over the first three months of this year. And a more recent one is the BLS job support, where the unemployment rate went up 0.3 percent. And on top of that, employment continued to expand. But the pace of that growth was much slower. And this was all in that jobs report we got last week. But, you know, with a slowing economy, that doesn't mean necessarily we're headed for a recession. The U.S. economy is still resilient. It's just showing signs of a bit of a slowdown. And a slowing economy is exactly what the Fed needs. Is that true? Yeah, that's that's right. The Fed wants to slow down consumer demand to slow down inflation. And one way to do that is to increase borrowing costs and also increase unemployment. You know, it's it's unfortunate that some people will have to lose their jobs in order for inflation to come down. But it seems like this is the path the Fed would like to take. And now, Don, yesterday, President Biden was speaking at an event in Philadelphia touting his economics or Bidenomics. And he was going after President Trump's economics. But on the other hand, a lot of polls are showing Americans are dissatisfied with Biden's track record versus Trump's. What are you seeing in terms of that? So Bidenomics, part of that is spending a lot of money in the economy. You know that in the short term, I have to admit, does have a positive impact on economic growth. And it's one of the reasons why a lot of people are saying the recession is being pushed back or may not happen at all. It's because of the fiscal policy of the U.S. government that there's so much liquidity being injected into the economy that it's pushing back the recession. But in the long term, I think this will have a more negative impact overall and will slow down economic growth in the next five, 10 or maybe even 15 years. So it has positive benefits in the short term, but maybe not so much in the long term. And in the long term, who's going to be feeling that the most? Well, it's going to be the future generation of Americans, unborn children. People who are growing up now will have the burden of this debt that the U.S. is putting on the economy. And it's not pretty, Tiffany. Wow. Well, Donma, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you. Coming up, Chinese nationals posing as tourists have been trying to breach U.S. military bases. We speak with an expert who calls a good old espionage from the Chinese Communist Party. Is an American company promoting the Chinese Communist Party? An EV firm is now facing scrutiny for just that. And store owners in California defend their shop from a would-be thief striking the suspect with their fists and a bat. We'll have details on this and more when we come back. What do you do when your tire goes flat and there's no air anywhere? 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The Texas Senate kicked off its impeachment trial of suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton. He pleaded not guilty to all 20 articles of impeachment. President Biden prepares for his trip to India for this year's G20 summit. But he won't be able to meet with Chinese regime leader Xi Jinping, who isn't coming. There seems to be a case of gate crashers and not the party kind. Chinese nationals posing as tourists have tried to breach U.S. military bases and other federal sites up to 100 times. That's according to the FBI and the Defense Department. We bring on Casey Fleming, CEO of Black Ops Partners, for more. Casey Fleming, thank you so much for joining us. Great to have you back on the show. Thank you. In terms of these gate crashers or Chinese nationals posing as tourists trying to get onto military bases, it seems there's a national security concern. But what's the goal here? Are they testing any weaknesses? First and foremost, yes, they are testing weaknesses with our security. But secondly, it's espionage. It's good old espionage in the support of a war. And the war that we're talking about is an unrestricted war. But exactly that, it's espionage and checking our readiness and our security capabilities on our bases. And don't expect that it's just our bases. It's where our people leave the bases, where they go frequent, hang out and so on. It's not just limited to the bases. It's all of the above. There are reports saying they've been found swimming near the bases. Or if they're caught, they say, oh, they got lost. They have a reservation on a military hotel, which is why they're supposed to be there. What do you make of that tactic? That's just penetration in a soft subject or a soft target. So, again, it's espionage and it's testing our capabilities and our readiness capabilities and so on. And don't forget that it's not just the physical piece of it. It's also backed up with electronic surveillance and every bit of the whole spectrum, the 360 degrees on espionage. So it's not just the physical penetration. It's electronic penetration, microwaves, Wi-Fi, all that. And now, Casey, the FBI has said in terms of this report that the greatest long-term counterintelligence threat to our nation's information and intellectual property is from China. Given that, how does the U.S. counter and stem this threat? Well, first of all, that came from the FBI director probably about four years ago, and he's been saying it more frequently over the past four years, that China is the most significant long-term threat to the United States. And it's not just China. If people understand there's only one China and it's completely controlled by a communist regime who has identified the United States as their mortal enemy and the only threat to the communist regime, then we're not doing a job at all of responding. Our response is kind of one-off as it pops up. There is no across-the-board protection or protective strategy, and it needs to be done from the top down, from the federal government, from all angles of our intelligence community, including the FBI, and out to where our innovation is and our intellectual property. Remember, the United States is built on innovation, and that's what China wants. They want the innovation not just from our factories and our general economy. They want our innovation from all of our military ideas and thoughts and services and so on. So it's a significant threat. It's a significant national security threat. And the longer that we wait to develop a strategy that encompasses a whole-of-nation approach, the worse the war is going to be when it's actually a conventional war. We're in a war now with China, which is everything short of conventional war. But eventually there will be a conventional war. Even though China wants to win without fighting, it may end up coming to that. And now, Casey, it's not just the military bases or federal sites. We're also seeing a record number of Chinese nationals coming across the U.S.-Mexico border. Some are saying that's a humanitarian issue, others a national security one. What's your take on that? It is 100 percent not a humanitarian issue when it comes to Chinese nationals coming across our border. They are a national security threat. And to use and assemble and coordinate future espionage as well as internal attacks in the United States, you have to see that's where this is all headed and where it's going. And if you've studied the whole Chinese Communist Party program, you'll understand that that's part and parcel to that program. And, Casey, when it comes to these reports, a Chinese official has a shot back calling these ill-intentioned fabrications stemming from a, quote, Cold War mentality. Chairman of the House CCP Select Committee, Mike Gallagher, has said we're in a new Cold War. What do you think of that? That's just part of cognitive warfare, information warfare. It's adapting a different or a separate narrative, so people will focus on that narrative and not what is exactly going on over here. So always expect a separate narrative, a very opposite narrative, coming from the Chinese Communist Party, and understand that that's meant to put up a smokescreen of what their real activities are. So almost the opposite of what they say is the reality. Is that fair? That's 100% fair. There's an old saying, you know, if their lips are moving, they're lying. Well, Casey Fleming, thank you so much for your time. Thank you for having me. An American company promoting the Chinese Communist Party. A California-based electric vehicle company is facing scrutiny after employees celebrated a CCP anniversary. Here's NTD's Aileen Eng with more. Headquartered in Fremont, energy company Gaotian Inc. is facing criticism for promoting CCP ideology. Its parent company, Gaotian Hi-Tech, is headquartered in Hefei City, China. It openly pledges its allegiance to the CCP on its company website and ESG reports. In one 2021 report, their company employees celebrated the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party. Gaotian's party branch of Qingdao visited red education bases, recited party membership, and visited revolutionary base areas. NTD reached out to Gaotian for a comment but did not hear back by airtime. In a statement to Fox News, a Gaotian representative said the parent company has clubs and the company does not pay for them. In addition, the Fremont location is not supervised, directed, controlled, or financed by any foreign government or foreign political party. News that Gaotian's parent company hosted CCP trips and party pledges came after an electric vehicle battery facility in Michigan published a video of employees wearing what looks like Red Army uniforms. Gaotian is facing increasing criticism from national security experts and Republican lawmakers as the company was recently granted $175 million in taxpayer funding to help build two 550,000-square-foot production plants in northern Michigan. Democratic Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer supported the plan. The company announced in August that it had bought 270 acres of land just miles from U.S. military bases. Another attempted smash and grab robbery at yet another Southern California jewelry store. But this time, the store owners fended the thief off with a bat. NTD's Christina Corona has more on the story. We're here in El Monte where an attempted smash and grab robbery took place at Mesa Jewelry behind me where the owners and employees decided to fight back. Surveillance footage shows the masked suspect walking down El Monte's Main Street Saturday carrying an empty box as he bear sprays a man sitting outside of Mesa's jewelry store. An employee tells us she was helping a customer when the suspect stepped into the store. We were very scared at that moment because he had a hammer on his hand and we didn't notice that he had pepper spray also on the other hand. So when my dad and my brother were trying to stop him and he pepper sprayed everyone on the eyes, so then my dad and my brother started hitting him because he did that, you know? Footage from AtSGV's Instagram account shows the owners beating the would-be thief with sticks and fists as he's wrestling out of the store and losing his shirt in the process. And the last words that he told my brother was like, I'm going to come back for you guys and kill all of you guys. We were pretty scared, you know, like him to come back and to hurt us, the family. She says they will first have to replace the showcase and doors that will cost them roughly $10,000 to $15,000. Lt. Cho from the El Monte Police Department tells us what charges the suspect would receive. So he's looking at robbery, and in this case, robbery is when you take something using force or fear. And in this case, he used bear spray to overcome the man sitting in front of the jewelry store and the employees inside. And those carry hefty fines depending on his background, any priors he may have. But this is obviously getting a lot of publicity, so what happens in court might be heavily influenced on public opinion. With smash-and-grab robberies happening more frequently, Lt. Cho tells us about owners' rights and advice to give other businesses to protect them during a robbery. Find out what kind of surveillance equipment might be suitable for your type of business. Find out what other businesses are doing to protect their businesses. And read up on local laws to find out what you can do to enhance security. No serious injuries occurred during the robbery, and the El Monte Police Department says the incident is still under investigation and no arrests have been made. Christina Corona, NTD News, El Monte. Coming up, how can social media companies fight hate and anti-Semitism? A rabbi says restricting speech won't help as Elon Musk defends his platform. In college football, a major shake-up in the top 25 following several upsets. NTD's Dave Martin goes over the updated rankings. That's coming up. What if you could whiten your teeth by simply brushing your teeth? Now you can with SmileActives, the teeth whitening breakthrough that safely gets your teeth white and keeps them white every day just by brushing your teeth. I never thought that whitening my teeth could be so easy. I just put the gel on the brush, the toothpaste on it, brush, and I can see my white teeth. 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The loss of coordination in my legs, I'd trip over my feet, end up flat in the concrete. Dr. Pinati to me was God sent. Oh, my God. I don't remember how long. I didn't have to make a massive lifestyle change. I noticed the day that I could sit and stand up without a cane. I would have to give it excellent and above my expectations. Visit AskPinati.com. Welcome back. Elon Musk is threatening to sue the Anti-Defamation League for defamation. He's saying that statements about hate speech on X wiped out advertising revenue. The ADL says it aims to fight anti-Semitism in all forms of hate. To discuss, we spoke with Rabbi Yaakov Menken, the managing director at the Coalition for Jewish Values. So to begin, what's your reaction to all of this? We are in a very troubling situation. Actually, I, along with many others and, of course, our entire organization, have been warning for several years that it's been very partisan with banding about accusations of anti-Semitism, whether or not they're true. Prior to Musk taking over ownership of Twitter, it was giving a platform to the Ayatollah of Iran as he preached about the necessity of wiping out millions of Jews, but it was censoring Trump and censoring true stories from the New York Post. So the idea that now under Musk, who values free speech and is opening up the platform, that that should be, that that's the problem, that that's what we need to get rid of, that we need to squelch dialogue, that's a very, very bad look. And it's just an indicator of how off course the ADL has been. And now on the flip side, the ADL says its mission is to combat anti-Semitism, counter-extremism and battle bigotry, though sound like a good cause. It's facing criticisms from different sides, as you mentioned, and you've called for a more nuanced approach to this. So can you expand on your thoughts there? Well, the problem is that apparently, and I have not verified this yet, but this ban the ADL hashtag and the original, the originator of the tweet that Musk retweeted and said, we've got to stop the ADL. This came from a white supremacist who is not a well-motivated individual, who's not interested in fighting anti-Semitism. On the contrary, he wants us to believe that the ADL represents all Jews and that the Jews have this cabal that's trying to control the world, and they want to squelch dialogue on ex-formerly Twitter, simply so that we can have Jewish control of the media like the Jews control, you know, like we've never heard that before about Jews. So when I say that we've been warning about this problem for years, it is specifically that what has happened here is that there is a, you know, they're falling in sync with each other. People who are genuinely motivated with critiques of the ADL, that it's not fulfilling its mission, and anti-Semites who are delighted to heap on the ADL because they want to silence it and never having it doing its actual mission. And so obviously that's, we're in a very difficult situation right now. Indeed. And in the past, your Jewish group has actually called on the CEO of ADL to resign. What was the reasoning there? That was specifically because he referring, referring to Tucker Carlson. Now, I don't know if you want to say that Tucker Carlson is the greatest fan of the Jews in Israel or not, but he's certainly not a leading anti-Semite. He's certainly not a leading bigot. And they built up this false narrative about him. And in the particular case that we were referring to, the ADL declared that the Tucker Carlson had gone, quote unquote, full on Nazi. Now, minimizing the Holocaust, making the Holocaust seem like a minor deal, is exactly the type of situation that the ADL is supposed to be fighting against. And here the ADL itself was magnifying. I think actually he was retweeting somebody else who had said that. But nonetheless, the point that is that he was backing that sort of narrative, which an ADL that was actually trying to fulfill its mission would be immediately crying foul, saying, no, you can't say somebody's going on full on Nazi. You don't talk about Nazis unless there's Nazism. You don't talk about genocide unless there's real genocide. You don't talk about concentration camps until there's, you know, southern border detention facilities are not concentration camps. What's being done to Uyghur Muslims by the Chinese, that's concentration camps. Call it like it is. Be honest about the problem. That's an ADL on mission. That's why we said that Greenblatt needs to step down, because he has demonstrated that he first of all, we know that he never really got an education in anti-Semitism. His expertise is in left wing causes. He was part of the Clinton administration. This is not the right person we feel to be directing unless he's willing to really change course and start fighting anti-Semitism in a nonpartisan way and bring the ADL back to what the ADL ought to be doing. And Rabbi, when it comes to platforms like X or formerly Twitter that say they promote free speech, what would be some effective methods to counter or end anti-Semitism? You know, it's really difficult to try to stop free speech or limit speech and claim that that's going to end up really fighting anti-Semitism, because what it does is it drives them underground, where it is harder for the FBI to monitor what they're doing. You know, when it gets dangerous, when there's a problem, you want it out there. You want people to say something publicly or a little too publicly that can be tracked and followed. I mean, that's how they end up arresting people before things happen. And thank God for that very good work. You know, there's a difference between free speech and hate speech. Obviously, we all know you can't cry fire in a crowded theater. The same way, you know, when there's hate speech, it's kind of obvious. The person is preaching death and destruction. One of the things about anti-Semitism is it is so nuanced. You're not going to stop it. But if you wanted to silence it, you would be silencing the Ayatollah again of Iran and the members of Hamas who are openly calling for the death of Jews. And you would not be trying to censor people who, you know, even if they're talking about Jewish control and all of these things, there's no question they have a right to say what they say, and that's not the way to fight anti-Semitism. Rabbi Menken, thank you so much for your time. Thank you for having me. And now for your sports news, here's NTD's Dave Martin with a shake-up in college football's top 25. That's right, Tiff. Colorado jumped into their new AP rankings today after an upset win at TCU on Saturday. Coach Primes' Buffaloes came in at No. 22, while TCU fell out of the rankings altogether. Meanwhile, Florida State jumped to fourth following their convincing win over LSU Sunday. The Seminoles trail only No. 1 Georgia, with Michigan at 2 and Alabama at No. 3. Elsewhere in the poll, Clemson fell from 9th to 25th after their shocking loss to Duke last night. The Tigers outgamed the Blue Devils in yardage and had a dozen more first downs, but had two field goals blocked as well as a pair of red zone fumbles in a 28-7 defeat. Meanwhile, the win for Duke vaulted them from unranked to No. 21. And at the U.S. Open today, sixth-seeded Coco Gauff cruised into the semifinals with a dominating 6-6 win over Yelena Ostapenko. The 19-year-old American will play Thursday for a chance to make it to the finals. This is the farthest Gauff has made it here, and makes her the first American teenager to reach the U.S. Open semis since Serena Williams back in 2001. Meanwhile, on the men's side, Novak Djokovic and a trio of Americans are in action today. Tenth-seeded Francis Tiafoe faces unseeded Ben Shelton tonight, while ninth-seeded Taylor Fritz battles Djokovic this afternoon. And at the FIBA Basketball World Cup, Team USA rebounded in a big way from their loss Sunday with a blowout victory over Italy today. The win moves the Americans into the semifinals Friday, where they await the winner of Germany vs. Latvia. And for your sports viewing schedule tonight, all 30 baseball teams are in action, highlighted by a Dodgers-Marlins matchup with three-time Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw on the mound for L.A. And that's it for your sports news today. Tiff, back to you. And for some breaking news from the U.S. Open, Novak Djokovic advanced with a straight-sets win over Taylor Fritz. The second-seeded Djokovic will next face the winner of tonight's All-American match, a Ben Shelton vs. Francis Tiafoe. If you have any news tips or feedback for the show, you can email us at eveningnews.ntd.com. That's all for today's news. Thanks for tuning in. I'm Tiffany Meyer. Good night. Thanks for watching us on YouTube. Did you know YouTube only keeps selected videos on its platform? So if you want to make sure you get the full picture, just subscribe to our newsletter. Go to newsletter.ntd.com and sign up. 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