NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (April 16)

Welcome to N.T.D. Evening News. Our top story tonight. Six jurors are seated in former President Trump's historic hush money trial. Why jurors want to be excused from the trial, plus why the prosecution wants Trump to be held in contempt of court. Harleen Richards outside the courtroom in Manhattan. President Biden returning to the battleground state of Pennsylvania. Biden seeks to portray himself as a candidate for the middle class. Former President Trump is accusing Biden of trying to raise taxes on average Americans. Iris Tao on the ground. The Supreme Court reviewing a January 6th case with a possible impact on Trump. What could it mean for defendants and how are the justices leading so far? Our guest weighs in. The House advances the impeachment of Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas and Speaker Mike Johnson lays out his new strategy for military aid to foreign nations. Luis Martinez on Capitol Hill. And Israel says it will respond to Iran's aerial attack. We have the latest on what the Israeli military is saying about their plans. This is N.T.D. Evening News. Live from our N.T.D. global headquarters in New York City, here is Tiffany Meyer. Good evening and thank you for joining us tonight. Six jurors have made the cut and many more have been rejected. As former President Trump's criminal trial in New York continues. Trump is accused of falsifying business records related to payments he made to an adult film actress ahead of the 2016 election. And now prosecutors just filed a former request to hold Trump in contempt of court. Our legal correspondent Harleen Richards is at the courthouse with the latest. Tuesday marks the second day of the Trump criminal trial and the search continues for 18 unbiased jurors. While many have been excused for admitting that they can't be fair and impartial, others have been excused for different reasons. Before the juror selection proceedings got underway, former President Trump gave a statement outside the courtroom. He railed against the judge and called the case election interference. We have a Trump-hating judge. We have a judge who shouldn't be on this case. He's totally conflicted. I was paying a lawyer and marked it down as a legal expense. Some accountant. I didn't know. Marked it down as a legal expense. That's exactly what it was. And you get indicted over that? I should be right now in Pennsylvania, in Florida, in many other states. North Carolina, Georgia, campaigning. This is all coming from the Biden White House because they can't put two sentences together. Dismissed juror Cara McGee told ABC News that she doesn't like former President Trump and she didn't approve of what he did as president. But in an interview with CNN, McGee said she thinks she was dismissed for a different reason. And I said the nature of my job would make it very difficult for me to be here nine to five for at least six weeks and probably longer. McGee is just one of several jurors dismissed in the last two days as questioning of prospective jurors continues. Eight jurors were dismissed Tuesday morning for a variety of reasons, including that it would be too difficult to be fair and impartial and that it would be too much of a strain on their work. Attorneys on both sides asked a range of questions. Trump attorney Todd Blanche asked questions such as are you aware that Trump is charged in other criminal cases? Most of the jurors in the courtroom raised their hands. Blanche also asked for their views on Trump. Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass wanted to know whether jurors could look Trump in the eye and say he's guilty if the prosecution proves the case. Jurors in the room all said yes, and he told the jurors that they might not like some of the witnesses, noting that Michael Cohen had been convicted of lying to Congress. After the questioning of the first round of jurors was completed, attorneys reviewed the list and told the judge whom they wanted to dismiss for particular reasons. Prosecutors didn't challenge the first 12 jurors, but the defense challenged one juror's social media posts that celebrated Trump's 2020 loss. The judge denied the challenge, saying he believes the juror who said she can be fair and impartial. On Tuesday morning before jurors arrived, the prosecution filed a motion to hold Trump in contempt of court for allegedly violating the gag order that prohibits Trump from making comments about almost everyone connected to the trial. Prosecutors argued that Trump had made a series of recent social media posts that targeted known witnesses. For example, they say Trump called Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels sleazebags. The defense argued that Trump was responding to repeated attacks made by Cohen and Daniels. The judge has scheduled a hearing on the matter for next Tuesday. The jury selection process continues on Wednesday. Attorneys continue to probe potential jurors for hidden biases. While many have admitted that they are biased, others say that they will judge this case based on the facts and that their political views don't matter. Reporting from the criminal courthouse in Manhattan, Arlene Richards, NTD News. While Trump was in court, President Biden campaigning in the latest battleground state, Pennsylvania. NTD's White House correspondent Iris Tao has more from Scranton. President Biden launching his three-day campaign swing here in the battleground state of Pennsylvania with a visit to his childhood hometown in Scranton. Where we come from matters. Touting his working class roots, President Biden argues that he's a candidate for the little guy, while Trump is for the wealthy. He looks at the economy from Mar-a-Lago, where he and his rich friends embrace the failed trickle-down policies. Scranton values are Mar-a-Lago values. These are the competing visions for our economy. Specifically, Biden's valuing to make wealthy Americans pay more in taxes, and through that, contrasts his tax policy with Trump's. His failure starts with his $2 trillion tax cut that overwhelmingly benefited the wealthiest and biggest corporations. But Trump has said his tax cuts for both corporations and individuals contributed to the economic growth in 2018 and 2019. And Trump also accused Biden of trying to raise taxes for average Americans when campaigning here in Pennsylvania just last weekend. Meanwhile, President Biden has insisted that he would not raise taxes for any Americans making less than $400,000. Next up, Biden will be campaigning in Pittsburgh on Wednesday and in Philadelphia on Thursday. All to highlight the importance of this battleground state, which Biden's campaign says plays a key role to Biden's re-election bid. Reporting from Scranton, Pennsylvania, Iris Tao, NTD News. The Supreme Court today heard arguments from a January 6th defendant. Joseph Fisher's case could potentially reduce charges for hundreds of January 6th defendants, including former President Trump. Here's what Fisher's lawyer argued. Until the January 6th prosecutions, Section 1512C2, the otherwise provision, had never been used to prosecute anything other than evidence tampering. And that was for good reason. This court has said that otherwise, when used in a criminal statute, means to do similar conduct in a different way. The government would have you ignore all that or disregard all that and instead convert C2 from a catch-all provision into a dragnet. The high court's decision could also impact Trump because he was charged with the same criminal offense. The alleged crime in question, violating a 2002 federal law that prohibits people from obstructing an official proceeding. If proven, it could add up to 20 years to someone's prison sentence. Prosecutors say the charge should apply because the plain meaning of the words obstruct and official proceeding should cover the capital breach. Critics counter that the law was intended to prevent evidence tampering before a trial or investigation. The Supreme Court will consider whether the interpretation of the law by prosecutors can be used against the defendants and whether the convictions already secured will stick. House GOP leaders are laying out their new strategy to address President Biden's military aid request. And House Republicans just delivered articles of impeachment to the Senate. Our Washington correspondent, Luis Martinez, has more. A historic day in Congress for the 22nd time in U.S. history. Articles of impeachment have been delivered to the Senate floor. This time, two articles of impeachment against Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas. The next step is on Wednesday. Senators will be sworn in as jurors and Senator Perry Murray, the Democrat from Washington, will preside over the impeachment proceedings. Now, it is expected that Democrats will immediately move to dismiss the impeachment trial. Let's listen to what Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell had to say about this strategy. It would be beneath the Senate's dignity to shrug off our clear responsibility and fail to give the charges we'll hear today the thorough consideration they deserve. Democrats would only need a simple majority to move to dismiss the trial. But there's at least three Democratic senators and three Republican senators who have been noncommittal under motion to dismiss an impeachment trial. Now, on the House of Representatives, Speaker Mike Johnson has called himself today a wartime speaker. He said he would not resign his position and that we're in the middle of a civilizational struggle for which his foreign aid plan is the best path forward. Speaker Mike Johnson today unveiled his plan for supplemental aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. He was going to present four separate bills on the House floor. One for each of these three countries and a fourth one that would highlight Republican priorities. Now, let's listen to what Chairman of the Freedom Caucus Bob Good had to say about this new plan from Speaker Johnson. The Speaker just announced that border would be not germane to the bills. So we're not going to allow border security to be part of the package. That's a big, big problem. So Chairman of the Freedom Caucus Bob Good said that he would vote against this plan of four separate bills because they do not prioritize border security. Also, Republican Tom Massey has expressed today that he would support the motion presented over three weeks ago by Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene to oust Speaker Johnson. Let's listen to what Representative Tom Massey had to say about this. Because the motion is going to get called. Does anybody doubt that? The motion will get called and then he's going to lose more votes than Kevin McCarthy. If the motion to oust Speaker Johnson is brought up in the House floor, Democrats could simply move to dismiss the motion and save Speaker Johnson. But Representative Tom Massey has said that the ball is on Speaker Johnson's court and the future of the speakership is on his hands. Back to you. Coming up, pro-Palestinian, anti-Israeli protests disrupt traffic across the U.S. Trevor Loudon, an expert on the communist movement, analyzes the forces at work behind the protests. And one of the deadliest drugs in the world is being funded by the Chinese regime. A new report from Congress details how China incentivizes fentanyl. Jack Bradley brings us more from D.C. after the break. Hi, I'm Caleb and this is my story. I was born with Osteogenesis Imperfecta or Riddleborn Disease. I have broken my bones almost 200 times and I have had 11 surgeries. But I do let that stop me. I love to bike race, climb, race and I'm learning how to stand and walk. But I can only do all of this because of generous people like you and Shriners Hospitals for Children. Because of people like you, Shriners Hospitals for Children has helped more than 1.3 million kids just like me, regardless of their family's ability to pay. Shriners Hospitals for Children is only able to provide this world-class, life-changing medical care because of the generous gifts of people just like you. Because of you, I can ride my bike. I can play basketball. Because of people like you, I can run. I can smile. Will you send your love to the rescue today? 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This means that the government can't force the exchange of property from one private citizen to another private citizen. This is nowhere near the Founding Fathers' intentions. We now have a record share of Americans that have never been married. I being one of them. In fact, the median age of a first marriage has never been higher. Now you may be thinking this is only affecting single adults. Well, not exactly. According to Pew Research, one in four parents living with their child are unmarried. And let's take a look at how many children are currently living with either one parent or no parent. Welcome back. I'm Tiffany Meyer. We have more updates on the conflicts in the Middle East. Israel has vowed to retaliate following an aerial attack from Iran over the weekend. We need to send a very clear message that Iran does not do this again. And it's not only that. It's also the fact that Iran throughout the course of the years has been very, very active in our region. But they've been behind the scenes and backstage. On Saturday night, they came to the front stage together with their proxies, with Hezbollah, with the Houthis, with Hamas and operating from Iraq. They have encircled Israel in a ring of fire. That's unacceptable. Israel's war cabinet convened earlier today for the third time in three days to decide on a response. Military officials said Israel cannot stand still from Iran's aggression, but is not looking to escalate. Sources told the Jerusalem Post that the Israeli military has decided on how to respond, but not on when. U.S. officials told NBC News their assessment. They said the response will likely be limited and focus on the Iranian military as well as proxies outside of Iran. At the same time, Iran said any Israeli retaliation would be met with a, quote, immediate and severe response. An Iranian foreign affairs official said the response would come in seconds, not hours. Meanwhile, the Israeli military said it killed two senior Hezbollah coastal commanders in Lebanon. The Biden administration continues to push for de-escalation. And back in the U.S., pro-Palestinian protesters have been disrupting traffic in major cities from Chicago to San Francisco. To analyze these demonstrations and the wider protests calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, earlier I spoke to Epoch Times contributor Trevor Loudon. For more than 30 years, Trevor has researched radical left, Marxist and terrorist movements, and their covert influence on mainstream politics. He is best known for his book, Enemies Within, Communists, Socialists and Progressives in the U.S. Congress. Trevor Loudon, thank you so much for joining us. Good to have you back on the show. Well, thanks very much, Tiffany. Always a pleasure to be on. Thanks for having me. Now, Trevor, we saw protests in America with crowds chanting death to America and burning an American flag in New York. Now, this follows similar protests across this whole nation and in other countries. Now, you've spent decades following anti-American and extremism movements. How do you view this? Well, look, in the 1970s, the famous Carlos the Jackal said that America would be brought down by an alliance of radical Islam and Marxism. And we have seen that alliance building now for nearly 40 years. And we see it on the college campuses, through groups like Students for Justice for Palestine, which is a combination of Marxist groups and radicalist young Islamists. We see it playing out in many other organizations in America, and it's building and building and building. So Palestine is the trigger. But this is really using the Palestine issue for a full-on assault on the West to disrupt our economies, create chaos and pave the way for even worse things to come. So we should see this as a beginning, not an end point. This is just the beginning of what we can expect in the future. And Trevor, for years you've spoken about how the peace movement was actually weaponized by communists to weaken the U.S. military and divide the country. Are we seeing that playing out here? Well, we are. Again, the peace movement, what they call the peace movement, to a communist, peace means the absence of opposition to communism. It doesn't mean peace like doves and everybody loves each other and everybody gets on. It means communists have no more opposition. So the goal of the peace movement has always been to disarm the U.S. Like right now, when Israel is prosecuting a war against Hamas, the peace movement is telling Hamas, telling Israel to stop fighting. They don't mention anything about why the war started. They don't mention that the war could stop tomorrow if Hamas surrendered and gave up the hostages. It's just like, this is analogous to, if America got attacked in Pearl Harbor, the peace movement would be going and saying, don't respond. Don't go after the Japanese. Don't escalate the situation. You know, so this is this is what we're seeing now. We're seeing deliberate attacks on the Israel and the United States, and we are told not to respond. We're told to take this. And who's telling us to do this? The same people that are starting the problem. We saw the uncommitted vote against President Biden in the Michigan primary. We've seen similar ones in some other states. How much do you see this being an election year play into the veracity of these protests the past six months? Well, this is 100 percent to do with the elections. You know, the enemies of this country, you know, and we've got to understand that Iran is allied to China, to Russia and other countries all through the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. So they do work together. And so we're seeing a situation where America is very divided, very unstable. Elections are coming on. If we see President Trump win this, well, I think we're going to see a lot of trouble through the summer. But I can promise you this. If President Trump wins the day after the election, we're going to see this amp up dramatically, dramatically. And especially in that lame duck period before he can actually take office. So what we're seeing is deliberate violence. Look, there's just been a memo leaked from the Iranian National Guards Intelligence Division talking about major attacks starting on April 15th to disrupt and destroy the economies of the Western countries. So this comes from Iran itself. And we know that all these organizations that are creating merry hell in America and around the world right now are loyal to Hamas, which is a puppet of Iran. So this slates, this is playing out domestically with the local radical groups, the communist groups, the Islamist groups. But it's been coordinated internationally from Iran and from Iran's allies. So what we're seeing is a full attack on the West and Israel, and we should be prepared for that. We should understand that that's what this is. And why do you think, at least here in America, especially the Palestine issue has been the one chosen to rally around? Well, because it's such a contentious issue. Look, America now has a look for 25 years. The communist left and the Islamists have been working to demonize Israel, to basically take down Israel because they want Israel as the only block to a fully Islamized, communized Middle East. And because they have now large beachheads in America, the pro-Palestine, anti-Israel movement has been building in America for a long time. And at such a contentious flashpoint, this was chosen as the issue. This was chosen as the issue to spark the violence, because this is something American communists who just want to wreck America can say, no, we're not trying to wreck America. We're just trying to save the Palestinians. But the memo from the Iranians, the leaked memo, makes it very clear this is economic warfare against the West. We are using the Palestine issue. We are hiding behind the Palestine issue. But what we're really doing is warfare against the West. Trevor Loudon, thank you so much for your time. You're welcome, Tiffany. Thank you. China is awarding tax incentives and grants to companies that produce fentanyl. NTD's Jack Bradley brings us the findings from a new congressional report. A new report today says the Chinese regime is awarding companies that produce the chemicals that create some of the deadliest narcotics in the world. The report comes today at the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party. An investigation by the committee found the Chinese regime has been giving grants and awards to companies that traffic fentanyl materials and other synthetic narcotics since 2018. All of these drugs have no known legal use worldwide and kill tens of thousands of Americans every year. This has got to stop. It's got to stop. It's got to stop now. They're not cooperating with our law enforcement. They're not taking down websites and web postings that clearly are selling fentanyl from China. And they're subsidizing it through these tax rebates. You just saw those pictures of victims, and we really have to stop that. China is not just infiltrating this United States, but at the same time, they're creating all these drugs to kill. The investigation found that nearly all of the world's fentanyl precursors come from China. Those chemicals are sold to and trafficked by Mexican drug cartels into America, mostly through the ports of entry in California. In many cases, people taking the drug don't know that it's fentanyl because it's made to look like prescription painkillers. My sister and brother passed away from fentanyl poisoning. My sister passed in 2019, and my brother passed away in 2021. My baby siblings. They wasn't expecting that it was going to be fentanyl, from my understanding, they thought it was Percocets. It's not an overdose. When you ask for a specific thing and someone gives you absolute poison, it's not an overdose. It's a poisoning. It's a drug-induced homicide. And that's exactly what happened to my child. Panelists recommend using economic sanctions, along with other forceful measures, to stop the Chinese regime from incentivizing companies from producing fentanyl. It remains to be seen how Congress will act now that this report has come to light. Reporting from Washington, D.C., Jack Bradley, NTD News. Coming up, a case before the Supreme Court could impact hundreds of January 6th defendants, including former President Trump. A legal analyst joins us to discuss how the justices appear to be leaning in the case. And what are federal investigators looking for in the debris from the Baltimore Bridge collapse, how it could be a criminal case, and how the search for bodies is progressing when we come back. A friend of mine, she told me about Benati. 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Biden focused on his economic and tax policies and contrasted them with Trump's. The House sent articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to the Senate. This was while House lawmakers planned to vote separately on foreign aid bills for Israel and Ukraine. The Supreme Court heard arguments from a January 6th defendant. The case could potentially reduce charges for hundreds of January 6th defendants, including former President Trump, who faces the same criminal charge. Joining us now to discuss the January 6th case is Jim Berling, Vice President of Legal Affairs at the Pacific Legal Foundation. Jim has successfully argued major cases before the Supreme Court, and in fact, Pacific Legal just got their 18th Supreme Court win just last Friday. Jim, thank you so much for joining us. Now, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments today in Fisher v. United States, and you are saying this could fundamentally change the cases of hundreds of January 6th defendants, including how Trump is prosecuted. What did you make of the arguments today? I think the argument split largely on ideological grounds. A number of the conservative justices were very skeptical of the government's prosecution in this case of some of the defendants, roughly 300 of them, under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. That's a statute that was passed in the wake of the Enron scandal, dealing with evidence tampering, witness tampering, and things of that nature. And here, the Justice Department is trying to apply that against some of the protesters. And help us understand this case. Break down some of the essences of this case for us. So, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act has a specific provision. It says that it is a crime to alter, destroy, mutilate, or conceal a record, document, or other object. That's the first section. The second section continues to say it otherwise obstructs or influences or impedes any official proceeding. And that is the part, is kind of a catch-all, according to the Department of Justice, in which we can throw in anything else that's not related to evidence tampering, which is the first part of the statute. And so the debate is, does the second part of the statute, does it modify the evidence tampering part, or is it a freestanding section that anybody who obstructs or otherwise impedes an official proceeding, with or without any evidence tampering, is subject to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. And the reason why this is so important is that most of the crimes that most of the January 6th defendants are charged with, the rioting and so on and so forth that they're being charged with, carry sentences seven years, five years, maybe ten years. But the Sarbanes-Oxley violations carry a penalty of 20 years. And that's pretty extreme. And so the justices, the liberal justices, were going along with the argument of the Department of Justice that it's okay. But the conservatives had some very serious questions, that what is the scope of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in this context? At one point, Justice Gorsuch asked if there is a dispute, a sit-in in front of a federal courthouse, are you going to get 20 years? What if a heckler at the Supreme Court today? What about a heckler at the State of the Union address? And then to the nod to what happened in the Capitol about a month ago, would pulling a fire alarm before a vote justify 20 years in federal prison? And that's, it's a big deal. So the question is, what does Sarbanes-Oxley mean? Does it mean something beyond what Enron did, which was tamper with evidence? Now, expanding on that, noted legal scholar Jonathan Turley says, quote, the three liberal justices offered support for the government, and Justice Barrett seemed on the fence at points. Turley also says that there was clearly a skepticism from four justices, including Chief Justice Roberts. Now, what is your analysis on how the justices are leaning in this case? I think Jonathan Turley is largely correct. Looking at the justices, the conservatives had a number of hypotheticals about how broad the statute could attack or be used against people for what has traditionally been called civil disobedience in this country. And the conservative and the more liberal justices, especially Justice Kagan, thought, well, I read the statute very literally. The second part is just unmoored from the first part, and the second part should be interpreted to mean that anybody who impedes in any official proceeding could be subject to prosecution under Sarbanes-Oxley and Justice Sotomayor. And to some degree, Justice Jackson seemed to be going along. Now, of course, you can only get so much from what a question or questions from a justice are. Sometimes the justices ask questions simply to feel out an attorney arguing before the court. Sometimes the justices are trying to get to the farthest extent of an argument, but they really may feel differently and will never really know until they actually issue the opinion. On that last part, what is the impact on Americans and former President Trump of the outcome of this case? Well, with respect to former President Trump, if Mr. Fisher wins, and he is the former police officer who was charged with the Sarbanes-Oxley violation issue here, if the court finds that it was improper to charge him with Sarbanes-Oxley, then the similar identical charges against President Trump and 300 other protesters would be probably dropped. But the larger issue is, what about protesters in general? What about those people who want to protest activities of their government that they do not agree with, and they want to engage in some degree of civil disobedience? Certainly when you engage in civil disobedience, you take the risk that you may be prosecuted, but not for a 20-year violation in federal prison. And so I think it could very well chill the public expression of people to protest against the government if Sarbanes-Oxley is allowed to be used in this way. Jim Berling, Vice President of Legal Affairs at Pacific Legal Foundation, thank you so much for joining us. My pleasure. Maine Governor Janet Mills announced she's approving a bill that would change how the state's electoral college votes are awarded. Instead of the current system, where votes are awarded based on congressional districts or the state's popular vote, Maine's votes will go to the winner of the national popular vote. This is part of a movement by the National Popular Vote Group to have states enter into an agreement where the presidency goes to the candidate with the most votes nationwide. Supporters argue it ensures every vote counts equally, while critics say it sidesteps the Constitution and could silence smaller states' voices. Governor Mills allowed the bill to become law without her signature. Maine now joins 15 other states and the District of Columbia in adopting this change. The pact needs 270 delegates to take effect. Maine's addition would bring the total to 209. A trio of new investigations is now underway to see who may be responsible for the deadly Baltimore Bridge collapse, this as two of the victims' bodies are still missing. Cole Higgins reports. Three weeks after a massive cargo ship struck Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge, authorities confirmed the body of a fourth victim has been recovered. Six construction workers who were working on the bridge at the time of the collapse plunged into the Patapsco River and died. Two of their bodies are still missing. They were living the American dream, fixing America's infrastructure, out there just filling potholes not knowing it was going to be their last day. Attorneys for the families of two of the victims and one survivor announcing they are conducting their own investigation into the bridge collision. The ship's owner and manager have filed a petition in federal court asking for a cap of about $43.7 million on potential liability payouts. Attorney Kevin Mahoney says the company's petition relies on an outdated law and is calling on Congress to repeal it. The Limitation of Liability Act was passed 173 years ago in 1851. That's about 20 years before Thomas Edison invented the light bulb. Meanwhile, the FBI confirms the agency, along with the Coast Guard, has launched a criminal investigation into the bridge collapse, telling us, quote, the FBI is present aboard the cargo ship Dolly conducting court-authorized law enforcement activity. The city of Baltimore also looking into who may be to blame for destroying the bridge that 30,000 Marylanders relied on every day. Anything that we can do to help Baltimore recover from that tragedy. I'm Cole Higgins reporting. Coming up, China has major business deals with American universities. What's in a Wall Street Journal review about billions of dollars flowing from China to influence American youth. And in the WNBA, Kaitlin Clark has yet to play a game, but has already made her mark. Dave Martin joins us to discuss her latest sales record when we come back. I go by Jackie. I'm 44 years old. I had three kids at the time and a single mother. I was working 60 hours a week, still couldn't pay the bills, skip meals so that they could eat. It's been hard because one thing falls into place, ten things fall out of place. You know, I just can't do this alone and make it work. One in five children face hunger in America. And food costs are rising. 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Visit helpfeedingamerica.org and give $19 a month, just 63 cents a day. 98% of donations go directly to help millions of people facing hunger from coast to coast and in your own community. And when you give my credit card, we'll send you this exclusive canvas grocery bag to show you are a part of a movement of supporters working together to help end hunger. I have people that I can trust. I have hope. Please call now or make your monthly donation at helpfeedingamerica.org. Together we can end hunger in America. When I started MyPillow, it was just a problem, solution, one product company. Well, since then, with the help of my dedicated employees, we now have hundreds of products, some you might not even know about. To get the word out, we're having a $25 extravaganza. Two-pack multi-use MyPillows, $25. MyPillow sandals, $25. For the first time ever, our six-pack towel sets, you guessed it, just $25. Our brand-new four-pack dish towels, $25. And I've never done this before. Premium MyPillows with all new Giza fabric, any size, any loft level, even king size for only $25. And there's so much more. So go to MyPillow.com or call the number on your screen. Use your promo code for our $25 extravaganza. Order $75 and over. Your entire order ships absolutely free. Welcome back. I'm Tiffany Meyer. American universities are taking in billions of dollars from China. A Wall Street Journal report dives into who, how much, and why. NTD's Don Ma has more. China isn't just sending fentanyl to the U.S. It also has major business deals with American universities. A Wall Street Journal review found that American universities receive billions from China. And this is a country generally shunned by the rest of America. Nearly 200 universities had $2.3 billion worth of contracts with Chinese firms. The Wall Street Journal found this. Now, the University of Arizona had $1.5 million worth of contracts with biotech firm Wuxi Aptek. Congress worries Aptek could use any scientific discoveries for military purposes. The University of North Dakota took over $37 million from Chinese airlines to help train Chinese pilots. The University of Washington took over $5.5 million from Huawei for virtual reality projects. The University of Michigan took around $1 million from DiDi Global for engineering research. Even oranges. The University of Florida took in around $1.8 million from China for experiments on orange genetics. We reached out to people in academia to learn more. The University of South Carolina Acting Professor Frank Tianxie says the key question is, does America want to do research for the Chinese state and risk China then using that same research to threaten America? China is known for credible allegations of human rights violations including genocide, slavery, live organ harvesting. Experts across many industries say it aims for global domination, which of course China denies. They worry universities are amplifying national security risks. But these risks aren't enough to discourage them. Higher education, it runs on prestige and funding. And China offers both. They offer prestige in the sense that they offer international reach. They can make a university seemingly in the middle of nowhere look very prestigious by offering them international partnership well beyond the Ivy Leagues. Ian Oxenvad is a senior fellow at the National Association of Scholars. He says many university professors are actually worried about this. Numerous have actually reached out to him. Oxenvad says there are people in both China and America who stand against the Chinese Communist Party. Microsoft is investing $1.5 billion in artificial intelligence firm based in the United Arab Emirates called G42. But in order for the AI firm to cut a deal with Microsoft, the company had to first limit its ties to China. NTD's Sean Marshall has more details. Microsoft is investing $1.5 billion in United Arab Emirates-based artificial intelligence firm G42, allowing the two to deepen ties amid global battle for tech dominance. Based in Abu Dhabi, G42 runs data centers in the Middle East and has increasingly identified itself as an AI firm. As part of the deal, G42 will run its AI applications on Microsoft's cloud. And the two companies will work to bring digital infrastructure to countries in the Middle East. Microsoft's president Brad Smith will take a seat on G42's board. G42 has come under scrutiny over its ties to Chinese businesses. Its tech fund reportedly invested in Chinese companies, including TikTok's Chinese parent ByteDance. Lately, the company has moved to cut ties with China, divesting from the country and pulling out Chinese hardware. As part of the deal with Microsoft, G42 said it will cease using Huawei telecom equipment, which the U.S. fears could provide a backdoor for Chinese intelligence agencies. G42 and Microsoft have collaborated multiple times over the last year. In separate statements Tuesday, both companies assured the two countries' governments they would ensure secure and responsible development and deployment of AI. Sean Marshall, NTD News. And now for your sports news, we're joined by NTD's Dave Martin at the Sports Hub. Dave, the WNBA draft was last night, and as expected, ILS Kaitlin Clark went first overall to the Indiana Fever. What's been her impact so far, 24 hours later? Yeah, significant already. Within an hour of her getting drafted, her jersey was nearly already sold out online. That's at Fanatics. It was actually sports business reporter Darren Roble who first reported this. I mean, all they had was some adult small sizes left. Now, two hours after being drafted, Roble reported that her jersey had already become the biggest selling draft night jersey of all time. That beat Trevor Lawrence's record of 2021, and then Jacksonville Jaguars drafted him first overall. I mean, that to me is even more amazing because the NFL really rules in popularity. In any case, the WNBA is clearly already counting on her popularity to drive TV ratings as well. 36 of their 40 games are going to be on national TV. That's even more than the Las Vegas Aces, who won the last two WNBA titles. So, I'm guessing this is really going to be an ongoing storyline this whole season. Shifting gears now to golf, a British newspaper reported that Rory McIlroy, who's ranked second in the world, had been offered $850 million to play live golf. Now, McIlroy has vehemently denied this. How big of a shock would it have been if he had accepted it? Yeah, this would have been the biggest surprise. I mean, a number of players have already left for live golf, but McIlroy has really been the most outspoken about his feelings about them. I mean, once he was quoted as saying, I hate live golf, I hope they go away. I mean, that was before the announced merger between the PGA and live golf last summer that still actually hasn't been finalized. But he seems to have softened his stance in recent months. I mean, at first, he seemed to be in the camp of players who were not in favor of letting live golf players possibly come back into the PGA. Now, of course, there's a lot of strong feelings about live being funded by the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund because of their atrocious human rights record. Now, of course, $850 million, I mean, the more surprising thing is that's more than the reported offer that Tiger Woods got. Now, I know Woods is past his prime, but he still brings a huge crowd to the game. So I would have been very surprised about that, but apparently it didn't actually happen. Over in NBA news, the league's play-in tournament starts tonight. Now, even though these are two separate four-team tournaments, they have an unusual setup. Help us understand, how does this work? Yeah, the NBA has a 16-team playoff. It's made up of teams with the eight best records from both the East and Western Conferences. Now, a couple years ago, they decided to spice things up by adding the ninth and tenth best teams with the records or seeds, they're called, in what's known as the play-in tournament. Like you said, it's done in a bit of an unusual manner. As you can see here, the seven versus eight seeds are actually going to play against each other. This is tonight, the Pelicans and the Lakers, and then the Kings and Warriors will play after them. Now, the winner of this game right here, they will make it into the playoffs as a seven seed and play Denver. But for the loser, it's not actually over yet. They still have a chance here to play the winner of this game, and then the winner of this game, this will be Thursday night, would actually get the eight seed here. Meanwhile, the loser of that game is out. Now, this is the NBA's way of trying to keep teams from losing on purpose, which they call tanking, which has been an issue recently. So they've tried it this way. We'll have to see if it actually works. With that in mind, would you say this tournament has been successful in preventing tanking? You know, I really don't see how it does, actually. I mean, it gets more teams into the playoffs, but the tanking is really, I think it's more done by upper management, you know, people who decide the rosters, make the trades, sign the free agents. The coaches and players that are actually playing, they're playing for their next contract. So I really don't see how their mindset changes once they get to this round. That really surprises me. But what it does do, it kind of actually gives the teams, you know, almost a way of deciding who they want to play next. I mean, let's zoom into the Western Conference here. Now, you're going to either play Oklahoma City or Denver here if you're one of these four teams. But these two teams are not really the same. They may have that same record. Oklahoma City, though, has not been to the playoffs in four years. No one really fears them. Meanwhile, you've got Denver here. They are the reigning champions, and of course they have about to be named third MVP in four years, Nikola Jokic. He was impossible to guard in last year's playoffs, even with Anthony Davis on him. That was a tough task for them. Now let's look at the Eastern Conference. It's actually completely different than the Eastern Conference. Over here you have Boston Celtics. They are the top seed. No one wants to play them. I mean, they had far and away the league's best record this year. And then on the other side, you've got the two-seed New York Knicks. They were at least a dozen games behind them. The Knicks are more like Oklahoma City. People really aren't that scared of them. Meanwhile, they do not want to face Boston here. So I don't really know if it actually prevents taking. It certainly makes for an entertaining week, first week of the playoffs, if not a confusing one. Well, Dave, as always, thanks for joining us. Well, thank you, Tiff. And that's all for today's news for Around the Clock coverage. Visit us at NTD.com or download our NTD app. Thanks for tuning in. I'm Tiffany Meyer. Good night.