Ukraine's Offensive Escalates: Cross-Border Push Triggers Russian Emergency

Good evening and welcome to the Capitol Report on NTD television. I'm Steve Lance. And coming up, Vice President Kamala Harris, making her first comments on her upcoming debate with former President Trump. She's also picked up a surprise endorsement as she courts Hispanic voters. And as many as 14 people dead and 44 injured after a Russian strike on a shopping mall inside of Russia. This comes days after Ukraine's surprise attack on another part of the region. We'll talk with John Stiglidis, geopolitical strategist at Trilogy Advisors and senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. Speaking out, a survivor of the Chinese Communist Party's systematic harvesting of organs from prisoners of conscience. There have been many victims, but no known survivors until now. And Vice President Kamala Harris, briefly while on a tarmac in Michigan, making her first comments about the recently confirmed debate between her and former President Trump. NTD's Jason Blair has more. On Thursday, before boarding a plane in Michigan, Vice President Kamala Harris stopped to take a few questions from reporters. She was asked about her scheduled September 10th debate with former President Trump. I'm looking forward to it and hope he shows up. And when asked about being open to additional debates. I'm glad that he's finally agreed to a debate on September 10th. Harris has yet to do any formal interviews or press conferences since President Biden dropped out of the race. Why does she refuse to answer questions from the media? However, Harris also said on Thursday she plans to schedule a formal interview by the end of the month. Harris and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz also launched an ad campaign in English and Spanish targeting Latino voters on Wednesday. And on Friday, the political arm of the League of United Latin American Citizens, which is the USA's oldest and largest Latino civil rights organization, announced their endorsement of Harris. They said that this is their first ever presidential endorsement. Reporting in Washington, D.C., Jason Blair, NTD News. And former President Trump today making a campaign stop in Montana this evening. This is he seeks to help Republicans secure one of the most competitive Senate seats in the country. Former president is backing ex Navy SEAL Tim Sheehy, who's aiming to win over three term incumbent Democrat John Tester. Here's Trump talking about his travel plans at his Mar-a-Lago residence yesterday. I'm going out to certain places to help certain senators get elected when I go out to Wyoming or when I go out to Montana, or I'm going to different places to help people. And during the press conference, Trump talked about the state of the U.S. economy under his administration. He's also emphasized his no tax on tips plan, which he announced during a campaign rally back in June. It's just about no inflation, but I had a very minor. I actually had a positive inflation. I had a perfect number right around the one percent number. It was perfect. And to show you it stayed there for two years. I will be saving Social Security and I'm going to work it out that there's no tax on Social Security for seniors. I'm also doing no tax on tips. Thursday's press conference came as both Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris agreed to debate on ABC in September. Former president has proposed three debates, ABC, Fox and NBC. But the Harris campaign has yet to only agree to the single one on ABC thus far. So I just look forward to these debates. I think it's very important that we have them. I hope she agrees to them. September 4th, September 10th, September 25th. And I think they'll be very revealing. Aside from domestic politics, Trump has also spoke out about communist China's unfair trade practices, an issue that remained front and center during his previous campaigns. Cannot have it with China is taking advantage of the United States, and that's what they were doing, as you very well know. And during his tenure as president, Trump took a litany of action targeting China's trade violations, including a sweeping round of tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars worth of Chinese goods. And in the wake of the global COVID-19 outbreak, Trump repeatedly criticized the Chinese regime for its handling of the virus. During United Nations address, he accused Beijing of failing to stop the spread of COVID by allowing international flights to leave China. Trump says the communist regime also falsely stated that there was no evidence of human to human transmission. And special counsel Jack Smith is seeking to delay Trump's January 6th related trial. The Supreme Court's ruling on presidential immunity seems to be causing prosecutors to reconsider how they proceed. Special counsel Jack Smith's office asked the court to extend the deadline for the next status report to the end of August. The prosecution stated in its filing that the defense did not object to the request for a delay. Judge Chutkin said Trump is not required to attend the hearing that is scheduled for next Friday. It would be the first time the case is back in court since the Supreme Court immunity ruling. A delay would push any activity in the case into September at the earliest, just months before the presidential election. And at least 14 people are dead today and 44 others injured from a Russian strike on a shopping mall in the town of Eastern and Eastern Donetsk. That's according to Ukrainian officials. This comes on the heels of Ukraine's surprise attack on Russia's Kursk region. Russia is now reportedly declaring a federal level emergency and sending reinforcements. Joining me now to discuss the state of war in Ukraine is John Sitlidis, geopolitical strategist and trilogy advisors and senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. John, thank you so much for joining us. Good to be with you, Steve. Thank you. Great to have you, John. John, so if you could sort of break it down for us, how has Ukraine's recent unexpected incursion into Russia affected the balance of power, if you will, and the territorial control in the ongoing conflict? Keep in mind, first of all, this is just four days old. It's very early to tell what the long term impacts, if any, are going to be. And I would say initially the strategic importance of this incursion, or one might more accurately say, the first invasion of Russian territory since World War Two, is not going to be significant in and of itself unless somehow Ukrainian armed forces are better able to break into Russian territory more deeply, perhaps take over a major gas metering station that connects the Russian pipelines through Ukraine into Europe, which, of course, could wreak havoc on European energy supplies going into the winter, the end of this year. And potentially the price could be the Kursk nuclear power plant, which I think the Ukrainian forces might look to overtake in order to gain as much leverage as possible in a possible upcoming peace summit, perhaps the end of this year or any negotiations with Russia in the months ahead. That was going to be my next question for you, John, is how might these developments sort of influence future negotiations with Russia and ultimately the overall trajectory of the conflict? It's going to be the critical issue going forward, I think, Steve, because it seems from right now, again, the last three or four days and this is still very early, we're in the fog of war. There's major propaganda pushes coming out of both Moscow and Kiev on this operation or this incursion. But it seems that the Ukrainian armed forces from President Zelensky on down made a decision to move armaments and fresh recruits, fresh soldiers over into this area, this soft, vulnerable area along the Russian-Ukrainian border, rather than hold up critical defenses in eastern Ukraine, where Russia is expected to be making major advances in the next several weeks, potentially into the fall. So it seems that the priority right now is to strengthen Ukraine's hand as much as possible, again, at a peace summit or more importantly, because I doubt a summit will be the negotiating platform. Whatever negotiations Russia and Ukraine decide to enter into, especially with, I think, increased American and European pressure on Zelensky to find some type of a negotiated settlement here. So I think it's going to be critical. The question is going to be, can Russia attack massively enough with reinforcements over the next several days to push Ukrainian forces back over the border? Or can Ukraine successfully dig in, hold territory and gain more leverage in any upcoming negotiations? John, what are you hearing when it comes to the resolve and the morale of both Russia and Ukraine, but more so Ukraine, seeing how they have taken more of the brunt of the impact of the war thus far? And how could the outcome of the U.S. presidential election affect the conflict? The morale issue is critical, more so on the Ukrainian side, at least to date than on the Russian side, although this could be a humiliating slap in the face to Putin. And we'll see again if this is an enduring incursion into Russian territory, it could weaken Putin's standing in terms of delivering stability, security and geopolitical resurgence to the Russian people. But we know that the Ukrainian armed forces are suffering from a very, very rapidly declining morale. Again, keep in mind that the Ukrainian people and armed forces have been suffering under two and a half years of profound and brutal attritional warfare. Russia has a much larger army, much greater armed forces and is able to produce artillery shells, rockets and missiles far faster than Ukraine is able to procure them from the U.S. and from NATO. And our understanding is that many of the recent recruits are terrified of being sent to Donbass in eastern Ukraine. But they call the quote unquote meat grinder of that particular part of Ukrainian territory right now. So this could also be a shot in the arm for Ukraine short term, depending on how much they can continue to humiliate Russia. So I think in many ways, this is more symbolic than strategic or substantive in terms of military gains. What happened to the U.S. presidential election? Steve, I don't really see much influence on from the Ukrainian battlefield on the elections, but certainly whether Donald Trump wins or Kamala Harris wins, I think will portend very different outcomes for the war. Johnson, ladies really appreciate your perspective on this. Thank you. Thank you for having me. And coming up, a new smear campaign inciting social media influencers to support the Chinese Communist Party's human rights abuses. The U.S. State Department responding to the regime's latest effort to undermine the sovereignty of the United States. That and more when we return. They would literally be auctioned. In front of soldiers and then the soldiers begin to pay. Imagine being a child, you know, having a child mentality and these evil people come and wheel you away from the only safety you've ever known. A painting that has true beauty. I imagine it's like a door. The artist hold the key to open the door and bring people to a pure war, a war where people are more compassionate. And welcome back to the Capitol Report. I'm Steve Lance. The U.S. Department of State is calling on the Chinese Communist Party to end its 25 year long campaign to eradicate Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline that promotes self-improvement through the practice of truthfulness, compassion and tolerance. Here's what a government spokesperson told NTD. The People's Republic of China's repression often extends beyond its borders as authorities engage in transnational repression to surveil, threaten and harass PRC nationals, including Falun Gong practitioners, to silence those who have fled persecution due to their religious or ethnic identity and seek safety abroad. This statement from the State Department came in response to a recent report which revealed that the Chinese Communist Party is launching a new strategy to eradicate Falun Gong abroad, where it's been flourishing throughout free societies. Internal notes from a meeting of the regime's Ministry of Public Security detail that plan to equip YouTubers abroad to attack Falun Gong and Shen Yun, a performing arts group founded by Falun Gong practitioners. The same individuals who are promoting CCP propaganda on social media have also spoken to New York Times reporters, raising questions as to whether the paper's reporting is being affected by a CCP supported smear campaign. In response, the statement the State Department is urging the CCP to uphold its international commitments and end its now 25 year campaign to eradicate Falun Gong. And the Chinese regime's systematic forced organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience is in the spotlight yet again. The survivor of this atrocity is now speaking out and getting attention through multiple media outlets, bringing more pressure on the CCP to end these atrocities. And today's Washington correspondent, Jack Bradley, has more. Perhaps the first known survivor of the Chinese Communist Party's forced live organ harvesting campaign, a Falun Dafa practitioner in Washington, D.C., speaking out about how he had parts of his liver and lung forcibly removed while in China. The reason I'm taking a stand today is because my friends who suffer persecution in prison in China can no longer make their voices heard. They've already passed away. We once promised each other whoever made it out alive will tell the truth to the public. My family members have been threatened. The CCP has employed a variety of tactics. Pei Mingcheng said Chinese authorities forcibly removed his organs once in 2004 and again in 2006. Parts of his lung and liver are missing, which can be used for transplants in pediatric patients. Cheng is targeted for forced organ harvesting by the Chinese regime because he practices Falun Gong, also called Falun Dafa, a spiritual practice with meditative exercises and moral teachings. The practice has been heavily persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since 1999 because of its popularity. Cheng is the first to share his story of surviving this method of persecution forced live organ harvesting. He's been arrested five times and sentenced to over eight years for his belief. He escaped when a prison guard fell asleep with the window open. The government of China on the whole has said very little about forced organ harvesting. There's a tendency just to ignore it. The numbers of transplantation shot up way dramatically after the persecution of Falun Gong began. It's a major problem. And it's one of those things like the story in in Sherlock Holmes. It's the dog that didn't bark. It's you're not hearing about it. That's it's big. Worldwide, officials have for years been condemning the persecution of Falun Gong in China, and most recently in the Senate was introduced the Falun Gong Protection Act, which would sanction any individual involved in the Chinese regime's state sanctioned forced live organ harvesting. A similar version of the bill passed the House back in June. Reporting from Washington, D.C., Jack Bradley, NTD News. And more countries are now joining forces to stand up to the Chinese Communist Party's attempts to control the South China Sea. Strategists consider the effectiveness of choking off a major trade point for China as a way to deter the regime. Joining me now to discuss the various complexities at play is Adam Savitt. He's director of the China Policy Initiative at the America First Policy Institute. Adam Savitt, thank you so much for joining. Thanks for having me. Of course, Adam. So how would you say the recent joint air and naval exercises by the U.S., Australia, Canada and the Philippines are addressing China's threats in the South China Sea? Well, they are helping a great deal, because here's the thing. We still have the strongest navy in the world. Now, we don't have the biggest as far as ships. China has overtaken us, but we do have the strongest navy. However, we have responsibilities. We are deployed across the entire world. As we see, we have ships moving to the Middle East, including an aircraft carrier because of contingencies there. Because of that, we absolutely rely on our regional alliances and especially in Asia. So whenever we can have these either bilateral, trilateral, in this case, multilateral with four countries, we need to leverage the assets of our allies. And we also need to make sure that we underline the fact that the South China Sea is an international waterway. Now, in this case, we stayed within the territorial seas of the Philippines. But the message that this is sending to China is that free countries are able to traverse the South China Sea, whether with military ships or with trade ships. It's crucial that this is an open and free waterway. So, Adam, there's obviously a lot of posturing and maneuvering in that region. We have what's taking place in the South China Sea. The Philippines heavily involved. What are some of the primary challenges and logistical issues that the United States would face in defending Taiwan from a potential military takeover? And is the U.S. military prepared for a conflict in that area? You know, to put it simply, the biggest challenge we face is geography. The biggest challenge we face is the massive size of the Pacific Ocean. Thousands and thousands of miles. Now, of course, we do have preplaced unit. Well, of course, our Indo-Pekong headquarters are in Hawaii. That's sort of halfway there. We have the asset of having a territory in Guam, which has military bases. We have our basing rights in Japan with a with a huge complement of ships, as well as air assets, including an aircraft carrier that is based there. But when it comes down to it, we need our allies. Again, as I mentioned, we need to leverage our allies. The good thing is that many of them are coming more on side. Many of them are building up their military. And that's a direct reaction to their self-interest when they're facing a radical regime in China in the form of Xi. They really have no illusions, especially a country like Japan, which has the ability to build up its forces and really be complementary to our forces, but also the Philippines, which doesn't quite have the GDP, doesn't have the oomph in their military, but they've opened up basing rights for U.S. forces. And that is crucial as well. We need to be able to have as much access, as many basing rights as we can, because another thing is that China has now hundreds or thousands of standoff missiles, missiles that are able to hit long range missiles that are able to hit U.S. bases. So in response to that, we need to disperse our forces in order to preserve them if there is, God forbid, a preemptive strike on the on behalf of China. So, Adam, you do highlight the Pacific Ocean in and of itself being the greatest challenge to us logistically. Could that possibly be flipped on China, given China's reliance on sea lines of communication for trade? And how effective could a trade denial strategy be in deterring China from its aggression toward Taiwan? That's a great point. You know, China is resource poor, at least compared to its massive population. They depend on fossil fuels, mostly from the Middle East. And that is coming around in container ships around the Indian Ocean and into the South China Sea. And that needs to come through a choke point called the Malacca Straits, which is off the coast of Singapore. So that is a very vulnerable point. And that is something that American and other Western strategists point to as a choke point and a way to leverage China, a way to choke off their crucial energy imports and stop their war machine. Here's the problem. We've tried that with Russia. And in the case of Russia, it's been mixed results at best. So when they when they invaded Ukraine, we put in place and the Europeans especially put in place a set of on paper, very tough sanctions preventing their fossil fuels from being exported to Europe. So now those pipelines are going to China. China is actively enabling Russia to skirt those sanctions. Now, China is much more embedded in the international trade system and with powerful allies of ours. So it may be even harder to get those allies to be on board in a very economically difficult situation where they're cutting off Chinese exports to their countries, which they rely on. Adam Sabat, really appreciate you joining us. Thank you. Thanks very much. More bipartisanship coming out of Washington to stop the CCP from flooding the U.S. with counterfeit products made by forced labor and fentanyl. Senator Sherrod Brown says China is, quote, exploiting the de minimis loophole to cheat our trade laws and flood our country with packages containing fentanyl and other illicit substances. He's along with other senators, Ron Wyden, Cynthia Loomis, Susan Collins and Bob Casey in introducing the Fighting for America Act. It's a two pronged approach to tighten rules that allow low value imports to avoid taxes, tariffs and inspections. And the bill also targets the CCP's role in the fentanyl crisis by requiring CBP to get more information on commercial packages with the goal of, quote, targeting and seizing illicit goods and increasing penalties on bad actors. And for around the clock original news coverage, visit us at NTD dot com and download our entity mobile app. That is all we have for you this evening on the Capitol Report. Thank you so much for watching from the nation's capital. I'm Steve Lance. Have a nice weekend. See you back here Monday.