Capitol Report Full Broadcast (Sept. 26)

Good evening and welcome to the Capitol Report on Entity Television. I'm Steve Lance. Here's a look at what's coming up. The much-anticipated indictment against New York City Mayor Eric Adams unsealed today. Our legal correspondent Arlene Richards has details on those charges. In Congress, hearing testimony from local law enforcement involved in the security of the July 13th rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where former President Trump was shot. Luis Martinez has the highlights from Capitol Hill. And President Biden calling for billions of dollars more in aid to be released for Ukraine. And Vice President Kamala Harris appearing with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a ceasefire proposal falls through in the Middle East. This is Capitol Report, live from our global headquarters in our nation's capital. Here's Steve Lance. New York City Mayor Eric Adams is maintaining his innocence after U.S. Attorney Damian Williams laid out a five-count indictment against him involving wire fraud, bribery and illegally soliciting campaign contributions. Entity's Arlene Richards has more. It's an unfortunate day and it's a painful day. But inside of all of that, it's a day where we will finally reveal why for 10 months I have gone through this. And I look forward to defending myself and defending the people of this city, as I've done throughout my entire professional career. Williams accuses Adams of involvement in a multi-year scheme beginning in 2014 to commit fraud in exchange for money and property. He alleges that Adams began taking illegal contributions in 2018 at the start of his 2021 campaign. He agreed to take contributions offered by multiple Turkish businessmen, several of whom he met in Turkey. Adams knew that these wealthy individuals could not legally donate in a U.S. election. Williams says the mayor flew to different countries, including China, Hungary and Ghana, through Turkish airlines, and that he paid nominal fees for trips worth tens of thousands of dollars, including upgrades and freebies. According to Williams, Adams was required to publicly disclose these gifts, but he didn't. The mayor had a duty to disclose these gifts on his annual public disclosure forms so that the public could see who was giving him what. But as we allege, year after year after year, he kept the public in the dark. He told the public he received no gifts, even though he was secretly being showered with them. The mayor said Wednesday evening that he was targeted for speaking out against the Biden administration. I always knew that if I stood my ground, all of you, that I would be a target. Despite our pleas, the federal government did nothing as its broken immigration policies overloaded our shelter system with no relief. At about 6 a.m. Thursday morning, numerous federal agents arrived at Gracie Mansion, the mayor's residence. They presented Adams with a search warrant and conducted a sweep of the residence and seized the mayor's phone. Adams attorney Alex Spiro criticized the search, saying it was, quote, an effort to create a spectacle. Although the indictment named only Mayor Adams, other officials from his administration are being investigated. In recent weeks, several of them have resigned or announced retirement, including the police commissioner, the school chancellor, a top attorney and members of the fire department. The mayor says he will not resign. Meanwhile, the investigation is ongoing. Arlene Richards, NTD News. The bipartisan House Task Force investigating the attempted assassinations of former President Trump hearing testimony from local law enforcement officials involved in the security of the July 13th rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Our Washington correspondent, Luis Martinez, has more. The bipartisan task force released never before seen footage of the July 13th rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and questioned local law enforcement on their actions before, during and after the first attempted assassination against former President Donald Trump. We knew there was somebody that was very suspicious. We also knew there was somebody that we weren't able to actually come in contact with, and we kept losing contact with him. We saw him with a range finder. We saw him doing things that were not probably in line with what people go to a rally for. At what point did somebody say, we're not sure the area is secure and safe? We were certainly prepared for the missions that they had given us. There were additional things, obviously, that probably needed covered, but they never asked us to do that. They never tasked us with that. One of the witnesses, Patrick Sullivan, a former U.S. Secret Service agent, recommended expanding the authority of the Secret Service to prevent security failures like the ones we saw on July 13th. The failure of most Secret Service personnel in Butler to be informed about the specific threat facing former President Trump stands out. Currently, there is no statutory requirement mandating federal, state, and local agencies must report to the Secret Service information concerning threats against the President or other protectees. Lawmakers pressed local law enforcement on the lack of a unified command center during the July 13th rally. Unclear chain of command, technical issues, poor communication. Couldn't identify who within Secret Service was final decision maker. No communication in real time. Two communication centers. Secret Service said they had technical issues with the radios, a problem that was characterized as being common with the agency. Republicans and Democrats both suggested that the Secret Service was responsible for the lack of coordination. So, Secret Service should have been aware. Absolutely. And certainly, had you been in charge, or in your experience, would certainly make local law enforcement aware, hey, we not only have ongoing plots, we just arrested someone in the United States putting down payments to kill President Trump. This is on top of the ongoing domestic threats, correct? Yes. You would make your counterparts aware. This Thursday's hearing was the first the bipartisan task force has held, and their final report will be delivered on December 13th. Reporting from Washington, D.C., Luis Eduardo Martinez, NTD News. And a flurry of activity into a former President Trump's legal cases. Joining me now to break it all down is Zach Smith, Senior Legal Fellow at the Heritage Foundation. Zach, great to have you in studio. Great to be back. Zach, Trump appealed that $450 million fine that he got in that civil fraud case in New York. The New York Court of Appeals judges seemed favorable to his case, pointing out that Trump's business partners, quote unquote, never complained. If you could, first, just kind of remind us of the basis of that lawsuit. This was the very expansive case that New York Attorney General Letitia James brought against Donald Trump and the Trump Organization, essentially alleging a host of fraudulent activities on their part. Now what's interesting about that case, as you alluded to, is that typically when there are claims of fraud made, those who are allegedly defrauded raise the alarm about it. And yet that's not what happened in this case. In this case, the banks said they were made whole, essentially said that they would be willing to do business with Donald Trump and the Trump Organization again. And yet this record-setting fine was levied against Donald Trump and his organizations. And so I think the New York Court of Appeals, which is the intermediate court there in the state of New York, is right to be skeptical about some of the claims brought by Attorney General Letitia James in this case. And it certainly looks like that former Missouri Attorney General John Sauer, who's representing President Trump in this case, made very compelling arguments that some of the judges were very interested in hearing. And here in Washington, D.C., you had Special Counsel Jack Smith filing a 180-page brief this evening in his election interference case against former President Trump, which is still under seal, so we couldn't get many details out of it. According to Smith, it contains a substantial amount of sensitive material. What do you expect some of that new evidence might be? Well, we don't really know. We'll have to wait and see. But keep in mind, the entire goal of filing this for Jack Smith and his legal team is to try to skirt the Supreme Court's immunity ruling that they issued last term, where they essentially said that presidents, including Donald Trump, are immune for official acts they take while in office. And so what Jack Smith is trying to say is that many of the acts that President Trump took in the aftermath of the 2020 election, he took in either his personal capacity or in his capacity as a candidate for political office, but not in his official capacity as president. Now, obviously, President Trump and his legal team, they dispute that characterization. I expect they will also file a lengthy filing. I don't know if it'll be 180 pages, which is very long for this type of filing. But I suspect they'll vigorously dispute those charges and make clear that he was acting in his capacity as president. As if we didn't have enough political legal cases, if you will, to try to follow and wrap our heads around with the four criminal against former President Trump, the civil. Now we have New York City's Mayor Eric Adams, who's been indicted today for bribery and fraud charges. We have a clip from the attorney there saying that Adams alleged crimes go back to 2018. Let's play that. He agreed to take contributions offered by multiple Turkish businessmen, several of whom he met in Turkey. Adams knew that these wealthy individuals could not legally donate in a U.S. election. Federal law clearly prohibits foreign donations. That's how we protect our elections from foreign influence. Zach, talk to us about how serious this indictment may be. Yeah, this is obviously very serious charges if these charges prove to be true. And Eric Adams is presumed innocent, just like anyone else in our country. But they prove to be true. These are very serious allegations on par with, frankly, what we saw from former New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez. Keep in mind, the Supreme Court has said that these type of public corruption cases, really only quid pro quo type corruption is what's prohibited. And certainly the allegations, some of the allegations that are made in this indictment seem like they would fall in that category, particularly this speaking indictment, which really lays out in factual detail the allegations against Eric Adams. Certainly does not look good for Mayor Adams or others on his team. Where do you see this case going? And basically, what's next? How might this impact the mayor? Will he stay in office? Are there mechanisms in place to have him removed? Where do we see the mayor going from here? Well, we're certainly hearing calls for him to resign already. Based on what he said, both publicly and privately, it does not look like he intends to do that. He's hired very experienced, very expensive lawyers to defend him in this criminal case. And based on what he's saying right now, he intends to mount a vigorous defense against these charges. So we'll certainly have to wait and see how all of this plays out over the coming weeks and months. Jack Smith, really appreciate your perspective. Thank you so much. Of course. Thanks for having me on. And President Biden meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House. The two discussed Ukraine's war effort, but not before Biden announced new funding for the war-torn nation. Biden has long been against Ukraine using Western-supplied long-range missiles to strike targets inside of Russia. Entity's Washington correspondent Jack Bradley joins us now from the White House. So Jack, with that said, what came out of President Biden's meeting today? Will Ukraine ultimately be allowed to strike into Russia? Yes. Well, President Biden hasn't given the OK so far, as such attacks could imply a proxy war. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been pushing for it, and it may have come up during closed-door talks with Biden on Thursday. Even if such a change in policy occurs, it's unclear whether it will be announced publicly. Before the two leaders spoke, Biden announced another $8 billion in military aid to Ukraine. Russia will not prevail. Ukraine will prevail. And we'll continue to stand by you every step of the way. Today we have a new support package, $7.9 billion. This will be a great help. Zelensky then held a press conference with Vice President Kamala Harris discussing the war effort. The United States supports Ukraine, not out of charity, but because it is in our strategic interest. We will continue to provide the security assistance Ukraine needs to succeed on the battlefield. And earlier Thursday, Zelensky met with leaders of the Senate, and a day before that, he met with leaders from the House, except for the top House representative, Speaker Mike Johnson. That's because of Zelensky's trip to Pennsylvania, where he met with state Democrat officials at an artillery plant. His trip is drawing anger from many Republican members of Congress. They say his U.S. taxpayer-funded flight amounted to a campaign stop. House Speaker Johnson then demanded the Ukrainian ambassador to the U.S. be fired over this. And House Oversight Chairman James Comer opened an investigation into the trip. Steve, back to you. Hurricane Helene continues to intensify in the Gulf of Mexico as it head towards Florida's Big Bend region. Forecasters warn of a catastrophic and deadly storm surge in some areas as the hurricane approaches landfall and nears Category 4. NTV's Christina Corona brings us the latest. Helene was upgraded to a Category 3 storm Thursday with wind speeds of 125 miles per hour and is expected to become a major hurricane. As of 2.30 p.m. Eastern time, the storm was 170 miles southwest of Tampa, traveling northeast at 16 miles per hour. Helene is forecast to make landfall in Florida's Big Bend Thursday evening, posing a significant risk of catastrophic damage. Governor Ron DeSantis gave an update on the storm. The storm, it's coming. We're already seeing some effects in the southern part of the state. We're going to continue to see conditions deteriorate throughout the rest of the day. DeSantis stated that the storm was never expected to make landfall along the Florida Peninsula's Because it's such a big storm, it's churning a lot of water. And so you're going to see surge all up and down the west coast of Florida. The water is going to rise, and that is going to create hazards as well. A storm surge warning is in effect for nearly the entire west coast of Florida, with surging waters described as unsurvivable potentially reaching up to 20 feet in some areas. A state of emergency has been declared in 61 of Florida's 67 counties, with several counties under evacuation orders. Here in the north Florida area, you do have time to evacuate, but that time is now. It is right now. You need to be moving to a location. We have shelters across the Big Bend area that are available. So please, if you need that information, floridadasaster.org, backslash shelters, to find out where a shelter is available for you. Officials strongly advise residents to be prepared for potential power outages and to avoid driving on the roads during and after the storm. Forecasters have issued warnings for tornadoes and mudslides, prompting the governors of Georgia, the Carolinas, and Virginia to declare emergencies. President Joe Biden has declared emergencies in several states and will send the head of FEMA to Florida on Friday to assess the damage. After making landfall, the storm is expected to move inland over Georgia, with significant flooding possible in the southeast. Atlanta could see up to half a foot of rain. Christina Corona, NTD News. And coming up, the latest on the Russia-Ukraine war. Is it near a stalemate? We'll have Michael O'Hanlon, senior fellow in foreign policy at the Brookings Institution, to join us to assess. And Israeli forces are keeping up the pressure on Hezbollah, killing another high-level commander in Lebanon. Meanwhile, residents in Israel reacting to the latest ceasefire proposal with the terrorist group Hezbollah. Jason Perry is reporting that and more when we return. Will radical lies determine your child's future or will timeless truths fathom the good, equips children with wisdom against the world? 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Israel said he was the commander of Hezbollah's aerial command, in which he directed attacks using drones, cruise missiles, and more. His death comes just a day after Iran's supreme leader said that killing Hezbollah commanders would not kill the group. Israel also said on Thursday that its forces had attacked 1,600 terrorist targets in Lebanon in the previous 24 hours. And Israel continues to urge civilians to move out of harm's way. Many of them are leaving Lebanon to go to war-torn Syria for safety, the border of which Israel has been watching very closely. On Thursday, the Israeli Air Force struck targets along the Syria-Lebanon border that were allegedly used by Hezbollah to transfer weapons from Syria to Lebanon. In Lebanon, we're going to prevent any possibility of arms transfers in Lebanon from Iran to compensate for what Hezbollah was reduced by us. Also on Thursday, Israel rejected a 21-day ceasefire proposed by the U.S. to pause the fighting with the Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorist group. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this. My policy, our policy is clear. We are continuing to hit Hezbollah with full force, and we will not stop until we achieve all our goals, first and foremost, returning the residents of the north safely to their homes. A family member of a hostage who was killed in captivity in the Gaza Strip shared his thoughts on a possible ceasefire with Hezbollah. We urge the leaders of the free world to make sure that this deal that they're working on is reached, and that this deal contains the release of 101 hostages who've been held in Gaza for 355 days now. It's not only a matter of how long it has been in captivity, but this is actually a question of whether they will be released alive or not. Residents in Israel also shared their thoughts on a possible ceasefire with Hezbollah. This is bull****, because when you let them 21 days, they will arrange again, they will bring new missiles. I don't believe them. I'm not okay, no, no. I think that we must finish with this problem with Hezbollah, and also with Gaza. U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said a diplomatic solution is the only way to ensure that civilians on both sides of the border can return home. Jason Berry, NTD News. And now to dig deeper into the current state of the Russia-Ukraine war, we're happy to have on Michael O'Hanlon, director of research and senior fellow in foreign policy at the Brookings Institution. Michael O'Hanlon, thank you so much for joining. Nice to be with you. Thanks for having me. It's nice to have you back, Michael. So you recently wrote an article for the Washington Post suggesting that the Russia-Ukraine war is basically at a near stalemate. Could you sort of give us an update as to what's actually happening there on the battlefield? Thank you. Well, it's a near stalemate. Unfortunately, Russia is making some progress, throwing a lot of bodies into it, and outgunning Ukraine in the eastern part of Ukraine, and making, you know, gains by a few hundred yards a day, trying to take small towns that, if they were to be successful, could add up to a slight exception to the overall argument that Will Brooks and I made in our piece. But what we had done, we used some very good maps created by a different think tank, the Institute for the Study of War and the American Enterprise Institute. And they've got teams on the ground actually reporting back by social media where the fighting is happening. And what we found was there was a lot of movement in the battlefield in the first few months. And some people will remember this. That's not a radical new finding. But on balance, after the late fall of 2022, there's been almost no movement in the battlefront. There has been, to be more specific, about 1% of Ukraine has been shifting hands one way or the other since that moment. So for almost two years, the fight has been, yes, against Ukraine cities with missiles and drones, and now a little bit into Russia with Ukraine's incursion starting last month. But for the most part, it's this sort of semi-circular swath of land through eastern and then into southern Ukraine that represents the front line, where there are a lot of fortifications that have been built. That battle line has been more or less static. When I say static, I don't mean literally static, but it takes a lot of effort to move it by one kilometer in either direction. And it rarely moves by more than five kilometers, so let's say three to five miles. So over two years of war, that's sort of the degree of movement we see in most parts of the front line. So Michael, you mentioned the incursion into Russia that Ukraine had. Talk to us about that. Is that just kind of a small victory, or how is Vladimir Putin processing that and looking at that? Is that something enough to cause him to react in a way that we may not want to see? That's a great question. Let me answer it in two ways. First of all, let me take your question literally. How big of a deal is it in terms of territory? And it's about 500 square miles. In other words, let's say, just roughly speaking, 30 miles on one dimension, almost 20 miles on the other. Of course, it's not really perfectly shaped like a rectangle, but 500 square miles is about 30 by 20. So it's not trivial. They got in far enough. That's like the size of a metropolitan area, 30 miles. But it's not anything close to the size of Western Russia. It's a tiny sliver. And it's also small compared to all the land within Ukraine that Russia now occupies. Ukraine's lost a little bit of that initial incursion in recent weeks. It's still holding pretty steady, but it doesn't seem likely to expand its holdings. So that's the specific, literal answer to your question. But the broader question about psychology and strategy is not at all clear to me. President Zelensky, I guess, has been meeting today with President Biden and with Vice President Harris and congressional leadership of both parties. I think he hopes to meet President Trump. And the overall pitch I think he's making is that he has a concept of victory. And the land he's now holding inside Russia is part of that theory. Clearly, he's hoping that it either can be something he uses to bargain back at least some of his own territory, or it's something that shocks Vladimir Putin into feeling that now Russia itself is under attack, and that's going to make Putin less confident that he should just keep waging this war. But I'm worried, like you put in your question to me, that there's also the chance Putin uses this as a pretext to escalate. And so I hope that President Zelensky is not overestimating what this will do for him. So, Michael, as you mentioned, President Biden today did announce an additional $8 billion in military aid to Ukraine. This sort of sidesteps Congress, if you will. Do you see this being helpful? And at the same time, President Biden says he's not yet ready to offer Ukraine long-range weaponry that could make its way into the interior of Russia. What are your thoughts on this? Well, first of all, I'm not sure this really sidesteps Congress, because, as you know, the Biden administration was diligent this past spring about waiting for congressional authorization before providing that $61 billion aid package. And I think this $8 billion probably comes out of that $61 billion. You may know differently. I haven't looked at the details. But the Biden administration has been pretty diligent about making sure Congress is aboard, partly because they know that Congress could really try to cause them trouble. The Constitution gives Congress the power of the purse. And so when presidents try to go around that, they historically get in trouble. So Biden didn't really have much of a choice. He doesn't really have much of an option, which raises questions of what would happen next year, especially if Vice President Harris won the presidency but got a Republican House or Senate or both. To what extent could she bring Congress along? Because that $61 billion aid package from last spring is going to run out by early in the next president's term. So it'll help. It's good. But it's the kind of thing we've been doing for two and a half years. It's not going to be a game changer. That would be my overall reaction to what President Biden has just provided today. Michael O'Hanlon, really fascinating perspective. Thank you so much. Thank you kindly. And what do everyday Americans think about the Pentagon's latest $8 billion commitment to Ukraine? Antony Sam Wong was out at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. to hear from the people. So the U.S. just committed another $8 billion to Ukraine. And Zelensky's here meeting with President Biden, and he's now asking for more. So what do you make of that? It's about time. It's a lot of money, my friend. Yes, and whatever it takes. We don't need to have Russia take over all the other Eastern European countries. It's better than Israel, but it's still not something that I think the people would like. I think we would like housing and education. We need more support from around the world, so we're not writing the check to protect from Putin. I fully support funding Ukraine. If Russia takes it over, where will it stop? Russia's being over-endaned by what's going on with the U.N. and NATO, and I understand why Russia's having issues too. The only people that are suffering are the Ukrainian people, the poor Russian kids who have to go out and fight. I mean, I think the best thing for everybody is if the war would just end. Zelensky recently made a trip to the battleground state of Pennsylvania, and then he also said a couple of negative things about Trump and J.D. Vance. So some people are expressing concern that he's, you know, trying to get involved in U.S. politics around election time. So what do you make of that? I mean, I think they're absolutely warranted on saying that, don't you? Well, I think a lot of foreign leaders have made comments about various U.S. presidents. He should have kept his mouth shut. He's trying to influence the election. He shouldn't. It's an unfair thing for him to do. I think he needs to keep his war there. If we can help, we can help. If we can't, we can't. He needs to be involved some way. I don't know negatively, but he needs to be involved some way for his own support, for his own reasons. Zelensky is here begging for money. He needs money. He wants to keep fighting. Where else is he going to find another country that's going to give him money? He shouldn't have a say, but the thing is that his say probably doesn't mean too much. He should just accept whatever help is coming his way and stay out of particularly our presidential elections. And coming up, former President Trump holding a press conference at Trump Tower in New York City this afternoon. Iris Tao has what the Republican presidential nominee had to say about Mayor Eric Adams, the border and the war in Ukraine. In a preview of next week's vice presidential debate and why it could draw more attention than the previous ones. That and more when we return. The 7th NTD International Piano Competition will take place at the Kauffman Music Center in New York City. Pianists from around the world will come together to revive the great piano masterpieces. Join us on this uplifting journey. The semifinals, finals and the winner's concert will be open to audiences and live streamed from October 17th to the 19th. Get tickets now at 212-501-3330. It contains over 90% of omega-3, 6, 7 and 9. The highest concentration possible without chemical additives. The soft gel is made of natural seaweed. It is 100% organic and vegan. Both adults and children can take it with peace of mind. Ancient recipes were passed down from heaven to bring prosperity and longevity. Puritan Green Vegetable Omega-3. I'm Richard Karn and I love my hose. It ain't those old hoses. This is my hose. The new pocket hose copper bullet now infused with real copper. So your water is always clean and lead-free. Just turn on the water and watch your hose grow and grow. And when you turn off the water, away it goes. Our new inner tube uses three layers of high-strength latex on the inside. Then it's wrapped in a new polymer filament jacket. Three times stronger than the other hoses. 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He called her the border czar and asked why she did not do what she's vowing to do right now four years ago. She should save her airfare. She should go back to the White House and tell the president to close the border. He can do it with the signing of just a signature and a piece of paper to the Border Patrol. Trump also emphasized the impact of illegal immigration by highlighting the current situation that he described as migrant crime surging in different cities. And also saying how it's taken away jobs from Black as well as Hispanic Americans. He also listed steps that he said he would implement on the day one of his administration, including by shutting down the flights going from the border to different cities of the U.S., transporting those migrants, as well as re-initiate the Remain in Mexico policy and re-initiate Title 42 and asking law enforcement for help to fix that issue. And Trump also commented on a latest indictment against New York City Mayor Eric Adams by saying he wishes him well, but adding that he warned that he will get indicted after he spoke out against illegal immigration in New York City. I watched about a year ago when he talked about how the illegal migrants are hurting our city and the federal government should pay us and we shouldn't have to take them. And I said, you know what, he'll be indicted within a year. And I was exactly right. And Trump also announced that tomorrow morning here at Trump Tower, he will be meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky upon Zelensky's request. And that's right after Zelensky at the White House had a meeting with the current administration. I'll meet with President Zelensky and we'll see what happens, but I believe I can work that out. It would have been, I will say this, it would have been a lot easier to work out prior to the start. And Putin never, ever even thought about going in. Reporting from the Trump Tower, Iris Hao, NTD News. And as we mentioned earlier, two legal cases against former President Trump appear to be on thin ice. Judges today questioning the basis of New York's civil suit against the former president and Jack Smith making what's likely to be his last attempt before November to bolster the 2020 election case. NTD's Melina Wisecup reports. Former President Trump aims to get a near $500 million lawsuit tossed. Today, his lawyers insisted on his innocence while brushing off the New York civil fraud case as an overly broad interpretation. The attorney general's very broad and sweeping view. So our position is narrow, which is that on the facts of this case, all these things I referred to, no reliance, no materiality, Deutsche Bank saying we want to give them the exact same deal. And we have clear disclaimers. New York state brought the case against Trump on grounds that he misled lenders by overstating his assets to get better loan terms. The first judge ruled in New York's favor, but now the appeals court judges are showing skepticism. It hardly seems that that justifies bringing an action to protect against President Trump, which is what you have here. I mean, you've got two really sophisticated parties in which no one lost any money. There are at least four different public harms from the kind of misconduct here. First of all, when deceptively hidden risks are injected into the market, that does hurt the counterparties. And there was harm to the counterparties here. Judges also questioned New York's attorney for other examples of a case like this, calling the massive penalty against Trump troubling. If Trump's appeal fails, New York could start freezing Trump's bank accounts and redirecting his assets. Meanwhile, in the federal election-related case against Trump, special counsel Jack Smith is working to salvage it after the Supreme Court's immunity ruling left him scrambling. Smith filed new evidence today in what's likely to be his last chance before election day to argue why Trump should be convicted. Smith aims to try to sidestep the immunity ruling by asserting Trump's actions in 2020 were made in his capacity as a political candidate instead of as the president of the United States. The new filing is sealed and rests in Judge Tonya Chukin's hands. Reporting from Washington, D.C., Melina Wisecup, NTD News. Vice presidential nominees Governor Tim Walz and Senator J.D. Vance will be facing off in a debate next week. NTD's national correspondent Jason Blair brings us the latest in why this VP debate could bring in more viewers than in any other election cycle. The Democratic and Republican vice presidential nominees will square off in their first debate next Tuesday. This will perhaps be their biggest chance to let voters get to know them better, as well as make their case for their respective campaigns and running mates. The debate will be hosted by CBS News at its New York studios. The rules are reportedly still under negotiation. In the past, vice presidential debates usually didn't generate a whole lot of buzz when compared to their presidential counterparts. However, this year's debate looks like it has a chance to gain a lot of viewers as the VP candidates have been gaining more attention than in previous elections. Also, due to the lack of debates in general with the 2024 elections, it could be easier to cast a spotlight on the VP clap. The most watched vice presidential debate was in 2008 between Joe Biden, who was a Delaware senator at the time, and Sarah Palin, who was the governor of Alaska. As far as how each candidate is preparing, neither campaign has confirmed any specifics. There have been some unconfirmed reports from outlets involving anonymous sources, however nothing concrete. Both candidates are, however, still keeping active on the campaign trail. Governor Tim Walz will be campaigning in Michigan on Saturday. Senator J.D. Vance has a rally scheduled in Pennsylvania also on Saturday. Walz and Vance have not met in person yet, but have exchanged public jabs while campaigning. There hasn't been a second debate confirmed for either the vice presidential or presidential nominees, so this could very well be the last debate before the November 5th election. The debate is scheduled for 9 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday, October 1st. Reporting in Washington, D.C., Jason Blair, NTD News. And on debate night, NTD will have on-the-ground coverage, in-depth analysis, and a whole lot more prepared for you during our pre- and post-debate show on The Nation Decides 2024 with myself and Tiffany Meyer. Watch it next Tuesday, October 1st at 8 p.m. Eastern. And coming up, mail-in ballots during elections are becoming increasingly popular. Congress today probing possible security issues facing the United States Postal Service. What the Postmaster had to say. And what could an East Coast court strike mean for the economy? And how does the Chinese economy affect American pensions? We'll have Richard Stern, Director for the Federal Budget, at the Heritage Foundation to break it down for us when we return. Imagine a coffee that C.A.R.E. expertly fermented with a 50-enzyme complex to enhance flavor and remove bitterness. Small batch roasted to a decadent medium dark. Resulting in a brew that is gentle on digestion, low acid, and up to 90% less caffeine than regular coffee. Try America's first enzyme-fermented coffee today. I'm Christopher Holton. I'm very active. I try to get six miles in a day, at least walking. I thought I had clean mental health. It was a Saturday morning. Normally, I go for my normal walk. With no warning, Chris suffered a near-fatal heart attack. But thankfully, Brian Buckley, a bystander, saw him collapse and rushed to help. He did this big gasp for air and then just stopped. And we completely saw his eyes glaze over. And I see his pulses fading fast and is about to go out. So I start off CPR. It's like I went into autopilot. EMS showed up. They pulled out the AED, you know, things that sink in your moment in your gut where you're just like, come on, make it, make it. Because of the CPR training that Brian received, Chris did make it and didn't die on the trail that day. CPR training provided by the American Heart Association. This could not happen without monthly donations from friends like you. Call or go online to helpheart.org with your gift of only $19 a month, just 63 cents a day. Your $19 monthly gift will help fund the next medical breakthrough, get the next hospital certified in high-quality cardiovascular care, and get even more people trained in life-saving CPR. Join our community of monthly donors and you'll get this special T-shirt you can wear to show you're helping save lives. Being a father, you want to be around. You want to be around for your kids. Heart disease is America's number one killer, and we urgently need your help. Your monthly gift of only $19 a month will help us discover vital medical breakthroughs that can save your life or the life of someone you love. Become a monthly donor today by calling or going online to helpheart.org. If you need to do something to feel okay to drive, you're not okay to drive. Don't drive buzzed. And welcome back to the Capitol Report on NTD Television. The United States Postal Service is expecting to be busy during this year's presidential election. Use of mail-in ballots keeps increasing. Congress today probing possible security issues that come with the use of those mail-in ballots, and TDD's Arian Basdar has the highlights from that House hearing. It is imperative that the Postal Service get this right. The House Appropriations Committee on Thursday investigating the role the United States Postal Service, or USPS, plays in this year's election. The Postmaster General told lawmakers that the Our hand control throughout the system is a reliable hand control. Our people see ballots, they dive on them. There's been very, very, very, very little proven other types of issues with us. The committee's chairman says the use of mail-in ballots increased by 25% from 2016 to 2020, and he's expecting the rise to continue this year. Congressman Jerry Cole asked about the process of dropping off mail-in ballots, specifically the number of ballots a single person could theoretically hand in. No one's bringing you a... Okay. That's what I'm getting at. No one can bring you a pallet full of... Individual. In fact, if we postmark, you cannot... Once we postmark that ballot, you can't take it back. So when I put my ballot in that box, that is Postal Service mail at that point. Postal Service mail. And your employees are going to pay. Thank you. Congressman Matt Cartwright from Pennsylvania asked the Postmaster General about a plan to cut costs after the election. The plan was postponed to make sure ballots get delivered smoothly, but the congressman says cost-cutting measures will still seriously affect everyday Americans. People rely on the Postal Service. They'll deliver their prescriptions, social security checks, other important mail. Faced with delays, rural Americans will experience longer delivery times or be forced to pay higher prices to commercial delivery companies, which is unacceptable. And I think it's an unfair accusation, considering the condition that the Postal Service has been allowed to get to. We are not consolidating... I have opened operations around the nation. We have put in sorting and delivery centers in communities that were old, abandoned plants throughout the nation. He added that the USPS plans to cut costs in a way that won't affect Americans too much. Ariane Pastar, NTD News. And joining us in studio is Richard Stern, director of the Grover M. Herman Center for the Federal Budget at the Heritage Foundation, here to provide deeper insights into what a supply chain disruption could mean for our economy. Richard Stern, thank you so much for joining. Yeah, thank you for having me on, Zolos. It's great to have you, Richard. So this morning, the Commerce Department releasing its third estimate of second quarter growth, showing a 3.0% growth rate. What is your take on this revision? What does it indicate? And if we don't hit it, what might that mean? Well, so I think one of the key things that's being buried in all this, and this has been going on for quarter after quarter, is the largest share of job growth, which is really what's underlying that, are government jobs or jobs in sectors that are heavily subsidized by the government. So truth be told, what you're really seeing is future inflation that's going to happen for money we've printed now. So it looks like there's more production, looks like there's more jobs, but really you're going to pay the price tag in the form of inflation down the road. That's exactly what was happening in 2020 and 2021. And right now we're seeing the head of the dock workers union in New York City, Harold Daggett. He's been critical of the Biden administration, specifically when it comes to their labor record. He's starting to cause a major disruption in the supply chain. What would this mean? And how do you see this potentially impacting the economy? So this could be a brutal thing, of course, for the economy. I mean, obviously an enormous amount of the products that we all use come in through our ports. We're not just talking New York. We're talking about the lawnshoremen union that covers the entire eastern coast on this. But I think the crucial thing about this is when he's talking about what the Biden administration's done, let's talk about the other thing that the Biden administration's done, which is they've prevented these ports from modernizing. And I don't mean getting rid of workers. I mean getting the tools that they would need to be able to be more productive per worker, get paid more per worker, have safer job conditions, be able to have shorter hours. So that's part of what's going on here. And this is a story that we see rippling throughout the entire economy. Certainly it's a story you get in manufacturing, in the energy sector, where the administration has prevented the modernization, the investments that would be needed to naturally lift people's wages and give them better working conditions. So that's really what this is a reflection of, of the attack on our progress and our economic dynamism that's come out of everything the Biden administration's done. Talk to us about how catastrophic a potential dock worker strike could be just before the election. Would it have an impact? Absolutely could. So this is honestly holding hostage tens of millions of American households who depend on products that are imported. But it's not just the households, right? This could mean, of course, higher grocery prices, higher prices for everything that you buy when it comes to food, clothing, gas in the pump perhaps. But the other thing is that a lot of those goods that come in are used by our factories that produce other products. And so this has the effect of not just holding hostage American households, threatening to increase prices of essentials for them, but it also might interrupt production chains for American manufacturers who might then lose business, as has been happening for decades, to foreign manufacturers. So it really is a major issue. I want to switch gears a bit and talk to you about China and China's economy, specifically on Tuesday, China announcing its largest economic stimulus since the pandemic. Tell us why they're doing this. What are you seeing right now in the Chinese market and why it ultimately matters to us in the U.S.? Well, the first thing I'd always say is the only thing that governments can stimulate are their own paperwork and inflation. That's the only things that they can do. So, you know, what's been happening right here in China, right? You've had a socialist government that has micromanaged every aspect of the economy for decades, obviously. But what that has meant is that good investments, good ideas don't happen. And so you've got an economy that is wrapped around the axle where every investment decision, and I don't mean financial investments. I mean, where do we build new factories? What kind of buildings are built at all? Those sorts of decisions are all to the whims of the bureaucrats and politicians within the communist Chinese party. So what's happened now is a third of Chinese businesses are underwater. They're not profitable, which is really to say they don't produce things of use to the Chinese population. So the Chinese government is printing money, trying to pump it into the economy, hoping that will do something. What they really need to do is deregulate and let the private sector do what they do best. It's extremely concerning to me, knowing that Wall Street has been headfirst into Beijing for the past two decades at least. And from what I understand, there's still a lot of American pension plans invested in the Chinese economy. Talk to our viewers that may have their money there. Absolutely. So, you know, part of what's going on here is that one of the most important things about any economy is stability, is that you can guarantee what's going to happen, that you can trust the actors that are involved. And when you're dealing with the Chinese Communist Party, you just can't guarantee that, you can't trust that. And you're absolutely right. Unfortunately, a lot of American pensions have taken the hard-earned savings of American workers and dumped it into investments in China. And not only, of course, has this ended up helping to further human rights violations and strengthen the Chinese military, but it's also meant that these American savings are in businesses that are increasingly unprofitable, that are reliant on Chinese government subsidies, that are at the whim of all of the regulations and the problems that are going on there. And so this could have disastrous impacts going forward. Really important points, Richard. Just lastly and briefly, if you could, right now, obviously about 40 days out from the election, are there any key economic reports and indicators that could—the economy is the number one issue for most Americans. We're seeing that. So anything you're watching that could kind of sway and be something major to watch out for before November 5th? Yeah, absolutely. So I think the Fed just cut interest rates by half a percent. But by the way, every central bank is doing that, including China's, as we were just talking about. So that's going to put more inflation pressures on the table. So let's see what happens with prices, right? We've got another few job reports here. We've got more price data. But that's going to juice price pressures and create inflation. But I will tell you this, though. The strategic timing of that cut is largely to have the drinking binge before the election and the hangover in the form of inflation after the election. You see interest rates come down now. You'll see the inflation after November. And it seems like they probably timed it that way. Richard Stern, thank you. Thank you, as always. And that is all we have for you this evening on The Capital Report. For around the clock original news coverage, visit us at ntd.com slash live and download our entity mobile app. From Washington, D.C., I'm Steve Lance. Have a nice evening. See you back here tomorrow.