Special Counsel Jack Smith Admits Second Error in Trump Case; Hawaii Wildfire Deaths Climb to 36 2023-08-10 16:06

What's happening in the world, coming up on NTD News. First, our top stories. Search and rescue still underway as the Hawaii wildfires continue to rage for a third day. At least 36 have died and thousands evacuated. We have the latest. Investigators admit to another error in a case against former President Trump. Find out what they say they did wrong. Proof Trump aides appear in a federal court in the classified documents case. One of them was there to enter a non-guilty plea. Screening potential military enlistees for ties to gangs and extremist groups. Recruiters are reportedly failing to perform adequate screenings, allowing some applicants to go into active duty. Welcome to NTD News Today, I'm Chris Beers. We're going on day three of the wildfires in Hawaii. Efforts are still ongoing to battle the blazes and search for survivors. As of today, 36 fatalities have been confirmed in Maui County. Oh my gosh, look at the harbor. This looks like Baghdad or something. Hey, if anybody's still out here, it's time to go! As Hurricane Dora continues to move away from the Hawaiian islands, the National Weather Service has lifted high wind and fire warnings, but the destruction left behind is already formidable. The fires wiped out hundreds of buildings on Maui, forcing more than 11,000 people to evacuate. Much of the popular tourist spot Lahaina was scorched. Locals described what they called an apocalyptic scene, a combination of downed power lines and dry brush allegedly caused the fire. These wildfires now are so much more intense, so much bigger, move so much quicker. Certainly there's a lot of lessons on preparedness that we can learn from other disasters, but these are new, these are unique. We're learning, we're adapting. A number of flights were canceled in Hawaii, with highways on the west side closed. About 2,000 travelers took shelter overnight at Maui's Kahului Airport. The Honolulu Convention Center also hosted thousands of displaced tourists and residents on the islands. Major airlines are helping passengers rebook trips to Hawaii. American, Southwest, United, and Hawaiian Airlines are currently waiving change fees for flights to and from the Kahului Airport. The state of Hawaii is discouraging non-essential travel to that airport. Kahului is served by 10 airlines in total. Apart from roads and buildings, another landmark was harmed by the wildfires on Maui, a 150-year-old banyan tree. Footage taken last December shows just how majestic it once was. The tree was located in the historic town of Lahaina Beach. It served as a gathering place for the local community. Witnesses say the tree's branches were blackened and charred in the blaze. It's unknown if the tree has survived. Another error in a case involving former President Trump, Special Counsel Jack Smith, acknowledges his second mistake in recent weeks. Smith and his assistants convinced a federal judge in Washington not only prove a search warrant for President Trump's Twitter account, but to block President Trump from learning about the warrant. Order says part of the reason to keep it hidden is that Trump might flee. Smith now admits that was an incorrect assessment. The judge in the case says the flight risk issue was not ultimately used in establishing the search warrant anyway. The warrant was part of Smith's investigation into Trump's effort to dispute the 2020 presidential election. Smith has since brought charges against the former president. Smith's team previously admitted that it made a false claim to the court, backpedaling after saying it provided all surveillance footage from the Mar-a-Lago resort to the former president's attorneys. Former President Trump and one of his two co-defendants pleaded not guilty to new charges in the documents case. Trump aide Walt Nauta appeared in court this morning. Trump pleaded not guilty through his attorney, but wasn't present at the hearing. Another aide, Carlos de Oliveira, attended court alongside Nauta, but he didn't enter a plea for lack of a local lawyer licensed to practice in Florida. Both defendants left the courthouse without addressing reporters. Special Counsel Jack Smith accused the two men of conspiring with Trump to block the documents probe. The criminal case is one of three that the former president is currently facing. Former President Trump says he will not sign a loyalty pledge supporting the GOP candidate. RNC requires the pledge before candidates can participate in primary debates. Trump explained his hesitation in an interview with Newsmax. He said, I wouldn't sign the pledge. Why would I sign a pledge? There are people on there that I wouldn't have. I wouldn't have certain people as somebody that I'd endorse. He also asks why he should join the debate when he's leading other candidates in polling. In 2015, was the only candidate who didn't initially sign the Republican National Committee loyalty pledge. He eventually signed it. Qualified candidates must present their loyalty pledge no later than 48 hours before the first debate to be able to attend. Trump mentioned how Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon skipped primary debates. President Biden was also absent from the earlier primary debates in 2019. He had not yet declared candidacy at the time. Trump is still considering the possibility and said he would announce his decision next week. Military recruiters aren't properly screening enlistees for ties to gangs and extremist groups. That's according to a new audit. This comes as the military struggles to recruit enough personnel in recent years. Here's the story. The inspector general for the Department of Defense recently published a new review. It found that military recruiters fail to properly screen potential enlistees. The report found that recruiters have been screening applicants, but not properly, saying recruiters may not have identified all applicants with extremist or criminal gang associations during the screening process. The US military has an existing ban on anyone enlisting with a significant criminal record or affiliation with violent gangs or extremist groups. The report lists errors such as recruiters skipping required interviews, tattoo symbol checks, fingerprint checks, and even background investigations. This allowed some applicants to go into active duty. 41% of recruiters in the review failed to provide the relevant screening questions to applicants. 9% failed to identify possible signs of gang affiliation through tattoos and body modification. Another 9% failed to conduct fingerprint identification properly. The study was conducted between July 2021 and January 2022 and analyzed over 200 applications. The inspector general said in a press release that such oversights increase the potential for security risks and disruptions to good order and discipline within the military and that recruiting high-quality service members is essential to mission readiness. This comes as the US armed services are struggling to recruit more personnel in recent years. The Army, Navy, and Air Force are all expected to fall short of their enlistment goals this year. This is partly because fewer young people are able to pass the most basic qualifications. FBI Director Christopher Wray's accuracy is being questioned regarding recent testimony. That's regarding the Bureau's involvement in a memo targeting so-called radical traditionalist Catholic ideology. The internal memo was leaked by a whistleblower from the FBI's field office in Richmond, Virginia earlier this year. It suggested the FBI could target Catholic places of worship to prevent terrorist attacks. Upon its leak, the memo sparked public outrage. Wray testified in July that he was aghast at the memo but insisted it was a single product by a single field office. He said he immediately ordered it to be retracted, but Congressman Jim Jordan says more than one FBI office was involved. He says he was provided with a new copy of the memo with fewer redactions. He wrote a letter to Wray saying the Los Angeles and Portland offices were also involved. Jordan is now seeking more information from the FBI. In an emailed statement to NTD News, the FBI insisted Wray's first statement was correct. It emphasized the memo was produced by a single field office despite referencing information from other investigations. The bureau said its policies do not allow investigations based solely on religious affiliations. Residents of Massachusetts are being asked to take illegal immigrants into their homes. Governor and Lieutenant Governor are making the request because there is no room in shelters. Governor Mara Healy declared a state of emergency over the shortage of shelters. She called on both federal government and local residents for help. Massachusetts is a right to shelter state and must provide emergency housing to families that need it. The state is housing more than 20,000 people in its shelter system. Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll asked residents to consider hosting a family if they have an extra room or suite in their home. Healy says her emergency declaration will provide more federal money and also help illegal immigrants get work permits quicker. Coming up, more Americans are dipping into their 401ks and racking up credit card debt as inflation remains high. And the Hollywood writers strike hits the 100 day mark. The writers are protesting what they see as a disregard for their demands. We'll have more on that when we return. Did you know ESG is impacting every part of your life? From rising gas prices to global food shortages to out of control inflation, even losing your freedom of speech and being censored on the internet, it's all being driven by ESG ideology. Who's in control? What can you do about it? Find out in The Shadow State, the first documentary exposing ESG. The ESG movement of governments and corporations operates in the shadows. Only the light of truth can expose it. Watch The Shadow State documentary streaming now. Anyone who's ever sold a home can tell you it is really hard. That's why who you work with matters. Together with Homelite, we've helped thousands of people sell faster and for the best price. You're not gonna get it all right. Just make sure you nail the big stuff. Like making sure your kids are in the right seat for their age and size. Get it right at nhtsa.gov slash the right seat. To a child, this is what conflict looks like. Children in Ukraine are caught in the crossfire of war, forced to flee their homes. A steady stream of refugees has been coming across all day. It's bitterly cold. Lacking clean water and sanitation, exposed to injury, hunger. You've got to do it. Exhausted and shell-shocked from what they've been through. Every dollar you give can help bring a meal, a blanket, or simply hope to a child living in conflict. Please call or go online to givenowtosave.org today with your gift of $10 a month. That's just 33 cents a day. We cannot forget the children in places like Syria, born in refugee camps, playing in refugee camps, thinking of the camps as home. Please call or go online to givenowtosave.org today with your gift of $10 a month. Your gift can help children like Ara in Afghanistan, where nearly 20 years of conflict have forced the people into extreme poverty. Weakened and unable to hold herself up, Ara was brought to a Save the Children center where she was diagnosed and treated for severe malnutrition. Every dollar helps. Please call or go online to givenowtosave.org today with your gift of $10 a month. Just 33 cents a day. And thanks to special government grants that are available now, every dollar you give can multiply up to 10 times the impact. And when you use your credit card, you'll receive this special Save the Children tote bag to show you won't forget the children who are living their lives in conflict. Every war is a war against children. Please give now. Welcome back. U.S. oil production could shatter the all-time record. That's according to government estimates released Tuesday. Oil production is projected to hit an average of 12.8 million barrels per day this year for the first time ever. That's about a half million barrels per day more than the annual record set in 2019. And if that's not enough, next year's U.S. oil output is projected to climb to 13.1 million barrels per day. We're seeing a slight uptick in inflation, though it's been trending down. The Consumer Price Index rose 0.2% last month, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Here to discuss is my good friend and colleague, NTD Business's Don Ma. Don, this is the first uptick in CPI in 13 months. Yeah, so 3.2%. This is the headline number that we're talking about that saw an uptick. This is compared to a year ago in July. So this is the year-over-year comparison. But the month-over-month comparison was pretty solid at 0.2%. And last year, like you were saying, in July, we were at about 9.1%, which is a 40-year high. Yeah, so it was actually June 2022 that we saw a 9.1% inflation rate. And of course, we're coming way down and we're in fact in a downward trend despite a slight uptick. Now, I know that the Federal Reserve has been trying to reduce inflation by increasing interest rates. It looks like that might be paying off. Yeah, I think to a degree, but we're still seeing a possible lag effect to those interest rate hikes, which just means the full impact of the 5% interest rate may not be seen completely yet by the US economy. And another thing I'd like to point out, Chris, you know, just because inflation is decreasing, that doesn't necessarily mean prices are coming down. If you're paying for something at a high price, if inflation is, let's say, at 2%, you're still paying that price. It doesn't mean it's getting lower. It just means it's increasing at a slower pace. And Don, you did an interview about this recently. Tell us about that. Yeah, so earlier I spoke with the chief strategist at the firm called Mill Street Research, Sam Burns. So I asked him the question, you know, what contributed to this slight uptick? I mean, as you mentioned before, it's the first one in 13 months. So yeah, let's hear what he said. And here with me to break down the CPI report is Sam Burns, chief strategist at Mill Street Research. So Sam, I was thinking maybe to start off, maybe give us some notable contributing items in today's report. Yeah, the CPI report today was basically in line with consensus expectations. And probably the biggest thing holding the CPI, particularly the core CPI up still is the owner's equivalent rent or the housing component. That's contributing probably, you know, 89% of the overall rise in the CPI for the month. And so that's that's really still a key factor. But we know that that's a kind of a lag measure and will probably continue to come down in the coming months. So overall, it's a fairly reassuring report in that everything except for housing is pretty moderate right now and actually close to a zero inflation rate. What about energy? Gas prices seems to be taking up a little bit at the pump recently. That's right. Yeah, we've seen oil prices and gas prices start to take up lately. It didn't show up in this report, but it probably will show up in next month or the month after. We'll probably see an uptick in the energy and gasoline prices. So they've been down some before. So this will be sort of a rebound. I think, you know, the general trend for oil prices is probably still going to be kind of in a range. My guess is that it won't be a persistent trend, but it will be a rebound in the next month or two. What do you think contributed most to the slight uptick in in the headline inflation number? Well, yeah, the overall year over year headline inflation number ticked up from three to three point two, mostly because the the month we dropped out of the 12 month calculation from a year ago was was very low. So even the point two percent that we got this month, which is a pretty moderate reading, was higher than the month that we dropped out of the calculation. That means the year over year figure goes up temporarily. But I think the overall trend and certainly the last several months show pretty muted readings for the overall CPI. And so I think the general trend is still lower, even if we did see an uptick this month just because of the noise in the in the monthly data. And of course, the market's still convinced that we're in a downward trend for this inflation battle. Generally speaking, I think that's right. I think bond yields are generally expecting inflation to continue to come down. Most of the market pricing now shows that they do not expect the Fed to raise rates in September. There might be another one later in the year, but that's still uncertain. So I think the worry about the Fed in terms of inflation has really gone down a lot. We may not get rate cuts anytime soon, but at least we probably will not get any more rate hikes given that inflation is continuing to decline. Thank you for your time today, Sam. My pleasure. Thanks for having me. More Americans are making emergency withdrawals from their 401ks to cover financial emergencies. That's according to a recent report on Americans finances as inflation remains high. A recent Bank of America report says millions of households are increasingly relying on their savings and racking up credit card debt to pay for necessities. The study analyzed four million employee accounts with the bank nationwide. About 16,000 workers with employee sponsored 401k plans made a hardship withdrawal in the first quarter of this year. The Hollywood writers strike marked 100 days yesterday. There's been no resolution in contract talks and those on the picket lines continue to protest what they see as a disregard for their demands. NTD's Kostemnes has more. The strike began on May 2nd after negotiations between the Writers Guild of America and the major studios gridlocked. At the core of the writers demands are pay, minimum staffing of writers rooms, residual payments in the streaming era, as well as regulation on the use of AI. AI in particular is seen as a potential threat that could compromise the industry and cost jobs. We chose a hard job because we're resilient and because we love it. And so they can try to serve us out all day, but it's not going to happen. But it's not fun. I'm not saying like, yes, we have music to buoy our spirits. And the camaraderie makes it a lot more fun. But it's hard to be out of work when you love doing it. And it's hard not to have a paycheck. But it's ultimately for the ultimate health of the business and our industry. So what else are you going to do? The WGA met with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers for talks last week, but yielded no results. The Writers Guild afterwards stated that it remains willing to engage with the companies and resume negotiations. Actors represented by the Screen Actors Guild joined the writers strike on July 14th, marking the first time both unions have gone on strike since 1960. Post M&S and TD News. Living in the Big Apple will take a bigger bite out of your wallet. Median cost for rentals in Manhattan reached $4,400 last month. That's according to the latest information from the Douglas Elliman Brokerage and the Miller Samuel Appraisal and Consultant firm. Their report says this is the third record setting high that rentals have seen in the last four months. While the monthly bill for rent is going up, the incentives from landlords are doing the opposite. Rentals have also risen in other parts of New York, including Brooklyn and Queens. Miller Samuel says leasing activity has decreased in general, not from lack of supply, but rather lack of affordability. A decades old law prohibiting illegal drug users from owning firearms has been ruled unconstitutional. Three judge panel in New Orleans ruled in favor of a man who was convicted under that law. He was found carrying a pistol and semi-automatic rifle in his vehicle during a traffic stop. Police also found marijuana cigarette butts in the vehicle. The man, Patrick Daniels, was sentenced to nearly four years in jail. U.S. Circuit Judge Jerry Smith said while intoxication may result in some limitations in relation to firearms, there is no justification for disarming a sober citizen based on prior drug use. The Supreme Court says no to homemade firearms, at least for now. Biden administration passed a law regulating these DIY gun assembly kits in 2022. Judge Reed O'Connor of the Northern District of Texas stopped the regulation with this recent Supreme Court ruling that injection no longer applies, at least while the case is spending in a federal appeals court. Here to discuss is investigative journalist and Epoch Times contributor Matthew Vadum. Matthew Vadum, thank you for joining us. Good to be here. Matthew, what do these ghost gun regulations do exactly? These so-called ghost gun regulations regulate the sale of gun kits. You can order them through the mail, I guess, or buy them from gun dealers, and the gun comes unassembled, and you, or at least parts of the gun come unassembled, and you put them together, and you have a gun. And why did Attorney General Merrick Garland want to regulate these ghost guns in the first place? Attorney General Merrick Garland thinks that, argues that ghost guns are, that these, or homemade guns, is a better way of describing them, because ghost guns is a pejorative used by gun control activists, says that these so-called homemade firearms are responsible for a growing number of crimes, and he doesn't seem to have a lot of statistics to back that up, but there is some. They do claim that these are fueling an explosion in gun-related crimes, and they want to crack down on it. They see it as a loophole that must be filled in order to ensure public safety. Now, plaintiffs from the firearms parts industry sued the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms to stop these regulations. Explain this lawsuit to us. The lawsuit was filed. It took a while. The homemade firearms regulations were effective in 2022, but then they filed, and then it came before, then they filed a lawsuit to declare that this was unlawful according to federal law, and there was a sympathetic judge, Judge Reed O'Connor, and said that this is unlawful, an unlawful agency action by ATF, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, which is part of the Department of Justice, the DOJ, and said that this was beyond their statutory authority, and they couldn't do it. So it wasn't a ruling based on the Second Amendment per se. It was based upon existing federal law, and Judge O'Connor issued an injunction preventing the government from enforcing the law, regulating homemade firearms that some people call ghost guns, and when he did that, then it was appealed to the US Circuit Court of Appeals for that district. I think it's the Fifth District, the Fifth Circuit, and they said, we're not convinced that, they told the government, we're not convinced that you have a good case, you're not showing that there's irreparable harm and that you necessarily have a good case, so we're not going to stay there. And then the government appealed that to the US Supreme Court, which narrowly decided to keep the stay of Judge O'Connor's original order, which decided to put off the stay, I should say, of Judge O'Connor's original order, halting enforcement of the law. The Supreme Court voted five to four a few days ago to allow the regulation of these guns to remain in place while the case plays out in the lower courts. So that's where we are right now. All right, Matthew Vadum, thank you so much for your time. Yeah, you're welcome, thank you. Coming up, Oregon is proposing more rules to protect endangered whales, but lifelong crab fishermen now say too many rules and regulations will put them out of business. And red meat could get more expensive. The hot summer has ranchers in Texas worried the heat and lack of grass threaten their livestock. We'll have the details soon when we return. NTD's Capitol Report. It's about getting answers, cutting through the fog of politics. It's about your questions and our chances to ask. We're speaking to those in power to find out what does this mean for the people. We're here so you're in the know. Morning I'm Evelyn Lee and I'm Kevin Hogan. the stories that need to be told, the voices that need to be heard, the truth that you need to see. Get unbiased and in-depth news. Don't miss a beat. I'm Stefania Cox at MTV. We're here for you. Welcome back everyone. Oregon crab fishermen say environmental regulations will put them out of business, which many have been part of for multiple generations. The state is proposing more rules to protect endangered whales. Here's what the fishermen and state agencies have to say. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, or ODFW, is extending crab fishing rules. That's to reduce whale entanglements. However, commercial fishermen say the rules do little to protect whales while placing an undue burden on late season fishermen. Many of them testified at the commission's meeting recently. Listen, there's no better stewards of the ocean than these guys right here. We spend our life out there. Not somebody sitting in a chair that's never been out on the ocean. You asked somebody right up here, the guys were sitting there, how many whales come through here? They had zero answer. They're like, well, we don't know what the population, we don't know how many whales are. He appealed to the commission to involve the fishermen in the rulemaking process to find common ground. Regulations on the fishermen have already been in place for the past three years. They're now set to be extended. They reduced the number of crab pots by 20% per fisherman, prohibit crab fishing in depths greater than 240 feet, and reduced the amount of rope and the number of buoys allowed on the surface. Beginning in 2014, the number of whales entangled in crab fishing gear increased. According to this report, more than 200 humpback whales were reported entangled on the West Coast in the past 20 years. Commercial fishermen say the regulations are putting their livelihoods at risk, which harms their families and Oregon's economy. It is of critical importance. Its management is a 100-year-plus success story. Oregon's Department of Fish and Wildlife sent an email to The Epoch Times commenting on the rules, saying, There is some impact to the commercial fishery, which is Oregon's most valuable, but the impact to the fishery as a whole is low. They added that the crab industry as a whole was profitable during the past two full seasons. They say the current season is on track to become the most profitable so far. New protections for a prehistoric marine animal that's critical to medicine production. Conservationists worry the new approach still doesn't go far enough. NTD's Andrew Thomas has more. Horseshoe crabs crawl onto the beach on Delaware Bay's Atlantic coastline. It's a welcome sight for conservationist Lawrence Niles. His Wildlife Restoration Partnerships group monitors the largest spawning population of horseshoe crabs in the world. On Delaware Bay, we once had 100,000 eggs per square meter. So a meter is about a square yard, and that's on the surface. And so most of those eggs were making Delaware Bay thrive. The horseshoe crab eggs are an important food source for sea turtles, migratory birds, and seagulls. Horseshoe crabs are vital for an array of medical products. Especially important for migratory shorebirds. They winter in South America, they breed in the Arctic, and they come to Delaware Bay to restore themselves so that they can then go on to lay eggs. The crab's valuable blue blood is used to test for potentially dangerous impurities in pharmaceuticals. Revised guidelines should keep more alive after drawing blood. But conservationists say that may not be enough. It's not so much an argument about whether the Atlantic state's marine fisheries commission's regulations are sufficient. The problem is they want to increase the kill. The Atlantic horseshoe crab ranges from the Gulf of Maine to Florida. The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists the species as vulnerable. Andrew Thomas, NTD News. Ranchers in Texas are struggling to feed their cattle. For the second summer in a row, drought and heat pose an existential threat to their livestock. Here are the details. An oppressive heat wave is smoking Texas this summer. Triple-digit temperatures have erased the benefits of a relatively rainy spring. July 2023 was the hottest July on record in Austin, the state capital. Pastures, we got grass in them, but they're burning up. And, you know, now we hit August, and this is normally our hottest, driest time of the year. We may not get much moisture, if any, this month. And that's something that you got to plan for. Henderson is worried. The 62-year-old rancher manages a herd of about 150 cows in east Texas. Drought forced him to sell roughly 30 cows in 2022. Ranchers in east Texas had to sell more than 2.6 million cattle last year. And the only thing I can think of, you, sometimes it calls for selling cows. Sometimes, you know, knocking your, taking your numbers down is the only way that you're going to make it. Senior is a 39-year-old rancher in Tennessee Colony, Texas. He says the heat also impacts the cattle's reproduction habits and calf growth. On the calf side, if it's hot and the mother does not have any grass or anything like that to constantly feed them, but it impacts the milk. So the milk is not there, so the calf doesn't get as big. Henderson and Davis said they're spending more money than usual on animal feed and hay. Those products are selling early at Colony Ranch Supply. And so just like today, we had three different, I had to take three different deliveries with two round bells each, because the people just don't have the grass and hay. And here we are August the 1st, when normally we wouldn't start feeding until November the 15th. Texas is the top producer of beef in the U.S., but the red meat could get more expensive. Next year, when we start the year over, there will be less cattle numbers out there. So with supply and demand, with everybody wanting to eat that ribeye and that T-bone or those ribs, there's going to be less supply. So the price of beef will once again take a ride. According to the Department of Agriculture, the Lone Star State was home to 12.7 million cattle and calves in January 2022. If you have kiwi in your kitchen, listen up. Food producer David Oppenheim and Company is recalling certain packages of organic green kiwi fruit due to a risk of listeria. They're in one-pound Zespri clamshells shipped to 14 states between June 14th and July 7th. Only those with specific identification codes are involved in the recall. Clamshells with a white sticker listing the work order number and packed-on date are not under recall. More identifying information is available on the FDA website. And if you have any news tips or feedback for the show, please feel free to email us at news.today at ntd.com. After the break, President Biden declares a national emergency over China and other countries of concern using U.S. tech for their military. Find out how he hopes to limit the risk and if it could be effective. In Argentina, inflation rates soars past 100%. Thousands of property owners are turning to Airbnb as the government limits what they can charge tenants. More shortly here on NTD News Today. Hey, BowBow, do trees tell each other stories? I'm sorry, I'm afraid I don't know that. Hey, why don't we go find out? Listen. Do clouds take naps? I couldn't tell you. Dad, do stars visit their friends? Look! My dad's name was David. He always talked about getting life insurance, and now it's too late. No one was expecting my husband, Dave, to suffer from a heart attack. We didn't have life insurance. We thought we had more time. 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Everything is perfect. In this episode, we'll investigate the talent of a genius, a true master in his field, who was first highly praised and recognized, but later destroyed. What was it about him or his art that made an entire society turn against him and banish both his name and his works? Thanks for staying with us, everyone. If you're just joining us now, here are some of today's top headlines. At least 36 have died in the devastating wildfires in Hawaii. Thousands of residents were displaced and rescue efforts are underway. Major airlines are helping travelers rebook flights to the state. Special Counsel Jack Smith acknowledged a second mistake. It involves the search warrant for Trump's Twitter account. Smith admits he should not have kept the warrant secret from the former president. Military recruiters are skipping interviews. Fingerprinting and background checks. A new audit says enlistees aren't properly screened for ties to gangs and extremist organizations. And now some headlines from around the world. Taiwan has detained a lieutenant colonel suspected of spying for Beijing. A former army major reportedly served as his middleman. The operation also involves a network of serving and retired military officers. The case is the latest exposed in Beijing's espionage campaign seeking to recruit retired Taiwanese military personnel for state intelligence. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is calling for war preparations. Along with the announcement Kim fired his top general while meeting the Central Military Commission, he also spoke of increased weapons production and an expansion of war drills. North Korea has ramped up its military rhetoric this summer, prompting South Korea to be on high alert. And off the coast of Sydney, a major drill is kicking off with naval forces from India, Japan, the United States and Australia. The four countries are members of the Quad Diplomatic Partnership. This is the first year the Malabar Drill is held near Australia amid Beijing's mounting aggressiveness in the Indo-Pacific. Exercise Malabar reinforces our shared commitment to working together as partners in our region to ensure that we maintain a stable, prosperous and resilient region for us all to enjoy. The deterrence that our four nations provide as we operate together as a quad is a foundation for all the other nations operating in this region. In the 10-day exercises feature ships from the four nations, including Australian F-35 fighter jets, as well as P-8 surveillance aircraft and submarines. President Biden declares a national emergency. It's in regards to countries of concern like China using high tech in their military The executive order proclaiming these, this added that US investments risk exacerbating this threat. Antonio Graceffo, China economic analyst and author of Beyond the Belt and Road, China's global economic expansion is pleased. Let's find out why. Antonio Graceffo, thank you for joining us. Good morning. President Biden declared a national emergency in regards to countries of concern using high tech to advance their military and intelligence aims. What's your take on this? Oh, I'm very happy. I think this is a step in the right direction. Now, President Biden is also calling for regulations of outbound investments in these countries of concern. What could these regulations look like? Well, I think that the outbound investment should definitely, we should curb US investments in technologies that are aiding the Communist Party in advancing their military technology. I think that the definition of military technology and dual use technology needs to be revised, needs to be broadened. And can you say a little bit more about the need for these types of regulations? Yes, I believe that the Chinese Communist Party has a goal to modernize their military. And by the year 2049, they want to be a world-class military. They want to be very powerful. They want to supersede the United States. Now, to do that, they have to advance their technology. They have to improve their cyber capabilities, advanced weapons, surveillance, and so forth. To do that, they need money. And right now, they're getting a lot of that money from US investors. And so these regulations could curb some of that. Correct, correct. What we want to do is we want to cut off the funds that are helping to fuel Chinese investment in military technology. The other thing is that US joint ventures in China are forced to hand over technology to China. So another way that they get our technology is by engaging in joint ventures or by allowing us to do joint ventures in China. So if we were to stop those from our end, that would help stop the flow of technology to China. What do you mean they're engaged in, or they have to, they're forced to transfer their technology? Well, very often in China, it may be difficult or impossible for a foreign company to operate on their own in China. So they will form a joint venture with the Chinese company. When they form the joint venture, very often the terms of the joint venture will be that technology has to be transferred to the Chinese partner. And so they have to give their information, their IP over? That's correct. They have to give it over. And even in cases where they may not be required to give it, the National Intelligence Law of the People's Republic of China obligates firms to essentially act as agents for the government, helping them to gain intelligence and also to hand over all data when requested to do so. Okay, now a senior Biden administration official stressed this move is not part of an agenda to decouple from China, but to de-risk. Explain the difference between decoupling and de-risking. De-risking is just a nice way of saying slow, gradual decoupling. If we were to say that we're decoupling from China tomorrow, that would almost be like a declaration of war on China, or that's how China would perceive it. When we say de-risking, we're basically saying that we're slowly putting in some restrictions, putting in some reductions, moving in a direction of moving away from China, decreasing dependency on China. And China often retaliates against moves like this. Are we likely to see a retaliatory move and what could that be? Yes, we're definitely likely to see retaliatory moves. However, China's not really in much of a position to retaliate beyond sort of issuing an angry letter and complaining, maybe threatening Taiwan, maybe sending military vessels close to the shore of Alaska or something. It's not really much they can do, because at the end of the day, the United States is the customer of China. They can't lose us as a customer and they need us as an investor and they're losing that. Antonio Graceffo, thank you for joining us. Thank you for having me. As Argentina's inflation rate soars past 100%, thousands of property owners are turning to Airbnb to boost their earnings. Reuters reports that many are turning to black market exchanges too, and TD's Andrew Thomas has the latest. Argentina's short-term rental market is booming due to a 2020 law. The legislation sought to protect renters by limiting landlords to a single rent-hike year. Before the law, there was a broad offer of 8,000 items, apartments. Today, there are less than 1,100 or 1,200, which is an important change. And in the last months, along with the contract and inflation, which are quite harming us, a new player appeared, the temporary rent. In Argentina, a long-term contract property can rent for about $200 a month in pesos. That same property can bring in more than double in dollars as a temporary rental. Short-term renters generally have more purchasing power. We see the owners are focusing on temporary rents because they receive in dollars, which is a strong currency, and we can understand it because they have worked their whole life, bought properties, and now want to get a good profitability. Deposits to a local bank account are converted from dollars to pesos at the official exchange rate, but opting for payment through an overseas bank account or a global platform like PayPal offers a far better return. Converting the income at a black market rate also allows hosts to circumvent tax authorities. It's a fake dollar conversion rate, not the official one. I wish there could be just one dollar rate shortly. That would be the best for all of us and a more tamed inflation. Airbnb and PayPal's terms and conditions hold individuals responsible for reporting income to local tax authorities. Still to come, a Sherpa climbs the world's 14 tallest mountain record time. Now he wants to become the youngest person to scale all those peaks twice. We'll have more on that when we return. Hey, I told you enough of that. But look, this is different. It's Gone Team World. Emily Friendly Entertainment. Say goodbye to harsh, bitter coffee, and hello to a delicious, smooth brew. With specialty quality beans, expertly roasted in-house, you'll taste the difference with every sip. Fermented with a blend of 50 enzymes, Day's Coffee delivers a rich brew like no other. Made with the highest grade specialty beans available, you're sure to taste the difference. Elevate your morning with Day's enzyme fermented coffee. Does this look familiar? You probably think this is what owning hearing aids would be like. Let me tell you, there's a better way. The Atom by Audion Hearing. The all new Audion Atom is the world's first wireless charging hearing aid under $100. The Atom comes with an easy to use wireless charging dock. Plus, the Atom has a 22% smaller design, so it's nearly invisible when worn in the ear. That's why we have over 250,000 happy customers. Each pair has a 45 day money back guarantee, so there is zero risk in trying them. Call 1-800-918-3109. That's 1-800-918-3109. Call 1-800-918-3109, or go to audionhearing.com to get your pair of Audion Atom hearing aids for only $99. I am Li Ching-Yung, the founder of Kwai Shan Fang, Taiwan. We have the world's largest cypress forest. My father especially loves the forest scent emitted by the cypress forest. To bring the forest's fragrance to my father and family, I founded Kwai Shan Fang. We aim to provide you with the most natural cypress forest essence. Back to the news. A guide who climbed the world's 14 tallest mountains in record time is looking toward another goal. He wants to become the youngest person to scale all those peaks twice. NTD's Andrew Thomas has more on the high altitude mountaineer. Nava, can you hear us? We are on the summit of K2. On the summit of K2 last month, Tenjin Sherpa and Kristen Harula scaled the 14 highest mountains in the world in record time. The previous record was 189 days. This pair did it in 92. Three months, one day. One day. And thanks to 7th Summit. Yeah. Woo! And to all of you. And to 7th Summit and the strongest Sherpa in the world. The strongest team. Now 35-year-old Tenjin is eyeing another record, climbing all 14 peaks twice. 48-year-old Sanyu Sherpa is the only other climber who's done so. Each peak is more than 26,000 feet above sea level, but it's a tough way to make a living. Without any options and opportunities left, they are often compelled to move abroad. It is not possible to just continue climbing mountains as you grow older. So what else is there than to think of migrating abroad that can all be stopped if they were given land and houses and opportunities here? Tenjin has already climbed seven of the mountains twice. He hopes to scale the remaining seven by next spring. Feast your eyes on this sculpture of a cow made from 500 pounds of butter. Folks at the Illinois State Fair unveiled the butter cow yesterday. The butter cow has been an unofficial icon of the fair since the 1920s and is a favorite among fairgoers. It took sculptor Sarah Pratt's five days to create this life-size cow. She used unsalted butter, by the way. The iconic sculpture will be on display for the duration of the fair. Can't make it, though. You can check it out on a live butter cow webcam at statefair.illinois.gov. It's World Elephant Day this Saturday, but playtime doesn't stop for a baby elephant at a UK zoo. This 11-month-old Asian elephant was caught on a night vision camera playing with toys in the dark. Cameras were installed to monitor the herd at night. It's vital for both the care of Asian elephants and for scientists and conservationists who want to study the species. The zoo is located in Northwest London. At the moment, it's home to seven Asian elephants. Thank you for tuning in today. I'm Chris Beers. Bye. Thanks for watching us on YouTube. Did you know YouTube only keeps selected videos on its platform? So if you want to make sure you get the full picture, just subscribe to our newsletter. Go to newsletter.ntd.com and sign up. It's free.