Banks Ordered Not to Reject Illegals; City Streets Burdened With Migrants | NTD Tonight – Oct. 17

Good evening, everyone. Welcome to NTD Tonight. I'm David Zhang. Here is a preview of some of today's top stories. No House speaker yet. After the first official vote, Jim Jordan fell short of the votes needed on the first ballot. What's next on the quest for a House speaker? Treasury Secretary Yellen says the U.S. can fund two wars. The Biden administration offers support to Ukraine and Israel. Illegal immigrants released onto city streets and border officials say they are overwhelmed. We'll have more on what's happening at the southern border. U.S. House Republicans are yet again forced to vote on multiple ballots for a House speaker. The first official floor vote failed to give GOP nominee Jim Jordan the gavel. But the House is planning to hold a second round of voting Wednesday morning. Representative Jordan won the support of 200 Republicans in the first round. And all 212 House Democrats voted for Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York. Jordan met with a number of allies to sway key holdouts after the early Tuesday vote. The 20 Republicans who voted no either named other candidates or wanted to show their protest but say we'll back Jordan in later votes. Without a speaker, the House remains at a standstill and unable to proceed with other business. The New York fraud case had a repeat visitor today, former President Trump. NTV's legal correspondent was at the courthouse when he arrived. Former President Trump returns to the New York courtroom for the financial fraud case brought by Attorney General Letitia James. He's watching the state continuing to ask witnesses questions about the valuations of his properties. Trump was expecting to see his former attorney Michael Cohen on the witness stand Tuesday. But Cohen said he couldn't come. He said in a social media post, I'm not bowing out, I'm not nervous to testify, I'm not being paid off, I have a medical issue that I need to attend to. Trump came anyway. Attorney General Letitia James has accused Trump of committing fraud by inflating the value of his assets. Outside the courtroom Tuesday, Trump said this. This is a disgraceful situation. This is an attorney general, Letitia, that went out and campaigned on I will get Trump. I will get Trump no matter what I'll get Trump. Cohen is a key witness in the case. He testified before Congress in 2019 that Trump inflated his wealth. It is believed this testimony sparked the investigation into Trump's finances. Instead of Cohen, the state questioned real estate appraiser Douglas Larson. Larson answered questions about appraisals he conducted on Trump properties. He refuted testimony given by Trump's controller, Jeff McConney. Larson said he never spoke to McConney about valuations contained in the financial statements, explaining that he didn't have any specific expertise in calculating values. And besides, his appraisals were conducted on behalf of lenders, not for Trump entities. Larson stayed on the stand for the afternoon session and continued to deny having any involvement in assisting any Trump employee with calculating property values. Trump will return to the courthouse Wednesday and Thursday to continue watching witness testimony. As for Cohen, he's expected to take the stand next Tuesday. A top U.S. general has landed in Israel ahead of an expected ground assault on Hamas. U.S. General Michael Carrillo is head of U.S. Central Command. He told Reuters he will ensure Israel has what it needs to defend itself. Carrillo is also expected to outline U.S. military support aimed at preventing an expansion of the Israel-Hamas conflict. According to Pentagon officials, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has ordered that roughly 2,000 troops prepare for a potential deployment to Israel to help with tasks like medical and logistical support. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen claims that the U.S. is financially strong enough to support wars in both Ukraine and Israel. In an October 16 interview with Sky News, Yellen was asked whether American aid for Israel comes with any conditions. Yellen insisted that, quote, America stands behind Israel, period. America can certainly afford to stand with Israel and to support Israel's military needs and we also can and must support Ukraine in its struggle against Russia. Yellen also said the House needs a speaker first before funds can be appropriated for aid to Israel. The Treasury Secretary's comments come a day after President Biden told CBS 60 Minutes that the U.S. can support both allies. Two diverging views on Israel's self-defense. China's foreign minister saying Israel has gone too far and the U.S. repeats that it has Israel's back. Let's take a closer look. The U.S. is sending another carrier strike group to the Middle East as the Israel-Hamas war rages. That says Israel weighs a ground invasion of Gaza. The U.S. has made it clear that the warships are not there to join the fight, but says their presence would send a deterrent message to Iran and its proxies in the region. China's foreign minister Wang Yi said on Sunday that Israel has gone too far, accusing its actions of going beyond self-defense. The U.S. is voicing a different view. Israel has the right, indeed it has the obligation to defend itself against these attacks from Hamas and to try to do what it can to make sure that this never happens again. Here's an expert's take on China's remark. Because this is part of China's overall plan and when I say China, I mean the Chinese Communist Party. It's really to wrap the United States into four separate wars where we're spread too thin to defend ourselves. Those four separate wars are also plus a terrorist organization or several terrorist organizations. When they say that it's gone too far, it gives the license to Iran to also join the fight and to make this a much bigger issue than it should be on the face of it. Israel has ordered over one million in northern Gaza to evacuate to the south, warning there could be significant ground operations. Worth noting, Israel regularly warns civilians ahead of its attacks on Hamas' weapons storage areas, giving residents time to evacuate. Hamas launched its unprecedented strike on Israel last Saturday. The terrorist group that controls Palestine fired thousands of rockets at Israel. Gunmen also streamed across Israel's border, killing over 1,400 people and taking almost 200 hostages. Israel vowed to wipe out the terrorist organization, pounding the Gaza Strip with airstrikes. It also cut off electricity, food, fuel and water around Gaza until Hamas releases Israeli hostages. According to America's top diplomat Antony Blinken, the border crossing between Egypt and Gaza will reopen so humanitarian aid can reach Palestinians. The Biden administration has warned U.S. banks that they cannot reject illegal immigrants' loan applications based solely on their immigration status. The Department of Justice and the Consumer Financial Bureau say this type of rejection is unlawful. The Biden administration has issued a warning to all U.S. banks and other financial institutions that they cannot reject an illegal immigrant's credit application based solely or predominantly on their immigration status. Last week, the Department of Justice, or DOJ, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, or CFPB, said in a statement, quote, Credit applicants are protected from discrimination on the basis of their national origin, race or other characteristics covered by the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, regardless of their immigration status. The two agencies said that they were issuing the warning due to many consumers being rejected for auto, student, personal and equipment loans because of their immigration status. But former U.S. attorney Bud Cummins objected to the warnings. He wrote on X, quote, DOJ and CFPB tells banks it might be illegal to refuse a loan to people whose broke federal law to reach the bank and added that the increase in illegal immigrants needs to stop. It is unclear whether any banks or financial institutions intend to challenge the DOJ's and CFPB's interpretation of the law regarding the provision on loans to illegal immigrants. At the California-Mexico border, hundreds of illegal immigrants are getting released onto city streets. The influx is overwhelming authorities. U.S. Customs and Border Protection has released thousands of illegal immigrants on streets in the San Diego area the past month. This includes about 1,000 in the beach town of Oceanside. The agency says they are overwhelmed by record numbers of people from around the world trying to enter the country at the southern border. Now, humanitarian organizations and volunteers are welcoming the people and helping them reach their destinations in other states. They are providing basic necessities like hot meals, guidance, and in some cases, temporary housing. Everybody's starving when they come out of Border Patrol custody, so we have that to meet that basic need. We have a tent that's just for families that have been separated. Immigrant Defenders Law Center executive and founder Lindsay Toksilauski has been on the ground in San Ysidro and has seen the spike firsthand. We've had 14,000 people come through here since September 13th. And in those cases, we have many cases where part of the family gets processed and dropped off in Riverside County, or people are in Texas, or people are still in custody while their family members have been released. Most of the street releases take place in San Ysidro, a district in San Diego that borders the Mexican city of Tijuana. Initially, at the first about eight days of this issue, we had them dropping people at the border at San Ysidro and also here, and also in North County, San Diego, and Far East County, San Diego. So there were four drop-off locations. For the ones that were down here close to the border, we have consolidated them here because we don't have the staffing to be able to respond to two places at once. In a recent meeting, Toksilauski said the San Diego Board of Supervisors has authorized $3 million to support the relief. Their organization estimates an average of more than 550 people a day are released on the streets. Well, take a short break now, everybody, but here's a look at what we have for you when we come back. LinkedIn and Ford are the latest to announce layoffs. We'll have more on why our hundreds of workers are being let go of this year. A $600 million scheme and catalytic converters are stolen. A California family pleads guilty to the crimes. An endangered bird getting an immunization shot. Veterinarians hope the jab will protect the birds from a deadly avian influenza. Those stories and more coming up on NTD Tonight. Welcome back to NTD Tonight. I'm your host, David Zhang. Tech and automotive giants slash more jobs. LinkedIn and Ford joined the hundreds of thousands of layoffs in early 2023. NTD's Stephanie Sikal has the latest. LinkedIn owned by Microsoft is cutting nearly 700 jobs in various departments despite recent revenue and user growth. The company says it's part of a restructuring effort. Microsoft itself had announced 10,000 job cuts in January, reflecting economic uncertainty. Meanwhile, Ford reduced 500 positions, partially due to the United Auto Workers strike, and cut 700 jobs at an electric vehicle facility. This comes amid an overall trend of layoffs in the manufacturing and tax sectors in the U.S. and ongoing concerns about a potential economic downturn. A staggering 136,000 employees were let go during the initial three months of 2023 in substantial U.S. job cuts. Forbes tracking data reported that these statistics surpassed the total from the previous two fiscal quarters, with significant reductions in staff occurring mainly at Amazon, Google, Meta and Microsoft. Stephanie Sikal, NTD News. A police department in the Bay Area is going to be under reform after a history of controversial officer-involved incidents. California's attorney general and the Department of Justice will conduct an oversight and monitor it in the next five years. Attorney General Rob Bonta announced on Monday a reform in the Vallejo Police Department. The department is under a five-year court oversight and must complete 45 police reforms. It is designed to strengthen accountability, police policies and practices. At its core, this new agreement is about building and strengthening trust between the Vallejo Police Department and the communities it serves. It's about correcting injustices and enhancing public safety for all people in Vallejo. It's about ensuring that the Vallejo Police Department listens to the people they serve and upholds their civil rights and their constitutional rights. It's about adding oversight by the courts to ensure accountability. Under the agreement, an oversight and reform evaluator will ensure that the city and police department will promote public safety, reduce unlawful uses of force, eliminate racial and identity disparities, strengthen accountability systems, continue to increase support for officers and protect the rights of the people of Vallejo. The agreement builds on top of a memorandum of understanding that began in 2020 but expired in June. It's the goal of the city of Vallejo and the Vallejo Police Department to continue to build the progress made to date to strengthen our relationships and advance our efforts to build trust with the community. The Vallejo Police Department is committed to the completion of the remaining original 45 recommendations and the additional recommendations under this new agreement. Vallejo has had a history of controversial officer-involved shootings and other scandals. There have been calls for oversight of the police department. This is not the first time the DOJ proposed to reform a city's police department. In August 2021, it proposed a similar five-year plan with Bakersfield after accusations of police using excessive force. A $600 million scheme, one California family's involvement in a catalytic converter heist comes to light when three of its members plead guilty. NTD's Christina Corona has more on the story. A California family pleaded guilty Monday to conspiracy in a scheme that transported stolen catalytic converters valued at $600 million from California to New Jersey. According to a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office, brothers Tu-Sue Vang, 32, and Andrew Vang, 28, along with their mother Monica Moa, 58, were involved in a national network of thieves, dealers, and processors who provided the stolen auto anti-smog devices to a metal refinery for more than $600 million. Prosecutors have charged a total of 21 individuals from California and New Jersey in connection with this case. The three family members from Sacramento pleaded guilty to their involvement in transporting these devices and received over $38 million in return. Christina Corona, NTD News, California. The endangered California condor is getting a new vaccine. Veterinarians hope it will help protect the birds from the deadly avian influenza. Antibodies were found in the early results of a historic new vaccine trial. It is expected to give endangered California condors at least partial protection from the deadliest strain of avian influenza in U.S. history. This is a vaccine developed for the poultry industry that we're trying to see if it's safe for the California condors. So these are the trials, sort of the safety trials, for these birds. Experts have spent the past 40 years trying to prevent the extinction of the iconic vulture with a 10-foot wingspan. The wild population has dropped to fewer than 350 condors spanning from the Pacific Northwest to Baja, California, Mexico. The bird flu threatens to set conservation efforts back at least a decade. So anything that we can do to try to prevent serious disease in any zoo bird, but especially highly endangered birds like the California condor, is really a tremendous step forward. You know, as a veterinarian, for me, this is something that I am just, I feel honored to be participating in because this is literally the first step towards possibly protecting these highly endangered birds against what can be an often fatal disease. The California condor is the only bird in the U.S. that has been approved for the new emergency use bird flu vaccine. It was administered this summer during a trial in facilities in Los Angeles, San Diego, and Oregon. Authorities launched the study following the deaths earlier this year of 21 free-flying condors in Arizona. While most of the vaccinated condors will be released into the wild by the end of the year, the government is awaiting results before deciding whether free-flying condors should be captured and inoculated. Officials already vaccinate condors in captivity and in the wild for West Nile virus. The NFL just completed week six, but unfortunately there were quite a few injuries for star players around the league. Here's NTD's Tyler Castile with the latest. Lots of injuries happen to important players around the league. Let's dive in. Let's start with the 49ers. They played against the tough Browns defense to experience their first loss. Unfortunately, players such as Christian McCaffrey and Debo Samuel were injured during the game. McCaffrey suffered an oblique injury. Here they scheduled an MRI on him yesterday. This, however, wasn't able to stop CMC from scoring in his 15th straight game tying the NFL record. Debo Samuel suffered from a shoulder injury where he received x-rays and an MRI. The 49ers are optimistic that both players can return for week seven. On to the Detroit Lions. Despite having the best start to a season since 2011, coach Dan Campbell announced David Montgomery suffered a rib injury that affected his cartilage and is expected to miss some time. This is rough news because their secondary running back Jameer Gibbs is still injured from week four, so we can expect running backs such as Craig Reynolds to see more carries for the next couple of weeks. The Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields is out with a dislocated thumb and he is expected to miss week seven. Speaking of quarterbacks, the Tennessee Titans Ryan Tannehill suffered an ankle injury against the Ravens. He is not expected to miss any time and not required to get surgery. And yes, we are still on quarterbacks. Now to the Indianapolis Colts where rookie Anthony Richardson is expected to undergo a season-ending surgery for his shoulder. Lastly, Jimmy Garoppolo, the current Las Vegas Raiders quarterback, unfortunately left the game with a back injury and is expected to undergo more testing to see the severity of the injury. Garoppolo currently leads the NFL in interceptions from quarterbacks. We wish them all a speedy recovery. That's all we've got for you tonight. We would like you to join us again on NTD Tonight every weekday at 9 p.m. I'm David Zhang. Have a wonderful evening.