Colorado to Keep Trump on State's Ballot; Shen Yun Kicks Off in U.S. – Dec. 28

Good evening, everyone. Welcome to NTD Tonight. I'm David Zhang. Here is a preview of some of today's top stories. Trump is back on Colorado's ballot. More on what led to the change. Another American hostage has been confirmed dead in Gaza. She was one of the eight Americans being held captive by Hamas. Gypsy Rose Blanchard is released from prison. We have her story and why she murdered her mother years ago. Former President Donald Trump is back on Colorado's ballot after the Supreme Court ruled he was ineligible earlier this month. The Colorado Republican Party filed a petition Wednesday asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Colorado's Supreme Court's decision to bar Trump from the state's 2024 presidential ballot. In the December 19th decision, Colorado had claimed Trump was ineligible for the presidency because he allegedly engaged in an insurrection against the government, referring to the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment. Republicans argued in their petition that state courts don't have jurisdiction over federal issues, adding that Colorado's ruling violates voters' First Amendment rights. Colorado Secretary of State Janet Griswold said on Thursday that Trump will remain on their ballot for now. The state's primary ballot goes to print on January 5th. Looking ahead, the U.S. Supreme Court must decide if Trump falls within the list of crimes to be disqualified, and whether states can remove a presidential candidate without congressional authorization. And just this afternoon, Maine's Secretary of State Shanna Bellows removed Trump from the state's primary ballot. Like Colorado, she also cited the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution on insurrections. The Civil War causing contention in the 2024 election. Presidential candidate Nikki Haley under fire today for not citing slavery as a cause. NTD's Arian Pasdar brings you what she responds and what she alleges about Democrat plans at her events. At a town hall in New Hampshire on Wednesday night, presidential candidate Nikki Haley was asked what caused the Civil War. Here's what she responded. The cause of the Civil War was basically how government was going to run, the freedoms and what people could and couldn't do. She was later criticized from Republicans and Democrats alike for not mentioning slavery. Even President Biden's Twitter account commented, saying it was about slavery. Haley on Thursday clarified her statements while on the radio show Pulse of New Hampshire, saying she knows it was about slavery. What I was saying was, what does it mean to us today? What it means to us today is about freedom. That's what that was all about. She then took the whole thing a step further when she said the person asking the question was sent by President Biden. Biden and the Democrats keep sending Democrat plans to do things like this, to get the media to react. We know when they're there. We know what they're doing. Why is Biden doing that? Why isn't he doing it to any other candidate? She added that her team has noticed these people before and that the person asking the question refused to give his name. Meanwhile, many Republicans say they're losing trust in the elections. A new poll by the Associated Press found that only about a third of Republicans say they have high confidence that votes in the Republican primary elections will be counted correctly. In contrast, over two-thirds of Democrats have high confidence their party will count votes accurately in its primary contests. This comes just weeks before the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primaries, both to be held next month. And lastly, GOP candidate Chris Christie responds to critics saying he should drop out of the primary race by launching a seven-figure ad buy in New Hampshire. Some people say I should drop out of this race. Really? I'm the only one saying Donald Trump is a liar. He pits Americans against each other. Every Republican leader says that in private. I'm the only one saying it in public. Christie is coming in third behind Trump and Haley in New Hampshire polls. However, he's much further behind when looking at nationwide polls. Ariane Pasdar, NTD News. Now let's take a look at other national headlines. We just learned that a second American being held hostage by Hamas in the Gaza Strip has died, multiple news agencies have confirmed. Judy Weinstein Haggai is the wife of Gad Haggai, who was announced dead just a week ago. Both are Israeli-Americans in their 70s and were taken hostage from their community of Kibbutz Nir when Hamas-led forces mounted the terror attack on Israeli communities on October 7th. On Thursday, the community announced that Judy Haggai is also dead. She was one of the eight Americans being held captive by Hamas in Gaza. The couple is survived by their children who live in Colorado, Singapore, and Israel. Following Gad's death last week, President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden said they were heartbroken. Pressures at the southern border continues. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas met yesterday with Mexico's president about the surge of illegal immigrants. Both sides in the talks faced pressure to reach an agreement after past steps failed to stop the influx. Officers at the southern border say they have encountered as many as 10,000 illegal migrants a day this month. Mexican President Lopez Obrador has said he's willing to help limit the surge, but wants progress in U.S. relations with Cuba and Venezuela, two top sources of illegal immigrants. Blinken wrote on X after the meeting that the U.S. is committed to partnering with Mexico to address shared challenges, including managing the unprecedented irregular migration in the region, reopening key ports of entry, and combating illicit fentanyl and other synthetic drugs. Mexico says it has assigned over 32,000 military troops and National Guard officers to enforce immigration laws. The U.S. announced yesterday what officials say could be the final package of military aid to Ukraine. That's unless Congress approves supplemental funding that's stalled on Capitol Hill. The military aid package is worth around $250 million and will be pulled from Pentagon stockpiles. It includes air munition, artillery, ammunition, and medical equipment. According to a Pentagon spokesperson, no more funding is available to replace weapons taken from department stocks. The Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative fund is also depleted. Meanwhile, President Biden is urging Congress to pass another $110 billion aid package. More than half of the requested package would include aid for Ukraine. It also includes a further $14 billion in aid for Israel and $14 billion to secure the southern border, with the remainder allocated for security needs in the Asia-Pacific. A development in the impeachment probe of President Biden. House Republicans are investigating if Biden tried to prevent or discourage his son Hunter Biden from complying with their subpoenas. GOP lawmakers say such obstruction would be a punishable crime. Oversight Committee Chair James Comer and Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan sent a letter to White House Counsel Edward Siskel yesterday. They're seeking all documents and communications sent or received by employees of the president's office regarding Hunter Biden's deposition. Republicans subpoenaed Hunter Biden for a deposition set for December 13th. The president's son did not appear on that date. He instead went to Capitol grounds and made a public statement saying he would not comply with the subpoenas. Gypsy Rose Blanchard has been released from prison after serving more than seven years for her role in her mother's murder. NTV's Christina Corona has more on the update. Gypsy Rose Blanchard was released from prison Thursday. She plotted to murder her mother after years of being forced to pretend that she was suffering from leukemia, muscular dystrophy and other serious illnesses. Gypsy was released around 3.30 a.m. local time from the Chili Coffee Correctional Center after serving seven of her 10-year prison sentence on second-degree murder charges. Gypsy's case attracted nationwide attention when reports surfaced that her mother, Claudine Dede Blanchard, killed in 2015, had effectively kept her daughter prisoner, forcing her to have over 30 surgeries, use a wheelchair and a feeding tube. But it turned out Gypsy, now 32, was in excellent health and not experiencing any developmental delays. Her mother suffered from Munchausen syndrome by proxy, a psychological disorder where parents or caregivers seek sympathy through the exaggerated or made-up illness of their children. Through this, Dede and Gypsy met country star Miranda Lambert and garnered charitable contributions, a visit to Disney World and even a home, courtesy of Habitat for Humanity. Nicholas Godejohn, Gypsy's boyfriend, is serving a life sentence for the killing. Christina Corona, NTD News. That 70s show actor Danny Masterson has been sent to a California state prison to serve his lengthy sentence. NTD's Christina Corona has more on the story. 47-year-old Danny Masterson has been sent to North Kern State Prison to serve his sentence for two rape convictions. Masterson's prison mugshot has been released, showing him wearing orange prison attire with long hair and a beard. In June, Masterson was found guilty of sexually assaulting two women at his Los Angeles residence back in 2003, when he was at the height of his fame due to the success of that 70s show. In September, a judge sentenced him to a 30-year-to-life prison sentence. Following their almost 12-year marriage, Masterson's wife, Bijou Phillips, initiated divorce proceedings. More than 25 years must pass before Masterson becomes eligible for parole. His legal team has expressed their intention to appeal the conviction. Christina Corona, NTD News. We'll take a short break now, everybody, but here's a look at what we have for you when we come back. A Utah young woman with a life-threatening disease is searching for a rare transplant match. Find out how you or someone you know could potentially help. Shen Yun Performing Arts has kicked off its 2024 season in the U.S. The New York-based classical Chinese dance company is again wowing audiences with a brand new production. We have audience reactions. Controversy in the NFL. One player is facing suspension and another now activated from the injury list. But the whole story is more complicated. Those stories and more coming up on NTD Tonight. Welcome back to NTD Tonight. I'm your host, David Zhang. The 18-year-old woman with a rare blood condition is searching for a matching bone marrow donor. While the perfect match is out there somewhere, finding it is the biggest challenge due to her unique genetics. We'll hear from NTD's Jason Blair for more on the story. Kaya Endo had started her freshman year of college in California at Cal Poly. Soon after she caught a cold that was going around that she just couldn't seem to kick. And then I started to notice some like weird symptoms that were kind of accompanying this cold. She had unexplained bruising and slow nosebleeds. Her cousin took her to a hospital where she got some surprising news. And we got the diagnosis for aplastic anemia, which is a super rare blood condition. Aplastic anemia is when the body's immune system starts destroying bone marrow. There are an estimated only 700 cases in the U.S. per year. Kaya is diagnosed with a severe form of it. It just completely changed basically everything for me. With virtually no bone marrow, Kaya's immune system has trouble fighting off disease. It was too risky to be around other people at school, so she moved back home to Utah. She now has to stay pretty isolated. It's been really rough. I mean, I, before all this happened, was a super active, very outdoorsy, very social person. And I can't do any of that anymore. She gets blood transfusions about two times a week. Her next step is finding a matching donor for a bone marrow transplant, which is Kaya's biggest hurdle. If you have a unique ethnic background or you're a mixed race or a minority, you have like relatively bad odds of finding donors in the registry, which isn't good. Kaya is half white and half Japanese, which puts her odds among the lowest. There is like a very stark racial disparity in the registries when it comes to bone marrow transplants. Kaya's family is hoping her situation will encourage more people to join the registry to not only help her case, but thousands of others in need. Candidates of all ethnic backgrounds are needed, but people of mixed race or with unique genetics are especially encouraged. Joining the registry is simple and can be done at BeTheMatch.org. People can also text TEAMKAYAUT to 61474. Jason Blair, NTD News. Shen Yun Performing Arts has kicked off its 2024 season in the U.S. The New York-based classical Chinese dance company is again wowing audiences with a brand new production. Audience members in Houston shared their impressions of the performance with NTD. Here's what they had to say about the experience of seeing Shen Yun. Shen Yun Performing Arts wrapped up its first three performances in Houston, Texas on December 27th at the Jones Hall for the Performing Arts. I love it. I love a good technical performance. I also liked how much morality is brought into the performance. It's very elegant and it's different from a lot of the modern companies and things that are going on today. So it's really nice. Professional dancer and model Brooke Ashland says Shen Yun has some of the best techniques she's seen and called it top of the line. I very much felt inspired to leave a better person. Again, back to the morality part. I really liked how much they emphasized kindness and being there for your fellow man and just kind of bringing humanity back into the everyday. And so I felt it was very inspiring and it was also really nice to see it at Christmas time too. I thought the performance was brilliant. I mean it was very athletic but also really motivational and very lyrical. I loved the dancing and the acrobatics but I also loved the storytelling, the messaging. The sort of message of kindness and thoughtfulness and also just how important a story is. Why do we tell ourselves stories? To figure out who we are and what is good in the world. Shen Yun performing arts stated mission is reviving China's traditional culture before communism. Shen Yun can be translated into English as the beauty of divine beings dancing. The award-winning producer says she thinks it was the way different scenes captured different eras, styles and feelings that she loved. And that quote the sense of preserving culture was very sincere and powerful. And we're not only learning about Chinese culture but getting a sense that we're becoming part of it by participating in this event. You know and being part of helping to maintain that line of history and pulling that story together. For me coming from a different culture and coming over here today I learned something new. I learned a history about a culture. I learned about what you see on the TV and what you see over here in the place are different things. So it was really you know informational, educational and also peaceful for me. I felt like I'm leaving in a really good mood. And just the sense of people pulling together to make something beautiful and that just you know beauty itself is an important goal. And I think the other thing was just a sense of a sense of good in the world. I think we've become so divisive and the show really was a really beautiful reminder to treat each other better. It was very energetic. Performers were really good. I would definitely come back and see it again. It was really nice. I just feel very uplifted and inspired to go forth being better. Shen Yun Performing Arts is coming to San Jose, California tomorrow. Performances will run through January 1st before heading to San Francisco. More information on show times and tickets is available on their website at ShenYun.com. And now for your sports news, we're joined by NTD's Dave Martin. Dave, some surprising news out of the NFL as the Green Bay Packers have suspended a player for crashing the coin toss Sunday. Have you ever seen anything like this happen before? Never. Of course, I've never heard of someone almost messing up the coin toss, but apparently that's what happened. You know, the player we're talking about here is Green Bay Packers cornerback. He's their all-pro two-time Pro Bowl cornerback Jair Alexander. Now it's not really clear whether he was supposed to be out there or not for the coin toss. In any case, if you win the coin toss, your three options are to kick off, to receive, or to defer your choice to the second half. Now pretty much everyone chooses to defer their choice to the second half and then they choose to receive at that point. The loser of the coin toss will then choose to receive in the first half. It's not like if you kick off to start the game, you automatically receive to start the second half. It doesn't actually work that way. Now Alexander reportedly said defense when he was given the choice, which really isn't one of the options. Thankfully, the officials conferred with them and it was decided that he meant defer to the second half. Now it didn't seem like head coach Michael Furholt was really too happy about this. I guess the suspension kind of confirms that though. Now elsewhere in the league, there is some controversy surrounding New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers. He suffered an Achilles injury earlier this year and we were all surprised that he was going to be activated from the injury list. But now there seems not to be the whole story. What is happening with him? Yeah, you know, there was some controversy about like who decided this because he's going to be on their active roster, but he's not actually going to be playing. Now he couldn't. He cleared this up yesterday because he had been criticized for this. He said that the Jets wanted him to be on their active roster so that he could practice. They have no intention of putting him in the game. But if he goes on the roster, that means someone else has to get released. So that's where the kind of the controversy comes in because some thought maybe this is a little bit selfish of him wanting to be on the roster and costing somebody else their job. Now, fortunately, even though they released a player, the guy actually had his salary guaranteed. It was like a million dollar salary anyway. So the guy said he was good. It was a fullback Nick Bowden. But Rodgers, though, on the Pat McAfee show yesterday said he went he wanted to go on injured reserve for that very reason so that it didn't cost anyone their roster spot. Now it's a little hard that someone would have to clarify this. Rodgers hinted to something else, though, in the show. He mentioned that there are still people out there who are somewhat upset with him for refusing the covid vaccine a year ago. Maybe this is still a factor in people's minds, too, because it seemed kind of petty to criticize him for something like this. Interesting, Dave. Thank you for the update. And 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.