Israel and Hamas Agree to Cease-Fire Plan; Hundreds of National Guard Troops Arrive in Chicago

Welcome. Entity. Good morning starts now. Here are today's top stories. Israel and Hamas terrorists sign a major ceasefire agreement. What this could mean for the end of the war and what will happen when it goes into effect. President Trump vowing to destroy Antifa as he invites independent journalists to share their experiences of being attacked by the group. Hundreds of National Guard troops move into Chicago as part of President Trump's crime fighting push. Governor Pritsker calls for resistance. Trump fires back. A suspect has been arrested in connection with the deadly Palisades fire in California that destroyed thousands of homes and killed 12 people. Authorities say digital evidence and the suspect's behavior link him to the fire. Democrats accuse the Justice Department of political persecution, while Republicans say former FBI Director James Comey could be facing further charges. That's after a report alleging Comey's FBI spied on conservative lawmakers. Jenzian millennials are turning to Tik Tok, YouTube, and influencers for money advice. We examine the trend, what to watch for, and traps to avoid with a financial planner. [Music] This is NTV Good Morning live from our global headquarters in New York City. Here are Stephanie Aox and Carrie Dunst. Good morning Kevin and for Carrie. Thank you for joining us. Today's Thursday, October 9th. You're watching NTD. Good morning. In today's top news, a major development in the Middle East this morning. Hamas terrorists have signed on to the first phase of a plan with Israel for a ceasefire. It marks the most significant breakthrough yet in the two-year war in Gaza. President Trump says both parties have agreed to the first phase of his peace plan. There are celebrations on both sides, but a number of questions still to be answered. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said his government will convene to vote on the ceasefire agreement. That meeting is expected to take place at 5:00 p. p.m. in Israel. That's 10:00 a.m. Eastern time. The Prime Minister's office says the first phase of the ceasefire agreement can go into effect after the Israeli cabinet formally approves the agreement. Various countries, including Saudi Arabia and France, have welcomed a potential end to the 2-year conflict. Negotiators reached a deal overnight after days of indirect talks in Egypt. Here's what we know so far about this developing story. President Trump announced Wednesday that Israel and Hamas have both signed off on the first phase of his peace plan. The president says all hostages will soon be freed and Israel will begin to withdraw from Gaza. Speaking to Fox News's Sean Hannity, Trump said the agreement represents more than just a ceasefire. So great for Israel, so great for Muslims, for the Arab countries, uh, and so great for this country, for the United States of America. This is more than Gaza. This is peace in the Middle East and it's an incredible thing. Trump also spoke about what would happen once Israeli forces pulled back. We're forming a council that uh the council of peace we think it's going to be called. People are going to be taken care of. Uh it's going to be a different world. I think really the Middle East came together. Under Trump's plan, Gaza will be governed by a temporary Palestinian technocratic committee under the oversight of this International Board of Peace chaired by Trump and including former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Video from Egyptian state TV showed negotiators embracing Wednesday in Charm Al-Shik, including US envoy Steve Wickoff and the Qatari Prime Minister. In Washington, Trump joined a phone call with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnik and the families of Israeli hostages. President Trump, you have the best crowd in the world. What do you guys have to say to President Trump? Thank you. You just take care of yourselves. The hostages will come back. They're coming all coming back on Monday. Under the deal, Israel released 250 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences along with nearly 2,000 Gazins detained after the October 7th, 2023 attack. The Hamas terror group issued a statement Wednesday confirming the deal, including an end to the war, Israeli withdrawal, entry of humanitarian aid, and a prisoner exchange. They credittor mediators from Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey, and acknowledge Trump's role. Hamas also called on other countries to ensure full implementation of the agreement's requirements. In a statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it a great day for Israel. He said he would convene his cabinet to approve the agreement. Still, major questions remain, including who will govern Gaza after the Board of Peace. Trump, Netanyahu, and other Western and Arab countries have ruled out a role for Hamas. Trump's original 20point plan envisions a role for the Palestinian Authority, but only after it has undergone major reform. However, several Arab countries says the plan must lead to eventual Palestinian statethood, something Netanyahu says will never happen. Back in Washington, families of Israeli hostages say they'll keep pushing until all are home. We will not stop fighting until we see the last of the 48 return to their family. Those who were murdered in captivity, buried in the land of Israel, those who are still alive, walking through the border and reuniting with us, the families. The White House says President Trump is considering going to Egypt this weekend to finalize the agreement. Joining us to discuss the peace plan is David Wormser. He's an analyst for Middle East affairs at the Center for Security Policy. Good to have you with us this morning, David. What a significant day. President Trump announced this peace deal yesterday and he's expected to travel to Egypt this weekend to finalize the agreement. What's the significance of his role as mediator in this deal? Well, I I don't think the deal would have happened without President Trump. So I I don't think anybody other than perhaps the prime minister uh of Israel had any really they were the the main actors here. Uh President Trump delivered both Qatar and Turkey and Turkey were the ones who delivered in the end the agreement from Hamas and its allies. So without without the president nothing would have happened and they and and the second thing is without this particular president because he has a lot of currency both positive and negative in the in the region negative uh what I mean by that is that they fear him. They know that he's capable of doing things uh that that they don't want to have happen. uh and he also has a lot of uh negative power over Turkey or Qatar in terms of our relationships with those countries and modulating them holding back things if if uh they don't give in. So because of that they were much more amendable to reigning in their ally which is kamas than than they would have otherwise been under almost any other president. Uh the positive of course is that he has a lot of um charisma. People trust him. Uh and the Israelis trust him. So especially the Israelis trust him. So the the Israelis would not have given their signature to this agreement without it being under President Trump's name. And there are still many details that we aren't aware of yet. The full text has not been released. But what are with what we know so far, what are some of the key unresolved issues in the peace plan? Well, first of all, it is uh it is a multi-phase plan to which only the first phase has been fully ag Well, it's not even fully agreed, but in the first phase, uh the main thing of course is all the Israeli hostages dead in alive should return by Monday in exchange for which 250 kamas uh terrorists will be released including sorry 250 plus,700 1,700 lesser security prisoners and 250 hardened terrorists with uh blood on their hands will be released and Israel withdraws starting immediately from certain areas to a new line called the yellow line. So there's a couple of things that I'd like to dig into right about the release of these um prisoners and and hostages. Hamas has indicated that it may take time to recover the bodies that are scattered across Gaza apparently. So if it doesn't all come by Monday, what next? Well, if it doesn't happen by Monday, Israel ultimately resumes the resumes the war. Now, two things may not happen by Monday. First of all, would be playing games with the release of the hostages, especially the live hostages. I think Israel won't restart the war even though Hamas is indicating between seven and 15 hostages will not be uh dead hostages will not be returned which of course they're committed to under the deal. So it's already a violation right off if they do that. But Israel does cut them some discount for the fact that uh they may not know where they are and they're in territories that kamas may not fully control. So, Israel probably will give them some more time on that, but it will come at the expense of Israeli withdrawal from areas that are it's committed to after the first phase. Uh, and the the bigger danger right now is I believe Kamas will give up the living hostages. The bigger danger right now is Kamas is demanding certain terrorists be released that Israel cannot release because they're way too dangerous. uh and and so there still may be a burp in that and it may not happen uh because of that. The second thing is Israel uh did give up uh is committed now to withdrawing before some of the hostages are released uh namely immediately to a yellow line and that Israel will do but it it is an agonizing thing for the Israelis. And on the point of the prisoners, Israel's finance minister is saying he's concerned that releasing more prisoners, as you mentioned, some of them are hardened terrorists. That could strengthen Hamas. How big is that threat? It's a very grave threat. I mean, Israel uh a decade and a half ago released one I mean got back one soldier which had been kidnapped by kamas in exchange for which they released a thousand prisoners. one of which was Sinoir who went on to do October 7th. Many of the others were the main planners and implementers of October 7th. So there's no doubt that who Israel is releasing will come back and do terrorism and there will be dead Israelis, dead Americans uh and there will be kidnap people most likely uh and in addition to validating the strategy of using using kidnapping. Uh so there will be a cost to this and it's not been openly discussed too much because the focus has been obviously on the living hostages. Uh but it is a cost that has to now start being discussed and recognized and the first phase as you mentioned really has been at least by voice agreed to. We're expecting signatures soon. Um and yet residents in Gaza apparently reporting a series of air strikes on Gaza City around the time that it's due to be signed. Does that signal anything to you or it's just that it hasn't been formalized yet? No, there's two things that are signaled here. One is uh there there is an attempt to well, first of all, there's just sort of a a popular, oh, it's over. I'm going home. And the Israelis are withdrawing from areas. That's a very dangerous uh situation because you don't know if any of these people aren't terrorists themselves who are going to attack Israeli soldiers as they withdraw, which any military withdrawing is in an extremely vulnerable situation. And Kamas has tried over the last two or three days to launch attacks to not only kill Israeli soldiers, but to kidnap more Israeli soldiers. So, Israel is in a very dangerous place as it's withdrawing uh in terms of having more kidnapped. Uh the second thing is there's no it's never over till it's over. Uh and and third in the second phase onward there's a lot of problems right now. So you've mentioned that of course we we've even just looking at the history of negotiations here the Hamas terrorist group has not been reliable in in its part. um what mechanisms are in place or would need to be in place to ensure compliance in the peace plan? Well, this is what has to yet still be negotiated. Basically, at this stage, what's been agreed to as a grand hostage exchange, not yet an real end to conflict. That is what Hamas is now trying to do is get a commitment to the end of conflict before all the other aspects of the deal are in place. And the other aspects of the deal fundamentally deal with the removal of weapons from Hamas, so the disarmed and demilitarization of Gaza so they can't be used as a launching pad against Israel. And the removal of Hamas from power. And we're getting already very strong push back from Hamas saying, "Well, they're going to freeze the weapons. They're not going to give them up. And uh no, there's going to be only Palestinians in control of Gaza, etc." So there's a real difficult and there's no real mechanism to guarantee properly the disarming of kamas. So this is all very murky and up in the air and the the that obviously the second phase still has a long way to go which is precisely why kamas wants a commitment that this is the end of the war because that way they can cheat in the second phase survive rebuild their military to threaten Israel and Israel can't do anything about it because there's a declaration of the end of war. Uh so that that's the complexities of part two onward of this, but it does bend back a little bit to phase one and whether Hamas won't say can't give everybody up because the Israelis aren't committing to an end of war. So much to watch here. So glad to have you on with your insights. David Worms, thank you so much. Thank you. And Capitol Hill was quick to react to President Trump's peace plan proving effective. While both sides cheered the news, one Democrat congratulated Trump directly. NTD's Molina Weissup reports live this morning. Good morning, Molina. Tell us more about what lawmakers are saying about this plan for Middle East peace taking effect. Hi, good morning Steph. So, like you said, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle were quick to celebrate the news, saying that this is step one, but it is a crucial one that will ensure that lasting peace in the region is possible. House Speaker Mike Johnson said that this is evidence that peace through American strength is the way to go. He called it a truly historic achievement, one that only President Trump could have delivered. He says, "Laying the groundwork for lasting peace in the Middle East. Let's listen together to what some senators had to say about it late last night. That's tremendous. And assuming if that sticks, that's that's profound. And I mean, why how anyone couldn't celebrate that?" fell in on the two anniversary uh after 107. So like those poor souls finally have a chance to maybe go home and it's the first opportunity for enduring peace making a deal and implementing it you know will be a challenge. So but cautious optimism I mean good for him uh for you know for getting it to this point. Let's hope it's real. Uh obviously this is huge. It's monumental and uh to get the uh the prisoners back after all this time means so much. just think of what it means to their families, means to all of us and to uh find a way to to end this war. And uh it it's really a big deal. Steph, the first senator that you heard from in that clip was Senator John Federman. Do but I do want to go back to him because he did make a notable reaction online directly pointing out Trump's role in the hostage release. So he posted Trump's announcement and congratulated him on the historic peace plan that releases all the hostages, saying that our parties are different, but we have a shared ironclad commitment to Israel and its people. Now, I point this out, Steph, because that's different than the reaction that we saw from other Democrats. While they also celebrated the deal, they wouldn't go so far as bettermen as to directly credit Trump for the success. Congressman Josh Gothimer, who's a Democrat from New Jersey. He's been very vocal on the Israel issue and the hostage um release deal underway for the past two years. He said he's deeply grateful to the American leadership that made this possible, saying that now is the time to achieve peace, to heal, and to deepen the ties between Israel and its neighbors in the region. Now, similarly, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer also said that this agreement is phase one of the plan, celebrating the deal, but he now looks forward to the end of the war in building Gaza without Hamas. He says the work is not over, but any step to end this nightmare could is one that should be celebrated and carefully implemented and followed through on death. So, those are just some of the few reactions that we saw so far. Yeah. So, we'll see how this hostage release works out in practice and looking forward to the rest of the peace plan being implemented. Molina, let's for a moment talk government shutdown. Is there any progress? How's the emergency pay for troops and air traffic control looking? Unfortunately, Steph, no progress on this front. The sixth vote on the Senate floor failed yesterday. A similar tally that we saw for the past couple of weeks. Some are hopeful that with Republicans now expressing openness to negotiating with Democrats on healthc care policy after the government is reopened, they're hopeful that this could give Democrats more of an incentive to pass the short-term funding bill in the Senate that's been put forth by Republicans multiple times. As for the emergency troop pay that you spoke that you mentioned here, remember we spoke about this just yesterday and House Speaker Mike Johnson earlier this week appeared to be open to it, but yesterday Steph, he changed his tune. Let's listen to what he said. He was quite heated in that press conference. We already had that vote. It's called the CR. Every Republican and at least one Democrat had the common sense to say, "Of course, we want the government to stay in operation. Of course, keep the government open." The first responsibility I'm sorry, I'm aggravated. The first responsibility of the government is to protect the people and the the people who are supposed to be protected are being completely cheated. So that was his response step when he was asked about whether or not they would take up that emergency troop pay. So the bottom line is we don't expect any emergency pay at least for now. U they're still waiting to see if they can get those remaining Democrat holdouts to get on that Republican bill in the Senate stuff. No doubt more updates to come very soon on that front. Thank you so much for this update. NTD congressional correspondent Molina Weissup. And President Trump hosted a roundt at the White House yesterday highlighting violence by Antifa, which he recently designated as a domestic terrorist organization. Trump invited independent journalists to share their Antifa attack experiences while vowing to dismantle the group. NTD's White House correspondent Iris Tao has the details. As anti-ICE protests in Portland have been escalating and in some cases turned violent, President Trump at the White House hosted a round table focused on Antifa, which he just recently designated as a domestic terrorist organization. He's vowing to follow the money and find out who's funding these protesters. Watch. So, we're going to be looking very strongly at the people that are funding these operations. These are not people that write out their signs in a basement that believe in something. These are paid anarchists. We are following the money. Money never lies. And that's what it's going to take to bring down this network of organized criminal thugs, gang bangers, and yes, domestic terrorists. And the president invited independent journalists from across the country who have been covering Antifa for years. And among them, Nick Sorder, who was just in Portland, got arrested after he was attacked uh while trying to save an American flag from being burned. Also, there were journalists who covered Antifa and also experienced similar violence. Watch. I uh That's right. I took this flag from that uh from that man that was burning it in the street. That's Do you know who he is? Oh, yeah. I know exactly who it is. So, why don't you give it to Pam? give it to the attorney general and let's uh start prosecutions. The punches came from everywhere uh on my head and my face and I was bleeding out of my eyes and ears and then they threw all the drinks in my eyes to humiliate me further. And during the round table, President Trump is asking these independent journalists to pass on any names they've collected to both the DOJ and the FBI to help identify the funders of these Antifa protests. And meanwhile, Antifa is known for being decentralized and autonomous, but the administration is vowing to destroy it from top to bottom and brick by brick. They're smart, but they're not smart enough. They have been covered by these liberal cities for so many years. And that's why we're all working with Treasury, with all these different departments to find the criminal conspiracy. And just today, President Trump, while answering a reporter's question, says he is supporting potentially designating the international arm of Antiva as a foreign terrorist organization. Great report there from Myris. In other news, President Trump will undergo a routine medical examination at Walter Reed Medical Center in Maryland tomorrow. This will be his second medical evaluation since taking office. Trump's health has drawn renewed attention after photos showed swollen ankles and bruising on his hands earlier this year. The White House says Trump is visiting the worldclass military hospital for a planned meeting with the troops. And hundreds of National Guard troops are now in Chicago, part of the Trump administration's latest push to bring down violent crime in the city. And today's Daniel Monahan has the latest on that and updates from Oregon. About 500 troops, 200 from Texas and 300 from the Illinois National Guard, began arriving Wednesday morning. They'll remain in Chicago for 60 days to help protect federal property, ICE facilities, and other federal personnel enforcing the law. The move has drawn sharp criticism from Illinois leaders. Governor JB Pritsker accused the White House of using the Guard as political props, and the state has joined Chicago in suing to block the deployment. Pritsker said, quote, "This is a moment where every American must speak up and help stop this madness." Danielle Carter of the grassroots organization Chicago Flips Red praised President Trump's operations in the city. Everything President Trump has done so far, we are for it. The political activist says she would wish only one more thing. Accountability for what she calls the failed Democratic leadership in the city. Only thing we're asking now that he haven't done yet and we know he is to bring in the FBI, the DOJ, Operation Grey Lord for these judges. President Trump on Wednesday criticized Illinois Governor JB Pritsker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, saying they should be jailed over reports of police being ordered not to help ambushed ICE agents. I've seen the law and when you have uh a group of people where the police call off the uh safety for ICE officials, I've understood that and I've read it today in numerous journals that that's illegal. Trump says the agents were in danger and needed help and the police were doing a great job providing them with assistance. And then all of a sudden, uh a woman uh was uh on the line saying, "Everybody move back. Move back. Get out. Get out. And they were given an order by the second person in the police department. And the governor knew about the mayor knew about it. I understand that's a criminal offense. Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling denied that officers failed to respond to weekend incidents with federal agents, saying over two dozen officers were hit by chemical gas released by the agents. And in Oregon, a federal court has ruled that President Trump can keep control of the Oregon National Guard, but can't deploy them while legal challenges play out. Earlier, Judge Karen Imrat blocked a plan to mobilize 200 guardsmen for Portland. The three judge panel later narrowed that order, allowing the Guard to remain under federal control, but barring their deployment. and 20 state attorneys general are backing the Trump administration and its legal battle with Oregon over deploying the National Guard troops to protect federal agents in Portland, led by Montana's Austin Kudson and others. The group says Portland police failed to stop violent rioters attacking ICE agents, calling Trump's limited guard deployment lawful and necessary. The city's police chief dismissed allegations that his officers are siding with anti-ICE demonstrators. The states argue illegal immigration has fueled drug trafficking and strained budgets for housing, healthcare, and education. Back to Illinois, Chicago soccer match next week between Argentina and Puerto Rico has been relocated to Florida amid the law enforcement operations. Daniel Monahan, NTD News. And thanks to Daniel for that report. Coming up, a month's long manhunt to comes to an end. The last of 10 inmates and the most violent who escaped a New Orleans prison in May has been recaptured. And a suspect has been arrested in connection with the deadly Palisades fire in California that destroyed thousands of homes and killed 12 people. Authorities say digital evidence and the suspect's behavior link him to the fire. Meanwhile, the IRS will furlow about half of its workforce due to the government shutdown. How will this affect taxpayers and workers at the agency? An executive at the National Taxpayers Union breaks it down for us. [Music] Welcome back to NTD. Good morning. Former FBI Director James Comey pleaded not guilty to two felony charges at his arraignment yesterday. Our Washington correspondent, Luis Eduardo Martinez, has the details. Former FBI director James Comey was arraigned here at the Albert Bryan Federal Courthouse of the Eastern District of Virginia. Judge Michael Nakmanov read the two felony charges that James Comey is facing. The first one for providing false testimony to Congress and the second one for obstructing a congressional investigations. These refer to testimony that James Comey provided to the Senate Judiciary Committee back in 2020. James Comey was then asked by senators whether he had authorized information from FBI investigations to be leaked to the press which he denied. And now of course prosecutor US attorney Lindsey Hallagan is arguing that that testimony was false and it thus also obstructed a congressional investigation. Seen enough on Comey that I think that he deserves a day in court. I believe that there's been sufficient evidence that has emerged uh that would show potential wrongdoing. Obviously, Comey deserves due process as does anyone else. Democratic lawmakers are arguing that the trial against uh former FBI director James Comey is political persecution of Trump's rivals. Donald Trump and the administration continues to weaponize the Department of Justice and are engaging in this effort unprecedented in nature to go after perceived political enemies like James Comey. Republican lawmakers are actually insisting on further charges to be levied against uh former FBI director James Comey in particular for Operation Arctic Frost. On Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, Senator Chuck Grassley, revealed that at least eight Republican lawmakers were being surveiled by the FBI during the Biden administration and under the leadership of former FBI Director James Comey. Why are we looking at Comey? Because he ran an FBI and personally knew about its sculptor information and let it slide. Can you tell me why my phone records when I'm the chairman of the judiciary committee were sought by the Jack Smith agents? It's important to note that Judge Michael Nakmanov, who is overseeing this trial, was a Biden appointee from 2021. After today's arraignment hearing, the judge set the start of the trial for January 5th of 2026. Reporting from Alexandria, Virginia, Luis Eduardo Martinez, NTD News. Luis, thank you. Next, authorities have captured the final inmate who escaped from a New Orleans jail in May, ending a monthsl long manhunt. 28-year-old Derek Groves had the most violent record among the group of 10 and was facing a possible life sentence before escaping from jail. Authorities say Groves was found hiding in a crawl space in an Atlanta home after a multi- agency operation involving US Marshalss and local police. The SWAT team spent hours searching the home, eventually locating Groves with the help of a police dog. Video shows Groves shirtless, shoeless, and shackled, blowing a kiss, and smiling as he's led into custody. Authorities are continuing to investigate possible accompllices. Several people could face charges for aiding Groves while he was on the run. Groves has been convicted of seconddegree murder for killing two people last year. The jail escape back in May involved Groves and nine other inmates yanking open a faulty cell door, crawling through a hole behind a toilet, and scaling a barbed wire fence. And a New Jersey man is facing federal charges after authorities say he showed up outside a Washington DC cathedral with hundreds of homemade explosives. Police say they were they arrested 41-year-old Louie Jerry on Sunday outside St. Matthews Cathedral during the Red Mass, a mass held for the members of the legal profession and often attended by Supreme Court justices. According to court documents, officers found more than 200 handmade devices, including Molotov cocktails and vials of nitrome methane, a highly explosive chemical. Jerry allegedly told police he had explosives and threatened to detonate them, forcing bomb squad officers to clear the area. He now faces eight felony counts, including possession of a destructive device and false report of a weapon of mass destruction. Jerry is being held without bond. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for today. We'll keep you updated there. Next, federal and local officials announced a major breakthrough yesterday in the investigation into January's Palisades fire in California. After eight months of intensive work, authorities confirmed the arrest of a suspect in connection with the blaze. NTD's Christina Corona has this story. of 29-year-old Jonathan Renderneck for igniting a fire that ultimately burned down the Palisades earlier this year, killing 12 people, destroying more than 6,800 structures, both homes and businesses, and damaging over a thousand more buildings. Render Nect is accused of intentionally starting a fire along a hiking trail just after midnight on January 1st. Officials say he had returned to Pacific Palisades after working an evening shift as an Uber driver on New Year's Eve. Two of his passengers told law enforcement that he appeared agitated and angry that night. After dropping off a passenger in Pacific Palisades, Renderneck parked his car and tried and failed to contact a former friend. Prosecutors say he walked up a trail, recorded videos, and listened to a rap song featuring fire scenes before allegedly setting the fire. Sensors detected the Lockachman fire at 12:12 a.m. on January 1st. Officials say he fled the scene in his car, but later turned around after passing fire engines. The defendant walked up the same trail from earlier that night to watch the fire and firefighters using his iPhone to take short videos of the scene. Although firefighters initially extinguished the fire, strong winds on January 7th are believed to have caused it to reignite. Officials say the allegations are supported by his phone data, false statements, and chat GPT generated images depicting a burning city. The allegations in the affidavit are supported by digital evidence, including the defendants's chat GPT prompt of a dystopian painting showing in part a burn a burning forest and a crowd fleeing from it. Officials say Renderneck generated the images months before the fire broke out. Asale said Renderneck lied about his location to the police, but cell phone data put him near the scene of the crime. Investigators say he lived in the Palisades and was very familiar with the area. If convicted, he faces a mandatory minimum of 5 years and up to 20 years in federal prison. Christina Corona, NTD News. Air traffic, air travel across the US has been severely disrupted during the government shutdown. Transportation Secretary Shawn Duffy says controllers are under immense stress, juggling long hours without a guaranteed paycheck. They need to go to their jobs. They need to, you know, control the airspace. Uh the problem is, uh, when I've talked to them, they are stressed out. They are wondering, how do they put food on the table? How do they pay their mortgages if their paycheck doesn't come through? We're having maybe a bit of a rebellion by air traffic controllers caused by the shutdown. But my message to them, they work for me. They got to go to work. Show up, control the airspace, and eventually you're going to get paid. The Federal Aviation Administration reported nearly 3,000 flight delays by yesterday evening. Some 13,000 air traffic controllers are required to work during the shutdown, but they are not receiving pay. The FAA says it's already about three and a half thousand controllers short of its target staffing levels. Duffy says more than half the delays are caused because of shorting staffes staffing shortages caused by the shutdown. These delays are expected to continue as managers monitor staffing levels and safety. Duffy says flights may even be cancelled if controllers are too tired. And the IRS says it will furlow about half of its workforce. The government shutdown could have wide- ranging effects on taxpayers and workers at the agency both on and off the job. To hear more about this, we invite Brandon Arnold, the executive vice president of the National Taxpayers Union. Thanks for being here this morning, Brandon. Good morning. Good morning, T. Now, what can taxpayers expect with so many IRS agents out of work? I mean, that's 34,000 people who are not processing these. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, you're talking about nearly half of the IRS workforce. So, there will be significant disruptions at the IRS. The good news, of course, is that for most taxpayers, we're still months away from tax filing season, which typically doesn't start until January. At the same time, the IRS has a lot of work to do between now and then, especially with the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which contains a lot of changes to tax policy, including the no tax on tips and a larger child tax credit and a lot of other changes that need to be taken care of ahead of time. And so those could be disrupted, the regulatory implementation of those new policies. Understood. And what about people who are trying to get an extension on their filing? I mean they still have to pay at the same deadline but they may get a little bit of a break but will this shutdown and the furls impact any of that? Yeah, it's quite possible that those types of activities will be shut down. The IRS is notifying people publicly on its website and through other communications that their services are going to be disrupted and people can expect longer wait times. And if you've had to call the IRS recently, you know, the wait times are already painful enough. So, further delays are going to be especially disruptive and especially frustrating for a lot of taxpayers. So, Brandon, there are two outcomes with this shutdown. It drags on or it ends quickly at this point. So for taxpayers, what will happen in each of those situations? Yeah, I mean I my expectation is that this shutdown will not last into for a prolonged period of time. I could be totally wrong there, but I think senators, particularly Democratic senators who have withheld their support for the short-term spending bill are feeling a lot of pressure. That pressure is going to escalate dramatically next week when a lot of military uh personnel will not receive their paycheck. That's going to cause enormous amounts of frustration among constituents and a big economic disruption as well because when those people don't have the resources that they would normally have to go out in their communities and spend money, support restaurants and local businesses, everyone is going to be frustrated, not just people that receive uh paychecks from the federal government. Oh, and you talk about pressure. I mean, especially with this air traffic control shortages with the government shutdown. I mean, think about how these lawmakers are probably going to have to think twice about how they proceed. Now, will workers at the IRS both on and off the job get back pay once the shutdown ends? That's a great question and the typical answer to that would be yes, absolutely. And in fact, the memo that the IRS sent to furlowed employees said that yes, they will get back pay. Of course, the White House actually recently said that they're not so sure about that, that there is some question in the law that was passed in the in 2019 and signed by President Trump in his first term that says that that the administration has a little bit of wiggle room when it when it comes to providing back pay and that they may not provide backay to furlowed employees after this shutdown ends. So it's an open question right now, but my guess is yes, employees that are furoughed are going to receive their full back pay as the 2019 law suggests. I follow. Now, how can the government prevent another shutdown in the future to avoid this whole problem? Yeah, I mean shutdowns are just manufactured drama. They don't serve taxpayers well. They don't serve the economy well. There's a piece of legislation out there supported by uh Jody Arrington in the House and James Langford in the Senate that we strongly support called the Preventing Government Shutdown. act. If the government doesn't do its job, if Congress can't get a funding bill, it just extends the government funding for a short-term period to buy more time to hammer out an agreement so that we don't have these messy shutdowns, we don't have this manufactured drama, and that innocent Americans are not adversely impacted by the federal government closing up business for what oftentimes is a prolonged amount of time. Very interesting, Brandon. And why do you call it manufactured? This is a problem that stems from budget imbalances and then lawmakers not being able to pass a CR and so forth. A lot of moving parts. Well, it's manufactured because Congress just chooses, they voluntarily choose voluntarily choose to not fund the government. You know, this is typical business in Washington where they wait until the very last minute to fund their appropriations bills, to pass them, to get them to the president's desk. There's all sorts of drama associated with that. Uh they miss their deadlines time and time again. And if Congress could do its job the way it's supposed to do on behalf of taxpayers, then we wouldn't have these shutdowns. We wouldn't have these last minute deals, it's like a college student that decides to go out partying instead of studying for their term paper or completing their term paper or studying for their exam. You see this time and time again. It's irresponsible. It's one of the reasons why a lot of Americans don't have a lot of trust or faith in Congress right now. And Brandon, what advice do you have for taxpayers? I mean, they have to pay taxes, which no one finds fun, but then now they're facing these delays because of this whole problem. Yeah. Well, I really hope that this matter will resolve itself before the majority of taxpayers have to pay their taxes for uh tax year 2025, which uh the tax season for which should start in sometime in January. That date has not been announced yet, but I'm hopeful that, you know, between now and then they will clean up this mess in Washington, reopen the government, and the IRS can get back to getting those rules in place again for all those changes that are going to be taking place, the no tax on overtime, no tax on tips, those are all retroactive to the start of 2025. So, those rules need to be put into place very, very quickly. The larger child tax credit, a lot of other changes affecting corporate uh taxpayers as well as individual taxpayers. So hopefully this shutdown is not a prolonged one. We get this resolved, the IRS gets back to work and Americans are not significantly affected in an adverse way by this shutdown. All right, Brandon Arnold, thank you for coming on. Thank you for having me. A Senate committee yesterday examined the US government's role in social media censorship. Panelists said that posts were censored under the Biden administration during the pandemic and leading up to the last presidential election regarding the Hunter Biden laptop story. And today's Washington correspondent Jack Bradley has the details. The Biden White House was revealed to have been back channeling with YouTube about suppressing disfavored speech, suppressing things like the lab leak theory. White House digital director Rob Flity pressured platforms like Facebook and YouTube to censor all kinds of COVID related speech. Senators on the Commerce Committee probing government agency's efforts to pressure big tech companies into censoring free speech. It follows a report released last week by the committee and found that the Biden administration used the Cyber Security and Infrastructure Security Agency or SISA to pressure social media companies to censor Americans on views that differed from the administration at the time, particularly when it came to the question of COVID vaccine efficacy, voter fraud allegations, and the Hunter Biden laptop story. The tweet that got me banned from Twitter on August 28th, 2021 began. It doesn't stop infection or mission. That cost you money. That cost you money in your pocketbook. What accountability has been put in? There's been none. I mean, more important than accountability, I didn't get to tell people what I thought. And there were I mean, I was getting hundreds of millions of views a month. People wanted to hear what I thought. And the Biden administration didn't like it and they forced Twitter to ban me. And it begins with censorship. It moves to the destruction of statues and monuments and it ends with the murder of people. This dynamic was made clear on a Tuesday afternoon in Utah last month when my friend Charlie Kirk was assassinated in broad daylight. Most of the Senate Democrats on the committee raised the issue of FCC Chairman Brendan Carr's recent statements in which he threatened to take action against ABC over comments made by late night host Jimmy Kimmel. That's because Kimmel accused the suspect involved in the assassination of Charlie Kirk, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, of being a MAGA Republican, even though authorities say otherwise. Yet, we're wasting time here trying to distract the American people with old emails from the Biden administration while Chairman Carr turns the FCC into the Federal Censorship Commission. What I don't like what Brendan Carr did, but he did it publicly and we can have a debate about it. What's really problematic is when the government goes in secret to these companies and and targets individual users or individual categories of speech. And last month, President Trump hosted several owners of these tech companies at the White House and all were discussing new investments in the US to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars each as well as advancements in technology. Reporting by Jack Bradley, NTD News. Messaging platform Discord has reported that a recent data breach may have exposed personal information from about 70,000 users. The leak includes government ID photos used for age verification. Hackers did not break into Discord directly, but instead attacked a company that helps with age checks. Discord said that the stolen data may include names, usernames, email addresses, partial credit card numbers, and IP addresses. Some of the leaked information may also involve messages between users and Discord's customer service team. The company said that full credit card details, passwords, and private messages between users were not exposed. Discord has contacted all users affected by the breach. They are also working closely with law enforcement to investigate the incident. Still to come, the discovery of American parts in Houthi and Hamas drones lands over a dozen Chinese companies on the restricted trade list. And France is in turmoil. President Mcronone vows to name a new prime minister within 48 hours after his government collapses and pressure mounts to call new elections. Stay with us. [Music] Welcome back. And if you're just now joining us, here are some of today's top headlines. Israel and Hamas terrorists have both signed off on the first phase of President Trump's peace plan. Israel says its government will convene today to ratify the agreement. President Trump says the first phase involves the release of all remaining hostages and the partial withdrawal of Israeli troops. Trump says a body known as the Board of Peace will oversee a temporary transitional committee after Hamas gives up control of the Gaza Strip. And former FBI Director James Comey pleaded not guilty to two felony charges yesterday at his arraignment in federal court. He's facing two felony charges, giving false testimony to Congress and obstructing a congressional investigation. Democratic lawmakers are saying the trial is political persecution of Trump's rivals and weaponization of the justice system. Republicans are insisting on further charges, citing his involvement in Operation Arctic Frost. Comey's trial is set to begin in January 2026. And hundreds of National Guard troops have arrived in Chicago under President Trump's plan to curb violent crime. Illinois Governor JB Pritsker accuses the administration of politicizing the Guard. Trump defended the move, criticizing state leaders for failing to protect ICE agents. Meanwhile, a federal court ruled Trump can keep control of the Oregon National Guard, but can't deploy them yet. And federal and local officials announced the arrest of 29-year-old Jonathan Renderneck in connection with January's Palisades fire in California, which killed 12 and destroyed more than 6,000 structures. He's being accused of intentionally starting the fire along a hiking trail just after midnight on January 1st. Officials say the allegations are supported by his phone data, false statements, and AI generated images depicting a burning city. If convicted, he faces a mandatory minimum of 5 years and up to 20 years in federal prison. And that's back to you, Steph. Thank you, Kevin. Next, the US government is adding 15 companies, Chinese companies, to its restricted trade list. They're accused of facilitating the purchase of American electronic components found in drones operated by Houthi and Hamas terrorists. 10 companies in China were placed on the Commerce Department's entity list for the facilitating the purchase of components found in weaponized unmanned aircraft systems. Five additional Chinese companies were listed after Israel recovered numerous Hamas operated drones with multiple US origin electronics and components. In all, the Commerce Department is adding 29 entries to the list, including companies based in Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. Arrow China Electronics and Aero Electronics in Hong Kong are among the companies being placed on the list. Both companies are subsidiaries of Colorado-based Aero Electronics, a components distributor with global sales of 28 billion in 2024. NATO members are fighting back against reported airspace violations by Russia. Germany is on track to allow police to shoot down unidentified drones. And the European Union is highlighting an alleged targeted grayzone campaign by Moscow. NTD's international correspondent Arian Pazdar has the details. Because every square centimeter of our territory must be protected and safe. The president of the European Commission Orsander Lane says Russia is waging a targeted grreyzone campaign against Europe. This includes airspace violations as well as sabotage and cyber attacks. According to Vanderlane, those will only escalate if the Kremlin is not challenged. This comes after NATO members Germany, Belgium, Poland, Estonia, and Romania all reported recent incursions. Some of them directly blame Russia. One incident may be a mistake. Two incidents are coincidence. But three, five, 10. This is a deliberate and targeted gray zone campaign against Europe. And Germany's cabinet, meanwhile, allows police to shoot down unidentified drones. Other methods available to down drones include using lasers or jamming signals to several control and navigation links. We are creating the possibility for the federal police to use all appropriate technical means against the drones. The new law is now awaiting approval from the German Parliament. Meanwhile, NATO member Lithuania is preparing to evacuate thousands of residents if the fighting in Ukraine spills over. Just on Monday, air traffic was suspended in Lithuania's main airport because of balloons in its airspace. The nation's capital, Vius, is located just 12 miles from the border with Belarus, a close ally of Russia. Capital geographical location is unfortunately very close to border with that countries. It's one of the fat countries and we have to be prepared. Hundreds of people took part in an evacuation exercise in Vius where approximately 100 residents were moved by train to a sporting arena over 60 mi away. And a top Russian diplomat says the momentum to find a peace deal to end the fighting in Ukraine has been exhausted. According to the diplomat, this is the result of destructive activities primarily by the Europeans. President Trump recently announced that the US will ramp up its support to Ukraine to fight back since Russia doesn't seem to actually be seeking peace. Arian Pastar, NTD News. French President Emanuel Mcronone says he'll name a new prime minister within 48 hours as France faces its deepest political crisis in years. The move follows the sudden resignation of Prime Minister Sebastian Lornu, whose government collapsed just a day after being formed. Lornu has since met with party leaders and says a fragile path remains to form a working majority and pass a 2026 budget, avoiding snap elections that could further unsettle the country. Mcronone's decision aims to restore stability after months of deadlock in parliament and growing calls from opposition parties for him to resign. Still to come, financial literacy is trending, but how can you navigate all the advice? As people turn more and more into social media, there's some good advice out there and plenty of traps to avoid. We'll examine the trends with a financial planner up next. Welcome back. Financial literacy is trending, but today's lessons aren't always coming from schools. A 2024 Credit Karma survey found that 77% of Gen Z and 61% of millennials actively seek financial advice on social media. But here's the problem. Nearly a third of social media users pled say they have fallen for financial advice or information on social media that turned out to be false or misleading. And that's according to Edelman Financial Engines. Joining us to examine the trend and offer some practical and sage advice, we have Lawrence Sprung, founder of Mittland Financial and author of Financial Planning Made Personal. Good morning, Lawrence. Good to have you with us. What is this phenomenon as you see it? Yeah. So, uh, you know, kids, Gen Z in particular, are, you know, not getting what they need from traditional financial literacy routes, uh, as per, uh, schools. So, they're turning to where they're spending a lot of time, social media, uh, Tik Tok, YouTube, a channels like that to get a lot of, uh, their advice and guidance around money issues or money questions. And is there actual harm being caused here? We heard some, you know, misleading statements and things like that. That's kind of common in social media. You've got to assume that, but does it actually lead to real harm? So, you have to be careful for sure. And uh I I'll share a personal story. There was a uh bad actor out there that uh cloned me uh and was using a similar name to me on social media and created a WhatsApp group. And we got a call from a family whose son sent $5,000 through WhatsApp uh to invest in a uh a crypto investment. And you know, I think who does that these days? But evidently people are thinking about those things. So, you have to make sure that the information you're getting is credible. It's from the person who's actually giving it. And if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. And when people are giving you answers that cause red flags, walk away. You're you're better safe than not. Uh, for example, when they were interacting with this person that was soliciting them, they said they weren't on our firm's website because they only worked with high- netw worth individuals and there were privacy issues around that. In the instance like that, call the firm, vet it out, don't just send money blindly in hopes of uh getting a return on that investment. Some great strategic advice there for really safeguarding. And I am so sorry to hear that even happened, but it does sound like it must be part of a larger trend. This can't just be a one-off. And we've heard uh similar stories, but you know, that's one one person, $5,000. I assume the impact actually could be much bigger. Um what what kind of scale do you think this could really have reached? Yeah, it could have gone uh much greater than that. Luckily, the father uh his antenna went up, reached out to us to have a conversation and we were talking to him and immed Looks like we've lost Lawrence there just for a moment. Here you are. We got you back. Oh, I'm not sure what happened there, but uh luckily the father reached out to us and asked us about the the people that were working here some questions because uh evidently this bad actor was trying to secure more money from this individual. um and the father reached out to try to see if this was legit or not and unfortunately it wasn't. So we walked them through the process of what they could do with the authorities on their end to hopefully uh recover some if not all of this money. So communication seems to be a a great kind of fail safe here and I want to get to that especially in regards to parents. But just to look a little more at this trend, what is the draw for young people? Why are they turning to Tik Tok? Yeah, I I think that you know the financial content online they feel often feels real and relatable and as I said earlier you know traditional education has not kept pace. So Tik Tok is filling the gap. But you know, you have to understand, you have to be looking at these folks that your kids are watching. See if they have credibility. You know, do they have designations? As I've spoken on the show, we have a YouTube channel. Uh but I'm a certified financial planner. We have a a real legitimate solid business behind us with expertise and and studies behind us. And there are a lot of folks online. I'm not saying they're all bad, but some of them don't even have credentials. And quite frankly, everything we put out there gets archived and saved uh so that it gets reviewed by our compliance team. And there are a lot of situations on these social media platforms that that is not happening. Now, you mentioned a few steps that a person can take before they engage in some kind of risky financial behavior online through uh those methods of of getting financial advice. What else can parents do to help their kids navigate this trend? I I think they should get involved and and talk to their kids. Are they watching this kind of content? And if they are, maybe suggest watching it together and take a look at who is the person behind the advice that their child's getting a and maybe subsequently do a little research on them. See, you know, what credentials do they have? What kind of studies have they done? Is there a greater business behind it? you know, where is this advice coming from? What's their motivation? Are they doing it simply because they have a a partnership with a particular company and they're getting ad revenue? I I think it really can open up an opportunity to be more social, not on the platform, but offline with our kids and and start that conversation early so they understand finances much earlier on. Great advice. Thank you so much as always, Lawrence Brown. Good to speak with you. Thank you so much. Yeah. And on that note, daytrading.com found that 70% of videos with investment advice on Tik Tok were misleading. Oh, 70%. That is such a large amount. If you see stocktalk, beware. Okay, noted. And uh great advice all around there. Thank you, Kevin. Stay with us. We've got much more coming up in the next hour.