NTD Evening News Full Broadcast Dec 21

Welcome to Entity Evening News. Our top story tonight, an update on the blackout that left 30% of San Francisco in the dark. A major power company says it's restored power to many of the affected customers, but the lights are still off in more than 16,000 homes. Speeches from Vice President JD Vance, a special guest, and much more wrap up the final day of America Fest hosted by Turning Point USA. Entities Tiffany Meyer has the highlights from Phoenix, Arizona. Residents gathering to honor the victims of last week's shooting attack during Hanukkah. Some attendees took part in a symbolic gesture wearing white to represent that light will prevail over darkness. More Americans are going to church. In the aftermath of conservative activist Charlie Kirk's assassination, Steve Lance and Tiffany Meyers sat down with Pastor Lucas Miles, senior director of TPUSA Faith for details. And Rome announces a new charge for visitors of its historic Trevy Fountain. The structure was made famous in Lulchevida and other monuments and museums in the city. This is NTV Evening News live from our global headquarters in New York City. Good evening and thank you for joining us tonight. I'm Paul Grainy. The lights are steadily coming back on after a San Francisco power outage yesterday that affected 30% of the city on one of the busiest shopping days ahead of the holidays. San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurri advised people to stay off the streets while workers continue to restore power. The outage coincides with a fire at an electric substation, although it's not clear what impact that has had on the overall outage or if the two are linked. A popular downtown street endured the blackout during its peak season. Supervisor Matt Dorsey said, "The Saturday before Christmas is historically one of the busiest shopping days of the year. We've got the Warriors game. We've got the ballet. We've got the symphony and everything going on. This is the worst time PG&E could have a problem." There are also reports of Whimo autonomous vehicles malfunctioning during the blackout and stopping in the middle of intersections. Parent company Alphabet has said it was pausing way more service there. Most power has since been restored, but reports say 16,000 are still in in the dark. And today marks the final day of America Fest, a 4-day conference held by Turning Point USA. Entity was on site to capture the weekend's biggest moments, including powerful speeches and even a surprise appearance. Here's Tiffany Meyer with today's highlights from Arizona. I'm here in Phoenix, Arizona, where Turning Point USA has just wrapped up four days of America Fest. Some of the biggest names in the conservative circles taking the stage. On the final day, speakers included Erica Kirk, Donald Trump Jr., and Vice President JD Vance, who earlier received Erica Kirk's endorsement for the 2028 presidential election. The enthusiasm here has been palpable across all four days with attendees passionate about carrying forth Charlie Kirk's legacy. And to end on a high note, even a surprise special guest took the stage. Here's that moment, plus some other highlights. Hello. How are you? >> So, those of you who know, Charlie was very good about having a surprise for every Amfest and we we are so blessed to have you. We are so grateful. I mean, >> thank you. >> I'm honored to be here. I am honored to be here. Thank you for having me. I have the utmost respect and admiration for our president. He he has I don't know if he even knows this, but he's given so many people hope that there's a chance to beat the bad guys and to win and to do it um with your head held high and um your integrity intact. Saturday night I was downtown. >> He says, "Make America great again because every American is invited." So if you love America, if you want all of us to be richer, stronger, safer, and prouder, you have a home on this team. I didn't bring a list of conservatives to denounce or to deplatform. And I don't really care if some people out there, I'm sure, will have the fake news media, denounce me after this speech. But let me just say the best way to honor Charlie is that none of us here should be doing something after Charlie's death that he himself refused to do in life. He invited all of us here. Charlie invited all of us here for a reason. because he believed that each of us all of us had something worth saying and he trusted all of you to make your own judgment. >> This was the first major conference for Turning Point USA since the assassination of its founder Charlie Kirk. But if the enthusiasm and numbers here are any indicator, this movement isn't going anywhere. As the speeches on stage have said, it's only growing. And with Erica Kirk continuing Charlie's mission, AMFest 2025 drew in large numbers of female attendees. Many of those young women crediting Erica with drawing them in. And in the spirit of Charlie, several debate stations popped up inside and outside the venue. For Charlie famously said, "When people stop talking, that's when you get violence. That's when civil war happens." in Phoenix, Arizona. For NTD News, I'm Tiffany Meyer. >> And thousands of people gathered in Australia today to honor the victims of the terrorist attack that killed 15 people just last week. Officials in Israel also honored the victims as the Jewish community celebrates Hanukkah. And Jason Perry has the update. Thousands of people gathered at Bondai Beach in Australia on Sunday for a mass vigil held for victims of the terrorist attack that killed 15 people and injured more than 40. A Jewish rabbi and his wife placed a large candle on the stage before the president of the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies spoke to the crowd and he said he had a message to share from the man who disarmed one of the shooters that day. And friends, Ahmed has asked me to pass on the following message to us all. Quote, "The Lord is close to the brokenhearted. Today, I stand with you, my brothers and sisters. Thank you, Ahmed." >> Many of the people at the event wore white, which was said to show that light will always prevail over darkness. One man attempted to attend the memorial while wearing a Kafia scarf. However, Australian police escorted him away from the event. The scarf is seen as a symbol to show support for Palestine. Meanwhile, in Jerusalem, Israeli President Isaac Herszog said this about the Australian Jewish community. >> Instead of lighting the first candle, our sisters and brothers ran for cover. The rise of Jew hatred across the world is a global emergency. This is an urgent call to action to prevent the next catastrophe. >> 15 candles were lit to honor the victims of the Bondai Beach shooting attack. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, also in Jerusalem, said this while at a Hanukkah ceremony. Sydney, >> the Chabbad community and all of the people of Israel have gone through a great tragedy in Sydney caused by vile murderers who killed them because they were Jews and only because they were Jews. >> Netanyahu said the spirit of the people of Israel was not broken and it will not be broken. Jason Perry, NTD News. >> And Christians in the Gaza Strip are preparing to celebrate Christmas as the holiday approaches. The Latin patriarch of Jerusalem went to Gaza City where he led Christmas mass at the Holy Family Church. It's the only Catholic church in the Gaza Strip, which is home to about 1,000 Christians. The church has served as a shelter for both Christians and Muslims during the war between Israel and Hamas. Now that the ceasefire is in place, the priest said that holiday activities were underway despite the ongoing challenges. And still to come this evening, more Americans are going to church here in the aftermath of conservative activist Charlie Kirk's assassination. Steve Lance and Tiffany Meyer sat down with Pastor Lucas Miles, senior director of TPUSA Faith for details. Also at Amfest, an interview with House Representative Anna Paulina Luna of Florida's 13th Congressional District. Find out what she told NTD about her hopes for the future and more after this quick break. Welcome back. I'm Paul Grainy. More Americans have be going to church following Charlie Kirk's assassination. They're calling it the Charlie Kirk effect. And Pastor Lucas Miles, senior director of TPUs Faith, has witnessed the phenomenon firsthand. He said a church he preaches at in Indiana has tripled in size since Charlie's death. NTDs Steve Lance and Tiffany Meyer spoke with Miles earlier today for more. >> With us right now actually is a very special guest, Lucas Miles. He was also here with us for the Charlie Kirk Memorial. It's great to have you here. You're a pastor, senior director of Turning Point USA Faith and of course host of its flagship podcast, Strong Church with Lucas Miles. Thank you so much for being with us. >> Thanks for having me. honor as always and good to see you both. >> So, Lucas, talk to us about your uh your church and what we're hearing about the Charlie Kirk effect, especially not just in conservative areas and red states and red regions, but even in traditionally blue regions. >> Yeah. So, a lot of people know me as a senior director of TP USA Faith, but I also have a church that I still preach at and pastor at. Uh, and so I commute back and forth between here and Indiana. my church uh has tripled in size since September 10th. Um uh nobody obviously expected that. We we had um uh you know just a tremendous just outpouring ground swell of people that were showing up. People had never been to church in their entire life. People hadn't been to church in 35 years. People had just bought their first Bible. Uh we were seeing people saved, people baptized. We've probably done, you know, 30 baptisms since Charlie was uh assassinated. And so, you know, look, um, what happened to Charlie was horrific. He was a dear friend. He was my boss. He was a visionary. I miss him every single day. Uh, I think that, you know, what we see in this is that God takes what the enemy intends for bad and he brings good on the other side of that. This Charlie Kirk effect effect is a real thing and people are are, you know, returning to the Lord or coming to Christ for the first time. Uh, and there's truly seems to be revival in the air. >> And with, you know, the Charlie Kirk effect, of course, he had a big influence on young men. But this year's turnout here at America Fest is very notable. About 30,000 or even more here. And roughly 54% of that is women, many first timers, if you will. Are we seeing what we could be calling a Erica Kirk effect? I >> I think that's very fair. I mean, I've talked about that before and we're definitely seeing that. And look, it's needed. Uh when you look, you know, young men, as you mentioned, have kind of trended conservative, but we see a lot of young women that have been influenced by, I think, many of the pop icons that are out there. You know, when you think about um male household name voices, most of the ones you can think of that are truly household names are conservative leaning. You know, people like Donald Trump, JD Vance, Jordan Peterson, you know, Charlie Kirk, Ben Shapiro, Tucker Carlson. These guys all lean conservative. When you start thinking about, you know, voices on the on the uh you know, among women that are house truly household names, it's harder to come up with names on the conservative side that everybody knows. it's easier to think of people like Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga and you know Kla Harris or Michelle Obama. And so I think what we're seeing is some strong female um conservatives rise up. Erica is certainly a shining star amongst them. Uh she's doing a tremendous job as the new CEO of of Turning Point USA. All of us just had a sigh of relief when she was named and it was an honor to serve Charlie. It's it's an honor continue to serve Erica in this capacity. >> And Lucas, obviously you're a big part of Turning Point USA, the Turning Point USA family. talk to us about what this event three months out it, you know, it's the time is really a strange thing since Charlie's assassination and is this going, is this sort of serving as a a healing uh event? >> Yeah, I think I think in many ways this is a continuation of the memorial. Obviously, different type of tone and voice that's here. I think this is as Erica's referred to it multiple times. It's sort of these family conversations that we need to have and obviously we're having them with a live stream audience and everything else very publicly, but but it is it's this important moment for the the um conservative movement. Uh and I think it's a very important moment for Turning Point, but there's still this sense of do it for Charlie. We're here for Charlie. This this continuation of the memorial of of remembering what what it's all about, what the mission was. Charlie laid out a very clear vision moving forward. We're all keeping in lock step with that. And the whole Turning Point USA uh structure is very very unified even across departments. You know, we're in lock step and we know where we're going. >> Seems, you know, with the Charlie Kirk assassination, many people were saying it seemed like the nation was on the brink of a turning point depending on where that nation is turning to, right? And it does seem there's a lot of say ideological factors or even waring even among different sections if you will of the United States. And actually, you have a new book out called Pagan Threat: Confronting America's Godless Uprising. What do you mean by paganism and how does it kind of overlap with Marxism? >> Yeah, it's a great question. So, you know, we think about paganism traditionally, we think of things like shamanism and and wikah and the occult or witchcraft. Um these are all sort of alternative um spiritual practices that typically have their root in sort of these esoteric kind of you know maybe even gnosticleaning more mystical types of of of uh practices. Uh they don't usually have a a central deity. They don't really have you know any sort of um you know kind of religious framework the way we think of our mainstream religions of Buddhism and Christianity and and and Islam etc. And what we're seeing right now is that, you know, we had thinkers like C. Lewis or GK Chesterton, the Christian world, that said paganism was dead. It doesn't exist anymore, you know, but now we've seen this resurgence. And what I present in this book is that it's not a organic resurgence. It's bought and paid for for the purpose of sort of supplanting the Christian worldview. Marxism and Christianity are antithetical to one another. uh and if you stay in them long enough, you'll either deconstruct from your Christian faith or you'll recognize that that Marxism is antichrist and anti-f family and anti- good. And so, um paganism is a better vehicle, I think, for the p the parasite that is Marxism. And so, it's attaching itself to these pagan ideas, especially among young people and what they're being presented, uh in attempt to really kind of um erode this Christian worldview and I think begin to shift the culture. And Lucas, if you could talk to us about give us some ideas, give us some examples of how this actually takes place in practice. And you also talk about how these pagan ideas are repackaged as something called progressive Christianity. Um, explain that. >> Yeah. So, I think we have a couple things that are going on here. So, when we look at maybe a few examples, so there was a there was a film that came out or a series that came out on Amazon Prime called Hasbin Hotel. It's one of the top series on the platform. It's an animated series. Well, anytime you have an animated series, there's always an attractiveness for young kids and but this had very much adult content and it was on this princess of hell who was sort of rehabilitating demons due to overpopulation in hell. And but the whole opening to the show and the kind of the continued message is really is is sort of um uh pointing people in the direction that Lucifer is the good guy that he's the one that was the lightbearer. He was the one that brought the knowledge of good and evil. And it was really the elders of heaven. They don't even mention God. It's just the elders of heaven that was trying to restrict man from being able to know the knowledge of good and evil. And so it's sort of this flip-flop. See, in Marxism, there requires this oppressor versus oppressed framework. Well, the ultimate, you know, when you start going deeper and deeper, it's not just it's not just the man, it's not just the wealthy class, it's not just the white man. It when you go further, it has to be something higher. Eventually, God becomes the oppressor. And so this plays very well with a paganist sort of anti-God structure where they can unify around this idea that Christianity or Jesus or God are the the enemies. They're the oppressive forces and that these these pagan ideas and ultimately Lucifer is the light bearer trying to bring this knowledge of good and evil. And so we're seeing this, you know, much in the same way we see this red green alliance between communism and Islam, we're seeing sort of similar alliance happening between Marxist or communist thought and paganism finding that same kind of you're the enemy of my enemy is my friend that they are, you know, in order to advance their purposes. >> And expanding on that Marxist ideology of the oppressor versus the oppressed framework, if you will, how are we seeing that play out here in America in terms of dividing society and even communities? Yeah, I think that, you know, when you look at Christianity, this is the first time in roughly, you know, 1,800 years where Christians have been vilified um due to their uh their their moral stance or their religious views. So now 30 years ago, Christians in Hollywood, they were seen as holier than thou, goody two shoes, you didn't want to drink a beer or cuss in front of them because you're afraid they might judge you. They were viewed as having a higher standard, but maybe just not very much fun. right now. What we're seeing is Christians are called bigoted, homophobic. Uh they're seen as being bad. You know, they're insurrectionist uh because of the, you know, Christian nationalism and they want to see people influence with the gospel. So, they must be against the state. And so, these are terms that were used for Christians in early Rome. Uh there was actually a whole, you know, series of books written by and letters written by people like Jerome or Justin Martyr who are making a plea to the emperors of the day because people were accusing Christians of being insurrectionists and bad for the economy. They were accused of being um cannibalistic because they consumed the body and blood of Jesus through the sacraments. They were accused of being incestual because they referred to their spouses as their brother or sister in Christ. People didn't understand them. And so they had these these accusations and and apologies, meaning a defense of the faith, not a not a saying I'm sorry, but defending their position were written to try to um uh show people that it's actually Christians that are the best for the state because they are there to serve not the state. they're actually there to be the best citizens of heaven and to display that by being the best citizens here on earth as well. And so, uh, it's an interesting time. History is repeating itself. Uh, but because of technology, because of the way in which money is flowing, I think it's much has a potential to be much more aggressive today. And although we haven't seen direct maybe Christian persecution here on a massive scale in the United States, we've started seeing that in other places with arrests and and you know, uh, restrictions of speech. And I think it's just a matter of time if we don't have a shift here in this nation that we're going to start seeing this pop up here. >> And to that point, why do you think it is that younger people are more vulnerable to these, you know, subtle ideologies, Marxism, paganism, and what do you think the faith community can do to better sort of safeguard uh these things from happening? >> Yeah, I think that indoctrination has started very young, you know, over especially the last several decades. And so where you know uh people in our age bracket we might have a chance to kind of lean back on some earlier things. I remember saying the pledge at school. I remember you know I remember people praying at school although it wasn't official part of the school day. It was not it was not something that was you know you were criticized for. Uh I I knew lots I knew teachers that used to bring their Bible to school and have them there in the classroom. You know that's foreign today. And so you know what we've seen is kind of a shift in culture. Even just like, you know, if you're old enough to remember September 11th and the patriotism that everybody felt afterwards and the unity that we had as Americans, you know, we don't have those same moments right now. Honestly, the assassination of Charlie Kirk was the closest thing that we have to that. That's and that was, I think, in many ways, not to sound tright with this or cliche, but that's why that has been called this turning point that it that there was a shift that people started waking up and going, you know what, the direction that we're going in, it's gone too far. We're starting to see when people are actually, this is not just speech anymore. when they are actually using violence to silence somebody that's all they're doing is willing to talk to somebody who disagrees with them with a microphone uh and they're going to you know they're going to take their life um then maybe something needs to change. So I'm optimistic that that there's still a chance to head in a better direction. But we have to realize that there's a lot of there's a lot of noise out there. There's a lot of opposition online. Uh it's hard to sort out how much is real, how much is not with bots and different things that take place. And so you know we need revival more than ever. My team at TPSA Faith is really focused on that and uh we we hope it's it's not too late and we got you know we're going to just keep working until you know we see this deliverance from the Lord. >> Faith director of TPUSA, Pastor Lucas Miles. Really appreciate all of your insights here with us. >> Thank you. >> And earlier entity Steve Lance and Tiffany Meyer sat down with Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna of Florida to talk about American values, the threat from the Chinese Communist Party, and her hopes for future American leaders. Let's listen to that. >> And joining us now, we have a very special guest, House Representative Anna Paulina Luna, representing Florida's 13th district. Congresswoman, thank you so much for joining us. >> Thank you. >> Now, you've said before that you owe your position in Congress to Charlie Kirk. So, as you look around at this America Fest this year, what values do you see here that you're excited to carry forward in this next chapter? >> Open debate and discourse. I think that's the number one thing that needs to be protected in this country right now. I mean, there is no question in my mind that the reason why Charlie Cook was murdered by Tyler Robinson was because of the fact that he was speaking truth specifically on the issue of transitioning on trans violence in this country and he was murdered because of it. Um, I think that, you know, when you run away from those facts, when you refree to talk about them, that's when the narratives can form. That's when you see some of the terrible optics from the left celebrating his murder and saying that he was hateful. He was never hateful. They clipped his speeches, tried to paint him something that he wasn't. um he was the most peaceful man when it came to open debate discourse. If you disagreed with him, he'd bring you to the front of the line. And I think that that needs to be championed today. You know, we might have our differences within the Conservative party, but we are a heck of a lot better than what's happening in the UK right now where they are literally jailing people if you post a meme. You have mass migration of military-aged males from radical countries that are literally raping women. They can't do a damn thing about it. And so, that's what we're up against if we don't get our stuff together. So, I'll continue holding it out in the Hill, but I'm going to have to get some of my conservative colleagues in the pundit circles to join me on that matter. >> Speaking of that, you are uh going against the grain in your own right >> sometimes. >> Um >> for good though. >> Talk to us how conservatives ultimately win the battle, not just culturally or electorally, but both. >> Uh we have to be not on defense, but straight up offense. I think that you're seeing a lot of that momentum out of Trump's administration, but Trump's not going to be around forever. Who carries that torch and that legacy? I can tell you I'm not going to be in Congress forever. This is the most difficult negative on a regular basis job, but I'm doing it because it's public service and it's the right thing to do. And we have to help get other candidates elected. I'm very involved in the Republican primaries. I've endorsed a few candidates. I know Turning Point Action has as well. So, we're kind of aligning on that and going out and literally doing stump speeches for these candidates to get them into office. and they're replacing incumbents that were okay, but they weren't MAGA. They weren't great. And so, we're looking forward to having that new energy in Washington. Um, again, this goes into the issue of why is Washington, why is there so much fatigue? Well, we could talk about age limits as well. That's probably a separate discussion. Um, but I think you move forward, you're talking about, you know, continuing this momentum and we have to ensure that the next generation, specifically younger people are involved. And so, I come here and it's a good reality check as opposed to what happens in the bubble of Washington DC. you live there. You know, Washington DC is definitely not the real world and so I try to leave as much as possible >> and it'll make you quite cynical to be honest. >> Oh, yeah. It's very dark and and dirty, but you know, you go to the free state of Florida and we're all happy and so I like to go back as much as possible. >> Well, we see a lot of young women here, but it seems young women in general maybe are slower to engage with the conservative movement. Why do you think there is that gap? Um, well, I know that President Trump got out a lot of young women, young men, too, to vote for him in 2025, but that was specifically because of the Maja coalition that was formed. So, you can't forget about Maha. I've been big on Maha before Maha was Maha. And so, we want to make sure that, you know, our kids are not being groomed. We want to make sure that we're empowering mother over government. And then also, too, that we're ensuring that our products are not being, you know, basically fed to make us sick and that we're not exposing ourselves to unnecessary cancers because we're supporting big corporation over what's right for the American people. And so we've been very good at pushing it back against that. President Trump's been leading out the efforts though, whether it's the prescription capping of prices, but Congress needs to codify. And so I think that those discussions need to be had, but also too, you can see that President Trump has been empowering women. You have the chief of staff, Susie Wild. She's now been named one of the most influential women in the world by Forbes magazine. You have Caroline Levit, one of the youngest press secretaries in the world. But you have to remember to talk about those issues that matter. Sometimes makeup might not sound like a sexy topic, but when you're talking about all the toxic in makeup, it becomes sexy to women. So, we're going to champion those causes. >> And you famously got involved with Turning Point before launching your political official political. >> I was at Turning Point when their first conference had like maybe 250 people at it. So, we're OG Turning Point. >> So, you can actually speak to what this one is like and where we're at right now, where the event is at right now, and also what role uh events like Turning Point have in shaping the conservative movement. Let me tell you, 250 people to 25,000 a day. Quite different, right? I think the most uh the biggest testament to Charlie's legacy was his memorial when they packed out an arena, which was serendipitous because Charlie had always talked about that with his internal team that he kind of had that vision for Turning Point. And now they're doing it at multiple events when you saw them doing those um campus tours after Charlie passed away. And so I think that these events will continue and I think it's going to be a driving force not just for the midterms, but presidentials and moving forward. So where they thought that they could silence Charlie and silence the movement, they actually just were responsible for exploding it. And in that sense, we're grateful for them because Charlie, that's what ultimately he wanted. He's in a way better place right now. Charlie's carrying out that legacy. And obviously, we're horrified at the circumstances which happened. But as Erica Kirk said, they want to make heaven crowd. And I think they're doing just that. >> And Congresswoman, it seems there's almost a war of cultures right now, especially with the Marxist goal, if you will, of dividing the country from within. And you're seeing that a lot in the school system. What do you see in terms of strengthening, if you will, the country's moral values, maybe within communities to start, but then to spread it out? >> Um, well, there's a lot of money coming specifically from China that's being funneled into these Marxist organizations that are using immigrants, like for example, those ICE riots. I actually call them the Teimu rights because Neville Singham was an individual who literally is across from I think it's like the the communism propaganda headquarters in China. He's directly from that. I mean he is guilty of far violations out the wazoo and he was the one funding these anti-ICER writes, the party for socialism and liberation. All of these very far-left progressive movements. You can even look at Code Pink which is a pro Palestine group that likes to target and really um go into Congress and talk about the Israel versus Palestine issue. again funded by China. And so I think if you're looking at a lot of the money ties, I mean, you have to expose it, but a lot of your average American, they're not worried about, you know, where the money is coming from because they genuinely maybe might care about these issues. And the problem is though is that instead of actually opening up a respectful discourse and dialogue, the right to debate and do it respectfully, there's thinking that, you know, it might be a good idea to, you know, drop off pallets of bricks and burn things, you know, we typically we don't heir on the side of wanting to support Molotov cocktails and destroy destruction of of uh private property. And so I think exposing that's a really important thing. But I mean, you know, you talk about how they do divide from win within. And you know, Tik Tok was big on that. Up until recently, I refused to use Tik Tok because the algorithms were showing kids how, you know, being transgender was cooler than becoming a doctor. How, you know, you wanted to embrace these left-wing ideologies, yet if you were pushing conservatism, you were all of a sudden xenophobic and racist. I don't want my kid learning that. Do you want your kids learning that? No. Most Americans don't. And so, it was absolutely targeted brainwashing. But we're identifiing now. We're triaging, but we need more people in Washington. The DOJ is in infested with bureaucrats that are obstructionists. Same with the Pentagon. Same with a lot of these three-leter agencies, FBI, CIA. So, we could have our people at the top, but at every level, there are going to be people that are blocking and obstructing. >> With regard to China, Congresswoman obviously recognized as the United States greatest adversary, not competitor, adversary, enemy. What can Congress do to further protect the United States from >> I I we have to wage full-fledged DOJ power of the purse. I want seizing of assets. I want to stop funds. If someone is guilty of far violations, throw them in jail. We cannot just send strongly worded letters from Congress. And I'm not at the DOJ. And probably it's better for them that I'm not because I'd have a lot of people in jail. So look, um, what I will say is that unfortunately there's been a lot that's been handed over to the DOJ in regards to certain authorities that we have in Congress. That's not necessarily a good thing because we're seeing that the DOJ has a lot of internal corruption right now that's predated this administration. But we do need to be able to leverage, you know, things like those, you know, seizing assets. If you have someone that's not responding to Congress and they're guilty of these far violations and funding terrorist groups within the United States, that's not not constitutional. That's fully within our rights and authorities and the Treasury Department as well. Uh, but not just that, I think that President Trump has been very strategic at what he's been ashing asking of the president of China, leveraging tariff warfare. I mean, all of that has not been done by accident. He's not stupid and so he's very good. I'm very happy to have him in this position because a lot of people think that, you know, there's some crazy strategy behind the scenes and there is there's a group of smart people, but it's our people and there's no one else coming. So, get off the sidelines. >> Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna, really appreciate your time. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. And still to come, details on a new documentary by the Epoch Times all about Charlie Kirk's legacy. Steve Lance and Tiffany Meyer sat down with Joshua Phillip, senior investigative reporter for the Epoch Times for more. And Rome introducing new charges for travelers looking to visit the city's famed Trevy Fountain. Additional tourist sites will also get a charge tacked on. More details right after the break here on NTD News. Welcome back. I'm Paul Greeny. Earlier, entity Steve Lance and Tiffany Meyer sat down with Joshua Phillip. He's a senior investigative reporter for the Epoch Times and is a new documentary about Charlie Kirk's legacy that just came out. Let's watch that interview. >> Josh, thank you so much for joining us. >> Hey, always a pleasure and great being here. Now, this is actually the largest America Fest in Turning Point history. What has been your experience so far this year? What does this turnout signal to you? >> Well, it's incredible. I I've heard they have about 30,000 people here, 10,000 on the wait list if people choose to leave. And uh yeah, last year was 20,000. So, I I would say this is part of the Charlie Kirk effect. Charlie actually inspired a lot of people. And I really do believe that uh I was wondering what the effect was going to be. What's the future turning point? It really does feel stronger than it's ever been. >> And Josh, one of the main reasons that you know we're doing this interview is to talk about the amazing film uh that you've put together. It's called Truth Under Fire: The Framing of Charlie Kirk. Talk to us about the subtitle. >> Yeah, so this actually started out fir Okay, so it expanded a bit. It started first into an investigation into how Charlie Kirk was framed because of course, you know, acts of violence often have reasons behind them and it it seems that somebody was very brainwashed enough or hated someone enough to kill them. Now, Donald Trump actually came up with an order or, you know, calling for investigations into this, a type of conspiracy against rights. And what he's alleging effectively is that there's a system in place to first of all defame people then dox them, you know, expose their home address, their personal information, mark them for attack, and then make examples out of them. Uh, saying, "Hey, I don't want to go speak at that event because Antifa might show up and they might beat me. I don't want to go make my opinions heard on, you know, publicly or at my school even because I might get attacked and I might get expelled from my school. I don't want to lose my job. I don't want to get hit pieces done to me by the media." And what this is being framed at is is it effectively effectively a conspiracy against constitutional rights. Uh something that scares you out of engaging in freedom of speech. Something that scares you out of engaging in freedom of assembly. And in that effect works as a form of really political terrorism. Now Charlie Kirk, I believe, was a victim of this. And so the investigation set out to find how was Charlie Kirk framed? What were the organizations that framed him? How does the system work? What is this machine that cancels people, doxses people, then marks them for attack? And from there, it actually expanded into it was a moment I had and you two were at the Charlie Kirks memorial as well, actually right here in Arizona. Was a moment I had walking into the stadium onto the stadium floor and you just it was like perfect timing. Things went kind of quiet and everybody raised their signs, you know, I am Charlie Kirk, remember Charlie Kirk. And I had a moment I was like, "Wow, you know what? I'm witnessing something that I've never witnessed before." I really had the sense that for the first time in my life, I'm seeing really in my my own two eyes what a martyr looks like. This is what happens when somebody in their death is more powerful than in life. That he inspired people through that. And uh I wanted to capture that as well to make sure that's not forgotten to history. I want to expand on the media point that you were talking about when we look at the broader media environment. How do you believe the media painted Charlie in the years leading up to his death? >> So, you know, when I do investigations, my first step is I trace things back to the origin, then I then I trace it forward. So, the origin of the hit pieces on Charlie was 2017. That was after the Charlottesville attack, right? Uh so, what happened at the time? You had a group of individuals who were tearing down Confederate statues. And you had counterprotesters. They went to Charlottesville. Then you had the very extreme types show up, the Antifa, and then you had the crazy alt-right guys of the tiki torches. Everyone remembers that probably. Then you had the kid who drove his car through the crowd, killed a young woman. You know, the rest is history. The media then questioned Donald Trump, "Do you condemn this? Will you condemn the alt-right? Will you, you know, we we say something bad about him?" And Trump said, "Yeah." So what Trump what Donald Trump said effectively was this. You know what there were fine people on both sides. Uh there were people who you know wanted the Confederate stat people who tried to stop it and they were peaceful protesters but then you had the crazy people and they came out beating each other with baseball bats and they were vicious and it was terrible and I condemned them absolutely. Donald Trump condemned the alt-right that day and I'd say that I'd say actually the alt-right died in Charlottesville that day because they lost presidential support. very very directly. The media took that and they twisted it. They said Donald Trump called them very fine people and he refused to condemn the alt-right. Both of which were lies. That was a false narrative promoted. They misqued him, took it out of context, and then actually lied to people about Donald Trump not not condemning the alt-right. And then they went to Trump's supporters. They framed MAGA as being an alt-right fascist movement because Donald Trump didn't disavow them. Therefore, they're all outright, which was not true, but that's what they said. And then they said, well, Charlie Kirk at the time, very still very young. I realize how young he was actually still very young and you know, kind of really part of the MAGA movement. Yeah. people who supported Trump in his community, uh, students at the time, they said, "Well, you will you disavow the Trump supporters because they're the alt-right. Donald Trump didn't condemn them, therefore he's a Nazi, and if you don't condemn him, therefore, you're a Nazi." And Charlie Kirk said, "No, I'm not going to condemn them. There's nothing wrong with them. They're not they're not extreme. They just like the president of the United States. What's your problem?" They framed him using that. And what you had then was a game of telephone, right? You you say one thing to one person, they say it to the next person to the next person. It went from Charlie Kirk does not disavow the uh you know the Trump supporters, therefore they're Nazis, therefore he has Nazis in his midst, to Charlie Kirk is a Nazi. And and that was how the the narrative was framed. Over time, as the media began putting this in their headlines, Charlie Kirk has extremists in his midst, you started then having official organizations taking and making reports about him. According to the New York Times, he has these people in his midst. According to this newspaper, he has people in his midst. According to this, therefore, this is an extremist movement. Therefore, he's the leader of an extremist movement. Therefore, you know, this is the narrative. And that's how they framed him. And then you have these agitated youth who, you know, they they believe in this whole worldview. They're sitting, I don't know, in their basement or whatever else. And they're saying, "This guy's baby Hitler. This guy's going to grow up one day, and he's going to become Hitler. And what do you do to baby Hitler? Well, you kill him, right? That's what happened to Charlie Kirk. >> There's a lot there, Josh, with regard to sort of the picture that you painted in terms of these leftist Marxist uh movements, these underpinnings that are trying to suppress ultimately uh people's speech and thoughts. Charlie was ultimately a victim. He paid the ultimate price to be silenced with the bullet through his neck. But prior to that, one thing that sort of made Charlie different was that he did not succumb to a lot of those demands and a lot of that pressure. It's not as easy for your average student or person uh to have that type of willpower and strength. Do you see the conservative movement, the Turning Point USA family carrying on that legacy? And >> yeah, I mean I mean look at look look at this place. You know, after Charlie got killed, I had a lot of people tell me, "Hey, uh, Josh, you should be careful speaking at events." I I was supposed to speak at an event in South Korea with Charlie just a few days before he got killed. Actually, it was one of the last events he did that in Japan. And, you know, I was scheduled to speak at another event that same week. People were calling me up, Josh, be careful. We don't want to see this happen to you. And I had a moment. I was like, you know, should I be careful? And then I thought about I actually thought about Charlie and I was like, you know what? If someone told Charlie, "Hey, you're gonna get someone's gonna try to kill you, you know, be quiet." I don't think he would have done it. I I knew Charlie. In fact, even more than that, I think if someone I think if someone were to show Charlie, this is what you will achieve in your death. You're going to have churches doubling in capacity. You're going to have young kids turning back to their faith. You're going to have people remembering what they stand for. Will you die to do this? And Charlie would have. I know Charlie. he he would have said, "Yeah, kill me." Uh because, you know, I'll be a martyr and that that that is what I live for. Uh and so, you know, it inspired me and I think a lot of people here, it inspired them in the same way. I've seen it in kids talking to youth, talking to some of the youth leaders at the schools. Not only did they not shrink in, you know, in respect to, hey, geez, there's crazy people out there looking to kill people for doing this. You just had some turning point chapter head get killed. Actually, it's the opposite. They're saying, "You know what? I need to be brave because other people were brave before me. I need to stand up because other people stood up before me, and I'm not going to shrink into the shadows and be too afraid to stand for what I stand for." >> Joshua Phillip, Truth Under Fire. Excellent uh insights into Charlie Kirk's life and legacy. Greatly appreciate you joining us. >> Anytime. Thank you. >> Powerful stuff. Still to come, AAA says record numbers of people will be getting on the road and taking to the air this holiday season. More on how to navigate the holiday travel rush and what to expect. And Rome adds new charges to popular tourist sites, including the basin in front of the Trevy Fountain. The charge is meant to streamline operations. Welcome back. I'm Paul Grainy. There is no place like home for the holidays. So, if you're traveling, brace yourself for a lot of traffic on the highways and at the airports. AAA is expecting holiday travel numbers to break records this year. Here the details on what to expect. The holiday travel rush is underway. If you're hitting the roads or skies, you should expect plenty of traffic and long lines at airports. >> Holiday travel is big. AAA spokesperson Aika Diaz says they're expecting more than 122 million people to travel starting Saturday, December 20th through New Year's Day. That would be a new record. >> What happens at the end of the year is that you've got this two week period when people are coming and going during different times. >> AAA says close to 110 million people will drive to their destination. So, if you want to see more green than red on your GPS maps, here are the worst times to travel the next few days. TripleA recommends leaving very early or late at night. The lightest traffic days are expected to be Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve, and New Year's Day. Airports are expected to be packed as well. AAA estimates more than 8 million people will fly. The TSA this week warning passengers to expect busy airports. >> We do expect uh a significant increase in holiday travel during this holiday period. >> If you are flying, the TSA has some reminders for passengers. Do not bring a snow globe on board. The amount of water inside likely exceeds the 3.4 ounce liquid rule, so it must be checked. They also discourage people from wrapping presents. >> Anything that's fully wrapped are our officers who screen the checked baggage may need to unwrap this in the checked baggage screening as well. >> Instead, they suggest putting gifts in bags like this so TSA agents can easily screen what's inside. Here's the good news for travelers. Gas prices are cheaper than last year. As of Saturday, the national average for a regular gallon of gas was around $2.87. >> And for all you world travelers, Rome will soon charge a fee to visit its famous fountain along with some other mu monuments and museums. Starting from February 1st, a paid ticket has been introduced for six museums and monuments that until now were free. The Trevy Fountain, or rather the part of the basin adjacent to the Trevy Fountain, to which there has already been limited access today, as you know, for about a year. The Villa of Menzio, the Napoleonic Museum, the Giovani Barakco Museum of Ancient Sculpture, the Carlo Bilote Museum, and the Pro Canonica Museum Carlo. >> City has been experimenting with a system to limit visits to the basin area in front of the Trevy Fountain for about a year already. that will continue but with an added charge equivalent to $2.35. The mayor said the current system has streamlined visits to the basin and those efforts will also continue. The charge applies during the day but after nightfall access is free. The mayor emphasized that there is no charge to look at the fountain just to enter the basin area. The fee that applies to six city museums will be around $6, but residents of Rome and the surrounding areas won't have to pay. The plans come after success seen by ticketing visits to Rome's Pantheon Monument and Venice's tourist tax meant to ease over tourism and make the city more livable for residents. And for on the clock coverage, visit us at mtd.com/live or download our NTD app. That's all for tonight's news. Thank you for tuning in. I'm Paul Greeny. Good night. Hi, I'm Tiffany Meyer and from all of us here at NTD Evening News and China in Focus, we wish you an extra magical holiday season and a wonderful start to the new year.