Trump Backs School Prayer; ICE Wants 33K CA Illegal Immigrants Returned | NTD Newsroom (Feb. 5)

Welcome to NTD Newsroom. I'm Don Ma. President Trump rededicating America as one nation under God this morning at the National Prayer Breakfast. He's touting his administration's successes in putting faith front and center during his first year back in office. The search for NBC anchor Savannah Guthrie's 84-year-old mother continues. Pima County Sheriff gives an update on the progress of their search for Nancy Guthrie. The Justice Department announces an arrest in Minneapolis today. Officials say the suspect is a self-identified anti-ICE terrorist. U.S. officials conclude the second round of trilateral talks with their counterparts from Russia and Ukraine. This achievement, the three sides made, and how they'll affect the United States. Vice President J.D. Vance arrives in Milan ahead of the Olympics opening ceremony. He offers words of encouragement to American athletes. This is NTD Newsroom, live from our global headquarters in New York City. Thank you for staying with us. President Trump rededicating America as one nation under God at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington this morning. And the president laying out a faith-based defense of his peace through strength posture. NTD's Washington correspondent Mari Ozu brings us more from the White House. Mari, good afternoon. Don, good afternoon. That's right. President Trump this morning at the National Prayer Breakfast was touting the strides that his administration's made in bringing faith back to the heart of American life over the past year. He's announcing that today the Department of Education is officially issuing its new guidance on protecting the right to prayer in public schools. And he said that in 2025, more copies of the Bible were sold in the U.S. than at any time in the last 100 years. He also said that in the last 12 months, young Americans have been attending church at nearly twice the rate that they did four years ago. And on May 17, President Trump is inviting Americans across the nation to come to the National Mall here in D.C. to pray together and to, quote, rededicate America as one nation under God. Here's the president linking his administration's successes over the past year to a religious foundation. Take a look. I mean, maybe that's part of the reason that we're doing so well. There's great, such great spirit. It's all spirit and it includes religion. I've always said you just can't have a great country if you don't have religion. You have to believe in something. You have to believe that what we're doing, there's a reason for it. There has to be a reason for it. We're all working and we're doing, we're behaving. I mean, I behave because I'm afraid not to, OK? Because I don't want to get in trouble. President Trump's also celebrating at the first anniversary of the White House Faith Office this month, as well as the Religious Liberty Commission, and laying out a faith based defense of his foreign policy doctrine. Take a look. Scriptures always tell us that blessed are the pure in heart. I don't know if that applies to me necessarily. I'm not so sure. I don't know, Paula, does that apply to me? I'm not sure. I try. As the Bible tells us, blessed are the peacemakers. That's true. The peacemakers are very important. But you can only have peace, I find, through strength. If you don't have strength, peace is very hard. And we have strength. Meanwhile, in a wide ranging flurry of posts on foreign affairs, on truth social, President Trump says that he's just had a very, a quote, very productive discussion with UK's Prime Minister Keir Starmer on the island of Diego Garcia. He says that the island is positioned strategically in the Indian Ocean, and is thus integral to the United States national security. And we do have a major military base on that island. This is coming just a couple weeks after President Trump sharply criticized the UK for its plans to hand over ownership of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. And today, he doubles down on that saying, warning that he'll never let the US's military presence on the island of Diego Garcia be undermined or threatened. President Trump is also endorsing Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takeichi in the upcoming snap election happening in Japan, and says he's announcing that Takeichi will come to visit the White House on March 19. And finally, President Trump is also endorsing Viktor Orban, Hungary's Prime Minister, in the upcoming election there. He's also touting their ties and their shared vision of leadership. Don, back to you. Okay, Mari, thank you. Joining us now is Oklahoma State Senator Shane David Jett and his wife Anna Jett. Both were at the National Prayer Breakfast this morning. First of all, thank you both for joining us this afternoon. So can I just ask you first off, what were the main takeaways of President Trump's speech? What stood out to you Well, I think what stood out the most was the going off script and off the cuff for a full hour, which was absolutely delightful. It was chaos and mayhem for those who were trying to scramble to readjust the program. But the crowd was very engaged. He got spontaneous standing ovations, especially when he said that we're making America one nation under God, particularly resonated with this group. So it was classic Donald Trump off the cuff, speaking from the heart and resonating with the people in front of him that was just delighted the audience. Can I just ask you guys further, what were the emotions that you were feeling? You mentioned that President Trump said that he's rededicating America as one nation under God. What were the emotions and what were the thoughts going through your mind? You know, for me personally, it was I felt like, you know, worship, just just thanking God that we had a president that would have the courage to acknowledge him. And there was a lot of people that were in prayer for seeing the nation return to its biblical roots. When he talked about scripture, you could tell the audience leaning into that. And whenever he said one nation under God, that's what triggered a spontaneous standing ovation. It wasn't orchestrated. People began to stand up and really express their gratitude for that because we have been drifting away from our foundational document, the Bible being the underscore anchor foundation of this country. It's just seeing a national leader talk boldly about that was very reassuring and very exciting. Right. The audience reaction speaks for itself. So actually, I brought a clip here with me. I would like you guys to react to. So let's just take a quick look from Trump's speech this morning. And today, I'm also pleased to announce that the Department of Education is officially issuing its new guidance to protect the right to prayer in our public schools. That's a big deal. Now, the Democrats will sue us, but we'll win it. So Trump says it's a big deal, prayer at public schools. So for you guys, can you tell us why the right to prayer matters in schools specifically? Well, because the prayer should have never been removed from school. And our foundational documents have indicated that we believe in nature and nature's God, that we are a Christian nation and that are underpinning with Scripture. The number one source quoted by the founding fathers was the Bible. And so what he's not really bringing prayer to school, he's returning it from whence it should never have been removed. So that was the excitement, I think, that in the audience is realizing we are reaffirming and returning to our fundamental roots of our foundation, which is in Scripture and the love for Jesus Christ. OK, so if President Trump is putting it back in education, can you estimate for us what would be the impact of putting faith so close to education? What would be the consequences, the benefits? The consequences would be students would be reflecting on why exactly are we praying? Why exactly is this such an integral part of American history and begin asking those questions about what is our true foundation and then contrasting it to what they have been taught for so many generations. You have a lot of students who will quote separation of church and state, which comes directly from the Soviet constitution of 1918, where it says the church should be separate from the state and the schools from the churches. That's from the Soviet constitution. Many public school students believe it's our constitution because it has been misrepresented in our school system. So it's returning back to what really made America great again. So President Trump talked about more people going to church and meeting others and families developing. And this is really important, right? So I'd like to get your guys' thoughts on the importance of faith in marriage specifically. Well, you know, marriage is a holy sacrament. And if you look at Genesis, from which everything began, God created the world by speaking it into existence. And then he said it wasn't good for Adam to be alone and created Eve as a helpmate, as someone that completed him. And so the first institution instituted by man or by God was the marriage in the home. And that's the really the fundamental building block of any civilized society. If you're going to grow, you have to have a stable home and a home that allows it to build the nation. And so it's essentially as fundamental to the United States or any country that wants to grow and be stable. You have to start with stable homes. Yeah, you're so right about that. And Trump also today talked about efforts around the world to secure the safety of persecuted Christians. What can you share with us about that? So there were, you know, we're hearing reports about genocide in Nigeria. In fact, at our table, we sat two tables back from the very front. So we're about maybe 20 feet from President Trump. And to our left, seated by my wife, was the first lady of Nigeria, who is an evangelical Christian who has Christian broadcasts and is a minister there in Nigeria. Her husband is Muslim. And so they were there to reassure the United States that they are working diligently to make sure that the massacres end and that radicalization and murder is not what they're known for. So there was a lot of praying for peace in that region. And Donald Trump specifically acknowledged her in the crowd. She stood up next to my wife, and we had a great conversation with So there is malignant forces around the nation, whether they're attacking Jews or they're attacking Christians. And Donald Trump made it very clear, if you're attacking Christians around the world, we will take note and we will respond to it. It was very reassuring. OK, so before we end this conversation today, Hannah, I'm wondering if you have anything to add on top of what everything has been said so far. Well, I just like how President Trump is so—he's just one of us. So it was just so—he was so relaxed because he knew he was among Christians and people of faith. So I just enjoy his remarks. And I agree 100 percent with what he was saying, that he assures that we are going to be protected as Christians and people of faith. So that's just—and the whole event was great. And then sitting beside the first lady was a pretty—it's an honor for me. And we had a really nice conversation. And she seemed to enjoy Trump's remarks as well. So it was very neat to see that. Yes, President Trump's remarks resonated with a lot of people today. Thank you both for your time. It was my pleasure to speak with you guys. Thank you. The White House says President Trump is urging congressional lawmakers to act on election integrity. Here's Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt explaining the president's recent comments on elections. What the president is suggesting—and I just spoke to him about this—is that Republicans and Democrats in Congress should pass the Save America Act. This piece of legislation is going to ensure that states are abiding by federal election law by removing non-citizens from their voter rolls. In addition, the Save America Act will require voter ID to vote, and it will require proof of citizenship to register to vote. These are very common-sense policies and proposals that 89 percent of our country agree with. The White House said Trump supports National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard's presence during an FBI raid on elections offices in Fulton County, Georgia. The press secretary said Trump believes election security is essential to national security, and it's Gabbard's role to make sure that American elections are free from foreign interference. Leavitt also clarified what the president meant when he said the administration will enforce immigration law with a softer touch. That softer touch the president is referring to is that cooperation that is necessary between state and local authorities and federal government authorities to ensure that we can continue deporting illegal aliens from our communities without tons of agents having to go after one illegal alien. If the states and their local governments just turn over their illegal aliens to ICE at jails, as they should be doing, it requires one agent to deport that one illegal alien, who can then go on their way to their home country in a peaceful manner. The escalation that we've seen take place in Minnesota is a direct result of the refusal of state and local officials to cooperate with the federal government and with ICE, which has led to these hostile and dangerous environments. And so we don't want that. Again, the president wants direct cooperation, and that's what he was referring to. And that was NTT's Mari Otsu reporting from the White House. The Justice Department announced an arrest in Minneapolis today. Officials say the suspect is a self-identified anti-ICE terrorist. Here's more. Kyle Wagner of Minneapolis was arrested on federal threat and cyber stalking charges. He's expected to appear in court today. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanch said the suspect has conspired to threaten, assault, kill and dox federal officers. The DOJ said that Wagner used Facebook and Instagram to urge followers to confront and assault federal officers. In one video, officials say Wagner directly threatened ICE, saying agents were coming under attack. In later posts, he called for continued harassment and urged people to physically confront officers. He also encouraged supporters to, quote, hunt ICE agents. Authorities say the suspect promoted the unmasking of ICE agents and trained the situation as a war that was prepared to die for. Attorney General Pam Bondi called the suspect an Antifa domestic terrorist, adding, quote, if you come for law enforcement, the Trump administration will come for you. We'll keep you updated. ICE has arrested an illegal immigrant semi-truck driver who killed four people in a crash earlier this week. The Department of Homeland Security now warning about the dangers of issuing commercial driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. Begzan Beyshikiv is a 30-year-old national of Kyrgyzstan. He entered the U.S. illegally under the Biden administration. Pennsylvania issued him a commercial driver's license. DHS said he was driving on Indiana State Route 67 on Tuesday when he allegedly failed to brake for a slowed semi-truck in front of him. His semi-truck swerved into oncoming traffic and struck a van in head-on collision. Four people were killed in the crash. The case is still under investigation. ICE took the Kyrgyzstan national into custody earlier today thanks to cooperation by the state of Indiana. Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a quote, quote, it's incredibly dangerous for illegal aliens who often don't know our traffic laws or even English to be operating semi-trucks on America's roads. These sanctuary governors must stop giving illegal aliens commercial driver's licenses before another American gets killed. The Coast Guard says it has seized more than 200,000 pounds of cocaine in the Eastern Pacific Ocean since early August. Dubbed Operation Pacific Viper, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the seizures amounted to more than 75 million lethal doses. According to U.S. authorities, the Eastern Pacific is the primary route for drug smuggling from Central and South America. Since the summer, the Coast Guard has deployed cutters, aircraft, and tactical teams to disrupt the flow of cocaine and other illegal drugs. In December, the Coast Guard intercepted a vessel smuggling more than 20,000 pounds of cocaine. According to the Coast Guard, 80 percent of all seizures of narcotics en route to the U.S. occur at sea. Now that lawmakers have ended the partial government shutdown, the clock is ticking on DHS funding. Democrats are expected to unveil their official proposals today to reform the agency while President Trump vows a drawdown of ICE agents in Minnesota. On Capitol Hill, lawmakers are at the very beginning stages with regards to how to make changes to ICE policy. But they need to reach a deal by next Friday, and lawmakers already acknowledged that this is not going to be an easy task just simply because of how sensitive the immigration issue is on both sides of the aisle. Democrats have officially unveiled their demands on paper, and what they put forth on paper so far tracks with everything that we've heard from their side of the aisle verbally. Democrats want agents to no longer wear masks, they want them to show their ID numbers, and they also want to expand judicial warrants and protect sensitive locations. There are certain places you shouldn't, they shouldn't be able to go in. Churches, synagogues, schools, election places. Now Republicans have said they are open to certain changes that Democrats have put forth, but not all of them. Some sticking points include issues like removal of masks and showing ID, because Republicans, specifically House Speaker Mike Johnson, says that this level of exposure could allow criminals to target ICE agents and their families. Because unlike your local law enforcement in your hometown, ICE agents are being doxed and targeted. We have evidence of that, everybody knows that it's happening. Now Republicans have also pushed back on Democrats' demand to expand judicial warrants because they say this could create more red tape and bureaucracy and ultimately slow down enforcement efforts. But lawmakers, including Senate Majority Leader John Thune, has already said that they'll likely need more time for negotiations. I had argued at the time it was way too short to allow anything consequential to happen. Because of slim majorities in both chambers, any one lawmaker could ultimately slow the process. Reporting from Washington, D.C., Melina Weiskopf, NTD News. The Office of Personnel Management has announced a new rule that will make it easier for the president to hire and fire certain federal employees. According to the office, the reform is aimed at strengthening accountability, improving performance, and reinforcing a merit-based workforce. The new standard applies to federal workers in positions directly responsible for implementing the president's policies. The Trump administration has argued that the rule is necessary to root out government employees who are undermining the president's agenda. The office added that the policy explicitly prohibits political patronage, loyalty tests, or political discrimination. Federal worker unions sued in January to stop the policy before it was fully developed. The American Federation of Government Employees responded to the new rule today, saying it strips due process rights and protections from tens of thousands of federal workers. Pima County, Arizona, Sheriff Chris Nano speaking to the public today with an update on Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of NBC anchor Simana Guthrie. Sunday morning, early morning, at 1.47 a.m., the doorbell camera disconnects. At 2.12 a.m., software detects a person on a camera, but there's no video available. They had no subscription, and therefore, it would rewrite itself. It just kind of loops, right? It covers up. That's what our analysis teams have told us. We're not done with that. We'll do all we can, but that's what it says that detects a person on camera. Could that be an animal? I imagine that's possible. We don't know that. We just have no video, but we're not giving up on that. Sheriff Nanos goes on to say that Nancy Guthrie's family discovered she was missing at around 11.56 a.m., and they called 911 about seven minutes later. He also announced that several local law enforcement departments, as well as the FBI, have joined the search. They're all working side by side, hoping to find Nancy Guthrie as soon as possible. In response to reports of blood spots, Nanos said they were waiting for analysis and lab reports as to any suspects, but so far, results for the blood on the porch came back to Nancy. A special agent with the FBI said his department was closely following reports of ransom notes that were sent to the media. He said they were taking one ransom note seriously because it mentions what Nancy Guthrie was wearing, and it gives a first deadline of 5 p.m. today. Regarding the video plea posted by the family last night, the agent said the family ultimately decides what to put in that message and how to get it out to the public. This was in response to a question about whether or not the FBI helped them write the message. The agency is offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to Nancy's whereabouts. It's now the fifth day that Nancy Guthrie has been missing as the search and investigation continues. Joining us to discuss is Mark Lamb, former sheriff in Pinal County, Arizona, and congressional candidate. So good afternoon to you, Sheriff Lamb. Now, here's what we know. Authorities believe she was abducted from her home. Authorities found DNA evidence at her home and are conducting searches, but we don't have suspects yet or persons of interest, and no video recordings released so far. Can you speak to what are some of the challenges here for investigators unique to this case? Well, look, we're seeing these challenges. You don't have her. That's the first challenge. You know, what you're going to have to do is look at the cameras. Now we're hearing that the cameras were on a loop, so she didn't have a subscription, which would actually record the videos from those cameras. You're going to have to start looking at cell phone pings at the house, whose cell phone would have been pinging there. You do have a list of people that are, you're always going to look at who had the means or the opportunity or the motive. And sometimes that includes family members. We want to be able to weed them out, make sure they're not involved as well. They're going to go through a lot of different investigative methods. I love that they've called in the FBI to help. They've called in BORTAC. BORTAC is the Border Patrol Special Unit. They're excellent at tracking people. So they're going through all of the right motions to find somebody in a case like this. They're complex. They have only a little bit of evidence to work off. As far as where she is, they've got evidence that insinuates that a crime has occurred. Now you've got to look at the evidence that helps you track her down. Okay. So they're offering a $50,000 reward. How helpful can these rewards be in cases like this, from your personal experience? Look, whoever, if somebody did indeed commit this crime, whoever did, I think they may have underestimated the amount of media coverage and the amount of resources that would be applied to this case. I saw that even the president has said, hey, whatever we need to do, let's help bring some resolution to this case and find Savannah Guthrie's mother. So look, I don't think that they estimated. This also is a concern. If she did indeed, if she was indeed kidnapped, they're feeling the pressure on that end as well. Hopefully you see them make a mistake. If there indeed was a kidnapping involved, if there wasn't, hopefully the search and rescue teams can find her sooner than later. It gets cold at night in the desert. That is not a place you want to be. So if that is a possibility, you're going to want to find her ASAP. And I know they're exhausting every resource to do that. So they've retrieved a ransom letter that was sent to the press, haven't confirmed whether it's legitimate. The FBI has someone already in custody, have been already arrested over imposter ransom command. So I mean, is it difficult to verify a ransom letter, especially today? Well, the problem is, is that every ransom letter that's not legit just exhausts resources, resources that could be applied to finding Mrs. Guthrie instead of actually going after people who are just trying to get attention. So that makes it tough. And it also makes it tough to know which, if indeed it is a real ransom letter. And so this is going to be what you're going to all your resources to try to make sure if it's legit, not legit. I think they're doing a great job. I think that the detectives there do good work. And these are not easy cases. We've had cases in the past where people have gone missing. One in particular we had, and I don't mean to correlate the two because in the end we ended up finding that subject dead. But these take time and it takes a lot of resources. And you use a lot of different investigative techniques to hopefully find that missing person. So Savannah Guthrie posted a video pleading for her 84-year-old mother's safe return. Let's just take a quick look at that video. Mama, Mama, if you're listening, we need you to come home. We miss you. Our mom is our heart and our home. We too have heard the reports about a ransom letter in the media. As a family, we are doing everything that we can. We are ready to talk. However, we live in a world where voices and images are easily manipulated. We need to know without a doubt that she is alive and that you have her. We want to hear from you and we are ready to listen. Please reach out to us. Everyone is looking for you, mommy, everywhere. We will not rest. Your children will not rest until we are together again. Could you just speak to how difficult potential ransom situations can be for the victim's families? And can you talk to us about kidnap or ransom cases in the U.S., especially those involving federal and local authorities? What tools and strategies do they implement to find and retrieve a victim? Look, I know it's tough for the families to make a statement like this. It's a very emotional situation. I thought that they said some very key things in there. For one, they want proof of life. They've said they're open to any communications should somebody be asking for a ransom. Also, so they've opened that line of communication. They want to see the proof of life, which is what you're going to ask for in a case like this. Then they're also saying, we miss you, we want you. So if that person is out there, they have a reason to continue to live. And then the last piece of it is saying that we're going to look, we're going to just keep looking for you. And that insinuates we're not going to stop. And also that the resources that are being applied are not going to stop until they find her. So those are all very key pieces of information. And I hope that they're helpful in this. In the meantime, it buys time for the investigators to process through all of those other investigative methods that they would use to find her. I like all Americans across this country are praying that she's brought home safely. And it's something that we can bring some resolution to. And my heart goes out to the family as well. And Sheriff, just one last question. President Trump has stated that he has directed federal law enforcement to assist local authorities and the family. Can you just speak to the fact that everyone hopped down is coming together, working to save Nancy Guthrie? Well, this is the importance of working together, both state, local and federal. This is how law enforcement is supposed to work across this country. That's why I think it's so important not to be even digressing to a political state. But this is just why it's so important that we have great relationships amongst our federal partners and our state and local partners. Because this is the type of work we usually are engaged in, where we're trying to help families, we're trying to find victims of crimes, we're trying to find suspects of crimes. And I love that President Trump has agreed to exhaust those resources. I know the state is, I know the county is. I've reached out to the sheriff myself. I've said, hey, whatever I can do to help, I would love to be of help. Not that I don't know much I can do. But I know that everybody is working together to try to help solve this case and bring Mrs. Guthrie home. Right. It's really honorable that everyone is coming together, putting aside politics, to try to focus on what the important thing is, and that is bringing her home safely. Sheriff, thank you so much for speaking with us today. Thank you. Have a good one. Federal authorities are now investigating an illegal bio lab at a home in Las Vegas. The owner is a Chinese national who is currently in custody. He was arrested three years ago for running an unlicensed bio lab in California, where officials found about 1,000 mice engineered to carry COVID-19. NTD's Juliet Song has more. Investigations are underway over a suspected bio lab found inside a Las Vegas home. SWAT teams and the FBI swooped in on Saturday. Within a locked garage, they found refrigerators and vials with unknown substances. A local sheriff says the materials could be biological or hazardous. Those materials have been transferred to an FBI lab for testing. Investigators say there is no threat to the public. The property manager of the home has been taken into custody. The owner of the home, Jia Beizhu, is already in federal custody. He was arrested after officials discovered an illegal bio lab he operated in California. There, authorities discovered 1,000 mice whose DNA has been engineered to catch and carry the COVID-19 virus. Officials also uncovered at least 20 potentially infectious agents, including HIV, tuberculosis, and the deadliest known form of malaria. Zhu has been charged with making misbranded medical devices. His attorney says he has no involvement in any alleged bio lab tied to the Las Vegas investigation. He's also wanted in Canada for stealing millions of dollars' worth of intellectual property from U.S. companies. He's scheduled for trial in April in the California case. Julia Song, NTD News. And new information is coming in about the alleged illegal bio lab in Las Vegas. The property's former cleaning employee says multiple people who spent time inside the house fell ill. That's according to newly released court documents. Police say the cleaner reported seeing lab-style equipment, chemical containers, and refrigerators inside a locked garage, along with a strong hospital-like odor. She told investigators that she had a handyman become deathly ill. She said days after entering the space, they were suffering breathing problems, fatigue, and muscle aches. The cleaner also said several guests and residents got sick, including one person hospitalized with severe respiratory issues. Lawmakers are calling for urgent action after the FBI raided a China-linked bio lab in Las Vegas over the weekend. Authorities say they seized over 1,000 samples from the lab for testing. Joining us to discuss is Shawn Lin, former U.S. Army microbiologist. And we have Casey Fleming, chairman and CEO of Black Ops Partners Corporation, national security advisor, and author of The Red Tsunami. So good afternoon to you guys both. Thank you for joining us today. Shawn, I want to start with you. So the bio lab found in California in 2023 had material labeled as pathogens, such as HIV, malaria, and even Ebola. So how likely is it that this bio lab also held serious pathogens and any risk of leaks? So right now, the federal agency already confiscated about 1,000 reagent materials and being shifted to an FBI lab in Maryland for further testing. So we don't know the identity for those samples right now. But the report that I saw that actually local police indicating the pattern of those materials are very similar to what was found in the Reedy lab in California in 2023. So it's likely some of these reagents, you know, with all kinds of different colors and some are like gallon-sized containers and many vials, probably contain similar biomaterials, like what was found in 2023. But no reports indicating they might have transgenic mice in this facility. So it appears to me this is actually a relocation of those materials previously stored in the Reedy lab in California. So after Zhu was investigated in year 2023 sometime, probably he transferred some of the materials from California to Las Vegas, this garage storage site. It's not really a lab, but it's more a storage site. But it's still dangerous. As you see from the reports, many local people actually get seriously sick when they clean the house or get in this house. So I think it's still dangerous. We're waiting for the results from the federal agencies. Okay, so Casey, I want to ask you, this site in Vegas is rather close to a military air base, and the 2023 Reedy lab was also about an hour away by car to a naval air base. I can't help to think here that this is not a coincidence, but you tell me, Casey. It's never a coincidence with the CCP. There's a master plan to everything that they do. The issue is not just one bio lab, how many more are there? And it also shows how weak our government is on prosecuting. I mean, once this gentleman was identified in 2023, my question is, why is he still in the United States? And he was kicked out of Canada. He had a Vancouver driver's license. So the point is, it's serious all the way around. Number one, we have an enemy who wants to destroy us. I mean, those are a thousand mice, a thousand mice. And it's in a dark site, a black lab, if you will, that's California. And the other one in Las Vegas is in a residential neighborhood. So yes, they're among us. The infiltration and subversion is extremely serious. Most people do not, and most of Congress, do not understand how serious the Chinese Communist Party is on eliminating and destroying the United States. Okay, so Casey, it looks like we might have lost Sean, our other guest. He might come back, he might not. But in the meantime, can I just ask you here, Congress's select committee on the Chinese Communist Party has raised concerns of bioweapons research at the Reedley Lab. How do we define what a bioweapon is? Is this situation under that classification? Your thoughts on this? Well, it is, but I would defer to the other expert, Sean Lin. He would have that answer in spades. All right, Sean, you came back at just the right moment. Can you answer this question, please? Can you hear me well? Yes. Okay, sorry, what's the question? I missed probably part of your question. Okay, so I was asking Casey while you were gone that, you know, Congress's select committee on the Chinese Communist Party has raised concerns of bioweapons research at the Reedley Lab. How do we define what a bioweapon is? And what could this look like? So this is a big question regarding bioweapons. Of course, it can be different ways. It can be traditional biological weapons. It can be different bacterias engineered and to be dissipated in the enemy populations. It can be a newer version of biological weapons, like the engineered virus tox. It can be neurotoxins. It can be special designed, ethnic-specific drugs or bioagents, so they can target specific ethnic groups. It can be a special engineered, like, enhanced soldier performance, you know. So these are different types of biological weapons because technology evolves so fast. It can be a new version of the drugs, maybe something similar to, like, middle-life forms of bacterias. So there are different ways you can engineer biological weapons. As long as it's aimed to harm people, not just the health, sometimes it can be lethal, take people's lives. So I think these are all biological warfares. And so, of course, this is just physically, but there are also biological weapons that aim to target people's mental situations, psychological situations. So these are different types of biological weapons. So in this case, in these two lab cases in California, a lot of speakers, I think they definitely point out a big issue that there is no oversight about private laboratories. There's no vetting process for any sellers of biological materials to purchasers. There's no vetting for checking the legitimacy of the purchasers. And so this is a really dangerous situation. So I think the U.S. government need set up those measures to enhance the monitoring of biological reagents purchased as transaction selling, storage, all these different processes. And at the same time, we need to closely monitor CCP's grand plan for biological engineering, as well as some genetic manipulations. There are different tools used now. In the past, we knew about CRISPR technology, they can insights, but now they have tools, they can do large chromosome rearrangement. So there are different animals that they can play around now. So we're being high alert about any potential biological warfare CCP may wage on the United States. So Casey, can you just add to that? Sean was talking about potential gaps in vetting, and you were surprised, you said earlier that this person is still in the United States after being found out a couple of years ago. And on top of that, we have a second lab in just a span of a few years. So what needs to change? Perhaps there needs to be some kind of change in the law. Well, it's not just the law, it's law enforcement, it's training our officers what to look for, anomalies, training the public. This is an unrestricted warfare method, biological warfare is, and we're not ready for it. We don't understand what unrestricted warfare is. But we do have an enemy that wants to destroy us. And this is another perfect example. In the federal government, there's typically an interdiction rate ratio. And they say that they interdict usually one to 2% of smuggling drugs, all these type of things. So you can be rest assured, there are more of these labs in the US, in Canada, and so on. So yes, we need to wake up as a country. The Select Committee is doing an excellent job, but they're coming from behind on this thing. They need a lot more help. They need to be made a permanent Select Committee on this, but they are certainly a beacon and a lightning rod in government. But the government is so far behind all this infiltration and subversion of our enemy inside of our borders, not to mention over 200,000 Chinese Communist Party PLA special forces came in under this in the southern border. You know, we've got 40 CCP police stations in the United States. We've got all these things that are going on and enough is enough. So it's something that we all need to become aware of. So Sean, Casey talked about the CCP's unrestricted warfare in the US, and we've seen recent cases of Chinese nationals as well, being charged and convicted of smuggling of biological pathogens into the US. Is all of this connected in some way? Yes, and overall, I think Chinese government have been using military-civil fusion mechanisms to develop their biotechnology. And so, of course, many of the Chinese scholar researchers are coming in the name of doing academia research. Are there any potential military applications for those research and discoveries? So this is actually an area the United States definitely needs to enhance the monitoring process, not just those universities that have federal funding, because any private lab they can set up, they can obtain the same technology, and also need to find out these people's connections with Chinese entities. So many of the researchers actually have strong connections with CCP branch organizations. Some have strong connections with United Front work departments, just like Jesse Zhu in these cases. Mr. Zhu, he actually has a higher content, has a strong tie with the United Front operations. And very obviously, he now acts like a mafia boss in federal custody. He actually directed Ari Solomon in Las Vegas to direct him to do some rental money operations as well, maybe instruct him on how to store these materials, how to relocate those materials to Las Vegas. So he has no remorse, he has no repentance on all his fraud operation as well as some maybe vicious operation to obtain these dangerous biomaterials. And we don't know what will be his ultimate purpose. Are there any directives from CCP's governments? We don't know, because in early 2000, he was running a state-run enterprise. It's called the Henan Pioneer Aide Biological Engineering Company, which was actually state-owned enterprises. He has a strong connection with CCP government entities. So we don't know whether he had this kind of directive from the Chinese government. So I think the federal government need to do additional research on his background, his connection with CCP, maybe with leadership, including these military-civil fusion mechanisms, and see what kind of role he truly plays in his whole schemes. So Casey, let me just get your final thoughts here. By your assessment, what is the likelihood that the CCP is directly involved in this? Sean said there's no official information about whether Beijing is giving directives, but what is your analysis? The answer is 100% behind it. These people don't operate on their own merit. When they leave China, they have to sign a loyalty pledge to the Chinese Communist Party that includes college students and so on. Everyone, when you grow up in a communist country, you're all considered an agent of the state. So 100%, for those of us who have studied the CCP in China for many, many years, 100% connection. Okay. Thank you for both of you for comments today. Really engaging conversation. Thank you. Thank you, Don. Thank you for inviting me. U.S. officials conclude the second round of trilateral talks with their counterparts from Russia and Ukraine. Washington and Moscow are now re-establishing communication, which ended back in 2021. The different parties are also exchanging hundreds of prisoners of war. NTD's international correspondent Arian Pasdar has the story. People in Ukraine welcoming home their family members, returning on Thursday after being held as prisoners of war in Russia. Son, we're waiting because I'm going crazy. Come on, hurry up and come here. The exchange was announced after a two-day meeting between officials from the U.S., Ukraine, and Russia. U.S. Special Envoy Steve Whitcock says Russia and Ukraine agreed to exchange 314 prisoners, the first such exchange in five months, adding that the United States and Russia also agreed to establish a military-to-military dialogue. This channel of communication was suspended prior to the onset of this conflict and is crucial to achieving and maintaining peace. He added that talks will continue with additional progress anticipated in the coming weeks. And Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky saying it can't yet be made public what was discussed so far. Regarding the nature of the conversation and what was discussed, they talked about everything. The negotiators consider the information very sensitive and want to come and brief me in detail. The Russian side says the three parties did make some progress toward a peace treaty to end the war. Also on Thursday, the last remaining nuclear arms control treaty between the U.S. and Russia is expiring. This ends legally binding limits on the world's two largest nuclear arsenals for the first time in decades. The treaty entered into force in 2011 and was extended for five years in 2021. It's not yet clear if Washington and Moscow used Thursday's talks to extend the treaty again. Arian Pasdar, NTD News.