NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (July 8)

Welcome to NTD Evening News. Our top story tonight, the U.S. Central Command has initiated additional strikes against Iran to further reduce the threat to commercial navigation in the Strait of Hormuz. And President Trump wraps up the NATO summit with new comments on defense spending, Turkey and Iran. NTD's Iris Tao has the latest from the summit. President Trump says the U.S. is allowing Ukraine to produce Patriot air defense systems. Ariane Pasdar has more on Trump's meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the NATO summit. President Trump moves to rescind Syria's designation as a state sponsor of terrorism. The decision follows an executive order terminating a U.S. sanctions program. Vice President J.D. Vance in Wisconsin highlighting the Anti-Fraud Task Force's latest efforts to combat fraud. Vance saying they found billions of dollars worth of fraud in a program he didn't even know existed. Jason Perry has those details. And the Trump administration taking action to help improve voter confidence with the Justice Department sending a warning to state election officials. Jason Blair has the details. Democratic Senate nominee Graham Platner says he's reflecting on the future of his campaign as fellow Democrats are calling on him to drop out. David Lamb has the details. This is NTV Evening News, live from our global headquarters in New York City. Here's Kerry Dunst. Good evening. Thank you for joining us tonight. The U.S. launching new strikes against Iran as President Trump is on his way back from Turkey after what he calls a successful NATO summit. President saying allies are stepping up defense spending while boosting demand for American made military equipment. Joining us now live from the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, is NTD's White House correspondent Iris Tao. Good evening, Iris. What can you tell us about this latest round of strikes in Iran? Good evening to you as well, Kerry. So tonight the U.S. carrying out a new round of strikes against Iran as the Central Command says as to further degrade Iran's ability to threaten freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz. And it comes as Iranian state media now reporting explosions in several cities and President Trump reposting on True Social some videos apparently showing some of those explosions. President Trump asked on True Social now on his way back to Washington saying, quote, this is in retribution for yesterday's bombing of ships by Iran. If it happens again, it will get much worse. Tonight at the NATO summit here in Turkey's capital, Ankara, President Trump warning that if Iran hits, the U.S. will hit them ten times harder, while also noting that the conflict with Iran will still be over soon. Let's take a look. I think it's going to go very quickly. They hit a couple of ships, and so we hit them much harder. We may even, somebody asked before, do you think you'll hit them tonight? I said, we might. Yeah, we might. Anything that happens is going to be over very quickly. And we'll only, and we'll only make it safer, including for oil. And the latest strikes tonight come just hours after President Trump suggested today at the NATO summit that he thinks the ceasefire with Iran is now over. Last night, not just tonight, the U.S. has already conducted strikes against Iran in retaliation over Iran's striking of ships in the Strait of Hormuz, a violation of the ceasefire according to the Trump administration. Now President Trump today saying that after getting to know Iran's new leader even better, he thinks there are liars, cheaters in the U.S. might be just wasting time negotiating with them. They're scum. They're sick people. They're led by sick people. And they're vicious, violent people. And if they had a nuclear weapon, they'd use it. As far as I'm concerned, it's over. I'll speak to our negotiators. They want to negotiate. They're good people. Steve Whitkoff, Jared Kushner, but they have to come back to me. As far as I'm concerned, it's just a waste of time dealing with them. Now President Trump says that he will allow talks with Iran to continue, though he's also noting that he might not want to make a deal with them anymore. And Iris, as the president addresses nations on the world stage, you asked the president an important question on communism. Tell us more about that. Sure. So as the president, of course, today takes center stage on this NATO summit, he's warning about the threat of communism. Now I asked him what his message would be to not only people living under communism and socialism, but also especially to people in the West who might not realize that communism has come so close to home. He gave a dire warning. You've been issuing a wake-up call to Americans at home about the dangers of communism. And now you're speaking on the world stage. What's your message to people both living under communist and socialist regimes, but also people living under democracies like in Europe and America who might not have realized how close communism has come to home? Yeah, that's a great question, actually. But look, I want to get the word out because what's forming is communism in the country. Communism's easy to sell. I would be the greatest communist in history. I'd be right up there with Lenin. I think this country, with this thing that's going around, is in more danger than it was during World War I, World War II. If you talk about September 11th, if you talk about Pearl Harbor, that was big danger. I think this is, I think the concept of us going communist, because one thing that happens when you go communist, you never come back, never comes back. You die in squalor. You die, you die a horrible death. You die in squalor. And it gets very evil and very nasty. Now President Trump is on his way back from Turkey to Washington. Now at the end of this NATO summit, the president sounding quite happy about NATO, saying that there's a lot of unity and love in the room, quite different from his mood going into the meeting as he says he was very upset with NATO for his lack of willingness to help during the conflict with Iran, but also over his lack of enough spending on their own defenses. Now of course on his way home, there's a new aspect to it, which is he's not going on the same plane that he came here with. He's now going back instead on the old Air Force One, not the new jet, and not the new Air Force One that was given to the U.S. by Qatar. Now it comes amidst security speculation over whether this is over because of heightened security concerns over now of course a renewed shooting war between the U.S. and Iran. The president saying though that is for the troops and some European bases to tour the new Air Force One. So of course a lot of questions we expect on that too, when the president gets back to Washington. After one in the morning there in Ankara, a very long day for you, Iris. Looking forward to seeing you back stateside. Thank you. Next, President Trump meeting today with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the NATO summit. Trump says the U.S. is allowing Ukraine to produce Patriot air defense systems. NDD's international correspondent Arjen Pazdar has more on the NATO summit and Ukraine. We're going to give a license to you to make Patriots, that's pretty cool, right? President Trump on Wednesday attending the NATO summit in Turkey. The move to allow Ukraine to produce Patriot missile systems comes after repeated requests from Kiev. This way he can't complain that we're not giving him enough. He'd say, make them yourself. We haven't informed the company of that yet, but that'll work out all right. Sure they'll be thrilled. The president also said he was scheduled to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin after meeting with Zelensky to work out a peace deal between the two countries. Also at the summit, NATO Chief Mark Rutte saying he understands President Trump's frustration with NATO members not paying their fair share. This is a frustration on the U.S. part since Eisenhower. And this American president has been able to solve this. And not only get the Europeans to commit to spend the same as the U.S., but also to deliver on that commitment. Rutte says that NATO members Norway, Finland, Germany and Denmark signed a letter of intent to purchase high-attitude surveillance drones. These additional aircraft will provide persistent surveillance over large maritime areas, day and night. They can fly for long periods at high altitudes and cover large areas. Meanwhile in Russia, footage released by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky shows multiple Russian oil refineries on fire on Wednesday. Zelensky says Ukraine struck four different regions in Russia, with the furthest one lying roughly a thousand miles behind the front lines. Ukraine also continues attacking Russia's so-called Shadow Fleet, releasing this footage which shows an attack on another nine vessels. This just one day after Ukraine hit eight vessels heading toward Crimea on a fuel delivery. Russia is now introducing a ban on diesel exports to guarantee that its domestic demand is covered. Due to Ukraine's attacks, parts of Russia are experiencing fuel shortages. Cars are seen lining up for gas, with some saying they're often waiting for two hours. Arian Pasdar, NTD News. The Trump administration is moving to rescind Syria's designation as a state sponsor of terrorism. President Trump saying he has notified Congress. President Trump met with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa today during the NATO summit in Ankara. The decision to remove Syria from the list follows Trump's executive order last month terminating a U.S. sanctions program. President Trump has also expressed support for al-Sharaa's actions against Islamic State. Al-Sharaa was a commander of al-Qaeda's Nusra Front in Syria before he cut ties with that group in 2016. He then led a coalition of rebel factions in late 2024, and that toppled former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Congress will now conduct a 45-day review before that decision can take effect. And Vice President J.D. Vance speaking in Wisconsin today, saying his anti-fraud task force has uncovered billions in fraud. Vance also announcing new subpoenas in connection with the H-1B visa program, accusing large corporations of using it to undercut the wages of American workers. And today's Jason Perry has the latest. Vice President J.D. Vance in Wisconsin on Wednesday highlighting his anti-fraud task force's efforts to combat fraud, saying they've uncovered billions of fraudulent Medicare billing claims. So much fraud. I didn't even know this program existed, OK? So what is, what is allografts? These are the, you know, skin grafts that people get when they get a wound or they get a burn. A very, very important medical procedure, but a medical procedure that was being radically taken advantage of. Vance saying that in the years 2019, 2020 and 2021, less than a billion dollars was paid for these skin grafts. What happens under the Biden administration? All of a sudden we go from less than a billion dollars spent on these skin grafts to 15 billion dollars in 2025. Vance adding that it was supposed to go up to 25 billion dollars this year, but saying the Trump administration cut down on fraudulent payments and that the amount paid for skin grafts is once again under a billion dollars. Vance explaining another scam they've uncovered, this one involving phony sales of medical equipment. There are people setting up these programs, setting up companies that sell durable medical equipment, and they're not selling a single product, but they're billing for lots of product. Then explaining the steps being taken to prevent that sort of fraud. If you say that you're going to provide medical equipment to our seniors, we're going to confirm that you're actually delivering product before we pay a single one of those bills, and we save billions of dollars. Vance also announcing what he calls another fraud crackdown, this time on the HB-1 visa program, which allows skilled foreign workers to come to the United States and work. But you know what's happening way too much? Is that big corporations and fraudsters overseas are using this program to undercut the wages of American workers. Vance saying the Department of Labor has issued dozens of subpoenas and launched investigations into foreign fraudsters who are trying to take advantage of the H-1B visa program. Jason Perry, NTD News. A warning sent to state election officials from the Justice Department. If they knowingly keep non-citizens on the voter rolls or count a non-citizen vote, they could face charges. NTD correspondent Jason Blair has more. The Justice Department is warning election officials nationwide that knowingly allowing non-citizens on voter rolls or counting their ballots in federal elections could lead to criminal charges. The DOJ sent letters to all 50 states and the District of Columbia, giving them five In the letter, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon wrote. DOJ's Civil Rights Division has made reviewing statewide voter rolls a top priority. Dhillon says they've already identified hundreds of thousands of duplicate, deceased, and potential non-citizen entities nationwide, saying the Justice Department will continue requiring states to clean their rolls to prevent erosion of citizens' confidence in our elections. Another Trump administration priority is the Save America Act, which would require proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections and photo ID at the polls. Opponents to the measure, like Democrat Senator Dick Durbin, argue that it's, quote, Proponents like Senator Rand Paul, a co-sponsor of the bill, says, quote, Assistant AG Dhillon also announced that the DOJ will deploy election monitors to 15 sites in six states. That is Arizona, Michigan, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire and Virginia, ahead of upcoming primaries. She called it a routine nonpartisan practice used by prior administrations. For example, in 2022, in the primary season, there were nine jurisdictions in which the prior administration sent election monitors during primaries. In 2024, similarly, there were in that election, 27 different jurisdictions. Dhillon also says the monitors aim to ensure that no language barriers, full access for Americans with disabilities and that every eligible voter can cast a ballot. It's also important to make sure that our voting is accurate so that every citizen who votes has their vote counted equally without being canceled out by somebody who shouldn't be voting. In a separate case, ICE announced Tuesday that an Australian national has been arrested and charged with illegally voting in multiple federal elections after falsely claiming U.S. citizenship. The suspect was indicted on June 11th on the charges of illegally voting in an election and making false statements in order to register to vote. Reporting in Washington, D.C., Jason Blair, NTD News. Coming up, the New York City mayor gives an update on yesterday's evacuation of a building whose structural support columns began to buckle and a structural engineer chimes in. Sean Marshall has more. Day three of the Tyler Robinson preliminary hearing underway in Utah. Christina Corona reports what a State Bureau of Investigation agent told the court about the night Robinson turned himself in and key evidence in the case. And Democratic nominee Graham Plattner says he is reflecting on the future of his Senate campaign as fellow Democrats call on him to drop out. David Lam has the details. I think building kindness in children from a very young age is foundational to their growth, to building their character, to allow them to share with each other in a classroom and in a space that is safe, like the Ganjing World platform. I'm a New York State certified teacher. Currently, I teach in a public school in upstate New York. And I'm also a Ganjing World campus channel creator. 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Welcome back to Entity Evening News. I'm Cary Dunst. It's day three of the preliminary hearing for Tyler Robinson. He's the man accused of assassinating Charlie Kirk. Today, prosecutors calling to the stand an agent with the Utah State Bureau of Investigation as the testimony continues in Pravo, Utah. Entity's Christina Corona is live. She's outside the courthouse. Christina, thanks for joining. What's the latest? Good afternoon, Cary. That's right. Prosecutors called Bryant Davis to the stand. He's an agent with the FBI who interviewed Tyler Robinson's mother and described the day Tyler Robinson turned himself in on September 11th. Let's take a look. And Agent Davis, who are we seeing here? That's Tyler Robinson. And although we are watching it on video, what is he wearing at this time? He's working a dark colored baseball cap with a that's like a it's like maybe the hurdy symbol on it, like a white symbol on front. It's a burgundy short sleeve shirt with no graphics. It's blue jeans and gray and white tennis shoes with their converse style tennis shoes. He also testified about a bullet that was found on a different building on the rooftop after the shooting. Let's take a look. It was a two twenty three caliber. What is a live round? It's a round that had not been fired. So so at the projectile and as a fully functional bullet with ammunition with the bullet. Did you learn if this two twenty three bullet found on top of the computer science building was a live round? Yes. And how do you know that was it was still intact, still had the primer had not been was it was not dented up and fired. It still had the bullet projectile in the end and still sealed. Davis also testified that Tyler Robinson's lover and roommate, Lance Twiggs, was interviewed twice by investigators, once on September 12th and another on April 20th. Attorneys argued for about an hour for about an hour whether that video should be shown in court. Carrie and Christina, we're now in the middle of the preliminary hearing. What can we look forward to for the rest of the week with the hearings in the trial? So looking ahead, prosecutors expect to call Jen foul Molina back to the witness stand. She is an agent with the FBI who linked Tyler Robinson's DNA to the evidence. And the defense is expect to call two more witnesses by the end of the week, both of whom are with the ATF. Back to you. Thanks for keeping us updated, Christina. Next, Democratic Senate nominee Graham Plattner is reflecting on his campaign after fellow Democrats are calling on him now to drop out of the race. He faces multiple allegations of sexual assault, all of which he denies. And to these, David Lam reports. Waves of Democrats are urging Democratic nominee Graham Plattner to withdraw from the U.S. Senate race in Maine after several allegations of sexual assault have surfaced. The main Democratic Party leader said over the past several weeks, multiple women have made serious, credible allegations against Graham Plattner. Plattner said this week he was taking time to reflect on his campaign, but he denies the allegations. Any accusation of nonconsensual behavior is categorically false. We are taking the time to reflect on the best path forward for the state that I love, the people that I love, the movement I belong to throughout it all. You never turned your back on me and I will not turn my back on you now. The seat is a key target for Democrats to win majority control of the Senate. Republicans currently hold 53 Senate seats, while Democrats hold 47, including two independents who caucus with Democrats. A senior state Democrat says that Plattner's campaign would have no role in selecting his replacement. Maine Secretary of State Shanna Bellows has publicly expressed interest in running for the U.S. Senate seat if Plattner drops out. Those survivors are so incredibly brave to speak out and share their stories, and survivors deserve to be respected and heard. Former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson also expressing interest in pursuing the seat. Well, I think it's definitely a challenge, you know, a shorter timeline. But I think that, again, you know, there's a movement here in Maine and across this country of people that are fed up with health care not being offered to everyday people. According to Maine law, Plattner needs to end his campaign by July 13th at 5 p.m. to give Democrats a two week window to select a replacement. The Democratic nominee will face incumbent Republican Susan Collins in November. David Lam, NTD News. And if Plattner were to drop out, who would replace him as the party's nominee? Tune in for panel discussion tonight on Capitol Report with Steve Lance at 7 p.m. Eastern, just after evening news. And we have an update on the situation in Midtown Manhattan, in which that structural damage threatened the possible collapse of a high rise right there in Midtown. Yesterday, officials ordered the evacuation of several surrounding buildings. The structural engineer gives his perspective and NTD's Sean Marshall brings us the latest. Workers have begun stabilizing a Manhattan high rise after buckled column and sagging floors at the site forced evacuations in and around the Midtown construction site on Tuesday. Parts of the area have been deemed safe enough for people to return to some of the surrounding buildings. But four nearby buildings are still under full evacuation orders as a precautionary measure. In addition to narrowing the number of buildings on a vacate order, we've also narrowed the frozen zone that is going to continue to narrow as we get more and more information from the building. As the DOB commissioner said, the building is stable. And yet we are going to continue to prioritize the safety of all that immediate area. That's why we continue to have vacate orders for those four buildings, that one ground floor restaurant. I am I am also incredibly thankful for the fact that there have been no injuries thus far and that every single worker has been accounted for in an office building. For example, the washrooms are shared, whereas in a residential building, each unit is going to have its own washroom. And so you you're going to have to cut through the slabs. You know, there's a structural shock that goes into the building. You've got to cut this, cut that, reframe the structure somehow. But that's all doable. It has to follow a particular sequence. And but if that sequence, something happens in that intermediate stage, you could have a situation where a column. Starts to receive loads that it was not supposed to receive, and then it could buckle. Mayor Zeron Mamdani's office said late Tuesday that a team had gone floor to floor and observed no additional movement of the damaged columns. The building is a former Pfizer headquarters and is being converted to luxury apartments. So I had to go to the consulate yesterday to get my documents and stuff like that for my passport and whatever. And I took yesterday off to do that. And I couldn't do that yesterday because they end up evacuating the building right beside it. Yeah. So I have to take time again out today to do that. So typically we'll design to make sure that these don't happen. We show the structure. We'll make sure that the structure is well supported on a temporary basis before the permanent structure is, you know, comes on or before we reinforce the existing structure. But living in the city, like we need to do better with building infrastructure just so that you're not doing people like that. Nearby buildings, including a school, were evacuated early Tuesday. Builders say the 37 story tower is part of the city's largest office to residential conversion project, with over 1,600 planned units. Sean Marshall, NTD News. Coming up, a very consequential NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, with President Trump dominating the agenda. We're going to speak with an international military analyst on what comes next in Iran. I am so glad you ladies are here. You each have your own rooms. Thank you. Get settled in. I'll call you for dinner. Adopting teen sisters. It's a lot. Girls, you're going to be late. You want breakfast? No thanks, we're good. They're always in their own world. Twice the work, twice the surprises. Just try it. But if you think of it that way, they're also twice as fulfilling. Is it OK to call you mom? Of course you can. Being a cowboy, I don't know anything different from when I was 34 years old. I did tough things. I thought everybody needed to do tough things. And if you didn't, I didn't have time for it. I had a very successful career at a very young age and life is fast. I was preparing physically. I wasn't doing anything mentally on the inside. And then I got hurt. I wanted to be better as a person. And I really dug into mental health. I start my day with 20 minute workouts. I live life eight seconds at a time. Horses are so therapeutic. They know what you're feeling when you're nervous, they're nervous. You won't say it back, but we're pals. I take a lot of responsibility in taking care of my kids, my family, being there for them. You're going to have tough days. Everybody does. Find a place to stop and just breathe. Love your mind. My mom and dad were traditional Asian parents. Now, my father would go to work before I woke up in the morning and then he would come home too tired to play with me. I tell my son, I love you every single day. Now, my dad has never said that to me, not because he doesn't love me, but because culturally it was uncomfortable for him. So I teased him the other day and I said, how come you never say that to me? And he said, you're too old now. Now that he's a grandfather, he says I love you to my son every time he sees him. My advice to all the fathers out there, forget the material things, forget the cultural restrictions. They grow up way too fast for you to waste even a single precious minute or moment. Welcome back to NTD Evening News. I'm Kerry Dunst. It was a very consequential NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, with President Trump dominating the agenda. Joining us to discuss is Rick Fisher. He's a senior fellow at the International Assessment and Strategy Center, as well as an international military analyst. Rick, thanks for joining this evening. Let's start with President Trump saying the MOU with Iran is over and that there would be strikes tonight. Let's listen to the president. I don't want to deal with them anymore. They're scum. You know what scum is? They're scum. They're sick people. They're led by sick people. And they're vicious, violent people. And if they had a nuclear weapon, they'd use it. Rick, today, the U.S. military announcing it launched a second wave of strikes on Iran. So I want to get your view on what are the objectives of the president? Does he want to bring them back to the table yet again? Or have they crossed the president's red line at this point? It's not clear that Iran has completely crossed the red line. And as we've seen on so many previous occasions, President Trump is quite adept at escalating pressure, especially military pressure, in order to try to corral the Iranians back to the table. The Iranians are devastated. They're divided. Their leadership has been just so damaged that they're not able to form a consensus, much less move in a direction that would end this war. President Trump correctly probably deduces that Iran needs more pressure. And the September or the June 17 memorandum of understanding has lasted barely 20 days. It wasn't expected to succeed. And now President Trump is is back to applying pressure. Yeah, certainly we'll be watching this very closely by the morning. We should have a sense of what actually took place. And keeping up with this, of course, throughout the week, I want to move now to Russia and Ukraine. President Trump at NATO saying that he'll allow Ukraine now to produce their own Patriot missiles. Will this be the difference maker for Ukraine to defend its cities and its citizens? It'll definitely help. I mean, it'll take a year or two for Iran to be equipped with the factories and the parts and the people to make these missiles. But there are move. There's movement afoot to export from NATO countries more Patriot missiles. Ukraine definitely needs these missiles, especially to combat Russian short and medium range ballistic missiles that move very fast, as opposed to the hundreds and hundreds of slower moving drones that the Russians are using that Ukraine can take out by other means. Yeah, every time one of these rockets gets launched at a Ukrainian city, it is hard to watch. I want to get your view, though, on how Russia now will respond to this arms escalation on the Ukraine side. The Russians will continue as they have pounding Ukraine, launching missiles, conducting proceeding with their missile terror campaign. But they're stuck. They are actually being pushed back. They're not making advances. Russia is getting poorer. Pressure is building on Putin. It is it is likely that in the race to see who fails first, it could be Russia. Very interesting comment. Potentially, he has overplayed his hand. Time will tell. I do want to move to the other element coming out of NATO. China testing a nuclear capable missile. It traveled all the way through the Pacific theater while European and Pacific allies were strengthening their own defense commitments. The U.N. Secretary General Mark Rutte had this to say about the communist regime. Let's have a look. And I think it is evidence of the fact that we cannot be naive about China. You know this. And this is why we have this close cooperation, because the theaters are getting more and more intertwined, connected. What happens in the in the in the Pacific is relevant to what is happening in in the transatlantic. And we see it also within the war with Ukraine, where China, North Korea and Iran are key enablers of Russia's unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine. So, Rick, of course, NATO has historically worked to counter Russia in the European theater. But does NATO now have a role to play with countering the Chinese communist regime? Absolutely. The threats theaters are definitely connected, as the NATO secretary general just mentioned. China helps Russia in its war against Ukraine in the future. Russia will help China in its war against Taiwan. It will help North Korea in its war against South Korea and Japan. It is time for NATO to have a role in deterring China as it is time for the Asian allies led by the United States also to have a greater stake in the security of Europe and NATO. Well, that missile that China tested was nuclear capable. Very alarming indeed. Rick Fisher, thank you for sharing your insights with us this evening. Thank you. And at this week's summit in Turkey, NATO leaders are warning the alliance facing growing threats from Russia and China, and they're responding now with billions in new military investments. And today's Washington correspondent, Jack Bradley, brings us more from drones to missile defense to securing the raw materials needed to build advanced weapons. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte says the alliance is preparing for a new era to counter China and Russia. Several allies are committed to working together to acquire, store, transport and manage stockpiles of defense critical materials components. The new initiative comes as China controls much of the world's supply of rare earth minerals and about 90 percent of the processing capacity to make them useful for radar systems, guided missiles, fighter aircraft and other military technology. China continues to modernize its armed forces and expand its nuclear capabilities without transparency. North Korea continues to expand its nuclear program and supply Russia. And while recent U.S. action has significantly degraded Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs, we must remain vigilant. These countries are increasingly working together. China test fired a nuclear capable intercontinental ballistic missile into the Pacific from a submarine this week. Rutte calling it another reminder of the challenges facing the alliance. We cannot be naive about China. You know this. And this is why we have this close cooperation, because the theaters are getting more and more intertwined, connected. What happens in the in the Pacific is relevant to what is happening in in the transatlantic. And we see it also with in a war with Ukraine, with China, North Korea and Iran are key enablers of Russia's unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine. That's as China and Russia are holding joint naval drills off of China's northeastern coastal city of Qingdao. NATO says those threats are driving major new investments, including a 40 billion dollar initiative involving all 32 allies to rapidly expand drone production and counter drone technologies. Drones have fundamentally altered, as we all know, the character of modern warfare. NATO is rapidly expanding our ability to deploy and operate drones at scale. Ruta also says Europe can no longer rely as heavily on the United States for its defense, arguing allies must build what he calls a much stronger Europe in a stronger NATO, as member nations work towards spending five percent of GDP on defense by 2035. For NTD News, Washington, I'm Jack Bradley. And staying with NATO news, President Trump today ordering an immediate halt to all trade with NATO ally Spain over the country's defense spending. Here's a look at the U.S. Spain trading relationship. A terrible partner. President Donald Trump isn't happy with European Union member Spain. I don't want anything to do with Spain. Trump said on Wednesday he'd ordered an immediate halt to all trade with Madrid. It's over the country's refusal to commit to NATO's new defense spending target of five percent of GDP. Here's some of the numbers. Just over 26 billion dollars worth of goods is how much the U.S. exported to Spain last year. That's according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The data further showed imports of around 21 billion dollars. The bureau shows the two countries have exchanged a total of around 18 billion dollars in both imports and exports already this year. Spanish lender CaixaBank previously described the U.S. as an important trading partner for Madrid, but said Spain's exposure was relatively low. It said in a piece published two years ago, the U.S. was the sixth most important trading partner for the country. CaixaBank said the U.S. made up just under five percent of the total sales of Spanish goods abroad two years ago. That's well below the weight of the U.S. market in other EU giants like Italy, Germany and France. The lender showed Spain mostly exports industrial machinery, chemical products and electrical equipment to the U.S. Such goods made up around 60 percent of exports with food products well behind that number. Wednesday's announcement is the second time Trump has told U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Besant to stop commerce with Spain. The trade between the two countries continued normally after his first such promise in March. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's office said it was treating Trump's statements as business as usual, and it didn't intend to change the quote excellent relations it's enjoyed with Washington. Now we go to Washington, D.C., where today's theme at the Great American State Fair is family life and community support. While strong families are often considered the foundation of a strong nation, what do everyday folks think are the biggest challenges facing Americans' families today? And Sam Wong was out on the fairgrounds to hear from the people in D.C. What are some of the biggest challenges facing American families today? The teaching of, you know, you can be any gender that you want to be if you feel like a girl and if you're a man, even though you don't have the chromosomes of a woman, that you can, you know, be the other sex. And that's just simply not true. A lot of it has to do with the indoctrination, I think, in public school system, you know, with with the children. They're trying to separate children from their families and keep secrets. If we don't have a nuclear family, you know, to support each other, everybody supports one another. And to learn from, like you said, with all the wisdom that is passed down from generation to generation. If we lose that here, you know, we'd lose a lot. The government is way too big, way too controlling. Let the American family be. Let the farmers operate. Let the families grow and prosper without overregulation, overtaxation, et cetera. In terms of education, we should be teaching, writing, reading, arithmetic, math, true history, not trying to change history. And I would say values, the right values, I think, earn dividends over time. Honesty, independence, dedication, fortitude. The world is against me. No, you just got to work harder. Do you think strong families are a good foundation for a strong country? Absolutely. The foundation of the nuclear family is the foundation of all civilization. Family is everything. It's where you learn, you know, your first things, and that's where you're going to get your first values. Without families, without, you know, that foundation, you know, our society starts to crumble. The likelihood of criminal activity increases greatly if you don't have two parents in the home who are there to discipline their own kids. We got three girls who are all married and seven grandkids. That's what it's all about. Christmas, they all come to the house. It is a whirlwind, but it's awesome. Family is critically important, and that's how, you know, we raise future generations with a good family unit. Without the family unit being cohesive and then growing from there to a township and then from there to a state and then from there to a country, the family is the foundation. Up ahead in tennis, we have a surprise player at Wimbledon's semifinals. Can a wild card win the Grand Slam? Dave Martin joins us with the details. Shen Yun Creations, the streaming platform from Shen Yun, featuring world-class dance, past programs, and all original music. Masterclasses, behind the scenes, comedy, and more. Explore ShenYunCreations.com. Is deep sea fish oil really healthy? Due to pollution in the oceans, most fish contain heavy metal elements and radioactive substances. That's why it's so important to choose a pure source of omega-3. Puritan Green Vegetable Omega-3 is made from purslane and perilla seeds, which are rich in nutrients and minerals. 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And now for your sports news, we're joined by NTD's Dave Martin. Dave, there's obviously World Cup, there's baseball news, but let's start with Wimbledon. It's very rare that an unknown breaks into the later rounds of a Grand Slam. And here at the mother of them all, Wimbledon, what's going on? Yeah, it's quite a Cinderella story, we would say for NCAA basketball right here. Wild card entrant Arthur Ferry beats 10th-ranked Flavio Caballi in the quarterfinals today in straight sets to advance to the semifinals of Wimbledon. He's the first wild card entrant to make it this far in a Grand Slam since Goran Ivanisevic back in 2001. Now, just to explain, at every Grand Slam, eight of the 128 players on both the wins and women's draws are given to wild card entrants that didn't otherwise qualify based on either their points or their ranking. Most of the time, these are players given to players who've had success in the past, like Serena Williams, for instance, this year. Now, the 23-year-old Ferry, though, ranked 114th in the world. He actually advanced to the second round of the Australian Open earlier this year, beat the same guy, Flavio Caballi, that he beats today. So he will play third-ranked Aleksandr Zverev there in the semifinals on Friday. Now, in the other men's semifinals, we've got quite a match here. Seven-time Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic will take on reigning champion Ionic Sinner. That'll also be Friday. On the women's side, semifinals are tomorrow. First match will be seventh-ranked Coco Gauff against ninth-ranked Karolina Mukhova. That'll start at 8.30 Eastern time in the morning. Then at 10 a.m., 13th-ranked Maria Kostiuk versus 12th-ranked Linda Naskova. You got all that, Gary? I got all that. You know, it's rough when the semifinal match should really be the final match. It's tough to see, you know, seven-time winner and then last year's winner matching up in the semis, but that's kind of what happens. That's why they play all year. It's for the seating, right? You know, I mean, Djokovic, he's fallen in the, he is a seven-time champion, but he has fallen behind Zverev now in the rankings. I mean, it's hard to believe because we're so used to seeing, I mean, Djokovic has been in the top three for such a long time. He holds record for being number one all time. He has not- He's the GOAT. Let's just say that, let's put it out there. He is the GOAT. I'll go on otherwise, yes. But yeah, him versus Yannick Sinner, I think that's the match everyone wants to see. I would have to say, though, that Zverev is playing better, definitely deserves to be higher, but that is a match that I definitely wanna see, too, Gary. So, Sinner versus Djokovic. Sinner has gotten the best of him over the last few years. Obviously, he's like, what, 15, 16 years younger, so that's the big match. That'll be Friday morning. All that, and you brought up Goran Ivanicevic. You never heard. You got that going for you. I appreciate that. Great serve. Yeah, big serve, Goran. Big serve, that guy, yeah. All right, let's move to the World Cup. It's actually a day off for the first time in a while, but people are still talking about that Argentina-Egypt game. I mean, it was the greatest comeback that I've seen, and though I haven't watched tons of soccer, but Egypt, not happy, right? Yeah, for sure. I mean, this was a wild scene yesterday when Argentina scored the go-ahead goal with two minutes into stoppage time. Now, while that goal was being scored, Egypt was asking about a tackle on the other end of the field of their player. Now, the resulting argument with the officials resulted in a red card for one of Egypt's assistant coaches, multiple yellow cards for several Egyptian, people on the Egyptian side. Now, the Egyptian Football Association said in a statement this morning, the Egyptian Football Association cannot remain silent regarding the refereeing decisions witnessed during the match against Argentina, as well as a failure to make appropriate use of the video assistant referee system, end quote. Now, that video referee system, that's the VAR system, it's just a replay review system they have in place for soccer. Now, it was a rough ending, though, I will admit, for Egypt. They led two-nothing late in the game, 79th minute. That's when Christian Romero scored for Argentina to make it 2-1. Four minutes later, Lionel Messi scored to tie it up. And then nine minutes later, you're two minutes into stoppage time. Enzo Fernandez headed in the goal that resulted in that argument that was right after the tackle on the other end. So while Egypt is eliminated, Argentina moves on. They will face Switzerland in the quarterfinals. Tomorrow, though, we've got France versus Morocco. The game starts at 4 p.m. Eastern time. And Beppe back in action. He's just trailing Messi. What's going on with the golden boot? Yeah, what is it? I would say at this point, you know, if this tournament's end right now, the winner goes to Lionel Messi. I mean, what is he? He's got eight goals now in here. I think Mbappe right behind him at seven. It's amazing, though, Mbappe is now just one behind him or two behind him on the all-time World Cup goals list. He's 11 years younger, you know. Messi's, what, 38, and Mbappe is 27. So soon, Mbappe is gonna pass him in all-time goals. It'll be very interesting how they match up if we get to see them play against each other. It's funny how the youth, they just find a way to overcome, you know. With tennis, it seemed like Sampras's records would stand the test of time, and then all of a sudden, three guys come out of the woodwork. I'm sure he thought that. He retired, what, 2002 with 14? That was two more than anyone else. Been seven years, Federer had already caught him and passed him, yeah. That had to be pretty humbling that he had three guys pass him within two decades, so. And then here we have Mbappe really on course, very much, to overcome Messi. And we saw Ronaldo, you know, have a pretty good World Cup, but couldn't quite get into that upper echelon. Yeah, you think about it. Cristiano Ronaldo hit 11 World Cup goals, which looks so little now compared to the 21 that Leonel Messi has. But listen, those 11, those are ninth all-time. So these are, he has put himself quite ahead of everyone else, I'll say that. All right, well, we'll have to keep an eye on that. We're getting an education in soccer. If it wasn't here in the States, I don't know if we'd be paying quite as much attention. We are, I definitely agree. This is the most we've done about soccer ever on this show. Or as Mike Leon likes to say, it's not called soccer, it's called football. But I'm not gonna start calling football American football, so I'm gonna have to keep calling it soccer. We're in the U.S., we're in the right right now, okay? All right, let's talk a little baseball news. Former Cy Young winner Justin Verlander, what's happening there? Yeah, 43-year-old Verlander, currently the oldest player in the Major Leagues. He's made just one start this season, though, for Detroit due to injuries, including a hip inflammation and a hamstring stain. He is, though, retiring after the season. He issued a statement over social media saying, quote, I've always believed that as long as I could compete at the level I expect of myself, I'd keep playing. I never wanted to retire because of a milestone, a number, or a date on the calendar. I wanted the game to tell me when it was time. Over the last several months, I realized the time has come. Now, Verlander, second overall pick by the Tigers back in 2004. He's won three Cy Young Awards in his career, two with Houston, actually one in Detroit. He also won MVP with Detroit back in 2011. Overall, he's got 266 wins while playing for four different teams. He will be a cinch for the Hall of Fame when he does retire. Some folks like to do it after the season ends, but he's on a victory tour. Good for him. Thanks for joining, Dave. Thank you, Kerry. And that is all the time we have for today's evening news, but for around the clock coverage, you can visit us at ntd.com or even better, you can use our NTD app. Thanks for tuning in. I'm Kerry Dunst. Good night.