NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (Aug. 7)

Welcome to NTD Evening News. Our top story tonight, President Trump announcing billions of dollars in new mining deals. They're aimed at countering energy weaponization by communist China. And the president vowing a Supreme Court appeal after federal judges order a halt to construction on the White House ballroom, Mariotsu, at the White House. In the Todd Blanche confirmation battle, Senator Bill Cassidy may have cleared the way for Blanche to become the next attorney general. Arlene Richards has the latest. The Senate approves new sanctions on Russia and Iran, and the bill is named in honor of late Senator Lindsey Graham. We have analysis of the development of the war. Nearly $2 billion for faith-based aid as religious hate crimes spike in Los Angeles. The Trump administration is working to protect religious liberty nationwide, Jack Bradley reports. And in basketball, a former NBA player declares for the WNBA draft, putting the league's eligibility rules to the test. NTD's Dave Martin joins us with the details. And more unresolved UAP files released today by the Pentagon, the fifth batch following President Trump's directive. Jason Blair has the takeaways. This is NTD Evening News, live from our global headquarters in New York City. Here's Keri Dutts. Good evening. Thanks for joining us tonight. President Trump holding a major mining industry roundtable today. He's vowing to cut foreign dependence and bring critical mineral processing back here to the U.S. We now go live to NTD's White House correspondent, Mari Otsu. She is at the North Lawn. Mari, good evening. Tell us more about this roundtable. Hey, Keri, good evening to you. That's right. President Trump today at the State Department here is announcing over $2 billion in critical mining projects and over $180 million in bringing American mining schools back to our country in a direct response to a longstanding vulnerability. That's in the past three decades, the U.S. has lost over 3,400 mines. Meanwhile, China currently refines more than 90 percent of the world's rare earths and produces the vast majority of the magnets that power our fighter jets, our missiles, our satellites and our advanced electronics. Here the president is today. Take a listen. Now, in my second term, we're achieving our economic independence, ensuring that America is never again reliant on hostile foreign nations for the resources our country needs to dominate in the future. Accredited mining programs in the United States now graduate less than 170 mining engineers each year, while China graduates more than 3,000 and half of our current mining workforce is set to retire within the next three years. Now, in the U.S., there are only currently 14 accredited American mining programs, whereas in China there are approximately 45 mining programs. This combination of extremely low American graduation numbers and impending retirements is creating a shortage that experts say today cannot be fixed without major new investment in education and training, which is the main focus of this roundtable. Now, the White House today saying that the objective here is simple to, over time, mine, process, refine and manufacture critical minerals in the U.S., expressing it as an existential urgency. Take a listen. It's a challenge we face in this domain that actually goes to the very survival of the country, because at the core of this is our industrial strength, but also our national sovereignty. If we want to lead in advanced manufacturing, A.I., semiconductors, energy defense, we can't depend on our foreign adversaries for the materials that underpin our industries. Meanwhile, today, in another defense of national security, President Trump is vowing to appeal to the Supreme Court after a panel of federal judges ordered a halt on construction at the White House ballroom. Now, President Trump today calling this ruling, quote, unlawful and politically motivated, a national security threat to our nation, saying that the complex is being built for Kerry, back to you. Thanks for that update, Mari. And President Trump's nominee for attorney general appears now to have cleared a major hurdle in the Senate. Louisiana Republican Bill Cassidy says he'll support Todd Blanche, likely giving Blanche enough votes now to win confirmation. Entity's Arlene Richards reports. All considered, I will vote for Mr. Blanche. Todd Blanche's path to becoming the nation's next attorney general appears all but secure. Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy announced Friday he will vote to confirm Blanche, a key endorsement after several Republican senators expressed concerns about the nomination. Mr. Blanche is not perfect, and he will tell you this, but the choice is not between perfection and Mr. Blanche. It is between Mr. Blanche and another acting attorney general who may not run the department effectively under President Trump and who indeed may not be as good as Mr. Blanche. Republican Senators Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins have already announced they'll oppose Blanche, making Cassidy's support a pathway to Blanche's confirmation. If you look at Washington and Memphis as examples, where we have worked with federal, state and pulling thousands of criminals off the streets in those two cities. That is what happens when we fight crime together, and I want to bring that model that we've done in a few towns to more communities in every state. The full Senate vote on Blanche's final confirmation is expected before lawmakers leave for the August recess. Arlene Richards, Entity News. Acting AG Todd Blanche has consistently said that he's been working to end the weaponization of the Department of Justice and restore America's trust in the justice system. Hear from Representative Harriet Hagman tonight on Capitol Report with Steve Lance at 7 p.m. Eastern. And the Senate has confirmed Cameron Hamilton as head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is also known as FEMA. His confirmation comes after he was fired last year for opposing the agency's elimination. Hamilton was among a group of 74 nominations approved by the Senate. David Cummins, President Trump's nominee to lead the Transportation Security Administration, was confirmed as well. Upon taking office, President Trump said he was considering dismantling the disaster relief agency, instead delegating responsibilities to state and local officials. The Department of Homeland Security fired Hamilton last year after he publicly opposed President Trump's proposal. During a June hearing before a Senate committee, Hamilton vowed to advocate for FEMA and its employees. He also expressed criticism of bureaucracy within that agency. And the U.S. labor market slowed last month, with the economy unexpectedly losing jobs. New data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows employers cut 23,000 jobs in July. Economists were expecting a gain of about 80,000 jobs. The latest figures point to a slowdown in hiring across both the private and the public sectors. Private payrolls added 30,000 jobs, while government payrolls lost over 50,000. But the unemployment rate moved lower, falling to 4.1 percent. That's down from 4.2 in June and comes in below the forecasts. New jobs data shows a mixed picture across major industries. The manufacturing sector added 5,000 jobs, slightly above economists' expectations. Retail employment moved lower, and the financial sector also saw job cuts, including losses in credit services and insurance, while health care and construction continued to add jobs consistently. Here's White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett weighing in on the jobs data. What happened in this month is that, as you know, all the other indicators were expecting a really strong jobs number. The market was saying 88,000. And when we dug into the details of this, we found that there was a big decline in government workers, something that Stu has been advising us to do forever and ever. And there was also a big decline in hospitality workers around the end of the World Cup. If you take those two things out, it was about 100,000 a month. And I think that that's a fair thing to do here, you know, because that's about consistent with everything else we're seeing. And the Senate approved a Russian sanctions package to reinforce U.S. support for Ukraine. The late Senator Lindsey Graham was working on that package for a year, right up until the day before he died. Today, President Zelensky is watching from Ukraine. And Putin is watching from Moscow. I would like to think that Lindsey Graham is watching, too. And I know how proud he would be of his sister today, who has taken his place on the floor and has been such a profoundly strong and effective advocate for this bill. Today we say to the people of Ukraine, you are not alone. And we say to Vladimir Putin, you will not conquer Ukraine. The bill would allow President Trump to impose tariffs on the world's top five buyers of Russian oil or natural gas, including China and India, with exceptions for countries that import less than 15 percent of their natural gas from Russia and are taking steps to reduce those imports. It also includes sanctions on Russia's Putin, senior Russian political and military leaders, and Russian financial institutions and energy projects. The sanctions also target older Russian oil tankers that avoid existing sanctions. Revisions to the bill means it now also includes provisions to apply further economic pressure on Iran. The bill overwhelmingly passed with 86 votes to 11. Next, it must go to a vote in the House of Representatives before it will reach President Trump's desk, and he can sign it into action. And the Trump administration says it located 148,000 illegal immigrant children who were previously unaccounted for. And as of July, that leaves about 330,000, which are still missing. And today's Jason Perry has the details. Homeland Security Secretary Mark Wayne Mullen saying the Trump administration has located 148,000 unaccounted for children who came into the United States illegally. Mullen making the announcement earlier this week in a post on X saying, quote, we are taking historic action to protect one of the most vulnerable victims of the Biden administration's open border crisis, migrant children. Mullen previously addressing the situation in June. It's horrific to what's happening right in our own country because of four years of a blind eye that allowed unvetted sponsors to come pick up 450,000 kids on our borders. Knowing why the Biden administration was in office, their own reports was reporting that over a third of the females, regardless of age, was sexually assaulted before they made it to their border. At the same press conference, then acting Attorney General Todd Blanch announced over 15,500 cases against what he called super sponsors, explaining that the quote super sponsor cases are when somebody sponsors more than three children who are unrelated, unaccompanied minors who come into the United States. White House borders are Tom Homan previously saying this about unaccounted for children who entered the US illegally. We're not going to give up until we find every single one of them. We know that some have already died, some from natural causes, some from violence. We know that some that we found and rescued were victims of sex trafficking. We know that some were in forced labor. It's President Trump and his leadership that are rescuing these children. As of July, DHS says about 330,000 such children remained missing, and Secretary Mark Wayne Mullen says they will not stop fighting until every last one of them is rescued. Jason Perry, NTV News. One of America's most prestigious universities now facing accusations of race-based discrimination. The Justice Department publishing new findings saying Duke University School of Law used race as a factor in admissions. NTV's Sam Wong has the details. The Justice Department finding Duke University Law School discriminated based on race in its admission process. According to the department's civil rights division, from 2023 to 2025, Duke Law's application intentionally emphasized racial diversity. The DOJ says some application essay prompts were designed to help identify minority applicants. The department also says black and Hispanic applicants were admitted at much higher rates than white and Asian applicants with similar academic credentials. In a statement, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon says, quote, Duke Law School doesn't get a free pass to discriminate against white and Asian students simply because it thinks it has good intentions. Federal law prohibits race-based discrimination in college admissions. A 2023 Supreme Court ruling also forbids race from being considered as a standalone factor on applications. The DOJ says it's seeking to reach a settlement with Duke University. Sam Wong, NTV News, Washington, D.C. More UFO files landing today from the Pentagon. This batch features new videos and written accounts, one involving a see-through triangle. NTV correspondent Jason Blair explains. They want to find out about the UFOs. We're going to be releasing a lot of things that we have. And I think some of it's going to be very interesting to people. The fifth release of the UFO files has been published by the Department of War. The files feature unresolved reports of unidentified aerial phenomena. Let's get into some of the most interesting parts of this latest release. The first one is a video of an object tracked against mountainous terrain in the Middle East. The video was taken from an infrared sensor board in 2023 and is still unresolved. This next one is an account of a dark translucent triangle object flying only an estimated 300 feet from the ground in Colorado. A former Pentagon employee and his wife saw the object pass over their backyard and described it as looking like a perfect triangle, completely silent, appearing almost see-through with no extra wings. And there were ripples like you were looking at an object that is underwater. And this video shows an object flying over an urban landscape in the Middle East. It was taken with an infrared sensor board in 2025. And finally, over the Pacific Ocean in 2019, infrared footage originally held by the Navy's UAP task force. An object is kept centered in the frame as the sensor tracks it. The Trump administration started releasing batches of the UFO files on May 8th. The Pentagon says more will come on a rolling basis with the next batch expected in three or four weeks. Reporting in Washington, D.C., Jason Blair, NTD News. Thanks to Jason for that report. Coming up, the Democratic Party still divided as the Wisconsin gubernatorial primary approaches on Tuesday. Establishment members and DSA-backed candidates are clashing over the party's messaging and political strategy. And a New Mexico judge ordering MEDA to fund youth treatment programs with hundreds of millions of dollars. The state accused the company of being a public nuisance and fueling mental health problems. David Lamb has that one. Hi, my name is Brady. When I was born, my parents thought everything was okay. My mom and dad were so excited to take me home. I still get goosebumps telling this story. Several days in, his skin started to become very cold and clammy. We noticed that he had become blue around his mouth and something was just very off. Packed up as fast as we could. Brady stopped breathing twice on the way to the pediatrician. And that was one of the number one things that just haunts me to this day. I was born with a congenital heart defect called aortic coarctation. If my parents waited just one more hour to drive me to the hospital, I would not be here today. But thanks to research funded by the American Heart Association, I had heart surgery that saved my life. But not every kid is as lucky as me. Which is why we need your help. Just call the number on the screen or go to helpheart.org. For only $19 a month, just 63 cents a day, you can help get people trained in CPR. Get more hospital certified and high quality cardiovascular care. And help fund the next medical breakthroughs to help save kids like me. When you donate to the American Heart Association, you're helping save lives like my son. And now my son is happy and healthy thanks to the support of people like you. When you call with your $19 a month, you'll get this really cool t-shirt as a thank you. Many children die from congenital heart defects. I can't wait to grow up to become a heart surgeon and fix baby's hearts. But until then, I'll keep helping the American Heart Association. So please join me. Just call the number on your screen or go to helpheart.org to become a monthly donor and help save lives. MyPillow's second annual mega sale is finally here. Get our patented premium MyPillows that adjust to your exact individual needs to give you the best sleep of your life. When I got my pillow, I'm asleep almost immediately. I stay asleep at night and I wake up more well rested in the morning. Now for the lowest price ever. King's, $19.98. Queen's, only $18.98. And Gee's A Dream bed sheets, the best sheets in history for as low as $29.98. Luxphere six piece towel sets, towels that actually dry you. What a concept. Now only $39.98. And are made in the USA mattresses and mattress toppers as low as $99.98. So go to MyPillow.com or call the number on your screen. Use your promo code to take advantage of our second annual mega sale. But that's not all. Order right now and we'll ship your order absolutely free. Welcome back to Antity Evening News. I'm Kerry Dunst. Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn is heading to Tennessee's general election for governor. Blackburn winning the GOP primary yesterday. Our work is much bigger than any one candidate or one campaign. We absolutely have to unite as a party and defeat the Democrats in November. So my commitment to you is I will continue to work with you and for you. I'll continue traveling the state, listening to you, earning your trust, and working to build our conservative movement. Blackburn defeated fellow Republicans John Rose and Monty Fritz to win the GOP nomination. She'll now face Democratic nominee Jerry Green in November to succeed Governor Bill Lee, who is term limited. And in Tennessee's newly redrawn 9th district, Republican Brent Taylor and Democrat Justin Pearson have advanced to the general. And in an upset, Republican Congressman Andy Ogles lost his primary to former Tennessee Agriculture Commissioner Charlie Hatcher, despite the backing from President Trump. And now that the Michigan primaries are over, all eyes are now turning to Wisconsin next week, with the DSA on the rise in the Democratic Party. Wisconsin's gubernatorial race is now another test of the party's direction come November. Here's NTD's Fiona Gee. Wisconsin's got an open race for governor next week. Current Democratic Governor Tony Evers is not running for reelection. In the Democratic primary, it's essentially a race between Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, who's endorsed by Governor Evers, and Democratic Socialist Francesca Hong. The DSA's platform includes abolishing the current American system of government and defunding the Department of War, among other goals. But when asked if he would endorse Hong, Senator Bernie Sanders, who has endorsed other DSA-backed candidates, says he is not sure about her. I don't think so. This is a race I just am not that familiar with. We have not gotten involved in many governor's races. Hong herself has also walked back on some of her previous comments about abolishing the police and canceling Thanksgiving, as she tries to distance herself from the DSA. Whoever wins the Democratic primary will be up against presumptive GOP nominee Congressman Tom Tiffany, who is endorsed by President Trump. Over in Michigan, Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, who won his primary with the backing of DSA members, is also facing divisions within his party. A point of contention is Hassan Piker, a vocal anti-Israel streamer who is campaigning with El-Sayed. Senator John Fetterman and longtime Democratic strategist James Carville are both against the pairing. Meanwhile, Republicans are using the division in the Democratic Party to appeal to uncertain voters. The fight is far greater than just left versus right. The fight is for the very soul of our nation. Over the next 90 days, I'm going to work hard to earn your trust, to earn your support and earn your vote. We are exactly three months out now from the midterm elections. Both parties are ramping up their campaigns, as they compete for a majority in both the House and the Senate. Reporting from Washington, D.C., Fiona Gee, NTD News. Thanks to Fiona for that. Next, a judge is ordering MEDA to put more than $500 million into mental health programs in New Mexico. This after a lawsuit accusing MEDA of being a public nuisance and fueling mental health problems among teens. NTD's David Lam reports. A New Mexico state court ordered MEDA on Thursday to pay $567 million and deposit into mental health funds. The judge says MEDA created a public nuisance in New Mexico, siding with the state's Democratic Attorney General Raul Torres, who accused the social media company of designing its products to addict young users. $420 million for treatment as to treat the kids who have been impacted by addiction and exploitation in our state, but also requires screening and assessment, awareness prevention, referral linkage and coordination, and implementation quality improvement and evaluation. The funds will be used for five years. A survey finds that more than one in three New Mexico high school students experienced persistent sadness or hopelessness in 2023. MEDA operates Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. It is required to prohibit New Mexico minors from interacting romantically with MEDA's AI chat box. The court also finds the platforms contributed to child sexual exploitation. MEDA says it disagrees with the ruling and will appeal. Adding, we remain confident in our record of protecting teens online and will continue to defend ourselves against claims that misrepresent the facts. And one of the interesting elements and aspects of the court's decision was a mandate that this company work with us in real time and provide a real-time point of contact for this agency 24-7, 365. Combined with the $375 million penalty earlier this year, MEDA faces a total of $942 million in legal obligation in New Mexico. David Lam, NTD News. A new memorial wall is now standing outside the El Monte Police Headquarters in Southern California. The monument honors six officers who died in the line of duty and is intended to give the community a permanent place to remember their service. NTD's Christina Corona has more. The city of El Monte honored the officers who made the ultimate sacrifice. Behind me, city leaders, law enforcement, and community members unveiled a new memorial wall dedicated to the El Monte Police Department's fallen officers. The memorial wall displays six bronze plaques commemorating officers who gave their lives protecting the El Monte community. El Monte Police Chief Jake Fisher says the new monument provides a permanent place for residents to gather and pay their respects. Yeah, I just want it to be a place of peace and reflection and coming together so that the community honors those who made the ultimate sacrifice to keep our community safe. The memorial is located right outside El Monte Police Headquarters and next to City Hall. But they can come here anytime they want, pay their respects, just pray, you know, have a little self-reflection, leave a flower, whatever it is they want. There's little benches here, a little water feature, and of course the memorial wall itself. During the ceremony, L.A. County District Attorney Nathan Hockman said the monument represents values shared by law enforcement agencies throughout the country. But literally the job description for these officers and all the officers of this police department and quite candidly all of law enforcement is service, dedication, commitment, being the protector and the guardian of each one of us. He also said the fallen officers are role models. It's a wall that invites people who drive down this street or walk by on the sidewalk to bring their families to tell the story of these officers and their commitment and their sacrifice to young people. Officials say they hope the new memorial wall will serve as a place of remembrance for the officers who gave their lives in the line of duty. Reporting from the city of El Monte, Christina Corona, NTD News. Very touching. Thanks to Christina for that. Coming up, the Senate approves new sanctions on Russia and Iran and the bill is named in honor of late Senator Lindsey Graham. We have analysis of the development of the war. And Columbia's new right-leaning president taking office today. Ariane Pasdar has how the nation's new head of state plans to improve partnership with the U.S., which suffered during Columbia's previous president. Boxes everywhere. And this is going to be Addie's room. First night here, but Amy seems cool. We come from a long line of farmers and there's a sense of pride in being part of these multi-generational businesses. But there's also a significant amount of pressure. My senior year of high school, my dad made the decision that this world no longer needed him. I don't know if he was overwhelmed by the bills and checks that weren't going to be coming in because of the strawberries dying off. But it breaks my heart that my dad made a permanent decision for a temporary issue. Don't feel like you have to go through it alone. Farmers have to take care of their physical and their mental health because what's a farm without a farmer? The mornings, that's my time. Watching the sun come up, I can have a cup of coffee and exercise if I want to. It helps me start the day with a sense of gratitude. Every day is a new opportunity. Don't forget to check in on yourself. Love, you're mine. 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. My dad has never said that to me. Not because he doesn't love me, but because culturally it wasn't comfortable 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 Cary Dunst. Today, the Senate honored the late Lindsey Graham by passing a bill in his name that slaps Russia and Iran with new sanctions. Joining us now for analysis is Jim Gilmore. He's former U.S. ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. He also served as the Virginia governor. Ambassador Gilmore, thank you for joining us this evening. In part, this bill targets the financial assets of Russia's government, military officials, as well as others. Could this bill, if signed into law, change the dynamics of the Russia-Ukraine war in your view? Well, it's another element that goes in the right direction. You say that it's passed for Lindsey Graham, and if in honor of him, put some people over the edge, I think that's good. But I think we ought to just be happy that we're doing the right thing. With regard to Lindsey or no Lindsey, we're doing the right thing here. This is a Russian aggression. Their philosophy is to attack civilians, which is a war crime. They don't care. They are today implementing a terrible war against Ukraine as a war of aggression, and they need to be stopped. And if this bill will do something to stop the Russians, that's a good thing. If it's something that will stop the Iranians, the people in Iran, that's a good thing. So I'm happy that the bill has passed. Yeah, and let's explore the elements for Iran. Unlike in that Ukraine-Russia war, we don't have a clear decision maker in Iran, and the U.S. already has this naval blockade preventing their exports by sea. So why do you think President Trump pushed to have Iran added to the bill? Well, he's probably trying to do the right thing also and continue to put more pressure on them to try to get out of this situation that he's in. Listen, in my view, this is not a war that we should have started, unless you have a clear picture of how you're going to get to your political goal, your strategic goal, you ought not to move. And in this case, the Strait of Hormuz could have been anticipated. It is the most important thing. The nuclear thing can always be dealt with militarily or otherwise, but the Strait of Hormuz is vital. It controls much of the energy of the world. It makes Iran an international major player, and it's a serious problem. And the rumors now that there's going to be an agreement between Iran and Oman without the United States having any involvement in it is just worse. So if we can put some sanctions on here and get the Iranians to do the right thing and surrender their power over the Strait of Hormuz, that's a good thing. Listen, I published an op-ed on this, Kerry, in the Washington Times a week ago, in which I said that the president had to have another option in addition to military power. And I suggested some political and diplomatic ways that he could strengthen his hand, and that would be convening other nations to get behind us. And that's based on my experience in a multinational organization. If you can get other people to work with you and get allies working with you, you're stronger than trying to do it alone. Indeed. Now, on the tariff provision, the president would be able to set up up to 500 percent tariffs on Russia and Iranian imports and 100 percent tariffs on countries that do business with Russia and Iran, which is a very interesting element to the way that this bill works. How far do you think President Trump would go with these new tariffs if it becomes a law? And what will he have to weigh to actually make that decision to use those tariffs at such high levels? Triple digit. Listen, I can't predict the way that the president is going to use his tariff policy or whether the tariff policy is even effective. But I know that if you put tariffs on countries, they must do business with the United States and interact with our financial community. I think that's a powerful thing. And look, let's just get real here. The Russians need to pay the maximum possible price, never mind the Iranians, but the Russians have got to be stopped. This is a very dangerous thing with the Russians trying to impose their will on an independent nation in violation of all international law. And we should have been involved with this more before. Look at this. The Russians are shooting and there's no Patriot missiles to shoot back to their missiles. The various messages we've been sending, frankly, I think have sent Putin messages that he can win. I think we need to be sending messages to Putin that in the short and long run, he cannot win. And only then will the people around him, and maybe he himself will wake up from his delusion and stop this war. And if this does go through, how do you expect Putin to react? Oh, I think he's going to be a bit helpless because the United States still has the economic power in this world. As to what he's going to do, I don't know what he'll do. I think that he's a dangerous person because he's losing. Right now, I think he expected to simply crush Ukraine. The Ukrainians have figured out how to shoot back. So there are damages at this point that the Russian people are able to understand and see. And that's very helpful as time goes on. There's a picture of your missile out there going off right now. We have to be in a position to stop the Russians from being able with impunity to attack the Ukrainians. I think they have to have shoot down capability. I think that the president would do all of us a service if he would ask Elon Musk to give the Ukrainians access to his satellite links so that they can track down these launchers. This is a war that's going to go on. But listen, it's not isolated, Gary. This is part of a major international war that we are in globally. And we have to win it. And I think that this is the moment with this bill that will really cast a blow in the right direction. Well, as you point out, it gets more tense with each day. This continues. Ambassador Jim Gilmore, thank you for joining us this evening. Thank you, Gary. And next, the Trump administration is putting nearly $2 billion into faith-based humanitarian aid around the world. At the same time, officials are confronting rising religious hate crimes and considering new protections for religious freedom nationwide. NTD's Washington correspondent Jack Bradley reports. The U.S. is putting nearly $2 billion behind faith-based humanitarian organizations around the world, the largest funding of its kind in nearly 20 years. Receiving the funding are organizations like Samaritan's Purse, which played a key role responding to the recent devastating earthquakes in Venezuela. Father, we stand before you today with this patient. In the past, this kind of service was run through USAID, the Trump administration eliminating that after accusing the agency of wasting money. USAID was operating in contravention and contradiction of what the embassy was trying to accomplish in the host country. The administration says that only about 35 to 40 percent of humanitarian funding actually went directly to helping patients. The rest went to NGOs with high administrative costs. For the first time ever, their government leaders have control over how the money is spent, where it's being spent, and it's being spent in a way that builds their domestic capacity inside of the country. But here at home, religious communities are also facing challenges. The Los Angeles district attorney says religious-based hate crimes have spiked. So the total number of reported hate crimes is going slightly down. The percentage of religious-based hate crimes is going up. This includes vandalism of churches and synagogues. So far, Los Angeles police have recorded 460 hate crimes this year, including 65 assaults. We are going after those religious-based hate criminals with the full panoply of laws that we have to go after them. And nationally, the Justice Department is looking at ways to strengthen religious liberty. A recent report from the DOJ's Religious Liberty Commission recommends new guidance on the First Amendment, specifically challenging the separation of church and state, a phrase that doesn't appear in the Constitution. The left has used that one phrase that was one line out of one of hundreds of letters by Thomas Jefferson to batter and hammer people of faith for the last 70 to 80 years. President Trump says his administration will continue working to protect religious liberty for all Americans. Jack Bradley, NTD News, Washington. And Colombia's new right-leaning president taking office today, replacing his left-leaning predecessor. An American delegation is at the inauguration. NTD's South American correspondent, Arian Pazdar, has how this new president plans to work with the U.S. Have a look. The inauguration of Colombia's new president, Abelardo de las Breas, being held in Cali on Friday. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is leading a U.S. delegation to Colombia to attend the inauguration. We're also excited for what we expect to be a great rekindling of a great partnership between the United States and Colombia. Now, the relation between the U.S. and Colombia suffered in recent years. The previous left-leaning president, Gustavo Petro, often criticized the U.S. taking an anti-America stance. For example, just one week ago, he took his last international trip as president, visiting Cuba and praising the communist regime there. Now, with the new administration in Colombia, they're getting unfair. So I think they'll be coordinating against the cartels. Marcus Schottges is the editor-in-chief of the Epoch Times Brazil. He says U.S. forces might support Colombia in the fight against organized crime. In the same kind of way we saw with Ecuador, with President Daniel Nobuo, where they had coordinated operations being done simultaneously by the U.S. alongside the Ecuadorian armed forces. After de las Breas won the election, a delegation of his traveled to Washington, announcing a new strategy called Plan Patriot 2.0. The two countries discussed plans to provide U.S. intelligence and support to Colombia's military for counter-narcotics missions, to extradite captured traffickers, and to restart the aerial eradication of coca plants used to produce cocaine. De las Breas' election victory is part of a wider trend across South America, which favors Washington's ambitions in the Western Hemisphere, countering its adversaries. De las Breas' victory is essential to counter China in the Americas for the United States. This is part of a broader trend which we have seen. So Argentina is now leaning right. It's the same for Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Honduras, and all of that is deeply intertwined with the U.S.'s attempts to lessen Chinese influence and make its position clear down south. China has long been trying to infiltrate the Western Hemisphere, but this right-leaning trend here in South America counters that. We will now keep an eye on Brazil, which is by far the largest country in South America, and presidential elections here will be held in two months. Aryan Pasdar, NTD News. Coming up in basketball, a former NBA player declares for the women's NBA draft, putting the league's eligibility rules to the test. NTD's Dave Martin joins us with the details. Celebrating the time-honored tradition of Chinese martial arts, preserving the legacy and upholding the ancient discipline. The 2026 NTD International Traditional Chinese Martial Arts Competition. Preliminary round will be held in New York and Taipei. Grand finals in New York will be live streamed worldwide in 2026. 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There's a whirlwind of emotion and activity going on in this painting. And there's chaos all around and threat from below. The wolves surrounding her and they are anything but unmoved. They're moving all the time and we sense that. But this little girl remains unmoved. She's in quite a perilous situation, but she's completely strong and serene. And she's actually meditating. It was very, very well liked because no matter what culture or what sort of walk of life you're from, I think people, they see it and they immediately understand what that energy, what that message is. And they're drawn to it because everybody kind of needs a little bit of that in their own life of, you know, the steadfast calmness and something to hold on to. It's definitely an inner peace in the midst of something very chaotic. And for a lot of people right now, the whole world is very, very chaotic. So I guess that's another reason why so many people are very drawn to this. Now for your sports news, we're joined by NTD's Dave Martin. Hey, we got some NBA and baseball news, but let's start off in the NFL. People are eagerly awaiting the return to football and preseason has kicked off. One player everyone wants to know what's going on with, of course, is Patrick Mahomes. He was injured at the end of last season. What's happening there? Yeah, well, of course, the big question is, is he going to play here in the preseason? He's been working out with the Chiefs. We actually finally heard from Chiefs coach Andy Reid, who had really more of a maybe, but probably not answer to that question. But please, Chiefs play their first preseason game next week. According to Reid, Mahomes will not likely play in that one or even the next two. And of course, there's only three, so that's pretty much it. Now, Mahomes tore ligaments in his knee last December against the Chargers. The Chiefs went on to miss the playoffs last year for the first time in more than a decade. Mahomes has won two MVPs and three Super Bowls, though has participated in every part of training camp thus far. The Chiefs finally start the regular season on Monday, September 14th against the Denver Broncos. I'm sure he's hoping for that date among anything else. Elsewhere, though, in the NFL, the Detroit Lions and Pro Bowl running back Jameer Gibbs have agreed on a record contract extension for running back. $75.75 million over three years. That is just ahead what B. John Robinson got earlier this week from the Atlanta Falcons. Really, yesterday we were talking about that. Right when we got done, I see the news that Gibbs signed a slightly bigger deal. So Robinson had the record for about three days. Gibbs passed him $75.75 million versus $75 million. So for running back, there we go. So just for your fantasy football league, Kerry, these guys would be good for it, OK? Well, I do not like the Dirty Birds, but I think Saquon should get re-upped there in the pole position. But let's talk a little bit about Mahomes, because, I mean, really a transformational player. You know, if you take Brady out of the equation, he's right up there with the best of all time. You know, that's true. Two MVPs. Like I said, two MVP awards, three Super Bowls. You know, the Chiefs, really, the last few years, their offense has just not really been the same, really. The last few years, they really relied more on Mahomes and the defense. Like, he's been one of their leading rushers, as well as their best passer. They've kind of struggled in some other aspects, but he's really been their entire offense here. So if you're a Chiefs fan like myself, this is pretty big news for me, all right? Maybe that's like Peyton Manning in Denver, you know, just handing off the ball and being a floor general. All right, let's move to this, because this is wacky, right? So we have NBA player turned human rights activist Ennis Cantor-Freedom. He announced his intention to play pro basketball again, but not with the NBA, with the WNBA. How does that work? I'm waiting to see how this works. We're just going to see how this works. It's kind of funny here. The 34-year-old Ennis Freedom last played in the NBA in 2022. That was his 11th season in the league. Today, though, he posted a video on social media saying, if declaring who you are is all that's required, then he meets every requirement to play in the WNBA. Let's listen to what he said here. My team and I have carefully examined the WNBA's eligibility criteria and governing framework surrounding self-identification and inclusion. Based on the current guidelines, I can and am officially declaring my eligibility for the upcoming WNBA draft in May 2027. I am definitely not here to mock, make fun of, or to suspect any community or personal choices. I am simply asking that the current rules be applied equally to everyone. The rules that represent the very values many WNBA players and coaches have publicly advocated for. You know, so should Freedom join the league? The guy is 6'10". He weighs 250 pounds. He would already be the heaviest player in the league. He would be one inch below the tallest player in the league as well. So I would think, you know, if you really want to, it doesn't sound like he has to wear a wig or anything if he does decide to play. That didn't seem like one of the requirements. I haven't heard that. But the league has made a lot of headlines recently. You had Sophie Cunningham coming out and saying, you know, I don't think, you know, men belong in women's sports. Other people have opposed that viewpoint. So there's been a lot of back and forth in the WNBA. It sounds like this clearing up, if it's this simple, you would think maybe more players are joining, especially now that the WNBA pays a lot more than they used to. Remember a couple years ago, you got paid $30,000 for the season. Now it's like six figures anyway. So this seems like an interesting thing to put up on social media to kind of get, stir people up. I mean, last time I saw this video, it had five and a half million views on Twitter. All right. Well, he clearly knows how to find contradictions and stir the pot. We saw him do that with human rights very effectively. He got the word out, even if he really took a lot of personal blowback for it. I think it cost him his career. I think it costed him his career. I mean, this guy, he was one of the best six men in the league. One of the best rebounders, if you look at per minute on a per minute basis. He was very productive. I think he was the top 10 in the six men of the year voting several times. Played for your Knicks, of course. That carries him. Of course, you like him. But yeah, once he had those shoes that he cried about, you know, free China, free Tibet and all those things. Then, you know, you had the second biggest market for the NBA. China said, well, we're not airing his games at all. And so until he was actually out of the league. So yeah, that was four years ago now. So maybe he plays again. This will be fun to see. All right, well, keep us posted on that. I think it's going to take more than a wig for him, right? So let's talk baseball. All 30 teams are in action today. We are pushing now. We're getting closer to the postseason. What matchups stand out to you, David? There's like two I'm really interested in. One is with the Boston Red Sox. I mean, this team is on fire. They've won eight straight games and get this. They've won 26 of their last 29 overall. Now, just a month ago, they were last place in the American League East division. Right now, though, today, they're in line to take one of the three wildcard spots if the playoffs started today. And they haven't even played their new all-star catcher, Adley Rushman, yet. After acquiring him earlier this week from Baltimore, Rushman has been out for an injury since July 18th. So they play tonight the A's at Fenway Park, starting at 7-10 Eastern time tonight. Elsewhere tonight, the Atlanta Braves have a similar eight-game winning streak as well. They put that along the line against the New York Yankees in the Bronx. Braves lead the NL East by eight and a half games. Yankees are in second place in the AL East division. But they're just a half game behind of the, half game ahead, I should say, of the aforementioned Boston Red Sox. So Braves versus Yankees at 7-05 Eastern time in the Bronx. So a couple of big games. Like I said, all 30 teams are in action. All right, have at it. Well, stick around, Dave. I got a feel-good story. I think you'll like this one. Next, a sea of yellow took over the Chicago River as 90,000 rubber ducks poured into the water in the annual Chicago Duck Derby. The truck dumped the ducks from one side of a half-raised bridge after forming a yellow pool in the river. The ducks, they floated for around 15 minutes before a winner and a runner-up were plucked from the water. The annual event raises money for Special Olympics Illinois, supporting athletes with disabilities and special needs. Now, the event brought together thousands of participants yesterday with a festival featuring inflatable ducks, as you heard, music, as well as activities. So this is our 21st year of Chicago Ducky Derby. So it's been building year over year since then. It was just a fun way to get people to interact and learn about Special Olympics Illinois and what we do. I actually collect rubber ducks. It started off like 20 years ago, and I just started collecting them. I got over 400. And then when we found out about the Special Olympics, we decided to try, come and visit downtown and see what the, and it was a good cause. And so now we just come every year to support the Special Olympics and the ducks. People can sponsor a single duck for $10, helping provide lunch for an athlete during a competition. Now, a six-duck sponsorship, that costs $30 and helps provide gold medals for a team. The event has raised more than $480,000. The sponsor of the fastest duck wins a new SUV. So congrats to all those involved and what a great event. And that is all for today's evening news. But for around the clock coverage, visit us at ntd.com or use our entity app. Thanks for tuning in. I'm Cary Dunst. Have a great weekend.