Capitol Report Full Broadcast (Sept. 18)

Good evening. Tonight on the Capitol Report, President Trump announcing most-favored-nation drug pricing for all 50 states, why the president says it will put a stop to what he is calling global freeloading and what it means for your prescription costs. We are paying three times more for the exact same drugs that other countries are paying. How many of those drugs are made in this nation? And the United States reaching a landmark security agreement with Denmark and Greenland. What this might mean for establishing a permanent foothold in the Arctic. And President Trump banning CNN, MSNOW, and Politico from the White House over their coverage, why the president says he's cracking down on fake news. This is Capitol Report, live from our global headquarters in our nation's capital. Here's Steve Lance. And breaking just a short while ago, President Trump announcing a new agreement with Denmark and Greenland, securing permanent control over security in the Arctic Territory. For more on this, we're now joined by NTD's Washington correspondent, Jack Bradley. Jack, what can you tell us about this major development? Yeah, it's certainly major indeed. So President Trump says that the U.S. has reached an agreement with Denmark and Greenland, giving the U.S. permanent control over Greenland security. And he just announced this on Truth Social, saying that the U.S. will now begin the process of building a large military presence there, and that this deal ensures that no U.S. adversary, like China or Russia, for instance, can ever put a base, have military presence, or sensitive investments in Greenland without getting U.S. approval first. Greenland, of course, sits at a strategic location in the Arctic that allows the U.S. military to detect oncoming enemy forces from America's northeastern flank. And this deal, he says, comes at no cost to the U.S. and has no expiration date. Denmark's prime minister confirming this, saying that the deal will be signed next week. Steve? Yeah, Jack, and there's parts of Russia that are, you know, sort of deceivingly close to Greenland, almost acts as a barrier between Russia and the United States in certain points. So certainly a major development on the national security front. The president, Jack, also banning three major news organizations from the White House. What can you tell us on this? Right. So we have CNN, MS Now, formerly MSNBC, and Politico. They would lose their White House press credentials if this goes through. This means that they won't be allowed into the briefings, the Oval Office, Air Force One, or the pool that follows the president. Saying on Truth Social, President Trump, I am proud to announce that effective immediately I am banning fake news, CNN, MS Now, and Politico from the White House as a result of their constant reporting fake news. Media outlets shouldn't be able to constantly write or report fiction and lies when they're covering the president of the United States, the Trump administration, or the United States of America. And then he goes on to say this, Steve, other fake news media outlets to follow. So when asked who else would follow, the president said simply the New York Times or Washington Post may be next. Here's the president elaborating on this from the Oval earlier today. So as of now, other outlets can, of course, still work inside the White House. Those three would have to report from outside and rely on footage and quotes from other outlets. The president also says that Politico got an $8 million government subscription under President Biden, saying that it helped prop up that site from going under. Now, if this goes to court, the president says that the outcome will largely depend on who the judge is, who he thinks shouldn't allow news outlets to report fake news all the time. CNN has responded with this statement, saying, quote, CNN stands fully behind our White House team and their fair and accurate reporting. They go on to say that should the ban, which President Trump threatened, go ahead, it would be an illegal assault on that fundamental and constitutionally protected right. Now, we know CBS and ABC both paid President Trump millions of dollars to settle court cases brought against them by the president for their reporting. Yeah, Jack, the fourth estate, obviously the responsibility of the free press to hold, you know, and ask truth to power. And that's what the media is responsible for. But objectively, if you look at the ratio of some of those outlets in terms of being fair to the president, it's it could certainly look skewed. So we'll have to see how that all plays out. In the meantime, Jack, the Oval Office event that you referenced there, it was actually for a major event, most favored nation pricing being announced for all 50 states. What does this mean for the cost of prescription drugs for the American people? Yes, so this is actually very major. All 50 states, blue and red, signed on to this, along with D.C. and Puerto Rico. All of them will now see the most favored nation pricing on drugs covered by Medicaid. So Medicaid, it applies to them. Now, the U.S. has been seeking most favored nation pricing ever since President Trump got into office. That basically gets the best terms that the drug maker sells to any other country. Manufacturers often sell the same exact drugs to other countries that are similar to the U.S., like Canada, the U.K., Germany and Japan. All of those countries have price controls on their drugs. And then so they sell them at much lower prices to those countries, then recoup the costs by selling it at a much higher price to the U.S. But now the president says that other countries are paying their fair share. Take a look. The other nation prices had to go up very substantially, double, triple. They ultimately had to agree and they agreed that we were using tariffs. If they didn't agree, we were going to use tariffs to make sure they did it. We were paying three times more for the exact same drugs that other countries were paying. And then when those drugs are made in this nation, we were subsidizing every other nation. They were getting a free ride on what we were paying, what our 70 million poor citizens were paying through Medicaid for these drugs. That is over today. And of course, prescription drug prices dropped 4 percent in 2025 year over year, which was the largest yearly drop in 60 years. And this is all coming while President Trump just signed into law a sweeping sanctions bill targeting Russia. It's a final legacy item of the late Senator Lindsey Graham, who championed this bill while he was in the Senate. So this law allows President Trump to put up to 100 percent tariffs on countries that buy Russian oil. And China, we know, is the largest buyer of Russian oil. So what this means is President Trump now has Congress's blessing to place up to 100 percent tariffs on China, just as he's set to meet with Chinese regime leader Xi Jinping at the White House next week. Steve, back to you. And to Jack Bradley, appreciate it. And joining us now to discuss the new deal with Denmark and Greenland is foreign policy expert Michael Santo. Michael, great to have you with us. So what is the significance of this deal? And ultimately, what strategic advantage does it give the United States in the Arctic now? It's a huge deal because we had some conflict with our Danish allies who are very close to us and who have fought with us in Iraq and other places that have been very close, very important allies. Greenland, as you mentioned, is strategically very, very important with this escalating confrontation with Russia. So I think this development is really, really positive, great news so we can move forward with Denmark and Greenland and our other NATO allies to continue to counter Russian aggression, which is aimed at destabilizing basically the whole world. So, Michael, what does this actually mean? You know, the president in his truth post said that the United States is going to actively start building on Greenland in different places, military bases. How long? He says this is like a deal that goes on in perpetuity. Is there any way that the the Dutch can renege on this? I don't think they will, because the Danes have been allied with us since the 50s and there is actually a treaty from the 1950s that gives us already pretty unfettered access. And the leadership of Denmark have been saying repeatedly that we can send as many troops as we want. So I think there was a little tension, a little bit of misunderstanding. And I think that Donald Trump wanted to assert certain issues for our country. Of course, that makes sense as American president. But our interests, 200 percent, 100 percent, being a little hyperbolic with 200 percent, align with Denmark and the rest of Europe in countering Putin's aggression. So I think it builds on what we have, but it allows us to turn a new leaf. And I think that our Danish allies are showing that they want to work with the president to make sure that we continue our decades long alliance and relationship. Now, switching gears a bit, the late Senator Lindsey Graham sanctions bill on Russia and Iran was signed into law today. This allows the president to levy tariffs on nations that import Russian energy. What new tools does this does this bill give the president that he may not have had before? It increases his ability to impose sanctions and tariffs on countries that subsidize Russia effectively by purchasing their oil. So increases his enforcement capacity. We see in a little bit of an insidious, sneaky way, the Communist Party of China is supporting Russia in its aggression against Ukraine, which is the worst war in Europe since World War Two. But what we do have to be careful about is the United States has the world's largest economy and China has the second largest. So these are the two largest economies we do should exercise a preference for global economic stability. So we need to balance the issue of deterring China from aligning itself with Russia, which has reverted to Soviet style aggression, and balance that with our preference to have good trade relations with China, but not let them, of course, take unfair advantage and promote not just strategic stability in the world, but also economic stability. And for the most part, engaging in a very hostile trade war with China could backfire. So I think we have to balance the two. But we have to watch, of course, because the Chinese show some inkling of potentially, God forbid, engaging in some military aggression against our allies in the Pacific as well. So we have to watch for that as well. So you mentioned this bill includes tools that could be used to confront China, which purchases, by the way, roughly half of Russia's crude oil exports. How does China's purchasing of that oil help Russia evade sanctions? And is China even profiting off of it? China's definitely profiting. They got a really, really good deal. They got Putin in a weakened position where his very few allies left. Unfortunately, the Indians also play a role in continuing economic relations with Russia. But India is another big country. So the United States has a little bit of divided interest, because with neither of these cases do we necessarily want a conflict or to antagonize them. But unlike India, China, of course, does show a much more aggressive tendency. And so we need to curb that as well. And the United States faces the threat of having to contend with simultaneously, God forbid, the Russian and Chinese military at the same time. So what makes China particularly a potential adversary is their military buildup and their increasingly threatening actions, coupled with their alignment with Russia and Putin's Russia. And Putin does seem to determine to undermine American interests globally in every way that he can. Now, we don't hear these numbers that often anymore, but we're looking at roughly 450 to 500,000 Russian troops dead since this war started less than five years ago, about five years ago. This bill, I think it's important to remember, was crafted with peace in mind. Do you think it might actually bring Russia and Ukraine to the negotiating table? I mean, I hope it brings peace and I hope it brings negotiations that bring serious peace. The concern has always been that Putin would use a ceasefire to only basically give his military a rest and give it the time to rebuild so it could either continue its aggression against Ukraine or expand it to other European countries. So this is a difficult situation. I think that the underlying issue of the really horrific losses that Russia has taken and, of course, Ukraine has lost nearly as many people. So tragic for Ukraine and Russia, both who have needlessly lost hundreds of thousands of their own people fighting this pointless war that was initiated by Putin. But the underlying cause of that is Putin miscalculated. He thought that Ukraine was weak. He thought it was a fake country. He thought Ukrainians were not patriotic and wouldn't fight. And he thought that Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, was a joke because he's a comedian. And on all counts, he was wrong. He was attacking one of the largest countries physically in Europe with one of the largest militaries, which the United States had spent years training and helping to build up the forces. So he horribly miscalculated. He's been losing this war from day one when his troops packed their dress uniforms. And he's been taking horrible losses. And he doesn't want to admit that. And this puts him in a very difficult place. But there is a danger here because Russia has the world's largest nuclear arsenal. And we continue to have to keep on our toes and watch out for the risk that Russia either attacks another European country that is more vulnerable than Ukraine and not as big or resorts to using nuclear weapons. We have to we have to keep alert for this and continue to deter the Russians as best as we can. Michael Santo, as always, appreciate your insights. And both parties are on the campaign trail with the midterms ahead, making their case to voters with just a little over six weeks until the midterm elections. Vice President J.D. Vance was in Council Bluff, Iowa, today telling Iowans to choose the nominee who wants to create a better future for the state. And to these field energy reports, are we going to send a man who has fought for Iowa farmers every single day because he is an Iowa farmer? Vice President J.D. Vance out on the campaign trail, stumping for Iowa GOP gubernatorial nominee Zach Lane, according to Lane's campaign website. He's a sixth generation Iowan, a farmer and a businessman. He's running on a platform of supporting Iowan farmers and their land and making Iowa healthy again. Vance says helping farmers cultivate American land ensures food security, which is critical to national security. He's going to take on the corporations and the foreign buyers who treat Iowa farm land like it's at sale for auction instead of belonging as the birthright of the people of Iowa. We are growing American food on American farms for American families. The vice president also gives his support to Chris McGowan and Representative Ashley Hinson in their U.S. House races. Lane is up against Democratic nominee Rob Sand. He's a state auditor campaigning on growing the economy and strengthening public education, among other goals. The last time Iowa elected a Democratic governor was back in 2006. President Trump won Iowa in the 2024 presidential election by over 13 percentage points over Kamala Harris. The president has endorsed Lane as governor and says that the nominee is a defender of Iowa's agriculture, farmers and ranchers. Reporting from Washington, D.C., Fiona Gee, NTD News. Coming up, President Trump banning CNN, MSNOW and Politico from the White House for purposefully writing negative stories. Our panelists, Democratic strategist Lee Neves and Republican strategist Marlee Hornick will bring us their thoughts. Introducing the QuestWise Soothing Herbal Eye Patches. It comes with 30 pairs and can be used to help combat tired and strained eyes. The natural herbal formula provides a cooling, minty and refreshing effect that stimulates natural tears and awakens your tired eyes. Placing the eye patches around your eyes helps to reduce dryness and massages acupuncture points. They can be worn while reading, studying, using electronics and provide hours of long lasting relief. Welcome to NTD, I'm Carrie. Good morning. What can we expect? Today is the big day. In just about five hours, we're going to see President-elect Trump formally swearing in as the 47th president of the United States. Welcome to NTD News Today. Here are today's top stories. One main dispute here is whether to tie together $16 billion for disaster relief. Stealing trade secrets to influencing local politicians. Chinese espionage on U.S. soil has been on the rise. The wall fails to do its only job, to divide the U.S. from Mexico. Miscarriages increased by 300 percent. A local hospital and they treated her like a crazy person. Take over Gaza and help her build it into an international destination. Mr. President, thanks so much for joining us on Epoch. When it comes to China, how important was it to include China in this bill? And welcome to NTD Newsroom. I'm Paul Graney. Welcome to NTD Evening News. I'm Chris. And welcome to Tiffany Meyer tonight. That will prevent a lot of the bad things that Chris has experienced online. Good evening and welcome to primetime. My heart is with every one of my husband's employees who lost a friend and a mentor. So far, it hasn't been very effective in dispersing them, though, so I do expect the police to move in here pretty quickly. Are we live? Because here, guys, this way. They're moving us away. Live in combat on the second day of war. Detentions were really, really high. Hundreds of homes are being burned to the ground, as you can see behind me. When we first met Todd, he was singing a song and I was like, wow, look at this kid with the biggest smile. Todd's a joy. Yes, Todd's really is a great joy. And learn about adopting a teen at AdoptUSKids.org. And welcome back to the Capitol Report. I'm Steve Lance. Act Blue, the main fundraising platform for Democrats, is back under the microscope. Republican led report accusing the platform of purposefully using inadequate fraud safeguards, thereby accepting illegal foreign donations. And today's Melina Wisecup reports. The House Judiciary and Oversight Committee is accused, Act Blue, of covering up foreign donations. Chairman Jim Jordan wrote the problem with Act Blue's passport verification process, it doesn't require a valid U.S. passport number. He points to a letter from Act Blue, which states that the passport entry requires a certain number of characters, but doesn't check the entry against a government database. Act Blue called the report a political stunt and posted a video disputing the claims. And ninety nine point nine nine percent of every dollar Act Blue process came from a donor with either a U.S. address or U.S. passport number. The report comes after a hearing in June when Act Blue's CEO pleaded the fifth numerous times. Did your legal team quit because of reduced fraud standards? On the advice of counsel, I respectfully declined to answer the question. The GOP alleges that Act Blue supervisors brushed off fraud analysts' concerns about certain transactions possibly being foreign. The analysts were told to give donors the benefit of the doubt. Act Blue just turned a blind eye to any possibility of foreign influences. Democrats have dismissed the probe as an attempt to undermine faith in elections, while Republicans have said taking steps to root out fraud will boost confidence. Reporting from Washington, D.C., Melina Wisecup, NTD News. And as both parties gear up for a final push toward the midterms, Kamala Harris, former vice president, announcing plans to campaign alongside socialist aligned candidate Abdul Al-Saeed starting next week. Joining us now to discuss Democratic strategist Lee Neves and Republican strategist Jenny Rae Le Roux. It's great to have you both with us. Lee, we'll start with you. Kamala Harris, vice president, former vice president and Abdul Al-Saeed. They reflect sort of very different wings of the Democratic Party, if you will. Can Democrats cater to moderates in the socialist wing at the same time? Or are you sensing a split might be coming? Well, I really don't think it's catering to socialists, the more progressive wing or moderates. I think it's a fact of Democratic candidates talking about the issues that are actually affecting Americans today. Perfect example versus the Republicans who are doing anything but. Now, I know base Republican candidates are talking about it, but unfortunately for the GOP in this midterm, the 800 pound gorilla is Donald Trump, and today is the perfect example. The only thing the White House should have been talking about today was the Medicare drug deal. That's it. That's the only thing they should have been talking about. But what what leads off this? What are we talking about on this hour? We're talking about him banning all these news stations because they say mean things about him. They don't he doesn't like what they have to say. We have a pattern of unfortunately, a lot of Republicans being covered with the fact that Donald Trump seems to only care about things that affect him. The news people, the Kennedy Center, renaming New Mexico, New America, not attacking the issues that people are facing today, be it rising gas prices, inflation that is so stagnant that the feds have had to increase the interest rate. List goes on and on and on. And so I think it's really a focus on issues that people care about versus the appearance of not caring about issues that people care about. Jenny, right. I absolutely agree with Lee that we should be focused on affordability. And in my race in the 47th District of California, that's exactly what we are talking about. And base Democrats are really missing the plot because they're you know, what I disagree with is that what he said is that there are two different wings of the party and they're really focused on the same things. The socialists are not focused on the same things as the voting Democrats. But Kamala Harris and El-Sayed are the same. They are both focused on big government, more taxes, the teardown of the U.S. Constitution, the abdication of a lot of the responsibility that government has today. And what I'm hearing from doors and on the ground is that people want everyone, Republicans and Democrats, to talk about affordability and big government programs. Subsidies are not going to do it. What I'm working on in California, fraud and waste, bringing down the cost of living. Those are the key issues that people want to be talking about. And that is the right focus. But socialism is the key message of the Democrat Party today. And I don't think that they can escape. Lee, to that point, voters rejected Kamala back in 2024. There's still there's a lot of talk about, you know, the postmortem and what Democrats really got wrong heading into that election. They thought that that have a much stronger chance. And one of the big things that came out of it was messaging just, you know, purely that Trump is bad, didn't work. There has to be policy behind it. What is the Democratic sort of agenda, the policy agenda heading into these midterms and beyond? Is it socialism? It's not. And before I get into that, I actually want to commend my fellow panelists for running for office. I did it once and I would rather have a root canal without Novocain than going through that experience again. It takes a lot to put yourself out there. I'm sure she gets doors slammed on her face. I once broke my hand because someone slammed a door on my hand when I was when I was walking door to door. It's brutal. You got people saying nasty things about you. And I think in a day and age where you have too many people left and right sitting behind screens, acting all tough because they have anonymous ex and Facebook accounts talking all sorts of stuff. It takes a lot to put yourself out there. She's doing that. I probably agree with her on zero percent of the issues. But I do commend the fact that she has put herself out there. And I think we need a lot more people who are willing to do that left or right. Put yourself out there. Actually give some solutions instead of, you know, just criticizing and bringing the negativity. That being said, no, socialism is not the message. The message is bringing down the cost of living. The message is bringing down the cost of gas, being able to afford groceries, being able to, you know, being able to afford a home. The Republicans had a gift handed to them. There was a bipartisan housing bill. Trump could have had a big thing in the Rose Garden signing this saying, I'm going to make it easier for you to buy a home instead. What does he do? He throws a pity party for himself and pouts because his SAVE Act isn't getting passed. So he simply, you know, shoves in their drawer, becomes law in 10 days. And he and the Republicans don't get the benefit of a law that is now in effect. It is going to make it easier to build a home and therefore supply and demand. Americans can better afford a home. It's these kind of fumbles time and time and time again that unfortunately the Trump administration is making. And that's why a lot of people out there feel that he isn't taking their concerns seriously, that he's very much focused on himself and what you know, what he cares about, but not what the American people care about and what you're seeing. Democrats out there and look, Steve, I've been on here enough times that, you know, I'm not exactly donating to the Al Saeed campaign anytime soon. But what a lot of these Democrats, socialists are doing is they are talking about these issues that people care about. They're not saying they're socialists. They're not saying we're going to bring socialist solutions to it because they would lose. Americans aren't socialists. They would lose. But what they are talking about is lowering the cost of groceries, lowering the price of gas and the perception, not the reality. Jenny's out there talking about actual issues when she goes door to door that that people face day to day. But the perception is that the Republicans aren't doing that. Well, Jenny Ray, I surely hope there's no doors being slammed on you, but I think you might have a really interesting perspective for the viewers because you are out there. You're talking to people in the state of California, which is, you know, very blue. How are you and the Republicans messaging to, you know, everyday Americans that are feeling, you know, the cost of inflation affecting them directly? Is the the messaging that, you know, another two years is what's needed and that, you know, it's taking a little bit more time because of the policies of the Biden administration to straighten things out? Is that resonating? And if not, what do you think the message needs to be? Absolutely. I think that the attraction to socialism inside the party is an attraction to action like Lee was talking about. And what we're talking about on the ground is what action will resolve the issues that people are facing. So my lead on fraud in California has been one of those key actions. And unfortunately, I wish that we would agree with more Democrats on fraud issues. I was at a task force meeting with the White House, House Oversight and 10 states this week about fraud. And California stood alone as the blue state that doesn't have somebody in house actually actively working on fraud. And that is an issue that is bipartisan. We really shouldn't be spending money to foreign interests, to nonprofits with no oversight, to ghost daycares. And we're arresting them up and down the state. Bodegas, daycares, hospice centers. These are the issues that people really do care about. They want somebody to watch out for their interests in Washington, D.C. Finally, not just the party's interests, but their interests on the ground. And even though I'm in a blue state at large, my district is a purple district. Nobody can get elected in my district if they don't have people from the other party that will vote for them. And so I think it's really key that we get back to governance issues and recognize that the Democrat Party is, to be fair, openly socialist. They are talking about the exact things like opening the border, ending asylum, focusing on the abolishment of the police and the military. These are very open conversations and you see it in action in New York. You have government owned grocery stores that are being built. And this kind of co-opting that's focused on the end of private property is a real concern for the voters in my district that want both sides to get back to the basics. I don't know, Jenny Rae. After that answer, I think you might have earned Lee's vote, Lee. Look, it's let's, you know, does the Democratic Party have its share of DSAs, especially in places like New York City, like Berkeley, like West Hollywood? They do. But to say it's openly socialist. Let's remember, you had a moderate come out of nowhere to be Francine Hong, who is openly socialist. You had Jared Moskovitz, who beat back an openly DSA candidate down in Florida, who was, according to the DSA, their next big thing. He was their next big star. And he got beat roundly. I want to say it was like 13, 15 percentage points that Congressman Moskovitz beat him back by. The governor, the gubernatorial candidate of Florida, very moderate, ran against two very far left progressives. So, you know, to simply come out and say, well, the Democrats are all socialists, that'd be like me going out and saying, well, every Republican is just super duper MAGA. It's it's very easy to just, you know, put a paint with a white white brush of reality. Different parties have different factions. And that's why you have primaries. You have moderates versus more progressives. You have progressives versus the DSA. They've been successful in places, like I said, New York, where that that works, that fits. I don't agree with that. I'm very much not a DSA. You know, like I said, Steve, I've been on here enough that, you know, I'm, you know, pretty centrist when it comes for a moderate. But much as I wouldn't go out and cast every Republican as MAGA, I don't think you should be going out and casting every Democrat as a socialist. Every party has its, you know, different spheres of of what they think. And that's why we have primaries and conventions. Lee Neves, Jenny Ray, appreciate you both. Thank you. Coming up, top tech executives pushing Congress to regulate artificial intelligence. This is the United States is working to prevent communist China from getting a foothold in A.I. development. Kirk Ophel joins us to unpack just after the break. Being a cowboy, I don't know anything different from when I was 34 years old. I did tough things. I thought everybody did 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 was 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 as they get beat 11 to nothing in the rain. Then surely you'll check NHTSA dot gov slash the right seat to make sure they're correctly buckled in the backseat. You got this. The impact of a meal goes well beyond feeding our bodies, because when people are fed, futures are nourished. And with your help together, we can end hunger. Join the movement at FeedingAmerica.org slash Act Now. And welcome back to the Capitol Report. I'm Steve Lance. Top executives in the industry urging Congress to regulate their own technologies. Joining me now to discuss is Kirk Ophel, founder and CEO of Overwatch Mission Critical. Kirk Ophel, thanks so much for joining us. It's an honor to be here again. Thank you. It's great to have you with us, Kirk. So Congress has set its sights on A.I. all of a sudden and key industry figures. We saw Anthropx co-founder coming out begging to be regulated, which was interesting. They're calling for more regulation. What's to make of this sort of sudden push to regulate A.I. from your perspective? Well, it's just a transformational infrastructure in general. And it's something that we saw the same thing happen when we had the U.S. national carriers. We have three national carriers right now. And when they wanted to get to a point where they didn't want to see a lot of competition, they came to the government and said, hey, it's time to regulate us, which made barriers to entry to market much harder. And it created a lot of regional players throughout the country. And this is a combination where there's nobody that's right. There's nobody wrong, but there's two camps. There's the president with Zuckerberg and Jensen saying, hey, listen, let's keep going, both feet on the gas because China's not stopping. Then you have this other camp, which is a group of people that are preparing for their IPOs and are spending a lot of money and are trying to make sure that this industry doesn't get too pent up with the competitive landscape. And now is a good time to go to the government and say, hey, let's slow this thing down. But there's two camps and they're not right and they're not wrong, but it's a function of priorities. And the one that's leaning more towards national security and defense is the camp that's kind of on the president's side. And I follow that side. The other camp is the camp that's saying, hey, we got to slow down and regulate. And they're also right that we're at a point in time in which this industry needs some sort of ethics. And that typically comes in the form of regulation or governance oversight. But it's not going to stop us what we're doing. So it's an interesting thing that we're seeing unfold right now. And it's developed pretty quickly over the last few weeks. Now, advocates for regulation warn that China could misuse the technology. Yet Beijing isn't holding its own industry to the same standards or rules and is running a political warfare campaign, it seems like inside of the United States and around the world to shape this global narrative on AI and who sets the standards. So AI has its own pitfalls. But should the real question be, how do we reel in AI from the hands of the most dangerous group of people that have their hands on it and are developing the Chinese Communist Party? It's a great question. And sadly, you're not raining anything in the jeans out of the bottle. So the only way to get through to this is to have a better product that can stop them from what they're doing. And right now there's empirical information, even X posted within the last two weeks that they have uncovered. I want to say it was 200,000 Chinese led bot farms. And the purpose of those bot farms was to create discontent within the local communities. Look, there's two really sophisticated groups out there that we're not we're in a somewhat of a conflict or a cloud war with one is obviously China. And they figured a way to utilize the media and the political network within the United States to just slow us down, because right now we are taking away energy resources like Iran and Venezuela from China. And the only repercussion for them is to go and slow down our growth of data centers, since they have bigger data centers than us. But we have more data centers than them. And there is a massive competition between us and them right now. So you're seeing this shift take place. China's doing everything they can ahead of Xi Jinping being here. And they're trying to slow us down. And I applaud what the president's doing by maintaining his focus with both feet on the gas and all gas, no brakes when it comes to not stopping. He's bringing in technologists like NVIDIA and META to come in and still talk about how we're going to continue to move the ball forward. We can't afford to stop. And no one on this earth would love us to stop more than China. Kirk, with that said, could we reach a point where whoever controls AI infrastructure doesn't just have an economic advantage, but a national security advantage? That's all it is. The very first data center ever built was built for and funded by the U.S. government for national defense and intelligence. And if you look at what we did in Iran and Venezuela, we didn't use troops. We use a lot of technology. And the government just added another $500 billion to a $900 billion war chest. So we have a Department of War budget of $1.4 trillion. We're going to be investing in and developing a lot of data center technology capabilities, but it's for national security and defense. We have no choice. Do you see a path where AI development goes on one track in a classified setting, perhaps with the Department of War and in the public general usage domain? Perhaps it goes in a different direction. I hate to tell you this, but we've already been down that path and it's been split like that for the last 25 years, probably. So we the most advanced weapons, machines and technologies ever built will be used for the military, for national security and defense first. And then when we're done, then they'll be made a civilian product that we can commercialize. Same was made with GPS. GPS was built for the government, for the military. And as a byproduct of that, it's now in everything that we use and touch in terms of a phone or a watch. Right. So it's already happened. Well, that's what's already made its way. Kirk, lastly, you know, Washington has obviously spent years trying to keep the most advanced chips out of Chinese military applications. Is controlling the chips enough? Or do we also need to be thinking about, like you said, these data centers, power cloud computing and the entire supply chain? Yeah, you have to look at everything as like an ecosystem. Right. When Henry Ford created an automobile, he created a 40 hour workweek and a whole sub economy of people that make spark plugs and brake pads and everything in the middle. This is driving economy in the country right now. And we have no choice but to figure out how to build them faster and safer, more sustainable. And I think that what you're seeing right now is the threat from China is nothing more than propaganda and rhetoric. And it's around an election cycle. And I think that when you see this election cycle and the sentiment, well, we're going to probably go back down to what it was because we've been building data centers for 50 to 60 years. It's just now this is the first year that people figured out what they were. And I think from the help of China, you know, they've done everything they could to turn the sentiment from this community that we build in against us. And now we're just using truth and information to show them that this is not only something that is no longer a consumer to their utility. We're a partner to it. And we're a big contributor to the tax dollars for their community and infrastructure that is required from those tax dollars. Kirk Ophel, really appreciate you joining us. Thank you. Great to be here again. Thank you so much. President Trump and CCP leader Xi Jinping said to meet next week at the White House with trade, technology and Taiwan among some of the key issues on the agenda. Find out more tonight on China in Focus with Tiffany Meyer at 930 p.m. Eastern. Coming up, a major book release spotlighting the dangers of communism. All America's ideological battle against communism is far from over. More on that just after the break. Being. How so? The. That's. Oh, I can. They're just young people, hungry, homeless and vulnerable. Covenant House is helping young adults facing homelessness. We're providing safe shelter to thousands. But the need is overwhelming. Please call or go online now with your gift of nineteen dollars a month. We'll send you this blanket as a reminder of the comfort your gift provides a young person tonight. You'll provide safe shelter, hot meals and medical care. Call the number on your screen or go online to safe place to sleep .org. This land. Our America. Built on hard work, determination and grit. Sometimes the days run long, but hope it never runs out. Even when the food does for America's veterans, working parents, even kids. Because in every corner of every town, even yours, millions of hardworking neighbors are facing hunger, many for the very first time. In this land of plenty, affording food shouldn't require second jobs and third shifts or choosing between your groceries and bills. Today, you can help change that. Call or go online to help feeding America dot org and give nineteen dollars a month, less than 63 cents a day to help every neighbor get the food they urgently need, because taking care of each other is what makes America strong. We're feeding America, not just a name, but an action. Working with over 250 local food banks like the ones in your community and demand is soaring. You go to the grocery store, you spend one hundred dollars and one hundred dollars is a new twenty dollar bill. Even with two full time jobs, it's hard to make ends meet. These are tough times. But when we stand together, we become the very best of a strong America. Please call or go online to help feeding America dot org. Just nineteen dollars a month can feed a family today. And your first gift can double an impact. Plus, we'll send you this free canvas bag as a reminder of the hope you're delivering when it comes down to it. It's about taking care of your family first and the loved ones that you need to provide for because you're not just giving food, you're fueling resilience for people across the nation. You're feeding America. Call or go online today to help feeding America dot org and your gift can double an impact. And welcome back to the Capitol Report. Voters officially beginning to cast ballots in some states ahead of the midterms. Virginia has begun early voting in Minnesota. South Dakota are taking absentee ballots in person. And today's Jason Perry has an update. Early voting has officially begun in Virginia on Friday, and voters in Minnesota and South Dakota can cast absentee ballots in person. Broader early voting is scheduled to begin in more states in the coming weeks. A college student in Fairfax, Virginia, was among the first to vote. I got here, I want to say, around seven twenty. And there's only two guys in front of me. But I did end up being the first official voter because I voted a little bit faster than those two guys. So and she thanks her history teachers for teaching her how important it is to vote poll workers in Virginia attend to two other voters while they were in their car. This is convenient. It only takes a few minutes. I think we've rarely had to wait more than 30 minutes, but we don't care. We would we would have waited if we had to. This year's midterms include governor's races in 36 states and state legislative races in most states. It will also determine whether Republicans maintain control of the U.S. House and Senate. Earlier this week, the Supreme Court blocked President Trump's plan to tighten regulations on mail in ballots. Attorney General Todd Blanche saying this after the court's decision. Well, of course, we're going to comply with the Supreme Court's decision, as we always do. That doesn't mean that we're not going to do everything in this administration that we can to make sure that there are free and fair elections. And again, there's this there's this constant pressure and this this effort by the media and by mostly by Democrats that somehow doing that is a bad thing. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer releasing a statement after the Supreme Court's decision, saying, quote, Trump's plan to make it harder to vote was obviously unconstitutional. The Supreme Court had no choice but to make the right decision. The situation has sparked debate over how mail in voting will unfold during the November 3rd midterm elections. Jason Perry, NTV News and California Governor Gavin Newsom is taking new action on AI. He says an executive order will speed up what he calls a first in America, AI safety policy entities. Christina Corona report. California Governor Gavin Newsom is moving to speed up oversight of artificial intelligence, including a potential kill switch for powerful AI models. His new executive order calls for independent safety checks and audits of AI systems. It dramatically speeds up our new law, creating a framework for truly independent safety checks, independent verification organizations, as well as moving the timeline up for oversight of AI auditors up by a full year. The order also brings together experts who will have two months to recommend changes to California's AI safety laws. That includes third party reviews of AI systems and more reporting of serious incidents. The CEO also begins an effort to tighten our safety and security requirements for powerful AI systems, as well as models, laying the foundation for requiring third party safety verification on an ongoing basis, as well as more mandatory reporting of incidents like the hugging face hack in advancing efforts to create an emergency shut off, otherwise known as an AI kill switch. The announcement comes as some researchers are warning about the risks of rapidly advancing technology. Former anthropic and open AI researcher Jacob Coxon quit his job and warned unchecked AI could wipe out civilization. There is a substantial probability that this technology could kill everyone. One of the anthropic models was trying to pretend to be someone it wasn't to get some code approved, to get some change approved. There's many ways a model can make itself manifest in the world. The governor's also calling on the federal government to adopt stronger AI oversight. Christina Corona, NTD News. And a book release last night in Washington, D.C., shedding light on the dangers of communism. New book, America's 100 Years War by Dr. Bradley Fair, argues that America's ideological battle against communism remains ongoing. Entity Sam Wong has more. Communism, by definition, is evil and it's illegitimate. From the rise of socialist ideologies in U.S. elections to influence campaigns coming from the Chinese Communist Party. The battle against communism did not end with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Communists are very directed there. They know what they want to destroy. So they go after the church. They go after religious belief. They go after the family. They go over traditions and they go after the ideas industry, particularly the education system. Dr. Bradley Fair lays out a staunch warning in his new book, America's 100 Years War, how to win against communism. He says the ideology has evolved and is making its way into American discourse and institutions. Communists have the most unpopular ideas, but they're the best at imposing them. In the 20th century, communism was responsible for the deaths of roughly 65 million to more than 100 million people worldwide. The largest portion of that death toll comes from China. Fair argues that an important step in America's victory against communism is recognizing its illegitimacy, starting with the CCP. The Chinese Communist Party is, in every sense that matters, a product of Soviet imperialism. It was Lenin who generated it. And we should think of the Chinese Communist Party today as a colonial government. Today, the CCP poses major challenges to the United States on geopolitical, economic and technological fronts. We're here in Washington, D.C. The pressure is always to accommodate the Chinese Communist Party. A.I. is clarifying because we have to treat them like the Soviet Union. We didn't give the Soviets uranium. We didn't help them with ballistic missiles. We didn't help them with targeting. What we did is we choked them out economically. We choked them out financially. And that's how we took them down. Thayer argues that a Chinese identity rooted in 5000 years of civilization is a vulnerability for the CCP. He adds that calling attention to the regime's corruption and human rights violations is critical. We should have a tribunal, for example. Chinese-Americans or the larger diaspora population can hold the CCP on trial for the crimes they've committed against the Chinese people. Sam Wong, NTD News, Washington, D.C. And that is all we have for you tonight on The Capitol Report. Stay connected to the stories that matter. Be sure to visit NTD.com. Download the NTD mobile app from Washington, D.C. I'm Steve Lance. Have a great evening. See you back here Monday.