Who's Funding 'No Kings' Protests?; Middle East Cease-Fire Will Continue | NTD Newsroom (Oct. 20)

A US embassy spokesperson said special envoy Witov and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner returned to Israel today. They're expected to meet members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government and Israel today reopened one border crossing for aid. Vice President JD Vance will arrive in Israel tomorrow. The country's airport authority announced preparations for his arrival at Tel Aiv Tel Aviv airport. Uh so Israel's airport's uh authorities said traffic disruptions around the airport were expected between 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. local time, which is 3:30 to 6:30 a.m. Eastern. Israel announced that its ceasefire with Hamas would continue. Joining us to discuss is David Worms, Middle East affairs analyst at the Center for Security Policy and former senior adviser to US Vice President Cheney on the Middle East and strategic affairs. Uh so David, always great to see you. Now both sides uh as you know accused the other uh of incidents or actions that violate the ceasefire. How are you looking at the situation right now? >> Yeah. Well, um I'm actually looking at it with Israel and the United States are roughly on the same page. They both basically blame Hamas for the violations. Israeli quote violations were usually responses to Kamas violations. Of course, the big violation that Hamas is doing is it hasn't released the hostages, the uh dead ones. Uh but they haven't released them all. And the Israelis have solid intelligence which they've shared with the United States that Hamas actually holds uh a large number of them of those of those 16 left uh that that actually could release him any minute. Uh but they don't. So there's there's sort of these largecale violations. But the bottom line is the United States and Israel want to play this through. So, they're going to exercise a degree of tolerance and indulgence of Hamas. Uh, it was difficult yesterday because Hamas attacked Israeli forces and two Israeli soldiers were killed, which of course is a materially grave violation of the ceasefire. But again, the Israelis and the Americans have a very strong interest in playing this through. Not only to get the remaining hostages back, but also to move on to the next phase and see how serious both the world, the region, various regional players and kamas is to fulfill the terms of the agreed upon 20point framework. And uh that's why Witoff and uh Kushner are there now and Vance comes there tomorrow is to essentially lay down a game plan on how to proceed further to far it out how serious kamas is. And that bottom line then winds up with what the president said early this morning which was uh look it can be done easily or it can be done hard. H kamas will disarm, kamas will give up power or uh he could within two minutes have the Israelis go back in and finish it off. Uh so uh we'll have to see how it turns out. But the Israelis and Americans would prefer to do it uh diplomatically first. >> You know, David, um can can we get an idea of how you feel about this ceasefire? Because on reporting on this issue, there's words like fragile being thrown around. What is your current feeling on the strength of this ceasefire, this agreement right now? >> Well, it is fragile. There's no doubt. And it's fragile in part because we know that where it goes from here is all contingent on the terms that were laid out in the 20point plan. And the 20point plan is very clear that kamas now has to disarm and then kamas has to give up power. And we're seeing a lack of willingness to disarm. In fact, it's seizing weapons from its rivals. Uh so it's actually arming for the moment. Two, it's destroying, killing, and murdering its rivals. Uh which suggests it doesn't want to leave power. So, you know, it really looks a little grim on that level in terms of being executed the way that it's written on paper. That said though, it there's many parts to this and many implications to this agreement and I'm actually quite optimistic about certain parts of it. So, you know, Kusher said in an interview that the success or failure of the deal will uh be whether a viable alternative to Hamas can be created. Um he said if they are successful then Hamas will fail. Uh do you agree with that? >> Yes. Basically the the the deal is is very clear. Kamas doesn't survive this and Kamas of course wants to survive this. So the real question is then will it be imposed on kamas and who does that? It's unlikely the international community with their whatever force they put in. So it may be the Israelis. But I'm not sure this is all to be measured only by that. There's another element of it which is the Abraham Accords and that larger peace that President Trump is seeking and Saudi Arabia and the UAE. This is separate from Qatar and Turkey. They have agenda quite different competing and in some ways hostile to the Saudis in UAE. The Saudis in the UAE needed something to hold on to so they can proceed forward uh to come to terms with Israel and maybe Saudi Arabia make peace and the UAE deepen its peace treaty with Israel. And this whether it works or not, the Israelis and the Americans are playing it through in part to give the Saudis what the Saudis need to go ahead and make and and and maybe cross the threshold to a peace treaty. So I would measure it not only by what happens in Gaza, but what happens regionally as a consequence of what happens in Gaza, even if it doesn't work. >> So David, you brought up this point earlier of uh disarming Hamas. And I just want to talk a little bit about that because um what what does disarming Hamas by force look like on the ground? I mean, is that is that just a basically resumption of the war, the campaign uh by Israel? >> Yeah, I mean, un I'm going to do a very un Washington thing and be quite blunt. Uh I don't see any force that can effectively disarm Hamas short of the Israeli army. They're the only ones who have skin in the game, desire to do it, the will and the capability and proximity to do it and they believe as their national interest that it must be done. So there's nobody else with that confluence of interest. So I think the Israelis are the likely force uh other than maybe Hamas and its patrons in Qatar and Turkey feeling that it would be such a a loss or such a destruction of Hamas if Israel did that that they would be willingly uh able to give it up uh and and for and kamas would disarm itself. But we're talking about a very substantial amount of of arming still. We we hearing about six uh brigades uh 24 units uh 10,000 rifles several hundred missiles etc are still in and only about half the tunnels have been uh disabled. So Kamas still has a fairly potent capability and it would take a very robust force to do it by force. It would only have to not do it by force uh voluntarily would require an agreement with kamas and kamas just isn't willing to do that. >> Okay, David, just one last question here and um you agreed earlier that perhaps this ceasefire agreement is fragile. So what indicators would you be looking for to see if this agreement this ceasefire is strengthening or failing? What would success look like to you? >> Well, part of it is time. This doesn't have an unlimited window to keep dragging on. The Israelis have a mobilized civilian army. Their army is based on reserveists. Uh they're a small army standing and have to call up reserveists for such things and they're mobilized and they cannot stay mobilized for very long. Uh so time is an essence. The second thing is the United States wants things to move forward and so forth. So one is measure is time. If this drags on, hostages remain in in Gaza. Albeit that they are dead. I want to make that clear. But they're remain in in Gaza. Hamas just simply publicly refuses to disarm. They continue to kill their opposition in the dozens or hundreds the way they've been doing. Those would be signs that this is failing. And we are going to get those signs over the next few days and weeks. This is not going to stick around for two months. that we're talking about a week or two at most before real meaningful progress has to be made. The second measure is diplomacy. uh what is agreed to because the second all these 20 points beyond the first the hostages and the Israelis giving up the the terrorist prisoners and the Israeli initial Israeli withdrawal beyond that has not been signed and agreed to other than in principle by Hamas or or Qatar and Turkey or really Israel. So that has to be negotiated out and that if that negotiation stalls that too is a verdict. >> Well, all right, David. Always enjoy listening to your insight. Thank you for your time today. >> Thank you. >> Two young men were brutally assaulted and stomped, highlighting uh the need for accountability among young offenders in the district. This case underscores the escalating challenges that we face uh in confronting crime in Washington DC. On August 3rd of 2025 at about 2:53 a.m. Sunday morning at the Ust Street corridor uh and 14th Street, which is a very popular hangout uh nightlife area essentially. Uh Ethan Lavine, a 22-year-old, and several of his friends were standing outside a Senoko gas station. Uh they were approached by a large group of teens, individuals who confronted them and began to assault them. Today, uh we are announcing that Lawrence Cotton Powell, who is 19 years of age, along with Anthony Taylor, who is 18 years of age, are now charged with assaulting Lavine. Cotton Powell was stomping on Lavine's head as you can see in this poster to my left. Lavine uh was able to get up momentarily. Uh but the crowd chased him and got him down again. They continued to attack Lavine while he was on the ground uh and then proceeded to rob him of his sneakers and uh his watch. Uh the group then after the robbery and assault of Ethan Lavine uh they walked in the direction of where another crime occurred within minutes. You have heard of this crime. Edward Corestine, a 19-year-old uh Doge person who was working in the administration, was walking a young woman to her car when he was approached in the 1400 block of Swan Street Northwest. approximately 10 suspects approached him and as they did he pushed the young woman into the car uh that and he was protecting her from the group before he was then attacked by multiple suspects who then punched him repeatedly causing significant injuries to him. They got him on the ground and as they were doing so they demanded the car from the woman who was inside the car and had already locked the car. They were banging on the car. They were pulling the car door trying to get the car open and were telling the woman in the car to hand over the keys. Uh and the woman was, as I said, able to lock the car door so they were unable to gain entry. And it was fortuitous that someone from the Metropolitan Police Department uh was on patrol. He happened to pull onto the block and he witnessed the suspects actually assaulting Corine who was on the ground lying next to the car. The juveniles fled, but within a short period of time, two 15year-olds were arrested and they were taken into the family court by uh the attorney general's office. that is the local attorney general's office. Now, I think what's significant about this case is a history of Lawrence Cotton Powell. I want you to I want you to follow me on this. Lawrence Cottonpow is 19 years of age. He's now charged with robbery, first-degree robbery, for which he faces 15 years in prison. He also faces the charge of assault with intent to commit robbery another 15 years and robbery for Edward Corine 15 years assault with intent to commit robbery another 15 years and attempted carjacking 5 years. Now let me tell you his background. On April 3rd of this year, Lawrence Cotton Powell was sentenced for a felony attempted robbery. My office asked for jail time. Judge Mlan, a judge sitting in the criminal part in superior court with no criminal background, made a decision to give Cotton Powell probation in spite of his conviction on a felony attempted robbery. Within 31 days, by May 4th, Powell re-affends. He's rearrested while he's on probation from the felony, and he's charged with simple assault and possession of a prohibited weapon B. On May 4th, my office asked that probation be revoked. But on May 16th, that same judge Mlan comes back and releases Cotton Powell and tells him basically, "Be a good boy." On July 24th, he is sentenced to one of the two misdemeanors that he's charged with. Again, my office asked for jail time after he victimized yet another person. And on July 25th, another judge suspends his sentence and decides that he should be on probation. So after a felony of attempted robbery conviction, after a violation of probation, after a second crime, after a second conviction, after no compliance with Cosa, the judges say do better. And they let him go. And guess what? Within 10 days, he's at it again with Ethan Lavine and Edward Corstein. Now, the codefendant in this case is is an individual by the name of Anthony Taylor. He uh charged also with the same uh arrest. He is from with the same crimes. He is from Maryland. He is 18 years old. We are unaware of uh any any history as it relates to him. I want to thank the Metropolitan Police Department. I want to thank the fact that this department went above and beyond and worked incredibly hard with the little evidence that we had to identify two of the perpetrators that were be going to be able to prosecute in criminal court. And I want to mention uh and thank the chief and I also want to thank Mayor Bowser for her assistance in helping us. This is a coordinated effort by all of us. I also want to thank the marshals who are here and they'll be speaking to you in a minute. But I again urge the DC council to reconsider those trilogy of laws that allow Washington DC to allow these young people to go out and victimize, revictimize and keep revictimizing and putting the safety of the citizens who live, work and visit here at risk. and I ask them to stand up finally and send a clear message because the people of this district deserve no less than safety. So I want to call upon the police chief Pamela Smith to say a few words. >> All right. Thank you, Judge Piro. Good afternoon. I'm Pamela A. Smith, Chief of Police of the Metropolitan Police Department. I'm joined today by Commander Kevin Kintage of our Criminal Investigations Division and Detective Thomas O'Donnell of the carjacking task force. The Metropolitan Police Department is proud to stand alongside our partners at the United States Attorney's Office and the United States Marshall Service in announcing two additional arrests in the attempted carjacking of Mr. Edward Corstine. This is the latest example of the continuous partnerships between our agencies and our collective community commitment to removing individuals who harm our communities out of our community. It is because of the swift response of our officers. Two suspects were immediately arrested after the offense occurred. Since the morning of August 3rd, detectives assigned to the Metropolitan Police Department carjacking task force have worked tirelessly with all of our partners to identify and apprehend the two outstanding suspects. Just minutes before the attempted carjacking on Swan Street, both of these suspects were involved in a robbery just a few blocks away from Ust Street. This behavior is indicative of what we see time and time again. A small group of suspects committed a series of violent crime offenses in a very short period of time. These arrests send a very strong message to our community. If you commit violent acts in our community, you will be found. You will be held accountable and you will face justice. Together, we will continue to work tirelessly to ensure our neighbors and our communities that you remain safe and that those who threaten the safety will be held accountable. I'd also like to thank Judge Piro and her team for working alongside the Metropolitan Police Department for getting this case to where it is today. I'd also like to thank Mayor Muriel Bowser who has also been very very supportive of public safety in this city and and since I've been in this space as the chief, she has certainly been a strong supporter and an advocate for what we need to do in this city to drive down crime. And and lastly, the members of the Metropolitan Police Department, the carjacking task force, and our detectives who every single day go out there and and and investigate those crimes to ensure that our citizens and our communities feel safe. Thank you so much. And I'll turn it back over to Judge Piro. >> All right. And now I'd like to call that US Attorney for DC, Janine Piro, giving an update on the latest arrest in the assault of former Doge staffer. And as well along with her, Pamela Smith, chief of the Metropolitan Police Department, announcing that more arrests have been made in connection with the Doge staffer. All right, coming up after the break, 480,000, that's how many criminal illegal immigrants have been arrested under President Trump. We have more from DHS Secretary Christine. President Trump says his administration is investigating the funding behind the no kings protests on Saturday. On board Air Force One Sunday evening, Trump singled out billionaire philanthropist George Soros as a potential source of funding. This comes as the Trump administration seeks to trace the money behind far-left demonstrations. More broadly, earlier this month, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant stated the US is in the process of compiling a list of organizations, including nonprofits that could be funding domestic terror activities, including the anarcho communist group Antifa. Joining us now to discuss is Matt Palumba, who's been researching this issue for many years. He's the author of the book The Man Behind the Curtain: Inside the Secret Network of George Soros and the new book, The Air. So, Matt, uh, good to see you today. Uh, you know, George Soros, um, has heavily funded a number of progressive causes in the US and worldwide as well. Can you explain for us some examples of organizations or groups funded by Soros and his Open Society Foundation and as well if you would uh the types of activities and activism they're involved in? >> Yeah. You know, I'll focus more on the macro level even than you know individual groups. So the big one is district attorneys and this is something that Alex Soros has continued. But Soros has a very uh weak on crime agenda. They want things like shoplifting to be legal effectively. Um they want it, you know, to control the law where they can weaponize it against the right. So for instance, there was a Soros DA who decided that vandalism, graffiti would be legal if you, you know, so um but at the same time after that became the law that you could do things like that, there was a guy who defaced a Black Lives Matter mural and got charged by this DA. So, it's this sort of selective enforcement. You know, it's a sort of anarcho tyranny um in terms of how these things are enforced. But, uh Chase is probably the best example of this gone arai. I think he got the most attention. He was the son of weather underground radicals. Both his parents went to jail. But it was sort of like every other day you would see a case of someone would walk into, you know, a CVS, a convenience store. where they would load up a bag uh with products and then just walk out and there would be no ca uh no consequences whatsoever. In fact, it got to the point where businesses would just stop reporting crimes because there was no point. The cops wouldn't do anything. And uh one of my favorite anecdotes to show the effect that that had on the nationwide stat on the the city statistics was that there was a single target location that decided for one month they would report every single shoplifting incident and the crime rate in the entire city doubled that month from one business reporting all their crimes. So it's this weird paradox where crime went up so much that it actually went down in the statistics. So the DAs were a big one. um you know ones that are trying to interfere with Trump's immigration agenda. A lot of them are funded by Soros. Another major category and this is where the big money is going are in what I call a funds of funds category. So groups like the Tides Foundation, um Rockefeller Foundation, Carnegie Endowment. Um these are big money groups that then give to smaller groups. So Soros is giving his money to another group that may then in turn give it to another group that gives it to another group. And this is a sort of layered transaction. It's almost like money laundering uh but for charitable groups. And it gives him a lot of plausible deniability in where the money is going. He can say, well, you know, I didn't know this group was going to fund them. And in fact, that's a very common defense of theirs. They also fund think tanks, dozens of them, but the Center for American Progress is a very well-known one. uh Biden's chief of staff was a member of the Center for American Progress. Uh Nerra Tanden was one and many many members of the Biden administration were born at the Center for American Progress. And then it's just a diversified set of left-wing groups. For instance, a lot of get out the vote groups are funded by Soros, particularly on an ethnic basis. You know, Asians for Democrats, Hispanics for Democrats, etc., etc. Uh and then there's also news and media. He funded to the tune of I believe it was $16 million a group called Corer newsroom ahead of the last election. And what they would do is they would set up only in swing states and portray themselves as a sort of middleof the road group but would fund only left-wing narratives and promote left-wing narratives to try to turn those swing states. Obviously it failed miserably. Um but that's where they're at. And George Soros, despite stepping down from the Open Society Foundation in June of 2023, is actually still playing a role arguably through these media organizations. Um, for instance, his boy Radio Mambi, the biggest right-wing Hispanic network in I believe it was Miami, Florida, George Soros bought up and that was through his hedge fund, um, which he's still in control of. and he was also trying to buy there was um other groups he bought ahead of the 2024 election that the Biden FCC fasttracked at a rate that had never happened before and our current FCC commissioner is currently investigating how that happened. Um so I think at a macro level those are you know his main areas of influence I would say. So Matt uh we actually reached out to sources uh open society foundation and a spokesperson told us that the grants they have given to Indivisible uh which is a leading no kings organizer were not specifically for those protests and they said that uh grantees quote make their own decisions about their work consistent with the law and the terms of their grant agreements. Um so Matt, can you give us uh an idea of how exactly this funding is allocated from your research? >> Well, they're made grants to the entire organization. So the I guess you know genius or stupidity of that statement is that well no matter what they do, they can say the money didn't fund it. Uh they often say, you know, we don't knowingly fund violent activities. And the word knowingly is doing quite a bit of heavy lifting there because um they could you know they they can they always just deny it. And the analogy I give is it's almost as if you know you see an arsonist and then you give them gasoline in a match and say all right I have no idea what they're going to do about this and if they lit a fire well I I just how could I have possibly known that wasn't my intent and that's what they're doing with these groups. So you know Soros is just one person right among billionaires and millionaires who give money to progressive groups um which often use the money to fund protests. Can you give us an idea of some of the other players involved and their interests uh in these causes? >> I think Neville Singh is probably the biggest one right now. Oh, he's, you know, a tech billionaire who decided and a Mauist obviously or um actually um I don't know how you can be a Mauist and not be aware of the fact that he killed 45 plus million people. He killed more people than Adolf Hitler. So, he's obvious he's literally worse than Hitler. I know liberals love to say that about right-wingers, but it's literal in that case. and his main area of influence is a political party that has no seats in any legislature called the Party for Socialism and and um liberation, but it works as an activist group. You know, the recent LA riots over ICE are part of that. You can actually see at any protest, their signs always have PSL Web on the bottom. They're like the um yellow or orang-ish signs. They always look identical and they're at every leftwing rally. Um so that's another major group. And he also funds a lot of left-wing media that is pro-CP. A PSL also is pro-CP and they are revisionists to the highest order. They deny for instance that anyone died at Tanaman Square. They deny the weaguer genocide. Um they actually they've only criticized the CCP for not being leftwing enough and not being communist enough. So he's I would say the biggest one on the left that comes to mind. But then there are other people like Bill Gates who are funding centerleft causes that aren't explicitly left-wing um and a lot of people like that. >> So Matt, can you explain to us as well the potential issues with this kind of funding particularly from US donors? Because uh you know, one can argue that as long as the people participating in the protest genuinely support the cause and as well no laws are being broken, what's the problem here? Well, the problem is the laws are being broken. Like for instance, the 2014 Michael Brown protest in Ferguson that spread nationwide were funded by a lot of Soros groups and they were burning down buildings, uh, assaulting people. In the George Floyd riots of 2020, they were also Soros funded. Uh, the estimate I saw, I believe, was a little over $2 billion in property damage, although I think some were as high as four billion. And it they're actually massive understatements because they were calculated by insurance payouts to businesses that were damaged, but only about 40% of businesses have insurance. And of those that do, most are only partially insured. So it could have been as high as 10 billion. 25 people were killed during them. And the looting too was, you know, had to have been in the hundreds of millions to billions. So they definitely are breaking the law. Um, you know, I I guess you can give the No Kings protest credit that no one got hurt this weekend, but during the first one, someone got shot. >> So, Matt, uh, I'm wondering as well, are there any equivalent to this on the far right? Are there billionaire donors giving large amounts of money to groups engaged in far-right protests and political activism? >> Uh, no. And a lot of the far-right groups in this country are infiltrated by federal informants. I mean, maybe to a less extent under Trump now. I'm not sure, but like Patriot Front, uh, the Proud Boys, like even the Proud Boys when they were being charged for January 6th related um, crimes, there was a federal informant who was recommending lawyers to them to try to sabotage. So, a lot of those groups are infiltrated. They are, I guess, grassroots because they're not funded by billionaires, but no, there's no far-right groups that are being funded to that extent that are causing problems. In fact, most right-wing uh activism has been more for fiscal issues or against abortion. Um, but again, those are very peaceful group. There's not really a possibility for violence there. So, that's a good thing. I think the best thing for a right-wing donor was Elon Musk buying Twitter because it allowed for the free flow of ideas. You know, Twitter was, I would say, 90 95% left-wing before Elon Musk. Now, it's about 5050. Uh, previously narratives like the Hunter Biden laptop, which there was one study from newsbusters found actually would have tipped the election more in Trump's favor if it had been disseminated. Those narratives were completely frozen. You get banned from promoting them. And it's very easy to think of stories even just in the past few months that we would have never heard of if it wasn't for Elon Musk opening up th those um basically an information highway. That poor Ukrainian woman who was murdered. that story would have been banned on the basis that it was going to inflame racial tension or or some excuse that a left-winger would have come up with. So, you know, our right-wing money is going to very productive causes that are actually helping people. >> Well, all right, Matt, very well spoken. I do believe that is our time today. Really appreciate you coming on to talk to us. >> Yeah, it was a lot of fun. Thank you. Secretary of Homeland Security Christine Gnome shared an update on how many criminal illegal immigrants have been arrested since President Trump took office. Here's a clip from today's press conference in Sarasota, Florida. Since January, the Department of Homeland Security has arrested over 480,000 criminal illegal aliens. 70% of those individuals have criminal charges against them or have been convicted of those criminal charges. across the country. We're making communities safer so that families can thrive and they can prosper and they can enjoy the kind of freedom that this country was established to provide. Uh unfortunately, many times we see the news um distorting the truth um and not bringing the real facts of the stories to the American people and that is one of the reasons why we're here today is to make sure that we're focused on what this office has done. The secretary called for an end to hostile rhetoric against law enforcement, saying it's led to a 1,000% increase in violence against officers. Gnome stressed that officers put their lives at risk every day to protect Americans. The secretary warned that illegal immigrants who commit crimes will be brought to justice. She added that the administration is willing to help those who want to self-deport. Nome said the DHS will continue with targeted operations in Portland, Chicago, and Memphis and will also be going into San Francisco. An illegal immigrant who was living with a judge has pleaded guilty to gun possession. Christian Ortiga Lopez is a suspected Trendi gang member. He was arrested in February at Judge Jose Cano's house in Mexico. Ortika Lopez plead guilty to illegally possessing firearms and conspiracy to destroy evidence. Federal authorities say Judge Cano hired him for some home repairs and then allowed him to stay. The judge is facing criminal charges providing a safe haven for Ortigga Lopez and allegedly destroying evidence. In an interview with local TV, Hano said he never knew about Ortigas Lopez's alleged ties with Trendy Arua. The White House has confirmed it has struck a drug shipping vessel operated by a Colombian guerilla group and President Trump announced new actions against the Colombian government. Our Washington correspondent Luis Eduardo Martinez has more on the story. >> The United States has now struck seven vessels in the area of operation of Southern Command. Six of the vessels that the US military has struck were operated by Venezuelan drug traffickers, namely Tend Ara, a designated foreign terrorist organization. Over the weekend, the Department of War confirmed it had struck a vessel operated by the Aeroito National, a foreign terrorist organization and a Colombian guerilla group operating in between Venezuela and Colombia. >> They are a drug manufacturing machine Colombia and we're not going to be part of it. So, we're going to drop all money that we're giving to them. President Trump announced over the weekend that his administration would halt all aid payments to Colombia and would increase tariffs on the South American nation. The Colombian government in turn recalled their ambassador to the United States after President Trump called Colombian President Gustavo Petro an illegal drug leader. >> They don't have a fight against drugs. They make drugs. They refine drugs. They make cocaine. They have cocaine factories. They have no fight against drugs. And I'm stopping all payments to Colombia because they don't have anything to do with their fight against drugs. >> In his youth, Gustavo Petro, Colombia's first left-leaning president, was a member of the Diner Davil Guerilla Group and spent two years in prison. Since he took office, drug production in Colombia has skyrocketed to record levels and organized crime has flourished. Over the weekend, the US embassy in Colombia was attacked. Today, a group of criminals, some of them wearing hoods, in a premeditated and planned manner, evidently organized themselves to attack the police in the vicinity of the US embassy with explosive devices, incendiary devices, and arrows with bows. >> A US strike conducted last week left survivors that then were captured by US forces and now being returned to their countries of origin. extremely confident that when we take out one of these boats, it's boats that would have really terrible poison that would kill tens of thousands of Americans. Uh when these actual boats get blown up, sometimes there are survivors and I think the Secretary of State just makes a decision depending on what the scenario is. >> US strikes have thus far destroyed over 100,000 lethal doses of drugs in the South Caribbean Sea. President Trump has not ruled out targeting drug smuggling operations on land in both Colombia and Venezuela. Reporting from Washington DC, Luis Eduardo Martinez, NTD News. >> Fallout from another federal department as the government shutdown continues. US Energy Secretary Chris Wright shared the latest furlows from the Nevada National Security Sites. And of course there are people that that it's too risky even in the short run to not have. So there will be carveouts. We did not furlow everyone at NNSA but we did f we did furlow the large majority but there is a certain number of missionritical folks that are still working. >> Wright said they have run out of funds and today they were forced to furlow nearly 78 federal employees at the site. He said the majority were contractors. Wright said across the National Nuclear Security Administration, there have been 1,400 impacted employees across the country. Wright called on both Nevada senators to vote in favor of continuing federal funding. One has voted to abstain. Wright expressed the gravity of furlows in this agency. First, he noted the impacts it has on families. And second, he said, "This puts our national security at risk. Think of our adversaries abroad. This is among the most critical workers in our country. They test, maintain, and ultimately construct the modernized version of our nuclear stockpile. We need to take that deathly serious. We've never had to furlow workers in this area before. We need to end this as soon as possible. Again, I thank >> Moscow and Washington are making progress toward a summit between its two leaders. President Trump is set to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Hungary. NTD's international correspondent Arian Pasdar has the latest. >> Right now, the priority of the European Union is rightly directed towards the war in in Ukraine. >> European allies are meeting in Slovenia on Monday. French President Mrron says the group known as the Collision of the Willing is set to meet again on Friday. As for us, we continue to advance at Ukraine's side, which is resisting bravely. I think that we must not submit to any of the latest disinformation. Ukraine is continuing to resist with a great deal of courage by continuing to innovate to produce. >> This week, we aim to adopt a major new sanctions package on Russia. Every euro we deny Russia is one that it can't use on war. Meanwhile, Moscow and Washington are making progress towards a summit between the two leaders. President Trump is set to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Hungary. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergio Lavrov had a phone call on Monday. They reportedly discussed the bilateral agenda of Russia US relations including economic and geopolitical ties. Russia's Lavro says the conversation was quote constructive. Arian Pastor, NTD News. >> Two people. The Chinese Communist Party is holding a central committee meeting this week to plan for the next 5 years and it may include a shakeup of Xi Jinping's power. That's as Treasury Secretary Scott Besson says he will meet in Malaysia with the Chinese vice premier this weekend. Entities Washington correspondent Jack Bradley joins us. Jack, good afternoon. What can we expect out of these meetings? Good afternoon, Don. Well, this today is the first of four days of meetings bringing together hundreds of CCP members as part of its rubber stamp legislature, all to discuss the next 5 years of its economy. Um, and this will be behind closed doors. But what we should be on the lookout for here are any leadership changes. That's because last Friday, Beijing ousted its number two general and the army's top political leader along with seven other high-ranking officials. Now, these were members of the party that were seen as part of CCP leader Xiinping's faction, not his opposition faction, which is also very strong within the party. Now, this has sparked speculation that Xiinping may now be losing power. It also raises questions about whether this could impact China's ability to invade Taiwan as they've been wanting to. Here's President Trump on this earlier today. >> First of all, the United States is the strongest military power in the world by far. It's not even close. Not even close. We have the best equipment. We have the best of everything. And nobody's going to mess with that. And I don't see that at all with President Xia. Now, that doesn't mean it's not the apple of his eye, cuz probably it is. But I don't see anything happening. >> Now, President Trump says that as the US's promise to come to the defense of Taiwan if it were ever invaded by China. President Trump made those comments also alongside the leader of Taiwan's neighboring country of Australia. That says Chinese fighter jets raised flares, releasing them dangerously close to an Australian Air Force plane just over the South China Sea. Australia says that the flares came within striking distance of the aircraft, calling the maneuver unsafe and unprofessional. Don >> and Jack, you know, a new round of trade talks between the US and China uh starts this week. Where does the US and China currently stand on trade? >> Right. So, US Treasury Secretary Scott Besson is meeting with a CCP delegation in Malaysia this weekend. tensions are are have flared really although US officials are saying they have calmed down a bit since these trade talks are on the way. Um but last week uh Beijing expanded its export controls on rare earth materials. A move that Bessence called unprovoked uh an an escalation in uh the trade war. President Trump threatened to impose a new 100% tariff on China that would take effect November 1st. Last week, Trump himself said that the US and China are in a trade war. And Secretary Bessant said that the export restrictions from China sends a signal to the US and the rest of the world that they may need to decouple from China's economy. Take a look. >> Mr. President, you're meeting with President Xi in a few weeks. Yeah. >> If you can't come to an agreement or a deal at that meeting, are we in for a sustained trade war with China? >> Well, you're in one now. Look, we have 100% tariff. If we didn't have tariffs, we would be exposed as being a nothing. We would have no defense. >> This is China versus the world. They have put these unacceptable export controls on the entire world. If China wants to be an unreliable partner to the world, then the world will have to decouple. And now Besson says that the US is working to restore its own rare earth processing capabilities which it once was a superpower in before over the last three decades China coming in and buying off US processing rare earth companies and moving them to China. Now the latest action on that today is President Trump signing a critical minerals deal as we heard earlier with Australia. But here at home, the US is investing in billions in domestic rare earth processing. In August, for instance, the federal government invested a 15% stake in the US-based firm MP materials to both mine and process those rare earths which go into every electronic from uh your cell phone, iPhone all the way to uh defense weapons uh and other electronics like that. Don. >> Okay, Jack, thank you for the report.