Federal Agents Shoot 2 In Portland; New DOJ Role to Tackle Fraud | NTD Good Morning (Jan. 9)

Welcome to NTD Good Morning. Here are today's top stories. The FBI is investigating a shooting in Portland, Oregon. Authorities say two people were injured in an incident involving immigration agents. Vice President J.D. Vance announces the creation of a new Justice Department position specifically to tackle fraud investigations. What will be the responsibilities of the new Assistant Attorney General? President Trump called a possible meeting with Venezuelan leader Maria Carina Machado a real honor. Plus, drug cartels may have to forget business as usual as Trump discusses land strikes in Mexico. Anti-ice and pro-Maduro demonstrations are ramping up. A pro-Beijing billionaire is suspected of bankrolling the organized protests. NASA is bringing an astronaut and three crewmates back to Earth months earlier than planned after a crew member's serious medical condition. And the new animated film, David, is a sensation at the box office with its story of faith and hope. We're going to speak with the film's director on their novel approach on getting people to the movies. This is NTD Good Morning. Live from our global headquarters in New York City, here are Stefania Cox and Kerry Dunst. Good morning. Thank you for joining us. Today's Friday, January 9th. You're watching NTD Good Morning. In today's top news, the FBI is investigating a shooting in Portland, Oregon, after authorities said a man and a woman were injured in an incident involving immigration agents. The Department of Homeland Security says the incident unfolded yesterday afternoon as Border Patrol agents were conducting a targeted vehicle stop. In a statement, Homeland Security said the driver, a suspected Venezuelan Tranderagua gang member, attempted to weaponize his vehicle and run over the agents. The agency said an agent then fired a defensive shot and then the driver and a passenger drove away. A few minutes later, police received information that a man who had been shot was asking for help in a residential area a couple of miles away. Portland Police Chief Bob Day explains the police response. Our officers responded. We found a male and a female with apparent gunshot wounds. Officers applied a tourniquet and summoned emergency medical personnel. The patients were transported to local hospital and their conditions at this time are unknown. Officers have determined that the two people who were injured were injured in the shooting involving the federal agents from the earlier call. Homeland Security says the vehicle's passenger is an illegal immigrant from Venezuela. Officials say the suspect is affiliated with the transnational Tranderagua prostitution ring and was involved in a recent shooting in Portland. Portland Mayor Keith Wilson, along with City Council, called on ICE to end all operations in the city, saying Portland is not a training ground for militarized agents. Portland Police Chief Bob Day asked the community to remain calm as authorities continue their investigation. He acknowledged the heightened tension many are feeling in the wake of this week's shooting in Minneapolis. Last night, Portland Police responded to protests near an ICE facility in South Portland. Multiple arrests were made and that shooting in Portland comes, as we've been saying, as Minneapolis is on edge and perhaps the nation. After an ICE officer fatally shot a woman on Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security now says that protesters weaponized vehicles to attack federal officers four times on Wednesday. NTD's Ariane Pasdar has more on this story. And a warning, the report does include some footage that viewers may find disturbing. This was an act of domestic terrorism. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem repeating the Trump administration's stance that Wednesday's shooting was the result of a targeted attack against law enforcement. Noem says a woman who had been stalking and impeding ICE agents weaponized her vehicle and that an officer who stood in front of it then fired defensive shots. This vehicle was used to hit this officer. It was used as a weapon and the officer feels as though his life was in jeopardy. This officer took action to protect himself and to protect his fellow law enforcement officers. The officer who fired the shots has now been identified. Images released in court documents show that he was injured in a similar incident in when he was dragged by a car. President Trump weighed in shortly after the incident on Wednesday, calling one of the anti-ICE protesters at the scene a, quote, professional agitator. A Homeland Security spokesperson now tells Fox News that there were multiple coordinated attacks directed against ICE agents on Wednesday. Unfortunately, we are seeing a coordinated campaign of violence against our law enforcement, particularly in Minneapolis. We've seen four vehicle rammings, weaponization of vehicles against our law enforcement yesterday. We saw an additional today. Meanwhile, tensions are still high in Minnesota with protesters confronting federal law enforcement. Federal officers fired pepper balls at the protesters to contain the crowd. I knew I had to be here and one of our neighbors was murdered. I only live a few blocks south of what happened. DHS reports that hostility against ICE is on the rise. The agency cites a 1,300 percent increase in assaults against law enforcement and an 8,000 percent increase in death threats compared to last year. Some are saying that local officials are fueling the fire by repeating rhetoric which can lead to violence. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz denies this. I've not used inflammatory terms of what happened. I've asked us to find the answers. The only way we find the answers is a thorough investigation by non-partisan professionals. Walz is calling on the federal government to let state authorities participate in the investigation into the shooting. The State Bureau of Criminal Apprehension says that the Department of Justice informed them that the probe would be led only by the FBI. When asked about the decision, no one said Minnesota authorities should instead be investigating people who are harassing officers and inciting violence. Arian Pasdar, NTD News. Governor Walz is authorizing the Minnesota National Guard to support local law enforcement. According to a statement yesterday, the troops will be staged and ready out of an abundance of caution and in coordination with local officials. The statement says the goal is to help maintain peace, ensure public safety, and also allow for peaceful demonstrations. And the Trump administration is creating a new Justice Department position to tackle nationwide fraud and it comes on the heels of major welfare fraud revelations in Minnesota that are currently under investigation. The Trump administration has announced the creation of a new Department of Justice division specifically to tackle fraud investigations. The division will be led by an assistant attorney general who will oversee fraud investigations across multiple districts and agencies. It comes as the administration zeroes in on and reports of widespread fraud in Minnesota. Vice President J.D. Vance said yesterday at the White House the administration has already filed more than 1,500 subpoenas and nearly 100 indictments in the state. We have actually activated a major interagency task force to make it possible to get to the heart of this fraud. But Vance said fraud isn't only happening in Minnesota. He also singled out California and Ohio, saying investigations are underway there too. We've never seen fraud like this in the history of our country. Pam has been doing a great job to get the resources there to uncover it. But importantly, creating a job like this often takes months, sometimes even longer. When we realized that we needed this associate attorney general position, Pam got this person up and running in about a week. Vance said taxpayers currently have limited access to resources like child care and SNAP benefits because they have been going to illegal immigrants and fraudsters. A nomination for the assistant attorney general position is expected soon, and Vance says Senate Majority Leader John Thune has promised a quick confirmation process. White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt said yesterday the administration is going to conduct door-to-door investigations of what she called rampant fraud under Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. Taxpayers have been ripped off to the tune of billions of dollars in this one state alone. And that is going to end, and people are going to be held accountable. Vance reiterated his call for Walz to resign amid the allegations. I think Tim Walz should resign because it's very clear either that he knew about the fraud in Minneapolis, he knew about the welfare fraud, or at the very least, he looked the other way. Treasury Secretary Scott Besson spoke about widespread fraud during a speech at the Economic Club of Minnesota yesterday. He suggested recovering these lost funds could help pay for President Trump's proposed $1.5 trillion defense budget. Besson called Minnesota ground zero for, quote, what may be one of the most egregious welfare scams in our nation's history to date. Speaking to The Epoch Times, Jan Jekielek, Kelly Loeffler, who leads the Small Business Administration and her agency, discovered thousands of COVID-era loans flagged for potential fraud. She said the Biden administration never fully investigated those loans. Those cases were closed. Those loans were being forgiven. That's where we're going back now and just saying these files are now closed. They've been marked as fraud. We're sending them to federal investigators because no more sweeping this under the rug. After Minnesota, she says her agency will go state-by-state to investigate abuses of pandemic-era loans. And the latest on Venezuela, President Trump says Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Carina Machado is coming to Washington next week. NDD's Daniel Monahan has more on that, plus major news on the administration's plans for drug cartels. President Trump was asked about Maria Carina Machado's visit during an interview on Fox News' Hannity program. Well, I understand she's coming in next week sometime. And I look forward to saying hello to her. And I've heard that she wants to do that. That would be a great honor. President Trump says the country has to be rebuilt before elections can be held. Right now, the country has become third world, and they wouldn't know how to have an election right now. We're going to rebuild the oil and the oil infrastructure. We'll be in charge of it. It's going to do great and make a lot of money. And we're going to take it from there. The president discussed Venezuela's oil reserves. All the big oil companies are coming in. They're going to make a lot of money. And Venezuela is going to get some of that money. And we're going to get some of that money. And we brought stability to the region. Trump says Maduro's ouster has helped political prisoners go free. And in many cases, good people, is what I understand. But prisoners, nobody ever thought they'd be released. So we're going to be working with them and leadership of the country. The government in Venezuela says it has decided to release a significant number of Venezuelan and foreign detainees as a gesture affirming its broad intention to seek peace. Two prominent Venezuelan opposition figures were among those set free yesterday. Approximately 2,200 people were arrested by Venezuelan authorities following the country's disputed presidential election in 2024, according to Amnesty International. President Trump says the United States will begin launching strikes on cartels in Mexico. The move comes after the president says the U.S. has knocked out 97 percent of the drugs coming in by water, speaking on Fox News. We are going to start now hitting land with regard to the cartels. The cartels are running Mexico. It's very, very sad to watch and see what's happened to that country. According to the CDC, the rate of drug overdose deaths quadrupled from around eight deaths per 100,000 people in 2002 to around 32 deaths per 100,000 people in 2022. There were about 80,000 drug overdose deaths in the United States in 2024, 110,000 in 2023. President Trump also discussed the widespread protests in Iran, saying in the past the regime has murdered protesters en masse. So they played rough. And I said, if they do that, we're going to hit them very hard. Well, we're going to hit them hard. We're ready to do it. If they do that, we're going to hit them hard. And so far, for the most part, there's been some of it. But for the most part, they haven't. The president expressed admiration for the Iranian people and repeated his warning. These people are totally unarmed people, and they love their country. They want something to happen. Look at their country. They've gone back 150 years. But I've told them that if they do anything bad to these people, we're going to hit them very hard. Iran has been in the midst of a nationwide internet blackout since yesterday, according to the internet monitoring group NetBlocks. The tactic has been used in the past by the regime during violent crackdowns to prevent footage from showing the killing and to shut down communication. Daniel Monaghan, NTD News. Thanks to Daniel for that report. And in the Truth Social post this morning, the president said he canceled a second wave of attacks on Venezuela following cooperation from the South American nation. This comes after Venezuela began releasing a large number of its political prisoners. Trump also said at least $100 billion will be invested by what he called big oil and that he expects to meet with oil executives at the White House today. Turning now to the nationwide protests in Iran. Internet and phone lines were cut across the country yesterday, soon after demonstrations began. NTD's Jason Perry has the Middle East update. Protesters in Iran on Thursday gathered around an Iranian flag and then began tearing it up. Protests were held across Iran, including in the capital after the country's exiled crown prince, Reza Pahlavi, called for mass demonstrations on Thursday and Friday. And he said based on their response, he'll announce the next call to action. However, internet and telephone lines in Iran were cut out immediately after the protests began. The U.S.-based human rights activist news agency said at least 41 people have been killed during the demonstrations, while more than 2,000 others have been detained. And President Trump has threatened U.S. intervention if Iran shoots peaceful protesters. Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araqchi, on Thursday addressed the nationwide protests. An interpreter then translated his words into Arabic. We are ready for any situation. We do not want war, but we are ready for it. We are also ready for negotiations, but negotiations that are based on mutual interests and respect. Jason Perry, NTD News. Russia says it fired its hypersonic Oreshnik missile at Ukraine in retaliation for what it claims was a drone attack on President Trump's and President Vladimir Putin's residence. It's the second time Russia has fired the missile at Ukraine. Putin has claimed the Oreshnik missile is impossible to intercept because it is reported to travel at 10 times the speed of sound. Ukrainian officials also say overnight drone attacks killed four people, injured 19 and damaged residential areas in Kyiv. City officials say an emergency medic responding to the strikes is among the dead. Meanwhile, President Vladimir Zelensky has set an agreement on security guarantees with the United States and is ready to be signed at the highest level. He added that discussions had also advanced on documents covering Ukraine's reconstruction and economic development. He also warned that Moscow was trying to exploit winter weather to attack Ukraine and reiterated calls for continued international support. Celticom, a billionaire with ties to the Chinese regime, is subpoenaed over suspicions of bankrolling leftist protests in the U.S. And a new move by President Trump, which he says will help lower housing costs. It involves $200 billion worth of mortgage bond purchases. Meanwhile, drug prices may be heading lower as Johnson & Johnson strikes a voluntary deal with the Trump administration to offer discounted medicines in exchange for tariff relief. Those stories and more ahead. Welcome back. Luigi Mangione is set to appear in federal court as he tries to block prosecutors from seeking the death penalty. Mangione is accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in 2024. His lawyers argue the government prejudice prejudice the case through public statements and a high profile arrest. The lawyers also say if that doesn't work, then they're going to argue the charge murder by firearm should be thrown out because they believe it is legally flawed. Federal prosecutors reject those claims, saying the charges are legally sound and publicity is not ground for dismissal. The hearing is also expected to address efforts to exclude evidence found during Mangione's arrest. Mangione has pleaded not guilty. The Senate advanced a war powers resolution yesterday as the House tackled government funding. Our Washington correspondent Luis Eduardo Martinez has the details. Five Republicans joined Democrats in advancing a War Powers Act resolution that would prohibit President Trump from taking any further military action in Venezuela without congressional approval. They're going to own screwing up the best chance we've ever had to liberate the people of Venezuela and make our country safer from drug poisoning. What is Trump doing? We don't have troops on the ground now, but he's telling the people who come in after the door, if I need to, everything's on the table. If you screw with me, you're going to wind up like Maduro. There's still two more procedural votes in the Senate for the War Powers Act resolution. If it passes, it will be sent to the House. The president still retains the power to veto the resolution if it becomes law, like in 2019, when Congress tried to force the president to withdraw from taking any further military action against the Houthis in Yemen. This was a motion to discharge my War Powers resolution from the committee. The committee was going to lock it up, and it was never going to see the light of day. So now it becomes the pending business of the Senate. What you will likely see next week is a vote on a motion to proceed, which we would expect simple majority, similar vote to today, and then a debate, finally, after months, about this military operation, the whole thing, including where it's going in Venezuela and possibly in other nations. The House voted to pass the Democrat sponsored bill that would extend the expired Affordable Care Act enhanced tax credit for three more years. These are people who are supporting military adventurism, billions of dollars being spent in South America and in other parts of the world. Yet Republican leaders in the Senate are not willing to spend a dime to keep health care affordable for the American people. The bill now heads to the Senate, where it is expected that it will be amended and sent back to the House. The House of Representatives also passed today a trio of appropriation bills to fund commerce, justice, science, interior, water and energy departments through fiscal year 2026. Reporting from Washington, D.C., Luis Eduardo Martinez, NTD News. Thanks to Luis for that report. Allegations the Chinese Communist Party is backing leftist protests here in America. The issue is back in the spotlight as anti-ICE protests and protests supporting Venezuela's ousted dictator, Nicolas Maduro, start up again. A congresswoman this week subpoenaed a pro-Beijing billionaire who's suspected of bankrolling to organize protests. Anti-ICE protests starting up again in Minnesota and protests opposing the capture of communist dictator Nicolas Maduro popped up in New York City. The groups behind these protests, like the Party for Socialism and Liberation, are suspected to be a socialist network bankrolled by a China-based billionaire named Nelva Roy Singham. Congresswoman Ana Paulina Luna described Singham as the funding arm of the He is definitely someone that is anti-American in ideology and regardless of where you might stand, even on topics like Israel versus Palestine, is funding certain groups that actually sow discord in this country with no efforts to actually resolve the issues, only to get us to fight one another. Congresswoman Luna has subpoenaed Singham to testify before the House Oversight Committee, emphasizing that if he doesn't comply, lawmakers will hold him in contempt. The committee will probe the links between Singham and the CCP. When she made the motion to subpoena Singham on Wednesday, the top Democrat on the committee urged his side of the aisle to support it. I understand his concerns. I'm going to recommend that we vote yes on the Luna motion. The pro-Beijing billionaire has been under the microscope for several months. The Oversight Committee opened their investigation into Singham last summer, and former Senator Marco Rubio previously referred him to the DOJ. Several lawmakers told NTD the issue is worthy of attention. Congressman Zach Nunn from the Select Committee on the CCP said, there's a real concern here that we have a vivid fifth column approaching on U.S. shores that are trying to advance a pro-Beijing agenda at the expense to Americans around the world. Reporting from Washington, D.C., Melina Weiskopf, NTD News. Drug prices are moving in a favorable direction for patients. Johnson & Johnson said yesterday that it has struck a voluntary deal with the Trump administration and that should lower drug prices and that's an exchange for tariff relief. The pharmaceutical company says it will participate in the Trump administration's platform to allow Americans to purchase its medicines at significantly discounted rates. It will also provide Medicaid program access at prices comparable to those in other developed nations. U.S. patients currently pay far more for prescription medicines, often nearly three times more than in other developed nations. Johnson & Johnson says it's proud to be answering President Trump's call to lower drug prices for Americans while also ensuring that the U.S. continues to lead the world in health care innovation and capital. Last December, Trump unveiled deals with nine major pharmaceutical companies to reduce prices for medications for Americans. President Trump said yesterday he's ordering his representatives to buy $200 billion in mortgage bonds to bring down housing costs. Trump wrote on Truth Social, quote, because I chose not to sell Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in my first term, it's now worth many times that amount in absolute fortune and has $200 billion in cash. The two companies have been under government conservatorship since the 2008 financial crisis. Trump says purchasing the mortgage bonds will drive mortgage rates and monthly payments down and make the cost of owning a home more affordable. The announcement comes after Trump said Wednesday he plans on banning large institutional investors from purchasing more single family homes in an effort to also lower housing costs. And it's being touted as the biggest change to nutrition policy ever. Health department officials say the new, quote, upside down food pyramid is putting Americans' health first over lobbyists and big food. And to the correspondent, Jason Blair brings us more. Who is hungry for a new food pyramid? The Department of Health and Human Services was hyping up an audience on Thursday in celebration of a big change in federal nutrition policy. Today, we are here to celebrate the release of the dietary guidelines for Americans 2025 to 2030, the most significant reset of federal nutrition policy in history. If you haven't noticed, American nutrition has had a rough last 50 years. This administration is focusing on standing with Americans, not big pharma or with big food. Getting away from the corporate interests, you know, we have a charge from President Trump, do what's medically right and don't worry about the lobbyists. The new food pyramid calls for prioritizing protein, healthy fats and vegetables, as well as limiting consumption of ultra processed food and added sugar. For too long, Americans were told to avoid protein, avoid healthy fats, rely on carbohydrates and accept highly processed foods as unavoidable. Diets rich in vegetables and fruit reduce the risk of disease much more effectively than medical interventions or pharmaceutical interventions. Highly processed foods loaded with. And thanks to Jason for that report. And staying with that and joining us to explain these latest federal dietary guidelines introduced by HHS is registered dietician Cindy Chan Phillips. Cindy, thank you for joining us this morning. It's being called the upside down food pyramid. It's not every day that you're told to do the opposite of what you were previously told to do. So what's going on? This is indeed. By the way, thank you for having me. Good morning. This is indeed a historic nutrition policy reset in decades since the 1970s, with the first release of the government nutrition guidelines. Americans have been told to avoid fat and protein has been marginalized. And through different iteration of the dietary guidelines, grains such as rice and bread and flour based products sort of have been emphasized. Now, even though that through the last few dietary guidelines, fruit and vegetables have always been encouraged. So that part has been kept. So this is flipping it over. And Americans are now advised in this new dietary guidelines to prioritize on protein and not be afraid of healthy fats. But the key point about this new dietary guideline is in no uncertain terms, Americans are advised to eat real whole food. And that should be the base of your diet and sharply reduce processed food, because processed food have been linked to chronic diseases. And we all know that we all know someone in our family who is suffering from one or more of chronic diseases. So this dietary guidelines is attempted to be a solution to reverse that trend. Yeah, there's a lot to discuss there. Let's first start with the problem and then we'll dig into a little bit more of the solution of the inversion inverted pyramid. But you mentioned chronic diseases. We know certainly heart disease, obesity that leads to diabetes. So what particular food products are linked to those chronic diseases? Well, several factors have been discussed by experts. Americans are eating a lot more sugar. So added sugar in our diet has been linked to diabetes and even heart disease and a lot more salt in our diet because Americans are eating more processed food. So processed food are high in sugar and sodium. So therefore, they are linked to high blood pressure and even processed food have been linked to some sort of cancer as well. But the most important thing is the obesity. Obesity seems to be a common factor. 70 percent of Americans are overweight or obese and 75 percent of Americans suffering from one or more chronic diseases because Americans are getting more of our portion of our diet from processed food. So this dietary guideline advises us to reverse that. And as you point out, not all grains are equal. You have the ultra processed ones and then you have healthy grains. But regardless of which you're referring to, the new food pyramid is saying to reduce those not in half, but it does say to pretty much double the meat intake or the protein intake. So it seems like it's completely different than what we have been told. What will happen to somebody when they do those two things? They increase the healthy proteins and fats and they reduce those ultra processed foods. What have you seen with your clients? Before I answer that, I want to clarify one point. Yes, you're right. In a dietary guideline, Americans are advised to double the amount of protein, not necessarily meat. So you can get your protein from different kinds of sources like beans, like beef, like meat, poultry and seafood. Yes. When increasing the protein, by the way, is not new, is not a new recommendation. The consensus from international experts have been saying that we are not eating the guidelines have been too low. So we are simply catching up with the consensus, which is precisely 1.2 grams to 1.6 grams per kilogram of body weight. So for someone like a 140 pound, you're looking at about 60 to 80 grams of protein per day. Protein is the building block for life. We cannot survive without protein. And Cindy has a higher amount of protein can increase your metabolic function, can also promote muscle health, can also help you feel fuller, more satisfied, along with appropriate exercise can help people lose weight and keep the weight off. And Cindy, as we start to finish up, usually convenience and cost are two of the major drivers of poor diet decisions. So when you're talking to your clients, how do you help them overcome that? That's a great question. I think we are a creature of habits. First of all, you have to understand, and I would invite anyone. This is the new year, right? This is the best time to take a look at your life pattern in your day. Do you stay up too late? And therefore, in the morning, you have no time for breakfast. So there is a reason. Sometimes you have to let go of some habits to build healthier habits. It can be done. Healthy eating requires some, a little bit of planning, right? Just take out your sheet of paper and write down a little bit of a meal plan for the week. And even for exercise, for movement, plan on that as well. Put that on your iPhone calendar. I am going to walk 15 minutes Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 7 a.m. Plan it just like you're planning a lunch with your best friend. And you will feel a big difference in your health without sacrificing on time or money. Cindy Chan Phillips, this couldn't be a more timely discussion with the new year and the announcements from HHS. Thank you so much for helping our audience get healthy. Thank you for having me. Welcome back to NTD Good Morning. I'm Cary Dunst. You're just joining us now. Here are some of today's top headlines. The FBI investigating a shooting in Portland. Authorities say a man and a woman were injured in an incident involving immigration agents. The Department of Homeland Security said agents were conducting a targeted vehicle stop when the driver tried to run them over. Agents then fired a defensive shot before the two suspects drove away. DHS says the driver and passenger are suspected members of the Trenderagua gang and that one was involved in a recent shooting. And the Trump administration has announced a new Justice Department division which is solely dedicated to investigating fraud. It'll be led by an assistant attorney general who will oversee major multi-agency investigations. Now, the effort is already focused on Minnesota, where Vice President J.D. Vance says more than 1,500 subpoenas and nearly 100 indictments have already been filed. And an anti-ICE protest and protests supporting the communist dictator Maduro are popping up around the nation. The groups behind these protests, like the Party for Socialism and Liberation, are suspected to be a socialist network which is bankrolled by a China-based billionaire named Neville Roy Singham. A congresswoman on Wednesday subpoenaed the pro-Beijing billionaire, stating his goal is to divide Americans and benefit the Chinese Communist Party. Now, if Singham doesn't comply, Congresswoman Luna plans to hold him in contempt of Congress. And President Trump says Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado is expected in Washington next week, where he'd be honored to meet with her. And in a social media post this morning, the president also said he canceled a second wave of strikes on Venezuela following cooperation from the South American nation. Now, this comes after Venezuela began releasing a large number of its political prisoners. Trump also said at least $100 billion will be invested by what he called big oil, and that he expects to meet with those oil executives at the White House today. Those are this morning's top headlines. With that, Steph, over to you. Thank you, Kerry. And the IRS this week announced key updates for the upcoming 2026 tax filing season. For more insight, I spoke with Tommy Aiello, Senior Director of Government Affairs at the National Taxpayers Union. I asked him what the biggest change is that people should be aware of. Take a look. So the IRS announced yesterday that the start of tax filing season will begin January 26th. That's just about two weeks from now. So over the next few weeks, if you want to file right when it opens, taxpayers are going to have to begin to get their affairs in order. That means getting their 1040s in order, their bank statements as it relates to interest, and anything else that they might want to claim as income or to deduct from their taxes. Now, it's a very stressful time, right? We all want to make sure we file our taxes accurately, and with any small mistake, the IRS can come after us. So it's a very stressful time for taxpayers. But the good news is the president's one big beautiful bill officially kicks in and taxpayers will see a lot of relief this year. Yeah. How will these changes affect people's refunds? So the president's one big beautiful bill that was signed back in July of last year officially kicks in. So what does that mean for taxpayers? It means that there's going to be a higher standard deduction if taxpayers choose to take that route. It means a higher child tax credit if you have children and can claim that. It means locked in lower tax brackets across the board, a higher death tax exemption, and so many more things. You know, all of those things are really good tax policy and are going to make a big difference for people. You know, there's also a handful of other things for select type of workers. If you're a tipped worker, you're going to see no tax on the first $25,000 worth of your tips, no tax on overtime, and no tax on social security. So these are a lot of big changes that were included in that bill that taxpayers will actually be able to write off this year before April 15th. Now, what does that all mean for everybody? If you look at the data, we expect that the average taxpayer is going to receive a $3,000 tax cut this year compared to what they would have paid last year if we didn't pass this bill. That's a lot of money. It's going help people with their bills, save for college, or just go out to spend if they choose. For sure, and especially if they do take that time to prepare. Now they've had the alert and the tax filing is opening up quite soon, so get your affairs in order. But how can people make sure that they do make the most of their tax return with the latest changes? You know, it's unfortunate that we have such a complex tax code. And if you aren't a tax lawyer or a tax accountant, you might not be able to know all of these things that are at your disposal. You know, that's why it's so important to go to tax preparers who actually know and breathe this stuff and have been reviewing these changes over the past six months. So it's very important that not only to keep up to date, of course, the National Taxpayers Union has all of these changes on our website, and I encourage your viewers to look there. But obviously, talk to a professional, make sure you're getting as much money back as possible. We want people to keep more of what they earn, not leave money on the table when they file their taxes, allowing the government to keep what would otherwise be money back in your pocket. And so you mentioned there's a range of pitfalls, but are there any kind of specific common ones that you anticipate filers could run into this coming season and what people can do to avoid them? Well, I think that the biggest thing is just all of these different changes. There's so many changes. And I think taxpayers will be pleasantly surprised when they go and file their taxes this year. Like I said, we said there's going to be about a $3,000 tax cut for the average person, but it could be so much more depending on which kind of income group you fall in, right? So if you make under $40,000, you're going to see the largest tax cut out of any income group. This tax bill was really geared towards working families. So if you make under $50,000, your tax cut is going to be about a 22% tax reduction compared to what you would have paid without these tax changes that the president passed last year. So that's really good news. And what's really important here is a lot of these changes that were included in that bill are made permanent. The tax cuts were going to expire at the end of last year. Luckily, that did not happen. Now they are made permanent for ever so many of the changes. That's great news for taxpayers. They have the certainty over their lifetime that these changes are going to be there. And lastly, tell me, taxpayer advocate perspective here, what, if any, changes would you like to see from Congress this year in terms of tax? There's a lot of pro-growth tax provisions in the last tax bill that were made permanent, but there's a few that weren't made permanent as well, particularly as it relates to cost recovery for structures. That's things like factories, when you build buildings. We really think Congress should take another look at that. It's such an important pro-growth provision in the tax code. If there is a second reconciliation bill that Congress does, we really encourage them to include that in there. And then of course, more targeted tax relief for working class families, continue to raise the standard deduction, lower income tax brackets, that should always be on the table. Well, it's good to cover all of the many changes that are already in play, as well as looking ahead as we begin this new year. Thank you so much. Tommy Aiello, good to speak with you. Thank you. Next, a serious medical condition with a crew member aboard the International Space Station has led NASA to bring the astronaut and three crewmates back to Earth months earlier than planned. This is the first such emergency returning in the orbiting laboratory in its 25-year history. Here's more on that. It's in the best interest of our astronauts to return crew 11 ahead of their planned departure. NASA is bringing the four astronaut team crew 11 back from the International Space Station due to one member's serious medical issue. A senior NASA official said that it was the first time in the ISS's 25-year history that a mission ended early due to a medical issue. Jared Isaacman is NASA's administrator. As we mentioned before, obviously this, you know, this was a serious medical condition. That is why we're pursuing this path. Crew member is stable. As we mentioned, we're not electing an emergency to orbit. NASA officials did not name the affected crew member, citing privacy. The issue led NASA to cancel a planned spacewalk scheduled for Thursday. NASA's chief medical officer, James Polk, provided more details on the issue. Once again, this is not an operational issue. This is not an injury that was, that occurred in the pursuit of operations, if that was the question. But unrelated to the operational environment that we have right now. It's mostly having a medical issue in the difficult areas of microgravity. And with the suite of hardware that we have at our avail to complete a diagnosis. Crew 11 arrived at the ISS after launching from Florida in August 2025 and were originally due to return around May this year. Astronauts rarely acknowledge or describe their medical conditions publicly. In the past, NASA has canceled spacewalks for medical reasons, such as spacesuit discomfort in 2024 and a pinched nerve in 2021. Coming up, the new animated film, David is a sensation at the box office with its story of faith and hope. That's right. We're going to speak with the film's director on their novel approach to getting people to the movies. Stay with us for that. Welcome back to NTD. Good morning with Steph and Carrie. The animated film, David, now holds the box office record for the highest grossing faith-based animated film. It's taken in 71 million bucks at the box office already. Impressive. Now joining us from South Africa is the film's director, Phil Cunningham. Good to have you with us today, Phil, and welcome. Congratulations on the film's success. Why do you think it's resonating with audiences so deeply? Thank you so much. And my pleasure to be with you guys. I'd say firstly, animation's got this power to cross race, cultural age and gender barriers just better than any other medium. It's just such a fantastic medium to tell a story in. And I think David's story, we always set out to make what I call an octotrium, a story that stands the test of time and is an inspiration to our generation. And his story is one of someone who's very human, is very flawed, but he lives wholeheartedly, holds nothing back. It's a life of adventure and living with courage. And so, yeah, I think it's resonating and I hope it resonates as we go along because it's inspiring people to hold nothing back and live wholeheartedly. And it's, of course, got some beautiful music as part of the journey because he was an amazing musician himself. Yeah, Steph and I watched it together and we love the film. And Phil, in addition to the universal messages of faith, hope, righteousness, there seems to be this strong sense of nature. You know, you've got mountains and waterfalls and wildlife. And I believe maybe that might be inspired by your own upbringing. So could you share a little bit about your background and where you grew up? Yeah, for sure. So the movie was actually inspired, you're spot on, 30 years ago. I was canoeing down this beautiful river in Africa called the Zambezi River. You could canoe for four days, five nights. You wouldn't see a human being, just wild buffalo, elephants, charging lion. And that's for me where I fell in love with adventure and nature. And I was like, I was reading David's story and I was like, he's such an inspirational character. He grew up in the wild as a shepherd. And I was like, how cool would it be if we could tell a story about David's life? I think it just gives an on-ramp to, you know, to connecting with God or whatever your faith perspective is. I think it's an inspiring story. And so it was birthed for me out in the wild of Africa. And that's where I really connected with David because he was a shepherd and he was out in the wild and was no doubt having adventures. Yeah. Yeah, it is such an inspiring feeling you get from it. And that feeling that you want to share that with others and everybody wants to feel inspired in that way. And that brings us to this element about your film that's so unique about paying it forward. Tell us about that. I think one of my huge passions was, I only saw my first movie when I was 14 years old because we grew up in the wild. There was no TV, no movies. And when I went to see my first movie, it was Jungle Book, by the way. And I was like, this is amazing. I was so inspired by it. And I was like, as a child, I just saw what a massive impact it had on my life as a kid. And as I looked at, for example, Africa, but the whole world, our average age of a person in Africa is 19 years old. And I was like, how cool would it be if we could pay it forward so that kids who maybe can't afford to get to the cinema could get there? Because I know what it did for me. And I was like, it would be so awesome if we could pay it forward and get kids who wouldn't be able to normally get there to get there and watch and hopefully be inspired. Because David's story, I think, would really resonate for them, for all of us, but for them in particular, because it's such an underdog story. He was so setback, had so many obstacles in front of him, but still managed to live an incredible life. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's just so beautiful. And I want to tell our audience that if you want to make a donation, you can go on the website and you can actually buy tickets and pay it forward so kids around the world who don't normally get to the movie theater can actually, through your generosity, be able to see the film. And, you know, I want to ask you, you said it's 30 years in the making. You've dedicated so much of your life to telling David's story. Why did you want to tell this biblical story? I think there's a few reasons that I saw in his life that, like I was saying, he was a flawed human being, but he was relatable, but yet so inspiring. Like, if you think things are impossible, I love doing the impossible, trying to do the impossible. And I think his life is just such a beacon. Whatever faith perspective you come from, whether it's Christian, secular, Muslim, he's a very unifying character for the world. He's an incredible human, you know, in human history, he's one of the most amazing characters. Also, I love the fact that he was a musician. You know, of the psalms written, he wrote half of them. And you can find out so much about his soul and who he was. And that's what I love about him. When he had fear, he spoke it out. When he had courage, when he was happy, he spoke it out. And I just hope this movie inspires people to be brave, to step out there, to face their giants. And that's why I wanted to tell his story, because I think he's so, so relatable as a person. You've really captured the heart of goodness there in his face and in so many of the characters it comes through. And that is a universal characteristic that I think really resonates with viewers. But at the same time, this still seems to be an era of deep division throughout society. But you're also showing, despite all of that goodness back then in that story, there was also a lot of polarization among people, a lot of division then as well. So what do you think we can learn from this biblical tale that's actually relevant for people as well today? That's such a great question. I think if we look at the two leadership styles, you've got David and you've got the king who's currently in power when David comes onto the scene, Saul. And their leadership styles are just in such stark contrast. David is a leader who leads out of love for the people, out of servanthood, of humility. Saul is a leader who's paranoid and controlling. And I think in a world which is, as you say, very polarized, I think what David's story tells us is he really lives for the community, not for himself, but for people around. He's got a servant style of leadership, which I love. And he really cares about the people and who they are, not about himself. So I think for young people, there's such a leadership story here. It's like, if you want to be like David, that's a beautiful style of leadership. And then there's other examples. And I love the movie because it gives you the opportunity to see the two different leadership styles. And I mean, just to say, we made this movie with 400 to 500 people in 32 countries around the world. So we had this beautiful mixing pot, which I think just brings the richness to the tapestry of the film as well. I mean, the fact that we're speaking to you right now, we're in New York, you're in Africa, absolutely illustrates that point. And I'd just like to get an anecdote or two from you about what you're hearing about the film making its impact. Of course, it's commercially successful, 71 million, and it's gaining steam at the box office. So what are some of the stories you hear of children who, especially those who were gifted a ticket? That's incredible. We are getting, it's actually, and this is why we made the movie, as I was saying, it's, and it's really overwhelming the amount of response we're getting to the movie. There's one story, there's so many, but I'll give you one. There was a dad telling a story about us, about his son who really struggled with fear and wouldn't go out. And then after reading, after watching the David movie, just had a complete transformation, like suddenly became bold, was willing to go out. And so many stories of people genuinely their lives getting changed, particularly kids, you know, and young people, which is really where my heart is, of course, love everyone, but we want to inspire the younger generation. And just amazing stories. There was another girl who's 14 years old, who was really struggling with fear as well. And she's a musician. And as she watched David and Swahi's son, she suddenly found her courage again. And her mom sent us a video of her just really getting back into singing and into music and embracing that beautiful gift she had, which was kind of getting suppressed before she watched the movie. So yeah, these kinds of stories are just so special and awesome. Yeah. And we can see the passion in you is long. It's been a long time in the making. You started with the idea 30 years ago, and here it is. What's next for you as a director? I think so for me, if I can quickly say, I talked about the Arc de Triomphe earlier, walking through Paris with my wife, standing under the Arc de Triomphe, looking up at the scale of it, the attention to detail. And as filmmakers, we could just churn money and we could make like office blocks or factories, or we can try and make movies that are genuinely Arc de Triomphe. And in terms of scale and attention to detail, there's a few more stories, lots more stories we'd love to tell. But our next one, we want it to be built as an African epic. So a lot of your Disney fairy tales are riffed off medieval Europe, knights and dragons and castles. We would like to tell one that riffs off Africa and carries the beautiful heart and sunsets and adventure of Africa. But at its core, is again, a story that hopefully inspires and encourages people to live a life of humility, love and courage. I think those are the themes we want to bring into our movies. Yeah. Well, Phil Cunningham, it is such a pleasure to speak with you. You're bringing so much good into the world, and I can't wait to see this next African tale. And I want to encourage all of our audience not only to see the movie, David, but to gift more tickets to kids because this is truly an inspiring piece of art. It sure is. Thank you so much. Thank you, Phil. Thank you. What a pleasure. I mean, the movie was so moving. We were watching it together, and I could feel like the chills, like the goosebumps from some of the moments of emotion that just really, really hits you. That's it. So true. Yeah. Well, we do have to end our show now. We're wishing you all a great weekend. But if you have any stories like that one that you'd like to see us cover, we'd love to hear about it. So shoot us an email at goodmorningatntd.com. And for around the clock original news coverage, watch us live at ntd.com slash live. Download our NTD app. I'm Stefania Cox. I'm Terry Dunst. Have a great weekend.