NTD Evening News Full Broadcast (Mar 4)

Welcome to NTD Vending News. Our top story tonight, the White House announcing dominance over Iranian airspace in the next few hours. That's as it says the Iranian regime is weakening by the day. Mario Tsu brings us the latest from the White House. Israeli fighter jets strike multiple security headquarters in Iran and Israel orders evacuations for parts of southern Lebanon after Hezbollah terrorists injured two Israeli soldiers. Jason Perry with the details. The Senate votes down a war powers resolution aimed at limiting President Trump's military action in Iran, while House Republicans accuse Democrats of jeopardizing homeland security funding. Chris Bobb reports. While a portion of the DHS remains shut down, House lawmakers ask Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem about the risk of cybersecurity and infrastructure attacks from Iran. Jason Blair has the highlights from Noem's second day on Capitol Hill. This is NTD Evening News live from our global headquarters in New York City. Here's Tiffany Meyer. Good evening and thank you for joining us tonight. The White House saying that the U.S. will have complete control over Iranian airspace within the next few hours. That's as it says the Iranian regime's retaliatory strikes are weakening by the day. We now go live to NTD's Washington correspondent Mari Otsu at the White House. Mari, good evening. Hey Tiff, good evening. Yeah, and the Pentagon is also touting the relationship between the U.S. and Israel saying that together the U.S. military alongside the IDF, the Israeli defense forces are a quote a devastatingly capable force and saying that it's been quote a breath of fresh air having that partnership. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth also announcing the death of 49 senior Iranian regime officials and counting and the White House today reiterating President Trump's four objectives for Operation Epic Fury. One, to annihilate the Iranian regime's ballistic missile system. Two, to annihilate the Iranian regime's navy. They're saying today that they've taken out more than 20 Iranian ships and they took out their top submarine as well. Three, to ensure the regime's proxies can no longer destabilize the region and four, to ensure that the regime can never obtain a nuclear weapon and here's how President Trump says the operation is going today. Take a look. We're doing very well on on the war front to put it mildly I would say. Somebody said on a scale of 10 where would you rate it? I said about a 15 and we're going to continue to do well. We have the greatest military in the world by far and that was a tremendous threat to us for many years. 47 years they've been killing our people and they would have used it on us if we let them, if we waited any longer. The Pentagon saying America is winning quote decisively, devastatingly and without mercy and that the U.S. and Israel will soon have complete control of Iranian skies. I hope all the folks watching understand what uncontested airspace and complete control means. It means we will fly all day, all night, day and night finding, fixing and finishing the missiles and defense industrial base of the Iranian military. Finding and fixing their leaders and their military leaders. We are punching them while they're down which is exactly how it should be. The Secretary of War saying an American submarine sank an Iranian warship with a torpedo in international waters and the White House announcing a significant reduction in retaliatory strikes from the Iranian regime. Quiet death. The first sinking of an enemy ship by a torpedo since World War II. If you look at the Iranian ballistic missile launches they're down 86 percent from day one levels. So while the United States military continues to increase its complete dominance over this rogue regime, they are weakening day by day. The White House releasing a partial record of what it calls Iran's decades-long campaign against Americans from the 1979 hostage crisis in Tehran to the 1983 marine barracks bombing in Beirut. The list also cites the 1996 Kobar Towers attack, hundreds of U.S. troop deaths in Iraq linked to Iran-backed militias, and more recent rocket and drone strikes on U.S. forces in the region. And the Iranian regime has also been threatening to assassinate President Trump since 2020 in response to the killing of Soleimani. The Department of Justice bringing charges in an Iranian murder-for-hire plot to kill him in 2024. Also yesterday the leader of the unit who attempted to assassinate President Trump has been hunted down and killed. Iran tried to kill President Trump and President Trump got the last laugh. And as some lawmakers are forcing a vote on a resolution aimed at limiting U.S. military action in Iran, the administration is slamming Democrats for prematurely undermining national security just days into a successful operation. And in fact they decided that in our system they don't want a king-like figure being able to unilaterally decide to send American men and women to war. Well I've been through that movie before with the Democrats rooting against the country. Our generation saw that in our battlefields. I think it's pretty unprecedented and unfortunate that it would occur four days in to an operation. He's been privy to briefs that we've provided. He knows how effective this has been. He's being disingenuous. The White House also accusing critics and the media of disingenuous reporting to manufacture contradictions while highlighting the Iranian regime's murderous intentions toward Americans. And I would like the media to actually report on all of them rather than just picking sound bites from one person in this administration and saying oh they're contradicting the other person. No again these decisions are not made in a vacuum. They are made by the president's feeling that Iran was going to strike the United States and our assets in the region and he was not going to sit back and watch that happen. If the Iranian regime had their choice they would kill every single person in this room and you know you are being disingenuous. Meanwhile Tiff the White House saying that it extends its prayers and condolences to the families of those six U.S. service members killed in Operation Epic Fury. The White House also announcing that President Trump will be attending their dignified transfer. Back to you. All right Mari thank you. In the Middle East Israeli forces report launching multiple strikes against key Iranian headquarters in Tehran. Meanwhile Israel orders evacuations in parts of southern Lebanon after Hezbollah terrorists injured two Israeli soldiers. NDT's Jason Perry has the details. Video was released on Wednesday of Israeli fighter jets on their way to Iran to launch more strikes against the regime. Israel reported launching strikes on a large military compound east of Tehran which contained the headquarters of all of the Iranian security organizations and Israel said they struck several of those targets including the headquarters of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the headquarters of Iran's intelligence directorate and even the headquarters of the unit in Iran's internal security which Israel says was responsible for Iran's deadly response to protesters. In less than a week since the war started the Israeli Air Force reports launching over 5,000 strikes in Iran including this precision strike against a defense system in Tehran. Israel's army spokesperson on Wednesday made this announcement. Today we will complete the first 100 hours of Operation Roaring Lion. A short while ago an F-35 fighter jet shot down an Iranian fighter jet over Iran's sky over Tehran's sky. This is the world's first shoot down of a manned fighter jet by an F-35 fighter jet. Meanwhile some parts of Tehran appear to be somewhat normal as residents were seen shopping at a grocery store and filling their cars up with gas and not long after Iran displayed a billboard of a U.S. aircraft carrier being hit. A picture of Iran's late supreme leader was displayed over a traffic circle in the city and members of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps have continued launching ballistic missiles at Israel. On Wednesday sirens sounded in Jerusalem as people sought cover in nearby bomb shelters as most of Iran's missiles shot at Israel have been intercepted or fell into open areas. Meanwhile Israeli forces have reportedly been launching strikes in Lebanon's capital city of Beirut against the Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorist group. Also in Lebanon Israel reported striking an underground weapons storage facility and multiple command centers. Israel said on Wednesday that Hezbollah fired an anti-tank missile and injured two Israeli soldiers. Afterward Israeli forces warned Lebanese residents to evacuate parts of southern Lebanon as Israel vows to defeat the terrorist group. Jason Perry in TV News. Iran is dragging NATO deeper into the conflict. Tehran sending a ballistic missile toward NATO airspace. NATO air defense systems successfully shooting it down. NTD's international correspondent Arian Ponstar has how Iran is involving more and more countries in the war. The war in the Middle East is rapidly widening. Tehran's strategy is to sow chaos and set the region on fire. The European Union criticizing Iran for attacking countries all across the Middle East and in some cases even in Europe. On Wednesday NATO air defense systems in Turkey shooting down an incoming Iranian missile. Video shows debris of the missile on Turkish soil. The EU's foreign policy chief saying Iran is creating its own demise. By indiscriminately attacking its neighbors the regime is making a strong case for its own demise. And the president of Turkey saying he's already speaking with NATO allies to make necessary interventions. We are giving warnings in the clearest way possible for similar incidents not to occur again. And Turkey isn't the only NATO member getting more involved in the conflict. The United Kingdom, France and Greece are sending warships to the Mediterranean Sea. This after Iran attacked a British military base in Cyprus. Footage shows two Greek warships already arriving in Cyprus on Wednesday. The UK's ship is set to depart next week carrying helicopters with drone defense technology. But British Prime Minister Keir Starmer warning of hasty decision making at this time. We need to act therefore with clarity, with purpose and with a call home. Starmer says deploying the ship to Cyprus and allowing the US to use British bases will help protect UK citizens from incoming Iranian attacks. That is the agreement that we've reached with the United States to protect our nationals. NATO's article 5 states that an attack on one is an attack on all, potentially dragging the entire alliance into a war. But Secretary of War Pete Hexeth says he doesn't think Iran's attacks so far could trigger The Senate fails to advance a war powers resolution aimed at limiting Operation Epic Fury in Iran. Lawmakers clashing over readiness, funding and congressional authority. In the House, Republican leaders accused Democrats of undermining national security by blocking homeland security funding as tensions with Iran continue to escalate. NTD's Chris Bobb has more. This is the moment Democrats decide to shut down the very agency created after 9-11 to prevent another attack. House Republican leaders slam Democrats for blocking critical homeland security funding. They say the delay comes at a dangerous moment as Operation Epic Fury continues into day five. Did his administration to initiate five different rounds of negotiations with Iran's leaders. They even offered nuclear fuel for life if Iran would cease its domestic nuclear program. And they were rebuffed. They were stalling because they wanted to kill us. The Democrats have shut down the agency responsible for keeping Americans safe funding. They sent out a whip notice to tell House Democrats to vote down homeland security funding. That's a bipartisan consensus bill. It will be on the floor tomorrow for yet another vote. Everybody in America better watch that board. In the Senate, the subcommittee on readiness and management support hearing from service leaders and defense officials about the current state of the U.S. armed forces. Senators pressing military leaders on whether U.S. troops are sufficiently prepared for Operation Epic Fury. The briefing we received yesterday from the Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, they declared undeniably that we have sufficient current stocks to carry on and win decisively in Operation Epic Fury. As Secretary Hicks has said, we are just getting started. But you should just tell us, you know, how are you going to gauge the impact on readiness for our services? Ford is a great example of the flexibility of the Navy. Now she's back in the Eastern Med and supporting CENTCOM. So there will be an impact on her return and the schedule for her maintenance availability. So she's ready to go again. Specific stats are 17 of the last 25 avails were completed within two weeks from a carrier perspective. So there is a cost, but we're ready to go turn that ship around. The Senate later taking up a war powers resolution led by Senator Tim Kaine. I am pressing my Senate colleagues on a motion of mine to vote on whether we ought to be at war with Iran. I think it's a bad idea. I think the president is waging an illegal war and I'm going to do everything I can to stop them. And the first step in that is a war powers resolution to basically say simply no war against Iran without vote of Congress. I believe I'll have virtually every Democrat supporting. I'm encouraging Republicans to vote for it as well. And I'm asking them the question of whether we've learned anything after 25 years of war. The resolution failing to pass, leaving President Trump's military authority intact as the debate over funding the war is likely to continue. Reporting from Washington, D.C., Chris Bobb, NTD News. The failed vote came after Secretary of State Marco Rubio briefed both chambers on U.S. military action in Iran earlier this week and called on the media to post contact information for Americans in the Middle East to get home. Tennessee Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn joins us to discuss the latest on Iran. Tune in to NTD's Capitol Report with Steve Lance at 7 o'clock p.m. Eastern time. Meanwhile, lawmakers raise concerns over possible cyber security and infrastructure attacks from Iran as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem testifies for a second day on Capitol Hill. NTD correspondent Jason Blair has the takeaways. Iran has said that they will retaliate and we know how they have threatened us, how they threatened us on our homeland, and they've threatened our leading officials as well. House lawmakers questioned Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem for a second day on Capitol Hill. The DHS is in its third week of a shutdown due to a lack of funding agreement in Congress. The U.S. is less than a week into a war with Iran. Representative Laurel Lee was concerned about the cybersecurity and infrastructure security agency which operates under the DHS and threats from Iran. Do you expect that Iran and its cyber proxies may actually attempt retaliatory cyber actions against the United States and its infrastructure? Yes, and they do. They do on a regular basis. Congressman Brad Knott asked Noem about how illegal immigration has affected wages for some U.S. workers. They steal wages out of pockets. In fact, one of the most compelling stories if he could ever get the chance to tell it is Marcus's. He was a truck driver for years. When he worked for that company, he was paid 70 cents a mile. He said now they pay their drivers 40 to 45 cents a mile because they're all illegal aliens. Congressman Lou Correa asked Noem about some missed ICE detainer pickups he says a sheriff asked him about. I have a report here from my Orange County sheriff. Orange County, California. Sanctuary Law State. 323 referred to ICE in 2025. 52 of them not picked up. Need to work on that. Yeah, I will, sir. If that is the case, we will fix that. Committee chairman Jim Jordan says about one-third of the country doesn't honor ICE detainer requests. How many times last year, 2025, were your detainers not honored? 17,864 detainers were declined. So in these jurisdictions, they say we don't care that federal law says there's a final order of removal for this individual. We're going to turn them out on the street, release this individual out on the street, and make you send six agents, 12 agents, whatever, to get the bad guy on the street when you could have sent one to the jail and just made it easy. For Americans who say they were unlawfully detained by ICE while protesting and or monitoring ICE were in the audience during the hearing, as well as families of victims who have been affected by the border crisis were in attendance. Reporting in Washington, D.C., Jason Blair, NTD News. Coming up, China analysts are saying President Trump's involvement in strikes on Iran has a lot to do with the Chinese regime's influence in the region and elsewhere. What China commentator and author Gordon Chang has to say. And U.S. strikes on Iran are a crushing blow to China's oil supply. That says China buys 80 to 90 percent of Iran's sanctioned oil. With China already on an economic downturn, how will this war impact China's economy? Jack Bradley with that story next. Welcome back. I'm Tiffany Meyer. China analysts are saying President Trump's involvement in strikes on Iran has a lot to do with the Chinese regime's influence in the region and elsewhere. NTD's Arlene Richards finds out why. Because we do something in one part of the world, it affects other parts of the world. Gordon Chang, China commentator and author of Plan Red, China's Project to Destroy America, says the recent U.S.-Israeli strike on Iran is a message to the Chinese Communist Party. What does a strike on Iran have to do with China? In an interview with Epoch TV's American Thought Leaders, Chang said that Trump's national security strategy hardly mentions China, but China is still top of mind. For instance, Chang said Trump's national security strategy says the U.S. won't allow hostile powers to encroach on America's free trade like in the South China Sea. Well, there's only one country that fits that description, that has that ambition and has that power. He said it's China. I think it's very important to prevail and make sure that Iran becomes a free society. We do that. We certainly put China in a very difficult position. Some reports say Beijing intends to use chaos in the Middle East to distract the United States from the Indo-Pacific, in particular Taiwan. Chang says decisive action in the Middle East can hit Beijing where it hurts. Beijing has been courting governments and military establishments from Central Asia to Southeast Asia to Africa. The regime helped Iran build its massive missile arsenal. Chinese firms supplied guidance systems. They supplied precision components for really decades. And despite the heavy sanctions on Iran, the two partners have found ways to bypass the restrictions through loopholes. A very aggressive Iran is a very useful Iran. Zineb Reboa, a research fellow at the Hudson Institute, told CBS on Tuesday that the regime likes to play as the mediator and they likely will not intervene in the strikes on Iran. They have been, in fact, very conflicted about what type of messaging they would send. I think that they made the calculus that the United States would never intervene to really make Iran less aggressive. It may have all started last May when Trump met with leaders of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. And what we have witnessed since then is the further reduction of Russian and Chinese influence there. Arlene Richards, NTD News. Yes, and Israeli strikes on Iran may be striking at the heart of the Chinese Communist Party's power. It's a move that's choking off Beijing's vital oil lifeline. NTD's Washington correspondent Jack Bradley has the details. President Trump's latest offensive against Iran is delivering a massive economic hit to America's top adversary, the Chinese Communist Party. President Trump is going after the Chinese, and he's not doing it directly, but he is doing it indirectly, and he's cutting off their sources of support. Over two months, the administration's toppled leaders in Iran and Venezuela, both key oil suppliers to Beijing. Now, this move could force Beijing to scramble for pricier alternatives. Ninety percent of Iran's exported oil goes to China. The bigger target is actually communist China, which is increasingly in a box, is going to have to start buying its oil, a huge percentage of its oil, on the open market at full price. Last year, a staggering 17 percent of China's crude oil imports came from these sanctioned regimes, with Iran alone shipping 520 million barrels to the CCP. As tensions escalate, ships are dodging the Strait of Hormuz, a choke point for half of China's oil imports from the Gulf. Such a move could even impact China's ambitions, like taking over Taiwan. Forty percent of China's oil goes through the Strait of Hormuz. That's why, when the Iranians were saying they were going to shut it, the Chinese were saying, no, no, we want it to be open. So he now has massive leverage over China. A move on Taiwan would be disastrous for Beijing. Many experts warn that the CCP's support for Iran's terror regime is backfiring. And I hope that President Trump remembers that the Chinese supplied advanced weapons to Iran. And if those weapons were used to kill Americans, we've lost six service members already, then I don't think President Trump should be going to China. But with the upcoming meeting in April between President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, this oil squeeze exposes the CCP's vulnerabilities. The pressure on Beijing mounts, and many see it as whittling away the regime that threatens freedom worldwide. Reporting from Washington, D.C., Jack Bradley, NTD News. Coming up, a deep dive into the Iran conflict with analysts Armin Kurdian and Rick Bishop. How soon should we expect the war to wrap up and what other factors will keep it going? That's next. Welcome back. I'm Tiffany Meyer. Joining us now to discuss the latest in the Iran conflict is retired U.S. Navy Captain Armin Kurdian, a foreign policy and national security analyst, and international military analyst Rick Fisher, a senior fellow on Asian military affairs at the International Assessment and Strategy Center. Thank you both so much for being here. Rick, as Operation Epic Fury enters day five, there's been a lot of focus on the weapons used. For example, it wasn't just B-2 bombers. B-1 bombers also joined in as well as kamikaze drones. Here's actually Secretary of War Pete Hegseth today. In the Indian Ocean—and we'll play it on the screen there—an American submarine sunk an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters. Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo. Quiet death. The first sinking of an enemy ship by a torpedo since World War II. Like in that war, back when we were still the War Department, we are fighting to win. Rick, have we seen anything like this before? The last submarine, to my knowledge, to sink a warship was the British submarine Conqueror sinking the Argentine cruiser Belgrano in 1982 during the Falklands conflict. But the use of submarines against the Iranian Navy is an excellent demonstration as to why the United States must continue to invest in our submarine force. A Navy admiral earlier this week estimated that China could have up to 80 submarines, half of them nuclear powered by 2035. That is more than enough reason to be ramping up the American submarine force, expanding it and making it far more modern and undefeatable. Armin, Iran's Navy has been destroyed in its entirety and that the U.S. and Israel will soon have complete control of Iranian airspace. Given this, how soon should we expect the war to wrap up? What other factors will keep it going? Certainly, Iran's ability to exercise effective combat operations is pretty much gone. They're essentially like a fish flailing on the water. They're just shooting at everything and they don't seem to have any coherent strategy. And I think a big part of that is the fact that their command and control and their leadership is gone. I would anticipate that perhaps within about a week after most of the missiles have been detrited, after the facilities that build the shot head drones are taken out, and it's not just the missiles that are completed, but also their ability to manufacture and build a lot of these weapons is gone, that you might hear the president call on moderate elements of the government in Iran to take over, to remove the clerics from power, to eliminate the theocracy internally. That is probably the only way you're going to get regime change and get this conflict to actually end. If not, then you might see the combat operations continue on for a while. If the regime doesn't change, then probably after four or five weeks, like the president said, will decide to stop. And then Iran will be pretty much helpless or feckless to influence events around the Middle East anymore. And Rick, digging into that, another aspect that has been getting attention is Iran's response since the operation began. Iran has targeted at least 10 countries across the Middle East with drone and missile strikes. What does that tell you about the current state of Iran's strategy? Well, their ballistic missile and drone launches have decreased precipitously since the start of the war, Tiffany. But they still have some inventory, and they're still going to be firing these drones and missiles. Their strategy was to try to unite the Gulf states and Saudi Arabia to generate opposition to the American military presence in the war in Iran. But it's had the opposite effect. It's united the Gulf states and Saudi Arabia against the Iranian regime. But what we need to start doing more of is highlighting the fact that Chinese economic and technical support is completely behind Iran's ability to produce all of these ballistic and cruise missiles. And very likely, Chinese satellites are helping to guide these missiles against these Gulf states and causing such loss of life. I mean, there really should be bills of reparations presented to all the Chinese embassies in these countries. And Armin, expanding on that, what do you think Iran's strategy is, or what are they trying to achieve with what they're doing here? Well, let's take a look at the geopolitical picture. In the span of a year, Venezuela is now slowly moving away from its position as a pariah and is selling legal oil to China. Cuba is on its last legs. The Syrian regime, now we have a new president, the Assad's are gone. Iran has become very, very isolated economically. Their foreign currency reserves were seriously down. And now at this point, if Iran doesn't need to sell sanctioned oil to China because they can get it from Venezuela, then Iran has pretty much run out of customers that they can sell their oil to. So Iran, at this point, it's almost self-preservation of some of these leaders. But as we've seen, the moment that a new one steps in or before the United States has to do that, they're being taken out. So this alone, this kind of fear within the leadership of Iran, which is a big reason why, as I mentioned before, that their military tactics and their strategy and their combat operations have been so all over the place. I think this more than anything could lead to an end of the theocracy. But if it's associated with cyber operations, information operations, or perhaps some elements of Iranian resistance, or perhaps even saboteur teams on the ground, then this thing could be over a lot more quickly. And Rick, domestically, in terms of American support, a new CBS poll shows the vast majority, 76% of Americans support U.S. military action against Iran if the conflict lasts only days or weeks. Typically speaking, what are the contributing factors for whether or not the American people support U.S. military action? Well, Tiffany, that's it. The polling question was very nicely put. Americans, they want success, and they want it quick. When that doesn't happen, then you have reflection. Now, I believe that Americans are also very patient with their leaders. When goals are set, and President Trump very clearly set out the goal of destroying Iranian nuclear weapons capacity, the missile building capacity, and has in a few different ways stated that the United States wants to see a new regime, a better regime. And all of that is good. And as the air war transitions to largely a drone war, something that I believe is already underway, there will be less opportunities for casualties. The drones, if they're shot down, no casualty there. They're unmanned. And the drones can also be coordinated with operatives, special forces on the ground to take the war to the Iranian guard, which is going to be deployed. And this is the force that put down or shot, killed over 30,000 protesters just a few weeks ago. These drones can now be used to take out the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and hasten, accelerate the emergence of a transition. And Armin, your thoughts on American support for this war? The war, President Trump understands this war must be limited because if you remember during OIF and OEF, we used a lot of combat power, a lot of precision weapons, and we really burned up a lot of material readiness in our ships and our aircraft. And we are still feeling that impact today. So this war simply can't last more than a couple of months at the outside because it takes a very long time to rebuild standard missiles and Tomahawk missiles and guidance kits for bombs. And you're taking these B-2s, you're flying them 36 hours on any particular mission, and the aircraft have required inspections every several hundred hours or a thousand hours. It puts a lot of wear and tear on that aircraft. Forget the fact that we have air supremacy and they're unable to shoot us down. That is probably one of the biggest limiting factors. The President understands that, the generals understand that. And from a position that I used to have in defense acquisition, I can tell you that this is very prevalent on the minds of the military leadership. That's why you need to act with maximum violence in a concentrated period of time. You can't hold anything back. You can't fight a war with one arm tied behind your back. You've got to go out there. Once the bombs are flying, you've got to go all plowsworths on your enemy. And eventually, you've got to complete it, finish it, and then be done. And as for the decision to strike, here's actually White House press secretary today on that. Let's take a listen. And President Trump does not make these decisions in a vacuum. This decision to launch this operation was based on a cumulative effect of various direct threats that Iran posed to the United States of America. And Rick, will the President acting now lead to saving more lives down the road? Oh, absolutely, Tiffany. Very much so. The Iranian regime had basically lit the Middle East on fire through its support of the armies of Hamas, the missile armies of Hezbollah, and the missile armies of the Houthis. And Iran's penchant for global terror was already well established. Taking out this regime and also preventing China from using the threat of Iran to build a new security structure in the Middle East was very essential. And I give President Trump great credit for seeing this threat and acting. And Armin, zooming out a bit here, another theater getting attention is Asia. We know that 80 to 90% of Iran's oil went to China. But so far, China has responded with strongly worded messages, but no military support. There's also reporting that it was Chinese air defenses that failed in Iran. Talk to us about how that failure could be perceived by China's other allies. Could there be growing distrust in partnering with the CCP? Well, China builds some very fairly effective equipment, and we know it's effective, but it all depends on how it's used and its tactical employment. Frankly, again, when you go force on force, there is no country in the world that can match the United States, not the Chinese, not Russia whatsoever. Obviously, a conflict in the South China Sea with China right there would be a little bit of a different animal for the U.S. to actually manage. But it's really more a statement on the ineptitude of the Iranians to fight back. I mean, we've seen this. They've been unable to resist Israeli attacks, our attacks, going all the way back to Operation Praying Mantis in 1987. They simply don't know how to fight a long term war. They had the war with Iraq for 10 years. It was basically a stalemate. They lost over a million people in that war for no gain, even though they didn't start that particular conflict. But here we are, and China sees what Donald Trump has done in other parts of the world. He has certainly changed the calculus. It is a watershed moment in American foreign policy, what has actually happened. For the most part, I'll say exclusively, but for the most part, what Trump has done to affect the world order is truly amazing. And Rick asked for whether this conflict will significantly degrade U.S. munitions stockpiles. Pentagon's Albert Kolbe says that the U.S. has enough and that China shouldn't read this as a go-ahead to act on Taiwan. Your thoughts on that? I certainly hope so. I certainly hope so. I know the Pentagon has many plans and ambitions to greatly increase the production of American missile, bomb, and other munitions. And it is very important that the Pentagon receive the supplemental funding necessary to put these plans into effect. Because, yes, Xi Jinping is fully committed to his war to destroy the democracy on Taiwan. Estimates that he could decide to start that war as early as next year are longstanding. And it is critical that the United States be prepared and that we share with the Taiwanese the means for them to build up their stocks of missiles and other precision munitions. Because the Chinese are coming for them and they just need to prepare. A lot to watch for here for sure. Armin Kurdi and Rick Fischer, thank you both so much for joining us. Thanks, Tiffany. Coming up after the investigation into the multi-billion dollar fraud scandal in Minnesota, lawmakers on Capitol Hill question the state's governor and attorney general. David Lamb has more. A psychiatrist testifies in the social media addiction trial saying youth addiction to online platforms is real. But defense attorneys argue that family trauma may explain the plaintiff's mental health struggles. Christina Corona reports. Welcome back. I'm Tiffany Meyer. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz testifies before the House Oversight Committee on reports of widespread fraud and federally funded programs in the state. Entities David Lamb reports. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz testifying before the House Oversight Committee after fraudsters allegedly laundered and stole nine billion dollars in taxpayer funds through social programs in the state. In January the first hearing of this series we heard from Minnesota state representatives who made clear this fraud was not hidden. It was known, documented, and repeatedly brought to the attention of state leadership. We're not going to shut down programs that have things that are going well in it and we need to find that proper balance and I've acknowledged that every year we're putting things in place and inspectors. Governor Walz, Governor Walz, you did not do your job. You did not do your job. Fraudsters exploited funds meant to feed children, support autistic children, provide health care to Medicaid recipients, and house low-income and disabled Americans. During the hearing Democratic lawmakers brought up the scale of the federal investigation as well as the actions of federal agents in Minnesota. The truth is that Donald Trump and Republicans have cut billions of dollars, billions of dollars from health care and food assistance. On January 7th state lawmakers testified that both Tim Walz and Keith Ellison didn't properly address the widespread fraud. Since 2019 our charities division has resolved over 50 investigations and dissolved 17 sham non-profits. According to the committee whistleblowers who raised concerns have experienced retaliation. Minnesota has been under scrutiny over reports of Medicaid fraud including a 300 million dollar pandemic fraud case involving non-profit organization Feeding Our Future. David Lam, NTD News. The social media addiction trial continues with testimony from a child psychiatrist but during cross-examination defense attorneys point to family issues they say may have contributed to the plaintiff's mental health struggles. NTD's Christina Corona tells us more. Wednesday marked the fourth day on the stand for Dr. Kara Baggett, a child psychiatrist who is testifying in the social media addiction trial taking place Los Angeles. Dr. Baggett told jurors that social media addiction among young people is real and growing. She says she has spent nearly 20 years studying child addiction and has treated hundreds possibly even thousands of young patients struggling with excessive social media use. She said some teenagers have even been hospitalized after suicide attempts due to content they saw online with many of them being young girls. Dr. Baggett is also a neuroscience researcher and helped develop research methods to study social media addiction in young people including brain scans and research looking at how social media may affect brain development over time but during cross-examination attorneys for meta focused heavily on the 20-year-old plaintiff Kaylee's personal history and medical records. They pointed to family conflict past trauma and records describing depression anxiety and self-harm. Defense attorneys also pointed to Kaylee's earlier testimony about difficult experiences at home. She described alleged neglect by her mother and said her father would fat shame her and make sexualized comments about other women in front of her. Attorneys also brought up the plaintiff's sister's suicide attempt suggesting those experiences may have played a role in Kaylee's mental health struggles. Kaylee's mother is expected to testify later this week. Christina Corona, NTD News. And that's all for today's news. For around the live or download our NTD app. Thanks for tuning in. I'm Tiffany Meyer. Good night.