00:00A demolition controversy. President Trump promised to respect the White House.
00:05Now the East Wing is coming down for his new ballroom.
00:09Plus, the final face-off. Cuomo and Mamdami go toe-to-toe in New York's last mayoral debate.
00:15And one shocking moment leaves the crowd gasping.
00:18And after review, the play stands.
00:21The NFL doubles down on Bad Bunny for the Super Bowl halftime show.
00:24The stories that matter, clear and credible, from across the country to around the world.
00:33These are your unbiased updates from Straight Arrow News.
00:39Good morning, I'm Craig DeGrelli.
00:40This morning, the White House is losing part of its history as crews begin tearing down the entire East Wing.
00:47What started as a promise to respect the existing building is now a full demolition to make way for President Trump's now $300 million grand ballroom.
00:56The New York Times was first to report on the expanded demolition.
01:00Demolition that Trump said in July would not touch the existing White House.
01:04It won't interfere with the current building.
01:06It won't be near it, but not touching it.
01:10And pays total respect to the existing building, which I'm the biggest fan of.
01:15It's my favorite place.
01:17I love it.
01:18But the plan has clearly changed.
01:20The entire East Wing, built in 1942 and long used by the First Lady's office, is coming down.
01:26The White House says it's simply modernizing and rebuilding and calls the criticism, quote, fake outrage.
01:33But that criticism is loud, including from former First Lady Hillary Clinton, who wrote on X,
01:38it's not his house, it's your house, and he's destroying it.
01:42The National Trust for Historic Preservation is calling for a halt, warning the new ballroom could overwhelm the White House itself.
01:50Trump, who is personally raising money for the project, calls it a visionary addition that will host nearly 1,000 guests
01:57and stands as a beacon of American excellence.
02:00The White House is turning up the pressure on Moscow, with President Trump announcing the most sweeping sanctions yet of his second term.
02:08The move slaps new restrictions on Lukoil and Rosneft, Russia's two biggest oil companies,
02:14along with dozens of subsidiaries that helped fund the Kremlin war machine against Ukraine.
02:19Asked why now, Trump said simply, it was time.
02:24These are tremendous sanctions.
02:25These are very big.
02:26Those are against their two big oil companies.
02:29And we hope that they won't be on for long.
02:32We hope that the war will be settled.
02:34I think that they'll certainly have an impact.
02:37They're massive sanctions.
02:39It's sanctions on oil.
02:40The two biggest oil companies, among the biggest in the world, but they're Russian.
02:44They do a lot of oil.
02:46And hopefully it'll push.
02:50Hopefully he'll become reasonable.
02:52And hopefully Zelensky will be reasonable, too.
02:54You know, it takes two to tango, as they say.
02:56Treasury Secretary Scott Besson called the move a clear message to Vladimir Putin,
03:01saying the U.S. is ready to take further action, if necessary, to end yet another war.
03:06The sanctions are expected to cut deeply into Russia's economy, which relies heavily on oil exports.
03:12The U.K. and E.U. have imposed similar measures, while European leaders prepare a new $200 billion package to keep Ukraine armed through next year.
03:21NATO Secretary General Mark Ruda, who was alongside the president, praised the move, saying the sanctions changed the calculus
03:29and turned up the heat on Putin to negotiate a ceasefire.
03:33The U.S. has taken out two more suspected drug boats in the eastern Pacific,
03:38the latest in a widening campaign to target cartels at sea.
03:41Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed the strikes in posts on X,
03:45saying the vessels belonged to a designated terrorist organization and were moving along a known narco-trafficking route in international waters.
03:54You see it there?
03:55The first strike hit Tuesday off Colombia's coast, killing two people.
03:59The second followed Wednesday morning.
04:01Three more dead.
04:02That brings the total to nine strikes since last month.
04:05At least 37 suspected traffickers killed.
04:08Every one of these strikes involves boats and shipments that were tracked from the very beginning.
04:13From the moment these things were put together, the moment they were coordinated,
04:16we know where they're headed, we know where their drop-off points are,
04:19we know what organizations they're involved in.
04:21These things are tracked very carefully.
04:23There are hundreds of boats out there every single day,
04:25and there are many strikes that we walk away from,
04:27and that the Department of War walks away from because it didn't meet the criteria.
04:31Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking to reporters before boarding a plane to Israel this morning,
04:36praised what he called a precise, carefully tracked operation.
04:40The strikes marked the first time U.S. forces have hit cartel vessels in the Pacific since the strikes began.
04:47Less than two weeks until Election Day in New York City,
04:50and the final mayoral debate was anything but polite.
04:53Frontrunner Zoran Mamdani and former Governor Andrew Cuomo faced off last night,
04:58and it got personal.
04:59Cuomo hammered Mamdani as untested and unqualified.
05:03You have never had a job, you've never accomplished anything.
05:07There's no reason to believe you have any merit or qualification for eight and a half million lives.
05:14You don't know how to run a government.
05:16But the night's biggest moment came when Mandani fired back,
05:19telling Cuomo one of his sexual harassment accusers, Charlotte Bennett, was in the crowd.
05:24The audience gasped, then cheered.
05:26Watch.
05:26One of those women, Charlotte Bennett, is here in the audience this evening.
05:33You sought to access her private gynecological records.
05:38She cannot speak up for herself because you lodged a defamation case against her.
05:43I, however, can speak.
05:45What do you say to the 13 women that you sexually harassed?
05:49Huh?
05:49Cuomo defended himself, saying multiple DAs reviewed the allegations and dropped the cases.
05:57Then he tried to shift topics to foreign policy.
06:00On Substance, both men agreed ICE has no place in New York City,
06:03but split on how to deal with President Trump.
06:06Cuomo said he would confront him.
06:08Mamdani claimed Trump wants Cuomo to win.
06:11And Curtis Sliwa?
06:12He says you can't beat Trump, you negotiate.
06:15Election Day in New York City is November 4th.
06:17North Carolina, now the first swing state to sign off on a new congressional map,
06:23one drawn to give Republicans an edge heading into next year's midterms.
06:27Protesters had to be removed from the House gallery before Wednesday's vote,
06:31which passed 66 to 48.
06:33The state Senate approved the plan Tuesday, also along party lines.
06:37The new boundaries put Democratic Congressman Don Davis at risk.
06:40His northeastern district would lose several counties
06:43and pick up more Republican territory along the coast.
06:46Election data suggests the GOP could now win 11 of North Carolina's 14 seats,
06:52up from the 10 they currently hold.
06:54And under state law, Democratic Governor Josh Stein cannot veto congressional maps.
07:00North Carolina joins Texas and Missouri,
07:02both of which have already passed new maps,
07:04favoring Republicans ahead of 2026.
07:06Finally this morning, the NFL is sticking with its headliner,
07:10no matter how loud the backlash gets.
07:13Commissioner Roger Goodell says Bad Bunny is still your Super Bowl halftime act,
07:18even after President Trump slammed the choice, saying he'd never heard of him.
07:22The commissioner says the decision has been given lots of thought,
07:25and that he cannot please everyone.
07:27It's carefully thought through.
07:30I would say that I'm not sure we've ever selected an artist
07:33where we didn't have some blowback or criticism.
07:35It's pretty hard to do it when you have literally hundreds of millions of people
07:40that are watching.
07:41But we're confident it's going to be a great show,
07:44and that he understands the platform that he's on,
07:48and I think it's going to be exciting and a united moment.
07:52Bunny, who has been openly critical of Trump,
07:55is expected to perform in Spanish when he takes the stage February 8th at Levi's Stadium.
08:00So like it or not, the Puerto Rican rapper, also known as El Conejo Malo,
08:05is bringing the beat to the big game.
08:08See?
08:09I knew that four years of high school Spanish would pay off,
08:12even 40-plus years later.
08:15All right, before we head out, here's a look at what's happening today.
08:18The National Association of Realtors releases September home sales numbers
08:22this morning at 10, followed by Freddie Mac's weekly update
08:25on mortgage rates at noon.
08:26Later, Secretary of State Marco Rubio is set to arrive in Israel
08:30with plans to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tomorrow.
08:34At 3, President Trump is set to make an announcement from the White House,
08:37no word yet, on what it's about.
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08:46Go to san.com slash newsletters.
08:48Those are your Unbiased Updates for this Thursday.
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