00:00President Trump accuses six Democrats of seditious behavior.
00:05Their 90-second video told troops to refuse illegal orders.
00:09Now his posts are igniting a political firestorm.
00:12Plus, new images from that deadly UPS cargo plane crash.
00:16The engine rips off, erupts into flames, and the final seconds unfold on camera.
00:22And a thank-you bonus for air traffic controllers.
00:25But thousands say they got nothing.
00:30The stories that matter, clear and credible, from across the country to around the world.
00:35These are your unbiased updates from Straight Arrow News.
00:41Good morning, I'm Craig DeGrelli.
00:43The fallout is intensifying this morning after President Trump escalated his response to a group of Democratic lawmakers
00:50who warned U.S. service members to refuse any illegal orders from him.
00:55It all started Tuesday with the release of a 90-second video.
00:58Six Democrats with military and intelligence backgrounds saying this.
01:04The threats to our Constitution aren't just coming from abroad, but from right here at home.
01:07Our laws are clear.
01:09You can refuse illegal orders.
01:11You can refuse illegal orders.
01:13You must refuse illegal orders.
01:16No one has to carry out orders that violate the law or our Constitution.
01:20They posted that message amid growing concerns about the legality of recent U.S. strikes on boats in the Caribbean.
01:28Operations the administration says target narco-terrorists.
01:31But the president's reaction went beyond criticism.
01:34On Truth Social, he wrote,
01:36Their words cannot be allowed to stand.
01:38Seditious behavior from traitors?
01:41Lock them up?
01:41An hour later, he followed up with seditious behavior, punishable by death.
01:47At the White House, Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt defended the president's anger and accused the Democrats of endangering the military.
01:55The sanctity of our military rests on the chain of command.
01:59And if that chain of command is broken, it can lead to people getting killed.
02:04It can lead to chaos.
02:05And that's what these members of Congress, who swore an oath to abide by the Constitution, are essentially encouraging.
02:12On Fox News, Trump's Deputy Attorney General, Todd Blanche, took it further.
02:17Here was his assessment of the video.
02:20And this is abhorrent conduct.
02:21I felt like I was watching a propaganda video by one of our enemies trying to recruit the military to become spies.
02:29I think that those congressmen should be required to answer questions and to answer questions about why they did what they did.
02:36And the American people deserve that.
02:38And so does President Trump.
02:40But Democrats say this isn't political.
02:42It's a reminder of existing law.
02:44And their leadership fired back after Trump's posts.
02:47We had patriotic members of the House and the Senate have their lives threatened by Donald Trump in the most unhinged, unacceptable, unconscionable, and un-American way.
03:03Disgusting and dangerous what Donald Trump has said.
03:08And accusing patriotic members of Congress and the Senate, who served this country well, of treason and suggesting they should be killed.
03:20That's disgusting.
03:23But we, of course, have come to expect this from Donald Trump.
03:28The Pentagon has not commented.
03:30But legal experts note service members swear an oath to the Constitution, not the president.
03:35They're obligated to follow lawful orders and refuse manifestly unlawful ones.
03:41And with the administration weighing expanded operations in the Caribbean, even potential strikes into Venezuela, those questions are no longer theoretical.
03:50They're real.
03:51They're immediate.
03:52And they have now become a major political flashpoint.
03:55Federal investigators have released stunning new photos of the moments before that deadly UPS plane crash in Kentucky.
04:02And they're revealing what went wrong.
04:05The NTSB says the left engine mount on the McDonnell Douglas MD-11 showed clear signs of cracks and overstress.
04:13Officials say the plane lifted just 30 feet off the runway when that left engine ripped away, sparked a fire, and sent flames shooting down the wing.
04:22The newly released images show the engine tearing off, hurtling into the air, and seconds later, a fireball engulfs the aircraft.
04:30Three pilots on board were killed, along with 11 people on the ground, when the burning jet crashed into a nearby neighborhood.
04:37Remember these flames and all the smoke?
04:39The NTSB says the plane was not yet due for its next detailed inspection of the engine mount, an inspection that would have come nearly 7,000 flights later.
04:49Its last check was in October of 2021.
04:51In response, federal authorities have grounded every MD-11 in the country until they pass new safety inspections.
04:59Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is responding to President Trump's new 28-point peace plan for ending the war with Russia.
05:06The plan would require Russia to recognize Ukraine's sovereignty.
05:10But it also demands major concessions from Kyiv, giving up some territory, agreeing not to join NATO, and accepting a cap on the size of its military.
05:19It does include NATO-style security guarantees promising the U.S. and Europe would treat an attack on Ukraine as an attack on them.
05:28On X, Zelensky called it the American side's vision and said both teams will now work through each point.
05:35Meanwhile, Ukraine's representative to the U.N. told the Security Council Kyiv will not surrender any territory under any circumstances.
05:43Only a fraction of the air traffic workforce will get the $10,000 perfect attendance bonuses promised after the 43-day government shutdown.
05:53And this morning, thousands are getting left out.
05:56The FAA says just 776 controllers and technicians qualified, far fewer than expected.
06:02About 20,000 others won't get the bonus because they missed shifts during the shutdown, often to take side jobs or care for children, while paychecks were frozen.
06:13The controllers' shortage during the shutdown forced cuts at 40 airports, fueling days of cancellations.
06:19The controllers' union is blasting the bonus decision, saying thousands who consistently reported for duty while working without pay are being left out of the reward they were promised.
06:29Now a quick update to a story we told you about here yesterday that got a lot of you talking.
06:35Remember Azul, the blue 77 Volkswagen van that somehow survived the Palisades wildfire in California?
06:42We showed you this AP photo from January, the one that went viral worldwide.
06:48There it is right there. You can't miss it. Pretty incredible backstory, right?
06:51As promised, Azul had her big debut.
06:55And now that every news outlet on the planet has picked up the story, we're getting our first look at the famous refurbished van.
07:02This is Azul today, completely restored, repainted, rewired, rebuilt, and now sitting under the bright lights at the L.A. Auto Show.
07:11How neat is that?
07:12Volkswagen says its team in Oxnard spent more than 2,000 hours bringing her back,
07:17replacing melted wiring, fixing scorched metal, and saving every bit of the 1970s soul of that vehicle that they could.
07:25Azul is not just a showpiece. She's become a symbol, if you will.
07:29Her owner, Megan Weinraub, told the L.A. Times she first felt guilty because so many people lost everything in the wildfires.
07:36But people kept telling her, this van, this little splash of blue right there, refused to burn.
07:43That gave them hope. Brighter, shinier, and maybe exactly the story people needed this week, an incredible story of survival.
07:52Boy, what I wouldn't give for a ride in that van. We love that story.
07:56Finally this morning, we are turning the tables.
08:03You ask questions on our YouTube videos, and we're putting them to the test.
08:08This is straight from you, where your comments drive the reporting, and we add clarity when the facts get a bit muddy.
08:13All right, let's start with the big one, the Epstein files.
08:16We got a question from at far to far, or fair to fair, who asks,
08:20So, if it's under investigation, they can just redact everything because it's linked to an active investigation?
08:28Well, the short answer, they're not supposed to.
08:31The longer answer, active investigation is a really big loophole.
08:36Here's what the law actually says.
08:38The Department of Justice has to release its Epstein files, but it can withhold the following.
08:43Victims' names and medical details.
08:45Child sex abuse material.
08:47Graphic images of abuse or death.
08:49Properly classified national security details.
08:52And anything that would jeopardize an active federal investigation or prosecution.
08:57What the DOJ cannot do is black out something just because it's embarrassing, politically sensitive, or damaging to a public figure.
09:05Attorney General Pam Bondi has to give Congress a detailed report explaining every single redaction and the legal reason behind it.
09:14Where your question gets real is at that active investigation point and clause.
09:19President Trump has already ordered Bondi to investigate Epstein's ties to specific people.
09:25And legal experts warn that gives the DOJ plenty of room to say,
09:29This touches our investigation.
09:31We can't release it.
09:32And inside government, the culture is to over-redact, never under-redact, if you will.
09:39So, no, they can't block out everything or black out everything.
09:42But, yes, some of the most sensitive material could stay under heavy black ink for a very long time.
09:49Doug wrote that his class is celebrating the end of the government shutdown.
09:53And they want to know why Blue Origin's rocket runs on methane.
09:57Okay, so let's talk rocket fuel.
10:00Blue Origin's new Glenn Booster uses BE-4 engines that burn liquid oxygen and liquefied natural gas, mostly methane.
10:08Why methane?
10:09It's efficient and relatively low cost.
10:12It's widely available.
10:14It helps pressurize its own tanks.
10:17Fewer parts, less weight.
10:18And it burns cleaner than kerosene.
10:20Cleaner engines matter because soot from kerosene rockets can clog hardware and makes reuse harder.
10:27Methane avoids that.
10:29It's a better fit for a rocket designed to fly more than once.
10:33The new Glenn switches to liquid hydrogen on the upper stage for maximum efficiency in space.
10:39So, for your classroom and this anchor who just learned an awful lot,
10:43methane gives power, efficiency, clean engines, and faster reuse.
10:48Hope that helps.
10:48All right, keep those questions coming on our Straight Arrow News YouTube page.
10:52We see them, we read them, and we love that you're part of this.
10:55We'll tackle more of your big ones next week.
10:58By the way, we're the fastest, fairest few minutes of news.
11:00Be sure to tell your friends about us.
11:02You can always watch us on SAN.com or on the app or stream us on Spotify.
11:07Those are your unbiased updates for this Friday.
11:09Join us back here on Monday.
11:11For all of us here at Straight Arrow News, I'm Craig DeGrelli.
Be the first to comment