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
00:48to a group of Democratic lawmakers who 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.
01:08Our 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,
01:36An 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.
02:13On Fox News, Trump's deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche, took it further.
02:17Here was his assessment of the video.
02:19And this is abhorrent conduct.
02:22I 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.
02:37And 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.
03:21That'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.
03:36They'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.
03:51And they have now become a major political flashpoint.
03:56Federal investigators have released stunning new photos of the moments before that deadly UPS plane crash in Kentucky.
04:03And 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.
04:12Officials 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?
04:38The 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.
04:52In 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, but 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.
05:55The FAA says just 776 controllers and technicians qualified, far fewer than expected.
06:03About 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 controller 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.
06:34Remember Azul, the blue 77 Volkswagen van that somehow survived the Palisades wildfire in California?
06:41We 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?
06:52As 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, replacing 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.
07:28Her 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.
07:49An 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,
08:21So, 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.
08:37The 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.
08:50Properly classified national security details.
08:53And 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?
09:33The culture is to over-redact.
09:37Never 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?
10:10It'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 DiGrelli.
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