00:01President Trump says foreign governments are targeting U.S. elections, and he wants to make it much harder to do.
00:07Plus, the meeting one senator demanded before backing Todd Blanche, and why it did not win over everyone in the
00:13room.
00:14And the smoke is spreading, the air is getting worse, and millions of people are being urged to take precautions.
00:23The stories that matter, clear and credible, from across the country to around the world.
00:28These are your Unbiased Updates from Straight Arrow.
00:34Good morning, I'm Craig DeGrelli.
00:36We begin this morning with President Trump's primetime address, where he unveiled newly declassified intelligence he says exposes major election
00:45security gaps,
00:46while again pressing Congress to pass the Save America Act.
00:50Every American deserves to know that when they cast their vote, that vote will be counted accurately in a system,
00:57and that is to make that system secure.
01:01One where cheating and interference are not just difficult, but virtually impossible.
01:08Unfortunately, the system we have today falls catastrophically short of that standard.
01:14Trump claims China bought, stole, or hacked tens of millions of voter files across 18 states,
01:21and accused a deep state conspiracy of keeping that information from the public.
01:26But much of the material he cited describes China's use of publicly available voter data to influence public opinion,
01:33not change vote totals.
01:35This evidence shows that the election system we have dangerously exposes and really exposes like levels never thought possible
01:45to hacking, exploitation, and foreign interference,
01:50just as disturbingly this vital information has for many years been covered up and hidden from you.
01:57Trump said the declassified documents prove America's election system is vulnerable to foreign interference.
02:04But one of those documents, a 2020 National Intelligence Council assessment,
02:09reached a different conclusion, saying vote tabulation systems would be difficult to manipulate
02:14on a scale large enough to change an election.
02:17The president is using the documents to build support for the Save America Act,
02:21which would require proof of citizenship to register to vote and would sharply limit mail-in voting.
02:26But most importantly, addressing this crisis of election security demands that Congress must pass the Save America Act.
02:38How easy is that to do unless you want to cheat?
02:42The only reason you wouldn't do it is you want to cheat because your policies are so bad
02:48and your candidates are so pathetic that you can't get away or can't get elected any other way.
02:55Democrats say Trump is revisiting false claims about the 2020 election to justify changes they believe would restrict voting ahead
03:04of this year's midterms.
03:05This is not about 2020. The president is rehashing his demented fantasies about an election being stolen in 2020 as
03:19a pretext for interfering in the election in 2026.
03:23He knows that he is on course to lose in 2026.
03:28And instead of doing something about the peak for the people, he's trying to interfere in our elections.
03:36Senator John Ossoff said the speech was an attempt to undermine confidence in future elections,
03:41saying he heard, quote, a president signaling his unmistakable intent to attack these elections and our voting rights,
03:49just as he tried to throw out our votes and seize the presidency in 2020.
03:53While Michigan Senator Alyssa Slotkin warned she fears the administration could use the military to interfere with voting.
04:00What if they send in the military and they say, you know what, we're coming into this voting location.
04:05We're going to seize machines. What will we do? What if they don't have a warrant?
04:10The war between the U.S. and Iran is spreading farther across the Gulf this morning,
04:15with Kuwait now reporting damage to critical infrastructure after an Iranian attack.
04:21Kuwait's electricity, water and renewable energy ministry says an Iranian strike hit a power station
04:27that also houses a major desalination plant, sparking a fire and damaging multiple electricity generation units.
04:35Crews extinguish the fire and are assessing the damage.
04:38Desalination plants provide most of Kuwait's drinking water.
04:42The attack came as U.S. forces completed a sixth night of strikes inside Iran.
04:48CENTCOM says American forces hit dozens of Iranian military targets overnight.
04:53Iran fired missiles toward U.S. allies in the region.
04:56Qatar twice warned residents to take shelter, while Kuwait and Bahrain issued their own emergency alerts.
05:02The Strait of Hormuz remains the center of the conflict as U.S. forces continue to disrupt Iranian shipping.
05:09CENTCOM says American forces have now redirected three commercial vessels,
05:14disabled an oil tanker and boarded another ship since the blockade began.
05:18Back in Washington, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche's path to become the nation's top law enforcement officer
05:25may now hinge on a meeting he's now had with survivors of Jeffrey Epstein's abuse.
05:31Blanche returned to Capitol Hill Thursday for a second day of his confirmation hearings,
05:36where Republican Senator Tom Tillis said he won't vote to advance the nomination until Blanche meets face-to-face with
05:43Epstein's survivors.
05:45Tillis says he's, quote, trying to get to yes, but called the meeting essential before the Senate Judiciary Committee takes
05:52up the nomination in the coming weeks.
05:53And because it seemed to me that Mr. Blanche was willing to say that he would meet with them and
06:01counsel,
06:02I understand the restriction that counsel has to be present,
06:04I expect that meeting to occur before I'm willing to vote out of this committee.
06:08And I'm trying to get to yes, but this is a very important part of getting to yes.
06:14The issue gained new attention Thursday after Epstein survivor Danny Bensky testified that she and other victims
06:22repeatedly asked to meet with Justice Department leaders but never received a meeting.
06:27After leaving the hearing, Blanche told reporters he rearranged his schedule to meet with survivors,
06:32though an earlier attempt to get together did not work out.
06:35Because the Department of Justice will always meet with victims or their representatives.
06:39And if those victims or their representatives have evidence that anybody committed a crime,
06:44whether it has to do with Jeffrey Epstein, anybody else that was associated with Jeffrey Epstein, or anybody else,
06:50we will, of course, move forward and investigate and prosecute.
06:53So that's what we're going to do.
06:54I expect that there'll be a time that works for their representatives, and we'll go from there.
07:00That meeting was later held Thursday afternoon at Justice Department headquarters,
07:04where Blanche met with survivors, their attorneys, FBI agents, and victim services representatives for about an hour.
07:11Afterwards, the Justice Department called the discussion productive
07:15and said Blanche encourages anyone with new evidence to come forward.
07:19But several survivors said the meeting left them disappointed,
07:22with Danny Bensky calling it, quote, a check-in-the-box exercise,
07:26and Annie Farmer urging senators to vote against his confirmation.
07:31If you step outside this morning and the sky looks hazy or the sun has an orange tint,
07:37you're not imagining it.
07:38Wildfire smoke from Canada is spreading across the eastern half of the country,
07:42and for millions of people, today could be the worst of it.
07:46From New York City to Chicago, which you're looking at,
07:48people are masking up as thick smoke from Canadian wildfires
07:52pushes air quality to unhealthy and, in some places, hazardous levels.
07:56I was a bit surprised.
07:59I live down in Miami, so we don't really get that much wildfires happening,
08:03and it's a bit overwhelming.
08:05I had to run to the store and buy myself a mask and a mercy inhaler,
08:09and I was not expecting this.
08:11The smoke, as you see here, is pouring south from hundreds of active fires
08:16burning across Ontario and British Columbia,
08:19where crews continue to battle large out-of-control wildfires.
08:22The smoke has also turned skies hazy across the Midwest and Northeast
08:27and triggering air quality alerts from the Great Lakes to New England.
08:31Come out the subway, chest started to give me some issues,
08:36nose was burning, I can taste it.
08:38So I'm just sitting here like, wow, I really need a mask.
08:42One pilot flying near Thunder Bay, Ontario,
08:46thought he was looking at a line of thunderstorms,
08:47until he got closer and realized the massive plume below was smoke pouring from active wildfires.
08:54In fact, some pilots are now reporting ash buildup on their plane's windshield while they are flying.
09:00Health officials are urging people, especially children, older adults,
09:03and those with heart or lung conditions, to limit time outdoors if they can.
09:08Forecasters say conditions should start to improve across parts of the Northeast later today,
09:13though smoke could linger into the weekend in some areas as new plumes continue to drift south.
09:20And this is getting a lot of attention this morning.
09:23A longtime member of President Trump's staff is now on unpaid leave
09:28after allegedly using inside access to the president's speeches to make more than $100,000 in bets.
09:35Federal regulators say Gabriel Perez,
09:38who has operated President Trump's teleprompter since the 2016 campaign,
09:42placed bets on whether the president would say certain words or phrases during more than a dozen speeches.
09:49Calci, the prediction market where the bets were placed, flagged the trades earlier this year,
09:55froze Perez's account, and referred the case to federal regulators
09:58after suspecting he may have used non-public information.
10:03Investigators believe Perez made more than $100,000.
10:07And ABC News reports he is now in talks to settle the allegations.
10:11Well, the White House has extremely strict ethical guidelines with respect to issues like this.
10:17And as I just told you, this individual will no longer be here.
10:21The administrative leave is unpaid, to be very clear.
10:25That was a decision by the president.
10:26So I think that speaks for itself.
10:28According to investigators, Perez had access to draft speeches before they were delivered
10:33and in some cases even changed his bets mid-speech when the president went off script.
10:39Federal regulators are now working toward a civil settlement that could require Perez to give up his profits
10:44and bar him from making similar bets in the future.
10:48Finally this morning in Great Britain, they're still getting over a heartbreaking World Cup loss.
10:54England fell to Argentina 2-1 in the semifinals this week.
10:57And even King Charles is feeling it.
11:00King Charles and Queen Camilla visited a brewery in Dorset Thursday to help celebrate its 250th anniversary.
11:08While sampling a couple of pints, the king joked that it was a good day to drown a few sorrows.
11:14The royal family also posted a message on social media telling England's team,
11:18you remain the pride of the nation and will rise again.
11:21As for the World Cup final, defending champion Argentina will face Spain on Sunday afternoon at MetLife Stadium in New
11:28Jersey.
11:28Kickoff is set for 3 p.m. Eastern.
11:30Should be a good game.
11:32Tune in and see if, well, Messi scores.
11:34No noise, no sides.
11:36Unbiased Updates gives you the facts straight.
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11:41And a special thanks to our listeners on Spotify,
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11:47By the way, have you signed up for the Unbiased Updates newsletter?
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11:55Those are your Unbiased Updates for this Friday.
11:57We'll see you back here on Monday.
11:58For all of us here at Straight Arrow, I'm Craig DeGrali.
12:00Have a fantastic Friday and a wonderful weekend.
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