Speaker 1: Morning Run with Amy and TJ and iHeartRadio Podcast.
Speaker 2: Hey they're folks, and welcome to the Morning Run on
Speaker 2: this Tuesday, November nineteenth, I'm TJ.
Speaker 1: Holt and I'm Amy Robock. Thanks for running with us.
Speaker 1: And on today's run, a terrifying Monday morning in Manhattan,
Speaker 1: a man goes on a deadly and random stabbing spree.
Speaker 2: Also, a big day in court for Donald Trump. Could
Speaker 2: today be the day his thirty four felony convictions go away?
Speaker 1: As Congress decides whether to release the ethics reports on
Speaker 1: Trump's ag pick Matt Gates. A lawyer has now come
Speaker 1: forward to say his client's testified to Congress that Gates
Speaker 1: paid them for sex.
Speaker 2: Plus day is accusing the government of outrageous behavior, in
Speaker 2: particular going through his stuff.
Speaker 1: And welcome to Congress. But you can't use that bathroom.
Speaker 1: A Republican introduces a bill to keep this country's first
Speaker 1: transgender representative out of the women's bathroom.
Speaker 2: Also, their planes are bright yellow. Their company, though, is
Speaker 2: in deep red discount. Carrier Spirit Airlines is declaring bankruptcy.
Speaker 1: And a major update on that mass monkey escape in
Speaker 1: South Carolina. It might have been an inside job. We
Speaker 1: will get to that in just a moment, but first
Speaker 1: we begin our morning run here in New York. Today
Speaker 1: is a huge day in Donald Trump's criminal case, where
Speaker 1: a judge is set to decide if the thirty four
Speaker 1: time convicted felon will remain a thirty four time convicted felony.
Speaker 2: You'll remember he was convicted by a jury in May
Speaker 2: for falsifying financial records related to a hush money payment
Speaker 2: to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. He was scheduled to
Speaker 2: be sentenced in that case on November twenty sixth, But
Speaker 2: two pretty significant things happened since his conviction. One a
Speaker 2: July ruling by the US Supreme Court that presidents have
Speaker 2: brought immunity from prosecution. And two, well, he won the election.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that number two is a big one. So all
Speaker 1: of this creates an unprecedented constitutional kuwiki dink for the court.
Speaker 1: So the judge in his case has a few choices,
Speaker 1: including setting aside Trump's convictions or dismissing the case all together.
Speaker 1: And this was all supposed to happen a week ago,
Speaker 1: but it's happening today.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was very interesting to see the judge, the prosecution,
Speaker 2: and the defense all agreed last week. You know what,
Speaker 2: we need another week to.
Speaker 3: Go through this.
Speaker 2: It's a lot, President, un President, you have a felon
Speaker 2: that just won an election. What do you do? So
Speaker 2: they want an extra time? So today, who knows, they
Speaker 2: could go in there and maybe want more time. They
Speaker 2: could go in there and the prosecution is going to
Speaker 2: give a recommendation of some kind.
Speaker 3: We'll see.
Speaker 2: If all sides can't agree, then the judge is going
Speaker 2: to break the tie and decide what to do here.
Speaker 2: But it is fascinating to see.
Speaker 1: I was just going to use that word too, fascinating
Speaker 1: because this could be or would be the first time
Speaker 1: a convicted felon becomes president of the United States, but
Speaker 1: that might not actually even take place. He might just
Speaker 1: be a regular citizen without a criminal record who is
Speaker 1: now been re elected to presidents sink.
Speaker 2: You're going too far by saying he's a regular.
Speaker 1: You know, Okay, you know what I mean, a person
Speaker 1: without a criminal record.
Speaker 2: All right, folks, Well, we were going to continue the
Speaker 2: run on this Tuesday and head to Washington, d C.
Speaker 2: Where we are hearing more details surround the allegations against
Speaker 2: Trump's pick for Attorney general, former now former Congressman Matt Gates,
Speaker 2: the lawyer representing two women who testified to the House
Speaker 2: Ethics Committee that Gates paid them for sex, spoke to
Speaker 2: several news outlets last night, and he gave a lot
Speaker 2: more detail about the testimony.
Speaker 1: He sure did. We're talking about attorney Joel Leppard, he said.
Speaker 1: One of the women described witnessing Gates having sex with
Speaker 1: a seventeen year old girl by a pool at a
Speaker 1: house party in twenty seventeen. Now, Leopard said Gates stopped
Speaker 1: having sex with the minor after he learned she was underage, saying, quote,
Speaker 1: her understanding was that Matt Gates did not know that
Speaker 1: she was a miner, and that when he learned she
Speaker 1: was a miner, that he broke off things and did
Speaker 1: not continue with sexual relationship until she turned eighteen.
Speaker 2: You did hear all that correctly, folks. Leopard also said
Speaker 2: both of the women testify to the committee that Gates
Speaker 2: paid them for sex using venmo. Gates has previously denied
Speaker 2: the allegations. Now the issue is what the House Ethics
Speaker 2: Committee decides to do with the findings of its investigation
Speaker 2: into Gates' behavior.
Speaker 1: Right, because this investigation had been going on for the
Speaker 1: past three years on and off, and not only involved
Speaker 1: those sexual misconduct allegations, but also illicit drug use and
Speaker 1: accepting improper gifts. The committee technically lost jurisdiction over Gates
Speaker 1: when he resigned from Congress last Thursday to accept Trump's
Speaker 1: nomination for attorney general.
Speaker 2: So the committee is going to meet tomorrow to discuss
Speaker 2: the report and what to do with it. They may
Speaker 2: potentially hold a vote on whether or not to release it.
Speaker 2: House Speaker Mike Johnson has said that the reports should
Speaker 2: not be made public because Gates is no longer a
Speaker 2: member of Congress and like you said, they don't have
Speaker 2: jurisdiction over him.
Speaker 3: It's over.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And with all of these new details coming out,
Speaker 1: a Trunk spokesperson weighed in on the controversy, saying this,
Speaker 1: these are baseless allegations intended to derail the second Trump administration.
Speaker 1: The Biden Justice Department investigated Gates for years and cleared
Speaker 1: him of wrongdoing, and they are heavily putting some pressure
Speaker 1: on many Senate Republicans because right now it looks like
Speaker 1: at least five Republican senators are signaling that they're not
Speaker 1: sure whether or not they would support Gates in a
Speaker 1: confirmation hearing. So it's it's a we'll see what whether
Speaker 1: or not we get to see the report, actually the
Speaker 1: findings of the committee, and b will see where Republicans
Speaker 1: stand on confirming Gates.
Speaker 2: It continues kind of the chaos around this is what
Speaker 2: some people feared. You know, Trump is there that was
Speaker 2: constantly chaos in his administration, and just now with a
Speaker 2: lot of the nominations, there's this, there's that, there's a trickle,
Speaker 2: there's an investigation, there's a record, there's.
Speaker 3: This is part process.
Speaker 2: They're being vetted publicly before the senators vet them. I
Speaker 2: suppose Gates. I can't imagine. Can you imagine those hearings?
Speaker 1: No, I cannot confirmation hearings. It's going to be a spectacle,
Speaker 1: to say the least.
Speaker 2: All right, well, next up, I'm going to continue to
Speaker 2: run in Capitol Hill. Not just on Capitol Hill, I
Speaker 2: should say, but in the Capitol building itself. History was
Speaker 2: made on election night when Sarah McBride of Delaware became
Speaker 2: the first transgender person ever elected to Congress.
Speaker 1: Well now, just two weeks after that historic moment, one
Speaker 1: of her new colleagues is telling her where she can
Speaker 1: and cannot use the bathroom when she comes to work
Speaker 1: at the Capitol in January. And by the way, she's
Speaker 1: not just telling her. She's going so far as to
Speaker 1: introduce a bill that would ban transgender women from using
Speaker 1: women's restrooms at the US Capitol.
Speaker 3: Can you say that again?
Speaker 1: Yes, she is introducing a bill that would ban transgender
Speaker 1: women from using women's restrooms at the US Capitol.
Speaker 2: Okay, history was made first ever transgender person coming to Congress,
Speaker 2: and two weeks later, a bill, a law is being
Speaker 2: introduced to dictate where this new member of Congress can
Speaker 2: use the bathroom. Is where we are. This new resolution
Speaker 2: states that a member of Congress and I'm quoting, may
Speaker 2: not use a single sex facility in the Capitol or
Speaker 2: House Office building other than those corresponding to their biological sex.
Speaker 2: It also states that allowing transgender women to use the
Speaker 2: women's bathroom I'm quoting again, jeopardizes the safety and dignity
Speaker 2: of members of the House of Representatives who are women. Now.
Speaker 1: For her part, Representative elect McBride said this in a
Speaker 1: statement in response to all of this. Every day Americans
Speaker 1: go to work with people who have life journeys different
Speaker 1: from their own. And engage with them respectfully. I hope
Speaker 1: members of Congress can muster that same kindness. She also
Speaker 1: called this a move by far right extremists who have
Speaker 1: no real solutions for the country.
Speaker 3: So this bill was introduced.
Speaker 2: Who would introduce such a bill? Which member of Congress
Speaker 2: has done this? Well, we're talking about Republican Congresswoman Nancy
Speaker 2: Mace of South Carolina. She's strongly and proudly defended the bill,
Speaker 2: which she says is about protecting women. Her words and
Speaker 2: I quote biological men do not belong in private women's spaces.
Speaker 2: In quote, I think a lot of people do agree
Speaker 2: with that sentiment. We've seen plenty of debates around the
Speaker 2: country that I've gotten pretty nasty about bathrooms and who
Speaker 2: can use what, and who's a boy, who's a girl,
Speaker 2: and all these things.
Speaker 3: Even if people agree with that.
Speaker 2: Statement that men don't belong in private women's spaces, the
Speaker 2: way she's gone about it now feels really mean to people.
Speaker 1: Right, And I guess we've talked about this when we
Speaker 1: saw this story first emerge yesterday. You know, having conversations
Speaker 1: with people who are different than you is such an
Speaker 1: important part of this would just hope, but maybe I'm
Speaker 1: silly to hope that members of Congress could act like
Speaker 1: adults and do that and have those conversations and instead
Speaker 1: of writing laws, try to understand and figure out if
Speaker 1: there's a better solution. I was looking to see what
Speaker 1: the setup is in the Capitol. Obviously it's an old building,
Speaker 1: but from what I could tell, there is just one
Speaker 1: single use restroom, and it's in the Longworth building on
Speaker 1: the house side of Capitol Hill, which is in the basement.
Speaker 1: And so there was a push two years ago. I
Speaker 1: don't know what happened with it by members of Congress
Speaker 1: who were saying, hey, we need to have some more
Speaker 1: single use restrooms. That will make a difference for transgender
Speaker 1: folks who may one day work here, or for transgender
Speaker 1: people who come to visit the capital. Just giving them
Speaker 1: an option is part of the solution, not just banning
Speaker 1: people and telling them where they can and can't use
Speaker 1: the restrooms. So I don't know what happened with that,
Speaker 1: but that seems like that would be a more congenial
Speaker 1: way to find a solution.
Speaker 3: That's just all.
Speaker 2: This is not about somebody taking a side. We are
Speaker 2: not suggesting at all. We're on this side and this
Speaker 2: should be the case and transgendo fotion.
Speaker 3: That's not it.
Speaker 2: If you disagree, whatever side you're on, you can't just
Speaker 2: call this person up, talk through it, talk about it,
Speaker 2: go to the facilities at the Capitol, the facilities managers,
Speaker 2: and say can we possibly get more mixed use or
Speaker 2: gender neutral bathroom?
Speaker 3: There's a way.
Speaker 2: See, this is a human being, no matter what you
Speaker 2: think about transgender issues, this is a human being that
Speaker 2: just want to seat in Congress. And somebody's proposing a
Speaker 2: law to dictate where you use the bathroom as a
Speaker 2: human being. That just hurts. And that's it feels like
Speaker 2: you're being targeted, and it feels like bullying. And I
Speaker 2: just wish there was a different way to go about it,
Speaker 2: no matter which issue, which side of the issue, you're on.
Speaker 2: That part was the first thing I told you when
Speaker 2: you came out this morning we started working. I said,
Speaker 2: this one hurt like any story I've read in politics.
Speaker 1: And again, and it's not where you or we stand
Speaker 1: on the issue, it's how we go about addressing it.
Speaker 1: That is what it's about. All right. Next up on Iran,
Speaker 1: we're going to return to Manhattan, where it was a
Speaker 1: frightening day to be a New Yorker on the sidewalk.
Speaker 1: Three people were randomly and brutally murdered here yesterday morning.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was a scary morning as we started getting
Speaker 2: these reports and trying to figure out exactly what was
Speaker 2: going on. This went on a while. A fifty one
Speaker 2: year old Ramon Rivera walked up to and then repeatedly
Speaker 2: stabbed his victims between eight thirty and eleven a m
Speaker 2: throughout the city yesterday. This all according to police. He
Speaker 2: is in custody has been a resident of the Bellevue
Speaker 2: Men's Shelter here in the city, according to authority.
Speaker 1: Yeah, this is so frightening to hear what happened and
Speaker 1: how it happened. Police say that Rivera first fatally stabbed
Speaker 1: a thirty year old construction worker on the job on
Speaker 1: nineteenth Street, and then two hours later he made his
Speaker 1: way up to thirtieth Street and stabbed a sixty eight
Speaker 1: year old man to death right there on the sidewalk.
Speaker 1: And then twenty minutes later he stabbed a woman on
Speaker 1: forty second Street. She had multiple stab wounds in the
Speaker 1: chest and arms. She was still alive when she was
Speaker 1: rushed at the hospital, but unfortunately she succumbed to her
Speaker 1: injuries a few hours later. It was just a terrible, terrible,
Speaker 1: scary scene.
Speaker 2: Again, it went on for hours here before the man
Speaker 2: was finally arrested on forty six Street. Police say they
Speaker 2: recovered two bloody knives from him. Officials belief he picked
Speaker 2: his victims randomly, but initially provoked disputes with all three
Speaker 2: of them before attacking them. Mayor Eric Adams said Rivera
Speaker 2: had eight prior arrests and is believed to have severe
Speaker 2: mental health challenges. And then Adams said this, which is
Speaker 2: what you and a lot of people are also all
Speaker 2: thinking right now. There's a real question as to why
Speaker 2: he was on the street.
Speaker 1: And you know what, this is a scary situation for
Speaker 1: anyone who lives in New York, anyone who's visited New York.
Speaker 1: We absolutely see the problem. It's not just homelessness, but
Speaker 1: it's folks who have severe mental issues, and it is
Speaker 1: concerning that they aren't in a protected place, a place
Speaker 1: that protects them and protects the people around them. And
Speaker 1: this is actually something I'm surprised doesn't happen more often
Speaker 1: with what we see on the streets here in New York.
Speaker 1: So maybe perhaps something can be addressed, something can be done.
Speaker 1: We saw Adam's weighing in. Maybe he can try and
Speaker 1: finally do something about it.
Speaker 2: All right, well, folks, stay with us here on this
Speaker 2: Tuesday morning run. When we come back, we have an
Speaker 2: update in the legal back and forth and maneuvering in
Speaker 2: the Ditty case. This time it's Ditty's turn to accuse
Speaker 2: the government of doing something outrageous.
Speaker 1: Welcome back, everyone, We continue our run with another Ditty update.
Speaker 1: Lawyers for Sean Dittycombs have made serious accusations that the
Speaker 1: US government may be violating his constitutional rights.
Speaker 2: In particular, they say prosecutors have been snooping through Ditty's stuff,
Speaker 2: including materials from his jail sale which fall under attorney
Speaker 2: client privilege. Did He has been held at a jailed
Speaker 2: in Brooklyn since his arrest in September on racketeering and
Speaker 2: sex trafficking charges.
Speaker 1: In a new court filing, his lawyers are requesting an
Speaker 1: immediate hearing to determine who authorized a government raid on
Speaker 1: Ditty's cell phone that or did he sell excuse me,
Speaker 1: not his cell phone, but the cell he is actually in.
Speaker 1: That raid yielded notes with details about Ditty's defense strategy
Speaker 1: and his pre trial preparation, and they claim a lot
Speaker 1: of it was privileged material that the government turned around
Speaker 1: and then used in their arguments to the court for
Speaker 1: why did he should be denied bail?
Speaker 2: In their words, this is a matter of grave concern
Speaker 2: and its outrageous government conduct amounting to a substantive due
Speaker 2: process violation. Prosecutors explain themselves though this way they do
Speaker 2: have they I was about to say, excuse, They say
Speaker 2: they have reasons for this and they can explain it. One,
Speaker 2: did He cell was part of a jail wide security
Speaker 2: sweep that was planned before did He was even arrested,
Speaker 2: So the argument there is that he wasn't targeted at all. Also,
Speaker 2: Number two, the materials from Didty cell were first reviewed
Speaker 2: by a filter team that they say determined which materials
Speaker 2: were privileged and which ones weren't.
Speaker 1: All right, So, as you might imagine, it's been a
Speaker 1: very intense few days of legal maneuvering and back and
Speaker 1: forth with prosecutors on Friday accusing Diddy of trying to
Speaker 1: obstruct justice from behind bars. That's part of the information
Speaker 1: that they got from his cell. His trial is scheduled
Speaker 1: for next May, so we have a long way to
Speaker 1: go with all of this back and forth, and it
Speaker 1: seems like there are weekly, if not daily updates.
Speaker 2: There are, and we don't know if he's going to
Speaker 2: get a hearing that they're requesting about all of this,
Speaker 2: but he keeps getting denied bail. He's put up, he's
Speaker 2: offered a bail package like you've never heard before, fifty
Speaker 2: million dollars plus twenty four hour monitoring, and the prosecutors
Speaker 2: and the judges of all all kept saying this is
Speaker 2: a powerful guy who will try to get around the law,
Speaker 2: and he will try to evade justice. And some of
Speaker 2: the stuff they came out with over the past few days,
Speaker 2: borrowing other paying other inmates for use of their telephone
Speaker 2: accounts so he can can't be monitored. It was some
Speaker 2: pretty outrageous stuff. But it's we're just getting started. We
Speaker 2: got until May, right, I know.
Speaker 1: Yeah. They're describing him as a master manipulator, so no
Speaker 1: matter where he is, he gets people to do what
Speaker 1: he wants for him, and so that is the problem.
Speaker 1: And apparently even from behind bars, according to prosecutors. All right,
Speaker 1: next up on the run, we're gonna look up to
Speaker 1: the skies and spirit airlines known for its cheap, no
Speaker 1: frills tickets and of course they're big yellow planes. Well,
Speaker 1: Spirit Airlines has filed for bankruptcy.
Speaker 2: They seem to be I would have thought they were
Speaker 2: doing well. Every time I look up, I see a
Speaker 2: yellow plane. But those are the only ones you see usually, right,
Speaker 2: they stand out. Yes, but a number of setbacks for
Speaker 2: this airline over the years, including a federal judge blocking
Speaker 2: its plan merger with Jet Blue Airways at the first
Speaker 2: of this year. They've lost more than two point two
Speaker 2: billion dollars since the beginning of twenty twenty.
Speaker 1: Yeah. So with this move, its stock will actually be
Speaker 1: delisted from the New York Stock Exchange, and it's a
Speaker 1: stock that's fallen more than ninety percent from the start
Speaker 1: of this year. In a letter to its customers, those
Speaker 1: Spirits said its patrons could continue to use all of
Speaker 1: their tickets, their credits, and loyalty points as normal.
Speaker 2: We haven't seen a major airline declared bankruptcy in more
Speaker 2: than a decade. If you'll remember, we see this happen
Speaker 2: from time to time. American Delta United all filed bankruptcy
Speaker 2: cases after the September eleventh at tax A lot of companies. Certainly,
Speaker 2: all of those airlines emerged in stronger financial positions after
Speaker 2: filing for Chapter eleven, So this isn't necessarily the end
Speaker 2: of the road for Spirit, correct.
Speaker 1: That is the hope that Spirit Airlines will be able
Speaker 1: to come out of this better and stronger. The CEO
Speaker 1: saying that the arrangements that they've agreed to with this
Speaker 1: filing represents a strong vote of confidence in Spirit and
Speaker 1: our long term plan. So those big yellow planes aren't
Speaker 1: going away anytime soon.
Speaker 2: Right, It will turn now to our final leg like
Speaker 2: this run just flew by, didn't it those times?
Speaker 3: Right? And on this final leg now?
Speaker 2: And then there were four We got a monkey's on
Speaker 2: their own update for you from South Carolina.
Speaker 1: That's right. It means thirty nine of the original forty
Speaker 1: three monkeys that escaped the South Carolina Research Lab are
Speaker 1: now back safely, we're told, happily and healthy in their enclosure.
Speaker 1: But here's the question that's emerging. Did they actually escape
Speaker 1: or were they released?
Speaker 2: Okay, this is all I love this story even more now,
Speaker 2: the CEO.
Speaker 3: Of the lab, excuse me, I'm coughed up. I'm getting
Speaker 3: choked up on this story. The CEO of the lab.
Speaker 2: Has now said it is investigating whether or not their
Speaker 2: escape was accidental or an intentional act.
Speaker 1: Remember that new employee who didn't properly close the gates.
Speaker 1: There are actually three gates that she was supposed to
Speaker 1: lock and latch, and all three of those gates were
Speaker 1: left unsecure. That worker walked off the job when she
Speaker 1: was told she could face disciplinary action if the gates
Speaker 1: were deemed working properly. They were, and I'll say last
Speaker 1: week they said, hey, it was absolutely an accident, But
Speaker 1: now an official investigation is underway as to whether or
Speaker 1: not she potentially did this intentionally. There have been animal
Speaker 1: rights groups that are weighing in on this, saying the
Speaker 1: company's history of violations are not at all appropriate. They said,
Speaker 1: obviously we reported on this. There were previous monkey breakouts
Speaker 1: as well. So we also have Nancy Mace once again
Speaker 1: weighing in on this because this happens to have happened
Speaker 1: in her district. She's asking for an inquiry into its
Speaker 1: oversight by multiple federal agencies. So even when all the monkeys,
Speaker 1: and if all the monkeys make it back safely into
Speaker 1: their enclosures, this story may continue to have legs.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and Nancy Mace.
Speaker 2: Once they get back, where are they going to be
Speaker 2: able to use the bathroom? Which monkeys go here? Which
Speaker 2: monkeys go there?
Speaker 1: I'm sorry the full circle moment here on the run.
Speaker 2: Again, you all, if you'll have been following the Morning Run.
Speaker 2: Clearly we love this story about the escape monkeys. We've
Speaker 2: been rooting for them, but this changes everything. If there
Speaker 2: was this was an inside and now it feels like
Speaker 2: a crime that they're a part of, versus we're just
Speaker 2: rooting for the monkeys that go away?
Speaker 3: All right? Books on this? What are we Tuesday? Tuesday?
Speaker 2: As you go about your Tuesday, Now we have something
Speaker 2: for you we liked for you to consider as you
Speaker 2: go about your day.
Speaker 1: That's right, here's the quote of the day. It's a
Speaker 1: toxic desire to try to be perfect. I realized later
Speaker 1: in life that the challenge is not to be perfect,
Speaker 1: it's to be whole. And this comes from Jane Fonda.
Speaker 3: Where'd you pull this one out? Today?
Speaker 1: I just I like do my little searches online for
Speaker 1: inspiring quotes, and yes, sometimes we have world leaders or
Speaker 1: historic figures, religious entities, but this one I just thought
Speaker 1: was a fun one and it talked to me. It
Speaker 1: spoke to me. I'll say it again for everyone. It's
Speaker 1: a toxic desire to try to be perfect. I realized
Speaker 1: later in life that the challenge is not to be perfect,
Speaker 1: it's to be whole.
Speaker 3: Jane Finn And with that, folks, you go about your day.
Speaker 2: Hope you have a perfect day being as whole of
Speaker 2: a person as you can be. Uh.
Speaker 1: And with that, and I'm Amy Robot. Thanks for running
Speaker 1: with us. Every one, have a wonderful Tuesday.