Hour 2: Hegseth continuing to fight

Hegseth continuing to fight.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
And good morning. I'm Larry Menti in the Big Three. Today,
the CEO of the nation's largest healthcare insurance company, United Healthcare,
gunned down on the streets of New York.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
You know this is not a random attack, I can
tell you this is more of like an assassination attempt.
There was a pre planned motive definitely here. I don't
know who the individual was. Was this that hitman? Was
this someone who was disgruntled, but there is no coincidence here.

Speaker 1 (00:25):
An intense manhunt is on right now for the assassin
who fled the scene on a city bike and then
disappeared into Central Park. And there are right now, as
far as we know, no leads on him right now,
at least, no verdict in the Daniel Penny trial yet,
as the jury asks for evidence and testimony to review.

Speaker 3 (00:48):
Criminally negligent homicide is actually what's called a lesser including
offense of manslaughter, So basically it has a lower mensral,
a lower intent, So instead of recklessness, it's criminal negligence.
It's one or the other, manslaughter being the higher level charge.

Speaker 1 (01:03):
Jury deliberations continue today and Donald Trump's nominee for Secretary
of Defense, veteran and Fox News host Pete Hegseth is
not giving up the fight despite accusations of sexual misconduct,
heavy drinking, and financial mismanagement. Heg Seth says he's the

(01:23):
man Donald Trump wanted for the job.

Speaker 4 (01:26):
He said, I want a warfire, I want lethality, lethality, lethality.

Speaker 1 (01:31):
I want readiness, accountability, standards, warfighting.

Speaker 4 (01:35):
Pete, that's you, that's me, cleanhouse.

Speaker 1 (01:39):
And let's add it fourth an extra added story, because
how could we not talk about The Christmas Tree at
Rockefeller Center is officially lipped and now the Rockefeller Center

(02:02):
Christmas Tree is shining bright on view through mid January.
The tree will be lit daily from five am to midnight,
and on Christmas Eve it'll be lit for twenty four hours,
and on New Year's Eve from five am to nine pm.

Speaker 5 (02:16):
I'm glad you're giving the times because there are people
who will, you know, roll over there around twelve thirty
at night and they're like, oh, wait a minute, I
heard lights. So it's good for people to know at
midnight they shut it down.

Speaker 1 (02:29):
Yeah, that sounds like me and my family. We always
miss things every single time anything we go to, which,
by the way, usually I'm not disappointed by It's like,
oh darn, now we have to do something else.

Speaker 4 (02:40):
Now there's no crowd, let's go.

Speaker 5 (02:41):
But you know what, I think we should it's only
a couple of blocks away from the studios.

Speaker 4 (02:45):
I think we should make a little class trip.

Speaker 1 (02:48):
Oh that's a great idea. Tell me how it goes.
That's really a wonderful idea.

Speaker 6 (02:53):
Oh, Natalie is on. So why were you so surprised
we weren't exchanging gifts?

Speaker 1 (02:59):
Loud No, I just I have to go shop for you.

Speaker 4 (03:03):
You could buy me stuff all you like.

Speaker 1 (03:06):
I thought you didn't want to exchange gifts. Change Get
that took me a second. All right, Well, Merry Christmas everybody.
The Christmas season has officially started on switch. Don't sound
like a grinch. I'll tell you what. Who is feeling
the pinch of the grinch for the last several days

(03:28):
has been Pete hegsath Man. The long knives were out
for him. Now there's a new breath of life. I
mean he's gonna he's gonna fight. He was in the
The Wall Street Journal Journal with an opinion piece.

Speaker 7 (03:42):
Today.

Speaker 1 (03:42):
He was on a podcast with Megan Kelly. Apparently he's
going to do more interviews, and he says he claims
he has the encouragement of President President elect Donald Trump,
even though there are stories out there that President elect
Trump is looking for alternatives, including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

(04:05):
Let's talk more about that with John Decker, W R.
White House and Washington Correspondent. A lot has going on
for the last couple of days, especially when it comes
to Pete hag Seth. Can you tell us where he
stands right now?

Speaker 8 (04:22):
Well, he's clinging. He's clinging on to this nomination. I
think that as things stand right now, he's barely there.
And this is all before Larry. There's an FBI background
check that's provided to senators. That's I think going to
be a real problem for him, as is a public

(04:43):
confirmation hearing. I don't think he's going to go through that.
I don't think he's going to be the nominee ultimately
leading the Defense Department. But for now, he says he's
going to fight to go through this process.

Speaker 1 (04:56):
Yeah, he's certainly not acting like he's going to withdraw
his own name right now. And he claims he has
spoken with Donald Trump. So this might just be from
what your opinion is the last gasp for him.

Speaker 8 (05:11):
Yeah, I mean we saw what happened with Matt Gates.
Mat Gates ultimately realized that he was becoming a distraction,
a distraction to Donald Trump's agenda in the first one
hundred days, and that's what Pete Haig said. Also risks
being as a distraction for a really messy confirmation process,
and you know, I think that that is going to

(05:34):
be problematic for him. And what Donald Trump needs to do,
obviously before pulling the nomination is having someone lined up
to replace, and that's what he did, as you know
with Matt Gates, he had Pam Bondi lined up. She
was announced just hours after Gates dropped out of the
running to be the Attorney general.

Speaker 1 (05:55):
Yeah, I know that they must be keeping account. He
has to get what he can. He can't lose four senators,
right because if he loses three, jd. Vance comes in
and has the vote he can And there's been none
of that yet. I mean, it was pretty obvious that
Gates wasn't going to get through. They said that there
were six that we're probably going to vote against him,

(06:15):
So he wasn't going to get through. I'm sure they're
keeping account, which makes me think they believe they have
a chance, or there wouldn't have been that opinion piece
in the Wall Street Journal. There wouldn't have been him
going on Megan Kelly, and apparently he's going to do
other media appearances, so they must believe he has a chance.

Speaker 8 (06:34):
Well, good luck is what I say. I say good
luck because these are the questions that he can expect
to receive at a confirmation hearing, and they're all about
his drinking. They're all going to be when was the
last time you got drunk? Have you ever been helped
out of a bar? When was that time? What were
the circumstances? Have you ever blacked out? How often do

(06:55):
you drink? All of these questions are going to be posed,
And keep in mind he'll be under so there will
be people that will be provided as far as witnesses,
to either back up or to take issue with the
answers that he gives it a confirmation hearing. If he
wants to go through that after a background check, that's
what I say, good luck. I don't think anybody wants
to go through that. You know. John Tower, many years

(07:17):
ago nineteen eighty nine, was nominated by George H. W.
Bush to be the Defense secretary. Same issues dogged him,
and ultimately he was voted down. He was voted down
fifty three to forty seven. He did not become the
Defense secreteur.

Speaker 1 (07:34):
So he talked to senators yesterday and many of them
asked the question about drinking, and he said he claimed
he doesn't drink anymore, and then he promised he wouldn't
have a drink if he were to get nominated. And
yesterday I don't know if you saw that Meghan Kelly
thing her podcast, but he said that yes, he had

(07:56):
a drinking problem, and many he said, this is which
who is really bright on his part, whether it's true
or not. He said that many veterans that came back
from Afghanistan in Iran and saw war had drinking problems.
But I was saved, he said, by the two Jays,
my wife Jessica and Jesus Christ. So it sounds like

(08:17):
at least he has his story down.

Speaker 8 (08:21):
Well, we'll see. I've also heard stories from you know,
I used to work at Fox News. I heard stories
about him showing up for his program Fox and Friends
Weekend in which he still had alcohol in his breath.
So you know, look, you can say a lot of
things in an interview with Meghan Kelly. When you are,
you know, getting similar questions under glaring lights of born

(08:42):
in and at a televised confirmation hearing it makes you
give a different type of answer, or more cautious answer
than those direct anxious that he gives to Megan Kelly.

Speaker 1 (08:53):
Yeah, it's a good point. There's a lot more to go.
And I guess a lot of the senators said to
him yesterday because they can mountain talked afterwards and they
all said, there can't be any more surprises.

Speaker 8 (09:04):
So well, that's That's one thing that I think is
really upset Donald Trump and the transition team is that
they were just so caught off guard by this. You know,
that's one of the things that you have to be
up front with the transition team about, are there any
anything that can be brought up by opponents to this
nomination that could be troubling? And if you don't bring

(09:26):
those things up initially and you're you know, they're brought
up after the fact, that that really does not please
a transition and it probably doesn't please Donald Trump.

Speaker 1 (09:37):
One last thing, I want to get back to the
Biden pardon, because something interesting has been happening over the
last couple of days. Republicans keep talking about the fact
that now they can call Hunter in front of the
committee because he lost his Fifth Amendment right to self
incrimination and it'd have to testify. It sounds like they

(09:59):
want to go through with more of than the investigation.

Speaker 8 (10:04):
Yeah, I mean, look, that's what an oversight committee can do.
And you know that's one of the reasons why the
Biden White House President Biden are studying whether or not
empty of pardons to any other people not only in
Hunter Biden's orbit, including maybe other Biden's family members, but
also individuals that Donald Trump has mentioned before, is people

(10:25):
that he would potentially like to go after, like Liz
Cheney for instance. But to your point that that's right,
you know, given this blanket pardon, this eleven year blanket pardon,
it does eliminate that ability for Hunter Biden to lead
the fifth take the Fifth Amendment during any type of

(10:47):
hearing in what he's called before a House or Senate
oversight committee.

Speaker 1 (10:51):
Well, we shall see. John Decker w R. White House
in Washington Correspondent. Thanks a lot, John, Thanks doing this
when you text could mean you have a higher immersion
emotional intelligence than most. Most you have higher emotional intelligence
than most. Find out what it is when we get back. Plus,

(11:14):
we want to send you to Mariah Carey's Christmas Time
Tour at A twenty five and welcome back. I was
just told something fascinating that just kind of blew my
mind that I had never ever heard before. And it
is about baby carrots. I was just told for the

(11:37):
first time, and maybe you all know this, and I
didn't know this, that baby carrots are just big carrots
whittled down to look like baby carrots or cut up
to look like baby Did everybody know that?

Speaker 4 (11:51):
I never thought about.

Speaker 6 (11:52):
It, To be honest with you, I never had a
thought in my head about what happened with baby carrots.

Speaker 4 (11:58):
I just eat them. And that's that.

Speaker 1 (12:00):
I'm stunned. I feel lied to, they betrayed. They should
tell you that on the packaging these are you could
do this at.

Speaker 4 (12:09):
Home, but people don't want to.

Speaker 6 (12:12):
That's why they get away with it. And they're so
nice and rounded at the edges. I couldn't do that.
I notice they were a little too perfect. They never
looked perfect to me. In fact, some of them look
kind of funky.

Speaker 1 (12:25):
I always First of all, I always thought they were perfect.
My kids love them, I like them. And now I'm
not going to eat them anymore. Now it was all fanvertising.

Speaker 4 (12:38):
I'm done with carrot industry is going to be on
its head. Sorry to spoil the fun for everyone, right,
but it's something you don't really think about.

Speaker 9 (12:51):
Much.

Speaker 4 (12:51):
Other things to think about in my life. The baby
carry You're the.

Speaker 1 (12:53):
One that just told me about it.

Speaker 4 (12:55):
You said to me, she saw it somewhere. Well, yeah,
I read it, but I I knew and I was shocked.
How shocked you were?

Speaker 1 (13:03):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (13:03):
He really did?

Speaker 1 (13:04):
He was all my life. I thought these baby carrots
were grown on a baby carrot farm somewhere.

Speaker 4 (13:11):
Disappointed, And now I find out everything might be for
a childhood dog.

Speaker 1 (13:16):
Who else might be lying to Mesa for another day? No,
now I'm intrigued. Crash just whispered in my ear. There's
no Santa Claus. This is this is turning out the Yes,

(13:37):
yes there is. I've seen him. I've seen him for myself.

Speaker 4 (13:42):
I have too, I mean, my god, So stop.

Speaker 1 (13:45):
Stop with the baby carrots, stop with Santa Claus. Stop
ruining my life.

Speaker 6 (13:49):
Oh you're in like a weird mood today, Larry, kind
of feisty.

Speaker 1 (13:54):
I'm being put in it by all of this misinformation
that I'm being fed about carrots and sand.

Speaker 4 (14:00):
Fed, literally fed, sorry else something.

Speaker 1 (14:04):
Do you have a landline in your home?

Speaker 4 (14:06):
No, I got rid of it. I find a year
or two, a couple of years ago.

Speaker 1 (14:11):
You know, I held on to mine so long because
we never answered it, and I gave it out like
when I signed out forms, because I knew I was
gonna get spam called I'm smart and they would all
go to my landline.

Speaker 5 (14:24):
I held on it for a long time because my
alarm system was connected to it.

Speaker 4 (14:29):
And then that ended.

Speaker 5 (14:30):
And you know they have other ways of doing that now,
so and I it was like we called it the
bat phone because.

Speaker 4 (14:37):
It only you would like just ring once or twice
a year.

Speaker 5 (14:42):
We'd all stare at each other, WHOA that's going on there?

Speaker 1 (14:46):
But I never answered my landline when I had.

Speaker 4 (14:49):
It, although I will tell you it came in.

Speaker 5 (14:53):
It was very handy during really bad storms when we
lost cellular. What I think I was able to contact
people on the landline.

Speaker 1 (15:03):
Well that's a great point because ATT has announced AT
and T has announced that they're cutting most service to
landlines across the country. And if they're cutting most service,
now you know where that's going. They are going to
cut all service eventually to landlines. And if AT and
T is going to do it, then I would think

(15:24):
that everybody else will start doing it as well. And
I just I wonder how people feel about that, because
I think that there is this, especially when you're a
certain age. I think that there is this comfort with
a landline that it's always there in an emergency, Yes
that no matter what else happens, you have your landline

(15:44):
and that landline's going to work. So if you still
have a landline, or if you are upset that landlines
are going away, go to our talkback app. You go
to the first you go to ihearts app, and then
you look for seven to ten WR. After you hit that,
you're going to see the talk back option and hit

(16:07):
the red microphone. Do you still have a landline? I
would I would love to know because I think that
do I know anybody that has a landline?

Speaker 4 (16:18):
They're probably too embarrassed to tell you. After that. It's
like saying you have an AOL account.

Speaker 1 (16:24):
I have an AOL account, but we didn't get into
the emojis and texting, so I have to do that
real quick.

Speaker 5 (16:32):
So do you use emojis while texting people rarely? Well,
then you don't have high emotional.

Speaker 7 (16:38):
Intelligence there, Sorry, Larry, I would have told you that
I love filling my text just with my not professionally right,
but with my family and friends with little emoji's, little gifts.

Speaker 9 (16:50):
You know.

Speaker 4 (16:50):
Yeah, that's kind of fun, makes people smile.

Speaker 1 (16:53):
I think there's an age cutoff or using emojis now.
I'm always surprised when I get a little emoji. And
I also think it's sometimes lazy, like when you write
somebody a text and all they give you back is
a thumbs up.

Speaker 4 (17:06):
I like it.

Speaker 1 (17:07):
You like that?

Speaker 4 (17:08):
I like it?

Speaker 6 (17:09):
It's right, sweet, yeah, I I with all the emails
I have and all all the phone lines and different things,
the ways people can get, I just want to swat
them all away.

Speaker 4 (17:18):
You want to give me a thumbs up and let
me move on with my life. You do that?

Speaker 1 (17:21):
What about like when you send a text to your
wife and say hey, I love you, and then she
just sends back a thumbs up.

Speaker 4 (17:31):
It's still a bad could be worse.

Speaker 1 (17:34):
That's upsetting.

Speaker 4 (17:35):
You could get a thumbs down.

Speaker 1 (17:37):
That's true, very true. There's Jacqueline Carr's here for the news.
Good morning, Jacqueline.

Speaker 4 (17:43):
Good morning.

Speaker 6 (17:44):
President elect Trump's and battle pick for Defense Secretary is
vowing to hang in there, meeting with lawmakers on Capitol
Hill once again today, This on Wednesday. This despite reports
that Pete hegg Setts could be replaced by Florida Governor
Ron DeSantis. The form Fox News personality is embroiled in
multiple misconduct allegations. The Washington Post reports Hegseth will visit

(18:06):
Trump at mar A Lago State in Florida later today.
And the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree is now shining bright
after last night's tree lighting ceremony. It will be lit
daily from five am to midnight on Christmas Eve for
twenty four hours. It's beginning to look a lot like Chrisma.

Speaker 9 (18:25):
This year's tree in Norwegian spruce from Massachusetts, weighs eleven tons,
is seventy four feet tall and forty three feet wide.

Speaker 2 (18:33):
It looks fuller but smaller.

Speaker 6 (18:34):
We've been taking the kids up here to see Radio
City and to see the tree, and they look forward
to it every year.

Speaker 9 (18:39):
The tree lighting never fails to excite with its fifty
thousand multicolored led lights and dazzling Swarovsky crystal is a crown.
The tree will remain on display through early January. Sarah
Lee Kissler wor News and.

Speaker 6 (18:53):
Speaking of Christmas in the holidays, here's a stocking stuffer
for you. They say smells can bring back memories and
even influence our behavior. So for the people who met
their significant others while enjoying the night life, how about
this for a new fragrance. Dive bar perfume blends for
the discerning customer. According to the New York Post, none

(19:14):
other than beer company Miller Highlife is releasing the scent
for the holidays, and it's reported to already be sold out.
It's called dive Bar dash Fume and goes for sixty bucks,
and it's supposed to bring back the smell of a
dive bar.

Speaker 4 (19:30):
Oh yeah, it was, you know, college memory beer. Maybe
it's not wet, Yes, this wet. Possibly cigarette smoke. We
don't know.

Speaker 1 (19:40):
You know what's going to happen there? The increase in
DUI tests as soon as your window is like, have
you been drinking? Oh no, it's my cologne. It's just
my cologne. Could you step out of the car.

Speaker 2 (19:53):
Please.

Speaker 4 (19:53):
It was sixty bus sixty bucks. This cost me sixty
bucks to smell this.

Speaker 1 (19:58):
Yeah, we'll walk a straight line, touch your nose, and
then I'll let you go with your beer scent.

Speaker 6 (20:04):
Well, it's popular, it's popular. It's Almos's already sold out
as soon as they released it.

Speaker 4 (20:10):
It's sold out.

Speaker 6 (20:11):
And now you know you're gonna have to wait for
more if you want to tie for the holidays, dive
bar dash fume sixty bucks?

Speaker 1 (20:18):
What are you getting a cut?

Speaker 8 (20:20):
Now?

Speaker 9 (20:20):
I'm not.

Speaker 6 (20:21):
I just think that it's a kind of cool, funny
gift to give people. I believe me, I wish I
were getting a cut. Why didn't I think of this
instead of be sitting here. I can't believe the thing
is even selling. To get the truth, I think you
try to get rid of that smell, that yagbar smell,
not hold on.

Speaker 4 (20:38):
To someone hosed down. But no, this is what they're doing.

Speaker 1 (20:41):
Absolutely. Hey, the Daniel Penny trial. Now the jury is
going to deliberate for yet another day. But it's fascinating
what evidence they've been asking for. We'll talk about what
the jury could do, more importantly, what they should do next,
Siana McFarland discusses legendary boxer Mike Tyson's tumultuous past with him,

(21:06):
including his struggles with addiction, depression, and personal loss. The
conversation also touches upon his training, his past relationships, and
the impact of his family on his life. Open the
Free iHeart app and search the Siano Show to listen. Now,
welcome back. Well, the Daniel Penny trial now goes into

(21:31):
another day of deliberations. There may be a verdict today,
but a lot of people are saying it's probably going
to come tomorrow. And it's probably going to come tomorrow
because they're going through so much evidence. I will say
this about this jury. It has been diligent. It has
been asking for to relook at testimony, it's been asking

(21:53):
to relook at videos and documents and so and it's
it's really interesting everything that they're looking at. At least
most legal analysts have been saying, everything they're looking at
seems to do with justification. Now, what they're instructed to

(22:14):
do is causation first and then go to justification. So
nobody knows if they just put that aside for a
second and went right to justification or if they have
already decided on causation, And if they've already decided on causation,
then I don't know if they have to go to

(22:35):
the next step. So it's going to be really interesting,
I guess, you know at this point, as as Misty Maris,
who is the News Nation legal analyst, says, everybody's just
reading tea leaves at this point.

Speaker 3 (22:47):
You're always trying to read the tea leaves when the
juries are asking questions, and yesterday they asked specifically about
the jury instruction for justification and causation. Now, those are
two things that are central to the defense. In fact,
it's the whole defense, whether or not Penny's acts were justified.

Speaker 4 (23:03):
Interestingly enough, today.

Speaker 3 (23:04):
Almost in a congruence with that, they want to see
the videos, and the videos illustrate those actions. So I
think the jury is really taking this seriously and they're
weighing it from a defense perspective. You want to see that.

Speaker 4 (23:17):
You don't want them.

Speaker 3 (23:17):
Coming back immediately buying the prosecution's narrative. They're really looking
at the facts here.

Speaker 1 (23:22):
Yeah, the longer this goes on, just about every legal
analyst says this, the longer this goes on, the more
you start to decide with the defense and you think
that he may be cleared or it may be a
hung jury. You don't know what's going on in that
room right now. They may be able to try and

(23:42):
to convince one person or many of them may be
saying no, no, no, he's not guilty. But there are
two charges, right, and one of the charges, involuntary manslaughter,
is more severe than criminal negligence, and there's a lot
more jail time with the first one, up to fifteen years,

(24:06):
and so they have to parse that. And the hope
is at least from the defense, is that they don't
think to themselves, well, well, just we'll find them guilty
of the second charge.

Speaker 3 (24:15):
Criminally negligent homicide is actually what's called a lesser including
offense of manslaughter, So basically it has a lower men'sraa
a lower intent, so instead of recklessness, it's criminal negligence.
So it's one or the other, manslaughter being the higher
level charge, right.

Speaker 1 (24:31):
So you can't convict them of both. If he gets convicted,
it's going to be one of those two. And that's it.
More and more, and this I will tell you I
am holding onto as like a life raft for this
because I think this is a bigger case than just
one that is a little bit sensational and everybody wants

(24:53):
to know what's going to happen. And there's so many
things about it. A former marine, it's black, verse is white,
it's safety in the subway system. It's a hero that
many people believe. He's a hero that is being forced
to stand trial for his actions for trying to save
somebody's life. There's so much drama to this. There is

(25:15):
some is It is a great story, but someone's life
is on the line. So I am holding on to
the fact that over and over again, every legal analyst
comes on and says, this looks more and more like
a hung jury.

Speaker 3 (25:35):
This is kind of the type of case where you
could really see a hung jury because it's so polarizing. Right,
So we'll see the longer it takes, the longer we
know that jury is really grappling with these issues.

Speaker 1 (25:46):
Right, Right, if they thought, if they thought, well, Daniel
Penny did this, he killed them, there's no question they
would have come back a lot more quicker than this. However, again,
I mean, everybody's trying to read he leaves as they said. However, again,
it could be one or two people that they're trying
to convince. It could be everybody else thinks he's guilty

(26:06):
and they're trying to convince one or two people. So
those two people have to hold out or whatever it is.
But I pray that Daniel Penny is found not guilty
on all charges because this case is going to change everything.
There are many people, I'm sure you've read the stories,

(26:28):
many people that are coming out and saying that they've
got involved, they've been a hero, and thank god they
were there. They save lives and they were praised. Some
of them had praise about them. Remember those service men
over in Europe that stopped a terrorist attack, that got

(26:50):
up and fought a guy with a gun. They have
come out and say, my god, I hope he's found
not guilty because this will change everything. So when there's
no police officers on a subway system, when there's no
security on a subway system, you pray that there's a
Daniel Penny there. You'll pray that it's one of those

(27:13):
men that were stationed over in Europe on that train
that can protect you, that know how to defend themselves,
that know how to do a choke hold that know
how to subdue someone, because if not, you could be dead.
If not, you could be robbed. If not, you could
be stabbed or punched in the face, like that other
guy in the subway was the other day. Anybody who's

(27:35):
taken the subway has been scared at one point. Anyone
that has taken the subway had to try to look
the other way as someone was going crazy, even if
they were threatening someone else. You want nothing to do
with that, because that's the way most people are. Daniel

(27:56):
Penny wasn't that person. Daniel Penny wanted to save a life,
and that's what he said. He thought he was saving
a life. People that were on that subway said, I
thought my life was threatened by Jordan Neely. He was
acting so erratically. And two things can be true. I

(28:16):
can feel for Jordan Neely. I don't think he had
to die that day. And I think that his family
and the system ignored him for so long. They kept
picking him up, they knew he needed help, they put
him back, they put him back on the streets. But
that's not the fault of the people who were scared
on that subway that day. They're alive today. They're not

(28:43):
in the hospital today, possibly possibly because of Daniel Penny,
because as we know, Jordan Neely has a long rap sheet.
He's attacked women in the past. He's attacked people in
the past for absolutely no reason, and that could have

(29:04):
happened again that day. We'll never know, thankfully, because of
Daniel Penny. This is a case that never should have
been brought. He should be receiving a medal from the mayor.
And I'm so happy the mayor came out the other
day and started to side with Daniel Penny. He caught himself,

(29:24):
but everything else he said was pro defense because he
said we should have been there. Thank god Daniel Penny was.
This would be an aberration of justice if he's found
guilty of anything, and I hope he's honored the way
he should be afterwards. And Alvin Bragg should be embarrassed

(29:48):
of himself. He passed on charges at first, not until
a lawyer showed up with the family that's been ignoring
him that he press charges. Well, we'll be back in
just a moment. Welcome back. I'm Larry Manti. It is
a case that's not just captivating the city but the nation.

(30:08):
United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson gunned down outside a Hilton
hotel in Midtown, Manhattan where he was going to give
a speech to investors. Someone was waiting there for him
in a targeted hit and killed him, and then he
hopped on a bike and is gone. Police at least

(30:29):
as far as we know, don't know who he is
or where he is right now. But someone that may
know and absolutely knows a lot more about the investigation
is Brad Garrett, ABC News Crime and Terrorism analyst. Brad,
thanks so much for joining us. I know you've been
looking at this case. Do we know right now what

(30:51):
the latest on the investigation is.

Speaker 10 (30:54):
We don't, And you know that's fairly common Larry, as
you well know, the police are going to offer information
and that will help them with leads, but not give
us such detail that it will spook the shooter. So
it's a tricky thing. But you know, you try to
release as much information as you can because it does
give you leads. So we'll see where that goes. But

(31:15):
when I initially looked at this case and I saw
the surveillance camera stuff, I thought, you know, you have
to be careful in my line of work of jumping
to conclusions about what this is. I mean, clearly it's
a targeted shoot. Motive is unclear. Is this guy a contractor?
Is this guy an aggrieved, angry, revengeful person. Maybe he

(31:38):
or his family being wronged by United Healthcare. You can
imagine the amount of complaints in the healthcare world that
people get every day about bad treatment. Somebody died, whatever
it might be. So that's still from my vantage point,
not clear about what direction. But either he was sent,
the shooter was sent, or he is the actual agrieved

(31:59):
person and he did a shooting. But be that wooded
may it is planned. He's seeing in a Starbucks, then
he's seen on the sidewalk prior to Brian getting there, shoots.
Brian gets on a knee bike leaves. According in YPD,
was spotted outside the Frederick Douglas Housing area at five

(32:20):
in the morning, maybe carrying a knee bike battery. So
that's obviously a decent lead. He left things. There was
a cell phone maybe maybe not connected to him, a
water bottle that he purchased at Starbucks, so there are
things that can give them clues. Obviously, the camera system
you have in New York City is hard to beat.

(32:40):
We'll see how that comes together with information. But you know,
this is a shooter that it was really determined to
do what he did. And he's cool and collected enough
that his gun jams, he clears it. He knows how
to clear it quickly, which means he's been trained. That
doesn't mean he's a professional, you know, marksman, but it
does mean he has had some proficiency with a firearm,

(33:04):
clears it, continues to shoot, and then walks off and
then takes jumps into a run once he gets across
the street and runs to the ebike and according to
NYPD's last scene, going into Central Park. So I think
there's a lot of things they can work with to
figure out who he is and the direction of flight, etc.
But the question still remains, what is the motive here

(33:28):
and does it go back to United Healthcare? Does it
go back to Brian Thompson specifically, or does he just
represent United Healthcare. We'll have to see a lot of
things to go on, both obviously in New York, but
also maybe in Minnesota where Brian lives.

Speaker 1 (33:45):
Yeah, and apparently his wife said he had been getting
death threats. So I'm certain that investigators are going through
all those streats right now to find out if anybody
actually carried it out.

Speaker 10 (33:58):
But you know, one other, one other point that I
think is important is that NYPD now is saying that
on the shell casings at the scene or the words
denied defend depos now. I mean, that's certainly if you
just want to look at focused only on that and
nothing else, that would certainly suggest this was a anger

(34:19):
revenge killing of some sort. That doesn't tell you whether
this kid's a contractor or not, or the actual person
who feels aggrieved, but it does tell you that it
is personal. I think. So we'll see, we'll see where
that goes.

Speaker 1 (34:33):
Yeah, I know, I agree with you. I I that
was the first thing I think a lot of people
thought was that his personal, that somebody in his family
may have been denied coverage or God forbid died, and
that this was this was vengeance. It's interesting you said, uh,
if this was a contractor, because I had heard on
the on one of the TV stations an FBI agents

(34:56):
saying there's really no hit men anymore. Uh you believe
that there are?

Speaker 10 (35:01):
Well, of course there are. That's a silly statement to
say that. I mean, how do you think drug dealers
get people killed every day? Witnesses or rival drug dealers,
they have people to go out and kill folks for them.
So I will just tell you I talk enough about
domestic homicides where the wife or the husband hires somebody
to kill their spouse, that you know some of those

(35:25):
people have a history of killing other people. So you know,
does that mean there's some suave Debonair guy that flies
around in a private jet. Of course not. It's usually
some rough and tumble, troubled person that you can find
to go kill somebody. So, uh, you know, you're not
going to look it up in the yellow pages. But
I think you can find these folks if you if

(35:45):
you know how to look for them.

Speaker 1 (35:46):
Wow, real quick, we're running out of time. But I
heard there was a cell phone found at the scene
as well, but they never said whose cell phone it was.
Do we know yet?

Speaker 8 (35:57):
Yeah?

Speaker 10 (35:58):
No, I mean I think in probably knows, I would
hope at this point. But it was it dropped? If
it was dropped, was it dropped intentionally? I mean, Larry,
you have to look at where this occurred. That tells
me a lot about the shooter from the standpoint that
they wanted either he or whoever hired him wanted this,

(36:19):
wanted a big splash. Well, what's the bigger splash than
killing somebody on a busy New York street in broad
daylight on a weekday, I mean, and then do it
so high risk.

Speaker 1 (36:31):
In front of all. Hey, Brad, we have to go.
That's a great point. That's a wonderful point, Brad Garrett,
ABC News Crime and Terrorism analyst in Washington. Laura Currn's
up next to talk about those no red light violations
in Long Island. The News is Now