(MONDAY) "Morning Run:" Trump Was Just Joking, Nvidia Launches A-I Spy Probe, 2 Shootings at Same College, Poland Mass Shooting, Chappelle's Kirk Joke, Russell Brand Sentencing, Godzilla #1, A Dad's Dilemma, & MORE!

00:00:01
Speaker 1: Morning Run with Amy and TJ.

00:00:02
Speaker 2: An iHeartRadio podcast. Hey there, everybody, and welcome to your morning run. It is Monday, November 9th. I'm Amy Robach.

00:00:11
Speaker 1: And I'm TJ Holmes. We have a very busy start to this Monday. We are all over the place. We, um... We have a very important update on a job interview that's happening at the White House today for a job that isn't really being offered. Do I have that right?

00:00:25
Speaker 2: I think so.

00:00:26
Speaker 1: But it is a job interview taking place.

00:00:27
Speaker 2: Well, that's what one party says.

00:00:29
Speaker 1: It's a conversation about a job, is it not?

00:00:32
Speaker 2: Yes, but is it a joke or is it for real?

00:00:35
Speaker 1: Oh, goodness gracious. We'll explain that in very short order. But we're stopping all over the country and the world today, including in D.C., New York, Winston-Salem. We'll head over to Egypt, to Poland. We'll also stop in a London courtroom. We'll make a stop at Madison Square Garden. We'll make a stop at the weekend box office as well as a Target store in South Carolina. But let's start, Robes, with the job offer that is or isn't, the meeting that is or isn't. What's happening at the White House today?

00:01:05
Speaker 2: Yeah, we've all been asking all weekend long. We were leaning more towards it being serious, but President Trump is claiming he was just joking when he announced that he had offered the job of White House press secretary to UFC president Dana White, despite the fact that White himself said and told a reporter he has a job interview with the president today at the White House.

00:01:29
Speaker 1: Okay, nobody seemed sure if Trump was serious. He posted this over the weekend, quote, I am pleased to announce that the great Dana White, a violent fighter and warrior, has been offered the job of press secretary. I've requested that he bring with him assistants. Then the president lists several UFC fighters. And then he finishes up by saying, we need these people to defend us against the lunatic left. Dana will be a press secretary, Nike. None other. Dana, please take the job. Robes, there's plenty of stuff the president's done. We go, he can't be serious. And then it ends up he's for real. This didn't seem so out of left field necessary for this president.

00:02:04
Speaker 2: No, it didn't. And then White posted on Instagram a picture of himself with the podium. He was behind the podium at the press briefing room with the caption, on to the next chapter. So obviously that added fuel to the fire. And then when he was asked about it at that press conference yesterday, he confirmed he was flying to D.C. to meet with the president today. Trump told reporters last night, however, he was just kidding and having a little fun when he made the Truth Social post, but added that Dana White loves the idea of being press secretary. What the actual and like how are we supposed to discern when he's kidding and when he's not? That's disturbing in and of itself.

00:02:43
Speaker 1: But Rose, when the guy said he's flying to the... He was in London and said he was going directly to D.C. to meet with the president today. That adds fuel. That sounds like it was more than a joke. That's an elaborate joke he's playing on all of us by saying he's flying to D.C.

00:02:58
Speaker 2: It doesn't make sense.

00:02:59
Speaker 1: None of this makes any sense. We shall see today what comes of this at the White House. Meanwhile, the president's looking for a new press secretary. He just got a new chief of staff. Trump elevated longtime loyalist Stephen Miller... To that position, replacing Susie Wiles. Miller is essentially, he is a MAGA god, if you will, and the brainchild of some of the president's more controversial policies. So, Robes, a lot of folks are saying this is the direction the president's now going to go after the midterms. Bring in Dana White. Bring in his bulldog, Stephen Miller. Like, get ready, folks.

00:03:31
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, buckle up. That's for sure. There's a lot going on, including an impeachment vote in D.C. this week. as Democrats appear to poise to support that effort to oust Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Kentucky Republican Thomas Massey has vowed to reintroduce those articles of impeachment against Hegseth.

00:03:51
Speaker 1: Okay, Republicans still have the majority in Congress right now. It's very slim, as you know, but it's believed that enough of those newly ousted Republicans... And it's a lot of them who lost their races in the midterms. They got nothing to lose now. What the hell? Might as well vote our conscience, if you will. And so they do believe, Robes, if they bring this vote up, they will have enough to impeach Pete Hegseth. Now, Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries was asked yesterday if he supported impeachment. He did not leave a whole lot of room to interpret what he's saying. He said it's a hard yes for him on impeachment.

00:04:29
Speaker 2: All right. Next up on the run, NVIDIA has opened an official investigation into its own CEO. This comes after Jensen Huang admitted to having an affair and apologized to his wife and children, but it's who he had the affair with that's causing all of this concern in national security proportions.

00:04:50
Speaker 1: This is a really big deal. This is some Mission Impossible stuff going on here. So Yes, who is he having an affair with that's causing such a problem? Well, her name is Alice Wang. She's an executive at a Singapore data center company, and she is suspected of being a Chinese spy. On Sunday, NVIDIA said it has no reason to believe that the company's secrets of national security robes have been compromised by this affair.

00:05:19
Speaker 2: They don't believe it has.

00:05:21
Speaker 1: They don't believe, but shares have started to fall down 5% in pre-market trading this morning. Robes, it's hard to put this thing into the proper context, but a guy who was at the center of the biggest industrial evolution of our lifetime, AI, this technology we're trying to protect from getting into the hands of China, the guy at the center of that who also has the ear of the president of the United States, had a woman in his bed who was a Chinese spy.

00:05:56
Speaker 2: Who was not his wife. Yeah.

00:06:00
Speaker 1: Gross. This story is enormous. So it's just getting started. Woo.

00:06:06
Speaker 2: All right. Yes. More to come on that for sure. Even later today on our feed. So just watch out for that because this is a doozy of a story that requires a lot of explaining. All right. Next up on the run, that urgent manhunt in New York is over and it took a bizarre and unexpected twist because police, yes, arrested a man. His name is 27 year old Syed Mohassib for fatally attacking that jogger in Brooklyn last week. But it's who he was and who he worked for that's deeply concerning beyond just the murder allegations.

00:06:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, police say, yes, of course, the young lady, she was in, was it two, three days? She was on life support. She hung on in the hospital, but he randomly attacked her. And Rose, we had a week long. This was terrifying here. I mean, you and I, and I know our daughters were annoyed with us, but we had different conversations every time we said bye to them about what was happening here. But it turns out now- that this suspect, Mohasib Robes, worked with NYPD for a little bit and also went to the Marines for a little bit. In both of those cases, Robes, he was let go, discharged, or wasn't allowed to be a part of those forces or units because he failed psychological tests. He did not, Robes, they turned him away because he wasn't mentally sound enough to be a part of the Marines, or the NYPD. So how in God's name was he able to work with the New York Department of Education as a teacher's aide in schools?

00:07:42
Speaker 2: It's deeply concerning, and there are a lot of questions. Obviously, he's been placed on leave.

00:07:48
Speaker 1: Their statement seemed odd. I'm sure there's some legal something in there. He's been placed on leave pending the outcome of the arrest. And that's how they put it, pending the outcome of the arrest.

00:07:56
Speaker 2: For brutally stabbing a 28-year-old jogger named Katie Suarez.

00:07:59
Speaker 1: Rose, how is it? They say he went back to work. He's been at work in the past week. This is so disturbing. Since the murder, he went and was around children again. Rose, please, somebody answer this. How are you not good enough for that, but you're good enough to be in a room with school children?

00:08:15
Speaker 2: Yes, that requires, and look, there needs to be an absolute upheaval in terms of how we hire people, who we hire, and the access they have to children. Yes, this is a deeply disturbing story on multiple levels, but Mohassib has been charged with second-degree murder. He'll be in court tomorrow on Tuesday, so we'll have more on that. In the meantime, though, next up on the run, two shootings on the same college campus this weekend left one person dead and three others injured. This was homecoming weekend. I feel like we're doing this story each weekend. So homecoming weekend at Winston-Salem State University, and this happened around 9.45 p.m. on Saturday night. Police responded to shots fired on campus, found two victims, one of whom died, the other treated and released from the hospital.

00:09:12
Speaker 1: A 20-year-old man was arrested for murder. in that shooting and said it stemmed from an altercation between two groups. But 45 minutes after that shooting, another one was reported on campus where police responded and found two victims with gunshot wounds. No arrests made in that second incident, but they say these two incidents are not related.

00:09:33
Speaker 2: Robes? At all.

00:09:35
Speaker 1: So you've still got one shooter out there on the loose, but another homecoming weekend. And look, this is another HBCU. It was last weekend, the weekend before, another HBCU homecoming. This is not something you want to see and be talking about at another school.

00:09:49
Speaker 2: No, it's a disturbing trend that hopefully ends. My goodness. All right, next up on the run, at least seven people are dead and another 125 others injured after a deadly train collision. in Egypt. This one happened around 30 miles south of Cairo. And inspectors say that a passenger train collided with another train that was just stationary on the same track. They were headed in the same direction, but literally the front end of one train hit the end of the other. And derailments, cars were flying off the train tracks. And yes, many, many people died.

00:10:25
Speaker 1: Was this Spain we just saw one last week? Yes. What was the same type of incident? A train was sitting on a train. on the track. These weren't head-to-head collisions. I forbid if one of these high-speed trains were head-to-head. But yeah, they're sitting on the track.

00:10:37
Speaker 2: Yes, and so yes, they're trying to figure out what went wrong, but everyone who's written this story has said this is the latest. In a string of deadly train collisions over the past couple of decades, in Egypt specifically, it's one of the oldest train systems in the world. The government has poured billions of dollars into the infrastructure trying to modernize it, but they have a lot of kinks to work out still.

00:10:59
Speaker 1: All right, continuing on the run here now. Six people killed, 15 wounded in a mass shooting in the heart of Krakow, Poland this weekend. Police said the suspect drove into the main square in the city's old town and started shooting. And Rosalie, you see that line and what this place is described. I've never been, well, you haven't been to Poland either, but when you hear old towns described in main squares, that's That's classic in other parts of the world. You could just see how bustling and fun. These are very wonderful places that you don't. your guard is completely down.

00:11:33
Speaker 2: Yes, yes. It's the hot tourist spots, and certainly folks just gather there to get holiday shopping started, et cetera. It's that time of year. So the suspect, 24-year-old, the prosecutors say had far-right views, was injured in a gunfight with police, and we just got word that that suspect died overnight in the hospital. So there might not ever be clear answers as to what happened and why it happened, but certainly a tragedy there in Poland.

00:11:58
Speaker 1: All right, next up on the run here now, actor, comedian, and YouTuber Russell Brand set to be sentenced later today in a London courtroom. Now, as of this recording, Groves, I believe they're just probably getting underway there in London. But we do expect victim impact statements. We do expect a long prison sentence. Now, he was found guilty last week of one count of rape and what was three counts, yes, of sexual assault?

00:12:21
Speaker 2: Correct. Okay. three counts of sexual assault, and a judge at that time said that Brand was looking at, quote, significant custodial time. It was about a month-long trial. They laid out allegations from six women saying Brand used his growing fame to prey on them. He testified in his own defense saying, yes, he was a bad boy, he was promiscuous, but he never, ever didn't get consent, that he always asked consent. His wife... also testified in his defense, but that was not enough to sway the jury.

00:12:50
Speaker 1: All right, well, stay with us on this Monday morning run. When we come back, Dave Chappelle did a show in New York. He said something controversial. That shouldn't be a surprise. But this time and this joke, some are saying, crosses the line. Also coming up, the weekend box office. We got some updated numbers, and it certainly looked better than the previous weekend. And we got a debate going on about good parenting. When is it okay to leave your kid in line for Pokemon cards for you?

00:13:30
Speaker 2: Welcome back, everyone, to your Monday morning run. And next up on the run, has Dave Chappelle finally gone too far? Some might say that he has done so repeatedly and that happened decades ago. Yes, the comedian is now facing some pretty heavy criticism for a joke he made about Charlie Kirk. And you have to know at this point, That if you make any joke about Charlie Kirk, it might just be going too far.

00:13:56
Speaker 1: Why go back to that well?

00:13:57
Speaker 2: Yes.

00:13:57
Speaker 1: Just why even mess around with that?

00:13:58
Speaker 2: Because it's controversial and you know it's going to be. And yes, Erica Kirk has said it is, his joke was, quote, beyond disgusting.

00:14:07
Speaker 1: So, Robes, what, starting last Monday, Tuesday, started asking me, hey, you want to go to the Garden? Dave Chappelle's doing a show. And we just were busy and running around. I had someone to do that. Let's not commit. We never bought the tickets. So, This is what we missed, Robes, at Madison Square Garden. This is what Chappelle said. Quote, I feel fucked up saying this. It's scary being a public speaker. And I mean, look, ever since that guy Charlie Kirk got murdered, and I shouldn't say this publicly, but I feel better. I know I shouldn't say that, but it's just a feeling. Now, Robes, you heard some of the, I mean, it wasn't overwhelming applause and laughter, but you heard some. You didn't hear boos in there at all. That's difficult. Look, I give a lot of space and a lot of room for comedians to be provocative and to say all kinds of stuff. I don't know how you could ever be gleeful about the death of anybody and that be okay.

00:15:06
Speaker 2: Yes, exactly. And so Erica Kirk responded via X saying, to see leftist podcasters, comedians, and commentators laugh about political assassination as though it's entertainment is And the destruction of a human life as a punchline is beyond disgusting. My husband, Charlie Kirk, was killed in an act of political violence, something our two children and I live with every day for the rest of our lives. A culture that laughs at assassination is one of profound moral decay. It threatens the very foundation of our country and the principles that hold our democracy together. You do not have to agree with someone's politics to recognize the value of their life. This should not be so hard. Political violence must never be something this country tolerates, excuses, or celebrates. That was well said.

00:15:55
Speaker 1: Babe, there is not a word of that I can take issue with. Nothing. She's right. I don't know. People immediately go to, well, the president said, that doesn't make it okay. Exactly. They can both be criticized for some of the comments they said.

00:16:09
Speaker 2: Agreed.

00:16:10
Speaker 1: This is a tough one.

00:16:11
Speaker 2: All right.

00:16:12
Speaker 1: We continue here on this. Friday morning run? What the hell's wrong with me this Monday morning run? I guess a little bit of a bounce back from the Halloween box office slump. That was really disappointing. I hope they're planning Halloween movies for next year.

00:16:26
Speaker 2: Right? That was such a bad move.

00:16:28
Speaker 1: We had nothing. So ticket sales were up 96.8% from last weekend, Robes.

00:16:34
Speaker 2: That's a hell of a reversal.

00:16:35
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's like 100%. Things were up. Godzilla minus zero came in at number one with 31.6 million. We have got to watch the originals. it did gangbusters some independent film this guy put together did great and here's a sequel it did well as.

00:16:51
Speaker 2: Well it actually made history it had it's the biggest opening ever for a foreign language film debut in North America and the critics have praised it I thought this was interesting they give it 90% in Rotten Tomatoes but an even better audience score of 96% that just shows you how much people love this movie. And yes, as you pointed out, it's the sequel to 2023's Oscar-winning Godzilla Minus One.

00:17:14
Speaker 1: So cool.

00:17:15
Speaker 2: So very cool. Coming in at number two, Warner Brothers animated the Cat in the Hat movie with $ 20. 5 million. Number three was the holiday musical Drummer Boy with $ 9. 3 million. I had to look that up. Didn't even know that existed. But still growing strong. At number four, the Elizabeth Holmes documentary You Can See Everything, $ 8. 9 million.

00:17:37
Speaker 1: That three-hour run time is really keeping me out of the theater. I know.

00:17:40
Speaker 2: I keep trying to get you to go, and you're like, nah.

00:17:43
Speaker 1: Three hours?

00:17:44
Speaker 2: I've asked like three times, and you've said no every time.

00:17:47
Speaker 1: Did I even say no, or did I just respond, three hours?

00:17:49
Speaker 2: Yeah, maybe that's what you said.

00:17:51
Speaker 1: All right, final leg of the run here. How do you like this? We got our parent of the day, John Michael Dooley of South Carolina. Let's hear out Mr. Dooley's dilemma. Over the weekend, this was his problem. He wanted to get the new Pokemon trading card set that was being released at Target. So he lined up overnight at the store like many other fans did. We could start there. Pokemon cards? What's going on?

00:18:14
Speaker 2: Adult?

00:18:14
Speaker 1: Maybe they were for a gift. Maybe it was a gift.

00:18:17
Speaker 2: Right. Okay.

00:18:18
Speaker 1: Okay. So John Michael Dooley wants to get this new trading card set that's going on sale. And you've seen this plenty of times. Robes. People will line up overnight. There's a big, well, for his new tennis shoe drop, his new muse, whatever it is. But this time it was Pokemon cards. So he lined up with the other fans.

00:18:32
Speaker 2: Right. Yes, but he didn't want to stay in line all night. So he, like a lot of people do, had someone hold his place in line for him. Who did Dooley leave to hold his place? His six-year-old daughter. According to witnesses, he left his little girl there with a pillow and a blanket around 1 a.m. When he didn't come back after about an hour, police got concerned and called, people got concerned and called police, which makes a lot of sense. Of course, the child was unharmed, but was alone in the middle of the night In a line in Target with strangers.

00:19:05
Speaker 1: There were people around.

00:19:06
Speaker 2: The child's been placed in child protective costume.

00:19:08
Speaker 1: And he's facing charges. Yeah. What do you do with that one?

00:19:11
Speaker 2: What did he do? Go home and go to bed? I don't know.

00:19:13
Speaker 1: If he had to run an errand, he had something else he had to do, maybe he had to go to work.

00:19:16
Speaker 2: For an hour?

00:19:17
Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't know when he was coming back. The child seemed fine. People were around. It's South Carolina. Friendly folks there.

00:19:23
Speaker 2: Oh my goodness. For Pokemon cards.

00:19:25
Speaker 1: Okay, take out the Pokemon card. Is there anything?

00:19:27
Speaker 2: For anything, no.

00:19:28
Speaker 1: Okay.

00:19:28
Speaker 2: Food to feed your family. And you have to, I don't know. I can't think of a justifiable excuse.

00:19:34
Speaker 1: Scenario that works?

00:19:35
Speaker 2: No, there is none.

00:19:36
Speaker 1: Was she in danger?

00:19:39
Speaker 2: Possibly. Yeah. Mentally, for sure. She had to be scared. She's alone. Where's mommy? Where's daddy?

00:19:46
Speaker 1: She had her blankie.

00:19:47
Speaker 2: Oh, my God.

00:19:48
Speaker 1: That's so awful. Okay, I'm trying to find a way to defend. this guy. I'm struggling.

00:19:51
Speaker 2: No.

00:19:52
Speaker 1: I need more details.

00:19:52
Speaker 2: He's behind bars where he belongs. That is good to know. All right. On this Monday morning, your quote of the day. Yes, we're all in chains of our own doing, so to speak. So how about this for you? You will be free once you realize the cage is made of your thoughts.

00:20:10
Speaker 1: Boom. Boom. Boom, boom, boom.

00:20:14
Speaker 2: Yes.

00:20:15
Speaker 1: Love it. You just think. The prison is in your own mind. It's in your own mind.

00:20:20
Speaker 2: It really is. You will be free once you realize the cage is made of your thoughts. And with that, everyone, free yourself. I'm Amy Robach. Thanks for running with us.

00:20:32
Speaker 1: I thought you were about to break into song there or something.

00:20:34
Speaker 2: I almost did. Free your mind.

00:20:36
Speaker 1: I knew that was coming.

00:20:37
Speaker 2: And the rest will follow.

00:20:38
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm sorry. I'm TJ. We should have quit ahead.