EXCLUSIVE Idaho murder victims' loved ones react to bombshell Bryan Kohberger twist that could upend his trial
The friends and families of the Idaho murder victims have voiced their frustration at the latest twist in the Bryan Kohberger trial that threatens to upend the case.
A recent Dateline show had revealed new details about the killings, including the suspected killer's phone records, porn choices and online searches for Ted Bundy.
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Daily Mail
31 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Following Trump criticism, NBC news host details act of retribution
By Chuck Todd has revealed how he was the target of a serious act of retaliation shortly after drawing the ire of President Trump during his first term. Speaking during a wide-ranging interview with Times Radio, the NBC News anchor said he walked outside his Arlington, Virginia home to discover his tires were slashed on his vehicle. He said the incident was directly connected to the fact he was publicly called out by Trump during the early years of his administration. The disturbing disclosure is just the latest reminder of how volatile the political climate can be for journalists who find themselves on the receiving end of Trump's notorious public rebukes. Todd, a veteran anchor and former moderator of NBC's Meet the Press and who quietly left the network earlier this year said he addressed the fallout directly with the president at the time. According to Todd, Trump shrugged off the consequences, brushing aside concerns about security threats. Todd's comments come amid growing concern over the security risks faced by public officials, journalists, and even judges who have been publicly criticized by Trump. He noted how the number of people in Washington DC now requiring personal security details is higher than at any point in his three decades of covering politics. Todd's account underscores the danger that can accompany the president's signature practice of singling out perceived enemies, a tactic critics have long warned could inflame supporters and provoke harassment or worse. While Todd stopped short of directly blaming Trump for inciting violence, the implication was clear - and that presidential rhetoric has real-world consequences. The broader conversation with Times Radio touched on Trump's ongoing influence over the Republican Party, his controversial use of tariffs, and his combative approach to governing - all themes that dovetailed with Todd's reflections on the precarious state of political discourse. Todd's experience is not an isolated one. In recent years, threats against journalists, judges, lawmakers, and even election workers have surged. For Todd, the slashed tires were a stark reminder of a reality where being publicly criticized by the president could translate into personal danger at one's own front door. In his second term, Trump has continued to deploy fiery rhetoric against opponents, critics, and institutions alike. Todd, who left NBC to launch his independent Chuck Toddcast podcast, has remained a vocal critic of the former president, frequently calling out what he sees as the erosion of democratic norms and the corrosion of political civility. On his new platform, Todd has warned that the risks journalists face today are more severe than at any point in recent history - not simply because of the increasingly polarized political climate, but because powerful figures have normalized the targeting of individuals in ways that endanger their personal safety. During his tenure at the helm of Meet The Press, Todd frequently clashed with President-elect Donald Trump. Trump frequently called Todd 'Sleepy Eyes' on social media and dubbed the show 'Meet the Depressed.' In 2020, Trump called for Todd to be fired, complaining 'Meet the Press' performed a 'sleazy hit job' on Attorney General William Barr. Trump let loose after the program admitted to 'inadvertently cutting short' a sound bite from Barr when he was responding to a question about the dismissal of charges against former national security adviser Michael Flynn. 'He should be FIRED by Concast. If done by a Republican, would be 'prosecuted,"' Trump said on X. During a campaign rally near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 2018, Trump called Todd a 'son of a [expletive].' Trump dubbed the show 'Meet the Depressed' after Todd accused loyalist senator John Kennedy of 'spreading Vladimir Putin's lies' in a heated on-air clash in 2019. The loss of Todd is undoubtedly a big one for NBC, as he appeared on many of its channels to provide political expertise. He joined NBC News in 2007 as a political director, before being named the network's chief White House corresponded in 2008. Six years later, he was promoted to lead Meet the Press, succeeding fellow fixture David Gregory in doing so. He expanded the program by doing a regular daytime hour on MSNBC called 'MTP Daily,' a program that was eventually moved over to the live-streaming service NBC News Now. The ended when he was replaced by Welker in June of 2023 after such time he had a far less prominent role.
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Hitler's last soldier... in the US: How German tank commander evaded FBI for 40 years by building new life as all-American ski instructor after escaping PoW camp at end of WWII
To his friends, his wife and even local newspapers, Dennis Whiles was everything he claimed to be. He was a dashing ski instructor and tennis pro, living it up in California and Hawaii and even mixing with Hollywood film stars. But anyone who had reason to compare an FBI Most Wanted poster issued in 1945 for an escaped German prisoner of war with Whiles's face might have stopped in their tracks. For as Whiles would tearfully admit to his wife in 1984 - nearly 40 years after he had fled an internment camp in New Mexico - he was really Georg Gaertner, a former tank commander in Adolf Hitler's Wehrmacht. As a new Sky History documentary details tonight, Gaertner had built a new life from nothing, even as the federal authorities searched for him and his real family back in what had become Poland felt his absence keenly. The German spent years perfecting an American accent and a back story that his parents' death in a car crash had left him an orphan. But in September 1985, having told his distraught wife, he opted to 'surrender' on prime time NBC TV programme The Today Show. Rather than deport him, US officials decided he had no case to answer and eventually let him become an American citizen. Anyone who had reason to compare an FBI Most Wanted poster issued in 1945 for an escaped German prisoner of war with Whiles's face might have stopped in their tracks Tonight's programme, Greatest Escapes of WWII: Hitler's last soldier in America who defied the FBI for 40 years, recounts his wife Jean's memory of her husband's admission. She said: 'I remember him being in tears, I remember him sitting up on the kitchen counter, and he was sitting there crying and pouring out this story, just like an avalanche, a waterfall coming out, about what had happened. 'He told me the whole story'. Born in Schweidnitz, Lower Silesia (now Świdnica, Poland) in 1920, Gaertner enlisted in the German army in 1940, aged 19. Having been sent to fight with Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps in North Africa, he was captured by British troops in Tunis in 1943. He was then sent to America to be held prisoner at Camp Deming in the town of the same name. By September 1945, weeks after the Second World War had come to an end, Gaertner had decided that he did not want to grapple with the possible fate that awaited him back home. Świdnica was now controlled by the Soviet regime and would remain under the rule of Poland's puppet Communist government for decades to come. It meant that, as a former soldier, he faced arrest, persecution and even death. So on September 22, Gaertner slipped under the fence of Camp Deming and boarded a freight train to California. He had nothing but the clothes he was wearing. Historian Matt Maclachan says in tonight's programme:'The story of Georg Gartner is almost the antithesis of the escape story. 'A man who was doing everything he could to stay in the country.' The expert adds: 'He had seen the opportunities that America presented for a better life, and he simply didn't want to go home'. Gaertner's first year on the run was perhaps his worst. He needed to make a living without revealing his real identity. And his spoken English was by no means perfect. The FBI's Wanted poster included front-facing and side-on shots of Gaertner, plus a full physical description and scans of his finger prints. So the former soldier kept his head down, finding work as a dishwasher and gardener. Then, after getting a job as an architectural consultant in the construction industry, he assumed the identity of Dennis F. Whiles and perfected his English. In the winter, he worked as a ski instructor in the Sierra Nevada mountains. The fact that the authorities were still looking for Gaertner and dozens of other escaped German prisoners did not deter him doing things that would get him noticed. In 1952, a huge blizzard left a train stranded. Gaertner was among those who took food, medicine and hot drinks to its stranded passengers. He became a local hero, with his photo featuring in the newspapers. But, remarkably, he was not recognised. Then, the following year, Gaertner was flicking through Colliers, a popular national magazine, when he saw a feature about German soldiers who had managed to hide themselves in America. He was stunned to see that his mugshot was among the photos. But again, he remained undetected. Worse was to come when he bumped into a fellow former German soldier who recognised him from North Africa. Remarkably, Gaertner managed to bluff his way out by insisting that he was not who the man thought he was. In 1964, the German met his future wife. Once married, he and Jean set up a tennis centre in Santa Cruz, California, and then moved to Hawaii. Gaertner even played doubles with film stars including Lloyd Bridges. But his wife began to have suspicions about his past, which were fuelled by Gaertner's refusal to expand on his backstory. Historian Kate Vigurs says in tonight's show: 'She knew nothing at all about her husband's past. 'He had no childhood, no youth, he didn't tell her anything about his life, basically before he met her. 'This drove her to distraction. She got to the point where she was ready to leave him.' Jean had even tried to find the orphanage where Gaertner claimed he was raised. But she found it did not exist. Knowing that his wife was on the verge of quitting their marriage, Gaertner finally owned up to both his wife and the authorities. Dr Vigurs adds: : 'He was essentially, four decades later, the last German soldier to surrender from the Second World War. And the story went wild. 'A biography was written, Hitler's Last Soldier in America, and finally, he was able to tell the truth.' By then, the US authorities had no interest in Gaertner. He was never charged with an offence because he had been brought to the US against his will. And all German prisoners of war had long since been repatriated. He finally became a US citizen in 2009 and died aged 92 in 2013.
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Florida sandwich shop worker helps officials save domestic violence victim
A Navarre, Florida, sandwich shop employee reportedly helped authorities save a domestic violence victim who had allegedly been kidnapped by her abusive, pro-wrestler boyfriend after the worker recently found a note in a store bathroom that read 'HELP!' At the center of the incident is Eleanor Coffee, who was at her job making sandwiches for a shop belonging to the Jersey Mike's chain when she noticed a 'little piece of crumpled up paper' that had been discarded next to one of the business' toilet paper dispensers, as she put it to the local news station WEAR-TV. Coffee at first thought it was a piece of trash but then realized the paper contained a plea for help, a woman's name, a phone number and an address for a nearby home. 'Please help me get home!' the note said in part, according to an arrest report reviewed by Law & Crime. The note's writer ominously also asked for someone to 'get' her before Friday, adding: 'HELP!' Coffee alerted her manager to the note and called the Santa Rosa county sheriff's office, whose jurisdiction includes Navarre, she told WEAR. After reviewing security video at the Jersey Mike's shop, deputies established the note had been left by a woman who entered the store with her boyfriend, identified as 34-year-old Jordan Williams, a statement from the sheriff's office said. The sheriff's office said it was familiar with Williams from prior domestic violence cases. Deputies then obtained a warrant to search the address mentioned in the note at Jersey Mike's before encountering a woman at that home 'who confirmed she authored the note and detailed a prolonged period of abuse'. 'She detailed repeated assaults, threats involving weapons, and being held in isolation by Williams for a span of several months,' the sheriff's office said. The agency added that the woman had 'visible injuries', and paramedics brought her to a hospital to be treated for 'suspected broken bones and other trauma'. Deputies ultimately booked Williams – who reportedly wrestled professionally under the ring name Jayden Steele in the local independent circuit – with various felonies, including kidnapping, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and battery by strangulation. A judge ordered Williams held without bond after an initial court appearance on Thursday. In a statement, Santa Rosa sheriff, Robert Johnson, praised the note writer for 'the bravery' she displayed in making herself heard. 'Thanks to her courage and the deputies' swift actions, she is now safe and receiving care,' Johnson's statement said. Coffee, meanwhile, said she would never forget finding the note that led deputies to arrest Williams and find the woman whom he had allegedly kidnapped. 'My heart goes out to her and her family,' Coffee said. 'And I'm just … hopeful that really doesn't happen again.'
