Morning Run with Amy and TJ and iHeartRadio Podcast.
Hey everybody, it's Wednesday, October second. I'm TJ.
Holks and I'm Amy Robach. Thank you for coming along on the Morning Run with us on this second day of October. Civility, fact checking and cut Mike's just a few of the takeaways from last night's vice presidential debate.
Also Aaran attacks Israel like never before, the world awaits Israel's response, and an astonishing ditty update Today, expect new lawsuits from over a hundred accusers.
Plus Mayor Adams will have to leave work at City Hall today for an appointment in a federal courthouse. Plus hundreds still missing and millions remain without power. Now five days after Halleen made landfall, and.
The entertainment world is once again dealing with the loss of stars to this time, one played JJ's dad on Good Times, the other the soul called Bearded Charmer from a longtime reality series, and a journalist's relationship with RFK Junior was exposed. She now says it was part of a blackmail scheme by her ex fiance.
And that must be some good olive oil, so good that thieves just stole two point five million.
Dollars worth of it. Let's get started this morning on our morning run right here in New York.
Yeah, last night it was a different looking showdown where the candidates discussed, you know, issues, and they were kind of nice to each other.
In the one and only vice presidential debate of the campaign, Governor Tim Waltz and Senator JD. Vance got into the weeds on several issues. They had policy discussions on a number of topics, ranging from climate change to abortion to Obamacare. And the remarkable thing is the two avoided the bickering and the back and forth and the personal attacks that we so often see plaguing the campaign trail and the debate stage.
So this thing got under way and Waltz had a bit of a shaky and a nervous start, clearly, but then he did find his footing and he had maybe the moment of the night. It was a stark moment that we're all going to remember. He simply asked Vance this question, did Trump lose the twenty twenty election. Vance would not give him a direct answer and instead chose to turn his attack back to Harris. Waltz then called that a damning non answer.
We have to point out, though, as many people have already, Vance had a lot of moments and has generally been given to high marks for his performance.
But one of the more.
Contentious moments of the night wasn't between Vance and Waltz. Rather, it was between Vance and the moderators.
Yeah, and now what has already been and will continue to be a much talked about moment of the night, CBS cut the candidate's microphones. At one point, moderator Margaret Brennan fact checked Vance during a discussion about Haitian migrants in Springfille, Ohio, that, of course has been in the news a lot. Well, she fact checked him, and then she tried to move on the problem.
CBS made a point to announce that their moderators Brennan and Nora O'Donnell would not fact check and instead would rely on the candidates to fact check one another. Well, Vance was not having it and jumped in saying, Hey, the rules were that you weren't going to fact check, so since you're fact checking me, I think it's important to say what's actually going on.
Yeah, and then he went on to try to explain his answer, and the microphones were cut about twenty seconds of him responding this. Of course, robes was a big issue in the previous two debates. The first cnnded with Trump and Biden. I have to remember there's been different matchups, and that one the moderators were criticized, say, hey, you didn't fact check, you didn't fact check, you didn't do anything. And the next one, which was please help.
Me out there with ABC David Mure and Lindsey Davis, and that was of course between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, who the Democrats had their new and final nominee of the presidential race, and they too were accused of actually fact checking Donald Trump and not fact checking Kamala Harris.
CBS is going to solve that problem. You're not going to criticize our moderators. They're just going to step out of it. And sure enough they started criticizing or fact checking I should say just Vans and a lot of people are going to be talking about that. It was three on one they argued last night for Vance, but he still held his own.
And I believe the takeaway of the evening though, was just our general excitement.
Shock, yes, but just excitement.
And it was lovely to see two politicians actually debating.
The issues and not attacking one another.
You know, even at the end when their spousers came out and they were all pleasant to each other, you just saw just a warmth and an interaction. They're going through something that nobody el Israel and the planet can understand. To be the VP candidate, the spouses of the VP candidates, to be up there, it was just a nice moment. In the Washington Post, their headline in a news alert quote, it was a remarkably civil affair that shouldn't be a headline.
Isn't that a shame? It is that that's a headline that these folks were nice to chi.
Maybe the presidential candidates can learn from their vice presidential candidates. We can only hope next up on our run. On this Wednesday, Iran launched its largest direct attack on Israel ever, and so far word is that little damage was done and there are no reports of any deaths in that country.
Yeah, despite Aaran lobbing upwards of two hundred missiles towards Israel last night, but Israel, with an assist from the US, intercepted most of that barrage with anti missile defenses.
Iran says this was all in retaliation for the recent Israeli assassinations of top leaders of those militant groups supported by Iran, namely Hamas and Hesbla. Israel is now promising there will be consequences for the Iranian attacks.
Yeah, and this is the latest and an escalating situation in the Middle East in which Israel has been battling the two militant groups. In recent days, we've seen Israel launch attacks on the Lebanese capital bay Roup, as well as a limited ground incursion into southern Lebanon, an area where Israel believes is a staging area for Hezbeola to launch attacks. Oran, for its part, says Israel, if you respond to the attacks we just lobbed at you, there
will be consequences. So both sides are now saying they're going to be consequences for the next move that either side mixed.
Every day the escalation continues. It's unfortunate and the news is also unfortunate. That continues to pour in surrounding Hurricane Helene. The death toll in the southeast continues to climb across six states in the aftermath of that storm. So far, at least one hundred and fifty nine people have died, and officials are saying that number should rise even more, and that's because hundreds of others still missing.
Okay, let's give some context to how many are missing. Here, the Red Crossers receive three thousand new requests from people looking for family and friends. We have some areas that are essentially completely cut off from communication, mainly in the Carolinas. The hope is, even though you do have hundreds of people missing right now, hopefully they just haven't been able to get in contact with those folks with texts and phone calls and so all that stuff is down. So
we see this in disasters all the time. Hopefully every single one of those missing folks just needs to be get close to a phone.
So that is certainly the hope, but officials fear that that is probably not entirely the case.
Now.
Part of the.
Problem, the large part of the problem, are these power outage is that usually can go on for days, and that's exactly what's happening here. Millions remain in the dark, and the infrastructure in so many places is completely wiped out. Some areas are so inaccessible supplies can only be dropped from the air or on mules. Rescue workers and some citizens who are looking for family and friends are actually hiking for hours in treacherous conditions to try and find and then help their loved ones.
President Biden will visit North Carolina. Vice President Harris will travel to Georgia to take a look at the damage. Former President Trump was in Georgia earlier this week as well. We're going to continue our run here now. And this is just unreal when we first heard it. One hundred and twenty accusers. That's how many people, a Texas lawyer says he's representing who have sexual assault allegations against Sean Diddy Combs, one hundred and twenty.
He says the allegations go back as far as nineteen ninety one, and that at least twenty five of the accusers were miners at the time of these alleged assaults, including one that.
Was nine years old at the time. The attorney says he.
Expects to file a wave of lawsuits very soon across several states, and he said we could expect that combs enablers and powerful people's dirty secrets will all be exposed.
The attorney says, and I quote the names will shock you. In quote, he's essentially threatening and putting people on notice. Even said some of you influential folks, you know who you are. I'm giving you a chance to come forward before we expose you. Combs, for his part, remains in jail in Brooklyn, bail of course, as you know, was denied denied twice in his federal racketeering and sex trafficking case. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges against him
one hundred and twenty plus. And these lawsuits, they say, are going to stretch over a number of states. It's just unbelievable to hear that number.
That same attorney said he's had thousands of people contact him. So perhaps even from his perspective one hundred and twenty where those he filtered out. So people are literally coming out of the woodwork as they say, they see him in jail, and they're now saying, hey, wait, that happened to me. This is probably going to continue, folks.
Well, we will continue our run, our morning run here and just a moment coming up. We cannot believe that we have more mourning to do in the entertainment world.
Welcome back everyone, and next up here on our Morning Run. We mourn actor John Amos. He has died at the age of eighty four, and wow, does he hold a special place in television history as James Evans Senior on Good Times. That was the first show ever that depicted a black two parent household.
Yeah, JJ's daddy on that show. But Amos also got an Emmy nomination for his portrayal of an older Kuntakinde in the miniseries Roots, and a lot of people Robes will fondly remain. If you've never seen Good.
Times, that's hard to imagine.
But no, watch Roots.
Yes, the younger generations have not.
Never seen it, but some folks got to know him and love him because he was Kleo McDowell in coming to America that role. He is so memorable as the dad who Eddie Murphy was trying to impress.
Yeah, and if you don't know the name John Amos just by reading it, if you google him and you see his face, you'll say, oh my gosh, he was in everything. His face is iconic and actually in some of your favorite movies. I was looking at the list and laughing. Yep, one of TJ's favorites. Yep.
He loves that one.
Too, and the one die Hard too. I know it for I know that movie verbade him almost as you know, but he played the good guy who ended up being a bad guy in that movie. I didn't know this. The Mary Tyler Moish in nineteen seven he played a weather man.
Yet, now that you say that, and when I read that, I was like, oh my gosh, yes, I again one of those faces where you know you know him, and then you start realizing how much you actually know his work because he's been in so many iconic television shows and movies and he will certainly certainly be missed. Another loss in the entertainment world to tell you about.
This has been a hell of a week.
Fritz from the reality show American Pickers died at a hospice facility. This followed some complications he had from a stroke that he never fully recovered from.
It happened in twenty twenty two.
Sixty years old. That's a young man these days. And I mean, I know what sixty years but these days, with folks living as long as they are at just sixty is a shame. He's been on the show. I think over a decade. He was surrounded by friends and family, including his co star on the show, Michael Wolf. This is a History Channel program. A lot of you see a lot of people like these shows. Right. They traveled around to try to find treasures all over the country.
According to friends, there will be a celebration of life or Fritz in the spring. It's just going to include a motorcycle run.
That's right.
The History Channel and the American Pickers production company said this about Fritz. We will always remember the bearded charmer and his never ending search for vintage motorcycles and bikes. Our thoughts are with Frank's loved ones during this difficult time.
He will be deeply missed.
What the hell is going on? Like, I'm scared. We were sitting here, I think, at this exact spot, at this table, and I said, wait a minute, because I just saw Julie Andrew's name trending and I think it was her birthday.
And you were concerned everything you Sully.
With anybody's name on it. You go, oh my god, it doesn't matter who, young girl. We've just had a weird stretch of the past week.
It feels like.
One of the most tragic weeks in terms of loss of beloved and iconic entertainers this week, it's just every starting last weekend. Really, it feels like it's just been a daily dayluge losses.
It's not just entertainers. These are iconic, legendary in some cases folks who had no idea what's going on. Hopefully it will it will stop, but oh, some incredible losses there. We do want to continue now on our run this morning and go go back to a bizarre story with a lot of twists and turns. And now we got another one to report here. New York Magazine reporter put on leave after the public revelation that she had a personal relationship with RFK Junior says this was all part
of a blackmail scheme by her ex fiance. Olivia Newsy is her name. She made the claimant a court filing against Ryan Liza. He is a reporter for Politico who Newsy was once engaged to.
Yes, okay, so we're following so far.
She claims that Newsy explicitly threatened to make sorry she let me say this right. Newsy claims that Liza made explicitly threatened, explicitly threatened to make public personal information about me to destroy my life, career and reputation, a threat he has.
Since carried out.
So she was in court asking a judge to issue a no contact order against her ex fiance, Liza, who put out a statement saying he emphatically denies those allegations.
Well, he went on to say this, he is saddened that she is making up lives to divert attention away from her own personal and professional failings. Now Liza has taken a leb of bapsoms from his job at Political This story sparked a lot of debate about journalism ethics, and Newsy was placed on leave last month after she revealed the previously undisclosed relationship with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Who she interviewed while he was an independent candidate for president.
Now, both Newsy and RFK Juniors say and maintain that this relationship was not physical. They just had been calling it personal. I believe it was text exchanges back and forth, and they say it never went further than that. But there is another hearing in two weeks where Liza is expected to respond directly to Newsy's claims. So this story, probably unfortunately for RFK Junior and for Newsy, is.
Staying in the public eye.
Next up on our run someone else who has been in the public eye in a way he had not intended. Mayor Eric Adams expected back in a federal courthouse this morning for a hearing in the criminal case against him.
They remember, he pleaded not guilty to five federal charges related to alleged bribery and corruption, accused of accepting over one hundred thousand dollars worth of meals, hotels, and flights. Just as week as lawyers ask the judges that the bribery charge against him be dismissed because what prosecutors are alleging doesn't even fit the legal definition of bribery, So they're asking for at least one of the five to be dropped.
And they've also asked the judge to potentially look into wrongdoing by the prosecutor's office, saying they leaked information to the press about the investigation. And throughout all of this, Mayor Adams has said he has no plans to step down from office while this is all being litigated.
And even though Governor Hukel I think she's finally come out and said that she has no intention, that doesn't appear right now of stepping in even though she has the power to remove Adams from office. And you and I Robed, we live in this area. We live right here downtown by City Hall, and it is literally a five minute walk from City Hall to the Federal Courthouse on Worth and Baxter. It's all he has to do. So it's weird that a lot of people take a
walk outside. There's a park right there, and he can just walk out of the office today and take a little stroll over to the federal courthouse.
Yes, and we've also seen the live trucks lined up from all the news outlets. Who will be following him on that said walk If that's how he chooses to get to the courthouse today, you think.
You will, we shall see.
In fact, we have a front row seats.
We are going to wrap the run with this. Police in Texas trying to find thieves that pulled off a two and a half million dollar heist. But they did not steal cash. No, no, no, no. These thieves got away with millions of dollars in olive oil.
That's a head scratcher.
Well, this happened at a warehouse in Houston and involved truckloads of premium olive oil made by Tara Delisa, a company out of Tunisia. About seven hundred bottles were taken, and according to the company, some of those bottles have already been tracked down at stores being sold at extreme discounts.
Any of them in New York. This is supposed to be some really good olive oil. They have won awards all over the world. But what we're talking about here, we kind of scratched our heads about it. But this has been an issue for years, issue with folks trying to steal olive oil, mainly because of drought conditions in Spain, where a majority of the world's olive oil comes.
From, and they haven't been able to produce as much olive oil, which has driven up the prices and made olive trees and olive oil more expensive and then of.
Course of more value to thieves. Did I read this right? Olive oil became the most shoplifted item in Spain's supermarkets, and thieves even go so far as to chop down olive trees.
They will go, they'll sometimes they'll takes time to do it, but they'll uproot and take the whole tree. Sometimes they just cut off a few branches, and can take the olives and sell the olives, but they also can do something with the wood. This is a this is a commodity now on an illegal market, that it's so expensive that people are stealing it.
Well, I know, Tara Delisa, the type of olive oil that was stolen, will you and I immediately googled it.
I found it on Amazon already.
If this stuff is so good that people are stealing it, maybe this is the best kind of marketing or advertisement they could possibly have. Wow, how wonderful their brand is, because I'm probably going to buy a bottle and see what all the fuss is about.
Our stuff is so good people are stealing millions of dollars over.
And then let me get sucked. Wow, that's what my brain went, right. I love olive oil.
I didn't cross my mind. Would you make a good point? Maybe the company stage that I'm kidding. I am just kidding. That is not the case, but that if you see any of this olive oil that's fifty percent off or seventy five percent off, which they say is going for you.
Know where it came from exactly.
All right, Well, we are going to leave you as we started to do yesterday with a quote, and we pulled this one again from the big Manila folder that TJ has carried around with him.
He used to put these sayings.
On his door once a week, on his dressing room door, and everyone loved them, and so we're going to share them with.
You throughout the week.
Today's quote the proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them.
I shall use my time.
That quote from Jack London, a journalist and author of the Call of the Wild.
So we wanted to leave you on and upbeat, a happy and thoughtful note, so please take that with you for today. We appreciate you as always running with us. We will see you back here tomorrow.