FlyDubai hero pilot recounts cockpit attack; Letitia James takes over Cornell case

I couldn't let everybody else die. The fly Dubai captain who fought off his co-pilot

revealing what went through his mind as the plane went down. Plus, she survived two attempts to

execute her. Now Krista Pike is in critical condition and her lawyers say Tennessee can't

try again. And a major shakeup in the Cornell sexual assault case. New York's governor says

she's lost faith in the local DA and she's putting Letitia James in charge

the stories that matter the facts you can trust from across the country to around the world

this is unbiased updates from straight arrow hey everybody i'm christian bryant glad you're

hanging out with us this morning let's get you caught up and ready for your friday this morning

we're hearing for the first time from the fly dubai captain who was badly injured fighting

off his co-pilot as their passenger jet plunged toward the ground Wednesday

In a video call with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi this morning, Captain Smith

Machar described the moment he was on the cockpit floor severely wounded and still being attacked

The plane was rapidly losing altitude, and Machar said he knew he had to get back up

He told Modi, I was fighting for my life, but said he also knew he couldn't let everybody

else die. Much harm managed to open the cockpit door, allowing passengers to rush in and subdue the co-pilot

Reserve pilots on board then helped regain control of the jet. The flight, headed from Dubai to Tel Aviv, made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia with 174 people on board

The suspect, Anamani National, was questioned there before being transferred to the United Arab Emirates

Investigators are still working to determine a motive and whether the attack had any connection to terrorism

President Trump was asked Thursday whether the suspect could have ties to Iran

First of all, has anybody briefed you about whether or not the guy, the pilot of the Fly Dubai plane is linked to Iran

We're working on it right now. They're being very open with us. I would say the answer, based on what I'm hearing, is yes

But we're working on it right now. This guy might have been either put in there by the IRGP or radicalized some other way

and then he tries to take down the point. It could have been, yeah. No Iran connection has been established. Machar is now recovering at a hospital in Abu Dhabi

after suffering what a passenger who treated him described as massive blood loss

Convicted murderer Krista Pike is still alive, but in critical condition after Tennessee tried

twice to execute her Wednesday night. Pike's lawyers say she was receiving life-saving medical

care at a Nashville hospital Thursday, and they still don't know her prognosis

The 50 has been on death row for decades for a murder she committed at 18 Pike survived two doses of Pinto Wednesday night and is the only known person to survive after lethal injection

drugs were administered during a U.S. execution. Now, her lawyers want Governor Bill Lee to commute

her death sentence. The governor's call for an independent review does not go far enough

After having endured solitary confinement for more than 20 years and a full attempt to kill

kill her by lethal injection. Krista has endured punishment greater than any other person in the

history of the American death penalty. The governor must commute Krista's sentence now

We may never know what all she was suffering through, either because she can't remember it

she can't tell it, or it overwhelms her in such a way that, you know, sometimes pain and suffering

affects people that way. So I don't think we could ever know what it was like to go through

that time. But I do know that that really was her biggest fear. It was not a fear of dying

It was a fear of a prolonged, painful, traumatic death. And that's what happened minus the death

Pike's lawyers say at least seven needles were used as the execution team tried to access a vein

They also described blistering and burning around the injection sites. One of her attorneys says it's

possible the IV line wasn't properly in the vein, meaning the drug may have gone into her arm

instead of her bloodstream. We still don't know what went wrong. Governor Lee has ordered an

independent review and halted Tennessee's remaining execution this year. New York Governor

Kathy Hochul is taking a local DA off the Cornell gang rape investigation and putting the state

attorney general in charge. Hochul has appointed Attorney General Letitia James as special

prosecutor, saying she's lost faith in Tompkins County DA Matthew Van Houten's ability to

fairly oversee the case. The allegations date back to 2024, when a Cornell student says she

was drugged and raped by multiple men at a fraternity house. Cornell conducted its own

investigation, which led to expulsions, suspensions, and other sanctions. But Van Houten's office

closed its criminal investigation without filing charges. He reopened it this week after the woman

identified only as Jane Doe, filed a civil lawsuit and new details about the original

investigation came to light. Van Houten has since said he never saw the full transcript of Doe's

2024 interview with campus police, including her statement that she was 100% confident she had been

raped. Now, James will decide whether there's enough evidence to pursue criminal charges

and present the case to a grand jury. Hochul says the woman at the center of the case deserves to

know every fact will be examined and justice pursued. Hochul and James are set to hold a

news conference at 930 Eastern this morning with an update on the investigation Renee Good family is taking the federal government to court nine months after an ICE

officer shot and killed her in Minneapolis. Good's partner Becca and her brother filed

two civil lawsuits Thursday, one against the U.S. government, the other against the ICE

officer who shot her and several current and former Trump administration officials

Good was shot January 7th while driving away from federal agents during an immigration enforcement operation

Federal officials said at the time, the officer, Jonathan Ross, acted in self-defense

The family's lawsuits accuse him of using unjustified and excessive force. Thursday was also the first time Becca Good has spoken publicly since Renee was killed

Every morning, she's my first thought. I think about how the kids are growing up without their mama

And I'll grow old without the love of my life. I think about how we should have had 40 or 60 more years together

But I also think a lot about what she would have wanted after all of this

We are here today not out of anger and not out of hate. We are here because Renee's love and legacy demand a better world for her children, for this community, and for this country

What happened to our family should not happen to any family, regardless of who you are, who you voted for, or what you believe

The family's attorneys say the cases go beyond what happened on the street that day

The second lawsuit names officials including White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller

former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and White House Border Czar Tom Homan

It alleges a conspiracy to violate civil rights as part of the administration's immigration crackdown

Today's filings are not about immigration policy. We are focused on the extraordinary overreach of the federal government and federal agents who used aggressive tactics that ignored well-established protocols and training for law enforcement officers and used excessive and unnecessary force, causing countless U.S. citizens and legal residents to become collateral damage

The lawsuits come just days after Good's mother and brother testified before Congress

about fatal shootings involving federal immigration officers. Another U.S. citizen, Alex Preddy, was killed by federal agents in Minneapolis

just weeks after Good. The Justice Department has not responded. Eleven jurors were ready to find Lindsay Clancy not guilty. One wasn't. Now a judge has rejected

her attorney's bid to end the case without another trial. Clancy is accused of killing

her three young children at their Massachusetts home in 2023. Her first trial ended in a mistrial

last month after seven days of deliberations The jury was deadlocked 11 to one in favor of acquittal based on insanity Clancy has admitted to killing the children Her defense argues she was suffering

from postpartum psychosis and was not criminally responsible. After the mistrial, her attorney

Kevin Reddington, asked the judge to enter a not guilty verdict, arguing prosecutors hadn't proven

their case. Thursday, the judge said they had presented enough evidence for a jury to consider

whether Clancy knew what she was doing was wrong. Prosecutors called three expert witnesses during the six-week trial

who said Clancy was capable of understanding the wrongfulness of her actions

The defense had its own experts who disagreed. The judge said when experts conflict on that question, it's up to the jury to decide

Thursday's ruling keeps the case alive after last month's mistrial. Prosecutors alleged the killings were premeditated

Finally this morning, SpaceX had a very busy Thursday and it ended like this

Three, two, one, mission, and lift off. Go Falcon, go NRL-97

That was launch number three in less than 13 hours. SpaceX pulled off something it had only

done once before. The N-R-O-L-97 mission lifted off from Florida's Kennedy Space Center just before

midnight. And here's what makes it interesting. We don't know what was on board. The Falcon Heavy

was carrying a classified payload for the National Reconnaissance Office, the U.S. agency that

operates the country's spy satellites. And that was just launch number three. Earlier Thursday

SpaceX sent Crew-13 to the International Space Station. The four-person crew arrived nearly

eight hours after liftoff. Then came Transporter 18, what SpaceX calls a small-sat rideshare mission

carrying 180 payloads into orbit. All told, SpaceX has now launched more than 100 missions this year

And just in case you're interested, SpaceX is offering so-called rideshare missions as low as

wait for it, $350,000. Folks, we are the fastest, fairest few minutes in news

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We'll see you here next week. For the Unbiased Updates team and all of us here at Straight Arrow, I'm Christian Bryant

Have a great day and a fantastic weekend. We'll see you next time