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Nick Harper: US correspondent on James Comey pleading not guilty to federal charges · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: You know that big Palisades fire in Los Angeles earlier
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: this year, massive one twelve people died. Cops have just
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: arrested a guy from Florida.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: Jonathan rendernessh aged twenty nine, residing in Melbourne, Florida, was
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  Speaker 2: taken into federal custody by ATF special agents, a Los
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: Angeles City Fire Department investigator, and a Los Angeles Police detective.
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  Speaker 2: Render Neck, as the US attorney mentioned, as charged under
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  Speaker 2: Title eighteen eight forty four F malicious destruction by means
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  Speaker 2: of a fire real property owned by an organization receiving
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: federal financial assistance. I can tell you this from day one,
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  Speaker 2: ATF and our partners have been relentless. We made a
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  Speaker 2: promise to find answers, and we have kept that promise.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: Nick Happa is a US correspondent. Nick, What do we
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  Speaker 1: know about him?
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  Speaker 2: Hey, good morning, Ryan.
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  Speaker 3: Not a great deal at this stage, whenever that he's
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  Speaker 3: a twenty nine year old man, Jonathan Rindagnick. As we
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: heard there, he was allegedly working as an uber driver
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: at the time, and after dropping off someone, he started
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: a fire on a nearby trail and it was that
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  Speaker 3: fire that then spread dramatically right around the area, leading
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  Speaker 3: to the destruction of almost seven thousand buildings and twelve
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  Speaker 3: people unfortunately also died in these fires. I mean, it
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  Speaker 3: was unbelievable some of those pictures, those images that we
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  Speaker 3: saw coming out of Los Angeles in January this year.
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  Speaker 3: Prosecutors say that he maliciously started this blaze. They don't
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: know the motive yet, but they are very much saying
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  Speaker 3: that he was behind it, that he orchestrated it, and
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  Speaker 3: that he did plan this to happen. But of course
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  Speaker 3: the extent of this fire was not known at the time.
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  Speaker 3: I guess when he started this, he could not have
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  Speaker 3: predicted it. At the moment, he's being charged with destruction
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  Speaker 3: of property, but of course additional charges may be added,
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: and we could see things including the amount of buildings
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  Speaker 3: destroyed seven thousand added to those charges, potentially even something
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  Speaker 3: related to the deaths of those twelve people as well.
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: All Right, Nick on Comy, he's obviously burning called this
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  Speaker 1: as far as an arraignment, and he's playing not guilty.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: And I see that his lawyers are going after the
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  Speaker 1: US attorney that Trump appointed.
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's right. I mean they feel that this is
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  Speaker 3: just a hit job against James Comy, the former FBI director.
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  Speaker 3: They feel it's payback retribution from the US president who
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  Speaker 3: has been targeting and where possible, trying to prosecute his enemies.
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  Speaker 3: Donald Trump has described Comy and others as guilty as hell.
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  Speaker 3: His lawyers, though, say that this is something that has
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  Speaker 3: just been targeted against the FBI director, the former FBI director,
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  Speaker 3: and that is it is a malicious and selective prosecution.
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  Speaker 3: His lawyers trying to get this case thrown out, also
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  Speaker 3: not happy with the judge Trump appointed judge there presiding
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: over the case. There is a possibility of five years
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: in jail for James Comy if he's found guilty. Trial
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  Speaker 3: takes place at the beginning of next year, January the fifth.
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  Speaker 3: The president, of course, arguing that he has to get
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: behind bars for being part of this Trump Russia probe.
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: Looking at Donald Trump's went back in twenty sixteen, they
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: say that he lied to Congress about exactly what he
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: was involved in that investigation.
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  Speaker 1: Cheers Nick Nick Harper, a US correspondent.
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  Speaker 2: For more from early edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live
• 3:12
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• 3:15
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