Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Introducing ..."NY POSTcast" from The New York Post

Episode Date: June 17, 2025

ATTENTION CRIME STORIES LISTENERS - Our friends at The New York Post have a brand new daily podcast...the NY POSTcast! Listen here: https://link.mgln.ai/CrimeStories Tuesday, June 17th, 2025: MN Assassin Evidence Trail, Trump Warns Tehran, Golden Cellphone of Freedom In this episode of the NY POSTcast: The ominous texts sent by alleged MN assassin to his family and the lengthy trail of evidence he left behind in his sickening wake, President Trump warns "everyone" in Tehran to evacuate in an urgent social media post, and would you like a cell service built on "reliability, freedom and American pride"?  We'll tell you where you can get it! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hi, Crime Stories listeners. This is Caitlin Becker here with a bonus episode of the latest podcast to drop from the New York Post. Every weekday morning, the New York Postcast will bring you the headlines you need and the stories you actually want. It's the news only the New York Post can deliver from the worlds of politics, true crime, pop culture, and so much more. Here is the premiere episode of the New York Postcast. He shot the dog, the latest on alleged Minnesota assassin Vance Belter. Plus, get out of Tehran. President Trump warns Iranian citizens to leave the capital. And a mobile service worth its weight in gold from Eric and Don Jr. Yeah, I'll explain that one. Those stories and more today, Tuesday, June

17th. I'm Caitlin Becker and this is the very first New York Postcast. We start in Minnesota. Now, you're not going to believe the trail of evidence that investigators say suspected political assassin Vance Belter left behind. In the hours after the senseless slaughter of one state lawmaker and her husband and a separate attack on another, Belter allegedly fired off some texts to his family. Now, a particularly damning one reads, quote, Dad went to war last night. Now, Belter made his first appearance in federal court Monday, where we learned officials allegedly uncovered a cache of weapons inside of his abandoned SUV, including an AK-47-style rifle that was just tossed on the passenger seat.

And now this last bit is going to make your blood boil. Investigators say he murdered a dog. When Vance Belter allegedly opened fire at state rep Melissa Hortman's home, the barrage of bullets also struck a beloved golden retriever, a rescue named Gilbert. Now Belter faces six federal charges and the death penalty is on the table. Onto the latest in immigration. President Trump plans to flood Democrat-run cities like New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago with even more ICE agents. The president posting online this week his reasoning, saying blue cities are, quote, the core of the Democrat power center, where they use illegal aliens to expand their voter base, cheat in elections, and grow the welfare state.

Now, all of this is happening as Axios is reporting that ICE could run out of funding as soon as next month after going over their budget by a billion dollars. And now on to a meaty story. After being forced out of the Coney Island hot dog eating contest last year, Joey Chestnut, the 16-time champ, will be back on the boardwalk July 4th, ready to take back his crown. And yes, it's crazy we are that close to July 4th. Now, Chestnut was banned from last year's contest because of a sponsorship deal that he

struck with Impossible Foods, the maker of meatless hot dogs. Meatless hot dogs, Joey Chestnut, kind of an odd choice considering. Anyway, the fractured relationship has healed, and Chestnut will need to down 84 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes. That's in order to break his own world record. Fun fact. Days after the contest, people apparently tell Joey Chestnut that he still smells like hot dogs and Joey says his sweat is literally grease. Yeah, that's so gross, but good luck, my friend.

And now to our big story. Iran, President Trump offered an ominous warning Monday night, quote, everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran. Now, it came not long after the president said that the Islamic Republic is asking for peace as Israel makes advances in their campaign to end Iran's nuclear program.

Here's the president on the sidelines of the summit. They'd like to talk, but they should have done that before. I had 60 days and they had 60 days and on the 61st day I said, we don't have a deal. They have to make a deal. And it's painful for both parties, but I'd say Iran is not winning this war. And they should talk and they should talk immediately before it's too late. Now, if you're Israel, how do you end the threat once and for all? Well, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants to cut off the head of the snake. He's doubling down on his suggestion that assassinating Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is one way to bring an end to the bloodshed. Israel has, so far, wiped out a third of Iran's total ballistic missile launchers.

But the real prize is, of course, ending the country's nuclear program. And in doing that, Israel faces a significant hurdle. The Fordo fuel enrichment plant—you probably haven't heard of that before—but it's a nuclear plant hidden deep inside a mountain 100 miles south of Tehran. It's unclear whether or not Israel has the weapons needed to blow it up, but the United States does. For more on this, I am joined by The Post's Deputy Managing Editor, Michael Zenni. Michael, tell me a bit more about these dueling requests.

We have Israel asking the US to help them blow things up and Iran asking for the U.S. to help broker peace. So where is President Trump on all of this and is there a high likelihood of the U.S. joining this fight? President Trump is exactly where he wants to be, which is basically at the middle of this, right? So he has said today that he's open to the idea of a deal, but said Iran has already had 60 days to agree to a nuclear deal and they need to go ahead and just make an agreement. And so it seems like he is not ready to come in and potentially attack Iran, but he's also not very sympathetic to their requests to urgently negotiate. Now President Trump is at the G7 summit.

So are we getting a sense of where the rest of the world is? What are other leaders saying about all of this? Yeah, as often is the case, Trump is sort of standing apart. So you've got reports that there is a communique that was circulating that the host Canada and the European leaders all were hoping to sign on to that is calling for an end to the attacks and basically to de-escalate the situation. And the reporting we're seeing is that the U.S. is not going to sign on to that. Okay, switching topics slightly here.

Can you tell us more about this Forto nuclear site? Why is it so important to eliminate and why is it so hard to do? Yeah, so it's very hard to do in part because Iran has built it that way. This is one of the most, if not the most fortified nuclear sites in the entire world. It is built into a mountain. The actual most important parts of the facility are up to 300 feet underground, and they are completely, as we can tell so far, unreachable by Israel's munitions. And they've been very successful in taking out Iran's nuclear scientists, other nuclear

sites, but it seems that Fordow is untouchable by Israel so far. And that's why they're asking for the US to essentially come in and use our massive 30-ton bunker buster bombs to blow this up, which would potentially end Iran's nuclear ambitions as we know them once and for all. So much to unpack here and it's such a nuanced story. Thank you so much for breaking that down for us, Michael Zenni. Excellent. Thank you so much. And now from our friends at page six, Justin Bieber is going through it. The pop star admitted to having quote anger issues and being broken after getting into a Sean Penn level screaming match with paparazzi last week. This is the latest in a string of really concerning social media posts that have believers worried about his mental

state, his marriage, and even his physical health. Now, Bieber was forced to deny allegations of drug use earlier this year's and recently recently, he traded really cryptic posts with wife Haley that seemed to indicate trouble in paradise. But if you ask his reps, they're going with the old nothing to see here approach. And if that wasn't enough, the singer reportedly owes more than $8 million that apparently he does not have to his former manager, Scooter Braun. And finally today, make cell phones great again, or at the very least, gold. First Sons, Eric and Don Jr. have announced the launch of Trump Mobile. The company says it's, quote, the only mobile service aligned with your values and built on reliability, freedom, and American pride."

This is definitely what the Founding Fathers had in mind here. The service, which includes unlimited talk, text, and data, as well as roadside assistance and telehealth services, will set you back $47.45 per month. I see what they did there, because he's the 45th and 47th president. I'm getting it. If all that's not enough, the company will also start selling fancy schmancy golden American made, that's very specific, Android phones for 499 bucks. It literally looks like a gold bar. You absolutely have to check it out.

And that's it for today. For more on these stories and everything you could possibly want to know, check out the New York Post in print or online. And don't forget, like and subscribe to the New York Postcast. Wherever you get your podcasts and on YouTube, you'll be glad you did. You'll get all the headlines and the gossip that you need. More importantly, you want to start your day. This is an iHeart podcast.