Fmr. Lt. Gov. murder-suicide; Iran update; Hegseth's 'Pulp Fiction' quote I Searched - Apr. 16, 2026

[0:07] I'm Ashan Singh. It's Thursday, April 16th. You've got questions and we've got answers. [0:11] This is Search, where we're breaking down what you're asking right now in real time. [0:15] Let's get right to it. We've got our Maya Ephraim here. She oversees our online search trends. [0:19] Maya, talk to me. What are people searching for right now? [0:23] Hi, Ashan. Starting with really somber news that broke earlier and has been trending up all day. [0:28] Police say former Virginia Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax killed his wife before taking his own life in their home. [0:33] Police also say their two teenage children were home at the time and it was actually their son who called 911. [0:39] Now, people are searching for any details on what led to this tragedy and more in Fairfax. [0:44] Turning to the Middle East, we are seeing a spike in interest for Operation Economic Fury. [0:50] This is after Treasury Secretary Scott Besant announced a new wave of crushing oil sanctions against Iran. [0:56] But the weirdest trend of the day comes out of D.C. [0:58] People are searching if Defense Secretary Pete Hexeth quoted a fake Bible verse from the movie Pulp Fiction during a Pentagon prayer service. [1:06] And finally, we have to talk about that Golden State Warriors win against the L.A. Clippers. [1:10] Even though the game ended last night, there's still plenty of interest for all things Steph Curry and even that viral Curry shooting from the moon meme. [1:17] People are also scrambling to see the bracket for the rest of the NBA playing tournament and information on the Warriors do or die game for the 8th seed tomorrow. [1:25] Lots to look forward to tomorrow. [1:26] Maya, thank you so much. NBA playoff season is here. We'll check back with you in just a moment. [1:32] Okay, let's dive a little deeper into that shocking story about the former Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, Justin Fairfax, and his wife. [1:39] Our Mola Lange has been covering this for us since the news first broke. [1:42] Mola, thank you so much for joining us. You've been on top of this story. [1:45] It's been one of the top searches on the Internet today. [1:48] First off, people are asking just who is Justin Fairfax and his wife? [1:51] Well, I'll start with his wife, Dr. Serena Fairfax, of course, mother of two, wife. [1:58] She was a dentist in Fairfax, Virginia. She ran her own practice, Dr. Fairfax and Associates Family Dentistry. [2:05] Justin Fairfax, we've learned, helped run the business with her. [2:09] And we know Justin Fairfax's resume. He was Lieutenant Governor of Virginia from 2018 to 2022. [2:15] In 2022, he ran an unsuccessful bid for Governor of Virginia. [2:20] Before that, he was a federal prosecutor here in Virginia and was largely considered a rising star in the Democratic Party, [2:28] really until some 2019 sexual assault allegations sort of derailed that trajectory of a rising star. [2:37] Yeah, Mola, people online have also been searching about those 2019 sexual assault allegations. [2:42] What do we know about those? [2:44] Yeah, two women came forward in 2019, just days apart, with allegations of sexual assault. [2:50] One woman claiming that Fairfax forced her to give him oral sex in a hotel room in Boston during the 2004 Democratic National Convention. [3:02] Another woman a couple days later came out in 2019 and claimed that Justin Fairfax raped her when they were both students at Duke University. [3:11] Now, Fairfax immediately came out adamantly denying both of the allegations, saying that the incidents were consensual. [3:20] But, as we mentioned, they, in large part, sort of derailed that political trajectory that he had. [3:29] We should also note that no criminal charges were ever pressed against Fairfax in both of those incidents. [3:35] Yeah, Mola, moving back to the incident, police are now reporting that the couple's children, teenage child, was actually at the home on the scene of the crime. [3:45] Yeah, you know, in a story just full of tragedy, this may be the biggest tragedy of all, the trauma that the two teenagers are now facing. [3:56] Two teens were home, the Fairfax's two children. [3:58] The oldest boy is the one who reportedly called 911 just after midnight, after discovering the gruesome scene. [4:07] His parents, both dead, were told that the kids are now with family through the Virginia State Trauma Services. [4:18] They have connected them with family, and they're currently with family and receiving trauma services from the state of Virginia. [4:25] Mola, just such a harrowing story. [4:27] Thanks so much for joining us, and I'm sure we'll be checking with you back on this. [4:30] Let's go now to our Ian panel, reporting live from Tel Aviv, where Israel and Lebanon have agreed to a temporary ceasefire. [4:36] He's been covering the conflict for us. [4:38] Ian, thank you so much for joining us. [4:40] We've heard earlier from Economic Treasury Secretary Scott Besson that he's going to engage in economic warfare on Iran. [4:48] People online are searching, what exactly does economic warfare even mean? [4:53] Yeah, it's a very good question. [4:55] It's a rather hyperbolic way of saying secondary sanctions. [4:58] In other words, if you can't force Iran to do what you want through the barrel of a gun, then you impose sanctions on the country, on businesses, on individuals that basically fund part of the Iranian regime. [5:12] And Besson's basically saying that he's told companies that if they're involved with that, if banks are taking Iranian money, then there will be more sanctions imposed on them. [5:22] But in other words, it's more of the same rather than anything dramatically new that should concern anyone. [5:28] Yeah, Ian, I can't remember a time in my life where sanctions weren't imposed on Iran. [5:33] How is this time different? [5:34] Can we expect anything different in these negotiations? [5:37] Yeah, certainly through most of my lifetime as well. [5:41] I'm a little bit older. [5:42] Sanctions have been in place on the Iranian regime since the 1979 revolution. [5:47] Basically, it's a way of trying to constrain, contain, and deter the Iranian regime. [5:53] So sanctions on things like oil and shipping, targeting countries, banks, companies involved in financial transactions with the Iranian regime. [6:01] And, of course, that's achieved a certain amount. [6:03] But part of the reason we ended up in this conflict situation, according to the Trump administration, is because sanctions didn't ultimately achieve what it was that the Trump administration and the government here in Israel wanted. [6:15] Yeah, Ian, you're in Tel Aviv right now. [6:17] The reports of a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon. [6:20] What do we know about that? [6:23] Yeah, in fact, we are expected to come into place in one hour and 15 minutes from now. [6:28] Now, President Trump has got heavily involved in the negotiations to try and bring about this temporary ceasefire. [6:34] It's basically going to be a 10-day ceasefire between the Lebanese government and the Israeli government. [6:40] Now, the statement that's come out from the State Department talks about Hezbollah essentially disarming, that the Lebanese government, the Lebanese armed forces, are the only people who should have weapons inside the country. [6:52] Now, that's going to be one huge sticking block. [6:55] We believe that Hezbollah is part of this ceasefire agreement. [6:58] They're thanking Iran for it. [6:59] Lebanese government is thanking the U.S. and other neighboring states. [7:04] A sustainable peace, perhaps that's possible. [7:06] But Prime Minister Netanyahu is insisting that Israeli troops stay in this kind of six-mile deep border inside the country, whereas Hezbollah and others have insisted that Israel withdraw from the country altogether. [7:18] Yeah, Ian, I've got to switch gears just a little bit and ask you about this clip that's going viral everywhere online. [7:23] We saw a video of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth presiding over prayer at the Pentagon, but allegedly, possibly quoting Samuel L. Jackson's famous monologue from Pulp Fiction. [7:32] Is there any truth to that? [7:34] Was he quoting Pulp Fiction? [7:37] Well, on one level, yes, he was. [7:39] Now, the back story, the full back story in the Pentagon of Bush back on this is that he was actually quoting a sort of pseudo prayer that was used from some of the crews that were involved in that daring rescue of the downed U.S. airmen inside Iran. [7:56] So, in some senses, is it partly from the Bible, partly from Ezekiel? [8:02] Yes, it is. [8:03] But it was totally changed under Tarantino. [8:06] Parts of it do reflect the original speech. [8:09] And as you say, it was used shortly before one of the assassins shoots his victim. [8:14] As you can imagine, of course, it's got huge amounts of media coverage, people calling it embarrassing online. [8:19] But as I say, the Pentagon pushing back, saying any suggestion that the secretary thought he was just quoting directly from the Bible was untrue. [8:27] I guess both things can be true, right, Ian? [8:29] Thank you so much. [8:31] And Steph Curry with the shot. [8:33] The Dubs taking over the win over the Clippers, and you guys are still buzzing about it. [8:38] I've got ESPN's Ramona Shelburne here, and she was at the game last night. [8:42] Ramona, how are you feeling? [8:43] You get some rest finally? [8:44] A little, but it's kind of hard to sleep after a game like that. [8:48] It's so exciting. [8:49] It's so intense. [8:51] Those minutes out. [8:52] And even afterwards, we talked to the guy for three or four hours after the game, right? [8:56] I mean, it takes a long time because they get treatment after the game. [9:00] And Steph Curry didn't come out until after 11 o'clock, and it was in two hours. [9:04] And he's still buzzing. [9:06] I don't know how they sleep. [9:07] You know, we have to go write our stories. [9:09] We drive home. [9:09] And I was probably up until 2, 3 in the morning just kind of coming down from the excitement of that finish. [9:15] Because, listen, I've covered the entire Warriors run from 2015 until now, when the Clippers were really the last team that beat them in a series. [9:23] Then Steph Curry and Steve Kerr and Draymond Green, Clay Thompson all joined forces. [9:27] And this feels like the last gasp of that dynasty, and yet they had one more night in them. [9:33] You know, I don't know if it ends Friday when they play the Phoenix Suns, but the fact that that championship swagger, that Steph still had a knockout blow, that Draymond Green could still summon an intense defensive performance against Kawhi Leonard was really incredible to see one more night. [9:48] Yeah, Ramona, was this just Steph being Steph, or was this actually an implosion from the Clippers? [9:54] A little bit of both. [9:55] I thought that the Warriors essentially said, we are not going to let Kawhi Leonard beat us. [10:01] And they threw Draymond Green at him, but then they threw everything they had defensively at not letting Kawhi Leonard get very many shots. [10:07] Kawhi Leonard is one of the best players in the NBA. [10:09] He had an incredible season. [10:11] He has highest scoring average ever this year, shooting threes. [10:14] In this game, he took 17 shots, which was actually quite low for him. [10:17] And I think a lot of credit goes to Draymond Green, who is going to be a Hall of Famer in one way or another, but especially for the kind of defense that he plays. [10:25] And so the Clippers never had an adjustment to that. [10:28] They never were able to get going once they took Kawhi out of the game. [10:32] And I think also on the defensive end, you know, the Clippers were saying, we don't want to let Steph Curry beat us. [10:37] He's probably going to beat us, but we're going to try to let Al Horford take shots and Kristaps Porzingis. [10:42] Well, those guys made their shots. [10:44] Al Horford, who's going to be 40 in a month, Kristaps Porzingis, who hadn't really been able to stay on the court for the past year as he recovered from this mysterious viral illness. [10:53] Those guys were nailing threes all night. [10:56] And so some of that's collapsed, but a lot of it is just the Warriors having the heart of a champion, especially Steph Curry this year. [11:04] I don't know if people know what he's been through just to get on the court with that knee. [11:08] He was wrapping his knee in ice every time he was out of the game. [11:11] I don't know how he was out there for that long, let alone scoring as many points as he did, as heroically as he did. [11:16] Chef Curry, right? [11:18] Well, Ramona, there are a ton of questions surrounding the Clippers and their future following this game. [11:23] I mean, this is a team that has championship expectations year in, year out for the past five years, and they keep coming up short. [11:29] Kawhi Leonard was noncommittal about his future. [11:31] What's next for the Clippers going into this offseason? [11:34] How do they make sense of this situation? [11:37] Yeah, look, Kawhi Leonard was noncommittal about his future, but he has one year left on his deal. [11:42] And the big question is, do they extend him? [11:45] Do they offer him another two-year contract? [11:47] He can sign another, extend for another two years. [11:50] But what are you doing if you're extending him? [11:53] Are you just trying to keep being the ninth seed and losing in the play-in tournament? [11:57] I don't see what that necessarily gets them if they just extend him. [12:02] And so then you revisit some of the conversations that you had in February with teams like the Warriors who made a call to say, hey, would you trade us Kawhi Leonard? [12:12] I know he means a lot to your franchise. [12:14] I know there's still this unresolved issue of the investigation into this deal he had with Aspiration that's taken all year long. [12:22] But if you're not going to win with him, because they don't have a team right now that can really win a championship anymore, you're not going to win with him. [12:29] Let's see what people offer him. [12:31] And I think those conversations will come back up this summer. [12:34] Ramona, playoff season's here. [12:36] Thanks so much for joining us. [12:37] Appreciate your time. [12:38] We just ran through your top searches, but what else is on your timeline? [12:41] Let's get back to Maya. [12:42] Maya, what other stories are trending today? [12:46] Ashton, I have a total 90s throwback for you right now. [12:49] American Pie star Shannon Elizabeth is trending after she announced she's joining OnlyFans starting today. [12:54] The actress who famously played Nadia, the foreign exchange student from the former Czech Republic, said Hollywood controlled her narrative and the outcome of her entire career for so long. [13:04] And this new move is all about changing that. [13:07] I mean, honestly, iconic movie, iconic role, cult classic. [13:10] I'm sure we all remember where we were when we saw it the first time. [13:13] Yeah, Maya, I did not have Nadia being back on my bingo card. [13:17] So how about that for some trending news? [13:19] Appreciate you, Maya. [13:21] Coming up, one search always leads to another. [13:23] We've got a trending topic, but that's just the surface. [13:26] Why Allbirds is going all in on AI. [13:29] That's in the spiral up next. [13:41] Welcome back to Search. [13:42] Today's top searches are only part of the story. [13:45] A simple scroll can sometimes take you down a deep rabbit hole. [13:48] It's time now for the spiral. [13:50] All right, you guys can't stop asking questions about Allbirds making a major business move. [14:02] We're following your clicks and curiosity, and it looks like you guys want to know about the company pivoting from Kix to AI. [14:07] You also want to know about AI infrastructure and how that impacts the stock market. [14:12] So let's break it down. [14:13] We've got our Mike Muse up first, then Joe Scioli from Business Insider. [14:16] Fellas, thank you so much for joining us. [14:19] Allbirds' big pivot from shoes to AI. [14:21] Google Tech Policy fellow Mike Muse is here. [14:24] What's up, Mike? [14:25] What's up, Isaiah? [14:26] How are you? [14:26] I'm good, man. [14:27] This is a company known for making eco-friendly shoes, but now it's doing a whole 180 that I never saw coming, and it's working to build an AI computer infrastructure? [14:37] Yeah, that's right. [14:38] They're looking to get into a new business model. [14:40] They're looking to be the middleman between startup companies and researchers. [14:44] They're looking to sell. [14:46] They're looking to either buy compute as well as rent or lease out compute. [14:50] That's really interesting. [14:51] So they're looking to buy compute. [14:52] Computers, what we need to power the AI technology that we all love and use and what people are actually using to search devices on some of the topics you've been mentioning, but that's very expensive, right? [15:03] So startup companies may not have the cash flow to be able to buy the chips themselves. [15:08] And so what Allbirds is saying is that we will buy the chips for you, and then we will lease it out to you to rent it at a much lower cost than it would be to actually buy it because compute is very capital intensive. [15:21] It takes a lot of money up front in order to build the infrastructure. [15:25] A long way from the sneaker game, right? [15:27] Allbirds was once valued at around $4 billion. [15:30] It's since sold its intellectual property and other assets for $39 million. [15:35] Why do you think companies are investing in the AI boom? [15:37] Does it make sense? [15:39] It absolutely does make sense for the companies to invest in the AI boom. [15:42] This is the direction that we are going in, right? [15:44] When you think about the AI boom, if you are not able or have the capacity to build the research and to build the actual product, then the next best thing is to actually own the power that these researchers need to do it on. [15:57] What's interesting is that they were able to get the actual investors to loan them the money. [16:03] I thought that was interesting that a company that has no track record in AI, no track record in infrastructure, was able to get investors initially in order to be able to launch this. [16:15] That just shows how much investors are really bullish on AI, in particular compute and infrastructure, that they're willing to invest in companies that are willing to take a risk in something of this nature. [16:26] Yeah, Mike, Allbirds closed all its U.S. full-priced stores in February. [16:30] So what does this mean for the company's shoe business? [16:32] Are they still involved? [16:33] No, the shoe business is done. [16:35] They're completely a new company, a complete new business model, and they're all about compute and all about infrastructure and all about power moving into this next boom of what they hear. [16:44] What's interesting, though, is their business model for shoes was about environment, environmental protection and clean energy, by the way, of producing their shoes and using their shoes. [16:52] Well, when you look at compute and data centers, data centers have a high impact on climate. [16:59] A lot of local residents where data centers are coming on board are concerned about what these data centers are going to have an impact on their water supply, for instance, and how much electricity that is going to use. [17:10] But that is a complete 180 from the business model of Auburn's hat, which is about clean energy, environmental protections. [17:16] It's to the point, Ashana, where they actually have to go before their shareholders to make an amendment to the Constitution of the tenement of what Auburn's is to remove language that reference anything around clean energy and environment in order to get into this new business. [17:32] Business seriously changing in the world of AI. [17:34] Mike Muse, thanks so much for joining us. [17:36] Let's now bring in Joe Cieli to break down how AI impacts the stock market. [17:40] He works at Business Insider as a trade journalist. [17:42] Joe, thank you so much for joining us. [17:45] Thanks a lot for having me. [17:46] Yeah, Joe, first of all, what is AI infrastructure? [17:50] Yeah, so we're talking about the chips that power the AI compute. [17:55] We're talking about data centers. [17:56] We're talking about the fans that cool data centers, just basically all the physical assets that go into powering, you know, you put in a chat GPT query that's running through a set of computers somewhere nearby, and then it spits out the answer instantaneously. [18:12] A lot of computer infrastructure going into that. [18:15] Yeah, how is this infrastructure actually impacting the stock market? [18:18] Is it or are we just sort of obsessed with AI? [18:20] Yeah, it's been a really popular trade for the stock market because if you talk about a company that's investing in AI and what the future prospects look like, it's something that might be a few years down the line. [18:33] But if you're talking about a company that's literally building a data center right now, they're making money from AI right now. [18:38] And those near-term beneficiaries have been outperforming in the stock market. [18:43] So, you know, an investor's ability to identify the successful infrastructure companies has been really good. [18:50] And when it comes to Allbirds, you know, this is a company that was going to wind down operations at the end of the month. [18:58] It sold its shoe business. [18:59] It's basically a shell. [19:01] And what they've done is they've hitched their wagon to the AI train and it's basically a Hail Mary. [19:08] They're saying, we're just going to throw everything at the most popular trend right now and see what happens. [19:14] And sure enough, their stock was up. [19:16] And this is not an error. [19:18] It was up 582% yesterday. [19:21] And that's ridiculous. [19:22] And so it's become a meme stock. [19:25] There's a lot of the trading volume is, you know, many tens of times greater than it is on the average day. [19:30] And this thing's become like a full-blown meme stock, like everyone on the Internet is talking about it. [19:35] And that's just the game you play right now in the AI era. [19:39] Yeah, Joe, it feels like an arm race between these big tech companies. [19:42] Right now, who is winning this AI infrastructure race? [19:46] Yeah, it's probably, you know, the big data center providers. [19:50] There's one that is actually going to be competing directly with Allbirds, which is CoreWeave, which was a similar company that it was a Bitcoin miner. [20:00] And it decided one day, we're going to actually do AI. [20:02] And it really worked. [20:04] The stock is up a ton since they said that. [20:06] The only difference, there's a big difference, but the difference is because they were a Bitcoin miner, they already had GPUs. [20:12] They already had data centers, warehouses. [20:15] Allbirds literally has nothing. [20:17] Like, they have nothing. [20:18] So, this stock gain is based on a very, you know, $50 million of secured financing. [20:28] To contextualize that, CoreWeave is going to spend $50 billion on capital expenditures this year. [20:34] So, we're talking about kind of a small amount, but clearly in the market, people love it. [20:39] The stock is up a ton. [20:40] It seems to make sense to be riding that AI wave right now. [20:43] Joe, thank you so much for joining us. [20:45] Still ahead, it might be at the top of the feed, but what's the vibe? [20:48] We've got your top pop culture and entertainment searches with Roxy Diaz. [20:52] We're talking about a real housewife caught up in a real spy scandal. [20:56] Vibe Check is up next. [20:57] It's time now for our Vibe Check, a look at what's buzzing in entertainment and pop culture. [21:17] Our Roxy Diaz joins me now for more on what's trending on your feeds. [21:21] Roxy, what's the vibe? [21:23] Hey, Sean. [21:24] Listen, after four days of deliberations, Live Nation and Ticketmaster have been found liable of operating as a monopoly while overcharging fans. [21:32] Jurors in the Manhattan federal court ruled that the company illegally monopolized the markets for tickets, all while making it harder for competitors like SeatGeek and StubHub to compete. [21:43] Now, the jury also determined that Ticketmaster overcharged consumers by $1.72 per ticket. [21:49] The company faces hundreds of millions of dollars in potential damages for violating antitrust laws. [21:57] And get this, controversial looks-maxing influencer Clavicular hit the club just hours after he was hospitalized for a suspected drug overdose during a live stream in Miami. [22:07] While attending a club grand opening, he shared an update online calling the night of his overdose brutal. [22:13] Now, the 20-year-old says he's quitting substances during a live stream. [22:18] Clavicular, whose real name is Brendan Peters, recently faced battery charges and a Florida investigation after a video appeared of him shooting an alligator in a separate incident. [22:29] And back to the Real Housewives of Miami. [22:31] Real Housewives of Miami star Lisa Hochstein has just been paid a $5,000 bond and is now out of jail. [22:39] According to jail records, she's been charged with interception of oral communications. [22:43] According to an arrest warrant obtained by People magazine, she faces a felony charge after allegedly placing a recording device inside her ex-husband's car. [22:52] In the state of Florida, it's illegal to secretly record private conversations. [22:56] And in a statement, Hochstein's attorney says, [22:59] this matter is part of a contentious divorce proceeding and it does not belong in criminal court. [23:04] In a new movie alert, Fokker in Law, the fourth and latest installment of the Meet the Parents franchise, [23:11] has finally dropped its official trailer with OG cast members Robert De Niro and Ben Stiller returning alongside some fresh places, [23:19] including Skylar Jacendo and his love interest, who's played by Ariana Grande. [23:24] She's going to be playing Henry's new fiancee, Olivia Jones. [23:27] And Olivia has one mission to stop Greg Fokker from holding her fiancee, Henry Greg's son, emotionally hostage. [23:36] And what I could tell you based on the trailer, it appears that she made it into the circle of trust. [23:42] Now, the movie is set to hit theaters Thanksgiving Day on November 25th. [23:46] And if you remember the franchise, O'Shawn, making that circle of trust was a big, big deal. [23:52] I see you, O'Shawn. [23:54] It doesn't get more important than entering the Fokker's family circle of trust. [23:58] I remember going to the theater and seeing that movie. [24:01] I think it was like one of the first PG-13 movies I saw when I was underage. [24:05] So can't forget about the Meet the Parents franchise. [24:07] Roxy Diaz, thank you so much for joining us. [24:09] Thank you. [24:10] All right, I'm O'Shawn Singh. [24:11] And this is Searched on ABC News Live, where your questions meet real answers. [24:15] We'll leave you with what's trending right now on abcnews.com. [24:18] You can scan that QR code right there to catch up. [24:21] And we'll see you back here tomorrow. [24:22] You can scan that QR code right there.