♪♪ >> no one does big nights like fox, and it is another one here on fox news channel. florida governor ron desantis will join fox news for a town hall in des moines, iowa, 6:00 p.m. eastern. martha, bret will moderate. don't miss a second. pop your corn, your night is made. i don't know if you've been watching, but i mean, that hour is on fire. it really is. and so we look forward to that. by the way on wednesday, we will see donald trump, at 9:00 p.m. eastern, also moderated by martha and bret. a great week. get into politics, six days from the iowa caucuses. that's it for us. "america reports" now. >> sandra: fox news alert, the

white house is expected to brief shortly and will likely face a lot of questions about hunter biden's art dealer who is right now speaking behind closed doors. that is happening with lawmakers today. the deposition before the house oversight committee is part of a larger investigation into the biden family business dealings. >> john: they came to hear from the soho gallerist, who has featured things from the first son in at least two shows. we will ask what was learned today coming up. >> this indictment of the administration's attitude toward public disclosure and toward full transparency. there's just a lot we need to know and frankly, there's a lot that our enemies are noticing about our lackadaisical attitude

toward the chain of command. i can't find anyone to tell me what was wrong and how ill he was. was he sedated, was he under -- was he unconscious. >> sandra: key questions at this hour as just a short time from flou we will -- now we will hear from pat ryder, the first briefing since lloyd austin's mysterious illness. >> john: ryder briefed yesterday, he did not acknowledge that austin was in the hospital even though he was taken to walter reed in an ambulance three days earlier. despite this, the white house is backing austin as some republican lawmakers call for him to resign. jacqui heinrich live on the north lawn. any update on the secretary's condition at this hour, jacqui? >> jacqui: we know he's still in the hospital, john, we are

expecting to hear more from the pentagon soon, the briefing got pushed back slightly, but we are looking forward to it at 2:30 eastern time. the pentagon says word got to the white house so late because the secretary of defense's chief of staff was out sick with the flu. now, she has ordered an investigation into who knew what and when even though she did not delegate her responsibilities to tell congress, the deputy secretary of defense, and the white house, to anyone else. and her statement didn't take any personal responsibility for any of this either. the other questions being raised here is just how often the president in fact talks with his secretary of defense, given this period of time where no one was hearing anything from secretary austin. especially as u.s. forces have been under attack overseas. the pentagon tried to assure people yesterday there was never any point in time a gap that could have caused a national

security risk but the deputy security of defense was given temporary duties from her vacation in puerto rico without understanding why. austin was taken to walter reed on january 1st and officials could not say at any point he was unconscious. >> at no time was there any gap, no time was national security in jeopardy. there was positive control the entire time. >> he was capable of performing his duties. >> as i understand it, as i understand it, that is the case. >> how could you know that without knowing whether he was conscious or on pain medication. >> i can only relay what i know. >> jacqui: also unclear how long austin was in the icu or what kind of access he had to coms while he was in there, and critics say it's not only an outrage but it's dangerous. >> if an adversary launches an

into clear ibm, we have 15 minutes to determine whether the united states is targeted, how it's targeted or whether it's a test. if in that 15 minutes you can't find, literally can't find the secretary of defense because he's in the icu, that is not only dangerous to every american, it's dangerous to the entire world. >> jacqui: some republicans have called for austin's resignation. one went a step further, call for him to be impeached. u.s. forces were attacked at least 13 times while austin was in the hospital, including eight between the time he was admitted and when he resumed his full duties. but really the news here today, john, is that the chief of staff is ordering this investigation knowing that she found out on tuesday, didn't tell anyone else to do her job and for two more days no one else at the pentagon, or at the white house or national security council was notified. john. >> john: and this note coming to us from chad pergram as well, fox news has learned the deputy

secretary of defense kathleen hicks even now is unaware of what the procedure that lloyd austin underwent was in regard to. according to chad, senior officials are saying that strains credulity. what are you hearing there? >> jacqui: in this memo ordering an investigation, it does say that in the future when any one is sort of out of commission, an email has to be sent to top brass, their staff, relevant folks at the white house, which details the reason why, if it's a hospital stay or out of zone and cannot be accessed. but in terms of finding out exactly what kind of procedure the sent of defense had, it doesn't sound like anyone is going to be giving us information on that. the reason being is that lloyd austin did not want the public to know about this in the first place. he has said in his statement it was his medical procedure, he, you know, was reticent to have

the public know about it, obviously there are medical laws protecting privacy. but in terms of notifications to certain people who have a right to be in the know or need to be in the know, that's a subject of continuing questions, john. >> john: all right. and continues to churn there at the white house. jacqui heinrich for us. it's important from the standpoint -- the public does not have to know, but you would think officials would know because you know, there are varying degrees of elective procedures, some you can be sedated for, some local anesthestic, did he have a pacemaker implanted, a bunion removed, we don't know. >> sandra: he was in the icu, that's different. reportedly he ended up in the icu because of complicated from an elective surgery. but the fact we still don't know and that -- as you just reported that the deputy, the deputy

defense secretary, kathleen hicks is still unaware of the medical procedure that took place, this is pretty remarkable stuff. so we have the pentagon briefing that's happening a short time from now, the white house will also be briefing, they were not told, and there's questions over what this actually meant for national security while he was hospitalized and the white house didn't know that. we will dig into that with general jack keane. the question is if there was a massive international event that happened and the white house was not even aware that the president's defense secretary was in the icu, what really were the implications of that? we'll ask the general about it, john. >> john: implications are when you pick up the phone, you want the defense sent on the other end of it, not finding out where is he. looking forward to what the general has to say about this. >> sandra: and now this. >> opening of a pandora's box and it's a very -- it's a very sad thing that's happened with

this whole situation. when they talk about threat to democracy, that's your real threat to democracy and i feel that as a president you have to have immunity, very simple. >> sandra: former president donald trump making the case for presidential immunity, a short time ago when he made these remarks after arguments were heard in a d.c. courtroom stemming from the aversion case, he says the actions following the 2020 election were well within his official capacity as president. special counsel jack smith says trump broke the law and tried to reverse his loss. jonathan turley, george washington university law professor, constitutional law attorney and fox news contributor and also kerri kupec urbahn. welcome to you both. kerri, you were in the room. your top line thoughts and take

away from what you saw and heard. >> kerri: the former president was stoic, at counsel's table, leaning forward, paying very close attention to what was happening and one of the most compelling questions posed by the judges was actually to doj where one of the judges asked well, why will this not open up the floodgates if we reject your client's defense of immunity, in other words, if we say that the president is not immune from prosecution for official acts conducted while in office, how will this not become license for political enemies to prosecute each other upon leaving the white house. i thought that was a very good question and really one that gets to the heart of this issue. >> sandra: jonathan, thank you very much for joining us as well. there was quite a remarkable exchange where the headline basically is reading that the former president's lawyer argued that presidents can order seal team 6 to assassinate political

rivals, this was a stunning exchange in the courtroom with judge pan, and former president trump's attorney. let's listen and play this out. >> i asked you yes or no question. could a president who ordered seal team 6 to assassinate a political rival who was not impeached, could he be subject to criminal prosecution. >> if he were impeached and convicted first. >> your answer is -- no. >> my answer is qualified yes. there a political process under the structure of the constitution require impeachment and conviction by the senate and exceptional cases as they point out from the department of justice you would expect a speedy impeachment and conviction. the founders were more worried about than using criminal prosecution to discipline presidents, james madison called in federalist 47, more concerned about the abuse of political process for political purposes

to disable the presidency from factions and political opponents. that's what we see in this case. >> sandra: is that the case, jonathan, can a president under certain circumstances order the assassination of a political rival? and receive immunity for it? >> jonathan: i don't believe it is the case. you know, this was really i think very telling of how the argument went. a series of jump scares. both sides were presenting these parades of horribles that would come if you don't accept our argument. i think what was clear to me from the argument was that probably trump's -- this argument of impeachment first, prosecution later, is a dead letter with the panel. i don't believe that the judges agree that you needed a conviction to ever prosecute a president. but there is still a lot of ambiguity there. the question is what the court described in nixon versus

fitzgerald as the outer parameters of presidential authority or duties. and the question is does this fit within that gray area. because the supreme court and the lower courts have struggled for this, and it's not clear, and so there is -- there is legitimate debate here. i did not come away thinking the panel was likely to rule with the former president. at some point they seem to be debating more whether i'm going to use a sledgehammer or a stilleto. it -- they were arguing what is the best grounds for getting rid of this appeal. but you know, we really don't know and time will tell, but what is clear it won't take much time. >> sandra: really interesting. finally, kerri, your reaction to what we heard in that courtroom as far as the attorneys debating, ultimately this was trump's attorney, debating what the frightening future really is. listen. >> what kind of world are we living in if as i understand my friend on the other side to say

here a president orders his seal team to assassinate a political rival and resigns, for example, before an impeachment? not a criminal act. president sells a pardon, resigns, or not impeached, not a crime. i think that is extraordinarily frightening future. >> we are in a situation where we have the prosecution of the chief political opponent who is winning in every poll election upcoming next year and is being prosecuted by the administration he's seeking to replace. that is the frightening future. >> sandra: your thoughts and take away from that, kerri. >> kerri: it's tricky. at the end of the day it's discretionary and that's the question and that's what i was getting to or getting at, rather, with the question posed by i believe judge henderson about the floodgates that will open. at the end of the day you'll have doj prosecutors, federal prosecutors making decisions as to if a president is not immune as to what constitutes

unofficial acts and conduct that would be perhaps in the normal world construed as criminal is not when one is president. and some of the examples they went through, obama and drone strikes and citizens, the rationale that george bush gave for going into iraq. various things that are complicated when not just running this country but leading the free world. and that's where this becomes a potential pandora's box if there is not a deference towards immunity. but like professor turley said, it's a complicated issue and this particular area of immunity has not really been explored. >> sandra: and there's big questions over what the political impact of all of this really will be. we'll dig into that a bit later in the show. thanks to both of you for joining us. kerri, jonathan, thank you. >> john: iowa caucuses six days away and time is running out for republican challengers to catch up to the front-runner donald trump. brand-new power rankings show

nikki haley moving into second place pushing ron desantis down to third. christie and vivek ramaswamy barely hanging on. bill melugin is live in waukee, iowa. you spoke to nikki haley, how does she feel about the rankings? >> john, she said she can feel the momentum, she thinks the opponents can feel the momentum, too, a bigger target on the back now. she well comes the target and telling everybody else bring it on. power rankings one more time unveiled this morning. donald trump still the front-runner, but nikki haley coming into that number two spot, she is enjoying some positive polling results in the state of new hampshire. she is confident she can beat donald trump on the ground and during a fox news town hall last night she said he should not be removed from state ballots. take a listen. >> no he shouldn't be taken off the ballot and the supreme court needs to rule quickly before other states start to do this. this is one of those don't open a door if you don't want to see what happens. this is a door we don't need to

open. i will defeat president trump fair and square. i don't need anybody throwing him off the ballot to do it. >> bill: and the trump campaign is upping their attacks on nikki haley. dropped a brand-new attack ad against her yesterday about $1.3 million ad going after her on immigration, calling her "too weak, too liberal to secure the southern border". the campaign saying they are now targeting haley. part of what the trump campaign told fox news, president trump has long said he would train his sites on whomever is number two in the race. desantis single digits everywhere, and campaign on life support means it's nikki haley's turn in the barrel. i asked haley to respond to that a short time ago. >> bring it. bring it. i want him on a debate stage. i've said that over and over again. if he wants to put me in a barrel, then put me in a barrel on a debate stage, that's where we want to see him. they are so sweet, they are

giving me attention, momentum is good and they can continue to attack all they want. >> reminder for our viewers, fox news will be hosting a town hall with governor ron desantis tonight at 6:00 eastern here in iowa, and then former president trump will get his own town hall on fox news, tomorrow night at 9:00 eastern. back to you. >> john: turnout is key and donald trump is urging everybody to come out and support him. take nothing for granted, he says. the high temperature on monday is going to be -4. how do you think that will play into everything? >> bill: in each of these candidates are internally going to be worrying a little bit because they are going to need some die hard, hard core supporters to come out and caucus for them in this kind of weather. john, this is hot compared to what it's supposed to be monday night. i think we are in like the mid 20s right now. it's supposed to drop another 20, potentially 25°. so yeah, all the candidates will need their folks to come out and

come out strong regardless of what the weather is. >> john: do the little thing we used to do during the caucuses, take a cup of hot water, go outside and throw it in the air and it instantly turns to steam. have fun there, bill. >> bill: yeah. will do, thank you. >> sandra: fox news alert, this is happening right now, antony blinken is delivering a news conference despite the background that you see he is live from tel aviv. dip in and listen. >> time feels different for families in gaza as well. hundreds of thousands of whom are experiencing acute food insecurity. for the mother or father trying to find something to feed a hungry child, the passage of another day without food, is excrutiating. time also feels different for israelis and palestinians whose innocent loved ones have been killed. for them, time often falls into

before and after. the after filled with a loss that most of us will never know and cannot fully imagine. and those are just a few examples of how heavy these 95 days have felt and continue to feel for the people most affected by this conflict. this immense human toll is one of the many reasons that we continue to stand with israel and ensuring that october 7th can never happen again. it's also why we are intensely focused on bringing the remaining hostages home. addressing the humanitarian crisis, and strengthening protection for civilians in gaza. and preventing the conflict from spreading. and it's the reason we are working urgently to forge a path toward lasting peace and security in this region. we believe the submission

against israel to the international court of justice distracts the world from all of these important efforts. and moreover, the charge of genocide is meritless. it's particularly galling given that those who are attacking israel, hamas, hezbollah, the houthis, as well as their supporter, iran, continue to openly call for the annihilation of israel and the mass murder of jews. on this trip i came to israel after meeting with the leaders of turkey, greece, jordan, qatar, united arab emirates, saudi arabia. all of those leaders share our concern about the spread of the conflict. all of them are committed to using their influence, using the ties that they have to prevent it from escalating, to deter new things from opening. in addition, all express grave concern about the dire humanitarian situation and the

number of civilians killed in gaza. we know that facing an enemy that embeds itself among civilians who hides in and fires from schools, from hospitals, makes this incredibly challenging. but the daily toll on civilians in gaza, particularly on children, is far too high. important progress has been made increasing the amount of aid getting into gaza, including by opening another entry. 90% of gaza's population continues to face acute food insecurity, according to the united nations. for children, long periods without sufficient food can have lifelong consequences. as i underscored in our meetings today, more food, water, more medicine, other essential goods, need to get into gaza and then once they are in gaza, they need to get more effectively to the people who need them. and israel needs to do everything it can to remove any

obstacles from crossings to other parts of gaza, improving deconfliction procedures to ensure aid can move safely and securely is a critical part of that. united nations is playing a role to address humanitarian needs in gaza. there is simply no alternative. u.n. aid workers and others in gaza are demonstrating extraordinary courage by providing lifesaving services in what are extremely challenging conditions. i spoke last night with the u.n. new senior humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator for gaza about all of these efforts underway. now, sigrid is someone i worked closely with when she led the u.n. mission that destroyed the assad regime chemical weapons in syria. i can say from experience she has what it takes to get the job done. she has america's full support,

she must have israel's as well. today we also discussed the phased transition of israel's military campaign in gaza. we continue to follow best advice how israel with achieve its essential role of ensuring october 7th can never be repeated. and we believe israel has significant progress toward the objective. the campaign moves to a lower intensity phase in northern gaza and idf scales down forces there, a u.n. plan to carry out assessment mission to determine for displaced palestinians to return safely to homes in the north. now, it's not going to happen overnight, there are serious security, infrastructure and humanitarian challenges but the mission will start a process that evaluates these obstacles and how they can be overcome. in today's meetings i was also crystal clear. palestinian civilians must be able to return home as soon as

conditions allow. they must not be pressed to leave gaza. as i told the prime minister, the united states unequivocally rejects any proposals advocating for the relocating palestinians outside gaza and the prime minister affirmed this is not the policy of the israeli government. and tensions on israel's northern border with lebanon where hezbollah continues to launch daily rocket attacks on israel. as i told the war cabinet and other senior officials, the united states stands with israel ensuring the northern border is secure. we are fully committed to working with israel to find a diplomatic solution that avoids escalation and allows families to return to their homes to live securely in northern israel and also in southern lebanon. finally, we continue to discuss how to build a more durable peace and security in israel in the region. as i told the prime minister,

every partner i met on this trip said they are ready to support a lasting solution that ends the long running cycle of violence and ensures israel's security. but they underscored this can only come through a regional approach, includes the pathway to a palestinian state. these goals are attainable, but only if they are pursued together. this crisis is clarified. you can't have one without the other and can't achieve either goal without an integrated regional approach. to make this possible israel must be a partner to palestinian leaders who are willing to lead their people in living side-by-side in peace with israel and as neighbors. and israel must stop taking steps that undercut palestinians' ability to govern themselves effectively. expansion, demolitions, evictions all make it harder, not easier, for israel to

achieve lasting peace and security. the palestinian authority also has a responsibility to reform itself, to improve its governance, issues i plan to raise with president abbas among others when we meet tomorrow. if israel wants the arab neighbors to make the tough decisions to ensure lasting security, israeli leaders will have to make hard decisions themselves. when president biden addressed people of israel, a pledge, united states has israel's back today, tomorrow, always. the friendship between our nations is truly exceptional. it's our unique bond and america's enduring commitment to the people of israel that allows indeed demands that we are as forthright as possible in the moments where the stakes are highest, when the choices matter the most. this is one of those moments. happy to take some questions.

>> the first question to simon lewis with reuters. >> thank you. mr. secretary, the future of the gaza strip has been a theme of your trip while you have been visiting regional countries. i wonder today were you able to do any -- make any progress on closing the gap between arab leaders and israel on specific security reconstruction and governance arrangements for gaza, and you talked before leaving saudi arabia yesterday about the need for a practical pathway to a palestinian state as part of any efforts towards regional integration and obviously that's come up in your meetings with the cabinet. has prime minister netanyahu changed his mind? is he still opposed to the creation of a separate palestinian state, or have you

managed to convince him we'll get any guarantees that this is something that could happen? >> so one ever the things that i heard very clearly on this trip and these two questions are joined, is many countries in the region are really prepared to invest in a number of ways, to invest when the conflict in gaza is over and it's reconstruction, and its security, supporting palestinians in their governance. but it is essential to them that there also be a clear pathway to the realization of palestinian political rights and a palestinian state and i think the view that they have expressed is that critical to ending once and for all cycle of violence that is only going to

repeat itself in the future is through the realization of a palestinian political rights. that was a very clear message that i heard everywhere i went, just as i heard again a commitment not only to be engaged in the future of gaza, but also to take the steps necessary, make the commitments necessary, provide assurances necessary to give israel confidence in its security. and that's something that's new in recent years and very powerful, which is the willingness, the commitment of many neighboring countries, not only to live with israel in peace but also genuinely to have a region that's more integrated in which everyone can feel secure, including israel. so there is a -- i think also here a potentially powerful

opportunity for the future. now, very difficult to get there, hard to get there, hard decisions, hard choices need to be made in order to get there, but you can see that possibility. i'm not going to speak for the prime minister or anyone in the israeli government about their views. i can just share our own and also share a little bit of what i heard from countries in the region. >> for the next question, sulman masada. >> thank you for taking the questions. i'll do it fast. the israeli government still refusing to transfer the p.a.s money and the minister of finance said yesterday there are 2 million nazis in gaza and i won't give money to nazis, like the u.s. will not give money to al-qaeda. i would like to have your comment on that. and the second question is, the cabinet said, the war cabinet said they are refusing to let

gazans go back to north gaza for now. is that something you agreed on with your israeli counterparts. thank you very much. >> so first with regard to the palestinian authority -- they should have them, they should have them in order to be able to make sure that they can pay their people or providing essential services, including doing essential work in the west bank, the palestinian authority security forces, playing a very important role trying to keep peace, security, stability in the west bank, something profoundly in israel's interest. so we believe that those revenues should be -- should be released to them. again, their revenues and being used to do something that's important to israel. and when it comes to the future governance of gaza, when the conflict is over, of course people need to be paid, they need to be able to do the work

necessary to administer gaza, to do the other things that will be critical once the conflict ends. in terms of palestinians and moving back north in gaza, as i spoke to earlier, we have an agreement that the u.n. will now conduct an assessment to determine the conditions necessary for people to be able to move back home. there are a lot of really challenging and important issues to deal with, including things like unexploded ordinance, booby traps and other things left by hamas, infrastructure questions, proper support, all those things will be evaluated by the united nations pursuant to the agreement and as soon as conditions allow we want to see people move back to their homes and we have been very clear about the necessity of doing that when conditions allow, and

making sure that people want to go back they can go back. >> will malden, "wall street journal". >> thank you so much. i just wanted to ask about, we have heard some voices among israeli political leaders talking about the threat of iran in the region and of course its proxies, hezbollah and the houthis have been active in and around this conflict. and -- but you are bringing a message to the region of deescalation. was your message of deescalation heard and agreed with when you spoke to your israeli counterparts and political leaders today or certainly have not seen that in the last few days there have been strikes on hezbollah that would appear to be an escalation. do you support that and is the u.s. and its partners, are they prepared to take a strike

against the houthis because of their continued action in and around the red sea. >> thanks. one thing we have heard clearly every place we have gone, including in israel, escalation is in no one's interest. no one is seeking it. no one wants to see other fronts opened in this conflict and more than that, as i've, you know, already shared, we have countries around the region that are using their relationships, using their influence to try to make sure that that doesn't happen. we had extensive discussions about that today as we had on other days of this trip and here we focused particularly on the situation in northern israel and it's very clear to me from these conversations, a few things. first, we strongly support the proposition that israelis need to know security so that they

can return to their homes in northern israel. 80,000 or so israelis have been forced from their homes because of insecurity from coming from southern lebanon, rocket attacks, other threats posed by hezbollah. equally, we believe and the government of israel believes that diplomatic path is the best way to achieve that security. and that's exactly what we'll continue to pursue. it's what the government said today, and that's what we are focused on. more broadly, we have -- you are right, a number of actions being taken by houthis, other iranian proxies, in iraq, in syria, that threatens stability and threaten the potential for conflict and we are determined again that we

not see escalation, that we don't have the conflict spread, and we have made that very clear. but of course, if our personnel, if our forces are threatened or attacked, we'll take appropriate steps, we'll respond. we'll protect them, we have demonstrated that in the recent past and we will again if we have to. we talked already about the threat that the houthis are posing. that's a threat not to us, just to us or to israel, it's a threat to the entire international community because they have been attacking shipping through the red sea that's vital to providing, it provides 15% of global commerce every day. these attacks have had very, very negative effects for countries around the world in terms of forcing ships to route around the red sea, take longer routes, more expensive, more time, insurance rates goes up, prices for food, for medicine, for energy, for whatever is

being shipped are going up and more broadly, it's a threat to the principle of freedom of navigation that every country has a stake in. that's why more than 40 countries joined us in condemning the houthi actions and making clear if it continues there are consequences. but no one is looking to create a conflict or to escalate a conflict, on the contrary. we are seeking to prevent that from happening but we also have to uphold basic principles of international law, including freedom of navigation and we have to make sure our own personnel, when they are under threat, are being protected. >> you said consequences, does that mean -- [inaudible] >> i'm not going to speculate what will will happen in the future. but make clear if the x as continue, there will be consequences. >> final question, al-jazeera. >> thank you.

first secretary blinken thank you for expressing your deep sadness about the tragedy, he has lost his wife and three sons and his grandchildren under israeli bombardment of the house where they fled from the center of gaza city, and displaced to the southern gaza strip the 25th of october. two days ago or three days ago he lost his eldest son hamza, who was a journalist, and was killed in an israeli airstrike that hit a civilian car in rafah. 110 palestinian journalists were killed so far by the israeli arm in gaza during the war. more than 20,000 civilians were killed and tens of thousands were injured and hundreds of thousands were displaced from

their homes that no longer exist. the situation of the israeli citizens is also difficult. tens of thousands were displaced from the gaza and the borderline with lebanon and hundreds of civilians were killed in the hamas attack on the 7th of october. and there are many prisoners from both sides as you know. my question, why do you as a super power and as leading force in the international community not oblige the parties and especially the israeli government to ceasefire in gaza and respect the united nations resolutions indicated the peaceful solution instead of both sides continuing blood, by more blood. my second question is related to the matter of normalization.

and is the u.s.a. really busy with the matter and do you think mr. blinken, that the option exists or is it just an attempt to escape from the solution of the palestinian question and netanyahu, prime minister of israel, to agree with the american position in order to change his extreme government and what's about the rule of the four arab nations or countries as you mentioned before in gaza. it's just to contribute for the reconstruction or the political rule there. >> let me just say again at the outset, the loss -- losses that your colleague suffered are unimaginable. and i have deep condolences for what he has suffered.

i again can't even begin to fully imagine what he's going through. and as i said again the other day, to the journalists who have lost their lives and have been injured in gaza, we feel very strongly for them as well, and the essential work that they do. it's more vital than ever. we want this war to end as soon as possible. there's been far too much loss of life, far too much suffering. but it's vital that israel achieve its very legitimate objectives of ensuring that october 7th can never happen again. we believe they have made considerable progress toward that goal. at the same time, i think it's very important to remember that everyone has choices to make and that includes hamas.

hamas could have ended this on october 8th by not hiding behind civilians, by putting down its weapons, by surrendering, by releasing the hostages. none of the suffering, none of the suffering would have happened if hamas hadn't -- did what it did on october 7th and had it made different decisions thereafter. so it's very important to keep that in perspective and again, this could end tomorrow if hamas makes those decisions. we will continue as we have done to give the israel list our best advice about conducting this war in a manner that achieves the

objective of making sure that october 7th can't be repeated, does better by protecting civilians, and making sure that people get the assistance that they need. with regard to normalization, there is i think a clear interest in pursuing that. integration of the region is something that virtually all the countries that i visited on this trip want to advance, want to pursue. some of them have already taken vital steps to do that. others i think are interested in doing the same. but it's equally clear that that's not in substitute for or at the expense of a political horizon for the palestinians, and ultimately a palestinian state. on the contrary. that piece has to be a part of any integration efforts, any

normalization efforts. that was also very clear in my conversations during the course of this trip, including in saudi arabia. thank you. >> sandra: all right, we are going to continue to monitor the news conference, it's happening in tel aviv, u.s. embassy jerusalem there but it is in tel aviv, following his meeting with benjamin netanyahu in israel there, john. certainly a lot of headlines coming from this, but the secretary of state clearly urging israel to halt steps that undercut, he said, the palestinians' ability to govern themselves. he does not want to seek escalation, obviously he wants to avoid, he is saying, this war spreading in the region, but a lot to take in there as he on the ground and the middle east tour will continue. >> john: he said he's talking with leaders in the region, he said it too leaving saudi arabia about the future of west bank and gaza, governance, and

agreement with the leaders he talked to that the west bank and gaza should come under the same system of governance, which it has not been since back in 2006 when hamas won elections there and violently threw fatah out. so now you've got fatah marginally in charge of the west bank, no one in charge of gaza, and the big question is, if you want to unite them under one system of governance, who does that fall to? that's a big question. >> sandra: that is a big question and we have some more news to get to out of the white house, john. >> john: yeah, breaking news here, let's roll the alert, fox news alert, you might have thought this was already in place, guess again, it wasn't. the white house chief of staff has sent a memo to all cabinet secretaries saying that the white house is reviewing agency protocols for a delegation of authority from cabinet members, essentially the white house is reviewing the protocols and policies of when a cabinet secretary is unable to carry out his or her duties, you got to

tell the white house. either got to tell the office of cabinet affairs or you have to tell the white house chief of staff. let's bring in lieutenant general keith kellogg, fox news contributor, former national security adviser to vice president pence. if you had gone into the hospital when you were the vice president's national security adviser, and you didn't tell anybody and they were looking for you, and they could not find you, what would have happened? >> thanks, john, for having me. well, i would be a nonadmit back into the white house grounds. i think the secret service would have pulled my clearance and my pass. look, i did go to the hospital for actually hip replacement, when i was in the white house, and i told the president that's what i was going to do. i mean, that was just me. and i think it's appropriate to do it. i was kind of laughing about it saying really? i mean, this is so obvious, you are the secretary of defense, you are part of the national command authority, you've got to tell people where you are going to be. i'm not laughing because it's

funny, i'm saying really? this is serious, it is very serious business on accountability. i mean, it's just something that is just done. so i mean -- you know, frankly, we did it all the time, it shouldn't have been a surprise to anybody, i'm shocked they didn't do it. >> sandra: this was our initial reaction when they saw the news, it happened during blinken's speech in tel aviv, the white house orders cabinet secretaries to notify when they can't perform duties after the austin illness. we still don't know what led him into the icu. how big of a problem is that, he's still in the hospital, thankfully we have been told he's been transferred out of the icu. but you think about the actual risk as far as national security, if we don't know where our defense secretary is. what message does that send to the world, general? >> yeah, sandra, look, my comment to everybody is somebody should use some common sense,

you need to do this, and tell people about it. look, there's a lot of people involved in this process that are at fault. everybody from the secretary of defense down through the spokesman he's got, general ryder, to the chiefs of staff, to all of the agencies involved in this. this is really -- the reason why, sandra, i say this is important, because if you pick one single cabinet official that is so critical in national security for the continuity of command and civilian control of the government, it's the secretary of defense. you cannot execute any military orders at all unless the secretary of defense says to. the comment about these are preplanned for the strikes, no, they are not. they are under the rules of engagement. no, this is an operation that needed to be approved by the secretary and frankly some of these operations went ahead and on a very, very thin line of getting approval and doing it

correctly. >> john: you mentioned laughing about this, and i think general, we are laughing about this, if we didn't laugh we would be crying about it because it just seems -- seems so obvious and this was not done. but here is the kicker with all of this, and the memo to the cabinet secretary, he says the white house is conducting a review of agency protocols for a delegation to authority from cabinet members while this review is ongoing cabinet agencies must ensure they adhere to the following procedures in the event delegation of authority is required. notify the offices of cabinet affairs and white house chief of staff in the event of a delegation of authority or potential delegation. meaning they haven't even nailed this down yet, they are studying it. >> yeah, john, you mentioned something that really does bother me. the fact is, if you are a cabinet official, pretty senior, you pick up the phone and you tell the president of the united states, you don't go through cabinet affairs. cabinet affairs is not even in

the west wing, it's in the executive office building next to the west wing, you don't tell a white house chief of staff, the cabinet official does not work for the chief of staff. they work for the president of the united states. call him. and that's how it's done. >> sandra: general, we just got word a few minutes before all this, top of the 1:00 hour, that fox is told through chad pergram the deputy defense secretary, kathleen hicks, still doesn't even know or is unaware of the medical procedure performed on the defense secretary. and again, this could be something that, you know, hopefully he's completely fine and we get that to be the case, but to john's point about ok, now let's establish a protocol, i mean, the deputy defense secretary still does not know why he was in the hospital. that seems like a big deal to me. and by the way, in this memorandum to cabinet members we just got from the white house and the white house chief of staff, ok, activate your

agency's existing delegation of authority protocols. you might want to tell kathleen hicks, she still does not know what the problem is. thanks, general. >> john: thanks, general. again, we laugh because otherwise we would cry. back to one of our top stories, former president trump is leading the way in brand-new fox power rankings as republicans gear up for the iowa caucuses on monday when the high is going to be -4. and if nothing changes between now and the march primaries, trump is very likely to secure the republican nomination. katie pavlich, editor of town hall and fox news contributor is here. front-runner donald trump, take a look at this, nikki haley switches spots with ron desantis, she's in the number two position. a big move for nikki haley, bad news for desantis. >> desantis has had trouble gaining a lot of momentum, if any, in the recent weeks but since he's launched the campaign, gone backwards instead of forwards. nikki haley has gone up in the polling, i think the town hall

with fox news helped her a lot, you had a number of people in the audience asking questions and saying they were still considering her as their choice even though they voted for president trump in the previous primary there back in 2016. but when you look at the polling still, president trump is up by 34 points in iowa on average, you go to new hampshire, up by 19, some of those show him up by 11, nikki haley close to him there, she got the endorsement of the governor of new hampshire, and south carolina and president trump is still up by 31 points. now, caucuses are different, they are difficult to poll, people come to the caucuses in negative 5° and they may change their mind based on what people are telling them. the trump campaign has tried to urge people to bring new people to the caucuses to vote for him, so things could change if the polling is wrong, it will be catastrophic, president trump has already made history with how far ahead he is in these polls but also a risk in the sense of people thinking it's over and not showing up to vote.

>> john: the national weather service has a calculator, plug in the expected temperature and the wind, it will probably be about -9, and you are going to be there, the wind chill factor, effective temperature will be -30°. all right. but then on to new hampshire, where the weather will be compar comparatively balmy. nikki haley, just seven points behind. so, now when we get into the dynamic of the primary process. if she does better than expected in iowa, that will give her some momentum going into new hampshire on the 23. if she were to pull out a win in new hampshire, how could that potentially change the calculus going forward? it's all about momentum. >> of course. as she always says, don't underestimate her and it will be interesting to see after iowa what the results are and whether ron desantis actually drops out of the race with chris christie

and vivek ramaswamy potentially dropping out, then it's a 1 and 1 race, that's the argument from the haley campaign. once you get her one-on-one with trump, 37% of the base locked up, but 37% of people who say we like him but willing to do a different choice this time around, and she of course has the people who want to vote for her. so, much more interesting if she can pull off a win in new hampshire going into south carolina, but again, south carolina is her home state, president trump is beating her there, we'll see what happens after new hampshire whether she can wrap up and change votes with other people out of the race. >> john: and then a potential wildcard on the democratic side. listen to what michelle obama said. >> i am terrified about what could possibly happen because our leaders matter who we select, who speaks for us, who holds that bully pulpit. it affects us in ways sometimes i think people take for granted.

we cannot take this democracy for granted. >> john: as we know, the obamas are not sold on joe biden a president a second time and if ever a pick me moment, that was it. >> she's clearly saying if president trump were to win the general election it would terrify her. that was not endorsement of confidence moving forward, that joe biden could win and now speculation she may get into the race, i'm not sure it's going to happen but the obamas are heavily involved in this and are quite worried that joe biden cannot pull it off. >> john: could make for an interesting democratic convention. >> we have a long ways to go. >> sandra: good to see katie. we are waiting the pentagon briefing as we mentioned, as anger escalates over the defense secretary lloyd austin being out of commission without following proper chain of command, like letting the white house know. >> john: yes, and so the white

house is now putting the cabinet secretaries on notice, you got to let us know. as concerns grow over iran's role in the israel-hamas war, is tehran building up atomic supplies, and if so, how many nuclear bombs could they now make. stay with us. oh thanks! i splurged a little because liberty mutual customized my car insurance and i saved hundreds. that's great. i know, right? i've been telling everyone. baby: liberty. did you hear that? ty just said her first word. can you say “mama”? baby: liberty. can you say “auntie”? baby: liberty. how many people did you tell? only pay for what you need. jingle: ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ baby: ♪ liberty. ♪

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