and less joint pain, and that means everything. ♪ nothing is everything ♪ ask your doctor about how skyrizi could help with your skin or joint symptoms. learn how abbvie could help you save. ♪ ♪ rachel: all right, we're back here, you guys, these puppies are just too cute. joey: i've been getting puppy kisses this whole time, and i want just one on camera, just one, and she's not doing it. rachel: give us the web site one last time. >> just puppy bowl.com. rachel: bye, everybody, see you tomorrow. neil: fox on top of a battle for the ages and an election that could come down to which one of these guys is aging better or worse. president biden brushing off a special counsel report that calls his memory into question

while donald trump says charges against him should be dropped without question. and speaking of questions, can congress get anything passed, anything at all? the senate sure is trying, meeting today in a rare saturday session to get something done on foreign aid, but good luck with that. 17 republicans ongourd with the -- onboard with the plan, one marco rubio is not. it has to do with our border and a crisis spiraling out of control way beyond our border. and from political storms to very real and very deadly ones in california and, base yourself, america, moving east and fast just in time for value aen type's day. and we're not showing you -- snowing you. america, we are looking out for you starting now. ♪ ♪ neil: welcome, everybody, i'm neil cavuto. happy weekend. so glad to have you. we've got a busy two hours ahead. let's begin with lou cat tomlin

szob -- lucas tomlinson at the white house. it is a split read. lucas. >> reporter: that's right, neil. now, the white house is not disagreeing with all the report's findings, namely the conclusion talking about the special counsel's report, of course, on the president, leading to the following question inside the white house briefing room yesterday: >> reporter: you're claiming that much of the report is accurate, so why are you so confident that the conclusion is correct? >> the conclusion's been obvious from the very beginning. it was a long, intensive, sort of meandering information that came to the -- investigation that came to the conclusion in february of last year everybody knew, that this wasn't intentional. >> reporter: and the president, of course, came to his own defense late thursday night leading to the following ebbs e change with our own peter doocy. >> reporter: president biden, something the special counsel said in his report is that one of the reasons you were not charged is because, in his description, you are a well-meaning, elder orally man

with a poor memory. >> i'm well meaning, i'm an elderly man, and i know what the hell i'm doing. i've been president, and i put this country back on its feet. i don't need his recommendation -- >> reporter: how bad is your memory, and you continue as a president? if. >> reporter: my memory's so bad, i let you speak. >> reporter: and vice president harris also rushed to the president's defense. >> so the way that the president's demeanor in that report was characterized could not be more wrong on the facts and clearly politically motivated. gratuitous. >> reporter: other democrats on the house also rushed in to help the president. >> he is fully capable of doing his job, he's doing it well. he does not have the normal strength to go out there and campaign, you know, to do rally after rally and conversation after conversation. and that's going to be difficult on the campaign trail.

>> reporter: and as you mentioned off the top, neil, the senate is working this weekend trying to pass a foreign aid package if to help israel, ukraine and taiwan. of course, after that border bill failed. neil? neil: lucas, thank you. lucas at the white house. well, president trump has been saying whatever you did for that guy to exonerate him on this document thing, do for me. madeleine rivera following that in washington. >> reporter: hey, or neil if. former president trump making his first public remarks about the special counsel report at an nra forum in pennsylvania friday. he accused the justice department of exercising a double standard. >> if he's not going to be charged, that's up to them. but then i should not be charged. [applause] this is nothing more than selective persecution of biden's political opponent, me. and i don't know that it's biden, because i don't think he knows he's alive. >> reporter: trump is facing

40 criminal counts in his classified documents case. in his report, special counsel robert hur says there are differences between how the two leaderser responded to their probes. with trump allegedly refusing to turn in materials and end listing others to destroy evidence, but gop presidential candidate nikki haley is making no distinction between the two when it comes to their mental capacities. in a statement friday she said the white house is, quote, not a taxpayer-subsidized nursing home. she stresses this moment is a wake-up call for democrats and republicans, adding: it is clear to most americans that biden lacks the mental capacity to effectively serve as president. before going on to say: donald trump has his own meant ifal deficiencies, is prone to temper tantrum cans and wild rants, confuses countries and who was in charge of capitol security on january 6th. trump mistakenly mentioned haley when he was referred to -- referring to former house speaker nancy pelosi last month. meantime, the supreme court will likely rule against keeping

trump off the colorado ballot. most of the justices seemed skeptical of the effort to ban trump under the 14th amendment in part because of the effect the decision may have on the rest are of the country. neil. neil: all right. thank you very much for all of that. let's, in the meantime, get a read on the significance of all of this with tom dupree. tom, you know, much has been made of the fact that robert hur, the special counsel, went to great lengths to explain why he wouldn't bring criminal charges and brought up all the old man stuff and all. "the washington post" had a split read in the editorial today where it said it could see the rationale for doing that, but that he laid it on thick. do you think he laid it on thick? if. >> i don't, neil. i think what he was doing when he wrote what he did was he wanted to give the american people a reason, his explanation if as to why he ultimately would decline to pursue criminal chargessest and -- charges against president biden. and and i know that the white house obviously wasn't enamored

with what the special counsel said, they thought it was irrelevant, a digression and, obviously, they're coming out full force against it, but i think the special counsel was doing what his respondent is which is to not only give his bottom line conclusion, but to provide the american people with his reasons why he reached that conclusion. neil: you know, the fact is that this stuff wasn't exactly hidden away, the unlocked vault, that a kind of stuff, you know, whether it's an older gentleman doing it or not. i don't know whether that ooh reaches the agree of criminal behavior, but that was an attack line used existence donald trump and his documents, the way they were hidden or not so disguised. i'm just wondering the trump team's argument that a there is a double standard here. is there? if. >> yeah. look, i think the former president has a decent argument because you look at the facts of both of these cases and, yes, there are differences. but at the end of the day, they hechted to charge trump, and they elected -- elected to charge trump and elected not to

charge biden. what's interesting is the special counsel's devoted a portion of his report to trying to explain the difference between those two cases, and it basically came down to former president trump wasn't cooperative, and president biden was. on these underlying concealment of documents charges, that doesn't provide a basis for drawing a distinction between the two cases. neil: while i've got you tom on donald trump and now waiting for the supreme court decision on whether colorado can take his name off the ballot, from the tenor and tone of actually all of the nine justices questioning the lawyers this past week, you get the sense that they are going to argue in donald trump's defense that he should not be taken off the ballot. could even be, you know, a unanimous decision. but what do you think. >> >> i think it is undeniably going to go in donald trump's favor. i don't think there's much question about it. i personally didn't think there was much doubt about it heading

into the argument, and the questions that we heard at the argument from the justices expressed deep skepticism about colorado's position. i think the only question here is whether or not it's a unanimous 9-0 decision or whether it's, say, an 8-1 decision. but the fact that both justices kagan and jackson came off the box challenging colorado's position, questioning whether their position was consistent with the text of our constitution, questioning whether it was consistent with the purpose of the 14th amendment leaves no doubt about where where even the liberal justices are going to come down on this case. neil: got it. tom, thank you very much. tom dupree on all of that. want to go to daniel litman, political white house and washington reporter. dan, i mentioned this editorial that sort of picked apart how necessary if it was for the special counsel to vote to the degree he did in criticizing the president's age and, you know, that he's getting forgetful. but what i found interesting in the tenor of that editorial was

acknowledging the elephant in the room here saying, and i quote, this has been an as aspect of his -- referring to joe biden's -- political persona since he was a much younger man. clearly not improved with age. my memory is fine, the president said, before confusing the presidents of mexico and egypt. in other words, he keeps piling on to this, and now it has entered the mainstream media, is he up to the task, and that this is going to be a front and center issue and a major concern for democrats. what are you hearing? >> yeah. democrats are ap protect if tick about what happened this week. they do acknowledge that biden is older, that he's not as a vigorous rouse, but the democrats that i talk to who work with biden say that he is much sharper in the building, that he is not confused. he has a strong memory. this is a guy who was the senate foreign relations committee chair for many years. but they do understand the optics that if you're going to make all of these gaffes -- and

biden is a big with gaffe maker for the last couple decades -- you can't increase the rate during this campaign, and you have to do more press conferences and town halls. even "the new york times" editorial board was saying that's very important after this report to reassure americans that this is, you know, he is capable of doing the job for the next four years. neil: but he doesn't reassure people when he does this, right? if i heard the white house staff was not very keen when he wanted to hastily have a press conference late on thursday to state his case, and obviously, he dug a deeper hole. so they're dealing with that conone if drum for the who wants to say i'm just fine, and every time he goes before a microphone increasely he doesn't sound fine, he doesn't come across as a fine. what do you think? >> you're exactly right that it's a big concern. and remember when he gave that press conference on thursday night, he was about to go back to the white house. he had a basically kind of

answered a bunch of the questions, and he went back to the podium and then made that big gaffe on mexico and egypt. ing. neil: right. >> and so that's, you know, not if great for biden, but they think that they can ride this out and that a trump conviction would ameliorate what happened this week. neil: but, you know, we talk about, you know, donald trump and all that and all these court cases which he seems to have only picked up more popularity within the party. we'll see how it goes nationally. nationally he's leading in the polls as well. so i did want to get your sense of that with donald trump and whether democrats who routinely whisper, you know, donald trump's had some flubs on the stump. and, indeed, he has. misidentifying individuals. but nothing along the degree or the number that joe biden has. so i just wonder if the democrats are going to make that their negotiation look at this guy. it might boomerang back on their guy. >> yeah, i don't think democrats would be wise to have some

memory contest or an s.a.t. prep session with both of these people. [laughter] thankfully, that is not the only part of the job. and, you know, being a president who is honorable and does not break the law, democrats are going to say that if, you know, we'll take biden being forgetful a few more times than trump as long as he's not a felon, and biden was not even charged by that trump a -- appointee, robert hur, and so they're hoping that a washes away what happened. the debates are going to be the real test. that's when americans will make up their minds if there are even going to be debates about whether biden is qualified to be president for the next four years. hopefully, we get those debates. neil yeah. that's an open question. we might not, right? we'll see what happens. daniel, thank you very much is. have a great weekend. >> thank you, neil. neil: well, you know, there was

the an older president not too many years ago who was dealing with this same sort of attack line. that particular president had, really had a way of laughing it off and, ultimately, winning in a landslide. i'll take you back after a this. a few years ago, i came to saona, they told me there's no electricity on the island. we always thought that whatever we did here would be an emblem of what small communities can achieve. trying to give a better life to people that don't have the means to do it. let's begin with lucas sé que él tuviera orgulloso también de vivir de esta viviendo una vida como la que estamos viviendo ahora. es electricidad aquí es salud. (ella) fashion moves fast. setting trends is our business. we need to scale with customer demand... in real time. (jen) so we partner with verizon. their solution for us? a private 5g network. (ella) we now get more control of production,

efficiencies, and greater agility. (marquis) with a custom private 5g network. our customers get what they want, when they want it. (jen) now we're even smarter and ready for what's next. (vo) achieve enterprise intelligence. it's your vision, it's your verizon.

♪ ♪ ♪

it's time to feed the dogs real food, not highly processed pellets. the farmer's dog is fresh food made with whole meat and veggies. it's not dry food. it's not wet food. it's just real food. it's an idea whose time has come. >> is there any doubt in your mind that you would be able to function in such circumstances? >> not at all. mr. true wit, i want you to know that also i will not make age an issue of this campaign. i am not going to exploit for political purposes my opponent's youth and inexperience. [laughter] [cheers and applause] neil: that election was over with that quip and in that moment. at the time ronald reagan was trying to bounce back if a very tough of -- where a lot of people were saying he was forgetting things, had a lost his fastball, seemed to be looking and sounding too old

further if job. of he was 73 years old, and it looked like it was an cup hill mental battle for him, then that line. we should point out things can change and often do. and history suggests we've seen it a number of times, the ronald reagan incident the most famous, we thought we'd talk to a doctor about this who is generally trained to meet the health care needs of older adults. it can start at age 65. this was a huge concern to me, but that is what it is. dr. elizabeth joins us right now, jeer tradition, kind enough to sort of help us with this. doctor, good to have you. >> thank you. i'm very excited on table to teach about a dementia. neil: and please do here. maybe we examine the president far too closely, but he is the leader of the free world. we have every reason to. do you as a doctor observing him, like you observe so many, find him to be in the early stages of dementia? >> well, let's talk about what

capacity is and dementia. can dementia is a very broad term meaning decreased function of the brain. s it is 10% of folks over the age of 65, 50% of folks over the anal of 85, and and -- age of 85, and it's most often alzheimer's disease, but 30% is vascular disease. so that said -- [no audio] neil: i think we're losing you, doctor, if we can work on that. one of the things we're just sort of trying to fine tune here is when the president's exhibiting -- keep in mind, he's 81 years old, that ronald reagan clip, he was 73 at the time. ronald reagan was the oldest president at that time. so there was much more scrutiny if about joe biden right now as the oldest president at this time. doctor, do we have you? >> you do, yes. neil: i apologize. that's great, i was getting worried there.

so let me ask you, if we can fine tune this, doctor, is there anything in the way joe biden is comporting himself or, you know, where he misses names here and there, we all do that, but he's getting a lot of scrutiny for it because he seems to be picking up the pace. is that the case? do you worry about that? >> you know, i do a lot of capacity evaluations for the court, and what we look at is function. so does he understand what the discussions of policy are, you know, can he then say that, you know, the next day he tell you what the policy issues are. neil: and he can, right? from your vantage point, he can do that. okay. all right. i apologize for all this. it was a great idea for a segment, guys. we wanted to pursue that. i apologize. again, we are monitoring this. i think a lot of people are leaping on this and say the flubs constitute a much bigger

crisis, others are telling me it is a big crisis. we're going to continue to monitor with top neurologists and doctors and the like. in the meantime, what's been with happening in the new york met to propoll tan area, two very scary incidents involving two different, at least two different pie grants. after this. and retirement savings. voya helps you choose the right amounts without over or under investing. so you can feel confident in your financial choices. voya, well planned, well invested, well protected. you give eye exams. i give fresh starts. better vision, healthy eyes? everybody wants that. "hero doc saves vision!" well, i— —"hero owl saves money!" get 50% off lenses when you buy designer frames at america's best. feeling sluggish or weighed down? could be a sign that your digestive system isn't at its best. but a little metamucil everyday can help. metamucil's psyllium fiber gels to trap and remove the waste that weighs you down

and also helps lower cholesterol and slows sugar absorption to promote healthy blood sugar levels. so you can feel lighter and more energetic. lighten everyday the metamucil way. feel less sluggish & weighed down after just 14 days. sign up for the 2 week challenge at metamucil.com

neil: all right, it's not just at the border, two very scary incidents over the last week in manhattan involving migrants. give general countries has the very latest. give. >> reporter: hey, neil, good morning. these two instances really remind you that the border crisis doesn't stay at the border. you see it there in new york. on those two fronts, first authorities are still hunting for several of the suspects in that cop-beating video. then late yesterday e the nypd

announced they captured this 15-year-old venezuelan migrant. 15 years old, neil. it is a separate incident. he's suspected of shooting a tourist and fighter at cops in times square -- firing at cops. authorities say he crossed the border back in september and was living in a temporary shelter in new york city. what's not clear is whether or not he's going to get deported since the big apple is a sanctuary city meaning they do not cooperate with i.c.e. and in an exclusive interview i with acting i.c.e. patrick clegger in, he says that makes his job harder and more dangerous. listen here. >> i want to work with any jurisdiction to put public safety and national security first, and i'm willing to talk to anyone to do it. anytime you're dealing with increased numbers, there's increased risk. bottom lean. and we're supporting our cbp brethren as much as a we can as it relates to those increased numbers. >> reporter: and increased numbers are eye-popping, neil. in fiscal year 2023, i.c.e.

arrested more than 73,000 migrants with criminal histories with more than 290,000 associated charges including sexual assault, homicide and kidnapping. they also arrested 139 known or expected terrorists in fiscal year 2023, a nearly 150% increase over the previous year. and finally, when you look at the actual cases, they're quite alarming. in minnesota, for instance, i.c.e. apprehended a somalian terrorist who had roamed the country free for nearly a year before authorities matched him to the terror watch list and i.c.e. agents were able to bring him in within 48 hours. it's frightening to know he was loose in the country for that long. neil? neil: scary stuff. griff, thank you. see you in a couple hours. in the meantime, earl anthony if wayne, the former ambassador to hex eco. ambassador, thank you for taking the time -- mexico. the criticism that you're hearing is that mexico isn't doing enough to stop this, it just looks the other way as this

wrongs make their way to the -- throngs make their way to the border. it's picking up steam. is it justified? if. >> >> well, i think it's true that mexico has limited capacity, and they have certain capacity where they can tighten up their controls. but then often that will fade away because they have not enough personnel really to handle all the migrants that are coming into their country also. they're also very overwhelmed by the large increase in migrants coming from other parts of the americas. and and as we just heard, from other other parts of the world. and that has been a big change over the last year and a half, this sort of other category has really grown. previously, there are largely mexicans and central americans from the three northern countries in central america. and some from everywhere, but that everywhere else has grown immensely, and mexico has always had very limited capacities to

sustain or manage these people coming in. neil: you know, i don't know how their southern border looks, ambassador, you're possibly much more schooled in this than i'll ever be, and the rap against the mexicans is they don't really police their border as aggressively as they should. it might be changing now given the alarming numbers. they're not as stunning as ours where in this latest fiscal year through october 1, from october 1 better than a million, you know, getting into this country. i'm just curious what's happening on the southern part of their country. >> well, their southern border is not very well patrolled or maintained. and this is something that over ten years ago we started to work with them on, increasing their capacity and their investment there. very sadly in the last few years under current administration in mexico, they have actually reduced spending on most of their civil service which

includes those who manage the border, those who take care of refugees. so it's even more of a challenge than wfs then. it was already underfunded at that time and this is a problem. so what they try to do is intercept people as they're pass aing through mexico at different key crossings and on key roads. but they do not consistently do that, and that is one of the challenges. and one of the things i'm sure they've been talking about between the united states and mexico in this more excellence conversation -- intense conversations they've been having over the past six month, they've now been meeting regularly, had a meeting this last week in mexico city at very esent of mexico and atthe ministerial levels to try to get improved coordination and cooperation from member ecoto slow down this large influx and send more flashing red and

yellow signals to all these migrants. we have to remember migrants are getting signals from a lot of different sources, but they're not as sophisticated as we might be in watching television on a regular lay bit -- basis as they're trying to move. so is you have to send a set of different signals to people that this is -- you should stay where you are, this is too dangerous, too costly, and we're going to slow you down and perhaps ensigned you back home. neil: you know, how much has it changed, ambassador, from your days? we used to see six countries predominantly, the countries involved with those who had migrants crossing into this country, mexico, guatemala, el salvador, but now, of course, it's widening -- wideninged to -- widened to more than 125 countries, from all over the world. how has that happened? >> well, i think it's happened if we we look at the world as a whole, just step back for a minute, there are more migrants

on the move in the world than i think we've ever seen and that includes migrants going to europe, migrants in southeast asia, migrants in south asia. and the same thing is happening in the americas. it happens in part because of the chaos and the terrible economic and criminal situation in venezuela, for example. similarly in nicaragua. that's a very austere dictatorship that a punishes a lot of people and haiti, criminal gangs are in control. and also people from cuba because of the worsening economic situation there. and then you add that to the few here and there in other places that are living in very bad parts of the country, and you just see increasing numbers nowing northward and, of course -- flowing northward and, of course, the big mag if net where people just want to go for a better life for their family, a safe safer life, is the united states. and we're seeing a compounding of that. so what's over the longer term what we need to do is invest in

fixing what's push people out. but as you know, that takes years to really bring about a big change. so in the nearer term, we need to be sending these red e signals, making it less enticing for people to take the chance. neil: good luck on that front. ambassador, thank you very much is. we'll be speaking very shortly with a texas democrat and a texas republican on where we think we can find some common ground. that is coming up live from the border. we'll have more after this. automated voice: please insert your parking ticket. it's going to take a lot more than a little ticket to get out of here. and if you have cut rate car insurance, this could leave you all bent out of shape. no...ahhh! so, get allstate and be better protected from mayhem... yeah...like me. uh, someone! that's broken to pal... hahaha.

automated voice: please insert your parking ticket. ♪ if you're happy and you know it, clap your hands. ♪ ♪ if you're happy and you know it, ride your bike. ♪ ♪ if you're happy and, you know it, then your face will surely show it. ♪ ♪ if you're happy and you know it, smile big and bright. ♪ thousands of kids just like me are happy every day. and it's all because of generous people like you who support shriners hospitals for children every month. all you have to do is call the number on your screen or go online to loveshriners.org right now with your monthly gift. because of people like you shriners hospitals for children is able to make an everyday miracle happen for kids like me. that brings a smile to my face. ♪ if you're happy and you know it, dance around. ♪ ♪ if you're happy and you know it, play a song. ♪

♪ if you're happy and you know, then your face will surely show it. ♪ ♪ if you're happy and you know it, jump up high. ♪ and when you call or go online right now to donate $19 a month or more, we'll send you this adorable love to the rescue blanket as a thank you and a reminder of all the smiles you're bringing to kids faces every day. will today be the day you send your love to the rescue? when you call the number on your screen right now and give as little as $19 a month, just $0.63 a day, you'll be making a life changing difference for a child just like sarah. your monthly gift today could change a life forever. because of you, we're happy and i know it. thank you. thank you. thank you. thank you. please call or go online right now to give. if operators are busy, please wait patiently. or go to loveshriners.org right away.

hi, i'm janice, and i lost 172 pounds on golo. when i was a teenager i had some severe trauma in my life and i turned to food for comfort. a friend told me that i was the only one holding me back from being as beautiful on the outside as i am the inside. once i saw golo was working, i felt this rush, i just had to keep going. a lot of people think no pain no gain, but with golo it is so easy. when i look in the mirror, i don't even recognize myself. golo really works. sleep more deeply. and wake up rejuvenated. purple mattresses exclusive gelflex grid draws away heat relieves pressure and instantly adapts. sleep better. live purple. right now save up to $800 off mattress sets during purple's

president's day sale. visit purple.com or a store near you. >> we gotta find a way to stitch this together. i would say ukraine, israel, humanitarian, or let's get it together and let's get it passed and let's not follow europe's lead are. let's establish the united states again. neil: all right, senator mike bennett might want to get progress on that and get aid to ukraine right away, israel as a well. that has not happened. they're trying again this very weekend, as we speak. marco rubio told me there's a reason why he's a no on that. >> a lot of americans would rather help ukraine and see putin lose, but how can we not take care of our problems first? how can we not focus on the invasion of america first? why are we not staying here this weekend to fight and argue over how best to stop this which, by the way, we don't need legislation for. the president can do this

because he created this through his own executive actions, and that's been my argument. it reflects what i think most people would say and that is, before we help others, we've got to help ourselves. neil: all right. more of my conversation with florida senator marco rubio in a second here. back to the concern this is causing worldwide, mike tobin in tel aviv right now where the back and forth on what to do with israel and how to respond if to israel's tactics is now hitting sort of a tinder point here. mike. >> reporter: and, neil, with the potential that the israeli defense forces going into the town of rafah, prime minister benjamin netanyahu has ordered his commanders to come up with a plan for the difficult tax of evacuating a million and a half people out of rafah all while targeting hamas. the israeli defense force says whether the enemy is hamas or the houthis, all roads lead back to iran. the -yard line -- iranian leaders are able to fund and arm their pox says because they sidestep sanctions according to the experts, the same experts

who say the u.s. is not stopping them. sanctions are intended to dry up iranian oil revenue and the ability to fund iranian proxies like those who killed u.s. soldiers in jordan. however, china undermines sanctions and buys smuggled iranian crude using about 150 small and semi-independent teapot refineries. >> the reality is a feckless strategy of oil sanctions and enforcing those oil sanctions up against the transporting and shipment of that oil and end users -- [background sounds] >> reporter: so from hamas to hezbollah, the iranian proxies have cash and weapons. >> what we saw with the deaths of three soldiers is a direct result of three years of an appeasement policy towards tehran. >> reporter: during the trump administration, iranian oil exports dwindled to a few hundred thousand barrels per day. the u.s. ended sanctions exemptions inintending to eliminate if iranian exports

entirely. >> we are going to zero. how long we remain there depends solely on the islamic republic of iran's senior leaders. >> reporter: now according to some experts, iranian exports have peaked to over 2 million barrels per day, flirted with 3. >> really we have seen a renaissance in the iranian oil industry since president biden has come into office. we've seen their numbers go up dramatically. they're producing the most amount of oil they've had since the iranian revolution. >> iran without oil has no proxies. without proxies, the middle east is a far more stable place. >> reporter: now, eliminating sanctioned oil would still short isen the oil supply and could negatively impact the price of oil in an election year. the experts say you deal with that by tapping into u.s. domestic oil supply. neil, back to you. neil: mike toe binger thank you very much. mike, be safe out there. want to go back to lieutenant

general david we tulle la. i had the pleasure of talking to the general just a few days ago. i remember what you had said then regarding these actions against iranian proxies, that you have to go direct wily against iran. that's fundamental to counter their aggression. we don't quite do that. i'm wondering what you make of where we stand right now. >> well, neil, i would reiterate that until iran and it proxies understand that their critical interests are at stake, attacks on u.s. forces and international shipping in the region won't stop. so there needs to be a course correction in the current u.s. strategy the. you know, there are a couple of ways to do that, or but we have to stop this fit tit for tat we're only going to shoot at the launchers or the missiles that are going to be shot at us. so here are a couple of potential options.

remember i also talked about deterrence is introducing uncertainty in the minds of your adversaries such that they are not sure that they can succeed in what they want to do. if so here's some thoughts. about the united states' seriousness of putting iran at risk. you decan ploy a couple of -- deploy a couple of squadrons of stealth combat aircraft to iran's doorstep, show them that the united states is serious about reserving the right to take direct action against iran. you send both a squadron of f35s and a squadron of f22s, that would send a very significant message to iran when they're parked across the arabian gulf, because these aircraft can operate within impunity anywhere inside iranian air space, and iran knows that. second thing we could consider is due to iranian shipping -- do to iranian shipping what iranian proxies are trying to do to u.s. and coalition ships, rid them out of the gulf of aden and the red sea.

on the issue of oil exports, the houthis aren't the only ones that can close a strait. the u.s. could interdict iranian military vessels and oil tankers if we wanted to. and there are iranian oil facilities offshore from mainland iran that could also be put at a are risk. at risk. but like what was mentioned, we are in an election year, and the administration is wrestling with risking higher gas prices by constrain thing iran's oil export. and the last one i'll offer you is remember stuxnet? if cyber operations can be very effective and may be used to shut down iran's oil distribution infrastructure. but the bottom line is the u.s. has options to change the current situation, and it needs to take action to do so. neil: you know, general, as we also discussed a couple of days ago, this notion, the fear that's out there that going directly after iran maybe even through some of the options that

you offered there, quite a few good options there actually, invites other players in and widens this war. you're not quite convinced of that. why? >> well, because i go back to my point with respect to deterrence. what these autoa accurates -- autocrats understand is force or the threat of force and the use of force after the threat is made. and if we're serious about a protecting ohose of the internal community in the region, then every we're going to do. once again, you know, you don't deter by saying, hey, we don't want conflict in the region. all that is is an invitation on the part of our adversaries and in this case iran to take advantage of that weakness. neil: yeah. they read our doubts and our concerns, and they act accordingly. general, always learn a lot,

thank you very much. have a safe weekend, sir. >> you too. neil: all right. in the meantime, you know, just because punxsutawney phil predicted an early spring, he did not predict it would be next week. because something is coming our way, and for a third of the country next week that could make anyone want to hide themselves in a tunnel under the ground. you can't get a home loan because of your credit? here's great news. at newday we've been granted automatic authority by the va to make our own loan approval decisions. in fact, if you've had credit challenges and missed a payment along the way, you're more than five times more likely to get approved for the newday 100 va cash out loan. no one knows veterans like newday usa. ♪ ♪

♪ [typing] ♪ you were made to act spontaneously. we were made to help plan accordingly. ♪

neil: all right, some wicked and deadly weather out west and you know the drill here, a lot of this tends to move east. and some big stuff, worrisome stuff that could be in mother nature's making. adam klotz has the latest. hey, adam. adam: you're right, we're tracking a big weather system that really changed the forecast for a lot of folks particularly in the eastern half of the country. get out and enjoy the weekend now because we're looking at potential -- potentially- record-breaking highs including

d.c., up to 63 degrees, that's here on this saturday. by the time you get to the back half of the weekend, we've got a low pressure system that initially sweeps across the southeast, everything there in the red could be severe weather, and and as this system moves up towards the north, ultimately on monday night, tuesday you're look at a change in the forecast. pay attention to the time stamp up in the corner, this is monday night through tuesday. this is a quick mover, right? all of that blue is snow. it is completely cleared out of this entire region by the time you get into lunchtime on tuesday. the question is, what does it leave behind. this is getting a little bit into the weeds here, but a couple different models, low pressure systems off the coast in both of them, the question is how much cold air does this ultimately suck in to see how much snow do you see. it's really difficult to really pin down where rain and where snow will ultimately line up. do our forecast model right now is saying at least some snow likely falling along the i-95 corridor and some of those places a little further inland where you're seeing this lighter

blue color, you could see decent numbers across the hudson valley, up towards the catskills and some of these interior locations. the big problem here is and, neil, you see it when i show you the forecast on tuesday, we're seeing the snow icon there in new york city, yet it's 38 degrees. so it's going to be really tough for any of this to stick, but it is currently looking like along this entire region that you do see at least some snowfall. but as with all of these systems we've been tracking throughout the winter, neil, it's been fairly warm, so the best chance of a decent snowfall is for more of these interior locations across the mid-atlantic and new england where you're going to see a better snow, again, kind of wrapping up by tuesday at lunchtime. neil: got it, my friend. thank you very much. adam klotz following all of that. in the meantime, people are telling me there's some big game tomorrow. anyway, other people are saying it's big because taylor swift will be there. wonder who she's rooting for in just curious. a lot of people are back and forth as to who she's rooting for politically and what

difference it would make. a lot of people say, well, it makes a huge difference, just a hint, a huge difference. ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ neil: right now she is arguably the most popular celebrity on the planet, she likely will show up at the big super bowl game. i'm talking about taylor swift. you know, a columnist from the hill has been looking into the taylor swift phenomenon, and she does carry considerable cache, but it can only go so far, right, judy? >> absolutely. you said she's the biggest star on the planet, neil. i would argue she might be the biggest star in the

stratosphere, 280 million followers on instagram. that would fill up allegiant stadium i think 4,000 times and then some. listen, celebrity endorsements can do a lot for a candidate. they can help with getting attention for little known candidates, they can help with fund raising, certainly, and taylor swift's endorsement -- many expect her to endorse president biden in the 2024 racs and bring some big bucks to him, but it's not necessarily going to get people to vote for him. she can bring people to the polls, but she can't decide who they're going to vote for for them. neil: you know, she can also bring out her passionate base, a lot of her fans -- not certainly all a, too young to vote, i get that, but she can jazz the base, we're told. and if that were the case, there are a lot of celebrities gauze -- jazzing the base for hillary clinton in 201. she still lost. taking nothing against her, do we overstate the celebrity aspect of endorsements? >> well, sure. research has shown celebrities

do have influence and the power to get the people to the polls and jazz debates, as you said. but believe it or not, many swifties might just be republican. so if she's pushing people to the polls, she's getting people there, they're going to vote how they want to vote ultimately. neil: all right. so i know in one case and you had talked to this former tennessee democratic congressman, jeff cooper, who got her endorsement, went on to win, but not everyone has benefited from the same taylor sort of touch, right? >> yeah. i talked to former congressman cooper who said he's one of the luckiest people to have gotten taylor wit's endorsement in 2018. he went on to win that a race. but in 2018 she also spoke out, taylor swift, for the first time politically and backed phil bredson in the tennessee senate race against marsha blackburn, and then breedson did not win that race. marsha blackburn is in the senate, as you know, so taylor swift's power and influence might only go so far.

neil: so let me ask you a little bit about her. she's also a very savvy marketer. obviously, when you align yourself in a particular candidate, let alone a party, you risk losing a lot of people as well. now, we live in very polarizing times, i get that. that hasn't always hurt those who veer one way versus another way, but normally we expect entertainers to be slightly to the left. maybe i'm being generous. but i'm just curious, in her case she wouldn't want to damage that, getting vitriolicking for one party, candidate or another, right? >> absolutely. and that's why a lot of hollywood shies away from any political talk whatsoever. up until 2018 taylor swift was kind of in that camp where she really would not weigh in politically. she pulled a dolly parton who stays out of politics, makes a point of staying out of politics, but then she felt she needed to speak up, and since then she's expressed regret for

not speaking out sooner particularly in her comments against former president trump and going into the 2020 election when she endorsed joe biden. if. neil: but i think it's fair to say stars like adele are are in a separate league of their own. you just don't, you marvel at adele, right? >> absolutely. i think like as a ben franklin once said, in this world there's the certain things we can count on which are death, taxes and right now the taylor swift hysteria. neil: exactly. if a candidate had, in fact, called adele for support all she would say was hello. [laughter] that's the best i have, america. more after this. nyquil severe honey. powerful cold and flu relief with a dreamy honey taste nyquil honey, ...

we're told in genesis chapter 1:26 that god is made man in his image and by his likeness has he made him. genesis is a book of fundamental importance for the jewish and christian faiths and a literary masterpiece that has profoundly shaped western civilization.

now, in this exclusive online course from hillsdale college, you can deepen your understanding of how this ancient book is essential to you today. sign up for the genesis story. absolutely free at learnfromhillsdale.org. dr. justin jackson, a distinguished hillsdale college professor, will guide you through this fascinating free online course that unfolds the biblical stories of adam and eve, abraham, isaac, jacob and joseph. when you sign up, you'll explore some of life's most important questions, gain a greater appreciation for how the bible confronts pain and hardship with redemption and hope and discover how the struggles people faced thousands of years ago are deeply relevant to us still today. take this six lesson course whenever it's most convenient for you at your pace or in your schedule. signing up is easy and free when you go to learnfromhillsdale.org today. so the fun thing with the serpent is how does a serpent talk?

and not only that, but why is the serpent's punishment to crawl on its belly when that's what it does? join the hundreds of thousands of americans who are enriching their lives through this exclusive online course from hillsdale college and gain access to this premium content today. what i hope you'll get from studying genesis in this course is a deeper appreciation of the biblical insights with regards to the human person psychology, our predilection towards rivalry, but also reconciliation sign up for the genesis story free of charge, at learnfromhillsdale.org today. >> all right. as you know by now, it's a mess at the border and governor abbott has taken efforts in texas to at least secure the border more than he says the feds have, more to the p