paragraph in the book from ronald reagan, because i think it sums it up. you'll remember it. freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. we didn't pass to our children in the bloodstream. it must be fought for, protected and handed on for them to do the same. or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the united states where men were free. joe biden is the anti liberty, the anti constitution, the anti reagan, the anti-trump. he is the tyranny part of liberty and tyranny. the only way to stop him is to defeat him. i'll see you next time on life, liberty and levin. this is a fox news alert. i'm

ashley strohmier, live in new york. iranian state media is reporting there are no signs of life seen at the crash site of the helicopter that was carrying president ebrahim raisi and others. news of reese's death comes nearly 24 hours after that helicopter crashed in a remote part of the country during dense fog. reese's sudden death, along with the deaths of iran's foreign minister and the other officials, comes as iran struggles with internal dissent and its relations with the wider world. joining us now to talk more about the aftermath of this deadly crash is fox news correspondent madeline rivera. from our nation's capital this morning. hi, madeleine. good morning. ashley. as you mentioned, rescue teams, search and rescue teams had been searching for hours. a remote area in the country's north west region near its border with azerbaijan . this is an area that's filled with dense forests, filled with mountain ins. and bad weather also hampered, hampered. these search and rescue efforts. at one point, teams had to call

off their search, but then a turkish drone identified heat in the area. and then when teams got to the crash site, they found no signs of life. iranian state media confirming that iranian president ebrahim raisi, the country's foreign minister, as well as other officials, had died in that crash, according to reports, the group was traveling from the country's northwest border to where raisi had inaugurated a dam project earlier in the day. but then the helicopter went down. there is no cause for this crash, just yet. now we are learning. according to a spokesman for the country, first vice president mohammad mokhber will assume presidential duties, the spokesman saying in a statement . filling the presidential vacancy will be done under the constitution without any defect. a committee will be formed from the vice president and the heads of parliament and the judiciary to manage the country and hold the elections. we will examine whether the next president will complete the remaining year of my

president's term or will remain for four years. raisi was elected as president in 2021. under his leadership, iran enriched uranium to reach weapons grade levels. iran also oversaw the brutal crackdown of protests, including in 2022 after a 22 year old woman was detained for not wearing a hijab. that woman was then killed. this, of course, led to deteriorating deterioration of relations with the west. this also comes, as you mentioned, ashley, amid the backdrop of the ongoing war in the middle east with israel battling iranian backed proxies, including hezbollah and hamas. just last month, iran launched that unprecedented attack against israel, launching some 300 projectiles, projectiles rather that israel, with the help of the us, were able to take down israel, saying this morning it had nothing to do with reese's death. ashley. all right, madeline rivera, thank you so much. and joining us now is fred fleitz, former cia analyst and former chief of staff at the national security

council. he is currently president and ceo of the center for security. fred, thanks for joining us early this morning to talk about this. you know, i want to talk about this from the home front perspective as on american soil, you know, is this something that that we need to be concerned about? and why would someone waking up in the middle of america to look at the tv and think, why? why do i need to care about that this morning happening in iran? so tell us why. why this needs to be cared about all across the world, ashley, good to be here. i think it's very significant. this man was known as the butcher of tehran for the for the brutal murders. he was responsible for, for executing, thousands, thousands. during the 1980s, he represented a real turn towards more authoritarianism, in iran when he was elected in a rigged election in 2021. and the understanding is that when he

was brought in by supreme leader khamenei that the moderates were basically thrown out. so his successor and there probably will be an election within 50 days, probably will be just as extreme and as anti-israel and as intent on on stoking up there. there there illegal nuclear program as fast as possible, now, there are rumors right now on was this an assassination? he came from azerbaijan. iran. this is a state that has a good relationship with israel, has a history of cooperating with the mossad israel is determined to avenge, the deaths of the 1200 who were killed in the brutal attack of october 7th. now, the israeli government said they're not behind it. of course, they would say that. there's other rumors that there was an internal effort to kill him. it appears that this crash occurred because of foul weather, but it could be something else happened. but whether we'll actually ever

know that, because this, helicopter was destroyed, really is an open question. it may. maybe we'll never find out. yeah and i mean, it comes on the heels of everything happening in israel. and a couple of weeks ago, with that drone strike, israel, actually, according to reuters, they released a statement saying they had nothing to do with it. and i spoke to a helicopter pilot earlier and he said, it doesn't look like as of right now, anything going, other than, you know, what the iranian state media is, is saying, but, you know, you also have the other side where the iranian government, they've been slow, if not to release information, if not anything at all, because they have been known to brush things under the rug. and that's what all of my guests have said this morning, is to take what they say with a grain of salt. so it'll be interesting to see what comes out with that. i think people are saying within the next 48 to 72 hours, is really, you know, that that time that we're going to be looking for more,

but when you think about places like russia and saudi arabia and north korea, they are adversaries. and the way they're responding to this, should that make the us nervous ? well, i think the us has to calculate how will this change the leadership of iran. now the supreme leader, khamenei, will basically decide through rigged elections who becomes the next president. but he's ailing. he's he's 84. there's talk about who will succeed him. so the stability of this country and how it will be directed is going to be on the mind of many people worldwide. many leaders worldwide. and there's also the issue will this cause instability in iran? now, the supreme leader put out a call yesterday for prayers for iec. but despite that, there were signs on the internet of celebrations of her, of her death and fireworks being set off in tehran to celebrate his

death, there's huge opposition to the iranian government with the iranian people, but they are being brutally suppressed. will this lead to massive protests in iran again? and if that happens, will there be a massive effort to brutally push down the protests? we don't know. but as you said, over the next 48 to 72 hours, we will see the consequences of this, my guess is that there will be demonstrations to some extent. and the iranian regime is very worried about that. yeah. and a couple of guests who are experts when it comes to the middle east, they say that there is that inkling of a chance that the iranian rise un like this. i mean, a small chance, but there is still that chance. what do you think? i think that's coming someday. i don't think that the regime is so weak that that would that would succeed at this time, but the iranian people are tired of

this regime. they're tired of the theocrats. they're tired of iran being isolated, in the world right now, that that they're subject to sanctions, the iranian people. it's interesting, actually. sometimes you see signs of american flags put on the ground in tehran for people to walk on and you see iranians walking around them because the iranian people do not see america as an enemy. most of them don't see israel as an enemy, either. the iranian people don't like where their regime is going. but i don't know that this is the time that they're going to overthrow it. but i do think that day is coming. yeah and i mean, even though he he was the president and the foreign minister was on that, that helicopter, it it doesn't really matter because they, they still would have had to answer to the supreme leader. i mean, it makes you question what's the point of having any other leaders in that country because they all have to answer and abide by the

policies of the supreme leader, you know, which we've we've talked about tonight. and i do also want to point out that raeisi supported and backed the attack on october 7th in israel. he was not well liked. and it will be interesting to see how the iranian people respond to this. it'll really be interesting to see how the world responds to it. fred fleitz, thank you so much for your time this morning and giving us your insight on this. we really appreciate it. good to be here. have a good day. and of course, you too. again, if you're just now tuning in, iranian state media is reporting president ebrahim raisi and other top officials have been found dead. it was after their helicopter crashed sunday morning. the news comes nearly 24 hours after the chopper was first reported to have crashed. rescue efforts have been hampered by bad weather and tough terrain, we've been covering this breaking news story all morning long, we'll continue to cover it throughout the morning on

fox and friends first and fox and friends and stick with fox news channel for all of the breaking news story on this story coming out of iran this morning. for now, i'm ashley strohmeyer live in new york to send you back to regular that and more afte

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>> welcome back to sunday night in america. michael cohen was donald trump's attorney, he said he would take a bullet for trump. this week cohen was holding the gun, most important witness for prosecution, he claims to have orchestrated paying women for silence, said to furth er trumps ambitions and made to look like legal expenses and trump was in

on it. michael cohen is a convicted liar. as a rule, those don't make good witnesses. he wants to see trump in prison and brags about revenge. cohen makes money off this prosecution and animosity is palpable. those are called prior in inconsistent statements and not ende endeering qualities in the eyes of jury when it comes to credibility. virtually no one would believe michael cohen beyond a reasonable doubt. is there enough corroboration even accepting his men dasity? joining us is former prosecutor alex little. did cohen c, do you think cohen

helped prove this alleged crime? you could feel the bias through his testimony. i don't know if i've ever seen a government witness with that much palpable baes? >> it is a difficult situation, you see prosecution has to put a witness on, they can't do it without michael cohen's testimony. his baggage is terrible and makes their case look miserable. they stuck to documents and plotted through those hoping it would be enough paper trail to believe what it true. true or false, he is a biassed witness and has a problem with in inconsistent statements. there is a great deal of documentation backs up what he's saying temperature is classic case of jury determining credibility of a witness and will determine how they view the way he performed. >> trey: even if the jury does

believe that the former president and stormy daniels had an intimate relationship, does that equal a guilty verdict? could they believe her testimony but still conclude no crime was committed? >> sure, absolutely, that is why cohen's testimony is so importance. to prove the crime, they have to show intent to falsify the record. that is a small piece of the truth, it is ultimately only criminal piece, if in the course of this affair and cover-up if the documents were manipulated for that purpose and in manner to protect the election campaign at the time. >> trey: almost all witnesses in my experience, are capable of telling the truth at some point and even murder defendants who

testify at least get their names ri right when introduced. you mentioned the jury can accept a lot and still not convict, what do they have to accept for michael cohen to find the former president guilty beyond a reasonable doubt? >> they have to believe that cohen let the former president know the specifics of what hes doing of how the payments will be documented. if they don't believe that, i don't believe there is good direct evidence the former president knew false statements were being made in the books and records of the organization. >> trey: michael cohen is a lawyer, he had a lawyer, listen to his former lawyer and one more question. >> he kept is saying 10 to 20 times, i swear to god, i don't have anything on donald trump. when we got into the discussion

of the stormy daniels nda, he said specifically and i cross-examined him on this, this was my idea. >> trey: not sure i want my lawyer doing a lot of interviews, if you were defense counsel, who, if anyone, would you call? are you confident enough right now there is reasonable doubt or would you put up a defense case and if so, who and how? >> i would absolutely put on a defense case. i think cohen's former lawyer to the extent he can testify would be one of them. a lot of time defense lawyer or prosecutors, we believe everybody thinks the same way we do. you learn to experience the jury has a different view. yes, you may think you slaughtered him on cross-exam, to drive that home with additional witnesses is the proper strategic call.

>> trey: yeah, i remember judges used to tell me that i had enough, i could stop. i said, will you give me a new trial if you're wrong and come back not guilty? no, i can't. you got to keep going until the jury is saying, look, we get it, please stop. alex little, thank you for your insight. >> thank you, take care. >> trey: few things jeopardize justice system like vin dickative prosecutors, jeff fortenberry is known for defending persecuted christians. there was a recorded call and the fbi waited months and months to ask jeff about that conversation. i don't remember what i said last week, the fbi expected jeff to recall a conversation from half a year earlier and of course the fbi did not need jeff

to recall the details, they recorded the call. theyun waed him to fail their memory test so they could put a political pelt on the wall. fbi botched the background check, mishandled the u.s. gymnastics sexual assault case, they get really excited going after a congressman. he was tried in california, no interview took place there. they did it because it is easier to convict a republican in california, that conviction was overturned and doj waited until the statute of limitation ran in nebraska to try him in washington, d.c. i'm very familiar with that d.c. you interview, i was there for it, never would have been an interview except for two facts. prosecutors made false states and the congressman wanted to

help investigation, he had nothing to hide, he had done nothing wrong, he believed it was his civic duty to cooperate. he trusted federal prosecutors and fbi agents and took them at their word and that proved a fatal mistake. now his career was ruined, life savings depleted, served probation and paid the fine, doj is not satisfied. they lost on appeal and they are trying to punish him all over again. joining us is his attorney glen somers. welcome, glen. the fbi and federal prosecutors can lie to you, you cannot misrecollect facts from a phone call six months ago back to them. that is my summary of it. >> trey, good evening, great to be on the show, you summarized the case perfectly.

evidence was undisputed that he had no knowledge of contributions, they placed phone calls and set him up. at the interview, they set him up for a false statement case. the whole case, he was forthcoming about the fundraiser, what happened and people involved. this case is one tiny characte characterization of what occurred on that phone call and one detail. the phone call they placed to him and recorded occurred nine months before the first interview and almost a year before the real interview in washington, d.c. they of course knew all of the facts, no one was misled by con congressman fortenberry. having forced him to resign and spend his life savings defending

himself in los angeles, having served probationary sentence, why are they doing this all over again to him? makes no sense, why would they prosecute this man a second time as again, while his case was on appeal, he served his probation ary sentence and fulfilled all terms of his sentence. at conclusion of first trial federal district judge who heard the evidence declined the government's request for custodial sentence, the judge refused to put the congressman in jail. he found evidence overwhelming that congressman fortenberry was man of exceptional character and the judge found all witnesses, including the government's

witnesses said he was a man of exceptional character and extraordinary truthfulness. irony of this case, fellow congressmen and in particular a democrat from california from the bay area were lined up and testified in his behalf and others were lined up prepared to he was one of the most honorable men in all of washington and congress. we have undisputed testimony we have one of the most truthful honest, good men in congress and he's the person being prosecuted twice for making false statements to the fbi and the doj. it makes no sense. this is one where the world has been turned on its head, scratch your head and wonder what is going on here. >> trey: i wish i could scratch my head and wonder. i'm afraid i know, it is vin

dickative prosecutors. being a prosecutors my favorite job, there is nothing uglier than being vin ddictive and tryg to further your expense, everyone who worked with jeff fortenberry would have said he was a follower of the rules and doj waited until the trump administration was out and waited until trump administration was gone and out and indicted him and this is an outrage. we will follow this case, we may be the only two people in this world following it, we will follow it together, glen. >> thank you, trey, i appreciate your time and thank you for following this. it is a travesty of justice and makes you wonder where mature people at the doj are, where are

the adults? how are they allowing something like this to happen? this doj is out of control and it is a ship without a captain right now. >> trey: of all the things to go after, truly staggering, glen somers, thank you for joining us on sunday night. >> thank you, take care. >> trey: israeli tanks plunging deeper into gaza as biden administration moves forward. former ambassador to the u.s. michael oren joins us next on sunday night in america. >> fox t

ma madia media reporting no signs of life from the helicopter crash that was carried ebrahim raisi and others. it crashed in a moet part of the country in remote fog and tough terrain. the country's foreign minister was on board. the chapper was heading back to the country's capital when it went down. war is raging in gaza and iran

launched drone and missile attack in israel. iran supreme leader stressing business of iran government will continue no matter what. for headlines go to fox news.com >> trey: welcome back to "sunday night in america." the biden administration is trying to walk a political tight rope, withholding arms one day and professing solidarity with people the next. here iots a spokesperson using lot of words. >> it is legitimate for the u.s. to be concerned about assets of ours, it is simple as that. in the midst of that, we believe strongly every step possible

need to be taken to minimize civilian casualties. >> trey: the analysis is simpler, do you support lone democracy in the region? do you support eradication of terrorist network or prefer for you it grow and launch another h attacker? israel is not the 51st state, ie isre sovereign nation and . biden wants to get re-elected, e israelct wants to keep from bei elimi eliminated. u.s. used to be israel's most reliable ally. joining us is michael oren, welcome, mr. ambassador. the state of the war in gaza and state of u.s.-israeli relations? >> battle in gaza is fierce, various places along the south

and southern border with reagan presidential library, place called rafah, trying to move hundreds of thousands away from the combat area. minimize as much as possible ci civilianmi casualties, fighting enemy hiding behind civilians and under civilians and over 400 miles of tunnels. israel has driven to reduce li civilianan casualties and every civi civilian casualty is a tragedy, probably has lowest ratratio. so that is occurring.st thane state of u.s.-israel relationship is complex, there are tensions. yesterday jake sullivan reiterated america's support for war game aims of destroying ai hamas, which is welcomed.

other voices say the united states will withhold ammunitiong from being used in rafah and report in the "washington post" last week the united states was withh withholding security information about whereabouts senior hamas leaders underground and have hostages underground. it is a mixed message. we appreciate support given million in military aid just last week. we hoped united states would te stand with us in war for sc survivalri, not just for securi, war to release hostages. hamas will not accept any deal on the table, no choice but to y continue military pressure on hamas in order to secure release

of our hostages. >> trey: you have a unique r. perspective when i at comes to israel, it is sovereign nation on one hand, period, full stop. next sentence, it needs support from the united states. honaw does that dynamic play ou when the u.s. seems to be trying to manage this war from afar? >> we try to convey our interests, our perspective to the united states. it is hard. united states is bigd country, far from middle east.r you havewa pretty nice neighbor and oceans around you, as well. when america tn leaders want to share our experience in iraq ans afghanistan, that is very good, american forces could pick up and go home.p our forces can't go home, we are home, there is no place to run away to. d our forces up north are being

pummelled by iranian-made nd missiles in the hand of hezbollah. my own assistants are there and can't even get out of their bunkers to go eat because of rockets an td drones.an this is intolerable situation for any sovereign nation, certainly country threatened with national destruction. we have to take every step to ensure survival, that is difficult to s convey to americs who in their neighborhoods and f worship, have never been under intense reality, we have no choice. >> trey: yeah, the united states surrounded by friendly y neighbors, nan adverse aerial neighbors and two big bodies ofa water, not a luxury israel has. ambassador, thank you for joning

us on sunday night. up next, billy graham is on capitol hill, rare honor for a humble man. we'll speak with his son reverend franklin graham, right after the break.

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>> trey: welcome back to "sunday night in america." dr. billy graham was the most influential minister of my of welltime, elegant simplicity of message and difficulty of challenge. chesterton may have said it best, not that christianity has been found, it is hard and untried. turn the other cheek, pray for those who persecute you, no political adviser on earth would give that advice. most significant person to walk the earth did. what is role of christians in political process, future of church. was christianity ever supposed to be popular? in jo joining us is reverend franklin graham. wonderful to see you again. your father is being honored in a rare way, private citizen who

never held political office has a statue in statuary hall. what would his reaction to this be? >> trey, he would have been a little uncomfortable, to be honest, he would not want attention to be drawn toim had. he would want the attention to go to the one my father served, the lord jesus christ. >> trey: when i think of your father, i think of your mother, i know so many people impacted by her during the course of her of well. she may not have a statue, to me, she is right there by your father in my mind. >> she is. in the hall with my father, my father received a -- the

congressional gold medal to her and my father so the artist at foot of the statue is congressional gold medal with my mother's face, right at my father's feet. the open bible, i like this statue, my father is standing there with the open bible with his hand on the scripture and i'm not sure, i know galatians 6:14, and that was the last message my father wanted to preach, he was never able to preach it, so the artist put that on the open bible. on the is side of the pedestal

is a cross with john 3:16, for god so loved the world he gave his only begotten son, whoever believes in him should not perish, have everlasting life. the other side is john, i am the way, the truth and the life, no man comes to the father but by me. on the back of it is pedestal, what is on my father's gravestone. i didn't want there to be argument after his death among our children, i will ask my father what he wants on his gravestone and type it out and sign it and put in the file so when he passes away, we can say here is what daddy wanted. he just wanted preacher, preacher of gospel of jesus christ.

>> trey: what a humble man. that is one of the few things christ described himself as, being low in spirit or humble. i will not get in a bible drill with you, i will lose. the story of the good samaritan, help comes from unexpected sources, those who should help us don't, there are those who help. it is hard to see much of god in the current political environment, hard for many to see christ in politics. how do we navigate the two? being interested in government and politics, being more interested in following the teachings of christ? >> you know, the aspostle paul said, i'm not ashamed of gospel, it is power of god, to the jew first and also to the greek. i believe that politicians that

are christians should live their faith. i don't think just because you go into congress or whatever, that you check your religion at the door, you take it with you. i think we need men and women in the halls of government who live out what they believe and of course we have seen some of the problems this week with some name-calling, back and forth among congress people and kind of that kind of remarks is discouraging. we need more christians taking a stand and saying this is what god has to say. men are not afraid to pray. i was with speaker johnson and i appreciated him so very much, little bit of time i spent with

him. glad there are men like him willing to take a stand. >> trey: you are right, he is a s spiritual person, members of congress will have to walk by one of the most modest, humble men, had all the reason in the world to be full of himself, one of the most famous men to walk the earth and he had a modesty about himself, we could all learn from him. thank you for joining us on sunday night. >> thank you, trey, god bless you, sir. >> trey: god bless you. next we hear from you on "sunday night in america". dinner

>> trey: welcome back to "sunday night in america," each week we enjoy hearing from you. we love hearing what is on your mind. this week we look to past, the present and the future, starting with this question. >> the question i had for you, what is the biggest difference you see between today's society and when you and i were young? >> trey: two things, instant access to information and unreliability of the institutions you and i once relied on. now information is everywhere all the time, sometimes reliable

and sometimes not and we figure out how to monmyself that information by making the world think the world is on fire every minutes of everyday. i was never scared of being killed in school, i did not want to go to church, i was not afraid of being shot or assaulted by an adult, movies were a treat, not reminder of mass shootings. safety you and i grew up with. question from john. >> this is john from massachusetts, what historical event interests you the most? >> trey: a lot, start with the battle at thermopoly. it was a war they could not afford to lose. what motivates people to willingly go to their own death

for higher purpose? what is important enough to know ahead of time you will die from the cause, not only do you still go, you can't wait to go. i would be interested in observing how someone like adolf hitler could ever rise to hour. it happened in my parent's lifetime, how could a country, population embrace systemic elimination of a people? stagg staggering thought to us, perhaps them, too, yet it happened. question from nathan. >> hi, tray, nathan from canada. my question is, what is biggest unchecked box left on your bucket list? >> trey: two years ago i could have answered, take my wife to israel so the bible she reads daily could come to life. we were able to go and i checked that off. i've done things i've never

dreamed i would do, met presidents, played augusta national, met bono, dana perino and martha maccallum, watched our kids grow up, surprised every school teacher i ever had, made amazing friendships. i would love to be able to afford a small little place near a quiet beach for my wife, she loves walking on the beach at sunset. i am content, all the boxes have been checked. e-mail us if you have questions. thank you for spending your sunday with us, hope you have a great week ahead, good night from south carolina. ahead a good night from south carolina >> todd: a fox news alert, breaking right now