speak i wonder if we can can some of the conversations we have during the off moments, that would be fun. >> i think that would be awkward. >> thank you, great to have you. >> donning that snowboots. happening now, "happening now." >> jon: fox news alert as we await the daily whiteng schedulr from now. >> heather: no doubt, we expect plenty of questions on the republican plan to replace obamacare in numbers from the congressional budget office. we are covering all the news "happening now." >> when you look at with the core of what the cbo says, does it lower premiums, does it lower our deficit, and does it remove taxes from small business? those are all yeses. >> jon: the g.o.p. health care plan put to the test with the cbo estimating that 24 million americans could lose coverage under it over the next decade. have republicans in the white house are responding. plus, the justice department asking for more time to present

evidence regarding president trump's wiretap claims. by the white house walked back those accusations, what does it mean for the investigation? it is all "happening now". ♪ >> jon: but we begin with a major storm blasting the northeast at the tail end of winter. it is a big, sloppy mess outside. an mix of snow, sleet, and ice knocking out power and dropping more than a foot of snow in some places. welcome to the second hour of "happening now," i am jon scott. >> heather: i'm heather childers info jenna lee. not just the fun, fluffy stuff. >> jon: not good for snow means, either. >> heather: the storm track farther north and west than predicted, sparing coastal areas in new york city the worst of this now, but high winds and eyes are still a danger making roads treacherous. tens of thousands have lost power and flights are canceled all across the country.

let's get the latest from shepard smith who is standing by at the fox news deck, what's going on? >> exactly with the national weather service predicted is happening, it is just happening in places where the weather service did not predict. right along the coast, the big cities, instead, the worst of the storm is inland. going to show you hear a live look on the fox news corner of the road, you can see raining, snowing, slippery mess, people with umbrellas outcome of taking their boots off once they hit the sidewalk. this has been plowed and plowed and plowed again, but it is rain and sleet and ice, just generally yucky, more than 5 inches across the five boroughs of its wintry mix, a little sleet and rain. want to show what's happening from the mid atlantic all the way up into new england. in d.c., you are lucky, just about over. washington started snowing last night, ended up with just about a couple inches across much around the beltway, more, of course, to the north and west, in fact a lot more.

philadelphia, they project four-6 inches before it is over, same down in south jersey, but north jersey it is much worse, blizzard conditions, up to a foot and a half here in the big city, live look in queens, is his rockaway beach, and you can see a lot coming down even still. hard to see because so much of it is rain and moving, this is one of those tower cams. look at those waves, the tide came up a couple more feet than expected, big waves, lots of snow, but if they were to pan around, you could see that the road has cleared in many places. picture coming out of staten island, new york, one of the five boroughs. missing ponies. many ponies on the mess but they have been located as you see down there at the bottom. 123rd precinct of the nypd, congratulations and wrangling these ponies from staten island. they were safely returned to their owners, i am happy to say. up in boston, still going on, snow expected to continue to the night, 8-12 inches in the city,

just 2-3 out on the eyelids, but north and west, full on blizzard, bedford, about 12-18 inches. want to show you how much more is to come. d.c. as i mentioned, basically over, so we have taken them off the mat. philly come you are about done, too, you will end up with 4-6 depending on where you are, another inch or two in times square to come and new york city, airports are open, by the way. 5600 flights canceled today, 2800 of them right here in new york city. fort-8 more coming in boston, but look in then, still another foot or so in the poconos, foot up to a foot and a half in burlington, and rick has been in pennsylvania since the crack of dawn this morning, looks like you got a good bit there. >> it did, the snow is still falling. it was coming down really hard this morning, 2-3 inches an hour, we are told about one more inch this afternoon, maybe a

foot or more on the ground in bethlehem right now, but blizzard warnings remained in effect repressive pennsylvania, new jersey, and also all six new england states as you mentioned the storm makes its way north. it has created a lot of problems on the road. we can show you this road, main street which is a snow emergency route which has been plowed numerous times. there is ice beneath a lot of this snow, and it is pretty deep here. the highways are in bad shape in many cases, that is why governors in several states have been encouraging drivers to stay off the roads and let the snowplows do their job. just to give an example, here in northampton to loan the mic alone, there were 29 disabled vehicles and 16 accidents reported in this one county and this was after they told people not to drive, so people are drid creating issues. what we see on this road are mostly suvs, jeeps, and the plows that continue to make the rounds here, and this storm obviously is not over yet. i think the worst is yet to come

for all of the states up to the north of us. speak >> certainly is up to the northeast, they have to wait. we've been watching animals play in snow all day including the lab over here. this is to exceed the lab in the big screen over here on the wall. she is owned by daniel elliott, they live up near stamford, connecticut. dogs seem to like to eat this stuff. kids, not so much. who is a good dog? still snowing there, a few more hours according to the national weather service, it dixie seemed pretty happy about it. here's a look at our avenue, sixth avenue in midtown manhattan. it has been plowed and plowed and plowed again, but there are a few people out, most businesses, law firms and the rest are closed in midtown. they are working over there at nbc. we are working over here at fox, they are working up the street at cnn come of course, the fire truck is out. no fires, just hanging out apparently. see the plows working. the weather service at up to two feet, very happy not to have that but lots of ice in the

suburbs into the north and west, the storm is yet to come. heather back to you. >> heather: the ice is messy but we like the little animals playing in the snow, that is good. thank you so much. >> jon: a fox news alert, fresh tape just into the fox news room of president trump meeting with eight saudi deputy crown prince. he is also the defense minister there in the oval office, let's listen in for just a moment. >> very nice people. >> jon: that is what you can to do your president, invite foreign dignitaries to sit and listen to the sound of shutters clicking. there was a question shouted to the president about the whole surveillance claim that he has made regarding the obama administration, surveilling him at trump tower.

that was ignored, as you can imagine. we do want to mention that the white house daily press briefing with sean spicer is scheduled to begin at 2:00 p.m. eastern time, so about 50 minutes from now. we will have that for you live when it begins. >> heather: we sure will. more than likely, that will focus on healthcare and the analysis from the congressional budget office, which held which held in human services secretary tom price is already disputing. listen. >> we disagree strenuously with the report that was put out. we believe that our plan will cover more individuals at a lower cost and give them the choices that they walked for the coverage that they want for themselves and for their family, not that the government forces them to buy. >> heather: doug mckelway live at the white house with more, hello. speak of these cbo member due to back numbers have made a complicated and divisive issue even more, located in divisive with supporters arguing that opponents of it are barry that cbo's lead, that this thing

is going to save people money ad reduce the budget deficit. >> the cbo is telling us it's going to lower premiums, lower them 10%, stabilizes the market. it is a $1.2 trillion spending cut, $883 billion tax cut and $337 billion in deficit reduction. >> as for the hard to swallow number come hard for republicans to swallow, 24 million americans losing their healthcare by the year 2026, republicans note these are people who for the most part did not want healthcare imposed on them by the government, people who want to make individual choices. >> the fact of the matter is they are going to be able to buy coverage policies they want for themselves and for their families. they are going to have the kind of choices that they want. >> democrats are putting their faith in these cbo numbers in using them to admonish republicans that these numbers have real-life consequences and

will do real harm to real peopl people. speak of hippocratic oath is "do no harm." they are doing harm with this bill not only if it passes, which hopefully it will not, but in the fear that it is instilling in people. >> countering that democratic line, one republican party elder says that the cbo numbers are flat out wrong and that the congressional budget office simply cannot be trusted. >> they should abolish the congressional budget office. it is corrupt. it is dishonest. it was totally wrong on obamacare by huge, huge margins. i don't trust a single word they have published. i don't believe them. >> what everyone's opinion about the cbo, no doubt the scoring of yesterday will change the debate. more than one senator has already said the bill is dead upon arrival in the senate. the white house taking a much more optimistic tone with the president saying yesterday that we are negotiating with everybody, and it is a big, fat, beautiful negotiation. back to you. >> heather: big, fat, and

beautiful. all right, thank you. >> jon: joining us now on this, former communications director for the democratic national committee and scott jennings former special assistant to president bush and a former advisor to senate majority leader mitch mcconnell. scott, so republicans have some thorny issues to deal with as a result of this cbo scoring number. but as you heard paul ryan say a bit earlier, he likes the budget savings that accrue as a result of this bill. how do republicans tell that to the american people? >> the reality is they have been selling it for the last several elections, and they've been running on a pair they won elections in 2014 and 2016 on some very simple concepts, repeal and replace bill has to reduce premiums. this bill does that. it has to cut taxes. this bill does that. it has to spend less money and reduce the deficit. this bill does that. only in washington, d.c., are these things judged to be bad

things. and regarding coverage out of the cbo scoring, you have to remember the cbo has a terrible track record of predicting the future, and they may have made some mistakes. for instance, they protected that 5 million people would give up on medicaid which is already free to them. i hardly think that is the case. the cbo has a horrible track record of predicting the future. the reality is these folks if they were part of your office bracket pool, they would finish last every single year. predicting the future is hard. i'm not saying they are necessarily bad actors here, but use it we have to take it with a grain of salt what they have to say. >> jon: let me read some stats from "the washington post." they crunched the numbers and said if you are 21 years old, making about $68,000 a year, under the republican plan, your insurance would cost $1,450 for the year. under obamacare, that same coverage costs $5100. if i'm a young person, i kind of like those numbers. >> but if you are an older

american with the same number crunching, it shows that your premiums are going to skyrocket. skyrocket, and that is actually where a lot of the deficit reduction comes from is one, about 14 million americans getting cut off mostly low income folks wouldn't cut off medicaid within the next year, about 24 million people losing their insurance in the next decade, and that premiums will come down because more and more elder americans and low income americans are not going to be able to afford any coverage, they are going to drop out of the marketplace, and so the average comes down for everybody else. i think this is going to be a really tricky situation for republicans to sell politically. and we are seeing it now with the fact that even republicans on the hill are getting really, really skittish by these numbers. it is the amount of people that

are going to lose their coverage. it is the amount that premiums are going to skyrocket, primarily for older and low income americans, and the fact that the tax breaks they are talking about are disproportionately going to people that, frankly, were in the blue counties, not the heartland where people seem to be clamoring for it the most. >> jon: we are going to have to leave it there, i'm sorry, we got truncated by news out of the white house. thank you both. >> heather: coming up, stepping up our efforts to target terrorists. a report that president trump has given the cia secret new authority to conduct covert drone strikes. plus... new tension between turkey and the netherlands. what is causing friction between the two nato allies ahead. tech: at safelite, we know how busy your life can be.

mom: oh no... tech: this mom didn't have time to worry about a cracked windshield. so she scheduled at safelite.com

and with safelite's exclusive "on my way text" she knew exactly when i'd be there, so she didn't miss a single shot. i replaced her windshield giving her more time for what matters most. tech: how'd ya do? player: we won! tech: nice! that's another safelite advantage. mom: thank you so much! (team sing) safelite repair, safelite replace. this is pete's yard. and it's been withered by winter. but all pete needs is scotts turf builder lawn food. it's the fast and easy way to a thick, green, resilient lawn with two simple feedings. one now, and one later this spring. it takes grass from hungry - to healthy. pete may not be an expert, but look at that grass. this is a scotts yard.

>> heather: president trump escalating counterterrorism efforts. "the wall street journal" reporting that the trump admission has given the cia secret new authority to conduct covert drone strikes. cia strikes were scaled back under the obama administration which ordered the pentagon to carry them out after the cia identified targets. so let's bring in our political panel to discuss this, and joining me now is patrick, he is a former speechwriter for secretary of defense ash carter and secretary of state john kerry. also an adjunct professor at georgetown university. thank us. >> thank you for having me. >> heather: are first of all, do you think this is a good idea? >> i think we saw over the last eight years of the obama and magician over 500 times they decided that it was a good idea under certain constraints to use drones to target those who hope to do us harm and the homeland. but i think the distinction between whether the military has

the authority or cia has it is an important one. that is because a military has the tradition of whether or not they can use little force and whether those conditions are just, and goes back as far as augustine if you will. this cia does not come from that tradition. they don't have this long body of law or culture where they are accustomed to using lethal forc force. i think we should remember that the cia and our intelligence agencies are just that, intelligence agencies. they are meant to collect information, understand networks and takedown networks. >> heather: i was listening to general jack keane earlier today, and he said one of the benefits of having the cia able to do this is in fact that they do have these covert operations that sometimes there is information we just do not want people to know about. >> certainly, and in certain instances drones are an effective tool in our toolbox, but they are just one tool. our operations are most effective for the long-term when drone strikes are done in concert with diplomatic efforts,

development efforts, by building political operations and networks. >> heather: we're talking specifically about killing terrorists, specifically in syria. i am not sure to be a medic efforts with isis would work. >> now, but we need to be square and honest and indirect conversation with our partners in the coalition i worked alongside a great general, general john allen, to build in order to carry out those air strikes and in order to know who the enemy is, who should be struck, and there should also be public accounting of the cost of those strikes, their effectiveness and in the pentagon, working alongside many of the senior officers there in the pentagon, that is an obligation they take very seriously. >> heather: i would say under the obama administration, one of the criticisms from the aclu specifically was that even though the military was responsible for these attacks, pulling the trigger, striking, so to speak, that they still were not open enough because we

did not know until the very end that 117 civilians had in fact been killed during the obama administration as a result of these drones. >> certainly, that argument is a sound one. it argues for more transparency, more accountability, a more public accounting for the effects of these strikes, for their cost, for what is involved, and by giving the authority to the cia to carry out these attacks, an organization which by its very nature is secret, which has a side load off others, we go further down the slippery slope and not to the accountability and transparency that people deserve. >> heather: there are definitely two viewpoints, we thank you so much for joining us, appreciate your insight today. >> thank you so much for having me. >> jon: a war of words between two allies as dutch officials by a major role in a turkish referendum. why they are focused on that vote the night before their own election. plus, a terror crackdown in northern germany. the rate that targeted one hot spot suggested of encouraging young people to join

isis. double a's here, batteries you can trust against the ear hair you can't. without them you're conducting business with an armpit on the side of your head. that's not just some battery. that's a duracell battery. that's a power you can trust.

>> jon: fox news overt, president trump as we told you is meeting with the saudi deputy crown prince right now in washington. these are more pictures of them sitting down to a business lunch as we understand it. the saudi crown prince also the defense minister of that country. a lot to talk about and that part of the world. we will continue to keep an eye on the white house and let you know if more news transpires. in the meantime, the sean spicer white house briefing scheduled for about 35 minutes from now. we will take you there live when that begins. >> heather: we are on a pygmy time, a suspected hot spot for muslim extremism rated by george dumont german police pay they strummed a mosque long known to

be a center for an extremely conservative branch of islam. a german authority has announced a ban against the organization that ran the mosque, saying they are suspected of radicalizing muslims, pushing them to take part in the jihad, but they would not announce whether any arrests were made. >> jon: tensions play between turkey and the netherlands as the dutch slammed the door on turkish officials who want to campaign in their country. dutch citizens of turkish dissent are eligible to vote in an upcoming referendum in turkey which could explain that he might expand the powers of president erdogan come he's accusing the of "ism." >> is a little bit of hysterical reaction, and i do not think it will be much of a problem. we laugh about it and go on with the next issue. >> jon: all of this as the judge had to the polls tomorrow for an important election of

their own, greg palkot live in the dutch capital the hague, greg? >> that is right, events in this small european country of the netherlands carrying a big weight and a long after 8 a lot of different ways pete over the weekend, we saw the riots in the city of rotterdam sparked with a decision by the government to block the turkish ministers coming here, officials said they were doing it in the security. turkish president erdogan blasting the move again today, slapping economic sentience against them and threatening more. we cut up today with dutch prime minister mark router, we estimate about this dangerous spat between two key u.s. and nato allies, take a listen. >> can you tell the united states, what can you reassure about your relationship in the future of nato? >> this defense of turkey, would last saturday, we try to compromise and in the middle of that negotiation, turkey all of a sudden threaten us with distinctions and we can never negotiate under threat. >> some say the prime ministers

tough actions are actually a response to tougher talk coming from the far right and the anti-islam dutch national get realtors talking about closing mosque and blocking muslim immigrants. at one point come his nationalist party was said to get the most seat and tomorrow's parliamentary vote, but he has been slipping recently and with other partners refusing to go to government with him, it is unlikely he will gain power, but john, we have been seeing firsthand how builders, who some -- geert wilders, who some call the dutch donald trump is having an impact in netherlands, maybe across europe and future elections, maybe even back in the states. back to you. >> jon: greg palkot record do not reporting live from the hague, thank you. >> heather: mother nature delivers a wallop just days before spring. it is a mess in the northeast. we won't look at how people are managing to get through it. and this. >> the president was very clear in his tweet that it was

wiretapping. >> heather: is the white house backing off president trump's claim that his predecessor was tapping his phones? we will take a look at how the press secretary tried to clarify the president's tweet. roller derby. ♪ now give up half of 'em. do i have to? this is a tough financial choice we could face when we retire. but, if we start saving even just 1% more of our annual income... we could keep doing all the things we love. prudential. bring your challenges.

has been a struggle. i considered all my options with my doctor, who recommended once-daily toujeo®. now i'm on the path to better blood sugar control. toujeo® is a long-acting insulin from the makers of lantus®. it releases slowly, providing consistent insulin levels for a full 24 hours,

proven full 24-hour blood sugar control, and significant a1c reduction. and along with toujeo®, i'm eating better and moving more. toujeo® is a long-acting, man-made insulin used to control high blood sugar in adults with diabetes. it contains 3 times as much insulin in 1 milliliter as standard insulin. don't use toujeo® to treat diabetic ketoacidosis, during episodes of low blood sugar, or if you're allergic to insulin. allergic reaction may occur and may be life threatening. don't reuse needles or share insulin pens, even if the needle has been changed. the most common side effect is low blood sugar, which can be serious and life threatening. it may cause shaking, sweating, fast heartbeat, and blurred vision. check your blood sugar levels daily while using toujeo®. injection site reactions may occur. don't change your dose or type of insulin without talking to your doctor. tell your doctor if you take other medicines and about all your medical conditions. insulins, including toujeo®, in combination with tzds (thiazolidinediones) may cause serious side effects like heart failure that can lead to death, even if you've never had heart failure before. don't dilute or mix toujeo® with other insulins or solutions

as it may not work as intended and you may lose blood sugar control, which could be serious. toujeo® helps me stay on track with my blood sugar. ask your doctor about toujeo®. >> heather: welcome back paired fox extreme weather alert as we watch the progress of a major winter storm rolling across the northeast today. schools have closed, roads are slick, tens of thousands have lost power in more than 5,000

flights canceled. while some land and some of those areas, they could still see up it. >> what we saw here is very different than what was projected even as of late yesterday. this is the lesson we keep learning, national weather service knows to do as much as they can do, mother nature still makes its own decisions. but we got was a storm with the numbers that were projected occurring to the north and west of us. not here, thank god, so we were spared some of the worst of it. >> heather: fox business network adam schapiro is out and about in midtown manhattan for us. i like your hat. >> thank you very much. i like the fact that the sun actually kind of came out from the start did not cause a little bit ago. don't break out the sunscreen, still about 31 degrees, snow still falling. i does a lot of ice, but as you heard mayor de blasio say,

new york city got spared, we did not get the rest of it come about 6-7 inches here, but in connecticut, two feet of snow on the ground, you mentioned the 5,000 almost 6,000 flights canceled today, more than 1,000 delays, but believe it or not, that new york area airports are indeed open. however, the airlines are not flying peer they have canceled their flights. if by chance you think you might be on the one that might come in or out, give them a call. train service in the northeast is really a mess from new york to boston, amtrak has canceled all train service. going south, they are operating modified schedules, the high-speed train and regional trains. so the situation in new york hasn't seen the worst, the sun is coming out again. after a morning like this, you enjoy it when you can get it. subways are running, however unlimited schedules only running in the tunnels underground. anything above ground, no way. sixth avenue, though is where i am standing, take a look. you've got, not normal traffic

because usually it is gridlock, but you have cars moving. we have seen a whole bunch of those huge sanitation trucks come by, they are plowing the road, dropping the salt. life will get back to normal in new york city, whatever normal is because it is after all the big apple and everyone has a different definition, but the good news is that we are out of it. north of us, sorry to say come you've still got snow coming down already two feet in connecticut. >> heather: did you say it is already two feet in connecticut? >> yes. >> heather: wow, thank you so much. >> jon: the white house is backing away from president trump's allegations that president obama ordered wire taps on his phones at trump tower. here is press secretary sean spicer trying to clarify mr. trump's charge. >> the president was very clear in his tweet that it was wiretapping. that spans a whole host of surveillance types of options. the house and the senate intelligence committees will now look into that and provide a report back. >> jon: let's discuss it with

our political panel pew joining us now, mark larson conservative southern california radio host and jessica, former congressional candidate and democratic strategist. thank you both for being here. so jessica, do you accept sean spicer's explanation? >> no, and i am not sure anyone really does accept his explanation. we have seen this over and over since president trump sent out the tweet that all of his spokespeople keep walking back his comments. now we are seeing the house intelligence committee is talking about the subpoena powers, what they are able to do here with the doj asking for their extension. it is really a sad situation, i think, for everyone. it tends to make it look like this is a situation where president trump is really sort of abusing his powers. >> jon: house intelligence committee is supposed to be investigating this. they have a hearing scheduled for march 20th, so we could get some answers in less than a

week. >> we could. let's face it, president trump is often his own worst enemy. remember the weekend a couple weekends ago where he tweeted this about the wiretapping, did change the subject effectively, maybe not in the way he intended, that let the opposition say, wiretaps, where's the actual wire, where are the taps? are we going to find president obama like a cartoon bandit masked with hard wires and's older, that is not going to happen. what sean spicer and others have said that kellyanne conway, is it possible to have other forms of surveillance? sure, of course there is, but we are not going to find a smoking gun here that incriminate any obama operatives because that is what surveillance people do. they do not leave breadcrumbs. there is the rub on this. it has turned into the big obsession now. the opposition thinks this is nixon and watergate all over again. >> jon: it is widely believed that general michael flynn who was briefly the head of the

national security agency or national security advisor, i should say, that somehow he got caught on surveillance, is that evidence enough for the charge that president trump made? >> no, because we know for a fact already that there is surveillance of the russians. things that come in as a result of that surveillance is very different than saying that there was general surveillance or wiretapping or things going on in trump tower during the campaign. one of the issues is in fact president trump is the one who mentioned mccarthyism and watergate and nixon here. he is the one who brought all of that end. it is not just the opposition. march you that, he also is speaking to this larger issue. we have seen this before during and throughout the obama administration where there are a lot of various articles, conspiracy theories that were going around, everything

including trump fomented a lot particularly regarding birtherism and these issues coming and he continues to go there. the charges he made and the tweet directly against president obama calling him "sick" "a liar," these are things he tweeted specifically. it is not said that we were hoping we would see continued during his presidency are these kinds of attacks on american citizens. a speaker admit it, you'll love it. it gives you fodder. i'm not going to legitimate far extreme right wing things or how trump said this or that or going back to the birther stories come of what is now is now. you got to it when you talked about other surveillance going on. that is how surveillance can work. it could have been other organizations. we do know they have to surveillance going on because of the russian questions in the building. it is easy to say, look what else we find here. you could have the british working, so there are a lot of different ways this could be

done. it is not something you discount paired i know you would like to discount it based on some messy tweets or some french commentator, but the problem is, and you can get this on left and right, since the patriot act came income americans in general have had a problem with too much surveillance and wondering how, if we give up a little bit of freedom, just for some security, do you ever put it back in the bottle? it is a concern. reagan said to trust but verify, subtrust the system but verify and cool the hyperbole. >> jon: but do you trust the president when he says something like that? to this point, he has offered no corroboration for his charge. >> he may have been wrong, and if he's wrong, he should say it. ask a james rosen on fox news, how did that work under the previous administration in terms of his situation, his parents and so forth. you can find a lot of other stories that make you go, i don't know what i don't know, but you know what? maybe there is something. nothing surprises me in this era

especially with technology. i was over at the spy museum. >> if the president is wrong -- because >> you go in there for a while and look at history, you go, you know, who knows? get it out of the way. >> of the president is wrong, he should not be making these allegations to begin with via twitter. that is part of the duties. >> he has not made it for two weeks. >> he should not have made one and the first place if there is a possibility that he did not have the corroborating evidence. that is part of the role of being president. that is the concern. so it is not the same. >> jon: we are going to have to leave it there. i am sorry. running out of time. we will keep an eye on it, thank you both. >> heather: nothing else being debated, group of states lining up behind when challenged president trump's revised travel ban. >> saying if you are from one of these six countries, you are

presentable he a terrorist. >> heather: so what will this new legal challenge look like and what opponents be able to block mr. trump's new executive order? or legal panel weighs in next. and a dramatic rescue caught on video as this car plunges into water. rescuers only had seconds to save that driver

>> heather: the legal battle over president trump's second travel ban is heating up. washington state has filed suit joined by six other states and 13 states plus the district of columbia announced their support for hawaii's challenge. i am joined now by a criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor and former defense attorney brian, thank you both for joining us. so how has is this order diffe?

>> unlike the original order, the new travel ban now exams visa holders and also removes the language that gave preference to religious minorities. it tweaked the language and got rid of certain things that looked like it was, it was unconstitutional, but the band is still borrowing people from entering the u.s. from six targeted countries. that is still going to be an issue for several states that argued that this band is affecting their economy, their state universities. >> heather: that is what i was going to ask. just tossing over to you, brian, already facing challenges. specifically, what is hawaii saying? >> hawaii is saying that it is like she said, the economy is going to be adversely impacted because immigrants and refugees cannot enter their state of hawaii from these six countries, and that is going to have a bad effect on the economy. but there is a real problem with

that because how are you going to empirically be able to establish that? what evidence do we have that certain individuals not coming into the state of hawaii are going to affect the economy? getting back to what she said, what other change in this travel restriction, i call it. there is a waiver now incorporated into this new travel restriction. that waiver does allow, heather, a case-by-case analysis of refugees or immigrants trying to come in from these six countries. in other words, if they have some kind of nexus or some kind of connection to the united states peer they were a student, had previous leave work here, have family here, they could be considered to be allowed in the country. i think that is going to help. that is different for that is going to help this pass constitutional muster. >> heather: we mentioned seven states already suing. do you think they will manage to block this?

>> while brian is talking about the legal hurdles that the original band had to face that now this new travel ban may overcome, we still have to talk about the intent behind this band because understand that the courts, a judge can take into consideration what donald trump said while he was on the campaign trail. what he wanted to do was ban muslims from entering the u.s. so again, that is going to be determined in court to look at whether not only on the face of this band -- just before she wanted to be an refugees coming into our country from those six countries because they their vetting process in those countries was not reliable. go ahead, brian. >> i could not disagree more with the hawaiian attorney general. he was on your show a few minutes ago and said if you are coming from one of the six countries, you are presumptively a criminal trying to get into our country. that is not what this travel

restriction says. it says, we need some time to properly vent you to make sure that you are not a criminal. another thing, too, there is evidence now in this travel restriction were over 1,000 immigrants and refugees coming from these six countries are being currently -- >> no, brian, no. no, there are 1,000 pending investigations, but that letter that you are referring to declined to actually state whether those individuals that they are investigating came from those six countries. that is information we need to know. that does not -- that is not what they said. we don't even know of these individuals that are being investigated came from those six countries or we don't even know how long they have lived in the u.s.? remember, that report -- >> 300 documented. >> heather: we have to wrap it

up now. definitely vocal on both sides of it. we will see what happens. this is supposed to take place after midnight on thursday. we will see paired thank you both for joining us. >> jon: fox news alert, we are awaiting the daily white house briefing. sean spicer sick to step up to the podium there at the top of the hour. we will take you there live when it begins. plus, the process of liberating mosul, why his supporters are saying it is just a matter of time before they crush the terrorists. why put up with just part of a day? aleve, live whole not part. tell you what, i'll give it to you for half off. with 9 lobster dishes.est is back try succulent new lobster mix & match or see how sweet a lobster lover's dream can be. there's something for everyone and everyone's invited.

so come in soon. youthat's why you drink ensure. sidelined. with 9 grams of protein and 26 vitamins and minerals. for the strength and energy to get back to doing... ...what you love. ensure. always be you.

>> hello, everyone, i am melissa francis. at the top of the hour, sean spicer will brief at the white house where there is never a dull moment. and we're going to bring you that live as soon as it happens, plus one conservative healthcare

expert has two relatively suggestions he says could greatly improve the republican obamacare replacement plan. we are going to tell you what they are. and in case you have not heard, there is a blizzard going on in the northeast. it is far from over. that and more on "america's newsroom hq" ." >> jon: in the fight against isis, iraqi troops now surrounding western mosul, the last isis stronghold there as to mass graves were discovered near the city, one contains the remains of up to 500 people. conor powell is in our newsroom at the latest on that. >> wherever iraqi troops have gone in the last year or so, they've seem to have found dozens of mass graves, some big, some small. over the weekend, they found one of the larger ones as you said, roughly 500 or so people at a prison outside of mosul. they believe this is a place isis had executed somewhere between 50600 prisoners, many of them believed to have been

shiite or another group, both that isis believes are apostate and have killed pretty regularly across iraq. this mass grave discovery comes as the fight against isis and mosul is showing no signs of progress and success. isis is really trapped in western mosul by a river on one side and surrounded by iraqi and coalition forces on the other side. the fighting is really moving into the old city area where the roads are small and very historically tiny areas where armored vehicles cannot go. isis is putting up a fight there with snipers and booby-traps, but iraqi troops along the coalition forces are making a lot of progress peer they control now more than 30% of western mosul and just about three weeks or so, compare that to the effort to reclaim eastern mosul which took about 100 days to control.

so the fight against isis is progressing very well. >> jon: that is some good news there. conor powell joining us live from our mideast bureau, thank you. >> heather: dramatic rescue caught on camera after a man's car plunged into an estuary otherwise known as a wetland as a swap b area, happen last night in oakland. law enforcement saw and called for help, rescuers jumped into the water managed to free the driver pulling him back up to dry land. first responders performed cpr on the victim before taking him to the hospital. >> jon: a tumbling terrier is winning hearts and taking the internet by storm.

>> jon: if it's a snow day for you, take a look at this. an adorable jack russell terrier taking the internet by storm after this. >> jenna: he gave it his all. this dog got back up after a

tumble or two. didn't win best in show, but definitely a fun performance. >> jon: ollie has given it his ally. >> jenna: he didn't win but that's who we're talking about. >> jon: good job. thank you for joining us. "america's news hq" starts now. >> sandra: a fox news alert. hello and welcome to america's news headquarters. i'm melissa francis. sean spicer expected to take questions on everything from health care and the cbo scoring of the obamacare replacement plan, to the justice tkep needing more time to produce evidence of president trump's wiretapping claim. we'll bring that to you live as soon as it gets started. snow pummelling the northeast today in what could be being one of the most severe blizzards of the year. major cities on the east coast from philadelphia to boston facing a possible 1