♪ arthel: we are watching two major headlines out of washington. as president trump continues his hunt for the writer of a blistering opinion piece in the "new york times." the president now saying he may be closer to learning the author's identity. meanwhile the commander-in-chief is praising the latest jobs report which shows a bustling u.s. economy. hello, everyone, i'm arthel neville live in los angeles. welcome to a brand new hour inside "america's news headquarters." eric: you're sitting next to me but all the the way across the country had. in i'm eric shawn in

new york city. he is calling on attorney general jeff sessions to get involved. ellison barber live at the white house with the very latest on the president's call. hi, ellison. reporter: eric, president trump told reporters on air force one he is considering potential legal action against "the times." he thinks this is something attorney general jeff sessions should get involved with and investigate to try to figure out who wrote this op-ed. the white house seems to be walking that statement back. a white house official told the associated press the president was expressing his frustration with the op-ed but not ordering federal prosecutors to take action. "the new york times" says that they are confident that the department of justice understands that the first amendment protects all american citizens and that it would not participate in such a blatant abuse of government power. more than 30 cabinet level and cabinet members have denied writing the op-ed. u.s. ambassador to the u.n. nikki haley is one of them.

she did not write the "times" op-ed but wrote one for "the washington post." the title of that, when i challenge the president, i do it directly. my anonymous colleague should have too. haley writes this, making sweeping mostly unspecified claims. causing mistrust among thousands of government workers that do their jobs honestly every day. it casts doubt on the president cannot be directly refuted because the accuser's credibility and knowledge cannot be judged. she goes on to say that it encourages u.s. adversaries to promote hostile claims about the stability of our government. the white house says, the president says that he needs to know who wrote this op-ed for national security reasons. the article does not seem to reveal any classified information. the president is not alone wishing he knew who wrote it. some democrats say they would

like to know who wrote it as well. >> if they believe the president is unfit to serve as they obviously do, they really should step up. that is really saving the country from somebody who is not up to the job. reporter: president trump told a reporter in north dakota he could think of three or four or five potential authors here, but eric, he did not name any of them. eric: we'll see how that plays out. meanwhile the president was crowing about the economy. reporter: he was touting the very good jobs report from friday, unemployment rate the best its been in 18 years. he started the day with a tweet about the economy, writing quote, we are breaking all jobs and economic records but importantly our country has a tremendous future potential. we have just begun. friday's jobs report was good. the white house points to it as a success of this administration. former president barack obama disagrees with that. he says what is happening with the economy now actually began while he was in office. eric. eric: all right, ellison.

thanks so much. arthel? arthel: all right. eric. former president obama is hitting the campaign trail for the first time this election cycle, happening here in southern california. today's speech did not mention president trump but mr. obama did say this. >> the problem is that during these times of uncertainty it is always tempting for politicians for their own gain and for people in power to, to try to see it, if they can divide people. arthel: jeff paul in our los angeles newsroom with more. hi, jeff. reporter: hi, arthel. there was the one moment where you thought he might go down that road but seemingly pulled back. it was probably the closest

obama got taking a shot at trump. take a listen. >> this is a government for everybody. it is not for sale. that's what we believe in. [cheering] reporter: now that was in stark contrast to friday's speech where obama specifically called president trump out saying that trump is a symptom, not the cause of the divisiveness in politics. trump fired back at the "times" saying that obama's speech made him fall asleep. arthel: how is former president obama trying to energize democrats specifically? reporter: the former president focused on the current state of politics in general. he called at one point upon independents and republicans that don't like the direction in washington to step up. he told invite-only crowd in orange county, democrats running for seats in the house can offer the change he thinks is needed.

the former president says we are in a challenging moment where those are want to bring people. there are those who want to divide. that leads to people getting cynical, which makes them not want to vote in their absence is filled by lobbyists or other special interest groups. >> the biggest threat to our democracy i said yesterday is not, it is not one individual. it's not one, big super-pac billionaires. its apathy. it is indifference. reporter: the good news according to obama, voters can quote, restore some sanity in our politics in two months at the polls. the former president believes democrats have the chance to flip the house blue. saying he can feel the energy all across the country. arthel? arthel: jeff paul. thank you, jeff. eric. eric: arthel, meanwhile vice president pence is weighing in on the war of words with president trump and his

predecessor the vice president was interviewed by our chris wallace on "fox news sunday." >> well it was very disappointing to see president obama break with tradition of former presidents. and become so political and roll out the same tired arguments that he and liberals have made over the last eight years. the truth is the american people in 2016 rejected the policy and direction of barack obama when they elected president donald trump. eric: joining us now is the associate editor for the weekly standard. ethan, it is remarkable to see the former president criticize and speak out against president trump as he has. he refrained from the last year-and-a-half plus doing that you knew he is combing out swinging. what do you think impact will be? >> that is true. he refrained from making any public appearances at all. this is dramatic turn to the center page. it was quite and aer is big one.

i think it will help juice democratic turnout. they have been looking for a leader. there are a lot of people vying for the role of that party and obama will provide a unifying, galvanizing figure that democrats can point to. i expect it will help them ultimately. eric: yesterday he mentioned the president by name. in this speech this afternoon in orange county, california, he did not. what do you take from that specifically and the fact that he is out there stumping for congressional candidates, individual congressional can ditz, not like he is running against president trump? >> to the latter point, i think it is basically assumed that the real battleground will be the house. the senate will probably stay with the republicans. so it makes sense that obama's really going to drill down to specific house districts like those in orange county that will flip one way or the other and determine who controls that chamber of congress. as far as him sort of switching tones, i do wonder if he thinks

he went a little bit too far in his speech yesterday. it was really quite barbed toward the current president. this was a return to more traditional presidential behavior with today's speech, not going after trump on personal level. eric: if you slam people with policies and never use their name. he is talking about the house, which obviously democrats are trying to zero in on to flip it. they need 23 seats to flip the house democratic. here is what former president obama said about that this afternoon. >> if we don't step up things can get worse. where there is a vacuum in our democracy, when we are not participate pating, we're not paying attention, with we're not stepping up, other voices filled void. the good news in two months we have a chance to restore some sanity in our politics. [cheers and applause] we have the chance to flip the house of representatives and

make sure the real check and balances in washington. [cheers and applause] eric: chance to restore sanity in our politics. how would you translate that? >> well, obviously the translation is that the democrats will retake the house. that is what is obama version of sanity is. i think this is fairly standard political rhetoric. it is a little different than yesterday going after the president with such a sharp tone and by name as you pointed out. you know parties often talk about taking the country back, restoring sanity, something like that. i do think obama was pointing out a problem that the democrats do have every four years on the off presidential elections, apathy is their greatest problem. they can't get their voters to turn out when there isn't a presidential candidate on the ballot. he definitely has his work cut out for him in that regard. eric: what do you expect? >> i think it is going to be very close. i think republicans will keep the senate. if just given the economic performance of the country and, the general unat strack tiffness

of the democratic party i think republicans have very solid chance maintaining smaller majority in the house. eric: you don't expect that vaunted blue wave? >> i do think that the democrats will pick up seats but i don't think it's a given they will end up with nancy pelosi running the chamber now. eric: so they could keep the house? >> i think they could, absolutely. eric: this talk of impeachment that would probably stop that dead in the water. >> it would, though interesting to see. this has been so hyped that the blue wave, that if the democrats have a decent turnout but don't actually take the house, it is going to be pretty ugly. there will be a lot of recriminations on that side. the anger i think will only get worse. eric: president obama, not just was appealing to the democrats and independents this afternoon. he also reached out to republicans. here is what he said to republican voters. >> i want to reach out to some republicans who, who, kind of harken back to the values of a guy named abraham lincoln, first

republican president. and who say to themselves, i don't recognize what is going on in washington right now. that is not what i believe. that is not who we are as a people and as a country. eric: do you think that message will resonate with some republicans. >> well, awfully similar to a message hillary clinton tried to use in 2016 around manifestly it was not successful. if i were advising obama i would say forget that. just go after the base. get the base charged up. eric: that obviously is his mission the next two months. ethan, of "the weekly standard," thanks for joining us tonight. >> thank you. eric: catch more of chris wallace's interview with vice president mike pence. that will be tomorrow on "fox news sunday." they will talk about the anonymous "new york times" op-ed causing so much controversy. bob woodward's new book, fear, president barack obama's return to the campaign trail and much more. catch your local listings on the

local fox station. watch us, why don't you do that. 2:00 and 7:00 p.m. eastern right here on the fox news channel. arthel. arthel: i like the way you think. listen, house republicans passing an immigration bill, making it easier to deport violent, undocumented immigrants but the bill could face a road block in the senate. gillan turner explains how. >> the house passed a bill yesterday that redefines the crimes for which foreigners can be deported from the united states. passed with a vote tally of 247-152. republicans widely believe it is a much-needed measure that furthers the president's goal eliminating all criminal aliens from the united states. >> the community safety and security act provides that clarity by precisely and legally defining the phrase, crime of violence and the related criminal acts that when combined with the element of force, are indeed considered violent. reporter: the president louded the bill's passage through the

house via twitter writing under our horrible immigration laws the government is frequently blocked from deporting criminal aliens with violent felony conviction shuns. the house gop passed a bill with the ability to deport violent felons, crazy dems opposed of the need to get this bill to my desk fast. democrats say the provisions are not clear at all, and accused the republicans for rushing the vote. >> instead of ramifications for criminal law and immigration cases was introduced last week while members were out of town, rushed to the floor today without any hearings, without any markup, without any ad adequate review by the public, or legal stakeholders. reporter: aclu, national criminal defense lawyers sided in opposition, that the bill unjustly expands the definition of criminal acts in order for the trump administration to ramp up deportations. the legislation's next stop is the senate. also this week the president's border wall was back in the

spotlight and loomed large on washington's agenda. the president seeming to vacillate over the course of the week alternately saying he would or would not consider shutting down the government before the midterms over the wall funding. arthel? arthel: thank you, gillian. eric. eric: well arthel, the trump administration reportedly held secret meetings with rebellious venezuelan military officers who are potentially planning a potential coup against nicolas maduro. the white house says the two sides met last year to discuss plans to overthrow maduro but the u.s. eventually decided not to help those plotters and the coup apparently stalled. the state department spokesman did not deny reports questioned by fox news. the united nations estimates about 1 1/2 million people have fled venezuela since 2015. as you know the country's political and economic crises continue under that socialist regime. arthel. arthel: eric, meanwhile there are new developments out of north korea. a letter from kim jong-un on its

way to president trump on the eve of a big military parade in pongyang. plus more air attacks by government and russian forces in syria. many lives of civilians at risk as the pentagon fears assad may once again use chemical weapons. also we're tracking tropical storm florence as it gains strength on its way towards the east coast. >> based on what we know now it is a situation, the situation is such that it is time to begin preparations in case the hurricane is coming. ♪ looks like jonathan on a date with his wife. ♪ la-di-la-di. entresto is a heart failure medicine that helps your heart... so you can keep on doing what you love. in the largest heart failure study ever,

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♪ arthel: welcome back. apple taking action against alex jones, permanently banning info wars host from its app store earlier this summer. the company removed most of the website off itunes and its podcast. the tech giant saying conspiracy theory website violates its quote, offensive speech guidelines. this comes a few days after twitter permanently blocked jones and info wars from its platform. eric. eric: president trump awaiting a hand delivered letter from north

korean dictator kim jong-un. this is happening as the rogue regime prepares for the annual military parade. this will be a big one. it is celebrating its 70th anniversary. greg palkot live in seoul, south korea with the very latest. it is just morning, the sun is coming up. good morning, greg. reporter: absolutely, eric, the sun is coming up. more on that later at the moment. we'll talk about events taking place in north korea 120 miles from where i'm standing right now and what it could say about the state of the nuclear talks. it is again the 70th anniversary of the foundation of the country. it is carefully stage managed by the north korean government but one of our contacts on the ground says there is a little bit of emphasis on the nuclear program. a little less propaganda against the united states. more on economy and other feel-good topics. observes will watch again in a couple hours. if they roll out icbm missiles, in a big military parade they're

planning that would be evocative. they're trying to listen to kim jong-un in a speech he is supposed to be giving, to hear what he has to say. that speech, for the outside world, including the united states, also according to an expert we spoke to, to home base. take a listen. >> the real message is being sent tomorrow will be to the domestic audience. >> saying what? >> saying where a we're a strong country. reporter: eric, as you mentioned, president trump says he is soon to get a letter from kim jong-un. he believes it is positive, despite the stymied nuke talks. trump and kim are getting along just like they did back in june at that singapore summit and that could be key. other action here in south korea on a couple other fronts, on friday, north korea and the united states generals meeting, again about the, excavations in the north of remains of u.s.

soldiers. we saw 55 sets of remains brought back last month. there are 5300 americans still missing in the north. one final note, eric, another summit coming up in about 10 days. that involves kim and south korean president moon. that too is seen as critical to getting these talks about the nukes in north korea going again. back to you. eric: greg, thanks so much. arthel? arthel: all right, eric. tropical storm florence expected to become a major hurricane as it moves towards the southeast. meteorologist adam klotz has an update on where the symptom could hit. plus what's next for supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh? the senate judiciary committee wrapping up its hearings this week. >> hopefully everything goes very well with judge kavanaugh. he is central casting. you know 10 years ago they said he will be a supreme court judge. the intellect is extraordinary and the man is extraordinary.

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eric: east coast and caribbean are preparing and watching out for tropical storm florence. the storm is expected to reach hurricane strength tonight and it continues to churn in the atlantic toward us. meteorologist adam klotz is tracking it for us in the fox weather center. where is florence at? where do you think it will go? >> eric, it's a slow-mover, moving off to the west at five miles an hour. the big story how quickly it will strength. currently a tropical storm with winds around 65 or 70 miles an hour. it is running into warmer water. it will have conditions that are perfect. start to see run up to category 2 south of bermuda and jump up to category 4 as it gets closer to the main land of united states. not likely until thursday. long enough away to help indecision. this storm needs wind sheer.

some of these dark areas, will tear a storm apart. you notice what this is moving into, clear open skies. that will allow it to get stronger on top of that. we're looking at areas with very warm water. it takes the warm water to help fuel the storms. 85 degrees this is bath water it runs over. it will continue to get bigger now, all the way as it marchs closer and closer to the u.s. coast the next week or so here is the tropical models. this is aways out there still. there is indecision in models. just a couple have it turning to the north. more and more have agreement this will approach the east coast, this is taking all the way into thursday or friday of this upcoming week. there is a little way to decide what will happen with this. two of the models we like the best, euro and gfs running up coast. the euro runs into the carolinas. gfs has it close to the coast. those are something we pay close attention to.

it seems like it has been a calm season thus far and it has, but what we're beginning to see right now typically what we should see. september 8th. by september 10th. this historically is the peak of the hurricane tropical season. we're getting that. this isn't the only system we're tracking, a couple more behind it. it is building up off the coast of africa. these will start firing off, eric. floor ends is a big concern. i think whole second half of the month upcoming we'll watch the tropics closely. eric: wow, adam, thank you. arthel. arthel: eric, thank you. the senate judiciary committee is now expected to hold a vote on supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh on september toth after four days of intense witnesses before and against judge kavanaugh's confirmation without the nominee present. >> judge kavanaugh and i did not always see eye-to-eye what the law required but the judge did

not want clerks who reflexively agree with him. judge kavanaugh surrounded himself with a diverse group of law clerks, diverse idealogically or race or diverse background. there was no hidden agenda or axe to griped. >> judge kavanaugh joins the court, it will be the most presidential powers friendly court in the modern era. judge kavanaugh has a very broad view of presidential powers. for example, he would have the congress immunize sitting presidents from both civil and criminal liability. arthel: greg is here, a former chief nominations counsel to the senate judiciary committee. so, greg, let's start with an overall assessment. how do you think the week went for judge kavanaugh? in what ways was he strong and clear and did he ever appear to be less yo know, forge coming or get tripped up in any way? >> it was a remarkable week. i've been involved with dozens

of confirmmation hearings including self for the supreme court. i have never seen anything like this. senators on the left an organized effort to distract and disrupt the hearing. we had protesters every day trying to interrupt, trying to prevent the american people from really getting an opportunity to hear from judge kavanaugh. it is to his credit that he performed superbly. he rose above all of that. and he demonstrated not only his mastery of the law but which is of course important but also as important that he has certain humility and understanding of the limited nature of a judge in our system. i thought it was just a tremendous week for him. the contrast between his testimony and the kind of antics that were occurring around him, really should only go to further the case for his confirmmation. arthel: i want to play some sound from senator ben sasse of nebraska, saying that this process has become too political. let's take a listen. >> the hysteria around supreme court confirmmation hearings is

coming from the fact we have a fundamental misunderstanding of the role of the supreme court in american life now. our political commentary talks about the supreme court like there are people wearing red and blue jerseys. that is a really dangerous thing arthel: do you think the senator makes a good point? >> no, i think he hit it out of the park. that is what we saw during the week. a lot of democrat members of the committee wanted to hear from judge kavanaugh that he shared their idealogical agenda on issues such as abortion and guns. that is not what a judge is for as judge kavanaugh explained begin and again. we saw in some folks who introduced him on tuesday and then the outside witnesses on friday, he has fans and admirers across the idealogical spectrum. people who understand the role of a judge, what the court is there for and, really have read his opinions and understand his career. he is one of the most distinguished members of the federal judiciary today.

arthel: now, greg, you know that some of judge kavanaugh's detractors, if you will, they were concerned about his stance on executive power. let's play sound from the judge regarding regarding that very topic. >> no one is above the law in our constitutional system. under our system of government executive branch is subject to the law, subject to the court system, and that is an important part of federalist 69. it is an important part of the constitutional structure. arthel: as it appears now, you know, greg, that judge kavanaugh will indeed get confirmed, do you think as some have raised, some of his detractors again have raised, that there would possibly be a crowd, excuse me a cloud over his tenure as a scream court justice? do you agree with that or no? >> not at all. he testified again and again in his hearings, he understands the president is subject to the law. no president is above the law.

he spoke in glowing term of the court's experience during the nixon administration in u.s. versus nixon. he has been in that white house and outside the white house. now he has been a judge and he has been considering presidential power in a range of cases and come to a range of conclusions including ruling against the president who appointed him to the circuit court. i'm sure he will rule against president trump from time to time. that is not how he thinks b he is not going to the court to think for him. he is going to the court to serve the constitution and the american people. he clearly demonstrates his ability to do that. arthel: greg, before you leave if you could give us a brief explanation, when you were chief nominations council to the senate judiciary committee, what were your responsibilities? >> it's a terrific job. you of course, the confirmation process that everyone is familiar with is these hearings, which is just part of it. for every judicial nominee the senators and their staffs review their backgrounds in detail.

they have the opportunities to get to know the nominees. get to know their records. despite all the theatrics that can happen with supreme court confirmations i think the process works fairly well behind the scenes. america has a judiciary it can be very proud of. arthel: gregg, we'll leave it there. thank you very much for joining us. >> thank you, arthel. arthel: remind everybody stick with fox news for more coverage on judge kavanaugh's confirmmation votes. senator lindsey graham talks about this and much more with maria bartiromo on "sunday morning futures," tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. eastern. eric. eric: arthel, in three days, the nation will mark 17 years since the 9/11 attacks on that tuesday in 2001. this week fbi director christopher wray held a public forum for the first-responders who had been diagnosed with 9/11-related illnesses. this cops as the victim's compensation fund is set to expire in 2020.

rick leventhal reports from the 9/11 memorial and museum here in new york. [siren] reporter: when two hijacked passenger jets smashed into the twin towers on 9/112001, the result was death, destruction and chaos on almost unthinkable scale. most people did all they could to escape lower manhattan, thousands of first-responders, firefighters, federal agents and police officers raced to the scene, sacrificing their own safety to try to save others. thousands of men and women stayed at ground zero for weeks and months after the terror attack, painstaking searching remains and clear away pile of rubble and debris they were breathing fumes from plane parts, fuel, chemicals and computer parts that. number. people who died since 9/11 from

exposure to the poisonous elements will soon surpass the number that died on that awful day. >> we're all mortals, we're all vulnerable. we're learning more and more how lethal the pack can be. reporter: a victim's compensation was created after the attack and stopped paying benefits in 2:00. the after years of struggle the act was passed in 2010, providing $4 million and medical treatment for 90,000 people andthousand claims filed in the past year but the program is slated to end in december of 2020. this is why the department of justice held a public forum are inside the 9/11 museum friday, to remind federal agents, others exposed to ground zero, to sign up now even if they're not sick yet. >> in just the past six months i have attended the memorial services of not one, not two, but three fbi agents who served as first-responders. reporter: anyone exposed to the toxic clouds could be sick and could be eligible for benefits but the ones who need help the

most are often the most reluctant to ask for it. >> sometimes in the rapid pace of life, we're more focused on hoping out others, helping the community, helping and supporting our families. we tend to set our own wellness aside. reporter: if you or anyone you know was here that day or lived through the aftermath in lower manhattan check the website, vcf, victims compensation fund, dot-gov. in new york, rick leventhal. fox news. arthel: never forget. a deadly day in syria. what we know about the syrian government attack on the last rebel strong hold. plus an interstate shut down by a massive wildfire. how the flames are impacting travel on the west coast. ♪ this is a story about mail and packages.

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♪ arthel: a fast-moving wildfire shutting down i-5, a major

highway here out west near the california-oregon border. the delta fire is burning in the northern part of california causing evacuations. so far flames scorching more than 36,000-acres. none of the fire has been contained as of yet. eric: russian and syrian forces bombing the only remaining rebel-held area of syria today. the airstrikes occurred in the province of idlib killing four people including two children we're told. the death toll is warned to rise. turkey will turn the region, quote, into a lake of blood. retired colonel daniel davis. military expert of defense priorities. colonel, this is an overwhelming, continues to be a horrible humanitarian catastrophe. it is continued, the death toll and destruction and homes and lives destroyed, unimaginable. putin and assad are continuing it, with perhaps the last

assault. is there anything we can do to try to stem this? >> i tell you, you know the worst thing you can imagine, you're talking seven years and hundred of thousands of people have been killed. on separate occasions i've been up to the border syria. i've seen syrian refugees who fled the war, they have heart breaking stories but i'll tell you, the united states, especially at the national level we have to take a step back to look at it on the strategic level. as you alluded to, russia already twice in the past seven days have given pretty stern warnings to the united states they're considering military operations in areas where our troops are. in response we had just a couple days ago we had pretty large-scale airstrike exercises in the area to show that we're not going to go anywhere. i'm telling you there is nothing on the ground in syria, however bad that is that is worth the potential risk of a military clash between the united states and nuclear-armed russia or sacrifice of our troops. think we have to be really careful what we do next.

eric: about 100 special-ops of our forces in syria. in there they had a live-fire exercise on friday. what do you think potentially could happen if there is no deconfliction and there is an issue? >> that is exactly the concern. one of the reasons why i was so adamant and supportive of the president several months ago when he was talking about possibly removing our forces from syria, which i was all about, definitely in support of, hope that he continues to make good on that because what we do with our presence there, there are so few there, there are only 2,000 that is not enough to influence tactically anything that happens but it gives us enormous strategic risk and you just highlighted it right there. if anything goes wrong at all or intentional or accidental, we have a clash between our forces it could escalate into something really ugly and will not help our interests. eric: how do we or they prevent that? is it impossible to prevent that? do we tell them where our forces are? does the deconfliction actually

work? one time the russian contractors we're told came too close to our forces and basically killed them. >> the deconflictions that worked. in a specific incident they were not controlled by the russian forces and russian command structure. they were outside of that. they didn't have a chance to deconflict. they wandered into an area. we took appropriate action because our troops were threatened and that is what is going to happen. that was with irregular troops. we have to make sure if it is federal troops it's a different ballgame. the deconfliction needs to be very much at the fore of it. the better solution we need to remove troops to the area to reduce the threat to the united states. here is the bottom line, as bad as that suffering it is, we'll not stop it with our troops there or our troops out. we need to make it not worse for our country. eric: what if assad launches chemical weapons again? there is possibilities of that. they launched them to basically drive people out. here is joint chiefs of staff, chairman joe dunford said about

that, we're in a dialogue with the president, meaning president trump, to make sure he knows where we are in the planning in the event chemical weapons are used. he expect us to have military options and we provided updates to him on development of those military options. we saw the airstrikes once. what do you think those were enough to try to deter assad? there have been reports he had many more chemical attacks there. what happens if they use them in idlib? >> that really gets to the heart of why it is really kind of problematic to be using these airstrikes. you've seen we've done it twice now and clearly not changed the behavior of anything. so the danger is, you're seen, these are pinpricks, they're not threatening so it doesn't serve as deterrent. if they ever use them, it escalates up, we decide we have to hit harder, you talk about russia who is saying to do so is playing with fire because they have a vital national interest maintaining their airbases and sea bases in syria. and they're going to fight to

keep those. if anything, making it look like assad may fall from power they may step in there. they haven't so far. we're playing with fire if we keep thinking they will never take action to support the allies. we have to be careful. i will point out one other thing. you're talking about the last hold out in idlib. the chairman also said there was 10 to 20,000 rebel fighters in there that are primary made up of al qaeda and isis-backed fighters. imagine the really problematic possibility of us going into fire counterstrikes against the assad regime that will support al qaeda and isis? i just don't think the u.s. forces should be used to take sides in a civil war that may benefit our enemy. eric: it is an astounding situation. a stain on humanity. so heart-breaking. lieutenant colonel daniel davis, thanks for joining us. >> always my pleasure, thank you. eric: of course. arthel? arthel: well, eric, tesla ceo elon musk is feeling the burn after lighting up a joint during an interview.

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♪ arthel: tesla, taking some hits in the stock market, and on its staff. company shares dropping yesterday as two top executives

announced their departure. meanwhile controversy is growing over ceo elon musk smoking marijuana during a podcast. bryan llenas is live in the new york city newsroom. what happened during the interview? reporter: elon musk sat down for an interview with a comedian joe rogan on a popular broadcast, the joe rogan experience. they spoke two hours about artificial intelligence, business signs and and the conversation changed when rogan offered a drag from his joint he said had marijuana in it. musk took a puff. he said later in the interview said marijuana is not for him because he doesn't think it is good for his productivity. >> is that a joint? or is it a cigar? >> no. >> okay. >> it's marijuana inside of tobacco. >> like tobacco posh? >> you never had that? >> i think i tried that once. >> come on, man.

you probably can't because of stockholders, right? >> i mean it's legal, right? >> totally legal. >> okay. reporter: that interview did not go over very well with said stockholders. the next day, tesla musk's electric car company saw the stock drop more than 6%. the lowest point in five months. fox business network's charles gasparino first to report the air force is looking whether or not they will open an investigation into musk's joint smoking since musk's other company, spacex, has huge contracts with the air force and those with government security clearances are not allowed to use drugs. you compound all of that with the fact he tweeted a month ago about taking tesla private, which launched an investigation by the sec into tesla, as well as the fact that two executives decided to quit this week and making this over 30 executives leaving the company since 2016. you can understand why people are concerned about musk and tesla. arthel? arthel: bryan llenas, breaking

it all down for us. thankthank you, brian. eric. eric: a woman missed out on a nobel prize 50 years ago. coming up how she is finally being recognized for her discovery and what she plans to do with those winnings. ♪

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arthel: listen to this, as a graduate student at cambridge university in the 60s, a discovery was made that would one day win a nobel prize. first to find a type of star.

however her male supervisor got the recognition, but now she has been awarded a 3 million dollars breakthrough prize for her work. she says she will use the prize to fund scholarships for people underrepresented. so there. eric: that's great. jon scott is next. jon: up and down week for the white house, riding high on the strength of new jobs report, while an anonymous op-ed in the new york times trashes the president, putting senior officials under intense scrutiny. good evening i'm jon scott. this is the fox report. new numbers from the labor department show the economy added more than 200,000 jobs last month. the unemployment rate holding steady at an 18-year low of 3.9%. president trump tweeting about it, quote, we are breaking all jobs and economic records, but importantly our country has tremendous future potential. we have just begun. but overshadowing all that, the search for the author of a scathing op-ed in the new york times. the unnamed writer whom the

paper identified as a senior member of the administration slamming the president's leadership style and detailing a so-called resistance within the white house to his worst impulses. the president now saying he knows four or five people who could be responsible. ellison barber has the latest from the white house. is the president naming any of those potential authors? reporter: he's not, jon. the reporter in north dakota who asked that question initially asked him if he would name any of them, he did not, but he is saying this is something where he is looking at legal options when it comes to the new york times and also something he believes his attorney general should investigate. >> do you think jeff sessions should be investigating who the author of the op-ed piece was -- >> i think so because i think it is national security. i would say jeff should be investigating who the author of that piece was because i really believe it's national security. >> is there action that should be taken against the new york times? >> i'm looking at that right

now. reporter: on that, the new york times says they are, quote, confident the department of justice understands that the 1st amendment protects all american citizens and that it would not participate in such a blatant abuse of government power. as for the involvement of doj, a white house official told the associated press the president was expressing his frustration with the op-ed, not ordering federal prosecutors to take action. at least 33 cabinet level officials and cabinet officials have come out and publicly denied writing this op-ed. jon? jon: meantime, a former trump campaign aide is going to prison. has the president said anything about the sentencing of papadopoulos on friday? >> he has, this is another noneconomic story that's overshadowing the positive jobs report on friday. the president said that he did not know george papadopoulos very well. he also mocked the sentence on twitter seeming to suggest that 14 days behind bars doesn't

justify the cost of the special counsel. a federal judge sentenced papadopoulos, former foreign policy aide to the trump campaign to 14 days in prison, for lying to the fbi. he's the first former trump campaign aide to be sentenced in the special counsel's russia investigation. comments that papadopoulos made in a london bar reportedly helped initiate the russia probe. according to reports after a night of drinking in may of 2016, papadopoulos told an australian diplomat that russia had political dirt on hilary clinton. the president of course has repeatedly denied any type of collusion between his campaign and russia, and he has repeatedly called the special counsel investigation into his campaign a witch hunt. jon? jon: we have heard that term. ellison barber, thank you. let's bring in the politics editor for the washington examiner. so i guess that robert mueller gets another notch on his belt with a conviction of papadopoulos. but a 14 day sentence, that doesn't sound like that the

judge thought this was all that serious. >> yeah, i think when you look at it, number one, obviously, from an optics perspective, it is good for the investigation. it is a conviction that gets a little closer to what the whole point of the investigation was supposed to be. the trump campaign and russia and russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election. but the length of the sentence also reveals george papadopoulos wasn't a big player, that it wasn't a significant development in the investigation, at least in terms of what information he was able to bring to the investigators. so it's -- you know, it's not really quite as big as it looks, but obviously it is somebody who was on the campaign and did have dealings with russia and were not going back to things that predated the campaign as with was the case with paul manafort. jon: but it doesn't prove what mueller was charged with trying to prove or with investigating at least that there was this great con pspiracy -- conspirac

between the trump campaign and somebody in the russian government. does it >> so far it doesn't show existence of a conspiracy much less charging anybody with collusion. if there's anybody he's charged at this point who is doing something at least in the zone of collusion, it would have been george papadopoulos, and he was only charged with a process crime, lying to the fbi and he was given a very light sentence. so i think we're still very far from the central mission of this special counsel's investigation, being born out by the charges that have been brought. jon: the trump campaign has asserted that papadopoulos was a fairly low level member of that organization and even he says he doesn't think he told anyone on the campaign about what he -- about his contacts with russia. listen to this. >> did you tell anyone on the campaign? >> as far as i remember, i

absolutely did not. >> you didn't tell corey lewandowski? >> as far as i remember i absolutely did not share any information with anyone on the campaign >> that makes it even less compelling when it comes to what mueller is investigating. >> it's a little odd. he was clearly a low level functionary of the campaign, he wasn't involved very long. he was brought into the fold in part because there was a lot of professional republican, foreign policy specialists who weren't ready to embrace donald trump yet. and so they had to get together a team of advisors that might sound somewhat impressive and papadopoulos was a name put on this list. so you know, he was -- it appears he was having contacts that may not have been appropriate, but if he wasn't sharing the information, but he has of course equivocated a little bit on what he remembers and what he doesn't. it remains to be seen. but in terms of what they have actually proven thus far doesn't seem to really move the ball that far. jon: meantime, the great es game

in washington this week is who wrote that op-ed that the new york times says was authored by a senior administration official? very critical of the president. people like u.n. ambassador haley, the finger was sort of pointing at them, but she says listen, if i have a disagreement with the president, i will tell him to his face. she says i don't agree with the president on everything, when there is disagreement, there is a right way and a wrong way to address it. i will pick up the phone and call him or meet with him in person. so she says strike her from the list of those considered as suspects. >> yeah, and you saw a lot of people this week trying to sort of say that no, i had nothing to do with this. one by one people who are getting fingered for this are coming forward and denying any involvement, denying authorship of the op-ed. in some ways it is related the whole papadopoulos problem, in that president trump did not have a group of people who were loyal to him, who had a deep level of experience in government, so he had to branch

out and bring out into the fold other people, papadopoulos and some more amateurish people during the campaign, some very much more experienced people now that he's president, but some of the people brought into the administration weren't supporters of his during the campaign. you have a few never trumpers and people who are a little bit close to never trumpers, so there's certainly a number of names to choose from in terms of who might have written this op-ed. jon: you have to wonder whether there have been past administrations who had people filling this same kind of function, people who maybe disagreed with the president and would try to steer him in one direction or another, but their thoughts wouldn't necessarily make the new york times. that paper doesn't like this president. >> well, i think the big thing is not only would it not make the new york times, if it did make the new york times, it would make it in the context of a news story. maybe there would be some anonymous quotes where somebody was trying to say that within the administration, they were advising the president to steer clear of a certain course of action, they'd succeeded or

failed, blame maybe somebody else in the administration for something that went wrong. you wouldn't really have an entire op-ed piece with anonymously written saying hey, i'm doing these things to try to steer the president in a certain direction, and, you know, we're succeeding. we have a resistance here in the white house. don't worry, everybody. that's a little strange, very unusual. jon: yeah. it also seems a little underhanded. i mean, if you disagree with the president, maybe you resign, but in this case, whoever this person is, if all of this is to be believed, they are sort of undermining what the president is trying to do. >> underhanded and potentially ineffective if that's actually what you are trying to do is try to have an influence within the administration to do things that the president himself is not really his first instincts to do, it seems that declaring yourself in the new york times that this is what you are up to doesn't really seem to be the most effective way of accomplishing that goal. jon: jim, we will be talking to you a bit later. thanks. >> thanks. jon: four days of often

contentious confirmation hearings for supreme court nominee kavanaugh came to an end on friday. former kavanaugh clerk justin walker says the war of words by democrats in the hearings shows they not only lost this battle by the numbers but also on substance. >> judge kavanaugh is a mainstream judge's judge who goes where the law leads, without passion or prejudice or any party or any policy preference, and therein is the rub for his opponents. they can't bring him down. they can't engage the process because he is so qualified and so mainstream and instead, they disrupt. they grandstand. their problem is not that they don't get it. their problem is that they just can't sell it. jon: garrett tenney is in washington for us. where does the process of confirmation go from here, garrett? reporter: well, jon, the next step is for the senate judiciary committee to vote on whether to approve judge kavanaugh. that vote will likely take place on september 20th. there are 11 republicans and 10

democrats on the committee. he is expected to be approved on party line vote. his nomination goes to a full senate, likely to vote on wednesday, september 26th. as of right now, his supporters are feeling extremely confident that he will be confirmed. if that happens, he will take the constitutional and judicial oaths before taking his seat on the supreme court and that's expected to happen right before the court's next term, which begins october 1st. jon? jon: which senators are you keeping an eye on over the next few weeks? >> judge kavanaugh needs 51 votes to be confirmed. republicans currently have 51 seats so as long as every g.o.p. senator is on board, he won't have any problem getting confirmed. the two to keep an eye on, though, are lisa murkowski and susan collins, they are under a lot of pressure from liberal activist groups to oppose kavanaugh's nomination. both senators are supportive of abortion rights and they have said they could not vote for a nominee that would overturn roe v. wade. that's why democrats repeatedly pressed the judge on the issue

of abortion this week during his confirmation hearings. but this time he said roe v. wade was an important precedent of the supreme court. republicans are expecting at least a few democrats to come over as well, targeting senators manchin, heitkamp and donnelly who are all up for reelection in states that president trump won, so at this point, g.o.p. leaders don't expect to have any problems getting kavanaugh confirmed and seated by the end of the month. jon? jon: garrett tenney in washington, thanks, garrett. after reentering the political arena in illinois on friday, former president barack obama gave another stump speech on behalf of democratic candidates today. this time in orange county, california. a traditional g.o.p. stronghold. but unlike yesterday, he did not mention president trump by name. >> the fact is that if we don't step up, things can get worse. where there's a vacuum in our democracy, when we are not

participating, we're not paying attention, when we're not stepping up, other voices fill the void. but the good news is, in two months, we have a chance to restore some sanity in our politics. [applause] jon: jeff paul is live in los angeles. jeff? reporter: yeah, jon, the former president in his latest speech as you mentioned shied away from mentioning trump by name. instead obama saying the problem with the current state of politics isn't one individual, it's apathy and indifference. speaking to about 1,000 people at an invite only event, obama told the crowd that they are in a challenging time right now. he believes people feel unsettled and scared. the former president says there is too much divide going on in politics, which leads to frustration among voters who then don't show up to vote. he says it is up to voters to decide what kind of world they want to live in. >> the stakes are high in this election. there's a consequential moment

in our history. and the fact is that if we don't step up, things can get worse. this is a government for everybody! it's not for sale! that's what we believe in! >> now the former president believes democrats do have a chance to flip the house in november. jon? jon: any response from president trump or the white house so far so what the former president had to say? >> well, president trump was quick yesterday in firing back at obama saying the former president's speech on friday made him sleepy. this was in response to obama taking shots at the current administration where he said trump is a symptom, not the cause of the divisiveness in politics. our own chris wallace also sat down with vice president mike pence for an interview that will air on fox news sunday, and here is how the vice president responded when asked about obama's accusation of trump practicing the politics of fear and resentment. >> well, it was very

disappointing to see president obama break with the tradition of former presidents and become so political and roll out the same tired argument that he and liberals have made over the last eight years. the truth is, the american people in 2016 rejected the policy and direction of barack obama when they elected president donald trump. >> obama is set to hit the road for the next two months to help democrats campaign. his next stop is in ohio on thursday. jon? jon: jeff paul in los angeles, thanks, jeff. and you can catch the entire interview with vice president mike pence tomorrow on fox news sunday. it airs at 2:00 and 7:00 p.m. eastern time on fox news channel. also check your local listings. right now the battle for syria's last rebel stronghold is underway. and the fighting could spark the war-torn country's biggest humanitarian crisis yet. plus the secretary of state has another letter from kim jong-un,

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jon: fox news alert on crazy ending to the u.s. women's open tennis final. six time open winner serena williams unleashes outburst yelling at the chair umpire after he penalized for allegedly getting instruction from her coach in the stands. williams received a penalty which cost her a game in the second set. that game gave her opponent a 5-3 lead in the second. after williams got the next game to make it 5-4, she would lose the game and the match 6-2, 6-4, williams was obviously unhappy. she would not take any questions after the match. we will have more on the wild end to the u.s. open later in the hour. rescue workers in japan spending a third straight day searching for people buried under landslides after an earthquake in a northern town. 30 people presumed dead with at least 9 still missing. all but three of the victims come from the same community. officials most power has been

restored to the area and flights have resumed. about 1600 tourists forced to sleep at the airport were able to head home. the syrian government and russian warplanes launching airstrikes today on the syrian province. last stronghold of syria's rebels. the raids coming just one day after iran and russia backed a military campaign in the rebel held area despite turkey's pleas for a cease-fire. benjamin hall is in jerusalem with more. reporter: tensions in syria have been building and on so many fronts. it appears now that the offensive everyone has been dreading for the last rebel held territory may have begun. and now fears are growing for the roughly 3 million civilians who are there, among them estimated 10,000 al qaeda linked fighters. today the syrian government and russian warplanes began targeting the area hitting with it over 60 air raids killing at least four civilians including two children and a woman. rescuers did what they could pulling survivors from the

rubble. there have also been reports of indiscriminate bombs. the attack comes a day after the leaders of iran, russia and turkey met in tehran to find a diplomatic solution. they concluded they were going ahead with the quote total annihilation of terrorists. turkey pleaded for a cease-fire to avert the bloodbath arguing it has both troops and rebel groups on the opposing side of the battle and saying it simply can't handle another influx of refugees. as they prepared for the bombardment, the u.s. again warned syria, russia and iran not to target civilians while the u.s. military said it was considering all options if chemical weapons were used, and it said there were signs syria was preparing to use them. in a separate incident on friday in the southwest of the country where u.s. special forces have a base to counter isis, more than 100 u.s. marines launched an air assault and artillery fire to send a strong message to russia,

twice in the last week, russia has said it was going to conduct a military operation in the area, and twice the u.s. has had to warn them off. this final battle would effectively end the civil war and hand victory to assad, but it's what comes next to that's so worries the international community. already countries are jockeying for position in the geopolitical cauldron which will be left over has many people worrying, israel, russia, iran, turkey, the kurds in the north all want a piece of the pie and that is what many people see as the next dangerous game. jon? jon: benjamin hall reporting. benjamin, thanks. you want to stay tuned for watters world coming up right here about an hour and 35 minutes from now. here's jesse with a preview. >> the white house giving out new awards tonight. plus alex jones in a new controversy, diamond and silk, big night. jon: watters world, 8:00 p.m. eastern. the house passing an

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jon: i'm jon scott and this is the fox report. it's the bottom of the hour. if you are just joining us, outnumbered senate democrats seemingly tried everything to derail judge brett kavanaugh at this week's confirmation hearings, even senator booker's i am spartacus drama with what turned out to be not so

confidential documents he proffered. now 13 liberal groups are blasting the democrats for not doing enough. in a letter to chuck schumer, they write your job as senate democratic leader is to lead your caucus in complete opposition to trump's supreme court takeover and defend everyone threatened by trump supreme court. but unbelievably nearly two dozen democrats have still not come out against kavanaugh. just last week you helped mitch mcconnell fast track 15 trump judicial nominees. that is not the leadership we need. joining us once again, politics editor for the washington examiner. there's a little bit of you reap what you sow going on here in washington, isn't there, jim? >> there definitely is. one of the reasons the democrats don't have the procedural tools to block this nomination is because under harry reid in 2013, they weakened the judicial filibuster to facilitate the confirmation of some of obama's judicial nominees and then they

pursued a doomed fight to block neil gorsuch last year, and that really finished off the 60 vote threshold for confirming supreme court justices. so they are at a point now where democrats don't really have a whole lot of ability to block brett kavanaugh, and they may not even have unanimity given the fact there are 10 red state democrats, 10 democrats in states that president trump carried in 2016, up for reelection this year. at least three of whom are likely to be considering voting for kavanaugh. so they don't have a lot of options, but the liberal base really wants them to do something about this. and that's where the 2020 presidential candidates likely are stepping into the breach, led by cory booker and kamala harris. jon: does that explain some of the drama especially from those two senators? >> absolutely. they're both really trying to show the liberal base that they can fight. i think kamala harris wants to

look like a tough prosecutor, and she does have the prosecutorial background and corey booker with his i am spartacus moment is i think trying to overcome his past reputation for centrism. conventional wisdom on the left that republicans do these kind of things all the time, they do whatever they can to win. they are hoping a lot of democratic primary voters in the early states. jon: it's got to be tough to be chuck schumer right now. >> he's a polarizing figure on the right because he's leading the senate democratic caucus, but a lot of people on the left don't like him, you know, certainly going back to votes for the iraq war, connections to wall street, and right now he's

playing a pretty bad hand when it comes to trying to stop these trump judicial nominees. he doesn't really have the votes. republicans do. unless they can flip a couple of republicans, lisa murkowski, susan collins, but i think on the senate judiciary committee last week made it seem that that wasn't the target, those two senators weren't the targets. they were targeting i think the base at home. jon: it seems like they would like to, democrats would like to continue to torment judge kavanaugh or justice kavanaugh, soming he makes it to the supreme court -- assuming he makes it to the supreme court -- even when he gets to the bench. >> absolutely. the things they are talking about saying he's committed perjury, saying he was involved in stolen e-mails, really raising questions about things that he said in his testimony. they really i think plan to plant the seed to continue to go after him even after he's confirmed. there's going to be liberal groups that are undoubtedly going to try to pursue his

impeachment. i don't think that they are ever going to come close to having the votes to do something like that, but certainly it's something that groups can raise money on and certainly something that democrats can continue to press, even after he's confirmed, if everything continues along the path that it looks like it is right now. jon: if you strip away all the drama and all the theater, and i am spartacus, how did kavanaugh do? >> well, i think despite the fact that he was constantly being interrupted by protesters and that a lot of the democrats on the committee didn't seem particularly interested in his answers, he held up rather well. he was pretty calm under fire. he's obviously very bright. he has a strong command of the legal and constitutional issues in play here. now, clearly, there are a number of democrats on the committee who aren't going to like some of his jurisprudence, and they are not going to like some of the things that he had to say in explaining why his judicial philosophy led him sometimes to rule against liberal policies in federal agencies, but that's par

for the course for any republican judicial nominee, i think, at this point and kavanaugh acquitted himself about as well as he could under the circumstances and perhaps a little bit better. jon: some of the president's critics need to study the constitution, it would seem, because it is his prerogative to appoint whoever he wants to the supreme court as long as that person gets approved by the senate. >> that's right. the senate has the right to advise and consent and the president has the right to nominate justices and federal judges. that's the way the process works. jon: jim, thank you very much, washington examiner. >> thank you. jon: for more on all of this, be sure to tune into sunday morning futures. maria bartiromo will be speaking to senator graham who sits on the judiciary committee. that's tomorrow 10:00 a.m. eastern right here on fox news channel. president trump appears to be backing off his threats to shut down the federal government ahead of the midterm elections over funding for the border wall that he so much wants. this as the house passes a new bill that would make it easier

to deport immigrants for violent crimes. gillian turner has more from washington. >> the house passed a vote yesterday that redefining the crimes for which foreigners can be deported from the united states. passed with a vote tally of 247-152, republicans believe it is a much needed measure that furthers the president's goal of eliminating all criminal aliens from the united states. >> -- by precisely and legally defining the phrase crime of violence and related criminal acts that when combined with the element of force are indeed considered violent. >> the president wrote on twitter under our horrible immigration laws the government's frequently blocked from deporting criminal aliens with violent felony convictions. house g.o.p. just passed a bill to increase our ability to deport violent felons. crazy democrats opposed.

need to get this bill to my desk fast. but the democrats accused of republicans to purposely rushing it to a vote. >> instead of a bill with significant ramifications for criminal law in immigration cases was introduced last week while members were out of town and is being rushed to the floor today without any hearings, without any mark up, without any adequate opportunity for review by the public, by legal experts or by stake holders. >> the aclu, the immigrant legal resource center and the national association of criminal defense lawyers have already lined up in opposition, citing concerns that the bill up justly expands the definition of criminal acts in order for the trump administration to ramp up deportations. the legislation's next stop is the senate. also this week the president's border wall was back in the spotlight and loomed large on washington's agenda. the president seeming to vacillate over the course of the week, alternately saying he would and would not consider shutting down the government before the midterms over the wall's funding. jon? jon: gillian turner, thanks. we haven't had any nuclear

tests. we haven't had any missile tests, which we consider a good thing. but the work of convincing chairman kim to make this strategic shift that we have talked about for a brighter future for the people of north korea continues. jon: secretary of state pompeo commenting on north korea's progress towards ending its nuclear weapons program. the secretary also says he has a letter from kim jong-un which he will hand to president trump. the high level correspondence coming as north korea prepares its -- for its 70th anniversary with a show of military might. greg palkot is live from seoul south korea. greg? >> hey, jon. more on the diplomatic developments in a moment, but in a couping hour's time -- in a couple hour's time, north of the border where we are right now, there are those events in north korea which could tell us a lot about the state of play of nuclear negotiations. it's marking the anniversary, the 70th anniversary, the founding of north korea. it's all very carefully stage

managed by the government, one of our contacts on the ground says he's already seen indications that there's less emphasis on the nuclear program, on antiu.s. propaganda and more on bread and butter issues like the economy. observers will be watching again in just about two hours time if north korea rolls out icbm missiles in a big military parade planned that would be provocative. also what north korean leader kim jong-un would say in a speech he is expected to make, friendly words or tough talk, and as you mentioned, president trump says that he is about to have in his possession a letter from north korea which he believes is positive, straight from kim jong-un despite the stymied nuclear talks, trump and kim seem to be getting along just like they did at the summit in june in singapore. that could be very important to the future of talks. here's a little bit of what one expert told us >> the relationship between these two men is the key -- this

is sort of where the two kind of meet and it is very very important. and i think what's encouraging is that they are both saying positive things about one another. >> even if it's just words. >> well words are all we have at the moment. >> again, if words can be turned into actions, positive actions, that remains to be seen. jon? jon: we understand greg there are more developments in the search for the remains of u.s. troops still missing from the korean war? >> absolutely, jon. and this is seen as an overall positive as well. on friday, at the dmz, generals from north korea and united states met. they are looking at future searches in north korea. remember, we did see the remains of some 55 u.s. servicemembers lost in the korean war, but there are 5300 still there, and that would be a positive, an overall positive, as would a summit coming up perhaps in ten

days' time between kim jong-un and the president of south korea. he has explicitly said that he will try to get this thing moving again, denuclearization by north korea, we will see, and we will be watching. back to you. jon: gregg palkot in south korea, thanks. even though tropical storm gordon made labor day a washout in southwest florida, the region got a break this week from its struggle with a vicious red tide algae bomb. jordan bowan of our tampa affiliate has more. >> business at flynn's place on anna maria island is starting to pick back up. >> it was really slow last week. people are starting to come back, not at any great pace, but we're hope -- september is usually a pretty slow month anyway >> the restaurant and bar has suffered for weeks as red tide wreaked havoc along beaches like anna maria island, but a new report out by the fwc is showing red tide effects lessening. the orange yellow and white dots

showing low medium and very low level of red tide in a county. in sarasota county only one area of high level of red tide cells marked by the red dot. >> seeing less of the adverse impacts from the dead fish along the beaches but the winds have been blowing offshore. >> as the doctor explains, high winds from tropical storm gordon helped lessen the red tide effects along with the heavy rain. >> buecause we're getting so muh rain, maybe that will have an adverse effect because it can't take a lot of low salinity water, which may limit its growth. >> they are hoping customers will return to the beach. >> we are hoping everybody comes back and starts partying in paradise again. >> in manatee county, fox news. jon: environmentalists celebrating the launch of a

cutting edge project to reduce a massive build up of garbage in the ocean. an update on the meltdown of serena williams that might have cost her the championship. if you're 65 or older, even if you're healthy, you may be at increased risk for pneumococcal pneumonia - a potentially serious bacterial lung disease that can disrupt your life for weeks. in severe cases, pneumococcal pneumonia can put you in the hospital. it may take weeks to recover

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better yet, i had an easy payment plan to get me back on track. back on track enough to clean up this dump. come on, man. (vo) check your rate at welcometotheclub.com. jon: here's a multimillion dollars project to reduce the amount of garbage in the ocean. launching from san francisco bay. the 2,000 foot trash collector setting sail for a massive buildup of plastic trash swirling way out in the pacific. the founder describes the device as a giant pac-man that propels itself using wind and wave power while gobbling up trash. there's a filter in place to protect marine life. the goal is to build a full fleet of 60 of these trash

collectors. we are going to be talking to adam klotz about tropical storm florence. it's churning toward the united states as two states issue emergency declarations. how powerful a storm will this be? adam? adam: hey there, jon, it is going to eventually become a really powerful storm. the conditions are right for this. it will be moving closer to the states. currently a tropical storm. but you notice quickly jumping up to a category 2, likely tonight or tomorrow and then running up to a category 4 storm as it moves past bermuda works its way closer to the coast. we are not getting up close to the east coast until thursday of next week. there is a lot of time for things to change with this storm, but one thing that's not going to change is the conditions are right for this to get really strong. what you need is calm upper level winds. everything you are looking with bright color here, those are the kind of winds that do not help a storm develop. this is about to move in these areas where there are no winds. that's going to allow this to become a stronger more powerful storm. add that with the warm water, obviously you need this warm

water to fuel these big storms, and we have it, temperatures there across the ocean, 85 degrees from where it sits currently, running all the way up to the east coast. that's enough fuel that this is going to be able to climb up likely to a category 4 storm. that is a major hurricane as it moves this direction. again, it is still really early. we're talking about early in weekend. this won't be approaching until closer to next weekend, getting at least towards the end of the week. still a lot of time for the models to diverge. as we continue to update this, we are beginning to see -- this is going to be something we are paying very close attention to in the next few days. we will know more by monday. jon: thanks, adam. more on serena williams meltdown at the u.s. open. that's coming up, after we take a quick break. n. neil, if this flight is successful, you'll go down in history. we're planning on the flight being successful. the entire world's watching. five... four...

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this is moving day with the best in-home wifi experience and millions of wifi hotspots to help you stay connected. and this is moving day with reliable service appointments in a two-hour window so you're up and running in no time. show me decorating shows. this is staying connected with xfinity to make moving... simple. easy. awesome. stay connected while you move with the best wifi experience and two-hour appointment windows. click, call or visit a store today. jon: more now on the wild ending to the u.s. open tennis women's final in queens, new york. serena williams down a set to her opponent, when the chair umpire penalized her for allegedly getting instruction from her coach in the stands. she then got more penalties for yelling at the umpire ultimately costing her a game in the second set. here's how it went. >> she went out -- >> you owe me an apology!

jon: serena kept arguing saying what happened to her would not have happened to a man. eventually she lost the championship in straight sets to the opponent who grew up idolizing williams. bryan llenas has some of that. >> a remarkable u.s. open final on so many levels. the win denies williams a record 24th major win. right now all anybody can talk about her is her heated argument with the umpire carlos ramos. he hit serena with three violations tonight. one was the violation for coaching. she went to the umpire and said i don't cheat. i would rather lose. every time i play here i have problems. she was docked a point for cracking her racket. this is when it got heated. she called ramos a thief. >> cost her a game penalty. >> say you're sorry.

then don't talk to me. don't talk to me. you stole a point from me. you are a thief too. >> you're a thief too. umpire carlos ramos then docked her a game. it put her opponent up 5-3 in the second set. she would go on to win her first grand slam title 2-6-4-6. there were tears, yelling, and at the end during the trophy ceremony, perhaps one of the most awkward, the crowd at the u.s. open boos unhappy with the umpiring at the opponent while she's there winning her first grand slam title. serena urging the crowd to stop booing. >> i don't want to be rude, and i don't want to interrupt. i don't want to do questions. i just want to tell you guys she played well and this is her first grand slam. we'll get through it. but let's give everyone the credit where credit's due and let's not boo anymore. we're going to get through this. >> fans of serena williams are

giving her credit for how she handled that at the end. she also went on to say when she was talking to the umpire, she said look men say far worst things and don't get docked points. that was also part of the controversy. let's talk about the winner for a second, 20 years old, grew up idolizing williams, now she becomes the first japanese player to win a title. she grew up here in the united states. but tonight unfortunately she had tears in her eyes on what was an upsetting and remarkably bizarre u.s. open final. jon: serena thinks she's going to set the record today, win her 24th and it doesn't happen. she's crushed on that score. meantime, this other player osaka is crying because she's getting booed. it is a big deal. it is her first win. let her enjoy her moment. it's terrible. the entire thing was washed-out because of this arguing, and you have to definitely feel for osaka. huge historic moment for japan and her, and not a great way to end. jon: if serena hadn't called the

ump a thief he wouldn't have docked her that game; right? >> that's right. jon: there's a lesson in there. thank you. a toddler hanging from a fire escape four floors up safe now thanks to a couple of brave strangers. how it all went down, next. this is an insurance commercial. but let's be honest, nobody likes dealing with insurance. which is why esurance hired me, dennis quaid, as their spokesperson because apparently, i'm highly likable. see, they know it's confusing. i literally have no idea what i'm getting, dennis quaid. that's why they're making it simple, man in cafe. and more affordable. thank you, dennis quaid. you're welcome. that's a prop apple. i'd tell you more, but i only have 30 seconds. so here's a dramatic shot of their tagline so you'll remember it. esurance. it's surprisingly painless.

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jon: a dramatic rescue caught on camera. two deliverymen in china scale a building to save a toddler dangling from a balcony outside

a 4th floor window. apparently the child had been left home alone and managed to unlock the window and crawl outside. that's how fox reports this saturday, september 8th, 2018. i'm jon scott. thanks for making us part of your day. . mark: hello america. i'm mark levin. this is "life, liberty & levin." we have two great guests. katie pavlich, how are you? >> nice to see you, mark. mark: candace owens, how are you? >> very good to see you. >> two of the very great, young, smart, intellectual conservatives i wanted on the frm. katie pavlich you earned your bachelor of arts degree from journalism from the university of arizona. after completing your degree in