arthel: this is a fox news alert. authorities speaking moments ago, releasing new information on that deadly shooting at a government building in virginia beach yesterday, saying the gunman used two guns that appeared to have been purchased legally. the gunman died in a shootout with police. now, the community is reeling with grief as the investigation intensifies. hello, everyone. this is a brand-new hour of america's news headquarters. i'm arthel neville. eric: i'm eric shawn. there was herthere heroism, espm the four police officers who responded to the shooting. around 200 people, including city workers, community leaders and residents attending a prayer

vigil earlier today in virginia beach for the victims of the shooting. another vigil is scheduled tonight. all told, 12 people were killed, four wounded in the horrific incident. among them were 11 city employees and one contractor who was there just to get a city permit. the mayor believes the number could have been higher if it weren't for the bravery of the police officers who engaged the shooter. >> most of all, let me commend the officers, the people that ran into a building where the active shooter, shooting 45 caliber bullets, and saved many people. eric: those officers, who veteran detectives and two k-9 handlers, we have the latest. hi, mark. >> reporter: good afternoon to you. as you mentioned, virginia beach police and city officials giving us the latest information about what transpired in the last 23

hours or so. as you were talking about, it was around 4:00 yesterday, not too far from where i'm standing, around 300 feet, that the city employee that was there for 15 years, working as an engineer, went into his office complex and started firing at his coworkers. 12 people were killed. police say things could have been so much worse had officers not responded quickly. they say the officers really put their lives on the line to get people out of harm's way, to make sure that those that were there were as shield's as best they could. while police say they're putting together the time line of events of exactly what happened from the moment that the gunman arrived here on property to when he was pronounced dead as well as the end of the shooting, we understand that the police department wants to make sure people know that they see their officers as heros. >> those officers got there as quick as they could. the engaged with him as quick as they could. they were able to neutral eyes him as quick as they possibly

could. i think in the overall scheme of things that helped save a number of lives. >> reporter: there are still so many questions unanswered including what was the motive for this shooting. now, investigators said that the gunman remained a city employee up until the moments before the shooting. so this was not somebody who had just been terminated, which is something a lot of people were speculating on friday. police say he was an active employee within the city and had been there some 15 years. this community, though, is still trying to come to terms with what's happened here. it is horrific and shocking. we heard from the state's governor, he's been talking about how this community will be able to bounce back from this, that this won't be the end all, be all for virginia beach. here's what the governor had to say. >> i would ask all of you that are viewing this today to continue to please lift up virginia beach, continue to lift up these victims and their families as we continue this healing process which will go on not for days, but months and

years. so thank you. >> reporter: virginia beach officials say they also want to make sure that families have a chance to come together. they're asking for their privacy. the city says they're going to be providing some sort of liaison to make sure that these families have all of the assistance they may need to start planning, which will be their worst nightmare, having to plan a funeral after something like this. there were a lot of questions about what kind of security this facility had right here behind me. this is a massive government complex, separated by different buildings. it's not one building. as the gunman was a city employee, officials say he didn't have to go through a traditional security screening because he was considered going to work or somebody like that, would be considered going to work. they're trying to piece together the exact timeline. officials were asked whether or not the gunman was going to work that afternoon, yesterday afternoon. but officials say they couldn't comment at that point. they were still trying to put that together. eric: one person reported he

was brushing his teeth in the bathroom earlier and they were talking about weekend plans and he said he had no plans. then 24 hours ago he allegedly burst in and caused the shooting and obviously must appeared must have known many of the victims. thank you. arthel: in other news now, as president trump faces more fallout as he threatened to impose a 5% tariff on mexican goods, until the country stops the flow of migrants to our southern border. and next week, negligence otherm the u.s. and mexico will meet in washington to try to find a way out of the standoff. garrett tenney joins us live from the white house. >> reporter: good afternoon. it's no secret that tariffs are one of president trump's favorite tools in foreign policy. the latest threat to enact tariffs on mexico is getting pushback from lawmakers in both parties as well as business groups, including the u.s. chamber of commerce which says

enacting tariffs on goods from mexico is exactly the wrong move and will lead to higher prices for american consumers. the group is so concerned about the impact tariff coughs could n the u.s. economy, it's considering taking legal action to try to block it. another concern is the new threats of tariffs could hurt the prospects of ratification of president trump's new north american trade deal. that is why a number of prominent republicans are going against the president on this, including chuck grassley, who said this is a misuse of presidential tariff authority and counter to congressional intent. i support nearly every one of president trump's immigration policies but this is not one of them. i urge the president to consider other options. democrats also lining up against the president on this. here's dan kildee a bit earlier. >> i share the concerns that mexico does not always consistently enforce its own law. we're trying to get that right in the trade agreement. i agree with senator grassley on this point. the tariffs are unhelpful, both

in terms of the american economy, but it really creates a lot of uncertainty around consideratioaroundconsideration. >> reporter: despite the risks, so far president trump is not backing down. he wants to see mexico stop the flow of migrants coming to the u.s.'s southern border which is now averaging more than 100,000 apprehensions a month. the administration and its supporters in congress say they're hopeful that mexico will respond and that the tariffs never need to take effect. >> this is a long-term issue that we're trying to resolve and hopefully we can get through this with as minimal pain for as short a period as possible. i'm hoping that we can avert the actual imposition of the 5% tariff but we've got to solve this border crisis. >> reporter: you can see mexico's foreign minister is already here in dc holding meetings to discuss the tariffs, ahead of a summit on wednesday

with mike pompeo and jared kushner. this past hour the president making a bit of a personnel announcement, announcing that emmett flood will be departing the white house later this month on june 14th. he was brought on to help the president and the white house deal with the special counsel's investigation and now that that is wrapped up, he will be departing. arthel: thank you very much for that update. eric: what could this mean? the auto industry could take a major hit if the tariffs are enacted. in 2018, 17% of cars sold in our country were built in mexico. and vehicles are the top import from that country, totaling $93 billion. next is electrical machinery, that contributes to $64 billion. what does all this mean if those are slapped on? dominic divello joins us, finance afinancial advisor. 5% tariff, june 10th, if that gets hit, how does that aus?

>> this is a mexico tariff but it's really a tariff on the goods coming in from mexico. therefore, it's a tax that is either paid by the company importing it, typically a u.s. company, or the consumer. so the dollars that are going to be paid to pay for this taxis coming out of an american company or american consumer. it's not really punishing mexico in the short term. it's punishing u.s. residents. eric: why would the president do that if it punishes u.s. residents and not mexico first? >> well, the hope is that if this tax -- again, this is supposed to increase over time. it's going to start at 5 pro, eventually 10, maybe as much 25%, that the companies that are building, manufacturing and then importing into the u.s. would change the location of that plant that's building the car from a mexico location to a u.s.-based location and, therefore, avoid the tariff. eric: that could take years.

>> years. so in the meantime, what is general motors supposed to do? when they bring the car in from mexico, they're going to have to pay this minimum 5% tax and then either they absorb that into their own cost structure or they have to pass it onto the consumer. either way, it affects corporate profits, lowers stock prices or consumers, higher inflation. eric: let's take a look at two points. the u.s. imported besides cars $26 billion worth of agriculture goods from mexico last year. that includes nearly $12 billion worth of fresh produce, you've got your lettuce, your grapes, and whatnot, and $3.6 billion worth of wine and beer. so if the beer goes up and, look, there's snack foods, there's all this stuff, that could potentially increase the cost of everything and the states that are affected include arizona, michigan, texas, they top the list of the states that -- >> and california.

let's talk about the products that are manufactured and created here in the u.s. that go into mexico. so you've got to believe, like china, mexico might retaliate. and therefore, now products going into china get -- excuse me, going into mexico get taxed and stuff coming from mexico to us gets taxed. the end of the day, the consumer has to pay the price. sooner or later it creates an inflationary scenario. eric: they're going to have a meeting on wednesday about this. do you think the mexican officials are panicking now? they're going to say it's going to hit our economy. all they have to do according to the president's plan is to get tougher on the migrants that they are coming in from the central american countries, that they're not being kept on their side of the border when they come up to our border, and all mexico has to do is to enact stricter and stronger measures in dealing with the migrants and they can avoid this and that's the whole point of the president putting this up. >> the facts are the facts. we have almost $100,000 -- those

are apprehensions. not everybody coming over the border is apprehended by law enforcement. eric: 100,000 apprehensions. >> over a million people a year. it's not sustainable. it's a crisis. it's hard to believe that our own political environment out of washington is not willing and prepared to deal with this. clearly, the mexican government does not want these millions of migrants that are coming from central america to stay in mexico. they're kind of flowing them through. they are definitely part of the problem. they also have to be part of the solution including the central american countries that these people are coming from. eric: maybe they'll get the message a little stronger now. >> short-term, i it's the u.s. consumer and u.s. companies that will pay the price. eric: thanks for your insight. arthel: entire communities in arkansas now under water after historic flooding sweeps the state. levy failures along the arkansas river sending water gushing and

residents fleeing to higher ground. casey siegal is live in conway, arkansas. the pictures are devastating. i know from covering such disasters in person it's even worse. what are you hearing from residents there? >> reporter: arthel, really the images don't translate fully on camera, when you watch it back. but to be standing here and to hear the water rushing around you and to have all of the sights and smells, it really doesn't do it justice. and what is so astonishing is how widespread of a problem this is. i'm going to hop out of the way now. we keep showing this over and over throughout the day, but it's just so difficult to wrap your mind around. look at the arkansas river, out of its banks, clearly, and it has the ferry lock and dam offices up there, almost submerged, up to the garage doors there. and then as my photographer just continues panning down along the

way, you kne see a number of buildings under water, just the tops are sticking up. then you have structures that are totally submerged that you can't even see, like the lock and dam system itself. so that means no boats, no commercial barge traffic is obviously getting through here. now, take a look at this video just shot from a ride-along with the sheriff who took us through some of the hardest impacted areas in and around conway where we are and neighboring mayflower, arkansas. home after home taking on serious water. sandbags on roofs, up to windows. some folks adding height to the sandbag mounds as the water levels just keep on rising. but despite such loss and the historic nature of this flooding, the sheriff tells us he sees a silver lining here. >> you wonder why these things happen and this may be exactly

why, because it brings everybody together. and they kind of start, they clean the slate, they start from scratch, build a relationship that's more stronger than politics. i think that happens and that may be what's happening now. i think it's awesome, as sad as it is. under the circumstances. >> reporter: now, last week president trump signed a disaster declaration, 16 counties across the state of arkansas are part of that. it frees up federal funds to give local, state and leaders a chance to get jump-started on the recovery efforts and also on the relief for victims. there are 16 counties as i said in arkansas that are encompassed in that. the governor of the state estimates that about 500 homes have been impacted so far. unfortunately, emergency management officials say, arthel, it's a number that they anticipate will rise as the

floodwaters here continue to rise. arthel: that's unfortunate, but what did he say, the human spirit overpowers politics, something like that. but that was the take-away that i got. >> reporter: that is the take-away. arthel: thank you, casey. eric: a lot of people are dealing with this this weekend and communities from texas to kansas up to the northeast are cleaning up from tornadoes and severe thunderstorms that hit those areas. thursday marked the end of a record 13 days in a row with eight or more confirmed tornadoes in the heartland. people in affected communities like lynnwood, kansas, they're lending a hand. >> it's been a great experience, being here as a student, being supported by the community and got to give back, so -- >> whatever is needed. my husband has a chainsaw so he'll help with the tree and debris removal. whatever we can do. eric: nationwide, look at those numbers, 935 confirmed tornadoes

have hit the ground, more than the yearly average that we get, 743. out west, more than a dozen 2020 hopefuls are stating their case, some are arguing the new debate rules they say just ain't fair. we're live at the golden state with that, next. it's been a long time since andrew dusted off his dancing shoes. luckily denture breath will be the least of his worries. because he uses polident 4 in 1 cleaning system to kill 99.99%

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eric: more than half of the 2020 democratic contenders are in san francisco right now. they're attending the california democratic convention. it's considered the biggest event in the early primary season. but the big frontrunner in the race, well, he's a no-show. claudia cowen live in san francisco with the latest and why joe biden isn't there. hi, claudia. >> reporter: hi, eric. that's right, the former vice president, joe biden, sitting this one out. he is campaigning instead in columbus, ohio and promises to visit the golden state later this month. some political observers say the frontrunner is well advised to be somewhere else. >> he's very well-known here. there's little he can say that is going to be different than what people already think about him. there is always to some extent the risk that he does something that causes him damage. i don't think that would happen. there's no upside.

>> reporter: some candidates like senators bernie sanders and kamala harris are well known but others less so, in fact, ten are polling under a 5% in california and this is their chance to get in the game. with thousands of delegates and party faithful in the house, it's been a boisterous convention thus far. harris spoke first. she raised a lot of money and won many endorsements. she remains largely unknown in much of her home state. she referred to the president as, quote, so-called commander in chief and called for his impeachment. up next, beto o'rourke, he reminded the crowd he is from another border state and he attacked the administration's immigration policies and promised a path to si citizenshp for mill qlon millions of undocd residents. elizabeth warren promised to break up big tech and pass a wealth tax in elected. eight more candidates will address the convention this afternoon, followed by three

more tomorrow. they only get about seven minutes each to make their best pitch, hoping whatever they say makes a lasting impression, somehow sets them apart. this is the run-up to the party's second convention, happening in november, and all of these candidates as well as joe biden are expected to attend. eric. eric: they really have a lot of events where they show up. all right, claud claudia, thank. arthel: some candidates are upset over new dnc rules that require hopefuls to have at least 130,000 donors to qualify for the third primary debate in september. presidential candidate john delaney believes the changes don't represent the average american. >> right now, we live in a country where half of the american people can't afford their basic necessities like rent, food and utilities.

i'm running for those people. i don't understand why one of the criteria is this money donor standard. it seems to me the half of the american people that have having a hard time affording basic necessities, it doesn't seem like they're probably contributing a lot of money to political campaigns, so why is their voice not relevant in the debate? arthel: let's bring in our political panel, mandy gunesecara, former administration official, an antoine searight, and the founder and ceo of blueprint strategy. antoine, i'm going to start with you. mandy, i'm going to get your reaction in a second. antoine, overall, do those democratic candidates who are upset about the new debate rules have a valid argument? >> no. welcome to the big leagues. we know what it's going to take to take on donald trump and the republicans next year and what the dnc has done to this point,

i think has been very fair. look, the first set of standards to qualify for the debate was lax. it gave everyone a chance to get in the game. we can't continue going down this road, having debates with 20, 30 people on the debate stage because we have these really relaxed standards. i think what they've done is fair. i'm very pleased. i applaud the chairman for his work. and at the end o the day, it tas the campaign and candidate in order to connect with the grassroots people within the party and the donors to make their case and if they do that well, they will have no problem qualifying for the debate stage obamacare what abou.arthel: wht mr. delaney's argument? he says he doesn't have enough time to get his argument out to the donors. >> mr. delaney has lots and lots and lots of money to where he can connect with those voters in a real way and garner their support and guess what? i know people in south carolina where i live who are on social security income who will chip aa

way 5 or $10 for the candidate of their choice. they did it with barack obama and hillary clinton. i hear them talking about doing it all the time because the candidate they like, it may be he's not collecting with those people or willing to make that kind of sacrifice. arthel: mandy, what do you sunshine. >> i agree with antoine. the dnc had to figure out how to take a very broad and numerous group of candidates and set thresholds to narrow the field. i believe they're doing it in a way to support some of their preferred candidates like biden and kamala harris and elizabeth warren. >> that's not true. >> it doesn't matter for republicans if there's two up there or 25. they're all going to be pushing the same extreme policies like higher taxes, more regulations that show how out-of-touch they actually are with the american electorate. >> you say out-of-touch. yet most of the things we hear democratic candidates running on are the same things that -- the same reasons why we had historic

gains in the midterms. you say the dnc is bending the rules towards certain candidates, if you look at who will be on the debate stage next month in june, they're not just the quote, unquote, favorite candidates, they're candidates who not many people knew who they were prior to them entering the presidental race. i understand you're rehearsing the republican talking points. t at least come with a valid argument. arthel: so the first -- he pointed out the date. the dnc debate will be 26 days from now. if you go back to may 31 31st - what does this say to you, mandy? >> again, i think it's -- what's going to come out is not necessarily what the timeframe is but who is connecting with the voters and when you're talking about leading into 2020, what americans really care about is president trump's winning and robust economy. they see that we've seen over 3%

gdp growth. he created over 6 mil million j. he's delivering on his promises. that is why the rnc is beating the dnc extremely well in terms of raising funds, i was looking at april numbers the other day. the rns raised over $16 million, compared to the dnc, around 5. there is robust momentum and support for republicans and the president and we have a strategic, well-funded, sophisticated gain that is going to lend itself to successful 2020 outcome. >> mandy, have you seen the recent polls? the number one issue on the minds of americans is health care. while you want to do your toe touches about the economy, that's not what is on the mind of the american people. that shows how out of touch you all are. while the economy's doing well for some, it's not doing well for everyone. that's why you see people forget about trying to make ends meet. people are putting two ends together, hoping they meet in middle class america and the tax scam that you passed is proof that you are out of touch about what middle class america wants.

>> i think president trump has done more for middle class americans than any of his predecessors and his policies put them in a better standing than any of the extreme social policies that the democrats are pushing. and when you want to talk polls -- arthel: what did you say? we don't have time to talk about the polls. i have to go. i have to leave it there. mandy, i'm a gluten for punishment. mandy and antoine, thanks, guys. >> thank you so much. arthel: thank you. and the other news we've been covering, virginia beach coping with our nation's latest deadly mass shooting, a pastor set to host a vigil for the community tonight is up next on the spiritual response. mutual custos your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

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't easy. 12 hours? 20 dogs? where's your belly rubs? after a day of chasing dogs you shouldn't have to chase down payments. (vo) send invoices and accept payments to get paid twice as fast. (danny) it's time to get yours! (vo) quickbooks. backing you. arthel: the city of virginia beach, virginia is in mourning, after a gunman opened fire at the virginia beach municipal center the, building two, killing 12 people and injuring

four others. 11 city employees and one contractor just trying to get a permit. there will be a vigil for the victims tonight in virginia beach. authorities say it is important for residents to show their support for the victims and for the police. >> we need an outpouring of support. at these vigils that will happen, come to the vigil, show up to the vigil. for our police officers, this is an absolute horrific event of unbelievable proportions. police officers put themselves in harm's way every day for people they never met, people they have no connection to, for people they will never see again. arthel: the mayor has probably not slept in the last 24 hours. joining me now on the phone is pastor clint mitchell, part of the grace covenant church in virginia beach. pastor, we're very, very sorry for the tragedy that has happened there and i want to start out by asking you, what

words are flowing into your heart that you will want to share with the good people of virginia beach during the vigil tonight? >> well, i think at a time like this, we all are asking questions like why did this happen and where is god when things like this happen and the answer is that one of the answers to that question that speaks the most to me was an answer given by fred rogers many years ago when i was a child watching mr. rogers neighborhood, that when bad things happen, we look for the helpers. and i think it's important to remember when tragedies like this happen, that one person chose to do a horrific thing. dozens of people chose to help protect other people, to care for the people who were wounded, and to try to help the situation and make it better. so to focus on the helpers,

rather than the one person who mad a horrible, horrible choice. arthel: that stood out to me in that wonderful documentary on fred rogers, look for the helpers. so this happened again in virginia beach but as americans we are part of this and we're looking for ways to heal from these tragedies when they happen far too frequently. i know you're saying to look for the helpers, but it just keeps piling on. >> yeah, and that's where we have to look within ourselves. as a human -- the human heart is a sinful place. that's why things like this happen, is that we are broken and sinful people and in need of redemption and in need of love. and that's the answer to this, is love. as a nation, we are confronted

with this on an almost daily basis. i road at one point this year -- i read at one point this year that the 151st day of the year and it was the 150th mass shooting. as a pastor, i'm not a policy person. i'm not -- arthel: of course not. >> i'm not saying this is what should happen but as a person of faith, i'm about vision. arthel: as a person of faith -- >> where this doesn't happen. arthel: as a person of faith i want to ask you this. thoughts and prayers are sincerely offered in the wake of such tragedies. however, and it's sincerely offered, i point out. >> sure. arthel: how do you feel or do you feel that as a nation we need to get back to focusing on the power of prayer together to ward off some of these mass shootings? maybe i'll missing the bet on this. >> -- missing the boat on this.

>> prayer definitely has its place and it's something that has definite value in times like this. but so does action. and a big part of the pow r weaf prayer is the power to transform us when we pray. arthel: i feel like because of, i don't know, political correctness, et cetera, that prayer has been taken out of the classroom and we can't pray here because it's going to offend that person. overall, somebody -- most people, not everybody, but they look up to someone, a higher being and whoever that higher being is, i mean, we can pray to that person on our own. but i feel like it needs to be more a part of our community as a collective. >> well, i mean, that's why we're coming together tonight and we're bringing together people from across different traditions, across the community, to come together to do just that and to care for the victims and to cry out to god

and that's really the reason we're having this vigil tonight is to bring the community together in prayer. arthel: pastor clint mitchell of grace covenant presbyterian church of princess ann, thank you very much. >> thank you for speaking with me. eric: after the horrendous storms we've seen, there's been relief this weekend for many parts of our country after we had violent tornadoes and thunderstorms in areas from texas all the way up to new jersey. meteorologist adam klotz joins us now with what we can expect for the rest of this weekend. hi, adam. >> hey, eric. a little bit of a break across portions of the country. there's spots we're watching as there's a lot of heat and humidity which will be fueling storms once again across the middle of the country, not nearly as widespread, not all the tornadic activity we've seen so much over the last two weeks.

here's the national weather service storm prediction center, indicating areas of the country where we could see big weather today. likely not a big tornado outbreak but severe thunderstorms are possible. we're seeing some of those fire up. the yellow highlighted area, that's a thunderstorm watch. the ingredients are in place that we could get severe thunderstorms. we've been seeing a couple, especially around the great lakes. this is a line of storms running across portions of northern ohio. winds are up to 60 miles an hour at times, hail, and within the system, very heavy rain. rain has been a major issue across the middle of the country. this one, this particular system today won't bring the heaviest of rain. if we look over the course of the next week, these are our rainfall totals, all the way to next weekend. and you're getting widespread, again, unfortunately in the area where you don't need it, another three to four inches of rain in the middle of the country. all of that funneling down to the mississippi river del a take and that -- delta and that's a spot where we've been watching the watershed from the ohio

river, the missouri river, the arkansas river, leading to the mississippi, no surprise that we have flood watches around warnings across this region. the arkansas has been getting beat up really bad, all of this running into the mississippi and, eric, it is looking like over the course of the next week, even if we don't see a ton of rain today, rain is still on the way. this will be an ongoing issue. eric: adam, thank you so much. one spot under siege in the country is arkansas, massive flooding is continuing there. let's bring in judge dennis gilstrap frogilstrap. parts of your town have been under water for a week. how is the community coping with that. >> we've been over a week, from the time the predictions that we was going to have historic flooding, down the arkansas river, drainage out of oklahoma, the one thing that we've been blessed is we had the first three, four days as we was

preparing and addressing the concerns that we had, trying to reinforce and mitigate any kind of concerns we had along our levy system, we did not have rain. we did have two days of rain and now we're back, we're having a couple days of sunshine and as i just saw your weather forecaster, we've got rain l coming. we've had a team today at our emergency management director, brad thomas, the crawford county sheriff, ron brown, and his -- a couple of his deputies and four members of the arkansas national guard swift water team that we have one spot that we're watching really, really close where the levy has slipped just a little. there is no major leakage or anything. it's just an area that we're trying to protect and reinforce

and this team went into that area and covered it with plastic in anticipation of the flooding that over the next few -- not flooding, but the rainfall over the next few days. eric: are there any people in danger at the moment or is it pretty well under control, even though we're seeing live pictures from conway of how massive and strong this flooding is. >> we have 22 miles of levy system in crawford county that protects severa square miles, im talking probably 5,000, 6,000 square miles of land along the arkansas river. but anyway, that area is -- we're very concerned with. as long as we have this water is flowing down the river at a rate of 570,000 cubic feet per second, our levies in crawford

county here is not in danger of over-topping but every day that goes by that that pressure's on the backs of that levy -- eric: sorry to interrupt. our hearts are with you. we'll be right back. dad: oh, hey guys! mom (on speakerphone): hi! son (on speakerphone): dad, i two goals today! vo: getting to a comfortable retirement doesn't have to be an uncomfortable thought. see how lincoln can help. ...to give you the alrprotein you needin ensure max protein... with less of the sugar you don't (grunti)g i'll take that. (cheering) 30 grams of protein and 1 gram of sugar ensure. for strength and energy. we're oscar mayer deli fresh and your very first sandwich,m... your move-in-day...feast. your bold canine caper. [child] that's not for you, bandit! your dinner in the dark. your mammoth masterpiece.

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arthel: american's dependency on medicine from china could become a threat to our national security. brian llenas has more. >> reporter: experts warn china could use america's reliance on its medicines against us. >> china could withhold supply. they could degrade medicines, put lethal contaminants in them. or they could sell us medicines that don't have any of the medicine in them. >> reporter: federal drug administration stats show at least 80% of the active ingredients found in america's pharmaceuticals come primarily from china. author of china rx, rosemarie gibson, says it's part of chinas' plan. >> china's aim is to become the global pharmacy to the world.

it wants to disrupt, dominate and displace american and other western companies. >> reporter: in 2015, china unveiled made in china 2025, a national plan to make it the world leader in 10 high tech manufacturing sectors including biomedicines. >> we all know about steel, how china dumped its steel in the united states at below market price and drove out so many factories and jobs and communities were devastated. we have the same story with a lot of our medicines and that happened with penicillin. >> reporter: america's last penicillin plant closed in 2004. now china's trying to dominate generic drugs, making everything from blood pressure meds to chemotherapy drugs, 90% of our prescriptions are for generics. america's military is at risk because troops and veterans are getting china sourced generic medicine. >> i have no doubt they would consider weaponizing their dominance of the pharmaceuticals market if they felt that would

give them an advantage over us. >> reporter: identifying drugs made in china is difficult because pharmaceutical manufacturers are not required to disclose the source of their ingredients. in new york, brian llenas, fox news. arthel: new evidence in the case of the president's former national security advisor, the voice mail that's raising new questions. that i won the "best of" i casweepstakes it. and i get to be in this geico commercial? let's do the eyebrows first, just tease it a little.

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eric: a voice mail transcript reveals that during the russia probe the president's former attorney asked michael flynn's legal team for a heads up if he was giving any damaging information to lawyers for special counsel robert mueller. but now that sparked a controversy about mueller's report. jillian turner explains from washington. >> yesterday afternoon federal prosecutors dropped the transcript of a voice mail, one of president trump's lawyers left for former national security advisor michael flynn's defense team. this transcript is one that special counsel mueller examined as part of his investigation into whether president trump obstructed justice. something mueller ultimately declined to make a determination about. now, this voice mail was left by one-time counsel john dowd, on a phone belonging to robert

kellner who currently representing michael flynn. in the message dowd says he understands flynn's compromised position saying it wouldn't surprise me if you've gone on to make a deal with and work with the government. dowd also asks for a heads up if the former national security advisor intended to give mueller information that could hurt president trump, saying if on the other hand, there's information that implicates the president, then we've got a national security issue or maybe a national security issue. we need some kind of heads up, just for the sake of protecting all our interests. dowd concludes with a friendly reminder, saying, remember what we've always said about the president and his feelings towards flynn. that still remains. but in any event, let me know, and i appreciate your listening and taking the time. thanks, pal. dowd responded yesterday in a statement saying the inclusion of this voice mail in the special counsel's probe in the

first place was politically driven, writing this is clearly a baseless political document designed to smear and damage the reputation of counsel and innocent people. this all results from a judge's order earlier this month that instructed government prosecutors to file documents, including a transcript of this voice mail, a less redacted version of a memo detailing flynn's cooperation with mueller's team and transcripts of recordings of all flynn's phone calls with russians. eric? eric: thanks, gillian. virginia beach prepares for an emotional prayer vigil later tonight. we will have more live coverage of that ahead. but allstate actually helps you drive safely... with drivewise. it lets you know when you go too fast... ...and brake too hard. with feedback to help you drive safer. giving you the power to actually lower your cost.

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a community in virginia overcome with grief after 12 people are killed in yet another mass shooting. at least four others were hurt, including a police officer, during the rampage at a municipal building in virginia beach. the suspect also killed after a gun battle with police. now an intense investigation is underway to find out why this happened. hello. i'm arthel neville. welcome to another hour of america's news headquarters. eric: hello everyone. thank you for joining us. i'm eric shawn. authorities confirmed over an hour ago that that suspect used two 45 caliber pistols that they believe were purchased legally. officials also released the names of the victims of this rampage.

that list include 11 city employees and a contractor who was there happening to pick up a city permit for some work. this as the community comes together to comfort one another and pray for the families of those victims, a second vigil is set for tonight just hours from now. we are live tonight from virginia beach, virginia, with more. that gunman, he worked for the city as a city engineer in the public utilities department for 15 years, and because of that, he basically did not have to go through security to get into the building, so walked right in? >> eric, that's what police are saying because he had worked here for 15 years. like any other employee, he would be considered to be a regular. so it would be understandable that a person would not have to go through security in something like that, working in city permitting office or public works. that will be one question that investigators will want to know what else could have been done before yesterday's shooting. while there has been so many questions about motive, what would have provoked this person

to go after and kill his coworkers, there are still a lot of people wanting the know about the people who were killed. those 12 people, 11 of whom were public servants, they were engineers, clerks, worked for the city for decades in some cases. these are people that are being remembered tonight. there's been a lot of attention focused on all of this happening, but the mayor speaking out just within the last few hours or so wanted to make it clear that virginia beach will focus on the people they have lost, but also not let this define their entire town, that the city is going to remain strong. >> we will not be defined by this horror. we will go forward. we are a city of resiliency and resolve. the true character of our city is going to rest with our public, our citizens and our neighbors that we share borders with. >> we know that president trump has reached out to the governor here in virginia. we also know that he had a chance to speak with some of the local officials on the ground.

the president also ordering flags to fly at half-staff till tuesday evening. eric: you mentioned they don't know the exact motive yet. the suspect is being described as disgruntled, not fired from the job. it does appear from the list of victims that these are a lot of people in his department, assuming he knew them personally and worked right alongside them. >> absolutely. what were his relationships like, not just in the days leading up, but in the weeks, the months, there's so much that investigators will have to go through here. they will have to look at computer files. they are going to have to look at neighbor interaction, and these things do take time. we know a number of interviews have already been conducted. some of the police officers, the officials were asked during that conference about what they discovered during those interviews, but investigators are trying to let the process play out. they don't want to get into the motive question at this point because they don't want to make a premature judgment. they want to know all the facts going into this investigation.

that's why they stress this is not something that will be solved overnight. there are thousands of pieces of evidence, it will take time to collect. eric: so chilling, one person reported as saying he saw him in the men's room, brushing his teeth as they had in the past, they talked about this weekend's plans, and then this happened. mark, thank you. arthel? arthel: for more on this, we're bringing in former virginia congressman scott taylor. he joins me by phone. congressman, first of all, how is the community holding up? >> well, it's good to be with you, arthel. you know, like the mayor said in your earlier clip, we have a very resilient community and people come together. you know, this was obviously a horrible tragedy and senseless act that who knows what's -- [inaudible] -- as you were speaking about, there are some good people there.

[inaudible]. -- offer any volunteering that's necessary or needs to be done. arthel: i'm going to try one more question to you, congressman, we will check the audio if we need to and get back to you. could you tell us what further assistance is needed? >> you know, at this time, you know, there's just an outpouring of support of course from the community, both folks wanting to volunteer as well as united way has set up a site with virginia beach that goes direct tloi the families. -- directly to the families. unfortunately, there are a lot of unexpected expenses at this time. if folks want to help the families out, i know everybody in this community would be very appreciative. in terms of volunteering, we have a very robust volunteering organization in virginia beach and they have put out some things saying hey, look, we don't need anything right now but they will request volunteers, if necessary. arthel: uh-huh.

what were your immediate thoughts when you heard of this latest tragedy, yet another mass shooting? >> you know, it's in your community, as these things a lot of times seem far away for folks, but when it happens in your community, and you know people who are affected, you see their faces and feel their grief and your own grief, it is just heart breaking. who knows why this person did this. i have been in that building. your earlier reporter was speaking about security. it is a building that has public utilities, zoning, planning. it is a place people do business. arthel: yeah. >> so there's not really a lot of security because people are going in there and -- arthel: paying their light bill, or what have you, making sure their taxes are all straight. >> that's right. arthel: like you guys said, a lot of these employees, they had been with the city for a very long time. there's no question this person knew them very well, and it's

just extremely sad. arthel: yeah. i'm sorry we had to speak on these conditions, congressman scott taylor, also former navy seal, thank you for speaking with us and thank you for your service as well. >> thank you, arthel. good talking to you guys. eric: turning now to washington, president trump facing some backlash over his threat to impose new tariffs on mexico. now the president is saying he will add a 5% tariff on mexican imports, and he blames the country for not doing enough to stop the record number of central american migrants who have been crossing through mexico into our country. u.s. and mexican officials are set to meet on this in washington this coming wednesday. garrett tenney is live at the white house with more on this plan and what we can expect. hi, garrett. >> eric, good afternoon to you. mexican officials were hoping to hold this summit as soon as this weekend, but with so many u.s. officials out of the country, it had to be pushed back to wednesday. but you can still see mexico's

foreign minister is already in d.c. preparing for the summit, holding meetings at the mexican embassy with other officials to discuss the potential impacts of tariffs. president trump will not be at the summit on wednesday. he will be overseas in europe. secretary of state pompeo and advisor to the president kushner will be there. this past hour the president defended the tariffs tweeting in part mexican companies will move back to the united states once the tariff reachs a higher levels. they took many of our companies and jobs. the foolish politicians let it happen. now they will come back unless mexico stops the travesty that is taking place and allowing millions of people to easily meander through their country and invade the u.s. if mexico wants to avoid the tariffs, the president has indicated it needs to do a lot more to stop the flow of migrants coming to our southern border. here's press secretary sarah sanders on friday. >> we're asking mexico to enforce their own laws to help stop the people coming in from central america. we've seen a massive influx of people coming from that region,

and they have certainly the ability and the legal authority in which to deal with it, and we're simply asking them to do that. >> in the past year, mexico has taken steps to address the flow of migrants coming to the u.s., but despite those effortings, more than 100,000 people have been apprehended in our southern border each of the past three months. this past month alone, projected to hit the highest number in more than a dozen years. most republicans fully support the president's efforts to address the crisis at our border, but when it comes to these new tariffs, many are coming out strongly against it, and along with business groups are urging the president to reconsider his actions and over concerns that the tour riffs would hurt u.s. consumers and this would also jeopardize the ratification of the new north american trade deal that the president just put together. eric? eric: garrett, thank you very much. for more on this, let's delve into what will happen, chief congressional correspondent for the washington examiner is joining us. susan, let me start with mexico. do you think mexico will really crack down on that flow of

migrants that's going to be at a record, they say, if they do get this tariff slapped on to them? >> i think it is a question of whether they can crack down more. they have got a 500 mile border, with guatemala, and they've had a hard time. it's pretty porous right now. they would have to step up the infrastructure and the personnel there to keep these people out. and the other issue is just trying to crack down on these buses, these private bus companies that are transporting the migrants to our southern border. they don't have a handle on it. they have clearly been trying to get a handle on it but haven't been able to do so. they have been deporting people. they have been trying to stop people as they come across the bord border. it is not working. we've had 100,000 people per month coming into the united states. it's reached a crisis point. not sure what mexico can do, whether they can show they are doing more in a way that will appease president trump enough to postpone the move on the tariffs, i don't know. but i think trump will probably be looking for, eric, is results

at our border. if he sees there are fewer people coming over, at least lowering that number now to the crisis levels we're seeing. eric: they have already taken some steps to process them or keep some of the migrants on their border before they are processed with us. perhaps if the mexicans take further steps like that, to stop that. at what point do you know could the president say no, that's enough? how about pressure on capitol hill? i mean chuck grassley is saying this is in his view this is a misuse of the tariff authority, and that's a quote. >> right, really important pressure point from congress on this. they are growing impatient with these tariffs. they were getting very impatient with the tariffs he just lifted on canada and mexico on steel and aluminium. now here we have this new surprise tariff with mexico. first it is going to interfere with the trade agreement he's trying to get congress to take up and pass. that's one area of pressure for the president. but congress is getting increasingly angry about these tariffs, especially republicans

in the senate who he kind of needs to hold the line for him. they were running out of patience with the ones he just lifted. now he's got this new one. there's not a lot of i think that will happen immediately. i think it is june 10th when the 5% tariff is going to come into play. the next ten days will be really important. you are going to hear there will be a lot of communication between republicans and capitol hill and the president, but through back channels, through meetings at the white house, to try to get him to back off on this. i don't think they will do anything immediately. i think if it continues, and then they step up because these tariffs are meant to increase over time, if mexico doesn't act, then i think you will see congress at least talking concretely about doing something, but even that is very difficult. congress has given a lot of the trade authority to the president. it is tough to block him on this. eric: not even on the trade authority, what about when it starts hitting them at home? you have 38% of the cars that are imported, have mexican

parts. the ford f-15 0, the biggest seller i think in our country, it has 15% of mexican parts. that means if you are selling a car up in nebraska or selling a car up in maine, it will cost more. >> exactly, and i sense that logic, eric, is going to be what eventually helps congress and trump's close allies in congress convince him that this is not the best route. the problem is is our asylum laws, and that's the main reason -- that's the lure for migrants to leave central america and make that incredibly difficult journey to our southern border. eric: will democrats, would they change the asylum laws? let me read you a "wall street journal" editorial on that exact point. they say quote mr. trump is blaming mexico for a mess that it cannot solve. the real cause of the recent border chaos is the lure of the u.s. asylum policy, migrants from central america know if they cross the border illegally with children, they can't be detained for more than 20 days. they are then released in the

u.s. blaming mexico is a distraction that lets democrats off the hook. do you think they can come together to tighten up the asylum laws as the president has called for? >> only if it becomes beneficial politically to the democrats. i know that's cynical, but that's really -- if they see they have the leverage on this right now, they are not going to budge because they haven't so far. they don't get a lot of pressure from anybody on this issue, on capitol hill. they get a complete pass. in fact, their policy has mostly been pretty much almost open borders. they don't want the migrants held in detention even, and they are winning -- they have been winning every fight with the republicans and every fight with the president on this. so why change course now? the asylum laws won't change, i don't believe, until democrats feel they must cooperate, and i don't see that happening at the moment. eric: we will see if there is any movement on capitol hill, sounds doubtful. we will see what happens after the meeting on wednesday. susan, always good to see you. thank you. >> thanks. eric: of course.

arthel? arthel: and we turn to weather now. thousands of homes across the midwest are under water, after weeks of relentless storms. officials in arkansas are going door-to-door, warning residents to leave for higher ground, as major rivers swell to their highest point in years. we have fox team coverage, meteorologist adam klotz is on deck with the forecast. but first let's go to casey seegal who is in conway arkansas where the flood watters continue to rise. -- waters continue to rise. >> you talk about the evacuations. most of them are not mandatory. they are voluntary, and they are going door-to-door, advising folks of the danger and also warning that if something goes wrong, they may not be able to access them. so but as we see during hurricanes and other weather events, a lot of it is up to the homeowners themselves. now, all up and down the very swollen and fast-moving arkansas

river, you obviously have a series of levees and dams to help control the water flow and also steer it away from residential communities and agriculture and businesses, but the problem that we have here is twofold. number one, the infrastructure is dated. that according to the u.s. army corps of engineers. number two, you have the highest water levels ever recorded in the arkansas river, and when you mix the two, parts of the system unfortunately have begun to fail. we saw that already, 40 miles to the northwest, where a huge section of the levee tore off, causing a serious breach, sending water everywhere, as you can see from these ariel pictures. -- aerial pictures. officials say other levees across the region, north and south of little rock, also up here near conway are showing signs of fatigue, and no doubt, that news has so many folks who call this part of the country

home feeling quite anxious. >> it's just bad for everybody. the levees have broke and i've heard there's two more fixing to break. i don't have the facts on that yet. if it does, it is going to be really really bad. all that we ask for people to do is just pray for arkansas. pray for these people that are fixing to lose their homes in water, you know, and the land. >> now sandbagging efforts have been going on for the better part of a week now. they have saved some properties. others did not stand a chance because the water levels just got too high too fast. the governor of this state says that arkansas is losing about 25 million dollars every single day, 25 million in lost commerce because barges can't get up and down the river and so many things have simply come to a grinding halt here because of these historic floods. arthel?

arthel: casey stegall, thank you very much for the update. our fox team coverage continues with meteorologist adam klotz. he is in the fox extreme weather center. hi, adam. adam: hey there, arthel. a little bit of good news and bad news, unfortunately. we're setting up for maybe a little bit calmer weekend. there are spots to watch eventually a week down the road, we will be talking about more rain. this is what we're talking about so far this weekend. there's another line where warm air is running into cold air. we could see some severe weather. in fact, i have already seen at least a little bit of severe weather so far today, not as widespread as we have seen in the last week. these are the spots we're currently watching. everything here highlighted in the yellow boxes. those are thunderstorm watches. the ingredients are there that you could see a severe thunderstorm. every one of these orange boxes is a severe warn thunderstorm, that now stretching across a large portion of northern ohio, running towards the west, across illinois, and then down into missouri. more of these watches. these are going to be thunderstorms with 60 miles-an-hour winds. perhaps some hail, definitely

heavy rain, an isolated tornado is possible today, but we're not expecting one of those really big outbreaks like we have seen in the last week. all the activity does fire up along the line, from now running into this evening and early tomorrow morning. it is not widespread, but you start to think about the entire week ahead, we're going to get stuck in another pattern where we're getting round after round of heavy rain in the middle of the country. this is a forecast taking you from now all the way into next weekend. a long time there, but you see where all the rain is falling. everything there in the yellow, orange and red that is 3 to maybe 6 inches of rain, arthel, all of that in the middle of the country which means arkansas river, the mississippi river. they will be adding more rain to these already really high numbers. arthel: too much. adam, thank you. eric: new details just revealed in the jussie smollett case, where prosecutors were saying before they dropped all the

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be go[ laughing ] gone. woo hoo. ♪ welcome to my house mmm, mmm, mmmmm. ball. ball. ball. awww, who's a good boy? it's me. me, me, me. yuck, that's gross. you got to get that under control. [ dogs howling ] seriously? embrace the mischief. say "get pets tickets" into your x1 voice remote to see it in theaters. eric: desperate search continues for a missing mother of five in connecticut. today marks the eighth day since the 50-year-old woman was last seen dropping her kids off at school. police say it is now a criminal investigation, after they found traces of blood in her home.

we are following the story from our new york newsroom. jackie? >> eric, no arrest today but police did search the home of her estranged husband this morning, after a search warrant was issued last night, after they questioned him. video showed him in his own car with a police escort to the station where he was questioned for about an hour. the 50-year-old mother of five has been missing since may 24th when she was seen dropping her kids off around 8:00 a.m. at their school. she failed to show up to two appointments later on in the day, but by 7:00 at night, her friends reported her missing. her 2017 chevy suburban was found close to a park. police searched the area with dogs and drones, even stopped drivers to hand out missing persons flyers in hopes of finding some leads. then on thursday the police expanded their search to jennifer's parent's house in new york and friday to her estranged husband's home in farmington, connecticut. last night they were seen searching dumpsters and also

sewer lines in hartford. she has been in a bitter divorce and custody battle since 2017, telling the court in one of 500 filings she was afraid of how her husband would react when she filed for divorce. she wrote i'm terrified for my family's safety, especially since discovering the gun as my husband has a history of controlling, volatile and delusional behavior. neighbors have expressed shock at her disappearance. >> kind of terrifying honestly. to think that happened, terrified for the family. crime like this, something like this happening, i never could have imagined this. >> jennifer's family asked for privacy and thanked those assisting in the search. then also released a statement in hopes that jennifer would see it, writing, jennifer we love you and we miss you. we remain hopeful you will return to us safe and sound. jennifer's three sons and two daughters are now reportedly staying with her mother who hired an armed guard.

they are all under the age of 13. eric? eric: thank you, jackie. arthel? arthel: e-mails and documents from the jussie smollett case are being made public, raising new questions about how it was handled by chicago's top prosecutor. ellison barber is live in chicago with more. ellison? >> hey, arthel, these documents shed more light on what happened just before prosecutors decided to drop charges against actor jussie smollett. the documents show cook county state's attorney kim fox reluctantly recused herself from the case but seemingly did it for a different reason than the ones initially given. in a statement fox said quote false rumors circulated that i was related or somehow connected to the smollett family so i removed myself from all aspects of the investigation and prosecution to avoid even the perception of a conflict. but in february, fox's office said that she was stepping aside because she had conversations with a family member of jussie smollett about the incident and

their concerns. fox says she spoke to smollett's family when he was still considered a victim. the document showed that fox did not want to recuse herself and according to text messages, she felt the false rumors about being related to smollett were racist. there are 2,000 pages of documents, all of them were released yesterday, just before 5:00 p.m. local time. there are countless text message, including one that was previously released, but continues to raise eyebrows. after fox said that she had recused herself, she sent a text message on march 8th to the state's attorney who took over the smollett case. fox texted quote so i'm recused, but when people accuse us of overcharging cases, 16 counts on a class 4 becomes exhibit a. the attorney responded to his boss, quote, yes, i can see where that can be seen as excessive. the debate over recusals is a big one and it came up in court yesterday. a retired judge who is trying to get a special prosecutor

appointed to look into how the state's attorney handled smollett's case brought it up at a hearing yesterday afternoon. the state's attorney office says that fox did not formally recuse herself. either way they argued there was not a conflict of interest that rose to level of necessitating a former recusal. a judge will decide whether or not to appoint a special prosecutor on june 2 1st. as for fox, she maintains she did not have a conflict of interest. she says she only had in her words here a sincere desire to serve the community, but arthel, there were a lot of questions when this case began, and there are still a lot of questions today. arthel? arthel: all right, thank you very much. appreciate it. well, growing backlash against robert mueller and capitol hill, lawmakers on both sides are demanding the former special counsel testify before congress. our legal panel reacts to the fallout. manage my money?

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vigil will be held at virginia beach virginia in the wake of that horrible shooting there. the latest massacre to hit our nation. all but one of the 12 victims worked for the city. the other was a contractor who was there to get a city permit. some had decades of public service for the people of virginia beach. >> -- who works in public works for over 4 1/2 years and is a right-of-way agent. and she is a resident of chesapeake, virginia. tara welch gallagher who works in public works for over six years and serves as an engineer and is a resident of virginia beach. mary louise gail who has worked in public works for over 24 years and serves as a right-of-way agent and is a resident of virginia beach.

alexander gooseth has worked for over nine years in public works and is a right-of-way agent and is a resident of virginia beach. katherine nixon who serves in public utilities for over ten years, as an engineer and is a resident of virginia beach. richard nettleton, worked in public utilities for over 28 years, served as an engineer, served with me as a lieutenant in germany in the 130th engineer brigade and was a resident of norfolk. christopher kelly, who served in public works for just 11 months, as an engineer and is a citizen. ryan keith cox, he served in public utilities for over 12 1/2

years and is an account clerk and a resident of virginia beach. joshua a. hardy, he served in public utilities for four and a half years as an engineering technician and is a resident of virginia beach. michelle langer who served in public utilities for 12 years as an administrative assistant and is a resident of virginia beach. robert williams who served in public utilities for over 41 years as a special projects coordinator and is a resident of chesapeake. herbert snelling, who was a contractor trying to fill a permit and is a resident of virginia beach. eric: our hearts certainly go out to their families of those lost and for the people of that community.

arthel: fallout continues after robert mueller made his first public remarks on the russia probe. the former special counsel making it clear he has no intention to appear before congress. but that seems to have had the opposite effect as members from both sides of the aisle demand that mr. mueller testify. here's house judiciary committee member tom mcclintock earlier today on cavuto live. >> now he's coming back, dropping little innuendos and saying by the way don't question me. well, i'm sorry, the process doesn't work that way. >> if jerry nadler is listening to you right now, you want him to subpoena mr. mueller? >> very much, and it's his responsibility to do so. and it's something that he's been promising to do, so let's do it. arthel: that was david asman in for neil cavuto today. on set with me is robert shock, former prosecutor, and richard paul, good to have both of you. >> good to be here.

arthel: why is there such fallout over mr. mueller's nine minutes of spoken word and do you think that through mr. mueller, through his report that mr. mueller wanted congress to investigate potential obstruction of justice on the part of the president? >> well, look, mueller's is a seasoned prosecutor, but he did make a mistake here by coming out publicly and speaking about -- in my opinion, coming out publicly speaking about the report and then reiterating again that if he were going to charge the president -- that he believed there was enough information to go forward with the obstruction of justice, but he just didn't want to do it, it was up to congress. arthel: he was saying that he wasn't by law and under the constitution fit to do it. >> well, look, at the same time, remember the clinton impeachment, the department of justice brought perjury charges against clinton during impeachment. that's the same time this report out, this advisory report came out to the department of justice about not being able to prosecute a president. that's not true in my opinion.

arthel: so you think mr. mueller dropped the ball. what do you think, bob? >> i think his biggest issue was going up there for nine or so minutes and answering no questions and then saying don't question me and my report speaks for itself. a congressman from illinois, who is an attorney stated it would be like me submitting a brief to a judge and the judge says i have some questions and saying judge i'm not going to answer the questions. it doesn't happen that way. he can agree to come to testify. if they have to subpoena him, subpoena him. there are so many questions to lift this cloud that has hovered over washington, our country, with regards to what did and didn't happen. remember, so much of the report is still under redaction that's why we're having all these questions. >> look, the bottom line is this, look, like starr, what happens, republicans used ken starr when he came out with his

report as the lead prosecutor. mueller's not falling into that trap. democrats want to use mueller as a lead prosecutor to make the case for impeachment. democrats are afraid to go forward with the 448 page report and impeach the president, it starts in the house. so mueller's not going to be led to be the lead prosecutor to make the case for why the president should be impeached. so that's a dead end for the democrats. on the republican side, do republicans really want to bring mueller in, subpoena him and to talk about why he didn't clear the president of obstruction of justice charges? that doesn't make any sense either. it is like sutton, why did you rob the bank? that's where the money is. the question is why didn't you find that the president could have obstructed the charges? let's go over all the facts again. do we want to bring that to light again? arthel: isn't it the point that it would be benefit to the american people perhaps if mr. mueller would testify and kind of to what richard is

saying do you think mr. mueller's experience would deflect any of the political loaded questions that would come his way? >> listen, he's an experienced prosecutor. he's an attorney. he knows how to answer questions. he knows and has the ability to be evasive, if need be. and he also has the ability to, you know, say those are protected. you know, there's redactions. there's grand jury secrecy. there's going to be a lot of things -- arthel: basically i think the both of you are saying if mr. mueller were to testify, we wouldn't get anything else. >> i don't think you will get anything extra, no. all you are going to do is make a mockery out of the -- out of congress by focusing on things that the american people don't want to talk about anymore. they want to move on. as far as the white house is concerned, they are saying case closed. what's important now, congress needs to talk about immigration -- arthel: if the white house is saying case closed, does that mean the white house is like yeah, case closed, nothing to see here, don't pay attention to the 10 or 12 potential

obstruction of justice examples that were presented in the mueller case. >> the question is going to be whether or not the democrats are going to let it go. if they don't let it go, it is going to continue -- arthel: they have to let it go. they don't have the numbers. >> nancy pelosi, the house, where impeachment starts -- arthel: and senate will be like boom, get out of here, it's over. >> exactly. take the white house position, case closed, let's move on to immigration, the economy, and infrastructure. those are important things. arthel: and also lastly bob, i think mrs. pelosi said that would also by impeaching the president or going through the lane of impeachment, it also sort of -- i don't know if it would make those other investigations against him completely null and void, but it would definitely get in the way of those. >> it would get in the way of them because there is still a southern district of new york investigation. the new york state attorney general's office has an

investigation, the trump foundation. you don't want to impede other investigations that could bear legitimate fruit by starting articles of impeachment and having testimony that is either -- where you're putting witnesses that were protected, information could be known that could harm those investigations. >> when it gets to the senate, it is caboshed. arthel: exactly, richard st. paul and bob. eric: the white house is working on its middle east peace plan. is the long awaited proposal already in doubt? liberty mutual customizes your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

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haven't you missed enough? ask an asthma specialist about fasenra. if you can't afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. eric: presidential advisor and architect of the middle east peace plan kushner was in israel, there to push support for the proposal. this comes after netanyahu failed to form a governing coalition forcing the country into new rounds of elections,

that development likely pushed the debut of the heralded peace plan to sometime in the fall. so what can we expect? fox news national security and foreign affairs analyst is joining us. first of all, do we know what's in the peace plan, their suggestions it does not call for a palestinian state but relies heavily on economic help. >> we don't know. we don't have the details. it will be announced. there are at least two important components. one is land swap, that's a very important component. and second of course a big infusion of economic and financial help. everything else could be negotiated including those two components. unfortunately, what is blocking it is the fact that we have blocking forces such as iran, hezbollah, hamas, these are the real culprits here. eric: the palestinians themselves, i mean, they cut off communication with the white house, in protest of moving the embassy to jerusalem, and the palestinian authority doesn't want to go to meeting and the conference that's going to be held about this. how can anything be achieved if

the palestinians are against it? >> if the palestinian authority is blocking or opposing this, there could always be negotiation. this is a 61-year-old conflict. there have been a lot of delegations, tons of delegations over the past decade what is needed right now is if the palestinian leadership says okay this is my plan what is your plan? and they sit at a table and negotiate. look at what the irish done, they did not get to the republic of ireland immediately. one has to be patient strategically. eric: the senator, negotiator for clinton said we had one day of success. in this it seems they have thousands of days of failure and the success hasn't come yet. >> yes, the success will come when the united states and the arab coalition will be able to have a consensus with the palestinians. when the united states and israel will have a general

consensus with everybody and sits at the table of negotiation. i go back to my first point quickly. iran is blocking it. the options we have, the kushner plan to be discussed or the iran plan for the region. there is no middle other plan. eric: finally what does that mean, when you say the iran plan, and what do you think will be the resolution? >> i think first, instead of focusing just on making sure that everybody accepts all the points in the shortest period possible and not be worried about the next few weeks or months, we should make sure that iran's influence is being reduced. that's the administration's plan. and once iran's influence is reduced, then the palestinian wills come in an easier way with the arab coalition to the table of negotiations and we could get a deal, maybe the same deal modified. eric: we will see if that happens. certainly it seems like that the election -- the political situation has pushed this several months down the road. we will be talking more about this and certainly by the time they debut this supposedly in the fall. good to see you. >> thank you. arthel: the road to the white

house winds through the golden state this weekend. what the 2020 candidates are saying as they try to woo voters in california. ould be unsafe. when insurance is affordable, it's surprisingly painless.

arthel: the political spotlight turns to california this weekend. more than half of the 2020 democratic presidential

candidates are making their case to voters at a convention in san francisco. california is a top primary target for the first time in decades. nearly 500 delegates will be up for grabs. 500, when the golden state votes on march 3rd, super tuesday. super claudia, ms. cowan, is live at the convention center in san francisco. hi, claudia. >> hi, arthel. well, let me tell you, it's been a pretty boisterous convention with party leaders and presidential hopefuls all firing up the crowd. right now we are getting ready to welcome washington governor jay inslee to the stage, like everyone else, he will likely get an enthusiastic response from the delegates here and the party base. 14 democratic hopefuls are here. that's the most of so many contenders at any one single event. but notably missing of course is the front-runner, joe biden, the former vice president is

stumping today in ohio and says he plans to fund raise here later this month. no doubt many of the lesser known candidates are glad they don't have to share the spotlight with him, as they try to break through and gain some tractions. anyone who isn't biden, sanders is pulling at 7% or less in california, a state that's become more important politically after moving its primary up to march 3rd from june. they only get # seven minutes to make their best impression. they need to make sure what they say to this progressive crowd doesn't backfire later when they are campaigning in swing states. half a dozen candidates attended a labor union breakfast in san francisco this morning outlining their priorities for workers in 2020 and beyond. at this hour, eight are taking part in a forum organized by the progressive action group move on. they each have five minutes to pitch one big idea that they

hope will be big and perhaps buzz worthy enough to set them apart. many of the candidates are also attending fund-raisers and town halls including vermont senator bernie sanders. he will be holding a rally tonight in san jose, and then he will be addressing the party convention here tomorrow, along with several other of the contenders. back to you, arthel. arthel: we will take it back here, claudia, nice job, thank you very much. eric: thanks, claudia. they have 7 minutes, 5 minutes each, it's like speed dating. arthel: what do you know about speed dating? you have been married a long time. that does it for us. we will be back here tomorrow. eric: 12:00 tomorrow. it's like an assembly line. arthel: jon scott is up next. mom (on speakerphone): hi! son (on speakerphone): dad, i two goals today! vo: getting to a comfortable retirement doesn't have to be an uncomfortable thought. see how lincoln can help. with priceline, bundling our lowest prices on flights, hotels and rental cars means you spend less time planning

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good evening, i am don scott. hundreds of people attending a prayer vigil today morning 12 lives (all but one worked for the city. the other was a contractor they were applying for a permit. investors say they are still searching for a possible motive. local leaders think the community will not give in to fear. >> we will not be defined by