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tv   Shepard Smith Reporting  FOX News  June 21, 2019 12:00pm-1:00pm PDT

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receive the espys award. >> no wall big enough for him. >> julie: a reminder, never complain. there's something that has it harder than you. >> and still got it done. >> shepard: noon on the west coast. 3:00 on the east coast. 11:00 p.m. in iran. the president said he spared iran from a series of strikes after tehran fired first. the iranian claims they could have shot down a u.s. plane killing military personnel in addition to an unmanned drone. prosecutors trying a navy seal for murder even after the medic said he committed the crime. fish meet frankenstein. scientists mixing a stew of dna and you could be chowing on it without knowing about it.
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reporting begins now. ten minutes, ten minutes before a planned strike on iran, the president asked how many people would die. he called it off. that's the president's explanation for why he decided not to retaliate for the iranian take down of an american drone. the president spoke with chuck todd from nbc. >> they said -- came back, said, sir, approximately 150. i thought about it for a second. i said, you know what? they shot down an unmanned drone, plane, whatever you want to call it. here we are sitting with 150 dead people that would have taken place probably within a half hour after i said go-ahead. i didn't like it. i didn't think it was proportionate. >> shepard: the president said he never gave a final order for the operation and u.s. military
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planes were not yet in the air but that they would have been pretty soon. president trump appears to have softened his tone towards iran and tehran in the latest round of escalation between the two countries. iranian officials claim that they gave several warnings before shooting down the u.s. drone, which they say was in their airspace. pentagon officials say that is not true. they report it was an unprovoked attack and that the drones at least 20 miles from iranian airspace when it went down. pentagon officials say this was a deliberate act from tehran. we have team fox coverage. hillary vaughn reporting from capitol hill with lawmakers reaction. first, to rich edson reporting live from the white house. rich? >> shep, it's unclear how, when or if the administration will respond to this attack on a u.s. drone yesterday. what the administration says is international waters. more on that conversation that the president has on nbc news in which he details a little bit more about the hesitation he had
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about going forward with this attack. >> never gave a final warn something. >> no, no, no. we had something ready to go subject to my approval. they came in about a half an hour before and said we're about ready to go. i said i want a -- >> planes in the air? >> no. about ready to go. no, but they would have been pretty soon. things would have happened to a point where you wouldn't turn back or couldn't turn back. >> the administration is stressing this all happened over international waters. so the iranian government said the aircraft did breach their territory, shep. >> shepard: the administration is coordinating with the saudis. >> that's right. the white house says that president trump spoke with the saudi crown prince about this, mohammed bin salman. this is while the united states' iran envoy, brian hook, is traveling in saudi arabia today. he says the u.s. will maintain
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their pressure campaign and diplomacy has to met with diplomacy. last month, the trump administration with drew from the 2015 iran nuclear agreement, restored sanctions, targeting their top experts in particular oil. since then the u.s. has really seen an uptick the last couple months, 1 1/2 months or so, according to u.s. officials in iranian threats and activity in the region. iran says they're less than a week away from stockpiling enough uranium to violate the limits included in the 2015 nuclear deal. this is on going as the united states is seeing this increase in tension in the region. the iranian government claims the u.s. maximum pressure and sanctions campaign is an assault against them and that response is happening across the region. there's also a movement at the u.n. security council according to a diplomat there that the
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united states has requested a meeting at the council on monday closed doors to discuss this. shep? >> shepard: rich edson, thank you. nancy pelosi, the second in line to the presidency, was not made aware of the u.s. plans to strike iran so says her spoke person. hillary vaughn continues team fox coverage on capitol hill. hillary? >> democrats on capitol hill are breathing a sigh of relief that the president decided not to go through with these attacks at the last minute. house speaker nancy pelosi wants the president to take a deep breath and deescalate the situation with iran. pelosi releasing this statement. she said -- >> democratic leaders emphasize that hostilities must not be initiated without the a approval of congress. adam smith says the president's
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decision to ditch the strike at the last minute and then tweet a play by play about it sends the message to our adversaries that the president is indecisive. >> it's not the kind of thing you should say publicly when you're trying to show if you have a clear path, a clear plan and the result to follow-through. you had to know this is how iran would react. once they reacted, what were you planning on doing? the answer is they weren't sure. that's problematic. >> the one thing that democrats in the house and senate want to make sure the president knows that congress ultimately has the decision if there's any military action taken against iran. three democratic senators on the senate foreign affairs committee stood on the senate floor yesterday pushing for an amendment to the natural defense authorization act that would stop the president specifically from using any money for any military action against iran without congress signing off on
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it first, shep. >> shepard: what are you hearing from republicans? have they one voice today or are there differing opinions? >> there are differing opinions. kevin mccarthy on "fox and friends" this morning saying he's not judging the president for his last-minute decision to call off the strikes. he said he thinks the president has a larger goal in mind. >> i think the instance of what i saw yesterday, they're well-prepared, composed of what they're going to do, it will be measured but it's all in the basis of getting the ultimate goal that iran can never achieve a nuclear weapon. >> not every republican agrees. adam kinsinger in a fox news radio interview says he's not happy about the decision by the administration to make a last minute change of plan. he says that he thinks it could potentially make the president look weak. he also said that if there's no u.s. response to iran hitting this drone down, he thinks that will ultimately be a hit on the
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president's credibility. shepard? >> shepard: hillary vaughn with team fox coverage. thanks. more on the back and forth ahead and the explanation for what happened here with chris wallace next. plus, a hollywood star might not be off the hook after all. major developments in the case of the fox show "empire" and jussie smollett. now he could end up back in court. that's coming up as our reporting continues on this friday afternoon. i had a heart problem. i was told to begin my aspirin regimen, and i just didn't listen. until i almost lost my life. my doctors again ordered me to take aspirin, and i do. be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. listen to the doctor. take it seriously.
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said to have concerns after that briefing about the casualty count. he spent some time on the phone and that during the 6:00 hour or whenever it was, ten minutes before go, he called it off. because of the 150 that he just learned about. something is wrong there. >> yeah, i talked to a former top national security official earlier republican administration who says this just doesn't add up. that if when the president meets with his top pentagon people, they give him a very thorough list, a menu of targets saying you can hit this target, hit that target. if you do, here's the possible casualties. they run through the whole thing. this is a routine thing that the military does in these kinds of situations. it's at that point that a president would have been fully briefed by the generals as to if you hit target a, here's the dangers or here's the possible
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collateral damage. so the idea that the president ten minutes before the actual go -- again, "the new york times" is reporting that the ships were in place, the war planes were in the air, ten minutes before you're learning for the first time that there was going to be 150 casualties seems unlikely and certainly not the way it's been done in the past. >> shepard: how is this different from president obama pulling back from the red line in syria? >> it's a question you have to ask yourself. first, you ask yourself, if what happened yesterday had happened under president obama where the president gives the order to strike, that the planes are in the air and ten minutes before he pulls them back, what would have been the reaction from republicans and probably democrats as well? you don't have to entirely guess because we know. it wasn't nearly this much of a hair trigger where the president, president obama, set the red line back in 2012 and
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said if bashar al-assad had another chemical weapons attack that that would be the red line, the trigger for military action. before he had ordered it, he pulled back. he got hammered. president obama got hammered. one of the people he got hammered by was donald trump who was recently in 2017 as president said this sent a signal of weakness not only to syria but around the world about what american resolve is and about what the word of the president meant. now we have this happening by president trump on his watch. >> shepard: does this impact the united states ability to deter iran? >> well, i think it depends. first of all, we don't know there might be a strike tomorrow or when ever. the u.s. obviously still has enormous capabilities. but you don't have to think to yourself that the president had talked about getting tough. a lot of people talked, not the
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president, about taking action after the mining of those two tankers in the gulf of oman last week. here's a u.s. asset, a u.s. drone, 130 billion plane that is shot down. you know, you don't have to level tehran. according to the "new york times," you can take out radar batteries, take out missile installations in the middle of the night. i couldn't imagine there would have been 150 people around them. the president at the last minute decided not to do that. it does send a signal. the u.s. is still the u.s. and still has enormous assets in the region. i don't think the mullahs in iran think that they have a green light to do what they want. >> shepard: a pattern here with north korea, with venezuela and now in continuing the pattern with iran. he uses the military as a negotiating chip and then the
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adversary waits him out. >> you have a real conflict here between the president. the president does talk tough and he has used force. he has used cruise missiles twice to go after syria and bashar al-assad after the use of chemical weapons. first time he did it in april of 2017. the point was made. he was going to enforce the red line that barack obama did not. but on the other hand for all of the talk about it, the president campaigned on and seems to not want to get the u.s. in more endless wars. i don't know if it would be endless but a serious arms conflict with iran would be a really ugly and prolonged battle. there's no way to get out of that easily. the other hand as we saw with ronald reagan in the 80s with cue kuwaity tankers, that doesn't mean anything. >> shepard: anybody heard from john bolton today? >> i haven't. have you? >> shepard: no. i wonder if he will keep working
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there. >> i don't know. i would think he wouldn't be especially happy about this. >> shepard: he's been dreaming about hitting the iranians since fluff was a kitten. she's a full grown cat. >> is that a mississippi expression? >> shepard: i think it's mine. the fact is it's one of his primary objectives since long before he worked here. that's a top of the john bolton list, strike iran. >> let's just talk about this sensibly. on the one hand, a lot of us are saying why didn't you strike? if he had struck, in people would say should he have done that. >> shepard: i'm not passing judgment on anything he did or didn't do. only pointing out that the explanation as you said doesn't make sense. >> doesn't hold together. the timeline for when he learned information and when he decided to act. doesn't make a lot of sense. in a sense, maybe that's the biggest problem. you can argue if you don't want to strike, don't strike.
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if you want to strike, strike. don't send mixed messages no and tweet it out. >> well -- >> shepard: an observation, not a critique. looking forward to the program, chris. >> i am, too. we're going to have tom cotton on. senator from arkansas. a real hardliner on iran. even after the tankers, he said they needed a military response. curious to hear what he has to say. we don't know in 48 hours, perhaps we have taken military action. we'll talk to tom cotton about that. >> shepard: all right, chris. have a great weekend. >> same to you. >> shepard: thank you. scientists say they found a way to genetically modify the salmon so they grow nearly twice as fast as regular salmon. with salmon like that becomes like that. there you do.
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hey! i live on my own now! i've got xfinity, because i like to live life in the fast lane. unlike my parents. you rambling about xfinity again? you're so cute when you get excited... anyways... i've got their app right here, i can troubleshoot. i can schedule a time for them to call me back, it's great! you have our number programmed in? ya i don't even know your phone anymore... excuse me?! what? i don't know your phone number. aw well. he doesn't know our phone number! you have our fax number, obviously... today's xfinity service. simple. easy. awesome. i'll pass. >> shepard: the supreme court overturned the murder conviction of a black man in mississippi who had been tried six times by the same prosecutor and nearly all white juries. curtis flowers has been on mississippi's death row for 22 years for the 1996 murders of four people. in a 7-2 vote, the justices said
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the prosecutor repeatedly excluded black people from the jury and that violated flowers' rights. in all, six trials combined. the prosecutor removed 41 out of 42 black perspective jurors. justice brett kavanaugh wrote the majority opinion. noted the numbers speak loudly. justice clarence thomas wrote the dissent and argumented that flowers gave no evidence of purposeful race discrimination. the state of mississippi can decide whether to try flowers for the seventh time. the university of california proposing new rules aim at preventing admissions fraud after the college admissions cheating scandal there. the president of the u.c. system says the proposals would include new checks like making sure athletic recruits are actually on an athletic team. a wonderful time to come up with that idea. prosecutors say rick singer paid
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$200,000 to a ucla soccer coach to get two clients on the roster and into the school. that coach pleading not guilty. they say another student got into u.c. berkeley using fake test scores. the new proposals come as another parent pleads guilty as part of the scandal. anita? >> hi, shepard. the pleaded guilty in boston today. toby mcfarland paid $450,000 to get his children into usc as fake athletes. as for the new guidelines, here's the key recommendations put out by the u.c. system. first, ensuring a clear documentation trail that support decisions. second, implementing the monitoring of donations that prevent decisions from being made on accented final gain to
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the university. third, improving mechanisms in place for monitoring athletic programs. lori laughlin say that her daughters were member of a crew team when they never rowed. while all of this seems basic and obvious, the varsity blues scandal has put a spotlight on how lacks these guidelines were before. u.c. president janet napolitano said she felt outraged when she learned what was going on. she ordered an internal audit and that's where the new recommendations came from. a second audit is already underway. shep? >> shepard: thanks, anita. jussie smollett could face criminal charges after all. a judge ordered special prosecutor to investigate the hate crime hoax along with the state's attorney, kim fox handled the case. this comes a few months after
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her office made the decision to drop all charges against smollett. the judge giving the special prosecutor the power to bring new charges if necessary. the judge says there were unprecedented irregularities in the case. kim fox, the state's attorney, recused herself from the case after it was revealed that she had communicated with smollett's family during the investigation, but she insists smollett did not receive special treatment from her office. coming up, the navy seal accused of murder back in court after a medic took the blame for killing a teenage isis fighter so why are prosecutors going ahead with the case? the answers ahead as we approach the bottom of the hour and the top of the news. here you go little guy. a cockroach can survive submerged underwater for 30 minutes. wow. yeah.
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>> shepard: updating our top story. president trump saying he called off a strike on iran after tehran shot down an american drone. now iran is claiming it too held back from attacking the united states. iranian commander says tehran
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could have also shot down a u.s. plane that was flying near the drone. a plane with dozens of people on board. our national security correspondent jennifer griffin is at the pentagon. you're hearing the strike was completely called off, not paused, right? >> that's right. i'm told it was called off. there's a very different atmosphere here at the pentagon today than yesterday. the acting defense secretary patrick shanahan is planning to leave the pentagon for good in 30 minutes time. here's what we know happened last night. the b-52s had not taken off when the stand down came. other fighter jets were ordered and navy ships were ready to strike awaiting the go orders. change-up explained his change of heart in a tweet. he said we were cocked and loaded to retaliate on three different sites when i asked how many will die. 150 people, sir was the answer. ten minutes before the strike. i stopped it.
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not proportionate for shooting down an unmanned drone. i'm in no hurry. there's serious questions about what changed the president's mind. any earlier strike would have been accompanied by a casualty estimate. the briefings were at 11:00 a.m. and at 3:00 p.m., not ten minutes before the launch. >> shepard: what kind of reaction in the region, jennifer? >> today a propaganda victory for iran. state television released this video showing what it claims is the wreckage of the large u.s. navy drone. it's the second time in a week iranian forces fired on u.s. drones. there's no evidence based on iranian behavior that these were rogue units. i ran said they chose not to chase down the surveillance plane with 35 american service members on board to avoid casualties. that plane we have confirmed with u.s. officials was flying
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near the global hawk drone and shot this video of the drone being shot down. the faa issued a notice prohibiting u.s. commercial aircraft from flying over the persian gulf. there's been a steep drop in airline traffic. many international airlines said they would avoid the strait of hormuz. india has send two ships to ensure their ships would pass. we're told the military is poised if a response is needed. there's still 70,000 troops in the region and an aircraft strike group. >> shepard: jennifer griffin live at the pentagon. thank you. let's bring in general anthony tata. he's written and planned retaliatory strike. he served for 28 years and received several medals including the bronze star and
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action combat badge. it's an honor. >> thank you, shep. >> shepard: the president says the goal is to keep iran from getting a nuclear weapon. the iranians say their goal is to undo the sanctions. they want sanctions relief. what actions here are building toward those goals? >> shep, i think what we really need to take a look at the application of the elements of national power. so you have diplomatic information or military and economic power. wore applying economic sanctions as you mentioned. iran wants relief from those. we've got a carrier strike group in the persian gulf. that is military power. then you've got diplomatic power. you heard the president made an overture to talk to the mullahs or whoever is willing to talk in iran. and then of course you have the information warfare. you know, just now we learned
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about the information victory that iran is claiming by showing wreckage of the global hawk. so the synchronization of the elements of power is one thing this administration has done very well in the past and continues to do well. i think -- it took president trump you know, a lot of fortitude to make that decision because when you're leaning that far forward on a mission like this, you've got the go-ahead, the green light from the troops on the ground, the sailors on the ships, the pilots in the air and leaning forward a lot of momentum that can carry you forward. we don't know if the iranians moved women and children on to the target. if there was some kind of decision point that was hit where all of a sudden the casualty count changed. maybe he was briefed in the morning that it was x and then it was y and y was bigger than x as we gathered more intelligence
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from the jets that jennifer mentioned were in the air. we got reported back to the national command authority and the president made a decision not to go forward. i think -- you know the president is not an interventionist. he doesn't want to get in a war in iran but he does want to protect u.s. vital interest that we have in the persian gulf. you can list them. the free flow of oil. the free flow of commerce. u.s. troops and property in the area. relationships with our allies. it's a key part of the world that fuels the world economy particularly with the free flow of oil. that is the tension of what we've got going on right now. i just think that, neil, the president made a very wise decision based on the information that he had, not to let the momentum carry him. it took a lot of intestinal fortitude to put the brakes on a mission that had momentum going
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forward. >> shepard: he did indeed do that. very good of you to be here. thank you. >> thank you, shep. >> shepard: thousands of people surrounding police head quarters in hong kong as that story continues to develop. almost two weeks after massive protests over a hugely unpopular bill first began. people are calling for the government to withdraw legislation that would have allowed suspected criminals to be extra dieted to mainland china. the region's chief executive suspended the bill. protesters say that's not good enough. they want it gone. they're concerned the legislation strips away their civil liberties and hong kong's autonomy. greg palkot reporting live from hong kong. greg? >> hi, shep. we've been hearing like a lot of people about these protests. you have to be in person and watch these people, the activists, the young people to see what a possible potential force for change they could be. we were out on the street today.
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we saw how the protests kicked off. take a look. >> student activists here in hong kong on this day already causing problems. streaming. there's thousands from the government complex crossing this main thoroughfare and totally snarling traffic in the center of the city. >> you have to remember that many of these people were born either around in 1997 or after. that's the day the handover from british colonial rule to chinese territorial control. they don't like what they see. they're not afraid to act out. we're also marked on the order of the organization of these protesters, even the politeness. offering us water. there will be more campaigns over the weekend. there's information spreading on sunday. nothing like the two million person martha we saw sunday but there will be big rally point july 1 that is the anniversary of the handover from the u.k. to
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china. all we're told, shep, is to keep attention on their cause and also maybe distract and pressurize, not just the beijing backed government here, but beijing itself. chinese president xi, they know he was in north korea this week, know he will be at the g-20 next week. perhaps meeting with president trump. they say he could be distracted as they stay laser-like on their david versus goliath. >> shepard: greg palkot in taiwan. without fur adieu, franken salmon next. rdered me to take aspirin, and i do. be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. listen to the doctor. take it seriously.
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>> shepard: prosecutors are refusing to drop murder charges against may i have seal edward gallagher after a witness confessed on the stand that he was the one that killed and injured defenseless isis prisoner. prosecutors are saying that he lied to protect gallagher because he was granted immunity and can't face charges himself. jonathan hunt reporting live in san diego. jonathan? >> shep, the u.s. navy is determined to press ahead with the case despite the dramatic testimony that we heard from the other navy seal, corey scott. the navy saying in a statement "the government will not be
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dropping premeditated murder charges against chief petty officer gallagher despite petty officer scott's testimony. the credibility of a witness is for the jury to decide. prosecutors believe that when seal team 7 member corey scott said he rather than chief gallagher killed the wounded isis fighter, scott was covering for gallagher having gotten immunity from prosecution. investigators are said not to have asked the right questions. >> for the first time, somebody went to the witnesses and asked the real question, what is that cause of death? what we learned, chief gallagher is not guilty of murder. the trial is going to continue, but i expect that at the end of this, there will be a not guilty verdict. >> gallagher still faces other war crimes charges including shooting and wounding iraqi civilians, specifically an elderly man and a young girl.
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shep? >> shepard: what are you hearing from the suspect here, the accused? >> well, i spoke briefly to chief gallagher as he arrived in court earlier today with his wife by his side as always. listen here. >> morning, mr. gallagher. >> morning. >> feel like you're almost there? >> yes. thank you. >> andrea gallagher has been her husband's staunchest supporter calling him a war hero and lashing out continually of those that testified against him. listen here. >> they're either covering the lies that they told before or the lie that they're preparing to try to target my husband. >> due on the witness stand, two more seals among half a dozen that will have testified in all against gallagher, all a group that the defense says are quote
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cowards and liars. shep? >> shepard: jonathan hunt live in san diego. now salmon. salmon meet science. the feds have now approved genetically modified salmon for consumption. delicious. it could show up in restaurants as early as late next year. we've heard about genetically modified plants, right? no animals till now. workers produced the salmon by injecting them with dna from other types of fishes. it apparently makes them grow much more quickly than other salmon and the rules say that people serving you the fish would not have to tell you anything about any of this. the fox business network's deidra bolton reporting live for us. hi, deidra. >> shep, there's in fight coming between companies like aqua bounty and consumer rights groups. aqua bounty salmon are the first genetically modified animals approved for consumer
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consumption. the center for food safety is suing the usda over its approval of aqua bounty salmon. there's two levels of intensity. those that say that genetically modified animals could be sold but clearly labelled. a second group that says no human should be eating what one blogger called frannen fish. grocers and restaurants have been lobbied asked not to tell the fish. kroger foods says they won't sell genetically modified salmon. restaurants and cafeterias are ground zero. they're in a different legal category than the grocers so they don't need to disclose how the food was produced. aqua bounty's ceo says they are identical to atlantic salmon with the exception of one gene.
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as we know, shep, corn and soy genetically modified to be more resistant to pests and herbicides. but this in the animal kingdom is sparking a debate. >> shepard: okay. ahead, we'll look at boeing's first mission to send nasa astronauts to space. and the picture is in. we'll hear from the topic in the nba draft and find out the story behind all the hubbub with some hats. ed the first survivor of alzheimer's disease is out there. and the alzheimer's association is going to make it happen. but we won't get there without you. visit alz.org to join the fight.
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dealing with psoriatic arthritis pain was so frustrating. ♪ my skin... it was embarrassing. my joints... they hurt. the pain and swelling. the tenderness. the psoriasis. i had to find something that worked on all of this. i found cosentyx. now, watch me. real people with active psoriatic arthritis are getting real relief with cosentyx. it's a different kind of targeted biologic. cosentyx treats more than just the joint pain
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of psoriatic arthritis. it even helps stop further joint damage. don't use if you're allergic to cosentyx. before starting, get checked for tuberculosis. an increased risk of infections and lowered ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor about an infection or symptoms. if your inflammatory bowel disease symptoms develop or worsen, or if you've had a vaccine or plan to. serious allergic reactions may occur. i got real relief. i got clearer skin and feel better. now, watch me. get real relief with cosentyx. . >> i turned around. i saw the sky get bright. looked like something was coming up. over the horizon, a ball of fire. no a huge ball of fire in the sky over philly this morning. multiple explosions at the largest only refinery on the east coast. turned the sky orange. witnesses say the explosives rocked their houses and woke them up. investigators looking to what caused it. this was the second fire at the
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refinery this month. more injuries reported, all minor. the race to send astronauts to space is heating up. boeing looking to beat out spacex and launch a crew to the space station by the end of the year. spacex's capsule exploded. phil keating got a look at boeing's starliner mission. >> spacex has already done one test flight of their crew dragon and now it's boeing's attorney with their starliner. boeing is aiming to have this accomplished sending humans astronauts on board their capsule in to space by the end of the year. boeing gave us great access inside the starliner production facility. an enormous building where space shuttles used to be services. three capsules are in various stages of assembly. you can see the shape of the vehicle that will carry
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astronauts to space and return to earth with parachutes and air bags to soften the landing. boeing's hoping to first launch an empty capsule to the space station in september. if all proves well, they'll launch a crewed mission with three against notes on board by the end of the year. >> we have the expertise and knowledge. the team is dedicated. they have driven through the problems that we've had and really right on the cusp of getting the space craft ready. >> nasa hopes so as their contract with russia to ferry astronauts at $70 million a head ends next year. shep? >> shepard: spacex had been planning to send astronauts to space next month. but there's a delay. is that right? >> yeah, possibly all the way until november after that april
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explosion completely destroyed a crew dragon capsule during a test. in fact, the dragon that exploded was this one, the capsule that successfully flew to the space station with the space dummy on board named ripley. boeing's starline will launch atop a huge atlas 5 rocket. and chris ferguson that flew on the space shuttle three times will be on board the second test flight. >> everybody should be excited the fact that their nation is getting ready to go back in space again from u.s. soil. right here at the kennedy space center. cape canaveral. it's exciting. >> below us. >> next to us. >> the u.s. taxpayers have spent over the years $6 billion on both companies helping them, spacex and boeing develop their crew capsules, which both companies feel confident they will launch with astronauts by the end of the year, shep. >> shepard: phil keating, live
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at cape canaveral. lots of trades shaking up the nba draft. the number 1 pick was no surprise. >> with the first peek in the 2019 nba draft, the new orleans pelicans select zion williamson from duke university. >> zion was the consensus top player in men's basketball. in fact, he was considered such a sure thing some fans urged him to sit out the rest of the season after he busted out his shoe. of course, he came back in for the ncaa tournament. that didn't do anything to hurt his draft stock. rick leventhal, the pelicans have options now. >> they do. they have a great team right now. this was at the barclay center. the pelicans had five minutes to make their pick. they used half of it before their pick was in. no surprise it was zion. maybe they're waiting for trade offers who could be better than
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lebron. the memphis grizzlies grabbing guard john morant from murray state. the knicks got cheers from fans, which is rare. they did because they snatched r.j. barrett at number 3. both barrett and zion shed tears after they were picked. >> you can hear people say things like oh, it was likely that i was going to go number 1. but i guess you don't know until you go through it. hearing my name called, i was able to make it on stage without a tear. shake the commissioner's hand. in the interview, mom was sitting beside me. my emotions took over. >> zion said his mother put her dreams aside so he and his brother could pursue theirs. >> shepard: some controversy? we don't have much time. >> the hat thing. the team that has the pick, the player has to put on that hat. even if the team trade their pick, they still have to wear
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that hat. the lakers had the pick but the pick wendt to the hawks. the guy puts on a laker's hat but everybody knows he's going to the hawks. that was the controversy there. >> shepard: that is good. a tweet out there that we'll explain some day. neil is next. >> neil: all right. you're looking live at the pentagon. it's the formal good-bye by patrick shanahan, the acting secretary of defense. he will be saying good-bye to staffers there. mark esper, the army secretary will replace him on an acting basis and hopes to make it through the confirmation process. we're there when he speaks. and then there's this. something that would be front and center for the defense department. cocked and loaded. the president said he's in no hurry to strike iran. the defendant defending his decision calling off air strikes with ten minutes to go saying probably would have not been proportionate to the downing of an unmanned drone. so what will the right response be whenever it comes?