a sontrg. our job is to keep your business connected . it's what we've always done. it's what we'll always do. >> it is thursday may 7th. happening right now at 4 am in the spotlight turned to robert mueller as russia probe as a once rejected memo makes it into public light. documents showing the scope of the investigation with a questionably wide net. >> newly declassified transcripts reportedly sending adam schiff into panic mode. >> have to be warriors, we can't keep our country closed down for years. >> they are worried because they social distance. >> american warriors, the

president bestowing a new title on americans doing their part of the pandemic behind them. >> the mainstream media has a problem with that word when it comes to the white house. >> as we celebrate, the major-league thank you from the boston red sox. >> "fox and friends first" starts right now. and good morning, you are watching "fox and friends first" on thursday morning. >> thank you for starting the day with us. we begin with this. going beyond the scope of the russia probe a newly released memo reveals former special counsel robert mueller did not just have authority to investigate russian links but also to go after members of donald trump's team. >> griff jenkins has reaction from lawmakers this morning. >> us of your is fully understand what this is, this is the long-awaited memo released by the doj mostly unredacted written in august by ron

rosenstein to robert mueller outlining the scope of his investigation revealing that mueller was given a much broader authority to us to gate a wider range of alleged crimes that previously were known. any links and/or coordination between the russian government individuals associated with the campaign of donald trump and any matters that arose or may arise directly from that investigation. it details criminal allegations against carter page, paul manafort, george papadopoulos and michael flynn, now the chairman of the senate judiciary committee, lindsey graham is reacting. >> the legal foundation for mueller's deployment is complete, i was a democrat would take this seriously. i supported the mueller investigation because i didn't know. now i know why mueller didn't find anything. >> reporter: fox news learning

transcripts from health intelligence committee interviews show top intelligence officials affirming they had no evidence of collusion between the trump campaign and russia during the 2016 election this after house republicans sought 6000 page the transcript conducted by the committee in 2017-18. a senior official tells fox news that the house until committee chairman is in panic mode. we will see if anything else becomes declassified. there is a suggestion that we may. rob: more on that in 10 minutes donald trump raising american warriors forced to make social and economic sacrifices during this pandemic. >> as the white house plans to point their progress, several states loosening restrictions today. rob: more economies opening up nationwide.

>> reporter: donald trump announcing the white house coronavirus task force will no longer be shifting its focus but will continue down its original path with some powerful language calling the virus and attack worse than pearl harbor or 9/11. >> actually calling now is you know the nation warriors, we can't keep our country closed down for years. >> reporter: when asked to clarify these wartime words by the president, the press secretary had this moment that is getting a lot of attention. >> this graph is a testament to the american people, american warriors as they follow social distancing guidelines. >> you use warriors to describe everyday americans. you are asking americans to put themselves in harm's way like warriors do? >> it is the opposite.

they are warriors if they stay home because they social distance. >> meantime a handful of states easing some of the restrictions today, why, maryland, mississippi, montana, vermont and michigan where the democrat governor was sued by republican lawmakers for extending the state of emergency. new jersey extending its emergency declaration until at least june 5th. people of massachusetts must cover their faith in all into public places and outside, when social distancing can't be properly maintained. a new stat out of new york showing 66% of the state's new coronavirus patients were sheltering in place at home before seeking medical attention in hospitals. >> maybe they were taking public transportation, we have taken special precautions on public transportation but actually, no, because these people were literally at home.

>> reporter: this is bill diblasio threatens furloughs or layoffs of the social workers if the city does not receive federal stimulus fundss. >> one of the two americans detained in venezuela speaks out on state tv, luke desmond describing his role in an attempted coup on nicholas madero. he was speaking under duress in the edited video. venezuela is calling it a confession was he was detained there and very, former us special forces, they will be tried in a venezuelan civilian court, the us has denied any involvement. jordan goodrow who claimed responsibility for the failed mission is under federal investigation for arms trafficking. rob: family calling for rest in the deadly shooting of an unarmed black man in georgia.

>> we demand the least we can ask at this moment that these men be arrested. rob: he was shot and killed by two men in february. the men say they thought he was a robber. his family says he was just out on a jog. video posted online shows him passing their truck on the road. his mother remembering her son. >> reporter: i saw my son come into the world and seeing him leave the world is not something i want to see ever. >> a terrible story, prosecutor recommending a grand jury review at this point, no charges and file. >> a massive swamp fire forces more than 1000 people to flee their homes in florida's panhandle, the fire standing 5 miles northeast of pensacola, strong winds causing it to grow 10 times its size in less than 24 hours, crews will be listed

on the private property earlier this week. police stopping cars on a highway as flames tear through thousands of acres. more than a dozen buildings are destroyed, the helicopter drop of water on the fire, 40% containment. >> tyson foods set to reopen its biggest pork plant following the covid-19 outbreak, the iowa processing facility opening its doors with limited production and new safety measures including temperature checks, mandatory facemasks, this plant closed down for more than two weeks more than two weeks ago for deep cleaning after 444 waterloo employees tested positive for covid-19. tyson is reopening another plant in iowa and one in maine. >> a national day of prayer to go virtual. this year's theme is pray god's glory across the earth. rob: join the event online at

nationaldayofprayer and pray.com, mike pompeo and marco rubio of florida. >> republican serious over a new memo showing how broad the mueller probe was. >> the legal foundation for mueller's appointment is crumbling. i wish a democrat would take this seriously. >> what happens for people like george papadopoulos and others if caught up in this thing? will there be consequences for the fbi? our next guest breaks down the possible legal fallout. shannon: we ask for photos and thank you messages for healthcare heroes on the front lines of the covid-19 pandemic. rob: our producer aaron would like to thank the intermediate care unit at stanford hospital and her friend andrew, a physical therapist joining them on the front lines hoping to

distribute ppe. jillian: and emergency room and icu nurse at jersey shore university medical center, thank you all.

>> to sabotage the presidency, the evidence shows we are not dealing with just mistakes or sloppiness, something far more troubling here and we are going to get to the bottom of it. rob: attorney general bill bar in april vowing to root out corruption when the fbi's handling of the russia probe and this morning a bombshell document released revealing robert mueller's investigation went beyond the scope of russian collusion. >> what does this mean for the bureau and the key players involved. joining us to break it down is gail trotter.

thanks for being here. let's take a look at these investigations that were authorized including carter page, george papadopoulos, michael flynn. what does this mean for those men who are on screen right now? >> they say sunlight is the best disinfectant that we are seeing a lot of sunlight on the mueller investigation and what kicked off the order that started the mueller investigation itself. you might remember that this memo that came out as revealed today shows it was trying to correct some of the problems in the original memo by rod rosenstein and as you said the scope of it is breathtaking. in conjunction with this some of the documents that were released by the start of justice in relation to general flynn's case show that there was a pretext for investigating general flynn in the first place in this memo

confirms that, charging the mueller team to go after general flynn and possibly for a loaded act violation, the logan act is a 1700s era law that has never resulted in the conviction of any defendant so we are seeing the scope of this investigation was very broad and lots of concerns about whether it was in compliance with the permit of justice regulations on special counsel and this is more sunlight showing the investigation was problematic. rob: not one of the 53 in witnesses, 6000 pages found evidence or had evidence of russian collusion, the fox news.com article tweeting adam schiff is in panic mode. to see have a reason to be?

>> he absolutely does. a lot of people are responding to this around the country saying if these documents already been authorized to be released and adam schiff is standing in the way of their release he has reason to panic because he's not fulfilling his obligation to make this successful to the public and the more we learn about this investigation and the men who were targeted we understand there was no obstruction, no collusion in this was a pretext and it should be troubling to everyone like senator graham said last night this is j edgar hoover stuff. >> wealth should be nervous right now? >> certainly the attorneys who represented general flynn, there has been information coming out, and the fbi agents who decided to target an innocent man in general flynn. >> a completely different topic, talk about birth control,

abortion and the supreme court case, listen to ruth bader ginsburg. >> tossed entirely to the wind what congress thought was essential, shifting the employer's religious beliefs onto employees. >> respectfully, your honor i think i would disagree with the premise of your question, there's nothing in the aca that requires coverage. >> this is a case of employers having to pay for contraceptives. a lot of employers don't want to do that for morality reasons. what do you make of this case? >> this is a vital case but it is not even a close case. religious groups like little sisters of the poor serve the weakest in our communities and have a long history of living out their faith by serving the elderly, poor who are dying and in this case the trump

administration came up with an exemption from the obama administration's hhs contraception mandate that allows little sisters to continue to serve without being strong-armed i state attorneys general into violating their conscience and violating their religious liberty. it is very easy to see why the supreme court should correctly uphold these exemptions for the little sisters and other groups like them, the attorneys general of pennsylvania and new jersey could not show a single woman who had not had access to contraceptives because of this exemption given to the little sisters and other groups like the little sisters. rob: thank you for covering two completely different stories but both very important ones this morning, appreciate it. >> 18 after the hour china challenging the us to give them proof that covid-19 started in a wuhan lab. we are live with new calls for transparency from mike pompeo.

rob: the left slamming sweden for not shutting down its economy but a new study says there targeted plan, the way they are doing it is working better. what could that teach us about restarting our businesses here and how we are handling this pandemic? we need a surgical approach to reopen the country, he joins us to explain coming up.

jillian: a bar owner and group of armed men arrested in a tense standoff with police. >> keep your hands! get back! >> reporter: police arresting six men for illegally carrying

guns during a protest at a texas bar rallying against the state's stay-at-home order, the owner is charge of violating the lockdown order for reopening the bar. the supreme court throws out a petition challenging pennsylvania's stay-at-home order, several businesses asked the high court to stop the state's lockdown claiming it is causing unprecedented damage to the economy, the justices did not say why they sign the petition is protesters demand the state reopen, pennsylvania's supreme court denied to a request last one saying the order did not violate the constitution. >> is the us slowly opens up for business the nation of sweden receiving backlash for their refusal to ever shutdown their economy but a new study shows a complete lockdown might not be the most effective policy. showing how things could be different with a targeted approach, the founder of healthy tennessee, doctor manny, thanks for coming on again, appreciate it. a lot of voices and there have

been for a while that say we should have just targeted the people that are very vulnerable and let others carry on. what do you make of this new study? >> good morning from tennessee. for weeks we have been saying this, surgical containment, vertical containment plan is the best way forward. what we have been doing is horizontal containment strategy or uniform containment, shutting everything down where we quarantine and help those folks who are at risk and get everybody back to work, everybody else back to work is the right move. the paper you stated for the national bureau of economic research is exactly what they are saying, by vertical containment plan, getting america back to work can drastically reduce the economic damage to our country and go back on the offense. >> and not miss much on the other side, on the healthcare side.

overall targeted policies combined with measures that reduce interactions between groups and increased testing and isolation of the infected can minimize economic losses and deaths in our model. it goes on to say semi-targeted policies apply to the oldest groups achieve the majority of gains from fully targeted policies and you can get most of the benefits we are getting now if you only lockdown the vulnerable and the whole idea was to just avoid hospitals being overwhelmed. haven't we done that at this point? >> we have, donald trump's instincts were right on on this issue in this paper is showing we don't have to shut america down to fight this virus, if we do it smart, strategically, we can keep fatality rates low, keep the hospitals open and not overrun and get our economy moving again.

rob: 80% of people who get this thing don't have symptoms and a lot of people that are younger just get a cold, don't have to go to a hospital. the swedish ambassador was on last night talking about his country which has been under the microscope how to handle this. >> our strategy is based on our way of life, how we function in sweden, to save as many lives as possible and keep the healthcare system running. we have to build a strategy we can keep for a long time. >> what do you think about sweden is handling this was everyone's watching them very closely. obviously they have more deaths than neighboring countries that are similar in nature. what do you think? >> the left-wing media in our country has given them a bad rap. i think they are doing this the right way. social distancing, still closing universities that opened school for kids. yes, they have a slightly higher

fatality rate than nowhere finland around them but think about this, their economy is doing better, their unemployment rates are lower than the other countries around them so in the long term exactly like the ambassador said this is a marathon, not a sprint and i think sweden will come out of this better and even with herd immunity. >> herd immunity before june and we are thinking new waves coming, they may not have higher numbers when this is all over, they might have all all their deaths at once instead of spread over the course of months. thank you for your time. we appreciate it, good to see you. >> 27 minutes after the hour. texas's top leader standing with the salon owner jailed in dallas. >> releasing potentially thousands of convicted felons because they're worried about them getting this virus and for some reason are not worried about her. >>.

the governor paying her fines. army veteran graham allen said it should never gotten this far to begin with. he joins us with a powerful message about freedom. >> the homeless getting 5 star service in san francisco, and outrageous plan to deliver alcohol and drugs to hotels where the homeless are being kept right now, stay tuned.

>> china refuses to allow international investigation into how the coronavirus started demanding the us prove the virus began in its wuhan lab. >> mike pompeo accuses beijing of withholding vital information. >> that's right, the chinese government continues to deny access for international investigators to visit that lab

where the outbreak may have first started. beijing's ambassador to the united nations said that once a final victory is declared over coronavirus access may be granted. tensions remain high between the united states and china as the trump administration double down blaming the chinese of hiding covid-19 information. us secretary of state mike pompeo said during a brief yesterday the china has an obligation to open up and be transparent. china as foreign affairs spokeswoman responded overnight. >> reporter: want to urge the us side with can to stop spreading false information, misleading the international community. >> china continues to deny early coronavirus missteps there is significant evidence according to the intelligence network of censorship and distraction of evidence, speaking this week with fox news senator rick scott of florida pledged to hold china and the world health organization accountable for their early actions, shifting gears, one of the store we are following out of the middle

east, fox news has learned that iran is behind the cyberattack launched late last month against israeli water infrastructure and they used american servers to carry out the attack will we did reach out to the divinity responsible for us cyber infrastructure, the senior official they reiterated the trump administration's commitment to protecting america and its allies against the sorts of attacks, that senior official did not comment on the specifics of this story calling it an ongoing investigation. jillian: a dallas salon owner waking up behind bars for refusing to closer salon during the pandemic. >> state leaders are calling for shelley luther's immediate release. >> state officials -- to immediately reverse his decision. >> yet to be released immediately.

we are hoping public pressure can highlight the injustice happening to this mother. >> this judge was addictive. he was fighting for tickets, fighting for their 18 a voice, what is judge did was a total disgrace and if he is a man he will step up friday before mother's day and i hope tomorrow and let her out of jail. >> dan patrick paying her $7,000 fine and $500 per day, governor greg abbott has spoken in luther's defense. >> putting her own interests ahead of those in the community where she lived. >> would rather feed their kids. if you think the law is more important than kids getting fed then please go ahead with your decision but i am not going to shut the salon. jillian: that judge sentencing luther to seven days in jail after she refused to admit her

decision to stay open was selfish. in dallas county they are working to shrink their population due to the coronavirus outbreak. >> they are releasing thousands of convicted felons because they're worried about them getting this virus but not worried about her, a woman just trying to do her job. >> reporter: hair salons and barbershops in texas are set to reopen tomorrow morning, shelley luther remains in jail. rob: support for the salon owner growing on social media with a hashtag i stand with shelley trending overnight. jillian: army veteran greg allen joins us with a message for luther and the texas judge. what is your message? >> thanks for having me. my message is very clear. i think there's a lot going on in the world we find ourselves in today, the pandemic fear is running rampant in our country and i want to remind americans that this shelley luther

situation is very telling for what happens when we let fear overcome our freedom as americans. the constitution, the bill of rights did not come with the pandemic clause in the second we need permission to be free, we were never really free in the first place. this entire situation with this judge was not about protecting lives from the coronavirus, it was about establishing power and authority over this woman. period. he wanted her to kiss the ring metaphorically speaking. this woman is more american right now than the majority of people on social media, sitting at home staying silent with everything that is going on. i challenge these laws these

orders, these directives that a lot of our elected officials are putting american citizens i would challenge where they rank up with the constitutional rights we do have as americans. one thing i'm seeing across the nation the we are seeing everywhere in chicago, you can't have people at your house party anymore or they will take you to jail, we are seeing at all over the nation and it is very unfortunate elected officials are forgetting that at the end of the day they are elected officials, they work for the american people, they are public servants. the american people hold the power in this country. it is not the other way around. if anything these elected officials have hundreds of thousands of bosses. i didn't get a phone call for anything going on in my state and i know the salon owner, there's nothing selfish about doing what you need to do to feed your children and that is where we find ourselves. >> can i just follow up on this? i don't know this from her or

her attorneys, sibley asking a question, if by chance she got ppe which i don't know the outcome does that change the landscape of the story for you? >> depends on the situation. how much was the ppp? has this woman been paying employees as much as she can? does the ppp cover the amount of back money that is due her employees? there are so many ifs in the ppp program, it sounds good on paper, a lot of people have benefited from this program but a lot of small businesses haven't gotten a response that their application has been received. it has been two months for some places that haven't been able to go to work, some people just now receiving a stimulus check from

the irs, that doesn't add up. that doesn't pay the bills. it is easy for people collecting checks to sit there and talk about what people who are not receiving checks and struggling and about to have to shut their doors, very easy for us to sit there and say i wouldn't have done it that way. jillian: a lot of people received it but too late. rob: we are letting a lot of people out of jail who have the coronavirus. i want to get to a second thing. the president talking about the american warriors. >> i call these people warriors. we can't keep our country closed down for years. >> you use the phrase warriors to describe everyday americans. asking them to put themselves in harm's way. >> took the american people being worried to get us to the point of reopening. rob: fighting over semantics. what did you make of that back

and forth? >> only in 2020, when apparently ufos are real wood we argue whether or not calling someone a warrior is a bad thing or not. journalists in those press rooms, whether you agree with the president's politics or not i agree with donald trump that the weight he is treated of the blatant disrespect for the presidency of the united states today in 2020 is a huge miss justice to the office. they just disagree with donald trump on anything uses period in a matter what he says it doesn't matter. americans are warriors. it is not a bad thing. the american spirit has been that of the warrior since the foundation of our nation and small business owners, american workers, front-line healthcare professionals and first responders are warriors and that is something for us to be proud

of as americans. rob: good to see you again. jillian: 40 minutes after the top of the average a high-tech response to the virus putting americans on edge. do fever detecting drones invade your privacy? >> drone expert brett velicovich says these fears are unfounded. he thought claim. jillian: we are celebrating nurses this week, nurse chang wants to shout out her coworkers, she is. rob: here is fellow nurses ashlyn kim, boris rubinsign, joseph otto and gil to sonata, thank you for everything you do. >> just one jar of micro-sculpting cream has the hydrating power of 5 jars of a prestige cream, which helps plump skin cells

and visibly smooth wrinkles. while new olay retinol24... provides visibly smoother, brighter skin. for dramatic skincare results, try olay. and now receive 25% off your purchase at olay.com brand power. helping you buy better.

rob: the us fighting coronavirus from the skies with fever reading drones that can take a person's to picture from 190 feet above. >> privacy concerns being raised is this method an effective way to control the pandemic or a violation of individual rights as some suggest. for a military intelligence analyst and drone expert brett velicovich joins us to weigh in. good to see you. what do you think about this? violation of rights or a good use of these drones? >> i think it could be a good use of the drones as long as it doesn't violate any current rules or regulations or laws. when it comes to drone technology there's a fine line right now between protecting the public with these new technologies and completely overstepping the boundaries of privacy laws in order to perform the function of law enforcement and there's always been a major barrier to realizing the full potential drones because of privacy restrictions and what it has done is restricted innovation, restricted

technology in a way that was ultimately designed to help people especially as relates to law enforcement we've been talking about how it has been used in interesting ways. in a lot of ways it is harder for a law enforcement officer to fly a drone than it is to fire a weapon. people don't understand that. most people who have these concerns about privacy violations don't understand how drones work. drones don't think for themselves, they don't fly by themselves, there's still a person behind the controls of that drone so if a law enforcement officer or entity uses that drone in a certain way they have to abide by the current rules and regulations and laws that exist to use that technology. >> the aclu on this, aclu of florida, not only invades privacy but we have no idea how the information will be used, the answer is not just throw drones in the sky and collect information on everyone, we need to be externally careful that any efforts to expand the government's authority and the checks and balances are not in overreach, do you think the aclu

is overanalyzing this? >> i think they are. let's talk about fever reading drones that we are talking about in this case, this is thermal technology that is already being used in a wide variety of applications primarily the agriculture space and site inspection so you have farmers already using this is exact technology to look for instance finishes with irrigation and look at their crops or disease and detective levels that exist there. they are using these drones to fly over solar farms and check out these panels and see if some of them may be deemed unsafe and need to be replaced. we are taking that same technology and applying it into this setting where now we are looking at individuals and people but there are still significant rules in place to be able to do that. it is very difficult for drones to be authorized to be flown over large crowds of people so

it already takes a very strong requirement and authorization for a police department to use it in that way so i think there's a balance that needs to take place but same time it's not like these drones are overreaching are flying in people's windows and invading privacy, there's a balance that can be had to make sure it is used in a way that protects the public. >> great information. you doing okay?

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>> the nfl will release its 20/20 schedule at 7:30 tonight, opening-day set for september 10th with contingency plans in place due to the pandemic. the league is sitting safety guidelines for teams to reopen the facilities during the first phase only 50% of nonplayer employees are allowed along with players with injuries. >> baseball pitching a plan to started season. spring training would restart next month with games beginning in july, the union still has to sign off on the idea. the league will need approval from health officials to allow trading facilities open of so players can get ready. pitching a plan. there you go. safety advocates waving red flags in wisconsin where teens can now get their drivers licenses without taking to the road.

>> carley shimkus here with reaction online. >> wisconsin the second state after georgia to waive the road test requirement for people trying to get a license. starting on may 11th the parents of 16 and 17-year-olds can sign a waiver saying the child has completed 30 hours of supervised driving. as for folks 18 and older they can simply vouch for themselves. the wisconsin dmv says 98% of drivers pass the road test on their first or second try, this tells us the training is effective, we feel parents are in excellent position to assess their tenets readiness for independent driving but the national safety council called the move shortsighted and dangerous and a lot of folks on social media agree. cindy tweeting this seems unwise and another twitter user rights auto insurance rates in wisconsin slowed in the 32 one.

georgia was the first state to make this controversial decision given out 20,000 licenses without road tests. rob: another story from the bizarre land of san francisco. >> reporter: the city of san francisco has confirmed they are giving homeless addicts being houston empty hotel rooms drugs and alcohol for free. the department of public health tweeting these harm reduction based practices which are not unique to san francisco and i paid for with taxpayer money, complete isolation and quarantine and have significant individual and public health benefits in the covid-19 pandemic legitimate taking place on social media. money grows on trees in san francisco. here is the ticket. you are supposed to be offering treatment. this is enabling it is wrong on so many levels.

homeless people in san francisco given free housing and free drugs. jillian: a grand slam out of boston. >> the red sox have a larger-than-life display in their outfield grass at fenway park. this is national nurse's we, this is an example of support for critical folks on the front lines. check that out. jillian: in the next hour of "fox and friends first" americans finding creative ways to keep the faith like a drive in services, linebacker mario davis says the situation shows us god is always in control and has a plan. he joins us in this national day of prayer. >> the ftc said when the subject matter ranges to other topics the call is transformed. >> the flesh heard around the

nation in the historic phone argument, the flesh that is going -

>> thursday may 7th. robert mueller as russia probe back in the spotlight as a once redacted memo surfaces. >> the document shows the scope

of the investigation was a questionably wide net. >> i call these people warriors, we can't keep our country closed down for years. >> they are worried, their warriors because they social distance. >> the phrase american warriors, the president bestowing the title on americans doing their part to put the pandemic behind us. >> how the mainstream media is picking a fight of this one and for those of you getting used to the perks of working at home you are not alone. >> half the country says they would do this permanently. "fox and friends first" continues right now. jillian: a good morning, you are watching "fox and friends first" on thursday morning. todd: going beyond the scope of the russia probe, newly released mo