todd: it is wednesday may 20 seventh and this is a fox news alert. hundreds of taliban prisoners walked free in the largest single release in the room with the territory. why this is ask afghanistan's best chance for achieving peace after decades of war. todd: donald trump's tweets labeled with a fact check for the first time. how the social media giant is defending the move in the face of swift backlash. todd: american-made rockets will return to space for the first time in almost a decade.

jillian: the world will be watching today's historic nasa space x launch. "fox and friends first" starts right now. and a very good morning, you are watching "fox and friends first" wednesday morning. todd: thank you for starting the day with us. we begin with a fox news alert, afghanistan releasing hundreds of taliban fighters, the single largest prison release since the us heavy caliban signed a peace agreement in february. the afghan government says 900 people would be freed, hoping it would reduce violence and a continued cease-fire. the release is part of the allowing us troops to eventually withdraw from the country american -- into a this were. jillian: the desperate manhunt for a double murder suspect intensifying in pennsylvania was

the widow of peter manfordonia's perspective says he will enforcement down the street, he was considering a restraining order against the yukon senior. the family and police are looking for calls against his surrender. >> peter, i want you to know we are continuing our investigation. one thing we are missing is you. we are here to listen to you. jillian: state police said he went to pennsylvania to a walmart after killing two people in connecticut and driving into new jersey. he was last seen walking along the train tracks. todd: online outrage, donald trump blasting twitter over its fact check of his voter fraud claims. jillian: republicans are slamming this is another case of media bias.

>> reporter: this is the first, twitter adding a fact check warning to the president's tweet about mail in ballots, with a fact checkers who debunked the president's claimed as falls. a dramatic shift in social network intervene in with his primary means of communication with his followers, not surprisingly the president is lashing out claiming election interference and tweeting this, twitter is completely stifling free speech and i as president will not allow it to happen, more to come on that. the risk between the president in north carolina's governor roy cooper putting location of the are in c summer convention in doubt scheduled for charlotte in august, the president is giving cooper one week to commit to full attendance. >> we are talking about something that is going to happen three months from now and we don't know what our situation is going to be regarding covid-19. >> governor who doesn't want to

open up the state and the date of august at the end of august. if the governor can't tell us very soon we will have no choice. i would say within a week we have to know. >> reporter: this is the governors of georgia and florida say they would be happy to host it in our state. >> florida would love to have the rnc. i'm a republican, it would be good to have us have the dnc in terms of economic impact. door is open, we want to have a conversation whether it is are in c, dnc or whatever because it would be good for the people of florida. >> reporter: the rnc is determined to host this convention and hired a doctor to guide their health decisions. this will mean attendance of 20,500 million and thousands of journalists and visitors. jillian: thanks, we will continue to follow it. the stock market surging as americans get back to work.

todd: states prepare to ease more restrictions. jillian: a and rafferty joins us with the message. >> reporter: donald from celebrating an economic comeback. businesses around the country once again welcoming customers back inside, without responding by hitting 25,000 of 530 points. >> a big day, substantially over the last 6 months. we had a very big day. people are seeing what is happening, they are seeing there is pent-up demand and you're going to see it more and more, we, the transition to greatness. >> reporter: stock market futures trending upwards as more states ease coronavirus restrictions. along the minnesota where churches can reopen with limited capacity and in person dining can resume in colorado and certain florida cities like

miami. major strides in california, religious and retail services reopening in los angeles while hair salons and barbershops are opening another counties. gavin newsom says the state's gradual process is off to a great start. >> we are making progress, moving forward, not looking back, but we are walking into the unknown, the untested literally and figuratively and we have to be guided by the data that brought us to this place. jillian: long island is facing back to business as the state celebrates a major milestone. >> hospitalization is down, rolling average down, number of intubations down, number of new covid-19 cases down to the lowest level since this started.

just about 200. >> reporter: governor cuomo will talk about reopening the state and infrastructure projects while meeting with donald trump at the white house today. jillian: great to see those charts was republican suing nancy pelosi is the house prepares to return to business, 20 republicans aim to stop the use of proxy voting during the pandemic. kevin mccarthy is spearheading the bill, says the new voting is are a, quote, dereliction a duty as elected officials and would silence the american people's voice during the crisis, democrats argue proxy voting is essential, pelosi calling the suit a sad stunned. todd: a women's group going after democrats for their handling of sexual assault accusation against joe biden. >> joe biden is joe biden. we can come forward unless it is democrats? is that the message we are

sending? todd: the digital ad from winning from women, it takes aim at the women on biden effortless for vp who have not supported an investigation. biden denies the accusations. >> the countdown is on for the historic space x launch that for today two astronauts take off in a spacecraft from kennedy space center in cape canaveral, nasa official sounding off on the first manned rocket launch on us soil in nearly a decade. >> we are once again launching american astronauts on american rockets from american soil. this is a unique opportunity to bring all of america together in one moment in time and say look at how bright the future is. >> reporter: the mission -- demo

2 is expected a lot of 4:33 eastern time, donald trump and mike pence plan to attend. your world with neil cavuto will bring live coverage beginning at 4:00 pm right here on fox news. i know what i'm doing today. todd: i'm so excited, hope everything goes off without a hitch, this is a huge moment for the space program and our country. 9 minutes after the hour commission's governor trying to get out of hot water over her husband's boat request. >> he jokingly asked if being married to me might move them up in the queue. he thought it might get a laugh. it didn't. todd: the brand-new backlash as fed up business owners hit her with a lawsuit. >> fact check, labeling donald trump's tweets is potentially misleading for the first time, from 2020 director of strategic communications joins us live

with his response.

jillian: donald from call that whatever labeling two of his tweets is misleading. >> twitter citing stories from cnn and the washington post as fact and the president says they are interfering with the 2020 election. jillian: trump 2020 director of strategic communications, thanks for being here. what is your reaction to this? a lot of people were like this is the first time we are seeing it. >> not surprising silicon valley is trying to fact check conservatives but they don't bother to get the facts. let's remember there was a bipartisan study by the federal government in 2005 led by former president jimmy carter and james

baker and they found mail in voting at the highest potential for fraud. we know this to be true. i would ask twitter and others to check their own facts before they go fact checking the president. todd: let's put up the president's tweet, accusing twitter of interfering with the election, free speech and all that community twitter's response, quote, this is with regard to the fact check label these tweets contain potentially misleading information about voting processes and of the label to provide additional context around mail in ballots. this decision is in line with the approach we shared earlier this month was the question for you, are you expecting fact checks when it comes to joe biden? >> i don't think they will fact check joe biden because they would have to do it all the time. this is the guy who doesn't even remember the year 9/11 took

place, the number of grandkids he has or recalls negotiating with foreign leaders who have been dead for decades. this is going to be a 1-sided standard against donald trump. that is why our campaign has come out vocally against it. we pulled our advertising from twitter because we want a level playing field and that is not something we are going to get from silicon valley. jillian: 28.3 million unaccounted for mail in ballots from 2012-2018. what is interesting is preparing for this segment last night, reading an article on the philadelphia inquirer on their website and the story from yesterday how in montgomery county pennsylvania there were close to 2000 voters sent the wrong ballots for the june 2nd primary in one county and one state. my understanding is democrats received republicans etc. etc.

not necessarily deceased member the family receiving ballots and things like that, this is to show you there can be a lot of errors. >> absolutely right and in california they have more voters registered to vote and they do people living in the state because they won't clean up their voter rolls, they are going to mail ballots to people who no longer live at their address who may not be living in the state anymore, might not be with us all to give it. what is going to happen to ballots? are they going to be thrown away? will someone collect them and possibly tried to turn those ballots in themselves? it actually has the potential of lessening the value of legitimate votes of people who are eligible to vote and that is why this fundamentally could alter the 2020 election and it is not something we are going to allow to happen. todd: governor cuomo will be going to the white house to speak to donald trump, to focus

on things like infrastructure and reopening the economy but you have to believe the nursing home issue, the new york state system originally has the guidance has 2 going to nursing homes, no longer on the website. what do you expect to be resolved if anything when it comes to this nursing home issue? >> reporter: i hope they put politics aside in terms of governor cuomo. whenever you have a politician say let's put politics aside their usually about to get political. we will see, new york's death rate among seniors is nine times higher than the state of florida. the fact that cuomo is trying to blame donald trump for this. and and thank you for joining

us. >> >> welcoming the masses, churches allowed to reopen in minnesota. what are they doing to keep worshipers safe? jillian: the church is fully prepared, joins us live to break down the safety measures. these folks don't have time to go to the post office

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>> 120 small gym owners in michigan suing governor gretchen witmer. it opened by appointment only operating a 25% capacity.

and and ahead of memorial day weekend. >> my husband made a failed attempt at humor when checking in with small business that helps up north. knowing it wouldn't make a difference, jokingly asked if being married to me might hold him up in the queue. obviously when the boating prohibition in the early days of covid-19, he might today laugh. it didn't. todd: witmer slam for being a hypocrite if she told people not to visit summer hotspots in northern michigan. >> suing new jersey to help them reopen. they practice their faith. >> religious freedom our country was founded on is one of the

most essential basic human rights we have in america and that is why we decided to take action against their government. >> reporter: gatherings of 10 or people are banned in states, they have not responded to the lawsuit. >> minnesota all mouse churches to reopen with strict new rules. >> we continue to encourage minnesotans to stay home, there is no requirement for these choices. >> they keep their congregations safe and ronnie patterson senior joins me now with more. good to see you, thank you for joining us. >> thank you for inviting me.

jillian: let's pull up the guidance for reopening places of worship including social distancing, 25% occupancy, things like that. what are you doing to do everything you can to keep your prisoners safe? >> we got started making sure our sanctuaries, restroom, door, to make everything sanitized down the night before warship. and when they came in, they are required sometimes. also request social distancing. and with those people. they have allowed you to do that.

>> what has been the response of your congregation. >> we have some concerns. i tell people all the time we are not reopening because we shouldn't have. outdoors remain open throughout the pandemic. every now and then, we make sure people do that. people have a desire to come back to warship together to create a family atmosphere. and the outside force, and look away from the membership. >> 25 states.

are you surprised to see how this played out? i know that going to big box stores, need food in order to live. a lot of people need spiritual guidance, say this is essential to them. are you surprised to see it play out like this? >> i am surprised but i never traveled this road before, we have never been in this position before. and going to college, decided she would take the staff and recall our services. in the middle of the numbers, they do it again. it would end up being too this.

every wednesday night, taking bible study, every that -- at sunday school. at 10 am we do our worship service. we have the doors available for those who would like to come but dealing with the vision, park and praise, driving in your car moving in the stream. we started doing what we -- people can drive to the parking lot. and praying and singing and preaching and we take them all,

for people, they have signed in part for that. jillian: i am sure community members are appreciative of everything you have done. thank you for joining us, we appreciate it. a fox news alert. a massive manhunt for college student wanted for murder. he may have stolen another car during the get away. using social media could end up hurting the investigation. he joins us to explain. todd: wants to get paid for going back to the office? bonuses being considered by the trump administration, "fox and friends first" returns. . our elderly jewish brothers and sisters who are so precious to god, have no access to food, medicine;

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>> i want you to know we are

continuing our investigation. what we are missing right now is you. your parents, your friends, all of us in connecticut want to peaceful end to this. todd: a plea from police as something appears in the tri-state area manhunt for yukon student authorities say is a crime stream. jillian: is suspected in theft of two because and guns and a home invasion and murder. joining us is homicide detective brian foley. thank you for joining us, appreciate it. let's bring up the picture of the victims, ted and nicholas. we have photos of the victims, a map of the crime at this point as police outlined and you can see that involves going from connecticut to new york and new

jersey and in stroudsburg, pennsylvania. what does this say to you? >> looks like someone who is on the run in doing their best to move police and survive it the same time. state police have dumped every asset they had to find this kid. you saw the message to him was everyone in the investigation police have talked to have said this is completely out of character for him. we want to hear his side of the story. we want him to turn himself in. and turn himself in peacefully. todd: we've been invested in this case in connecticut, you and i both from this state. what stands out to me is the connection, he reportedly grew up on the same street as the newtown school shooter. what do you make of that

connection or is it purely happenstance? >> we can't overlook that. any homicide will look at these, what they have been through in their experiences and their psychological experiences. this obviously is something texas would key in on in trying to develop a profile of a suspect in this situation. that is something, look every time when this happens a lot of police officers go to the scene but keep in mind there are detectives behind the scenes that you don't see. that is the social media scrubbing of history. anytime there is a suspect in a situation they will go to past

universities, people in the residential area, teachers, anyone they can to get information, not just capture the suspect in figure out why but also prevent anything further. we want to catch the suspect and keep the citizens and community safe, delicate balance. jillian: look at this tweet from the pennsylvania state police, black hyundai santa fe, not confirmed that he stole the vehicle but it was taken from the area where he was last seen. i'm curious your take on how social media plays a role in crimes like this. on the one hand it is a way to get information to the public. if you have seen this vehicle it us right away from your hand potential suspects could potentially be looking at this and knowing where police are following. >> in the early days of being a detective in the 90s you worry what you said on the news or people set on the news and how it will affect homicide and

witnesses and suspects. noticed a simplified and magnified in today's day and age. we know suspects, witnesses on social media. the good that comes from it far outweighs the bad in our minds, the information we get out of this, get it to the people in the community, connecticut at that time, social media the good far outweighs the bad but at the same time we are getting contact with people on social media, you see we are asking people to be mindful of rumors because everyone is concerned about their family and their children and the suspects, we want to return and don't want -- connecticut state police, every federal agency you can imagine, new jersey state police, pennsylvania state police are looking everywhere for this guy.

jillian: we will continue to follow it. thank you for the information, appreciate it. todd: violent protests erupting in hong kong as they debate a bill that would criminalize disrespecting china's national anthem. jillian: president xi tells the lottery to prepare for war as tensions rise with the us. donald trump's warning to beijing. >> reporter: clashes erupted in hong kong as this bill that is being debated received sharp pushback from protesters. we even saw a lot of clashes in the streets, a bill that would make insulting china's national anthem a crime punishable by 3 years in prison. lawmakers debated the bill as police fired pepper pellets into crowds of protesters outside a

legislative building, demonstrated slanted slogans like human rights are higher than the machine and not one left. ongoing demand from protesters for their government. 16 demonstrators were arrested for possessing things like screwdrivers and petro bombs after protests on sunday about a different proposal out of beijing that would ban treason and sedition. protesters worried the law would open up the door to mass arrests in hong kong and expand spine by chinese intelligence agents, the same people have taken to the streets of hong kong demonstrating against previously proposed chinese extradition laws, the trump administration has been supported by demonstrators in hong kong, this week appears to be shifting the focus was the economic applications of rising tensions between washington and beijing encouraging companies to move their operations to america. >> we welcome any american companies in hong kong or china mainland, we will do what we can

to pay the costs of moving if they return their supply chains and production to the united states. >> reporter: donald trump teased an announcement on china related to the security law protested on sunday. that is something to watch in the coming days. jillian: absolutely, thanks. hundreds of protesters clashing with police in minneapolis overnight after four officers are fired for the death of an unarmed black man in custody. [crowd chanting] jillian: some throwing rocks at officers, police using teargas to control the crowd. the clashes and reaction to video showing an officer kneeling on a man's and during an arrest. george floyd lost consciousness and later died.

his family is devastated by this video. >> when he first played it i could hear his voice, didn't need to see anymore. first time i heard him say i can't breathe was more i could take. jillian: the department is not identifying the officers involved. the fbi is investigating the case. heather: fbi saying the gunmen who attacked the texas navy base last week acted alone. agents spotted a second person of interest out there but that is no longer the case. adam was killed by security when trying to enter naval air station corpus christi. the fbi says it is terrible related but have not said more. one security officer was shot but was saved by her bulletproof vest. the time is 4:40. history sets to be made hours from now at cape canaveral and one of america's rocket boys says this is a total triumph of

us ingenuity and perseverance. jillian: former nasa engineer homer hickam joins us. >> our country has been through a lot but this is the unique moment where all of america can take a moment and look at our country do something stunning again.

todd: disney world and see world will present plans to reopen today. it must be approved by the local economic recovery task force. orlando's mayor and governor ron desantis, disney reopened at the shopping district in orlando, got approval last week, it will reopen on june 5th. meantime the white house considering a bonus for unemployed americans returning to work.

the measure would temporarily give people $50 a week on top of their job wages. one of many options the administration is considering for the next round of stimulus funding. jillian: just hours from now america will make history and return to space for the first time in nearly a decade. our next guest is a former nasa engineer who says this is a triumph for american perseverance. joining me as the author of rocket boys and advisor to the national space counsel, homer hickam. thank you for being here. >> look like a great day for american spaceflight. jillian: tell me what this means. >> the main thing it means is

finally we are going to be able to put our astronauts into space from american soil. it has been a long time coming. the space shuttle last flight was in 2011, and everybody has been working very hard, space x just an amazing company and nassau supporting it, and all-american flight and it will be great fun to watch. i wish i was down at the cape but the pandemic being what it is, the next place, i'm in huntsville, alabama known as rocket city. jillian: let's look at some facts, you mentioned it is the first time the us since 2011, the mission is called demo 2, scheduled at 4:33 eastern time from launch pad 39 a. the astronauts, doug hurley and bob behnkin. talk about the relationship between space x and nasa and how

it works to shift this to private companies. how much of a difference that makes. >> this is an amazing transformation. the astronauts in the past that have flown american spacecraft have been on nasa spacecraft that were designed and paid for and really a total nasa spacecraft, federally funded spacecraft. in this case we have a commercial company designed to make a profit. i followed the company from the very beginning when it was trying to launch rockets in the pacific ocean and they weren't working but elon musk and -- they are quite younger. i've been to their plant in california. young rocket boys and rocket girls, built an amazing rocket, the falcon 9, the first stage

will be recovered. no other company or country can do that. the dragon spacecraft is a very advanced vehicle, pretty amazing this company has pulled this off. jillian: it will be very exciting. why do you think this is so important for our country right now with everything we are going through at this point in time? >> this should be just a great bump in our more out -- morale to see this do so well. two great astronauts. i know both of them. they are tremendous human beings and everybody behind them, really exciting when you watch it go up, you will hear a lot of cheers, everything from these young engineers and scientists behind them, that is the next generation rocket builders, looks like we really don't have any barriers to go back to the moon and on to mars or wherever we want to go. jillian: thank you for joining

us, appreciate it, exciting day. you can watch live lunch coverage of neil cavuto on your world starting today at 4:00 pm eastern. thank you. we will be right back. when you say what you're in the mood for,

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todd: all ours on twitter after the platform fact checked donald trump's tweets as potentially misleading. jillian: carley shimkus with serious xm 115 breakdown social media's response. carley: the president at odds with his most used social media platform. for the first time twitter has applied a fact check notice to a post the president wrote about mail in ballots leading to voter fraud.

twitter claiming the president's post is unsubstantiated and misleading saying twitter falsely claimed mail in ballots would lead to a rigged election but fact checkers say there is no evidence of this. these claims are unsubstantiated according to cnn, washington post and others. the president fired back in a tweet saying as twitter is interfering in the 2020 presidential election they are saying my statements on mail in ballots which will lead to massive corruption. and the amazon washington post was the warning label prompting back lash online, twitter, youtube and facebook should not be censoring the user, they can put restrictions on things. twitter announced they would be adding fact checking labels to the coronavirus in the election earlier this month.

>> we thought we would hear about the baseball season but that is not the case. the nhl comes out a plan and goes into the playoffs. >> reporter: the nhl made a big announcement, potentially scrapping the rest of the regular season moving on to the playoffs, top 12 teams, all 3 hub cities. the nhl in phase 1. in early june, three formal training camps open no earlier than july 1st, playoff and two cities, timing and sites, one twitter user says it is about time and i think all the fans should come back. the nhl commission expects play to resume over the summer into early fall. we will see when that will be. jillian: crazy to be watching hockey in the summer.

todd: if you watch a show we are friends together and party together at 11 am friday. there is a suit out there that allows you to party in coronavirus, which of us will where it first? carley: you and i like to go out. how about adding this to your wardrobe? a california company created a high-tech hazmat suit to protect people who want to hit the club but still stay safe. it includes n95 mask filtration system. you can still drink a cocktail or whatever you want through a nozzle in the helmet. i would love to see that. looks like a sci-fi situation.

todd: as long as you can go like this we will be in good shape. jillian: coming up in the next hour of "fox and friends first," texas one of several states ready to jump in if donald from yanks the are in c from north carolina over possible coronavirus restrictions. congressman louis goehmert explains why the lone star state could be the perfect hub. that fuel 5 indicators of brain performance. memory, focus, accuracy, learning, and concentration. try neuriva for 30 days and see the difference.

jillian: hundreds of protesters filling the streets of minneapolis demanding justice for an unarmed black man killed during an arrest.

rob: the action taken against the four officers involved, donald trump takes on twitter after his tweets are labeled with a fact check for the first time. jillian: the social media giant defending the move in the face of swift backlash. >> who was a bigger baby? >> the quiet and pay attention. jillian: you never he knew you wanted to know. jillian: todd: an interesting idea. "fox and friends first" continues right now. good morning, you're watching "fox and friends first" on wednesday morning. jillian: thank you for starting your day with us. online outrage, donald trump blasting twitter over a fact check of his voter fraud cla