>> fox news alert, laura lashing the gulf coast making landfall as a category 4 hurricane. >> 150 mile-per-hour hireling -- howling winds and an survivable storm surge. >> monster hurricane striking on the third night of the are in see, the focus honoring america's bravest defending our freedom. >> i've seen american heroes up

close was one of them saved my life. >> services more than a word to me. it is a mission. a way of life. >> the heroes who held this fort took a stand for life. liberty, freedom and the american flag. >> here we go for the next few hours, "fox and friends first" starts right now. good morning. jillian: right now hurricane laura pounding louisiana and texas moving inland as a dangerous and devastating category 4 storm. >> janice dean tracking the storm, along the gulf coast impact zone. >> we begin with leland in louisiana. it has been pretty rough. >> reporter: it has indeed. a beautiful evening because we are in the eye of hurricane

laura, getting last with 150 mile an hour winds, and 15 minutes from now, we are just outside an emergency exit, this is what hurricane laura has done so far to a casino built with millions of dollars to withstand a hurricane, blown out windows and blasts, the howling winds, look at those lights a couple hours ago? >> 500,000 have evacuated. many will have their homes underwater. those who did not evacuate are going to face a very uncertain predicament. >> that is the concern. we are not even through half of this. the storm surge we can hear beginning to come in here. not talking 10 feet of water but more like 20 feet of water which is catastrophic and an survivable levels of water into lake charles and the storm has

gained so much strength, from a tropical storm to a category 4 hurricane. the amount of storm surge his increased, they did not have time to evacuate. imagine what they are going through this evening and will go through as the eye moves on and the winds pick up to 100 miles an hour. >> to brian yunus in port arthur, texas what are you seeing? >> to the west of lake charles and difference is astounding, we are getting ghosts of 70 miles an hour you can see the rain, this is not what they are experiencing in lake charles which was behind me is a construction site behind me still standing, the power lines are still standing so that gives you an idea, we are getting

water so 56,000 people, customers homes of lost power, the golden triangle, beaumont and orange and port arthur and they were expecting a catastrophic surge here. we are just 10 miles away from the western edge of the eye wall and we just missed it here in port arthur but bridge city and orange north of us 10 miles, 20 miles, they've gotten some of that, they were hit by part of that wall in lake charles. incredible the differences. we are getting that rain here. the power loss is the big issue. they were concerned about the water and started becoming concerned about the wind, power outages could last for weeks or months but in port arthur i can tell you power lines are still up. still have power. fairly good news compared to what we were expecting.

>> let's go to janice dean who has been tracking this. >> 2:00 am we saw the landfall and i have to say the national hurricane center had it right on the mark, they knew where the storm would come on shore. the intensity forecasting is always difficult so category 4, very strong, 150 mile-per-hour sustained wind as it made landfall, started to weakens so now we are still a category 4, winds coming down and they will continue to do so every advisory. ahead of the storm we are talking about heavy rainfall, storm surge going 30 miles inland so that is why there were tough warnings, the national hurricane center save lives, that secretary i is situated,

very calm morning around lake charles but now they have the backside of the storm that is going to come ashore. i've never been in the eye of the storm but it is quite incredible, always very calm and then you have the rest of the storm coming on shore so just want to mention tornado watch in effect, some week tornadoes, the track will move northward, we can and we will still be talking about this storm on friday and for the weekend as it goes across the ohio valley and eventually the northeast. >> you don't think of hurricane to the ohio valley but for this when you've got to think about it. thank you. >> homeowners in the path of destruction will soon be left to pick up the pieces but they won't be alone.

>> cofounder of team would jake rubicon moves into help. thanks for being here. i know it is a busy time for you. how did team rubicon prepare in the days leading up to this moment? >> we've been tracking the storm directly, positioning people and equipment to respond as quickly as possible so we have some senior leadership on the ground in louisiana, emergency operations center, they will be prepared to come in early, hopefully tomorrow and begin surveying the damage depending on the situation. we may not reach the impacted area for a couple days. we pre-position clearance teams, prepackaged assets of trucks, trailers, heavy equipment and chainsaw teams that can move in and primarily work with local authorities to clear me access ways so power companies can that back in and waterpower can be restored and citizens continue to evacuate in the face of rising water. >> right now you don't know what you're up against, people have a

chance to survey the damage that has been done but you talk about this being a strong category 4 storm when it made landfall, katrina was a category 3 when it made landfall and we saw storm surge reaching 28 feet in some places. how bad do you think the storm surge is going to be in this area? will that be the problem you're up against? >> absolutely. people are often misled by the category of the storm. that is an indication of how bad the weekend damage will be but the primary damage from hurricane harvey was the impact over the houston area as a tropical storm dumped 60 inches of rain in 96 hours. this will likely be a water event, 150 mile an hour winds, not to use hyperbole but this is

the perfect storm. much less densely populated areas and where harvey hit. jillian: appreciate you joining us and you can text team to 20020 to donate, rubicon 20222, thank you. todd: top women in the trump administration taking the stage during the crazy rnc. jillian: mike pence with a powerful speech addressing rioters, the movement to defend the police and the pandemic. todd: griff jenkins with all the highlights. >> reporter: a historic backdrop, mike pence was joined by karen pence, vice president focusing on a message of law and order. >> the hard truth is you won't

be safe and joe biden's america. under donald trump we will always stand with those who stand on the thin blue line and we are not going to defund the police not now not ever. >> reporter: in attendance the president and first lady along with four medal of honor recipients, goldstar mothers who live in the borders and end up heroes, the vice president highlighting the economy. >> if we achieve the lowest unemployment rate for women in 65 years. and more americans working than ever before. in our first three as we built the greatest economy in the world. we made america great again. >> 3 of the president's

right-hand women, kellyanne conway, kayleigh mcenany and laura trump made the case for a second term. >> i want my daughter to grow up in donald trump's america. >> he picks the toughest fight and tackles complex problems. he has stood by me and he will stand up for you. donald trump is the law and order president from our borders to our backyards, donald trump will keep america safe. donald trump will keep america prosperous. donald trump will keep america america. >> reporter: the biden campaign responding with this statement, instead of a roadmap to defeat the virus and rebuild the economy so it works for the middle class, mike pence or we offered up debunked scare tactics and gas lighting in an attempt to further divide us but the main event, donald trump

will speak from the white house with many expected to attend along with mitch mcconnell, house minority leader kevin mccarthy, the president's daughter ivanka as well as rudy giuliani, congressman jeff andrew, secretary ben carson the senators on cotton, reverend franklin graham and alice marie johnson. the question now is unclear whether or not hurricane laura will impact the event. >> so much going on, interesting to see how they handle that. appreciate your reporting. >> fox news alert. overnight, demonstrations raining peaceful as donald trump sends federal officers to the city following days of unrest. >> protesters hitting the streets over the shooting of jason blake, civil rights problems in the shooting is police say blake admitted to having a knife which was later found in his car. >> a teenager arrested in the shooting and killing of two people and hurting a third during kenosha protests.

17-year-old kyle charged with homicide. >> he is a businessman who took part in a sit in, many of them during the civil rights era praising donald trump for backing peaceful protests. >> donald trump is not a politician. he is a leader. politicians are a dime a dozen. leaders are priceless. >> he joins us live after his big speech at the republican convention. >> we continue to track hurricane laura as the category 4 storm batters the gulf coast.

>> hurricane laura makes landfall overnight. >> do you feel enough residents in the storm's path evacuated in

time? >> we hope so. the word went out, we posted the evacuation routes is always. a well rehearsed really louisiana being a gulf coast state. we have a playbook we follow and we do feel the word went out. that come the point you do all the preparation work you can and hope for the best. >> this came in as a powerful category 4 storm slamming the gulf coast. for those residents who didn't heed the evacuation orders, what is your message to residents? >> day safe. when you have a 20 foot storm surge when the eye came south of lake charles the wall of water is enormous and when you are predicting 9 feet of water downtown lake charles you better be seeking high ground and they know that.

we had rita some years ago pushing a big wall of water too. for days, weeks, we've been talking about being prepared. we know what to do, just hoping for the best. >> how confident are you the lessons learned from 2005 with regard to rita and the improvements you made your infrastructure following that storm are going to help in this situation? >> it certainly has to. every time we pull the playbook we improve on it. everything from staging your assets, recovery vehicles, your power companies, everything -- this time around what is different is covid-19. when you are looking at preparations, evacuations, transportation and sheltering of people, covid-19 and social

distancing played a large part in the planning, that is never occurred before so this is new territory for us as it would be for any state along the gulf coast. we have to wait until sunrise to find out how well we've done. >> it will be a busy few days ahead. thank you for joining us with that message to your residents. 19 after the hour. this businessman took part in a historic sit in during the civil rights era. >> he is praising the president for promoting peaceful demonstrations, he joins us next. find your friends. find your sense of wander. find the world is new, again. at chevy we'd like to take you there. now during the chevy open road sales event, get up to 15% of msrp cash back on select 2020 models. that's over fifty-seven hundred dollars cash back on this equinox. it's time to find new roads, again.

>> freedom of thought is a powerful thing, donald trump is not a politician. he is a leader. politicians are dime a dozen.

leaders are priceless. he has done more for black americans and four years then joe biden has done in 50. >> democratic use the president of stoking hate and division support activist clarence henderson made the case for why donald trump represents the us he was fighting for back in the 60s and he joins me live. why are you choosing the president? >> i'm choosing him because he is the right person to be the president of this particular point in time. he understands america. is not a politician, he is a businessman. he understands a free-market capitalist system of america and here to drive the economy in a direction we should go in and that is why i support him. >> with that is the backdrop do you think black america will support donald trump especially in those crucial swing states? >> i think they will if you do a comparative analysis between the

two men running for president of the united states when you compare one against the other, one has been there almost 50 years and was has he done and what the president is done. in less than four years, look at the things he's put in place like the hbc yous, prison reform with 91% of people, people of color, opportunity zones, low taxes. all the things america needs to thrive and not just survive. todd: kamala harris disagrees, she states the following the termination is experiencing racism, all people of all ages to the streets, trump and hence responded with callousness. we deserve so much more.

with what we've seen in kenosha, wisconsin how do you counter the narrative that biden and harris put in focus? >> we are a nation of laws. when things happen like what you are talking about, we have a justice system people should go to court for these things and not the court of public opinion. what is accomplished by the violence and mayhem that is going on, look at what america is all about and what needs to be done. these are not the protests i participated in. when you start violence and mayhem your committing tierney on the people. when that occurs something has to be done to stop it because we have people out here trying to run businesses and living their lives and are not able to

because some people -- we have systemic corruption, not systemic racism. >> thank you not only for your time this morning, your bravery in the 1960s and all that you and those like you have done for our country, thank you so much. >> laura makes landfall as a category 4 hurricane, a storm chaser on the ground in louisiana joins us live is wind and rain pummel the gulf coast. janice dean is tracking the monster storm. live team coverage next.

todd: fox news alert, laura lasher the gulf coast. >> a category 4 hurricane, thousands losing power, heavy rain and wind gusts up to 185 miles per hour. for the latest on the storm

abstractly chicken with janice dean. >> janice: we will bring you the latest details but it made landfall at 2:00 am eastern time across the louisiana, cameron louisiana. there is not a huge population there and i was reading everybody did evacuate so that's the good news but we are still dealing with a category 4 storm as it moves inland and storm surge still a probability and a big danger inland with storm surge upwards of 10 feet hopefully people heated those warnings but also the potential for tornadoes which heavy rainfall, upwards of a foot in isolated spots and tornadoes with these landfalling systems. we only have rotation with the counterclockwise motion of the wind, week tornadoes will be spinning up in louisiana on the right side of the storm depending on where you live.

flood advisories posted but well inland toward the tennessee and ohio river valley because we are feeling the effects of laura well into friday and over the weekend as the storm moves towards the ohio valley and the northeast on the weekend we will get a piece of this. there are your rainfall totals. the heaviest rainfall around the center of circulation and this is a wide storms that will affect quite a number of people. hopefully people heated those warnings because the national hurricane center were right on with their predictions exactly where they predicted, it made landfall last night. jillian: mandatory evacuation to been issued. thank you for joining us, we appreciate it.

you have storm chased before, harvey, michael and her mother. what have you seen? you are talking a number when it made landfall with 150 mile-per-hour sustained winds. what did that feel like you >> one way to describe it, hurricane laura came it was just as much fury as she did from the gulf of mexico. we experienced winds in lake charles over 100 miles an hour. i would personally estimate we beat the ghost here, 140, 150 miles an hour. this entire city is severely damaged. all the skyscrapers in the city are almost completely without glass. there's a lot of metal. pieces of roofs down on the ground floor. i am currently just getting rocked by the other side. we went through the first i wall. now we are going through the

second i wall. all the winds come from the opposite direction so it will continue to do more damage and a lot of wind damage to the high-rises in lake charles. >> we always make comparisons to previous storms. it is very early in laura but which storms does laura remind you of and why? >> i have to say laura reminds me a little bit of hurricane michael. hurricane michael wade landfall in the for the panhandle near panama city in 2018, not necessarily the exact strength of hurricane michael but the way hurricane laura ramped up beginning late last night all the way through yesterday into this morning all the way to landfall reminds me almost exactly like hurricane michael

in 2018. jillian: you've been doing this for ten years, thank you for joining us, stay safe and keep us updated. >> have a wonderful morning. todd: this other news. fox news alert breaking overnight, tick-tock ceo kevin mayer stepping down after donald trump signed an executive order to been the apps in the us, the mayor writing to employees, quote, in recent weeks as the political environment is changed i have done significant reflection on the changes required and what it means to the global role i signed up for. against this backdrop i have decided to leave the company. 's resignation comes days after tick-tock sued the trump administration over that executive order. he was ceo for less than three months. jillian: demonstrations remain peaceful in kenosha, wisconsin following days of arrests. >> a teenager charged in the shooting death of two people during those protests.

jillian: donald trump sends federal officers to kenosha. >> reporter: another day of demonstrations but none of the rioting or violence of previous nights. >> black lives matter! >> black lives matter! >> reporter: protests continuing until the curfew set an hour earlier than previous nights, donald trump sitting in federal officers and national guard troops. the president tweeting, quote, we will not stand for looting, arson, violence and lawlessness on american streets which my team set off the phone with those who accept federal assistance after the sheriff says they couldn't handle the violence by themselves. the unrest follows the police shooting of jacob blake. the father of 6 is paralyzed from the waist down, he was shot

earlier this week in front of his three children. witnesses say blake was trying to break up a fight. this but with justices officers tried arresting blake before shooting him 7 times as he walked back to his car. investigators say blake admitted to a knife which was found in his car. they are looking to the shooting, this is we learned teenagers arrested in the shooting and killing of two people entering the third during kenosha protests. 17-year-old kyle rittenhouse is charged with homicide. he was caught in this photo hours before the violence. from illinois he allegedly traveled to kenosha and affiliated himself up before that heavy armed militia the claim to be helping law enforcement. donald trump steps in to curb the violence his opponent joe biden speaking out against the unrest in states across the nation. >> protester brutality, burning down communities is not protests. it is needless violence. violence that endangers lives

and gets businesses that serve the community. that is wrong. >> reporter: it isn't clear how long the federal officers will stay in kenosha or if there will be a curfew tonight. jillian: the national guard from minneapolis after the mayor declares a state of emergency amid unrest there, looters taking to the streets and ransacking stores after rumors spread of a police shooting outside a mall. authority say the shooting turned out to be a man who took his own life after he was wanted in a homicide that happened earlier in the day. during her rnc speech last night christine known slam democratic leaders for letting their cities be overcome by mobs. >> our country has struggled to live up to our founding principles. another great american, abraham lincoln, new the struggle better than anybody. when he was just 28 years old

honest abe had wild passions taking the place of reason judgment. he was alarmed by the increasing disregard for the rule of law throughout the country. he was concerned for people who it seen their property destroyed, their families attacked and their lives threatened were taken away. these good people were becoming tired and disgusted with the government that offered them no protection. sound familiar. it took 244 years to build this great nation. flaws and all but we stand to lose it in a tiny fraction of that time if we continue down the path taken by the democrats and their radical supporters. from seattle and portland to washington and new york democrat ron cities are being overrun by violent mobs. the violence is rampant. there is looting, chaos,

destruction and murder was people that can afford to flee have fled but the people who can't, good hard-working americans are left to fend for themselves. >> reporter: she has grown her profile on the republican seen in the last two years and leslie helps her case. 39 minutes after the hour still had the nbas on always players purchased the shooting of jacob blake. jillian: a rising republican star rising for the moment. it went viral in an instant. ♪ as you get older,

are you worried about staying sharp and alert? forebrain, from the harvard-educated experts at force factor, contains key ingredients to help boost memory, learning, clarity, focus, and more! rush to walmart and find forebrain, our #1 brain booster, in the vitamin aisle. jillian: back with their fox news alert, hurricane laura lashing the gulf coast. todd: from lake charles, louisiana. >> reporter: inside the eye of the hurricane. outside, 120, hundred 30 mile an

hour winds. of thomas could turn around you can see the debris whipping off the side of the casino and inside the parking lot. at this point going outside is not an option. imagine something like this at your house. people evacuating right now. >> the wind is howling so strong. earlier i was watching your coverage, you were talking about when you were outside you said it was completely shattering. talk about once you have experienced in the last two hours since landfall? >> reporter: the only scarier sound than a category 4 hurricane tearing outside his artillery shells on top of you. the wind was picking up 11:00, 12:00, the blast above us from the balconies they had at this

casino were popping with showering glass on top of us. it is terrifying, think about all the people not inside a building like this, inside their homes dealing with this wind over one night and the storm surge that is coming in a way to is never come to lake charles before, the wind is what we talk about, the water is what kills people and i have a fear that tomorrow morning as people wake up in a few hours there will be some sad stories as the water is rushing in, 20 feet of water coming in from this hurricane, areas that have never flooded before. >> stay safe out there. >> let's talk about the moment, north carolina congressional candidate madison hawthorne taking a powerful stand for the flag and our president. >> be a radical for freedom, be a radical to liberty.

nba radical for our republic for which i stands, one nation under god with liberty and justice for all. >> carley shimkus with reaction. >> an incredible moment and he deserves all the credit in the world for making such a powerful speech at age 25 and the physical strength for standing while reciting the pledge of allegiance, social media flooded with reaction, liz, brought tears to my eyes, kevin signing in you are an inspiration and the future of this great country. he was in a car accident when he was 18 years old, was given a one% chance of survival and his speech about never giving up on yourself as well as the idea of this country and making it in even more perfect union. a powerful and surprising moment

from that young man you see on your screen. todd: a wave of boycotts in a number of sports. carley: a major stand following the police shooting of jacob blake. they decided not to play wednesday's game. listen to players talking about that decision. >> our focus is justice for jacob blake and also to be held accountable. >> reporter: that decision creating a ripple effect across the sports world is other leagues like major league baseball, tennis as well, seattle mariners saying instead of watching us we hope people will focus on things that are more important than sports that are happening, joe biden applauding the players saying

this demands moral leadership and players answered by speaking out and using their platform for good. now is not the time for silence. we will be tracking this story, more to come on this front. todd: two rnc speakers sound the alarm on democratic overreach. >> baseless and illegal impeachment sham. >> democrats had their way they would keep you locked in your house. >> are they allowing disdain for the president to chip away at your freedom? liz harrington joins us next. hike!

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>> we continue with our fox news alert, hurricane laura hitting

the gulf coast right now. >> video in port arthur, texas, one of several cities in the raven the category 4 hurricane winds of reached 185 miles an hour, 250,000 power outages have been reported from the destructive storm. now to this. during the dnc you heard about donald trump and the alleged wrongs democrats say he has committed but during night 3 of the art in see republicans pointing out the way the left has failed the common man. >> of democrats had their way they would keep you locked in your house and so you become dependent on the government for everything. >> donald trump is tough out tirelessly to deliver results for all americans despite democrats baseless and illegal impeachment sham. this attack was not just on the president but on you, your voice and your vote.

todd: joining us to weigh in his liz harrington. let's focus on marsha blackburn's comments. critics say democrats want to keep people safe from covid-19. how do you respond? >> they will lock you in your home, and communist china, is a warning call, this nation was founded against oppression. it was founded for liberty and freedom and beacon for hope in the world and too often we see written into the democrat platform the tendency to want to control every aspect of your life with the green new deal, read it for your self. todd: on the covid-19 aspects, the democrats have a stronger

position on lockdowns and masks and all that stuff and republicans but can you compare what democrats want to do to china? >> it is a slippery slope. look what is happening in la with eric garcetti shutting off people's power for throwing a party. look at what bill diblasio is doing setting up checkpoints. look at elizabethtown, new jersey using chinese made drones to spy on their own citizens for not social distancing. that is taking a page from communist regime we've seen the danger and misery and disaster they can cause when they lied to the world and caused this pandemic so absolutely we need to be selling the alarm. this is a slippery slope that happens and don't think it can't happen here.

from the opening night a convention, there is no other place to go. if we throw out our constitution and government starts deciding who is essential and who is not, abortion clinics are but the unborn aren't, who can work, you can go to church, if you can sing in church, in the name of public health, now. in the name of our constitution we will make our decisions for ourselves. >> we heard from mike pence, take a listen to what he had to say. >> last week joe biden didn't say one word about the violence and chaos in golfing cities across this country. so let me be clear. the violence must stop, whether in minneapolis, portland or kenosha, too many heroes have died defending our freedom to see americans strike each other down. >> we heard joe biden come out and condemn the violence. what do you say about that? some people argue democrats did

miss the mark in waiting so long to talk about what has been going on in these cities. >> they had the biggest platform at their convention, four knights of uninterrupted programming, they don't give us that luxury at the rnc but they didn't speak up against it. this is a agenda in action. they control these cities and we've seen the disastrous old and it wasn't enough for the innocent business owners to have their bars and restaurants burned to the ground in minneapolis. wasn't enough when captain david doran lost his life protecting his friend epstein shop, wasn't enough the two teenagers who died in mayor dirk and's sunny of love in seattle. that wasn't enough for joe biden to say anything about it but we've seen donald trump is the law and order president, we will defend every american's right to safety and freedom which this nation has always been about. >> coming up in the next hour of "fox and friends first"

hurricane laura churns inland after slamming the coast and knocking out power to hundreds of thousands. live in louisiana and texas with continuing team coverage of this monster storm. don't go anywhere. don't forget your lunch! i'm making pizza on king's hawaiian mini subs. yum! king's hawaiian.

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>> a fox news alert. laura lashing the gulf coast. the story making landfall as a category 4 hurricane. jillian: live team coverage of the howling winds and an survivable storm surge. >> striking the third night of the rnc, the convention honoring america's bravest who devote their lives to defending our freedom. >> since 9/11 i have seen