as an american. thank you for watching the show, set your dvr so you never miss a show, see you next sunday when the next revolution will be televised. it is monday, july 5th. a fox news alert. the remaining parts of the partially collapsed condo building in florida has been demolished overnight as the state braces for a tropical storm. now rescue crews are standing by, ready to search for more than 120 people still missing. independence from covid-19, the president celebrating success against the deadly virus. except he falls short of his vaccination goal and dr. fauci still wants vaccinated americans to wear masks.

>> and joey chestnut does it again, the champion eater beating his own world record at the nathan's hot dog eating contest. "fox & friends first" starts right now. ♪ i'm on the hunt, i'm after you. ♪ smell like i sound. ♪ i'm lost in a crowd -- >> i know you don't drive in from outside the city, but it was so smoky driving in -- >> because of the fireworks? >> it was like fog everywhere. [laughter] >> i could kind of smell it on the streets. that's a good thing, that means everybody had a good time, hopefully everybody had a safe celebration as well. good morning, you are watching "fox & friends first" on this monday morning. i'm carley shimkus. >> i'm ashley strohmier. todd and jillian have the morning off. we begin with this fox news alert. overnight, rescue crews resume looking for victims after the collapsed florida you tower is

demolished. look at that. charles watson is live in surfside with how officials think this will help the search for survivors. good morning, charles. >> reporter: good morning, ashley and carley. what remained of champlain tower is now gone as we start to feel the winds associated with tropical storm elsa. the remnants were imploded just after 1030 sunday night. it happened in a matter of seconds. you seize the explosives go off and then it comes crashing to the ground as a plume of dust and debris fills the air. officials were racing to bring the remaining section of the building down before any impact of tropical storm elsa could be felt. >> i feel relief because this building is unstable, the building is hampering our search efforts.

really, we were stuck, that we couldn't get to a certain part. i heard them say they think there are voids in this area, areas they'll be able to search from. i'm excited. >> reporter: and so are first responder. two hours after the dust settled our cameras caught search and rescue teams headed back into the site so they can get back to work, as questions begin to swirl around what caused the building collapse, the town is pushing back over the idea that the town is responsible, saying there was no indication emergency action was required by the town of surfside and, guys, at least two buildings, both in north miami beach and miami beach were evacuated over the weekend after structural issues were found at those buildings. we're told the american red cross is working with residents of the buildings to find them

alternative places to live. right now, miami-dade county officials not taking any chances on any more building collapses. guys. >> charles watson live for us. thanks so much. >> and speaking of weather, tropical storm is expected to make landfall in cuba. 180,000 people evacuated the island as the storm gained strength overnight. three people were killed in the caribbean, including a 15-year-old and 75-year-old in the dominican republic. a nasa astronaut sharing these images of elsa from the international space station. it's expected to hit florida's gulf coast tomorrow and wednesday. states of emergency have been declared in 15 counties. >> at least 10 people are killed and 35 hurt in a string of shootings over the holiday weekend in chicago, police say the victims include a 19-year-old, he was fatally shot saturday morning, one of several violent weekends during the

city's current crime wave. over the holiday weekend last year, nearly 80 people were shot and 15 were killed. joey jones says the mayor is more concerned about the criticism she is facing for the violence in her city than she is with actually stopping it. listen. >> as a mayor, as a human being in charge of the city, she has a crisis on her hands. i wish she cared as much about the people in her city as she does about people that criticize her. even her ownal -- own aldermen, she goes to war with them all the time. >> last week in an interview with a local news outlet, lightfoot said 99% of the criticism she is facing over her job as mayor is because she's a black woman. >> president biden celebrating the 4th of july at the white house, touting the success of fighting covid-19. >> david spunt joins us live

from washington as the u.s. fails to meet the president's vaccination goals. good morning, reporter: good mou too. celebrating independence from covid-19 from this dreadful virus, that was the theme at the white house last night. president biden and the first lady, dr. jill biden, joined first responders, also essential workers and military personnel, more than 1,000 of them on the south lawn to thank them for their service. the president told americans that america is coming together. >> 245 years ago we declared our independence from a distant king. today, we are closer than ever to declaring our independence from a deadly virus. >> reporter: the white house was a little bit short of that goal as you mentioned, president biden wanted at least 70% of americans with one shot by july 4th, fell short by about 3%. still, a success story if you ask white house officials. they were close and they plan to

hit the 70% mark soon. dr. anthony fauci told people in areas with high vaccination rates to consider masking up even if they are vaccinated. >> you might want to go the extra step and say when i'm in that area where there's a considerable degree of viral circulation, i might want to go the extra mile to be cautious enough to make sure that i get the extra added level of protection, even though the vaccines themselves are highly effective. >> reporter: dr. fauci is also referring to the delta variant, something that's making its way through the united states. missouri, arkansas, nevada, colorado, utah and california all being a affected by this delta variant. >> i hate to say this but will put them over the edge is an awful lot of people die. the only way that's really going to happen is a catastrophe that none of us want. and so we've just got to keep trying. we have a lottery that basically

says if you're vaccinated, we're going to give you stuff. you've got another lottery going on and it's the death had lottery. >> reporter: governors, both republican and democrat, coming out, saying it's important to get vaccinated. it's a patriotic thing to do, that's what president biden said and the president's message ashley and carley seems to be working. a new poll out shows there's an approval rating for president biden right now, 62% approving of his handling of the pandemic, 31% disapproving. that's from the washington post. meanwhile, as i said, the vaccination goal on july 4th has come and gone. the white house says there will be more goals, there is more time and just because july 4th is over, it doesn't mean there won't be more goals in the future, to see as many people vaccinated as possible. back to you. >> david spunt live for us in wash tonight david, thanks. >> did you hear about this? the ocean city mayor canceled independence day shows after

fireworks go off right on the beach. watch. >> that wasn't supposed to happen. officials say the fireworks unintentionally discharged in a truck as crews were setting up the display yesterday morning. local media reports that an employee from the fireworks company suffered minor injuries. thankfully, wasn't worse. >> not a good deal. normal operations resume at new york's jfk international airport, following a water leak that led to nearly 300 delays and cancellations. i bet there were angry people during that. the faa says the leak in the main control tower forced operations to move to a secondary tower. it is still unclear what caused the leak. on friday and saturday, american airports saw 4.5 million passengers, that's the most since the start of the pandemic. >> all right. here we go again. eating champion joey jaws

chestnut breaks his own record to win nathan's famous hot dog eating contest. check it out. >> a new world record! the number one ranked eater in the world, joey chestnut! >> oh, yeah. nothing but smiles and full bellies there. chestnut downed 76 hot dogs in just 10 minutes. this marks his 14th win as for the ladies, nicole lesko was crowned queen of coney island, in her first victory in the annual july 4th contest. congratulations to them both. god bless. and america going all-out in its first post pandemic 4th of july in new york, macy's held the largest fireworks show in city history, using more than

65,000 shells. in dallas, residents rocked out to a fireworks show timed to the star spangled banner. the rose bowl held america fest to a crowd of 200,000 people and in d.c. the national mall was lit up to celebrate america's 245th independence day. as president biden and the first lady watched from the display from the white house. >> i love to see all that. a very patriotic evening for many. not really for us. we slept through the whole darn thing. but that's okay, that's our job. >> i didn't. i was up. i heard everything. [laughter] >> all right. the time is now 11 minutes after the hour. democrats want to spend nearly $900 million securing borders in the middle east and at the same time strip $2 billion in already a approved border wall funds, so how does that make sense? former border patrol chief and retired acting i.c.e. director

ron bitello says it's a green light for criminals and he joins us live, next. >> we hardly ever see mark zuckerberg outside of a capitol hill hearing. but maybe this is why. the 4th of july post that's led to a tsunami of reactions. ♪

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a lot of those arrests are for illegal reentry. you also have sex offenders, homicide in the mix. i think the bigger concern is what about the people who don't get caught and is there any way of determining that number of folks who are already in our country and they are criminals and they haven't been arrested? they're in the interior of the u.s. already. e've seen over the last several months, this surge at the border, and inside of that surge you're always going to have the threats where people with criminal convictions are being apprehended thankfully by cdc and the border patrol. you're right think about when 40% of the bore of deer patrol is distracted by giving comfort and care to people who are already in custody, what does that do to our border, that's 40% less patrol hours, 40% less personnel who are protecting the border and so you always have these threats and the agents and officers have these risks because there are always criminals in the mix, so you

have to look at what's going on in the pipeline. so the surge has begun, it started in february and it's still with us and you're always going to have this problem with human trafficking and the cartels are benefiting from this because people who come up to the border and people are smuggled into the pipeline, they're controlled by smugglers and cartels, they're the one whose are getting over because of the surge at the border. >> ron, of course everyone knows we are having issues at our own border but there's this, the democrats they want to defund the border patrol and i.c.e. let's pull this up, $870 million in enhanced border facility. what's your take on this. i know the guys and girls down there, the women down there working the border, they're having a lot of trouble. there's not as many of them as there people who are trying to cross the border. what do you make of this? >> yeah, i looked at that. plus 800 million for the borders

in the middle east is minus 900 million for cbp's activity. they're funding things that are ineffective as relates to alternatives to detention, minus 900 million for border patrol. i don't see no new agents, no new officers, no new capability as relates to the workforce and so it bears watching. there's a little bit to go. this stuff has to get through the senate. but they're sending a signal here, they're going of to expedite processing, they're going to expedite people being released into the country. no new agents, no new officers for i.c.e. and using alternatives to detention, in my experience hasn't led to the removal of people who are ordered removed by judges here in the united states. it doesn't look good right now. >> the dhs secretary, alejandro mayorkas, he's headed back to guatemala, addressing the root causes, the hub of this illegal

immigrant crisis. was do you make of the biden administration's emphasis on addressing the root causes in do you think there could be something positive that comes from this or is it a big waste of time? >> i suppose there's potential there but the root cause of this surge that's on the border and this uncontrolled pipeline is the reversal of the policies that were allowing people to wait in mexico for asylum claims, the accords with the northern triangle about asylum reforms. the root cause of the problem, the root cause of the chaos is because they reversed the policies. working with guatemala, working with the northern triangle on governs and anti-corruption activities, that's well and good but that's not going to stop the surge that's occurring on the border right now. we've encouraged people to send or bring their children to the border and the root cause of the chaos is the reversal of the policies. >> ron vitiello, thanks so much, thanks for your take on that this morning. we appreciate it. >> thank you. >> okay. the time is 19 minutes after the hour. a 4th of july message from a

member of the squad, congresswoman corey bush says independence day is only for white people. and u.s. senate candidate and veteran, kathy barnett, dedicated ten years to defending freedom for all americans. her response, after this.

[ "me and you" by barry louis polisar ] ♪ me and you just singing on the train ♪ ♪ me and you listening to the rain ♪ ♪ me and you we are the same ♪ ♪ me and you have all the fame we need ♪ ♪ indeed, you and me are we ♪ ♪ me and you singing in the park ♪ ♪ me and you, we're waiting for the dark ♪

>> all right. well, happy independence day from the squad. missouri congresswoman cori bush setting off fireworks on twitter after slamming the 4th of july. kathy barnett served ten years in the armed forces reserve and she joins us now with reaction. good morning to you. kathy, i've got to get to this tweet from congresswoman cori bush. she's got thoughts on the 4th of july. she posted this on twitter.

sheaf says when they say that the 4th of july is about american freedom, remember this. the freedom they're referring to is for white people. this land is stolen land and black people still aren't free. what's your reaction to that? >> yeah. you know what? she says that as a sitting member of congress. the last time i read my history book, slaves were not allowed to be sitting members of congress. she says that even as i, a black woman, i'm running for the u.s. pennsylvania senate seat. so what the problem is, we can no longer just dismiss these people as ignorant bafoons. they are a little bit of all of that and, yes, they are very serious. it's not about our constitution, it's not about getting rid of our flags or any of these things, these people are very serious and what they're doing is they're using -- they're

weaponizing the color of my skin in order to overthrow this country. i have never been a slave. i've never been bred as a business strategy. i've never had my children taken away from me and sold to the highest bidder. our nation has done a tremendous amount to right her wrongs. those things happened. but our nation has done a tremendous amount to right their wrongs. and so i would suggest that the congress lady and many others who believe this foolishness pick up a book. in fact, they can pick up one of my books, black and free, nothing to lose, everything to gain, being black and conservative in this nation, and begin to read the stories of those who look very much like me, who fought for the liberty of this nation. >> yeah. you know, kathy, you think about the declaration of independence and this is such an important point. it could have said life, liberty and property but thomas jefferson changed that to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, because property

could have implied owning slaves. so the declaration of independence in and of itself is an abolitionist document. but there are some democrats that don't want people to know that. so why do you think people who represent this country, who are elected into office, also feel the need to tear it down? >> at this particular moment, we need to step into reality and understand what it is that we're fighting. we're not fighting against fellow patriots here. we're not fighting against even democrat versus republican. it really is a battle between good and evil. these people are not playing with us. they told us many years ago that their intent is to fundamentally change this nation and then when you ask them what are you going to change it to, they say silly things like oh, well we get to reimage it all. these people are serious and our nation has no power, our

government has no power to fight against unbridled morality as john adams call it, people who no longer know the difference between right and wrong. he says those kind of people who are obsessed with money, obsessed with revenge, obsessed with unwarranted tolerance will move through our constitution like a whale moves through a net. and our nation no longer exists apart from the u.s. constitution. so again, this is not about -- when you hear these things, these things are not happening in isolation. it's not about our flag. it's not about the anthem. it's not about white people. it's not even about president trump. it's about overthrowing our nation and that is why i need people to go to barnettfornat.com and donate. i am running in order to preserve this nation. >> all right. kathy, you made your point loud and clear. thank you so much for joining us this morning. we appreciate it and happy day after 4th of july to you.

appreciate it. all right. ashley. ashley: carl oh, it's 4:27 on the east coast, our next guest embodies patriotism in every sense of the word. an illinois national guardsman filling his dream of becoming a u.s. citizen while serving on the front lines of the pandemic. you'll meet him, next. ♪

>> welcome back. today, tropical storm elsa is expected to make land fall in cuba. 180,000 people evacuated the island overnight. florida declared a state of emergency for 15 counties as elsa is expected to hit the gulf coast tomorrow and wednesday. meteorologist adam klotz is here with our fox weather forecast. adam, all eyes on elsa. >> good morning, guys. the storm's been slowing down a little bit but still a powerful

one. more and more eventually over here to the florida coast, subjectly spining to the -- currently spinning to the south of cuba. we'll look at a northerly turn in the next couple hours. it's been running south of the island. it will turn eventually, run over the florida keys and most likely running up the western coast of florida. you do see a big slowdown getting up closer to the florida coast overnight monday night into tuesday morning, likely not making any kind of landfall until tuesday or wednesday, farther up the coast. these are forecasted models, and what we're talking about are tropical storm warnings, which would mean storm surge of a couple feet along the coastline, somewhere between 6 inches of rain, 12 inches of rain. this is the wind field. you can see the powerful winds will be running up the west coast, not so much the east coast, that's good news for the cleanup efforts in the miami area. they'll see some of the rain and wind, it appears at this point that the worst of it is going to be, again, on the west coast,

not the east coast. we'll be watching it. >> that is good news. because of course where miami is situated. so monday, today will be preparation for landfall tuesday and wednesday. that's the top line headline. all right. >> thank you, adam. >> thanks much. all right. meantime, a member of the san francisco board of supervisors is demanding a plan for city officials as a number of stores shorten hours because of a current crime wave. target and walgreens are the two main retailers heightening security efforts. target told local media the decision to adjust store hours in san francisco was related to the rise in crime they've experienced in the last month. some security guards and walgreens stores have been told not to engage with shoplifters. nike expanding sha'carri richardson after she was cut from team usa after testing positive for cannabis. the company praised her for

admitting to the drug use, saying in a statement, we appreciate sha'carri's honest see and accountability and will continue to support her through this time. ly i charredson said she -- richardson said she took the drug to cope with the death of her mother just before the olympic trials last month. she has apologized to fans. ashley. ashley: a true american hero, an illinois national guardsman fulfilling his dream of becoming a u.s. citizen while working at a covid vaccination site. >> without any reservation. >> without any reservation. >> or [ indiscernible ] >> so help me god. >> so help me god. >> congratulations. [ applause ] >> so cool seeing that. the national guard specialist joins me now. first off, thanks for being with us this morning and a big congrats on that.

>> thank you so much. thank you for having me. >> absolutely. so i was reading through some of the facts about you. you were born in mexico. you i'm greated with your -- i'm immigrated when you were 6 years old. you said it was difficult being a dreamer. can you explain that? >> yeah. i mean, you know, being a dreamer, you go through your own thing, compared to your peers. like i could not get a -- when i was 16, i couldn't get a license like the rest of my friends and get my first job and do all that it was difficult going through my own thing but we made it work. it was all right. >> now, did any of that, things just like not being able to get your license, like your friends, like you just said, was any of that a reason to really push to get your citizenship or did you just always want to do that even when were you a little boy, when you immigrated with your mom. >> it was always a dream of mine

when i was young, i always wanted to serve the armed forces from here. i always wanted to become a soldier. so it kind of helped me out, doing it. >> and then you also said that you went through everything a, you went through the process the legal way. do you or do you not agree with open borders, since you did do this the right way and apparently it cost you a pretty penny. >> yeah. the whole process cost me upwards of $10,000 to get it all -- to do it the right way. and as to the question about open borders, i don't think it's -- i don't think we should have open borders. i think having closed borders is the right way to go. out just makes it easier for everyone here. they want to get it done the proper way. you know, yeah, it takes a

little bit of a process but it can get done. >> as far as that process, is there anything that you think that would make the process go quicker or cheaper, if there's one thing that you could recommend that you went through with your experience, what would that be to make it easier for people to come to america? >> i mean, for me the whole -- the whole application process was -- i wanted to have it done the proper way, so i hired a lawyer. now, if you're smart enough and you're able to do it yourself, i mean, that can save you some money but you have to make sure you do everything the proper way. for me, i wasn't very comfortable in doing it myself so i had to hire a lawyer and that cost a pretty penny. >> one final thing i do want to ask you, with this whole -- you're here. you're an american citizen. what are you most grateful for, for being in america and being a

citizen? >> i'm just grateful for the opportunity to be here. i mean, my whole life's here, i met e my daughter. if it wasn't for being here, i would never hav mopportunities g here, you know. a lot of opportunities i wouldn't have if i were in mexico. so i'm just thankful for having all the freedoms i have here i guess you could say. >> right, right. allen juarez, thank you for being here this morning and sharing your thoughts on this and congratulations on being an american citizen. >> thank you for having me. i appreciate you guys. >> no problem. thanks so much. carley: great stuff there. did you see this, facebook ceo mark zuckerberg's 4th of july video has social media stirring. take a look. ♪ country roads take me home.

>> zuckerberg is shown holding an american flag while riding what appears to be a $12,000 electronic surfboard by lift foil. the video has been mocked on social media with some criticizing the billionaire for an apparent publicity stunt. i love it. let your patriotism show, my friend. >> the thunderbirds and blue angels bring the roar of freedom back to the kansas city air show. take a watch. >> that's really cool to watch in person too. the air show was canceled due to the pandemic last year. this year, approximately 40,000 people were expected to be in attendance. >> how about that. >> wow. >> amazing stuff. >> time right now, 4:39 on the east coast.

a veteran who pursued his life long dream of joining the military, serving two tours overseas, was given the gift of man's best friend. >> i was there when veteran zach jones was surprised by a brand-new service dog and spoke with him and his family about how this gift changed his life. ♪ who let the dogs out. ♪

this is my third "live" concert this month.

the energy is insane. the crowd, pumped. look, i haven't seen a show in a year. because the more we're indoors together, the more covid spreads. and, until i'm vaccinated, masks help slow the spread. which means the sooner we can go to concerts, like real ones. - can you turn it down babe? - of course, sweetheart. so mask up. not for me, for the music. since he was a child, army veteran zachary jones wanted to do is serve his country after being deployed to fight the taliban and isis, his service had to come to an end when he was medically and honorably discharged at 23 years old. >> an organization called holder land protection dogs heard about his story, setting the wheels in motion for an emotional surprise for this deserving soldier and i was honored to be there. take a look.

what is about to happen here today? >> brother zach jones who is a vet ran with the united states army is coming to the 9/11 memorial, he thinks he's just coming to see it. he has no idea what's about to happen but he's going to get a service dog. >> he doesn't know he's getting a dog? >> he will definitely be super excited about it. >> are you nervous? >> a little bit. i can't wait. >> i'm nervous too. it's going to be amazing. >> hello, zach. my name is brianna. we couldn't find anyone more rewarding to give this puppy to you. he was hand selected for you. i can't tell you enough how much we appreciate everything you've done for us. so your sister told us your unit was -- this is him. >> he's beautiful. >> oh, my god, so cute. >> now you're a dad. >> now i'm a daddy. [laughter]

[cheers and applause] >> what a moment. what a surprise. how are you feeling right now? >> it means a lot, especially coming from the family and my friends, having everybody here to support me. >> isn't it amazing that you were out with your family, everybody was in on the surprise but you. >> yeah. >> what's your reaction to that? >> i don't think it's going to hit me until tonight when he's cuddling with me. >> you wrote a letter to the organization, they were willing to give a dog away to a veteran. what inspired you to write the letter? >> my brother has seen a lot of things while he was over there and i feel like sometimes it's hard for veterans to express those things to people who haven't been through similar experiences. >> what's it like seeing your son so happy with his new dog? >> i'm excited. i've got tears in my eyes. i put him on the plane when he got deployed, i got him off the plane. >> we hope this will bring him

peace and help him to his next step. >> we're in front of the 9/11 memorial. what does it mean to you as a veteran? >> to me, this right here is what brought in a lot of the guys that were coaching me or brought me up as who i was as a soldier. i was in for a total of five years. i was medically retired. i did one tour to afghanistan and one to syria. it was the calling of something i was going to do. >> he was promoted on the battlefield to sergeant out there. there's been plenty of times i had messages when something happened that it was blackout and you didn't know if your child was okay or not. it was terrible. terrible experience for a parent. but we made it through. and we supported him together. >> ever since he was little, i always remembered him. my grandparents would buy him army uniforms and he would run around in them. he has a brother serving in the marines. my daddies a cop. i'm a cop. it's having the law enforcement background.

>> you provided a best friend for life. why do you think service members need service dogs. >> it's one way we can give back to not only the community but our veterans and you can't lose track of what his country is and why we have the freedom that we have. it's because of the people going overseas, doing what they're doing, sacrificing their lives. if we can just give a dog to someone and that makes a difference in general, we're going to do it. >> carley, look at that moment there. him kissing the dog. this was an emotional one. i hadn't met him yet. he didn't know he was going to get a dog, let alone "fox & friends" cameras would be in his face a few seconds after this incredible moment. his family is amazing. he is an amazing man, so deserving of this best friend for life, like we said. he served in afghanistan and then volunteered to spend nine months in syria, medically and honorably discharged august of last year. so his family reached out to the protection dogs, a fantastic

organization based in florida, and they wanted him to get this dog to help him with the transition and sometimes that's all he needs. we wish him the best of luck. it was so great to see everybody so happy. it wasn't just him that was happy and surprised. it was the whole family. it was such an amazing patriotic wonderful family moment. >> such a great story. >> i was so happy to be there to witness it and now you guys got to see it too. the time is now 48 minutes after the hour. questions are being raised after president biden appears to check his notes following a question from the press. we'll tell you what he was responding to and what people are saying about it this morning. and covid grounded them for a year but now honor flights are ready to take off once again. army veteran and national honor flight board member joins us to explain why this tradition is so important to america's heroes. ♪

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>> good morning. welcome back. the white house insists it will respond to a ransomware attack against a florida based software company and thousands of its customers. president biden said it is not clear if russia is responsible but was mocked for having to check his notes about it. >> i got a brief and i'll be in better shape to talk to you about it. i'll tell you what they sent me. first of all, we're not sure who it is. >> okay. former intelligence director richard grinnell tweeting, quote, americans are horrified by the weekly videos highlight's

biden's mental state. we see them protecting biden. oh, boy. ashley. ashley: after a year off for covid-19, honor flights are ready to take off once again. each year, the network takes 22,000 veterans to d.c. to see the memorials created in their honor. joining us to discuss is army veteran and national board member for the honor flight network, matthew shuman. thank you for being with us. >> good morning. >> thanks for being with us. you're an army vet. tell us what the honor flight means to you and why it's so important to everyone who serves? >> you know, it's an -- the honor flight is an amazing organization with the purest intention. we bring the nation's veterans to washington, d.c. to visit memorials that were raised in their honor. it's an humbling experience to be able to bring these men and women to our nation's capital to be able to visit this. it's an amazing opportunity for

them. >> and explain how someone -- say a veteran is watching right now and they want to be a part of this. how would they go about that? >> well, first we encourage them to visit honorflight.org. we have 130 hubs across the country that would allow them and works with them and helps raise funds to be able to get the veteran and their caregiver and perhaps all the volunteers to washington, d.c. it's typically done by the city as they come to washington, d.c. to be able to visit the monuments. >> and then also i read on here that it said last year there were 757 vets that wanted to visit and they did not get the chance. don't you think that that there alone should be a means for people who want to go to show tribute to them as well. >> that's the best way we honor our nation's veterans is by doing things like this to bring them here, to not let the world get us in the way anymore. the fact is we're open of.

honor flight is taking precautions, asking for covid vaccines, we're following cdc and d.c. guidelines. this is an amazing year, 2021, we'll be able to have 250,000th veteran come to the program, come to washington, d.c. and we'll be able to honor them and we're looking forward to that. >> as far as the local hubs, how many local hubs are there for this? i mean, they've got to be all over the united states. >> all over the place. we have 130 hubs. they are amazing, passionate volunteers who care deeply about our veterans and the reality is, we're going to do you amazing things every day at honor flight. >> and then i just want to come back to this, with you being a veteran yourself, what's your favorite part about the honor flight? >> it's humbling. everything else falls aside, politics, everything falls aside. when you see one of these people for the first time approach the monument raised in their honor, they're not thinking about themselves. they're thinkings about their friends who never made it home

and honor flight, it's about them, it's about respect, it's about duty, taking care and showing appreciation for the country we have. >> such an awesome organization and a great message. matthew, thank you so much for being with us this morning. >> thank you. >> great stuff there. >> coming up on "fox & friends first," iowa congresswoman mary miller meeks and dr. carol swain all live in the next hour. don't go anywhere.

>> it is monday, july 5th. a fox news alert. the remaining parts of the partially collapsed condo building in florida has been he demolished overnight as the state brace force a tropical storm. now rescue crews are standing by, ready to search for more than 120 people still missing. we're live in florida. and independence from covid-19, the president celebrating success against the deadly virus, except he fell short of his vaccination goal and dr. fauci still wants vaccinated americans to wear a mask. >> and joey chestnut does it again. the champion eater beating his own world record at the nathan's hot dog eating contest. "fox & friends first" continues right now. ♪ make me w