>> there should be protestors if he vetoes it. pro happy hour protestors. >> a boost for business, the point in these hard times. cheers to that. thank you everyone for watching, and now here is "america reports." >> we'll drink to that. >> john: emily, we'll drink to just about anything around here. thank you so much. awaiting an announcement from the federal reserve, another interest rate hike but growing concern the efforts to fight red hot inflation could trigger recession. >> sandra: filing for unemployment, housing market is softening, and the economy is expected to shrink the second quarter in a row. and the white house is redefining what constitutes a recession. tim ryan and larry kudlow will join us on that coming up.

>> john: begin "america reports" with form president trump under investigation by the justice department as the agency appears slow to act on the current president's son, with one republican senator now alleging a cover-up. john roberts in washington. good to be with you again. >> sandra: we made it to wednesday. i'm sandra smith in new york. "washington post" reporting the justice department is looking into the former president as part of a criminal probe of efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. the post says phone records of some trump officials have been seized and witnesses have been questioned before a grand jury. >> john: as iowa senator chuck grassley accuses the fbi and d.o.j. for trying to bury the dirt they have on hunter biden. jacqui heinrich is live at the white house with the latest on the hunter biden investigation. rich edson, how deep does the

investigation go? >> john, the justice department is investigating the attack on the capitol and phony electorates. questioning witnesses about conversations with president trump, seized phones and brought witnesses before a grand jury, garland refuses to say whether the department of justice is investigating the former president, though he told nbc they will prosecute those they believe are guilty. >> we will hold accountable anyone criminally responsible for attempting to interfere with the transfer, legitimate lawful transfer of power from one administration to the next. >> the post reports investigator's questions are on the fake elector schemes by rudy giuliani and john eastman, and seized eastman's phone, and jeffrey clark's phone, and

former chief of staff mark meadows' phone records. congressional january 6th committee is also investigating the former president. questions over charges should wait until after the committee finishes its work. >> do you think the former president trump should face criminal charges? >> well, i'm going to leave that up to the justice department but i believe that we ought to wait until we get the report from the january 6th commission before any of us make any decision like you are asking me about. >> former vice president mike pence's lawyer and chief of staff have also appeared before a grand jury in washington. john. >> a lot more ahead on this. rich, thank you. sandra. >> sandra: another big story today, a top republican senator says highly credible whistleblowers are accusing the fbi of trying to bury negative

information and dismissing intelligence about president biden's son hunter. jacqui, what are they asking for, exactly? >> well, sandra, that allegation first unveiled by senator chuck grassley, now echoed by senator ron johnson, wants the d.o.j. to open an internal investigation or appoint a special counsel that the fbi was weaponized by sitting members of the senate. claiming whistleblowers accused them of burying verified and verifiable dirt on president biden's son hunter by dismissing it as disinformation. grassley told fox whistleblowers tell him there is strong evidence the political influence on cases they did not want to investigate. >> talking about being investigated is the credibility of the fbi. they have to investigate regardless of party or power of

individuals, and the credibility of the fbi is at stake here. >> senators johnson and grassley recounted events before the election which the fbi allegedly gave republicans investigating hunter the run around, alleging the g.o.p. was advancing foreign disinformation in order to undermine this investigation into hunter biden. >> senator grassley and i were given briefings in august of 2020. i knew they were a set-up at the time, i certainly suspected it. those were leaked later to the "washington post" to marginal lize the investigation and smear me in particular. >> d.o.j. confirmed they received grassley's letter but did not provide more comment when we asked. comes after a source told fox last week the investigation into hunter's taxes has reached a

critical stage and apparently officials are now looking into whether or not they should charge hunter with various violations, including possible foreign lobbying violations. >> sandra: thank you very much. john. >> john: tennessee republican senator marsha blackburn, and member of the senate judiciary committee, the department of justice is trying to figure out if there is cause and evidence to charge former president trump with some sort of criminal indictment. that would set historical precedent here. >> and as senator grassley said, you've got a committee that is doing their work and they are going to move forward with that and of course one of the things that we have been focused on senate judiciary committee is all of this with hunter biden, and trying to figure out if the fbi was indeed developing a plan to push aside any of that derogatory information about hunter biden and use that to

influence the outcome of the 2020 election. >> if i could, let me get to hunter biden in a second, i want to ask again here about president trump because here is what the "washington post" said, carol and her colleagues, and she'll join us later this hour. no former president has ever been charged with a crime in the country's history, in cases when investigators found evidence suggesting a president engaged in criminal conduct as with richard m. nixon and bill clinton, investigators concluded it was better to grant immunity or forego prosecution. one goal was to avoid appearing to use government power to punish political enemies and assure the tradition of a peaceful transfer of power. is this d.o.j. throwing that principle out the window? >> we will have the opportunity to question merrick garland at a point in the future. i don't know anything about what they are doing at d.o.j. with this investigation. it would be completely inappropriate for me to give a comment on something or an

investigation that i know nothing about. what i do know is what we have been able to uncover from what has happened with hunter biden and the biden family. >> john: compare what the d.o.j. is doing now, vis-a-vis president trump and hunter biden and allegations from whistleblowers, fbi was seeking to discredit information coming forward about hunter biden is disinformation. in a letter he wrote, chuck grassley said, the allegations provided to my office appear to indicate there was a scheme in place among certain fbi officials to undermine derogatory information connected to hunter biden by falsely suggesting it was disinformation. is there a double standard here and should a special counsel be appointed to take this out of the department of justice's hands so there is no hint of politics? >> and indeed. i am one of those that has called for quite a period of

time for a special counsel to do this. what we learned from hunter biden's computer is that there are phone messages from joe biden that connect him to hunter's business dealings. we know there are 150 different banking transactions that have been questioned by banks that hunter was doing business with, whether it was hunter or james biden. we know this has gone on for a period of time. there were $31 million in transactions with the chinese communist party and firms in china. we know about the russians oligarchs and it would be appropriate, john, to turn that over to a special counsel and have them figure out exactly what happened. joe biden told the american people he had nothing to do with hunter's business dealings or james' business dealings and we have from the computer learned that that is not accurate.

we also are concerned about the work the u.s. attorney in delaware is doing and we know that there has been a hesitancy from d.o.j. to move forward on some of those findings. >> john: change subjects and ask about china. nancy pelosi's forthcoming trip to taiwan, apparently now the u.s. military may be ready to offer her help in terms of safe passage to get there. should she go, there are a lot of republicans saying absolutely she should go. would you want to go with her? >> oh, you know, we have been working on getting into taiwan and to some of the other areas over there in the pacific islands which are going to be vitally important to us because we don't want the chinese communist party to end up running basically that area over in the indo pacific, and they

are very aggressively working. they have put 52 different bilateral agreements in place with countries in that region and halting the chinese communist party is something that is going to be an imperative. pelosi should go to taiwan, other members of the house and senate ought to be making trips to taiwan, and sending that message that we, the united states of america, will be there to support taiwan. >> john: if the chinese military gets a lock on the region, it will be trouble for us. >> indeed. >> sandra: anticipating a big decision from the federal reserve, set to happen 2:00 p.m. eastern time, less than an hour from now, and all happening with consumer confidence falling sharply and fears of a report out tomorrow will show that the u.s. economy did indeed shrink for a second straight quarter. that of course would be the traditional definition of recession, but seems the white house is moving away from that.

connell mcshane is here. set this up for us, this is happening at 2:00, and larry kudlow will join us from the live reaction from the markets and live reaction what the actual interest rate hike is. a hike is expected but how much is will affect consumers greatly. >> three-quarters of a point, pretty much everyone expects that now, telegraphed that will be the case. i think some of the data and the reports we have had out this week, particularly on the consumer, you talk about consumer confidence, may be telegraphing the economy, doing the fed's work for it to some degree, it's already slowing down, that inflation is having an impact on people's behavior. consumer confidence, to go back to the levels of february 2021 when the pandemic was more of a concern, and the walmart report. >> sandra: people are starting to buy only what they need versus what they want.

>> you buy food, you need food, but it costs so much more, maybe not buying clothes or not going to the sporting goods section, whatever the case may be at walmart, that told us that. and one other piece of data that i just saw, i think it's really striking, and this shows sometimes we talk about the economy like it's one broad thing that everybody is in the same boat. we are clearly not in this country right now. i mean, iowa state university ran these numbers. rural americans, people live out in the country, as opposed to urban, they are getting hammered by inflation especially. 91% of their take home pay is going to their expenses and the other stats, bad for urban americans as well, but the other stat, discretionary income is down among 13% in cities, rural americans discretionary income is down almost 50%, down 49%. so these people are getting hammered. fed will take it into consideration when it makes the decision, not only for today but moving forward. >> sandra: big implications for

credit card borrowers, car buyers, homeowners or potential homeowners. an environment that's going to quickly change and that's the goal of the federal reserve, it's not an accident that it slows down the economy because the goal is slow down demand of the purchases for all these products so inflation comes down. it's short-term pain for long-term gain but we are only here, connell, because of the policy mistakes on this administration. there has been admissions from the likes of janet yellen and others that they got inflation wrong. >> right. and policy mistake going back to previous federal reserve chairs as well, for keeping rates too low for too long. 2020, you look back in time, argument a lot of people make and now trying to make up the ground. what's been interesting from the chairman, and that's always with people watching this, one thing to raise rates. what's he going to say in the news conference, any hints about the future going into september the next meeting and how much more they are going to keep

raising rates. he said over and over, if he's going to make mistake, to beat inflation. high wrer rates. >> dow is up at 75 points, you want to know where the market is back in my trader days, so you know how the market reacts toit. connell, thank you. great to see you. >> john: surge of migrants and deadly fentanyl at the southern border, agents seizing more than 300,000 fentanyl pills and more in a migrant's car. >> sandra: and democrats are spending millions in, wait for it, republican primaries to try to boost far right candidates they think will be easier to beat. with president biden's approval plummeting is this the best use of the party's resources? tim ryan is running for senate in ohio.

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with rewards of all shapes and sizes. [ cheers ] are we actually going? yes!! and once in a lifetime moments. two tickets to nascar! yes! find rewards like these and so many more in the xfinity app. >> john: democrats pouring millions of dollars into republican primaries to support opponents they think will be easier to beat in november. is this really what the party in power should be focused on and could it backfire? ask democratic congressman and ohio senate candidate tim ryan coming up. but first, a surprise turn of events following reports yesterday that "leave it to beaver" star tony dow had died. now the actor's son and management team says he is still with us, and the announcement was made in error by dow's distraught wife yesterday.

dow's representatives say he is at home receiving hospice care and is in his final hours. in may his wife announced dow's cancer had returned a month after he celebrated his 77th birthday. our prayers are with him. >> sandra: republican candidates are seeing a growing trend among democrats in this year's primary elections, rather than focusing on hot button issues like the economy, democrats are pouring millions into the gop primaries to elevate republican candidates they think would be easy to beat in november. tim ryan is running for a senate seat in the midterm elections and joins us now. appreciate you joining us, sir. we'll get started. is this a good idea for the party to be spending money on the far right candidates even as "wall street journal" notes it's a strange theme, democrats say

trump is a threat to democracy yet democrats are pouring money to far right candidates so it's ease why -- easier to win. >> people should produce who they want in the primary without outside influence from the democrats or the republicans. we should be focused and i would like to see everybody in the country really be focused on the economic issues that so many families are facing every single day that the squeeze with prices, with inflation, we need a tax cut for these people. we should be focused on passing a tax cut for small businesses and working class people and i hope everybody would focus on that because that's what's on everybody else's mind around the country, and playing in these primaries is really disconnected from what average people are going through. >> sandra: yeah, and it is real money that is going towards that effort. this is democrats spending big to influence to the "wall street journal" point in the primaries,

gubernatorial primaries, senate primaries and illinois, 35 million of the gubernatorial primary there, 4 million in the colorado senate primary, $840,000 in the pennsylvania gubernatorial primary, it's out there and that is happening. sounds like you are a bigger fan of focusing on the issues today, and i'll ask you about this recent push from the white house to avoid talk of recession even though we might get this second quarter of negative g.d.p. this was brian deese, he advises the president on the economy. >> have you checked gas prices lately? >> from the president's perspective at putting that technical question aside, the most important question economically is whether working people and middle class families have more breathing room, they have more job opportunities, their wages are growing up -- going up in a stable way, and they are able to afford the important things in their lives. >> sandra: the reality of the

situation and the answer to those questions when americans ask is no, they don't have more breathing room. more and more americans are working two full-time jobs to pay for inflation, more and more people are living paycheck to paycheck, real wages are actually down. 64% in a recent poll say their financial situation is worse and inflation, 9.1% historic high. why is it the white house not admitting how bad it's gotten, people are actually feeling this. >> i can't answer that. i know i've traveled all over ohio, i've been to all 88 counties, spent a good deal of time on farms in rural areas and in the cities as well. and people are getting absolutely hammered. no question bit. to deny that is a big mistake. people are getting hammered. we need a tax cut, whether it's the earned income tax, a general tax cut for working people and small businesses, it's like stuff is bad. it's real bad for people and so

ignoring that or trying to somehow, you know, sugar coat it i think does a disservice to the people out there struggling every day. i've been calling now for months for us to bring a tax cut for people here in the united states, working people. you got to have some help to absorb the cost of gas and food and do what we are doing down here today, pass the chips act. because you know, all the really smart people over the last 40 years thought it was a great idea to outsource all our manufacturing to mexico and china and then after the pandemic the supply chains lock up, that's driving up inflation, too. so we have to bring back with this chips act advanced manufacturing, semiconductor manufacturing, electric vehicles, electric cars, batteries, we have to start making stuff again so the supply chains will be in the united states or at least in north america, not in china. so tax cut now, bring the supply chains back and start making stuff and the byproduct of that,

we rebuild the great american middle class. >> sandra: and you have talked a lot about the fate of the chips bill in the state how important for so many jobs there. we'll keep watching all that. final question to you, first presidential primary state poll new hampshire came out and showed support for joe biden for re-election, it is plummeting. in fact, suggested that biden and buttigieg are now tied in a hypothetical 2024 presidential primary match-up. do you support the president in his re-election bid? >> i'm working on my own election and that's all i'm focused on right now. we have a little under four months in ohio and running a great campaign, we are up in the polls, and working really hard. so i'm going to focus on that and we can chat about that after i win and get in the united states senate. i'll be happy to comment. >> sandra: it was noted the president held an event there in your state recently, a speech on the economy, i believe, if my memory serves me and you didn't

show. that was a message you were sending, right? >> it was an event we saved 100,000 pensions in ohio through the rescue package, significant. many teamsters, working class people, but i had commitments in southern ohio and will not back out on normal or average ohioans, and i'm not doing that stuff, these are great people i'll keep my meetings. we have to get focused on the economy and that's what we are doing in rural areas as well and where i've been campaigning. i'm not going to cancel anything for anybody. >> sandra: ok, got it. congressman, thanks for joining us. hope to have you back on soon. thank you. >> john: sandra, if you have flown lately, chances are you were caught up in the airport chaos, some of it because there's nobody to fly your plane. is raising the retirement age for pilots the answer? >> sandra: good question. no winner in last night's mega millions drawing. i know you were looking forward to this, john.

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>> sandra: cancellations have been plaguing american airports in months due to a pilot shortage and one senator has a plan, he says will get 5,000 back in the cockpits. will it work? we'll ask a pilot coming up. but first this. border agents making a huge drug bust in arizona finding more than 300,000 fentanyl pills, 89 pounds of meth and heroin in a migrant's car as he tried to cross into the united states.

eagle pass, texas, steve, why do the agents say it's harder and harder to catch these smugglers? >> sandra, in some ways for smugglers, fentanyl is almost a perfect drug, so powerful. one pound can kill more than 200,000 people so you need small amounts, small doses. in the car, hide 320,000 pills. a short time before that in the same location they found another car, more than 100,000 pills. you can force migrants to carry it over on foot, or in vehicles. and it is spreading, not just here on the border, but across the entire u.s. >> there's a very established cartel membership in every dmunts, every county and state in the united states, and we are no exception. they are assigned here, they are deployed here, they operate from here, from safe houses, drop

houses, intersecting with our local gangs and other nefarious criminals and they distribute the dope. all run by the cartels. not a day or a night goes by we are not dealing with someone associated with the mexican cartels. >> the other advantage of fentanyl for smugglers is it is entirely synthetic. no fields, no growing seasons. used to mainly be made in china, but that is switching now more towards mexico. cartels are making it for themselves. sandra, back to you. >> sandra: wow, just really something. steve, thank you very much. john. >> john: sandra, delays and cancellations causing chaos at our nation's airport for months now. a large part due to a shortage in pilots. now south carolina senator lindsey graham would raise the mandatory retirement from 65 to

67. robert, what do you think of the idea? >> well, on the surface i think it's a good idea. anything that keeps good pilots in the cockpit longer at their request, of course, everybody does not have to do this, is a good thing. however, as, you know, the down side to this is it's going to cause chaos even more chaos at the airlines because we are seeing that more senior pilots that would be retiring, that would be affected by this 67 rule are usually pilots that are flying internationally, not just domestically here in the states. and those international pilots would be restricted to no longer be able to fly internationally because the international rules just don't allow it. so you know, again, it's going

to cause scheduling chaos for the airlines, and honestly, the shortage issue, it's the airlines' own making anyway. >> john: right, but we have do do something about it, a lot of people are being stranded. the current retirement age as mandated in 2007, bumped up from 60, is 65. this would add a couple of years to it. japan, i guess, for domestic flights, japan has raised it to 67 to help alleviate shortages there. i mean, is there a case in which you think you could get more experienced pilots in the seats for domestic flights as opposed to just the overseas issue? >> well, if you take senior pilots that would be available for 66 and 67 and push them back into the domestic system, it's going to push less senior pilots out of the left seat of the domestic airplanes and again,

because of the seniority system, it's going to push all kinds of pilots everywhere. and i honestly, i don't think it's going to make that much difference. >> john: ok. well, some people believe it's a safety issue, including the secretary of transportation pete buttigieg who said this, listen here. >> i'm not going to be on board with anything that could compromise safety. the answer is to make sure we have as many and as good pilots ready to take their place, a stronger pipeline. >> john: strength ening the pipeline is a process that's going to take years. looking at the safety issue not the schedule issue, is there a big difference between a pilot who is 65 years old versus 67? people are living longer, living better, much more active than they used to be at that age. >> well, i think the other problem we are talking about here is this safety issue. what some of the airlines want to do is reduce the requirements

for new pilots to a certain, fewer hours of cockpit experience time and that is where the safety issue comes in. we have been extremely safe for the last decade with the standards that we have and why would we reduce them just to make the airlines work. i mean, these folks got how many billions of dollars when the pandemic started and now they want us to, you know, help them, you know, figure out what to do next. i'm sorry, this is, again, this is the airlines' own making. >> john: all right. we'll see what happens with this bill. don't know if it will go anywhere or not. but certainly a lot of people have been very disappointed in terms of vacation plans being scuttled by the fact there are cancellations. robert, good to talk to you. appreciate it. >> sandra: a u.s. naval officer in a japanese prison after

convicted of killing two people in a traffic accident. his family maintain his innocence and they are pleading with the white house to get involved. >> john: new york city mayor adams is calling on his state to make some changes, but why is governor kathy hochul knocking down the idea? lee zeldin will be here to talk about his own high profile attack and promise to go all in on bail reform. >> how do we keep our city safe when the other parts of the criminal justice system, they have abandoned our public safety apparatus.

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last night's big drawing. the jackpot has ballooned to more than a billion dollars, the fourth biggest in u.s. history. the next drawing is friday night, although it should be adjusted for inflation, shouldn't it, john? >> john: it's remarkable to me that all the millions and millions of people who played and nobody nailed the numbers. what are the odds of that? >> sandra: that boggles me. i've never been a lotto player -- >> john: as a family we don't buy lotto ticket, but my wife came back with one, and none won the lotto. we'll try again, try, try, try. hey, a u.s. navy lieutenant serving three years in a japanese prison for killing two people in a traffic accident. the family says he had a medical episode which led to the crash and they are pleading with the

biden administration to intervene in his case. senior national correspondent is live in los angeles with more. the claimed medical episode is at the heart of the case. >> boils down to this. did he fall asleep which would make him criminally liable, or did he blackout, and an accident. while on duty in japan, the lieutenant drove him with his wife and three children after hiking mount fuji. suddenly according to his family in mid sentence, he falls unconscious, crashing and killing two pedestrians. >> we were driving down the mountain and reaching the base, my husband lost consciousness, my daughter tried to wake him with no success, we hit two cars, he never hit the brake, never woke up. >> citing medical experts, defense argued he blacked out because of altitude sickness.

the judge did not buy it. saying it was more likely he fell asleep and was negligent for failing to pull over when he felt drowsy. supporters here believe the judge was wrong. >> if the cause of the crash was truly what he alleged that he suffered from altitude sickness, in no way should it be prosecuted criminally. >> it was a car accident that resulted from a tragic, unforeseeable, unforeseen medical emergency. >> he paid 1.6 million in damages. his family wants president biden to ask for clemency and a suspended sentence. >> what needs to happen is the white house needs to come forward and say you are our ally, you made a mistake here and he needs to come home right now so this never happens again. >> so the typical penalty, john, for negligent driving causing death, the prosecutor wanted

4.5, he got three. he started serving on monday, so it's up to president biden to press his release or not. >> john: we'll see what, if anything, the white house does. william, thank you. >> sandra: will china take serious action in the south pacific? a top pentagon official says it's only a matter of time. nancy pelosi is warning her travel to taiwan would cross a red line. she is warned it would be, by the way, michael allen on how president biden should take on xi as tensions near a boiling point. >> john: another release from the strategic petroleum reserves. critics say it's just a band aid. we'll ask an alabama station owner how prices have hurt his business. >> it's transition, we need to transition into green new deal type policies. their transitions are not working for the american people.

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>> john: supreme court justice clarence thomas will not be teaching a law course at george washington university this fall. the g.w. hatchet is reporting they obtained an email addressed

to students detailing the decision. it comes roughly a month after more than 11,000 people signed a petition calling for justice thomas's removal from the g.w. faculty after he voted to overturn roe v. wade. he is reportedly also no longer listed as a lecturer on g.w. law course list. thomas has been lecturing at the law school since 2011, so a big change. sandra. >> sandra: the white house turning to the emergency oil reserve for a fifth time in an effort to bring down prices at the pump. today's national average for gasoline now sits at 4.30, down from last month's peak, should note, but still 80% increase since president biden took office. our next guest runs 11 gas stations across alabama where the average is still a dollar higher than where it was just a year ago. bring in brian young, vice president of young oil. brian, thank you so much for joining us right there at one of

your gas stations. jump into the story that so many have been talking about here. you are in the middle of it. this is a president that has called on you to bring down those prices, and i'll get your response to a recent tweet from the president. he said this just a few weeks ago. my message to the companies running gas stations and setting prices at the pump is simple. this is an time of war and global peril. bring down the price you are charging at the pump to reflect the cost you are paying for the product and do it now. some oil industry executives responded and said the intern who wrote it should go back and take econ 101. what was your response? >> definitely similar to that. roughly probably government of gasoline is 10 to 15, and transportation and marketing part of it percent of the cost and that's, taxes are in the same range and we don't see the federal government lowering taxes on an ongoing basis

either. >> brian, do you as an owner of 11 gas stations there in alabama, do you make more money when gas prices are going up or when gas prices are coming down? >> oh, definitely when they are coming down. retail prices are slow to react up or down. so we normally going up our margins reduce and coming down they are a little better. and then also the cost of credit card fees and debit card fees are of course you know in the last year or two they have doubled on us, which -- so those numbers come down because they are on a percentage basis. >> sandra: because that is often a talking point for many who don't quite understand your situation. they say hey, look at the drop in oil prices, why aren't gas prices coming down as fast. to that you say what? >> well, normally crude, when $1 is about 2.4 cents, and it takes

a little bit of time to reach us because it has to go through the refining process, the top line process, our transportation process, you know, for those prices to reflect back to the industry. and normally the same thing will lag on the other side of it. >> sandra: in your state gas prices under the current administration, you've gone from, you can put it up on the screen, january 2021, prices in the state were 1.49 a gallon, sir. today 3.88 per gallon. that's up 160% in your state. real quick final thought from you here on what you do want to see happen. what would help you, sir? >> well, we would prefer low cost because it really helps our customers out. we live in a rural part of alabama and of course it's not a real high income area either. and it keeps our costs down. our employees, you know, can

afford to get to work better, our customers can enjoy more things, they can also do other -- when the gas price on average about 5% of most people's income to spend that money has to come from somewhere. >> sandra: brian, appreciate you joining us, sorry, we are up against a hard break. thank you so much, sir. our best to you. >> john: new at 2:00, any moment now hear from the federal reserve at another interest rate hike designed to slow down inflation. how will that impact the u.s. economy which many experts fear is sliding into a recession. larry kudlow will be here, we'll get his take on that coming right up. stay with us.

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city freely and nobody knows what he may do next. >> john: exactly what congressman lee zeldin is fired up about after the man who attacked him was arrested and released. brand-new at 2:00, democrats claiming there is something fishy about that suspect walking free, suggesting it's a political ploy to help zeldin's campaign for governor. >> sandra: he is with us live to respond in a few moments. welcome back to "america reports" as we roll into hour two. i'm sandra smith in new york. john, great to be with you. >> john: good to be with you as well. we will get to congressman zeldin ahead, but first, big breaking news guaranteed to hit where it hurts. >> sandra: the federal reserve as expected and as the markets were priced in, raised the key r interest rate by 75 basis points, did not go the full percent, a slight chance that that could be the case. the dow is up about 75 points before this announcement happened just a few moments ago and the dow now up 100 points.

a tiny build in the gains there, but in the green for most of the day. obviously big implications for the american economy, based on this decision and john, as we continue to point out, this is the federal reserve tasked with taming inflation that you can solidly make the case is the fault of the white house and those advising the president that have gotten this wrong, including the federal reserve itself, for in the beginning calling this transitory inflation that was certainly not the case, janet yellen has admitted she got that wrong. and now who has to pay the price, the american consumer. now there has to be short-term pain for long-term gain. they have to raise interest rates to make pretty much everything more expensive in the country to slow the demand for these things to bring down the prices. >> john: it's going to be a big deal with mortgages on your homes, monthly payment on your credit card, car loans for

people who want to buy one of pete buttigieg's new electric cars. and some analysts say the move could put the economy at greater risk and also the risk the very fella who got it wrong in the beginning, hits the brakes too hard and crashes into recession or does not hit them hard enough and the inflation economy to crash into a wall. delicate dance they are trying to do here. larry kudlow will be here, but hillary vaughn is live at the white house with the latest of what's going on at 1600 pennsylvania when it comes to this. >> hi, john. this interest rate hike by three-quarters of a percentage point is direct reaction to inflation remaining high, one of the reasons the fed noted in the interest rate hike. what it's going to do for everyday americans, make money a lot more expensive for people to borrow. it's going to make it more expensive to take out a loan to buy a house, a car, other buying

ticket items. also going to make credit card debt more expensive and making money more expensive to borrow, means people will spend less, fewer customers competing over things, means prices would hopefully drop. the president's economic advisers have admitted they got it wrong, and because of that, they say the fed waited too long to act, so the economic team is defending the record. >> the president's economic advisers were telling us last year that inflation was going to be temporary. that's not true. now the president's economic advisers are saying there is not going to be a recession. are you sure? >> we look at a range of data, we assess that data, and we lay it out for ourselves and for the president. but you don't have to take our word on this. >> the president does, right? >> no, no, but we also -- we

also look at what outside analysts are doing. >> some outside analysts warn a recession could be looming, if interest rates go too high too fast, but the president and advisers insist we are not in a recession. republicans say the white house instead is trying to redefine what a recession is. >> president biden trying to redefine what inflation and recession is rather than working to lay out a plan to stop us from going into a recession. or to get us out of a recession. >> the central bank is trying to steer the economy away from a recession but also play catch-up and rein in inflation. it's a delicate dance. some economists say they have no choice but to be aggressive. they are raising higher than they have over the past two decades. >> hillary, thank you.

sandra. >> sandra: bring in larry kudlow now, larry, to the news first, rate hike happened, this was expected and priced in but does not take away from how significant this is and affect everyday americans. >> effective, shock therapy. the faster they get the inflation rate down the sooner the economy can recover its growth. right now we are on a recession, the front end of recession or whatever the first half the year g.d.p. contracted with 8, 9% inflation rate, a terrible record. part is the fed's fault, they should have been tightening 15 months ago, part is the government's fault, biden administration was pouring money in with 2 trillion spending package and bipartisan package of another trillion, unnecessary and helped cause the inflation. so my point is, the faster the

fed operates, the sooner we can get out of this. but it's going to be painful 12 to 15 months, and i want to make this point. the economic slump in the first half of the year is a function of skyrocketing inflation. real wages falling, real retail sales falling, manufacturing falling, consumer confidence, saw yesterday the conference board, consumer confidence crashed again. it's down about 30% from a year ago with inflation forecast of 7.6% for the next 12 months, i happen to agree with that very much. here, they -- the fed tightening will impact the economy in the next 12 months. what we saw the contraction in the first half the year was because of the inflation problem. >> sandra: you believe we are in recession today? >> i do. >> sandra: the r word, it's controversial now. >> it's a silly argument, politics from the biden administration, every economist

knows that. first quarter was down 1.6%. according to today's atlanta fed revision on the g.d.p., it's down 1.2%. i don't care. it could be plus 1 or minus 1, we are in recession and it's going to get worse. >> sandra: you have to think about the optics of the moment, white house is trying not to use the r word, they are standing up to the podium each day saying our biggest priority is to fight inflation. it's inflation that was created by the government and to your point the federal reserve. >> their biggest priority is to fight fossil fuels, to fight businesses, and to try to regulate the entire economy in their sort of woke progressive transformative way. they don't care about economic growth, they are into income redistribution, no interest in economic growth. this is -- you know, they are so fraudulent, their arguments are so fraudulent, one of the reasons why the entire country has lost confidence in joe biden.

they should be cutting tax rates, making the trump tax cuts permanent. >> sandra: you know who called for that on this show, tim ryan from ohio, a democrat, he just said this, listen. >> good, i want to hear this. >> people are getting absolutely hammered. no question about it and so deny that i think is a big mistake. they are trying to somehow sugar coat it i think does a disservice to the people out there struggling every single day. >> sandra: and i asked him if he would support biden's re-election bid, he avoided the question, said he's focused on his own campaign. >> especially the corporate tax cut, and the regulatory strangulation of the economy in the last 18 months. we have -- $200 billion worth of regulations on a last year on present discounted value, 2 trillion regulatory burden over

ten years. strangled the economy. part is fossil fuels, part is overspending, the fed did not get the inflation manhood back, 15 months too late. i hope they keep growing hair on their chest, good for jay powell. another problem, the homeland security department is investigating, this is the republicans are doing this, rob portman, we have senator ron johnson coming up on. china has infiltrated the federal reeverybody is. infiltrated fed research assisstants throughout the federal reserve system. china is infiltrating and spying on our models and data specific information. china took this guy who was a fed staff guy in shanghai, they entered his hotel room, they threatened him, they kept at him four times, they are paying people to give research notes, confidential research notes. high level security stuff. this -- now jay powell for some darn reason is denying it, he can't deny it, they have the goods on it.

the fbi is investigating this, rob portman is running this, he's not a crazy, you know, outlying guy, he's a very moderate common sense guy. >> sandra: john is listening to this. >> federal reserve crisis and i don't know where it's going to go. >> sandra: and you are going to dig into this more at 4:00. >> big story on the website or the journal, the fed should not deny it. the fed has to show what safeguard. espionage all over the economy, john, but right now in the federal reserve our central bank and i would say this is not good. >> john: so president biden has a phone conversation with xi jinping coming up in hours or maybe the next day or so. what should he tell xi about this? >> he should tell xi that we have no intention of any concessions to china at the

present time for a variety of reasons. they are helping russia, they are hacking and espionage into our businesses, they are now hacking and espionage into our central bank, we have known this. he should tell xi we have no intention of withdrawing tariffs from china. we don't make concessions right now. china should be on the hook for their spying, for their espionage, and of course, their human rights violations, and their threats to taiwan, and what they have done to hong kong and so forth and so on, john. he should be tough, he should be tough. no concessions right now. tough, and i don't know whether he'll do it or not, you know. do we have confidence in that, i don't know. >> john: all right. >> nancy pelosi going to taiwan, terrific. good for her, i want to say that, good for her. >> sandra: and we have heard that from a lot of republicans on this program and this network. good to have you here, larry. >> john: sandra, bombshell in the d.o.j. investigation into january 6th.

"washington post" reporting the justice department is investigating former president donald trump's actions as part of its criminal probe of efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. let's bring in devlin barrett, he helped break the story. we knew the d.o.j. was investigating other players in the january 6th riot but the fact that president trump's actions are now under scrutiny would seem to take this to a whole new level. >> thanks, john. i think it's significant by this reason. seeing bit by bit they are looking at some of trump's lawyers for pushing the fake elector plans but they are also gathering information about what trump told his lawyers to do. and obviously that's important. you want to understand, ok, to the degree we have concerns about this behavior and what might have happened, we need to

know what their marching orders were. a question they have been asking witnesses. >> john: over the past few weeks, listening to your colleague on the story this morning, suggesting that over the past few weeks started to detect a shift here, which i guess culminated in recent appearances before the grand jury, mark short, and attorney greg jenkins. >> receipt. and what you have seen in the last, you know, several weeks to a month is that a lot of what was going on in this investigation sort of rose to the surface. a lot of the federal investigation stayed out of view for a long time, but now you are seeing in the form of grand jury testimony, in the form of subpoenas, the form of search warrants, you are seeing more stuff pop to the surface. >> john: so what are prosecutors trying to more fully understand in regard to president trump and in the fact that this is all taking place before a grand jury. what does that suggest? >> well, a grand jury does a couple of things, right. a grand jury on the one hand is

a mechanism for indicting someone if they decide there is evidence to indict someone, but it's also a mechanism for locking people's accounts in, and that's very important in an investigation. one thing i would just remind folks, you know, we have been here before. trump has been under investigation before, and it did not lead to charges. most criminal investigations, most federal criminal investigations don't lead to actual charges. but that is what a grand jury is for if you decide to do that. the other thing that's really important about a grand jury, it locks people's stories in. once you have told your version of events to the grand jury, that is your most legally defined version of those events and that's important, too, in a high profile investigation like this. >> john: you point out that charging trump would be unprecedented. you write no former president has been charged with a crime in the country's history. evidence suggesting a criminal conduct as with nixon and

clinton, investigators concluded it was better to grant immunity or forego prosecution. obviously they could do that again in this case, but there does seem to be a certain zeal to go after president trump here by the d.o.j. >> i think -- i think we are not at that step yet and as much as we would like to know how this story ends we just don't. and so i guess why people want to understand he's under investigation or if these actions are under investigation, who is going to get in the most trouble here, who might be charged. the honest answer is we don't know yet and the prosecutors don't know, that's why they are putting witnesses on the grand jury. >> john: i was watching carol this morning talking about this, suggested a high bar at the d.o.j. in terms of whether charges would ever be filed against trump. first of all, you don't want to charge him with some small type of thing and also want to make sure that there is overwhelming compelling evidence if you are going to level the first criminal charges in america's

history against a former president. >> sure, i mean look. the justice department understands everyone is watching and waiting to see what they do, and understand the stakes are incredibly high. i also just think cases involving politicians are tough by their very nature. and the more high profile the politician is, frankly, the tougher they can be. so i think all those things factor in but we are still several steps away from that kind of, from reaching that door, and they did investigative work on mark meadows' phone records in april. they have done a lot of work here but have more to do. >> john: we'll see where it goes. good article on behalf of you, carol, josh, and another correspondent, thanks for laying it out for us. >> sandra: the teenager who attacked an n.y.c. transit officer walking free without

ever having to post bail. just like the man who attacked congressman lee zeldin. he weighs in on both of these incidents and what he sees as an urgent need for bail reform in his state. >> john: and the pentagon is making plans to keep nancy pelosi safe if she travels to taiwan, after china threatens a military response. life... doesn't stop for diabetes. be ready for every moment, with glucerna. it's the number one doctor recommended brand that is scientifically designed to help manage your blood sugar. live every moment. glucerna. ♪ ♪ live every moment. aleve x. its revolutionary rollerball design delivers fast, powerful, long-lasting pain relief. aleve it, and see what's possible.

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>> sandra: nearly a week after the attempted attack on congressman lee zeldin seen there, they said to release the suspect to help the republican

in his bid for governor. lee zeldin is here to react to that, and our next story he is fired up about. all right, well, is that is the teen, you can see in the video beating a transit cop. he has now been let loose, he is able to walk freely here in new york city now, all because of soft on crime policies in new york state. the 16 suspect released without bail, he was set free after being arrested for robbery just days before, we are told. now the mayor demands changes at the state level, the new york governor says the legislature has already done enough. bryan is live in our studio for us. mayor adams and governor hochul are not seeing eye-to-eye on this issue. >> sandra, that's right. it would appear the democratic power duo are not on the same page. mayor eric adams, not only does

he think the state bail laws need to be tougher to keep criminals off the streets but thinks it's an emergency worthy of new york legislators being called to a special session. >> i believe albany should consider coming and revisiting -- the repeat offenders, not an apple, but violence in the city. >> the governor says there are no plans for a special session and does not seem to think it's necessary right now given changes to the state's bail law were just made in april. >> we have bail changes that were passed as part of the budget that i worked very hard on, we all know the budget was late because i worked on very necessary changes to the bail laws. they have only been in effect a short time. >> but mayor adams is demanding

judges be given more discretion to keep suspects in custody they deem dangerous, period. also wants to allow 16 and 17-year-olds arrested on gun charges to be tried in criminal court, not family court, and this all comes after two nypd officerers were abeing at thatted by two 16-year-olds, one was released why even with a criminal record. overall crime is up 37%. new york's gop leadership pointed out the irony mayor adams is on the same page as republicans who have been calling for a special legislative session to repeal bail reform. >> sandra: unbelievable, too commonplace to see attacks like this happening. bryan, thank you, great to see you. >> john: new york congressman lee zeldin running as a republican nominee in the race. thank you for joining us in person.

we saw the incident that happened with you last thursday, you were attacked on stage at a campaign event outside of rochester by a man who was yielding a very sharp personal defense device and then we saw what happened there in new york subway with the teen going after the police officer, both of these people were released without bail. you heard bryan saying that mayor adams wants a spe session of the legislature called to deal with bail and crime reform and the governor is saying not necessary, though she did call a special session to deal with guns. >> there absolutely should be a special session and the bail should be repealed and two high profile incidents this summer and a number. we will another incident a couple weeks ago, two mexican drug cartel smugglers busted with $1.2 million of crystal meth, they got released on cashless bail as well. and in these cases you have new yorkers, doesn't matter what

party you are, you have new yorkers as new yorkers are concerned and i have people who tell me they will hug a pole in the subway so they are not pushed on to the car. >> sandra: welcome, glad you are doing okay, scary, and for many to see what happened to you and the attacker went free, and people locally and thought gosh, it could happen to them. you are a sitting u.s. congressman, a gubernatorial candidate and he walked free. what does this mean for the residents of new york state who are afraid of what is happening right now? >> it's a great point and if i wasn't a member of congress, then the u.s. attorney's office wouldn't have been able to come in on saturday to charge this person. he is currently detained, he'll

be appearing in court tomorrow and the only reason why he's detained is because he attacked a member of congress. so for average everyday new yorkers, they want to feel safe and their families safe and due to new york's cashless bail laws you have situations where so many different offenses, judges don't have discretion to weigh any of these factors and keep someone in. and by the way, this was a veteran, and maybe if he was there to the next day you call up the monroe county veteran service agency and you bring him help if he has the mental wounds of war, you know, i don't know. we need to learn more about his situation. you could even argue that the cashless bail law ends up resulting not just in law abiding new yorkers impacted, but also the criminal, the suspect, the attacker in this case losing out on what could have been help for him going forward. >> john: we talked with joe shinelli on stage with you and

wrestled him to the grounds, he thought he was maybe having a mental crisis but democrats are weighing in and saying was this whole thing in terms of the man being released, staged, a plot between you and the monroe county district attorney who is listed as a co-chairman of your campaign, did, was he let loose so you could complain bit. was it a political ploy. what do you say to democrats charging that? >> it's totally false and sandra dorly and i, we do have a preexisting relationship but sandra was not involved in the charging decision in this case at any point because of that relationship. so, if she went forward and got herself involved in this case, she'll have the same people criticizing her she didn't recuse herself from the case. it's true there is a preexisting relationship but she identified that out of the gate and said she can't be involved in this case at all because of that. >> sandra: we'll have to leave it there, congressman.

quick, final question to you. a lot of these attacks are obviously meant to intimidate. does it make you think twice about running for governor? >> no, i went right back on the stage to finish my speech. people asked are you going to keep the rally schedule up the rest of the weekend, absolutely. kept everything as is, we did ramp up security. it's important we protect the process, political violence has no place at all in our country, whether it's the day before an election or after an election, we want to debate, we want to disagree, we need to participate, vote, get informed. political violence has no place. >> john: and as you pointed out, the man is detained now because of the federal aspect of the attack last thursday. thanks for joining us, appreciate it. >> sandra: thank you. coming up, historic rate hike from the federal reserve as the biden administration claims there is no recession, and now their friends in the media are following suit. the next guest says they were

wrong about inflation. >> john: china drawing a line over the speaker and her planned visit to taiwan. how should the president respond? michael allen has some thoughts on that. he's coming up next.

story of this hour, historic rate hike happened at the top of the hour. federal reserve chair jay powell is speaking after announcing 75 basis point on the key fed rate, affects a lot of loans for consumers and businesses. this is to try to curb 40-year high inflation in the country. we will monitor his words at his news conference and bring you news from that as we get it. let's bring in now thomas phillips, former chair of economic advisors under former president trump and university professor. interpret this move by the federal reserve for us. what does it mean for everyday

americans? >> well, i think the interpretation is this is exactly as expected. it was coming in at 75 basis points, which was the result, the fed is trying to make up for or want to appear very strong now because they have been sort of in an historical lag in tracking inflation. usually the fed is almost preemptive in trying to raise rates when you see inflation. this fed has not been. if you look back at the last 60 years, it's been a very lag response and i think they are trying to show now that they are serious about this. >> sandra: paul krugman, writes an opinion column, he said this last week and got a lot of headlines, said i was wrong about inflation, ok. well, there's no such rule he says now, it's quite possible that we will in fact experience a recession soon. it's even possible, though less

likely that one has started but no reason to use. r word this week. last week he said he was wrong about inflation, and many economists were. federal reserve got it wrong, janet yellen got this wrong, there were guys like steve rat ner and larry summers from democratic administration's raising the red flag for months and it was ignored. he says he got it wrong. now he says we are not in recession, this is not the time to use the r-word. why are some reluctant to call a recession what it is if in fact we are in a second quarter of economic decline? >> well, i think it's very simple that it's very hard to, you know, be unbiased economic forecaster when you are politically biased and that runs through paul krugman, everything he does is politically biased, probably more so than any other economyist. he said the stock market would crash when trump got elected,

even though business optimists went through the roof a couple days after the election. it's a hard thing to forecast things when you want the economy to go in a certain direction. but he's not alone. and you are pointing that out, sandra. this is very, very hard. no one can predict the economy. even wall street will get paid if they are right and lose money if they are wrong are horrible at predicting. no one could see covid coming in and damaging the economy, very few could see russia invading ukraine at the time they did, it's very hard to predict the economy and bureaucrats have no advantage. they are unaffected if they get it right or wrong. >> but there are some road maps how to address inflation, how to tackle it and fix an economy that is hurting right now, mostly the lower and middle

class. we cut this sound bite, the team did, tim ryan, the democrat from ohio was on with us, i told larry kudlow we had a democrat on from ohio who called for tax cuts in this, you know potentially -- >> we need a tax cut for working people, earned tax cut for working people and small businesses, it's real bad for people. ignoring that or trying to somehow sugar coat it i think does a disservice to the people out there struggling every day. >> sandra: you know a lot of democrats are seeing the dire political consequences of what is happening with the economy right now. what did you make of that democrat, tim ryan, saying it's time for tax cuts for the american people. >> i think he's right. what has happened since biden came into office, supplies are

cut down, regulations not lead to the energy supply by deliberate action, that raises prices. demand stimulated out of control that raises prices and most importantly but least discussed, the money supply has skyrocketed during covid. the only thing good for the future now is the money supply growth essentially stopped, and that's very important. i think that's the main driver that people are now talking about, and that's the only optimist that this will good away, it goes away with the lag even if the money supply growth is not growing as fast as the economy now. >> sandra: you were an economic advisor under the trump administration, those advising the president what to do in this moment where so many people are struggling. if you were in charge of fixing the problem today and advising the president, you would say to do what, sir. >> well, first of all, first i would stop spending, ok. we now have another, you know

corporate welfare bill coming through, of course semiconductors, and basically a quarter of a trillion dollars going out the door again. they want to have more, obviously was pushing for build back better even though he claims he's against inflation. but that's the number one thing the white house and congress can do. a lot is the fed obviously by raising borrowing costs, but the fed is still in negative real rate territory and through the spring the fed has done more negative real rates but they are raising other rates less than inflation is going up, so more accommodating at real rates over the spring, that's changing now slightly. >> sandra: we have to leave it there. in your view, sir, that we are currently in a recession in this country, or not? >> well, i mean, that doesn't really matter to be honest. it's a bunch of economists that define recession, it's irrelevant to your listener. what your listener is faced with

is their paychecks are not carrying as far as they could with the boldness of inflation. and whether you call it recession or not is irrelevant. >> sandra: appreciate you joining us, thanks for coming on today. >> john: sandra, fox news alert to tell you about, breaking news, secretary of state antony blinken moments ago announcing that the biden administration has put an offer on the table to exchange britney griner, the wnba star in russian since february, as well as marine paul whalen, accused of spying, for unnamed other people who would go back to russia. greg palkot is live in london with the latest. paul has been in jail 42 months on a 16-year sentence for espionage, convicted in june of 2020. britney griner is on trial now, she's been detained since the 17th of february for possessing cannabis oil as she entered the country. an offer on the table.

do we know what the offer might look like? >> we don't know, but it's been talked about, john, and looks like secretary blinken is getting a little bit more specific about this russian gentleman held in the u.s. on various charges, arms smuggling, drug dealing, contacts with terrorists, he's a pretty hefty figure and the reports have been that he could be swapped, again, for whalen and griner, a big day for griner, she was in court today and the first time she was able to testify on her behalf. she entered under heavy guard, griner said she mistakenly packed the cartridges, illegal in russia, she found herself meeting officials at a moscow airport in february, when she was tagged with those. critically today she said she was not given access to a

lawyer. little of what she was told or documents properly translated. here is more audio of her testimony today. >> my rights were never read to me, no one explained any of it to me. at that point i got on my phone and i contacted my sports agent, and my club team's translator. >> in fact, john, in addition to playing for the phoenix mercury basketball team, she plays for a russian basketball team, that's why she was coming to russia at the time. she was determined to make the games there, that was all a part of the two-time olympic gold medalist attempt to gain leniency with the court. she faces, and why it's so serious now, a maximum sentence of ten years in a russian jail on these drug charges. the state department says she is wrongfully detained and yes,

there are now renewed reports and secretary blinken pointing of a possible prisoner swap. all comes amid growing tensions between the u.s. and russia amid the ukraine war. many believe the griner detention was all about politics. we could have some new efforts from washington to try to resolve this. secretary blinken said he would be speaking to the russian foreign minister later this week and will bring this up. so, finally some movement from the white house that a lot of people have been calling for in the last couple months. remember, griner has been detained for five months plus, back to you. >> john: and whalen's family wondering why he was out of a recent release and griner's family calling for the white house to get involved. thank you so much. let's just rewind the tape a couple minutes ago, what secretary blinken said about all of this, including the

forthcoming phone call with sergey lavrov. >> in the coming days i expect to speak with russian foreign minister lavrov the first time since the war began. plan to raise an issue that's a top priority for us. release of americans paul whelan and britney griner, wrongfully detained and must come home. we put an offer on the table weeks ago, the governments have communicated repeatedly and directly and i'll use the conversation to follow up personally and i hope move us towards resolution. >> john: the announcement, sandra, the wheels are beginning to turn, the fact that the secretary of state will be having a conversation with counterpart is a positive sign. >> sandra: and we spoke to

paul's family 52 years old, held for years, questions when they would get the presidential phone call to secure the release, michael allen is joining us, former special assistant for george w. bush and as we get this news we know this is the first public announcement of any concrete action taken to secure the release of griner. see what is involved, potential exchange that would happen. don't know the terms of the deal or whether it would be enough to actually secure the release. what are your thoughts and questions at this moment? >> my question, number one, are we getting anything in addition to these two individuals coming out. are we going to settle any other of the minor disputes that we have with russia. i also am wondering about the wisdom of releasing victor boot, i know it's positive news for

the families of britney and paul but i worry about hostage taking being encouraged. if you have a hostage swap, i'm afraid it encourages more hostage taking. victor boot is a bad man. he acquired missile systems and tried to sell them to african and middle east countries, the purpose designed to shoot down aircraft, a very bad man and he was in jail legitimately. >> trading a very bad man for a basketball player and a person who says that he was wrongly convicted of espionage, would seem to be a very one-sided swap. when you are dealing with russia and trying to get your people out, sometimes you have to lay down a big card. >> i think that's right. i think for the families, of course this is wonderful news, and good news for the country to have all americans home but does raise questions about the

hostage policies the biden administration is pursuing and what it means for americans overseas in the future. will they be kidnapped and become pawns in future international disputes. >> sandra: michael, obviously with the britney griner situation, that brought a lot of attention but paul is sitting there and the family is saying what about us. do you think this brought more attention to paul and his family and his release? >> oh, definitely. britney griner, a celebrity in the wnba, if he is ultimately freed in the upcoming prisoner swap, he will have directly benefitted i think from the fact that britney griner is pulling this deal along. >> john: paul whelan was passed over in a swap that included trevor reed and he and his family questioned why he was left out of this. the biden administration, you know, may have been doing things behind the scenes we don't know

about to try to get him out but to sandra's point, tying his freedom with that of a very famous person from the wnba may be enough to push this over the top. but again, with -- you talk about victor boot is not the sort of guy you want running and the world. but with relations at probably decade lows, if not beyond that between russia and the united states, how do you try to get your folks out unless you agree to let somebody like him go back to russia? >> i think you are right. relations are so poor with russia, we are definitely down to just a transactional relationship, swaps where we can make progress because we just have gigantic issues as you well know in ukraine and elsewhere. >> sandra: interesting development. see where it goes and the exchange involved, we'll stay on it. thank you, michael. >> john: see if the conversations bear fruit later

this week. following the china threat as the communist nation lays down the gauntlet, drawing a red line if crossed china warns our nation will regret it. >> sandra: the action fueling beijing's ire, nancy pelosi's planned trip to taiwan. china says the military will never sit idly by and will take strong action. an official says it's only a matter of time before china makes great problems in the region. has speaker pelosi's office confirmed whether or not the trip is actually happening? >> they haven't good to see you too, and one of our capitol hill reporters talked to the speaker and she said i never talk about my travel, it is a danger to me. and learning the speaker has asked at least one republican to join her, a spokesperson tells us he was invited but is unable to attend due to a prior

commitment. also believes the speaker or any other american official should be able to visit taiwan if they would like to. someone who does not agree any official who wants should be able to join pelosi is the secretary of defense, take a listen to what he just said. >> i remain concerned and you heard me say this before about the aggressiveness of the p.r.c. and the kinds of things that we have been seeing in the region lately, and so i think we have to be vigilant. >> some of pelosi's own senate colleagues appear to agree with general austin's assessment. >> it could be a significant distraction if we ended up in escalation status, but i am confident the speaker will do the right thing. i think it risks escalating tensions with china. >> chinese communist party officials do not want the speaker in taiwan.

they say they are prepared to meet this challenge militarily. >> the chinese side will take firm and strong measures to safeguard our sovereignty and territory integrity. the u.s. must assume full responsibility for any severe consequence arising thereof. >> the timing of pelosi's trip is very sensitive. president xi is gaming his own political future out, he is about to seek what is really an unprecedented third term in communist party meetings that take place next month. sources tell us it's a primary motivating reason for president biden to talk to xi tomorrow. sandra. >> sandra: gillian turner in washington, thank you. >> sandra: sounds like it's straight out of soviet russia, but some american universities are trying to force staff, faculty, to sign diversity, equity and inclusion, even tying tenure. but parents and teachers are pushing back. mollie, always great to see you.

some folks are saying wait a second, diversity, equity and inclusion does not do what it means, sometimes a tactic or tool of fear or intimidation. >> you could never say anything what professors believed or taught, and now they have to sign statements that they don't believe. it is stalinist, it's something you would not like to see in the united states and particularly concerning we are seeing this at government universities. means it is much worse than even if it were just at private universities. >> john: not always flying at universities. seattle, 40% of the faculty at the university of washington rejected ob abstained from voting on a requirement, the measure did not meet the two-thirds super majority. >> and not just flying with normal people, but not flying with some left wing professors

and how as these things are more common nationwide, americans don't like racism and they see racism in some of these d.e.i. statements, looks like a new form but judge based on the color of skin, americans do not like that and it's a political liability anyone who goes along with these types of things. >> john: officials at the university of washington disputed the charge that d.e.i. -- victor balta said placing value on diversity, equity and inclusion introduces more perspectives to the discussions, not fewer. >> by definition, if you make people sign a statement they don't agree with, ideological, you are reducing the free debate, you are reducing speech and we all see what happens with these things, that they are not truly tolerant. they are not truly diverse, diversity of thought is almost the first thing to go, whether it's corporations or universities pushing this. >> a little bit of time, ask you about the second topic. san diego comic-con was slammed

for listing people of filipino heritage, philippinex, following along with latinx, prompting -- prompting one person to say reminer that filipino is already a gender neutral term, it's just filipino americans who make you think eating certain things makes you a philippine, why make up words? >> nothing wrong with gender and language, gender is a wonderful thing to have in language. such arrogance in pushing people who have had language that has worked for them for hundreds of years and telling them the way that they are describing themselves is not appropriate, it's arrogant, exactly what they claim to oppose and also very unpopular. people don't like being told that they have to redefine who they are to match woke very left-leaning ideology. >> john: filipinos dislike

philippinex the most. >> sandra: six-hour flight from hell, had some passengers sobbing, others spiralling to mental breakdowns. the most crazy part, the jet never even left the gate. american airlines from charlotte to new york. a fuel tank problem left them sitting at the gate for hours, not allowed to leave even though the jet's door was still open at the gate. >> john: the third hour they got to be off the plane, only to be sent to another gate, and had to wait because of rain storms. they were baking because of the air-conditioning was off. >> sandra: they say some passengers were freaking out and having panic attacks, and others convulsing, and then they were on the way to get to new york in about as much time as it would have taken to drive.

>> john: apology does not fly for some travelers who noted the statement would have just as easily when snack bins ran out of biscoff. >> sandra: and the dow getting quite a pop, up 370 points because he just said we are not trying to have a recession, we don't think we have to, i do not think we are currently in one says the federal reserve chair. more on that in the show tomorrow as well. thanks so much for joining us, i'm sandra smith. >> john: i'm john roberts. "the story" starts right now. >> martha: thanks very much. good afternoon, everybody. i'm martha maccallum. we have two big stories with brand new developments that are unfolding right now. the fed makes its move hiking interest rates again. will it work? >> my colleagues and i are aware that high inflation poses significant hardship on those