says madam president. >> i mean, generally for dreaming big, you need to express what it's going to take to get there, but i guess i'm getting older, i kind of think a little sensational sometimes, maybe they need a push up, other times maybe need to be told they are not the greatest in the world. >> the grades have to back up the hard work. thanks to everyone, here is "america reports." >> sandra: one of the world's most wanted terrorists is dead. killed by two missiles in the first successful airstrike since the u.s. left afghanistan. al-zawahri was osama bin laden's right-hand man and architect of september 11th attack. >> john: he was living in kabul, and chuck grassley and general keith kellogg how this impacts the overall war on terror.

>> sandra: begin with house speaker nancy pelosi arriving in taiwan, it happened a short time ago for her trip there, raising concerns of how china could, and could still respond. and already beijing issuing a series of threats. hello, welcome, everyone. john, great to be with you. >> john: happy tuesday to you, i'm john roberts in new york. chinese fighter jets flew nearby, the speaker arriving safely but the u.s. and taiwan remain on high alert, as four u.s. warships have been repositioned east of taiwan in an effort to deter chinese action. >> sandra: chinese state media is reporting beijing will conduct live fire military exercises surrounding taiwan over the next few days, and is warning of severe punishment to the united states. congressional correspondent.

>> china is coming out with really strong words, they are calling this trip by speaker nancy pelosi to taiwan a serious violation of the one china principle, and they are saying it infringes on china's sovereignty, and that it will have a severe impact on u.s.-china relations, watch. >> we will take whatever we can to respond and to protect, to safeguard our sovereignty territory integrity, and our response will be very full, strong, and forceful. >> speaker pelosi touched down in taipei close to 11:00 p.m. local time, greeted by a taiwanese delegation. shortly after released a statement that appeared to attempt to send a message to china this is not a provocation and wrote this, our visit is one of several congressional

delegations to taiwan and it in no way contradicts long standing united states policy guided by the taiwan relations act of 1979. that is not how china is reading all of this today. according to one state media, the chinese army eastern theater command will begin a series of military operations tonight. another chinese state media company says the chinese military will hold live fire exercises in six different areas around taiwan, august 4th through the seven, presumably after speaker pelosi has left taiwan. lawmakers on the hill, including many, many republicans support the speaker's visit and says the u.s. must respond now. >> to actually take the steps necessary in congress to arm taiwan to the teeth so they can defend themselves against a possible p.l.a. invasion as well as increase training exercises between our two countries and

rebuild our own military so the chinese never feel like they have an opportunity to take taiwan by force. >> sandra, speaker pelosi is set to meet with the new taiwanese president tomorrow, sandra. >> sandra: aishah, thank you on capitol hill. >> john: quite a reception nancy pelosi got when she touched down in taiwan, did you see that? children running through the streets after the motorcade, quite something, and as you were pointing out this morning on america's newsroom, the tallest tower in taiwan had that message saying welcome to taiwan, or t.w., nancy pelosi. rolled out the red carpet. >> sandra: before the plane ever touched the ground. general keith kellogg, and bret baier will join us as well, and senator tom cotton will have a lot to say. >> john: looking forward to that. c.i.a. drone strike on a house in afghanistan has killed

al-zawahri, ending a two-decade long manhunt. he took over the terrorist network following osama bin laden's role in 2011, and helped plan september 11th. it took out him without harming anyone else or the building. not in a remote tribal region in the mountains of afghanistan, but in a wealthy district in the capital city of kabul. chuck grassley in just moments, but first trey yingst in jerusalem. run back over the events of the last few days and what happened on the balcony in afghanistan. >> trey: john, good afternoon,

al-zawahri is dead, following a drone strike over the weekend. he had a $25 million bounty on his head, and was sheltering among the civilian population in the capital of kabul. reports indicate he was killed with an rx9 hell fire missile meant to minimize unintended casualties, the first over the horizon strike for the united states since the taliban takeover amid concerns u.s. officials would have difficulty conducting counter terrorism operations in afghanistan. the compound where the strike took place is being roped off by the at all been, with local journalists being denying information on the killing of the leader. he joined al-qaeda in the late 1990s and served as osama bin laden's deputy until he was killed in 2011. he was part of the decision making process from 9/11 to the u.s.s. cole to american embassy bombings. a significant counter terrorism,

although it raises questions how he was able to stay below the radar. president biden said this about al-qaeda in afghanistan. >> look, let's put this thing in perspective here. what interest do we have in afghanistan at this point with al-qaeda gone? we went to afghanistan for the express purpose of getting rid of al-qaeda in afghanistan as well as -- wells getting osama bin laden. and we did. >> reality is, al-qaeda exists in afghanistan. the organization maintains close ties with the taliban network. john. >> john: certainly raises a lot of questions, no doubt about that. trey, thank you. sandra. >> sandra: iowa republican senator chuck grassley, a member of the senate budget committee and taiwan caucus. important day to have you here,

sir. thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >> sandra: the u.s., as we are reporting has taken out this major al-qaeda leader, 21 years after 9/11. how significant is this, sir? >> very, very significant, from two standpoints. one, it will slow down the al-qaeda not very much, but slow it down a little bit. secondly, you just heard what president biden said a year ago and how wrong the president was, and now with this killing we know not only president biden was wrong a year ago but we also know the taliban is not keeping their word that they are not going to be a safe haven for al-qaeda. with his killing we know that they are a safe haven for al-qaeda. >> sandra: i want to move on now to this very important visit that is happening on the ground in taiwan, nancy pelosi landing there just a short time ago. i'm sure you have been watching,

sir, because china has been using some pretty aggressive rhetoric against the united states anticipating her visit. she's officially there now. how do you expect china to respond? >> i expect them to do no more than just rattle their sabers and they are doing it, of course with live fire in some places for practice. they want the whole world to know that they are almost number one to the united states. obviously they aren't number one but they are trying to be number one, and i complement pelosi for stopping in taiwan and i also say to china or any other country you can't tell americans, members of congress, where we can travel or not travel as long as we are welcome wherever we want to go. and she surely is welcome in taiwan and i'm sure glad that she went. >> sandra: are you surprised of the white house messaging on all

this, not outright condemning china for their rhetoric? >> i think there are many cases our president should be condemning china for a lot of things, but i keep going back to some of my investigations about hunter biden. does china hold something over this administration because of the hunter biden relationship, a lot of business people in china and what they have to do with communist party and with the chinese military. >> sandra: as a sitting member of congress, sitting senator, where do you find yourself when you ask that question based on the resources at hand? >> well, i investigate the wrongdoing. i expose the wrongdoing, and you have to turn it over to the justice department to prosecute. we don't prosecute but i have a constitutional responsibility of oversight and if i see something wrong in an republican

administration or democrat administration i hope to point it out and i wish i could answer your question there is blackmail involved here, i don't have enough evidence to say that. but i think i raise a legitimate question. >> sandra: if that is the case, the american people would have big concerns about that and want to know what congress is doing about it. meantime, i can't wait to ask you about the senate moving forward with this manchin-schumer bill. more tax and spend in the middle of a recession? you have to ask yourself that, and will it even lower inflation, sir, have you had a chance to dig into this? >> yes, i dug into it, and this is what i have drawn big conclusions, not specific ones yet, but when we have the national association of manufacturers saying now is not the time to increase taxes on business, 200,000 people are

going to be unemployed, i want to tell president biden we are in a recession, two quarters of economic decline is a recession and you shouldn't be raising taxes and increasing spending when we are in a recession. you should focus all your attention on fighting the recession and getting inflation down. and inflation is the number one thing i hear from constituents in iowa as i tour the 99 counties every year for q & a, i hear inflation, cost of living, cost of gasoline, the border not being secured, and crime rise. >> sandra: you used to be able to depend on your colleague, senator manchin for getting in the way of spending like this, but he's hugely supportive of this, and even appeared on fox news a short time august with harris falkner and continued to defend his change of heart on this. listen. >> the bottom line is how in the

world can you be raising taxes when all we are saying is the wealthiest corporations in america, 55 of them pay 0 to help this great country. why can't the greatest billion dollars of revenue a year. why can't they pay at least 15% for this great country? >> sandra: paraphrasing, but his defense of this, he says that everybody is getting this wrong, the joint tax committee, wall street journal, everybody who has looked at this. he is saying this does not raise taxes on all americans like republicans are making it out to be. that this is just on those corporations with income over a billion dollars. they want to tax them more, and i'm paraphrasing, sounds like joe manchin is making the case, he wants to make them pay their fair share. how do you respond to his defense of this? >> it's pretty darn easy to respond to it. first of all, i've already responded to it saying we are in a recession, you shouldn't be

raising taxes. secondly, you shouldn't be increasing unemployment, and it does raise taxes, and it does affect the average working person because it takes capital to create jobs and when you take taxes out of employers, it's going to cut back on the wages that they can pay their workers. so maybe it's indirectly, but the working men and women in these companies are going to pay a share, a fair share of that through less income. >> sandra: quickly, finish with this, put up the vulnerable democrats who have been asked if they support it, they have not publicly said they support it, and outstanding person is sinema and where she stands. do you have any idea or word on that, senator? >> i do not. she doesn't talk to the press very much. she talks to a lot of us members. i have good conversations with

her. she's not been willing to say but she is very, very thorough. she studies the bills, she and her staff are working on it and i hope that mind is the right mind when she's been against tax increases and particularly now and particularly after we worked hard to get the chip bill passed to bring jobs back from china. why would you want to increase taxes now and eliminate jobs to the tune of 200,000 in manufacturing in the united states whether we just passed a bill a week ago to bring jobs back from china. >> sandra: senator, appreciate you coming on. hope to continue the conversation soon. thank you, sir. >> thank you. >> sandra: a lot there, a lot happening, and as far as manchin defending that tax and spend bill, it is interesting, isn't it, john, we'll see where sinema

is on this, a lot of fate of this lies in her hands. >> john: i'm puzzled as to where manchin is these days. he said absolutely it's an inflation reduction act, pen wharton said not even close, and then whether he wants democrats to win back control of congress in november he ducked the question and wouldn't say. really weird. >> sandra: highly suspect. sounds like a suspicious john roberts, it was a fascinating interview with harris, really was. >> john: and she clapped back at him, too, when he suggested that she didn't want anything good to get done for this country. good on harris. back to one of our top stories. u.s. taking an al-qaeda leader al-zawahri, president biden is being lauded for the operation, but as predicted, afghanistan is

a breeding ground for al-qaeda, as he was not found hiding but in a posh district of kabul. so it's a good thing al-zawahri is gone, but biden said we could pull out of afghanistan because al-qaeda is not there anymore. remember this? >> look, let's put this thing in perspective here. what interest do we have in afghanistan at this point with al-qaeda gone? we went to afghanistan for the express purpose of getting rid of al-qaeda in afghanistan as well as, as well as getting osama bin laden. and we did. >> john: clearly not the case that al-qaeda was gone from afghanistan, and then the idea of another, the interior

minister for the taliban is letting al-zawahri parade around in one of his houses, so clearly the taliban is not living up to the end of the bargain with the united states, to which i say surprise-surprise. >> it was a righteous kill, i'm glad he's gone and in kabul, he saw what happened with osama bin laden when they were in an isolated villa we went and got him, and baghdadi, and got him, he was hiding in a villa in the middle of nowhere, and he said it's probably safer to be downtown. it's not. our intelligence agencies will track him down. may not happen today, tomorrow, a week from tuesday, but we are going to find you and kill you. we have said that repeatedly and the leadership of the organizations are under risk all the time. continued terrorist threat, of course there is. terrorism goes back before christ. we have to understand that it's out there, remember in the

1970s, red army faction, and different groups coming online, but a subplot very important. the subplot is you had to have troops on the ground to prevent this hit from happening, terrorism from happening. and a time we said no, you can shoot from over the horizon, we can have the capability to do that. that's, and we had a tremendous pushback in the trump administration, no you need troops on the ground to stop terrorism, you don't. we proved that. biden showed you can attack. >> john: it does bolster that over the horizon capabilities can keep terrorism in check, but this is one person on a balcony, taken out, it shreds the target, and in afghanistan, can over the horizon adequately address the

threat? >> it can't. with isis, put coalition and troops together and then you finish the efforts off. there are times you have to have troops on the ground, its that simple and opportunity to do that i'm sure in the future for any administration. >> john: taiwan now where nancy pelosi has just touched town and the chinese foreign ministry has said we don't approve of this at all. what the foreign minister said, this is a serious violation of the one china principle and the provisions of the three communiques, and severe impact on chinese-u.s. relations, gravely undermines peace and stability across the taiwan strait and sends a seriously wrong signal to the separatist forces for taiwan independence, and adding at the end, those who play with fire will perish by it. they say it's a major provocation. what do you expect them to do in the next hours or days? >> taiwan is our ninth largest

trading partner. 90% of the semi conductors, high end ones in the world. taiwan is the only country in the world that we don't have formal diplomatic relations with. it used to be part of japan, so look at the chinese and say note it on your exercises but like i said before is you know, we have a pretty powerful presence in the pacific out there, and right now the reagan carrier battle group is floating around the south china sea and i remind the chinese how powerful we are. it's going could reach a culmination point in the next two years. maybe the idea of 50 years of the one china policy is wrong and need to revisit. a country of 23 million people, democratically elected government, a lot of things this biden administration will have to address over the next few

years. i think the chinese want to take an action. >> john: on the topic of surprise-surprise, russia views it as a clear provocation, china has a right to protect its sovereignty. interesting between those two. >> sandra: death toll rising yet again from the devastating floods in kentucky. at least 37 people have died now and new concerns that thousands of people have lost power there. jeff paul has the latest, he's in eastern kentucky for us. jeff, we heard more rain is on the way. what is the situation on the ground there now? >> yeah, fortunately there was not as much rain as what was forecasted for eastern kentucky overnight. and as a result, water levels are down, but with that drop it's revealing dramatic images of the devastation from the latest storm. you can see some pieces that were ripped off of a nearby

house and then further down the stream, that is the top of a van, and tells you not only how high this water was, but just how powerful the floodwaters were as they swept through the area. as conditions here change, rescue crews are taking advantage of the weather to get as many people out to safety as possible, whether it's by boat or helicopter, as you watch the latest rescue. hundreds still remain unaccounted for. in some cases, people don't have a way out or cell signal to communicate. but more bodies are being recovered of those who were killed. officials estimate the number officially sits around 37, but will likely go up in the area as it continues to deal with everything they have lost. >> people that loved them, people that had lives and you see their lives scattered on a creek bank. photographs laying in the mud, their bodies underneath rubble,

laying on creeks, people that was laid down and went to sleep and, you know, woke up in, you know, didn't wake up, washed away. >> with the sun out and the way the weather is, a lot of crews out here especially with the power company are working as fast as they can to get this area back on its feet. but as the rain slows down, the heat is now kicking up and officials are warning people without power or out here working that they need to hydrate because the temperatures are only going to get hotter, and also the ground is very saturated so as people start to come out and start to walk around the area, they need to think about two things. power poles loose in the ground that can fall and also trees. sandra. >> sandra: jeff paul reporting on the ground there, we are praying for these people. difficult times there. john. >> john: awful situation there.

another jam packed day of primaries as arizona, michigan and three other states. what will it say of former president trump's influence on the party. political panel weighs in. plus this. >> sandra: that stunning surveillance video of an 80-year-old clerk fighting back against would be robbers who eventually fled and being praised by police and some of his customers. >> i've seen him a couple of times while i've been here, and honestly, i can kind of expect that from him. he seems like a [bleep] old man. . only tylenol rapid release gels have laser drilled holes. they release medicine fast for fast pain relief. and now get relief without a pill

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five states, that list includes arizona, where president trump and mike pence had duelling candidates for governor. first, alicia is live in beautiful scottsdale, arizona, with the latest from there. alicia. >> hi, john, a big rush is expected today, according to elections officials. republicans tend to vote in-person on the day, which is exactly how gop candidates like it. >> senate candidate jim layman, self-funded businessman, headed to cast his ballot in the blazing sun. >> beautiful day in arizona to vote. >> he is chasing blake masters, campaign not only supported by a tech billionaire but former president trump. >> i'm running on a proud america first platform, honored to receive his endorsement. >> both would not have certified

the election, when president biden won by 10,000 votes. mark brnovich did certify biden's win and still paying for it. >> frustrates me, because i don't have the endorsement of donald trump, somehow that makes me less conservative than i really am. >> even more, the gubernatorial gop race. >> i'm running against a real rino. >> carrie calls herself a lifetime member of the n.r.a. but only joined last year. >> lake and robson, former president trump for lake, mike pence for robson, and symbols of the last election. >> this was not here in 2020. >> that's right. we have upped our security game. >> in 2020, the maricopa recorders office was in the eye

of the storm when there were accusations of fraud. this year the recorder says they are ready and bracing themselves. >> and john, the forecast today is for a high of 106. it is not stopping anyone. back to you. >> it's a dry heat as we all know. thanks so much. let's go to sandra now. >> sandra: erin perrine, and jessica tarlov. i feel we have already started the panel. chatting off screen. broadly here, having worked inside the trump campaign. you know what is, what is donald trump's role with the gop and the races? >> president trump still maintains a massive influence over the republican party and that's seen in candidates vying for his endorsement, seen

getting money and monetary support, the crowds are showing up, a large part of the republican party very much behind president trump. but there are other parts of the republican party as well. you see what some would call the establishment lane with mike pences of the world or governor ducey. that side as well. the republican party is growing and diverse. you see biden losing support among hispanics, asian-americans, among young americans, voters coming to the republican party. president trump still maintains a strong hold, it's a growing republican party in all facets. >> your 30,000 foot view of that, democrats see an opportunity with some of those considered far right candidates and you've got the d.n.c. funding some of their campaigns because they see them as easier to beat. is that a good strategy? >> i'm frightened of it.

we spent $44 million and i thought torres talked about the risk, and it's not god, right, and you do have to at a certain point leave it up to the voters to decide if even one of these candidates in michigan, peter mayer is running against an election denier, the dccc is backing the candidate. and even one of those go the wrong way for us, it's going to be a huge interparty problem. >> sandra: some of the duelling rallies are fascinating to see donald trump up against as you are putting it the more establishment candidate like mike pence. who do you think comes out on top as far as support n the candidates in these races? >> i think you are going to see a close race in afternoon, although it seems like lake is pulling ahead. overall, good night for trump endorsements. two people he endorsed in

missouri. i think he maintains a large level of influence over the republican party and where the primary voters are going. >> sandra: it's interesting when i ask what you believe trump's influence will be in some of these races. another question when you ask republicans what they want his influence to be in some of these races, jessica. >> he is risky, he's a loose canon. look at what happened in georgia after he lost the election and they still had the runoff for senate and actively encouraged voters not to turn out because it was rigged against them anyway. they can't afford to have something like that happen. but the point about how pervasive trumpism is in the party, the party has swung certainly from a policy standpoint and even on how they talk about what happened in the election towards the trump point of view. so candidates like dixon in michigan on with bret baier on sunday, won't say the election was stolen but will not say the

election was legitimate either. some folks are talking around it to make sure they didn't inspire the rath of a donald trump that he's not going to come after them for not being a flat out election denier, and how tight his grip is on the party. and backing mike pence, they are not running against donald trump, just trying to stay out of his way. >> sandra: trump endorsement tracker, 95% so far, races won since 2020, 124. when it comes to the issues, though, erin, simple to see where voters are in all of these states. inflation, the economy, still top of the list. and to watch what party is going to be able to champion that message in a moment where joe manchin is being challenged on all sides of the spending bill, spending in the middle of recession, a challenge for them come these races. >> one benefit democrats have that i wish republicans would

wake up more to, that's the dollar. the fact that democrats are outfundraising, and especially on the senate side. they will have the money to put negative ads of the opponent up, that's going to matter when you try to bring up somebody's unfavorables, but it is the economy and the big thing is, republicans, and i believe so, are they going to have the resources necessary to get the message out and saturate the electorate the way they need to to drive voters out. the house has a small hill to climb, senate is a steeper one, and get the message out, the economy is bad because of joe biden and the democrats. >> candidates matter and you are seeing on the republican side they picked a few candidates who don't look like they are going to fare as well in november, i hope -- >> sandra: fun picking your brain. >> great, great. >> what a treat. >> sandra: john, it's ladies day on america, tuesday.

>> john: speaking of that, our lead political affairs specialist put out a trump endorsement tracking scoreboard. in terms of how well donald trump has done, total won since 2020, 124. total lost, 7. primary success rate is 95%. see how he does in the races today. tensions simmering in southeast asia as nancy pelosi touches down in taiwan. chinese tanks have been spotted on beaches opposite taiwan. does the biden administration need to get tougher on china? we'll ask senator tom cotton just ahead. >> sandra: plus, tax experts and the white house telling very different stories about the spending deal reached with senator joe manchin. does the administration not truthing about how it will impact american's wallets?

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or ulcerative colitis. (jeanne) my world is more than just my eyes. (vo) ask your doctor about tepezza. and visit mytepezza.com to see jeanne's before and after photos. >> john: shocking new video showing how a shop owner in california is fighting back against america's crime crisis. a live report on that just ahead. but first, texas governor greg abbott inviting new york city mayor eric adams and d.c. mayor bowser to visit the southern border themselves for a firsthand look at the record levels of migrants crossing into the united states each day. the invitation comes as texas is dropping off bus loads of migrants in the nation's capital. mayors in both cities are pleading for the federal government to help handle the crisis as migrants cross deeper into the united states.

abbott writing the invitation so they can "see the dire situation at the border themselves" and know that it needs immediate federal reaction. it's been said every state is a border state, texas sending people to washington, d.c., and come up voluntarily, or the department of homeland security flying people all over the country, including new york city. what happens on the border does not stay on the border anymore. >> sandra: and the border officials are saying great, have a look at what's going on down here. what they are experiencing there is just a taste of what is happening down there for them in their communities every sing l day and has been for quite some time, john. >> john: just a recent thing for washington and new york, but texas has been dealing with it for decades, and arizona, new mexico as well, california. >> sandra: see what happens with that. a california business owner turned the table on four would be robbers using a shotgun to

shoot one of the armed suspects who entered his store. live in los angeles for us, so matt, the would be armed robbers were greeted with a shot they apparently never saw coming from an 80-year-old man behind the cash register. >> sandra, the 80-year-old store owner here in southern california acted fast to defend himself. spotting on surveillance four armed robbers outside his store. when one stormed into the door with the gun, the 80-year-old owner was ready. >> hey. >> right here. >> he shot my arm off, he shot my arm off! >> the 80-year-old man fired his shotgun, hitting the suspect in the arm who can be heard screaming he shot my arm off as he ran away. the group took off in a bmw suv. the shooting was captured on video just before 3:00 a.m. on sunday. california customers of that store tell kttv they are glad

the elderly man defended himself. >> criminals are in control of everything right now, and the fact that he, they turned around and showed them what for, i think it's amazing. >> more businesses should be armed like that and defend their businesses like that. >> 23-year-old primary suspect who was shot is in critical but stable condition. those four suspects are being held on robbery and conspiracy charges, and the sheriff's office, writing in part "in this case a lawfully armed member of our community prevented a violent crime and ensured their own safety while being confronted with multiple armed suspects" and the owner's name is reported as craig, he suffered a heart attack after that incident but is recovering. sandra. >> sandra: a heart attack after the incident, we are told, because of the stress of the -- the obvious stress he went through in that situation. we hope that he recovers well

and shortly. thank you very much, matt. john. >> john: sandra, veterans, as well as family and friends of military members exposed to burn pits calling on senators to pass a bill to extend treatment for them. comedian jon stewart has been at the forefront of the push to get it passed. he will be here to tell us why he believes it's so important to get it done now. >> sandra: the final terrorist responsible for the attacks on 9/11 has been brought to justice. we will go live to our own correspondents here and abroad who covered this era of american history and hear what this means for them. only at vanguard, you're more than just an investor you're an owner. that means that your goals are ours too. and vanguard retirement tools and advice can help you get there. that's the value of ownership. she's feeling the power of listerine. he's feeling it. yep, them too. it's an invigorating rush... ...zapping millions of germs in seconds.

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just in. attorney general merrick garland has announced the justice department is suing the state of iowa -- idaho over access to abortions. this is the first filing by the d.o.j. of this nature in this state. idaho makes doctors criminally liable for abortions. this lawsuit was just filed today. law kicks in later this month, but the d.o.j. is suing to block it from going into effect. so that state has a near absolute ban on abortion, and this is the first filing of this nature so we'll look for any update on this.

this is just in from the justice department and you can see that merrick garland is speaking there, any update, we will bring it to you. >> john: thank you. a long time food pantry in new jersey has temporarily closed down for the first time ever after running out of food. it says it will be able to open tomorrow after securing some donations, but may have to shut down again later this week. lisa darrow joins us now, the director of angels community outreach in pitman, new jersey. thank you for being with us. first time you have ever had to shut down. what has happened in the past few months as inflation has really gripped the nation here that put the squeeze on you. >> 13 years i've never had to close the pantry down and i think you hit the nail right on the head. the rising costs of everything has just -- it's hard. everything costs more money. families that were able to

donate had the extra 30, $40 at the end of the month to donate to us, now they need the money for themselves. senior citizens are on fixed incomes and they need to make it stretch further. >> john: and in terms of people coming to you to put food than their own table, a dramatic increase across the board and country. is it in single individuals, families, is it the elderly or everybody? >> i'm going to say it's really everybody. i think every little bit, you have to stretch the dollar. i mean, people that are working, they just don't have enough money at the end of the month to put extra food on the table. like i said, the elderly, they are on a fixed income, they can't get a second job. >> john: so how many people typically do you serve in a week

and how many people have you had to turn away because of the situation? >> i would say we serve about 100, 150 people a week, and now our numbers have increased probably 30, 40%. i've had to turn away a lot of people, and it's hard. it's heartbreaking. you have to tell a veteran senior citizen i can't help you this month because we don't have food. definitely heartbreaking. >> john: i can't imagine, you are a measure of last resort for so many people and when they go to the measure of last resort and are told i'm sorry we can't help you, where do you turn after that. i want to put this up on the screen, this is information we have compiled about price increases due to inflation. eggs are up 33%, uncooked ground beef, 10%, poultry, 17%. lettuce, 11.5%. coffee, almost 16%. butter, more than 21%. this is putting an enormous

strain on you, enormous strain on just about everybody across the country. do you see any end in sight? i don't know if you are dialed in with what's happening here in washington because your mission is so great it probably takes up most of your time. do you see anything on the horizon that's going to help the situation? >> i'm scared. i'm scared it's going to get worse. the money we have as a non-profit to purchase food, it's not donated, you know, say we have a couple thousand dollars, it does not buy what it used to. i can't feed as many families or as i did, the cost is astronomical. >> how can folks help you out? >> go to our website, they can make a financial donation or you can, if you live nearby, pick up an item, drop it off, we can show you the pantry. and if you don't live nearby, donate to the pantry. everybody is suffering. >> john: and there's the website

on the bottom of the screen. lisa darrow, god bless you, we hope your mission continues and you get some relief here. great work you are doing. >> thank you so much. >> sandra: god bless here. china announces new actions at the u.s. after house speaker pelosi arrives on taiwanese soil. senator tom cotton, plus bret baier on the killing of a key al-qaeda leader and jon stewart on his fight to get help for military burn pit victims. all that as "america reports" rolls on. ick dissolve tablets. no water needed. no stomach upset. just fast, effective relief. hyland's naturals leg cramps. to healthy competition and beyond. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪

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reports." i'm john roberts in washington. hi again, sandra. >> sandra: just another august tuesday, right, john. busy, busy news day. i'm sandra smith in new, john. great to be with you. nancy pelosi has been in taipei, landed there late this morning. taiwan's tallest building welcoming her and thanking her for her visit today. we don't know how long she will be there, but the biggest question this hour is how is china going to respond? chinese government put out a statement and chinese media reports the government will take action without indicating what exactly that will be. in the last 48 hours, china was explicit in warnings of potential for retaliation using their military might. >> john: hottest point in decades and although the biden administration has downplayed china's threats as saber

rattling, any time a nuclear super power promises revenge, well, people tend to stand up and take notice. [sirens] >> john: taiwan so concerned about the potential for china using the visit to launch miss attacks, they spent five days on drills. >> sandra: and out at sea, u.s. military taking no chances. four u.s. warships standing by in the waters east of taiwan. normal military exercises as china announced targeted military operations in response to pelosi's trip there, that included live fire. >> john: a little more context what has china so upset. american lawmakers have visited taiwan in the past, including

speaker newt gingrinch in 1997, but pelosi is the highest ranking member of congress since that time, and pelosi has a long history of defying and maddening the chinese government. >> sandra: she has been an aggressive critic of the communist regime, she called the butchers of beijing. and she was holding a flag in tieneman square. killed hundreds, maybe thousands, depending who you ask. >> john: bret baier standing by and alex hoff at the white house. >> sandra: hello, greg. >> after days of a diplomatic guessing game, yes, nancy pelosi is in taiwan and china is firing back with words and actions. she landed tuesday in taipei, most official visitors do it low key, some not saying they were

there until they are gone. the tweet after landing said the delegation's visit to taiwan, unwavering commitment to taiwan. reaffirm our support to our partner and promote our shared interest, including advancing a free and open indopacific region. beijing claims taiwan as its own wasted no time in hitting back, saying pelosi was playing with fire and the visit would not have a good outcome. sent them with planes and ships close to taiwan and announced major new military exercises, some perhaps starting as early as tonight, which will basically encircle taiwan with china's military might. america's military might is close by as well. u.s.s. ronald reagan and others nearby, and pelosi flew to

taiwan, some in beijing had threatened to shoot her plane down. the schedule is, john and sandra, speaker pelosi is set to meet taiwan's president and other officials on wednesday before she goes to korea, and home. and defending pelosi and hang on to some kind of china policy will probably be relieved when this is all over. back to you. >> sandra: more reaction, thank you. >> john: team coverage inclusion with alexandria live at the white house. what are they saying there? >> the briefing is set to start, john, right now but put something in perspective in terms of nancy pelosi and interactions with china. two years into her career in congress when the 1989 massacre/protest unfolded in tieneman square. modern estimates put the death toll in the thousands when the chinese government unleashed on

pro-democracy protestors. and she paid homage, and said the chinese officials did not want to acknowledge what happened. listen. >> there was a tendency, the way i labelled it in my notes, to say it isn't so syndrome. >> speaker pelosi recalled the visit in "washington post" op-ed she released when she landed in taiwan, writing 30 years ago we in furled add black and white banner that read to those who died for democracy in china. uniformed police pursued us as we left the square and today's visit highlights some similarities to the past. 1995, congress passed a resolution to allow taiwan's president to come to the united states, nancy pelosi has received bipartisan support for her visit to taiwan, even though

president biden said he did not think it was a good idea, the military told him that. one key difference with china's retaliation says congressman michael waltz. >> the difference then to now is back then they knew and we knew they could not really do anything about it militarily. now the chinese believe and chairman xi believes they can do something militarily. >> speaker pelosi has continued to speak out on behalf of those who lost their lives in 1989 in tieneman square and offered similar support for the 2020 protests in hong kong. john, sandra. >> john: alexandria, thank you so much. let's bring in bret baier, chief political anchor, listening to michael pillsbury earlier today, he believes the next 24 hours is a dangerous period and a lot will hinge on what pelosi says when she is out in public with the taiwanese public.

if she reiterates the one china policy, no support for taiwanese independence, that may calm china. but something else, katie bar the door. >> bret: a big moment, nancy pelosi arriving in taiwan with the welcome almost like a kpop music band we were talking about earlier, a rock star well come in the public eye. we have not had a high ranking official like this since as you mentioned newt gingrinch in 1997 go to taiwan, and you are right, it matters what she says. it also matters how the white house reacts to what she says or does. and so far the president has received some criticism about not appearing that strong and how he has dealt with this from the beginning. republicans have signed on to this trip, some 26 -- 27 senators with a letter of support. they were invited, but there is

support on capitol hill for this effort. >> john: so far what pelosi has said in a written statement seems to follow along with u.s. policy, said call for number three, visit in no way contradicts long standing united states policy, guided by the taiwan relations act of 1979, assurances, the united states opposes unilateral efforts to change the status quo. but that did not stop china from again rattling the saber and saying if you play with fire you'll perish by it. >> bret: and it comes after this long phone call between president biden and president xi, one would think there was a fiery exchange, or as they put it, you know, a firm conversation. the readout from the white house was not that way, but in the wake of we may shoot down this plane, there wasn't a visceral reaction from the white house, and that seemed interesting to a

lot of folks. peter doocy asked about it at the briefing. >> john: and that was put up by a guy who is apparently a commentator for "global times," a chinese state media affiliated operation. but it's not like the chinese foreign ministry. >> bret: no, you are not putting out a communique from that. it is something and as china continues to fly these jets over taiwan, or near the strait, they are increasingly threatening, and what would happen, what would happen if they invaded. i think that's a big question for this country and the administration. >> john: and we all remember what happened back in 2001 when two chinese jets buzzed another plane and caused it to land. what do you think of al-zawahri. >> bret: more info how they were tracking him a long time, found out he was in afghanistan much

like the bin laden track, found the residence, they tracked his wife and how she was moving, and then presented this operation to the president we are told in the situation room with a model of the house. they ended up using hell fire missiles that don't explode, they have blades that spin and essentially chop down the target. >> john: the flying ginzu. >> bret: that's right. national review said he is not resting in peace but is resting in pieces. >> john: troubling issues, though. biden said we could pull out of afghanistan because al-qaeda is gone, clearly not the case and the taliban has the leader of al-qaeda in a posh place owned by the interior minister in downtown kabul. >> bret: and i think there are many more questions who is inside afghanistan now with the umbrella of protection from the taliban. you heard john kirby on fox earlier and brian kilmeade asked

him about that, saying al-qaeda is worried now after the strike. there is a safe haven and they are worried that the safe haven can be used as a pad to get attacks on the u.s. >> john: if you are al-qaeda, don't go out on the balcony. see you tonight at 6:00. clearly, a big blow to al-qaeda. when one leader falls, there are others to take their place. >> sandra: and huge win and show of force for our intelligence community as well, john. we'll continue to follow all of that. meanwhile, a live look in lower manhattan, john, and sacred ground once known worldwide as ground 0, coming up now, hard to believe, being 21 years since the united states came under the worst attack ever on american soil. >> john: decades since, a new symbol of american might has risen while those responsible have been taken down. the killing of ayman al-zawahri.

>> sandra: a year ago coming to a bloody and disastrous end, the afghan president blasted the u.s. for withdrawing troops blaming that for the increasing clashes between the taliban and u.s.-trained afghan forces. >> john: a "new york times" op-ed declared we cannot stand by and watch afghan collapse. but within two weeks, the president abandoned his nation, turned tail and ran. u.s. forces suffered a devastating bomb attack, and in the end, taliban had control of kabul, no different than on the 10th of september, 2001. >> sandra: the final terrorist responsible brought to justice. eric sean spent most of

september 11th at ground 0, and lower manhattan. steve, and trey yingst, covered more than a decade and reported from afghanistan last summer. steve harrigan, your thoughts. >> incredible military precision. a real wonder of what the u.s. military can do to take out a single target in a major city without taking out anybody else in the building or the apartment. my guess is he was perhaps doing morning prayers at 6:00 in the morning. but overall, i don't feel like celebrating. i think 20 years ago the taliban was in power. 20 years later, after so much blood and treasure, they are back in power. so tactically, yes, this is brilliant.

strategically, i'm sad about what happened for 20 years and who is in control right now. >> john: trey, you were there a year ago as the u.s. was pulling out of afghanistan. it was thought that the government of afghanistan would last at least a number of months as opposed to a number of days or even hours. and there were all these predictions the taliban would be in control and same game over again. the fact that al-zawahri was in the house of an interior minister in downtown kabul, that any thoughts they were going to be good partners with the united states is a pipe dream. >> a push from the americans africa bull fell into the hands of the taliban, trying to convince that al-qaeda was gone and the taliban had changed face somewhat. officials on the ground echoed the statements, pointed to agreements cut in dohar with the americans, not meaning much for

anyone on the ground. and the reality, as we have seen with this top terrorist being killed by the united states c.i.a., this means the hakani network, a branch of the network, is allowing al-qaeda to live in their territory and raising concerns for american officials if they will allow afghanistan to once again become a major launch point for terror attacks around the world. in the immediate aftermath of the fall of afghanistan, everything was chaos on the ground. it was difficult to get a sense of the direction of the country, and so people held out hope that this would be a different taliban, allow for equality and women's rights and the country to be part of the western world and engage with countries like the united states. but the reality is stark and grim for the future of the afghan people, remain in the country as steve noted was protecting this top terror official who ultimately was

killed in this u.s. drone strikes over the weekend. >> sandra: and eric, we bring it home here, where you are standing there, in lower manhattan, almost 21 years to the day the time that has passed since we have this leader now dead and gone and what that means to so many who lost loved ones 21 years ago. >> you know, sandra, this remains sacred ground, and shows we will not forgive nor forget what these terrorists did a generation ago. it also is a reminder that the threat of radical islamic terrorism has not completely receded. we have not heard very much about it over the past few years, the fact that he was able to operate so freely and be there on the balcony in kabul with the blessing apparently of the taliban shows that our radical islamic enemies are still there and are in our sights even if it is harder perhaps to hit us. the family members welcome the

news, of course, all of the architects of that horrible day, 9/11, have now been brought to justice, they are all dead. however, the families say they want more answers, especially as it relates to saudi arabia. they believe saudi arabia financially backed some of the terrorists, evidence that money went from saudi arabia directly or indirectly to some of those involved in the hijacking, the kingdom has always denied it had any involvement in this. the family members want a complete declassification of all the intelligence information on saudi arabia before they willful i rest. and even though some lives have gone on, when you come here to the sight it's just a poignant and very strong reminder of the human toll, more than 3,000 names etched on the granite that surrounds the magnificent waterfalls behind me and the people who still come here to this sight. millions a year to pay homage, to pay respect, to remember what

happened here 21 years ago, and also to be reminded of that threat that does still exist, sandra. >> john: and so many families whose lives were changed forever that day. steve, you said you did not want to celebrate because of the implications he was in kabul, we don't want to harp on that particular point. when you look at the future here and the way the taliban seems to be embracing terrorist leaders, where do you fear it could be headed? >> i remember being on a roof 24 years ago thinking the americans are coming, we are going to pave roads, internet, modernity. 20 years later, billions of dollars, none of that has happened. i'm glad al-zawahri is dead, but we lost our focus.

did it with the nazis after world war ii, japan after world war ii, did not have the vision or the strength or patience to do it in afghanistan. >> sandra: so many people listening to you, veterans, and some who served this multiple times, they hear and share your passion and your thoughts on that, and trey, i'm amazed as we do this reporters' notebook here, how many wars you have covered and you'll take a brief break in the middle of it, you'll come back to civilian life to take your break and you dive right back in. that's what all of you have done throughout this. that's what you do, and you'll continue to tell these people's stories to steve's point, will continue to suffer on the ground without change. >> absolutely. so many people left behind in afghanistan by the united states, interpreters, translator, people who worked as cooks in the u.s. embassy and drivers, begging us, seeing that we were american, asking what

happened, why did they leave us behind and steve notes, 20 years of an effort where it looked like the country could be changed and ultimately maybe have a future for the millions of innocent people who have been caught amid a conflict, and unfortunately, many of those innocent people still live in afghanistan and the aid and the money flowing into the country when the afghan government was in control and still american advisers on the ground, that has disappeared. and when we were on the ground in kabul when the taliban was in complete control. there were people starving in the streets, internally displaced afghans, people not even trying to leave the country who are still there and their future is uncertain, but it is just a tragic scenario that has taken place in afghanistan, and while there is some good news to report today that a top terror official, leader of al-qaeda was killed in a u.s. drone strike, terrorism will continue in afghanistan and that region of the world will largely be

forgotten about by many american officials as they shift their focus elsewhere. >> john: on that point, eric shawn, and i don't know if you have talked to many people down there but you know this issue because you have covered it for 21 years, obviously there is some sense of satisfaction that ayman al-zawahri has met his maker a form of justice after september 11th they want more information about saudi arabia involvement, but wondering what the sentiment is among people so deeply affected by 9/11 that essentially were back to where we were on september 10, 2001, with afghanistan handed back over to taliban control. >> a sense of relief about the killing but reminder that the taliban is back in control. the threat is still there, and i'm still angry. i have an anger.

yes, the government, intelligence operatives, our troops, blood and treasure of the country but i have an anger we missed the signs. the first radical islamic terrorist attack in the country was in 1990, the killing on 49th and lexington, and bombing in 1993, and yousef, arrested for 1993 and flying over the world trade center and told his fbi agents we are coming back. we had the close and then this happened, john behind us, may we never ever live that, live through that ever again, and be on watch and have this country be protected and americans resolved as one against the radical islamic terrorist threat that took those two gleaming glorious buildings down that created more than 3,000 victims

here and those in the pentagon and shanksville, the field in shanksville and makes this a solemn and sacred place for millions to visit every year. let us learn those lessons, sadly, the taliban back in control, sadly some of the same issues continue. pakistan, i.s.i. support and this sort of thing. let us not continue, let's get, let us not continue and know the lessons from there. >> sandra: eric, steve, trey, thank you for your continued reporting to cover the stories for our audience. thanks very much. debate still ongoing in congress to support veterans exposed to burn pits during their service, many have ended up dying. senator majority leader chuck schumer hours ago calling on republicans to help him pass the bill. >> john: joining us now is jon

stewart, comedian, can actor, activist, and one wasted away to an aggressive cancer linked to burn pits, her friend died four months ago. mindy, your thoughts of what are happening on capitol hill where you are with this. >> thank, john and sandra. so i think that this has taken long enough. i think it is time for us to help all of these veterans. you know, kate always used to say i'm totally willing to die for my country, i just didn't think it would be like this. when you die on the battlefield you are sacrificing yourself. when you come home with wounds and you die of a prolonged illness at home, you are depleting your family resources, financial, social, emotional, their health and then you have to worry about their survival after you leave, after you, you

know, pass away. and so no veteran wants that, right. no veteran wants to sacrifice their family. they are willing to sacrifice themselves, but not their family. >> sandra: mindy, we are sorry for your loss, beautiful pictures of your friend and condolences to you and her family. jon, why is it so important for you to take on this fight that you have? >> i think because i feel like we have never quite wrestled with the cost of mindy's sacrifice and kate's sacrifice and sergeant wesley black who lost his battle to burn pit cancer. you know, i was just reflecting on you have a reporter at ground 0, and here we are, 21 years later, and here we are with veterans of that war, iraq and afghanistan, who still have not had the healthcare and benefits

that they earned in that battle. and so we can talk about the strategic implications and are we safer today than we were then, that's true. but as a country, i think one of our greatest failures is to not take care of the consequence of the wars that we have sent these individuals into. they sacrificed for us, and unfortunately we have not given that the attention it deserves and that's why we are trying to, you know, so hard to get them over the finish line. >> john: this bill passed the senate, 84-14 in june and went to the house where the senator from virginia said some changes were money and money in the discretionary pot were mandatory, and worried a budget hole in the v.a. could be filled with other things. you dispute that. tell us your side. >> i don't dispute it.

congress.gov disputes it. 84-14 passed by the senate on the website. there is a copy of the bill that went to the house, purely for a blue slip issue to take out a provision about rural v.a. providers and if the v.a. were to pay them would there be tax benefit. had nothing to do with mandatory or discretionary, not one word added to the copy of the bill that this senate passed 84-14. so that's not a matter of opinion, that's not a matter of me saying so, it's a matter of record. and look, you can think whatever you think about my politics or any of those other things, but i stand here with mindy and with the v.f.w. and the american legion and independence fund and grunt style and a full spectrum of political leanings of v.s.o. community that stands united. i've never seen anything like it. >> sandra: so jon --

>> very liberal to incredibly conservative. >> sandra: you've been extremely vocal about this, out there, we have seen you across the airwaves fighting for these veterans and i know some of these members of congress, ted cruz, pat toomey and others say they support the veterans and they want more help and healthcare for the veterans and ted cruz is in the category, he also saw a budget trick or a gimmick in there that he was defensive of. i know that's what you are responding to. so, what is your broad message there? obviously you are saying that you take issue with their issues with this bill. so, take this big picture for us. where are you going to go with this next, john? >> john: we'll go wherever we have to go. the one thing i will say about these men and women is they have still got the heart of a warrior, and they may be suffering from the diseases that are wracking their body from the burn pits but we are relentless and won't let it go.

and i understand here there is discretionary, matters, all kinds of things. the bill that ted cruz voted for on june 16th didn't change no matter what they say. sometimes two plus two is four, not fish sticks. so it's a matter of record, the delay has been long enough. it's been 15 years. we have lost friends along the way, and we refuse to lose any more. >> and i also think that the vote from wednesday did not represent the interests of the american people. i also don't really believe that it represented the interests of the senate. i think folks got up there, some information was thrown at them at the last minute, and they got confused and voted an opposite way than they normally would, and voted just one month before. >> you can check those claims, by the way, and i think it would be helpful. >> john: i've been talking with mia from the committee with the

responsible budget, the most confusing thing ever when it comes to the argument over funding. mindy, finish off with you. chuck schumer said he's going to try to bring it to a vote again this week in the senate, but the house is out which means they cannot act on this until they come back from recess. >> they don't have to. >> john: what's going to happen if this thing doesn't get passed? >> so we have had veterans succumb to suicide since this vote was denied. timeliness is of the essence right now. i know that we are all sharing in the victory over terrorism and al-qaeda, but my heart right now is with the veterans who made that possible who are lying in their beds at home suffering because we haven't given them the care that they need. they will continue to suffer until we can pass this act.

as soon as possible, we cannot wait another six weeks. >> john: jon -- >> it doesn't -- doesn't have to go back to the house. >> john: only does if pat toomey's amendment is accepted, i just wanted to -- >> that's correct. if they accept his amendment it goes back to the house. the house already passed the senate version and they gained 90 republican votes with this so-called gimmick. but there is no gimmick, nothing was added. i don't know what to say. >> sandra: have you spoken with ted cruz and pat toomey yourself? >> i went by their office today and boy, i don't know if you've ever sold encyclopedias door to door, that's a look i don't think i would like to get again when you pop your head in the door. that was one of those, you know, we have reached out to them to get clarification. i challenge ted cruz to point to

specifically the section of the bill that changed his vote from the june 16th yes to the july no and he has not done it. and i truly would appreciate you guys as an independent arbitor vetting this because the misinformation that is out there is riling up certain portions of the military community and they are attacking each other, and this is a bill that helps all of them, and only them. >> john: well, it is a bill that is desperately needed, no question about that. hopefully they'll be able to get there at some point. jon stewart, mindy beyer, great to speak with you. >> sandra: moments from now, senator tom cotton will be joining us, here to respond why he voted no to that bill. that and the building china threat at this moment. he'll join us next.

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>> sandra: it is bottom of the hour now, and back to the top story. house speaker nancy pelosi is in taiwan for hours now but the threat from china has just begun, and now two of the largest militaries are on alert. four warships are east of taiwan, as china announces a new round of drills including long range missiles. jennifer, what have we seen as far as china's response to her landing there so far? >> sandra, taiwan's defense ministry just said 21 chinese war planes entered its air defense identification zone after speaker pelosi's delegation landed in taipei. the pentagon is watching the situation closely amidst threatening rhetoric from beijing which reiterated the intention of reuniting taiwan

with mainland china. they say the p.l.a. would not sit by nor would the u.s. military. the u.s. military deployed four warships east of taiwan, aircraft carrier, u.s.s. ronald reagan, and three others are nearby. the last u.s. government visit to taiwan in 2020 resulted in china flying 40 war planes into taiwan's air defense identification zone. china's foreign ministry responded to pelosi's visit with a blistering statement "these moves like playing with fire are extremely dangerous. those who play with fire will perish by it". the chinese military then announced live fire exercises in six areas around taiwan from august 4th to 7.

after she leaves. they say the chinese army eastern theater command will begin a series of military operations tonight. taiwan's defense ministry said the exercises threatened taiwan's ports. chinese state media warned if u.s. fighter planes escorted pelosi, it would be an invasion and the p.l.a. could shoot it down. she flew in on a military plane, the chinese did not shoot her plane down. and general mark milley has not spoken and does not plan to speak with his counterpart. the last conversation between president biden and president xi on thursday lasted more than two hours and consumed by discussion of pelosi's visit. >> sandra: thank you very much. john. >> john: bring in arkansas republican senator tom cotton, so senator, china's reaction so far has been i guess restrained,

mostly rhetoric. saying china strongly urges the united states to stop playing the taiwan card, should stop meddling on taiwan and interfering with china's internal affairs, and separatist forces in any form, stop acts of saying one thing but doing the opposite on the taiwan question. again, a lot of rhetoric, a lot of bluster, fairly restrained, do you expect that will last. >> john, fairly typical rhetoric about the chinese communists to taiwan, i've gone with large groups of senators and the same plane nancy pelosi went on today, you hear the same threats and rhetoric. the difference here is that joe biden elevated this to def con1. he never should have leaked it to the public that she was going to go to taiwan, he said the military did not want her to go,

completely normal and in 40 years of customs and practice for members of congress to travel to taiwan. whether it's the speaker of the house or back bench first term congressman. we cannot allow the chinese communists to dictate where american citizens can travel and the world, especially elected leaders. >> john: judging by china's response, that nothing will happen the next 24 hours while she is on the ground there, what posture should the biden administration take toward china on taiwan when speaker pelosi departs? >> john, i do expect the chinese communists will take more aggressive action toward taiwan, because they have been taking aggressive action toward taiwan. entering taiwanese air space for months and months to degrade the air force or test reactions. they have taken these actions in part because they think they can

get away with it. what it's well pastime to do, the united states to make clear we will support taiwan if the chinese communists go for the jugular. the reason to do that, it takes strength and resolution and clarity to prevent a war from happening in the first place. >> john: ask you about something else we were talking with jon stewart and mindy, the pact act, burn pits in iraq and afghanistan. you voted initially in june, voted against it when it came back from the house. why did you vote against it, what needs to change in order for it to get your support? >> well, john, the vote last week was not the bill itself, but whether or not we want the amendments. i voted for it in june, it's a good bill and we need to take care of the veterans exposed to

the toxic substances. pat toomey is making it a better bill. i hope we can vote on it as soon as today and then pass the bill. i think we need to take care of our veterans. i think we can take steps to improve the bill more and make sure we are not using the department of veterans affairs in the future to try to increase spending on other unrelated matters. >> john: apparently schumer says the vote is going to be at 5:00 this afternoon, but let me just get you to drill down on what you just said there. if you vote on the amendments, the toomey amendment and the toomey amendment does not pass, will you still vote for the bill? >> yes, i will. i voted for it in june, i thought it was a good bill then. i think it will be an even better bill, but if the toomey amendment fails i will vote on passage as i did in june. the vast majority of republicans will do so as well. >> john: mandatory spending and

creating a hole to be if filled with something else, we had jon stewart on, i did see a score $396 billion in discretionary spending disappears, i guess it would be mandatory. but his contention is that this is not an issue. so, why did it become an issue? >> well, i had a good conversation with mr. stewart and several other of the veterans advocates today. an area we disagree. i think the democrats in the future might try to use this somewhat obscure budgetary point to get more unrelated spending not for the benefit of veterans, i support the toomey amendment, i will still support the good bill we voted on in june even if the amendment does not pass later today. >> john: is it your belief after this vote at 5:00 the pact act will indeed be ready for the president to sign as it is? or would it have -- i guess it would have to go back to the

house if the toomey amendment passes. >> well john, i can't predibt how the vote is going to go on the toomey amendment. i believe other senators are trying to get amendments as well. i don't know what will pass or may not pass this afternoon, but i believe we'll have an agreement to vote on any and all and vote on passage in the senate today. >> john: and do you think the vote on passage will be in the affirmative? >> yes, i do. >> john: senator tom cotton of arkansas, great to catch up with you. >> sandra: he says he's a yes either way, and chuck schumer on the record just said as you just said, john, that the pact with the amendment is going to be voted on tonight 5:00, he says, he makes the forecast, he believes it will pass and pass this evening. so he says he believes there will be good news. >> john: so then the only question then is, if the toomey amendment or some of the other amendments were to pass, then it would have to go back to the house and the house would have

to adopt the new amendments and because they are on recess it won't be back until after labor day, there would be a delay. if the amendments go down to defeat and senators like senator cotton and others still vote for the bill, that means that it would, everything would pass this afternoon and would be ready for the president to put his pen to it and sign it into law. >> sandra: and from jon stewart's interview a moment ago, sounds like he made some rounds on capitol hill today. >> john: including senator cotton. >> sandra: see if there are any minds changed. even if there's not an amendment, it goes back to tom cotton's point, still yes with no change. press ted cruz and pat toomey as well, just don't know. >> john: where jon stewart said if you ever sold encyclopedias door to door, the look you get from some people, i did not sell those door to door but i did sell newspaper subscriptions over the phone and the audio version of that look he gt from senator cruz's office. >> sandra: picking up what he's

laying down, huh. very descriptive. good to have john, tom cotton, john, thank you. >> john: a little piece of news they believe the bill one way or another will pass. see what happens after that. meantime, the white house pushing back on reports that massive social spending bill from senator schumer and manchin will raise taxes on all american, even those making less than $400,000 a year. larry kudlow is standing by with his salient thoughts on all of this. wait until you hear what he has to say, but first of all, edward lawrence live at the white house. >> this is a messaging battle from the white house, the facts are in black and white, and they found, the committee found anyone making under $400,000 a year would see a tax increase immediately, though, the white house pushing back. listen to this.

>> this is an attempt to try -- >> it is not correct, i'll give you why it's not correct, because it is incomplete. j.c.t. report we are seeing is incomplete because it omits the actual benefits that americans would receive when it comes to prescription drugs, when it comes to the lowering energy costs like utility bills. >> so the press secretary had no problem pushing the joint committee on taxation findings for the bipartisan infrastructure bill but when it doesn't fit, all of a sudden it's incomplete. republicans say it's simple, the economy is in recession and you cannot blindly push agenda regardless of the harm it would do to the economy. and they say senator manchin was duped. >> this is an attempt to try to rein in manchin, get sinema to come along, hopefully she does not give into this gimmick which

again spends all the money up front, has all the savings later on. typical d.c. gobbbly-goop. >> back to you, john. >> john: ed lawrence from 1600 pennsylvania avenue. >> sandra: save the question i was just asking larry off the camera for on camera now, we ran out of time. larry kudlow is here, number one show in business news once again for the month of july. congratulations to you. >> larry: thank you. it's a great blessing for us, but f.b.n., the whole network is killing it, and beating the competition. proud of that. >> sandra: and you are a huge part of that, larry. >> larry: thank you. >> sandra: the inflation reduction act, you had this react to it. and i know you've got inside baseball knowledge what's going on here.

so, explain this to us. because what republicans are saying and those who are not a fan of this because you can make the case this is across party lines, 15% corporate minimum tax, ok. that's where the democrats and joe manchin are saying wait, this is just them paying their fair share. those are companies with income over a billion dollars that we are talking about. he's saying these are taxes they owe anyway, so there's no new taxes and he's also making the case, you tell me, that all these estimates say it's not going to tamp down inflation, but raise taxes on all americans. is it taking into account prescription drug plan and benefits of the plan, you say what. >> larry: prescription drug plan, i don't know if there are benefits, attack on pharmaceuticals is incredible. in tax terms and the medicare drug pricing controls. so i think drugs are going to be -- i think the new

prescription drugs would increase costs, not reduce the costs. it's been tried before, discussed before. >> sandra: what's going on with your buddy manchin. you've been a huge fan of his throughout. he's stood up for the american people and killed the bills that incur this amount of spending. i want to play -- >> larry: he had a bad week, he called me yesterday, he -- i had a great talk with him. he's an old friend, i admire him and great until last week. judy and i are driving down, and senator joe, you broke my heart and he said i'm going to try to unbreak it, and then he walked through the reasons. he did not unbreak it. it's a terrible bill. look, this bill is just full of major tax increases for american companies. now, this blarney there is a loophole, there is no loophole. expensing 100% immediate

expensing for plants and equipment is essential to the american economy, built into the 2017 trump tax cuts. unfortunately joe manchin voted against the trump tax cuts, that was a mistake and now repeating the mistake. >> sandra: you share concerns it will raise taxes for everybody. >> everybody. look, just quickly. the largest burden of corporate tax increases falls on the middle class working folks and the lower middle class, blue collar. that is consensus. the joint tax complete. the congressional budget office. my buddy kevin did so much work on this. democratic economists have looked at it. this bill in some estimates, dan clifton, a smart guy coming on our show, will cut corporate profits by $50 billion next year.

5-0, 50. it's a huge number. >> sandra: they say that's the rich corporation. how does it affect the little guy? >> if they lose $50 billion from profits, how are they going to hire the little guy, the middle class guy, they won't be able to. moreover, they won't invest in new technology, invest in new computers. >> sandra: manchin doesn't believe that's the case. >> larry: they won't upgrade or build new factories or hospitable to onshoring companies. >> sandra: many agree with you. >> larry: consensus on this. and look, i don't want to personalize this, i happen to like joe manchin. but the biden administration and chuck schumer are making a case and they are always fraudulent, ok. they are, how shall i say, suffer from heavy cognitive disonance.

it will increase inflation, this will increase. i know what joe is doing. joe believes that he is going to get permitting for a pipeline running through west virginia, but also generally speaking, he wants new permitting policies from the biden administration to allow more drilling, allow more pipelining and presumably more refining. >> sandra: one thought from manchin, he was on the air earlier today, a couple hours ago talking to harris. so, sot 1, i was going to call for something else, but now you bring up the pipeline, sot 1, he said this. listen. >> you've got to produce your way out of this. you can't sit back and wait out of it. >> are you going to open pipelines? >> absolutely, we are going to build pipelines. >> how are you going to sell that to the president of the united states. >> it's already been sold, already been sold. >> on day one he flipped the switch. >> it's already been, it's part of the bill. >> larry: this is important and harris did a great job raising

that key point. it's not -- i mean, if it's part of the deal, then they should vote on the pipeline permitting before reconciliation. >> sandra: did you tell joe that? >> larry: we talked about it. he knows that, and he is prepared to be unsupportive of a new budget resolution when the year runs out september 30th, he's prepared to be. now, you are not going to get a vote for quite some time. we have senator dan sullivan coming on tonight. he has a better idea. congressional review act, c.r.a. act amendment that he's going to vote on the floor. he's got 50 republican votes, he needs one more. that will do more to push the regulators, the crazy woke regulators into allowing permits and they should have just let the trump permitting rules stand.

>> sandra: you got the promo in. >> larry: even with pipeline, even with pipelines, i don't care, it ain't worth a gigantic tax hike that will affect business investment and blue collar workers and damage the economy and on the supply side wind up raising inflation. it's a lousy trade-off. one thing should have been voted separately. and i.r.s. is going to chase small business, uber drivers and you and me, come on the set and chase us, the i.r.s. expansion. >> sandra: come on at 4:00. thank you very much, larry. to john. >> john: looking forward to that. fox business. mitch mcconnell moments ago talking about the house speaker's visit to taiwan. listen to what he said here. >> i think it's important the speaker did go to taiwan. i don't think the chinese get to tell members of congress where they can go. what it underscores is a mistake

the president made in getting into reprimanding the speaker in effect publicly. i think he should many republicans for the speaker going there, and this just in as well, apparently one of china's biggest social media platforms webo has been failing under the crush of people who have been talking about and interested in nancy pelosi's trip there. nearly 1.3 billion views on webo of her arrival there causing the site to slow down, maybe even crash a couple times and apparently the chinese government making no attempt to censor the discussion. >> sandra: it's public and anticipation for that and she is there right now. she did not announce it as an official stop prior to wheels down there, we know she's there now, we know there are meetings taking place and don't exactly know how long her trip there is.

interesting. >> john: we'll keep following this tomorrow, all the repercussions and another note, senator schumer scheduled a vote for 5:00 on the pact act, and had tom cotton on, senator cotton predicts it will pass the senate, not sure in what form, but we'll keep watching. >> sandra: great to be with you, john. jam packed two hours. thanks for joining us, i'm sandra smith. >> john: flew >> martha: thanks, john and sandra. good afternoon. i'm martha maccallum. so the threat level rises after that drill. remember this drill that they did in taiwan preparing for the day that might invade their island? that's not how china sees it. house speaker nancy pelosi is now on the ground there defying the chinese government. you know, the pentagon and the white house sought to dissuade this visit. she's the