$10,000 to upkeep and adding things even without adding new. prices are through the roof right now. it's crazy. >> if you decorate, you decorate. with the higher prices like holiday shopping people are willing to do it because it gets you in the christmas spirit. >> nothing does more than this house. >> bill: i always wonder where they store it after the holidays. where does it go? grady, thank you. >> he owns a construction company. it gets trailed off site and storeed in trailers during the 11 other months of the year. >> bill: thank you. >> president biden: she is safe. she is on a plane and she is on her way home. this is a day we've worked toward for a long time. we never stopped pushing for her release. it took painstaking and intense negotiation. >> dana: president biden moments

ago at brittney griner is on her way back home after ten months in russian captivity. good news this morning for her and her family. welcome to a new hour of "america's newsroom," i'm dana perino. >> bill: surprising news this morning. a couple more things coming out right now. paul whelan is an american businessman from the state of michigan still being held. there was a lot of talk whether or not they could bring them both home. that hasn't happened here now. but there are some alerts coming out of the white house. u.s. officials spoke with whelan at length on thursday, which would be today. that might be a good sign there. he had been in a military hospital as recently as thanksgiving. a few more -- u.s. proposed multiple options to russia. they believe moscow is still open to talks. the choice for biden was bringing griner home or no american home and the agreement apparently came together in the last 48 hours. all that crossing right now. >> dana: lucas tomlinson has been at the white house.

it came in and we want to go to him right away. you might have known last night there was something happening but that news not released until today in case this very delicate situation got upended. >> we had heard rumblings of a prisoner swap might be in the works after fox news received a tip that plain clothes u.s. marshals had moved viktor bout. going back to what you mentioned about paul whelan not being on the flight. president biden standing this morning explained where whelan wasn't on the flight. >> president biden: sadly for totally illegitimate reasons they are treating paul's case different from brittney's. we are not giving up. we will never give up. we remain in close touch with paul's family. >> 32-year-old brittney griner

was desand in russia a few days before russia's invasion of ukraine and held on a drug possession charge. at her trial she said she used them to relieve pain and sentenced to nine years of hard labor in a penal colony. the uae helped with the prisoner swapped. in exchange for her freedom the u.s. freed viktor bout known as the merchant of death arrested in 2008 and convicted in manhattan in 2011 on conspiracy charges to kill u.s. citizens in columbia after selling weapons with the hope of shooting down a u.s. military helicopter and killing american soldiers and others. bout was sentenced to 25 years in prison. there is criticism on capitol hill about the swap saying for a long time u.s. policy was to release hostages in the order they were taken. go back to the vietnam war. these aren't prisoners of war.

john mccain was released and did not accept it. there are questions about why paul whelan was not on that flight today. >> dana: let's bring in republican tennessee congressman mark green. as you serve on the house foreign affairs committee it is a great day to have brittney griner coming home to the united states. viktor bout has been said a very steep price to pay. what about what lucas mentioned, the tradition you try to bring people home in the order in which they were taken? >> well, i think this is a great day to have brittney home. i'm happy for her and for her family. horrible experience, i'm sure. but the real problem here is just the weakness of this president. we got a marine sitting over there. we traded this merchant of death guy who was going to target u.s. military personnel. what is the message we're sending to the people serving in our military or might one day

serve? we'll leave the marine in the jail in russia. we'll free the guy who was going to target u.s. military soldiers, and just get the high-profile basketball player. it is a terrible message to send not only to the despots of the world who know they can get a trade if they capture an american. the united states military is saying i can serve this country and the president will leave me and take the basketball player. >> bill: we hope paul whelan's health is better than it was just a short time ago. you might have heard at the top of the show the u.s. officials had spoken to whelan at great length today. it would give his family, i imagine, some measure of relief because apparently the last time he talked to them was a week or two ago when he was in that hospital. >> no doubt. he has some health issues. this guy needs to come home.

served our country. he needs to come home and he should have been the guy who came home or at least get two of them for one. this guy is an arms dealer, convicted arms dealer who was, again, as you guys mentioned, targeting american soldiers to kill them and we couldn't get -- our president is so weak he couldn't get, you know, these two guys for this one terrorist really. it is shameful and i guess it's just understandable. he was the vice president when we traded five taliban leaders, war lords basically for bowe bergdahl. he was trained by the best in doing bad deals. >> dana: well, also the other thing is that is an opinion we could set aside for a moment. it was the obama administration that was able to get bout. the number one wanted person in the world at the time. and it's not just americans he was targeting. this guy has an ocean of blood

on his hands across the board. it was the obama administration that helped bring him to justice. there was a press release in 2011 saying he was convicted of conspiring to kill u.s. nationals and u.s. officers and employees. so on that score, you know, bout has been off and out of the game for a while. he is going back to russia. >> he is back in the game now. >> dana: at a time when they're at war with ukraine. >> you think about this. what does it communicate to the world, right? to all the despots, not only russia who is invading and killing now probably over 100,000 ukrainians, 80,000 something died in mariupol and we make a deal with this guy to give away a convicted murderer and arms dealer all of that for just one person. if this leader was strong, if our president was strong, we

could have gotten two. >> bill: two biff been a good day. a good day for brittney griner and her family. she is coming home and the hell that she experienced is now over. >> yes, sir. >> bill: i imagine she lands around 4:00 or 5:00 this afternoon, maybe even in washington, d.c. >> dana: her wife said she and brittney will continue to try to help bring whelan home as well as anybody else being held unjust fileably around the world. >> awesome, good day for brittney. >> bill: breaking this hour president biden facing growing backlash over how he handled the crisis at the border with even some democrats voicing their value in a trip south. >> do you think it's important for president biden to go to the border for himself? >> i think it's important for the administration to recognize it's a crisis. we all know it's a crisis. i've been clear about that and so when you have a crisis in your country, you should deal with it. >> is there value to the

president go sfng >> i think there is value to the president going every where. >> bill: first congresswoman is a democrat for michigan who won a third term. slotkin. congress is looking to take matters into their own hands. a group of bipartisan senators are working on a framework for potential immigration deal. one of those senators north carolina republican thom tillis joins us in moments. we start at the border with bill melugin on the crisis unfolding in the rio grande valley in texas. good morning. >> bill, good morning to you. because of the unprecedented number of gotaways slipping past border patrol texas dps launched a new task force as part of operation lone star to track down and arrest gotaways. look at the video we shot yesterday morning. we embedded with this elite unit made up of troopers with canines and drones as they went out into the brush here in the rio grande valley and arrested group after

group of single adult men actively looking to evade. keep in mind these are all illegal immigrants who are actively trying to sneak into the united states. in one single morning, we were with this task force as they arrested 50 of these guys trying to sneak through the brush in the mission areas here in texas. they aren't enough border patrol agents on the front lines these days. texas dps will help augment border patrol by sending troopers into the brush and arresting the gotaways. look at the second piece of video here. a bit creepy. we talk about the control that cartels and smugglers have on the border. as we were with texas dps we started seeing suspected cartel scouts from across the river watching texas dps. a couple guys in pickup trucks with radios and guys in hoods and camouflage with phones and radios watching troopers. they put a drone in the air as well. just goes to show they keep an eye on u.s. law enforcement

trying to figure out when and where to push people across the border. one last thing, look at these photos. scouts on the u.s. side of the river as well. texas dps arrested this guy during their operation yesterday a suspected scout armed with an ak-47 and a full round and magazine full of ammo. that's one morning's work for this new task force for texas dps in the rgb. >> bill: thanks in texas. >> dana: let's bring if republican north carolina senator thom tillis. you are working on some legislation. what do you want to accomplish? >> we want to seal the border. we want to prevent 2 million crossings every year. with title 42 going away potentially many more than that. we want to protect our border patrol agents. we lost one this week trying to go after some of the people you just described. they are evading border patrol. they are not presenting themselves for asylum and trying to get to this country to continue the expansion of the

cartel's illegal actions. we want to reduce fentanyl coming across the border and secure the border. and we want to make sure that the crisis at the border, that the president has to understand exists, has to be solved. >> bill: under president trump, he floated a number of ideas to legalize the dreamer status in 2018, i believe. apparently had support from a majority of senate republicans. here is senator tom cotton, who doesn't appear to be on board and says it won't happen. zblu hear a lot of talk about so-called dreamers and how we need to give them a legal status. right now joe biden is creating hundreds of thousands of more so-called dreamers every month. what we have to do is secure our border, prevent this historic flood of illegal aliens coming into our country before we address any other issues in our immigration system. >> bill: how would you change your republican colleague's mind on that? >> first off tom cotton is a friend of mine.

i disagree with tom. the 800 million a year that the cartels are making for human trafficking is aiding and abetting the flood of fentanyl to this country. i think that when we're talking about what we're talking about proposing here is simply looking at a small portion of the population that even president trump supported as a path to citizenship. here is what they have to do. they have to be in school. they have to be gainfully employed. they can be in the military. they can't have a criminal record and never have been on federal -- any sort of federal assistance. these are people that came to this country as minors who are now doctors, scientists, teachers, hundreds serving in the military. i think the american people understand this is very different than this concept of amnesty. this will give them a path. it is not automatic. they will have to work and maintain those high standards. and for that, we get a closed border and we shut down the

cartels. that seems to me like something worth working on. >> dana: white house press secretary karine jean-pierre asked about the border says -- she'll say the border is secure. if republicans want to do anything about it they should come up with their own ideas and they'll take a look. here you have an idea and you have a senator on the democratic side who is partnering with you on this. have you had any indication from the white house they would be willing to do something to try to secure the border in order to get something else that they want? >> the white house is going to get what we've agreed to here and nothing more. that is exactly what i described in terms of this population. again, a population that president trump also thought had merit to give them a path to citizenship. what the administration is going to have to accept is we'll fix the problem that they created. in the last year of the trump administration, we had a half million illegal crossings. that is manageable for border patrol. now we have over 2 million. if title 42 goes away it could

be 3 million or more. the border patrol has told me to my face that they will lose control of the border. they are already spread thin. this is a crisis the administration refuses to accept and one we need to solve. >> bill: senator, thank you for your time. good luck with the idea and we'll follow it. thom tillis, the republican from north carolina. thank you. >> dana: republicans vowing to investigate the chaotic withdrawal in afghanistan when they take control of the house. is that enough? a former marine joins us with a dire warning. helping them achieve financial freedom. we're providing greater access to investing, with low-cost options to help maximize savings. from the plains to the coasts, we help americans invest for their future. and help communities thrive.

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>> dana: more than 1100 "new york times" employees are on strike today. bargaining has dragged on since

the contract expired in march of 2021. talks over higher wages and remote work policies fell apart overnight. the union is asking readers to join a 24-hour digital picket line. not sure how that will go. >> bill: watch it. house republicans gearing up to investigate the botched withdrawal out of kabul when they take the majority over the new year. chaos from the pull-out reaches american soil. our next guest wrote an article in atlantic magazine entitled the next afghan refugee crisis is in the u.s. author of the book the fifth act, "america's end in afghanistan." there were upwards of 80,000 afghan refugees who made it to the u.s. is that the number today? >> 80,000 of our afghan allies got to the u.s. in the summer of 2021 but brought under humanitarian parole. it only lasts for two years

unless the refugee status is adjusted. it is bipartisan in congress now but doubtful it will pass unless there is more congressional support in the house and senate. >> bill: you have 8 or 9 months to figure it out. >> this session to figure it out in the lame duck. it is being discussed right now but we need more energy behind this. particularly these afghan families who have been since the withdrawal. they can't start their lives. these are our allies and the people, when i served there, who i said you have my back and they had my back. they fought this war for 20 years alongside us and they might not hold blue passports but some afghans are american heroes and we need to do right by them for our national honor we need to do right by them. >> dana: what do you hear from other veterans described as a moral injury when they feel guilty and unable to help the

people who maybe saved their lives, if they're still in afghanistan. i'm sure you hear from those people a lot or directly from afghans. and what it means to those veterans -- our veterans, american citizen veterans to have these people living in limbo like this? >> i think veterans speak about the afghan allies abstraction. the comrades in arms, brothers and sisters who we fought alongside. moral injury is when you are forced to betray what you think is the right thing to do. and so to take our allies or to know allies got here on a pathway to being deported back to afghanistan for many veterans telling those families day after day. we're the ones who engage with them. not the u.s. government, it is us. you might have to go back home. i'm sorry we can't do better by you. it's an injury and that's the reality that so many american veterans are living with today. >> bill: i mention the time frame. many of them came here in the fall of 2021 i imagine. so if the act runs out in two

years it's the fall of next year is what puts you on the time frame from 8 to 9 months. >> the debacle in afghanistan with the withdrawal, no one knows who made the final decisions and no one has been held accountable for that. these are some of the big investigations we'll focus on in january. >> bill: there will be hearings. i can't imagine you would be opposed to that trying to get answers. in your piece you say a second afghan evacuation would be equally disastrous this time played out in reverse. how so? >> first of all, i think these hearings would be good. i think this issue should be getting more oxygen. but the hearings are a separate issue from the status of the afghans here. i would think lawmakers would want to make sure they're doing right by the afghans here so they aren't repeating the mistakes of august. one of the things the afghan adjustment act does puts in place very stringent vetting

mechanisms. the vetting hasn't happened yet. >> dana: government is failing and has to do better. there is bipartisan support for what you are talking about. there might be a little bit of opposition. well oh he -- we'll stay on top of it. it isn't easy when you get things on your plate like that every day people wanting help, but you help a lot and you are here today and appreciate it. >> bill: thank you. >> dana: we have boston's new harm reduction strategies giving crack pipes to users. bill bennett is up next on that. and sustain tissue health. ensure with twenty-five vitamins and minerals, and ensure complete with thirty grams of protein.

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your heart is the beat of life. if you have heart failure, entrust your heart to entresto. entresto helps improve your heart's ability to pump blood to the body. don't take entresto if pregnant; it can cause harm or death to an unborn baby. don't take entresto with an ace inhibitor or aliskiren, or if you've had angioedema with an ace or arb. the most serious side effects are angioedema, low blood pressure, kidney problems, or high blood potassium. ask your doctor about entresto. >> dana: boston health officials giving out free crack pipes and other equipment to drug users as part of the city's new harm reduction strategies. some in the community are not on board. former federal drug czar bill

bennett is standing by. molly line is in boston. the mayor is saying it works because there is science behind it. >> good morning, business owners in this new market square area are particularly frustrated. >> we take a tour and -- >> this construction company sits right next to boston's nicknamed methadone mile, a sprawling homeless encampment where addicts openly use drugs. >> why are we giving them pipes? it's like giving them a needle. the hundred of needles i pick up all the time. >> it includes now the distribution of free pipes used to smoke crack or methamphetamine aiming to transition intravenous drug users away from needles. >> every step we take has to save lives. >> speaking at a press conference with the governor

elect boston's democrat mayor defended these state-funded hand-outs. >> we've seen a big drop in data proven success with the goals of this program which are to insure that there is a stop to communicable diseases that are preventable. >> not all city politicians are behind the plan. with democrat city counselor saying. >> we should not be enabling the poor souls but trying to find them a bed and pathway to recovery. >> earlier this year the white house denied that federal funding directly or indirectly pays for funds, crack pipes in safe smoking kits. >> dana: let's bring in bill bennett and fox news contributor. also the author book of virtues. let me ask you something about what we've just seen. i should mention the book of virtues is a beautiful new cover for the 30th anniversary. congratulations.

the book has a lot of staying power, sir. >> thank you very much. >> dana: so you were the drug czar. is that true? is it true that is proven to work? >> no, it's not true. i would like to see the data they're talking about. let's remember, the reason people got into needles and other things is they started with the pipes. they started with the pipes and other things that the state is now giving out. it is not the way to address the problem. the construction guy and flaherty are right. they need to be reinstitutionalized into hospitals if they use this stuff in public. some need to be arrested. people say what good does that do? if you go to narcotics or alcoholics anonymous -- but let's say narcotics anonymous here and listen to people. a lot of people there are there because a judge oort erred them to be there and they have a shot

at getting clean. getting clean, getting well. by giving them these pipes you are not getting them well. you are putting them back in the same hole, the same box that they started with. it is a terrible policy. >> bill: the fentanyl epidemic continues to grow by the day and there is no end to it as of now. the problem is we're seeing school districts all over the country now adapt to this possibility that a kid in school could overdose and they are stockpiling schools with narcan. overdose deaths among adolescents in 2021 shot up to 1,146. adolescent opioid deaths, 77% of them involved fentanyl. you have baltimore, tucson, sacramento, des moines, denver, l.a. stockpiling narcan if they need to use it. education is your bag. how did we get here? >> well, from your first

headlines this morning and throughout the show, one wonders whether we have become a surrender society where we're settling too cheap. what are we doing about fentanyl and fentanyl at the border and the cartels? let's go to the beginning of this problem. i don't object to having narcan in the schools in the nurse's office as part of the tool, as part of the toolkit but be sure to combine it with a very serious message don't do this. this stuff is dangerous. the narcan is of limited power sometimes. if you repeat your drug use it gets less and less effective. and when you combine it with other problems, it can certainly fail. so taking an allergy. if somebody is walking into a swamp filled with poisonous snake do you give them

anti-toxins to take with them. how about saying don't go into a swamp is poisonous snakes. don't mess with this stuff in the first place. i hope the schools are sending that message loud and clear. again, i just worry we're enabling and encouraging people by saying we got the net, go ahead and jump. it is not a good posture. a tool in a toolkit, okay. >> dana: curious what you would think in today's day and age what is the most effective use trying to educate kids or most effective method to educate kids and parents on this danger? >> well, you know, i think we go back to when we were being effective in countering drug abuse. that is to have school policy. if you use, you are out. you are thrown out of school. 0 tolerance. you talk to the students, i remember i did that when i was drug czar. they said man, if i had to leave the football team or stop working for the year book, i

would stop. students sent me the message when i was in that position, make it tougher. give us a reason to say no when our friends say come on, give it a try. give us a good strong reason. as adults, we cannot surrender on this thing. my wife elaine and i just did the book of virtues 30th anniversary edition. we have to go back to the basics. i would like to send two copies to the bankman-fried, the ftx guy. we have to look at right and wrong again. we have forgotten it. >> bill: secretary of education, congratulations on 30 years. millions of americans were told they had been approved for student debt forgiveness. the department of education sent

inaccurate emails on the 22 and 23 of november. corrected emails are said to be sent within the next couple of days. that's going to ruin the weekend. the president's $40 billion student loan hand-out is on hold due to a number of legal challenges. the supreme court hears arguments in the month of february on that case. growing number of vandals threatening your home's power supply. north carolina's background the tip of the iceberg. what other areas are being targeted by power plant vandals in america. jennifer lawrence became one of hollywood's biggest stars for her leading role in the hunger games and she was great. in a new interview she fails to mention all the other women who helped her get there. is that an issue? we're about to find out. ♪

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>> dana: federal agents warn of growing attacks on the power grid. investigators are still searching for the person who shot and damaged the substation in north carolina knocking out power to tens of thousands of homes for days in the freezing temperatures. there are similar reports of power stations being vandalized in oregon and washington state. what is going on?

we go to david spunt at the justice department with the latest. hi, david. >> add south carolina to the list. law enforcement sources will privately admit these incidents expose vulnerabilities in our power grid systems in the united states. we're looking right now at incidents in south carolina, oregon, washington. but those authorities say these incidents are not nearly to the extent of what we saw over the weekend in moore county, north carolina. that situation still unfolding where after some long days power is largely restored. over the weekend authorities say someone or multiple people pulled up to a substation. opened fire causing a massive destruction. someone opened fire in south carolina near a power station. no damage to any power supply there. one of the locations in oregon, local police and federal agents

determining the motive and identity of the person or people involved, pege one of the local power companies in oregon the company is aware of a deliberate attack that occurred in late november and actively cooperating with the f.b.i. our teams assessed the damage and begun repair. another big company pacific power says we have security measures in place to protect assets and keep our customers and employees safe and secure. there was a bulletin from earlier this year in january where dhs warned of something like this warning that people may -- i want to read from this. continue to plot and encourage attacks against electrical infrastructure. no suspects and quite frankly not sure if these are related with the same people but certainly a concern as this is expanding. it looks like copycats in other states, dana. >> dana: let's come back to you later today or tomorrow to get more on this. thank you so much. >> you bet.

>> thank you for your consideration. >> bill: jennifer lawrence became a star in "the hunger games." tyrus was thinking about this today. hello to you, sir. >> weaver is the queen, period. >> bill: hang on. call for number two. weaver was alien, thureman was in kill bill, tomb raider. here is jennifer lawrence and the conversation. >> i remember when i was doing hunger games. nobody had ever put a woman in the lead of an action movie because it wouldn't work we were told. girls and boys can both identify with a male lead.

boys can't identify with a female lead. >> it is all about weaver. she beat aliens. he were perfect. they didn't need to breathe. they laid eggs and stuff on your face, tina turner, thunder dome. this is ridiculous and what happens when you don't research when you are being woke. you are not the first. maybe you were the best and made the most money but how about princess leia? she did good. >> dana: wwe trash talk before a match? >> we are setting up something. i'll talk trash about bill and how he will never touch this title and i might punch him after the show and have everybody see it. low and behold then he will win. >> bill: i think she has a short memory. >> it goes back to narcissism and even the person, the

individual that was doing the interview oh, oh, like oh, oh, no. >> dana: i think if i'm doing the interview i have to go in my way back machine. millennials love watched "the office." mindy saying it couldn't have happened today. >> so inappropriate. we always talk about the writers and talk about how so much of that show we probably couldn't make now. things have changed and what offends people has changed so much now. i think that actually one of the reasons why the show is popular people feel there is something fearless about it or taboo that it talks about on the show. >> no one is doing research and just saying stuff. comedy central runs it 7,000 times a day. you can make it today because people still watch it today. family guy still works.

peter is not p.c. now. they say the things to try to make things they did special and -- people are the same. funny is funny. they don't blur michael scott's face or beep out all the words. this is -- i'm special without any actual wisdom or evidence to back it up. >> bill: they could never do that again. >> oh no. >> bill: not the today's world. >> oh no, no. >> dana: part of me thinks we couldn't do red eye again. >> part of me thinks you shouldn't do red eye again. >> dana: those were the days. >> that's when executives didn't watch the shows on the weekend. >> dana: exclamation point is a great show. how is your sweater? >> hanging up. a little warm today. >> dana: nice to see you as always. a blistering state grand jury report on the handling of sexual assault in loudon county,

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>> harris: brittney griner is on her way home from russian custody. the white house cut a deal for her release that's now coming under scrutiny. griner is free in a swap for the russian arms dealer known as the merchant of death. so when will the administration get marine veteran paul whelan home? and the white house won't say if anyone close to the president leaked information trying to get the story on hunter's laptop sen censored. was twitter working with the f.b.i., too? we'll get into it. congressman mike waltz, will cain, jimmy failla, "the faulkner focus" top of the hour. >> bill: thank you, see you then. california homeowners thought they were getting a good deal by installing solar panels but they might be holding the bag if state regulators get their way.

william la jeunesse in l.a. has details on that. what's up, william? >> bill, that's because the state is reconsidering how much and how long those without solar will subsidize those who do. industry calls this a mistake. right now rooftop stole are in this state generates the same electricity as 12 nuclear plants. is too much of a good thing bad? this as california considers putting the brakes on rooftop solar. >> where california goes, so goes the nation. if we make solar more expensive here it will threaten the avail built of solar throughout the united states. >> how much those who don't have solar subsidize those who do? >> those people without solar are paying even higher rates, essentially because we're subsidizing those with the solar panels on their roof. >> the state mandates utility pay homeowners with rooftop

solar $0.30 for every kilowatt hour they generate. a new proposal cuts it to $0.05. numbers that make rooftop systems unaffordable threatening some 70,000 jobs. >> monopoly utilities are trying every way they can to hurt rooftop solar. it threat ens their profits. >> it is also about grid reliability. solar is irregular, sometimes too much, sometimes too little. >> it's to tamper down solar installations. we've hit the point where the grid is so unreliable. >> both sides say it is up to the governor to step in. >> the governor is in a difficult position. he can't have a black-outs. >> we're asking the newsom add ming is trigs to do is keep the utilities from gutting solar for average consumers. >> the holy grail for rooftop is storage. the commission is willing to

incentivize homeowners to put batteries in their garage. it adds $10,000. break even from 7 to 15 years. we expect a decision next week. >> bill: william la jeunesse on that in los angeles. >> dana: the school superintendent in loudon county, virginia has been fired after an explosive grand jury report on the district's handling of two sexual assault cases last year. chief washington correspondent mike emanuel is live in washington. hi, mike. >> a shake-up at a northern virginia school system that has received national headlines. the superintendent was fired after a unanimous vote by the school board. the report from the special grand jury was damning. we believe that lcpc administrators were looking out for their own interests instead of the best interests. they failed at every juncture. a father who says his father was sexually assaulted in school spoke out last night. >> you know, my family has lived

through this for almost 18 months now. everything that was pretty much in the grand jury report we spoke out on and exposed. >> virginia governor youngkin ordered the investigation into loudon county schools when he took office. >> what we now know is that there is an absolute dereliction of duty. the things that happened to our children in these schools should never have happened. the superintendent lied. >> many parents say they're sad and feeling like the school system has failed their children. >> dana: mike emanuel, you can understand why. >> bill: a big two hours. before we go we have something for you. more cowbell, what do you think? will farrell made an appearance at his son's first ever live concert over the weekend. broke out the old could you bell from snl days for an excellent cause. proceeds and benefits went to cancer for college to give scholarships to cancer survivor.

>> dana: he is a good sport, right? he has a lot of fun. >> bill: you think his son appreciated that? >> dana: yes, it helped bring attention. his dad has a lot of rhythm. cowbell is not easy. i had a cowbell when i was a girl. i liked ringing it around the house. >> bill: bring it tomorrow. >> dana: i will. harris faulkner is up next. here she is. >> harris: basketball star brittney griner is on her way home. the biden administration cut a deal for her release from a russian penal colony in exchange for an arms dealer so dangerous he is known as the merchant of death. the white house says russia would only do a one for one swap and president biden gave his final approval for that a few days ago. in return for brittney griner the u.s. is releasing viktor bout. we had tried to get him for years. in 2010 the united