and that's... how you collect coins. your money never stops working for you with merrill, a bank of america company. >> john: the white house about to face reporter questions as we learn that the u.s. department of energy now believes the cause of covid was very likely a lab leak in china after all. now we'll get to see how the white house tries to explain how we got to this from this. >> i'm really sorry that the lab leak has become such a distraction for so many people because frankly, we still don't know. there is no evidence, really, to say. >> john: first the fbi, now another government agency validating the lab leak theory. welcome back as "america reports" rolls into a second hour. i'm john roberts in washington. that did not age well, did it? >> sandra: and here we go. we are going to watch for that

white house press briefing for reaction from the white house, as well as john kirby, actually, the spokesperson. china is pushing back, accusing the u.s. of a smear campaign, so how will the white house respond? we are going to first start with this fox news alert. >> john: america's crime crisis continues to plague residents in democratic-led cities from coast to coast, including here in the nation's capital, innocent civilians fight off violent felons and brazen teens who face no consequences for terrorizing america's streets. >> sandra: the latest incident, 82-year-old grandmother trying to make her way to receive chemotherapy, forced to fight off a vicious juvenile trying to carjack her. >> john: what a brave individual that guy was.

but not stopping the d.c. far left city council overhauling the criminal code, critics say will put more criminals on the dangerous streets and supposed to be the crown jewel of american exceptionallism. >> sandra: jeff flock on a new bill in illinois could force local shops to hire armed guards instead of relying on the police to help them. mark meredith, why is the d.c. crime problem getting so much attention right now? >> sandra, a few different reasons. one, you have powerful people that live here but crime is really bad in the city. cities are looking at new ways to address crime. local leaders know how they want to act, even if it's up to congress to get the final say. for several years, d.c. leaders have tried to enact a criminal code and last month a series of controversial measures overriding a veto from the democratic mayor. so, starting in 2025, d.c. will

allow a number of things, anyone charged with a crime, even an a misdemeanor, request a jury trial, mandatory minimum could be barred, except for first-degree murder, and could apply for early release. house republicans are furious, they argue it will make the nation's capital even less safe than it already is. the house passing a resolution blocking the changes. now heads to the democratic controlled senate. lawmakers say they are eager to send a message it will not stand. >> obligation to preserve law and order. americans travel here from all over the country to meet with their federal representatives. they shouldn't have to worry about their safety. >> it's unclear how many senate democrats may join request gop senators to block this resolution and whether or not president biden would veto it. one person not happy to see congress intervene, the d.c. mayor. in a letter to senate leaders

wrote i call on all senators who share the self-determination and local control to vote no on any disapproval resolutions involving duly elected laws of d.c. interesting pivot for the mayor, bowser says she has reservations about the code, a decision better worked out in city hall and not the halls of congress. >> sandra: mark meredith on a problem affecting so many. >> john: crime on voter's minds in chicago, they decide whether to face lori lightfoot the boot. she faces eight challengers, all of them democrats, but even they are talking tough crime is so bad. one saying a debate if a suspect runs, cops should be allowed to "hunt them down like rabbits." yet critics say it's all talk and the democrats in illinois are not backing it up with concrete action, a new state bill the critics says sends a

message to business owners. if you are worried about crime, getting protection is your own problem. fox business's jeff flock is live in chicago. is this cost going to be passed on to consumers, jeff? >> crime in this city has led to some crazy proposals, perhaps i shouldn't characterize it that way. this one would require businesses, i'm in one of those, required to employ security guards full-time. take a look at what is called the armed security protection act. now proposed in the illinois legislature, it would require beginning in july of next year, banks, gas stations, grocery stores and pawn shops to employ and have on their premises at least one guard during any time you are open. barb eastman runs happy foods, typically a happy place grocery store in chicago and your reaction to this? >> i'm not happy. there's no reason for it.

laws are on the books, enforce the laws, pick up the criminals, incarcerate 'em. >> crime is a problem in chicago, not so much in this neighborhood. you don't need a security guard here, and a lot of neighborhoods are safe in chicago. a lot of them aren't. what do you do in those neighborhoods? >> fund the police and get the police there. >> they are not doing that. >> no, they have to hire them. >> took a look at the numbers on theft and robbery, they are up, and also what happens if you have to hire security guards, what does that do to your prices? >> it's part of doing business, the prices would have to go up. >> you would charge more to the consumer? >> yes, yes, unfortunately. >> john, i leave with you this number. chicago consumer is already paying through the nose. we have one of the highest gas taxes in the nation, i think the second largest in illinois, and here in cook county even higher. extraordinary times i guess call for extraordinary measures, i'm not sure this is the right one. john.

>> john: i think a lot of store owners would like to think they can rely on the police for protection and not have to buy it themselves. jeff flock for us in chicago. jeff. thank you for that eye opening. sandra. >> sandra: a live look as we await the white house press r briefing after that bombshell report on covid origins, sure to add to the high tensions between the west and china. john kirby is set to headline the briefing a few moments from now and he's likely to face a lot of tough questions about it. peter doocy is live from the white house for us right now. peter. what is the white house saying about the report on covid origins? >> nothing today, but there will be a lot of that later on this hour. if you look at this big picture, covid was the issue that decided the 2020 election. and now the department of energy is saying with low confidence that covid's origin was a lab leak. >> there is a variety of views in the intelligence community, some elements of the

intelligence community have reached conclusions on one side, some on the other, a number have said they don't have enough information to be sure. >> the chinese government's spin reads like this, certain parties should stop rehashing the lab leak narrative, stop smearing china and politicizing origin tracing. but the origin tracing is shrouded in secrecy for years. white house officials have told us after biden and president xi have spoken on the phone and in person, transparency came up but it's unclear how aggressive president biden is willing to get. so, consider this from almost two years ago. >> is there going to become a time where you might call him, old friend to old friend and ask him to open up china to the world health organization investigators who are trying to get to the bottom of covid-19? >> let's get something straight. we know each other well, we are not old friends. it's just pure business. >> just 37% of democrats in a

new fox news poll want biden 2024, 53% of democrats say they want somebody else. >> i can't think of a time when there's been greater uncertainty, 800,000 manufacturing jobs, better off than any other major nation in the world economically. it's understandable why people are just down. >> even though every indication from the president and the first lady in the last few days, he intends to run for re-election. it's not a sure thing until it is. sandra. >> sandra: that is -- that is absolutely right. we'll be watching that briefing room, that should be underway a short time from now. peter, thank you. john. >> john: it ain't done until it's done. the new fox polling numbers could indicate a tough road for president biden if he decides to run for re-election, more than half of voters do not want to see his name on the 2024 ticket. byron york from the washington

examiner, and fox news contributor, should democrats keep biden, 37% say yes. 53% say they would like to see someone else as the 2024 presidential nominee. this is democrats saying this. marian williamson, full disclosure, a family friend -- >> the interesting thing to look at right now, you do have poll after poll after poll that indicates democratic dissatisfaction with joe biden. almost all of it is based on the belief of many, many democrats, that he's too old to be president, that if he served a second term he would serve to age 86 and that's too old. that doesn't mean they are going to vote for a republican. and the other thing to look at is look at what's going on in the republican world right now,

donald trump has already announced, nikki haley has announced, ron desantis is acting a lot like a candidate as we speak. there's a lot going on. others are visiting iowa and new hampshire, south carolina. and on the democratic side, nothing. if you are looking at a real serious primary challenge to joe biden, not happening. and if joe biden were to really shock the party by announcing that he were not going to run, i think everybody would have to get in gear really fast because they are not doing it right now. >> john: you mentioned republicans, bring that up. call for number 3. fox poll on republican preference, president trump leads the pack by a long, long way, 43%. ron desantis second, nikki haley, mike pence, 7, liz cheney and greg abbott 2%, does not include tim scott and other, but even though president trump is head and shoulders above everybody else, a lot of

republican leaders are saying it's time to move on, and as we have seen numbers can change dramatically in a very short time. remember this time in 2015, everybody was looking at president jeb bush, what happened there? >> we are a long way from anything happening, and you know, 15 point lead, 43-28 is not that huge. i mean, it's actually smaller than trump's lead has been in some polls in the past. i think it's pretty clear that trump has lost some altitude in a republican race, partly because a number of republicans who respect what he did, they voted for him twice, they think he accomplished really good things, but they believe it's time to move on. they'll tell you that a lot. if he were to run again and he would be the only candidate, they would vote for him but they would rather move on if they could. >> john: back to the democrats now, call for number 2. if joe biden decides not to run,

some contenders, newsom, pritzker, klobuchar, bernie sanders, perennial presidential candidate, likely get back in again. could any of those folks beat trump or desantis? >> bernie sanders leads a lot of polls because of name recognition is one year older than joe biden. so everything you thought about joe biden's age, you should think just a little bit more. >> john: a young 104. >> think about bernie sanders' age. is there anybody there that could beat donald trump? it seems -- it's hard to say because clearly opposition to trump is so hardened and solidified in the democratic party that many would vote for anybody other than president donald trump. so, a person running against donald trump in a general election for president, one-on-one, would have an ee for miscellaneous base of support to start with, no matter who he and she was. >> john: i only kid about bernie

sanders. >> he may be 92, yeah. >> john: may be older than joe biden, but a tremendous amount of energy. and if he runs again, he'll run real hard. how do you think it's going to shape up, sandra. early days, but -- >> sandra: we will put that question to nikki haley, 1:00 hour and ask her to react to this lab leak confirmation from the u.s. energy department, that will be huge to get her reaction there. and we are waiting on white house. they have not reacted to this report or to china accusing them from launching a smear campaign against them. we will listen to john kirby and karine jean-pierre. >> john: the big question, will it happen or in martha's show?

>> sandra: is the market heading for a 2008 style crash. many are asking the question. americans saw the housing market value drop trillions in this country. brand-new numbers showing sales may by ticking up. what do you need to know about probably your biggest asset you will ever know? our big money panel is here to take that on next. >> john: and waiting to hear from the lab leak theory. u.s. department of energy has said it's the best bet where it came from. why was the mainstream media so quick to shoot it down and why did big tech censor people who suggested that? jonathan turley is coming up. >> the lab leak as it were, it's a chinese lab, the lab is in china, it's clear now that the chinese regime should be held accountable for the leak itself. the lapse in bio security and

for the cover-up afterwards. ? pay off your high-payment car loan with an affordable home loan from newday and save hundreds every month. there are no upfront fees to apply. i brought in ensure max protein with 30 grams of protein. those who tried me felt more energy in just two weeks. uhhhh... here, i'll take that. [woo hoo!] ensure max protein, with 30 grams of protein, one gram of sugar and nutrients for immune health. i got tai last december. i've spent almost every minute with her since. when i first brought her home, she was eating little brown pieces in a bag and it was just what kind of came recommended. i just always thought, “dog food is dog food” i didn't really piece together that dogs eat food. as soon as we brought the farmer's dog in, her skin was better, she was more active, high-quality poops. if i can invest in her health and be proactive, i think it's worth it. see the benefits of fresh food at betterforthem.com

buying a car from vroom is so easy, all you need is a phone and a finger. just go to vroom.com, scroll through thousands of cars. then, tap to buy. that's it. no sales speak, no wasted time. go to vroom.com and pick your favorite. oh yeah, that is them. (that is howard) yeah, that's on howard's campus. ohhh, she's so powerful, she carried on the family legacy. we were blown away. (chuckles) i not only was a student and an undergrad, but i've been a professor there for twenty years, so it's really a special moment to know that i had a family member who over a hundred years prior have walk these grounds. it's deeply uplifting. yes, it is. we're walking in their footsteps.

out here, you're a landowner, a gardener, a landscaper and a hunter. that's why you need versatile, durable kubota equipment. hi, i'm william devane. did you know it took our founders 116 days to debate and draft the u.s. constitution? turns out they didn't trust the printing of paper money, but they did trust gold and silver. article 1, section 10. gold and silver. good for the founders, good for me, good for you. rosland capital - is a trusted leader in helping people acquire precious metals. gold bullion, lady liberty gold and silver proofs,

and premium coins, can help you preserve your wealth. call rosland capital to receive your free rosland guide to gold, gold & precious metals ira, and silver brochure. with rosland, there are no gimmicks, no hassles... and they have fast, reliable shipping. ask yourself. are you safe? make gold your new standard. call rosland capital today at 800-630-8900, 800-630-8900. that's 800-630-8900. as a business owner, your bottom line is always top of mind. so start saving by switching to the mobile service

designed for small business: comcast business mobile. flexible data plans mean you can get unlimited data or pay by the gig. all on the most reliable 5g network. with no line activation fees or term contracts. saving you up to 60% a year. and it's only available to comcast business internet customers. so boost your bottom line by switching today. comcast business. powering possibilities.

>> sandra: new fears the u.s. housing market may be headed for a crash. interest rates on u.s. home mortgages doubled from last year and now brand-new data just released show while home sales last month did jump by 8%, they are still down by 24% from last year, plus the value of the housing market posted its biggest drop since the crash of 2008, brian and jackie, co-hosts of "the big money show." everybody cares what's happening with the housing market. for most american, the single largest asset you ever own in your life.

so you want to know where things are going, and -- >> home sales going up, people out there taking advantage of a tiny blip drop in interest rates saying the fed is probably going to raise rates higher so if you need housing or wanted to make the purchase now, it was probably a good time to do it and maybe even possibly a deal. but the fed told us two things. powell said he had to kill the housing market and kill the labor market. neither thing has completely died just yet, and even though housing prices are down 24%, we still have a long way to go, some areas are holding up on low inventories. so the market is like -- sort of like bouncing back and for the a little bit. i don't think we are done. >> there's a lot of desperations out there. you want a home but it's very hard to find one, interest rates are high, that's a downer, so when you see interest rates fall a little bit and something pops up you better jump on it. no guarantee you are going to get that scenario again, which is why it's such a frustrating housing market for people. you say people pay attention to

that all the time, and eager buyers say how -- >> sandra: and the fear of god in them by some big u.s. banks, goldman sachs is not always right, preface this, put it on the screen. goldman sachs is reporting that these are the cities likely to see a 2008 style housing crash. austin texas, phoenix, arizona, san diego, and san jose. so that's pretty scary and a daunting thought as we all try to navigate in this post-pandemic world, jacqui. >> i'm not sure you are going to see that kind of crash, still seems to be people who see value in their homes, and we were saying during the break, everybody is saying i'm not putting my house on the market, if i sell it, where am i going to go. if people stay put across the country, except in some pockets, you see a market that ends upholding up. it's that low inventory right now that's doing it. >> sandra: meanwhile, seeing

trillions wiped out of the u.s. housing market. from the period june through december of 2022, $2.3 trillion, the biggest percentage drop since 2008. >> looking at the value of unsold inventory, interest rates go up and buyers say i can't afford a house now, so their demand drops, that means the value of housing drops. you start with the question, this is a confusing market, it's very confusing and i would say it almost seems not penetrable, and sales are going up, even though rates are up, and desperate, and i'm going to move now. >> sandra: and people feel they may have missed the boat. >> windows are so small. >> sandra: the supreme court could scuttle president biden's student loan debt handout, and fox asked how much college loan debt should be forgiven, good

cocktail conversation. all of it, 25% respondents say forgive all student loan debt. up to $20,000 if their income is less than 125,000, 37%, those who say none, 36%. i would say it's pretty divide. >> it's really divide. no nuance from me on this, i'm so lock, stock and barrel against the policy. it's unjust to people who didn't go to college, two, think of precedence for mortgage debt. just talked about houses and mortgages, what's the argument against forgiving mortgage debt. how you gonna sell a home if the lending market says i don't know if the loans will be honored, might be passed up. catastrophic. >> sets a precedent the u.s. consumer can borrow and say to the government i can't pay it back, you have to bail me out. it's a slippery slope. and the program, essentially no

verification, leaves room for fraud in the system. >> we have seen fraud in the system. can you imagine what it's going to look like here? >> sandra: interesting, love the show, by the way, on fbn 1:00. good to see you. >> john: time is running out for defense secretary lloyd austin. house republicans giving him to the end of the day to respond to what they call the unauthorized leak of their military records. they say the pentagon handed over the records to people tied to the democrats congressional campaign arm alleging it was all dirty political tricks. mike emmanuel is here. any update from the pentagon so far? because republicans are really hot about this. >> not so far but on the case. two powerful house chairmen set a deadline of today for secretary of defense lloyd austin to notify them how widespread the issue has been. mike rogers, james comer, they wrote to secretary austin,

broader release of records highlights the -- illicit motive or partisanship. released 11 individuals' records over 14 months, october 2021 to december 2022, a private research firm due diligence with ties to the campaign committee. >> we know due diligence did wrong, identity theft with our social security numbers to get this. what did the dccc know, they paid for this. did they get the information, know it was done illegally, we want to know this. p>> it is not clear so far whether this was just an air force issue or whether other service branches were duped.

lawmakers are calling for a serious investigation. >> i think there bears a legal review of this, both a civil penalties view and also a criminal view if they acquired social security information and made a forged request in violation of the law. >> the democratic congressional campaign committee has not responded to our request for comment so far. >> john: sounds like the secretary of defense has some explaining to do. >> it could be really widespread if it's every branch, we'll see. >> thanks for being on it. appreciate it. >> sandra: we are looking live at the white house, where press secretary karine jean-pierre and john kirby will take to the podium, expected to happen at any moment now. first time we will potentially hear a response from the white house to covid -- to china accusing the united states of a smear campaign with the latest report from the department of energy seemingly confirming the lab leak theory. we'll be listening to the white house for a response.

>> john: something president trump insisted was a fact three years ago. so, what role did big tech play in censoring the lab leak theory? jonathan turley is fired up over what he says is the real conspiracy. big tech and the federal government working together to censor information they didn't want the american people to know about. he's fired up, ready to go, he'll weigh in next. helping them achieve financial freedom. we're proud to serve people everywhere, in investing for the retirement they envision. from the plains to the coasts, we help americans invest for their future. and help communities thrive.

(woman) what would the ideal weight loss program look like? no hunger, no cravings, no isolation, more energy, lasting results, and easy. is that possible? it is with golo. these people changed their lives with golo without starvation dieting. whether you have 100 pounds to lose or want to shed those final 20, try golo for 60 days and never diet again. (uplifting music)

♪ i like to move it, move it ♪ ♪ you like to... move it ♪ we're reinventing our network. ♪ ♪ ♪ fast. reliable. perfectly orchestrated. the united states postal service. i'd like to take a moment to address my fellow veterans because i know so many of you have served our country honorably. one of the benefits that we as a country give

you as a veteran is the eligibility for a va loan, for up to 100% of your home's value. if you need cash for you family, call newday usa. with automatic authority from the va, we can say yes when banks say no... give us a call. >> sandra: a quick look at the white house where karine jean-pierre and john kirby are set to take questions for the press the first time since the u.s. government reportedly declared covid-19 likely did come from a lab leak, and as more information is learned over the start of the pandemic, questions are growing over why big tech platforms were so quick to censor information at the time that pointed in this direction. fox team coverage begins now. jonathan turley moments away, but first get to fox business's grady trimble.

how are lawmakers reacting to this at this moment? >> bit of an i told you so moment for republicans in congress who have long been entertaining the possibility of a lab leak. big tech companies no longer label that as misinformation or disinformation but for a long time social media companies were kind of considering that theory of fringe conspiracy theory. now looks like the leading explanation for how covid started. from the start of the pandemic 'til last november when twitter stopped policing covid misinformation, the social media company suspended 11,000 accounts and removed around 100,000 pieces of content that all changed when elon musk took over. facebook similarly did an about face in 2021. it stopped flagging as misinformation posts about the lab leak theory. >> it's amazing how we have never seen an apology for those

who got canceled for this thing, what's considered the mainstream and government position on the wuhan lab leak. >> responding to the wall street journal report that they support it with low confidence. senator tom cotton tweeted being proven right doesn't matter. what matters is holding the chinese communist party accountable so this doesn't happen again. republicans in congress still digging into how covid started. congressman mike gallagher, the chair of the house china committee, he is calling on the biden administration to release all classified, or declassify all materials that the intelligence community has about how covid might have started and its origin so people can finally see how it happened. sandra. >> sandra: grady, thank you. john. >> john: let's bring in jonathan turley, george washington university law professor and fox news contributor. here is the cover of the new york post, an interesting way of

putting things, saying it had to be wu, and then the wall street journal take on the declaration from the energy department saying "it's more evidence that the media and public health group think about covid was mistaken and destructive." but this was not just group think. it was censorship, it was shaming, it was cancelling people for saying it. >> i think that's right, john. we have to focus as much on the censorship as the science in this story. you have a great number of experts who were shunned and silenced for even raising this theory, and this was done with an alliance of the government and the media and social media companies that really pursued anyone that put their head up and said wait, it seems like this has to be one of those possibilities. you have a lab doing this research near this wet market in wuhan. why wouldn't that be plausible? but instead, "the washinton

post" said this was a debunked conspiracy theory. "new york times" science reporter said about a year ago this is just a racist theory we shouldn't be talking about. and so a lot of academics got the message, they kept their heads down, they stopped talking about it. and that's the problem with censorship. you know, president biden once not long ago said social media companies were "killing people" because they weren't censoring more on covid disinformation. and that's obviously the problem here. censorship doesn't save lives but it can cost lives. you can cut oval uable public health debates not just the origin but efficacy of things like masks and vaccine, and that's what we have to talk about. >> john: so i remember the week of april 27th, bret baier will be developing some sources who suggested that there was a degree of confidence, don't know what the degree was, in u.s.

government agencies that wuhan was the source of the lab leak. so, on the 30th in the east room of the white house i had this exchange with then president trump. listen here. >> have you seen anything at this point that gives you a high degree of confidence that the wuhan institute of virology was the origin of this virus? >> yes, i have, yes, i have. >> what gives you a high degree of confidence it originated from the wuhan institute of virology. >> we don't know what he was referring to, and have not found out since but he was right. >> yeah, i mean, part of the problem, john, that the denial of the lab theory became part of the narrative against trump and how that plays out. the minute this was pegged as showing that trump is a racist, the media piled on and said all of this was a racism and trump and anyone who utters this theory is just outing themselves

as the covid bull connors of our time. well, that has a public health impact. what should be a moment of shame for many in the media, they actively prevented a public health debate from occurring. they attacked legitimate and good faith experts trying to say look, i have concerns here, i've looked at how this virus is constructed, i've looked at missing things here in this chain, and it does not seem to me like this was a natural source. now, we may -- we are going to continue to debate that, but we are now having the debate. it's just a couple years late. >> john: here is the thing about science. science has always been about a debate. some people said the world was flat, others said no, it's round. a great debate until we figured out it was. some thought the earth was the center of the solar system, somebody else said no, it's the sun actually the center of the solar system and a debate about that until we figured out, yes,

galileo was right. but here we have the shutdown of alternate theories about what's going on and then the same thing applied to natural immunity, that's no good, you can't take that, you have to have the vaccine because that was politically driven and now we find out from the big study in oxford, oh, by the way, the masks that our children wore for so long hindered their development in school, didn't really do anything either. >> right, these people have been largely vindicated. we also know from a lawsuit against social media that the cdc did participate in these back channel discussions on who to censor, who to target. we just had a hearing i testified in that show as many as 80 fbi agents were actively involved in a censorship program. we need to know about that, too. the democrats have opposed really any effort to investigate the role of the u.s. government in censoring citizens. but the polls indicate that the

public wants to know, they want transparency here. and i hope that this lab theory development just shows the danger of censorship and the reason we need to know more. >> john: it is comforting to know, all the people who disagreed with what was said at the time were not necessarily tin foil hat wearing conspiracy theorists. john, always great to get your take on things. sandra. >> sandra: john, schools across the country continue to fail our children. shocking new data from one city where not a single kid in more than 50 public schools is at grade level when it comes to math and english. we'll have that for you just ahead. >> john: also, alec murdaugh's defense attorneys said to rest their case later today, so did they create enough reasonable doubt among the jury members over whether their client gruesomely murdered his wife and son? nancy grace is going to break down all the twists and turns

from the trial that captured the nation. she's there ready to go, fired up. no. he's making real-time money moves with merrill. so no matter what the market's doing, he's ready. and that's... how you collect coins. your money never stops working for you with merrill, a bank of america company. [coughing] hi, susan. honey. yeah. i respect that. but that cough looks pretty bad. try this robitussin honey. the real honey you love, plus the powerful cough relief you need. mind if i root through your trash? robitussin. the only brand with real honeyand elderberry. hi, i'm eileen. i live in vancouver, washington and i write mystery novels. dogs have been such an important part of my life. i have flinn and a new puppy. as i was writing, i found that i just wasn't as sharp and i new i needed to do something so i started taking prevagen. i realized that i was much more clear and i was remembering the details that i was supposed to. prevagen keeps my brain working right. prevagen. at stores everywhere without a prescription.

to you, it may just be an elevator. here goes nothing. but for a young homeowner becoming their parents, it's a learning opportunity. come on in. [ chuckles ] the more, the merrier. paris, huh? bonjour! we got any out-of-towners in the elevator? tom. it is not easy. 10th floor, huh? must be a heck of a view. okay, see how everyone else is facing this way? progressive can't save you from becoming your parents, but we can save you money when you bundle home and auto with us. okay, that was terrible. okay, let's hang back. we're gonna try that again.

what's it mean to be ever better? it's your customers getting what they ordered when they expect it. it's having an ecommerce solution that scales with your business as you grow. it's using innovative technology that manages your inventory and orders. discover how ryder ecommerce makes your customer's experience ever better.

if your business kept on employees through the pandemic, getrefunds.com can see if it may qualify for a payroll tax refund of up to $26,000 per employee, even if it received ppp, and all it takes is eight minutes to get started. then we'll work with you to fill out your forms and submit the application; that easy. and if your business doesn't get paid, we don't get paid. getrefunds.com has helped businesses like yours claim over $2 billion but it's only available for a limited time. go to getrefunds.com, powered by innovation refunds.

>> sandra: the defense in the alec murdaugh trial is expected to rest their case today with the final witnesses taking the stand. this as the judge agreed to the defense's request to have the jury visit the crime scene. we are going to get to nancy grace in just a moment. but first, we are going to get to the briefing room, jacqui heinrich is putting a question to john kirby. >> the president made trying to find the origins of covid a priority, right, when he came into office and he's got a whole government effort designed to do that. there is not a consensus right now in the u.s. government about

exactly how covid started. there is just not an intelligence community consensus and one of the things the president did, he's the one who tasked the national labs to study this as well, not an effort just in the intelligence community. the work is ongoing. president believes it's important we continue the work and find out as best we can how it started so we can better prevent a future pandemic. it's -- that's the idea here is to get ahead of it so that should there be another one, or even the signs of another one, we can better get ahead of it. >> china, though, is pretty clearly accusing the biden administration of smearing them and trying to say that this is baseless, people shouldn't believe it, and it's a politically motivated attack. >> i'm not going to get ahead of where we are in the process, jacqui. the intelligence community and the rest of the government is still looking at this. there's not been a definitive

conclusion so it's difficult for me to say nor should i feel like i should have to defend press reporting about a possible preliminary indication here. what the president wants is facts. he wants the whole government designed to get facts and we are not there yet and if we have something that is -- is ready to be briefed to the american people and congress we will do that. >> how will the president respond to china, though, if it's determined they lied about this and painting the administration in a negative light. how will he respond to xi and to -- >> let's not get ahead of where we are in the process right now. there is not a consensus on what caused covid to start. the president wants to understand that, so we can prevent better future pandemics, he's made that a priority, so

given we don't have a consensus, it would be foolish for me to get out ahead of speculation on hypothetical situations to come. we just aren't there yet. >> john, the president said he wants cooperation with china, not conflict. but does the u.s. believe china's pursuing policies, for example, the spy balloon that made conflict more likely? >> one of the things that concerned us about that whole episode aside from the fact that it was clearly designed to spy from a high altitude over potentially sensitive military sites is that the lines of communication weren't as open, particularly on the military side as they need to be. so, president maintains that his goal in the relationship is competition, not conflict. that has not changed. even in the wake of that spy balloon event, but one of the things that really does need to, we need to move forward on is opening up lines of communication particularly on

the military to military lane and those were shut down by the chinese after then speaker nancy pelosi went to taiwan. >> what would happen if china were to send lethal weapons to ukraine. how would that affect the bilateral relationship. >> i'm not going to get into a hypothetical here. we have not seen the chinese move in that direction. we have been very honest and candid, not only with all of you publicly but chinese privately over the concerns of those capabilities and you heard jake sullivan talk about this yesterday in terms of the fact there would have to be ramifications for that. >> mr. kirby, on the energy department assessment, should the evidence the department is basing this assessment on be shared with the american people? >> as i said, if we have something that we believe can be reported to the congress and to the american people that we are confident in, we will absolutely do that. >> you said right now there is not a consensus.

will there ever be a definitive answer from the biden administration on the origins of covid-19 and how much is dependent on cooperation from china? >> we really do want to know what happened here because the president wants to make sure that we are postured to prevent any future pandemics or if not prevent them, to be able to get farther along ahead of them. so we are hard to understand this as best we can. again, there's no consensus across the government. the work continues and i'm not going to get ahead of conclusions that have not been arrived at yet. >> one quick follow-up. what agency is taking the lead on this? >> this is a whole of government effort and clearly here at the national security council, we are running the interagency process, a whole of government effort. >> [inaudible] coming to the white house on friday, second visit in roughly a year. can you talk about the expectation for the visit? >> sandra: we are going to continue listening there for the white house press briefing. right now it appears, john, that

john kirby is standing down on making any major assessment following the u.s. department of energy report that was reported through the "wall street journal" on being indeed a lab leak. fbi has joined that assessment, although there are other government agencies that have not come to conclusion or are in denial of that theory, he is waiting for the whole government approach and consensus before they react. >> john: if you wait for the whole of government approach and consensus, you may never get to the answer. the national laboratories looked into this, and it's their belief that this is a likely culprit for the release of covid, and as you pointed out, the fbi agrees with that. you can say sure, everything has not been written, everything has not been told about this, but if your national laboratories are of this mind, i think there is a pretty good chance that they're right. >> sandra: so we are going to

continue monitoring that briefing there at the white house should they get back to that, we'll dip back in. bring in fox nation host nancy grace, covering the latest on the alec murdaugh trial, live pictures out of waterboro, south carolina at this hour. nancy, you have been reporting on this extensively, and what a shocker it was last week when he took the stand. how do you believe they are going to sort of come back from all of this this week? what do you believe their strategy and approach will be? >> well, i can tell you something, i ran into the lead prosecutors waters early, early this morning and he is showing the wear. he looks gaunt, exhausted, and why shouldn't he? he went through about two full days of cross examining alec murdaugh, and let me tell you, murdaugh is a wiley one. camped out in front of the courthouse and i just learned murdaugh's own brother has now taken the stand. that's telling me the defense is

finally about to wind down. today we have seen two experts on the stand, one was a pathologist, and one was a crime scene expert. ah, i don't know how much of a dent they made, but all they have to do is get one juror to be confused. another bombshell today, and i hate to bring this up, but we all remember the o.j. simpson debacle where he was acquitted on double murder. well, in that case my old co-anchor, god rest his soul, johnny cochrane convinced the judge to have a, let me say, a visit, outing for the jury and went to simpson's home. guess what, there is going to be a jury trip to moselle. the hunting lodge and the dog kennel where maggie and paul were gunned down. that is fraught with the possibility of a mistrial. you see, one person go by with a sign that says murdaugh did it and they can move for a mistrial.

i disagree with this, plus the scene has changed since the time of the murders, so no longer accurate. about you that is brewing right now. now, after the defense finishes its response to the state, the state, i believe, is going to put on a rebuttal case with a limited number of witnesses to fight back against the defense. then closing arguments, jury charge and hopefully a verdict. >> sandra: nancy, a lot is in question over the timing, and murdaugh has gotten caught in a lot of different -- saying a lot of different things about where he was when all this took place. this was him on the stand on thursday and his interrogation at the police station. play this out, i want to get your reaction to this, nancy. >> was it you? >> at 9:00? >> yes, sir. >> no, sir. not if my times are right. >> you recognize it's your voice

and you have a distinct voice. >> is that you? on the kennel video at 8:44 p.m. on june 7th, the night maggie and paul were murdered. >> it is. >> were you in fact at the kennels at 8:44 p.m. on the night maggie and paul were murdered. >> i was. >> sandra: what did you make of that as we put the kennel video on the screen used in court, nancy. >> well, you know what, i don't have to be a clarvoiyant to figure out he's lying. 4, 5 minutes we believe the double murder went down. he did not realize his voice was caught on a cell phone video his son was taking for a friend of the friend's dog. you hear him in the background placing him, much like scott peterson, placed himself at the scene of the dumping of laci's

body, he's placing himself at the scene of the double murders about 2 or 3 minutes before they go down because that video is at 8:44. both of their cell phones go dead forever, they are not responding to texts, they are not responding to calls, group chats, nothing, about 3 to 4 minutes after that video. so, what, am i supposed to believe in 3 or 4 minutes, two assailants race in and gun down his wife and son and he comes back in an hour and goes what? no, i don't believe that. i believe he did it. but again, it only takes one juror to be confused or have a question. it's not what i think, or what anybody else thinks, it's what those 12 jurors think and one of them apparently handed him a kleenex box last week. that's not good. >> sandra: nancy grace outside the courthouse, appreciate your reporting on that.

thank you very much. the country is watching that. and john, that does it for us, another busy monday to kick off a new week. >> john: yeah, looks like it's going to be a busy week, a lot ahead and hope you folks at home will stick with, or wherever you might be, stick with us throughout. it's going to be a good week. good to have you back, too. >> sandra: good to be back. i'm sandra smith. >> john: see you again tomorrow. i'm john roberts. >> martha: busy day, everybody. i'm martha maccallum. breaking on "the story," president biden says he's in for a long haul war. now saying that our ukraine commitment could be years long. a statement that some in ukraine have called dangerous. >> the idea that we know exactly what is going to be needed a year, two, three, but there's no basis upon which there's a rationale according to