Skip to main content

tv   Americas Newsroom  FOX News  February 28, 2023 6:00am-7:00am PST

6:00 am
ron desantis on radio in 20 minutes. >> tune in to brian's radio show and my show on saturday and fox nation bible study with ainsley. >> we have such a good time. >> thanks everyone at the metro dining. >> thanks. [cheers and applause] >> see you tomorrow. have a wonderful day. >> bill: thanks, guys. if good morning. the nine justices are about to hear arguments on the president's multi-billion dollar bail out when it comes to executive power in a significant way. we say hello on tuesday. asme owe bill hemmer. good morning at home. >> dana: >> dana: i'm dana perino and this is "america's newsroom." this is a lawsuit that has been working its way and finally today you have protestors gathering outside the court as justices prepare to hear two separate challenges.
6:01 am
the first one is brought by a group of republican-led states. the other by individual borrowers who say they were unfairly excluded. >> bill: the two cases present a direct threat to one of the president's signature policies. the plan would wipe out more than $4 hundred billion in student debt and pay $10,000 to people making less than $125,000 a year and $20,000 to those who got pell grants for low income households. >> dana: the high stakes legal battle is dividing lawmakers right down the middle. >> those of us watching this closely are praying and hoping that they will do the right thing and say that the president cannot be the congress and the executive branch. he can't be the legislative and the executive branch. he has no authority to do what he is doing. >> our government is supposed to be about people. not making money out of us going to school or seeking higher
6:02 am
education. >> dana: shannon bream is live outside the supreme court. good morning, shannon. >> there are speakers and rallies and people here overnight and hundreds of people in line trying to get in to see the arguments. back-to-back arguments and take several hours starting this morning. the add min is trigs says they're relying on the heroes act in 2003. the passage was about helping people forced to deploy after 9/11 with their student loans. this administration says they can also use it forthe covid emergency which is over may 11th. critics say it is an issue with the executive branch. this administration has made a sweeping proclamation. before he did this executive order on student loan forgiveness the question said it would be questionable. nancy pelosi said no, you can't do it by executive order. it has to be done through congress. this court has been very
6:03 am
prejudicial toward the legislative body. if they think the executive branch whether bomb yeah, biden or trump has overstepped they say it belongs in congress and legislated and not done from the white house. well oh he see if they feel that way about this. they struck down this administrations attempt to mandate vaccines for everyone and pushed back on the cdc when they tried to put in an eviction ban during covid and interesting to see how they view this debate. it will affect millions of people. who sets of plaintiffs that have to get through the standing issue. are they qualified to be the ones as plaintiff? the court will have to get through that before the merits. in several hours of arguments today we'll watch for clues how they will rule eventually. >> dana: love having you opening up today to start on that debate. >> bill: five states challenging. nebraska is one of them. why we're challenging biden's
6:04 am
student debt power grab. the president flouted the law and used the pandemic to claim breathtaking authority. shannon is right about that. the court has ruled twice now overturning some of these mandates that had been in place for the u.s. in the meantime, the president is on record that 60 minutes interview in september saying pandemic is pretty much over and then his counterpart in the house nancy pelosi kind of said the same thing, right, before he did. listen july of 2021. >> people think the president of the united states has the power for debt forgiveness. he does not. he can postpone. he can delay. but he does not have that power. that has to be an act of congress. >> dana: it would seem she agrees with the republican a.g.s at that point and then they change their mind and a lot of people think it was all because of politics. it will get underway. if you have a small business and didn't go to college and stake out a student loan but to buy your tools you are not included
6:05 am
in the lawsuit but we'll be paying attention to that issue. >> bill: that's coming up. ted cruz from last night. >> there are now tens of millions if not hundreds of millions of americans not going to believe the next thing a scientist or doctor working for the government says. >> dr. fauci telling all of us the first origins of hearing about covid in china. that it did not come from china. that it could not come from that lab. >> they told us it wasn't our tax dollars and didn't come from the lab. no one believes anything these guys tell us. >> bill: republican lawmakers say the credibility of many is out the window. a new investigation from the department of energy says that covid most likely leaked from a lab in wuhan, china. the biden white house insists the conclusion is not etched in stone and where we find peter doocy on day two on this. >> good morning, bill. nobody around here is jumping to any kind of conclusions until
6:06 am
some additional intel agencies say that covid came from a lab. >> trying to find the origins of covid a priority. when he came into office and a whole of government effort designed to do that. there is not a consensus right now in the u.s. government about exactly how covid started. >> that is disputed by many critics on capitol hill. however, some trump-era health officials say the biden administration is right to have the doe in the lead. >> i note that both the f.b.i. and now the department of energy have come to the conclusion that they believe this virus came from the wuhan lab. what's important about their workforce is they have an enormous, powerful scientific workforce. i think they did approach this in an aggressive, scientific way. >> stories about the lab leak
6:07 am
were dismissed at the time in favor of theories about somebody eating a sick bat at a wet market in wuhan and some progressives are now saying that based on what they know now, that was a mistake. >> it was wrong. i am a defender of the first amendment of free speech and i think it was wrong to try to censor the folks who were arguing that it was an accidental leak from a lab. at the least we know it's a plausible theory if the department of energy has put this out. >> president biden hasn't said anything about this yet. we don't expect him to say anything about it any time soon. when we see him in virginia beach it will be to talk about healthcare. >> bill: department of energy, f.b.i., two so far. nice to see you peter doocy from the north lawn. >> dana: republican senator tom cotton has been saying for a long time that it may have
6:08 am
leaked. the mainstream media said he was spreading debunked theories. cotton is ripping those reporters now. >> from the very beginning i believed this virus certainly came from a lab. i thought it was a matter of common sense. what did the liberal media and joe biden and other democrats do? when you point out these things they called you a racist, xenophobe, said you were spreading conspiracy theories. now most americans recognize almost certainly came from that laboratory. the chinese communists covered it up. >> dana: you remember, too, bill, if you said anything about the lab leak theory on facebook, for example, you could get banned from the platform for suggesting that. they called it a fringe theory. now you have the f.b.i. with medium level of confidence it came from a lab and now the department of energy with a low level but to me you add them together that's the information.
6:09 am
>> bill: a lot of people were squelch on that. mike gallagher will holding a prime time hearing at 7:00 eastern time and first talk to us later this hour about the competition from china and how we stack up and how we need to face this competition today. so that's coming up later this hour. >> dana: we'll see that. now this on 2024. >> floridians are very spes mystic about the country's direction. about the biden administration. but yet a majority of them were very satisfied and encouraged by florida's direction. we have stood for the right principles and willing to fight these fights when it is not easy. we have a record budget surplus. one of the lowest tax burdens in the country, number one for education, freedom, economic freedom. fastest growing state. it is a good story. >> bill: it is being told of the florida governor desantis touting his record and raising his profile. karl rove is here to talk about
6:10 am
it. good morning. a couple of videos came out one yesterday, a quick clip of how he thinks florida is the blueprint for america. that's the title. watch. >> when the world lost its mind, when common sense suddenly became an uncommon virtue, florida was the refuge of sanity. >> bill: it goes from there and runs two minutes, 2 1/2 minutes in length. here is what the fox polling found over the weekend among republican primary voters, desantis at 28%, donald trump at 43. everybody else there in single digits. how do you see it, karl? when does he take a bigger step, if at all, do you believe? >> first of all, he is very smartly not taking a step now. he doesn't need to. he is the governor of florida. a book coming out. he can talk about the florida record and what he has achieved in the state. we learn a lot about him and his values and what his priorities might be. but he doesn't need to become a
6:11 am
candidate right now. if he wants to run for president, i assume he does. he is doing all the right things on his own schedule in his own way. i think that's smart. he is doing it in a measured way and taking it step-by-step. take this weekend. rather than going to c pac, a completely pro trump crowd and having a number at the end of that of that weekend where he has made an appearance and then there is a straw poll and trump wins the straw poll. rather than that he goes to dallas, texas and houston, texas and orange county, california and speaking to the republican county committees, big galas in each of those places making a lot of friends and avoiding what will be a sure story at the end he came and didn't make a big impact because trump took the c pac straw poll. >> dana: how important is name
6:12 am
i.d. for someone to be known nationally? how does desantis stack up. president stump had amazing name i.d. when he got started in 2015. what about desantis? >> he is the governor of florida. a big state. we've heard about it. let's be honest about it. a lot of people don't know much about him. he is at 28 and trump is at 43. trump has universal name i.d. they recognize and heard good things about him but they don't know a lot about him. they know less today than they will know in 6 or 9 months. if i were trump there is a reason why trump has been punching down at desantis because on some level he recognizes how formidable a threat he would be. the guy is not even in the race and it is already competitive. name i.d. matters but let's not kid ourselves. as much as political junkies think we know about desantis the average voter has this much and
6:13 am
we have that much. >> bill: ronna mcdaniel has every republican nominee on stage should take a pledge to support the republican nominee whoever that is, okay? donald trump bucked that trend in 2016. the gop's presidential debate pledge promises for the nominee or get off the stage. how will that go over? >> well, it will be interesting. you are right. president trump said that he wouldn't support the nominee in 2016 if he thought he was treated unfairly and he has already made statements to the affect he is not going to support the nominee necessarily. so i think it's -- the chairman of the republican national committee is doing what she needs to do. if you are participate in the republican debate sanctioned by the republican party you better be willing to say you are supporting the nominee of the republican party. it is not only donald trump that has that problem. governor hutchison, governor of
6:14 am
arkansas thinking about running has said if he ran and trump was a nominee he wouldn't support him. we have this several people have got to deal with this problem. ronna mcdaniel has one responsibility. the chairman of the republican national committee and to help do everything she can to carry the republican ticket to victory in 2024. she is doing her job. >> dana: all right. >> bill: i sense some headlines from this story forth coming. >> dana: love having your fellow political junkie on with us. great to see you. >> thank you. >> dana: a major fends nall bust at the border. a single vehicle packed with enough doses to kill 50 million americans. latest in the string of escalating encounters. >> bill: a city in oklahoma ravaged by a tornado. we'll take you inside the recovery effort that is happening today. >> dana: government watchdog issuing a scathing report on america's withdrawal from afghanistan accusing the white house of poor planning and
6:15 am
logistical laziness. will the president be held accountable? >> president biden: i do not regret my decision to end of america's war fight in afghanistan and maintain a laser focus on the counter terrorism mission there and other parts of the world. ok i did it. is he looking at my hairline? is plaque psoriasis making you rethink your everyday choices? otezla is a pill, not a cream or injection that can help people with plaque psoriasis achieve clearer skin. and no routine blood tests required. don't use otezla if you're allergic to it. serious allergic reactions can happen. otezla may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. some people taking otezla had depression, suicidal thoughts, or weight loss. upper respiratory tract infection and headache may occur. doctors have been prescribing otezla for over 8 years. don't hesitate. ask your doctor about otezla today. okay everyone, our mission is complete balanced nutrition.
6:16 am
together we support immune function. supply fuel for immune cells and sustain tissue health. ensure with twenty-five vitamins and minerals, and ensure complete with thirty grams of protein.
6:17 am
6:18 am
veteran homeowners, if your family is being hurt by inflation, and you need to cut hundreds, off your monthly expenses, call newday the newday 100 va cash out loan lets you take out an average of $70,000. use that low-payment home loan to pay off your high-rate credit cards. then, pay off your car loan. and then take the cash left over and put it in the bank for the financial security that every veteran deserves.
6:19 am
6:20 am
>> dana: it has been a relatively mild winter in the northeast until now. recently overnight a massive storm dumping several inches of snow across the reason making a mess of this morning's commute. the same system brought severe weather to the heartland. folks in norman, oklahoma are recovering from the tornado that struck late sunday causing extensive damage where we find fox weather's brandi campbell. how does it look this morning? >> good morning. a pretty quiet morning so far.
6:21 am
the sun is finally up shedding light on the neighborhood out of power along with other -- 3600 other people. the 8:00 a.m. hour and very quiet. only utility companies come out. if you look around me you can see there is a lot to do. a lot of cleanup. yesterday we saw a lot of residents salvaging what they could from damaged homes. roofers out getting to work. the red cross, salvation army and residents coming out to help other people. now like i mentioned there is a lot to do. 40 homes listed as destroyed in norman. 29 with minor damage. overall about 20 counties have damage reported. some roads closed due to downed power lines. folks cleaning up will need to keep in mind there is more weather coming in on thursday. what is most important is people's safety. we do know across the state 55 people were injured in each of those storms and one person did lose their life. back to you guys.
6:22 am
>> dana: thank you, keep us posted on that. >> a scathing report ripping the administration's chaotic withdrawal out of kabul in august of 2021 calling it abrupt and uncoordinated saying is botched exit gave afghans the impression the u.s. was handing afghanistan over to a taliban government in waiting. the member of the senate foreign relations committee is here. thank you for your time today. abrupt and uncoordinated and add expensive. have you seen the number what the report found. u.s. military equipment abandoned in afghanistan totaled more than $7 billion. how does that happen? >> this report is just confirming what we all saw, a disastrous withdrawal from afghanistan poorly planned, cost the lives of 13 servicemen and women including a nebraskaian. as well as just all the afghan
6:23 am
allies and americans we left behind. this has been disastrous. projected weakness for our country. something we heard as we traveled last week to visit with the heads of state of a number of middle eastern countries in the state of israel all said when the united states is weak, iran is emboldened and everybody's lives more dangerous. >> bill: the number could be higher and we don't know because the database that tracks that crashed earlier in the year of 2021. >> i can't explain how they allow a database to crash. it goes along with all the things that have been so disastrous about this pull-out. it was clearly not well planned and the biden administration is responsible. i was a governor. the buck stops at the governor's desk and at joe biden's desk now. this is all his spent built that he allowed this to happen and the terrible consequences going with it. >> bill: now we're trying to get a handle on ukraine and there
6:24 am
are many in congress who believe sky is the limit, do it. others are saying maybe not so fast. we're well over $110 billion in total with ukraine. but for afghanistan, this number surprised me. in 20 years, 18 billion for the afghan military. compare that to now, right? pledged u.s. support to ukraine over $30 billion in total aid and the amount of military equipment there. i believe that's just for military equipment over 110 billion with everything involved. we want to find out from americans how do you think about the money we're spending? u.s. supported ukraine against russia right now. do you support it as long as it takes to win or would you rather limit the time frame? >> as of today, 50% say as long as it takes to win. how long can those numbers stay there? >> yeah, i think the important thing to remember is we saw when we put a time limit in afghanistan it was a disaster.
6:25 am
we have oh support ukraine until they win and we need to remember we have three primary adversaries in the world today. iran, russia and china. and this one right here, this conflict in ukraine is taking one of those adversaries down. a complete disaster for russia. this is one of the ways we can project power. the good news here is we're not the ones that have our men and women of the military on the ground there. that's the ukrainians doing the fighting. this is something that we can take russia down. it projects power for america and it helps keep the entire world including americans safer. >> bill: last question. you mentioned the state level a moment ago watching the money. what did you learn about how washington watches the money? >> there are opportunities for improvement in washington to provide oversight. i will note that my colleagues and i in the senate are looking at what the oversight is for the ukrainian money. senator has briefed us on the number of agencies reviewing where it is going.
6:26 am
i think there is more oversight on that. certainly going to be a lot of opportunities and money washington sits around. nebraska we wouldn't let that happen. >> bill: sloshs around you could say. thank you for your time. thank you for coming on today and we'll speak again soon. >> dana: good to see the new senator from nebraska. let's go to chicago. polls are opening where mayor lori light foot is in danger of becoming the first chicago mayor defeated in 40 years. will the city a's crime crisis cost hershberger job? millennials are drowning in debt. people in their 30s are maxing out credit cards at an alarming rate. our fox business panel will be here on that next hour.
6:27 am
6:28 am
♪ -i say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. -i don't feel any different. -i don't need you to feel anything to do great things. (upbeat music) -jesus, if you do not renounce your words,
6:29 am
we will have no choice but to follow the law of moses. -i am the law of moses. ♪
6:30 am
my moderate to severe plaque psoriasis... the burning, itching. the pain. emerge tremfyant®. with tremfya®, most people saw 90% clearer skin at 16 weeks. the majority of people saw 90% clearer skin even at 5 years. serious allergic reactions may occur. tremfya® may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them.
6:31 am
tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms or if you had a vaccine or plan to. emerge tremfyant®. with tremfya®. ask your doctor about tremfya® today. you're in a hurry. i'm off to america's best i heard what you said about not overpaying for glasses. two pairs and a free, quality eye exam starting at just $79.95? the exam alone is worth... 59 bucks. i mean, people deserve breaks, right? yeah, brakes...! [out of control] book an exam today at americasbest.com. we all have a purpose in life - a “why.” no matter your purpose, at pnc private bank we will work with you every step of the way to help you achieve it. so let us focus on the how. just tell us - what's your why? >> bill: all the action is in chicago today. voters heading to the polls to vote for their next mayor. lightfoot facing eight challengers. the big question will rampant crime cost her four more years? garrett tenney is watching that
6:32 am
live in chicago today now. garrett, hello. >> good morning to you. no question crime is the top issue in this race. if mayor lori lightfoot loses her re-election the numbers will be why. in the four years since she was elected murders are up by 59%, shootings up 43%, robberies and theft up more than a quarter and number of carjackings has nearly tripled. in a poll by local media outlets, 65% of people say they don't feel safe. today voters will decide how much the mayor is to blame for the surge in crime, similar to what many large cities have seen over the last few years. lightfoot is in a much different position from 2019 when she surprised the political establishment by winning every ward in the city in the runoff. made history by becoming chicago's first black and openly gay mayor. in a recent poll by northwestern university, more than twice as many voters, though, said they
6:33 am
hold an unfavorable view of lightfoot than those who view her favorably. as you mentioned, there are nine candidates in the race. lightfoot is facing competition from political right and left. tomorrow competition is the -- brandon johnson has the backing of the teachers union and congress garcia. a candidate needs more than 50% of the vote to win outright. if they don't do that it will go to a runoff on april 4th. that's what's expected to happen. lori lightfoot does not win re-election she will be the first windy city mayor in 40 years to not do so. bill. >> bill: we're watching it. thanks garrett in chicago. >> dana: axios reporting covering chicago justin kaufmann. this is your hometown. what is it like this morning and how do you size it up? >> this is chicago's political
6:34 am
christmas when we have a mayoral election like this where the incumbent is not necessarily favored and wide open. it is anyone's ballgame. exciting for political watchers and for people in chicago who enjoy this time of year when it comes to elections. >> dana: here is the early voting numbers. put them on the screen. this is pretty high. highest in over a decade. 2023, 200,900 people have already voted. >> some of the wards where some of these mail-in votes and early voting numbers came in are not particularly lori lightfoot's stronghold. the northwest and southwest side. areas where most of the first responders live. very white wards that traditionally will go for a march law and order candidate. in this case might be the former school chief who ran a campaign strictly public safety first.
6:35 am
all public safety. that's been what he has been harping. so i think that's not a good sign for the mayor. the mayor has spent the last couple of weeks laser focused on the black community in chicago and south and west sides of chicago and implored that community to come out to vote on election day. the reason the number is way high. this is the first election post pandemic. you remember 2019 is the last time that there was an election and now mail-in voting has become all the norm here in chicago. so the number is way higher because of the fact that people got used to it from the presidential election in 2020 and mid-terms in 2022. >> dana: we can show on the screen the different people running against her to try to see if they can figure out a way to force it into a runoff or get her out or she could win re-election. tell me about the issue of crime. how that is playing into this election? is that the number one issue? >> yes, it is.
6:36 am
there was a poll, very popular poll that talked about public safety and crime. the number one issue facing chicago right now. it seems to be what is dominating the election cycle. you have see paul every commercial he puts out on tv locally is all about public safety and crime. really a referendum on lightfoot's job as the leader of chicago. it is the number one issue. i think people in chicago are someone hesitant when a candidate says they can fix crime. this has been an issue that has not just plagued lori lightfoot. mayors before. you go back centuries. modern times crime has been high. so we get a little bit skeptical when a candidate comes in and says i'll fix this. but right now it seems to be the issue that's on most voters' minds. >> dana: do you think you will get results tonight? >> yeah, there is a concern
6:37 am
because of the outstanding amount of ballots that will be postmarked today. board of election has said be concerned and prepared for a long night or the election to go into the next coming day. >> dana: great to have you axios, chicago. hope to have you back soon. >> bill: 23 before the hour. like father like son. billionaire liberal george soros may be staying out of the limelight publicly but apparently his son, alex is keeping the family's white house connection quite strong making multiple visits during the biden administration to the white house. kelly o'grady has details on that. what did you find out, kelly? >> good to see you. political king maker george soros for liberal ties. it seems to be coming a family business here. we dug into his son, alex's activities and it does appear his son has a direct line to the biden white house. fox digital first reported this with an independently confirmed
6:38 am
it alex has met with top pennsylvania avenue officials six times between october 2021 and december 2022. the deputy national security advisor and chief of staff but goes to an organized effort to influence the democratic party. alex contributing millions in his right to liberal causes. since the 2018 election the son has poured 5.7 million into democratic pacs and campaigns. directs much more as the deputy chair of the open society foundations, his father's liberal-focused charitable organization. we spoke to an author performed research on the soros family saying father george is only the beginning of the liberal donation die nasty. >> with all ex it's all over instagram who's who of politicians, pundits. i would argue at a minimum his son is positioned to double the
6:39 am
damage his father did. >> indeed while george soros was known for keeping a low profile alex wants the liberal connections. countless pictures with world leaders and democratic main stays. nancy pelosi, chuck schumer, hakim jeffries praising pelosi as the greatest speaker that ever lived. alex in a "new york times" interview in 2012 said he wanted to strike out on his own not to be a lazy trust fund kid. he went the family business route after all. >> bill: we'll watch it. kelly o'grady. thank you. >> the pandemic created such a purchase den on some that we believe that targeting that belief is a way to get out and we're confident to prevail and that the american people need us to get back on their feet. >> a few moments ago took the podium outside the supreme court. in 20 minutes justices will hear
6:40 am
arguments on president biden's student loan bail-outs. six gop led states are suing to block it and we'll keep a very close eye on those arguments. plus the now house committee on china holding its first hearing tonight. tensions high between washington and beijing over the spy flight this month, tiktok spying and more. what can we expect? mike gallagher, the committee chair, joins us next. o 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. ♪ inner voice (kombucha brewer): if i just stare at these payroll forms... my business' payroll taxes will calculate themselves. right? uhh...nope.
6:41 am
intuit quickbooks helps you manage your payroll taxes, cheers! with 100% accurate tax calculations guaranteed.
6:42 am
6:43 am
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. veteran homeowners: want to lower your monthly payments? 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.
6:44 am
6:45 am
>> dana: the newly formed house select committee on china will have its first meeting tonight looking at the competition between the two world's largest economy and the spy flight, tiktok and the war in ukraine and so much more. joining us now is the chairman of the select committee on china wisconsin congressman mike gallagher and also serves on the
6:46 am
intel committee. your worlds are coming together tonight. the threat of china to u.s. is basically you have some good, strong bipartisan support. democrats they say it's a major threat at 60%. republicans at 76%, independents at 67%. you can't get that many people to agree on the mother's day resolution. what do you think the hearing will be like tonight kicking things off? >> i think we have an opportunity to explain to the american people and colleagues that this isn't a distant threat. this isn't an over there threat or a matter of some obscure territorial claim in the east and south china sea. this is right at home threat. a threat to american sovereignty. chinese communist party is the greatest threat we face in the world today. i'm not just talking about chinese spy balloons drifting over the nuclear facilities. on saturday i did a rally with human rights groups in front of an illegal ccp police station in the heart of manhattan in chinatown used to harass and
6:47 am
sur veil chinese dissidents on americans soil. chinese students that were harassed and physically assaulted on american campuses. we can't ignore the growing dimensions of the threat right here at home. a question of what kind of world do we want to live in? we hope to communicate the stakes of this competition tonight. we call it is strategic competition but not a tennis match. it's a struggle about what kind of world we want to live in. >> bill: i want to get to wuhan in a moment. strategic competition and the reason why it is in that hearing. what does it mean to you? >> to me it means we compete and win. that we give ourselves the tools necessary to beat the chinese communist party. there are three dimensions, obvious military component. i went to taiwan. we aren't moving quickly enough to arm them to the teeth as well as rebuild our own defenses in the pacific. there is an ideological dimension making sure we aren't
6:48 am
fueling communist propaganda and losing sight of our own values. then a complicated economic dimension. we're far too dependent on china for critical goods like life-saving drugs, rare earths energy etics and chips. we need to reclaim our economic independence so we can compete more effectively and ultimately win this competition so the world doesn't look like them going forward. >> dana: your hearing is coming a day after we find out the department of energy says low level of confidence that the coughed covid -- covid started in a lab and first was karine jean-pierre and john kirby saying this. >> there is not a consensus right now in the u.s. government about exactly how covid started. >> i'm not at liberty to confirm the reportings. we won't do that from here.
6:49 am
what i can tell you is again there has been no consensus on this on where covid originated. >> dana: i love your thoughts on that but also how will your committee take this on? >> for the life of me i don't understand why they are down playing this. it is clear that evidence is stacking up in favor of the lab leak hypothesis. for two years anyone whod that was called a conspiracy theorist and a racist. we can't allow this to get in the way of us holding the chinese communist party accountable for covering up the origins of this pandemic. it should tell us something fundamental who we are dealing with in the ccp and that's what my committee will get after. this is a regime that can't be trusted. >> bill: how does the white house gain by sticking with that story line there is no consensus? >> i don't understand it other than there are so many members of our public health and scientific elite who have for decades pursued cooperation with
6:50 am
chinese scientists, in particular funded gain-of-function research, and they don't want that to stop and they don't want to admit they are wrong. if we were acting rationally we would prohibit all future funding for gain-of-function research and we wouldn't allow people to experiment with naturally occurring coronavirus to make them in a lab. we need accountability and how it happened to prevent a future pandemic. >> dana: thank you for being on the show. we'll be looking forward to a prime time hearing that you will have tonight. thank you. >> thank you. >> bill: more dramatic testimony in the alex murdaugh double murder trial may be winding down. defense has rested. we'll take you there in a moment. the head of the epa goes back to east palestine, ohio again. can he convince residents in that in community that they're safe after the toxic spill?
6:51 am
6:52 am
6:53 am
6:54 am
6:55 am
6:56 am
back in ohio today as cleanup continues around the toxic train wreck more than three weeks ago. epa still maintains air and water at the derailment site are safe. alexis mcadams just arrived there and what did you find? >> this is the first time the head of the epa has been here in east palestine, ohio. the first time he was out here drinking tap water thing to show people it is safe and going back
6:57 am
to the crash site covered in dangerous debris. this is what it looks like and still in the cleanup process in ohio. nearly a month since the norfolk southern freight train derailed in east palestine. it carried hazardous material and overturned spilling toxic and possibly cancerous chemicals into this town. the epa handed norfolk southern the cleaning bill. epa is going to 600 doors knocking on doors and talking with residents about health concerns that continue to grow here. right now the agency insists the air quality is normal. >> i continue to be pleased that there have been no exceedenss for air quality standards and outdoor air quality remains normal. >> officials are sending the soil to epa approved dump sites around ohio. even with some of that cleanup underway residents are worried
6:58 am
about their health here left thinking about what long-term effects they can all deal with. >> i think they are working as hard as they can. i do question people getting rashes and stuff like that, what is causing it. they are saying everything is safe and we're taking thep at their word. we need to get to the bottom of what's happening. >> dana, although the federal government does insist that this is their top priority for the people of east palestine, a lot of people want to hear from the president himself and they expect him at some point to be on the ground in east palestine. >> dana: thank you. great to have you there. >> bill: i don't think he is going. he made it pretty clear when he came home that east palestine was not on the -- i was going to say the menu but the calendar for the president. senator mitch mcconnell was going after pete buttigieg. pretty popular in washington
6:59 am
these days. >> even amidst a catalog of crises on his watch from this and other recent train derailments to the meltdown in air travel back during the holiday season, secretary buttigieg has seemed more interested in pursuing press coverage for woke initiatives and climate nonsense than in attending to basic elements of his day job. >> dana: these hearings will be interesting. >> bill: you put senate minority leader on the list for going after pete buttigieg. the clock is ticking for tiktok. the white house gave federal agencies to delete the popular chinese-owned app from their government-issued devices. the move aims to keep u.s. data free from surveillance from beijing. many states have banned employees and contractors in using tiktok in a business capacity.
7:00 am
>> dana: if you work for the government, do it today. no need to wait. they're doing it for a reason. >> bill: i won't be one that downloads the app. >> dana: i have it. i have all these people sending me funny things. i don't work for the federal government. you saw it on my phone and why you diamond me out to our viewers in america. >> bill: i did not know. i shall not still be the one to download. >> dana: all right. right now the supreme court is hearing legal arguments challenging president biden's plan to cancel student loan debt putting taxpayers on the hook for more than $4 hundred billion. welcome to a new hour of "america's newsroom," asme owe dana perino. >> bill: good morning. a beautiful tuesday in new york. i'm bill hemmer. major test of with theall power at stake. critics blasting the hand-out as a glaring example of executive branch overreach. others saying the president's bail-out plan does not go far enough. >> why the

153 Views

info Stream Only

Uploaded by TV Archive on