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>> sandra: one of those breaking news thursday afternoons, john. also keeping our eye on nashville as hundreds gathered there to call for gun former at the state capitol. hundreds of young people from high schools all over the area, at times became very tense and confrontations with security happening as you see on the screen there. as there was a big debate and calls for gun reform. there were also those who were making the case for good guys with guns to protect the schools. so things got fiery there at the capitol building. obviously a lot of chanting happening there, and signs were up and that confrontation with security, this all went down a couple hours ago. >> since taking office, president biden and his team have labored to suppress viewpoints with which they disagree. and in doing so, they have infringed upon the individual freedoms of millions of americans. >> john: republican senator eric

schmidt dropping that accusation on the weaponization of government, he was testifying in his former capacity as missouri attorney general. >> sandra: the state is suing the federal government saying it's a pattern to censor speech for its political goals. >> government does not get to pick what viewpoints are right, what issues we discuss or what we believe. but that is exactly what the white house and the agencies as varied as the cdc and the fbi have done. >> can you please elaborate on the ripple effects of president biden saying social media companies are killing people by failing to remove covid information his party disagrees with. >> when you see are the amazing emails right after the july 16, 2021, comment for president biden they are killing people from facebook executives to get back to the white house good graces. >> not just interference with

free speech but to organize for political advocacy. >> is this an opinion or are these indisputeable facts. >> extensive evidence to the subcommittee. >> john: also a big focus on covid censorship and when they pushed to push certain views like masking kids and shutting down schools. jim jordan, he serves as the chairman of the weaponization subcommittee. good to be with you. let me quote from a little bit more about what eric schmidt said today, he said the biden administration engaged in "the largest speech censorship operation in recent history, discovery retained by missouri and louisiana demonstrated the coordination with social media companies and collusion with nongovernmental organizations to sensor speech was more pervasive

and destructive than ever known." >> they call it the vast censorship, and jonathan turley called it censorship by surrogate, and matt taibbi and michael shellenburger, and the way censorship. and what's interesting, john. in today's hearing the democrat mike pence of the committee tried to strike from the record senator schmidt's temperature and attorney general landry's testimony. first they say no censorship and then they try to remove it from the record because we followed custom and they did not answer questions as is always the custom when you have a senator and a former member come in front of congress. that i think describes what the democrats are really up to. >> sandra: congressman, welcome to you, sandra here. this is also a moment when a rep, the democrat, responded to

allegations that the biden administration and social media are out there censoring conservative voices. >> that allegation is nonsense as we discussed extensively in the hearings as the chairman has said before, social media companies deep pocket, private companies, social media companies actually amplify conservative voices. >> sandra: your response to that, congressman. >> i mean, it's just not accurate. everyone knows it, anyone with common sense knows it and of course mr. sauer involved in the litigation argued the cases and did the depositions, he had the facts to show that's not the case. most of the censorship is against conservatives. but frankly, guys, even if it was the other way around i would be just as mad about it. it's all for 330 some million americans. that's what the first amendment is about. the idea that oh, the smart

people get to censor what we regular folks can't understand, that to me is the most frightening thing. three weeks ago two journalists testifying and democrats asked them who are your sources. today democrats in the committee say we want to strike from the record the testimony from witnesses but say oh, we are not out to do any harm to the constitution or any censorship. it makes absolutely no sense what they are up to. >> john: so congressman, over the last couple of years anybody whoever questioned whether or not it was appropriate to vaccinate teens or children was skewered by the administration, by democrats, by most of the left leaning media, but now we had the w.h.o. coming out and saying well, you know, looks like we may be revising vaccine guidance for teens and children and they may not need to get a covid vaccination. after everything that has happened over the last two years, what do you make of that

about face? >> well, the truth is the truth. and remember, that is the thing the government was pressure ling to censor anyone who said it may have come from the lab. government pressured social media platforms to censor anyone who said american tax dollars used in the lab, and censor if you get the virus you can't transmit. so it's not true. they would not let people share them or like them, visibility filter was the term the big tech companies used. that is the scary part and now when you have someone come and testify and like matt taibbi, while he's testifying the irs is knocking on his door, on, at his home. so, and yet the democrats say no weaponization of government. the american people know there has certainly been a turning of these agencies on the very people, the american citizen, turning on these agencies on the

very people they are supposed to serve. >> sandra: congressman, so where are we with all the matt taibbi demanding answers, you've given them a deadline, they have been silent, matt taibbi is silent waiting on anything. but where are we? was matt taibbi targeted by the irs when they showed up at his home following twitter files? >> two things, one. everyone i've brought this up to or talked to says -- no one thinks it's chance, a coincidence, everyone thinks it's intimidation, some targeting. but real easy for the irs to answer, call up the agent, the person when knocked on the door, say hey, what was going on here? just give us the answer and if it is chance, just tell us. but tell us what it is. i don't know how it takes so long to figure this out but yeah, we have not received anything back from the treasury department, from miss yellen -- >> sandra: what happens if they don't make your deadline? >> then we'll ask -- we may look

to subpoena the documents, any communications relevant to the situation. mr. warfal is the new guy there, i don't know why he does not tell us what's going on in the agency. this is probably the most feared agency that americans in our government, when you get a call from the irs, it's like oh, sugar, what's going on here. so, you would think the irs would give us an answer. >> john: i never used the word sugar in relation to a call like that. >> family-friendly show here, guys. >> john: the only thing the irs is telling us, pointing us to the website, how to know if it's really an irs agent knocking on the door and contain policy but the wall street journal editorial board, congressman, thinks the weaponization committee is making progress. democrats are denouncing the weaponization of government, maybe that's because republicans are getting somewhere. the bigger question is when did the irs start to dispatch agents for surprise house calls.

as far as we know, matt taibbi was not under investigation, he didn't owe any taxes, might have been a problem with filing a 2021 tax return that his accountant was having, but nothing there to trigger some up close and personal service from the irs. >> call his accountant, call him, he's an american citizen, treat him with respect. don't do this. and understand, too, while that's happening the day before, matt taibbi learns we issued this report, and the ftc had asked twitter who are the journalists you are talking to and named mr. taibbi personally and mr. shellenburger, and then came and testified, they are brave guys, after the ftc was naming them. one agency going after them, the next day another agency and the democrats ask them who are your sources. such a deal. not supposed to happen in the united states of america and

that's why we are concerned and why this committee is devoted to doing the things and work we think need to be done. >> sandra: that was news. if they don't respond to the deadline, they very well might not, you are saying a subpoena could be next. >> we want the information, we want to know what happened. >> sandra: got it. thank you for joining us. >> john: we'll stay in touch. the whole thing with taibbi is very strange and shellenburger as well, it's not like democrats or the biden administration or the agencies are targeting conservatives. they are democrats. matt taibbi used to write for "rolling stone," award winning journalist, he was called a so-called journalist during the hearings. it's clear that a certain group of people if they don't like what it is that you are saying they won't just disagree with you, they will completely try to discredit and destroy. >> sandra: and back to liz mcdonald's point, treat them like the u.s. citizen he is, but

they showed up at his home. see where they get with all of this and stay in touch with the congressman as edition further. >> john: and going back to the website, how to know if it's really an irs agent knocking on the door, with only seem to suggest in the most agregious, they will send you a letter first. >> sandra: very interesting. all right. meanwhile, this fox news alert, an eye on the white house press briefing as we await karine jean-pierre whether she will address the latest train derailment in minnesota earlier this morning. residents of the small town have been forced to evacuate for their own safety. >> john: also tensions between the u.s. and russia escalating and the russian intelligence service, fsb, arrested an american journalist from the wall street journal on espionage charges. first time that's happened since the cold war. >> sandra: the criminal justice system putting the american

public in danger once again, after a convicted murderer is released from an upstate new york jail after he raped and killed a mother nearly 20 years ago on mother's day. brian kilmeade is standing by. okay i did it. is he looking at my hairline? my joint pain isn't too bad. well, it wasn't this morning. i hope i can get through this. is plaque psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis 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. otezla is also proven to reduce joint swelling, tenderness, and pain in psoriatic arthritis. 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.

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>> john: at any moment the white house set to brief after an american reporter based in moscow was arrested by the russian intelligence service. moscow accusing the wall street journal evan greshkovich of spying. he had recently co-authored an

article that was titled "russia's economy is starting to come undone." i'm sure putin did not like seeing that, dan. >> no, and vladimir putin does not like the free press. so that's the first reason why evan was detained because russia has really sought to ensure there's no such thing as freedom of the press in their country, and no discussion allowed among putin's war in ukraine, so evan is a threat. second reason i think they detained him, putin wants to ignite the anti-west hysteria, the enemy is not just at the gates but inside the gates, the west is spying on russia. first time a u.s. journalist has been detained since the cold war, but vladimir putin is a kgb agent, throw back for us. and russia would like to make a trade.

deep under cover intelligence officers was recently arrested in brazil. he was using a false identity. he had gone to school at johns hopkins school of advanced studies at washington, d.c. and on his way to the hague when he was arrested in brazil. doj has indicted him, sentenced to 15 years in brazil and some question whether he would be transferred to the united states for criminal proceedings here. so i think putin is considering all of those things. >> sandra: dan, just reading through the last article the reporter wrote before all this happened, published, march 28, 2023, 10:45 a.m., talks about the opening months of the russia invasion in ukraine, talks a lot about the energy market, the economy, talking about the biggest exports of russia, oil, gas, losing major customers, government finances are

strained, ruble is down 20%, the labor force has shrunk, and russia's economy entering a long-term regression, it also quotes a russian billionaire warning that russia is running out of cash and this portion as we get a look here, having largely lost its european market next door, and with other western investors pulling out, moscow is becoming evermore reliant on china threatening to realize long simmering fears in moscow of becoming an economic colony of a dominant southern neighbor. your reaction to some of what we are seeing here from this reporter, dan. >> it's great reporting and 100% accurate and that's why he's been detained. and emphasize, too, no consular access to him yet, u.s. embassy folks have not seen him. this scares vladimir putin the

most, democracy, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, it's denied in russia and when you have a reporter like this doing good accurate investigative reporting, he's a threat to the kgb operative in the kremlin, especially right now. >> john: a member of our extended family, wall street journal and fox news are owned by the same parent company. so the question is, how do we get him back? >> yeah, so at this point, again, i would say the long-term option here, i mean, putin will hold him and keep him on the shelf as leverage to get what he wants. it's been clear that russia has detained without due process u.s. tourists, britteny griner, paul whalen is still behind bars and i think what putin wants eventually is make a trade.

the state department has advised american citizens should not travel to russia, and evan had a long career as a journalist in russia, he was working for the moscow times before he joined the wall street journal, he knows russia well and that scares vladimir putin. how we get him back, most likely a trade. putin will twist us, twist the screws on this one and he'll try to exact something in return. remember, victor bout trade, convicted international arms dealer, merchant of death. >> sandra: and he wrote about vladimir putin specifically, a big part of the dimming outlook stems from a bad bet by mr. putin last year that he could use russian energy supplies to limit western europe support for ukraine and we know, dan, that was not effective. that did not happen. european governments instead of tempering support for kyiv moved rapidly to find new sources of

natural gas and oil. and putin has been putting out this message as the reporter notes in his last line of the article, he's been putting out the message that his government has been effective at countering the threats to the economy. that is clearly not the case. >> we have practiced in our country we tell our leadership what they need to know, especially when it isn't what they want to hear. in russia, that might result in a bullet in the back of your head or detained in the case of evan. what vladimir putin is trying to do, ensure he stays in power, he has to ensure his own people and security services know it's not going to be allowed. by detaining a journalist, putin is delivering the message no one is allowed to cross him, no one is allowed to contradict him. i think that's part of the point here and putin has corrupted his own ministry of interior and intelligence services to do his bidding in that regard. >> john: we know how he was silenced the press in russia but

now trying to silence the american press inside russia. at least the white house and the state department, dan, are saying the right things immediately, hope we can get him back. thanks for joining us. appreciate it. >> all right. >> sandra: a developing crime story that we have been telling you about, a man who raped and strangled a mother on mother's day might be moving somewhere near you. that is because her murderer has now been released from prison, it happened hours ago. and he has new york state progressive parole board to thank for that. >> john: penny brown was killed in an upstate city in new york in 1999 while she was out jogging. her killer was not even old enough to drive a car. at age 15, he was sentenced to nine years to life in prison under new york state laws at the time. family members of the victim say it's a good thing that her parents have passed because the parole board's decision would have surely killed them. and get this, he won't even have

to register as a sex offender. >> sandra: this is being seen as just another soft on crime laws that are -- and officially putting american's safety at risk. brian kilmeade have been following the story, fox and friends co-host and fox of one nation and the brian kilmeade radio show and author of "the president and the freedom fighter," a busy guy. he was released just hours ago, it appears his destination will be duchess county, varying local reports where he will end up. we don't know yet. >> i was stunned to see the reviews say he has no regrets. he's not saying i can't believe, i was 15 years old, give me another chance. he's showing no remorse, he lived his life violently and in prison violently. and outrage from penny brown's family they delayed it. and that ended four hours ago.

in the seneca indian reservation area they don't want him to come back. he's going to have -- have some community supervision, i don't know what that means, he's going to be in a hotel, can you imagine being penny brown's family, and now all of a sudden this killer is out with no regrets, and no reason to me for somebody to be out in the public. at 15 they changed the laws to give him second degree murder and rape, so he went from nine years to over 20 years, but please tell me how it helps new york be better. >> john: in the wake of penny brown's killing, the family advocated to change the laws that sentenced him to nine years to life in prison, changed it to 15 years to life for 14 and 15-year-olds convicted of second-degree murder. the attorney that represented him said she had not talked to him since the 1999 case, conviction and sentencing, but

did say he was in custody for 24 years, that's a long time. not long enough for penny brown's family. >> john, where's the rehab? they are sending a criminal back into our society with no proof that he belongs in society. so i think we are missing an important element. time served, yeah. but what kind of person are you. are you sending a murdering rapist back into society with basically a clean record into a run down hotel, game on. send him to new york city where he can join the rest of the criminals and participate in the subway crime. >> sandra: the conditions parolees must follow, cannot leave the state without permission, keep in contact with his parole officers, we are told. he cannot possess firearms or deadly weapons, cannot engage in behavior to threaten the health and safety of himself or others. >> didn't work the first time. >> sandra: this is the victim's daughter who has reacted to the

release, saying through his transcripts it's always been no remorse shown. violent in prison, drug use. violent as a child, i've learned nothing that would show there is any change, any healing, any difference in the wiring of this human being. that's bradley brown, daughter of penny brown. >> for people that don't know, upstate new york is like iowa, it's wide open, small town america. it's not new york city. basically in the small towns, it's up to the small community police outfits who are great people but i don't know how resource they are to be able to track this before it looks like inevitably, you have to be suspect if he's moving next door to you, coming your direction, and state police coordinated too. another example of criminal first, not just in new york, the same thing in almost every major city in every blue state and

looked at the fox news study, guys, what is third on the list of people most concerned about? crime. game on. more evidence. >> sandra: and that depends where you are, it could be top of the list depending where you live in the country. let's be clear. >> john: we are seeing in some jurisdictions that democrats seem to be understanding that this idea of soft on crime is not good politically. arnie duncan is now backing paul vallas for chicago mayor, and in positions to effect what happens in the criminal justice system saying yep, let 'em out on the streets. >> it's disturbing, i mean, looking at other reports, we see this pbs reporter, our own adam, pbs reporter get assaulted on rush hour at 6:30. 6:30 in rush hour, no one comes

to help and autistic teen gets beat up on camera because cameras are everywhere, because he was just available? >> john: and beaten up on the subway. >> subway as well. so clearly the criminals are not getting the message that we are fed up on crime. i don't understand it. but the thing is, when the midterms happen, and there was no red wave, i think many democrats are getting the wrong interpretation of how fed up americans are. >> sandra: all right. it is quite a story. i'm just monitoring -- we were pulling this up, the almira correctional facility is not necessarily duchess county but released fishkill -- and then into duchess county. but then he is free to roam the state. >> right, great, fantastic. another reason to stay in new

york. >> john: the one place he's not going to be going back is the seneca nation, he's a member of the seneca nation but their president said not coming back here. they don't want him there. great, thanks so much. see you on saturday evening. moments away from the white house press briefing, this as another train derails in the u.s. weeks after east palestine, ohio. are the administration and transportation secretary buttigieg doing enough to present another disaster? >> sandra: tech experts call for a pause for new development in a.i. is it already too late? tech entrepreneur and presidential candidate vivek ramaswamy will weigh in. but first, karine jean-pierre is at the podium, we will listen in. >> state department has also been in touch with the wall street journal and his family on this matter. this espionage charge is ridiculous. the targeting of american citizens by the russian government is unacceptable.

condemn the detention of mr. gershkovich in the strongest, in the strongest terms. we also condemn the russian government continued targeting and repression of journalists. embassy moscow has engaged the russian ministry of foreign affairs on this matter in the seeking consular access. reiterate americans should heed the u.s. government warning t not travel to russia. u.s. citizens residing or travelling in russia should depart immediately as the state department continues to advise. now it's been three days since the tragic school shooting in nashville and we have heard nothing from republicans in congress about what they will do to stop our kids from being murdered in our schools and communities.

we have heard a number of republican members of congress that they don't intend to do anything at all, and in north carolina yesterday the republican-controlled state legislature didn't skip a beat in overriding governor cooper's veto on a dangerous bill that makes communities less safe. that's the opposite of common sense. the and it is outrageous as the president has said, we need congress to act now. doing nothing when guns are the leading killer, the leading killer of our kids in america is absolutely unacceptable. we need to pass an assault weapons ban. mandate universal background checks. require safe storage of guns, hold manufacturers accountable. these are just common sense policies with broad public support and republicans owe, they owe answers to the american people about why they won't protect our kids.

they owe answers to the nashville families who lost their three kids, the 9-year-olds, they owe answers to uvalde, the parents, 19 kids. they owe answers to the people in buffalo who, like every other american on a saturday went to the grocery store. they owe answers to them and their families. that community. again, this is completely unacceptable and we need to do everything that we can to protect our communities and protect our kids. as you know tomorrow the president and first lady will travel to rolling fork, mississippi, visit with first responders and communities impacted by the devastating storms. as you know, president biden spoke with mississippi governor tate reeves and members of the mississippi delegation over the weekend.

the president also approved and expedited major disaster declaration for mississippi and ordered federal funding be made available to support emergency response efforts. secretary mayorkas and fema were on the ground over the weekend and we'll certainly have more details on the trip before tomorrow. finally, we are heart broken over the tragic loss of nine brave service members. our hearts and our prayers go out to their families during this very difficult time as well as those who served alongside them at fort campbell. the men and women of the 101 airborne division are the best, the best and play a role to our security. honor to our service members and families and stand with all who are grieving in the wake of this

terrible, truly terrible accident. and with that, colleen, want to kick us off? >> sure. can you have tell us any more about the negotiations to get the wall street journal reporter out of russia? >> so as you know, due to privacy concerns, we are -- we don't have much more to share at this time. we want to be very mindful of this. i know you guys have heard us say this before so again, we just want to be really mindful. there is process in place the state department is running, just heard from my colleague, might still be speaking at this time at the state department so again, we are going to be very mindful. >> on another topic. on the republican-led measure to end the covid emergency, the white house had initially signalled opposition to the measure prompting house

democrats again to oppose it and then, you know, once it went to the house, sorry, the senate, the president said he would not oppose it. so, i wondered, you know, why was this the white house signalling opposition again and then coming back around and changing minds? should there be improved communications, particularly for house democrats who are -- this is the second time now? >> so look, we -- i'm going to do a little bit of a laydown because nothing has changed here. we have been very consistent on this process. so look, if the president was planning to veto this legislation, the sat would have said so, that's how the saps work, incredibly consistent in that way and certainly members of congress know that. they understand how that works and how that process works as well. but that being said, the sap was issued in january for two bills that would have lifted both public health emergency and also the national emergency immediately, which as you know, we oppose, we are very public about that.

the bill that just passed would only lift the national emergency, does not impact title 42 or covid authorities like for testing and for treatments. we are in a different place and time than we were in january, so that is something that you all know and have reported. we have been winding down authorities over the last two weeks, i'm sorry, over of the last two months and the national emergency lifting just a few weeks before the public health one will not impact our efforts to do so in an orderly way, and that's what we have been very clear about when we talk about title 42, making sure that we do that process in an orderly way. again, nothing has changed. we were very clear with the sap that we put out back in january and so we have been very consistent with how we use the sap and how we move forward with it. >> do you think the house -- somehow the house democrats are not getting the message, i guess. is there a better communication to happen between the white house and the house?

>> we have been in regular touch and tracking this with the house and also the senate leaders since we issued the sap back in january, and that was, you know, we have always been very clear with them as far as as i said, as early as january. look, the president is not going to veto a bill, it will say -- if a president is going to veto a bill we'll say it in the sap. and that's how sap works and we have been very consistent in the past two years. i'm going to go ahead to lucy, we are thinking about your colleague, and clearly he's in our thoughts and so i'm going to give you the second question. >> can you tell us anything about the president's reaction to the detention of evan? >> as i mentioned in the statement, the president has been briefed. he learned about this during the presidential daily briefing with his national security team and

advisers who normally provide the daily briefing. i don't have anything else to share outside of that. >> are you concerned at all, obviously this is the first detention charged in a very long time. do you think it marks a turning point or new low for the relationship between the u.s. and russia? >> we don't have any specific indication that journalists would be targeted. this is incredibly sadly common for russia to detain americans and we've been very clear about americans not going to russia. it is not safe for americans right now in russia. it is a level 4, my colleague at the state department spoke to this just moments ago. again, we are going to continue, the state department is going to cone to reiterate that. it is not safe to be in russia or to travel to russia. >> in regards to the wall street

journal detained, would the administration call it a hostage situation? >> same -- same -- he's being detained and been very clear, there's no reason to believe that those charges are accurate. the espionage are accurate. i don't want to speak beyond that and certainly we will have more information when we get it. there are privacy concerns. we want to be very mindful how we speak about this. >> and john kirby mentioned earlier, it's not a new tactic from putin and russia but the first time since the prisoner swap. is there a concern if the u.s. engages in prisoner swaps, russia will be emboldened to detain americans as leverage? >> look, detaining americans is a tactic russia has used for a long time. it is nothing new. paul whalen, trevor reed, they

were taken under the prior administration. and we are working hard to bring paul home, something we are committed to, you heard it from the president, the secretary of state, and my colleagues at nsc, right now our best tool to prevent this is to make sure that we are discouraging anybody to travel to russia and we will continue to be clear about that. but again, this is a tactic that they have been using for some time now. >> does this complicate paul's situation? >> look, as you know, those conversations are incredibly sensitive so we are very mindful. we are committed to bringing paul home. he was wrongfully detained, we have been clear about that. >> administration reaching out to others for support, for instance, governor bill richardson involved in other releases before. is that -- is that something the

administration -- >> i don't have any outside conversations to speak to. you heard from the state department. this is something when it comes to these types of events the state department leads, i will leave it to them to speak to it. >> is the administration's view the reporter is wrongfully detained? >> it's a process the state department runs and we will let that process move forward. not beyond that. >> another topic, do you have any response to the article that was written by senator joe manchin where he particularly -- the conclusion that he made that the administration is improperly putting the inflation reduction act measures into place right now? >> so let me just first say we have a respectful, productive relationship with senator joe

manchin and we are proud of the inflation reduction act signed into law this past summer and things we are incredibly proud of, investing in energy towns across american left behind. building the economy from the bottom up and middle out, make sure no one is left behind. what the inflation reduction act shows and proves so we will work with senator manchin on the shared priorities and values, including reducing the deficit and the permitting reform which are both -- both part of the president's budget. again, we are very proud of the work that we have been able to do with the senator, and i'll leave it there. >> do you have a reaction to the federal judge striking down part of obamacare, in particular the part about providing certain preventative care to people? >> yeah, a couple of things, we have some things we want to put

out there. reviewing the decision made by the judge in texas earlier today. but we want to be very clear. this case is yet another attack on the affordable care act which have been the law of the land for 13 years now, 13 years, in fact as all of you guys know, the supreme court has upheld the legality of the aca three times, they have had to do that three times in those past 13 years and because of the aca, you see 150 million americans have access to preventative care like cancer and heart disease screenings. 60% of people use a preventive care service under the aca every year. it saves lives, families' money and improves our health. it gets between patients and doctors, gets involved in decisions they should be making. yet another attack on the ability of americans to make

their own healthcare choices. efforts to undermine this requirement are wrong and they take us backwards, not forwards. so the administration will continue to fight to improve healthcare and make the more abeven in the face of these attacks by these special interest groups we see out there. >> one on russia and one on banking. first one, can you give any sense of when the administration was first informed this happened and then also what the timeline was for the first time you reached out to your counterparts in russia to flag it as an issue? >> i don't have a specific timeline at this time. i can tell you the president was briefed about, on this during his presidential daily briefing this morning. besides that, don't have any specific breakdown on when the counterpart, when the state department or nsc connected with their counterpart. look, this is a priority for this administration, regardless

of whether someone has received a wrongful detention designation. the state department seeks consular access for all americans held abroad, that's what we are waiting to do and fighting for to get that consular representation for evan at this time. >> and then on the bank regulatory proposals the president directed toward the banking agencies today, it's clear you guys, the agencies have the authority under law to implement those without congressional regulation, why did it take until a crisis -- >> unfortunately the trump administration regulators weakened many common sense requirements for banks like silicon valley bank and signature bank whose recent failures led to that. we have experts who said the rollbacks were cause of the

recent bank failures. that's what we are hearing from experts themselves. so just want to be very clear. it's not just us saying that, that's what the experts as well are saying. the president is urging reforms to reduce banking crisis, annual stress tests, living wills, and stronger supervision. so again, because of what we saw done by the trump administration back in 2018, remember what happened in 2008 and what the obama-biden administration were able to do, they were able to strengthen some of those requirements, make it stronger and the trump administration rolled that back. and experts say because of the rollbacks in the trump administration, it led to the recent failures. >> i understand that, but experts were saying that before silicon valley issues as well, this is potentially problematic and you have been in office for more than two years. why did you wait until now to -- >> a couple of things.

look, trump nominees had the supervision portfolio at the fed for much of those past two years, so that's one reason. the second reason is the fed vice chair barr only arrived in july of 2022, that's another part of that. but you know, i'm glad folks agree with the regulations, supervisions that need to be strengthened. that's what we need to see and what the president has asked the bank regulators to do and the treasury department, that's what we are seeing today. the president is committed to keep the banks resilient, what you are seeing today. >> karine we heard from vladimir putin's top spokesperson in russia saying evan was caught red handed. can you see gershkovich never worked for and does not work for the united states government? >> i just said the charge of

espionage is ridiculous. that is not accurate and we find that incredibly ridiculous and we are very clear about that. this is something russia has done all the time, many times before. >> has he ever worked for the united states government or now, to put it to bed? >> i can say the charges against him are ridiculous. we have been very clear about that. i'm not going to get into more specifics. very clear in my topper and statement those are ridiculous and not accurate and right now we are going to do everything that we can to get more details on the circumstances and that's where we are going to be at this time. >> one other question if i can following up on a briefing that just took place across the river at the pentagon, we heard from the pentagon now that additional six american service members were wounded suffering tbi, traumatic brain injuries as a function of those iranian-backed

in the words of the white house attacks on coalition bases in syria right now. how -- because iran continues to attack united states targets and american service members right now, the effort has been to deter them to stop them. it has not deterred them. how is that strategy working and shouldn't there be a higher cost for iran to pay? >> so look, i'll say this. we have a variety of tools to protect u.s. personnel and deter attacks and we will use those tools. we work every day to protect our people and deter attacks. president biden has taken a deliberate approach using a variety of tools to reduce risk to our personnel and make clear that we will hold anyone who attacks us responsible. and you've heard that from the president, you've heard that from the administration on down. the president will not hesitate to take action to protect u.s.

personnel overseas and always take action at a time and place of his choosing and that is the commitment that the president has to service members and to the american people. >> just to push a teeny bit on that. i recognize that is his priority and commitment he will do it at the time and place of his choosing and intention to deter them. clearly it has not deterred them, it continues as evidence by us learning about six more americans who were wounded during those attacks. in simple terms, does there need to be a higher cost for iran to pay. >> we have a variety of tools we can use to protect the u.s. personnel and our u.s. service members and we are going to use them and that's what we are going to do to deter these attacks. and so i will leave it there. >> thank you. >> thanks, karine. i wanted to ask why the biden administration wants the fdic to spare community banks from the special assessment to cover, you

know, insurance deposits for silicon valley and signature banks. i mean, the fault is that all banks pay, why not broaden the base? >> so i just want to -- are you asking about a particular bank, a particular bank here? >> no, i mean the biden administration earlier was talking about the fdic sparing community banks from the special assessment to cover the costs of ensuring deposits at silicon valley and signature banks. since the default generally is that all banks will pay to broaden the base, why is the administration encouraging them? >> i'll say that, the d.i.f. has more than enough to cover, right, any silicon valley bank and signature bank deposits that cannot be paid using funds from the banks or the sale of their assets and the fdic any losses the d.i.f. will be special

assessments on the banks, not the taxpayers. we think it's important the community banks, regional banks are also put in a strong place and also resilient as well. so i'm going to leave it there. i'm not going to go into specifics until what the fdic is doing, that is something for them to make that decision. d.i.f. is an important insurance fund the big banks pay into but i'm not going to get into specifics to their process. >> on immigration if i may, title 42, or the end is a few weeks away. before a few months ago, before announcing some of the asylum changes, the administration was warning that illegal crossings could climb up to 13,000 a day. do those numbers, are those concerns for those kind of numbers still stand or does the administration feel that with some of the changes involved that you guys have this under control?

>> one of the things i talked about very recently how the policies the president has put forth are working. if you think about the parolee program, venezuela, nicaragua, haiti and cuba, down by more than 97% and down by 70% for el salvador, guatemala and honduras. the president is using the tools presented to him he's able t use from the executive level without the help of republicans in congress that have not helped at all to deal with the issue, the program that he's put forth we see them working, the data shows that. now is there more work to be done, absolutely. we are always asking congress to

act. the president again put forth a comprehensive immigration reform on day one, that's how seriously he took this issue, and they refused to come to the table. so there's -- there's a way to move forward and really deal with this issue, but republicans in congress refused to do that. again, the programs that we have put forth are working and now we are -- we are moving forward and d.h.s. is moving a process forward to what it would look like once title 42 is lifted. >> does the administration feel prepared for the end of title 42? >> that's what d.h.s. is working on, processes will show and be. lifted on may 11 and that is something that the president is looking towards d.h.s. to make sure that we are ready to go by may 11. >> thanks, karine. on evan, designated as wrongfully detained? >> first of all, a process the state department is running, we have to let that go. my colleague at the state department spoke to this already moments ago so we have to let that process, we have to make sure we get the information, the most important thing at this moment is to get a consular to

evan and that's what we are working on. >> actually a big push by the foley foundation and families of other detainees from -- believe their family members are wrongfully detained abroad for the levinson act to be performed on capitol hill to provide it with more resources and for wrongful detainees to be designated more quickly. is that something the administration supports? >> i don't have anything to share about the levinson act. i said this moments ago regardless of whether someone has received a wrongfully detention designation, the state department seeks consular access for all americans who are held abroad. that is a commitment from the state department and from this president and that's what we are working on right now for evan. >> two questions, first, related

to the president's trip to mississippi, rolling fork is a city that is predominantly black and the median income is $38,000. many communities like rolling fork are, you know, susceptible to these by climate change. what does the administration say to these type of communities who are concerned that they could see the same type of devastation that we saw in rolling >> we've been very clear. our hearts go out to those families who lost so much. as we all know, it's one of the poorest areas in the country. that is something that the president understands and that his administration understands. i think it is important to also note that that's why the president's economic agenda is so important. that's why the president has been very clear on how he sees this economy growing. making sure we don't leave communities like rolling fork

behind. you can see that in every policy that the president has been -- every legislation that he's been able to get passed. that it does not leave anybody behind. it invests in communities like rolling fork, invests in making sure that we're creating good paying jobs. that's what you're going to hear as we talk about the invest in america tour. that's what you'll hear from our secretaries across the administration who are travelling this week and the next three weeks. that's what you'll hear from the president, the vice president, the first lady. we're going to make it clear, this is how we're going to invest in america and communities like rolling fork. also, it makes it so important -- think about the inflation reduction act and fighting climate change. that is one of the most -- the biggest -- so historic, right? because it does the most piece of legislation now law to fight climate change. so this is something that we're going to continue to fight for and continue to work towards as we move forwar