these are findings from a grand jury who spent months investigating. >> todd: great point new york is investigating trump over completely legal payments. we will see if your state florida there and you prosecute those responsible for the trafficking of migrant children. ashley moody. we appreciate your time. got to go. "fox & friends" begins right now. >> ashley: have a good day. ♪ >> brian: we begin with a fox news alert. former president donald trump pleading guilty -- not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifies business records. >> ainsley: charges stem from alleged hush money payments made for the 2016 election. >> steve: okay. lucas tomlinson joins us live in washington with the details. we told people that yesterday was going to be busy and today we would be the post game show so you kick things off. okay? >> sounds good. good morning, steve, ainsley and brian. all the charges relate to alleged be hush money payments

to important star stormy daniels karen macdougall and a door man at trump power. o2015 to 2017 payments. all 34 counts date back to 2017 only. as you can see here president trump pled not guilty to charges. the ex-president will will raised his fist and waived to audience. he returned to palm beach to defend himself unprecedented charges against him. >> i never thought anything like this could happen in america. never thought it could happen. the only crime that i have committed is so fearlessly defend our nation from those who seek to destroy it. these radical left lunatics want to interfere with our elections by using law enforcement. we can't let that happen. >> trump used his address to go after manhattan d.a. alvin bragg calling the charges against him a political attack.

the manhattan judge who presided over trump's arraignment warned the ex-president not to make any statements that could incite violence. the former president called him a quote trump hating judge. d.a. alvin bragg defended himself by saying he is just following the law. >> we conducted a thorough and rigorous investigation we are going to do at the manhattan district attorney's office. i have been doing this for 24 years. and i'm no stranger to rigorous, complex investigations. every case ready. having now conducted a rigorous, thorough investigation, the case was ready to be brought and it was brought. >> the next hearing in the case is not until december 4th. and the prosecution wants the trial in january 2024 at the height of the g.o.p. presidential primary season, guys. probably not a coincidence. >> brian: chaos in december. december 4th is going to cost us millions of dollars.

thanks, lucas. is it necessary for him to come back in december? you saw how -- thanks, lucas. [laughter] >> brian: and i say goodbye. >> steve: and there goes lucas. >> brian: is it necessary to bring him back in december for a hearing? >> ainsley: his lawyer it want him. to say too much security. >> brian: locked the whole thing down. hundreds of thousands of cops. no one has had off in uniform for five days and come back and have just a preliminary hearing without picking a jury. this is going to take forever. >> steve: listen, if you go foxnews.com, and it takes about 20 minutes, read the indictment. it's interesting. and it's blunt. but and it's very clear, there's a paper trail. the d.a. says, of the 34 counts of filing a false business record which qualifies as a felony if there is a second crime. >> ainsley: but the second crime is not listed.

>> brian: busy. >> steve: yesterday mr. bragg talked about obliquely different things. >> brian: attorney. >> steve: unclear what the second crime is. there are gaps in the indictment. the question is and mr. bragg owes the public an explanation, what other crime was donald trump trying to cover up? it's clearly a paper trail that shows exactly how these porn star payments and the payments to the playboy playmate and the door man they were all made. there's a paper trail. there are four lawyers. they set up shell companies. but the question is what is the second crime? >> ainsley: prosecutors say that trump conspired to undermine the 2016 presidential election by trying to suppress information that could harm his candidacy and then concealing the true nature of the hush money payments. when we don't see that second crime, when it's not listed, everyone is scratching their heads, what's going on? why is he indicted? look at the front cover of "the new york post." trumped up. is that it? bragg's historic cases vs. don

falls flat. >> brian: so you have got the 30,000 payment what's new the door man says i have news about a love child. not true. listen i'm in the back stretch of this campaign. $30,000 it looks like. >> ainsley: why did trump even pay the doorman $30,000? >> brian: i don't know. i have never had a situation like that. but i could imagine, listen, i'm almost

the other cases are not going to get enough attention because there are so many problems with this one. they justment him out. >> remember, yesterday. >> steve: poll came out from cnn

76% of the people thought that it was politically motivated. i think if you polled the audience today it would be close to 100 percent. it appears that mr. bragg stretched -- did a lot of stretching to reach a felony charge to fit a political agenda. and that is going -- that's going to have an impacted across the country because people are going to say hey, donald trump, either you like him or you didn't. but that really looks trumped up and looks political. >> ainsley: donald trump yesterday at mar-a-lago he highlighted, went through the list of all the things they have done with him. he started with democrats spying on his campaign, attacking him with fraudulent investigations russia, russia, russia, ukraine, ukraine, ukraine. impeachment hoax number one, number two, the raid on mar-a-lago, lying to the fisa court. the doj relentlessly pursuing republicans and judicial changes to election laws. you read the list and reminded of everything they are doing to stop this guy from running for

president. >> brian: here is eric trump who laid out what exactly it was like from his perspective and his family's perspectives yesterday. and also the cost to this city. gore. >> it really dawned on me when we airport. hopped in the motorcade. every intersection was closed. fdr was closed. army around trump tower. army around the court house. there was barricades all over new york. literally alvin bragg caused 38,000 nypd officers to be distracted from their jobs over $200 million they are estimating that trip was for, what? for $130,000 payment? it's insane. how many people in new york died because the entire nypd wasn't doing their job because they were dealing with alvin bragg's political charade? they are doing this to persecute a guy that's winning the republican nomination by 35 points. not even close. they want to take him out of the race. my father will never ever give

up. you saw it tonight. he is going to fight. i promise you, mark my words. i'm saying here on your show for the first time i promise you he is going to win in 2024. americans see through the charade. >> ainsley: i was walking and talked to some security guards they said i think this is all going to work out. in my heart of hearts i think this is going to work out. trump has raised $10 million since this indictment was announced. he was booked. he was fingerprinted behind closed doors. mugshot not taken and the gag order was not imposed. >> brian: do you know what's interesting saint new hampshire institute about a poll. trump is up in new hampshire now 42-29 to sununu's 14. also up in massachusetts 45-21. >> ainsley: really? >> brian: early polls where he was trailing. polls are going to be polls. it shows a trend. by the way, you could have security what do i have a full time body man. they follow me around. >> ainsley: body man? >> brian: that's what i want a body man who follows me around. >> ainsley: like a wrestler.

>> steve: valet? >> brian: this way i have a constant conversation. >> ainsley: you need tyrus. >> brian: how much does he cost? >> steve: body man and order the right coffee? >> brian: i do have a problem with sizes. >> ainsley: only on ours. ours are small and yours is large. >> brian: stay out of it, chris. >> steve: it looks like michael cohen is going to be the star witness. >> brian: fantastic. >> ainsley: you can trust him. >> steve: there are four lawyers involved that are named in the indictment yesterday by lawyer one, two, three, and four. here's the thing. the star witness is not michael cohen. the star witness is david pecker, the guy who ran the national inquirer because essentially he knows all the stories. remember, when the grand jury was convened he was like the first witness and he was the last witness. and one of the last to speak. and one of -- a point before we go. one of the last things that lucas reported on this morning

is prosecutors yesterday, during the indictment, brought up to trump and his team the threatening post that donald trump made. he posted on truth social there would be death and destruction would follow if he were charged. and the judge warned him and his attorneys make sure that doesn't happen. six hours later, at mar-a-lago, the judge was attacked, the judge's wife, and the judge's daughter. the judge's daughter wound up on truth social in a bunch of social media sites yesterday because she works for a consulting firm that did work for hunter -- rather, hunter biden, for the biden-harris campaign. >> brian: a lot of them. >> ainsley: go on the website we were scrolling through it yesterday. they represent a lot of democrats, a lot of progressive democrats. >> steve: it is a very bad look to attack the family. >> brian: he said he just mentioned that they are -- alvin bragg attacking him.

his wife posted something negative about him and the daughter works for democrats. there seems to be agenda. he didn't say attack the family. he mentioned them in a speech. i thought his speech was tight last night. i couldn't believe how tight he was to the prompter. bum bum bum here is where i'm going. here's the problem with our country i got to run. >> ainsley: i like he did it in florida. i'm getting the heck of new york. >> brian: right. >> ainsley: which is sad because he helped build this city in many ways. coming up on this very busy wednesday morning, the "wall street journal" reporter how is he doing as he remains behind bars in russia. >> brian: it was election day in parts of the country. future of abortion on the ballot in wisconsin and chicago elects a new mayor. you'll be surprised. a live report on what the voters said in chicago and how everybody's taxes are going up. ♪ i do whatever it takes ♪ ♪ ♪

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democratic rival lori lightfoot soon she will be gone. >> while in wisconsin the democrats get a big win on the state supreme court ahead of a major abortion case. >> brian: todd piro joins us now with the election results. todd? >> todd: people of chicago have spoken and they are sticking with the far left. brandon johnson narrowly defeating paul vallas who was backed by the city's police union. now he is going to officially replace lori lightfoot as mayor when is he sworn in on may 15th. >> tonight is just the beginning. with our voices and our votes, we have ushered in a new chapter in the history of our city.

>> to the chicagoans, who did not vote for me, i care about you. i value you. and i want to hear from you. >> todd: the outgoing mayor congratulating johnson in a statement last night i congratulate mayor elect johnson on hard fought run off this evening. as always i will continue to root for the city i call home and work toward more equity and fairness in the neighborhood. johnson backed by bernie sanders as well as the teacher's unions running for mayor after previously expressing support for the defund the police movement. he also plans on raising taxes on big business to boost the city's rev newses. meantime in wisconsin the democrats win in a crucial swing seat on the state supreme court. janet means her victory means that left leaning justices will control the state's highest court for the first time in 15 years. that outcome coming just before the court rules on a case challenging wisconsin abortion ban. and in denver, the city's

mayoral election likely headed to a runoff. democrats mike johnsston and kelly brough leading a crowded feel of 16 candidates. that runoff held on june 6th. johnston and brough are seen as two of the most more democrat candidates for. chicago, they love the far left denver unclear, maybe not so much. back to you. >> steve: stay tuned. todd, thank you very much. >> now back to our fox news alert. president trump rallying supporters of a mar-a-lago last night calling the 34 felony charges against him politically motivated. >> this is 5% cushion not an investigation. i spent time there today as you possibly read. [laughter] with a local failed district attorney. charging a former president of the united states for the first time in history on a basis that every single pundit and legal analyst said, there is no case. it's far worse than that because he knew there was no case.

>> brian: did it anyway. state department spokesperson under the former president morgan ortagus joins us on the couch. you were telling us before through both impeachments you saw the controversy up close and personal. the president seemed stoic yesterday. i thought his speech was crisp but direct. >> i agree. having worked for him for those final two years of the administration, we went through a lot. including two impeachments and had to brief, you know, the media at the state department the whole time. i know what he is made of. i know what he is capable of going through. he has been through incredibly tough things. and this case listen, you will have a lot of legal analysis for the next three hours on "fox & friends." i'm not a lawyer. i will tell you what is troubling about this case is that at the state department if we saw an example of a country overseas where the sitting president or prime minister jailed or arrested the leading opposition candidate there would be a statement come outs of my office and we russia and burma and other places.

so, i worry about the effect of when this prosecution appears on its face so far to be very transparently political going after the main opposition candidate to president biden, you worry about the united states' ability to talk about the rule of law and to talk about democracy promotion overseas and you even saw some foreign leaders like in el salvador criticize us on that very point. >> steve: donald trump said there is no case there. there is a case and it's a misdemeanor case and apparently they have got the evidence. there is just no felony case and that's where the legal peril is. >> what will be interesting you have had people announce they are challenging him for the republican nomination. you have other people considering it. it feels like a repeat of 2016 in so many different ways that he has a monopoly on the limelight. a monopoly on the news. i'm sure this is not how he intended to do it. when you start to see the polls i think you mentioned one this morning where he is almost 20 points ahead in new hampshire. i think it's going to be hard. and the republican primary general election different

story. very hard republican primary to breakthrough whenever he has this constant news churn. >> ainsley: we have been talking the last few days our colleagues sister newspaper "wall street journal" evan gershkovich he has been jailed in russia for espionage charges. that's at least what the russian government was saying. they say he is in good health and this is what the "wall street journal" is reporting. we are encouraged evan's lawyers were able to meet with him today. evan's health is good and is he grateful for the outpouring support from around the world. you work at the state department, getting him home. >> it's going to be really tough and very hard. we still have paul whelan there. i think that i -- i think it was on "fox & friends" whenever brittney griner was released that i came on and did an interview with all of you. i was very critical of that negotiation that they led to get britney out. >> brian: victor beauty. >> this sets a dangerous

precedent for what we are willing to do to get americans home. terrorism -- terrorist groups will do something kidnapping for ransom where they kidnap people. >> really russia is acting like a terrorist state. what we need to do is action and not just words. the secretary of state tony blinken came out and said we have grave concern. used a lot of diplomatic language. we he need action. what does that senate 100 to 1 voted to make russia a state sponsor of terrorism. the biden administration has held that back. number two, in the trump administration, we imposed sanctions on iranian diplomats that when they came here to the united states, essentially we said you could go to the u.n. and you could go home. why don't we could that to these russian diplomats you get to go to the embassy and to work and get to go home. real action and things to show we are serious. this is why the brittney griner negotiation was dangerous. >> brian: and it was imbalanced, obviously. >> steve: morgan, thank you very

much for dropping by. >> thank you. >> steve: it is 6:23 now in the east. and come up joe biden got a little pressed on the trump indictment yesterday. what did he have to say? >> is the indictment of your predecessor politically divisive? [shoushouting. [. >> ainsley: said nothing. he smiled. senator tom cotton knows this is no laughing matter and he is going to join us next. skyrizi helps me move with less joint pain, stiffness, swelling, and fatigue. and skyrizi is just 4 doses a year after two starter doses. skyrizi attaches to and reduces a source of excess inflammation that can lead to skin and joint symptoms. with skyrizi, 90% clearer skin and less joint pain is possible. serious allergic reactions and an increased risk of infections or a lower ability to fight them may occur.

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>> thank you, thank you, guys. thank you. [shouting questions] >> brian: ask any questions or address the press just giggles. president biden laughing off questions on the trump indictment. senator tom cotton joins us now to react. is it okay for the president and the press secretary not to comment on this? >> no, brian. this is no laughing matter. never before in american history has the party in power targeted a former president with criminal charges such an unprecedented step should not be taken lightly but the indictment of donald trump is a joke. it should be dismissed immediately. first off the so-called criminal charges are beyond new york's five year statute of limitations second the legal theory is completely flawed. their claim, i guess, the indictment is so blank on the matter is that donald trump should have used campaign funds for a personal matter. but the department of justice,

even the federal election commission has refused to bring federal election criminal charges here finally consider the evidence here. you have the testimony of a woman who has repeatedly contradicted herself on this matter and then the testimony not just of any convicted criminal but a man who was convicted for lying under oath. this matter ought to be dismissed immediately. >> brian: what a distraction it is for the country. cost maybe $200 million for this city that's already 13 billion in deficit. 4% of his budget across the board. writing checks to an understaffed police department who we're told work for five straight days in full uniform. incredibly stupid and that is alvin bragg. now, impactful things are happening in real life. and not the ones we have been in. the bipartisan group of senators -- i didn't mean know this -- met quietly with the taiwanese president. you were not there. had kevin mccarthy sit down.

that will be today with the towk jutaiwanese president. >> it's very common for them to transit through the united states. they don't come on official state visits because of our unique relationship with taiwan. this is very common. there is many historic precedents with it in the past. unfortunately president biden and the white house, who is going out of their way to minimize this visit to say it's merely a private visit, not to defend the rights of senators and congressman to meet with president xie. there was a democrat senator that met with her as well. this is what happened last summer as well when nancy pelosi went on what is a routine and common trip tore legislator to travel to taiwan i have done so myself as well. president biden minimized the entire thing. he didn't stand up for the rights of members of congress that only embolden china that encourage them to take

provocative actions. i strongly stabbed with senators who have met with president xie and speaker mccarthy and i would urge president biden to make it clear to china not only are we going to continue this practice but we will stand up to any provocation that china undertakes in the western pacific because of these meetings. >> brian: senator, we have pledged to get them the defensive weapons they need to defend themselves and three years now. they are blaming it on supply chain issues. we know the supply chain issues. but is that really the cause of why taiwan doesn't have the arms they paid for? >> no, brian. i think one of the main causes here is president biden, again, is projecting weakness. trying to conciliate with xi jinping. every time america even announces a weapons delivery, china gets angry and china denounces the action and president biden, again, you have seen him for his first two years in office continues to try to find ways to appease the chinese. they sent a spy balloon all across america just a couple months ago. the secretary of state canceled

a meeting with his counterpart as a result of that. but then just a few weeks later at a conference in europe. he went running after him so they could have a meeting. this is just another example of president biden's weakness towards china. >> brian: by the way, their dishonesty in telling us that they weren't able to get anything substantial it config rates across many of our military bases are until we shot it down. i hope there is going to be investigations on that. senator tom cotton, thanks so much. >> thank you, brian. >> brian: all right. coming up straight ahead. the weather alert. tornado touchdown. violent storms hit the heartland. janice is tracking the severe threat in effect today. plus does the indictment of president trump change anybody's mind? we have six voters from across the voters across the country from all different walks of life and beliefs. they are going to weigh in next and they promised to wave anddi they did. ♪ff to every-other-month, injectable cabenuva. for adults who are undetectable, cabenuva is the only complete,

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>> ainsley: this is a fox news alert. we are back. new reaction to the 34-count felony indictment against former president donald trump. joining us now a panel of voters on if the historic indictment changes their minds. so, here's our panel. thank you all so much for being here. raise your hands if you are a democrat. because i want to hear what you think. all right, marissa, i will start with you. what do you think. >> i'm not a fasten president trump. i think enough is enough already. if we are going to start pinpointing politicians for all of their business affairs looking into things they have done in the past. we need to investigate all of them. he is not the first person who has done this and, again, i'm not defending him. i would never defend president trump. but i feel like there's a lot of distraction going on and we need to just get away with this and focus on the real issues. >> ainsley: we are spending a lot of money on this. sammy, you are in the back. you ran as a conservative in 2020. how do you feel about this. >> i'm also a former police officer. >> ainsley: that's right. >> my whole thing is they found the worst prosecutor in america to prosecute trump. because alvin bragg will not

prosecute a black on black crime or latino on latino crime. he will set those guys free. >> ainsley: he ran on. this he goes after a former president. this is a tragedy for america right now they should not be celebrate this. instance a ains shut down fdr. police officers down at the courthouse. a lot of taxpayer dollars went to this. >> yes. >> ainsley: how do you feel as a police officer about that. >> it's tragic. i houses they are telling us they can't find to get the houses clean and that place is a mess. in the meantime they find money to prosecute a former president with charges that we don't really understand what they really are. they are misdemeanor penal law charges. in the meantime they raise this to a felony. a lot to unpack for the voter. >> ainsley: madeline, how do you feel. you have been on our show before. you lost his son he was murdered. here we have alvin bragg focusing on president trump paying money to some lady that he might have had a relationship with. >> well, they picked up a new

slogan no one is above the law. if no one is above the law then i don't understand how alvin bragg could dismiss murder and gang assault indictments against two of the people involved in the murder of my son because it seems to me that murderers are above the law in new york city so all of this "no one is above the law requests nonsense is just that it's nonsense. we see it every single day in the black and brown communities. every day all day everyone is above the law. they are not making it to the d.a.'s office. the cases are not being prosecuted, period. all right? they are being released from the precincts with a desk appearance ticket to a referral to a community based organization

that has shown no measurable difference of effectiveness. we see current, rising out-of-control every single day. and alvin bragg is doing absolutely zero, all right? depending on data, all right? anything over zero percent of collateral damage is too many. >> ainsley: and you voted for trump no 2020. >> absolutely. and i will vote for him again. i am a proud black conservative. >> ainsley: okay. frank, let me get to you. you are a financial guy. you said we are focused on the wrong thing here. >> yeah. look. no one objects to criminal inquiries. people want to see prosecutions. people object to selective prosecutions. and selective prosecutions lead to selective outrage which we have a ton of in this country and it's all masking what is going on from a financial

standpoint from a running -- this is the most inept government i have ever seen in my lifetime. i'm 58 years old. i have never seen anything like it before. you have got china, russia, dominating the world stage behind the scenes because no one is paying attention. yes, we have a war in ukraine. china and russia right now are right now puppet mastering the entire global economy. we have had inflation. wait until they disseminate the u.s. dollar which they are actively trying to do. you have seen multiple countries in the last two weeks claiming to move away from the dollar. saudi arabia one of our biggest trading partner says we don't care to please the u.s. anymore. that's dangerous rhetoric no one is paying attention to. that's all a statement of a leadership of this country. we have failed from a global leadership perspective. >> ainsley: dominic, you in the back, you are an independent, and you say this is politically driven what is happening to donald trump. >> i live about 10 blocks from here. and alvin bragg has spent his entire career keeping criminals out of jail. it's impossible for me to believe this is not politically

driven. the american people care about hush money with stormy daniels just as much as they cared about bill clinton and paula jones shower. sexual harassment cases what they care about is president coming millionaires. and america is grateful for trump for putting america first and pushing hard for america and coming out almost less wealthy than he did when he came in because he sacrificed, you know, his personal life supporting the country. >> ainsley: samantha, he has raised $10 million since the indictment last week. a lot of money. how do you think that will this momentum continue throughout the election? because right now people are supporting him because they are outraged they think it's politically motivated. what happens in a year. >> i think that republicans will take power again. i think that the voters today have had enough. these are all distractions. distracting from this terrible

presidency. you know, china, russia, ukraine, burisma, laptops, human trafficking, i mean, it's all across the board. it's a failure. and i think the worst of it for me is this restrict act that's coming up where if we thought the patriot act was a bad thing. this is going to be worse because we are losing privacy in every area of our life. i think this is -- we are on the verge of communism. i think that when i sit and talk with people that have fled cuba and they tell me this is exactly what happened in my country, you need to wake up. you need to pay attention. that we should heed the warning because this is at our door. and i don't know what it's going to take for our neighbors to see what is happening and i'm really frightened for my children's future. because this is a dangerous slope we are on and i don't see any correction in it unless people really stand up and say this is enough. we have had enough of this shenanigans of these preposterous charges that every

president has done. you know, we need to put what is important ahead of us and this silliness because someone is failing as a president. because that's what he is. he is a failure in my opinion. >> ainsley: joe biden? >> yep. >> ainsley: thank you all. great perspective. our voter panel is going to join us again later in the show. they had some interesting points, didn't they, steve? >> steve: they certainly did. great listening to them. good job, ainsley. >> ainsley: thank you. >> steve: 1 minutes before the top of the hour on this wednesday. fox weather alert. 70 million americans. good chance watching now people in the midwest and south are bracing for another round of severe weather today as tornadoes rip through yesterday. several twisters touching down in illinois and iowa and cause significant damage, thankfully nobody was hurt. look at that video. my goodness. but dozens of americans have been killed. it's more than 100 tornadoes hit over the past week. senior meteorologist janice dean is here with our fox weather forecast and it's another day,

j.d., to keep an eye on the sky. >> absolutely. we still have the risk for severe storms today. let's take a look. i will show you the temperatures because we have the clash of those two air masses as part of the ingredients that we need for severe weather outbreak. 74 in dallas. 36 in kansas city. 12 in denver. you can see where we have got a temperature difference in some cases of 40 degrees and a cluster of severe thunderstorm warnings and tornado warnings for parts of arkansas up towards illinois. so, the red polygons on your map are recorded tornadoes, doppler radar indicated tornadoes moving through these areas and that's going to continue, unfortunately, throughout the morning into the afternoon where we have a tornado watch in effect from texas all the way up towards illinois. that watch is in effect until 9:00 a.m. we have a severe thunderstorm watch until 11 o'clock a.m. the latest stretching back in towards the plain states up towards chicago. so large hail, damaging winds and tornadoes will be possible. heavy rainfall could cause flash

flooding. there is your severe storm threat throughout the day today and into towards the evening moving across the eastern seaboard tomorrow, steve doocy, so he will continue to keep you up to date if you need the watches and warnings download the app. or see them on your local television. >> steve: that's right. a lot of people are traveling for holy week. >> yes. >> steve: i imagine disruptions you can find those at the app., too. >> janice: you got it. >> steve: thanks, j.d. 14 minutes before the top of the hour. >> ashley has some news that starts in nashville. >> we have headlines starting with the nashville school shooting. investigators released a list of 47 items found in the suspected killer's home including suicide note, weapons, and five yearbooks from the covenant school. the two hero officers who raced inside to confront and kill the shooter are now breaking their silence. listen. >> it was readily apparent. i was going to be the one to make entry. and i have been given my

training. i know my role. >> i notice that all the glass to that door had been shot out. i saw shell casings on the ground. bullet holes on the door. so i immediately made entry. we heard another shot and that's what told us the shooter was to our right. >> ashley: thank god for those two officers. six victims were unfortunately killed including three 9-year-old students. the city of los angeles is trying to clean up the subway system by blasting classical music and it's working. one metro station near downtown l.a. has a piano play list on repeat and crime is down by nearly 20%. the pilot program is in response to a record number of violent attacks and overdoses on public transit. critics call the move psychological torture. >> brian: yep. >> ashley: president of stanford law school promising to safeguard free speech after a conservative judge was heckled speaking on campus. email to students he writes: we

must continue building, understanding an active dialogue about both the opportunities and expectations of being members of this community, including shared commitments to both free expression and to dignity and integrity in our interactions. other conservative federal judges vowed to never hire stanford law students as clerks in response to the protest. and those are your headlines, steve, back to you. >> steve: that will teach them. all right. thank you very much, ashley. >> ashley: you are welcome. >> steve: a fox news alert. tmainstream media cheering on te arrest of president trump yesterday. >> this is a guy who has acted lawlessly his whole life. >> are you guys sick of talking about this already? >> no. this is unprecedented. >> this is the super bowl. >> steve: that was before. they were singing a different tune later. joe concha on that coming up next. ♪ only pay for what you need. with the money we saved, we tried electric unicycles. i think i've got it!

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♪ >> this is guy who has acted lawlessly his whole life. >> are you guys sick of talking about this already? >> no. this is unprecedented. >> this is the super bowl. >> there is something quite different about him from almost everyone else in both years in both parties who have faced these kind of charges. is he proud of it. he talks like a mob boss. >> this is man who has thwarted

the law, polarized the country and diminishing our system of rule of law. >> steve: well, some in the media cheered as the historic arrest of donald trump as the super bowl. others though express concern at the legal strength of the case brought yesterday. >> here's where we are going to run into legal problems because the indictment does not say what that second crime is, which is completely inexplicable to me. >> the facts and the law. the facts as laid out today could be a compelling argument. before they even get there, they have to overcome the legal issues. question one, what is the crime? >> if i had to characterize it, it's disappointment. >> i had hoped there would be more in the indictment. >> steve: all right, fox news contributor joe concha joins us here. joe, you know, so we heard about the 34 counts of filing false business records. they qualify as a felony if there is a second crime. if there is a second crime, it wasn't in the document yesterday. we don't know what it is.

>> it helps when you define the crime, right, in this situation. on some channels this was the super bowl meets the os cars meets like a jerry lewis telethon. you can't get away from it and won't get away from it for some time. here's how weak this case is not just cnn saying it was underwhelming former attorney general bill barr he has been critical of donald trump. he called it pathetically weak. mitt romney who isn't exactly the president of mormons for maga. he said this of alvin bragg and pretty telling. the overreach political sizing political opponents. jeffrey a big high powered attorney in new york he represented chapo. he sums this up i loathe trump for a variety of reasons it's still america and we still have to be concerned about cases brought against people we don't like because the next day it will be cases against people that we do like. >> steve: that's right. joe, yesterday we cited a cnn poll that showed that 76% of the people polled and this was

before the indictment was announced, 76% thought it was going to be political. now you have seen it and it's like, okay, it looks really political because mr. bragg ran on going after donald trump. all right. he has delivered on the campaign promise. but there is no there there. >> precisely. three quarters of the country hard to get to in any poll these days think it's political as you mentioned before. that number would be infinitely higher once they saw there is no there there here. the reason they think it is political, steve. when is this trial going to happen? january? what the iowa caucuses are going to begin and could run throughout a presidential year. that's all you need to know. it's just like the january 6th commission which began in the surgeon of 2022. went all the way right up to the midterm elections. it kept donald trump front and center and took joe biden and his record off the front pages. >> steve: here's the thing. legal experts were talking about how all the cases crump faces and we are talking about -- >> georgia.

>> georgia, docu-lago. this one with alvin bragg was the weakest and yet, it's the first. >> yet, you have to wonder if this case fails or if this is the precedent now that's being set when other cases are brought forward the fatigue from the american people. a lot of people may look at it and say it looks like they are throwing stuff against the wall until it sticks. main issues inflation, crime, education, the border, all off the a block of every cable news network for the time being except for this one. >> steve: joe, i will see you around the neighborhood we live in the same town. >> we should go to hartkers. >> steve: the jewelry store. >> i'm in need of earrings. >> steve: you have a anniversary coming up. james comer coming up next on "fox & friends." ♪ and can help me reach them with confidence. the markets may fluctuate but you're still on track.

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>> ainsley: we start with a fox news alert. president trump pleads not guilty 34 counts of falls phiing business records. >> steve: this as he maintains his innocence. mr. trump is labeling the probe by progressive d.a. alvin bragg in manhattan as persecution not prosecution. >> brian: mark mariucci dietl is all over this story. he joins us live from the white house. hey, mark. >> brian, ainsley and steve, good morning to all three of you. overnight president trump condemned manhattan's district attorney only hours after you guys mentioned he charged him with 34 felonies