i just talked to him yesterday. >> i tell you one thing, that cackle is out of this world. that's it for us tonight. it is america now and forever. college visits? yes, i will tell you about that, greg gutfeld takes it from here. >> todd: fox news alert, house lawmakers arriving in taiwan and meeting with the vice president in the face of threats from china as ccp sends a fleet through the taiwan strip. >> will not let this intimidation get to us, we all receive threatening texts. there was talk about a chinese export in the air, that is intimidation rattling. i think the meetings will be very important in terms of the

next leadership. talk about weapons that i sign off ongoing into taiwan to pardon taiwan and are they prepared? do we have enough deterrence to stop aggression coming from china? >> todd: big development, you're watching "fox and friends first" on thursday morning, i'm todd piro. >> ashley: i'm ashley strohmier, in for carley shimkus. house speaker kevin mccarthy sitting down with taiwan president in california where he called for the u.s. to send more weapons to the nation immediately. >> todd: lucas tomlinson with more. lucas. >> lucas: the republican chairman just arrived in taiwan. here is more from chairman michael mccaul. >> being here sends a signal to the chinese communist party that the united states supports

taiwan. we will help taiwan and want them to think twice about invading taiwan. >> lucas: chinese government is outraged by the visit to taiwan's leader to meet house speaker kevin mccarthy. china could never tell us what to do, as speaker of the house, i will meet with whoever i want from whatever country. we need to speedup weapons to taiwan, deter ability of china to enter taiwan. we need to foster greater democracy and freedom, work together economically from the chip manufacturing and others. >> lucas: at tleeft three occasions, president biden pledged to support taiwan against a chinese invasion. karine jean-pierre did not appear to want to say anything more in her exchange with peter doocy. >> is president biden still committed to putting u.s. boots

on the ground in taiwan? >> we've answered this question multiple times, i don't have anything else to share. >> lucas: since nancy pelosi's visit last year, china ramped up -- at 2.4% gdp. the chinese government says it will stop and inspect vessels in the taiwan strait. taiwan says it will not be cooperating. >> ashley: thank you, lucas. chinese scientist rejecting the theory covid-19, many vireologist linked covid outbreak to wuhan market. the new explosive china-based study reveals no solid proof the animals were infected, furthering the theory the virus

did emerge from a lab in wuhan. >> todd: white house hopeful, robert kennedy challenging president biden as democratic candidate for the 2024 nomination. last month he said, if i run, my top priority will be to end corrupt merger between state and corporate power that ruined our economy, shattered the middle class, polluted landscapes and water and polluted our children. fox news poll reveals biden's approval rating is reaching lows. just 81% of democrats approve of the president's job performance, so far. >> ashley: house judiciary committee is weighing subpoena for manhattan district attorney alvin bragg and former

prose prosecutors. >> todd: brooke singman joins us live with the details. >> brooke: the house judiciary committee is seriously considering issuing subpoena for manhattan district attorney alvin bragg and two prosecutors who resigned last year from his team compelling them to testify before congress. the two prosecutors, pomerantz and dunn submitted resignation in february of 2022 after bragg began raising doubts about pursuing a case against trump. when alvin bragg took over in january of 2022, he suspended the investigation indefinitely. now a "new york post" report is revealing charges against trump are rarely pursued in new york. manhattan district attorney's office has filed falsifying record charges.

this leading the trump legal team to slam alvin bragg for prosecutorial bias. listen. >> he won't pull this off, he will go down as a disgrace, a disgraced da and hurt his political and he is politically motivated, his democrat party. that's it, bottom line, that's it, the end. this judge, the same thing. >> brooke: on tuesday, president trump laughed when asked if this was politically divisive. watch this. >> does it bug president biden when former presidents suck up all the oxygen? >> what is important to the president is to continue to focus on the american people. >> so it is good to lay low for a couple news cycles, then? >> here is the thing, peter, this is what we will speak to, to the fact this is a president that has been able to get

historic pieces of legislation done. >> ashley: stormy daniels, the adult film actress who is at the center of the trump indictment sat down with piers morgan in an interview airing today on fox nation. >> todd: over to you. sunshine state, approving bill to ban children from undergoing life altering gender surgery. >> ashley: prohibiting anyone from under 18 from undergoing life altering gender surgery and using state dollars for the operation. >> todd: abel ensua joins us now. why do you support this bill? >> thank you, ash and todd, i appreciate the opportunity. this bill shows in florida we let kids be kids. we have responsibility to our children to make sure they are well taken care of and their

mental health is in tact. someone who will have kids in the near future, we have to make sure parents are onboard with our kids and making sure they are properly taken care of and people are taking advantage of them and those will be dealt with and charged accordingly. >> ashley: talk about, you said those who break the law will need to be punished, what type of punishment are we talking about here? >> whether it issin fines, removal of medical licenses, the law states those not on board with the law and following the law will not be able to practice or have any funds. >> todd: here is what clay yarborough said, we have responsibility to children not to allow this to happen in our state. a decision of this magnitude cannot be made by a child in mental distress. why is the left so committed to

allowing children to make life-altering decisions when they are under the age of 18 when people in that age range can't do a litany of things. ashley provided the list, under 18, you can't vote, you can't consent to sex, why is the left pushing this so hard? >> it is a great question, especially after we've seen throughout the u.s. and throughout covid lockdown, mental health has been in a decline for children under 18. whether virtual schools, whether going out to see kids, they have been influenced. we're seeing decisions be ing rationally made. in florida, families are the bedrock of our society and one thing we have to focus on in the future. >> ashley: do you think states are going to follow suit? it is unprecedented.

you think hormone blockers for people under 18, you would think they would say, it is hard enough for them to navigate through life. do you think other states will follow suit with this or do you think this is just a florida thing? we've seen how florida has operated here especially recently. >> no, i definitely think that a lot of other states will definitely take notice and follow through. other republican states should look at florida as the blueprint for what is right. we've been right about the crazy spending in washington, right about the inflation going on and the nonsense poisoning our schools. we need to start believing we're right, that is one thing, it doesn't matter what the left says or liberals say, we have values we're going to uphold and continue working on in the future and i look forward to seeing some other states take up some of this language and do the same. >> todd: you come at this from a unique perspective, you are a

legal immigrant yourself. why is promoting america, an american tradition of values so important to you? >> it is a huge deal. as somebody whose family immigrated, america gave us the life we have. i want to fight extremely strong for it. americans are suffering. we've seen increase in illegal nationals crossing the board at the southern border and seen things happening to americans, it is one thing we want to get back. we need to make sure these values are strong and we are protecting values whether in the courtroom, classroom, it doesn't matter where it is, we have a right as americans to fight. >> ashley: right; right. ebo entsuah, thank you for your take on this. >> todd: good luck. >> thank you, ashley and todd. >> ashley: kansas state

representative throwing tantrum after state legislature chose to override her bill. the democrat standing up and screaming that her republican colleagues were "full of -- expletive," rui z says she believes her fellow lawmakers voted against their own moral code and their own values, i think that is going to be a tough time for them in the long run. the decision makes kansas the 20th state to pass transgender ban into law. >> todd: nike sparking outrage dylan mulvaney. fellow influencer lonnon began detransitioning last year questioning the ad, why doesn't

nike pay a real woman to promote a product solely for women? the nike post come days after bud light face backlash for a partnership with mulvaney. daily mail previously reported the payment could be 50,000 each. michael jordan started doing nike advertisement, now they are with dyladylan mulvaney. listen to this. ♪ >> todd: that is classical music blaring inside a downtown subway station to keep people from camping out. fed-up taxpayers can't believe this is how leaders are addressing the crisis, hear from two of them next. >> ashley: where is their governor gavin newsom? he's trash ing -- keep it here n

"fox and friends first."

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>> todd: fox news political analyst gianno caldwell slamming people of chicago for electing another progressive mayor. brandon johnson will bring more of the same dangerous policies as lori lightfoot. >> you know the definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. this is a guy who defunded the police, who advocated for that, defended rioters, not thought about public safety. my baby brother is kicking in his grave at the election of brandon johnson and many others are doing the same. what the hell were you thinking, chicago? i don't understand. >> todd: gianno caldwell's own brother christian was murdered during a shooting in chicago last summer. to austin, texas and brace yourself for this theory. convicted felon and defund the

police activist suggest bardering with criminals instead of sending them to jail. chase moore giving this reasoning, someone break into my home. i call the police. then what? if they find the person, that person goes to jail. we didn't really fix anything. i would say instead of sending her to jail, say she pays me back by cleaning my house for the next six weeks. think about that? what about murder? activist says if someone went into my grandma's house and blew her brains out, i'm going to be sad, but at some point, if i'm able to sit with that, no level of retribution will make me feel any type of way. i don't know if he would be saying that if his grandmother's brains were actually blown out. austin set a record for murders

in 2021 after police shortages. >> ashley: in los angeles, listen to what city officials are doing to make their subways safer. ♪ ♪ >> ashley: okay, that's classical music blasting high volumes in downtown metro stations to prevent homelessness as the city tries to crack down on crime. a member of the venice council public health and safety joins us now. off the bat, i have to get your take on what you think about this. >> when i first heard of it, what i thought was the scene in "apocalypse now," they are coming in with a chopper and playing "fight of valkori," it

seems like beethoven will not cut it. we are at pre-pandemic levels because it is so unsafe now. the metro system is synonymous with bodies on the floor, overdose, death and despair. that is why nobody is writing the metro today. it has gotten out of control and almost become a make-shift homeless shelter. >> ashley: los angeles metro officials claim new procedures are working saying early results show graffiti, loitering and trash cleanup have decreased by 50%, this leads me to think if they believe this is going to work, they will not do anything to solve or try to solve the underlying problem, which is where are we going to put the homeless people? they are not there, they will

scatter all over the place and go some place else. >> remember, this is a crisis that they themselves created. in 2020, following the blm riots, they decided to side with defund the police activists and decided to remove officers with guns, law enforcement officers, and replace them with social workers. so today we're facing a crisis where there are no armed guards on metro. it is essentially social workers. that is one reason that crime is spiralling. yet none of our woke progressive leaders are willing to take a step back and admit their policies have led to spiralling crime. >> ashley: i got to bring in paul, an l.a. business owner, he will join us now. good morning to you. i want your thoughts on thisun aring classical music in the subways right now?

>> in my opinion, it doesn't matter what they do. you know, if you're going to talk about movies, look at any zombie movie, it doesn't matter what you do to prevent them from attacking. there is nothing you can do. classical music, guards, activity on the sidewalk, it doesn't matter, they keep coming. like your guest was saying, there is no police, no enforcement, no appetite for police or enforcement. the problem is, metro is l.a. county. l.a. county is now run by, i hate to say it, run by just five women, the board of supervisors who have no idea what enforcement is and have this ideal that we can get by with guys on little scooters and

bicycles with baseball hats on that can solve this problem and there is no way. this is the -- i lay the fault 100% at the feet of these supervisors, especiallily lindsay horvast, who is trying to empty the jails, "depopulate," and the new term is "decarcerate." >> ashley: that is a new one i had not heard before, what canning done to fix this in the metro? >> start replacing the word, you know, homeless with home resistant. these people have to be compelled to leave the streets. there is no more choice, that is the problem. when they say housing, they -- it is a choice.

they give choice of homeless person instead of compelling them to come off the street. they can't live on the street. it is like a third world country. >> ashley: they are enabling them, both of you say it looks like something out of a zombie movie "walking dead," and sounds like an opening scene. thank you for your time this morning, we appreciate it. >> thank you. >> ashley: you're -- --

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>> ashley: we're back with america's crime crisis, founder of cash app murderedo a san francisco sidewalk. >> todd: more on bob lee's stunning death. >> police in san francisco are investigating the death of cash app found er bob lee. the 43-year-old father was transferred to the hospital where he later died. >> i just lost my best friend, my son, bob would never look down on anyone and adhered to no policy. >> i am devastated for them, as

top law enforcement officer in this city and county, i will ensure if somebody is arrested for this crime that we prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law. >> marianne: lee's colleague tweeting, the city council enabled him and lawless san francisco have bob's literal blood on his hands. take action. lee's friend says he fled the city to keep his family safe. he did comment on san francisco deteriorating, which is why he had just relocated to miami. todd and ashley. >> ashley: thank you, marianne. and evan gershkovich could be in prison for a year before going to trial, according to the brother of paul whelan. he claims the trial for gershkovich likely won't happen

for 12 to 18 months, saying, "it will be a long, drown-out process that will not have any impact or give him an opportunity to break out from the inevitable results," the hearing is set for may 29th. it will determine if he will stay in prison or get out on bail. the 31-year-old is doubling down that he was never spying on the kremlin. >> todd: fox news alert, house lawmakers arriving in taiwan to meet with the nation's vice president in defiant stand in the face of threats from china as ccp sends a fleet through the taiwan strait. >> we will not let this intimidation get to us. we all received threatening texts. there was talk about a chinese escort in the air, that is intimidation rattling. i think the meetings here are important in terms of the next

leadership. it is about weapons systems that i sign off ongoing into taiwan and departing taiwan and are they prepared? do we have enough deterrence to stop aggression coming from china? >> todd: joining me now survivors of the china revolution. and a refugee from vietnam. thank to you for being here. michael mccaul went on to say the following. his quote, i know there are three aircraft carriers surrounding taiwan right now and know they have certain plans, whether they carry those off or not. aishah hasnie asking what are the plans and michael mccaul saying, i can't disclose that, it would be unfortunate if the chinese communist party carried those out. what is your reaction to that kind of a threat? >> i'm glad michael mccaul is

over there, it is like us navigating free navigation in the south china sea. no one can tell us who to be friends with, that is like an abusive relationship right there. >> todd: mike, how concerned are you for our lawmakers who ventured into taiwan for this historic meeting with the vice president and later meeting with the president in a couple days and china responding like this. >> i think it is basically -- i expected that kind of response, but however, i want to tell you all this, in china there are certain -- chinese communist party that want to control the economy, want to be friends with america, so hopefully this will finally win over -- tension escalate. >> todd: this first topic here, are you encouraged by the meeting with kevin mccarthy and

the taiwan ease president here in the u.s. and follow-up meeting with these congressional leaders and the taiwanese vice president, are you encouraged what this could mean for the island nation? >> absolutely, we have to show them we are going to support them and have the seventh fleet standing by in case something happens. >> todd: we have seen the scenes of the arrest of the former president trump. you have a warning about our government's weaponization of the law. shi, what was your reaction when you saw people in the united states cheering the prosecution of a former president? >> yes. i would say to those people, you are cheering for your own demise because yesterday, april 4, 2023, will be remembered as one of the darkest days in america.

when the democrats made our country a republic, a banana republic of communism. i grew up in people's republic of china and during the culture revolution, they used power to go after political enemies. he did not use a.g., he mobilize the young people go after entire communist bureaucrats. i, as a little school girl, witness the struggles of the governor of my provence and that's where we are going to. when the totalitarian wins, no one is safe. we will all become victim. after the revolution, what happened, china was brought to ruins and 20 something million

lives lost. american people need to learn the history of the communism and see that it is repeating right here in america. >> todd: mike, as someone who has seen the evils of communism first hand, how dangerous a path are we headed down right now? >> it's a very dangerous, i want to tell you, the critical race theory is actually the communist theory, right? the woke culture is repeat of china culture revolution. if we don't stop that, america will be downgraded to a nation just like a culture revolution and we'll have a struggle between the different ratio groups, we're going to destroy our economy, we're going to loss technology leadership in the world of national security because ratio equity will

prevail in meritocracy destroyed. america will just like what she ment mentioned -- that would be very dangerous. >> todd: there are two other big issues that stand out to me. the first is china is gloating about this, an op ed says trump's advertisement is poor advertisement for democracy, adding the chinese are chuckling, they will use this as we try to promote this in the world and taiwan. that is a concerning aspect on the world stage. you heard donald trump say over and over again, they are not coming after me, they're coming after all of you. is he right? should conservatives in everyday life worry they could be next? >> absolutely, my grandfather

was hauled away in the middle of the night and murdered in front of my mom. it is one thing, if this can happen in the united states, it can happen anywhere. this is why i fought for this country, i wore a uniform for 30 years and fought in iraq, afghanistan and somalia. here we are falling prey to all of this. >> todd: you heard people say, if you didn't do anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about, that is misguided approach to viewing this. i agree with all of you, the ramifications are greater and we all need to be on alert to protect our democracy. thank you for your time and insight, we appreciate it. portland residents so fed up with their da, they are putting up billboards who publicly call him out. we will talk to one of the people behind the anti-woke

campaign. >> ashley: former fellow democrats are demanding her resignation, we will be here live to tell us what drove her to make this switch. >> modern-day democratic party has become unrecognizable to me and many others throughout this state and this country.

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>> ashley: police announcing a gang could be behind the murder of three florida teens. the suspects may be a want-to-be-gang in the area likely. >> we have a lot of leads. they're getting us in the right direction. i'm counting on the arrests and that is what i'm looking for, justice will be brought. >> ashley: police found two teens killed by gunshot wounds just days apart from each other and a third was found in a car 10 miles away. one of the victims is in the hospital. doctors say she is brain dead and will be taken off life support soon. police have not released the name of the other two victims. >> todd: new billboard popping up in portland calling out da

mike scmidt. >> under the policy of mike schmidt, he wants to fewer prosecutions mean fewer crimes, what's up with this? save portland, take action now. >> todd: co-founder of people for portland joins us now. kevin what is the da doing to the city of portland? >> it is more what he is not doing for the city of portland. this is a very liberal district attorney who got elected in 2020 promising to do less prosecution. at that time, that was the mode, but things have changed for portland since then, we do not want to defund police, we want accountable police that serve public safety and here with

people for portland, we want the public's voice and hold elected officials accountable for doing something to materially change the conditions around us as we watch the city we love fall apart. >> ashley: you said schmidt responded to the billboard. he says now crime is up and he should be prosecuting more, did you say that back to him and did he respond to that? >> no, he has not responded to that, he did respond to the billboard with a press release. it is amazing, it took a billboard for him to look and see what is going on in the streets of portland. right beneath the billboard is one of the largest open-air. he is not doing anything about. we see just in the metro area

here, under his jurisdiction, has twice as much staff, spending twice as much money, prosecuting half the number of cases, not doing anything about record shootings, burglary, open-air drug market, he has the power to do something, not just be something. we need to convince him what 85% of people in portland know, this schmidt has to stop. >> todd: that reminds me of mayorkas being surprised at to what the bracelets mean at the border. what is the response, break it down to right, the middle and the left, to your billboard? >> people for portland is democrat, me, and a republican coming together to form this group and now has 10,000 people behind it and generated 100,000 plus e-mails. vast majority of the public is

behind us. this hit a nerve, social media has exploded, we are growing like crazy in members and followers because of it. the 10% of people who are part of the ruling elite in portland, the ultra-left ideologues do not like it. we saw posts from folks that it looks burnable, flammable, as they said. only in portland do people who claim to be facist, criticize people who criticize the state temperature is an amazing upside down world we find ourselves living in. that ultra-liberal image of portland i've dealt with for a long time as a democrat temperature is not funny what is going on, it is a tragedy and breaking the hearts of a lot of folks who live here and not

doing anything for folks on the street who need mental health and need addiction care and more than just talk we're hearing from elected officials. they need actual action. >> ashley: you are an example, you're a democrat. i hate when people make crime and safety a democrat or republican issue, comparing crime in portland from 2021 and 2022, jump in every single major category. my final question to you, kevin, do you think the people of portland will ever be safe under schmidt, or will it take a different office and da to get this under control? >> we know that elections will change the future of portland and the state, that is one thing. we don't have time to wait for that. the murder rate and shootings going on every night in the street of portland demand action now thachl is why we started

people of portland to get the voice back into public safety and convince the da it is about protecting the people you serve. >> todd: you are a democratic consultant and helped get kate brown in, you are not filling in for hannity any time soon. the far left has lost you, they need to change their approach and they will lose voters. kevin looper, thank you, best of luck for this, beautiful city and we need it back. >> ashley: thanks, kevin. gavin newsom making stop at surprise college of florida on his red state tour and didn't pass up the opportunity to talk down to governor desantis on his own state and on his turf speaking to students upset with appointment of six conservative board members. gavin newsom said i'm crawling out of my skin for you, you are

not alone, you matter and we care. he claims desantis is threatening american rights. 50 years of progress and civil rights, lgbtq rights, contraception rights, led by your state and your governor with zest for demonization. >> todd: except ron desantis is not doing any of that, the bills do not do any of that, why would facts matter to newsom. >> ashley: jim jordan is weighing subpoenas for prosecutors who left alvin bragg's office during prosecution. new details. >> todd: all eyes on augusta, ashley's favorite golf tournament, buzz around the liv golfers invited to compete. we have details in a jam-packed 5:00 a.m. hour, of "fox and friends first." don't go anywhere.

>> todd: a fox news alert, house republicans could subpoena manhattan da alvin bragg and two former prosecutors from his office over the indictment of president trump this week in new york. you're watching "fox and friends first" on thursday morning, i'm todd piro. >> ashley: i'm ashley strohmier in for carley shimkus. republicans want to know why bragg's office handled the case against trump differently from other cases in the city and americans across the country want answers on issues that matter to them. >> the problem they've got is normal everyday americans sit down at the kitchen table and look at their family budget and the cost of gasoline and the disaster on the border. they worry about crime in their neighborhood, none of those things fit with the democrats wish they are focused on. if he strips away weaknesses they want to