reasonable rate, i joke this is my nonprofit. . >> fantastic. calico fish house, you are great andrew and thank you for watching. being with us this easter sunday, women of the bible spea >> todd: a fox news alert, texas governor greg abbott announcing his plan to pardon daniel perry. perry says he acted in self-defense as the country had the summer riots. you are watching "fox and friends first," i'm todd piro. >> ashley: i'm ashley strohmier, in for carley shimkus. sentencing could begin tomorrow in a case that could put perry in prison and end his army

service. live as the trail takes the next steps today, good morning, claudia. >> good morning to the two of you. this next legal battle in texas is shaping up to be a power play with the state's conservative governor on one side and austin's progressive district attorney on the other. prosecutors begin working with a judge after a jury convicted army sergeant daniel perry of murder. this happened during a black lives matter protest in downtown austin in july of 2020 when garrett foster was carrying an ak-47. perry claims he fired his own gun in self-defense. the texas governor says perry acted within its legal rights, texas has strongest stand your

ground rules that cannot be nullified. he is asking the state's parole board to review the case quickly so he can pardon him >> the da says a jury gets to decide if guilty or innocent , not the governor. texas lieutenant governor dan patrick backing abbott's efforts. listen. >> one thing to have law and order break down in the streets, but to have law and order break down in the justice system, he should not have been charged. the detective argued with the da over this. when you have the justice system breakdown at the da level and the court level, when a country in the justice system -- >> that is the deal. >> that is the beginning of the

end of a country. >> calling out billionaire soros whose contributions to the texas justice political action committee topped $669,000. texas attorney general paxton says self-defense is a god-given right, not a crime. unfortunately travis county cares about dangerous antifa and blm mobs than justice. without having an appeal court overturn the conviction, sergeant daniel perry could face listen in prison. back to you. >> ashley: thank you so much. fox news alert, tensions high around taiwan. >> todd: taiwan foreign minister warning about an uncontrollable cold war.

alexandria live with the latest. alexandria. >> alexandria: an airstrike carrier joined in, taiwan reportses fighter planes have crossed the taiwan strait and concern for island democracy run high in part to response of taiwan's president visiting with kevin mccarthy last week and discussing hardening the island nation in the event of an attack by china. this projection of what a missile attack could look like if they were to strike taiwan. >> the chinese exercises this couple days have been very serious. if you look at the authority of the chinese air force together with ships coming close to taiwan and any accident might spark an uncontrollable war

between taiwan and china. and if other countries are trying to intervene, it might be the star of a war of a grand scale. >> alexandria: china carried out simulation of striking drills yesterday. here is congressman michael mccaul. this is an intimidation tactic they are known for, the size of this one is one of the largest we've seen. it will not intimidate us. if we have deterrence for peace, we need to get the weapons into taiwan. >> the u.s. navy confirmed the destroyer asserted navigational rights and freedom mission in the south china sea. senator lindsey graham says he is open to using u.s. forces to defend taiwan. >> strategic ambiguity is not

working. china believes the store is open, you can take whatever you want on biden's watch. question for congress, should we have agreement with the island of taiwan? i would be open to using u.s. forces because it is in national security interest to do so. >> alexandria: the biden prepares to visit ireland tomorrow. >> ashley: alexandria, thank you. french president emmanuel macron taking a shot at america after his visit to china saying europe must resist pressure to become america's followers and -- >> todd: director of the independent women's forum join us now. patrice, we rushed to france and

europe's need when they need anything over better part of an entire century and this is how they repay us? >> this is not surprising. good morning. you have the french president, who is looking for a useful distraction from his own failings right now. he had a no confidence vote because of his contentious retirement reform plan. he's looking for a way to change the headlines at home and to step out and position france as a new power center and power broker and that means weakening alliances with the united states and strengthening them with china. his visit with president xi last week, he brought with him 50 or 100 business leaders, inking tons of deals with french and international companies. he is looking for economic

opportunities, political opportunities and our relationships with france as well as european nations will be at risk. >> ashley: what does it mean for the u.s.? every single conflict is always going to fall back on us? >> i think it is going to be situational. i think generally you have -- we've aligned with the u.k. and western and eastern european countries when dealing with russia and ukraine conflict. taiwan is a different space we're talking about and i think the french are saying, signalling they are not going to follow us when it comes to defending taiwan if china decides to invade. china has been making serious aggressive moves westbound the past 24 hours to signal we do not want to see taiwan being considered legitimate. we want to ensure the world

sides with us and doesn't side with this nation. united states may have to go it alone when it comeings to taiwan. >> todd: this was an attack on the u.s. dollar, as well. how should joe biden respond to this and other attempts to displace the u.s. dollar as the world's currency? >> united states dollar has been strong and european countries resent the fact travelers are get are more for their buck. let things pass and ride out how they are. the u.s. dollar should be, so many countries use it. the president has to say it is important to conduct business using the u.s. dollar. if you don't like that, too bad. >> ashley: back in the united states, congresswoman alexandria ocasio-cortez was pressed over calls by biden to ignore federal

judge's abortion ruling bill. listen to this. that is a pretty stunning position, if you think in the abstract about notion of ignoring a judge's position. >> i want to take a step back and dig into the grounds around ignoring this preliminary ruling, as well. there is precedence for this, they make a mockery of our law. >> ashley: how concerning is it cnn is even troubled about this public stance she is taking. >> oh, yeah, this exposes new generation of far left progressive lawmakers are willing to governor by undermining the judiciary. governored by undermining constitutional checks and

balances. take apart what she is talking about, thissen moos means unelected democrats get to say you are out of bounds and we will do what we want to do anyway temperature is a way of elevating cases and issues to the supreme court. it undermines the system. however, this is what the far left wants to do. any cost, nothing is you hava the table and we'll do anything to advance radical policies. this is about the abortion pill, they are talking about destroying babies. >> todd: the left loves to say anything is a threat to democracy, is there a bigger threat to democracy than sitting member of congress saying ignore that federal judge's ruling, i don't want to follow it. seems like the biggest threat to democracy, i can think of, what do i know, patrice.

>> i agree with you. thank you both. >> ashley: today more protests expected in $10 million as lawmakers reconvene for the first time since two democrats were expelled from the state house of representative for their role in the chaotic gun control protest following the covenant school shooting. justin jones could be back in office by end of the day. had the nashville city council will hold a special meeting to vote on his potential reappointment. listen. >> we are dealing with a body that has completely burned the constitution. we see they operate without any time of regard for democracy. it is up to speaker sexton, who has taken control of $10 million and some members of his staff expressed they will not seek me.

the will of my county government should be ultimate. >> ashley: jones and justin pearson were expelled for roles in protest at the state capitol on march 30 and a vote is set to reap reappoint pearson. jones and 53arson's -- racist. >> todd: jon rahm holding off brooks koepka. earning second major victory of his career, first coming the 2 2021. jon rahm there, made that six-footer, take the lead for good at augusta national. jon rahm the fourth player from spain to win a green jacket.

look at this shot, how do they do that? spanish star dedicating his victory to baesteros, listen. >> i never thought i would cry winning a golf tournament, close on the 18th hole, a lot because of what he means to me and spanish golf. this was for sevi. i know he was up there helping and helping he did. >> todd: ashley strohmier, not forget about mickelson, finishing in a tie for second, wild after shooting seven under par, oldest player to finish in the top five at the masters. jordan spieth, patrick reid and sayith after strong final rounds. i watched yesterday, i couldn't

have been more impressed with phil mickelson. you play liv and can only play 54 holes and by last 18 holes, you are you hava the rails. maybe the case for brooks koepka, but amazing final round and jon rahm can hit a ball. >> ashley: they are there for a reason. it was concerning to see tiger woods. he -- it looks like he's hurting, to be honest. >> todd: he is hurting. >> ashley: that is sad issue someone you grew up watching and thinking you couldn't penetrate him, he was steel and you see this happen. >> todd: they say augusta is the toughest course to walk and they are walking for 72 holes over course of four days. how many times has he won? >> todd: a lot, but that was

before age, a massive car accident, another massive car accident and life's indignities. you can imagine trying to play golf at that level with all the young up and comers who hit the ball a country mile temperature is tough. >> ashley: thursday or friday, i read he was 54th place. >> todd: he still made the cut. there is talk this could be it, never count tiger out. >> ashley: you don't think so, do you? >> todd: with modern medicine, you can rest and recover and he is a ridiculously good golfer and trained in the swing, if he rested his body and got it back, he could come back. we counted him out before and he won in one of the greatest times ever. >> ashley: time will tell. >> todd: whatever we're doing. >> ashley: lsu women's

basketball coach kim mulkey breaking her silence on the drama following their national championship win. lsu defeated iowa for the national title, sparking backlash after angel reese, was accused of negative -- >> we are on top of the world, they are very much independent young women that speak their mind, now stop the noise and concentrate on what is important and not important. >> ashley: kim mulkey took the team to the top two years after taking over, this was the most watched women's basketball game in ncaa history. >> todd: that was a great game. >> ashley: i told you how rough it gets. >> todd: like hockey with the fights. i have two girls.

speaking of girls, opposite, like father, like son. george soros' son has been spending time at the white house, how this could be affecting policy decisions. >> ashley: a new report claims a 2024 strategy is in the works and involved an army of social media influencers. oh, boy, we'll explain next. ♪

>> todd: period biden yet to be announced campaign will leave army of influencers across several platforms, including tiktok, despite the u.s. weighing ban on chinese-owned app for security concerns. the online stars could get their own briefing room in the white house, in an effort to reach young voters and follows series of white house visits for young

celebrities. donald trump holds a larger online following than president biden heading into the 2024 season. >> ashley: gavin newsom offering political advice to ron desantis in an interview with jen psaki. >> he will get rolled by trump, trump will roll him, trumped. if i were offering him political advice, i'd tell him to pack up and wait a few years and do hard work like governoring, not culture war. >> ashley: desantis's response to indictment made the florida governor look weak. desantis criticized alvin bragg's indictment as political maneuver and made a prediction with next year's presidential election. >> biden will be re-elected and

deservedly so. his legislative accomplishments last two years, nothing comes close. the >> ashley: has yet to announce plans for next year's election and may not do so until late summer or fall. >> todd: and george soros's son had more than a dozen different meetings with top biden officials, including four with the office of then chief of staff matt clain. matt, walk us through how the soros influence machine is pulling levers at the white house. >> it is looks like alex soros is poised to take over his father's empire. we almost didn't need a report,

you can can go on alex's social media and it is a picture of him and every progressive democrat and left wing counterparts oversea. of the 14 he met, almost all, with exception of ron clain were involved in national security. security is where the soros family boasted influence. that is something worth circling back on. alex spent $11 million of his own money, it may seem like a drop in the bucket and it is, it will not be that way forever. george soros has spent 20 billion, his open society program has around 20 billion on the balance sheet, a war chest

able to double the amount of damage his father will do and probably more. his son is influencing the father on the issues. >> todd: if you think the soros damage will end when he dies, each generation more and more progressive and have money to get their needs met. you don't just get to go to the white house. i cannot walk up and say i'm here, you have to be invited, why is this white house eager to met with alex? >> 20 years ago we could say george soros was a leftist, the main democratic party is the progressive party of george soros, his views are more -- just like bankman-freed.

>> todd: look, they have bought the das throughout our biggest cities and now in the white house. this is next in their plot to remake the united states of america? is there something we are not paying attention to that we should be? >> no, in fact, the local races are the most consequential. the way i put it, the presidential level, billions getting thrown around. it is local ones that make the difference and in wisconsin, they spend enormous amount and the liberal spent 8 million compared to 400 k for the opponent. they are low turnout enough, if we can mobilize conservatives we can impact that money. >> todd: is that the response to mobilize themselves to

counteract this or something else republicans need to be doing, as well? >> that and wouldn't hurt if a billionaire on our side wanted to spend some money. we can neutralize impact of money by bringing awareness to it and mobilizing voters. they are under the radar races, make it so only conservatives are paying attention. i'm sure coarse soros can buy more votes. >> todd: find billionaires, great strategy. thank you. >> ashley: breaking now issue united states is staring down china after live fire drills near taiwan as newly leaked classified documents, is our military able to handle two major conflicts? rebekah has expert analysis.

>> todd: classifying frames like red pill as extremism, we will show you what else they are flagging next.

>> todd: a fox news alert, the united states challenging beijing wave of simulated military strikes around taiwan by sending navy destroyers to the south china sea. >> ashley: rebekah koffler joins us now. it is legal for the u.s. to send a navy ship to international water, but it is obviously going to tick china off. my biggest question, is the u.s. in any position to get involved in another conflict when we have so much resources being pushed into ukraine right now? >> rebekah: it is a conundrum, ashley, the truth is we're stretched pretty thin, even though we have a doctrine that

we are supposed to be able to fight a two-front war with two major adversaries, the pentagon call them tier 1 near peer competitors, we can't, we have depleted our arsenal while ammo is on backlog five years, it is our ambition and ability to prosecute war out of sync right now. >> todd: i asked during the break and will ask you now, it is an important question. why can't we ramp up? why does it take five years? we were not ready for world war ii, about a month in, we got pretty much ramped up and were producing things, tanks, ammunition and the like. we have known about issues as long as i've been doing this show, i don't understand what issic taking this long. >> rebekah: nature of war has

changed since world war ii. the united states is top dog militarily, the reason we are, we are highly reliant on technology. the type of military hardware we fight with takes a long time to build and it is super expensive. look at satellites and space order of battle we have. ittic tas time to launch a bunch of those up into the sky because that is how we conduct missile warning navigation and everything. finally, we have not transitioned to war-time footing, we are not in are wa war, we are in a proxy war with ukraine and china. production capacity is not up to par to be able to meet those

requirements. rebekah, in relation to leaked pentagon documents exposing u.s. spy into russia and ukraine, how dangerous is it to have these leaked documents floating around like this? >> rebekah: extremely dangerous, this is failure on part of the pentagon and joint chiefs, the fact we have top secret documents that come from across the intelligence communities, including agencies like the cia and the nsa charge of collecting sensitive intel on foreign adversaries and our allies, as well. what is even more concerning to me is that a, who did this and my intelligence analysis says that russia is the likely

culprit behind this and what is the method of getting it out? did somebody just walk out with top secret documents, stuff them in their socks or whatever or did the russians hack our network and the joint chief's network is one of the multitude of u.s. federal agencies that the russians have penetrated. >> todd: department of defense is investigating and made former investigation into the doj. how worried are you the sources of intel will dry up after this? >> rebekah: very concerned. we spend many years and millions and billions on developing ac access, whether it is recruiting actual spies, extremely dangerous, risk of business, somebody who will provide

secrets to us, risking their lives or mapping out access to foreign networks or collecting that through satellite. russians know it, other adversaries know it and you can plug holes. what is more disturbing, right now the russians have the benefit of knowing that information because information that was collected and exposed includes the forced posture, ukraine forced posture, the quantity of weaponry, that potentially will impact ukraine's counter offensive. >> ashley: you don't see any impact of this having negative influence on our relationship with ukraine? >> rebekah: nah, ukrainians are

highly dependent on us, we provide everything to them, including realtime intelligence, they will not get mad at us. we are the top dog in the way we have -- >> todd: newly released documents reveal fbi tying common internet lingo with vile extremism, red pill is being flagged by the fbi, the report claims red pill from the 1999 film "the matrix" is shared by communities as corrupt and base is somebody converted to racist ideology. the fbi visit not yet commented. we'll get joe concha's reaction on this next hour. >> ashley: to this, riley gaines calling out san francisco state

university for praising peaceful protest claiming she was attacked by trans activists. gaines was giving a speech and she says she was verbally and physically assaulted. [screaming] -- [chanting] >> ashley: after the protest, faculty sent an e-mail thanking the activists for staying peaceful, i guess they didn't see the video. gaines said, i was exported and assaultd and held for ransom. we must have different definitions of peaceful. gaines says she plans to sue the school. >> ashley: change tdefinition o

peaceful former police sergeant attacked with a crowbar for asking homeless campers to move from his mother's house. he almost beat the man into the street, it is becoming more and more disturbing to live here. >> ashley: talking to a friend of the victim. >> todd: did you hear this? >> i'm not saying this is on you and that you caused this, but i think it is a tough argument -- >> i'm pretty sure i didn't cause it. >> rank and file have to be on food stamps, to me that is corruption. >> biden administration laughing off the bloated bu budget . cory mills will join us live to react. bring more. ♪ do more. ♪ see more. ♪

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>> todd: today opening statements set to begin in the l lori vallow daybill trial. the couple preached doomsday messages to further their plan in order to collect social security and survivor benefits, both maintained their innocence pleading not guilty.

vallow pleads not guilty. the editorial board writing as much as oregon has to offer, housing, homelessness, drug addiction crisis, mental illness and educational meedock rite of changing calculus about where to live, raise a family or retire and calling out the city's homelessness, declining sense of safety over the people and trash taking over sidewalks. proliferation of drug use and overdose deaths demand stronger response to shut down drug dealing, we cannot narcan our way out of the opioid crisis. >> ashley: getting brutally

attacked with a metal pipe. 53-year-old don carmen was beated so badly he needed 50 stitches and surgery on his skull. one suspect was arrested, but one witness described this horrific attack. listen. >> he almost beat the man into the street with all the cars passing by. i love the city and it is becoming more and more disturbing to live here. >> ashley: joe loto, a friend of the former commissioner joins me now. thank you for your time. time and time again, we're seeing people like the gentleman we saw in the sound byte say how bad san francisco is getting. we saw the cash app ceo last week, he was stabbed in the city and now this former fire commissioner, is this happening every single day all day long in

san francisco? is it this dangerous? >> the leadership here, the mayor's office and da's office are trying to make this feel anecdotal. san francisco is a dangerous place to live. with the murder upon bob lee, a lot of tech titans are paying attention. we are at a sketchy stage, deciding whether or not it is a safe city for thousands of employees. this city will see a doom move if we can't keep jobs in san francisco and keep the people safe. as former police commissioner and fire commissioner, we have to put resources in the police department, reignite the federal task force with the federal government we've had on the

fentanyl crisis in san francisco. it is not rocket science, we got to get back to that work and we're not doing it. >> ashley: are any of the leaders, do they back the police department, any of them at all? >> the far left leaders in san francisco, when there is major crime in their city, they go in the streets and go, where are police officers. but when it is time to vote and fund the police department, they are not there and you have the police commission making rules that tie the hands of police officers. this june another round of police officers are retiring, we have low enrollment in the police academy. these people don't want to be a police officer because they are not getting support and we will have less of them and the streets will become more dangerous. we are doing little about the crime of homelessness and the

crime by homeless people, which is more and more pervasive, especially given the mental health crisis. >> ashley: tons of crisis happening, homicide, robbery, assault are up compared to last year. what will it take? will it take a revamp of the mayor's office, the da to get this to stop? because you see the number of people leaving. they are leaving in droves because they don't want to take it anymore. what about people who do not want to leave? they will have to put their foot down and seems like vote a new group of people in. >> the problem in san francisco has been a transient city. people come here for jobs, when they go to get married and have other than which, they leave the city. people like myself, who are life-long san francisco ans.

it is not the city we knew when we were growing up here and what will it take? new leadership, the mayor is realizing her hand-picked da is in over her head. they are babysitting municipal buildings, reengage parole and probation and law enforcement agencies, get them back to work and give them support they need and stop passing ridiculous rules that tie their hands. >> ashley: how is don doing? >> don is on the road to recovery, thank god he's a big guy. if i had sustained those injuries, i wouldn't be here today. he's on the road to recovery. thankfully for the trauma center in san know fra, we have a world-class trauma center in san francisco. they are amazing and did a great

job with don and he's on the road to recovery. he will need additional surgery for sure. >> ashley: glad to hear he is on thement. joe, thank you, good luck to you. >> ashley: president biden is assuring top democrats he's running in 2024, but official announcement could be months away. what is the holdup? >> todd: ask lee carter, joe concha and cheryl casone here to help up start your week, don't miss a minute of "fox and friends first" 6789z .

(tony hawk) skating for over 45 years has taken a toll on my body. i take qunol turmeric because it helps with healthy joints and inflammation support. why qunol? it has superior absorption compared to regular turmeric. qunol. the brand i trust. >> todd: a "fox and friends first," taiwan scrambling jets and putting anti-ship launchers as china conducts a military drill off the coast. you're watching "fox and friends first," i'd todd piro. >> ashley: i'm ashley strohmier. tensions escalate. american lawmakers vow to stand up to chinese intimidation as they push for taiwan to get the weapons necessary to defend themselves. alexandria