>> sandra: all new at 2:00, calling all officers. los angeles mayor karen bass is making good on her campaign promise. looking to recruit hundreds are month police officers in an effort to rebuild the city's reputation in the face of rising crime. >> john: she says it's long overdue, after the lapd lost nearly 1,000 officers, many pinning it on defund the police and soft on crime policies. >> sandra: welcome back, john, halfway there. >> john: halfway there, halfway to friday. the long slow slide into the weekend from here. john roberts in washington. the democratic mayor already warning some in her party may see her proposal as a betrayal, specifically those who have

supported defunding the police. but others say safety should be everyone's priority. >> i remember, and i'm old enough to remember where it did not matter if you were a democrat or republican, your safety was one that every party cared about. >> sandra: right to matt, covering the story closely. matt, there's a million ways to look at this, and now we watch the l.a. mayor and her plans, what do we expect to happen next? >> well, sandra, here in los angeles within the past decade the police department hit 10,000 officers but the newly elected mayor karen bass says it could drop to below 9,000, the lowest in morning two decades. bass is calling for urgent action to hire 500 more officers. the city is launching a recruitment campaign offering financial incentives to new hires and asking recently retired officers to come back. but it's an uphill battle. in a demoralized department and

profession and adding to the problem, more than 300 under cover police officers recently filed legal claims after their names and photos were released through a public records request. >> i'm concerned that the department's recent release of information will cause even more officers to leave. our officers already face enough threats, they put their lives on the line every day. >> a short while ago i spoke with a los angeles police source on this topic who says some officers have retired because they do not feel backed up by their police chief, michael moore, and live in fear of being accused of misconduct. that police source telling fox news when our chief took a knee with black lives matter, he lost it with the department. he completely demoralized it. chief moore also supported a d.a. who ran on prosecuting cops, that plus the covid mandate where you saw earlier retirements. and a few months ago, the l.a.

police chief offered the thin blue line flags to be removed from public spaces at los angeles police departments. sandra. >> sandra: matt, thank you. >> sure. >> john: sandra, updating a story first on "america reports" this time yesterday, jaw dropping video that captured the brutal assault against a female nypd officer. david lee miller live in new york city with new details. how is the officer? >> the officer who has not been named, reported to be in stable condition, as you point out after a man hit her on the head with a bottle. surveillance camera recorded the attack on a busy street in the bronx. the injured officer was investigating illegal smoke shops, when 45-year-old jose garcia walk up from behind and struck her with the bottle, and garcia is restrained. garcia told cops god told him to

do this, and people in his house and no one did anything. garcia faces seven charges, including assault, resisting arrest and criminal possession of a weapon. the cops say he had five previous arrests, the most recent though was back in 2007. now, this latest crime data shows that compared to the same period last year, felony assaults are up in new york city about 8% but other major crimes have declined, including murder, rape, and robberies. garcia as of now, we are told he is still being detained. bail was set at $30,000 cash, or $100,000 bond. his next court date is friday. john. >> we heard gerald nadler say new york city is a safe place, it does not appear to be for some police officers. >> sandra: violent crime in

chicago, not only hurting the people bup the businesses. a lot of them pulling out for the safety of their workers and the business botto. our next guest built his family business in chicago for 40 years but is relocating. gary joins us now. thank you for coming on to tell your story. why do you believe you'll not be able to last much longer in chicago? >> thank you, sandra. so, we have businesses, we built in the chicago area over 40 years, and in the construction services world, and chicago we did a lot of patching of city streets, we did a loover the ci chicago and today we choose not to work there. we have a facility in chicago that we'll be selling and moving out. our customers, many of which are retailers are moving out of the city as well. our employees, who live in the ci there anymore. it's a terrible place to be and we have a governor and a mayor and a future mayor of the city

who are promoting this anarchy. >> sandra: i'm looking at some of your companies, 1 is a road paving business. you said some of the workers for the business had been repeatedly robbed, their equipment stolen at gunpoint? >> yeah, they are stealing catalytic converters by gunpoint, so that's happening a lot. on top of that, our employees are being held up for their wallets and phones at gunpoint. it's not worth it anymore, the danger -- we are very safety-oriented company and we can't put up with it any longer. >> sandra: i should mention the reason why catalytic converters are stolen, they seek them to make money off of them, they sell them. it's a problem, growing into an even bigger problem today. why did you feel like you could not stick around for potential change? you don't think that leadership

is capable of seeing how big of a problem this is and doing something about it? >> if you watch the messages from the governor and the past mayor and even more so, the new mayor, it's all about basically reparations, it's ok to rob and pillage and steal, you are not going to get in trouble, and great form of reparations in the mindset of the new mayor and the governor has done nothing to stop it either. it's not fair to the community because as these jobs go, so does opportunity for all these people. the good people in the city. i see four walmart stores closing, think of the thousands of jobs and the thousands of opportunities and small business that are given from those stores. it's an incredible number. >> sandra: and the thing about the walmart stores, a lot of folks who want to defend that say oh, these stores were struggling for some time. yes, they were, and read through the earnings releases as i have,

one of the biggest problems in some areas of the country is theft. at the can't get ahold of it. and not just outside the store, but inside the store. it's a huge problem. i want to finish off with sound from this couple yesterday. gary, you have probably seen the viral video. they were brutally attacked on the streets in a nice neighborhood in downtown chicago. a young couple, they were out shopping. listen. >> we were just downtown in chicago trying to shop, you know, trying to get some food. d.j. had my hand and was trying to lead me through the crowd of people and they pushed him, they pushed me. he asked them like yo, don't shove her who shoved her, and they went crazy, they said they were going to kill us. >> sandra: yet mayor lori lightfoot, she thinks this is not mayhem, listen to this. >> vast majority of young people came downtown because it was great weather and opportunity to

enjoy the city. that's absolutely -- there are a few that came with different intentions and they have and they will be dealt with. but i'm not going to use your language which i think is wrong to say there is mayhem. >> sandra: that is just difficult for anyone who is living through this who has to move their family like your employees, saying they were just some young folks who came to the city to enjoy their evening? >> this anarchy is not going to stop as long as we have terrible leaders like johnson, pritzker and lightfoot. it's only going to get worse. i have family members and loved ones that live in the city, they awesome want out, are getting out, i have great employees that would rather be in any state in the countr illinois. it was never the case five years ago and back. there's an urgent issue here of change and it's not going to happen, unfortunately, with

terrible leadership we have. >> sandra: and part of the problem, those who had the most ability to pick up and move the soonest like citadel and billionaire ken griffith, they got out early. but a lot of them, it takes time, reestablish, get the kids into different schools, a huge problem for so many and we are thinking of them as we cover the story. >> good people who cannot afford moving are stuck with less opportunity, less jobs and more violence. >> sandra: and more and more businesses flee like yours, leaves room for more and more crime like we saw over the weekend. thank you for your time. thanks for joining us. our best to you. >> appreciate being on. thank you very much. >> john: president biden touting his economic agenda to union workers in maryland today, pushing his proposal to raise taxes on corporations and high income earners. we expect speaker mccarthy to issue a challenge on the house

floor on that issue. many americans say the biden economy is just not working for them. white house correspondent peter doocy live on the north lawn with more on this. peter. >> and john, a few minutes ago we had a chance to ask the press secretary about this new survey people's feelings about the economy are a 17-year low. >> 69% of people polled by cnbc say they have a negative view of the economy. the president talks about it all the time. >> he wants the american people to know he's doing everything he can to make sure that his policies, that he's put forward that has shown that he's building an economy that does not leave anybody behind. >> no comment yet from the white house about the plan, we expect to hear speaker kevin mccarthy talk about in the next ten minutes or so that would raise the debt limit $1.5 trillion or through next march, whichever comes first.

the white house says it's congress's job, they have to do this, but some in congress say no, that's not right. >> you are the president of the united states. it is your responsibility to solve this problem. you can solve this problem by showing up and negotiating with kevin mccarthy. kevin mccarthy is a reasonable person. what's not reasonable? we want to live in our means. >> white house officials are also not commenting on a report that tax collection as of tax day was less than expected, which could bring the debt limit here sooner. john. >> john: we'll keep watching it. peter doocy, thank you. sandra. >> sandra: california governor newsom visiting red states, might have in trouble with one of the blueest states of all, his own. we'll tell you why. >> john: homeland security secretary mayorkas back on

capitol hill as more threaten to impeach him for the bedlam at the border. john cornyn whether he supports his colleagues' calls for mayorkas to go. >> i don't think there's a person in america who thinks the secretary is doing his job. not a person in america thinks the border is secure. this secretary is derelict in his duties, he's got to go. veteran homeowners. need to cut your monthly expenses and get cash? call newday and ask for the newday 100 cash out loan. our veterans are getting an average of $70,000. they're paying off their first high rate credit card, their second high rate credit card, their third, fourth and even fifth high rate credit card and saving hundreds every month. they're paying off their car loans, too, and putting extra cash in the bank for the security every veteran deserves.

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mayorkas facing a secretary day of brutal questioning from republican lawmakers who demanded the embattled secretary pack his bags, blaming him for the poor morale among border agents and losing operational control to the cartels, and he

admitted he is bracing for a migrant surge once title 42 policy ends in a few weeks. bill melugin has more from our washington newsroom. how tense did today's hearing get, bill? >> sandra, it got pretty intense at certain times. it went on for four hours. republicans were absolutely chastising him over the handling of the border crisis, some democrats thought things were becoming uncivil, going too far, too personal, they said that included this segment with marjorie taylor greene, this exchange about fentanyl. take a look. >> how long are you going to let this go on? >> congresswoman, let me assure you we are not letting it go on. we are fighting this -- >> he reclaim my time. you are a liar, you are letting this go on and the numbers prove it. you can't lie about the facts, secretary mayorkas. while you live in denial and sit over there with this attitude that you are doing everything

right. you are killing americans with your policies. >> representative taylor greene actually got barred from speaking again after that moment after committee chairman mark green said she broke rules by going personal and calling mayorkas a liar. and mayorkas admitted he disagrees with his own chief of border patrol. >> do you disagree with the head border patrol agent when he said that our border is not secure? >> congressman, i have testified to that issue. >> you do disagree with him. you disagree with your chief of border patrol? >> i do in that record. >> louisiana congressman clay higgins also slammed mayorkas accusing him of bringing generational trauma upon the country and saying his own workforce resents him. >> we could give you money to hire 1,000 new border agent, nobody wants to work for you. we are done, done, done with

your lies to america. it's shameful what you brought upon our country. mr. chairman, i have no interest in asking this secretary any questions. he obfiscates and lies. >> and the budget request for 2024. >> the budget proposal is an insult to every american. 3.9 billion of dhs money on a climate resilience program, meanwhile you propose spending a mere $40 million to combat fentanyl that's devastating our country. >> sandra, at the end of the day some democrats pointed out they felt there was a lack of decorum in today's hearing, pointed out several republicans did not ask him any questions, only criticized him. republicans say mayorkas

deserves that criticism. back to you. >> sandra: thank you, bill. >> john: i recall several hearings where the shoe was on the other foot, actually. the white house pushing back at a damning "new york times" report claims the biden administration failed to protect migrant children from being exploited and forced to work dangerous jobs in violation of child labor laws. karine jean-pierre shifted the blame to congress for not acting. bring in texas republican john cornyn. good to see you this wednesday afternoon. on this subject of this "new york times" report, is this a problem of president biden's own making, i mean, his administration has let in more unaccompanied children than the u.s. has ever seen, and there are also criticisms that homeland security and hhs watered down the vetting requirements for people taking responsibility of the unaccompanied minors.

>> getting to be a habit for president biden on the debt ceiling, he said he will not negotiate with speaker mccarthy, won't work with congress to come up with a bipartisan solution at the broken border and this is the consequence. thousands of children allowed into the country and who are literally lost, only to be found in forced labor situations like the "new york times" documented. i'm afraid that forced labor as bad as it is may not be the worst conditions these children are subjected to, recruiting in gangs, sex traffic, abused, and the biden administration doesn't know where they are, or what's happening to them. just like the biden administration doesn't know where the 4,300 chinese nationals who showed up at the border over four months, where they are or what they are doing. even though china is our foremost national security threat. they simply are clueless. >> john: karine jean-pierre was asked about this yesterday, she pretty much --

>> it's unacceptable that's companies are using child labor. the -- vigorously vet sponsors of unaccompanied minors, launching new task force to heighten cooperation and better share information but we also need congress to provide the resources we need to enforce. >> john: that last line there, president biden created this problem, now the white house is reaching out to you for more money to deal with it? >> yeah, john, more money is not going to solve the problem. what we have is a basic policy failure due to the biden open border policies, where people claiming asylum can be admitted into the country and released and maybe never to be heard from again and certainly that's the case with some of these minor children. but given, many given court dates years from now and lo and behold, many of them never show up and simply melt into the

great american landscape. this is a tragedy and the tragedy lies at the feet of president biden, secretary mayorkas, who has repeatedly misrepresented the facts, denied reality, something we have all been able to see with our own eyes and hear with our own ears that the border is broken. they like to blame other people but they have responsibility. we stand ready to work with them, but i understand why there was so much anger at the hearing in the house today. i'm angry, too, 108,000 american lives lost to the drugs over the southern borders thanks to the open border policies. >> john: you had a meeting from the finance committee, you heard from the irs commissioner, another $80 billion in his pocket to spend on a lot of things he would like to get done. what concerns did you have, what did you want to know from him? >> well, first of all, our

democratic colleagues appropriated $80 billion to the irs with no plan. they have it backwards. we should have seen what the plan was, assess the plan and then determine the funds necessary to do it, including keeping president biden's promise he won't audit people making $400,000 or less anymore. but this is a reckless piece of legislation, added inflation and unknown consequences for the american taxpayer. >> john: we'll keep following that one, no question about that. senator john cornyn, good to talk to you, thank you. >> thank you. >> sandra: kevin mccarthy now speaking on the house floor, laying out legislation that would responsibly raise the debt ceiling, listen into kevin mccarthy. >> trillions of covid era spending. limited government spending will reduce inflation and restore fiscal discipline in washington. if washington wants to spend

more, it will have to come together, find savings elsewhere, just like every single household in america. now, second, we are going to save taxpayers money. mr. speaker, the pandemic is over. house republicans have already passed a bill to officially end the pandemic. and president biden signed it into law just last week. our bill would actually claw back billions of dollars of unspent covid money that has sat for the last two years. the american people are tired of politicians who use covid as an excuse for more extreme inflationary spending. now, if this money was authorized to fight the pandemic, but was not spent during the pandemic, it should not be spent after the pandemic

is over. our proposals also repeal biden's army of 87,000 irs agents. now, that will save taxpayers $70 billion and it's going to protect the families and the small businesses from weaponizing the irs. it will end the green give aways for companies that distort the market and waste taxpayers' money. goldman sachs just did an analysis and they say the savings from ending the green give aways are as much as $1.2 trillion. and we would prohibit president biden student loan give away for the wealthy. that will protect the 87% of adults without student loans for paying the loans of the 13% who do. and finally, we will grow the

economy so we are less dependent on china. our proposal would restore american energy leadership, make it easier to build things in america, make us less dependent on china, and bring jobs back to america. and also help lift millions of americans out of poverty. right now there are more job openings than people looking for work. in part, because the biden administration has weakened some of the very work requirements that then senator joe biden previously supported. our plan ensures adults without dependents earn a paycheck and learn new skills. by restoring these common sense measures we can help more americans earn a paycheck, learn new skills, reduce childhood poverty, and rebuild the

workforce. it will also protect and preserve medicare and social security because more people will be paying into it. and we will prevent president biden's executive overreach to spend money outside the normal process, which president biden has abused to the tune of 1.5 t 1.5 trillion in unilateral executive actions. you know, we should welcome and celebrate the benefits of a strong growing economy. for with a strong growing economy we'll no longer be dependent upon china. we will no longer be the victims to inflation. and we can leave a better future for our kids and our grandchildren. mr. speaker, house republicans are taking action to lift the debt limit.

to limit government spending, save taxpayers money and grow the economy. president biden and senator schumer have no right to play politics with the debt calling. their extreme positions risk provoking the very crisis they claim to want to avoid. they need to sit down, negotiate, and address this crisis. now that we have introduced a clear plan for responsible debt limit increase, they have no more excuse and refuse to negotiate. i thank the senate can honor maple syrup -- >> sandra: we will continue to monitor kevin mccarthy on the hill, making the case president biden has ignored the impending

debt crisis, for 77 days. we are about to hear from the president, a live shot in maryland where he is about to speak and fire back at mccarthy, who he is refusing to meet with and limit save grow act, he says will responsibly lift the debt ceiling into next year, wants to limit federal spending, save taxpayers trillions of dollars and we are about to hear the president's response to the pitch to the american people in a few moments, john. >> john: all the talk how to get spending under control, and people on both sides know there is n spending under control, social security, medicaid, but neither side wants to say our plan to do it. needs to be cooperation, reach out across the aisle and until they do that, the debt ceiling will bump up and bump up, look

at where it is now, more than $31 trillion, it's stunning. >> sandra: you cannot wrap your mind around that big of a number, that's what the debate is right now. we are waiting on the president, we were talking ten minutes he arrived in site, he's in a photo line in the moment but take his words at the top to see how he is responding to the gop pitch, john. >> john: we look forward to the debate continuing. meantime, hundreds of thousands of u.s. farmland is owned by one of the biggest adversaries, and not sitting well from lawmakers in north carolina. efforts ramp up to stop china's american land grab. >> sandra: the secretary of education struggling to find what a woman is as he defends proposed changes to title ix. changes which with make it illegal for schools to broadly ban transgender students from competing on sports team.

new reaction coming up in the fight for fairness of women's sports. douglas murray is here. >> we have people in positions of power who are supposed to make these big decisions that govern the country who can't define a woman? it's mind blowing, it's beyond me, and truthfully, i don't understand why it's controversial.

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can you help me? can somebody put a little bit of belief in me? and i felt like i felt newday did do that. if you can afford rent, you can afford to own. to maximize that va loan benefit and not pay anything out of my pocket was tremendous. i had my doubts, but i don't anymore. >> john: alabama investigators announcing the arrest of two teens in a deadly shooting at a sweet 16 birthday party. the 16-year-old and 17-year-old suspects will face four murder charges and will be tried as adults. one law enforcement official not mincing words about the senseless violence and the need for accountability. >> somebody's got to start thinking about mom, because i know i'm tired of it, and everybody behind me is tired of

it. we are tired of going to the mothers and having to tell the kids are not coming home. >> four killed, 32 more injured when shots rang out saturday in the small town of dadeville, about 85 miles south of birmingham. four of the victims still in critical condition, sandra. >> sandra: we are thinking of them. meanwhile, live pictures outside of an missouri courthouse where a white man charged of shooting a black teen who rang his doorbell is making a second appearance. bryan, what charges does he face? >> 84-year-old andrew lester, charged with first-degree assault and criminal action. he turned himself in yesterday, faces up to life in prison for shooting and wounding 16-year-old ralph yarrel twice, once in his head and in his arm. he went to pick up his younger

brothers but mistakenly went to lester's home. he heard the doorbell, he had just gotten into bed, he saw him pulling on the storm door handle he fired twice without saying a word. lester says he was scared to death. yarrell says he never pulled on the door handle and he heard lester yell don't come around here, and this is now video of lester in court as he's being arraigned, sandra. don't know if we have audio. are we going to pull into that, guys? all right, we'll keep going here. as he's being arraigned here, you can see he's facing those two charges. lester's lawyers could claim self-defense under missouri stand your ground law, which makes it legal to use deadly force if a person fears for their life. there has been protests, sandra, and outrage by civil rights leaders who want lester, a white man to be charged with a hate

crime for shooting the black team and prosecutors said there was a racial component to the shooting, and the president invited the 16-year-old to the white house. he is expected to make a full recovery. and we have to keep up the fight against gun violence. republican missouri governor mike parson is now accusing president biden of politicizing a very serious tragedy as the 84-year-old is being arraigned at this moment. >> sandra: we will keep watching that. thank you. meanwhile, president biden's education chief cardona defending proposed changes to title ix, make it harder for schools to ban transgender athletes from girls teams, critics say it would make it less fair for women and girls, and a lawmaker asked the secretary a simple question. >> can you please tell me or define for me what is a woman.

>> the focus of the department is provide equal access to students, including students who are lgbtq access, free from discrimination. >> so what's the definition of a woman, you have not given me that, have not answered my question. >> i think it's almost secondary to the important role i have as secretary of education. >> my question is very simple, what is the -- what does hhs say the definition of a woman is. >> i lead the department of education and my job is make sure all students have access to public education which includes co-curricular activities. >> sandra: douglas murray is here. why is that a controversial question? >> try the other way around. imagine if he had been asked what is a trans woman. he found it so easy to answer. what is a trans man. he found it so easy to answer. he said trans people are what trans people say they are and you have to believe their lived

experience. what is a woman? can't do it. it's the question of our age. >> sandra: how did we get here? >> stupidity on a vast scale, basic biology, led astray by the stupid people in the room, and bullying by activists, and women state biological facts. >> sandra: i watched riley gaines on hannity last night and compelling case over and over again and said i'm supposed to be in dentist school. people think i'm out here to get clicks and headlines, no, women need to stand up, something has to be done. more from riley gaines. she's making the case at how this is hurting women in sports. listen. >> this is not inclusive, this is excluding the female

athletes, we are catering to minority here. they try to make it about feelings, who is taking into account our feelings as women? >> sandra: bingo. >> that's the thing. one of the things that strikes me in this story as it evolves, the complete lack of empathy for people like riley gaines, and empathy for trans people, ok, nobody wants to to be mean to anybody. how about a young female athlete worked hard day in and day out, and rewarded not just to win the first place she deserves. >> sandra: but criticizes, and shoved out of speaking engagements. >> libelled, laughed at, and you are a right wing extremist because you dared to stand up. where is the empathy or sympathy

from the love everyone brigade? >> sandra: i think a lot of people agree with you on that. newt gingrinch calls it a bud light moment. see how extreme the house democrats have become, how many members will vote against opportunity for women and girls to compete without having their life's efforts destroyed by men who decide they are female. this could become a bud light moment for the democrats, writes newt gingrinch. >> one of the things striking to me, some years ago when i wrote about the trans issue, people thought why are you bothering with this, .1% of the population, no, if the claims being made affect more than half of the population, they affect half the population straightforward, no doubt about it, but trans rights and women's rights at least rub against each other and have all sorts of frictions that come from it. that's obvious now, anyone can

say, j.k. rowling can tell you that, anyone observing the debate knows that. it's a rights claim that goes against other rights claim in society. people have to work this out and the idea that we can work it out effectively fantasy land, what riley gaines critics want to do, we can't define what a woman is, an impossible conumdrum, by saying there are not men and women, boys and girls, assigned male or female at birth, ridiculous games and apart from the fact it's a rights issue which tramples on the rights of more than half the population in america is the fact that this is taking up so much of our mental energy in america in the 21st century and other stories you are covering this hour show we have to concentrate on being competitive in the 21st century,

not just the most trans friendly world or every man who wants to jump in the water can win who says he is an a woman, but economically competition, militarily, innovation, and much more. those the things we should concentrate on and everyone knew and understood until about yesterday. >> sandra: a couple years ago no one would predict we would be in this moment trying to defend our nation's women and girls in this country and getting pushback by certain members of a certain party. thanks so much for having you here. >> john: we head to maryland and the international union of operating engineers local 77, president biden is talking about the economy, talking about infrastructure for the last couple of minutes. let's listen in for a bit. >> we led the world on research. today we invest less than 1%. we used to rank number 1 in the world in research and

development now we rank number 9 in the world. how in the hell does that happen? china was number 8 decades ago. today they are number 2. and we are number 9. and a lot of countries are closing in fast. i don't want to wish any other country well, but we have the best scientists researchers and people in the world. how in god's name do we let this happen. think about it. with your help i signed a law when i suggested it people thought what are you doing? it's called the chips and science act. and guess what -- [applause] i asked the ceos of this company and i've met with them all, the fortune 500 companies, etc., i asked them, when the united states government invests in a considerable amount resources of new industry does it encourage orag everyone says it

brings willingness to bring private capital off the sideline. and semiconductors, all of you know, these are small computer chips the size of the tip of my little finger. and affect nearly everything in our lives. from our cell phones, automobiles, refrigerators, most sophisticated weapons systems in the world and poses and has so much more. america invented this computer chip, we invented it by going to the moon a while ago. we increased sophistication many times over. >> john: president biden there at the international union of operating engineers, local 77 in maryland, talking about the economy, so far we have not heard a response to kevin mccarthy's offer with his new act that he is proposing to raise the debt ceiling as he says responsibly, perhaps we will, we'll play that back for you, sandra.

>> sandra: making the case he's for the worker, not the wealthy, and many may take with the premise hard work did not lead to folks who are wealthy, and reigning in on the phrase he does, wall street did not about i would this country. we'll continue to monitor the president's words as we took kevin mccarthy a few moments ago. we'll see what happens next with this debt ceiling fight, john. >> john: unless you are a trust fund baby, most wealthy people worked very hard to get to where they were. the white house meantime plans to invite the so-called tennessee three to meet with president biden, they interrupted state proceedings with the mega phone, but the bigger story who the white house is not inviting. marc thiessen, who is not invited? let's go to the white house briefing a moment ago and here is peter doocy questioning karine jean-pierre. >> you are going to have three of the lawmakers who protested after --

>> peacefully protested. >> peacefully protested after the nashville covenant school shooting. have any of the victims or the victims' families been invited? >> i don't have anything to read out to you of any invite. >> john: the president is inviting the three tennessee lawmakers, two of whom were kicked out of the legislature, to talk about the assault weapons ban. you would think maybe you would want to include families of the people who died, not the lawmakers who were removed for protesting. >> consistent with the white house, kamala harris went to tennessee and met with the lawmakers but not the families. they don't seem to care about the families. i can't keep up with the democrat position on storming capitol hill. in 2011 in wisconsin, they were opposing scott walker's collective bargaining proerm,

and 2021 against it after the election denial and now for it when it comes to tennessee, situational ethics. collective bargaining is bad, ok, storm the capitol then. election denial bad, so you can't storm the capitol but now assault weapons ban, good cause. situational ethics for them. >> john: three biggest utilities in california because of state law are looking at changing the way people's electrical bills are presented to them. there are a couple of components to the electrical bill. the cost of electricity, which they say would be reduced, but then so-called recurring charges. based on your ability to pay, you will pay a different amount. proposing, socal edison, make under 28,000, 15. and then 16, and then 51, over 180,000 a year, $85 a month. this is a way to make electrical

and gas use more equitable in the state of california? what is this about? >> it's marxism, and communist manifesto, he said each according to his ability and each according to his needs. in california, you will pay according to the ability and receive according to the needs. they use words like equity because they sound good and things we believe in. sounds like equality, right. equality means we all should have the -- strive to have the same starting line, equity means the same finish line regardless how hard you work, regardless of your talent or effort, and washington times story that the biden administration is issuing a rule if you have a good credit score you are going to pay a higher mortgage in order to subsidize those with lower credit scores who are more

risky. because if you work hard and pay your bills on time you have to subsidize people who don't pay on time or work hard. it's a war on merit, has to stop. >> john: equality raises the floor, equity lowers the ceiling. >> never 100% equal starting line but we should strive for, a fair shot. i tell my kids, let's say you got an a in school and another got a c. should you give him some so you have b? >> john: and california is shoving people into electric cars and electric ranges to get them off of fossil fuel. and you have to wonder at some point the electrical grid is going to crash, needs $9 billion in upgrades. and there are a lot of folks in california who won't be able to afford the electrical cars and will we see equity push on that front? >> i don't know, but they are shoving them into u-hauls, the

state of california ran out of u-hauls. so many are leaving. from the 1800s, 170 years, people beat a way to california and now leaving. lost over 600,000 people in the last two years, the population of the entire capital of sacramento because of the policies. >> john: and real estate is off the charts there. i can't make that calculation. appreciate it. thank you. >> sandra: turns out governor newsom's staff broke the law when they went through red states. william live in los angeles with more. >> candidates always walk the tight rope when they are running for one job but doing another on state time. politician has some latitude, that's not the case with the staff. they are government employees and what's unusual here, governor newsom declared his campaign for democracy was not state business. but a political crusade accusing republicans of wanting to "ban

books, kidnap migrants and stoke racism" on the recent tour in mississippi, florida, arkansas and alabama. newsom set up a separate fund using private pac money to pay for this campaign, yet back in sacramento, april 10th, around noon, retweets video blasting desantis saying gop wants you to be silent as they ban books and promote ar-15. april 4, 5, and 7, deputy coms director slams harmful policies of desantis and republicans. april 5, 4:00, comdirector says regressive must be called out. whether it's in a building, the phone you are using or time, they are all considered a public resource, not for campaign activity. we asked about it, the governor's office said "these were personal accounts and any tweets were sent from personal

devices." well, why were the tweets sent out during business hours? we got silence. >> this was an affirmative action on their part to do something during state time that related to the campaign. the point is he designated these trips as political so he is the one saying it's political, not me. >> many candidates, right, have two staffs. one to run their state office, another run the campaign. recently former president trump claimed governor desantis was globe trotting on taxpayer money, so it happens. sandra. >> sandra: william, thank you. john. >> john: all right, a big breach at the white house by a baby. secret service walked across the north lawn on tuesday to retrieve a toddler who squeezed through the fence to reunite him with his parents. it's not the first time children have slipped between the bars but may be the first successful intrusion since the fence was doubled in height in recent

years. i must say, might have doubled the height but did not narrow the bars. toddler does not have to crime, just squeeze in. >> sandra: they are still pretty narrow. >> john: i could not get between them. >> sandra: two hours flew by, john, as we head into the latter half of the week. i'm sandra smith. >> john: i'm john roberts. we'll see you tomorrow. "the story" >> thanks, john and sandra. i'm jilgillian turner in for maa maccallum. wesley hunt joins us as alvin bragg's lawsuit against jim jordan heads to court. plus, chairman of the house select committee on china. congressman mike gallagher joins us on the plan to war game out a response to beijing. first, president biden speaking in maryland now where he's laying in to house republicans and what he calls their maga economic vision. this comes as speake