>> will you go into space if you had the request? >> is that a question? >> i would go into space, there are people on my team who do know that. sadly, i think that there are those who would prefer that i would stay on earth for the time being. >> the answer was, there are many people who would like to send me to space, but i'm already kind of a space shot. >> todd: here we go. the 2024 presidential cycle getting into full swing with president biden reportedly planning to officially throw his hat into the ring this coming tuesday. "washington post" says president biden and his team are planning to announce his official campaign next week, tuesday is other taeted for the release to

coincide with the four-year anniversary of the 2020 campaign launch. stro, i love when they play that music, it means it is time. you're watching "fox and friends first" on thursday morning. i'm todd piro. >> ashley: a.m. i'm ashley strohmier. john f kennedy and mary williamson and vivek ramaswamy a and -- good morning. >> alexandria: good morning. in addition to the "washington post" reporting, the "new york times" share president biden reached out to donors inviting him to washington next week, trying to fire up that cash flow. with his rating he needs to fire up his race, as well.

half of likely democratic voters in new hampshire do not want to see the president seek another term. a quarter said president biden is their top candidate. until next week the president remains in the potentially running category, along with really big names like governor ron desantis, you have former vice president mike pence, and four, president trump polling at the top for the gop and list of candidates for both parties, new one former gubernatorial candidate larry elder announced on tucker carlson last night. >> i'm announcing i'm running for the president of the united states on your program, i want us to clear the borders, i know urban schools are a disaster, i have foral, religious and

patriotic duty to give back to this country. >> alexandria: jamie harrison fired back with another maga republicans using tucker carlson show to chase. he is laying out extreme agenda doubling down on abortion bans, guaranteed to see republican party that is extreme and out of touch with the hard-working americans. quite a statement. if biden were to win a second term, he would conclude it at 86 years old. >> todd: the oldest anyone would ever be in that position. alexandria, thank you. ron desantis going international and unveiling overseas trip next week, beginning with a stop in japan, fuelling expectations

about running for president. south korea, israel and uk, part of his mission to strengthen economic relationships with overseas nations after the governor delivered in key battleground states. desantis says he has not made a decision to run for president, experts believe he's waiting for his state legislative session to end in early may to do so. this is not looking good for president biden, new testimony that officials at the very top of the administration, including secretary of state antony blinken organized that infamous letter that teleofficials signed to discredit the hunter biden lapgs story before the 2024 election. >> ashley: anita vogel has the story. >> it was signed by 51

intelligence officials stating that the hunter biden story was russian disinformation. we learned from deputy director michael morrell that secretary of state antony blinken played a key role in creating that letter before he became secretary of state. house judiciary chairman jim jordan and mike turner sent a letter to blinken thursday letting them know their panels are looking into this. part of the letter saying the biden campaign played active role in the origin of the public statement, which had the effect of suppressing the hunter biden story and preventing american citizens from making a fully informed decision during the 2020 presidential election. >> this has been political from the get-go back to the murrell situation on october 14th about the biden business operation and

then vice president joe biden involved and there was concern he was and turns into political operation. that letter became basis for keeping thisasmation from the american people. >> and now an irs whistleblower claiming that attorney general merrick garland is the senior political appointee at the center of his claims that the biden administration is interfering with the hunter biden probe. >> a career officer who is respective within the irs and etch toos other agents how to properly do investigations and knows when to spot when investigative steps aren't done in the traditional way to get at the truth. he is spotted and observed things that are done differently and believes they were influenced by politics. >> the white house didn't have much to say when asked about the whistleblower seeking protection. >> the president respects the

rule of law and the independence of the department of justice and believes that is what they should do and we believe it should be independent. department of justice will deal with this issue. for his part, merrick garland has claim under oath there would be no political interference in the hunter biden probe. through his attorney, the whistleblower says he has information to contradict garland's statements, which were under oath before congress. that is a crime if he lied that could carry up to five years in prison. >> todd: huge deal. >> ashley: it is, anita vogel, thank you. jonathan turley says this should be the first of many investigations into the biden family business. listen. >> jonathan: yes, you have an irs agent trying to speak to congress about what he believes is the political influencing of a federal investigation and so he's acting the way

whistleblowers are supposed to act. what is really important here to note is that many of us have been baffled at how there has been no perceptible movement in the investigations, that has been the problem, as noted, from the very beginning when the laptop was given to the fbi, seemed to be on its way to mars. there was no indication they did anything but put it in a file cabbet. >> ashley: mancjoe manchin cal out president biden, releasing a statement saying our elected leaders must stop the political games, work together and negotiate a compromise. it has been more than 78 days since president biden met with speaker mccarthy, signalling deficiency of leadership and the

praising speaker mccarthy raising the debt ceiling by 1.5 trillion and joe manchin urged president biden to come up with a deal to fight crisis. >> todd: karine jean-pierre getting defensive about joe biden's strategy and shifting the blame to speaker mccarthy. listen. >> this is a constitutional duty we have and speaker mccarthy is wasting time, this is a political stunt and he has to act. yesterday he aligned himself with the maga wing of the party. >> todd: they love throwing that out when they don't have an answer. she mentioned congress is putting the economy at risk by dragging out the process of approving a new debt plan and white house insisted republicans raise the debt ceiling without change to the current budget

policy. michigan residents sounding the alarm over plan to -- public hearing on third degree for ignoring their disapproval of the plan, giving china go-ahead for building two electric battery plants in the small rural town of big rapids. >> i'm greatly disappointed to serve the request of our governor over citizens. giving american dollars to a foreign company that puts our national security at risk was not in question. >> i'm angry, i'm angry that this vote was put in the agenda yesterday and you have ignored my community's plea to table this vote until due diligence can be performed. >> todd: many say this is a risk to national security and the environment, lawmakers in michigan approving use of $175 million taxpayer dollars to fund the project goshen.

>> ashley: janet yellen urging president biden to repair the country's relationship to resolve urgent global challenges just weeks after a chinese spycraft flew over u.s. mainlain. >> these national security actions are not designed for us to gain a competitive economic advantage, but we do not seek to decouple our economy from china's. a full separation of our economies would be dast rus for both countries. >> todd: nicholas, great to have you on the program. that message, was that the right message for janet yellen to be sending to the rest of the world? >> of course not. what you have seen for many years starting with the clinton administration, alleged leaders pushing us to be more dependent

to china and now we can't even make penicillin without relying on china. when you look at the computers, cloud, solar capabilities, the entire set of materials you need and all the manufacturing is happening in china. we are short on savings putting us in long-term national security trouble. >> ashley: with all that being said and hearing what janet yellen had to say, do you think the u.s. needs china as badly as janet yellen makes it out to be? >> we do right now because of what happened for the last 30 years, it should be key focus to do everything to start bringing back some jobs and manufacturing. we started with very little first gachl when it comes to chips, good step, we depend on taiwan to produce chips right now. having more ability to do that

in the united states is essential, but if you look at other markets, we have pretty much nothing going on in terms of what is need to be completely independent. time is now and no choice but to start decoupling ourselves, it had to be started immediately. >> todd: you a national security expert, can we achieve actual national security when it comes to china if we do not, to use your word and janet yellen's word, if we do not fully decouple from china? >> of course now, has been clear they are aiming to become the leading nation, doing everything including intelligence, to become the leader in that space and the nation that leads ai will control the world. without decoupling, we have no chance of being independent.

if you are not independent frommin choo, you already lost the war. >> ashley: so todd asked what message this sends to the rest of the world, i want to know what xi jinping is thinking about the u.s. economy and what that makes him think about us? >> he's been laughing for quite a while, i'm sure. looking at what we've been focusing on instead of paying attention to what he's been doing. the difference with china, they are doing good job to have cohesive plan to become the world leader. different agencies, department of state, commerce or dhs and dod, you see silos and inaction, effectively what you end up seeing is the u.s. government to have comprehensive merger to

understand what china and the ccp has been doing to steal intellectual property and slowly, but surely lead in some key fields. hyper sonic launches, quantum compute, for example. >> todd: you mentioned ai, china has a plan there, too. according to the ccp plan ai content need to reflect socialism and not subvert state power and ensure ai model won't discriminate based on race and gender and ai must ensure it doesn't generate false information. their new regulation, no way am i agreeing with the socialist communist part, but how bad does our government look that china has a plan and we've got lawmakers who don't understand how to work the internet? >> that is exactly right and the part of the problem, half of the

congress is not capable of using a small phone. if we let them decide what is next regulation with artificial intelligence, we will get 20 years behind and there is no time to slow down when you see u.s. companies and leaders calling to slow down the implement agsz of ation of ai in the united states, china will not do that, they are focused to tell the chinese companies they should go get the ccp propaganda is essential piece of what to do, the rest add about race and everything else is to look like a decent policy. the fact is it is designed to remind everybody they should not forget about the ccp guidance. i don't see to see the u.s. congress start to slow us down and china free reign over ai and

we have seen humans have no ability to compete. we put ai on jet fighters in the air force and when the fighters were controlled by ai, every time the u.s. pilots lost the test. >> ashley: seems like the u.s. is nagging behind in technology once again. thank you for your time. to this, u.s. military reveals never-before-seen video of ufo over conflict zone experts warn could be devastating. the pentagon clip shows mysterious flying orb over the middle east in 2022. at ushg fo hearing this week, officials say the case remains unresolved and other than wa ufo's could lead to unintended cross fire and ufo expert telling fox exclusively, the potential for misidentification could be devastating and should

be a call to action for the safety of servicemembers. california governor gavin newsom paying surprise visit to san francisco to address the city's fentanyl crisis, but he seems to have more questions than answers. >> what do you want -- >> what you going to do about the fentanyl epidemic? >> tell me what we need to do. >> that is why i'm here. >> ashley: asking everybody else what to do, is that what struggling families want to hear? talking to a former san francisco mayoral candidate, richie grenberg next. >> todd: and doubling down on defense of the wild teenage ram pain that left three kids shot, is this just kids being kids? we'll dive into that next. >> demonizing children is wrong. we have to keep them safe, as well. ♪ the all-new chevy colorado is made for more. bring more. ♪ do more. ♪

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>> ashley: newly uncovered regards by manhattan district attorney alvin bragg reveal promise to new yorkers not to prosecute theft and establish a racial equity balance. during a 2021 meeting, alvin bragg said even if it doesn't end in incarceration does not make us safer, we need to move

away from crime of poverty, i will not prosecute most petty offenses through the court system, i will either dismiss the charges or offer the accused person the opportunity to compete a program. the remarks were two years ago and he kept this promise. data shows crime is up in all five burroughs of new york city. and demonizing youth for bad behavior, brandon johnson condemned rhetoric about the violent teen mobs storming downtown chicago last weekend. >> demonizing children is wrong. we have to keep them safe, as well. have you ever taught middle school? i have. have you raised young people? do you understand the risk young people take because they are young? sometimes they make silly decisions, they do, we have to invest to make sure young people know they are supported. >> ashley: critics argue the

violent takeover was more than a silly decision. residents and tourists call for law and order in chicago. >> todd: silly, huh? san francisco residents asking gavin newsom what he is doing about the fentanyl crisis, you have to hear his response. >> gavin, what are you going to do about the fentanyl epidemic, my name is jj smith. what are you going to do about the fentanyl epidemic? >> you need to tell me what we need to do, that is why i'm here. >> todd: richie greenberg joins us now, quite confidence-booster, right, richie? >> yes, how can you explain the highest office in the state of california ask someone on the street what he should do, this

doesn't make sense. >> todd: i had to go in with sarcasm, reality is deadly serious, people have died from fentanyl this year. we well know this is not an overnight problem. how does he not have a better answer by now? >> well, you know, he has been gala vanting area the countrying, he is bullying the leadership of other states and pushing his agenda that is based on gender ideology and reproductive rights and failing on every other point. san francisco, as well, where he lives in the city in the bay area and we are reeling under the drug and drug-dealing epidemic. and the budget is a mess. we have people leaving. we have businesses fleeing the

crime. he is just completely unprepared at this point. unbelievable how he is running this. >> todd: you hear gavin newsom with his shirt unbuttoned and hair flowing as a presidential contender. last year he was fitting the drapes in the white house when joe biden was away, he's a failure on crime, homelessness, the state's debt. why does he get a pass when it comes to his abject failure as leader there? >> the relationship between him and nancy pelosi is unmistakable, we know this, it is unshakable here in san francisco. he is still adored and loved by all the voters here and when he was attempting to be recalled last year, that failed and this is the reason why.

he goes back to when he was mayor here and before that on the city council. you have got so many fanless that love him and they're going to vote for him no matter what he does. >> todd: why? is the media nothe covering the failure? being in local news at one point, if it bleeds it leads. even minor cities, crime is going to make front-page news. are people in california not connecting the crime to his leadership? >> well, you know, he always throws out that ultraof had maga republican and connection to trump. anyone going against his agenda, throw out trump, throw out ultra-maga and he wins this is what we're seeing, as well. >> todd: shows how unserious and unintelligent so many people

are. the homeless in california, that is trump's fault. trump had nothing to do with that, one person who did is gavin newsom and the fentanyl crisis, he said, i'm throwing a lot of money at the problem. richie, you live there, where is that know moy going? >> there is a lot of nonprofits here that are profiting off the money coming from the federal, state and local. i pay tremendous amount of property taxes here, money gets wasted and thrown by the city council and mayor to completely uneffective programs and this is the reality here. this is another reason people are leaving, they are sick and tired of no results. >> todd: maybe time to stop using he's cool, i want to have a beer with him as basis by which to elect political leaders, hasn't worked out well for the country or california. thank you. did you see this, officials

shutting down a south texas bridge after thousand migrants rushed it at once. wait until you see the rest of this scene. and >> ashley: -- telling stop useings africa as climate change sprm, his message and clear and we'll share it next. ♪

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the migrants disbursed this morning, no injuries or damage r reported. tennessee says the fbi is holding off on the manifesto of the school shooting -- blueprint on total destruction, adds the document could answer questions for the public. police found 20 journals, five laptops, a suicide note and five yearbooked in the suspected killer's home. potential victory for alec baldwin. his lawyer says they are pleased with the decision to dismiss the case against baldwin and investigate this tragic

incident. baldwin was facing two counts for involuntary manslaughter. throughout the investigation baldwin maintained he did not pull the trigger. he is seemingly celebrating the news, sharing this photo, thanks his wife and lawyer with the comments, i owe everything to my wife and lawyer. his charges could be refilled later after further investigation. filming for the movie has resumed at a new location in montana. >> todd: 37 after the hour, climate official in nigeria is bashing bill gates and soros, telling them to stop treating africa as their climate lab. he wrote several presented africa negotiators with idea to reengineer the climate by dimming the sun's rays or

reflecting sunlight away from the earth and poor countries might have the most to gain. i object to the idea africa should be a testing ground for their use. chief white house corspendent for today news africa joins me now. do the people of africa, you, do you trust george soros and bill gates to have your best interest at heart? >> thank you for having me. of course not, especially because of what happened in 1996 in nigeria when pfizer tested a drug on children, leaving many of them blind. geo engineering has been seen -- people don't trust it. everyone in africa want to cut greenhouse emission, but people

do not trust the technology to tests in africa. >> todd: have you been told what long-term impact ever this geo engineering would be? >> no, no one knows, exactly, that is what happened with pfizer in 1996, going against the fda, they began administering a medication on children and it killed several of them and they were lied to. people in africa spoken to about this new technology have not been told anything and also recently with had the china flying balloon flying across the u.s. and people do not trust having balloons across africa and aircraft to code the planet or reflect the light or to the skies and people do not trust it or have enough information and

don't want george soros and bill gates to try the new technologies in their own country and taking them to africa. >> todd: interesting point about the baknow loos. 400 senior climate scientists said we should not be doing this geo-engineering, so why are bill gates and george soros pushing so hard in your opinion? >> i think, you know, as humans, we try to play god. we try to change the planet itself, even when we just because we can. and personally i like research and everyone in africa wants to see more research, climate research, health research, but when a technology is not proven and we don't understand the consequence and impact, people

are suspicious. if you want to move a new technology in africa, take into -- the culture of the people and that happened to vp harris when she went to africa and told them about iphones and internet, where zero percent of the people can afford an iphone and they do not have access to the internet. the technologies have not been tested in the u.s. or elsewhere and trying to test in africa and being are deeply suspicious. >> todd: and the hypocrisy, bill gates says it is not hypocritical he travels by jet while saying he is a climate activist. -- part of the solution. i don't think it should be for

him to say climate change is africa's biggest problem, i think the people of africa should have a say and not have it forced upon them by tsoros ad gates of the year. thank you for being here, we appreciate it. to tom brady, could he unretire again? he was asked about a possible landing spot, interesting answer, wait until you here. >> ashley: and protecting women in sports and gaining allies on their side, talking to members of self-proclaimed radical feminist groups and why they are bucking biden on this issue next. tony here from creditrepair.com, helping people see the true cost of bad credit. what are you doing to improve your credit? should i be doing something? absolutely, unless you like paying

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>> todd: a story a lot of people are talking about. an illinois youth wrestler cited for assault after sucker punching his opponent in the face. admitting that he hit his competitor because he was angry he lost the match. the sportsmanship. here is the crowd reacting to that punch. >> oh.

[bleep] [video playing] >> todd: remember, these are still children. it happened during a match for third place in oak park, illinois school tournament. the middle schooler is expected to make a full recovery, suffering a nose injury. the parents are planning to press charges, according to a report. >> ashley: the house passing an act preventing biological males from competing in women sports with zero votes from democrats. listen. >> not a single democrats wants to support women in women sports in violation to title nine created by congress 50 years ago to provide a level playing field for women. >> ashley: self-described radical feminists who support this bill join me now. thank you for being with us.

>> thank you. >> thanks for having me on. >> ashley: kara, you think this bill is common sense, tell us why you supported it? >> i'm president of women's declaration u.s. chapter, this is a clean, clear, common sense bill to clarify sex means sex under title nine and second, keep men out of women and girls sports, a crucial component of what we support, advancing women's sex-based rights throughout law and policy. >> ashley: it is says this bill harms trans kids, listen to this and get your take on the other side. >> this mere debate traumatized trans kids and inner pas across the country. 85% of transgender youth say the

debate around the bills negatively impacted their mental health. >> ashley: your thoughts on what you just heard. >> women have the right to a word ourselves, and that word is woman, and men can't have it. they then get our prisons and our healthcare and our everything. they can't have it. this is not an anti-trans bill, it is pro-girl bill. it says what everybody knew until five minutes ago. men and women have different physical capacities, we have to keep boys out of women's sports. >> ashley: do you think by this bill passing, it will move forward protection for not just female athletes, but women in general. >> that is the hope, if we can make progress on asserting common sense?

women's rights, we can roll back he horrors that have happened, thatten moos putting rapists in women's prisons and that has happened in california. >> ashley: talk about fairness, not just young girls, women in general, they are afraid to speak up when it comes to the female sports issue. you have the microphone, what would you say for young women and women in general who are scared to say anything because of what is going to happen and the pushback they are going to get? >> yeah, thanks. two things. one thing, every single human being on the face of the planet, all eight billion of us are female or male, no other category of human being. it is okay to say that. i want viewers to understand, it is okay to say we are either female or male and to female

athletes, i understand and get it, it is scary to speak out, i have spoken out and lierre has spoken out. i understand it is terrifying. do it anyway, speak out, say i do not want to compete, i do not want men in my locker room, i do not want to have to take off a bathing suit or track suit with men in my presence temperature should be fine for women and girls to say this. we have indecent exposure rules for a season. i should not see male bodies in our locker rooms, it should be fine to say that. we are coming off the me too movement and that mattered, women speak out. >> ashley: women need to speak up and speak out to protect their rights, thank you for your

time. we appreciate you. >> thank you. >> todd: on behalf of my daughters, thank you, we appreciate it. could tom brady become a miami dolphin? the ledgendary quarterback givig this answer when asked if he would ever come out of retirement. >> spending a lot of time in miami, my chance -- playing for the fins. >> oh, man, i know. >> just saying. [cheering] >> i will say, now that i'm not affiliated with any team anymore, i have strong ties with a couple teams, i do have some friends on the dolphins that i really like. >> todd: tommy, pick a lane. brady said he will cheer the dolphins on, seems like probably from the stands, called it a career, retiring after 23

seasons and seven super bowl trophies. >> ashley: todd does ask that every single day. less cowbell, sacramento kings reminding fans of cowbells during game three of the playoffs. kings fans started using cowbells after their city was called a cow town. they tweeted cowbells will not be permitted at chase center and fans will be directed to the outdoor bag check location. it doesn't look like less cowbelless did them favors, warriors blew out king with a win despite being short handed. >> todd: i don't get sick often, every time i have a fever, prescription has been more cowbell. >> ashley: i have no idea what he's talking about.

>> todd: best "saturday night live" segment ever. >> president biden reportedly will announce his run for reelection on tuesday. most democrats want to go a different direction, the president might not to see this. >> todd: national pickleball month, steve doocy is in fort worth to play the sport. keep it right here.

i'm jonathan lawson

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** >> todd: the 2024 presidential election cycle getting into full swing with president biden reportedly planning to officially throw his hat in the ring this coming tuesday. "washington post" saying president biden and his team prepare to announce reelection campaign with aides finalizing

plans to