>> who let the dawgs out? >> tom brady. husky for undergrad, so like every football game playing that. >> kym, great to have you on the crouch. >> i love it. >> and dr. siegel and i. >> and when we are all in l.a., we'll drop by without announce men. here is "america reports." >> sandra: fox news alert, any moment now joe biden will hold a news conference with the south korean president in the rose garden. sandra smith in new york, and we are about halfway, john. >> john: yes, halfway through the week, a busy week it has been and will continue to be. john roberts in washington, and this is "america reports." the president, who rarely holds news conferences or gives interviews to reporters set to take questions since the first

time announcing he is running for a second term and mark his first formal news conference in more than a month. this one to be two questions per side. >> sandra: all comes amid reports biden's advisers tend to shield him for his re-election campaign, to avoid unscripted comments that they have had to walk back. nikki haley is joining us exclusively on "america reports." >> john: marc thiessen is standing by and peter, no surprise, the president once again running behind schedule. >> only about an hour, as far as these things go with the visiting head of state and dignitaries and press that travel with them, it's not so bad, but targeting 1:30 or so

start for the rose garden press conference and the white house defense of the lack of press conferences from president biden has been well, he often entertains shouted questions. the reason this event this afternoon is significant is because people are not going to have to shout, somebody from the white house will bring a microphone up to each of the american questioners, and the south korean questioners and should be if they stick to protocol a chance for follow-up questions. so, stay tuned for that later this hour. we know that in the oval office president biden is huddling with his south korean counterpart. talking about challenges in the indo-pacific, a way of saying they are talking about china without actually calling out china. we know they are also discussing threats posed by north korea and u.s. partnerships with south korean companies on things like batteries and solar panels. so, expect to hear a lot about the economic part up top, and

then the questions can be about anything the reporters want, john. >> john: anything the reporters want as long as it follows the protocol which is typically as you know, peter, two questions per side, that's usually what the international visitor wants to see, so maybe there will be a chance for follow-up questions but limited as well. we'll soon find out. >> sandra: let's bring in marc thiessen, former white house speech writer for president bush and fox news contributor. biden holds fewest news conferences since reagan. what's the strategy do you think? >> to shield him, i mean, it's that simple. he is 68% of the american people in a recent poll say he's too old for the job and they are right. they don't want to confirm it by having the president demonstrate he's too old for the job, they are trying to shield him, it's not a coincidence they only announced it through a video. you can't stumble in a video,

you get to edit the video. why didn't he give the announcement speech like most do, they need to prevent us from seeing the damage his age has done to him. >> john: yesterday he was giving a speech, marc, and told the story about his grandfather dying in the same hospital he was born in two weeks prior to his birth, which was not the case at all. his grandfather died a year before he did and a different city and different hospital. is that just joe biden telling a convenient story or is there something in his recollection? >> funny thing is, your family members are the last to go when you have dementia or, my mother had dementia and talk to me about her family in poland in the 1940s and could remember everything but not what i said five minutes earlier. dementia is hard that way. when i worked for president bush and he was leaving office, they showed a lot of pictures of burb

when he first took office and inauguration and compared to the end, eight years does a number on anybody. it ages you. look at a picture of joe biden today from where he was two years ago. and now imagine that same decline accelerated over the next, you know, six years to what he's going to be 86 when he leaves office. kamala harris is the one on the ballot. >> john: every president -- bush had plenty of them, how many times did he put food on people. food on the family, or is our children learning. but biden seems to have them of a different sort. >> yeah, he's just not fully -- it's clear he's not fully with it, and so you know, the question becomes what we are seeing in -- in public, which is limited, what's it like in private, what's it like on the phone with a world leader having a conversation and trying to negotiate something, what's it like having a policy briefing, you know.

i don't think that he is fully in charge of his administration. >> sandra: it's one thing, marc, to criticize the strategy but another if it works for him. worked last time around, a bit of a different situation, still in the middle of the pandemic but they are doing this obviously because they see it working for them, marc. >> look, he ran a basement strategy. the republicans wanted the election to be about donald trump in 2020, he wanted -- about joe biden and his fitness for the office, he wanted to be about trump and so trump wanted it to be about trump so he sat back in the basement and let it happen. now he's probably going to try and do the same thing. and the interesting thing is that there was a poll, a trump pollster, wall street journal poll asked the question of people who disapprove of both men, who do you disapprove of more, and biden wins that by 39 points. 54-15. so what that shows is there's a lot of -- biden has a very, very

high disapproval, 54% disapproval, but those people who disapprove of him and trump disapprove of trump more so they will vote for biden in order to -- because they prefer him even in this condition to trump in the white house. >> john: if he runs a basement campaign this time around, well fed, the lovely navy mess is down there. >> i've dined there many times. >> john: he won't be able to use that, it's in the west wing. >> sandra: meanwhile, lawmakers trading barbs over the debt ceiling standoff before speaker mccarthy's bill hits the house floor. house republicans reviewing last-minute changes made overnight. mccarthy is hopeful it will pass but the president is vowing veto the measure if it makes it to his desk. jason chaffetz and robert wolf.

all this is set to go down this afternoon. last minute changes being made, we are told. cbo out with the estimate on the gop plan, it's going to drop the deficit, on mccarthy's plan, i should say, drop the deficit 4.8 trillion, avoid default, why can't he get anybody to listen, jason? >> i think he'll pass it. they seem pretty confident, the people i'm speaking with, i used to serve with in congress are telling me the speaker's office is very confident it's going to happen. he made a couple of additional changes work requirement, moving that from i think 20 to 30 hours a week, and then also making an adjustment to take care of the midwest, ethanol subsidy out there, they to deal with that, and the people think it's going to be bipartisan. they think they will get some democratic votes to pass it. it's pivotal the speaker pass something. not the end all be all, but puts

the ball into chuck schumer's court. >> sandra: i see you nodding in agreement. where do you think this goes? >> jason knows it better than me with respect to the part, if he's telling me it will pass, it will pass, i don't think he'll have to get any democratic votes, i have to challenge that. we'll have a dinner bet. i'm from the old school, i think it should be a clean bill. like reagan thought, trump thought, 78 debt ceilings passed, 49 by democrat, not this type of negotiation. all for budget negotiation but we have to pay our bills and we cannot allow the full faith of the country to be -- >> sandra: i don't get that argument, mccarthy does avoid default. he's not threatening default here. he's going to pay the bills. >> no, we should -- he's putting -- i hate this phrase, a gun to biden's head.

you either agree to my way or i'm not passing the debt ceiling. there are two different -- >> sandra: and on the screen, to cut discretionary spending, 3.2 trillion over ten years. >> we lose 800,000 jobs. cut veteran affairs by 22%. i'm surprised the republican party is trying to cut veteran affairs by 22%. >> no, look, at what point are we going to talk about the $30 trillion in debt. since the 1972 budget act, only one time have we gone through regular order. if we went through regular order and by the way, the one time we did regular order, the budget balanced. but if you are not going to do that, at some point you have to have a discussion. you can't just keep adding more limits. >> time out. i'm in agreement with jason on that. i have said for a decade, let's get every senator and congressman to get in line and vote up and down every expense. you would not get one person in

that room. >> i would be there. >> when phil graham worked for me, he said robert, everyone likes your own pork. not everyone in the room. why for decades it does not go anywhere. >> sandra: this is kjp on the gop proposal, the press secretary yesterday. >> their proposal makes clear that only things house republicans are committed to giving to americans are increased crime, lower economic growth, and more manufacturing jobs sent back to china. >> sandra: come on, robert, is that fair? >> you know it's not. you know she's over the line on that one. >> i would say that that seems to be quite political. how is that? >> i'll give you that, a golf clap for that one. >> you know me, i'm a moderate, i think we should be debating debt and deficits all the time. >> sandra: the president won't even meet with mccarthy. >> he will meet with him on

budget in a nanosecond. >> and speaker pelosi three times passed it, didn't have to meet on debt ceiling. >> why don't they meet? >> i think they should be meeting. >> sandra: turn the tv cameras on, open discussion, open debate, we are all paying the bills. >> i'll be representing this weekend, i'm going to make sure on fox i tell them all we should keep the meetings going. i'll be down there this weekend with the president. >> sandra: with the president, having dinner with the president. >> a group of us. >> so you'll have his area. what's the message? >> after they pass the debt ceiling, meet with mccarthy. how is that? let's see if he answers a question today, a real question for the media. >> sandra: and it could be two, we'll see. >> we know it's going to be a difficult day with south korea talking about china. >> sandra: we will likely see this news conference happening in the next few minutes, ladies and gentlemen. and report back after the dinner, robert. >> i will. >> john: sandra, ukrainian

president zelenskyy says he had a long and meaningful call with chinese leader xi jinping today, their first conversation since the russian invasion began. more atrocities coming to light as ukraine pushes back russian forces to the east of kherson in preparation for anticipated spring counter offensive. alex hogan is covering all the action, live in kyiv with the latest. >> hi, john. in this roughly one-hour long phone call, the two leaders discussed ukrainian and chinese relations as well as the ongoing war in ukraine, and russia in these conversations, it was clear that that was a conversation to look at, it's been about a month since the last conversation that xi jinping had when he had the meeting with russian president vladimir putin. and remember, china has never specifically come out condemning the invasion since it began about 15 months ago. ukrainian president zelenskyy did say he was praising this

conversation, this dialogue, as a measure to improve relations. appointed a former cabinet minister as the country's new ambassador to beijing. now, back on the front lines, violent battles in the eastern town of bamout, they are claiming a town not far from the contested territory. ukraine is welcoming home 44 new prisoners of war, more than 2,000 have been retrieved so far. we met with one of them held captive in a russian prison for more than four months. interrogated, lived in cramped conditions, little access to food. he lost about 100 pounds before he was eventually freed. >> i needed to anchor myself to not lose my mind, which was the most important thing in order to remain myself in those terrible conditions. remain human. because a body can be treated and restored. but the psychologically, that's

practically impossible. >> some solemn news today, we know one journalist from italy's newspaper has been wounded after a russian drone strike on a bridge in kherson and that has ukrainian journalist counterpart, his interpreter has been killed. john. >> john: it's a shame, our fox family was touched by tragedy right after the war began, so our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone affected. alex, thank you. sandra. >> sandra: 2024 presidential candidate nikki haley is now the first republican contender to lay out a plan on abortion. she will be joining us live for her first interview since that speech. >> john: the top boss of the second largest teachers' union will face tough questions on capitol hill next hour. will randy wine garten admit sh

helped keep the school closed during the pandemic. >> we have guidelines from the teachers' union that were just plugged right into the cdc guidelines without question, without changing one word. and we are going to be pointing that out. veteran homeowners,

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>> sandra: fox news alert, disney is filing a lawsuit, we have just learned, against florida governor ron desantis claiming he is weaponizing the state government to retaliate against the company. the highly publicized feud between the two began last year

when former disney ceo spoke out over desantis's controversial education bill. desantis and his allies responding by revoking the special tax district that has allowed disney to control its florida operations since the 1960s. a spokesman for desantis just responded to that lawsuit saying it shows disney is trying to undermine the will of florida voters. we'll have more on that coming up. >> john: a chance to ask nikki haley just ahead. teachers union head randi weingarten face tough questions next hour whether her union swayed policies, the federal government colluding to dictate important policies. matt taibbi, author, and great to talk to you. i had a chance earlier to work

with your dad mike, good to have a chance to speak with you as well. we are expecting that this is going to be a very charged hearing. republicans will likely have a lot of pointed questions to ask the american federation of teachers' union president, she, nothing if not outspoken will not likely take it. but according to "the new york post," looks as the union played a bigger role crafting cdc policy on school reopenings than first thought. you have reported extensively in the twitter files on the intersection between poll -- politics and public policy. the conditions for sending the children back to school? >> obviously teachers' unions going to have a major role in school policy. i did cover the virginia school controversy in loudoun county

and that was a situation where there was a lot of press and the allegation was that parents were mostly upset about critical race theory. they were really, when i got there, i found they were more upset about the school closing than they were about that subject. and i think you know, the level of outrage by parents about that year in particular is still under reported phenomenon. if there does turn out to be a connection, and that has not been established between the cdc and the teachers' union, that will probably be significant for both of those entities. >> yeah, one of the things that parents are most upset about now is the loss of learning that occurred during the pandemic when schools were kept closed, even though now appears in hindsight it would have been prudent to reopen them. and kids were forced to learn at home. but an attorney who is representing randi weingarten and the aft pushed back against

"the new york post" reporting, saying the claim that aft agenda was keeping the schools closed and shifted cdc guidance to match the agenda is false. the role was limited. changes with a few sentences in 38 pages. they need to clarify the points and should have been uncontroversial. you know, obviously when an administration, whether it be republican or democrat, is crafting policy, it goes to the special interest groups and says what do you need to know from us. but it seems that the tilt here was in favor of keeping schools closed because of a political agenda. do you read it that way? >> yeah, it's really hard to say. obviously, you know, there was an inclination, you know, among the democratic party that year during the pandemic to lean on the side of keeping schools closed, and trump was heavily criticized for wanting to keep

them open. in mind sight, looks like an easier decision maybe than it is -- than it was now, but certainly, you know, parents were very upset about that, and i think the lack of coverage of that -- of their concern is still an issue that's going to resonate in the 2024 election. >> you are back in the spotlight again, a democratic congresswoman is threatening to put you in jail because of your reporting on the twitter files you added a letter to the end of an acronym, wrote about the center for security agency, you meant to refer to cis, center for internet security. she claims you knowingly provided false information in your testimony because of the mistake in a tweet you sent which was corrected. seems a little extreme on her part to be going after you like this. >> yeah, it's even weirder than that. although i did actually make an error in that tweet and i

thought i was looking at a typo and simply added an a to cis, put it in brackets the way journalists do when you want the readers to know you are adding something. in fact, cis, cisa and eip, the election integrity partnership of stanford university, they are all openly partners, so there was no substantive error there, and in fact in asserting that they are not partners in the letter that i got from delegate plasket, she's making a mistake, but for her to threaten prison over something like this, it's kind of amazing that there has not been any real response from other reporters, i mean, again, just imagine if it had happened in the trump years to somebody like jim acosta what the outcry would have been. it's totally outrageous behavior and it's -- it was a shock to me personally. >> john: i noticed a few

journalists have come to your defense but by and large the mainstream media, some elements are happily jumping on the band wagon. so, my sense is matt you are not going to end up in jail, if they do threaten to throw you in the pokey, please come and talk to us about it. >> absolutely, i will do that. >> john: we'll see you again soon. say hi to your dad for me. >> i will do that. thank you very much. >> sandra: magazine columnnist jean carroll taking the stand against former president trump, accusing him of battery. what happened in the courtroom today? >> right now, sandra, court is in a lunch recess, but i can tell you that for the better part of the morning the author and former tv host e. jean carroll described in graphic detail what she says happened at

the bergdorf department store, allegedly raped by donald trump. a chance encounter nearly three decades ago, a flirtation reminiscent of a "saturday night live" skit, suddenly turned violent, pulled down my tights, pushed her so hard hit her head on the fitting room wall, and i'm quoting again, i'm not a screamer, i'm a fighter. my whole reason for being alive at that moment was to get out of that room. she said feelings of shame are one reason she never reported the incident to police. she said she feared she might lose her job as a tv host since her boss at that time was friends with donald trump. now, trump's attorneys have not yet cross examined carroll, that could come later today. they say that in legal filings they accuse her of fabricating

this story to increase book sales concerning a publication that she wrote that described what happened. as for the former president, his attorneys have indicated that it is not likely he is going to attend this trial. a civil trial, nor will he testify. back to you. >> sandra: ok, david lee miller live from manhattan, thank you very much. john. >> john: president zelenskyy saying his call with xi jinping was long and meaningful. what will it take for biden to get on the phone months after taking down the chinese spy craft. >> sandra: and parents in wisconsin pushing back after a report that a transgender exposed herself to four high school freshmen girls. riley gaines has experienced that firsthand. she is up next what needs to be done to protect female athletes.

she'll join us next. >> to compete against thomas but we were not forewarned beforehand that we would be sharing a locker room with lia. we turned around, a 6'4" biol biological man dropping his pants and watching us undress. that was worse than the competition piece. while other allergy sprays take hours. now with astepro fast allergy relief, [ spray, spray ] you can astepro and go.

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it won't be long enough. >> sandra: parents at a wisconsin high school are outraged following reports of an 18-year-old transgender woman exposing herself to four freshmen girls in the shower area of a locker room. this happened last month. we have complete coverage, begins now. riley gaines with live reaction in just a moment. but first to garrett, what are parents saying about this? >> a lot of concern, not only how it happened but what the school district is keeping it

from happening again. four freshmen girls rinsed off in the shower after the swimming class at sun prairie east high school, just outside of madison, wisconsin. wearing their swimsuits, an attorney tells us, an 18-year-old biological male transgender student walked into the showers, told them i'm trans, by the way, and then fully undressed, exposing their genitals to the four teenage girls. at a school board meeting this week, parents laid into the district for the response to the incident or lack thereof, one student appeared to blame the four girls for the incident. >> i am asking you to keep male genitalia in the male locker room and female in the female locker room or create a trans locker room. >> you cannot trample on the feelings of 14-year-old girls, boys, transgender people, and screw over the group of girls because they get to look at a penis in a locker room.

>> if you are worried about privacy in a locker room, go in a stall. don't look at other person's genitals. >> they have not said what changes they have made to keep it from happening again. but it should not have happened but it did and the district addressed it long before the recent publicity. an attorney representing one of the girls' families is blaming the biden administration for incidents like this, pointing to the proposed changes to the definition of sex to include gender identity. sandra. >> garrett, thank you. >> john: riley gaines, speak to the situation in wisconsin, you had a similar experience when you were in a locker room with lia thomas. as a biological female, what is it like for you and a biological male with full genitalia

undresses in front of you? >> i mean, it's traumatizing, it feels like betrayal, feels like belittlement. it's awkward, embarrassing, uncomfortable. but trauma is the best word for this. i just -- it blows my mind, these are 14-year-old girls. they should never have to be in position they are seeing male genitalia without giving their consent. it's mind blowing and more and more common. what we dealt with at division i swimmers forced to change the am locker room with lia thomas, less and less unique. it's happening across the country to gerls and women of all ages, all sports, all divisions, and it's a travesty, really. >> sandra: riley, do you feel like you are getting anywhere with this? you have elevated this conversation in this country, there is no doubt. i know you've gone on the record saying hey, you were supposed to be in dental school at this point but you have found your voice with this and you feel

like this is a moment where you need too speak up for all women in this country who feel like, you know, there are -- there are people that are getting in the way of their own successes. are you -- do you feel you are getting anywhere with this? >> you know, there are days -- it's a day-by-day kind of feeling, but truthfully, i feel like the tides are turning, they have to, right. last week with the u.s. house of representatives passing the subi bill, that's great news for women and girls in sports. i can't say i'm overly confident on the senate side but only hope and encourage democrats especially, democrat senators to vote in favor of protecting women and girls in sports. but i do feel like the general public, they are waking up to this. you saw the parents in the clip, you saw how they reacted to their daughters in this position. i can only hope and imagine and pray that is becoming more and more common. parents, dads, moms, they don't want to see their daughters lose

out on opportunities and be forced to undress in front of someone of the opposite sex in their locker room. so i do think tides are turning. there have been some sports governing bodies who have done some good things, world athletics, so i'm appreciating the little steps but believe the battle is nowhere near being won. >> john: back to lia thomas, she was critical for the u- u-penn teammate -- >> we respect your identity, don't think it's fair. you can't really have that sort of half support. they are using the guise of feminism to sort of push trans phobic beliefs. >> john: what do you say to that, riley. is it possible to support a person's transition but then at the same time say wait a second, you are a 6'4" biological male,

i'm 5'7" female, it's not fair for me to be competing against you, particularly given all of the work that i put in to do this while you were swimming in the male division. >> absolutely it's fair to say that. what thomas is doing in this podcast is simply gaslighting people into feeling like they are wrong for feeling uncomfortable in the locker room, like they should be ok with stepping aside and smiling and allowing these men to take our spots on the podium, take our titles, scholarships, opportunities and i talked to one of thomas's teammates and gaslighting that thomas was portraying is what they dealt with all year last year. she has informed me of some really heartbreaking, awful stories that resulted in emotional blackmail by both thomas and their university into trying to silence their voices, suppress their voices, trying to

make them feel guilty for wanting fair competition and safety in their sports. the word, sorry, i was going to say the word that comes to mind when watching this podcast is sheer entitlement and selfishness and utter disregard for women. >> and now this transgender woman returning in the london marathon as a woman, a short period ran a different marathon as a man, beating out 14,000 people in the london marathon. we will keep following this, appreciate you joining us. >> john: nice to see you again. >> sandra: any moment now president biden will be taking to the podium at the white house, joint news conference with his south korean counterpart. a military pact will place u.s. nuclear submarines in south korean ports in an effort to deter kim jong-un. we are bringing in republican presidential candidate nikki haley, and served as the u.s.

ambassador to the united nations. welcome to you. >> thanks so much for having me. >> we are inside the two-minute window to the news conference. give us your thoughts as we watch president biden there meeting with his south korean counterpart and where you see this president as he has just announced his re-election campaign. where you see him and where you see us on the world stage in this moment. >> well, i'm glad he's hosting south korea in d.c., but a time our allies don't trust us and time our enemies don't fear us, and you know, south korea is an ally, we need to work with them, work with japan in making sure we are doing more anti-chinese counter measures to make sure we don't allow them to become more dominant. so it's good that he's with them. the problem is what does he do from here. you look at the situation, we have russia invading ukraine, you have iran building a bomb, north korea testing ballistic

missiles, you've got a chinese spy balloon flying over our sky, china buying up u.s. farmland, biden is really not doing anything to keep america safe at this point and the illegal border crossings, a dangerous time for america right now. >> john: something on the campaign trail you said yesterday regarding abortion, achilles heel for republicans in the last reasons last november. you urged the national consensus on abortion between the parties, yet no details what it should look like. let me ask you, what do you think the consensus should look like? >> well, first of all, let's be clear. up until 1972, for almost two centuries, states were able to decide through consensus in their own states on what they wanted. after 1972, roe came in and basically put very liberal policies in place that a lot of people didn't agree with, allowed for abortion any time, anywhere, any place.

and so now what we have seen is now that we have taken, you know, we no longer have to deal one elected judges and now allowing that back into the states, you know, i think that's a good thing and what states need to do. from a national level, i think we need to talk about this from consensus, and that is what can we all agree on, you know. let's humanize this and not demonize it. we can all agree we shouldn't have late term abortions, agree to protect babies who make it through an abortion and treat them so that they can live. i think we should all agree that pro life doctors and nurses should be able to go according to their values and not have to perform abortions. i think we can all agree we should encourage adoption and support moms. we should have more contraception access, not less. and i think we need to focus on the fact we don't think women who get abortions should have to go to jail or get the death penalty like has been proposed in some of these states. let's start with the consensus

there and build from that. that's what we need to focus on. >> sandra: ambassador hayley, we appreciate you joining us. if you are able to hold on, please do. we know you are on the campaign trail, you are busy, but the president has begun speaking with his south korean counterpart. they will take two questions from the global president and then from the national press. listen here. >> that includes the nuclear threat, nuclear deterrent. particularly important in the face of increased threats and blatant violation of u.s. sanctions. we seek diplomatic breakthroughs with the dprk, to bolster stability on the peninsula, reduce the threat of proliferation and address our hu

humanitarian and human rights concerns. republic of korea are working together with japan to ensure the indo-pacific is free, open, prosperous and secure. i want to thank you again, mr. president, for your political courage and personal commitment to diplomacy with japan. i've worked on these issues for a long time, and i can tell you it makes an enormous difference when we all pull together. i also welcome and support your administration's new indo-pacific strategy. it's a strategy that affirms how aligned our two nations are and our visions of the region and how similar they are. today we discussed our work together on promoting peace and stability in the taiwan straits, ensuring freedom of navigation in the south china sea and beyond. excuse me.

i also affirmed our shared commitment, we together our shared our firm shared commitment to stand with the people of ukraine against russia's brutal assault on their freedom, territorial integrity and democracy. strong support for ukraine is important because russia's flagrant violation of international law matters to nations everywhere in the world, not just in europe. when i -- when it comes right down to it, it's about what you believe, what you stand for, what kind of future you want for your children and grandchildren and right now i believe the world is at a flexion point. the choices we make today i believe are going to determine the direction of our world and future of our kids for decades to come. that's why this partnership is so important, mr. president, because we share the same values, the same vision, and i greatly appreciate, mr.

president, the republic of korea co-chaired the second summit on democracies last month and they will host the third summit for democracies. we both understand our democracies and our people are our greatest source of strength and working together they make our nation stronger and more effective. from tracking the climate crisis and strengthening our effort to fight it and global health, no two countries are better suited to meet the challenges ahead than the republic of korea and the united states. i want to thank you again, mr. president, for your friendship, your partnership, and all you have done to help build a future of shared strength and success. the floor is yours, mr. president. >> sandra: we are going to -- go ahead, john. >> john: we are going to leave it there as the south korean

president makes his remarks. we will return for questions, but sandra, we should bring the ambassador back. >> sandra: indeed. nikki haley is standing by with us. thank you very much for holding on with us. back to the news conference when the questions begin. but this is happening as it is a very rare news conference for this president. we were just having this conversation with marc thiessen at the top of the hour, ambassador, even "new york times" said the fewest news conferences since ronald reagan. what you heard from the president and the strategy we heard from the who us to see and hear from the president so seldomly. >> i think there's a few issues here. you know, he's announced his, you know, that he's running again in 2024, and i think that we can all be very clear and say with a matter of fact that if you vote for joe biden you really are counting on a president harris. idea that he would make it to 86 years old is not -- is not

something that i think is likely, why i've continued to say we need to have mental competency tests starting at 75, just to make sure the people deciding our national security deciding our economic policy, deciding what happens to our kids in schools, it matters. and i think -- so i think you look at that. i think there's a reason that he campaigned in his basement in the last election, he got a pass, this time how much is he going to do. but just being president he won't answer the questions. he's not answering the real questions and whatever he says he says it as fact. he thinks the way we got out of afghanistan was fine. he thinks the chinese spy balloon flying over america was ok. he thinks the fact that you've got china basically now threatening our satellites and issues with the border, with the illegal immigration, he thinks they are all fine, they are not. ask anybody about the economy, about their kids education and crime, they are not ok with it. but really, are we willing to

say we are ok with a president kamala harris, is that what we are looking at? because that's the reason we have a country to save and that's the reason we can't have that happen. >> john: governor, if i could, ambassador, back to remarks on abortion. when you were the governor of south carolina you signed a measure which limited abortions to occur up to 20 weeks, exclusions for the life of the mother but not rape or incest. a push to narrow the window of time down to as little as six weeks. one of your fellow candidates for the republican nomination, vivek ramaswamy was asked about it earlier today. he laid out what restrictions would be. >> i think the federal government should be out of this. if you are a governor or dealing with the states share my opinion on it. if life ends, right. when do brain waives end on back end, apply consistent principle on the front end.

six week mark. >> some talk about fetal heartbeat, and he talks about the brain waves. federal abortion law, would you support that and what should the time frame be? >> i've said from, first of all, i'm pro life, my husband was adopted and we had trouble having our children but in the hands of the states is where we need it to be. from a federal level, we've got to come at it from a level of consensus. john, if you start talking about the number of weeks, all you are doing is dividing people. i'll be prepared to talk about the number of weeks when people start asking biden and kamala if they are ok with abortion at 37 weeks, 38 weeks, 39 weeks. why are we doing that to ourselves? from a federal level you can't ban abortions, it takes a majority of the house 60 republican senators or pro life senators and a president to sign. we have not had 60 since 1910. we have 45 possible pro life

senators banning some things off the table. why not talk about consensus. the goal should be how do we save as many babies as possible, and how do we support moms in this process. and do it from a way of humanizing, not demonnizing. i don't judge anyone for being pro choice other than i want them to judge me pro life. number of weeks you are losing people, it doesn't get us anywhere, it's not the reality at the federal level. >> sandra: do you think, ambassador hayley you can get where you want in this presidential campaign to the top in a republican primary without taking a firmer stance on abortion? asa hutchinson, former governor of arkansas, announced his campaign earlier today and he very specifically laid out his plan, listen. >> i've always signed pro life bills and pro life bill comes to me that sets a reasonable

restriction, but also has the appropriate exceptions, yes, i would sign it. i would prefer that this is an issue that's resolved by the states because that's what the pro life community fought for for 40 years, in reversing roe versus wade. >> sandra: he clearly stated he would sign the 15 week federal abortion ban. is it a risk not to be more specific with your plan? >> no, i think it's about addition. it's about not alienating something personal to women and men and handling it with respect. some states are more on the pro life side, i'm happy to see that, strongly pro life. and some states on the sides of abortion, i wish that was not the case but it is what it is. let's focus on what's closest to the people and when you come to the federal level, let's start with what we all agree on and let's get national consensus.

otherwise if you get into the demonizing, everybody goes into their corners and cannot handle the situation. bringing the confederate flag in south carolina down, and two-thirds of the house and the senate, we did not demonize people, did not pick a winner or loser, judge people. instead, we brought out the best of people and showed them a way forward. always saving as many babies as we can and supporting as many mothers as we possibly can in the process. >> john: the way you dealt with that controversy in south carolina is held up as a hallmark with how you deal with such a sensitive issue, and maintaining majorities on both sides. look back at the 2020 election, the democrats gained a lot of traction, saying they want to take away your right to abortion and the dobbs decision, and unless you come up with

consensus on the republican side, governor, are you destined to repeat what happened in 2020 with the democrats and their stance on abortion? >> not at all. it's the reason why i gave the policy speech yesterday. i lean into the fact that i'm pro life, but i also lean into the fact that we have to be honest about the fact that if this is personal for everyone, acknowledge people's circumstances. i'm pro life because of my circumstances, of my husband being adopted and having trouble of having children. some people are pro choice because of what they have gn through. respect that and say how can we protect babies and mothers, and laid out those things we should be able to agree, you know, to ban late term abortions. say contraception access for everyone. try and encourage adoptions as much as possible. we should make sure that we are protecting any babies that are -- that survive an abortion. there are certain things i think

the american public can agree on. why can't we start there? why can't that be the deciding mark we decide from and then add on to that. those are the key things we need to be focusing on. to sit there and focus on the number of weeks, it's not saving as many babies as you can. that's focusing on dividing the public on the issue and not productive. >> sandra: ambassador hayley, i want to ask you what could be another republican candidate in the field, ron desantis. we just learned a few moments ago that disney is now suing the florida governor for alleging -- alleging political effort to hurt their business. we have all been watching this back and forth for quite some time. this is obviously escalating the feud between disney and desantis. saying the republican government has a relentless campaign to weaponize government power over the company. what is your reaction to that as we still have yet to see him

jump officially into the race. >> you know, as governor i took a double digit unemployment state and turned it into an economic powerhouse. businesses were my partners. if you take care of your businesses, you take care of your economy, it takes care of the people and everyone wins. south carolina was a very anti-woke state, it still is. and if disney would like to move their hundreds of thousands of jobs to south carolina and bring the billions of dollars with 'em this, i'll let them know, i'll be happy to meet them in south carolina and introduce them to the governor and the legislature that would welcome it. >> john: governor, thank you for being with us, appreciate it, have to jump back to the rose garden. >> competition with china, to help your domestic politics ahead of the election. and one for president -- there has been concerns since last year that north korea will soon be conducting its seventh nuclear test. amid growing domestic support in

your own country for your own nuclear weapons. russia has suggested it could send the latest weapons to north korea if south korea sends lethal aid to ukraine. how do you seek to manage the north korea risk amid obligations to ukraine and nato? >> let me respond to the question first. my desire to increase u.s. manufacturing and jobs in america is not about china. i'm not concerned about china. remember, america invented semiconductor, we used to have 40% of the market and what we decided we were going to do over the past how many decades decided it was going to be cheaper to export jobs and import product and along came the pandemic and the pandemic taught us we used to have, 40% of the market some years ago, now it's down to 10%. and again, we invented the -- so

i decided to go out and see if we could increase our hold on the market once again. and so what i did was i went around the country as well as in addition to passing the chips and science act, in fact visited countries around the world and two significant south korean companies decided they were going to invest billions of dollars in chip manufacturing in the united states. it was not designed to hurt china, it was designed so we didn't have to worry about whether or not we had access to semi conductors. supply chain, no one knew what you were talking about, now they all know and we lost access to the semiconductors in which new articles in the united states need 30,000 just to about i would a new automobile and didn't have them, so we started to