we've reached out to the press. haven't heard back yet.reliev hunter collegein said they were leaving her of her duties immediately. she's not going to returnn is to teach at the school. budnt my questio'tn is , why dit an they remove her after she essentially insulted, you know thleared the table of the pro-life material? i mean, is that allowed? foo imagine if the shoe were wa on the other foot there and it was a trans >> todd: another big day getting underway, florida governor ron desantis will announce he is entering the 2024 race, that announcement is coming tonight. >> ashley: i love it. >> todd: i do love it. you are watching "fox and friends first," i'm todd piro.

>> ashley: i'm ashley strohmier, in for carley shimkus. it is going down with elon musk on twitter. >> todd: what does this all mean? the republican primary bench keeps getting deeper and deeper. the governor is the latest candidate to turn his hat in the ring, on the heels of south carolina's tim scott. >> ashley: lucas tomlinson has more. >> lucas: president biden approval ratings continue to suffer, the highly anticipated official announcement from florida governor ron desantis coming tonight on twitter. here is elon musk with a preview. >> i'll be interviewing ron desantis and he has quite an announcement to make. and for the first time something like this is happening on social media and with realtime

questions and answers, not scripted. >> lucas: florida's first lady showing a -- reminiscent of the movie "the greatest showman." >> you can see brighter future, our best days lay ahead of us. is it worth the fight? do i have the courage? is it worth the sacrifice? america has been worth it, every single time. >> lucas: former president trump super pact responding, the only thing less relatable is desantis after party at the elite four seasons resort in miami. just two days ago, tim scott

tossed his hat in the ring and already raised 2 million on top of the 22 million he entered the race with. there are six declared gop candidates, donald trump, nikki haley, asa hutchinson, vivek ramaswamy, larry elder and tim scott. first tv interview will be tonight, two hours after his appearance on twitter. >> todd: charlie hurt says desantis has a lot to prove to voters outside of florida. >> desantis has tremendous support in florida and done great things in florida. if you talk to people in florida, they love him because he has been personally affected by his policies. if you live in iowa, you have not been affect by the policy in florida and he has to convey that. donald trump has a loyal following. ron desantis is figuring out how

to convey that to voters he hasn't personally affected. >> todd: interesting point by charlie hurt. you may see what desantis has done and say, i think that is good, to charlie's point, iowa, nebraska, michigan, you have not been influenced by what he's done. he has an obligation to communicate that to the rest of it is people. i have two main questions, how does this change the race? it will, you don't know how. with it at this point becoming a desantis/trump battle, what upon has to everybody else that is in the race ri right now and is it positioning for vp or do the others have a shot? >> ashley: i'm fascinated with what kellyanne conway said a few days ago, this is what trump

likes to see, stacked pool of gop contenders, it makes it more likely he will win, that is in his eyes. florida voterings, when it comes to desantis and trump. when you go to florida or have friends in florida, we love florida, but they are still very hard core team trump. if you go to a harbor for dinner or something and you see the boats, nothing but trump flags. i think desantis, like you said, has done great for florida. a lot of people haven't agreed with what he's done with disney and the six-week abortion rule, still a lot of people he'll have to get on board with him. i don't think a lot of people think it is one in the bag for him, i don't think so, this pool is setting up to be something else. >> todd: they both are maga in terms of policy, but they have

differences. trump is less than establishment. think moo the two of them, desantis has been establishment bona fide. you raise an interesting point i want to touch on, what kellyanne conway said. trump loves competition. in 2016, he loved the comp tigsz, one of 17 andy hoo was polling less than 1% when he started and won the nomination. think of the advantage now. he is the incumbent, but going forward, he has a huge advantage he is bringing in to a fractured field and will take advantage of that, it is a question of how much does desantis chip away at that. >> ashley: he'll be on fox news at 8 p.m. tonight. we'll dive into that tomorrow morning on this show. police are investigating the fired professor who had a

tirade. after the "new york post" showed a video of her threatening a reporter with a machete. >> todd: marianne has details. >> marianne: that professor is under investigation by the nypd, after displaying a machete to a reporter. >> let's get out of here, you can't do that. >> that reporter saying he was stunned when rodriguez came out of her bronx apartment pressing a knife against his skin after we knocked on her door. >> we thought we might have a chance given she is passionate about beliefs and maybe she'd be willing to grant us an interview. this is a first for me.

she verbally threatened to chop us up with the machete and proceeded to come out of her apartment brandishing the blade and pressing against the side of my neck. >> marianne: rodriguez attacked a group of students on the hunter college campus. >> you are not educating -- this is propaganda. what are you going to do, anti-trans, next? >> no, we're talking about abortion. >> this is violent, you are tripping my students. >> marianne: a statement from hunter college says the professor has since been relieved of duties at hunter college effective immediately and will not return to teach at the school. we want to mention, "new york post" shares partial ownership with fox news, we reached out to

cuny, which organized hunter college for comment, but have not heard by. >> ashley: insane, thank you. >> todd: irs commissioner denying he retaliated against whistleblowers who said they felt hunter biden was getting preferential treatment. the irs whistleblower alleges, as a general matter and not in reference to a specific case, the irs follows the direction of the justice department. >> ashley: former fbi special agent and navy seal jonathan gilliam joins me now. i want your thoughts on this. we have a whistleblower alleging he was dismissed after raising concerns. he claimed, i was removed from a highly sensitive case after five years of work and not afforded a

phone call from my special agent, even though this had been my investigation since the start. the irs commissioner claimed when an employee raises allegations, do not seek the identity of whistleblower or intervene, instead the inspector general is guardian of the whistleblower process. your thoughts on all that transpired? >> jonathan: look at what he's saying. he is saying those at the top of the irs will not investigate this, but hand off to completely leftist organization, the doj, to do the investigating. that doesn't give me comfort whatsoever across the board at the top of the federal government agencies, leftists or careerists are running the

agencies. when one dumps to the seat of another, if they are on the same plain of ideology, they will not rock the boat. i can see the structure of this when it comes to and what they are looking at or what they were looking at is structuring of the bidens and in their investigation looking at how they are using different businesses to launder money and that is called structuring. there are connections with people at the top of the agencies. when one says, we will not investigate it, we will allow for ethics for the doj to investigate, the doj is on team biden. nobody is getting a fair shake as far as agents go. >> todd: if the irs commissioner's goal was to calm our fears, mission not accomplished. the fbi refused to hand over a document republicans claims

shows president biden was involved in a criminal scheme. we're asking the fbi to turn over one document, they come back with excuses, we can't do this. the fbi improperly found time to use warrantless search power over 278,000 times. it can hustle when they want to and slow roll when they need to, jonathan. >> jonathan: it is interesting. what you are saying is absolutely true. the other part that bothers me greatly, what are the subpoena powers of congress? the congress holds the power of the purse, but you're talking about federal agencies funded regardless of the doj and fbi, they will not go away. they will be funded at the end of the day. you have people thumbing their face at subpoenas from congress and saying no, and it shows you

exactly what the problem is, is talking about with the irs, the fbi and the doj, remember, all of the most recent directors of the fbi were all attorneys in the doj and know each other and are connected and they are going to do what is best for their careers or for their ideology and in that case, team biden wins again and all those left at the top of the agencies are saying, no, they ignore the subpoenas from congress. >> todd: begs question, does the fbi work for the people or work against them. >> ashley: you are right. the house ethics committee closed the two-year-long investigation to the investigation of eric swalwell into fang-fang. foreign governments may attempt improper influence through gift

and other improper actions. he was booted on the house intel committee by mccarthy, not 100% loss. when eric swalwell says, it is time to move on, i'll bet he does want everyone to move on. >> jonathan: i'm sure he does and apparently congress is falling in suit with what he says. i'm happy mccarthy came in and got him off that committee, that was a huge step because when these people receive gifts, are they receiving gifts because they have a relationship? are they receiving gifts because they provided information or is that foreign entity giving them gifts to get them to give information? this is a huge game that is played. and nothing shown about eric swalwell has shown he was innocent of not giving information to this person he had a relationship with. nothing proven to the american people and this is a huge deal,

what you said, todd, about the american people versus the fbi or doj, these are supposedly representatives of the american people and when you think about that, you realize some representatives, representing the people who cannot stand against the government, they are not getting proper representation by people who have foreign entities and federal agencies supposed to be holding the scales of justice are ignoring the people when they ignore their representatives. >> ashley: ignoring the people, i couldn't have said it better myself, jonathan. thank you for your time and insight, we appreciate you. turning to this, target holding emergency meeting with new line of lgbtq merchandise, to avoid so-called bud light situation. target insider saying we were

given 36 hours, told to take our pride stuff and move to a section that is a third of the size from the front of the store to the back. given current situation with bud light, the company is terrified. target ceo spoke on a podcast defending woke capitalism. >> we want to do the right thing to support families and i'm proud of the work we have done in the dei space. you walk in a store and feel at home and it represents the community, it makes a huge difference, good business decision and right thing for society and great thing for our brand. >> ashley: okay, look, couple of thoughts. these companies have to be inclusive to some degree. when it comes to kid stuff, the biggest issue i have. these are children's clothing

that they put right in front of the store. i'm not sure what is more concerning they are talking about woke capitalism -- i don't know, i know a lot of people are mad about this, i have had friends walk in and this is first thing they see. people are fired up on both sides. same with bud light, they should have known what they were doing, speak to your audience. i'm seeing the same trend we saw with bud light. >> todd: the main point, why are they doing this to children? this ceo completely misguided. we live in an area that is democratic, republicans, independents, i don't know a single individual who thinks this is a good idea, gay, straight, black, white, it doesn't matter, they think it is stupid and horrible business, target should be abaderbe asham

do away with this. >> ashley: if this was adult clothing, we wouldn't be talking about it. it is parent's clothing. parents are concerned, now it is brought to the forefront, they are concerned with kids and will jump on anything at this point to protect kids. >> todd: seattle business owner whose lumber company has been open 100 years says organized crime rings are breaking into stores like his. >> all of us old-school guys had to embrace the new world, we still carry a legacy and old-fashioned values. >> ashley: old-fashioned values are inspiring him to do something about it. that business owner is here next and will tell us how he is putting pressure back on his city leaders.

>> todd: the house judiciary committee says the biden administration is to blame for release of a suspected ms-13 gang member charged with the member of 20-year-old kayla hamilton. there were warning signs about

the alien's propensity for violence. her grieving mother tearfully testifying before congress yesterday. >> my newly 20-year-old daughter, kayla hamilton was murdered in her own room and left on the floor like trash. he was a 16-year-old known gang member affiliated with ms13, when arrested, he laughed and smirked i don't want any other parent to live the nightmare i'm living. >> todd: tammy nobles joined us yesterday demanding change at the border. >> i want them to be properly vetted, check their background for crimes in this country and their country and where they came from. if there was a morsecure border

and individuals coming here was properly vetted, my daughter would still be alive today and they let her down. >> todd: kayla's suspected killer was one of 14,000 unaccompanied migrant children caught entering the country in march of 2022. he had already been arrested in connection with a deadly street gang. >> ashley: business owner in seattle says organized crime rings are recruiting homeless people to break into stores like his and he's putting pressure on local officials and working with outreach providers to stop it. ceo of dunn lumber joins me now. mike, good morning to you. how did you come to the conclusion the criminal rings are hiring homeless people to do their dirty work?

>> the police told us. >> ashley: this is something they have known about? >> sure, they know. t they -- until recently, have been told to stand down and not engage. >> ashley: who told them to stand down, mike? >> i don't know exactly, i suspect the previous mayor and council people. we have a new mayor and he's interested in changing things and i want to support him. ic >> ashley: the police told you they believe homeless people are the ones being hired to break in and do work to break in to steal things. what do they suggest you do when this happens? >> replace the glass. >> ashley: that is the solution they have? that is interesting. what about the other business owners? what are they saying? >> well, crime has been terrible

during times when there was a lot of rv's on our street. it comes in waves. seven years ago, we had a three-year wave. it was awful. it cleared up and a few years ago, it started again. it has now cleared up. we want to stay on top of it this time and we're going to report everything that happens and get it to the city officials. we believe the mayor is backing us and we want them to know. >> ashley: what solutions do you have? if you were put in charge of stopping what was happening, what would be the first things you would do? >> they are trying to hire more police. we need more police and we need to support the police we have. >> ashley: you have been in business for a really long time. tell us how long your business has been up and running and why you won't leave. >> we've been in seattle since

1911, i'm fourth generation president. we have nine stores in the greater seattle area, you can't just pick them up and take them somewhere. we love seattle, it has been our home and we're not moving. >> ashley: we were just showing photos, old-school photos, we love to see people be in business this long. i don't blame you for standing your ground and holding firm. when you are working to get this to stop, have you reached out to homeless advocates and what are they saying about the situation? >> we hire seattle is local nonprofit that reach out to the homeless and the homeless appreciate it. a lot of time they can provide services that are needed and they also take away the trash, which tends to build up in the homeless area. >> ashley: hope they can get this under control, the city, it

is not fair for businesses, especially no business really, but especially businesses in business as long as you have. 1911, that is a long time. keep standing your ground and hope they can get solutions. mike dunn, thank you. >> thank you. >> ashley: you're welcome. and there is brand-new ride sharing service and it offers something you don't get with uber and lyft. >> this is the wolf, your driver is an armed driver, you have unarmed and rememberaed and they are highly skilled drivers. >> todd: they have tens of thousands of users in the first week in atlanta. the man who launched the company will be here to tell us about it next. ♪

at first tee, we teach kids how to play golf, but that's not our end game. golf is simply our means to teach life lessons

that build inner strength, self-confidence and resilience. there's more than a game. it helps them be more independent, more secure. it has given them more confidence, and i think that helps them with everything else. come join us at first tee. >> todd: back with a fox news

alert. just over a week out from the june 1 debt ceiling deadline. stalemate on how to reduce our budget deficit. >> the president has made it clear he would like to have a bipartisan resolution of this. he says that knowing full well as i do, the 14th amendment is still there and as president of the united states, he has some authority to use it, but would rather not. >> todd: president recognized invoking the 14th amendment would be met by legal challenges that risk default, progressive members of his party are warning him about the pushback if he accepts gop cuts. >> i think there would be a huge backlash from the house democratic caucus and in the streets. it is important we don't take steps back on the agenda the

president shepherded. >> todd: kevin mccarthy says the white house is dug in on raising taxes and increasing spending. jonathan turley says using the 14th amendment would be a bandaid to the white house's larger spending issue. >> the question is raising the ceiling on debt is nothing to do with the 14th amendment. congress is honoring debt and willing to raise the ceiling for the debt, the white house has to negotiate the budget, that goes to the very function of the legislative branch and power of the purse. that is what framers gave to congress as critical part of the separation of powers and it is really other worldly to see democratic leaders begging the president to make them constitutional nonentities by

saying circumvent us and become government unto yourself where you can order payment of college tuition without congressional vote and you can actually produce the money yourself to pay for those types of things. >> todd: after a deal is cut, more work to do, specifics put in a bill and priced out and given to lawmakers 72 hours before a vote. >> ashley: major operators in red state of kentucky announcing support for government andy brashear for reelection. it comes as biden administration looks to ditch coal, but brashear is pushing back, making it popular among coal producers. now dismissing the endorsement saying brashear is all talk and they need someone to stand up

against the war on coal. and the epa pushed strictest ever tailpipe admission standard requiring new vehicles be battery powered by 2032. four democrats crossing party lines to shut down regulation over concern for small trucking businesses. president biden vowed to veto the resolution. a new ride sharing app called black wolf allows customers to hire drivers skilled at protecting them, some armed with guns. the app is a success in atlanta, it launched with 80's,000 downloading the app in the first week alone. >> todd: this is a fascinating concept. kerry king brown owns black wolf and kerry joins us now. thanks for being on the program. how will this work from the

customer perspective? is this the same thing as uber, just with powerful individuals in the driver's seat? >> good morning, guys. sort of. i kind of created this app to be very exclusive. i'm not competing with uber or lyft, we have a different goal, to make sure we secure each rider. get rid of the -- i would say the mindset of having somebody say, i need a ride and i'm not sure. we kind of wanted to be on the path we make sure people from the youth to adulthood, we want to create something for security and safety for all riders. we want to remove the stigma of things happening in the vehicles with riders, that is why i created the black wolf app.

vehicles come with front-facing -- to view and track gps, live streaming for parents or loved ones, whoever are in our vehicles. >> ashley: kerry, what kind of people are you recruiting to be drivers for this? you have armed and unarmed options. what does their background look like? >> with the drivers, military, law enforcement, those in private security industry for at least five years and up. believe it or not, i've had a lot of love coming from guys who are in my field, as well. we have the regular drivers who want to come onboard, i'm making this very exclusive, to the point where setting a standard of those recruiting. i made it known those who been in security field, military, law enforcement, those are guys we are recruiting, top priority,

making sure we are recruiting the right people for our clients. >> todd: you focused on the drivers, i want to focus on the riders, how are people responding? >> we've had great response. people understand necessity of this app, they are feeling safer, they are feeling more comfortable and it is not only in atlanta. we've been contacted from germany, switzerland, london, canada and each state here in the united states. >> ashley: how are you going to get around states like new york, who have strict gun laws? have you considered moving this app up north? >> yes, ma'am, each state has their own rules and i'm from new york. i understand we have to move strategically and the good thing is, we've been getting a lot of

hits from a lot of nypd officers, which makes it a little easier and as well as contacting local security companies in new york, but most have been retired nypd officers, which allows us to not recruit those type of drivers for clients. it is making it easier getting the right applications in. >> todd: the only negative, what does this say about the state 've our country that this is needed in the first place? kerry king brown, kudos to be for finding a niche and matching your skill set with that need, this is going to be something i think grows nationwide. congrats and thank you for starting it. >> thank you, i appreciate it. >> ashley: of course. >> todd: we want to update you

on reports last week claiming upstate hotels in orange and rockland and crossroads hotels evicted a group of veterans. it turns out those eviction claims were false, wanted to set the record straight. more as we get it. north carolina latest battleground for school choice and democratic governor there took unusual step to stop a new education bill. >> it's time to declare a state of emergency for public education in north carolina. it is clear that the republican legislature is aiming to choke the life out of public education. >> ashley: what do north carolina parents want? how do they feel about their governor's emergency declaration? we've got a parent panel joining us right after this.

ah, these bills are crazy. she has no idea she's sitting on a goldmine. well she doesn't know that if she owns a life insurance policy of $100,000 or more she can sell all or part of it to coventry for cash. even a term policy. even a term policy? even a term policy! find out if you're

sitting on a goldmine. call coventry direct today at the number on your screen, or visit coventrydirect.com.

>> ashley: the biden administration wants to make equity and civil rights top

priority in development of responsible artificial intelligence. the white house office of science and technology announcing yesterday it wants to hear from any interested party about how to reach those goals. the office asking series of questions including what are opportunities for ai to enhance equity and what are potential benefits for ai in enabling broaden prosperity, economic and educational opportunity. many worried ai outside of the u.s. willing biassed to americans, that should be americans top priority. >> todd: north carolina democratic governor roy cooper going to new lengths to fight the republican majority over their bill promoting school choice. >> state of emergency for public education in north carolina. it is clear the republican legislature is aiming to choke the life out of public education. if you care about public schools

in north carolina, it is time to take immediate action and tell them to stop the damage. their private school voucher scheme will pour your tax money into private schools that are unaccountable to the public. >> todd: that is what the governor says, what do the parents say? north carolina parents brooke weis and heidi gomez join me now. why is governor cooper upset about parents having choices for educating their kids that he is willing to declare state of emergency? >> he is upset because we finally have a super majority, representative tricia cotham has been working really long to get this passed and he's upset about that, because they will override his veto. >> todd: it is shocking he thinks this is appropriate use of the power vested in the

governor. beyond that, brian, 39% much fourth graders are below basic reading and 34% of eighth graders below basic reading. 39% of eighth graders in north carolina below in math, those numbers are horrible. why is it okay to send his kid to private school to get education to beat the numbers, but not majority of the great families in north carolina. why can't they send their kids? >> something has to change and apparently the governor attended proclamation and you can't wipe away bankruptcy and declare state of emergency. families are state of urgency as relates to the opportunity scholarship program helping families across the state and school choice, funding students is cause for a state of emergency, then i would say

sound the siren, north carolina is open for school choice and we have to do something to empower families and put them in the drivers seat, much like the coopers have for their family, which is great. thousands of families deserve access. >> todd: when you bring in "office" at 4:51 in the morning, you have won. parents support opportunities to send their child to a school of their choice, why would an elected governor choose the side of this issue is that clearly against the will of voters? >> because he doesn't know exactly what parents are dealing with right now. i work with many parents, me, myself and my three kids have been able to use wonderful opportunities to provide education for our kids. we are tired to try looking for option, looking for help to provide what our kids need right

now, today issue not tomorrow, not in five years. the only option has been to private school, corruptions have been like a life saver for many families, myself and many others i work with, and i think he doesn't get benefit how much this program benefit from many families in north carolina. very sad that he thinks this is for rich people because believe me, i represent a minority, hard-working family that are looking for what works better for our kids. this is like what he has seen issue not like millionaire rich people going to get the benefit because they don't need it, they have money to send their kids and people that need the scholarship of people like me. >> todd: such a great point. brooke, the governor says this will destroy public education,

won't it force public education to get better by giving funding to those doing the job properly? >> not going to destroy public education, democrats have been in charge of education for decades and they have run education into the ground. here in charlotte, 9% of third graders read proficiently, that is the system he's damming children to and families are going to have the opportunity to get their children out of a failing system and hopefully it will create competition and it will help all of the schools. >> todd: brooke, brian and heidi are fighting back, thank you for joining us this morning. the carolina hockey team, turn to the nhl now to the other conference, dallas stars

throwing a -- kicked out of the game two minutes after the first puck drop. stars lost 4-0, fans littering with trash. better night for the golden knights, 3-0 series win, they are one win away and florida one win away from the hurricanes. top story, ron desantis will officially enter the 2024 race today and shake up the already crowded republican playing field. >> ashley: mike huckabee knows what it is like to go head-to-head with donald trump in a primary. we'll get his thoughts and we have joe concha and cheryl casone here live, keep it here on "fox and friends first." * * if you're age 50 to 85, and looking to buy life insurance

on a fixed budget, remember the three ps. what are the three ps? the three ps of life insurance on a fixed budget are price, price, and price. a price you can afford, a price that can't increase, and a price that fits your budget. i'm 54, what's my price? you can get coverage for $9.95 a month. i'm 65 and take medications. what's my price? also $9.95 a month. i just turned 80, what's my price? $9.95 a month for you too. if you're age 50 to 85, call now about the #1 most popular whole life insurance plan available through the colonial penn program. it has an affordable rate starting at $9.95 a month. no medical exam, no health questions. your acceptance is guaranteed. and this plan has a guaranteed lifetime rate lock so your rate can never go up for any reason.

so call now for free information and you'll also get this free beneficiary planner. and it's yours free just for calling. so call now for free information. shipstation saves us so much time it makes it really easy and seamless pick an order print everything you need slap the label on ito the box and it's ready to go our cost for shipping, were cut in half just like that go to shipstation/tv and get 2 months free

it's mine. you, ok? yeah, are you ok? we're fine. my serve.

maybe we should stop. this pinewood pickleball champ stops for no one. we got our melons checked. she had a concussion. admitting i was wrong is worse than losing at pickleball. saving your brain is a definite win. don't mess with your melon. if you hit it, get it checked. >> todd: another big day getting underway in the 2024 campaign cycle. florida governor ron desantis will announce he is entering the 2024 race and making that announcement tonight. you're watching "fox and friends first" on wednesday morning, i'm todd piro. >> ashley: i'm ashley strohmier in for carley shimkus. going down during a conversation with elon musk on twitter. then desantis will be here on this channel 8:00 p.m. eastern

time for first