>> dead-on shot. good for him. you have to watch out for the cameras in here. who knows. >> the moral of the story, never interrupt elsa singing "let it go," whatever rendition, not going to take it. >> they swing "let it go" in swedish, cool. >> thanks for watching, everybody. when you can't watch in-person, dvr us. now "america reports." >> this is going to be the largest cut ever voted on in american history through congress. >> i'm going to support the legislation that is on the floor today. >> it doesn't solve our problems but it's the first step in the right direction. >> this process has been one with the extreme maga republicans were determined to take the country down. they believe that a default and a crashing of the economy would benefit them politically in

2024. >> the republicans took this president hostage. >> it's [bleep], i mean, it's -- a lie to the american people and it's wrong. >> john: waiting a white house briefing ahead of the pivotal debt bill and both sides are taking nasty shots at one another as washington rushes to divert a disastrous default. i'm john roberts in washington, it's like strapping in the front seat at hershey park. >> sandra: like the dragon coaster. choice words to describe the bill, sandra smith in new york. u.s. set to run out of money to cover its debt in a matter of days, house speaker kevin mccarthy scrambling to sell skeptical republicans. >> john: defections from the

republican caucus 30 plus members, mccarthy will have to rely on the democratic side to get the bill pushed to the senate. >> sandra: brian style is here to make his case why the bill should be passed on capitol hill. how many house republicans are a no at this hour? >> hey, john, sandra. good afternoon to you. right now we are looking at about 35 republican nos and this is about what house republicans expected, somewhere between 30 to 40, even up to 50. but still about six plus hours to go here, a lot of time for even more republicans to fall off. now, these republican nos think the speaker gave up their leverage and got outsmarted by the president by agreeing to what they say are limited spending cuts and caps on defense spending. for now, though, it does not appear the speaker is too worried about trying to convince these folks. >> look, people have different opinions. before this, i had 17

republicans who never voted for a debt ceiling period. to govern is not easy. i don't want to be on the wrong side of history. >> can you get it done without them? >> yeah, we'll get it done without them. >> democrats expect the speaker to produce at least two-thirds of his conference, john, that's about 150 republicans and they will fill in the rest. we have started to see some democrats fall off as well, the biggest being progressive chair woman jiapal, and i asked hakeem jeffries, is it a poison bill, fracturing his conference? >> conference is not fractured at all, had a very conversation earlier today. unity is different, we are going to make sure we avoid default and unified as we move forward building an economy that works for everyday americans, from the middle out, and from the ground up. >> so john, we are expecting

this vote to come this evening after 7:00 some time, they'll vote on the rule first, which is really the big test, and then the full vote. >> john: unity is different than uninomity. got it that time. >> sandra: brian style, kicking offer our 1:00 hour coverage on the east coast at this hour as aishah reported, 35 gop nos, there are concerns that mccarthy is giving up some major leverage here. should he be worried? >> this bill moves us one step in the right direction to get our fiscal house back in order. it saves taxpayers money by clawing back covid funds, limits the growth of government in particular the next two years, 1% caps with teeth, and ultimately grows our economy by major reforms on energy. there's going to be some republicans that are going to let perfection be the enemy of

the good. but this bill moves us in the right direction and when you are going to actually be able to vote for over $1 trillion in savings, you have to vote in favor of. >> john: in terms of congressman, members of the house gop caucus who believe that perfect could maybe -- maybe not the enemy of the good, a smattering of some of the opinion against this bill from some of your house colleagues. listen here. >> this deal keeps all of the democrat policy. >> leadership needs to sit down with us and bring us to the table so we don't do exactly what they did this weekend. >> we will do everything in our power to stop it. and end it now. >> i don't do this as a victory for us, i view it as kind of a very -- as i said yesterday, it's a monstrocity. back to the speakership, a number of members were adamantly against what mccarthy was trying to sell. >> 16 pages of the 99 are

dedicated to rescission, pulling back unspent covid funds, we have work requirements to have able-bodied childless adults between the ages of 49 and 55 getting back to work, it's a policy conservatives have been fighting for for a long time. the energy policy reforms that we have are actually going to get energy infrastructure built to unleash american energy. it's not a perfect bill. no such thing as a perfect bill but unquestionably a step in the right direction. the biden administration started this negotiation saying that they were demanding a clean debt ceiling business as usual in washington. at the end of the day, we forced the biden administration to come to the table and walked away with conservative policy wins in this bill. that's a lot to be done here in washington. >> sandra: ok, so not a perfect bill, step in the right direction, some conservative wins in the bill. this is being touted by mccarthy and others as a conservative bill.

is it? >> it's absolutely has conservative provisions in it. again, we are going to limit the growth of the federal government for the next six years and the next two years, incredible teeth to hold our government accountable. permitting reform to unleash american energy, claw backs in unspent covid funds, conservative priorities working on in washington. finally brought the president to the table, got him to capitulate to many of our moves, that's really positive. >> john: members of the house freedom caucus disagree with just about everything you said there. you are going to get the bill over the finish line, mccarthy is quite confident of that. jason smith, the chairman of the ways and means committee believes he will get it across the finish line but do it with democratic support, which considering this is supposed to be a bipartisan bill, would be a natural. but what does this pretend about votes further down the vote that the speaker is going to need to rely on the house freedom caucus

members' support for? >> we are far more powerful when we are fully unified as we were when we passed the limit grow and reduce spending act, but what we have seen is members who are looking for perfection. i also want to continue to cut spending and rein in our federal government. when you have a bill before you that cuts spending by $1.5 trillion, that's hard to walk away from many members are in support of the bill. >> sandra: nancy mace is calling the bill a lie to americans. are you sensing this is driving some unnecessary division within your own party? >> there are some of my friends who would like to be on tv and raise money off the bill rather than read the details of it. outside groups want you to not

read the text of the bill, i would encourage people to read the 99 pages and understand it's a step in the right direction to get the fiscal house in orders in washington. >> john: seems as it's a sure thing because it will have bipartisan support. congressman, good to talk to you. thank you so much. appreciate it. >> sandra: coming up, our panel, jessica tarlov will be here, and anything can change in the next couple hours, yesterday was a wild afternoon and see what happens over the next couple hours. >> john: and talk to the chief negotiator with the republican side with the white house on all of this. i don't think there is a doubt it will get through, the number of republicans and democrats who do support it, but the repercussions for the future are in question, dan bishop from

north carolina raising the idea of a motion to vacate the chair, to boot mccarthy, i don't necessarily think it's going to gain any legs. but remember, that was one of the things that we were talking about back during all of the votes when mccarthy was trying to become speaker, that if you narrowed down that threshold to one, which is what it always was, are you leaving yourself open with a caucus that can sometimes be a little unruly? >> sandra: great point. and with graves coming up, it's a key interview as well. you just heard the congressman steil referencing the energy reforms and what's in the from 99 pages, graves is digging in and highlighting big positives with energy reforms. >> john: i would hope with 99 pages, the members read this thing. >> sandra: turn on the night light, get it in in less than an hour. meanwhile, this story.

[bleep] [bleep] [bleep] >> sandra: that was the horrific scene that played out on a california beach over memorial weekend. nine of the teenagers shown in the video were arrested for the brutal beatdown of the three marines who called them out for their activities on the beach, complete coverage now, sergeant mike woodruff of the orange county sheriff's department moments away with the latest on the investigation. but jeff paul in the los angeles bureau, a story so many people are watching. what do we know led to the arrests. >> one of the biggest factors was the video itself, it circulated all over, not only here on fox news but shared heavily on social media. shortly after it started making the rounds the mayor got in touch with us last night telling us about the arrests. and we should warn you, the video that helped investigators is not easy to watch. [bleep]

>> the marines who were not in uniform were able to walk away with minor injuries and did not want to go to the hospital, which is incredible when you see this video again. the three marines were surrounded at one point by dozens of teens after an apparent dispute over the teens' use of fireworks. the marines were stomped on, punched and kicked as they curled up in defensive position on the ground. the mayor said it's tragic what happened, especially over the memorial day weekend. but there is some relief and the arrest. >> i'm really pleased our sheriff's department investigators working with the city and the school district were able to get right on this and make sure that taking swift action they were able to hold accountable those that were involved in this really despicable -- >> the orange county sheriff's department says of the five teens who face felony assault

charges, four are boys, one is a girl. they were booked into juvenile hall but say due to the huge crowd that was involved, this investigation is not over. the city's mayor also tells us he hopes this whole ordeal is a wake-up call for other young people. sandra. >> sandra: all right, jeff paul on that, thank you very much. john. >> john: bring in sergeant mike woodruff of the orange county, california sheriff's department. good of you to be with us this afternoon. so update us where the investigation stands as we know now nine people have been arrested, five of them charged with felony assault with a deadly weapon, four of them are males, one female, the other four have been charged with something else, and they are minors as i believe. but there were a lot more people than just nine who were involved here. where does this investigation stand? >> thank you, john. so, currently there is actually five juveniles that have been booked for felony assault with a deadly weapon. there must have been a

miscommunication or misunderstanding as far as additional four, so five have been arrested and booked, and the investigations are ongoing, reviewing cameras, talking to witnesses, gathering their statements, and working collaboratively to identify these suspects, and then they will follow through with either an arrest or a cite to the district attorney requesting misdemeanor charges be applied. >> john: i guess there was confusion with the accounting, so total of five teens arrested at this point, not nine, is what you are saying? >> correct, five. f five are booked into juvenile hall. >> john: the size of the crowd out there, assume you are asking people with video to help identify people. do you have an idea how many more people may be taken into custody as a result of what happened over the weekend? >> so, that number is undetermined at this time.

again, the investigators are reviewing the video footage and still trying to gather more video footage that is out there. and based on them able to recognize and getting confirmation on their identities, then the follow-up for that arrest will take place. >> john: we played a little bit of sound from chris duncan, the mayor of san clemente, he was on the program yesterday. i want to play more what he said in relation to the incident. >> we were all shocked, saddened and frankly disgusted at the attack on our marines. no justification for this and we are going to make sure there are consequences and accountability for those involved. >> john: one of the big questions we have here, what consequences might these juveniles face as a result of this, and we have done many stories, and i don't mean to drag you into politics here, but have done many stories so many prosecutors going light on charges against people, particularly juveniles, and when you think of san clemente, it's

a military town, right near camp pendleton, it was memorial day, these were marines who were enjoying a little bit of time away from the base, and this happens to them. can we be assured there will be consequences for the perpetrators involved here? >> well, from a law enforcement perspective, we have done our part. we have sought out the probable cause that led to the arrest of these five individuals plus more likely more to come. but now it will be in the district attorney's hands and we are strongly confident they will see there through for justice. >> we actually asked for the district attorney to come on today as well, they deferred, but hopefully we'll see if they can come on in the future. sergeant mike woodruff of the orange county sheriff's department, thanks so much, check back with you on this. >> thank you, john. >> sandra: we are waiting white house press briefing any moment now we anticipate some big

questions on the debt bill prior to tonight's big expected house vote. we are going to take you there live when this begins and listen in. plus this. >> a national six week abortion ban, make america florida. you want to control your bodies, ladies? chairman -- no, president desantis will do that. >> john: media spent years saying trump was dangerous but now ramping up again, what does it say on desantis chances of becoming the gop nominee. jessica and sean duffy on that just ahead. the grocery store and the gas station alone are taking a big chunk out of our paychecks. fortunately, you've earned the valuable va home loan benefit. the newday100 va loan lets you borrow up to 100% of your home's value, not just 80%. and with home values near record highs, that could mean a lot of money. let newday turn your home's equity into cash.

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candidates. former new jersey governor chris christie is set to launch his campaign next tuesday in new hampshire, as florida governor desantis and donald trump take their pitch to voters in iowa. desantis wrapping up a two -day visit, and pella, a place to go for windows. >> voters are candidates shopping, some are enthused, some just watching, they'll have their opportunity as they pass through iowa this week and the next several months. governor ron desantis will be here in pella in just a little bit. it's 1 of 4 stops he'll have today. last night he made the campaign official, kicking it off in west des moines at a speech at a church. he leaned into his controversial record of governor and 19 point blowout re-election. desantis alluded to former

president trump during his rally, let loose with reporters addressing trump's criticism of florida's covid policies. >> he used to say how great florida was. hell, his whole family moved to florida under my governorship. are you kidding me? >> trump spokesperson responded "ron desantis is not a serious person who can take on joe biden and bring about the great american comeback. his poorly conceived speech was light on substance, crafted to appease establishment, not those to do their bidding." trump has ripped desantis on lockdowns and other issues. and trump will be in iowa for a radio interview and campaign stops and other candidates have taken a different tone. >> people are starving for something optimistic. they want to have an optimistic, positive conversation, as long as it's anchored in conservative principles and you have a

backbone. >> fox has learned former new jersey governor chris christie formally announces his candidacy in new hampshire. he ran in 16, dropped out, endorsed trump and then turned into a vocal critic of him. and joni ernst, roast and ride, think harley davidson and a little bit of barbecue. >> john: trump bought mar-a-lago was desantis was six years old, but he did move there, permanently while he was governor. have a great time in pella, say hi to the folks. eat some corn. >> sandra: save some for me. some are sounding off over desantis, saying he is more dangerous than donald trump. jessica and sean, thanks to you both. all right, so here is just some,

jessica, of the far left freaking out over desantis. listen. >> i say this with conviction, i think ron desantis is far more dangerous than donald trump. ron desantis i believe actually in his ethos is a cultural warrior wants to take us back 100 years. >> a model for what the little dictator wants to do. look at china, cuban, afghanistan, iran, the government censors the media or ideology to children in schools. >> sandra: the far left liberal media is painting desantis as more dangerous than donald trump. >> i would like neither, obviously, to be my president, but what they are speaking to, how effective he's been as governor of florida and something that liberals and conservatives can both acknowledge he's gotten a tremendous amount done before the last few weeks when donald trump has changed his opinion about how he handled covid, florida was held up as a beacon of freedom there, people moving

from new york, california, heading down to florida, it was a pro business state. and i think that what they are kind of speaking to is this idea that desantis, or somebody -- >> sandra: and he is speaking live in iowa on the ground in council bluffs, jessica. >> he might be able to pick off some of those independents and republican moderates that voted for joe biden and they want to make sure that is not going to happen. he is extreme. he signed a six week abortion bill in florida, did not even have a press conference about it but he did it. it's something on his record now and something we should all be concerned about. >> sandra: to quote jeffrey mccall, for much of the established media, a need to create a bogeyman out of whichever right of center politician will disrupt the ideological vision. is that what is happening? headlines, no one more dangerous for the white house than desantis, including donald trump. donald trump makes desantis so

much more dangerous. florida governor ron desantis, far more dangerous politician than donald trump, just some of them. >> [ding ding ding], the author is correct. the playbook, donald trump is too extreme, too radical, and democrats beat him with a guy in the basement. ron desantis today because he's doing well in the polls, it could be vivek, or tim scott, the media will say the same thing about them unleft you are a leftist socialist marxist, they are not going to like them. expect them to come for you. >> we are just democrats, or people who like -- >> used to be democrats. look at what we are pushing in the school system in america, shutting down speech and debate online in the media, democrats have shut down speech, gone after "little house on the

prairie." and "huckleberry finn." >> you are launching into other discussions worthy of our time, but tee up the discussion on the debt deal perfectly. apparently the current president, joe biden, just said this on the debt debate. listen in. >> mr. president -- >> don't like the debt ceiling, what's your message to that? >> oh, i -- i told all these guys you would not ask anything about what we just talked about. was i right? i wanted to show you i was right, right? now, we are going to deal with the debt ceiling, we have -- i think things are going as planned, god willing, i'll be landing in colorado tonight in preparation for my commencement speech there at the air force academy tomorrow and god willing by the time i land congress will have acted, house will have acted, and one step closer. thank you very much.

>> thank you, thank you so much. >> sandra: things are going as planned with the debt bill. 35 republicans are saying no to that bill right now, sean. are you concerned that mccarthy is going to be able to pull it off? >> i think he's going to get the votes. he used to be the whip in the house, effective at counting votes, by the way, they might be strong arming some people on the house floor, make no mistake of that in the republican party, but the art of the possible. when you have a divided government, you are not going to get everything you like, why you have some hard core republicans and democrats saying we are not going to say yes. i would probably vote no if i was in the house, i think $32 trillion in debt, crisis on the horizon, i don't know if it comes in three years, five years or ten years, but it's going to come and devastating for the country. i think they should have cut more. but i understand the deal kevin mccarthy cut and with joe biden i think it was the best he could do. >> i think it's a big win for the white house and big win for kevin mccarthy, looks like he

can work across the aisle. george santos is like half a congressman at this point, he managed to get it done, he showed he can go into the oval office and sit down with the president and do it. some republicans want everything to be no no no no, but what the american people chose. they chose divided government in the midterms and what they are getting. i saw nancy mace, who has been all over tv. called it a lie but also said joe biden is someone who can't find his own pants. i'm sorry, what does that say about the gop if guy who cannot find his own pants is consistently winning against you and she should back off that rhetoric. >> sandra: one response from sean duffy. >> a lot of anger and people believe there could have and should have been done more. you don't get in marriage, in politics, never get what we want. if we get 20%, we are lucky. >> sandra: hold on. is rachel going to be happy about that? >> that i get 20% and she gets 80, yeah.

>> those are not bad odds, i would take them for a lifetime. >> that's what you get against us men. the danger for kevin mccarthy, and the best deal he could get but now you are hearing the far right say we want to recall the speaker, and that can be a problem for him if this far right wing says we want to take him out, and every democrat would join in that process, that's a real threat, not the votes. >> i'm not sure that they would, though. what we would get instead of him would be worse and someone that you could not work with. they might be out on an island with themselves. >> to your point, he's effective. >> sandra: really, really good discussion, appreciate it very much. thanks for joining us. john. >> john: sandra, the white house set to brief moments from now as lawmakers race to pass that debt ceiling bill. we'll take you to the white house live once it begins. >> sandra: house oversight chairman james comer and chris wray will be speaking by phone very shortly. it's happening after the bureau

missed a deadline to turn over a document that could implicate president biden in a bribery scheme. is the fbi trying to hide something? that is the question.

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sorry mr. sanchez! get allstate, and be better protected from mayhem, like me. that's a hard no. >> sandra: james comer is speaking with christopher wray by phone, expected to be happening at any moment, after promising to hold wray in contempt of congress for refusing to hand over files that comer says are critical into the investigation of the business dealings of joe biden and his family members. when is the phone call expected to happen? >> supposed to begin five minutes ago, so it could be going on right now. wouldn't you like to listen in on that high profile call, a situation that continues to escalate. however, source familiar with the phone call tells fox news

that chairman comer and senator chuck grassley may end up getting to see this document after all. it's a possibility they may have an offer to see this document but they have to see it in-person because the fbi is not going to just transmit it over to capitol hill via email or hand deliver it because it deals specifically with sources and methods. now, a source familiar with the call says a few others in addition to those two may have the option to see it in a secure location. the document is a standard form called a 1023, it's used across the bureau when someone comes to an agent and wants to make an allegation or give a tip. 1023 allegation may prove true, also may not. this specific document allegedly contains a claim that then vice president biden some time during his tenure as v.p. accepted a bribe for a policy decision. comer himself admits he has not seen the document but says a credible whistleblower claims it's all there on paper.

biden, if he never did such a thing, comer could be concerned the document just collected dust and he has his eyes on director christopher wray possibly holding him in contempt of congress. here is former fbi director james comey this morning on christopher wray. >> i'm sure he's trying to ascertain what's the right thing to do with the policy and tradition and the kind of things that blow up every so often in d.c., now it has ensnared the fbi, it will pass. >> fbi said last week director wray scheduled a telephone call tomorrow to talk about the satisfying of the subpoena request. any discussion of escalation under the circumstances is unnecessary, meaning holding christopher wray in contempt of congress. we are waiting to get the details. we will pass them along.

but it's possible james comer may get to see the document just not on capitol hill as he wanted originally. sandra. >> sandra: keep us posted on all the developments from that. thank you very much, david. >> john: the white house press briefing set to begin any moment, we expect john kirby to answer questions, as tensions between washington and beijing escalate, days after a chinese fighter jet flew close to a reconnaissance aircraft over the south china sea. the video is taken from the american aircraft, the u.s. calling the maneuver unnecessarily aggressive. general keith kellogg, fox news contributor, nothing new, remember the 2001 incident south china sea, ja china airport bumped into a navy ep3, forced an emergency landing, and several weeks of diplomacy as we tried to get the aircraft back. but the reckless behavior is something that we expect from the russians for the most part,

but the chinese are right there working out of the same playbook. >> yeah, john. thanks for having me. i think they are sending a pretty clear signal and part of the signal, and more important the aircraft we saw closing in on our rj, is the fact that the current -- li has refused to meet with austin or even take a phone call from him and austin is going to be in singapore with li this weekend under the law conference, going on for the last 22 years, where all the defense secretaries from the pacific go to that, and yet he does not want to meet with austin and i think they are sending a very clear signal and what you are seeing happen with the issues around taiwan as well, and you know, there has to be part of the reason is because john, there isn't really a plan for china. we have not come up with a strategy or plan how we are going to affect the relations with china. the first thing they can do, if you want to know the truth, name them an adversary instead of a competitor. france is a competitor, these

guys are an adversary. and if you want to stop things like this, put some fighter escape next to them to make sure it does not happen. what you just saw is reckless behavior, that closing speed of the two aircraft was amazing and you get the old prop wash you could stall the aircraft out and then you have a major problem if you are a pilot. >> john: start putting up fighters to escort the surveillance aircraft, a whole other ball game. john kirby will probably take some questions and said earlier today, when you have tensions like this you want to keep the line of communication open, china does not seem to have an interest in doing that. saying yesterday the u.s. side should immediately correct the wrong practice, show sincerity and create the necessary atmosphere and dialogue between the two militaries. you almost laugh when they come out with the statement. >> part of the issue, they have

a 200 mile economic zone, most nations say 12 miles from shore what the zone is. they have 200 miles. of course you run through the 200 mile zone. >> john: hang with us for a second, the other topic is ukraine and russia, kirby is talking about that right now. >> ukraine has been deploying effectively as well as more avenger air defense systems, stinger aircraft systems and the other systems the united states continues to provide to ukraine. as you saw on full display in hiroshima, the g7, allies and partners stand firmly behind us in this effort and we can continue to expect to see that support will continue going forward. that's it. >> all right. >> thank you so much. can you give us your reaction to the chinese fighter jet conducted what the pentagon described as "unnecessarily aggressive maneuver over the south china sea," what are the

potential ramifications and what could the fallout be? >> it was unsafe and unprofessional. you heard the pentagon speak to that and you saw the video for yourselves. you can see they forced that rc135 to go through the jet wash of the chinese fighter, tells you how close it was, several hundred feet. that's dangerous, and you know, one of the reasons we want to keep the lines of communication open, one of the reasons we want to make sure we can get the military to military channel back open is so we have a way to talk to the chinese about incidents like this one that could lead to miscalculation and misunderstanding and maybe getting somebody hurt. >> what is the status of trying to reopen the talks, particularly in the wake of -- >> right now, unfortunately, the military to military vehicle is just not open to us. it's one of the reasons why sent blinken is so eager to get back over to beijing. we want to get back to that

spirit of bali, there are lines of communication open and we have used the diplomatic channel to convey concerns over this particular intercept but not the same as having that available to you, especially when tensions are so high, and the risk of miscalculations are also high. >> if i could ask one on ukraine, obviously the drone strikes in moscow, ukraine has denied that they are responsible for that. what is the latest u.s. assessment and could this be a sign that ukraine's spring counter offensive has begun? >> well, we have seen the ukrainian denial that they had anything to do -- you are talking about the drone strike on the apartment building in moscow, so we would refer you to the ukrainian government to speak to that. we don't have any specific information that tells us who is responsible, and it's not like we are going to go out and investigate this, you know, it's not -- that wouldn't be appropriate for us to do. and then the second question on the counter offensive, again, we

would let president zelenskyy speak to this. wherever and whenever the ukrainian military is ready to get started it's for them to talk about and to explain. i would just tell you that over just the last few weeks alone there has been a lot of fighting and a lot of back and for the here, and i think i need to leave it at that. >> thank you. hi, john. i want to follow up on china. i think from our conversations with administration officials, including jake sullivan, there was a clear message that both the u.s. and chinese want to go beyond the spy balloon incident. what about the investigation, where are we, when can we expect the result of the balloon investigation, will it be made public and then i have a follow-up on north korea.

>> so just to be clear, there is not an investigation going on. there was forensic analysis done on the material that we recovered from the payload of the spy balloon that was done by the fbi and quantico largely and i don't know the status. i don't know whether they are complete or they still have things they are sort of looking at. but i would not expect, and i have said this before, we are going to lay all that out for the public. this was an espionage piece of equipment and we want to get a better handle on it, understand it for our own national security purposes so i would not expect that we would lay some sort of public summary of everything we have learned. this was a capability, a surveillance capability that we certainly knew and were tracking the chinese were trying to develop and to improve and we exploited it when it was in the air and exploited the material

we recovered. >> north korea, on the context of the spy satellite they just launched, can you give us an update on where we are in terms of the u.s./south korea nuclear consultation group agreed on under the washington declaration, is that set up, operational and did the spy satellite incident kick off any elements of that? >> the answer to your second question as far as i know, no, the spy balloon did not have an effect on us, you are talking about the washington declaration and the consultation group with south korea. >> satellite that north korea launched. >> i think my answer still would be no, i mean, this was put in place before they decided to try the launch over the weekend. that said, the declaration and

the consultative group was established over many months if not years, and way to help improve our ability to be responsive to whatever threats there might be. as for the status of the group, i don't know exactly, like where they are in the process. i mean, it was announced when the president was here and the teams have been working on it, where they are in the timeline i just don't know. >> quickly on the diplomatic side of it, we know that there is this whole extended push for both south korea and then also japan, and on the diplomatic side of it, you mention and other officials have mentioned the invitation is open for north korea any time. has there been any kind of specific push on the diplomatic side to entice them to come back to the negotiation table? >> clear and consistent since the beginning of the administration, to talk about the denuclearization of the peninsula. we make that case all the time.

i don't have the last conversation to read out to you but it's a consistent message. >> following up on the president's remarks regarding turkey, he said there would be another call or another engagement with erdogan within the next week. can you -- do you have any finer detail on when exactly that call is going to happen and is it fair to say the main agenda item on the call is a deal where the u.s. will provide f-16s in exchange for turkey agreeing to let sweden into nato? >> i don't have an update when that conversation will occur, certainly as we get closer to another conversation with president erdogan we will keep you informed, and the president has been long supportive of providing f-16s to turkey and to helping their air force modernization, that's something that he's talked to many, many

times. that has not changed. and that is not linked to whether or not turkey goes with sweden's alliance in nato. we are used to operating with them, lend terrific capabilities to the alliance, we want to see that happen and the president expressed those concerns as well when he's talked to president erdogan over the weekend, congratulating him on his win. to suggest there is a linkage there would be erroneous, we want to see him get f-16s. >> on ukraine, can you clarify the u.s. policy here, it says general matter ukraine should not strike inside russia. what does that mean general matter and does ukraine, a country under attack more than a year, not have a legitimate right to attack its aggressor back on its own territory? >> we don't tell them where to strike, we don't tell them where not to strike.

we don't tell them how to conduct their operations. we give them equipment, training, advice and counsel. heck, we even do tabletop exercises with them to help them plan out what they are going to do. ultimately president zelenskyy and his military commanders decide what they are going to do and what they are going to do with the equipment provided to them and that they now own. all that said, we have been very clear with the ukrainians, privately, we certainly have been clear publicly, that we do not support attacks inside russia. and we do not enable and we do not encourage attacks inside russia. we certainly don't want to see attacks inside russia that are being propagated, that are being conducted using u.s.-supplied equipment. >> the president said he has a flat assurance from zelenskyy not to use the f-16s in russian territory. are you confident that assurance still stands?

>> yes, and gotten the assurance at various levels, not just from president zelenskyy but other senior military defense leaders in ukraine. >> elon musk and -- [inaudible] were among several executives who traveled to china and met with some high level officials there. is the administration going to reach out to them to glean what they said, given your difficulty in meeting with senior officials there and any hope the business level engagement with chinese government officials might help thaw the current state of u.s.-china relations? >> i don't know any plans to reach out overtly, proactively to these business leaders, specifically about their trip. certainly if they choose to share some insights and perspectives, we would obviously be willing to hear what they learn. but it would be up to them to

decide whether they want to do that. we are not -- there's no plans that i'm aware of to reach out, you know, actively to pull that from them. we have long said that we know our two economies are interconnected and linked, and we have to figure out how best to manage that so that that interconnectedness does not put our own national security at risk. one of the outcomes of the g7 in hiroshima was a discussion about outbound investments and whether and to what degree certainly the united states is going to take a look at how much is being privately invested in china that could have national security implications for the united states. so that's something that we are going to have to continue to work through. whether or not this visit is going to help us along in managing that economic competition, i think that remains to be seen. >> john, are you -- send any

message -- >> can you repeat the first time? >> with the iranians, did you send message -- >> we have multiple ways of communicating with the iranians. >> about the nuclear deal. >> look, it's not on the agenda right now. we are not focused on that. now, nothing has changed about the fact that we want to make sure iran does not get a nuclear weapons capability. the president still believes diplomatic solution would be highly preferable, but the iranians were not negotiating in good faith, they have shown no inclination to move in that direction and given all the other domestic strife inside iran and the support that iran has given to russia and ukraine, we have not prioritized talks on

the jcpoi. >> and also the army walked away from the negotiation taking place -- >> talking about the sudanese armed forces. >> yeah. >> that's unfortunate. we -- we want to see the fighting stop. we want to see the aid get in and it's hard for that aid to get in to people in khartoum and around the country that need it. food, water, medicine, it's unfortunate they chose to walk away. we want them to take the opportunity for peace seriously. we are certainly serious about it. we are helping represent and facilitate these conversations, we want to see them act accordingly. >> john: we will jump back out of the white house briefing, talking about china, russia, the coming ukraine offensive and now jump to capitol hill, sandra, because we are expecting at some point speaker mccarthy is going to walk out as he has just about

this time for the last couple of days and talk about the pending vote in the house on the fiscal responsibility act. >> sandra: knowing there are about 35 gop nos at this point, aishah hasnie reporting at the top of the hour as we keep track, live pictures on capitol hill, it was about this time yesterday that kevin mccarthy stepped out. we expect he will do the same a moment from now. what they are saying on the democrat side, house minority leader hakeem jeffries told colleagues at a closed door caucus meeting today as we have been reporting that he is supported without hesitation or reservation or trepidation not because it's perfect, he said and divided government we cannot allow the perfect to be the enemy of the good. we also had rep steil on. >> john: said the exact same thing. >> sandra: the exact same thing, a republican at the top of the

hour. >> john: it's pretty clear speaker kevin mccarthy and the people who support him and the negotiations want this thing to pass because they have other things to move on to. the concern that progressives have is that this does not do enough to support the programs that they want to have supported, and conservatives in the house freedom caucus are concerned it gives away another $4 trillion in money that will be added to the debt over the next two years. now we don't know if it's going to be that high, because mccarthy insists it's going to cut spending and limits the growth of spending to 1% for the next six years. listening to some instructions given to the press by a member of mccarthy's staff, looks like he's going to come out and walk and continue walking, but we saw that yesterday, and we did get a chance to listen to him for just a little bit. i don't think that there's any doubt this thing is going to

pass tonight when it comes to a vote, sandra. there's enough republicans and enough democrats on to this thing they will get to 218 easily. >> sandra: we have not seen progressives completely unified in their opposition, debbie dingell from michigan, she said she is not happy but will ultimately vote, i guess you know if neither side is happy, sometimes people say you are at the right place. aishah, can you give us an update? >> hey there, sandra and john. speaker mccarthy is expected to walk through here and head to the floor to open the floor for the day, and then we are expecting the debate to start some time about after 7:00 tonight, about 7:15. they will first take a vote on the rule that will be a big test to see how many republicans will be on board for that. and then they will vote on this bill. speaker mccarthy and those

republicans around him have been very confident all day long that they will have the vote. they will not have their entire conference. they know that, and we know that as well because at least 35 republicans have already come out and said that they will be a hard no on this, could that change in the next 5 to 6 hours, of course that could. depending on what kind of dealings might be happening behind closed doors. we have not gotten a chance to ask the speaker if he has heard from the hard nos, i'm hopeful when he does walk through here we'll be able to grab him for you and ask him a few questions. because look, these are not just house freedom caucus folks that are against this bill. we are also seeing somebody like representative nancy mace who has a really big problem with this bill, in fact she was tweeting earlier today that this is such a bad bill that congress says it's going to get around -- it's going to stop the spending

but it will get around those spending caps on the bill through emergency supplemental bills. that's her concern. so we are hopeful, we are going to try to ask the speaker about that if he can at least response to that, maybe he'll change nancy mace's mind. >> john: she used a very colorful word we had to beep to describe the bill, actually. a quick vote count. 35 republicans against this, seems to me you have more than 180 votes on the republican side, and a lot on the democratic side. i would think it's probably going to pass, what, high threes, i would think? >> i think you are right on the money here. need 218 right, ok, here he comes, they will lose 30 to 40, they expected and obviously gain bunch of democrat votes, see if we can get him for you here. >> i don't know