>> sandra: fox weather alert, monitoring two devastating systems on both coasts. you are looking at live pictures from a pair of our fox news drones, vermont is seeing some of the worst flooding in nearly a century as its capital city was submerged. >> john: out west, a dozen homes in a neighborhood south of los angeles have collapsed as the land has given way. in both areas, officials are warning that folks are not yet in the clear. >> sandra: just some brutal pictures there. welcome back as "america reports" heads into a second hour. i'm sandra smith in new york. thanks for being with us. >> john: john roberts in washington. we have team coverage on the ground on both the coasts, but

we start with one of the biggest threats facing our nation, the fentanyl crisis. it's a fox news alert. >> fentanyl is a synthetic opioid 80 to 100 times stronger than morphine. >> an opioid 100 times more potent than heroin. >> there are millions of these dangerous fake pills out there and they are killing thousands of americans. >> the lethal drug expected to kill 80,000 americans this year alone. for context, that would mean more americans killed by fentanyl in a single year than killed in the entire vietnam war. >> john: all stemming from cracks in the southern border, a breeding ground for drug cartels. exactly what the house homeland security committee will talk about in a hearing moments from now. >> sandra: social media plays a huge role in the cartels marketing. teens are buying the drugs online often not knowing that they are laced with the

fentanyl. and sometimes the drug is even disguised as rainbow colored candy. the epidemic is hitting neighbors, friends, families, just like any of yours. >> i want people to look at his face. he could have been your child. >> he just had his hair cut, plans out that night. >> these are murder pills, not laced, just murder pills. >> zach was a wonderful kid. one pill ended his life. >> it's tough going through life every day sad. >> john: heartache across the nation prompting parents to speak out, and she returned home for christmas break. during that time, she reached out to a drug dealer on snapchat, buying what she thought was oxycodone. the pill was laced with fentanyl. she was 20 years old, found dead in her bedroom.

her father matt capelueto wants harsher penalties. but griff jenkins as hearing gets underway. >> republicans on this committee are calling this the second phase of their investigation into dhs secretary mayorkas failure at the border to secure it. and it comes amidst just a startling number, officials from dhs, dea, cbp and ice, and cbp says they seized 1.1 billion potential doses of lethal fentanyl in fiscal year 2022, up 200%, compared to years 2019 and 2020 combined, and we expect to hear from steven kagan, saying this, the illicit collaboration between the chinese and the mexican cartels have a complex ecosystem fueling money laundering and narcotics traffic

operations, specifically illicit fentanyl into and in the u.s. overdose deaths and the seizures at the border are a daily occurrence. earlier we spoke to speaker mccarthy what he said. >> 300 americans poisoned today and die, equivalent to an airliner crashing every day in america. it's a direct eye on americans and it's got to stop and got to stop today and you first start it by stopping it at the border. >> meanwhile, the white house released a plan for trank, fentanyl mixed with another drug, and they say it will save lives. secretary mayorkas is not at the hearing. the witnesses are front line officials, brought on the hill to find tangible solutions. see what they come up. >> john: mccarthy's metaphor, like an airliner crashing every

day, a big one, something people would pay attention to. not sure why we are not paying the same attention to this. >> sandra: our next guest, his 20-year-old daughter, alexandra, was found dead in her bedroom taking a drug. alexandra's father matt joins us now, the president of the non-profit organization drug induced homicide. thanks so much for being here. i can't imagine these days get any better for you and your family suffering through this. welcome to you. >> thank you, thank you for having me. >> sandra: a question many parents are asking when they see stories like yours, tragic stories like yours, why are these drug dealers getting away with murder? >> well, it really starts at the local level. when law enforcement shows up at one of these drug deaths, the very first thing that needs to be done, treated as a crime, treated, a crime scene, needs to

be sealed off and treated as and investigated as a homicide. we are not having that right now. the bulk of the deaths, most are ruled as accidental overdoses. so the first thing is, is recognizing that there's a crime here, somebody delivered a poison that resulted in somebody's death. and then on top of that most of our states, california leading the way, have terrible laws in terms of holding these death dealers accountable. so we need better laws to back up law enforcement and we need law enforcement to investigate the cases criminally to go after the death dealers and get them off the streets. >> sandra: looking at beautiful pictures of your daughter, life gone way too soon, 20 years old and now you are trying to, as you just mentioned, change the laws in california. you tweeted out in june, matt, the california attorney general turned down an invitation to

meet with victims of the fentanyl crisis saying california a.g. turned down to meet with fathers of fentanyl poisoning victims. why won't he meet with you? >> i wish i had a good answer to that. we are trying to get him to support alexandra's law. the majority of our district attorneys across our state see this as a valuable tool and possible to get passed in this year's legislative session and greater chance of it passed if the attorney generaler hoo in california would come out in support of it. to date he has not come out in support of a single piece of legislation that holds these drug dealers accountable for the deaths they are causing. >> sandra: dea administrator how the mexican drug cartels to the point that governor chris christie made earlier, they're working with the chinese, and

this is really important, listen. >> the two drug cartels responsible for the influx of fentanyl into the united states, the sinaloa and jalisco cartels, work with companies based in the peoples republic of china to get raw materials. those companies and the individuals who work for them provide drug traffickers with the necessary ingredients to make fentanyl chemicals. >> sandra: so in doing your own research about how this drug is getting here and killing so many americans, how important do you think it is that we toughen our stance on china and stopping the flow of drug coming from there? >> absolutely critical, but that's just one link in the chain. if we can't even stop the drug dealers here in our own communities, how do we expect to deal with china and mexico for their role in this? you know, a statistic that is rarely discussed, people have this misconception that we are locking up all the drug dealers

yet still have all the drug deaths. really nothing can be further from the truth. less than 1% of all drug deaths result in the conviction of a drug dealer. so, literally we are letting these drug dealers get away with murder and if they are dealing fentanyl, we have allowed them to become serial killers. they'll continue dealing and taking lives of innocent victims just like my daughter. >> sandra: last hour chris christie said this is one of his top five priorities in his campaign and if elected president. it's obviously going to be a big topic on the debate stage in august as well, because people care about this and parents care about this, and said this last hour. >> we have an open border down there, and the chinese, by the way, are participating fully in sending precursor chemicals to make fentanyl to the drug cartels in mexico, so they are attacking the united states. >> sandra: we'll see where this

goes politically, and what promises are made to try to tackle this crisis. while also social media is being highlighted as a place where a lot of these teenagers are getting access to drugs like this, or they are buying something they think is something else, like in the case of your daughter, and turns out to be fentanyl. this is the dea administrator of fentanyl sold on social media. >> you cannot be selling fake pills, you cannot be selling drugs on social media websites. number two, being we, law enforcement needs to get information from the social media companies. we have not until recently gotten nearly as much cooperation as we need. >> sandra: so do you believe social media is to blame or do you think this is an instance where teens will, get this, you know, they'll get it somehow? >> they certainly have a duty to make their platforms safe. just because its in cyberspace rather than retail space does not mean they cannot do a better

job of protecting their customers. so that absolutely is a critical role in this. it's far too easy for anybody, particularly young people, to go on social media these days, literally as easy as ordering a pizza and have arguably one of the world's most deadly chemicals delivered to your house in minutes. >> sandra: matt, our hearts are with you and praying for your family and all that you have gone through, and we continue to look at these beautiful pictures of your daughter and we hope that you find some peace in your mission to change those lives and to improve this situation in this country. thank you for joining us. >> i want to remind your viewers of one last thing, to reiterate. fentanyl is now the number one cause of death for americans age 18-45. this should be a major topic on the debate stage come this election, no doubt about it. >> sandra: we covered a lot here, matt. thank you for joining us. appreciate it. >> thank you.

>> john: it is rather stunning it's not a bigger issue nationwide and more widespread. we cover it a lot, the hearing is taking place across the street from me, moments from now, but general basis it's not making a lot of noise. >> sandra: and especially considering you can go to just about any family in this country and they have somehow been affected by this directly or indirectly affected by the crisis. >> john: it's a shame. we'll see if something comes out of the hearing, the crime crisis hitting american cities is forcing police departments how they respond to emergencies, some are using drones to reach 911 callers in as little as 30 seconds, also helps assess danger before responding officers arrive. drone programs are expanding, are they effective? >> john, good afternoon to you.

law enforcement wants as much information as they can get, as they are heading out to a call for service. and here in santa monica, they have found a new unique way of making that happen. santa monica p.d., now using drones to respond to 911 calls. they are very fast, get on scene in under 30 seconds, also let officers know about potential dangers, like if a suspect has a real gun or not. that was a case in some of the incidents you see here. teenagers with what looked like handguns but they actually turned out to be bb guns, and firing off an air rifle, and there was a lighter. officers say the technology is making a difference. >> we specifically use it responding to calls and police activity to where the drone can give us an advantage and keep our citizens, the individuals we

interact with and our police officers safe. t >> as you can imagine, it's not without concerns about privacy. santa monica and other departments in southern california say they only use the drones to respond to 911 calls and they prohibit the recording of video over private homes as well as any places where there would be a reasonable expectation of having privacy. legal experts say there should be limits in how these drones are used. >> what kind of privacy invasion you have, are they using facial on them, and very clear, and have it documented, exactly what justfies the use of a drone. >> and police departments also have to have a special waiver in order to fly the drones beyond an operator's line of sight. as it stands right now, about 12 police headquarters who have

that authorization, though more of them are expected to receive it in the future. interesting stuff. back to you. >> john: a lot of issues to take into consideration, an interesting program, nonetheless. bill, thank you. >> sandra: a state of emergency declared in one california neighborhood where a dozen homes have sunk into the ground due to a landslide. we are on the ground with the latest from there. >> john: and nato rejecting ukraine's attempt to join the alliance. when that may change. should president biden clear up the confusion with a more concrete response for kyiv? morgan ortagus joins us next. >> the administration flubbed this seriously and caused a divide inside nato, we have not seen much of in the last year and a half. putting a lot of purchases on your credit cards. those balances can sneak up fast. even worse, the interest rate on credit card debt has gone up to 22% and for late payments as high as 30%. that's over three times the rate on a newday 100 va home loan

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>> sandra: north korea has fired an intercontinental ballistic missile, first time in three months. he threatened to shoot down a u.s. military aircraft, the move coincides with this week's nato summit, of course, where allies have called on north korea to stop its ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs. >> putin needs to know that he's lost this, he will never win the war against ukraine and he will never disrupt security in europe again. and the way for nato to do that is signal that ukraine is definitely coming in as a member as soon as it's practical to do so. >> john: that's kurt volker, talking about the importance of making ukraine a member of the alliance. nato wrapping up the summit in lithuania, declined ukraine's push to join, at least for now.

president biden heading home after a speech. do the assurances ring hollow with nato denying kyiv's request to join. morgan ortagus, she joins us now from nashville. morgan, good to see you. here is what president biden said in his bilateral meeting with zelenskyy about the potential for ukrainian membership. >> i hope we have finally put to bed the notion of whether or not ukraine is welcome and nato is going to happen, we are moving, all moving in the right direction. >> john: he said it's not a question of if, but when. was that enough for ukraine and what signal that it sent to putin? >> well, that certainly was not what actually happened at nato, so everyone is talking about whether ukraine is going to be allowed in or not, and this may sound bureaucratic, but what was on the table is just an invitation to start the process and that normally, for any country joining s a several

year-long process as you know, every nato member state must agree to it. and the chart of nato says no country can join in open conflict. so never on the table that ukraine would join nato tomorrow and i think what we see here from the president's rhetoric, very much matches what the wall street journal called a muddy response to russia's invasion of ukraine. listen, i was one of the people criticizing the administration. the biden administration for not doing what the trump administration did, which is to deliver lethal aid to ukraine before the russians invaded. that's when we did in the trump administration. i think it's one of the many reasons why we were able to deter the war that you see now, and so not only did you see this administration waiting until after russia invaded, they have been slow on f-16s, on tanks, cluster munitions, so the dilly

dally response is indicative that they are going to provoke putin and what else is putin going to do. the genie is out of the bottle. let's get to a quicker end of the war and stop dragging it on. >> john: you said that joining nato takes time. lithuania joined in 2004, president bush made a speak, so a year and a half before they actually got into the alliance from the time they were invited in. zelenskyy seemed very, very frustrated what he saw as a lack of action on nato's part, says it's unprecedented and absurd when time set is not for the ukraine membership, and vague wording about "conditions" is added even for inviting ukraine. this means a window of opportunity is being left to bargain ukraine's membership in nato in negotiations with russia

and for russia, means motivation to continue its terror. he was more restrained today but seemed to indicate that ukraine was looking like it was a pawn in negotiations between the united states or maybe greater nato and russia over how eventually to end this conflict. >> you know, you can understand why a leader has such frustration, whenever their people are literally fighting for their lives, civilians are losing their lives, you know, children are losing their lives in this war, and this ongoing war that's now a year and a half old, so, while you understand his frustration, i was glad to see that he had a more measured response today. because at the end of the day, it is the aid from the american people and from the citizens of europe, they have stepped up recently. it is that aid keeping -- giving them the ability to continue the fight. i guess the frustration is somewhat warranted but glad to

see that he was reminded today about who actually is helping him foot the bill and actually funding his military to continue to fight. >> john: don't bite the hand that feeds you too hard. what are your impressions overall about the nato summit, particularly the invitation for sweden to come in, with finland ascension to nato, and that will leave an unbroken 800 mile border to the north sea, and putin said i was trying to stop it from happening and instead i made it happen. >> putin has so miscalculated on so many levels, and especially -- he has managed to single handedly strengthen nato. you saw finland and sweden, that went the entire cold war without joining nato and because of putin as aggressive actions, sweden and finland are joining. sweden is particularly important yesterday because they do make airplanes, they do make

artillery, very advanced tech sector and crucial geographic value, could give us control of air space over the baltic sea. as the wall street journal pointed out, that could thwart some naval ambitions in the baltic sea. finland is already meeting the 2% goal. sweden is spending more than they have on the defenses, 2005, and set to make the goal in 2026. i'm not necessarily interested in inviting whomever wants in europe to be a part of nato, but when you have countries that are meeting their 2% goal, producing this advanced military and technology, crucial geographic air space for us, those are the kind of people we want and the strongest military alliance arguably in history, the nato alliance. >> john: a line in "the right stuff" about the pooch, and it seems as though that's what putin has done here in terms of nato expansion. morgan, great to see you.

thanks. >> thanks, john. >> sandra: sections of vermont submerged underwater with more than 100 people rescued now following the historic flooding there, and more rain could be on the way. a live report on the ground there just ahead. >> john: plus, west virginia senator joe manchin stirring up rumors ahead of a third party town hall next week. kayleigh mcenany weighs in next.

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my retirement funds allow me to enjoy what i love to do. as long as you can make an impact, why stop? >> sandra: a live look via drone footage, montpelier, vermont, catastrophic flooding has submerged areas in several feet of water. crews had to rescue over 200 people who were trapped in their homes there after evacuation orders reached a point where many could not leave their homes any more. some are saying it's only the beginning. now bracing for another round of torrential rains. we have fox team coverage on this wild weather. jonathan hunt is live with the

latest on the landslide that's happening in southern california. but first, let's get to nate foy in vermont. nate, how are things looking there compared to yesterday, and what may be coming on the way? >> well, sandra, the water has certainly receded but a big clean-up effort ahead. first, i want to show you these cars right here, governor phil scott, fema administrator chriswell, as well as both vermont senators are during the damage, and unfortunately we just missed an opportunity for a live interview, but if i can ask my photographer connor to walk down here along with this gentleman personally impacted by this, tim, tim owns multiple rental properties, over 50 rental properties here in berry, vermont. take a look down the street right now, you can see it is absolutely flooded. they are clearing the mud today, i'm going to bring in tim jarvis

right now. thank you very much for your time. >> yep. >> what does it look like inside your rental property right now? >> so we are looking at about -- it depends. we have nine buildings here, it's kind of ground 0, you can see all the mud, the sediment, so looking at a half inch of silt and mud just on the livable quarters on all units. some units are worse. all of the basements are flooded to the very top. some units had about three and a half feet of water in them. we have currently got 12 rental units that have been affected with nine that were occupied that are out of a place to live right now. >> they didn't have very long to get their items out. it was not like irene where they had a chance to be warned about it. it was just a lot of rain and it started coming and had probably an hour and a half. i was in touch with them, my crew was in touch with them, we recommend that you know, more than likely you need to seek

higher shelter, we don't know if it's going to enter your units or not and it certainly did. so -- now we are two days later. >> thank you very much for your time. >> yeah. >> good luck to you, sir. >> we appreciate it. and governor scott said today they are worried about what could happen on thursday and friday, sandra, as more rain is expected in the next two days. back to you. >> sandra: nate foy live on the ground, those people going through so much. thanks for telling their story. thank you, nate. >> john: now the other side of the country, dramatic footage out of california, a landslide reduced homes to piles of rubble. at least a dozen homes 20 miles south of los angeles. jonathan hunt is live there, he's got the latest. how many homes now are being evacuated on top of the ones that have already been destroyed, jonathan? >> you have the dozen destroyed that you mentioned, john, now another five have been

evacuated. those orders just going out late last night. that was because a sewer main has now broken as a result of this landslide. now, take a look at our live drone footage from our pilot jason scanlon, flying the fox drone over the destroyed townhomes. you can see several of them concertinaed down, each floor on top of the other. they are sitting 10 to 20 feet in some cases below where they were just 72 hours or so ago. and for those who know this area well, it is a devastating sight. listen to this one construction worker who's worked on and around the properties. >> i was shocked, oh, my god, a lot of homes i did remodel their inside and now the whole thing is collapsed, the whole thing is landslide, the whole thing is gone. >> and you can see again from

our drone footage the extraordinary site of those homes which have slipped as i say, as much as 20 feet or so in some cases, likely to end up at the bottom of the steep ravine behind me. the residents want to know what caused this, some speculating an ongoing water leak, they say on the basis of having rather expensive water bills the last couple of months. we also had a very wet weather here, too, john, so these kinds of hill sides are often sodden and there are some anded in the neighborhood who said the homes should never have been built on a canyon like this. now, all of that will be looked at ultimately, of course. they have to get a geologist in to determine exactly what caused this and then those residents are going to want answers and they are going to want money from their insurance companies if they can get it, john. that's a big if. >> john: some old wise words building a rock or on sand, looks like it was the latter for

those places. john, thank you. sandra. >> sandra: west virginia democratic senator joe manchin heading to new hampshire for a third party town hall. democrats fear a third party candidate will hurt the president's re-election chances. senator was asked about this earlier today. >> no, no, nothing about a third party, nothing about any office. >> are you ruling out a third party bid. >> i never ruled out anything or in anything. this is strictly a conference we are having. >> sandra: let's bring in kayleigh mcenany, host of "outnumbered." >> he's said he is not ruling it out, said it repeatedly, and he has been asked what does it make the way that it would pave the way for trump, and he said how did perot get bill clinton elected, he's just defending it. this could absolutely pave the

way for a trump presidency when you look at the fact 2016, 6% voted third party. four years, only 2% did. and those breakers who voted third party, according to nbc exit polls broke for joe biden, so it does benefit republicans. >> sandra: the clock is ticking here. politics is a long time until election day, but comes to getting in or getting out, we are getting close here. nbc news poll showing that more democrats would consider a third party candidate if it was a biden-trump match-up. when asked, are you willing to consider a third party independent candidate if of 2024 match-up biden-trump, 52% said no, 63% of republicans said no, republicans said yes, 34% of the time. >> i don't see how you argue it helps democrats having a third party candidate. no label says we are not a

spoiler here, we are only going to do it if there is a way to actually prevail, so whether they put someone on the ballot, we'll see. they say they have the access, they have $70 million what they anticipate having. it could be a spoiler, but at the same time, we talk about the spoiler scenarios that never come to fruition. >> sandra: this is manchin why he is attending the new hampshire event in the first place. >> going around the country basically talking to people that want this commonality and common sense approach to how we fix problems. it's not happening here. if it's not happening here, pressure from outside to tell their representatives and whoever the people that might be running for offices and what they are expecting because they are not getting what they are expecting. >> sandra: ok, so we'll let our audience decide what the take away is from that. meanwhile, watching christopher wray testify on capitol hill, pretty interesting, some fiery moments, especially exchanging with jim jordan. chris christie, the former new jersey governor, gop candidate

for the presidency, here he is defending christopher wray last hour. listen. >> jim comey and eric holder and loretta lynch drastically harmed the department of justice and the fbi. chris wray has spent years fixing that. what you saw today was an animated and combative fbi director who is defending the men and work for him and do a great job. >> sandra: his defense of wray, and wray in the hot seat getting pressed by both sides, really, at times, said the idea he is biased against conservatives is "somewhat insane." that was quite a moment. >> yeah, and best of luck to chris christie with that message in a gop primary, tremendous distrust for the fbi. he made the fair point, hey, i was the only institution saying the lab leak theory was credible, he was right about that. however, a lot of questions for him, this radical traditionally

catholic memo, he rescinded, he said aghast by it but won't allow the authors of that before congress until an internal review. none of this instills confidence in the american people, many of whom have distrust for the fbi. >> sandra: he was asked if they would reveal the document unredacted. can we have a copy of it, asked jim jordan. wray said i'll find out if there is more information to be shared with you, we try to be careful with what we redact. i don't know, i think people have more questions than answers after that exchange. >> absolutely, and more questions, he was asked about mark hauck, he would not condemn the fbi raid on his home, but he did admit 70% of attacks in the pro life space are against pro life institutions. so some interesting moments but i think you get the feeling the fbi is two steps behind the radical traditional catholics or answers on parents who are targeted for going to school board meetings by the doj, he

said he did not change anything at the fbi but you get the feeling two steps behind for christopher wray. >> sandra: love watching you on "outnumbered," you have a lot of fun. >> we do, yes. >> sandra: good to see you, kayleigh. >> john: the investigation of the catholic church, definitely something we will follow up on. u.s. military is facing a problem filling its ranks. it could miss a recruiting goal tore the second straight year. >> sandra: raising concerns just how ready we are to respond to ongoing foreign threats. florida senator rick scott is here to sound off on that. he'll join us live next. we start with sustainably grown cotton from the rich red soul of north alabama, here on our family farm. then we partner with family owned mills from maine to mississippi to manufacture our cotton into quality american made fabrics that become our heirloom inspired bedding, towels, blankets and apparel.

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>> sandra: president biden's mom nation for the army chief of staff facing some tough questions from lawmakers on capitol hill, including on the army's recruiting crisis. several reports indicating the army is expected to miss the fiscal year 2024 recruitment goals by at least 25%. jennifer griffin is live at the pentagon on this. jennifer, what were the main issues in today's confirmation hearing? >> sandra, as you mentioned, the army expects to fall short of the 2023 recruitment goal by 25%, and urgent crisis facing

top pentagon leaders. the army could also be without a chief soon, due to the hold on military nominations by senator tommy tubberville of alabama, angry about the policy to give women paid leave to travel if they need abortion. >> you could hardly send a worst message to people thinking about joining the military and maybe making a career out of it than is being sent right now with these military holds. >> general randy george, the president's pick for army chief, was asked about the recruiting issues during his confirmation hearing on capitol hill today. he won't be able to begin addressing the recruiting issues until senator tubberville lifts his hole. >> if confirmed, what actions would you take for the recruit crisis. >> we are not going to lower our standards. >> army recruiting was also hurt

when schools were closed for covid and many don't allow rotc on campus. >> only 10% of our high schools are able to have junior rotc but 40% of our recruits come from students who have been in junior rotc. >> yes committed to continuing to grow these programs. what we want to do is responsibly grow them, make sure we are picking the right people and working with the local schools to do that. >> 30% of army recruits come from military families. a generational commitment to serve. that pool of recruits is shrinking in part due to a perception exacerbated by the media that the military is so-called woke. he originally joined the military to pay for college. >> the army is a great place to be, a life accelerator and we were focused on our mission and so many things that you can do

in the military to advance your life and we got to get the word out on that. >> by far the biggest reason the army is falling short is that the nation is not fit to serve. today's youth, the army says, are overweight, and can't pass proficiency tests. sandra. >> sandra: jen griffin, thank you. john. >> john: let's bring in florida senator rick scott who serves on the senate homeland armed services committee and budget committee. tackle recruiting first. what do you believe has led to the shortfalls in recruiting and what do you think we should do to resolve it? >> well, you know, i joined the navy at 18. my father was in the army, he told me the germans and the fox holes the food was bad so i thought the navy would be a better experience. i joined because i like the mission. you look at who is our commander in chief. how many people that want to join the military say boy, i'm excited about joe biden who believes in all this wokeness stuff as my commander in chief,

and does he have your back. so i think our problem starts with we have the wrong commander in chief, we have a focus on wokeness in the military rather than readiness, so when these things changing our recruiting numbers are going to get better. we tell people, why are we doing what they are doing, why is the military doing what it's doing, what is our mission. and when we do that, people will come back in droves. >> what about what jennifer griffin reported, majority of young people eligible for military recruitment are not physically fit to serve. >> one thing the army is doing, at fort jackson, they are bringing individuals in to get them in shape to be able to serve. so that's one way the army is doing that. i think a lot of our issues is the fact that you know, that we have -- we have the wrong message. i mean, do you think the chinese are out there practicing pronouns or how to be lethal. we have to talk about how we are

the most lethal force in the world, not talk about wokeness. that's what our military is here to do, defend the freedom, our freedom and our allies' freedom and that's all their responsibility is to do. it should be a great thing that anybody can get ahead. when i was in the navy it was a meritocracy. i know the nominee for the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff is committed to it but when you have biden as president do you get to do it. >> senator tommy tubberville of alabama has put a hold on nominations because of the issue that jennifer highlighted. general randy george, the nominee for army chief of staff said that's having a profound impact on recruiting. this is what he said. >> it is impacting our readiness for us, it's important as we move leaders to get the right leader in the right place at the right time and especially with

the right experience and so that's what we are challenged with right now with the whole -- >> john: case in point, on the screen, striking. it has left the joint chiefs with nobody in the lower right-hand side there to lead the marine corps for the first time in 100 years. the general brown also warned that we will lose talent because of this hold. what would you say to senator tubberville? >> the same arguments were not made when duckworth did it during the trump administration and over 1,000 people advancementes were held up. why doesn't the military just do its job? i mean, they are violating federal law or the spirit of the law and all that senator tubberville is doing is saying this is wrong. if you want to change the law, come to congress, we can change the law if we want to change the

law. you can't do it on your own. that's what the biden administration does, we don't like the way the law works we will do something different. senator tubberville has a right to do this. >> john: we will follow it to see how it shakes out. sandra. >> sandra: dip back into the hearing room on capitol hill, house judiciary committee, jim jordan just spoke a few moments ago, now wesley hunt, the rep from texas is now questioning the fbi director. let's dip in here and listen. >> president biden's home, however, was respectfully browsed. president trump is facing up to 400 years in federal prison for allegedly being in possession of classified documents he obtained as the commander in chief of these united states of america and meanwhile president biden is facing no charges for the classified documents he had held at his time as a senator and a vice president, not the president of these united states of america. and last i checked he had no

legal authority to declassify those documents. assuming president trump was in possession of said classified documents, would those documents be more secure surrounded by secret service at mar-a-lago or in a box in a garage behind your corvette? answer that question. question for you, sir. what can you tell us about the status of the fbi's investigation of president biden's classified documents found next to his corvette in delaware and those found at the pen biden center. do we have an update on that, sir? >> what i can tell you is there is an ongoing special counsel investigation led by mr. robert her and we have fbi agents affiliated with it, working on it, working actively and aggressively with him on that case. i obviously disagree with your description of the two standards. in my view, at least under my watch, we have one standard, an and that is we pursue the facts

wherever they lead no matter who likes it and i add the last part, especially insensitive investigations, almost by definition somebody is not going to like it. >> that's why i led with the sentiment of the american people. i do want to finish this. so, i want everybody to talk about this dichotomy that we have seen and i get your point, sir, but not what we see as the public as we the people. we see one case being fast tracked and one case being slow walked. we see one president's home being raided, the other president's home being kindly searched. you have one government agency, the secret service, protecting the former president and his home and another government agency, the fbi, raiding the same home. now to me, sir, that's tragically ironic. and we expect more from a functional constitutional republic and these things shouldn't be happening. now it's my opinion joe biden is the most unpopular president we

have seen in a century and that's why he knows the only way to stop president trump from beating him in november is by putting him in jail. you talked about this, mr. fry. 247 years existence of this great nation, only one president has ever been indicted by the doj and his home raided by the fbi. now, some have said president trump's indictment means that no one is above the law. ok. all right. i would love to see that. but what about hillary clinton? and what about joe biden and what about hunter biden? who was america's favorite son. let me tell you something, i have a 4-year-old daughter and 2-year-old daughter at my house. hunter biden to me is like glitter. he is on everything, and you cannot get rid of him. and yet nothing is going to be done about this. we are sick of it. james comey decided not to prosecute hillary clinton despite overwhelming evidence she committed crimes and as i

recall, it was the position of the fbi to not prosecute because they didn't want to interfere with what do you call this? the iowa caucuses are in six months. six months. i think the american public would expect to see this from cuba, from venezuela, from russia and china. but not here. the people expect us to have blind justice. they expect equal justice under the law. it's not the job of the doj or the fbi to prosecute joe biden's top political opponent who was leading in every single primary poll and the iowa caucuses are in six months. let the people decide. it's our job to uphold the constitution. as a westpoint grad, this is the constitution i've given my life to protect and i expect us all to uphold it. >> may i briefly respond? >> sure. >> number