>> unless reversed the slowdown -- it will cost students $70,000 in individual lifetime earning potential. the losses could total upwards of $28 trillion over the rest of the century. there are efforts underway in some states to make up on that lost ground. virginia governor youngkin proposing intensive tutoring for students not meeting benchmarks. we're breaking it down on fox business at 1:00. >> bill: important topic to do it then, too. lydia. >> dana: you are a good advocate for the kids. thank you. fox news alert. hunter biden playing the victim card? the president's son is suing the i.r.s. claiming agents violated his privacy rights when they told congress and the media about his taxes and investigation into overseas business ventures. how will it go? welcome to a new hour of "america's newsroom." >> bill: hope the weekend was

grand as we like to say grand as we say great around here. great and grand. i'm bill hemmer, good morning. the lawsuit claims the whistleblowers unlawfully released tax information when they testified before congress. those two agents claim the justice department was giving preferential treatment to the president's son. an attorney for one of those agents firing back earlier today on that suit. >> it is very clear hunter biden's attorneys are desperate. they didn't expect there to be a gun charge because of the agreements which delaware prosecutors should never have been in the position of anyway. now that's happened they are flailing and striking out anywhere they can. >> dana: let's get more from david spunt at the justice department with the latest. hi, david. >> good morning. no question hunter biden is trying to change the narrative not even a week after he was indicted on those federal gun charges. he is on the offense now and right now he is pointing to this lawsuit that was filed just hours ago on the federal docket.

hunter biden's attorney taking aim at those two whistleblowers shapley and ziegler. he says they came out illegally giving away hunter biden's tax information. they claim that they discussed his tax matters and engaged in willful or negligent unauthorized disclosure. the second complaint is violation of the privacy act. part of the suit reads he has all the same responsibilities as any other american citizen and the i.r.s. can and should make certain he abides by those responsibilities. mr. biden has no fewer or less than rights than any other american citizens or no government agent has free rein to violates his rights because of who he is. the lawsuit states that i.r.s. whistleblower shapley and stag lear in public statements and interviews violated section 6103 by engaging in a campaign to publicly smear mr. biden. it goes on in fact a whistleblower is supposed to uncover government misconduct not the details of that employee's opinion about the alleged wrongdoing of a private

person. you saw one of shapley's attorneys leavitt mentioned not by name in the lawsuit and he added this to what you saw earlier. watch. >> we definitely won't be intim dated by a frivolous attempt like this and hope other whistleblowers won't be intimidated, either. >> it comes days after hunter biden was indicted on the counts of purchasing a gun. this may not be his only legal problem. u.s. attorney david weiss announced that hunter biden could face filings and more indictments perhaps in california where he lives or washington, d.c. relating to his tax affairs. >> dana: david spunt, thank you for that. we'll pay attention next week. >> bill: big changes coming to the senate floor. in a move that's being widely panned as a federman rule the senate will no longer enforce a jacket and tie dress code. mark meredith, is this a good

idea? hello to you and good morning. >> bill, good morning to you. talk about a sign of the times. the senate majority leader instructed the chamber's sergeant-at-arms not to enforce the traditional dress code for senators. he doesn't say why making changes now. but an attempt to accommodate one lawmaker, pennsylvania democrat john federman. he generated buzz during his campaign showing up to events in gym shorts, hoodies, not suit and tie. he wrote in 2021 i don't look like a typical politician nor do i look like a typical person. i lack the political sleeves to roll up. all i ever wear are short sleeved work shirts. hard work is the only way to build communities back in 2021. since being elected he kept his style the same. a uaw protest in weekend wearing a hoodie and shorts. the news of a change in the senate not sitting well with some lawmakers including

congressman marjorie taylor greene who serves in the house. she writes the senate no longer enforcing a dress code to apiece federman is disgraceful. respect for our institutions, stop lowering the bar. former congressman had something to say. awful. the senate chamber isn't your home, gym or outdoor park. if you can't dress professionally or work on the senate of the u.s. and do us a favor and get a different job. dress code is being relaxed for senator the rules will apply to staffers and others staying in business attire. i reached out to federman's office for comment but have yet to hear back. doesn't look like he is planning to change his style any time soon. >> bill: mark meredith in d.c. dress down is the new rule, mark. thank you for that. without feder man would this happen? the answer is no i think. >> dana: what mark said is telling. staff will be required to have a dress code. lowering standards and dismissing tradition at this point where we are in america is

not a great idea. >> bill: don't go to work in your sweats if you are going to leave your house. >> dana: see you tomorrow in your lulu lemon, bill. >> bill: see you there. >> sooner or later in life there will be opportunities that knocks at your door. at this juncture i feel like the opportunity for not only me but for my kids as well was tremendous. >> dana: coach deion sanders moving to the colorado buffaloes his team coming from behind by 11 points to beat colorado state in double overtime. "wall street journal" writing he conquered college football. now is the hard part. sage steele can tell us what's going on. this morning we both spent formative years in colorado and so i'm sure you have heard the buzz. this is a big deal across the state. >> it is a huge deal. honestly it takes me back to the

mid/late 80s during the john elway era for the denver broncos. football was a religion there then. still is. forget about that team and how about the folks on the bus. it is amazing to see how quickly deion sanders has done this. he has done it while losing a good portion of his roster. they lost 11 of 12 games last year. this doesn't happen this quickly? as everybody has been saying the next two weeks, that's when we'll learn what the team is made of. number ten at oregon and number five usc comes to colorado. these are excellent teams. >> bill: you look at two pieces of video. this was a video shot in the locker room with his mom on saturday night after the double overtime victory at home. >> he alluded to the fact his mama raised him and my mama didn't raise me right.

>> i raised him right. i told him always be yourself. if you have to kick ass, kick ass. >> i'm running through a wall after that. 60 minutes with the big feature last night. listen here. >> who is the best coach in college football today? >> let me see a mirror so i can look at him. >> you feel that? >> you think i'm going to sit up here and tell you somebody else? you think that's the way i was raised, that somebody got that on me? >> two things are critical here, sage. the power of the personality for a man to go to a big school like that and at the same time the ncaa rules change where this transfer porter allows a student

to transfer to another school and not sit out for an entire year but play immediately. at colorado they have 87 players that are eligible in the transfer portal. you put those two things together and you have found what we have seen immediate success. >> the timing is perfect for prime. look what is happening. there is talent on the field but i think most importantly what is happening behind closed doors. i had the opportunity to cover deion sanders in baltimore. he came in as an old man as he used to tell us. what he brings is an intangible. he has ray lewis other hall of famers begging to bring him in because of how he inspires the people around him. how he leads. that was just with teammates at the time. he affected coaches in baltimore at that time. now for me to see the success at colorado, not surprising because it is the intangibles.

the confidence you see from him is not fake, it's legit. when you can take a program that has been down for so many years, last time they won a bowl game was 2004. 30 years ago since dana and i were talking back in the colorado days that they were relevant. and real quick how about money he brought in. just friday $1.2 million in the sun glass sales. when they hired in december their march went up 700%. so many great things about deion right now. what a story and shocking story in college football. >> dana: good one. great to have you to talk about that. good luck to them. >> bill: all right. guys. sage steel. so back to the breaking news on the americans boarding a plain in iran bound for doha. at what point they arrive in the u.s. is not clear. five americans freed plus two family members joining them in boarding that plane a short time ago. what are the repercussions of

giving $5 billion in frozen assets to the iranian regime? general jack keane will be here. he will address some of those questions and more coming up shortly. 11 minutes past on monday morning. let's get to this. >> dana: freight train heading north toward the u.s. border looking for a migrant express. migrants ignoring vice president kamala harris when she said don't come. >> bill: extraordinary video. a new covid booster shot winning fda approval. who is being advised not to get it and why. dr. marc siegel on the pros and cons in a moment. >> dana: a daycare nightmare. four children exposed to fentanyl. a one-year-old dead. what the mayor has to say as the owner faces murder charges. >> the crisis is real and a real

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>> bill: that's a train packed with migrants headed toward the u.s. yesterday. this video, if you watch the raw video it just goes on and on and on. and you can hear those migrants cheering in it. the u.s. has asked asylum seekers not to enter the country through the border as it manages a surge of migrants along the border. also in big cities run by democrats like new york and chicago. we'll watch it and see where they go. we all know the preferred destination as you see the

locomotive right there, all right? so on it goes. >> we children were unresponsive and demonstrating symptoms of opioid exposure. narcan was administered to all three of the children in an attempt to save their lives. two children survived. unfortunately one male, two years old, passed away. >> dana: two people are facing murder charges after a baby boy died from a fentanyl exposure at a day-care center in new york city. cb cotton is live with this horrific story in the bronx. >> families dropped their son off of the daycare and never see him alive again. police arriving to the scene to find three children unresponsive from what may have been fentanyl exposure. a fourth child went home early and rushed to the hospital by his mother. this daycare may have been a front for a drug operation.

now the daycare's owner, she is charged and silent as she walked handcuffed out of the police precinct yesterday. her attorney tells me she didn't know about the drugs found in her daycare. and another person who lives in the building also had nothing to say but tried to hide his face from cameras. both charged with murder, manslaughter and multiple counts of assault and drug offenses. when ems arrived to treat the children inside this is what they found. open food across countertops and kids supplies jammed into the tight space and a kilo of fentanyl and two kilo presses. one child did not survive. three other children were given narcan and hospitalized. how this facility passed a surprise inspection earlier this month. eric adams sharing this warning. >> this crisis is real and it is

a real wake-up call for individuals who have opioids or fentanyl in their homes. the mere contact is deadly for an adult and is extremely deadly for a child. >> so sad. the family of the child who died says the 1-year-old had only attended this daycare for about a week. dana. >> dana: that is really awful. c.b. thank you. >> bill: dr. marc siegel, good morning to you. how does this happen? so lethal. feels like it could be in the air. >> a kilo of this stuff was reportedly in a closet in the day-care center. a 1-year-old gets exposed to it and they stop breathing. the big message here is that fentanyl lasts a lot longer than the narcan they give. maybe by the time they gave the antidote it was too late. you have to give it and give it.

fentanyl was developed as a cancer treatment for someone with pain. physicians were overprescribing it. it got to the cartels and what a mess. over 100,000 drug deaths most from fentanyl. >> dana: if you are a mom or dad watching now and thinking about your child at this particular daycare, to bill's question, so can it just be in the air and kill your child? >> no. it is not in the air. somehow there was an exposure. somehow somebody -- >> dana: touch it -- >> somebody touched it and touched the child. the child put it in their mouth. i'm not investigating. it is not something you breathe in. it's very casual exposure, very small amounts. >> bill: opioid deaths as of december of 2022, 82,000. 12 month period. december in 2021, 80,000. 2020, 69,000. before that you are at 50,000,

all right? what has changed from 2019 to 2022? >> ucla did a study and found that it is not just fentanyl now. fentanyl is being mixed in the west with methamphetamine, which is speed. in the east with cocaine. so basically either you think you are getting cocaine and you are getting fentanyl or a lot of people out there are combining the two. fentanyl does one effect and then you want to counter it with the cocaine so it lasts longer. that's happening more and more and more. people are taking both. this study looked at autopsies and found 1-third of all autopsies from people from fentanyl also had one of these other drugs. 50 times greater than a decade ago. >> bill: is this being made in the united states or that the product is manufactured in china and put together in mexican ports and comes across the border >> there is a drug cartel story all the way. this is politics.

acute pharmaceutical ingredients from china and india going to the cartels in mexico who coble it together in a ten foot lab. leak it across the border and use teens in border areas. >> dana: using a lot of americans bringing it across, too. the vast majority of the fentanyl coming into the country made in mexico based on china chemicals, is coming across by americans. >> yes. some of that the cartels are involved with. literally high schools and social media. being paid to bring it across the border. this is getting -- it spreads to the rest of the country. you know, i interglenn youngkin is other day and said virginia is a border state because of drugs. >> dana: floridians should skip getting the new -- that have not been proven to be safe or effective. what say you? >> he is a governor and he did a great job at the beginning of

the pandemic with nursing homes and keeping businesses open, with keeping schools open, he should not weigh in on vaccines. this particular vaccine is quite safe. a tiny bit different than the previous one. yes, the pharmaceutical companies should be more transparent, yes, i'm very confident in this vaccine. let me tell you where the vaccine decision should be made. not on a governor pulpit but in a doctor's office. not vilified. choice, dana, doesn't mean denigrating something. how about we bring it to the doctor and the patient? i say to the patient when did you have covid last? you just had covid. you had a bad reaction to the last vaccine i don't want you to have it. i make my recommendations and patient decides. over the age of 65 is the high risk group. i want to do it on a one-on-one basis. >> bill: he is talking about people under the age of 65. good demenbate. i would like to see more of it. >> from this time and place to

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>> dana: breaking news on a story we've been following regarding the ambush of an l.a. sheriff in broad daylight. a major development and william la jeunesse has the latest for it from los angeles. good morning. >> we just got information that

the close relative of the suspect actually contacted the sheriff's department and shared details that allowed them to i.d. this young man as the likely shooter. last night the swat team gassed the suspect out of his home. wanted in the shooting death of deputy. an eight year veteran of the department. 30 years old he just got engageded to be married four days ago. what happened. saturday evening the deputy was stopped at a traffic light in his black and white s.u.v. just outside the palmdale substation. a dark gray toyota pull up alongside, stop and speed away. it was at that moment that police believe the shooter fired. the sheriff's department asked anyone with dash cam or surveillance video that might have a plate number or image on the driver to contact the department. they blasted out this notice last night looking for tips. >> people absolutely loved and

adored him. he wasn't just one of our deputy sheriffs, he comes -- he is third generation. >> both his father and grandfather served the sheriffs department as well. the department offered $250,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. that person of interest appears to be a long-haired male 20, 25 years old. we're told by sources he is now in custody. we expect more details later this morning at a 10:30 a.m. local time news conference. >> dana: william la jeunesse, thank you. >> bill: more crime now. this time in the entire state of illinois. the dawn of a new era for law and order in that state. it is the first one in the country to eliminate cash bail under a law that will take effect today. critics have been warning if you release suspects before trial, crime will become more rampant than it already has in places like chicago. mike tobin is watching and what

are you hearing? >> bill, today is the day that illinois courts lose the option of requiring accused criminals to post a bond before they walk out of jail. judges now make a choice to determine if the accused is a threat to the community, then they hold them in jail. if not, the suspect is set free with a promise that he or she will return for a court date. the argument set forth by advocates like illinois governor pritzker is detainment will be determined by the danger an individual poses, not ability to pay. the argument falls along racial and socio- economic lines. >> the federal department of justice did a number of studies over the last couple decades and it showed that if you were poor, african-american or latino and a woman you find yourself being jailed longer with higher bail for less egregious crimes. >> opponent claims it removes a middle ground option for judges and more people will end up in

jail. fewer defendants show up for court if there is no money on the line. it is a big social experiment with public safety. >> they use this term of a social experiment where the criminal justice system and court systems should never be viewed as some type of experimental process. >> florida's governor is weighing in on this move by illinois. ron desantis posted billboards around chicago offering police a $5 thousand bonus if they relocate to the sunshine state. stating the end of cash bail will allow dangerous criminals into communities. he noted that florida passed a bill protecting against bail reforms like the one in illinois and said florida stands behind law enforcement. >> bill: we'll watch this one closely. mike tobin, thank you in chicago.

>> dana: president biden shrugging off republicans impeachment inquiry. he is facing a whole plate of headaches, the uaw strike, his son's indictment and something bigger. former clinton advisor mark penn and former rnc communication director. the bigger issue i think is the fact there is now open conversation on the democratic side saying what some people have been saying in whispers. that president biden is too old to run. not coming just from the right. james car ville dressing the issue to the "new york times." voters don't want this and that's in poll after poll after poll. you can't look at what you look at and not feel some apprehension here. that is in an article that says the democrats in the leadership, establishment, mark penn, are

basically saying they're fine. nothing to see here and it will clash with voters. >> well, i think you are seeing this. there is about 30 days before primary ballots start to lock in. and i think that the biden administration and biden is under some pressure from all sides after a summer that, after all, was not a greatest summer for the president. he was on vacation, on the beach, he did 9/11 from alaska, you know, now he has an auto strike. so look, this president has said i'm running. his team is running him. they haven't done anything to turn around the numbers yet. they will have to start pulling some rabbits out of a hat. they need some economic turn around but they'll hold up under the pressure. i don't see any potential change here right now. >> dana: doug, it is interesting because you have biden job approval at 41%. in our latest fox news poll.

this one caught my eye. the president's disapproval among key groups has gone up. suburban voters and women and people under the age of 45 around 58 to 61% are all in disapproval. that's been almost a complete flip from where they were on trump. >> biden's core promise elec electorally he would be able to win the suburban areas. he turned some trump voters to biden voters. if joe biden's numbers were at 52% or 48% or something like that, we're not having this kind of conversation. he wouldn't be viewed necessarily as being too old because the popularity numbers would prevent him from getting pushback with his own party. it is why democrats are so nervous. they are nervous about his age but more importantly they are nervous what they see in the numbers tied or losing by a point or two to donald trump.

isn't so much about donald trump's strength. a very weak joe biden. >> dana: mark, it is remarkable they would decide to not do anything. but maybe that is what they are going to do. in philadelphia there is this headline call for number four, as aging lawmakers refuse to step aside the next generation waits and waits. i think in addition to those suburban voters, i look at that number of under age 45 being frustrated. it might end up being true on both sides of the political aisle. for the democrats to lose support among blacks, hispanics and young people and perhaps more people in the suburbs who are voting independent is it reckless for the democrats to do nothing? >> well, i don't think they are doing nothing. i think a lot of this depends upon how the economy does between now and next summer. if the economy remains in the dumps this will be a dire situation for any democrat.

if it turns around and bidenomics shows some work lowering inflation, unemployment kept down, no recession, come summer i think you could see a real change in the numbers. so i don't think that they are doing nothing. but it is interesting that it is the oldest electorate in history and these old voters seem to have more trust and confidence in older politicians where if you go back to the 60s, everybody wanted a john f. kennedy and younger politician. doesn't seem to be the case. >> dana: last comment, doug. the biden administration all summer long said bidenomics is great. we'll embrace the term. everyone should love it and they get mad at voters who say that they aren't feeling it. they don't think bidenomics is great and the white house seems befuddled but don't change the strategy. >> two ways to talk about it. job numbers and unemployment are great numbers. if you talk about inflation, small ticket items, whether a

sandwich at lumping or a house or a car that you are not even thinking about buying anymore because of interest rates, all you see every day is bad news. >> dana: okay, mark penn and doug, i love starting monday with politics. thank you. >> thank you. >> bill: so the statute of limitations doesn't run out. you can be as old as you want. >> dana: until you can't. >> bill: the big debate coming up in ten days. september 27th. dana will be out at the reagan library in california. >> with stu varney and ilia calderon. six candidates made the debate qualifications. waiting on a couple of others. there is time. >> bill: we've already had one. a foundation of knowledge for some of the questions and answers. it will take us into a new chapter of this nomination fight. >> dana: interesting exercise. i'm enjoying it very much. >> bill: perino on politics is out there today. who is your victim this week?

>> dana: steven law and he is an expert on the senate and right now there is a headline today perfect saying it's more likely the house could flip back to democrats. senate to flip to republicans if the vote were held today. we'll get into that. >> bill: the sands in the hourglass. okay. we have pictures right now of that plane that left tehran, iran last hour. carrying the five americans plus two family members to doha in qatar. that plane now is on the ground and we understand the five iranians have also found new freedom and two of the five will stay here in the united states. we were just wondering who these five people are. apparently two of them have violated u.s. sanctions against tehran. one was detained at his home near boston back in 2021. two years ago charged with being an iranian government agent and two others said to have links to

iranian security forces. so those are the five iranians. we mentioned this a while ago. want to put a fine point on this, dana. two of the five iranians say they'll choose to stay here in the united states. at the same time, there was an alert that crossed a short time ago trying to call it up here right now because just want to get this right. according to the u.s. president, joe biden, the u.s. is sanctioning the former iranian president ahmadinejad and iranian intelligence ministry. not a lot more detail but the headline that came down from reuters i want to say about 30 minutes ago or so. now, the u.s. president is going to make a big address at the united nations general assembly and we'll cover it when it happens not today but tomorrow and the rest of the week. >> dana: these are five of the americans in the prisoner swap. they are about to get off the

plane in qatar and they will be making their way back to america. no doubt a lot of relief from them held against their will obviously and this is all coming at a time when the u.n. general assembly gets underway today. we're fortunate to have general jack keane with us today. we're waiting here for a glimpse of these americans. these are live pictures of the plane that has just landed in qatar. let's get your take on the prisoner swap today. >> well, there is a lot of talk about the swap. we're delighted to have five americans return after coming out of the prison which is a hellhole itself. i can't imagine the joy their loved ones feel about this. but the swap isn't the issue here. you can tell that by the fact that three of the people that are being released are not even going back to iran. two are staying here and one to

another country. what the deal is about for the iranians is the money, $# 6 billion. i know the administration is well intentioned trying to say the money is going through a third party in qatar and they'll monitor and insure that money goes for humanitarian needs. look, we're 43 years into a relationship with this regime. this is the regime that blew up our embassies and barracks, started a hostage taking campaign the first year they took power. killed our cia station chief as a hostage. nearly brought down the reagan administration as a result of trying to trade arms for hostages. i think we figured out what we should be doing here in terms of hostages. that is do a swap for sure, but don't do any money. why? the money winds up in the hands of the malice regime leaders and it will fuel what they are trying to achieve, dominate and

control the middle east is what they want to do. the second thing is provide as much munitions as they can to help russia defeat ukraine. so if the administration -- i recommend this to them. if they really want to convince the american people that there will be strings on all this money and not going to go for malign purposes report to the oversight committees in the house and the senate. do it behind closed doors, and show them where the money is going. keep doing that. my judgment is the money will wind up in the hands of the iranians malign leaders and they will do what they want with it. >> bill: $6 million is a lot of money. $6 billion blows the mind, general. the obama team was obsessed with its relationship with iran. concerns about nuclear weapons, etc. the biden administration yes, but not as much. it's pretty clear in their

public statements. they did the deal anyway. so please explain to our audience what is the obsession with the relationship with tehran? >> well, i think we've seen two administrations took a different approach to iran. that is to try to appease them. to try to work diplomacy to establish a peace and stable middle east. i think that has failed miserably. the only thing the iranians truly respect is resolve and strength. and we've seen that when we've been willing to confront them. so i disagree with the basic approach. remember what happened here? the biden administration came in, bill and almost immediately within the first 30 days began to reach out to the iranians to go back to the nuclear deal. i think the iranians see that as weakness on the part of the united states and as opposed what should they or could they have done? they could have droplet down on the trump sanctions, some of

which had some loopholes and that's always happens and you see those things happening. close the loopholes. reach out to the arabs and strengthen the hand in the middle east. they stiffed the arabs. unite with israel against the iranians and they stiffed netanyahu, who came back into power. absolutely all the wrong signals for a regime that wants to dominate and control the middle east and control the flow of oil out of the persian gulf. why do we know that? they say that every single year is their objective. and we should be aligning ourselves to make certain that doesn't happen. >> dana: general. i do thing it's interesting just as americans watching this and you see the relief of the -- these might be the family members that have come with the americans who are being released today that you can see live on your screen right now. obviously there is joy and relief and i can understand that.

yet today here in new york, you have the sanctioned president of iran flying on a sanctioned aircraft on a biden-approved visa to enter the united states for this unga meeting while we know they are actively plotting terror attacks on u.s. citizens and $6 billion lands in the bank account by the time he lands. when people wonder about the distrust in institutions, this is part of it. >> yeah, there is a rogue, malign regime. you see what they do to their people when they protest basic freedoms like how should women dress. what do they do to those people? shoot them, kill them, torture them, and they put them in jail. they do this in full public display. this is at the heart of this regime. they are morally bankrupt and we know that for a fact. they are members of the united states. do they have a right to go to

the united nations and sit at meetings? they have that right and certainly would be doing that if the united nations was someplace other than new york city. but also, we have a microphone at the united nations and point our finger at them formal igne behave chlor. i will bet that doesn't happen. we don't try to isolate this regime for its behavior. it's history of killing americans and our allies and partners in the regime. despite the fact we have made this deal with them. our mission should be to organize against them, dana, and isolate them for the malign regime they really are and to help the people in iran as much as we possibly can to move against this regime and overthrow it. >> bill: president biden makes his address to the u.n. tomorrow. i don't know in what capacity this topic comes up if it does at all. seems the address is more

aligneded to call to mind the war in ukraine and russia's invasion there. stand by one moment. to the u.n. we go. jacque heinrich with more reaction from there or the white house. jacque, what do you have? >> we just got the announcement, bill, from president biden praising the release of these five americans thanking qatar for their role in bringing them home and also announcing new sanctions on iran under the levinson act. also calling on iran to give information to the family of bob levinson, the dea and f.b.i. agent who disappeared 16 years ago, presumed dead in iran. and his family has never learned his whereabouts, passport never turned up in any other country. the president in welcoming home these americans announcing new sanctions on iran under the levinson act demanding information to his whereabouts and also notably encouraging

americans especially americans with dual citizenship not to travel to iran. state department has an advise re warning against that. that seems to be a nod to the criticism of this deal that it could encourage more hostage taking because this payment, the $6 billion in once frozen funds now available to the regime. criticism has been it encourages hostage taking. something the administration doesn't want to see. encouraging folks to go mindful that this is not a country where americans should be traveling and acknowledging that is an implicit risk. also in a way a nod to the criticism that this is a ransom payment. the criticism the administration is -- they say it is not u.s.

taxpayer dollars but iranian money that korea was paying to iran for an oil purchase including the previous administration but frozen because of sanctions. the release of that money now biden's critics say will allow the world state sponsor of terrorism to free up $6 billion in other money that could be used to fund its nuclear program and proxy attacks. something we don't want to see and have to go through a deal like this again. those are the two pieces of the statement that stood out to me. we still have not gotten all the details about the iranians that the u.s. is returning. we know that they are broadly we're told people that were non-violent, were facing charges related to sanctions violations. two of them intend to remain in the united states. but we are awaiting the final transfer and watching this unfold as the president praises the return of these five americans who were wrongfully detained in iran. >> bill: hang with us.

you make an excellent point and general jack keane has something to say about the ransom. one of the points we were making last hour about the timing. only a week ago we sat here and observed the moments in lower manhattan and the pentagon on shanksville on september 11th when the deal was announced. now we're a week later with the u.n. general assembly in new york. jacque, was there an explanation as to the timing or any measure of sensitivity, perhaps, to the dates in question? >> dana: if i could add to that question, this is not great headlines for biden but i wonder if the deal included the timing so that when the iranians land in new york today, the headline back home is we got our people and $6 billion back? >> well, the piece of the biden statement that praises the return of americans from several different countries he has

facilitated. they want to tout that as an achievement. we have not heard the administration acknowledging the sensitivities about congress being alerted to the deal on the 22nd anniversary of the september 11th attacks. it was in the works for some time. eight meetings that happened in doha, separate hotels between the iranians and u.s. officials with shuttle going in between basically facilitated by qatar to arrange the transfer. it had been in the works for some time. the u.s., biden administration has not acknowledged just how harmful that was for folks to hear about this deal on the anniversary of september 11th and they've not acknowledged this is happening the very day that you are having the u.n. gen general assemble convene. vladimir putin is not here, mbs

is not here but the iranian president is coming here. the president wants to portray himself as being strong in terms of getting u.s. objectives done and in this instance it means bringing americans home but raises questions about whether or not this was truly a good deal for the u.s. when i interviewed john kirby they heard the acknowledgement and the criticism that they got the better end of the deal than we did when you point out it was a five for five swap and $6 billion. their response was ask the families of these american citizens whether they think it was a good deal and you get a different answer. >> bill: iran saying we got a great trade. michael allen on the telephone. former senior director of the nsc. your reaction to what we're watching. >> well, it is truly unfortunate. i think this is at least the second time that the biden administration has made a terrible decision as it pertains

to getting americans home. the first time, of course, was when we traded victor boot but didn't also get paul whelan home and he remains in unlawful custody in russia. and this deal, i think, is even worse. iran is, of course, a state sponsor of terrorism. and they have a relationship to al qaeda, they fund hezbollah and hamas and they are targeting former u.s. government officials inside the united states and europe, if they are in europe, for some sort of retribution for donald trump's actions when he was president of the united states. and also, bill, the equivalence of this, these americans who i'm glad are coming home, are inn innocents, we, the biden administration, is sending back to iran foreign agents involved in the theft of super computer

data for iran, cruise missile programs and on and on and on. so we're swapping good people for illegal foreign agents. i think the deal wreaks. i think congress ought to look very closely into the circumstances. >> dana: two questions, michael. what about the two iranians who say they want to stay in america because they like their life here? and the second one, could you tell us about the role of qatar in this? >> well, first i'm not surprised that iranians would rather remain here. of course it's a brutal authoritarian dictatorship and i think that they see the promise of the united states and want to say. qatar, i think, is trying to be an intermediary and helpful to the united states. they have relationships that the united states doesn't have especially with iran, even with the taliban. we rely on qatar, a good ally,

to negotiate things for us. i wouldn't put any of the blame on them. i put it squarely on those in the biden administration who have too much zeal for the deal. who will trade away anything in order to get people back. but i don't think they even drove a hard enough bargain for us to have to juice the deal with $6 billion speaks to the desperation with which the biden administration mounts its negotiations and makes me wonder what else they've agreed to as it pertains to the iranian nuclear program, which at the end of the day, is the big issue between us and the middle east. >> bill: michael, stand by. there is a statement and i think jacque referred to it bringing five innocent americans home is to be applauded and he goes on to thank the governments of qatar and switzerland and south

korea. general keane, you've been listening to all of this. what do you think about the point of ransom a moment ago? does it encourage countries to hold americans? >> of course it does. and several months from now likely and very disappointingly, somebody else is going to be snatched. why is that? it's a money making operation they've been involved in for 40 years and they will continue to do it as long as it is in their national interest and they get considerable amount of money. this deal is a windfall for them in terms of $6 billion. that's an obvious incentive for them to keep doing it. and they will keep doing it. that's just a fact. >> one of the things in the white house statement it's quite

a lengthy statement but does say americans should not be traveling to iran. and there might be other places. we think of our colleague evon gershkovitch and other americans being held like venezuela. we have work to do on that front. the white house saying americans should not travel to iran and check with the state department for other places they say you should not go. >> bill: one person who has a firm opinion is robert o'brien. you think about the time he worked for the trump administration, all the americans around the world with bad governments and he was able to bring a lot of those people home and yet you have to think that he feels very similar way to what general keane just said. any plain looking person who looks at the deal on the face of it saying it's not a good deal for the united states. the deal has been done and in return the united states also announces on behalf of joe biden that there are sanctions now to target the former iranian president ahmadinejad who used

to be a regular customer here in new york this time of year when the u.n. general assembly came to town. >> dana: we thank you all for helping us deal with the breaking news as the americans are now in qatar making their way back to the united states. lots more to come. >> bill: tomorrow around this time we should hear the president's address to the u.n. and you can bank on the fact that ukraine will be a major topic. >> dana: "the faulkner focus" is up next. here she is. >> harris: continue our coverage now. it is happening. five americans are on their way back to u.s. soil. they are free. they landed a short time ago in qatar. they've been in prison for years inside iran, our mortal enemy, state sponsor of terror. we want anyone taken to free our american citizens, this one is becoming more complicated by the hour. questions surrounding just what president biden gave to the