we'll learn what happened, but, again, those who live in the d.c. area, we see military helicopters fly up and down the river. it's a standard path that they fly. they are used to aircraft landing at dca and there is a procedure in place because this happens every day. something went wrong here. i look forward to the time where we can give that you information. but i don't want to comment on that right now. >> okay. >> senator kaine, senator warner, have you all been very concern about maybe runways here, air traffic. i know it's still early in the investigation. i'm just curious any steps that you all plan to take to address that? >> we have raised this issue continuously. we have got very busy airspace. i think we will ask questions but at the appropriate time. we are in this period right now where families are still being notified. we're trying to figure out what happened. there will be time

>> i'd say the same thing, we've been plain about our concerns. it is not a good time to speculate, we have faith the ntsb will provide answers for this. >> i will take three in the middle and have to wrap. one, two, three after this. >> thank you. appreciate it. chief, it must be traumatic for first responders, how are they doing right now, are you offering services to help them as they process this? >> thank you for the question. our first responders are resilient people. yes, this call will be hard for them. our peer support teams are engaged with first responders and we'll follow up. the concern is real. >> what kind of communication between the helicopter and tower and plane and the tower and the helicopter and the plane?

>> the helicopter and tower and airplane and the tower, there was communication. it was standard communication, there was not a breakdown between the military helicopter and the american airline flight. there was communication between aircraft and tower. >> was the -- aware there was an a a aircraft in the area? >> i would say the helicopter was aware there was a plane in the area. >> you said yesterday, president, has he returned to the briefing room and also question about national security advisor michael waltz, said 30 bodies have been recovered,y he said that at the white house.

>> i can do -- >> in terms of recovery, as we recover bodies, we have a process and we're not counting bodies until in the possession of medical director. there may be fluctuating of numbers, our numbers are medical examiner. >> in regard to the president in briefing room, i've been with this team for the last hour plus as we work through the details of information we wanted to give you, it is my understanding either this morning he was going to be in the situation room or the situation room is briefing the president. he has been kept in full apprisal of what is taking place. >> last to you and you. >> you mention the aircraft was on standard flight pattern just curious when the airport opens at 11:00 today, will planes be

on that flight pattern again or being directed to fly a different flight plan? >> sir? >> i mean, safety is paramount and i don't have that information yet from the faa, i don't want to provide an answer or inaccurate information. what routes will be flown out of dca. >> last one. >> two questions, what do you know about the experience in history of pilots of american airlines plane and the army helicopter and for secretary duffy, last night the president said this could have been prevented and questioned why air traffic control did not tell what to do. is that something determined should have happened? >> secretary, just quickly, i don't have a lot of information

to release, these are experienced pilots. the captain had six years with psa, and first officer almost three years. again, standard approach and that's all i can say. thank you. >> in regard to military, i don't have information in regard to experience of the military pilots. this was classified as training mission, sometimes people can think a training mission is someone inexperienced in the cockpit. this is we call these missions flown in the d.c. area training missions, don't read into that, we had how many hours pilot on military aircraft had. another question for me. >> last night president said this could be prevented and air traffic control, questioning why they may not have communicated

with the helicopter telling them what to do. >> we will wait for all information to come from this vantage point, but to back up what the president said, what i've seen so far, do i think this was preventable? absolutely. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> is there an acting faa director? >> thank you, everyone. >> steve: all right. we've been listening for last half-hour to a press conference at reagan national airport about what went wrong with american eagle flight from wichita, kansas on final approach to runway 33 collided with knowa army black hawk helicopter. we did hear that apparently from sean duffy, the plane broke into three parts. they have recovered 28 people, 27 from the plane, one from the chopper and it sounds like there are no survivors. >> lawrence: this mission now is

a recovery mission. they presume that all of the people in those planes and helicopter are sadly they have passed away, ainsley. >> ainsley: 67 total, if you count number of people on the plane and helicopter and they recovered 28. still a ways to go, more than half not are you evered. sean duffy said it was clear night, chopper standard pattern. is that normal for training to happen around reagan, busiest airport in the country. he said that is stairn standard practice, same with the airplane. it looks like chopper running into side of the plane. he says he thinks it was preventable and it issue ced down in waist-deep water, that does make the recovery better than -- >> steve: easier. >> brian: we have not seen anyone from fort belvoir come

in, we will get that. sean duffy put thoughts on truth social that this was preventable. we are covering breaking news that happened 9:00 last night in washington, d.c. official announcing massive emergency response on potomac river is now recovery effort. black hawk in midair near reagan national airport. >> at a point switching from rescue operation to a recovery operation. at this point, we don't think there are any survivors from this accident and we have recovered 27 people from the plane and one from the helicopter. >> brian: there were 60 on the american airline flight. >> ainsley: here is what we know at this hour. d.c. fire chief revealing 28 bodies recovered, 39 still missing. the passenger plane broke into

three parts. 60 passengers and four crew members were onboard the jet coming out of wichita, kansas into reagan. three soldiers on board the black hawk helicopter on a training flight. the mid-air collision happened as plane approaching runway just before 9:00 last night. it was caught on camera, we have a warning, the footage you are about to see might be hard to watch. >> lawrence: you are about to see the plane circled in red, you can see the mid-air explosion. president trump has been fully briefed on the situation saying may god bless the victim's souls. >> ainsley: another plane taking off above it. >> steve: the plane fitted with seats and nine in first class. 60 passengers and four crew members onboard during the crash

and 27 bodies from the flight recovered, total of 28, one from the army helicopter. the chopper was uh-60 black hawk, four-blade twin engine medium lift utility helicopter, modified version developed for armed services. black hawk can carry 15 people, including a couple pilots, crew members, three u.s. army soldiers were onboard at the time of the crash. one of those bodies was recovered. i got a note from somebody that is pilot of these and they say those planes do not have the crash avoidance system. bring in retired black hawk -- >> ainsley: neither of them? >> steve: no, the black hawk. let's bring in retired black hawk helicopter pilot lieutenant col

colonel. thank you for joining us. >> good morning, i wish under different circumstances. >> steve: trying to figure out why it appears that the black hawk essentially flew into the plane that was on final approach. about half-hour ago we had michael waltz, national security guy on, he said one thing they will look at is whether or not the pilots were wearing night vision goggles. night vision goggles, they affect your depth of field, they probably also affect what you can see around you, right? >> that's true. it takes your normal field of vision from what you see normally to down to 40 degree and that affects each pilot in the front and you have one crew chief in the back, one side of the aircraft where a good chunk you cannot see beyond part of

the side wall. it is relevant point to know whether or not they went unaided, basic night flying or under night vision goggles. one concern here from the video that i saw, that everybody here has also seen, the question is, there is an air corridor down the potomac river that defines where they are supposed to fly by altitude and left and right limits. if they went too high, that is poeblth they could have run into an aircraft that way. that is hypothetical, that could explain what happened. it remains to be seen based on what the radar says and what the transcripts say from the tapes from the tower, what is going on with that aircraft. black hawk like that does not have cockpit voice recorder and black box things, this will rely

on external sources and witnesses to fees together. >> brian: usually four crew members on black hawk, what circumstance is there only three and do these black hawk crew members, does one look out one side and the other out the other side and if they are down a person, could that have been the blind spot? >> anything is on the table when it comes to that. that is certainly a possibility that could have influenced this. i don't know for sure. there are normally two crew chiefs in back, both looking sideways, 90 degrees off from the pilot. if you are down to three, which is normal, by the way for training mission, that is not at all unusual. that one side has less eyes looking out and looking for other aircraft or obstacles than you would have with four. black hawk is legal to fly with

just two pilots, but rarely ever done. three total crew in intraing would be absolutely normal. four is considered a fully combat mission capable aircraft regardless of flight environment. >> lawrence: colonel, we had national security advisor michael waltz on earlier and immediately in my mind, when they were talking about training exercise, did these guys have experience or not. they did. they were fully experienced. my mind, probably two months ago i was in a black hawk, they stress safety. that was aircraft that had four individuals two airmen and two pilots there. does that concern you in this moment that they are so well trained that an oversight like this, is this just a freak accident? >> well, again, that's certainly a possibility. there are just so many questions

that remain to be answered over the coming days and potentially weeks. one thing you hit on is critical for everybody to understand. the training aspect of army aviation pilots. you leave flight school and know quite a bit. you gain experience and realize how much you don't know. i've sent many pilots to the fort belvoir flights supported in washington, d.c. area and you send your best because of what it takes to thrive there. and they had to go through training and get certified by a trainer to fly in the air space. you don't just go there and start flying. you have to be signed off by somebody saying they are ready to go out and do missions. >> ainsley: that is why it is so bizarre, this is busiest runway in america, you need extra intraing. airport control was there. this is the military,

experienced people, learning from your friend, steve, black hawk does not have that on there and there was more than one pilot. we can't rule out pilot error, air traffic control error. why don't black hawks have black box? we don't want to leave anything behind? >> this model of aircraft is quite a bit older and to put something like that in would have to be part of the initial package and it did not exist when they started making these. it is risk calculation for the space you have. second of all, collision avoidance in a black hawk, when black hawks fly, you put 10 aircraft in formation flying close together to the ground, you have collision avoidance system, it will be costly going off, you are always close to

something, it does not make sense to put in this model of helicopter in the first place. >> steve: given the fact some of the flight patterns are classified give pentagon is right there, white house is right there, as well, and national security interests, for the most part the part we know about, they generally fly up and down the river. it's more complicated flying over a river at night when there are no lights on the river. with exception of altimoter, hard to place where i am in the sky. >> that is true to an extent. one of the biggest mitigating circumstance to that in this environment is the fact when you fly in an environment that is so lit up with city lights and you also then blend in aircraft lights and many aircraft flying, it can actually all blend

together and certain altitudes, you can have difficult time differentiating between aircraft with lights on and cars on the streets and street lights. i've had that happen in korea, i had a near miss from a 747 because you could not see it, it was lights moving, we thought it was cars on the streets. these are hypotheticals that could factor into a final decision in the future. >> lawrence: taking all your experience and you don't have all the information, you looking at the video like average-day americans, when you take your experience, what immediately comes to mind just looking at that video? >> why didn't he turn? why didn't he slow down? something caused him to not see that aircraft or the mistake the other aircraft on takeoff thinking that was the one they were talking about. that is always a possibility

that they mistaken something. i would like to know is there an answer to why they didn't deviate from flight course at all, speed or altitude. >> brian: what you know about the plane, it couldn't have done much, right? >> correct. >> steve: it sounds like you are getting a message from somebody, probably telling you that you're on tv right now. >> i think they are -- there is other channels that want black hawk pilots and i've been up all night. >> steve: we had you first. >> ainsley: thank you for serving our country. >> steve: yeah. >> thank you. >> steve: we've looked at two dooifsh in the middle of the channel of the potomac, two shots. mark, the director, can you go to the other one, that one there. it looks like they took over a tour boat. i got a text from bill wetzel, retired firefighter from d.c.,

the ship was on cruise and unable to continue up the river to port, not sure how many passengers were onboard that ship. he said the metropolitan police hangar by national park is where they are taking recovery bodies. >> lawrence: i'm taken aback by the colonel's last statement, when we all watch the video and able to see the air traffic control, the scans and all that, when you look at it, it is going right toward the plane. we say, why didn't he turn. the colonel, with all his experience, why didn't he turn. that is going to be the question. you have three fatalities, you are not able to question how are they able to get that information -- >> brian: not much the american airline can do.

>> lawrence: no, we heard from multiple experts this morning, the plane has right-of-way. >> ainsley: i have a friend who is a pilot, he says landing airliner has right-of-way over helicopter. air traffic control asked helicopter pilot if it has the arrival plane in sight, big plane, moments later, makes another call, pat 25, pas behind the crj, the bombarier, seconds after the two collide. >> steve: they could have thought they were looking at the landing plane and could have been looking at something else. it could have been city lights. there are so many lights, the wilson bridge, a million cars, distractions and then were they

wearing night goggles. as he said, significantly limits your view. >> ainsley: going that fast, is 30 seconds enough time to tell the helicopter the big plane is in sight? >> steve: you would think so. >> ainsley: it is 36 degrees outside in d.c. and water in the potomac is colder, 35 degrees. >> lawrence: weather around time of crash was not out of the ordinary, frigid water making recovery more difficult. >> steve: check in with senior meteorologist janice dean. it does not look like it was a weather problem. >> janice: that is one thing i think they can rule out. they have after action review, they will ask meteorologist whether the weather contributed to the crash. from what i can see, conditions were clear,in woos were calm, we did not have precipitation in the area. the problem is, we have recovery happening right now, first responders in the water andy woo

are concerned with hypothermia, doesn't take long for the body to shut down. here is radar when crash happened between 8:00 and 9:00 p.m. no snow, no rain. current conditions 38 degrees. the temperature is average. we will get to 50 today, slightly above average. last week frigid temperatures and potomac was frozen over. looking ahead, i'm concerned about the storm system that will move in tonight overnight and tomorrow. next 24 hours, conditions will go downhill for rescue crews that are out there for recovery effort. 38 degrees, calm wind, visibility excellent right now. next few hours, we have window of opportunity, sunshine. temperatures not bad.

water will remain cold around freezing mark. then as we get into overnight tonight starting midnight through friday, a lot of rain in the forecast and wind gust in excess of 25 to 30 miles per hour. it is crucial, rain will come in and going to be at a good clip here, heavy rain in forecast and could see blustery conditions. a lot of variables here. looking at the weather forecast, when the crash happened, weather was not a problem. i am concerned for recovery and first responders in the area, their window of opportunity to get things done is going to start to close by this evening and next 24 hours. we'll continue to update you on weather conditions in the area, our prayers go out to all those families and victims in the crash. >> brian: that is -- thanks so much, dominating traffic and

news. people are going to work. there is going to be nominations, confirmations, votes today on capitol hill. >> lawrence: the airport is expected to reopen 11:00 a.m. >> steve: with it being nice night last night, my daughter ander had husband live just behind where the camera is looking there, people were in the dark park and all clearly heard the crash. it was a nice night and people were out. >> ainsley: for people afraid to fly, take heart, this is very, veryir ra. thousands of planes and millions of passengers fly every single day. we have not had a plane crash in the united states for 16 years, last time was buffalo new york, everyone onboard died and a person on the ground died, this is extremely rare. >> steve: note from jennifer

griffin, looks like pete hegseth, secretary of defense, will make a statement or have a press conference in about five minutes. unclear where or -- >> lawrence: that is important. okay. >> brian: we'll see what happens. people want to know what is going on. one thing missing from the press conference was the military point of view. you knew they can't tell us everything, it is not what secretary sean duffy is supposed to be doing, speculating. they seem to have closed a lot of circles already. >> lawrence: we have a piece from michael waltz, military component, we look forward to hearing more. >> ainsley: 67 total losses from the chopper and the plane. and we're hearing young figure skaters in competition in kansas. >> steve: americans and russian skaters. >> lawrence: get reaction from

the white house, trump administration including freshly sworn in cabinet members is responding to the deadly midair collision between passenger jet and military helicopter trying to figure out what went wrong there. >> ainsley: peter doocy joins us with the latest. >> peter: president trump was watching this unfold from the situation room, new transportation secretary sean duffy was relaying word back and sean duffy just told us based on what he knows so far, this tragedy was preventable. >> when you depart an airport, you get to your destination, that did not happen last night. i know that president trump, his administration, faa, dot, we will not rest until we have answers for the families and for the flying public. be assured that when you fly, you're safe. >> peter: we've heard from dhs

secretary kristi noem, saying we're deploying every coast guard resource for search and rescue in this instance and we are actively monitoring the situation and stand ready to support local responders and pete hegseth is chiming in with this, tragic, search and rescue still ongoing, prayers for the families, investigation launched by army and dod. we are told, we expect some additional update from the pentagon. this was an army black hawk involved in this incident. national security advisor michael waltz told us army black hawk was piloted by officer and warrant officer who tend to have a lot of experience. but that is extent of our knowledge now and we're hoping for some specifics, some additional specifics soon.

back to you. >> brian: today is going to be on capitol hill, we found out from tom cotton this morning, peter, hearings have to happen. this creates more urgency, you have to have your people in place. >> ainsley: like sean duffy, perfect example. one day before. >> brian: pete hegseth, two days. they are both in the middle of this. today is one of the real dramatic ones will be tulsi gabbard. what do we expect today when she goes in front of the intelligence committee? >> peter: we expect questions about her international travel when she was in congress, particularly to syria. we expect different comments she's made about whistleblowers who share classified information like edward snowden. there were questions about whether or not this would continue. dca exists to be close drive for lawmakers to capitol hill. if you don't have traffic and

hit the lights, you can be to dca in 10 minutes flat and stand on capitol hill and watch the flight path. you can see the planes from the sensitive d.c. sites when clear like it was last night. there were questions if it would be appropriate to continue. trump team thinks it is too important to cancel. tulsi gabbard for director of national intelligence, kash patel for fbi and then there is another round of questions for r.f.k. jr., he will be before the help committee. we would expect more of the same, very hard questions from democrats about decades of past statements he's made and vigorous responses from kennedy. >> lawrence: get to the bottom of it, we know the man, gop chuck grassley joins us live

from capitol hill. we want to know about the crash, but nominations, there is an amount of urgency for national security purposes. >> it is very important that we move forward. it is a tragedy what happened and pray ers is what most of us can do. what i know about it is what i've seen on media. reminds me of 45 years ago, florida airline had a crash on the west upriver from 14th street bridge and i'm reminded of that. does that answer your question? >> brian: yes, it does. we have a lot of questions. looks like everything will go forward according to senator cotton, are you under belief everything will run on time today and hearing will go as scheduled? >> it hasn't been any change as far as i'm concerned and of course if the leadership of the

united states senate think our hearing shouldn't go on, it won't. as chairman, i think it should move forward because it is very important we get a new person for the fbi and that is hearing in the senate judiciary committee that i'm chairman of. >> brian: you think kash patel is the right guy; correct? >> if you look at only 41% of the people have confidence in the fbi and that means that the public is irritated because the fbi has been used as a political instrument for the biden administration and getting rid of political weaponization and kash patel has record of fighting crime, he is law enforcement person, he is right change agent for the fbi and if you have been following my investigations last four to six years on the fbi, then you know that i personally feel that

there needs to be a big shakeup on the eighth floor of the hoover building. >> ainsley: senator, "fox and friends," brought our cameras to iowa, we visited with you and your amazing wife and you told us about corn and shucking the corn and you grow corn. how does r.f.k. jr., how will that affect your business and other farmers who were glued to hear his hearing yesterday? >> yes, i was only there near five minutes of asking questions, i had to get pam bondi out of my committee. following what i could on news media and talking to my colleagues and questions that i asked, very much concern from agriculture farmers and leaders in my state about some statements he's made on agriculture. one of my five questions dealt with the fact usually u.s.

department of agriculture and epa, affect farming most. he's made comments about it. i said to him, i want to make sure that you're not going to try to affect agriculture as being a secretary of hhs and i got assurances that he would not do that. >> steve: senator, stand by, we got a note from lucas tomlinson who says that the u.s. army has started next of kin notifications regarding the collision over the potomac. it was fairly experienced black hawk helicopter crew. they did have night vision goggles aboard and military investigators are probing the crash according to senior defense officials. senator, you have flown in and out of reagan national for decades. one thing during that time is the air traffic has essentially

doubled from 15 million people a year to 25 million last year. we know there is a problem with america's air traffic control system. we need more air traffic controllers. >> that has been made very clear by the questioning of sean duffy as secretary of transportation and also been a big concern of ap appropriators in the united states senate and even in the republican caucus about the need for more faa controllers. so it is a big issue before the congress of the united states and we got to accept the fact we have to have safety of the airways and the faa plays a very major role in it, almost the sole role. >> brian: senator, before i let you go, quick thing. pretty clear senator thune

leaned on the senator from north carolina to vote for pete hegseth and put him over the top. looks like senator cassidy might be on the fence when it comes to voting for r.f.k. jr., your thoughts about talking to him about getting him through, do you feel that is your role if you feel it will help the president put his team together? >> first of all, i think the president has a mandate, if you accept a mandate of november 5 election people, then the president ought to have his team in place to accomplish that. for me personally, i may not agree with everything that r.f.k. jr. feels about certain issues, but i think hhs needs a shakeup just like i feel fbi needs a shakeup. this town is island surned by

reality, 93% vote for president of the united states and we have to bring common sense to government in washington, d.c. and i think people like kash patel for fbi, r.f.k. jr. for hhs is very, very important. >> brian: all right, wants president's team in place. >> ainsley: thank you, bring in john roberts, live at reagan international with latest on this crash last night. john. >> john: good morning to you, we had to move from dangerfield island, that is now determined a crime scene. they are moving in number of different assets to step up recovery. they will have to bring in a crane to lift remains of the aircraft up from the potomac. it is only a few feet deep in

the area. there is wired silk plane off the eastern side of the airport, should be fairly easy to get to. sad news from mayor muriel bowser of washington, d.c., 27 bodies have been recovered from the psa aircraft, one body recovered from the uh-60 black hawk helicopter. in terms of where we go from here, the recovery operations are stepped up. i was talking with the mayor's press secretary, they hope to get reagan airport back open at 11:00 this morning. this is tremendously busy airport, people flying in and out of here. it is hub for government travel out of here, as well. there is only one way to put what happened last night after talking with several officials. that is a monumental screw up two aircraft in the same air

space at exactly the same time, particularly in air space that is final approach for runway 33 at reagan airport, where planes are landing every few minutes. at night you see lights of aircraft are stacked up for miles coming down the potomac or up the potomac approaching from the south. so for an army helicopter to be in the same air space as commercial aircraft that is on final approach really is, no other way to put it, terrible, terrible miscommunication somehow. both aircraft are in communication with the tower, big question is and sean duffy talked about how you get the two aircraft in the same corridor at the same time. it really boggles the mind. i spent time flying in and out of this airport, spending time on the river recreationally and you see planes one after the other. the approach from the south lesdz complicated than the

approach from the north, where planes come in over great falls and follow the potomac river down and meander with the river and make a turnover the park there to land on runway 19 south or 15 south. coming in from the south, if you're flying in on either landing onun areway one or runway 33, it is a much gentler approach. i don't know and officials don't know how the army helicopter got in the same corridor. it will involve national transportation safety board and army, as well, it will go on for a long time. immediately, ainsley, and steve and brian, the work is to get as many assets in place as possible to recover the rest of the victims of the horrible crash and get the debris off the bottom of the river and reopen the airport. they hope to get it open by

11:00 this morning, wooem see if they can do that. >> steve: at 9:00 eastern time, there will be press conference from wichita, kansas, some names are starting to be released. there is reporting a very famous russian figure skating couple was on the plane and note from my daughter mary, she knows one of the girls who was on the plane. >> ainsley: wow, 67 people on the plane, lives of 67 people will be changed today and notifying next of kin now. >> brian: i think it is confirm confirmed moscow has been alerted. >> ainsley: go to mike emmanual, live near the scene of the crash. mike. >> good morning to you. about a mile south of reagan national airport in alexandria, along the potomac river. what is striking to me here, how

eerily quiet it is along the potomac river. typically you have government helicopters in the air, flights going into and out of reagan national airport and all you hear are a few helicopter, part of the recovery effort following last night's crash. in daylight, one would assume reco recovery effort would be going easier now that they are not searching in the dark. still very difficult conditions when you consider temperatures are quite cold, but they are in waist-deep water, hopefully they'll proceed with the recovery effort quickly. what is striking, hearing that things were not unusual last night. there are helicopters going up and down this river on a regular basis and you have flights coming into and out of reagan national, incredibly busy airport.

the investigation is going to be a very serious one when you consider the national transportation safety board, army and pentagon digging into this trying to figure out what went wrong to make sure it never happens again. that is small comfort or constellation for those on the military aircraft and the american airlines flight coming into reagan national on final approach to the airport. just a shocking morning in our nation's capitol, people waking up to the news and can't believe what's happened. our aviation system is remarkably safe on day in, day out basis, to have this happen is certainly a big investigation ahead. back to new york. >> steve: indeed led by ntsb. michael, thank you. live report. >> brian: mike emmanual. now bring in former navy seal jake swagg, who joins us now.

what must it have been like last night as you put on the wet suit and go in looking for what you can in terms of passenger and crew? >> my heart goes out to the 67 lost souls in the plane crash. as a diver going in, that water is cold, it was pretty windy. they probably got on situation, an hour after everything happened. i know they recovered 30 bodies last night. i talked to a good buddy involved in plane recovery effort, it will be with them the rest of their life. >> steve: jake, given the fact we know the plane broke into three parts, how challenging is it given the fact 30 bodies have not been recovered, a little more than that, at night dealing with jagged metal and you are

under water and it is dark and murky, how complicated for a diver? >> they have worked in this situation a lot, we just had the bridge collapse, they were diving on the bridge collapse, these guys are professionals and know what they are doing. there is always an amount of danger, we are only operating at seven feet, that limits how much craziness we have. if it was deeper, it would be a different situation. jagged objects are obstacle, there is no visibility, they are feeling for everything they are trying to find. >> lawrence: jake, as former door kicker navy seal, you have flown in those black hawks before when you saw the crash, what was your reaction? talking about experienced pilots there. >> so i talked to one of my pilots that flies into dca,

mercial airlines have a t-cast avoidance system and army helicopters don't have it or transponders broadcasti locations. helicopter is not your friend when it is falling out of the sky. >> ainsley: tough to ask, always think about this when we report on someone who has died. what were last moments like? you don't want people to be scared, you want people to say their prayers and time. if i were in that situation, you would want it to be quick. do you think when something like this happens, there is no pain, people don't experience that? >> golly, can you give me a harder question? >> ainsley: i want to make sure they did not fly through the air and land on the water.

>> i can't say that, it was pretty kinetic crash. the helicopter roller blade went through the aircraft and the aircraft turned and crashed into the water. i imagine eight seconds of absolute terrifying fear. we can't go talk to the victims, but probably most horrific thing you could live through. >> brian: no doubt. we will hear from military perspective and just heard from civilian airline perspective and nothing good about it. i think what you are referring to with chopper, we watched f-35 crash a couple days ago and saw the pilot get out. with a black hawk and you're a pilot, you are not getting out if that goes down. >> no, they are not getting out of that, they are falling out of the sky, really quick, 400 feet,

a quick crash and hopefully everybody was unconscious and no one had to drown in the river. >> steve: yeah. >> brian: appreciate it. >> steve: thank you, jake. >> brian: if you are just tuning in, at least 28 dead and d.c. officials expecting no survivorsar helicopter and american airline plane collided midair last night.

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vs. t-mobile, verizon, and at&t for your first year. plus, ask how to get the new samsung galaxy s25+ on us. >> bill: good morning, america. it is a remarkable news day. so much to learn about what happened in the clear night skies over washington, d.c. we do not have the identity on those on board the plane or helicopter. we hope to learn more out of wichita. press conference begins in minutes on that front. back in washington today significant hearings about to begin. kash patel, tulsi gabbard, and we'll cover all of it eight minutes away top of the hour. dana and i will see you then as our coverage continues, guys. >> brian: recovery operations in d.c. as first responders confirm there are no survivors after an

army helicopter with an experienced crew crashed into an american airlines jet midair. >> ainsley: ben domenech lives nearby and flies in and out of reagan all the time. did you hear anything? were you at home? what is your reaction? >> i heard numerous activity around that time after the crash happened. my house is actually positioned in such a way that we see the planes that go on that approach route all through the day and night. and so it's something that's very close in proximity for us. i would echo what john was saying earlier about the difficulty of landing at reagan. even with all the important people that go in and out of there i have twice experienced having to have a plane have to pull up at the last minute because of something going wrong. in this case there is going to be heavy investigation given the need to find out what really happened. but i think in this instance our hearts just go out at this moment to all the people

involved and the families suffering today. >> lawrence: we're thinking about the victims and their families this morning. but we're also thinking about this is why you have to have leadership in place. sean duffy, the new secretary of transportation, was sworn in yesterday, yesterday, he already has a tragedy. we need them all confirmed quickly either a yes or no and move on to get our government in place, right? >> you are 100% right. this is why i think these delays, many of which were caused by delays on the f.b.i. front and things like that with government workers staying home during the snowstorms is something that really affects the way these departments run. my heart goes out to sean duffy in this instance. i've known him for years and have confidence in him but he will have to hit the ground running. >> brian: tulsi gabbard is friends with meghan, your wife. i watched sean hannity during

the week. how cool and composed and smart she is. and how prepared she will be. she should expect some heavy fire from the democrats, her former party, right? >> i absolutely think so, brian. i think her performance is critical today. we've seen now repeatedly strong performances in front of these committees by these nominees. she needs to have one today to allay a lot of concerns. i think the biggest concern is keeping her own party -- current party united. once she gets to the floor with the recommendation, i'm confident that tulsi gabbard will be approved. getting through that committee process makes this hearing today all the more critical for her. we understand it. my wife and i support her and we're looking forward to seeing her prove a lot of her critics wrong today. >> ainsley: i know you are friends with her. i know some of the questions after talking to senators are going to ask her about interview with assad and visits to syria. ask her about snowden.

how prepared is she for that and insight into what her answers might be? >> i think that she will give the same answers she has given before which is she was trying to at that moment as others have met with assad including nancy pelosi and john kerry, she was trying to effect some kind of peaceful resolution or better the situation. look, she has an enormous amount of experience. more experience by the way than even our current dni under joe biden and this is the kind of situation that i think is one where she will have to have strong answers because people are asking these questions for the long time. she is cool under pressure, very smart and capable and i think that what you will find when you see her performance today will be very impressive and allay a lot of the concerns that have been raised by her critics. >> ainsley: i really like her. we've interviewed how many times. >> lawrence: knowledgeable, cool, calm, collected. one of the things she has to do. she is accomplished in the

military and know she is smart. she has to disprove a negative, they are essentially accusing her that has served in our country as being an asset of russia. so how does she defend herself without getting angry at them questioning essentially her patriotism? >> you know, i think that's something that tulsi has had to do throughout her career given the level she has taken on so much of the intelligence establishment even before being named to this position. the reason that you see so many of the people coming after her, so many of the same people who have lost their security clearances because they signed onto that hunter biden laptop letter and the like because they understand she wants to bring transparency and sunlight to a system that desperately needs it. if the american people have confidence in intel services again, which we ought to have and deserve as a nation of citizens who should be able to trust those people in such critical times. >> brian: it will be interesting with kash patel.

when they go after him for being the f.b.i. director they'll bring up january 6th and he was visiting often with the prisoners down there. he really unmasked the russian hoax in realtime and worked with devin nun nunes. do you see a relitigation of all this? >> i absolutely do, brian, because i think that so many people were offended kash patel for what they were lying about russiagate over and over again. adam schiff and he have been doing battle for years over all of this. kash patel was proven right for the memo he proved at the time and proved to be very irritating to the democrats going after president trump. he is a tough fighter and no less than that today when it comes to his performance on capitol hill. >> ainsley: these confirmation hearings are different than they used to be.

everyone pretty much voted for whoever the president wanted. not anymore. >> brian: this is a big week, thank you so much, ben. >> lawrence: we've been covering a lot of breaking news this morning. we'll be expecting press conferences not only in the town but also from all the different departments that will be overseeing this investigation. >> ainsley: one right at the top of the hour. >> brian: round two of rfk, jr. and pam bondi will be looking at a floor vote sir. doug burgum for interior. all you have to do is show up and count the ballots. they will all get approved. >> ainsley: sean duffy was confirmed yesterday and this happened last night. keep it on fox and we'll have a press conference out of kansas at 9:00 this morning. >> see you tomorrow. >> despite all efforts we're at a point where wee