alford: they want to blame trump everything. he did not bring down the behinden burying or sink the titanic. we need to get the money back to the taxpayers. do you feel the same way? mr. ware: i want to get the money to the taxpayers and bottoming of the fraud. mr. alford: they got nun and the goal to move fast and expected to be some fraud. that was over three years ago and biden has taken minimal efforts to recoupe these funds. last two years what you have seen, has the s.b.a. enhanced any of their internal controls or improved any of their efforts to mitigate, reassess and get that money back to the taxpayers? mr. ware: yes, they have. my report goes down the list of the many things they have done especially in response to the recommendation that we have worked hard to resolve with the agency. mr. alford: do you feel confident that we can move forward should this happen again that we will have the regulatory tools in place to limit and mitigate fraud? mr. ware: i feel confident that which are moving in that direction. there h

it simply made more sense to take the plea. >> i did not like the alford plea.son. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: it is now rachel's senten sentencing. unlike her mother, she apologizes to her older sister, sarah. >> i'm sorry that i couldn't find the courage to stand up for what was right, to go for help, to protect you or our siblings. i was scared, but being scared was no excuse. >> i sensed a little more remorse, maybe, with rachel than with diane, but i also noticed a lot of attempted remorse, i guess maybe you could say, with rachel. there was crying at times but no tears. >> she won't be eligible for parole for 42.5 years, around age 65. >> and i just want to be clear on this, you confessed to killing your own family? >> yep, to save my family. they were being threatened. >> threatened by whom? >> somebody. >> but diane, many people would say this makes no sense. >> lots of things don't make sense. >> she has zero remorse, zero empathy. she doesn't take any responsibility for her actions. >> she wants to control things, but she doesn't seem capable or willing to actual

joining me now natasha alford, jason osborn, scott jennings and jay michaelson, a law clerk for merrick for being with me tonight. jay, i want to hear your thoughts on the significance of this decision but also the fact that the case might have been manufactured. in other words, the web designer's values were not challenged. does that change anything? >> unfortunately, it changes nothing. this really is unprecedented. i've never seen a case of really fraud or misrepresentation be disclosed this late in the process. the opinions were surely already printed, you know, on paper by the time this came to light. this is alliance defending freedom and right wing activist organizations finding the right plaintiff and, you know, they already failed with this case once before because what was asked for -- there wasn't a case or a controversy. ostensibly the web designer said she was worried about being sued or enforcement actions coming against her. that's not how the judiciary system is meant to work. there has to be an active case or controversy. so this one was concocted. i'm not surprised tha

joining me now is missouri congressman, mark alford, a member of the small services, agriculture committeesknow, there's a couple of things here. i mean, first off, obviously we are helping the ukrainians with ammo. what do you make of the threat from vladimir putin? >> look, we've got to aid ukraine. i'm not in favor of sending any more money to ukraine but look, we've committed to 2 million artillery shells going to ukraine. these cluster munitions are simply a fill gap. they may not be used but it's going to be hopefully be a deterrent to further aggression to vladimir putin. cheryl: well, that's certainly the hope. but let's talk about where american around services -- american arm service's are right now. john kirby says the biden administration is working to restock our weapons stocks after the president let military information slip out. watch. >> we're working very closely with the defense industry to try to ramp up production particularly for artillery shells. we gave cluster munitions to ukraine while ramping up production. we're having strong conversations with the defense indust

natasha alford, senior correspondent at the grillo and elie honig, former assistant u.s.ney in the southern district of new york. welcome to all of you. >> good to be here. >> these are tough stories to open the day with. and so far what they have in common, of course, is the connection of weapons, right? different motives, different things going on. we had the mayor of baltimore on yesterday. and he talked about illegal guns in his state, not always the issue. but what difficulties does this pose for city leaders around the country who are trying to get a grip on these bouts of violent crime? >> well, look, i think for me certainly as tragic i think it has become almost a tired trope where we have these holiday weekends that basically end in bloodshed. and so what you're talking about what we just saw here, whether we're talking about the 28 people that were shot in baltimore, whether we're talking about the over 30 people shot in chicago, we know for a fact there's a small sliver of people who are committing the vast majority of these crimes all across this country. so

and i think it was it was a huge sample size, like a million postcards or something to predict that alford landon was going to defeat franklin roosevelt, and then roosevelt won in a landslide. and i think the polling industry seemed to recognize that the sample size of literary digest readers are not necessarily representative of the country as a whole. and so, i mean, i wonder if there's a modern day example, i mean, where we polling has evolved to, you know, from landlines to cell phones, text messages, there's all kinds of ways to poll. and i wonder there's anything on the on the vanguard or sort of how you guys think of polling and how to get representative sample. i think one thing to keep in mind for these pre-election polls that you know horse race who's going to win or if the election were held today. pollsters were very smart actually lots of brilliant people doing this. they're serving a population that doesn't exist. who's going to vote in the election? okay. so they are they have to figure out. they're going to figure out who are they going to include their poll, how are they g

it was an alford plea, meaning he would not be required to admit to killing sandi.s a very good friend to me. she was one of the nicest people i've ever known and i certainly did not kill sandi. >> do you feel like cliff reed got away with murder? >> yes. >> absolutely. absolutely. >> but sandi's family doesn't blame the prosecutors. >> i think they took on a big undertaking, and i mean, i'm thankful. i believe they did more than their job, those two. >> the good news for sandi is the world knows cliff reed killed her. she did not abandon her children. she did not go missing. he killed her and put her in the woods, and that is worth something to know that and say that. >> while justice for sandi may not look quite like what anyone imagined, her family is taking solace in the beautiful person sandi was and the reflection they see of her in her children. your dad says that he sees your mom in you and in your sister. do you think she would be proud of you and what you've accomplished? >> i think she would. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm craig melvin.

alford for five minutes. >> i want to talk about critical reduction tools for soybeans and other crops important to us. it is often been said that the epa has had its hands tied in this matter. but they actually gave the epa to modify the existing tolerances or revoke all tolerances. secretary, in a letter in 2022 2 -- 2022, you broke with the epa's resistance to tolerances, and said" the epa could retain certain tolerances that meet their standards. the party platform and 2020 provided further evidence that this decision was political. mr. secretary, do you agree that this decision was based on political science and not actual science, yes or no? >> i don't think -- >> >> -- yes or no. >> you can't define how answer it. -- how i answered. >> you said that they are acting in good faith, do we disagree with them, but sometimes -- >> so this was not a political decision? >> i do not -- >> since he is or is no, do you disagree with scientists that uses could have been retained? why what changed? >> nothing changed, that is the opinion we provided. sir, you don't understand the process. th

. >> now recognize senator alford. >> i yield 20 seconds to the gentlelady from florida ms. salazar. she left,s sorry. thank you mr. chair and thank you ranking member for holding this important hearing today and thank you inspector general ware for showing up and doing your job. the idle funds are stolen taxpayer dollars and that is money that was stolen from from the constituents of everyone here the people that we represent in my case a fourth congressional district in the great state ofst missouri. inspector inspector general estimates the fraud is over $200 billion as you've said in the sba administrator says it's somewhere in the neighborhood of $36 billion. this calls into question why the sba should increase their scope to oversee more lending especially with -- in november americans elected a house majority because they were sick and tired of being confidence in blatant disregard shown by the biden/harris ofin administratio. the core job of this committee to conduct oversight and we should all do our job. it's up to the administered to show up and do hers. to answer

representative alford. >> thank you, chairman. i appreciate it.his is another interesting, but kind of disturbing, hearing. charles dickens wrote some years ago in the tales of two cities it was the best of times and worst of times the age of wisdom and age of foolishness. it goes on to draw this contrast. i think this is the tale of two countries right now. two countries in which we live and which i think we are more divided than we've ever been since the civil war. every one on this subcommittee and this committee, we have the same information. we've seen it about theen piecig threat from communist china. it's disturbing. and for some reason, we are stuck in this quagmire over how to boost recruitment into our services so that we can be the deterrent that we need to be. i truly believe that our strength as a nation comes from our commonality. i know there's others who disagree with that. our love of country, pride in our republic, but we've got to figure this out. we've got to get back to be inspiring young people to be in the military. we've go

alford: thank you for the hard work putting this ndaa together.i rise today in support of the national defense authorization act because i'm deeply concerned about the current direction of our military. we are at a critical juncture in our nation's history. this unclassified chart you see here shows the threat of communist china party, they're in red, we're in blue. it is a sad story. they are outpacing us at every aspect in the military. we escan lating tensions in the -- escalating tensions in the indo pacific, china's blatant threats, we face significant challenges. we came to washington because we believe in america. we believe in a brighter future for our children and we believe that we are the greatest country on earth. but our military is being weakened from within. the woke ideologies are killing confidence, killing motivation, killing recruitment and the excellence of our military. these woke policies of diversity, equity and inclusion, critical race theory must stop. the enemy does not care the color of the skin of our service members an

alford: a lot of people love the a-10 it has performed well -- a-10. it has performed well in battle. the people who operate out of the 442nd have a deep love of their fighter mission. they have a deep passion for continuing that mission. they know that new platforms are coming, the air force base is going to be home of the new b-21 stealth bomber. they're going to be complimentary aircraft and programs to that. they know that. they know the world is changing and that the pacing threat from communist china has really changed how we view warfare and deterrence. they get that. but we owe it to them, they deserve a little security because it's very easy for them to pick up now and leave and go into the private sector. and there's too much talent in the 442nd and other fighter squadrons to not have that security. and that's all we're asking for in this amendment, mr. chairman. is a little security. a little appreciation. a little respect. for the hardworking men and women who have dedicated their lives in service to america. and with that, i yield back the

alford: a lot of people love the a-10 it has performed well -- a-10. it has performed well in battle. the people who operate out of the 442nd have a deep love of their fighter mission. they have a deep passion for continuing that mission. they know that new platforms are coming, the air force base is going to be home of the new b-21 stealth bomber. they're going to be complimentary aircraft and programs to that. they know that. they know the world is changing and that the pacing threat from communist china has really changed how we view warfare and deterrence. they get that. but we owe it to them, they deserve a little security because it's very easy for them to pick up now and leave and go into the private sector. and there's too much talent in the 442nd and other fighter squadrons to not have that security. and that's all we're asking for in this amendment, mr. chairman. is a little security. a little appreciation. a little respect. for the hardworking men and women who have dedicated their lives in service to america. and with that, i yield back the

. >> i now recognize the gentleman from missouri, congressman alford. for five minutes. >> thank you for being here today. i want to talk about a critical crop reduction tool for soybeans and other crops employment to us. it has often been say the epa has had its hands tied in this matter but they actually gave the epa the option to either revoke or tolerance is or modify their existing tolerance is. secretary vilsack, and a letter from september 2022, you broke what the epa's decision to revoke all tolerance and said, quote, the epa could retain certain tolerance is that made epa safety sentence, and quote. the 2020 democrat party platform stand at the parties desire to ban the use of this provided further evidence the decision was political. that is a quarter, do you agree this decision was based on political science and not actual science, yes or no? >> i don't think -- >> that would be a yes or no, sir. >> you can't define how i answer a question. you can ask the question, but you can't define how i answer it. the answer is, i honestly believe the f