large network. there is no obligation, so call the number on your screen right now to see if your doctor is in our network, fto find out if you could save on your prescriptions, and to get our free decision guide. humana, a more human way to healthcare. >> sandra: all new at 2:00, the shocking and heartbreaking images in one of america's founding cities. a neighborhood in philadelphia ravaged by a powerful new drug that is turning people not just into addicts, but zombies. >> john: it's a powerful flesh-eating animal tranquilizer, and now it's on america's streets.

inside an open air drug market to expose what is ravaging our cities and how front line workers are fighting it. >> sandra: that's all new as "america reports" heads into a second hour. sandra smith in new york, great to be with you, john. >> john: good to be with you as well, and it's friday eve. john roberts in washington, begin with the fox news alert. >> people need to be conscious of the rules regarding classified information and appropriate handling of the, the rules are there for a reason. >> sandra: that was the fbi director sounding off as classified documents contestants add up in washington. the president facing growing backlash over his mishandling of records. he is expected to take to the podium in virginia a short time from now, to tout the economy. one of the wealthyest counties, by the way, he will be speaking in. >> john: we expect a lot of the

speech will attack republicans economic agenda. no surprise there. >> sandra: the president's speech will focus on partisan politics, they are uniting. >> frustrated the administration stone eqwalls. >> it would not interfere with a criminal investigation. >> completely unacceptable. >> john: the bipartisan issue adds to the republicans long list of investigations but the president may put them on notice to foreshadow his lines of attack in a 2024 election campaign. >> sandra: fox team coverage, ari fleischer standing by, chad pergram, jacqui heinrich with the standoff with republicans. >> john: grady trimble.

>> good jobs, lower costs, better pay, the promise from the president. he may overstate in the speech how strong the economy is. new gdp numbers show the economy is growing but at a slower rate than the previous quarter. gas prices are on the rise once again and tens of thousands of tech workers have been laid off in the first month of the year. still, the white house insists the economy is in good shape, and says it's republicans who will, in the president's words, wreck it. >> does the administration view calling out republicans as an effective tool? >> we are willing and the president is willing to work with congress in a bipartisan way. he's also going to call out republicans in particular in the house who are saying they want to cut social security, who have said clearly they want to cut medicare. >> but house speaker kevin mccarthy has made clear cuts to those programs are not on the

table. >> none of that is true. and that's the bad part here that the first the administration said they will not negotiate and then play politics. why are they so afraid to sit down, to find where you can eliminate waste. >> president biden has signed $5.8 trillion worth of new spending into law since he took office. house republicans now say it's up to them to rein that in. in his speech today, president biden is expected to say that trillions of dollars in spending has actually helped the economy. john. >> john: helped inflation as well, helped jack it up, no question about that. >> that's what the economists say. >> john: but who are they to know, they are just economists. grady, thank you. >> sandra: the gop gets ready to roll out several investigations into the biden white house, white house correspondent jacqui heinrich is live on the north lawn for us, we await the president a short time from now.

jacqui, what are we hearing about these investigations? >> well, not very much, sandra. the white house wants to talk about pretty much anything but these investigations. you know, we get near daily memos from white house spokesperson andrew bates, ragging on the gop from everything from the deals kevin mccarthy hashed out with his conference to become house speaker, to talks surrounding the debt limit, like this memo, from tuesday. new reporting cements house republicans are so dead set on slashing medicare and social security they are taking more steps to set off an economic meltdown unless they can force their ultra maga plans on the country, and even president biden is putting out messages hitting the gop over twitter. >> isn't this crazy n republicans came to congress talking a big game about bringing costs down. right now, 30% national sales tax while tying our country's hands when it comes to lowering gas prices. i can't believe i have to say this. members of the congress should be making your costs lower, not

higher. >> amid all the tough talk, biden is set to meet with mccarthy to talk about lifting the debt ceiling, but jared bernstein, one of the economic advisers said he is open to fiscal talks, but he will not cede any ground on social security and medicare, and republicans say it's going to kick the can down the road. >> are there reforms for social security and medicare, absolutely, cbo has said it, omb has said it, we are going to honor the payments and the benefits for retirees, you can't do that if washington puts their head in the sand and ignores the inevitable problem that will come with the two programs. >> so this is the kind of thing the white house is eager to talk about. anything but the documents, which now house republicans count among the investigations they were already planning heading into the new congress surrounding things from covid origins, afghanistan withdrawal,

and hunter biden's business dealings. >> sandra: thank you, jacqui. >> john: bipartisan outrage is building after director of national intelligence did not give a damage assessment on the classified documents found in president biden's possession. some senators are questioning if she has even seen the documents herself. chad pergram is live on capitol hill. chad, a rare moment of bipartisan agreement here, what are the senators looking for? >> john, bipartisan lawmakers have demanded a damage assessment about awol documents for months. they have wanted information ever since the summertime raid on mar-a-lago, and the discovery of the documents at the home of president biden. it's unclear what's in the documents, that's why bipartisan lawmakers are upset at stone walling from the director of national intelligence, avril haynes. >> i am for using whatever tools that congress has to get the

biden administration to wake up to the fact this is unacceptable. this is -- this is not negotiable, it's unacceptable. >> cornyn says it's unclear if intelligence officials have seen the documents. congress could penalize the community for not being more forthcoming. tom cotton even suggested holding up all nominees until the intelligence services play ball, but there is resistance to that approach. >> that's not the way to achieve his goal. he will undermine the national security of the united states. when we don't have ambassadors in place in countries abroad, we lose the ability to impact what is happening in those countries. >> senators are upset because the intelligence community says it must be careful divulging information because of two special counsel inquiries. >> counter intelligence programs

work, and people need to be conscious of the rules regarding classified information and appropriate handling of it, the rules are there for a reason. >> lawmakers say it's unfair to block them from their oversight responsibilities because of criminal probes. john. >> john: chad, thank you. sandra. >> sandra: ari fleischer is here, former white house press secretary and fox news contributor. great to see you. i was thinking about you yesterday, we catch so many of the white house press briefings, yesterday john kirby took to the microphone, i'm sure you were watching, too. jonathan turley weighed in after this exchange happened with admiral kirby, he took to the microphone in the briefing room yesterday. >> john, how hard is it to walk out of a scif with classified material? >> everybody who goes into a scif knows what the requirements are to go in and knows what the

requirements are to go out. you know, you can't bring personal devices in and you certainly can't leave with material unless that material is appropriately secured. >> sandra: you don't even get a fraction of that answer when you hear karine jean-pierre, the press secretary taking questions on the issue. jonathan turley tweeted this, why can the coordinator for strategic communications, john kirby, answer basic questions about classification rules but not the white house press secretary? both appear in the press room to answer questions and kirby had no difficulty answering questions about the rules regarding the removal of classified docs from scifs. the position of the white house is entirely untethered, he says, from any legal or logical justification. what remains is a calculated use of the investigation to stonewall the public and the

press. brings up an incredibly fair point. why are they not answering more questions in those briefings? >> yeah, the press secretary in this case, her political and personal needs dovetail perfectly with the stonewalling needs of the biden white house. and that's why she won't answer any questions. you know, i could have played that game many times as press secretary but you get to the point you say i've got an obligation, these are fair questions, good questions, and they deserve answers, i'm the press secretary, it's my burden to answer them. and that's what you do as press secretary. it's not -- i mean, so many ways, i would feel shamed if somebody else took to the podium and answered the questions that it was my job to answer, and i think a little bit of that is what you saw yesterday. >> sandra: and clearly a moment that showed there are ways you can answer the questions that will not get in the way of the investigation which is what she, karine jean-pierre says she is

taking issue with. a live look, we are about to see the president, ari, and expected to tout the economy, a moment we are experiencing sky high inflation in this country, the costs of just about everything is higher and while gas and oil went down a little bit, it's on the way back up, too. he's going to tout the economy and our reporter just said it is highly expected he is going to take direct aim at republicans. why is he doing this, ari? >> well, smart politics to play offense in this business. other offense or defense as the saying goes and the facts of the economy would make you think the biden white house needs to play defense because inflation is so high, price of gas is high, home heating oil, electricity. all these factors that have hurt the american people in the pocket book and people know it. but, if you are the biden white house and you want to run for re-election, you have to turn it around and so you turn it around by bashing the other guy, and

age-old democrat bash on republicans is that republicans want to cut medicare and social security. so, that's what you are seeing, sandra. this is a page out of politics 101, and that's why this white house is determined to play offense. >> sandra: i take this opportunity to say that the numbers show that this is still not a healthy economic situation for so many in this country, ari. this -- this survey, just out by nationwide retirement survey shows the impact inflation is having on american households over the past year is not good. 17% had to receive food or goods from a food bank. we have seen the lines right here in new york city, 18% have had to skip meals or not buy groceries due to high prices, car loan defaults are on the rise. that is the reality of this situation. we are likely to hear something completely different from the white house in a moment. real quick. >> yeah, president biden has a weak hand but he's trying to play it. play it with offense. a huge opportunity for republicans and the event

republican nominee to show they can use the truth and the facts about the economy against president biden. >> really interesting. appreciate you joining us, thank you. good to see you. john, and there are many suggesting this could be a preview perhaps of his opening 2024 campaign message. we'll see what he does. >> john: when you are the president and up until a few days ago you control both houses of congress, why would you blame somebody else for the economy? wouldn't you seem to think that you own it? >> sandra: i don't know. we'll see what the message is. we heard granholm the other day taking direct aim at republicans, blaming republicans, if you can believe this, for high gas prices. >> john: we'll be speaking to somebody who knows something about that coming up just ahead. hey, russia ramping up attacks on ukraine after the u.s. says it will send tanks. abrams tanks to kyiv.

we are on the ground in the ukrainian capital with a live report coming up next. >> sandra: we look forward to that. and republican leaders want to prevent president biden from tapping into the nation's oil supply again after it was drained to historic lows. wyoming senator john barrasso will talk about his plan to rein in the president's power. >> these are intended consequences by those on the left that are going after the fossil fuel industry because they hate them, they hate capitalism, and we are going to see the results of that. in ”" no matter your purpose, at pnc private bank we will work with you every step of the way to help you achieve it. so let us focus on the how. just tell us - what's your why? life... doesn't stop for diabetes. be ready for every moment, with glucerna. it's the number one doctor recommended brand that is scientifically designed to help manage your blood sugar.

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>> sandra: russia launching attacks across ukraine using iranian drones and missiles hours after the u.s. announced

it will send battle tanks on the ukraine front lines. trey yingst for us at this hour. how are things now, trey? >> good afternoon. right now it's calm. earlier today russia launched a widespread drone and missile attack against ukraine targeting multiple cities and killing at least 11 people. civilians headed to bomb shelters as sirens blared throughout this country. there was one large explosion here in kyiv and multiple interceptions were reported. odesa sustained damage to the energy infrastructure as 55 cruise missiles soared across the country. attack happened after the united states announced 31 battle tanks will be sent to ukraine. after a decision by germany to send 14 leopard 2 tanks and allow european partners to assist in the fight against russia.

volodymyr zelenskyy reacted to the shift of military support for his country. >> the key now is speed and volume. the speed of training our military, the speed of supplying tanks to ukraine, the volume of tanks support. we have to form such a tank, freedom after tyranny will not rise again. we can do it together. >> ukrainian intelligence indicates russia plans to intensify in the coming months so time is of the essence when it comes to getting the tanks on to the battlefield. in addition to tanks, ukrainian soldiers are asking for f-16 fighter jets and apache helicopters. it could be used in an expected spring counter offensive. the big question today remains how will russia react to the delivery of western battle tanks, this has largely been seen as a massive leap on the escalation ladder in this war. sandra. >> sandra: thank you very much,

trey. >> john: wyoming senator john barrasso, we are sending abrams mean battle tanks to ukraine, and zelenskyy says he would like the f-16s as well, and he would like the long range artillery rockets. now that we are giving the main battle tank, is there any limit? >> 100% in support of giving the abrams tanks to ukraine to use those and other tools they need of war to take back their country from russia, and i think that we should have done this months ago, the request has been in there for months, a bipartisan effort in the house and the senate to get this done. with regard to ukraine, joe biden has been too slow joe even before the invasion began. >> john: where do you come down on the f-16s? >> one step at a time. your point, the world is watching and china is seeing how

we respond in terms of what they decide to do with taiwan, and north korea about south korea, we had a hearing today in the foreign relations committee. all about russian aggression. and the bottom line is, russia is not going to stop until they are stopped and that means vladimir putin -- ukrainian people have put forth a plan for peace. what we know is if russians stopped fighting today, the war would be over. >> john: also the thought that they would regroup and resupply and go back. >> if the ukrainians stop fighting today, ukraine would be over. >> john: no question about that. you said to the point i was making, the world was watching, it was a point while we were listening to trey yingst' fine report. curious why we decided to send abrams, and congressman nehls says it does not make sense, you

need so much back-up the ukrainians may not be able to mount it. are we sending those because germany wanted us to do it so they would send leopards? >> the administration has flipped posture, 180°, to send tanks what they were not going to do. drones, administration was slow. missiles, administration was slow. highly mobile military launchers, slow on that. this has cost lots of lives, come out in the hearing in ukraine by the delaying success in eliminating and removing russia from their own territory. >> sandra: and something else you are familiar with, energy and gas in the united states. you are introducing a measure that would limit the ability of the president to tap the strategic petroleum reserve. it would mean he would only be able to do it in times of real emergency energy crisis, not just to lower the price of gas,

wouldn't be able to sell it to countries like china, that any releases from the spro would be tied to developing oil and gas leases on federal land. what jennifer granholm said about a similar measure in the house. i'll be very clear, if congress were to pass hr21 the president would veto it. the backwards agenda the house republicans are advancing. is using the strategic petroleum reserve for what it's intended backwards? >> not at all. you started the report earlier today that gas prices are up $0.40 in the last month. people want affordable energy, available energy, reliable energy, and joe biden basically has lit dynamite under the industry the day he came into office. he did it by, you know, throttling the keystone pipeline, stopping oil and gas permits, and what happened. prices went up and people got furious. >> john: and yet granholm is

blaming you for that. >> the president panicked and said we have to release a lot of energy from the strategic petroleum reserve. we are now at a 40 year low, which means we are at a 40 year high vulnerability. >> john: in the reserve. >> and 40 year high in the vulnerability because he did not use it for an emergency if an emergency arrived. we have plenty of energy in the ground. wyoming energy, bread basket of america, other states as well. every republican on the energy committee has signed on to it, and to do what you said. strategic petroleum reserve for emergencies only. they need to drill for oil and gas on public lands to replace what they take out of it. >> john: he's talking about releasing more. senator, safe travels back to wyoming. >> i'll be there tonight. >> sandra: in the latest in the alex murdaugh trial, it has resumed in south carolina. we are looking live in the courtroom there, the murder case

against alex murdaugh, of course, the south carolina lawyer from this influential family. a lots of twists and turns, a web of accusations. third witness is now on the stand in this trial. murdaugh's defense team is starting to paint a picture that police were sloppy when collecting evidence at the scene. the woman, i'm not sure if i'm pronouncing this, tanesh bryson smith, she received the 911 call playing out now. listen. >> what's your emergency? [inaudible] >> 4147 -- [inaudible] >> stay on the line with me, ok?

[phone dialing] >> hello. >> i'm still here, still on the line, i'm still here, ok? i have an alex murdaugh on the line calling from 4147 -- advised his wife and child were shot. >> 4147 rosedale road, it's bad. >> did they shoot their self? >> oh no, hell no. >> ok. are they breathing? >> no, ma'am. >> ok. you said it's your wife and your son? >> my wife and my son. >> in a vehicle? >> no, ma'am, they are on the ground.

>> shot in the head and she's shot really bad. please hurry. >> the state has no further questions for this witness. >> by the defense. cross examination. >> court's indulgence. >> so tell me how this works. a call came in to you in what county? >> hamilton county. >> hamilton county. >> correct. >> and how, when you dial 911

does it -- how does it determine what county to sends it to? >> you dial 911, the cell phone company picks up it's an 911 call via police, they hit the nearest cell phone tower and based on the location is routed to the nearest public safety. >> the nearest cell phone tower -- >> the highway tower. >> and you are from hampton? >> i am. >> that's not you on the phone, is it? >> no, sir. >> do you know the murdaughs or alex murdaugh? >> not too much, a little bit -- >> thank you. >> anything further? >> you may step down. thank you. call your next witness. >> angela callings.

>> take a seat. state your name again for the record. >> angela stallings. >> hi captain stallings. >> good afternoon. >> could you please tell the jury where you work. >> i work at the county sheriff's office. >> and how long have you worked there? >> approximately 15 years with the sheriff's office. >> what are some of your duties and responsibilities at the sheriff's office? >> i am the administrative services captain. i oversee the 911 center, civil

process division, court security, our school resource officers, our sex offender registry division, training, supply, and the hiring process. and records. >> you have quite a lot of duties there. >> yes, ma'am. >> and the course of your duties, do you keep records of 9 911 # calls. >> we do. >> explain to the jury when the call comes into the county. >> it hits our recorder system, as soon as the call connects to the recorder and starts ringing our recorder automatically starts recording automatically, it starts recording before we even answer the phone. >> and is a recording of all 911 calls that come into the county

center kept. >> yes, ma'am, they are. >> how are those records kept? >> kept on our server that is the carolina recording software system that we use. >> who has access to those records? >> myself and one other employee. >> is it normal for y'all to have calls routed from hampton county to calltin county? >> yes, ma'am. >> why does that happen? >> depending on the location of the call in the county, we border several counties, if it's a cell phone calling 911, depending on the closest available cell tower it will hit that tower, wherever that tower is located, it routes to that psap. >> all right. on june 7th of 2021 did colleton

county receive a transfer from hampton county? >> yes, ma'am, we did. >> what time did that call come in? >> may i look at my notes? >> yes. >> that call came in at 22:07:09, 10:07:09:00 pm. a report generated through our recorder software. >> okay. so you received a call from 10:07:00 pm. >> yes. who was the call from? >> hampton county. the caller was alex murdaugh.

>> i'm showing you state's exhibit 11. do you recognize state's exhibit 11? >> yes, ma'am, i do. >> what is it? >> disc of the 911 call. >> how do you know that? >> my initials and date i reviewed it. >> true and accurate depiction of the 911 call made by alex murdaugh? >> yes, it is. >> your honor, i would like to submit it into evidence. >> no objection.

>> 22 hours, seven minutes, nine seconds. >> wife and child were shot. >> address again. >> 4147 rosedale road, it's bad.

>> ok. how did they shoot -- their self? >> oh, no, hell no. >> are they breathing? >> no, ma'am. >> ok. you said your wife and your son? >> my wife and my son. >> are they in a vehicle? >> no, ma'am, they are on the ground out by my kennel. >> ok. and -- >> shot really bad. >> ok. where is he shot at? >> ma'am, i don't know, but he's got blood everywhere. his brain.

>> ok. is he breathing at all? >> no. >> ok. do you think -- the area? >> no, ma'am. >> is there any guns near them at all? >> no. i -- they did not shoot themselves, ma'am. >> what color is the house on the outside? >> you can't see it from the road. >> ok. is it a house or mobile home? >> it's a house. >> ok. what is your name? >> my name is alex murdaugh. >> ok. did you hear anything, or did you come home and find them? >> i've been gone, i just got back. >> ok. and was anyone supposed to be at

your house? >> no, ma'am. please hurry. >> we are getting somebody out there to you. >> ok. what is her name? >> maggie. maggie and paul. >> maggie is her name? >> yes, ma'am. >> ok. when is the last time you talked to them? >> an hour and a half ago, probably two hours ago.

>> ok, you said about two hours ago you talked to them? >> approximately, yes, ma'am, approximately. >> did they say what they were doing at all? >> no, i talked to her in person. >> you talked to her in person? >> please hurry. >> we are getting them out to you. and you are sure they are not breathing. is he moving at all, your son? you said she was shot in the head, what about your son? [indiscernible]

>> what is your telephone number? >> 942-1227. [indiscernible] i'm about to go in my house. [indiscernible] >> ma'am, i -- not -- not particularly, really, no, ma'am. >> ok. >> i know you're upset, mr. murdaugh, i don't want you -- until the officer get there. >> he's been threatened by --

threatened for months and months and months. he's been hit several times and just -- [indiscernible] >> and you don't know the name of the person threatening him at all? >> my son knows, my son knows. >> your son knows who was threatening him? >> i have another son. >> ok. >> all right, i'm going back down there.

>> captain stallings, there is a break between parts in this call. why is that? >> the way our recorder system is set up, if there is a pause with either the call taker or the caller not talking, the recorder automatically cuts off. as soon as it starts to hear someone talking it automatically kicks back on and starts recording. >> 22 hours, 13 minutes, 58 seconds.

[indiscernible] >> stay on the phone with me. i have multiple people out there to you. >> can you give me -- turn on the flashers on your car so they can see where the kennels are?

do you have your flashers on for me? mr. murdaugh? >> yeah. >> ok. i don't want you to touch them at all, i don't know if you've already touched them, i don't want you to touch them for evidence, ok? >> [indiscernible] see if they were breathing. >> ok. well, i don't want you to move anything in case they can get any kind of evidence, ok? [indiscernible] >> sandra: lori murray, a south carolina defense attorney and host of lori lori on tiktok. pretty big to hear the 911 dispatch calls, lori, and watching him react to it, at times weeping, as we have been

hearing the initial phone calls that were made to the 911 dispatch. your take away from what you've been hearing in the courtroom so far, lori? >> with regard to the 911 call, especially interesting to me, only heard a portion of it, this is a whole new -- the tape that we have not heard before, it's not been made public, and this portion again he brings up the fact that he knows it is the people from the boating accident, he knows it's related to the boating accident and that plays right into the prosecution's hands as him trying to shift blame to the people behind this boating accident and the people who were bullying paul. so that is very interesting to me. we knew he did it to the people, or the first officer on the scene, this is the first time i've heard him do it on the 911 call. so that's really interesting to me. >> sandra: what has stood out so far as well before when we know that sergeant daniel green admitted in a cross examination

earlier, lori, that the first responders in this double homicide did not wear protective gowns or booties to protect the evidence, we learned that earlier. this was the lead defense lawyer, dick harpootlian, he said did they put anything to insulate themselves from contaminating the scene. replay was no. that was a big moment as well as far as evidence is concerned so far. >> that is correct. and you've seen on "law and order," whenever they go to the crime scene, they put the booties on. this crime scene was outside, it's a little different, colleton county was not prepared for anything like that at all, so they were not prepared for it and this is going to get contaminated and hope the state will make the argument to the fact it's outdoors. footprints would not have been a

part of this case. we don't know which footprints belonged to the killer, which ones belonged to the police department and the sheriff's department, so that is going to be what dick harpootlian hammers down on. i was said all along this case is the state's to lose and there were some mistakes made. dick harpootlian you can bet will point out every single one of them, and that's the first one he has pointed out. >> sandra: you are on the screen top left there, disgraced attorney, 54 years old, accused of shooting his wife maggie, 52, younger son paul, 22 years old, all happening at their sprawling hunting lodge, supposedly to gain sympathy and distract away from his damning financial crimes. we have learned a lot and seen a lot of twists and turns in all of this, but what we just heard play out, lori, was the first time we have all taken in that 911 phone call, i believe it was june 7, 2021, when murdaugh himself called 911 to report

that his wife maggie and son paul had been shot in the rural hamlet, 65 miles west of charleston. this is the defense attorney, cf3, focusing on the idea of the arriving officers that they may have destroyed the evidence. i want to ask you how big this is, lori, listen. >> so if somebody had come in and left who committed the murders, whatever tire tracks that were left were obliterated by your men. >> that's possible. >> you have a flashlight and you were looking, you don't know what was in the grass that you may have disturbed around those shell casings. >> yes, sir. >> you don't know. >> no, sir. >> you may have disturbed something. >> it's possible. >> and you concede you may have destroyed evidence in the process. >> microscopic, something i did

not see. >> it's a very big moment. i think the officer did the best he could with pointing out that he to the naked eye did not see any evidence there, so any evidence that would have been destroyed would have been microscopic. and you know, i don't know what kind of microscopic evidence you are going to find on a crime scene other than gunshot residue, blood splatter, but that would have been hard to collect on the rural property they were on. i think the prosecution will tie that back in. but dick harpootlian is a master of pointing out every flaw that the state makes in investigating this case. >> sandra: quick final question. on the screen some of the key evidence we know they have against murdaugh, the 911 call we heard play out on the night of the murders, there were the three recorded statements he gave to law enforcement, ballistics evidence suggesting it was a family gun, we just heard talk about that, of course. the g.p.s. location data from the vehicle cell phone, the

gunshot residue on his clothing and the seatbelt of his vehicle, and d.n.a. from the victims on alex murdaugh's shirt. the charges against him, two counts of murder, two counts of possession of a weapon and he could face 30 years-life in prison. a final thought as we look live at the south carolina courtroom as this trial continues. >> well, this is a circumstantial case, this is where you pull all the pieces together exactly like said in the opening statement with the rain analogy, pull all the pieces from every item you just listed together and you have your circumstantial case and hope there's no reasonable doubt in there. >> sandra: appreciate you joining us on that. we will continue to monitor the courtroom in south carolina. thanks, lori. john. >> john: sandra, house republicans are preparing for their first hearing on the border crisis since they took over the majority this coming after president biden announced

new immigration policies offering a legal path for 30,000 migrants a month. not all democrats are even on board, calling out the asylum limitations. brandon judd, national border patrol council president. jim jordan soon will be holding the hearings, part one he calls them of the biden border crisis. take a look in the month of december, southwest land border encounters, 251,487. that is an all time record for any month, let alone december. seem when it comes to getting to the bottom of this and finding solutions, no time to lose. >> yeah, and what's interesting about that number that you just showed is december is always our slowest month, followed by january, also slow. so, when you look at these congressional hearings that are coming up, i'm so grateful they are going to happen because the mainstream media is not going to be able to ignore all of the evidence that's going to come out of these hearings.

it's going to clearly show that the biden administration could have gotten this under control immediately upon taking office but they allowed it to escalate to get to levels we never would have dreamed we would have been at. when you look at all the evidence that's going to play out, the american people are going to understand what is going on on the border and they then can call on their congressional officials, their elected officials to actually put pressure on the white house to put a stop to what's going on on our borders today. >> john: as we know, a couple weeks ago president biden took steps as he says that are meant to try to control illegal immigration, offering 30,000 parole slots for people from cuba, nicaragua, haiti and venezuela. but even members of his own party say whoa, whoa, wait a minute, that's the wrong way to go. listen to what ocasio-cortez said about it. >> there can be no confusing the biden administration immigration policy with the trump administration's. but doing better than trump doesn't mean it shouldn't be the bar.

thousands of lives are being put in real danger every day. >> john: doing better than trump shouldn't be the bar, but people say during the trump administration didn't have the problem. >> the only way that you can actually stop putting lives in danger is enforce the laws properly, to look at what you can do by policy, programs and operations to actually get this under control. what we have to have, we have to have people stop giving money to the cartels, putting themselves in the hands of cartels to be smuggled in the united states. once that ends we don't have a problem with deaths that happen in mexico or in the rio grande river or even in the deserts of arizona. once we stop that, one we stop encouraging people to come to the united states illegally, these deaths will end, and that's what aoc refuses to recognize. >> john: as the investigation and the hearings get underway we'll tap you more for commentary on all of that. brandon judd, appreciate it. >> sandra: john, it has been

nearly a year now since our own fox news team was hit by russian fire on the outskirts of kyiv while covering russia's brutal assault on ukraine. team was travelling in a vehicle on march 14 when they came under fire. >> john: correspondent benjamin hall was severely wounded. after he was rescued from the war zone, he underwent surgeries and months of rehab. it killed two of our colleagues. >> sandra: hall is now coming out, our dear colleague, with a memoir that details the extraordinary rescue efforts and his courageous fight for recovery. he spoke about it this morning and read from it on "fox & friends." his first live tv interview since the incident. >> the first explosion tore through a stand of pine birch trees a few feet away and we

barely turned to look before the second bomb whistled overhead and next to us and everything went dark. if i had the slightest iota of consciousness, it was a distance sense of shock waves and the feeling every part of my body, bones, organs, sinuwe, my soul, knocked out of me. i was all but dead. but then a figure came through and heard a familiar voice as real as anything i had ever known, daddy, you've got to get out of the car. and in that -- in that moment when it happened i was totally out, i was very badly injured, i had shrapnel in the eye and the throat and i saw my own daughters, my young daughters, and they brought me back and i found the strength, i opened my eyes and i managed to crawl out of the car and the third bomb hit the car itself, and if it weren't for them bringing me back, there's no way i would be

here today. and i'm alive and i was saved thanks to them and i was saved thanks to pierre, our cameraman, who had gotten out of the car just before me, and the two of us lay there about 40 minutes and talked, he passed away, but the journey that continued was about me being saved and i was saved after that by save our allies, veteran former special forces who risked their own lives to come to the middle of the war zone and get me out in a covert way, incredible story. and the u.s. military said if i could make it to poland they would be ready to take me into their arms and a blackhawk was waiting days later after i found a way out, and then military medicine, and incredible team of doctors and nurses who helped all the wounded out of afghanistan and iraq. they rebuilt me physically and mentally, gave me such strength. and for me this book is being about saved, about being saved by all these people, and it's

that understanding that it can give you so much strength, and we all think about pierre every day, and i think that's really important for us all to do. and i think of my family every day, and i went through everything thanks to them, and you've got to remember those close things to you and keep fighting for them every day. >> sandra: god bless benjamin hall, nobody like him, the best. >> john: i listened this morning with tears in my eyes and benji, and the fact that his daughters helped get him out of the car, and i didn't know pierre had gotten out of the car and they laid there before pierre expired. >> sandra: and he thinks about him every day, and her oism, i feel so blessed to work

alongside ben all these years. inspiration to all of us. >> he lost half a leg, lost a foot, most of the use of his left arm and eye and hearing in one ear, and he is so positive about the way forward. god bless him. >> sandra: absolutely, and his family and his beautiful girls. thanks so much to everybody for joining us here. i'm sandra smith. >> john: i'm john roberts. we will see you again tomorrow and it will actually be friday. "the story" with martha >> martha: thanks, guys. good afternoon. i'm martha maccallum. this story is breaking right now. we're going to go straight to memphis. the district attorney in shelby county, tennessee announcing charges for five former memphis police officers in the death of tyree nichols. we'll take some of this. let's listen in. >> thank you, erika. good afternoon. thanks for coming. i'm joined today as mrs. williams said, with the director of the tennessee bureau