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ncaa swimmer and women's rights activist riley gaines is set to testify moments ago about a violent attack on her by left wing protestors. >> john: she was rushed out of an event at san francisco state university after a hostile crowd took over the venue. >> sandra: she told us earlier the video was only a snippet of what she endured. >> three hours of being yelled at, of being assaulted, of being called all kinds of names of these violent vengeful hateful things. >> sandra: "america reports" rolls into a new hour. hi, john. >> john: john roberts in washington. we will listen in to riley's testimony, but first another live event set to begin in washington and it's a fox news alert. >> sandra: that's the briefing room at the white house on the left, brownsville, texas at the border on the right.

john kirby is joining the white house press secretary, karine jean-pierre, in that briefing room today. that is expected to begin in just moments. >> john: the big focus on the border crisis as major city leaders are up in arms over how to accommodate the migrant surge and new york city mayor eric adams is not holding back his criticism of president biden any longer. >> where the heck is the president of the united states? >> that is a good question. it's a national problem, and needs a national solution. >> john: new york city gearing up for as many as 15 migrant busses to roll in, and the lack of housing, all options are on the table. >> sandra: including 20 school gyms that may be used for shelters for thousands of migrants fleeing to the big apple. >> john: we will talk to two new york state senators who serve two upstate counties where adams is sending migrants, but first nate foy is live in brooklyn,

new york, a lot of parents in new york city who cannot believe that public schools are being used in this way. >> john: that's exactly right, john. we saw multiple protests and we will show you video of momentarily, but you mentioned that mayor adams is considering 20 schools in new york city to house migrants, each of those schools have a separate disattached adjacent gym, but only 10, 20 feet, but parents say they are not comfortable with the distance. and reflecting the concern, 30% of the school is absent, i'm told. take a look behind me, you can see some signs as the fedex truck moves by, parents were out protesting earlier and are demanding the migrants get moved out of the gym. one says stop trying to invade our children's spaces. schools are for learning safely. and the other two signs reflecting similar messages. the gym is where the migrants are set to stay for a temporary,

undetermined period of time. parents very concerned about that. take a look at this video of parents protesting this morning. one mom tells me a small group was sleeping on the streets last night, joined by more parents later in the day. they say this is not a good solution for students or the migrants. they say the building is a construction site and a fire hazard with the migrants in the gym and after their kids just went through the pandemic, parents are concerned about them losing recess and after school activities. listen to this. >> my concerns are number one for safety, respect, and dignity. it is not safe for children. all the activities that we would have had in that gym are off limits now. the gym we came to, the doors were locked, we had no way back in and when you look through the windows cots were already lined up. >> john, more parents protested at another brooklyn elementary school this morning. this is called p.s. 17, and mayor adams admitted he's not happy with the solution either.

but without more federal help, he claims it's necessary. listen to him. >> i'm really calling on all of us who take notice this is going to impact every city service that we deliver to the people of this city. and it's just wrong. new york city should not be carrying a burden of a national problem. >> the co-president of the parent-teachers association tells me a parent boycott is set to happen tomorrow. parents will keep their kids out of school until the migrants leave this gymnasium. 142 students absent today, 30% of the school. back to you. >> john: may sound like an obvious question, real quick here, if migrants are using the gym, what do the students do for gym? >> the students don't have gym, john, and that's something that parents are really concerned with, especially after the pandemic, kids did not have a lot of interaction with their classmates, so that's seemingly going to continue so long as this is mayor adams policy and

another thing they are very uncomfortable about is it's undetermined exactly how long this is going to last. >> john: all right, nate foy, the latest from brooklyn. thank you. >> sandra: two state senators calling for more transparency from governor hochul about this migrant crisis here. new york state senators bill weber and rob rollson joining us. i'll start with you, senator rolofson, housing migrants in kids' gyms so they cannot go about their daily activities? >> it just shows you this crisis at the border is -- it's a national embarrassment and now we are seeing these types of methods and thoughts on where we are going to house people with no clear policy in place. and this is not new. this is something that has been going on for quite some time. of course we want the border crisis solved. but these piecemeal approaches

are certainly not going to work and are not going to work in the short-term or the long-term. >> sandra: and now to think about some of the counties that are affected that they are not sanctuary city status like new york city, like the areas that you both cover. homeless vets are being booted from hotels to make room for these migrants, senator weber, what is your response to that and what are you doing about it? >> well, obviously that's -- it's outrageous that is happening and we were totally shocked when we saw that friday night and saturday morning. i represent rockland county. the first phone call from mayor adams was a week ago friday he basically said due to title 42 expiring he was very concerned about the amount of migrants coming into the city. and he said well, we are going to -- we are booking people into a local hotel in rockland county. as you see and saw on the news reports, ten minutes later there were mattresses being delivered. so it was a very -- we have a

county executive declared a state of emergency and ed day, and supervisor teresa canny in orange county did a great job in terms of making sure the hotel was shut down and the migrants were not coming to rockland. because we have now -- to rockland county. we have the welcome mat. one of the most diverse counties in the state and country but we are not a door mat for the mayor's bad policies. we gave them $1 billion, new york city in the recent budget to handle the crisis and they should handle it locally. they declared themselves a sanctuary city, rockland is not a sanctuary county. we can't handle all the people all at once. >> sandra: i'll ask you, senator, the question fox 5 anchor asked of the mayor of new york city, where's the president as this is happening?

and not just the right saying what are we supposed to do with all the migrants. you've got governor hochul herself saying we just can't continue to handle the influx. what did she say? she's complaining new york is bursting at the seams with illegal immigrants. real quickly, senator weber, i'll get your response to this. this is the orange county executive steve newhouse on the impact this is having on residents b. listen here. >> brides and grooms and their wedding parties have been kicked out of the hotel in place for the migrants from new york city, 15 veterans were kicked out, the city asked for this. they said we are a sanctuary city. none of the upstate counties designated themselves sanctuary counties. unfortunately we are getting the brunt of their incompetence. >> sandra: and a bride and groom had 30 rooms set aside for their wedding canceled at the last second to make room for the migrants to come in. senator weber, real quickly, this is the mayor of new york

city i just mentioned, slamming your counties, rockland, orange county, for complaining about the migrants, listen here. >> they are getting one quarter of 1% of what we have here in new york city. r>> sandra: how do you respond to that? >> i think it's outrageous because what they are doing in the city is not what mayor adams is trying to do to our districts. they are not displacing people in the city of new york. they are sending people up here to rockland and orange county, people are being told to leave. t two different things completely and for the mayor to make the comparison and say what we are doing is wrong, i think it's wrong for the city of new york to tell people through these hotel owners that you got to get out of your rooms. you know, senator weber and i have a bill we are going to introduce that's going to protect the individuals in

hotels, vulnerable populations there are unhoused right now. it's absolutely outrageous. and now people are talking about the president of the united states. we have been talking about this border crisis for way, way longer than they have, and we have tried to get the governor to actually talk to us. we can't get an answer from the governor. it's very, very frustrating and absolutely outrageous. >> i'll add, sandra, i'll add that the mayor of new york city knew this was coming for a long time. he waited until the last second, he didn't even ask, he just basically thought that he could set up a new york city shelter in rockland county. he met major resistance and we are vigilant in making sure we don't bear the brunt of the city's lack of preparedness. >> sandra: and now apparently he's facing resistance from the biden campaign, inside scoop just in from axios, the biden campaign is splitting with mayor

eric adams, has gotten so cross-ways with the white house he's been dropped from the 2024 campaign advisory board it was announced last week. really remarkable moment that we are all witnessing both of you. thank you state senators from joining us. thank you. >> thanks for having us. >> john: it's really fascinating, sandra, to watch this all unfold. for the democrats, it has become a circular firing squad. >> sandra: and when you've got the influx of migrants, it becomes not a left issue, a right issue, you have to do something about this, and to think they are piling into children's gyms now, that brides and grooms are having their hotel rooms canceled, veterans are kicked out of where they are living, this is all hands on deck, john. >> john: the school thing i don't understand. i know in our area, our public schools, if you were to use the

public schools for anything other than educating children or, you know, after school programs or sports, there would be a human cry that would be heard across the country. i can understand parents in places like brooklyn are very upset about this. >> sandra: and picturing the police stations in chicago inundated with the migrants, housing them, sleeping there overnight, they have run out of room to do that there. it's all over the country, john. >> john: and we discovered last week that the notices to appear that are being given to the illegal migrants allowed into the country, they are 2026 for court date, 2027, this is going to be going on for an awfully long time. mail carriers just trying to do their job are increasingly becoming targets for thieves. how the postal service is planning to keep them and your mail safer. >> sandra: republicans working to drop a local d.c. law that they say hampers police at a

time when crime is running rampant in that city and nationwide. ra rafael testified today. >> defunds the police philosophy as well as several other things has probably made it a lot more challenging to certainly retain officers and attract young people to our profession. r that's my boy. ♪ stay off the freeways! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ . okay everyone, our mission is complete balanced nutrition. together we provide nutrients to support immune, muscle, bone, and heart health. everyone: woo hoo! ensure with 25 vitamins and minerals. enter the $10,000 nourishing moments giveaway.

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>> sandra: fox news alert, just following up on the interviews we just had with the new york state senators in rockland and orange counties north of new york city, where migrants have been bussed by the mayor of new york city, a sanctuary city, the

county executives said new york city should not establish a homeless shelter outside its borders in orange county, we were awaiting on a judge to decide today if the 110 asylum seekers can remain in the newburg hotel while court cases are waged over the city's housing plans. that as state supreme court judge just a few moments ago, we just got word, she granted the county's application for a temporary restraining order, a tro, which is stopping new york city mayor eric adams for the time being from sending asylum seekers to orange county. i want to make sure we followed up on that, as that just came in from that judge a short time ago right after that interview we had with the new york state senator the. an update will come shortly again on that. john. >> john: interesting development there, sandra. the city of baltimore has a new plan to deal with rising car

thefts but might give residents road rage. instead of cracking down on criminals, the city is suing car makers, kia and hyundai, claiming that their cars are just too easy to steal. seattle, st. louis, milwaukee and several other u.s. cities have filed similar lawsuits. here is an idea, why not just make car theft a crime? hmm. sandra. >> sandra: interesting, all right. a sign of how bad the crime crisis has gotten here in the u.s., mail carriers have been robbed on the job more than 300 times so far this year. now the union representing them wants law enforcement to take action. rich edson is live in washington. what's the usps doing to try to put a stop to this happening? >> sandra, the u.s. postal service is pushing to prosecute suspects who attack letter carriers, they also say they are rolling out more high security mailboxes which they say are more difficult to break into. still more criminals are targeting the usps, stealing

packages, robbing and assaulting letter carriers. in january, reports from massachusetts, a man pointed a semi-automatic handgun at a letter carrier and demanded the keys. in march, in lowell, mass, a carrier was slashed with a machete. and robbed in florida and cities and towns across the country. last year in milwaukee, a postal carrier was at work when he was shot and killed. post officials warn of repeated attacks like this inspector after robberies in northern california. >> this is not the first robbery of this carrier on this route, it's happened a few times before where carriers have been robbed multiple times on the same route. do not commit this crime, it's not worth it. it's contemptable. >> senator dick durbin says it rose from 36 in 2018 to 154 in 2021. usps says there were 412 robberies last fiscal year, and

already 305 robberies through this fiscal year. we are not even halfway through it, or more than halfway through it. the national association of letter carriers says it is outraged and angered by the assaults, armed robberies and even murders that america's letter carriers increasingly face as they deliver the mail. the fear and the danger that letter carriers are confronting has to end. the union says it's the usps job to protect letter carriers as they serve their communities. sandra. >> sandra: all right, rich, thank you. >> john: ohio senator j.d. vance will have a bill that republicans say prevents officers from effectively doing their jobs. our next guest was a witness on the hill for a hearing on the state of law enforcement, raphael mangual, author of "criminal injustice," the push

for decarseration is wrong and who it hurts the most. we were having a chat what baltimore is doing, saying to kia and hyundai, your cars are too easy to steal. it's so backwards. >> it's conscience shocking, strikes me as an attempt to avoid dealing with the hard question whether this is a result of the lax policies that have characterized the criminal justice process in that jurisdiction for years now. repeated offenders cycle through the system and sends a message, no accountability. so why would they stop? >> john: what was the trust of your testimony on capitol hill. >> i wanted to send a message that policing is an institution is embattled right now and the biggest problem they face is the recruitment and retention crisis. the data are kind of overwhelming, and really affecting the nation's largest police departments in big cities and send the message, congress,

you have jurisdiction to do something that could be helpful, use your power of the purse to spend money to fund additional hires and bonuses for retention so the police departments can do their job better. we have asked them to do more with less. >> john: and vance, the disapproval that washington wants to undertake, republicans claim they are anti-police, doing it in the middle of police week, which shows they are political party that believes backing the blue is the right thing to do. >> and again, this bill is another example of the kind of rhetoric that police departments face, even if there was not a lot of substance to the d.c. bill and i think there are some things seriously wrong with it, it continues to send that message to the institution of law enforcement that no matter how bad crime gets, work that you do, we still think you are the problem. that's really problematic.

>> chicago, last week, 24 years police officer ariana preston was gunned down in cold blood as she was at home, four thugs who had gone on a crime spree, sho the and killed her, trying to get money for a barbecue. brandon johnson, the new mayor of chicago found moral equivalent, between her death and the death of a 13-year-old brandishing a gun he got from a gang member. what message does that as i understand. >> it's a terrible start. he does not have moral clarity on issues he needs to have moral clarity. the cold-blooded murder of a uniformed police officer by four thugs who have been convicted of robbery on prior times, and one

great aunt said the kid had been arrested and rearrested more than years he is old. drawing the equivalent of that after a 13-year-old was responding to a shot spotter alert, video of the kid firing the weapon at a moving car, i think these are two very different things. we can say the death of the 13-year-old in the case was tragic, but we do not have to draw equivalent between that loss of life and the loss of life of the officer. >> john: and new york city in the subway, daniel penny, the marine stepped in when jordan neely, according to witnesses, was threatening passengers on the new york city subway, put him in a chokehold which tragically took jordan neely's life. but what steve raiser, daniel penny's attorney said about the threat that people on the subway perceived from what neely was saying. listen here. >> i need food, this or that and if i don't get it, i don't care

if i go to prison the rest of my life and the passengers actually have said that they interpreted that to mean well, when would you go to prison for the rest of your life if you kill somebody, so, everybody got the message. >> john: what are your thoughts on this? obviously penny thought this guy is a threat, i'm going to use my military training to restrain him. unfortunately the restraint appeared to go too far. don't know contributing experiences, or the toxicology report, what do you think of this? >> not everyone has answer to, a lot of people need to cool down the rhetoric when they talk about the case. one of the key factors in the self-defense case is the reasonableness of the perception of fear on the person who used force. you can get a sense of what the other passengers in the same space felt in that moment. if through 911 call transcripts or through statements made to police it turns out that the people who were actually riding that train felt that neely was a

threat, that seems to at least lends some sense of reasonableness to the marine's decision to intervene thinking this guy was a threat. with respect to using the restraint, whether that was reasonable, again, we have two other people who assisted daniel penny in retraining jordan neely for at least some period of time. doesn't seem to be the case anybody intervened, you know, and as far as i know, none of the 911 calls were about daniel penny assaulting jordan neely, all things that need to be considered. new york is unique, in that jurisdiction the prosecution bears the burden of disproving self-defense, makes it a tough case. >> john: welcome to washington, please come back any time. sandra. >> sandra: quick alert to the white house, i understand john kirby who is in the white house briefing room just took a question on the possibility of default. >> united states is a strong

rely and partner and working hard to get the debt ceiling raised as it should be. he understands the importance to the international reputation and credibility and they don't need to worry about that part of it. and look, as i said in my opening statement, and it was not just some accidental line, since day one the president has focused on revitalizing our vast alliances and network of partnerships. no other nation in the world enjoys that network the way the united states does and the president has put a lot of personal capital into revitalizing the partnerships. look what that has done, pick one thing, look at ukraine, the convening power of the united states under president biden and what we have been able to do internationally for ukraine, that needs to continue. ukraine will be on the agenda, of course. that will be the president's message. as for a.i. and the chat, yeah,

function, sorry, i don't know if that specific application is going to come up, but you can expect that as, in the course of the discussions that they will be having that these leaders will have a chance to talk about science and technology and the importance of appropriate behavior in that space. >> reuters has reported showing the g7 countries are set to discuss concern about china's use of economic coercion in its dealings abroad and that's going to be part of the larger joint statement. released in japan, wondering if you can talk more on that. >> the prc and managing that competition with them as well as dealing with the full scope of challenges that the prc presents in the indo-pacific region will absolutely be on the agenda for the g7 and said in my opening statement, you can expect to hear at the end of those

discussions that all the g7 leaders are of a common mind how to deal with the challenges the prc presents. i won't get ahead what's going to be said after those discussions but it will be on the agenda and think at the end of it the g7s are like minded. >> economic portion specifically -- >> i think they are going to talk about the broad scope of coercive activities, and economics is a part of that, yes, that will be part of the discussion, so will be the security coercion that we see coming out of the prc, whether it's in the east china sea, taiwan strait or the south china sea, all discussed. >> developing story, just now hearing reports of an american convoy in nigeria coming under attack. what can you tell us about it? >> don't know a whole lot, just got informed before coming out to talk to you all. no u.s. citizens were involved

and no u.s. citizens hurt. but we are aware of some casualties perhaps even some killed but i don't want to get too far ahead of where we are, it just happened and the state department is looking into this. >> given the number of questions you have taken on the debt limit here as it relates to the g7, how much do you expect that issue to cast a shadow over these conversations? do you expect the president to answer questions about the process and the fallout and what may happen with g7 leaders? >> i'm not going to speak with other leaders and what they may ask the president, but to use your phrase, overshadow the g7. a lot on the agenda, i just walked you through it. several full days of discussions about real meaningful issues to our national security and to that of our g7 partners. i do not believe, do not expect this is going to -- that this is going to dominate the discussion.

>> can you comment on the report that a u.s. patriot battery system may have been damaged in ukraine in the latest russian missile barrage? >> i can't, no. >> if it were damaged, would the ukrainians repair it on their own -- >> i can't confirm the reports but it would depend on the scope of the damage as to whether or not it could be repaired by the ukrainians or we need to help them. and firing artillery round and many have been damaged in the fighting or just worn out by the fighting and some repaired on-site, some assisted outside ukraine, i can't speak to this. but obviously if there was damage done to a patriot system that needed to be repaired outside ukraine, we would certainly assist with that. i can't confirm it. >> the video that the u.s. has

released asking russian intelligence to share its secrets with the united states, why now, why would any russian share that kind of information and what assurances, safety assurances is the u.s. -- >> you talking about the video the cia released. it's not uncommon for them to do this, for one thing. they look for recruits same as the u.s. navy does. and so it's not uncommon for them to use video as an opportunity to see if they can encourage others to help them out. i would refer you to cia to speak to the efficacy of that process and that program, but it's not a typical -- >> i would refer you to the cia. >> very much hoping the u.s. will resume joining the tpp. any thought of that coming up? >> i don't have anything on the agenda with respect to tpp.

>> will you have a chance to visit japan, last time you didn't get out of the hotel. >> me? >> are you going to visit japan? >> hopefully, we'll see. we'll be very busy. ok, we have to wrap this up. anita, you have the last question. >> thank you so much, john. first of all, we heard a president saying zelenskyy and putin have agreed to six party talks with african leaders to hammer out a peace deal. how the white house feels about this. in ukraine. >> we would welcome any credible peace proposal put forward, even by a third party or third parties. hang on, let me finish. >> russia right now -- >> we would support any third party peace proposal as long as it can be seen as credible, enforceable, and sustainable. and for those three things to be

the case, it's got to be supported by president zelenskyy and the ukrainian people. nothing about ukraine without ukraine, said it a million times, keep saying it. we are not poo-pooing other peace proposal opportunities as long as they can be credible, sustainable and enforceable, and that means the ukrainians have to be 100% behind it and it has to start, has to start with the ukrainian perspectives. it has to start with the u.n. charter being a foundational element. and it has to -- it has to start with president zelenskyy's support and his ten point proposal, at least referencing and a part of that frame. so, that's where we are. >> thank you so much. situation in pakistan has gotten worse from the last time that we spoke. i am just, last time you said that the u.s. does want to see a stable pakistan. >> of course we do. >> things are bad to worse, any update about that, and second

question. >> when you say bad to worse, what are you referring to? >> 7,000 political party workers have been arrested, journalists have been saying -- this is all happening -- >> sandra: we will continue to monitor, appears it's the last question john kirby will take, and on the president's big trip coming up, john, obviously questions over how the president is going to make this big trip knowing that the debt ceiling deadline is approaching and negotiation or deal has to be made. kirby was asked whether the president plans to cancel the trip, he said we are reevaluating but they have made no cancellation as of yet but that could happen and the message should be nothing more than the president prioritizing what's important if he does cancel.

>> john: he was supposed to go to three countries, and ron desantis scoring a major victory in the fight against wokeness. bans public colleges and universities from funding diversity, equity and inclusion programs. he's been focused on the issue for a while. how might that impact a possible 2024 bid. let's bring in bret baier, anchor and editor of "special report." this sound bite from ron desantis, appears to be trying to gain the lane to the right of president trump. listen here. >> if you want to do things like gender ideology, go to berkeley, but for us with our tax dollars, we want to focus on the classical mission of what a university is supposed to be. >> john: that's trumpeting his new law there. so when you look at the candidates, bret, trump is trump, then you have nikki

haley, going for the middle, asa hutchinson, anti-trump, and if you are tri angulating for the republican primary, might be in the sweet spot in terms of po policy. >> i think he will have some with pence, a look at different things. he's clearly trying to make a big splash with some of these bills. some has backfired, the disney back and forth has really not sat well with a lot of business leaders, not only in florida but other places around the country. there were some questions about the abortion ban at six weeks, taken some criticism for that. he stuck to that. but as far as this woke education stuff, it does hit independents, even democrats, families dealing with it

day-to-day. it crosses party lines. >> sandra: if he was to win the nomination, bret, welcome to you, a big question, how are his -- how are his policies going to stack up against president biden's or his policy plans, i should say, when you have the president saying this about the biggest terrorist threat to our homeland. >> stand up against the poison of white supremacy as i did my inaugural address to single out as the most dangerous terrorist threat to our homeland is white supremacy. >> sandra: what do you think, bret? >> jerry baker had a good piece in the wall street journal about the speech, and this was a graduation speech, supposed to be uplifting and looking ahead and your path forward. this was pretty dark and went down a very pointed road politically, which the president has been down before, but there is a lot of optimism yet to be

expressed and i think desantis is going to try to tap into that if he runs. point out the former president leads by a lot in every single poll. i mean, we are talking 30, 40 points in most polls, but desantis is not yet in and had a successful trip to iowa a couple days ago. >> john: so the durham report, what do you think the political impact of that is going to be? republicans are saying this is a bombshell, democrats are saying it's a big nothing burger, but if it does anything, illuminates at the top echelon of the fbi appeared to be a very political operation to try to get donald trump. >> yeah, i think that this -- you have to read the whole thing, you have to get into it. first of all, there was no evidence supporting the intelligence community assessment or going, launching this investigation to begin with about collusion between trump and russia, and then the hillary clinton campaign part of it as you mentioned is really a big

part, and tonight we have bill barr on special report to go down this road and see how he looks at it, and address some of that criticism from you are hearing a lot of the networks, it's cost a lot of money, it was a nothing burger, meanwhile mueller cost $35 million at two years. >> john: and he was 6.5 in four years. so cost, what, a quarter what mueller did? >> that's right. but there are people looking for more indictments, something else, another shoe to fall, that's not what this is. this is a blueprint of what happened. >> sandra: meanwhile, when it comes to the american people, they want to know what this means for the credibility of the fbi. this is nicole parker on that. >> this is exactly why i left the fbi. something of this nature takes down the entire organization and why americans no longer trust the fbi and it's unfortunate. >> sandra: it's a pretty remarkable statement, we all

know nicole parker's story by now, but that's a reasonable question. what should we be thinking about the credibility of the fbi in the wake of this? >> i think there will be more hearings around this report and i think definitely on the house side, i don't know if it will go down the road on the senate side. but you also have lindsey graham putting out a statement saying very aggressively this means tough things for the fbi, jim jordan saying there needs to be a pushback holding money to deal with some of this weaponization of government as his committee looks into that, and suggestion that some of these folks could sue the fbi based on what happened over the past few years. but we'll see, as far as accountability, probably left up to capitol hill. >> john: i assume you've seen the whistleblower letter or the letter from the whistleblower's attorney, he was a criminal supervisory agent at the irs, apparently he has been removed from the case that he was looking into here after he requested whistleblower status. the and his attorney is saying

this is a clear case of retaliation. what do you say? >> i think we ought to look into this. it suggests not only that he's left that post, but the entire unit was erased after he requested whistleblower status. so, if that's true, it would be pretty tough not to link the two together timing-wise. >> john: i'm sure it will be a big topic on special report. we look forward to bill barr being on as well. >> and r.f.k., jr. >> john: see you at 6:00. >> sandra: that's a hot show. meanwhile, fox news alert, show you live pictures just coming into the newsroom right now, on capitol hill, of a protest that is happening, taking place apparently regarding the debt negotiations, obviously the big meeting is happening a short time from now, activists from the left wing center for popular democracy say they plan to occupy a series of congressional

offices, including three moderate democrat representatives, we are told, you can see police actively walking people out of the building. those activists are demanding they don't go along with republican efforts to pass spending cuts in exchange for raising the debt ceiling. so these are live pictures at the capitol right now, as police are trying to maintain control there, john. >> john: they have the flexicuffs out, protesting the limit save grow act that kevin mccarthy got through the house of representatives on a narrow margin a couple weeks ago. the president, if you recall, when he was addressing students at the state university of new york, put out a long list of horribles, associated with this bill, which were really made up out of whole cloth and extrapolated from the fact that the republicans are calling to hold funding at 2022 levels and increase 1% per year for the

next ten years, and that is a proposal that has the support of west virginia senator joe manchin who continues to be a democrat and he's got a republican going to run against him in the form of jim justice. and you know this well, sandra, the issue is we are rapidly approaching $32 trillion in debt and unless you do something to get spending under control, how high is it going to go and then will it start to really have negative impacts on our economy because the amount of money that we are spending on debt service will just explode. >> sandra: a little more color on the live pictures you are seeing right now, the camera obviously making its way around the capitol there. some of those that were at the center of the protest, the police were forcing everyone, including reporters at that scene there, to the outside of the rotunda. those who remained in the center are the ones you are seeing being arrested what we are being

told, and that is ongoing, and happening on your screen. one woman was resisting significantly per our producer and three officers were restraining her before she eventually, she was eventually -- they helped her off the ground. the biggest sign the protestors have says our lives are not negotiable. i believe that's probably the sign at the center of the protests there that someone is reaching over to pick up, as these protests are happening ahead of the big meeting this afternoon. >> john: republicans say look, we are not looking for big cuts, just looking to limit the growth of the budget, which would be the 1% increase over ten years. that can always be construed to be a cut when you are trying to spin it politically, the waning days of the clinton administration, and members of the press corps, so you want to cut medicare, no, we want to

limit the growth of it. so your view of all this depends typically on where you sit in the political side of the aisle. it's a perfect opportunity as we watch these arrests take place to bring in iowa senator joni ernst, a member of the gop leadership and she is booked, as luck would have it, to talk about this debt ceiling increase and the negotiations surrounding it. senator, when you look at the disturbances there in the rotunda, how are you struck by the tone of the debate here surrounding this debt ceiling increase? >> well, i think there are a number of different sides here but i can speak to the fact that iowans are very, very upset about the level of spending that is completely one-sided coming from the democratic party in control and what taxpayers are funding. trillions of dollars have been spent over the past two years, and iowans and i think the vast

majority of americans agree it's time we scale back on that spending. that's exactly what speaker mccarthy is attempting to do in those negotiations with president biden. they are not talking about wiping out programs across the united states federal government. they are talking about responsible governing, responsible spending. >> sandra: what do you think is going to happen here? obviously the deadline is approaching, watching the live protests there, we know the big meeting is about to happen. you know what's at stake. senator, what's going to happen? >> yes, and i will remain optimistic because there is a huge level of pressure coming from the american people to get this done sooner rather than later. secretary yellen remains committed to that 1 june deadline or somewhere about that time frame, and so i think it's really important that president biden and speaker mccarthy come to a reasonable solution for the

american people. but that does mean concessions need to be made and kevin mccarthy has put forward a plan that was backed by house republicans. it is a great place to negotiate from. i think it was a solid plan. we'll see where it goes. but hopefully president biden negotiates in good faith. >> john: senator, so far president biden has said he doesn't want to negotiate on anything, but rumblings from staffers there may be room for agreement on at least a couple of proposals in the limit save grow act, this idea of holding spending to 2022 levels and 1% increase may not fly but potentially agreement to claw back covid funds and for permitting reform. what do you think a deal might look like? >> yes, it could include those permitting reforms that a senator has been working on with senator john barrasso here in the united states senate, i

think that would be a great win. be also do have to control the level of spending put out by the federal government. i know speaker mccarthy has been very strong on work requirements for food assistance programs and other governmental supports, and even back in the day i believe it was then senator joe biden who believed in supporting a culture of work rather than a culture of welfare. so somewhere along the line it seems that then senator joe biden, now president joe biden, has really flipped his tune about the far left, and we believe indignity in a job, and it's important we continue to promote that across iowa and the national landscape. we really do need people participating in this workforce. so, i think there are some concessions that can be made by joe biden but again, he has to negotiate in good faith. >> sandra: you know, just looking through some of the

things -- by the way, we have new sound from chad pergram in exchange from kevin mccarthy, we'll have that for you have in a second to react to. janet yellen, senator ernst, has been warning that a default would generate an economic and financial catastrophe. that is in her assessment. first i'm going to play out the sound from mccarthy and chad pergram a short time ago and we'll dig into that. listen. >> what about the provision where some of your members say we might have more time than june 1st. >> who says that? >> no, whatever janet yellen says is the day. i'm not going to argue about that. >> sandra: ok, not going to argue with the date janet yellen has settled on here, senator. but she's obviously made a calculation this would generate economic and financial catastrophe. i mean -- what sort of numbers have you crunched? what does this look like?

>> sandra, yes, this -- this is devastating. there is no doubt about it. and our nation simply can't default on its obligations. and this is why we have been pushing for months now and why speaker mccarthy has for the past three months been asking president joe biden to sit down and have these discussions. it is imperative, and yet joe biden, he is the one that was refusing to meet with speaker mccarthy. so we need to get busy, we need to make sure that we have a solution for the american people. there are many people, the markets, of course, those that are reliant upon retirement income from various levels of accounts, all of them are counting on us in congress to come up with a solution with the president of the united states and make sure that we are as a nation not defaulting upon our obligations. now, i know that president joe

biden, he is really good about cutting deals, things like the student loan debt, you know, wiping that out. he believes in all of these wonderful free give-aways but you know what, the bill is coming due, and we've got to figure it out and so i will stand with speaker mccarthy on this. i hope that they come to a consensus. >> john: senator, let me ask you again, we'll go back to the work requirements in the limit save grow act. i covered the waning days of the clinton administration, i mentioned this a couple times, and i remember when congress passed and bill clinton signed the welfare to work bill, and at that time it was hailed as revolutionary, and did a lot to get people off of welfare and back into the workforce. so, how is it that in the past 24 years a work requirement is there for so many people? >> that's the question of the

hour, john. every employer i visit across the state of iowa says i do not have a labor pool. i would love to expand my business but i can't find workers. there are a lot of folks riding off the high, basically the sugar high that they had during covid, when this federal government was pushing out just checks to every random person out there. we can't do that any longer. we need people to engage in the workforce. if they are able-bodied, if they don't have children there, is no reason that they can't find a job and take a job. again, we believe in the dignity of work, and i believe that this president, this administration and the democrats are stripping that away from the american people. we really need to get back to work. we need to work america, and i think that's what kevin mccarthy is pushing. >> john: senator joni ernst, thank you so much for joining

us. appreciate your time. >> sandra: thanks, senator. appreciate that. let's bring in our panel, dan greenhouse, and mark tapper, all right, awesome panel to have to react to that. you saw the protests happening on capitol hill, these discussions are imminent, everybody wants to know how this affects them. dan, you know how to talk to the average american who wants to know what this news means for them. i mean, we are already living in an environment, and by the way, we should be quick to point out, the reason why the debt ceiling is approaching, treasury said it would not happen until late august. we are here because interest rates are going up, why are interest rates going up? the federal reserve has to tackle inflation. why are we experiencing this massive inflation crisis? because the policies that we have seen over the past couple of years. every american voter, you see the polls, they attribute the government spending to the inflation crisis we are all living in. >> that's right, and without weighing in on the politics of

either side, there are legitimate gates about the level of government spending and the direction in which government spending is apportioned. the speaker that mccarthy was issued earlier, the date of june 1st, probably some wiggle room around that. >> sandra: definitely wiggle room. >> billions of dollars come in and out of the government treasury every day. getting do a level where it's difficult to predict how much comes in and out, and probably the outcome of the debate the extension of two weeks or three weeks for more time. >> sandra: asking you to respond to the news, we are seeing the protests, mark, happening on capitol hill, and this discussion is about to be had on where this debt ceiling negotiation goes next. our original topic was asking whether or not the dream of the american, owning a home in this country is now dead. why? because 21%, a mere 21% of americans now say it's a good

time to buy a house. likely due to, what? rising interest rates. it always goes back to the money. >> yeah, so i mean, housing affordability right now is near an all time low, it's very unaffordable, you have high interest rates and also high home prices as well, which did tick down slightly year over year, but when you go back to spring of 2019, which was the prior peak, we are still up over 30% from there. additionally, availability is very low. so you look at existing home inventory, we are down over 40% from the spring of 2019, so there is not a lot of houses on the market, it's tough to find one you like and then if you do, you are kind of priced out of the market. >> sandra: you are avoiding the question. is the american dream of home ownership, is it dead? >> everything mark just said is right on the stats. i will say d.r. horton is one of the largest home builders in the country, and spoke and said

consumers, settled in at current home prices, level of interest rates and home prices as crushing, demand is holding up. >> sandra: because of all this news, i had no idea the hour flew by sorry, almost missed the handoff to martha. >> john: and hand it over to trace who is in for >> thanks. i'm trace gallagher in for martha maccallum who is on assignment. we have a big hour. jim jordan and clay travis ahead. a big show down at the white house over the debt limit. president biden meeting with kevin mccarthy and other top leaders. chuck schumer is urged to stay in session until a deal is done or risk the u.s. running out of money to pay our bills. let's get straight to correspondent mark meredith live