This is a rush transcript of ‘Fox News Sunday’ on November 12, 2023. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SHANNON BREAM, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: I'm Shannon Bream.
More than five weeks since Hamas's deadly attacks on Israel, IDF troops push deeper into Gaza City.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(CHANTING)
BREAM (voice-over): Hundreds of thousands of protesters take to the streets across the world this weekend, calling for an Israeli ceasefire in Gaza, as President Biden expresses rare public frustration with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu.
REPORTER: Did you ask him to pause for three days to get the hostages out?
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I've asked for even a longer pause for some of it
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: A ceasefire with Hamas means surrender to Hamas, surrender to terror.
BREAM: We'll talk about some say is an emerging divide with Israel's ambassador to the United States, Michael Herzog; and discuss the funding fight ahead over aid to Israel, Ukraine and our southern border with the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Mark Warner.
As foreign policy was front and center at the latest Republican primary debate.
NIKKI HALEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: A strong America doesn't start wars. A strong America prevents wars.
BREAM: We'll discuss America's role abroad with GOP presidential hopeful Nikki Haley, as she continues her climb in the polls.
Then, new moves to force an impeachment vote on DHS Secretary Mayorkas.
REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): As secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas has violated his oath to uphold this constitutional duty.
BREAM: We'll ask our Sunday panel what lies ahead for the public face of the president's border policies.
Plus --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good job.
BREAM: The healing power of man's best friend this Veterans Day weekend.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The mission to train a dog for another vet is what makes it really compelling for veterans to do things that they would never do otherwise.
BREAM: All, right now, on "FOX News Sunday".
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BREAM (on camera): Hello from FOX News in Washington.
Here are the top headlines out of the Middle East today:
A Hamas-controlled health ministry says its largest hospital is, quote, "An open warzone," endangering patients and staffs. Israel denies that the hospital building itself is being targeted and is offering to evacuate babies being treated there.
Gaza border officials announced that the Rafah crossing into Egypt, the only entry point into the strip not controlled by Israel is reopening today for evacuations of foreign passport holders whose names are on pre-approved list.
Meanwhile, Iran's president made a rare visit to Saudi Arabia as Arab and Muslim leaders came together to call for immediate Gaza ceasefire and criticize the U.S. response to the ongoing war.
We will talk with Israel's ambassador to the U.S., Michael Herzog, as well as chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Democrat Mark Warner.
But, first, we turn to foreign news correspondent Trey Yingst with the very latest on the ground in Israel.
Hello, Trey.
TREY YINGST, FOX NEWS FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Shannon. Good morning.
I do want to start with some news here along the Israel-Gaza border. Overhead, you can see an Israeli drone operating here near to the border. They are looking for new targets for the Israeli air force to support the infantry troops that are inside Gaza. It is day 37 of the war between Israel and Hamas. Israeli forces continue to push deeper into the strip, in the distance there. You can hear some of the outgoing artillery as they are engaged in battle with Hamas fighters.
We do know video released by Israel's 551st Brigade shows apocalyptic scenes inside the strip as tanks destroyed different buildings.
Today, IDF troops are operating in the Al-Shati camp and they say they've killed numerous militants in different firefights. International attention remains on Gaza's Al Shifa hospital where hundreds of civilians are sheltering and receiving medical attention.
The Israelis say the hospital is used as a headquarters for Hamas, as Hamas tells FOX News today the situation is catastrophic. Doctors at Al-Shifa report that dozens of babies are in the hospital and need urgent help. The Israelis say they will evaluate the small Gazans.
(BEGIN VDEO CLIP)
REAR ADMIRAL DANIEL HAGARI, IDF SPOKESPERSON: The east side of the hospital is open on Elwade Street for the safe pass of Gazans who wish to leave the hospital. We're speaking directly and regularly with the hospital staff, the staff of the Shifa Hospital has requested that tomorrow, we will help the babies in the pediatric department to get to a safer hospital. We will provide the assistance needed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
YINGST: We know each and every day, tens of thousands of Palestinians are evacuating to the southern part of the Gaza Strip through two separate evacuation corridors, the Israelis say they will evacuate those babies from the Al Shifa hospital. It is critical they evacuate all Palestinian civilians from medical facilities in the northern part of the strip -- Shannon.
BREAM: Trey Yingst reporting from Israel -- Trey, again, our thanks to you and your crew.
Earlier this morning, I sat down with Israeli's ambassador to the United States, Michael Herzog.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BREAM: Mr. Ambassador, welcome to "FOX News Sunday".
MICHAEL HERZOG, ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED STATES: Thank you very much.
BREAM: Let me start by asking you. Overnight, there were reports from Israeli TV channels that there may be a larger hostage deal coming together, 50 to 100, women, children, elderly. Do you know anything about that? Can you update us?
HERZOG: There are attempts to bring about a hostage deal. We give it a chance. We're not sure how serious Hamas is, and I prefer to leave it at that, and some things are better not discussed in the public eye.
BREAM: Can you also give us some clarity about the pauses? I've heard the prime minister talk about this. There have been differing reports. Can you give us some clarity on what that means?
HERZOG: Yeah. Israel is doing two things. One, we opened humanitarian corridors, allowing people to go from the north, where there's heavy fighting, to the south where there are safe zones, and today since we started, we have now two major routes allowing people to freely to the south.
Hundreds of thousands moved already, over 200,000. And at the same time, by the way, the fact they are moving tells us that less and less people listen to Hamas who's trying to keep them in harm's way, and they don't want Hamas to turn them into human shields, and more and more people are moving to the south.
The second thing we did, a few days ago, we started daily humanitarian localized pauses in certain neighborhoods in the north and in the south. Every day, we give notice to the population few hours that they can go out. They can replenish themselves. They can get medical treatment.
They can move to the south, whatever they do. And it's four hours pauses every day, every day in a different neighborhood, according to the situation (ph) in the north. And that's proven very effective.
BREAM: So, you know that there are plenty of critics who think that this is not a strategic enough, targeted enough strategy that the Israelis have right now. There are critics calling for ceasefire, more broadly, they talk about the hospitals, about medical care.
"The Washington Post" has an opinion piece that says: Razing entire neighborhoods to the ground is not an answer for the egregious crimes committed by Hamas. To the contrary, it's creating a new generation of aggrieved Palestinians who are likely to continue the cycle of violence.
Do you worry about the long-term impacts of what you're doing now?
HERZOG: First of all, I take issue with this criticism. We are very targeted in what we do.
And people have to understand, Gaza is the biggest terror complex around the globe, with over 500 kilometers of terror tunnels. Those tunnels were not built as shelters for the population, but for military equipment, rockets, the leadership and command and control structure.
We have tens of thousands of combatants, and we have to fight them and we have to remove the Hamas threat from Israel.
It's very complicated because Hamas turned them into human shields. But we are not targeting the population. We call on them to leave to the south.
I believe that what we see today with more and more people moving to the south indicates to us that these peoples do not want to serve as human shields for Hamas. They understand. They don't like us, but they don't like Hamas, either.
BREAM: Well, the Palestinian Authority post-war is talking about that they would be open to some kind of governing role if the U.S. is committed to a two-state solution. What does Israel want to see long-term with respect to Gaza? Do you anticipate maintaining a presence, military or otherwise there?
HERZOG: We are not in Gaza in order to occupy Gaza or to govern Gaza. We are there to remove the Hamas military threat against Israel and their ability to rebuild their capabilities and strike again and again, as they're saying they would like to do. That's our intent.
Long-term, we have an off -- we put that off thinking into that and we are entering dialogue with the U.S. (ph) administration about that. We understand it is our position that Palestinians will have to govern themselves.
What will the exact role of the Palestinian Authority remains to be seen because everybody understands that the P.A., in its current composition, they can hardly govern Ramallah. So, certainly, not Gaza. They will have to undergo reform.
But in the meantime, there will be Palestinians who will have to govern Gaza.
BREAM: Quickly, what's your message to U.S. lawmakers as we fight over our own financial house that is out of order? But there are major aid packages, some of them involving Israel. What's your message?
HERZOG: So, we -- first of all, we are thankful to the U.S. administration for putting forward the package aid to Israel, but also humanitarian package, which we would support on condition that it goes to post-Hamas Gaza and to emergency needs that in concert of what we're trying to do in Gaza and don't go to the hands of the wrong people like Hamas and others. If that -- if that is a package, we will certainly support it.
BREAM: Mr. Ambassador, thank you for your time. We wish you well.
HERZOG: Thank you very much.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BREAM: Joining me now, Virginia Democratic Senator Mark Warner. He's the chair of the Senate Intel Committee.
Welcome back to "FOX News Sunday". Good to see you again.
SEN. MARK WARNER (D-VA): Thank you, Shannon.
BREAM: I want to get some of your reaction there, because I know you've expressed concerns that Israel is not being precise enough with these strikes.
You heard the ambassador there. He says they have been targeted, that there are hundreds of miles or kilometers in his words of these terror tunnels, everywhere. They are offering to evacuate people from hospitals. They are in communication with them.
What's your reaction?
WARNER: Well, my reaction is, clearly, Israel has the right to defend itself, and Hamas has been using human shields.
But the images don't lie. We've seen for weeks at some level indiscriminate Israeli bombing, particularly in terms of artillery and some of the plane bombings. I think now that the troops have surrounded Gaza City, I think they are getting more targeted.
I think it's very important that these humanitarian pauses take place each time so that we can -- so that people can get to safety. But also, we've seen literally hundreds of folks with American passports be able to leave Gaza into Egypt. That's important as well, because I think one of the things we have to realize is that, clearly, Israel has the military ability to take out Hamas. But this is also a battle about hearts and minds -- hearts and minds in terms of maintaining support for Israel in this country, in the world and in the region.
One of the things that a number of us pressed the Israeli government and we've seen some positive response, stop turning away from the settler violence in the West Bank. I've had a fear for a long time, what happens if Palestinian security services all quit and suddenly, the West Bank would erupt as a second flank.
And that's why I think Israel -- we are holding Israel obviously to a higher standard than Hamas. It's a civilized nation, and that's why I think it's important both the pauses and to make sure as much as possible their targeting.
BREAM: Yeah, I spent time in Ramallah there, and I know how tense that situation is.
I saw yesterday that Senators Rosen and Rubio are going to offer an ability for senators to screen some of these videos that show the Hamas atrocities. Would you attend that week this week, do you think, and watch?
WARNER: I've seen some of those already in my role as chairman of the Intelligence Committee. I hope to see the whole 40-odd minute. I think it is hor -- there will be horrific images. I do think recognizing that you got to protect the privacy of these families who've been abused.
But the more Israel can release some of this footage, the more they can, as they achieve their goals, for example, and declassify information to demonstrate that there are these tunnels under the hospitals I think is terribly important, because otherwise, what America sees and the world sees only for the most part is some of the obviously horrible, horrible images of now over 11,000 Palestinians killed.
BREAM: Let's talk about Iran. We have this image yesterday of Iran's president being warmly greeted in Saudi Arabia. There's this gathering with Arab and Muslim leaders, denouncing Israel, calling for International Criminal Commission to actually go after them for war crimes.
And there have been questions about whether this administration is being tough enough on Iran. There have been several attacks by Iranian proxies on our soldiers in the region.
"The Wall Street Journal" Editorial Board writing this. It said: Iran isn't impressed by U.S. airstrikes. The confounding reality is that President Biden's weak responses to attacks on U.S. forces aren't deterring Iran and its proxies, which increases the risk of escalation.
They also point out that the U.S. has now been cracking down on oil sanctions. Iran exporting to the tone of -- benefiting them tens of billions of dollars.
Do you think the administration is handling Iran well?
WARNER: Listen, I think by placing both a carrier group in the Red Sea, Eastern Med, announcing that we've sent an Ohio class submarine, we never normally announce that, and bombing some of the facilities outside of Iran, I think is terribly important.
I think Iran is very aware of the military presence, we're being out there. But I also think it's kind of unusual. We saw the Republican debate earlier this week where everybody was talking about us going after Iran directly, which could literally lead to a widespread regional war.
And the thing that I don't understand, again, from some of our Republican presidential candidates, is that they are -- want to be tough on Iran, but they want to walk away from Putin's aggression in Ukraine. Who is Iran's biggest ally? It's Russia. Iran is providing the drones for Russia.
The idea that we're going to allow a dictator to win in terms of Putin and Ukraine and then not recognize there's a connection between Russia, between Iran, between Xi and President China -- in China is I think short-sighted.
And I do think, you know, our focus is on the Middle East, our focus with the President in terms of meeting with Xi, but it would be a historic mistake if America walked away from Ukraine at this point. The very people who are criticizing the President now, no country would ever trust us again if we walk away from Ukraine.
BREAM: Well, isn't there something in between walking away and providing some funding or providing endless open-ended funding, which Americans are worried about. We talked about this on the show last week, that there are polling numbers at show. A lot of Americans are growing apprehensive about something that has no end in sight. We're about to run out of money by Friday if you guys don't get something done on the Hill. I mean, none of us at home could run our budgets this way. So what do you say to folks? These are American tax dollars. How we manage these priorities?
WARNER: But the fact is, literally, combined with our European allies who frankly are doing more on the humanitarian side and matching this virtually dollar-for-dollar on the defense side, an additional $60 billion for the whole balance of the fiscal year, and the Ukrainians have literally destroyed over half of Russia's military capabilities with not a single loss of American soldier or NATO soldier.
We -- if we walk away from Ukraine, NATO, which has been expanded by Sweden and Finland, what faith would they ever have on us? And I'm hugely concerned about China, particularly both on an economic basis, technology basis, and the people are flunking geopolitics one-on-one. If they think giving Putin a win on Ukraine won't send a signal to President Xi in China that he's got a green light to go after Taiwan.
BREAM: Let's talk about that meeting this week because President Biden and President Xi are going to be together in San Francisco. There's a lot of pressure for some kind of measurable deliverables from this meeting. What should the President's message be?
WARNER: I think they've already pre-signaled that having military and military communications, so somebody picks up the phone. If there is an incident, we saw nobody picking up the phone after the shooting down on the Chinese balloon.
I also think we need to keep pressure on China in terms of stopping their intellectual property theft, close to $500 billion a year. And I hope what we will also do is rally other allies in the region because, candidly, Shannon, the intelligence committee, national security now is not simply who's got the most tanks and guns and ships and planes. It's who's going to win the battle for artificial intelligence, quantum computing, advanced telecommunications, 5G and beyond. We can win all those battles, but we've got to do them with our allies as well.
BREAM: All right, we got to go, but I have to ask you quickly, because we've talked about this numerous times, TikTok. You know, there's a lot of worry right now that there's a ton of propaganda. It's what young people are reading. That's where they get their news. You've talked about, there have been bipartisan efforts on the Hill to get rid of it, or to change ownership force, ownership change of it. Where are we?
WARNER: Well, a lot of creative things on TikTok. I think that's great. I just don't want it to be controlled by the Communist Party of China. And what we need is not a one-off taking on TikTok alone. We need to go after foreign technology from China, Russia, Iran in an organized, legal way.
And I've got a broad, based bipartisan bill. I hope some of the folks who were hesitant would take a fresh look at that. And if there's somebody else who's got a good idea, I will look at that as well, because this is that battle in terms of who controls technology.
BREAM: Yeah. And it's framing an entire generation.
WARNER: Absolutely.
BREAM: Chairman, good to have you with us. Thank you.
WARNER: Thank you, Shannon.
BREAM: Senator Mark Warner, always good to have you here.
All right, she's been surging in the polls with many wondering if she's going to be able to use this moment to separate from the PAC. We'll bring in former U.N. Ambassador, 2024 Presidential Candidate Nikki Haley, fresh off the latest Republican presidential debates.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BREAM: This week, five candidates traded barbs as foreign policy took center stage at a tense third Republican presidential debate. But while the presidential hopefuls sparred, former President Trump was missing again, as the field struggles to find ways to chip into his dominating lead.
Joining us now from South Carolina is former U.N. ambassador, former governor and presidential candidate Nikki Haley, who has seen a healthy uptick in her recent polling. Welcome back, Ambassador.
NIKKI HALEY, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thanks so much, Shannon.
BREAM: I want to start with Israel. Obviously, you have a deep foreign policy resume. What role do you think that the U.S. should have as an ally right now? You heard some of the comments from Senator Warner, chair of the Intel Committee.
But there are critics with their own diplomatic corps who echo what he has said, that they're worried about us losing the Arab world, Israel losing the Arab world, with the current strategy and possibly the next generation that would be necessary for solving some of these problems long-term.
HALEY: Our solution should be this. I mean, we should have three priorities. One, to help Israel eliminate Hamas. Two, support Israel with everything they need. No questions asked. And three, to make sure we do everything we can to bring the hostages home.
This is a tough situation, but this is not just an Israel issue. This is an American issue. Thirty-three Americans were murdered. They have American hostages right now. Israel is the tip of the spear when it comes to terrorism. And we have to remember, Iran is the number one state sponsor of terrorism. And when they say death to Israel, they say death to America. This war affects us as well.
BREAM: Well, you heard Senator Warner also saying that he thinks a number of you on the debate stage were ready to go to war with Iran or do exact strikes on their actual soil, something a lot of people think would lead to a much broader regional war if not something worse like World War III. What do you say to those who -- you know, I saw the headlines this week, the Republicans seem very interested in going to war with Iran?
HALEY: It's quite the contrary. An America -- a strong America doesn't start wars. A strong America prevents wars. What we're trying to do is prevent further war. And I dealt with Iran every day at the United Nations.
What they do is they lie, they exaggerate, and every dollar they get goes to terrorism. The focus we need to have is right now you've had almost 100 strikes on our men and women in the military in Iraq and Syria. That's unforgivable.
My husband's at one of those bases around the world. We don't ever want them in any harm, whatsoever. But the thing is, you don't play the tit for tat with Iran. What you do instead is, when they do this, you go right at the heart of their infrastructure. You hit their ability to go and even hurt an American soldier.
BREAM: Physically.
HALEY: If that doesn't work with Iran. If that -- yes, you take out their infrastructure. If that doesn't work, then you go after the leadership in the IRGC and make sure you go after the leadership in Iran.
Remember, when we hit Soleimani, it flat-footed Iran. They respond to strength. Iran has always backed off when they realize America is serious. And so us having the backs of Israel is hugely important. Us, having the back of Ukraine is important, because you've got an unholy alliance of China, Russia, and Iran all trying to intimidate us and intimidate our friends. Don't fall for it, the one thing that all of them fear is when we have an alliance that's strong and that we stand by.
BREAM: There are a lot of growing questions about whether the U.S. and its military specifically, can be stretched in all of these different directions with all of these different potential conflicts. "The New York Times" raises questions we continue to hear about weapons inventory, not only for ourselves, but our allies and those we're trying to help.
They say this, "Guide munitions and more complex American systems are being funneled to both the Israel and Ukraine conflicts, even as American partners in the Indo-Pacific wait for weapons deliveries of their own."
The Center for Strategic and International Studies warns that we are so low on some munitions and missiles it would take years for us to get back and replenish those. So what would it take for you as president to rebuild our weapons base, to get those deliveries to folks like Taiwan who are waiting on them, and more broadly to get us out of these foreign conflicts?
HALEY: Yeah, the number one job of a president is to protect Americans. And keep in mind that any of the resources that are spent on Ukraine and Israel is typically we're giving them the older ammunition. We're giving them our older equipment. And so we're replenishing it with new. That's a good thing.
But we also want to look and see what our stockpiles look like. Where are we low? What are we going to need going forward? And focus more on that.
Keep in mind that the amount of money being spent on Israel and Ukraine is less than 5 percent of our defense budget. So this is about priorities. We need to one, secure the border. We need to make sure we have the backs of Ukraine, and we need to have the backs of Israel.
But focus on who's supporting who. It is interesting that the Taiwanese, they want the West to help Ukraine. Why? Because they know if Ukraine wins, then China won't invade Taiwan. And we won't have to deal with that.
There's a reason that, you know, the Ukrainians want us supporting Israel. Why? Because they know if Iran wins, Russia wins, and they don't want to do that. Everybody else sees this unholy alliance, except for Americans. Americans have their head in the sand. If we do this right in Ukraine and Israel, we won't have to deal with China. China's watching every bit of it. And they fear America that stands by her friends.
BREAM: Well, Americans, the polling shows are growing weary of all of these different incursions around the world that we're being drawn into, and they are looking, in many cases, according to the polling to a commander-in- chief who would pull them out of many of those. And I know that that's just part of the argument about the 2024 field.
I want to get to that, because "The New York Times" had a piece about you. Actually, I had some nice things to say, which you might find surprising, but they had a long list of things they say have to happen if you were to win the nomination, the GOP nomination. We're going to scroll those on the screen. I'll just read a few of them. "You need more money for TV ads. Donors have to give up on other candidates. Candidates have to drop out for New Hampshire. You have to flip people."
It goes on and on and on. It's sort of in the vein of saying, so you're saying there's a chance. If all these things don't align for you, how long will you stay in and fight?
HALEY: It's so ridiculous. We are surging in the polls. Not only are we surging in the polls, if you look in the swing states, it shows that we beat Biden by 10 to 13 points. We are now second place in Iowa, second place in New Hampshire, second place in South Carolina.
There are no other candidates that are going to be getting in the race, because now it's gotten too late. We have plenty of money that we're going to be on TV with, and you're going to see that we're going to be strong, not just in Iowa. We're going to be strong in Iowa. We're going to be strong in New Hampshire. We're going to be strong in South Carolina, because we spent our money well. We've got great ground games in every one of those states, and we're going to keep surging.
You've got Trump that's flat lines. You've got DeSantis that's falling in the polls, and we continue to go up. And we've had a great -- we had a great last debate. We had -- we raised a million dollars in 24 hours past the debate. And we're going to go work hard to earn every Iowan, every granite stater, and every South Carolinian's vote.
BREAM: OK.
HALEY: Because we have a country to save.
BREAM: So let's talk about a little bit of the realities, though. I mean, President Trump is up 30 to 40 points in most polls out there on the entire rest of the field. Governor DeSantis picked up, Governor Reynolds, much coveted endorsement in Iowa, along with a number of other leaders there. He now has the highest favorables in the GOP field in Iowa, including President Trump. And then this headline from "The Hill" yesterday, it says, "Trump's massive lead in polls deals blow to the rivals' electability case."
They talk about polls from "The New York Times," CNN, CBS News, Emerson, all showing President Trump leading President Biden in a head-to-head matchup. You do better in those polls. But how do you convince primary voters to abandon somebody who is up by 30, 40 points when this argument about him being able to beat President Biden is, in many of these polls, being muted?
HALEY: Well, I think, first of all, you know, I think, certainly, Trump has some strong support. I've always said he was the right president at the right time, and I agree with a lot of his policies. The problem is, drama and chaos follow him. Whether fairly or not, it is constantly following him, and Americans feel for it -- feel it.
And so I think you can look at that with our elections over and over again. We pay the price for it. And I think what's really important is, we need to have someone who can win the general election as well. We need to make sure that we have a new conservative leader.
Republicans have lost the last seven out of eight popular votes for president. The way you do that is you send someone in there that doesn't just beat Biden by two or three points like Trump does. You get somebody that beats Biden between 9 and 13 points. That way we win up and down the ticket, governors' races, congressional seats, all of those seats. That's what we're trying to do, is not just win the presidential.
We want to win across the board. I can do that. And that's the focus that we have. And I'll tell you that I think people are getting tired of the drama and the chaos and the negativity. They see the wars happening around that they want to prevent and put an end to. They see inflation that they can't afford. They see a border that's open. They see crime on the rise. And they see that our kids are suffering terribly in reading and math, and we've got to get that right.
We are going to start to make America strong and proud again. And we're going to finish this. But we need everybody to go to Nikkihaley.com and join us.
BREAM: All right, we will follow along. See you on the campaign trail. And Ambassador, always our thanks to your husband, Michael, who is in uniform with tens of thousands of other Americans around the globe. Thank you both for his service.
HALEY: Thank you. God bless them all.
BREAM: That's right.
All right, up next, the clock is ticking for Congress to fund the government and pass major foreign aid packages. We're going to bring in our Sunday panel to discuss the White House reaction to the new Speaker's latest proposal.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BREAM: President Biden facing a multitude of foreign policy challenges ahead in his in-person meeting with Chinese President Xi this week. Criticism from both the left and the right and plummeting poll numbers on how he's handling international issues. That's what he spacings.
It's time now for Sunday group. USA Today White House Correspondent Francesca Chambers. Rich Lowry, Editor-in-Chief of National Review. Former 2020 Biden campaign surrogate Kevin Walling. And Mario Parker, Bloomberg News White House and Politics Editor.
All right, welcome to all of you. You heard in the earlier interviews we've talked about how this White House is taking a lot of heat for how it's handling -- handling Iran. Wall Street Journal Editorial Board says this, that he's keeping the billions flowing to Iran by choosing not to enforce oil sanctions. Does the president have the will to break from his strategy of appeasement?
Francesca, you've got to piece out this morning talking about how he's handling these things and how it's being viewed?
FRANCESCA CHAMBERS, USA TODAY WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Shannon, the polling for President Biden has been abysmal lately. Voters say that they think he's too old for the job. He is losing to Trump in key battleground states as well as nationally. And by the way, to Nikki Haley as well, he's a statistical tie with Ron DeSantis.
On almost every issue, they rate Trump better than him, with the exception of perhaps abortion rights and democracy, two issues that he has focused on in Democrats point propelled them to victories last week on Tuesday.
And we did see some success for his diplomatic strategy this week when Israel agreed to those temporary humanitarian pauses. But even Democratic lawmakers are telling me that as he heads into this meeting with Xi Jinping, he has a weakened hand right now, given that there could be a government shutdown this week. And Congress has not passed his $106 billion security request.
BREAM: Yeah, they're not even sniffing around that yet, at least on the outside. The Senate is at least taking a look at it. So another place where he's really struggling in the polls is the border. People feel, regardless of party, it's pretty much out of control.
Our Fox News pulling in October showed 71 percent of voters think that the security levels at the border are not strict enough, and a majority of Democrat and Biden voters say that a lot more has to be done to secure the border with Mexico.
Mario, that's another headache for the White House.
MARIO PARKER, BLOOMBERG WHITE HOUSE & POLITICS EDITOR: Yeah, speaking of polls, we had a poll at Bloomberg Morning Consult poll this week that showed exactly that in terms of foreign policy, voters care more about what's going on at the border three times as much than what they care about in terms of Israel-Hamas or Ukraine-Russia. That's a problem for the White House.
And to your point, Shannon, I was just back home in Chicago, my hometown. It's the blue city about three weeks ago. And there's just a lot of consternation angst about the immigration influx there, the migrant influx there. You see it on the streets in different neighborhoods in the Chicago neighborhoods. And that's created some tension again with a crucial demographic, a crucial block for Biden in voters in, again, a blue city. It's right there in your face today.
BREAM: Yeah, I've seen some of those heated town meetings and city council meetings where people are very frustrated about how their community is dealing with this and they are pointing fingers back at the White House. Washington Times says this now, also factoring in the potential of terrorism at the border because those are warnings we've heard internally from federal agencies.
They say, "Thanks to Hamas' terror attack on Israel and President Biden's failure to secure the border, the natural compassion that Americans feel for anyone seeking a better life must be tempered with apprehension over the resurrection of terrorism and the danger of another deadly attack on our country." I mean Kevin that -- it's bad optically but the reality of that is awful too.
KEVIN WALLING, FORMER 2020 BIDEN CAMPAIGN SURROGATE: Well, certainly, Shannon, and we saw some of those warnings from FBI Director Christopher Wray in his testimony just two weeks ago before Congress. But this in -- to your point earlier, this is why we need to pass the President's supplemental request that he has put in. Not only does it fund the war in Ukraine and support Israel, it also provides an important counter to China with this important meeting that's happening on the West Coast just this week, but it also provides additional resources for the border to hire hundreds, not thousands of more border agents to provide --
BREAM: I know Republicans don't like it because they think it's just hiring more people to process more people into the U.S. there. Their argument is, it doesn't secure the border.
WALLING: Well, surely. And I'm hopeful with the new Speaker that we can find some middle ground there to reform our asylum laws because clearly people are taking advantage of that practice here in the country. I'm a reasonable Democrat that wants to see action on that. We saw Chris Murphy, others, begin to have those conversations in the Senate. I'm hopeful that they can come to some sort of arrangement coming out of that.
BREAM: But first, Rich, we have to fund the government.
RICH LOWRY, NATIONAL REVIEW EDITOR IN CHIEF: Yeah.
BREAM: Before you talk about the additional $106 billion of supplemental funding, by Friday, if they don't work something out, we're out of money again. So the new Speaker has put out this laddered plan, which will have two different tranches of money to get us through part of January, part of February, and handle different departments and different appropriations bills. White House doesn't love it.
LOWRY: Yeah.
BREAM: That's just -- I always say, their reaction -- but their reaction to it is, no thank you.
LOWRY: Yes, so it's a little convoluted but the idea is to make some room, to actually pass individual appropriations bills the way they should and not to have one big bill at the end right around the holidays the way they always do. But there are even Republicans that don't like it. And I fear the fact here is Republicans are not going to get much at the end of the day no matter what path they take because they have a narrow majority in one chamber of Congress and the rest of Washington are rated against them. That's the problem, it's not the name of the Speaker, is not the approach the Speaker's taking
BREAM: Well, and we know that the messaging coming from the White House is, this is going to land at the feet of Republicans. You say, yes, they do control one House that control the Senate or the White House. But one House can stop the entire funding process and White House is happy to assign blame. And actually take a little victory lap over this if it gets laid at the feet of Republicans.
CHAMBERS: And a source in the Speaker's office telling me that if Democrats want to put something different forward in the Senate that they can do that and that they would take a look at it, but the way the things stand right now, this is what -- this is what they're putting forward, this is what your options are, take it or leave it.
BREAM: Well, yeah, and in talking to also folks within the Speaker's office yesterday, they know they're going to lose some Republicans to the far right who are not going to be interested in doing it this way. There aren't cuts in the CR proposal, meaning funding levels would stay where there are, and that's not going to be -- that's what led to a lot of trouble for the former Speaker, Kevin McCarthy. But Mario, they also think they'll pick up enough Democrat votes. They don't think that Hakeem Jeffries, the Democrat leader in the House, is going to whip against this. They think they could pull together enough Democrats to get this moving.
PARKER: Yeah, the fact is that they didn't have some of those spending cuts, right? You gave a carrot to Democrats right now. The two-tiered approach as well, kind of giving a carrot to Democrats by prolonging the process, if you will, also.
And then just in terms of Johnson, what we've heard from House Freedom Caucus members and others is public comments where they're kind of signaled that they're giving him some goodwill up front, starting a job. I mean, he's got a hard task there.
BREAM: Right.
PARKER: And they're acknowledging that publicly.
BREAM: The honeymoon gets just maybe a couple more days.
PARKER: At least three weeks of honeymoon.
BREAM: Well, they know where they ended up last time they got rid of the speaker. It wasn't especially easy. But we do hear Democrats in the Senate, Kevin, saying Senator Cardin, I believe, is one of them, saying, "Nope we want something that gets us to Christmas." Because then you have that urgency of forcing people with the holidays upon them to make longer-term visits.
WALLING: And to Rich's point, that's always been the focus is, that Christmas deadline and people want to head out of Washington.
Listen, this is the smallest House majority now with Gabe Amo's election in Rhode Island. They only have a three-seat majority in the House of Representatives, even less than what Kevin McCarthy had to deal with. But I'm hopeful you're seeing some Democrats in the Senate say that they're willing to entertain conversations. It's a clean CR, which would actually be a victory for Democrats. I think, based on negotiations in the past.
BREAM: And when it comes to --
CHAMBERS: And once other Republicans, I was going to say, they don't view in the House leadership themselves as having tremendous leverage right now.
BREAM: They don't. Not when you're talking about --
(CROSSTALK)
CHAMBERS: -- additional policy proposals passed through this.
BREAM: Well, and Kevin, I can't imagine you think people want to leave Washington for the holidays.
WALLING: I'll be here.
BREAM: I'll be here, too.
All right, panel, stick around. House Republicans, subpoenaed Hunter and James Biden as their impeachment inquiry ramps up. Our panel on the widening legal woes for the families of both presidential frontrunners, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BREAM: Less than a year before the presidential election officially now. The leading candidates of both parties and their families are facing mounting legal woes.
Fox News Correspondent Lucas Tomlinson is in Wilmington, Delaware, traveling with the president.
Hey, Lucas.
LUCAS TOMLINSON, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Shannon, House Republicans taking aim at President Biden's family and associates, issuing subpoenaing to the president's son, brother and their wives.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REP. JAMES COMER (R-KY): We're at the point now where we can connect the dots, and it's time to bring the Bidens in and that's why we issued the subpoenas today.
TOMLINSON (voice over): Hunter's lawyer responding to House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer calling this, quote, "another political stunt." A point echoed by the White House.
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: But I will have to say, something that I have said many times, this is an investigation that has been going on for a year now and has turned up zero evidence of wrongdoing by the president because there is none.
TOMLINSON: Former President Trump remaining defiant in his own legal battles. Monday he's expected back in court in New York to begin his defense in the civil trial.
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: They indicted me for nothing. They indicted me because they said I inflated numbers.
TOMLINSON: The dozens of charges the GOP frontrunner still faces have not hurt him in the polls and haven't kept him from beating Biden in many head- to-head matchups.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You don't believe you're trailing in battleground states?
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No, I don't.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TOMLINSON (on camera): President Biden will spend the rest of the weekend here in Wilmington preparing to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in San Francisco on Wednesday.
Shannon.
BREAM: All right, Lucas Tomlinson with the president in Delaware. Thank you.
We are back now with our panel.
OK, Abbe Lowell, who is an attorney for Hunter, says of these subpoenas, he's "eager to have the opportunity, in a public forum and at the right time, to discuss these matters with the committee."
Rich, he's probably going to get the opportunity.
LOWRY: Yes. At the right time, I think is the key part of that - that statement.
BREAM: Right.
LOWRY: He's being -
BREAM: We're not available right now.
LOWRY: He'd be a moron to testify given the - the serious criminal liability - venerability (ph) he has -
BREAM: Ignore the subpoena? Don't comply?
LOWRY: Yes, no, there's this thing called the Fifth Amendment.
BREAM: Right. There's that.
LOWRY: And -- and he'll end up invoking that. It's always embarrassing. You know, you get criticized for it. But I think that he'll do it and James will do it as well.
BREAM: Hmm. OK. So, we've got from the -- reaction from the White House. They're clearly not excited about this either. Ian Sams saying, "instead of using the power of Congress to pursue a partisan, political smear campaign against the president and his family, extreme House Republicans should do their jobs." He says that means lowering inflation, creating jobs, taking care of the border.
But, Mario, frankly, those are a lot of things the president doesn't poll well on.
PARKER: No. And, again, going back to the poll that we released earlier this week, the president just doesn't get credit for those kitchen table items that he's really tried to set out, the Inflation Reduction Act, building manufacturing here in the U.S., addressing prescription drugs as well.
And to Francesca's point, voters continue to look at former President Donald Trump as the leader on those issues, the one that they trust the most. And that's very frustrating for the president. And you're seeing that in the frustration in not being able to get that message across to the voters as well. That ad buy that they had this past week, for example, they're still trying really hard to penetrate that - that - that psyche.
BREAM: But this week the White House and many Democrats felt encouraged by the election results in many of these state elections across the country. There's a little bit of warning, though, in "Politico," saying, "Several strategists and officials who worked on this year's successful campaigns said they fear there would now be a sense of complacency about November 20024 because of what happened in November of 2023."
Kevin, are they extrapolating these victories too far or are those more accurate than the polls?
WALLING: I don't think there's going to be any complacency on behalf of Democrats if Donald Trump is the nominee for the Republicans.
Listen, you know, we saw in Kentucky, for example, $30 million spent trying to tie the incumbent Democratic governor to Joe Biden. And it failed miserably.
BREAM: And to be fair, he didn't -- he didn't want to be tied to him either. I mean Beshear was not --
WALLING: Well, certainly, but he also campaigned on a lot of those issues. He talked about the Inflation Reduction Act. He talked about fixing that bridge with Mich McConnell, some of the key bipartisan issues that Joe Biden has staked his whole candidacy on.
LOWRY: But yet you can't make an analogy between Andy Beshear, his family's an institution in Kentucky, that an eight -- 60 percent approval rating, ran as a moderate, to Joe Biden, because losing on every major issue, except for abortion, to - is beating Joe Biden in every major issue, including the economy by 20 points. If Trump is ahead by 20 points on the economy in November 2024, he could be in Rikers, he could be in jail and still win the election.
BREAM: He might be. And he has said that nothing is going to stop him from running and it has happened before. It wouldn't be the first presidential campaign from jail.
LOWRY: It's true.
BREAM: I think there would be a lot between here and there, innocent until proven guilty otherwise. But it's not just the issue with the polling we see head-to-head. There's also this.
Manchin's not going to run for re-election, Senator Manchin. That gives Democrats a problem with trying to hold on to the Senate. But it also may give them a headache in the run for the White House because now you've got Jill Stein, the Green Party presidential nominee, who had significant pickup in previous elections that could have actually changed some of the results. Cornell West is getting in. RFK Jr. is in. And "The Hill" says this, "recent polling suggested that Kennedy could draw more support from former President Trump than from Biden. West, running from the left, will almost surely take more from Biden than from Trump. The effects of the candidacies of Stein and Manchin, if they happen, are harder to compute."
It's harder to even poll (ph) that, Francesca.
CHAMBERS: And "USA Today" has - I think that's the poll they might have been referring to there, but Manchin notably said that he's going to be going around the country, talking to people -
BREAM: A listening tour.
CHAMBERS: Yes, a listening tour. People who are maybe in the middle who want to have this conversation. So, not exactly ruling out a potential third-party bid with those comments.
But as it pertains to President Biden, you know, one of the issues that the White House has pushed as something that would be good for him is his foreign policy experience, his leadership on the world stage. And in that polling, he wasn't winning on those issues either. So, even if this does becomes a foreign policy election, as has been projected, that doesn't necessarily bode well for him either.
BREAM: Well, and yesterday you saw the president -- former President Trump's speech that he gave was all about keeping us out of World War III. And his argument is, I got us out of stuff, not into stuff.
Kevin, that's something that if they go head-to-head, President Biden is going to have to find a way to defend where we are.
WALLING: Well, it sounds like in that speech that he gave in New Hampshire that he wants to keep us out of World War III, but he wants to start World War III internally in the United States, sicking (ph) the U.S. military on dissidents and the left.
BREAM: Well, I think -
LOWRY: (INAUDIBLE) Ron DeSantis.
WALLING: Yes, exactly. So, again, we'll - those issues will certainly play out. We'll see if it will be a foreign policy election, to Francesca's point.
LOWRY: But I think Trump's argument that things were quieter because people didn't know what I was going to do and were - were afraid of me has a lot of intuitive appeals to people.
BREAM: Well, from the thousands who were there listening to that speech and cheering for it last night, they were definitely buying what he was selling. So -
WALLING: Heaven help us all.
BREAM: Well, listen, when he's up 30, 40 percent - points on the rest of the GOP field, we'll see. You saw we talked with Ambassador Haley. Is there any way to close it? Iowa's coming soon. We'll find out.
CHAMBERS: Two months.
BREAM: All right, panel, thank you very much.
This Veteran's Day weekend we're focusing on a heart-warming way to help our vets. Up next, I got to visit a unique place with veterans train therapy dogs for other veterans and in doing so try to heal all of them. Our Sunday special is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BREAM: This Veteran's Day weekend, Americans are stopping to thank and honor our vets and to talk about how we can try to repay or help them as they get back to civilian life. In that spirit I visited a special organization that's finding a way to help warriors recover from the trauma of war one puppy at a time. It's today's Sunday special.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BUDDY NINER, VETERAN: Even if you have rough nights, bad days, they're always there for you. Good days, they're there.
BREAM (voice over): Buddy Niner is a Department of Defense firefighter who served in the Air National Guard and with the Marines in Afghanistan. And he was looking for a little help when he returned home.
NINER: We had people that didn't come home. One day on Facebook I was scrolling through and I ended up seeing some puppies that were named after those Marines and Navy Corps men. And I called down here and said, I hope these puppies are going to be something great because they have big shoes to fill.
BREAM (voice over): What Buddy found was Warrier Canine Connection, a program that helps veterans reintegrate into their families and communities through the healing power of man's best friend.
NINER: This is Bee (ph), my service dog. I paired with her in July of 2022. And she comes to me -- with me to work, the farm, at home, with the family, everywhere.
RICK YOUNT, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, WARRIOR CANINE CONNECTION: Each of our dogs, you know, helps dozens and dozens of veterans.
BREAM (voice over): Rick Yount, who has decades of experience in animal assisted therapy, founded his organization in 2008. He calls it mission- based trauma recovery.
BREAM: What do you hear from your veterans?
YOUNT: The mission to train a dog for another vet is what makes it really compelling for veterans to do things that they would never do otherwise.
BREAM (voice over): Before a dog can be trained, it needs a good upbringing. And that's where puppy parents come in. Molly Morelli is in charge of that and she says the process starts long before these little guys are even born.
BREAM: Tell us how important those puppy raiser families are.
MOLLY MORELLI, PROGRAM DIRECTOR, WARRIOR CANINE CONNECTION DOG: They are volunteering their time, their home, their families to raise these dogs to ultimately turn around and - and have them placed. They are some of the most selfless people I've ever met.
BREAM (voice over): Puppy parents volunteer to house and raise service dogs for nearly two years before they are placed with their forever veteran.
Yount says vets are often trainers for the young pups, teaching them to assist and serve another vet, which often helps to heal their own invisible wounds.
YOUNT: It involves having these dogs learn to accept the world as a safe place and to be comfortable around crowds. So, these are very much the - many of the issues that veterans are struggle with themselves.
BREAM (voice over): The program has impacted Buddy so much he says he's going back to school to become a full-fledged dog trainer himself.
NINER: A lot of times, like a lot of veterans, they try to withdraw from society and do their own thing, just spend time just by theirselves where as when you have a service dog it gives a lot of veterans a purpose to get up every day.
BREAM: It's not overstating it to say they're being saved because of the work you're doing here.
YOUNT: Yes, it's not overstating it at all. Veterans sleeping for the first time through the night because of having a sweet dog in their bed. It - it's purpose.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BREAM: Warrior Canine Connection helps about 1,500 vets each year. If you'd like to learn more about the organization visit warriorcanineconnection.org. Very, very difficult not to take a puppy home.
All right, just a quick note, my podcast, "Livin' the Bream," drops fresh this morning. I sat down with Cole Lyle. He's a veteran who started a non- profit that, among other things, pays the bills for veteran's service dogs. It's all good all around.
That is it for us today. Thank you for joining us. I'm Shannon Bream. God bless our veterans and their families. Have a great week. We'll see you next FOX NEWS SUNDAY.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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