>> our goal isn't to fight the palestinian civilians, it's to fight the hamas terrorists and we make a distinction between the two, they don't. >> far too many palestinians has been killed, much more needs to be done. >> john: right now israeli forces reportedly closing in on gaza's largest hospital where they say hamas is hiding in its massive terror complex below ground. suggesting the group uses tunnels below al-shifa hospitals to store weapons and posing a major challenge for the military strategy. i'm john roberts in washington. good friday afternoon to be with you. >> gillian: i'm gillian turner in for sandra, she has the day off. as the fighting rages on, u.s. bases are taking fire in the middle east. launched 47 total attacks against u.s. troops and assets. >> john: two days ago, president biden ordered airstrikes against targets in syria to stop attacks, but iran and proxies are simply thumbing their nose at biden. so, why won't the white house do more to shut down iran? >> gillian: fox team coverage from the breaking news over the next two hours. >> john: alex hogan is live on the ground in northern israel where things have been heating up. alex. >> cross border attacks between the idf and hezbollah have continued throughout the afternoon and into the evening. as many as five israeli soldiers have been wounded today and one civilian. idf says it was able to detect three foreign drones heading this way earlier today. meanwhile in the south, idf hammers hamas targets by land and air and sea. the idf says since october 7th, it has struck 15,000 times on hamas targets. new tactics are being used to try to destroy those tunnels that given likely hostages who remain in there. there's no word just yet on the two hostages that could be released. on thursday, islamic jihad announced it would send back an elderly woman and young boy that they could not care for medically. prime minister benjamin netanyahu says the goal to remilitarize gaza and then rebuild. >> to restore security to make sure that there is no hamas and hamas does not return. but also to make sure that there will be a better life for them in the future. >> and as israel approves these temporary pauses to allow palestinian civilians to flee south, tens of thousands of civilians are doing just that, evacuating every day. this is not a ceasefire, this is what they are calling tactical localized pauses, it's taking place in just certain closed off areas and residents there are given as many as three hours to prepare to leave and to head south. we are also learning more about new attacks on u.s. bases overseas, as many as five of those attacks taking place just in the last several days. 47 attacks on u.s. bases since october 17th. john. >> john: the deterrence does not seem to be doing a whole lot. alex, thanks. >> gillian: as john says, the deterrence efforts may not be resonating with the iran militia groups. proxy groups have carried out at least five known attacks after they struck a syrian target two days ago. michael allen has more on this, but first jennifer griffin joins us from the pentagon. >> as you mentioned, there's been another attack by iranian proxy forces against u.s. troops in syria, the fifth since the u.s. carried out airstrikes on an iranian revolutionary guard storage facility wednesday, a strike supposed to deter iran and proxies. that brings the attacks on u.s. forces to 47 since mid october. this time u.s. troops shot down a one-way attack drone in eastern syria this morning. no injuries or damage. defense secretary lloyd austin issued a warning from new delhi, india, meeting with leaders to bolster ties with india in the pacific ahead of next week's meeting between president biden and xi of china. >> rest assured that we will trike at a time and place of our choosing and these attacks against our people must stop. you know, in -- you know, if they don't stop, again, we are going to do what's necessary to protect our people. >> that was a message for the leaders of iran and their proxies. u.s. central command released this video of the u.s. airstrike in syria wednesday. it shows the two u.s. f-15 fighter jets bombing a weapons storage facility used by the irgc. after that, three u.s. troops received minor injuries at green village in syria from a multi-rocket attack, and thursday, u.s. troops hit a roadside bomb near mosul, again no u.s. injuries. and they say now 56 u.s. service members have reported injuries since october 17th. half of them traumatic brain injuries. >> what we assess is 25 of our forces, of our troop members have been diagnosed with tbi. the other additional injuries are very minor. i mean, talking like headache, rolled ankle, cuts, but that is it. all have returned to duty. >> the u.s. has not yet responded to the downing of a u.s. mq9 reaper drone wednesday off the coast of yemen, $32 million drone, gillian. >> gillian: jennifer griffin at the pentagon. thank you. >> john: michael allen, former national security councilmember and managing director of beacon strategies. issue of attacks against american forces, deterrence strikes against the proxies, i took this up with senator chris coons of delaware who just returned from israel and met with president biden about this on wednesday night. >> in the days after 9/11, george bush famously said i'm not going to fire a $2 million missile at a $10 tent and hit a camel in the bus. but in essence, in response to the attacks against american forces in the middle east appears to be what biden is doing. >> john, i don't understand your metaphor. this was not a camel in a tent shot in his butt. it was an irgc munitions depot struck by two fighters and i think the president is perfectly clear we need to respond, we need to show the willingness and the determination to strike every time that there is a strike that causes injury, damage, loss of life, to american troops, contractors, facilities. >> john: as gillian was pointing out since that strike, five more attacks against u.s. interests in the region. so, it would appear whether it's hitting a camel in the butt with a cruise missile or taking out a storage facility, the deterrence effect is about the same. >> i was so glad you raised that example because what that came out in was the 9/11 commission report in a section about missed opportunities to kill osama bin laden and go after al-qaeda when bill clinton just hit a few tents in the middle of afghanistan. that's a direct on par analogy and i think it works here. president biden is too obsessed with escalation control at the expense of effective deterrence. he is going to have a world of hurt on his hands very soon when one of these explosive-laden drones gets through the missile defense in iraq and kills a number of u.s. servicemen and women. then he will be on the hook to respond in a much greater way and that's the escalation control he's trying to avoid but if he would just go ahead and step this up a bit, maybe he could head it off at the pass. >> gillian: a foreign war, like the war against al-qaeda, taking place in a foreign country on the ground. but the reality as we all know, americans have been involved in this directly since the beginning. americans were taken hostage on october 7th, americans forced to flee, hundreds of americans and family members are trapped inside gaza at the rafah gate for weeks now. what is the appropriate deterrence here? >> in this case, when hezbollah is hitting us repeatedly, to hit empty storage sheds is obviously not enough. i'm not saying they need to go high order like trump did and kill soleimani or the new head of the irgc. >> john: that sure knocked them back. >> knocked them back and may be appropriate later, but they need to have a more fullsome bay, iraq is a sovereign country but we need to work with the iraqi government to figure out a way to push back on hezbollah inside of iraq instead of hitting storage sheds in another country. >> john: nobody killed so far in the attacks, which is different from the attacks that prompted trump to take out soleimani. but so many more attacks. general jack keane is on the same page as you are in terms of stepping this up now so you don't have to do it later. >> what we need to do is recognize the iranians are pulling the strings here. they do not want direct conflict with the united states. that is why they use their proxies. they know they would lose their regime in a war with the united states, and you just got to understand that and have the spine to stand up to them. >> john: he seems to indicate, michael, that there is no down side to escalating now because iran won't do anything. but unless you punch them in the nose hard right now, they are going to continue to do this, until, as you point out, americans die. >> that's right. they have set up 4 or 5 proxy forces around the region to harass us and harass israel and they are going to play fast and loose until they feel the steel of the united states of america. not just doing it because we want to be full of bravado, but to protect our own people. we have interests and lives all over the region and they need to know that we are serious. i think it's a theme from biden, the pull out of afghanistan, now overcautiousness on the chinese front, and not transferring enough weapons soon enough in ukraine that led us into a near stalemate, so we have seen this over and over and it's not serving us well. >> gillian: this war is a big ticket item on the agenda when president biden meets president xi face-to-face next week, big news, they are going to see each other one-on-one at apec. biden administration official told reporters last night they are going to talk about the israel-gaza war, chinese interference in u.s. elections, talk about taiwan, what else needs to figure high up on the short list? >> fentanyl needs at the very top of the list, precursors from china. put them on notice to quit harassing our allies in the south china sea. it's not just taiwan, it's now the philippines, and we need to get them to ratchet back their behavior. we have to deter china from going after taiwan soon and not going to be able to do that if we are pussy footing along trying to get along with the chinese in san francisco. >> john: and also if we can't deter iranian proxies, how will we deter china? >> exactly. thank you. >> gillian: also this we are tracking a new complaint filed by the trump camp alleges the 2020 biden campaign pushed the narrative that the hunter biden laptop story was russian disinformation. miranda devine has a lot to say about that. she'll be joining us next. >> john: west virginia senator joe manchin announcing he will not seek re-election, a major blow to democrats putting the senate majority in peril. will it up end the white house, too. charlie hurt ahead. >> basically presenting himself as the old fashioned moderate democrat that used to be more of them, kind of the guy that joe 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(car engine revs) (engine accelerating) (texting clicks) (tires squeal) (glass shattering) (loose gravel clanking) >> gillian: welcome back. pro trump organization has filed a complaint with the fec, federal election commission alleging dozens of ex-intelligence officials worked to discredit the hunter biden laptop story as russian disinformation ahead of the 2020 election. alleges that campaign officials failed to file required paperwork that would have revealed ties between officials and campaign staff. miranda devine, columnnist for "the new york post" and fox news contributor. this is a story that sort of becomes more complicated every time we talk about it. but what's going on here is this is a political battle that has been fought largely in the media, it seems like the america first legal organization run by steven miller has now taken moves to bring this political argument into the sort of legal or regulatory sphere. what do you make of it? >> yeah, that's right, gillian, and i think the next step will be to go to court to sue these people. in the meantime, the fec has this complaint and there's new information that has been added to the complaint from a former acting cia director who testified to congress that he wrote that letter and circulated it on the behest of the biden campaign who also helped with the media strategy for releasing it. so mike gets a call from antony blinken, then a senior adviser with the biden campaign, now of course the secretary of state, and he prompted morell to write the letter saying it was russian disinformation, 51 former intelligence officials have never been held to account, let's hope it's the beginning of it. >> gillian: miranda, two things to look at and your response to. number one, take a listen to the secretary, the now secretary of state. he spoke to fox news a few months ago, and on the record denied having any involvement in any of this. take a listen. >> one of the great benefits of this job is that i don't do politics and don't engage in it. but with regard to that letter, i didn't -- wasn't my idea, didn't ask for it, didn't solicit it, and i think the testimony that the former deputy director of the cia put forward confirms that. >> gillian: take a look at this, from the complaint itself reads the evidence suggests the respondents failed to disclose coordinated expenditures constituting in kind donations with respect to the infamous letter of 51 former intelligence officials claiming the hunter biden laptop story had "all the classic ear marks of russian disinformation." how do you square these two sides of the story? >> well, antony blinken is being completely disingenuous. you know from mike's emails and testimony between him and the other various signatories, the biden campaign was intimately involved. not only did morell say it did not occur to him to write the letter until he got a call from antony blinken shortly after the story was published and it caused great consternation inside the biden campaign and mike said that he only thought of the idea after that phone call, and after antony blinken sent him a story from u.s.a. today claiming without any evidence on anonymous sources that our story was russian disinformation. so therefore, mike morell sets about writing this dishonest letter, and then, of course, when it came time to ceding that letter to the media so joe biden had a talking point when he came up against donald trump at the final debate, that was also coordinated by the biden campaign and afterwards there are emails to mike from the biden campaign, including from steve raketti, then the biden campaign boss, congratulating him for writing the letter. and mike morell specifically says he wrote the letter to help joe biden win the election. >> gillian: we have to leave it there. thanks for taking time with us. >> thanks, gillian. >> john: you know who knows a lot about this, dan hoffman, a frequent guest on this program and others here in the network. he was sent that letter and asked to sign on to it and he's told us several times never did they ask for an opinion as to whether or not he thought that this was russian disinformation or something else. it was already cooked and all they were doing is shopping signatures for it. >> gillian: and they are a campaign is more than welcome to do that. the problem, as i understand it, john, because campaigns do this kind of stuff all the time in terms of getting former officials to sign on to whatever they want. you can have them say the sky is orange, if that's what they want to push. the problem is, if you have sitting officials coordinating this in any aspect, that's where the violation of campaign regulations comes into play. >> john: and did not have the added benefit of being true. >> gillian: well, who follows that. >> john: george w. bush is honoring the brave men and women who serve the country. annual warrior ride is giving veterans a chance to heal. our dr. marc siegel on two wheels looks at the former commander in chief's veteran's day tradition. >> gillian: idf is continuing the ground operation in gaza. u.s. air force general rob spalding is up next and what is complicating israel's efforts now to put a stop to hamas. >> this network, this huge network of tunnels that is located underneath the gaza city, kind of a city of its own. it's a different complex. it can allow people to survive there for weeks, if not for months. veteran homeowners. have you tried getting a home improvement loan at a bank lately? 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(♪) ( ♪ ) growing up, hughes and cowboys were one and the same. my daddy's a cowboy. i'm a cowboy and i'm raising a cowgirl. and discovering that my family come from farmers, for generations. this life is in our blood. and we ain't stopping no time soon. give the gift of family heritage with ancestry. theo's nose was cause for alarm, so dad brought puffs plus lotion to save it from harm. puffs has 50% more lotion and brings soothing relief. don't get burned by winter nose. a nose in need deserves puffs indeed. america's #1 lotion tissue. >> john: israel's defense minister facing new challenges as he says hamas may be holding hostages inside the tunnel system. the terrorist group also believed to be hiding itself in the underground complex. retired u.s. air force brigadier general rob spalding joins us now. so gallant, the defense minister said there will be no ceasefire, rob, until the hostages are released. but he has also said that israel is going to eliminate every individual that had anything to do with october 7th, even if it takes years. kinds of like the mossad did with the 1976 munich olympics killers. hamas could release hostages to save their hides but sounds like their goose is cooked anyway. how do you get the hostages out? >> fighting in tunnels and underground is something the u.s. army has been concerned about for quite some time and you know, particularly in the special operations career field. they have been talking about this. so, how do you get them out safely? that's going to be difficult. the bigger problem is how do we stabilize the middle east as this conflict continues because it's going to impact a lot of things, to include energy supplies, and potentially, you know, even broader, israeli security, you know, as this thing continues to heat up. >> gillian: general, take a listen to this, this is journalist explaining exact why the tunnels are so treacherous for the idf tunnels to navigate, such a strategic challenge. >> the tunnels are built in floors. it's not just one tunnel going like that, but small tunnel, then underneath it a bigger tunnel, and underneath it even a bigger tunnel that allows driving in motor bikes, for example. so it's not just kind of a small tunnel you, john, need to crawl in the dark. >> gillian: sounds like quite a quandary. >> yeah, there are some new tools, you know, we have small uavs, even lethal uavs and other things that can go into tunnels. but then you get into, you know, how far is the radio transmission going to allow that thing to operate. a lot of challenges. some new technology will be brought to bear but as i said, you know, likely the u.s. military will be consulted, it's something they have been thinking about a lot time, i'm sure the israelis do, too. >> john: they have something called a sponge bomb, and like the sealant foam from home depot it expands quickly and seals off the tunnel, at least temporarily. they have so far we understand destroyed 130 tunnel entrances but 300 miles of tunnels in gaza, and a lot of those tunnels are underneath this al-shifa hospital, idf says is the headquarters for hamas. general, how do you smoke hamas out of an underground complex under a hospital without having to engage in measures that will invite international condemnation for attacking a hospital? >> well, there's -- there is some, you know, ability to go in, you know, above ground and collapse tunnels with weapons that are dropped from, you know, very high altitude. there's also, you know, obviously the ability to go in after them, using the uavs and other small, you know, autonomous drones, if you will. but, it's going to be difficult. it's not something that, you know, is kind of the main line of training and equipping for the forces. it's kind of a niche capability. and hamas has had a tremendous amount of time to booby trap and put in layers of defenses within there, and i'm sure that they are expecting that to come in. so, you know, personally, i would like to take as much of it as an air man, i would like to take as much from the air, collapse the tunnels using weapons and i assume that there is some thought of doing that as well. >> gillian: in your assessment, when you hear the prime minister netanyahu and you hear the idf spokesman say over and over that they are going to eradicate hamas and they are going to root out every last one of the tunnels, does that seem to you a probable or even an achievable goal? >> well, certainly achievable because if you have the will you can find a way to do it. is it going to be easy? no, i think it's going to take them a lot of effort and time. this is not something that's going to be over. it's kind of funny. because if you go back to the russian invasion in ukraine, there was expectation that thing was going to be over, it's still going on now into the second year. i would expect this to go on equally for some time, and then as it continues to go on, you are going to see continued proxies coming out not just from gaza but other areas after israel and after u.s. forces in the region as well. >> john: all right. retired brigadier general rob spalding. have a good weekend. >> gillian: thank you, sir. >> thank you. >> gillian: coming up ahead of veteran's day, former president george bush is honoring men and women on the veteran ride, a two-hour mountain bike on his ranch in texas. dr. marc siegel is there in crawford and will tell us everything going on. hi, dr. siegel, you are with us now. i'm sorry, i was not trying to get rid of you. i thought we were tossing to a break. >> we are in prairie chapel ranch, just beautiful. original prairie in texas that is president bush's ranch. finished the two hour mountain bike ride. 43 miles of trails, president 43, and loving, caring, kindness and i spoke to president bush and not an accident, personal, one-on-one, kindness, healing, and i asked what do veterans do when they leave here, and answer not just for the vets but the world on veteran's day. take a look. >> my advice is stay positive. if you study history, u.s. history, we go through cycles of being down and yet americans ought to realize how blessed we are to live in this country. yeah, images are grim and yes, there's violence, but ultimately love overcomes hate. and the case throughout history, the case now, and i know that sounds corny to some of your listeners, that's why i stay optimistic, i know it's going to happen. >> you know, gillian, he talked about how sad it was that little children are dying in the world and how hard it is to see these images. but he also talked about vets that are in the darkness and how to bring them out of the darkness, which is what the busch foundation is trying to do. with me now is colonel patty collins, incredible story herself of recovery, resilience, she lost her leg and yet served in the army for nine years after that. what do you think president bush saying we have to move out of the darkness. an i think you are right. and opportunities like this to gather as a group of veterans, not be sad what happened to us, but rejoice our time together and celebrate one another and push forward is what it's all about. >> and now you are working for the government publishing office. the person in charge. >> i am. >> how does it feel to make it there? >> it was a great opportunity, wonderful place to give back and serve the government by working at the government publishing office. honor and opportunities like this built up and motivated by friends and peers and president bush that help me achieve that. >> you are a real inspiration, as is president bush. back to you. >> gillian: great to see you getting out there, and good to see president bush as well. thank you so much. >> thanks, gillian. >> gillian: coming up this veteran's day weekend, help fox support america's veterans and end veteran homelessness, make camo, also scan the qr code on the screen. we hope you will do it. >> i believe in my heart of hearts that i have accomplished what i set out to do for west virginia. i have made one of the toughest decisions of my life, and decided that i will not be running for re-election to united states senate. >> john: political bombshell from west virginia senator joe manchin. what is the really reason he's stepping down and could he be shooting for a higher office? charlie hurt ahead on that. >> gillian: plus this, the israel-hamas war taking a toll on big tech. what some tech giant employees are now demanding. it may surprise you. we handcraft every stearns & foster using the finest materials, like indulgent memory foam, and ultra-conforming innersprings, for a beautiful mattress and indescribable comfort. for a limited time, save up to $800 on select stearns & foster adjustable mattress sets. israel is under attack and jewish families are in danger. israel's enemies seek our destruction. the people of israel need immediate help. rockets have us squarely in the crosshairs. our people are targets in their own homes. many have lost everything and fear for their lives. the international fellowship of christians and jews has launched an urgent response to rescue those affected by this violent attack. our teams are on the ground across israel delivering lifesaving aid. your urgently needed gift of only $45 will help rush food, water, medicine and emergency supplies for jewish families that have nowhere to turn. time is literally running out. what we need you to do is to act now. ♪ ♪ ♪ we're building a better postal service. for more on-time deliveries. and easier, affordable ways to ship. so you can deliver even more holiday joy. the united states postal service. delivering for america. it's easy to get lost in investment research. introducing j.p. morgan personal advisors. hey david. connect with an advisor to create your personalized plan. let's find the right investments for your goals okay, great. j.p. morgan wealth management. >> john: west virginia democratic senator joe manchin throwing a monkey wrench into his party's plans announcing he will not seek re-election in 2024. not only does his departure leave open a highly coveted senate seat, also stirs up speculation he may be setting his sights on higher office. that in just a minute. charlie hurt, opinion editor for the washington times and fox news contributor and launch us why do you think, charlie, manchin is getting out, and i ask this question because there is an emerson poll from a few days ago that shows him down 13 points against jim justice in head to head match-up. >> oh, i'm sure it had nothing to do with that. he just wanted to spend more time doing other things, i'm sure he wasn't worried about his political future. no, i think it has everything to do with that. i think it has to do with the fact that he was looking at almost certain defeat against jim justice. but the other thing is that he was going to -- he was going against the head winds of donald trump on the ballot the same time that he was trying to get re-elected. so far he had dodged that, his last election was in 2018, and he was not able to break 50%. meanwhile, in 2016, donald trump won west virginia by 68%, with 68% support in west virginia. that's like beyond landslide. that's like dictatorship level of support in west virginia and 2020, donald trump got more support in west virginia. and so that's what joe manchin was looking at. he saw the numbers, he realized, and he's taken some really unpopular votes that west virginia does not like, and he's like i'm out of here, i can't climb this mountain. >> john: he used to brag he never lost an election since he got into this in the early 1990s. i guess he wanted to leave with an unblemished record. >> he was about to. >> john: in terms of future plans, listen to this sort of cryptic message that manchin issued when he talked about not seeking re-election. listen here. >> what i will be doing is travelling the country and speaking out to see if there is an interest in creating a movement to mobilize the middle and bring americans together. >> john: there you go. third party run. what do you think? >> yeah, that's what he's thinking but these people always think this. and these guys never think -- everybody in congress thinks they are going to be the next president or should be the next president. joe manchin is no different. i think that, you know, and the reason i think this is kind of strange is he's going to go around the country and try to challenge basically trump is what he's doing, he's going to try to challenge trump around the country in places that aren't even his home state. he realizes the trump effect is going to destroy him in west virginia and somehow thinking he can take the show on the road and go around the country and somehow get a different result. i think the result is going to wind up being the same. he's quitting west virginia, he does not want t lose his first election there. if he decides to get into this, lose another election elsewhere, and i don't think it's going to wind up hurting trump, i think that it winds up -- if it hurts anybody, wind up hurting joe biden. >> john: will it or won't it, nbc news had some interesting data on that exact topic. they did a couple polls here in head to head match-up with no third party candidates, biden and trump tie each other, 46/46. look at what happens when you add in a third party candidate. trump's likelihood of election drops to 39 points, reduction of seven points, biden to 36, 10-point difference, third party candidate could attract up to 14% of voter support. still a number of undecided voters in tcalculation as well. we have a couple third party, jill stein may be come back as well, it could be curtains for joe biden. >> yeah, and when you look at the other third party candidates, the only one that seems to present any sort of problem would be an rfk, jr., because he is sort of in that, you know, that flame thrower of speaking honestly and that sort of hurts trump, i think, a little bit more than it hurts joe biden. but at the end of the day, trump supporters are really, really, really love their guy. joe biden supporters don't necessarily really, really love biden, the people who are passionate about biden are mainly passionate because they really dislike trump and i think at the end of the day if you, you know, when you pile third party candidates into that mix, it's not going to hurt the guy that people really, really love on their side as much as it hurts the guy that is -- doesn't have that sort of enthusiasm. >> john: we will see what happens, and we'll see what he decides. charlie. great to be with you. very entertaining. what do you think? >> gillian: interesting to hear some democrats say well, we already knew this was coming, baked into the calculus, nothing to see here. >> john: i don't want to say it was a foregone conclusion but it did look like jim justice had the inside tract to take that seat. >> gillian: a far different claim from this is no big deal, we saw it coming, we got it under control. i think it does constitute maybe not a crisis but a challenge for the electoral map. >> john: based on the last couple of cycles, including on tuesday, democrats do better than people expect them to. republicans have to make sure they don't take their foot off the pedal. >> gillian: no one will walk away unscathed and not easy for anybody here. >> john: sounds like a hockey game. >> gillian: it does. i don't know how i would know that, i never watch hockey what i was just thinking. >> john: i played a lot of hockey, i know what i'm talking about. >> gillian: also this, the justice department is under fire, facing a second congressional investigation on alleged spying of republican staffers on capitol hill. plus this. >> john: pro palestinian protestors taking to the streets blocking traffic in midtown manhattan. similar action in los angeles, atlanta, milwaukee and elsewhere. david rubin has some thoughts on why some of protestors may be not fully informed about what's really going on. she runs and plays like a puppy again. his #2s are perfect! he's a brand new dog, all in less than a year. when people switch their dog's food from kibble to the farmer's dog, they often say that it feels like magic. but there's no magic involved. (dog bark) it's simply fresh meat and vegetables, with all the nutrients dogs need— instead of dried pellets. just food made for the health of dogs. delivered in packs portioned for your dog. it's amazing what real food can do. veterans, if you're applying for a home loan to get cash...surprise. some lenders charge hundreds upfront for your appraisal and other fees. not at newday. a veteran shouldn't have to come up with money to get money. that first time you take a step back. i made that. with your very own online store. i sold that. and you can manage it all in one place. i built this. and it was easy, with a partner that puts you first. godaddy. >> gillian: welcome back. justice department is facing the prospect of yet another congressional investigation. republicans are accusing doj officials of spying on gop congressional staffers looking into the crossfire hurricane. alexandria hoff is digging into the details for us. when did all this allegedly take place? >> the alleged acts, they took place in 2017, so that was during the trump administration. a group of republican senators feel the staffers were victims of a vendetta campaign because at the time they were looking into the doj and fbi investigation into the trump campaign. what senators cruz, lee and grassley want to know, what the current department of justice has done about the issue. in a letter to attorney general merrick garland, described how a private phone and email were looked into the crossfire hurricane we were talking about, the decision by unelected government bureaucrats to investigate the elected congressional representatives and staff trying to hold them accountable is a true attack on our democracy. and this revelation that comes out of an october 23rd freedom of information act request by empower oversight, that's a group representing whistleblowers. the lawmakers now want to know who else was targeted, what phone and internet companies were issued subpoenas, and if the department still has the private records. at the same time, fox news has just learned that the instances of surveillance noted in the letter, part of a broader investigation into the leaking of national security investigation, led to the prosecution and conviction of the former director of security for the select committee on intelligence. so, right now the doj, they are not commenting on this letter. a senior official says it has been received and congress should expect a response next week. gillian. >> gillian: alex hoff, thank you. >> john: a high profile meeting on tap with chinese president xi jinping. shannon bream will tell us what, if anything, to expect from the meeting. >> gillian: plus this. federal investigators are trying to nail down who sent a letter to election offices in multiple states that contained fentanyl. was it an act of domestic terrorism as some folks are now claiming. ital. i was 5...6 years of age and i knew i was going to be a vet. once alexandra called me to let me know that bank of america had approved my loan... it was important to me. we not only just provide the financing piece, we do everything that we can to surround them with the right people. all you need is a perfect, amazing team that will guide you through the right steps to be successful. and that's what bank of america was for me. ♪ unnecessary action hero! ♪ -missing punches? 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