Transcripts For FOXNEWS America Reports 20240906

Thought for american workers like i would fight for my own family. I took care of our economy like i would take care of my own company. This election will decide whether or not we reward Kamala Harris with reelection, and four more years of crime, economic calamity, and international humiliation, or whether we change that direction, and once again build the greatest economy in the history of the world. Sandra thats former President Donald Trump laying out his vision to Business Leaders with the New York economic Club Right here in manhattan. Thats happening right now. All of this as his 2024 rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, is on the road arriving in pittsburgh where shell be preparing for tuesdays High Stakes debate. And that is where we are as we top a brandnew hour. Welcome, everyone. Im Sandra Smith in New York. Good to be with you. John im John Roberts in washington. This is america reports. The former president also promising gasoline at under 2 a gallon, and that he would appoint Elon Musk as his government efficiency czar. Both beefing up their economic plans, and the contrast cannot be more clear. Sandra the former president is pitching a federal Commission Led by Elon Musk to cut wasteful spending, and Vice President harris is proposing to raise the capital gains tax, pitching Tax Deductions for new small businesses. All while taking on the big corporations. John Fox Team Coverage starts now. Charles payne with analysis just ahead. Cant wait for that. But first, to Alexis Mcadams, live at the New York economic club where the former president just finished speaking. Alexis, quite a speech. Hey, john and sandra. Thats right, and he actually is still speaking right now, so im going to talk a little softer than i usually do. We are in new York City where former President Trump has been talking for about an hour and he is still going, really trying to outline his plan for the economy. Because when you go out and talk to voters in america, no matter where you are on the trail, they talk about the price at the gas pump, the grocery store, and overall inflation. They dont feel like their money and their dollar is going as far as it used to, and that is what former President Trump is focusing in on a new York City, Telling Americans who are watching that hes going to get the economy back on track. Watch. My plan will rapidly defeat inflation, quickly bring down prices, and reignite explosive economic growth. Kamala harris will take more money out of american pockets. My plan will leave the typical family with many thousands of dollars more than they have right now. Sell at Todays Event that is still going on right now, trump has introduced a government efficiency commission, recommended by Elon Musk. They have become pretty close, like buddies. Theyve been talking on x and doing those interviews. Elon musk has agreed to do it, according to trump, a and i mean trump is taking it even more aggressive swipe at regulations then during his first White House term. He also says hes going to conduct an audit of the entire federal government, something Elon Musk talked about on x, saying they are spending way too much money in america. We checked in with an american Billionaire And Hedge Fund Manager Jonathan Paulson a few moments ago. He told me hes been a major donor to trumps campaign because he believes that hes going to put the economy back on track. Former President Trump has talked about you on the trail. He floated your name publicly as being possibly secretary of treasury. Would you want that position and what would you do if you got that position . I wanted to do whatever i can to help the president and help the country. Is that a yes . Whatever i can do. Thank you. So tbd there, but hes going be on stage asking the president if you questions later. Vice president harris is in Pennsylvania Prepping for the next Weeks President ial debate. If you can believe it, its already here. Harris is going to be talking about big corporations and the ultrawealthy, how they should pay more in taxes, and that she will offer small Businesses Tax breaks. We will provide low and nointerest loans to small businesses that want to expand, and this is very important, we will cut the Red Tape that can make starting and growing a small business more difficult than it needs to be. More difficult than it needs to be. Really trying to contrast her plan with trump, but he says hes also here for the average american and will put more money in their pocket. He says Vice President Kamala Harris is going to take that away. We will keep you posted on any more major headlines that come out of new York City. John . John Alexis Mcadams for us at the New York economic club. Thank you. Sandra, and a son like that idea of gasoline for under 2 a gallon. Sandra almost everybody. And Charles Payne is here, host of Making Money on fox business. Ill make hooks a lot of money, lower gas prices. Hes laying out his plans. Is he articulated in planes at the american people that might sway voters . Lets put it that way. I think so. I like what hes saying, i like the way he saying it. Listen, particularly with the tariff part. Old school economists and things like that. He is walking us, first of all, through history, how we became the biggest country in the world. We didnt have taxes until 1913. I got the revenue in 1919 from the country. 48 came from excise tax, 30 from duties. So tariffs is how we made our money. Individual taxes were only 5. 9 , corporate 5. 6 . Imagine if we could start getting those down again. And there are some other lessons. He brought a dell maxima known as the napoleon of protection, and historians look back at what happened with him. It is ironic because it cost the republicans the election, but going back and looking at the tariffs he imposed in his time, it sped up the template so quickly in this country that it was actually more beneficial than the short increases of prices for consumers. Then again, many people dont know about the Fort Norm Mckinley the Mccumber Tariffs in 1922, but in 1920 we had the worst depression in his country outside the great depression. And as we came out of it, one of the tools we used were tariffs. Member, there was the thing called the Roaring 20s right after that. Sandra as you are speaking, just highlighting something coming from the president s speech just now, this is an important one, because how the candidates lay out their plan to perhaps increase housing or lower Housing Costs for americans, voters who believe The American Dream is sort of dwindling away when you cant afford to buy neck at home anymore. The former president just said to the economic club that he would open portions of federal land for largescale housing construction, in zones that will be ultralow tax and low regulation. This is interesting. Is this a plan that you would support . It is something interesting. Our government owns 50 of the land in this country, so not only is it interesting but it is something people have been pushing for for a very long time. The idea ultimately is there is this, where there is the socalled 50,000 for small businesses that No One ever is going to really qualify for. What is implementable . What can we really do to implement and jumpstart things . The affordability is the question right now. The lack of homes, the lack of affordability. Of those places we can build them cheaper and people can go and buy them on their own, there might be Sandra And Boost skilled labor, bring some of those wages down. If you increase the workforce all of that is important. Sandra and part of that obviously is inflation, because the cost to build those homes has skyrocketed. In a lot of cases it doesnt make sense to build the homes. We should point out a big chunk of those costs are regulations. Trump spent a lot of time talking today about how he took down regulations. I dont think the american public understands, if you look at the cost of anything, look at a gallon of gasoline. How much is Crude Oil . How much are regulations and other stuff and they are . Every time the government passes a new law, you have to pay for it in one form or another. Sandra this is more from the former president earlier on how he plans to defeat inflation, because those high prices are the biggest burden right now. To further defeat inflation, my plan will terminate the green new deal, which i called the green new scam, greatest scam in history, probably. A 10 Trillion scam that is throwing money right out the window. Sandra so that was the target of his speech just a short time ago. Meanwhile, on The Other Side, Kamala Harris enter economic vision for the country. This is ian sams, National Spokesperson for her campaign, defending her economic vision. Listen. The Vice President is doing that by talking about her economic vision, and it is really different. Its a new way forward not only for the Democratic Party, but for the country. Can you tell me what is really different cannot i got the capital gains rate, but what else on the list makes it different from whats been going on the past few years . Sure. She wants to take into effect the national law the take on corporate price gouging. There are distinctions here in this Candidates Message that she is sharing. Sandra whoa Okay X next to be prepared to articulate to those listeners, viewers, how her plan is different. What shes going to do now that she can be doing right now the White House. He doubled down on her pitch to go after price gouging. Right, to go after corporations. To me, this is the biggest threat of a Harris Presidency dampening american spirits. Dampening american spirits. This by the way, im going to do a big Town Hall next month talking about this, and my whole thing is the socalled war against Big Business is really a war against a successful small businesses. Walmart was started in rogers, arkansas. Its a sort of pull yourself up by the bootstraps. Target was started in a small town near minneapolis. All these Great American businesses were started in the heartland by rugged individuals. Same thing around the world. Anywhere theres been prosperity, the sort of protestant Work Ethic is at the root of it. So shes not going to war with Big Businesses, she is going to war with people out there thinking they can be independent from big government by doing it themselves. Thats what she can possibly destroy, what is at the foundation of our economic success. Sandra as you say that, i will throw out the latest poll on who you trust more to handle the economy. That falls to trump, 46 from all respondents. 38 Kamala Harris. Speaking of which, hes not taking questions at the economic club. Mr. John paulson, founder of paulson and company, and the Founder And Ceo of girls who code and moms for us. We are going to go in Alphabetical Order and therefore you have the first question. Thank you, bob, and thank you, mr. President. I would like to ask about the united states economic sanction programs. These programs have been used, as you well no, to advance our foreign interests, but they also have economic implications. In the most recent was the program against russia, in response to the ukrainian invasion of ukraine, where for once we got the support of all our allies. Semispecific question is, would you strengthen or modify any of these economic sanctions programs, particularly russia, including the pipeline you mentioned . Its a great question. The problem with what we have with sanctions and i was a user of sanctions, but i put them on and take them off as quickly as possible, because ultimately it kills your dollar and it kills everything the dollar represents, and we have to continue to have that be the World Currency. I think it is important and we would be losing a war. [applause] if we lost the dollar as the World Currency, i think it would be the equivalent of losing a war. That would make us a third world country. We cant let it happen. I use sanctions very powerfully against countries that deserve it, and then i take them off. Because, look, youre losing iran, you are losing russia. China is out there trying to get their currency to be the dominant currency, as you know better than anybody. All these things are happening. You are losing so many countries because there is so much conflict with all of these countries that you are going to lose that, and we cant lose that. I want to use sanctions as little as possible. One of the things that we have with tariffs is that, i will say to them, you dont honor the dollar as your World Currency is that right cannot you not going to do that . No, we are not. I say, thats okay, im going to put tariffs all over your product. And they say, sir, we would love to honor the dollar as the World Currency. Tariffs, in addition to monetary and the money we will take income a bigger than youve ever seen in his country before, it gives you tremendous political power. For something like that, as an example. I stopped wars with the threat of tariffs. I stopped wars with two countries that mattered a lot. A lot people would have been killed. And i threatened tariffs coming into the united states. If they dont make peace. We didnt have conflicts like we have right now. Wwe had very intelligent people. But the biggest threat you have is you lose that currency, and we have lost something youll never get that, and we can keep it if they are smart, but they use it too much and then forget about it. These countries like russia are going out now and doing its own thing, going out bragging about how they dont need us anymore, et cetera, et cetera. The sad part about russia is that ukraine would have never happened if i was president. So we wouldnt really have to be talking about sanctions. But it did happen, and one of the things im going to do, little bit relevant to your question, if we win i believe i can settle that war while im president elect, before ever get into office create i can get that war settled and get that war stopped, because it is a horrible, horrible war. In far more people are killed in ukraine. Far more people then you are realizing. They will knock down this massive building. They will say nobody is injured. A lot of people are killed. The real numbers are far greater than what people are looking at. So i think it is a very important thing. Sanctions have to be used very judiciously, and you can win. We have things much more powerful, actually, than sanctions. We have trade. But we cannot lose our dollar standard. Very important. Thank you very much. [applause] thank you, mr. President, for all the details on your economic policy. As you alluded to, tariffs on The Other Side of sanctions. Given that china is our major Trading Partner with our largest imbalance and possibly our chief national Security Threat to the united states, how can we better institutionalized Trade Policy and national Security Policy to be coordinated . I had a great relationship with President Xi of china. Really a very close relationship. Look, he likes china, i like us pete i dont want to sound foolish but hes a dear friend. Hes a tough guy, a fierce person. Very smart. When he say he is smart, the fake news goes crazy. He said President Xi is smart he controls 1. 4 billion people with an iron fist. He is smart. But we had a very good relationship with china until covid. When that came in, it was a whole different Ball Game as far as i was concerned. We made a great China Trade deal, maybe better than the usmca, and i never talk about it, because what happened with covid. For the whole world. 60 trillion, deaths, nobody even knows how many deaths. End it all came out of wuhan. It changed my relationship, but i think i will have a great relationship with china. I had one before, and they respected us, but they respected us because they no longer thought we were fools. These two think we were fools because we built china. They would take over 500 Billion a year and use it for their military and other things, and we got nothing out of that. We got some cheap product. You can buy 19 pencils instead of two. Who the hell cares . You can buy 16 for your daughter instead of two nice dolls. We have very little out of that relationship. They got a tremendous Military Power and they still have it today. But i believe we will have a very good relationship with china and with a lot of other countries that we are not getting along with too well today. I think we are going to get it straightened out very quickly. Very important that we get along with the rest of the world. We have Things Today called nuclear weapons. I rebuild our whole military including a nuclear capability, so i got very familiar with it. I say this often, because i had an uncle who was the longest serving i believe the longestserving, i was told that by mat but he was there for 39, i guess, or 41 years. Longestserving professor in the history of mit, and nuclear was something he knew a lot about. We used to talk about it and i would say, uncle john, theres no way. He was telling me about this incredible power that was being unleashed, potentially. And i say, uncle john, you could never. You know what . He was very modest. Because ive seen the destructive capability, and this world is going to have to get along, because if that is ever unleashed, we already have too many countries that have remnants of it, some of it. But probably five countries, and kim jong un, when i went to the White House after winning in 2016, a set of president obama, which is a ritual. You sit and you talk. And i said, with the biggest problem . And he said North Korea is the biggest problem. I dont think it is solvable. I said, have you tried calling them were talking to him . And the answer was yes, but he wasnt responded to. But i did, and we were very safe. It started off a little rocky, if you remember. Little rocket man, i called him. He called me things, too. Hes got a Red Button at his desk. I said i have a bigger Red Button, and my Red Button works. [laughter] and then it started getting a little nicer, and one day i got a call that they would like to meet, and it was a great thing. We had a great meeting. Two meetings, actually. Two great meetings, summits. And we had no problem with him. Now they have a problem because theyre not liking this administration. They dont respect this administration at all. So we have to get along. We have to get along. We cant have World War iii. You going to end up in World War iii, just like he should have never had to rush to go in. It happened if a competent person led us. It would have never happened. He led them into it. Im not blaming biden, but you know what . What he was saying was exactly the wrong thing. I said, were going to have an invasion because of a lot of the rhetoric. It was stupid rhetoric. But it would have never happen. Not only for that reason. Oil was down low. Oil was almost at 100 a barrel, so putin is one of the only People Nothing is easy in life, but putin, at 100 a barrel, war works. At 40 a barrel, it didnt work at all. So we are going to go back to and intelligently run place, a place for other countries arent using the word nuclear. That word was never talked about during my because i knew the power of it. I talked to putin about it, i talked to President Xi about it. Remember the talk where we were going to reduce nuclear capabilities substantially . All three of us. We are going to reduce it very substantially, and then we had the election, and after the election they didnt talk about that or Anything Else, frankly. We need to be very careful, because the destructive capability when people talk about global warming, i say the ocean is going to go down when hundreds of an inch within the next 400 years. Thats not our problem. Our problem is nuclear warming, and we better be smart, and we better have smart people at the top who know how to deal. Because these people dont know how to deal. Putin came out today, he endorsed kamala. I didnt know, was i supposed to call him up and say thank you very much, i appreciate it . That he endorsed kamala. I have a feeling. I dont know exactly what to say about that. I dont know if i am insulted or if he did me a favor. But we have to get along with the world. We cant have water, because the destructive capability, you can be the head of the biggest bank, wherever the Hell Jamie is sitting. You can be the head of the biggest bank in the world, a couple of nukes, and your bank doesnt mean a thing. Youve got to get along. This is such an important job. Its a dangerous job, too. I a very dangerous job. If You Loog president is very dangerous. That Throbbing Feeling i have. Oh, that Throbbing Feeling. Its a very dangerous job, and you have to do it right. If you dont do it right, bad things will happen to the world. Things like youve never seen before. Okay, thank you very much. Thank you. [applause] John Paulson behind me, to your right, mr. President. Hi, john. First, let me thank you for your presentation today. President trump, in the last fiscal year, the fiscal deficit under the biden administration was approximately 2 trillion. Under the policies you have announced, the deficit would come down from items such as increased revenues from tariffs, as well as eliminating the Tax Incentives for the green new deal. These gains would be mitigated by a decreases in revenues from policies such as no tax on tips. Overall, what do you estimate will be the impact of the fiscal deficit from your policy is . We just hit record highs at Numbers Nobody Thought was possible. Over 2 trillion, Nobody Thought that was a number does she go back four years, Nobody Thought a number like that would be possible. Its crazy. Its just horrible, actually. 2 trillion, and i view it a lot of people say a lot of people say that trade deficits dont matter. I think they matter a lot. I think they matter a lot. We are going to have tremendous growth. What im talking about is all about growth. The tax is relatively minor compared to the growth. We are going to make our money back on growth. We are also going to grow like nobodys ever grown before. I think, if this all works out, youre going to have the Auto Industry come back to america. Right now china is building two Auto Factories in mexico, massive Auto Factories. And they think theyre going to make their cars in mexico and send them back into the united states with no tax. Its not going to happen. Under this administration its going to happen, and they wanted to do that during my administration and i said, if you do it, we are going to put a 200 tariffs on every car and you will never be able to see it. You will never see one car coming across our border. If i would have let them do it, we would have had these factories. Well, now they are building massive factories, more than two. They are going to kill detroit. The head of the united auto Workers Union in detroit has done a terrible, terrible job. Just a terrible job. We are going to bring tremendous growth back. Remember, we are also taking in a certain percentage i wont name the percentage today, that hell be a certain percentage that will be higher than people had heard in the past, and we will be bringing in billions and billions of dollars, which will directly reduce our deficits. Thank you very much. Good job you have done, by the way. Very good. [applause] thank you. The final question is to you. Thank you. President trump, you talked about how the increase in the price of food, gas, and rent is hurting families. But the real cost that is breaking families backs and preventing women from participating in the workforce is Child Care. Child care is now more expensive than rent for working families. It has cost the economy more than 122 Billion a year. Making it one of the most urgent economic issues facing our country. In fact, the cost of Child Care is outpacing the cost of inflation. With the majority of american families of young children spending more than 20 of their income on Child Care. One thing that democrats and republicans have in common is that both parties talked a lot about what theyre going to do to address the Child Care crisis, but neither party has delivered meaningful change. If you win in november, can you commit to prioritizing legislation to make Child Care affordable . If so, what specific piece of legislation will you advance . Well, i would do that. We are sitting down i was somebody, we had senator marco rubio, and my daughter, ivanka, was so impactful on that. Its a very important issue. When you talk about that, Child Care is Child Care. It is something you have to have. In this country, you have to have it. But when you talk about those numbers compared to john well. Sandra a little glitch they are, john. The former president will continue. It looks like its on the last question at the economic club. Delivering his message on economic prosperity, and his pitch to american voters. And what he would do if reelected. To your point, perhaps the headline is the promise for gas below 2 a gallon, john. See you on the, as well. Apparently its back, the signal. Lets go back for second. I want to stay with Child Care, but those numbers are small. Compared to the economic numbers im talking about. But growth is also headed up by what the plan is that i just told you about. We are going to be taking in trillions of dollars, and as much as Child Care is talked about as being expensive, it is relatively speaking not very expensive compared to the kind of numbers we will be taking in. We are going to make this into an incredible country that can afford to take care of its people, and then we will worry about the rest of the world. Lets help other people. But we are going to take care of our country. Its about america first, it is about make america great again. We have to do it, because right now we are failing. So we will take care of it. Thank you. Very good question. Thank you. [applause] thank you very much, mr. Trump. It is great that you accepted sandra former President Donald Trump taking on the tight Housing Market and his pitch to how he would get more homes built, to get more people in them at lower prices, taking on Child Care, inflation, gas prices, tariffs, and beyond, to a very important audience. He is taking questions in New York. John have you added up the cumulative wealth in that room . What is interesting, though i think this is probably the most intriguing proposal that he laid out today, and that is that Elon Musk has agreed to join his government should he become elected president , as the government efficiency czar. End with a Finetooth Count will go through every level of federal government to cut out waste and inefficiency. That would really be something to follow. Sandra and a big part of his plan when he was president , and is now, is deregulation, john. Thats a huge thing for businesses in this country, being able to let them do their thing. They have been stifled for quite some time, and Thats Part of the former president s pitch. John for about an hour and half, the former president laying out in great detail his economic plan. We have yet to hear any level of detail from Kamala Harris about that, that obviously it is going to form a big part of the upcoming debate this coming tuesday. Sandra it will. John moving on to other topics, guilty but still innocent. That is how Hunter Biden has offered to plead in his federal Tax Case. It is a stunning change as Jury Selection was just about to begin. Fox Team Coverage now, Shannon Bream joins us in a few moments with her thoughts on this. First we go live to Jonathan Hunt in Los Angeles. Prosecutors were blindsided by this, jonathan. How are they reacting . Well, they are shocked, they are surprised. They were caught unawares. Any other word you can find in the thesaurus that is a simile for shock and surprise. Leo wise, one of the same stomach prosecutors, said this is the first we are hearing about this. The first inkling we got, john, that this might be an unusual day in this case was when Hunter Biden pulled up outside. Every other hearing i have attended here related to this case, he has arrived via secret Service Suv and been driven into the underground parking garage. Today, parked right outside, walked in right in front of us, didnt say a word, holding his wife melissas hand, flanked by Secret Service agents, followed by one of his lead attorneys, Abbe Lowell. And then the shocker in court when Abbe Lowell announced that he was indeed changing his plea, Hunter Biden, to guilty. As we understand it, that is what is called an Alford Plea, where he accepts that the prosecutor could prove the case on the basis of evidence, but he does not admit that he carried out those crimes. In other words, he asserts his innocence while pleading guilty and accepting that they could indeed get a guilty verdict in front of a jury. So it is complicated what happens now. Court is due back in just about 30 minutes. Then we will begin hearing with the prosecution has to say about this. They presumably have been in touch with the doj, and one of the things we understand it is into this is that an Alford Plea might have to be signed off by someone as high up as the Attorney General Merrick Garland himself. So there is a lot of Moving Parts now, john. We are a long way from getting to sentencing. Now we have to see what the prosecution says in about 30 minutes time, and what the judge says about it and what are now the immortal words of our legal editor, kerri urbahn. Its messy. John . [laughs] could be a sticky wicket, which would be more in keeping with your hometown. Thank you, jonathan. Appreciate it. Join us for more on this is Shannon Bream, anchor of Fox News sunday and Fox News chief legal correspondent. [laughs] leo lies, this is the first were hearing about this. Certainly reminds me of the last Plea Deal. Wait a minute this doesnt seem right. What is this . But jonathan mentioned this, an Alford Plea, which is something where you actually plead guilty but you still maintain your innocence. Which is really weird. But heres what the statute says about the Alford Plea. Attorneys may not consent to the plea known as an Alford Plea except in the most unusual of circumstances, and only after recommendation for doing so has been approved by the Assistant Attorney general responsible for the Subject Matter, or by the associate Attorney General, the deputy Attorney General, or the Attorney General. So it looks like the doj has got to sign off on this. Given the sensitivity of the case, would it have to be garland who signs off on it . If so, does Garland Stick with his prosecutors and say, What Is This . Or does he side with the president and sign off on it . So tricky, because the president has said as regionally to my recently as yesterday, hes a private citizen, the president is not going to get involved. We were suppose to be starting Jury Selection today. But when you get to this, a couple things. Hunter biden is now a convicted federal criminal under the earlier trial, under gun charges. He will be sentenced in november. It will be more lenient because hes a firsttime offender. Should he then get convicted in this case, if it were to go to trial, the sentencing would be tougher. Do not going to be a firsttime offender at that point. So Thats Something hes got me thinking through. Remember, too, the judge put out an order last week about all the evidence prosecutors wanted to bring in, about prostitutes and paying for Sex Club memberships. John did he think to himself, i dont want to go through that . Why did he make this decision so late in the game . Anyone who is prepared for a trial can tell you this is sort of a nightmare, because there are probably dozens of people involved, and this is a highprofile trial. You want everything, dottie is come across the ts it takes millions of dollars and months. To say they are blindsided today will not sit well with them when they have to in some ways move forward with this idea of an Alford Plea for it actually happen. John you and i are on exactly the same wavelength. I was about to point out, in the past six months, they spent 3. 4 million on this case, and the gun case, as well. If Hunter Biden walks it right up to the 11th Hour where the steps of the Course Hasnt says, you know it . Im going to plead guilty, thats probably 3 Million worth of Taxpayer Money that could have been saved, had he done this back then. Not to mention hundreds if not thousands of manhours for these attorneys i could have been working on other cases that they had out there. Its going to be very frustrating to them, and possibly to his team, as well, if this deal does not go through. Its not a Plea Deal because doj didnt negotiate any of this. Its his team going up and saying, youre about to pick a jury. We decided we dont want to go through this and now we need your cooperation at the 11th Hour for this thing to get done. John to this idea of an Alford Plea, again, it allows you to maintain your innocence while throwing yourself on the court and saying, look, it was probably going to end up in the guilty plea anyway, so well take the penalty. But i wont say im guilty. John but i wont say im guilty its another example, i think, of the Plea Deal that was just 13 months ago. Hunter biden walked into the courtroom in delaware and thought he was going to wash his hands of the whole thing. If youre going to plead guilty, why dont you just plead guilty . Why this kind of weasel move, legally, to maintain your innocence . And just canister yourself on the mercy of the court. Its one of the weirdest things in american jurisprudence that you will see Show Up in a courtroom, this Alford Plea. Its tough to acclaimed normal Common Sense people do, that if you plead guilty cant also maintain your innocence. You think back about this two irs whistleblowers who risked everything to come forward, this whole case began to crumble, and now we are in the latest twist. Who knows . The doj could say no, we are going to trial on this thing. John according to the statute, this has to be signed off on by Higher Ups and i dont see how anybody less than the Attorney General signs off on this, given to the subject is. Wow. This could, as we were staying with Jonathan Hunt, really become a sticky wicket. It could. Whiplash. John great to see you. Thanks so much. Sandra, remember 13 months ago when biden walked into the courtroom . We expected that he signed a Plea Deal, hes walking out scotfree, and then the judge said, wait a second, this Plea Deal absolves them of any wrongdoing for the rest of his life . That doesnt make sense to me. Sandra thats where we will be a few minutes from now. We are going to go back to that Tax Trial as it resumes. We are waiting on that right now, john. Hunter biden, this Text Trial will be back underway shortly. As he is offering to change his plea to guilty. We are going to get Brandnew Reaction for andy mccarthy. Hell be here after the break. Also the White House is now weighing in through Karine Jeanpierre and Kamala Harris commenting on this. All of that when we return. With Chase Freedom unlimited, you can cashback 3 on dining including takeout. Cashback on flapjacks, baby backs, or the tacos at the taco shack. Nah, im working on my six pack. Well, good luck with that. Earn big with Chase Freedom unlimited with no annual fee. Hey lexus, show alternate routes. Technology thats ready for the road ahead. The lexus nx. Han is 22 years old. Hes not just a pet, he really is a part of our family. Knowing that hes getting good nutrition, thats a huge relief for me and my dad. sings old Bean Piglet Head yes that is your name. If you saw his Piglet Head you would say the same. Toot toot. Sandra Fox News alert, 42 minutes past the hour and we are awaiting this trial to resume soon in the Hunter Biden case where he now, we have just learned, intends to change his plea in this federal Tax Case to guilty. You will of course remember that he was indicted in december on three felony and six Misdemeanor Counts of failing to pay his taxes over several years. That is a live look outside the courthouse in Los Angeles. Andy mccarthy is here for us, former assistant u. S. Attorney and a Fox News contributor. I will get your thoughts in a moment on whats about to happen here. As we just got this in. Kamala harris, on the campaign trail, lets just ask about this, and heres how she responded. Madame Vice President , leading part Hunter Biden madame Vice President , will you pardon Hunter Biden . Sandra sometimes a nonanswer is an answer and that was the answer, andy. She was asked and there was no answer. Anyway, what does all this mean, and where do you see this going this afternoon . Well, it did to make bins on how conflicted. We had a nonconflict at Special Counsel who didnt already try to give the case away. For us without any charges at all, and then on a sweetheart plea. If you have that kind of a prosecutor, he would tell hunter and his lawyers to tell their story. If you want to come in and eat the whole indictment of the guilty plea and plead like a normal defendant does, by admitting guilt, then No One has to sign off on that. Hes got a right to do that. But he wants a special accommodation and we are in Jury Selection and we are ready to go to trial, and im the prosecutor and im ready to go to trial, i say lets go to trial. Because i think two things are going on here. First, he knows hes going to be pardoned. Somebody who actually was interested in a Plea Negotiation would be trying to negotiate which accounts to plead guilty to do in order to minimize the potential damage. He is offering to plead through the whole indictment because he knows, at the end of the rainbow, he gets a pardon. So he figures he is playing with the House Money and he can use that in his negotiations with the prosecutor. But if im the prosecutor, i think he is so desperate not to have this go to trial for political reasons, not to have this Influence Peddling Family scheme played out nationally for the next 56 weeks in the run up to the election, if i hang tough, hell come back and say, okay, you got me, ill plead guilty, and it wont have to be an Alford Plea, itll just be you normal plea. John talk about the idea of a pardon later and who might do it. I want to come back to this Alford Plea, because the statute around the Alford Plea says that the agreement has to be signed off on by either the Assistant Attorney general responsible for the Subject Matter or the associate Attorney General, the deputy Attorney General, or the Attorney General himself, which would be Merrick Garland. With the case this highprofile and this sensitive and knowing who the defendant is, it would have to be the last on that list. Garland who signs off on this. And would garland say, tell your story . Or because the to it is the president , somebody said sign the damn thing and lets get it over with . The gamesmanship to appoint weiss, who is not eligible under the rules to be Special Counsel, listed in tilled the pretense that Garden And Garland and Thebidenharris Demt have to do with this case. I think he would say, this is what i appointed weiss four, for purposes of this case he is the Attorney General. So im not convinced that either garland or another higher up in the Justice Department has to sign off on this. I think this is what they have weiss four. I think thats why they put him here in the first place. Frankly, if you take it from weiss perspective, from a normal perspective, an Alford Plea should be unacceptable in this case. But from weiss perspective, he already try to give the case away for nothing and then on a sweetheart Plea Deal, an Alford Plea is probably better than what hes already offered hunter in this case. Sandra obviously, if this was actually accepted by the judge, which we will know soon, andy, this guilty plea would keep biden from having typically trial, or prosecutors, theyve lined up two dozen witnesses, some of whom were expected to offer embarrassing, as it is noted in the l. A. Times today, and salacious testimony about his Drug Use and spending. It would spare him all that publicly. Correct, andy . It would spare him and it would spare the white House And Everyone else whos got an interest in not having a democratic Influencepeddling Scheme played out for the next five weeks in front of an intense national coverage. So its not just hunter here. The firearms case, sandra, that was all hunter. That was his problem. This case is the White Houses problem. John lets get back to this idea of a pardon. You say hes playing with the House Money, that he thinks hes going to get a pardon. His father has said repeatedly, and the white House Press Secretary has said repeatedly, that the president that the president of the united states would not give a pardon. That was said back when biden was running for reelection. Hes not anymore. He could pardon him on the way out the door with the goodwill of the Democratic Party behind them saying, think that you didnt run for president. Kamala harris could pardon him if she wins the election. Donald trump has said he wouldnt Pardon Hunter if he wins the election. So where do you think the pardon comes from . Well, lets keep this straight. The biden who said he would never pardon his son is the same biden who said the lord almighty would have to come down and have him not run for president. And then the next thing, he wasnt running for president. Its the same biden who said he had nothing to do with hunters business, and now we have reams of evidence that it was just a lie, as if anyone didnt know that all along. So i have always thought that the promise not to Pardon Hunter was operative until about nine oh 5 00 p. M. On november 5th, at which point some time between then and around christmas i would expect president biden will pardon his son, and there will be any need for Kamala Harris to do it if she wins the election, because he has that window between Election Day and Inauguration Day to do it. Sandra speaking of this being a White House problem, Karine Jeanpierre was just asked about this, and he was kjps response. On Hunter Biden changing his plea, does the White House a comment at all . Does that change the president s calculus on pardoning his son . To your first question, i am not able to comment at this time. On your second question, which i guess is part of one question, it is still no. Was the president aware he was going to plead guilty . I dont have Anything Else. Im not able to comment on it. But i will say it is still very much a note to the questions i had gotten about if the president is going to pardon his son. I dont have Anything Else to add. Can you comment on whether commutation would be on or off the table . That is also no. Does this have to do with the president no longer running . I dont have anything to say beyond what i just said. Sandra still very much a no, said Karine Jeanpierre, andy. Very impressive. Lets be rational about this. If you were a normal defendant who didnt know you had a pardon already banked, you would negotiate a plea. Theres three Felony Counts here and six Misdemeanor Counts. You would be negotiating with the government in order to create a ceiling beyond which you knew you wouldnt be sent to prison. Thats the whole reason for a real negotiation, to try to minimize the damage. He wouldnt say im willing to plead guilty to all the cans and Anything Else you want to throw at me, unless you know it doesnt really matter in this case whete count or the whole indictment. You are not going to prison anyway because youre going to be pardoned. Or at the very least your sentence is going to be commuted, but i think once a political pressure is off you will just be pardoned. John on the issue of a president ial pardon, it is a no, right up until it is a yes. Thats the way it works in this town. Just like the campaign, john. John exactly. Im in, read until im out. Thanks, andy. Lets bring in tom dupree, former deputy Assistant Attorney general. This is a prosecutor not a pizza prosecutor, sorry. This is a defendant who played Fast And Loose. Theres no question about that. Look at the Plea Deal 13 months ago. It indemnifies him against any future prosecution for any crime that he might commit until the day he dies. That was the Plea Deal that Ellen Noriega said, what do youknowWhat Is This . Now theyre playing Fast And Loose with a guilty plea and saying, we are not going to plead guilty, youre going to enter an Alford Plea. What do you think about all this . Look, i think the judge in california is going to have the same reaction the Delaware Judge had, that this judge is going to say, what the heck is going on here . How come you didnt mention this before . Number two, this doesnt make any sense. To the Point Andy made, why on earth would you plead guilty to everything without getting the opportunity of something in return . And exchange for them dropping a chart or two. The only rational asked the nation for this is if he knows he has a pardon his pocket. Thats why hes willing to do it. I cant imagine if they were normal prosecutors, they would never accept something like this, to let the defendant have his cake and eat it, too. And stay on one hand im guilty, but on the other hand im actually innocent. It just doesnt fly. Sandra that is something. What did you think of the white House Response they are . Is a pardon coming . I think a pardon is coming. I understand why Vice President harris is dodging those questions. I suspect, in her heart of hearts, she knows the world has changed from the time that biden made the pledge that he would not pardon Hunter Biden. He is now not going to be a candidate for reelection, and that frees into something that would obviously be deeply unpopular and controversial, that hes not going to pay a political price for it, because at that point, in december or whenever he issues the pardon, hes no longer going to be a candidate for the presidency. John what do you think of this idea that the statute for an Alford Plea demands that a higherup in the doj signs off on it . He goes all the way up to the Attorney General. Andy said a little while ago he thinks that is why garland appointed David Weiss, because David Weiss would have the authority to sign off on this Alford Plea. What you think about that . I think thats the right analysis. The Justice Department in this case has gone kind of the extra mile to at least create the appearance that Merrick Garland has nothing to do with this. That is why weiss has the job he has. So i think, in this case, if the government needs to sign off on this, i do think they would go all the way up to garland. Weiss would probably make the call himself, maybe his supervisor. John given that, and as andy said, the fact that David Weiss was about to say dont tell anybody about this Plea Deal, but im okay with it, do you think hell give him a pass on this . Hes going to be torn. I think it has heart of hearts he wants to give him a pass. On the other hand, look where they are now. They have hundreds of people assembling in this courtroom to serve on the jury. The spotlight of the world is on him, and for him to say yeah, we are good with this Alford Plea, i dont know. Even for someone of his views, that might be a pretty bitter pill to swallow. I would expect and i would hope the Justice Department pushes back hard on this this afternoon. Sandra that sets up quite an afternoon. Tom dupree on that for us. Thank you, tom. Thank you. Sandra speaking of which, we are waiting. For this child to resume any moment now. A live look at the l. A. Courthouse, surprising prosecutors with plans to change his plea to guilty. It is the last Minute Move and attempted to protect his father . We last leo terrell. He will join us at the top of the hour, just ahead. Ah, these bills are crazy. She has no idea shes sitting on a goldmine. Well she doesnt know that if she owns a Life Insurance Policy of 100,000 or more she can sell all or part of it to coventry for cash. Even a Term Policy. Even a Term Policy . Even a Term Policy find out if youre sitting on a goldmine. Call coventry direct today at the number on your screen, or visit coventrydirect. Com. We realize some Home Maintenance jobs arent worth the risk. Thats when we call leaffilter to protect our gutters. Leaffilters patented Filter Technology keeps debris out of your gutters for good, guaranteed. Call 833 Leaffilter Or Visit leaffilter. Com john a live look at the federal courthouse in Los Angeles where there has been a Surprise Twist in Hunter Bidens federal tax evasion case. His attorneys have entered a surprise plea, essentially avoiding a prolonged trial. That could have aired a lot of dirty laundry. The reversal came directly from his attorney, Abbe Lowell, right before Jury Selection began. With that, welcome t