I offered bob mueller the opportunity to review that letter before it went out, and he declined. I asked him if he was suggesting that the march 24th letter was inaccurate, and he said no, but that the press reporting had been inaccurate. He argued for putting out summaries of each volume, the executive summaries that had been written by his office. He was very clear with me that he was not suggesting that we had misrepresented his report. Paul robert ray served as independent counsel during the whitewater investigation. Welcome, sir. Good to have you. Nice to be with you, sir. Paul so you have this dispute, mueller versus barr. What do you make of that letter that mueller sent to barr complaining about the fourpage memo . I think the attorney generals testimony was consistent with the tenor of the letter which said that what was disturbing to the special counsels office was public confusion as a result of the release of the march 24th letter by the attorney general. So i think all of the hullabaloo in the congress and in the senate particularly with regard to the attorney generals testimony seemed to me to be overblown, since it was consistent with the phone call, the attorney generals testimony and the letter itself. What they objected to was public confusion about not understanding exactly what the special counsel thought about this process. Paul heres my problem with this. Mueller worked for barr. Yes. Paul once barr was confirmed. He turned down the opportunity to look at, according to barr, to look at barrs fourpage memo. Now, arent you supposed to, if you work for somebody, say sure, id be glad to look at that and if you have any objections, raise them with your superior. Ive thought the same thing and i think what i would say about this, although this may be with the benefit of a little too much hindsight, if i were the attorney general to do it over again, i would probably have insisted. In other words, look, its bob mu muellers right to say i handed off my report, its now your job. Paul then you cant complain about it afterwards. The only way to have prevented this sort of backbiting that went on which is unfortunate, because my hope was the department of justice would speak with one voice, and the only way it could have been avoided is if the attorney general, and again, this is too much 20 20 hindsight but i will say it anyway, he should have gone back to bob mueller and said please, its important that you read this. What that would have done would have prevented exactly what you said, which is once having had the opportunity to review that fourpage summary, there would not have been the possibility to have the backbiting afterwards to say hey, you know, now im going to quibble with what youve done. Paul okay. What about the failure of mr. Mueller to reach a prosecutorial judgment on obstruction of justice . Do you think that was an obligation . I think a lot of people are mystified about that. I do strongly believe first of all with the report. I have no problem with everything thats contained in the report, with the exception of one sentence and the one sentence is about exoneration. I do not believe it is the job of prosecutors to make extrajudicial comments about exoneration. Thats not what prosecutors do. They make a single, as the attorney general explained, binary decision, this is not news paul indict or not. Right. You either have sufficient evidence to persuade a jury beyond a reasonable doubt and bring charges, which is to say that you believe in good faith that you have sufficient evidence to persuade a jury of the fact that a crime was committed, or you dont. Thats it. Thats all you do. And the subsequent white House Counsel letter to the attorney general is a fair criticism of the report with regard to that precise issue, meaning its not fair to the president to be having, you know, an extended discussion as a fact gatherer writ large to decide what you think about the president s conduct, or any persons conduct who is the target of an investigation. Thats not what prosecutors are supposed to do. So it sounded an awful lot in some quarters as being comeyesque. In other words, im not going to charge this person, but im going to criticize him on my exit strategy on the way out the door. I think that that confuses, frankly, that confuses the public and its unfortunate because its stepping outside of the normal and appropriate role that prosecutors play, a limited one, in our constitutional system. Paul okay. So mueller then decides were not going to make a prosecutorial judgment about obstruction. Then attorney general barr says well, with rod rosenstein, his deputy, we are going to make that and we are going to look at the factual analysis that was laid out. I think that it had to be done. Paul did that have to be done . Yes. Paul was that fulfilling a duty as attorney general . I dont think thats one that you can avoid. I think ultimately, the Decision Maker and frankly, i will say this. I dont know what bob muellers thinking was on this point ultimately about why a traditional prosecutorial judgment was not made. Paul its not clear in the report, by the way. Its not. The democrats are saying to the contrary. Theyre wrong. You know, if you believe the attorney generals testimony, which i do, that he went back to bob mueller three times to say i want to be sure i understand that youre not avoiding that decision because of the departments policy and the office of legal counsels memorandum from the watergate era that you cant indict a sitting president. I accept that. I dont know what the reason why he avoided that decision. I suspect that i know, and that is he said in the report that it raised some serious questions both with regard to fact and law. I think there was also a policy judgment and i think if he had recommended charges, the likelihood was that he understood that the attorney general would have overruled him, because the attorney general has a very different view, i think its clear, about obstruction of justice as it applies to president ial conduct. Paul but since he made no judgment, barr stepped up and made that judgment, lot of democrats on capitol hill are saying oh, my god, you did something you shouldnt do. But youre saying thats the attorney generals responsibility in that context. Not only responsibility, but its his duty to do so. Ultimately, the department decides whether its appropriate to bring charges under the criminal law. That is not a responsibility of the congress. The congress only has Oversight Authority and the decision about whether or not to commence impeachment proceedings. It doesnt have the power under our constitutional system from the very beginning, in the constitution, the executive authority rests with the president and derivatively to the department of justice about enforcing the law. Paul right. That is not a congressional prerogative. That is exclusively the prerogative of the executive branch. Paul all right. Robert ray, thank you very much for being here. Appreciate it. Thank you. Paul when we come back, as President Trump and his administration fight back against congressional investigations, are democrats pondering a new and narrow path to impeachment . The articles of impeachment for president nixon, article 3 was that he ignored the subpoenas of congress. This is a commercial about insurance and i know youre thinking. I dont want to hear about insurance. cause lets be honest. Nobody likes dealing with insurance. Right . 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The report is now in the hands of the american people. Everyone can decide for themselves. Theres an election in 18 months. Thats very democratic process. But were out of it. And we have to stop using the criminal justice process as a political weapon. Paul that was attorney general william barr wednesday, defending his handling of special counsel Robert Muellers report, and suggesting that democrats are using the legal system for political purposes. Lets bring in our panel. Wall street journal columnist and deputy editor, dan henninger, columnist kim strossel and jason reilly. Kim, lets start off with this charge by nancy pelosi, speaker of the house, that bill barr lied to congress. Is that a fair charge . No, absolutely not. For context, you have to go back three weeks to when barr testified in front of the house and right before then, there had been a leak to the New York Times that some of muellers staff was unhappy with this summary that barr had sent to congress. Paul right. He was asked in the course of that hearing if he knew anything about those staff people who were unnamed, and he said no. Now, democrats are saying well, you had this letter already from bob mueller saying that he wanted you to release more of the report that he felt that it wasnt getting fully in context of everything he had said, and as barr correctly said, thats a very different question. I answered truthfully to the house. I did have this letter but i had spoken to mueller, he said that nothing that i had written was inaccurate or incorrect, but rather, he felt the press reporting about this had not been fulsome enough which is why he wanted more of it out. Paul jason, i dont understand why, if youre bob mueller, you would resist the opportunity barr gave him to look at the fourpage memo he was going to send to congress, then he sent a letter afterwards saying i didnt like it, but i didnt want to look at it . I really believe kim is right, they are making political hay out of this. Barrs interpretation does not matter at the end of the day. He released the report, very lightly redacted and if you want to see an even less redacted version of it, you can go see it. Paul senior members of congress can go see it. But he made that available, too. And thats the bottom line here. I think this is not congressional oversight. This is bullying, frankly, is whats going on here. And you know, if the my problem with this is that the report didnt say what a lot of people in Congress Expected it to say, lot of people in the media expected it to say, and what we are seeing is a frustration here on their part. I dont think it makes the special counsel look bad so much as it makes Congress Look bad, frankly. Paul whats the to what end the bullying, dan . Whats the purpose here politically . Why make such a huge deal out of william barr . Well, i think the reason for this is William Barrs testimony before congress on april 10th, when he suddenly announced that he, the Justice Department, the attorney generals office, would look into what he called spying on the Trump Campaign, which he then defined as surveillance of the Trump Campaign during 2016. This all sent shock waves through the washington community, because no one expected that anyone was going to take a retrospective look at page, the fisa warrants, what caused them to exist, the steele dossier, where that came from, theres now some suggestions that was russian disinformation itself. As he said, i want to know how all of this happened. Now youve got this New York Times story about the fact that an fbi controller, operative, was interviewing George Papadopolous in a london barr, misrepresenting herself as a professors associate. All of that i think is what the intention is to delegitimize and discredit bill barr before that report is produced. Paul maybe intimidate him in order to not go all the way, maybe. Some people, some of these things could be criminal indictments, because there have been criminal referrals already from congress about certain individuals, and in the origin story here, how did this fbi surveillance of carter page, how did that start . This is what barr is looking into. Right. You know, one of the big pieces of news out of the hearing this week, although it got almost no attention, was bill barr confirmed that the department of justice has multiple criminal leak investigations going on. Which of course, we have had a massive problem with former and current officials leaking classified information which is a felony punishable up to ten years. So it looks as though theres some progress being made on that. But dont underestimate the significant number of people who have something to lose, not just from political reputations, but other potentially disciplinary actions, et cetera, from what may come out of these findings in the end, and i think that that is provoking a fear and then exactly as dan said, this attempt to delegitimize barr before he can put these findings out to make it sound as though this is partisan, whatever he reveals. Paul we dont have a lot of time, but barr is refusing to testify before the house. He walked away from that. He said im not going to testify. Is that a mistake, and is the administration making a mistake by resisting so many of the subpoenas here that the house has all administrations resist attempts to shed light on their internal workings. The Obama Administration did the same thing when it didnt Want Congress poking around in its internal deliberations and so forth so its not normal. I think whats really being obstinate is congress. Negotiating the terms of the questions is commonplace. They are asking you to do it our way or we will hold you in contempt which, by the way, is what congress did to eric holder in the past administration. So that would not be unprecedented. Paul thank you very much. When we come back, despite the ongoing battle over congressional investigations, President Trump and Democratic Leaders say they are forging ahead on a 2 trillion infrastructure proposal. So is a deal possible, and what will the president give up to will the president give up to pay for it . Here i go again on my own goin down the only road ive ever known like a drifter i was born to walk alone keep goin man you got it if you ride, you get it. Here i go again geico motorcycle. 15 minutes could save you 15 or more. Priceline will partner with even more vegas hotels to turn their available rooms into amazing deals. Delegates, how do you vote . wild cheering music plays sample yes. Yyyyes. Yes. Woman that is freaky. Tech you think this chip is well sooner or later. Every chip will crack. Mom hi. Tech so bring it to safelite. We can repair it the same day. Guaranteed. Plus with most insurance, its no cost to you. Mom really . Singers safelite repair, safelite replace. Run with us in the unstoppable John Deere Gator xuv835, because when others take rain checks. We take the wheel. Run with us. Search John Deere Gator for more. Paul the president was eager to push it up to 2 trillion and that is a very good thing, and then we talked about a number of things we would do. Obviously the roads and the bridges and the highways, obviously water, but also, a big emphasis on broadband that every american home, we believe, needs broadband, an emphasis on the power grid, so we could Bring Clean Energy from one end of the country to the other. Paul Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer this week following a meeting between Congressional Democrats and President Trump at the white house. The two sides agreeing to work toward a 2 trillion deal on infrastructure. No word yet on just how they will pay for that spending blowout. We are back with dan, kim and wall street journal editorial page writer julian melcher. Dan, is this a real deal or happy talk . Well, you know, republicans on capitol hill are kind of aghast and agog that trump would agree to 2 trillion in infrastructure spending. Paul they werent in the room. And they werent in the room. But we can explain this. Donald trump is a real estate developer. He loves to pour cement. You know that, and i know it because when he came in, he told us. He just explained at great length the wonders of drywall and cement pouring. Hes into this sort of thing. As a political matter, i think both the democrats and donald trump understand that this isnt going much of anywhere. They will be able to go out on the campaign trail, especially trump, and sort of appeal to his guys, his base, construction workers and people like that, that i am fighting for your interests and im going to try to push through an infrastructure bill which will bog down in congress. Paul well, youve got to get it through. Youve got to get Senate Republicans on board. Theyre saying not going to happen at 2 trillion. Then theres the financing issue. I mean, is there going to be any Common Ground about how to pay for it . No, i dont think so. Ideas that have been floated are a gas tax. We already know thats a progressive tax. We know that theres been discussion about tampering with tax cut legislation but i dont think thats a political winner for republicans. Paul let me push back on that. Because i think the gas tax increase you are talking about 35 cents would only pay for about a quarter of 2 trillion over ten years. So the democrats are going to go back and say we will give you that deal but youve got to raise the Corporate Tax rate back up to 23 , 24 , 25 . Yes. Paul is that going to happen . It shouldnt. I mean, thats something thats going to erode the economic momentum and by the way, were not buying a lot with this. I think if you look at the stimulus precedent, this is money that would be spent extraordinarily inefficiently. It would be spent on all kinds of democratic dreams like green infrastructure, there would be a social justice component promoting women and minority owned businesses and it would just be really inefficient. Paul you know, kim, im not so sure i would like to think jillians right about the Corporate Tax rate but i think donald trump might give up some of that if he felt he could really get a deal with democrats. What do you think . Yeah, look, i think he really wants a deal, right . He came into the white house saying hes a deal maker, he wants to get things done. So this is something hes very eager to do. Look, the fact that he sat down with democrats despite all of the anger, vitriol going through washington right now, it shows how much he wants a deal. But look, the bigger problem is youve got to get it, as you mentioned, through a republican senate. There is no desire to do deficit spending. There is no desire there to raise either the gas tax or fiddle with Corporate Tax rates. They understand the risk to the economy of doing that. And look, theres also a lot of republicans who are saying if were going to do a deal, you actually have to make sure this is not obama stimulus all over again. Youve got to make sure you have shovelready projects. The only way you do that is through real environmental review, reform, things like the National Environmental policy act. Democrats dont want to touch that. So i dont see where you get a real deal here. Paul i remember 2009, dan, i think you were there, Chuck Schumer came in, this was after the election, he came in and said i want to pour concrete right away, any project, we are going to pass, got to start right away, instantly, to get jobs. You know, theyre still trying to break ground on some of those stimulus projects two, three years later, because of the point that kim made. One more point. If donald trump raises that gas tax 35 cents hes going to have himself a Yellow JacketMovement Just like macron got in france when he raised the gas tax. Paul i think the context where its over 4 a gallon in california, 3 nationwide, you dont want to raise the gas tax. That tax he should not touch. Especially right before summer. Paul thats right. Driving season, when gasoline supplies can get tight. All right. Still ahead, former Vice President joe biden enjoying a post announcement polling bump. What we learned from his first full week on the campaign trail, and President Trumps reaction. 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Paul joe biden enjoying an impressive polling bump following his announcement that hell seek the democratic nomination for president. He is the favorite of 3d of democrats 39 of democrats according to a cnn poll released this week. Thats up 11 points from march in that same poll. He holds a commanding lead with nonwhite voters with 50 saying hes their top choice. And the former vp is wasting no time touting his relationship with barack obama, releasing this Campaign Video on tuesday. This is an extraordinary man with an extraordinary career in public service. Somebody who has devoted his entire professional life to service to this country. He revitalized American Manufacturing as the head of our middle class task force, he led our efforts to combat gun violence. He could not have been a more effective partner in the progress that weve made. The best part is, hes nowhere close to finished. Paul were back with dan henninger, kim strassel and jason riley. So, jason, biden fever, catch it. [laughter] its out there. Do you have it . [laughter] wait, what explains this very good reception for biden . Well, we saw it before he officially entered the race. He was polling very high. So i dont think this bump that he is getting is any surprise. He remains very popular. His affiliation with barack obama, i think, is helping in that regard as well. You know, i know its early, paul, but this is really a twoman race right now. Only joe biden and Bernie Sanders are polling in double digits, and they both have quite a lead here. I think what biden is going to try and do is distinguish himself from sanders and say im the pragmatist, hes too strident with his socialism talk and his singlepayer talk and the Green New Deal and all the rest and felons voting. And im the guy who can go out there and get those union, rust belt voters that we lost in 2016. Thats what i think joe bidens strategys going to be. Paul yeah, but i dont think hes going to attack Bernie Sanders. I think hes going to try to rise above. I think hes going to aim particularly to, dan, right at donald trump, and hes going to let all these other people try to criticize each other and criticize him. But unless he has to, hes not going to engage because he wants to say im the guy who can beat trump. And implicitly, im the guy who can save the Democratic Party from Bernie Sanders. I mean, i do think that is a kind of subtheme that is going on here. Because, you know, i like to say 60 Million People voted for donald trump. Theres sort of a view that trump was just a my miraculous showed up over 60 Million People voted for Hillary Clinton too, and those are not all progressive, leftwing sanders people. Paul right. If you look at the polling out in the country, theres a lot of sense of discomfort among democrats across the country at how far left the party has gone, not just Bernie Sanders, but ocasiocortez, ilhan omar. And they say is this what our party represents. I think that explains, to some extent, the surge that biden got once he got in. Its a kind of comfort zone for a lot of democrats. Paul kim, has biden overcome all the controversy of a month or so ago about all of his unfortunate touching of women and getting close to them . I mean, i think that was an attempt to take him out, but it doesnt look like it certainly didnt stop him from getting in, but it doesnt seem to have hurt him in the polls either. Well, its early days, paul. And while i agree with you that joe biden is going to attempt to not criticize his fellow candidates and just keep this focus on trump, his fellow candidates arent going to abide by that rule. [laughter] paul right. This is all going to be brought back up, and at a certain point hes not going to be able to just pretend its not happening. So we already i saw some stories this week about whether or not hes got an issue because of his work when he was Vice President to lean on this ukrainian prosecutor to step down. It was the same ukrainian prosecutor who had his eyes targeted on a company that one of joe bidens sons was involved with, you know, thats a story theyre going to be pushing. The touching thing will probably come back up again. But you also going youre also going to have the bernie crowd out there whos going to try to force joe biden to take a position on all of these progressive programs and things that they want. And at some point he will have to declare himself. And kims right, thats going to be his real challenge, to respond to the big issues of the day that have come to fore since he was last in office. Whether youre talking about slavery reparations or felons voting or impeachment, paul. Where does joe biden stand on this congressional push . Paul medicare for all. Medicare for all. And hes got to talk about these issues without upsetting too many of those progressives. Itll come next month in the debates. Hell be on stage, and you can bet Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders are going to call him out directly and force him to take a stand. Hes going to have to have an answer to some of these things. Paul lets just say health care. He came out and said he didnt endorse medicare for all, but he came out for the public option to fix obamacare and for an early buyin on medicare. That seems to me to be a perfectly adequate answer. I mean, i oppose the policy, but its not going as far as bernie or warren want to go. Nonetheless, its a reasonable proposal from democrats. The other big advantage he has, and he showed it in one of the polls earlier, is with minority voters who i think generally do like him in a way they have never embraced Bernie Sanders. And i think biden will be pushing that line as well. Paul kim, one question to you briefly, the debate at the white house about how to respond to biden. The president wants to get in and attack him. Others dont think so. What do you think, quickly . I think for the moment that the white house probably would do better talking about its own economic successes and let the field settle. Paul i agree with you. Still ahead, jen jack keane on general jack keane on Vladimir Putins role in the continuing chaos in venezuela and how the u. S. Should respond. Its very clear that maduro had intended to leave, that he had his plane ready and that the russians made clear that he ought not depart at this time. This is the couple who wanted to get away who used expedia to book the Vacation Rental that led to the ride which took them to the place where they discovered that sometimes a little down time can lift you right up. Flights, hotels, cars, activities, Vacation Rentals. Expedia. Everything you need to go. Ayou might or joints. Hingals. For your heart. But do you take something for your brain. With an ingredient originally discovered in jellyfish, prevagen has been shown in Clinical Trials to improve shortterm memory. Prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. Muck finish. The president s made very clear if the situation calls for it, the military option remaines on the table remains on the table, and weve seen already military presence there. The russians have military on the ground there. And so i hear people talk about they dont want the americans to intervene in venezuela when, in fact, its the russians who have intervened. Paul that was mike pompeo tuesday addressing russias role in the continuing chaos in venezuela. The secretary of state accusing moscow of perked sueding persuading Nicolas Maduro to cling to power amid the oppositions latest efforts to oust them. Retired fourstar general jack keane testified before congress this week about countering a resurgent russia. General, good to see you again. Thanks for coming in. Let me ask you, what are the u. S. Stakes as you see them in venezuela . Well, clearly, what is happening here, certainly, we dont want this aggressive, repressive ea regime to stay in power, and were trying to create a peaceful transfer of power. But the strategic stakes are much higher than that. Russia and china clearly want significant influence in last aren and south america. China, mostly in terms of economic investment. Russia is seeking a military base in venezuela, likely first a ground base inside the country and a naval base, obviously, for influence in the western hemisphere. So pushing back on venezuela and creating a transfer of power has huge strategic implications. If maduro stays in power, paul, the United States influence in the region will be diminished, and russias influence in particular will be enhanced, chinas to a lesser degree. So there are clear strategic stakes here like there was in the middle east with russias intervention there the, also their intervention in eastern europe. Paul right. But this strikes me as a much bigger deal than a lot of americans may if understand at this juncture, because if putin can show that he can support a dictator in the western hemisphere who is the u. S. Has said as a matter of policy we want out, itll really show, i think hes saying this is a bet for me worth taking, putin, because i can make the president look like a paper tiger. Yeah, hes got nothing to lose here in particular. Heres what hes done. In january he put 400 people from the wagner group which is a private military forumming that operates under his direction in eastern europe, in syria and in africa. And now in venezuela. Whats the mission . Theyre the security for maduro. Paul right. Last month he put his own advisers, a hundred of them, into venezuela. Whats the mission in advise maduro about Regime Security and also staying in power. I can tell you with obvious speculation im not privy to whats going on with our intelligence services, but with degree of certainty that those advisers are talking to putin every single day and standing right next to maduro making certain that he stays in power. Youre absolutely right, if maduro is permitted to stay in power, it will significantly enhance russian influence and potential control in the region. And i think what weve got to do, we should have done it when they put the 400 military people into venezuela in january, putin needs to be told in no Uncertain Terms that we will provide in his backyard continual arms and advisers to you crane nonstop to you crane nonstop until he pulls his people out of venezuela. Putin needs to be challenged, and weve got to confront his aggression whenever it pops up. We failed to do it in syria, we failed to do it in eastern europe, weve got to do it now. This is our hemisphere, as you accurately point out. Paul is there any other thing we can do to push back on russia and i cuba who are and you can put it, i would put it this way, theyre the imperial powers now who are maintaining this dictator in power despite the democratic wishes of the venezuelan people. What else can we do to push back . Well, i think the administration is doing the right thing, certainly, in i cuba in trying to lock them up economically and, clearly, change the vector that the Obama Administration had extended to these communists in trying to open the avenues of rapprochement with them. That clearly has failed. Cubas aggression is what it is, and we can all see it. So locking them up economically, i think, is absolutely essential. Weve got to get this regime change to take place, because if we dont do it, then putin wins. We can start with some options on a lower scale. The threat of the use of force, Naval Task Force off the coast of venezuela, some troops in colombia, those options obviously would be, are being considered. A humanitarian relief operation, a coalitionbased relief operation similar to what we did in somalia. Obviously, military force would accompany it, and if its challenged, the military force would have to confront that challenge. And then, obviously, there is a regime change that would be on the table, i think that should be the last option. Paul well, one thing that has been floated by some people is the fact that Venezuelan Oil is going out of venezuela, much reduced levels, but going to cuban ports. We could intercept that on the high seas if we wanted to. Now, a blockade or an interception like that would be a use of force and military action, but nonetheless, its a lot less dramatic than, say, sending the u. S. Paratroopers into caracas. Thats what i meant by locking them up economically. Just seal cuba off to resolve this crisis. And certainly, yes, thats an act of war, but its likely not to get any consequential response because the means for that response are not there. There are plenty of options here. One thing we cant do is just state still. Paul all right. Well leave it on that note. Thank you very much, general, appreciate it. When we come back, President Trump calling for sweeping new rules for Asylum Seekers as the administration struggles to deal with the influx of migrants at the southern border. Is that net carbs or total . Eh, not enough fiber. Chocolate would be good. Snacking should be sweet and simple. The delicious taste of glucerna gives you the sweetness you crave while helping you manage your blood sugar. Glucerna. Everyday progress tech you think this chip is well sooner or later. Every chip will crack. Mom hi. Tech so bring it to safelite. We can repair it the same day. Guaranteed. Plus with most insurance, its no cost to you. Mom really . 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Paul President Trump proposing sweeping new rules for Asylum Seekers this week in an attempt to stem flow of central the american migrants pouring across the southern border. The plan outlined in a white house memo would require a fee for asylum applications, deny work permits for Asylum Seekers who enter the country illegally and require court toss resolve asylum claims within 180 days. Were back with dan henninger, jason riley and jillian melchior. Jillian, you went down to the border to an agricultural city, close to the border, how bad are how are they dealing with the immigrant surge . Well, they just declared a state of emergency. What theyre seeing is at times, about two weeks ago, 300 people crossing the border illegally every single day. Paul illegally . Yes. Paul okay. And often these are families with children. Yeah. Its difficult to care for them, because you have got customs and border enforcement agencies baby sitting, providing medical care, making sure there are diapers and baby formula on hand. Theyve got about 23300 people passing through 2300 people passing through every single day. This is an area where there are forest fires and other emergencies, and were seeing resources tacken up to deal with this humanitarian crisis on the border. Paul and how about the City Services . Are they under strain . Are they, how are they coping . Well, the state of emergency that they declare ared allows them to fiddle with the zoning, so thats one thing they can do to help deal with this capacity, but what they really need is additional funding. And so far they havent gotten any extra federal or state funding. So i think theyre really concerned that this is going to, over the course of the summer, exceed their capacity to deal with it, and youll have people sleeping in the streets. Paul and in order to prevent a humanitarian disaster, Young Children getting dehydrated and they dont tell you about that right away as we know from children until maybe its too late, with customs and Border Protection dealing with those humanitarian problems and not with protecting the border. Exactly. Youve got people crossing the border. Its going to get up to 120 degrees this summer. When i was out there just in april, it was already 100 degrees. So this is something that youve got families going on this really stressful journey, youve got to provide medical response, transportation. Theyre having a hard time providing enough buses to get people to the temporary detention facilities. Paul jason, you and i have been covering immigration for a long time, and it used to be young males, women, single people wanting to get into the u. S. To work are coming across, now we see these families pouring across yeah. And the system is not set up for this. This is not what border patrols trained to handle, not what the entire system was trained to do. Is so we have a big problem there. And the other frustrating thing here, paul, is that a lot of these proposals out of the administration make a lot of common sense in handling things in the interim at least until we can get congress to do something. Saying that if you want to come here to seek asylum you need to show up at a legal port of entry, you cant sneak in and then claim asylum after you get caught. Thats a very practical thing you could do to disincentivize people from coming illegally. Paul but the way the courts have interpreted the law now is if you come over with a family illegally and you claim asylum, you are then granted, essentially, you can only be held for 20 days, and then you have to be released into the interior, and it can take i was told by one official theyre given a ticket, they go to some cities, mostly 11 main cities including new york city, you know how long it take, im told, to get an asylum hearing in new york . Seven years. Yeah, yeah. Paul the incentives, in other words, have to change, dan. Yeah, they do. Where is the politics of this going . The administration this week proposed spending 4. 5 billion on the problems that jillian and jason were just describing, and the appropriate democratic chairmen of the House Appropriations committee, nita allow by, said i might appropriate things like food and diapers, but nothing for more detention beds because these people arent a danger. In other words, just release them into the country. The asylum decisions that jason was just describing are being made by liberal judges. And effect live i effectively, the Democratic Party is beginning to look like the party of anarchy, just let it rip. And there is, indeed, a manifest crisis down at the border as none who goes down and looks at it can see. And when you combine this with their calls for sanctuary cities and states, it even strengthens your argument. Paul jillian, briefly, are we going to get any movement from congress to help solve at least the incentive issues . Well, one interesting thing about this 4. 5 billion request is the vast majority is for humanitarian purposes and, oddly for the trump administration, this makes no mention of a wall. So i think its tougher for democrats to defend not doing it. Then again, they might want this as an issue. Paul okay. We have to take [laughter] im okay. You have 4. 3 minutes this time,to yourself. Rn. This calls for a taste of cheesecake. Philadelphia cheesecake cups. 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Eliquis may increase your bleeding risk if you take certain medicines. Tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures. Eliquis, the number one cardiologistprescribed blood thinner. Ask your doctor if eliquis is whats next for you. But allstate actually helps you drive safely. With drivewise. It lets you know when you go too fast. And brake too hard. With feedback to help you drive safer. Giving you the power to actually lower your cost. Unfortunately, it cant do anything about that. Now that you know the truth. Are you in good hands . Paul time now for our hits and misses of the week. Kim, first to you. So, paul, this is a hit to the worlds oldest monarchy in japan which this week did something remarkable. Its emperor whos been in charge for 30 years actually abdicated, making room for his son to succeed him. First time in 2300 years that 200 years that a japanese monarch has willingly given up the throne. So, obviously, japan has a very tortured history after world war ii. Its always good to see institutions reform and evolve. Paul jason . Paul, paul, remember tall talk about voters suppression that went on in midterm elections particularly voting minority, voters, Andrew Gullum in florida and new pew poll show that minority voter turnout last year, paul. Apparently, if republicans are engaged in voter suppression, theyre not very good at it. Paul and thats based on Census Bureau data. Jillian. Unccharlotte student riley howl. This kid was how howell. You know, masculinity is under attack on College Campuses right now, particularly if youre a white male, particularly if youre an athlete, but thank god there was a man there who behaved like a man. Paul jillian dan. Im giving a hit to a Buddhist Monk who discovered a fossil of a human jaw dating back 160,000 years. The monk stumbled upon the fossil about 40 years ago, but only in recent years did they realize the significance of what they had, and they made the announcement this week. I, for one, am only too happy to welcome them back into the human race even if only in the form of a single human jaw. Paul dan, thank you very much. And remember, if you have your own hit or miss, be sure to tweet it to us jer on nnc. Thank fnc. Thanks for watching. Im paul gigot, we hope to see you right here next week. Eric fox news alert on deadly runway horror in moscow, airplane forced to make Emergency Landing after fire breaks out shortly after it takes off, the crash landing as you see has carried 13 people. Hello, we can to americas news headquarters. Im eric sean. Im anita vogel. At least 78 people on board, jackie has more from new york, jackie. Anita, theres very Little Information confirmed right now but russian state news is reporting that two children are among the dead, video of the landing show the