Transcripts For FBC The Evening Edit 20240713 : comparemela.

An assassin asking another criminal with him to film him committing a murder in broad daylight. Were asking the Veterans Affairs secretary for an update providing faster and better care for our vets. We have details. Well ask him about a government watchdog report, alleging that the va spent billions of dollars on new medical facilities with little budget oversight. Im Melissa Francis in tonight for mcdonald. The evening edit starts right now. Melissa get to Edward Lawrence in washington with the latest developments there. Edward . Reporter defense secretary mark esper expects iran to retaliate. He would like a diplomatic solution but has prepared targets just in case. President donald trump keeping pressure on iran but backing off that those targets will include cultural sites. Listen. Theyre allowed to kill our people. Theyre allowed to maim our people. Theyre allowed to blow up everything that we have and there is nothing that stops them and we are, according to a various laws supposed to be very careful with their cultural heritage. You know what . If that is the law, i like to obey the law. Think of it, they kill our people. They blow up the people. We have to be very gentle with their cultural institutions. Reporter still the president says he already picked out target to hit if iran lashes out violently and will strike back if america is treated badly. The defense secretary says the killing of of Qassem Soleimani was to prevent more loss of life because he was planning attacks against americans. I would say days for sure. We have not ones escalated this past 40 years, certainly past self months. It has been iran through its proxies consistently escalated this in terms of the size, scale, scope of their attacks. We reached a point where we had to act in selfdefense. Reporter also today in washington another step towards ratifying usmca. Senate finance committee voted to send the deal on to the full senate. There may be a few other committees want to look at it. The Senate Majority leader could set a vote. However the impeachment trial takes priority over any votes under the constitution. Senator Mitch Mcconnell says he will wait on usmca till after that trial is done. So now we could be looking at full ratification in the u. S. By february. Melissa . Melissa we need it. Edward lawrence. Thank you so much for that. Meantime iran at least 56 people were crushed to death in a stampede that broke out during the funeral procession for general soleimani as tens of thousands packed the street for the possession. It happened in his hometown. 200 more were injured. His burial was delayed for several hours. Now a top iranian official announced iran is considering 13 socalled revenge scenarios, vowing the weakest option will create a historic nightmare for americans. On the phone, republican congressman mark green of the Homeland Security committee. He is also a former u. S. Army officer and he was part of the mission to capture saddam hussein. Sir, so glad you could join us tonight because youre uniquely qualified to speak to us in a way so many out there sort of spouting off what is going on are not qualified. You were part of the mission as we said. You interviewed saddam for six hours on the night of his capture. What is your take on whether we are safer or we created more danger for americans and our troops abroad . Well, thanks, melissa, for having me on the show. I apologize. The weather kind of kept us from getting to the shot location, i really appreciate it. You know, the big concern here is, what these guys need is, obviously a show of strength. That this culture. They sort of rely on that. They depend on that. And there is two sides to that coin. One, we have to show strength. We cant run away. Weve done that in the past. Beirut, somalia, after the black eye there in mogadishu. Clinton pulled us out. That only emboldened the folks. Flip side of that coin they have to show strength to stay in power. Very clearly they are going to respond. There is going to be a response, mark esper my west point classmate said that in his interview. The question is, what do they do . Theyre chess players. Theyre not, i know, theyre not solely selfdestructive. They realize they can hit us, hurt us in a place. We have 800 bases all over the world. Those are all potential target but, they dont have the capacity to do much more than just a strike. Melissa sir, isnt it interesting to note though the first thing theyre doing is going on tv. I mean if you look, theyre doing interviews. Theyre going out, talking about all of the things that theyre going to do as opposed to in the past, they were trying to see exactly how much they could get away with in terms of firing shots and throwing bombs. Does that mean anything to you . Well their rhetoric has been kill america for tens of years. I mean death to america, death to israel, is part of their mantra. That is nothing new. In fact the declaration from their parliament, all soldiers are terrorists, all u. S. Soldiers are terrorists. They made that statement back in april. They just amended it to make the word as little different today. Their rhetoric isnt bombs. But youre right, there has been a significant escalation. It started with the drone attack. Then the rocket attack that killed u. S. Contractor. So there has been escalation. You know, president basically said, im done with this. He drew a line in the sand if any american dies, an american died, he responded. Melissa right. It is so easy to secondguess afterwards what should have been done differently. That is exactly what democrats and the president s detractors are doing. Theyre saying rather than taking out this person who, you know was their lead military commander, why didnt they take out troops in the field . That there were other things that could have been done that would have been better. How do you respond to that criticism . I think thats ridiculous. Theyre putting political talking points over our national security. I mean theyre more concerned about, you know, doing anything they can to hurt donald trump than they are protecting soldiers in the field. This guy was a major planner. He was a, basically the director of all of their terrorist activities outside of iran. Multiple, multiple general officers in the United States military, retired officers, came out, said this was a bold, strategic, smart move from a military standpoint to take him out. They are severely there is an article out of the guardian it uk, not known to be supportive of President Trump, basically said the disruptions in syria remember in syria, this guy killed hundreds of thousands of people. All of that has been completely disrupted with his death. This was a good thing to do. Melissa now in the meantime when i talk about what theyre saying to the cameras, it is actually not the death to america. What i mean is, their ambassadors who came out and done interviews on the bbc and elsewhere saying, oh, this isnt about americans of the we dont have anything against americans themselves. Yeah. Melissa it is about your leader who is a terrorist. That is a change in tone. I mean youre right. Melissa tear talk is almost softer now in the wake of that attack. Absolutely. I noticed that today too. If you look at just today, starting with the funeral, rhetoric shifted to mostly talking about how our soldiers, you know, even their targets now are all about where the military in the region, u. S. Military in the region. America get out of the region. So that is a big shift from their kneejerk response immediately after his death. So i, i do sense that theyre probably downplaying it with their rhetoric a little bit. I think that is a good sign. Melissa what do you make of the crowds and we came in with this story of, it is hard for americans to imagine this idea that you have thousands of people in the street. That you have more than 50 people who were trampled and killed. In the past few weeks weve been looking at crowds demonstrating against the government because they dont have essential human needs. Now if you listen to, you know reporters on other stations they say everybody inside of iran is united against mesh. When you look at these crowds, do we have any idea what is going on there . As a student of the area what is the best guess going on in these huge crowds . There is massive dissension inside iran. There has been an effort over the past 10 years to stomp that out. Green resole revolt that happened a few years ago under ahmadinejad. Farsi people, particularly younger iranians are very moderate. They are sick and tired of this government. It is just totalitarian. Who knows what happened in those crowds today. It was his hometown. So i imagine a lot of people very pro soleimani but, it is also very possible that they went doortodoor and forced people into the streets to be a part of the demonstration. Melissa congressman mark green, i know it was hard to get to us. We appreciate you picking up the phone. Thanks for coming on tonight. No, we loved having you, thank you. Thank you. Byebye. Melissa all right. Liz claman standing by at ces where all of the action is. Liz, whats happening . Well, a lot of course. This is day one of the worlds Biggest Technology show on planet earth. A little bit of controversy, that i have got to tell you, involving ivanka trump that ended up being much ado about nothing. Ivanka trump was invited a week or two ago, at least announced to be one of the many keynote speakers here. Gary shapiro, the head of the technological association, cta, invited her as he often does with every administration. Suddenly there was a outcry and glacial chill falls over what is she doing here . What does she know about technology . She actually has been pushing for technological literacy for our k12 and for workers who have been left behind in the old manufacturing jobs. Here is a little bit of what she said at a sold out ballroom Venetian Hotel speech just an hour or two ago. Many of the industryies support cybersecurity jobs. Not all of them require a bachelors degree. You mentioned, barry, the importance of defining work based on skis, rather than credentials, it is incredibly important and require as major shift in our thinking. Liz as it turns out there was polite applause, melissa. Apparently no protests not we heard about so far. But the complaint was there are not enough women in tech. The women who are in tech would be better, more appropriate to be speaking here. Okay. But then why is there no outcry about actress mandy moore, who is one of the speakers here . A little hypocritical, but in the end this is pretty conserve tough show. Very probusiness. Gary shapiro says im not a democrat. Im not a republican. Even said he voted for Hillary Clinton yet he was one who invited her because he has seen her have the platform. Melissa she does a lot of great work connecting the future of work with the generation that we have in school right now, especially going all the way down to middle school. Connecting businesses, that need workers with the talent thats out there. I mean we have empty jobs. We need to figure out how to educate people for it. It is better that Companies Get in the mix, private business, rather than leaving it all to government because they always fall far behind. Liz, great coverage. I love everything youve done today. So many great things. The flying car, all of the cuttingedge news. You are fantastic. We will be sure to catch liz tomorrow. You have day two of your special coverage. I want to give you some of these guests. Theyre incredible. The ceo of delta air lines. You also have the ceo of discovery communications. And all of the gadgets and robots and Everything Else futuristic that your kids and husband will be begging for. Liz, thank you. To the markets, stock down across the board. Gerri willis more from the new york stock exchange. Gerri . Melissa, markets closing lower tonight as investors continue to weigh trouble in the middle east, the killing of one of irans top military generals. All 11 s p sectors were lower today. The dow closing close to session lows, down 119 point. The nasdaq in the red as well. Couldnt quite hold on to gains throughout the session, closing down three points. Despite Strong Performance from chip stocks especially micron and western digital. Upgrade from the key analysts. They saw gains of 8 in those two shares. Analysts turning bullish on growth in 2020 in that sector. Another tech group doing well. Google, facebook, apple, hitting fresh intraday highs. Apple of course over 300. That milestone, as investors grapple for growth. Melissa, back to you. Melissa gerri, thank you for that. Coming up, latest on the massive wildfires burning huge paths of death and destruction across australia. Later in the show, Senate Leader Mitch Mcconnell says, he has the votes to block democrats demands over witnesses in the trump impeachment trial. Oh, your mom just texted. Shes landed. And shes on her way to our house. What. I thought she was coming next weekend. I got it. Alexa. Start the coffee. Set the temperature to 72. Start roomba. We got this. Dont look. What . Dont look. Lets move. Mom. The lexus es, eagerly prepared for the unexpected. Lease the 2020 es 350 for 389 a month for 36 months. Experience amazing at your lexus dealer. Its a lifelong adventure finding all of these new connections all the time. Greater details. Richer stories. And now with health insights. Get your dna kit at ancestry. Com. Melissa to those fierce australian wildfires that killed 25 people, the race to open roads and evacuate more territory. Officials warn they are expecting Hazardous Conditions to return later in the week. Fox newss jeff paul is on the ground in australia. Jeff . Reporter firefighters in australia are getting some help from Mother Nature on tuesday. Cooler weather and some isolated rainshowers helping crews shore up the containment lines on hundreds of fires still burning in new south wales. The fires have killed more than two disease disease people and burned through an area twice the size of maryland. The bush fires done major damage to the countrys wildlife, including millions of animals including koalas and kangaroos. There was so much smoke and fire. [crying] i didnt think there would be any alive. Reporter were getting a better sense of the financial cost from these fires. Insurance Officials Say losses have more than doubled in the past two days to nearly half a billion dollars. Theyre expecting that number to keep going up as they assess losses to businesses and their employees. To those people who may not have lost their homes but dont have a place to turn up for work today, theyre not sure how the next paycheck is going to arrive, the cost of this is unprecedented. Reporter meanwhile thousands remain evacuated as crews to save homes near the front lines. They say theyre making progress but there are still communities in danger. Really is about shoring up protection to limit the damage potential and the outbreak of those fires over the coming days. Reporter on tuesdays australias Prime Minister thanked President Trumps support. The president responding in a tweet, we love australia. In australia. Jeff paul, fox news. Melissa thank you for that. Latest development on former nissan Ceo Carlos Ghosn is who fled japan, hiding out in lebanon. There is now an arrest warrant for his wife. Kristina partsinevelos has nor. Reporter saga of the former nissan ceo continues prosecutors have issued a arrest warrant for Carlos Ghosns wife. This comes a week after ghosn himself jumped bail and fled to lebanon in a hollywoodstyle escape. Carol ghosn is under prosecution for perjury. They said she gave false testimony from transfer of nissan to another money. She claimed she denied knowing various people involved. More details emerging about carlos ghosn escape to lebanon despite 24 hours surveilance. He left took a bullet train to osaka. He slipped past Airport Security by stuffing his body into a case meant for audio equipment. It was reportedly too big for the xray machine, allowing him to go undetected. He is now in lebanon. According to the associated press, the conviction rate in japan exceeds 99 . Ghosns charges of financial wrongdoing carry a, maximum penalty of 15 years in prison. He maintained his innocence an plans to hold a press conference on wednesday. Melissa . Melissa kristina, thank you for that. We want to take you to some breaking news that we have right now. This is coming from a senior u. S. Military source who is in iraq. The source is telling us that iraq is under miss till attack from iran missile attack from iran. They are cruise missiles or shortrange Ballistic Missiles. The source is saying that this attack is happening all over the country right now. On the phone right now we have colonel david hunt joining us. Youre hearing this news as we are, colonel. What do you make of it . I would love to get it confirmed. People, from people in iraq but iran borders on iraq. They have 20 or 30 places they can launch from iran into iraq. They have a cruise missilelike thing, device. They also have rockets and also have artillery. All could be reached from iran. It is, my issue with this, sounds a bit fanciful saying all over the country. If he is going to do this, there is an airbase, it is small but, these would be targeted, not all spread all over iraq. Iraq of course is very friendly. It is a satellite actually of iran. If iranians would want to minimize damage all over the country and just focus on u. S. Bases, weve got 5,000 guys there. A lot concentrated on an airbase northeast iraq. So, this thing has to get refined. It doesnt, it is not surprise that iran has the capability. If there is, if, there is problem with this. If this is true, or even part of it is true, iran launched missiles against u. S. , our response is going to be geometrically larger. Now youre into a shooting war. Melissa well, we dont know, i mean, again, you know, this is a report that has been confirmed by fox news but we dont know the breadth or scope or any of it. So we dont want to panic anyone or make assumptions or anything of the kind. Of course we expected retaliation. In fact iran has promised that. Do you think, would it make logical sense if they targeted the u. S. Air base, in that you said,