this video. it got off to an awkward start. >> please don't. >> there you go. >> hello. >> [laughing]. >> good to see you again. the last time -- we didn't get to see one another in g20. i hope next time we meet, it's in person. >> john: one of the most important days for biden's foreign policy agenda going up against a trained agent with his sights set on ukraine. ukraine could become the next afghanistan. some democrats calling for more lethal aide to ukraine. >> sandra: keith kellogg, general, good of you to be here. that call ended 12:08 p.m. eastern time and last 2ed hours. got off to a rough start with president biden's microphone was not worked. he got it back on and waved at the russian president. >> i saw the same picture you the president was there and putin by himself. that's typical putin. that the call went for 2 hours that's not surprising because it's translated. putin understands english. i sat between 18 calls with president trump and vice-president pence. he would laugh at our bad jokes and correct the translator. he plays a shrewd diplomatic game. if i was advising the president what would my advise have been in morning? i looked at it two ways. you have to look at it through our lens and the lens of your adversaries. if you know yourself and not the enemy you will win 50. if you know yourself but don't know the enemy you will lose all battles. president, you need to look at the americans first. what is in our best interest? what is putin trying to get out of it. putin looks at himself as a country under siege. george w. bush and bill clinton we told him we would not expand in the east with nato. he looks at it i don't trust the americans. i am a remake of the peter the great and i will protect the home land. the president just split the difference. say to putin, ukraine remains a sovereign nation. we won't bring them into nate. you leave them alone. it's an european issue. let's go on to more important things around the globe. we have adversaries in china that we need to pay attention to. we do not need to be distracted from a european event. we are more focussed on russia and ukraine than china and taiwan. >> sandra: i want to bring in every detail we are learning from that phone calls. not specifics from it. but the length of time. how it began. we know that the white house kept that meeting closed to reporters. it was all virtual over zoom. the kremlin released photos and video between the two leaders. the white house hasn't provided a full readout of that call. what we are expecting is that jake sullivan biden's national security advisor will did you say that with reporters this afternoon and we will bring that to our viewers. we are learning this: president biden will convene a call with the president of france, the chancellor of germany, angela merkel and the prime time from italy and the prime time from the united kingdom following this call with putin. what is the goal here? how much should the white house put out as far as what was said between the two leaders? what we know so far is that heading into this the white house said president biden was going to push some of the toughev sanctions against russia if they invade ukraine. >> the president should go in front of the press and not jake sullivan. i guarantee you the russians will release things really quickly out there. especially what went their way. what is happening with president biden when he calls the other global leaders he is telling them what happened during the call. he will say this is the reassurance i am giving you going forward. my biggest concern this may sound good, but putin will take a issue of this guy. he is not sure he is playing with a guy who comes from strength. unlike with trump i don't think he believes this guy is up to capacity and has strength behind his words. >> sandra: that call ended less than an hour ago. we had you on yesterday telling us how critical this call would be. >> john: president biden expected to receive a report today from his presidential commission on the supreme court. that could endorse measures like increasing the number of justices and implementing term limits. jen psaki down played the report yesterday. saying it's a list of recommendations that the president can accept or deny. she would not predict how long the president would take to review the report. we will put some questions to jason chafffetz later about this. and whether or not democrats want to after the shellacking on november 7th about the idea of court packing. >> sandra: we look forward to that. all of the 14 suspects tied to a dozen smash and grab robbeies were released just hours after their arrest. critics blame the top prosecutor and his zero bail policies. jonathan hunt. >> los angeles is seeing a rash of smash and grab robberies since it began in san francisco and moved south. high end malls targeted. and law enforcement responded including arresting 14 who were 13 quickly released under a zero bail. it was introduced at the beginning of the pandemic as a way to reduce l.a.'s crowded prison population. that's at the root of the problem. >> we are catching the criminals and the problem is we catch them over and over again. they are being released very quickly welt bail. they are not saying in prin. >> this policy was introduced before the l.a. district attorney gascon took office. his critics want tougher action from him and activists are laurening a second recall attempt against the district attorney failing badly in the first effort this year. other d.a.s are hitting out at gascon and progressives for their reform agendas. >> this is rampant. but george gascon and all of these woke district attorneys across the country they are doubling down. >> the d.a.'s office here in los angeles refutes that and a spokesman for gascon told us of the recent robberies: we will hold those responsible accountable. the robberies are actually down in terms of numbers. this year compared to 2020 and 2919. that is cold comfort for the recent victims here. >> sandra: thank you. >> john: ceremonies across the country marking 80 years since the pearl harbor attack. more than 2400 american serve members and civilians were killed by the surprise attack by the japanese pushing the united states into world war ii. william is in pearl harbor. we saw that moving moment of silence a moment ago. >> john, it's ironic. 80 years most americans could not name pearl harbor or find it on the map. the year prior president roosevelt moved the fleet from sanding to hawaii. what happened on this island changed the world. great generation earned their title. over my shoulder this is where the arizona was docked. over to my left would have been the tennessee. the maryland and over there the oklahoma. you can see it better on this map. at 7:55 a.m. sunday morning that the japanese attack began. they focussed on the battle ships. 8 torpedoes hit the oklahoma and the arizona a bomb cut the ship in half. 1144 died and 900 sailors were never recovered. that's their resting place. utah and arizona remain where they sank and are an underwater grave. today 150 world war ii vets will be joined by 40 pearl harbor survivors to commemorate this day. many say they are living on borrowed time and recall what happened. >> i see them jumping in the water covered in oil that was on fire. most of them died in the water. the rest died when they reached the beach. >> the next thing i knew a line of [inaudible] was 15 feet away. i saw the red ball. that's a japanese plane. that's not our plane. >> many saw pearl harbor as a defeat. it was a surprise. we were caught flat footed. we didn't lose any carriers. they didn't hit our fuel tanks and all but 3 of the 21 ships damaged returned to surface. we avenged that defeat 4 months later bombing tokyo and then a victory at midway. that says or reaffirms what the admiral said about the attack on pearl: i was avoid we woke a sleeping giant and a terrible resolve will result. that's where we are today. we will have festivities today. all those vets are 96 years old or older and only a handful remain. >> john: we are losing them. it was 80 years ago today that happened. william good to have you covering it. thank you very much. have you ever been there to the arizona memorial? >> sandra: i have not. president biden marked the occasion by thanking the greatest generation who guided our nation through some of the darkest moments and laid the foundation for a system that transformed adversaries into allies. we remember them today. >> john: stunning. 80 years has gone by. >> sandra: fox news alert on new testimony from actor jussie smollett who just finished his time on the stand a moment ago. why he is still insisting there was no hoax in his hate crimes allegation. >> john: new york city's business sector and children 5 years old will be subject to de blasio's vaccine mandate. is this based on science? >> he is not a parent or a 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separate on ransom ware and joint work on regional issues such as iran. we will learn more in the coming hours as president biden will convene a phone call with other world leaders following this online meeting with vladimir putin. top of the hour we expect the national security advisor jake sullivan will join jen psaki in the briefing room. >> john: important conversation. president biden's commission on the supreme court is expected to vote today on finaling itself report to endorse term limits and increasing the number of justices. >> it's been done before. >> we are unpacking it. >> court expansion is about saving our democracy. >> john: are democrats getting closer to packing the court. former utah congressman jason chaffetz, this report will state that congress has the power and the authority to increase the number of justices on the supreme court. it doesn't really take a position at this point. is this telling us anything we didn't already know? >> i don't think so. i talked to one of the people on the commission. from the get go they were not going to make strong recommendations. it was a political tool used by president biden to punt frankly for a number of months on this issue. i think the country would be outraged if there was any major movement. you hear senators say we need to do this and that to the court. it's because they don't like where the wins have been. they thought hillary clinton would win and make these appointments. they are fine with it if it's ruth bader ginsburg staying there forever but clarence thomas, oh we have to change the court. the court is working. it's congress that is not working. >> john: there was disagreement between the commissioner about increasing the number of justices. after the shellacking the democrats doing in the elections on november 2nd, is there an appetite to enforce court packing? >> only those on the far left like aoc who think the only way they can get justice if it's their person and they can appoint 4 new justices. we just allowed president biden to put 4 new justices in place, that's not the way america works. i don't think the court is the problem. congress is the problem. >> john: a couple of points that are valid to make. if the supreme court rules on this mississippi abortion case and takes apart roe v. wade the democrat may get the appetite to pack the court. the flip side is the argument on whether or not the threat to pack the court could affect the outcome of decisions like mississippi. mitch mcconnell democrats could apply improper pressure. the left wants court reform to hangover them. the left hopes that manufactured claims of fake concerns may change which cases the court decides to hear and what rulings it hands down. being the threat affect the more moderate conservative justices? >> i agree with mitch mcconnell. this is one of the side benefits is the political pressure they are trying to put on john roberts and the others there at the supreme court to sway what cases are brought before the court. it's a smam. -- shame. it's not the way it is supposed to work. in washington, d.c. it applies political pressure. most people pick up the "washington post" and read this left wing stuff. that's part of the benefit of what they get with such rhetoric. >> john: something in the discussion months or years to come. jason chaffetz, great to see you. >> sandra: the prosecution wrapped its case in the trial of jussie smollett alleged hate crimes attacks. smollett denied everything including planning the attacks and doing a dry run. the prosecutor read messages between smollett and one of the brothers. matt. >> jussie smollett testified several hours yesterday and today. he wrapped. when i left the viewing room in the courtroom there was a witness, a man who drove the brothers to the screen. an uber driver will be the last witness in this case. they will go into closing arguments today. jussie smollett testified underoath did mying the plan -- denying planning. they asked smollett if we realized how he looked in an interview. he said he had good hollywood hair, makeup and lighting. he said police changed his words. police testified that smollett referred to the brothers as black as sin. he said he didn't say that. he said his mother is dark skinned and he would never use those words. he says the phone calls he had with the brothers was to discuss meal plans and 9 a.m. work session. the prosecutor asked why none of messages had anything to do with that? smollett said that none of the messages ever revealed anything to do with an attack. that was his answer. >> sandra: matt, thanks. >> john: you have been talking about this. surging inflation forcing companies to plan for steep wage hikes amid a tight labor market. charlie is up next. >> sandra: a classic love tale getting no love in the middle east. why some countries are banning the remake of westside story and how disney weighs the bottom line about censorship demands. >> snoots is now a 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sandra: what is going on. companies are planning raises. that sounds like good news. >> we will get attacked. people will say there are those lunatics at fox saying higher wages is a bad thing for people. they are corporatists. i am up for higher wages. i want higher wages. i demand them. here is the difference between this and a naturally occurring higher wage because productivity is going up. a lot of this is caused by government. not just because you have jumps in wages because more people are working and there is not an inflation problem. you are getting this because there is an inflation problem. it's walking hand in hand with inflation. what you are seeing is inflation probably rising faster than wages. the short term is that wages are keeping track with inflation. >> sandra: not so much. hold on. hourly wages up 4.8% year over year. >> okay. >> sandra: and inflation is up 6.2%. wages are trying to catch up. >> that's the latest reading. that's a great point. we have wages trying to keep up with inflation. if wages are not higher than inflation, what is going on you are getting a wage decrease if they're not keeping track with consumer prices, the price of gas and everything it takes to live. this is not mean old charlie. >> sandra: you said you are right and that's a great point. that's a rare moment. >> you are rarely right. >> sandra: oh! i knew that was coming. >> [laughing]. you walked into that. >> sandra: the political implications. there could be serious consequences, if you put up the latest polling. >> there it is. >> sandra: republicans 46 are favored to rebuild the economy over democrats. those who believe are the best party to get inflation under control. republicans. 47%. >> you see it in the poll numbers. republicans should pick up the house easy. some think they will pick up the senate. the market is focussing on the variant not being as deadly as delta variant. last week's selloff way a freak out and unnecessary. the market will have to focus on inflation and whether powell slows down printing money. he may have to raise interest rates. if he does you will get a market correction. >> sandra: the stock market going up is bad? i am just joking. >> it's temporary. >> sandra: i have to leave it there. if all of these companies are raising their pay in the new year because of inflation, guess what happens? they raise pay and raise prices. >> right. if prices are not keeping up with inflation you are getting a wage cut. >> sandra: thank you very much. senior correspondent. >> [laughing]. >> john: rare moment of agreement. spielberg's remake of "westside story" now banned in parts of the middle east. 6 nations members of the arab league blocking it after disney refused to comply with censorship demands. critics say the company is bow you to china. kelly has more on this. good afternoon. >> the film is banned because. transgender character and disney refused to make cuts. the studio, an episode of the simpson joking about the tiananmen square massacre was pulled. before the pandemic disney's asian pacific revenues increased 97% with other regions only growing 20 to 30%. china only allowed 20 foreign films to be released each year. look at that. that's crazy. that's 15 times the combined sale of the middle east country banning "westside story." end game drew 629-million dollars from china alone for disney. eyeballs on the films are key. disney and also in hong kong. angering beijing could be detrimental to growth. if disney and american companies vow to appease the middle east that may undermine the united states. >> john: a billion people buying tickets money talks. >> sandra: that's the bottom line. >> john: when you are making $600-million on a movie in a chinese market. that's the reason for disney to makes changes. >> sandra: a lot of people consuming a lot of movies. merrick garland is bothered by the crime across the country. what the white house is doing about this at all. >> john: plus in new york, to implement a first in the nation vaccine mandate for private businesses. does that order actually follow the science? well, dr. nicole saphier is here next. . with one element securing portfolios, time after time. gold. agile and liquid. a proven protector. an ever-evolving enabler of bold decisions. an asset more relevant than ever before. gold. your strategic advantage. people everywhere living with type 2 diabetes are waking up to what's possible with rybelsus®. ♪ you are my sunshine ♪ ♪ my only sunshine... ♪ rybelsus® is a pill that lowers blood sugar in three ways. increases insulin when you need it... decreases sugar... and slows food. the majority of people taking rybelsus® lowered their blood sugar and reached an a1c of less than 7. rybelsus® isn't for people with type 1 diabetes. don't take rybelsus® if you or your family ever had medullary thyroid cancer, or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if allergic to it. stop rybelsus® and get medical help right 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value to upgrade the kitchen, add a pool for the grandkids, or have the security of cash in the bank. with an average cash out amount of $60,000, you can do more. >> ♪ ♪ >> john: the strictest vaccine mandate in the country is coming to new york city. expanded to include private sector workers started on december 27th. that applies to 184,000 businesses. dr. nichole saphier joins us now. this is the first city in the nation to do something like this. it eliminates the option for weekly testing. is this a good idea? is it based on science? >> well, john, i have always been against anything that is very rigid or black-and-white. there should always be exceptions. i like the option of weekly testing and masks because there are certain situations where their physicians don't feel they should be vaccinated and people who recovered from covid 19 there is strong data confirming that natural immunity is protected. last week out of the u.k. over 30,000 healthcare workers showed natural immunity after 15 minutes was more protective than 2 dose vaccines after 6 months. do vaccines keep people out of the hospital? absolutely. that's the science. there are other things confirmed by science. natural immunity protection and some reasons the vaccine won't be recommended to certain people. my kids, for example, i recently had a breakthrough case. i got that from one of my children. my younger children now are recovered from covid-19. both have documented infections. so they are likely to have protective natural immunity. to take them to new york city i have to prove they are vaccinated but the natural immunity is more protective than the majority of people in new york city with 2 dose vaccines or even with boosters. we don't have the data. >> john: i find this interesting. bill de blasio has one foot out the door. leaves on the 1st of january. this goes into effect on the 27th. it will be in effect for 4 days before adams takes over and he is not committed to carrying out this mandate. here's what bill de blasio said. >> when the government act it makes them easier for them to act. we did that with public employees and schools. we proved it work. what we heard from businesses, don't let us go back to shutdowns. >> john: he said people like it when government leads the way. they are saying you have to get a vaccine or you can't go to work or operate your business. to some people that sounds heavy handed. >> maybe only people like government leading the way, maybe the people he is asking. the majority of americans they talk to ask my patients we don't want government telling us how to practice medicine and which science is correct? you can't just choose the data that fits your own narrative. you have to listen to all opinions. when you have growing evidence suggesting certain things other than the black-and-white vaccine mandates you are pushing forth, you are know following the science. >> john: even to get back in the country, if you have proof of a recovered infection within 90 days you are allowed to come back in the country. dr. nichole saphier, great to get your take. sandra smith the "new york post" with the best covers anywhere had its own take. look at this. bill de blasio wearing a fidel castro cap and beard: his final gifts in new york city in his last weeks as mayor. they are going after him. >> sandra: how is that for transfer of leadership. 98% of americans support small businesses. it's a struggle for so many businesses dealing with crime in the city and regulations and mandates. they want to operate again. the city needs to get back to normal. it's difficult not just with the mandates but the uncertainty. so hard on these businesses. john, with the world focussed on russia invading ukraine american officials are raising alarms about chinese military expansion. is chinese waiting in the wings? can president biden stand up to them in taiwan and africa. marsha blackburn will join us. >> sandra: and medina spirit dead from a heart attack after collapsing after a workout. what happened here. could the performance enhancing drugs have played a role in the horse's death? hi, i'm steve and i live in austin, texas. i work as a personal assistant to the owner of a large manufacturing firm. i've got anywhere from 10 to 50 projects going at any given time. i absolutely have to be sharp. let me tell ya, i was struggling with my memory. it was going downhill. my friend recommended that i try prevagen and over time, it made a very significant difference in my memory and in my cognitive ability. i started to feel a much better sense of well-being. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. >> sandra: three-year-old kent kentucky derby winner medina spirit died yesterday after a workout. the trainer said the horse suffered a heart attack. phil keating joins us on this story. >> it's a sad story. born in florida's horse country, north of orlando, medina spirit will go down as not the unlikely winner of this year's kentucky derby but as the horse that could still have that crown stripped away from it after failing a drug test. medina spirit won the first leg of the triple crown in an amazingly close finish. one week later the 3-year-old horse with the white spot tested positive for an anti-inflamm atory drug. the trainer bob baffert said it came from an ointment used to treat a skin rash. baffert suffered more than his race horse did. he was suspended for 2 years and the new york racing association banned him and medina spirit from racing at this summer's belmont stakes the third beg. trim crown. that was truck down but the belmont stakes had already run. medina spirit's cause of death looks to be a heart attack suffered yesterday in california. it remains to be seen whether medina spirit will stay the 2021 kentucky derby champion or have that title slipped away from it. >> sandra: so sad. baffert talked about his barn being devastated by this news say medina spirit was a member of the family and loved by all and will be cherished. talking about the personal and proud memories. show shocking. >> john: such a great horse. santa anita raises alarm bells. you remember the controversy there. 37 horses died in 19. 20 in 2020. why is that happening? >> sandra: red flag. >> john: we are standing by for jen psaki and the white house briefing after the have call between biden and putin. biden has deep concerns about the russia build-up near ukraine. after afghanistan do biden's words have any bite in them? jack kean will join us and marsha blackburn all ahead as "america reports" rolls on for a tuesday. >> man: what's my safelite story? my truck...is my livelihood. so when my windshield cracked... the experts at safelite autoglass came right to me... with service i could trust. right, girl? >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ veteran homeowners- you made a smart move when you bought your home. now make another one and turn your equity into cash. with the newday 100 va 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house briefing following president biden's video call with russian president vladimir putin to project american strength in the face of russia testing the west. i am john roberts in washington. >> sandra: we should get a lot of news in the briefing with jake sullivan. i am sandra smith in new york. the white house hasn't shared much about what was exchange between the two world leaders. a single still photo with 140 words about president biden sharing deep concerns with putin who has his eyes set on ukraine. president biden promised strong economic sanctions should russia invade ukraine. >> john: the kremlin put out a video at the start of the meeting and then kamala harris left the room. jen psaki will take to the podium with the national security advisor jake sullivan. this is not president biden's first go around with putin. biden was vice-president when russia forces took over ukraine that triggered economic sanctions under then president obama. >> sandra: that was not enough to prevent russia's latest proication -- provocations. we will talk about whether we could be looking at a repeat of president obama's russian failures. >> john: and jack keane about whether the white house is up to the task. we start with team coverage. jacqui heinrich to begin our coverage. >> the briefing was pushed back by a half-hour am we are awaiting news about what exactly president biden laid out to president putin in the 2 hour phone call. details on the economic sanctions. the package he would layout if russia moves forward with invading ukraine. yesterday they were described as significant and severe and kept on the table the nuclear option. removing russia and blocking them from the system they rely on for international financial trance actions. -- trance actions. transactions. president biden voiced the deep concerns about russia escalation of forces around the ukraine. president supported ukraine sovereignty. it goes on to say: the first conversation will happen today right after the putin and biden call. the white house said that biden will speak to the leaders of france, germany and the u.k. bloomberg is reporting that the u.s. will pressure germany to stop the pipeline in russia invades ukraine. there will be an announcement about that report during today's white house briefing. they stopped short of confirming it. republicans said that biden never should have waived sanctions. >> joe biden surrendered to putin. waived the sanctions that had worked and that is why we are facing the prospect of a russian invasion of ukraine. it's because of biden's weakness. biden should tell putin the pipeline is dead. >> sandra: biden is slateed to speak with the ukrainian president and the secretary of state spoke with him last night. >> john: jacqui heinrich, thank you. we are awaiting that briefing in about 25 minutes or so. >> sandra: the kremlin responding to the call between the 2 leaders who play down concerns they will invade ukraine. tre? >> minutes into the call the russians released a still photo and allowed state media in to shoot video. president biden waved to his russian counterpart. part of the russia attempt to get ahead of the narrative early on. and the kremlin trying to get ahead of things this morning with a spokesman saying no breakthroughs during the video call. russia's foreign minister addressed the meeting today taking a swipe at the ukrainian. >> we will see how the talks end. we have serious concerns about kiev. >> ukrainian officials argued the only ones provoking a response to current tension are russians moving troops to the ukraine border. russia could invade ukraine early next year and the biden administration accord fated with france, germany and italy with possible military support to ukraine and economic sanctions against russia. the biggest challenge for america is addressing the needs of russia and trying to get them to change their plans. >> [sirens wailing]. >> economic sanctions can deter but not stop russia from invading. >> sandra: thank you. >> john: let's bring in retired 4 star general jack keane. leitz let's go over a couple of points.t's let's go over a couf points. what do you think about what we know so far? >> well, i think, look, it's a good thing for them to air their views and concerns. that's the purpose of this meeting. not likely anything definitive will come from the meeting but it's part of a process. putin is walking into this thing -- where he is coming from, he sees russia as the dominating power in europe. a return to the influence they had with the soviet union states. many of them are already in nato and that leads to his number 1 frustration. not only did the soviet union collapse but they joined the organization that enabled the collapse of the soviet unit. that's why he went into georgia in 2008 to stop the dominos of the former soviet union states joining nato. once he lost his stooge who was overthrown in ukraine he had toic to action. the reason for the overthrow was because the people wanted to move closer to the european union for economic prosperity and move into nato for a political alliance and the security that goes along with that. in the 7 years since this time, despite being in crimea and russia being in eastern ukraine, the people of ukraine are overwhelming supportive of wanting to be a part of the eu and nato are their leaders. that's grown in 7 years much to his frustration. a lot of this has to deal with what i am talking about right here. he will lay on the table, he doesn't want to see ukraine become a part of nato. he wants to stop the lethal aid going in there from the united states and other nato and european countries. he doesn't want ukraine military moving east and conducting a major offensive operation in the east. that's where he is coming from. the other thing the elephant in the room, he wants to undermine nato. he would take action to destroy it and break up the trans-atlantic alliance. that's the background where he is. i think the meeting is very important. he will take a measure of president biden here whom he knows well in terms of his credibility here. his strength and resolve about what he is putting on the table in terms of sanctions. our audience knows we won't put u.s. troops in here. that hasn't been on the table with all 3 presidents. obama, trump and biden. there was never an issue where troops are going to intervene here. that's off the table. but, there are other things that are on the table. one is president biden will make a strong case that ukraine has a right to determine what alliance it wants to participate in. what may not be state side that mean of the european countries and the united states are taking it off the table at least for the time being. they understand this situation. putin in the back of his mind said, that's not enough for me. i know that eventually this will happen. the united states and nato countries will push it. he wants an explicit reference from the united states and the nato countries to back off ever bringing the ukraine into nato. now we are talking about tough sanctions. putin blew off sanctions in the past. now the sanctions we are talking about is very significant particularly in taking them out of the swift banking system. it's an international system using telecommunications to make pavements and transfers. that would hurt him significantly. he has a very weak economy. it's one commodity. oil and gas. he knows full well he can't add to the burden of his people who are already experiencing the challenges of covid and the economic plight they are under. that will be an issue for him. sanctions against his inner circle similar to what president trump did with oligarchs and the oil and gas issue itself. sanctions have teeth. >> sandra: we await jen psaki's briefing, we hope to get more information about the actual words that were exchanged in this phone call. general, the optics so far. put some of the pictures back up. the picture of putin -- first president biden in the situation room. putin on the screen on the left there. there was putin sitting alone in a room with biden up on the television screen. there were technical difficulties. president biden's microphone was not working. once it was back up he waved at putin. i don't know. do you take anything away from the optics about how that happened? should it have been in person to begin with? >> well, obviously putin wants to send a message i am sitting here and i don't have my advisors around me. i have been in power since 2000. over 20 years. he is self-confident and acured. -- assured. i don't think the optices have much to do with anything. we react because that's all we have to react. what are the decisions that will be made as a result of this meeting? that will play out over time. even in the back of putin's mind he wants to avoid sanctions and will pull back his troops, he would do not it immediately. he won't telegraph that to his own people he it walking away based on something biden told him. that's just not putin. anybody thinking that will happen doesn't know putin. what a matter he is at this. this is a game he likes to play. this one-on-one with head of state. he have go audio. >> john: no question about it. a lot of practice being in power so long. general, we want you to come back on the other side of the briefing from jake sullivan. >> sandra: jussie smollett back in the hot seat at his trial a day after calling claims of the, attack on him being false. >> john: and the vaccine mandates in new york city the strictest in the nation. why they are concerned. coming up next. one dose can quickly stop my migraine in its tracks within 2 hours. don't take with strong cyp3a4 inhibitors. most common side effects were nausea and tiredness. ask about ubrelvy, the anytime, anywhere migraine medicine. i was just blown away by how much my 23andme reports taught me about my health. and that's why i knew how meaningful 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or buy red hats. smollett testified he has a scar under an eye and permanent black eye. but the prosecutor asked him if he saw himself on the good morning america interview the day after the attack. smollett said he had good makeup and lighting. police testified that smollett referred to the brother as black as sin. he said his mother is very dark skinned. smollett insists the messages with the brothers were about a workout and meal plan and he was told him to buy 4 eggs. the prosecutor asked why none of smollett's messages indicate a 9:30 a.m. session or its canalation. >> sandra: matt, thank you. >> john: merrick garland tells fox news that the spike in violent crime across the country is terrible. and the doj is throwing resources at the problem. there is criticism the feds are not doing enough to help police department stretched thin. david has the latest. >> the biggest one on the list, chicago. that's merrick garland's hometown. more than 1,000 murders this year. we are not done with the year. to the smash and grab in california, the attorney general wants to be part of the solution. listen. >> this bothers me very much and the violent crime increase we must address. >> the doj announced another investigation into a police department in new york joining the list of practice investigation. this investigation focuses on violations of how officers treat citizens. the same story in minneapolis following the death of george floyd and louisville following the death of breonna taylor. >> when law enforcement you don't have their back side, they will find another job. moral is low. they don't feel they are receiving support from the justice department. >> they insist they are helping out as much as possible with 139-million dollars in grant money to hire local police officers allowing departments to hire 1100 additional full-time law enforcement personnel. the attorney general made a visit to chicago over the summer. in a strike force city with new york, washington, los angeles and san francisco. the strike force designation doesn't provide new funding but encourages federal koorpgdz. the -- cooperation. they have 100 cases open as part of that strike force operation.. the -- cooperation. they have 100 cases open as part of that strike force operation. >> john: sandra, across the country there is a role for the department of justice. if the department of justice is going to look into threats men's school board members this is something to look into as well. >> sandra: and perhaps happening in your home state, it's cause for acting sooner than later. new york city mayor bill de blasio flexing his muscles before he leaves office. the liberal mayor who is replacing him is not committing to the plan. he is requiring vaccine mandate for all private workers. here's more with madison. >> i have talked to local businesses across new york city. they said they were blind sided by this. doesn't expect for this to happen. currently have more questions than answers. while we know about the vaccine mandates, we don't know anything about enforcement. mayor bill de blasio won't announce how will that run until december 15th. this deadline is looming. what is means is yet to be seen. this vaccine mandate is sweeping. it makes it impossible for those 5 and up to enter any restaurant or gym without at least one dose of a vaccine. the other big part is businesses. private employees in new york city must be vaccinated by december 27th. if you are not vaccinated you are barred from working in new york city. the owner of this salon telling us this is just another blow to their recovery. >> we have no idea what the actual regulation would be. what this would consist of. i don't want to force my employees to do something. we were getting back on track and this will set us back indefinitely. >> there is more uncertainty for these businesses. because the turnover of power. this goes into effect at the end of december. just 5 days later bill de blasio is out and eric adams the new hair will start his term. he has yet to say whether he will enforce this mandate. lots of questions around all of this for the hundreds of thousands of businesses in new york city. >> sandra:ar all of these salons and all they have done through shutting their doors and operate outside, i am happy to see how busy they are behind you. every chair filled. so many stylists there. good to see. john i was looking at madison's do. did she just spend 3 hours in the chair? >> sandra: she always looks good. the owner of the saon made a great point. just getting back on track and there are more changes coming and it's another set back. >> john: this idea whether or not eric adams the in coming mayor will care out these mandates is an open question. bill de blasio is doing this on his way out on the door. he is out on the 1st. maybe there will only be 4 days. >> sandra: that says a lot about them. >> john: moments away from the first white house briefing after president biden's high stakes call with vladimir putin. >> sandra: we will speak to a member of the hours armed service committee whether the biden strategy is setting up for obama era failures with russia aggression. that's next. veteran homeowners- with home values at all-time highs and rates at near all-time lows now's the time to do more with your home equity. veterans are calling newday at a record pace to take advantage of the newday 100 va loan. you can borrow up to 100% of your home's value to upgrade the kitchen, add a pool for the grandkids, or have the security of cash in the bank. with an average cash out amount of $60,000, you can do more. 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(combative yelling) therabreath, it's a better mouthwash. at walmart, target and other fine stores. >> ♪ ♪ >> john: we are awaiting the briefing at the white house with jen psaki with the national security advisor jake sullivan. this will be a readout of the video call earlier today between president biden and russian president vladimir putin. a lot of details about what the united states might do if russia invades ukraine. >> sandra: it's been a critical 24 hours for president biden's foreign policy and u.s. standing in the world. the white house announced a boycott of the beijing olympics yesterday. some lawmakers say the president is all bark and no bite after the disastrous afghanistan withdrawal. mike gallagher will join us in a moment. first hillary vaughn live on capitol hill. >> in the 2 hour zoom video chat between biden and putin the white house said that biden told putin there will be strong economic sanctions on russia if putin doesn't deescalate the military posture to ukraine and there could be more measures on the way. senators on capitol hill are waiting for the debrief about the 2 hour meeting. i talked to a democratic senator who told me before he comments on economic sanctions give biden enough leverage to convince putin to reverse course he wants to hear the briefing. klobuchar is very concerned. >> this is a major concern for the country of ukraine and for all of the democracies on the border. if russia were to move in any way. beyond what they are already doing which hasn't been legal. secondly continued to be concerned about [inaudible]. >> there is nothing new on the table. a 180 on russiaa pipeline to europe. he is now back tracking. the white house will ask german to stop that pipeline if russia invades ukraine. biden rolled over on the pipe and now looking for germany to bail him out. >> why do you think the white house is back tracking on a policy they defended for months? >> well, president biden is obviously wrong. if you look at we have over 100,000 russia troops on the ukrainian border. that's joe biden's fault. the reason this happened is because joe biden surrendered to vladimir putin on norstream 2. >> president biden will talk to leaders from italy, germany and france. there are reports the biden administration is looking at preparing for taking civilians out of ukraine if russia invades ukraine. >> sandra: thank you. >> john: now republican congressman mike gallagher from wisconsin and retired marine corp captain. thanks for your service. your thoughts of what we know so tar about the call between presidents biden and putin? >> i hope we will hear specifics from this administration. it's clear to me their posture is collapsing. i think the decision to wave sanctions on nord stream 2 emboldened vladimir putin. it was a gift to vladimir putin to make europeans dependent for russia for energy production. they are considering dangerous changes to our nuclear policy and the summer summit that putin and biden had earlier was a propaganda victory for putin. they discussed cyber attacks but putin has nothing to do crackdown on them. we look for weak am we need to change course before it's too late. >> john: the nord stream pipeline, how much leverage does putin have over germany and other nations? ukraine is not a nato nation. so an attack would not invoke article-5. any response from the europeans would be voluntary. just a delay in the cetification of nord steam saw gas prices europe. how much leverage did that give him? >> enormous leverage. it makes so sense to discourage domestic production and encourage russia production. that's what the biden administration did. we need to have a branching conversation with european allies. they need to wean themselves off that dependence. we need to do everything to arm ukraine to the teeth. we know that the biden administration delayed on some of the requests for lethal assistance. this white house is not acting with a sense of urge earnings. -- urges. we will see a massive disaster in the crane. >> john: putin says probe with bay on nets. if you encounter mush, proceed. if you encounter steel, stop. ukraine has been begging the united states for more weapons to fend off russia. what should the u.s. be giving crane -- ukraine right now? >> there is a lot we can do to arm them. on the u.s. troops we have thousands of u.s. personnel on the ground. we need to know what the plan is for protecting our troops and our personnel that are there. we don't want to find ourselves in another afghanistan situation. the fiasco and embarrassing surrender in afghanistan contributed to this sense of mush on the world stage to use that saying. if you confront the united states you will confront mush. we need to put steel in the spine of american foreign policy. otherwise we won't just be talking about afghanistan or ukraine. we will be talking about the loss of taiwan and the loss of u.s. global leadership. >> john: and mush in crimea as well. the threat of being kicked out of the swift system might makeim thank twice. appreciate it. >> sandra: the final days of the year the question remains: how many americans are still left in afghanistan at this moment? rich hudson live on that in washington. hi, rich. >> that's still unclear. officials said the number of americans trying to leave afghanistan changes daily. in october a senator accused the administration of lying about the number of americans still there and conditions in afghanistan have distribute deteriorated since the u.s. left. the consequences go beyond afghanistan. the administration failed to plan a competent withdrawal which cost the u.s. standing among allies. >> they are not turning to us and saying leadership in this moment in time. we can't programs to be the partner of choice. we have to have action in this area and show the rest of the world that we are the partner of choice. we can lead in this area. >> a recent united nation analysis said 23 million afghans face acute insecurity this winter due to conflict and severe drought. since august international development projects were suspended and 90% of afghanistan's health facilities are at risk of closing. the biden administration said the taliban take over have taken afghanistan to this point. the defense secretary austin stressed to bret baier that the u.s. evacuated 124,000 people from afghanistan? just 17 days this summer but regrets the 13 summer members killed in the terrorists and the military killed 10 civilian in an errant air strike. >> sandra: also in washington live at the white house we're awaiting jen psaki and jake sullivan. he will join here today following the phone call between president biden and vladimir putin. schedule to 2 and then 2:30. we are watching for them. >> john: no 2 minute warning yet. they tear longer because they have to get everybody on the same page with how much they will shea. what they will answer. i think we are probably a few minutes away. >> sandra: we will go to that live when it begins. the fallout from afghanistan having a huge impact on the strength of president biden's foreign policy strategy. putin is menacing ukraine with the military on the border. china's xi is watching closely. let's bring in marsha blackburn. great to see you, senator. we should go to the white house shortly. we had general kellogg and this stood out. >> say to putin, ukraine remains a sovereign nation. we don't bring them into nato. you leave them alone and we won't get involved. let's go on to more important things that will be occurring throughout the globe. we have adversaries in china we need to pay attention to. >> sandra: his point is we are there to help, but we can't just focus on what china is doing. we have problems all over the globe. what do you want to hear happened in that meeting this morning? >> well, it would have been nice if he let the white house press corp in and people didn't have to depend on what they were getting from the russia press on this. first of all, that's important. we have to realize that russia, china and iran and north korea are the new axis of evil. putin and xi are watching the weakness of joe biden. if you say economic sanctions, putin won't believe he will do that. biden just gave him the biggest gift he needed. the nord stream 2. this is going to help them. the links between russia and iran. chine and their aggressiveness with taiwan. how iran is pushing against israel. we have to realize all of this is related. these leaders, brutal strong men are looking at joe biden. they realize he is not in charge. this is why they do not fear him. this is why they are being very aggressive. this is why they are trying to go in and take territories. you know that putin is looking and remembering that the barack obama and joe biden didn't stand there and help the ukraine when they were having the issue with crimea. you had obama sending them blankets and meals ready to eat. you had donald trump come in. what did he do if he lined up with them and gave them artillery and helped and support. they know that joe biden won't do anything and vice-president harris, she is probably not even aware of the intensity of the situation and the troops that are there on the ukrainian border. and the work that russia is doing to position these troops to go in and what do they do? they grab the land. when we go in? we free people and free territories. that's the difference. that's why we have to remain the world's lone super power. >> sandra: senator ted cruz bluntly said that putin is laughing at biden. >> totally. >> that biden surrendered to putoin the pipeline. there is a bloomberg report this morning, senator, that the u.s. wants nord stream 2 halted if putin invades ukraine and the goal in today's call was for the u.s. to push germany to agree to stop that pipeline if putin invades ukraine. that's not confirmed. that's still being reported by bloomberg and people familiar with the plan. what would you like to see happen? is that leverage for us? >> the nord stream should never have gotten theock. -- the okay. it should be stop immediately. the keystone should be restarted. so we return to being a net exporter of energy so our allies know they can rely on us. when you look at this failed foreign balance of a weak joe biden the message me is ending: i don't give a ripping flip about our allies. they are on their own! because i am not going to keep our commitments. look at what he did in afghanistan. we have taiwan which is bullied by china and hong kong bullied by china. where is joe biden? crickets coming out of the white house. >> sandra: running behind at the white house. senator, i wonder if congress should be doing something pro actively here as far as a decision how to handle putin as he continues to line up at the border of ukraine there and their troops. is there something congress should do to prevent another disaster like we saw in afghanistan? >> yes. one of the things we are doing is trying to pass our defense authorization act. schumer and pelosi have proven to be unable to get this across the finish line. we want to make certain the troops have what they need and the white and this adadministration are listening to the commanders on the ground. they are taking that advice. we continue -- i have fort campbell there in tennessee. sandra, i talked to the command team. i talked to the leaders of the troops and stay in touch with what they are hearing. the national guard intel unite is in tennessee. and arnold engineering testing the hypersonics. you talk to them about what they are hearing out of china with great power competition. what they are hearing from some of our allies about their concerns about us. the best thing we can do is to make certain that when it comes to 21st century warfare we will lead the way and set the standards. we won't let china take control of these technoloies and not let russia do land grabs and bankroll the communist chinese. >> john: sandra, how will president biden respond to the chinese's president warnings on top of dealing with vladimir putin? 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when you look at it, everybody thinks that russia is this big enormous power. they have a gdp half the size of california. it's not all that big. >> they're very vulnerable. but the soviet union never had a strong economy. it was about their military power and desire to flex the muscle. certainly an arsenal of nuclear weapons. we take russia seriously because they're a nuclear power and the aggression that putin manifested. but yes, they have serious economic issues. they're the largest country in the world and 150 million people in it. half the size of the united states in terms of population. yet the country in size dwarfs the united states. why is that? the demographics are all. if you're a male in russia, you'll die nine years earlier than a male in the united states does. they have the largest hiv of any industrial state in the world. they have huge cardiovascular problems in their population also. so they have serious issues. their economy has never diversified. you know, a one-product economy. oil and gas. that's been a liability of theirs for many, many years. they're going to be vulnerable to it. if they're talking about these serious sanctions that we laid out, nord stream 2, big issue. shut that down. impact. the international banking system is a big impact. i'd do other things. if putin invades, i'd do what the ukrainian military is asking for. we've given them a small portion of it. >> sandra: here's a statement from the kremlin that we're digging through right now. i'll give you what we have in front of us. apparently this is a reuters wire according to a statement from the kremlin. putin told president biden that he also wants guarantees that if offensive strike systems would not be deployed in countries close to russia -- just getting some of what is coming in here. a state department official said intensive consultations with the new german government over responsive russia, invades ukraine -- i'm digging through this. overall, your thoughts. we have 10 seconds. i'm sorry, general. >> putin has been concerned about having a buffer from eastern european states to protect russia. that has given him a concern now. u.s. and nato power is on his border that has always given him concern. >> sandra: thanks, general. i'm sandra smith. thanks for joining us. >> john: i'm john roberts. here's martha. >> martha: good afternoon. i'm martha maccallum in new york. breaking right now on the story, we're about to get the white house briefing in moments. should have very interesting back and forth and questions from that briefing room when jen psaki steps to the podium. both sides are putting out what they say happened in the conversation. we're going to see what the president promised and what vladimir putin wanted from our president. so the question -- the