attorne attorney general merrick garland announcing he will give david weiss special counsel status to investigate the president's son. hello and welcome everyone, i'm sandra smith. gillian, great to have you back. >> gillian: this is "america reports." garland says weiss told him he wanted to be given special counsel status to continue his probe into hunter biden. this after insisting for months that step was not necessary. >> sandra: the timing of this announcement is certainly being highlighted at this hour, and raising big questions about how the probe will intersect with a separate congressional investigation. and a draft plea deal between hunter's attorneys and weiss that's currently being reworked. >> gillian: lindsey graham as well as house ways and means committee chair jason smith are both here to react. >> sandra: mark meredith, live at the justice department at this hour for us. why did the attorney yes decide to do this and decide to do this now, mark? >> sandra, good afternoon to you. the u.s. attorney general merrick garland says it's because the u.s. attorney asked for one, david weiss, the u.s. attorney in delaware, appointed by former president trump to handle this job. he says he needed special counsel status going forward and garland decided to grant that in a matter of days. this is a blockbuster development and a lot of questions going forward how long the probe is going to continue. but at the same time as we were learning about the special counsel designation, there was a court filing which made it clear that the u.s. attorney, david weiss, now special counsel weiss was unable to reach a concrete agreement on a potential second plea deal or future agreement, meaning this is a case over taxes and a gun charge that is now likely going to go to trial and not likely happening in the state of delaware, which of course this was originally going to be taking place. we in washington have gotten used to special counsels being appointed the last couple of years, but this one will be fascinating because it involves the president's son, a presidential election at the same time and you mentioned at the top of the show, ongoing congressional probe to the way the u.s. attorney was conducting his work. we have heard from whistleblowers who said they felt their work was hampered, they were not allowed to look at all aspects of this case. the attorney general says the public will get an idea what was going on behind the scenes. what he had to say in the last hour. an this appointment confirms my commitment to provide mr. weiss all the resources he requests. it also reaffirms that mr. weiss has the authority he needs to conduct a thorough investigation and to continue to take the steps he deems appropriate independently based only on the facts and the law. >> now, one of the big questions of course is what will hunter biden's legal team decide to do next, whether or not they will try to fight this and prolong this case, it will drag on for the next several months if not the next year, and the upcoming presidential election. the white house has made it clear they are going to stay away from this as possible say they were not interfering with the probe involving first son hunter biden. we even got the white house to announce for the first time two weeks ago there will be no pardon of the first son if he were to be convicted on the charges, especially now that it's heading to trial. the real focus is also on the u.s. attorney david weiss, who republicans were certainly interesting to see where he was going going into that plea agreement, but obviously they scoffed after the agreement was shut down by a federal judge saying they felt weiss was giving a sweetheart deal to the first son. however, we are hearing from some congressional republicans who say they are not happy weiss is the special counsel, they argue he can't be trusted and i would imagine we'll be hearing a lot more about the testimony from the whistleblowers who were on the hill last month talking about their work, take a listen what one of them had to say testifying before congress. >> that was not the case. it appeared to me based on what i experienced the u.s. attorney in delaware in our investigation was constantly ham strung, limited and marginallized by doj officials as well as other u.s. attorneys. i still think that a special counsel is necessary for this investigation. >> so as you just heard right there, one of the two irs whistleblowers saying he believed a special counsel was needed but i would imagine he would not think it was going to be the u.s. attorney who he was just talking about, david weiss, saying he felt there was handcuffs on him, that he was not able to do the job effectively. whether or not we will see additional testimony from the whistleblowers on the hill has yet to be seen, and david weiss was getting ready to talk to congress either in september or october. the justice department was going to allow that to happen. that would be put on hold because the special counsel work would be ongoing. likely asked to testify if not forced to testify and as the attorney general mentioned there will be a report but as to when that will come out, before, during, after the election, wait to find out. >> sandra: bear with us a second, mark, a lot of breaking news, a lot of reaction to what we have just learned over the past hour or so. james comer, the rep leading the investigation in the house, the hunter biden investigation, has just issued a statement, make sure our viewers see and hear this. this move by a.g. garland, comer says, is part of the justice department efforts to attempt a biden family cover-up in light of gop mounting evidence of president biden's role in family schemes, selling the brand for millions of dollars to foreign nationals. this also just in, too, read directly from our own david spunt's email, that the doj has dropped hunter's plea deal case in delaware, mark. reading from it directly, the u.s. a. is moving to drop it completely, hunter's team has until monday to respond. it was an oral order, and no later than noon august 14th, file a response to the united states 25 motion to vacate the court's briefing order. david also noting this trial cannot take place in delaware per the filing, possibly in california or d.c. mark, a lot to take in here. >> sandra, absolutely. and it was very clear that they were already at an impasse before today between the federal prosecutor, david weiss's office and hunter biden and the courtroom in delaware, everybody was shell shocked it was falling apart in realtime. the judge said come back to the drawing board in a couple days. the filing indicates there was no agreement able to be reached between hunter biden's attorney as well as the legal team in delaware, now special counsel david weiss. another x factor is where, like you mentioned, where is this going to take place. jurisdiction, california, d.c., we have to wait to see. i would imagine because of where hunter biden was living at the time. maybe somebody would be able to clarify that a little further, maybe that's why he's choosing the jurisdictions and also the prolongness of the case, there is going to be hearings, filings, so you imagine, sandra and gillian, how it's going to play out in realtime, with iowa caucuses, and the new hampshire primary closer and closer. white house not expected to address this on camera, there is no white house briefing. the president is getting ready to head out of town for the weekend instead and i would imagine the white house would simply defer all questions to hunter biden's legal team which they have done in the past. as i mentioned, we had a chance to ask the white house a few weeks ago what happens if the first son is convicted on any charge, would president biden then consider a pardon and the white house issued a flat no, that was not a possibility in their eyes. whether or not we are going to see additional comment from the white house is still yet to be seen. >> gillian: i know you are at the justice department today, we are used to seeing you more regularly at the white house. can i ask you to put that cap back on for a moment. do you think it's going to be sustainable messaging strategy for the white house communications team to continue deferring questions regarding this now special counsel investigation all to the department of justice or do you think at some point here the president, by virtue of the fact he is hunter biden's father, is going to have to make some kind of a comment to address this new reality? >> you bring up a great point, gillian. yes, i think president biden at some point would have to give additional comments, but likely in an interview or passing to reporters, going to the helicopter. as for the white house, they have set the standard saying we are not going to talk about this so if they were to change their position, people like the press secretary and the white house communications office that would be telling. maybe the other x factor is whether or not congressional democrats are willing to stay with the white house here. we have heard from a number of them that made it clear they feel the process was being handled properly, that they had faith in the u.s. attorney out in delaware, david weiss. remember, the senate majority leader chuck schumer said he had full confidence in david weiss to get his job done. hearing from congressional republicans no dice, they don't have any belief david weiss would get the job done even though he was apointed by president trump to get to this position. and will we see potential pushback on whether or not he would be challenged for the democratic presidential nomination, so far he's faced two challengers but they are polling very low. whether or not this would recreate the fire of whether he's going to be challenged further is yet to be seen. but the president is just getting ready to head out on the campaign trail, a huge swing out west, at a campaign fundraiser last night. the biden campaign was likely thinking it was going to be behind them. as of three weeks ago a plea deal where it was all going to go away and that is no longer the case. gillian, if i had a crystal ball i would try to figure out when will the trial take place, a finality to any of this, and immediate pushback from the republican presidential candidates saying it's happening while the voters are trying to make up their minds. >> gillian: if you figure it out, mark, let us know when the trial is going to be. >> sandra: thank you so much. gillian, bring in house ways and means chairman jason smith joining us now. thank you so much, sir, for joining us and jumping on the breaking news with us. first, what is your reaction to it? >> it's great to be with you, sandra. i think that this should be concerning to all americans this is an attempt to whitewash the biden family corruption. mr. weiss is the single architect over that sweetheart plea agreement deal that the judge in delaware threw out just a few weeks ago as saying it was awful and unfair. there were provisions in that sweetheart plea deal that granted complete immunity to hunter biden for these crimes and future crimes and she even stated that she's never seen anything like that before. and who was the architect of that? now the person who, garland, who president biden's justice department just appointed to be special counsel. i am very fearful that appointing this special counsel is just an attempt to stone wall congress's investigation of the biden family. >> sandra: that is a remarkable reaction. byron york says this, does it seem somewhat strange garland apointed the guy who had the sweetheart deal who is now the special counsel? and this moment happened in the press briefing room not long ago when asked if the president would consider pardoning his son. listen. >> is there any possibility that the president would end up pardoning his son? >> no. i just said no. i just answered. >> sandra: hard no, july 27th. a lot has changed since then. we'll see what we hear from the white house. they said they had no head's up on this announcement from garland ahead of it happening today. what do you expect we will hear from the president? >> let me just say, the president said he would not pardon his son. but this is the same president who several years ago said he knew nothing of his son's business dealings and then after the ways and means committee released the public testimony of the two irs whistleblowers that proved differently, the president came out with the statement saying he was not involved with his son's business dealings. the only thing that has changed over the last several months are comments from the biden family. our irs whistleblowers have been consistent and they are the ones that were brave to come forward to release all this information. >> sandra: the republicans have been calling for attorney general merrick garland to tap a special counsel to investigate the president's son. as you well know, congressman, for quite some time, but i imagine you did not want weiss. >> well, like i said, he was the architect of the sweetheart deal that the federal judge in delaware threw out. of course you wouldn't want them. the irs whistleblowers and their statements to our committee highlighted how throughout the process under weiss's leadership of prosecuting hunter biden that they saw where the justice department was delaying the investigation so much that the statute of limitations expired for the crimes of 2014 and 2015. the where they divulged information to hunter biden's lawyers to give them a head's up of search warrants they were going to do the next day, and also our whistleblowers highlighted where mr. weiss said that he was denied the ability to bring charges in california, d.c. and also a special counsel. however, weiss has given us multiple statements to congress, two different letters, to jim jordan and one letter to lindsey graham and all three of them are saying something differently. >> sandra: jonathan turley said something similarly, the problem of weiss as special counsel despite the testimony of the whistleblowers, for those irs agents seems like sending shoeless joe jackson back to the game after telling him say it ain't so, joe. and tom cotton, dismiss charges, no doubt a liberal judge will rubber stamp a sweetheart deal. first weiss said he didn't have the power he needed as special counsel status, then he has all the power he needs, now he gets special counsel status because he didn't really have the power he needs? something's not right, says jim jordan in a tweet just now. congressman. >> jim is completely right, sandra. it should alarm any americans, the fact that we have uncovered over $20 million that has came to the biden family and it's all because of "the brand" according to devon archer, and the brand is joe biden, the biden name. why would all these foreign entities give money to hunter biden other than the fact that they believe that the hunter family business peddling influence is there. and this is an individual that is rumored to be living in the white house with the president right now. >> sandra: so noting that, obviously the reaction from james comer leading the investigation in the house saying the move by a.g. garland is part of the justice department efforts to attempt a biden family cover-up, in light of the gop mounting evidence of the biden family scheme selling the brand to foreign nationals. that being said, final question congressman, creation of this special counsel, could it really interfere or block house committee's investigations into the bidens? can you tell us anything about that? could there be an even bigger clash as our own chad pergram suggests if the house were ever to launch an impeachment inquiry? where does all of this go next and how does it affect the house investigations? >> sandra, back the last week in june myself, jim jordan and jamie comer asked for 13 individuals to come before our committees. mr. weiss was included in the 13. but the department of justice, the irs, has continued to stone wall our access to get to the bottom of the information. i am worried that this special counsel will only try to block congress's legislative authority to investigate and let me tell you, we are not going to slow down because this isn't about hunter biden. this is about president biden and his influence and how his son has helped enrich the entire biden family. >> sandra: nice to have you on, jason smith. and as the news breaks and we learn more, appreciate your time, sir. thank you. >> thank you, sandra. >> gillian: bring in a former spokesperson for attorney general bill barr and worked as director of public affairs at the justice department, and now fox news legal editor and licensed attorney in d.c. the perfect case this hour. carrie, what did you make of the attorney general's comments a moment ago, ran just shy of four minutes, did not take any questions, what did you think? >> brought back a lot of memories of having to prepare the attorney general for the big moments doj press room. he said david weiss came to him and said i would like to be special counsel and so he let him. and look, it struck me, i'm thinking of i'm attorney general garland and aware of growing concerns of selective enforcement at the department of justice and enforcing the law against people of a certain political persuasion versus letting those of a different kind off easily. i would want to do something or say something, i was disappointed he did not take questions, i was hoping we would hear more from him given what we have heard from the irs whistleblowers, that they were impeded from pursuing their investigation, not just against hunter but joe. we have heard now that a confidential human source, a paid spy support the fbi went to -- that information was given to the department of justice alleging that joe biden himself was part of a bribery scheme and of course, the biggest thing i think, gillian, is that the doj prosecutor leah weiss, works for the attorney's office in delaware, with hunter biden he was willing to give him no jail time and sweeping immunity yet for the same exact tax crime that the commissioner of the baltimore police had also been committed, he was willing -- wanting to give him a year in prison for that. the same crime and yet that commissioner owed far less than hunter. so these raised serious questions in the american people's minds about fairness under the law. >> gillian: all along for weeks david weiss and the attorney general have insisted weiss had all the authority he needed, he could move forward with prosecutions as he saw fit. in light of that, if that holds true, what extra authority or powers does the new appointment of special counsel afford him? >> it allows him to continue, and so it provides him and the attorney general, actually, some protection and coverage. we don't know when we are going to get answers. it could be a long time, and given the statute of limitations, which is five years and most potential crimes looking at with respect to hunter and frankly even his father, given that that's probably run, my guess is that this was done in part so david weiss to prepare a report on the findings of what happened both in the obama administration and this administration, but when we will get the report, it could be years and certainly could be after the election. >> gillian: we learned with the mueller investigation that putting together reports of this magnitude that impact the nation's politics can sometimes take a lot longer than most members of congress or most members of the public would like. carrie, also breaking news that the separate hunter biden-david weiss, it's not a plea deal because it never went through, but the plea negotiations have now ceased. does that strike you as an appropriate thing to have taken place? >> that shouldn't have gone through, and the judge said this was unprecedented, knocking down to misdemeanor charges, sweeping immunity for crimes committed during a five-year time period, it was unheard of and when she said, and struck me, she asked the government do you know of a plea deal like this? and they said no. well, they are the ones who came up with it. it shouldn't have gone to trial in the first place, especially given the fact it's the same prosecutor who recommended a year for the baltimore police commissioner and no jail time for hunter for the same exact crime except the commissioner owed far less. this is the right move. >> gillian: what kind of a special prosecutor do you think david weiss is going to be? >> i mean, it's been five years since he's been on this, and the five years culminated in a "unprecedented plea deal" a couple weeks ago where hunter was let off the hook in what many are calling a sweetheart plea deal. aggressiveness, we have not seen evidence of that yet. it's interesting he asked for it. it protects him and allows him to look at things and attorney general garland to create some distance between main justice and this investigation as well, which is at a minimum politically expedient for him. >> gillian: thank you for joining us today. >> sandra: jonathan turley, constitutional law expert and fox news contributor. thank you for jumping on with us. i have a printer icon scrolling in front of me, your reaction to this, the doj right now is declining to comment on whether the president himself is under investigation. the doj and its announcement said "the appointment of u.s. attorney david weiss to serve as special counsel for the ongoing investigation and prosecutions referenced and described in the united states versus robert hunter biden," and this is important "as well as for other matters that arose or may arise from that investigation." does that language leave open the possibility that other members of the biden family, including the president himself, jonathan, could be under investigation? >> well, it does leave it open. the question is what is weiss's understanding of that mandate. you know, at various points in his tenure merrick garland had the opportunity to take a stand that would reinforce the public trust at the department of justice. and he's repeatedly failed to do so. and this was another occasion where that failure is evident. he could have appointed someone that would but unimpeachable, someone that has not been criticized in the course of the investigation. could have been clear the mandate would extend to the president himself, the influence peddling scandal and whether it involves any criminal conduct. he didn't do that. and obviously he knew that that was what many of us were waiting to hear. and you have to keep in mind that this is a department that allowed this to linger for years of investigating hunter biden. did little on the laptop, allowed critical crimes to expire even though they could have extended the statute of limitations. wrote a sweetheart deal that the judge balked at and even the prosecutor said had not been seen before in terms of its language. and now after all of that merrick garland is appointing the very u.s. attorney involved in the deal as special counsel. obviously that's going to raise concerns for people. and i don't understand why merrick garland isn't more sensitive to this. but there's a reason why the view of his department now is lower in terms of trust than it was under bill barr. >> sandra: real quick, chuck grassley is at the fair in iowa, asked about this. let's listen. >> a year ago we sent a letter, i was one of those that sent a letter saying we should have a special counsel so the short answer to your question is it's about time. on the other hand i have some question about weiss doing it because johnson and i sent all of this material we had from the cafe bank in regard to the payments that were made to hunter biden and we don't know what they did with them and we know from the irs whistleblowers that they never did anything with the 1023 document that i got released. so you just wonder how thorough weiss is doing it. and then you have this plea agreement that fell through and there's speculation now that the justice department can't work out another plea agreement so they are going to have to go to trial, so as a special counsel set up to interfere going to a trial right away or are they ready to -- there are some other reason for doing it. and since this administration has exemplified so much political bias and the fbi and the department of justice, i think there's reasons to raise questions. you can't do one thing for a democrat and another thing for a republican because the constitution requires equal justice. >> senator, on the issue of january 6th, you were campaigning with mike pence, shaking hands with iowans. he gets asked a lot about what he did on january 6th, some people who like what -- >> sandra: so obviously we wanted to dip in here and get the reaction right off the top from chuck grassley to the news about the special counsel. weiss being appointed to the hunter biden investigation. jonathan, if i could finish off with where i started, whether or not the president, under this announcement is under investigation. i can add to that. i can tell you the doj was asked and they are declining to comment on whether or not the president is under investigation. when asked if president biden is investigated as part of the probe, a department of justice official declined to comment. >> right. it's -- and by the way, that language is less than compelling because the language given -- that merrick garland used for weiss's mandate was sweeping. looking at hunter biden. but even in terms of hunter biden, investigators said they were continually stopped, and it's going to require absolute clarity and it's not what the department of justice wants to offer. it's a very simple task. you just say that there have been questions raised about corruption and influence peddling involving the president and his son. it includes tax violations, fara violations, gun violations, a variety of other potential crimes and we are going to investigate them all. what's so difficult about that. >> sandra: jonathan turley, thank you for joining us on the breaking news. if you can, please stand by with us as the news is coming in fast. thanks so much. >> gillian: let's go ahead and bring in andy mccarthy, former u.s. assistant district attorney and fox news contributor. senator lindsey graham is going to be joining us in a moment i'll ask him the same question. now that we have the special counsel probe ongoing, how is that going to intersect or impact the second but ongoing congressional investigation into hunter biden? >> gillian, this is a sham. there is no special counsel investigation and there is no biden investigation. the special counsel regulations, what makes a special counsel special is that you are a lawyer who is brought in from outside the united states government. not just outside the justice department, outside the government. this u.s. attorney is being appointed notwithstanding that he is an attorney who is a top official in the biden justice department and garland is going to remain a top official in the biden justice department. this is the biden justice department's vehicle for maintaining control of an investigation that they are not pursuing. they have had the case for five years, they have never indicted it, strategically allowing the statute of limitations to run to the point that the 2014 and 2015 conduct, which covers most of the $21 million that the congressional investigation report showed this week, that's already time barred. and it's time barred because david weiss himself decided to let those charges die rather than bring an indictment. they are not doing anything that you would do if there was an actual investigation and he can't be a special counsel because he's inside the government and the point of having a special counsel is to bring in someone from outside the government who we can trust to do a credible investigation. >> sandra: as we continue to see reaction coming in here, andy, play this for our viewers. mike pence, obviously the former vice president, also gop presidential candidate, he's reacting at the iowa state fair to the news. an to be honest with you i can't relate to what his son was doing when he was vice president. when i was vice president and my son was flying an f-35 for the marine corps defending this country. but i think it's about time that we saw the appoint of a special counsel to get to the bottom of not only what hunter biden was doing, but the biden family was doing. the american people deserve answers. >> sandra: new reaction from the iowa state fair. kevin mccarthy saying the action by biden's doj cannot be used to obstruct congressional investigations. and the point of jason smith, or whitewash the biden family corruption. sweetheart deal could not get approved, how could he be trusted as special counsel. house republicans will pursue the facts for the american people. the rep that just joined us a second ago said that is a great concern of his, that they will try to obstruct that investigation that's ongoing in the house right now. do they have the ability to do that, andy? >> they're not only going to do that, sandra, they are now going to say now that we have a special counsel investigation, that by the way is run by the same guy who was running the investigation up 'til five minutes ago, but now he's a special counsel, that changes everything and we cannot possibly cooperate. the whole point of that farce exercise is unlike me when i was a prosecutor where we would close a case if we could not make a case and move on to the next case, a special counsel is allowed by statute to write a report. so weiss's role is in the end write a report that exculpates president biden. he steered away from biden, and instruct agents they are not supposed to ask questions about the big guy and dad, letting the worst counts laps under the statute of limitations and now write a report no evidence that president biden did anything wrong, that's his role here. >> sandra: and andy, if you could also stand by with us. >> gillian: let's bring in south carolina senator lindsey graham for more reaction to the breaking news. i will ask you if this makes the job presented to you, your house colleagues investigating hunter biden easier or more challenging? >> i think they are trying to make it harder but this was a political decision, not a legal decision. they are trying to put out a fire and they just poured gasoline on it. nobody in their right mind believes that making him a special counsel, mr. weiss, cleans up the mess that's been created. if it weren't for the house of representatives we wouldn't know any of this. if it weren't for the whistleblower, and here is what the whistleblower said. october 7, 2022, i was in a room where mr. weiss told me, fbi agents decision to bring charges and where to bring charges he was overruled, wasn't his decision. so, june 7th he writes a letter of this year to jim jordan saying i have all the authority i need, and i could have all the authority i need. that does not pass the smell test. they tried to give hunter biden a deal no other american would get. the judge asked hard questions, the plea agreement blew up and the guy who wrote the plea agreement is going to continue to investigate the bidens is laughable. andy is dead right. the guy who wrote the plea agreement did it in a fashion to give hunter biden the biggest break in american history. does anybody trust the weiss team to continue to fairly and impartially investigate the hunter biden-joe biden matter, i don't. you change the title but the problem is still the same. >> sandra: really interesting. you say it's a political move, not legal one. >> totally. >> sandra: what are the political implications for the president and the re-election bid, do you believe? >> dumber than dirt political move. a friday afternoon and anything bad on a friday afternoon, make a four minute announcement turn weiss into a special counsel to remove any and all doubt. andy is right. there is no ongoing investigation of hunter biden or joe biden. why would you accept a plea to have the case if you were to investigate the guy for other crimes. nobody ever does this. the only reason we are talking about this, the plea deal blew up because of a good judge. they were going to wipe out the fina fina financial transactions, and weiss, according to the whistleblower has had pressure on him from day one to short circuit this investigation. so when i hear the attorney general tell me today i'm gonna make weiss special counsel, that creates more problems than answers that it gives. >> sandra: senator, breaking news from jake gibson. it is unclear, we are learning, if or when weiss will testify before congress. >> okay. now, i asked him in a letter i wrote july 27th, did you tell investigators on or about october 7th that you are not the deciding person on whether charges are to be filed. the whistleblower says on october 7th at 2022, weiss told the team i was overruled, it's not my decision what to charge or where to charge it. i asked mr. weiss in a letter is that true or not, he better answer. changing special counsels becoming a special counsel does not absolve him of the obligation to answer questions legitimate by the you state senators and house members. i think they are trying to shut down the congressional investigation. to my house colleagues, you have done a wonderful job, i've tried to be helpful. mr. weiss, you are not off the hook here. this friday afternoon gambit is not gonna work. we are going to continue to ask questions about the biggest sweetheart deal in the history of america. we are not going away in congress. >> gillian: senator, democratic strategists are weighing in on twitter already now saying look, republicans have been calling for months for a special counsel. now they've got 1, 1 has been appointed and complaining about the timing, they are complaining about who it is, republicans were never going to be happy and admit the process was fair. >> to my democratic colleagues. if you think you are going to get away with this, you are crazy. mr. weiss is compromised, his team is compromised. the plea deal, no american would get advantage of that deal. the whistleblower tells us the weiss team has been suppressed during the investigation, let the statute of limitations run out. so no, i don't trust the weiss team to get to the bottom of what hunter biden and joe biden may have done. again, you tried to put out a political fire, you pour gasoline on it. who in their right mind believes changing the title of what you call mr. weiss solves all the problems associated with mr. weiss. nobody. >> sandra: really, really interesting. we continue to get a lot of reaction here. your colleague, jim jordan says first david weiss said he didn't have the power he needed, then he says he has all the power he needs, and now he gets special counsel status because he didn't have the power he needs. something is not right. and people see this at home playing out, lack of coverage, etc., and the "new york times" took it up and acknowledged hunter biden's investigation and called it the duelling realities. the american people are watching and feel, many feel the same way. something's not right. what's your message to them? >> we are not stupid here. a friday afternoon news conference where you change the title of a compromised investigator does not get you where you want to go. this was a dumb political decision. it's impossible for the "new york times" and the "washington post" not to cover it now because they made a big deal giving him special counsel status, he told jim jordan he didn't need because he had the authority he wanted. what changed between june and now. nothing other than politics. this plea deal fell apart. if it had not been for that judge, this would be over. the judge resurrected this case by shining a light on a sweetheart deal. they are going to have to answer the questions of senator graham and jim jordan and everybody else about how this unfolded. this was a dumb political decision to try to solve a legal problem they have created for themself. nobody in america is going to buy that he becomes special counsel, all is well. >> gillian: senator, we don't know based on what the doj has said publicly whether or not this probe includes the president or not. >> there was no probe. and -- andy -- >> gillian: if it does take a turn to include the president, right, do you have any more confidence in weiss's ability to investigate there? >> no, 0, zip. andy was right. bottom line is i used to do this for a living, too. what prosecutor would allow a guy to plead guilty while he's still under investigation for other things. that makes no sense. there was no ongoing investigation. when the judge exposed a sweetheart deal, the prosecutor said no, we are still looking at things. well, the defense attorney went nuts. i promise you the defense attorney was told this will end the matter and when the judge found out this was a nonkosher deal, the prosecutor panicked and said no, still an ongoing investigation. i don't believe there was an ongoing investigation. andy mccarthy is right. nobody at the department of justice is looking at hunter and joe biden for this conflict of interest, these financial crimes. put it together, put it to bed with this plea deal. now it is alive and well. again, the dumbest thing they could have done is what they did do. >> gillian: quick follow up to that, a second left, senator. if they appointed somebody else from outside government special counsel today would you feel more confident in the probe? >> absolutely. as andy said, somebody outside the government without a bias. they have made all of their problems worse. >> gillian: senator lindsey graham thank you for joining us. appreciate it. >> sandra: thank you, senator. 2024 presidential candidate nikki haley. ambassador hayley, great to have you here today, we just heard from mike pence and chuck grassley at the state fair reacting to the news. how are you responding? >> i don't trust it, i don't think the american people trust it, i don't think that the american people trust the department of justice on anything this is going to do. i think this was meant to be a distraction. it's not a distraction. i think the bidens are on a sinking ship and i think this is our opportunity to make sure not only we get a new president in the white house but good and clean house in the department of justice while we are at it. >> sandra: ambassador hayley, we are obviously monitoring for a lot of reaction. you may not be shocked when i tell you we cannot find a lot of democrats reacting, but certainly republicans are making their voices heard. where do you believe this ultimately go next. and whether the house is obstructed from continuing to have their investigations play out now that the special counsel is appointed. what do you see happening next with all of this? >> i think this is in response to the pressure that the biden family is feeling. i think this is in response to the pressure the department of justice is feeling. what i would say is the house needs to keep their foot on the gas, keep this investigation going, don't let up. i think they are trying to get, you know, basically trying to distract away from all this money conversation about what's happening with the biden family and put it back and say they are trying to do something with hunter biden. but look, we all lost trust a long time ago and the fact they tried to give him a sweetheart deal, the fact they tried to get one past a judge for him to plead guilty when, you know, there was still an ongoing investigation is everything that we need to know. the biden family has been doing this for a very long time. they were doing it while he was vice president, after he was vice president, we don't know what they are doing as president but what we do know it smells bad and why we need a new generational leader in the white house. we need to get rid of all of this old powerful intrigue that is happening. get rid of all the distractions. we need t get rid of all the chaos. we have to start focusing on real issues like why china is planning war with us, why we are $32 trillion in debt, why we don't have transparency in the classrooms and our kids are falling further behind, why we have open borders that are not being closed and why we have national security issues left and right. that's what we need to be talking about, not sitting there having to focus on how much money they happened to get because they were doing a pay to play scenario, it's terrible. >> gillian: senator hayley, this is gillian. is there a sense among republicans out on the campaign trail today, this week, that what is unfolding -- i'm curious how you square the fact what is unfolding today might be difficult, unchartered territory for the country, but also true that it's probably politically helpful for candidates out there trying to stake their claim how they are different from the current president as you just did a moment ago, that this will add some momentum to your campaigns. >> well, not senator, governor, ambassador and soon to be president. but i will tell you. >> gillian: sorry. >> but town halls in south carolina, new hampshire and iowa. no one is talking about trump's legal issues, no one is talking about biden's legal issues. what we are talking about is the fact that groceries and gas are still expensive, they are worried about the fact that their kids have fallen behind. don't understand why we haven't closed a border and why we are letting china have our lunch. i don't hear anything about, you know, the hunter biden cases or the trump cases. i do hear a lot about the distrust in federal government. the distrust in our intelligence agencies, the distrust in the department of justice, and the fact that the federal government is just way too big and more reason why we have to reduce the size of the federal government, it's what i'll do. send all of those functions down to the state to empower the people. that's the focus that we have to do. all this corruption and chaos, even when you look at congress, what has congress done for us lately, nothing. we have to start getting control. we have to start leading again. we have to start being strong again. that's not happening right now. >> sandra: you have a huge debate coming up, it could be a make or break moment, look at what is happening with the bidens and special counsel apointed, don't know whether or not the president himself is under investigation per our question to the doj. ambassador hayley, what are you doing to prepare for who the opponent may be on the other side? is there a good day for, i don't know, doug made the point a couple weeks ago, gavin newsom? >> you know, i don't know that it's a good day for america at all. you've got a former president that's been charged 73 times, now the current president and his family who are in these pay to play schemes. i think it's all the more reason why we have to have a new generational candidate and new generation of a president. what i will tell you, the debates. i look forward to them. i was a two-term governor, i know about domestic policy, i negotiated across from china and russia and know the policy threats that face us. the debate, it's not so much preparation but a great opportunity to see what options are and it's the start of the season. it's actually been early, families have been on vacation, kids have been out of school, but now this will be the jump start to where people start really paying attention, and so i look forward to the debate. it's, you know, it's go time and we are excited to see what happens from here. >> sandra: inflation, you are out talking to voters, ambassador, and i agree with you. that's what you are hearing the most from people. those prices are not coming down at the grocery store. we talk about this on the show a lot. if you have the opportunity to implement policies day one that would bring prices down, what would it be? >> i think first of all i would do exactly what i did as governor, replace the head of every agency and make sure we send people into every single agency to clean house. pull down board of regents -- pull down regulations and if you cost a person time and money, it's no longer acceptable. and energy independent and go to congress and enough with the spending, enough with the borrowing, and i will veto any spending bill that does not take us back to precovid levels. accountant in me is saying the spending addiction by republicans and democrats has to stop. when you look at earmarks in the 2024 budget, republicans literally have in the budget $7.4 billion of earmark or pork projects. democrats have 2.8 billion. who are the big spenders now? take on all of congress and enough of wasting our money. mow put money back into people's pockets. >> sandra: ambassador, thank you so much for joining us. good to have you on the program. >> gillian: thank you. karl rove, very busy news day. what do you make of the latest developments and the impact the special counsel probe is now going to have on the primary campaign season as it really kicks off over the next ten days? >> yeah, well, couldn't have picked a worse day and worse way to make a terrible announcement. friday, our suspicion is friday afternoon in washington, d.c., when you drop the bad news. a four minute long monologue, no questions from the press and the very nature of the appointment itself. appoint the guy who had the sweetheart deal with hunter biden that was already criticized by two whistleblowers from the internal revenue service as being the kind of thing that would not be done for any person whose last name was not biden. why the biden administration has gone down the path is beyond me. i couldn't agree more with senator graham that it's a political mistake. i couldn't agree more with andy mccarthy that this was ill considered and poorly down. if you have a special prosecutor, a special counsel, have them drawn from outside the go government so we can have confidence in it. anybody think if this guy comes up with something as easy going as the plea agreement that this wasn't an inside deal and fixed right from the beginning. this is a moment we need to have trust and confidence and done in a way and is being -- it has a nature of itself that doesn't give us confidence. >> sandra: you have to wonder what's happening inside that white house right now, karl. >> i think they think they can get away with all this. i think they think the american people don't really care about this, and they also believe that the media is not going to hold their feet to the fire. imagine if a republican president had a son who did the things that hunter biden did, it would be plastered all over the front pages of the major newspapers and screamed from the top of the channels but it's not and it goes back years. this was the kind of thing when hunter biden went on the board of burisma and his father is in charge as vice president of the u.s. policy regarding corruption in ukraine, why didn't the then sitting vice president say to his son, son, i know you got to make a living but don't do it in a way that reflects badly on me and our country, get off the board of the corrupt company in ukraine, i'm supposed to tell ukrainians to crack down on corruption and you are participating in it. and instead, i'm proud of my son. we are all proud of our children but sometimes they need a little discipline and tough love and strikes me this is something the president of the united states is uncapable of doing and his son knows it and takes advantage of it. >> gillian: karl, over and over the white house messaging with hunter biden is the president views it as a personal matter, as a family matter, we are not going to comment on the major tenets as they unfold. now that the attorney general has appointed a special counsel to look into this, is that justification sort of gone out the window? can they any longer lay claim this is an internal personal matter? >> yeah, that's gone. but another excuse. we are not going to comment onion going investigations. and the question is whether the president is going to ever say again i'm proud of my son. i mean -- look, this to me -- we are missing one important question incidentally nobody has asked and seems to me this is a fundamental question. when joe biden was vice president of the united states, did anybody in the obama white house, starting with the president, and his top aides, ever say this is a problem and go and say to joe biden your son is creating a problem for u.s. government policy by being on the board of the corrupt company along with, remember, devon archer was the long time friend and associate and political bag man for who? the secretary of state, john kerry. did anybody inside the white house ever think this was a problem and talk to hunter biden or talk to john kerry about devon archer? be an interesting question to ask, don't you think? answer might be interesting. >> sandra: karl, we'll cut the sound bite and ask that question in the new hour coming up. appreciate you joining us on the breaking news. thank you. gillian, it has been a breaking news couple of hours now, our coverage will continue here on the fox news channel as one of the attorneys representing irs whistleblower gary shapley will be joining us coming up, and also garrett ventry is on deck, specific insight into the special counsel case. a quick break, we'll be right back. there are currently more than 750,000 unfilled cybersecurity jobs in the u.s. the google cybersecurity certificate was made to fill that gap and help grow the workforce that's keeping us all safe. every piece of land has a story - written by those who work it. like the caggianos, who are brewing their own legacy. or the wrens, with their drama free plot - tranquil and serene. the upshaws? they diy, all the time. while the nelson's play lead in their own adventure, 150 years in the making. there's a story in every piece of land. run with us and start telling yours. veteran homeowners to combat today's rising prices. lower your monthly payments with the three c's: pay down your credit cards, pay off your car loan, consolidate your debt with a va home loan from from newday. >> sandra: u.s. attorney merrick garland has appointed david weiss to special counsel into the investigation into hunter biden. the president's son. we have continuing coverage, hour two of "america reports" kicks off now. i'm sandra smith. >> gillian: great to be with you, i'm gillian turner in for john roberts out of washington. the probe into hunter biden's business dealings before requesting special counsel status this week. white house was not informed of the special counsel before the announcement. >> sandra: comes as house republicans ramp up their own investigation into the biden family. our political panel is here, they will weigh in on the timing of this. >> gillian: and reaction from james foster, representing whistleblower shapley, the group. and doj, more details where