Were so gallantly streaming. And the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. O, say does that starspangled banner yet wave oer the land of the free and the Home Of The Brave will we begin this morning with a fox news alert, a tragic update out of maui. Now at least 80 people are confirmed dead after devastating wildfires. Rachel Officials Say more than 1,000 people are still unaccounted for as rescue and Recovery Efforts continue. Joey another fox news alert, Washington Attorney general Merrick Garland making a big announcement about the hunter biden criminal probe. Im here today to announce the appointment of david weiss as a Special Counsel. On tuesday of this week, mr. Weiss advised me that, in his judgment, his investigation had reached a stage at which he should continue his work as a Special Counsel, and he asked to be so appointed. A. Joey Alexandria Hoff is joining us live with the9 story. Reporter Special Counsel david weiss is the same u. S. Attorney that fostered the probationonly plea deal for hunter biden that eventually fell apart and who let the statute of limitations run out on the 2014 Corruption Case involving burisma. He will now lead the deepening investigation of into the younger bidens business dealings. House republicans are skeptical that this is a move that takes investigative power out of their hands. Well, this is another example of the Department Of Justice stonewalling and obstructing our investigation. Ive been complaining about this for months. This is an investigation about joe biden, i dont think we need any more evidence to show that the Department Of Justice is trying to obstruct our investigation. I think Merrick Garland made that argument for us today. Reporter can critics also argue or that under Justice Department regulations a Special Counsel should be selected from outside the the u. S. Government and and that a u. S. Attorney should not be the one to lead this. Still, the legal jeopardy for hunter biden appears to be escalating, and his legal team weighed in. His title became Special Counsel today. His powers were the same yesterday. So whats different . It doesnt make any difference to us given what we understood to be the case. So what does the Special Counsel do that he couldnt do . The answer should be nothing different. As to why now or why he wanted this as of last tuesday, thats a question youre going to have to ask him. Im confident. Reporter so the white house says they were not informed before the official announcement was made. The president offered no response as he departed for delaware yesterday. [inaudible conversations] reporter mr. President , are you under investigation . Reporter so as Special Counsel, david weiss will be under no deadline to conclude his investigation, that means it could stretch well past the 2024 elections. Guys . Will thank you, alexandria with. Rachel will, im going to go to you, because with youre the lawyer if theres no difference between his powers, weiss Powers Yesterday two days ago and weed when he was appointed Special Counsel, why did they make him a Special Counsel . Will to paper over an alreadydrawn conclusion. It seems to be a conclusion that was already expected from Hunter Bidens counsel. Hunter bidens counsel says it doesnt matter if you change the title, it shouldnt change the outcome. David weiss arrived at a certain level of charges, we know that, it was what most are describing as a Sweetheart Deal that basically gave haunter hunter biden immunity for all the other things hes being investigated. David weiss said he didnt need Special Counsel powers. Well, first, he asked for Special Counsel powers, whistleblowers said he was denied. Then he said i had all the power i needed to investigate hunter biden, and weirdly now the response has been you can have Special Counsel powers. So those three actualities dont mesh with one another, they dont make sense, so theres no reason for this legally. Its simply something that is going to be done for cover politically. Rachel but it seems like its politically not so great for them because everyone can see how odd this is, and also why would you appoint, joey, the same person who tried to block the whistleblowers from pursuing lines of questioning into joe biden . I mean, its so obviously corrupt. Joey Optics Of Ab Absurdity has not stopped this Administration Rachel great point. Joey one thing thats puzzling to me about it, i guess, is kind of what will was just talking about. If you accept the fact that there needs to be some sort of change in david weiss position, making him a Special Counsel, have to believe that means they believe they need to go back and look at evidence, maybe interview more people, have more authority to move charges, i guess now into a different district. But then david weiss himself has said, no, we interviewed everyone we wanted to interview, we were never told no, none of thats a problem. This really just comes down to if you believe both of those things, then you have to believe Merrick Garland is simply doing this only to quash some of the criticism, not to actually the not necessarily change what hes charged with, but to further the investigation, i guess, would be the public, the public admission of why theyre doing this. I think whats really important here is, and Jonathan Turley said yesterday, he was the first one on our network to really point it out, that this really kind of defines the the actual regulation as far as who a Special Counsel should be. And we have the regulation here, section 600. 3 of the Department Of Justice regulations, it says the Special Counsel shall be selected from outside the United States government. Will, you may know a little bit more on this than i do, but regulations arent law. Basically, the law tells the Justice Department you must do something, and the Justice Department comes up with regulations how they will do it. So even though this guys that defies that regulation, there isnt a legal resource. At the end of the day, the attorney general can appoint whoever he wants to. Rachel does making him a Special Counsel in any way change the investigation that Representative Comer and the House Republicans are doing . Will well,ing thats a good question. Only if we believe david weiss really had integrity and now has the freedom to pursue his integrity. Rachel right. Will as to the House Republicans, i dont know rachel cant he say, well, they wanted to bring him in. Do you remember they talked about bringing weiss in for questioning himself . Will yes. Rachel now he can say, well, its urn investigation. Is that right . Will i guess, yeah, hide urn the guise of an ongoing under the guise of an ongoing investigation. Gary shapley, that whistle blow. Hes laid out on capitol hill some of the costs of, i guess, putting that trust in david weiss. The statute of limitations have been extended through an agreement with Hunter Bidens defense counsel, and they were willing to extend past november 2022. Weiss allowed those to expire. I dont claim to be privy to communications, but United States attorney weiss told us he was not the deciding person, that he had requested and was denied special authority after d. C. Declined charges and that if california dekleins, he will have to declines, he will have to request special authority again. Whether the full responsibility elis with weiss or garland is for, ultimately, the public to decide. Rachel yeah. I mean, hes right. And i guess in the eni just want to tie this whole topic up to go this is more than just about corruption and the biden family getting rich. Vivek ramaswamy request yesterday when he was in iowa at the political call events there said i believe that it is deeply linked to the Policy Decisions, this corruption scandal, that the Policy Decisions that the Biden Administration is making as were discussing this right now, requesting billions of dollars of additional need without once articulating why this is in the u. S. national interests. So i think its also important to get beyond sort of the daytoday match nations, legal machinations that we see going on and ask ourselves why this matters, and i think thats why it matters. Joey yeah. I think this has turned into a bit of a chess game between what appears to be republicans and democrats, and it really should be looking for truth. A. Rachel absolutely. Jee e yeah from something very important to something that is paramount, which is life and death. A fox wildfire alert. 80 people, 80, are now dead from the devastating wildfires still sweeping maui. Officials in hawaii are in recovery mode with 1500 still missing. As a new fire prompts evacuations in a resort area just north of the heavy hit town of lahaina. Rachel were now learning that the islands alert sirens never went off. The Hawaii Emergency Services administration confirming that the alarm it tests every month were not turned on even as the fire started to spread. Will lets bring in former Hawaii Congresswoman and Fox News Contributor full city gabbard. Tulsi, aloha. I know through your Military Service youre deeply connected to everything going on in hawaii. The number we have is 80, from my understanding, none of the buildings though have yet been searched there in historic lahaina town, so that number threatens to go much, much higher. What can you update us on this morning . Will, to all of my friends, people that ive worked with over years, you know, i served in congress for eight years representing hawaiis second congressional district. Maui is a part of it, so countless times ive been through the community of lahaina, kaanapali is being evacuated after a few hours ago. The impact on this community is just, its hard to conceive of when you look at the catastrophe that they have gone through, frankly, are continuing go through. This crisis is far from over. There are still active wildfires there on the island of maui affecting a couple to other communities, some that are the only 50 under control. So this is not yet a community in recovery. There are people just trying to survive. Will, i know youve spent a lot of time on maui growing up, you know that there is one road that goes through that town of lahaina, and a lot of communities that lie beyond that road as you continue to drive around the island. So as that community was completely shut off, i think only yesterday they reopened that road for residents only. Theres a lot of folks out there who, you know, mothers who are on the verge of giving birth, there are families with no access to food or fuel or in some cases clean water. We have Community Members literally getting on jet skis and boats going around and skirting this blockade that was stopping them from trying to get supplies to people just to be able to help their neighbors and friends. So its can theres so much frustration, theres so much suffering, you know . The real mourning has not even been able to begin to start because of people really looking the how do i just get me and my family to tomorrow. Rachel do you know, tulsi, im curious about why this alarm system didnt work. Have you heard anything else about that, any explanation . Ive heard a few explanations, you know . The wildfire moved in a matter of hours from everything that i have heard from from really residents who were out there on the ground and perhaps there wasnt enough time. Ive also heard possibly the communications, the cell towers, the ability, even perhaps some of these alarm towers went out. There must be an investigation into this, why residents were not properly informed with time to evacuate. I dont want to guess to what the answer is, but theres a lot of different stories and reasons that are flying around right now. Joey tulsi, i saw a tweet yesterday, it wasnt from a government official, i think it was probably more than anything a corned citizen, someone who concerned citizen, but in the tweet, i found it interesting. They basically said, hey, listen, maui and this town, its a small island, a small town, not big in importance maybe, but people. And the biggest military in the world is just an island away, a few miles away, a couple dozen miles away on oahu, and the idea of could they have done more, should they be with doing more now . In other words, all these resources are right there, all these Military Resources are there, should they be doing more in maui today . Could they have done more as this was happening . I dont know what resources could be helpful in a situation like this, but i do know there are ships in and out and a lot of infrastructure there. Youre in the military, you understand this, what are your thoughts on it . Yeah, joey, the answer to that is, yes and yes. You know, im not privy to whats going on in the op center there at any given moment, but it is hard for me to understand why there isnt, you know, a mass deployment of medical support going out to these communities, you know . You have the uss mercy, we have pacific fleet, we have so, so many professionals who in times of need in other parts of the world we have, you know, tsunamis and earthquakes in other countries across the asia pacific where the u. S. Military deploys immediately to provide that support. This crises is happening in our community right now. Whether they are moving bebehind the scenes or not, i dont know, but the fact is this crisis has been going on for days. They could have and should have already been there deploying food, water, medical care. Can you imagine the horrors that these families have gone through, the firefighters and First Responders or have gone through . A friend of mine just told me his son is a firefighter and has come home telling them stories of the most horrific things he has seen. Just support for people to be able to be go and talk to someone about what theyre going through. I mean, its need on every level. They should not only be focusing on the rebuilding, the Rebuilding Effort will be massive. Theres no question about that. But right now we are still in survival mold. The people on maui are still in sur is vial mode, and survival mode, and every single facet of government, county, state the, federal, Military Needs to be deployed to surround, wrap their arms around this community, let them know, hey, were here for you, we care for you. Will yeah, its hard to fathom, joey, the number of Government Resources that are not far away. You see the devastation on your screens, i have friends who are running their boats with supplies back to lahaina. Hey, tulsi, i know right now is a recovery period, and i dont mean to make a lot of this, my mom is still there between lahaina and kaanapali, and there will be plenty of time for this, an afteraction report, but you have such unique insight, rfk jr. With tweeted this yesterday, and it matched up with something that is my personal experience. I grew up, the hills are full of pineapple plantations, they turned hem into Sugarcane Fields, and then they went fallow. Rfk jr. Brought this up as horrible Land Management is part of what led to this ability for the entire island to catch on fire. What are your thoughts on Something Like that, how this got so out of control . Speaking directly to your point about the Sugarcane Fields and when that stopped just a few years ago, it is a very serious issue about the mismanagement, lack of management of those properties. And as you know also, will, maui unfortunately has a long history of Water Rights Problems and mismanagement of how historically a lot of the water that has traditionally gone down as nature intended to feed different communities from atop the mountain, those water rights were sold to corporations who rechanneled and rerouted that water to go towards certain plantations and and away from those different communities. Its a big issue, but its one that continues to be battled and fought. Maui deals with with drought very often, and so there need to be hard questions asked and answered about access to water, how these lands are being managed or not and, frankly, how the first how the response went that allowed this to go on. I have a friend whos a firefighter who sa