love that event last night. fox news alert as we top a brand-new however. any moment we will be hearing from president biden and what his administration is doing to stop fentanyl. the white house meeting comes one day after federal law enforcement shared details on a massive multistate fentanyl bust centered in our nation's capitol. this is the "faulkner focus," i'm sandra smith in for harris faulkner. >> nearly 100,000 deaths. nearly 80,000 were from fentanyl, 80 times stronger than heroin. according to the dea, it's the leading cause of death for americans ages 18 to 45. house foreign affairs chair michael mccall says how to stop is simple. >> with china sending the precursers to mexico and the manufacturing taking place mexico. that's how they get into the united states. until we get china and mexico to stop this and until we secure our border, we're going to continue to have these problems. last week president biden met with china's president to try to strike a deal to cut off the flow. critics are not optimistic. the opponents, the components of the deadly drug are typically sourced from china. processed in mexico. then smuggled across into the united states. agents at the southern border seized 27,000 pounds of fentanyl in fiscal year 2023 alone. a huge increase over the past years. mark meredith is in washington. he's got more on what we know right now. mark. >> sandra, good morning to you. drug cartel smuggle fentanyl in so many ways, cars and trains. and suspects were hiding fentanyl in the most innocent of products. one person smuggling two pounds of fentanyl inside of candy boxes. whoppers and sweet tarts. another suspect was caught at dulles air force base trying to smuggle with fabric softeren. they have arrested 23 people tied to the drug ring and seized more than 250,000 pills. >> reporter: the cartels and manufacturers are buying the same pill process says and molds to make them look identical to oxycodone. this investigation began after a 20-year old woman died in d.c. over the last few years more than a million pills have been brought into the dc area. washington reacheda i deal with china to cut the flow of materials. >> we will see how they are in execution and i think we all need to understand it may be some time before you see practical results of this. >> many people say the most effective way to stop the drugs from reaching the estate is beefing up security at the border because so many drugs are being made in mexico. sandra. >> so dangerous and we know it's here and everywhere. by the way, when the event begins, we will bring you to the white house live obviously going to be very important to listen on the plans to get this under control. now this. >> the american people have concluded that president biden is old. and he needs soup and an early bedtime. >> all right. that was classic senate john kennedy from louisiana absolutely roasting the president has he celebrated turning the big 81 yesterday. biden poking funnal the milestone with a photo of a flaming birthday cake and also joked about his age which became glaringly obvious. >> by the way, it's my birthday today. it's difficult turning 60. defendant. difficult. just do get here liberty and bell had to beat some tough odds. tough competition. had to work hard to show patience and be willing to travel over a thousand miles. you could see even harder than getting a ticket to the renaissance tour or brittany's tour. it's kind of warm in brazil now. >> a little hard to watch there. the president confusing of course taylor swift, brittany spears and beyonce before trailing off. political reports age concerns has the white house aids pushing president biden to ditch formal shoes now for more comfortable ones after a number of stumbling the "new york times" says insiders say protecting the president is known as operation bubble wrap. >> is there a real alarm happening behind the scenes that the president is simply too old to stay around another four years? >> what i see is our perspective. our perspective it's not about age. it's about the president's experience. that's what we believe. and it's, you know as they say, the poof is in the pudding. >> what i will be clear about. we're not going to governor by polls here. or poll numbers. we're going to focus on delivering for the american people. >> that's because the latest polling shows a problem with the president with young voters. those aged 18 to 34 are leaning in favor of former president trump. janet caldwell, david carlucci joining us. what do you think about that? is there concern among you're party now? >> of course there's concern. we look the the latest polls, we have to see it as a blessing to see these are the problems presented to us a year out of the election, gives us time to refocus and talks about specifics and how president biden has gotten laws on the book that help the american people. things like reducing the cost of prescription drugs. being very specific. voters are angry and frustrated because the issues going on outside of the president's control. the buck stops with the president. >> let me get -- >> who is in the office. polls are going to show that. >> right, the buck stops with joe. his own words in the top priority for most voters is the economy. and now it seems even democrats giano are reportedly urging the president to revamp the economic messaging. one democratic congress man saying the hill has the time to tweak its messaging but not worth abandoning entirely. maybe that tweaking is a good idea, giano, a large majority disapprove with how the president is handling the economy. the problem is, that's not stopping the president and his team from pushing this notion of bidenomics and touting it's working while it's clearly now. giano. >> you can tweak a message all you want, but the american people have seen the deliverables. high inflation. baby powder shortage. gas prices are high. food is high. we're going up against thanksgiving in a couple days and people are having to think through, can i get this medication or this turkey? this is a problem to every democrat who supported joe biden across the 2020 election and even up to now. we look at the numbers in 2020, young people 18 to 29, he won by 20 points. you're looking at a deficit millennials, african americans and hispanics. they voted for him 63% and now that number is 46%. with these sectors of communities, he's in a losing position. donald trump is actually winning this thing because he has a history. four years of a great economy. people doing well. they didn't like his tweets and that's fine. but they don't like joe biden and his policies. that's where we are as a country. >> where we are -- >> thanksgiving week. david, okay. so i understand the polls do not favor the president right now. so there is the effort to ignore them. david, i want to ask you about this. white house press secretary whipped out a food menu to argue the president's policies are working. >> according to the american farm bureau, cost of a thanksgiving dinner fell this year. prices are down for turkeys, stuffing, peas, cranberries and pie crust. this thanksgiving dinner is the fourth cheapest ever has a percentage of average earnings. >> the bureau of labor stat shows a different picture. since the president took office, the price of turkey has jumped more than 31%. other holiday staples like bread, potatoes and pie are costing more. just 19% say they feel confident that life will be better their children's generation than it was for them. that's an all-time low ignore it all you want. this is the sentiment we're seeing and feeling out there, and it seems as this is a white house in denial of it. >> well it's not denial or ignoring, it's taking into consideration these polling numbers. just two weeks ago in the election that actually happened, democrats out performed republicans in every state we were watching. either returning the governor to kentucky. winning the virginia house and senate. the list goes on and on. pennsylvania, ohio, even new jersey we had wins. so the polls say one thing and that's frustration. when we get down to brass tacks it's who is delivering for the american people. republicans have forgotten the difference between campaigning and complaining. if you just complain all day long about the things president biden has done and not offer anything what you're going to go differently but just shoot down the ideas, that's going to be a problem when people actually go out and vote. there's an actual context between two candidates and not generics. >> five seconds, the abortion question was the number we have seen the losses in elections. republicans need to certainly tidy up that message on abortion. >> very interesting stuff. thanks to both you gentlemen for joining us. happy thanksgiving. we are learning now israel and hamas could be close to a deal it free the hostages. isaac herzog joined me and had these thoughts. >> we're doing our best to bring them back home. we're demanding the international community to be as forceful as possible. we hope and pray there will be a positive outcome in the next few days. >> meanwhile, israel keeps pounding gaza as it enters a more difficult phase of the war. seniority director robert greenway will join us life next. veteran homeowners, need to save money every month? 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congress also has to step up and pass the supplemental budget to help stop the flow of fentanyl into our country and support services for people struggling with fentanyl impacts. look i urge congress to make fentanyl a schedule-one drug and take the action to help limit the distribution of pill press says and close the loopholes that exist now for small shipments of fentanyl. as families gather with their loved ones, too many will face looking at an empty chair because so many people have died. it's heart breaking. it's an american tragedy. just my next door neighbor. tough stuff. people are dying. i'm committed to doing everything i can in my power to get this crisis under control. we're gathered to get to work together to make sure we're coordinating all our efforts to make progress on progress will be made with both xi. [multiple questions] >> thank you. thanks so much guys. >> thank you. >> all right. just at the end there. the president saying now is not the type to talk about the hostages. he said we're getting close to gets the hostages. we are very close and optimistic, nothing is done yet. but we are getting close. we could bring some of those hostages home soon. nothing is done until everything is done. the president just now. what do we know about that reportedly? mostly women and children. we are working to verify the details of the swap. that would be in exchange for 150 palestinian prisoners and a pause of four or five days. we are working to get the details of this. the president confirming things are looking good at the moment. he will continue with the meeting on fentanyl at the white house. we are likely going to get an update from the national security council possibly the pentagon and bring you that as soon as we have. now this. israel ramping up fighting in north gaza as they plan to shift their focus to southern gaza >> the idea of hitting 250 hamas targets. rocket launches and infrastructure. these new photos of an anti-task missile. troops found this under a baby's crib. meantime, we're learning to hear about the deal of the release of 50 hostages could be done as soon as today. the potential deal could free women and children exchanged for prisoners held by israel. the war cabinet is meeting and the former ambassador to the u.s. has a dire warning about it all. >> they have broken every cease-fire in the past. they never kept a cease-fire. it's very difficult to negotiate from someone moving the football constantly. my sources told me they won't release women who have been raped. who knows what the poor women went through. jeff paul is on the ground in southern israel reporting for us at this hour. hi jeff. >> reporter: sandra, we just learned they will vote in a new hours of close to a truce. exactly what that looks like could change as the hours drag on. but as we understand it, anywhere from 50 to 60 israeli hostages, women and children would be released in exchange for palestinian prisoners and a multiday pause in fighting. that could allow more aid to get into gaza including much-needed food, water and fuel. some of the hostages met with war cabinet members. they want the israeli government to act now. bring the hostages home. they are putting a lot of pressure on benjamin netanyahu who today had this to say about a possible deal. >> the first goal eliminating hamas. we will not stop until we are done. the second goal bringing the hostages back. we are making progress. i don't think we need to discuss it further not even at this moment. but i hope we will have good news soon. >> reporter: while the negotiations continue, the fighting does as well. the i fd says they have encircled the city of ibalia. israeli forces hit the city with air strikes. as it stands right now. no deal just yet. those government officials in israel going to be meeting at 8 o'clock local, 1 o'clock eastern, hoping to get more answers then. >> sandra: jeff, thank you. i want to reiterate. robert greenway is here with us. former director of the national security council and former green barrett. we can outline so far what we're hearing about the terms of this deal. that includes approximately 50 hostages female, and children. for 150 palestinian women and children being held by israel. this is a phased release of about 10 hostages followed by more if the cease-fire holds. that's a big if per the warning. multiday cease-fire of up to five days. would this be a good deal from your perspective? >> look at it, based on the operational activity increased by idf and hamas believe it would conclude in the next 24 hours. there's nothing better than reuniting families with hostages and loved ones. you're dealing with an unreliable opponent and you have to balance the fact that then hamas was retain the capability to threaten forces in the subsequent days with additional rockets having refit. this is like a boxing match and israel in control and hamas on the ropes. what we want is a boxing match that ends in five rounds and not 10 and we don't want a rematch. >> how big of an if is it if a cease-fire would actually hold? >> well, as previously stated, the historic pattern they won't >> the longer it does, the potential for more hostages to be released. again that is hamas' advantage. their operational commanders are leaving the battlefield and the pause will obviously provide a boost of morale for those resisting the idf and provides an opportunity for other hostile actors in hezbollah, iraq and syria are. it will be up to hamas which has been an unreliable actor. >> just reading through the details of what we heard from the president. obviously he is hopeful that some of these hostages could come home soon. that would be very good and welcome news for all of us and their family members. a few peace with this israel questions with this. israel questions why the un have not condemned the use of hospitals. we asked isaac herzog about that yesterday and he said this. >> the un is a hypocritic organization where they play for many years of antisemetic rhetoric. they celebrate the mutilated the body of a young girl celebrating at a festival. this is the whole clash of civilization of values we're in. >> how is it, robert, that the un has not yet condemned hamas? >> well the short answer is there's no incentive to do so. not only fail to condemn hamas and others like it, they have been providing material support to them for many years. it's among the reasons why