>> good evening. this is america's late news, a fox news at night. breaking tonight, one is running for president. the other is accused of running a shadow campaign for president. ron desantis california governor gavin newsom facing off tonight in georgia and if you watched it, he noticed it got very testy at times on multiple issues, we are talking about crime, the economy, who handled covid better, and who ultimately has the facts on their side. boom illusion is alive with the highlights from tonight's some would say feisty debate. bill, good evening. >> good evening. this thing was scrappy from the very beginning. both governors going after each other on a variety of topics. they called each of the bullies. one of the first topics was the mass exodus of people leaving the state of california, going to other states with governor ron desantis telling a story about one of gavin newsom's in-laws. take a listen. >> i was talking to a fellow who made the move to florida and he was telling me that florida is much better government. safer, better budget, lower taxes, all the stuff. really happy with the quality of life and then he paused and he said, by the way, i'm gavin newsom's father-in-law. >> reporter: newsom got his shots in his work. he went after governor desantis ongoing safety. his policy on guns said he has not done enough after the department massacre. take a listen. >> governor newsom: california apparently -- lead. commonsense gun safety saves lives. you had the chance to do something meaningful. you have to do something on behalf of those parking families. you did the exact opposite. >> reporter: the two of them then tangled over education, school closures during covid-19, teachers unions, lgbt students as well as parental choice with both candidates hitting each other on the topics. take a listen. >> governor desantis: gavin newsom kowtowing to the teachers union. whatever they tell him to do, he does. >> governor newsom: i don't like the way you domain people. i don't like the way you to make the lgbtq committee. i don't like how you accumulate people you disagree with. >> reporter: towards the end of the debate, both were asked about president biden's cognitive ability to run again in 2024 and the idea that both of these governors perhaps want to be governor someday. ron desantis running right n now. rumors that gavin newsom would like to run potentially right now if biden steps down or maybe in 2028. take a listen. >> governor desantis: he has no business running for president and gavin newsom agrees with that. that is why he is running his shadow campaign. he should not be running. he is not up to the job. >> governor newsom: there's one thing in closing that we have in common is neither of us will be the nominee for our party in 2024. >> reporter: and that was one of the themes of the debate tonight. governor newsom frequently one after governor desantis for his polling numbers into 2024 gop primary saying so far behind. donald trump, you are losing in polling in your own state. you should drop out. governor desantis countered by hitting governor newsom hard on homelessness and the way california is right now and a moment at the end of the debate where he held up a map of san francisco that had all these ground play pixels and said, might be wondering what these pixels are. this is a map of human feces over san francisco and gavin, you do not clean it up until chinese president xi jinping showed up. that was the way governor desantis and into the debate. it was very entertaining. it was a greeting for the american people to get to see because it was a national audience, a national discussion, two rising stars in their respective political parties. two of the highest profile governors in the united states. we will send it back to you, trace. >> trace: bill melugin vive, thank you. let's bring in federal litigator vik bajaj. fox news contributor jason chaffetz and the author of politics of people who hate politics. going to have all of you want to give us this. a want to go down and give you each and 30 seconds to give me your thoughts on this. jason chaffetz, your thoughts on the debate tonight. >> it was wonderful. i give him credit. we need more of that in this country. are thought gavin newsom dodged a lot of questions. i thought he was asked very direct questions were by sean hannity. he skirted those issues, are abortion, and other types of issues. thought ron desantis looked presidential but he was not nervous. he took the fight right at the beginning to gavin newsom and i think he will do well in the polls because of it. >> this really was entertaining. and it had some quiet moments that you're going that you're going to hear of the next couple of weeks. >> and for those of us who love politics, this was wonderful. it was fun. it was everything we love. for those who hates -- hate politics, probably fueled the discontent they feel with two sides, two people talking past each other feeling more like a schoolyard brawl than an ideological comparison. and i really think tonight, desantis need to make does have a big win. the momentum right now in the primary is all with nikki haley and then after the debates and i'm not sure that desantis landed his points as well as he could have because basically he open himself up to a whole new kind of attacks from democrats in addition to the republicans that are going after him and by using nikki haley and donald trump's points against him, it was very effective. >> trace: vik bajaj, you know. you have seen gavin newsom debate a lot. he tried avoid a lot of the things that he cannot answer. >> and i think both of the candidates walked out of the debate taking they won. the verdict is coming back in their favor. it is very clear that these are really opposed candidates. it is not as though there is a middle ground. sometimes when we have a person or people or entities that disagree, we say, that them just play in the sandbox and they will work it out. sometimes we don't want to watch that and i think it was an presidential both of the candidates the way they attacked each other personally but on the facts and the substance, i think desantis did a masterful job. >> a want to go with some of the soundbites so that we can analyze those. this is soundbite number four. this is the covid graphic, back and forth about who handled covid better. watch this. >> governor newsom: 29%, 29% per capita higher. 29%. >> governor desantis: that is not what the stats say. >> governor newsom: tens of thousands of people. >> governor desantis: don't lie about it. he put the graphic up there. >> the truth is, diniz, the governor of california did that a lot. there are a lot of graphics. the numbers were right there. a sighted, they were from and gavin newsom saying that is not true. >> i'm from the bay area. and so i have lived under this regime for far too long and everyone of us who lives in california knows you can't trust anything that comes out of gavin newsom's mells. i don't think desantis responded by turning the attack on him and driving those points home as well as he could have. and i kept comparing what he said to -- desantis, how he would respond to newsom to help nikki haley might respond. i kept thinking, for me, this is a choice between the gop primary field and then i think that every time desantis spoke, i was thinking, is that how it nikki haley or donald trump would have responded and making my decisions based on that. there's a lot more at stake. >> trace: this is soundbite number five, lying about the border. let's watch. >> governor newsom: the biden administration put out a comprehensive plan. and the republican party did not touch it. they have not lived in it. >> governor desantis: it is déàa vu with that flurry of lives. this is a guy that's is the biden administration is not blind to the public about the border. they go to the white house briefing room every day. they seem the border insecure. they are lying to you. >> trace: he is right about that. they do say the border is secure, vik bajaj and newsom did not really have an answer because you can go after the guy but there's really not an answer because you got six and a half million illegal migrants who have crossed. >> sometimes in a jury trial, we wear purple ties when we have bad facts and maybe he should have done that. he had an answer, trace. but it was an answer that did not address the question. he would have done a much better job if he said, yes. those facts are there. but these are their criteria that distinguish those facts. instead, he is calling the other side a liar. post can't be line. and i think once people do their own research, they will find out who the truth teller is. >> trace: and here, jason, is the attack on the covid lockdown associated with the french laundry debacle. watch. >> governor desantis: he has imposed restrictions on his own people while re-exempting himself and going to the french laundry while his people were suffering. he let the country in school closures, working kids out of school while he had his own kids in private school in person. no, he is very good at spinning these tales. he is good at being slick and slippery. he will tell a blizzard of wise to be able to tried to mask the failures. >> trace: jason, the truth is newsom did not tell any lies about that because he was caught red-handed. >> i thought throughout the debate, ron desantis was masterful in drawing out personal stories. he did it on multiple topics and to draw directly to gavin newsom about his own opulence in doing stuff that ingratiated his family as opposed to all the other families, ron desantis was just spot on. people know that ford was the first state to open and california was one of the last and it is crystal clear. >> it is crystal clear and education scores are so bad in california, he tried to get around that and they are much better in florida. 20 seconds each now. denise, who does it hurt? >> i think as good as an effort that desantis made, i think he fell short as a gop presidential contender. and i think a lot of other people can think that he did well compared to one of the salubrious politicians out there. at the end of the day, he is the one up for consideration. and i don't think he nailed it tonight. from vik bajaj? >> desantis did a good job. newsom showed exactly why many people don't like politicians. answer the question and answer it clearly. if he can't do that, you can get the vote. i think it was just a modern mental success for desantis across the board. >> trace: and the politician in the group, jason chaffetz, your final thoughts? >> i thought one of the winners was sean hannity. but i will tell you, i thought it was exponentially off the charts, great for ron desantis but i thought he was presidential. i think he will rise in the polls. and i think his stature and his demeanor was just spot on. and gavin newsom will win some liberals and some moderates, too far for the fact that he showed up on fox news and then it. >> trace: you got to give him credit for showing up. vik, niese, jason, thank you all. the journalists behind the twitter files testified before the house judiciary committee about occlusion with democrats in the state to silence conservatives. senior national correspondent kevin cork is live with more on that. >> kevin: good evening. the journalists who helped expose the twitter files just about a year ago back at it again on capitol hill today. his time with a stark warning about censorship in america. >> the scope, power, and lawbreaking of the complex are even worse than we had realized back in march. >> this is not a crazy conspiracy three. we had four federal judges ruled that they believe this activity violates the first amendment. this is quite serious. >> kevin: while democrats slimed the hearing is simply closed on, journalist told the committee that there's actually a group out there known as the cyber threat intelligence league. they say actually partner with government agencies that the fbi to censor u.s. citizens. according to whistle blows documents, that included allegations that the group made up. personas and even used burner phones as a way to counter certain voices on social media. also to undergo with democratic lawmakers over just how big tech handled the infamous hunter biden laptop story. >> are you suggesting the new york post could participate in a conspiracy to construct the contents? >> the problem is that it could be manipulated by rudy giuliani or russia. >> kevin: giuliani known for manipulating hard drives apparently. that is contrary to the testimony from an fbi official who stated that the bureau new the hunter biden laptop was authentic along with related commission from several mainstream media outlets. this is not the news, trace. or would not new. we knew it was real all along. kevin corke, thank you. the biden administration is accused of centering your speech and collaborating with some youtube workers and social media suppression of whatever they considered to be covert misinformation. justin coleman is live with that story. good evening. >> reporter: yes, internal documents obtained by fox business show the biden administration and employees from google worked together to stop what they considered misinformation related to covid vaccines and the virus itself. one of the aim is obtained by fox business, the biden administration former director of digital strategy asked youtube about a post claiming their algorithm was promoting antitax content. in an m.o. between youtube staff, one employee wrote that if there is a very high degree of interest coming from the white house. regarding vaccine misinformation and vaccine hesitancy and unfortunately, the role of tech in addressing facts hesitancy was about to come under a massive spotlight particularly as the support of the vaccine is soon set to outpace the man. in a statement to fox news, youtube responded to our reporting today by saying "while we receive input from governments around the world, we apply our policies and apparently, transparently, and consistently regardless of the speaker or the political views expressed." today, the house judiciary's select subcommittee on the weaponization of the federal government held a hearing to examine a -- attacks on free expression and social media censorship. >> they were trying to censor covert information. it was scary where they want to go, where the left wants to take this. we released a report that said youtube was being pressured by the biden administration to take down content just like the pressure twitter, just like the pressured facebook. >> reporter: all very concerning. the house judiciary chairman, jim jordan, subpoenaed to appear for a deposition as part of the investigation into social media censorship. >> trace: it will go on. christina, thank you. ♪ ♪ the fox news at night comes in's department has also read these internal e-mails between google, youtube and the biting white house, the ibos are part of a pattern. they are not friendly advisory notes from the white house aimed at controlling misinformation about vaccines. instead the e-mails are aimed at controlling the budget narrative about the vaccines. remember, this is the president who called covid the pandemic of the unvaccinated. the same person who said he was following the science and now we know he was not a following anything. he was leading american's down a faulty path. biden, fauci, big pharma, even the cdc were all over the vaccines could not prevent you from getting covid and could not prevent you from spreading covert. each and every dose of the vaccine involves one person and one person only. but the white house pressured campaign had to make sure social media companies did not push anti-black's content. that is the democratic definition —-dash anti-vax content. that is the democratic definition. when it comes to vaccines and covert overall, different viewpoints not welcome. there was no robust debate. there was robust dictate. common sense of things of conformity is the enemy of science, these e-mails are the enemy of free speech. that spring and phd research scientist dr. houman hemmati and seattle talk radio host jason rantz. thank you for coming on. dr. hemmati, you look at the e-mails that are disturbing because the censorship was plain and evident. >> the censorship actually caused people to make decisions that was wrong. many want to make an informed medical decision, you need to be armed with the actual information and what they did is they suppressed not anyone just said vaccines are bad. but anyone who questioned whether vaccines can control the spread like you talked about or prevent you from giving into other people and propagating the virus and as a result, people were making decisions that were based actually on real misinformation that was being pushed by the government. when they did that, they were being forced into these scenarios where they basically fell under mandates and because they were under those mandates, they made medical choices under duress and that is not really a choice. trauma these are the same people, jason rantz who say, this decision is between somebody and their doctor and nn somebody and their governor perry jonathan turley said this. watch. -- >> you said this other worldly denial. thousands of pages now in the record. you have a judge that described this as an unprecedented censorship system. even called it orwellian and yet, all of the democrats just said there's no evidence of this censorship system existing. and unfortunately, it is working practice, a record number of democrats that now support censorship. >> trace: yeah, and he did, denial seems to work wonders for the other side. >> absolutely. think about it from this strategic standpoint. when you control the debate, you will win the debate. if you stop the debate from happening, you will also win the debate. and so when you don't even want to bother to push back, if you don't want to bother to try to use facts to convince people that your position is the right one to go straight to what they did which was censorship, that is terrifying because if anyone thinks they will stop with just covid, they are clearly not. we are already seeing they are changing definitions of words. they are wrong about tax. predicate that their positions are factual when they are not and they are silencing people and destroying people's reputations. that is the other thing that was so important to talk about. a destroying people's reputations for telling the truth. >> trace: and they destroyed their careers. 30 seconds for each of you. the biggest problem you have with government limiting health information is what, doctor? >> it is mandates. in this case, they used the information that was out of there where they censored to information about the ability to stop spreading the virus in order to justify mandates. this got people to take a vaccine that they may not have needed under duress and as a result, the people to be exposed to the potential side effects without getting any of the benefits. now we know that those vaccines did reduce mobility and mortality in certain people. that was about it. >> trace: your final thoughts on this, jason? >> i was going to." and calls, imagine the power to censor in the hands of your worst enemy and i think we are experiencing that right now. we are very clearly expressing that right now. that kind of power should not be held by any governmental official. it is incredibly dangerous. it can be easily abused and i think we already saw it just a little bit of it. kai roberts it is a grade point. jason, thank you both. thank you -- coming up, we will have more analysis on the great state debate. because the emotional reunion in israel between mother and daughter. our reporter on the ground has an