>> hi, bret, how are you doing? >> bret: good. i appreciate it. good evening, welcome to washington. breaking tonight, actually moments ago, president biden telling democratic donors in boston, quote: if trump wasn't running, i'm not sure i would be running. insisting democrats cannot let the former president win. we'll talk more about the president's messaging later in the show. meantime today on capitol hill, jewish students at some of the top colleges and universities in the country said they are in fear for their lives on campus. those students and some top administrators appeared on capitol hill today. the educators were grilled about their school's failure to provide protection in the midst of anti-semitic incidents. congressional correspondent aishah hasnie is live on capitol hill tonight with the latest. good evening, aishah. >> bret, good evening to you. tonight, the presidents of those universities are defending their actions, even as jewish students who aren't on their campuses say those actions or lack thereof has left them feeling threatened. >> 36 hours ago, i, along with most of campus, sought refuge in our rooms. as classmates and professors chanted proudly for the genocide of jews. >> terrified and fed up, jewish students from some of the country's most prestigious schools are calling on congress to step up, saying their universities are failing them. >> i don't want to have to keep advocating for jewish student safety on campus. it's not my job. it's your job. >> that outcry is why both democrats and republicans on the education and workforce committee grilled the presidents of harvard, mit and u penn today over the rampant hate on their campuses. >> this intimidation, humiliation and exclusion of jewish students is simply unacceptable. >> but each president defended their actions and condoned free speech, including protests that don't turn into harmful conduct. >> calling for the genocide of jews violates harvard code of conduct. correct? >> it depends on the context. >> it does not depend on the context. the answer is yes. >> house republicans also took issues with the school leaders who argue that schools don't regulate speech. lawmakers say it happens all the time with speech the schools don't like. >> you canceled an event with former ice director tom homan due to disruptive student protest simply because he worked for former president donald trump. >> our approach to speech as i identified it follows and is guided by the united states constitution. >> you are speaking out of both sides of your mouth. >> and, bret, house republicans are also blaming the rise in anti-semitism on school campuses on these liberal lessons they say that are being taught at these schools while house democrats, specifically congresswoman camilla jayapal who as you know is currently under fire for comments she made about hamas using rape as a weapon of war. she, today, blamed some of this vitriol that we are seeing on former president trump. bret? >> ai aishah hasnie live on the chill. >> fighting as the fiercest since the ground offensive began greg palkot is in southern israel with the latest tonight, greg? >> hey, bret. we are at staging six miles from gaza. it shuttling troops back and forth to the frontline. artillery pounding away. [explosions] >> it's being called some of the most intense airstrikes and ground combat nearly two month war of israel and hamas. terrorists targeted on land, sea and air. remaining pockets of militants in the northern gaza strip routed. israeli troops southern hideout. >> to israel's allies who are pushing to end this war swiftly, the only way to end it swiftly is to use overwhelming force. israel reportedly putting numbers to its battle. sources claiming another 15,000 killed in gaza. 5,000 are hamas fighters. that still leaves a big civilian death toll, a surging humanitarian crisis. >> we need to provide protection to the civilians in gaza hamas might be down but it's not out. rockets fired from gaza. israel is considering publishing out hamas tunnels with sea water. at risk,s who tanks who might be hidden under ground 100 freed but 138 remain in horrid conditions. >> while we speak there is a holocaust, a three hour drive from here. >> while many across the region do what they can at this idf staging area, an israeli american soldier who goes by first name hod is pitching in. >> i'm feeling a lot of pride currently being in the army getting to protect my people. obviously this has been a very intense situation. lots of emotions. >> greg: another emotional insight on this day. an israeli health ministry official saying that recently freed hostages were given tranquilizer pills before their release to make them appear calm and happy after weeks and weeks of abuse and terror. chilling stuff. bret? >> bret: definitely. greg palkot live in southern israel. greg, thanks. the alabama republican senator whose protest of the pentagon's abortion policy resulted in a huge backlog of military promotions is giving up the fight. or at least part of it. chief national security correspondent jennifer griffin is at the pentagon with the latest on this to tell us why. good evening, jennifer. >> good evening, bret. it took just minutes for the hundreds of military officers who had been held up by senator tuberville to be confirmed by unanimous consent in the senate tonight. in a military style about-face, senator tommy tuberville, the alabama senator who blocked 440 military officer promotions for 10 months finally relented after mounting pressure from other republicans and a potential bipartisan end run around his hold. the senators lifting the block nominations of all military officers of three stars and below. senator tuberville still plans to block 12 four star nominations including the vice chiefs of the army, navy, air force and marines. the head of u.s. indopacom, pacific fleet, air combat command and the head of u.s. cyber command, space command and northern command responsible for protecting the homeland. >> it's not just flipping a switch and suddenly everyone moves in new conditions. you have to consider things like when people can move, where the people that are moving out of the positions are going. >> there are no institutions. >> the tuberville hold was in response to a dod policy after the supreme court overturned roe v. wade allowing service members to take leave and be reimbursed for transportation expenses if they needed to travel to a state where abortion was legal. it also applied to those needing to travel for fertile treatments. just weeks ago tuberville had promised to stick to his guns. he relented without any concessions from the pentagon i'm releasing everybody. still got a hold like 11 four star generals. everybody else is completely released from me. it's over. >> reaction from the hill was swift and pointed. arizona senator and navy combat veteran mark kelly issued a three word statement, quote: about damn time. it's notable that in this year's reagan national defense survey, bret, two thirds of americans polled said they opposed a blockade on nominations over policies unrelated to war fighting. a reference to senator tuberville's hold, bret? >> bret: jennifer griffin at the pentagon, thank you. the fbi is denying it targeted catholics in its search for domestic terrorists. the bureau is essentially disavowing a memo from one field office and says it does not go after people based on their religion. well, some lawmakers today on capitol hill, they were not convinced. correspondent david spunt is at the justice department tonight with the latest. good evening, david. >> bret, good evening to you. lawmakers are demanding more answers from fbi director christopher wray about this controversial memo. they say was used to infiltrate the catholic church and see if catholics were, perhaps, behind any potential domestic violence extremism. the fbi is denying that but, today, fbi director wray got a grilling on capitol hill from senator josh hawley from missouri who chastised him pointing to a new whistleblower revelation that the fbi interviewed a virginia choir director and priest. but the fbi director said the memo and the interviews that happened are separate subjects. watch. >> >> the fbi agents did approach a priest and a choir director to ask them to inform on parishioners. so, were you lied to when you gave this testimony or were you lying to congress? >> neither. your question conflates two different things. there was an investigation of a specific individual who was amassing molotov cocktails and posting about killing people and it does not surprise me that there were people who knew that subject in that investigation. >> the fbi adding in a statement any characterization the fbi is targeting catholics is false. the interviews of the priest and choir director highlighted by the committee's report were conducted by fbi richmond during an investigation of an individual threatening violence who had since been arrested bret, wray today said before congress once again he was furious when he found out about the original memo written by analyst in the richmond, virginia field office last january it. walls removed shortly after it was uploaded into fbi systems. he was also pressed today on the hunter biden laptop and was asked point blank why the fbi did not come out immediately and admit the laptop was real. >> we have to be very careful about what we can say, especially in the middle of an election season. >> and the director added he didn't come out in public because he didn't want to follow the footsteps of his predecessors james comey who was on camera frequently during the election, bret. >> bret: switching gears here to former president trump. >> his legal troubles. the special counsel in the january 6th capitol riot case upping the rhetoric. upping the charges? what can you tell us about that? >> very much so, bret. hours ago special counsel jack smith filed a motion in federal court and he said that donald trump, quote: sent people to the capitol on january 6th, 2021. i want to read part of it. he said he sent supporters like groups like the proud boys whom he knew were angry and who he now calls patriots to the capitol objective of obstructing the certification. donald trump is set to go to trial march 4th. that's one day before super tuesday. bret? >> bret: david spunt, thank you. up next, israel's prime minister calls out women's groups and human rights organizations who have not condemned rape by hamas terrorists. first, here's what some of our fox affiliates around the country are covering tonight. fox 13 in tampa. as a recent court document filed in sarasota county reveals brian laundrie called his parents to tell them girlfriend gabby petino was gone two weeks before she was reported missing. petino vanished while on a cross-country road trip in laundrie in august of 2021. her body was later discovered in wyoming. laundrie was found dead in florida about a month later. petino's family is suing laundrie's parents and their attorney. >> this is a live look at seattle from fox 13. one of the big stories there tonight. a city council candidate in washington state, who said he did not vote for himself because it made him feel uncomfortable ended up losing by one vote. the "new york post" reporting damion green of rainier lost to ryan roth who did vote for himself by a count of 247 to 246. that's tonight's live look outside the beltway from "special report." remember to vote. we'll be right back. ♪ here's to the loser, bless them all ♪ from pep in their step to shine in their coats, when people switch their dog's food to the farmer's dog, the effects can seem like magic. but there's no magic involved. 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horrible atrocities, sexual mutilation. where the hell are you? i expect all civilized leaders, governments, nations to speak up against this atrocity. >> women's advocacy groups who have not commented on this issue to date include the american association of university women, planned parenthood, emily's list, and the democratic women's caucus. bernie sanders former campaign press secretary claims, quote: this is not a believe women scenario because israeli women have offered no testimony. israeli officials though are pushing back against this and similar claims from progressives. >there should not be any anticipation that the survival will come and speak out loud with a face. it's not like me too. this is a horrible and different thing. >> israeli officials examining corpses on the ground have been speaking out since october about what they seen. >> we have seen evidence of rape that is so cruel that pelvises were broken, bones were broken, probably takes a lot to break a pelvis. legs were broken and this is grandmothers down to children. >> the state department says the existing evidence against hamas is enough. >> there was incredibly compelling firsthand accounts from eyewitnesses and first responders and physicians about hamas' sexual violence against women and girls on that day. >> israeli officials have now recovered more than 1500 pieces of evidence that point to hamas sexual violence against women on october 7th. they are taking that directly to the u.n. demanding an investigation. also, this breaking a moment ago, bret. democratic congresswoman pramila jayapal whose incendiary comments we covered last night on the show has put out a statement now walking back or clarifying what she said on sunday that's garnering so much puckback. she says that she did not in any way mean to minimize hamas' rape or sexual violence. she said she does, in fact, condemn it. back to you, bret. >> bret: gillian turner live at the state department. thank you. up on capitol hill, north carolina republican congressman patrick mchenry says he will not run for re-election. mchenry is the chairman of the financial services committee. he served as speaker pro tem after former speaker kevin mccarthy was ousted earlier this year. today advocates for women's sports testified on capitol hill about a biden administration proposal to keep schools from banning transgender athletes. here is chief washington correspondent mike emanuel. >> allowing men to play women's sports increases the likelihood and severity of such injuries. >> lawmakers digging into a proposed rewrite of title ix and the potential impact it could have on biological girls and young women. former ncaa swimmer riley gaines who hosts a podcast on fox owned outkick telling lawmakers it would be a disaster. >> it is my sincere hope that members of this committee will take action to stop the biden administration's illegal and administrative rewrite of title ix. >> title ix was passed in 1972 to eliminate obstacles women were facing in higher education it. paved the way for women to have equal access and opportunity with respect to sports regarding scholarships, comparable facilities, and resources. now the biden administration is drying to redefine sex discrimination on the basis of gender identity. lawmakers heard from a former college women's lacrosse coach who was removed from her position after speaking out about transgender athletes competing in women's sports. >> i will never apologize for believing that women and girls should have the right to single sex competition. a right for which women before me fought tirelessly. >> on the other side, an advocate suggested those concerns are unfair. >> today is really about attacking and dehumanizing transgender people and special trans women and girls. >> there are concerns among many female athletes and coaches. if the rules are rewritten, biological females will lose out on scholarships, playing time, athletic records, and in a locker room privacy. bret? >> bret: big issue that crosses ideological lines. amazing. thanks. up next, why some here in washington say time is running out and the money already has to help ukraine fight against russia. ukraine's defense minister joins me here on set to talk about that fight keep it here. liberty mutual customized my car insurance and i saved hundreds. with the money i saved, i started a dog walking business. oh. 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