i'm john roberts in for bret baier tonight. a tough examination for dr. anthony fauci as he defends his actions during the coronavirus pandemic. we may be just hours away from an executive order from president biden on immigration. as an illegal migrant is arrested for allegedly shooting two new york city police officers. and what it takes to get american hostages back home. we hear from someone who has done just that. ♪ but, first, breaking tonight, just days after the conclusion of the first ever criminal trial against a former president, a similarly historic proceeding begins against the son of a sitting president. jury selection has been completed in the felony gun charge trial for hunter biden. correspondent david spunt is in wilmington, delaware tonight where he kicks off our conch. hello, david. >> david: john, good evening to you. it took all day but the judge, the special counsel and the defense were able to turn 250 prospective jurors into 12 jurors plus four alternates, putting them in the middle of this high stakes case as you said just days after another one ended. >> hunter biden confidently walked out of federal court in his h hometown of wilmington, delaware, after spending hours watching jury selection. jurors were asked about their opinions on gun rights and drug addiction. he is charged with three felony counts of lying on a federal gun form in 2018 when claiming he was not a drug user. also in the courtroom, first lady jill biden. hunter's sister ashley and his wife melissa cohen biden. his ex-wife kathleen and sister-in-law hallie not there as they are potential witnesses. the president spent most of the day, about 15 minutes from the courthouse at his delaware home getting regular updates from aides. he released a statement, quote: i am the president but i am also a dad. jill and i love our son son and we are so proud of the man is he today. as the president i don't and won't comment on pending federal cases but as a dad i have boundless love for my son, confidence in him, and respect for his strength. president and his son spent time together over the weekend. fox is told the president will be in frequent touch with his son during the trial. hunter's attorney abbe lowell is expected to argue that hunter did not check no to being a drug user on the federal gun form. local says it needs to be examined whether other people may have tamp erred with the form. the special counsel david weiss is confident hunter checked no on the form. weiss also expected to have hunter's infamous laptop the same laptop 50 former intelligence officials in 2020 touted as having all the classic earmarks of a russian disinformation operation. it is real and contains significant evidence of the defendant's guilty. moreover the evidence on his laptop is corroborated by independent sources face up to 25 years behind bars. this trial is expected to last a few weeks give or take a few days. >> john: david spunt, thank you. the doctor who became the face of the coronavirus pandemic and has famously said he represents science is dismissing much of the criticism against him as the product of conspiracy theories. dr. anthony fauci appeared before a house committee today to defend himself against a plethora of accusations, including that he benefited financially from the pandemic and that he tried to cover up its origins. chief washington correspondent mike emanuel has got highlights tonight. he's on capitol hill. good evening, mike. >> mike: john, good evening. dr. anthony fauci defended his leadership and the government's response to the covid-19 pandemic. >> as you sit here today, is it possible that covid-19 was the result of a laboratory related accident? >> oh, absolutely. and like i mentioned multiple times, i keep an open mind. >> fauci also responded to allegations that he personally led a cover-up into any suggestion that covid leaked from the wuhan lab. >> the accusation being circulated that i influenced these scientists to change their minds by bribing them with millions of dollars in grant money is absolutely false and simply preposterous. >> after the house committee found evidence, other public health senior advisers were using private emails to get around public records laws, fauci said those who did acted inappropriately. >> dr. fauci, did you ever delete an official record? >> no. >> on the 6-foot social distancing rule which kept schools and businesses shut down for an extended period, fauci said that was not based on scientific study. >> we have discussions at the white house about that. we did. but the cdc's decision and was their decision to make and they made it. >> and you didn't feel an obligation as the lead scientist at the nih to challenge that. >> i have challenged the cdc multiple times. >> georgia republican rich mccormick used fauci's own words against him playing this audio recording. >> it's been proving that when you make it difficult for people in their lives they lose their ideological bull [bleep] and they get vaccinated. >> fauci was pressed on whether objections to covid vaccines were ideological b.s. >> thank you. >> that's not what i was referring to. >> well, in reference to making it hard for people to get education, traveling, working, i would say it very much was in context. >> democrats accused republicans of playing politics, arguing the hearing did not break new ground. >> everything that was discussed has been identified through previous interviews, through transcripts, through emails, through dr. fauci explaining his answers, and he did so again. >> when asked about if he earned royalties since the pandemic from pharmaceutical companies, fauci responded zero. john? >> john: all right, mike emanuel for us tonight on capitol hill. mike, thank you. there is new information tonight that the biden administration is allowing hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants to remain in this country in what amounts to amnesty. this comes amid word that the white house is finalizing plans with mexico tighten asylum rules. white house correspondent jacqui heinrich joins us on that tonight. jeenk, jacqui. >> jacqui: good evening, john. president biden's forthcoming executive action would reportedly shut down the border when illegal crossings exceed a certain number per day. conflicting reports put that number between 2500 and 5,000. but, whatever it ends up being, it is certain to face opposition from asylum advocates who oppose consequences for folks who come over anyway. and critics have panned biden's effort as a political stunt. >> the white house has not officially released the plan to shut down the border when illegal crossings surge, but the threshold reportedly mirrors the bipartisan border agreement that failed in the senate earlier this year and reportedly similar to a ban trump tried to impose but overturned by the courts as a violation of federal asylum laws. >> why are we waiting five minutmonths before the electiony wasn't this done five months into the administration when we started seeing these problems. >> the administration allowed 350,000 migrants with pending asylum claims to remain in the u.s. without a decision on case merits. according to the "new york post" ice lawyers told prosecutors in 2022 to dismiss pending asylum case force migrants that don't pose a security threat and don't have a criminal record. suggest they followed through. >> that's going to encourage more people to show up and for an administration that claims this is a humanitarian effort, ,you just created a whole population that has no status no, where to go. >> the biden administration has not commented on the report. but critics say it won't help the president's polling. >> based on immigration court data over the last 10 years, nine out of 10 of these people claim asylum at the border won't win a case. >> you might as well shut down immigration court. take border patrol off the border. if there is going knob consequences. >> voters trust trump to do better on immigration accord fog a fox news poll and getting a bump in fundraising following his go ahead verdict. democrats want biden to lean into the message that he is running against a convicted felon. >> you can only imagine if the scwition was reversed they would be going after joe biden with a vengeance. >> the president said today at his wilmington home close by as his son hunter's trial got underway. we don't know much about how he spent his time excepted that he made a call to the new mexican president-elect to congratulate her one day before his expected border action, john. >> john: jacqui, there is another issue out there. the president is pushing for a permanent cease-fire agreement that's been proposed by israel's war cabinet. it's against prime minister netanyahu's wishes. the prime minister set to address a joint session of congress next week. does president biden plan on attending? >> there is confusion around that date, john. even though congressional leaders were told that the prime minister would be there on the 13th. we're now hearing he might not actually come because that is a jewish holiday. if he does, in fact come, the president will likely be out of town. is he expected to be at the g-7 summit in italy during that time and the national security adviser would also be there with him. the vice president might be in town but she is expected to be in switzerland for a peace summit on ukraine just two days later so we will see, john. >> john: you will be there at the g-7 a. long with them. we look forward to your conch. jacqui, thank you. ♪ ♪ a trump campaign adviser says hogan is undermining his own campaign. fox news spoke with the republican senator in charge of his party's effort to win back the senate majority in november. our congressional correspondent aishah hasnie has the story she is in bozeman, montana. >> the baath to a republican senate majority could run right through the majestic mountains of montana. one of three toss-up states this year and home to steve deigns who is in charge of the senate production' campaign arm danes invited fox to his home to share his love for the big sky state. [gunshot] >> got it. >> and his strategy to get to 51. >> every vote is going to matter. >> this year west virginia is poised to turn red. and, if that happens. the g.o.p. only needs to flip one more. danes is focused on early voting, but his biggest hurdle might be the dramatic fundraising gap with democrats. >> it is a problem because we deal with these billionaires from new york and california. that's why our grassroots support is so important. the democrats do that better than we do. >> danes is also betting on former president trump to turn out voters despite the new york conviction. he says it will not hurt republicans down the ballot. but there's plenty of drama on the trail. a trump campaign senior adviser declared maryland senate candidate larry hogan ended his campaign after hogan urged americans to respect the trump verdict. rnc co-chair lara trump adding fuel to the fire. >> he doesn't deserve the respect of anyone in the republican party at this point. >> maryland moved from solid d to likely d after hogan jumped in putting it in play for republicans. >> are you still going to support larry hogan's campaign in every way that you can? >> yes. >> if danes can win back the senate, there is already talk of him taking over for g.o.p. leader mitch mcconnell. a conversation he says he recently had with president trump. >> i told him, mr. president, the most important thing i can do is ensure you have got a majority. >> is that a no? >> i don't have a desire to do that job. i really don't. >> in montana i'm aishah hasnie, fox news. >> john: more on this with brit hume just ahead. meanwhile embattled senator bob menendez plans to run as independent candidate in november's general election. menendez said today that he has filed a petition ahead of tomorrow afternoon's deadline. menendez had previously said he would not run in the democratic primary during his trial on bribery and corruption charges. the biden administration is buying 3 million barrels of u.s. produced crude oil for the strategic petroleum reserve. the oil is being purchased for average price of $77.69 a barrel. that is well bloat average of about $95 a barrel that the strategic petroleum reserve crude was sold for back in 2022 however, when then president trump tried to top off the reserve at $24 a barrel, senator chuck schumer called it a big oil hand out. stocks were mixed today, the dow lost 115. the s&p 500 was up 6. the nasdaq gained 94. up next, brit hume on today's political news. first, here's what some of our fox affiliates around the country are covering tonight. fox 5 in new york where multiple sources tell the station gilgo beach serial killer suspect rex heuermann is expected to be arraigned on a new indictment thursday. heuermann is already charged with the murders of four women whose remains were found in the area of gilgo beach. fox 8 in cleveland, with a mass shooting in akron that left at least one person dead and 24 wounded. police say it happened shortly after midnight sunday morning. it was at a birthday party where more than 100 people were attending. authorities believe at least one person opened fire from a vehicle. and this is a live look at detroit from fox 2. one of the big stories there tonight, the once blighted monolithic michigan central train station that was a symbol of detroit's decline for decades now has a new life. the massive 6-year multi million dollars renovation has created a hub for mobility projects. the building's first tenant google's code next detroit computer science education program. it's expected to move in later this month. and that's tonight's live look outside the beltway from "special report." we'll be right back. ♪ i'm going off the rails on a crazy train ♪ i'm going off the rails on a crazy train ♪sa ♪vi challenging at times. 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let's talk about it with fox news chief political analyst the difficulty fundraising bonanza for president trump. more than $200 million since the verdict come in. some say they are don't nation for the very first time in their lives yet, look at this poll. when asked would you vote for trump if is he convicted of a felony. republicans seem to be pretty solid. 66 percent said but only 28% of independents said yes. 58 percent said no. what do you make of this? >> brit: obviously you don't want that hanging around your neck as you are running for re-election. i think that the impact, even despite that number with the independents has been is pretty modest so far. it really hasn't moved the needle very much juan way or the other as you look at the numbers. part of that is the nature of the offense for which he has been convicted. apart from the questions about whether it was a valid legal case, let's assume it was for the sake of this discussion. what's he convicted of doing? something that will look to most people in this country like a victvictimless crime. in other words, he allegedly falsified his own books. these were not in reports of government. not in reports of stockholders, nobody got cheated if this had been one of these crimes where people were cheated out of life savings or pensions or whatever it would look different. look, donald trump's possible election chances boil down to a lot of people don't like him very much voting for him anyway. and how much this offense, if it stands, will add to that i think is very uncertain. >> here is what democratic congressman dean phillips of minnesota said. he called on new york governor kathy hochul to pardon donald trump saying. this you think pardoning is stupid? making him a martyr over a payment to a porn star is stupid. election charges are entirely different. it's energizing his base, generating record sums of campaign cash and will likely result in an electoral boost. he is saying pardon him so that he can't play the victim. would that work? >> well, there is the chance here, john, i'm not saying i would bet on him. but there is a chance this whole thing could backfire. people look at this and say they are throwing the book at him in every way. and the fact that there are all these other charges may add to that people might say, look, they have been going after this guy in ever way possible since the day he was elected and before. and resist that. in which case he could, indeed, get a boost. i have heard people i know that have never voted for trump tell me they are going to vote for him now. so that's a factor out there. how big it will turn out to be is indiscernible at this moment. >> john: with aishah hasnie we were talking about infighting in the republican party over former maryland governor larry hogan who has half a decent shop at flipping ben cardin's old seat. here is what kevin mccarthy, rather, the former speaker of the house told us earlier today about the fact that the trump campaign and even lara trump saying not sure if hogan is the right person. listen here. >> i think people should take a deep breath. actually reread what larry hogan said in the process. it wasn't an anti-trump comment. >> no, he said we should respect the jury's verdict. >> okay. you want larry hogan going through. he has proven that he can win in that state, two term governor. he is a conservative in the process. and if you want you have to be playing in all the states. >> john: does it make sense to kneecap somebody that might get you the senate? >> brit: no, it's political malpractice. maryland is