also this fox news alert, we are awaiting the daily briefing from the white house on another very busy day in washington. >> jenna: indeed, the senate taking up health car, new file out about yesterday's testimony about michael flynn and eight u.s. troop surge in afghanistan. recovering all of the news "happening now" ." nsa director testifies for the first time on the unmasking of names swept up in foreign surveillance ahead of the 2016 presidential election. plus, just days after the u.s. deployed missile defense system in south korea, voters in that country elected a new leader. what is ahead for a key american ally. and... cut emotional town hall like this in the wake of the house health care vote create a wave of trouble for republicans in the 2018 election? it is all "happening now" ." >> jon: but we begin with this fox news alert as we await that white house daily briefing on a very busy tuesday in washington. welcome to the second hour of "happening now," i'm jon scott. >> jenna: hi, everybody, i'm jenna lee. we're going to take you live to the white house briefing room as soon as sean spicer takes the podium but first, vice president mike pence is on capitol hill with senate republicans as they start work on repealing and replacing obamacare. we were in president trump is considering more troops heading to afghanistan, all on the heels of new white house reaction to yesterday's dramatic testimony on russia, the election, and the president's fired national security advisor michael flynn. we have the fox team, catherine herridge is covering that hearing from colonel mike rogers, a key part of the story is unmasking but we begin with kevin corke life at the white house. >> you're right, very busy 24 hours for the white house that begin yesterday with the dramatic testimony on the hill involving former acting ag sally yates and it continues actually on capitol hill today if you think about it because that is where we will find the vice president at this hour, meeting with senators over the policy lunch talking about, among other things, how to move forward on the affordable care act? this has to get done, people know it's not going to be the same thing the house was able to push over the finish line last week. likely to have ideas that widely vary, but still he's going to be there trying to make his case to get those senators on the move. meanwhile, the president is weighing in and weighing in on sending perhaps additional u.s. personnel to afghanistan, perhaps as few as 3,000, maybe even a lot more. we continue to weigh what that might look like. i think this is also important for everyone to understand. keep in mind the obama administration trimmed the ranks thereby about 1405 before he left office so if the white house and pentagon do move forward and sent 3500 troops or 3,000, it would actually reverse a trend that began late in 2016. also as you point out, we will be watching the white house press briefing set to begin at the bottom of the hour. no doubt we will likely hear more about what president trump thought of yesterday's testimony involving sally yates, former acting ag who was fired for refusing to defend the government travel ban and would you imagine the present might be tweeting about it? of course you would. let me share some of what the commander-in-chief had to say about yesterday's proceedings. he tweeted: "sally yates made the fake media extremely unhappy today -- she said nothing but old news!" he also tweeted this: "the russia-trump collusion story is a total hoax, when will this taxpayer funded charade end?" apparently no end in sight. we should also expect that we will hear a lot more about this idea of unmasking. i think it is a major story line that is still captivating the folks here. you talk to administration officials, they say that is a real gem of a story people have been overlooking. i expect we will hear more of that and everything set to begin at the bottom of the hour, until then, back to you. >> jon: we are also now hearing from nsa director admiral michael rogers publicly for the first time on the unmasking of trump team officials caught up in foreign surveillance ahead of the 2016 presidential election. our chief intelligence correspondent catherine herridge continues our fox team coverage by from capitol hill. >> thank you. when the intelligence committee released its russian report in january, there were a series of names conclusions, what the ic because key judgments all at the high confidence level except for one, and that had to do with russia's intention to try to help then candidate trump win the election. the dissenting voice with the nsa director michael rogers. today for the first time, he explained to lawmakers why he was the dissenting voice and he said he just could not see the kind of multiple layers of intelligent streams that were retired. >> i would not call it a discrepancy, it's an honest difference of opinion between three different organizations and in the end, i made that call. if anyone is unhappy, mike rogers is the accountable individual. >> he also took questions today on the number of americans who were identified or unmasked in u.s. intelligence reports in 2016. it was nearly 2,000. we did not learn about who unmasked those individuals but rogers testified only a small pool of individuals in the executive branch like a national security advisor such as susan rice would have that ability and they are under strict instructions not to share that information with any other individuals. the reason we have susan rice at there is that senator graham seemed to very publicly point the finger at rice as someone who was involved in this practice. in addition, the nsa director was asked for his worst-case scenario, and that is important in the context of what happened last fall because the admiral said what they have seen traditional lee is entities like russia getting into u.s. systems and stealing the data either for information warfare or some kind of economic benefit, but he then laid out another possible scenario. >> give us the best scenario and the worst scenario. >> do we see data manipulation on a massive scale? most has been penetration and infraction, so what happens if we go in and change data? it is a very different kind of challenge for us. >> if there was another main theme that came out of today's hearing it was frustration among the senators that there had been no real punishment for russia and now the lessons that moscow had learned from the u.s. election were now being applied to other democracies, obviously citing france as one recent example. >> jon: catherine herridge, this story continues on, thank you. >> jenna: consider that reporting as well as we look at former acting attorney general sally yates in her testimony yesterday that she expected the white house to "take action" on the national security advisor michael flynn and she explained why. >> we had two concerns, compromise is certainly the number one concern. the russians can use compromised material information in a variety of ways. sometimes overtly, sometimes subtly. again, our concern was that you have a very sensitive position like the national security advisor, and you do not want that person to be in the position where again the russians have leverage over them. but i will also say that another motivating factor is that we felt like the vice president was entitled to know that the information he had been given and that he was red relating to the american public was not tru true. >> jenna: politics editor for "national journal," question today as we take in catherine herridge's reporting and testimony yesterday from sally yates. what are you watching for next? >> that was scintillating testimony from former acting attorney general sally yates it raises the question of what president trump knew and what he was aware of with michael flynn's conversations with russia. we know from her testimony that the trump administration legal counsel was aware where -- well aware of this and it raises questions about what the president himself knew but there was a let up a smoke at the heaf possible connections but no -- a lot of this information is still classified, not discussed publicly which is really where the political fires start. >> jenna: i want to underscore that point because it is such a good one, michael flynn has not been charged with any crime. in fact, we don't know if he ever will be. we know there's an ongoing investigation. as far as timelines for answers for the american people about why this matters or whether this is significant at all to the trump administration's ability to serve the country. what do you think a timeline like that looks like? >> it's going to take a wild. these investigations usually take their time. like we saw yesterday, there are a lot more questions than answers. there were a lot of insinuations made by the former acting attorney general, but there is not a letter proof that you can express publicly. we can make conclusions that do not lead to positive implications for the trump administration, it is a political problem for the white house, but something we don't have any resolution and will not for quite some time. >> jenna: interesting that you say that because the insinuation is observing so much of the oxygen, but it is very light, the story overall is still light on certain facts that are imperative to understanding what it all means. because of the destruction of this, if you believe it is a huge story or not, how do you think that is impacting the agenda by the white house and the energy put toward other big policy issues like health care? >> when you have sean spicer like you will and a little bit, having to talk about russia, having to talk about what trump knew about michael flynn and when he knew it, it distracts from the more important policy agenda that this trump white house wants to push. healthcare is crucial right now. the senate is going to be rehashing the healthcare legislation. that is what the white house wants to talk about, the policy agenda, but it will not happen as long as this continues to smoke as a result of this former national security advisor. >> jenna: let's talk a little bit about healthcare, i know you are really looking into that. what are you seeing, observing, hearing from republican members of the senate about the path forward in what it means for the american people? >> mitch mcconnell has a very challenging task ahead of him. paul ryan had a lot more republican wiggle room in the house to get the vote through. mitch mcconnell can only lose two republican senators, and he is trying to re-craft the bill in a more politically palatable way, so yes to appease the moderate wing, pragmatic wing of the republican party, folks like susan collins romaine, rob portman from ohio in make sure the legislation does not displace too many people healthcare insurance plans. it also has to appease ted cruz, mike lee, rand paul wing of the party that market to be more conservative and not quite have as many benefits. so to get both sides appeased and willing to vote for another piece of legislation is going to be very difficult. >> jenna: challenging to say the least, but it has been done. we have seen it before, at least in the house. the senate is a new animal as you mention. if you look at the content of the bill that exists now and think about what potential changes could be made in the senate by the republican leadership, what would you anticipate? what should our viewers watch for? >> medicaid, listen to republican senators on the fence, they are talking about how they do not want as many medicaid cuts in rollback as was in the house version of legislation. look at a lot of states that trump won that he did very well in, they have a lot of seniors, working-class voters that rely on medicaid and those types of benefits. they do not want to create a political firestorm if those types of benefits get cut, so i think you will be looking at the medicaid side of the equation. >> jenna: interesting, josh, great to have you on the program, we appreciate it. >> jon: illiberal wins the presidential election in south korea days after the u.s. deployed a missile defense system there. how south korea's new leader plans to deal with his nuclear armed neighbor to the north. and he has been called the most powerful white house advisor. we will talk about how president trump's son-in-law jared kushner is helping to shape public policy. also, we are awaiting the daily white house briefing set to start minutes from now. when it begins, we will take you there life. i have spent years taking over-the-counter products for my belly pain and constipation. i've had it up to here! it's been month after month of fiber. weeks taking probiotics! days and nights of laxatives, only to have my symptoms return. (vo) if you've had enough, tell your doctor what you've tried and how long you've been at it. linzess works differently from laxatives. linzess treats adults with ibs with constipation or chronic constipation. it can help relieve your belly pain, and lets you have more frequent and complete bowel movements that are easier to pass. do not give linzess to children less than six, and it should not be given to children six to less than 18. it may harm them. don't take linzess if you have a bowel blockage. get immediate help if you develop unusual or severe stomach pain, especially with bloody or black stools. the most common side effect is diarrhea, sometimes severe. if it's severe, stop taking linzess and call your doctor right away. other side effects include gas, stomach-area pain, and swelling. talk to your doctor about managing your symptoms proactively with linzess. >> jon: fox news alert, we are awaiting the white house press briefing where we could get reaction to the south korean elections. the next president moon jae-in who is said to be more open to negotiating with north korea north korea as tensions rise over the north's determination to build up its nuclear arsenal. and as the u.s. is installing a new ballistic missile defense system and south korea which may not be all that popular, believe it or not, in that country. rich edson live at the state department with more. >> good afternoon. it appears as though nine years of conservative rule and south korea are coming to a close. moon jae-in is declaring victory there. he is a human rights lawyer they are, liberal candidate, and he said he has won the election at a time of the u.s. state department and trump administration are employing what it describes as a pressure campaign against north korea to isolate it diplomatically and economically. moon has campaigned on more dialogue with north korea, that sets up that potential of a rift between the u.s. and south korea on how specifically to address north korea. in january, he published a book claiming that the south korean government should not rely so much and learn how to say no to the americans. he has also opposed the deployment of u.s. missile defense system in that country known as fat, significant issue in this election campaign. the one regional expert says that because that missile system has recently become operational, even with those objections, it is possible it will state and south korea. >> it's going to be harder to reverse that decision based on the fact that it is already there. i think that is part of the reason why in fact the deployment was exhilarated. >> china also opposes that missile system. the u.s. says it is simply for defensive purposes. the u.s. is applying this campaign where it wants china to tighten its existing sanctions against north korea and has threatened to add to existing sanctions against north korea if china fails to do so. this also was an abridged presidential campaign because park geun-hye, the previous president was impeached and thrown in prison because of a corruption scandal in that country so that would lead also 28 despite of interim period where tomorrow, if moon is officially declared the winner, he would take over the office of the presidency. >> jon: a lot of troubles on the peninsula, thank you. >> jenna: we may get some new reaction from the white house as rich just talked about when the daily briefing starts about 10 minutes from now as on schedule, we will see if it does come to fruition. we are also expecting to hear about a possible addition of more u.s. troops in afghanistan. when sean spicer stepped to the podium, we will bring you there at live, also lawmakers back home getting an ear full at town halls following the house vote on healthcare. what some political analysts say scenes like this mean for next year's midterm elections. first kid you ready? by their second kid, every mom is an expert, and more likely to... ...choose luvs than first time moms. live, learn, & get luvs. >> jenna: fox news alert on developments on the electronics travel ban put in place recently by that trump administration, it prohibited laptops in carry-on bags on u.s. bond flights from several middle eastern countries and parts of north africa. now, though, the band may be expanding. definitely worth a mention, peter doocy is live in washington with more. >> the feds are now trying to figure out whether or not they need to stop passengers from parts of western europe from bringing laptops into airplane cabins on their way here. u.s. officials have already told airline companies to prepare themselves for an expansion of the electronics band that right now seeks to stop passengers on flights bound to the u.s. from eight middle eastern and north african countries from using laptops at their seats. they fear is that terrorist may try to conceal explosives inside the computers, something that caused an explosion in 2015 205 onboard a somali aircraft which means this is not just something that hostile actors are aspiring to. it is something they can do. this is something u.s. officials are trying to have in place before the summer travel season begins. so they've been meeting with everyone that's going to need them help put such a ban in place inherently u.s., the tsa is saying that no change to policy is eminent but is imminent but a laptop ban could be coming, this is their statement. "we have not made any decision on expanding the electronics band, however we are continuously assessing security directives based on intelligence and will make changes when necessary to keep travelers safe." the dhs secretary john kelly has said recently that the laptop ban will likely expand but nobody is saying yet if there is a specific piece of intel ringing and ringing alarm bells for authorities as they try to keep laptops out of the hands of long-haul flyers heading here from a growing number of abroad. >> jenna: peter, thank you. >> here in iowa, it is an optio option. not an option. [boos] >> hey, do the right thing! >> don't stop our medicaid! >> no one will be denied access to healthcare. >> jon: that is a little of what some republican members of congress are facing this week as they take an 11 day break after passing healthcare reform legislation. many are being greeted by protests or angry constituents but most are skipping the holding of town halls altogether. now some democrat members are going into republican held districts and holding meetings even if the city representative is not. it seems like these are one reason some political analysts predict a wave election in 2018, including the national journal charlie cook. republicans say that they are not worried. joining us for a little political discussion, scott jennings, former special assistant to president bush and a former political advisor to senate majority leader mitch mcconnell. isaac wright is also with us, former executive director of a super-pac, principal protested super-pac in 2016. isaac, going to start with you. do you think this vote, this attempt to repeal and replace obamacare is going to hurt republicans? >> absolutely it will as well as the cowardice shown by the members of congress and the republican party who are not willing to go face their constituents. those that are willing to face their constituents are seeing a terrible backlash. people are unhappy about the fact they are going to boot 24 million americans off their healthcare, that they are going to gut protections for pre-existing conditions, and they are going to restore the potential for lifetime and annual caps on healthcare coverage. this is dangerous. it's going to cost american lives, and people are angry. >> jon: but when you see what is happening in kentucky and iowa, places like that where obamacare insurers are pulling out of the market and nobody has a choice, you cannot say obamacare is working, can you? >> democrats put forward ideas. they wanted to work. they offered to work with republicans to try to tweak under the hood and fix anything that needed fixing with obamacare including stabilizing the marketplaces. republicans refused, and instead, they repealed the entire thing, all the good it did and replaced it with a broken system of high-risk pools. republicans are going to pay for this at the polls. you saw it just now and the town halls they are holding. angry people show up to vote. >> jon: let's ask scott about that. you are the republican representative on this panel. are you concerned your party is going to get spanked as a result of the vote? >> no, i am not. it's because republicans have been running on repealing and replacing obamacare for many years and winning elections, congressional elections, presidential elections, elections at the state level. i feel like i'm living in the movie "groundhog day," back in 2014 they told us because senate majority leader mitch mcconnell wanted to repeal obamacare that his seat was in jeopardy. false, he won by double digits. 2015, they said no republican governor of kentucky can get elected because trying to run against the medicaid expansion would be political suicide. matt bevin did it and won easily. that was a false assertion. now we are running into the 2018 returns, in the same liberal media and democratic strategists are saying, if the republicans get rid of obamacare, they will be held to pay at the polls next november. i don't buy it. republicans have been promising this. they've been elected to run the congress. they need to fulfill the promise, and i think they are doing it. >> jon: during the first hour of "happening now," i asked missouri senator roy blunt, vice chairman of the republican conference about that wave theory. he does not seem too concerned, listen. >> this is the spring of 2017, not the spring of 2018. so plenty of time to look at what gets done, explain what gets done, and also i think you're going to see other insurance companies dropped out of the insurance market. there was a real sense when obamacare passed that people would lose insurance at work because these exchanges would be so attractive. almost none of that has happen. most people are still covered at work or by a government program like medicare or medicaid. we need to be sure that the rest of america has the same kind of access to healthcare that all of those people do. >> jon: it is a midterm election coming up here democrats don't tend to do as well in midterm elections. >> that is true. there are a lot of factors in midterm elections about the electorate that tends to be more conservative that shows up when it is not presidential years. i think we have seen the anger by voters just now and the town hall. these are the people that are going to shop and have the opportunity to make a different spirit i appreciate my republican counterparts point but listen, that dog just don't hunt. in the end, 23 of the seats republicans are defending in these house races we are talking about our seats hillary clinton carried in the last election. >> jon: scott, does that leave you worried? >> as angry as beats democratic activists are at these town halls, and they clearly are angry, i think they make up the minority, vast minority of these congressional districts that are in play. there are also angry voters on the other side, people paying higher insurance premiums, people who seeing deductibles going up, working people who feel like they have coverage if that is what you want to college but when it comes to using it, it feels useless because the deductibles are so high that the insurance never kicks in. sure, they are angry protesters that are democrats showing up at town hall meetings, but the same people who elected donald trump on a repeal and replace message, the same people who elected a republican congress on a repeal and replace message, they're going to show up, too. i think the bigger political risk for republicans is not to keep their promise. if you can lower premiums, lower deductibles and ease the burden on state governments, that is overnight an end that dog will hunt in the midterms. >> 24 million working americans are going to lose their coverage. >> jon: we are going to have to leave it there. thank you very much. >> jenna: speaking of elections, and a reaction to the comments meddling in our own presidential race. >> an idea that we are shocked that someone would seek to influence our elections is a little bit naive. the point is we should do what we can to limit the influence and when it is done illegally by violating the law, that is a matter that is very serious and you should make others pay for it. >> jenna: so how should moscow pay for it? we are going to discuss that. also a unique father-son in law relationship that is essential to running the white house. another recent jared kushner may be president trump's most trusted advisor >> jon: fox news alert, we are awaiting the white house daily briefing set to begin any minute now. one topic certain to come up is yesterday's testimony on russian meddling in our presidential election. the chilling warning from former director of national national intelligence james clapper. >> russia's influence activities in the run-up to the 2016 election constituted a high water mark of their long-running efforts since the 1960s to disrupt and influence our elections. i believe they are now emboldened to continue such activities in the future both here and around the world and to do so even more intensely. >> jon: let's bring in retired four-star army general jack keane, chairman of the institute for the study of war. and a fox news military analyst. does it come as any surprise to you that russia might try to metal with u.s. elections, what are they getting out of it? >> it's not a surprise. let's face it, countries truly want to influence political outcomes and other countries, particularly adversarial countries, and frankly, we have a history of doing it ourselves covertly, of course. they got a lot out of this. here's why. i don't believe they impacted the election. i'm not certain that was their objective. what they got out of it is incredible amount of media coverage, chaos, partisanship, and now there are three major investigations going on, two of them public investigations. so that is a lot of mileage that the russians got out of this hacking of peoples emails over in the dnc. i think clapper is right, it emboldened them. that is probably why we saw this hacking situation against france. it's going to continue with other countries and where they have interest in terms of what the political outcome will be. >> jon: think back to the cold war when you had the soviet union and united states as really the only two superpowers in the world, russia's relative influence is greatly diminished from the old soviet days. you are saying that vladimir putin through this exercise has a sort of elevated himself on the world stage. >> absolutely. he plays to a domestic audience as well. the domestic audience, but he is trying to tell his people is that the united states is the aggressor. they are the oppressor, they start wars they do not finish, because most of the problems of the middle east, this is his narrative. what he is trying to do is contain it so anytime he's on the world stage and there's something positive against the united states, and his eyes, he is making progress. >> jon: want to turn your attention to another topic, thee trump administer ration considering a new pentagon proposal requesting at least 3,000 more troops in afghanistan to fight off the television and other peer groups. what do you think about that number it, what do you think about the proposal? >> i think that three options probably facing the president, one is to continue what we are doing, number two is to pull away completely like we did in iraq, three is increased and escalate to try to force a political solution using military action. in my own mind, a war is not winnable in its current state. it's much more than a stalemate appear the taliban has the initiative, they have momentum and have taken 40% of the territory back. they are on the move. we can see this almost daily. i'm not certain that 3,000 number that is being discussed in the media is actually a decisive force. that's mostly trainers and advisors. we would also have to do something about the sanctuaries that exist in pakistan. two presidents have failed to come to grips with that. i would hope that if mr. trump is going to stick with afghanistan that he does something about those sanctuaries that the afghans are operating out of safely in pakistan and as a result of that, it per tracks the war. there's never been an insurgency that has been defeated that has had a bona fide safe haven outside the combat zone, never. >> jon: very quickly, president obama quite duly nitride the surge of 18,000 troops in afghanistan, look where we are now. >> two very competent generals asked the minimum force should be 40,000 troops. he did not give it to them. he gave them 25% less than pulled them out 15 months later. that doomed afghanistan to what we are dealing with today. that decision made by president obama doomed it. >> jon: wow, general jack keane, fox news military analyst, thank you. >> good talking to you. >> jenna: elected think about there. meanwhile, little known because of the constitution allows states to rein in the federal government. several states are joining forces to start the process, but there is a catch. we will explain just ahead. so beautiful. what shall we call you? tom! name it tom! studies show that toms have the highest average earning potential over their professional lifetime. see? uh, it's a girl. congratulations! two of my girls are toms. i work for ally, finances are my thing. you know, i'm gonna go give birth real quick and then we'll talk, ok? nice baby. let's go. here comes tom #5! nothing, stops us from doing right by our customers. ally. do it right. whoo! look out. >> jon: fox news alert, what a daily white house press briefing it is expected to be especially after the testimony yesterday of former acting attorney general sally yates and director of national intelligence james clapper. a lot of questions on that short to come up. we will have that for you when it begins. >> jenna: new "weekly standard" hitting the stands with a cover story on the growing influence of president trump's son-in-law jared kushner. senior advisor to the president, also married to the president's daughter ivanka but our next guest argues they have more in common than simply a family connection. that gives kushner unfettered access to the president. the article is titled "the voice in his ear, jared kushner's access to power," and it michael warren writes this. >> know when within the orbit would deny that trump trust jared kushner above all. he is trump's respectable avatar, the better angel of the presidents nature." he joins us now, senior writer at the weekly standard. it is a fascinating piece. we should point out, though, jared kushner does not give it a lot of interviews. he was not speaking to you on the record on this, how did you put together this profile without speaking to him? >> i talked to folks in the white house, outside advisors to the president, who gave me an idea what jared kushner's role was both in the white house and during the campaign beforehand. what i found was that he is somebody, as i wrote, that the president trusts. i think implicitly, not just because they are related because he is the president's son-in-law, but because of the view that unlike other advisors, he is unencumbered by personal interest. his interest is in making sure his father-in-law and the trump family has a successful presidency. >> jenna: you think he has political aspirations? >> i don't think so. jared kushner is somebody who stays in the background. you can even see that in photos of the oval office. i would be less surprised if his wife had political aspirations. i don't know any of that for sure, but at the moment, i do believe that jared kushner believes and the president believes that his sole purpose is to help his father-in-law have a successful white house tenure. >> jenna: advisor to the president really has an interesting role because we do not elect them. we elect the president so we don't get a choice necessarily in who the advisor is. what do you think every american needs to know about jared kushner? >> jared kushner is not somebody who necessarily shares all of the political views of the president or the base of the president who elected him. he has someone who has much more socially liberal on issues like that, and is sort of more inclined to follow in the footsteps of his own father and his own political family which leaned more democratic before his father-in-law ran for president. i don't think that necessarily diminishes his role within the white house. i think the president respects jared kushner and his background in business as well as the other aspects that i mentioned even if he doesn't always agree with his son-in-law on particular policies. >> jenna: is interesting because he have come out to say, he is in his 30s, born into real estate family, he doesn't have a ton of experience on the international stage politically, why is president trump relying on someone like that? what would you say to those critics about the reason why and what criticisms do you think might be valid of jared kushner's role in the white house? >> one criticism to take your second question is that he does not necessarily have many accomplishments so far and the very early stages of the trump presidency, but you can look and i think allies of jared kushner would argue that a lot of what you are seeing happening internationally whether it was the visit from president xi from china or some of the negotiations going on elsewhere around the world have a lot to do with jared kushner's input. he was a contact during the campaign with many of those foreign actors, and he sort of transitioned into that position before rex tillerson was named secretary of state, and remains, i think from the white house perspective, an important part of their outreach to other nations. >> jenna: story over the last few days of jared kushner's sister somehow using the connection to the white house to sell real estate to potential chinese investors, i am sure you have seen this story. what about those concerns about the family, the way the kushner family may be leveraging his connections with the white house and again as you look at these business complexes, the potential business conflict that could be unique to this administration, what do you think about them now having done so much research on his role? >> i think it is a serious problem not just for jared kushner but for the white house. it is the flip side of what i just described which is a part of the criticism coming from some within the white house of jared kushner's influence and these sort of ideas that he represents new york democratic wall street interests rather than the interests of economic nationalists, so you can see that as well and some of the assistance that jared kushner has help him. gary cohn, former ceo of goldman sachs introduced was io president trump and named him to the national economic council directorship, so this is a criticism that i think has some validity to it. it doesn't have a good look for the trump administration to have somebody so high up and powerful in the white house have this sort of family connection. a connection to the business that jared kushner is no longer involved with operationally day-to-day but still has the financial staking. >> jenna: very interesting, sounds like more questions to be asked. for our viewers who have any sort of questions about jared kushner, i encourage them to look at your article. i hope you get an exclusive, by the way. michael, thank you very much. >> jon: we are still awaiting their white house daily briefings that you start any minute now. we will bring you there live when sean spicer steps to the podium. ins and minerals. for the strength and energy to get back to doing... ...what you love. ensure. always be you. >> jenna: fox news alert, new information from the department of homeland security suggesting a decline in the number of people apprehended at our southwest border. data showing a 5% drop from march to april and a 60% plunge compared to that same time last year. spokesman for the agency pointing to a change an "enforcement policy because quote, reference to president trump's crackdown on illegal immigration. >> jon: texas is now the 11th estate to call for a constitutional convention to take back power from the federal government. doug mckelway live in washington with more on that. >> this is a remedy for washington paralysis that has been around since the constitution was signed but has never been used. it is spelled out in article five of the constitution, convention of the states would allow for amending the constitution, one that would restore the carefully balanced separation of powers that many believe it is now tilted way too much to where the federal government. >> almost every aspect of your life today is touched by the federal government. that was never intended. the power it was supposed to have resigned with the states where you can actually have some influence. we cannot have much influence on our individual senators or individual representatives. >> article five, the legislature of at least 34 states would have to pass a resolution calling for a convention of states and those applications would be delivered to congress which would then set a time and place for the convention. the time is proponents say because republicans control both chambers and 32 states and 33 governors offices, so far 11 state legislatures have voted to proceed, and there is a general broad agreement about what those states want from a convention of the states. first, a balanced budget because of the debt crisis which is the saddling future generations. also to undo the federal regulations which post too great a burden on businesses and a slow growth appeared to undo the lack of state sovereignty caused by the federal government mandates and state grants, and within those 11 states we talked about, there are about to lien supporters for by years end, senator coburn believes those numbers will swell. >> when people learned there is a way for u.s. citizens to actually impact and restore what was intended, they get really excited about it. so we are just now starting to reach out, and i would have every expectation at the end of this year, we will have over 10 million signed up activists working on this. >> opponents believe this is a bad idea, special interest would dominate such a convention given the open-ended nature of it. they also fear a runaway convention in which the constitution is virtually upended. back to you. >> jon: doug mckelway in washington, thank you. we are waiting for the white house briefing. we will be back as soon as it begins. a naturally aspirated 5.0-liter v8 engine. a 10-speed direct-shift transmission. a meticulously crafted interior. all of these are feats of engineering. combining them with near-perfect weight distribution... ...is a feat of amazing. experience the first-ever 471-horsepower lexus lc 500 or the multistage hybrid lc 500h. experience amazing. come close, come close. fun in art class. i like that. [ music stops suddenly ] ah. when your pain reliever stops working, your whole day stops. awww. try this. for minor arthritis pain, only aleve can stop pain for up to 12 straight hours with just one pill. thank you. ♪ come on everybody. you can't quit, neither should your pain reliever. stay all day strong with 12 hour aleve. could be a couple big topics that we're waiting for, including any conversation about afghanistan and what the president feels about sending more troops to fight that particular war and that particular enemy. also, health care and, of course, you have the mike flynn controversy that continues to swirl. >> jon: of course, what to do about north korea. there is that new missile system, anti-missile system, the trump administration sent to south korea. south korea has a new president, who may not be in favor of that missile system. >> jenna: a very good point. a key alley in a part of the world we're watching. so a lot to pay attention to and for. when sean spicer steps to the podium, you know fox news will bring you there. in the meantime, thank you for joining us on "happening now." >> jon: "america's news hq" starts now. >> we are awaiting the white house briefing where investigations into russian interference into the u.s. elections will likely take center stage. hi everybody i'm maria bartoroma. sally yates senate testimony yesterday leaving some unanswered questions for sure. let's get right to john roberts. p >> maria: >> reporter: the white house reaction to what happened yesterday on capitol hill is slightly different than the track of the news today. most of the news reports are about this idea that sally yates warned the white house, specifically the white house council that flynn had been talking with the russians and been talking with them about things perhaps he shouldn't have been talking about. he had been lying to the white house about it, specifically the vice president about it and therefore could be vulnerable to blackmail if the russians ever wanted to try to use that leverage against him. we all learned that two days after the election, president obama warned president elect trump at the time against hiring flynn as the national security

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