Special Report with Bret Baier 9/9/24 Full End Show | Fox Breaking News September 9 2024
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Breaking tonight, the Biden administration is under fire over its chaotic withdrawal
00:05of U.S. troops from Afghanistan.
00:07A new report from the Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee accuses the White
00:12House of misleading and even lying to the American public.
00:15Vice President Kamala Harris and her Democratic colleagues are trying to blame former President
00:19Donald Trump for the Afghanistan disaster, but that is not stopping the issue from playing
00:25a role in the presidential campaign.
00:27State Department correspondent Jillian Turner starts us off tonight.
00:30Good evening, Jillian.
00:31Good evening to you, Brett.
00:32So the Republicans' report is 350 pages long.
00:35It contains thousands of pages of additional documentation from Chairman Mike McCaul's
00:39two-year-long investigation.
00:41The Biden administration tonight, though, is pushing back hard against both the substance
00:45of this report and the timing of its release.
00:51Dueling reports from the House Foreign Affairs Committee on the 2021 U.S. withdrawal from
00:55Afghanistan.
00:57Afghanistan's first major finding, the Biden administration failed to develop a plan to
01:01safely evacuate Americans until it was way too late.
01:06The day the plan came out was a day the Taliban overran Kabul.
01:11Too little, too late.
01:12The other major finding, officials from the State Department, White House and Pentagon
01:17quote misled and in some instances directly lied to the American people at every stage
01:23of the withdrawal.
01:24It also names and shames numerous senior officials, most prominently National Security Advisor
01:29Jake Sullivan, claiming their failures ultimately led to the tragic deaths of 13 U.S. service
01:35members killed in an ISIS case suicide bombing during the evacuation.
01:39This was a failure for everyone, but especially these families standing behind me.
01:45Committee Democrats have released their own report claiming McCaul's investigations of
01:49the past two years, quote, lack intellectual rigor and do not comport with the facts gleaned
01:54from witness testimony.
01:56The Biden administration agrees there was, in fact, planning.
01:59The majority chose to seek scandal over substance.
02:03And this, quote unquote, investigation seems to not actually have uncovered anything new,
02:08though the report barely mentions V.P.
02:10Kamala Harris.
02:11Committee Democrats also accused McCaul of trying to damage her presidential prospects.
02:15But the Harris Walls campaign tells Fox News the blame lays elsewhere, quote, Trump left
02:20the Biden-Harris administration with zero plans for an orderly withdrawal, only a dangerous,
02:25costly mess.
02:26The former president shot back today, writing the House report on Afghanistan is devastating
02:31to Comrade Kamala Harris and Sleepy Joe.
02:34Chairman McCaul, meanwhile, has subpoenaed Secretary of State Antony Blinken and is threatening
02:38to hold him in contempt should he fail to testify before his committee by September
02:4319th.
02:44Well, tomorrow, House Speaker Mike Johnson is going to award the congressional gold medal
02:50posthumously, of course, to the 13 U.S. service members who were slain in 2021 at Abbey Gate.
02:55Brett.
02:56Jillian Turner, live at the State Department, Jillian, thanks.
03:05Vice President Kamala Harris is in the final full day of preparations for tomorrow night's
03:08debate against former President Trump.
03:11We are learning new details about how all of that is going.
03:14Correspondent Alexis McAdams is in Pittsburgh tonight.
03:18How are you feeling?
03:20Should Trump be worried?
03:22Vice President Kamala Harris giving a thumbs up as she boarded Air Force Two.
03:27Harris spent nearly a week hunkered down in Pittsburgh, taking a quick break from debate
03:32prep Sunday night, saying she is prepared.
03:34Are you ready, Madam Vice President?
03:37Ready.
03:38This debate will be pivotal as the latest New York Times Sienna poll shows many people
03:42are not sure where Harris stands.
03:45Twenty eight percent of likely voters say they need to learn more about Harris, while
03:49only nine percent say they need to know more about Trump.
03:54The two candidates have been preparing for this debate in very different ways.
03:58Trump held a Wisconsin rally and a press conference last week, while Harris has yet to hold a
04:03formal press conference in 50 days and counting since becoming the nominee.
04:09But she did make time to stop at a local spice shop that is known for attacking the
04:14GOP.
04:15We're going to be fine.
04:16We are all in this together.
04:19So how is Harris getting ready?
04:21She has reportedly been debating one of her advisers, who the New York Times reports even
04:25dressed up like Trump, trying to get under her skin.
04:30As her own team says, Trump is a skilled debater.
04:33He beat Joe Biden, President Biden, in the debate in June.
04:37So I think he's going to be prepared himself.
04:39We'll just see how it plays out.
04:41OK, so what can Americans expect to see on that debate stage tomorrow night?
04:46Well, the Harris team tells Fox that they expect her to really go into prosecutor mode.
04:53That's when they say the vice president is at her absolute best.
04:56And they say former President Donald Trump is at his worst when he gets irritated and
05:00angry.
05:01So they're going to try to shake him there on the debate stage.
05:04Brett, we have full coverage.
05:06Should be interesting.
05:07Alexis, thank you.
05:09Vice President Harris has now added policy statements to her campaign website.
05:13While the Democratic presidential nominee has tried to shift to more moderate positions
05:17in recent weeks, independent socialist Senator Bernie Sanders says Harris is still a progressive,
05:24but is doing what she thinks is right to win the election.
05:27Senior White House correspondent Jackie Heimrich has details tonight.
05:30Yeah, I am radical.
05:32I do believe that we need to get radical about what we are doing and take it seriously.
05:38Meanwhile, Democrats are in a bit of a bind answering for Vice President Harris's shift
05:41away from her liberal positions from her last presidential run.
05:45I don't think she's abandoning her ideals.
05:48I think she's trying to be pragmatic and doing what she thinks is right in order to win the
05:53election.
05:54Do you still consider Vice President Kamala Harris to be progressive, Senator?
05:58I do.
05:59That answer serving up fodder for Republicans.
06:01You got me to say something I think I've never said before.
06:04I agree with Bernie Sanders.
06:05Harris says her values haven't changed, but left the explaining to others.
06:09She supports universal health care for everybody.
06:12Different ways to get there.
06:13Harris instead has focused on a contrast with Trump.
06:16The day before the debate, a new policy section on her website contrasts her own plans with
06:20those of the former president, plus an entire section on Trump's Project 2025 agenda.
06:25Trump has repeatedly disavowed it, distanced himself from it.
06:29I mean, and I said Republicans, that's something that Republicans support.
06:34So this is not any more being cast as something that Trump embraces?
06:40You just get that straight.
06:42I'm not going to speak to the president, the former president on this, but that Republicans
06:46are pushing.
06:47It's a radical idea.
06:48Despite the distance there, the Harris campaign today took out a full page ad in the Philadelphia
06:52Inquirer with the headline Project 2025, Trump's plan to control you.
06:57Harris is focusing a lot on what Trump might say tomorrow night.
07:00He is not burdened by telling the truth.
07:02Even though she has new questions to answer, a 2020 ACLU questionnaire resurfaced.
07:07Harris saying she supports gender transition surgeries for detained immigrants and federal
07:11prisoners paid for with taxpayer dollars.
07:15Harris also said in that questionnaire that she supports decriminalizing all drug possession
07:20for personal use.
07:22Her campaign didn't answer whether she continues to support these things, but said her positions
07:27now have been shaped by three years of effective governance as part of the Biden-Harris administration,
07:31Brett.
07:32Jackie Heinrich live on the North Lawn.
07:35Jackie, thank you.
07:36Former President Trump leads Harris, as mentioned in that brand new New York Times Siena poll.
07:41In the days before the debate, the Trump team is downplaying his preparation efforts.
07:46Correspondent Alexandria Hoff reports tonight from Philadelphia.
07:51Behind tall fencing across from Independence Hall, the Constitution Center is set to host
07:55tomorrow's ABC News debate.
07:57No audience, no notes, no need, according to Team Trump.
08:00His campaign quipped, what is debate prep?
08:03When Fox asked how the former president is getting ready, every possible style of question
08:08President Trump is prepared for, because that's what he's been doing this entire campaign.
08:14But Trump is accepting guidance from allies like former congresswoman and former Democrat
08:18Tulsi Gabbard, who shared the debate stage with Harris during the 2020 primary process.
08:22It really is just sharing the experience that I had with her on that debate stage and the
08:28kinds of tactics I think she will try to use to perhaps get under his skin.
08:33At a rally in Wisconsin Saturday, Trump did not hold back on his last debate opponent.
08:38We're run by stupid people, and we found that out at the debate with Joe.
08:43How did that work out?
08:44Tomorrow night, Republican Senator John Cornyn hopes Trump will strategically hold back.
08:48I think he needs to let Kamala Harris talk, something she's been reluctant to do unless
08:54she's reading a teleprompter.
08:55Like the last debate, the mics will be muted, guaranteeing each candidate their time to
08:59speak.
09:00She's gonna do great, of course, but Donald Trump will be good too.
09:03I mean, we can all remember he wrecked all of the Republicans.
09:07He's a good debater.
09:08While one Democrat heat praise on Trump's debating skills, Melania Trump previewed her
09:12new book saying the Democrats want the former president muzzled.
09:15It has become increasingly apparent that there are significant challenges to free speech
09:22as demonstrated by the efforts to silence my husband.
09:29We can guarantee that former President Trump will not be silent tomorrow.
09:33He's expected to arrive here in Philadelphia about two and a half hours prior to the start
09:36of the debate.
09:37Brett.
09:38See you there, Alex.
09:42Thanks.
09:43Stocks are rebounding after the worst week of the year.
09:45The Dow gained 484 today.
09:47The S&P 500 jumped 63.
09:49The Nasdaq surged 194.
09:52Up next, the legal fight over removing Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s name from state ballots.
09:57Different fight.
09:58First, beyond our borders tonight, Israel strikes, and they kill at least 18 people
10:05in Syria, marking the largest death toll there since the war in Gaza began.
10:10The strike's hitting a research center used for weapons development.
10:14Syrian officials claim civilian sites were targeted.
10:17Israel regularly targets sites in Syria linked to both Iran and Hezbollah.
10:22At least 64 people are dead in Vietnam after a typhoon brings flooding and landslides.
10:27A bus was swept away after a bridge collapsed earlier today.
10:31The water levels of several rivers in northern Vietnam are dangerously high tonight.
10:37And this is a live look at London.
10:38One of the big stories there tonight, Princess Kate says she has completed chemotherapy and
10:44will return to her public engagements in coming months.
10:47Kate announced in March she was undergoing treatment for an undisclosed type of cancer.
10:52She last appeared at the men's final at Wimbledon in July, where she received a standing ovation.
10:58To some of the other stories beyond our borders tonight, we'll be right back.
11:01An Idaho judge has granted a request from the suspect accused of murdering four college
11:06students to move his trial to a larger county.
11:09The judge ruled media coverage of the case could taint the local jury.
11:13Brian Koberger is charged with four counts of murder in the November 2022 deaths of four
11:17University of Idaho students.
11:20A six-week-long manhunt eventually led to Koberger's arrest at his parents' house in
11:24Pennsylvania.
11:26He could face the death penalty if convicted.
11:30The mother of the 14-year-old student accused of killing four people at his Georgia high
11:34school says she warned school staff of an emergency involving her son.
11:39The boy's aunt spoke to the Washington Post, saying her sister called the school and urged
11:44staff to immediately find her son.
11:46Phone records show a call to the school was made about 30 minutes before gunfire erupted.
11:53Florida's largest police union is defending the officers involved in Sunday's detention
11:58of Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill.
12:01The player was stopped for a traffic violation near Hard Rock Stadium before the Dolphins
12:05played the Jacksonville Jaguars.
12:07The South Florida Police Benevolent Association says Hill was driving in a manner putting
12:11himself and others in danger.
12:13It says Hill was not immediately cooperative with officers and was redirected to the ground
12:18after refusing to sit, and then he was handcuffed.
12:21An officer involved has been placed on administrative duties.
12:32Former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is having just as tough a time getting
12:36his name off the November ballot as he did trying to get it on the ballot.
12:42Correspondent Mark Meredith updates the effort tonight.
12:44Good evening, Mark.
12:45Brett, good evening to you.
12:46Tonight, Michigan's Supreme Court has ruled Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will remain on the state's
12:50November ballot, even though he no longer considers himself a presidential candidate.
12:54And this decision, it comes amid a similar fight in North Carolina.
12:58This afternoon, Michigan's highest court rejected an appeals court ruling, which would have
13:02struck Kennedy's name for the ballot.
13:03The high court says Kennedy's name needs to stay on because he's a candidate for the natural
13:07law party.
13:08He's not just an independent.
13:10Kennedy's team is claiming it's Michigan's Democratic Secretary of State who's playing
13:14political games by not granting his request.
13:17In North Carolina, a similar story.
13:18The Democratic-controlled State Board of Elections thinks Kennedy should stay on the ballot.
13:23It wants the state's Supreme Court to step in and block a recent ruling which would require
13:28ballots be reprinted without him on it.
13:30Michigan officials argue redesigning, reprinting, redistributing all those ballots without Kennedy
13:35not only complex, but a huge financial burden.
13:38Absentee ballots were supposed to go out last Friday.
13:41Kennedy remains on the ballot in Wisconsin.
13:43Last week, a judge denied his request to be removed in that state.
13:47Former President Trump, he was in Wisconsin over the weekend, and he said if elected,
13:51he rely on Kennedy's expertise to overhaul the FDA, CDC, and other public health agencies.
13:58It's a crooked system, but we're going to make it a very legitimate system again.
14:01And Bobby's going to be very much involved in that.
14:03We're going to get him involved because that's what he likes.
14:07That's what he's great at.
14:08Multiple former senior staffers of Kennedy's campaign have started a new PAC, Make America
14:13Healthy Again, in an effort to convince Kennedy supporters to back Trump, just like Kennedy
14:18has himself.
14:19Brett.
14:20Mark, thank you.
14:22Up next, we hear from two congressional lawmakers from different sides of the aisle with, as
14:26you can imagine, differing views about the Afghanistan withdrawal and that new report.
14:31First, here's what some of our Fox affiliates around the country are covering tonight.
14:35WDRB in Louisville, where a three-day manhunt is still underway for a suspect who shot 12
14:40vehicles on an interstate in southeastern Kentucky.
14:44At least five people were injured.
14:46Police recovered a vehicle near the crime scene and found a semi-automatic weapon nearby.
14:52Fox 29 in Philadelphia, where a funeral for Johnny and Matthew Goudreau is held after
14:56they were struck and killed by a suspected drunk driver.
15:00A private ceremony took place Sunday.
15:02Johnny played hockey for the Calgary Flames and the Columbus Blue Jackets.
15:06Meredith Goudreau, the wife of Johnny, announced she's pregnant with the couple's third child
15:11during her emotional eulogy at his memorial service.
15:15Matthew played collegiate hockey alongside his brother at Boston College.
15:19And this is a live look at Orlando from Fox 35.
15:22One of the big stories there tonight, SpaceX prepares to send four astronauts to the highest
15:27Earth orbit flown since the Apollo program.
15:30The astronauts will also conduct dozens of research studies and experiments focusing
15:35on human health during that spaceflight.
15:38The launch window opens 3.38 Eastern tomorrow morning.
15:44President Biden had no justification pulling all military troops out, all contractors going
15:53to zero.
15:54They've had three years to assess what happened.
15:58Why are they delivering a report after Labor Day in a presidential election year?
16:03This is something they're using as a political football.
16:06The entire Afghanistan issue is why so many veterans are looking in the mirror and saying
16:12never again.
16:15House Foreign Affairs out with that report about the Afghanistan withdrawal.
16:18New York Post front page depicting it this way, my way to hell.
16:23Joe insisted on disastrous Afghan pullout against all advice from that report.
16:29Let's talk about these reports.
16:30There's one from the Democrats as well.
16:32Joining us, Florida Republican Congressman Mike Waltz, first a member of the Armed Services
16:36and Foreign Affairs Committee and the Intelligence Committees, is a former Green Beret who served
16:40in Afghanistan.
16:41Congressman, thanks for joining us.
16:42What's your elevator pitch on the House Republicans findings in this report?
16:47Well, Brad, it's it's simple that President Biden, Kamala Harris, who is sitting right
16:54there by his side and probably was the last one in the room, were repeatedly warned that
16:59this was an impending disaster.
17:01The way they were conducting this withdrawal, three four star generals, despite Biden saying
17:07he was never warned, three four star generals warned him, including, as is quoted in the
17:12report, the general on the ground that you can't evacuate a house on fire after it's
17:18already already on fire.
17:20You had inspector general saying if you pull our contractors out, the Afghan Air Force
17:26will collapse.
17:27You even had his own State Department, dozens of diplomats on the ground, sent a formal
17:32dissent cable that said, if you continue down this path, the Taliban will take over
17:38and you will have a pending collapse.
17:40Yet you also have he ignored all of that.
17:44And one of the findings from their own words was that Biden and Harris were determined
17:49to get out no matter no matter what.
17:53You even have his own State Department spokesman quoted in an interview that the Doha agreement,
17:59all of that was immaterial.
18:00The president was determined to leave.
18:03And then it was how he did it, by pulling our military out before our civilians, before
18:07our allies that led to this total chaos.
18:11So House Democrats, as you know, have their own take on all of this.
18:16From their report, the Republican majority has taken particular pains to avoid facts
18:19involving former President Trump, including his committing the United States to a full
18:23date specific withdrawal in a deal he negotiated with the Taliban.
18:28Republicans partisan attempts to garner headlines rather than acknowledge the full facts and
18:31substance of their investigation have only increased with the heat of an election season,
18:36something Congressman Gregory Meeks said on TV today.
18:39Take a listen.
18:41Do you think it's a coincidence the day before the debate, you know, that this this announcement
18:47came out, this that all of a sudden it's concluded?
18:50Do you think it's not political when previously almost 3000 pages of of testimony and Kamala
19:00Harris was mentioned three times and now all of a sudden he's trying to include it therein?
19:05So they point to the specifics, pointing back to the former president and the timing coming
19:10out right before the debate.
19:11Well, that's shameful and ridiculous.
19:13You know why, Brett?
19:14Because Representative Meeks that was just on was in charge of the Foreign Affairs Committee.
19:19He was the chairman in 2021 and in 2022 when the Democrats were in charge of the House.
19:25No investigation, no interviews, no transcribed sit downs.
19:29They had one hearing, the worst military debacle since Saigon, I would say worse than Saigon
19:36because terrorism is rebuilding and intends to attack us again.
19:41And they did nothing about it.
19:42So we couldn't even start until last year, Brett.
19:46And then you have to ask the administration, if this was such an outstanding success, then
19:50why do we have to repeatedly subpoena them for interviews and documents?
19:55So it took us this long because we didn't get started till last year.
19:59What is political was doing nothing to cover for the Biden administration and on President
20:05Trump.
20:06You know, they walked away from everything from Keystone XL to the Iran deal.
20:10You name the border policies.
20:13So they had no problem tearing up those Trump policies, but they were stuck with this one.
20:18And by the way, President Trump left the troops, left the base.
20:22And when his advisers told him the Taliban hadn't lived up to their end of a conditional
20:27agreement, when the Taliban failed, he said deals off.
20:31So that just flies in the face of the facts.
20:33The families, veterans or Afghan allies deserve transparency.
20:38They deserve answers.
20:39And the country deserves to have some lessons learned.
20:42But when you say something went just fine, then the bureaucracy doesn't learn lessons
20:47from it.
20:48And that's what we're trying to do here, Congressman.
20:51We appreciate your time.
20:52We've got the other take as well.
20:54Right after you.
20:56All right.
20:58There tonight, billions of dollars in arms on the ground.
21:01All they're doing is arming our enemies against us.
21:03We've armed them with the best, the number one arms in the world right now.
21:09And so we're going to be fighting those for generations, I fear.
21:12There was no handover of U.S. equipment to the Taliban.
21:15That equipment had been provided to Afghan security forces appropriately and with congressional
21:20approval.
21:21That equipment was left by those Afghan forces when they surrendered.
21:26Now for the Democratic perspective from Capitol Hill, we welcome in Congressman Jason Crow
21:30of Colorado.
21:31He serves on the Foreign Affairs and Intelligence Committees.
21:34He's a former Army ranger who saw action in Afghanistan.
21:36Congressman, thanks for being here.
21:38I'm sure you neighborly heard Congressman Waltz and his take on all of this.
21:42I want to read from the majority report.
21:45Here it is.
21:46Quote, President Biden's public assertions to the contrary, despite those our investigation
21:50has revealed the secretary of defense, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, the commander
21:52of U.S. CENTCOM, secretary of state, the officer, Office of Director of National Intelligence,
21:58the commander of NATO's Resolute Support Mission of United States forces, Afghanistan,
22:03all advised against withdrawing all U.S. troops from the country.
22:07To Congressman Waltz's point, why did the president go solo on this?
22:12Well, Brett, first of all, I'd like to address the conduct of the investigation.
22:18But to the point of the withdrawal itself, our elected officials, our leaders, the commander
22:24in chief is responsible for deciding when a war is winnable and when it's not.
22:302,400 plus Americans gave their lives in this war.
22:35It lasted 20 years.
22:37American taxpayers spent over $2 trillion fighting it.
22:41And you know what's not happening today?
22:43Standing here today when we're having this conversation, Americans are no longer fighting
22:47and dying in a war that we never were going to be able to win militarily.
22:50And U.S. taxpayers are no longer spending billions of dollars a month paying for it.
22:55So that that is true.
22:57And that is worth recognizing.
22:58Now, my criticisms of the withdrawal and the fact that there are things that could have
23:03been done better, that is absolutely true.
23:05And we deserve that review.
23:07The American people deserve that review.
23:08And that's why I supported the Afghanistan War Commission.
23:11That review is not what the Republicans did here.
23:15So what are you saying that they did?
23:17I mean, they looked at they had all kinds of interviews, something that Congressman
23:20Meeks did not do right after the incident as chairman of House Foreign Affairs.
23:25To Congressman Walz's point, what you're saying, this is all politics in the day before the
23:30debate is what your point is.
23:32Well, let's just look at the facts here.
23:33First of all, there were a lot of after action reviews.
23:36Both the Department of Defense and the State Department both did both classified and non
23:41classified after action reviews.
23:43There were numerous hearings, numerous briefings.
23:46Secretary of State Tony Blinken appeared before the House and the Senate 14 times, as well
23:50as many other Department of Defense and State Department officials.
23:53So there was a lot of oversight that was done.
23:55And then Congress joined together.
23:57And on a bipartisan basis, after the end of the war, formed the Afghanistan War Commission,
24:03which is the preeminent body to look at the 20 years of this war, including the withdrawal
24:08and the time before our involvement, starting in 2001, so we can learn lessons.
24:13Contrast that with what the Republicans did here.
24:16They chose 18 witnesses, no witnesses from the Trump White House, none.
24:21They took depositions, transcribed interviews, five of those they refused to release to the
24:26public, which we still don't have today because it runs counter to their narrative.
24:31And by the way, three thousand two hundred pages of witness interviews.
24:37Vice President Harris is mentioned only three times in those three thousand two hundred
24:40pages.
24:41Guess how many times she's mentioned in the three hundred and fifty pages of the Republican
24:45report?
24:46Over two hundred and eighty.
24:47This is absurd.
24:48The entire process is absurd.
24:51Congressman, as you know, John Kirby was pressed numerous who's at fault for this, despite
24:58all of those leaders saying he needed U.S. troops on the ground to stay.
25:03And he's deflected that.
25:04But you look at the latest speaking of politics, New York Times, CNN poll out today.
25:09And the question is, how many voters think that Vice President Harris should receive
25:13at least some of the blame for the botched Afghanistan withdrawal?
25:17Fifty percent say that she should at least some and not much or none at thirty seven
25:22percent.
25:23You're saying this is about politics, but there has to be a resolution to some of this
25:27after action to get past this chaotic moment.
25:31Yeah, there has to be a resolution.
25:33And that's why the extensive and thorough after action reviews that were done by the
25:37State Department and the Department of Defense in the years after our withdrawal outline
25:43corrective measures and fixes.
25:44I actually have legislation that I'm putting together actually would codify pass into law
25:49those changes and fixes and things to make sure that should never happen again.
25:54Right.
25:55But guess what?
25:56They're unwalling and preventing the passage of that legislation because they would rather
25:58politicize the issue.
26:00Well, Congressman, we appreciate you coming on.
26:03Obviously, the families of those 13 have their own thoughts and they've been expressing those
26:08in recent days.
26:09But we appreciate you coming on for the Democratic side of this report today.
26:14Thanks for having me.
26:15Up next, former Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross joins us to discuss the state of the
26:19U.S. economy and his new book out.
26:21As we go to break, James Earl Jones has died.
26:24The actor overcame a severe stutter to become the voice of Darth Vader in the Star Wars
26:29films and King Mufasa, the Lion King.
26:33He won two Emmys, two Tonys, a Golden Globe.
26:37FBI officials say Americans were duped out of more than five point six billion dollars
26:43last year through fraud schemes involving crypto currency.
26:48That is a 45 percent jump in losses from 2022.
26:52The FBI says it received nearly 70,000 complaints last year by victims of financial fraud involving
26:58Bitcoin and other crypto currencies.
27:00The most rampant scheme was investment fraud that accounted for nearly four billion dollars
27:05of the losses.
27:08The time has come for policy to adjust.
27:12The direction of travel is clear.
27:14It's more important to kill the inflation disease permanently.
27:19You wouldn't be cutting rates right now.
27:21I would err on the side of being more cautious and delay it a little bit more.
27:29Let's talk about the U.S. economy.
27:30Here's some headlines recently on the revised August jobs report and Friday's disappointing
27:35jobs numbers.
27:36New York Times, U.S. added eight hundred eighteen thousand fewer jobs than reported.
27:40That's back in August.
27:41Friday, Bloomberg, U.S. hiring comes up short, impossible warning sign for the Fed.
27:45Forbes, August jobs report comes in worse than expected as labor market stays chilly
27:50again from Friday.
27:51Tonight, we're going to talk about all of that.
27:53Joining us, former Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.
27:57His new book is called Risks and Returns, creating success in business and life.
28:02Mr. Secretary, thanks for being here.
28:05Good to be on.
28:09Where do you see the state of the economy as we think the Fed is getting ready, possibly
28:13this this week to to cut rates?
28:17Where do you see it?
28:18And just looking at the headline, what what it looks like?
28:22Well, I think they will cut rates.
28:25My guess is it'll be at least the one quarter.
28:28I don't think a one half percent cut is really necessary at this point.
28:35If we're all if all that's keeping us from a recession is an extra quarter of a point
28:42on interest rate, we're in pretty bad shape.
28:47Do you think that the economy is is soft landed?
28:50Do you think that we're in for a bumpy ride in coming months?
28:54Well, even before this, about 30 to 40 percent of all the jobs created in each of the last
29:03six or eight months have been government related.
29:08There has been really no big follow through in manufacturing.
29:13It's been largely government related health care, things like that, or very low end service
29:21industry related.
29:23Those are not the substance of a big booming economy.
29:28We need more reshoring.
29:30We need to make things again.
29:34Yeah, you know, whenever you ask anybody about the economy, when it comes to the presidential
29:39race, former President Trump does better than Kamala Harris.
29:43And that specific question, as we get ready for this debate tomorrow, Democrats point
29:47to tariffs, policy on tariffs.
29:49If you look at the Tax Foundation economic input of a proposed Trump tariffs, they see
29:56a lot of negative numbers in that.
29:58And your successor at Commerce Secretary made a big deal of that at the DNC.
30:02Take a listen.
30:03Well, I think this is what aggregates you the most about the Republican Party right
30:08now.