pete: a fox news alert, right now israel's war cabinet is meeting as they mull over a response to iran's attack on the jewish state. rachel: iran launching more than 300 drones and missiles at israel most of which were intercepted by the idf and its allies. will: israel says at least 31 people were hurt during the attack, stick with fox news and foxnews.com throughout the day for the latest. pete: more coverage on that latest. go to church. have a blessed sunday, everybody. ♪ ♪ finish. maria: good sunday morning, everyone. thanks very much for joining us this morning. welcome to "sunday morning

futures." i'm maria bartiromo. breaking news as the u.s. responds to iran's aggression. iran launching a direct attack on israel, over 300 missiles and drones launched with israel's iron dome knocking down 9% of the attacks, inter-- 99% of the attacks before they arrived in israel. coming up, the speaker of the house, mike johnson, on the next stepses as a lawmakers expect to the vote on a security package for israel and ukraine this week. the speaker is here exclusively on israel, ukraine and the u.s. border. then, former director of national intelligence john ratcliffe on the dangerous global backdrop under president joe biden. plus, senator rand paul is here on the response in the senate and the covid cover-up. why 15 federal agencies were aware of gain of function research being done at the wuhan lab in china before covid leaked and spread across the world killing millions. plus, tomorrow is tax day in america. house ways and means committee chairman jason smith on why the irs is auditing the middle

class. plus, the heat is on president trump with jury selection beginning tomorrow for a trump trial in new york. professor jonathan turley with analysis of two different applications of the law. it's all right here, right now on "sunday morning futures." ♪ if. ♪ if. ♪ if. ♪ ♪ maria: and we begin this sunday morning with breaking news out of the middle east following iran's unprecedented hours-long attack last night on israel. iran launched hundreds of drones, ballistic and cruise missiles forward israel with -- toward israel with israel's military saying its air a defense system fended off 99% of those attacks. the pentagon says american military forces assisted in the defense of israel, or intercepting dozens of missiles and drones originating in iran, iraq are, syria and yemen. iran claims the attack is in retaliation for a suspected israeli airstrike nearly two weeks ago on an iranian

diplomatic building in syria which killed two top generals. meanwhile, president biden signed off on renewing a waver for tehran, allowing the ayatollah to continue to have access to $10 billion in frozen funds. joining me now with reaction is the speaker of the house, congressman mike johnson. mr. speaker, thanks very much for being here this morning. >> hey, maria. great to be with you, as always. maria: how does this change your plans this week in terms of voting on an aid a package for israel? >> well, we've understood the urgency of this from the very beginning. i mean, a few days after i became speaker way back in october, we passed our israel support package. it's been sitting on chuck schumer's desk ever since because we included a pay-for, as you remember. what a concept. we took from the irs expansion slush fund to pay for the pry priority. we tried it again about a month and a half ago, a clean israel -- many democrats, 166 as i remember in the house voted

against. why? because president joe biden said he would veto that. so the house republicans and the republican party understand the necessity of standing with israel. we're going to try again this week, and the details of that package are being put together right now. we're looking at the options on all these supplemental issues. maria: the former president, president trump has talked about the possibility of turning aid for ukraine into a loan. is that what you're considering? >> yes. you know, or i had a great visit with him on friday, and he and i have 1 100% united on these big agenda items. he's introduced the loan lease concept which is an important one that i think has a lot of consensus as well as these other ideas, the' poe -- repo act, which is seizing the assets of corrupt russian oligarchs to help pay for this resistance. i think these are ideas that i think can get consensus. we'll send our participation we'll put something together and send it to the senate and get these obligations completed. maria: are you expecting the

biden administration to respond to iran's aggression? >> we'll see what happens. look, i do think that we showed resolve last night, thankfully. many of us were concerned about that, just standing with our ally israel. it's critically important to do that. we took down most of those drones and missiles, as you noted, and our other allies stepped up as well. what's important right now is we stand with israel. we should not be dictating what their policy is, we certainly shouldn't do what chuck schumer did, suggesting they should have new elections. they're fighting for their existence, and it's never been more important for us to be there with them. we're resolved to do that. maria: understood. this weekend you were with president trump. the former president had a public show of support for you and your agenda. here's president trump with you on friday. let's take a listen. >> it's not, not an easy situation for any speaker. i think he's doing a very good job. he's doing about as good as you're going to do, and i'm sure

that marjorie understands that. maria: and, of course, he's referring to marjorie taylor greene who has threatened to come up with the motion to vacate because she's upset that the republicans have yet to secure the border. here's the georgia congresswoman with me two weeks ago here. >> if speaker johnson really wanted to secure the border like he promised all of us he would and promised the american people, then he would have told chuck schumer we will not pass any government funding bills until our border, our border and funding bills have the h.r. 2 in it or the laken riley act. or at least some measures within them. but with he didn't. he completely failed in that. maria: mr. speaker, why bring a bill to the floor to send money to ukraine without having secured the border? >> so, maria, what marjorie fails to notice is that we have been fighting on the border. we fight on it every day. we passed our comprehensive

border security package, h.r. 2, at the very beginning of this congress. it's been sitting on chuck schumer's desk. we passed these acts out of the house, and they get stopped in the senate. see, the open borders democrats control the senate and the white house, obviously. so we've not been able to have a law making exercise to meet that critical objective. but we're fighting every day. that's why we've been demanding that president biden use his executive authority to seal that a border. president trump reiterated that demand at our press conference together on friday. we need the white house to step up. in the meantime, congress has to fulfill its obligations. if we had shut the government down, maria, in that appropriations process, that would have been on us. remember, the white house controls the pain that's inflected on the american people when the government shuts down. imagine tsa agents not being paid and flights being canceled for americans, border patrol agents not being paid and those open borders, the responsibility being shifted to us. imagine troops not being paid at this dangerous time. that simply wasn't an option for us. it would have reflected badly on

us and would not have been helpful in our mission to grow, keep and grow the house majority, win back the senate and the white house for president trump so that we can save this country. that's what's at stake right now. the party is 100% united on that agenda. maria: so is there any path to securing the border under joe biden? >> well, that's the thing, he has section 212 authority under federal law. he has seven or eight different options, existing authority to do, frankly, what president trump did. president trump got control of that border because he was a strong leader. so we've been demanding the white house in all of these negotiations, do your job, secure the border. maria, you and i both know 9 million encounters potentially at the southern border since joe biden took office, 2 million gotaways, 340 plus is suspects on the terrorist watch list. the actual number we believe is probably 16 million illegals have come into this country, and they did it intentionally. it's unacceptable. the republicans in the house, the republican party, president trump all of us are lockstep

united, fighting for border security. it's the number one priority for the american people because our own national security begins at the border. we're going to fight for it every single day. maria: did you speak with president trump privately about what marjorie taylor greene is doing? >> i spent hours with the president on friday. he and i talked frequently, many times, usually in a week we have a long relationship. he's 100% with me, and he said we'll get this job done. that's a distraction. what marjorie's done with the motion to vacate is not helpful for our party, for our mission to save the country. because if we don't go the house mate, keep the house majority, win the senate and win back the white house for president trump, we're going to lose the republic. you know, maria, we often say the next election cycle's the most important one in our lifetime? everyone knows this is for all the marbles, the american people are fed if up. president biden's open borders, with his inflation, the cost of living and the out of control spending, the weakness on the world stage and the weaponization of the government, we have to stop it. what we need to do right now,

and we will be are, our party needs to stay united. we need to go out and tell the american people how we'll be different. not just what we're against, what we're for -- for, how we're going to turn this country around. i'm absolutely bullish, i think we're going to do that. more speaker, is president trump also with you on fisa? they spyed on his campaign. he posted do not reauthorize fisa. i want to get your take on this surveillance tool because you said, you changed your mind on attaching an amendment which included a warrant needed to spy on american citizens. you said you changed your mind after getting a classified briefing. can you tell us what changedded your mind in terms of an amendment where you need a warrant to spy on americans? >> yeah. the president and i agree on the necessity of the uses of fisa. remember, that's how we kill terrorists, stop terrorist plots on u.s. soil. that's why we haven't had another 9/11 since that terrible tragedy. president trump used it, and he

reauthorized it in 2018 for 6 years. we changed the bill to fit his requirements and ours, and that is that it would expire now two years from now, in the middle of his next administration, so he's the one that gets to determine if it's working well. it's a critical tool to stop terrorism. the whole point of the law is that we surveil foreign persons, foreign terrorists. but the reason the warrant requirement is not helpful9 and the reason that people we love and respect like mike pompeo and john ratcliffe and. devin nuñes who have been in the intelligence community and are our guy, are conservatives who came out of the judiciary committee, a couple of them, they said you can't put the want on this. quick scenarios, this is important for people to understand, maria. if we're surveilling a aist in the middle east and the terrorist sends an e-mail to john smith in anytown, usa, and the e-mail says the components will be delivered this afternoon for further assembly and delivery to the high school stadium during the game, okay, i think every american would want

the analyst who saw that e-mail if that foreign terrorist to do a query of the other communications between those two persons. that is not unlawful, and that must continue. if that analyst had to get a warrant before that, it would add a huge time delay. the courts are not set up to be able to handle all that volume, and americans may die. we want to look at a those e-mails and find out, my goodness, which high school stadium, is this a bomb and what are the components? we have to continue to -- that to save american lives. that is not searches on american citizens. if they were going to search john smith, they would have to go get a warrant. maria: right. >> this is lawfully collected data under section 702 and must continue. maria: real quick before you go, you talked with president trump on friday about insuring a transparent and safe election. you talked about the save act with where you want to insure that illegals are not voting in this election. do you have any evidence that the democrats are pushing for illegals to vote in this election?

>> well, listen, some of them have admitted it to us even on record in judiciary committee hearings that they want illegals to vote. they've allowed it in some municipal elections. what congress has control over is federal elections. we have to do everything single thing we can to secure that our elections are free and fair. and one thing we need to do, and this is what we're about, the house are republicans are about to enter legislation into the record that will insure that no illegal can vote in a federal election. you have to prove you're a is citizen instead of, as the law currently statement ises, just checking a box to say it. maria, we have so many illegals in the country that could tilt the election. if just 1 in 100 illegals decided to vote in an election, it could swing congressional races and it might even swing presidential races. so we have to do everything possible to make sure that this election is secure. it's the number one priority of the american people. maria: mr. speaker, thanks very much for being here this morning. we so appreciate your time. >> thank you. appreciate it. maria: all right. house speaker mike johnson

joining us. now joining me is the chairman of the house ways and means committee, congressman jason smith. mr. chairman, thanks very much for for joining us. your reaction. >> you know, what iran did last night just just is the direct result, maria, of biden's policies and bidens' rhetoric over the -- biden's rhetoric over the haas several years as president. -- last several years as president. and that gave iran the opportunity that they felt if like they could go in and attack one of our greatest allies, israel. maria: yeah. the enabling iran to generate billions of dollars many if oil has created -- in oil has created something of a rich country once again. under president trump i don't think they actually had the wherewithal to do this. >> under president trump he imposed the strict standards of the sanctions on the iranians and allowed them where they didn't grow billions of dollars

in profits in oil exports. but unfortunately, the biden administration has are reversed course on that, and they have been very lax on those sanctions allowing the iranians to grow in more power, more economic growth. and now they're attacking their neighbors. maria: let me switch gears, mr. chairman. tomorrow, of course, is tax day. and right before april 15th we see this watchdog report that the irs has been targeting people who are making under $200,000 for their audits. can you tell us why the irs is targeting those people making $200,000 or less in terms of audits, the majority of audits, 63%? >> maria, we have been trying to sound this alarm for some time. it all started with the inflation reduction act where the biden administration asked for an additional $80 billion to supercharge the irs, the hire 87,000 new agents. and guess what? based on scorekeepers in congress, it is projected that

that 87,000 new auditors, 70% of those audits will be on people making less than $75,000 a year. but guess what? the biden administration, they didn't think $80 billion was enough, so they asked for an additional $43 billion just in their budget this year. and to try to comprehend how big of dollars those are, the irs just operating a yearly budget is less than $15 billion a year. maria: mr. chairman, i'm wondering why you're seeing all of these audits now when the president has are repeatedly said that anyone making $400,000 or more -- or less would not be a target. but you've got this watchdog, the findings of the irs watchdog, the treasury inspector general for tax administration, examining this and coming up with 63. 63%. >> yeah. well, the president also said that he wouldn't raise taxes on ooh people making less than

$400,000 a year to too too, maria. but, in fact, his budget does that. his budget raises taxes more than $7 trillion on people making less than $400,000 will also see a tax increase. maria: uh-huh. tell me about tax day tomorrow. how much tax revenue are you expecting this year? >> so the best way to say is tax day has to be the favorite holiday of joe biden and the democrat party. you can see by their desire to just continue to raise taxes here and there. when you look at the revenues that we had in the year before, it was almost $5 trillion. it was record revenues, maria. and in fact, those revenues were almost $900 billion more than what the joint tax committee had projected based on passage of the 2017 trump tax cuts. it showed that that helped bring

in the revenue. our country does not have a revenue problem, maria. our country has a spending problem. maria: yeah. and the spending has sent inflation to 40-year highs as this past week we got another inflation reading with things like, you know, bread up 30% year-over-year, flour up 24%. across the board americans are feeling the pinch of inflation. what are your thoughts on the spending package that you all will be looking at this week in terms of sending money to ukraine? >> first off, let's not forget that this inflation crisis, that the inflation's gone up almost 20% since joe biden's taken the oath of office was the direct result of $10 trillion of new spending on top of just funding government that president biden did with nancy pelosi and chuck schumer went they controlled all three areas of government. went you look at the spending -- when you look at the spending package that's moving ahead, five months a ago, maria, the

house of representatives passed funding for israel -- maria: right. >> and the united states senate has left that that bill on the sidelines. they need to pick up and pass that bill. we need to defend and protect and supply funds for for our greatest ally in the middle east. maria: yes. we'll -- it seems that it's going to to be attached to money for ukraine and taiwan, but we'll be watching your work this week. congressman, thank you very much for being here. >> thank you, maria. maria: all right. congressman jason smith, chairman of house ways and means. quick break, and then the terrorist threat to america following iran's attack on israel. fbi director wray once again sounding the alarm as millions of so-called gotaways have entered america on joe biden's watch. but are the 10 million illegals here under the biden administration's open border. former director of national intelligence, john ratcliffe, on his conversations with his counterparts in israel overnight. stay with us. ♪ ♪

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>> our most immediate concern has been that individuals or small groups will draw some kind of twisted inspiration from the events in the middle east to

carry out attacks here at a home. increasingly concerning is the potential for a coordinated attack here in the homeland akin to the isis-k attack we saw at the are russia concert hall just a couple weeks ago. maria: a stark warning by fix bi director christopher wray during a hearing on capitol hill thursday on the elevated terrorist threat as we continue to monitor this morning iran's unprecedented direct attack on israel and the implications here at home. the fbi alert coming as over 10 million people have illegally entered the united states on president biden's watch and nearly 2 million have evaded apprehension altogether and disappeared into the country with no trace of who her or what their intentions are. already for this fiscal year, 75 people people on the fbi's terrorist watch list have been encountered with a total of 342 since october of 2021. joining me now with the threats mesh face here at home the former director of national

intelligence with, john ratcliffe. always a pleasure, thanks have for being here. >> morning, maria. maria: i want to first talk about iran's direct threat at israel. 99% of those attacks intercepted by israel and u.s. military. your thoughts and reaction. i know that you have been with on the phone with your former counterparts in israel. what do you -- what can you tell us? >> well, maria, the word people keep using to describe this attack is unprecedented, and it is, but that's why it's ironic that we find ourselves in the all too familiar position of talking about a hong list of deterrence -- long list of deterrence failures by the biden administration. of course, the failure to deter vladimir putin from invading ukraine and then after the attack on israel on october the 7th, the failure of the biden administration if with hollow talking points, you know, a single word, don't, and the response to that as you know was more than 170 attacks on u.s.

forces and the deaths of 3 americans, dozens of traumatic brain with injuries. so clearly not working. and then, you know, which is why i was surprised that those very same hollow words and threats from the biden administrations, don't, were used last week after israel took out irgc general who was the ark a text of those october 7th -- architect of those october 7th attacks and, again, it didn't work. an unprecedented attack, 300 drones, missiles, rockets including cruise and ballistic missiles. so, you know, you mentioned the fact that there's been credit given for the good work of the israelis and the brits and the jordanians and the united states in reacting to this in shooting down most of those threats and minimizing the damage. but, you know with, reaction isn't as good as prevention. and donald trump was right when he said he would have prevented this, and the israelis believe that this would have been

prevented. you know, they are were, i think, understandably surprised and upset as was i that the seeds for this failure in deterrence took place in joe biden's reaction to that hit in damascus where instead of just remaining silent, the biden administration quickly came out and said the u.s. was not involved in this. and that sent a message to iran and to the rest of the world that the u.s. was not with israel, that the u.s. was a reluctant to support israel on this, you know? and that really shows how much fractured this relationship has become between the united states and israel moving forward. and i think that that emboldened iran and is one of the -- as one of the former intelligence officials in iran said to me last night, you know, with friends like joe biden, israel doesn't need more enemies. and so, you know, i think that they are, they are upset about this, and i think now it's compounded by very quickly the

biden administration has taken the wrong response in the aftermath of this. and the response is instead of criticizing iran and joe biden hasn't spoken to that, they're leaking the fact that they're upset that the israelis may overreact to this exist -- existential threat, that they don't have a strategy and they might use this to further escalate. and i tell you, that's infuriating to the israelis as they face, again, an unprecedented, historic attack of this nature. and they're not real happy about being criticized and getting advice from, you know, the masters of disaster, biden, blinken, sullivan and if austin, you know? the architects of so many foreign policy failures who are now lecturing the israelis about what to do in this threat. maria: are you expecting a response from israel? to iran? >> absolutely. and i think that there should be, there must be. look, joe biden doesn't have any

red lines. they get crossed. don't doesn't mean anything. but the israelis do have red lines, and a key nettic attack -- kinetic attack into israel by iran must be answered. maria, the idea of not overreact a, if you don't respond to this forcefully, it normalizes it. it sends the message that these kinds of attacks are okay. so, unfortunately, instead of working with israel, i think israel will act alone here, and they will consider and should consider a strong response that could target anything from iranian oil infrastructure, iranian military installations, iranian leadership or perhaps if iranians' nuclear facilities and nuclear program. you know, i think all of this highlights what a failure the biden and before that the obama administration approaches to iran really is, and these are the people that have been enriching iran and encouraging them and allowing them to maintain a nuclear program. this is a country that does not

deserve to have nuclear ambitions, and and i think the israelis will look seriously at removing this excess ten, threat in that way -- existential threat in that way. maria: so you think that the israelis believe that the biden administration and its policies empowered iran to attack israel. >> absolutely. i mean, billions and billions of dollars from the biden administration in ransom for hostages -- maria: yeah. >> -- and in sanctions relief rebuilt the iranian economy. the irony, maria, is so many of those rockets and missiles that were shot down yesterday were paid for with by the biden administration. that was money that the u.s. sent under the biden administration is, you know, was used to, you know, rebuild the iranian military structure to use against israel. maria: wow. >> and israel very clearly sees that and resents it. maria: real quick before you go, or john, your reaction to the

house reauthorizing fisa. obviously, you lived this during the russia collusion lie when the fbi spied on president trump's officials and campaign illegally. >> yeah. so right up front, president trump was right the other day when he said they used fisa title i to spy on his campaign, and the fbi broke the law to do that. they also, the fbi abused section 702 to spy on americans unlawfully. maria: right. >> so the fbi did this to themselves. they have abused this. so i'm all for reforms. i will say this, 56 reforms, 57 reforms whether you're talking about a warrant requirement, legislative solution isn't the process here. there was a warrant requirement to spy on carter page -- maria: right. >> -- and the fbi broke that law four times to do that. that's not an opinion, that's a fact. maria: right. >> what really is needed here, maria, is fbi leadership that says if you take away this important tool that we use to keep presidents informed about a

national security threats, we're going to dedicate our time to make sure that you spend a considerable period of your life in federal prison, and that's what's missing. we have a problem with leadership, and it needs to be fixed. maria: need consequences, of course. john ratcliffe, thank you. former director of national intelligence. >> you bet. maria: thank you, sir. we'll be right back. ♪th ♪ on good. when you've got type 2 diabetes like me, you have up to 4 times greater risk of stroke, heart attack or worse death. even when meeting your a1c goal. discomfort can help you act. i'm not trying to scare you. i'm empowering you... to get real with your health care provider. talk to them about lowering your risk of stroke, heart attack or death.

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>> misinformation is the enemy of pandemic control. no doubt, it's really, i think, one of the most important issues we're facing. it goes well beyond covid. if. maria: and that was dr. anthony fauci, the former director of the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases this past february on the importance of controlling the narrative as people were dying during a pandemic leading to censorship of critical information. the biden administration has yet to demand answers from and hold china accountable for covid-19 and the cover-up that followed amidst the nearly 1.2 million deaths it caused.

instead, the white house asked the ccp last week to pressure iran not to launch an attack on israel which, obviously, did not work. now a whistleblower is stepping forward to expose what the federal government knew all along about the origins of covid 19. joining me now with more is the ranking member of the senate homeland security committee, senator rand paul. senator, it's great to see you. first, more pressing situations this morning after the attack from iran into israel. your reaction. >> you know, i think we're very fortunate that it was ineffective and israel's and u.s.' defenses were able to stop 97% of this. but i think one question that's not being asked enough this morning is everybody's asking can what is the next step to escalation. there is another question, what are the possibilities that we could deescalate the situation. every action has a reaction. hamas attacked on october 7th, awful, dreadful, israel kills two generals, now every action

has a reaction and is there a possibility that this could be deescalated at this point. and and i think people ought to take a brent, wait a little bit. in medicine we're taught to check your own pulse before you check the patient's pulse. you need to calm down and think with a clear head before we move forward. maria: so what do you want to do with moving forward in the senate with regard to the conversation around a new supplemental package which would send money to israel, ukraine and taiwan? >> you know, i haven't supported foreign aid really in my ten you in the -- tenure in the senate, but with i did support aid to israel not too long ago. this was passed in the house and every democrat in the senate voted against aid that was paid for. what i would say to speaker johnson is hold your ground, show some intestinal fortitude. tell chuck schumer to take it up, and it's going to be paid for. it's a great precedent if speaker johnson will stick by his guns.

i have a feeling that we're going to sica pitchlation. there's -- see capitulation. why would republicans negotiate with themselves? tell chuck schumer, bring it up. it's been sitting in the senate for two years now. if they want more aid to israel, bring it up, but we're going to have to cut somewhere else to pay for it. maria: i want to ask you about what you heard from the speaker regarding fisa. can we trust government to use fisa appropriately and legally? >> absolutely not. americans shouldn't be spied on by their own government. the fourth amendment was put in by our founding fathers to protect us. fisa doesn't obey the fourth amendment, and and so speaker johnson was incredibly wrong. he broke the tie. he voted with the democrats. here we have the leader of the republicans in the house votes with the democrats against a warrant requirement. we also have speaker johnson voting for the spending package once again with the majority of the democrats. if as i see it now, i'm not sure there's a difference between mike johnson being in charge and the democrats being in charge. the debt, the deficit this year

will be $1.5-2 trillion, and that's mike johnson's bill. he put it forward. he supported it with a minority of republicans, with the majority of democrats. this is not using the power of the purse, this is abdicating the power of the purse. maria: well, why? why do you think that is? >> you know, people have to be strong in their convictions. he was seen as a conservative before he came to the speakership, but now he puts a tweet out the other day saying, oh, they whispered to him about 702, how important it is, and he's completely changed and lost all his principles on the idea you shouldn't spy on americans would want a warrant. on the spending issue, he said, oh, government will shut down. but if the democrats want this level of spending and we want in this level are, a compromise would be splitting the deference. the democrats got everything they want in the spending, and all the hawks got what they want too. this is a problem. on the republican side, we have people who want unlimited military spending and then the democrats want unlimited welfare spending, and they get both.

johnson hasn't held his ground. he has power, he has the majority. use the power of the purse, speaker johnson. do something to make us think you are different that than the democrats. so far i don't see a lot of difference. maria: wow. all of this while the border is yet to be secured. >> exactly. we shouldn't -- you know, looking we have 41 republicans in the senate, so while i blame speaker johnson, i blame 41 senators in the senate, we could stop the senate, and they could do nothing without us. if 41 of us say, no, we're not passing anything until the border's secured, guess what? democrats will wake up and secure the border. but we don't use our power effectively. we abdicate. in the senate the same thing happens. 10 liberals, big government republicans vote with the democrats, and the democrats get what they wantful but now mike johnson's voting with the minority of his party. he's the leader of his party, and he's not voting with the majority of the republicans who were for a warrant requirement. the majority of the republicans were not for having a deficit of $1.5 trillion, and yet he's

siding with the democrats. if he wants to remain speaker, frankly, he's got to do better. i wanted to give him a break and i have for a couple months. this is the first time i've really spoken out, but the speaker's got to be the leader of his party, not a capitulator to the other party. maria: what about leadership in the senatesome who would you hike to see replace mitch mcconnell? >> any, anyone at this point would be better because he now has decided that ukraine and sending our money to ukraine that we have to borrow is more important than anything including our border. the whole fiasco of getting that that thing started with ineffective border control that we ended up rejecting was all senator mcconnell's idea, and it was a disaster. it's led to democrats now saying, look, we offered you this great border bill, and you didn't take it. maria: right. >> it was a crummy deal, we never should have done it. maria: real quick, we've got to get into covid as well. you are out with a report which shows that 15, at least 15

federal agencies knew that gain of function research was being done in the wuhan lab since, what, 2018? >> yeah. we know this because of whistleblowers. nobody in the administration if has told us anythingful we've gotten all of our information from whistleblower, but we now know it wasn't just one agency china was approaching. china made a presentation or an american representative, peter daszak, made a representation to 15 agencies about a creating a virus that, guess what? looks suspiciously like covid-19 and looks like no other virus in nature from that family. they were working on this and presented it to 15 agencies. and in 2020 when they saw covid-19, they should have all been calling and raising the alarm and saying, my goodness, we saw this two years ago, we knew the chinese were doing this. lo and behold, they didn't. nobody in government came forward, not one person. i take that back, a brave marine, a lieutenant colonel, came forward and gave us that

information or today we would still not know any of this. maria: and we haven't seen any of holding china to account for any of this. not just the leak, but then the cover-up that followed. the biden administration has yet to demand answers. [laughter] >> yeah. the biden administration has signed a pandemic treaty to give away all of our sovereignty so people from around the world, third world countries that run these organizations, can tell us what to do, what kind of masks to wear, whether to wear goggles, earmuffs and all the other ridiculous things that were offered up, to surround ourselves by plexiglas, all of the moronic ideas we've now farmed out. it's not bad enough to have people in the united states telling us this, they've farmed it out to an international treaty to let, you know, the rest of the world tell us how we're going to live our lives the next time something bad like this happens. maria: senator, we so appreciate your time this morning. thanks very much. senator rand paul joining us. >> thank you. maria: thank you, sir. quick break, and as we continue to monitor the breaking news out of the middle east, the

trial of president trump covering up alleged money payments is set to begin tomorrow with jury selection in manhattan. george washington university law professor, fox news contributor jonathan turley is here with legal analysis. is stay with us. ♪ finish. ♪ weeds... they have you surrounded. you're just gonna stand there? or are ya gonna take your lawn back. we're gonna take it back. we're gonna take it back. with scotts turf builder triple action! it gets three jobs done at once - kills weeds. prevents crabgrass. and keeps your lawn growing strong. glorious! -agggghhhhhh! -aaagghhhh. no no no. get a bag of scotts triple action today, it's guaranteed. feed your lawn. feed it. i hear that music and my feet just start tapping. my grandchildren, they're sixth generation of dancers. it's what my family is all about. i thought i knew a lot about our irish roots.

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♪♪ ♪ you were made to find inner peace. we were made to track flight prices to paradise. >> he's the toughest guy i've met in any entire life -- in my entire life. he's going to win in november. i don't care what they do to him, he will never, ever, ever stop fighting. that's his conviction. that's who he is as a family. maria: and that was eric trump, the executive vice president of the trump organization, son of former president donald trump on his program -- this program last month about the relentless prosecution of his father by biden's department of justice as well as democrat prosecutors in new york and georgia. now jury selection is set to begin tomorrow in manhattan in trump's so-called hush money trial. the that 45th president is

facing 34 felony counts for falsifying business records to cover up alleged payments to adult film actress stormy daniels. joining me with a preview and analysis is george washington university law professor and fox news contributor jonathan turley. sir, professor, great to see you this morning. thanks very much for being here. >> thank you, maria. maria: can donald trump get a fair jury in new york? >> well, it's going to be a challenging jury. it's easier the find a stray manatee in manhattan than someone who's an actual the trump supporter. this is one of the most hostile jurisdictions to trump, and that's going to be reflected in the jury pool. they're not going to be asked about their political leanings, so he can assume that he's going to have a motivated judge and a fairly hostile jury. and that's one of the things that i think alvin bragg is counting on. this is an absurd case, and he's counting on the fact that the jury may not demand a lot once they see who's sitting behind

the defense table. maria: yeah. i mean, jonathan, i'm wondering if the judge is trying to weed out trump supporters when he, in fact, is asking questions of potential jurors. is that possible? >> well, you always have to rook for that -- look for that as a concern not just with the judge, with the prosecutors. but, frankly, the prosecutors don't is are to do much. they're starting with a base that is overwhelmingly democratic, overwhelmingly anti-trump: so just by the law of averages you're going to get the ideal jury for bringing a case against trump. that doesn't mean that it's a lead pipe cinch. you could still have holdouts -- maria: yeah. >> we'll have to see. maria: john ratcliffe said he thinks there could be a hung jury. i want to ask you more about that. we'll come right back with jonathan turley.w h us.st ♪ at because you... you are not doing this.

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maria: welcome back. i am back with george washington university haw professor jonathan turley. jon that longer i want to get your take on what's most important for us to understand about all of tease trials to come and tomorrow's jury selection for donald trump. and while you're telling us, i'm going to put up this letter. this is from stormy daniels that president trump posted. i know you've seen this. it says stormy daniels writes

the fact of the matter the that each party to this alleged affair denied its existence in 2006, 2011, 2016, 2017 and now again in 2018. i'm not denying this affair because i was paid hush money, i'm denying the affair because with it never happened, writes stormy daniels. sir. of -- >> yeah. everything about this case is, in my view, legally absurd. you know, this case is basically a state misdemeanor that had run out on the statute of limitations, and bragg was forced after he declined for a long time to bring this charge to do so. his predecessor rejected it. and so they took a dead misdemeanor and bootstrapped it into effectively trying a federal crime. but the federal crime here under election law was rejected by the department of i justice. they didn't feel that this should be charged. so you have this crazy case that's going to go forward, and it's going to turn on the testimony of people like michael

cohen. and michael cohen just recently had a judge call him a serial per jr.er. and he's going to appear at the center of this case. maria: wow. unbelievable. jonathan, thanks very much. professor jonathan turley. that'll to -- do it for us of i'll eel you tomorrow morning on fox business, "mornings with maria." forks ranch, an exclusive sanctuary for wellness and longevity. in partnership with world renowned mayo clinic. we offer state of the art health assessments and personalized retreats. discover the secrets of healthy eating in our kitchen academy.

enjoy outdoor recreation in the scenic rockies, then unwind at our world class spa. discover the west kept secret. go to three forks ranch.com to begin your wellness journey. israel is under attack. the war against israel began with the murder of hundreds of precious children. in this orphanage bomb shelter, we're praying for god's help, praying to avino malkino, our father, our king. countless israelis are enduring the devastating anguish of lost loved ones. thousands of rockets have forced over a hundred thousand israelis to become refugees in their own homeland. israeli families are in crisis. the international fellowship of christians and jews is on the ground, reaching jewish people of all ages. children, mothers, the elderly, even holocaust survivors.

but we can't do it without you. your gift of $45 will make sure that the people of israel have mobile bomb shelters, emergency supplies, and the hot, nutritious meals that they so desperately need. our teams are working on the ground, often at great risk to themselves. they're delivering meals to the elderly and families who are living in bomb shelters. this would be an incredibly important time for all of the friends of the international fellowship of christians and jews to stand with our friends in israel. let them know that we are not only praying for the peace of jerusalem, but we're also praying and acting in their interest because we believe it's what god would have us do. i simply can't stress enough the urgency of this situation. it's more dire than ever before. this is your moment. this is your opportunity to

make a life-saving difference. it's your prayers and gifts that give hope to the people of israel. call, scan, or visit our website now to make your life-saving donation. howard: this is a fox news alert. the first direct attack by iran against israel, more than 300 drones and missiles has caused little damage because of