thank you for being here. martha maccallum great interview. thank you very much. >> martha: fox news alert. we start things off. the biden impeachment push is pushing forward at the inquiry level. the house passed this resolution yesterday to formalize and inquiry into the questions that have been around for a long time looking to prove whether the president benefited financially from his family's foreign business dealings with china, with ukraine. welcome everybody. good morning to "the faulkner focus." i'm martha maccallum in today for harris. so this vote last night passed on a straight party line. the chairs of the judiciary and oversight committees stressed party unity. watch. >> the house has now spoken. i think pretty loudly and clearly with every single republican voting to move into the impeachment inquiry of the constitutional duty to do oversight >> the message sent today is loud and clear. >> martha: it means a litany of biden family members, business associates, d.o.j. officials and more will have to speak with them. the white house is on defense this morning calling this claim and the probe saying that it is all based on lies. >> these house republicans don't seem to be serious people. this is really frightening behavior and unserious behavior. >> they are storming aheaved with this impeachment stunt anyway to please the far right base and play politics. it really cheapens what is a historically gave constitutional remedy of last resort. >> martha: an earlier poll shows that nearly half of voters say that they support an official impeachment inquiry. that includes nearly a quarter of self--identified democrats who say they have concerned. 45% of independents, 78 republicans. house foreign affairs committee chair michael mccaul will weigh in. first to senior congressional correspondent chad pergram. >> martha, good morning. the difference is that moderate gop members who represent battleground districts were willing to vote yes, they resisted an impeachment inquiry for months, but no more. >> we have 30 shell companies and specific transactions coming in. suspicious activity reports coming from over a dozen of them from different banks. we've got indictments coming into hunter whose only business is selling his dad's name. we've got specific checks being handed between family members. >> this likely means the impeachment inquiry drifts into 2024. democrats are watching. they believe impeachment is a stunt to help former president trump and tarnish president biden in an election year. >> the house republican impeachment inquiry is the definition of unserious, the house should be looking at the sen ate now for an example how both sides can work together in a meaningful way to pass serious legislation to improve the lives of the american people. >> schumer ducked a question by fox earlier this week on how he would handle articles of impeachment if sent to the senate from the house. at this hour house impeachment investigators are hearing from lesley wolf, a former d.o.j. official who republicans believe put the kibosh on the hunter biden investigation. >> we want to ask her questions about all that and maybe most importantly why the investigation decided to let the tax years 2014, 2015 when the bulk of the burisma income was coming into hunter biden why they left the statute of limitation lapse for those years. when you get into burisma. the energy company that paid hunter biden so much money. >> he served on the burisma board. jordan believes wolf let the statute of limitations expire before prosecutors could address burisma. >> martha: see where it goes. michael mccaul. house foreign affairs committee chairman and homeland security committee member. congressman, thank you for being with us. you heard senator chuck schumer say it's an unserious effort by republicans. they see it as political. what do you say to him? >> look, i was a federal prosecutor, public integrity section, worked on the china investigation, money coming in from china to shell corporations to the clinton campaign to influence policy. this is nothing knew on behalf of foreign governments. i think it's very serious. you have $24 million as part of the hunter biden enterprise and at first some of this was income, they weren't paying taxes, now they're saying it is loans. the fact of the matter is the reason why we're doing an inquiry and had a vote on it is because the white house counsel said they would not cooperate with our oversight iestigation until we had a formal official vote on the house floor. so we took the white house counsel's advice, we had a vote and we got the majority. now we'll proceed. that gives our subpoenas congressional subpoenas more authorities in the courts if challenged by the biden administration, which we know they will. >> martha: when you hear democrats say look, there is nothing that links anything to the president of the united states here. given your background as an investigator, prosecutor, tell me a little bit about what you think does draw a connection between these two things and just keep that hat on, right? when you look at the actual evidence that links it to president biden, what do you see that you think makes this road worth going down? >> well, the thing for me in my prior position raises a big flag is that the president -- now president, then vice president said there is a firewall between his office and the hunter biden businesses, the shell corporations. now we have found in these seven-count indictment in california for tax evasion against hunter biden that the pseudonym texts and emails from then vice president joe biden were going to the accounts and business manager for hunter biden's shell corporations. this is extremely important. it was cited by the department of justice in their indictment in california. this tells me that -- they will not turn these emails and texts over to the congress. this is what we want to know. what conversations were made? we're not pre-judging the matter. we want all the facts and evidence to come in. but we can't do that until we do what -- did what the white house counsel asked us to do and that was to have an official vote on the matter? >> we know the obama administration had concerns that hunter biden was going with his dad on these trips to china and ukraine and seeking business deals at the same time. there is evidence that they were not happy about any of this and that they wanted it to stop but that because he had just lost his son, beau they decided not to ruffle feathers. over 150 suspicious activity reports that banks filed. they are not, you know, we'll assume for the purposes here they are not politically motivated in going through things and saying this doesn't smell right. 150 times in terms of these transactions into all these shell companies. that's what put up the red flags here. but yesterday hunter biden came to capitol hill sort of. he came to the sidewalk and he held his own press -- news sort of opening statement is what i called it yesterday of his case and he walked away from, snubbed the congressional subpoena that he was given just hours before he was supposed to appear. so republicans were not happy about that, oversight chair comer already prepping a contempt charge for him. congressman chip roy didn't hold back when i spoke to him about this yesterday. watch this. >> hunter biden is basically an ongoing domino fall of stupid decisions and stupid statements saying his dad wasn't involved in financial dealings. we'll see if that's true. that's a big tell to me. we all know that his dad was involved in enriching hunter. we know that foreign entities were sending millions of dollars to them. we have had to do the work the department of justice refuses to do. >> martha: what was he getting paid to do? he was paid for introductions. in the speech yesterday. they thought he would show up and answer questions he tore into republicans, chairman and said that they were taking the light of his dad's love and presenting it as darkness. the white house and president biden himself not exactly open to questions about any of this. watch. >> the president was certainly familiar with what his son was going to say. they are proud of him. continuing to rebuild his life. they're proud of their son. >> is the president okay with his son defying a congressional subpoena? >> i'm not going to get into specifics on that. >> mr. president, should your son have defied the subpoena? >> martha: these are the questions the president has dodged for years since the campaign back in 2020. the "nework post" cover this morning with this sort of classic "new york post" style has this headline. mr. grift goes to washington, congressman. what is going to happen to hunter biden now? >> i think he is in deep trouble not only the gun charge in d.c. but the seven counts of tax evasion now against him are very serious. for those you say it is a political exercise. no, it's very serious. why didn't the special counsel at that time, why did he give him a sweetheart deal and why didn't he charge him with the seven tax evasion charges? we know there is enough predication to open up a special counsel investigation into this. so i don't understand why this is so -- they think this is so politicized. i guess the back drop of congress. we have article one constitutional responsibility here. 150 suspicious activity reports, the bank examiner said hey, this is income you are not reporting this. and you are not paying taxes. so the classic thing i saw in my tenure was when you have income and you don't report it, there is a reason why because the income is coming from illegal proceeds and you don't want to report it for tax purposes. that's why they've gone back to saying no, this is a loan repayment. remember, the 400,000 coming from the chinese energy company and then the big guy gets to cut a check for 10%, which is what they said for 40,000, what is that all about? i think we have the right to know this. what about these fake pseudonym texts and emails from joe biden to the accountant for the shell companies? >> martha: it is one thing if you want to hide your identity on an email if you are a famous person but doing it several hundred times who is the business manager with your son when you claim you don't have any knowledge of their businesses. thank you very much. good to see you. the house taking action on campus anti-semitism. making a big statement about it. they passed a measure that condemns the presidents of mit, harvard and upenn for their testimony last week. the issue planted a wedge between democrats who supported it and democrats who did not. >> i think it's an important vote. i think the idea that you had presidents from some of our most esteemed universities come in front of congress in a time where i thought they would make it better. they made it worse. when you are calling for the killing of anybody what's the context? >> torching boston's mayor. no apology for a holiday party that they sent the invitation to white officials and then rescinded them. sorry, we didn't mean to include you. this is only for people of color this party. joe concha has a lot to say about this one and he is up next. my a1c was up here; now, it's down with rybelsus®. his a1c? it's down with rybelsus®. my doctor told me rybelsus® lowered a1c better than a leading branded pill and that people taking rybelsus® lost more weight. i got to my a1c goal and lost some weight too. rybelsus® isn't for people with type 1 diabetes. don't take rybelsus® if you or your family ever had medullary thyroid cancer, or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if allergic to it. stop rybelsus® and d dical help right away if you get a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, or an allergic reaction. serious side effects may include pancreatitis. gallbladder problems may occur. tell your provider about vision problems or changes. taking rybelsus® with a sulfonylurea or insulin increases low blblod sugar risk. side effects like nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea may lead to dehydration, which may worsen kidney problems. need to get your a1c down? 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>> we want to be in a city where everyone's identity is embraced. everyone except for the white city council members make up half the council. the irony alert. under these social segregation rules of mayor wu, her own husband would be banned from attending this party. at last check he is a white guy named connor. could you imagine a white mayor of a major city saying we are going to have -- you know where i'm going with this, right? >> martha: it would never happen. >> the media reaction would be outraged. but we're not seeing any news coverage of this even by the "boston globe."enter not even reporting what mayor wood said. a complete blackout. other networks that scream race many, they aren't covering this. she will get away with this. segregation in any form is wrong in 2023. >> martha: we have it on campuses, certain clubs. it's been around a long time where you have orcss that are for people of certain backgrounds or religions. i think of like the catholic or jewish group at campuses. as a mayor you want to spread the message it is not about what makes us different from each other, it is what makes us all bostonians, what makes us care about our city. we really need to rewind this whole practice because it is just getting worse and worse in terms of dividing people. >> that's right. we saw this in chicago when lori light foot was mayor and said at one point i will only do interviews with journalists that are black or brown. how does that bring people together? we are in a time more divided since the 1960s and this is the sort of thing that's happening here. the irony is also that mayor wu only apologized for sending out the invite to the wrong people. apparently rock bottom has a basement at this point. >> martha: she could have said we'll celebrate the individuals from all different backgrounds. we want everyone to be there to celebrate their success. she could have used it as that moment. please come. this accident was a good thing. and we want everyone to come to this event. so on this topic house democrats are split on this resolution that condemned anti-semitism on college campuses and also called for the resignation of presidents of harvard and m.i.t. 84 democrats including hakeem jeffries joined virtually all republicans to vote for this resolution. 125 demomovoted against it, they claim the measure does nothing to protect jews and call it outrageous to demand that private citizens resign. the education department expanded its probe into campus anti-semitism and investigating six more schools including stanford and ucla for the practices they carry out. republican congresswoman stefanik is calling for action and told the "new york post" we must defend the rot in america's higher -- defund the rot in america's higher education, harvard gets hundreds of millions in federal money as well as tax breaks. in the face of all the outrage harvard president gay lit the p candle on the menorah last night. joe, what do you think about this? >> kudos hakeem jeffries house minority leader. he went to a pro-israel huge rally in washington. he attended and spoke. senators like john fetterman have been pro-israel bucking many in their party, right? i wrote a piece for the messenger talking about how harvard was once revered. the kind of place you send your kid there you get a bumper sticker three seconds later. now it is a toxic brand for what we're seeing. the crimson, the student newspaper there, they did a survey of college professors and asked them how do you deem yourself in terms of political leanings or ideology. 97% answered somewhat or very liberal. less than 2% conservative. you could remove all the university presidents you want. the rot here in terms of no diversity of thought is the fact that all these professor are so profoundly liberal if we had a 50/50 balance, or 60/40 it is an exchange of ideas that shouldn't should be getting. instead it's a 1--way street. >> martha: a lot of employers say we don't want this education for the people we're hiring. we want them to come from a background scholarly debated indication learning all kinds of different things and tough and ideas have been kicked the tires on and they have to prove and have their arguments for them. that they are not actually getting a great education in this environment. i want to just take a look at this. this is retired political science and law professor calling for the harvard president claudine gay to step down. she is talking about the second element to the president gay topic, that she may have plagiarized some of her work. watch this. >> the harvard corporation did not have the courage to fire its first black president. someone who should never have been elevated in the first place. she is harming academia, she is harming black people, she is harming everyone who had to work and earn their way in academia. >> martha: the 1619 founder condemned the attacks against gay. >> it is laughable to think that the first-ever black woman following that unbroken line of white racial quotas is the one that's unqualified. this is the beauty of how racism works. if you are black and you don't succeed at the highest echelon because you are lazy and not smart enough. if you do succeed and do rise to the top of your profession, it is because you didn't deserve it. >> that's called playing a race card from the bottom of the deck. it has nothing to do with gay's race. if it did we wouldn't have ex penn president liz mcgill. it is about the words, there is no context around genocide of anybody genocide of jews and to defend this that's why so many are calling for her to resign at this point. and look, trade schools now to get back on the conversation are exploding in popularity at this point. for a fraction of the cost you get a great education, 90% job placement because contractors are in high demand these days and more and more people are going this route instead of spending $80,000 a year to send their kid to harvard, $323,000 for four years. you have to earn a half mill before taxes to send your kids to a place where they will learn this. >> martha: they have a $31 billion endowment. whatever. don't send your check, we're fine. they are impenetrable in that regard for the near future. joe, thank you very much. >> you look very nice this morning. >> martha: holiday velvet on today. a judge putting donald trump's d.c. criminal case on hold. what it could mean as the georgia d.a. starts with the trump trial next summer. she calls it a silly notion. republicans want hunter biden to get the same treatment that trump allies got when they would not show up for their congressional subpoenas. >> this situation is absolutely no different than steve bannon's who as you know was held in contempt and was referred to the department of justice and was indicted by the department of justice. >> martha: we'll see biden's d.o.j. and whether or not they will prosecute hunter for his refusal the same thing that happened to steve bannon and peter navarro. we saw how they were treated. what will happen here? 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they went after steve bannon and peter navarro also for not showing up when they were subpoenaed to testify. back to democrats saying a different tune about the importance in those situations of showing up for the closed-door deposition. >> this goes on for hour after hour after hour. we want to get all our questions answered and you can't do that in a live format. there are many questions that we have for him. >> martha: leo terrell fox news contributor, attorney at law. good to see you, welcome to the "focus" this morning. so, you know, what do you think will happen here? will they treat both situations the same? will hunter be held in contempt? what will that look like? >> you laid it out perfectly, martha. let me be very clear. you cannot ignore the legal aspect of it and the political aspect. first question, are they going to treat hunter biden the same way as they did steve bannon? i don't think so. they should but why? because you have the department of justice under merrick garland who reports to joe biden. that is joe biden's son there. if they do anything they'll slow drag it and take as much time as possible. yes, steve bannon was treated in a manner in which he was held in contempt and basically con factoid. do you honestly expect hunter biden to be treated the same way the joe biden being the head of the federal government? i don't think so. >> martha: even as you say you have to look at both sides of it. everyone knows what the law is. if you break the law there are ramifications and look at the precedent have people have been treated in the past. you do the same thing and treat them the same way. what we're seeing now with weiss, once the light is on them and it becomes more difficult, he came forward and they undid the sweetheart deal thanks to the judge who looked at it and said what? you don't get immunity for the rest of your life. so is the tide turning? is it complicated by the fact that it seems like more an more democrats, including david axelrod, don't want to see joe biden run again? >> is the tide turning? yes, but slowly. go back to david weiss. he could file additional charges. where is the fara charges? they prosecute the tax charges. why? it excludes joe biden. martha, i want to make sure all viewers understand this. every decision made by the department of justice, they will factor in the political aspect how it hurts joe biden and the democrats. lesley wolf, for example, if i was in that committee right now taking her deposition, who told you to omit joe biden's name? did you have the authority to omit joe biden's name? what is the legal basis for it? that attorney is under a tremendous amount of pressure to tell the truth. not only because she is under oath but because her bar license will be affected. so she is under a lot of pressure. that's a very important deposition today. >> martha: you remember when ziegler and shapley wanted to search a certain property of hunter biden's and she said no, i think that's a little -- i don't think the juice is worth the squeeze i think was the comment that was made in that. >> and that's very important. the i.r.s. whistleblowers have credibility. they have testified under oath. they are clean. lesley wolf is under oath now. she has to come clean. this is why we hear people talk in the open when they are under oath it is a whole different story. what hunter biden did yesterday was a dog and pony show. he will sing a different song when he raises his right hand to god and has to tell the truth under oath. >> martha: the judge putting donald trump's election interference case in washington on hold while the former president pursues his claim to the supreme court that he is immune as president at the time from prosecution. so it comes as special counsel jack smith is attempting to bypass the appeals court process of this. the usual next step in the process and he wants this to go straight to the supreme court. here is will cain's take on this and we'll get your thoughts on the other side, leo. >> the fact that jack smith is going to skip the appellate level of the federal justice system to try to go to the supreme court in order to preserve his trial schedule? he needs to make sure this happens before super tuesday. in time to interfere with an election, to impact an election shows he is not pursuing justice or that no one is above the law. he is trying to influence your vote with this case. >> martha: do you agree? >> absolutely. again, you know, when you look at this case, you have to understand the political aspect. jack smith is a democratic operative who wants a kangaroo court before the election. he wants to impact the election. i will ask if i had a chance to ask jack smith one question, why this case? have you done this before? how many times have you appealed directly to the supreme court? basically i can guarantee the answer is 0. he wants a trial to try to get a conviction against trump before the election. it is not going to work. this judge, the district judge, her hands are tied. she had to suspend and stay all the operations because the supreme court has jurisdiction. jack smith won't get his wish. that case will not take place in march of 2024. >> martha: as you are talking about this my mind goes back to 2015 and the text messages between peter struck support and this wal-mart. he won't be president. we won't let it happen. you see that kind of thread still running through this in terms of people who want to preserve democracy. you have to let people vote who they want to vote for. >> you are right. the key is this. if people will look at the hunter biden, donald trump case. the legal system is on one side but another track, the political impact that affects the legal system. that has to be looked at in every aspect of this case. >> martha: thank you, leo, always great to see you. migrants pouring over the southern border at a stunning rate. no other way to look at this. it is a crisis that's going on. everyone can see it with their own eyes. stunning new video showing thousands of people trying to catch a train to the border there in mexico trying to catch a train to come into the united states. all while the white house struggles to answer questions about whether it is actually considering some measures to affect this situation which would include in some cases the return to some trump-era border policies. do they have, you know, the spine to do what needs to be done here? we'll talk about that. plus it is not just the border crisis that is dragging down the president's poll numbers. one democratic strategist is warning of a dark sign for the president. >> you don't have to be euclid to figure it out. president biden is in political trouble. his poll numbers are practically on the ocean floor. - [speaker] at first, just leaving the house was hard. - [speaker] but wounded warrior project helps you realize it's possible to get out there - [speaker] to feel sense of camaraderie again. - [speaker] to find the tools to live life better. - [narrator] through generous community support, we've connected warriors and their families with no cost physical and mental health services, legislative advocacy, career assistance, and life skill training for 20 years, and we are just getting started. veteran homeowners, with inflation on the march, here's a great way to get your monthly payments under control. call newday! while credit card rates can be 22% or more mortgage rates at newday are a fraction of those rates. with one easy lower monthly payment the newday 100 va cash out loan lets you pay off your high-rate debt. and you can save $500 a month. nobody takes care of veterans like newday usa. >> republicans continue to hold funding for america's allies hostage at the expense of migrants. >> mass detention, gutting our asylum system, title 42 on steroids. it is unconscionable. >> the biden administration has to understand we're here because we aren't collateral damage. what is on the table is further create chaos on the border, to make immigration the achilles heel for democrats in the coming election. >> martha: there you see it. that's the border battle that is heating up. congressional hispanic democrats warning the white house there will be political implications if they decide to bring back some of the trump-era immigration poll seals. it comes as the white house is struggling to get a grip on the record-shattering numbers, no debate. the records are absolute numbers in the migrant surge at the southern border. look at this video though shows a long line of migrants in terrible-looking conditions waiting to get on the train in mexico to come to the united states. you can't blame them because by everything we see they will be allowed in and will be provided services. the question is why is there no system to do this in a way that works? customs and border protection reports 5,000 migrants are released every single day into the country. 10,000 migrant encounters on tuesday alone. last week we had a record 12,000. so that's slightly down from that number. not a whole lot of encouragement there. the white house dodges questions by reporters on what they think about all this and what they are going to do about it. >> wouldn't that be a major policy reversal to revert back to the previous four years? >> i won't go into sourcing from here or get into -- i won't negotiation from the podium. >> why is that acceptable to a president? >> i will be careful and not negotiate from the podium. >> would you admit the border policy, the biden border policy so far has not worked? >> i will say we have known for decades -- for decades that the immigration policy -- the immigration system is broken. >> does the president think it is a national security risk >> here is what i'll say. one of the ways that we also have to look at this is what congressional republicans have refused to do. >> martha: we've heard that over and over. let's bring in our panel. the former head deputy chief of staff and former hillary clinton chief of staff. thank you both for being here today. let me start with you. the answer from karine jean-pierre is always well, the first thing he did when he came into office was propose some immigration fixes, right? but he almost never mentions it since then. the other thing is during the debates for the 2020 election, president biden stood on the stage and said you should come. if you have an asylum claim, come, we welcome you to come. so obviously that's what has been happening. i don't see why there is any surprise. >> great to be here with you. he did say people can come. extended the olive branch and people are coming. in the state of california, for example, it is costing california residents $22 billion to date. in the city of new york where you currently are new york democratic mayor eric adams recently report evidence it is going to cost the city of new york 4.3 billion by july of 2024. you look at cities like chicago, illinois, where the residents there, most of whom by the way are black americans saying wait a minute here. you are now taking resource evers away from us to go towards illegal immigration. we have a housing shortage in the united states. we have to somehow figure out how to pay for more law enforcement to protect our communities now we have an influx of people we know nothing about. the overall impact of this is not only negative on the american people at large but negative on communities and cities across this country. the white house clearly doesn't know how to solve it. >> martha: this is not a lack of compassion. it is a total lack of organization of having a border. we literally you just watch people pouring across. here is eric adams. let me bring this sound bite in and we'll get dan's thought on this. watch. >> i'm just not seeing the white house and their colleagues up there understanding that we need a key compression strategy. we need to fund it on a national level and make sure we allow people to work. basic things. >> martha: so, dan, president biden dodged eric adams a bunch of times in new york and in washington. he doesn't want to hear anything about the problems that these cities are encountering, it seems. >> democrat needs to know it is a very serious problems. a kayiot -- with our neighboring countries in central and south america. a major factor and something that needs to be addressed nor strongly and seriously than it has been. i would put that on both parties. this president put forth to congress $14 billion for border security including thousands of agents to process, to if there are asylum claims that don't belong put them back in countries they came from. that needs to be taken up and taken seriously. the issue of policies and negotiation happening there welcome the conversation and democrats should welcome that conversation as well. republicans have used this issue too cynically and politically. part of it from the white house in the past has been understanding it is a political hot button issue rather than serious intent to solve the problem. it is a big problem taking serious heads to get around the policies and deal with it. >> martha: a country like the united states -- no other countries do this, by the way. this the unique to us. you can't come in this way through the airport or any other border here. but in this place you can at the southern border. the other thing president biden talked about when he was running was the high-tech border we were going to have. didn't need to be a wall but this huge high-technology situation that would make a better process for everyone. what happened to that idea? i have not seen that implemented in any way. >> we haven't, martha. when members of the freedom caucus have tried to argue for more funding specifically to address the border crisis from new technology, hire new border agents and improve the number of judges we have, democrats at every measure and even some republicans say no. >> martha: yeah, it is a -- these images tell the story better than any of us can. it is baffling, i think, to a lot of americans especially given the fact that politically it is not necessarily working for the president. the people you talked about in chicago who are looking at this going i'm not sure this vote is serving us well. so i have to leave it there. running out of time. a few seconds. thank you very much gentlemen. good to see you both. thank you for watching "the faulkner focus." i will see you back at 3:00. see you then. so, no matter what, i'm running this kitchen. 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