"america's newsroom." i'm dana perino. bill hemmer is off today. good morning, bret. >> bret: i'm bret baier. elevated threats to the homeland coming as a record number of people on the terror watch list were caught at the southern border last year. more than the previous six years combined. the white house yesterday dodging a question about the risk of foreign terrorists taking advantage of weak border security. >> is it possible that somebody who wants to commit a terrorist attack during a time of elevated threat crossed the southern border into the united states already? >> i couldn't possibly answer that question, peter. all i can do is tell you that we have remained vigilant to that potential threat. >> dana: all this as we say a disturbing rise of anti-semitism of college campuses and cities across the u.s. police arresting an ivy league student for making violent threats against jewish students at cornell university. >> bret: senator josh hawley ahead. rich edson on similar cases in the u.s. government. david spunt has the elevate i had threat of attacks on u.s. soil. good morning. >> good morning. i have covered the f.b.i. director for several years now and christopher wray is not someone who is into flashy, inflammatory, dramatic rhetoric. he chooses his words very carefully and gave this sobering testimony yesterday before the senate panel and the public. >> here in the united states our most immediate concern is that violent extremists, individuals or small groups will draw inspiration from the events in the middle east to carry out attacks against americans going about their daily lives. >> wray has multiple investigations are underway. in some cases there are direct ties, some cases indirect ties. people inspired by hamas, raised concern about lone wolf attacks. >> we also cannot and do not discount the possibility that hamas, or another foreign terrorist organization, may exploit the current conflict to conduct attacks here on our own soil. >> the director of the national counter terrorism center warned other terrorist organizations across the globe are watching and waiting. >> they are seeking to capitalize on this moment to galvanize supporters and organize for attacks. >> you mentioned the rise in anti-semitism across the country. the director of the f.b.i. told senators the jewish community is uniquely targeted by most terrorist organizations across the spectrum. >> a group that makes up 2.4% roughly of the american population, it should be jarring to everyone that same population accounts for something like 60% of all religious-based hate crimes. and so they need our help. >> when asked if the terrorist threat has increased since president biden took office in 2021, the f.b.i. director said yes but at the same time he added the caveat that law enforcement is better prepared. bret. >> bret: david spunt at the justice department. >> dana: the white house says there is no room for anti-semitism in america but turns out government employs several people known for making racist comments against jewish people and as calls grow to have them removed the west wing has, well, failed to answer. rich edson is live with the latest. hi. >> good morning, dana. fritz berg run is a blog poster. two weeks ago he wrote defending jews is siding with satan and mentioned jews as enemies. the state department has known about posts like this for years and he still works there. just this summer senator chuck grassley sent the state department a letter asking what he does for state? grassley says he got no response so this week he wrote secretary blinken again saying quote, he has reportedly published anti-semitic and racist comment on the public website and involved in the visa ajudd indication process at the state department. he said it's tough to stay employed when a u.s. senator publicly demands one's termination. state department views this blog as anti-semitic, racist. homophobic and abhorrent but cannot comment on personnel matters. state department says it is focused on fighting anti-semitism. >> we will continue to root -- because of privacy reasons can't speak to an individual employee's case. >> senate hearing yesterday in letters to homeland security secretary several republicans are demanding dhs fire an immigration officers who pointed anti-semitic rhetoric on several social media pages following the october 7th terrorist attacks on israel. state department or the department of homeland security says she is on administrative leave. back at state secretary blinken meets with saudi arabia's defense minister, travels to israel friday. >> dana: rich edson, thank you for the update. >> is this typical of people who work at dhs? an assume and immigration officer posting the pro-genocidal slogans and images on the day that israelis are being slaughtered in their beds. what have you done about this? >> your question to suggest that that is emblematic of the men and women of the department of homeland security is despicable. >> i'm sorry, this person works for the department of homeland security. have you fired her? you have employees celebrating genocide and you say it's despicable for me to ask the question? has she been fired? >> she has been placed on administrative leave. >> she has not been fired? >> bret: our next guest over anti-semitic comments posted by homeland security officer on social media as rich just mentioned. josh hawley, republican on the homeland security committee. senator hawley, thanks for being on. want to get your reaction to that back and forth and what you took away from that exchange. >> what i took away, bret, is this individual is still on the payroll of dhs which means she is getting paid with u.s. taxpayer dollars and quebecly concerning. she is an asylum and immigration officer who posted on linkedin that she handles many refugee cases. i asked the secretary how many cases has she handled and handled cases involving jewish applicants and handled applicants who may have ties to hamas? he wouldn't answer me. i said have you conducted a review of all her cases? i think the answer is no. this is extraordinary to have this kind of a person on the payroll deciding these critical cases and dhs doesn't appear to be doing anything about it. >> bret: you've grilled secretary mayokas before on border questions. there is no love lost there. i think you've called for him to step aside. after that exchange, he had this response. take a listen. >> perhaps he does not know that i am the child of a holocaust survivor. perhaps he does not know that my mother lost almost all her family at the hands of the nazis. and so i find his adversarial tone to be entirely misplaced. i do not expect an apology but i did want to say what i just articulate i had. >> bret: did it change your perception after he said that? >> i find his evasiveness unacceptable and frankly the idea that he would try to insulate himself from accountability. we're talking about people employed at his department. we are talking about people who are under his charge. his responsibility to the american public and yes, to jewish americans who frankly, bret, fear for their lives and to know that there is a pro-terrorist, pro-hamas sympathizer making immigration and asylum decisions, and to have no answer and no response taken no meaningful action is totally inexcusable. he clearly had no answers yesterday. >> dana: great to have you on the show. i want to ask you about the funding fight to come that is underway right now on capitol hill. the "wall street journal" writes this. the biden administration has a spending choice, guns or butter, saying that biden now wants congress to help allies win two wars abroad and defer a third over taiwan yet wants to continue to spend on everything as if nothing in the world has changed. do you have ideas on where you would like to see some significant cuts in the budget if the wars are to get funded? >> listen, i thought the house's idea to cut the 87,000 i.r.s. agents who biden should never have hired in the first place is a good idea. if we can use that money to help our ally israel. so much the bert. in terms of our priority israel is facing a threat. everybody agrees israel needs aid. we should get it done immediately, this week. let's get that done and we can talk about ukraine, the border, taiwan, all the other things the administration has asked for. one other thing i'm a hard no on any funding for gaza until every american hostage is home. that money will go into the hands of hamas terrorists. three holding our hostages. those good americans need to come home. >> dana: interesting you bring that up. i read this morning that secretary blinken writes an op-ed in the "washington post" israel needs the aid but says the humanitarian aid must go to gaza as well. i can see your point. it is not as if the britts were providing humanitarian aid to german civilians. a lot of pushback. is it possible you could get this funding through with just the military aid to israel? >> i think so. i think it is possible and i think that's the thing to do. we need to aid our ally an partner israel right now. my position on gaza is this. that money will go into the hands of hamas. hamas is the effective government in gaza. just yesterday secretary blinken testified before the senate that there would inevitably be some i think he used the word spillage of the money, any aid to gaza into the hands of terrorists. why do that when they hold our hostages? >> bret: quickly we had the ambassador to ukraine on earlier saying clear and simple if we don't support ukraine, russia will win? do you agree? >> we have supported ukraine, bret. to the tune of 113 billion. i'm not in favor of additional funding to ukraine particularly not when, number one, there is no watchdog tracking all the money. we need an accounting of every dime spent in ukraine. administration tells us they have significant corruption concerns. let's see where our money is being spent. european allies have spent far below particularly on military aid to ukraine. we have to say to them they must take the lead in defending ukraine and in defending the european continent. we have to shift our focus militarily to the pacific. we're going to have to do that sooner or later and need to level with them right now and say they have to step up and take the lead. >> bret: we appreciate your time this morning. thank you. >> dana: so many issues. donald trump junior is expected to take the stand today in the 250 million fraud trial against his father and the trump business empire. the former president and three of his adult children are scheduled to testify over the coming weeks. nate foye is on this story live at the courthouse this morning. hi, nate. >> good morning. donald trump junior is scheduled to testify in today's afternoon session ahead of his brother, eric's testimony which is scheduled for tomorrow. both of the older trump sons are co-defendants in this case alongside their father former president donald trump. all three deny any wrongdoing and this morning former president trump is criticizing the judge in the case on truth social. take a look at the two posts from this morning. one writing quote, i'm being railroaded at a level never seen before. when cohen admitted the whole case was a lie he, speaking of the judge, didn't care. trump also writing quote, leave my children alone, anger on. you are a disgrace to the legal profession. don junior is an executive at the trump organization and new york attorney general james is accusing him and other trump organization executives of fraudulently overvaluing properties to receive better bank loans. ivanka trump is the only sibling not named as a defendant in the case anymore. she originally was. an appeals court dismissed the case against her because of the statute of limitations. however, she will still have to testify next week after the judge denied her request to void a subpoena compelling her to testifying. the former president says new york attorney general james is harassing him and his children. he maintains he is being politically persecuted and that his properties are actually more valuable than were listed. while james says the case proves that no one is above the law. the morning session is set to begin in moments. two witnesses who will testify before don junior is expected to take the stand this afternoon. send it back to you. >> dana: nate foye at the courthouse. thank you. >> bret: intense face-to-face combat on the ground as israeli troops dive deeper into gaza to root out hamas terrorists. >> dana: a lot of fighting is in a civilian area where israel says hamas leaders use residential buildings as command centers. >> bret: as pressure grows, the rafah crossing has owned up for the first time since the war began. >> every dollar of aid that goes into the gaza strip is controlled by hamas. they either tax it, direct 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family and home. >> bret: new information just in from israeli defense officials confirming 15 soldiers have been killed in gaza since the start of ground operations. trey yengst is live in southern israel with the latest. trey. >> good morning. we continue to get very difficult news from inside gaza. we just heard gunfire a few moments ago. israelis are engaged in intense battles with hamas militants. we are learning more from the defense minister, a man i met with yesterday about what the israelis are doing as they look to destroy hamas leadership. telling fox news that the idf has created a special operation room to hunt down anyone who was involved in the october 7th massacre that start evidence this conflict that erupted 26 days ago. we have do have the new video of idf forces operating in the strip behind me. they have been engaged in gun battles and according to the military a number of soldiers were hit with rpgs and anti-tank guided missiles resulting in many casualties for the israelis. they say at least 15 soldiers were killed yesterday. as they continue to push deeper into the gaza strip we understand the israelis are using that critical air support to help the infantry troops operating inside gaza. yesterday the refugee camp was the focus of operations. they killed a hamas commander, a man responsible for the october 7th massacre in part and also responsible for the attacks on israeli forces currently inside the strip. but the israelis are getting a lot of questions about the number of civilian casualties associated with those strikes. we do expect that number to rise as well. one piece of positive news, though amid the tragic story, the rafah crossing between gaza and egypt open today and injured palestinians were able to cross in ambulances taken to egyptian hospitals where they can receive further medical care. we understand as part of this deal negotiated by qatar and egypt that hundreds of foreign nationals can make their way out of gaza to safety. bret. >> bret: we've seen iranian proxy forces attacking or trying to attack u.s. forces in the region. 28 attacks in the past couple of weeks. what we haven't talked about a lot is the iranian proxies like the houthis in yemen firing on israel but israel stopping those attacks. one even yesterday. >> yeah, bret. absolutely. the iranian backed houthi rebels in yemen fired a ballistic missile at israel yesterday forcing the country to use their secondary missile defense system the arrow system. a successful interception. cruise missiles were launched toward israel. this has basically caused the israelis to shift to another front. they are moving warships to the red sea so they are able to use american intelligence and u.s. warships, get the information and shoot down any threats that would come from yemen. it gives you a sense of the iranian proxies across the region. you have hamas and islamic jihad inside gaza. houthis in yemen. militia's in iraq and syria and iranian regime that continues to threaten the jewish state. the conflict is on the brink of unraveling while the israelis focus on the battle behind me they have to keep their eye on the other areas that are developing. >> dana: as you heard trey just report israel said its forces struck a hamas stronghold. israel says its forces rooted out a large number of terrorists taken control of civilian buildings. the assault killed a hamas commander who helped lead the october 7th terror attack. former idf general joins us now. the hamas leadership decides to hide amongst civilians. and israel is determined to make sure that the attack that happened on october 7th can never happen again. israel can give lots of warnings to the civilians. i don't know if heed them. israel takes actions when they know they can get a commander? >> first of all, we do all we can to notify the population and warn them and ask them and leave all the corridors open for them to go to the south. there is a whole region in the south that is a secure area that israel does not attack and there are some humanitarian efforts, there is water, food, medical aid over there and the population has been asked to go over there. i think that by the way, most of the population in gaza have left. but there are still something like a few hundreds of thousands of people over there and we still apply to them all the time because now the idf is heavily engaged in gaza and the lack of engagement in all of metropolitan gaza and we still push and ask the population to go down to the south and hopefully this is what they are going to follow. >> dana: john kirby from the white house had this to say yesterday about the calls for a cease-fire. >> right now is not the time for a general cease-fire. it is, however, the time to consider pauses in the fighting long enough so that folks like your relatives and family members can get this incredibly needed humanitarian assistance and perhaps a way to get out. >> dana: general. the humanitarian assistance is o