Boeing needs to cooperate in ‘every respect’ to show how they will improve quality: Pete Buttigieg
U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg joins ‘Fox News Sunday’ to discuss the border crisis, the U.S. economy, and the domestic airline industry.
This is a rush transcript of ‘Fox News Sunday’ on March 10, 2024. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SHANNON BREAM, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: I'm Shannon Bream.
Dueling campaign appearances in battleground Georgia this weekend providing voters with a sharp contrast between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump eight months before the 2024 election.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Instead of celebrating the contribution of immigrants to our country, to our economy and our communities, Donald Trump calls them vermin.
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We should be saying crooked Joe, you're fired. You're destroying our nation. Get the hell out of here.
BREAM (voice-over): Blistering words from the two candidates millions of Super Tuesday voters say should lead their parties on the presidential ballot this November.
The gloves off just two days after President Biden's big reset moment at the State of the Union.
BIDEN: The American story of resentment, revenge and retribution -- that's not me.
BREAM: Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg who's already stomping for the president's reelection joins us live.
Then --
SEN. KATIE BRITT (R-AL): The country we know and love seems to be slipping away.
BREAM: The youngest woman in the Senate takes direct aim at the president. We'll speak exclusively with Alabama Senator Katie Britt on her State of the Union rebuttal.
And TikTok under fire. The House set to vote on a bill that could lead to a ban of one of the most popular social media apps in the country. We'll get reaction from our Sunday panel.
Plus, former NFL star Tim Tebow on his mission to help thousands of the world's most vulnerable children.
TIM TEBOW, FORMER NFL STAR: In the middle of her abuse, this is what she writes, rescue me. Help me.
BREAM: All, right now, on "FOX News Sunday".
(MUSIC)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BREAM: Hello from FOX News in Washington.
The general election is in full swing. President Biden and former President Donald Trump trading blows and digging in for the long tough campaign ahead. The border crisis front and center for both candidates as two major stories play out.
In Georgia, President Trump meeting with the parents of Laken Riley, the 22-year-old nursing student brutally murdered on the University of Georgia campus. A Venezuelan man in the country illegally now charged with her murder.
In an interview this weekend, President Biden apologizing a second time for referring to the suspect as, quote, "an illegal," at the State of the Union, but not mentioning Riley's name at his campaign stop in Atlanta.
We're also learning new details about Friday's deadly National Guard helicopter crash near the Texas border known to be a high traffic area for drug cartel smugglers. Army investigators are on the scene of the crash.
In a moment, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg joins us. The secretary helping the president make a case for a second term.
But, first, FOX News team coverage with Jeff Paul covering the border crash from Eagle Pass and Lucas Tomlinson live from the White House where we begin.
Hello, Lucas.
LUCAS TOMLINSON, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Shannon. That's right, the two presidential front runners just miles apart in Georgia, Donald Trump in Rome and President Biden in Atlanta.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BIDEN: We all know Donald Trump sees a different America, an American story of resentment, revenge and retribution. That's not me. That's not you.
TOMLINSON (voice-over): After not mentioning his opponent by name in the State of the Union Address, a different tone in Georgia. Biden called the suspected killer of Laken Riley an illegal in the speech he doubled down a day later and then reversed himself in a new interview.
BIDEN: An undocumented person, and I shouldn't have used illegal. I should -- it's undocumented.
INTERVIEWER: So you regret using that word?
BIDEN: Yes.
TOMLINSON: Donald Trump calling out Biden for the about-face after pressure from progressive members of his own party.
TRUMP: They just told me prior to what I'm doing right now that Joe Biden went on television and apologized for calling Laken's murder an illegal.
He said he should have called him an undocumented, not an illegal. And Biden should be apologizing for apologizing to this killer.
TOMLINSON: Before taking the stage, Trump met with the family of Laken Riley in Rome, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene's home district, who demanded Biden say Riley's name during the State of the Union address.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TOMLINSON (on camera): Neither Trump nor Biden mentioned the crash of that National Guard helicopter in Texas. In his statement, President Biden offered condolences to the family -- Shannon.
BREAM: Lucas Tomlinson at the White House -- thank you very much, Lucas.
We turn now to FOX News correspondent Jeff Paul live from the southern border in Texas with more on that.
Hello, Jeff.
JEFF PAUL, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Shannon.
Yes. The U.S. military saying the crew on board that helicopter was conducting a federal operation here at the U.S. Mexico border when it crashed in the Rio Grand Valley. Three were killed, one was injured and now, investigators are trying to figure out how it all happened.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAUL (voice-over): In an empty field in the Texas border town of La Grulla sits the wreckage of a UH-72 Lakota helicopter that was carrying three U.S. National Guard soldiers and one U.S. Border Patrol agent.
National Border Patrol Council's Chris Cabrera said says they were on routine patrol Friday afternoon when the aircraft went down.
CHRIS CABRERA, NATIONAL BORDER PATROL COUNCIL: I think they were tracking some -- some people that had crossed, some illegal aliens that cross into the country. So they were in the process of looking for them. They had some type of mechanical difficulty, went down -- went down in a hard landing.
PAUL: The crew was conducting a federal support mission at the border and was not related to Texas's ongoing Operation Lone Star.
TOM HOMAN, FORMER ACTING ICE DIRECTOR: What happened yesterday is a tragedy.
PAUL: Former Acting ICE Director Tom Homan says Border Patrol agents often fly with National Guard to serve as spotters, helping guide soldiers on border mission.
HOMAN: These men and women put on line every day, so for the men and women of the Board Patrol, God bless them, and I hope every American understands the difficult job they have.
PAUL: In border towns like Eagle Pass, the migrant crisis remains front and center. Large groups are still crossing the Rio Grand and miles north of the border. Police are busy tracking down suspected human smugglers.
They are scenes that are all too familiar to Kinney County attorney Brent Smith.
BRENT SMITH, KINNEY COUNTY, TEXAS ATTORNEY: See the security threat, but yet we're not doing anything about it, and I don't think American people are going to put up with that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PAUL (on camera): U.S. Senator John Cornyn of Texas put out a statement calling the crash very sad but he also added that this is yet another reminder how the Biden administration and its policies is making the border less safe for everyone -- Shannon.
BREAM: Jeff Paul reporting from the southern border, thank you very much
Joining us now, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
Secretary, welcome back to "FOX News Sunday".
PETE BUTTIGIEG, U.S. SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION: Thanks for having me on.
BREAM: So you are out now as part of the real election bid for President Trump -- or excuse me, President Biden. You would not be out there for President Trump -- President Biden for a second term.
The border keeps showing up at the top of the concerns of Americans out there. So let's start there.
It's no secret this administration from the beginning said it would get rid of policies they thought were cruel or potentially illegal under President Trump.
Here is Secretary Mayorkas. This is 2021.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY: So we have rescinded so many Trump immigration policies, it would take so much time to list them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BREAM: So since then, there have been dozens and dozens of actions from the previous administration that have been done away with things like ending border wall funding, ending executive orders that would have prioritized people for deportation, all kinds of things that the administration embraces. These aren't hidden actions, but we're now at double or triple the numbers we were seeing under the Trump administration.
Does this president not own the numbers at the border, the chaos there?
BUTTIGIEG: Well, this president has taken leadership in addressing the situation of the border and has demonstrated by supporting a bipartisan border bill that would send resources to help deal with that issue. And emphasis on the word "bipartisan" because even though President Biden was backing that bill, it was negotiated by one of the most conservative Republicans in the Senate and Democrats across the table. They got to a deal that was workable.
The bases of both parties didn't love it, but most Americans would agree it would help. Only for congressional Republicans to kill that compromise, apparently at the behest of former President Trump. And I think that shows you the difference between rhetoric and action.
Right now, we have an opportunity to pass a bill, to get the resources, to help with the border which everybody agrees is a problem, and yet you have this intervention to prevent Congress from acting. It makes you wonder whether there aren't some like congressional Republicans who would rather have the problem get worse so they can attack the president over it, than reach across the aisle and work with the president to do something about it.
BREAM: But let's talk about the three years leading up to this, because there's no mistaking just factually through nonpartisan agencies that the numbers have spiked to record high levels, things like this administration saying we're not going to give notice to appear, so somebody has to show up in immigration court. We're going to give notice to reports where some 50 percent of people apparently do not show up and self-report to ICE.
We have millions of people coming into this country. We have growing numbers of people on terror watch list. We don't know who's here. I mean, that happened for three years before we got to this potential deal in the Senate.
BUTTIGIEG: Let me remind you that the president proposed comprehensive immigration reform on day one of his administration, in 2021. There are a lot of factors that have contributed to the issues at the border. Those include economic issues, safety issues happening in Central America.
But what we know is when there was actually a chance to do something about it, actually a hard one agreement between conservative Republicans and Democrats on what to do, we almost got there only for the former president who's not even an elected official to pull the rug out from under us by intervening and telling the speaker and congressional Republicans to kill that bipartisan border deal.
BREAM: But do you dispute that the three years of chaos leading up to that bill were the result -- is the result of some of those actions? Because the House Republicans will say, we gave you H.R.2. The president gave us something on day one that he knew wouldn't pass, some would argue H.R.2 coming from the House was so strident, that wouldn't pass.
BUTTIGIEG: So --
BREAM: And then we have three years of increasing numbers that nobody disputes were actually happening.
BUTTIGIEG: Yeah. So, President Biden did away with some policies that he believed were illegal or immoral such as separating families at the border, retained others in a way that you know not everybody in his political base love, but he believed were necessary to keep this country safe.
But again, the question -- I mean, we can do a Washington blame game all day and you can tell there's some folks in the Capitol who would rather do that than roll up their sleeves and solve the problem. But anybody who opens their mouth about this issue should first have to explain -- any politician -- should first have to explain why they stood in the way of a border bill that could be passed tomorrow and the president would sign it?
BREAM: Should he take executive action knowing that's not going to happen?
BUTTIGIEG: Well, he's taking executive action right now and will continually reassess what needs to be done based on the law and based on facts on the ground.
BREAM: Would he -- would he reinstate remain in Mexico? Which a lot of folks say that's responsible for millions of people who get here, check a box.
You hear Border Patrol agents complaining, we're not even law enforcement officers anymore. We are facilitating people's entry into this country, letting them go and not knowing where they will ever turn up again.
BUTTIGIEG: Which is why Congress should listen to the president and send more resources there both to adjudicate the cases for those who were involved in that side and to get the technology and the personnel. Remember, the Border Patrol Union, not exactly big fans of President Biden, endorsed this border bill, and yet congressional Republicans killed it.
So, again, you know, we can -- we can continue to indulge in a Washington blame game or actually get something done. And I would add, you know, this is in context of so many areas where there's been talk for years -- talk, talk, talk -- and no action.
President Biden has taken action. He took action to finally let Medicare negotiate prescription drug prices over the objection of big pharma and congressional Republicans.
He took action to make sure that -- that we have a stronger economy which is why more jobs have been created on his watch than any president in American history. He took action to pass an infrastructure bill where the prior president, the former president, promised it every year, failed to get it done.
So we can talk about language. We can talk about words. Or we can talk about action.
BREAM: All right. Let's talk about the economy because when you talk about the fact that he created jobs, there have been a number of fact checks on this by plenty of different organizations and they'll say that more than 70 percent of the jobs that he says were created were actually rebound jobs that came back from the 22 million we lost in COVID. And so, you got to factor that into the conversation.
When it comes to how people are actually feeling about how they're doing though, the "AP" looked at this, looked at prices, talked about where we are, food and gas and all of these things that are up, many people have depleted their savings, over the last couple of years of inflation.
Credit card debt is at an all-time high, well over a trillion dollars. But they know, not everything can go on a credit card. They say this: Median rent for a property with up to two bedrooms has jumped from more than $1,400 at the end of 2020 to more than $1,700 at the end of the year, according to realtor.com.
So you've got the higher gas prices, the higher food prices, rent more than $300 a month. That's thousands of dollars a year.
We ask people, do you have more money in your pocket versus last year? Fifty-seven percent of people told us they have less. They tell us they're not doing well. Their families aren't doing well.
So looking at the data, looking at people's personal experience, are you telling these Americans they're wrong about their own personal financial situation?
BUTTIGIEG: So, you raise -- there's a lot of things in that question, so I'll try to take them in order.
First of all, the idea of how the economy rebounded from COVID. Let me be clear, unemployment is lower than it was even before COVID. Stock market is higher than it was even before COVID, and job creation is faster than it was even before COVID.
So, matter -- no matter what rebound effects you're talking about, these are economic results that have not happened since before I was born.
Now in terms of costs, that's been a major issue. And by the way, that's been a major issue in every wealth -- wealthy country. This is an example of something that was largely affected by COVID.
But I think there's a reason why inflation in the U.S. is lower than it is in any of the other G7 countries.
BREAM: That's actually not true.
BUTTIGIEG: Yes, it is.
BREAM: Well, not according to "The Washington Post". They say Japan, Italy and Germany all had lower inflation rates than we do, and Italy's is less than 1 percent.
BUTTIGIEG: They may have been looking at a different time period.
But I'm telling you, if you look at the overall time period when it was toughest, our inflation rate was better. And I would add right now, wages are going up faster than prices. That means even after inflation, you're coming out ahead.
Now that's an across the board number. But some people --
BREAM: But for two years that wasn't true. For two years that wasn't true.
(CROSSTALK)
BUTTIGIEG: Yeah, we had -- we had a tough bout of inflation, no doubt that we did.
BREAM: People are still fighting that.
BUTTIGIEG: Which is why President Biden is trying to lower costs.
Now, look congressional Republicans were against President Biden when he worked to cut insulin down to $35 a month for seniors. Right now, right now, especially for families that are pressed on costs, we could have insulin cap at $35 a month for everybody, not just for seniors. All it would take is for a few congressional Republicans to walk away from agreeing with big pharma and start to agree with President Biden. That's not the only cost he's out to -- to cut. He was in the House and in the State of the Union speech calling for an across-the-board $2000 out-of- pocket cap, something else that would help in a country where people are feeling the pinch of those prices that went up with post COVID inflation.
Congressional Republicans are standing in the way of it, but he's going to keep pushing. He's trying to get rid of junk fees, taking on credit card companies because we know that those are something that affects the cost of living.
And look, something else that comes into play alongside the cost of housing is the cost of transportation, which is why after years and years of talk and years and years of failure, President Biden successfully began to implement the infrastructure bill that is now creating jobs, boosting income, and lowering the cost of our supply chains in every part of the country.
BREAM: Well, there are -- there -- we didn't get to your day job, because there's a lot going on in the world of transportation, too.
BUTTIGIEG: I just did.
BREAM: You did, but I would say this as we have, you know, engines catching on fire, doors falling off, wheels falling off, people are very concerned about traveling. How do you reassure them? Because now, we're being told by some that Boeing is not cooperating with the investigation into what happened in that Alaska Airlines flight. How can you reassure people that they should get on a plane?
BUTTIGIEG: First of all Boeing needs to cooperate in every respect and the FAA has given them 90 days to show a comprehensive plan on how they're going to turn their quality issues around.
Every time I step off of the jet bridge and onto a plane, which is every few days, I know that I am participating in the safest way to travel in the world and we never take that for granted. I mean, if you just think about it, it's -- it's an amazing fact, right, that a form of transportation that involves being sent through the air at nearly the speed of sound in a metal tube is the safest way to travel in America. If we want to maintain that as we must, that means an enormous amount of rigor in dealing with Boeing, in dealing with any regulatory issue. And that's exactly what FAA is doing.
What we also need to do by the way, and this never gets coverage, we also need to take that same level of rigor that has made it possible for there to be three billion people safely getting on and off airplanes just since Joe Biden took office, and apply it to roadway safety where we lose about as many Americans as can fill a 737 every single day. We could do something about that and we should.
BREAM: Well, that is your job. We're glad that you stopped in to talk to us about all the things that you're doing. Secretary, good to see you.
BUTTIGIEG: Same here.
BREAM: All right up next, Republicans on the attack after that fiery State of the Union address, including President Biden's tough words for Israel as its war with Hamas grinds on. We'll get a live report from Tel Aviv on that in just a minute.
Plus, our exclusive interview with Alabama Senator Katie Britt, making headlines after giving the Republican response to the President's speech.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BREAM: The U.S. working to deliver more aid to Gaza as the war between Israel and Hamas rages on. As President Biden's caught on a hot mic revealing a private conversation he had with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "Fox News" Foreign Correspondent Trey Yingst is live on the ground in Tel Aviv with the very latest. Hello, Trey.
TREY YINGST, FOX NEWS FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Shannon, good morning. 156 days into the war between Israel and Hamas there is still no end in sight, this as tension continues to rise between American and Israeli officials over the growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
YINGST: Parachutes fall from the sky over Gaza delivering much-needed food to the Palestinian people. More than five months into the war, a humanitarian disaster is spreading, bringing malnutrition and death in its wake. President Biden announcing Thursday at his State of the Union address that America will build a port to help facilitate the entry of aid and supplies to Gaza.
JOE BIDEN (D), U.S. PRESIDENT: Tonight, I'm directing the U.S. military to lead an emergency mission to establish a temporary pier in the Mediterranean on the coast of Gaza that can receive large shipments, carrying food, water, medicine, and temporary shelters. No U.S. boots will be on the ground.
YINGST: As the war between Israel and Hamas grinds on, there are still 134 hostages being held inside Gaza. And the Israelis are signaling that if ongoing negotiations toward a ceasefire fail, they'll launch a military operation into Gaza's southernmost City of Rafah where more than 1 million people are sheltering.
On the tarmac of Joint Base Andrews Biden answered questions about remarks he made following the State of the Union where a hot mic caught the commander-in-chief saying that he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu need to have a come-to-Jesus moment.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Does that show your level of frustration with the humanitarian aid? Does he need to be doing more?
BIDEN: Yes, he does.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
YINGST: The Israelis argue that distribution not supply is the issue preventing Gazans from getting the aid they need. Shannon?
BREAM: Trey Yingst, thank you very much
Joining me now, Alabama Republican Senator Katie Britt. Senator, welcome back to "Fox News Sunday."
SEN. KATIE BRITT (R-AL): Thank you so much for having me, Shannon, I appreciate it.
BREAM: OK, so let's start here on the foreign policy front, you've heard the President talked about Israel, our relationship with them. He talked about the greater foreign aid package he'd like to get passed. And he talked about Ukraine. Here's what he said at the State of the Union.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, (D) U.S. PRESIDENT: I say this to Congress, we have to stand up to Putin.
(CHEERING & APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: Send me a bipartisan national security bill. History is literally watching.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BREAM: So you were among the 29 in the Senate who voted against advancing that package which is now kind of just sitting there stalled in the House. What do you make of the President's repeated accusations that you are helping Vladimir Putin if you do not support this package and that history is watching the mistakes he thinks you're making? Joining me now, Alabama Republican Senator Katie Britt. Senator, welcome back to "Fox News Sunday."
SEN. KATIE BRITT (R-AL): Thank you so much for having me, Shannon, I appreciate it.
BREAM: OK, so let's start here on the foreign policy front, you've heard the President talked about Israel, our relationship with them. He talked about the greater foreign aid package he'd like to get passed. And he talked about Ukraine. Here's what he said at the State of the Union.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: I say this to Congress, we have to stand up to Putin.
(CHEERING & APPLAUSE)
BIDEN: Send me a bipartisan national security bill. History is literally watching.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BREAM: So you were among the 29 in the Senate who voted against advancing that package which is now kind of just sitting there stalled in the House. What do you make of the President's repeated accusations that you are helping Vladimir Putin if you do not support this package and that history is watching the mistakes he thinks you're making?
BRITT: Well, first off, we have to do our job for the American people. After my first year in the Senate, the thing I am most frustrated about is that we're not doing just that, we're not putting the needs of the American people front and center.
So, if you look at what we did with these 12 appropriations bills, it's been 225 days since we actually passed those out of committee. It took Chuck Schumer 159 days to actually get a bill to the President's desk. It's completely and totally unacceptable. Because, Shannon, when that happens, when we're not funding our government, so we are now six months into the fiscal year and we are finally doing our job funding our government, our priorities, our troops, our border patrol agents, that's what we should have been doing six months ago.
So, what I say to that is I'm not sure how you supplement something that hasn't been done. Right now, we are moving the process of appropriations forward, that's what we should be doing for the American people, taking care of those priorities. And then we can take a look at what we need to do abroad.
I believe that an emboldened Russia is an emboldened China, is an emboldened Iran. And I believe we are seeing that wholeheartedly. So getting -- getting Ukraine lethal aid, lethal aid to protect themselves is critically important. Standing with our greatest ally, Israel, and making sure that they can actually defeat Hamas not undermining them like President Biden continues to do. He does it with his rhetoric. He -- he does it even with his actions. We need to stand firmly with them. We need to say, we want every single hostage back now. And we want to eliminate Hamas. Because Hamas is not only the enemy of the people of Israel. Hamas is the enemy of the people of Palestine. And if we are ever going to have a region that is stable and peaceful, it will be a region that where Hamas does not exist.
BREAM: You're in for appropriations, so we'll watch as this next batch of bills has to come through, to avoid a government shutdown on the 22nd. A lot of heavy lifting there.
But let's talk about your --
BRITT: Yes.
BREAM: -- response to the State of the Union address, which has gotten a lot of headlines. One of the fans was former President Trump. He loved it. He said it was compassionate and caring. But you've had a lot of critics out there. And I want to talk about specifically one anecdote that I've heard you tell before. It is a horrific story of a sex trafficking survivor. Nobody is questioning that the story happened that she is actually who she is, says she is and -- and that this happened. The question is about the timing and the implication of you telling the story.
"The New York Times" has this, none of this happened during President Biden's administration. But that didn't stop the first term Senator from strongly implying that the President could have somehow prevented it from happening, using rhetoric that seems calibrated to inflame public fears about immigration.
Did you mean to give the impression that this horrible story happened on President Biden's watch?
BRITT: No, Shannon. Look, I very specifically said, this is what President Biden did during his first 100 days. Minutes after coming into office, he stopped all deportations. He halted construction of the border wall, and he said I am going to give amnesty to millions. Those types of things act as a magnet to have more and more people here.
I then said in his first 100 days, he had 94 executive actions and those executive actions didn't just create the crisis, they invited it. I then contrasted it with my first 100 days.
Shannon, I went to the border three times in my first 100 days in office, and when I was there, I asked for the real unvarnished truth. I wanted to sit down. I asked the border patrol agents. I asked the people there. I asked the victims, previous victims of drug cartels, tell me what it's like, tell me what we need to do, tell me what we need to know.
The truth is -- and the media knows this, yet they're not covering it, that human trafficking has gone up under President Biden. If you look back under 2018, it was a $500 million industry, human trafficking by the drug cartels. It is now a $13 billion industry. Shannon, under -- the drug cartels are winning under this. This is a story of what is happening now at an astronomical rate. And we have to bring attention to it. We have to tell those stories. And the liberal media needs to pay attention to it because there are victims all the way coming to the border. There are victims at the border. And then there are victims all throughout our country.
And to me, it is disgusting to try to silence the voice of telling the story of what it is like to be sex trafficked when we know that that is one of the things that the drug cartels are profiting most off of.
BREAM: OK. But -- but to be clear, the story that you relate is not something that's happened under the Biden administration, that particular person?
BRITT: I'm -- well, I very -- I very clearly said, I spoke to a woman who told me about when she was trafficked, when she was 12. So I didn't say a teenager, I didn't say a young woman, a grown woman, a woman when she was trafficked when she was 12. And so listening to her story, she is a victim's right advocate who -- who is telling this is what drug cartels are doing, this is how they're profiting off of women. And it is disgusting. And so I am hopeful that it brings some light to -- to it. And we can actually do something about human trafficking. And that's what the media actually decides to cover.
BREAM: OK. I want to ask you about -- you have endorsed President Trump. He did that back in December. A lot of folks think the GOP put you out there this week because they need to connect with suburban women. It's a place where he's lacking and where they've had trouble.
"CBS" has a new polling out, their analysis says this, "The issues of abortion and the state of democracy helped boost Mr. Biden with women over Trump. Women who see these issues as major factors in their vote are backing him by more than two to one. Six in 10 women think overturning Roe v. Wade was bad for the country, nearly nine out of 10 favor IVF being legal."
So what do you say to those who say they -- you know, great that you're out there giving the speech? But they don't think Republicans in their daily policy decisions actually care about women and their lives?
BRITT: I think the exact opposite is true and that is exactly why I was sitting at a kitchen table. Republicans care about kitchen table issues. We care about faith, family, we care about freedom. We are the ones talking about the economy and the real effects of that while Joe Biden is claiming that Bidenomics is working. We know that gas is higher. We know that he's making us energy dependent on others, is not only hurting us at home, it's actually hurting our allies abroad.
We know that when we go to the grocery store that things cost more. I mean, we know that the credit card debt in this nation right now is at an all- time high, over a trillion dollars. It's the highest ever in our nation's history. We know when people are looking to buy a home for their family that mortgage rates are up. And so, we are talking about the issues that women care about.
I am proud to be pro-life and want to make sure that we have an opportunity to protect life. And that was why I was so proud of the Alabama legislature for making sure that women had access to IVF and had that confidence that they would continue, that these families would continue to have access because I believe that that is not only pro-life, but that is also pro- family.
BREAM: Well, now there'll be a conversation about whether there's something done at the federal, the national level, whether the Senate does that or not. We'll track it.
Senator Katie Britt, thank you for your time this morning.
BRITT: I appreciate you having me on, Shannon. Thank you.
BREAM: Up next, Nikki Haley is out, clearing the way for a Trump-Biden rematch and setting up the longest general election campaign in decades.
Brace yourself. We'll bring in our Sunday group to talk about where the Haley voters go as she declines to endorse President Trump.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: Donald Trump has a different constituency. Here's the guy who's kicking off his general election campaign in the road up with Marjorie Taylor Greene. I can tell you a lot about a person who he keeps company with.
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Joe Biden should not be shouting angrily at America. America should be shouting angrily at Joe Biden.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BREAM: President Trump, President Biden, trading blows out on the campaign trail as they hold dueling rallies in Georgia.
It is time now for our Sunday group. Olivia Beavers "Politico" Congressional Reporter, Mollie Hemingway, Editor-in-Chief of The Federalist, and a Fox News contributor, USA Today White House Correspondent Francesca Chambers, and Fox News Senior Political Analyst Juan Williams. Everybody set their clocks appropriately. We're all here. We're awake. Good to see you guys.
OK, so the President is coming off his State of the Union address. It's getting rave reviews. Here is one, a "Wall Street Journal" opinion piece with Peggy Noonan. She said, "People will say that guy still has a lot of fight in him. He was wide awake, seemed to be relishing the moment and did not seem to tire much, and in fact, improved as the speech moved along."
Now, Mollie, he takes that momentum out onto the campaign trail?
MOLLIE HEMINGWAY, THE FEDERALIST EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Yeah, you saw some pundits oddly saying that the speech went all right. Early polling suggested that the American people did not think this. It was one of the lowest reviewed State of the Union addresses and it was, in fact, the lowest reviewed State of the Union address in modern history. And that's not surprising. It was a very angry speech. It was a lot of shouting. President Biden's delivery was not very good. There was no eloquence in the speech. And it was also just so negative. And so -- he's got many problems ahead.
BREAM: I'm not going to put you down as a fan of the speech.
OK, "New York Daily News" had this headline. "Biden Hits Campaign Trail After Fiery State of the Union Speech Draws Flood of Cash." Francesca, they are celebrating because they say it paid off where it counted for them in the donors and the base?
FRANCESCA CHAMBERS, USA TODAY WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: So Democrats came into the State of the Union nervous. And over the weekend, I heard some grumbling about the immigration section, as well as the Israel section from some Democratic lawmakers. But broadly speaking, they brought up his energy level in particular. And they're exhaling a sigh of relief this weekend.
You bring up the money, the Biden campaign was able to then put $30 million into advertising. They're counting on the fact that Republicans are coming out of a divisive primary at a time when the RNC is trying to regroup.
Just to put that amount of money in context, Shannon, that's how much Donald Trump had in cash on hand at the end of January. And the Biden campaign now says that in the last week it's raised $11.5 million. We don't know what the Trump fundraising is. I'm sure he got a boost as well. But those are significant sums.
BREAM: They are. Here's "Wall Street Journal" Editorial Board, though. They're with Mollie, not a fan of the speech, saying this. "President Biden's address on Thursday was memorable for all the wrong reasons. His address was one long, divisive pep rally for Democrats, goading Republicans throughout the speech and targeting multiple and various villains for partisan attacks."
And Juan, I would note that included the Supreme Court justices sitting there.
JUAN WILLIAMS, FOX NEWS SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yeah. You know, the argument, I find the criticism that it was somehow political to me. Gee, that's in keeping with the current political climate, which has Republicans often breaking with precedent and being overly political.
You know, the President wasn't wearing a red hat like Marjorie Taylor Greene. He wasn't hectoring people. So to me, what you see here is he delivered a speech that was political because the GOP in some way painted him as a demented, doddering, soup-slobbering old fool who couldn't deliver that speech.
But he came through energetic, alert, and responding to the heckling, you know, saying, oh, you want to send back that money that I've given you for infrastructure spending? OK, you know, he was playing with his Republican critics in a way that I think energized the Democrats.
You know, it's very real. The money came in for a reason that people who were nervous on the Democratic side suddenly said, hey, this guy looks like a superhero to Democrats. Not only that, he spent time afterwards walking around, talking to people, making comments that were picked up on the hot mic. I think people saw a lively president that reassured his base.
BREAM: Well, when you talk about the donations coming in, the Biden campaign is also reaching out, apparently to Nikki Haley donors, because now that she's out, they not only want the donors, they want the voters. Here's what she said in announcing she was suspending her campaign Wednesday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NIKKI HALEY, (R) FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It is now up to Donald Trump to earn the votes of those in our party and beyond it who did not support him. And I hope he does that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BREAM: So, will he? Because he came out, you know, on "Truth Social" saying Nikki Haley got trounced last night, talking about radical left-wing Democrats who were supporting her.
And then at the end of his statement, he says, "By the way, I'd further like to invite all the Haley supporters to join the greatest movement in the history of our nation."
OLIVIA BEAVERS, POLITICO CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER: And of course, that's after he decided he wanted to kick out anyone who had previously donated to Haley. Biden and Trump have both taken a different approach to trying to court these voters. And I think time will tell for them.
As for President Biden's so-to speech, they definitely thought that that was an opportunity for them to appeal to the Haley voters. As to whether they did, it's an open question. Don Bacon, who's a centrist Republican who would probably be in the camp that Haley voters are, at least the Republicans and not the Democratic kind of crossover votes, said that he thought that that State of the Union was the worst he's ever heard.
And he was complaining, saying, I wish we had had a heads up that his speech was only intended for hardcore Democrats. And so if that's not appealing to some of the -- kind of get up close Republicans it might not have been a speech for those Haley voters.
BREAM: Well, the -- the President Biden campaign was quick to say, "Come on over to join us" saying this, "Donald Trump has made it clear he doesn't want Nikki Haley supporters. I want to be clear, there is a place for them in my campaign."
Mollie smart move by the Biden-Harris team?
HEMINGWAY: Well, he -- it is true that there were a lot of Democrat crossover voters for Nikki Haley so that makes sense for him to try to reach out to them but it also is true that the vast majority of people who voted for Trump in 2020 nearly every single person have told pollsters that they will be voting for him again. You do not see that for President Biden. You see that he is -- he's got lower favorability ratings than President Trump. I think only like 85% of his voters have said that they are inclined to vote for him again.
WILLIAMS: Well, I just want to jump in there and say the "Fox News" voter analysis polls show that like a third, 33% of Republicans are not MAGA. They're not, you know, Make America Great Again Trump allies. And half of them say they will never vote for President Trump. And you stop and think about this for a second, they're just not buying the strongman authoritarian friend -- I mean, he was down at Mar-a-Lago with the Hungarian authoritarian.
(CROSSTALK)
HEMINGWAY: Here's what they do, here's what they are looking at. They see that under the Trump presidency, they had a very good economy. They had a secure border. They had foreign policy where peace was breaking out all over the world. And then under -- under a Biden presidency, they probably do not have good feelings about the economy. They have a border that went from secure to being torn down.
(CROSSTALK)
WILLIAMS: We can argue that all day, Mollie, but the fact is, I'm just saying, Trump doesn't have a big enough pool of Republican voters to win in November. And to pick up on Olivia's point, he's saying to Haley's supporters, if you gave money, we don't want you or I trounced you or you're a bad person if you supported Haley. That's not the way to win.
(CROSSTALK)
CHAMBERS: Actually, I spent months covering the Haley campaign and talking to these voters out there. And so many of them it was very interesting said that they had -- if they had voted for Joe Biden in the 2020 election, a lot of them were Republicans who did not want to have to do that again.
There were also many, though, who said that they voted for Donald Trump two times, they were unsure what they would do in this election. They might even stay at home.
BREAM: And that's the question.
CHAMBERS: So we think that the number of Democrats who might have voted for Haley is perhaps being a little bit overblown, so many of them were saying they were Republicans.
BREAM: So do these folks stay home? Do they cross over and show up for someone else? We'll see. Because there are some third-party folks in there, too.
OK, panel, don't go far. Up next, influencers teens and tweens bombard lawmakers with please don't ban TikTok. Well, due to its ties with communist China that might happen. We'll preview Tuesday's key House vote that could have a major impact on American social media.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MIKE GALLAGHER (R-WI): TikTok sort of proved our point yesterday. We had kids -- it was compelling -- kids to call members of Congress, in some cases threatening suicide.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BREAM: Wisconsin Republican Congressman Mike Gallagher on growing concerns about TikTok as the House is now fast-tracking a vote for next week for a possible nationwide ban. But there's more to that on this popular social media app.
We are back with the panel.
There -- there's been a lot of melting down over this whole thing but what he is saying is, and it passed 50-0, bipartisan, out of the committee, which nothing ever does anymore on Capitol Hill. But the idea, Olivia, is that there -- the company has to divest from any kind of, you know, Chinese communist control or linkage, and then it can stay.
But TikTok's not telling that part of the story. They're just telling people, you're going to lose your app. Go call the congressman.
BEAVERS: Absolutely, Shannon. I started to get texts from staffers and members saying that their offices were being bombarded. And some of my favorites were the -- usually, it's the staffers on the House who answered the phones are quite young and they would say, does your teacher know you're calling us right now? And they would get a hang up.
BREAM: Uh-oh.
BEAVERS: But they found they were usually pretty young kids. They were saying I live on TikTok. I can't believe you're banning it. You're taking away something that I use all the time in my livelihood. And that created a ton of frustration, basically that TikTok had this pop-up saying, if you want to use the app, you have to call these members and argue against a ban.
So, they felt like TikTok was using misleading information that they argue is another example of why this app is a threat because if something else comes up, a policy down the line, they can just do this again.
BREAM: So, I want to play something a little bit more from Congressman Gallagher, because there are also business owners who were worried, people who monetized, they make a living on TikTok. Here's what he said about what they're trying to do.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GALLAGHER: As long as TikTok is owned by ByteDance, and ByteDance is indisputably beholden to the Chinese communist party, so it would compel a divestiture. Think of it as a surgery designed to remove the tumor from the patient and thereby save it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BREAM: But, Juan, that's getting lost in the conversation of it.
WILLIAMS: But that's the whole issue. Right now, the question is, will TikTok separate from ByteDance and the Chinese government which is in control of ByteDance. I mean, why? I mean, look, the ball is in their court because the problem is ownership and the data goes to the Chinese government in terms of everything from opinions to preference, even to where you are.
So, it's surveillance. To me, this is a test for future fights between the U.S. and China over technology. And right now, it's become political because you have people like President Trump opposes Congressman Gallagher's bill. And you have people like Kellyanne Conway and Club for Growth, who are lobbying for ByteDance and for TikTok.
You know, I'm not a fan of this kind of technology that takes over our kids' lives, but one of the things president -- former President Trump said was, oh, this will benefit Facebook and then he slurred the name of Mark Zuckerberg.
I just don't think that's where I want to have the argument. I'd rather have the argument about how it's impacting us as American people and our children.
BREAM: And, yeah, it was a conversation under his watch in trying to do something and pressed back against TikTok. It wasn't successful. And I've heard this a million times on Capitol Hill, so we'll see.
But there's also this, the president, according to Congressman Gallagher, he told me the White House is on board with this, but they have also joined TikTok, the campaign has. "The New York Times" notes this, the Biden president -- it says, Biden the president wants to curb TikTok but Biden the candidate embraces its stars. And they quote a former tech advisor for the Biden administration saying: From a national security perspective, the campaign joining TikTok was definitely not a good look. It was condoning the use of a platform that the administration and everyone in D.C. recognizes is a national problem.
And, Francesca, they had TikTok influencers at the White House to watch the State of the Union Thursday night.
CHAMBERS: This is the realities of governing versus campaigning. When you need the youth vote in the upcoming presidential election and that's where they are and that's where the Biden campaign has been taking its message. But President Biden himself has said that he would sign this bill if it does pass Congress. It does have bipartisan support, so if it were to get to his desk, you would see him do that.
And the White House had previously said it was essentially up to Congress to pass something like that. They hadn't found a way I guess to be able to get around what Trump couldn't get around either, which is how the president could ban it even if he wanted to. But the ball is in Congress's court now.
BREAM: Well, and it also is there for Daylight Saving Time, because they tried, Mollie, back in `22. I believe it was the Senate passed it, didn't get through the House. But for people who do not love changing the clocks back and forth, what is your opinion, and does anything on the Hill get done?
HEMINGWAY: I have no idea what will be done. It has been a very difficult morning, so I hope something gets done. But I also --
(LAUGHTER)
BREAM: Especially for anybody with little kids at home, they don't really get the clock changing issue.
HEMINGWAY: But it's also important. You know, social media and big tech are really important issues and China owning TikTok is an important issue. But for members of Congress who were conservative or Republican, they should also care at least as much about Google which we saw recently -- it had its Gemini AI which was teaching divisive and historically inaccurate information.
Google controls nearly all of our search. It's on nearly every American's phones. And Congress doesn't care as much about what Google is doing to harm America as they care so much about TikTok and they should.
BREAM: All right. Well, social media -- there are number of social media cases pending at the Supreme Court this term, too. So, we'll wait to see what all the branches do about it.
Panel, thank you very much. We will see you next Sunday.
Coming up, former NFL player Tim Tebow on Capitol Hill to shine a light on the ugly reality of online child exploitation. We'll talk with him about the fight he has for the most vulnerable, next.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TIM TEBOW, FOUNDER OF TIM TEBOW FOUNDATION: They're calling out to you and to me and how many times in my life have I missed the call, have I missed the mark? Unfortunately, too many.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BREAM: Tim Tebow might be best known for his work on the football field, winning the Heisman, being inducted in the College Football Hall of Fame.
But Tebow has been using his platform off the field to bring faith, hope and love to those who need it most.
I sat down with Tim earlier this week to discuss his testimony on Capitol Hill and the work he and his foundation are fighting to get done.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BREAM: Tim, welcome to "FOX News Sunday". Great to have you here in Washington.
And you were on The Hill for a very important topic.
TIM TEBOW, FORMER NFL PLAYER: It's one of the worst evils in the world, the fight against child exploitation. And I was made aware of this several years ago, just the depths of it, by one of our team members who joined our team. She said to me, I believe that there's 20,000 boys and girls that are still unidentified.
So, law enforcement can see their abuse and rape (ph) images, but they haven't been able to identify `em. So, if you can't identify them, then how could you possibly get to them?
And so that led to a meeting in Lyon, France, that we convened with Homeland Security, Interpol, NCMEC, ICMEC, Europol, Google, ONEMI, so many people. Eighteen countries came together, we talked about this, and we found out, it's not 20,000 kids that are unknown and unidentified, it's over 50,000 boys and girls, through the backlog, are unidentified in these global databases.
There are so many boys and girls, and 65 percent of them are under the age of 12, and 4.3 percent of them, that's 2,100, are infants.
BREAM (voice-over): Tebow launched his foundation in 2010 with the goal for caring for the most vulnerable people or MVPs across the world. Since its inception, his foundation has conducted philanthropic work in more than 80 countries. One of its focuses is identifying victims of human trafficking and child exploitation and bring their abusers to justice with the help of law enforcement.
REPORTER: After weeks of piecing together clues from photos and other digital breadcrumbs he unknowingly left behind, they finally found the offender. Today, that little girl who was once a victim is now a survivor and the man who did unimaginable and unspeakable things to her is serving a life sentence in prison.
BREAM: How does this problem get solved? I mean, how do you identify them? Is it that you were on the Hill to ask for more resources?
TEBOW: The tip of the spear for this fight is victim identification specialists. They are amazing frontline heroes, but right now, we only have seven here and we need to have 100, 200.
And so, one of the appeals we were making is to bring more funding to C3 and HSI in this center for these victim identification specialists.
But it really starts with being able to build a team, to identify, and then partnerships all around the world because when you have one of these images or videos, you don't know where that lead is going to take you. It could take you to Tampa, Florida. It could take you to Pennsylvania. It could take you to Thailand. It could take you to Germany, and over half of them so far that had been rescued been right here in the U.S.
BREAM: That's -- it's just shameful. It's shocking.
But something else that you do around the world as well is Night to Shine, which has been such a beautiful thing. I -- I love when you get to that season and people are posting on social media about what their church is doing or their community is doing --
TEBOW: Yes.
BREAM: -- with these special amazing kings and queens that you want to celebrate.
TEBOW: Yes.
BREAM: And, I mean, it's been pretty long -- long running now at this point.
TEBOW: Yes. We just got to celebrate our 10 year anniversary of Night to Shine. And Night to Shine is -- it's my favorite night of the year.
We get to celebrate so many, as you called them, kings and queens, because every single honor guest to us is a king or a queen. But we get to celebrate so many people that have never been celebrated before.
In one of the countries where we were in this year were -- we got -- we were finishing a Night to Shine and we were walking back through at the end of the night and we saw the red carpet that was rolled up and it was sitting to the side. And it was so cool because one of the team members looked at me and he said, how crazy is that, right? That the red carpet is rolled up, but the worth and the value and the love that was shared and experienced tonight is not rolled up, right?
Like, the night might end, but the work and the value for all of humanity, for the 16 percent of the world's population that so many times has been looked past, has looked beyond, hasn't been seen as valuable, but we know to our God they have infinite value and worth, and we want to share that so that they can truly experience it and know that.
BREAM: It's a beautiful thing. God bless you for how you're using your platform in all these different ways to really try to make a difference. It's inspiring to the rest of us to get out there and act as well. Thank you.
TEBOW: Well, and thank you so much.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BREAM: And just a quick note, my podcast "Livin' the Bream" drops a new episode this morning, this week. I sat down with the author and founder of the IF:Gathering, Jennie Allen, to talk about her new book "Untangle Your Emotions: Naming What You Feel and Knowing What to Do About It". And don't we all have some emotions these days? It's a great discussion.
That's it for us today. Thank you for joining us. I'm Shannon Bream. Have a great week. We'll see you back here next "FOX News Sunday".
END
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