Former aide: Cuomo suggested 'strip poker,' 'kissed me on the lips'

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Former aide: Cuomo suggested 'strip poker,' 'kissed me on the lips'

FOX News correspondent Bryan Llenas joins 'The Story' with the latest on bombshell allegations

This is a rush transcript from "The Story with Martha MacCallum," February 24, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated

MARTHA MACCALLUM, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Hey there, guys. Thank you, John, and Sandra. Good afternoon, everybody. I'm Martha McCallum. We've got a very busy show for you today. Here's what's happening on THE STORY for this Wednesday.

You've got brand new troubles for Governor Cuomo as we now learn there is a brand new push for a subpoena for the governor to testify before Congress on what happened in these nursing homes.

A huge rally this afternoon against that scandal, bringing it to light, people with signs all over the place about their loved ones. That whole thing is getting a little bit overshadowed today because you've got a former aide bringing new specific allegations of sexual harassment and bullying against the governor.

It is not a pretty picture for him when you put all of this together. We're going to take you live to the scene in city hall just moments from now.

Plus, they plan the Capitol Hill raid weeks in advance. It turns out new revelations about climbing ropes and pipe bombs, as Nancy Pelosi wants to investigate a 9/11 style commission. But we're now learning that she wants what was billed as a bipartisan commission to be heavily weighted with Democrats. So, what's that all about? We're going to talk about that with Senator Josh Hawley.

And the brand new video of Tiger Woods just minutes before the car wreck. You see the arrow on the car as it goes by on a beautiful morning in California. What we're now learning about the reality for Tiger Woods as we get an update coming straight ahead. Brian Kilmeade and Geraldo Rivera, here to talk about that moments.

But first today, on President Biden's first day in office, he announced a 100 day moratorium on most deportations of illegals back to their countries. Even some of them criminals were allowed to stay. But now a Texas judge is stepping in and he is shutting that whole thing down.

As AOC changes her tune but still goes after Biden on the facilities where his administration is now holding hundreds of children. Moments ago Peter Doocy in another back and forth with Jen Psaki pressing on this new part of this story. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER DOOCY, FOX NEWS CHANNEL WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Has the White House seen the comment from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who is speaking about that HHS facility in Carrizo Springs and said, this is not OK, never has been OK, never will be OK no matter the administration or party.

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We have kids coming across the border. It is heartbreaking. I think we all as human beings are heartbroken as parents as mothers and fathers too. We only have a couple of choices. What we are not doing is dividing these kids and separating from their parents at the border, which is what the last administration did.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: So, in January, apprehensions of unaccompanied children hit over 5,800 just last month since the new administration took over. It's the highest that we've seen, actually, in two years. So, it begs the question of policy, what is leading to these higher numbers at this point, and where should these children be held.

Karl Rove and Chris Hahn debate, but we begin with White House Correspondent Peter Doocy fresh off of that White House briefing just moments ago. Hi, Peter.

DOOCY (on camera): Martha, good afternoon. Unaccompanied children who are coming across the border while Joe Biden is President are being kept in the same kind of temporary Border Protection facilities that unaccompanied kids who came across while President Trump was in office.

And back then, Democrats referred to these facilities and the things inside them as cages, but what about now?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOOCY: Is it he's in containers instead of kids in cages? What is the White House's description of this facility?

PSAKI: Well, let me -- let me give a broader description of what's happening here. We have a number of unaccompanied minors, children who are coming into the country without their families. What we are not doing, what the last administration did was separate those kids, rip them from the arms of their parents at the border. We are not doing that. That is immoral. And that is not the approach of this administration.

These kids, we have a couple of options. We can send them back home and do a dangerous journey back. We're not doing that either.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DOOCY: And not doing that either is what Republican critics are blaming for the big backlog at the border following a surge of unaccompanied children there. The new policy to try to resettle everybody who comes into the U.S. instead, at least underage people who come to the U.S. instead.

These children, though, only supposed to be held by Homeland Security officials before being turned over to Health and Human Services officials for 72 hours. But the White House is now admitting, some recently have been held there longer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PSAKI: There has been some -- there was some delays last week because of weather and because some of these facilities to safely move these kids to did not have power and were not in a place where they could -- they had the capacity to take in these kids and do it safely.

That is not our objective. That is not our goal. So, some, unfortunately, did state for days, five days or longer. But the objective is to move them as quickly as possible to the HHS-sponsored facilities.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DOOCY: And as the White House confronts issues about what to do with children who are coming to the border now without adults, Congress, they are asking to try to figure out how to shorten the pathway to citizenship down to eight years for 11 million adults who came into this country illegally beforehand. Martha?

MACCALLUM: Peter, thank you very much. Joining me now, Karl Rove, former Deputy Chief of Staff to President George W. Bush, and a Fox News Contributor, of course, and Chris Hahn, former aide to Senator Chuck Schumer and a syndicated radio host.

Chris, I want to start with you. I guess, you know, it's no surprise, given the fact that the construction on the wall stopped. That sends a big signal. They basically just walked away from all the work that was being done there. Then you have the news that deportations will be dramatically decreased. So, if you are caught, you're not going to be sent back.

So obviously, that sends a signal to a lot of people south of the border that it is a good time to come. So, it's no surprise that you end up with this surge of unaccompanied minors that now they are put in this untenable situation of having to deal with and take care of at this point, is it?

CHRIS HAHN, SYNDICATED RADIO HOST: Well, it's no surprise that there's horrors all around the world and that the United States is the beacon of hope and freedom around the world.

MACCALLUM: Oh, come on, Chris. That wasn't my question.

HAHN: Well, it's no surprise that people want to come here.

MACCALLUM: I mean, come on.

HAHN: Thank God. When they stopped wanting to come here, that when I will worry about.

MACCALLUM: No, it's not.

HAHN: But I think, Karl -- I think Karl will agree with me that what we need right now in this country, rather than rhetoric from both sides about what goes on, is comprehensive immigration reform, like the bill that was passed in the Senate in 2013 that had bipartisan support.

Then we could deal with all these problems comprehensively, instead of making a big deal out of certain issues and certain places where people are kept and how when they are sent back, or whether or not judges should be allowed to block the President's supreme authority, I might add, to -- excuse me, unique authority to a lot -- to determine immigration status in this https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__country.So&d=DwICAg&c=cnx1hdOQtepEQkpermZGwQ&r=tgDLkJy54PfJyWJwul3dKe54qGxqO7b7d5vjo7RcZds&m=QrnT_3u05hTooQq05Z4zQHBUFtEl-1gHaONO6L9s7So&s=jVg70MytczzfD7X-7C1vPiaUQyAsMUt0gmBBAvJMv4Y&e= , you know, enforcement in this country. So, I think that we need comprehensive immigration reform and I think we can get it.

MACCALLUM: OK. Yes, but the hypocrisy here -- you know, you can't be surprised, Karl Rove, if you have a policy that makes it a lot easier for people to cross and it's clear that they're not going to be sent back. Now, they're using a facility that they heavily criticized, that they should now be thankful for, I guess, because it's the only place where they were able to house these children. And it was built by the Trump administration to tremendous outcry from the other side. Karl?

KARL ROVE, FOX NEWS CHANNEL CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, let's remember, a lot of these unaccompanied children, my heart goes out to them because many of them are being trafficked for sex or work. These are not kids who wake up one day in Guatemala and say, I'm going to make my way north to the United States. In many instances, they are the victims of trafficking.

And so, good that we got them, good that they're in a facility, good that we can now try and reunite them with their families back in the country of their origin. But let's not kid ourselves. I have a -- I have a hunting lease in South Texas. It's in that area between the highly populated lower Rio Grande Valley, and Corpus Christi in Kingsville. It's the county -- Kennedy County is half the size of Rhode Island and 400 people live in the entire county.

And let me just tell you, I have seen more evidence of traffickers including more evidence of large groups of immigrants, illegal aliens coming across our hunting lease than I've seen in five or six or seven years. Water containers every, where we see people in the brush, we see evidence of large groups moving forward.

We see sacks that they've kept their food in. We see the tattered blankets they tried to keep themselves warm in. And I've never seen anything like this in the last five or six years and it is people moving north because the message is the border is open. And if you get to the Estados Unidos, you can get here.

And they are paying thousands of dollars each in all likelihood to traffickers to move them in a sophisticated criminal enterprise into the United States of America.

MACCALLUM: Chris.

HAHN: So, you know -- I mean, look, if what you're saying is true, and I have no reason to believe it's not, all the more reason why the United States needs to do something about our immigration policy. We are where people come when they are in trouble.

We don't want people traffic in this country. What the former guy did was he would take these people who were struggling and send them back to where they were struggling or worse, send them to camps in Mexico where they were abused, and trafficked, and sometimes even killed. And worse, he would then rip them from the arms of their parents and have no plan for them getting reunited down the road.

We need comprehensive immigration reform in America, Karl. And you should get on board and we should get -- we should get going with it.

ROVE: Do not -- hey, don't lecture me about it. I don't remember seeing you and your senator helping on comprehensive immigration reform in 2005, '06, '07. In fact, you -- in fact he --

HAHN: He was part -- hold on, 2013 bill. He was on that bill.

ROVE: No, no, no, I didn't interrupt you. Chris, I didn't interrupt you. He voted for all the killer amendments that brought down immigration reform in 2007. So, don't be lecturing me about it.

HAHN: Oh, please.

ROVE: And don't be lecturing me about supposedly the Trump administration, because the Obama administration was similarly taking unaccompanied minors and putting them in these camps and taking minors who came here with parents and separating them.

HAHN: Not like this.

ROVE: So, oh, yes -- OK, so it's a question of degree. But look, we do need comprehensive immigration reform. But do not start --

HAHN: It's a question of humanity.

ROVE: In my opinion, do not start, in my opinion, by doing what this administration is doing and saying that people who are here illegally can become citizens of the United States faster than people who have applied for citizenship legally and are waiting in line. That was one of the big issues.

And in 2005, '06, and '07, Kennedy, McCain, and Bush agreed --

MACCALLUM: We got to leave it there.

ROVE: -- that if you are illegal in the United States --

HAHN: Comprehensive immigration reform.

ROVE: Let me finish. Let me finish, Chris.

MACCALLUM: All right, we got to leave it there, gentlemen. We got to leave it there. But I would just say on the way out that, you know, being more lenient does not necessarily make people safer. It can put more people in danger. And that's what we're seeing happening right now, Chris.

So, if you want to be humane and you want to talk about the best thing to do for the safety of people, you got to keep that in mind. I got to leave it there. I'm going to take the last word on that one, but we're going to go. Chris Hahn and Karl Rove, thank you very much for being here.

HAHN: Thank you.

MACCALLUM: That will continue. So, everybody, it is another ugly day for Governor Andrew Cuomo. This time, it is a close former aide who says that he repeatedly harassed her, and then made an unwanted physical move. The sordid story which he is denying today, she tells next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACCALLUM: Well, the straws on the camel's back got heavier today for Governor Andrew Cuomo for it is now a top aide who has leveled some really sort accusations about her time in the governor's office.

And she's actually very specific about these instances that she says represent serial sexual harassment against her. She says the top women in his office condoned this environment. Her name is Lindsey Boylan and she dropped bombshells about strip poker suggestions and unwanted kisses from the governor.

And this just in, the governor's office is now responding to these allegations. For that, we turn to correspondent Bryan Llenas who is on THE STORY every day for us. Hi, Bryan.

BRYAN LLENAS, FOX NEWS CHANNEL NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Hi, Martha. Well, look, Lindsey Boylan first met Governor Andrew Cuomo in 2016, she says. And then, she began to work for him in 2018 but resigned less than a year later.

LLENAS (voice-over): Now, Boylan first accused Governor Cuomo of sexually harassing her over many years in a series of tweets back in December. Today, for the first time, she is detailing those claims in an online medium post, accusing the governor of unwanted kissing and touching, making unflattering comments to women about their weight and ridiculing them about their romantic relationships.

Now, Boylan says Cuomo constantly sought her out and had staffers arrange meetings with her where he made inappropriate comments. She starts her essay today with this anecdote: "Let's play strip poker. I should have been shocked by the governor's crude comment, by I wasn't. We were flying home from an October 2017 event in Western New York on his taxpayer-funded jet. He was seated facing me, so close our knees almost touched. His press aide was to my right and a state trooper behind me."

Now, Cuomo's office, less than an hour ago released flight logs from October 2017 and a statement from four people who were on those flights who said, "We were on each of these October flights and this conversation did not happen."

The press secretary went on to say, "As we said before, Miss Boylan's claims of inappropriate behavior are quite simply false."

Now, Boylan also detailed a one-on-one meeting in the governor's New York City office where she alleges Cuomo stepped in front of her and kissed her on the lips. She wrote, "Governor Andrew Cuomo has created a culture within his administration where sexual harassment and bullying is so pervasive that it is not only condoned but expected. His inappropriate behavior toward women was an affirmation that he liked you, that you must be doing something right. He used intimidation to silence his critics. And if you dared to speak up, you would face consequences."

LLENAS (on camera): Now, Boylan claims Cuomo's top female staffers normalized this kind of behavior. Martha.

MACCALLUM: That was an interesting detail at the end there. Bryan, thank you very much. Let's bring in Deroy Murdock, contributing editor of National Review Online and Fox News contributor. And Fox News correspondent-at-large Geraldo Rivera joining us this afternoon.

(CROSSTALK)

GERALDO RIVERA, FOX NEWS CHANNEL CORRESPONDENT-AT-LARGE: Hi, Martha.

MACCALLUM: Geraldo, what's -- hi, there. What -- let's start with you. What's your reaction to this story today, latest wrinkle for him?

RIVERA: Oh, oh, how the mighty have fallen. It was just six months ago, Andrew Cuomo was the paragon of virtue, and you know, the man who steadied the entire nation during the pandemic with his well-publicized briefs, his -- you know, his book that came out. He had the only reputation that was salvageable in the -- in the midst of the pandemic.

Now, it seems everything has come to light that shows there's another side to Andrew Cuomo, allegedly. I mean, Ron Kim, the politician who accused him of threatening to destroy his career, really bullying him in a way that was beyond the pale. The nursing home scandal, of course, is the most important of these scandals that he fudged the figures to make himself look better. Disguised the total nursing home toll. And now comes this allegation of a pervasive sexual harassment.

He not only allegedly kissed her on the lips.

(CROSSTALK)

MACCALLUM: Yes.

RIVERA: He frequently touched her in various body parts, according to her. She's a -- she is a politician. I mean, she's running for Manhattan borough president, I guess you'd have to point that out.

But, still, her allegations are pretty detailed. They seem corroborated now unlike her tweets in December. It seems to me that Andrew Cuomo is really on the defensive right now.

(CROSSTALK)

MACCALLUM: Yes.

RIVERA: And you know unwanted groping is a crime in New York punishable by up to a year in prison.

MACCALLUM: Well, as we pointed out, he denies it. And he's -- you know, will get his due process on this but this is her claim and she's come forward with a lot of specifics on this.

This is just a moment -- so, today, he was out there at a vaccine center. Obviously, he's scrambling to kind of change the subject on this. He sort of went back to his old playbook, blamed President Trump for the empty cupboards on the vaccines.

Here is just a weird quote, just a weird thing that he said when he was out there. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): I'm going to be doing the vaccination. I am a certified vaccinator by the State of New York. I took a 20-minute course yesterday. I get to select the part of the anatomy where I do the vaccine, and you'll be surprised. Or maybe not when you see the part of the anatomy that I pick.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: He'll start that, that just like a lead balloon. Everyone was just like, oh, OK, that was weird. No, but -- no, no, laughing, no clapping there after that weird comment. To roy what do you make of all this?

DEROY MURDOCK, FOX NEWS CHANNEL CONTRIBUTOR (on camera): Yes. It's little hard to laugh at something like that when the person is directly or indirectly responsible for the deaths of some 15,000 seniors who died in nursing home -- nursing homes across New York State because he -- by an order, that he issued on March 25, sent COVID-19 positive seniors into nursing homes.

That's no laughing matter, we've got people like our own colleague, Janice Dean who lost her mother-in-law and father-in-law in the middle of all that. And a lot of other people who want answers.

And rather than fess up, take responsibility, explain what he did wrong, and apologize. Here, we've got him again just laughing and telling jokes, and it's just terrible, terrible leadership.

MACCALLUM: How, how tough is this for him? You know, do you think he survives as governor, Deroy? Real quick if you can.

MURDOCK: I think he faces serious legal, legal trouble.

(CROSSTALK)

RIVERA: I think that he'll --

MURDOCK: Obstruction of justice, potentially conspiracy. I mean, serious federal crimes.

MACCALLUM: Yes. And now, a subpoena from Congress, potentially, on the nursing home issue. We got to leave it there, gentlemen. Thank you so much.

Geraldo, always good to have you with us.

RIVERA: Thank you.

MACCALLUM: Deroy Murdock, always a pleasure.

MURDOCK: Me too.

MACCALLUM: Thank you, sir.

MURDOCK: Thank you, Martha.

MACCALLUM: So, coming up next, we are live outside the hospital where golf legend Tiger Woods is recovering from major surgery today, although, the good news is that tea was awake and responsive.

So, we're going to get some more information about that and what we now know about whether or not there would have ever been any charges in this case. Brand new breaking news on that right after this.

We've got Brian Kilmeade and Jared Max coming up. Stick around.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACCALLUM: In the 24 hours since Tiger Woods car careened across traffic and landed in an embankment, he is now awake. He is recovering, but he does face a very long road ahead. Correspondent Matt Finn is outside the hospital as we await the latest update in the story which we expect soon. Matt, good afternoon.

MATT FINN, FOX NEWS CHANNEL NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Martha. The emergency crews that were first on the Tiger Woods crash scene are now really emphasizing that Tiger Woods likely escaped death. They say, wearing his seatbelt and the vehicles crash safety features likely helped.

This is the hospital where their golf legend is believed to be right now recovering from surgery and the chief medical officer writes in part quote, "Mr. Woods suffered significant orthopedic injuries to his right lower extremity that were treated during emergency surgery by orthopedic trauma specialists. Lower portions of the tibia and fibula bones were stabilized by inserting a rod into the tibia. Bones of the foot and ankle were stabilized with a combination of screws and pins."

Woods' team is also thinking that UCLA Medical Center, the LA County Sheriff and fire crews that pulled Woods from his rollover SUV.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEX VILLANUEVA, SHERIFF, LOS ANGELES COUNTY: Reckless driving chart has a lot of elements into it. This is purely an accident. There'll be a cause of it and there'll be a vehicle code attached to the cause if it's inattentive driving or whatever the case may be, but that's an infraction and a reckless driving is actually more than an infraction. That's a misdemeanor crime that has a lot of elements attached to and there's nothing, nothing like that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FINN: So, you hear that official stressing that there was nothing to indicate that Tiger Woods was impaired while driving the exact cause of the accident. It could take weeks or months. And the LA County Sheriff notes that that stretch of road that Tiger Woods was driving on had 13 accidents since last January and four of those involved injuries. Martha?

MACCALLUM: It's tough spot. Matt, thank you very much. So, let's bring in Brian Kilmeade, "FOX AND FRIENDS" co-host and Jared Max, Sports Reporter for Fox News Headlines 24/7. we've also learned that a TV director was driving his car right nearby and was almost hit in this accident. Because we wondered yesterday how he could have made it across that whole other lane without hitting any other cars at, you know, 7:20 in the morning.

Brian, your thoughts as we listened to where we are with the Tiger Woods story today.

BRIAN KILMEADE, FOX NEWS CHANNEL CO-HOST: I mean, no doubt about it, extremely lucky. There's no question. But I would just get more details on the injury. Also, it looks like as crushed his right foot is, it's just his right foot and leg. And (INAUDIBLE) of NYU, his former resident is at UCLA, and tells us that they put a nail -- to his source, they put a nail into the tibia, and screws and plates into the ankle and foot.

When asked -- when he asked his reformer resident, do you think he can play again? He goes recreational. It's going to take a while to close the wound, make sure there's no infection. We know that with Alex Smith in Washington with a football club.

By the time you close the wound, he's going to take a while to get weight- bearing on it. But he can play recreational and be in the Tigers Tiger. Who knows how much he can come back. While everything's still early, he's extremely lucky, but it's extremely focused too. Even though that leg has been damaged before with past injuries, an ACL replacement. It would be, you know, and that could be a little bit difficult in terms of weight bearing will take time, and he is 45. I don't think it's out of the question in playing again at a high level.

MACCALLUM: No, I don't think it is, given who we're dealing with here. And I'm sure, Jared, that, you know, first and foremost, he's just so glad to be alive and to have a future, and to watch his children grow up, and all of those other things that could have been taken away from him yesterday.

JARED MAX, FOX NEWS HEADLINES 24/7 SPORTS REPORTER: Thank goodness that Tiger was wearing a seatbelt, and that would be really a message for anybody. That Tiger is still with us today because of that.

Rory McIlroy, a fantastic golfer and friend of Tiger, pointed out today. Tiger is not Superman, and for many of us, we kind of think that Tiger has this Superman effect. We do expect somehow that Tiger will come back, right? We expect that one day we're going to turn on the television and see Tiger Woods not just walking out for a ceremonial tee shot, but maybe actually to perform again professionally. Whether or not he does we don't know.

Martha, he just had surgery, a fifth back surgery back in December. And the possibility to come back from that is very different than when you're talking about things like shattered bones like we were dealing with here, not just compound fractures, but where you're having bones that are broken into many pieces. We saw as Brian just brought up, Alex Smith, the quarterback of the Washington football team, has no business walking anymore, let alone playing football. And here he is starting games again for Washington.

So modern medicine miracles and the power of will, and all that makes Tiger an amazing sportsman as he is, we can root for him to come back. But most importantly, he's still here with us today. And we could talk about his golf memories without it being something that we might never see again.

MACCALLUM: Yes, I completely agree. I think yesterday at this time, we didn't know if we would be having this conversation about him playing recreational golf and even having the possibility of getting back out there. So we're not going to underestimate Tiger Woods in any way, shape or form today. We're just really glad that that he's on the road. And thank you so much, Brian and Jared, great to see you both today.

MAX: All right, thank you.

KILMEADE: Thanks, Martha.

MACCALLUM: You bet. Great news in California where unions and schools are making deals finally. But sorry, kids, there's a catch. They refuse to commit to a date to actually come back to the classroom and do their job there. Will Cain has a lot on his mind about this today, the debut of our new segment "Wednesday's with Will." Looking forward to it, Will, see on the other side.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACCALLUM: Parents and students in San Francisco are still stuck in limbo, even after the teachers union and the board said that they had struck a deal. They will go back to the classroom, they just won't say when that might happen. In moments Will Cain but, first, Senior Correspondent Claudia Cowan on the breaking news on this brand new deal today. Hi, Claudia.

CLAUDIA COWAN, SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: I'm Martha. Well, it's a step forward but a small step in the minds of many San Francisco parents who still have no idea when or if public schools will reopen before summer. The deal reached last night requires vaccines for all on-site staff if San Francisco's COVID case rates decrease to the red tier. Now, that could happen next week. It also demands a free COVID tests for staff and students, and a public dashboard listing all positive cases in the schools.

But after an emotional seven hour board meeting attended virtually by hundreds of staff, families and members of the UE, that's United Educators, teachers union, there's still no deal on how school days will actually look. Superintendent Dr. Vincent Matthews says the district wants more days and longer hours in-person than the teachers do. You can see him speaking in the upper right of your screen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. VINCENT MATTHEWS, SAN FRANCISCO USD SUPERINTENDENT: Under the district's plan, many students would receive five full days of instruction of five hours each day. The UR's proposed schedule, students would never receive more than three hours per day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COWAN: But the teachers union says after a tumultuous year of distance learning, continuity is key and that its plan would allow students to stay with their current teachers and offer the option of remote learning for families that don't want their kids to go back. The scheduling issue has become so contentious, the head of the teachers union is calling for a mediator to step in.

Eventually, the district says elementary schools will open first but before that can even happen, each campus will need to be checked and cleared by city health officials. This elementary school here is one of a handful that has been cleared to reopen more than 50 left to go. Martha.

MACCALLUM: Claudia, thank you very much. Let's bring in for the debut of our new segment "Wednesdays with Will," Will Cain, Co-Host of "Fox and Friends Weekend." Hi, Will. We're really glad to have you with us on Wednesday.

Will: Hi, Martha. I'm excited.

MACCALLUM: Hi, there. You know, it's great to have you. You know, one of the things that struck me in this editorial that was in the San Francisco Chronicle was, they point out that that the unions are making demands that no other class of essential workers in the entire country has made for their benefit. And you hear these teachers saying, well, possibly we could do three hours a day. I can't imagine any other job where anybody would have any tolerance for that kind of negotiating, especially when you're talking about the fact that this is about kids who haven't been in school since March.

WILL CAIN, "FOX & FRIENDS WEEKENDS" CO-HOST: These teachers as represented by the teachers union in San Francisco aren't interested in educating children. It's the only logical conclusion we can come to Martha. Even the details as laid out in that report as to when they would come back leave so many questions unanswered, how many days a week, how many hours a day, what zone, what designation will San Francisco be in at that time, will it be a requirement that every teacher is vaccinated.

The long and short of it is there are still so many hurdles, unanswered hurdles, to getting kids in classrooms that your only conclusion will be, realistically, months away towards the end of the school year, possibly some elements of in-person learning. But more obviously, they're just not interested in getting back. They're getting paid to perform distance learning or no learning at all, and they're not interested in getting back this year to teach the children of San Francisco.

MACCALLUM: Yes. Well, to that point, Will, I want everybody at home to watch this. This is the Oakley Union Elementary School District Board of Trustees making fun of parents. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And we alone?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Check. If you're going call me out, I'm going to (inaudible) you up.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They forget that there's real people on the other side of those letters that their writings and it's really unfortunate.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Exactly.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They want to pick on us because they want their babysitter's back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: They want their babysitters back.

CAIN: Right.

MACCALLUM: What do you think about that, Will?

CAIN: Here's what I think. I think that crushing our economy on purpose, and declining to educate our children and holding them back on their socialization and emotional development is one of the worst policy decisions of the last century. Now, there's some stiff competition here and I'm open to the debate.

Obviously, Jim Crow segregation laws, Japanese internment, abortion, but, again, sacrificing our children is one of the biggest and worst policy decisions of the past century. And one has to ask why, why is that been so readily accepted in the name of "science?" It's not science, it is sacrifice, and somebody should be paying the price for this.

MACCALLUM: Yes. And as you pointed out, it sends a pretty clear statement there. There's a charter school in New York system that wants to have kids in school all summer to begin the process of making up for it. And if you really care about the learning loss, and you really care about students, you would be at the front of the line, as a teacher, in saying we have lost so much time and I need to get my kids caught up, so we need to figure out a way to get as many hours as we can and over the summer, if you're really in the right place with what the goal is for these kids.

Will, thank you so much. Great to see you from Texas today.

CAIN: You bet.

MACCALLUM: Hope to see you here soon.

CAIN: See you, Martha.

MACCALLUM: So right now, senators -- all right. Take care, Will. Right now we've got senators. They're getting briefed on the intelligence that was shared and unshared that led to the Capitol Hill riots. Senator Josh Hawley is hustling to get out of that meeting and join us in moments. Also on that front, Nancy Pelosi wants that 911 style commission, except that one was evenly split between Republicans and Democrats to keep it apolitical. But she wants mostly Democrats on hers, why would that be? Stay tuned.

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MACCALLUM: The fact that the group that attacked our west front, attacker for west front, 20 minutes, approximately 20 minutes before the event over at the Ellipse ended, which means they were planning on our agency not being at what they call full strength. I think there was a significant coordination with this attack.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: Drama on the Hill as security officials tell what happened on January 6th when the barriers came crashing down at the US Capitol. They say some of the group of writers came ready they had climbing ropes, they had helmets, they had pipe bombs. And while impeachment managers said that Trump was solely responsible, the new evidence is now leading Democrats to cast an even wider net in many ways focusing on Trump supporters on the whole. And now, they want a Democrat-led commission to investigate and ultimately frame the whole picture of this day and what happened.

In moments, Senator Josh Hawley joins me. Chief Washington Correspondent Mike Emanuel has more for us, first. Hey, Mike.

MIKE EMANUEL, CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Martha. Yes. Ahead of today's briefing, the Senate Intelligence chairman said he has serious questions about the Capitol Hill riot.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARK WARNER (D-VA), SENATE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: We need to figure out how it happened, why it happened. It should never happen here. I know one of the goals of the Intelligence Committee this year is to look at government extremism. This is not a phenomenon that only took place on January 6th.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

EMANUEL: Former Capitol security officials have pushed back hard on allegation by retired Army Lieutenant General Russell Honore that they were complicit in the January 6th Capitol riot calling him disrespectful. Honore was selected by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to lead a security review. A prominent Senate Republicans suggest security measures came too late.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R-TX):" Obviously, what we see out of our windows right now is an armed Washington DC. And it just strikes me that this is like after the horses out of the barn is erecting the security.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

EMANUEL: There have been calls for a commission to look into the security failures at the Capitol, similar to one that reviewed the September 11 attack. But Republicans say Speaker Pelosi wants Democrats to have more power and more members.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA), HOUSE MINORITY LEADER: First is not bipartisan, 7-4. Secondly, they don't allow subpoena power for the minority and the majority to work together.

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): I'm not involved in the drafting of the legislation, but I'm not prepared to say that a 7-4 split is unfair, based on who actually is part of the commission that ultimately should be the determination. But I'm sure the committees of jurisdiction will weigh in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

EMANUEL: Republicans note the 50-50 split of the 911 Commission was a key feature helping with the investigation and giving the nation confidence in its work and recommendations. Martha.

MACCALLUM: Mike, thank you very much. My next guest has just been briefed on all of this. He's been following it very closely throughout this whole process since January the 6th. Republican Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri. Senator, thank you very much. Good to have you back on the show.

SEN. JOSH HAWLEY, (R-MO): Thank you.

MACCALLUM: You know, I'm curious, as you watch all of this, are you concerned about the framing of this and how it's being presented and why there would be need for a 7-4, Democratic-Republican split if you genuinely want to get to the bottom of what led to this?

HAWLEY: I'm concerned about the fact that the Democrats don't seem that interested in the facts. They seem interested in scoring political points. We've just seen them shut down the entire United States Senate, really, for weeks on end, Martha, to pursue impeachment of a guy who's not even in office. That tells you what their priorities are.

There are major questions about the riots on January 6th that need to be answered. I can tell you from being in the hearings yesterday and asking questions, there's basic disagreement on whether the National Guard was actually ever formally requested by the Capitol Hill Police chief, when was it requested, who was responsible. We don't have answers to any of those questions.

The witnesses yesterday disagreed significantly among themselves, so we need to get answers. But this partisan approach that Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats are going after it looks very political. It looks designed to score political points. Meanwhile, it leaves the actual security questions unanswered.

MACCALLUM: Yes. I mean, that's a real shame, because what you really need to know here is what is the process? God forbid if this were ever to happen again, who is supposed to notify whom and who has the authority to call the National Guard? We saw it all summer with these riots in different places in the country and the discussion of whether or not we should bring in the guard, which was, you know, really shot down in a lot of Democrats strongholds. But now, they want that protection. And in fact, they don't want it to go home at this point for the foreseeable future, senator?

HAWLEY: Yes. It's very strange to know but we've got a lot of senators are asking a question. When is the guard -- how long is the guard going to be here, what's the guards mission here, what's the end date for it. We can't get any answers to those questions.

I mean, none at all. No one will actually say it. And you're right, Martha, after criticizing vehemently President Trump for deploying the guard in DC, when the White House there was a riot. When there were riots in the city, there are riots and other cities all across our country. And we heard from Democrats, oh no, we can't use the Guard. No, that's an American. No, that's wrong. And now we have a National Guard here at the Capitol without any end in sight. We need answers to these questions.

MACCALLUM: I got to go. But Lieutenant General Honore, do you believe he should be removed from this investigation?

Hawley: Yes, he should. He should be removed. He has said that the Capitol Hill police were complicit in the attack. That is totally false. That is -- there's no evidence for that. It's disgraceful.

MACCALLUM: All right. We know you're going to at CPAC tomorrow. We're going to be watching that speech as we see what happens there, and the look of the way forward for your party. So, senator, thank you. Good to see you today.

HAWLEY: Thank you.

MACCALLUM: Thanks so much.

HAWLEY: President Biden's cabinet picks are coming under some heavy scrutiny, near attendance process is now on hold. Xavier Becerra could also be held up, he's on the hot seat right now. We've got a breaking update for you on how that is going after this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN KENNEDY (R-LA): I'm not saying she's a smoked turkey, but the smokers warming up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: So in the middle of a tough confirmation hearing right now for President Biden's Health and Human Services pick. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, he's under fire in a tight Senate where there's little room for error. And two Senate Committees are delaying the next steps for Neera Tanden, the President's pick for Budget Director. She would now need a Republican to cross and save her nomination after Joe Manchin and Susan Collins are nos on that pic.

Correspondent Gillian Turner reporting live on what's happening there this afternoon in Washington. Hi, Gillian.

GILLIAN TURNER, CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Martha. So the battle lines were drawn at this Xavier Becerra hearing. Before he even said a word, we were expecting this hearing to be a lot more contentious than the one Becerra testified at yesterday in front of the Senate Health Committee. Because this one, the Finance Committee where he is today, is the committee that has to vote on his nomination.

Now, the committee chairman now, just now Senator Ron Wyden, opened with a jab at Republicans. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR): The attorney general defended the Affordable Care Act from absurd and dangerous far right attacks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TURNER: Now, Democrats like Dianne Feinstein say Becerra led the nation's second largest Justice Department, that's at the state of California, so insist he's well-prepared to head up a large federal agency like HHS. But Republicans, though, like Senator Marshall, who sits on the Health Committee, wherever Becerra testified yesterday tells Fox News just a few minutes ago that Republicans really disagree.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ROGER MARSHALL (R-KS): I got to tell you that he wouldn't have made it to an interview process in the real world for this type of a position. He really has no experience in healthcare. He's got a $1.2 trillion budget on health care, and really has zero experience.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TURNER: Now, Becerra himself is insisting today that his top priority as a cabinet secretary is going to be the Obama era, Affordable Care Act, protecting it. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

XAVIER BECERRA, HHS SECRETARY NOMINEE: The most important thing is to give everyone in this country coverage, good coverage. And what I will tell you is, I'm here at the pleasure of the President of the United States. He's made it very clear where he is. He wants to build on the Affordable Care Act, that will be my mission to achieve the goals that President Biden put forward to build on the Affordable Care Act.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TURNER: Now, allies of Becerra have claimed to Fox News today that he's devoted his career to correcting "structural inequalities in health care. He has already doubled down on that commitment today saying he will continue to pursue that as HHS Secretary. Martha?

MACCALLUM: Gillian Turner in Washington. Thank you, Gillian.

TURNER: You bet.

MACCALLUM: Thank you for being with us today on a busy Wednesday, February the 24th, 2020. But as always, THE STORY goes on. So we'll be right back here with you tomorrow. We look forward to seeing you then at 3:00. "Your World with Neil Cavuto" gets underway right now. Have a great day, everybody.

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