Yuma mayor: COVID infections coming into community 'not being managed'

This is a rush transcript from "Your World," March 8, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

CHARLES PAYNE, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Stocks rebounding much higher today, this as the House prepares to vote on that $1.9 trillion stimulus bill as early as tomorrow.

The Dow Jones industrial average hit a new all-time high, above 32000, before it pulled back.

Welcome, everyone. I'm Charles Payne, in for Neil Cavuto, and this is "Your World."

Well, Wall Street is loving all that spending. And while the White House and Democrats are also praising it, Republicans say it's still chockful of pork. More on that in a moment.

But first to Jacqui Heinrich on Capitol Hill with the very latest -- Jacqui.

JACQUI HEINRICH, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Charles.

Republicans got a couple of wins during this process, including whittling down unemployment to $300 from the $400 that the House passed, but overall they really didn't get any closer to the $618 billion package that Republicans proposed as an alternative.

The $1.9 trillion bill includes $350 billion for state and local governments, which Republicans see as a reward for states with the strictest lockdowns now suffering financially, especially with a portion of that money tied to unemployment rates.

They also took issue with 130 billion in emergency funding for schools, the majority of which won't be spent for one to seven years, and also a third round of $1,400 stimulus checks, which will also go to felons like the Boston Marathon bomber.

Senator Tom Cotton offered an amendment to stop that, but every Democrat voted it down. Republicans did have a chance to stop checks from going to felons when the last COVID relief bill passed in December and they held the majority. Senator Tom Cotton voted in favor of that bill. And we have asked his office for comment on that.

Now, while no Republicans supported this bill, Democrats' support really wasn't a total given either. The vote stalled for hours after moderate Democrat Joe Manchin sided with Republicans about trimming back unemployment. Now the White House is working the phones against any defections possible in the House, and Biden is ready to go when it passes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Our legislative team led by Steve Ricchetti and Louisa Terrell, are certainly not taking anything for granted. They're picking up the phone, checking in with offices, making sure they have their questions answered.

QUESTION: Mr. President, when are you going to sign the bill?

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: As soon as I get it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEINRICH: Now, the House is expected to vote on this tomorrow, and then it should head to the president's desk -- Charles.

PAYNE: Jacqui, hey, thank you so much.

Well, another $1.9 trillion on the way, but in case you're keeping count, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates that around a trillion dollars from those prior relief bills has yet to have been spent.

So, do we just keep the spigots flowing? And if so, what impact will that have on the economy?

With me now, economist Steve Moore, Democratic strategist Jessica Tarlov, and FOX News contributor Liz Peek.

Liz, let me start with you.

This one very heavy on the -- on households, very skimpy on businesses. It's going to be a lot of money when it's all said and done. The impact?

LIZ PEEK, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, well, I want to quote Larry Summers, a liberal economist who does not like the size of this bill, thinks it is too big and that it could really stimulate inflation, Charles.

But I think the most telling statistic that he talked about is that the loss of income and wages from COVID, he estimates, to be about $30 billion a month, this bill is going to provide five times that much in benefits. He just says there's too much in the bill, it's going to produce too much spending, and basically generate inflation.

Remember, there's $2 trillion in excess savings sitting on the sidelines in the hands of American consumers. That -- it's just irresponsible and reckless to be pushing this much more money out into the economy.

PAYNE: You know, Jessica, I did read another report that said a family of four Massachusetts, after this next check goes out, would have received $50,000.

Golly, I mean, that's generous. I mean, that's -- that's -- is it too much? Is there anything that, in your mind, disincentivizes people? Have states that had ham-fisted COVID policies been rewarded? I mean, is there anything in there that makes you think maybe we have gone too far?

JESSICA TARLOV, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: No, not that I can see, though I'm sure someone else on the panel will illuminate some detail, like the Boston bomber is going to get a check, not speaking about the millions of felons--

PAYNE: You're OK with that?

TARLOV: -- people that we have actually voted to -- no, what I'm saying is that they -- people always go for the one exception to the rule.

No one wants the Boston bomber to have extra money in his pocket. But what they do want is the millions of former felons who have been given the right to vote, by the way, in a number of states, and that's Republicans and Democrats that support that, to get their checks because they're still American citizens.

And what the American Rescue Plan does is, it cuts poverty by a third, it cuts child poverty by over half. It makes sure that the people who earn the least in this country, the bottom 20 percent of households, are going to get 23 percent of those benefits.

And if you compare that to the Trump tax cuts from a few years ago, when, by the way, no one on the right side -- not the right side, like they were right -- I mean the Republican side -- was concerned about how much was going to be given to the top earners, where a majority of the benefits went, what it was going to do to the debt or deficit.

Everyone gets their deficit hawk hat on when the other party is in power. And it's disingenuous.

PAYNE: Right.

TARLOV: This is to save a country that has been crippled. The economy has fallen apart. People have lost those wages. And so I don't think saying $1,400 or making sure that your teachers are vaccinated or your state and local governments get money or unemployment benefits is too much. There is no too much at this moment.

PAYNE: All right, let me jump in here for a second.

And, Steve, I want to go to you. And I don't want to relitigate President Trump's tax cuts, other than to say that, as we entered last year, poverty naturally had gone to an all-time low, that blue-collar wages were up over 3 percent year over year for 17, 18 months, something unheard of in a long time.

And, still, the irony, of course, with this is that there was arguments among Democrats and it wasn't progressive enough. I want you to listen to what White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki actually had to say about the bill today. Then I will get your thoughts.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PSAKI: The president is taking nothing for granted. I will note that the plan that the Senate passed this weekend puts us one huge step closer to passing one of the most consequential and most progressive pieces of legislation in American history.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAYNE: Steve, the floor is yours.

STEPHEN MOORE, FORMER DONALD TRUMP CAMPAIGN ADVISER: Boy, where to start?

Look, I'm so disgusted by this. I'm disgusted by the fact that not one single Democrat in the Senate out of out of 50 has any kind of fiscal conscience right now. All 200 -- I think there were two no-votes in the House; 99 percent of Democrats voted for this bill.

We now have a situation where -- Jessica was saying, look, the economy is crippled. Let's be very clear about this. The economy is crippled in four or five states. It's crippled in New York. It's crippled in Connecticut. It's crippled in New Jersey. It's crippled in Illinois, and it's crippled in California.

Right now. Charles, I'm sitting in Orlando, Florida. And I got to tell you, there's no crippled economy here. This place is booming. The hotels are open. The restaurants are open. Disney World, which is down the street from me here, is open.

Why is it, why is it that the people in Florida -- and I talked to Ron DeSantis about this weekend. He is the governor of Florida. Why is it the Florida that did it right -- they got it right. They did not lock down their economy. They did not shut down their businesses. They kept people safe. They have a fairly low death rate, compared to these other states.

And yet they kept their economy running. And they have a 5 -- like, I think it's about 5.2, 5.3 percent unemployment rate now.

PAYNE: Right.

MOORE: And, Charles, New York, which did it wrong under Cuomo, right, they did it completely wrong. They have very high death rates. They killed their businesses.

Now Florida, which has a slightly higher population than New York, gets half of the money that New York does? I mean, this is absurd. It's crazy. It's a payoff to the liberal Democratic states that shut down their economy, shut down their businesses.

PAYNE: Right.

MOORE: And people are upset.

PAYNE: Right.

MOORE: And one last thing, Charles. Why are we giving $20,000 to public employees? Can somebody explain that, Jessica? I mean, why do public employees get $20,000, but not private sector employees?

PAYNE: Let me just switch gears. Give me a second here, Steve, because I want to get back -- I want to get back to a point that Liz made.

Even though the Dow closed at a record high, the Nasdaq closed in correction, which means it's down 10 percent.

MOORE: Yes.

PAYNE: And what that really means, Liz, is that the stocks that were moving high, the high fliers, something is spooking the market right now. Even the S&P was lower.

And many, many points of this bill -- and you alluded to it -- the inflationary aspects of this bill, at a time when there's already so much money on the sidelines. Your thoughts?

PEEK: Well, look, a lot of indicators of inflation already are up. Obviously, energy costs are going way up. Food prices are up. Import prices are up.

And there's -- so, I think you have to be careful here. And 2-point -- another $2 trillion bill is definitely not being careful.

But I'd like to add, we really haven't talked about the economy. Jessica mentioned that it was really crippled and hurting. Adding 400,000 jobs in January in the private sector is not a crippled economy. To Steve's point, if all of the states opened up, all those low-wage earners who got bounced out of restaurant jobs, hospitality jobs, et cetera, they're going to go back to work.

I mean, I would say to Jessica, you can't have too much? Why not send everyone in America $100,000?

PAYNE: Right.

PEEK: That would poll well, which is what Democrats keep saying is their rationale out here.

But it wouldn't make any sense.

PAYNE: Don't put any ideas out there.

(LAUGHTER)

PEEK: Yes, exactly.

I don't have a lot of time, but I do -- I do want to give Jess the last word.

Jessica, just a final thought on all of this, what many people believe was more political payoff than anything else?

TARLOV: Well, to Liz's point, I may be a liberal and I may like big spending; 100 grand does seem like a lot. I'm very lucky. I kept my job throughout the pandemic. And I don't need that $100,000. But I know there are a lot of Americans who sure need more than $1,400.

And to Steve's point about why -- that this is a blue state bailout, I love that, when times get tough, Republicans start to separate the country. And they say, well, we don't want to help people in California, and we don't want to help people in New York.

Guess what? All the taxes that I pay here in New York help people in red states all year round, like in Alabama and in Kentucky. And I don't complain about it, because this is the United States of America.

PAYNE: Right. All right.

TARLOV: And every life should count the same, whether I was wearing a mask the whole time or you were running around Disney World with Ron DeSantis.

PAYNE: All right, let's leave it there.

The bottom line, though, this was designed in a way, a mechanism was put in place that made sure the large blue states got more than the states that a lot of people think did it right.

Appreciate the panel. Thank you all very much.

Meanwhile, New York Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo is digging in, despite the growing list of politicians telling him to get out. We will get the latest from The Albany Times Union, now calling for his resignation.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): I was elected by the people of the state. I wasn't elected by politicians. I'm not going to resign because of allegations.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: I have no agenda besides representing the people of the state of New York. That's what I do. I don't represent or work for the politicians in Albany. I work for the people of the state.

I am telling you, I have gone through the research. Five million people have taken this vaccine. It is safe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAYNE: New York Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo today keeping the focus on the state's vaccine rollout, making no mention of the growing calls for him to resign.

FOX News Bryan Llenas is in Brooklyn with more on the mounting troubles for the governor -- Bryan.

BRYAN LLENAS, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Charles, good afternoon.

Yes, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo was at the Javits Center, which is a mass vaccination site. It was a temporary COVID-19 hospital that had 2,500 beds that critics say actually went underutilized.

But the point is, the governor is continuing to try to push this business- as-usual mentality. But the reality is, it is anything but that. New York's Republican state assembly leader announcing they are introducing an impeachment resolution today, which would get the ball rolling on impeachment in the assembly.

According to FOX News' count, there are at least 47 state legislators calling for Cuomo's resignation or impeachment. Republicans need support from the Democratic-controlled legislature to move forward on this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILL BARCLAY (R), NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLYMAN: But after this weekend, it just became more apparent that, regardless of how many hearings or investigations we have, the real problem now is, the governor's lost so much credibility and trust, that we don't feel like he can go forward and govern.

We want to move ahead, do this impeachment in the assembly, which, by the way, if we're successful, you need a simple minority vote.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LLENAS: Over the weekend, New York's top two Democrats turned on Cuomo.

New York State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins writing: "We need to govern without daily distraction. For the good of the state, Governor Cuomo must resign."

Cuomo saying he's not going anywhere.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

CUOMO: No, there is no way I resign. Let's do the attorney general investigation. Let's get the findings and then we will go from there.

But I'm not going to be distracted by this either.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

LLENAS: Interestingly enough, yesterday, in a telephone news conference, Cuomo made sure to highlight that Democratic Senators Chuck Schumer, Kirsten Gillibrand, New York Congressman Hakeem Jeffries and the White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, all of them support Cuomo's stance and believe that everyone needs to hold their judgments until the attorney general finishes the independent investigation into these sexual harassment allegations -- Charles.

PAYNE: Bryan, thank you very much.

Well, The Albany Times Union editorial board joining the calls for Governor Cuomo to resign, saying that he has -- quote -- "squandered the public trust."

Now, my next guest is not a member of the editorial board, but has been covering the governor extensively for The Albany Times Union. Reporter Edward McKinley joins me now.

By the way, we also want to mention we called the governor's office for an interview, and we have not heard back yet.

Well, thank you for joining the show.

It's -- the paper, the editorial board side of your paper, what brought them to this conclusion to join us sort of the wide chorus that now's the time for the governor to step down?

EDWARD MCKINLEY, ALBANY TIMES UNION: Yes, that's a good question.

As a reporter, obviously, I'm on the news side, rather than the opinion side. So I don't have a lot of insight in terms of the conversations that they were having or what the process was like for them to arrive at that decision.

But I do know, as anyone who's following the news closely knows, that there's been this drip, drip of stories that have been happening here. I mean, first, it was nursing homes, and then it was the alleged sexual harassment. And then there was the bullying behavior. And I think, for many critics, who I think it's fair to say the Times Union editorial board is now among them, they felt like it has gotten to the point where the governor is not able to do his job, the way that he has been doing it and keep up with all of the scandals and the various investigations into him.

PAYNE: This -- this -- the inquiry that he's referring to, does it cover all of the things that you just outlined? I mean, it certainly wouldn't cover the bullying.

But we have heard from so many fellow Democrats, prominent Democrats in the state, that that's a fact, that they have all been subjected to it. But the the nursing home cover-up aspect continues to widen and getting -- it gets more intriguing and compelling every day. And now I think we have five accusers.

What exactly are they looking into right now?

MCKINLEY: Yes, that's a good question.

There's actually so many investigations going on right now, it can be a little hard to keep them all straight.

But there is the state attorney general investigation that was started where she will deputize a law firm in New York City to investigate the governor's personal conduct, which encompasses the sexual harassment claims. And then there are two investigations, one by the FBI into the nursing homes, and one by the Eastern District U.S. attorney in Brooklyn also relating to the nursing homes.

And it's been reported that those began after the transcript of the secret meeting with Cuomo's top aide Melissa DeRosa was leaked, where she admitted that they -- "we froze" were her exact words and had not given up the nursing home numbers.

So they're looking into his administration's decision to withhold that information from the public and the policies that went into that.

PAYNE: Edward, I mean, are you surprised at all that there hasn't been harsher criticism from the mainstream media? We came into this segment talking about prominent Democrats who have seemed to have somewhat circled the wagon.

Five accusers has been something of, listen, let's -- for the better part of valor, let's move on. But it feels like there's still a fair amount of media and political support for Andrew Cuomo.

MCKINLEY: It's funny. About six months ago, I wrote a story about how Andrew Cuomo had become potentially the most powerful governor in the country.

And it was really about how he consolidated his power over the state using the budget process. He'd been in office for a decade. He had appointed people to all these influential positions. He has a lot of allies in the state. He has a lot of allies across the Democratic establishment.

PAYNE: Right.

MCKINLEY: And I think it's stunning when you think about the number of people who already have spoken out against him, considering that the Democrats do have a stranglehold on them.

I think it really speaks to how seriously the allegations against him are being taken and how fed up a lot of the former allies and political leaders in New York are--

PAYNE: Yes.

MCKINLEY: -- at both his behavior and the various scandals and issues that have arisen, that we have seen the speaker of the assembly, we have seen the chair of the Democratic Party here in New York speak against him somewhat.

PAYNE: There's no doubt -- there's no doubt a lot of people are fed up.

Edward, we want to thank you for coming on today. Thank you very much.

Meanwhile, folks, migrants are flooding in. Now one border mayor telling President Biden's team to figure this out. What is the White House telling him?

Yuma, Arizona, Mayor Doug Nicholls coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAYNE: Want a clue as to how well our vaccine rollout is going? Well, the Russians are apparently trying to mess things up.

Former acting Director of National Intelligence Ric Grenell will be on that and more.

We will be right back in 60 seconds.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAYNE: A team of Biden administration officials traveled to the Southern border over the weekend to assess the situation, as migrant crossings surge.

Griff Jenkins is live in Matamoros in Mexico with the very latest -- Griff.

GRIFF JENKINS, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Charles.

We're out here in Matamoros next to a migrant camp open two years ago under President Trump when the remain-in-Mexico policy went into effect. It's now closed in the last 24 hours.

But go across the river, across the Rio Grande River, you see Brownsville, Texas. That's in the Rio Grande Valley sector, the ground zero for the surge. And that's where that White House team went,because the numbers are approaching the crisis levels of 2014 and 2019.

Now, we want to show you, for viewers, we have got a drone shot we can put up over this migrant camp that held as many as 1,000. At one point, there was about 800 when it finally closed its doors. It closed its doors because of the new Biden policies that allow these asylum seekers to cross in to the U.S., although not all of them were able to get over there.

Jorge Garcia from Tegucigalpa, Honduras, spent 14 months in this camp. He did not qualify to cross. Now, he needed a translator because he doesn't speak English. But he told us how his plight is going. Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "We're not asking for help, just to be with our family and for work. And that's all we're asking for. At the end, I am going to be with the family. I could cross--"

JENKINS: Illegally.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Illegally.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JENKINS: And, Charles, the migrants who were in this camp that were allowed to cross, unlike Jorge, it's most of them of that 800, they go to Brownsville and are dropped off at a bus station, where the city of Brownsville tests them for COVID.

The new numbers of the number that have tested positive, 185 out of 1,553 migrants who have been tested since the beginning of January, just a whole picture here on the ground of what those White House officials needed to see, needed to know, while you have also got, across the river, those that are not seeking asylum that are simply crossing illegally.

And those numbers are the big ones, Charles. The agents in the Border Patrol sector right across from me told me yesterday they had over 1,200 arrests along the border -- Charles.

PAYNE: Wow.

Griff, wow. Thank you very much.

Well, last month, migrant releases began after -- at the border, this after the Biden administration rolled back Trump's remain-in-Mexico policy.

And my next guest is worried about the impact on local communities, particularly during the pandemic. And he met with White House officials to voice his concerns.

Yuma, Arizona, Republican Mayor Doug Nicholls joins us now.

By the way, we did put out a call to the Border Patrol and DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Border Patrol not entertaining national requests right now, and we are still waiting to hear back from the secretary.

So, Mayor, we thank you for joining us.

It was a virtual call with the White House. How did it go?

DOUGLAS NICHOLLS (R), MAYOR OF YUMA, ARIZONA: It actually went fairly well.

I was able to make sure I had everything described, as far as what we're seeing on the ground and what our concerns are for our community. And then we -- there was a little bit of dialogue back and forth and some action moving forward.

So, we look forward to seeing some positive results out of that meeting.

PAYNE: All right, your concerns that you voiced,can you share them with us, and also the actions that you feel may be imminent?

NICHOLLS: Well, I mean, the concerns are part of those same ones we had in '19, overlaid with the COVID concern that you just talked about in Brownsville.

So, we don't have a very robust nonprofit structure that deals with migrants coming through, because it's not a very regular activity for us. And we're a smaller community.

So, one of my main concerns was, we need to make sure that DHS, if they have to release, is releasing in communities that can handle that kind of load, so larger communities that have those resources.

And then, on the COVID side, it's just we don't understand or we don't know what the level of infection rate is of those coming in our community. And while we're trying to manage regular border traffic, which we do a lot of here -- we have got a very robust economy with Mexico -- but we're trying to control that on the legal side--

PAYNE: Right.

NICHOLLS: -- so that we limit exposure.

But on the illegal side, we then have this release into our communities that's not really being managed. So, moving forward, what we're looking for, and I believe we have got the ability to do -- over the weekend, Congress passed the $400 million in the FEMA Food and Shelter Program.

I think some of that dollars are going to be headed here, along with a boots-on-the-ground response potentially from FEMA. Those details are yet to come together. But that's the direction the conversation went.

PAYNE: All right, I have read where Senator Sinema is -- may be involved.

And also, is there a request for tents? Would you would like to have some sort of a tent city established or something a little bit more -- something different or above something like that?

NICHOLLS: Well, really, what needs to happen, if there's any tent or soft- sided shelter, it really needs to be on the DHS side, on the CBP side.

And it's my understanding there is a program to get soft-sided shelter in the Border Patrol facility, so that they can have the capacity for these surges.

On the city side, really, what we struggle with is the ability to get people out of town. These migrants are not looking to stay in Yuma. They're looking to go to other parts of the country where their families are or their hosts are. And there's just limited resources to get people where they need to go.

And so that's really the bigger issue is--

PAYNE: Right.

NICHOLLS: -- making sure that there isn't a lag in people getting where they're going to go.

And so tents could be helpful in the interim to get people where they need to go. But, in the long term, we're not looking for a tent city.

PAYNE: Right.

NICHOLLS: We're looking to make sure that humanitarian crisis doesn't result in an issue here in the Yuma area.

PAYNE: Mayor Nicholls, thank you very much. And thank you.

And we will stay abreast of what's going on there.

But I do want to take you, audience, right now live to the White House, where President Biden is making remarks on International Women's Day.

Let's listen in.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: -- women following in their path and looking to their example.

And I wanted to shine the light on these accomplishments for those women today, because General Van Ovost has reiterated in an interview this last week -- and I am the second person to say this -- it's hard to be what you can't see. It's hard to be what you can't see, but you will soon see.

Today is International Women's Day. And we all need to see and to recognize the barrier-breaking accomplishments of these women. We need the young women just beginning their careers in the military service to see it and know that no door will be closed to them.

We need women and men throughout their ranks to see and celebrate women's accomplishments and leadership in the services. We need little girls and boys both who have grown up dreaming of serving their country to know this is what generals in the United States armed forces look like. This is what vice presidents of the United States look like.

So, I would like to spend just a few minutes today making sure that America knows who General Van Ovost is and who Lieutenant General Richardson is. They're aviators.

Both learned to fly planes before they were old enough to drive a car. General Van Ovost, a first-generation -- is a first-generation American, the daughter of Dutch immigrants who owned a flying operation. She loved the freedom of flight and, as a teenager, flew herself to see Sally Ride lift off as the first woman in space, 16 years old, goes down to see Sally Ride.

She said she was at several thousand feet watching from a distance. You know, women were banned from flying combat missions when the general joined the force. So, she focused on becoming a test pilot. And instead of learning to fly just one plane, she learned to fly everything, including Air Force Two when I was vice president.

General Van Ovost currently is -- oversees Air Mobility Command, approximately 107,000 airmen and 1,100 planes that enable airpower and humanitarian assistance to go everywhere in the world, if need be. From flying water to Texas after the recent storms, to ensuring our wounded warriors are evacuated for medical care from anywhere in the world, she gets it done.

Lieutenant General Richardson's parents were proud patriots. It must have rubbed off, because Lieutenant General Richardson and her brother and sister all joined the Army. Her father encouraged her to join ROTC in college, even though that meant commuting to a different school.

When Lieutenant General Richardson joined the Army, Aviation Branch, women were banned from flying attack helicopters. She flew in support of combatant -- combat missions and conducting lift operations of her Huey-1, the so-called Huey, and the Black Hawks.

Now, as the commanding general of the United States Army North, Lieutenant General Richardson overseas military ground responses here in North America. All over -- all over the last year, that has meant getting military medical personnel deployed to help in our response to this pandemic, more than 4,500 military medical personnel deployed in hospitals across 14 states and the Navajo Nation to treat COVID-19 patients.

It means more than 2,200 medical personnel are working or soon will be at vaccination sites in eight states in the United States Virgin Islands. I'm so proud of the incredible work Lieutenant General Richardson and her team have done to support the American people this year. And the American people are as well.

They're warriors. They're crisis-tested commanders. But, best of all, best of all, they're not done yet. Neither of these incredible generals is resting on her laurels or on her stars. They're using their voices and actively working to change policies in the military to make it easier and safer for more women, not the just to join the military, but to stay in the military and to thrive.

I'm incredibly proud that, in 2015, under the Obama/Biden administration, we took the final steps to open up all positions in the military to anyone qualified to serve in them.

The women who join today's military aren't told no when they apply to fly fighter jets or attack helicopters just because of their gender. They aren't told no when they want to apply to Ranger School or infantry officer basic training. But they all know that there's much, much more work to be done to ensure that women's leadership is recognized, that we have more diverse leaders, we reach the top echelons of command for all who are qualified, including all women, all women, and that all women feel safe and respected in our military, period.

You know, some of it is relatively straightforward work, where we're making good progress designing body armor that fits women properly, tailoring combat uniforms for women, creating maternity flight suits, updating requirements for their hairstyles.

And some of it is going to take an intensity of purpose and mission to really change the culture and habits that cause women to leave the military. And women are making sure more diverse candidates are considering -- being considered for career-advancing opportunities at every single level, that women aren't penalized in their careers for having children, that women aren't just token members, but integral parts throughout all branches and all divisions, and that they can completely, fairly engage in promotion and compete all across the board, including on the -- on age and gender neutrality and physical fitness test.

You know that both members of the military, couples can thrive while serving, like Lieutenant General Richardson and her husband, Lieutenant General Richardson, who I might add I want to thank him for getting me off of a mountain. It was about 12,000 to 14,000 feet up on a goat path when our helicopter went down in a snowstorm.

It's good to see you, General. The ride down that mountain was more perilous in the truck than it was in the helicopter, but thank you.

And we have to take on sexual assault and harassment and violence against women in the military. Sexual assault is abhorrent and wrong at any time. And in our military, so much of unit cohesion is built on trusting your fellow service members to have your back. There's nothing less than a threat to our national security.

I know Secretary Austin takes this as seriously as Vice President Harris and I do. That's why his first memo as secretary was a directive to take on sexual assault in the military and why he stepped up independent review -- he set up an independent review commission on sexual assault to make concrete recommendations for changes.

This is going to be an all-hands-on-deck effort under my administration to end the scourge of sexual assault in the military. And we're going to be focused on that from the very top. I know that we can do it.

The U.S. military has defeated American enemies on land, in air and at sea. And this is not beyond us.

I want to thank General Van Ovost and Lieutenant General Richardson for their exemplary careers in service to our country.

You're America's patriotism at its finest, undaunted and absolutely, absolutely able to do anything, by any obstacle, determined to open wide the doors of opportunity, and ready for the next challenge.

It's my great honor to serve as your commander in chief. And I look forward to hearing your active-duty and recommendations of how we are going to work together to keep the American people safe, meet every challenge in the 21st century.

So, I want to thank you both. And I want to thank the -- the former general. I keep calling him general, my -- the guy who runs that outfit over there. I want to make sure we thank the secretary for all he has done to try to implement what we have just talked about and for recommending these two women for promotion.

Thank you all. May God bless you all. And may God protect our troops.

PAYNE: President Biden making remarks for International Women's Day.

And now this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: The U.S. has identified three online publications directed by Russia's intelligence services aimed at undermining the Pfizer and Moderna vaccine.

PSAKI: Yes.

QUESTION: Are you aware of it? What can you do about this to counteract?

PSAKI: We can reiterate that we will fight with every tool we have disinformation. We are certainly not new to -- we are certainly familiar with, I should say, the approach and tactics of Russian disinformation efforts.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAYNE: Well, that was White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, as we are learning -- or of a new disinformation campaign, this out of Russia trying to undermine confidence in our vaccine rollout.

Well, my next guest knows the threat from Russia very well. Ric Grenell was the former acting director of national intelligence for President Trump. And he joins me now.

Ambassador, it's great seeing you.

It's just -- it's sort of remarkable, because we have had this amazing rollout this. The Operation Warp Speed was an amazing success. More and more Americans are accepting it.

So, what does Russia get out of this effort? Why would they even try this?

RICHARD GRENELL, FORMER ACTING U.S. DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: Look, Russia is a problem. It's always been a problem.

We used to call it propaganda, Charles. We used to just be very clear that the Russian propaganda was a problem. And now we have developed some fancy terms for it, but it really is good old-fashioned Russian propaganda. They do it all of the time. They do it in elections. They do it whenever we have a positive movement in the United States.

The American people need to be very focused on making sure that this Russian disinformation is shouted down.

I will tell you, though, Jen Psaki should have started by talking about Russian disinformation and the fact that we had 50 former U.S. intelligence officials two weeks before the election call Hunter Biden's laptop a Russian disinformation campaign.

That's actually the Chinese line, to talk about Russia in a way, when it's really China. We have to be sophisticated enough to know that we can't fall for that bait. We still haven't seen the White House call it out and say that the Hunter Biden laptop issue was not Russian disinformation, as the Biden campaign and all of their surrogates in the intelligence community were pushing, but it's actually a real thing.

So, the Russian disinformation goes both ways. It's been coming from the Biden team and the Democrats for a very long time.

PAYNE: Well, you bring up China.

And I -- just today alone, the number of articles I read from top the new flash point of the world being Taiwan, other things, the Uyghurs, with corporate America not stepping up to the plate, not even admitting there's a problem there, what is it about China that they seem to intimidate this White House so much and even large corporations, to the point where I think we're going to -- this is the last chance we can make a stand, and I'm afraid we're not going to?

GRENELL: Yes, look, Russia is a problem. China is a crisis.

And every time we hear us to say, look over there at Russia, don't look at the Hunter Biden laptop, don't look at the Biden family ties to China, it's a real problem, because Beijing loves that. This is exactly what the Chinese line is.

I think that what we have to be able to do is understand that China for a long time has quietly been coming in and beating us at a couple of different games. First of all, they require all of their companies to partner with American companies, if you want to come in and do, say, cloud services or technology. American companies have to partner with Chinese companies.

Now, the reason for this is that they then have a foothold to the Chinese companies, the Communist Party does, in getting the data. So, we can teach the Chinese how to fish, and then we have a real problem. We can teach them how to code, for instance, instead of giving them fish, supplying them with products and services, but not teaching them how to do it, I think, is the real solution.

But we're teaching them how to code. We're giving them our coding. And that's a real problem for the future. We shouldn't be having our American companies do that. And too many of them are partnering with Chinese companies.

PAYNE: Right. Right. And now, of course, they're passing us up in things like A.I. and 5G.

Let me switch gears here, if I can, to California. The recall effort against Governor Newsom has picked up a tremendous amount of speed. It looks like it will be successful. And now people are looking ahead, and they're saying, well, if Newsom is not the governor, who would be a fantastic replacement?

And I got to be honest. I know you're hearing it more and more. Your name keeps popping up. Would you be interested in that job?

GRENELL: Look, I'm trying not to be politically cute with this question, but I'm not convinced that we actually are going to make it onto the recall effort.

When Alex Padilla -- who was our secretary of state in California, became our U.S. senator, Gavin Newsom got to a point just immediately a person to fill that secretary of state's job. And this is now a woman who's moving into the job who is going to be counting all of the unverified signatures and going through the process, leading the verification process.

We have about two million unverified signatures. We need 1.5 million verified. We still have until March 17 to get this done.

We need every Californian who's concerned about the management of this state to sign the petition and send it in, because I'm afraid that the new secretary of state, who was interviewed by Gavin Newsom during this recall process, that she is focused and probably told to make sure that there isn't going to be a recall election.

Gavin has already announced that he's going to send out the ballots the same way he sent out the ballots previously, which means sending ballots in the mail to people who don't know they're coming.

PAYNE: Right.

GRENELL: This is a real problem in California, and we have got to solve it.

PAYNE: Well, I don't live in California, but I think, from all I know, you would make a fantastic governor. You have done extraordinarily well in everything that you have touched.

GRENELL: Oh, thank you, Charles.

PAYNE: Ric Grenell, thank you very much. Appreciate it. Thanks.

Hey, by the way, we are putting a call into the governor's office, Governor Newsom's office. And we do hope he will join us soon.

In the meantime, call it a -- well, let's call it a royal rift, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle breaking their silence about a royal cutoff and a whole lot more. And it's got a whole lot of people steaming.

We will be right back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OPRAH WINFREY, PRODUCER/PHILANTHROPIST: Were you silent or were you silenced?

MEGHAN MARKLE, DUCHESS OF SUSSEX: The latter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAYNE: The 30 million Americans who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 just got a shot of good news from the CDC.

Want to go to Blake Burman with the very latest with those new guidelines - - Blake.

BLAKE BURMAN, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Charles.

It's about 9.5 percent of the U.S. population that has received both of their COVID-19 doses. And the guidance today from the CDC addresses those individuals, but also hopefully the millions more in the days, weeks and months ahead that will get their COVID-19 shots.

So, let me just sort of tick through some of the headlines here from the CDC. The guidance, for example, says that those who have been vaccinated can gather with each other without having to engage in mask-wearing and social distancing, for example.

But you might be wondering, what about the instance where someone like a grandparent has been vaccinated, but the children and grandchildren have not? Well, the CDC says those interactions can take place without restrictions, so long as the unvaccinated is not high risk.

The CDC has kept some recommendations in place, though, saying the vaccinated should avoid large- and medium-sized gatherings, while travel guidance remains the same.

The CDC director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, was asked today why those who have been vaccinated are still advised against traveling. And this was her response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY, CDC DIRECTOR: Every time that there's a surge in travel, we have a surge in cases in this country. We know that many of our variants have emerged from international places.

And we know that the travel corridor is a place where people are mixing a lot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURMAN: Now, Walensky says, as more data comes in, in the future, Charles, they could address that travel component at some point down the line.

And it's also important to note that the guidance put out today for those who have received their COVID-19 doses, the vaccine doses, and have done so at least two weeks ago, that is who this is geared toward. And the CDC says they're going to take all this in and potentially change that guidance as well coming forward -- Charles.

PAYNE: Blake, thanks a lot. Moving in the right direction.

And now this:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WINFREY: You didn't have a plan?

PRINCE HARRY, DUKE OF SUSSEX: We didn't have a plan.

MARKLE: We didn't have a plan.

PRINCE HARRY: That was suggested by somebody else by the point of where my family literally cut me off financially, and I had to afford security for us.

WINFREY: Wait. Hold up. Wait a minute. Your family cut you off?

PRINCE HARRY: Yes, in the first half, the first quarter of 2020.

But I have got what my mom left me.

WINFREY: Yes.

PRINCE HARRY: And without that, we would not have been able to do this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAYNE: Our royal cutoff? Prince Harry telling Oprah he and Meghan signed deals with Netflix and Spotify, well, because the two were financially cut off from the royal family, and they had to rely on money he inherited from his late mom, Princess Diana.

FOX News contributor Kat Timpf, host of "Sincerely Kat" on FOX Nation, joins me now.

All right, Kat, everyone's talking about this interview. Where do you come down? Did you break out the violins last night?

KATHERINE TIMPF, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Ugh. See, look, I'm one of those people who the last thing I would ever want to be is a member of the royal family. I get wanting to leave.

I mean, there's a dress code for when you're seen in public. That's not my jam. Like, I'm wearing sweat pants right now. And you just can't tell.

So, look, there could have been ways that people could have said, oh, OK, I see it, and all the bullying Meghan went through. But when you're talking about how hard it was for you financially, when the amount that you are left was $10 million, I think that's something most people don't want to hear, and especially right now. And with this pandemic we're still dealing with, a lot of people are really struggling financially.

And when they say they're struggling financially, Charles, they don't mean they only have $10 million.

PAYNE: Right.

TIMPF: If I'm ever lucky enough to be worth $10 million, and you hear me complain about it, everybody watching right now, you have permission to punch me in the face.

(LAUGHTER)

PAYNE: Hey, here's the thing, and I'm not a royal watcher at all. I mean, to be quite frank, some of it bores me.

TIMPF: Yes, me, too.

PAYNE: But, that being said, I am interested -- I am interested in big money deals.

And I read where their goal really all the time was to become this mega- brand. In fact, some people said they could be a billion-dollar brand. So, you start the weigh the royal money, which ain't bad, and a billion dollars and fame, which, apparently, they are seeking -- at least half the couple of seeking -- and you can see why some people are suspicious about parts of this story.

TIMPF: Yes, well, there was a couple of things about the story I was suspicious about, like when Meghan said she never Googled him, so she didn't know what she was getting into.

(LAUGHTER)

TIMPF: First of all, I don't buy that.

Second of all, you don't have to Google him to know he's a prince, right?

PAYNE: Right.

TIMPF: Like, you don't have to Google him to know that your marriage to a prince is probably going to be a little different than marrying, I don't know, Bob from accounting, right? It's going to be a little different. So--

PAYNE: Just a little.

TIMPF: Yes, exactly.

And they're doing just fine. They got deals on deals on deals, in addition to this $10 million they started with. I think they're going to be OK.

PAYNE: The folks out in the U.K., and Britain in particular, are very upset, though, with Harry, saying he allowed Meghan to make comments that a lot of people were offended by. They don't think that she was mistreated or treated in any kind of way racially, that the entire nation greeted them with open arms and really fell in love with her, and that maybe this whole thing changed when they tried to foist their whole agenda on them, from climate change and things like that.

The social justice aspect is where they split apart. Your thoughts?

TIMPF: It could be true, right?

And I think that it is such a polarizing thing, because, like you, I generally never pay attention to this stuff. But this interview had over 17 million viewers here in the United States, right? When anything involves Meghan and Harry, it seems to be inescapable, because it really is something where you're saying, what happened here? Was it this? Was it that?

PAYNE: Yes.

TIMPF: She says it was treatment by the tabloids. But then they're saying, oh, no, everyone loved her at first. And it's back and forth, and back and forth, and back and forth.

And, ironically, the fact that so many people are paying so much attention to this is probably what's going to end up making them so much more money.

PAYNE: No, they're going to be -- they're going to make it.

TIMPF: Yes.

PAYNE: I mean, listen, Netflix, Spotify, everything, they don't have to worry about cash.

Thanks a lot, Kat. Appreciate it.

Folks, that will do it for me here. Neil will be back tomorrow.

You can catch me, of course, on the FOX Business Network, "Making Money," at 2:00 p.m. The stock market is all over the place. I got your back.

But, right now, let me hand it over to "The Five." It starts right now.

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