President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 31, 2019. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
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Developing now, Friday, Feb. 1, 2019
TRUMP VOWS TO BUILD WALL, ADDRESSES 2020 RUMORS: In a wide-ranging interview with the New York Times, President Trump called the latest border wall talks among lawmakers a "waste of time" if Nancy Pelosi does not agree to funding the structure and blasted the House speaker for doing a "tremendous disservice to the country." ... “I’ve actually always gotten along with her, but now I don’t think I will anymore,” Trump told the Times. “I think she’s doing a tremendous disservice to the country. If she doesn’t approve the wall, the rest of it’s just a waste of money and time and energy because it’s desperately needed.”
The president indicated he is still mulling bucking congressional approval and declaring a national emergency to get a border wall built. “I’ll continue to build the wall and we’ll get the wall finished,” he told the Times. “Now whether or not I declare a national emergency — that you’ll see.”
Trump also addressed the 2020 presidential election, dismissing rumors that he would not seeking re-election, saying "I love this job" and insisting he has tremendous support in the Republican Party. He also suggested that Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., is the Democratic frontrunner to challenge him in 2020, lamented how Democrats have shifted radically left and took on the latest developments in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation and the arrest of longtime adviser Roger Stone.
- David Bossie: Dishonest Democrats are scared to death of radical leftists
- 19 charged in Chinese 'birth tourism' crackdown: U.S. prosecutors
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DONALD JR. TAUNTS SCHIFF: Donald Trump Jr. late Thursday ripped House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., after reports appeared to vindicate the younger Trump surrounding Democratic suspicions that he made phone calls to President Trump around the time of the Trump Tower meeting with Russians in June 2016 ... Democrats have long suspected the calls were between Don Jr. and his father regarding a meeting with Russians offering dirt on Hillary Clinton during the 2016 campaign. However, Senate investigators obtained phone records that appeared to show Trump Jr. had actually spoken to two longtime Trump family friends – Brian France, chief executive of Nascar, and investor Howard Lorber, the New York Times reported, citing two people briefed on the matter.
Trump Jr. responded to the reports on Twitter. "Has anyone heard from Adam Schiff?” Trump Jr. tweeted. “I imagine he’s busy leaking other confidential info from the House Intelligence Committee to change the subject?!?"
- Sheldon Adelson donates $500G to defense fund for targets of Mueller probe: report
LIBERAL COLUMNIST WARNS DEMS: BEWARE OF 'MEDICARE FOR ALL' - Ever since one leading 2020 presidential candidate, Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., called for eliminating private health insurance to implement "Medicare for All," there has been pushback by some moderate Democrats, including a Washington Post columnist who cautioned the party against embracing such a platform ... Megan McArdle argues that Democrats could hand President Trump a second term if they embrace and campaign on "Medicare for All."
“There’s a certain freedom in having Trump as an opponent — he’s so loathed in many quarters of the electorate that you can propose almost anything and still be pretty certain of those votes. And yet, not entirely certain,” McArdle wrote. “If you force suburbanites to choose between having a lewd race-baiter in the White House and sacrificing their health-insurance coverage... or paying higher taxes ... or many of the other disruptive things progressives want to do ... well, maybe they decide the troglodyte is the lesser of two evils.”
ISRAEL LIKE SEGREGATED SOUTH? - During her short time in Congress, U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn, has gained a reputation for views on Israel that some critics may call radical and anti-Semitic. Earlier this week, Omar said she “almost chuckle[s]” when the Jewish state is described as a democracy. Then she defended fellow freshman Democratic lawmakers who have been accused of anti-Semitism and called them "thoughtful colleagues."
In the latest controversy involving Omar, the freshman lawmaker raised ire when she agreed with a liberal activist who wrote online that current-day Israel is much like the U.S. South was during segregation. “Israel is like the south before 1963: millions of people under Israeli control are denied the right to vote, speak freely or assemble because of their ethnicity. It's a democracy for Jews only. That's not a real democracy,” activist Max Berger tweeted.
Omar endorsed the tweet, sharing his anti-Israel rhetoric to her more than 471,000 followers.
'GET THE HELL OUT OF OFFICE': In an interview with Fox News on Thursday, Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., said Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam should resign if he doesn't back down from his comments on a controversial late-term abortion bill, saying the governor effectively endorsed "infanticide" ... Sasse, pro-life Republican, said Northam’s comments were “morally repugnant” and argued the Democratic governor should “get the hell out of office” if he doesn’t support protecting the life of a child who survived an abortion. "The comments the governor of Virginia made were about fourth-term abortions," Sasse said on Fox News' "The Daily Briefing with Dana Perino." “That’s not abortion, that’s infanticide.”
THE SOUNDBITE
DEMOCRATS EAT THEIR OWN - "It's a strange, strange phenomenon. Those of us who are defenders of capitalism have been attacked by this man himself. And now he's getting a dose of his own medicine." – Michelle Malkin, syndicated columnist, on "Fox & Friends," reflecting on Democrats "wealth-shaming fellow Democrat and former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz and urging him not to run for president as an independent. WATCH
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MINDING YOUR BUSINESS
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STAY TUNED
On Fox Nation:
Available now: "Keeping America Safe with Tomi Lahren" - Check out Tomi Lahren’s must-see interview with Tom Homan, former acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Get his expert insight into the fight on the U.S.-Mexico border, the urgent need for a wall, and President Trump's responsibility to protect the country.
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On Fox News:
Fox & Friends, 6 a.m. ET: Special guests include: Jim Brown, the NFL Hall of Famer, on the Super Bowl and Black History Month; Kellyanne Conway, counselor to President Trump; Matt Albence, acting deputy director of ICE, on budget negotiations; Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List, on controversial new abortion bills; Mike Slater, radio host; Dr. Mehmet Oz, host of “The Dr. Oz Show,” talks about heart disease; Geraldo Rivera, Fox News correspondent-at-large.
Your World with Neil Cavuto, 4 p.m. ET: Special guests include: U.S. Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D.
Special Report with Bret Baier, 6 p.m. ET: Former N.J. Gov. Chris Christie.
The Story with Martha MacCallum, 7 p.m. ET: Jenna Ellis, director of public policy at the James Dobson Family Institute; Lisa Boothe, Fox News contributor.
Tucker Carlson Tonight, 8 p.m. ET: Tentative guests include: Roger Stone, indicted former longtime Trump adviser.
Hannity, 9 p.m. ET: Tim Ballard, CEO of Operation Underground Railroad; Tammy Bruce, Fox News contributor and president of Independent Women's Voice.; Gregg Jarrett, Fox News legal analyst.
On Fox Business:
Mornings with Maria, 6 a.m. ET: Special coverage of the new jobs report with guests that include: U.S. Rep. Roger Williams, R-Texas; Jake Wood, CEO of Team Rubicon; Joanie Courtney, CMO and president of EmployBridge; NFL great Joe Theismann; Cameron Heyward, Pittsburgh Steelers defensive end.
Varney & Co., 9 a.m. ET: Larry Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council.
On Fox News Radio:
The Fox News Rundown podcast: Want the Fox News Rundown sent straight to your mobile device? Subscribe through Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and Stitcher.
The Brian Kilmeade Show, 9 a.m. ET: Guests includes: John Bolton, U.S. national security adviser under President Trump, on Trump's public disagreement with his intel officials, the state of ISIS and the unrest in Venezuela; Shannon Bream, "Fox News @ Night" host, on border wall talks, the latest in the Mueller investigation and the 2020 presidential race; Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots; former NFL great Tony Siragusa and columnist Ian O'Connor preview Super Bowl LIII.
The Tom Shillue Show, 3 p.m. ET: Jessica Tarlov, Fox News contributor, and comedian Jimmy Failla review the top headlines of the week.
On Fox News Weekend:
Cavuto Live, Saturday, 10 a.m. ET: A live report from Venezuela as tension continues to mount; U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D. and member of the Senate Budget Committee, on the border security and funding battle; U.S. Rep. Tom Graves, R-Ga. and member of the bipartisan committee negotiating the funding bill to avoid a potential new shutdown; Chef Rob Del Balzo on how to impress at your Super Bowl party.
Fox News Sunday, Sunday, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. ET: Special guests include: U.S. Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D. and U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, of the House-Senate Conference Committee on Homeland Security.
#TheFlashback
2003: The space shuttle Columbia breaks up during re-entry, killing all seven of its crew members: commander Rick Husband; pilot William McCool; payload commander Michael Anderson; mission specialists Kalpana Chawla, David Brown and Laurel Clark; and payload specialist Ilan Ramon, the first Israeli in space.
1994: Jeff Gillooly, Tonya Harding's ex-husband, pleads guilty in Portland, Ore., to racketeering for his part in the attack on figure skater Nancy Kerrigan. He receives a 24-month sentence and a $100,000 fine.
1982: "Late Night with David Letterman" premieres on NBC.
1960: Four black college students begin a sit-in protest at a Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro, N.C., where they'd been refused service.
Fox News First is compiled by Fox News' Bryan Robinson. Thank you for joining us! Have a good day and weekend! We'll see you in your inbox first thing Monday morning.
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