. >> that was republican senator roger wicker today questioning the chairman of the joint chiefs. the senator quoting a new column that calls the president out for ignoring the advice of his generals including general dempsey who said the u.s. should keep troop in iraq. now the president is reportedly ignoring their advice again in the fight against isis. mark thiessen is the author of the column referenced. he's also the former chief speech writer to president george w. bush. what a moment today hearing your own column quoted to the chairman of the joint chiefs and he backed you up, mark. >> he did, absolutely. he said that all the generals, all the military leaders thought that we should have left troops in iraq, they gave that advice to president obama, he rejected it. the result is the rise of isis. he confirmed that general austin has requested before and advised the president that we needed special operations troops on the ground to fight isis and that that request was denied as well. so the president -- you have to feel for general austin. here's a guy, a great general who

targets include dean heller in nevada, roger wicker in mississippi, nebraska's deb fischer and jeff flake from arizona, who abandon gases could avoid a challenge by retiring like tennessee senator bob corker. >> they take a look at who's potentially running and i think guys like flake are going to do some polling and they are also going to throw in the towel. >> but flake sees alabama's primary result is a different kind of opportunity. one for incumbents to condemn the winter judge moore. two previous comments about sexuality and a op-ed word representative keith ellison shouldn't serve in congress because he is a muslim. >> try to apply a religious test? that's not right. republicans should stand up and say that's not right. >> also desist >> i would say we don't agree wh those comments. >> regardless, the leader of the senate leadership fund believes out outsiders have all the leverage. "the republican congress has replaced president obama as the bogeyman for conservative g.o.p. primary voters was cool. and officeholders are in peril. >> if you get tagged as a candidate in the leadersh

. >> senator roger wicker told fox if the president gets to make the decision he will accept it amid all of this, a group of 8 bipartisan bicameral lawmakers are concoct ago backup plan and pitching it to their respective caucuses, the thinking is if it passes president biden will not veto anything that comes from congress and they would rather see a bipartisan deal get done. and, bret, fox has brand new information signaling that the white house may reject the g.o.p. plan to use unspent covid relief money, a source familiar with the administration's thinking says about 95% of that $3 trillion is already spent or allocated, including for ppp and unemployment and remaining 5% is for rural hospitals and small business disaster loans. that signals a impasse ahead and republican senator roy blunt told me tonight hind knows that the g.o.p. is not going to sign on to any kind of a deal that undoes the 2017 tax cut and there is about a week or so left of these talks before he says the democrats will likely have to see what they can accomplish on their own. bret? >> bret: jackie, i know you

senate budget committee republican roger wicker says smarter cuts are fine but is skeptical of the predictions. >> not only would it not go to those jobs but also it's not going to happen. if there's one thing that we're committed to, we're committed to keeping the overall budget savings that were negotiated in the budget control act. and to lose that would be to lose everything we worked for. >> reporter: critics note this is the same cbo that predicted president obama's 2009 stimulus package would produce three million jobs and fell short. ahead of the budget office release, leading democrats talked about the effect of the sequester. >> the sequester was an economic punch to the cut for transportation, housing and development programs. >> reporter: while the cuts have had an impact on people in terms of furloughs and some reduced benefits, experts say they have not led to the predicted massive breakdowns in critical services. though democratic senator patty murray held out hope that congress will stop the cuts. >> the impacts of sequestration, like the furloughs of 650,000 defense workers no

mississippi republican roger wicker is a budget conferree. >> i'm thinking about the end of the week we'll have a deal that gets us some sequestration relief and we'll there to pay for it. if it is just like the sale of spectrum, that won't be much of a victory. with were going to do -- we were going to do that any way. >> democrats have been hoping to restore funding for medical research and education. the pressure is on patty murray and republican congressman paul ryan to finalize a deal to fund the government beyond january 15th. a new push from democrats in recent days has been a $25 billion unemployment extension which is due to run sought december 28th. >> right now more than 1 million of americans are poses to lose a vital lifeline, a few days after christmas, if congress doesn't do something about it. >> unemployment benefits have been extended five times at a price tag of $226 billion and some conservatives argue more extensions are not acceptable. >> they are causing them to become a perpetual part of the unemployed in our economy and while it seems good, it does a disservi

and just now a few minutes ago in the hallway we spoke with roger wicker. he said a slight delay is okay. >> well, it may be necessary. yeah, in my mind, i'm satisfied that judge kavanaugh should be confirmed. but it may be necessary to give some people a comfort level. but, the leadership is deciding that right now. so i'm going to get a little more work done. >> and we're in a spot right now where we are hoping to intercept jeff flake a few floors beneath his office after that meeting with leadership. it's going to be interesting to ask him exactly what made him change his mind because first thing this morning flake put out a statement that said he was going to support the kavanaugh nomination. a few minutes later, i was in a group of reporters when chris coons, a democratic senator and a friend of jeff flake was shown that statement he was so upset with jeff flake was going to vote yes, he was almost moved to tears he was choked up. tried for 30 seconds to react to it and he couldn't. he said no comment and he walked await a minute coons is one of the on

a man who always does well is senator roger wicker. roger, he's been a great friend of mine from the beginning. and representative greg harper. thanks, greg. [applause] this is really an incredible time for our nation. we are respected again. we are respected again, like we haven't been respected in many, many decades. we have the best economy and our history. the stock market today just hit another record high. that is -- i think 103 times since i've been president that we've hit a new high. and hopefully next year at this time we will hit many more. but that's not a bad number, right? up to 103, and if i'm off just a little bit, like 102, it will be headlines. trump exaggerated. that's why i always say, i think. with republican congress, we got 4 million new jobs since election day and lifted 4 million americans off of food stamps. those are tremendous numbers. [applause] jobless claims are at a 50 year low, and the stock market as i just said is at an all-time high today. african-american, hispanic-american and asian american unempl

roger wickers is likely to lead the commerce committee and oklahoma's jim inhofe will chair the armed services. they're looking forward to getting to work. >> it's orientation day and we had a good meeting this morning with the leader. and we spoke about not only issues but personnel matters and leadership matters. >> reporter: one race still to be determined is the senate seat and the incumbent is here and republican rick scott is expected to travel here later today. scott hoping to be prepared if he is declared the winner. shep. >> shepard: mike emanual reporting. >>> there's a test to avoid a government shutdown. fox news senior producer reports. >> reporter: the house senate and president trump crafted bipartisan practices agreed to an interim problem to run everything else through december 7 but they could face the shutdown then. the flash point, president trump's demand for a border wall. >> we intend on having a full-fledged discussion on how to complete the mission of securing our border and we will have a big fight about it. >> reporter: border wall money falls in the purview

wicker of mississippi, marco rubio of florida and row blount of missouri. all voicing against the president along with every democrat. it is a strong bipartisan rebuke of president trump's plan. congress has overturned the national emergency declaration that would have provided funding for the president's proposed border wall. he asked the house for the house said no. then he declared a national emergency. now congress has said no again. but next, the promises he will veto. we have team fox coverage. john roberts reporting from the white house. mike emanuel reporting live from capitol hill. mike? >> there were attempts by some senate republicans to cut a deal with the president to see if they could limit future national emergencies. sources say they were noter into where the president stood in some of these proposals offered to him. so here's why utah senator mitt romney was a no today. >> i'm voting in favor of the resolution. it's not about the balance of power. it's not about the president or border security. i support border security. i support the cons

still mississippi's senator roger wicker thinks the party can get to 50 votes by the end of the week. in that case, president pence would break the tie, when it comes for a vote sometimes before the break in august. senator wicker says he's optimistic because his colleagues are determined to get something done. mike emanuel live with more. what are we hearing from mitch mcconnell? >> he's saying they can't afford to delay any longer. he says they must deliver for the american people and he says he's fellow senators will have a chance to offer input. >> senators will have more opportunities to offer their thoughts as we work towards an agreement and every member will have an opportunity to engage in robust debate out here on the senate floor. if one thing is clear, it's this. obamacare is a direct assault on the middle class. a direct assault on the middle class. it's getting worse and we have to act to finally move beyond its failures. >> so the time line at this point, try to get a deal by friday and send it to the cbo to analyze over the fourth of july recess and in theory, senators

wicker and a judge as well. somebody sent all of this, and only the judge actually got the letter. the president and the judges were both -- i mean the president and the politicians were beth enter -- both intercepted. the prosecutors recommended a 25 year sentence. today, this man, who was charged with sending this poison letter, is in a court hearing in oxford, mississippi now, where they're about to have a change of plea agreement. we assume he is about to plead guilty to something. the 25 year prison sentence, we're not sure. >>> first, the parents of a 21-year-old girl say they were shocked to discover a worker at a fertility clinic they used is actually the biological father of their child. and now they're warning other families who use that clinic to check their children's dna. this image shows the work as a young man. and look at this photo. shows the girl when she was younger. decide for yourself where you see a re semblance. the girl's parents recently learned of the whole thing. they thought it would

republican senators kelly ayotte and roger wicker have been fighting cuts for those under age 62. a $6 billion cut after cost of living increases and the senators want it fixed. jean shaheen suggested a bill that would close corporate tax loopholes instead of going after military benefits. it's one of the ideas being floated and john cornyn says the issue should be addressed now. >> i don't have any doubt whatsoever if we were able to come up with an appropriate paid for and of substitute for this cut in military pensions, that it would pass like a hot knife through butter in the house of representatives when they reconvene. >> reporter: senator patty murray says including disabled retiree benefits in the cut was a mistake and she says it will get addressed after the bill is passed. >> mike emanuel, thank you. >>> breaks right now. the harvard university sophomore accused of making bomb threats to get out of taking his final exam is at this moment appearing in court. the feds say he faces up to five years in prison for this. investigators say he almost got away with it and would h

the mississippi senator roger wicker telling "the hill" newspaper, "cleveland is the last place republicans in tough races want to be," especially if there's going to be what he calls a brouhaha over the nominee. and senator john mccain apparently agrees. the 2008 presidential nominee says no thanks, not me. i'll be somewhere else. not at that convention. for the first time in years. house speaker paul ryan is pushing his colleagues the other way. he's like, show up. it's your party. you should be here. come to cleveland. cleveland is lovely in the middle of the summer -- oh, wait, that's not his argument. speaker ryan will be the convention chairman. so he'll have to oversee the whole thing. jeb bush says he won't be there either. let's bring in shelby holliday, video reporter for the "wall street journal." there are divisions all over this party, and now there's divisions over whether people inside the party sheen come to the party party. >> should even show up. there's a major conflict of interest here. on one hand you have speaker paul ryan saying this is our party, you've got to be her

senator roger wicker, a republican, asked the committee, the senate commerce committee, looking into this. we obtained a copy of the letter he's sending to the faa with questions on this. so this sort of throws a wrench into the whole progress or lack of progress that is being done right now. so wicker has said that the faa may have been notified about these sufficiencies as early as august 18. the stock is barely moving today. that seems to be something that people will be talking about with the stock, shep. >> shepard: we're still waiting for a report. >> yeah. that's right. so from indonesia where awaiting a report. we expected it to common. they're doing their investigation into the cause of the 737 max jet crash. we have not gotten it. we're told it may come this week. that is also playing into the delay for the software patch. boeing says we need all the information available to make sure that we covered every possible problem with the 737 max jet. i would add though that it's been five months since the first crash and presumably they've been working on that patch all the time,

wicker e-mails being released week after week? >> the theory among academics is campaign events don't have a kind of hugely consequential event. this year looks like it may challenge that conventional wisdom because the first debate really seems to have been the turning point. trump had closed to within a point or two in virtually every poll, and once that first debate ended, clinton's lead began to grow, and it has still grown and now stabilized up to this point. remember, the fundamentals, the economic data and stuff, predicted a close race. so this may be a case where an event actually had an impact. one quick footnote-- the economic fundamentals, barack obama's approval ratings have all moved in a direction in the last month or two that helps the democrats. but i still think we're going to look back at at that first debate as a critical factor. >> sreenivasan: jeff greenfield, many things. >> pleasure. >> sreenivasan: u.s. defense secretary ash carter arrived in baghdad today to assess the progress of the iraqi government offe

. >> schifrin: mississippi's roger wicker: >> our credibility has been gravely damaged. has it not, neral milley? >> schifrin: joint chiefs chairman general mark milley: >> i think that our credibility with allies and partners around the world, and with adversaries, is being intensely reviewed by them, to see which way this is going to go. and i think that damage is one word that could be used, yes. >> schifrin: andafter two decades of war, more than 2,000 americans killed, 20,000 americans wounded, and the taliban in control in kabul-- for the first time, milley admitted defeat. >> an outcome that is a strategic failure-- the enemy is in charge of kabul, there's no way else to describe that. that outcome is the cumulative effect of 20 years, not 20 days. >> schifrin: the commanders defended the chaotic evacuation of more than 100,000 afghans and americans, and they said president biden did take their advice owithdrawing by august 31, even though thousands who wanted to leave, were left behind. >> if we stayed past the 31st, which militarily is feasible, but it would hav

president trump won it b 16 points, roger wicker, the other republican senator who won it this month by 20 points. president trump is gtong back in ampaign for senator hyde-smith monday.re are thpublicans worried about this race? >> well, i think they are. i mean, we see thesending the president, as you say, making two stops in mississippi monday. this is a deep red state. a democrat has not won a senate seat in mississippi since 1982,i so tngs are in republicans' favor, but this is an unual election. it's a runoff right after the holidays, right after theks thving holiday. the kind of election that reallm ontivated voters come out and vote in, but, so, both parties really want to drive out their base and i think there is concern amonglirepns that these reactors by senator hyde-smith might turn out the democratic base to vote for mike es and that certainly is the vote for democratic act vests. >> sarah mccammon of npr thank you so much. we'll find out how it turns out next week. >> thank you. >>oodruff: as hurricanes become more intense and wetter due to climate change, major floodin

. >> woodruff: and senator roger wicker of mississippi was also at the white house today. i began by asking him if the president's engagement adds more pressure on republicans. >> well, i guess there is some pressure on some of the people who are sort of still doubtful about this. i don't feel the pressure because i have been a yes vote for quite some time, but let me tell you, there are two schools of thought on moving forward. the majority leader, senator mcconnell, would like to get to a vote on the motion to proceed and see where people are, and if we win, great, we proceed to the bill. if not, at least people have voted, and we know what the target is, if we lose by two or three votes. the president, on the other hand, really thinks that, over the next few days, we can get 50 votes to yes, and he was all about today getting into the details of what's keeping various members from being able to say 100% that they can support this legislation and deciding what levers to pull to get the bill to a place where 50 of us can say yes. >> the reason i'm asking about pressure is

. >> woodruff: and tomorrow night, we get a republican perspective from senator roger wicker of mississippi. >> woodruff: it has been two years since the iran nuclear deal was struck-- a central, and controversial, part of the obama administration's legacy. but president trump has made no secret of his dislike for the agreement, and that is one part of heightened tensions with iran. william brangham has that. >> my number-one priority is to dismantle the disastrous deal with iran. >> brangham: on the campaign trail, candidate trump vowed to rip up the international community's agreement that curbed iran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. but last night, president trump took the required step of certifying whether iran was in fact complying with its end of the deal. this was the second time the trump administration certified it was. state department spokeswoman heather nauert, while affirming iran's compliance, said they're not off the hook: >> there are still a lot of things iran is doing that are very troubling to this administration. and so we're going to try and push on

and mississippi senator roger wicker said the president should have consulted with g.o.p. leaders first. >> the president's new budget, his final budget as president of the united states has arrived with a resounding thud here in the congress of the united states. this final budget of the obama administration misses the president's final opportunity to reach out and do big things in a time of divided government. >> ifill: republican leaders pledged to release their own budget plan in the coming weeks. >> woodruff: the head of u.s. intelligence confirmed today that north korea has re-started its plutonium reactor and ramped up uranium enrichment. both are key components of a nuclear weapons program. the director of national intelligence, james clapper, said the north could begin recovering plutonium for bomb- making in a matter of weeks or months. >> ifill: in hong kong, lunar new year celebrations erupted into the worst violence since 2014, leaving dozens injured. it started after police tried to shut down unlicensed food vendors. with that, hundreds of protesters rushed p

i'm going to start with some sound bites from two of those senators, ted cruz of texas and roger wicker of mississippi, specifically talking to the idea that president biden would like a black female as his next supreme court justice. sen. cruz: the fact that he's willing to make the promise at the outset that it must be a black woman, i got to say, that's offensive. man: right. sen. cruz: black women are, what, 6% of the u.s. population? he's saying to 94 percent of americans, i don't give a damn about you. you are ineligible. sen. wicker: the irony is that the supreme court is at the very same time hearing cases about this sort of affirmative racial discrimination, and while adding someone who is the beneficiary of this sort of quota. lisa: but, of course, this is not new. in fact, i want to pull up a quote by former president reagan when he was a candidate for the presidency in 1980, when he promised himself: "it is time for a woman to sit among our highest jurists." and, of course, he appointed sandra day o'connor. on the other side of this debate, there are those who say diversity

they are senators roger wicker of mississippi, john hickenlooper of colorado, and angus king of maine. e governors of washington and oregon announced all teachers and staff in k-12 must be vaccinated against covid by october 18 or face firing. and in san francisco, the chronicle reports the city will pursue suspensions for 40 employees in e police, sheriffs, and fire departments because they refused toisclose their covid vaccination status. we will focus on surging infections in low-vaccination areas, later in the program. in haiti, hospitals have reached a crisis point, five days after an earthquake that killed nearly 2200 people and injured well over 12,000. aid workers appealed today for medical gear. in. supplies arrived wednesday at the airport in hard-hit lakay, but quake victims said the help is not reaching them. >> people don't get any help. we have nothing. we a abandoned here. we are asking for aid for all the people who are here. i want to find some aid and get out of here. stephanie: one hospital in port-au-prince closed today for two days after two doctors were kidnapped

they are republican roger wicker of mississippi; democrat john hickenlooper of colorado, and independent angus king of maine. we'll focus on surging infections in low-vaccination areas, later in the program. hurricane "grace" struck mexico's yucatan peninsula today. it came ashore before dawn, with winds of 80 miles an hour and heavy rain in its wake, roads were covered with downed trees, wrecked cars and boats and other debris. the storm is expected to sweep across the gulf of mexico before hitting veracruz state late friday. in haiti, hospitals have reached a crisis point, five days after an earthquake that killed nearly 2,200 people and injured well over 12,000. aid workers appealed today for medical gear. so far, aid is only trickling in. supplies arrived wednesday at the airport in hard-hit le kay, but quake victims said the help is not reaching them. >> ( translated ): people don't get any help. we have nothing. we are abandoned here. we are asking for aid for all the people who are here. i want to find some aid and get out of here. >> woodruff: one hospital in port-au-prince close

we start with mississippi republican roger wicker. senator wicker, welcome. there seem to be two arguments going on here in the senate recently that you reached an agreement about today, but one was about a human trafficking bill, one was about loretta lynch. what was the connection? >> well, the connection is actually we needed to break the logjam on the trafficking bill, a very important piece of legislation to protect vulnerable young americans and also people who will be trafficked into the united states. senator mcconnell had made it clear that the schedule would be the trafficking bill then the lynch nomination. and i think it was important for him to stand firm on that, and as it turns out tbroke the logjam. both matters will now be considered, and we'll be able to move on, i think in a bipartisan fashion. >> ifill: asun, democrats think republicans were basically holding the attorney general's nomination hostage for an abortion-related amendment included in this human trafficking bill. what's your response to that? >> well, my response is the hyde lan

however, what critics are saying when it comes to biden and this isn't just roger wicker who's of course a republican come about you having tim kaine the democratic senator saying when you take any kind of armed effort and troop movement off the table, then what are we talking about here, it doesn't really speak to the power that we might have. again, we are trying to avoid a hot war, but strategically ukraine truly is important. howard: molly, this is a national view jim garrity what he called a word of praise for president biden. tucker carlson as we just heard it said some conservatives here and elsewhere are trying to push biden into a senseless war with russia. when you say some people have not thought it through do you think they really want this military action or is it just sort of television bluster? >> does seem we in this country have had a portion of our foreign policy establishment that seeks intervention and when we get out of one conflict they are looking for another. they should think through the consequences. one of the problems we had in the previous intervention is we

senator roger wicker. roger! [cheers and applause] thank you, roger. great job. and a man that did so well recently, it will go down for a long time, you will be seeing those words, they were beautiful words and they were needed very desperately at that time. brett kavanaugh was being treated very unfairly, very, very unfairly, and lindsey graham got up -- [cheers and applause] and he hit a chord that you hit very rarely in the world of politics or anything else, he said things that were said not only so well, the meaning of what he said really changed the course of that event and now we have a great, great supreme court justice, brett kavanaugh. lindsey graham. lindsay, thank you lindsay. thank you. thank you, lindsay. he really did, that was very special. we are all here tonight to support an amazing leader and a tremendous champion for this great state, a woman -- >> sean: of the president goes through his introductions, and i assume that he will next be introducing cindy hyde-smith, we go really quickly -- we will get back to that in a second as he gets back

senator roger wicker. [applause] thanks, roger. thank you, roger. and somebody i'm calling up, believe it or not she just ran with me. she just won and she said i have to do it again. she's running in 2020. cindy hyde-smith is incredible. she's tough, and smart and strong. she is with us the way. >> is this guy incredible, or what? he has got -- we have got a president we can be proud of. and let me tell you something, this tuesday, mississippi can send a message to the entire nation. we can let the liberal democrats with their socialist agenda no it may be alive and well in the heart of nancy pelosi but it is dead in mississippi. we can let them know, we don't want open illegal borders for drug smugglers to come through them. we can let them know that, to kill an unborn baby is not a human right, it is a human life. this is a great crowd tonight. next tuesday let's go out and vote. let's support our governor tate reeves and let's support these mississippi republican candidates. go out and vote and let's show the president how much we appreciate him