hugs. is he a licensed emotional support animal. he has a huge following on tiktok 68,000 people follow this guy. wally gator wons the contest if he wins $10,000 prize and two day spread for america's favorite pet. i would vote for him. >> judge jeanine: he deserves it. >> dana: second place after percy. >> bret: what exactly happens during the commercial breaks? >> tyrus: whoa. >> bret: what is the inside joke. >> dana: bribe me because this one is worth it. >> bret: can we get a camera there? >> tyrus: no. [laughter] >> bret: thanks, dana. good evening, welcome to washington. i'm bret baier. breaking tonight, president biden says he is canceling up to $10,000 of federal student loan debt for certain borrowers and up to $20,000 for pell grant recipients. according to nonpartisan analysis, that proposal could cost upwards of $300 billion for

taxpayers and disproportionately benefit the wealthy. in recent days, there has been considerable bipartisan pushback to the plan. that is now going forward as the country faces record high up beflation. president biden today claiming the plan will have no meaningful affect on inflation but his critics, including some former obama administration officials remain unconvinced. white house correspondent peter doocy starts us off tonight live from the north lawn. good evening, peter. >> good evening, bret. white house officials say they have no idea how much this plan is actually going to cost because they think there are plenty of eligible student loan debt holders who are going to choose not to go online and tell the government that they want to cancel up to $10,000 in that debt. >> now it's time to address the burden of student debt. >> the president's announcement benefits 43 million borrowers including 20 million who will see their student debt totally canceled up to 10,000 in federal

loans, 20,000 in pell grants for borrowers making up to $125,000 a year and up to 250,000 for couples. everyone else gets an additional four month pause. >> i'm extending to december 31st, 2022 and it's going to end at that time. it's time for the payments to resume. >> house speaker nancy pelosi writes president biden's bold action is a strong step in democrats' fight to expand access to higher education. but just last year, she didn't think this was legal. >> people think that the president of the united states has the power for debt forgiveness. he does not. >> the white house won't say which taxpayers are picking up the hundreds of billions of dollars to cancel this debt. the committee for a responsible budget adds today's announcement could add up to twice as much or more to the deaf sift as was just eliminated from the inflation reduction act. the president's top policy adviser susan rice explains. >> this relief will be targeted to those who need it most. >> others aren't so sure. >> we calculate almost 70% of

the benefit is going to top 60% of the income distribution. so this is not something that is targeting low income households. >> former obama economic adviser jason fuhrman tweets pouring rough half trillion dollars of gasoline on the inflationary fire that is already burning is reckless doing it while going well beyond one campaign promise, $10,000 of student loan relief and breaking another, all proposals paid for, is even worse. >> of all of the dumb things joe biden has done, this may the dumbest yet. i know it's stiff competition. >> education questions on fairness. >> people that already paid their student loan. >> right. >> they don't get anything out of this deal. >> right. >> for us, the education secretary how this is legal. and he explained the white house is relying on the heroes acts, which was passed after 9/11 and gives the education secretary the ability to do this, to cancel student debt in times of war, military operation, or

national emergency. so when there are legal challenges the folks here are prepared to argue there is a national emergency, covid. bret? >> bret: which is very interesting because the cdc 1 days ago kind of dialed back on covid restrictions and guidelines. let me ask you one thing. you spent some time in the briefing today, really trying to press them how this is paid for. and the answer came back the deficit reduction since the administration coming out of covid, is that what the answer is? >> so, yeah. they are basically saying they have reduced national deficit by over a trillion dollars since they took office and that -- and that's it. that's basically their whole explanation. they don't go so far as to say that because they reduced the deficit it's okay now to spend more. but, what i was trying to ask the press secretary today is about this idea that you cancel debt. when you cancel debt, you don't disappear it. somebody has to pay. and i was asking over and over

who is going to pay? we know it's taxpayers. they just wouldn't say which ones. >> bret: that's right. peter doocy, live on the north lawn. peter, thank you. stocks were up today. the dow gained 60. the s&p 500 added 12. the nasdaq jumped 50. more on all of this with the panel in a bit. we have new reaction from president biden tonight about the fbi raid on former president trump's florida compound. the response coming ahead of a highly anticipated deadline that could shed significant light, possibly transparency about the case or maybe it won't. correspondent david spunt joins us with the latest on this. good evening, david. >> bret, good evening to you. the deadline for the justice department to propose redactions dealing with the affidavit at mar-a-lago, that is going to be happening tomorrow at noon. president biden talked for the first time about the fbi search, here he is with peter doocy just a few hours ago. >> mr. president, how much advance notice did you have of the fbi's plan to search

mar-a-lago? >> i didn't have any advanced notice, none, zero. not one single bit. >> the affidavit is a document that includes probable cause. it will explain why magistrate judge bruce rinehart signed off on allowing federal agents to search the former president's mar-a-lago home. the affidavit, bret, would have detailed information including what crime or crimes the justice department believes were committed. last week in court judge rinehart says he was leaning toward unsealing parts of the affidavit for the public to see. the doj warned unsealing their preliminary evidence could jeopardize their ongoing probe and threaten the safety of witnesses interviewed by the fbi. over the weekend rinehart had some time to think about it and in a court filing just a few days ago said he may release some of it or none depending on the arguments made by the justice department. he wrote: releasing the affidavit could impede the ongoing investigation through obstruction of justice and witness intimidation or retaliation. this factor waives in favor of sealing. the former president has said they are releasing the affidavit

unredacted in full full for the public to see. after tomorrow's deadline, another federal judge eileen cannon gave the deadline of friday resubmit the request for a special master a third party arbiter to take a look how doj is handling this evidence. the feds have had two and a half weeks to look through the evidence. they seized some of it labeled classified. bret? >> bret: it's complex. we will follow it all. tomorrow is a big day. also, some other news involving the justice department and the former president. >> correct. this is a memo from march 2019 involving the former attorney general bill barr. bill barr recommended against charging then president trump with obstruction of justice during the mueller probe. then attorney general barr agreed and publicly said nothing that trump's contact violated the law, including firing the fbi director. federal courts had ordered the memo to be made public. bret? >> bret: okay. david, thank you. >> sure. >> bret: devastation in ukraine tonight after russian forces launched a deadly rocket attack

on a train station today. the country's independence day. the lethal strike comes after warnings from president vols in recent days that the russians were preparing a cruel assault in his words. correspondent alex hogan has that story tonight from kyiv. good evening, alex. >> good evening, bret. so what we know about this latest attack is that 22 people now have been killed. and at least 50 people are wounded after russian shelling on a train station in the central part of the country. >> bret: alex, what else do we know about this independence day, the ukrainians are trying to push back. what exactly are they doing as far as different parts of the country in response to this russian attack? >> well, we heard those warnings in recent days from u.s. intelligence as well as the government here urging people to

stay inside in the second largest city of cat kyiv, people are told not to leave their homes at all over fears of potential attacks on government buildings and civilian infrastructure. here in the capitol of kyiv people are told not to gather at all. that is out of fear of what we have seen take place across the country today as well as the recent attack on this train station. there was also an attack on a shopping mall in the donetsk region this as people were out trying to enjoy what they could of the day. again, this is ukraine's independence day but it also marks the six month mark since the war broke out. >> bret: last thing, alex. president volodymyr zelenskyy was asked numerous times about how this ends, how this comes to an end. and now he is saying victory. right? >> yes. is he saying victory, not peace. he doesn't want a peace negotiation at this point. he says it is too late for that

he will not give up until ukraine had managed to regain all of the territory, not only to crimean peninsula but the contested donbas region where, again, there was intense shelling, even today a child killed as young as 11 years old. that lighting a fire in so many ukrainians tonight who wanted to be out celebrating independence day instead hunkered at home waiting and watching the death toll across the country only continuing to rise. bret? >> bret: alex hogan live in kyiv on this independence day in ukraine. alex, thank you. a high ranking u.s. defense official says it appears iran is responsible for august 15th drone strikes by troops in eastern syria. >> part of it was also the nature of the attacks on the 15th. the fact that they were coordinated against two u.s. facilities at the same time. the fact that we believe we have iran dead rights on at tri attr.

the parts we have trace directly back to tehran. >> bret: there were no casualties in that attack. talk about foreign policy with smith. chairman of the house armed services committee and florida republican congressman mike waltz, also on the house armed services committee. gentlemen, thanks for your time. i like to started these bipartisan interviews for some common ground. and what you two agree on. you can choose your topic. congressman smith, first to you. >> well, i think ukraine, congressman waltz and i went on a bipartisan co-del met with vols and battle in kyiv what they are doing to russian impasse. very united in giving ukraine the support they can get to fight off the russians. president zelenskyy is right this war doesn't stop until putin is stopped and pushed back

and we agree on getting all the help we can to ukraine to do it. >> bret: i want to play a soundbite, congressman waltz, before i get to you on. that was and it's about ukraine from the defense department today about the effort to get military equipment in there and what's happening. >> we're trying to be very deliberate about what systems we think makes the most sense for ukraine to have. these also have to be symptoms that ukraine itself can sustain. can i tell you that fater aircraft remain on the table just no final decisions have been made about that. >> bret: fighter aircraft going in. seems like just a ton of money, obviously, pouring in for this equipment. there is also and i have talked to you about this. >> is there a mission creep here from the u.s. perspective inside ukraine? >> well, bret, i think another thing you see agreement on on the hill is that, you know, first, ukraine should have had much of this equipment in the first place and that the administration seems to constantly be behind in terms of

what they are providing versus what ukraine needs from harpoon antiship missiles to the stingers they didn't get until after the invasion despite asking for them beforehand to the fighter aircraft and eventually to the long range missile artillery the himars. we finally eventually get it to them. but i think at the end of the day they are losing slowly. zelenskyy is convince you had that if he gets cut off from the black sea, he is no longer viable as a country. and, you know, at the end of the day, bret, he has to go on the offensive to regain momentum or, once again, russia will grind away if the lines solidify like they are, by winter time, there's a real fear that russia will just annex everything they have lick their wounds and be right back at it. just a few years down the road. so, it's pay now or pay later. i think the other thing, bret, is that the europeans absolutely have to step up and do more.

particularly germany. they have provided a fraction of what the united states have. yet, they are most directly a threat and zelenskyy's other fear is once we get into winter, if russia can take the nuclear that the nuclear plant offline that's 30% of ukraineens electricity. then they can dial back the gas to both ukraine and germany. you are going to see a lot more european back sliding. so time is of the essence right now. >> bret: chairman smith, i want to ask about another foreign policy issue. that is iran. >> i do want to comment. >> bret: go ahead. >> yeah. look. we have gotten a ton of aid to ukraine. and i don't agree that ukraine right now is losing slowly. particularly in the last six weeks. the himars systems that we have got, in the gym bler weapon systems, the 155-millimeter canons and weapons, ukraine is actually beginning to push back. we have seen the strikes within crimea and within occupied -- the other parts of ukraine that are occupied by russia.

i think ukraine right now is setting up pretty well for the counter offensive that mike talked about. so we are getting them a lot of support. i guess i'm a little more optimistic at this point a month after our visit about ukraine's ability to push this fight to the russians in the next three months. >> bret: i want to talk to you about another topic and this is iran. chairman smith moments ago senior deference officials confirming reports from the region that the u.s. military fired upon two sites in syria after receiving gunfire from those sites. this is after we saw this direct tie to iran and the drone that was used to attack u.s. troops and others on the ground in syria. meantime, the negotiations continue with iran on the nuclear deal. what about that from your perspective? >> well, with it things. one, i think it's very appropriate that we push back against the iranians any time they attempt to attack our troops. that's what the response from the pentagon and from the president was just in the last 24 hours to respond to the drone attack. you know, iran is very active in

syria as we all know. they are active, you know, working through syria to supply arms to hezbollah and hamas to put pressure on israel. and it's a very complicated fight. i think it is very appropriate that we push back against iran. on the iran nuclear deal, you know, i certainly understand that iran is a maligned actor in the region, without question. but, since we have withdrawn from the iran nuclear deal in addition to being a very benign actor in the region, they have start the enriching uranium day higher level and they are closer to a bomb now than they have ever been. so, if there is some agreement to get them further awayed from a bomb, then i'm kind of at a loss for why so many people are opposed to it. yeah, we would love to stop iran from messing around in all these other countries, but they are doing that, whether they are building a bomb or not. so, we need to focus on both those issues. >> bret: i start with common ground. i'm probably going to end with a little dispute, i'm sure. congressman waltz, you know, iran has obviously been

implicated in trying to assassinate former u.s. officials and there are malign actors around the region as chairman smith mentions. what about this deal? >> yeah, you are right, bret. this is where we do disagree. i think the last thing we should be doing right now is the iranians are targeting american officials. have been implicated in assassination are right now as we speak holding american citizens hostage in evin prison in tehran and now attacking the u.s. military in syria through their proxies. the last thing we should be doing is releasing billions in sanction relief right into the irgc. also, likely listing secondary sanctions on the irgc as a work around from not dropping them from the terrorism list. so that they can further finance their malign activity. it's the last thing we should be doing. but iran is pushing right now because they know they can get away with it. they know this administration is

desperate for any kind of deal. and, by the way, it's the russians that using as intermediary, and if the reporting is correct, it will be the russians who determine if we are all in compliance to then release the uranium that they decide, a future administration isn't in compliance. so i think for all of those reasons, we have to go back to the maximum pressure campaign and bargain from a position of strength rather than the current position of weakness. >> bret: all right. let me -- >> -- the maximum pressure campaign has pushed iran to being as close to having a nuclear bomb as they have ever been. i just don't see why letting iran get a nuclear bomb puts us in a better position in dealing with iran. as far as the details, there is no evidence yet that the russians are going to be -- we don't know the details of it but to cut it off and say we shouldn't even talk about it as iran dances towards developing a nuclear weapon. we should at least try to stop that. all i'm saying. >> bret: last word. 10 seconds:

>> the reason that they are close to having a bomb is that they absolutely violated the deal as owe exposed from israeli intelligence. >> we walked away from. >> in 2018. that's why they weren't going to uphold their end of it i don't trust them as far as i can throw them. >> bret: we are going to follow all elements of this. >> thanks, bret.ipartisan appreciate it. >> bret: concerns a massive patch of farmland could become grounds for a chinese spying operation. later, florida's primaries revealing a hot button issue on the november ballot. ♪ ♪ on.

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>> bret: north dakota community is fighting to stop a chinese company from opening a plant just 20 minutes from a u.s. air force base with highly classified material there. they say it's a matter of national security. correspondent alexis mcadams shows us tonight from grand forks. >> this more than 300 acres of north dakota farmland could soon be home to a massive corn mill owned by the chinese company f ufeng. the company is weary because the company has ties to the chinese communist party. i'm not going to say that

economic development isn't a good thing but at what cost. >> the plant would only be 1 miles from the grand forks air force base home to top secret drone technology. the community fighting back suing the city to stop the project. >> grand forks, water pollutions smell in terms of national security. >> from yard signs to very tense council meetings. [shouting] >> the phi against if you fang wages on they are very real. >> chinese owners control $2 billion of agricultural land across the country. low compared to other foreign countries but growing. few fang the largest growing private sector investment in the history of grand forks. the mayor says this is not a

done deal. until the federal government weighs in. >> if they truly believe it's a bad project and have the facts and information to back it up, we will certainly follow their lead the question is what is next in grand forks. the federal government is conducting a review to see if there is any national security threat with fufeng's plans if they can find something to kill the deal they say they are prepared for at this point. they are expecting that review to be back in the city's hands in the next month and fufeng won't come for now it's all still in play. >> bret: alexis mcadams live in grand forks. alexis, thanks. up next primary elections, new york, florida oklahoma run offs are providing significant clues into the issues voters care about the most heading into november. first, beyond our borders tonight. italian coast guard is launching an investigation into what caused 130-foot super yacht to singer into the mediterranean

sea. the guard was dispatched after receiving a distress call finding the vessel partially submerged already nine miles off the coast. nine people were rescued there. and this is a live look at london. one of the big stories there tonight, a 17-year-old is now the youngest person to fly solo around the world in a small aircraft. mark rutherford completed his flight today after landing in bulgaria where his journey kicked off five months ago. the belgium british dual national youngest to sir couple the globe in a plane. some of the stories beyond our borders tonight. we'll be right back. ♪ ♪ at 4 months, after just 2 doses. skyrizi may increase your risk of infections

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yesterday's primary new york and florida. picked jerry nadler over carolyn maloney featured two power house committee chairs competing for the same seat in upstate york pat ryan defeated mall narrow in the 19th district giving democrats a big win in a district believed to be a bellwether for november. we will see. the race became a referendum on abortion after the high courts will ruin there. now to florida, the november stage is set for two high profile races in florida. democratic congresswoman val demings will try to unseat republican marco rubio in the u.s. senate and governor ron desantis will defend his post against former republican governor current democratic congressman charlie crist. meantime, governor desantis is championing a string of huge wins over candidates he endorsed for top positions he endorsed for education across the state. correspondent aishah hasnie has that part of the story tonight

from tampa. >> because of your energy and enthusiasm, we were able to win school board victories all across the state of florida. [cheers] >> a conservative wave in florida schools, 25 out of the 30 school board candidates backed by governor ron desantis won their election tuesday. conservatives ran on education over indoctrination as parents pushed for more control over what schools are teaching their kids. zeroing in on critical race theory, which linked racial discrimination to america's foundations and legal system. and gender identity lessons. among the biggest g.o.p. wins desantis backed candidates flipped the 3 to 2 liberal majority in the sarasota school board do a 4 to 1 conservative majority despite being outspent. >> even though the union put in like a million dollars, our candidates swept the victory. >> these typically sleepy races turn into political battle

fields after covid restrictions and school closures and amid the governor and the republican state legislature's efforts to reform education. democrats try to fight back saying politics has no place in schools. now they have two months to stymie the governor's growing influence as he fights to keep his seat. >> if he wants to run on hate and culture wars and dividing people and making people hate each other, that's his turf. it's not mine. >> and, brett, the governor is facing a number of challenges in court over his new law. just last week a judge blocked his stop woke act calling it unconstitutional. that would have restricted race-based conversations in businesses and in schools. bret? >> bret: aishah hasnie in tampa, aishah, thanks. >> bret: there is a major uproar among parents tonight over massive failures to safeguard children after a twice-charged

sex offender was allowed to work as a school guidance counselor in a virginia school system for nearly two years after his first arrest. correspondent mike emanuel has the story from alexandria. >> a counselor at this fairfax county middle school was able to keep working for about 20 months despite being arrested and convicted of a sex crime. darren lamar thorton was arrested richmond in november 2020 for solicitation of prostitution from a minor. he was convicted on march 11th of this year and put on probation. then he was arrested a second time on june 9th for the same charge. police notified fairfax county public schools by phone on june 10th. he was placed on unpaid leave a week later and was later fired. the virginia attorney general says he has many questions about what went wrong. >> why deserve no jail time? why did the fairfax supply unworking email addresses even

though the chesterfield police department called fairfax county and asked them hey, there was an arrest made, we need to notify you, how do we notify you? >> virginia governor glenn youngkin says fairfax county mishandled the situation. >> this circumstance in fairfax county is a colossal failure. >> dr. michelle reed is the new superintendent of fairfax county public schools. she started her job on july 1st. reed wrote to parents last week, quote: i want to make this very clear, this entire situation is unacceptable from any perspective, we are deeply concerned about how this happened in one of our schools. >> thornton, who worked here, was required to register as a sex offender. he did so in june after the second arrest. but authorities say he lied, claiming he was self-employed. we have asked the school system for more information about his background check process but have not heard back. bret? >> bret: mike emanuel in alexandria, thanks. up next, a tragic fentanyl

overdose, why the victim's father says it could happen to anyone. but, before we head to break, hall of fame nfl quarterback lynn dawson has died. dawson's unmistakable swagger helping the kansas city chiefs first super bowl in 1970 heading him earn the nickname lenny the cool. announced the death through a station where he starred in second career as a broadcaster. len dawson was 87. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ the new gmc sierra. premium and capable. that's professional grade.

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♪ >> bret: in tonight's series on the poisoning of america, a kentucky father shares his story after losing his son to a fentanyl overdose. the incident is becoming all tao familiar in the blue grass state. >> he visits the grave of his son. played baseball, father and son fished together. one day brandon got a knee surgery multiple surgeries prescribed oxycontin for the pain. >> a lot of parents can tell the

story that i'm telling right now. the end result has been catastrophe. >> brandon followed familiar destructive patterns of afiction but survived until october of 2021. he bought opiates from a woman and fentanyl. the dealer saved limb from the first overdose of the night. she revived him with narcan then she drove him to get his last dose and then later on that night brandon took his fatal dose at his girlfriend's apartment. >> 2021 kentucky grim threshold of 200,000 for the year. the director says 72% of those death are from fentanyl. two years ago, his task force seized 2,000 fentanyl pills in kentucky. last year that number doubled. this year the number has already tripled with more than 14,000 pills seized. he blames the unchecked flow of

migrants at the southern border. >> along with that is the drug trafficking and flow of drugs in this country ending up in communities like bowling green, kentucky. >> kentucky senior senator puts the blame squarely on the president. >> this dereliction of duty at the border by the biden administration is outrageous and unacceptable and until they get control of the border this is continuing to rise and create an ongoing catastrophe the investigation following the death of brandon reid resulted in the indictment of 10 people, some for organized crime. two directly related to selling him the drugs. bret, back to you. >> bret: mike, thank you. up next, the panel on president biden's student loan forgiveness plan and the pushback against it. plus, midterm politics, a look ahead. first, what some of our fox affiliates around our country are covering tonight. fox 5 in new york where a police officer is in critical condition tonight after he was attacked in the bronx tuesday. 48-year-old officer was

repeatedly struck in the head after three men jumped out of a car and began assaulting him. police believe the group is also responsible for a string of robberies in the city. and this is a live look at dallas from our affiliate fox 4. one of the big stories there tonight, workers at the dinosaur valley state park unethed giant dine be know footprints dating back 113 million years ago. the tracks were uncovered in a drought-stricken river. officials estimate the dinosaur stood about 15 feet tall, weighed close to seven tons an an adult. pretty amazing. that's tonight's live look outside the beltway from "special report." we'll be right back. ♪ ♪ ♪ it's the most wonderful time of the year ♪ claritin provides non-drowsy symptom relief from over 200 indoor and outdoor allergens, day after day. feel the clarity and make today the most wonderful time of the year. live claritin clear.

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is >> i believe my plan is responsible and fair. it focuses the benefit on middle class and working families. >> my reaction is this. this is a great day. >> the president can't do it. so that's not even a discussion. not everybody realizes that, but the president can only postpone, delay, but not forgive. >> it's also highly inflationary. highly inflationary at a time when we still have record high inflation and finally it simply encourages colleges to raise tuition harm agnew generation of students. >> it's about making sure we are taking care of americans and

investing in our economy and in our people. >> bret: well, the president's plan, $10,000 debt, student debt forgiveness for people making 125,000, 250,000 for a family and then $20,000 forgiveness for anyone with a pell grant. the former head of the economic council advisers for president obama jason fuhrman tweeting this pouring roughly $1 trillion gasoline on inflationary fire that is already burning is reckless going well beyond 10 k of student loan relief and breaking another all proposals paid for is even worse. he goes on morgan ortagus, ari fleischer and leslie marshall, democratic strategist. ari, your thoughts on this? obviously, there are political implications here and there is thoughts on both sides.

>> bret, i think this is wrong. when you ask for a loan the proper procedure is not to pay it back and expect it to be dismissed as if money is for free. when you ask for a loan you have a fundamental obligation to pay back that loan. and the government should not do this. why are they doing this one? why not taxpayers who have loans out to the irs? the irs has told a lot of taxpayers that you owe us money and we are charging you interest on it. should the government dismiss those? what about people who owe car companies for car rentals for car loans? what about people who own mortgage debt. should that be forgiven? no. the answer is when you apply for a loan, you pay back your loan. and for the government to be the one dismissing this is just irresponsible and also a fundamental redistribution of wealth from high school students, people with high school diploma to college students. it doesn't get more wrong. >> bret: all right, leslie, i want to get your response.

house speaker nancy pelosi you heard her in that montage that is a year ago saying the president doesn't have this authority. today she said something different saying the authority was found. read education department office of legal counsel memo to then education secretary betsy devos in which they write: we believe the secretary does not have the statutory authority to cancel compromise, discharge or forgive on a blanket or mass basis principle balances of student loans and/or to materially modify the repayment amount or terms thereof. suggesting that would have to be congress that does that. this president says this is an emergency basis through the department of education because of covid even as its cdc is dialing back on the guidance about covid and the emergency status of it your thoughts, leslie? >> the emergency status in that one word make it a game changer as to whether the president has the authority, education department without congress. you know, i don't always agree with ari but i will agree with

one thing, please, please, wipe out those debts that we, myself included, owe the irs. in all seriousness, the president campaigned specifically and specifically about this dollar amount with student loan forgiveness when he was elected one. two, less than two months ago, 55% of the american people supported student loan forgiveness and on top of it this specific dollar amount. as a matter of fact, republicans, 18 to 34 years of age also support this this isn't something the president is doing against the will of the people. let's talk about pushback. it's never going to be good enough for some my own party on the left and the others who want the slate clean or want $50,000. something is better to nothing to them i say. and then on the other side of the aisle, i'm sorry, republicans have signed off on $2 trillion to give tax breaks to the wealthy and they didn't blink an eye on. that was so, i'm going -- i know there was going to be pushback on both sides. the president is not only

keeping a promise, is he trying to help those that have been hurt along this pandemic and, janet yellen said the money they would use can infuse the economy and can help with consumerism for them to buy, you know, more food, more clothes, cars, homes, et cetera. >> bret: susan rice, the domestic policy adviser, used that same pushback on the hypocrisy point about republicans and tax cuts. you know, every time we get to an issue that we have talked about before and student loan debt forgiveness has come up a lot. we like to go back to our archives and look to our late colleague charles krauthammer and what he may have said about this. we found one. this is from 2013. >> it's a classic example of a compassion. the unintended consequences of compassion. it's a good idea until you realize you showed earlier on the show, how much tuition has increased. and the reason is you get a huge amount of money from the federal government, that the colleges understand supply and demand allow them to increase their

tuition. public institutions increase tuition by 27% since '07 and the more expensive private colleges about half of that so, essentially, it's inflating the budgets of the universities everybody understands that. >> morgan, that's college tuition and fees since 1980, 100 year span while inflation increased only about 232%. so, your thoughts on all of this, morgan? >> first, thanks for legislate me go after the legend krauthammer. no pressure on that, bret. if i can take a cynical view on this. look at voters 18 to 29. in the 2020 election, about 60% of those voters voted for joe biden. and in june a poll was done of that same age group and he was around 22% approval rating. so that's a 40 point drop from a key constituent group. you look at latino voters. similarly, probably another 40%

drop in approval rating there similarly, black american voters down to 60% approval rating there. they went overwhelmingly for biden. so, when you go through and you look at this from a 2020 midterm election perspective, it's clear that they are trying to throw, you know, throw a bone to many voters to try to get them back, to try to get them to show up at the polls. i think it's going to backfire on them undermine the inflation reduction act which did nothing to actually reduce inflation and going to be another trillion dollars potentially of spending on the books within a matter of weeks at a time when our economy just can't take it. no common sense economist would say that this will work. >> bret: ari, another student debt, total outstanding student debt graphic only 26% of households with student debt have a graduate degree. loans associated with graduate degrees account for nearly 50% of the total outstanding student loan debt. so, just from a pure political perspective, aren't you kind of making a bunch of people mad in

the same time? it's a knife edge decision here politically. but this seems like a big group that either didn't go to college or paid off the debts. >> that's why i think this is less a partisan issue than a right or wrong issue. it's also that transfer of wealth as the i said earlier from people who have just a high school degree to college people and people with master's degrees. most americans don't go to college, bret. most americans have to pay their bills. so whether a this does it says to most americans there's a sliver, better educated than you, that you are going to start to pay for the bills that they incurred. it's just wrong. you don't do this to our children. it's how you buy people off, pay people off, and hopefully win a midterm election. >> bret: panel, thank you. we will follow it and see where it goes. finally tonight a special report salute. >> saved a dog by quickly digging her out of the landslide

when the dark kept barking frantically knew something was up. a pair of good samaritans kept digging for two hours until they found seven tiny pups safe and sound. great story. tomorrow on "special report." the deadline is up for that magistrate down in florida. the search affidavit will see. thanks for inviting us into your home tonight. that's it for this "special report," fair, balanced and still unafraid. "jesse watters primetime" starts right now. hey, jesse. >> great seeing that krauthammer clip in there. >> bret: yeah, man. love it ♪ ♪ >> jesse: success doesn't come cheap in america. you have to earn everything you get. usually. and the harder you work, the bigger your success. if you sacrifice enough, you might even see your name on the side of a building. ♪ money, money, money ♪ money ♪ money, money, money ♪ money ♪ >> jesse: not everybody can be trump. some people just don't have the tools to