WDBD FOX 40 Jackson MS Local News, Weather and Sports

WDBD Television for Jackson, MS

    fox-news/shows/sunday-morning-futures

    Acting DHS Secretary Wolf: No ‘immediate’ plans for domestic travel ban amid coronavirus

    Speaking on “Sunday Morning Futures” in an exclusive interview, acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf discussed whether the president would implement a domestic travel ban and national shutdown in the near future.

    When host Maria Bartiromo asked Wolf if President Trump is considering a full shutdown of the country for a period of time he said, “Not at this time.”

    He then referenced the set of national guidelines that are in effect for a period of at least 15 days to prevent the further spread of the coronavirus. “The president and the vice president and the task force have been very aggressive and very forward-leaning” in providing guidance, Wolf said.

    When Bartiromo asked Wolf if the president was considering shutting down all domestic travel for 30 days, he responded, “We continue to look at it” adding that there was no  “immediate plan” to enact such restrictions.

    “We continue to be concerned about those high transmission areas like New York, like parts of California and Washington, so we’re going to continue to look at that and if we see that we need to put some targeted travel restrictions in place, we will do that,” he explained. “But, I will say there’s no immediate plan as of right now for any widespread travel restrictions.”

    Officials in California, New York, Illinois, New Jersey, Ohio and Connecticut have ordered people in their states to stay home to help reduce the spread of the virus.

    CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE

    As of Sunday afternoon, there have been 31,057 confirmed coronavirus cases reported in the United States with 400 deaths, according to data compiled by Fox News. New York had the most cases with 15,777 reported, followed by New Jersey with 1,914, Washington with 1,793 and California with 1,554, according to the data.

    “We’re focusing on those states and those localities that have widespread community transmission, so New York, California, Washington, there’s other parts of the country that we’re seeing cases spike, and so those governors are obviously looking at those numbers closely, they’re in touch with the CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention], they’re in touch with HHS [Department of Health and Human Services] and the task force,” Wolf told Bartiromo.

    “There’s other parts of the country, perhaps in the Midwest and South, that are not seeing those same numbers,” he continued. “They don’t need to take those aggressive measures at this time, but we continue to evaluate this really on a day by day, week by week basis.”

    CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

    “We want to take aggressive steps in those communities that we’re seeing large numbers and outbreaks so that we don’t have to take those measures elsewhere if we don’t need to. That’s really the concept behind it,” he added.

    Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo contributed to this report.

    Navarro says mobilization ‘just like in World War II’ in progress as coronavirus spreads

    White House trade adviser Peter Navarro told Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” that President Trump is “now a wartime president” — and that the country now has a “clear battle plan” reminiscent of its mobilization during World War II.

    Navarro made the remarks when asked by Maria Bartiromo about a Bank of America assessment that jobless claims could spike to 3 million next week.

    “We’ve got planes in the air. We got FEMA planes, FedEx planes, we got Pentagon planes — and that’s what I’m focused on,” Navarro said. “The American people should be comforted because the full power of American production is coming to bear on this, just like in World War II.”

    Navarro emphasized that his primary role in White House operations now was “tactical,” including work on “getting the supply chain to deliver what we need to the places where we need it,” including gowns, face masks and ventilators. “We’re gonna suffer some economic impacts in the short run.”

    ILHAN OMAR PRAISES TRUMP CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE, USE OF DEFENSE MOBILIZATION ACT

    “Let me give you some examples that may provide a little comfort to the American people on-air; literally across the street, in my office, every day, we’re working to deliver products,” Navarro said. “Just in the space of a week, we’ve had close to a million swabs delivered with the help of the Pentagon and FedEx spread across the country. Pernod, which is a liquor company, has donated hand sanitizer with their production lines. We’re gonna get a truck coming right into New York City on Tuesday with that.”

    He added: “Honeywell — we’ve got a factory springing sprouting up in Smithfield, Rhode Island, to give us millions of masks. We have the National Council of Textile Organizations. It’s the Fruit of the Loom, Hanes, Parkdale Mills. They’re gonna give us millions of masks. They’re very immediately hitting the ground running on that, and our job here is to not only get the production done, but to get it to the people in need.”

    Some of the production began after Trump tapped his authority under the 70-year-old Defense Production Act to give the government more power to steer production by private companies and try to overcome shortages in masks, ventilators and other supplies. Even Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., unexpectedly praised Trump’s invocation of the law and other measures, saying it was “incredible and the right response in this critical time.”

    Relief assistance, fiscal stimulus, affected industries and liquidity needs comprised the four points of the “compass” that Republicans wanted to hit with upcoming legislation, Navarro said. He added that those goals will be achieved, respectively, with paid family and sick leave, a cash cushion to workers with payroll tax holiday deferrals for small businesses, a $200 billion collateralized loan program with about 25 percent to airlines and the Federal Reserve using the exchange stabilization fund.

    TWO CONGRESSMEN TEST POSITIVE FOR CORONAVIRUS

    “That’s a sound strategy,” Navarro told Bartiromo. “We’re gonna hit all four points of that compass. We’re gonna see that bill soon, and hopefully the Democrats and Republicans all join hands on that.”

    Top-level negotiations between Congress and the White House teetered Sunday on a ballooning nearly $1.4 trillion economic rescue package, as Trump called for a deal to steady a nation hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin indicated a deal was within reach, but top congressional Democrats raised concerns ahead of a meeting at the Capitol.

    In the hours before the closed-door talks were to convene in an otherwise empty Capitol, Trump’s lead negotiator said the plan was meant to prop up the nation’s weakened economy for the next 10 to 12 weeks.

    “I think we have a fundamental understanding and we look forward to wrapping it up today. It will get done,” Mnuchin said on “Fox News Sunday.”

    Meanwhile, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Sunday the stringent measures being put in place in the U.S. including travel restrictions, the closing of schools and many businesses and other social distancing will go “a long way” to prevent the U.S. from becoming like Italy.

    Italy has seen over 50,000 coronavirus cases and nearly 5,000 deaths. Fauci told CBS News’ “Face the Nation” it was hard to know exactly why Italy was “suffering so terribly,” but it did not appear to shut out as well the input of infections originating from China and other parts of the world.

    CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP

    He said the U.S. was “going to be hit, no doubt about it,” but appeared to be in a better position because “we have from the beginning put a kind of clamper” on the virus.

    Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo, Fox News Channel’s John Roberts and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

    Navarro says mobilization ‘just like in World War II’ in progress as coronavirus spreads

    White House trade adviser Peter Navarro told Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” that President Trump is “now a wartime president” — and that the country now has a “clear battle plan” reminiscent of its mobilization during World War II.

    Navarro made the remarks when asked by Maria Bartiromo about a Bank of America assessment that jobless claims could spike to 3 million next week.

    “We’ve got planes in the air. We got FEMA planes, FedEx planes, we got Pentagon planes — and that’s what I’m focused on,” Navarro said. “The American people should be comforted because the full power of American production is coming to bear on this, just like in World War II.”

    Navarro emphasized that his primary role in White House operations now was “tactical,” including work on “getting the supply chain to deliver what we need to the places where we need it,” including gowns, face masks and ventilators. “We’re gonna suffer some economic impacts in the short run.”

    ILHAN OMAR PRAISES TRUMP CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE, USE OF DEFENSE MOBILIZATION ACT

    “Let me give you some examples that may provide a little comfort to the American people on-air; literally across the street, in my office, every day, we’re working to deliver products,” Navarro said. “Just in the space of a week, we’ve had close to a million swabs delivered with the help of the Pentagon and FedEx spread across the country. Pernod, which is a liquor company, has donated hand sanitizer with their production lines. We’re gonna get a truck coming right into New York City on Tuesday with that.”

    He added: “Honeywell — we’ve got a factory springing sprouting up in Smithfield, Rhode Island, to give us millions of masks. We have the National Council of Textile Organizations. It’s the Fruit of the Loom, Hanes, Parkdale Mills. They’re gonna give us millions of masks. They’re very immediately hitting the ground running on that, and our job here is to not only get the production done, but to get it to the people in need.”

    Some of the production began after Trump tapped his authority under the 70-year-old Defense Production Act to give the government more power to steer production by private companies and try to overcome shortages in masks, ventilators and other supplies. Even Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., unexpectedly praised Trump’s invocation of the law and other measures, saying it was “incredible and the right response in this critical time.”

    Relief assistance, fiscal stimulus, affected industries and liquidity needs comprised the four points of the “compass” that Republicans wanted to hit with upcoming legislation, Navarro said. He added that those goals will be achieved, respectively, with paid family and sick leave, a cash cushion to workers with payroll tax holiday deferrals for small businesses, a $200 billion collateralized loan program with about 25 percent to airlines and the Federal Reserve using the exchange stabilization fund.

    TWO CONGRESSMEN TEST POSITIVE FOR CORONAVIRUS

    “That’s a sound strategy,” Navarro told Bartiromo. “We’re gonna hit all four points of that compass. We’re gonna see that bill soon, and hopefully the Democrats and Republicans all join hands on that.”

    Top-level negotiations between Congress and the White House teetered Sunday on a ballooning nearly $1.4 trillion economic rescue package, as Trump called for a deal to steady a nation hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin indicated a deal was within reach, but top congressional Democrats raised concerns ahead of a meeting at the Capitol.

    In the hours before the closed-door talks were to convene in an otherwise empty Capitol, Trump’s lead negotiator said the plan was meant to prop up the nation’s weakened economy for the next 10 to 12 weeks.

    “I think we have a fundamental understanding and we look forward to wrapping it up today. It will get done,” Mnuchin said on “Fox News Sunday.”

    Meanwhile, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Sunday the stringent measures being put in place in the U.S. including travel restrictions, the closing of schools and many businesses and other social distancing will go “a long way” to prevent the U.S. from becoming like Italy.

    Italy has seen over 50,000 coronavirus cases and nearly 5,000 deaths. Fauci told CBS News’ “Face the Nation” it was hard to know exactly why Italy was “suffering so terribly,” but it did not appear to shut out as well the input of infections originating from China and other parts of the world.

    CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP

    He said the U.S. was “going to be hit, no doubt about it,” but appeared to be in a better position because “we have from the beginning put a kind of clamper” on the virus.

    Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo, Fox News Channel’s John Roberts and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

    Dr. Ben Carson: Coronavirus ‘certainly has the potential to be severe,’ task force meeting every day to prevent that

    Dr. Ben Carson, a member of the Trump administration’s coronavirus task force, said in an exclusive interview on “Sunday Morning Futures” that the coronavirus “certainly has the potential to be severe and that’s one of the reasons that the task force meets every day.”

    Carson, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development secretary, made the comment as the number of U.S. coronavirus cases swelled to 400, with cases in about half of the states. The total U.S. death toll has reached 19.

    “We’re in communication with a lot of experts around the country in terms of the best ways to contain this,” Carson told host Maria Bartiromo. “Obviously if we don’t use best practices to contain the spread, then we will have a horrendous situation, but we are very cognizant of that.”

    “We meet on a daily basis, we evaluate the information and we make recommendations based on the evidence,” he continued.

    Carson noted on Sunday “that people who are elderly and who have underlying problems that affect their immune system are much more vulnerable than others.”

    He added that health officials also know that the virus can be passed on by people who have “little in the way of symptomatology and in some cases no symptomatology at all.”

    “We need to use that information appropriately,” he continued. “If you go to a place where there’s a lot of people and you have a compromised immune system, maybe you need to rethink that.”

    “You certainly should rethink getting on a cruise ship, you should think about, taking an airplane trip a long distance, particularly if you’re compromised in some way,” he went on to say.

    FORMER DIAMOND PRINCESS CRUISE SHIP CORONAVIRUS PATENT DESCRIBES LIFE UNDER QUARANTINE

    When Bartiromo asked Carson if a person who has been overseas should get tested when they come back to America Carson answered, “I think it kind of depends on where you’ve been.”

    “Obviously if you’ve been to northern Italy or someplace like that you really want to think about that seriously,” he explained.

    The outbreak broke out in northern Italy on Feb. 21 and currently, there are more than 5,800 cases and 233 coronavirus related deaths in the country, according to Italy’s civil protection agency.

    “People need to learn how to be responsible,” Carson said on Sunday. “Self-quarantine yourself if you know that you’ve been to one of the dangerous areas. You don’t want to spread that.”

    When Bartiromo asked Carson if the United States, specifically healthcare workers, are limited on protective equipment like masks and gloves because many are produced in China he said, “Right now the masks are a bit of a problem.”

    “The manufacturers are ramping up very considerably,” he noted, acknowledging that “there are a few obstacles that are in the way, which we are working on now to remove.”

    “The other types of protective gear we seem to have plenty of them, but we’re making sure the supply chains are adequate,” Carson said, adding that the U.S. is looking for alternatives to products coming from China, where the new virus is thought to have originated.

    “In terms of critical supply chains, let’s make sure that we’re not depending on others,” he said. “It’s the same thing for oil. We used to be so dependent on Iran, it affected the way that we reacted to things that were going on in the Middle East. That’s not the case anymore.”

    CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP 

    “The same will apply with the supply chain items and we have a lot of very creative and innovative people in this country, so we need to rely on them to provide the materials that we need,” he continued.

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.

    Rep. Collins on push for FISA reform: ‘We need to restore the American people’s trust in it’

    House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Doug Collins, R-Ga., spoke about the push to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) on “Sunday Morning Futures” saying, “We need to restore the American people’s trust in it.”

    Collins told Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo that House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., “is the chairman of one of the best committees in Congress, most prestigious committees, and yet he’s ruining it because we don’t actually delve into ideas.”

    The panel is set to consider reforms during a so-called “markup” this week. “We put this off in December because [Democrats] were in the middle of the sham impeachment and they couldn’t deal with the FISA stuff that needed to be authorized,” Collins said, referencing “things that we need in our intelligence committee,” including roving wiretaps.

    “But, they didn’t want to deal with it, so we just put it off,” Collins added.

    Justice Department Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz released a report last year detailing significant inaccuracies and omissions on the part of the FBI in its FISA warrant applications, misleading the court in the process. A major aspect of the report exposed the degree to which the FBI had relied on the unverified dossier compiled by British ex-spy Christopher Steele as part of opposition research for Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

    Collins went on to say, “instead of actually having hearings, and taking the Horowitz testimony, actually having Mr. Horowitz come in, talk about the problems he found in those FISA warrants, talk about how the court approved these warrants that actually spied on an American citizen… we’ve have no hearings, we’ve had no discussions and now we’re going to put forward a bill that really, I don’t think is going to address the issues.”

    Collins noted that there will be “some say about what we’re going to be putting forward.”

    GRAHAM REVEALS BIG QUESTIONS HE HAS AHEAD OF SENATE FISA PROBE

    Also speaking with Bartiromo on Sunday, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., revealed key questions he had ahead of his panel’s investigation this week into the start of the Russia probe that began in secret during Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, as well as the FBI’s use of FISA to surveil former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.

    Collins went on to say that if America could not trust FISA, “then people will not have confidence that our intelligence communities are doing what they need to be doing and being able to use this court properly.”

    CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP 

    Collins also said, “Hopefully we’ll be able to make some changes to it” so that it could restore the “trust factor.”

    Fox News’ Ronn Blitzer, Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

    Candace Owens ‘cannot look away’ from Dem party chaos with front-runner Sanders

    Democrats are in a state of panic as President Trump’s support among African-American voters continues to surge, conservative commentator Candace Owens said Sunday.

    “Every poll you look at shows, I don’t care if you’re looking at a left-wing or right-wing poll, they show black support for Donald Trump has increased and that’s a detrimental threat to the Democratic Party who cannot even afford to lose five points of the black vote or their entire party is finished,” Owens told “Sunday Morning Futures.”

    Owens said Democrats were “increasing the rhetoric” and accusing conservatives of “being racist” in a last attempt to salvage the black vote, which has long been a key demographic of the party.

    “The Democratic party is literally broken at this time… I cannot look away.”

    — Candace Owens, ‘Sunday Morning Futures’

    TRUMP’S SUPPORT FROM AFRICAN-AMERICAN VOTERS WILL RISE 50 PERCENT OR MORE, TIM SCOTT PREDICTS

    “One of the most interesting components to look at heading into this election is the black vote, primarily because Democrats rely upon it heavily, for the last six decades,” she explained, “which is why you see them increasing the rhetoric and constantly accusing conservatives of being racist. What’s interesting is… the accusations are no longer landing in the way that they used to.”

    Owens added that black voters were “looking at the actual results” of Trump’s achievements during his time in office, instead of listening to the 2016 rhetoric that “Trump will ruin Black America.”

    AFRICAN-AMERICAN CONSERVATIVES RIP LIBERAL STEREOTYPES: ‘WE BOTH DON’T EXIST”

    “We’re seeing that we had a Republican conservative president for the last four years and he’s able to accomplish more than a black president in eight years.”

    Owens comments came hours after Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders emerged as the winner of the Nevada caucuses.

    BERNIE SANDERS WINS THE NEVADA CAUCUSES

    The outspoken commentator wasn’t surprised with Sanders’ success in the polls, she explained, likening him to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez D-N.Y. She said both were willing to “boldly outright say what they are after.”

    “I appreciate people like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez,” Owens said. “People could hate her, but thank goodness for her. She’s the Jeremy Corbyn of America, someone who’s willing to boldly outright say what they are after,” she continued, referencing the British democratic socialist.

    “Before,” she continued, “I feel like the Democrats and socialists were good at hiding what they wanted, they were good at hiding that messaging so they seemed much more normal… Bernie Sanders is boldly on the front lines saying, ‘you’re not going to have your health care. We will socialize health care.'”

    Owens said she was witnessing the “most fascinating time in the party.”

    “The Democratic Party is effectively splintered.  There is no way forward… The moderate Democrats are not going to get behind Bernie Sanders… that’s common sense. You think the socialist Democrats are not going to get behind Michael Bloomberg complaining about Trump being a white billionaire from New York only to get behind a — white billionaire from New York? Of course not… this is why there’s effectively no way forward.”

    CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

    Owens concluded, “The Democratic party is literally broken at this time.”

    She also said, “I cannot look away. It is primetime television every single time. I cannot wait until Super Tuesday, I’m looking forward to it… like the night before Christmas.” Super Tuesday is March 3.

    Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo contributed to this report.

    Rep. Ratcliffe on Russia reportedly trying to interfere with 2020 election: Dems ‘leaked information that’s not accurate’

    In an exclusive interview on “Sunday Morning Futures,” Rep. John Ratcliffe, R-Texas, addressed reports that Russia is allegedly trying to interfere with 2020 election, saying Democrats “leaked information that’s not accurate.”

    Ratcliffe, who serves on the House Judiciary and House Intelligence Committees, made the comment in response to host Maria Bartiromo, who asked him what happened during a meeting he attended earlier this month when House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., brought up the issue of Russia meddling.

    “You’re asking me about details of a classified briefing that was intended to remain secret, you’re asking me about it because it has been reported on by the New York Times,” the Texas congressman told Bartiromo. “It’s all too familiar.”

    Ratcliffe had referenced a New York Times article, which reported, citing “five people familiar with the matter,” that intelligence officials warned House lawmakers earlier this month that Russia was interfering in the 2020 campaign to try to get President Trump reelected.

    The article said that even though intelligence officials have reportedly told lawmakers before that Russia’s interference campaign was continuing, the briefing “included what appeared to be new information: that Russia intended to interfere with the 2020 Democratic primaries as well as the general election.”

    FISC SLAMS FBI, SAYS ‘FREQUENCY’ OF ERRORS AND INACCURACIES CALLS INTO QUESTION PREVIOUS FISA WARRANT APPLICATIONS

    Ratcliffe told Bartiromo on Sunday that anytime there’s a story “that is allegedly anti-Trump or negative for the president, it shows up in newspapers because either Democratic members or Democratic staffers leak it.”

    “The problem is in this case, they’ve leaked information that’s not accurate,” he added.

    He then went on to explain that “the narrative often from Democrats and the media is that Republicans don’t think the Russians have meddled in our election. They did.”

    “They meddled in 2016, they are going to meddle in 2020,” he continued. “That’s not the issue. The issue is why Russia is being so successful in shaking American confidence in the integrity of our elections. And the reason is, it’s because Democrats keep perpetuating and accentuating and proliferating Russian propaganda for their political gain and for their political motivation against Donald Trump.”

    Ratcliffe said, “It’s Democrats that created the Steele dossier and pedaled it to our law enforcement and intelligence communities.”

    Former British spy Christopher Steele is the author of the anti-Trump dossier of salacious and unverified claims about the president’s ties to Russia.

    The dossier’s more sensational claims were not substantiated by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, whose report found no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 election.

    Steele’s now-infamous dossier and research surrounding the 2016 presidential election provided much of the information used in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) application and renewals, but Justice Department Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz found that the FBI did not have any specific information corroborating allegations against former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page from Steele’s reporting.

    In December, Horowitz released the highly anticipated findings from his nearly two-year review concerning the origins of the Russia investigation and the issuance of FISA warrants for Page. The report said investigators found no intentional misconduct or political bias surrounding either the launch of the Trump-Russia investigation or efforts to seek the controversial FISA warrant to monitor Page in the early stages of that probe. However, it was revealed there were at least 17 “significant inaccuracies and omissions” in the Page FISA applications.

    On Sunday Ratcliffe said Democrats allegedly created the Steele dossier and gave it to law enforcement “so the Democrats could falsely accuse the president of conspiring with Russia for the better part of three years now, something that Bob Mueller said absolutely wasn’t the case.”

    CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

    “It was the Democrats that put out a memo saying that everything had been done appropriately at the FISA court and that there wasn’t illegal surveillance,” he continued. “All of these things have been done by Democrats … for their political gain, but has promoted everything that Russia has tried to accomplish and the Democrats have been their biggest allies.”

    Fox News’ Alex Pappas and Gregg Re contributed to this report.

    NFL commissioner Roger Goodell on the Super Bowl: ‘It’s become essentially its own holiday’

    In an exclusive interview on “Sunday Morning Futures,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell talked about “the big money” surrounding Super Bowl LIV telling host Maria Bartiromo that the game becomes “bigger and bigger every year and it becomes more complicated because of that.”

    “But, that’s also the fun of it because more people share in it,” he continued. “More people have an opportunity to be part of the Super Bowl, whether you’re here in Miami or whether you’re home at a Super Bowl party. That is what we love. We love engaging our fans.”

    The Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers will go head to head Sunday for the NFL championship in Miami Gardens, Fla. Kickoff is at 6:30 p.m. ET, with coverage beginning at 2 p.m. ET on Fox.

    Both teams were among the top seeds in the NFL Playoffs and won their conference championship games decisively.

    SUPER BOWL LIV TIME, DATE AND EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE GAME

    The NFL celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2019, with last year’s Super Bowl in Atlanta marking the beginning of the league’s “NFL 100” initiatives, events and programs.

    “We’re proud of our 100-year anniversary. It has been a wonderful celebration for us so that’s great, but the event is more than a football game now,” Goodell said.

    “It’s something really special that people look forward to, plan around and it’s become essentially its own holiday.”

    During the exclusive interview, Goodell also talked about the collective bargaining agreement with players as well as the renewals of contracts with media partners.

    When Bartiromo mentioned contracts with broadcast and digital partners expiring after the 2022 season and asked how distribution might change, Goodell answered, “We love to be available on the broadest medium.”

    “That’s why our network partners are important to us, but we’ve supplemented that by bringing in other opportunities to reach fans that may not be watching on network television, they may not be watching a full game, they may be watching highlights,” he continued.

    “So social, over the top, digital transmission of our broadcasts are really important to us and so we make our games available on all those platforms.”

    “We make it easy for people to engage because we want the broadest number of people to watch and to engage and to share in that,” he added.

    Goodell also told Bartiromo “our discussions are always ongoing.”

    He elaborated by saying, “I wouldn’t say we’re in formal negotiations, but we always have discussions.

    “We are very open to changing packages, we’re very open to changing partners, we’re open to do the best thing we can for our fans and for the league overall for the long term,” he added.

    SUPER BOWL LIV: JENNIFER LOPEZ, SHAKIRA TO PAY TRIBUTE TO KOBE BRYANT DURING HALFTIME SHOW

    As it pertains to the collective bargaining agreement, Goodell acknowledged that the negotiation can always be challenging, “But it’s also the opportunity.”

    “Because when people really put their focus on, OK here are the challenges, now let’s work to try to find solutions, our players have been extraordinary in looking at that and coming up with solutions and saying what about if we tried this? It actually leads to really terrific solutions when two parties can come together and say, ‘Here’s a great outcome,’” he explained.

    The Chiefs are appearing in the Super Bowl for the first time since 1970, when they defeated the Minnesota Vikings 23-7 in Super Bowl IV. San Francisco has won five Super Bowls, but has not lifted the Lombardi trophy since 1995. Colin Kaepernick led the 49ers to their most recent Super Bowl appearance in 2013, but San Francisco fell 34-31 to the Baltimore Ravens in Super Bowl XLVII.

    Goodell also told Bartiromo about measures the NFL is implementing to make the game safer, saying, “there are things that we’ve been working on for years.”

    “We all want to make sure that the game is as safe as possible for our players,” Goodell said, adding that that includes answering questions like, “How do we train them? How do we take techniques out of the game? How do we take drills out of the game?”

    He added, “We’re improving on the equipment. We have six new helmets being introduced this year. All of that will raise, I think, the health and safety of our players.”

    CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

    Bartiromo said more of her exclusive interview with Goodell will air on Fox Business’ “Mornings with Maria” on Monday.

    Fox News’ Julia Musto and Ryan Gaydos contributed to this report.

    Member of Trump’s defense team Robert Ray on impeachment: Process has been ‘partisan and therefore illegitimate’

    Former federal prosecutor Robert Ray, a member of President Trump’s impeachment legal defense team, spoke exclusively on Sunday with Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo on “Sunday Morning Futures,” calling the entire impeachment process “partisan and therefore illegitimate.”

    Speaking with Bartiromo on Sunday, Ray shared what Trump’s principle defense could look like, saying he thinks it “is very simple.”

    “This is an entirely partisan and therefore illegitimate effort by House Democrats to remove a president from office,” Ray told Bartiromo. “And the remedy for that is the United States Senate, as envisioned by the framers of the Constitution, in order to overturn the will of the electorate in the 2016 election, and particularly given the fact that we are now in the middle of a presidential campaign for 2020, ultimately that will can only be overturned with a bipartisan effort and overwhelming bipartisan support in the Senate with a two-thirds majority in order to remove a president, overturn the will of that electorate.”

    KEN STARR, ALAN DERSHOWITZ JOIN TRUMP’S IMPEACHMENT DEFENSE TEAM

    He added that he doesn’t expect any Republicans to vote for impeachment.

    President Trump’s defense team also includes Ken Starr, the former independent counsel who led the Whitewater investigation into then-President Bill Clinton in the mid-1990s, attorney Alan Dershowitz, former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi and Jane Raskin, who was part of the president’s legal team during former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe. Both Starr and Dershowitz are former Fox News contributors.

    The trial will kick off in earnest Tuesday when House impeachment managers will prosecute the case and Trump’s lawyers will offer a robust defense over a period of days.

    PAM BONDI ON WHAT TO EXPECT FROM SENATE IMPEACHMENT TRIAL: WE’RE ‘ALL READY TO PUT THIS BEHIND US’

    Ray, former Whitewater Independent Counsel, pointed out to Bartiromo that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was seen “essentially celebrating the notion that the stain of impeachment exists and exists forever.”

    “The only rejoinder to that, and that’s the rejoinder that it is my job, together with the rest of the defense team, to place before the United States Senate for their consideration is the question about the rejoinder being that there will be acquittal forever as well. And that’s what we expect,” Ray said. “That’s the task ahead during the next several weeks.”

    On Sunday, Ray also outlined what constitutes a “well-founded” article of impeachment, explaining why he believes the two at hand won’t fare well in the Senate.

    “Well-founded articles of impeachment both allege that crimes were committed and that those are the type of crimes that constitute abuse of the public trust. Abuse of power alone, and history has shown this, similar to also obstruction of Congress, those types of articles of impeachment have been tried on for size before, but they have not fared well,” Ray said.

    CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP

    “The core of the impeachment parameters allege that crimes have been committed, treason, bribery and things like that, in other words, high crimes and misdemeanors.”

    Fox News’ Adam Shaw, John Roberts and Marisa Schulz contributed to this report.

    Donald Trump, Jr: If we’re hearing from witnesses, I would like to hear from the other side

    Donald Trump Jr., President Trump’s eldest son, weighed in on his father’s legal team on Sunday ahead of the Senate impeachment trial, which is set to begin on Tuesday, saying on “Sunday Morning Futures” that “I think it is going to be a great team” especially because the members of the defense team “have experience.”

    He added that if witnesses will be called in the Senate impeachment trial, then he would “definitely want to hear from the other side.”

    “We’ve seen that this has been a one-sided sham from moment No. 1,” Trump told host Maria Bartiromo. “So, I guess a lot of it depends on what happens from this point on, right? I would like to personally hear from everyone. I’d like to hear from [former Vice President Joe Biden’s son] Hunter Biden. I’d like to hear from Joe Biden because frankly these are the reasons we’re even having this conversation right now.”

    When asked if he would rather see the Senate file a motion to dismiss right away or hear from potential witnesses, Trump Jr. answered, “If we’re hearing from all of those witnesses, then I sort of want to hear it.”

    WHO ARE THE TRUMP IMPEACHMENT MANAGERS? MEET PELOSI’S HAND-PICKED PROSECUTORS

    “Having watched this thing transpire over the last few years and then nonsense perpetuate itself, I definitely want to hear from the other side,” he said. “If the Republicans, and some of them, let’s call it weaker Republicans, I sort of like the [Kentucky Sen.] Rand Paul model, make a vote on it. If some of those guys don’t want to hear from the witnesses that we’d want to hear from, but we’ll hear from the others, I want to know about it because they don’t deserve to be in office so it really depends.”

    “We have to play the game the way the Democrats have played the game,” Trump continued. “We have to play hard but fair, hearing from everyone is totally fair. That’s not what we’ve seen so far while the Democrats have controlled the process. It has not been fair in any way, shape or form.”

    He added that “this has been an ongoing saga forever.”

    “The other thing I think [House Speaker] Nancy [Pelosi was] trying to do with the delay, is prevent other people like [Vermont Sen.] Bernie [Sanders] from being on the campaign trail,” Trump Jr. told Bartiromo on Sunday, referencing the fact that Pelosi withheld the articles of impeachment against his father for one month after the House voted to adopt them.

    He went on to say, “I love that they collude against themselves in this way because the last time they colluded to rig the Democrat primary it worked out perfectly for us because we got Hillary [Clinton] and that was a godsend.”

    When Bartiromo asked Trump Jr. how his father is doing in the face of all the attacks and impeachment he said, “Honestly, he is doing fine. You can see that through his actions.”

    “He’s used to taking these punches, he’s used to getting hit and guess what? He’s just going to keep working,” Trump Jr. said. “He’s actually more of a game time player than anything so when the pressure’s on, he gets things done and what you’re seeing is unprecedented success.”

    On “Sunday Morning Futures” he also addressed the damning allegations from Lev Parnas, the indicted former associate of Rudy Giuliani, against President Trump in his handling of Ukraine. When asked how well he knows Parnas, who is photographed with his father, Trump Jr. said he didn’t even know Parnas was Ukrainian and initially thought he was Israeli.

    Parnas and his business partner Igor Fruman – both U.S. citizens who emigrated from the former Soviet bloc – have been indicted by federal prosecutors on charges of conspiracy, making false statements and falsification of records related to allegations that they made outsized campaign donations to Republican causes after receiving millions of dollars originating from Russia.

    In addition, Parnas has previously sought to testify in the impeachment probe.

    During an MSNBC interview on Wednesday — just a day after he provided a slew of new documents and text messages to House investigators — Parnas told anchor Rachel Maddow that the president was contemplating cutting all forms of financial assistance to Ukraine in exchange for an investigation into Joe Biden, not just military aid — and, he said, the plot had a clear political motivation.

    KELLYANNE CONWAY: LEV PARNAS IS A ‘PROVEN LIAR,’ ‘NOBODY NEEDS ANY HELP BEATING JOE BIDEN’

    Parnas said Giuliani instructed him to deliver a “harsh” message to Ukraine that “all aid” to the country would be halted unless “there was an announcement of the Biden investigation,” among other demands.

    “[I] met him [Parnas] at some fund-raising event,” Trump Jr. told Bartiromo in the interview that aired Sunday. “He was a donor to a super PAC, shows up at some of these things like anything else.”

    “Honestly, I didn’t even realize he was Ukrainian, I thought he was Israeli,” he continued. “The reality is you don’t know him that well, but that’s the problem with how this world works. You take a couple pictures. If someone’s a donor they get in line, they sit at a dinner with 50 people. That’s how it works.”

    He went on to say that “the media then takes it [and says], ‘Oh, they’re buddies.’ I guarantee you my father couldn’t pick this guy out of a lineup. That doesn’t mean he hasn’t taken pictures with him.”

    He added that his father takes about 200 pictures with people in one evening a couple of times a week at these kind of events.

    CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP

    “This is how the game works,” Trump Jr. said. “But again the media pretends that they don’t know that that’s how the game works.”

    Fox News’ Jake Gibson, Gregg Re, and Edmund DeMarche contributed to this report.