This is a rush transcript of "Fox News Sunday" on December 5, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

CHRIS WALLACE, FOX NEWS ANCHOR:  I'm Chris Wallace. 

President Biden and Russia's Vladimir Putin will hold a superpower phone 

call Tuesday as tensions grow over Ukraine. 

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES:  I don't accept anybody's red 

line.

WALLACE (voice-over): The White House expressing concern. Putin's massive 

buildup of troops along the border with Ukraine could signal plans for an 

invasion. 

We'll discuss the standoff with Senate Armed Services Committee member Joni 

Ernst, and former Pentagon official Michelle Flournoy. And we'll get 

analysis from our Sunday panel here at the Reagan National Defense Forum. 

Then -- 

Just how much of a threat is China? 

We'll talk about how to keep law and order in space with the vice chief of 

the Space Force, General David Thompson, only on "FOX News Sunday".

And -- 

BIDEN:  Experts say that COVID-19 cases will continue to rise in the weeks 

ahead in this winter. So, we need to be ready. 

WALLACE:  The president urges Americans to get behind his plan to tackle 

new COVID variant, Omicron, while still fighting a surge in Delta. We'll 

ask U.S. surgeon general, Vivek Murthy, what it means for boosters, masks, 

and mandates. 

Plus, our Power Player of the week, the man Nancy Reagan chose to make sure 

her husband's legacy lives on.

All, right now, on "FOX News Sunday".

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE (on camera): You are looking live at the Air Force One Pavilion at 

the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California. 

And welcome to a special hour of "FOX News Sunday" from the Reagan National 

Defense Forum. 

Each year, key national security figures meet here to discuss threats the 

U.S. faces around the world. But this weekend, the focus is on one 

challenge -- Vladimir Putin's massive buildup of Russian troops along the 

border with Ukraine. U.S. Intelligence warns about invasion next year. 

On Tuesday, President Biden will hold a video call with Putin trying to 

head off an international crisis. 

Here at the forum, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin addressed the situation. 

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LLOYD AUSTIN, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE:  In terms of our concern, we're very 

concerned. It's something we are going to remain focused on going forward. 

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: Throughout this hour, we'll drill down into foreign policy 

threats in Ukraine and around the world. And to start, let's bring in David 

Spunt at the White House on the latest on the standoff between the U.S. and 

Russia. 

DAVID SPUNT, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT:  Chris, tensions between Moscow and 

Kiev go back decades. But things today appear to be coming to a head. Now, 

President Biden is getting personally involved. 

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SPUNT (voice-over): President Biden looking to press concerns Russia could 

invade Ukraine. Russia has more than 100,000 troops along the border. 

BIDEN:  My expectation is we're going to have a long discussion with Putin. 

SPUNT:  Just days ago, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says that his 

team discovered a Russian coup plot that would take him out. 

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT:  What we have to know is that we 

are in complete control of our borders and fully ready for escalation. 

SPUNT:  Some kind of escalation appears eminent. Defense Secretary Lloyd 

Austin saying that the U.S. has helped shore up Ukraine. 

AUSTIN:  We have provided them with a number of different things over the 

years, including lethal capability, a lot of nonlethal capability. 

SPUNT:  Russia is trying to block Ukraine from joining NATO. Biden and 

Vladimir Putin met face-to-face in a June summit. Publicly, Putin has and 

continues to praise Biden, saying recently Biden is a professional coup 

who, quote, doesn't miss a thing.

They admit that flattery only goes so far, and President Biden will tell 

Putin to back off and recognize Ukrainian sovereignty. 

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SPUNT (on camera): The president will also reportedly speak to his 

Ukrainian counterpart, another way to lower the temperature and avoid a 

superpower confrontation -- Chris. 

WALLACE:  David Spunt, reporting from the White House, David, thank you. 

Earlier here at the Reagan Defense Forum, I sat down with Republican 

Senator Joni Ernst, the first female combat veteran elected to the Senate 

who is now a member of the Armed Services Committee. And also Michele 

Flournoy, former secretary of defense under President Obama. 

And we began with the growing crisis on Ukraine's border.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE:  Senator, Michele, welcome to "FOX News Sunday". 

MICHELE FLOURNOY, FORMER U.S. UNDER SECRETARY OF DEFENSE FOR POLICY:  Thank 

you, very much. 

WALLACE:  Senator, what do you think Vladimir Putin is up to here? Do you 

really think that he intends to invade Ukraine? And what should President 

Biden tell him on Tuesday? I mean, we're not going to go to war with Russia 

over Ukraine. 

SEN. JONI ERNST (R-IA): It's hard to know what Vladimir Putin is thinking 

and what his true intentions are. But we do see a very aggressive action on 

his part amassing his troops on the Ukrainian border. So, we must prepare 

for the worst, not knowing what those intentions are. 

I do think that President Biden needs to be very clear and very strong in 

his message to Vladimir Putin. He needs to say to Vladimir Putin, that we 

are no longer going to allow you to continue with the Nord Stream 2 

pipeline, we need you to know and understand that we will defend Ukraine, 

we will provide them assistance. He needs to make that very clear. 

WALLACE:  Here is Secretary of State Blinken this week talking about the 

threat of Russia and Ukraine. Take a look. 

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) 

ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE:  We've made it clear to the 

Kremlin that we will respond resolutely, including with a range of high 

impact economic measures that we've refrained from using in the past. 

(END VIDEO CLIP) 

WALLACE:  Michele, that's what we keep hearing from both the Biden 

administration and from the European Union talk of economic sanctions, talk 

of political sanctions, pretty much, it's obvious, although not explicit, 

that military option is off the table. That's never stopped Putin before? 

FLOURNOY:  Well, I think what the administration is actively considering 

with our allies is an escalating set of sanctions that go beyond what's 

been done before. I'm sure they are looking at sanctioning the banking 

system, sanctioning the energy sector, possibly cutting off Russia from the 

SWIFT System, which enables all of their international financial 

transactions. 

So, they're looking at much more serious means. And my expectation would be 

that on Tuesday, during the call, a President Biden will lay out to 

President Putin, these are the kinds of things you're going to face, much 

greater level of pain than anything you faced over Crimea, or what have 

you. 

Ukraine is a sovereign nation, the invasion of Ukraine would be -- and 

particularly going beyond what Putin did before, would be, you know, a very 

serious breach of international security and would merit a huge response, 

not just from the U.S., but from Europe and the international community. 

WALLACE:  Senator Ernst, I want to pick up on something you said earlier. 

If there's one thing that Vladimir Putin really wants now, it's the 

completion of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Germany. Here's what 

Senator Tom Cotton, one of your Republican colleagues had to say about that 

this week, take a look. 

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) 

SEN. TOM COTTON, (R) ARKANSAS:  Now, in a situation where all of Western 

Europe is hooked on German gas, and Vladimir Putin is about to invade 

Ukraine, and the best we can get is stern words. 

(END VIDEO CLIP) 

WALLACE:  Senator, what do you think of the chances that Congress could 

override the President and block the pipeline and that you could get 

Democrats and Republicans joining together to override President Biden? 

ERNST:  Well, I certainly can't speak for the House, Chris. But I do 

believe that there is coalescence around these types of actions in the 

United States Senate. Democrats are concerned, Republicans are concerned. 

And what we don't want to do is allow President Putin to continue with the 

pipeline, especially as he is preparing perhaps, to invade Ukraine. So, we 

do have to push back on that. And I think that there is a large group of 

United States senators that will push back on Vladimir Putin. 

WALLACE:  Yeah, I mean, this is an ongoing fight in the Senate, Michele. 

President Biden is trying to stop Congress from blocking the pipeline is a 

time in this kind of situation, you talked about taking sanctions that 

haven't been taken so far. Is it time for President Biden to reverse 

course, and threatened to block the pipeline? 

FLOURNOY:  You know, I think the combination of sanctions that are being 

considered would be even more powerful than the mess, the signal of 

blocking that pipeline. Remember what Putin is trying to do here, one of 

his objectives is to divide the United States in Europe. 

So, we have got -- if we're going to maintain unity, transatlantic unity, 

to implement very severe sanctions, we've got to work with our European 

partners, and that includes Germany. And so, I would urge the Senate to 

think about that. But if you get satisfaction on blocking Nord Stream 2, 

you might -- I actually undermine the effectiveness of the sanctions that 

the President is threatening would be, hopefully threatening to put in 

place against Putin. 

WALLACE:  There are other foreign policy threats, Senator Ernst. China is 

involved in a huge military buildup now both on the ground and also in 

space, this new hypersonic missile. How should we deal with the growing 

threat from China? 

ERNST:  There are so many ways that we should be dealing with, to 

threatened China, whether it is in the cyberspace, cyber domain, whether it 

is disruption to their Belt and Road Initiatives all around the globe, and 

certainly their build off of manmade islands in the South China Sea, their 

incursions on Taiwan and Taiwanese airspace, all of this we can do in a 

number of manners. 

But of course, militarily, making sure that we're maintaining freedom of 

navigation is extremely important, making sure that we're countering any 

cyber threats to our systems, banking our utilities and so forth, pushing 

back on that. 

But also, a very clear message from the President to President Xi would be 

extremely helpful. I think we had a last opportunity when President Biden 

requested to visit with President Xi. And yet, President Xi is the one that 

seems to take center stage and maintain his dominance. 

We have to be very strong and clear on our message to China, that while we 

want to engage you in trade and other activities, we can't allow any 

nefarious types of activities. 

WALLACE:  Finally, Iran, Senator Ernst, you have made a clear, so I'm not 

going to ask you about it, that you think it's a big mistake for the U.S. 

to get back into the Iran nuclear deal. 

Michele, you know, we're talking about a situation that has changed so 

dramatically since President Trump pulled out of the deal. Iran is now up 

to 60 percent enrichment of uranium. It has an array of advanced 

centrifuges. 

Is it too late to go back to the deal? Has the genie already gone out and 

left the bottle? And it's impossible to put it back inside? 

FLOURNOY:  Yeah. Well, I think what the mess we're seeing today is a result 

of the U.S. withdrawal from the deal, which started Iran back on -- 

WALLACE:  But we are where we are. 

FLOURNOY:  But we are where we are. 

You know, I wish I could say that I was optimistic that we could get back 

to the deal. But all indications coming out of the negotiations are that 

remains a remote possibility. So now, we're in a situation of having to 

figure out with our allies, how do we deal with an Iran that is positioning 

itself to raise for a nuclear weapon, and continuing to support terrorism 

throughout the region? 

So, Iran is going to be reasserting itself as a bigger problem for U.S. 

foreign policy from the coming years. 

WALLACE:  So, basically, does it come down to, we're going to have to let 

Israel handle the problem for us? 

FLOURNOY:  Well, I don't think we should have Israel, this -- all be on 

Israel shoulders. I think the United States and our other partners in the 

region, along with Israel, need to come up with a new approach if they 

negotiate, they're going to -- 

WALLACE:  But do you think it's reversible, or do you think Iran is now 

just on the path -- 

FLOURNOY:  Oh, it's always reversible. The key is getting, how do you 

really affect their calculus? And I think this regime has sort of dug in 

its heels, again, hoping to split us from our allies and get others to 

compromise with them. And we've just got to keep working the problem. But 

I'm not hopeful in the near term. 

WALLACE:  Michele Flournoy, Senator Joni Ernst, thank you both so much. 

It's a busy and dangerous world out there. 

ERNST:  Thank you. 

FLOURNOY:  Thank you. 

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE:  Up next from the Reagan library, we'll bring in our Sunday group 

to discuss the standoff between Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin. 

And the potential fallout if the Supreme Court decides the biggest abortion 

case in years and overturns Roe v. Wade. 

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AUSTIN:  He knows President Putin very well. Again, I think there is a lot 

of space here for diplomacy and leadership to work. 

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE:  Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin here at the Reagan National 

Defense Forum previewing President Biden's Tuesday call with Vladimir 

Putin. It's time now for our Sunday group here in Simi Valley. GOP 

strategist Karl Rove and FOX News national security correspondent, Jennifer 

Griffin. 

Welcome. 

JENNIFER GRIFFIN, FOX NEWS NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT:  Thank you.

WALLACE:  Jennifer, how worried are they at the Pentagon about this massive 

buildup of Russian troops on the Ukraine border? Did they really think that 

Vladimir Putin might invade Ukraine or did they think he is using the build 

up as a bargaining chip? 

GRIFFIN:  They're taking it very seriously. I can tell you that I've had 

conversations with senior leaders at the Pentagon. They've had principals 

meeting at the White House, in the Situation Room on Friday to discuss how 

to respond. They're taking it extremely seriously. 

I've been told this a qualitatively different buildup than we saw last 

spring. There are more troops expected, about 114,000 there now. We think 

there could be up to 175,000 the start of the year. 

Remember, the ground is very soft right now. So, the tanks can't go across 

into Ukraine, but when that ground hardens, there's a belief that Vladimir 

Putin is very serious this time, very different in terms of the reserve 

buildup. 

WALLACE:  Karl, Ukraine is not part of NATO. It doesn't fall under Article 

Five, an attack against one is an attack against all. We're not going to go 

to war, a land war in Ukraine with Russia, are we? And assuming we don't, 

what can we do short of a military response to stop Putin from an invasion? 

KARL ROVE, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR:  Well, look, we have economic tools and 

that the administration is already saying it has a vast array of tools that 

it can bring to bear on this, including cutting off access to the 

international banking system. 

Let's be clear. If Russia invades Ukraine and takes Ukraine, a sovereign 

nation, in the center of Europe, this is a grave setback and for the United 

States and its interest. It's also message. This is going to -- if this 

happens and the administration fails to stop it, then what's going to stop 

Putin from taking the Baltics? What kind of the discouragement is that 

going to be? What's a signal to China with regard to Taiwan or North Korea 

with regard to South Korea?

If we don't stop this, there could be great consequences down the line. 

WALLACE:  Now, when you say don't stop this, is there enough political 

sanctions and economic sanctions to stop it? 

ROVE:  Well, the one thing we don't really know is how good have our NATO 

allies and the United States done in shoring up the Ukrainian military so 

it can provide a strong response to any attempt to take over the country. 

WALLACE:  I want to turn over to another big story this week and that was 

the Supreme Court hearing, that big Mississippi abortion case. The 

conservative majority of justices seem to indicate that there's a 

possibility that they either might severely restrict Roe v. Wade or 

overturn it entirely. And the reaction to that was both immediate and 

intense. 

Take a look. 

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY:  For nearly half a century, every 

woman, every American deserves access to health care, including 

reproductive health care. 

REP. STEVE SCALISE (R-LA):  There are at least a dozen states that have 

laws in the books today that if this case in Mississippi is upheld, those 

states get to defend life immediately in ways that they weren't prior to 

today. 

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE:  Karl, because of the fact that abortion is legal now, at least in 

the early months of pregnancy, it has been much more of a mobilizing issue 

for the pro-life movement than it has been for the pro-choice movement. But 

if that were to change, if Roe is severely restricted or if it is 

completely elevated by a Supreme Court ruling, let's say, comes out in June 

or July, what's a political impact as we head into the midterms? 

ROVE:  Well, we don't really know because what the decision is, if the 

decision returns it to the states, which is the most likely outcome, 

whether it's restrictive or undermines Casey and Roe both in toto, it's 

going to go back to the states. So, this is now going to be a battle that's 

fought out by state by state, in the state legislative races. 

But, you know, there are going to be some victories for the pro-life 

forces, there are going to be some defeats if it goes to the states given 

the nature of the legislatures. But let's remember this, we don't really 

know how big this is going to be. In Virginia, it became a big issue. Terry 

McAuliffe said, if you like Youngkin as governor, this is going to 

undermine it. Only 8 percent of the people in the exit poll said this was 

their voting issue and they broke 58-41 for Youngkin. 

Similarly, we had in Texas, a woman who ran for governor in 2014 who made 

her entire issue, abortion, and she lost the governor's race by 20 points. 

So, we don't know how it's going to play out, but there will be some 

winners and losers on both sides because it will be at the state level. 

WALLACE:  Jennifer, Republicans seem headed for a very good midterm 

election night, likely taking back the House, possibly taking back the 

Senate. If you get a big change in Roe v. Wade, does that have a 

possibility of flipping that political equation? 

GRIFFIN:  Well, I think it does. Let's think about what happened. On 

Friday, they actually took an initial vote in the Supreme Court. They had 

their conference. They probably already know how this is decided. They will 

take the next nine months to write the decision and it will come out in 

June. And that is just months before these midterm elections. 

It is likely to deepen the divide between red states and blue states. I 

think there is one very important number that I saw, 21 states have 

abortion bans on the books. If Roe is overturned or weakened, those 

abortion bans will affect 65 million women and three of those states are 

states, Michigan, Arizona and Wisconsin, that were decided in single digits 

in 2016 at 2020. I think this is the one issue that could motivate the 

Democratic base and I think that it actually will be a shot of adrenaline 

for the Democratic Party going into midterms. 

WALLACE:  Yeah, let me pick up on that and push back with Karl, but I'm 

going to give you a chance to respond, as you will. You know, one of the 

things we saw with Glenn Youngkin's victory is that suburban women moved 

away from Trump to Biden came back for the Republican Youngkin who seemed 

more moderate. But I wonder and I wonder what you think about this, the 

possibility that it energizes these swing voters if they lose. A lot of 

them are pro-choice, lose that option by Supreme Court ruling? 

GRIFFIN:  I think you have to look at suburban women. And I think if you 

look at the statistics, ABC/"Washington Post" poll does that 60 percent of 

the countries pro-choice. I think this is one issue that could really 

motivate suburban women and those independent voters you're going to have 

to look at. 

WALLACE:  Karl?

ROVE:  Well, 65 percent of the "AP" polls say that they believe that 

abortion should be restricted in second trimester and only 19 percent say 

abortion should be allowed most or all abortions in the third trimester. 

We're not a -- you know, we're not the character of either, pro -- 

infanticide or no abortion at all. We're somewhere else in between. 

And the question is going to be, how is it fought out? But the idea that 

someone stands up and says we went to an unrestricted right to abortion 

right up to the moment that the child is born is not going to be accepted 

by the American people. 

WALLACE:  No, I completely agree with you with that, but that's not what 

we're talking about here, because what we're talking about is the 

possibility that the Supreme Court might say there is no protection -- 

constitutional protection for women. It's a state-by-state issue at all. 

There's no constitutional right to an abortion at any point.

ROVE:  Right. But that leaves it up to the states to determine the medical 

procedure. And states will make different determinations. Will this have an 

effect on the election? Yes. I think it will impact in any individual races 

for governor and state legislature far more than it will for the United 

States Senate or the U.S. House. 

And again, let's not kid ourselves. We are not a country that says we want 

an unlimited right to abortion. As I say, 19 percent, one out of every five 

American says, yeah, we ought to have a right to an abortion in the third 

trimester. Two out of three Americans says we ought to limit it in the 

second trimester and the number goes higher in the first trimester. 

WALLACE:  Jennifer?

GRIFFIN:  I think, politically, this is still a shot of adrenaline for the 

Democrats. I think you'll start seeing ballot initiatives in states. It 

will take up a lot of airtime in these elections, and I think that there 

will be more talk about expanding the court among Democrats. 

ROVE:  Already is.

WALLACE:  I've less than a minute, Karl. I know it's dangerous to predict 

what the court is going to do base on the questions that justices asked 

during hearings. But it did seem that while Justice Roberts, as a chief 

justice, was talking but incremental change. Some of the other justices 

were talking about a bigger change, maybe even eliminating Roe v. Wade. 

How -- I know it's a guess, how sweeping, how big a ruling do you expect 

from the court?

ROVE:  Oh, I don't know. I mean, I think -- I think there's likely to be at 

least restrictions on the standard in Casey. But remember what the 

questions largely were about. The most pointed questions were, where in the 

Constitution is their right to abortion? From where in the Constitution 

does this drive? 

What the court is attempting to do is to being the monitor of abortion laws 

in America and leave it up to the people through their elected 

representatives at the state level. 

WALLACE:  That would seem to portend a bigger, more sweeping ruling. 

Panel, thank you. We'll see back in Washington next week. Thanks for a 

great spot here, huh? It doesn't get better. 

Up next, a week after South Africa sounds the alarm about a new COVID 

variant, Omicron has spread around the world and here to the U.S. We'll ask 

surgeon general, Dr. Vivek Murthy, about new plans to fight the virus we 

come back from the Reagan Presidential Library. 

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALLACE:  Coming up, a superpower arms race in space among the U.S., Russia 

and China. 

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE:  If the Space Force is the new sheriff in town, how do you keep 

law and order in that kind of situation?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE:  I sit down with the vice chair of the Space Force, when we come 

right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHRIS WALLACE, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Welcome back to the Reagan National Defense 

Forum.

And now, the latest on another developing story. The highly mutated COVID 

variant, Omicron, has now been detected in 44 countries and has spread to 

16 states here in the U.S. Health officials are racing to learn more about 

the new variant, while also dealing with another surge of the Delta virus.

Joining us now, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy.

Doctor, it's been a little bit more than a week since the world first 

learned about this Omicron variant, and I want to go over some of the 

initial findings so far. The variant is spreading more than twice as fast 

as Delta. It's three times more likely to cause reinfections among people 

who've had COVID, and it shares a genetic code with the common cold.

So, compared to a week ago when we first learned the name Omicron, how much 

more have we learned about the transmissibility of this disease, the 

severity of the disease from Omicron and the potential that it could evade 

and beat the vaccines that we now have?

DR. VIVEK MURTHY, U.S. SURGEON GENERAL: Well, Chris, we have -- we continue 

to learn a lot about Omicron. We've seen certainly that there has been 

spread around the world and in our country. It's something we expected. 

We've seen this with other variants.

And we've been in close dialogue with our colleagues in South Africa, in a 

frequent basis, to understand what they are seeing.

Chris, even though they are certainly seeing cases go up and they've seen 

an increase in hospitalizations, they have cautioned us as we have with 

others to not draw immediate conclusions from initial data sets or from 

anecdotes that you hear.

So, to the question of whether the increased of spread is driven by, you 

know, greater transmissibility or whether it's being driven by a different 

sensitivity to vaccine protections and protection from prior infection, the 

exact mix there of contributors is not known.

The bottom line is this is what we do know. We do know that the measures 

that we take to protect ourselves from the spread of COVID, including 

wearing masks and indoor spaces, being in well-ventilated spaces, those 

work and will work against Omicron.

We also know that with vaccines, Chris, that even though we are trying to 

figure out the exact level of protection our vaccines will give against 

Omicron, in every case, we have seen the vaccinated are better off, 

particularly more protected against hospitalization and death than the 

unvaccinated. It's why we are urging people to get vaccinated and boosted.

WALLACE: Just briefly on this, you talk about masks. Are you saying now 

that if you're with people that you don't know that we should go back 

routinely to wearing a mask indoors?

MURTHY: Well, certainly, what we've been seeing actually since the 

summertime is that if you are vaccinated or unvaccinated and gathered with 

people outside your household in indoor spaces, that wearing a mask is the 

recommended step to take to help reduce the potential for spread. It 

protects you, but it also protects the people around you.

WALLACE: You know, I know that you -- you're a scientist and you want to 

play this very carefully, but people are following this awfully closely. 

So, let me just ask you this, Doctor, and I hope you can give us some 

transparency.

From what you have learned so far as compared to a week ago, are you more 

or less worried about Omicron?

MURTHY: Well, Chris, you know, I certainly am concerned about the 

possibility that this is going to spread, you know, more easily than other 

variants that we've seen to date and we've got to get more data like I said 

to understand the exact extent of that.

But I do think it's a reason for us to not necessarily panic, but just to 

be more vigilant and to recognize that the precautions that we have been 

talking about for the last year or so are all the more important now than 

ever, because keep in mind, and it's not just Omicron, Chris. We are 

predominantly dealing with a Delta challenge right now. We've got the Delta 

variant in this country which is causing an average of close to 100,000 

cases a day.

And as winter, you know, approaches and people go indoors, it's possible 

that number -- those numbers, you know, may go up, unless we take the 

precautions that are necessary like getting vaccinated and wearing those 

masks. So, to me, this is a cause -- 

WALLACE: But let me -- 

MURTHY: -- for being even more vigilant, but not for panicking.

WALLACE: Let me pick up on that. President Biden announced several new 

measures this week to fight COVID, to fight all of the variants.

And I want to put it up on the screen. A tougher testing protocol for 

international travel, an extension of masks on public transportation, 

insurance coverage for at-home tests.

But a doctor that worked with you on the Biden transition task force, Dr. 

Celine Gounder, said this week that she wishes that President Biden had 

been even tougher, especially on domestic air travel when it comes to 

vaccines and masks.

Your thoughts about that?

MURTHY: Well, I think international and domestic travel are, in fact, 

different. On the international front, as you mentioned, there's a number 

of measures we have taken like vaccine requirements, requiring testing 

before people get on those flights.

From a domestic standpoint, what you have seen is that if people do, in 

fact, wear masks, well-fitted, good quality masks, they can actually 

significantly reduce their risk on domestic flights.

And, finally, just keep in mind this: we've taken a number of measures 

domestically to insure that we increase vaccination rates which is 

ultimately our key to ending this pandemic. Whether that's the 

requirements, you know, in workplaces, whether that's -- you know, the 

availability of vaccines that we made which is really quite unprecedented. 

And we'll continue to do that.

And we just -- on the last week, the president announced, in fact, that we 

are getting pharmacies to offer even more slots. We are sending reminders 

to millions of Americans about the importance of getting vaccinated and 

boosted. And we're setting up hundreds of family clinics, of kids and 

adults getting vaccinated at the same time.

So, these are strong measures we put in place and, you know, I think we've 

continually shown a desire to use every lever we have to make sure that 

people are protected, they're vaccinated, and we get to the end of this 

pandemic as quickly as we can.

WALLACE: President Biden has been aggressive about vaccine mandates on 

government and health workers, on the military, on companies that have more 

than 100 employees. But I don't have to tell you, the courts have blocked a 

number of those.

Here's what the president said announcing his new set of COVID fighting 

measures this week. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: While my existing federal 

vaccination requirements are being reviewed by the courts, this plan does 

not expand or add to those mandates.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: Why did the president feel they need it to say more mandates? Is 

he backing off of them? I mean, there were no new mandates when a lot of 

people expected there would be.

MURTHY: No. I -- look, I think that he feels very strongly that the 

measures that he put forward will meaningfully move us forward, you know? 

And the requirements that we have in place, you know, will continue to do 

that.

But we know that this -- this effort is about more than requirements. It's 

also about making sure people have the information they need to get 

vaccinated, that they have access to the vaccine. And that's why you see a 

focus on some of those areas and doubling down on those other areas in his 

plan. But you have to -- putting this altogether, Chris, I think that the 

measures he announced are going to help us for the winter.

And I just want to make sure people understand this very clearly, we are 

not back in March 2020 despite the prospect of a new variant Omicron on the 

horizon and despite the fact that we found cases here. We have more tools. 

We have more knowledge to protect ourselves. It's why the holidays this 

year I believe will be and already have been very different than the 

holidays in 2020.

I've been able to take my kids trick-or-treating for Halloween. I got 

together with family for Thanksgiving. Millions of Americans did the same. 

We can gather safely for the holidays and these measures will help us do 

the same.

WALLACE: How do you feel about the fact that the courts are blocking the 

mandates? What -- what is the potential fallout from that, the vaccine 

mandates?

And along those lines, we now find out that up to 19,000 members of the 

Navy and the Marines have not met the November 28th deadline for getting 

vaccines and their cases are going to be reviewed on an individual basis. 

But we're talking about the crew that would be needed, 19,000, to staff 

four aircraft carriers.

We can't afford to lose those 19,000 marines and sailors because of this 

mandate, can we?

MURTHY: Well, Chris, I'm glad you asked because what we are committed to 

doing is working with every federal employee, in military and civilian, to 

make sure that they are vaccinated and they have the information that they 

need to be vaccinated. And, again, this is not a cliff. You know, if people 

don't make the deadline, we will work with them to make figure how to get 

them there.

But I also want -- we keep this in perspective, which is a vast, vast 

majority, well over 90 percent of the federal workforce is vaccinated and 

in compliance. And that includes the military, it includes the uniform 

service of the United States Public Health Service that I oversee as a 

surgeon general.

WALLACE: Dr. Murthy, we're going to have to leave it there. Thank you. 

Thank you for your time. It's always good to talk with you, sir.

Up next, when we return to the Reagan National Defense Forum, my 

conversation with one of the leaders of the U.S. Space Force on the 

security challenges on the new frontier.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHRIS WALLACE, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Welcome back to the Reagan National Defense 

Forum.

And now, the latest on another developing story. The highly mutated COVID 

variant, Omicron, has now been detected in 44 countries and has spread to 

16 states here in the U.S. Health officials are racing to learn more about 

the new variant, while also dealing with another surge of the Delta virus.

Joining us now, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy.

Doctor, it's been a little bit more than a week since the world first 

learned about this Omicron variant, and I want to go over some of the 

initial findings so far. The variant is spreading more than twice as fast 

as Delta. It's three times more likely to cause reinfections among people 

who've had COVID, and it shares a genetic code with the common cold.

So, compared to a week ago when we first learned the name Omicron, how much 

more have we learned about the transmissibility of this disease, the 

severity of the disease from Omicron and the potential that it could evade 

and beat the vaccines that we now have?

DR. VIVEK MURTHY, U.S. SURGEON GENERAL: Well, Chris, we have -- we continue 

to learn a lot about Omicron. We've seen certainly that there has been 

spread around the world and in our country. It's something we expected. 

We've seen this with other variants.

And we've been in close dialogue with our colleagues in South Africa, in a 

frequent basis, to understand what they are seeing.

Chris, even though they are certainly seeing cases go up and they've seen 

an increase in hospitalizations, they have cautioned us as we have with 

others to not draw immediate conclusions from initial data sets or from 

anecdotes that you hear.

So, to the question of whether the increased of spread is driven by, you 

know, greater transmissibility or whether it's being driven by a different 

sensitivity to vaccine protections and protection from prior infection, the 

exact mix there of contributors is not known.

The bottom line is this is what we do know. We do know that the measures 

that we take to protect ourselves from the spread of COVID, including 

wearing masks and indoor spaces, being in well-ventilated spaces, those 

work and will work against Omicron.

We also know that with vaccines, Chris, that even though we are trying to 

figure out the exact level of protection our vaccines will give against 

Omicron, in every case, we have seen the vaccinated are better off, 

particularly more protected against hospitalization and death than the 

unvaccinated. It's why we are urging people to get vaccinated and boosted.

WALLACE: Just briefly on this, you talk about masks. Are you saying now 

that if you're with people that you don't know that we should go back 

routinely to wearing a mask indoors?

MURTHY: Well, certainly, what we've been seeing actually since the 

summertime is that if you are vaccinated or unvaccinated and gathered with 

people outside your household in indoor spaces, that wearing a mask is the 

recommended step to take to help reduce the potential for spread. It 

protects you, but it also protects the people around you.

WALLACE: You know, I know that you -- you're a scientist and you want to 

play this very carefully, but people are following this awfully closely. 

So, let me just ask you this, Doctor, and I hope you can give us some 

transparency.

From what you have learned so far as compared to a week ago, are you more 

or less worried about Omicron?

MURTHY: Well, Chris, you know, I certainly am concerned about the 

possibility that this is going to spread, you know, more easily than other 

variants that we've seen to date and we've got to get more data like I said 

to understand the exact extent of that.

But I do think it's a reason for us to not necessarily panic, but just to 

be more vigilant and to recognize that the precautions that we have been 

talking about for the last year or so are all the more important now than 

ever, because keep in mind, and it's not just Omicron, Chris. We are 

predominantly dealing with a Delta challenge right now. We've got the Delta 

variant in this country which is causing an average of close to 100,000 

cases a day.

And as winter, you know, approaches and people go indoors, it's possible 

that number -- those numbers, you know, may go up, unless we take the 

precautions that are necessary like getting vaccinated and wearing those 

masks. So, to me, this is a cause -- 

WALLACE: But let me -- 

MURTHY: -- for being even more vigilant, but not for panicking.

WALLACE: Let me pick up on that. President Biden announced several new 

measures this week to fight COVID, to fight all of the variants.

And I want to put it up on the screen. A tougher testing protocol for 

international travel, an extension of masks on public transportation, 

insurance coverage for at-home tests.

But a doctor that worked with you on the Biden transition task force, Dr. 

Celine Gounder, said this week that she wishes that President Biden had 

been even tougher, especially on domestic air travel when it comes to 

vaccines and masks.

Your thoughts about that?

MURTHY: Well, I think international and domestic travel are, in fact, 

different. On the international front, as you mentioned, there's a number 

of measures we have taken like vaccine requirements, requiring testing 

before people get on those flights.

From a domestic standpoint, what you have seen is that if people do, in 

fact, wear masks, well-fitted, good quality masks, they can actually 

significantly reduce their risk on domestic flights.

And, finally, just keep in mind this: we've taken a number of measures 

domestically to insure that we increase vaccination rates which is 

ultimately our key to ending this pandemic. Whether that's the 

requirements, you know, in workplaces, whether that's -- you know, the 

availability of vaccines that we made which is really quite unprecedented. 

And we'll continue to do that.

And we just -- on the last week, the president announced, in fact, that we 

are getting pharmacies to offer even more slots. We are sending reminders 

to millions of Americans about the importance of getting vaccinated and 

boosted. And we're setting up hundreds of family clinics, of kids and 

adults getting vaccinated at the same time.

So, these are strong measures we put in place and, you know, I think we've 

continually shown a desire to use every lever we have to make sure that 

people are protected, they're vaccinated, and we get to the end of this 

pandemic as quickly as we can.

WALLACE: President Biden has been aggressive about vaccine mandates on 

government and health workers, on the military, on companies that have more 

than 100 employees. But I don't have to tell you, the courts have blocked a 

number of those.

Here's what the president said announcing his new set of COVID fighting 

measures this week. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: While my existing federal 

vaccination requirements are being reviewed by the courts, this plan does 

not expand or add to those mandates.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: Why did the president feel they need it to say more mandates? Is 

he backing off of them? I mean, there were no new mandates when a lot of 

people expected there would be.

MURTHY: No. I -- look, I think that he feels very strongly that the 

measures that he put forward will meaningfully move us forward, you know? 

And the requirements that we have in place, you know, will continue to do 

that.

But we know that this -- this effort is about more than requirements. It's 

also about making sure people have the information they need to get 

vaccinated, that they have access to the vaccine. And that's why you see a 

focus on some of those areas and doubling down on those other areas in his 

plan. But you have to -- putting this altogether, Chris, I think that the 

measures he announced are going to help us for the winter.

And I just want to make sure people understand this very clearly, we are 

not back in March 2020 despite the prospect of a new variant Omicron on the 

horizon and despite the fact that we found cases here. We have more tools. 

We have more knowledge to protect ourselves. It's why the holidays this 

year I believe will be and already have been very different than the 

holidays in 2020.

I've been able to take my kids trick-or-treating for Halloween. I got 

together with family for Thanksgiving. Millions of Americans did the same. 

We can gather safely for the holidays and these measures will help us do 

the same.

WALLACE: How do you feel about the fact that the courts are blocking the 

mandates? What -- what is the potential fallout from that, the vaccine 

mandates?

And along those lines, we now find out that up to 19,000 members of the 

Navy and the Marines have not met the November 28th deadline for getting 

vaccines and their cases are going to be reviewed on an individual basis. 

But we're talking about the crew that would be needed, 19,000, to staff 

four aircraft carriers.

We can't afford to lose those 19,000 marines and sailors because of this 

mandate, can we?

MURTHY: Well, Chris, I'm glad you asked because what we are committed to 

doing is working with every federal employee, in military and civilian, to 

make sure that they are vaccinated and they have the information that they 

need to be vaccinated. And, again, this is not a cliff. You know, if people 

don't make the deadline, we will work with them to make figure how to get 

them there.

But I also want -- we keep this in perspective, which is a vast, vast 

majority, well over 90 percent of the federal workforce is vaccinated and 

in compliance. And that includes the military, it includes the uniform 

service of the United States Public Health Service that I oversee as a 

surgeon general.

WALLACE: Dr. Murthy, we're going to have to leave it there. Thank you. 

Thank you for your time. It's always good to talk with you, sir.

Up next, when we return to the Reagan National Defense Forum, my 

conversation with one of the leaders of the U.S. Space force on the 

security challenges on the new frontier.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALLACE: This week the Biden administration laid out its approach to space 

policy with a focus on national security given provocative actions by 

countries like China and Russia. Earlier, I discussed those threats with 

General David Thompson, the vice chief of operations for the U.S. Space 

Force. 

General Thompson, welcome.

GENERAL DAVID THOMPSON, VICE CHIEF OF SPACE OPERATIONS, UNITED STATES SPACE 

FORCE: Good morning. Great to be here.

WALLACE: Your boss, General Raymond compares space to the wild west. Just 

how wild is the situation in space?

THOMPSON: Well, first of all let me say that it's an incredibly growing and 

dynamic domain, and -- and some of that contributes to what you'll call the 

wildness of -- of space. In the past two years alone, the number of active 

satellites in space has doubled. It's gone to nearly 5,000 things. Now, a 

lot of energy is in the -- in the commercial investment and innovation we 

see, but there aren't really an agreed to international set of standards 

and norms of behavior that are expected in space.

WALLACE: Yes, I want to pick up on that. If the Space Force is the new 

sheriff in town, how do you keep law and order in that kind of situation, 

and what constitutes an act of war in space?

THOMPSON: So, the answer -- let me start there, the answer of what 

constitutes an act of war in space is not really clear -- I'll say clearly 

defined or understood and perhaps there's been less thinking in that -- and 

then in other areas and other domains. 

What we are not, though, is we are not the sheriff in town, we are a 

military force, but we firmly advocate for regulation and conduct and 

standards of norms behavior that everybody should follow and that we should 

follow as well.

WALLACE: And does anyone -- the other nations, especially China, especially 

Russia, do they listen to us in that area?

THOMPSON: There are conversations ongoing. They put forward proposals as 

well. So do we. But things have not proceeded very -- very far in the 

recent past. We've tried to facilitate it. It's really under the leadership 

of the Department of State. But, recently, the secretary of Defense 

outlined what I'll call five tenets of responsible behavior that we apply 

to that everybody else should. 

Conduct your space operations in a safe manner. Don't generate long lived 

debris. Don't create harmful and unfair interference. Communicate your 

intentions. And operate safely in the vicinity of others. Those are the 

kinds of tenets -- tenets and expertise that we should -- or expectations 

that we should all adhere to, but they aren't commonly accepted or adhered 

to yet in space. 

WALLACE: China is putting up satellites at twice the rate that the U.S. is 

now.

THOMPSON: Correct

WALLACE: And at that pace, by the end of the decade, they will replace the 

U.S. as the preeminent power in space. 

When you look at, you know, the hypersonic missiles, when you look at 

satellites with robotic arms, just how much of a threat is China to the 

U.S. and to the rules of the road in space?

THOMPSON: So, China is a tremendous threat, as you noted. Now, I don't 

think it's a forgone conclusion that they will be the leader in space by 

the end of the decade, but they're on an incredible pace. We are still the 

best in the world in space. Our capabilities are the best in the world in 

space, but they're moving aggressively, they're moving quickly, and we need 

to adapt our approach. We need to adapt what we do and how we do it in 

order to keep pace and outpace them. But they are a threat. They can 

threaten us kinetically, like you said. They -- the Russians on the 15th of 

November conducted a destructive anti-satellite test. The China conducted a 

similar test in 2007. They have robots in space that conduct attacks. They 

can conduct jamming attacks and laser dazzling attacks. They have a full 

suite of cyber capabilities. Absolutely an incredible threat that we have 

to address now and in the future.

WALLACE: Talking first of all about China. If they continue putting 

satellites up at -- at -- at the speed they are, they have a -- a satellite 

with a robotic arm. Could they eventually get to a point where they could 

take out U.S. sensors and thereby have a first strike offensive capability?

THOMPSON: So, I would say that's a potential. That's one of the reasons the 

Space Force was created, to understand that threat, to design tactics and 

techniques, to design counters to that threat, to design a system that 

provides for intelligence collection and awareness and understanding. So 

that just as we do in other domains, we know their capabilities, we know 

their tactics, we know their systems, and we create counters. And its our 

job in the Space Force to ensure, should they propose to attack us with 

something like a space robot or other things, we have counter measures, we 

have tactics and we have means to employ to prevent that attack from being 

successful.

WALLACE: Meanwhile, you talked about Russia. They, in the last few weeks, 

launched a missile that took out one of their own defunct satellites and 

created 1,500 pieces of debris in a very crowded neighborhood.

THOMPSON: They did.

WALLACE: How threatening is that? 

THOMPSON: It was incredibly dangerous and irresponsible act. In fact, they 

conducted in an altitude over the North Pole that means for years to come 

that debris will be present, and it will eventually filter down and re-

enter the atmosphere. 

But as it does, it has the potential to threaten every single satellite at 

altitudes below that, including the International Space Station, and, 

interesting enough, the Russian cosmonauts on the International Space 

Station. 

So, in that sense, it's a dangerous behavior that threatens our use of the 

domain. 

What we also need to do, however, is design new space systems that 

recognize that's a possible threat and make it less productive and valuable 

to try to conduct that sort of attacking (ph).

WALLACE: Well, let me ask you about one aspect of that, because one of the 

things that we're doing is putting more, lower cost satellites up. And is 

the idea that you create this, sort of, swarm of satellites and you put too 

many targets in the -- in space for them to shoot?

THOMPSON: Exactly right. The, you know, the term we use is resilience, and 

we make is such that it's too hard, too expensive and too unlikely that 

they'll succeed in creating a -- the effect they want because, rather than 

the past, when we've had a small number of very sophisticated, very capable 

satellites, we now intend to field more and more and more lower cost, lower 

capable that provide, in aggregate, the same capability. Therefore, there's 

not as much value in attempting to attacking them in space.

WALLACE: Some of the most innovative work being done in space now is by 

private companies.

THOMPSON: Absolutely.

WALLACE: Like SpaceX, like Virgin Orbit. What kind of a partnership does 

the Space Force either have or hope to develop with these private 

companies?

THOMPSON: We both have partnerships and we're going to develop more. 

The first is, as these new commercial services come online, if they're of 

value to the Space Force, if they're of value to our joint force, we're 

going to use them directly for our benefit. 

The second is that innovation and creativity we see in their technology and 

the way they operate, if we can leverage and apply them to military 

missions, we'll do that as well. And then the third piece is, we're 

actually partnering with them and sharing information on mission 

requirements, mission design, cost and threats and we're asking them to 

develop their own solutions to our problems as we do as well to create a 

new relationship that says, here's a problem, here's a potential solution, 

employ the power and innovation of your ideas alongside ours to come up 

with the best source of space capabilities for the nation.

WALLACE: Finally, when President Trump directed the Pentagon to start the 

Space Force back in 2018, it became the -- the butt of some pop culture 

jokes. I want you to take a look at some of that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, "THE LATE SHOW" (August 10, 2018): Tonight, there's 

big news about Space Force. 

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY (February 2, 2021): Wow, Space 

Force. It's the plane of today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: So, how do you react to that and how seriously is the Space Force 

being taken by our adversaries now?

THOMPSON: So, I think as people more fully understand exactly who we are, 

what we are, how we contribute to the security of the nation, I think 

absolutely they're taking us more seriously. We certainly see energy and 

desire out of the young people of the nation to join and participate. 

I would say that humor is a fundamental avenue of the human society and 

always has been a part of American culture. If we can't take a joke, if we 

can't accept some of the humor like that, then we're probably not prepared 

to face the greater challenges we need, and we're absolutely up to those 

challenges.

WALLACE: And I gather from what you say that China and Russia are not 

laughing. 

General Thompson, thank you so much for talking with us. 

THOMPSON: If I may, Mr. Wallace, thanks. Let me say that speaking for 

myself, speaking for General Raymond, and I know I'm speaking for the 

13,000 guardians, it remains an honor and a privilege to serve the nation 

and its people.

WALLACE: Thank you, sir. 

Up next, our "Power Play of the Week," the man behind the mission to 

preserve and promote the legacy of our 40th president. 

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALLACE: It's been our honor and pleasure to once again come here to the 

Reagan Library. It's now the largest and most visited of all the 

presidential libraries. The over the last decade, there's one man who's 

been most responsible for maintaining its preeminence, and he's our "Power 

Player of the Week." 

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN HEUBUSCH, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF RONALD REAGAN PRESIDENTIAL 

FOUNDATION 

AND INSTITUTE: There's a whole lot of people that just admire Ronald 

Reagan. And they come here. It's somewhat of a mecca. It's Reagan country. 

WALLACE (voice over): Executive Director John Heubusch on the lasting 

relevance of the Reagan Library. 

HEUBUSCH: We're about promoting what Ronald Reagan stood for. And that was 

less taxes, less government, less regulation, more freedom, strong defense. 

RONALD REAGAN, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: Government is not the solution to our 

problem. Government is the problem.

WALLACE: In 2009, Nancy Reagan chose Heubusch to lead her husband's 

foundation.

HEUBUSCH: Every time my phone rang, my heart would jump into my throat a 

bit because I knew I was -- she was going to ask for me to do, maybe not 

the impossible, but some big things. 

WALLACE (on camera): How dramatically have you revamped the library over 

the last 12 years?

HEUBUSCH: These presidential libraries, in my mind, are - yes, they're a 

bit like sharks, you know. If you're not moving forward and constantly in 

the hunt for new and interesting things to do, you're not going places. 

WALLACE (voice over): The library is the final resting place for both 

Reagans, but Heubusch has found inventive ways to keep the president alive.

REAGAN: So you wouldn't mind if I told you just one more story, would you?

WALLACE (on camera): How do visitors to the library react to the sonogram 

(ph)?

HEUBUSCH: Oh, they just love it. They really do. From kids from six to 96 

and to hear and see as best as you can President Reagan almost right there 

in the flesh. 

WALLACE (voice over): But there were unforeseen challenges, like massive 

wildfires in 2019. 

WALLACE (on camera): can you get out?

WALLACE (voice over): In an interview then, his concern was clear. 

HEUBUSCH: I stood on a hill with a couple of -- with a dozen firemen who 

literally stopped flames about 100 yards from President and Mrs. Reagan's 

gravesite. 

WALLACE (on camera): How close did you come to losing the library? 

HEUBUSCH: You know, Chris, we came within an inch. The Reagan Library was 

surrounded by a wall of flames. They saved the Reagan Library, there's no 

doubt about it. 

WALLACE (voice over): Heubusch has kept finding ways to advance the Reagan 

legacy, like an institute in Washington that pushes conservative 

principles. 

CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), FORMER NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR: As Republicans, we need to 

free ourselves from the quicksand of endless grievances. 

HEUBUSCH: Thank you. Please, be seated.

WALLACE (on camera): You have started a speaker series, a time for 

choosing. What is the debate inside the Republican Party today? 

HEUBUSCH: I think he would be far more willing to compromise then we find 

today. People seem to be at each other's throats and I think that would 

really concern President Reagan. 

Thank you. God bless you. And God bless America. 

WALLACE (voice over): Heubusch is stepping down at the end of this year but 

feels he's accomplished his central mission. 

HEUBUSCH: Listen, Ronald Reagan did not need my help to be one of the best 

presidents in the history of the nation, but maybe he and Mrs. Reagan 

needed a little help to ensure that the admiration for the president would 

never cease. So I think we've held the flame high and made the name is 

Ronald Reagan as relevant today as it was many years ago.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE: Heubusch promised Nancy Reagan he would give her at least five 

years here at the library. But in year four, he was diagnosed with terminal 

cancer. He beat the disease and kept building the library these past 12 

years. 

And that's it for today. Have a great week and we'll see you back in 

Washington next FOX NEWS SUNDAY.

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