Transcripts For FOXNEWSW Americas Newsroom 20170303

Have been perceived is that i wouldnt be objective in participating in an investigation that might involve the campaign. I do not confirm or deny any investigation. I just felt like i should clear the air. Shannon john roberts is live on the north hall. How is this story affecting the white house this morning . The white house was worried this was becoming the big story, the big narrative feeding into this idea there was more to this russia story than the white house was leading people to believe. And yesterday it even really kind of blew the president s big signature speech aboard the uss ford out of the headlines. Jeff sessions moved quickly to take the story out of the headlines announcing he had had a previously planned meeting with his staff yesterday to decide whether or not he should be in charge of investigations regarding russian interference in the election. During that press conference he said he would recuse himself from future investigations regarding the campaign. What triggered it. He said at his confirmation hearing he had had no contact with russian officials during the Campaign Last year. Then it was revealed on wednesday night that he had met you see him there with russias ambassador to the United States twice. Sessions insists those meetings were in his role as a member of the Armed Services committee in the senate and there was never any discussion of the campaign. Let me be clear. I never had meetings with russian operatives or russian intermediaries about the Trump Campaign. And the idea that was part of a quote continuing exchange of information during the campaign between trump surrogates and intermediaries for the russian government is totally false. He maintains the backing of the president who in a statement said last night Jeff Sessions is an honest man. He did not say anything wrong. He could have stated his response more accurately. But it was clearly not intentional. This whole narrative is a way of saving face for democrats losing an election that everyone thought they were supposed to win. The democrats are overplaying their hand. They lost the election and now they have lost their grip on reality. The real story is of all the illegal leaks of classified and other information. It is a total witch hunt. The white house hoping it can have one day today with the president going off to orlando to highlight education in which their narrative doesnt get blown off the headlines. Shannon there is also this story now that Vice President pence used a private email account as governor and actually was hacked. This resulted as a freedom of information act request by usa today. While he was governor of Indiana Using a private aol account to do some business for the state as well as personal email. Pence folks he did nothing that other governors of indiana have not done. Its well within the law to be able to do it and that all of his emails are being archived in accordance with the public records act there in the state of indiana. Spokesman saying last night as then governor pence concluded his time in office he directed outside counsel to review all communications to make sure staterelated emails are being transferred and properly archived by the state in accordance with the law. Whats interesting is that during the campaign then governor pence was bitingly critical of Hillary Clinton for using a private email service to do business while secretary of state. Pences people say its like comparing apples and oranges. She had a private server dealing with classified information at the highest levels, he was not. Shannon an important distinction. Private email versus a private server, big difference. Bill chris stirewalt, how are you, sir . Good morning. The white house would like to clear the pallet, right . Get rid of it. Lets start there. Yeah, the problem is every time we think theyre done, every time they say were all through with the russian jazz there is another mistake. Now, there is no intimation from anybody or no evidence certainly that Jeff Sessions did anything wrong. It is not there is no reason not to believe him. He was talking about the normal affairs he would as a sten at and leadership of a committee that has to do with Foreign Relations and it would all be par for the course. The problem is this continues to be the problem for this administration on the russia stuff they never seem to be able to make a clean breast of it and there is always another thing that comes out. That has to stop and has to stop now or otherwise it will consume the entirety of this administration. Bill paul ryan spoke with clarity yesterday when he said the following. They did an investigation, Intelligence Community wide. Many of us went down and got the briefings from clapper and brennan after the election, before the inauguration and weve never seen any evidence to us that an american or person in the Trump Campaign was involved or working with the russians. Bill thats what we understand the story to be as of now. But dems arent going to let that sit right there. You heard them full throated yesterday, chris. For about 30 seconds they paused that sessions should recuse and immediately galloped, just resign, step down. So were at full bonkers now, right . Were going to remain there as long as democrats can do it. Donald trump is partly right when he says that its because there are sour grapes and lost control of reality. He needs to confront the new reality for him. In washington when you have an open wound like this, your opponents are going to stay after it whether it was the republicans on benghazi, whether it was democrats on the fired u. S. Attorneys. Anything that stays open your political rivals will keep coming after until you can finally cauterize the wound. So far the Trump Administration has not demonstrated the ability to do that. Bill it may look like theyre trying to hide something until you find the following list of Democratic Senators who have also met with the Russian Ambassador on capitol hill, perhaps in their office, at a large meeting space. This happens, chris. A lot. A lot. But the question here is that the Trump Administration and campaign has had to discharge for distance people who had communications with russia that were not appropriate. And that was three times is the charm and what democrats are hoping is that eventually investigators will claw back far enough and somebody on the Trump Campaign knew the russians were hacking the dnc to hurt Hillary Clinton and theyll be able to keep the administration bound up from doing anything at all. Bill mccaskill was last on the list. She tweeted the following. A Senior Member of Armed Services never received a call or request from Russian Ambassador for a meeting. Never met oneonone with him. Only to correct herself a short time later when she said four years ago went to a meeting of many senators about international adoptions. Russian ambassador attended. There were a lot of people at the table. This stuff happens and to think its exclusive to one party more than the other is misleading. At least. Absolutely. It was Alexander Hamilton who said never tweet. [laughter] have a good weekend. Great to see you. Thanks. Shannon its number 57. Capping off a jampacked week in the nations capital, tonight bret baier will sit down with paul ryan and talk about tax reform tonight on the fox news channel. They have a lot to talk about. Bill looking forward to that. Chris makes a great point. You want to clean the pallet and get it behind you. There is this trail right now that follows you and until all the information is out there, a lot of people picking and looking for something on this all the time. Shannon a lot of this its time for the gop to play offense instead of defense. Bill President Trump has a very good way of changing the topic of discussion in the conversation. Dare i suggest there has been a lot of restraint over the past 24 hours. Shannon limited tweets. Bill see where that goes. Everyone is weighing in on this. Rush limbaughs take went like this. Folks, there isnt any evidence of anything except the Obama Administration and its holdovers in the deep state trying to sabotage the president of the United States. Thats the story. Are they targeting the administration as a part of sabotage . Shannon in the middle of all this brandnew video showing russian fighter jets buzzing a u. S. Navy ship overseas. What u. S. Officials have to say about that. Bill the story got a bit sidelined yesterday. President trump calling for a military buildup while touring a brandnew Aircraft Carrier and said this. President trump American Workers are the greatest anywhere in the world. This warship and all who serve on it should be a source of shared pride for our nation. Were joined today, Better Believe it, right . Thats me. Then out of nowhere. Crying. Third time that day. I wasnt even sad. First the stroke, now this. So we asked my doctor. He told us about pseudobulbar affect, or pba. Its frequent, uncontrollable crying or laughing that doesnt match how you feel. It can happen with certain neurologic conditions like stroke, dementia, or ms. He prescribed nuedexta, the only fdaapproved treatment for pba. Tell your doctor about medicines you take. Some cant be taken with nuedexta. Nuedexta is not for people with certain heart conditions. Serious side effects may occur. Lifethreatening allergic reactions to quinidine can happen. Tell your doctor right away if you have bleeding or bruising. Stop nuedexta if muscle twitching, confusion, fever, or shivering occurs with antidepressants. Side effects may include diarrhea, dizziness, cough, vomiting, weakness, or ankle swelling. Nuedexta made a difference by reducing my pba episodes. Ask about nuedexta and go to nuedexta. Com bill keep an eye on the story. Things could be made harder for americans traveling in europe. The e. U. Parliament calling on the block to end its no visa policy for u. S. Citizens in response to the u. S. Not allowing europeans from five countries to travel here visa free. Some european politicians slamming the administration for its travel ban targeting seven terror prone countries in the middle east and africa. Many of those failed states have been that way for five years plus but europes visa policy for americans considered unlikely to change. Have you met with any other russian officials or those connected to the russian government . I dont believe so. You know, we meet a lot of people and retrospect i should have slowed down and said but i did meet one russian official a couple of times. That would be the ambassador. Shannon attorney general Jeff Sessions at his News Conference yesterday will further clarify his remarks in writing in a letter to the Senate Judiciary committee. He denies intentionally misleading lawmakers. He was under oath. Was recuseing himself the right move here . Lets talk about it with tom dupree. Lets talk about how this recusal thing works. From here it would go to the assistant attorney general but the person that the president wants in that role is not yet nominated. Where do we go . The person who will oversee the investigation in the short term would be the acting Deputy Attorney general who is the u. S. Attorney for virginia. He was an obama served under president obama and President Trump put him in the position after he fired sally yates. I think its important to note this is probably short term because the new Deputy Attorney general rod rosen stein will likely be put up before the senate later this month. It probably wont be too long before he is in position and would take control of any investigation. Shannon he would oversee anything that would involve the attorney general potentially or connections to the campaign. What about the idea of going to independent counsel. Somebody outside the doj. Would that be a call the Deputy Attorney general is confirmed, looks like he will be, he would pick the person who would begin the investigation or do you think he keeps it in house and the doj can do this without the attorney general being involved . Were a number of steps away from that point. This is something that doj if it were to conduct an investigation would keep inhouse rather than appointing a special counsel. Thats a pretty extraordinary step. They wouldnt ultimately need to resort to that but this doesnt seem that this would warrant going out the normal process of investigating and appointment. Shannon what do you make of all the calls for that . Folks on both sides of the aisle. A lot from the left and the right hinting they think it is a right move as well. Taking away the appearance of any impropriety. Is it a worthwhile step . What do you launch when you get into an independent counsel . The danger, the irancontra investigation. When you appoint someone else from the Justice Department they have Carte Blanche to run an investigation to run up huge bills and last decades. They dont have a lot else on their plate. Before you went outside the normal process you would need to make sure there was a reason for it. You didnt think that rod rosen stein could conduct a fair investigation. I havent seen any evidence suggesting that the Justice Department would be incapable of investigating this fairly and impartially. So i think at this point any calls for a special counsel are premature. Shannon we have calls for the attorney general to resign and him to be investigated for perjury. Talk about the elements of the crime and the likelihood he would be convicted. In my opinion no reasonable prosecutor would bring a perjury case on this evidence. In my view its not even close. For one thing its not clear that the testimony that mr. Sessions gave was false as we all know the question from senator franken was ambiguous and focused on contacts between the Trump Campaign and the russians. It is clear that mr. Sessions was answering that question in the context of his role as a Trump Campaign surrogate rather than a role as a member of the senate Armed Services committee. Getting beyond that prosecutors would have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt it was an intentional lie. Nothing suggests thats what was going on here. It doesnt surprise me about calls for resignation. Its washington game playing. Once the attorney general sent the letter, put his comments in context i suspect the furor over his testimony will die down. Shannon democrats have sent a letter, many of them from capitol hill to the f. B. I. Saying we want a criminal investigation of the attorney general. Is that where this perjury or criminal investigation . Would the f. B. I. Be the agency to take this on . In a normal case. There isnt any evidence warranting that. Typically what would happen members of congress would refer to the f. B. I. Potential criminal conduct. F. B. I. Would look at it and decides whether it warrants opening and investigation. Shannon thanks. Bill more on this next hour when we talk with the former a. G. Alberto gonzalez about everything thats going on. First republicans reportedly keeping the traft of its obamacare replacement under lock and key and senator rand paul wants to see it and went on a capitol hill Scavenger Hunt to find it. Wait until you see how this thing played out. Hey hon, we gotta go. Come on. Grandpa grandpa thanks, mom. Whfight back fastts, with tums smoothies. It starts dissolving the instant it touches your tongue. And neutralizes stomach acid at the source. Tum tum tum tum smoothies only from tums what would help is simply being able to recognize a fair price. Truecar has pricing data on every make and model, so all you have to do is search for the car you want, there it is. Now youre an expert in less than a minute. This is truecar. President Trump America has always been the country that boldly leads the world into the future and my budget will ensure we do so and continue to do exactly that. American ships will sail the seas. American planes will soar the skies, American Workers will build our fleets. [applause] shannon President Trump pushing to ramp up defense spending during a speech to sailors yesterday and touring an Aircraft Carrier in virginia. The uss gerald ford will become the largest and most powerful warship. His administration will negotiate good deals for our military. He is calling for a 54 billion increase in military funding. You know, there are folks on capitol hill who say thats not enough. It has been so decimated they want even more money. Well see where it goes. Bill a lot of that comes out from the speech on tuesday night before congress, too. Really what it dominated the headlines had it not been for the sessions story. Well see him in florida this afternoon. In the meantime. You cant have legislation locked behind closed doors in my state. This is being this is being presented as if this were a national secret. As if it were a plot to invade another country. As if this were national security. Thats wrong, this should be done openly in the public. Bill senator rand paul from kentucky locked out from the holding room of the obamacare replacement plan and voicing frustration clearly. They rolled a copy machine through the halls of congress yesterday. The search for that elusive legislation turns into a virtual Scavenger Hunt. Were watching it from washington senator paul couldnt find a copy of that bill but not for a lack of trying. He took a group of reporters from the senate side of the capitol to the house side of the capitol carrying his own printer to make a copy of it to make public. Leaders say there isnt a completed bill he could see right now. Currently all they have is a draft of what republicans have in mind but there are still a lot of details that need to be worked out including the key question of how much it will cost. The Congressional Budget Office is working on those numbers. Depending on what they look like this initial draft could see significant changes. Thats what senator rand paul is hoping for. He and other fiscal conservatives are against several key parts of the proposals coming from Republican Leadership and yesterday he told neil cavuto without some big changes the gop will have a hard time passing its plan. There is a jockeying going back and forth and they will have to see if they can convince conservatives to vote for their plan. I tell you right now it will not pass with a new Entitlement Program and cadillac tax and the individual mandate. Weve campaigned against these for years. They cant get obamacare lite and expect conservatives to vote for it. Two committees are set to vote on it setting the whole house to vote later this month. One of the key criticism has been what does it look like . Criticism from republicans and democrats as well. The other part with that is these bills typically arent made public until theyre complete. Thats normal. Even then changes can happen. But after nancy pelosi famously saying well figure out whats in the bill after we pass it. Some republicans are worried about that happening again. Bill bring your printer with you wherever you go. Sometimes things dont work. Shannon wall street, how will it finish this week . Were waiting for the dow to open this morning. Maria bartiromo joins us live to weigh in. Plus this. This story is not about Jeff Sessions. This story is not about illegal talks between trump and his Campaign People and the russians. This story is barack obama and the Democrat Party attempting to sabotage the trump presidency. Bill rush went off. Fiery words from limbaugh. Are obama loyalists trying to theyre trying to keep repeating the same story and trying to get this coverage going. There is nothing new that we have seen here. Bill friday morning. Record setting week on wall street. Did you see this thing move . The dow pulled it back a bit yesterday. What has triggered this weeks rally . Want to bring in maria bartiromo. Its the taxes, regulation, the trump bump. All of that. Thats whats behind this market rally. People are looking at the potential for a roll back in regulations and the impact on earnings. Theyre looking at a Corporate Tax rate of 15 to 20 and equating that to a double digit move in corporate earnings for the s p 500. I told shannon yesterday one analyst is looking for 20 increase in corporate earnings. Of course youll have back and forth. You may not go everyday. You talked to Steve Mnuchin this week . Thursday, i had a long interview friday and sunday morning. Bill everybody thinks tax reform happens in august. The timeline. He suggested that to you. Even suggested it may go a little past that. Kevin mccarthy told me well get it done before then. Well get to this in the next month or so. Whether its in a month, maria or in august or next fall, just so long as investors know it is out there, that keeps these markets where they are. 100 . There is an expectation once we see Corporate Tax rates coming down and roll back of regulation will increase the back drop. Well see the needle move on Economic Growth. We havent seen 3 Economic Growth in a decade. Theyre shooting for 3 or 4 Economic Growth. Once you see the policies take effect and the announcements of these policies people will start taking expectations up for gdp and expectations up for earnings. However, you make the right point. August is aggressive. They want to get obamacare done first repeal and replace and go to tax reform and the whole debate going on, is it a border adjustment tax, how to raise revenue and lower taxes . They havent come to an agreement on that. Bill either one a big one. You can wait 20 years for this to happen again. Quickly, what was it greenspan irrational exuberance . Remember that . Snap debuted yesterday. Snapchat. 44 later. Bill those who are investing in snapchat, dare i suggest dont understand the app. This company hasnt learned a penny. Their subscriber numbers are slowing. You can throw the daggers you want and when you look at other companies that have had a great debut they did well over the long term. I dont know if this will be a gopro, or a facebook, well see. But i know one thing the fundamentals of the company are being criticized because of slowing subscriber numbers and because of a growth rate that is not where you would expect given this market valuation. Bill you talk about it this weekend. Good to see you. Back to shannon now. The calls for democrats impeachment, there is no evidence. Folks, there isnt any evidence of anything. Except the Obama Administration and its holdovers in the deep state trying to sabotage the elected president of the United States. Thats the story. That is what is happening. And it is happening right in front of our eyes. It is not even a secret. What is there to investigate . Allegations . Seriousness of the charge . Theyre trying to isolate trump from the people he trusts. Shannon Rush Limbaugh sounding off on the controversy about Jeff Sessions claiming it is sabotage from former president obama and his staff. How democrats are trying to remove trumps brain trust one by one. Lets bring in the Political Panel to talk about it. Juan williams. Former media spokeswoman for president Bush Mercedes schlapp. Limbaugh basically went on a lengthy tirade. He said republicans are getting their clocks cleaned. They dont close ranks, they go out and say negative things and talk about sessions need to recuse and they are playing defense. They need to learn how to play offense and should never trust the democrats. I think Rush Limbaugh is absolutely right in the sense i think republicans eat their own in a lot of ways. I think for example in the case of senator Jeff Sessions republicans need to stand by him. It was clear during the attorney generals exchange with senator franken it was based on a questioning in regards to him being a campaign surrogate, not as a senator. As we know even up to 30 democrat senators met with the Russian Ambassador and obviously members of Congress Meet with ambassadors. Not uncommon. I think for Rush Limbaugh, he is making a very important point here, shannon. It is about these obama holdovers where youve seen leak after leak coming out of the white house and certain agencies. Even leaks of classified information, which is against the law, where you have this feeling, this sense that the goal is to delegitimize the trump presidency. Shannon juan, he said, i have to quote, that it scared the hell out of the democrats and thats why theyre coming out both barrels blazing going after sessions. It was a good speech. Everybody acknowledges it didnt include a lot of the provocative language that scared people coming from trump and here he was looking very president ial, shannon. But i think that the basic thesis that Rush Limbaugh is pushing forward is questionable. Democrats cant make the attorney general recuse himself. His own staff recommended that to him. The democrats cant make mike the flynn resign. President trump asked for his resignation and Vice President pence said he had been misled by mike flynn. You think about things like paul man fort leaving during the campaign. The c. I. A. , nsa, f. B. I. All putting their good name on a document that says there is evidence of russian interference in the 2016 campaign. This is not fiction, this is not deep blue state construction. These are facts. Shannon hold on. But there is a distinction in that no one presented evidence there was collusion between the Trump Campaign and russia. Thats a distinction we need to make. I want the play what Chuck Schumer said last year and then yesterday. First talking about Loretta Lynch and then talking about Jeff Sessions. She has said nothing was discussed related to the investigation so you have two choices. To say this didnt matter or she is lying. I think it didnt matter. There can be not even the smallest doubt about the impartiality and the attorney general, the top Law Enforcement official of the land. Its clear attorney general sessions does not meet that test. Attorney general sessions should resign. Shannon that first part he is talking about Loretta Lynch happening to be on the tarmac at the same time with bill clinton. Under investigation. She didnt recuse from that. Rush limbaugh said you shouldnt acquaint those two. That republicans fall into a trap if they rely on hypocrisy as the argument because democrats always win that one. I think the democrats are better at spinning and better at protecting their own. I think for republicans and especially in the case of attorney general Jeff Sessions the democrats are very focused and honed in on this pushing forward this quick eagerness, the quick narrative on okay, lets get senator Jeff Sessions to resign. That means we have two of the president s closest allies taken out. Again try to break down this cabinet. And i think that for republicans, the key is in the case of senator Jeff Sessions as he came out yesterday the attorney general basically clearing his name saying look, i answered the question honestly. It is what i understood at the time of how he asked me the question and im sending a written statement over to the Judiciary Committee to clear it up. Shannon last final word juan. She is saying you know how to play the game. Such a big difference to my mind. Clearly there was no hiding the meeting between Loretta Lynch when she ran into president clinton. Shannon because a local reporter saw them. Nobody tried to obscure it. What happened with Jeff Sessions and earlier mike flynn with Jared Kushner, they werent telling anybody were meeting with russians. When sessions was asked about it he was not forthcoming by his own admission. Shannon he says there was no intent to mislead. Well talk more about that. Good to see you both. Be happy. Shannon we are. Youre always happy. So there is no effort there. Bill President Trump weighing options on iraq. Isis digging in for a long battle if mosul. What will the administration do with the terror group now. An iraqi leader said the shannon a fox news alert. Dramatic video surfacing of russian war planes recently buzzing a u. S. Ship in international waters. Whats behind that move and what now . Shannon a massive fire breaking along the jersey shore. Check it out. Ocean grove, new jersey started at 5 00 a. M. This morning. It spread across seven different structures. A vacant hotel, condo complex and several homes were damaged. Crews were able to get the fire out but two firefighters injured in the process. Bill we have dramatic video into fox news and what it shows is this. Russian planes buzzing a u. S. Navy ship in the black sea. Happened a few weeks ago. The video is now public but the threat from moscow remains ongoing. So whats behind it . Whats the kremlin up to . Ralph peters, colonel, good morning to you. This happened a couple weeks ago. Apparently it happened a year ago and how many times in between. There are three reasons behind it. List them. There are big reasons. First, Vladimir Putin is trying to push out a greater recognized sphere of influence for russia where it has uncontested dominance trying to push us out. Second, all these flights against nato and our ships are testing our responses, our counter measures, technical stuff. Three, theyre also trying to break our moral and nato moral. President obama never responded to these. Now President Trump is not responding to them. Bill you are saying that russia can do what it wants, right . No action reaction, why is that . Well, for obama i think it was sheer cowardis. President trump you have to look deeper. He cant get over his adulation of Vladimir Putin. He wont challenge russia on anything. Bill what is the recommendation in that . Well, first of all, were not going to shoot the russians out of the sky unless were actually attacked. Intensifying sanctions. Putin is desperate to have them removed. We could there are measures we can take to be more aggressive militarily without provoking an incident. The russians need to know were there and were not leaving. Bill im not hearing specifics. Its more complicated than what were led to believe. He wants to exact something from the russians. Weve been over this for months. What exactly that is i do not know. When these two men get together it will be the most watched story in the world we agree on that. President trump said this about Jeff Sessions. You want to give commentary on that. Jeff sessions is an honest man and didnt say anything wrong. He could have stated his response more accurately but it was clearly not intentional. Where are you on this for a question that perhaps he should have passed on . You are giving me new information. Let me get back to you once i am better briefed on that. There are a lot of ways to handle it. I have always admired Jeff Sessions. I like him. He is a gentleman. As attorney general he can do a lot undo a lot of damage that goes way back to the eric holder days. But i cannot believe that sitting in front of a senate panel that he simply forgot that he had two meetings with the Russian Ambassador given the fact that russia was so much in the news with flynn, etc. , etc. But the greater problem meeting with the Russian Ambassador, one off you can excuse it. The greater problem here, bill is the pattern. Where one after another it is not just a democratic conspiracy. One after another trump has had to dismiss aides and advisors for ties to russia. Paul man a fort, others early on. Michael flynn. We now know there were dozens of meetings between Trump Campaign officials and advisors and various russians. That is not business as usual. Bill the implication there is that they are up to something thats no good. Do you think that . I think the president needs to get ahead of it. First of all, look, im a former intel guy. I look at this and i see the patterns. The patterns stink. So the president needs to realize republicans and democrats alike, this is about american security. It is not about politics. Stop the cheap politics. Its about the possible, however implausible, the possible penetration of a u. S. President ial administration by russians to whatever degree. The president needs to realize that its not going to go away. It will either continue to grind on and bleed the administration or it will just blow up. He could get ahead of it by doing two things. He needs to come out and just announce Vladimir Putin and disavow any notion of a lunatic alliance with russia. Sorry. He has to release the tax returns to show that the russians from no financial leverage. Bill thats not going the happen. This will grind on. The Trump Administration has promised in many spheres but this scandal it is a scandal could bring down the administration if the administration doesnt get ahead of it. They cannot keep letting this slow drip, drip of blood, the casualty count rising. By the way, i know the russians. That was my word. I know the russians and the russians are nefarious and devious and brilliant at infiltrating other countries. Bill well see if youre right. Ralph peters in washington shannon breaking news, break in the investigation into recent hate crimes nationwide. The Antidefamation League says an arrest has been made following those threats called in first of all to the groups headquarters in new york city last month but other Jewish Community centers and schools across the country. The u. S. Attorneys office here in the Southern District of new york says it is now charging a man out of st. Louis. Juan thompson is his name and theyre saying he is being charged with cyber stalking. Not only did he call in threats to numerous Jewish Community centers and schools but tried to frame someone else for it. Police are looking into that. Well have much more right after this break. Ing home dont. Use cloroxg home dont. Disinfecting products. Because no one kills germs better than clorox. Shannon after 9 11 congress required u. S. Law enforcement to increase the flow of intel between federal agencies and local police but in the wake of President Trumps election the San Francisco Police Department says it is pulling out of the f. B. I. s joint Terrorism Task force and temporarily cutting ties. We are joined live from los angeles with the interesting story. Whats the latest . San francisco says it does not want its Police Gathering intelligence or surveiling muslim or any one else with political protest and keep records and they think it will happen illegally. Critics say its short sighted and dangerous. A bomb planted in portland, a plot to kill the president. A terror attack in time square. These are among dozens of cases stopped by the joint Terrorism Task force. It is only working sidebyside that were able to stop plots like this before they can take hold. So successful is the model the f. B. I. Created 71jttf units since 9 11. Now San Francisco is pulling out. Were prepared for a lot of different kind of scenarios but i just think that the one thing that we didnt prepare for is the Trump Administration. After an outcry the Police Department suspended its relationship with the program. Were waiting what the next move in coming out of the federal government. We need to do everything we can to stand up for our residents. That denies the f. B. I. Access to local intelligence and contacts in the citys immigrant communities. What you lose when you take away the local Police Department is you lose that on the ground knowledge. That limits both sides ability to connect the dots to share data and gain access to potentially vital leads. Information must flow both ways on these cases. Thats vital. And that should transcend any politically any political beliefs held by the mayor or the administration of San Francisco. Agents tell us its the seamless sharing of data and manpower that has kept us safe. San francisco is the only city to have pulled out of a jttf. Shannon william, thank you very much. Bill attorney general Jeff Sessions defending his testimony before congress and Fox News Sunday anchor Chris Wallace will join us in a moment on what is next for this story. That and a little more coming up. Neutralizing 44 more acid than tums® for fast, powerful relief of your worst heartburn. I trust my rolaids®. Rolaids spells relief. In a circumstance. Its new to me. The president said its a witch hunt. Tucker asked sessions about that last night. This the how he responded. Well, we are having a lot of leaks today in washington that i do believe are troubling. A lot of it would appear to be in violation of the law. I dont think what was said about that meeting i had with the Russian Ambassador was legitimate. I think it was hyped beyond reason and i think it was unfair. I was glad to be able to address it today. Bill some people were breathless yesterday when this news was breaking, chris. Look, you cant expect a break from the democrats and you cant expect them to play fair any more than some republicans did with barack obama. I love the line of Charles Krauthammer said its a coverup in search of a crime. Mike flynn talked in his role as the Incoming National security advisor to the russian advisor, i think he would still in the job if he hadnt misled the Vice President , mike pence who came on Fox News Sunday and said there had been no discussion of sanctions. With Jeff Sessions, if he had come clean and said i met with him twice in my official capacity. Think about it, bill. What are the chances if you were going to have actual collusion between the russians and the Trump Campaign to try to throw the election, would you really do it in the Senate Office building in Jeff Sessions office with a u. S. Senator or do it in a back alley in prague with some official . It doesnt make any sense. It also doesnt make sense he didnt just come clean and say i didnt set the record fully straight and im going to now. Bill but the focus on the commanderinchief now. President trumps reaction has been to fight back and there has been a lot of restraint so far, i would argue. This comes off the heels of a very successful speech on tuesday night that was essentially drowned out 24 hours later. But again the instinct is to punch back. And we have not seen that yet. Is your view of that its like william wallace, hold the line, wait until they get a bit closer, but so far thats the posture from the west wing. Incidentally. Great movie, brave heart. I have to say the fact that people are shouting, the peasants are shouting wallace makes it one of my favorite movies. But what this white house needs to do now is get everything out. You saw a little bit of a step in that direction yesterday when unbidden they put out the information that Jared Kushner met with the Russian Ambassador at the trump tower in december. They need to do a deep dive, get every piece of information about every contact that anybody that ever knew donald trump had with anybody whoever ate russian food and they should get that all out and it will make for a tough weekend but better that than what you have now, which is you are waiting for the next mini explosive on the front page of a newspaper. Bill well see you on sunday because thats when you are our william wallace. My grandsons name is william wallace, too. Bill tell him hello. Shannon attorney general Jeff Sessionss decision walking back from the investigation stemming from conversation with the ambassador. They ousted Michael Flynn after he was caught lying about his communications with the ambassador. Live from the state department with more. The ambassador is wellknown in washington he is the Russian Ambassador and talk to people in the Foreign Policy establishment and they say that he is very good at his job. He is very visible ambassador in the United States. He goes out of his way in outreach and meets with people here in washington but also outside the beltway a lot meeting with russians and americans. One member of the Foreign Policy establishment told me that he is known to engage people in debate and spend 20 minutes debating u. S. Russian policy with them when other ambassadors and people at his level would never give these people the time of day and in impeccable english. It is his job to learn about as much of the United States as he can. Push for his countrys position. Worked in the russian government. Worked in the diplomatic space in russia for decades and came to the United States in 2008. His most recent post. He has been here for some time. Shannon what do we know about his views of where we stand in the u. S. russia relationship now . What he said recently is he believes there is actually a lot of room between the United States and russia to reach agreements whether it be on counter terrorism, on climate change. He says that there is actually more that bonds the two countries than separates them. He spoke for an hour, hour and a half at Stanford University in november and he said im frequently asked are we back in the cold war and in my view, no. In the cold war there were irreconcilable ideological differences. He claims russia is a democracy and a market economy. He says it is developing. There is a common bond between the two but he does acknowledge and say the relations are at their worst point since the end of the colder war. Shannon so room for improvement. Yes. Bill u. S. Forces hammering al qaeda territory in yemen for a second straight night. Drones, attack aircraft carrying out dozens of strikes and overnight three provinces there. The strikes follow a u. S. Raid in yemen in january where a u. S. Navy seal was killed. National security correspondent Jennifer Griffin from the pentagon on that. Tell us what you are learning. Are the strikes related to the intel gathered from the raid in january . Officials say not to read in too much into the ramped up efforts in yemen following the raid. Theyre gathering intelligence for some time. What we do know is the navy seals collected a computer and 10 mobile phones that night and undoubtedly would be scanning those phones for potential targets. Were told al qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is top officials are concerned about their ability to build nonmetallic bombs slipping through airport screening. The new wave of air strikes comes one day after the pentagon announced more than 20 air strikes were conducted in yemen across three provinces against al qaeda overnight wednesday. Officials tell me both drones and manned attack aircraft were used in those strikes. Were expecting to hear more from the pentagon about the strikes later today. Bill how lethal is al qaeda in yemen . It was started by the same terrorist group that sent the underwear bomber the try to bring down a u. S. Airliner on Christmas Day in 2009. They also sent shooters to paris two years ago to kill the staff of the Charlie Hebdo newspaper. An indication the Trump Administration is rambling up efforts not just against ice yils but also against al qaeda leaders, the cia killed al qaedas second in command in a drone strike in syria on sunday. It follows a dramatic b52 air strike against a training camp. Shannon a attorney general Jeff Sessions standing up to his critics about contacts with russias ambassador. The idea that i was part of a, quote, continuing exchange of information during the campaign between trump surrogates and intermediaries for the russian government is totally false. Shannon his congressional testimony about russian contacts now under fire but is it legit for democrats to be floating perjury charges . Alberto gonzalez joins us live. Bill what about the hypocrisy in gear here . Why were all the democrats calling for sessions head so silent when Loretta Lynch secretly met with bill clinton during Hillary Clintons email investigation. Bernie goldberg is here to take that on. Well find out in a moment here. Shannon oops, someone broke the internet. How a typo crippled the web. Bill it happens. Shannon it wasnt me. This is the story of Green Mountain coffee and fair trade, told in the time it takes to brew your cup. Lets take a trip to la plata, colombia. This is boris calvo. Thats pepe. Boris doesnt just grow good coffee, boris grows mindblowing coffee. And because we pay him a fair price, he improves his farm to grow even Better Coffee and invest in his community, which makes his neighbor, gustavo, happy. Thats blanca. Yup, pepe and blanca got together. Things happen. All this for a smoother tasting cup of coffee. Green mountain coffee. Packed with goodness. Ive got a nice long life ahead. Big plans. 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In my reply to the question of the senator franken was honest and correct as understood it at the time. I appreciate that some have taken the view that this was a false comment. That is not my intent. That is not correct. Shannon attorney general Jeff Sessions explaining his congressional testimony when he was asked about campaignrelated contacts with russia. Judge Alberto Gonzalez is a former United States attorney general. Dean at Belmont University college of law and author of true faith and allegiance. Welcome. Good to have you this morning. As you are watching this unfold, having been someone who served in that position, what was going through your mind about where Jeff Sessions found himself over the last couple of days . Well, in a tough position. Listen, ive been in that chair. You sit through hours of questioning, testimony, and then you are asked a question and you think this is what you are hearing, this is what the questioner is asking so you respond to that question. Sometimes, you know, you misjudge the question. And i think that is what happened here. I think general sessions tried to clarify that yesterday. It happens from time to time with all cabinet secretaries, anyone who testifies. Sometimes you make a mistake, give an answer thats not totally complete or doesnt give a full picture. Oftentimes there is Supplemental Information that is provided to a committee so that they have a better understanding of what the answer was intended to be given. Shannon you can often do that. Following with written clarification which he says he will do by today. Want the play a little of Charles Krauthammer had to say. He has had several weeks since that incident. If it was an innocent mistake and he forgot about the meeting he should simply have gone to the committee, written them and said as he said in his press conference, i should have added yes, i had two meetings. He never did. So why . To me it reminds me of the flynn case. This is a coverup in search of a crime. Shannon there are democrats as you know who say the crime is perjury and calling for charges to be investigated and levied against the attorney general. Is that anything beyond pure politics . Well, i think that there is a lot of politics involved in virtually everything going on right now. I just think again its a question of general sessions believing that he answered the question that was posed to him. Generally as a matter of practice staffers review testimony given by the principal in an agency and they go and say look at this answer, do you want to do we need to supplement the record . And for whatever reason that didnt happen here. Again, it could be that general sessions truly honestly believed that he answered the question that was being asked of him. In terms of whether or not, you know, perjury charge, thats a very high bar to meet. I think all indications are that general sessions did not intend to lie or misled. He honestly believed he was answering the question posed to him. Shannon how big is it to recuse yourself from a particular case . There is internal guidance on what cases would meet the standard and how you can about that. You take an oath to lead the department. You never want to recuse yourself. At the end of the day it is not about Jeff Sessions but about the department of justice and the American People having confidence in the integrity of any investigation by the department of justice. Thats what you have to weigh, yes, there are guidelines that are in place, but at the end of the day you have to make a judgment okay, are the American People will the American People have confidence in the integrity of this investigation . And general sessions decided ultimately at the end of the day that there would be questions and it would be appropriate and good for the administration of justice and the department of justice to recuse himself. Shannon you talk about the confidence of the American People. There will be integrity in this. It now falls to the Deputy Attorney general. We have one acting, one waiting to go through the confirmation process. If that individual whichever one of these two ends up picking this up doesnt ask for independent counsel or somebody outside the doj do you think democrats, average americans out there will say whatever investigation gets done is clean enough and transparent enough for them . I hope so. Again, we dont know what may occur tomorrow or the next week. There may be additional stories that come out. Additional revelations about additional contacts with russia that we dont know about today. So i have every confidence in the Deputy Attorney general and in the nominated person to be the Deputy Attorney general and, you know, these are career individuals at the department of justice. They are trained to do a job and i have every confidence theyll do a good job on behalf of the American People. To find out the truth and make sure no laws were broken. In laws were broken to prosecute those responsible. Shannon people saying theyll follow it to the end. Well stand by for new revelations. Thank you. Bill a group of republicans slamming the Trump Administration with lawsuits designed to help the president. Well explain whats going on with that story in a moment here. Shannon Benjamin Hall sits down for an exclusive interview with the former Prime Minister of iraq why he is claiming the Obama Administration and how he sees the relationship between the u. S. And iraq under President Trump. We dont want to see more American Power and troops here. We dont want to see more americans being killed here in this country. But we need the political leverage of the United States to help iraq and to develop iraq. Games. Every day is a gift. Especially for people with Heart Failure. But today theres entresto. A breakthrough medicine that can help make more tomorrows possible. Tomorrow, i want to see teddy bait his first hook. In the largest Heart Failure study ever, entresto was proven to help more people stay alive and out of the hospital than a leading Heart Failure medicine. Women who are pregnant must not take entresto. It can cause harm or death to an unborn baby. Dont take entresto with an ace inhibitor or aliskiren. If youve had angioedema while taking an ace or arb medicine, dont take entresto. The most serious side effects are angioedema, low blood pressure, kidney problems, or high potassium in your blood. Tomorrow, im gonna step out with my favorite girl. Ask your doctor about entresto. And help make the gift of tomorrow possible. Wont replace the full value of your totaled new car. The guy says you picked the wrong insurance plan. No, i picked the wrong insurance company. With Liberty Mutual new car replacement™, you wont have to worry about replacing your car because youll get the full value back including depreciation. And if you have more than one Liberty Mutual policy, you qualify for a multipolicy discount, saving you money on your car and home coverage. Call for a free quote today. Liberty stands with you™. Liberty mutual insurance. Shannon a massive pileup closing a new york highway for more than three hours yesterday morning. You can see more than 20 cars, trucks and s. U. V. S stuck in the wreck near syracuse. Officials say whiteout conditions caused the accident. Some drivers say they were just unable to stop safely. They were hit by multiple times by cars behind them. The great news nobody got seriously hurt. Bill folks news alert. Iraqi Vice President , former Prime Minister speaking about u. S. Involvement in his country in an exclusive interview with fox news. This coming as u. S. Backed iraqi forces make significant gains trying to drive isis out of the city of mosul. Benjamin hall live in london. He had the interview and has the story now. Benjamin. Bill, this was really an eye opening interview. The first time that dr. Allawi sat down with a u. S. Network and spoken openly and honestly about the obama years and what went wrong. He said two major factors. Obamas disengagement from the reason that created the vacuum filled by iran. The general pivot to iran and here is what he had to say about iranian influence at the moment in the region. It is leading to blood shed, catastrophes and wars throughout. It has been a destabilizing factor, destabilizing in iraq, destabilizing syria and other places. He said that today iran, through its support of shia militias have control over parts of the Iraqi Military and state institutions. He spoke candidly about russia and their new role in the region. I asked if they were the new power and if the u. S. Could work with them. We believe in the United States. The only super power. I dont think we should look at the competition here between russian and the United States but rather supplementing each other. I look forward to that. He is very much in favor of the u. S. Working with russia in the region. Finally i asked what he thought the u. S. Might do moving ahead. How they could help. Here is what he said. We dont want to see more American Power here. We dont want to see more american troops here. We dont want to see more americans being killed here in this country. But we need the leverage, the political leverage of the United States to help iraq and to develop iraq. When he talked about political leverage he told me that meant sanctions. He felt sanction relief to iran was given to easily and should have been tied into their involvement in the region. Another mistake by the Obama Administration. Bill what is the threat of isis in his country today and if you win the battle of mosul, is isis over in that country . Well, two major points. Isis is on the back foot in mosul and it will end up being beaten on the battlefield. Thats assumed. What comes next is all important. It is expected they will morph into an insurgency. Without the iranians being held back and controlled that sectarianism that allowed isis to grow strong will still exist and thats what allawi is saying. He wants to bring the groups together. A win in the battlefield is not a win in the country. Bill he was in power until 2010 i believe, six years ago. He had criticism for the previous administration. Is that sour grapes, benjamin or could this man have really made a difference in his country . Its one of the major points he talked about. 2010 he won the election. He had more seats but the Obama Administration pressured him to hand over power to the maliki government. The iranian backed government. It was a turning point when things changed. Yes, i think he probably could have been a unifyer. He talked openly working with sunnis, shia and kurds and we know how the maliki ended up being very sectarian. He says, i tend to agree with him, it was a turning point in the country. He is looking ahead. The Trump Administration offers new possibilities rebuilding bridges who the Obama Administration turned their back on. Hopeful as they move forward now and looking forward to working with the administration. Bill interesting interview. Great information out of london today. Benjamin, thanks, shannon. Shannon President Trump defending his attorney general attacking critics on the left. He said democrats are overplaying their hand when it comes to session. Bernie goldberg joins us live. Bill also from commanderinchief the late night comic here we will. Former president bush poking fun at himself on jimmy kimmel on a story with a conversation with saturday night lives creator loren michaels. He said a put a great speech writer on you and he came up with stragery. I said i said it. , no he said you didnt. I said i sure did say it. He said we invented it. Did he come up with misunderestimate . Theres nothing more important than your health. So if youre on medicare or will be soon, you may want more than parts a and b heres why. Medicare only covers about 80 of your part b medical expenses. The rest is up to you. You might want to consider an aarp Medicare Supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. Like any Medicare Supplement insurance plan, these help pick up some of what medicare doesnt pay. And, these plans let you choose any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. You could stay with the doctor or specialist you trust. Or go with someone new. Youre not stuck in a network. 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This whole narrative is a way of saving face for democrats losing an election that everyone thought they were supposed to win. The democrats are overplaying their hand. They lost the election and now they have lost their grip on reality. That from President Trump. This from bill orielly who believes there is Major Political hypocrisy at play. Not one single democrat in Congress Called for Loretta Lynch to recuse herself from the Hillary Clinton investigation after she met with bill clinton at a phoenix airport. There was no call for recusal by the democrats so once again hypocrisy is unfull display. Bill Bernie Goldberg out of miami has been looking at this. Good morning to you. Happy friday to you as well. What do you think, hypocrisy . Thats od word. Death of political principles is a good word. I dont even think or phrase, right. I dont even think this is really about Jeff Sessions. I think its more about Chuck Schumer the leader of the democrats in the senate and the entire democratic party. Theyre under immense pressure from their progressive base who have a oneword mantra resistance. They want to resist everything. I mean everything that donald trump and the republicans want to get through. Theyre being obstructionist. For eight years the republicans got tagged with the label the party of no. In 2017, bill, who is the party of no . I dont think its the republicans. Bill i want to play a clip from the today show earlier today. Just going to put this in a broader context to you analyze the media for a living and wrote a book about it. This is a clip that used an interview from msnbc with the reaction on the today show. Roll this quickly. I will say i never met him anywhere outside of cleveland, lets just say that much. The only time you met him was in cleveland . That i may have met him possibly might have been in cleveland. We have more and more people who are being questioned about contacts with the russians. Weve got two people at least who have had to admit they misled others about their conversations or meetings with the russians. Ill put you on the spot. Explain this away for me. If you just dropped in and heard that conversation, you would Say Something really is rotten here. But then when you round out the story and look at the Democratic Congress members who have also met with the same Russian Ambassador it is like whoa, everybody is doing this now. And then bernie you look at the address in congress on tuesday night and guess who was sitting there on the floor of the House Chamber with democrats . There is your Russian Ambassador. This cannot be viewed in a vacuum. You are absolutely right. You know, i dont often agree with donald trump in terms of his behavior but i agree with him in what he said in the tweet that you referred to, that the democrats are overplaying their hand. The progressives have this bad habit, bill, of always overplaying their hand. Today its accusations of perjury. Yesterday, today and tomorrow it will be more calls for impeachment of donald trump. Then there are street demonstrations that sometimes turn violent. There are the nonstop comparisons to donald trump and hitler. 2018 is a long way off and i dont have a crystal ball. But i get the distinct impression that moderates out there, moderates people even in blue states who didnt necessarily vote for donald trump, i think they find the hard left more annoying and more misleading and more unhinged than they find donald trump. I think all this is a gift to donald trump. I think go figure, Chuck Schumer, a guy who got a 1600 a perfect 1600 on his sats before going off to harvard is giving donald trump a gift by going overboard on all of this. Bill its interesting. That gentleman in that clip from msnbc is carter page. I dont know him. Apparently he made a lot of money in the energy sector, did a lot of work in russia overseas and was considered a onetime advisor for the trump team last summer. I dont believe he was ever paid and i think his time on the campaign was short lived. I want to add more context on that. Its part of the feeding frenzy. Just part of the feeding frenzy. Bill Laura Ingraham tweeted this, the absurd scenarios regarding sessions and russians are being pos ited by the same media who confidently predicted a hillary win. Wow. Last word, bernie. Well, you know, when you hear polls and when you hear all this it isnt unreasonable to say they got a lot of other things wrong, didnt they . So when you lose your credibility it is hard to get it back and on this today im with donald trump all the way. They overplayed their hand and im with bill orielly, this is hypocrisy. They didnt show any outrage over Loretta Lynch meeting with bill clinton. Not a good day for the democrats. Bill thank you, Bernie Goldberg there in miami. Thank you, sir, good to have you on this friday morning. Shannon former president george w. Bush is popping up everywhere these days. Last night he stopped by Jimmy Kimmel Live and kimmel discovered a fact about the former president not many people may know. You lived in l. A. For a time in your life when you were a little kid. There is a photograph of you and there you are and you lived not only in l. A. But compton in the heart of l. A. For real, not a joke. When was this . I was three. My dad was selling oil field supplies. We also lived in bakersfield. You have the gun pointed. You may have been you may have been the inspiration for other compton residents. [applause] i feel like maybe you might be the w from nwa. Shannon straight out of compton. Bill sometimes those lines were set up. That was a funny reaction. Shannon when you can see the former commanders in chief they are more funny. People who have run with the weight of a Campaign Running the country or the world off your shoulders can have a good time and make jokes about yourself. Bill those guys had a good time. Shannon very funny. Bill russias ambassador is apparently a busy guy. More meetings with Trump Officials revealed this time after election day. Is there anything wrong with that . Well talk to a former Trump Campaign insider and get his take. Shannon how a simple slip on a keyboard took down a huge chunk of the internet. Want longer lasting heartburn relief . Try. Duo fusion duo fusion goes to work in seconds and lasts up to 12 hours. Tums only lasts up to 3. For longer lasting relief. In one chewable tablet try duo fusion from the makers of zantac spending the day with my niece. That make me smile. I dont use super poligrip for hold, because my dentures fit well. Before those little pieces would get in between my dentures and my gum and it was uncomfortable. Even well fitting dentures let in food particles. Just a few dabs of super poligrip free is clinically proven to seal out more food particles so youre more comfortable and confident while you eat. So its not about keeping my dentures in, its about keeping the food particles out. Try super poligrip free. Bill amazon saying a typo was behind a major outage on tuesday. Slowed down or disrupted thousands of websites for about four hours. The horror. What will we do . Amazon saying crews are looking into a slowdown on a Cloud Storage system. A team member executed a command that had a typo. Tech giant says it has protections in place making sure it doesnt happen again. How would we get through our day without it . Shannon i dont know. I have the app on my phone. Amazon prime is dangerous. You think you arent paying for shipping. So you think of anything during the day and you pick up your phone and type it in and expect it to be at your house. Weve gotten high maintenance. The attorney general apparently not alone when it comes to meeting with russias ambassador. A get together at trump tower with Michael Flynn and the president s soninlaw Jared Kushner. The president and chairman of Citizens United and a fox news contributor, david. Were finding out all kinds of places that the ambassador has gone and met with people. Thats what ambassadors do. It is normal course of business for any ambassador. Forget which one were talking about here. They go and sell their wares, theyre trying to benefit and obviously our elected officials are trying to do the same thing. Shannon the new york times, you have to give it to them are focused on the Trump Campaign and digging and finding things. When they found out about the meeting that took place at trump tower after the election. The president was then president elect. The campaign was over. Here is what the white house spokeswoman said to the new york time. They discussed the relationship and made sense to establish a line of communication. Jared has had as many as two dozen foreign country leaders and representsives. What do the trump team down. Disclose any possible meeting no matter how the left is excited to find anything to put it out. Side tracks from the conversation about getting things done on the hill. The speech tuesday night that the white house felt good about. How do they get ahead of this . First of all the polls show 7 in 10 americans believe strongly in the policies that President Trump was espousing in his speech and his unbelievable speech. I was very proud of him. I did serve as the Deputy Campaign manager for the campaign but i also served as the deputy executive director for the transition. So i saw Jared Kushner firsthand and he is an incredibly smart and dedicated person to the president s agenda but also dedicated to the American People. He is unbelievably conscious person. He had meetings with literally dozens of foreign leaders and so to have a 20minute meeting in the normal course of business with a foreign leader whether its an ambassador or not is not surprising and shouldnt surprise anyone that general flynn and others from the campaign would, during the transition, be in transition mode and about to take power and lead our country. Shannon the fact that you talk about the policies and people have such a good response to the speech on tuesday night. If you cant talk about them because the whole distraction in conversation about who from your Administration May have met somebody from russia or had contacts with them how do you advance beyond that . Its the permanency of this campaign. The Permanent Campaign that Chuck Schumer and the left are running. It is really now the American People are seeing it for what it is. I think that they are getting tired of it. I think if donald trump, if President Trump stays on message. Repeal and replace obamacare, tax cuts for all americans. I think if he gets his policy agenda through and now that he is getting his cabinet in place very late that the democrats are stalling on, i think he is going to be incredibly effective and i think thats the president strength. He takes his message straight to the American People as he has always done. Shannon weve talked earlier about Rush Limbaugh having extensive monologue about this yesterday and talked about the fact that democrats always stick together. They close ranks, that they know exactly how they play this game. Republicans are too trusting of them. They need to be shifting instead of constant defense onto offense. They won the election. Both houses of congress and they arent acting like it. Instead of playing defense, instead of these members of Congress Republicans without facts talking about Jeff Sessions, talking about some of these issues as it relates to the Russian Ambassador, which i think is a complete nonstory here, they need to stay on message. The republicans in Congress Need to demand that the leadership in the house and senate work on the agenda for the American People. That President Trump won on. Thats what the American People sent us here to do. Shannon he also talked about the fact that we talked about this yesterday on the show. Reports that Valerie Jarrett is moving closer to the obamas and there will be a more concerted effort to go after the Trump Administration by elements connected with the president. How long do you think its continue. Do you think its a Conspiracy Theory . I think Michael Moore and george soros will move in next. The permanency of the opposition. Thats all they have now is to distract from President Trumps agenda. We cannot allow that. We have to move forward and move swiftly and thats what our congressional leadership needs to do. President obama doesnt have unfortunately the respect for the office that president bush did. President bush, when president obama came in, he went away. He was not heard from. I think that you are seeing more of him today eight years later than you did in the days and months of president obamas term. So i think president clinton for that matter went away. I dont understand why i do understand, it is the Permanent Campaign. It is the permanent obstruction by the left. It is all they have now. They were shocked in november that Hillary Clinton lost and it is really the only thing they have to hold onto. Shannon one poll shows a slight majority 53 say its time to stop protesting the president and move on. I dont expect it to be the case in washington or beyond. Thanks for joining us. Bill jon scott is coming up next on happening now. Good morning. Were awaiting President Trumps trip to orlando where he will make a big push for school choice. It comes, of course, as the president is dealing with several headaches. The latest on the Jeff Sessions recusal. The president had choice words on twitter this morning and howard kurtz on why the media are so interested in the russia story and why journalists were so happy with the president s tuesday night speech. All ahead happening now. Bill see you. Have a good weekend. Group of republicans now suing the white house. Now, why would that be . Well explain next. We asked people to write down the things they love to do most on these balloons. Travel with my daughter. Roller derby. Now give up half of em. Do i have to . This is a tough financial choice we could face when we retire. But, if we start saving even just 1 more of our annual income. We could keep doing all the things we love. Prudential. Bring your challenges. Shannon you are looking live at marine one makes its way to joint base andrews where the president will Board Air Force one and head down to florida. Were watching as they come in live. We were told from the pool report at the white house a cold day as they were taking off from the south lawn. He was holding the hands of two of his grandchildren that his daughter and soninlaw were trailing behind and shouted a question about him about the attorney general. No answer but he waved and continued on board the bird and he will make the transition over to air force one and he is heading to florida today. He will be in orlando later meeting with republicans down there following the trip to virginia yesterday on board the newly christened Aircraft Carrier there. I do think its worth mentioning again in the heat of all this sessions story and all the russian stuff that weve been watching for the past 36 hours how restrained this president has been. We are used to a man who fights back publicly and does it quickly. He put out a statement and there were a few tweets, yes, he was asked yesterday about it. But the responses were one word, two words, three words and you wonder about the level of restraint now because his inclination, i do believe, has been shown repeatedly to fight back hard. That has not happened yet. You wonder if that posture remains. Shannon i did feel the statement we got from the president last night had a little bit of President Donald Trump flair because there was an explanation point and Strong Language in saying this is a witch hunt. Even though it was issued as a formal statement which is very reserved for him. Bill im not suggesting he is going soft. Im suggesting for now the public reaction has not been what we are normally used to. Shannon he is channeling it. We should see him in a minute. A quick transition. A very cold day here up along the northeast and he will step off of marine one, make his way over quickly to air force one. And we have to wonder whether ivanka and jared are going along, and the kids. Bill this is a followup rally to get the message out and drive home what happened tuesday night again. The military message yesterday and the message today in orlando will be with the republicans when he gets there. As we wait squeeze in a quick break here. Back in a moment. Their leadership is instinctive. Theyre experts in things you havent heard of researchers of technologies that one day, you will. Some call them the best of the best. Some call them veterans. We call them our team. Companies across the state are york sgrowing the economy,otion. With the help of the lowest taxes in decades, a talented workforce, and worldclass innovations. Like in plattsburgh, where the most advanced transportation is already en route. And in corning, where the future is materializing. Let us help grow your companys tomorrow today at esd. Ny. Gov right on cue here, we see President Trump now getting out of marine one heading into air force one. He will depart to orlando for a listening session, parentteacher conference at about 2 00 this afternoon. So many of these visits have to do with his speech. He wants to go and bring more eyeballs to the conversation of school choice. She was a great guest, so optimistic and confident. We have to run, have a great weekend. Ill see you on monday. Are big headlines today, attorney general Jeff Sessions trying to silence his critics recusing himself from any criminal investigation. Jon President Trump giving his full support to his embattled attorney general calling sessions and honest man and blasting the democrats for the mounting pressure, calling it an witch hunt. Chief white house correspondent, john roberts, on the north