Transcripts For FOXNEWSW Americas Newsroom 20170330

Chairman devin nunes will meet behind closed doors on the senate side holding a public hearing on russia in one hour and Chris Stirewalt for analysis on all this. Good morning to you. We want to start with the comey matter. There was a draft or an outline meaning, comey, he said im going to go forward what do people think of this . In that meeting was secretary of state john kerry and Loretta Lynch and j. J. Johnson and National Security adviser susan rice. So take us back to the summer for context. What was going on, chris . There was no way donald trump could not win the election. No one more so than president obama. They were convinced. Remember what his top political minds were saying is that Hillary Clinton was win in a rout so the thinking, i assume, why bother upsetting russia on whom the country was dependent on the execution of an iranian deal and russia was important in that way and if you say russia is trying to interfere with the campaign of Hillary Clinton and skew the outcome of an american election, if you say that you have to do something about it and action has to be taken otherwise youre just a dope. I have no trouble at all believing they said to comey just hush. We dont need to talk about this now. Bill youre making the case the president and white house thought Hillary Clinton would win, five months out, and the policies you mentioned, iran, syria, they all ran through moscow. Absolutely. We were dependent on moscow and if you say theres something going on you have to do something and have a hard time with putin. Bill therell be a lot of action on the hill today. A stalemate is how its characterized perhaps on the house side i guess it would be. You want to talk about totally okay you awkward for adam schiff and devin nunes and asking so, what have you been up to. That committee is kaput. One case is that somebody in Donald Trumps campaign or his orbit was in cahoots with russia and had contact with the kremlin or their agents and the alternate reality is that somebody set them up that this is a frame job done by somebody inside the intelligence community. Those are the two big ifs. I dont think because of the recent actions by nunes and the democrats are in any position to address this and think the ball goes over to the senate. Bill well watch that win hour from now and both sides want to hear from james comey. Well see if they can reach shannon and were outside the office of adam schiff the ranking democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. What do we know about the schiffnunes meeting today . Shannon, weve been camped outside Ranking Member schiffs office for the last hour. There hasnt been a lot of activity and we dont know what theyll talk about in their oneonone closeddoor meeting but has said its about getting the House Intelligence Committee russia hearing back on track and said he will not let chairman nunes freelance by going straight to the white house when he finds out something good and in the next few days we dont know when this will happen but nunes says hell sit down with the other representatives and share with them what it is he found out [no audio] shannon all right, were having a tough time with peters signal on capitol hill. Back to you, bill, in new york until we reestablish connection. Bill devin nunes was around there when mike emanuel stopped him. Remember democrats want to go public and republicans said we can go public but no one can answer a question and theyre suggesting to go behind closed doors. In the meantime, were learning President Trump will host the chinese president next week in maralago, florida. John roberts tracking that now from the north lawn. John, what do we know about the twoday affair. Weve known about this for weeks but the Chinese Ministry just made it official late last night the two men will meet next thursday and friday and theyll do it at maralago. This will be the biggest foreign leader visit for President Trumps young presidency and he made china and the issues between the United States and china a big deal on his president ial campaign. Some of the things to be at the forefront of the bilateral discussion expected to be the massive trade deficit between the u. S. And china, occurrencur manipulate and the expansion to the south china sea. China hopes to settle trade friction through dialog but with the trade deficit last year the 347 billion on a half a trillion of trade theres heavy deficits and speaking in indiana before the primary last may he used some pretty charged language to describe chinas approach to the United States. Listen here. We cant continue to allow china to rape our country and thats what theyre doing. Its the greatest theft in the history of the world. The diplomatic language expected to be far more toned down when they meet next week. China wanted the meeting at maralago because they wanted a less formal setting than the white house as they two get to know each other. And news about first daughter ivanka trump. Shell be changing her status. She was an adviser to the president , counselor to the president but would not become a federal employees which raised question ethics and compliance. She pledged she would follow the rules the same way employees do but the questions became bigger and louder and finally decided she is indeed going to become a federal employee and will take on the role of special assistant to the president. She said quote, i have heard some concerns of advising the president while voluntarily complying with ethics rule and instead will be subject it all the same rules as other federal employees. This of course raises other questions about whether this violates antinepotism laws or an act that prevents people from volunteering for the white house. But they believe they have all the is dotted and ts crossed. Bill thank you, john, talk to you later today. Shannon now another legal blow to President Trumps revised travel ban. So what are the options now to respond . Plus this. I cant think of anything more irresponsible than what this state representative did. Bill thats a massachusetts sheriff calling out a state lawmaker when warned people about an imminent raid of ice. American towns now begin suing the administration and what thats all about this morning. Shannon and Senate Republicans step into unchartered waters to confirm Supreme Court nominee neil gorsuch and democrats vowing to put up an epic fight. Lindsey graham will join us live to talk about that. Hell be on the Supreme Court because he deserves to be and the question is when and if you dont care about neil gorsuch you dont care about qualifications. Berty Mutual Insurance upstate new york is a good place to pursue your dreams. At vicarious visions, i get to be creative, work with awesome people, and we get to make great games. what i like about the area, feels like Everybody Knows each other. And i can go to my local coffee shop and they know who i am. Its really cool. New york state is filled with bright minds like lisas. To find the companies and talent of tomorrow, search for our page, jobsinnewyorkstate on linkedin. Bill President Trumps revised travel ban facing new challenges on the block on the executive order and grants the states request for a longer term halt and now the ban on refugees from six muslim countries is locked indefinitely and where it stands until the lawsuit is otherwise resolved. Let me be clear about the president s executive order, it is violating the law. It is unconstitutional. You cant put a financial gun to the head of jurisdictions whether its states and localities and take their money. Our First Priority is take the bad guys off the streets but taking resources away and threatening to take other resources away makes it worse not better. Bill the mayors of seattle, los angeles and new orleans talking about the policy being pursued by the white house. Cities believe this is executive overreach on immigration. Seattle has taken the white house to court. Doug schoen and alex conant. Gentlemen, good day to you. We talked about this during the Campaign Just about every day and this is the Trump Administration pursuing policies popular during the campaign. Can l. A. , new orleans, chicago, boston, can they fight back against an order that is being pursued by the white house . Certainly they have the right to fight back and take their claims to court but the facts are simple. The federal government is in charge of immigration policy and they cant prevent the federal government from enforcing our immigration laws. In fact its appropriate for the Trump Administration to be cracking down on serious criminals in the country illegally. The challenge is if states are now harboring excuse me, if cities are harboring Illegal Immigrants in their community and not cooperating with Law Enforcement what is appropriate for the federal government to do in response . Cutting antiterrorism funding is a draconian step but there needs to be a middle ground because you cant have such contrast and conflict with the local government. Bill the cities are arguing exactly the opposite point. Theyre saying the federal government cannot tell us at the local level what to do. Theyre arguing tenth amendment status. Were a government of laws and not in a position localities make laws that suit their preference on a jurisdicti jurisdictionbyjurisdiction basis. We cannot cut funding or get in a terrible battle where the only people that lose are the people of the United States. We also cant be in a position that local Law Enforcement money is being used to round up illegals who havent done anything wrong. But if push comes to shove i have to agree this is a question for the federal government and states must enforce the law. Bill the white house is targeting criminals, doug. And im all for targeting criminals but it bleeds into illegals that arent criminals and we get into policy are destructive. Bill how do you satisfy the argument on the new issues. Every immigration story is unique in its own special way. In every case you need a balanced and nuanced approach. You dont want to alienate immigrant communities because then they wont work with you on the bad immigrants we want to see deported tomorrow. You need a nuanced approach. I think theres some concern by cities and states that the Trump Administration is being too heavy handed in dealing with the deportations. I think the Trump Administration is concerned the cities arent taking the illegal immigration issue seriously enough and there needs to be a balance. Bill heres a story out of massachusetts. The state representative Michelle Dubois posted and facebook about an ice raid that was imminent and neil cavuto has said this. She has no idea who hes warning. They could be gang members, the sex trafficking going on and our officers in the federal, state and local level sometimes need the element of surprise to make sure someones not building an arsenal or having a headsup when an officer will get seriously injured or killed. Bill that takes it to a whole new level. It does. Thats my fear. Thats why we cant have 83 policies in 83 jurisdictions. The sheriff is undeniably right and we have to focus on illegal. I agree with alex we do better with lowering the temperature and get Law Enforcement and the white house together to avoid the kind of fights were now having hopefully on a bipartisan basis we can lower the tension and reduce the lawsuits. Bill is that possible . I think its important the Trump Administration is Crystal Clear what its policy is, vis a vis Illegal Immigrants and who are they targeting, who is being deported and how many are being deported. They need to be as transparent as possible so theres not needless worry in immigrant communities. Bill thank you very much, gentlemen. Back to shannon in washington. Shannon bill, President Trump calling out conservatives in congress tweeting minutes ago blaming the Freedom Caucus for the health care defeat. Bill and a tragedy. Women return from a Church Retreat in texas and a congregation in mourning saying they find hope in their faith. Well have more on that breaking story. Were having folks from other churches come over and support and stand by and pray with. Improve our workflow. Attract new customers. Thats when fastsigns recommended fleet graphics. Yeah now business is rolling in. Get started at fastsigns. Com. Bill North Carolinas bathroom bill may be history. They voted after new lawmakers and the new governor reached a compromise last night. House bill 2 caused a massive backlash and boycott of business. Were waiting for an update from raleigh, North Carolina. Shannon a deadly crash claimed the life of 13 women with a headon collision between a church bus and pickup truck. The congregation is finding strength in their faith and each other. I dont know it makes it any easier but this is what families do. Families come together in tragic situations. This is what our Church Family is doing. Its coming together in a tragic situation. Shannon were now joined live from our west coast news room. What do we know about the crash at this point . Shannon, the crash happened at texas hill country 65 miles from san antonio an area known for twolane roads. The bus was bringing back churchgoers not far from san antonio. They were on the road about seven miles when a white pickup truck apparently crossed the center line and hit the bus and the truck was headed north and the speed limit in the area is 65 and the crash happened on a curve. 13 people in the minibus churchgoers were killed and the churchgoing family as you can imagine grieving over the horrible accident. You never know what the days going to bring. The lord tells us we have today. Tomorrow is not promised. Shannon, 12 people died at the scene and the 14th victim is in serious condition and the driver of the white truck. Shannon do we know anything yet from the official investigation. Have you the texas investigation which began immediately around our colleague in los angeles talked to the mtsb and say its a lengthy process and theyll look at all the circumstances surrounding the accident including the roadway and weather, maintenance and the drivers records and also speak to possible witnesses. There could have been many contributing factors. We just dont know yet. We have to give the investigators time to look at everything and then well know exactly what happened. The names of the victims not being released and a memorial site is being set up where the accident happened. Just a horrible sad day for so many people and our thoughts and prayers of course are with them as they deal with this. And also the First Responders there as well. Shannon adam, thank you for the update. Bill 27 minutes past the hour. The Trump Administration turning to a new strategy on sanctuary cities calling it name and shame. Will this work . Well have a look at that plus theres this today. No, my friend the majority leader saying neil gorsuch would be the first filibuster in history. Give me a break. Shannon Chuck Schumer urging them to step back from the edge. The vote on neil gorsuch set for next week. Will the republicans be set to change precedence to get him confirmed. Well talk live with senator Lindsey Graham. Thats next. The won the white house and deserves, i believe, the same respect given to president obama for his two nominees that reported out of committee. Im asking the democrats to do no more for President Trump than i did for president obama. Quit smoking. But when we brought our daughter home, that was it. Now i have nicoderm cq. The nicoderm cq patch with unique extended release Technology Helps prevent your urge to smoke all day. Its the best thing that ever happened to me. Every great why needs a great how. Bill moments ago President Trump taking a swing at the Freedom Caucus on twitter. Here it is. The Freedom Caucus will hurt the entire republican agenda if they dont get on the team and fast. We must fight them and dems. And he has named them for the failure of the Health Care Bill ditched a week ago. Jim jordan is a member and well get his reaction coming up shortly. Shannon first well bring in republican Lindsey Graham sitting on the judiciary committee. Theres a conversation and we says we must fight them referring to the Freedom Caucus and dems. How do you view that . Heres what i advise the president to do rather than use reconciliation where you have to have republican votes alone to reform onefifth of the dont do what obama did which is use all democrats to reform obamacare. Its a disaster. Mr. President , your instincts are right challenge them to fix the mess when obamacare collapses and hopefully get the Freedom Caucus on board and my construct is to let obamacare collapse and then reach out to replace it with something good for america and make it bipartisan. I love paul ryan but we should work with democrats in two areas to reform entitled before it goes broke and Reform Health care because all of us depend on health care. Shannon when you talk about entit entitlements you get the grandma going over the cliff commercials. And the retirement is 65 to 67 to save is Social Security from bankruptcy. I think this president has the ability to do things other republican president s would never do. Im excited about what hes do with the military. Hes taking the fight to crisis and helping the saudis fight against the iranians, our enemy. Hes doing a lot of good things. On health care, mr. President , put America First and well be ok. Our Freedom Caucus friends are good conservatives but well see if we can be better teammates. Shannon well see and well ask jim jordan about that next hour. Meantime, Something Else maybe need to work on is the confirmation of neil gorsuch to the Supreme Court. Your Democrat Friends dont sound like theyre big fans of that. Heres what Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer said yesterday. The answer is not to change the rules but to change the nominee and if the Nuclear Option is invoked its because our republicans in the senate chose to do so. I know our majority leader is fond of saying neil gorsuch failing to get the full votes would be the first bipartisan pill filibuster in history. Give me a break. Shannon he talked about how the vote should go down. We prefer the risk of up and down votes and majority rule than the risk of continued total obstruction. Thats the bottom line no matter whos in power. Shannon so someone different is in power now. How do you think this goes down . Is it pure partisan politics . I think mr. Schumer has been consistently inconsistent. Its bipartisan politics. Im asking to treat neil gorsuch the way we treated sotomayor and kagan. Shannon getting to the 60 vote threshold. Bill kagan got 63 and sotomayor got 68 without cloture or filibuster. Im asking the democrats to do for president what i and others did for president obama then this will all work out. Hes the most qualified nominee since roberts. Ten years on the bench, 127 decisions, one reversal the highest rating from the American Bar Association and a 900page report after interviewing lawyers and hes one of the top jurists in the country. President trump couldnt have done better. Its politics going wide. Shannon you want him treated the way sotomayor and kagan were. And they want to treat him like garden was. Ill use the rule on judge garland. Hes a fine man. Justice scalia died in february, 2016. The South Carolina primary for president was a week after his death. Heres what joe biden said. In 1992 the last year of bush 41s term, if someone steps down id highly respect, president bush, not send a name but he send someone up. Id ask the senate to seriously consider not having a hearing on the nominee because the political season is afoot. We took the joe biden room. When theres a vacancy in the last year of president and weve had one vacancy filled in 100 years. Judge garland is a victim of timing. The biden rule. In the last year of a presidency after you start the primary season for picking a new president its been the tradition in the senate to let the next president pick and i thought it would be clinton. President trump won. I didnt think he would. But what ill do is fight for his nominee. Hes one of the finest men to ever search on the bench and what theyre saying about him upsets me. Nancy pelosi said if you breathe air and drink water this mans against you. I pushback when President Trump says things inappropriately against garbage and not one person has satisfied one thing about neil gorsuch. I hope the democrats will regain their sensibilities here and not take this fine man whos lived a noble life in the law and trash him the way theyre doing and give him the same privilege we gave sotomayor and kagan. Shannon but do you get there through the Nuclear Option require changing senate precedent. Heres the question, because theres been dancing around the topic people saying well do whatever it takes to get him there no one said it will keep the Nuclear Option and voting to make the change. Do you worry theres gop members that would hesitate. Id like to keep the system intact. Its worked so well for so long. Shannon the 60vote threshold. When you have to reach out youll probably get a different type judge. You couldnt have chosen better. Hes the most qualified judge a republican could pick. His credentials are beyond approach. Right after bush won there was filibuster we had the gang of 14 and we broke the filibuster by having seven Democrats Join seven republicans to say wed stop filibustering unless there was certain circumstances and harry reid changed the rules to do it with a simple majority. If i have to ill change the rules to make sure President Trump has the same rights and privileges that every other president s had in the history of the country to appoint qualified people to the Supreme Court. I dont want to do that but i will. The democrats in my view have used tradition when it helps them and change tradition when they want power. Shannon well watch. Next week will be very interesting. You should watch. Shannon you know we do. You watch each deal. Its a big deal for the country and what Chuck Schumer and his allies are doing i think is wrong and well have to fight back and i will. Shannon they feel completely justified and theyre always welcome to come and talk to us as well. I like senator schumer but hes wrong about this. Shannon good to see you. Bill. Bill shannon, were 20 minutes from the start of the first Senate Hearing to look at this russia matter. There will also be action on the house side. Chairman devin nunes and adam schiff will meet behind closed doors so what will come of their meeting and speak with peter king. Hes live on deck next. Shannon plus, cars getting tossed around in texas after a danger storm system now taking aim at another part of the country. Me. Frank. im going to get nachos. Snack bars closed. Gah ah, ah ah. Im goin up the country, baby dont you wanna go . Im goin up the country, baby dont you wanna go . Geico motorcycle, great rates for great rides. Wanna get away . Now you can with southwest fares as low as 59 dollars oneway. Yes to low fares with nothing to hide. Thats transfarency. Bill were awaiting a senate Intelligence Committee to begin a hearing on russia and the 2016 election in about 15 minutes. Richard burr and mark warner vowing to conduct a bipartisan investigation and theyre house counterparts struggle to move forward. Meanwhile, intelligence chairman devin nunes is meeting with House Democrats on the matter. With me new york congressman peter king. Welcome back. The rub congressionally is on the house side. What comes of it . I was not at the meeting between devin nunes and adam schiff. The media scurry has followed but i think both sides want the hearings to go forward. My thoughts are theyre working on the witness list. Even this week when there were no actual hearings the staff on the committee was working very hard. This is going to go forward. I think devin nunes was treated unfairly in the last week. I want to go forward. Bill have you spoken with him . Ive been talking with him all week, yes. Bill what has he told you about his trip to the white house or any of the evidence he looked at . Devin spoke to us over a week ago and every day since then i speak to him and talk to him in the office. Devin has said he was made aware of evidence that showed what appeared to show surveillance of i would call surveillance of the Trump Transition Team and to be clear what i mean by surveillance, telephone conversations among foreigners. The surveillance was legitimate but often during those conversations if anything at all was said about president elect trump or people on the Transition Team it should have been eliminated because and yet that information was not masked or blocked out but passed on to people in the intelligence community, as far as i know, including the white house. Bill this is very important. He says when he went to the white house grounds a source informed him of the evidence. He also said they get evidence from the executive branch once or twice a week. Would democrats on the committee have the same access to that evidence that nunes had . The reason devin is the only reason who had access is if you recall at the end of the last hearing he said if anyone has evidence come forward. He told devin where it is and he was able to see it. Hes now trying to get it made available to the committee. Bill so adam schiff to be clear has not seen this . As of the other day he has not. Devin is doing everything he can to make it known to adam schiff and the committee. Bill under the rules can adam schiff see it and go to the white house grounds just like chairman nunes did . Youd have to ask. The reason is because of the white house grounds is not because of the president but the material was under the control of the executive branch on their Computer System not available to congress. It had to be done in the executive branch Computer System. Bill i understand. You call this media hysteria. Are we making too big of a deal of this . Is this just a lot of smoke . As far as the attacks on devin after there was the dispute and there was legitimate dispute between chairman nunes and adam schiff were hearing devin nunes should recuse himself. Why, because of a dispute . This goes on all the time in congress. Its worked out and resolved. If were going to recuse anyone who indicates an opinion and preference than most the democrats should disqualify themselves. So many have been making allegation President Trump and his Transition Team trying to imply people in his team were working with the russians. Now, theyre entitled to their opinions and no one is asking them to recuse themselves and many of them had opinions on the benghazi situation. And to say devin nunes should recuse himself because of this dispute or it may show a preference towards President Trump to me is totally wrong. Thats what im talking about. Bill well get a glance behind the curtain on the senate side. Thank you for your time and trying to answer the questions and straighten it out. Peter king the republican from new york. Thanks. Shannon. Shannon President Trump ramping up a new strategy to combat illegal immigration. Ice calling out sanctuary cities refusing to cooperate with federal imgrimigration laws. Will it work . Youre here to buy a car. 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. Bill the death toll now from the storm system in the south rising to at least six people after a downed power line electrocuted two little boys in texas. Parts of North Carolina and louisiana hit and sent cars spinning like toys. The system is threatening western mississippi and tennessee and theres a warning of hail and tornados in those states so be on the watch. Shannon Customs Enforcement rolling out a weekly report shaming cities who harbor Illegal Immigrants. Its part of the strategy to expose possible threats to public safety. Six of the top ten cities and counties are you guessed it in california. William la jeunesse is live to tell us more. The report is part of the escalating fight were seeing. One of the purposes is if an inmate gets out isis will say we tried to deport them but your mayor, your city refused to honor our detainer which is a request to hold an inmate 48 hours to ice can pick him up from jail. In one week ice tried to deport 3,000 Illegal Immigrants arrested for or convicted of crimes. Instead just ten cities released about 600 criminal aliens. The worst include los angeles which released 162 inmates, new york, kern city, clark, san diego and it includes robbery, dui, drug possession and others and ice stopped because they were being ignored. Not any more. Ices new policy is if youre in the country illegally youll debt a detainer and the number will go up. Shannon we know your tracking it. Thank you very much. Bill in minutes from capitol hill the first Senate Hearing will convene on russia. Well get Opening Statement from the chairman of the committee. They made a strong statement yesterday. Well see what they have to say in a moment and hearing it as well. Alleged meddling in the president ial election that begin last year. Plus, President Trump tweet warning to the house Freedom Caucus. Ohio congressman jim jordan is part of the group and will respond to the president minutes away here on americas newsroom. Shannon the president writes on twitter quote, the Freedom Caucus will hurt the entire republican agenda if they dont get on the team and fast. We must fight them and dems in 2018. Jim joran will join us live 10 10 eastern on americas newsroom. The first hearing on russian meddling will get underway the committee to look at the election. Welcome to a brand new hour of americas newsroom. Im Shannon Bream in for Martha Maccallum in from d. C. Bill im bill hemmer back in new york. Leaders vowing a thorough investigation and bipartisan cooperation. And nothing is off the table as they seek evidence of russian interference. The commission of the committee is to look at Campaign Contacts from either committee with russian government or russian government officials that might have influenced in any way, shape or form the election process. Contrary to maybe popular beliefs were partners to see this is completed and we have a product at the end of the day we can have bipartisanship in supporting. Bill theres a preview. Catherine herridge to tell us what we can expect. Were just minutes away on the Intelligence Committee on the hearing and theyre now beginning with government officials and with leading National Experts on Cyber Security as a way to lay to set the table and foundation for future discussion. The senate Intelligence Committee stress the bipartisan nature of their having at this state and they have a long list of witnesses they hope to question. To date we have made 20 requests for individuals to be interviewed by the committee. As we stand here today five are already scheduled on the books and probably within the next ten days the remaining 15 will have a scheduled date for those individuals to be interviewed we our staff. Both the republican and democratic leadership of the Committee Said they will not hesitate to issue subpoenas if witnesses are not willing to appear voluntarily. Bill whats it mean for the House Intelligence Committee and their investigation . Not a lot of impact because the investigations of the house and senate Intelligence Committee are running independently and on separate tracks. You have to emphasize the political nature of the discussion of the russia investigation. With the senate Intelligence Committee theyve given disagreement between devin nunes and adam schiff to meet today and theyll be discussing the bipartisan nature of their work today. What ive been remarkably proud of is that the committee on both sides of the aisle between every member, the level of seriousness they put into this work, the attention theyve given and the commitment as well to follow the intel where it leads. Just to emphasize for folks at home, the senate Intelligence Committee the Senior Committee on the hill theyve never really begun an investigation as broad and as deep and as expansive as what theyre looking at in the russia case. Particularly not just the russian meddling but the impact of the leaks and these serious allegations there was some kind of coordination or communication between the Trump Associates and russian officials but thats not been substantiated. Bill and richard burr said in twentyplus years hes not seen something of this magnitude. Well be watching along in washington and back to shannon to be more on this. Shannon to talk about this is stephen dinan. What should we or should not expect to get at the hearing today . Today is the table setter. Lots of americans were probably surprised to find out how deep the efforts from russian operatives were going. Well get a full primer on that today. You heard the Intelligence Committee leaders talk about first of all how long the efforts have again on. The efforts to get at even the voter roles back in the states from russian operatives and now involving themselves in the french election. That depth of russian interest in democratic elections in other parts of the country is what youll hear and setting the table i think the heavy lifting the interviews that were interested to see about the Trump Campaign and the Clinton Campaign, those are likely to happen behind closed doors. Shannon and yesterday i was very struck by the bipartisan tone of the presser we heard from the ranking democrat and republican on this particular committee theyre working together. They talked about having seven fulltime staffers and not only going over material they got from the Intelligence Committee but going to the raw data. They say it will take a long time. People shouldnt expect this to be wrapped up anytime soon. Thats worth stressing. We heard this morning theyre thinking six months the minimum. It could end up taking much longer. As you said, based on the hiccups weve seen from the house side theres a lot of pressure on the senate to get this much more bipartisan than weve seen is far. That puts pressure on both sides. You saw chairman burr saying look, well follow this wherever it goes and thats a good place to start from but therell be pressure on the Ranking Member mark warner. Hell have pressure not to run out and report on every tidbit that comes out that might involve the Trump Campaign or administration. Theres pressure on both sides to step back, cool it a little bit and let this play out and find a bipartisan consensus at the end. If both sides start running out and saying hears what we found that clears the administration now or indicts the administration the bipartisan will disappear very quickly. Shannon today the first public step in a long journey. Stephen dinan, thank you very much. My pleasure. Bill and theres a juggling act on capitol hill. House republicans trying to make progress on spending and tax reform and looming threats of a government shutdown. Keep an eye on that come april and the battle over Supreme Court nominee neil gorsuch ongoing. All this as the clock winds down to spring break. How do you get it done . Mike emanuel is live on capitol hill to talk about this. Speaker ryan said what about the agenda today . Theres been a lot of talk on tax reform and speaker ryan says he doesnt care who leads it as long as they get an agreement and get it done. The speaker and others are talking about efforts to keep the government up and running. Were not going to have a government shutdown. The president doesnt want to have a government shutdown. Its funding the government from april 28 to september 30. Imagine the consequences of us controlling house, senate and white house and not being able to pass the Appropriations Bills and facing a shutdown scenario. That would be catastrophic. With easter recess theres limited days and should get a better sense of the calendar coming up. Bill what are they saying . The democrats are watching and seem to be hoping republican can stumble and then pounce. Nancy pelosi seemed to celebrate Republican Health care struggles last week and her fellow democrats are watching and waiting. Republicans are controlled the house and senate for the last four years and spent every single day making promises they clearly cant deliver on. Now its time for them to put up or shut up and id be worried if i were a house republican. Well get an update from leader pelosi later and were here on the scene. Bill mike emanuel updating us from the hill. Thank you, mike. Shannon. Shannon the president calling out the Freedom Caucus saying its time to fight them now and in 2018. Well, were going to ask jim jordan a member of the house Freedom Caucus about that com g coming. Were not going to give up. If we can make improvements to the bill all the better. If i am improvements can be made thats great. Hello, im an idaho potato farmer and i finally found our big idaho potato truck. Its been touring the country telling folks about our heart healthy idaho potatoes, americas favorite potatoes, and donating to local charities along the way. But now its finally back home where it belongs. Aw man. Hey, wait up. Where you goin . Here we go again. Shannon were minutes away from the senate Intelligence Committee kicking off about russia and the interference with our president ial election. First, we want to get to this. The president urging the Freedom Caucus to get on board. In a tweet he rights it will hurt the entire republican agenda if they dont get on the team and fast. We must fight them and dems in 2018. Joining me is jim jordan a member of the house Freedom Caucus. Youre reaction to that tweet. The Freedom Caucus is trying to change washington. This bill keeps washington the same plain and simple. It doesnt repeal obamacare or lower premiums and most importantly it doesnt unite republicans and the American People in that 17 of the country supports this legislation. We appreciate the president and trying to help the president but the fact is you have to look at the legislation. It doesnt do what we told the voters wed do and the American People understand thats why only 17 of the population support the legislation. Shannon what do you make of his reference in 2018 to fighting you and the dems. Do you think hes talking about primary challenges . Wheres he going . Im not here to assign blame or point to the future. Im focussed on doing what we told American People wed do and this doesnt do it and were working with colleagues to put in place changes to the bill that will bring down premiums, lower the cost of insurance for middleclass families across the country. Thats what we told them wed do and focussed on doing. Forget the blame and what may happen in the future. Lets just do what we said and thats what the Freedom Caucus and republicans are committed to. Shannon are you doing that now . Is there an ongoing conversation . Where do you stand . Ive had more conversations with the white house in the last several weeks than i can count. Were trying to work with members of our own republican conference to accomplish what the American People sent us to accomplish. We better get this right because theres other big issues coming. Lets get the process right. I said to my colleagues good process makes for good politics. Lets get the process right and template set to deal with the budget and debt ceiling and the big issues. Figure out how well Work Together to do what we told the American People d do and not just pass the bill no one supports. Shannon all right. How do you respond to the suggestion of those who say wait until obamacare starts to implode. They predict this fall when new premiums come out people will be upset. That may be a better window or opportunity for bringing your caucus to the table and others who say now its at a breaking point. I know someone suggested that. I dont think thats consistent with what we told the American People wed do. I dont think its consistent with what they elected us to do in 2010 and 2014 and november 8, 2016. Lets do the hard thing. I learned a long time ago accomplishing things of significant is never easy. Lets get the process right and get to a bill that accomplishes what we said wed do. Lets not wait for more harm to happen to the American People. Theyve experienced enough under obamacare. Lets get about doing what we told them wed do and this bill doesnt accomplish that and why were trying to change it. Shannon ted poe said hes exiting the caucus. He thought this was your best chance for getting rid of obamacare. Best chance but not this bill. Its just a postponement. The sun came up today. It will come up tomorrow. Lets take more time it get it right. The only thing worse than not doing something is doing the wrong thing. Ive talked to ted, hes a friend but we have a difference of opinion on how to accomplish what the American People elected us to do. Shannon jim jordan, always good to talk to you. Bill senator richard burr the chairman of the senate Intelligence Committee the republican from North Carolina began his Opening Statement and senator warner from virginia and part of richard burrs statement had to go with we are all targets of a sophisticated adversary and we have to take action and the public needs to know what action russia took to influence our election last year. I want to dip in and get the statement from the ranking democratic chairman. How russia deployed the deluge of misinformation in a broader attempt to undermine americas strength and leadership throughout the world. We simply must and we will get this right. The chairman and i agree its vitally person we do this in a credible, bipartisan and transparent manner as possible. As was said yesterday in the press conference chairman burr and i trust each other and equally important we trust our colleagues on this committee that we are going to move together and were going to get to the bottom of this and get it right. As the hearing begins lets take just one moment to review what we already know. Russias president , vladamir putin ordered a deliberate campaign carefully constructed to undermine our election. First, russia struck at our Political Institutions by electronically breaking into the headquarters of one of our Political Parties and stealing vast amounts of information. Russian operatives also hacked emails to steal personal messages and other information from individuals ranging from Clinton Campaign manager john podesta to former secretary of state colin powell. The stolen information was then weaponized. We know russian intelligence used the quote, unquote guccifer persona and wikileaks and seeming seemingly choreographs times to cause damage to one candidate. They did this with an unprecedented level of sophistication about american president ial politics that should be a line of inquiry for us on this committee and candidly while it helped one candidate this time theyre not favoring one party over another and consequently should be a concern for all of us. Second, russia continually sought to diminish and undermine our trust in the American Media by blurring our faith in what is true and what is not. Russian pop propaganda outlets peddled disinformation in pursuit of moscows preferred outcome. The russian prop propaganda was on steroids and paid internet trolls and botnets to push out fake news at a high volume focussing this material on to twitter and facebook feeds and flooding our social media with misinformation. This fake news and disinformation was then hyped by the American Media echochamber to reach and potentially influence millions of americans. This is not innuendo or false allegations. This is not fake news. This is actually what happened to us. Russia continues these sorts of actions as we speak. Some of our close allies in europe are experiencing exactly the same kind of interference in their political process. Germany has said that its parliament has been hacked. French president ial candidates right now have been the subject of russian propaganda and disinformation. In the netherlands their recent elections, the dutch handcounted their ballots because they feared russian interference in their electoral process. Perhaps most critically for us there is nothing to stop them from doing this all over again in 2018 for those who are up or in 2020 as americans again go back to the polls. In addition to what we already know any full accounting must also find out what if any contacts, communications or connections occurred between russia and those associated with the campaigns themselves. I will not prejudge the outcome of our investigation. Were seeking to determine if there is an actual fire but theres clearly a lot of spoke. For instance, an individual with the Trump Campaign predicted the release of hacked emails weeks before it happened. This same individual also admits to being in contact with guccifer two the russian persona responsible for the cyber operations. The platform of one of our two major Political Parties was mysteriously watered down in a way which promoted the interest of president putin and no one seems to be able to identify who directed that change in the platform. The Campaign Manager of one campaign who played such a Critical Role in electing the president was force to step down over his alleged ties to russia and its associates. Since the election weve seen the president s National Security adviser resign and as attorney general recuse himself over previously undisclosed contacts with the russian government. Of course the other on march 20 the director of the fbi publicly acknowledged the bureau is quote, investigating the nature of links of individual associated with the Trump Campaign and russian government and whether there was coordinate between the Trump Campaign and russian efforts, end of quote. I want to make clear at least for me, the information is not about whether you have a d or r next to your name. Its not about relitigating last falls election. It is about clearly understanding and responding to a very real threat. Its also i believe without Holding Russia accountable for this unprecedented attack on our democracy and it is about arming ourselves so we can identify and stop it when it happens again and trust me it will happen again if we dont take action. I would hope the president is as anxious as we are to get to the bottom of what happened but i have to say editorially with the ac indications of wiretapping and accusations of wiretapping and attack on intelligence professionals gives me concern. The committee has a heavy weight of responsibility that we can put our political labels aside to get us to the truth. I believe we can get there. Ive seen first hand how serious members on both sides have worked on this issue. As the chairman and i said repeatedly the investigation will follow the facts where they lead us. Many times were working to get the facts from the intelligence community. Well get that done. Mr. Chairman, again, i thank you for your commitment to the serious work and your commitment to keeping this bipartisan coopera cooperation. Well goes as expeditiously as we can. Let me introduce our Witnesses Today if i may and then we will hear from those witnesses. Dr. Rory gotson emeritus professor, Georgetown University. As a scholar he helped mine ear Intelligence Studies in american Higher Education editing the sevenvolume series for the 1980s, 1990s and co founding the consortium and publishes studies on adapting American Security paradigm intelligence dominance consistent with the rule of law practices and strategies for encountering global crime. Hes served as consultant to the United States security counsel, president s foreign intelligence Advisory Board and related agencies of the u. S. Government. Thank you for your service and for being here. Doctor rumor is a fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for national peace. Prior he served as the National Intelligence officer for russia and held Research Appointments at the National Defense university at the institute for strategic studies and the rahm cooperate corporation and taught at Georgetown University and published widely. Clint walker watts. Clint watts is a robert fox fellow for the policy Research Institute and a senior fellow at the senator for Cyber Security at Georgetown University and researcher modelling and forecasting threat actor behavior and developing countermeasures for disrupting, defeating state and nonstate actors. As a consultant he designs and implements customized training and Research Programs for the military, intelligence, Law Enforcement agencies at the state and local levels. Clint served as a United States Army Infantry officer and fbi officer on the joint Terrorism Task force part of the combatting Terrorism Center at west point and consultant to the Counterterrorism Division and National Security branch. Clint, welcome. Thank you for your service. With that i will recognize our witnesses from my left to right and dr. Gotson you are recognized. Thank you, mr. Chairman and vice chairman and members of the committee for inviting me to this hearing. Id like to begin with just a minute or two on the long history of soviet active measures and then talk about major about major advantages russians have reaped from their history of using this and what we have done in the past to reduce the effectiveness of soviet behavior and what we might want to consider for the future. I think if one looks at the history of the last 100 years youre going to find the russians and soviet predecessors believed active measures is a major tool for their advancement. They believe whatever we think about it, this gives them the possibility of achieving influence well beyond their economic and social status and conditions in their country. I think when you look at what they say now, what they do now and talking about their active measures they take the subject very seriously. Sometimes we in the United States have been aware of this but for many many decades we do not take the subject seriously and they were able to take enormous advantages. I think today that they basically believe they can use these techniques rather similarly to many of the ways they did this in the past. I do think that they are repeating many of the same practices they did in the past. Yes, there may be some new techniques that are being used now. In fact there are and some of my colleagues on the panel and this afternoon are more expert on those techniques particularly the use of the internet and particularly cyber space but we can more or less be rest assured the soviets will be looking at other techniques and seeking to adapt and make their active measures much more productive for them in the future. Yes, the activities in the United States that youre particularly interested in do seem to be exceptional. We dont have many other examples where they interfere with electoral apparatuses. What we have are many examples where the soviets working together were together with their allies and their agents of influence abroad to affect the election in many many many countries in the 20th and early 21st century. The soviets and their russian successes took the view and take the view theyre able to hit above their weight. They can fight above their weight if they use active measures. They dont want to go to war. Neither of us wants to go to war but they take the view they can achieve a lot of what they want to do through their active measures. That is the combination of overt and covert techniques and resources. Overt and covert combined together in one pattern and that they have the authority and the responsibility as leaders of the country to be able to do that and they put this into practice. In the 20s and 30s they created apparatus. They were a poor weak country yet they set up whole organizations overt and covert throughout the world. They were able to challenge all the major powers of europe and the United States. We may not have realized these organizations were being set up but they were considerable and it took a lot of effort and skill on their part to do this. In the war of Second World War they used the apparatus to influence the politics of europe after the war. Yes, they also used it during the war to help them and sometimes us in fighting the nazis and the italian fascists but in a major way they were also propairing for being able to influence the outcome of the struggle for the balance of power in europe during world war ii. While they were an ally they were planning to undermine liberal parties including the United States at that time. In fact they were able to take advantage of the fact we were friendly and working together and uncle joe was a friend and use it successfully. As a result they were nearly able to take over the balance of power in western europe. It was a closely run contest. Of course were all glad they lost. It was a closely run conflict and we did emerge successfully from it. In the 1980s they were on another role. They used their apparatus which built up in the 1920s, 30s, 40s and 50s to chief a great deal in the 1970s and late 80s and were almost able to split up nato in the 80s. They started in the last years of the Carter Administration and continued to the reagan years and fortunately we noticed this in time and our rearmament of nato went ahead and it wasnt because the soviets wanted it but because we were able to outmaneuver them. The 90s were chaotic and it was their active measure apparatus wasnt that effective and didnt have the kind of leadership itd had before and the kind of leadership its had since vladamir putin came to power. Its maybe a little bit too soon to do an assessment of their effectiveness. So far as was pointed out earlier we the chair and vice chair we think they were effective in an important way to us and we understand the committee will be looking into this and studying this. Nonetheless, they have the apparatus and modernized it and were spending billions a year before. They have maybe 10,000 to 15,000 people in this apparatus worldwide in additional to the trolls and other kinds of Cyber Capabilities they have. Soviets im going to interrupt you for a second to make members aware the second vote has started and its our intent to vote through the second vote. Id ask members as they feel comfortable to leave for the vote and come right back, if you will, as soon as we get through the panel and dr. Godson id ask you to summarize this as quickly as you could. Bill this witness is very interesting. He said you can start 100 years ago of soviet history. He said no evident of tampering with machines in elections but went on to to examples of agents working in many countries and this doesnt just start in 2016. How far it goes and how far it runs is part of the first public hearing on russian meddling in the 2016 election. In a minute well go to more reaction from the white house because the president is responding to members of the house Freedom Caucus and their unwillingness to go with the health care procedure from a week ago and we have reaction from jim jordan. In a moment well go to karl rove ap and his reaction on whats happening and were waiting for guidance from the House Intelligence Committee. Theyll be meeting behind closed doors. In the meantime its 10 36 in new york. Do we dip back in or not, guys . Lets good back. Lets go back. From the 60s to late 1970s we did not have effective counteractive measures capability and they took advantage of that in numerous places. In the 80s it changed and we did start to do things well again. Ill summarize the fact we started to develop a strategic approach to countermeasures. It wasnt a bit here and there and so on. It was actually a strategic approach with warning and anticipation of active measures. We would study them so well that we were able to often anticipate what they were going to do with active measures and therefore we could use other measures to limit them and avoid the effectiveness of these active measures. We also started to support liberal elements abroad we thought would be helpful in preventing soviet active measures from furthering soviet objectives and using overt and covert measures to do this. As in other victories weve had after world war i or world war ii we felt this wasnt such an important thing to be doing any more. Our activities waned. They didnt stop but we had units that remained in the government that remained concerned with this but the government disarmed itself. So although there were some in the government and outside the government who warned about the soviet use of active measures and i do know when looking over the website of your committee that some people in this room went to the government and asked the government to be more mindful of sovietactive measures starting in 2016 and presumably we should be mindful of it afterwards, unfortunately the government did not take the warnings as seriously as it could have and made this known to the public in a useful fashion so would not be so surprised when this took place in the or appears to have taken place in 2016. The soviets could not have done th this, iran, the rugs without an appropriate measures apparatus. Its visible. One cannot find everything about it but historically we know the next person can find it and anticipate it and take measures. I hope youll have time to consider. Doctor. Bill while this continues, its important to remember what was said yesterday that no matter before him has run as deep as this matter. So when you expect this to unwind itself in short order thats probably an expectations that are a bit too high now. The russian deal from 2016 will be with us for some time and well get reaction from karl rove in a moment and in the meantime back to my colleague in washington Shannon Bream. Shannon were talking about the Freedom Caucus. An important tweet from the president. Did that caucus go too far in its opposition to the Health Care Bill . Karl rove, that will be another thing he joins us to talk about and why he think the caucus he says is bridging down the gop. So dont wait. Call now and request this free decision guide to help you better understand medicare. And which aarp Medicare Supplement plan might be best for you. Theres a wide range to choose from. We love to travel and theres so much more to see. So we found a plan that can travel with us. Anywhere in the country. [ male announcer ] join the millions of people who have already enrolled in the only Medicare Supplement insurance plans endorsed by aarp, an Organization Serving the needs of people 50 and over for generations. Remember, all Medicare Supplement insurance plans help cover what medicare doesnt pay. And could save you in outofpocket medical costs. Call now to request your free decision guide. And learn more about the kinds of plans that will be here for you now and down the road. I have a lifetime of experience. So i know how important that is. Shannon here in washington were keeping an eye on the senate Intelligence Committee where theyre having a first public hearing into the probe into russian interference with the u. S. Election last fall. Theyre sticking to a very tight message of bipartisan cooperation and say it wont be a quick easy fix you wont get all the answers today or in the next couple weeks. Well keep an eye as we get more information and that unfolds. This bill keeps washington the same plain and simple. It didnt repeal obamacare or change premiums and unite republicans and the American People as evidenced by the fact that only 17 of the country supports the legislation. Bill jim jordan a moment ago with us in americas newsroom and President Trump tweeting. Karl rove former White House Deputy chief of staff and fox news contributor. How are you and good day to you, sir. This is what started the news today from the white house. Donald trump tweeted this, the Freedom Caucus will hurt the entire republican agenda if they dont get on the team and fast. We must fight them and dems. Do you want to take that on quickly and then ill go to your piece on the wall street journal. They did him a great disservice in killing the process but i wish the president woul not engage. Thats punching down. He ought to be focussed on other things. Bill it seems to be a strategy. You wrote in the wall street journal. The only lines crossed in the debacle are the caucusers who committed political libel. Youre saying the same thing the president s saying, karl. I am but i wish he wasnt punching down. With all due respect to jim jordan that was jawdropping. You heard him compare it to obamacare. He says it doesnt repeal obamacare. Wait a minute it kills a trillion in obamacare taxes and kills the exchanges and stops the medicaid expansion, dead, gone. Kills the mandate and employer mandate and his implications is its just obamacare. Then what gets me is he says, well, it will have premium increases. Well, why does it have premium increases in it . Because it continues the Obamacare Exchanges for two more years and the exchanges are broken and theyll have year after year of premium increases. Jim jordan voted for a repeal bill that took two years to phase out the Obamacare Exchange and had two years of premium increases. They will take two years to fix the exchange and because theyre broken healthier people the premiums will continue to go up. The republican bill is the only one score that begins to reduce premiums. Starting in 2021 premiums for insurance begin to decline because under the republican bill because we get rid of the exchanges. Bill so you think they screwed this up . Look, he was on sunday with Chris Wallace and he said to him, look, you want to get rid of the protection for people with preexisting conditions and george said no we were talking about Community Rating and guaranteed issue. Guaranteed issue is the protection for people with preexisting conditions. You know bill in the context of the tweet from earlier today can he ramp the pressure on them for them to go back to the table and get it done. He can ramp up the pressure but the pressure is better in private than public. In public theyll boulder back and not look like theyre caving. Particularly private pressure from their colleagues. Whats more important is a colleague on an unrelated subject and two members of the Republican Caucus one says to the Freedom Caucus member you put us in a bad place dont ever do that again. Thats more powerful than me president s tweet. Bill i wanted to ask about ivanka trump to be an assist to the president. You worked in the oval office for years shes taking a lot of heat theyre suggesting shes not qualified. What makes you qualified . Look, shes been a successful business person and has a background that can match up to a lot of people that can walk into the west wing. The only problem with my gut is if youre the president you dont want to hire people you cant fire. This is now the second Family Member in the west wing. Thats a problem. Shell have to go through some gyrations to conform with the ethics rule which she absolutely must conform with, her husband Jared Kushner is having to conform with but the idea shes unqualified look back to previous administrations to people that doesnt have the experience she has. Bill thank you for getting that in. Thank you, sir. Shannon. Shannon bill, well, some Media Outlets are praising Vice President mike pence and his wife while raking the president over the coals. Well discuss the contrasting coverage with Fox News Media analyst howard kurtz. Shannon coverage of Vice President mike pence in contrast to President Trump. A recent headline rights quote pence offers trump a steady hand and the Washington Post writes karen pence the Vice President s gut check and shield. Howard kurtz, good it see you. These the kind of articles in the past we would have expected for the honeymoon period for the top guy. Thats what makes it unusual in both appearing on the same day. Mike pence has a lot of experience as a former congressman and governor and youd expect him to get positive press but the big selling point was he is not donald trump. In fact an unnamed republican is calling him an alternative reality president and points the presidency towards normalcy. Normalcy. Shannon do you think in these situations theres the potential when the boss is getting the criticism and his number two is getting the love and adoration it impacts the relation or has the potential to. My sources say mike pence they didnt hate the article, it was well reported but didnt resent the knowing and hes doing part of the job of Reince Priebus and the pence camp pushes back and the reason i think its not a problem is clearly so far Vice President pence has not gone out and tried to grab a lot of attention. Hes been a loyal number two, supporting donald trump even when the president gets himself in trouble and doesnt seem to steal the spotlight. Interesting karen pence who shares a deep christian conservatism with her husband getting this lovely piece in the Washington Post. Shannon shes wanted to be in the background and be a supportive partner and has her own causes and somebody not after the spotlight. You wonder where the pieces are for even the president s top aides. Theres another line in the times piece saying hes a clearcut republican against the duo of President Trump and steve bannon. He suddenly starts getting good press theres only a number one in any white house particularly this white house but neither were quoted in either piece or were seeking this out. Shannon so we wont stand by on the flattering pieces on steve bannon. You can stand by but it could take a while. Shannon thank you for standing by. Back to you in new york city. Bill President Trump in a war of words with members of his own party. The Freedom Caucus hitting back after a swipe earlier today. What members are now saying and where this all goes. Thats coming up next. What was the favorite part of your last two lives . We talked about the meeting that will happen between adam schiff and devin nunes today, dying to get the readout from that. Well see you tomorrow. Happening now starts right now. Jenna we start a fox news alert. The senate Intelligence Committee holding their first hearing. Well also hear from House Speaker ryan when he gives his weekly briefing. It should be a battle for the microphone. Ed i met henry and for jon scott. Meanwhile, President Trump is moving on to tax reform and says both the democrats and republicans and the Freedom Caucus better get on board or else. Both factions could have a big fight on their hands. Jenna we have fox news live coverage