The big questiois this leave the Robert Mueller special co tweet that the president put out this weekend. S trump in probe, but the russian there was no collusion and there was no now used because of one year of looking endlessly and finding d. This is an american disgrace. Congressma stuart, does the g. O. P. Memo vindict end the need for the special prosecutors investigation . Esnt end that ma. I think it would be a mistake for anyone to suggest that the special counsel shouldnt complete his work. I support his work, i want him to finish it. I hope he finishes it as quickly as possible. This memo has frankly nothing at all to do with a special counsel. It was one of the criticisms of people last week and before that who had never seen the memo who said this is to impugn the integrity of the work of a special counsel. As you know now, it has nothing to do with at all with that. I hope the special counsel will completed on behalf of the American People. Chris what you think the president is up to when he puts out a tweet saying that this memo vindicates him, and obviates the need for any investigation . Congressman stewart i think a couple things. If i could take 30 seconds to review. Something that you said, for more than a year we had collusion and conspiracy, people accused of treason. No one is making that accusation anymore, at least no one serious. Even Dianne Feinstein said there is no evidence of collusion, and i think thats the point the president is making. The essence of this memo is something quite different, and again, its as you said, Hillary Clinton and the dnc hired fusion gps, who then hired a Foreign Agent to create this dossier that we know is just political garbage. Its no more credible than a 2 novel. A private citizen who had no accusations against him except for he has associations with the Trump Campaign. Its an absolute abuse of power and we just want the American People to know that. Chris it will get into the memo in a minute. I want to talk and turned to congressman swalwell about the state of the investigation. Congressman, on friday the president was asked about Deputy Attorney general Rod Rosenstein, who signed one of the request applications for this fisa warrant and also is the only person who can either fire or limit the investigation by Robert Mueller. There was the president. You figure that one out. Chris congressman swalwell, is this memo an excuse to shut down the Mueller Investigation . Congressman swalwell it does appear that way, chris. Good morning to my colleague, chris stewart. We believe that the memo that the republicans put out shows not a single abuse, but a willingness to risk our republic to protect the president. If i hope that mr. Stewart is sincere when we go back to washington this week that he would do all he could to protect bob mueller and mr. Rosenstein and support the Bipartisan Legislation that is out there that would do that. And also that would support that puts into context point by point the seriousness of this n, unseen evidence that bolsters the fbis crescent dough my img to get to the memo and the whole controversy about fisa and a he. Heres the issue i dont understand, congressman the House Intelligence Committee is in the midst of a broad investigation of un interferencn American Election in 2016, and yeat investigation to write a memo on this onepoint, which isr didnt happen in the fisa our House Republicans were concerned about protecting us om us from the fbi . Congressman stewart a little bly. Thats not what we expected when we started this investigation. Just a fewin was in moscow and i talked to the media and they said they will mess with our elections. Theres no question that that was intentional, theres no question that they did. Thats the impetus for this house investigation. We want to look at how they interfered and hopefully preclude that from happening in the future. But as a result of that, we became aware of this abuse by the fbi and department of justice officials. And we just felt like this was so important, its kind of separate from a Russian Investigation, but its so important that we advise the American People of that, and thats why we wanted to release this memo, get this information out there as quickly as possible. We will continue the investigation on both sides, but again this is a bit of a pause for us to say this is information the American People deserve to know. Chris do you buy that congressman swalwell . Congressman swalwell no, i dont. Ive seen all of the evidence. Ive sat in for almost every single second that a witness has testified. I wish my republican colleagues would do the same. Four public transcripts have been released and mr. Stewart was either not present or did not ask a single question. Chris if thats kind of inside baseball. Lets get to the issue. Congressman swalwell sure, but the issue is that theres not a willingness to look at the evidence. They assert that there is no collusion, but theres no interest or willingness to understand the evidence in this case. The evidence that weve seen with a limited subpoena power we have is a deep willingness that exists around the Trump Campaign in the trump family and the trump businesses to work with the russians and to receive information on Hillary Clinton. We want to do something about it to make sure it wont happen again. Congressman stewart i have to respond to that if i could. Mr. Swalwell, if you want to convince people, go convince her own democratic allies. Go convince Dianne Feinstein. Go convince general klapper. I have said there is no evidence of collusion. Its not just the republicans were saying that. Chris congressman stewart, i want to put up several things, a fullscreen, lets put it up on the screen right now, because some of the events have nothing to do with the carter page warrant, which again is why i wonder why you decided to focus just on that. George papadopoulos being told by russians months before that they had dirt on Hillary Clinton, the trump tower meeting between top Campaign Aides and a russian lawyer. General Michael Flynn lying about his meeting with the russian ambassador. You suggested at the beginning of this interview that you saw no evidence of collusion and no evidence of obstruction of justice, but you are focusing im not saying its not legitimate, and we will talk about it, i promise, after you answer this question, but you are focusing on what happened in the fisa court with regard to carter page. Congressman stewart because the American People didnt know about this. You knew about George Papadopoulos. You know about general flynn. All of that had been already reported. This had not been reported and we felt like once again the American People wanted to know. By the way, those things that you talked about in the work of the special counsel, which let me restate, i support and want him to continue, but none of that, virtually none of that indicates any collusion on behalf of the Trump Campaign and russian officials. If there isnt anything. Youve got some financial irregularities that happened years before the election. It got some people in a process crime, as they call it, where they were honest with the fbi, but no one has said they are showing evidence of collusion between Trump Officials and any russian agents. There just simply isnt any. Chris lets talk about the memo and its central allegation, which was that the fbi misled the fisa court, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court to get a warrant to surveilled carter page without revealing the fact that this was political opposition research, the dossier. It was the house until chairman, devin nunes. I think the American People understand that the fbi should not go to secret courts using information that was paid for by the democrats to open up investigations to get warrants on people of the other political party. Thats the type of stuff that happens in banana republics. Chris congressman swalwell, doesnt that concern you at all that they went to get this warrant and at least part of it, according to some reports, the lead item in the application was the rush of dossier, and as we all know, that was paid for the dnc and the Clinton Campaign . Congressman swalwell if there was a barrage of evidence that they presented to the courts, including disclosure that the dossier had a political motivation. It also included that George Papadopoulos had been contacted about receiving russian dirt. He was on the same Foreign Policy team as carter page. Carter page also, since 2013, had been suspected of being a russian Foreign Agent. We just learned today, breaking news, before i can on thea ttern 2013 and he had been doing work for the kremlin. World to be concerned about these individuals. Chris on one sentence in the memo, gentlemen. Deputy testified before the committee in december 2017 that noldave been sought, would have been sought Intelligence SurveillanceCourt Without the dossier. Not. Did dut that . Congressman stewart that may not have been his exact phrase, but iou was there, i was part of the questioning, i intent of his ans that we would not have gonenot s dossier. There were two basic pieces of ironically, a yahoo news report that was based at the dossier. The author of that news report yesterday was shocked they would use my news reporting as evidence before the fisa court when it was clearly based on the dossier. The information was fed to him by fusion gps and by Christopher Steele. That was the evidence, that was the bulk of the evidence for justifying this dossier and they knew it was weak. Thats why they didnt want to be honest with the fisa court and oh by the way that this was written by the democrats, this is paid for by the democrats. Thats one of the things we are most concerned about. Chris we are beginning to run out of time. Let me bring in congressman swalwell. Why not . It does seem to show bad faith. Why wouldnt the fbi, include in its application the fact that the dossier had been bought and paid for by the democrats . Congressman swalwell i asked andrew mccabe, that is not what he said. They have the transcript, i dont understand why they wouldnt quote from the transcript. They did disclose that it was a politically motivated source. Thats what the judge needed to know and again, i think this is just an effort to torch the credibility of the fbi. Chris did they defend the fact that it was bought and paid for by the Clinton Campaign and the dnc . Congressman swalwell they mask to the names of most of the individuals and last year the accusation against the fbi was that they were unmasking names. When they do the right thing and mask the name and state there is political bias, you are saying that thats wrong. And when they dont do that you are saying thats wrong. Chris when they unmask its republicans, but when they mask its democrats . Congressman swalwell thats whats being alleged here by House Republicans. Congressman stewart two things on this, if i was the fisa judge, i would be furious that this information was withheld for me. It clearly is relevant. It clearly is important. The second thing is, the question about tearing down the integrity of the fbi. Im a former military officer. I understand the necessity to protect her troops, but thats not whats going on here. Ive been contacted by fbi agents in the last few days and thank you for doing this, we recognize that youre trying to hold us accountable. They have enormous power, enormous authority. With that must come enormous accountability. Thats all we are trying to do here, to hold certain individuals accountable if they abuse that power. Chris we will have to leave it there. At congress and, congressman swalwell, thank you both, thanks for your time and of course we will stay on top of where your Committee Goes next. Up next we will bring in former cia director and former defense secretary leon panetta for some perspective on whats going on in washington. [ click, keyboard clacking ] [ keyboard clacking ] [ click, keyboard clacking ] good questions lead to good answers. Our advisors can help you find both. Talk to one today and see why were bullish on the future. Yours. Nows the really fun part m car. Were bullish on the future. Choosing the color, the wheels, the interior. Everything exactly how i want it. Heres the thing, just because i configured this car online doesnt mean it really exists at a dealership. But with truecar, i get real pricing on actual cars in my area, i see what others paid for them and they show me the ones that match the car i want, so i know i can go to a truecar certified dealer and itll be right there waiting for me. Today, right now. This is truecar. Chris leon panetta has seen more than his share of washington controversies. He worked for the Nixon Administration before being forced out. He was bill clintons chief of staff, and he served barack obama as cia director and then defense secretary. Secretary joins us now from california, and welcome back to Fox News Sunday. Secretary panetta is nice to be with you, chris. Speeone, you will, as we suggested, have lived through and and a lot. If compared to those, how should folks see where we are right now you mike how broken is washington . Secretary panetta during my 50 years of public life ive had the honor of seeing washington at its best, and ive also seen in washington its worst. The good news is ive seen washington work. Ive seen democrats and republicans Work Together in order to solve problems in our country. The problem today is that washington is largely dysfunctional and republicans and democrats simply are unable to Work Together to Work Together to resolve the tremendous issues that face this country. Im worried about this to function because it goes to the heart of our democracy. I think if ultimately they dont get together and govern this country that it will ultimately weaken the United States by virtue of that. Chris you said recently for the president to release the House Republican memo over the objections of the fbi and the department of justice would create a constitutional crisis. Is that a bit of an overstatement . Secretary panetta im a believer in the rule of law in this country and im a believer in the importance of our constitution and the relationship between the president and our Law Enforcement authorities. I think in order for our democracy to function you have to have a relationship of trust between the president and those who are responsible for enforcing the law. Justice department and the fbi. And if that trust breaks down, then i think it does undermine the rule of law in this country, and that, in effect, creates a crisis. Chris let me approach this from a different aspect, which is the criminalization of politics. You were, for almost three years, bill clintons white house chief of staff during the long special counsel investigation that went everywhere from whitewater to monica lewinsky, and i want to put up a quote that you said while you are at the clinton chief of staff. In this town, too much is done on the basis of innuendo and speculation. Every mistake becomes a conspiracy, every charge becomes a conviction, every rumor becomes reality. Thats the way at this town is built. A question, couldnt donald trump say the same thing . Secretary panetta i think thats a pretty damn good quote. I think that in effect is what happens in washington. Theres too much innuendo, theres too much failure to kind of deal with each other on the basis of trust and honesty, and so the result is that we engage in these partisan attacks, we engage in what i think is trench warfare in washington in which both parties stay in their trenches, throw grenades at one another and fail to govern, and i think thats why the American People are angry and frustrated, very frankly, is because they look at washington and see that it doesnt work, and that concerns us all. Chris i guess the point is this, as a democrat, you probably thought that bill clinton was being hounded by an inspector counsel. People who support donald trump maybe have the same thing about the special it counsel investigation of him. Secretary panetta i understand that. I understand how president s can have that feeling that somehow there are people out there that are trying to get them no matter what they try to do. I understand that. But i think they also need to understand whether they are democrats or republicans, that we have an obligation in this country to find the truth and to establish with the truth is. And when you try to avoid the truth, ultimately it is going to come out. We are going to find out what happened here with the russians. We are going to find out whether or not there was any collusion involved. We will find that out and to try to pretend that somehow we can avoid that i think is only fooling yourself. Chris lets talk about the practical effect of what happened this week from your long experience. The partisan break inside the House Intelligence Committee. Secretary panetta that worries me, because it damages, frankly, an institution that is critical to our National Security. The House Intelligence Committee, just like the senate Intelligence Committee, was established in order to provide bipartisan oversight of a very highly sensitive unclassified intelligence information to make sure that our intelligence agencies, our Law Enforcement agencies were doing what is necessary to do, but pursuant to our constitution and to the rule of law. When that bipartisanship breaks down and when intelligence starts to be used on a partisan basis to score political points, i think that really undermines the way the Intelligence Committee is supposed to function, and its going to hurt our ability to be able to have the kind of oversight we need in our democracy. Chris the fisa process to get a warrant in extraordinary circumstances to surveilled an american citizen devin nunes, chair of the House Intelligence Committee said he had an obligation to bring up, according to his argument, the fact that the democrats play politics and the fbi aided and abetted them. Secretary panetta again, im concerned about those kinds of charges undermining trust in the fisa process. The fisa process was designed in order to make sure that we could do surveillance against potential terrorists and those that would undermine our country, and that is the purpose of the fisa process, is to be able to ensure that we can do surveillance of those who have the worst instincts in terms of our country. It works. It has worked. The fisa judges are no pushovers. They are responsible individual individuals, in my experience, who carefully review all of the evidence that is presented to them. And it isnt just a little bit of evidence. These applications to fisa are sometimes 50 or 60 pages long, highly classified information and a great deal of support investigation in order to justify those warrants. I think in this instance, very frankly, that the nunes charges against fisa, particularly without looking at the entire application, without talking to the judges who actually make these decisions, i think thats irresponsible. Chris lets play a fraught experiment. If you were Donald Trumps white house chief of staff right now, what advice would you give him . What should he do Going Forward . Secretary panetta i think the president of the United States has to focus first and foremost on being president of the United States. I realize that this investigation is going on. I realize that from a personal view it probably bothers the hell out of him. I understand that. But at the same time its part of the process in our country to investigate what happened here. We know, as a result of 17 intelligence agencies, that russia tried to undermine our election process. Thats a serious attack on our country by an adversary, and so we ought to allow the process to proceed that looks at what happened and make sure it doesnt happen again, and at the same time, the president frankly needs to focus on the economy, on infrastructure, on improving the ability of all americans in order to succeed in our country. Thats what president s need to focus on. And if he spends his time tweeting about the investigation or trying to tweet about undermining the fbi, very frankly hes going to hurt his presidency. Chris ive got about a minute left ear, lets say he ignores panettas advice and decides to move against either Rod Rosenstein or Robert Mueller. Secretary panetta i think its a big mistake. These are people that he appointed for office. At least for my impression these are people who are credible in trying to do their job in a conscientious and dedicated way. I think if he tries to go after them and tries to somehow appear to be obstructing the process thats involved in this investigation, hes going to hurt himself, hes going to rip the presidency, but more importantly, hes going to rip the country. Chris secretary panetta, thank you. Thanks for sharing part of your weekend with us, please come back, sir. Secretary panetta thanks very much, chris. Chris we will bring in our sunday group to discuss the memo and whats in it and whats not. Plus, what would you like to ask the panel about whether it sheds any more light on the russia investigation . Just go to facebook or twitter, foxnewssunday, and we may use your question on the air. Wer did just rank them highest in Investor Satisfaction with full Service Brokerage firms. Again. And online equity trades are only 4. 95. I mean you cant have low cost and be full service. Its impossible. Its like having your cake and eating it too. Ask your broker if they offer awardwinning full service and low costs. How am i going to explain this . If you dont like their answer, ask again at schwab. Schwab, a modern approach to wealth management. Chris now you can connect with Fox News Sunday on facebook and twitter. Be sure to check out exclusive material online at facebook and share us with other fox fans. And tweet us at foxnewssunday using fns. Ttp www. Evertz. Com[a5df] i think its a disgrace. Whats going on in this country, i think its a disgrace, and when you look at that and you see that in so many other things, whats going on, a lot of people should be ashamed of themselves, and much worse than that. Chris President Trump in the oval office calling out top officials at the fbi and justice Department Justice department for allegedly playing politics as they conducted the russia investigation. And its time known for our sunday group, and because of our technical problems, they are across town at another studio. Howard kurtz, host of media buzz and author of the new book media mathis. Mo elleithee of georgetowns Universities Institute of politics and service. Jonathan swan, National Political reporter for axios. And fox news correspondent gillian turner. Guys, i miss you. [laughs] but we are in the dark over here. Jonathan, people are going to disagree, obviously they are, about the substance of the House Republican memo, what it shows or what it doesnt show. To a certain degree, having the president and republicans already succeeded to agree that they have raised doubts about the fbi playing politics and, to that extent, have they undermined the credibility of the special counsel investigation . If theres no question about that. If we saw some polling we did some polling overnight on friday which sewed the support for the fbi among Republican Voters has plummeted significantly in the space of a year, and donald trump can move public opinion, particularly among republican voting docket like nobody else. You saw what he did to the nfl. Theres no question that its changing. Theres no question that theres been a general muddying of the waters among the electorate. Its not just conservative media. We are seeing it in the media as well. Chris if you get someone like congressman stewart, who set at the beginning of the program, the republican congressman and house intel, this memo is a separate issue, i just want the investigation to continue. Trey gowdy has said the same thing. Are they being a bit disingenuous . I cant speak for them personally, but the idea that this can be hermetically sealed and that its a completely different issue. Paul ryan was trying to have it both ways. He came out and set i support releasing the memo, but he has nothing to do with undermining the leadership of the department of justice, the fbi or this investigation. The president of the United States has explicitly said this. The guy with the biggest megaphone explicitly drawing that link. I cant speak to members individual motivations, but the fact is thats exactly whats being done here, supported by the president s boosters in the media. Chris to give you a sense of the impact this is having, we ask you for questions for the panel, and we got this on facebook from jean. She writes, if it is true that the fisa warrant was issued under false pretenses, wouldnt it be appropriate to shut the whole Russian Investigation down, including dismissal of special counsel . Mo . How do you answer . I think this is exactly the point. At that this is the kind of muddying of the waters to try and undermined the Mueller Investigation, which the president has himself has saide wants to do. If not just democrats on the committee, but members of the Intelligence Committee was a that is not a true fact that they fisa warrant was issued under false pretenses, but it was pegged entirely and exclusively to the dossier. We know that carter page, unfathomable to me that the republicans want to stake their credibility on carter page, it was on the radar screen of the intelligence community, who himself had previously called himself an advisor to the kremlin, that they have him on their radar screen before, the memo itself says that the entire investigation was not prompted by carter page, but by George Papadopoulos and his actions. None of this information is getting out because the House Republicans of the Intelligence Committee, devin nunes, cherry picked the information and refuses to release any more information and despite all of the calls for transparency, this could not be less transparent of a memo or of a process. They are not allowing the democrats to respond. They are not putting out the supporting information. I think this speaks exactly to that point. Chris let me just interrupt for a second. The republicans say that they are going to vote to release the memo, it will then go to the president for declassification, the democratic memo. We cant say at this point that they cut them off. We will see. Because whats going to happen no, and what i think they have done, and what they have done a masterful job of, is making this a hyperpartisan issue. And now its going to be democrats and republicans fighting over two competing memos and thats just going to muddy the water as opposed to just letting the legitimate investigation play itself out. Chris i want to pick up on that with you, jillian azhar Foreign Policy expert who work in the National Security council for both president s bush and president obama. Congressional Intelligence Committees try to rise above politics and stick to factfinding, but listen to the republican chair, devin nunes and to the democratic Ranking Member adam schiff going after each other this week. They know they are not being honest actors, and i get tired of playing whack a mole every day with the democrats on this committee who never wanted to start this investigation in the first place. Whats the most dangerous thing about this in the current context, its this the president is looking for a reason to fire bob mueller. Chris gillian, how unusual is it for congressional Intelligence Committees, in your experience, to get involved in this kind of partisan food fight, if you will, and potentially how troubling is it this is an issue i was discussing with secretary panetta Going Forward . If the house intelligence and senate Intelligence Committees just become more political vehicles . Secretary panetta talked about a breakdown of rule of law being the primary concern. I agree with him on that, on that front, and to answer your question, chris, this kind of involvement on the part of the House Intelligence Community is highly unusual. I also want to make the point that in this political hullabaloo surrounding the memo, in the showdown between democrats versus republicans, i think washington has lost sight of the fact that this is actually a classic executive branch versus legislative branch dispute in the sense that it is pitting the department of justice, and executive branch agency, against a Congressional Committee that oversees it. The key differentiator here is of course that President Trump is weighing in against his own team. Hes thrown in the towel on behalf of the Intelligence Committee. I think in the long term that will be damaging for everybody. This is absolutely damaging for the fbi. Its damaging for the House Intelligence Committee, because keep in mind, Going Forward in future investigations it will be very hard to listen to anything they have to say with any degree of confidence. And also its the American People, of course. Theres innocent bystanders to all of this. Chris let me pick up on one of the points that you made there. Its not just the House Intelligence Committee and its role. You have the president , in this case, as you pointed out, at odds with his Justice Department and the fbi. The director of the fbi, appointed by President Trump, Christopher Wray and Rod Rosenstein, who was also appointed by the trump administration, came over earlier this week and begged for the white house not to release the memo. What does that do when you have a president who was at at suchs with his own Law Enforcement . I dont know how that bond or the ties that at least bind the president to the fbi director can be healed. I hesitate to stay that its an irreparable break, but i dont see how Christopher Wray moves forward knowing that he absolutely doesnt have the faith and confidence of the commander in chief. I dont know how he gets anything done in washington. But that being said, i also think its incumbent upon the president here to allow the investigation, the russia investigation being led by an offshoot of the fbi, to continue forward unimpeded. Senator john mccain put out a statement saying just the other day. Chris that brings me to you, because i think its fair to say the president and his comments has left the door wide open to doing something to stop the investigation. He was asked about Rod Rosenstein, the one person who can either fire or limit the mueller, the Deputy Attorney general and said do you still have confidence, and he said you figure that out, which i dont think left much doubt about what he feels. If, and i just want to repeat, if the president were to decide to do something either to get rid of rosenstein, to get rid of mueller, to limit the investigation, where that just be another political controversy, or are we now in saturday night massacre constitutional crisis mode . If the president were to fire bob mueller, which i do not believe that he will do. Talk about it last year, he pulled back with his white house counsel, threatened to resign. That would put washington at devcon one and it would be a huge crisis. If the media would go absolutely crazy. If you were to fire Rod Rosenstein, that would be devcon two. I dont know if it would be worth the political price because it would give the impression, especially after firing jim comey, that the president was acting like he had something to hide. To come back to the contents of the memo. The former british spy Christopher Steele who wrote that russian dossier, he hated donald trump, he lied to the fbi, tried to manipulate the media, but when all that was going on with the fisa application, bob mueller was a private citizen. He doesnt have any involvement in the event. Because you had a republican chairman releasing this over the fierce objection of the fbi and the level of pregame hype worthy of the super bowl, and now you have democrats counterattacking. I think the contents of the memo itself is just been completely lost and drowned out by the partisan sniping on both sides. Chris jonathan, i want to ask you one final question in all of this. What are your sources at the white house indicating to you . Do they get the sense that the president i know its hard to predict what President Trump is going to do that the president will try to wait the Mueller Investigation out, that perhaps he feels hes done enough damage to the credibility of it and he will take whatever hit he takes . Or do you think its still an open question as to whether he might try either directly through mueller or indirectly through rosenstein to end the investigation prematurely . The very fact that he keeps his attorneys employed as a signal that President Trump is willing for the moment with their strategy of cooperating entirely. There is a big change that i dont think people realize how profound the change was when trump got rid of his old lawyer, who defended him in all sorts of cases in new york, and brought in ty cobb, who really advocated a 180degree switch in strata joy, lets cooperate entirely. Lets give them everything, and lets try and bring this to a close. Complaining about rosenstein, complaining what mueller, has said thing to a staff that made them nervous, i dont get any sense that any change like that is immanent because i think hes entire legal team will resign if you move to fire either rosenstein or mueller. Chris do you get the sense that he will actually sit down and participate in an interview with mueller . When he said that to the reporters in that impromptu briefing, that freaked out his legal team because they are not entirely cool with this idea of the freewheeling conversation between the president and bob mueller. Ty cobb is set on the record hes worried that it could be a perjury trap. I think again we got tensions between his legal team and the president of the United States, who was full of confidence and wants to do it. I suspect he will actually end up sitting down with mueller but i dont know what terms will be negotiated, with the spirit of questioning will be. I suspect his legal team will be right happy if they can avoid that scenario. Chris we will have to take a break here, but when we come back, deadlock over the dreamers prompted the last Government Shutdown. Now congress is up against a thursday deadline, yes, this thursday, to pass another fun day miller we see another compromise or will Congress Just kick the can down the road for another few weeks . So tonight i am extending an open hand to work with members of both parties, democrats and republicans, to protect our citizens of every background, color, religion, and creed. Chris President Trump appealing for Common Ground in a state of the Union Address this week, and we are back now with the panel. The president laid out his agenda for 2018, and he touted the Strong Economy that we saw at the end of 2017 and are it ss to be having a political impact. Take a lookhe end of 2017, demos led republi congressional ballot bylm just a month later thats down to seven points and in at only three. Hisnd especially with the Strong Economy, is i prospects for the 2018 midterms . I think things are starting e republicans in 2018. At the end of the year, you had all of t drama and you had Roy Roy Moore is not in the senate. The tax cuts that was able to pass on that pretty much Party Line Vote are about to take is doing really well notwithstanding the hick up in the stock market on friday. A lot of peoplelittle wealthiery were seeing their 401 k s go up. You put all those together, and the bipartisan speech to congress, the pundits picked apart. It seems to me things are looking better for g. O. P. Now. Having said that, all of the outrage is on the democratic side and the house i think is still very much in play. Nancy pelosi and company are going to have to come up with some kind of agenda for 2018. They cant just run that donald trump is a bad guy and we want to get rid of them because that didnt work very well in 2016, did it mx we will me ask about that. If on the one hand youve got the antitrump fervor, and a substantive disagreement on issues like health care, like immigration, which we will get to in a moment. On the other hand, people feel better off in their pocketbooks. How do you assess those two . Usually the economy is the most important thing in less we are in the middle of an awful war. That generally will helps republicans. One of the mysteries here has been Donald TrumpsApproval Ratings have, until recently remained so stubbornly starkly low despite the fact that the economy, were almost at full employment. I do think politically immigration remains such a hotbutton issue, and we have to see how this is going to play out because substitute lay of the two sides are not that far apart. He thought he had to deal a few weeks ago and the president has come and offered and made a goodfaith offer to more than double the number of dreamers who would receive protection. So the question is, is trump really willing to take the heat, as he said, from his bays in making a deal with the democrat democrats, and the democrats, with a rather heavy issue in 2018 or would they rather protect the dreamers and move on to other issues . Chris they may not be so far apart on the issues, but they are far apart rhetorically. If you want a sense of just how far apart republicans and democrats are on trying to get a daca deal to protect the dreamers, just listen to these comments this week from President Trump and nancy pelos nancy pelosi. We presented congress with a detailed proposal that should be supported by both parties as a fair compromise. One where nobody gets everything they want, but where our country gets the Critical Reforms it needs and must have. It was dangerous what he said last night, and it has instilled fear. As a say over and over, what hes doing brings tears to the eyes of the statue of liberty. Chris mo, the white house seems to think they have box democrats and by making this big concession that they would offer a path to citizenship in ten or 12 years for almost 2 million either dreamers or people eligible to come under that, but in response, they would have to accept a real crackdown on legal and illegal immigration. Our democrats in a box . I dont think so. We will have to see how it plays out. I agree with how howard that te is actual room here for a bipartisan solution. You have democrats and republicans were coming to the table and seemed to be willing to find a deal that protects the dreamers while also increasing border security. We were close to a deal and on the president is throwing in this huge wrinkled of limiting legal immigration, and that is something that i think a good number of republicans on the hill are even saying thats a step too far. The question i actually would turn around is ask, if the president is really interested in making a deal. I think the numbers that you just show their reflected exploit reenergizing of the republican base. I think that is what is narrowing the gap in that horse race. For the president to continue to do that, he cant be seen as abandoning the people who got him elected to office and those people do not want to see a deal that protects the dreamers. Chris we got about 3 minutes left, so i want to get to our other two panelists. Gillian, it seems to me democrats are little boxed into the degree that their base wants them to use all the leverage they can to get a daca deal, but on the other hand, if theyre trying to shut down the government, the public really doesnt want to shut down the government. No, and mo is right, there is room an opportunity for a bipartisan solution but in order to get there both sides of the aisle have to acknowledge and recognize that. The problem here is that this is very hard for congress to grasp, that two things can be true at once. The American People spoke forcefully in poll after poll in january. They care about the plight of dreamers. They want a solution that can keep them in the country. At the same time, the majority of the americans dont want the plight of the dreamers to shutdown the federal government. They dont want the issue of immigration at large to jeopardize the function of the federal government. Its incumbent upon congress to figure out the legislative solution to that problem. What we are seeing right now is still folks retreating to their opposite side of the room and hunkering down for a long fight. Congress not acting in the interest of the American People. Chris let me bring in jonathan on the prospects for a deal. The president has made it clear that he wants to hold firm. We will give a pass to citizenship for the dreamers, but he wants an end to what he calls chain migration. He wants an end to the visa lottery. Thats pretty unacceptable at this point to democrats. Do you get the sense the president is willing to hold firm, have no deal and see dreamers conceivably start being deported . Ive never had that sense, and nor have people inside the white house. The president has always been reluctant to let daca end and has always saw that opening as a negotiating ploy to get leverage and to be fair, he has gained leverage from this, but im very pessimistic about the prospects of a deal because i think whatever the senate will pass i dont see how the senate, which is far left of the house, whatever they pass, i just dont see how paul ryan politically can put that on the floor and pass it. I actually think its going to be really messy and im not particularly optimistic that a deal is going to get done. Chris ten seconds, jonathan, is there a Government Shutdown this week or not . No, i think they get a shortterm funding bill with democratic votes. Chris thank you, panel. If see you next sunday. Maybe i will allow you to come back here. I kind of like this Long Distance conversation. We will be right back with some thoughts. Heres the thing, just because i co doesnt mean it really exists at a dealership. But with truecar, i get real pricing in my ar, i see what others paid for them and they show me the ones a truecar certified dealer and itll be right there waiting for me. This is truecar. [ click, keyboard clacking ] [ keyboard clacking ] [ click, keyboard clacking ] good questions lead to good answers. Our advisors can help you find both. Talk to one today and see why were bullish on the future. Yours. Talk to one today and see why were bullish on the future. Were here when youre ready. Chris we promise to pay the electricity bill and get back to normal next week, and in the meantime, i want to thank a whole lot of people in new york and washington who worked through the night putting together teleprompters and lights and all kinds of communications and computers to get us on the air at all. Thats it for today. Have a great week, and we will see you right back here next Fox News Sunday. 32 two games start ed. The changed to autumn then the bugging winds of winter and when it did. Only two were left standing. Its a tremendous feel. I cry hasnt then p its all about the ga this day, that game. The eagles just min