rock star treatment when he shows up as president tomorrow. doug mckelway is at cpac. one of the president's renamed it tpac. >> since 1973 the nation's largest conservative political conference has gathered for its annual convention but this year changes afoot. the candidate who refused an invitation to speak your last year is now the standardbearer of a republican party that holds not just the presidency but both houses of congress, more than two-thirds of state legislatures and 31 governor's office is buried >> he's creating a whole new shift in politics. his presidency and has a administration is going to be just that. like something we've never seen. >> she may have harbored -- -- go >> trump brought a lot of new people. probably people in this crowd that wouldn't have been here before. >> the convention marks the first time a first-year president will speak since ronald reagan. trump is scheduled to address the crowd tomorrow. white house chief of staff reince priebus joined by the often seen but seldom heard advisor steve bannon, both offering insight into the workings of the white house inner circle. >> we share an office, we are basically together from 6:30 in the morning until about 11:00 at night. >> i have a thing called the war room. he has a fireplace. nice so far is. >> profound contrast to mainstream media reports of a chaotic operation and the portrayal of bannon often demonized as the dark figure behind a racist, anti-semitic alt-right while he was publisher of breitbart. >> you are a likable guy. you should do this more often. >> if you remember the campaign was the most chaotic, by the medias description, most chaotic, disorganized, unprofessional. and then you saw them crying and weeping that might. >> bannon went further, posting this morning. >> corporatist globalist media. they are opposed, adamantly opposed to an economic nationalist agenda like donald trump has. >> we expect to see more of that tomorrow when the president takes the stage. his constant refrain of attacks against the media. interesting first amendment questions that bannon and priebus both addressed today. sang their boss is doing exactly what he said he would do. >> bret: thank you. the panel will address cpac and little bit. i will have an extended interview with senator ted cruz. he won the cpac straw poll last year. tax reform is a big topic at cpac and it was also a winning issue today the white house where president trump met with top business leaders. chief white house correspondent john roberts joins us from the north along with the latest. >> good evening. their regrets and others are telling just about anybody that the president's plans for tax reform will blow a huge hole in the deficit but among the people the president is counting on to grow the economy, the plan appears to be pretty popular. >> thank you, everybody. >> it was a who's who of american manufacturing at the white house today. ceos from gm, ford, dow chemical, 3m, and more. all anxious to hear president trump's plans to reduce regulations and reform taxes. >> my administration policies and regulatory reforms, tax reforms, great policies. they will return significant manufacturing jobs to our country. >> the president and republicans are an almost lockstep over tax reform, differing only on the size of the corporate tax cuts, personal deductions and a border transfer tax that the president today told reuters he is warming to the idea of a border tax. >> i certainly support a form of tax on the border because everybody else does. where one of the very few countries, possibly the only country, that has no border tax. >> while tax reform is months away, the ceos here today like what they see on the horizon. >> some of us have said this is probably the most purposeful and administration since the founding fathers. >> other groups are less pleased. a small but noisy group of protesters gathered down pennsylvania avenue last night to protest the administration rescinding obama-era guidance that public schools must allow transgender students to use the bathroom of their choice. in a statement, the human rights campaign insisted this isn't a states rights issue, it's a civil rights issue. the white house had a different take. >> does white house disagree with the position that this is a civil rights? >> it's not a question of whether it's a civil rights, appropriately addressed at the state level. >> while the press secretary yesterday seemed to indicate a softening of the white house's war with the media, the president senior strategist unloaded with both barrels, warning as the president makes progress with the agenda, the battles with the media will only get bigger. >> is going to get worse because he's going to continue to press his agenda and as economic conditions get better, more jobs get better, they are going to continue to fight. if you think they're going to give you your country back without a fight, you are sadly mistaken. every day, every day it is going to be a fight. >> tuesday, the president will lay out the detail of what he is fighting for in his address to a joint session of congress. his speech will have a special focus on public safety and economic opportunity. >> bret: john roberts, thank you. attorney general jeff sessions has overruled another of president obama's moves. the sessions has rescinded a memo telling the bureau of prisons to begin reducing and eliminating its use of privately run prisons. sessions assess the directive contradicts long-standing justice department policy and impairs the bureau's ability to meet the future needs of the correction system. former house speaker john boehner says he laughed when president trump and republican lawmakers promised swift action on repealing or placing obamacare. political reports he told a health care conference in florida "it's not going to happen." he says republicans never ground health care. white house press secretary sean spicer did not direct the respondent said he thinks a more sensible plan will be approved. president trump's top demand is admitting that u.s. relations with mexico have been damaged in recent weeks and the presidents homeland security chief seems to be contradicting or at least clarifying what his boss said on one key aspect of immigration policy. those are some of the headlines out of today's meetings in mexico city. correspondent rich edson is there tonight. >> secretary of homeland security john calle says the united states will enforce its immigration laws humanely, and coronation with mexican officials and without the u.s. military. >> there will be no use of military forces in immigration. at least half of you try to get that right. >> earlier at the white house, though white house describes the operations like this. >> we are getting really bad dudes out of this country. see military operation. stick with the white house as the president use the term to describe the precision, not the personnel, of the operations. kelly denied the u.s. would pursue mastic rotations. kelly and secretary of state rex tillerson are in mexico meeting with her counterparts and mexico's president. while the white house touted the relationship that's phenomenal, tillerson acknowledged problems. >> in a relationship filled with vibrant colors, two strong sovereign countries from time to time will have differences. >> the mexican government has been more forthcoming in his objections, describing u.s. policy proposals on rhetoric as an irritation, prompting aggressive and negative feelings. mexico rejects the trump administration's plan to allow the u.s. government to potentially deport nonmexicans to mexico. >> translator: we have expressed our concern about the increase of deportations and possibility of the citizens of other countries being sent back to our territory so they can wait for a legal resolution pay >> the trump administration says the countries have agreed to avoid discussing the u.s. plan to build a border wall and mexico's expense. in the past week, senior u.s. lawmakers have also visited the region. house speaker paul ryan toward the southern border and three democrats on the senate foreign relations committee met with mexican officials in mexico city. they and other democrats wrote to secretary tillerson and kelly that "president trump's commentary is damaging this critical bilateral relationship and endangering u.s. national security." the trump administration is considering renegotiating aspects of the one and a half billion dollar daily trade relationship between the united states and mexico. as early as today, the mexican economic minister said if those talks fail, mexico will consider placing tariffs on u.s. goods. >> bret: rich edson in mexico city. stocks were mixed. dow gained 35. for a tenth straight record close. s&p 500 was up 1. nasdaq dropped 25. steven mnuchin says he wants to see a tax reform package get through congress by midsummer. it's one of several bold goals laid out by the president's new moneyman. he talked with fox business networks correspondent today. >> tax reform and a rollback of regulations the most important economic policy toward igniting economic growth right now. treasury secretary steven mnuchin told me today he hopes to have the tax reform plan out by august of this year. he's not expecting it to have a significant impact on economic growth until next year. >> tax reform is our number one objective. we think it's critical to getting the economic growth we need to make sure that the middle income gets a tax cut. we need to make sure businesses are competitive with the rest of the world. there are trillions of dollars offshore that will come back and this will create jobs, investments and we need to make sure our u.s. businesses are competitive. >> the administration and the tax reform plan call for cutting taxes for the house plan calls for a border adjustment tax which will mean importers will pay a tax on the products they produce overseas but then sell back to american consumers. they say that will raise $1 trillion in revenue over ten years. that would quell the critics who say you cannot cut taxes and not have a plan to pay for it, given the countries debt. it's unclear if the border tax will garner the votes in the senate to pass but both sides are looking at some alternatives to raising revenue while cutting taxes for most americans. the rollback and regulations is also critical here. so many industries have been hammered in the last ten years by compliance and new regulations. that alone, they believe, will unleash a lot of new economic activity and create economic growth. >> bret: maria, thank you. overseas iraqi forces backed by u.s. troops have fought their way into a sprawling military base outside muscle. it's the latest gain in the operation to drive isis terrorist from the country's second-largest city. today they chairman of the joint chief said the u.s. and its allies must cut off isis terrorists from their pipeline of foreign fighters. >> obviously the flow of foreign fighters and we estimate probably over 100, 120 countries have provided 45,000 foreign fighters to syria and iraq alone. alone. working domination with local forces and coalition forces to drive this -- the threat down so they can deal with it. planning and conducting operations against the united states and i think it's our first priority. >> president trump has given military leaders until the end of the month to come up with a winning strategy against isis. up next, i go one-on-one with ted cruz from cpac. here's what our affiliates are coming. fox dakota, authorities arrest more protesters who refused to leave a campsite near the dakota access pipeline. they have shut down a transition center. fox thousands of people evacuated from san jose, they return home amid warnings to be careful about hygiene and handling food. for 2,000 residents were forced from their homes by flooding earlier this week. around 3800 main under mandatory evacuation. this is a live look at new york from our affiliate fox 5. one of the big stories there, a lower-than-expected price tag on protecting the first family. the city says it costs about $24 million to guard the trump family and trump tower between the election and the inauguration. that's about $11 million less than predicted. police commissioner says he's written to the states congressional delegation delegation to seek reimbursement. that's tonight's live look outside the beltway from "special report." 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's to go a lot of washington democrats out of their minds. they're in a state of denial and they are in the state of rage. they are angry. not at republicans, not even a trump. they are angry at the american people, the voters. how dare you elect a republican president and republican majorities in both houses? i am calling it trump derangement syndrome. they are out of their minds. keith ellison, i give him credit for one thing, truth in advertising. the democrats, the lesson they took from the election is they think hillary was to moderate in their part me is going in the direction of bernie sanders and elizabeth warren. were going to see more of that rather than less. >> bret: you are a constitutionalist. are you concerned about business ties and the emoluments clause? >> i think those are reasonable questions for people to race and they should be examined and looked at. there's always a role for congress to hold any president accountable and that should be true of republican or democrat. but the democrats are not in the mode of raising reasonable questions. they are in the mode of losing their minds, screaming. it's not showing respect for the democratic process. not showing respect for the voters. that's unfortunate. >> bret: you said some tough things about candidate donald trump. he said some tough things about you. i'm not going to play you a sound bite because -- >> i remember. >> bret: have you talked to president trump? to go sure. i've talked to the president many, many times since the election. when i expressed is this is an historic opportunity. we've got to deliver. i told him going to do everything i can to roll up my sleeves and go to work helping lead the fight. to accomplish what we promised the voters prayed i believe we are poised for this to be the most productive congress in decades and if we deliver on our promises, we are going to repeal obamacare finally. and replace it. we're going to replace it with patient-centered health care reform that puts you in charge of your health care with your doctor without government getting in the way. lower cost and more choices and more ability to control your own health care and on top of that, i believe were going to confirm judge gorsuch, a strong constitutionalist, to the supreme court and we are going to pass fundamental tax reform. if we do all of that, 2017 will be a historical year to unleash economic growth. >> bret: let's talk specifics. tax reform, there seem to be some hurdles. it's going to be rolled out in the coming weeks but are you for the border adjustment which is a tax on imports coming from other countries? >> the details of tax reform are going to be worked out in the course of the year. right now we are in the middle of obamacare repeal. tax reform is likely to happen this summer or this fall. there are different approaches. i think we're going to get it done. >> bret: split on some of these big issues. >> we are going to debate and arrive on the best solutions. i will tell you what i am urging president trump and what i am urging republican the both houses. it's be bold and be simple. if you're going to do tax reform and i believe we are, don't do something small and incremental just nibbling around the edges. do something big and meaningful. unleashing the economy and creating millions of new jobs. >> bret: we are approaching another fiscal cliff. debt ceiling increases march 15th. you have a history with the debt ceiling fight. what about this upcoming increase? >> history has shown the debt ceiling is consistently one of the best vehicles to pass meaningful reform. i hope the new administration purchased these as opportunities to get our fiscal house in order. to address the debt and the deficit that is bankrupting our kids and grandkids. it's going to be a moment for the new administration and leaders in congress to stand up and fight for what we believe. >> bret: you defended the shutdown understanding up about obamacare. back in 2013. there was a lot of criticism about it at the time. the shutdown itself, some estimates that it cost the economy $24 billion. 120,000 jobs in two weeks. what you tell president trump about the fight, considering how you've looked at it in the past? >> let me be clear. i didn't defend the shutdown. >> bret: you defended standing up for obamacare defunding. >> what i said repeatedly in the midst of the shutdown, we shouldn't shut the government down. i voted over and over again to fund the federal government, fund the entirety of the federal government but not obamacare. it was harry reid and nancy pelosi and barack obama who shut the government down. they said if you don't fund this failed health care law we will shut everything down. that was irresponsible. one prominent paper did an editorial calling it a -- in 2014, cruise single-handedly is going to keep harry reid as majority leader." the prediction didn't come true. it was widely disproven. we won historic victories. we won nine senate seats. a big part of the reason for that is the fight over obamacare the people were energized. the fight over obamacare is also a major reason president trump defeated hillary clinton. obamacare isn't working in the american people are fed up with this disastrous law. >> bret: bottom line, you would say to the trump administration, get something for the debt ceiling increase. >> that's the principle going forward, that we should be fixing the problem. >> bret: i heard you today say there could be a supreme court vacancy by the summer. do you know something we don't? >> no inside information. most of my professional career has been as a supreme court litigator and i know the court well. i think the odds are good we will see a vacancy this summer or next summer. i think were going to see another vacancy. justices don't like it when people nudge them out, so they will go when they decide to go. the next vacancy, which is going to be the opportunity to shift the course of the court, to put a five justice majority of constitutionalists, it's going to be armageddon. we need to be prepared to make the case to the american people. >> bret: do you want to be considered? a guy very happy in the senate. it's a real privilege to represent 27 million texans. the senate is the arena, it's the battleground. everyone of these fights, confirming conservatives to the court or repealing obamacare, or passing a flat tax, all are being fought in the senate and i'm thrilled to be in the arena. >> bret: when you look at the first 30 days, do you think through the prism of what you have been through, what you would do differently as president and do you have the bug to run again? >> one step at a time. i have the bug. i am running again. i'm running for reelection in texas. you wouldn't be alive if there aren't some moments of wistful thinking prayed we came very close. we were in a 17 person field and we were the last man standing but we didn't win. i respect the democratic process. president trump won and so my focus now is not on the political side of things. it is on delivering on our promises. >> bret: thanks for the time. more with the panel wrapping up cpac and all the developments today a little bit later. the mayor of san jose, san jose, california, says the city failed to notify residents properly about the flooding that drenched the area earlier this week. we told you a little about that earlier. you might think the heavy rains would have ended the political battle over water in the golden state. adam housley tells us that that's not true. >> for five years, the golden state was parched. even though california has had one of the wettest winters on record, the water crisis continues. >> it is dams we need to, storage. in california we have a problem. we just don't have enough of them. from >> the southern california water district is well prepared but thinks most of the rest of the state is not. voters approved a water bond in 2014. >> them money as they are. there is money at the federal level, the local level. the money has been approved numerous times by the state voters. it is the lack to invest and build it. >> we've got a lot of work to do. >> governor jerry brown has focused much of his attention on a rail project while others in the state has advocated for better, stronger dams, levees and reservoirs. environmental -- >> stuff happens and we respond. >> and a process where successful projects contact -- can take a decade or longer. it can cost $100 billion to repair and upgrade the water system. why should anyone outside this daycare? >> the amount of crops we grow, it's a significant source of water but the engine of the economy of california is driven by water. >> like politics, the weather in california has never been predictable. there were nine multi-your droughts. almost every single one was ended by flood with a fraction of the water captured. >> bret: the arkansas supreme court struck down a city ordinance banning determination based on sexual orientation or identity. connecticut's governor signed an executive order reversing president trump's reversal of an obama-era rule on transgender's and public-school bathrooms. casey stegall has some answers. >> the lunchtime crowd here. customers seem far more concerned about the smoked brisket rather which bathrooms people use in public. >> what's the big deal? >> they are making a big deal about nothing. it's too divisive. people should get along and let it be. to go the lone star state is 1 of 14 across the nation where lawmakers are currently considering some form of bathroom legislation. >> why are you wasting the energy on it? >> in texas, senate bill 6 would require people to use public bathrooms or locker rooms based on the gender listed on their birth certificate. >> it protects women and it protects teenagers and children in school. >> proponents celebrated a victory this week. the trump administration did away with guidelines set by president obama last may which required public schools to allow students to use the restroom based on the gender they identify with. >> it's confuses the kids when a little boy or a little girl goes into a boys restroom. >> not everybody agrees with allowing such wide freedoms. >> well, it's just not right for somebody who thinks their woman may have to use women's plumbing. doesn't add up. >> the decision puts the political hot potato back in the hands of individual states in texas, a vote on the measure could come soon. ultimately states have to decide if there legislation is worth te potential financial risk. up to $8.5 billion, one study estimates, here in texas. corporations think they don't want to do business here because they say they don't support discrimination. >> bret: thank you. just in, the supreme court will handle the transgender case march 28 and it's asking all sides to submit their views by wednesday, march 1. what do you think of president trump's action on transgender bathrooms, rolling back the obama era rule. let me know on twitter at @bretbaier. use the hashtag #specialreport. or on facebook at facebook.com/bretbaiersr. conservative flocking to washington for cpac. we will be seeing mike pence address the crowd. we will talk about with the panel what they are talking panel what they are talking about at cpac when we comeeeee e to pass on everything i know. one thing i've learned is that when all eyes are on me, i can't have any doubts. especially when it comes to what i'm wearing... it needs to fit my body just right. looking good on stage is one thing. but real confidence comes from feeling good out there. try the improved fit of new depend silhouette briefs. get a free sample at depend.com. >> i think if you look at the opposition party and how they have portrayed the campaign, how they portrayed their transition and now they are portraying the administration, it's always wrong. the campaign was the most chaotic by the media's description, most chaotic, unorganized, unprofessional. and then you saw them crying and weeping that night. they are corporatist globalist media. they are adamantly opposed, adamantly opposed to an economic nationalist agenda like donald trump has. hold us accountable to what we promise. hold us accountable for delivering on what we promise. >> bret: steve bannon, chief strategist, senior advisor to the president. a lot of people have never heard his voice before. it does not sound like darth vader. it sounds like the chief strategist talking today at cpa cpac, the conservative meeting happening now. waiting for vice president pence to speak. let's bring in the panel. mollie hemingway, senior editor at the federalist. susan page, washington bureau chief. charles krauthammer. mollie, your thoughts on the message and the delivery at cpac. >> great discussion between reince priebus and steve bannon. we've had so many things coming out of the white house and honestly -- anonymously sourced pay they had a great discussion but it was interesting that he said they would like the support of conservatives. they also need them to hold the administration a combo so that the pressure they are getting inside d.c. is to moderate the t them to the white house and he was asking the crowds to make sure they do what they promised to do during the campaign. >> bret: clearly the fight against the media that he refers to as the opposition party is going to continue. they think that's a winning strategy. >> doesn't seem to like the mainstream media. certainly not backing off from a fight. he said it's not going to get better. it's going to get worse. i guess i think that's right. if this kind of rhetoric persists in persistently attitude towards the press is the opposition party. the whole cpac thing is interesting because when reagan was elected president, it was the first cpac i covered. reagan's embrace of cpac signaled the conservative takeover of the republican party. i think what we saw today was trump's stamp on the movement because i didn't see any protests against trump, even though trump is not a traditional conservative. there are some adjustments going on both sides but it's a significant political force. it's a conservative movement and the republican party are in sync very distorted last year, canada trump did not show up to the event. he didn't when win the straw p. ted cruz won the straw poll. today, kellyanne conway said it's no longer cpac. it is tpac, trump pac. >> i think susan is right. this is a coming together of the conservative movement or at least part of it. this is mostly the younger, more edgy part, the one that would've been more receptive to a milo presentation. i think it marks an important moment and what was interesting was bannon. he came in. he had no horns. he sounded rather amiable. on the other hand he was absolutely unswerving and he sort of gave intellectual have to do trump. he was specific about the goals. foreign policy, domestic economic policy and what he called the undoing of the administrative state, the first volume the war was a abolition of the bathroom bill or at least the directive coming from hhs. the federal government has no business here essentially. in the cabinet opponents. it was a plus for them and presented a picture that for many conservatives. not all, some have trouble with the trade issue in the production is an issue but for many conservatives it was a homecoming. >> bret: mollie, the words "economic nationalist agenda." he said it many times. also said they are going to fight every day and it's going to be a fight every day to kind of break the china, the bull in the china shop. >> the term economic nationalist agenda he used in part to talk about how different parts of the movement can come together. whether you are a social conservative, libertarian, economic nationalist. there is a belief that the nation has a culture and an economy and it's important. i was concerned. kellyanne conway said it's going to be tpac instead of cpac. it's wonderful to see trump reaching out to the grassroots. mike pence went to the pro-life march. unprecedented for any republican administration. you saw how president obama completely took over his party and it was very difficult to criticize president obama from within the democratic party. worked well for him but at the end of eight years, there was kind of a shell of a party. he had lost over 1,000 feet at the federal, state, local level. without obama, there's not much there. the conservative movement needs to understand where its interests align with trump and where they don't pray they need to keep holding him accountable. >> bret: betsy devos, talking out there is not a free lunch. >> i am betsy devos. you may have heard some of the wonderful things they mainstream media has called me lately. i however pride myself on being called a mother, a grandmother, a life partner of 38 years tomorrow, and for half the first person to tell bernie sanders to his face that there's no such thing as a free lunch. >> bret: obviously speaking to the choir here about school choice and she is hitting a lot of those tones. when you look at the reaction to betsy devos and you see what she said today, there's a disconnect. >> one of the interesting things is who would have thought the education secretary would be come the center of so much controversy given the fact it's a secondary agency especially when you're talking about the federal role in education. yet she was the cabinet official that needed mike pence's vote to get confirmation. she's become a rallying cry at the town hall meetings by democrats challenging republicans who voted for her confirmation. on issues like school choice, issues like the transgender rule. i agree it's a moment that signals that we are going to see this over and over again on other rules that were important to liberals and got the -- conservatives are going to be turning them over. >> she came out there like the new sarah palin with good syntax. she sort of like what kilpatrick came in the 1980s, an unlikely target. she was a target and she prevailed. there is no tonic like winning. i think if you can believe the reporting of the opposition, mainstream media, she was against reversing the obama rule on the bathrooms. nonetheless she lost the internal struggle to jeff sessions but i think it's a signal that they're going to take a wrecking ball to the idea that this country should be governed by bureaucrats interpreting laws that were written 30 years ago that could not possibly have had these current issues in mind. i hope they will apply that to climate change when that was not an issue at the time that the epa was created. and the carbon issue should be cut out of the epa regulations great >> bret: there was a lot of applause at cpac today for a lot of the policies but it was not a day without controversy. there was a little bit of a cleanup. talking about the operation along the border. >> president trump: you see what's happening at the border. we are getting gang members out, getting drug lords out, we are getting really bad dudes out of the country. at a rate nobody has ever seen before. they are the bad ones. it's a military operation. >> there will be no, repeat no mass deportations. everything we do at dhs will be done legally and according to human rights and the legal justice to some the united states. i repeat there will be no use of military forces in immigration. it's >> bret: mollie we've seen this a couple times where the president says something off the cough and there's a clarification. he was talking about the type of operation, not the forces but homeland security making it clear there's no military involvement. >> this will be the ultimate challenge and how to cover donald trump are not totally new. we've known he's imprecise imprecise with his language. we've never had a president who was so imprecise with fizzling which grade he communicates larger issues pray that resonates with a lot of people in sikkim and upon those of us who do cover them to know what are the actions taking place as opposed to the overheated rhetoric even though the overheated rhetoric is useful as a bully pulpit to move public opinion. >> it's obvious he meant military style. you add that in brackets and everything is fixed. >> i don't know. if you are a trump supporter, i think you think it doesn't matter. but if you're not a trump supporter, it's one more barrier to coming around to his side. it's one of the reasons he's had trouble expanding his base of support since election day. >> i give him a pass on this. >> bret: is president trump making headway with congress on making headway with congress on tax reform? did you know slow internet can actually hold your business back? say goodbye to slow downloads, slow backups, slow everything. comcast business offers blazing fast and reliable internet that's over 6 times faster than slow internet from the phone company. say hello to internet speeds up to 250 mbps. and add phone and tv for only $34.90 more a month. call today. comcast business. built for business. >> president trump: we are going to have a corporate tax cuts but were going to have other things that are very good and were going to have a tremendous regulatory cut but i certainly support a form of tax on the border. because everybody else does. we are the only country, one of the very few countries, possibly the only country that has no border tax. >> tax reform is our number one objective. we think it's critical to getting the economic growth. we need to make sure the middle income gets a tax cut. our timeline as we are going to try to get this done by august. we are focused on an aggressive timeline. >> bret: treasury secretary and the president. if the president meeting with ceos today. many of them talking mother discussion about tax reform and how they're going to fast track it in congress. we are back with the panel. mollie, is there a sense of the border taxes going to be the sticking point or is there a sense that this administration has some kind of leverage with congress to push this through? to go i think what it shows is the treasury secretary and the president understand how it was that trump was able to be elected. we had a bad economy under president obama. last year, 1.6% growth in gdp. the only president who didn't have gdp growth over 3% for his entire time. a lot of people were frustrated with the sluggish economy. something is going to happen. in corporate tax rates you will see room for improvement. we have some of the highest corporate tax rates. it's clearly a drain on jobs and cash resources and it needs to get back to the country. >> bret: he did work the room with the ceos and he feels comfortable in that environment. >> i think he loves that setting but he's incorrect when he says there is consensus about a border tax. when you asked ted cruz, he wouldn't answer. he said we are going to work out the details. that's a pretty big detail to still need to work out. in august timeline, aggressive hardly describes it. especially if it's going to wait in line between repeal and replace of the affordable care act. >> bret: let's play this. yes argue for the border adjustment? speak of the details of tax reform are going to be worked out. we are in the middle of obamacare repeal. that is dominating most of the time and energy. tax reform is likely to happen this summer or this fall. >> bret: split with republicans on these issues. >> we are going to debate it. what i am urging president trump and republicans in the house, be bold and simple. >> the border taxes complicated, difficult to understand, and incredibly intrusive. it's about as intrusive a step as you can imagine for government to step in. a whole category of industries in the economy, export oriented, are going to gain and the import oriented are going to lose. this is to produce $100 billion of revenue a year. within the scheme of things, it's a drop in the bucket. so many other ways of doing it. you could do a refundable gasoline tax, carbon tax. if you need the money she did that way. the whole point of tax reform is to eliminate loopholes, favors, all kinds of cutouts. simplify. that was the secret of the reagan tax reform and to simplify the entire scheme, you lower rates. you take out the loopholes. that's the program. to complicate it with something that has tremendous resistance in the senate is a huge mistake. >> bret: what did you take from the interview? these are complicated thing and there was a major tax overhaul. it took a consensous to come together and they were facing cent percent income individual tax rates. something that people wanted to change. and it will be difficult to get done in a short period of time. >> up next, saying gooddddd >> finally tonight, the fox family lost two of its own. allen combes and brenda buckener host of bull and bears, back in october 7th, a prime time debate show hit the air waves that helped to send fox news to the top. >> bob dole proved a better future of america. >> and drive the deficit up. sometimes to be successful all you have to do is show up. >> allen showed up 14 years before leaving hanity. and then hosted the weeknight talk radio program run by fox and sirius xm. >> i mean, hillary clinton is called everything from a marxist and in terms of her political views, why is it surprising she would take a liberal position, that's what you do in a primary. >> as we told you, . . . same. she caught up with a certain businessman after a week after 9/11. >> the market suffered a little bit. but it is down seven percent. was that the shake out we needed. >> i think so and hope so. >> we say a final good by to the >> we say a final good by to the >> he is a fighter, he is a winner and i promise you he will never stop fighting until yes make america great again. [cheers and applause] >> president trump put in the best cabinet in the history of cabinet. >> we never had a doubt and donald trump never had a doubt that he was going to win. >> all right, it is friday february 24th, the trump team covering up the crowd before the president takes up the stage in cpac. heather: democratic governor under fire for ignoring president trump's immigration order and now an angel mom is sending him a powerful message. >> i'm outraged. it's just wrong. it's wrong. it's not right. >> also terrifying homes on the tarmac when a plane packed with people slams right into the runway. "fox & friends first" starts right now. ♪ ♪ heather: good morning, it is a lovely day. it is friday. the end of the week. you're watching "fox & friends first" this morning, i'm heather childers. >> and i'm rob schmit, good morning to you. the first president to do so since ronald reagan. heather: that's right, a rousing first day with headliner mike pence rallying the crowd. rob: good morning, griff. >> hey, rob and heather, good morning, i'm outside the hotel where cpac is being held because the secret service has cleared the building and sweeping it in anticipation of the important and historic speech in the many ways because president trump will be the first president to speak to cpac in first time and that's exactly what vice president mike pence did last night. take