south carolina, they said donald trump is right now in a commanding situation, and that is true across the country. >> bret: karl, very quickly, is there still this part of the republican party that is, we need something in case of emergency to break glass and have a backup? >> karl: i think we'll see in new hampshire. new hampshire is a different place than iowa and i suspect a little more friendly to the arguments that are being made by nikki haley and ron desantis. that's why we have elections and why we have a primary contest, so we can play this out. >> bret: thank you all, and thank you for joining us. it's been a big night. we will see you next week in new hampshire. >> martha: it's been a big week. we look forward to coverage next week in new hampshire. that is our iowa caucus evening. we thank you very much for being with us. coming up next, stay tuned for more coverage of this election with "fox news @ night," trace gallagher. >> bret: good night, everybody. >> martha: good night, everybody. ♪ ♪

>> trace: martha, bret, thank you. good evening, i'm trace gallagher. it's midnight on the east coast, 9:00 here in los angeles, 11:00 p.m. in iowa, and this is america's late news, "fox news @ night." there is breaking news tonight, the vote is in and former president trump took a commanding and historic lead in the iowa caucuses tonight, winning by the largest margin ever in that state. he told fox news he is honored and invigorated by the results. meantime, also huge news, ron desantis now projected to win the iowa silver. meantime, coming in second place is desantis with nikki haley just a few points behind, and as you can see, vivek ramaswamy, who came in fourth, has now suspended his campaign and is endorsing donald trump. we have analysis throughout the hour from steve hilton, aaron. nay, and many more. but we begin with team fox coverage. the legal trouble and what to expect in the lead up to super tuesday. but first, to the senior

national correspondent rich edson, live outside trump headquarters in des moines where trump just addressed his supporters. rich, good evening. >> good evening, trace. this is the result that team trump was looking for tonight. they've been hearing about and talking about all these polls, about 50% of the republican primary, and they wanted that result here to match something like that with the final votes now getting counted in iowa. it looks like he very well might hit that right now. they spent a number of days here and i'll trying to downplay what the results might be. the latest today, just before the caucuses began, they would be happy just to get out of here with a win but they really wanted that resounding victory. just a short while ago, a smiling former president donald trump took the stage in the room behind me and even congratulated his g.o.p. rivals. >> i want to congratulate ron and nikki for having a good time

together. we are all having a good time together. and i think they both actually did very well. i really do. i think they both did very well. we don't know what the outcome of second place is. i also want to congratulate vivek, because he did a hell of the job. >> trump spent the bulk of that speech and the when he gave at a caucus just before it started nearby focusing on president joe biden. you've got the trump team, his supporters are ready to move forward on this and they want to focus on the general election, but it is way too really to do that. we are only talking about one result right here, and now we move on to new hampshire, the next contest where the former president is heading tomorrow. >> so it is now off to new hampshire. a great place. we won it last time, we won both times, and we love it. >> a couple of former rivals

expressed their endorsement for former president donald trump tonight, governor doug burgum of north dakota who had run for president, he was up on the stage tonight and announced his endorsement of trump, and also vivek ramaswamy shortly after the results that he was dropping out to support the former president. trace? >> trace: rich edson live through us into mine. fox news contributor steve hilton, acxiom strategies' aaron erin perrine, and let's begin. you watched the former president's speech tonight, for the iowa caucuses. very subdued. as trey gowdy said, conciliatory. more so then you have seen him in past. very diplomatic. >> very moving. he spoke a lot about his family in a way we don't often see. this was pretty much the perfect result for donald trump in the

sense that he wins in a blowout victory, about that 50% threshold everyone was saying he's got to meet. he passed that. it's a historic win. but also look at what happened with the other two who are now in the race, haley and desantis. nikki haley had a disappointing night. he was expected perhaps to take second place. there's a lot of momentum, the anti-trump forces saying to look at nikki haley, she could come in second and go on to win in new hampshire and then it's open. that's not the energy she takes going into new hampshire. she actually seems a little bit deflated, but ron desantis is still in the race. he's alive, he lives to fight another day. that's the perfect outcome for donald trump. actually i would say his response tonight was pretty much the perfect response. he's talking about bringing the country together. one last thing, let's just take this moment to acknowledge what an excel is astonishing put a good treatment this is. everything thrown at him. here he is winning a historic in

iowa. in some ways this is more impressive even than his first victory in 2016. you look at what's happened in the last few years. >> trace: and to begin with you, erin, i'm going to book and what steve hilton was talking about. he for the former president, he's right, this was a massive night. if you would have gotten 49%, even 49.8%, you know a lot of the media would say, well, didn't live up to expectations. 51%. on the flip side you had nikki haley and a lot of the analysts in iowa saying if she comes in under 20, or if desantis comes in under 20, that's a disappointing night. she lost by more than two points. not the night nikki haley wanted, and the exact night donald trump wanted. >> donald trump did have a massive night this evening, there's no doubt about it. if you are ron desantis or nikki haley, any of these candidates, you're now going on to new hampshire with a

story line you can tell. nikki really wasn't supposed to perform well in iowa. that's not a voter base that seemed to be in tune to what her message was. she came in a strong third to ron desantis' second. that's a good spot for her to walk into new hampshire, which would likely be a much from the estate to her. if you are ron desantis and everybody was writing your obit already and telling you that you were dead in the water, you pull out a second-place performance and how you're on to new hampshire and south carolina. a big story over the next week is going to be, do the donor dollars fall for desantis or nikki to help continue what they are going to try to sell as momentum coming out of iowa this evening? because those dollars are really going to be a lifeline for any of them if they want to try and make this a delegate fight and continue on into super tuesday states. >> trace: which is the perfect segue into michael graham, because angie is his home state. michael, erin says this is a great time to walk into new hampshire if you are nikki haley and ron desantis. clearly if you are the former president it is, as well.

do you think they get the donor dollars? do you think new hampshire is as good for nikki haley as she thought it was going to be six hours ago? >> well, she's the other winner tonight in the sense that ron desantis is going to stay in the race, because the nightmare scenario for nikki haley is vivek ramaswamy and ron desantis both got out, and those votes, according to the polling we have seen here in the granite state, show that a significant percentage of those votes would go to donald trump. to me, the new hampshire journal, the thing we have been reporting again and again is that both in new hampshire and across the country republicans like donald trump. they just like him. the press keep saying you are not supposed to like him, he's a terrible person to like it, and they like him. if you come down to a trump versus nontrump race, including in new hampshire, trump is going to have the majority. the other good news is that vivek gets outcome he's been

pulling around 5% here in the granite state, see you can count on 3-4% of that probably going to trump, which is not bad given that in four of the last five poles he has pulled at 45 percent or better already. >> trace: steve hilton said beatles percentage points go directly to donald trump. right? >> yeah, he's endorsed him, so i think that is exactly right. that's another reason why it is such a great night for donald trump going into new hampshire. remember, he's way ahead of nikki haley. in south carolina, her home state. so it's looking very good for him. we should also stop for a minute to acknowledge vivek's campaign and what he's achieved here. he has impressed a huge number of people across the country. he has attracted the ire of the establishment of india. that's a badge of honor these days in the republican party. he has impressed 70 people with his intellect and energy, and it seems he's got a massive future in republican politics if he chooses to take it. i'm sure he will. and i can see him one day going

all the way. >> trace: it's amazing to me, because you look at vivek ramaswamy, and some people talk about him maybe as a vice president candidate but not really have the charts. but to me, erin perrine, what surprised me going into the iowa caucuses tonight -- and michael graham kind of touched on this -- people like donal donald trump. they broke every record in iowa caucus history tonight. so going into it, the fox news analysis said that republican said the country needs complete and total upheaval. they are voting for donald trump because they believe there is a swamp and they believe donald trump is the person to drain it. >> it is true. donald trump's message has remained consistent and one that republican voters have really appreciated for a long time. make america great again, drain the swamp. these really easy catchphrases that make people feel they have a fighter on their behalf. but in donald trump speech this evening, to steve's earlier point about the conciliatory nature of it, the really warm

nature of that speech, i really believe there was a strong overture by the former president to the 40% of republicans in iowa and perhaps across the country who haven't voted for him or didn't vote for him in this caucus this evening to try and bring people in. will that tone and tenor stay as things maybe due to heat up getting into new hampshire and a state that, yes, he's performing well in, but the primaries are a hard for hot item. he's making overtures to the rest of the party right now. >> trace: they cheated, they led me on that, michael graham, to you. because that was the number one issue. you look across the board and the number one issue, like you are hearkening back to 2016, it is immigration and the border. that is people's biggest concern. it was the economy several months ago, now it's immigration in the border. i want to play one sound bite of the former president at his speech tonight, michael, and i'll get your thoughts. >> i also want to congratulate vivek, because he did a hell of

a job. he came from zero and he has got a big percent, probably 8%, almost 8%. that is an amazing job. they all did. very smart people, very capable people. >> trace: yet today vivek is smart and capable. yesterday the former president was not so friendly with vivek ramaswamy in what he said. >> could it be that donald trump wants to be president again so badly that he's prepared to do something that we thought was impossible, which is show self-discipline? i know, it's crazy. it sounds impossible. but could it be? have to confess, i live in new hampshire now but i grew up in south carolina. iran campaigns down there. which, by the way, south carolina is totally trump country. one of the things you learn when you work with candidates, getting them to do the mechanics as opposed to letting it fly, trump is a let-it-fly guy, tonight he read the notes and i as a campaign strategist back in the day would have written for

him. be nice to everybody, open doors, a be even open the door for a haley running mate. make it seem like you want to win and you are willing to show the self-discipline. i will tell you, a lot of the suburban college-educated republicans who have drifted from the g.o.p. in one of the most college-educated states in the country, new hampshire, they really worry about his character in the sense that he's going to lose the race because he's going to go say crazy stuff. that was a good move for him tonight. >> trace: it's a great point, michael, but is also the same thing were in iowa -- this is where nikki haley was expected to do very well. these are the counties, and these are all the higher education and the higher income counties. listen, you put him up on the screen, here we are talking about webster, dallas, polk, johnson, scott, then you have story county, and nikki haley was supposed to do really well, and you see donald trump actually did really well. i'm not sure. in webster county was up 66%. nikki haley did not do very well

there. so you say she's going to go into the granite state and do really well with the higher education and the higher income people. maybe not. steve hilton? >> there was a really fascinating story on the front page of "the new york times." you can tell they are worried when they put it on the front page, about the higher educated voters moving back to donald trump. these were the voters that, in their analysis, going back three years, they look at everyone's poles for the last three years. the voters that drifted away from donald trump after january 6 that everything we seen this then, now coming back to him. not just in iowa but across the country. it's a really big phenomenon. >> trace: erin, a bit literally 30 seconds left. msnbc couldn't even find something to be the daylights out of donald trump with tonight, so it was apparently good. >> it was good, and it's good to see that so many of these voting blocs are coming back into the republican party and i getting involved in the caucus process. this caucus was a low turnout thing but a huge night for

donald trump. when you look at the numbers overall to see that those educated voters, women, minority groups voting is republicans are moving toward him, it probably bodes well for him and the rest of the primary process. spew in 15 seconds, michael, to wrap us up. >> winning across the board with those groups, particularly college-educated people, is key, but the main thing is that there is a sense for republicans, this is the republican guy, we like republicans, and that is trump. desantis is kind of the ideological guy and now trump is more the center of the party. you want to be good republicans, the messages you vote donald trump. >> trace: but in the voter analysis tonight we also learned that, if you are not voting for donald trump, who is your second choice? and the second choice for trump voters is ron desantis. steve hilton, michael graham, erin perrine, thank you all. one of the biggest stories of this primary season, how will former president trump juggle his campaign schedule with multiple upcoming days in different courts?

jeff paul is live with that side of the story. >> good evening. he could face not one but as many as four criminal trials this year. spring glen if you campaign events and a run for the white house, and it's going to be a hectic year for trump to say the least. tuesday morning is the beginning of the defamation trial involving e. jean carroll. a judge recently ruled that trump could testify. from that point on, primary elections, you got in hampshire next week followed by nevada on for perry sixth, south carolina on the 24th, and michigan a few days later. but march, that is where things get it a little tricky for trump. on march 4th, that is when trump's federal january 6th election case could start. the following day is march 5th, that is super tuesday. so the former president addressed his upcoming schedule, saying if his name is on it, he'll be there. >> i want to go to all of my trials. these are all set up by biden and the democrats. this is their new form of

cheating. every single, just about come in case i'm involved in is set up by biden. they are doing it for election interference. in a way, i guess you consider it part of the campaign. >> after super tuesday, trump's criminal hush money trial in new york is supposed to begin march 25th. his federal classifying documents case in florida is next, slated for may 20th, and after that there is the july republican national convention. his georgia election case is penciled in for the beginning of august. again, i want to stress all of these trial dates could change or be delayed depending on what happens in court prior to these trials. >> trace: understands to be some changes coming. let's bring in former deputy assistant attorney general and cal berkeley professor, john yoo. you heard him say, "i want to go to all my trials." "i think it's writing to do." but it is interesting because the voter analysis finds that all of the indictments have had

solidify support for trump. does any of that surprise you, john yoo? >> i was really surprised. if you go back to the time before these indictments, donald trump didn't have over 50%, and ron desantis was pretty close. i think he was within 7-8 points of the former president. but what donald trump did which i think was an amazing feat of political jiu-jitsu as he turned the courtrooms into a political forum to make his case for reelection. remember, he didn't show up for the debates with the other primary candidates, but he went into courtrooms, he confronted the judge in new york city, he's been giving speeches out in front of the courtrooms in washington, d.c., and he managed to turn that into the message of the campaign so far, that the establishment and the biden administration are persecuting him and trying to prevent him from getting on the ballot. >> trace: you talk to some legal experts, and maybe you agree with this, they believe the georgia case might be the

most perilous for the former president. but now you have the fulton county d.a., fa willis, accusative hiring her prosecutor, and by the way, he has no experience. suddenly it is starting to gain traction as a story and more people are looking into it. this could be some trouble for the fulton county d.a. what are your thoughts? >> i agree, trace, and this is why we don't want elected state d.a.s wrapped up in the sordid local politics of getting elected in atlanta, being able to get candidates for the high's office. it should come from the special counsel in washington, d.c., jack smith, appointed by president biden, who has all the authority and the resources of the federal government. but we don't want is d.a.s in new york city and fulton county and atlanta harassing president trump with these, i think i'm a very weak and made

up charges and trying to alter the national election. >> trace: one of the bottom things we've found out in this voter analysis is that o one in for don't believe he did anything illegal. that 75% of republicans who think he's fine. >> maybe those voters been reading the indictments pretty closely. take, for example, the jackson of prosecution. there are more important things to worry about. let the lawyers like us worry about it. but he look at is indictments, jack smith hasn't charged trump with insurrection. at the prosecutors in the justice department believe what president biden is saying on the campaign trail that donald trump is an insurrectionist, that everybody connected with januarw the government, then charge them with it. don't make up stuff like, they defrauded the united states are interfered with processes to try to stop everybody from voting. those are so weak.

charge them with insurrection and they won't do it. >> trace: i've got to go, john, but jeff paul kind of showed us how busy this court schedule is leading up to super tuesday. some of these court dates invariably change, in your estimation? >> they have to because the u.s. supreme court is getting involved now. as you know, they're brief is due this week and the colorado disqualification case, there's going to be an immunity case, all those issues are going to end up pushing all those calendars back weeks if not months. >> trace: john yoo standby for our legal questions. coming up, the latest from the iowa caucuses. trump wins, desantis and haley move on, and vivek ramaswamy gets out and endorses the former president. we will have continuing coverage of breaking news sites we continue our analysis of the iowa caucuses. the first in the nation voting. it is 12:20 on the east coast, 11:21 just clicked in des mo we are coming back as we

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>> trace: back now with our continuing coverage of tonight's iowa caucuses were former president donald trump became the clear frontrunner, taking the lion's share of the delegates in that state. he came in, as you see there, with more than 51% of the vote, and the fox news decision desk now projects that ron desantis will take second place ahead of nikki haley come meaning for now he has emerged as trump's main rival for the republican nomination. vivek ramaswamy, who finished fourth, suspended his campaign and endorsed former president trump. now the race moves to new hampshire, the first in the nation primary, and that is just one week away. let's bring in the host of the iowa politics podcast, jeff stein, and the spectator

political reporter, matthew foley. thank you for coming on. we appreciate it. you know more about this than i do, but i was looking at reading over the past week and listening to a lot of the analysts in iowa, and they were saying that ron desantis and nikki haley both needed to come in above 20%, between 20-25%. and if they came in below 20%, it was not a good night. nikki haley was at 19, a little over 19. ron desantis, a little over 21. your thoughts on the night both of them had? >> well, as noted earlier, this was the perfect situation for donald trump, because he set a record at 51%. his margin of victory smashed the old record. desantis, if he did not finish second, you don't know what path he would have been able to take. haley was looking to get second so she could be the clear alternative to trump. that did not happen. and so she is wounded a bit going to new hampshire, but

desantis put all the chips in the center of the table in iowa. haley is polling very well in new hampshire, where democrats and independents can just walk in and get a ballot, and that's where she did better in iowa when folks cross over tonight to clearing to be a republican for a day. so it is really just a dead heat for second place, and trump cruises along. >> trace: he is cruising along here. "the new york times" said this, matthew. "the joy of defeat and i'll caucuses. it's a rare contest were coming in second is a win. the runner-up, whether it's nikki haley or ron desantis, will claim the republican mantle of the chief alternative to donald trump heading into new hampshire's primary." do you think the governor of florida, ron desantis, can claim the second mantle in this race going into new hampshire? >> well, hello from des moines where it's 12:30, about 0 degrees fahrenheit right now. you have to think back to eight

years ago when a different florida republican, marco rubio, came in third in iowa. he basically gave a first-place victory speech when ted cruz won. so i think iowa is whatever the candidates try and make of it. but i think the other comparison to 2016 that lends is you have a fractured field that led to donald trump walk to the nomination again. i think it is sort of similar to what marco rubio did. he still in the senate and not the white house. >> trace: what did you make of voter turnout tonight? there was a lot of talk about the numbers. we talked about 187,000 in 2016, they thought it was a record, and maybe they get to that or near that. it didn't look like it. wasn't the weather. do you think voter turnout had something to do with the numbers? >> i am in iowa, as well, where it is a balmy minus nine, not counting the windchill. i think the turnout was depressed a bit, but that is why haley finished in third, because a lot of her voters were not as

motivated as trump voters and even desantis voters. this is probably going to be the third highest turnout or thereabouts of all time, early estimates that 100,000. those appear to be rather light. it won't be a record in terms of the actual turn out. yes, the weather may have played a role, but as noted, those who are trump or desantis supporters, they were very solidly behind their respective candidates, and again, when trump is in the field that you are desantis and you are trying to claim the trump mantle, hard to do it when the original is still in the race. >> trace: you know, matthew, when you look at what concerns voters the most in iowa, it was the border, immigration and the border as number one. the economy is number two. if immigration and the economy are you are one and two, if you are a democrat, that's not a good sign as you go in the general election. >> right, because at this point the democrats own both of these. but foreign policy is the third issue and that the warning warning sign for democrats as

you look at wars opening across the world. you see that even playing an impact in iowa where the state attorney general, the only republican in iowa state wide to endorsed trump before the election, brenna bird, she told me today that biden's weakness in the face of the october 7th terrorist attacks pushed over the edge to endorse donald trump, not only because the economy was better when trump was president, that america and the world were safer. so it's a trio of disasters for democrats that really benefit trump or any republican going into november. >> trace: i got 30 seconds left, i will give you each 15. do you first, are you surprised that anything happened tonight? >> i really was not. maybe the fact that trump did pop over 50%. i was thinking he would be in the high 40s. but the fact that it finished the way it did, given the strength of support for the various candidates, this one according to pregame forum. >> trace: same question to

you, matthew. >> the organization of trump's campaign on caucus night, sending fairly high-profile surrogates to every large caucus in iowa, which the other campaigns did not have similar star power. ronny jackson, byron donalds, et cetera, all over the state of iowa. >> trace: desantis talked a lot about the ground inside and it turned out trump had a pretty good ground game. gentlemen, thank you. some of the top issues that voters looked at, and how it impacted the results in iowa. continuing our breaking news coverage of the iowa caucuses. the former president comes out on top. vivek ramaswamy is now out, and endorsing the former president. ♪ ♪ beating these two every thursday. help fuel today with boost high protein, complete nutrition you need... ...without the stuff you don't. so, here's to now. boost. hi. are you ready? are you santiago's mother?

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>> trace: a lot of issues on the minds of iowa voters tonight, like the economy and crime. but the number when she was aborted. jeff paul is live with a closer look at the fox news voter analysis numbers.

these are interesting. >> very interesting. good evening. our fox news voter analysis election survey talked with more than 1500 likely caucus-goers. first, we know iowa republicans are laser focused when it comes to the issues. most say the top issue facing the country is one of two things. one, immigration. four in ten say that. the other is the economy and more than three in ten put that on the top of the list. next up, how do we feel about the family's finances? almost all iowa republicans say they are either holding steady or falling behind financially. only one in ten feel they are getting ahead. on immigration, how do caucus-goers feel about immigrants to the country today? most feel immigrants to the u.s. do more harm than they do good. 75%, that's three times as many who say they help. meanwhile, almost all a

substantial change in the way things are done with one favoring complete and total upheaval. an overwhelming majority say it is very important that g.o.p. candidate has the mental capability to serve effectively. almost as many say the same about being a strong leader. another 82% want someone who can win. finally, one hot-button issue among republicans is what is being taught in schools. we asked about three issues, and here's what they said. about half say k-8 schools are teaching too much about racism. but look, close to three quarters of caucus attendees think that schools are focusing too much on sexual orientation and gender identity. so we can't expect to hear much more about the economy, immigration, and education as we head into new hampshire. >> trace: the former president's mantra at his rallies have been, they're coming for me now but they are coming for you next. a lot of voters apparently believe that very much, jeff. so that's part of the whole upheaval thing. get the swamp out of there.

let's bring in criminal defense attorney and federal litigator vik bajaj and whom on hammadi immigration is number one. it was number two. the economy was number one and it slid into first place. he says, we need to shut the borders down. they are allowing 70 people in that cause harm to people's country and the best thing to do is probably shut the border down, figure out who's in here and who shouldn't be in here, and then donald trump has said that he will take care of that if he is back in office. i mean, they want the border security. this administration keeps saying it is secure. >> close the border, it's much more than a mantra, trace. what it is is $150 billion a year for united states taxpayers, and we have to foot the bill to support people breaking the law coming across

into this country. they do dedicate about $30 billion of taxes toward the country, but that a significant deficit of $130 billion $220 billion. is it an issue as far as labor and economy? yes, the take a look to your federal courthouse or your state court house and you will see the vast majority of those facing serious felonies now are unfortunately undocumented criminal defendants who have very little reason to stick around. >> trace: and we cover those stories every night. to you now, dr. houman hemmati. we heard a lot of issues but not very much about the abortion issue. the associated press writes, worried about losing in 2024, iowa g.o.p. voters are less interested in talking about abortion, and goes on to say, "in interviews with more than two dozen g.o.p. voters around the state in the past week, almost none cited abortion is one of their top issues this election year. instead, point to concerns about

the border, the economy, or america's standing in the world." is it because they are afraid this is one of those hot button issues that could get them in trouble at the polls? >> no, trace. you may remember a few months ago on this show that it's not because of elections. i think people are over the issue. this was settled in the supreme court and it is to the state level now. people are sick of it being a political issue. they are making it more of a private health issue and in some states it is still a political issue. but in places like iowa you can tell the voters are fed up and they want to focus on things that actually impact them. and the more this happens, i think the more we take health care issues including abortion, covid, and other things, make them health issues, personal issues instead of political issues, and actually focus on policy that impacts everybody. >> trace: that is very fair. we didn't hear a lot about crime in iowa tonight because it is iowa, but across the country it is a big issue.

>> it's huge issue and some claim it is bigger than the border. >> this is a fox news analysis. increasing funding for police, strongly favor, 88%. strongly or somewhat opposed, 12%. you can see among republican voters there is a huge appetite for more law enforcement. a lot more law enforcement. >> yes, we talked about the umbrella issue which is a safe border and immigration. within that umbrella you have some subcategories. one of the subcategories is criminality. the safety of our communities. one doesn't necessarily go with the other, but when you have individuals who are undocumented who have no family ties and no reason to stick around, or even abide by the law, you have a higher chance of these individuals being involved in the criminal justice system. so the safety of paramount concern, a far as the caucus is concerned. >> trace: meantime, the republican candidates, where do

they stand on social security and medicare? governor ron desantis of florida has ruled that reducing social security benefits for current retirees and people near the age. he's talked about openness to reductions. nikki haley has suggested that she would raise the social security retirement age for people currently in their 20s, in accordance with increases in life expectancy. she has not given a number. so you have desantis holding tight and then you have nikki haley saying we are going to push the limit and get the age up there a bit. >> i think it has to do a lot with the age demographics of their states. when you look at ron desantis, he has an aging population in florida. a lot of people move down to florida as the age when they retire to be somewhere warm, lower taxes, generally more accepting of people and welcoming to people who are older. his state will not be happy if he decides to cut social security and medicare

benefits. nikki haley, on the other hand, is to gain more quantitative and pragmatic approach. i think there is something you can do halfway. clearly there needs to be some type of medicare and social security reform, especially on the social security side. one policy proposal i've heard quite a bit by the home depot billionaire owner, why am i getting social security? i'm a billionaire. i think it's an example of one thing we can do. to set some income limits within reason. but i think ultimately we will see something in between. but thankfully it hasn't become a major political issue, largely because trump has been avoiding it and he's in the lead. we will see what happens. >> trace: we will see. dr. houman hemmati, vik bajaj, thank you. more of the late-breaking details coming up. 51%. remember, before tonight, the highest ever was 45%. if he didn't get 46, it wouldn't have been a record. a lot of the media would have said, 46%. that's an all-time record by six

points. he won by 30 plus points. continuing coverage next. "fox news @ night." ♪ ♪ life, diabetes, there's no slowing down. each day is a unique blend of people to see and things to do. that's why you choose glucerna to help manage blood sugar response. uniquely designed with carbsteady. glucerna. bring on the day.

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>> trace: back now with our special coverage, former president donald trump, if he did not hear you can see it on the left-hand side of the screen. 51%. the old record was 45%.

so 51 is pretty dramatic. that's a big night. he clearly takes the lion's share of the delegates in that state, and the fox news decision desk, if you put that on the screen, can now say that ron desantis will take second place tonight ahead of nikki haley. not just a headed nikki haley, but ahead of nikki haley by more than two points, which is pretty much everything and more than the dissent's campaign wanted. the florida governor has emerged as trump's main rival for the republican nomination, at least for one week. vivek ramaswamy who finished fourth suspended his campaign and endorse the former president and now the race moves to new hampshire. the first in the nation primary, one week away. let's bring in california g.o.p. chairwoman jessica patterson. any surprises tonight? clearly everyone has said, yep, i was a little bit surprised. >> what we saw today as we've been saying a long time. the only poll that matters happens on election day. legitimately, president trump ran away with it tonight.

the biggest margin before was 12 points beating their nearest opponent, and he more than doubled that. we see pads for both ambassador haley and governor desantis and they are running forward with that. he's going to take the south carolina route, she's going to move on to new hampshire where she thinks she has a great chance to win, so there is still more to go. this was only 40 delegates tonight. >> trace: i'm going to play devil's advocate for just two seconds here. do the iowa caucuses predict they are going to be president? put this up on the screen. the last person, in 2000, george w. bush was the only one who won the iowa caucuses. this is the past 50 years. and actually went on to become president. they put a lot of money into iowa, because there's a reason, but it is interesting that it really hasn't been the bellwether that people thought it was going to be 75 years ago. >> it is a great momentum-builder and that is what is important. it's important that you show up,

that you make a difference. i remember working for rudy giuliani in 2008. we were the front runner until people started voting. you can't let iowa and new hampshire be on the sidelines. you have to show up and that makes a difference. president biden is the only president that's ever been elected without winning either one of those states. >> trace: and we would be remiss if we said nikki haley had a great night, because she didn't. she was below 20%, and she is still in the running, but it was not the night that nikki haley or her campaign wanted. >> she's definitely a fighter and we are going to see nikki haley take this to new hampshire. new hampshire was always going to be her big state and she thinks she can win there, so let's see what happens over the next week. it's because she was pulling ahead of ron desantis going into this caucus tonight. >> ground game absolutely matters. and we saw that governor desantis was really building out his ground game and making sure that those people showed up. so regardless of what they will you look like, they were strong and committed and they were showing up for him. >> trace: but we were told that old people are the ones who

predominantly would not show up, and the older people vote for donald trump and it has turnout was stupendous. >> donald trump has every single demographic covered. there are people from every single age bracket that are voting for president trump. >> trace: do you think that he shows really well or better in new hampshire next week because of his showing here? >> i think iowa is important for momentum, so we'll see what happens with the donor money and how that falls, because that will be a good indicator for these candidates, as well. >> trace: i've got to go. vivek ramaswamy dropping out. did you expect that at all? >> i think everybody was seeing -- no one was discussing him as much as they were six months ago. >> trace: back to you the next hour. another hour of "fox news @ night" is straight ahead. more voter analysis, and what comes next for all of there hcandidates? ach stay tight. we are coming right back. ore - m . . so, ask your doctor about botox®. botox® prevents headaches in adults with chronic migraine

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>> trace: good evening again, i'm trace gallagher 1:00 a.m. on

the east coast 10:00 on this coast and this is continuing of late coverage of "fox news @ night." there is breaking news if you are joining us. the vote is an and former president trump took a commanding and historic lead in the iowa caucuses winning by the largest margin ever in that state. in fact, he won six points larger than the largest margin ever in that state. he told fox news, he is honored and invigorated by the results appeared in the the meantime, also huge news, ron desantis that i was over meaning second place with nikki haley a few points behind in third place. and vivek ramaswamy coming forth has now suspended his campaign and is endorsing donald trump. he did that in one sentence, suspended and endorsed at the same time. we will have continuing analysis throughout the hour with steve hilton, aaron parenti and we begin with fox team coverage on trump's legal trouble in thep

to super tuesday, but first to the senior national correspondent rich edson who isn des moines with more, rich, good evening. >> good evening, trace. this is the result teams trump has been looking for after months. several months of leading and the bowls by a wide margin and needed to get voters out to the caucuses to get a result that looked a lot like what they are seeing in the polls. that is what they got this evening. trump's team down playing and officials told us at at the caucus, they would be happy with a win here and what they were looking to do but obviously they wanted a lot more out of it. they got it. trump went to the podium to address his crowd here. and also, congratulated and mentioned, complemented his republican rivals. >> i want to congratulate juan and nikki are having good time together.

we are all having a good time together. [cheers and applause] and i think they both actually did very well, i really do. i think they both did well. we don't even know what the outcome of second place is. i also want to congratulate vivek, because he did a hell of a job. >> florida governor ron desantis went to all 99 counties in iowa. he spent a lot of time come a lot of money, a lot of effort in the state. also former south carolina governor nikki haley made a late push in this state. both finished well behind the front runner. >> you helped us get a ticket punched out of the hawkeye state. we have a lot of work to do, but i can tell you this as the next president of the united states, and i am going to get the job done for this country. speak with the field has narrowed a bit, businessman and vivek ramaswamy has dropped out of the race. he has endorsed the former president as well.

here is vivek. >> as of this moment, we are going to suspend this presidential campaign. and this is going to have to be -- there is no path for me to be the next president. >> another republican trump rival has backed the former president. nor dakota governor doug burgum was on stage tonight with trump and endorsed him as well. now trump is headed to new hampshire where he has rallied tomorrow night. as the primary moves on, trace. >> trace: rich edson in des moines, iowa, thank you. let's bring it the power panel fox news contributor steven hilton and acxiom strategy erin perrine but this campaign, ongoing campaign to stop the former president is failing, it is failing dramatically. >> not just feeling but helping him. it is clearly helping him. that is what is so astonishing.

i was in new york over the summer visiting friends and family in england and people say, how is it possible? how can it be that donald trump looks like the favorite to become the next candidate let alone the next president? after tonight, that is clearly the case. but the answer is that the republican party has become a populist party. he has led that transformation. towards the end of his first term. i remember doing some pieces looking at the significance of the trump era. i said this, which is real power and politics, it doesn't just come from the office you hold, but it comes from your ability to change the way people think. very few leaders actually do that. you can point to misses that you're in the or reagan who really brings a long term change in a political party. donald trump is one of those people. he has transformed the party and the populism he represents america first as he calls it,

that is what the party wants. >> trace: steve brings up a really good point, erin perrine, he is changing the way people think. when you asked people how they think, they believe with all of their hearts that he is getting a raw deal. they believe they are next in line to get a raw deal from the federal government. >> that is because the federal government has shown people, including conservatives and republicans that they will go after them. we have seen the department of justice targeting parents at school board meetings. we have seen the irs targeting conservatives. this is not something new. the fact that you are saying the department of justice also going after elon musk and donald trump, two of the most powerful people in the world, speaking wise, you see the spirit of course, the american people should be worried weapon is a against them and they want someone who will actually do the work to stop that for them and prevent that. donald trump has a record and certainly the rhetoric to say that he would be the one to do

it. ron desantis has record as well. we are looking at the larger primary field who americans believe will stand and fight for them. you have seen ron desantis fire rope prosecutors that were not abiding by the law and holding it up. he is the only one that has done that so when it comes to this race who can do it, the republican party has changed fundamentally as to what is the driving force. the american people felt abandoned and left behind by the d.c. swamp. they want that offended and they want someone who can do it. if that is trump, were desantis or nikki, they want that change. >> trace: i am calling on every other candidate all of whom have no chance to win to drop out so we can unify and immediately rallied behind president trump so we can focus 100% of our resources on defeating joe biden to save america. well, i mean, listen ron desantis is going nowhere and nikki haley is going nowhere. for now.

>> locum of course, it is understandable that she would say that. that seems to be for the past few weeks. she is auditioning for the vice presidential slot and on the trump ticket. but you know, trump said the same thing tonight in a more diplomatic way. let's get together and bring people together, hand: get out of the race. when you look at ron desantis and emerges with more momentum than nikki haley, he is the one out of all of the others that matches what we were just talking about. what the republican party wants today. he has a fantastic record as governor. that is absolutely right. and so, the case for him staying in the races, well, what if something should happen in terms of the legal cases? with donald trump? don't we need a backup? that is his argument. he does fit with the party wants in a way nikki haley clearly doesn't. >> trace: it is not just fit but you look at the fox voter analysis and ask republicans

when you asked the strong trump supporters who is number two code choice, by and for, it is ron desantis. >> it absolutely is. when it comes where the republican party stands and knows the republican electorate looking in the primary field, you are really nibbling at the edges for discernible policy differences. these people fully believe you need a strong border and you need a strong economy. we should have parameters for support for ukraine and not just having that be endless. we should be supporting israel. when it comes to the core beliefs of the republican party commit is negligible differences that exist between them. but it is true governor desantis has led as a trump style leadership. unapologetic, unabashed and unafraid to get into the fight kind of leadership that paid off for florida. more people moving to florida than almost anywhere else in the country. republicans want people who are not afraid to take the fight on and set back from the fight.

too many politicians pay lip service to showing up for the american people and making it better. the american people now look back at the trump era with nostalgia and feel good about it appear that has helped propel him in the primary. >> trace: speaking of looking back 13 days nikki haley in new hampshire talking about the iowa caucuses and talking about the correcting. i think we still have the sound bite, kevin, if we can play this, we will have steve respond. watch. >> i trust you. i trust every single one of you. you know had to do this. you know iowa starts it and you know you correct it. you know you continue to -- [laughter] >> trace: little did she know, steve, she needs new hampshire to correct it now. >> come she does come exactly what she needs. looking at the polls come a little bit of a correction. even then new hampshire, her best state donald trump is miles ahead appeared ron desantis to the small thing and we are not really competing. he is going to south carolina

and has the money in the organization and the other states as well. i don't know, she will have her night and we will be talking about it. >> trace: we will. >> even if a fantastic night in new hampshire, there is no real path because there is a ceiling on her support going back to what we said all night long and erin perrine as well, the party wants the style and the policies and the attitude and the approaf donald trump who is the big winner tonight but also ron desantis who got the second prize appearance may do you think that comment came back to bite nikki haley at all that she said in new hampshire a couple of weeks ago? >> absolutely! you can't diminish voters when you go s them for your support. you can't be diminishing of iowa because democrats have said iowa aside will not be the first in the nation for us. iowa is proud to be the first to vote in the presidential caucus in this country. so to belittle them and nikki

said the quiet purr out loud, she didn't think there was a chance in iowa to do well so she was going to new hampshire. she has always had those eggs in that basket. that was unforced error and for nikki we have seen multiple where unforced errors and people have been able to use those to her benefit when desantis ran an ad on iowa comments and that blanketed iowa airways coming up. it might have stilted that growth she saw and kind of a week too early may be for iowa caucuses pier that is why she ended up in a close third at ths point. >> trace: the last minute let's roll the dice, steven hilton because we had dead bu doug burgum was at the former president's speech tonight. and likely vice presidential things there? you mention elise stefanik but who else might be in the deep state? >> i thought it was interesting that he was on stage for the victory speech.

it seems to me he is well-qualified for maybe now likely to get should there be another trump administration energy secretary. that is what i think he is going for. will be well-qualified in terms of vice presidency, i mean, look, as far as i'm seeing tonight -- look, one of the things trump supporters have been saying for years is that their dream ticket would be trump/desantis actually. now, i don't know what the future will hold, but that is certainly something that would make trump supporters very happy. >> trace: kind of hard to call your vice president sanctimonious but i guess you could get over that, what are your thoughts on the deep states? >> it could be a number of people. the former president has indicated he already has some bone stomach someone in mind to be the vp. it is an important role in a huge contrast if donald trump becomes the republican nominee. if you look at joe biden, the oldest president and kamala harris who has a dismal

approval rating and done absolutely nothing other than put her foot in her mouth, whoever donald trump should he be the nominee selects as vice presidential candidate, that is someone not only to paint the picture of the complete contrast between trump and them and biden but the complete antithesis of kamala harris. when you look at this, they were so many great qualified republicans to run not only as president but vice president. this would be a choice that would help paint the contrast in policy and vision for the country. that is something considering how bad joe biden's approval ratings are, donald trump or any republican should be much more ahead of him in general pulling right now and they aren't. it shows weakness, so vp could help with that. >> trace: erin perrine, congrats to the buffalo bills, thanks for coming on tonight. >> thank you. >> trace: we appreciated. the biggest story of the primary season how will former president juggle his campaign schedule with multiple upcoming days in court. jeff is live with that side of

the election night story, jeff, good evening. >> the former president could face not one but as many as four criminal trial as though my a few campaign events and a run for the white house a hectic year for trump to say the least. tuesday morning as a beginning of the defamation trial involving writer e. jean carroll. a judge ruled trump could testify. from that point on you have primary elections. new hampshire next week followed by nevada on february 6th, south carolina on the 24th and michigan a few days later. but march is where things could get tricky for the former president. on march 4th, that is winter homes federal january 6th case could start pure the following day, march 5th, is super tuesda. former president trump addressed his upcoming schedule and said, if his name is on it, he will be there. >> i want to go to all of my trials. these are set up by biden and the democrats. this is the new form of

cheating. every single just about case that i am involved in is set up by biden and they are doing it for election interference. in a way, i guess you can consider it part of the campaign. >> after super tuesday, trump's criminal hush on a trial to begin march 25th. his federal classified documents case in florida is next slated for may 20th. after that in july, national convention. then, george election case it is pencil for the beginning of fall closed my want to suggest the trial could be delayed depending on what happens in court prior to the trial. >> trace: deputy assistant attorney general and law professor john yoo. i'm concerned about the march for thing. it is the day before super tuesday. listen, i don't believe that it is going to be detrimental to the former president because it looks like he has turned all of

these court appearances into victories. we will likely do the same there. but it seems to me somewhere some judges going to say, there is a fairness aspect. and we are not abiding by that. what do you think, john? >> the interesting thing about that march case is that is the case brought by a special counsel in washington, d.c., report judge chuck at. that trial has been suspended while president trump litigates whether he has immunity from criminal prosecution. as we discussed before on the show a tough case for donald trump to win but it could go to the supreme court. while that is out there, the trial has to suspend itself. there was another issue, the supreme court has decided to hear their central charge against donald trump and most of the january 6 protesters. whether that can be used in such a situation. if that is the case, i think that trial has to push back even farther. but the problem is, what if the trial actually starts in july?

what if it starts in august? can donald trump actually campaign in a general election in july, august, september while he has to show up in court? that will be a tough problem for him. i expect he will demand the trial be at that point put over until after the election. about the special and trial judge don't see to show flexibiy they will give the president on scheduling. >> trace: it is amazing to me because you go through the list of trials and you look at the alvin bragg case in manhattan. alvin bragg, you guys do your trials first and we will get hours. he knows -- all of these are misdemeanors trumped up in the past with past the statue of limitations with mistake after mistake. trump would love to get him to court because that would benefit more than any of them. >> you look at the two case is going on in new york city. the one that chose concluded claiming fraud, brought by the attorney general of new york. and then one brought by the d.a.

in manhattan about a ledge of miss accounting of hush money. none of that has anything to do with president trump and what he did in office on january 6. there is no reason any of those cases or issues have to be done before november. if there are any case that should be brought up, it is the one involved in special counsel. all the other our state d.a. harassing donald trump to try to knock him off of his game as we are getting into the november election. it is not what state officials should be doing trying to intere with national election. >> trace: when we talk to the iowa voters and voter analysis, you find out all these indictments actually solidify their support for trump. it is kind of telling. the whole concept here was to make him just popular enough to win the nomination to lose to joe biden. now, you made him more popular than you had hoped to in the first place. >> i think the voters also probably haven't lost the

hypocrisy or contradiction of the incumbent administration saying they are defending democracy. they are holding off the words. but at the same time, trying to go to the court room to knock president trump and will be heard and the supreme court but then also trying to use special prosecutor to get conviction before a jury in washington, d.c., in the summer during the election. >> trace: it really is. lastly, this whole georgia case and we have talked about this before where you have the d.a. there in fulton county now being accused of a variety of things, bringing in a prosecutor she was involved with romantically. paying him exorbitant amount of money that he has no experience prosecuting, certainly rico cases but no experience prosecuting period. >> what is really raising another question about the propriety of pursuing donald trump in a georgia state

case claiming that his entire reelection was some kind of massive, criminal raises severe free-speech problems, first amendment problems, the state government and the federal government. and now it has been wrapped up in this sordid divorce proceeding. i think it shows and i think it will help donald trump get this case suspended or kicked out of court so we can run for office as a federal election. >> i think it will too, john yoo great for you to come on and stay up with us. we appreciate it. coming up the latest from the iowa caucuses, trump wins, desantis and haley move on and vivek ramaswamy gets out and endorses the former president. we are continuing special coverage, breaking news, the analysis of the iowa caucuses next. ♪ ♪ to duckduckgo on all your devie

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>> trace: we are back with our special coverage of tonight's iowa caucuses where former president donald trump the front runner with a lion's share of the delegates, in that state with 51%. the fox news decision desk projects ron desantis will take second place ahead of nikki haley meaning for at least now. the florida governor has emerged as trump's main rival for republican nomination. vivek ramaswamy who finished in fourth suspended his campaign and endorse the former president. now the race moves to new hampshire, the first in the nation's primary and that, of course, is next week. and we will have coverage right after that. you can guarantee that we were to bring in now iowa politics podcast, jeff stein and spectator political reporter matthew foldi, thank you for

coming on. this came across "the washington post" and the following quote, "i awoke was trumped to win and stop the nomination. trump challengers must strike quickly otherwise the eye with victory can be the same kind of consolidation around him which would add to the pressure on haley and desantis to fall in line. if trump wins new hampshire the first nonincumbent to carry the first two states on the calendar since prominence in the 1970s stopping him after that will become more difficult by the week. jeff, that is a fair statement because he will be hard to stop now. after new hampshire and after south carolina, if he takes both of those committees kind of like don meredith f would say, turn out the lights. >> and in between new hampshire and south carolina you have that mess in south carolina where the legislature voted a primary in place on the six but the republicans said we still want a

conference on they think they could not participate in both but had to choose. nikki haley chose the primary with no delegates. donald trump and ron desantis chose the caucus two days later and that is where the delegates are at. he could come into her home state of south carolina winning new hampshire, winning delegates in nevada, and then where does she go on top of the problems that desantis may have? >> trace: matthew foley, when you look at "the washington pos" analysis, the fact they are saying listen, desantis and haley need to kick it in high gear. it is into high gear! they have been kicking it into high gear for months and there is not much more they can do. >> "the washington post," that is actually one of my takeaways is consolidation, consolidation, consolidation. there was some carrots that trump handed out at his speech the longest supporters, brad who endorsed trump before trump decided to run for president. and he saw a lot of trump

surrogates like former attorney general matt whitaker on stage with him. you also saw senate candidates who want trump supporter in the primary liked him sheehy. i think you were saying all of this was because trump is saying you guys need to get on the bandwagon now before it is too late. and i think he appreciated that that vivek ramaswamy got on board. he is saying to desantis and nikki haley, come out and the waters warm, but it won't be for long. that is why doug burgum got to perch on the stage at the victory party tonight. look, guys i will remember if you are with me early because it will be easy to be with me when i have won the remaining states. >> trace: msnbc i was joking i watched 3 minutes and only heard the word dictator seven or eight times. here is rachel maddow for 20 seconds as a sound bite. watch and i will get your response. >> they were as authoritarian movement inside the republican politics that is not bamboozled

by trumped up pushing trump to get more and more extreme. because the more extreme things he says -- >> that is coming from a large proportion of the american right that appears to be the republican party. >> trace: there goes those maga republicans again, jeff. >> interesting. some of their own exit polls only half of those that showed up tonight turn themselves into maga republican. again msnbc preaching to the choir and i believe joy reid was complaining that i awoke was bad because we had too many white christians here. so msnbc, that train keeps rolling along to the bottom of the ratings. >> trace: here is the thing because the fox news voter analysis on this one, matthew, how much change would you like to see and how the country is run? you look at the numbers. no change at all, 1%. the last two columns substantial change and complete total people

and that is 88% of the voters of the republican voters in iowa want significant, substantial, big-time people change. and they don't really care what msnbc thinks about their opinion. >> you were watching msnbc and that was half of their viewership tonight. i think one think that is super important is we still don't know who won the iowa caucus in 2020 for the democrats. and we have almost every single vote and for the republicans today. joe biden obviously did a horrible and i'll be in all the presidential campaigns. i think he is a bitter, angry old man. so the democrats basically walked away from iowa. there is a male in caucus that no one is taking seriously here and it has allowed republicans to dominate the state and it was not that long ago democrats had 3 of 4 u.s. house seat and a senate seat and independent statewide elections and only one democrat state elected and the

republicans doubling down on the caucus has been a huge advantage for them there. look, to your point about the poles about substantial changes, i mean any republican running for president compared to joe biden would be a substantial change. it is not shocking 88% of republican voters want that. >> trace: matthew foldi, jeff stein, thank you for staying up with us and we very much appreciate it. coming up the top issues for voters and how that impacted the results in iowa next. ♪ ♪ but i'm protected with arexvy. arexvy is a vaccine used to prevent lower respiratory disease from rsv in people 60 years and older. rsv can be serious for those over 60, including those with asthma, diabetes, copd, and certain other conditions. but i'm protected. arexvy is proven to be over 82% effective in preventing lower respiratory disease from rsv

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♪ ♪ ( ♪ ♪ ) start your day with nature made. the #1 pharmacist recommended vitamin and supplement brand. ♪ ♪ >> trace: a lot of fishes in the minds of iowa voters like the economy and crime. but the number one issue is a border. a closer look at the fox news voter analysis numbers, jeff. >> good evening, trace. fox news analysis survey talked 1500 likely caucus goers. first come iowa republicans are laser-focused when it comes to

the issues. most say the top issues facing the country is one of two things, one immigration, four in ten say that. the other the economy. more than three and ten put that on top. all other issues are single digits. next up, how do they feel about their family's finances? almost all iowa republicans are holding steady or falling behind financially. only one in ten feel like they are getting a head appeared on immigration, how do caucus goers feel about emigrants to the country today? most feel immigrants to the u.s. do more hurt or harm to the country. about 75%. that is three times as many people who say they help. meanwhile, almost all want at least substantial change in the way things are done with one-third favoring complete and total of people. an overwhelming majority say it is very important that g.o.p. candidate has a mental capability to serve effectively. almost as many say the same

about being a strong leader. another 82% want someone who can win. finally one hot-button issue among republicans is what is being taught in schools. we asked about three issues, and here is what they had to say. half k-8 school teaching too much about racism. but look close to three quarters of caucus attendees think that schools are focusing too much on sexual orientation and gender identity. so we can expect to hear much more about the economy, immigration, and education as we head to new hampshire, trace appearance payment let's bring a criminal defense attorney, vik bajaj and board-certified dr. houman hemmati. we appreciated. to you, the president and his speech was very low-key here and he was talking about deportation and he said, you know what this is something we have to do and we have to deport like we have never done before. is that something the president

has the power quickly to do? let me add a footnote to what his comment was. let's talk about president eisenhower. now come in 1955 in a project by deportation specialists at that time, they deported approximately 1.3 million mexicans at that point in time who came into the united states illegally. not only did that because a lot of bad feelings towards the mexican population, the united states, but something that actually happened. i would ask everyone to look back to 2016 when trump took office. he said, we will move deportation and not let people hang out in the united states with criminal records. as a criminal practitioner throughout the united states come i will tell you this, his words were true. people were put into deportation proceedings. you can prolong those for quite a while. of course, biden won so everyone is on their couch relaxing. to answer your question, trace,

absolutely yes it can be put into play. >> trace: dr. houman hemmati has been on vacation for weeks and i don't know who allowed this, but we haven't had a chance to talk about the whole idea, gavin newsom the governor and california has said to 270 illegal migrants we will give you health care. >> that was a nice plan when the state had $100 billion in surplus but now we have $68 billion deficit in california and growing. newsom denies and says he was the guy that created the deficit but i don't trust his mouth. coming back to health insurance, people are illegal that cannot afford health insurance. poor obamacare and people can afford that. they are in trouble because of that work can't afford housing or food appear they have to choose. so when we have those problems here within the state for people voting and then we see we are giving it for free to other people who don't show up randomly, that doesn't make people feel great. i think we need to strike a

balance here. if people are here, we have to take care of the ones who didn't come willingly. if children, give them health care. it doesn't cost a lot for children, by the way. dirt cheap but the adults we have to figure something else out because a deficit like that commit is no longer something to pay for without any consequences. >> trace: i want to hit you with voter analysis and first the border wall to you, vic, do you favor or oppose, building a wall on the u.s. mexican border strongly somewhat favor, 88%, strongly somewhat opposed, 12%. right in trump's ally and 2016, all of a sudden the numbers as robust as they were then. they dropped a lot in 2020 and 2022 the same. people are like enough is enough. even democratic governors in this country. >> the fun and games are over, trey spear the opportunity to run for election or reelection and say, hey, we want to fight

for the good guys, the small guys, misleading the constituency to believe the small guys and the people that need the help are those who are committing crimes and coming into the country illegally. that facade is gone. people understand that there are real effects. we talk about economy. we talk about immigration. they are really personal to the same entity, trace. because to save the economy, we have to stop spending upwards of $120 billion on illegal immigrants into the united states. they go hand-in-hand. >> trace: fox news voter analysis, portion, which comes closer to your opinion on abortion? should abortion be legal in almost all cases? 31% illegal in all cases, 67%. but we didn't hear a lot about it but clearly republican voters still much against the issue. >> trace attributable to the fact there is a lot of misinformation regarding abortion. you have both sides trying to scare voters on their side as

well as the other to believe late-term abortions that happen right before the time of birth happen all the time. and they are simply not occurring. i don't think there is a doctor alive who will go abort a baby right at the point of viability at the end of, you know, just about nine months peer that is just not happening. but democrats are trying to get people to believe on their side that that is happening because it gets them to vote more for the democrats. republicans get people to believe it is happening because it gets people on their base to vote for more republicans. the problem is it is fake. if people look at the data and see the numbers of late-term abortion third trimester, especially, are extremely low. the later you get, the more it is rare to the point it does not happen at that later later stage where people are scaring people to believing. people's perceptions may change. a lot of other folks may say, you know what, yeah, i will support abortion up to 16 weeks, 24 weeks. i don't want it happening past

30 weeks for example. whatever the threshold may be pure if we talk about it in a nuanced way instead a black-and-white way, things will change a lot especially republican women who want to have some degree of choice available. right now they have to choose between yes or no. >> trace: a lot of them are concerned actually support you can have an abortion. you can have them at later terms, which bothers a lot of republicans, fair? >> yes, but you know what, you can always say don't do it at that very late stage. guess what? it will not reduce the number of abortions by anything. let them do it. >> trace: dr. houman hemmati, vik bajaj, thank you very much peer the late-breaking details from iowa a great night for the former president donald trump. we will be right back with the final-round of our special coverage of the iowa caucuses. ♪ ♪ fred! how are you?! fred... fuel up to 7 brain health indicators,

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♪ ♪ >> trace: we are back with our special coverage of iowa caucuses where former president donald trump the front runner with a lion's share of the delegates in that state. if you haven't seen it, record breaking numbers 51% for the president. there you have on the other side ron desantis 21%, nikki haley 19.1%, meaning for now at least

ron desantis is kind of the second place placeholder until at least we get into new hampshire. and with that, let's bring -- oh, by the way, trace if you didn't hear finish fourth and suspended his campaign and endorse the former president. and it moves to new hampshire with the first in the nation primary one week away. let's bring in the california g.o.p. chairman jessica patterson. it is fascinating. "the washington post" said the following, brand-new off of the press. it is quoting here "the last remnants of the republican party died in iowa. it is fair to ask whether the candidates wasted their time coming to iowa and trump skipped the debates ended little and iowa politics can propel and no longer to apply. it was never a contest." iowa matters, democracy matters. people voting matter. that is why this is important. we need to make sure and we sell

this field has narrowed down significantly over the last 11 months and will continue to narrow down as we go through the contest. >> trace: that is the whole thing and how democracy works. you go out there in battle and if you lose, sometimes you pull out or go on to the next battleground. it is like football appear as an whole thing, during his speech,e former president said is we need to get rid of male and bad outlets. thing would be, doesn't the whole president need to embrace mail-in ballots and get votes into the -- >> he has endorsed the program and something that is critical. we need to make sure taking the football analogy, we are not just playing last quarter but have to play all three quarters. places like california we have an entire month of voting. if you allow only democrats to turn in their ballots in that month, you are playing at a disadvantage. >> trace: nikki haley campaign

tonight, where you somewhat disappointed that the numbers? was she disappointed? does she look like it is a pump in the road. she was polling to come ahead of ron desantis and she came to points, little more than two points behind. it is a big number when you talk about 21.2%. >> i think and pastor haley is a fighter. what you will see new hampshire is the same type of infrastructure governor desantis bill and iowa she has in new hampshire. she thinks she has a shot to win this and she will work hard to make that happen. >> trace: ron desantis will go to south carolina first and maybe new hampshire after that south carolina carolina and banking on south carolina which is her home state. but so you are right and nikki haley comes in second and ron desantis in south carolina. what happens in south carolina and how far does this keep going? >> we will see a collection of these delegates, right? tonight was 40 delegates. in california alone, 160 delegates, right?

the delegate number will matter. you will see if the money continues to follow them. whether or not they can continue their campaigns. >> trace: will this go beyond super tuesday or a super tuesday pretty much it? >> i think super tuesday will be a big ticket day with california, texas, the most in the nation peer that will be a huge day. we should have a good indicator who our nominee will be. >> trace: it will be interesting what court date trump goes to after the court date march 4th and super tuesday, of course, march 5th. jessica patterson, great to have you on as always. and thank you for watching america's late news, "fox news @ night." i'm trace gallagher in los angeles. that ends our continuing coverage of the iowa caucuses. mike emanuel and gillian turner up next. you are in good hands to continue the breaking news coverage. we will see you tomorrow night. >> mike: time for news about the news. the same programming

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