acebook and twitter. night on c-span -- >> this week our guest is bret baier, anchor of "special report with bret baier" on the fox news channel and author of "special heart" chronicling the life and near death struggles of his son, paul, who was born with a rare and severe heart defect. >> bret baier in your new book called "special heart" you tell a story about a little girl

named maggie. what is it? >> my son, paul, was in the hospital at childrens national. we were waiting to have his open heart surgery. he had been diagnosed with general heart defects and had to have the surgery otherwise he would die. part of waiting was being in the hospital and realizing all of the other families are there. you are kind of in the trenches with them. maggie's family. maggie had been through nine surgeries in nine months. we were really feeling for them. we were in that waiting room every day and walked past maggie's bed on the way to paul. on the day of paul's surgery we came in and maggie's family wasn't there. she passed away the night before. it was really, really hard to

imagine the family spent so much time waiting for her to get out of the hospital and she did not make it. we went into surgery that day, eight-hour surgery. his first surgery of three. as we are sitting in the cardiac intensive care unit watching through a plastic bandage my son's heart beating, which was a moment in and of itself the nurse comes over to say you have a phone call. they brought me the phone. it was maggie's mom checking on paul's surgery. the strength and the grace and the fortitude that it took for a mother who lost her child the night before to call and check on our child i think was a moment we will always remember. >> what was the reason you decided to do this book? >> i talked to my wife about it. we had talked about our story

many times but i never wrote about it in that kind of form. the genesis of the book is a series of emails i sent to family and friends updating them throughout the surgeries and my brother, tim, put it together. he combined all of the emails with pictures. i looked at that and said there could be a book here that helps some families. everybody has something. everybody has some cross to bear and this is how we got through our darkest hours. >> on the back of the book it says 100% of the sales is donated to pediatric heart causes. how tough was that decision? >> easy. it was really easy. first book is about opening ourselves up. we really want to make a difference helping people and

helping causes. there are a lot of great causes out there. it is amazing, the stat, 1 out of 100 kids is born with a heart defect. 1 out of 100. and of those half of them have to have a surgery or procedure within the first six months of life. i mean i would think that people get that. my wife and i talked about it. we said every dollar should go to those causes. >> this is a rather intimate book. i will read a couple of you must have talked to yourself about how intimate you wanted to make the book. >> it is not the normal type of openness that you see for maybe a washington news anchor to put

himself out there like that. we felt this is the raw story. there are a lot of humorous stories on the way to get into paul's situation. in order for it to be real it really had to be how we faced it. i married the right woman. she was a rock and i wanted to show that. we relied heavily on prayer and believed the power of prayer is a big part of how we got through it. i wanted to show that. i wasn't going to be afraid of saying it. and then at the end i think it is hopefully inspirational story that anybody can get through anything. there is a light at the end of the tunnel. not to be cliche but you have to think about that. in order to get through the toughest times. >> there was a moment your wife collapses in the intensive care

unit. what was that about? >> well, she had given birth a couple of days before here in d.c. and paul was given a clean bill of health and then was diagnosed with this serious complicated heart that had to be operated on. you can imagine the stress and the emotion will get to anybody. but she had just given birth. the next day we were getting briefings about how it would go down, what the percentages of his surviving was. what his life would look like down the road. and it was overwhelming for her. she collapsed. she became the oldest patient in children's national. we actually had a moment there as she was recovering. we said listen, this is all about paul. we need to put ourselves in the right mind set and do all we can to make sure that he has

the best fighting chance to make it. >> we will start with this, where did you meet amy? >> on a blind date. we were set up by mutual friends. she came to town. we went to a rolling stones concert in 2002. october 2002. at the time i was covering the pentagon. so i was always traveling overseas, doing a lot of different coverage. but that weekend i was in town. at the end of that weekend after going out a couple of times i told her friend i am going to marry that girl. >> that is in the book. >> where is she from? >> grew up in chicago. >> where did she go to school? >> she went to s.m.u. down in allas. >> what year did you graduate from college?

>> 19 2. >> why did you find yourself at depaul? >> i played golf there. my dad went there. that is one of the reasons i looked there. i loved it. green castle, indiana. they just started a media enter there. >> ken is a great guy. -- fired up about covering washington. i did not know how i was going to get there but that was my goal. when i left that class on presidential politics i had the fever. >> what year did you get married? >> 2004. >> what year was paul born? >> 2007. >> how many operations has he had? >> so, he has had three open

eart surgeries and seven angioplasties and one stomach surgery unrelated to his heart. that is a lot. that is 11 procedures, three of them major surgeries. the last one was in september. probably the most daunting, as i was writing this book, i was in the process of it we found out he had to have a third open heart surgery. so it became the end of the book. it became chapter 10. fortunately it is a happy ending. >> you gave us video of him, paul and you in the i.c.u.? >> i.c.u., in the cardiac intensive care unit. >> who shot the video? >> i had a little camera. i played reporter. i probably was really annoying, brian in that i.c.u. asking the nurses thousands of questions. but you know i approached it

like i needed to learn a story that day. but this story dealt with my own. >> let's show a clip of it. >> yeah. >> that is his heart, right in there. you can see it beating. right underneath that. his eye is kind of open. >> it is? >> absolutely. elcome everyone. >> in the lord's protection you et stronger and bigger and

certainly all of this stuff going into his body and by the love of all of you. it is clearly present and the care that god has for all of god's children. et's offer a short prayer. we can always offer prayer together. a sign of the -- >> no. >> ok. >> first question the heart is open and the chest is open there. how often did that happen during these three operations? >> just the first one because he was so small they were worried about swelling being a problem. in little babies they leave the chest open and has that clear plastic bandage you saw. that was the moment i described earlier the moment of looking down at that walnut-sized heart

where a surgeon reworked the way that it operated moving around arteries the size of angel hair pasta to make it all work the right way. paul's heart, essentially he was pumping the wrong direction and not getting enough oxygen. they had to do a complete fix on the heart. that was the only time his hest was open like that. >> how long did they keep that chest open? >> it was a few days to make sure the swelling wasn't overwhelming for his little body. then they sewed him up. and each time after that they sewed him up almost immediately because he was bigger and he could handle the swelling. now it is the most amazing, beautiful scar we have ever seen. he is proud of it.

the last surgery was probably the toughest. you had to explain to him exactly what was going on. he got it. he talked about mortality and life and could he die. i mean those are questions from a 6-year-old at the time. we got through it. he owned it. eventually he went into his kindergarten class and told them all about what he was going to happen. he lifted up his shirt. he owned it. that is how we got through that part of it. >> here is entertainment tonight back in 2009. >> we were so excited. we had a boy. it was our first child. we were on cloud 9. the highest of highs. >> they were told their new son was happy and healthy as could be. >> day one of his nurses thought he looked pale and it

turned out he had five major life threatening heart defects. >> essentially his heart was pumping the wrong way and he had two holes in his heart. >> the doctor gave them the prognosis that left them devastated. >> he made it very clear there is a good chance we were never bringing our baby home. >> paul was transferred to washington's childrens national medical center where he was kept alive by machines for two weeks. one of the few surgeons in the world capable of performing this surgery became available. >> dr. richard jonas was your surgeon. did they give you special treatment because of who you are? >> no. >> how does that work? >> i did not see it. they did not know as a family who we were. maybe somebody watched fox. don't know.

every family there in those waiting rooms was being treated the same exact way. some of them did not have insurance. i am not sure whether they had green cards. they were clearly not speaking english. we were all in this together and that hospital does amazing things because of charity. because of donations. >> where is it? >> right down the street here on michigan avenue. i never knew where it was until e had that moment. now we are there a bunch. it is amazing, amazing place. dr. jonas is honestly one of the top in the world if not the top two of this kind of surgery and the fact that he was here in this city to be able to do this is really a god send. >> you say in the book that paul's situation is one of the most difficult he ever operated

on. >> he called it one of the longest and most complicated surgeries he has done and he does about 250 a year. this is a surgeon who travels the world. paul's case was just really complex. his specific heart. the fix, brian, in order to make it work was a donated baby aorta. it was sewn in. the right ventricle of his heart that enables the blood to flow in that way. and because that part did not grow with him it that's get changed out. so he got changed out when he was 10-month-old and again last september. those are donated organs. so the power of that. there were three families who lost their loved ones so that my son, our son, could live. we were fortunate enough to

write thank you letters. they had this program to the families who donate organs from lost children. you know i think about that all the time. those three families. >> when you first found out paul had a heart problem and somebody recommended dr. jonas to you, where was he? >> he was overseas at some conference. i think it was in europe. he is from australia. but he was overseas at the time. and that was the dilemma. how long could we wait for him to get back. without having to transfer paul to boston or philadelphia, the other really good childrens' hospitals on the eastern coast. >> boston accent with a australian accent and one of the strangest things you have heard. >> i think it is more australian than boston. he spent time at boston's children hospital there. >> when -- how did you decide

that you were even going to make this a public event? you know like entertainment tonight. why did you do that? >> that came from a "people" magazine article at the same time. they called and said would you do it. we said yes. we thought putting our story out there it was something that could help families, somebody else. so we made the pact that is what we would do. when i sent out those emails i was the communicator keeping everybody up-to-date. amy withdrew and really was focused on paul and did not talk to many folks outside of our little bubble. i emailed with people and we were lifted up by hundreds and hundreds of emails and prayers. that made a difference for us. >> october 7, 2013.

i gather this was on fox news. it shows you the race for every child. let's see paul. ess than a year ago. >> we wanted to do something to give back. we had everything with paul. we are big supporters of childrens national. the staff said let's do this. 14 days ago he was in the hospital in cardiac intensive care unit. our third open heart surgery. he wouldn't be around if it were not for children's national. >> it is a great place for kids hat are -- >> they have to get better. >> yeah. >> what did they do for you? >> fixed my heart. >> do they have to open his chest every time? >> for the open heart surgery they have to pry open his chest. >> he is literally out there

two weeks after? >> we did not think we would do that. i talked to my wife. i said there is no way we can actually do lone it. the doctor said no. he is making an amazing recovery. he can walk. his body will self regulate. i was really scared about that. so i ran with a 4-year-old in a stroller and crossed the finish line first. and a little while later in the distance i saw my wife and paul walking. and they crossed the finish line as the announcer said paul has just had his third open heart surgery 14 days ago. that was an emotional moment. >> in the middle of all of this you are still a journalist? >> i am. >> you got a call from president george bush. >> i did. >> how did that happen?

what did he say? one of the me i was first emails i got was from tommy snow. white house press secretary. i think he was updating the president at the time that this happened i was chief white house correspondent. i was out of the mix. before the first surgery we were in the hospital. i had my cell phone. i saw a 202 number. i did not answer it. i was in the middle of talking to a cordolgist. later i went back and there was the voicemail. president bush wishing us well, saying they were praying for us and to put the faith in the doctors and you will get through it. i thought he did not have to do that. but it was really something. i was happy i missed the call. now i can play it on paul's wedding video or something.

>> later in the book you quote tony snow, the late tony snow, the press secretary to george bush. he said let's begin by elcoming him back. how do you turn around after this treatment from president bush or tony snow and become a journalist again? >> that is a great question. everybody in any administration, no matter party or affiliation, they are people. sometimes we forget that in washington. it all becomes about one thing or another. these were people reaching out. i did not hold back on questions to tony in that

briefing even though i just got back. i think that you have to turn off the switch. but you never turn off the people part. did it make me think better of president bush? probably. cause he is down deep a good man. many would argue made mistakes on many fronts in policy, but as a person that was pretty amazing. -- the cover of the book we have some video of jim mills. how did he work with you on the book? >> i was in the process of writing the book. jim used to be a producer for fox. of course he was here at c-span as well before that. he reached out to me and said have you ever thought of

writing a book. i said jimmy am in the process of it. i already started that process. he said you may need some help. and i thought about it. and i did need help. i needed to get my thoughts together. i needed to bounce things off of people because this is an initial book. he said i would like to help you. and that is where our relationship started there. i was great friends with jim when he was a capitol hill producer, best in the business. at the time he was a free lance writer at myrtle beach. reached out to me and we started what ended up being an year and a half of sending stuff back and forth. hours of taped interviews to help me through some of the oughest parts for me to write. >> did he interview you? >> we talked many times. wherever we could squeak out times in between the coverage.

>> fox news, you have been there how many years? >> 17. the atlanta bureau started in an apartment, fax machine and a cell phone. almost right at the beginning. >> graduated from depaul what year? >> 2. >> what did you do right away? >> intern at cnn right out of the box. i worked on inside politics. worked with bernard shaw. wrote big things like welcome to inside politics, i am bernard shaw. i bounceded from there to hilton head, south carolina. a little station in buford and an illinois affiliate in illinois and great cbs affiliate. and then i started with fox here after fox started. >> when you were sitting there with bernie shaw, what were your goals then? >> i knew i wanted to get to

washington. i had the fire. i knew i wanted to cover politics. i did not know how i would do it. and at the time i was operating the teleprompter. i had scary mishaps with bernie shaw's deep voice booming. he was so gracious. if i screwed up he was such a great guy. >> what did he do the day you did screw up? >> in this low booming voice -- in the old days they had a prompter where you would feed it pages of the paper and it would be on a conveyor belt and it would move down and i would control that. ow it is all computerized. one day i accidentally flipped the switch and all of the papers went all over the newsroom. it was a tornado.

i scrambled to pick them up. he definitely went to commercial break. he said it is ok buddy. don't worry in his very low voice. at taught me later about being gracious. being understanding. >> how many years were you a reporter for fox at the pentagon? >> five. >> biggest learning experience there. >> traveling the world with then defense secretary donald rumsfeld. >> 23 trips to afghanistan and iraq. >> actually 25 together. spent time with special ops forces along the pakistan border. traveled with many military units across both countries. what i learned most is the service and sacrifice those men and women give, not only them

but their families. and i think that -- you know there is all of this talk about the embedded program and whether it affected journalism. i think it opened eyes of people about the military and enabled people to have a true appreciation. you can still have tough questions and there were mistakes made and report on those but also have a appreciation for the sacrifice that they all give. >> looking -- we are still involved in afghanistan. looking back at the two wars your own vantage point, worth it? >> it is tough. you know looking through a glass now i think a lot of people would say no. looking through a post 9/11 prism back them and what was being talked about i think that it is a different view as a world leader. i will leave it for others to decide if it was worth it or

not. the challenge in afghanistan was that there was nothing there. utside kabal it is tundra. >> back in 2010 you interviewed president obama. how many times have you interviewed him? >> once. >> i don't want to characterize it but at the time i remember saying this is a pretty tough interview. did he say anything to you after the interview was over? >> no. he said hey, you had to ask. i am sure he gave me some fox line. something about fox. but he was very cordial. it was three days before the health care law was voted on in the house.

arguably nobody knew what was in that bill, 2,700 pages. i asked specific questions. we started and the white house gave me 30 minutes in the blue room. that day they said it would be 25 total. the president said we are doing this for 15. i had a list of questions about a mile long. i said mr. president we will take whatever time you can give us. i asked the first question and i think the answer was like five minutes or six. the second question was like three and a half. there was in my view, a white ticking back from 15 backwards. i made the decision if i was go to get anything out of the interview i had to start piping up. various people said i did it too much. if i had to do it again i would do it differently probably.

>> why? >> well, i look back at that and i think maybe i could have done a preamble and said i have a lot of questions. i would really like to get to as much as we can. maybe do it a little differently. but you know the time at the moment that is what i wanted to do. >> the reason that i think this conversation ends up being a little frustrating is because the focus entirely is on washington process and yes, i have said that is an ugly process. it was ugly when republicans were in charge. it was ugly when democrats were in charge. bret, let me tell you something. the fact of the matter is that for the vast majority of people their health care won't change because right now they are getting a better deal. the only thing that will change for them is that they will have

more security under their insurance and they will have a better situation when it comes to if they lose their job or somebody gets sick they will have more security. >> how about you guarantee they -- >> let me finish my answer. >> i know you don't like the -- >> i am trying to answer your question and you keep on interrupting. >> i look back at that and i was asking a lot of questions that years later became the focus. could you keep your doctor? could you keep your plan? that was 2010. we were dealing with this in 2013 and 2014. i was proud of the questions. again, i just think that i probably would have -- >> why? why do you have to treat a president with kid gloves? >> you don't. want kid gloves. i wish i could have gotten more

addressing those questions. the substance of them instead of the back and forth about the fillabuster thing. >> why do you think you couldn't? >> he didn't want to or didn't know. >> go back to when you found out. why did this president give fox why would they give you this interview? >> i think they needed help and votes to get this thing through. they look at the fox news audience and see a lot of independents. a broad swath of political ideology on our channel. >> what did you do to get ready for that interview? >> i studied everything. i was already absorbing all of it because we covered it on special report. asked viewers to email in and

facebook. really good questions. i talked to people on capitol hill. there was a lot of process. >> surprised you got the interview? >> i was surprised at that moment because it just happened. >> how much time did you have to prepare? >> day and a half. >> and why do you think they went from 30 minutes to 25 minutes to 15. >> i don't know. you have to ask them. i think that they perhaps looked at the cost benefit of not being able to answer some of those questions. i don't know. i wish it had been longer and we could have dealt with a lot of those topics. 3, 2012 ou are april ith the press secretary. >> senate democrats have not passed a resolution for a budget in 1,070 days.

>> come on. you can cite the statistics that represent gimmicks. >> what is gimmickry about not passing a budget in the senate? pass is our hope congress the budget. >> why don't we get a budget on the table and vote on it? >> the president put forward and laid out his budget proposal which has at its core a balanced approach. a balance to this day congressman ryan rejects. there are a lot of citation on cable and elsewhere about the commission. >> listen. the question is about the senate democratic leadership. >> bret -- >> so what is going on there? >> the senate had not passed a budget in a long, long time.

the president had not picked up the phone saying get this done. they were talking about how they needed a budget. democrats control the senate. it was an interesting moment for the press secretary to come on and say congress should get this done. >> but there was tension in that back and forth, including jay suggesting that you had an agenda. >> yeah. .hat is a common card >> what impact does that have? >> it is a little bit frustrating because you get to the point where you are not getting any answers and you have to fight through it or move on. this back and forth, even in the darkest of the fox white house, whatever you want to call it, when the white house was speaking a lot about fox. we were getting questions

answered. we were getting stories finished. i think that there is this healthy back and forth. we are all about asking tough questions. >> what are the chances you will get another interview with president obama? >> ask every week. put in that request. i hope it happens. i talked to him off the record many times. before the prestate of the union anchor lunches. talked to him about it. we will see. hope so. >> the daily show has fun with a lot of people in this town, including fox news. here is jon stewart in 2012. >> war on women? there is a problem with that one. >> there is not really a war on women. >> they play this phony war on women. >> portrays that as a war on women. >> this is a made up, phony war on women.

>> respect. i think fox is trying to say elevating this fight to the level of war diminishes the seriousness with which real conflicts are engaged or is real. not a casual metaphor. >> in case you did not know, there is a war on christmas in america. >> a lot of companies have been going happy holidays. >> christmas is a special case. that is an incredibly important holiday. i am sure that nothing else rises to that level of outrage. >> this is the war on easter. >> war on, wait for it, fall holidays. >> let's talk war on halloween. >> war on fossil fuel. >> war on ladies night. >> war on fishermen. >> you can accept the war on salt? >> the war on chocolate milk. >> war on sugary drinks. >> what do you think? >> you know he is good at

poking holes and depends on what side you are on that day. he has a lot of fun with fox. i don't know how that show would do without fox. a lot of fox focus. i have been on the show. i have answered those questions from jon stewart. i did people like a piece of meat in a lion's cage. but i think on the news side from 6:00 to 7:00, that is where i focus every day. >> what is the impact on people that work in fox when they get criticized? >> there is plenty of criticism that is justified in some things that go on the air in ifferent places. but it gets a little tiring, especially on the news side,

that it gets painted with a broad brush that. we can't cover things fairly. e have great correspondents. i think people, if they don't watch, those are the loudest fox haters, the people that don't watch. i tell people, watch my show three times and then email me and tell you what they think. >> do they do it? >> they do. they usually come back pretty complementary. i look at that as one viewer at a time. >> if you look at 318 million in the united states , fox news leads in the news business but at any given time 2 to 3 million people watching. why are people so upset.

what is it about one network that has a conservative image in a lot of the programming that sends so many people in this town slitting their wrists? >> it is amazing. it gets so much focus. a lot of focus. rupert murdoch shook things up when fox news channel started. i think we changed the dynamic. it makes people mad. there are plenty of outlets if they want to watch something else. >> when you put your program together every night 6:00 when does the process start? morning t at a 10:00 meeting and then have a meeting with the staff to go over what is happening on "special

report." it is a template of what we think the day will look like talking to all of our correspondents around the world. i have a panel at the end of the show. i come up with topics at that point. usually the show changes 2-4 times before 6:00. today we heard that it will change again because of things that are happening late in the afternoon. so those are good days when we have to change on the fly. that means something is breaking and live. are are what is the most popular thing in that hour, and do you know it from looking at the ratings? >> pretty across the board roughly the same. the panel i hear is popular. it rates about the same as the front end of the show. you can't pinpoint it by the quarter hour. people are always looking for what worked or did not work

based on a tick in ratings. we have had the sense where if you build it they will come. brit hume built the show and had the foundation and i am just adding floors. >> is there anybody that appears on the show on a regular basis that you know if they are not there it makes a difference? >> i get emails when charles is not on. he is my first baseman on the panel. thoughtful ing, person. i think people respect his insight and his ability to ssentially give give organic discussions. we are not planning those things out. we do want practice what we are go to say on the panel. those are things that develop. he speaks in a very clear way. if you agree with him or don't agree with him most people

respect the way he delivers it. >> you tweet? >> a lot. >> why? >> too much according to my wife. we think it is a great platform for getting things out about the show, attracting viewers and having a conversation and hearing what they like and don't like and about showing more personality that maybe i can't show between 6:00 and 7:00. >> how often do you do it in a day? >> i probably do five or six. my assistant usually posts a few times as well. then i interact. i respond to tweets. sometimes i am one twitter rant away from a real problem. >> here you are back in january 13th, 2009. u are at george washington university talking about the government's partisan divide. >> that will be difficult.

the speech legislation card check that will be debate 0d capitol hill eventually sometime in which businesses would be able to -- unions will be able to have a vote that is not secret ballot. now listen it is a hot issue. for republicans they are going to have -- it will be a partisan divide. i would expect something like that is not going to come up initially and that over time you will have a 2-3 month honeymoon of this post partisan rhetoric. >> two or three month honeymoon. >> pretty short these days. i don't know if it will even last long. >> people complain constantly about the divide in town. is it worth complaining about? >> it is worth noting that it is a far more partisan town than it ever has been. whether it is worth complaining about i don't know.

the folks that voted put those representatives in. >> put your finger on the reason. they always ask the question. why is the town show cross with each other? what do you think? >> it is tough to pinpoint one reason. one is the squeaky wheel often ets attention. and there hasn't been a feelingly like getting together has been the priority. that wasn't the message sent by both parties. it was fight for the political ideology and stand your ground. that is what they took from those elections. both sides took the same election different ways. i think increasingly when i travel the country and i hear getting things done would be good. you know as well as i do there are a lot of key pieces of legislation that are pretty close if you look at the votes.

they are a view votes away from passing big stuff. it is the process all over again. >> i am sure you heard people blame fox news. >> i have. >> what do you say to them? >> that is a lot of power for one cable network to be dividing the country. i just do not sigh it. listen. there are opinion shows and there are news shows just like there is a newspaper section nd an editorial section. is the "new york times" editorial driving people partisan so they can't work with republicans? is msnbc and their editorial shows, are they drivingly people away? no. i think people are smart. whether the pendulum swings to where getting things done is

the priority, we will have to wait to see. >> fox news has how many people working for it? >> that is a great question. i don't know the total number, but it is a lot now, not only here but around the world. obviously the mothership is in new york. we have a washington bureau. i guess about 150. -- be here can you are seen in the world? >> a lot of countries. i don't know how many. around the world i traveled to 74 countries. we are on a lot of systems now. mike: and you traveled to 74 countries. >> with various defense secretaries, generals, the president, vice president, just in my time since being at fox. my passport has been rolled over a couple of times. >> most memorable of those trips and why? >> you know the trips where you

get to stay for an extended period of time and absorb some part of the country. a country that is gorgeous that you don't hear about a lot is asto nvingts ia. that is a wonderful country. i never thought about it until i went there a few times. i think the most memorable is probably afghanistan and iraq and just being there where all of those massive changes were underway. i went to cuba six times covering elian gonzalez in the early days. that will be an interesting story when that opens up as well. >> you covered donald rumsfeld not guilty book. >> yeah. >> why did you write about him? >> he is such an interesting character. there was an early time getting

to the chair. it was worth noting. you know at the beginning of it was in afghanistan rock star status, tv midday and the soap operas were put on the back burner and donald rumsfeld's press briefing was something. i was a new reporter at the pentagon. getting those questions so you are not eviscerated by rummy speak when he did not answer but went after a premise in the estion became really quite interesting to watch live tv. >> when was the known unknown? it was a question about saddam hussein and ties to quidequide. that is the first time we

hurled it unfurled. jim to his credit went back and secretary rumsfeld said are we n the known known or unknown known. >> here you are in 2011 eporting from afghanistan. >> we had planned to fly out to he afghan-pakistan border. we drove out here. the local governor says the ituation changed dramatically. now the fruit stands stay open ate until the night. in this town they are using local police. a program empowering their own

ecurity. the bottom of the security. i talked to the general about this. the role of attacks that are constant and even 10 years after this war started. >> how difficult was it to get him to come out and meet you and you interviewed him at the time. >> i interviewed him i think six times. i had a relationship with him by then. so it just took some working behind the scenes. you know he was pretty outspoken for that position. i mean he went on camera. he talked about the challenges. he was a person that was obviously not shy of the camera and journalist coverage. you know we were fortunate enough to be there and to get hat.

we don't know where technology is going but idealy that will be the last open heart surgery. along the way we will probably ave a couple of angioplasty. the doctors look as it as a tune-up. you are still handing your son over and they are putting him to sleep for a procedure. and it is overnight. >> statistics about heart is that they have gotten better and better over the years. if this happened to paul 25 years ago. >> wouldn't have made it. >> why not? >> one, they might not have detected it. he probably would have gone home because he was clean a clean bill of health and he could have been a blue baby or he could have been having

trouble breathing and we would not have comboin it had anything to do with his heart. the detection has increased and the surgery has gotten tons and tons better. and dr. jonas will tell you that 15 years ago it wouldn't have been the same result. >> have you added up if you had to pay for this how much this would have all cost? >> millions. millions. i have not done the complete calculation. >> millions for paul. >> we have a great health insurance plan at fox. but we still paid out-of-pocket quite a bit. it is well over the cap. >> what part of it would have been out-of-pocket? >> additional visits, any medication. you had reached your cap within

the insurance early on. these are really expensive procedures. so then you look at a hospital that takes that on no matter who is there based on charity. >> why does it cost millions? >> i don't know. that is still one of the biggest problems of getting the cost curb of health care to come down. you know there is anecdotal evidence that it is starting to hatch but i don't think that it is solved just by going to listen to the issues. >> you had a second son. >> daniel. >> what year was he born? >> he will be four. three years after paul. no problems whatsoever. it took time to decide to have daniel. because there was a lot of fear. could lightning strike twice. >> anything in either of your

families? >> nothing genetic. no history of heart disease. there is nothing on the books. pregnancy by all accounts went great. we just had no idea. this is what happens. the craziest part of the stat, 1 out of 1 hoonled. there are a lot who are not diagnosed. they do not catch it. maybe it is not a big deal growing up but some of these people are 40-year-olds that never drank or smoke and drop dead on the tennis court and they are in great shape. but it is a heart defect that was never picked up when they were babies. "special ed this book heart?" . >> thought it felt good. it seemed like a good name. >> what does the book have to do in order to make you feel

like it has been a success? >> you know i would like to get on the best seller list. we are going to do a big book aunch week around the country. then i am going to stop talking about it. the book will be out there and we would have done our thing. i will let people decide whether it is a great success or not. the more that it is a success the more money we are raising for nonprofits. >> how much of this has paul read? >> so he does not read yet. we have read him sections. i read him the emaemails. it is a delicate thing. it is the psychology of having him be ok with it. so there is scary stuff in here. i look forward to him being a teenager and reading it. and that was another reason we did it. i wanted him to remember everything. >> what has he said about it so

far? >> i asked him. he is doing a couple of interviews. live tv with a 7-year-old, that will be challenging. i asked him about that and he said it is cool. he said now i am famous. that is not why it is cool. you are healthy buddy. you are healthy. >> bret baier. "special heart" is the name of the book. bret baier the anchor on fox news. thank you. >> thanks. >> for free transcripts or to give us your comments about his program visit us at --

>> c-span's new book sundays at eight on the fall of the soviet union. >> contains the seeds of their own destruction. many of the problems we saw at the end begin at the very beginning. i spoke already about the attempt to control all institutions and control all parts of the economy and political life and social life. the problem is that when you do that and try to control erything then you create opposition everywhere. if you tell all artists they need to paint the same way. one artist says i want to paint that r way you made him way otherwise being apolitical. now now have to be young pioneers. that is what happened in a number of countries. and one group decides they do not like that and form a secret underground boy scout troop that absolutely happens.

that was very important in poland through that period. you created another group of political opponents. >> read more of our conversation and other from public affairs books, now available as a father's day gift from your favorite bookstore. >> next, we continue our look at some of this year's commencement speeches from around the country. we will hear from admiral william the grave and, senator patrick leahy, senator susan collins, and joe kennedy. >> on the next "washington ray lahood on u.s. competitiveness and economic and job growth hampered by collapsing infrastructure. mo