into the fold in some way. adam: j.d. and chris harmer, thank you for joining us. i believe the chinese are meeting with the north koreans as we are talking right now. that's all our time for this evening. thank you for joining us. charles payne will be back in this chair tomorrow. lou dobbs is next on fox business. lou: good evening, everybody. attorney general jeff sessions today recused himself from the investigation of russian interference in the election. that after growing calls for him to step aside. the national left-wing media, despicable democrats and some members of the gop in fact, engaged in what is clearly a political witch-hunt over revelations sessions had a meeting with russia's ambassador last year. two of them, in fact, the meetings contradicting sessions' testimony before congress in january, but listen

to senator sessions' remarks and you can see senator al franken even shrugging at the absurdity of the moment at the reports about the trump campaign's ties to the russian government. >> cnn has just published a story, and i'm telling you this about a new story that's just been published so i'm not expecting you to know whether or not it's true or not, but cnn just published a story alleging that the intelligence community provided documents to the president-elect last week that included information that, quote, russian operatives claimed to have compromising personal and financial information about mr. trump. these documents also allegedly stated, quote, there was a continuing exchange of information during the campaign between trump surrogates and

intermediaries for the russian government. now, again, i'm telling you this as it's coming out, so, you know, but if it's true, it's obviously extremely serious, and if there is any evidence that anyone affiliated with the trump campaign communicated with the russian government in the course of this campaign, what will do you? >> senator franken, i'm not aware of any of those activities. i have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign, and i did not have communications with the russians. and i'm unable to comment on it. lou: the senator had two meetings with the russian ambassador in july and september of last year, when the senator was a member of the armed services committee meeting with foreign ambassadors. that was all part of his job.

the senator went onto say he did not have a political discussion with the ambassador during those meetings, but took the recommendation of his staff in deciding to recuse himself. >> i asked for the candid and honest opinion about what should i do about investigations. certain investigations. and my staff recommended recusal. they said that since i had involvement with the campaign, should i not be involved in any campaign investigation. i have studied the rules and considered their comments and evaluations. i believe those recommendations are right and just. therefore, i have recused myself in the matters that deal with the trump campaign. lou: the attorney general recusing himself from the investigation as it pertains to the campaign.

what is perhaps most surprising and perhaps most depressing about all of this is at least 14 republicans joined the democrats in calling for the recusal of the attorney general. senator susan collins and rob portman, congressman jason chaffetz, darrell issa, tom cole, raul labrador. democrats as expected went a step further to cynically and cravenly exploit the political moment calling for sessions' resignation. >> he has proved that he is unqualified and unfit to serve in that position of trust. >> for the good of the country, attorney general sessions should resign. >> i want to reserve judgment until i have a chance to study exactly what he said. certainly, if he willfully misled the senators, yes, he should step down. lou: our first guest says the dems have absolutely no

credibility on the issue, and the republicans need to stand together against the obvious political witch-hunt taking place with one of the most honorable men in washington, their target. joining us tonight is david bossie, former trump campaign, deputy manager, the citizens united president and fox news contributor. david, good to have you with us. >> thanks for having me. lou: this is quite something to witness. people have an awful low view of washington, d.c. but to watch this attempt to exploit politically a man of immense character, integrity and stature, like the attorney general, it's just gut-wrenching. >> it's really troubling, lou, to watch. the attorney general of the united states is an incredibly honorable man, and i disagree with his staff that told him that he should recuse himself. i think he has done nothing to

put himself in a position to not be able to oversee an investigation, and let me just say that it's in dire contrast to what happened in the last administration. this man is saying that the appearance, just the sheer appearance of impropriety or the appearance of wrongdoing. lou: see, i would say to you there's no appearance of impropriety here, there is no appearance of wrongdoing. in point of fact, in point of fact, in each of those two meetings, one in public and one in his own office, other people were present. there is a record, an independent record of what was discussed in both instances. and so this is how far the slippery slope has already taken us in one daysa the democrats try to exploit the attorney general's difficult moment. >> well, the democrats have been unhinged since president trump won back in november.

so this is clearly just a continuation. look, chuck schumer, these men and women in the united states senate who when their last attorney general, the democrats loretta lynch was meeting with president clinton when there was not just appearance but conflicts of interest abounding, they did nothing. they sat on their hands and covered for the attorney general. that was perfectly fine. lou: we found in just a quick brush this afternoon, eight instances which they refused to recuse and also refused independent counsel. let's turn to this claire mccaskill saying this today tweeting, i've been on the armed services -- can we put this up for the audience, please? if we may, let's turn to this

tweet from 2013, the senator claire mccaskill said this -- this from 2015, mccaskill again tweeting calls -- now we need to know more about the iran deal and the senator from missouri. this is outrageous what the democrats are doing and i can't even imagine tolerating this. how these people must react as they cross paths in the aisles of the u.s. senate or the house of representatives. >> lou, they've never let the facts get in the way of a good story. look, they all believe in the political narrative, if they continue to attack donald trump and his cabinet every turn,

they're going to win back the house or senate in 2018. these are all just political tactics by the left to get some headwind to try and win some elections, they have been decimated. president trump has shocked the nation and his cabinet is getting to work. this is just a distraction, that's all it is. lou: all it is, and another distraction is paul ryan, the speaker of the house, who seems to have positioned himself to oppose the agenda of the president again and to do so with the leaked, the leaked repeal legislation, not final, but what we see of the leaked repeal legislation. this is a contravention on his part of the president's agenda and his promises on the repeal and replacement of obamacare. what is to happen? >> first of all, we need to do things the right way. we need to legislate in the

daylight. we need to make sure that all members of the republican party in congress are able to participate in the repeal and replace process. so it is the president's agenda, it needs to be a repeal and replace. it will not happen overnight. lou: the administration needs to put forward the bill. >> without question. lou: so where is tom price? >> that's right where. is the secretary of health and testimony services and why are we having the processes. seems some members of congress aren't getting all the information. i'm a fiscal conservative. i want repeal and replace. i want high-quality health care, and want the costs to be repealed. that's what he promised the american people. lou: i'm simpler than that, david bossie, i want the american people to have this president's agenda in front of the congress and have the speaker of the house and his leadership team supporting that agenda fully and forthrightly and as you say, in the light of

day, not if you will sequestered as it has been, so far in this process. david, we're out of time, always great to have you here. >> thanks for having me. lou: david bossie. we're coming right back. there is a lot more. stay with us, we'll be bringing it to you in just moments. be patient. the trump administration standing by attorney general jeff sessions. >> 100% straight with the committee and people are choosing to play partisan politics should be ashamed of themselves. lou: we'll talk about the cowardly and exploitive attacks of the left and some on the right. former attorney general michael mccasey joins me tonight. and former fbi director james comey says drug cartels are to blame for america's heroin epidemic. we'll take up the trump administration's efforts to break up the criminal cartels. we're coming right back. stay with us. why do some cash back cards make earning bonus cash back so complicated?

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. lou: federal authorities cracking down on cartel crimes on both coasts of this country. in new york's long island, 13 members of the ms 13 gang were indicted in connection with the murders of seven people in the crime plagued township of brentwood.

and in northern san diego county, the feds busted a money laundering and gun trafficking ring and arrested 55 people. fbi director james comey saying mexican drug cartels are driving the heroin epidemic that is sweeping this country. >> mexican drug traffickers have gone the into the heroin business, have shortened the transportation lines by bringing heroin from south america, central america to mexico, packaging it and bringing it to the united states. lou: and government figures show opiates such as heroin accounting for more than 33,000 deaths in 2015. that is the last year for which final numbers are available. that is quadruple the deaths from back in 1999. joining us tonight, michael mukasey, former u.s. attorney general in the bush administration, also the former chief district judge in the u.s. district court for the southern district of new york.

great to have you here. >> good to be with you. lou: let's start with first the recusal of the attorney general. do you think it's appropriate? >> i think it's appropriate, but not because there's any appearance of impropriety. there is a clear rule, i think, that if you participated in a -- in an election campaign and that campaign is under investigation, then you can't participate in that investigation. you've got to recuse yourself, no question. lou: he did so, did so forthrightly, and he even, with my compliments to the attorney general, he did so keeping the bright twinkle in his eye as he upheld his principles as well as the regulations of the department of justice. now where do we go? and there doesn't seem to be any convincing evidence of an investigation. there doesn't seem to be any evidence of anything improper having occurred. >> that's an interesting point

because when congressman adam schiff, democrat from california, was calling for more investigation by the congress, he, i think inadvertently blurted out he wanted to hear from the counterintelligence agents at the fbi. now the fbi is not just a crime investigating entity. lou: right. >> they also collect intelligence, started collecting intelligence in 2008 under regulations and guidelines that we put in. that of the 9/11 commission. lou: right. >> if this is an intelligence commission by the fbi, then it's not a criminal investigation. they're simply gathering intelligence on our foreign competitors, the russians just as they gather information on the chinese, on the israelis, our friends on the british. they gather information on everybody. so if this came from an intelligence investigation, then there is no criminal investigation from which to be

recused, and there's a hint of that in attorney general sessions' comment that he was not confirming that there was, in fact, a criminal investigation. lou: and pointing out rightly, of course, that the justice department is not in the business of either confirming nor denying investigations. >> correct. lou: he was in an awkward moment there. the aclu, for crying out loud, getting into the left-wing nonsense led by senator schumer on calling for a resignation. they said that it should be an investigation of perjury, for crying out loud, based on his response to senator al franken. we ran that question. it was obviously breaking news, there was no preparation, and sees the focus of the moment for both senator franken and attorney general, then-senator jeff sessions? >> exactly, the focus of the question, i've got it in front of me, was in continuing contact between the russians

and people in the trump campaign. continuing contact, and it was with respect to the election. that was the focus of the question. that was the focus of the point that al franken was making and that was the focus of the answer. to say he should have thought that i did, in fact, meet with the ambassador as i met with 20 or 25 other ambassadors in a different connection is ridiculous. there's no reason why it would have occurred to him because the focus was on the breaking news that the senator was disclosing at the time. lou: it's awful to behold the political expediency of the democratic party. we're enured to it, but it is still awful. to watch members of the republican party attack this man of principle is just stunning to me, it is despicable and craven to me.

>> i hope there haven't been republicans calling for an independent counsel or want in prosecutor because there's been no indication of what it is that person would prosecute, let alone that charges are being investigated. lou: this is as close as it came, and it's because of congressman darrell issa who said the putin government is a bad actor, we did not know that, did we? whose actions should be carefully scrutinized and, regardless which aisle you sit on, we have a vested interest in understanding and how to prevent it from happening again. that is one of the cutest little remarks i've seen even from a politician. >> look, if that's what he has interest in, that's what congress does, they conduct hearings. let them conduct hearings. lou: he's worn us out with the hearings says darrell issa. great to have you with us. >> good to be with you. lou: be sure to vote in our

poll tonight -- cast your vote on twitter. follow me on twitter. like me on facebook, instagram, "lou dobbs tonight," and on wall street, stocks closed lower, the dow holding above 21,000. reason for that decline in two parts, an investigation of caterpillar, their headquarters overrun by law enforcement. we do not know the purpose of it, and the market didn't like not knowing that. a third of the dow can you attribute to that. the rest to the late 4:00 news conference by the attorney general in which he announced his recusal. the s&p down 14, the nasdaq down 43. volume on the big board 4.6 billion shares and snap making trading debut in the biggest ipo since alibaba. shares of the snapchat parent

company surging 44% today. not a bad day. a reminder to listen to my reports three times a day coast-to-coast on the salem radio network. up next, despicable dems targeting attorney general sessions and the trump administration in their political witch-hunt. >> there cannot be even the scintilla of doubt about the impartiality and fairness of the attorney general, the top law enforcement official of the land. lou: republicans, though, some betrayed their own and that is the subject of my commentary next. and north korea offering a new explanation, a new reason for the death of kim jong-un's half brother. you'll find it fascinating if not credible. we're coming right back. stay with us. york state is alre. companies across the state are growing the economy, with the help of the lowest taxes in decades, a talented workforce, and world-class innovations.

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. lou: a few thoughts now on attorney general jeff sessions, who recused himself today from

any investigations about the 2016 presidential campaign. the white house earlier in a statement slammed the attack by partisan democrats, appropriately, adding that it's no surprise the story's being pushed by the national left-wing media as well after president trump's immensely successful address to a joint session of congress. president trump himself said he has, quote, total confidence in his attorney general, and believe it or not, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle discounted fairness, judgment and their certain knowledge that our attorney general is a man of principle and great integrity, they shamelessly rushed to pounce on their colleague to exploit him politically, and more than a few of his fellow republicans besmirched themselves by piling on as well. incredibly, at least 14 republicans also called on the attorney general himself ahead of his announcement to do so. but some democrats took it a step further, demanding nothing

short of sessions' ouster and 50 democrats called on sessions to resign outright. that charge led by the head clom as our president calls senator chuck schumer, the craven minority leader doubling down on his call on a special prosecutor. i'd like to remind the senator that the obama administration rejected all calls for a special prosecutor in eight separate instances including on benghazi. do we remember benghazi, operation fast and furious. the leaks of classified material on targeted terrorists in the internal revenue service targeting conservatives and conservative groups. we know who and what the dems are, they are so little. the conduct today entirely in keeping. to watch a dozen republicans

just as craven and awful as the left attack attorney general jeff sessions is unfathomable. even in these times that without question try our souls. our quotation of the evening on the mob the dems today became under their head clown's leadership. this from william penn who said -- what a sorry spectacle the dems orchestrated today who they sought to exploit for political gain and sought to bring down to their lowly level. we're coming right back. president trump promises to rebuild our depleted military. >> after years of endless budget cuts that have impaired our defenses, i am calling for one of the largest defense spending increases in history. lou: it's time to make our military strong once again, and

we take up the trump agenda, leslie marshall and tony sayegh join us. and skiing with an extreme twist. we'll show you this world record setting ride down the swiss slopes here next. the phenomenal video straight ahead. stay with us, we'll be right back. lly there's five. ooohh!! aaaahh!! uh! hooooly mackerel. wow. nice. strength and style. it's truck month. get 0% financing for 60 months plus find your tag and get $5500 on select chevy silverado pick-ups when you finance with gm financial. find new roads at your local chevy dealer. hidden in every swing, every chip, and every putt, is data that can make the difference between winning and losing. the microsoft cloud helps the pga tour turn

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. lou: president trump moving closer to a full cabinet after

the senate voted to confirm dr. ben carson as secretary of housing and urban development and governor rick perry as his energy secretary. the president's interior secretary ryan zinke meanwhile arriving for his -- there he is. that's the tallest fella on that big old gray, with the big black hat. it's his first day on the job, arriving in style. you are either on a horse or you're afoot. he was on a horse. congratulations to ryan zinke on his confirmation and to all. joining me radio talk show host, fox news contributor leslie marshall and republican campaign strategist tony sayegh. great to have you both with us. let's start with the increase in military spending, leslie -- i'm kidding. let's start with jeff sessions and the recusal and the braying dems attacking him as if they

never met him before and knew nothing of his integrity, his character and stature. >> well, lou, from where i sit as a democrat, as the republicans attacking if you want to call it as well. what i heard from democrats were for some asking for his resignation but heard largely from democrats and many republicans for recusal which the attorney general did and rightly so. this is the way you move forward, you keep it from being a huge distraction, and i think it was the right thing to do because quite frankly he did have a closed-door meeting. the confusion that comes for democrats saying we need to go further than recusal and have a resignation. if you can't remember a meeting happens last month, now today this month you remember the meeting but you remember what about, that is a bit precarious for many people, not just democrats. lou: i think mostly democrats, only 14 by our count. the republicans turned hyena today, each and every one.

your thoughts, tony? >> first of all, jeff sessions wasn't hiding anything, these meetings were part of the public record, one of them was and the second one was a chance encounter at a conference. i hardly suggest the idea he was doing anything nefariously at all. i think he did an honorable thing, i don't think it was necessary, he put the institution, the department of justice ahead of himself by suggesting he would recuse himself. that's not something that loretta lynch did after she was caught having a private meeting with bill clinton, the husband of a subject of ongoing fbi investigation and refused to recuse herself. jeff sessions shows the integrity and standard he holds himself to. the other piece that bothers me, too, is he knew what he was saying at that meeting was misleading. he didn't. he thought they were talking about campaign operatives meeting with russian people. that was not -- lou: just so both of you know, we ran the full clip of senator

al franken asking the question as news is breaking, and he was laughing about the absurdity of the context himself, leslie. by the way, you were talking about a closed-door meeting, but it was a closed-door meeting with at least two if not three of his associates and staff members with him and meeting with the ambassador. >> yes. yes, he did. this is part of the bigger problem here, lou, if you have the meeting and other people there, how come the other people didn't come forward? how come he didn't remember that? how come now he's remembering what he did or not say. with respect to the question and the answer, i have two children, eight and nine. if they said something to me in the context which the attorney general, did i would consider it a lie, and this is why. part of the -- lou: you're a tough, tough, whoa! whoa! whoa! >> i know of no one at that meeting with the russians. lou: are you saying your

children lie? i will not come up with that charge on the broadcast. not from a mother of two. >> father of four, all four are perfect. right. lou: it's a bidding war now. >> here's what's interesting. jeff sessions is a senator who sits on the armed services committee. the idea he should meet with a russian counterpart is not shocking at all. i remind leslie, president obama's ambassador to russia met with russian counterparts before barack obama won. was there question as to the propriety of that? no. i get that al franken and people in the back bench would make silly claims like sessions should resign. when the democratic leader in the senate joins what's essentially a witch-hunt, i think it's -- it just shows a sad state for the modern democratic party's leadership, because it's lacking to have the head of the democratic party in the senate follow such a foul ball. lou: yeah, and i want to turn if i may to just this absurd

notion right now in this country that barack obama, it's on and he's ready to roll. what's he going to do? i mean, what, valerie jarrett is living with the obamas now and they're all headquartered there in washington, and there's going to be a shadow of government and a deep state that's going rise up and commit sedition and obstruct the entire trump administration. leslie, tell me it's not true. >> that is not true. what the president is doing, and he's talked about this before he left office, some things that concern him. one of the things that concerned him was the lack of access specifically for african-americans which he has obviously a personal vestment in, having access to voting with gerrymandering and push back in change in voting rights

in certain states. this isn't overshadow of government, this is a young guy who looks at his party and say the democrats don't have the house, don't have the senate, don't have the white house, what can i do as a former president, as a democrat, and as an attorney to assist with that working alongside the former attorney general eric holder. >> very noble. >> this is nothing other than a legacy defense project because barack obama understands it would not be quite as nice because of the fact you had eight years of economic essentially failure in foreign policy. lou: we've got to close it here. very quickly, and by the way, take a lot of spiffing to get that legacy where he would want it, i think. leslie, thanks for being with us. appreciate it. >> thank you, lou. lou: tony sayegh, thank you very much. say hi to both your children. we'll take up the roll call later.

thanks so much. the video please. a swiss freeskier setting an unbelievable new record, skiing backwards, you may have noticed, but elias embell does it racing down the hill at speeds topping 81 miles an hour backwards. for some perspective the fastest downhill skiing skiing forwards is 100 miles an hour. we're coming right back, president trump says rebuilding the military is at the top of his priority. >> we will have the finest equipment in the world, planes, ships and everything else. we are going to have very soon the finest equipment in the world. [applause] . lou: our air force meanwhile flying half century old bombers and navy has only a third of our aircraft carriers at sea. general jack keane joins me

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the half brother of kim jong-un assassinated last month and you may not believe your lying eyes or you may believe the north korean government. this happening last month at kuala lumpur airport, malaysian officials say he was poisoned with the deadliest nerve agent ever created, and joining us now to take a look at what is going on in this world of ours, fox news military analyst general jack keane. general, great to have you here. >> good to see you, lou. lou: let's start with the absurdity of the north korean claim. i mean, this is a preposterous and absurd statement but it's sort of what we expect of this regime that has nuclear weapons. >> well, the north koreans are not the least bit intimidated by the faction of truth. [ laughter ] >> well, let's talk about the facts and the truth about ourselves. president today aboard the gerald ford, the new carrier, and he looked like a commander in chief who was delighted to

be with the men and women who are under his command who serve in the navy, proudly so, and there he is. it's nice to see a president who is obviously enjoying himself being on that wonderful carrier and with those wonderful men and women. >> yeah, certainly. it's obvious he enjoys their company. and obviously, he's going to hold himself accountable to doing what's right for them. he has said it many, many times, and this carrier, it's a new carrier, a new class of carrier. let's face it, though i'm an army guy, the carrier is a symbol of u.s. military power, because it is so dominating. lou: it's extraordinary what those carriers do and can do and all of the armament that they carry, projecting power, they're the essence. but the president today talking about the 12-carrier navy.

we only have three, perhaps arguably four, ready for sea, at sea. we have so much. he is exactly right, and no one is focused on it like our president has, and that is we have got to get this military rebuilt. >> yes, for eight years, we had a president who would not address this issue as the military's becoming further and further depleted. 50 to 75% of the flying aircraft in the marine corps, in the navy, and in the air force are not ready to fly. only one-third of the army -- lou: that many? >> that testimony was just provided by the vice chiefs of the services two weeks ago, the senate armed services committee. secondly, only one-third of the army ground units are ready to fight, and chief of staff today of the army millie said in testimony last year he's at high risk to win a war against the high-end military competitor like russia. lou: how soon to get us back to strength?

>> it's going to take a good four years, and i think the $54 billion to start with is a little low, closer to 90 to 100 billion is what it should be. president trump said he possibly will add 30 billion to that. we're going to need about 100 billion for four years, fairly similar to what reagan did in the buildup, we're living off the reagan buildup right now. we have a 1980s military out there, considerably smaller in size but the same capability. lou: the time is now. general, always good to have you with us. >> good talking with you, lou. lou: colin kaepernick, you will be pleased to know is abandoning his national anthem protest. the controversial quarterback, we're told reliablely, who by the way is set to become a free agent and apparently thinks that perhaps he should alter his behavior a little, will no longer kneel during the anthem, he will now stand as he should

have throughout and pay respect to the nation that makes his nonsense possible. kaepernick last season said he was protesting what he saw as racial injustice. a peculiar way to seek better. up next, a bombshell new book exposing the shocking scale of hillary clinton's corruption, her cozy relationship, that's right, with russia. where's the investigation? i'm calling for an investigation here tonight, and she even colluded with the bush family. author, historian, doug wead joins us next. and a special programming note. i join sean hannity tonight, sparring with obama economic adviser austan goolsbee about the surging trump economy. join us tonight for hannity. we're coming right back with much more. stay with us. ... it could be be. it's time to shake things up. with the capital one venture card, you get double miles on

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lou: in an onlean poll we asked you if the republicans will pay if they don't repeal obamacare? 94% said yes.

doug, the's great to have you. have you contemplated what it would have been like if hick * had won? i sure have. when i started writing the book everyone assumed she would win. my wife said you know you are going to be audited. but when we did the study, she is the one when bill clinton was president who appointed her close personal friend to be director of the irs, and they went after everyone. they revictimized twice. lou: still no resolution. they got away with it despite the attempts of congress and eric holder who lied in the fast and furious scandal. how in the world did it first

appear to you possible that donald trump would be president of the united states? >> you stop and think that she outstaffed hip five to one. she outspent him 8-1 if you count the super pac. she had 960,000 volunteers on the ground. and she had 249 newspapers endorse her, he had 19. how did he beat her? he had $1 billion of earned media, and it was the message, too. you talked about that on your show. i had sources in the trump tower i would go to and say you guys are off message. lou: everything you are saying is absolutely true.

it's an extraordinary pivot point in history. this is a president who is doing what he said he would do. on board the gerald ford, the carrier, he turned to those sailors and said straight out, i won't let you down. he meant it. and it's extraordinary to watch a man do the terrible commentary on american politic, but to see a man do what he says. >> there is a moment in the book with melania where she says why? why do you want to do this? we have such a good life? and donald says almost like he's a little boy and he's been taken away from him. he said i could have done so good, i would have done so good. he's talking like he can't be. and she respond.

if you have to do it, you have to do it. but she warns, you will win. lou: it's so easy for people because there is such noise. they forget what his man and his family have given up for him to serve the family. >> i saw a show where they were talking about his family traveling with him and it's costing the country for security. they never mentioned donald trump gave his salary back. lou: but he's given up so much, that ordinary life they have and the challenges he faces now as he leads the nation. the book is "game of thorns." we recommend it to you very highly.

doug, you are a wonderful historian. thanks for being with us. that's it for us tonight. thanks for being with us. the ohio secretary of state joins us tomorrow. we'll talk about voter fraud. yes, it's real. kennedy: did the obama administration leave secret clues for investigators for alleged ties between trump's white house and russia? robots could take half our jobs in the country. what could that do to tour economy? brian brenberg has the bad news. did you hear about the billionaire who ran for president and won? oprah could run in 2020. attorney general jeff sessions will step aside for any investigation into russia.