there's also plenty more information and videos on our website, foxnews.com/propertyman. [ woman vocalizing ] charles: all right, folks. lou dobbs. lou: good evening, everybody. a defiant north korea issuing more threats against the united states as gee no political experts -- geopolitical experts warn the rogue nation is primed and ready to conduct what would be its sixth nuclear test. that test could come as early as tomorrow. celebrating the 105th birthday of kim jong un's grandfather. the rhetoric from pyongyang has risen exponentially over the past week. a north korean official today warning of a preemptive strike against the united states if america takes what it called reckless military action. the north korean vice minister telling the associated press,

quote: we've got a powerful nuclear deterrent already in -- on our hands, and we certainly will not keep our arms crossed in the face of a u.s. preemptive strike. north korea is the only country to carry out nuclear tests since 1998. pakistan conducting two tests in 1998, india one in 1998, china one in 1996, france in '96 as well. china's foreign minister responding to the provocations by urging both the united states and north korea to, quote, refrain from inflammatory or threatening statements. apparently, the word didn't get coto pyongyang, and the united states is responding with a show of force. the powerful aircraft carrier carl vinson strike group is rushing to get on station in the sea of japan off the korean peninsula. it is scheduled to arrive in that region around april 24th. vice president mike pence also

scheduled to be in seoul, south korea, by tomorrow -- rather, sunday to kick off a ten-day trip to asia-pacific countries. this has been a busy week for the trump administration, its officials traveling all over the world. it's confronted global threats not just from north korea, but also syria, russia, iran and the islamic state. the pentagon today releasing video of the so-calledç moab bb that it dropped on islamic state tunnels in eastern afghanistan. the afghan officials now are saying between 36 and 70 islamic state terrorists were present at the time of the strike. it had a blast radius of one mile, and according to the top u.s. military commander in the, in afghanistan, the decision to drop the largest bomb ever deployed in combat came from decision makers on the ground in

the theater, not washington. >> we had persistent surveillance over the area before, during and after the operation, and now we have afghan and u.s. forces on the site and see no evidence of civilian casualties, nor have there been any be reports of civilian casualties. >> joining us tonight to discuss what the united states should do if north korea were to conduct a sixth nuclear test this weekend, fox news military analyst general jack keane. general, good to have you with us. let's start with that bomb, the moab, the massive ordnance air blast bomb called the mother of all bombs. its impact is extraordinary. never used before, and it looks like it's the choice to use it now was the perfect time and the perfect place. >> yeah, it's a nasty bomb, lou.

obviously, it has a tremendous blast effect, but it's got incendiary fuel as well, and that goes into these caves and tunnels. it's a fiery, devastating death for those people who are in it, to be sure. we haven't used this bomb, obviously. we have the technology to support it. there's another bomb that we have as well, it's a deep penetrator that goes down to get secret sites that are 200 feet or whatever. it's classified how far that bomb goes. this is advanced technology that other countries truly do not have. >> and this not only, of course, devastating to the islamic state, and i would think would put pakistan on notice as well that refuge is no longer going to be permitted. that's an inference on my part. your thoughts. >> yeah. well, that's part of it, to be sure. what this is, this was an isis safe haven. and we've got to go after safe

havens. the biggest mistake of 9/11 was not taking down the safe haiive in afghanistan. by the way, for our viewers to understand, not too far from this location is where usama bin laden and his thugs were. we let that stay, and we got 9/11. so when we find safe havens like this, we've got to go after it. this is isis, it's called the coreson group -- core zahn group, they travel freely back and forth from pakistan to afghanistan. some of them are former pakistan taliban, now longing to isis. so this is -- we had good intelligence, it's a good target. and nicholson did not want afghan infantry having to go in there. they tried it once, took casualties, and this was a much better answer than that. so his message was to destroy isis. other people certainly seeing weight of military power by the united states get other messages from it, to be sure. lou: the rhetoric, however, from north korea rising.

it is more bellicose, if anything, more threatening. how -- is there a red line here? if kimç kim jong un is to set a sixth nuclear test, are there to be repercussions? what will occur? >> there'll be no military repercussions for that. that'll be number six. we've endured five before that. lou: right. >> a lot of the language, i think, is leading up to him doing something like that. the aircraft carrier and the strike force that's there, it's largely there really to reassure our allies, the south koreans and the japanese be, that we do have their back. vice president pence going there for the same reason. there's political instability in south korea. we're a little worried about it. we had a president this who was corrupt but strong on north korea and strong on defense. we're likely to get another president that's, hopefully,

less corrupt, but we believe is not going to be as strong on defense and not as strong on north korea. so part of this is strengthening the spine of the south koreans as well. lou and as we go into this weekend, china issuing a warning to both north korea, it seemed, and the united states, suggesting that any party that permits this to spiral out of control -- that is, the threats, the escalating threats and the rhetoric -- would have a historical responsibility. a clear warning the both countries, but at the same time it was not a specifi warning to north korea, nor is there the focus on constraining north korea that i'm sure the president would have liked to have seen. >> well, you know, china may play a responsible role here for the first time. as you know, we've had three presidents who have tried to leverage china to coerce the north koreans to denuclearize.

all of that failed. but on wednesday night president xi called our president, spoke for an hour -- it takes a little time going through interpreters -- and he told our president as a follow-up to the mar-a-lago bilateral discussions they had something that was pretty stunning. he said i'm willing to move and take some action to help to denuclearize north korea. if that turns into action is and it's not just rhetoric, that is a major, major foreign policy achievement. and, certainly, that would change the whole security situation in that part of the world. we have to see if that really turns into implementation which will get some results. but that statement alone is something his predecessors haven't made. lou: all right. and as you say, now all that has to happen is it be turned to action, and we'll know in relatively short order, it seems, given the way things are going between north korea and the united states right now. general jack keane, as always,

great to have you with us. thanks. >> good talking to you, lou. lou: we're coming right back. much more straight ahead, stay with us. what was the obama administration thinking? caught spying on a former trump adviser. >> i'm very encouraged by all this new information that's coming out about some of these unethical practices and potentially illegal practices. lou: we take up the deep state with randy evans and fred barnes. they join me here next. and lansing, michigan, rescinding its sanctuary cities status after just nine days. we'll take up the monumental decision with the city's mayor.

lou: the conservative watchdog group judicial watch asking the office of congressional ethics to invest whether two democrats on the house intelligence committee violated standards by exposing classified information. the request by judicial watch pointing to comments madeç by congressman adam schiff. in march congresswoman jackie speier, in april judicial watch arguing the democrats' remarks raised the same concerns that forc house intel committee chaian devin nuñes to recuse himself from leading the

committee's investigation into russia and the obama administration's spy scandal. the former trump adviser who was spied on by obama-era intelligence agencies is now slamming what he calls the false allegations against him. carter page appearing on the o'reilly factor last night. there he denied allegations of improper communications with russian officials. >> i'm very encouraged that all of the lies that have been a drag on this administration are finally coming out into the open. so many people have lied against me with, from the clinton campaign, many of their surrogates. let's see what actually comes out. lou: and joining me now to discuss the obama spy scandal, the deep state and much more, the executive editor of the weekly standard, fox news contributor or fred barnes, and rnc or national committeeman, former chairman of the republican lawyers' association randy evans.

good to have you both with us. >> thank you. >> fred, let's start with this, more vindication for president trump as we have carter page saying false evidence allowed a warrant to permit investigators to go after him. your thoughts. >> well, they're going after carter page, but i think you're suggesting the real target was trump. you know, it's been reported, lou, that they first went to the foreign intelligence survey group, fisa, where the judges are to get them, to get surveillance on trump himself. but they turned it down, and their second guy was carter page. he's kind of a slippery character, but he does talk to the russians a lot, so they could make the case that he was somehow helping the russians, and now they have the surveillance -- lou: the technique is called, by the way, for the audience's benefit, it's called reverse targeting. find someone near your actual target and follow him from fisa. whic by the way, randy,

apparently fisa, that court doesn't often say no to anybody. i mean, i thought they're supposed to have this highfalutin standard. you remember james comey talking about paperwork deep as his first, which was an interesting metric. they always give it, apparently. but not in this case. >> well, they do. well, it's typically a matter of routine with the fisa court because, generally speaking, if the intelligence agencies say they need the information, the assumption is they probably do. what we've seen here though is such a dramatic turn around. i just want you to remember a few months ago, lou, when all of the democrats and the former president just expressed shock that donald trump would even suggest the possibility that his administration was, in fact, spying on a political opposition party. now what we're seeing is day after day how broad that investigation, how broad that spying on political opposition, in fact, went. lou: yeah.

the very idea that the obama administration in any form would protest after we find out that they widened the dissemination of raw intelligence, that they were, you know, they might as well have camped outside the fisa court as many times as they were there seeking warrants for surveillance. we also see judicial watch calling for an investigation into schiff andç spear, both me remarks that cop firmed the -- confirmed the leaked transcripts. i mean, that's quite a -- i mean, there's not going to be much left of the ranking members of that committee at this rate. [laughter] >> well, it was pretty obvious, it was pretty obvious that they knew something was up when we suddenly saw adam schiff running from cameras rather than running to cameras. [laughter]

i knew then that the wheel had turned. >> it has turned. and, look, the media doesn't want to cover this. they really ignored it as much as they're been le to which is, actually, a lot. but it is building, and i don't think it'll stop. i mean, carter page is not a major figure. i don't think he ever talked to trump when he was a foreign policy adviser. but, you know, the idea was he was just the beginning. lou: yeah. well, the major figures in, you know, whether it was watergate or whatever it may be weren't well, weren't household names until they became household names either. [laughter] >> that's true. lou: let's talk about the influence right now in the white house. quite a dynamic. jared, ivanka, bannon, gary cohn. i mean, tremendous pressures are building here. your thoughts, randy, on what's happening within the white house.

>> well, most of the folks at the white house are really good friends of mine, but i think the white house is starting to settle into a definitional phase; that is, where we -- lou: wait a minute, i want to write that down. definitional -- >> definitional phase. [laughter] lou: all hell's about to break loose, personally, but you go ahead. >> no. i think -- well, you and i talked about this a couple months ago which is donald trump's going to govern with a meritocracy. you deliver, you get heard, you get your policies promoted. i think we're starting to see that steadily emerge. gary cohn's done a great job of putting a team together, he's got some real professionals behind him. it's not surprising that he gets the president's ear a little more than, say, those who have yet to fill out their agencies and departments. >> and, lou, remember who introduced gary cohn to donald trump, jared kushner be, the son-in-law. lou: well, i love what randy just said, you know, you've got

to give him credit for having an organized team -- >> sure. lou: i rind everybody, the idea for therump administration was that they would disorganization is and disrupt -- disorganize and disrupt and would get moving. meanwhile, we're giving high points here suddenly, randy, to a fellow who was as establishment and left-wing as anybody in the white house. i mean, give me a break. >> i'm not giving him high points. what i'm saying is those who put together their teams and influence policy so as to disrupt, so as to build a consensus towards tax cuts, they're going to get there first. >> lou, he came in -- lou: you mean the tax cuts that steve bannon and steven miller had introduced as a principal idea for the candidate which he, by the way himself, had sought, but now gary cohn gets credit for all of that, fred? >> no, no. lou: i mean, this doesn't seem

fair. >> he's going to change all that. you remember what trump campaigned on, and it was a plan drafted by steve moore and larry kudlow, and it was cutting the business tax down to 20% or low down from 35%, repatriating all that money -- lou: iç remember all of that. >> i don't think we're going to see that in the plan. remember, gary cohn's the guy that had a trial balloon recently in favor of a carbon tax. lou: i'm not sure it was a trial balloon other than maybe a perfect conviction on his part -- >> i hope it's a trial balloon. i'm giving him the benefit of the doubt. lou: we're watching something kind of special right now, guys, no matter how anybody wants to turn it or twist it. we have got a real palace contest underway here. and i'm not sure that it's a values-oriented discussion, debate or contest, are you? >> well, i'm not either.

look, but the national economic council which is headed by gary cohn is a powerful body. he's either the second or third most important aide in the entire white house. the national security adviser and the -- lou: randy, you get 15 seconds here, please. you get the last word. >> judge it all by the results of what happens in the end. when tax cuts are passed, lou, you're going to look back on this show and say, randy, you were dead on. lou: and when i do, i'm going to to be struggling to remember what you said about those tax cuts. what did you say? >> that we're going to get tax cuts. we will get tax cuts. lou: all right. >> they better be big. lou: not if your pals over there in the house leadership have their way, including paul ryan. hell, he won't even give the president a shot at his wall, but that's for another show, another day. fred barnes, randy evans, thank you both. we appreciate it. >> thank you. >> you're welcome. lou: be sure to vote tonight, do

you believe china's warning will prevent kim jonging unfrom carrying out what would be a sixth nuclear test while the rest of the world hasn't run one since 1998? cast your vote on twitter @loudobbs and follow me on twitter, like me on facebook, follow me on instagram @loudobbstonight. on wall street, markets closed for good friday. retail sales fell for a second straight month, down two-tenth obviously a percent. california's department of motor vehicles granting apple a permit to conduct tests of those self-driving cars on public highways. and united's chairman, the latest airline official to offer his apologies to dr. david dow after the passenger was dragged off a flight. united shares down more than 2.5 this year. and by the way, they discovered a scorpion which bit one passenger as well. we'll save more of that for next week. a reminder to listen to my

reports three times a day coast to coast on the salem radio network. up next, president trump governing with pragmatism. ♪ ♪ >> i like to think of myself as a very flexible person. i don't have to have one specific way, and if the world changes, i go the same way. i don't change. well, i do change. and i am flexible. be. lou: and what does the president's base say about that? we'll have a full report next. and a little later, we'll be talking with the mayor of lansing, michigan, a city that is no longer a sanctuary for illegal immigrants. we'll have that and much more. stay with us, a lot more ahead.

lou: president trump in until

after what has been a busy week. the president reversing himself on a number of promises, and those moves raising questions from the national left-wing media and some of his supporters as to who is behind them. kevin corke at the white house and he has the intriguing report. reporter: for president trump this may end up being a sun-splashed easter weekend in florida. but in some circles clouds of concern are building after policy positions at direct odds with previous positions including nato, the xm bank, china currency manipulation and janet yellen. and the role of steve bannon. bannon has been at at odds with

from trump's son-in-law who often side with his wife ivanka trump on major policy matters. a game of thrones many conservatives fear will pull the president to the left on climate change and policing enforcement. said relationship lowery of the national revue. this group is all democrats who marinated in the financial and social elite of manhattan. if jared and ivanka run the joint, it would be hard the to overstate the turnabout from last year campaign. >> i think people don't understand trumpism and the larger current that got him elected. reporter: the conservative research center says trump has to energize his base.

if not, conservatives will walk. but is that true. >> they elected a man knowing he is very flexible ideologically. they said that's not of interest to us. we think he can get things done. reporter: lou, you know the game. the white house will tell you the president will be loyal to his base and defend all-american people, but he will remain flexible in the process. and that's evidenced by today's decision by white house officials to decline to name china a currency manipulator. lou: the president hoeing flek built that just about everybody, including the base would have been screaming for him to offer up some six months ago.

much more straight ahead. making america great again is no easy task. president trump working hard to save america from disastrous obamacare. >> this is going to be a much worse year than last year for obamacare. if obamacare isn't bailed out it fail lou: but insurance companies want the president to do more to fix the obamacare mess. steve forbes joins us next. these athlete creating his own cool ride to reach down the sleeps. we'll take you on this -- down the slopes. stay with us.

look at you. you're at the top of your game. at work or at play, you're unstoppable. nothing can throw you off track. oh hey, she's cute. nice going man. things are going great for you. you've earned a night out. good drinks, goodriends. yeah, we can go ahead and call this a good night. wait, is that your car? uh oh. not smart. yeah, i saw that coming. say goodbye to her. ouch! that will hurt your bank account. you're looking at around ten grand in fines, legal fees, and increased insurance rates. i hope you like eating frozen dinners. alone. let's try this again.

smart move. because buzzed driving is drunk driving.

lou: health insurers calling on the trump association to stabilize obamacare as it works to repeal and replace the law. hhs released a set ofifics that include an open enrollment period allowingen sureds to pay past premiums. both fixes part of the suggested compromise for what would be ryancare if they can move it through the house. either way, it's not good news for obamacare and the federal government which will have to meet those tests.

president trump threatening to with hold payment to insurersn as a way to force democrats to negotiate on the repeal and replacement in the house. steve forbes, let's start with this monstrosity of a mess called obamacare. we are looking at figures that will have to be organized by the trump administration and this house. this is exactly what they couldn't get done a few weeks ago. steve: they keep telling us they are on the verge of an agreement that will bring everyone together. i think they made a strategic error this week going back to healthcare instead of pushing a tax cut.

so go with what works. lou: this is starting to look very bad. steve: you saw that in that kansas congressional race. from a 31-point margin down to 7. georgia next week not looking good. lou: it looks like a tossup going to a runoff. in georgia you have to win 50% of it to be the winner outright. and it looks like it will be according to those in the know, the democrat will not get that majority and the republicans will prevail. do you agree with that view? steve: it depend on turnout. the democrats have gone the involved earlier, necessity could have won that race.

lou: paul ryan says he will not be funding the wall which is one of the president's campaign promises. dobbs... ... ... ... healthcare is nice, keep working at it boys, but we want a tax cut and we want it soon. make it simple. we have to get the rates down, get the money overseas back home. investing in the american economy, then we can take care of the rest. lou: that sounds good, but that's not what's being said by the members of the house of representatives or by the white house. instead you have got steve cone

on one arc, paul ryan on another. you have the rest of the white house trying to preserve the campaign agenda of president trump. something has to give here. steve: what gives are these special elections. lou: there are four seats and one decided. steve: if they go like they did in kansas, that's a shot across the bow. on the house side they will say we shouldn't do anything baits will upset people. i think the president will take that as a message, i have got to deliver something big and we have to do it now. lou: the president is the only one whose seat is assured in 2018. paul ryan, what he's doing to the conference right now, he's not creating consensus around the president's agenda. he's actively fighting it. doing so in public view, and it's a remarkable historical

moment because this man is talking about this quote-unquote better way agenda while the president is trying to push through his. and is being assisted by garly cone, for crying out loud. they are back to square one on tax reform. they don't know what the hell they want to push through congress. that's the white house and paul ryan. and gary cohn as well. what do you make of kevin hassek. proaf outswoarks no immigration. at what point does the joke get a little bit irritating. steve: tax cuts, get that done and we'll discuss the rest. and get rid of that crazy border tax. who would have thought house

republicans would be in favor of a 20% tax. lou: who would have thought a president who said he will build the wall will put up with speaker who says he won't appropriate the money to build the wall. and he's making it clear he wants a border tax and immigration for crying out loud. steve: 2018 could be the republican equivalent of 2010 for the democrats if they don't get their act together on taxes. warning. and paul ryan will be looking for other opportunities. maybe as a fox commentator. lou: i was citing of steve forbes. steve: you get paid by traffic so he has to earn his own way

which he hasn't yet. lou: a new way to race down the slopes. this thrill seeker performing amazing tricks. look what he's riding. it's a snow scooter. the handlebar spins and flips while racial down the slopes. this all in japan on his snow scooter. up next the trump administration warning sanctuary cities they could lose funding. lansing, michigan used to be a sanctuary city. the mayor joins me to tell us

lou: michigan's capital city of lansing reversing its decision to be a sanctuary city nine days after embracing that controversial status. joining me is the mayor of lansing. you are in the spotlight now. and driving the decision basically was what? >> i have been a big fan for a long time. i had exporting america by my

bedside for a long time. you were there before anybody. so look, i'm trying to do the right thing here. i issued an executive order to clarify things, to have a written policy how to deal with undocumented people. the city council. it's a political statement. it's an election year and this is democracy in action. i'm delighted to live in a country where there is a lot of input and it's a par is a tory sport. we put -- it's a participatory sport. we go after people who break the law equally. lou: everyone is concentrated from your chamber of commerce saying businesses were being hurt rather than public safety which underlies the reason sanctuary cities are being told they are going to lose federal

funds for law enforcement. do they both hold equal weight in your judgment and that of the city council? >> it's hard to say. we have a strong form of government. i am not saying it's inconsequential. i run the police department. they fund it. people want to stand up to trump. a lot of people feel the hateful rhetoric is divisive. our police department tried to build on community police and work with people. there is concern this current focus on illegal immigrants puts them all in one barrel -- that it's discrimination. lou: i love the fact you bought my first book in 2004 on all of this. but the president has made it clear the attorney general made it clear, they are going after criminal illegal immigrants. that's their focus and priority.

>> if that's their focus, we'll be with them 100%. that's our focus keeping everybody safe. lou: you are reversing your decision to declare the city sanctuary status? >> that's the council. i think it's polarizing and divisive and we need a policy that works for everybody and we aren't discriminating and profiling. we work cooperatively with the federal government, but we are not i.c.e. lou: by the way, i have had four other books out since exporting america. >> i noticed. i have got to catch up. lou: the "new york times" outraged at president trump and you won't believe why. >> i think like a lot of other

things at this white house we have seen and lack of staffing and organization. a lack of understandinof sort of the magnitude of the task. lou: what? what has them so angry? we'll pick it up with tammy

lou: in our online poll we asked you should the house gop lead

arership stop fighting with the dems and find the will, the power, the way to fund the president's border wall? 9 -- 96% say they should. the "new york times" lashing out over the annual easter egg roll. an article entitled "the latest test for the white house." what's the big deal? the administration she report missed a deadline to order commemorative wooden eggs and had to rush order them. that's where we are. we are joined by tammy bruce and don giordano. the left is so desperate for something to belly ache about they go to the easter egg roll?

tammy: it look like president trump did not mitts the deadline to bomb isis in afghanistan. for most americans that's the deadline that counts. so this is just petty. it's like mrs. contract hav kra? "bewitched." the first lady tweeted, everybody is going to have a great time at the easter egg roll monday and i think they will. he could come up with a cure for cancer tomorrow and they would call that a mistake as well. lou: do you think cnn, the times and others, they don't have a pure heart when it comes to the trump administration? >> there are policy differences. things people are concerned about that have been debated. but when you do this type of thing and put this out there and

they are aching to get a meaning going here. and people are going to die. my advice to the trump administration. ordethe big christs tree right now. bring it in a couple weeks. that way you can get ahead of the curve and show the "new york times" where you are. lou: let's turn if we may to obamacare, more emergency funding and steps necessary to save it in 2018. tammy, this is getting awful. and at the same time the speaker of the house saying he will not fund the wall for the president who ran on the wall. as much as any other issue he talked about. where is this headed with the speaker? tammy: we saw with the last attempt to pass obamacare that the speaker is in over his head. lou: he may take the party with him. this is not an individual

matter. this is a speaker who has the capacity to destroy a good chunk of the republican party and change the party in control. tammy: with the freedom caucus and other individuals in the house, the republican party has a lot of smart, capable people who recognize -- obviously i think the option -- it depend on what the president is going to do. lou: what is the president going to do about it? tammy: the call should be for there to be a new speaker. there has to be someone who supports the president's agenda. ryan has been in there for 7 years and he didn't even make an evident to have a plan to replace obamacare. he's not going to do it now. >> i agree with tammy. and i know that's an awful thing and turmoil. but paul ryan is a guy who doesn't believe in the same things. he can't even drive toward

anything. he killed them during the healthcare debate and this time i think trump is bypassing him. tammy: it was a debacle. that set a tone. and it was absurd. lou: it to say thiansee what you think.