breaking tonight, the first big test for the 2016 presidential hopefuls is underway. already some contenders are rising to the top while others are seeing their political dreams slip away. welcome to "the kelly file." i'm shannon bream in for megyn kelly. gop hopefuls testing the waters at the cpac. over the past couple days we've seen a full slate seeking to woo the crowd. two of them will join us tonight. first, a look at some of today's big hits. >> imagine if we had a commander in chief that understood the way to defeat isis is not to find them a job. imagine if we had a president who doesn't trafl the world bad

mouthing america. after all that's the u.n.'s job. >> you think about it, we've survived worse. we had a civil war in this country. we had two world wars. we even survived jimmy carter. we will sur sooif the obama years too. >> isis wants to establish a seventh century caliphate. they want to behead, crucify, burn. in response the obama-clinton foreign policy team refused not only to acknowledge it but they insist that the greatest threat to american security is global climate change. we don't need a weatherman in chief, we need a commander in chief to run this country. >> it's time for a new way, a new set of ideas, a new leader. one you can trust, one who works for you. and above all it's time for a

new president. [ cheers and applause ] >> well, that might be the one thing all those guys agree on. let's talk with chris stirewalt our fox news digital politics editor. you spent a lot of time at cpac watching the candidates and listening. we know this is a group where someone like rand paul usually fairs well with these folks. what did you think today? >> this is a different look for cpac. it's a bigger tent. there was new leadership and definitely a different vibe in the sense it wasn't just libertarian minded folks there, the rand paul folks certainly were well-represented throughout the place, but there was a lot of interest in this big broad sort of bumper crop of candidates that the republicans have a lot of talk about scott walker who spoke yesterday. yes, but even jeb bush who this is not exactly the hometown favorite when it comes to the arch conservatives at cpac. he got out okay. he did all right.

he went into a difficult space where people on common core and on immigration are very skeptical of him. and maybe he had a little help from some folks who showed up for his event that maybe weren't there for the rest of the event. but he did okay and got out with his skin. >> yeah, it was interesting knowing he was going to have to tackle those issues head-on. more of that at 10:00 tonight. the minute sean brought them up there were boos and scattered things in the audience and addressed that and moved on. said, listen, i understand you've had problems but here's where i am. i found when he fleshed out his position there was a lot of applause. you suggest maybe some extra showed up to help him through that, but sounded like the crowd was, okay, thank you for explaining. we appreciate that. >> well, i think on the issue of common core he is moving towards his party, it sounds like. in which he says hey, look, i just want good standards. it doesn't have to be federal

necessarily, i just want every state and every student to have good standards. so he's not getting wrapped around the axel on that. when it came to immigration what he was saying was also moving towards his party which was we have to enforce first. his message you have to do enforcement first. he obviously disagrees with a lot of people in that hall and in his party about how to do a pathway to citizenship as he calls it they call it amnesty. but he was moving in their direction and saying enforcement has to come before you do any amnesty on the backside. >> we heard that same sort of thing from senator marco rubio often viewed as sort of a protege of jeb bush. both knowing each other for a long time working together coming out of florida. we want to play some of what rubio had to say today. >> we have millions of hard working families living paycheck-to-paycheck and wondering when things are ever going to get better. and around the world because of the obama-clinton policy our allies no longer trust us and our enemies no longer fear us. >> he had an early morning slot,

but a lot of folks think he did well. he had domestic and foreign policy issues. >> oh, he was very good. in the q & a that followed with sean hannity he did a great job. he was nimble. he demonstrated an ability to handle tough questions. and he was far more conservative -- he sounded far more conservative than jeb bush when he talked about immigration, when he talked about social issues when he said those things. he spoke unreservedly to the base and seemed very comfortable doing so. >> i want to play quickly rand paul thought and get your impression of that as well. >> there comes a time in the history of nations when fear and forgetfulness cause a nation to hesitate, to waiver and perhaps even succumb. when that time comes those who love liberty must rise to the occasion. will you, will you lovers of

liberty, will you rise to the occasion? >> he didn't hesitate to take some pretty bold swipes at some of his potential contenders for 2016 either. >> oh, yeah. he's going to stay in the space with grappling hooks is what he's going to do. he's going to stay hitched on to the bumper of everybody who's passing by. and that will work for him to some degree. the big challenge that paul faced was that people in that crowd who, again tend to be more libertarian because of the threat they see in isis, because of the threat they see in islamist militancy across the middle east and around the world, vigorous foreign policy and strong national defense makes it very hard to preach that strict of a gospel. >> all right. it's been a very busy coming out party for a lot of these folks. chris stirewalt, thank you for spending part of your friday night with us. >> you bet. >> good to see you. our next guest made big headlines with her cpac speech and one new republican fans went after the woman expected to be

the lead candidate for the democrats. >> like mrs. clinton i too have traveled the globe. unlike mrs. clinton i know flying is an activity, not an accomplishment. i have met vladimir putin, and i know that his ambition will not be deterred by a gimmicky red reset button. >> carly fiorina is the former ceo of hewel packard. when you first started testing these waters some thought you were very much a long shot. but sounds like you're making progress in sort of exposing yourself to a group of potential voters. how do you feel like it went this week? >> well, i've been very encouraged. first of all i've been coming to cpac for several years now and i'm honored to serve as a chairman of the foundation here. and cpac is just a great event.

it brings together conservatives from all across the country to talk about the issues we all care about. so the event itself is really invigorating and energizing especially all the young people we have here. as for my own speech i was very pleased with how it was received. and just so delighted to have so many people here come up to me and encourage me to run and encourage me to continue to speak out. >> you have been very bold in the leadup to this and including this speech in going directly after hillary clinton former secretary of state, former senator, asking her to identify some accomplishments. so how do you respond to your critics who say you haven't held office, she has a different kind of experience that may better equip her to run for the white house. how do you respond? >> well i actually think most americans, a lot of americans for sure, are sort of tired of professional politicians. and the things that qualify you for high office are an understanding of how to make tough decisions and tough environments and understanding of how the economy works and

understanding how the world works and understanding of how bureaucracies work and how technology can transform them. and i have those experiences. i'm not quite sure when we became a nation that believed that only professional politicians could run for office. it's not how we were founded. ours was intended to be a citizen government. and because i come from outside the world of politics, i think it's a very fair question to ask people to speak about their resolve. outside the world of politics we actually are expected to produce results day after day. so when i asked mrs. clinton what are your accomplishments, that's the world i come from where we need to be held accountable for our results. >> and coming from the world of business i know that in your speech you said now in the u.s. it's your opinion that we're destroying more businesses than we are allowing to be created. how would you rectify that? >> well, actually it's not my opinion. it's fact. and indeed the gallup poll has identified this as a fact. it's been clear for some time

that we are destroying more small businesses than any time in the last 40 years and we have to solve it by attacking crony capitalism. crony capitalism is alive and well. elizabeth warren's right about that. the little secret is of course big companies do well with big government and like wise because big companies can handle all the complexity and all the rules. they can take advantage of all the complexity and all the rules. meanwhile small businesses are disappearing because they cannot deal with the complexities. and the powerless are trapped in a web of dependence without sufficient opportunities. so the way to solve these problems is with less government, not more. >> all right. carly fiorina, keep us updated on your decision making schedule. good to see you tonight. thanks for joining us. >> great to be with you shannon. all right. some possibly big news breaking tonight on the murder of a reality show star and a new report questioning whether the suspect in that case was here

illegally and possibly part of the president's dreamers program. also breaking tonight one of the chief critics of president vladimir putin is shot and killed in the streets of moscow. we have late reaction from the white house. plus, we're learning a lot more about what critics are calling the obama administration's new effort at gun control through executive action. the head of one of america's biggest gun groups joins us next. septic system breakdowns affect over 1 million homes a year and can cost thousands of dollars to repair. thankfully, rid-x has enzymes to break down waste and time-released bacteria to reduce tank buildup. rid-x. #1 in septic maintenance. and now for rvs too!

former america's next top model contestant and three others. questions now cropping up about

whether the suspect could be in this country illegally and maybe, maybe even a part of the president's dreamers program. trace gallagher is live in our west coast newsroom tracking down the facts. hi, trace. >> and shannon, we have uncovered some very troubling details about this tonight. senator chuck grassley has now sent homeland security secretary jeh johnson demanding answers because we just spoke to the senator's office and they tell us that a reliable source has now confirmed to grassley that the alleged killer, that man, emanuel jesus hernandez was a known gang member and was not deported. grassley has been told he applied for and received permission to stay in this country under deferred action for childhood arrivals, that's the program president obama created in 2012 to allow younger illegal immigrants who were brought here by their parents to seek protection against deportation. but the accused killer clearly did not qualify for protection.

and now grassley wants to know when the administration knew this guy was a gang member and why was his application approved. the judiciary committee has set a deadline of march 9th for the department of homeland security to provide all documents in this case. dhs told us because of privacy concerns it won't release any information about the accused killer's application, but dhs does confirm a detainer has now been placed on ronguel hernandez, meaning if for some reason he was released from jail in north carolina he would be wanted by immigrations and customs enforce, a little late, right? authorities in north carolina say they believe the quadruple murder was drug-related but they still won't release more details including the cause of death, shannon. >> trace thank you very much. there is new fallout tonight from an administration proposal to ban ammunition for certain firearms. critics are calling it "gun

control by executive order." tonight, the head of one of the country's largest shooting groups is here to weigh in. larry keane is senior vice president and general council of the national shooting sports foundation. larry, good to see you tonight. >> good to be here, shannon. thanks for having us on. >> okay. i want to explain a little bit. the atf is putting out a process in which it may take away an exemption that currently exists for certain kinds of ammunition that are sold and widely, widely used. now, there are those who believe that because the administration's not been able to get tougher gun control restrictions and outlawing certain things, firearms that they wanted to through congress they're going to use executive action to go about this another way. and tonight you're actually demanding an apology from the atf. tell us why. >> well, we've been talking to the atf about these issues for some time. and then on friday the 13th at 4:00 they put out this proposal that would ban this very common ammunition. and friday of a three-day weekend.

and then give the industry and public only 30 days to comment. and in the document they refer to criminals as a consumer group, which is really pretty offensive to industry. we don't sell our products to criminals. we sell our products to law-abiding americans exercising their constitutional rights. >> all right. so the atf says, listen, this stems back to a law meant to protect law enforcement officers. and they say that is the goal here, they want to make sure we're protecting our men and women out there on the front lines. a laudable goal of course. they say this is just a proposal at this point and what they're trying to do is provide clarity to the industry about what kinds of ammunition are going to be legal and which aren't. so what part of that doesn't ring true to you? >> well janet, we all would agree that we don't want police officers to be shot with any kind of ammunition ever. the problem is that they are going to -- they're seeking to withdraw an exemption that they granted that's been around for 30 years. and because of that would ban one of the most common types of

ammunition used by law-abiding americans for rifle target shooting in modern sporting rifles, ar-15s that are the most popular rifles being sold today. and the concern is that they weren't able to ban those firearms, which is a stated position of the administration. and so now they're trying to ban one of the most common types of ammunition that's used. and ammunition that's never been used to harm a police officer. there's not one single documented case where a police officer has been shot through a vest and killed with armor -- so-called armor-piercing ammunition. so this exemption's been around for 30 years. there are hundreds and hundreds of millions of rounds of this ammunition that are used by consumers lawfully for rifle target shooting every year in the united states without harming police officers. and rifle ammunition that's made with lead ammunition is also unfortunately capable of

penetrating vests as well. and so banning this is not going to advance law officers safety. certainly a goal we all share the industry shares, atf shares, everyone does of course. but the problem is they're going to ban an ammunition that's widely used that they've granted the exemption for 30 years because it's for sporting purpose. which is what the law allows. our problem is the way atf is approaching this is they are misconstrueing the law. congress is very clear, they were only intending to ban certain types of ammunition that was designed specifically for use in handguns not rifle ammunition, for hunting and target shooting. >> all right. we've got to leave it there. we're out of time. but we know chairman goodlatte we had on last night, is pushing for this as well. we know you are too. thank you larry. >> thank you shannon. attorney general eric holder giving five interviews so far to major media outlets. but he is refusing to talk with fox news.y he

thinks eric holder is running scared. and after the obama administration spent weeks defending its potential nuke deal with iran, wait until you see what some damaging documents today revealed about the relationship between iran and al qaeda. >> so you don't believe some of the documents that were released in the course of the trial underway in new york that suggest that osama bin laden and some of his outfit were actually getting safe haven in iran?

attorney general eric holder is getting ready to end his six-year run as the nation's top law enforcement official. so yesterday he sat down with cbs, abc, nbc, cnn and politico for exit interviews. but he's refusing to speak with fox news despite numerous

requests. fox's executive president for issued a statement saying "the attorney general does a deep disservice to the america's largest cable audience and interest of a free press." howard kurtz, what's this all about? >> i guess the attorney general would rather have melissa harry perry on msnbc saying you're as smooth as a duck and would you please quack for us. i'm sure eric holder doesn't want to be pressed on fox news about why he said we're winning the war against isis, his role in ferguson his relationship with al sharpton. but what he really doesn't want to be pressed on shannon is outrageous assault on press freedom that was the james rosen case where the attorney general authorized, as you know, surveillance of our fox news colleague. and in a separate case reporters at the a.p. and even authorized james rosen to be named as a criminal co-conspirator for doing his job. >> yeah, going through james' e-mails and those of some family members and certainly he would

have to address that. i would imagine by any of us at fox that would interview him. but does he help us by walking out the door and slamming it in our faces essentially saying i'm not going to try to address your audience. it is by far the largest cable media outlet for news. maybe he could make some new converts. >> maybe he could reach a different kind of audience. look, i think that it's a sign of confidence when any politician political figure cabinet officer, congressman is willing to sit down and take tougher questions from those you might perceive to be your harshest critics. in the case of eric holder, you know, he is paid by the taxpayers. while it's not unusual for politicians in either party to pick and choose favorite outlets, when he's doing all these other interviews to thumb his nose so openly at fox i guess he feels he doesn't have to worry about it after this. but as the nation's top law enforcement officer really afraid of bret baier? >> well some people would be he's a good tough questioner.

>> but a very fair questioner who with greta van susteren. president obama sat down with bill o'reilly twice. so i think it does say a lot about eric holder that he is say backing away from this opportunity where he could make the case for his tenure and for what he sees as his accomplishments and could knock down any criticism. it's a shame. >> well, i'm sure the door would always be open for him here at "the kelly file," although i'm not sure he'd want to tangle with megyn. >> justice department says it's still under review. i guess we might get an answer in a year now. >> howie in the meantime see you on sunday. >> look forward to it, shannon. >> thank you so much. as the deadline is pushed back on a major operation to take on isis, the state department is suggesting they're making serious progress in the fight. but wait until you hear what the progress involves. and with zero update thus far on the fate of hundreds of christians kidnapped by this awful terror group, we're going to talk with former presidential

candidate rick santorum who sounded the alarm on this exact problem some ten years ago. also breaking tonight one of the chief critics of president vladimir putin shot and killed in the streets of moscow.

breaking tonight, new reaction from the white house on the murder of vladimir putin's chief political rival. boris nemtsov was shot while walking just outside the kremlin. his death comes one day before he was scheduled to lead an opposition rally in that city. president obama condemning his murder and calling on the russian government to conduct an impartial and transparent investigation. the rival served as the deputy prime minister before becoming one of putin's most outspoken

critics. a major delay in the fight against isis now raising serious questions about our approach to defeating that terror army. the daily beast reporting that the operation to take back that critical iraqi city of mosul is being pushed back to next fall or possibly beyond. but have no fear, the state department says it is making progress in the fight. they're touting a "twitter offensive" that they say is shutting down thousands of isis accounts. pete hegsheth, a veteran himself, pete, great to see you. what do you make of this alleged change in strategy? >> shannon, think again, turn away. that's our hash tag strategy against isis right now. until you can take a hash tag, load it into a magazine, rack it into an m-4, charge it and put it in the forehead of an isis fighter, they can take their hash tags and sit on the sidelines. the reality is until you show the enemy that you're willing to kill them and defeat them, the ideological war, which is

important, hash tags, online, social media is important in a comprehensive campaign. until you show you're willing to fight the fight, the online fight is just a tertiary, secondary component of it. the state department's touting this as a new front. congratulations, welcome to the information war. i'm glad you finally arrived. the reality is until isis feels the heat on the ground, this hash tag conflict isn't going to do us all that much good. >> we heard the theory on the ground was coming in a spring offensive. that's allegedly what was sort of semirolled out and people questioned why they were telegraphing so much information and where these leaks and statements were coming from. but now that we're hearing it's pushed back, what we're being told is, listen this is about the iraqis we have to make sure they are ready for this. this is on their shoulders. they're not ready so now we're not going to move forward. what do you think the indesissiveness telegraphs to the enemy, or are we trying to take them off guard and this is a switcharadiooo.

>> shannon, i wanted to believe we were talking about a giant faint, a distraction a giant deception campaign from the pentagon. now it looks more like a three-ring circus than anything else. we know the iraqi army isn't ready and capable. i know that from hearing from guys on the ground in baghdad and training iraqi forces they're not where we need them to be. so while we're there talking spring offensive in the first place baffles me. i think we've got rhetoric getting in front of reality. now we're talking about the fall or even beyond. in the process isis fighters are saying if the siege is in mosul come on in as quickly as you can. right now they're counting 2,000 fighters in mosul. it will be much more than that by the time an offensive commences. remember the battle of fallujah so difficult for u.s. marines and soldiers america's most fearsome fighting force? there were 2,000 enemy in that city to expect the iraqi army to be capable and with nine months of training i hope they can get there. but military planners realize sustained logistics to push all the way up from baghdad, into

mosul, coordinate with the kurds without american leadership on the ground is complex and difficult to do. they're suspending because of reality but all the while we're laying our play book in front of the enemy and showing how fundamentally unserious we are about a comprehensive campaign to defeat isis. >> best to be prepared. and the element of surprise wouldn't hurt in some of these situations either. >> wouldn't it? >> pete, thank you sir for your service to this country and joining us tonight. >> you got it. and with zero update on the fate of potentially update on hundreds -- new questions being asked about our approach to this fight. rick santorum's a former presidential candidate and pennsylvania senator. and he has been talking about this for a long time in one form or another. great to have you with us tonight. what's your take on what the world should be doing, what we should be doing as we see christians it appears being systemically rounded up and now subject to some type of genocide in that region? >> well, there's no question genocide is occurring to

christians and muslims who oppose isis as well as jews. this is a caliphate that is being -- has been established. and that means they are as pete said, calling people from all over the world to come and fight this battle. as long as they hold ground, as long as they can continue to expand that ground, more and more will come. the fact that we are delaying means that the caliphate continues to exist. they're not losing ground. they're not being discredited in the eyes of the muslim world. they will get stronger. this is an urgent need to take on isis to get them out of mosul and do it immediately. not throwing a few sorties in a day but a concentrated effort with american participation. >> they have a theology these most hardened radical butchers as we've seen them demonstrate themselves that is sort of attempting armageddon. they want to bring about

destruction on a level that we've never seen before. they think it's necessary for fulfilling their takeover in sort of the way they view the quote, unquote end time. if people are willing to flock there and martyr themselves in hopes of further to that end. >> the first thing we have to do is start taking back ground. this is important to understand. in the caliphate the reason we had a thousand-year war with the -- the west has a thousand-year war with islam is islam was ever expanding. when islam began to contract it collapsed. and the caliphate was eliminated. now they've established a caliphate. they are dead serious about expanding it. unless we begin to take back that ground and make this caliphate, you know irrelevant in the eyes of the muslim world or the radical muslim world we are going to have a bigger and bigger problem. so the key is to act promptly

and to make sure that america is involved. we have to have -- i said today in my speech here at cpac we could put forth 10,000 troops in an advisory role, training role as well as to coordinate air strikes and to provide intelligence, all of these things are necessary to arm the kurds and to make sure that we get isis particularly out of mosul should be our first priority. >> you are specifically using a word that if used a couple years ago people literally would call you "looney tunes. you've been using the word caliphate. why do you think that's important versus what a lot of other people are saying islamic state or another version of what we think they're trying to accomplish? why is that word so important to you specifically? >> you know back in the 1930s winston churchill tried to warn the world of what hitler was up to. and the world didn't listen. all you had to do was read his book. that's the same case with isis.

read the books. if you read the books, they say this is what they're doing. they're looking back to the seventh century and they're trying to execute the same game plan that was executed in the seventh century. all we have to do is go back and look at it and see what they're trying to accomplish. they're using the same tactics beheadings and torture and enslavement. they are trying to recreate something from history. and we need to learn from history in order to combat it and defeat it. >> you're coming to us live from cpac where you gave your speech today. have you made a firm decision about 2016? >> no, i haven't. we're doing what i think 14 other people here at cpac is doing which is out there laying out both our credentials which i did in great detail with respect to our foreign policy record here. and laying out a vision trying to see what kind of support we're going to get. we're just going to be getting around the country in the next few months. and we'll make a decision some

time probably in late spring. >> all right. we'll be standing by. great to see you tonight rick santorum live from cpac. >> appreciate the opportunity. breaking news now the house is back in session voting right now on an extension of funding for the department of homeland security. the senate has voted on something that would last for about a week, we understand. the house now called back in gavelled back in you see the time remaining there ticking down usually 15 minutes for these particular votes. so they're going to have to vote now. you know the funding runs out at 11:59:59 eastern tonight. so there's been a lot of back and forth, a lot of finger pointing, a lot of blame about who's going to be responsible if this happens. now we also know the department of homeland security is not going to shutter and send everybody home and close up and padlock the doors should they not work this out tonight. things will change. but the department will continue operating. if they get through this vote in the next couple of minutes here we would expect that we then have funding for one week. so we'll do this again next

friday night. but we'll watch and see. we'll keep you updated as what's continued to stream in and hill tries to resolve funding issue over dhs. difficult new questions for the white house over their ongoing nuclear talks with iran. we're going to tell you what the newly released documents are revealing about the ties between tehran and osama bin laden. and the end of an intergalactic era as the world says farewell to perhaps the world most famously known as spock. >> live long and prosper. father of all we now hold true. >> the image read in your face what is in your mind spock. >> as i turn and my eyes beheld you, i displayed emotion. i beg woman: for soft beautiful feet i have a professional secret: amopé and its premium foot care line. the new amopé pedi perfect foot file gives you soft beautiful feet effortlessly.

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we've been watching the house as it votes now on a temporary funding measure for dhs.

that runs out tonight at midnight tonight. it looks like by these votes the house that has moved forward with something that will fund dhs for one week. if that's accurate we'll do this starts now. >> hello! you are going to hear from the next president of the united states right here from this stage during this cpac. the conservative movement must be a great agent of reform. we must offer a vision of change. >> it is the destiny of this country to stand as a beacon of hope and freedom for the entire world. >> there comes important critical moments in history. we have to stand up to say if we keep doing what we are doing