five." "special report." the people who are supposed to clean up the environment unleash a flood of potentially dangerous wastewater effecting millions of people out west. this is "special report." good evening. welcome to washington. i'm bret baier. the federal agency that goes after individuals and companies it feels harm the environment is tonight responsible for a disastrous accident in colorado that is getting worse by the second. in fact, in the time it took me to just read that sentence almost 100 gallons of contaminated water poured into a major western river.

we are in denver tonight with the latest on the epa's big mess. >> reporter: 500 gallons per minute is the rate the environmental protection agency says mustard yellow contaminated wastewater is flowing into the animus river in southwestern colorado. >> we looked at the river and we cried. >> reporter: a crew investigating a mine caused the incident. it has discharged into the river. high levels of arsenic and led in the river. residents are being told to stay away. >> people in that part of our state love that river and they recreate on it. the tragedy is what will happen to the aquatic wildlife in the area. >> reporter: it has implications beyond colorado. it flows into new mexico and the

colorado river, which supplies millions of people in the west. >> phoenix, los angeles, san diego. they're relying on a large part upon water that originates in our state, so the interconnectedness is highlighted in a tragedy like this. >> reporter: the epa says as the tox toxic pollute moves, it dissipates. >> i can't even describe it. it's like when i flew over fires. you see something that your mind isn't ready or adjusted to see. >> reporter: one option according to the agency's regional administrator, getting on the national priorities list for a designation of super cleanup site. residents don't feel confident in the epa's assurances.

>> my concern is for next generations and what they're walking into. >> reporter: the epa was pressed on why of all agencies it could not prevent something like this from happening. the answer, there will be an independent investigation to figure that out. >> thank you. the suburban st. louis city of ferguson is on edge again tonight in a grim case of deja vu. that police officer was cleared of any wrongdoing, but now more violence, more raw emotion, and more shootings. we are in ferguson tonight. >> reporter: they're waiting for nightfall. protesters they they want to demonstrate peacefully. police officers say they want to

same. st. louis county is again in a state of emergency. less than 24 hours ago, protests devolved into shooting in ferguson, missouri. police say they shot tyron harris leaving him in crimintic condition. now officials from ferguson to washington, d.c. are calling for peaceful protests. >> i strongly condemn the violence that was perpetrated against the community, including the police officers in ferguson last evening. not only does violence obscure any message of peaceful protest, it places the community, as well as the officers who are seeking to protect it, in harm's way. >> there was a lot of emotions, i get, but this is something different. we can't sustain this as a community as we move forward. we have other individuals out there who are armed right now.

they're part of this group. we need the public's help. >> reporter: this as ferguson gathered to commemorate the one-year anniversary of michael brown's death. prosecutors never brought charges against wilson. neither did federal authorities, though the town is under federal monitoring after the department of justice claimed in a report that city officials engaged in a pattern of racism. officers in st. louis have arrested dozens already today as this community braces for nightfall. there have been days of peaceful protests here in this st. louis county suburb to mark the one-year anniversary of michael brown's death. community leaders hope it returns that way this evening. >> thank you. federal and local authorities are blaming each other for the latest murder linked to an illegal immigrant and known criminal set free despite efforts from immigration

officials. we have the latest tonight from los angeles. >> i am not remiss to say there's a blood trail. >> reporter: he says it is a direct result of president obama and california lawmakers failure to enforce immigration law. >> it starts at the very top. >> reporter: ferris was asleep when victor ramirez broke into her house, tortured, sexually assaulted, and beat her to death with a claw hammer. he has been in jail four days prior on a felony. prosecutors pled the case down to a misdemeanor. they did not consider him an enforcement priority, leaving the sheriff no choice but to release him. >> county sheriffs are being put in an untenable position by a

lack of alignment between the federal law and state law. >> reporter: president obama has chosen not to enforce federal immigration law unless an illegal immigrant is convicted of a felony or three serious misdemeano misdemeanors. >> i do not believe the federal government and the u.s. congress should mandate the behavior of state and local law enforcement. >> reporter: that laws sanctuary states like california -- when his felonies were pled down, he fell under the feds radar. they did issue one detainer, but never filed a warrant which allowed him to remain free. he appears in court later this week. >> so who is most to blame for

what happened in santa maria? let me know on facebook.com or on twitter. up next, so what else happened at last week's debate besides donald trump? fox 26 in houston has the suspect in a mass murderer appears in court. david conley is accused of killing his ex-wife, her husband, and her six young children. the ex-wife texted her mother that she was being held at gunpoint. a rockslide brought on by heavy rains forces officials to close a highway north of the grand canyon. crews are working to remove those rocks. this is a live look at indianapolis from our affiliate fox 59. target stores are removing the words boys and girls from signage in some departments.

it says some customers objected to signs distinguishing things such as boys and girls' bedding. that's tonight's live look outside the beltway from "special report." we'll be right back.

now to campaign politics. hillary clinton promising billions for college students. bernie sanders gets thousands for a rally. and for the republicans, all the numbers continue to point to donald trump. we have tonight's 2016 wrap-up. >> reporter: after days of controversy, trump today doubled down. >> the fact is she asked me a very inappropriate question. she should be apologizing to me, if you want to know the truth. other candidates have said it.

>> reporter: other candidates are calling donald trump a distraction. >> it is like watching a car accident instead of focusing on the direction we should be headed. >> reporter: businesswoman carly fiorina has trump has tapped into the anger that many americans feel about federal government but says he has gone too far. >> i don't think you get things down by insulting everyone. i have a track record of getting things done. >> reporter: trump said, quote, i just realized if you listen to carly fiorina for more than ten minutes straight, you get aadac. she has no chance. martin o malemalley complained today. >> the president is not a crown to be passed back and forth between two royal families.

we're being told we're only supposed to have one debate in new hampshire before the people of new hampshire get to vote. >> reporter: hillary clinton rolled out her plan to make college more affordable with a price tag of $350 billion over ten years. >> no family and students should have to borrow to pay tuition at a public college and university. >> reporter: florida senator marco rubio called it a typical liberal response. >> she has to figure out who to raise taxes on. this is about doing business in america even more expensive, and then taking all that money and pouring it into an outdated education system. >> reporter: bernie sanders had an event derailed by black lives matter protesters.

hours later, sanders held an event with an estimated 15,000 people in seattle and then 28,000 yesterday in portland. and today national nurses united, the largest nurses union, endorsed sanders for president. one of the purposes of a debate or forum is to learn a bit more about a particular candidate's ideas or specific issues. some of that may have been obscured last week by donald trump's performance both during and after the debates. we look at some of the substance you may have missed. >> what i say is what i say. >> reporter: lost amid the heat surrounding thursday's primetime republican primary debate is the light the forum shed on the policy of the ten candidates on stage. donald trump envisioned an alternative to obamacare. >> what i'd like to see is a private system without the artificial lines around every

state. >> reporter: john kasich defended his billion dollar expansion of medicaid saying the program had grown slowly than in most other states. ted cruz vowed to defund sanctuary cities. >> i have never supported amnesty. and i led the fight against chuck schumer's amnesty legislation. >> reporter: marco rubio agreed america's southern border needs a wall or a fence. >> trump will build a tunnel under the fence. we have to be able to do that too. you need a tracking system to prevent illegal immigration. >> reporter: jeb bush defended the common core, but emphasized his commitment to local control over education. >> i think the states ought to create these standards. if states want to opt out of common core, fine. >> reporter: ben carson advocated for a flat tax.

former arkansas governor mike huckabee rejected recent moves by the pentagon that would allow transgenders to serve openly in the armed forces. wisconsin governor scott walker explained how he would proceed with iran. >> terminate the deal on day one. you reinstate the sanctions authorized by congress. then you convince our allies to do the same. >> reporter: chris christie and rand paul sparred aggressively over paul's opposition to the national security agency's bulk collection of data. >> i want to collect more records from terrorists andle l records from innocent americans.

>> reporter: while the debate made for riveting theater, it also offered voters a window on to the personalities, policies, and souls of the candidates on stage. >> thank you. more on this with the panel. firefighters are battling a new blaze in a major fire north of san francisco tonight. a u.s. forest service firefighter was killed after he was struck by a tree. he is the second firefighter to die in the california blaze since the summer wildfire season began. big gains for energy companies today put an end to the dow's seven-day losing streak. the dow was up 241. the s&p 500 up 27. and the nasdaq up 8. first, the president enjoys a little down time, but he can't seem to get away

gro -- marxist group. nato ally turkey opened a new front in the water against isis last month launching a parallel war against the pkk. the string of attacks comes one day after the first u.s. f-16s landed at the turkey air base. after the turks finally agreed to allow u.s. war planes to begin using their basis to fight isis after a year of resisting u.s. requests. right now, the kurds control all of turkey's 568 mile border with syria except for a small 68 mile

corridor. should the kurds gain control of that section of the border they would have access from iraq to the mediterranean. when turkey agreed to let the u.s. strike isis from its military basis, turkey did strikes. turkish war planes surprised coalition members giving them a ten-minute warning before the attack. >> their attacks on pkk are as a result of attacks they are suffering by this terrorist group inside turkey. >> reporter: but senior u.s. military sources tell us those air strikes came close to u.s. soldiers. >> thank you. if you travel on business,

you know you have to fill out the proper forms no matter where you go. that's next on "the grapevine." yes, we are twins. when i went on to ancestry, i just put in the name of my parents and my grandparents. i was getting all these leaves and i was going back generation after generation. you start to see documents and you see signatures of people that you've never met. i mean, you don't know these people, but you feel like you do. you get connected to them. i wish that i could get into a time machine and go back 100 years, 200 years and just meet these people. being on ancestry just made me feel like i belonged somewhere. discover your story. start searching for free now at ancestry.com.

i've got a nice long life ahead. big plans. so when i found out medicare doesn't pay all my medical expenses, i got a medicare supplement insurance plan. [ male announcer ] if you're eligible for medicare,

you may know it only covers about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. call now and find out about an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medicare supplement insurance plans, it could save you in out-of-pocket medical costs. call now to request your free decision guide. i've been with my doctor for 12 years. now i know i'll be able to stick with him. [ male announcer ] you'll be able to visit any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. plus, there are no networks, and virtually no referrals needed. see why millions of people have already enrolled in the only medicare supplement insurance plans endorsed by aarp. don't wait. call now. now to fresh pickings from the political "grapevine."

small businesses come in all kinds. apparently, congress is a small business, at least when it comes to obamacare. the classification makes it possible for the d.c. small business health benefit exchange to give d.c. tax dollars to congress to help pay for health insurance for members and staff, even though it is way over the 50 employee maximum. more than 12,000 members of congress and staff have used the market to obtain coverage, receiving $77 million in taxpayer funds. judicial watch has filed a lawsuit in the d.c. court of appeals saying, quote, it is unlawful and unethical for district officials to use local dollars to participate in congress's obamacare fraud. the d.c. exchange says it is legal because a federal rule trumps the district's laws. two government contractors overbilled the energy department and used the money for home renovations and school

donations. it was given $74 million, including $64 million for stimulus funds. two contractors collected more than $15 million in taxpayer funds with almost 2 million flagged as questionable spending. finally, it turns out a trip to the moon is pretty cheap, at least for your the astronaut. buzz aldron published his travel voucher. he says he qualified for a reimburseme reimbursement. he went to texas, the moon, the pacific ocean, and hawaii and finally back to houston. quote, yes, the apollo 11 crew signed customs forms.

thankfully, no moon disease ever showed up. crew members on the international space station are getting some home cooking. for the first time, they ate food grown in space. it's considered a big development in the efforts to sustain astronauts on future deep space missions. the president's people are hard at work to convince lawmakers to hang with him on the iran nuclear deal. >> reporter: the venues change, but the pitch remains the same as president obama continues to sell the iran nuclear agreement. >> the alternative to a negotiated agreement of the sort that we've put together is at some point us having to potentially take a military an. >> reporter: that from an interview with a website called mic.com, which included questions submitted from readers

in iran and israel. the president is doubling down on his insistence that negotiating with teheran is the best way to prevent iran from developing a nuclear weapon, at least for now. >> if it goes back to where it is right now, why is that a bad deal? >> reporter: the number of democrats breaking ranks is growing, led my new york senator chuck schumer. his refusal to back the deal led to praise from marco rubio. >> even though we disagree on a lot of issues, someone has taken a position here based on statesmanship and not partisanship. >> reporter: 36 house republicans joining 22 democrats, including the house minority whip. back in washington, another key

senate democrat says she hasn't made up her mind yet. >> it's not a perfect deal. obviously, we don't trust iran, but i think too many people are judging this deal against the status quo, not what the new situation would be on the world stage. >> reporter: there's a group of iraq war veterans that are launching a million dollar effort to combat the iran nuclear deal. this group is trying to push back against the negotiation if you're somehow against the agreement, you're for war with iran. the american reporter on trial in iran made a statement in his own defense today. jason rezaian has been held in iran for more than a year. his attorney submitted a 20-page brief and provided an oral defense. a verdict is expected in the coming days.

donald trump continues to dominate the 2016 discussion. we'll talk about him and the rest of the field in both parties when the panel joins me

the fact is she asked me a very inappropriate question. she should really be apologizing to me, if you want to know the truth. other candidates have said that. >> people have been tiptoeing around criticizing mr. trump. i think this is we should say this is not who we are as a party when it comes to women and this is not a viable approach to immigration. >> all the air in the balloon is going to donald trump right now, but that's okay because this is a long process and it is like a baseball season, george. there are some early gains. doesn't necessarily determine who is going to be in the world series. >> the overall media frenzy across the country is focusing on one person. for a lot of us, it's like watching a car accident instead of focusing on the direction we

should be headed. it's a sideshow out there. >> all that reaction to the debate and the fallout from the debate last week. we'll talk about that with our panel. okay. chuck, there's obviously been a lot of response about the debate, a lot of candidates weighing in afterwards. what about the donald trump phenomenon and what has happened since? it seems like no matter what happens, he has tapped into this vein that is essentially surging still. >> i think i'm going to have to turn in my pundit's license or somebody is going to revoke it because i really can't analyze this phenomenon. we're living through one of the most strangest -- if not strange, one of the most puzzling moments in politics that i can remember. and part of it is a little bit

artificial. part of it is the no such thing as bad puberlicitpublicity, buts really. there's upset on the political scene. it stretches all the way into the democratic party where bernie sanders is drawing crowds of 28,000 people, you know, over in seattle and even he isn't far enough to the left for certain people who are ticking him off the rostrum. it is a very volatile political environment right now. there is apparently a market for very angry rhetoric, the kind of rhetoric that trump is using that you would thought disqualified people in the past. >> there's been a lot of criticism not only from donald trump, but from people around the country about the way we moderated the debate.

>> e-mails, tweets, it goes on and on. trump is a symptom of what has happened, and i think you can go back to 2006, 2007, george w. bush was a very popular present. 2006, we lost congress. 2007, immigration we form. this is a build up of resentment and then it came into anger. after obama is elected, tea party comes roaring in in 2010. the establishment feels we reelected these people. we're doing great. und underneath it all, i think there's anger from white middle-class voters who feel they have been left behind. they'd like other answers and

they'd like to be respected. for now, donald trump is a man who is channelling that upset through two issues, globalism trade and immigration is the second. everyone can say trump is the problem, but the more republicans do that, the more they're going to see reuters poll that come out and show he's holding steady. doesn't mean these other candidates aren't great people and they might not rise to the top. but if we don't come to terms with what's happening in the republican party, this is going to be a very ugly 2016. >> but do you think the moderators, me included, or broadly fnc is in the tank for jeb bush? >> i never said that. but i think when people are as angry as they are out there, they're looking for people to throw rocks out. if they think certain people are

disinviting people from forums, regular people get their hackles up, even if they don't like trump very much and a lot of them don't like trump. if there are questions that are personal, i think it's fine. they're going to get asked these questions by somebody. they better be able to answer questions that are personal and difficult, but i think, you know, we'll see if other candidates are asked some of those tough questions next time. and they better be ready to walk through the fire as well. maybe they'll be better next time because of these tough questions. >> i asked for stats on this. since may, donald trump has been on 36 times on fox. jeb bush has been on 33 times. charles, your thoughts about all this? >> i think the accusations against fox including the conspiracy theories are out of

line. the first question to dr. carson was about a lot of the flubs he did, the contradictions, and mistakes. look, the piece earlier in the show i thought was really interesting. as a result of what happened after the debate, it's as if the debate itself never really happened. think about the fact that in the afternoon debate carly fiorina emerged in the absence of the other hoopla as a very serious candidate everybody had discovered. if history stopped at the end of the debate and we hadn't had the stuff happening over the weekend, we would be talking about exactly what the piece showed, the debate over expanding medicare that you saw among the candidates. >> let me run some of the substance from the debate, some

of things that perhaps got overlooked. take a listen. >> system without the artificial lines around every state. get rid of the artificial lines and you will have yourself great plans. then we have to take care of the people who can't take care of themselves, and i will do that through a different system. >> isis rides around in a billion dollars worth of u.s. humve humvees. we didn't create isis. isis created themselves, but we will stop them. >> i believe the great majority of people coming here illegally have no other option. they want to provide for their family, but we need to control our border. there should be a path to earned legal status for those who are here. not amnesty, earned legal status, which means you pay a fine and do many things over and extended period of time. >> we need a significantly changed taxation system. the one that i've advocated is

based on tithing because i think god is a pretty fair guy. you make $10 billion. you pay billion. you make $10. you pay $1. you get rid of the deductions and the loopholes. >> the point being, we covered a lot. >> over here on one level, you had several candidates like trump and huckabee and cruz who are addressing the people laura is talking about at a very emotional level and attitudinal

level. people really are looking for the kinds of answers that this first group is proposing. i'm sorry if the word emotional offends some people, but it remains the fact that donald trump, despite identifying all these issues, however real they may be, has yet to say what he will do. >> there would not be that many tuning in if donald trump was not on that stage. that's a high number for 5:00 in the afternoon, 2:00 on the west coast. there are people hungry for politics, but there's something happening here. >> there is. there is a coming crack up in the republican party if republicans don't let this play out. let it play out. if donald trump is as ill-equipped -- he's not a conservative.

he'll fade away. donald trump will stumble and fade away. let it happen. the people are going to figure this out for themselves, and we can talk about it. we can analyze it. in the end, the country is either going in a better direction under boehner, mcconnell, obama, and all these policies or it's not. i submit there's a lot of people in this country in both parties that think these guys have had their way for a long time. let's try some new policies. >> ted cruz, kasich, are the ones that people are angry about. the ones who personify washington. you had on that stage very strong candidates. if you you were to take away the glitz and the buzz and the smoke, you would have seen the strongest field of candidates that the republicans have had in 30 years.

donald trump decided to make this into a war on fox is because i think he thinks he lost. if you win a debate, you don't start a war attacking the moderators and he has succeeded. he has succeeded in taking all the attention from what actually happened in the debate. i think the gop will rue the day because this is a great opportunity to show off the field. >> we're big boys and girls. we're fine. not a lot of people on my e-mail are worried about us. >> i'm not worried about you. i'm worried about the gop and the changing the white house a year and a half from now. and it won't happen if these good candidates are completely obscured. >> let's say it is 20% of people in the party who ultimately like donald trump, it won't if those people feel like there's no place anymore. we have to grow the party. but if they feel like the vul r

vulgarians they're being described as -- don't exclude those people. >> who is excludeing those people? >> don't call them emotional. they're real people with real lives. >> my twitter feed has a lot of emotional tweets on them. >> they feel like america is slipping away. they'd like an america back that works for all people. they're not terrible people. >> i'm not attacking them. you're implying there is a certainly person that can represent them -- >> absolutely not. i completely agree with you. >> so we agree. >> isn't that nice? we're going to talk about the democrats and they're back and forth on the other side of

well, i will tell you hillary clinton be at my wedding and she came it my wedding. >> i didn't know him that well. i knew him and i happened to be planning to be in florida and i thought it would be fun to go to his wedding because it's always entertaining. now that he is running for president, it's a little more troubling. >> donald trump says that's what he got for his money hillary clinton showed up at his wedding. she refuted that today. we're back with the panel. democrats, charles, martin o'malley is really upset that there are not more democratic debates and the first one is not until october. >> you look at that clip and you have got to say how weird is this election season? look, the democrats obviously are doing everything to protect hillary. she has been sliding and slipping and she has been piling up the numbers on

being untrustworthy. so, they want to minimize the damage. it's a real contrast with the prks. but i think her problem is that on the email she has to now tell a judge that all the emails that were work-related she turned over. telling a judge is different from telling the media because, if you tell the judge and it's not so, that's perjury. meantime bernie sanders getting crowds of 15,000, 28,000. had a bit of a dust-up with with the black lives matters protesters at one event but he seems to be surging, laura. >> i heard trump this morning on some show. i don't know which one it was. someone asked him do you and bernie sanders have any issues in common speaking of charles the crazy season. i was listening to bernie talk about trade the other day. it sounded like he was stealing my lines. same on trade. it is wild. it is completely surreal but then again, that's kind of the populist thing. it's populist from the

democrats, means grow government populist from the conservative side shrink congress. there is a great dissatisfaction that i don't think will derail the clintons building. and bernie sanders is kind of the man of the moment in that. and i think it's fascinating to watch. >> chuck? >> you know, i still wonder if joe biden isn't going to find some opportunity. >> decision soon. >> actually, one of the interesting things of all the fallout of the debate if it hadn't played out this way we would be talking more about this strife in the democratic party because it is starting to come to a fore. thee crowds are impressive. >> does biden get in. >> i say might. maybe. >> laura? >> no. >> charles? >> yes. >> stay tuned to another take on last week's big debate.

finally tonight, last week's republican debate was not lacking obviously in political theater. one late night host found it so entertaining he wants to do a movie about the debate. he has already picked the cast. chris wallace will be played by chris parnell. that i can mass sense actually. marco rubio, the junior senator from florida will be played by young fred savage.

[ laughter ] former florida governor jeb bush will be played by sam the eagle from the munts. muppets. bret baier will be played by this lego man. >> that's good. the hair is real. it really is real. i promise. it's not all lego. yeah. that was a bad one. thanks for inviting us into your home tonight. that's it for "special report," fair balanced and unafraid. greta goes "on the record" right now. don't forget "special report" online wednesday night. we will be here. >> it is tuesday august 11th. a fox news alert. state of emergency. tensions boiling over overnight in burg son. protestors throwing bottles and rocks at police.

we are live on the ground. >> dangerous liaison. a dc staffer arrested for a lover's quarrel. what we learned about her connection to president obama. >> david beckham striking back at all critics over that picture right there. why he is silencing those on th> group. he left the united states in may and travelled to jordan. the fbi tipped off by one of his friends. more home grown terror in

mississippi. 19-year-old jay lan young will be back in court this morning. they were detained at a columbus airport. they planned to get married in turkey and cross into syria and join isis. >> to another fox news alert. ferguson, missouri now in a state of emergency. >> nearly 2 dozen under arrest like that guy as chaos breaks out in the streets. police pelted by rocks and bottles as they are trying to maintain order there. will is live in ferguson. >> we are still seeing police patrol here. things have died down quite a bit since we saw tense moments play out last night and through out the course of the day yesterday. we saw around 150 people get arrested here in ferguson. authorities maintain they want to allow peaceful demonstrations on the heals of michael