right? he's on a pot tour in colorado. again, thanks for watching us tonight. i'm bill o'reilly. please remember the spin stops here. we're definitely looking out for you. breaking tonight, new evidence of a deep divide within the republican party. it comes just days after donald trump became the presumptive nominee. raising serious questions about the party's ability to unify before the november election. welcome to "the kelly file." i'm sandra smith in for megyn kelly. over the past 24 hours we've seen a series of endorsements and calls to reject donald trump, perhaps most notably those associated with the last republican to hold the white house, george w. bush. dick cheney suggests he will support donald trump for president, but bush's brother and trum of rival jeb bush is not on board the trump train

writing, quote, in november i will not vote for donald trump or hillary clinton. but i will support principled conservatives at the state and federal levels. this comes a day after speaker of the house paul ryan said he's just not ready to support trump either. to that, donald trump had this to say. >> paul ryan, i don't know what happened. i don't know. he called me two, three weeks ago, it was a very nice conversation. he was congratulated me. this was before we had the ultimate victory. he was congratulating me on doing so well. i felt routinely he'd be behind me. and the other day in a big surprise -- >> we begin with senior national correspondent john roberts reporting tonight from omaha, nebraska, where donald trump just wrapped up a rally a short time ago. >> reporter: sandra, in omaha, nebraska, donald trump held his second rally since becoming the presumptive nominee. he's on to washington state for a couple tomorrow. and while donald trump is the

republican standard bearer there is still a lot of questions as to whether or not he can achieve the type of party unity he needs to before the convention and certainly before the november election. but some of those concerns were put to rest today when nebraska's governor pete ricketts came out in support of donald trump today, it's especially important because ricketts' family had spent millions of dollars bank rolling an anti-trump super pac. there was also the support from dick cheney and the former texas governor rick perry who said he would go so far as to be donldz trump's running mate. at the rally today, donald trump had kind words for perry even though perry's words last summer for donald trump weren't exactly kind. >> rick perry is an example. he came in, and and i've always liked him. but he's a tough competitor. he fought hard, and he was rough on me. right? he said i'm a cancer on the republican party. now, that's the bad news. let me tell you the good news.

so yesterday he endorsed me. >> reporter: but certainly donald trump hasn't won everyone over. nebraska senator ben sass has reiterated that he will not vote for donald trump, no way no how, and he is encouraging the republican party to look for a third option. and lindsey graham today said not only would he not support trump but that he's not going to the convention at all. donald trump was quick to reply to that in a statement saying, quote, i will unify the party. lindsey graham has shown himself to be beyond rehabilitation. like the voter whoz rejected him, so will i. the big question, though, will speaker paul ryan support donald trump or not? we may find out after a meeting thursday morning on capitol hill. that's when donald trump will go to visit speaker ryan and several other members of the republican leadership. sandra? >> john roberts, thank you. just days before donald trump became the presumptive republican nominee, voters were asked about the issue of party unity and whether republicans

will come together in time for november. the result? about half said no. for their part, trump supporters say gop critics need to get behind him or risk losing it all this november. take a listen. >> i think that these guys ought to step up and support the nominee. and if they're not going to support the people that the republicans nominated, then they need to get out of the republican party and admit they're no longer republican. you're either on the team or you're not on the team. >> in the case of paul ryan, he is the speaker of the house. he has an obligation to unify the party. he has an obligation to reach out. >> you don't have another choice. so you get behind the choice that you have, whether you personally like them or not. >> but should donald trump do anything to make that happen? >> if in fact you're a believer. >> marc thiessen is a fox news contributor and former speech writer for george w. bush. david wall is a attorney and trump supporter. ben domenech is a publisher of the federalist. to newt gingrich's point, does

paul ryan have an obligation to unite and support the nominee of his own party? >> well, it's not paul ryan's responsibility to unite the party behind donald trump. it's donald trump's responsibility. and if he doesn't do it, he's going to lose in november. let me give you two facts. donald trump won 40% of the republican primary votes in all the primaries and caucuses around the country. that is the lowest percentage that any republican not knee has had since 1968. so a majority, 60% of republicans, voted for somebody else. unprecedented. second fact, 40% according to a suffolk university/"usa today" poll of republicans aren't sure if they're going to vote for donald trump or not. they're thinking about third parties. some are thinking about hilary clint nl. some may stay home. if donald trump doesn't win those people over, change their minds, he is not going to win in november. so donald tum p needs to stop attacking paul ryan and start winning those folks over. >> david, in the case of dick cheney, it wasn't that he had to be won over, he simply said that

historically i've always supported the nominee for my party, and this time will be no different. >> right. voila, he's doing the right thing. and paul ryan, the interesting thing thursday is if paul ryan expects donald trump to come to this meeting with hat in hand down on one knee asking how he's going to amend and change and adapt his policies to those of the establishment gop, then he's got another thing coming. the voters put donald trump over the top by the largest margin ever. he's going to have something like 11 million votes. >> not true. >> the largest of any republican nominee ever in the history of the gop. and he's got the vote. he's got the people behind him. he's got the gravitas. if ryan is going to do the right thing, he better not expect donald trump to come there asking how he can change to what ryan wants. >> so let's talk about that meeting because, ben, this is what ryan has said will take place at that meeting. he says, there's going to be a discussion about the kind of republican principles and idea that's can win the support of

the american people this november. what will that discussion really be like between paul ryan and donald trump? >> well, i think that the truth is here that paul ryan is whatever the republican congress wants him to be. and in this case he has stepped forward and given cover to a lot of republicans who are members of the house right now who under his leadership have either ideological or electoral reasons not to support donald trump right now. and that's frankly something na's working. the focus is on him. the focus is not on all these other individuals who are worried that donald trump will be luning on an agenda that undermines their ability to hold the house republican majority. that's the concern that is front and center for paul ryan. that's why he said what he said. you can hunt him, condemn him, set the dogs on him, but he'll be with the republican majority needs him to be. >> marc, let's trauk about what we're looking at here. in addition to dick cheney saying basically suggesti iningt donald trump has his support. we also heard from former texas rick perry, also a one-time riff

rival of donald trump. he says, he's not a perfect man, but i do believe he loves the country. how many more gop big wigs will we see come out in coming te'i days and weeks? >> rick perry apparently wants a job. that has something to do with this. of course donald trump loves this country. nobody questions that. it's not about the gop big wigs again. paul ryan actually didn't say, i'm not going to support donald trump. he said, i want to support donald trump but i'm not there yet thaexts where 60% of republicans are. he did not win it's factually incorrect to say he won by the large largest margin ever. he won by the smallest margin since 1968. he has a large number of republicans that are not sure whether he supports republican principles, whether he believes in limited government. he flip-flopped within days of winning on the minimum wage. before, he said during the debates he was against raising the minimum wage. now he says he's for it. >> oh, boy. >> what else is he going to do?

>> go ahead. >> sandra, i've got to say the reality is paul ryan has to ask himself, did his constituents put him in power to help hillary clinton win the white house this year? i think the answer to that would be a resounding no. and i think the reality is if paul ryan continues on this track of not knowing what he's going to do, not helping donald trump get this nomination, then that's what he's doing. he's helping hillary clinton get to the white house. i think ultimately he knows that he either supports trump or he helps hillary. i think that's going to make the choice easier for him. but that goes for all the establishment guys who right now are resisting supporting trump because he's the nominee. get used to it. get counseling if you have that much trouble with it. but that's the reality. that's where we are. >> so ben, how much does this anti-trump within the party end up helping hillary clinton? >> i don't think that it's going to ultimately matter that much because i do think that donald trump is going to do what it

takes to unite the party. it's just he hasn't started doing it yet. you saw the reaction to what paul ryan said, which was basically go out and say that he's unqualified, that he shouldn't be the speaker of the house anymore. i don't think that's the reaction that one needs to have if they truly want to lead and unite the party. instead you have to basically convince these members of congress and the other people out there who are currently skeptical about the trump campaign that they can unite around an agenda that will not undermine the current majorities that they have in the house and the senate. that's something that's going to take some work. it needs doing. ultimately i think donald trump has a path to victory over hillary clinton but it requires those steps. >> david, will the party unite? >> absolutely. it's going to take a while. they're thunder struck, let's face it. nobody thought trump would win by this majority. nobody thought he would win this quick limit we were planning for californ california. they're shell -shocked right no. i think ultimately they'll get together. people are going to contribute. everybody on board now will have a contribution to making this an

outstanding, powerful administration and an administration that will beat hillary clinton. that's what's key. >> marc, david and ben, thanks to all of you. also tonight, donald trump faced a reported $75 million in negative advertising dierg his nomination, but none were effective enough to stop him from becoming the republican party standardbearer this fall. media guru frank luntz is here to tell us why those ads didn't work and whether hillary will fare any better. plus, growing outrage tonight as obama's foreign policy adviser ben rhodes admits americans were deceived on the iran deal with a little help from the white house's favorite media members. you do not want to miss this discussion. plus, three college students claim to be victims of a hate crime. until this video uncovers a much different story about what really went down. criminal defense attorney mark eiglarsh joins us with the twist.

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breaking tonight, new

reports of republicans gearing up for hard battles in 2016's downballot races. especially in contests for the house or the senate. majorities the gop has worked hard to gain over the past six years. a bloomberg headline declaring down ballot republicans brace for chance of sharing trump's ticket. the washington examiner says trump's effect on fund-raising threatens down-ballot republicans and finally "the washington post" reporting democrats in frenzy to take advantage of trump's republican asaengs. joining me is ceo of luntz global and author of "what americans really want really" frank luntz, thanks for joining us. what do you make of the down-ballot concerns? >> well, it's real. and the focus groups that we have been doing over the last couple of months demonstrate the challenge. now, there are two sets voters here. there are trump loyalists and you heard that in the previous conversation, who resent republicans who don't jump on board and embrace him right now.

and those people are threatening not to support the republican candidates for the senate and the house. and there are also independents who haven't yet decided whether or not they're going to vote for tru trump. they may have some concerns about him. you have to as a republican to keep this majority to win both the independents and the conservatives. and that's the only way that you capture a majority. so it's like threading a needle. my recommendation to them is, you better empathize with them, you better recognize how much these voters hate both washington and wall street, and you need to communicate that you are not part of the problem, that you're part of the solution. that's how you thread that needle. >> i want to get to these ads you ran on these focus groups you conducted. where do we begin? >> well, the first thing is i want you to hear from the focus group themselves. this one was conducted in indianapolis. i want viewers at home to hear the resentment that may happen if these candidates say, i'm not supporting donald trump.

let's roll the tape. >> for me, it's very simple. if the republican party cared about what the people want, they'd be behind trump at this point. they're not behind trump. we are. so you know what? screw them. >> screw nem. >> that's my thing. it's like, if they change the rules or they do something when we go into this convention that somehow -- like i don't know what the possibilities are, i don't know all the rules, but if they do something, i will vote for anybody but the republican nominee. >> who agrees with that? >> i agree. >> raise your hands high if you agree with that. du s did you see how many people raised their hands there? this is significant. we've been hearing it now for about six weeks. now, you cannot just go after trump loyalists. you have to be able to add those independents. but when you combine the two, you do get to more than a

majority. and there's an ad i want you to see because this is typical of the attack ads. tens of millions of dollars were spent all across the country to destroy the trump candidacy, and virtually every dollar of that was wasted. and i say that to the donors who were involved in it because they should have known better. they should have understood that attacks like the one i'm about to show you simply do not resonate with angry, frustrated, betrayed voters who are really anxious and demanding of change. let's take a look at the ad. >> i went to an ivy league school. i'm very highly educated. i know words. i have the best words. he gets the nomination, they're going too sue his [ bleep ]. they said he's a [ bleep ]. i don't give a [ bleep ]. we'll beat the [ bleep ] out of them. they're ripping the [ bleep ]. what the hell are we doing? you're not going to raise the [ bleep ] price. i have the best words. and you can tell them to go [ bleep ] themselves.

>> now, it is true i've never heard a candidate ever use language like that. and it isn't as civil as it could be. but make no mistake, hell hath no fury like a voter scorned and voters are ticked off. they want someone who says what they mean, means what they say and na's why trump won the nomination. >> frank, we led in to you with this unbelievable sum of money that was spent going against donald trump, targeting trump, and the gop primary. his opponents were not successful there. will hillary clinton be any more successful targeting him with all the money she's got and any other ads? >> well, we've tested their ads as well because clinton's been running ads. they're afraid of donald trump. they're afraid of this head-to-head matchup because trump is so candid. you never know what he's going to say. he's unpredictable. that's what make it's so tough. hillary clinton is the most inauthentic, most scripted candidate of any i've seen in

the last 30 years. she does not know how to debate donald trump. and if she runs the same traditional campaign that she did against bernie sanders, talking from teleprompters, using the same lines speech after speech, having no sense of where she really is, her heart and her soul, she will get defeated. >> wow. all right, frank luntz. thank you. >> thank you. still ahead, the ongoing investigation into hillary clinton's private e-mail server intensifies as federal investigators begin questioning those closest to the former secretary of state. and new reports tonight suggest her date with the fbi could be right around the corner. plus, the general election matchup is all but decided. but with concerns over lack of unity in both parties, what can we expect over the next six months? our political panel is here to debate that. and 24 hours after obama adviser ben rhodes admits the white house effectively deceived the american people on the iran deal, the president is peppered

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expected to appear before federal investigators in just weeks to answer questions about the ongoing investigation. chief intelligence correspondent catherine herridge is here with the latest. >> sandra, many have been interviewed by the fbi as part of its ongoing criminal investigation. the source would not speak on the record but said abedin was questioned about clinton's use of a private serve herb and whether classified information was will fully transmitted on an unsecure record. under the espionage act, intent is not required for a criminal violation. this week, mrs. clinton addressed some of these issues. >> have you been contacted or your representatives been contactsed by the fbi to set up an interview? >> no. >> no contact there? >> no. >> any indication that your private server was hacked by foreign hackers? >> no, not at all. >> the romanian hacker who said he easily breached mrs. clinton's e-mail server in 2013 also claimed in a series of jailhouse phone interviews with

fox news that he spoke with the fbi on the plane for 80 minutes. when he was extradited from romania to virginia last month to face separate cyber charges. >> you have talked to the fbi on the plane, you said? >> yeah right of because they came after me. a guy from the fbi from the state department. yeah. >> du have any visits from the fbi when you were in romania? >> i had 2014 in march. >> a government source confirmed that the hacker had a lot to say on the plane but provided no other details. fox news understand that's a meeting between the fbi, the hacker, the u.s. attorney and his public defender was expected as early as this week. sandra? >> catherine, thank you. joining me now with a look ahead to the general election are political power panel that we have tonight, a bernie sanders supporter and founder sand executive director of the accountability project. boris epstein a republican strategist and former communications aide to the mccain/palin presidential campaign. and alan colmes is host of the

alan colmes show. good evening to all of you, thanks for being here tonightment alan, i feel like i want to start with you. we've had this open fbi investigation. now we learn that her very close aide huma abedin is going to be questioned by the fbi. the feeling is it just doesn't look good for hillary clinton. >> i don't know what that means clinton. in the statement, it says there's no evidence she will fully compromised anything or had any wrongdoing. of course there will be an investigation. they'll talk to her aides. they may even talk to her. but that doesn't mean she's indictable. >> alan, but saying -- boris, i'll toss this to you -- that you'll have to assume that intent has to be a key focus. boris, there's a lot more at work. >> under the key statutes, they don't necessarily need intent. they just need to prove there was a server out there and you

have to find out why. to alan's point, of course it's bad. you have the presumptive nominee, i'm sure monique ki will have something to say about that, for the democrats who is under investigation. her number one aid huma abedin has been questioned. she has other issues, working for the state department and outsourcing at the same time. there's a ton here that is a huge problem. we as republicans and as trump supporters are happy to sit back and watch this go on and on and watch hillary clinton get questioned at some point. if she's not questioned it will be because of undue influence by democrats. >> i want to get moniquey in here. i'm sure you're going to say democrats believe this is a republican witch hunt. >> i think the majority of democrats think anytime you say the words benghazi or e-mail server it's a conspiracy theory or a witch hunt. there is some truth. the fbi is investigating him. if donald trump were smart, he would talk about the tactics, he would talk about the details of the legal matter, rather than

painting it in one broad stroke. it doesn't do well democrats or independents. the swing voters he needs to get and she needs to get. >> let's talk about that strategy, alan. in a general election matchup, what does clinton need to focus on to beat donald trump? >> well, she might want to focus on the fact that he's going to be standing trial for fraud for trump university. here you have a guy -- >> come on, alan. >> true. >> it's true. >> what do you mean? it's true. he's going to be defending himself taking the witness stand in a trial where he's been accused of defrauding people. >> first of all, alan, that's great. you're going to bring up a business dispute. hillary clinton's issue is that while secretary of state she exposed national secrets. >> there's no evidence of that. >> no evidence of that. >> there's no evidence but obviously that's being investigated. >> no. you've decided that. it's not true. the hacker from -- she said there's no evidence of hacking?

well, the hacker said there was evidence of hacking. >> we should believe the hacker, right? >> a random guy in a plane. >> if we talk over each other, we're going to not hear anything. nomiki, you're supporter. >> i am. >> what is he doing to clinton's campaign? >> it's clear neither will receive the pledge delegate mark. what hillary's campaign is going is trying to get her out of the race so she can focus on the general, go back to becoming a moderate, get some of those blue collar voters that bernie sanders has a lockdown on right now. but the reality is neither candidate will hit the magic number and we're going to a contested convention. nobody wants to report it in other news publications but that's the truth. it's going to be a very tense moment on the floor when we're debating dnc rules and the -- >> that's great for us. >> you went through the same thing. you don't even have your republican party. come on. it wilin a low turnout year. >> hold on. we have a nominee that the party is coalescing around. >> not exactly.

>> we've had rick perry come out, the governor of nebraska come out. the party is coalescing around trump. >> coalescing? >> boris, let me stay with you because i want to talk about what donald trump needs to do here because a recent nbc/"wall street journal" poll shows 47% of female republican primary voters said they would not vote for trump. 70% of women voters in general have a negative view of him. what does he need to do to win over women? >> he needs to talk about the main message, and that's the economy, national security, and foreign policy. those are issues that really attract voters across gender, across race, across backgrounds. he does need to stay away from the attacks you've seen in the past and he will continue to turn toward the general. he's going to be going up most likely hillary clinton. she is a woman, but he needs to attack her on her background, on

her failures in benghazi, failures as secretary of state. >> hold on, last word to alan on how she responds to that. >> they've tried benghazi four years ago. it didn't work. i kept saying i'm going to change my name to benghazi to conservatives never stop talking about me. >> it doesn't work. >> what about coming up with a solution for health care, replace obamacare with what? talk about real issues, the economy bush trashed. >> nomiki? >> 44% of democratic women have low approval ratings for hillary clinton as well. so 44% to 47% is not great. i think women will be the turnout factor. >> we have to leave it there. nomiki, alan, boris, thank you. a stunning admission from the white house as ben rhodes who has helped co-write all of the president's foreign policy speeches admits the american people were deceived in the run-up to the iran deal. howie kurtz is next on the silence we're hearing from the press corps before foreign policy experts michael, rick grenell and david at thta furry

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growing outrage tonight as the white house press corps ignores a report in which one of the president's top staffers seems to admit the obama white house deceived the american people on one of the president's proudest accomplishment. ben rhodes who helped co-write all of the president's foreign policy speeches told the "new york times" magazine that the narrative sold to the american public on the heavily debated iran nuclear deal was done so with the help of so-called experts who simply echoed white house talking spoints. what's more, less than 24 hours after the article was published, president obama was posed these questions from the d.c. press corps. take a listen. >> mr. president, what's your reaction to donald trump becoming the presumptive nominee of the republican party this week? >> what do speaker ryan's

comments tell you about the state of the republican party? >> what does that say that the capitol was closed for 24 hours and is having a number of safety related problems? >> did you see donald trump's taco bowl tweet? and your thoughts on it. >> howard kurtz is host of fox news media buzz. item quite certain he has something to say about those questions we heard today during the noon hour. >> we had to find out about trump's taco tweet. >> well, there was no comment, by the way, on that. >> yes. and reporters did ask josh ernest about it afterward. the story started to get some traction after the journalists went after the piece online so far. what's really irritating about this incredibly puffy profile of ben rhodes is how smug he sounds in bragging about bamboozling the press. he talks about using the media as an echo chamber, he and his deputies say that reporters know nothing about policy, these young reporters they deal with. so they feed them color and

talking points which are then kind of repeated online and on twitter. and you know, it's not that this doesn't go on to some degree in every administration, but usually you don't have a deputy national security adviser bragging about it on the record. >> you say how smug he was and that in a way he was taking a victory lap in all of this. but at the same time, howie, you're saying that he's on target with some of his points here. >> yeah, i do think ben rhodes make a's couple good points which i want to grant. one is that he says increasingly -- i hear this from other politicians and candidates -- they deal with twentysomething reporters who only cover campaigns and don't know anything about policy. therefore, obviously a little easier to spin. and also he makes the point that when it comes to foreign policy as newsrooms have slashed staffs and closed foreign bureaus a lot of the more experienced veterans have been sidelined. so there's that. but as you noted in the setup, you know, what really has people agog is a lot of people have

looked at it as well as james rosen saying, that's pretty much what it is particularly when it came to the selling of the iran nuclear deal. >> you're the media guy. does any of this spreez r surprise you? >> i can't say i'm shocked because i've covered this in one administration to the other going back to jfk leaking the good stuff to ben bradley. i wrote a book about the clinton white house called "spin cycle" because they used the tools in the pre-twitter age. the bush had a campaign to sell the iraq war, they just didn't boast about how it turned out. but when you have in this detail piece the acknowledgement or the reporting at least that ben rhodes and his team set out to fudge the narrative of how the iran nuclear negotiations started, claiming it was when a bunch of moderates were elected in iran, when actually the negotiations, although denied at the time, had started much earlier. that seems to me to go just beyond spin, talking points, color, leaks to kind of not

being straight about the facts. >> howie kurtz, thank you for joining us tonight. >> good to see you. >> let's get to our panel, micha michael pregent, former adviser to david petraeus, ric grenell a fox news contributor and former spokesman to four u.s. ambassadors to the u.n. and david tafuri, a former state department official and former obama campaign foreign policy adviser. michael, i want to get to you first. is it fair to say that the white house lied to the american people about this deal? >> well, thanks for having me. we know the white house politicized intelligence when it comes to isis. we know the white house has downplayed threats to america. and now we have an admission from ben rhodes that the white house along with the national security council shaped the narrative that misled americans, legislators and got them to support the iran deal. what i would disagree with ben rhodes is that he didn't sell this to the american people. 60% of the american population

was against the iran deal. and 60% of congress was against the iran deal. he didn't sell it. he actually lied to put these talking points out there, you know. it's this or war. and he bragged about it. he acts like he's a character in "house of cards" being interviewed after a controversial episode. and he's bragging about his character's role. this is real life. isis, iran and national security are a little too big for this aspiring novelist. >> so david, taking in everything that we just heard from michael, you have a completely different take and you think the criticism of david rhodes over this piece is unwarpted? >> this is a very interesting piece and everybody should read it, but there's nothing earth shattering in this piece whaxt it discloses is that ben rhodes is an adviser to president obama helped get president obama's agenda pushed forward by working with journalists, working with think tanks and working with other supporters. this is the same thing that every president has done since

president kennedy. they have aides and advisers who help them get their message out. to suggest, however, that ben rhodes or the president somehow pulled the wool over people's eye was respect to the iran deal is not true. there are many reasons why the iran deal maybe should not have gone forward, but they were hotly debated and they were out there in the open. republicans had many chances to fight the iran deal. there were many members of congress who were against the iran deal, both republicans and democrats. the prime minister of israel came to the u.s. and directly addressed congress and told them why they shouldn't support the iran deal. and there were many pundits and commentators who wrote op-eds against the deal. all of the information was out there. it was hotly debated with both sides and when president obama and his avid and effective adviser pushing forward on his behalf his agenda, which was to pass the deal and they were successful. >> ric, you have a different take. you're saying this simply highlights the power and ego of somebody who's obviously very influential.

i also just am curious about the timing of this. why would he say this to the "new york times" now? in the last year of president obama's term in office? >> yeah, look, he's gloating. he's taking a victory lap. i think david is right in that every press office does this type of spin, right? except what happened with ben rhodes is he should have been the national security council spokesman when he entered the white house, he changed his title for the first time in history to deputy national security adviser for communications. the guy has an incredible ego, and he immediately came in to say that he was going to be deputy national security adviser. what president obama needs to be held account here is because he's allowing us to have foreign policy conducted solely from a guy who is a fiction writer. this isn't just from the critics of ben rhodes. this is from secretaries of defense who have worked for

president obama. they have said that this guy is highly political. he's inexperienced. and he doesn't know what he's doing. this is why the iran deal we don't have any time anywhere inspections. it's because the chief strategist for the deal is a fiction writer. so you can't really blame ben totally for grabbing this power and running with it and spinning journalists. president obama who was disinterested in foreign policy, he's the one who gave him the power. >> it's a fair point, michael. it does tell us a lot about who the president has surrounded himself with. >> yeah. i mean, apparently in the article ben rhodes has a poker face. so if he disagrees with something, apparently you can tell. if ben rhodes knew anything about the middle east or iran, he would know that getting sanctions relief to -- nefarious actors that have nothing to do with the iran deal would be bad. he would know that working with shia militias in iraq is bad and he would know the iran deal has put assad in a better place in

syria. these narratives he's selling cost lives. they may not be american lives but they cost lives in the middle east and north africa. ben rhodes is a domestic audience strategic communicator. that's why everyone in a foreign country looks at the white house and wonders what the hell we're doing in regards to national security. >> david, perhaps one concession you're making about ben rhodes here is that it was a bold endeavor and that he did have to sell this and perhaps it was in a way that wasn't altogether informing the public of what this deal entailed. >> it was a very bold endeavor, and we were right to challenge it as many people did and it was hotly debated. there are reasons not to have supported it, including that it did not punish iran for some of the terrorist activities that it supports, for supporting hezbollah, for the damage it did to the u.s. military and the lives that it is responsible for in the u.s. military in iraq. those are all reasons to have not supported it.

but all of that information was out there. ben rhodes didn't hide that. ben rhodes didn't lie about the basic terms of the deal pef's just saying he wasn't challenged on it. >> ben rhodes didn't know who -- was. >> thanks to all of you for being here tonight. good discussion. ric, michael and david. up next, explosive allegations of a hate crime fly when a fight among college students breaks out on a public bus. and tonight the girls once thought to be victims in all of this are the ones under fire. criminal defense attorney mark eiglarsh joins us with the details on this, and you will not want to miss it.

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i'm asha burwell, a student at the university of albany. and me and my friends were jumped on a bus because we're black. >> what? >> these girls jumped on the bus and they were calling us the "n" word and hitting uses so were guys. and the bus driver didn't do anything until we got to campus, he stopped the bus and they continually hit us in the face. >> that was a 911 call made earlier this year claiming she and two friends were victims of a racial attack aboard a bus. the attack prompting protests on

campus. the case was so explosive at the time, hillary clinton even weighed in tweeting "there's no excuse for racism and violence on a college campus." now some three months later an investigation revealing the three women once thought to be victims were actually the aggressors. and their accusations of a hate crime fabricated. the university taking action expelling two of the students and handing a two-year suspension to the other. joining me now to break it all down, criminal defense attorney mike eiglarsh. it's a difficult story to hear. but it happened on a city bus and so the university acting -- are they acting within their limits here? >> absolutely. first of all, sandra, i don't just do research for megyn, i do it for you, and i actually looked up the university of albany student code. and right there on page 1 out of 20, even though i read all 20 pages, section 1, yeah, section 1, subsection 2, makes it very

clear that the students' conduct pertains not just to on-campus, but off-campus. i defend a lot of people who get knocked up in school and get thrown off campus. >> all right. you believe their punishments here should be severe for faking a hate crime is. >> oh, my goodness. it's not just the impact it has to their lives but future alleged victims. it's total cry wolf. like duke lacrosse, what that alleged victim did for future rape victims. what they're doing to future minorities who claim that they've been abused, now we're going to pause. now we'll stand in disbelief. it's outrageous what they did. >> is there a trend of this happening of people throwing around fake hate crimes? i mean, this happening on a college campus -- on a city bus, three college students, females. what are we seeing as far as this happening across the country? >> i certainly hope not. i mean, i haven't heard about this.

these are random acts. i think that these are a couple of students with defects in character who chose to panic, i suppose. but i'll tell you this, i don't think a slap on the wrist is appropriate. this is coming from a defense lawyer. i think these are major crimes. they shouldn't get lumped into people who make false claims of their car being stolen for insurance purposes. this has huge impact on the community. and i wouldn't mind seeing them get severely punished. >> are you talking about a felony? >> if they could file a felony, unfortunately, the laws in florida don't deck taictate tha. it's severe, it should warrant a significant penalty. >> you say school is acting within their own rules to expel these students, and we have yet to see where the law will stand on it. a dramatic story. mark, thank you. thanks for doing the research for me as well, by the way. >> my pleasure. >> all right. we'll be right back. from bank of america to buy a new gym bag. before earning 1% cash back everywhere, every time

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there is nothing shy about viewers of this show. the tweets are flowing in @sandrasmithfox. write me your thoughts on show tonight. happy mother's day, by the way. also go to facebook.com/thekellyfile. tell us what you think about tonight. thanks for watching. i'm sandra smith. we're going to have a strong border. yeah, we're going to have the wall and who's going to pay for the wall? we want people to come into our country but they have to come in legally, folks, otherwise we don't have a country, we don't have a country. get your money ready because you're going to pay for the wall. going to bring jobs back from china, japan, all these countries. politicians don't know how to stop it. i will stop it easily and quickly. syrian refugees are now being resettled in rhode island. we don't know where they're from. they have no documentation. we all have hearts and we can build safe zones in syria and we'll get the gulf states to put up the money. we're not putting up the money. we're going