>> with that thank you for joining us. and see you monday fight note and we will continue to watch. stay with fox news to watch the latest in turkey thank you for joining us. ♪ ♪ good evening, i'm bret baier in for bill o'reilly. reporting from cleveland tonight. thanks for watching this special edition of the factor, terror and politics. bill o'reilly will join us on the phone in just a moment to talk about the latest political developments and the nice terror attack. but we begin with breaking news. a military coup attempt in turkey. president erdogan of turkey is out of the country. said to be on vacation. he claims his government is now pushing back while the military there has announced it has taken control there are reports from multiple officials in the government

claiming that the coup has failed at this hour. but the situation remains confused with conflicting reports over who is actually in charge. there is already blood shed. 17 police officers are dead after a helicopter attack on police special forces headquarters in the outskirts of an carla. ankara. government firing on crowds there are civilian casualties hour. thousands are taking to the streets confronting police. and military loyal to erdogan. wires are reporting explosions in an extra. turkey has a history of coups. this is a result of president erdogan shifting away from a seq. secular and crack downs on the population. enormous international complications with these developments in turkey. u.s. ally and member of nato. we're told twitter, facebook, youtube have all been blocked at this hour. we are following this story

very closely. we will bring you updates throughout the hour we have a guest on this in just a bit: we will want to turn to nice, france yesterday that killed 84 including two americans. wounding 200 that has vaulted terror to the topics in the campaign. newt gingrich had the most provocative proposal to deal with the terror threat. >> westernivization is in a war. we should frankly who muslim background and they believe in sharia, they should be deported. sharia is incompatible with western civilization. modern muslims who have given up shariad in a to have them as citizens, perfectly happy to have them next door. we need to be relentless about defining who our enemies are. anybody who goes on a website favoring isis or al qaeda or other terrorist

groups that should be a felony and they should go to jail. any organization which hosts such a website should be engaged in a felony. it should be close affront to everything we stand for as americans. we cannot give in to fear or turn on each other or sacrifice our way of life. we cannot let ourselves be divided by religion because that's exactly what the terrorists want. >> gingrich later clarified his comments today saying he wasn't referring to any u.s. citizens or to any muslims who are loyal to the united states. all this on a day in which donald trump made it

official naming indiana governor mike pence as his running mate. with this reaction to awful this on the phone is bill o'reilly hi, bill. >> thanks for sitting in for me bret. >> you got it what about this, gingrich and the response from president obama? >> i think the speaker overdid it a little bit because i always go back to the fact that you can't single out any religion under our constitution for scrutiny. so i -- you know, the sentiment is correct, i mean, sharia law is not compatible with the united states we have tolerated in this country communism fascism. we have tolerated all of that. i don't think you can basically say well, we are going to give every muslim a test to see if the muslim

passes the test. and then it gets political. i think president obama distorted the remarks and tried to, you know, he obviously knows that gingrich is part of the trump campaign and part of the democratic strategy is to demonize trump as this guy who is going to come after minorities muslims, mexicans, guys whoever it may be. i didn't like either the speaker's remarks or the president's remarks. >> so today donald trump makes it official. we talked about it last night on your show, about mike pence, indiana governor there was some back and forth about it. your thoughts and how this plays out. not the process of how we got there but how this plays out for donald trump as he unveils this pick here at the g.o.p. convention next week? >> i think it's obvious that the trump campaign wants to tamp it down a little bit. so they pick a guy who is deliberate in his actions,

who is not hot like newt gingrich would have been. they are going to say, you know what? we haven't won on the republican side. let's try to convince people in the middle who aren't, you know, decided yet, there is not many of them by the way, and we can do that a little bit if we tamp down the rhetoric and we tamp down the presentation. so, they picked governor pence, evangelical guy. social conservative. conservatives in america should like him. that choice. they smart guy. capable of running the country in my opinion, but he is not an exciting guy. so, i guess they are just going to let trump do all the excitement. makes sense. >> so do you think that pence is going to shore up the conservatives who -- >> -- yes. >> may have some concerns about donald trump and how he has been campaigning, what he has been talking about? >> yes. i think that the combination of pence as vp and the

conservatives disdain for secretary clinton will get many conservatives out to vote for trump even if they don't like him. >> all right. we were just covering at the top of the show the breaking news out of turkey. and we are still trying to get a sense bill of exactly what is happening and whether this coup has failed, whether it's still going on keep getting over the wire attacks. airport are in istanbul has shut down. the president has sided with the erdogan government. you would expect him to do that. if this coup fails it seems like it would empower order gone to keep on calculating down in turkey and keep closer to this islamic government. >> the picture for the american citizen who doesn't particularly care what happens inside turkey is that the whole region in the middle east is now in an

uproar. the whole region. and this is what happens when the united states steps back and tries to become one nation of many and doesn't lead. it would be interesting to see if the cia had a heads up on this coup, which they should have had, all right? so if u.s. intelligence knew that this was coming down i don't know if we will be able to find that out or not. i hope we will be able, to but the importance to americans is that the middle east is absolute case -- chaos, anything could happen. we are in a war against radical islam and this kind of stuff just makes it more difficult to fight that war. >> last thing before i let you go. you have a special this weekend, this sunday "legends & lies." >> yeah. "legends & lies" really taking off now, become a major ratings for us and we have benedict arnold, the greatest traitor in american

history, the most infamous, probably is a better word. and his relationship with george washington which is not widely known. i think everybody interested in history and then the country will enjoy it on at 8:00 and 11 on sunday night. show you a clip later on in the factor. i hope everybody sticks around. again, thanks for filling in for me tonight, bret. >> all right, bill. happy to do it. thank you. if you are just joining us, the elected turkish government says it is still in charge after attempted coup at this hour. it's not clear who is in control. it's rapidly changing by the minutes. we are getting wire reports from explosions. video coming in from turkey you are seeing on the screen residents taking to the streets. president erdogan in turkey asked residents to fight back against the military that was trying to take over his government.

president obama spoke with secretary of state john kerry this evening about the situation. the white house released a statement urging everyone in turkey to, quote, support the democratically elected government of turkey. show restraint and avoid any violence or blood shed, unquote. with us now from washington, d.c. is fox news strategic analyst ralph peters author of the new book "the damned of petersburg." ralph, your thoughts as this townshipping story, we are getting more and more information. >> well, the situation is indeed murky. we won't know until tomorrow morning at the earliest who is winning or who has won. both sides are try trying to spin it macropicture is very, very clear. this coup is turkey's last chance to avoid becoming authoritarian islamic regime if not islamist dictatorship. we should make no mistake.

the people staging this coup are the good guys. sounds paradoxical. they are the ones on the side of constitutional democracy. president erdogan has been dismantling the secular constitution, the secular legacy packing the courts, packing the legislature, packing the upper ranks of the military all with islamists. he is not our friend. he is not turkey's friend. and if this coup fails, you will see a crackdown and it will be the excuse to eliminate last vets tages of seq. could you lashism. they are trying to save their country. our president saying we have to support the democratically elected government. erdogan's government is not democratically elected the way we know it he has banned opposition political parties. he has banned opposition politicians. he has staged elections so it will benefit him. so, again, i think

washington as usual obama got it wrong. the coup, god bless the people trying to save turkey. a country for which i have great affection but right now it doesn't look good. hehe did a purge of the army there three years ago. since then many in the army really got upset at him because he was going over leaving secular, as you mentioned going to islamic model of government and turning a blind eye to terrorists going through turkey into syria. is this the result of going too far towards that islamic model of government and is this the push back that we're seeing? >> precisely. and he not only allowed foreign fighters to go through to join isis. he actively supported some of the radical elements within turkey he didn't like isis very much because they weren't his radicals. but this guy erdogan is

muslim brotherhood. that's one reason why president obama mistakenly believes that the muslim brother is a force takeover. planted the muslim brotherhood government. muslim brotherhood is not moderate. fundamentalists, not as bad as isis but they are not good news. this is reaction to erdogan purposely and methodically dismantling the secular legacy. >> he closed down the caliphate, he closed madrasas. he tried desperately to turn turkey into a modern country. it's always be the grantor of the secular constitution. >> i want to ask you about the president's statement and the statement coming out of the white house which is supporting the democratically elected

government of erdogan is this boxes president obama until like he did with egypt when there was uprising there. >> appears to be. we don't know who is going to emerge the winner by tomorrow morning or tomorrow midday. to me, he should have just kept his mouth shut, because the coup -- the people staging this coup are on our side. they are against the islamist fund mentionists and extremists. they are for democracy. they are for a secular constitution. but president obama romanticizes islam. he has somehow talked himself into believing erdogan is ally and friend where he has been insidious and pernicious undercutting our interests. he only supports us when it benefits his interests in its islamization program. i think, my god, this is so sad, bret, because turkey is a great country. it's a fascinating rich

country with a great history and we are watching it be dismantled by islamist fundamentalist authoritarian president and our president is taking his side. >> it's hard to overstate the importance of this geopolitically. ralph, stay with us, if you would. with us now for more on this turkish coup attempt is david that -- tafuri he was on his way to turkey is he now on his way to beirut lebanon. tell us what you know and the situation in turkey how important it is for the u.s. and nato allies. >> thanks, bret, well, it's been a really chaotic night in turkey. here's what we know. the military coup seems to be strong in at least two cities, istanbul and an i'm hearing that the mosques are putting out announcements asking people to go out in

the streets and protest in favor of erdogan and against the military coup. what happens next is going to depend on several factors. one of those factors is how much of the military actually supports the coup. we know they have strength in istanbul and you. does the military and other parts of turkey support the coup. does the full military support this or just a faction of the military which is whattered gone is claiming. we also have to wonder what is going to happen when people take to the streets to support erdogan? is this going to be a large protest in favor of erdogan? is it going to be widespread across turkey if the

military coup is going to be successful, they are going to have to have a very quick transition plan. who are they going to put in power instead of erdogan? is it going to be someone from the akp islamist party but someone who they believe to be less authoritarian? it's interesting what the military has said that why they have done this coup. they have said they have done it because erdogan is an tri democratic. they are messaging that they intend to restore a democracy. as your previous guest suggested there is a long history of coups in turkey. coup in 1960, coup in 1971, and coup in 1980. all boy the military and all intend to do restore the secular democracy intended by ataturk. these are all the things that are happening and we need to get answers to before we know exactly what will happen in turkey. >> we are seeing these pictures of people taking to the streets and the question is whether they are heeding erdogan's calls to push back

against this coup or whether they are cheering on this coup to take erdogan out it is clear last three years erdogan has been trending toward dictatorship. cracking down especially against the military. putting some generals in jail. he purged the military some three years ago. he has cut the budgets try to keep them in line. he has this buildup growing the size of the ina interior security forces. intelligence forces. taking a look at tanks going through the streets of an extra and ankara. does it super empower erdogan and make him the dictator that perhaps he was trending towards becoming anyway? >> well, you can imagine if the coup is unsuccessful and erdogan is restored to power in the capital in ankara, he is going to seek out retribution against those who organized this coup.

is he going to do further crackdowns on the military. is he probably going to purge the military. you referenced a very important point which is how strong are the intelligence and police forces that he has built up? how strong and loyal are they do him? can he use them until he has purged the military? it's going to be an interesting thing to watch happen. another thing that erdogan has cracked down on over the last few years is the media he has shut down media companies that have been critical of him. some say there are more journalists in jail in turkey than any other country there is a question of how will he take back access to the media? how will he control the media? or will those who organize the coup even if they are not successful be able to continue to message why they did the coup and message anti-erdogan efforts through the media? >> we should point out the u.s. base air base is there

in turkey. and we are told that the military has asked all u.s. citizens in turkey to shelter in place as this military coup or attempted coup continues as we look at the pictures coming in from our sister network. go back to ralph peters. ralph, when president obama makes this statement about where he is, in this -- in this moment, what happens if -- i just asked this question to dave, this is shut down? what is u.s. policy? turkey is a nato member. and you know, how does the administration deal with this? >> well, president obama has already taken sides. he has taken erdogan's side. so if erdogan comes out okay, things bumble on for our foreign policy and erdogan continues to islam eyes turkey. if, however, the coup, the officers behind the coup were to end up on top,.

>> stand by, let me interrupt you. take a quick break here following this breaking news. stay with us. fox news continuing coverage of the coup attempt in turkey. ♪ in new york state, we believe tomorrow starts today. all across the state, the economy is growing, with creative new business incentives, and the lowest taxes in decades, attracting the talent and companies of tomorrow. like in buffalo,

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we can help you retire your way, too. financial guidance while you're mastering life. from chase. so you can. you are looking at turkish television as an attempted military coup continues getting information by the minute, really of explosions in the capital city of ankara. the president there erdogan who is out of the country says that his forces are pushing back. we are getting back and forth information from the military trying to take over that country and from the current government in place. let's now bring in our own bill hemmer who joins us from nice, france, obviously there to cover the terror attacks last night.

bill, if anything shows you how dangerous this world is, standing in that spot after that attack that killed 84 looking at a situation that is a tinderbox in turkey. >> i often think of that brexit vote last june, bret, i think one of the things that was not emphasized enough that it was, in my view, the first western democratic reaction in terms of a vote to the changing climate in the world. and i think look at the middle east now for a long time you can take your armies and send them there, but that only affected a small percentage of population. but when the wars or the effect from the wars is it start coming to eastern europe or western europe or the uk or even the united states, people pay attention in ways they have not before. and you can make a case now that people at the middle east and say that was their problem for a long time.

refugee situation and the terror attacks throughout the country of france and you think about that horrendous attack on the airport in brussels on march 22nd, these events keep occurring, rather and they effect the lives of people who live here in france and they react to that now. how does that relate to everything that's happening in turkey? the problem keeps getting bigger. as the problem grows larger, those issues effect more people on the outside in the middle east. and whether that's here throughout the france or the rest of europe or even back home in the united states turkey dealing is 2 million refugees as a result of the war in syria and the growth of isis. and you imagine trying to absorb 2 million people into a country for a period of four years plus. it's extraordinary strain and stress on that country, on that government. and this coup or this

coup/attempt in my view is a direct result of all of that, bret. >> yeah, bill, we are getting word that a plan is landing and said to carry the turkish president erdogan, trying to get confirmation of that, landing in turkey. said to be on vacation also from the pentagon, no interruption in the u.s. operation. the air operations out of that arabs going after isis. that is crucial considering all that europe is facing this in potential attacks. i want to ask you about nice it's not determined exactly who this guy was or what his ties are that's a great point. we don't know if he had any ties. this is what hour 28 of this story. no claim of responsibility. that's significant, too. because isis laid blame brussels. isis stepped forward quickly after the attacks in paris last november 13th.

and i can tell you, also, bret, after being in paris last november, i mean, this was a country that was on its knees. you know, that bataclan concert hall and the suicide bombers spread out, they really took a shot to the gut, i will tell you earlier today, once you get outside the promenade here where this brutal vicious attack happened last night, nice was a city that was functioning. i can't say the same for paris last november. it really seemed to shake this country to the bones but in this case, it is different. and i just wonder three major hits in 18 months. see whether or not isis makes a claim which hasn't happened. see whether they can tie this tunisia living in east france to the islamic state or al qaeda that has not happened yet either. but you wonder if you get outside this one or two mile stretch and the city is functioning and the traffic is moving and the stores are opening and by the hundreds,

bret french people are flying into this airport because it's mid july. it's a destination place. south of france, french rivera, nice, it continues to function and you wonder whether or not this is part of a new norm that has been accepted ons behalf of the french people. the french president said forget about that that will not happen. terrorists and the tastes prout usth the war to us. he put out a strong statement earlier today. he said france was struck on its national day, july 14, a mbol of freedom by fanatics now we will figure out whether france can take them on. 10,000 soldiers deployed. starting at sun up tomorrow saturday morning, bret. it's about 2:30 in the morning local time here. france will begin three days of mourning again. >> bill hemmer in nice.

bill, thank you very much. and now to the story you are seeing on the other side of the screen. these pictures coming out of turkey. let's get now to fox news correspondent kevin corke who joins us from the white house. as the white house, the president reacting to what they are seeing, kevin, what's the latest? >> bret, you are right. usually in a circumstance like, this we can count on the white house to issue a statement fairly quickly that is the case today as the white house said something that the president continues to be updated on the situation in turkey. we can also tell you the that secretary of state john kerry has a statement out as well saying that the united states views gravest concerns the events unfolding in turkey we are monitoring a very fluid situation. and can i also add just a little color from here. you can't quite see the pictures because we are based here on the north lawn as you know very well from your time here at the white house, bret, but to my right, just in front of the white house, i see what locks like probably about maybe hundred or so people

waving turkish flags again, part of the energy that you are seeing tonight seems to be that the people either from turkey or perhaps the turkish american community seems very thankful that erdogan appears to be at least for the time being out of power. now from the white house perspective i should add one other thing it's been a complicated relationship. there is strategic relationship. a military cooperation relationship as well. however, there have been some complaints. some subtle, not so subtle in the administration about the way the leadership in turkey was handling things. were they moving to a more let's just call it traditional were they becoming more islamic in the way that they were operating and less western if they will. i want to be careful how i had frame that. that's the complaint i had heard in my conversations with some people here at the white house which, again is, not to say that they don't support him. simply to say they have had their concerns about heir

leadership posture. one final thing i can tell you of, bret, as i continue to reach out to administration officials. i have been back and forth on email with a couple and by and large what i'm hearing right now is that they can only monitor the situation carefully. they don't have an update on what may be happening in the next hour or two. although it was said to me about an hour ago this coup may or may not last. that is something that will certainly keep an eye on my friend. bret? >> kevin corke, live in the north lawn. kevin, thank you. i want to report over the wires just moments ago two more explosions hit the turkey parliament building in ankara. the turkish military on the move. these are the pictures we have been seeing seeing from ntv one of the turkish networks. have you been seeing this building popping up from time to time in the video that is the turkish parliament. and they are saying that at least two explosions, two bombs have hit the turkish

parliament. also continuing german chancellor angela merkel saying democratic order must be respected in turkey. democratic order has to come back. a top pushingish official saying that the coup attempt appears to have been unsuccessful. although all the pictures we are getting out of turkey live seems like the action is still continuing who has the upper hand, we don't know. let's go back to ralph peters along with former state department official david tafuri who joins us from beirut. ralph, as you look at this and it's impact, can you put in perspective for somebody who doesn't know how important turkey is it's right next to syria, which is also been kind of a spiral of terrorist activity as we have seen with all the civil war there. >> turkey is the bulls eye between the turkey and the

middle east. the coup is very straightforward. if the coup succeeds, islamists lose, and we win if erdogan rush crushes the coup islamists win and we lose in the long term. what you are seeing here once again is the united states, true to our pattern, thinking short-term and tactically, not strategicallies in the short term there may be advantages of having erdogan there as a partner or pseudo partner. in the long term we are seeing turkey being led into being authoritarian islamist regime it if not a outright dictatorship. membership in nato very problematic. strategic important very, very great. and once again even angela merkel is on the wrong side of this because president erdogan is not democratically elected by our standards. when you ban your opponents and ban the key opposition parties that's hardly democracy.

so, again, i may never get to see sunrise over the golden horn again. may never get to see the mosque and gleaming in the sunlight. i don't care i'm on the side of the coup because that is the side of turkey of secularism and legacy of atakurk and true democracy. erdogan is a true thug. >> getting word members of turkish parliament reached by phone tell reuters they are hiding in shelters at the harlment at this moment u.s. officials said u.s. personnel and citizens in turkey should stay in place. update family and friends of theirs status. secretary kerry speaking with the foreign minister of turkey saying the united states absolutely supports turkey's democratically elected civilian government

bret we are getting this completely wrong. coup makers thought they were doing something smart striking while erdogan out of the capital. that's not the way do you it to make a coup like this succeed. have you got to immediately grab the president and prime minister. you can't just grab the tv stations although that's very, very important. what we are seeing now report erdogan is flying back into ankara. dueuling tv footage where police are marching the unarmed soldiers through the street. that's government propaganda. we don't know what's happening on the ground. unfortunately opinion is lining up against the people staging the coup and they are the god good guys. shows you how naive we are about the world if the coup

failed erdogan goes back to backing extremists taking over turkey with islamist regime. he is behind so many of the problems in the middle east. he backed terrorist factions in syria. not isis because they were not his guys but muslim brotherhood backed factions. he has been a troublemaker and not a peacemaker and we kid ourselves that he has been an ally the long-term consequences are going to be very, very negative for the turkish people, for the region, for europe, and for us. >> ralph, stand by if you will. talking to an expert just moments ago saying this. if it drags on and the army fractures and or is in a prolonged fight with the police in turkey, then the kurds, isis, russia, iran are going to start running the scenes, continuing coverage on fox news channel of this attempted military coup after this.

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[shouting] >> the sights and sounds in istanbul, turkey as an an attempted military coup continues at this hour. multiple reports saying that the turkish officials have stopped or scheduled this coup attempt. but we're getting conflicting reports. and there are still reports of military helicopters firing and also some firing on different police units. joining us once again on the phone, former state department official david tafuri who was on his way to turkey from istanbul. everything has been shut down, trafficwise as we get a sense of the next day or so we should know were this

was failed attempt or not but either way upheaval in turkey. >> that's absolutely right. you will hope tomorrow that the dust will clear and we have a sense of what the future government of turkey is going to look like. right now what we are witnessing and what we are seeing is a war of information. you haveered won messaging that the coup has been defeated and doing everything he can to get people out in the streets. the people that support him, which primarily is muslim leaning population. and is he using the mosques to make announcements across turkey. he is also a friend -- comparing it to the military coups in the past. on the other side, have you what appears to be a military coup with a

significant military presence, at least in the two most important cities in turkey, istanbul and ankara, making strong statements about the anti-democratic behavior of erdogan and making an appeal to the people in turkey and to people across the world to support this effort to remove erdogan who they complain has been authoritarian. it's interesting to see what the u.s. government's response has been. stating their support for the democratically elected government. but, as your correspondent at the white house noted, the relationship between the white house and erdogan has been very strained, especially over the last few years. turkey has not done very much to help with the war against isis. its record is very spotty on that. it's been uncoppive on other things that the u.s. wants to accomplish in the middle east. i have contacts in the u.s. military who have recently returned from turkey. they tell me that the u.s. military is upset with the erdogan government and have found them to be very

uncooperative over the last year or two. so you have the u.s. government publicly stating support for erdogan but privately very concerned about his behavior. and if he pimagine that he might continue this conduct and even more significant way and be even more of a problem for the u.s. and for u.s. interests in the region. >> yeah. we are just getting word large blast heard in istanbul. jets buzzing, low flying jets buzzing over istanbul. we heard activity in ankara earlier. we are now getting word that cnn turk has been forced off the air as soldiers took over that channel. the ankara actually anchoring the broadcast taken off the air on air and the is soldiers have taken over that channel. controlling the information. youtube, twitter and facebook have been shut

down. social media blocked in turkey and that is part of a crack down that you would expect from a president erdogan and his president trying to save their job. >> that's correct. in this case, we don't know actually which side is shutting down thed me year. if you remember, back in 2013, when there were protests against erdogan, he shut down social media shut down facebook and twitter to try to prevent those protests. in this case is it he who has shut them down or have the military supporters of the coup shut them down? it's interesting that you say that they shut down cnn turk. that's the station that was able to broadcast a message from erdogan over face time we know he doesn't have much access to the media right now. he had to speak over face time on an iphone and the reporter for cnn turk held

her iphone up to the camera. that's probably why the military coup supporters have shut down that station it's interesting to see who is able to get their message out. >> official in beirut tonight on his way to turkey dave, thanks for the time. we are getting confirmation that erdogan has landed in turkey as this military coup attempt continues at this hour. what are the political ramifications of events in turkey and in nice, france. terrorist attack last night killing 84. joining us now from miami mercedes schlapp and democratic strategist richard good stein. richard, first to you. your reaction to what you are seeing here and what potentially it means politically here in the u.s. >> you know, bret, after orlando, after the last

paris attack late last year. there was this talk that trump would be this strong man and that would reassure people. the fact is if the polls are accurate at all what people see in hillary clinton who s. somebody who knows the world, who would be ready to step in on day one. who could form alliances and reach out. our allies respect her. they are scared to death of him for good reason. i don't know if it was your debate when he was asked about the nuclear triad. he had no idea what that was. when he was asked about brexit 10 days before the brexit vote he went, huh? i mean, so that just doesn't provide assurance. i understand he wants to project strength and is he somehow going to fix all these problems by the force of his will, i think voters are smarter than that. going to understand, kind of talk and bluster versus kind of history and deliverables

and experience. >> mercedes your reaction to that. you look at the polls and donald trump handling terrorism actually in the average of polls tops hillary clinton at this moment. >> that's right. and i think there is a change. you are starting to see even the polls shifting after the fiasco with hillary clinton and her email server scargedz. and the lying statements one after the other. i think, bret, what's important here is the fact that when youlike at where the world is right now. when you see the attacks that happened in nice just last night, and then today, you see the situation in turkey, is the fact that there is a sense of instability. there is a sense of chaos in the world. i think what america is looking for and what we have not seen from president obama is a sense of leadership. the sense of where is america in the role -- in its global role. i think when you look at hillary clinton's foreign

policy very much linked to president obama, it has been one failed instance after another. you look at the situation in libya. with the overthrowing of qaddafi and the mere fact that from there islamic state, they grew. they were able to strengthen and expand. you have seen the red line in syria that was crossed after chemical weapons were used against its own citizens. and what did obama do? nothing. this is clearly part of a failed foreign policy, bret. and so i think that to say when you are looking at this. what i think americans are looking for is the fact that we do need strength in the white house. we need someone who bring the fact that we have to make sure that america play as significant role and is able to make sure that we show strength with our own allies. >> richard, really quickly, does this change what's most important in this election? does national security rise to the top, usually it's the economy and how people feel about their own personal economic situation.

>> no. i don't think what's happening in turkey is somehow going to elevate in the minds of american voters the question of who should or should not be should or shou present. incidentally, since the whole e-mail fiasco, if you look at all the big swing states in "the new york times"/"wall street journal" poll, florida, ohio, virginia, north carolina, hillary is up nine, eight, seven, six. somehow or other, she's been able to kind of weather this. i don't think although -- you know, we'll see. it's an odd thing. one senses that republicans are wishing for some big blowup somewhere, that's something that's going to carry trump over the finish line. i think that's kind of sad. >> i was just talking about shuz generally. >> understood. >> richard, mercedes, thank you very much. thank you for being here. it's a busy breaking news day. we'd talk more if we could. you're looking at pictures coming from turkish television as this military coup continues. on the other side of the break, i'll talk to the french

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welcome back to cleveland. i'm bret baier in for bill o'reilly tonight. earlier this evening i talked to france's ambassador to the united states about the attack in nice, france, and the growing terrorist threat in europe. but i started by asking about this breaking news about the military coup attempt in turkey. >> i would like to begin if we could about the breaking news tonight, mr. ambassador, out of turkey, and that is this military coup as it's being reported. what do you know, and how significant is that geopolitically, what's happening there? >> first, i think we have always -- we have all been surprised by this military coup. secondly, we can only express our support for the constitutional order, for democratically elected government, and, third, to

express our concerns for the stability of this very important country, which is not only one of our main allies in the framework of nato but, you know, really now that we are facing so many threats, we are facing the civil war in syria, isis, obviously turkey is a critical ally. >> there seems to be this pushback in turkey that perhaps president erdogan has gone too far over the line towards an islamic government. we've seen coups in turkey before numerous times. do you think that's what's happening here? >> nobody knows really what is happening, what these officers want. but even if we -- we can't criticize the policies of president erdogan. but right now, you know really -- and i say right now, it means in the coming hours, the most important is to call the military to come back to their bare racks. >> mr. ambassador, our condolences to you and your country for the loss in nice,

that terror attack and all the horrible images that we saw. what's the latest there in the investigation and picking up the pieces after that attack? >> you know, i think we are facing two types of terrorist attack. you know, the terrorist attacks which are organized by a network, mainly with people coming back from syria, military-trained, radicalized. and the terrorist attacks which are committed by individuals. and in a sense, the last onces are the most difficult because very often these guys are coming from nowhere. they have not really been signaled as radicalized and suddenly they cross the line and they become terrorists. and that's, for us, obviously very worrying. >> and that's what we're hearing here, is that correct? >> yeah. >> this guy wasn't on anybody's list, wasn't on anybody's radar.

but you're clear that this is radical islamic terrorism as a result of what you've seen there in france already? >> you know, first, it was -- he was a petty criminal. he had a suspended, you know, condemnation for violence in the workplace. he had personal problems. but for instance, his lifestyle was not an islamist lifestyle. he was a weight lifter. he was dancing salsa. so he had money problems. so the real question is why did he do that, you know? and it's important an investigation is conducted, you know, about his acquaintance, his friends, but also his computer to try to guess whether he had contact with isis or a contact with radical creatures. >> what's your sense of the

obama administration's effort to go after isis on the world stage? are we, as a country, doing enough? >> i think, you know, we -- the u.s., of course, the leaders of the coalition, but there are a lot of countries fighting isis. my country, france, you know, has committed soldiers, special forces, but also planes, and the president has announced that we are going to send an aircraft carrier to the gulf. you know, we are intensifying our military action against isil. the problem is that isil is weakened on the ground, so in a sense, it's transferring its activity into terrorism throughout the world. and there are also a lot of people who are not actually real isis operatives but who are using the flag of isis, you know, saying, oh, we are isis while they are only ground terrorists.

>> ambassador, the french ambassador to the u.s. thanks for the time. >> thank you very much. again, we are following breaking news out of turkey. the attempted military coup continuing at this hour. the images we're getting come from turkish television. a lot of we're seeing the same shots from before, but we are getting occasional live looks into the situation there as thousands take to the streets. the government itself is reporting that they have managed to stop this coup attempt, and they are saying that by morning, you'll be able to see that. the government will be back in control. there are still reports of explosions and firing on different elements throughout istanbul and turkey, and we'll continue to monitor that. finally a couple of reminders tonight. this sunday 8:00 p.m. on fox news, the latest episode of "legends & lies: the patriots." this one is about benedict arnold. also on saturday, a fox news

reporting special. takeover, the trump convention. a curtain raiser on the gop convention here in cleveland and a look at the future gop in the era of trump. don't miss it. thanks for watching. bill returns monday. continuing coverage of breaking news here on fox. breaking tonight, two huge stories unfolding as we watch both new fallout from last night's horrifying terror attack in france, and today an armed battle for power in the streets of turkey. one of our most important allies in the middle east. welcome to a very busy night here on "the kelly file," everyone. i'm megyn kelly, and all hell is breaking loose in turkey right now. watch. [ gunfire ] >> explosions and gunfire rocking the capital of turkey where reports of a military coup starting breaking just a