marrying a guy who wore makeup dressed like an alien? this is a fox news alert. i'm bret baier in washington. donald trump is taking fire from all sides tonight. president obama, veterans groups, fellow republicans. and he is lashing out in response. tonight, he is even threatening to cut the cord with some of the top republicans in congress. we have fox team coverage of the 2016 race. mike emmanuel with the clinton campaign in colorado, celebrating positive numbers in the polls. and money in the bank. kevin corke at the white house with president obama's most critical comments yet about donald trump. we begin with john roberts in new york and republicans turning perhaps on each other. good evening, john. >> good evening to you, bret.

barely a week after the republican convention and all those calls for party unity. hedging his bets on speaker paul ryan, senator john mccain of arizona and new hampshire's kelly ayotte in a wide-ranging interview with the washington post here is what donald trump said about speaker ryan. quote, i'm just not quite there yet, mirroring language ryan used about him this year when asked if he would support donald trump. trump indicating a bit of a flirtation with ryan's challenger in the upcoming republican primary in wisconsin. saying his opponent is a big fan of what i'm saying. a big fan. all of that prompted this statement from zach roday, speaker ryan's press secretary saying neither speaker ryan nor anyone on his team has ever asked for donald trump's endorsement and we are confident in a victory next week regardless. in an interview to air on the o'reilly factor in a couple of

hours, he asked about senator john mccain and senator kelly ayotte. >> i've never been a big fan of john mccain. and i just hate the way our veterans have been treated by john and other people. i hate it. i look at our veterans, how badly they've been treated. the suicides. the tremendously bad treatment that -- he should have grabbed that issue. that's his issue. in new hampshire, i'm leading by a lot. i'm doing great. you have a senator who i don't know, who sort of doesn't want to get involved. she i'm doing better than she s that's fine. she doesn't speak about me. i won it big in the primaries and think i'm going to win it again. >> reporter: in that interview again, which you'll see on the o'reilly factor tonight, donald trump said he may eventually come around to supporting them, he has just not made up his mind yet. meanwhile he was in the battleground state of virginia, senator tim kaine's territory,

trying to get away from the latest controversy to dog his campaign. >> i always wanted to get purple heart. this was much easier. >> reporter: his response elicited everything from head scratches to outright criticism, it was a welcome gesture of support for donald trump today, veteran presenting him with his purple heart medal, hoping to put behind him the negative press with a gold star family. >> i said to him is that like the real one or is that a copy? and he said that's my real purple heart. i have such confidence in you. >> reporter: the trump campaign is also trying to turn the tables on hillary clinton, lining up family members of benghazi victims to speak on his behalf, pushing back against her weekend statement that she didn't blame the benghazi attack on a youtube video. charles woods is the father of tyrone woods. >> there's two options. one is either mrs. clinton is lying or else she has a bad

memory because of her age or her head injury that she suffered. >> reporter: trump kept up the drum beat against clinton today, insisting she double crossed bernie sanders after he threw his support behind her, in part by picking a running mate that trump says is the complete opposite of sanders. >> believe me, he has buyer's remorse. but he made a deal with the devil. she's the devil. >> reporter: even the aggressive counter strike couldn't erase the fallout from the fallout. governor chris christie weighed in. >> they have put forward a sacrifice that i cannot fathom as a parent. it's just inappropriate for us in this context to be criticizing them and i'm not going to participate in that. >> reporter: in nevada, trump's running mate was confronted by a military mom who asked mike pence how, with a son in the military, he can tolerate the disrespect. >> will there ever be a point in time when you can look trump in the eye and tell him enough is

enough? >> i thank you for the question. it's all right. it's all right. folks, that's what freedom looks like and that's what freedom sounds like. okay? >> reporter: trump is hoping to finally put that controversy behind him with two big appearances in the sunshine state of florida. tomorrow he will be in daytona beach. military-rich community of jacksonville, latest shows trump with a razor-thin lead over hillary clinton in the state of florida. trump adviser has not given up on the idea of challenging the date of two of the upcoming presidential debates, saying it would be better for the voting public and the nfl to not have two of those debate goes up against sunday night and monday night football. bret? >> the art of the deal in action. thank you, john roberts. president obama is urging republicans to abandon trump, using his most pointed language yet, insisting the gop nominee is unfit for the most powerful job in the world and urging republicans to stand up and speak out about it.

kevin corke has the full story from the white house tonight. good evening, kevin. >> good evening to you, bret. fairly straightforward question here at the white house. the response couldn't have been more starting. the question was simple. did the president still believe that donald trump was not ready to occupy the oval office? >> i think the vermont republican nominee is unfit to serve as president. i said so last week. and he keeps on proving it. >> reporter: unfit. president's remarks coming on the heels of the controversy, surrounding trump's apparent criticism of a gold star family and comments he made expressing doubts about whether russian president vladimir putin would ever authorize an attack on neighboring ukraine, even though he an ex-ed crimea. >> the fact that he doesn't have basic knowledge around critical iss issues in europe, in the middle

east, in asia means that he is woefully unprepared to do this job. >> the president even went a step further, urging leaders of the republican party to withdraw their backing for trump. >> there has to be a point at which you say enough. and the alternative is that the entire party, the republican party effectively endorses and validates the positions that are being articulated by mr. trump. >> reporter: trump immediately fired back. in a statement he lumped the president and democratic nominee's policies together, calling them obama/clinton. he criticized his rival saying hillary clinton has proven herself unfit to serve in any government office adding, quote, we need change now. the president's sharp rebuke coming at a press conference where he was joined by

singapore's prime minister. the president suggested that those who oppose the deal would be putting america, indeed the world security at risk. >> it's also bad for the interest in promoting norms against child labor or against human trafficking. >> reporter: proverbial finger wagging aimed not just at donald trump but hillary clinton, who used to support but now opposes tcpp. >> we should renegotiate trade deals that aren't working for americans and reject any agreements like the trans-pacific partnership agreement. >> it should never, ever, ever be approved. >> right now i'm president and i'm for it. >> reporter: bret, at least one republican, from new york, is heeding the president's warning. i should point out he's retiring. we've told you about hillary clinton's bounce in the polls.

trump saw a bounce after the gop convention. we're learning clinton is raking in campaign cash. senior political correspondent mike emmanuel is with the clinton team in morrison, colorado, tonight. >> reporter: hillary clinton had her best month of fund-raising in july with her campaign reporting a haul of about $90 million. $63 million will fund her presidential run. $26 million will go to state partners and the democratic national committee. at the dnc, there is new fallout, following the hack of the party's e-mails which led to resignation of then chairwoman debbie wasserman-schultz. now ceo marshall and luis miranda are all out. dnc favoritism of clinton over bernie sanders, angering sanders and his die-hard supporters. president obama weighed in on the controversial hack. >> if, in fact, russia engaged in this activity, it's just one on a long list of issues that me

and mr. putin talk about. and that i've got a real problem with. >> reporter: clinton is riding high after her convention with a bump in the latest polls. >> americans don't say i alone can fix it. we say we'll fix it together. >> reporter: a new cnn/orc poll shows clinton has restored her lead over donald trump, earning a seven-point bounce after last week's convention. also how they would rate clinton's acceptance speech with 26% calling it good, 26% okay and 19% calling it poor or terrible. despite that, the speech seemed to work in a head to head matchup, clinton leading 52 to 43%. third party candidates, clinton leads 45% to 37%. clinton had help from billionaire businessman warren buffet in omaha, with buffett --

>> i've never known another businessman who brags about his bankruptcy. >> shortly after i become president, some time as soon as i can arrange it, come back here and warren and i will dance in the streets of omaha together. >> reporter: clinton is doing more fund-raising to add to her money advantage in colorado. she'll expand her plans to build a strong economy here in one of the top battleground states in the west. >> mike emmanuel, thanks. president obama's military action in libya and elsewhere intended to clean things up around the world for hillary clinton? we'll examine that. here is what some of our fox affiliates are covering tonight. newly built high-rise luxury building may be sinking and shifting. $350 million millennium tower was expected to sink six inches over its lifespan but has sunk 16" and moved 2" to the

northwest since 2008. fox 19 in cincinnati, federal judge considers whether to continue blking an ohio law that diverts public money from planned parenthood. the law was supposed to take effect in may. temporary order suspends it until friday. this is a live look at new york from fox 5, our affiliate there. one of the big stories there tonight, bill bratton is expected tomonth. that is much sooner than anticipated. bratton is said to be leaving the job for the private sector. this is his second run as nypd boss. he served under mayor rudy giuliani in the '90s. that's a live look from outside the belt way on "special report."

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the u.s. is stepping up attacks against isis targets in liba. at least three more strikes launched today from a navy ship stationed off the libyan coast. the operation now named odyssey lightning combined with others in the region have some experts wondering whether president obama is trying to give hillary clinton as much of a clean slate overseas as possible. should she win her november election. james rosen looks at the obama offensive and the reasons behind

it. >> reporter: marine corps carrier jets spent a second day striking isis targets halfway between tripoli and benghazi. president obama told reporters the pledge ling government in libya has effectively pinned down isis fighters in the country and implied the strikes lasting 30 days will help them destroy the terror group on the ground. >> it is in america's national security interest in our fight against isil that they're able to finish the job. we're working in partnership with them to assure that isil does not get a strong hold in libya. >> reporter: mr. obama's own aides have acknowledged isis already has a strong hold in liba. 5,000 to 8,000 isis fighters in libya make that branch, quote, the most developed and most dangerous outside of the c caliphate in iraq and syria. >> they're able to train,

develop, consolidate their position inside libya as well as use libya for a potential springboard for carrying out operations abroad. that is very concerning, especially since libya is across from europe and the mediterranean. refugee flows are going there. >> reporter: five years after a u.s.-led military campaign toppled moammar gadhafi from power -- >> all of us collectively were not sufficiently attentive to what had to happen the day after, the day after, and the day after that. >> reporter: widening of u.s. air strikes reflects an incoherent strategy, crit silks say. >> it really does look like an afterthought. yet again, i think libya is getting the short end of the stick in terms of foreign policy. >> reporter: some predicting a u.s. joint iraqi assault on

mosul this fall. >> they were very much in keeping with the same approach we've taken in iraq and that we have tried to take in syria, which is supporting ground forces, indigenous ground forces. >> reporter: underscoring how difficult the security challenges in libya will remain. suicide car bombing today in benghazi, targeting libyan soldiers killed at least 23 people were many others wounded. network of terror groups claimed responsibility for it. among its members on the al qaeda offshoot that attacked our benghazi facilities four years ago. president obama's infamous red line in that country against the use of such weapons has been thoroughly erased. we have the latest. >> reporter: syrian rebels once again claim the assad regime used chemical weapons. this video, shot by activism activists reports to show the

aftermath of the attacks. rebel leaders say a regime helicopter dropped small chlorine-filled canisters on the northern village of saraqib. 85 miles north, fighting in the divided city of aleppo is intensifying as the assad regime, backed by russia, has made a massive push to retake it. if government sources seize full control of aleppo, it would deny the syrian opposition its largest and most important military strong hold. secretary of state john kerry called on all sides to return to peace negotiations in & honor the internationally backed cease fire. >> it's very complicated when both parties on the ground want to fight rather than live up to the obligation of the u.n. security council resolution. >> reporter: the battle for aleppo is likely a major turning point in syria. the winner gains a crucial upper hand in any future talk to end

civil war. >> thank you. thousands of syrian refugees are getting essentially a free pass in america and all the benefits that come with it. tonight, how all this is supposed to be a limited time offer, but is, in fact, something else. >> we will meet president obama's goal of welcoming 10,000 syrian refugees to the united stat states. >> reporter: syrian refugees are controversial. monday the obama administration embraced 8,000 more. >> an easy way for him to allow more syrians to enter the country. >> reporter: the administration granted temporary protected status or tps to all syrians currently living in the u.s., legally or not. those receiving amnesty can get a driver's license, a work permit and welfare. >> i think it's a backdoorway of moving these syrians who claim to be refugees toward permanent residence status. >> reporter: it's controversial because it doesn't apply to

immigration limits set by congress. it. ps typically only applies to a small group based on a specific event like an earthquake or hurricane. tps applies to all syrians here since 2012. >> it's turned from temporary protected status for people, for a specific group of people at a specific time to really a rolling amnesty. >> reporter: given recent terrorist attacks in europe linked to syrian refugees, critics say the u.s. has no way to prove applicants' intent or identity. >> look, we lost our documentation when we had to flee. but, actually, we are from syria. the europeans can't prove it one way or another and we won't be able to either. >> reporter: 300,000 tps immigrants live in the u.s. from 12 countries, including thousands from central america who never went home after a hurricane in 1998 and an earthquake in 2001. >> there's a saying there's nothing more permanent than temporary protected status. >> reporter: the administration says its decision is about

compassion. hillary clinton wants to bring in 65,000 syrian refugees annually. donald trump wants no immigrants from terror-related countries. bret? >> william, thank you. aetna is the latest big insurer to say it will get out of obama care. it says it expects to lose $300 million this year from individual coverage sold on the obamacare exchanges. if aetna bails, it will further reduce the already dwindling number of insurers to choose from. government spokeswoman says, however, customers will have, quote, a robust set of choices. more warnings about traveling to florida amid new cases of the zika virus in miami. we'll go the

government officials in great britain and ireland are warning pregnant women against

traveling to areas of florida affected by the latest cases of the zika virus. apparently mosquitos in south florida are not cooperating with this intense effort to protect the public against the virus and protect florida's tourist industry from the disaster. monitoring the situation tonight from miami. >> reporter: in some of miami's trendiest neighborhoods, the center for disease control is now strongly encouraging all pregnant women who visited here since mid june to get tested for the zika virus. and in an historic move, the cdc is advising all pregnant women to stay away. a total of 15 locally transmitted cases are all tied to this one square-mile area north of downtown, which contains the wynnewood arts district, midtown and edgewater. also under investigation is whether this mosquito is resistant to the pesticide being used. aggressive spraying so far has failed to shrink the local population. >> we've seen continued mosquito

activities, more larva mosquitos, adult mosquitos. >> reporter: one of the 15 new cases of zika from a domestic mosquito. his daughter says he only found out by getting tested. >> he didn't feel nothing. he didn't have no fever. he didn't have nothing. >> reporter: the most pressing concern is for pregnant women. the zika virus can lead to severe birth defects. >> we recommend if you're pregnant r thinking about being pregnant, talk to your ob/gyn. >> reporter: personnel to spray for mosquitos, cdc has an emergency response team on the ground. >> i worry about it. >> reporter: which mayor jimenez welcomes. >> we're taking all precautions necessary to make sure it doesn't turn into an epidemic. >> reporter: mayor jimenez also authorizing aerial spraying for mosquitos.

not pastor plan but an additional tool they want to employ to try to battle the bite. now, as it stands, florida's department of health is not requiring every ob/gyn to automatically test for zika, every pregnant woman in the all-important first and second trimesters. as it stands pregnant women have to make that specific request themselves. of the nearly 400 zika cases confirmed in florida, almost all of those travel related, 55 of them involve pregnant women. bret? >> phil keating in miami. an important story we'll follow as the liolympics start this we as well. you would think that plan to ntalists would be lower pollutants they think are behind climate change. as dan springer reports from seattle, in this particular case, the enthusiasm is a lot different than you would expect. >> reporter: environmental groups have been at work with carbon fuels for decades. they argue coal, oil and natural gas are at root of the change in the world's changing climate

that they say is real. so, you would think that they would line up against the ballot initiative of carbon use. >> putting a price on carbon is the single most thing we can do. >> it would add 25 cents to every gallon of gas, increase air fares and raise utility bills costing $2 billion a year. revenue neutral by cutting the state's sales tax. similar system has been in place for british columbia for eight years. they report a 16% drop in carbon emissions and no major economic hit. but the alliance for jobs and clean energy opposes the measure because it doesn't fund more government spending. >> it's not only about reducing carbon but how we do it. and developing the kind of clean energy economy we need. >> one group to break ranks?

audobon. >> it isn't about money. it really is about what are those market-based incentives that will drive people to reduce greenhouse gas emissions? >> reporter: the rift exposes hypocrisy and a dirty little secret. >> they're afraid of more tax cuts and only want a government solution. they're willing to destroy an effort that would actually reduce carbon emissions, make us more energy efficient because they care more about government than climate change. >> reporter: we reached out to all the green groups opposing the tax and not a single one would agree to an interview. higher taxes, more red tape and jobs where they choose, not the free market. bret? >> dan springer in seattle. thank you. approach to border enforcement is being called schizophrenic on advice of the border patrol's own website, to illegal immigrants about how to avoid being caught.

safe zones where agents are barred from interviewing, searching or arresting suspected illegal immigrants. such places as schools, churches and medical treatment facilities are listed on that website. look at the markets today. dow's losing streak has hit seven sessions after dropping 91 today. s&p 500 lost 14. nasdaq fell 46. president obama says donald trump is unfit to serve. trump unloads on both the president and hillary clinton and has a message for some republicans. we'll get reaction to it all from the panel when we return.

republican nominee is unfit to serve as president. i said so last week and he keeps on proving it. i think what's been interesting is the repeated denunciations of

his statements by leading republicans. there has to come a point at which you say, enough. and the alternative is that the entire party, the republican party, effectively endorses and validates the positions that are being articulated by mr. trump. >> president obama with a lengthy and very forward-leaning attack on donald trump today at a press conference at the white house. trump campaign put out a lengthy statement in response to that. the vice presidential nominee who was first on camera to respond. >> allowing for the fact that barack obama knows a lot about being woefully unprepared to be president of the united states, why don't we look at the record? let's look at judgment for a second, okay? barack obama and hillary clinton who, after hard-fought gains in

operation iraqi freedom that found iraq stable in 2008 squandered that, pulled our troops out without a status of forces agreement, created a vacuum in which isis was able to conjure itself up. >> but it wasn't just republicans on democrats today. donald trump gave an interview to "the washington post" in which he talked about three republicans, asked if he was going to endorse paul ryan, senator john mccain, talked about senator kelly ayotte. here is what he said about paul ryan. i like paul. these are horrible times for our country. we need a very strong leadership. we need very, very strong leadership and i'm not just -- i'm just not quite there yet. ryan's opponent is a big fan of what i'm saying. big fan. that, you may remember, mirrors what ryan said about trump when asked, at first, if he was endorsing trump. >> now you have a presumptive nominee, donald trump. will you support him? >> well, to be perfectly candid

with you, jake, i'm just not ready to do that at this point. i'm not there right now. >> okay. so, he used those words. then here is donald trump on john mccain. i've never been there with john mccain because i've always felt that he should have done a much better job for the vets. he has not done a good job for the vets. i've always had a difficult time with john for that reason. our vets are not being treated properly. they're not being treated fairly. on kelly ayotte, i don't know kelly ayotte. she has given me zero support yet i'm leading her in the polls. we need fighters in this country. we don't need weak people. we have enough of them. are these the people that should be representing us? okay. you tell me. long introto our panel. mercedes sclap and syndicated columnist, charles krauthammar. >> where do you want to start, bret? let's take the first part, when

president obama gave a moral speech basically saying, dictating how republicans should think or act. it's an insult to republicans. they really don't want to hear it from president obama. president obama has decided he is going to try this knock-out punch on donald trump. with that being said, you know, trump obviously needs to figure out a way to somehow bring this party together, which is something he said he's going to do. he hasn't been able to do. and obama, what he has been able to do is say, let's focus on donald trump and not on my legacy. on the fact that we've seen weak enough economy, where we've seen failed foreign policy and the mere fact that the democrats have successfully changed the narrative. now it's all about donald trump and whether he is unfit to be president and not focusing on the fact that you have a record behind president obama. i think it's a big problem. >> two things there. one, does it fire up republicans when the president comes out and does what he did today? >> absolutely. >> two, then stepping on that, does donald trump do that by

saying he's not going to endorse paul ryan in his primary or john mccain in his primary? >> i finally have decided there's two camps, never trump camp and then the exhausted trump camp. those trump individuals who have supported trump, willing to be on the front lines for trump but at the same time trump has made these significant mistakes that he needs to clean up. republicans are very worried that he's not staying on message, which the message is very clear. focus on the obama record. focus on the hillary record and you really have a chance to win. otherwise if it's all about tonld trump there's no way he can. >> look, i'm not sure you can call these mistakes. i think they're a reflection of who he is. everybody expected the pivot to being presidential, to being concilliatory, to bringing the party together. it never comes. people say mistake after mistake. at some point you have to ask yourself, is he capable of conducting himself in any other

way? you're right, mercedes, the basic structure of this campaign is simple. with any other candidate on the republican side, this thing would be over, given the eight years of record, failures abroad, the things that pence raised about what's happening in the middle east. the news we got on the economy last week, the weakest recovery since 1949. the list is very long. and the question that democrats have to ask, the only way that they can win is to argue for the unfitness of the opponent for the office. if he crosses the threshold of fitness, he wins. and that's what the election is all about. >> all right. looking at the real clear politics average of all the recent polls, you have clinton with a bit of a bump after the democratic convention. she's now at 46.4. trump at 42%. swing state polls seem like they're roughly the same. clinton with a little bit of an

average as you look at them, the newest ones of the favorability ratings in the average, kirsten, still upside down for both candidates. >> right. >> unfavorable candidates. we're looking at a major negative race over the next 98 days. >> yeah. there was another poll that showed, i think, 50% of trump voters that their vote a vote against hillary clinton. i think that -- i want to get to what charles was saying. i actually don't think these are mistakes for trump. i think this is his plan. >> his plan? >> if he was here, he would say i'm the one who beat everybody when everybody was telling me i shouldn't be saying these things. i don't think he's necessarily this erratic person who does things without any kind of strategy. he has been pretty strategic and has been given opportunities to back down many times and doesn't back down. it seems to work for him. that's the thing. he seems to continue to poll fairly well.

hillary clinton got a bump there. >> obviously this con story was different than the mccain comments he made in the primary. arguably the past two, three days of coverage has not been a great thing for him. understanding there's more to the story. >> i certainly would agree with that. i think many times we have sat at this table and talked about things that trump has done. yet he still has managed to bounce back from it. it looks like maybe he will pay a price for it and he doesn't. how does he expand that out? how does he expand that out when he needs to try to get independent voters? hillary clinton also has a similar problem. she's not beloved. far from it. she's not trusted. so, i think, you know, his bigger problem, frankly, is that he doesn't have so many republicans in the establishment behind him and that he places loyalty so high. you hear him talking and saying i want loyal people. well, loyal to what? not loyal to republicans. loyal to you. >> using the same terminology that paul ryan used when hedging on endorsement. >> he doesn't play politics the

way a normal politician would. you would think there would be politics for dummies and somebody could give him a copy of it. he would be so much stronger in a position to be able to bring together the republican establishment. although they're not popular, this election cycle. but you need them. they bring out voters. >> mercedes, we are now on what month? we sat at this table saying this is the presidential pivot. this is the time when he's getting serious about his presentation. >> there is no presidential pivot. >> right. >> right. >> so the question is, when you know that hillary clinton is playing this card, saying it's a referendum on your stability, your ability to take over this job, then why isn't the campaign saying we should do something different? >> if you notice in the ohio rally these past couple of days, he was able to talk about hillary and the economy and focus on the foreign policy perspective. you saw pence focusing on these topics. part of it is staying on message. that's the hope that republicans have with trump.

will it happen? we'll have to see. >> next up, president obama trying to clean things up for hillary clinton overseas? we'll take a look at foreign policy. ...

you did the right thing

in preventing what could have been a massacre blood bath in libya. we did so as part of a an international coalition and u.n. mandate. but i think that all of us collectively, were not sufficiently attentive to what had to happen the day after and the day after and the day after that we are working in partnership with them to assure that isil does not get a strong hold in libya. >> president obama talking about new air strikes. u.s. air strikes inside libya going after isis in conjunction with the up and coming libyan government that has been a long time coming as you take a look at the map of the middle east and around the world. these are established branches of isis where we know that they are in good and decent concentration. significant numbers. and they have spread out over the region. we are back with our panel. what about this libya action, charles, and what

foreign policy is set up for ahead of this election? >> i'm not sure how tied to the election it is. i know all presidents in their last year want to clean things up at least leave a cleaner legacy but this is an opportunity. isis actually is on the defensive in libya. there actually is a force run by the legitimate government that has them surrounded. their territory is shrinking. they are sitting ducks if we can hit them from the air and sufficiently weaken them. they can be defeated and that would be a great psychological victory for our side. it's much harder to get them in raqqa and syria where they are deeply entrenched and we really don't have the right forces on our side. but this is more than election play. this is a strategic opportunity. i'm glad the president is doing it. >> mercedes, this was acknowledgment there by president obama that they hadn't planned for the day after, the day after, the

day after that. and that has been the criticism all along about the libya action. >> and even president obama in a fox interview said it was one of the worst mistakes of his presidency, the lack of planning. so, i was actually shocked that the president admitted that he kind -- they kind of made a mistake and the question becomes what took them so long? this is a president who has always seems to be reactionary when it comes to foreign policy. especially in the case of libya, where the u.s. was involved it created a vacuum of leadership in libya. which this is where obviously the safe haven of isis start to do build. at least we know that the president at this point, they are moving forward on action but it is very much part of what president obama has done in the past with his foreign policy which is not wanting to get more involved in the middle east. >> he has said that this was a mistake. he emphasized that today, care citizen. he hasn't gonna far in syria saying that he feels like the actions he has done in syria have been measured and for the goofed the country. >> yeah. i think he looked at the situation in syria and felt that getting involved in it,

whether it was arming rebels earlier on would have actually made the situation worse. that it was a bad situation and our involvement wasn't necessarily going to make it better. on libya, it is interesting to hear him talking about this in this way considering he was such an opponent of the iraq war and such a critic of the iraq war and of course this was the criticism of the iraq war. you would have thought that would have been a lesson that would be learned. in terms of going in now, doing the air strikes, the u.s. has been asked to come in by the libyan government. it's a limited strike for 30 days. and as the president said today, the idea is to go in and try to finish the job. the u.s. can actually make a difference here. >> the u.s. has conducted by the way 6,393 air strikes in iraq. and 4,433 air strikes in syria since 2014. and you have the additional air strikes in libya now against isis. and there is word in published reports that there's an effort underway that we have heard for a long time to retake mosul.

that may be coming soon. so it's building up here for the final push. >> i think the mosul thing will definitely happen. whether it will happen with obama in the white house, i doubt. but, i would just add one thing, that the number of air strikes in libya is something like a dozen. so the scale is hugely different. but it's in a place of tremendous opportunity. >> that's it for the panel. but stay tuned for one squirmy toddler who makes a newscast interesting.

finally tonight, our fox affiliate in philadelphia had its hands full on the morning show today trying to show the new rules for car seats with a volunteer. but that volunteer, a 23 month old son of a producer had a son of the willings. >> is he one month away from his second birthday. is he tearing the car apart. is this part of the law right here?

[ laughter ] >> so, every car seat is different. some of them max out at 40 pounds. some of them even longer, it's car seat specific. >> this the best demo ever done on a morning television show. that is going on, tori? >> i don't know. i'm losing it okay i'm driving, goodbye. >> so should you ever drive standing? >> he never got in the seat. 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. ♪ ♪ >> it is wednesday august 3rdrd. they sent 4 million in cash to

iran when american prisoners were free. they played a ransom. the response from the white house just in. >> an all out war of words between donald trump and president obama. >> i think he is the worst president maybe in the history of our country. i think he has been a disaster. he has been weak, ineffective. >> (inaudible). >> donald trump not backing down as donald trump calls fthe >> the starbucks recall that might change your morning routine. fox & friends first starts right now. ♪

>> good morning. hope you are off to a great day already. you are watching fox & friends first on this wednesday morning. >> i am abby huntsman. thank you for starting your day with us. pay to play. a bombshell they were secretly air lifted nearly half a billion dollars in cash to iran the same day four american prisoners were freed. >> the white house insisting that money had nothing to do with returning our american sailor's home. was it just a coincidence? >> the timing of the top secret deal raising some red flags this morning. many questioning whether the u.s. funneled $400 million directly to a terrorist regime in the middle east even though they claim they don't pay ransom. iran released four americans in exchange