the muddled and mixed messages on the u.s. economy. the administration, the fed, and the markets all weigh in. we unpack how it could all affect you. this is "special report." good evening. welcome to washington. i'm bret baier. one thing is clear tonight. the u.s. economy is growing very slowly. in fact, by only 1% in the first half of 2016. that said, the signals coming from the financial community on this friday night are confusing to say the least. the gdp, the governor's best indicator of economic growth, is practically at a standstill.

the woman in charge to have the government's monetary policies and whether interest rates will be going up apparently does not really believe that the economy has stalled. and wall street does not know what to make of all of it. fox business network senior washington correspondent, peter barnes, is in washingtyoming to where the financial experts are doing a lot of listening and a lot of talking. >> reporter: despite weak economic growth this spring, the federal reserve thinks the economy is actually getting stronger. so now it's saying, get ready for a slight boost in interest rates soon, on car loans, home equity loans, some mortgages, and business loans. the commerce department reported friday the economy grew at just 1.1% in the second quarter. but some fed officials, meeting in wyoming for an annual conference, downplayed the number. saying it was weakened by companies temporarily investing less in their inventories of products amid healthy consumer spending. >> if you exclude that, you look at real final sales. you see a more encouraging

picture. a picture of a kind of steady, moderate growth economy. >> reporter: the picture includes strong job growth in the last two months, more than half a million new jobs and unemployment at 4.9%, and slightly higher inflation that comes with a better economy, but which the fed wants to keep under control. a small hike in the fed's bench ma mark rate, just a quarter of a percent, could come as early as the fed's next policy meeting in september. and at a speech at the in light of ed chair janet the solid performance of the labor market and our outlook for economic activity and inflation, i believe the case for an increase in the federal funds rate has strengthened in recent months. but critics say the fed should wait until the job market is even stronger. >> if you decide we're at maximum employment now, and you intentionally slow down the economy, you'll be leaving us behind, pulling up the ladder right after you climbed it. >> now, some analysts question

whether the fed would actually raise rates before the election. it has its next policy meeting in september, and it has another one in november, a week before the election. so it could delay a rate increase until its meeting in december, or even later. but the fed says it sets rates based on data, not politics. bret? >> peter barnes live in wyoming. peter, thank you ppt. here are the numbers from wall street today. the dow was down 53. the s&p 500 lost three, the nasdaq gained 7. for the week, the dow lost 8/10 of a percentage point. the s&p 500 dropped two-thirds. the nasdaq fell one third. we have spent considerable time on "special report" talking about things promised, but not delivered by politicians in both parties. this story is about something promised by president obama, with a twist, that weaves together a horrible killing and white house hostage policy. correspondent kevin corke explains from the white house. >> you won't know.

it will be an anonymous donation, but i will. i'm still waiting. >> reporter: that is carl mueller, crest fallen that the president of the united states had failed to make good on a personal promise to donate to a nonprofit group honoring his daughter, kala, the young american held hostage by isis for more than a year and a half before it's believed she was killed by the terror group. >> hasn't been such a donation? >> no. i'm still waiting for that donation, mr. president. >> mueller telling abc news, it was a promise the president made more than 17 months ago, which makes the lack of timely follow-through all the more puzzling. after all, the president's 2015 tax records show he and mrs. obama gave to 34 charities last year. over $9,000 to fisher house. $1,500 for habitat for humanity. even $1,000 to the university of hawaii foundation. in all, about $64,000 to charity. but not a single penny to kala's

hands, the foundation established in the memory of an aid worker who was kidnapped from a doctors without borders hospital in aleppo, syria. white house officials today say they couldn't explain the delay but promised a donation was forthcoming. >> the foundation, kayla's hands, that's been established in her memory, is certainly the kind of foundation that the president and first lady have supported in the past and i would anticipate that they would make a financial contribution to continue supporting it. >> mueller's death stoked a national debate over the lengths to which families should be able go to pursue the release of loved ones held captive. in part of a rigorous white house review of the administration's hostage policy. the president clarified that u.s. policy does not prevent families from communicating with hostage takers. but experts believe paying ransom, even for family members, simply isn't in u.s. interests. >> this is one of those classic cases where the instincts, in the human instincts of an

individual family can run against the interests of the american people. >> the argument being, if you pay ransom, you'll encourage other bad actors all over the globe to kidnap americans. it's important to point out that the muellers suggested that somebody in the administration told them they would be prosecuted if they paid a ransom for their daughter, kayla. but the white house today said that is not their policy. bret? >> kevin corke live on the north lawn. thank you. now to the campaign trail. donald trump has just finished a meeting with hispanic leaders as a roundtable -- at a roundtable session in las vegas. it was closed to the press. most experts listening to trump over recent days believe he's betting that changing his stance on immigration or the way he talks about it will get him new votes from latinos, while not alienating the base that gave him the nomination. it is a big gamble. chief political correspondent, carl cameron, with the trump campaign in las vegas. >> reporter: in nevada, a state with a large latino population,

donald trump allowed cameras only for a moment before speaking privately with hispanic leaders behind closed doors. >> we've been doing very, very well with the latinos. >> reporter: his stunning reversal this week in which he said he might not deport all 11 million immigrants in the u.s. was welcome news for most latino leaders. but after promising to deport all illegal immigrants for more than a year and pounding his former rivals as a week for that position, he faced a backlash from conservative white supporters, including women. >> are you ready to make america great again! >> reporter: sarah palin who campaigned for and when trump several times this year said if mr. trump were to go down a path of wishy-washy positions, there would be massive disappointment. ann coulter wrote plainly, there's nothing trump can do that won't be forgiven, except change his immigration policies. coulter said trump had said something stupid, and would do so again, but was not backing down from mass deportations. trump said again this week that

he would build a border wall and make mexico pay for it, which mexico dies, and deport violent and career criminals, but suggested otherwise law-abiding citizens might be allowed to stay. and last night he reversed himself again, returning to his demand that illegal aliens first go home and then can return to the u.s. legally. >> well, when they come back, then they can start paying taxes. >> so they still have to leave? >> there is no path to legalization unless they leave the country and come back. >> reporter: trump's name-calling battle with hillary clinton has escalated to a level not seen in presidential politics since the pre-civil rights era. >> hillary clinton is a bigot! who sees people of color -- only as votes. >> there has been a steady stream of bigotry coming from him. this is someone who re-tweets white supremacists online. >> reporter: asked in new hampshire if he wants the support of white supremacist voters, trump said no and quickly changed the subject. quote, i don't at all. not at all.

and i will tell you, there is not about hate, this is about love. >> trump's statement earlier this week that he would soften his deportation rhetoric coupled with his statement last night with that those who want legal status would have to go home to their home country and then come back legally, are not mutually exclusive and they leave open a big question. what would he do with those undocumented immigrants in the country now, who don't care about legal status, and don't come out of the shadows? bret? >> you know, carl, we're getting into the final stretch in this campaign. operatives sometimes dump toe s opposition files on opposing candidates and staff to reporters. what do we know about this report that trump's new campaign ceo had a violent episode with his wife years ago? >> well, it was in 1996, it was quite some time ago, and it never got into the legal process, but the police were called to their -- his home, we're talking about steve

bannon, and there had apparently been an argument with his wife and his wife threatened to call police, and according to police records, he took the phone and smashed it. the police had recorded this. however, when it came time to go to court, his wife never showed up, so the charges were dropped. so we don't know, but this is the kind of stuff that is brought up in every four-year presidential cycle to go after the candidate by going after staff. >> but we don't know if mr. trump knew about this before he hired the steve bannon? >> reporter: no do we know that it's actually relevant. steve bannon has a history and a reputation, this has not been part of it. it now is. how it reflects on donald trump is to be determined. >> okay. carl, thanks. the status of a big trade deal on capitol hill. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell and house speaker paul ryan do not seem to be on the same page regarding the transpacific partnership trade deal. mcconnell said yesterday, the ppp will not be acted upon this year in a lame-duck congress,

but might return next year. a spokesman for ryan's office is signaling the tpp is not yet dead to the speaker. hillary clinton is not on the campaign trail today and she has relatively light schedule next week. but there are still scores of questions out there about whether clinton used her position as the president's top diplomat to bolster her family's charitable foundation and enrich her family. senior political correspondent, mike emanuel is on that story tonight. >> reporter: hillary clinton's running mate, tim kaine, continued the attack on donald trump, calling his values extreme, in front of a major african-american audience in florida. >> ku klux klan values, david duke values, donald trump are not american values. they're not our values and we've got to do all we can to fight, to push back and to win. >> reporter: a day after accusing donald trump of taking a hate movement mainstream, clinton doubled down, just to make sure americans enjoying the final days of summer didn't miss it. >> a man with a long history of

racial discrimination, who traffics in dark conspiracy theories, drawn from the pages of supermarket tabloids, and these kind of white supremacist, white nationalist, anti-semitic groups should never run our government or command our military. >> after days of criticism about the clinton foundation's access to the hillary clinton-led state department, the democratic nominee reiterated her work there was not influenced by outside sources. when asked if there were any e-mails or clinton foundation ties to foreign entities that could be revealed and derail her campaign, clinton rejected that possibility. >> i have a very, um, strong foundation of understanding about the foundation. not to have a play on words. that the kind of work that the foundation has done, which attracted donors from around the world is work that went right

into providing services to people. >> reporter: the clinton campaign is also out with a new ad that will run on cable and in the critical battleground states of florida, north carolina, ohio, and pennsylvania. in it, the clinton team accuses trump of being out of touch with the african-american community and once again used some of his own words against him. >> i have a great relationship with the blacks. i have always had a great relationship with the blacks. what the hell do you have to have lose? >> clinton's only significant campaign event other than fund-raising this week was a speech in reno yesterday. that plays into the criticism she's running out the clock and may lack the stamina to be president. her spokesman, brian fallon, says when many americans are enjoying the final days of summer vacation and less focused on politics, clinton has been working hard to ensure the campaign will have the money resources it needs to execute a strategy during the home stretch. on another front, she's also drawing our attention to the hundredth anniversary of an

important milestone for women, tweeting, countless women fought to win the right to vote. on the anniversary of the 19th amendment's adoption, let's recommit to protecting it, signing it with her "h." bret? >> all right, mike. thank you. we now know that some of the e-mails a court has ordered the state department to release next month deals with benghazi, another scandal that clinton has tried to move on from. republican lawmakers point to the just-surfacing, once deleted clinton foundation e-mails, and now benghazi e-mails as evidence that the tens of thousands of e-mails erased and wiped clean from clinton's private server were not all personal, as she originally said. chief intelligence correspondent, katherine harris, has the story. >> reporter: the fbi recovered nearly 15,000 records as part of its investigation into clinton's handling of classified information, and on august 5th, those e-mails were given to the state department for review. according to this ruling from a florida judge, the department must begin releasing the e-mails by september 13th.

>> the state department has told judicial watch, told us, that they have had positive hits for the search term "benghazi," so we know that these records that mrs. clinton either hid or destroyed and have now been recovered are directly related to benghazi. >> reporter: the fbi gave the state department seven discs, including one of classified e-mails after the investigation closed. the 14,900 e-mails to and from clinton are on a single disk. earlier this week, the state department spokesman says the court-imposed deadlines in a number of lawsuits may be tight. >> right now our focus is to move forward with our assessment of these -- appraisal of these documents and figure out how soon we can get them over to judicial watch. >> reporter: based on the fbi investigative files sent to congress, the clinton team used a technology called bleach bit to destroy what it decided were personal e-mails. cybersecurity experts say the technology is like an electronic shredder. >> i believe the fbi would give it their best shot and look for

a lucky break and look for a mistake being made somewhere. but it's much, much harder for them. it really is hard to recover information that has been scrambled this way. >> reporter: the timeline is important. in august 2014, the benghazi select committee got e-mails that showed former secretary clinton used a personal e-mail account for government business. later that year, the committee requested more records, as judicial watch and other groups went to court over access. around december 2014, clinton's team gave the state department 55,000 e-mails, and wiped the rest. one of the tools was bleachbit. >> if the documents at issue were clearly covered by the congressional request and they went ahead and destroyed them anyway, then they could be vulnerable to charges of obstructing a congressional inquiry. >> the clinton campaign did not respond to fox's questions on the timeline or why clinton's team used the technology to destroy the records so that they would be out of reach, bret? >> katherine, thank you. >> you're welcome. the two men at the top of the libertarian party ticket will get a chance to make their

case to you tonight. john stossel hosts a town hall with governors gary johnson and bill weld. here's a preview. >> how would you get anything done with congress, to stop the gridlock going on in d.c.? >> look, we elect clinton or trump, it's going to be more polarized than ever, okay? that's a given. nobody believes anything but that. so suppose you have a couple of libertarians, former republican governors, having served in heavily democrat states, gotten re-elected by big margins. in the middle with a bipartisan administration. democrats, republicans, libertarians, everybody libertarian leaning, calling out both sides to come to the middle to address the issues that we do have. >> libertarian town hall, 9:00 p.m. on fox business network. john stossel is with us from new york. hi, john. >> hi, bret. >> how'd it go? what's your takeaway?

>> my takeaway is that these two guys are certainly better than trump and hillary, and it's just surprising that in a year, when so many people are not happy with a crook or a crazy person, that they don't even know that a third party exists. we took a picture of johnson out on the street, and most people said, who? who's he? >> what is -- we're having a problem with your microphone, believe it or not. it's washington to new york. not that tough. but we're looking at some video of gary johnson. is there a sense that they're in it to win it? >> if i find the microphone, i could tell you, but, somehow -- lost it. yes, there's a sense that they are in it to win it. and they are very optimistic. they think they're going to get into the debate, although you have to get 15% and they're around 10 now.

the debate commission has excluded them so far, but the debate commission is not some neutral group. it's run by republicans and democrats. >> last thing, is there a sense that one issue sticks out for these governors? both very successful republican governors in blue states when they were running. >> no, not one issue. two, perhaps. that jobs don't come from government. jobs come when there are predictable rules that everyone understands. and government should largely get out of the way and, secondly, defense. a lot oaf people view libertarians as dangerous isolationists. but they say, we're not isolationists. we don't want to control the world. and johnson says tonight, every intervention since world war ii as left us less safe, not better off. >> we can see it tonight, 9:00 p.m. eastern time on the fox business network. john, as always, thank you.

>> thank you. >> you can see senator johnson on fox news sunday with chris wallace this sunday. up next, two of the big senate races that could decide who wins the senate majority in november. fox 23 in portland, maine, with a profane voice mail from the state's republican governor, directed at a democratic lawmaker. governor paul lepage unleashed the tirade after being told that democrat drew gutine had called him a racist. gutine denies that. lepage has since apologized for his language and dismissed all the calls for him to resign. fox 46 in charlotte, where a judge has just ruled the university of north carolina cannot block two transgender students and an employee from using the bathroom of their choice. the decision grants a preliminary injunction in response to a challenge of a state law known as hb-20. right now the injunction applies only to the plaintiffs. and this is a live look at miami from our affiliate, wsvn.

a cloudy miami there. one of the big stories there, the governor and local officials meet to discuss how to handle the zika virus during the rainy season. rick scott is urging residents to get rid of standing water in which mosquitos can breed. there have been 42 cases of locally transmitted zika in miami. today with fda asked blood donor locations to test for the virus. that's tonight's live look outside the beltway from special report. we'll be right back.

america's election headquarters in depth tonight. two of the key races in this fall's battle to control the u.s. senate. first up, ohio. where the incumbent republican is hoping to keep his job by, in

part, keeping his distance from the presidential nominee. here's senior correspondent, mike toe to bin. >> hey, guys, how are you. >> rob portman and outside groups supporting him have done that largely by outspending his democratic challenger, the former governor of ohio, ted strickland. >> approximately $32 million has been spent against me. and most of it has come from the koch brothers and karl rove and their affiliates. >> portman beat strictland in fund-raising more than six to one. the real clear average puts the republican up in the polls. hillary clinton polls ahead of donald trump 4.8 points in the buckeye state. so while the debate does drift to discussions about the economy. the democratic hopeful takes

every opportunity to connect portman to donald trump. and each misstep of the republican presidential nominee. >> rob portman is continuing to wrap his arms around donald trump. >> donald trump is rob portman's biggest problem. you know, donald trump is the biggest factor in how this race is going to go in ohio. and also, apart from being a force in the race, he is an attention-sucking machine. >> reporter: saying if strickland wanted to campaign against trump, he should have run for president. a spokesman for portman celebrating the incumbent from other republicans, highlighting his. >> i decided a long time ago, that we were going to be our own independent campaign. >> a spokesman for strickland said avoiding donald trump isn't enough. he called portman cowardly and pathetic for not standing up to the billionaire. unlike governor kasich, portland

has endorsed the republican presidential candidate. a spokesman saying he still doesn't want hillary to win. bret, back to you. >> mike, thank you. now to florida, where republican senator marco rubio represents a major target for democrats seeking a u.s. senate majority. here's correspondent phil keating. >> reporter: if democrats are going to retake control of the u.s. senate, florida's seat held by republican marco rubio is considered a critical must-win. and the democrats running to do just that include two sitting congressmen. third-termer alan grayson and second termer, patrick murphy. once a registered republican, he calls himself physically conservative and socially progressive. he narrowly unseated gop incumbent, allen west, in 2012. grayson is one of the most liberal members of congress and famously belittled republicans during the health care debate. >> here it is. the republican's health care plan for america. don't get sick. >> reporter: he's also been the subject of ethics investigations. for that, senators harry reid

and chuck schumer have asked him to drop out. grayson's ex-wife also made domestic abuse claims against him, which grayson staunchly denies. >> 26 grayson bills passed the house, passed the senate. were signed into law by the president of the united states. as far as i know, i don't think patrick has even passed a single bill to the house, much less signed into law by the president. he's been a legislative zero. i think i've been a legislative hero. >> political fact checkers rate grayson's legislative claims as inflated and mostly true. >> i mean, that's congressman grayson. that's what he's known for, is a lot of bully and bluster and name calling. >> reporter: murphy's supported by president obama and the party establishment. he's been accused of inflating his resume and buying his way to congress with family money. >> i'm proud of my voting record. protecting programs like social security and medicare. protecting a woman's right to choose. these are some of my top priorities. but at the same time, addressing climate change. >> reporter: kevin wagner says the biggest challenge for these democrats versus rubio is name

recognition. >> the good news for murphy and even grayson is they're not really that well known in the states. they still have a chance to sort of build up, you know, how they want to be seen and what they want to be seen like. >> three other democrats in this race are all polling below 5%. and while rubio also has a primary challenger, at this point, both he and murphy are already campaigning against each other. and polls are showing that matchup will be close and competitive. bret? >> phil keating in miami. thank you. now a follow up. fox news has learned of a second state department investigation into the mysterious deletion made to the department's video of a december 2013 press briefing. the censored material covered up with a white flash featured our own jen rosen questioning jen psaki about iran and psaki appearing to lie. last week, the top attorney issued a report, including after

interviewing 34 state department employees, he could not determine if the deletion was deliberate or accidental. now state's top internal auditor, the inspector general, confirms that his office has conducted its own probe, also interviewing witnesses, but saying it has reached the same dead end. house oversight chairman jason chaffetz tells fox news, congressional republicans will be demanding access to the raw investigative files of both offices. a u.s. defense official tells fox dangerous confrontations between the american navy and iranian vessels are up by more than 50% so far this year. just this week, there have been four more instances of iranian provocation. this video is from tuesday, when four iranian gun boats came within 300 yards of an american destroyer. wednesday, a u.s. ship fired three warning shots and an iranian ship coming within 200 yards. hope is fading tonight for anymore rescues after

wednesday's horrific earthquake in central italy. correspondent john huddy is in italy tonight. >> reporter: the earth continues to shake in central italy. a magnitude 4.8 earthquake rocked the towns and villaged leveled by wednesday's earthquak earthquake. >> there have been hundreds of aftershocks since wednesday morning, including more than a dozen today. this adding another problematic layer to the already exhausted search and rescue efforts, now slowly and painfully becoming a recovery operation. >> what we've been seeing now are these crews basically clearing out all the rubble and debris and just putting it in piles like this. and in these piles, we've been seeing people's pictures, family pictures,clothing, and

children's schoolbooks. >> reporter: the stories of survival have given people some hope that more people will be found. but time is of the essence and time is running out. search and rescue efforts have been hampered by the infrastructure that has been damaged, impassable in some areas for the heavy equipment needed to help. these trucks remain parked along the road in the town where the main aid and relief camp is located. the town mayor told me the firefighters and search teams here are exhausted, but undeterred. >> it is very difficult, because a terrible history for our area. we have so many missing people. so many died people. it's horrible. and the firefighters are working very hard to rescue missing people. >> reporter: and officials are still trying to get a handle on exactly how many people remain missing. that said, it is early saturday

morning now here in italy. the government has declared today a day of mourning for the earthquake victims. this as we've learned that the death toll has now climbed to 281 people confirmed dead. bret? >> john huddy, live in italy. thank you. a major ruling today by france's top administrative court has overturned a ban on a particular type of swimsuit on one of its resort beaches. reporter kitty logan tells us why something that sounds so trivial is so important to so many people. >> reporter: the dobt over what not to wear on the beach has gone global. yesterday, women demonstrated outside the french embassy in london in a variety of beach wear. it was one of several protests across europe to condemn the ban in some french resorts on the full-bodied swimsuit, the bikini. their slogan, wear what you want. it was this image that first sparked worldwide fury.

french police asking a woman on their beach to remove her long-sleeved clothing. the law was established by a local man, but two human rights group legally suspended it. >> there are a principle, which is the freedom of religion. there will be violation to this freedom. >> reporter: the court ruling applies to the coastal town. this isn't welcome news for the supporters of the ban, including french presidential candidate, nicolas sarkozy. >> i ask for a law forbidding it in the entire territory of the republic. >> reporter: france has suffered a series of extremist attacks recently, but it was the nice truck attack in july which sparked concerns about beach security. local mayors say the outfits, often popular with conservative muslims, might make other beachgoers nervous.

but lawyers believe women's choice of beachwear now won't be determined by authorities. >> there is no other appeal, so it will be the last decision in france about this topic. and we can say that it's the end of the argument. >> reporter: but at least one mayor has already refused to suspend his own localized ban on the burkini. >> reporter: the burkini ban has exposed a risk not just in the french government, but in society itself. critics say forcing it can only worsen religious tensions, but the debate is far from over. bret? >> kitty logan in london. thank you. we will talk about the increasingly nasty tone of the presidential race and where we are with more than 70 days away from the election. the panel joins me after a quick break.

neither my husband, my daughter, nor i have taken

a penny of salary from the foundation. my work as secretary of state was not influenced by any outside forces. >> what we now have with these e-mails coming out from citizens united and from judicial watch is very, very clearly that if you are a foreign oligarch who gave money to the clinton foundation, the way to get access, the way to get meetings with people, the way to get action on specific items was to e-mail the clinton foundation and to have them contact the state department. >> the author of "clinton cash" there. and secretary clinton this morning talking about the e-mails. and as we reported, more are coming out soon, by september 13th. this is how the week started, with a focus on that. it kind of evolved towards the end of the week. a as you look at our average, this is the special report average of polls. these are polls that we trust and look at and this is the average of polls and you can see with all four candidates there, clinton is up 7.2.

there have been other polls out recently tracking polls like the "l.a. times," that have donald trump up one or two. but these are the polls that we're looking at for the averages. let's wring in our panel. charles hurd, political columnist for "the washington post." julie pace, white house correspondent for the associated press, and syndicated columnist, charles krauthammer. all right, julie, let's start with clinton and the week that she's had. what about it? did she shake the e-mail story? obviously, there are more things that are yet to drop. >> i don't think she shook the e-mail story and i don't think she's going to be able to shake the e-mail story. i think that acknowledge. campaign may be -- that may be starting to sink in for them. they really thought this would be behind them by this point. it's not going to be, because we're going to have new e-mails that are going to be dropping really right before her first debate. and i think this just really gets to why this has been a continual problem for her. because this was a year ago when this first came up.

there were opportunities for the clinton campaign to put everything out there and they didn't put everything out there. it's just a slow drip and she's going to be answering these questions basically through election day. >> here's chris farrell with judicial watch, who has been doing an amazing job trying to press for the release of some of these documents and they've been successful. >> out of the total universe of documents that the fbi recovered and turned over to the state department, the state department has told judicial watch, told us that they have had positive hits for the search term benghazi. so we know that these records that mrs. clinton either hid or destroyed and that have now been recovered are directly related to benghazi. >> so just to be clear, everybody understands. these are, charlie, the e-mails that were deleted. the 30,000 that originally she and her attorneys said were personal. then we find out that there were clinton foundation e-mails in that batch, that dealt directly with the state department and

her interaction with aides. now we're finding out that there are benghazi e-mails in this batch yet to be released, september 13th, and we find out that she not only erased and deleted the e-mails, but she wiped it clean with something called bleach it. >> bleachbit. >> bleachbit. >> it's just, you know, when you look around, i'm always reminded of this, when people get frustrated with donald trump, you know, this is the reason why people -- the people's regard for institutions in america, but more than anything, the federal government and politicians, at an historic low. the clintons, hillary clinton has proved here that she will shamelessly tell lies. she will lie about lying and she will lie about lying about lying. and, you know, there's -- i think that there's -- there comes a point where, obviously, you know, her support, you know, her core supporters are not

going to defect from her, in part because they don't -- because they're so appalled by donald trump. but it really has -- it's become, you know, a shirts versus skins sort of thing. and there's not going to be any debate. and what we saw with that extraordinary speech, accusing donald trump of being a racist and trying to promote racism and stuff like that. i think that's what we have to endure for the next 73, 74 days. >> and that, for a lot of voters i talked to, is depressing. it's just not a good feeling. it doesn't feel good. and i talked to them and they say, it's just not -- i don't know. it's not going to be fun. >> you would think, in the most advanced country on the planet, composed of 300 million people, the last two remaining candidates for the presidency might be of a somewhat higher quality. and the fact is, you're absolutely right. this is an election that's going to be almost entirely on personality and it's going to be on tearing down the personality

of the other side. i mean, it's hard to see issues surfacing here and there. they come by, they float by in the night, and disappear, but it's also about the personality. look, we have been speculating for a year about what the e-mail scandal was all about. and i think we were diverted for a year about a classification. it's a real issue, a serious issue. but that was never the issue. the issue we've always asked ourselves here is, why was she hiding this in the first place? why did she have a private server? obviously, it was concealing. what was she concealing? and the most obvious possible answer was the foundation. now we are learning that is exactly what it was. and as schweizer said, normally you give money to the campaign and get access. and in of and itself, it's not illegal, but it's corrupt. >> the campaign is pushing back

hard, saying the foundation does amazing things around the world, and even to the point where chelsea clinton is going to stay on, even if her mother wins the white house. i want to turn to donald trump and his interview last night on cnn and this whole two, three-day story on immigration. >> there certainly can be a softening, because we're not looking to hurt people. we want people. we have some great people in this country. we have some great, great people in this country. there is no path to legalization. >> let's talk about -- >> unless people leave the country -- well, when they come back in, if they come back in, then they can start paying taxes. >> so they still have to leave the country? >> there is no path to legalization unless they leave the country and come back. >> okay. julie? >> well, the only thing i know about donald trump's immigration policy this week is that i have no idea what his immigration policy is. i think you can only assume, based on what he said last night, that he, for whatever reason, is not comfortable with the idea of softening, which he himself brought up.

this was not media trying to interpret things that he was saying. he put this out on the table. he got some pushback from some of his core supporters. and it appears that he is now back to where he started off, which is with this idea that you would deport people who are here illegally right now. give some of them an option to come back in. but this is in a lot of ways classic donald trump. he talks out of both sides of his mouth. puts a couple ideas out there, and leaves it to the voters to decide which of those things they want to latch on to. >> the campaign says there is going to be an immigration speech. we don't know exactly when it's going to be. he said last night it's going to be next week, where he lays out all the specifics. but, there would be a laying out of specifics at some point, one would think. >> but early on, very early on, you know, a year ago, he laid out basically tenants of his immigration plan, and it is why so many people, you know, felt very comfortable with him on a policy level, in the primary. what he has done now is he's fallen into what you could call the amnesty trap, that

republicans always fall into, when they decide they want to talk about everything past the issue of doing the wall and fixing -- >> let's just be honest. the point is you're not going to be able to deport 11 million plus illegal immigrants. you can talk all around it. but the physical logistics of getting those people out of this country, just are not logistically possible. >> absolutely. but that is exactly the point. and to be a guy like donald trump, selling himself as someone who is a very strategic deal maker. it is a stupid strategy to talk about that next step. just talk about the first step and get that done. and one thing that i think people privately, conservatives kind of talk about is, if you did get this done and you did fix the border and fix the problem so we don't do that again, if you did that, suddenly the illegals that are here now, they would be in a better position to get a much better

deal out of it, because people aren't so angry about the fact that the problem still exists. >> we'll see how far this story continues. it seems like it's worked its way through this week. next up, the friday lightning round, which will be lightning.

u.s. economy, the g.d.p. revived lower for the 1.1% for the second quarter. 1% roughly for the first half of 2016 this as the fed chair janet yellen is out in wyoming and essentially said there is solid performance and that she is considering an increase in the federal funds rate, which means interest rates. we're back with the panel. lightning round and i mean lightning.

charlie, u.s. economy? >> if we learn nothing else in 2012, it is that the economy, a president can still win in a bad economy even if they are willing to play class warfare and stir racial politics. >> but we have no clue really where it seems so mixed. >> that's the take away from today. this seemed very contradictory on the one hand showing growth has been slower on the other hand the fed saying that the economy is strong enough to be considering a rate hike. i think that we have to wait for a few more economic indicators but it is definitely a bit of contradiction today. >> okay, another story we are following today. in france, they have overturned this ban of the burkini, this is the bathing suit that is essentially a burqa. and it's just fun to say burkini. but it has been overturned and they can wear them now on the beaches. >> the ban on this was always ridiculous. it was a great overreaction. the burkini actually is a way for people who want to be traditional and yet

modern as a compromise and should have been allowed. it's well that it was overturned. the french are secular but this is ridiculous. >> winners and losers? charlie, winner first? >> winner would be iran. they own the middle east now, i think. loser, post racial america. >> winners and losers? >> my winner is kellyanne conway, trump's new campaign manager getting much of the credit for his somewhat improved performance over the last week or so and also gamely tried to explain his immigration policy this week that none of us can really understand. my would see loser because i can't let go of the olympics is ryan lochte who saw his sponsors drop him this week after the robbery story. >> does he go back to brazil? >> i don't think so. >> i don't think so. winners and loser? >> winners is alt right. until yesterday a fringe of a fringe that nobody had ever heard of because it was the future of the hillary clinton speech. it's gotten more attention

than got in history. got its national launch. loser, bernie sanders he try to found a movement out of his campaign called our revolution. the half the staff quit within two days. bernie, you are not meant for greatness. i'm sorry to tell you. >> winners and losers there on friday. up next, your friday feedback and a special little goodbye. ♪ ♪ ♪

you won't see these folks at the post office.

♪ ♪ they have businesses to run. they have passions to pursue. how do they avoid trips to the post office? stamps.com mail letters, ship packages, all the services of plus $100 in extras right on your computer.ek trial, including postage and a digital scale. go to stamps.com/tv and never go to the post office again. now to your friday feedback. meeting with leaders in las vegas. we asked you if softening policy or tone on immigration will hurt him. kembra writes on facebook:

during mike emanuel's report on the clinton campaign we asked if the candidate is being smart to avoid public appearances and news conferences specifically. diana says: during our reports on two key senate races we asked if republicans are going to lose their majority.

that is your friday feedback tonight. as i said, we're going to do it every friday. finally tonight, the facebook video that has been viewed more than 5 million times. one navy veteran gets the surprise of a lifetime. ♪ roll out the tnt boom ♪ anchors away ♪ hail on to victory ♪ and. >> anchors away is what they are singing to 98-year-old ernest thompson. the pearl harbor survivor was a regular visitor to the uss iowa museum near his southern california home. but when a recent injury kept him from making the trips, the navy decided to come to him, marching up his

street, singing the navy's official song. that's a good way to end the week, isn't it? thanks for inviting us into your home tonight. that's it for this "special report," fair, balanced and still unafraid. thanks and welcome to this special edition of "hannity." it's been just one day since hillary clinton released a deplorable political ad attempting to link donald trump to the ku klux klan. but now trump is responding in a huge way with two brand-new ads of his own, including one video reminding voters how the clintons may have employed -- against barack obama. watch this. >> when we arrived in south carolina yesterday, this was the state newspaper. clinton camp hits obama, attacks painful for bla