"special report" is next. this is a fox news alert. i'm bret baier in washington. there is brand new evidence tonight of just how close the presidential race has become exactly two months before election day. a new quinnipiac swing state poll has hillary clinton and donald trump tied at 47 apiece in florida. clinton 47 trump 43 in north carolina. trump leads in ohio 46-45. and clinton is up five points in pennsylvania, but most of these states, as you see, are well within the margin of error. secretary clinton is continuing to learn, meantime, that despite everything she's doing to tout her foreign policy and leadership credentials, the e-mail scandal is not going

away. she found that out last night during a forum with donald trump. she also made a national security statement that prompted some clarification this morning. jennifer griffin is with the clinton campaign tonight in kansas city, where the candidate is about to speak. >> i've been very clear. >> reporter: hillary clinton held a news conference, in part to clarify what she meant last night when she declared -- >> they are not going to get ground troops. we were not putting ground troops into iraq ever again. and we're not putting ground troops into syria. >> reporter: last night she seemed to discount the 4,460 ground troops already on the ground in iraq and the 300 special operators in syria. this morning, a different tone. >> i said this again last night, i support the air campaign. i support special forces. i support enablers. i support surveillance, intelligence, and reconnaissance. >> reporter: donald trump responded, tweeting clinton gave

a disastrous news conference to make up for her poor performance. >> secretary clinton, how can you expect those such as myself who are entrusted with america's most sensitive information to have any confidence if your leadership as president when you clearly corrupted our national security? >> reporter: clinton defended her handling of classified information, arguing it lacked clear markings. an e-mail exchange between her and former secretary of state colin powell released by democrats last night confirmed powell advised clinton how to use a private e-mail account. "be very careful. i got around it all by not saying much and not using systems that captured the data. you will find d.s. driving you crazy." today he issued a clarification. clinton took aim at donald trump

for talking about the intelligence briefings he has received so far. >> i think what he said was totally inappropriate. and undisciplined. i would never comment on any aspect of an intelligence briefing that i received. >> and she called on republicans to distance themselves from trump's remarks. >> what would ronald reagan say about a republican nominee who attacks america's generals and heaps praise on vladamir putin? >> reporter: and voted matt olson, who has analyzed interviews with isis members on social media, "isis is rooting for donald trump." >> they are saying, oh, please, allah, make trump president of america. so i'm not interested in giving aid and confident to their evil ambitions. i want to defeat them. >> reporter: olson is one of 16 former national security advisers who will meet with hillary clinton in manhattan tomorrow. among them, general david

petraeus and mike vickers, the cia analyst who oversaw the provision of stinger missiles to the cia under ronald reagan and a key player in the bin laden raid. an indication of who may be a part of a potential cabinet, a bipartisan panel of former national security advisers. >> jennifer, thank you. donald trump continues to send out mixed signals on several of his plans from his isis strategy to what he thinks of america's military leadership, but he's defending his performance last night and focusing on the need for change in the country. today, the nominee tried to turn the page to education. carl cameron is with the trump campaign in command. >> reporter: donald trump began an education reform speech in ohio with a lengthy rehash of the battle between himself and hillary clinton at last night's forum on military and veterans affairs. >> this is yet more evidence that clinton is unfit to be your

commander in chief. >> reporter: trump insisted he was always an opponent of the iraq war, not with standing his initial expression of support on howard stern's radio support, he read subsequent statements of opposition. fol trump repeatedly raised eyebrows as he defended his praise for vladamir putin, and criticized u.s. military generals. >> i think under the leadership of barack obama and hillary clinton, the generals have been reduced to rubble. they would probably be different generals. >> reporter: lest he get on the wrong side of the armed forces, he tried to focus criticism on the president and former secretary of state. >> i have great faith in the military and certain of the commanders certainly, but no faith in hillary clinton or the leadership. >> reporter: but when asked about a controversial tweet in 2013, in which trump wrote "26,000 unreported sexual assaults in the military. only 238 convictions. what did these geniuses expect when they put men and women

together?" trump did not back down. >> well, it is a correct tweet. there are many people think that's absolutely correct. >> reporter: trump made public his classified briefers think little of obama. >> barack obama did not follow what our experts said to do. and i could tell, i am pretty good with the body language. i could tell they were not happy. >> reporter: clinton for the third time this week spoke to reporters and attacked trump. >> we saw more evidence that he's temperamentally unfit and totally unqualified to be commander in chief. he trash talked american generals, saying they've been "reduced to rubble." he suggested he would fire them and replace them with his hand picked generals. >> reporter: the trump campaign fired back, "hillary clinton again failed the commander in chief test where he was unable to answer for her terrible foreign policy judgment, mishandling of classified information and claims that the

v.a. weight time scandal was overblown." overseas, president obama urged voters and reporters to closely scrutinize trump. >> just listen to what he says and follow up and ask questions about what appear to be either contradictory or uninformed or outright wacky ideas. >> reporter: trump said if elected, in his first 30 days he would have the military draw up a plan to destroy isis. last night he insisted he has a secret plan of his own. >> i don't want to broadcast to the enemy what my plan is. >> reporter: today in cleveland -- >> obviously common core does not work. >> reporter: he proposed billions in federal education grants to create scholarships for children living in poverty to attend better schools of their choosing. the schools he chose for his speech received a d rating and f for indicators met. campaign cash in the last 60 days can be crucial. and the trump campaign announced

today, in august it ended the month with $97 million in the bank. hillary clinton with $152 million. >> carl, thanks. many media outlets are saying today the real loser last night during the forum was the moderator. and there was also a social media frenzy today whether clinton was receiving any help through an ear piece. howard kurtz has the report. >> reporter: matt lauer wasn't throwing softballs at nbc's commander in chief forum. he pressed hillary clinton on e-mailing classified information. >> you were communicating on highly sensitive topics. why wasn't it more than a mistake? why wasn't it disqualifying. >> reporter: and he pressed donald trump for making inflammatory comments. >> if you say things, you can

put american lives at risk. can we afford to take that risk with you? >> reporter: but he's drawing harsh criticism from both sides, especially from the left, much of it highly partisan. clinton backers say he was toucher on her. >> you said -- >> this is an important issue. i know we're on tv, we don't have a lot of time. i will talk quickly. >> reporter: which happened more as the clock was winding down. some suggesting this was even sexism. breitbart.com ripped matt lauer for asking no questions about the clinton foundation. he did make a major misstep in failing to follow up on this response. >> and i was against the war in iraq because i said it's going to destabilize the middle east. >> reporter: one advantage for trump, no mention of recent

controversies. veterans in the audience confronted both nominees. trump's son, donald jr., tweeted a link to a site that specializes in conspiracy theories asking was hillary wearing an ear piece? there's zero evidence of that. just as there was nothing to support the chatter that george w. bush had hidden some kind of device during a 2004 debate. the hammering of a veteran interviewer like matt lauer is a preview of what anderson cooper, lester holt and chris wallace can expect during the debate. they will be hit as hard as the candidates. >> the clinton campaign denied there was any ear piece at all and laughed it all. hillary clinton held her first news conference, actual news conference in nine months today, howie, so you would think the press would be really ready for

that. how did they handle it? >> reporter: there was some good questions but some wasted questions about why hillary isn't leading donald trump by more in the polls and when the rnc's accusation that she didn't smi smile during the forum. the e-mail scandal didn't come up today, but that subject had been raised this week on press gaggles. >> howie, thank you. one of the toughest moments for hillary clinton last night came when an audience member asked how she could be trusted after she had, in his words, clearly corrupted our national security. her answer seemed to go against what the fbi director had said. >> you know and i know classified material is designated, it is marked. there is a header so that there is no dispute at all that what is being communicated to or from someone who has that access is

marked classified. >> from the group of 30,000 e-mails returned to the state department in 2014, 110 e-mails in 52 e-mail chains had been determined by the owning agency to contain classified information at the time they were sent or received. >> he went on to say it doesn't matter whether they were marked or not, they were classified and in the private server. joining us right now is judge andrew napolitano. your thoughts of her answers and the context we're dealing with now is >> she is forgetting that on her first day in office, she had a two-hour tutorial from two fbi agents specializes in national security who explained to her her obligation in the proper care and handling of national security secrets and her obligation of recognizing those secrets, whether there's a header on them or not. and at the end of that two-hour

tutorial, she signed an oath promising to obey the law and to recognize secrets on the basis of their content, not on the basis of what is stamped on them. >> democrats will say, get over it. nancy pelosi said that today. there's not going to be criminal prosecution. can we say that? >> i don't know that we can. i'm disappointed in the fbi, having gone down a lot of trails, destruction of evidence, obstruction of justice. even her aides lying to the fbi, some saying we didn't know about the private server when they helped set it up. but she, in her answer last night to that veteran and matt lauer, materially misled the public. what makes a document classified is not the header. it's not even a letter in the margin. it's the contents of the document itself. >> so when you hear and see that letter that jim comey, fbi director sent internally, defending the decision saying it's not a cliffhanger, what do you think? >> i think the fbi was told to

exonerate mrs. clinton at the outset of their investigation, and i say that for a number of reasons. no grand jury was summoned. no evidence was presented to a grand jury. no subpoena was issued. no search warrant was issued. if you read the fbi documents that came out the weekend before labor day, there are five times which the author said, we couldn't find, we didn't have, we hoped we could acquire. that's because their hands were tied by whatever political forces are controlling the fbi. >> the house oversight committee said they're going to hold hearings over a timeline when e-mails were destroyed. potentially another issue here or is this congress holding hearings that don't get any place? >> you commend congressman chaffetz, but it's too little too late. nothing is going to happen in terms of a criminal prosecution before election day. it should have happened when jim

comey made his statement in jowl. >> but we don't know about the foundation? >> that's a whole other area. gary johnson made big news today, and not the kind that will help him in his quest to get into the upcoming debates. shannon bream reports on a very inopportune tine to go blank. >> what would you do if you were elected about aleppo? >> about? >> aleppo. >> and what is aleppo? >> you're kidding. >> no. >> aleppo is in syria. >> okay, got it, got it. >> reporter: it is a foreign policy flub at a time when gary johnson can least afford it. he and his running mate, also a former governor, have been steadily gaining in the polls. fighting to reach the 15% threshold they would need to be on the stage for the upcoming presidential and vice presidential debates. something mitt romney advocated for in a tweet just last night. "i hope voters get to see former

gop governors gary johnson and bill weld on the debate stages this fall." >> he was gaining pretty well with people that don't want to vote for hillary clinton or donald trump. and now this causes them probably to reconsider their choice. >> reporter: aleppo sits in northern syria. a city now representing the worst of the conflict there. shelling, death, and a raging humanitarian crisis. it zoomed to the top of the headlines again following these stunning images of a little boy after a strike on his home that reportedly killed his brother. hillary clinton said this in response to johnson's slip-up. >> you can look on the map and find aleppo. >> reporter: johnson owned the mistake and spent the day trying to stem the plebleeding. >> i am making the pitch that i'm a transparent guy. >> reporter: some see opportunity in the midst of his

blunder. >> cleanup on aisle one sometimes works, and he could do a multiple of interviews and take questions whether he is prepared to make it seem as if that was a one-off mistake. >> reporter: johnson says there were things he didn't know as governor so he dug into the topics and then made informed decisions. he said it would be no different with him as president. bret? >> shannon, thank you. stocks were down today. the dow lost 46. the s&p 500 gave back five. the nasdaq dropped 4. prosecutors are dropping corruption charges against former virginia governor bob mcdonald in light of a u.s. supreme court decision overturning the republican's convicti conviction. the court held that actions mcdonald took to benefit a businessman who gave him luxury gifts may have been distasteful but were not illegal. up next, first on fox news, what went wrong with an american

rescue operation in afghanistan? first, here's what is what some of our fox affiliates are coming. in el paso, texas, a school shooting in the town of alpine. officials say a 14-year-old female high school student died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after she shot and wounded another female student. authorities say a police officer was shot when a marshal's gun accidently discharged there. fox 5 in las vegas with surveillance video of a homicide suspect escaping police custody. alonzo perez evaded authorities for four days before being recaptured today. police say the biggest mistake was not monitoring the video feed in the interrogation room. and this is a live look at the nfl kickoff village at civic center park in denver from fox 31. the big story there tonight, a super bowl rematch to kick off the national football league's season. hard to believe it's here. the broncos host the carolina

panthers. that's tonight's live look outside the beltway from "special report." we'll be right back.

this is the new comfort food. and it starts with foster farms simply raised chicken. california grown with no antibiotics ever. let's get comfortable with our food again. a rescue aterm by a navy s.e.a.l. team that failed. it happened in eastern afghanistan. lucas tomlinson tells us what went wrong. >> reporter: u.s. special operations forces mounted an unful rescue attempt for an american professor kidnapped in august. the mission ended in a firefight, killing seven afghan militants. >> the american professor was kidnapped with an australian

colleague in kabul. the group that held sergeant bowe bergdahl is suspected of carrying out the kidnapping. fox news learned that special forces mounted an earlier attempt to rescue the professor the day before but had to abort the mission because they could not secure approval from the white house in time. but an official tells fox news the president approved the mission quickly, saying the president authorized the mission when it was presented to him with the recommendation of his national security team soon after the pentagon submitted their request. a former u.s. army special forces officer who served under dick cheney, said the president should not have to approve such a rescue mission in afghanistan. >> in a place where we already have 10,000 troops and generals and the infrastructure in place, you need to delegate that authority and let them make the call. that is not something the white house or bureaucrats back in washington need to be

micromanaging. >> reporter: it's unclear whether the two hmos were ever at the location where the u.s. forces conducted their raid or whether they were moved before the u.s. special operations forces arrived. bret? >> lucas, thank you. president obama is on the way back from his final major asian trip before leaving office. much has been made of the president's so-called pivot to asia. a greater focus on the region, economically, diplomatically and militarily. but rich edson reports, experts say things have not gone according to plan. >> reporter: president obama has departed southeast asia, ascending this morning to air force one without incident. a preferred experience to his landing last week when he arrived to a diplomat ii iic sqe over which staircase he was to use. >> if this theory about my

reception in -- my rebalance policy is based on me going down the short stairs in china, yes, i think that is overblown. >> reporter: the rebalance to asia, an attempt to bring greater u.s. attention to the region. the president leaves with the u.s. still facing significant challenges there. an aggressive chinese expansion in the south china sea, as the u.s. is still at odds with china over its alleged cyber theft and economic tactics. continued north korean provocations. pyongyang tested three more ballistic missiles during the president's trip. obama is pushing tougher sanctions against north korea. >> can i guarantee it works? no. but it is the best option that we have available right now. >> reporter: as the president shifts u.s. focus to asia, events in the middle east drag american attention and resources. among his most important meetings in asia, russian

president vladamir putin on a cease-fire in syria. >> tomorrow's crisis is probably in the middle east. and the day after that, and the day after that. >> reporter: though he says security relations with asian countries are improving. as or an evaluation -- >> without that economic leg, both president obama and his counterparts in the region will see the pivot complete. >> reporter: for the president, that economic leg is the transpacific partnership. a 12-nation free trade agreement stalled in congress and opposed by the republican and democratic nominees for president trying to replace him. >> rich, thank you. the down sizing is kojt at the guantanamo bay terrorist prison. the building called camp five has been emptied and converted to a medical facility. the obama administration has been reducing the number of prisoners there as it presses on with the president's promise to

close it before the end of his term. the "miami herald" reports the navy plans to reduce its complement of personnel at that base by about 400 by the end of the year. venezuela is in deep trouble tonight. once blessed with the riches of its oil, the socialist nation is now on the brink of economic collapse. as the situation worsens, the number of people seeking asylum here in america is surging. >> reporter: uprising in venezuela. just last week, hundreds of thousands protested in the streets of the capital, demanding the president step down. cell phone video reportedly capturing angry protesters chasing their president, yelling they are hungry. people are starving from massive food shortages. others are dying in hospitals from lack of medicines. looting, blackouts, an economy in free fall, estimated to run

out of cash by year's end. venezuela is crumbling under the weight of the oppressive socialist regime. >> this is something we've never seen in latin america, a failed state. >> reporter: this as the socialist president, e leked in 2013, fights to stay in power. despite a petition with enough signatures calling for a vote to oust him. >> those people that signed that petition are being pursued and denied benefits and the reason why the government knows who they are is because the electoral commission told them. >> reporter: now venezuelans are fleeing to the united states. according to the pew research center, more than 10,000 have applied for asylum so far in 2016, up more than 168% from the same time last year. he was a tv anchor before fleeing in january.

after reporting two feo ining t of the president were arrested for transporting cocaine. >> translator: i received direct threats. i feared for my life. >> reporter: now he wants to make the u.s. his new home, but remains hopeful. >> translator: my message to all americans a mdz to the entire world is don't abandon venezuela. >> reporter: there are 12 u.s. citizens currently detained in venezuela, including joshua holt, detained while on his honeymoon in june, charged with spying and terrorism. >> brian, thank you. lawmakers frustrated with sanctuary city policies that hinder immigration enforcement are finally talking in a language that local politicians can understand. money. the feds are threatening to

withhold a lot of money if they do not change their ways. >> i believe there's a movement inside the administration to continue its current path of allowing people in this country illegally to remain. >> reporter: louisiana's top cop is in a high profile battle with the justice department over sanctuary cities. a fight that escalated last week after this bus hit a fire truck, killing a chief. police charged the driver, dennis rodriguez, a hon duren illegal immigrant, with homicide. and driving without a license, an offense he had been detroited for multiple times. new orleans policies protected him from being deported. >> it prohibits our law enforcement agents from taking dangerous criminals off of our streets. >> reporter: new orleans sanctuary policy was mandated by the justice department saying, police shall not investigate an

individual's immigration status, shall not assist immigration enforcement, and they are not permitted to support any i.c.e. request or operation. the problem is, the department's own inspector general recently concluded that policy violates federal law, which says, no city may prohibit or in any way restrict police from sending, receiving, or exchanging information with i.c.e. we asked the attorney general about the conflict. >> we do not view that dissent decree -- [ inaudible ] >> reporter: while she didn't directly answer the question, the inspector general concluded new orleans sanctuary policy are illegal, forcing the doj to warn that sanctuary cities risk losing federal grant money if their cops are not allowed to cooperate with i.c.e. so the top ten sanctuary jurisdictions receive $350 million in law enforcement

grants in 2014. bret? >> william, thank you. it was 50 years ago tonight that a tv show called "star trek" made its television debut. and in a few minutes, nasa will begin its latest effort to bring a little of that final frontier back home. phil keating has the latest. >> reporter: what nasa hopes to pull off is something scientists and astronomers once thought was simply impossible. so rendezvous with an astroid, touch it, and bring a little bit of it back to earth. >> those are huge questions. they're all about, where did we come from? where does life spring forth on these early planets that were probably extremely barren and challenging. >> reporter: on the launch pad, the spacecraft sits on top of a

rocket, blastoff will begin a 4 billion mile journey and back. benu is orbiting the sun on a similar orbit to earth, and the size of the empire state building. this $ 800 million years will take two years to get there. it will then slowly descend onto the surface, touch it for a five-second high five, blast hydrogen gas into the atmosphere, and capture those in an air filter and deliver them to earth, landing in the utah desert 2023. >> we're hooking to bring back 60 grams of material. it's getting ready to come home. >> reporter: scientists believe benu is a dark black chunk of carbon rich rock and solar system history.

it also happens to be a potentially hazardous astroid with a tiny threat of colliding into our planet next century. blastoff is happening 32 minutes from now. the weather is breezy but 80% go for launch. this is what 60 grams of material looks like in the form of grown sugar. four table shospootablespoons, . bret this >> a long way to go for a zip-loc bag, but great story. phil, thank you. donald trump and hillary clinton argue about who would be the best commander in chief. we'll get reaction to all the day's events from our panel when we come back.

the generals under barack obama and hillary clinton have

not been successful. >> do you know more about isis than they do? >> i think under the leadership of barack obama and hillary clinton, the generals have been reduced to rubble. they have been reduced to a point where it's embarrassing for our country. >> that's how he talks about distinguished men and women who have spent their lives serving our country, sacrificing for us. that's how he would act as commander in chief. >> in all due respect, i think he was talking about the commander in chief reducing the influence of generals to rubble. >> some cleanup there from perhaps the vice presidential nominee, explaining further what donald trump said about the generals being reduced to rubble as hillary clinton attacked on that. hillary clinton had her own clo cleanup today. >> we are not putting ground troops into iraq ever again, and we're not putting ground troops into syria. we're going to defeat isis

without committing american ground troops. i think the approach i've outlined intensifies what we are doing, but recognizes that there is no, if my opinion, path forward to ground troops that would be in our interest. >> well, as of thursday, there are 4460 u.s. troops on the ground in iraq, according to the pentagon. roughly 400 more arrived over the weekend. the administration putting more ground troops in. there are roughly 300 special operation forces in syria. quinnipiac out with some new polls. florida, north carolina, ohio, pennsylvania, and there you can see within the margin of error, almost all of those, ohio, trump leading by one. and tied in florida. let's bring in our panel. byron york, julie pace, and tom rogan.

tom, let me start with you. your take of the commander in chief forum and what you took from it. >> i think the first thing is that you see again this difference in temperament between the two candidates, increasingably notable and unrestrained going towards the election. hillary clinton is trying to make that her pivot, that you can't trust donald trump in any sense. on the flip side, donald trump saying you can't trust hillary clinton because of the decisions she's made. but as this goes on, hillary clinton's point about the troops on the ground, donald trump re-emphasizes the notion of taking the oil, there are discrepancies that both candidates -- i think both campaigns quite frankie have quite a lot to be disappointed about last night. >> i think that's right. i think if you're hillary clinton, you probably have a right to be frustrated that so much of your time was spent on the e-mails. yet every time she's answering

these questions and she's getting into these technical arguments, it just doesn't come across as the public buys. for trump, it was more clear than ever he does not have policy proposals. and somehow he's going the have to find some level of detail before he gets on stage for three debates, which will be much longer than last night. >> it was clear on hillary clinton's point that when she came out to do a press conference, her first with that podium, they had some cleaning up to do, because they would have let it stand perhaps if they were happy with everything that's said. >> they did. i think that they have to be a little worried after last night, because i think what happened is, you saw a potential advantage for trump in the debate coming up september 26th. the advantage is, hillary clinton has a long, public record to defend. donald trump has nothing. so look at the first few questions. there's a question about using classified information and the

e-mails. a question about the vote for the iraq war. a question about the beginning of the iran nuclear negotiations. all of these things are actual stuff that clinton did when she was easter in the senate or secretary of state. with questions, what do you think, you said something about that. it's easier to talk than to defend that record and that's what hillary clinton had to spend a lot of time doing. >> another thing donald trump said last night and matt lauer got a lot of grief for not pushing back on this issue was what he said about iraq. take a listen. >> i happened to hear hillary clinton say that i was not against the war in iraq. i was totally against the war in iraq. >> you've come up with articles, but that's audio of you -- >> no, there isn't. >> there's a buzz feed piece. >> i'm talking to howard stern weeks before, first time anyone asked me about the war, should

we go in. and i said very weakly, well, yeah, i guess. >> and he points then to a 2004 article where he says, you know, he was against the war. does this matter? hillary clinton's campaign says it matters. >> it matters in the sense of the clinton campaign -- there's the inconsistency of the inconsistency. the second point where it hurts him is in the notion of the establishment middle of foreign policy that is probably more inclined to a republican candidate because of negative viewpoints about the president's policies. the difficulty he has is that in those inconsistencies, that credibility as a commander in chief becomes undone to some degree. so it's something we'll see the clinton campaign, you can't trust him in that room. that issue beyond the policy specifics. >> you mentioned the e-mail issue. i want to play one of her answers about the e-mails and

some perspective of what she did before. >> classified material has a header, which says top secret, secret, confidential. nothing, and i will repeat this and this is verified in the report by the department of justice, none of the e-mails sent or received by me had such a header. i did not e-mail any classified material to anyone on my e-mail. >> 110 e-mails in 52 e-mail chains have been determined by the owning agency to contain classified information at the time they were sent or received. even if information is not marked classified in an e-mail, participants who know or should know that the subject matter is classified are still obligated

to protect it. >> so there's a lot to comprehend about this story. but i think people are starting to get it when you see the different clips. >> i think so. i think the problem for clinton all along has been that the answers that she gave at the u.n. press conference, which is before she launched her candidacy, were so certain. she left very little ambiguity when she said there was no classified information that i sent or received. we know that's not the case. now she finds herself in the process of trying to explain things like headers on documents that, frankly, most people just one, don't understand, and two, don't care about. they care more about what james comey is talking about, which is the content. why would you be talking about a drone strike on a private server? that is more concerning than the labeling of documents. she keeps getting in this trap about technicalities and it's just not a good place to be. >> finally, byron, put up the

quinnipiac state polls, what do you see in there? quinnipiac is a trusted organization. these state polls are very important. >> things are getting better for trump, just as they are nationally. there's no doubt the polls have closed a little bit in the last few weeks. and clearly this -- what you see on the screen is the most important thing right now. for trump to win, he's going to have to win all the states that mitt romney won. on top of that, he's going have to win pennsylvania, florida, and ohio. unless those states work out for him, he's not going to win. >> the reason we put up the one, some of the averages in those states are back to the beginning of august or end of july. next up, do you know what aleppo is? one of the presidents who wants to be president finds out the to be president finds out the hard way today, next.

this is the new comfort food. and it starts with foster farms simply raised chicken. california grown with no antibiotics ever. let's get comfortable with our food again.

what would you do if you were elected about aleppo? >> about? >> aleppo. >> and what is aleppo? >> aleppo is in syria. it's the epicenter of the refugee crisis. >> okay, got it. i was thinking acronym when he said aleppo. and, guilty, if it is kissing my chances goodbye, so be it. we shouldn't be discussing the place aleppo. what we should be talking about the policy, which is so convoluted and it's the result of our foreign policy. >> libertarian candidate gary johnson stumped today on aleppo. aleppo is the city in the target zone in syria where you've seen so much

attention in recent days. we've reported on what's happening there. we'll say the "new york times" in doing a story about what johnson said about aleppo first said aleppo was the de facto capital of the islamic state and then issued a statement that that's raqqa and then they said that it was the capital of syria when they issued a correction that it was damascus so maybe johnson isn't alone. but, julie, big whiff? >> it really would. gather johnson is in this position where he is trying to get attention. is he trying to raise his poll numbers so he can qualify for the first presidential debate. he certainly got himself some attention today. just unbelievablably negative way. the idea that a person who is running to be president of the united states, even for a third party ticket doesn't know what aleppo is, which is at the epicenter of one of the most complicatedreige world today is pretty disheartening. >> byron? >> i'm going to be kind of lenient here. i think, obviously he didn't

do himself any favors trying to get into the debates. the debates require you to be 15 points in the polls. he is about 9 right now. might not go up. you are right, after the "times" did the story they messed it up twice. and my questions is as far as voters are concerned at least the voters who have actually heard of gary johnson, i just don't think they are going to hold this against him because afterwards he did actually give his views on syria. >> hillary clinton kind of made fun of him saying that you could find it on a map. and then he responded in that neil cavuto interview saying maybe we should focus on hillary clinton's policy with syria. to that point, take a listen to this. president obama and hillary clinton. >> i want to make it absolutely clear to assad and those under his command, the world is watching. the use of chemical weapons is and would be totally unacceptable. and if you make the tragic mistake of using these

weapons, there will be consequences and you will be held accountable. >> to those who support the assad regime the days are numbers. >> i'm confident that assad's days are numbered. >> assad's days may be numbered right now they number 1651 days and counting from the time that president obama first said that to jobs' point, the policy in syria, tom, is potentially a real negative to hillary clinton tied to this administration. >> it absolutely is. i think,like, gary johnson is not going to suffer. the people who are voting for gary johnson are not necessarily concerned with those issues. but aleppo is in a very real way cross allies adversaries agree on this. intelligence, military, that aleppo is a physical method for the collapse of the american credibility. it matters with iran, the ballistic missile testing it also matters with russians specifically.

hillary clinton is again the reset originator. because, what the russians are doing. another chlorine attack this week. they have perpetually carried out these attacks since the red line was drawn in 2013. every time it happens the russians use it as a pivot to point to say to all of the different actors in the region whether iran or those upset over the iran deal you can't trust the united states. and hillary clinton the difficulty is that donald trump doesn't necessarily want to articulate that point of view. if he did, i think she would be very vulnerable. >> right. to that end, president obama has conceded that that decision not to move forward and the red line was a tough one for him. he may have made a mistake. in the end he thought that he made the right call. in that atlantic interview he did with jeff goltdberg. >> yeah. he believes that the ends justified the means in that decision-making process that he was able to succeed in getting chemical weapons out of syria.

there are questions about whether that actually was a success. but that is what the administration kind of hangs that decision on right now. but, there is no question that when barack obama leaves the white house in january, that this will be one of his biggest foreign policy failures and he will have left it to the next president to resolve. >> and tied to hillary clinton byron? >> absolutely. the only question though is how much this actually matters to american voters. and i think we probably see from the polls that this may sound a little cold but the degree the american voters care about syria, it's because of the physical threat isis poses to the united states. and so, each candidate is going to have a real policy to deal with isis. as far as solving the larger g.o. political problem of syria, i'm not sure that's going to capture the imagination as much. >> that's it for the panel. stay tuned a southwest flight

of a paragraph finally tonight, a group of southwest airlines passengers who landed in chicago last week got quite the treat. instead of your regular landing instructions, one flight attendant decided to switch things up a bit and his impersonations made forh2á a loanaa -- loony landing. >> we have reached your destinations. southwest airlines welcome to chicago the windy city. please remain seated with your seat belt fastened, seat back and tray table in

position. i say if you are connected here to another fine southwest flight please, i say please the tv monitor in the terminal for flight gate number that is. next time you are traveling to the southwest.com for great air fares, hotels and tweety bird sandwiches. >> i just don't know if that's comforting. that's for inviting us into your home tonight. fair, balanced and unafraid. don't forget sunday, "special report" live, 8:00 p.m. eastern time. 6 days a week. my with britrd" hume starts right now. ♪ ♪ >> good morning. it is friday september 9th. anthem outrage boiling over. a football player stands with colin kaepernick. it is far from over. the entire team planning to send

a strong message this opening weekend. dozens of tourists spend the night trapped 10,000 feet in the air. the frantic rescue efforts to get them to safety. >> there are sugar washes, the toddler lost her mind over cotton candy. "fox & friends first" starts right now. ♪ >> it is friday, hopefully you are on top of the world.

>> i am heather childers. >> intensifying the show of force overnight. >> the communist country carrying out the most powerful nuclear test yet. the os till u.s. the latest blast so long it triggered a 5.3 magnitude earth quake. it called kim jong-un's move -- his provocative actions will be met with intense consequences. north korea tired 3 ballistic miss tills into the sea. >> dozens trapped in cable cars 10,000 pete in the air. hundreds of people stranded in the french alps after fierce winds strangled cable wires. crews harness themselves and tourists to