there. set your dvrs to never miss "the five." "special report" coming up next. will the first presidential debate, the most watched in u.s. history, significantly change the dynamics in this race? this is "special report." good evening. i'm bret baier. coming to you tonight live from america's election headquarters in new york. the final numbers are not in yet, but last night's presidential debate will have been watched and streamed by more than 90 million americans. the most ever. we'll have complete coverage of the reaction to the debate in just a moment, but first, some of the other stories we're covering tonight. how did the fbi miss the terror threat from the orlando nightclub shooter omar mateen?

we learned today from the fbi director that agents interviewed mateen twice before he gunned down 49 people this summer. we have that story. the director of homeland security says his agents are seeing increasingly sophisticated efforts to hack into voter registration rolls across the country. tonight, we'll examine why the white house continues to play down any threat to the integrity of the november election. also tell you why democratic lawmakers are blocking a funding bill to keep the government operating past friday and what republican congressional leaders are doing and saying about it. and the senate will vote tomorrow on whether to override president obama's veto of a bill allowing relatives of 9/11 victims to sue saudi arabia. the vote counting continues tonight but appears the override supporters have their votes. now to presidential politics and the big event last night. for as much hype as there was ahead of the first debate, both nominees quickly moved on to other events today. each is, of course, claiming victory. we have fox team coverage

tonight. jennifer griffin is the clinton campaign in raleigh, north carolina, where secretary clinton held an afternoon rally. we begin with chief political correspondent carl cameron with the trump campaign in melbourne, florida, where mr. trump will speak in the next hour. good evening, carl. >> reporter: hi, bret. the day after his first of three debates with hillary clinton donald trump came straight to the battleground state of florida and specifically went to the little havana section of miami to court conservative cuban-americans. >> i really enjoyed it. it was, i geruess over 80 milli people watched. that's one of the biggest shows in the history of television. we did very well. we won virtually every poll, every poll except for cnn. >> reporter: trump and his campaign are claiming victory and explained why he chose not to bring up former president bill clinton's sex scandals why debating mrs. clinton and pulled his punch last night. >> i was going to say something -- >> please, very quick. >> -- extremely rough to

hillary, to her family, and i said to noois, i can't do it, i just can't do it. it's inappropriate, it's not nice. >> reporter: trump went after clinton on taxes and trade, hammering her for backing bad trail deals and claiming to oppose the recent trans-pacific trade deal when she initially praised it. >> now you want to approve trans-pacific partnership. you were totally in favor of it. >> that is just not accurate. i was against it once it was finally negotiated, and the terms were laid out. >> you called it the gold standard of trade deals. >> well, donald, i know you live in your own reality, but -- >> oh, yeah. >> -- that is not the facts. >> reporter: in fact, trump quoted her early support for tpp accurately. >> tpp sets the gold standard in trade agreements. >> reporter: after last night's debate trump visited the media's spin room and claimed his microphone was defective.

there was no complaint from the audience and no audio problems on the air, still trump hinted at a potential conspiracy. >> i don't know if you saw it in the room, my microphone was terrible. i wonder if it was set up that way in purpose. >> reporter: noting he was asked about his refusal to release his tax returns and questioning of president obama's citizenship. trump again held firm when asked if he has anything to say to those who felt it was racist to question the first black president's birth certificate. >> i say nothing because i was able to get him to produce it. >> reporter: when clinton suggested trump may not be releasing his tax returns because he doesn't pay any taxes, trump rather than dispute it took it as an accolade. >> that makes me smart. >> reporter: both sides are trying to relitigate last night's results. clinton went after trump from raleigh, north carolina. >> he said that makes him smart. now, if not paying taxes makes him smart, what does that make all the rest of us? >> reporter: social media lit up last night with speculation that trump had the sniffles. he denied it today and separately after telling cnn

that moderator lester holt did a great job last night, took a shot at him this morning. >> i give him a "c," "c" plus. i thought he was fine. nothing outstanding. he gave me very unfair questions at the end, the last three, four questions, but, you know, i'm not complaining about that. >> reporter: it will take a few days to find out if either of the two candidates got a real bump in the polls. in the meantime the trump campaign is saying it did get a bump in fund-raising. $16 million rolled in today to the trump campaign, aides say and they're still counting. bret? >> carl cameron with the trump campaign. carl, thank you. hillary clinton certainly thinks she won the debate. the nominee taking a figurative victory lap today as she campaigns in north carolina. fox news correspondent jennifer griffin is live in raleigh tonight. good evening, jennifer. >> reporter: good evening, bret. well, bill clinton was always known as the comeback kid. it's clear from the round of applause that her campaign gave her, as she boarded her plane

today, that hillary clinton and her staff now think they're back on offense. >> anybody who complains about the microphone is not having a good night. >> reporter: hillary clinton seems to have had a shot of adrenaline as she boarded her plane the day after the first debate. she came straight back to talk to the press quoting chicago cubs legend ernie banks. >> he'd say, let's play two. so i'm looking forward to the next debate and the one after that. >> reporter: there were no questions last night about immigration or obamacare. her opponent came out with an appeal to rust belt voters, hitting her on her past support for what he has called job-killing trade deals. >> you go to new england, you go to ohio, pennsylvania, you go anywhere you want, secretary clinton, and you will see devastation where manufacturing is down 30%, 40%, sometimes 50%. nafta is the worst trade deal, maybe ever signed anywhere. >> reporter: clinton was not pressed on her private e-mail server and avoided complicated responses that have tripped her up in the past. she remained silent in response

to trump's jab. >> it was a mistake and i take responsibility for that. >> that was more than a mistake. that was done purposely. okay? that was not a mistake. that was done purposely. when you have your staff taking the 5th amendment, taking the 5th, so they're not prosecuted. >> reporter: clinton goaded trump by quoting what he has said in the past about women. >> this is a man who has called women pig, slobs, and dogs. >> reporter: recalling when he attacked former miss universe alicia machado. >> one of the worst things he said was about a woman in a beauty contest and he called this woman miss piggy. >> reporter: the campaign recognizing that women voters may be the key to victory for the clinton campaign, arranged a call-in with machado today and released a campaign video. >> hello, miss piggy. hello, miss housekeeping. >> reporter: trump attempted an explanation during a call into "fox & friends."

>> she was the winner and gained a massive amount of weight and it was a real problem. >> this is somebody that, the debate, seemed to really go off the rails. >> reporter: knowing her opponent would try hit her for staying off the campaign trail last week, clinton waited and delivered perhaps her most memorable line of the night. >> i've been all over the place. you decided to stay home and that's okay. >> i think donald just criticized me for preparing for this debate. and, yes, i did. and you know what else i prepared for? i prepared to be president. >> reporter: asked whether she thought trump would show up for the next two debates? the clinton campaign says they are still not sure whether donald trump will show up for the next two debates. for now, they're still smarting from what they consider a knockout round, bret. >> jennifer griffin with the clinton campaign. jennifer, thank you. the trump campaign is saying they will.

donald trump will show up for the next debates. syndicated columnist charles krauthammer has his own unique perspective on last night's event as well as today's spin. he joins us tonight from washington. i asked you, charles, put together the best and worst for each of the nominees. the best moment for hillary clinton, you said, was that moment we just heard. of where she was talking about being out on the trail and preparing for the debate. >> the best moment in debate is when you summarize what you're about in one brief succinct line and she did. she basically said, i'm a professional, i prepare, i'm ready do be the president. he's, the implication is he's a celebrity, he doesn't prepare. he shows up. that's what celebrities do. and he's not ready to be commander in chief. that's the essence of her appeal and she did it in one smart, short way. >> all right. here is what you chose for hillary clinton's worst moment

of the debate. >> that is just not accurate. i was against it once it was finally negotiated and the terms were laid out. i wrote about that in -- >> you called it the gold standard. >> well, i -- >> you called it the gold standard of trade deals. you said it's the finest deal you've ever seen. >> no. >> then you heard what i said about it and all of a sudden you were against it. >> charles? >> well, in fact, she did call it the gold standard, and this is one exchange, this one issue, exemplifies all that's wrong with the clinton candidacy. she obviously is not saying the truth. she changed her mind on it which can happen, but it's obvious that she changed her mind only because she was being hit by sanders on this issue and because trump was having such success in coming out against the trade, all public opinion has turned against trade. there's no candidate on either

side of any stature who is defending free trade, so she accommodates. she listens to which way the -- the way she puts her finger up to feel which way the wind is blowing and she goes that way. that was her low point. >> talk to business leaders, that's pretty remarkable about the fact neither nominee is defending it wholeheartedly, trade deals. trump's best moment. here's what you chose. >> i just ask you this. you've been doing this for 30 years. why are you just thinking about these solutions right now? for 30 years, you've been doing it, and now you're just starting to think of solutions. >> well, that, for him, is the equivalent of her thing about preparation. his argument, his case is i'm change, she's not. 2-1, the country thinks we're on the wrong track.

if you want the old stealth for 30 years, the reason nothing has been done, if you like way things are, you go to her. if you want change, this is undefined change, this is not specific. he doesn't really have a plan or program of any coherence or even on ideology of any coherence, but this is the starkest change, status quo, dichotomy and that summarizes it in one line. >> all right. this is his worst moment according to you. >> the only years that anybody's ever seen were a couple of years when he had to turn them over to state authorities when he was trying to get a casino license, and they showed he didn't pay any federal income tax. so -- >> that makes me smart. >> -- if he paid zero, that means zero for troops, zero for vets, zero for schools or health. it must be something really important, even terrible that he's trying to hide. >> respond and -- >> maybe because you haven't paid any federal income tax for a lot of years. and the other thing i think is

important -- >> it would be squandered, too, believe me. >> charles? >> he couldn't resist the temptation to be the smart ass and to show that he's clever. look, the pride he has is his success. that how he defines himself, and he wasn't ashamed to admit that he could have done this. he was actually conceding that he may not have paid any income tax. now, in a boardroom with a budget of ceos and you're boasting about your success, you say that. you don't say it in a presidential campaign whereas hillary said today, if it's smart not to pay any taxes and you're a billionaire, then what about the rest of us? and i think this thing could have legs, first concession, that he may not have paid taxes. >> charles krauthammer in d.c., charles, as always, thank you. >> my pleasure. we are also learning more

tonight about efforts to try to compromise the november election through cyber space. we've already told you about schemes by hackers to get into the election systems in illinois and arizona. now many other states' election officials are expressing their own concerns. correspondent rich edson has that story. >> reporter: 18 states have requested the department of homeland security help protect their computer voting systems ahead of election day. >> we have an increasing level of sophistication with nation state actors, activists and so forth. >> what we are seeing are efforts to get into voter registration rolls, the identity of registered voters. things of that nature. >> reporter: cyber theft has already affected the 2016 election. hackers stole e-mails from political operatives at a democratic national committee. the hacked e-mails show bias toward hillary clinton over bernie sanders. senior dnc officials including chair debbie wasserman-schultz lost their jobs. homeland security secretary jae johnson stresses he has seen no

attempts to hack electronic voting machines to alter choices. the white house claims it is confident in voting system security. >> because elections are controlled at the state and local level and they're add m ministmi administered by state and local officials, there's not one central repository that lends itself to easily corrupting or influencing a national election. >> reporter: hackers continue exposing cyber vulnerabilities with alarming success. stealing invaluable personal information of american government employees, taxpayers and consumers. last week, yahoo! announced foreign government hackers stole data from about a half billion of its customers. giving criminals information to start yahoo! account holders with subsequent tailored cyber attacks. in a letter to ceo marissa myers six democrats asked yahoo! to divulge the timeline of the hack, when the company informed law enforcement and how yahoo! plans to prevent another attack. the federal government continues debating cyber security.

how best to protect government networks, how to respond to other governments that hack u.s. systems. and what responsibilities private companies like yahoo! have to protect their customers' valuable information. bret? >> rich, thank you. the head of the fbi says he expects a wave of terrorists to flee the middle east and head this way in the next few years. his comment was part of a high-level hearing on terror threats 15 years after 9/11. catherine herridge tells us lawmakers say officials have already failed to stop several attacks. >> reporter: the senate hearing laid bear painful missed opportunities. >> i understand that he was interviewed twice by the fbi and then the inquiry was closed. >> reporter: the fbi director confirmed agents questioned omar mateen before he gunned down 49 in the name of isis and al qaeda at florida's pulse nightclub. >> yes, he was interviewed twice during an 11-month investigation

then the preliminary was closed. >> was anything done to see if he was saying anything online, without going in to get a search warrant at that point? >> i don't know the answer. i don't think so at this point. >> reporter: another republican suggested there is a pattern. >> one common attribute many of the recent attacks has been that they were previously investigated by the fbi and they were found not to be credible threats. >> reporter: fibi agents also questioned tamerlan tsarnaev who teamed up with his younger brother dzhokhar and planted pressure cooker bombs at the finish line killing three and injuring more than 260. >> judgment calls and the judgment calls were incorrect. >> reporter: director comey confirmed the fbi is re-examining its contact with the father of new york/new jersey bombing suspect ahmad khan rahami. before the attack the father said he warned the fbi about his son. >> would you not have done more when ra hahami was arrested to

question him because his dad said he was a terrorist? >> your facts are wrong about what his family told the fbi. >> reporter: a family acquaintance told the fbi rahami was suspected or terrorist sympathies. when the fbi got involved, agents also knew about his travel to afghanistan and pakistan but the matter was still closed. >> if there's learning, we will learn from it. we are not perfect people. >> reporter: and as military progress against isis forces thousands of foreign fighters back to their home countries, witnesses warned of new challenges. >> we've seen a decrease in the frequency of large-scale complex plotting efforts that sometimes span months or years. we're instead seeing much more rapidly evolving threats that emerge quickly or suddenly. >> reporter: during today's hearing director comey gave a vigorous defense of his decision not to recommend criminal charges in the clinton e-mail case. comey can expect more hard questions tomorrow when he appears before the house judiciary committee. some of those lawmakers are highly critical of the decision to grant five immunity deals to clinton aides and her i.t. specialists. bret? >> catherine, thank you. >> you're welcome. up next a fair and balanced

fact check from the debate. first what our fox affiliates around the country are covering tonight. fox 46 in charlotte, court documents say the black man killed by charlotte police last week, keith scott, had a restraining order filed against him after -- filed against him a year ago after he threatened to kill his wife and her son with a gun. last night, more than 100 people jammed city council chambers, many demanding the designations of charlotte's mayor and police chief. and breaking right now just in the past few minutes, charlotte police say they're evacuating headquarters and a bomb squad is investigating a suspicious package. we will keep you updated with that breaking story here on fox. q 13 fox in seattle as the memorial grows for the five victims in last week's shopping mall shooting. strangers are bringing flowers, balloons and cards in memory of those murdered. court records show suspect had been diagnosed with anxiety and depression. his criminal history also goes back several years with charges

including assault, dui, domestic violence, and malicious mischief. and this is a live look here in new york from our affiliate fox 5. the big story here tonight, a member of the new york fire department dies that house explosion that may be tied to a drug lab. 17-year veteran battalion chief michael fahy was killed while responding to a gas leak at a house in the bronx. 12 other people were hurt. that's tonight's live look outside the beltway. we're outside the beltway, too, here in new york. from "special report," we'll be right ba

now that the smoke is clearing somewhat from the fireworks at last night's presidential debate, we're going to clear the air on some of the claims made by the nominees.

correspondent doug mcellway has a quick fact check. >> reporter: many exchanges last night, the reversal on the massive trade deal called the trans-pacific partnership which he allege she supported as secretary of state. >> you called it the gold standard of trade deals. you said it's the finest deal you've ever seen. >> no. >> reporter: trump was right. here is clinton as secretary of state saying precisely what he said she said. >> this tpp sets the gold standard. >> reporter: she used other superlatives to describe tpp calling it exciting, innovative, am bishbitious and ground break. her about face on tpp came only when she found the final -- and helping to foment the creation of isis. >> president obama and secretary clinton created a vacuum the way they got out of iraq. they got out wrong. they shouldn't have been in,

once they got in, the way they got out was a disaster and isis was formed. >> reporter: trump was referring to the obama administration's decision to pull out all u.s. troops from iraq in 2011 after the bush administration's status of forces agreement expired and the two countries were unable to agree on a new one. clinton countered with this. >> and the only way that american troops could have stayed in iraq is to get an agreement from the then-iraqi government that would have protected our troops and the iraqi government would not give that. >> reporter: critics note that president obama had no interest in pressuring the iraqis to do so. >> the only chance we would have had for an agreement would have been his intensive involvement personally with maliki and that didn't happen. >> reporter: in another testy exchange, clinton accused donald trump of a recklessplan. >> independent experts have looked at what i've proposed and looked at what donald's proposed and basically they've said this, that if his tax plan which would

blow up the debt by over $5 trillion and would in some instances disadvantage middle class families, compared to the wealthy, were go into effect, we would lose 3.5 million jobs. and maybe have another recession. >> secretary clinton is referring to a pair of reports done by moody analytics, very well known and respected economist, mark dan zandy. if trump's plans were implemented would probably result in a loss of 3.5 million jobs. >> reporter: couple caveats, clinton criticized an outdated tax plan and the economist whose work wases cited by clinton is a registered democrat who contributed the maximum to her campaign. clinton leveled another broadside against trump. >> you call yourself the king of debt. you talk about leverage. you even at one time suggested that you would try to negotiate

down the -- >> wrong. >> -- national debt of the united states. >> reporter: here is trump making that remark to an apparently incredulous cnbc host. >> i understand you've done this in business deals. are you suggested we would negotiate with the u.s. credit in such a way -- >> no, i think there are times for us to refinance. refinance debt with longer term. >> reporter: in the subsequent interviews trump quickly put that idea to rest, apparently realizing that refinancing the national debt would be toying with the full faith and credit of the united states, an economic bedrock upon which the world economy depends. bret? >> there's a lot to fact check on all sides. doug, thank you. let's talk about the optics of the debate last night. fox news media analyst and host of fox's media buzz, howard is here with more on that. good evening, howard. there's been a lot of talk about lester holt's role as moderator. so was he unfair to donald trump? >> lester holt was unfair to donald trump because he took a starkly one-sided approach. now, the questions that he asked

trump were both predictable and fair game. let's take a look. >> i just want to get the answer here, the birth certificate was produced in 2011. you continued to tell the story and question the president's legitimacy in 2012, '13, '14, '15. >> yeah. >> as recently as january. so the question is, what changed your mind? >> well, nobody -- >> the irs says an audit of your taxes -- you're perfectly free to release your taxes during an audit. the question does the public's right to know outweigh your personal -- >> well, i told you, i will release them as soon as the audit. >> i do want to follow up. stop and frisk was ruled unconstitutional in new york because it largely singled out black and hispanic young -- >> no, you're wrong. >> reporter: you've got to be equally aggressive with both candidates. lester holt asked five fact-checking questions to donald trump, zero to hillary clinton. he interrupted trump 41 times. interrupted clinton seven times. as we saw with that stop and frisk answer, what holt says is disputted, when you do that, the

journalist becomes the story, bret. >> yeah. some of those interruptions we should point out when trump talked past the time limit and i know that. the one issue that didn't get a lot of attention, howard, was clinton's e-mail saga. >> also raise the issue of your e-mails. do you want to respond to that? >> i do. i made a mistake using a private e-mail. >> bret? that was it. that was all the lester holt said. wasn't a question. it was an offer of rebuttal to something donald trump had said. now, i respect lester holt. i don't know if he wanted to avoid some of the criticism of his nbc colleague, matt lauer, who was accused, unfairly, my view, of being too soft on donald trump. trump predicted that might be the case. i don't know whether he thinks donald trump needs more of an inquisition than his opponent because there's this media view that he is more untruthful. i will say this. if you're a trump supporter, you have a right to be unhappy about how that debate went, although given how hillary clinton handled donald trump at hofstra

last night, i don't know that different kind of questions would have made a difference in the outcome. >> yeah. we'll talk more about this with the panel. howard, thank you. obviously there was low-hanging fruit there for donald trump. as well. the pentagon says there was in mustard agent on an isis rocket that landed in a u.s.-controlled base in northern iraq last week. we told you about that at the time. american military's top officer told congress a mustard agent was present on the shell at the time. today, a spokesman says lab tests have proven that was not the case. we are now a little more than a month away from the start of this year's open enrollment period for obamacare. the president has been personally appealing for beleaguered insurers who are hemorrhaging money to stay with his program. and today, the white house turned its focus to another set of reluctant participants. chief washington correspondent james rosen joins us live from the white house with that. good evening, james. >> reporter: bret, good evening. yes, that group is millennials, as one in five of those americans who were born between

1982 and 2004 still lack health insurance. that's down 10%, supporters of the affordable care act at a white house event this morning promoting outreach to mill lineal. still too high and perhaps, part, due to dennis mcdonough, of an invincibility complex he said he had as a young person. among those solicited for advice about how to engage millennials was brad jenkins, managing director of the comedy website funny or die who urged white house officials to ask themselves what they think their own kids would be likely to click on. >> a lot of times people come to funny or die and they're like we want brad pitt and we're like, for what? they're like, to reach 19-year-olds and we're like, you know what, brad pitt doesn't reach 19-year-olds. youtube stars do. or instagram stars. or vine stars. >> brad pitt taking it from all directions these days. now at today's press briefing i asked white house press secretary josh earnest about the

sheer novelty of seeing an executive from a place with a name like funny or die showing up on a list of attendsydees fo white house summit of any kind. >> we would be remiss, it would be malpractice, to fail to engage those kinds of outlets we also know have substantial audience that we're trying to reach. >> while top white house and health officials touted the success of obamacare with the uninsured rate having dropped to a new low, 8.6%, vice president biden acknowledged last week a separate problem with the president's signature domestic initiative. >> there is a concern now the number of companies that are pulling out and leaving these potential significant spikes in the cost of being part of the aca in states where there's only one competitor, for example. >> and mr. biden acknowledged there is a need for, quote,

changes in the law to address that issue which he suggested could be accomplished administratively. bret? >> james, we also inched a bit closer today to historic moment in the obama presidency. we expect the first override of a veto by the 44th president. tell us what's happening with this. >> reporter: yes, as regular viewers of this program know, the president on friday vetoed a measure called the justice against sponsors of terrorism act, jafta, a measure that passed both houses of congress unanimously and which empowers victims of the 9/11 attacks and their families to sue saudi arabia for damages in connection with the attacks. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell, republican of kentucky, has now set a two-hour debate and vote for tomorrow. the white house is quietly lobbying members of congress to stave off an override. and some have buyers' remorse about the bill. it's believed both houses will have the votes necessary to enact the measure over the president's veto likely by week's end, bret.

>> we'll follow that. james rosen live on the north lawn. thank you. president obama has tapped a career diplomat to be the first u.s. ambassador to cuba in more than 50 years. the white house says the president plans to nominate jeffrey dela ren this to the post. currently a top diplomat at the u.s. embassy in havana, the intersection. the senate confirmation is required but could be tough to win before the president's term ends in january. some republican senators who oppose the president's decision to normalize relations with cuba have promised to block any ambassador nomination. a temporary federal spending bill to avoid a government shutdown was blocked in the senate this afternoon. democrats are demanding money for flint, michigan's, water crisis, claiming it's unfair that the continuing resolution includes money for flood recovery for louisiana and nothing for flint. republicans say flint will be taken care of in a separate piece of legislation and are criticizing democrats for blocking the zika funding bill that was in the bill. tonight, a deal does not look

imminent. stocks up dow, the s&p 500 finished ahead 14. the nasdaq jumped 48. who won, who lost, and how much does it matter? we'll talk about last night's debate and reaction when our panel joins me when we come back.

got a chance to say a few things. about what i want to do if i'm so fortunate enough to be elected as your president. and you know, i do have this old-fashioned idea that if i'm asking for your vote, i should tell you what i want to do. >> it was a fascinating period of time, and i think we did very well. very big moment. very important moment. talking about a lot of very important subjects including jobs, including immigration. it was an interesting evening, certainly, and big league. >> it was an interesting evening. definitely that. and, of course, the candidates were saying they both won.

what about their top supporters, advocates? >> it was boring. it was robotic. she looked out of it. she looked like she wasn't prepared for the way trump was behaving and what trump had to say. >> she came in free pair preparo talk about the economy, ready to talk about all the issues. she had specific plans. i thought he came in unprepared and kind of fell apart. the focus groups that were being done realtime had her winning. >> all right. let's bring in our panel here in new york. monica crowley, editor and columnist for the "washington times." phillip bump, politics reporter for the "washington post." kaitlyn hewitt burns for real clear politician. bill mcgurn, main street columnist for the "wall street journal." thank you, all, for being here. bill, let me start with you. your thoughts. >> well, look, i think part of the focus after the debate, the

post-debate story is almost bigger. i'm not sure regular people watched the debate the way we do. i don't know about you but i was watching with the computer screen screen, with the twitter feed then family reaction. i'm not sure people chew the bone so much as other people. >> let me tell you one thing, let me interrupt you, i was in the hall and it was a completely different thing because i went home to my hotel room and watched the whole debate again. that's why i'm very tired today. but it's completely different. >> oh, it's -- there's a lot of different experiences. look, overall, i thought this mrs. clinton did better than i expected, presented herself well. i think there's a lot of analysis of donald trump. i think his main problem was she put him on defense a lot on his business stuff. he spent a lot of time defensive and explaining himself. and we haven't seen a defensive donald trump in a long time. you know, donald trump is an offense kind of guy. >> yeah, monica, i heard of a few people say, you know, the first 25 minutes were really strong for donald trump, but, unfortunately, the debate was 90

minutes. yeah, my biggest complaint about his performance which i thought was fine, because he cleared a lower bar, which is presenting himself as a reasonable person and a plausible president. he cleared that. and that in itself constitutes a win for somebody who has never done this before. but my biggest complaint was that throughout this campaign, or at least for the last two months, donald trump has done the right thing in making his campaign not about himself, bret, but about america. talking about the american people. and how he's going to restore america to economic strength and military greatness. and what he did last night was he kept falling for the bait. she kept baiting him. he turned it into a commentary about his businesses, his properties, his hotels. he rescued him himself on a number of occasions. i think it was a lot of lost time on his part where he could have been talking about that he's really doing this for the american people and for the country. >> you know, he spoke the most, about 65% of this debate, and when the debate is about him, clinton is probably doing

better. >> right. we've seen that throughout the course of the campaign. whoever's in the spotlight that week, they tend to be doing worse in the polls so what i thought was interesting, i was actually kind of surprised how much time he took and how much time he took to defend himself. instead of moving on. to your point earlier, he missed a lot of opportunities to change the course of the debate back to what he's comfortable talking about. he missed lots of opportunities to go after her on the foundation, on immigration, on benghazi. he said he wasn't asked about it but this was a format in which there was no opportunity to go head to head. we didn't see that in the primary. and i think the preparation strategies really showed last night. the idea that he was not really -- didn't seem prepared to take these attacks and move on, i think, was apparent. >> yeah. phil, the trump campaign points to these online polls and there's a ton of them. we know this. from the primary debates.

and they're quick polls but the most significant i guess number was "time" had 53%-47% trump won, 1.4 million votes. supporters can flock to there and influence those polls. the scientific poll from cnn had clinton winning. but the perception about how middle america looks at it, to bill's point, and how much it affects this race, i think is yet to be seen. >> that's exactly right. i mean, one thing we're going have to wait for, we're all chomping at the bit, the point that was made earlier, we're junkies for this stuff. we want to see polls that showed exactly what happened last night. >> even five days, right? >> normally polls are run over the weekend as well. we may have to wait until next week. we'll see. they tend to rush these things. you know, yes, those online polls, that "time" poll you referenced, right above it they say it's not a scientific poll. there was a lot of talk that donald trump didn't do well, hillary clinton won the debate. people seized on this including folks in the trump campaign.

way or a lot of anecdotal the other. >> all right, bill, the "new york post" had a story about how donald trump won over some democrats and undecided voters in a bar in pennsylvania. and ken reid is a 35-year-old registered democrat, small businessman. he's quoted in the piece saying, "by the end of the debate clinton never said a thing to persuade me that she had anything to offer me or my family or my community. i have to say trump has the edge this evening. he came out swinging but also talked about specifics on jobs and the economy." >> right. i think it points to the two very different kinds of campaigns. mrs. clinton is a policy wonk. that's what she offered last night. she was in command of her different policies. donald trump isn't running on policy finesse. he's running on the idea that america is not great anymore. he's going to make it great again. and he's running against political correctness and against washington. so i don't think you're ever going to get the details but this is the question i wonder. if you're sitting in dubuque, if

you're not bill mcgurn watching with the twitter accounts and people e-mailing you, if you're just sitting there in your living room with your spouse and someone says, i'm concerned, people that are worried about their jobs, worried about the economy, that might resonate. >> what about this day after and dealing with the one question about the woman that he had called fat from miss universe, and then dealing with it this morning on "fox & friends." i don't think it was a direct question. he kind of brought it up. >> yes. >> how -- is that winning with women? >> he has a tendency that doesn't work in his favor. it's not helpful when he extends the life of a story that is not helpful to him. and i think in that situation, he should not have fallen for her bait. clearly at the end of the debate, she had that talking point prepared about women and since lester holt didn't bring it up and he didn't hit her with it, she felt she needed to interject it. and it was a problem because he felt then that he had to address that. instead of focusing on the larger picture which is that 70%

of the american people believe the country is on the wrong track. this is a change election. donald trump is the change agent. she is running as the status quo incumbent. the global elitist which is being roundly rejected by voters across the web. instead of addressing those issues directly which she did to -- >> definitely in the first 25 minutes. >> absolutely. i think too often he went down the rabbit hole. i think in the next two debates he will probably avoid doing that. >> you know, he said at the end of the debate, i'm not going to mention something i was going to mention, but by not saying it, he essentially said it. about the clinton's -- >> exactly. he made the point that he was trying to make, and the campaign is saying that he might bring things up in the next forum. remember the next format is a town hall kind of format which could actually sometimes work in his favor because he feeds off crowds. but it's also not the kind of format where he can really attack her on those certain things. it's a different kind of environment. >> we shall see. next up, domestic terror and the cyber threat to this election. stay here.

we see the global terrorist threat evolving, and the threat to our homeland evolving from terrorist-directed attacks to a global threat environment that now includes terrorist-inspired attacks. the so-called caliphate will be crushed. the challenge will be through the fingers of that crush are going to come hundreds of very, very dangerous people. they will not all die on the battlefield in syria and iraq. there will be a terrorist i do as per ardiaspera sometime ie next two years like we have never seen before.

>> the home land department secretary with scary words about terrorism to come, perhaps. we're back with our panel. phil, you look at the latest polls and this is a fox news poll. most important issues facing the country in this election. economy is still tops at 30%. terrorism is right there at 18%. obviously has ticked up as we have had these incidents over the past -- and these attacks over the past couple of months. >> that's exactly right there. has been a trend after we have seen some of the these attacks over the course of the year. absolutely terrorism has risen. there is a partisan split on that. more of a concern to republicans which i think is one of the reasons why that played well for donald trump in the primaries. there is also a split that we see on terrorism vs. the islamic state in a lot of polls. and a lot of polls trump does way better on islamic state but hillary clinton can in some polls lead him on terrorism which is sort a weird distinction. the conventional wisdom this plays to the strength of the republican that conventional wisdom is a little tricky

this year just because hillary clinton comes at this as having been the secretary of state. that resonates with a lot of people where donald trump is a business/economy background. >> to here the diaspera that's going to come. >> it's very sobering. it one of the things we try to portend anymore. what happens there doesn't matter over here. we are learning it does matter. the terrorists don't stand still. they change their tactics. obviously one of the tactics is better intelligence. we have had politically since 9/11 is when there is a failure, when we don't stop someone, then you hear failure to connect the dots. but then when anyone tries to go collect the dots. they all fight them whether it's over commissioner ray kelly's muslim mapping program here or enhanced interrogations and we'll not be able to do it without intelligence. look, the other problem is with the fbi and a couple of these people that they watched. what do you do if they haven't broken the law? how long you can watch them for? they don't have the manpower for the 24-hour thing.

but if you travel to pakistan, it's not against the law. you have been on a website it's not against the law. what do you do something illegal? >> that's a great point and the department of homeland security keeps us safe obviously there is a lot of questions about omar mateen interviewed twice. where was the follow-up there. rahami interviewed and his father said he was a terrorist but to bill's point, what do you do? >> draw from capitol hill over the next few months. interestingly, the debate about terrorism has not really within on cyber security either. that did come up in the debate last night. the interest of the american people in terms of antiterrorism policies are more focused or less focused on us hacking and cyber issues and kind of civil liberties. and now it's really focused on these attacks and homegrown attacks, actually. and so addressing that issue. how this person came to access this kind of material

is really interesting lots of questions involved. >> not to bring it back to the debate but that cyber security question was kind of an email opportunity for donald trump it seemed like a softball. >> it was a wide open door for him to walk through, to attack her. set up as a private unsecure nongovernment server. and he didn't walk through the door. and i think it left a lot of people flabbergasted. one of the issues both to caitlin's point and bill's point about the whole panoply of constitutional rights that a lot of these homegrown terrorists are entitled to, a lot of these would-be terrorists come to the united states. they become citizens because if they don't intend to carry out a suicide attack, they just plan to carry it out or execute it in some other way. and not die in the process, then they know that they are entitled to all of these rights. so now you have a whole new group of would-be terrorists who maybe are part of sleeper cells or may want to join a terrorist group here in the united states who are going down that path of becoming american citizens

so that we are faced with those vexing questions about what we do with them. i would like to see donald trump address that question. >> cyber security, i think, is going to be a bigger deal than we even perceive going down the way. >> right. >> i think it is. but i get back to just ordinary terrorist threats. you know, 9/11, how many people killed? nearly 3,000 with box cutters, okay. the guy in france with the truck. we all sort of imagine these high-tech things. but a lot of our threats, pressure cookers and stuff are pretty simple. that's what really scares the american people. it's so simple and so easy to kill a lot of people and you don't need a lot of equipment to do it. >> panel, thank you very much. that's it. but up next, a man who lived as a goat and the news reporters who struggled to tell his story.

thomas had a set of prosthetic legs built and spent three days living among goats in the alps. he did it because. [ laughter ] >> he wanted a simpler life.

research. [ laughter ] but, actually, provokes thought. don't watch the video. [laughing hysterically] >> i need a kleenex. >> that's why you have the tissues on set just in case. thanks for inviting us into your home tonight from new york. we'll be back from washington tomorrow night. that's it from this "special report," fair, balanced and unafraid. "on the record" with brit hume starts right now. ♪ ♪ >> it is wednesday, september 28th, 2016. the nominees back on the trail after their first faceoff, both declaring victory in the debate. >> almost every single poll had

us winning the debate. >> one down, two to go. >> that as we learn of a brand new way that you can get involved in the next debate. >> more protests in a police involved shooting. a p brand new image from a witness who saw it all. the breaking details just coming in. >> a satanic temple just started a club for element tary aged ki. "foov fox & friends first" starts right now. ♪

>> little blake shelton to get your wednesday morning started right. neon lights out there all night long. you are watching "fox & friends first" on this wednesday. i am abby huntsman. >> i am heather childers. the most watched debate in history with 84 million people tuning in. >> both candidates declaring themselves the winner taking victory in key battle ground states. ed henry joins us with the latest. we expected that. >> ladies, it is interesting because we have gone right on to the debate over the debate. it's not over. both sides are claiming victory as you know donald trump ceasing on the fact that his campaign says they have raised something like $18 million