it's george bush's fault in obama's world. that's all the time we have left this evening. as alway the first one of those shows, that starts right now. >> martha: good evening and welcome to "the first 100 days." i am martha maccallum. the controversy over donald trump selection hasn't taken a breather since november the eighth and it's getting even more raucous as it turns out, as the president-elect prepares for the biggest moment of his life. this friday, at high noon on the steps of the u.s. capital, or 44 others have gone before him, he will take the oath of office for the highest office in the land. ♪ ♪ >> martha: unconventional as always, on this mlk day today, a battle royale played out between mr. trump and none other than civil rights leader, congressman

john lewis. after lewis said this. >> do you plan on trying to forge a relationship with donald trump? >> i believe in forgiveness. i believe in trying to work with people. it's going to be hard. it is going to be very difficul difficult. i don't see this president-elect as a legitimate president. >> martha: how was that for forgiveness? lewis representing a growing chorus of democrats intent on everything in their power to undermine the next president. in moments, we will speak with kellyanne conway. then, we will hear from clinton campaign national spokesperson brian fallon. first, let's go to our man in washington, ed henry live in the nation's capital to lay it all out for us. good evening. >> good evening. when donald trump left the door open to not accepting the legitimacy of a hillary clinton would not, you will remember that hillary said it was horrifying. now, congressman john lewis and other democrats don't seem so horrified. at least 30 of them boycotting

the swearing in. lewis did the same in 2001. declared in a miami speech on this day, honoring dr. king, the nation needs, quote "more love, not hate." ironic, because lewis said that he was not a legitimate president, and thus, would not work with him. "new york times" column, columnist paul krugman said, "is it moral to declare him a legitimate? and fact, it is an act of patriotism." ." the president-elect today met with martin luther king the third, the son of the slain civil rights hero, who had a not-so-subtle message for all sides. >> would we work together, we know we can roll up our sleeves, there's nothing that we as americans can do. speak about one of mr. trump's formal republican rivals in those g.o.p. primaries, senator michael rubio, he said the civil rights hero should be attending the inaugural. mr. rubio also seems to go after mr. trump a bit, saying, he shouldn't have lashed out at lewis on twitter.

>> it's a peaceful transfer of power, which is a distinguishing characteristic of our republic. that said, i also had hoped that the president-elect would have responded differently, given everything that john lewis means to our country. people make their own decisions. and that is where we stand, that is how i feel about it. >> but we should also note that advisors to hillary clinton are not calling for peace, either. she has changed her avatar on synced on my twitter, to a single word, "resist." while brian fallon said mr. trump is defensive because he is trying to quote "cling to whatever legitimacy he can." the clinton climb, apparently, not so horrified anymore. martha. >> martha: joining me this, ke. good to see you tonight. >> hi, martha. congratulations on your show. >> martha: thank you. it is great to have you here on night one as we go through the first hundred days of the trip presidency.

the question that was raised as a valid one. why did president-elect donald trump sort of makes it appear? he could have let this pass. it wouldn't have been a lead story on every broadcast tonigh tonight. >> oh, something else would have been the lead story on every broadcast tonight, martha. look, let me just say again, i said it yesterday, it needs to be repeated. congressman lewis is a civil rights and voting rights legend, icon. he has it's place in history and he deserves that. we all respect that. that's why it's disappointing to have somebody with that platform go out and say a president who is legitimately elected and it's his president and all of our presidents, that he somehow was not elected fairly and squarely. your show is about the next 100 days, but these conversations tend to be a book about the last 100 days. that is not healthy for our body politic. he won 306 electoral votes. it was not close. you can ask brian fallon while

they spent more money in georgia and arizona than they did in michigan and wisconsin, two states that she lost because they were caught unaware. you know, on good days, we were ignored, on those days, we were mocked. we responded with a master communicator, brilliant communicator, donald trump. donald trump calls himself a counter punter. he does not draw first blood. that was the case here, too. you can respect congressman lewis is vaunted place in our history, and still, defend yourself and wonder why, in a week, starting off in a week, when you're dipping the president of the united states, he has to say that about your election. the hillary people have tried every excuse, jim comey, russian hacking. >> martha: wouldn't you look -- 33 congressmen and women who are not going to show up. what is donald trump, what is his response to that? is he disheartened by that? does it make him angry? as he called them up?

does he say, let's get together and fix this? >> i was with him today. he wasn't angry at all. in fact, he was very heartened that his the son of martin lutr king jr. would be with him, it was a constructive conversation, he would be with him on the day, the national holiday, that honors his father's legacy. his father's movements. so, that is the way donald trump is celebrating martin luther king day. he met with the sun and the sun came out and told the media, martha, that they had a great conversation. he thinks that both sides were in the heat of the moment, and moving forward, we have to work to solve the problems of our nation. something that you will hear as a team from donald trump this wu will know for a moment one of his presidency, he is a man of action. let me say something else. martin luther king the third of today said that his father would be very dismayed to see 50 or 60 million people in poverty.

we agree, president trump and vice president pence agree, we as a nation need to do something about it. apparently, americans didn't have confidence that hillary clinton would do much to help that come with a 50, 60 million people in poverty. we hope they reconsider, they are certainly welcome to the inauguration. if they want to contact any of us, they're welcome to do that. i would note that it was governor pence. maybe he was preparing the platform for himself. he went to show respect and he went to honor that tradition that we have had. >> martha: i want to get one more question in with you about health care. the promise that donald trump has is made to ensure everybody and to lower premiums and to make it much cheaper for people. just outlines at this point. when will we see hard facts on this? >> those of us who work with him have seen the hard facts and the plan. the republicans, themselves, they have come up with nine

different plans over time because their constituents are so desperate to have something that is truly affordable and accessible with higher quality and lower premiums, more access and more choices. the affordable care act has not worked for many americans. for those who do rely on ed for care, donald trump has promised that he will not go without care as we make this transition from a government run health care program that was pushed through any partisan manner, the only entitlements in our history that has been pushed through without a single quote from the other side because nancy pelosi famously said, you have to pass the bill, the republicans thought it would be better to resend it. donald trump, the president-elect said this weekend, martha, that he will have the drug companies competing on this pricing. we will block medicaid to states so that those who are closest to the people -- those principles are there. the plan is being worked on. he has promised to repeal and replace it in quick succession. that is the key here. not let it linger. >> martha: big agenda for the

first 100 days. thanks for starting it with us, kellyanne. joining me now, someone who claims that donald trump is quote "insecure" about his november victory. brian fallon. thank you for being here tonight. good have you with us. >> congratulations on the new show. >> martha: thank you. thanks for being here on day one. you heard what kellyanne was just talking about. we saw the son of martin luther king jr. come out and say, i'm really upset that there are 50-60 million people in this country who are still living in poverty. let's put our differences aside and let's stop talking about legitimacy and bus actually get some work done. what you think? >> i think that's a fair concern expressed by the son of martin luther king jr. i am among those that wish is that the president-elect would have done more to this point to help bring the country together and heal the country. there is no question that he won the electoral vote necessary to enact the presidency. he won the election on november 8th. >> martha: what else does it

take to be legitimate, brian? >> what i was going to say, martha, and the aftermath of that election, especially since hillary clinton won the popular vote, even among the people that voted for term, use 61% of people say that they didn't think he was fit, they didn't think he was qualified to be president of united states. i think he had an obligation in the aftermath of that to try to bring the country together. he didn't go on a listening tour. he went on a thank you to her. some of those rallies comey's supporters of him, still chanting "lock her up. he said that hillary clinton as guilty as hell. he has called chuck schumer a clown. >> martha: how does it help to have 33 democrats, john was included, sitting out the inauguration, a tradition that is held with such great importance. is it time to put aside all of this partisanship and get together and say, look, this person was elected president? hillary clinton said it is time to accept the donald trump is going to the next president. she is going to be on the podium. where are the 33 going to be?

>> that's right. hillary clinton did decide to be there. that was a very gracious move on her part, as the opponent of donald trump, who lost that election, and a former first lady. i am not going to second-guess the decisions of any of these other democrats. look, the trump campaign, or the incoming trump administration cannot have it both ways. they can complain about these norms not being observed by these 33r's are democrats that are not going to attend the inauguration, when donald trumpd obliterating norms left and right. if donald trump was adhering to norms, he would have released his tax returns. he would be releasing his tax returns as a presidential candidate. he would be divesting all of his assets. >> martha: don't you think it is up to the american voters to decide whether or not it was important to them? 31 states and 306 electoral votes later, they were satisfied with the disclosure that he made. we are still going to go to down the territory when we have 50-60 million people living in poverty? we can't get it together to stand up there on the capitol on friday and say, let's start again? let's inaugurate this president and give him a fresh start?

>> i think if you get at the underlying issue here that a lot of these members are citing, certainly, that's a concern to me, and terms of what is causing them to make the statement and take the stand, it is the increasingly troublingly wow troubling issue of the russian involvement in the election. the degree to which donald trump steams failed to --dash potential communications involving trump campaign officials during the campaign wh emissaries of the russian government. we sat in that report last night, the cnn report, not the ba buzzfeed report, the cnn report that came out last week, it reported that there has been an fbi investigation that has uncovered communications between trump associates and representatives of the russian government. now, we have an obligation as a government, the congress does, to conduct a select committee investigation, get to the bottom of that, find out what the trump campaign -- >> martha: you know as well as i do, that james clapper said he didn't see any connection in terms of an effect of that on

the united states election. 60% of people in our polls said that none of the things that came out in the email influence their decision. it would be nice, i understand, if you wanted investigation, that's totally fine. it would be nice to put all of that aside on friday. get on the same page and move forward. i understand your perspective and i thank you very much for coming on, brian. it's good to talk to you. >> thanks for having me on. >> martha: thanks very much. still had tonight, why should america worry about the couple dozen democrats who want to boycott this inauguration? bill bennett has some answers on some thoughts on that. plus, with a growing number of media outlets publicly talking about plans to pound the new president, chris stirewalt and ari fleischer join us on why some of the white house press corps having a sudden surge of interest in doing their jobs, some might say. then, the president-elect and the outgoing cia chief trading new shots over russia. the intel report and some ugly leaks.

senator john mccain weighs in on what could become issue one for the first hundred days, straight ahead. >> what i think mr. tom price to understand, this is more than being about him. it is about the united states it is about the united states and national

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♪ >> each year on martin luther king day, let us not only recall dr. king, but rededicate ourselves to the commandments he believed in and sought to live every day. thou shalt love thy god with all thy heart. i shall love my neighbor as thyself. >> martha: president ronald reagan's speaking more than 30 years ago, reminding us to keep alive the spirit of dr. martin luther king jr. oh, but if we could hear what reagan would say about the current state of the love thy neighbor eat those that is in d.c. right now. more than 33 democratic lawmakers are now if refusing to attend the inauguration of donald trump. we will have reaction on the boycott from bill bennett, who served in reagan's administration. first, go to trace gallagher in our west coast newsroom. good evening to you. >> good evening. we will likely see an increase in the number of house democrats boycotting terms inauguration because many lawmakers say they

are still undecided. the number of those choosing not to attend increased significantly this weekend after the president-elect tweeted that georgia congressman john lewis is "all talk, talk, talk, and" and should focus on the burning and crime infested inter-cities. california congressman tweeted, "all talk, no action. i stand with rep john lewis and i will not be attending the inauguration." tennessee rep steve cohen said, i want attend the inauguration out of respect for john lewis. other lawmakers cited things like trump's comment about women, mexicans, and muslims. oregon congressman kirk schrader simply said quote, "i am not a big trump fan. i have met the guy and i've never been impressed with him." in california congresswoman maxine waters told us, she was never planning on attending. watch. >> i don't think it is hypocritical to say that i won't be a part of a ceremony or an

activity that makes people think we are all together when we not. >> today, vice president elect mike pence called in to fox to present the opposite argument. listen to him. >> this is a week where we ought to be coming together. we ought to be standing together this coming friday, celebrating the peaceful transfer of power in this country. >> among the house democrats that are boycotting, 19 are minorities, 12 are women. many of those not attending say instead, they will be holding their own protests in washington or in their home districts. martha. he >> martha: to put this in perspective, despite whatever political objections they have two his policies, not a single republican boycotted president obama's historic first inauguration. in fact, many, like bill bennett, set at the time, that he would be cheering what he called a great day for all americans. bill bennett, the former secretary of education under president ronald reagan, good to

have your tonight. thank you for being here is our inaugural show to look at the inauguration. >> nice to be with you. nice to be with the opening night. >> martha: thank you, sir. thank you. you look at the big picture and you see these things and historical context. what do you say to these individuals who have decided to set sit this whole thing out? >> shame on them. shame on you. shame on them. they are weakening the institutional process here. the institutional process is not exactly the peaceful transition of power. it is the celebration of the peaceful transition of power, the bipartisan celebration. they are taking themselves out of that, martha. so many californians, maybe this is part of the secession movement they have been talking about out there, they are removing themselves from an almost sacred american practice. historically, let's just think about this, i will be the foreman length person today, martha, maybe this time on your show to say that igreat respectd

what he did. he is an icon. he is a hero. since one and america do we not offer criticism of our heroes? books about martin luther king have talked about his shortcomings. books about lincoln have talked about his shortcomings. john lewis has to recognize this is a different country from the country where he got beat up 50 years ago. things have really improved, at least until the obama presidency, which i think setback race relations. you can criticize an icon, you can criticize a hero. i think he deserves criticism here. look, donald trump as the legitimate president of the united states. there is no question about his legitimacy. you may not like him, you may not agree with him, but there is no question about his legitimacy. >> martha: one of the things that irritated some of these democrats, and it should be a wake-up call to anyone who loses an election, republican or democrat, you have to ask yourself why. people who voted for you in the past didn't vote for you or your

party this time around, you have to look in the mirror and say, so, why did these blue-collar workers who have always been democrats go a different way? why did some of these african-american voters who were worth president obama go a different way? so, politically, the interest for them, to not be paying attention to what happened on november 8th. >> i think it is dangerous. the numbers are relatively low for trump coming in, and terms of public approval. but what are the numbers in terms of, if you ask the public, should you give this guy a chance? should he be given the opportunity to flex his muscles as president? the answer would be yes. maxine waters said, i do not want to work with them, i do not want to work with him. that is a declaration of war democrats have been railing against for the last eight years. republicans refused to work with him. so, yeah, they are taking themselves out of the process. look, alabama lost to clemson.

i don't know any alabama fans who are walking around saying, we didn't lose. it didn't happen. it's not legitimate. >> martha: [laughs] >> they are saying, what should we have done? they are showing more sense than the democrats here. even the dallas cowboy fans are not challenging the legitimacy of the green bay packers. what can we do better? >> martha: bill, thank you very much. great to see you. we'll see you next time. moving further into this with a former vice chair of diversity outreach for donald trump's campaign and richard fowler, senior fellow with the new leaders council and fox news contributor. let me start with you, good to have both of you here tonight. >> god bless america. >> martha: thank you very much. >> what do you say to the members of congress who say, donald trump has denigrated mexicans, he has gone after minorities, he wants to kick people out of the country, and they don't agree with that. they will sit home. >> what i would say to those

people is donald trump got black votes, he got hispanic votes, he got white votes, he got boats across the spectrum. there were many people, american citizens, who agreed that there was a problem in the nation. that is why donald trump was voted into office, because there was a lot of hope and change rhetoric that was spoken that never came to fruition. what i will say about those who shouldn't be in the country, we have had a problem where people who are here illegally are getting treated better than american citizens, veterans, people who need help in our own nation. so, what i think they should do is understand that donald trump is saying, look, these inner cities, where there are a lot of poor and black, latinos, i want to put $100 billion into the inner cities to bring job and investments and improvements. they should want to help. >> martha: that is really at the heart of everything.

and so many ways on martin luther king jr. day. richard, has the prior administration done all it could have done to help the inner-city situation? donald trump looked at the people in certain situations and said, what has been tried has not worked. why not give me a try? many of them said, yes. so, why is it that some of these democratic lawmakers can't accept that? >> i think democratic lawmakers, i am very hopeful for a trillion dollar infrastructure bill. like i said over and over again, donald trump's number one problem is going to be barack obama's problem, which is dealing with house republicans and senate republicans to try to get this bill through. i think the other problem we have here, while you see majority of people who are not going to -- donald trump says they want to bring the country together, mike pence went on "fox & friends" are saying they want to bring the country together. we haven't seen those actions. >> martha: he hasn't even

become president yet, richard! they haven't given him 2 minutes in office to give him a start! >> not even started to have a conversation of the american people. he hasn't visited one inner city. he visited one. >> that is absolutely not true. he has gone to detroit, michigan. we know that. >> that is not true. >> absolutely true. >> if you are going to get on television, please, tell the truth, sir. he was there with ben carson. so, don't go there. >> first of all, they were on the outskirts of detroit and he worked in detroit city proper. those are the facts. >> whatever they did -- >> he would go to the public schools there. >> whatever he did come he took michigan, didn't he? >> he didn't take black voters. he didn't win black voters and he didn't win latino voters. what donald trump needs to do if he wants to fix american enter cities, he needs to go and have a conversation of the people live here. >> what donald trump needs to do

is -- >> martha: this isn't helping to start on this kind of phot with all of these people abandoning ship before he takes office. >> they understand that the guy has issues. >> because they don't care about our youth. they care about living off the backs of the people. if they did, they would get with our president-elect. >> they don't care about the youth? >> we gotta go. thank you, guys. to count on fox news for complete coverage of the inauguration of donald trump. we will cover it from 11:00 to 5:00 eastern. we will be live from washington that night. we look forward to it. in the meantime, i had, president-elect donald trump suggesting that john brennan may be trying to undercut his incoming administration. an inclusive interview with john mccain on what that means. plus, james comey and loretta lynch, when the dash standing bh

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♪ >> i don't think he has a full appreciation of russian capabilities, russia's intentions and actions that they

are undertaking in many parts of the world. what i think mr. trump as to understand at is that this is more than being about him. >> martha: just a couple of days until the inauguration. outgoing cia director john brennan was on on fox news suny this weekend, warning donald trump on russia. now, he is firing back. he tweeted "@foxnews "outgoing cia chief, john brennan, blasts pres-elect trump on russia threat. does not fully understand." "much worse- just look at syria (red line), crimea, ukraine, and the build-up of russian nukes. not good! was this the leader of fake news?" then, going even further, "was he the leaker of the fake news? "senator, welcome, great to have you with us tonight. let me ask you this. let's start with this one. do you agree with john brennan that president-elect donald trump doesn't really know what he is talking about when it comes to russia? >> i think that president-elect trump is probably not fully aware of i thought of the activities and capabilities

that the russians have developed, which are really quite alarming. i have have had many of these briefings. i also point out that barack obama has had the same information, has done virtually nothing. so, if we are going to complain about the president-elect trump not doing anything, and he has committed to increasing defense spending, which i'm very happy about, meanwhile, barack obama has cut defense spending by some 21%. by the way, in league with members of congress, so, the guilty parties have both the president and congress. so, i think the president-elect has to get better information. he asked her to sit down and listen because we are in a much more dangerous world. our adversaries are closing the gap in many ways and we are in the most dangerous times, when you look at a world that is on fire. but i will also point out that one of the major reasons why we are where we are is a total and

abject failure of leadership by barack obama. >> martha: i know you have proposed an increase of $55 billion in defense spending and a white paper that you just put out. when you talk about what you see as some of the shortcomings of the president-elect and his understanding of russia, as you see it, from your perspective, is that one of the reasons that you passed along the information that you got, which is now known as the dossier because much of the fbi? because he was concerned that he wasn't getting the full picture in terms of just how involved they were in doubt and other things? >> no, martha. i receive that information from a credible source. i thought the only thing for me to do would be to give it to the fbi. if i had sat on that information and done nothing, i think it would have been a breach of my oath of office. so, i gave it to the director of the fbi because i thought it was important to get it into the right hands. by the way, obviously, the intelligence people felt that

that was important information because they briefed the president-elect about these allegations. >> martha: wasn't right to include in the report? was at the right move? >> my understanding, it's the same information that i had, which i think they had gotten from multiple sources, as well. >> martha: senator, i want to ask you before we go, about rex tillerson. do you plan to vote in favor of rex tillerson for secretary of state? >> i've had another conversation today, with rex tillerson, and some of my concerns have been satisfied. i haven't made up my mind completely. i just want him to have an understanding of the moral dimensions of vladimir putin, in particular, and the slaughter that he has inflicted, and the violation of solemn treaties when he annexed crime area , cr, the guy is a butcher.

the only thing that a thug and a butcher understands is strength. i hope that this president-elect doesn't make this day mistake that the last three presidents have made, and that does that to somehow somehow, vladimir putin is a guy guy, remember when barack obama said, tell vladimir i will be more flexible when i'm reelected? the only thing that they understand is peace through strength. that is what ronald reagan practiced and that's what we got to go back to. >> martha: after your conversation with rex tillerson, would you say you are leaning toward supporting him? >> barely, yes. [laughs] i am. i think he is a good man. i think he is aware, certainly, of vladimir putin. i still don't understand taking on that from that thug. >> martha: senator john mccain. thank you very much, sir. great to have you with us. we will see you soon, i hope. still has a night, fbi director james comey finding himself smack dab in the center of a new

probe over his handling of the clinton investigations. could he be forced to resign? former fbi assistant director james carlstrom tells us what he james carlstrom tells us what he thinks.

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♪ >> martha: developing tonight, with the inspector general at the doj now launching a probe into how the feds handled the clinton investigation, both attorney general loretta lynch and fbi director james comey now find themselves on in the hot . in fact, we are now hearing suggestions from both the right and the left that comey should consider resigning. here now, james kallstrom, former fbi director in charge. good to have you with us tonight. >> nice to be with you. congratulations. >> martha: thank you very much. jim comey is an interesting character. there are a lot of people who believe he has a lot of integrity. but the minute he came out there and made that july assessment

that looked like he was coming down the road to indict her, then, the very end, he said, excessive carelessness did not measure up to indictment, he started on a roller coaster that he is now dealing with now, right? >> i like to say he touch the spiderweb and he couldn't get it off of him at that point in time. why the fbi director? at the very beginning of this investigation, when a grand jury could not be in panel, therefore, no search warrant, no subpoenas, no compelled testimony, why he would go along with that and not to stand up as the chief investigator for the united states, and say, without this tool, we cannot be -- do a thorough investigation. that was his first problem.

any result after that, i mean, begging for the computers of hillary's staff, i mean, the information -- >> martha: agreeing to delete them. >> agreeing to all of this stuff. the interview of herself was a farce. >> martha: she wasn't even at that interview. >> the co-conspirators are in the room. they said to the guidelines. loretta lynch at the airport, we need a thorough investigation of everything that went on. why did jim come may not get a grand jury? why did he not make a decision to not politicize the fbi at that point? why did he think there was any chance of ever indicting hillary clinton? the democrats made the mistake of putting up someone for president of the united states that had a long trail of criminal activity, that even in the public domain, that most prosecutors had said they could have brought that to a grand jury to get indictments. that is the problem they had to deal with. >> martha: but if they do the kind of investigation that you are suggesting, i don't know if they will, if this inspector general would do that, but they may uncover the pressure that

was coming down from the top on him. to stay away from her, to treat her with kid gloves, there was never going to be any indictmen indictment. >> when i say thorough investigation, that's what i mean. i want to jim comey under oath. >> wouldn't that be nice? think that will happen? >> what he was told when he asked for a grand jury. obviously, they said no. what about that whole business with loretta lynch on the tarmac? no, for the fbi director to make the decision on whether to prosecute somebody, that doesn't happen, that should never happen. >> martha: because of all this, does it jim comey need to step aside and do you believe that he has the support of the people in the fbi? >> you know, i think i have had a change of heart as to whether he should step aside. i think this should play out. i don't know if the president-elect will keep this inspector general or attorney general, at the end of all of

this, if hillary clinton is pardoned by donald trump, the american public need to know what happened here because this isn't what happens to joe blow. this is what happens to joe the plumber. people go to leavenworth for decades of disclosing top-secret information. >> martha: does he have the support of the fbi? >> its mix. i would say that. >> martha: thank you very much. good to see you, sir. >> the trauma team navigating a new fighter the media. we will see what happens with we will see what happens with the

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♪ >> martha: the first 100 days are sure to be rife with battles with the media. an article in politico points to the opportunity that reporters have to be critical of the president under the headline quote "trump is making journalism great again." some were asking whether whered of attitude was over the past eight years, when critics argue that many in the press corps had little interest in challenging the obama administration. joining me now, chris stirewalt, our fox news politics at editor, and ari fleischer. great to see both of you today. let me turn to you to first,

ari. what a novel idea? lay me out some directions coming from jennifer rubin from "the washington post." if he tries to move onto another topic, stick with it, raise the question again. it's like a journalism 101, as if these people have never heard of it before. he had to >> journalism 101 also says that if -- where were they checking things out for the last eight years. all of a sudden, saying you should go to war with the trump administration. war was a war that was used in the article you referenced where the problem began when barack obama was a candidate. if you remember, "saturday night live" in 2007, hillary, obama, and the media, putting a pillow underneath barack obama instead of covering him. frankly, the coverture wasn't soft. now, they want to change their tune. it should have been like this all along. >> martha: they are waking up. chris, in some cases, they are energized. they need to hold every

politician, every presidency to the fire, and to do good reporting, good journalistic work. that is novel, apparently. >> what we of course always want is an adversarial press. we want a press that is skeptical of people who are in power. that is what we want all the time. but, as you guys were discussion, having it be situational and having ups and downs as may be not so good. i also think that what you are seeing here if you have a morality play going on, where the reporters cast themselves in the role of the good guys, trump is the bad guy, they feel vindicated and doing what they want, and that may allow them to do things that they wouldn't under normal circumstances. >> martha: is it going to exploit this, ari, when you look up the conversation that is being had, you look at the press conference on friday, and the fights that came out of all of that, and the possibility that they might move the white house briefing room to another location. if you were press secretary, without have floated with a reporter that he worked with?

>> of course not. let me make a distinction, between moving the press room to a larger facility across the street. i'd have no problem with that as a short-term, temporary issue. there only 49 seats, as it currently stands. opening day, opening weekend trump land, it will be jampacked, you can't get in there. logistics reason to move it. never move the press corps out of the building. i would object if they tried to get rid of the white house press corps from the west wing. martha, the bigger issue, though, is trusted media. this is why the press is fighting at a disadvantage. they brought it on themselves. a recent gallup poll show that the trust in press reporting accurately and fairly is at an all-time low. only 13% of republicans believe that, only 30% of independents, and a mere 51% of democrats. the press has created a situation and made themselves vulnerable to whatever donald trump is going to do because they have lost the trust of the american people. >> martha: they clearly lost the trust of donald trump.

a lot of them a long time ago, chris. he loves this battle. he welcomes this battle. is there a way to get back to a place where he can have a transparent administration and where he welcomes being questioned and doing what most of us expect in the relationship between the media and the president? >> i think the statistics ari was just reciting some other perfectly. if only 13% of republicans trust the press, donald trump was free to go after reporters with the shillelagh and beat them about the head and neck whenever he wants and has basil chair. when barack obama beat up reporters, they were democrats who were very uneasy. they said, as you guys were talking about, 51% of democrats hold the present some esteem. if only 13% of the republicans do so, donald trump will feel free to abuse the press and quash inquiry, even when it is legitimate, even when you have people who have real desire to

hold them accountable, he will be able to beat them up. his base will cheer. >> the problem is compounded, if donald trump goes hard after the press corps, the people that are going to dislike him the most are going to dislike -- they're going to be republicans. the only people that like it or the democrats. it will further compound the polymerization of the press corps. that is going to be the more donald trump goes after the press, the more the price goes after donald trump, the worse or is to get. >> martha: thank you. good to see you tonight. ari fleischer, always good to have you here. >> thank you, congratulations. >> martha: great to have you. a quick break and we will

>> bill: we leave you tonight, as we will each night, not with a signoff but with a quote that we hope leaves of the something to think about. we begin this new 100 day journey and a new year, and he knew presidency, this, from t.s. eliot. "where last year's words belong to last year's language, and next year's words await another

voice." we want to be her voice. tell me what you think at facebook.com/martha maccallum. we will see you back here tomorrow night. ♪ >> tom: welcome to "red eye," hello everyone, i am tom shillue. let's check in with tvs andy levy over at the "red eye" deck. >> andy: trumps team considers moving the white house press briefing out of the white house. plus, ringling brothers and barnum & bailey circus announces that it will shut down in may. and finally, sephora will stop selling and eyeshadow