mia. no last name needed. >> rumor is from wisconsin. >> you have had lots of german shepherds. >> we'll see you back here tomorrow same time, same couch. >> bill: thank you, good morning, everybody. fox news alert now president trump defiant already this morning. this amid new reports that his campaign had improper contact with russian intelligence before the election. he is saying the real scandal is the damage and leaks from the intelligence community. we'll go through all of this today and let you know what we know as we get it. i'm bill hemmer. a big morning on "america's newsroom." how are you doing, shannon? >> i'm shannon bream for martha maccallum. they are saying intelligence officials intercepted phone calls after finding out russia was trying to influence the election but no evidence of

collusion. white house advisor kellyanne conway says the leaks must stop. >> it must stop. it is extremely concerning. it is not for me to say where they're coming from or if there will be an investigation. our president has said as recently as this week leaks about intelligence in security. it should concern everyone. >> john roberts joins us live with more. the president is personally pushing back this morning. >> he is, you know, this "new york times" article let's lay that out for you, shannon claims that the f.b.i. is looking into possible improper contacts that members of the trump campaign and others connected to them had with russian officials and russian intelligence during the election campaign prior to election day. named in the article is paul

man fort. he was doing business with people in russia before joining the campaign and political parties in ukraine. last summer before he was replaced as the campaign manager he told me he had no improper contacts with russian officials, received no improper payments from russia, insisted that he was only doing consulting work. the president tweeting about it all this morning in a real tweet storm quote saying this russian connection nonsense is merely an attempt to cover up the many mistakes made in hillary clinton's losing campaign also saying crimea was taken by russia during the obama administration. was obama too soft on russia? that last tweet was in response to allegations that the president has been too soft on russia. he and yesterday sean spicer in the presidential daily briefing insisted that he was being tough on russia but that he wanted to develop a better relationship with the country just like his predecessors president obama, president bush and president clinton. here is spicer.

>> the obama administration tried to have a reset with russia and failed. they tried to tell russia not to invade crimea, they failed. this president understands it's in americans national and economic interest to have a healthy relationship. if he has a great relationship with putin and russia, great. if he doesn't, then he'll continue on. >> it is attached to the departure of the national security advisor michael flynn on monday. the white house would like all of this as you can expect to go away. but even texas senator john cornyn has said intelligence house committees should look into it. capitol hill a different mind than folks at the white house this morning. >> the president talked about concerned about leaking as well. >> you heard kellyanne conway talking to sean hannity about this last night. obviously some of this is designed to try to take the attention off the controversy surronding general flynn and his departure. the white house insists it has

a legitimate beef. the members of the intelligence community and law enforcement are actively working against the president, working as the president said against national security by leaking details from investigations and content of phone calls with leaders. the president this morning as part of the tweet storm referenced the article by bloomberg general flynn's career was destroyed by a leak. thank you to eli lake. the nsa and f.b.i. should not interfere with our politics and a very serious situation for the usa. the real scandal here is the classified information is illegally given out by, quote, intelligence like candy. very unamerica. the white house is trying to root out the leaks but they're so under siege and so many of those siege elements are actually within the executive branch that shannon, i don't know how they'll possibly do it. every day you see things being walked down pennsylvania avenue

going into offices here. i don't know how they'll ever find out who is leaking the stuff. >> that won't stop them from trying to find the target. keep us updated. >> bill: general flynn insisting no lines were crossed during his conversation with the ambassador. his final interview before stepping down the former national security advisor says he is concerned about the origin of the leaks calling them a quote, criminal act. charlie hurt, analysis and charlie, good morning to you. can read a lot about this today. i want to cut through this as best we can. what do you believe is the heart of the matter for you and what is the question now, charlie? >> whatever you think of michael flynn and clearly flynn acknowledges that he at the very least misled vice president pence and caused vladimir -- vice president pence to say things that were wrong. the fact that he was taken out

like this should be alarming to everyone. you have behind is scenes intel officials at the very highest levels of the intelligence community were gathering this information and they were pushing it out in order to take michael flynn out for political reasons. those people were imbedded by holdover bureaucrats also operating out of politics. and then of course a willing media that -- this is -- a lot of these people the same media who refused to report on some of the emails that were clearly stolen from the dnc on the grounds that they were stolen from the dnc. they don't have any qualms now. so anybody who is concerned about the comey involvement in the general election should be very concerned about this right now. >> bill: john roberts was talking about finding the guilty parties. i think you will rarely, if ever, find the perpetrators. >> it will be very difficult because you have so many people on the inside.

you can't discount the holdover bureaucrats. they look at donald trump and are terrified. they don't know what he will do. but they are very scared about what he means for their future and their jobs. and so i think you're right, it will be very difficult to root that stuff out. >> bill: i think the other factor here is how long have they been watching this? what else do they have? i don't think we have that answer now. you talk about michael flynn. britt said this last night about perhaps the target that he was or has been by so many perhaps in washington watch. >> the intelligence agencies apparently were bent on undermining him and did so by the leaks that you described and tried to explain to your first guest. and i think it is also true that he probably wasn't the best fit for this job. mike flynn is a very strongly opinionated guy with passionate views and beliefs.

and that is normally not been the characteristic of the national security advisor. >> bill: i don't think you or many would disagree with that, charlie. >> no. it is so clear that democrats and some people inside the administration had targeted michael flynn well before the inauguration. he was one of their very first targets and they wanted to take him out. they succeeded. like i said, that should be concerning to all of us. >> bill: we'll see if it stops there. how does the president best go about clearing this up and moving on do you think? i imagine it's more than a tweet, charlie. >> yeah. well, i'm sure we'll see plenty of those. assuming there isn't anything more to come out of this and that's, you know, that is an assumption, but he needs to get back to dealing with the issues. the issues that got him elected. if he focuses on those things, he will get this -- this is a firestorm in washington and in

the media. and i understand that. but most people don't really care that much. they certainly don't understand all the particulars of it and they don't really understand what's wrong with michael flynn talking to the ambassador to russia but if donald trump can get back to about issues people do care about he can move on. >> bill: charlie hurt there in washington a great opportunity with benjamin netanyahu today. you can read a lot about this, folks, from a lot of different sources. the key two lines in the "new york times" today. the intelligence agencies sought to learn whether or not the trump campaign was colluding to influence the election we went through. the officials interviewed so far they have not seen evidence of such cooperation. if that's where it ends, then this is where everything ends because the great crime is whether or not there was collusion to hack into the dnc, etc. so far based on all the reporting we've seen and all the intelligence agencies have this information going back two

months, 12 months, 14 months, if that's where it stops then that's the point where this administration puts it behind them and move forward. >> a lot of people aren't getting beyond that sentence. >> bill: a lot of breathless speculation so far. hang on and we'll see where it goes one day at a time. >> we have a big show ahead this morning. democrats calling for an investigation into michael flynn. what trey gowdy calls a complete 180 in attitude. >> they're very well rested. in eight years they didn't lift a finger to do oversight. all the energy you saw at their press conference today went on an eight year long vacation from doing oversight over the executive branch. >> will congress set up an independent investigation? what about the ongoing leaks from the intelligence community. >> bill: we'll talk with two powerful senators today. the top democrat on the senate

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russian spy ship first spotted in international waters on tuesday is now patrolling along our east coast. that ship is armed with surface to aramis ills but its main objective is to intercept communication and collect data from the u.s. navy. we're told the ship is 30 miles south of connecticut home to a u.s. navy submarine base. >> bill: trump administration facing some fresh pressure from lawmakers over its communications with russia and the timing of michael flynn's resignation there. some democrats blasting the republican colleagues on the hill demanding an investigation. >> do you hear the silence? this is the sound of house republicans conducting no oversight of president trump. >> we are in a fight for the soul of our democracy. >> right now this is a raging example of a president who is incompetent, reckless and

strategically incoherent. >> south carolina congressman trey gowdy my guest from the hill. good morning to you. how are you? >> bill: they quoted tweets from michael flynn off a fake account on twitter. very dangerous stuff. they later apologized and pulled that back. your question, sir? what's important about this story? >> there are a couple of things. criminal allegations congress doesn't have a role in that. that's up to the executive branch, the f.b.i. and department of justice. there may or may not be a congressional injury here. the house intel committee which i now serve, the chairman has been looking into russia for months and months and months. the democrats may be new to this investigation but the republicans in the house as it relates to russia and their attempts to interfere in our elections we aren't new to it. >> bill: mitch mcconnell said this morning we know they were messing around, meaning the russians. we don't know if it had an

impact on our election. where are you on that statement, sir? >> the more information, the better. the more evidence, the better. but think back to yesterday, bill, one of my democrat colleagues said he wants public hearings. public hearings on classified information. whenever someone says they want public hearings about a classified matter you know they're not serious. congress is capable of investigating. we did it in the committee i was on 99 out of our 100 interviews were done in private. the democrats want it to be a public story. they're more interested in the politics of it than they are finding out what happened. >> bill: i think this is a critical component to the story about what mitch mcconnell addressed there. don't know if the russians had impact in the outcome of the election. do you concur with that or do you have other information now, sir, that would suggest otherwise? >> it depends how you frame the question. was there an attempt to inject themselves in our election? that's the first question.

number two, was it successful and three did it have impact on the outcome? those are separate lines of inquiry, each of which are appropriate. you can't blur the lines and just say one. you have to look at all three of them. those are three distinct lines of inquiry from my vantage point. >> bill: how do you answer the critical one about the election involvement right now based on what you have may or may not know? this is very important to nail this down. what do you understand? >> you are talking about whether or not it had an impact or whether or not there was -- i don't think anyone knows that. i've seen no evidence of it and what i have seen which are classified materials, do not support the allegation that they successfully impacted the outcome of the election. >> bill: that would match with what "the new york times" is reporting that we talked about in the last segment. who is behind these leaks? >> no idea, bill.

i don't like unauthorized disclosures, the word leak is such a benign term. it is an unauthorized disclosure that may be illegal. i don't have any idea who it is. there is an insatiable appetite for leaks in this town both on the receiving end and on the giving end. you didn't hear me talking about wikileaks. that was an unauthorized hack. i'm old school. i don't think you ought to disclose things that need to be kept classified. >> bill: would ben rhodes be a person you would consider who worked in the obama white house for eight years? >> it wouldn't be fair to mr. rhodes or anyone else for me to throw out a name. i have no idea who did it. i think it's a separate inquiry from the substance of the leak. but when you have a classified transcript that makes its way into the public domain, i know the care that the intelligence community for the most part takes to protect classified information. the fact that you would leak it

to the media is in some instances a crime. not just a leak, it's a crime. >> bill: the reason i mentioned mr. rhodes is because others have put his name on the table in the past 24 hours. you specifically, based on your benghazi committee investigation had direct contact with him. again, are there individuals who either holdovers from the previous administration or who have left as a result of the new administration, who would have contacts with the intelligence community and would have direct contact with leading members of the dnc, sir? >> there are dozens of people who would have access to this information but it is not fair to them for me to guess whether it is ben rhodes. i heard a doj employee's name mentioned. it is just not fair for me to name someone's name when i have no evidentiary support to name them. >> bill: let's leave it there for a moment.

will there be a select committee or not? mitch mcconnell suggests that intelligence committee can handle it on its own. >> it is selected by the speakers himself, a highly coveted committee and he and the minority leader hand pick the people on that committee. it is already select. >> bill: sir, thank you for your time. i can tell the p.a. system is working on capitol hill. thank you for fighting through that and your patience. trey gowdy on the hill. more to come on this certainly. >> the brother of kim jong-un killed and there is a woman in custody. there are a lot of questions about what exactly happened. see me. see me. see me to know that psoriasis is just something that i have. i'm not contagious. see me to know that... ...i won't stop

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you're a funny guy. best of the oscars. funny how? how am i funny? scorsese finally wins. could you double check the envelope? show me best picture. what's the difference? show me best actor. i do not take tonight for granted. thank you so very much. get all the greatest scripted and unscripted oscar moments on xfinity x1. the oscars, live sunday, february 26th 7eâ4p on abc. >> bill: there is a new study showing millenials need to pump the brakes on some bad behavior

behind the wheels. 88% of drivers between the ages of 19 and 24 admit they text while driving, running red lights or speeding as we learn tens of thousands of bridges nationwide need major reconstruction. whoa, a report finding 55,000 are structurally deficient including high profile spans like the memorial bridge in d.c. yankee doodle bridge in the state of connecticut. sometimes i'm guilty of the text thing, too. >> shannon: no, you drive in the city? >> bill: yes. occasionally. >> shannon: a lot of new yorkers don't. i wonder. feel like a butler, chauffeur situation everywhere you go. >> bill: that's not my game. what i want to tell you is that sometimes the temptation is so great that you just have to respond. but you try to control yourself. my lesson to young folks, don't listen to me, all right? listen to your mom and dad. >> shannon: don't drive on bridges is the rest of that story. >> bill: everything else is

fine. >> shannon: right now fox news alert a woman in cuss to dough arrested in connection with the death of kim jung un's half brother after a poison attack. we have details. what is the latest on this alleged assassination as some are calling it, ben? >> shannon, this has all the elements of a true spy story. it has poisoned attacks, female spice, got the estranged brother of the north korean dictator. a lot of questions why they would want him dad. kim jong nam died suddenly on monday after being attacked at the airport in malaysia before boarding a flight to mccould you. he told medical workers he had been attacked with a chemical spray. police arrested one of two women said to be north korean agents carrying vietnamese travel documents and caught on ctv at the airport.

they held a cloth over kim's face before fleeing. he was once touted as the successor to his favor but he tried to enter japan on a false passport. at that time he said he wanted to visit disneyland in tokyo. the beginning of his exile. he had lived abroad and south koreans said he was on a hit list for the last five years. >> shannon: why would kim jong-un want him dead? >> he was an outspoken critic of the regime and a thorn in the side and embarrassment to the country. he lived at this building where he was under the protection of the chinese government. they had supplied him with bodyguards but it is not known if the bodyguards were with him at the time n.2010 he publicly criticized his brother saying he didn't believe he could be a success in north korea and questioned the need for the

third generation of the kim family, his own family to rule there. there are also reports that he may have been considering a defection to south korea. the north korea's have asked an autopsy not be done and the body returned to them. >> bill: big meeting at the white house. coming up later this morning. president trump will host the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu. this will be significant, too. we expect it's the relationship to be much different from what we've seen over the past several years. they hold a joint news conference at noon eastern time and certainly we'll have coverage of that. >> shannon: must-see tv. no doubt questions about this. former national security advisor michael flynn, democrats calling for a full independent investigation into exactly what kind of conversations he had with the russian ambassador and why he ultimately resigned weeks later. maryland senator ben cardin is

one of the lawmakers leading the charge. he joins us live next. >> whether or not he actually misled the vice president was the issue. that was ultimately what led to the president asking for and accepting the resignation of general flynn. that's it, pure and simple. it was a matter of trust.

>> shannon: growing calls on capitol hill for a special investigation into now former national security adviseor michael flynn. democrats want answers about conflicting accounts of conversations involving sanctions with the russian ambassador. about what else he and flynn must have discussed and what the president knew about flynn's activities and why it took weeks to push him out. here is senate majority leader mitch mcconnell and republican congressman trey gowdy. >> i don't think we need to go through setting up a special committee. we'll look at russia involvement in the u.s. election. it is a significant issue.

>> he wants public hearings on classified information. whenever someone says they want public hearings about a classified matter you know they aren't serious, so congress is capable of investigating. we did it in the committee i was on 99 out of our 100 interviews were done in private. the democrats are more interested in the politics than finding out what happened. >> shannon: ben cardin is the ranking member of the senate foreign relations committee. thank you for being with us. we have multiple congressional investigation ongoing and the f.b.i. is investigating. why do you think something separate and above? >> i think these congressional investigations are important. each committee have responsibility and they need to carry out those responsibilities. but when we were attacked on 9/11 we recognized that we need to do something that was broader, that had the jurisdictions to look at comprehensively how we could protect our country from this

type of terrorist attack. we set up an independent commission, a blue ribbon commission and gave them broad powers to find out what happened to protect america. russia has attacked us. they attacked us in november in trying to compromise our free election system and there is evidence they're continuing to try to infiltrate our country. it is important that we have that type of a serious independent investigation done as to how we can protect ourselves from this type of vulnerability to our national security. it has to be nonpartisan and comprehensive. >> shannon: senator, there are a lot of people who will say equating 9/11 to what you are now looking at. those are two very different things. there are a number of scandals and rumors over the years on capitol hill. many of them during the last eight years under president obama's watch. you may have heard congressman gowdy said when you guys have been on vacation for a lot of years. from benghazi, email servers and you didn't want independent

investigations on that. you've taken a break and have so much energy to go after republicans and the president on this is what he says. your response. >> on the attack on our country it was bipartisan that we felt we were vulnerable for terrorism. what russia is trying to do to the united states is bring down our democratic institutions. this is a very serious issue about democracy. they are likely to be using similar tactics in elections in europe, in germany and france and netherlands. this is a very serious threat to our democratic system of government. we need a nonpartisan. this is not politics. this is about protecting our national security. an independent commission made up of blue ribbon appointments is what will give the american people confidence that it is not politics as usual. look, the committee should do their work. i'm for that including the committee i'm ranking senate foreign relations but for the sake of the -- of our national

security, it deserves an independent commission. >> shannon: do you fear or have any kind of doubts that the f.b.i. investigation that's ongoing will give the american people that same clarity and ease of transparency? >> the f.b.i. investigation will look for criminal matters as they should. if anyone violated our criminal statutes. that's important. that's not the comprehensive way of defending ourselves from the type of attacks that we're getting from russia to our democratic system of government. that's a separate issue. part ofist is holding those who may have violated our laws accountable so the f.b.i. investigation is very important. >> shannon: a number of your colleagues on both sides of the aisle are expressing concerns. are you heartened that you are hearing from prominent republicans maybe you aren't on the same page about the details of what kind of investigation they're concerned about potential links and interference by russia. senator lindsey graham is willing to have a joint select committee if some of what has been alleged are facts and

evidence to back it up. it sounds like some colleagues across the aisle share the core of your same concerns. >> i agree with that completely. senator corker, the chairman of the foreign relations committee and i have talked about this. we know that we have a responsibility on our committee to get information concerning our relationship with russia. we want to make sure that we have adequate information so that we can carry out our responsibilities as the senate foreign relations committee. yes, and senator graham and senator mccain and others have expressed a need for having a broader investigation as to what russia has done here in america. >> shannon: okay. i also asked senator graham about where the information came from, who is leaking it and who is responsible. here is what he told me. >> incredibly concerned that this white house and people around the white house are leaking conversations between the president and foreign leaders, leaking classified information to the media on a regular basis. part of the investigation that

i'm talking about should include who is leaking and they should be punished. it is not fair to the president for him to be treated this way. >> shannon: a democrat or republican in the white house if there are leaks how concerning is that to you? >> i agree with senator graham. we have to be able to protect our sources. we have to be able to protect confidentiality. we also have to have an open investigation as to what is going on so the american people are shared the appropriate information. but unauthorized leaks, compromising classified information, that cannot be tolerated. >> shannon: i want to ask you as well this morning developments with a russian vessel of some kind now 30 miles off the coast of connecticut. the fly bys that we had last week of russian jets. what do you make of what a lot of people say is a very provocative course of action? >> we know there are hot spots all over the world today. we know what china is doing in the china sea is provocative.

the challenging of our free commerce by air or water. there is bound to be risks associated with that type of provocative activities. but america must maintain the free commerce in the skies and in the waters. >> shannon: but this russian vessel 30 miles off the connecticut coast. it's not unheard of but it seems to be very intentional at this point. >> well, that's clearly a matter that could escalate and it is something that we must be very cautious about allowing the russians that type of access to our country. >> bill: all right. senator, always great to see you. thanks for your time. we'll see where this goes and i think it's interesting to note the dow jones industrial average is now at another record high. >> shannon: positive territory. >> bill: if you think about investors trying to forecast the future the next six months, they are looking at the same stories we are. the dow -- the market right now is reflecting as to whether or

not how deep they believe this story goes. we'll just watch that. >> shannon: we are. >> bill: you had another high yesterday, too. check out your 401k. as we continue to monitor the news on michael flynn's resignation sean hannity makes the case there is a lot more at play in the story when he said the following last night. >> there is something much bigger here and much darker going on. that's been part of the alt radical left and master plan to damage and destroy the president donald trump and frankly as collateral damage anyone connected to him. >> bill: is hannity proven right in the end? we'll have a fair and balanced debate coming up here and we'll get to the bottom of all that. a girl in maine lucky to be alive thanks to first class teamwork. check it out. nice. >> i yelled for rope. taylor ran back to his shack and a coil of moun tay climber rope. we jumped on a four-wheeler and

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>> shannon: a dramatic rescue from a frozen lake in maine is captured on camera. you won't believe this. >> almost there, come on, it's right there. hold on tight! >> shannon: this is from water borrow from a helmet camera showing three men working together to save a 16-year-old girl. the men using a hope as a lifeline to pull that teenager to safety. authorities say she was riding on the back of a snowmobile when she was thrown off and landed in frigid water. she was taken to the hospital and is expected to be okay thanks to her rescuers. amazing. that dedication you could feel the emotion and probably the adrenalin they had rushing through to get her to safety. >> bill: they had a big storm up there, too. that was part of it. right time, right place, great work, exactly right. here is sean hannity from last night. >> d.c. swamp is rising up

colluding and fighting the take down the 45th president and his entire administration. it's that serious. impeachment of the president is clearly the end goal for the left. facts, truth, doesn't really matter. mike flynn is a small casualty of the bigger plan. the left is trying to make what happened here into the next watergate. we have to remember that these are the same liberals who fiercely defended hillary clinton. >> bill: that comment is ripe for debate. the bigger plan to take down the president. good topic for debate. gentlemen, good day to both of you. brad, start. is there something to it or there? >> there is nothing there. flynn is a personnel problem that was investigated to the satisfaction of the president. the president asked for his resignation, he resigned and that seems to be the end of the story. if the f.b.i. is continuing the investigation, shouldn't we let that run its course? whatever that course may be before the house or the senate

starts rising up for investigation? >> bill: sean's point the same democrats defending him going after trump the same ones who defended hillary clinton. the other point he made is they are trying to go after trump. is that the end game? >> yes. from the very beginning of his presidency they tried to delegitimize him and now derail him. it is an orchestrated effort. they've been using the impeachment word before he took the oath of office. it won't work. i don't think trump much cares about the noise that is happening on the hill. he is going to continue to do what he is doing and that is to the great dissatisfaction of democrats. that is he is keeping campaign promises. >> bill: joe, do you smell blood in the water here or not? >> look, the democrats -- brad is right. democrats are going to come after trump on this stuff. some of it -- a lot of it is self-inflicted.

no one urged flynn to call the russian ambassador on the left. i long for the day. >> bill: it is not illegal. >> i long for the days if i said something nice about russia sean hannity would call me a commie lover. things are upside down. my point is that that's not the problem. the problem is, if it starts to spread to the president's own party and they start to ask the questions and you are starting to see that. you are starting to see senator blunt. first it started with just mccain and lindsey graham. you are now starting to see other very important senators, particularly on the senate side, gop senators who are starting to ask questions and say -- and want a deeper investigation. >> bill: mitch mcconnell will do it in your investigative committee and no independent counsel. thomas friedman writes this in the "new york times." ladies

and gentlemen, we're attacked on december 7, 1941. attacked on september 11, 2001, and we were attacked on november 8, 2016. that most recent attack did not involve a horrible loss of lives, but it was devastating in its own way. pearl harbor, 9/11, a democratic election. brad, you care to jump on that? >> i think it's an outrageous perversion of history to allege somehow the russians skewed our election to the point that they determined its outcome without evidence to write such an article, it's patently false on its face. >> bill: brad, your family was directly affected by 9/11. >> for him to allege that what he is alleging with the russian intervention in the election is akin to that, i mean, it's beyond words.

>> bill: joe, can you defend it? >> no, i would say it does speak to, i think, why there really does need a bipartisan look at all this. so that look, if none of this stuff happened, if nothing flynn did was wrong, great. then why don't we air it out so you stop this kind of just raw -- you know, anger on both sides that we're seeing in these kinds of columns and other things out there. the country is divided. let's get to the bottom of this in a bipartisan way, not some -- >> bill: it's -- that's just over the top. >> i agree with that. >> bill: no evidence to suggest that any of that even happened. if thomas friedman would read his own newspaper he would conclude that. it is right there in black and white today. gentlemen, thank you. i don't think that breathless speculation will end here, however. brad, thanks, joe, thanks.

>> shannon: a short meeting happening at the white house at president trump gets ready to welcome the prime minister of israel. the visit comes as the white house considers a change in posture toward what that could mean for the u.s. policy in the middle east. mpanies across the e growing the economy, with the help of the lowest taxes in decades, a talented workforce, and world-class innovations. like in plattsburgh, where the most advanced transportation is already en route. and in corning, where the future is materializing. let us help grow your company's tomorrow - today at esd.ny.gov

>> rumor has it. she won high honors at westminster new york city. >> best in show at the westminster dog show, the german shepherd dog. >> bill: rumor returning to

take the top prize after losing a year ago. the owner said this is it for the 5 1/2-year-old female. the next step is puppies. >> shannon: i like her dedication to returning and fighting for the title. >> bill: are you a dog or cat person? >> shannon: dog. how about you? >> bill: dog person, not a cat person. >> shannon: that's why we get along. you can't mix dogs and cats. >> bill: the hemers had a lot of german shepherds growing up. congratulations. >> shannon: well, president trump welcoming israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu to the white house today for the first face the face meeting since mr. trump took office pushing for peace between the israelis and palestinians, a two-state solution may no longer be the goal. live from the white house. kristin, if it's not that, what is the goal for this meeting for the white house now? >> let me put it this way. last night a senior administration official was asked does peace equal a two-state solution? that official responded maybe, maybe not. the simple fact that the white

house is no longer insisting on a two-state solution marks a major break in decades of u.s. foreign policy. it will certainly be at the center of discussions today between president trump and prime minister netanyahu. listen to how white house press secretary sean spicer characterized it in the briefing yesterday. >> as the president has made clear his administration will work to achieve comprehensive agreement to end the israeli/palestinian conflict so israelis and palestinians can live in peace and security. the pay forward toward that goal will be discussed between the president and prime minister. >> the israeli prime minister landed in the u.s. last night and hoping this visit will reset the relationship between his country and the united states after eight years of a very contentious relationship with the obama administration. set to arrive at the white house in a little under two hours for a press conference, meetings in the oval office and a working lunch. three big topics on the table. they are the iran nuclear deal which both the president and the prime minister staunchly

opposed. number two, moving the u.s. embassy in israel from tel aviv to jerusalem. president trump supported the move during the campaign. now since taking office we haven't heard much about it. there is the issue of the expansion of israeli settlements into the west bank. at first the president supported it but now seems to be backing off that as well. the white house says all three topics will be discussed today. we likely won't know what exactly was said because the press conference is taking place before they actually meet in the oval office, which is pretty unusual, shannon. >> shannon: i saw that on the schedule and i thought that's very strange. clearly they've had some conversations, we no, in depth. that's why the press conference. we know you'll be on it. kristin, thank you. >> bill: earlier today president trump blasting the intelligence community for leaks that he calls unamerican. democrats demanding answers, more to come on all of this as we take you inside the west wing at the top of the hour. worrying about your big... about the client dinner. you gonna wear? hannah.

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>> shannon: brand-new intelligence leaks targeting the trump administrations focusing on communication between russians and the president's advisors and the motive for these leaks. i'm shannon bream in today. >> bill: good morning again, lawmakers both sides now want answers after the resignation of national security advisor michael flynn. president trump tweeting this just today. the real scandal here is that classified information is illegally given out by intelligence like candy. very unamerican. senator trey gowdy telling us last hour there are times when a leak to the media can be criminal. >> bill: the word leak is such a benign term. unauthorized disclosure that may be illegal. i don't have any idea who it is. there is an insatiable appetite for leaks in this town both on

the receiving end and on the giving end. you didn't hear me talking about wikileaks because that was an unauthorized hack. i'm old school. i don't think you ought to disclose things that are intended to be kept confidential or classified. >> shannon: catherine herridge is live in washington what's the latest on the f.b.i.'s contact with general flynn in this process? >> thank you, shannon. good morning. fox news confirming the f.b.i. interviewed flynn days into his tenure as national security advisor of his conversations with the russian ambassador. it came after the january 23 white house denial that flynn had not discussed the sanctions. those white house statements conflicted with electronic intercepts that show flynn told the russian ambassador not to overreact to the sanctions and he said, quote, made no promise to the russians whatsoever of a change in policy. but the conflicts between what the white house said publicly and what the f.b.i. knew to be the case raised the stakes for flynn and the trump

administration. false statements to the f.b.i. is a violation of the martha stewart statute. fox news is told there is no indication that flynn misled the f.b.i. in his interview, shannon. >> shannon: so does the f.b.i. investigation now go beyond flynn, catherine? >> what we've learned so far from the government source the f.b.i. investigation did go beyond flynn and included contacts between the trump campaign team and russian officials. based on our reporting there is no substantive allegation that the conversations broke the law. the leadership of the senate intelligence committee, which has an ongoing investigation into the russian election interference said they're reviewing the leaks. >> we're concerned any time intelligence is publicly talked about. just the mere fact that we might hold intelligence about a certain thing, about a certain issue, leads individuals to look at where we might have gotten it from.

that's dangerous from the standpoint of our sources and methods. >> we will feel like the most recent reports that have generated all this interest is -- i think we will be able to determine the veracity or not and then take appropriate steps. >> the leaks do suggest that former obama administration officials who had access highly restricted information tried to take down flynn and damage the trump white house. we're reaching out to the individuals identified to us to ask them if they will condemn the leaks and if they had any knowledge how this information became public. >> shannon: keep as updated, catherine. >> bill: we want to take you over the timeline based on the events we know right now. take you inside the west wing and bring in karl rove deputy chief of staff to george w. bush and karl good morning in austin.along here. the major events. go back to the end of december. this is the day that the 35 russians were expelled by the

previous administration. that's the day general flynn had a conversation with the russian ambassador, okay? mark that date. now we move into january. a lot of action in january. sean spicer apparently alluded to on the 13th of january inauguration date on the 20th. the first official press conference from the white house when spicer talked about flynn's contacts as well. it was after that date where there was contact on behalf of the f.b.i. where they interviewed general flynn at the white house or some other location. and then on the 26th of january is day the department of justice at that time informed the white house of the information they had regarding general flynn's conversations. now you move to february and this is what we understand. it was the 9th of february where mike pence was brought into the operation and you go to this past monday night when mike flynn exited there in the west wing of the white house. so karl, those are the big events we think right now. what is the major question you

have about where we are based on what we think we know? start there. >> there are two big questions. first of all, where are all of these leaks of confidential classified information coming from. i think the president is very right to be deeply concerned about the flow of information from the most classified information that the government may have being put into the hands of media outlets. but there is a bigger -- another big question as well which is on the 26th of january, the white house is informed about flynn's conversations with the russians and it takes until monday of this week basically almost three weeks -- two weeks and five days, to get to a place where this issue is resolved. that is sort of slow moving. there is more to the white house story. i thought it was interesting in spicer's comments. >> bill: what do you mean? >> the comments yesterday.

the evolving and eroding of trust is what led the president to ask for his resignation. the russia issue is part of a series of questionable instances which led the president to ask for his resignation. it seems to me it took a lot of time from the 26th until the 13th to get this resolved. >> bill: it is not illegal for incoming administrations to talk with others overseas and i imagine it happens all the time in transition periods. you worked in the west wing of the white house. you know how intimate that space is. you know how the power players are very few. so what is your analysis on the outside about how president trump is managing that section of government? how do you perhaps redirect it knowing that benjamin netanyahu will be there in two hours, karl? >> focus on benjamin netanyahu. but we don't know exactly what

is happening in the west wing. having been there, you know, i would read things in the newspaper about supposedly what was happening that had no relationship to reality. i do think this. i do think there is evidence there is competing power centers in the west wing where people are vying with each other and leaking on each other and dysing each other to the press at an unprecedented level for this early in the administration. second of all, there are -- there is not a clarity of who is in charge. that's why we got the executive order rolled out on immigration without the secretary of homeland security being able to be in a meeting with the president to say i object to elements of it and why things were rushed on that. it is why they're losing control of the narratives. i would be concerned about flynn. i would be concerned about the leaks. but i would be even more concerned about the fact that this president was elected by people who wanted to have the economy improved, jobs created and paychecks grow and the image that we have in this fourth week of the

administration has little with nothing to do with the economy. the control of the narrative is being lost by the white house. >> bill: despite the president did good things with business leaders. >> but you know you have to keep the focus on those business leaders and not on tweets about meryl streep or unnecessary conflicts. >> bill: you started to say the leaks are disturbing. you can't have americans spying on other americans and expect that information to go public, right? >> no. and i think senator b*ur, the chairman of the intelligence committee was absolutely right, the release of this information will to professionals on the other side give them clues as to our sources and methods of intelligence and that -- look, this -- look, this is political payback in my opinion either by people who served in the obama administration or by intelligence community officials who are upset about the comments that the president elect made before he got sworn in. that's revenge and it has no

role in our system and could be poisonous to the relationship between the president and the intelligence community. what if it is being done by a former obama administration official but we think it might be somebody in the intelligence community. that poisons the relationship the president needs to have with the intelligence community. >> bill: i'm well out of time. thank you for yours today. strong words karl rove in austin, texas. thanks for your time today. shannon, what is next here. >> shannon: new questions regarding the resignation of michael flynn about what was talked about in phone calls with the russian ambassador and if it was a crime. and trump -- we'll get reaction from south carolina senator lindsey graham. >> bill: the administration vowing to continue the court fight to reinstate the travel ban. a new fox poll that tells us how most americans feel about that. that's coming up. >> shannon: a growing divide among republicans on how to dismantd will obamacare.

is the campaign promise repeal of replace dead in the water? they aren't giving up just yet. >> we're focused on repealing obamacare, replacing it with the types of reforms that work for patients. that return control to the states so they can tailor healthcare the their needs.

>> shannon: new concerns today about the white house relationship with russia. after reports surfaced the trump campaign had repeated contact with russian

intelligence. it all comes as the russian spy ship is traveling up the eastern seaboard of the u.s. destination unknown. south carolina senator lindsey graham sits on the senate judiciary and armed services committee and i spoke with him earlier. i want to ask you about some troubling we're getting this morning about a russian sub 30 miles off the coast in connecticut. what's going on? >> i think russia is testing the trump administration. you had the cruise missiles in violation of the start treaty. you have russia increasing violence in eastern ukraine through their proxies. you have them buzzing ships and now you have, you know, naval vessels off our coast. they are pushing and testing president trump and so are the chinese and the north koreas and iranians. >> shannon: how does it contrast with the allegations that the president is too big a fans of vladimir putin and

others. it seems contradictory that they're pushing the envelope. >> bill: let me just say this about russia. president bush 43 miscalculated putin big time. obama was weak and naive when it came to russia and frankly i think the trump administration has been slow to get where russia is coming from. maybe this will help them understand that russia is no friend to democracy and the united states and i have new russian sanctions to punish them more for their interference in our election and hopefully a wake-up call to president trump. >> shannon: it was a discussion of sanctions led to the events that cost michael flynn has job as national security advisor to the president. what would it take for you to step up to these calls by democrats and folks on the left they want some kind of independent outside investigation. what would it take for you? do you think it's appropriate to have that level of investigation? >> not yet. here is what i'm looking at.

the flynn situation. it's not a crime for general flynn to talk with the russian ambassador about sanctions. it was inappropriate because we do have a one president at a time policy. it would violate that policy. so it's not covering up a crime, it is covering up an embarrassing political engagement. what's new and what disturbs me the most is accusations from a newspaper which could be flat wrong so i won't base my decisions on a newspaper report that there was collaboration between the trump campaign and russian intelligence officials. now, was this outside the norm? was this something damaging to the country? i don't know. but if there were contacts between russian officials and trump campaign operatives that was inappropriate, it would be time for the congress to form a joint select commission to get to the bottom of all things russia and trump. >> shannon: now, to the point

of what happened with michael flynn, here is what your counterpart there, one of your colleagues across the aisle said about what kind of investigation he wants to see. >> if an investigation is not independent, nonpartisan, and most of all transparent, there is no guarantee this administration will take the decisive and immediate actions necessary to keep our country safe. >> shannon: he has said that attorney general jeff sessions should recuse himself and too close to the players involved and should not take part in an investigation. we have the president tweeting this. this russian connection nonsense is merely an attempt to cover up the many mistakes made in hillary clinton's losing campaign. he also adds crimea was taken, all caps, by russia during the obama administration. was obama too soft on russia? what advice and counsel would you give to the president about how he publicly handles these

concerns that many people on both sides of the aisle have about contact with russia? >> embrace the fact there is a cloud growing over your presidency when it comes to russia. call on congress to get to the bottom of any contacts between trump campaign operatives and russian intel officials. if it is all a misunderstanding, they are innocent contacts. let's get to the bottom of it. clear the president and move on. i want to help this man govern the taxes, repeal and replace obamacare and say this to the president. until somebody looks at this outside your administration it will be hanging over you and your administration and we need to get it behind us one way or the other. if there were trump officials -- campaign officials collaborating with the russians, that's a big-time bad move on their part and i want to punish russia for interfering in our campaign more aggressively than i do today and any trump person who

collaborated with the russians if they did they should be punished. >> shannon: i want to ask you idea about leaks. this information came from somewhere and got to the newspapers from someone. do you think it's within the intelligence community, how concerned are you about that? >> incredibly concerned that this white house and people around the white house are leaking conversations between the president and foreign leaders, leaking classified information to the media on a regular basis. part of the investigation that i'm talking about should include who is leaking and they should be punished. it is not fair for the president for him to be treated this way. the bottom line we should have a joint select committee if there is any credibility to the accusation that campaign officials for trump interacted with the russians inappropriately. >> shannon: we'll track it closely. senator graham, great to see you. >> bill: 19 minutes past the hour. 12 sailors landlocked after a fire tears through a marina. how did this happen?

it was cold out there, too. >> shannon: it was. the future of obamacare is in doubt. will house speaker paul ryan be able to gain back support on his plan to overhaul the healthcare system? >> i see a cooperation between the federal and state government. we don't want to have the federal government overregulate all of health insurance.

>> shannon: massive fire at a marina in new jersey destroying at least a dozen boats. check this out. authorities say one of the boats caught fire yesterday afternoon and then the flames quickly spread to those others. that thick, black smoke could be seen for miles. the good news is nobody was injured but the owner of the marina says it looked like the fire started when a worker was replaying shrink wrap that covers the boat in storage and that is applied by heat.

>> collapsing law where premiums are getting higher and higher and the choices fewer and fewer where people don't have choices left at all. this law is in a collapse and we have an obligation to rescue people from that collapse. >> bill: speaker ryan, can republicans keep their campaign promise to repeal and replace? house speaker paul ryan rallying support to salvage his plan but many aren't buying it. senator rand paul walked out of a meeting just yesterday. katie pavlich a fox news contributor. good morning to you. there have been infamous words of nancy pelosi, have to pass it to know what's in it. there is a danger in that, right? >> of course, nancy pelosi said in order to find out what's in obamacare they had to pass it first. that has caused a lot of problems for the american people, state governments and for the federal government when it comes to obamacare. so republicans are in a place

now where they can't just pass any kind of bill to repeal obamacare and find out what's in it later. they have to be very careful about how they go about this in repealing certain parts of it. repealing it all at once making sure they know exactly what they're doing and what the consequences of their actions will be. >> bill: got it. you have been in contact with people on the hill to lay out a schedule for what comes next. >> right. >> bill: based on your understanding where does it go? >> yesterday paul ryan during his press conference said they were taking it step-by-step. the house ways and means committee is saying they want to offer relief through the new budget by repealing obamacare taxes. we see the house now wanting to take back this individual mandate that requires people to buy insurance or they get penalized by the i.r.s.. they want to take that away. if you take those out of the system obamacare starts to collapse further than we've already seen. in terms of a timeline of when

it will occur, when full repeal will happen it's tough to tell. also from the white house, we've seen president trump say he wants the whole thing repealed but we've seen republicans say we need something to replace it and the other side of the argument where if republicans aren't willing to follow up with campaign promises of full repeal and quickly, they'll see hurt at the ballot box when it comes to voters not being afraid to tell them that they aren't going to put up with broken promises. >> bill: rand paul said this. i hear things that are unacceptable to me. they don't seem to care what conservatives think about complete repeal of obamacare they'll be shocked when they count the votes. that goes to your point. >> the balance between conservative voters who put people in office in 2010 and 2014 and president trump in 2016. then you have the other side of the equation of people -- not a lot of them but a few people who do like obamacare. there are a lot of people who like a few of the things in it.

for example, staying on your parents' health insurance until you are 26. non-pre-existing condition function of the law. there are some things that are popular that conservatives on the hill and republicans have said maybe we should keep. but then again we have the argument which is stopping republicans from moving forward with this in terms of do you repeal the whole thing? if you do, what should you keep from the old obamacare system that we can now implement in the new bill? >> bill: final question let's underline this. based on your reporting and your conversations, do you think this happens or not? >> i think it happens step-by-step as speaker ryan has talked about. obamacare was put into place as a 2000-plus page piece of legislation. i think republicans are very skeptical they can just repeal something and not figure out the political fallout and be accountable for their actions when it comes to knowing what they are doing, knowing what the consequences of their legislation are going to be and understanding that people are going to hold them accountable for the actions that come as a

result of repeal. >> bill: no schedule. >> no big schedule. >> bill: you can't say weeks or months? >> there are some things that will happen in the next couple of weeks like the budget taking out obamacare taxes, for example. the president signed an executive order recently repealing a lot of the regulations that go on obamacare. in terms of a full repeal, bill, we won't see that i think for at least a year or two. >> bill: wow. interesting reporting, katie. when you get more, come back. katie pavlich from washington today. thank you. >> shannon: our nation's capitol leaking lick a sieve exposing national secrets including methods and sources to reveal contacts between trump advisors and the russians. which is worse? talking to the russians or the leaks themselves? >> it is extremely concerning. it is not for me to say where they're coming from but it is taken seriously by our president.

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>> bill: new reports today about members of the trump team having contact with russian officials and the investigation leading up to the resignation of the national security advisor mike flynn. those reports based on leaks revealing the wide scope of u.s. intelligence efforts. president trump tweeting earlier today the following, quote, information is being illegally given to the failing "new york times" and "washington post" by the intelligence community, nsa and f.b.i. question mark? just like russia. judith miller knows a lot about this. pulitzer prize winning journalist. good morning to you. remind our viewers you went to jail to protect a source. it shows you how difficult it is to find the source ultimately when there are reporters like you who are willing to spend close to a year behind bars. >> happily i'm the last person who went to jail for 85 days to protect a source. but my concern is that there

may be more if president trump really means what he -- more journalists who have to go to jail to protect sources if president trump is serious about cracking down on leaks. >> bill: back up a moment here. this past weekend you were in florida and you spoke to president trump specifically about the leaks. >> two weeks ago. right after the red cross ball i spoke to him and said was he concerned about the leaks of very sensitive information out of his administration? he immediately exploded and said it was disgraceful. it was despicable, he was very concerned and he was convinced that it was being done by the obama holdovers in his administration and these people were being replaced, he said. but i asked him. i didn't get a chance to ask him how do you know that? the f.b.i. isn't commenting on whether or not it has an open investigation in the leaks. what i do know the underlying

story has been preoccupying the f.b.i. and that's where their effort has been. >> bill: he suggested to you this was on behalf of the previous administration without offering any evidence. did that surprise you? >> no. it's a natural suspicion on his part. as we saw from the tweet today, he also suspects the intelligence community for leaking this kind of material. and why wouldn't they? he attacked them mercilessly and compared them to nazis and when he did that, i said to myself oh boy, this is not a shrewd move by the president-elect. >> bill: interesting point. senator schumer said if take on the intelligence community they have six ways on sunday to get back to you. >> i know that. as hard as they'll try to plug these leaks, as a recipient of many, many leaks, you never know why people leak. >> bill: karl rove was on 30 minutes ago and suggested this is revenge, payback. do you believe that? >> that could be. it could also be people who are

really outraged by what they perceive as lying to the american people. it may be by civil servants who say this is not the way to run an administration, it is in free fall. they are concerned for the country. the motives can be many and we don't know them. and i as a journalist am not in favor of full-fledged investigation into this right now. yes, when the president gets a handle on his own communications team so they stop contradicting one another we can begin to look at leaks. but the much more important issue right now is did the russians really succeed in influencing our election through trump campaign aides and trump officials? >> bill: it is apparent they tried. to what effect we don't know. >> "the new york times" said there is no evidence the f.b.i. has been able to find that suggests there was any collusion. we have to keep that in mind. >> bill: trey gowdy last hour

on our program. >> when you have a classified transcript that makes its way into the public domain, i know the care that the intelligence community for the most part takes to protect classified information. the fact that you would leak it to the media is in some instances a crime. not just a leak, it's a crime. >> bill: could be a crime in every incident. not just some. larger point, michael flynn still has his job if it's not for these leaks. >> exactly. when you look at a situation and try to parse who is telling what to whom, you have to understand what the broader game is here. perhaps some people in the administration were really unhappy with the way in which he was running the nsc from the beginning. perhaps we are headed for a massive shake-up at every level of this new administration. but what we do know is that so

far -- only 25 days -- this has been a bit of a mess, whether it's the roll-out of the refugee ban, whether it's kellyanne conway not knowing what sean spicer is about today and contradicting one another, whether or not it's general flynn not getting a handle on his own people. i'll step aside from the part of what he did and what he knew. >> bill: is it growing pains or more than that? >> i think it's a level of dysfunction that i haven't seen in my 30 years of covering washington >> bill: they have time to figure it out. >> they do and they must. >> bill: reporters don't break stories, they only break the stories sources bring to them. information and here we have a great example of that. judith miller, thank you so much. >> shannon: two republican senators have introduced legislation they say could cut immigration by half. senators tom cotton and david perdue said it would cut the

number of immigrants by 50% over 10 years. so what are the hard facts about immigration and refugees coming into the u.s. >> despite what you may hear from immigrant rights groups about the fundamental unfairness of u.s. immigration policy and the trump agenda the facts present an entirely different picture. the u.s. has the largest number of foreign born residents in the world, the global leader in accepting immigrants taking in a million migrants per year. for all you hear about germany and other countries overrun by migrants the united states doubles its closest rival turkey. the numbers. the united states took in over 5 million migrants. turkey less than half that. germany 1,250,000 followed by canada, russia and australia. ref -- refugees.

there is a movement in congress as you said to begin limiting that generous number. senator tom cotton of arkansas and david perdue introducing legislation that would cut in half the number of people who come in here legally and here is why? >> it would still allow in 500,000 immigrants with new green cards every year. that's in keeping with historic norms and very generous if you look at other countries around the world. i think we need is get a legal immigration system that works for american workers. over the last several decades we've seen wages stagnate for blue collar workers and unskilled and low skilled immigration. i think that's connected. >> 1 in 15 immigrants only have -- >> shannon: what criteria are people admitted?

>> knows because they have a distant relative here or come in an outdated lottery system. the rules need to be reigned in. they deprive americans with a high school degree or less of a good job. that is not a uniquely republican concern. in the mid 1990 president bill clinton called for a stop to the abuse of immigration laws for much the same reason. >> bill: meanwhile the president has been focusing his efforts on illegal immigration. you know that. we went out to find out how the american people feel about this travel ban. should it be reinstated? should they try again after being blocked by the federal court? the answer and debate to follow next. >> shannon: a little boy forced from his home thought he would miss his third birthday until some police officers stepped in. ♪ happy birthday to you, happy birthday, happy birthday to you

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>> bill: smugglers finding new ways to get drugs across the border here. earlier in the week border patrol agents near arizona found a catapult attached to the border wall made to chuck bundles of marijuana into territory. 47 pounds of the drug found. agents dismantled the catapult seized by mexican authorities. >> shannon: the trump administration hasn't told us what its next steps will be in trying to get the president's executive order on travel reinstated. according to a fox news poll think the order makes american safer but most americans disapprove of the order, 52%. only 46% say they approve. the division is sharply along party lines. the former deputy campaign manager for martin o'malley and a reiter for "the weekly

standard". welcome to you both. this executive order by the president is upside down. >> it is. it is somewhat in line with his overall job approval rating. it's slightly positive 48% approve. what we've seen in this poll and others the approval of the travel ban mirrors with that. i do think the fact that it's slightly on the negative side rather than being strongly positive has to do with the roll-out. the fact that people didn't know at the beginning whether those in transit would be caught up in it or not and legal permanent residents. whether people who fought alongside troops in the time of war were caught up in this and got president trump to carve out an exception and a baby girl from iran needing heart surgery. if they had thought through these ahead of time i think it would have been a strongly positive in the polls. but i think that all those problems in the beginning set them off on the wrong foot. >> shannon: when you dig into

the polling numbers you see when it comes to whether people think this order makes them safer or not there is a wider margin there. 42% say they think it makes them safer. 33% no safe and the perception is among the american public thinks it keeps them where they are or safer. >> they think that. when it comes to national security experts if you listen to general petraeus and the former head of dhs tom ridge and john mccain and lindsey graham. they say it makes us less safe and you know what? i'm not a foreign policy expert. i will defer to the foreign policy experts on this. and one thing i have to agree with john on here is that this was rolled out really poorly. not a crisis of branding, it's a crisis of confidence. and, you know, the president likes to talk about how this is all about extreme vetting. the irony here he didn't get this executive order vetted by

his own lawyers. that's why he is in the mess he is in today. >> shannon: to be fair, the administration has said they spent weeks putting this together in some cases they've spent months with the state department, with dhs and others and doj. so they -- they have said they did work on it. i know you both think the roll-out didn't go well but they put in the leg work there before they rolled this thing out. >> they did. rudy giuliani said this is the way we tried to make sure we did it legally. we realize a muslim ban wouldn't pass muster. they focused on the seven countries that obama focused on. i do think if they had rolled it out properly, made that case, let everyone know, gone to the press and said these are the seven countries obama focused on, i think there would have been a difference of perception. on the other hand if this is really about our security why just those seven countries? if we don't have to affect travelers from saudi arabia, pakistan, afghanistan but we do

have to put a temporary ban on these seven countries it feels like a checking a campaign promise, a gimmick. i think that's another big question mark. >> shannon: you mentioned that these countries, these were rolled out under the obama administration and statutory and countries that congress and the president worked together on that felt they were an absolute threat. you talk about the issue of perception. i want to bring up another poll. when people were asked about it. is it a terrorist hot spot restriction or muslim ban? 56% said it was more about restricting travel from troublesome places versus just calling it an all-out ban an anybody who is muslim. countries with much bigger muslim populations that aren't part of the ban at all. >> look, i agree with that. i'm not going to quibble over the wording here. part of the problem here is that during the campaign donald trump did say that he was going to shut down travel from muslim

countries. and you had surrogates out there like rudy giuliani saying this. this is a self-inflicted wound from the trump administration. they allowed it to be branded this way. i'm not going to quibble over the wording. a lot of the problem was the bad roll-out and how this is frankly not vetted and they can talk about how long they worked on this but didn't run it by the olc. that's the people who do the legal work here and that's why it's being held up in the courts. >> shannon: do you think there was a problem with the 2011 restriction that president obama placed on incoming iraqi refugees? you don't think there was a problem with that? >> no, this is why. it was tied to a specific threat in kentucky. this and even sean spicer and steven miller have said it is not tied to a specific threat. >> shannon: we have to leave it there. quickly, do you guys feel like the threat is over now? do you think those who would

come to do us harm are no longer coming through in the refugee status program? >> there is no proof that refugees are coming to do us harm. we've always got to be vigilant about terrorist threats. >> shannon: john, do you think the threat has passed? >> there is clearly a threat from the seven countries as well as pakistan, saudi arabia and we can implement vetting procedures without the travel ban. >> shannon: maybe they'll be part of a new executive order. >> bill: the dow is motoring forward again. we're up almost 70 points in trading today. look at that after setting another record yesterday. this while president trump said a moment ago tax reform is one of the best opportunities to influence u.s. economy. you will hear those comments on camera in a moment when they get ready from the white house. next hour president trump greets israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu.

the new administration hoping to smooth things over after years of tension between tel aviv and washington neither like the iran deal. can they change it? as soon as it happens we'll have that for you live in washington tech: don't let a cracked windshield ruin your plans.

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>> bill: fox news alert here. we're waiting important the tape play-out on behalf of president trump meeting with retail executives on the white house and offered comment on tax reform. he has been talking about that comment repeatedly and the market has reacted, up about 55, 60 points right now. we're watching that. benjamin netanyahu shows up next hour. all this is happening right now as you see the images come in from the west wing. we'll check it out here on "america's newsroom." >> how are you?

>> good morning. >> president trump: it's nice to see we have great retailers today and we'll go around the room and all introduce ourselves. some of you i've read about on the covers of business magazines and great to have you here. thank you very much. i'm pleased to host all of you at the white house, the ceos, you are some of the great ceos of our country and the biggest in the retail industry which is really important to the country. >> bill: james mattis is in europe telling the nato countries to increase defense spending by the end of the year or you can expect the u.s. to moderate its commitment. all of this stuff is moving right now. speaking of president trump's impact on world affairs scrambling the political dynamics in countries around the world and fox news senior foreign affairs correspondent greg is looking into that. what did you find out?

>> just this year three key european countries are going to the polls and president trump has a finger in all of these elections in one way or another. one month from today in the netherlands there will be parliamentary elections. dubbed by some of dutch donald trump is set to gain the most seats. over in france presidential elections in the spring. national front leader a big fan of donald trump is expected to win the most votes in the first of two rounds there. and in the fall the reelection bid of angela merkel could be hurt by a new anti-immigrant party. donald trump has knocked the refugee policies of angela merkel. will they get into power? most experts say no because of the intricacies of european politics but they're changing the dynamic of the political landscape just as in the united states. >> bill: the ripples are wide.

a quick break here, back at the top of the hour.

>> how'd that work out for you? >> did you have a good valentines day last night? >> i had a new date, her name is rumor. >> jon: we are waiting for israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu expected this hour. he will hold a joint news conference with president trump. that is set for noon eastern time. >> jenna: what a day for a news conference, right? hi everybody, i'm jenna lee. at the president will no doubt face some tough questions. "the new york times" reporting american intelligence officials intercepted calls between chum campaign staffers and russian officials write about the same time that theecer