them from a flying bat during spring training. look at that. >> aren't they supposed to catch stuff quickly? >> balls, not bats. >> congratulations to the circuit, 146 years. >> bill: good morning on this friday. jeff sessions has made his decision and the president is responding. the a.g. recuseing himself from any russian investigation and the president saying it's nothing more than a witch hunt. where to now? good morning, i'm bill hemmer, welcome to "america's newsroom." we've almost made it. >> shannon: it is friday. two hours to go still. i'm shannon bream in for martha maccallum. president trump defending his emotion battered attorney general. in an interview last night sessions explained his decision to step back. >> the reason i believe i should recuse myself is because i was involved in the campaign to a degree i think it would

have been perceived is that i wouldn't be objective in participating in an investigation that might involve the campaign. i do not confirm or deny any investigation. i just felt like i should clear the air. >> shannon: john roberts is live on the north hall. how is this story affecting the white house this morning? >> the white house was worried this was becoming the big story, the big narrative feeding into this idea there was more to this russia story than the white house was leading people to believe. and yesterday it even really kind of blew the president's big signature speech aboard the uss ford out of the headlines. jeff sessions moved quickly to take the story out of the headlines announcing he had had a previously planned meeting with his staff yesterday to decide whether or not he should be in charge of investigations regarding russian interference in the election. during that press conference he said he would recuse himself

from future investigations regarding the campaign. what triggered it. he said at his confirmation hearing he had had no contact with russian officials during the campaign last year. then it was revealed on wednesday night that he had met -- you see him there -- with russia's ambassador to the united states twice. sessions insists those meetings were in his role as a member of the armed services committee in the senate and there was never any discussion of the campaign. >> let me be clear. i never had meetings with russian operatives or russian intermediaries about the trump campaign. and the idea that was part of a quote continuing exchange of information during the campaign between trump surrogates and intermediaries for the russian government is totally false. >> he maintains the backing of the president who in a statement said last night jeff

sessions is an honest man. he did not say anything wrong. he could have stated his response more accurately. but it was clearly not intentional. this whole narrative is a way of saving face for democrats losing an election that everyone thought they were supposed to win. the democrats are overplaying their hand. they lost the election and now they have lost their grip on reality. the real story is of all the illegal leaks of classified and other information. it is a total witch hunt. the white house hoping it can have one day today with the president going off to orlando to highlight education in which their narrative doesn't get blown off the headlines. >> shannon: there is also this story now that vice president pence used a private email account as governor and actually was hacked. >> this resulted as a freedom of information act request by usa today. while he was governor of

indiana using a private aol account to do some business for the state as well as personal email. pence folks he did nothing that other governors of indiana have not done. it's well within the law to be able to do it and that all of his emails are being archived in accordance with the public records act there in the state of indiana. spokesman saying last night as then governor pence concluded his time in office he directed outside counsel to review all communications to make sure state-related emails are being transferred and properly archived by the state in accordance with the law. what's interesting is that during the campaign then governor pence was bitingly critical of hillary clinton for using a private email service to do business while secretary of state. pence's people say it's like comparing apples and oranges. she had a private server dealing with classified information at the highest levels, he was not. >> shannon: an important distinction. private email versus a private

server, big difference. >> bill: chris stirewalt, how are you, sir? good morning. the white house would like to clear the pallet, right? get rid of it. let's start there. >> yeah, the problem is every time we think they're done, every time they say we're all through with the russian jazz there is another mistake. now, there is no intimation from anybody or no evidence certainly that jeff sessions did anything wrong. it is not -- there is no reason not to believe him. he was talking about the normal affairs he would as a sten at and leadership of a committee that has to do with foreign relations and it would all be par for the course. the problem is -- this continues to be the problem for this administration -- on the russia stuff they never seem to be able to make a clean breast of it and there is always

another thing that comes out. that has to stop and has to stop now or otherwise it will consume the entirety of this administration. >> bill: paul ryan spoke with clarity yesterday when he said the following. >> they did an investigation, intelligence community wide. many of us went down and got the briefings from clapper and brennan after the election, before the inauguration and we've never seen any evidence to us that an american or person in the trump campaign was involved or working with the russians. >> bill: that's what we understand the story to be as of now. but dems aren't going to let that sit right there. you heard them full throated yesterday, chris. >> for about 30 seconds they paused that sessions should recuse and immediately galloped, just resign, step down. so we're at full bonkers now, right? we're going to remain there as long as democrats can do it. donald trump is partly right when he says that it's because there are sour grapes and lost control of reality. he needs to confront the new reality for him.

in washington when you have an open wound like this, your opponents are going to stay after it whether it was the republicans on benghazi, whether it was democrats on the fired u.s. attorneys. anything that stays open your political rivals will keep coming after until you can finally cauterize the wound. so far the trump administration has not demonstrated the ability to do that. >> bill: it may look like they're trying to hide something until you find the following list of democratic senators who have also met with the russian ambassador on capitol hill, perhaps in their office, at a large meeting space. this happens, chris. a lot. >> a lot. but the question here is that the trump administration and campaign has had to discharge for distance people who had communications with russia that were not appropriate. and that was three times is the charm and what democrats are

hoping is that eventually investigators will claw back far enough and somebody on the trump campaign knew the russians were hacking the dnc to hurt hillary clinton and they'll be able to keep the administration bound up from doing anything at all. >> bill: mccaskill was last on the list. she tweeted the following. a senior member of armed services never received a call or request from russian ambassador for a meeting. never met one-on-one with him. only to correct herself a short time later when she said four years ago went to a meeting of many senators about international adoptions. russian ambassador attended. there were a lot of people at the table. this stuff happens and to think it's exclusive to one party more than the other is misleading. at least. >> absolutely. it was alexander hamilton who said never tweet. [laughter] >> have a good weekend. great to see you.

thanks. >> shannon: it's number 57. capping off a jam-packed week in the nation's capital, tonight bret baier will sit down with paul ryan and talk about tax reform tonight on the fox news channel. they have a lot to talk about. >> bill: looking forward to that. chris makes a great point. you want to clean the pallet and get it behind you. there is this trail right now that follows you and until all the information is out there, a lot of people picking and looking for something on this all the time. >> shannon: a lot of this it's time for the gop to play offense instead of defense. >> bill: president trump has a very good way of changing the topic of discussion in the conversation. dare i suggest there has been a lot of restraint over the past 24 hours. >> shannon: limited tweets.

>> bill: see where that goes. everyone is weighing in on this. rush limbaugh's take went like this. >> folks, there isn't any evidence of anything except the obama administration and its holdovers in the deep state trying to sabotage the president of the united states. that's the story. >> are they targeting the administration as a part of sabotage? >> shannon: in the middle of all this brand-new video showing russian fighter jets buzzing a u.s. navy ship overseas. what u.s. officials have to say about that. >> bill: the story got a bit sidelined yesterday. president trump calling for a military build-up while touring a brand-new aircraft carrier and said this. >> president trump: american workers are the greatest anywhere in the world. this warship and all who serve on it should be a source of

shared pride for our nation. we're joined today, better believe it, right? that's me.

then out of nowhere...crying. third time that day. i wasn't even sad. first the stroke, now this. so we asked my doctor. he told us about pseudobulbar affect, or pba. it's frequent, uncontrollable crying or laughing that doesn't match how you feel. it can happen with certain neurologic conditions like stroke, dementia, or ms.

he prescribed nuedexta, the only fda-approved treatment for pba. tell your doctor about medicines you take. some can't be taken with nuedexta. nuedexta is not for people with certain heart conditions. serious side effects may occur. life-threatening allergic reactions to quinidine can happen. tell your doctor right away if you have bleeding or bruising. stop nuedexta if muscle twitching, confusion, fever, or shivering occurs with antidepressants. side effects may include diarrhea, dizziness, cough, vomiting, weakness, or ankle swelling. nuedexta made a difference by reducing my pba episodes. ask about nuedexta and go to nuedexta.com >> bill: keep an eye on the story. things could be made harder for americans traveling in europe. the e.u. parliament calling on the block to end its no visa policy for u.s. citizens in response to the u.s. not allowing europeans from five countries to travel here visa

free. some european politicians slamming the administration for its travel ban targeting seven terror prone countries in the middle east and africa. many of those failed states have been that way for five years plus but europe's visa policy for americans considered unlikely to change. >> have you met with any other russian officials or those connected to the russian government? >> i don't believe so. you know, we meet a lot of people and retrospect i should have slowed down and said but i did meet one russian official a couple of times. that would be the ambassador. >> shannon: attorney general jeff sessions at his news conference yesterday will further clarify his remarks in writing in a letter to the senate judiciary committee. he denies intentionally misleading lawmakers. he was under oath. was recuseing himself the right

move here? let's talk about it with tom dupree. let's talk about how this recusal thing works. from here it would go to the assistant attorney general but the person that the president wants in that role is not yet nominated. where do we go? >> the person who will oversee the investigation in the short term would be the acting deputy attorney general who is the u.s. attorney for virginia. he was an obama -- served under president obama and president trump put him in the position after he fired sally yates. i think it's important to note this is probably short term because the new deputy attorney general rod rosen stein will likely be put up before the senate later this month. it probably won't be too long before he is in position and would take control of any investigation. >> shannon: he would oversee anything that would involve the attorney general potentially or connections to the campaign.

what about the idea of going to independent counsel. somebody outside the doj. would that be a call the deputy attorney general is confirmed, looks like he will be, he would pick the person who would begin the investigation or do you think he keeps it in house and the doj can do this without the attorney general being involved? >> we're a number of steps away from that point. this is something that doj if it were to conduct an investigation would keep in-house rather than appointing a special counsel. that's a pretty extraordinary step. they wouldn't ultimately need to resort to that but this doesn't seem that this would warrant going out the normal process of investigating and appointment. >> shannon: what do you make of all the calls for that? folks on both sides of the aisle. a lot from the left and the right hinting they think it is a right move as well. taking away the appearance of any impropriety. is it a worthwhile step? what do you launch when you get

into an independent counsel? >> the danger, the iran-contra investigation. when you appoint someone else from the justice department they have carte blanche to run an investigation to run up huge bills and last decades. they don't have a lot else on their plate. before you went outside the normal process you would need to make sure there was a reason for it. you didn't think that rod rosen stein could conduct a fair investigation. i haven't seen any evidence suggesting that the justice department would be incapable of investigating this fairly and impartially. so i think at this point any calls for a special counsel are premature. >> shannon: we have calls for the attorney general to resign and him to be investigated for perjury. talk about the elements of the crime and the likelihood he would be convicted. >> in my opinion no reasonable

prosecutor would bring a perjury case on this evidence. in my view it's not even close. for one thing it's not clear that the testimony that mr. sessions gave was false as we all know the question from senator franken was ambiguous and focused on contacts between the trump campaign and the russians. it is clear that mr. sessions was answering that question in the context of his role as a trump campaign surrogate rather than a role as a member of the senate armed services committee. getting beyond that prosecutors would have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt it was an intentional lie. nothing suggests that's what was going on here. it doesn't surprise me about calls for resignation. it's washington game playing. once the attorney general sent the letter, put his comments in context i suspect the furor over his testimony will die down. >> shannon: democrats have sent a letter, many of them from capitol hill to the f.b.i. saying we want a criminal

investigation of the attorney general. is that where this perjury or criminal investigation? would the f.b.i. be the agency to take this on? >> in a normal case. there isn't any evidence warranting that. typically what would happen members of congress would refer to the f.b.i. potential criminal conduct. f.b.i. would look at it and decides whether it warrants opening and investigation. >> shannon: thanks. >> bill: more on this next hour when we talk with the former a.g. alberto gonzalez about everything that's going on. first republicans reportedly keeping the traft of its obamacare replacement under lock and key and senator rand paul wants to see it and went on a capitol hill scavenger hunt to find it. wait until you see how this thing played out.

hey hon, we gotta go. come on. grandpa! grandpa! thanks, mom.

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>> president trump: america has always been the country that boldly leads the world into the future and my budget will ensure we do so and continue to do exactly that. american ships will sail the seas. american planes will soar the skies, american workers will build our fleets. [applause] >> shannon: president trump pushing to ramp up defense spending during a speech to sailors yesterday and touring an aircraft carrier in virginia. the uss gerald ford will become the largest and most powerful warship. his administration will negotiate good deals for our military. he is calling for a $54 billion

increase in military funding. you know, there are folks on capitol hill who say that's not enough. it has been so decimated they want even more money. we'll see where it goes. >> bill: a lot of that comes out from the speech on tuesday night before congress, too. really what it dominated the headlines had it not been for the sessions story. we'll see him in florida this afternoon. in the meantime. >> you can't have legislation locked behind closed doors in my state. this is being -- this is being presented as if this were a national secret. as if it were a plot to invade another country. as if this were national security. that's wrong, this should be done openly in the public. >> bill: senator rand paul from kentucky locked out from the holding room of the obamacare replacement plan and voicing frustration clearly. they rolled a copy machine through the halls of congress yesterday. the search for that elusive legislation turns into a

virtual scavenger hunt. we're watching it from washington >> senator paul couldn't find a copy of that bill but not for a lack of trying. he took a group of reporters from the senate side of the capitol to the house side of the capitol carrying his own printer to make a copy of it to make public. leaders say there isn't a completed bill he could see right now. currently all they have is a draft of what republicans have in mind but there are still a lot of details that need to be worked out including the key question of how much it will cost. the congressional budget office is working on those numbers. depending on what they look like this initial draft could see significant changes. that's what senator rand paul is hoping for. he and other fiscal conservatives are against several key parts of the proposals coming from republican leadership and yesterday he told neil cavuto without some big changes the gop will have a hard time passing its plan. >> there is a jockeying going back and forth and they will have to see if they can

convince conservatives to vote for their plan. i tell you right now it will not pass with a new entitlement program and cadillac tax and the individual mandate. we've campaigned against these for years. they can't get obamacare lite and expect conservatives to vote for it. >> two committees are set to vote on it setting the whole house to vote later this month. one of the key criticism has been what does it look like? criticism from republicans and democrats as well. the other part with that is these bills typically aren't made public until they're complete. that's normal. even then changes can happen. but after nancy pelosi famously saying we'll figure out what's in the bill after we pass it. some republicans are worried about that happening again. >> bill: bring your printer with you wherever you go. sometimes things don't work.

>> shannon: wall street, how will it finish this week? we're waiting for the dow to open this morning. maria bartiromo joins us live to weigh in. plus this. >> this story is not about jeff sessions. this story is not about illegal talks between trump and his campaign people and the russians. this story is barack obama and the democrat party attempting to sabotage the trump presidency. >> bill: rush went off. fiery words from limbaugh. are obama loyalists trying to - >> they're trying to keep repeating the same story and trying to get this coverage going. there is nothing new that we have seen here.

>> bill: friday morning. record setting week on wall street. did you see this thing move?

the dow pulled it back a bit yesterday. what has triggered this week's rally? want to bring in maria bartiromo. it's the taxes, regulation, the trump bump. all of that. >> that's what's behind this market rally. people are looking at the potential for a roll back in regulations and the impact on earnings. they're looking at a corporate tax rate of 15 to 20% and equating that to a double digit move in corporate earnings for the s & p 500. i told shannon yesterday one analyst is looking for 20% increase in corporate earnings. of course you'll have back and forth. you may not go everyday. >> you talked to steve mnuchin this week? >> thursday, i had a long interview friday and sunday morning. >> bill: everybody thinks tax reform happens in august. the timeline. he suggested that to you. even suggested it may go a little past that. kevin mccarthy told me we'll

get it done before then. we'll get to this in the next month or so. whether it's in a month, maria or in august or next fall, just so long as investors know it is out there, that keeps these markets where they are. >> 100%. there is an expectation once we see corporate tax rates coming down and roll back of regulation will increase the back drop. we'll see the needle move on economic growth. we haven't seen 3% economic growth in a decade. they're shooting for 3 or 4% economic growth. once you see the policies take effect and the announcements of these policies people will start taking expectations up for gdp and expectations up for earnings. however, you make the right point. august is aggressive. they want to get obamacare done first repeal and replace and go to tax reform and the whole debate going on, is it a border adjustment tax, how to raise

revenue and lower taxes? they haven't come to an agreement on that. >> bill: either one a big one. you can wait 20 years for this to happen again. quickly, what was it greenspan irrational exuberance? remember that? snap debuted yesterday. snapchat. >> 44% later. >> bill: those who are investing in snapchat, dare i suggest don't understand the app. >> this company hasn't learned a penny. their subscriber numbers are slowing. you can throw the daggers you want and when you look at other companies that have had a great debut they did well over the long term. i don't know if this will be a gopro, or a facebook, we'll see. but i know one thing the fundamentals of the company are being criticized because of slowing subscriber numbers and because of a growth rate that is not where you would expect given this market valuation. >> bill: you talk about it this

weekend. good to see you. back to shannon now. >> the calls for democrats impeachment, there is no evidence. folks, there isn't any evidence of anything. except the obama administration and its holdovers in the deep state trying to sabotage the elected president of the united states. that's the story. that is what is happening. and it is happening right in front of our eyes. it is not even a secret. what is there to investigate? allegations? seriousness of the charge? they're trying to isolate trump from the people he trusts. >> shannon: rush limbaugh sounding off on the controversy about jeff sessions claiming it is sabotage from former president obama and his staff. how democrats are trying to remove trump's brain trust one by one. let's bring in the political panel to talk about it.

juan williams. former media spokeswoman for president bush mercedes schlapp. limbaugh basically went on a lengthy tirade. he said republicans are getting their clocks cleaned. they don't close ranks, they go out and say negative things and talk about sessions need to recuse and they are playing defense. they need to learn how to play offense and should never trust the democrats. >> i think rush limbaugh is absolutely right in the sense i think republicans eat their own in a lot of ways. i think for example in the case of senator jeff sessions republicans need to stand by him. it was clear during the attorney general's exchange with senator franken it was based on a questioning in regards to him being a campaign surrogate, not as a senator. as we know even up to 30 democrat senators met with the russian ambassador and obviously members of congress

meet with ambassadors. not uncommon. i think for rush limbaugh, he is making a very important point here, shannon. it is about these obama holdovers where you've seen leak after leak coming out of the white house and certain agencies. even leaks of classified information, which is against the law, where you have this feeling, this sense that the goal is to delegitimize the trump presidency. >> shannon: juan, he said, i have to quote, that it scared the hell out of the democrats and that's why they're coming out both barrels blazing going after sessions. >> it was a good speech. everybody acknowledges it didn't include a lot of the provocative language that scared people coming from trump and here he was looking very presidential, shannon. but i think that the basic thesis that rush limbaugh is pushing forward is questionable. democrats can't make the attorney general recuse himself. his own staff recommended that to him.

the democrats can't make mike the flynn resign. president trump asked for his resignation and vice president pence said he had been misled by mike flynn. you think about things like paul man fort leaving during the campaign. the c.i.a., nsa, f.b.i. all putting their good name on a document that says there is evidence of russian interference in the 2016 campaign. this is not fiction, this is not deep blue state construction. these are facts. >> shannon: hold on. but there is a distinction in that no one presented evidence there was collusion between the trump campaign and russia. that's a distinction we need to make. i want the play what chuck schumer said last year and then yesterday. first talking about loretta lynch and then talking about jeff sessions. >> she has said nothing was discussed related to the investigation so you have two choices. to say this didn't matter or she is lying. i think it didn't matter.

there can be not even the smallest doubt about the impartiality and the attorney general, the top law enforcement official of the land. it's clear attorney general sessions does not meet that test. attorney general sessions should resign. >> shannon: that first part he is talking about loretta lynch happening to be on the tarmac at the same time with bill clinton. under investigation. she didn't recuse from that. rush limbaugh said you shouldn't acquaint those two. that republicans fall into a trap if they rely on hypocrisy as the argument because democrats always win that one. >> i think the democrats are better at spinning and better at protecting their own. i think for republicans and especially in the case of attorney general jeff sessions the democrats are very focused and honed in on this pushing forward this quick eagerness,

the quick narrative on okay, let's get senator jeff sessions to resign. that means we have two of the president's closest allies taken out. again try to break down this cabinet. and i think that for republicans, the key is -- in the case of senator jeff sessions as he came out yesterday the attorney general basically clearing his name saying look, i answered the question honestly. it is what i understood at the time of how he asked me the question and i'm sending a written statement over to the judiciary committee to clear it up. >> shannon: last final word juan. she is saying you know how to play the game. >> such a big difference to my mind. clearly there was no hiding the meeting between loretta lynch when she ran into president clinton. >> shannon: because a local reporter saw them. >> nobody tried to obscure it. what happened with jeff sessions and earlier mike flynn with jared kushner, they weren't telling anybody we're

meeting with russians. when sessions was asked about it he was not forthcoming by his own admission. >> shannon: he says there was no intent to mislead. we'll talk more about that. good to see you both. >> be happy. >> shannon: we are. you're always happy. so there is no effort there. >> bill: president trump weighing options on iraq. isis digging in for a long battle if mosul. what will the administration do with the terror group now. an iraqi leader said the -- >> shannon: a fox news alert. dramatic video surfacing of russian war planes recently buzzing a u.s. ship in international waters. what's behind that move and what now?

>> shannon: a massive fire breaking along the jersey shore. check it out. ocean grove, new jersey started at 5:00 a.m. this morning.

it spread across seven different structures. a vacant hotel, condo complex and several homes were damaged. crews were able to get the fire out but two firefighters injured in the process. >> bill: we have dramatic video into fox news and what it shows is this. russian planes buzzing a u.s. navy ship in the black sea. happened a few weeks ago. the video is now public but the threat from moscow remains ongoing. so what's behind it? what's the kremlin up to? ralph peters, colonel, good morning to you. this happened a couple weeks ago. apparently it happened a year ago and how many times in between. there are three reasons behind it. list them. >> there are big reasons. first, vladimir putin is trying to push out a greater recognized sphere of influence for russia where it has uncontested dominance trying to push us out. second, all these flights

against nato and our ships are testing our responses, our counter measures, technical stuff. three, they're also trying to break our moral and nato moral. president obama never responded to these. now president trump is not responding to them. >> bill: you are saying that russia can do what it wants, right? no action/reaction, why is that? >> well, for obama i think it was sheer cowardis. president trump you have to look deeper. he can't get over his adulation of vladimir putin. he won't challenge russia on anything. >> bill: what is the recommendation in that? >> well, first of all, we're not going to shoot the russians out of the sky unless we're actually attacked. intensifying sanctions. putin is desperate to have them removed. we could -- there are measures

we can take to be more aggressive militarily without provoking an incident. the russians need to know we're there and we're not leaving. >> bill: i'm not hearing specifics. it's more complicated than what we're led to believe. he wants to exact something from the russians. we've been over this for months. what exactly that is i do not know. when these two men get together it will be the most watched story in the world we agree on that. president trump said this about jeff sessions. you want to give commentary on that. jeff sessions is an honest man and didn't say anything wrong. he could have stated his response more accurately but it was clearly not intentional. where are you on this for a question that perhaps he should have passed on? you are giving me new information. let me get back to you once i am better briefed on that. >> there are a lot of ways to handle it. i have always admired jeff sessions.

i like him. he is a gentleman. as attorney general he can do a lot -- undo a lot of damage that goes way back to the eric holder days. but i cannot believe that sitting in front of a senate panel that he simply forgot that he had two meetings with the russian ambassador given the fact that russia was so much in the news with flynn, etc., etc. but the greater problem -- meeting with the russian ambassador, one off you can excuse it. the greater problem here, bill is the pattern. where one after another -- it is not just a democratic conspiracy. one after another trump has had to dismiss aides and advisors for ties to russia. paul man a fort, others early on. michael flynn. we now know there were dozens of meetings between trump campaign officials and advisors and various russians. that is not business as usual. >> bill: the implication there is that they are up to something that's no good.

do you think that? >> i think the president needs to get ahead of it. first of all, look, i'm a former intel guy. i look at this and i see the patterns. the patterns stink. so the president needs to realize -- republicans and democrats alike, this is about american security. it is not about politics. stop the cheap politics. it's about the possible, however implausible, the possible penetration of a u.s. presidential administration by russians to whatever degree. the president needs to realize that it's not going to go away. it will either continue to grind on and bleed the administration or it will just blow up. he could get ahead of it by doing two things. he needs to come out and just announce vladimir putin and disavow any notion of a lunatic alliance with russia. sorry. he has to release the tax returns to show that the russians from no financial leverage. >> bill: that's not going the happen. >> this will grind on.

the trump administration has promised in many spheres but this scandal -- it is a scandal -- could bring down the administration if the administration doesn't get ahead of it. they cannot keep letting this slow drip, drip of blood, the casualty count rising. by the way, i know the russians. that was my word. i know the russians and the russians are nefarious and devious and brilliant at infiltrating other countries. >> bill: we'll see if you're right. ralph peters in washington >> shannon: breaking news, break in the investigation into recent hate crimes nationwide. the anti-defamation league says an arrest has been made following those threats called in first of all to the groups' headquarters in new york city last month but other jewish community centers and schools across the country. the u.s. attorney's office here in the southern district of new york says it is now charging a man out of st. louis. juan thompson is his name and

they're saying he is being charged with cyber stalking. not only did he call in threats to numerous jewish community centers and schools but tried to frame someone else for it. police are looking into that. we'll have much more right after this break. ing home don't. use cloroxg home don't. disinfecting products. because no one kills germs better than clorox.

>> shannon: after 9/11 congress required u.s. law enforcement to increase the flow of intel between federal agencies and local police but in the wake of president trump's election the san francisco police department says it is pulling out of the f.b.i.'s joint terrorism task force and temporarily cutting ties. we are joined live from los angeles with the interesting story. what's the latest? >> san francisco says it does not want its police gathering intelligence or surveiling muslim or any one else with political protest and keep

records and they think it will happen illegally. critics say it's short sighted and dangerous. >> a bomb planted in portland, a plot to kill the president. a terror attack in time square. these are among dozens of cases stopped by the joint terrorism task force. >> it is only working side-by-side that we're able to stop plots like this before they can take hold. >> so successful is the model the f.b.i. created 71jttf units since 9/11. now san francisco is pulling out. >> we're prepared for a lot of different kind of scenarios but i just think that the one thing that we didn't prepare for is the trump administration. >> after an outcry the police department suspended its relationship with the program. >> we're waiting what the next move in coming out of the federal government. we need to do everything we can to stand up for our residents. >> that denies the f.b.i.

access to local intelligence and contacts in the city's immigrant communities. >> what you lose when you take away the local police department is you lose that on the ground knowledge. >> that limits both sides' ability to connect the dots to share data and gain access to potentially vital leads. >> information must flow both ways on these cases. that's vital. and that should transcend any politically -- any political beliefs held by the mayor or the administration of san francisco. >> agents tell us it's the seamless sharing of data and manpower that has kept us safe. san francisco is the only city to have pulled out of a jttf. >> shannon: william, thank you very much. >> bill: attorney general jeff sessions defending his testimony before congress and fox news sunday anchor chris wallace will join us in a moment on what is next for this story. that and a little more coming up.

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>> in a circumstance. it's new to me. the president said it's a witch hunt. tucker asked sessions about that last night. this the how he responded. >> well, we are having a lot of leaks today in washington that i do believe are troubling. a lot of it would appear to be

in violation of the law. i don't think what was said about that meeting i had with the russian ambassador was legitimate. i think it was hyped beyond reason and i think it was unfair. i was glad to be able to address it today. >> bill: some people were breathless yesterday when this news was breaking, chris. >> look, you can't expect a break from the democrats and you can't expect them to play fair any more than some republicans did with barack obama. i love the line of charles krauthammer said it's a cover-up in search of a crime. mike flynn talked in his role as the incoming national security advisor to the russian advisor, i think he would still in the job if he hadn't misled the vice president, mike pence who came on fox news sunday and said there had been no discussion of sanctions. with jeff sessions, if he had come clean and said i met with him twice in my official

capacity. think about it, bill. what are the chances if you were going to have actual collusion between the russians and the trump campaign to try to throw the election, would you really do it in the senate office building in jeff session's office with a u.s. senator or do it in a back alley in prague with some official? it doesn't make any sense. it also doesn't make sense he didn't just come clean and say i didn't set the record fully straight and i'm going to now. >> bill: but the focus on the commander-in-chief now. president trump's reaction has been to fight back and there has been a lot of restraint so far, i would argue. this comes off the heels of a very successful speech on tuesday night that was essentially drowned out 24 hours later. but again the instinct is to punch back. and we have not seen that yet. is your view of that it's like william wallace, hold the line,

wait until they get a bit closer, but so far that's the posture from the west wing. >> incidentally. great movie, brave heart. i have to say the fact that people are shouting, the peasants are shouting wallace makes it one of my favorite movies. but what this white house needs to do now is get everything out. you saw a little bit of a step in that direction yesterday when unbidden they put out the information that jared kushner met with the russian ambassador at the trump tower in december. they need to do a deep dive, get every piece of information about every contact that anybody that ever knew donald trump had with anybody whoever ate russian food and they should get that all out and it will make for a tough weekend but better that than what you have now, which is you are waiting for the next mini

explosive on the front page of a newspaper. >> bill: we'll see you on sunday because that's when you are our william wallace. >> my grandson's name is william wallace, too. >> bill: tell him hello. >> shannon: attorney general jeff sessions's decision walking back from the investigation stemming from conversation with the ambassador. they ousted michael flynn after he was caught lying about his communications with the ambassador. live from the state department with more. the ambassador is well-known in washington >> he is the russian ambassador and talk to people in the foreign policy establishment and they say that he is very good at his job. he is very visible ambassador in the united states. he goes out of his way in outreach and meets with people here in washington but also outside the beltway a lot meeting with russians and americans. one member of the foreign policy establishment told me that he is known to engage

people in debate and spend 20 minutes debating u.s. russian policy with them when other ambassadors and people at his level would never give these people the time of day and in impeccable english. it is his job to learn about as much of the united states as he can. push for his country's position. worked in the russian government. worked in the diplomatic space in russia for decades and came to the united states in 2008. his most recent post. he has been here for some time. >> shannon: what do we know about his views of where we stand in the u.s./russia relationship now? >> what he said recently is he believes there is actually a lot of room between the united states and russia to reach agreements whether it be on counter terrorism, on climate change. he says that there is actually more that bonds the two countries than separates them. he spoke for an hour, hour and a half at stanford university in november and he said i'm

frequently asked are we back in the cold war and in my view, no. in the cold war there were irreconcilable ideological differences. he claims russia is a democracy and a market economy. he says it is developing. there is a common bond between the two but he does acknowledge and say the relations are at their worst point since the end of the colder war. >> shannon: so room for improvement. >> yes. >> bill: u.s. forces hammering al qaeda territory in yemen for a second straight night. drones, attack aircraft carrying out dozens of strikes and overnight three provinces there. the strikes follow a u.s. raid in yemen in january where a u.s. navy seal was killed. national security correspondent jennifer griffin from the pentagon on that. tell us what you are learning. are the strikes related to the intel gathered from the raid in

january? >> officials say not to read in too much into the ramped up efforts in yemen following the raid. they're gathering intelligence for some time. what we do know is the navy seals collected a computer and 10 mobile phones that night and undoubtedly would be scanning those phones for potential targets. we're told al qaeda in the arabian peninsula is -- top officials are concerned about their ability to build non-metallic bombs slipping through airport screening. the new wave of air strikes comes one day after the pentagon announced more than 20 air strikes were conducted in yemen across three provinces against al qaeda overnight wednesday. officials tell me both drones and manned attack aircraft were used in those strikes. we're expecting to hear more from the pentagon about the strikes later today. >> bill: how lethal is al qaeda

in yemen? >> it was started by the same terrorist group that sent the underwear bomber the try to bring down a u.s. airliner on christmas day in 2009. they also sent shooters to paris two years ago to kill the staff of the "charlie hebdo" newspaper. an indication the trump administration is rambling up efforts not just against ice yils but also against al qaeda leaders, the cia killed al qaeda's second in command in a drone strike in syria on sunday. it follows a dramatic b52 air strike against a training camp. >> shannon: a attorney general jeff sessions standing up to his critics about contacts with russia's ambassador. >> the idea that i was part of a, quote, continuing exchange of information during the campaign between trump surrogates and intermediaries for the russian government is

totally false. >> shannon: his congressional testimony about russian contacts now under fire but is it legit for democrats to be floating perjury charges? alberto gonzalez joins us live. >> bill: what about the hypocrisy in gear here? why were all the democrats calling for sessions head so silent when loretta lynch secretly met with bill clinton during hillary clinton's email investigation. bernie goldberg is here to take that on. we'll find out in a moment here. >> shannon: oops, someone broke the internet. how a typo crippled the web. >> bill: it happens. >> shannon: it wasn't me. ♪

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true faith and allegiance. welcome. good to have you this morning. as you are watching this unfold, having been someone who served in that position, what was going through your mind about where jeff sessions found himself over the last couple of days? >> well, in a tough position. listen, i've been in that chair. you sit through hours of questioning, testimony, and then you are asked a question and you think this is what you are hearing, this is what the questioner is asking so you respond to that question. sometimes, you know, you misjudge the question. and i think that is what happened here. i think general sessions tried to clarify that yesterday. it happens from time to time with all cabinet secretaries, anyone who testifies. sometimes you make a mistake, give an answer that's not totally complete or doesn't give a full picture. oftentimes there is supplemental information that is provided to a committee so that they have a better understanding of what the answer was intended to be given.

>> shannon: you can often do that. following with written clarification which he says he will do by today. want the play a little of charles krauthammer had to say. >> he has had several weeks since that incident. if it was an innocent mistake and he forgot about the meeting he should simply have gone to the committee, written them and said as he said in his press conference, i should have added yes, i had two meetings. he never did. so why? to me it reminds me of the flynn case. this is a cover-up in search of a crime. >> shannon: there are democrats as you know who say the crime is perjury and calling for charges to be investigated and levied against the attorney general. is that anything beyond pure politics? >> well, i think that there is a lot of politics involved in virtually everything going on right now. i just think again it's a question of general sessions believing that he answered the question that was posed to him. generally as a matter of

practice staffers review testimony given by the principal in an agency and they go and say look at this answer, do you want to -- do we need to supplement the record? and for whatever reason that didn't happen here. again, it could be that general sessions truly honestly believed that he answered the question that was being asked of him. in terms of whether or not, you know, perjury charge, that's a very high bar to meet. i think all indications are that general sessions did not intend to lie or misled. he honestly believed he was answering the question posed to him. >> shannon: how big is it to recuse yourself from a particular case? there is internal guidance on what cases would meet the standard and how you can about that. >> you take an oath to lead the department. you never want to recuse yourself. at the end of the day it is not about jeff sessions but about the department of justice and the american people having confidence in the integrity of

any investigation by the department of justice. that's what you have to weigh, yes, there are guidelines that are in place, but at the end of the day you have to make a judgment okay, are the american people -- will the american people have confidence in the integrity of this investigation? and general sessions decided ultimately at the end of the day that there would be questions and it would be appropriate and good for the administration of justice and the department of justice to recuse himself. >> shannon: you talk about the confidence of the american people. there will be integrity in this. it now falls to the deputy attorney general. we have one acting, one waiting to go through the confirmation process. if that individual whichever one of these two ends up picking this up doesn't ask for independent counsel or somebody outside the doj do you think democrats, average americans out there will say whatever investigation gets done is clean enough and transparent enough for them? >> i hope so. again, we don't know what may occur tomorrow or the next week. there may be additional stories

that come out. additional revelations about additional contacts with russia that we don't know about today. so i have every confidence in the deputy attorney general and in the nominated person to be the deputy attorney general and, you know, these are career individuals at the department of justice. they are trained to do a job and i have every confidence they'll do a good job on behalf of the american people. to find out the truth and make sure no laws were broken. in laws were broken to prosecute those responsible. >> shannon: people saying they'll follow it to the end. we'll stand by for new revelations. thank you. >> bill: a group of republicans slamming the trump administration with lawsuits designed to help the president. we'll explain what's going on with that story in a moment here. >> shannon: benjamin hall sits down for an exclusive interview with the former prime minister of iraq why he is claiming the obama administration and how he sees the relationship between

the u.s. and iraq under president trump. >> we don't want to see more american power and troops here. we don't want to see more americans being killed here in this country. but we need the political leverage of the united states to help iraq and to develop iraq. games. every day is a gift. especially for people with heart failure. but today there's entresto... a breakthrough medicine that can help make more tomorrows possible. tomorrow, i want to see teddy bait his first hook. in the largest heart failure study ever, entresto was proven to help more people stay alive and out of the hospital than a leading heart failure medicine. women who are pregnant must not take entresto. it can cause harm or death to an unborn baby. don't take entresto with an ace inhibitor or aliskiren. if you've had angioedema while taking an ace or arb medicine,

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>> shannon: a massive pile-up closing a new york highway for more than three hours yesterday morning. you can see more than 20 cars, trucks and s.u.v.s stuck in the wreck near syracuse. officials say white-out conditions caused the accident. some drivers say they were just unable to stop safely. they were hit by multiple times by cars behind them. the great news nobody got seriously hurt. >> bill: folks news alert.

iraqi vice president, former prime minister speaking about u.s. involvement in his country in an exclusive interview with fox news. this coming as u.s.-backed iraqi forces make significant gains trying to drive isis out of the city of mosul. benjamin hall live in london. he had the interview and has the story now. benjamin. >> bill, this was really an eye opening interview. the first time that dr. allawi sat down with a u.s. network and spoken openly and honestly about the obama years and what went wrong. he said two major factors. obama's disengagement from the reason that created the vacuum filled by iran. the general pivot to iran and here is what he had to say about iranian influence at the moment in the region. >> it is leading to blood shed, catastrophes and wars throughout. it has been a destabilizing factor, destabilizing in iraq,

destabilizing syria and other places. >> he said that today iran, through its support of shia militias have control over parts of the iraqi military and state institutions. he spoke candidly about russia and their new role in the region. i asked if they were the new power and if the u.s. could work with them. >> we believe in the united states. the only super power. i don't think we should look at the competition here between russian and the united states but rather supplementing each other. i look forward to that. >> he is very much in favor of the u.s. working with russia in the region. finally i asked what he thought the u.s. might do moving ahead. how they could help. here is what he said. >> we don't want to see more american power here. we don't want to see more american troops here. we don't want to see more americans being killed here in this country.

but we need the leverage, the political leverage of the united states to help iraq and to develop iraq. >> when he talked about political leverage he told me that meant sanctions. he felt sanction relief to iran was given to easily and should have been tied into their involvement in the region. another mistake by the obama administration. >> bill: what is the threat of isis in his country today and if you win the battle of mosul, is isis over in that country? >> well, two major points. isis is on the back foot in mosul and it will end up being beaten on the battlefield. that's assumed. what comes next is all important. it is expected they will morph into an insurgency. without the iranians being held back and controlled that sectarianism that allowed isis to grow strong will still exist and that's what allawi is saying. he wants to bring the groups

together. a win in the battlefield is not a win in the country. >> bill: he was in power until 2010 i believe, six years ago. he had criticism for the previous administration. is that sour grapes, benjamin or could this man have really made a difference in his country? >> it's one of the major points he talked about. 2010 he won the election. he had more seats but the obama administration pressured him to hand over power to the maliki government. the iranian backed government. it was a turning point when things changed. yes, i think he probably could have been a unifyer. he talked openly working with sunnis, shia and kurds and we know how the maliki ended up being very sectarian. he says, i tend to agree with him, it was a turning point in the country. he is looking ahead. the trump administration offers new possibilities rebuilding bridges who the obama administration turned their back on. hopeful as they move forward now and looking forward to working with the administration. >> bill: interesting interview.

great information out of london today. benjamin, thanks, shannon. >> shannon: president trump defending his attorney general attacking critics on the left. he said democrats are overplaying their hand when it comes to session. bernie goldberg joins us live. >> bill: also from commander-in-chief the late night comic here we will. former president bush poking fun at himself on jimmy kimmel on a story with a conversation with "saturday night live"'s creator loren michaels. >> he said a put a great speech writer on you and he came up with stragery. i said i said it. , no he said you didn't. i said i sure did say it. he said we invented it. did he come up with misunderestimate?

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whether you're on medicare now or turning 65 soon, it's a good time to get your ducks in a row. duck: quack! call to request your free decision guide now. because the time to think about tomorrow is today. >> bill: president trump reacting now slamming democrats trying to kneecap his a.g. jeff sessions. this whole narrative is a way

of saving face for democrats losing an election that everyone thought they were supposed to win. the democrats are overplaying their hand. they lost the election and now they have lost their grip on reality. that from president trump. this from bill o'rielly who believes there is major political hypocrisy at play. >> not one single democrat in congress called for loretta lynch to recuse herself from the hillary clinton investigation after she met with bill clinton at a phoenix airport. there was no call for recusal by the democrats so once again hypocrisy is unfull display. >> bill: bernie goldberg out of miami has been looking at this. good morning to you. happy friday to you as well. what do you think, hypocrisy? >> that's od word. death of political principles is a good word. i don't even think -- or phrase, right. i don't even think this is really about jeff sessions. i think it's more about chuck

schumer the leader of the democrats in the senate and the entire democratic party. they're under immense pressure from their progressive base who have a one-word mantra resistance. they want to resist everything. i mean everything that donald trump and the republicans want to get through. they're being obstructionist. for eight years the republicans got tagged with the label the party of no. in 2017, bill, who is the party of no? i don't think it's the republicans. >> bill: i want to play a clip from the "today" show earlier today. just going to put this in a broader context to -- you analyze the media for a living and wrote a book about it. this is a clip that used an interview from msnbc with the reaction on the "today" show. roll this quickly. >> i will say i never met him anywhere outside of cleveland, let's just say that much. >> the only time you met him

was in cleveland? >> that i may have met him possibly might have been in cleveland. >> we have more and more people who are being questioned about contacts with the russians. we've got two people at least who have had to admit they misled others about their conversations or meetings with the russians. i'll put you on the spot. explain this away for me. >> if you just dropped in and heard that conversation, you would say something really is rotten here. but then when you round out the story and look at the democratic congress members who have also met with the same russian ambassador it is like whoa, everybody is doing this now. and then bernie you look at the address in congress on tuesday night and guess who was sitting there on the floor of the house chamber with democrats? there is your russian ambassador. this cannot be viewed in a vacuum. >> you are absolutely right. you know, i don't often agree with donald trump in terms of

his behavior but i agree with him in what he said in the tweet that you referred to, that the democrats are overplaying their hand. the progressives have this bad habit, bill, of always overplaying their hand. today it's accusations of perjury. yesterday, today and tomorrow it will be more calls for impeachment of donald trump. then there are street demonstrations that sometimes turn violent. there are the non-stop comparisons to donald trump and hitler. 2018 is a long way off and i don't have a crystal ball. but i get the distinct impression that moderates out there, moderates people even in blue states who didn't necessarily vote for donald trump, i think they find the hard left more annoying and more misleading and more unhinged than they find donald trump. i think all this is a gift to

donald trump. i think -- go figure, chuck schumer, a guy who got a 1600 -- a perfect 1600 on his sats before going off to harvard is giving donald trump a gift by going overboard on all of this. >> bill: it's interesting. that gentleman in that clip from msnbc is carter page. i don't know him. apparently he made a lot of money in the energy sector, did a lot of work in russia overseas and was considered a one-time advisor for the trump team last summer. i don't believe he was ever paid and i think his time on the campaign was short lived. i want to add more context on that. >> it's part of the feeding frenzy. just part of the feeding frenzy. >> bill: laura ingraham tweeted this, the absurd scenarios regarding sessions and russians are being pos ited by the same media who confidently predicted a hillary win. wow. last word, bernie. >> well, you know, when you hear polls and when you hear

all this it isn't unreasonable to say they got a lot of other things wrong, didn't they? so when you lose your credibility it is hard to get it back and on this today i'm with donald trump all the way. they overplayed their hand and i'm with bill o'rielly, this is hypocrisy. they didn't show any outrage over loretta lynch meeting with bill clinton. not a good day for the democrats. >> bill: thank you, bernie goldberg there in miami. thank you, sir, good to have you on this friday morning. >> shannon: former president george w. bush is popping up everywhere these days. last night he stopped by jimmy kimmel live and kimmel discovered a fact about the former president not many people may know. >> you lived in l.a. for a time in your life when you were a little kid. there is a photograph of you and there you are and you lived not only in l.a. but compton in

the heart of l.a. for real, not a joke. when was this? >> i was three. my dad was selling oil field supplies. we also lived in bakersfield. >> you have the gun pointed. you may have been -- you may have been the inspiration for other compton residents. [applause] i feel like maybe you might be the w from nwa. >> shannon: straight out of compton. >> bill: sometimes those lines were set up. that was a funny reaction. >> shannon: when you can see the former commanders in chief they are more funny. people who have run with the weight of a campaign running the country or the world off your shoulders can have a good time and make jokes about yourself. >> bill: those guys had a good time. >> shannon: very funny. >> bill: russia's ambassador is apparently a busy guy.

more meetings with trump officials revealed this time after election day. is there anything wrong with that? we'll talk to a former trump campaign insider and get his take. >> shannon: how a simple slip on a keyboard took down a huge chunk of the internet. want longer lasting heartburn relief? try...duo fusion duo fusion goes to work in seconds and lasts up to 12 hours. tums only lasts up to 3. for longer lasting relief...in one chewable tablet try duo fusion from the makers of zantac spending the day with my niece. that make me smile. i don't use super poligrip for hold,

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>> bill: amazon saying a typo was behind a major outage on tuesday. slowed down or disrupted thousands of websites for about four hours. the horror. what will we do? amazon saying crews are looking into a slowdown on a cloud storage system. a team member executed a command that had a typo. tech giant says it has protections in place making sure it doesn't happen again. how would we get through our day without it? >> shannon: i don't know. i have the app on my phone.

amazon prime is dangerous. you think you aren't paying for shipping. so you think of anything during the day and you pick up your phone and type it in and expect it to be at your house. we've gotten high maintenance. the attorney general apparently not alone when it comes to meeting with russia's ambassador. a get together at trump tower with michael flynn and the president's son-in-law jared kushner. the president and chairman of citizens united and a fox news contributor, david. we're finding out all kinds of places that the ambassador has gone and met with people. that's what ambassadors do. >> it is normal course of business for any ambassador. forget which one we're talking about here. they go and sell their wares,

they're trying to benefit and obviously our elected officials are trying to do the same thing. >> shannon: "the new york times," you have to give it to them are focused on the trump campaign and digging and finding things. when they found out about the meeting that took place at trump tower after the election. the president was then president-elect. the campaign was over. here is what the white house spokeswoman said to the new york time. they discussed the relationship and made sense to establish a line of communication. jared has had as many as two dozen foreign country leaders and representsives. what do the trump team down. disclose any possible meeting no matter how -- the left is excited to find anything to put it out. side tracks from the conversation about getting things done on the hill. the speech tuesday night that the white house felt good about.

how do they get ahead of this? >> first of all the polls show 7 in 10 americans believe strongly in the policies that president trump was espousing in his speech and his unbelievable speech. i was very proud of him. i did serve as the deputy campaign manager for the campaign but i also served as the deputy executive director for the transition. so i saw jared kushner firsthand and he is an incredibly smart and dedicated person to the president's agenda but also dedicated to the american people. he is unbelievably conscious person. he had meetings with literally dozens of foreign leaders and so to have a 20-minute meeting in the normal course of business with a foreign leader whether it's an ambassador or not is not surprising and shouldn't surprise anyone that general flynn and others from the campaign would, during the transition, be in transition mode and about to take power and lead our country.

>> shannon: the fact that you talk about the policies and people have such a good response to the speech on tuesday night. if you can't talk about them because the whole distraction in conversation about who from your administration may have met somebody from russia or had contacts with them how do you advance beyond that? >> it's the permanency of this campaign. the permanent campaign that chuck schumer and the left are running. it is really now the american people are seeing it for what it is. i think that they are getting tired of it. i think if donald trump, if president trump stays on message. repeal and replace obamacare, tax cuts for all americans. i think if he gets his policy agenda through and now that he is getting his cabinet in place very late that the democrats are stalling on, i think he is going to be incredibly effective and i think that's the president strength. he takes his message straight to the american people as he has always done. >> shannon: we've talked earlier about rush limbaugh

having extensive monologue about this yesterday and talked about the fact that democrats always stick together. they close ranks, that they know exactly how they play this game. republicans are too trusting of them. they need to be shifting instead of constant defense onto offense. they won the election. both houses of congress and they aren't acting like it. >> instead of playing defense, instead of these members of congress -- republicans without facts talking about jeff sessions, talking about some of these issues as it relates to the russian ambassador, which i think is a complete non-story here, they need to stay on message. the republicans in congress need to demand that the leadership in the house and senate work on the agenda for the american people. that president trump won on. that's what the american people sent us here to do. >> shannon: he also talked about the fact that -- we talked about this yesterday on the show. reports that valerie jarrett is moving closer to the obamas and there will be a more concerted

effort to go after the trump administration by elements connected with the president. how long do you think it's continue. do you think it's a conspiracy theory? >> i think michael moore and george soros will move in next. the permanency of the opposition. that's all they have now is to distract from president trump's agenda. we cannot allow that. we have to move forward and move swiftly and that's what our congressional leadership needs to do. president obama doesn't have unfortunately the respect for the office that president bush did. president bush, when president obama came in, he went away. he was not heard from. i think that you are seeing more of him today eight years later than you did in the days and months of president obama's term. so i think president clinton for that matter went away. i don't understand why -- i do understand, it is the permanent campaign. it is the permanent obstruction by the left. it is all they have now. they were shocked in november

that hillary clinton lost and it is really the only thing they have to hold onto. >> shannon: one poll shows a slight majority 53% say it's time to stop protesting the president and move on. i don't expect it to be the case in washington or beyond. thanks for joining us. >> bill: jon scott is coming up next on "happening now." good morning. >> we're awaiting president trump's trip to orlando where he will make a big push for school choice. it comes, of course, as the president is dealing with several headaches. the latest on the jeff sessions recusal. the president had choice words on twitter this morning and howard kurtz on why the media are so interested in the russia story and why journalists were so happy with the president's tuesday night speech. all ahead happening now. >> bill: see you. have a good weekend. group of republicans now suing the white house. now, why would that be? we'll explain next.

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>> shannon: you are looking live at marine one makes its way to joint base andrews where the president will board air force one and head down to florida. we're watching as they come in live. we were told from the pool report at the white house a cold day as they were taking off from the south lawn. he was holding the hands of two of his grandchildren that his daughter and son-in-law were trailing behind and shouted a question about him about the attorney general. no answer but he waved and continued on board the bird and he will make the transition over to air force one and he is heading to florida today. >> he will be in orlando later meeting with republicans down there following the trip to virginia yesterday on board the newly christened aircraft carrier there. i do think it's worth mentioning again in the heat of all this sessions story and all the russian stuff that we've been watching for the past 36

hours how restrained this president has been. we are used to a man who fights back publicly and does it quickly. he put out a statement and there were a few tweets, yes, he was asked yesterday about it. but the responses were one word, two words, three words and you wonder about the level of restraint now because his inclination, i do believe, has been shown repeatedly to fight back hard. that has not happened yet. you wonder if that posture remains. >> shannon: i did feel the statement we got from the president last night had a little bit of president donald trump flair because there was an explanation point and strong language in saying this is a witch hunt. even though it was issued as a formal statement which is very reserved for him. >> bill: i'm not suggesting he is going soft. i'm suggesting for now the public reaction has not been what we are normally used to. >> shannon: he is channeling it. we should see him in a minute. a quick transition. a very cold day here up along

the northeast and he will step off of marine one, make his way over quickly to air force one. and we have to wonder whether ivanka and jared are going along, and the kids. >> bill: this is a follow-up rally to get the message out and drive home what happened tuesday night again. the military message yesterday and the message today in orlando will be with the republicans when he gets there. as we wait squeeze in a quick break here. back in a moment. their leadership is instinctive. they're experts in things you haven't heard of - researchers of technologies that one day, you will. some call them the best of the best. some call them veterans. we call them our team.

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>> right on cue here, we see president trump now getting out of marine one heading into air force one. he will depart to orlando for a listening session, parent-teacher conference at about 2:00 this afternoon. >> so many of these visits have to do with his speech.

he wants to go and bring more eyeballs to the conversation of school choice. >> she was a great guest, so optimistic and confident. we have to run, have a great weekend. >> i'll see you on monday. ♪ >> are big headlines today, attorney general jeff sessions trying to silence his critics recusing himself from any criminal investigation. >> jon: president trump giving his full support to his embattled attorney general calling sessions and "honest man" and blasting the democrats for the mounting pressure, calling it an "witch hunt." chief white house correspondent, john roberts, on the north