>> good friday morning, you are watching "fox and friends" first through manhattan on this beautiful friday. going to be a hot day. heather: thanks for starting your day and your week with us. a witchhunt is what donald trump is calling the investigation into his campaign's alleged collusion with russia. rob: he says the special counsel will divide the country. >> reporter: hoping to put a turbulent week of bad headlines to rest donald trump addressed head on the appointment of special counsel denying once again there is any collusion between russia and his campaign

calling it a witchhunt and this will further divide the country. >> i respect the move but the entire thing has been a witchhunt, there is no collusion between certainly myself and my campaign, i think it divides the country. we have a very divided country because of that and many other things. >> reporter: the president shooting down a question about allegations he urged james comey to drop the investigation into michael flynn. >> did you at any time urge james comey in any way, shape or form to close or back down on the investigation into michael flynn? >> no. next question. >> democrats press the probe of collusion. dianne feinstein admitting she hadn't seen evidence of it yet. >> so far you have not seen any evidence of collusion. right? >> evidence that would establish

that there is collusion. there are all kinds of rumors around, stories, but that is not necessarily evidence. >> reporter: rob rosenstein briefed the senate about his decision to appoint special counsel avoiding specifics but reports emerged that rosenstein said -- before writing memos the president cited as cause, the house later this morning, perhaps we will get more news out of that. heather: amid growing cries of collusion on the left, victor david hanson says democrats are ignoring some key moments from the previous administration saying us appeasement of russia is not coming from donald trump. >> donald trump didn't dismantle the eastern european missile

defense, he didn't press a plastic red button. he didn't make fun of mitt romney for saying russia was an existential enemy, he didn't have a heart like exchange with the russian president thing he would be more flexible with the russians after the election. that entire appeasement from the clinton obama team, not donald trump. "imus in the morning" rob: donald trump embarking on his first international trip as our commander-in-chief. he leaves for saudi arabia with the first lady by his side. heather: his agenda is different from what people call obama's apology tour, what the president hopes to accomplish. >> reporter: most presidents visit canada or mexico first, donald trump is heading to the middle east, in saudi arabia followed by israel and the vatican.

he heads to the nato summit in italy. the president is expected to outline his plan to fight terrorism, but he wants to push america forward. >> we want to get back to running this country really well. we made tremendous progress in the last hundred 7 days. you see all of the productions that started, plans starting to open in years. i am proud of it. >> reporter: the trip different from president obama's apology tour where he bashed the united states. >> in america there's a failure to appreciate europe's leading role in the world. there have been times when america showed arrogance and been dismissed. the united states is still working through some of our own darker periods. >> the united states will be willing to acknowledge past errors where those errors have

been made. we have at times been disengaged we sought to dictate our terms. >> reporter: the move leading some countries to see america as soft. speaking to soldiers in italy, to watch this all closely. the first foreign trip will catapult foreign-policy to the front of his agenda. and to help the white house to regain control of the negative narrative pushed by the media and critics. >> a real opportunity. 50 arab sunni countries. an announcement to the world with total universal of the

appeasement policy. a jihadist regime in terms of their favor all over sunni arabs and over israel which is stop number 2. a big deal to allow him to announce and exemplify a huge change in foreign-policy. >> reporter: before the president leaves he could make a huge announcement about the future of the fbi. >> we are close to an fbi director. >> senator lieberman. >> reporter: vice president a candidate and connecticut senator joe lieberman, one of four candidates, the president not giving any specifics on exactly when he will announce someone to replace james comey. rob: a better day on wall

street. heather: one day after donald trump was blamed for a slump. >> reporter: we can expect that. and the last couple days, a huge selloff, the tao losing 372 points, concerns out of the white house and congress. and tax reform done. infrastructure spending making the market nervous. look at the closing numbers yesterday. the tao 20,000. the nasdaq in particular 16.6% since donald trump is elected, not like we are falling off the cliff. little nerves took over on

wednesday. rob: impeachment talk makes everybody nervous. the circus, barnum & bailey, it is all over. >> reporter: in 46 years, ringling brothers have been bringing the circus, i went as a kid and i'm sure you did as well. closing the circus for good, animal-rights activists, the elephants were taking out a year ago and removed from the show, animal-rights activists saying it is not fair to these animals. uniondale, new york, so -- heather: dunkin' donuts, free today. >> reporter: here is their replacement, giving out free

samples between 10:00 am, they wanted to try it. cream in there, name it. bunch of flavors, they went you to embrace this drink, 3.5, how a sample will be free today. heather: they had me at free. heather: extreme weather, a tornado running a path of destruction in the middle of the country, this massive funnel cloud touching down in oklahoma. rob: 20 reports of tornadoes across kansas, texas, oklahoma, high wind, hail, tracking severe

storms. heather: cold enough for snow, warm enough for a lot of heavy rainfall and a severe threat again today. you reported close to 2 dozen reports of tornadoes and hundreds of reports of hail and damage and wind, this is ongoing, you see the temperature difference, 33 in denver, snow in the mountains, 60s and 70s ahead, those combined with golf moisture, instability, severe threat again today, towards the ohio river valley, indiana, not as great as the risk we saw yesterday, if you live in these areas, tornado alley they call it because the potential for severe storms, high today cooler than average across the west and very warm in the mid-atlantic and south, we will track it back

here. >> what possessed the man to turn his car into a deadly weapon. >> donald trump defending his decision to fire james comey. >> i thought it would be a bipartisan decision. heather: do the voters believe him? rob: afghanistan, candid moment on capitol hill, wait until you hear what ben sachs said about this. ♪ ♪ running around ♪

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place in the world, chaos and carnage, a man accused, a deadly weapon running people over down three city blocks. >> multiple people run over. heather: a navy vet seen plowing into a crowd of pedestrians, chilling video, airborne before hitting a row of steel barriers coming to a stop. from michigan killed in front of her little sister. 22 others injured. rojas tested positive for drugs, he was hearing voices in his head and thought the world was coming to an end. he is facing several charges including murder. rob: donald trump speaking to the media for the first time since a special counsel was named to investigate

interference in 2016 election and collusion. how did he do? lee carter is here with details on that and we will start with a soundbite coming in on friday morning. we start the first bites regarding special prosecutor and what donald trump thought of that. >> the entire thing has been a witchhunt. there is no collusion between myself and my campaign but i can speak for myself and the russians. i think it divides the country and we have a very divided country because of that and many other things. we want to bring this great country together. heather: republicans really love his message, independent softening, all through the early

part of his presidency we thought independents were along with republicans, the supported softening, democrats are not even tired of it, they are angry about it at not buying anything he is putting down. rob: we did play dianne feinstein, have you seen evidence of this? she couldn't get a good answer out. some tough questions goes to the soundbite. democrats don't have a lot but are hoping for some evidence. heather: i know there is something there. what is there? it is just something, people don't know what it is. rob: donald trump thought the decision to fire comey would be something everyone would like. >> director comey was very unpopular with most people. i actually thought when i made

that decision, i made a very strong recommendation from deputy attorney general rod rosenstein, when i made that decision i thought it would be a bipartisan decision. >> scathing along the middle, honest and authentic, what they said is they like to hear directly from the president what he was thinking so sharing this insight, i thought this was a bipartisan thing, did resonate with them and pull them over but democrats just aren't buying anything sitting down. this is really extreme right now, almost nothing he can say to win them over. rob: you can't even have a conversation. treatment by the media. >> never ever ever give up. things will work out just fine. look at the way i have been

treated lately. especially by the media. no politician in history, as i say this with great surety, has been treated worse or more unfairly. you can't let them get you down. you can't let the critics and the naysayers get in the way of your dreams. heather: the same time he was complaining about his treatment it was a rallying cry to say we can get through this, we can all do this so people did respond to that. they want him to stop the whining about we heard from republicans, can we just get back to the agenda, talk about health care, talk about tax reform, talk about reasons we elected him and move on from this nonsense. democrats across the board are saying no, they asked who they trusted more, trump the

mainstream media, divided by party lines, republicans, independents who voted for trump voted trump, the media, no in between. rob: thank you for coming in. >> reporter: united they stand together they fall. joe biden ripping into hillary clinton. weight until you hear what he said about the former democratic candidate. stealing the show. the hilarious moments karen tends, some pretty wild line dancing moves by another cabinet member. stay with us. ♪ ♪ all she wants

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♪ rob: i never thought she was a great candidate, former president joe biden tearing into hillary clinton's failed bid for the white house at a conference in las vegas. joe biden revealing no man or woman should announce the presidency unless they genuinely believe that for that moment in the nation at history they are the most qualified person to deal with the issues facing the country. his answer when asked about running in 2020 was probably not. minority leader nancy pelosi dodging questions on whether she thinks democrats will retake the house in 2018. >> the current political trajectory is not good for republicans. do you anticipate a scenario where you will once again be speaker of the house? >> we don't talk politics around here that much. rob: nancy political her weekly press conference in dc, the chair of the democratic congressional campaign committee

if he wanted to talk politics instead. >> reporter: after a 5-year break, back in action. >> i wouldn't encourage them. diary of a wimpy kid, the long haul, hitting theaters, brand-new cast featuring alecia silverstone and tom everett scott. i think -- haven't seen -- alicia. >> road trips will never be the same, a road trip for a family reunion, call up the cast at the indianapolis speedway who told me about the latest installment of this popular franchise. >> excited about this road trip.

>> together. >> reporter: what a fun movie. what is it about these road trip movies the people go back to them? >> every family has had their own road trip, stuck in a car for hours on end where things go wrong. and other people going through the misery. >> first rule of a road trip is the driver is the j. ♪ >> the message of scream time in this movie, where do you fall in terms of your own family and how much scream time do you get? >> no divisive on this trip. hand over your devices. >> this is totally not cool. >> it is everywhere so every kid wants to be on screen all the time. overstimulating. >> all parents relate to this dilemma.

is the real thing that is happening. i'm excited producers wanted to tackle that subject and it is funny. >> what is it about this? >> such an awesome character to play and to bring to life, the maximum behind it all is so amazing. the obligatory children's character, i hope i can continue this. ♪ >> it hits theaters today. heather: the iconic kid character, a little adult. rob: the new alien covenant movie. heather: the time is 27 minutes after the top of the hour. helping our heroes. former president obama didn't to.

the new report the claims his administration purposely refused to hire veterans. the mainstream media in meltdown mode is calls for impeachment hits a fever pitch, did a reporter really ask this question? >> have you had any recollection where you want it if anything you have done has been something that might be worthy of criminal charges? >> we have no choice. handling the unexpected ... ...doesn't happen by accident.

♪ than we went out ♪ one thing to another ♪ >> going home yet. you are watching "fox and

friends" first. rob: i saw more than a few people at 4:00 this morning. 31 minutes past the hour, political witchhunt is what donald trump is calling the investigation into his campaign, alleged collusion with russia. heather: a special counsel will decide the country. christian can live in washington dc. >> reporter: putting to rest what is arguably a week of constant bad headlines, donald trump addressed the appointment of a special counsel denying there was any collusion calling it a witchhunt, further defied the country. >> i respect the move but the entire thing as a witchhunt and there is no collusion between myself and my campaign. we have a divided country. >> reporter: he defended his

decision to fire james comey and thought it would bring bipartisan praise. >> i thought it would be a bipartisan decision. on the democratic side not only the republican side, saying such terrible things about director comey. rob: democrats press on the president's collusion but senator dianne feinstein admits she hadn't seen evidence of it yet. >> so far you have not seen any evidence of collusion. is that right? >> evidence that would establish that there is collusion, there are all kinds of rumors around, newspaper stories, evidence. >> the decision to appoint special counsel avoiding pacific, reports emerge, he knew about comey's firing before writing the memo the president

cited as the cause, she raised the health latert 10:00 am. >> whether the president could face impeachment. >> any recollection that anything you have done might be worthy of criminal charges in the investigation? >> totally ridiculous, everybody thinks, we have to get back to working our country properly so we can take care of the problems we have here. >> democrats planning to pool the public to see how calling for impeachment could affect their party. heather: despite the media frenzy, donald trump remains dedicated to making the american people and can make an announcement about the future of the fbi at any moment. >> very close to an fbi

director. and joe lieberman, one of four candidates, the president not getting specifics, to replace james comey but soon. >> a rough day at fox news, we remember and honor roger ailes, the man who created this channel. heather: he died at the age of 77 and this morning, the fox news family remember him as a tough but brilliant strategist and television pioneer. >> my name is roger ailes, chairman of fox news channel. >> it began 21 years ago amid widespread predictions that it would inevitably fail but for roger ailes failure was never an option. from civil beginning that is the son of a shop foreman, roger

eugene ailes found his way up. by age 25 he was executive producer of the highly successful mike douglas daytime tv show. one guest was richard nixon who was so taken with the young ailes that he hired him for his president a campaign. a broader career as a media and political consultants. in 1984 he advised ronald reagan after reagan lost the first presidential debate walter mondale. ailes approached vice president george hw bush in his successful campaign to succeed reagan. president bush xli tweeted the he wasn't perfect but roger ailes is my friend and i loved him. not sure i would have been president without his great talent and loyal help but, rest in peace. after a successful stint as cnbc and launching the channel that would later become msnbc news corporation chief rupert murdoch tapped him to start the fox news channel in 1996, it was a huge

gamble. >> we had no studio control room, stars, programs or anything else but we had an idea and an audience. >> reporter: took a few years to build it but the audience did come, there were cameras, studios, control rooms, sean hannity, bill o'reilly, megan kelly, neil cavuto, bret baer, fox news's ratings climb told by coverage of the clinton lewinsky scandal. coverage of the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. by the end of that fox news became number one in cable news and remained so ever since but last summer it came crashing down amid allegations that ailes had repeated unwanted sexual advances toward numerous women who worked for him at fox news. he denied the allegations but was forced to resign amid the resulting scandal. the accusations came as a shock to nearly all of fox news who remembered him for his talent,

his leadership, his humor, his personal kindness. >> the path of their life, seeing something in other people they don't see in themselves. sorely missed. but grandma, we use charmin ultra soft so we don't have to wad to get clean. charmin ultra soft gets you clean without the wasteful wadding. it has comfort cushions you can see that are softer... ...and more absorbent, and you can use up to 4 times less. enjoy the go with charmin.

>> sweden dropping it sexual assault investigation into julian assange, the wikileaks founder has been hold up in the ecuadorian embassy since 2012, five years fighting extradition, but not in the clear yet. he won't leave because he can be arrested and extradited to the united states for the leaking of hundreds of thousands of secret documents. a bombshell report reveals former president obama's justice department refused to hire military veterans.

according to special counsel the doj canceled job postings when veterans refused to pool their applications. the agency reposting the jobs with new qualifications, purposely excluding our veterans. the osc called them out for this incident and the justice department retrained their staff. heather: donald trump addressing unprecedented attacks from the left after special counsel his name to investigate russia's interference in the 2016 election. >> i respect the move but the entire thing has been a witchhunt, it divides the country. we have a very divided country because of that and many other things. we want to bring this great country together. heather: is a country divided and can he bring it back together? new york post columnist and joe simonson and democratic

strategists michael starr hopkins. i will start with you. a divided country, who is to blame? >> the press had it bad for the president since day one before he moved in, they made up their minds, they want him out for impeachment hearing. >> a sad time to be a republican. donald trump is making a mockery of the presidency, and the republican party. said to see speaker ryan and other republicans not stand up and say something. >> reporter: donald trump is making a mockery or democrats because they insist on something there is no evidence for yet. even comey himself when he testified said, i have the quote here, not in my experience, no one has asked him to stop the investigation -- >> donald trump being investigated by a republican house, republican senate and

special prosecutor was named. 3 investigations going on. >> comey did not do that. it would be a big deal to tell the fbi to stop doing something without appropriate purpose from comey himself. >> a supporter of the president. there is an inconvenient fact many democrats and people in the media but that is the reality. until there is a smoking gun or a little more smoke circling the president i don't think republicans have anything to be embarrassed about. heather: will the decision of special counsel be enough or

democrats, enough for you? >> democrats only want a fair investigation into what happened with collusion with russia and what is going on with michael flynn. democrats are not on a witchhunt like donald trump want you to believe. donald trump can't continue to interfere with the investigation. that is why we have a special counsel and why donald trump is in the trouble that he is in. heather: no proof that he has interfered, the president said he has not done it, others were in the room when a certain conversation happened with james comey. it will be enough for you when a decision is made and you can move forward with the agenda, tax reform, healthcare reform and all that. >> yes. it is interesting to see republicans who pedaled in benghazi and former president obama being a muslim talk about there being no evidence. there is evidence that donald trump at least had michael flynn, new michael flynn was a foreign agent and left him in the white house for 18 days.

heather: you get the final word. >> bring up tax reform and healthcare reform, that is what it is about. this is not about stopping republican legislative agenda, hopefully so far -- democrats get their way. heather: some folks said it is about midterm elections as well. thank you both very much for joining us, appreciate it. heather: 7 rob: donald trump set to leave for his first trip overseas as he heads to the middle east and tell us what you really think, time's cover page sparking outrage this morning. that and more coming up next. let's check in with what is coming up on "fox and friends," lives in warren, michigan, having breakfast with friends at 3 sons diner.

>> reporter: we are at the 3 sons diner in warren, michigan. if you live around you come on out, we have great folks we will be having breakfast with this morning talking about the news of the day, talking about the big questions. a county that went by 12 points for donald trump after going to barack obama, home of the reagan democrat or blue-collar democrat, across the street from manufacturers, factories, chrysler plant, asking these voters what they care about. they focused on comey and russia and flynn or do they want to know what will bring jobs back and help donald trump on his foreign trip, down to the issues from the people. we get to hear from the pundits all day long with her opinions what people care about. this morning on "fox and friends" we go straight to the people in warren, michigan and asked their opinion and bring it straight to you. stick with us on "fox and friends" and come on out, love

to hear from you. rob: what are you having for breakfast? >> reporter: the breakfast skillet is fantastic. eating throughout the entire morning. not bringing any for you guys. rob: thanks so much. what's the story behind green mountain coffee and fair trade? let's take a flight to colombia. this is boris calvo. boris grows mind-blowing coffee. and because we pay him a fair price, he improves his farm and invest in his community to make even better coffee. all for a smoother tasting cup. green mountain coffee.

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the cover of time magazine showing the kremlin taking over the white house. serious xm 115 with what is trending. >> reporter: time magazine under fire for a controversial cover like you said.

the image shows moscow's saint basil's cathedral overtaking the white house. the president said on multiple occasions there is no collusion between russia and the trump administration. the president's supporters filing this under the category of fake news. mark says time magazine has 0 journalistic integrity, simply pushing globalist and liberal agenda and david on twitter chimes in saying what would reaction be if time had merged white house with irani and mosque while obama was sending cash to the islamic state? brenda said imagine being an editor and thinking this is a responsible non-hysterical thing to put on a magazine cover. i will go out on a limb and say none of these gentlemen -- issue of time magazine. rob: you need to find a way to

sell magazines these days. heather: what you see here is an image of three united states senators, ben sachs from nebraska, chuck schumer has this nutty professor thing going on and that is tom cotton. a very funny caption it looks like senator schumer and i are smoking reefer outside a wedding and believe it or not a couple other senators had some funny captions for this. senator ted cruz said it is a romper for guys, rob him. i just ordered two and senator orin hatch, they tweeted back a nickel back lyric look at this photograph, every time i do it makes me laugh, favorite bands, very trendy tweet.

heather: they need to take a little break. blowing off a little bit of steam. karen pens a little line dancing action. >> reporter: everyone stop what you're doing and look at this video. the vice president and his wife were in montana over the weekend and things got really interesting, the secretary of the interior decided to aggressively line dance with karen pens, picked her up, swung her around. what is going through her mind? this is from the same guy on capitol hill, a couple months ago -- all that swirling around. >> reporter: put the second lady down.

the time is 6 minutes until the top of the hour. hours from now donald trump will embark on his first foreign trip, first stop saudi arabia. rob: frozen coffee, free to start -- ♪ ♪ in love with the shape of you ♪ my heart falling too ♪ in love with your body ♪ in my room ♪ men like you ♪ in love with your body per roll bounty is more absorbent, so the roll can last 50% longer than the leading ordinary brand.

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heather: two minutes before the top of the hour before you leave the house this is what is happening today. president trump taking off on first international trip as commander-in-chief. he leaves for saudi arabia with the first lady 2 p.m. eastern time. stops in israel, vatican, brussels and italy. rob: ringling brothers and barnum and bailey circus taking a bow. greatest show in earth happening in long island. the company saw a drop in ticket sales after they got rid of elephants. heather: beat et heat. dunkin' donuts promoting new drink complimentary sales from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. rob: welcome to the newest member of the "fox & friends" family. heather: senior producer

desiree dunn just had a baby girl 12:16 this morning 5 pounds 8 ounces and 20 inches long. rob: she is pee at this time. mom and olivia doing great. enjoying time off with the kids. heather: congratulations, did he see. "fox & friends" starts right now. >> the entire thing has been a witch-hunt. there is no collusion. zero. i have think it divides the country. >> these attacks are personal attacks on donald trump because the left does not want to talk about the issue. >> have you had any recollection where anything have you done that might be something worthy of criminal charges in these investigations or impeachment. >> i think it's totally ridiculous. >> donald trump was elected because he wants to change washington. >> very close to fbi director. >> leading candidate for that is joe lieberman. >> joe lieberman to me is a true patriot. >> president trump embarking on first international trip as our commander-in-chief.