>> the governor in the house, mike huckabee, so great to have you. >> i had a great time. >> look at all of these people. thank you for being here, have a great weekend, everybody, "happening now" now. >> julie: fox news alert, president donald trump suited to part the white house for his first overseas trip as commander in chief. >> jon: president's itinerary includes stops in three countries home to three of the worlds major religions. islam, judaism, and roman catholicism. we are covering all the news "happening now." >> there was no collusion. and everybody, even my enemies have said there is no conclusion. >> jon: president trump insists he had no connection to russian meddling in the election. so how does the appointment of a special counsel affect the investigation? plus... it squeaked through the first time, now the house might have to vote again on the republican plan to repeal and replace

obamacare. and the severe weather threat is not over after tornadoes touched down in the american heartland. it is all "happening now" ." but we begin with this fox news alert with president trump set to depart soon from the white house on his first overseas trip since taking office. welcome to the second hour of "happening now," i am jon scott. >> julie: i'm julie banderas, happy friday come in for jenna lee today. first stop is saudi arabia, birthplace of islam where the president will seek support in fighting terrorism. kingdom already preparing for this historic visit, putting up billboards featuring trump and saudi king salmon with a slogan that reads "today together we prevail." american flags also lining the streets there. president trump leaving behind a swirl of controversy currently dodging and dogging his administration. house lawmakers today hearing

from deputy attorney general rod rosenstein about the russian investigation and the firing of former fbi director james comey as we learn an announcement can come soon on comey's replacement. >> jon: we have fox team live coverage, peter doocy on capitol hill but kevin corke first at the white house. >> ambitious agenda for the president as he leaves home to take america's message to the world abroad. as you pointed out, this is a very interesting time for the president to leave washington, taking his talents, if you will come overseas as the president takes the american message not just to the middle east but also to europe with a particular focus on promoting economic cooperation, and the president is so excited, you guessed it, he is tweeting for it. "getting ready for my big foreign trip. will be strongly protecting american interests -- that's what i like to do!" not so veiled reference of all the drama that spent engulfing the white house lately, sure he would like to get away from that

stuff, meanwhile the president's decision on a new fbi director could be coming soon. we are told it will not happen today, but there are rumors that made you see on your screen there, connecticut senator and former vp can't delete my candidate joe lieberman is up fr consideration. oedipus had said this yesterday. >> soon >> why you might think that joe lieberman's candidacy would be well received especially among some democrats on the hill, if you thought that, you would be wrong. >> i like joe lieberman, think he's a wonderful man. i've known them a long time. i think we have to be very, very careful with this selection. as you know, chairman jason chaffetz and i have worked very hard with regards to secret service in this leadership. i really think you need a career kind of police person. >> a career kind of police

person, someone with law enforcement experience. want to share this with you, this is a statement, the opening statement from deputy attorney general rod rosenstein at a closed briefing for members of the senate and house. he said this, "i want to emphasize my unshakable commitment to protecting the integrity of every federal criminal investigation. there never has been and never will be any political interference in any matter under my supervision in the united states department of justice." of course, that is in response to a great many questions about possible leaning on director comey. did the president really tried to tell him, hey listen, back off on the michael flynn they? you saw there and hurt the former director himself say that is not the case. one more nugget i want to pass around, that president did meet with mick mulvaney his budget director, we expect a budget to be unveiled sometime next week, making for a very busy and active we cannot just abroad but also here at the white house. back to you. >> jon: just keeps on coming,

kevin corke, thank you. >> julie: deputy attorney general general rod rosenstein doubling down on his recommendation to fire the former fbi director james comey. actually telling house lawmakers in a closed-door briefing and i am quoting "i wrote it. i believe it. i stand by it." peter doocy is live on capitol hill with the very latest. >> we got our hands on the opening statement that the deputy attorney general rod rosenstein made to lawmakers behind closed doors in a classified setting, and the opening statement concluded with the line that doesn't seem to cast doubt on claims that president trump fired director comey because he was asking for more russia-related resources. rosenstein said this, "i want to address the media claims that the fbi asked for additional resources in the investigation of russian interference in the 2016 election. i am not aware of any such request. moreover, i can consult my staff

as acting fbi director andrew mccabe and none of them are quality -- recall such a requesr that was the line for the majory leader mccarthy. >> very informative, of course there were things that were classified. he did get asked a question that he said was unclassified that we could answer, one of the questions were very public -- but he said he has already said it, he has no evidence that comey asked for further resources. thank you. >> another member of congress told eric capitol hill senior producer that he thought rosenstein modeled things today although many others seem to appreciate his visit and a prominent democrat is treating today as a major turning point in the future of fair elections. >> when we are dancing with the angels, the question will be,

what did we do at this moment? what did we do about that? what difference did we make? >> i have also been told by multiple members of congress that when the deputy attorney general made a point during his remarks about how he does not think that russian interference in the election is a republican or democratic issue but rather an american issue, there was loud applause by democrats and republicans who approved of that sentiment. >> julie: thank you very much, peter doocy. >> there was no collusion, and everybody, even my enemies have said there is no collusion. >> jon: president trump forcefully denying any claims of collusion between his campaign and russia during a news conference with columbia's leader yesterday. the president calling the russian investigation a witch hunt while again changing his story a bit about the firing of fbi director james comey.

mr. trump returns now to his original account, saying he fired comey on the recommendation of his deputy attorney general rod rosenstein. rosenstein contradicted that yesterday, telling senators he knew the president wanted comey gone before he wrote his memo. so let's bring in our panel, chris is deputy online editor for the weekly standard. betsy woodruff is the political reporter for "the daily beast." let's follow the bouncing ball here. what led to the firing of the fbi director? was it because the president lost confidence in him or because the deputy attorney general had? >> your guess is as good as mine. that kind of depends on the trail of information here. what i found interesting from that information from that rosenstein memo or comments that he gave to the committee behind closed doors was that, look, the president said he had already decided that he was going to make this decision.

so rosenstein comes back and says, i'm going to give you guys this information, not to be taken as a recommendation for any course of action that you might make. that seems to be a pretty big piece of information for this. the president pivoting back to that information yesterday, saying that we have to go back and look at this memo here, i got a very strong memo from the deputy attorney general. that is tiant kind of timeline business, but the most important thing is who made the decision first and when rosenstein says behind closed doors to the president, i artie got the decision just giving him information that might be able to supplement what he might say publicly, that is the thing to look at. >> jon: one ofhe complaints the former fbi director apparently had is that he did not feel that the president should be meeting with him one-on-one and making direct recommendations to the head of the fbi. we all know that donald trump was elected in part because he is not a politician.

is it possible, can you check up some of this to the experience, if you will of a brand-new president? >> it is a good question because trump also campaigned on being a friend" ally of law enforcement for police culture, it was a central part of his pitch so the fact that he does not seem to be following traditional protocol and norms as far as the relationship between elected political leaders and law enforcement leaders including folks like jim comey, that suggest that there is something that is missing here. remember, the president has been in office for months. he had been in office at least two months when he had a call with comey that according to "the new york times" made the fbi director really uncomfortable and according to these reports, comey said the president called him just to chit chat. that is a massive violation of norms that are supposed to be in place to keep politically elected leaders from interfering with law enforcement investigations. it also might indicate why comey was fired when he was. we know, according to rosenstein

and the president, that trump himself made the decision to fire comey and that rosenstein's memo came in after the fact sort of as an addendum. this was trump's decision that came in the wake up trump having a conversation with comey that made the fbi director uncomfortable, that is vital information to make sense of all of this. >> jon: chris, the president has overseas today, the controversy will continue to swirl even as air force one leaves the ground. what happens in washington in the days and weeks ahead with these investigations going on? >> i have to think as a matter of course there's going to be a little bit of air sucked out of the room, looking at robert mueller in his reputation, the manner in which this investigation is going to be conducted, we have a lot of potential russia-related stuff that's going to be leaped into one big investigation. there are still some democrats who are say maybe we need an independent investigation on top of this separating it out from the doj, but he's going to run a relatively tight ship you have to imagine, so at that point,

what are these investigatory committees left to do on capitol hill, what is going to happen there? senator lindsey graham said yesterday that some of this stuff is going to be turned over to a special counsel, and were going to go back to our own business now, so there's going to be some sort of pivot back to the normal course of legislative action in washington. the question is whether or not that really means anything because they have republican majorities with a difficult time executing their agenda to begin with. the focus does not necessarily mean bells will be to past. were going to talk about some other stuff in weeks to come. >> jon: we will continue to watch all of it, think you both. >> julie: this is a fox news alert, secretary of defense james mattis and joint chief stearman to be my chairman general joe dunford holding a press briefing with an update on the campaign to defeat isis. refi listening to this, here's what has come out so far, he essentially has said the anti-isa strategy is working also mentioning that they are

isolating on raqqa and working on cutting off isis geographic havens in working on eradicating financing in recruiting efforts, cutting flow of fighters and weapons. we will continue to monitor this news conference as it continues. also this comes as we get new information on the american air strike on syria, hitting forces back and being backed by syrian president assad paid both syria and russia are condemning the strikes with a syrian military source actually saying that they killed several people, including soldiers. in fact it hurts their fight against isis. all of this as president trump is set to make his very first overseas trip. he will be visiting the middle east. let's get to john huddy he joins us live in jerusalem at the very latest. >> julie, syrian and russian government officials as you say are condemning the attack and really have some tough words for the united states.

in fact, when syrian government official called the attack "government terrorism," and earlier today, russian deputy foreign minister said it was a violation and breach of syrian sovereignty, but u.s. officials say that this was purely a defensive measure. take a look at the map. this attack happened near the military base in southern syria close to the borders of jordan and iraq. officials say the air strike was carried out on our pro government militia, convoy that was shared by u.s. backed syrian rebels fight isis but they say they did not respond to the warning so that is when the strike in attack happen. this is the first attack on pro syrian government forces, so it's a significant development, but that said, the secretary of defense said this is not about increasing our role in the syrian civil war but defending our troops. >> julie: john huddy in

jerusalem, thank you very much. we will be right back. stay there. heartburn relief ch. it's fast, powerful relief with no chalky taste. [ sings high note ] ultra strength, new from alka-seltzer. enjoy the relief. new roundup for lawns has arrived to put unwelcome lawn weeds to rest. so draw the line. roundup for lawns is formulated to kill lawn weeds to the root without harming a single blade of grass. draw the line with roundup for lawns.

>> there is still a dangerous world, chaos all around us. i'm afraid we've become so focused on this one thing that we have neglected some of the other responsibilities of the committee and the second thing is this is just as important that it has become so partisan, to the point did not matter what we concluded. it would have been viewed with suspicion. i think it is actually a relief for many of us to put it outside the committee now, some of this in the hands of an independent counsel and let them do some of that work. >> jon: utah congress in chris stewart, republican member of the intelligence committee earlier on "happening now" about why he supports the appointment of a special counsel in the rush investigation. the justice department has appointed former fbi director robert mueller to head at independent probe into russian interference in last year's election. meanwhile, we are awaiting president trump's decision on a new fbi director, which fox news

has learned will not be announced today. here with his reaction to all of this, congressman joe crowley, chairman of the house democratic caucus. he was in that briefing by the deputy attorney general rod rosenstein. so it was the deputy attorney general who chose robert mueller to head up this investigation. are you satisfied with that choice? >> i think it is bipartisan, the approval of the selection of mr. mueller for this role as special prosecutor on the special counsel in this case. that was reflected in the applause that the number two at justice received when rod rosenstein said that wasn't mueller. that really -- we all should be focused on, democrats and republicans, regardless of party inflation, is the attack of russia upon our democratic institutions. >> jon: are you absolutely

convinced that there was some kind of collusion? because at this point, there has been no evidence that i am aware of, and people like chuck grassley, senator chuck grassley have said he hasn't seen no evidence of collusion between the trump campaign and the russians. >> evidence in terms of what will be gathered through this process is different than the conjecture that has been laid out through the media. i do think there are some things that are highly unusual that are going on here, including the president's inability to condemn russia with every head of the intelligence community within the government has said it was an assault and attack on our democratic process. they did in the back attempt to influence the election, we know that. we don't know what extent they succeeded or didn't and they are evaluating as well, but they want to do it again. those are the things that need to be found out, whether or not there was collusion, that remains to be seen. that's why we have the special prosecutor or special counsel to

delve deep and really find those answers. that's what the american people want and what i want as well. >> jon: the briefing was closed-door obviously but we received a transcript of the deputy attorney general rod rosenstein's remarks to you and other lawmakers. are told he said that officials from both political parties have criticized director comey's decision, not an isolated mistake, series of public statements about the email investigation in my opinion departed from the proper role of the fbi director and damaged public confidence in the bureau and the department. did you share that feeling about director comey? >> i will say i can neither confirm or deny, but i won't. i do agree that some of the judgments mr. comey made pertaining to the campaign last year, the timing of his announcements as it pertains to the hillary clinton issues were highly suspect, the judgment was terrible. but i never question his integrity. really, the question here is what was the motivation for the firing?

was it because mr. trump did not like the way his political opponent have been treated by the fbi? many let to believe it had an impact on the election. whether or not that actually had an impact or not, because of his russia connection. sickle musical i'm worried i can't find a safe used car. you could start your search at the all-new carfax.com that might help. show me the carfax? now the car you want and the history you need are easy to find. show me used minivans with no reported accidents. boom.

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>> i was very pleased certainly with the selection of mr. mueller. you will not push him around. he is a straight shooter. he will, i think, bring some normalcy to this process. >> without an independent and decidedly trustworthy prosecutor that has the ability to go where the facts lead and to increase his scope if appropriate beyond just the four corners of the russian activity, then the

american people are not going to get their confidence back. that is what this is all about. >> julie: top house lawmakers you just heard them reacting to a closed-door briefing by deputy attorney general rod rosenstein today after robert mueller was named a special counsel overseeing the russia investigation. so what could the mueller appointment really mean for president trump x mentoring to me now, fox news media analyst and "media buzz" hosed howard kurtz, great to see you. you don't mind if i call you hallie? >> please. >> julie: you save that the probe is a crapshoot, what do you mean? >> and the long term, no president want to be investigate abundant independent prosecutor and although we have not seen any evidence of collusion in these murky allegations conceivably, it could lead to criminal allegations down the road but in the short-term, this is a good development for president trump as we saw the reaction from the lawmakers, a lot of democrats and many in the media saying we have to have an independent prosecutor, have to have a special investigation not under the control of the fbi.

now they've got that. whenever any white house official are being asked now about the details of this, they can say, it's under investigation, can't really comment. special prosecutors tend not to talk very much. mueller in particular is not very blab you when it comes to talking to the press. >> julie: very much unlike former fbi director james comey. but if the appointive robert mueller is such a good thing for president trump as you say and how many have described it, then why was the president so upset upon hearing the news? because after releasing a statement, president trump fired off tweets, as you know, calling this the greatest single witch hunt of a politician in american history. he even went as far as pointing out in a tweet, pointing fingers at the fact that a special counsel was never appointed to investigate crimes by the clinton administration and even the obama administration. what say you on that? >> the president thinks this whole thing is, as he has a c day, for canoes, made up story, doesn't believe there is

anything to these allegations of collusion with russia, and so, he is frustrated. i think he is venting. a more disciplined president my site, we welcome this investigation it will fully cooperate. there is nothing there. >> julie: but the statement said that, they welcome this. >> that was the statement approved by the white house but then we have the tweet, the press conference with donald trump where he let loose with his true feelings which is obviously his way as president. another point is when we talk about the leaking in this case, there have been a lot of leaks, the comey side, the jim comey side is leaking like a sea of, just today, "the new york times" story with all of this detail about how he was wary of president trump, went to a big reception at the white house and did not hide but stood against the curtains hoping to blend in and not see the president, the president spotted him, he didn't want to hug him, tried to shake his hand. when you have that level of detail being linked with tacit approval of the former fbi director, this is being fought

out in the press. i would say maybe he is telling the truth with these memos but there does not seem to be skepticism about motivation where the press tends not to believe just about anything president trump says on these matters. comey was fired in a humiliating fashion and may have his own motivation for trying to make his case through leaks to the press. >> julie: just to get into the presidents had for a second, when he tweeted, if we could try, when he tweets about the fact that there was no special counsel that was assigned to looking into let's say hillary clinton, let's not forget that the clinton team smashed blackberries to destroy evidence, and that was not considered obstruction of justice nor did it require a special counsel to be assigned to investigating that. do you feel there isn't unfair partisan game going on? >> not necessarily. both parties ended up hating the independent counsel law which was why it was not renewed. the fbi under jim, he thought it was able to fairly make an assessment of whether or not

hillary clinton broke the law, obviously ended up taking off both sides. here, you had the unusual circumstance of the president having just fired the fbi director. had that not happen, i don't think rod rosenstein would have asked for the appointment of a special counsel. it does not necessarily mean that there is a double standard, each administration has to make its own judgment. now we have this collision because at the news conference, as you know, president trump said no, next question on whether he had asked comey to drop the investigation of michael flynn. comey says otherwise through leaks which is why we are having an investigation. >> julie: satisfy those memos should probably come out so we can maybe get an answer to that conversation. howard kurtz, thank you very much. >> jon: some new delta de facto relevance for wikileaks founder julian assange and the sexual assault charges against them, what swedish prosecutors just announced. and the president's health care be short-lived as we learn lawmakers have to vote on the

bill again in all likelihood. the panel weighs in next on that possibility. >> this is a great plan. i actually think it will get even better. this is, make no mistake, this is a repeal and replace of obamacare, make mistake about i it. we replaced it all without touching our savings. yeah, our insurance won't do that. no. you can leave worry behind when liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance

>> jon: fox news alert and the congressional budget office

announcing it will release the so-called score of the house passed g.o.p. health care bill next wednesday. it's a closely watched barometer for lawmakers because it will estimate the effects of the legislation on the economy and on americans currently covered by obamacare. but there are some reports like this one from bloomberg that house g.o.p. leaders are holding off sending the bill they passed to the senate because it might not be good news for republican republicans. something house speaker paul ryan says he is not worried about. >> no, we don't think that is the case. what we are doing is very, very -- it's just a technical nonissue is what it is. we are just using an abundance of caution, waiting to send it to see the senate for the cbo score which basically has to be deficit compliant, it cannot produce its deficit, has to save so we are being overly cautious. >> jon: running is now is dave, former chief of staff to the man you just heard, house speaker paul ryan, also with us

eight fox news contributor and former advisor to president bill clinton. the waves of government are kino us why it is that the house has passed this bill but will not ascended onto the senate just yet? >> i think i can. the reconciliation bill is based on coming out of a budget conference report for fy '17. you have one shot at that reconciliation bill. the bill says it has to save $2 billion. so if you, for some reason, after it is estimated after the house passage, it doesn't save $2 billion, you would lose the opportunity to use this as a reconciliation bill. they don't want to do that so out of an abundance of caution as the speaker said, they are holding it to see where it's going to be because there were significant changes made. they don't want to lose the opportunity. that is what they were at risk by saying it over right now as opposed to waiting to see what the cbo will say in the ultimate score after the changes made and voted on the house floor. >> jon: there are projections,

guesses really that it could, this new bill might actually cost a lot more than the other bill that republicans have. >> $300 billion by some estimates. >> it could, that is one of the reasons they are waiting. one of the reasons it would cost much more is it would cover more people. you have the good news and bad news of that story. that is part of what they are waiting for. the other thing you have to be careful, cbo is well known for keeping things very quiet, even the people who are dealing with them and answering their questions about the bill don't get a lot out of them. my guess is that a lot of people are speculating and we should wait until wednesday to see what's going on. >> jon: more from you and a second but first, bit of a tug-of-war going between democrats and republicans in the house. this little exchange starts with house minority leader -- minority whip i should say, sandy hoyer, engaging, you might say tweaking kevin mccarthy on the republican side about a floor vote. >> is this bill coming back to

the house? will we expect another vote on it? this cbo report is due next wee week. and i believe that if, in fact, we are going to schedule , we ought to at least be given notice. >> this is a technical issue. i have all the confidence in the world, the cbo score will come back, we will meet the reconciliation number and move it to the senate. my colleague wants to schedule something, i will schedule with you. we can walk the bill over there together. >> jon: what about that prospect of democrats and republicans coming together on some new bill? >> look, he is a skilled legislative tactician. you can listen to him and understand why the american people have a tough time figure out what's going on. i can tell you this is what we know. democrats are not walking this

bill anywhere with anybody for any purpose. >> jon: he is agreeing with you on that. >> second, if the dog doesn't make it to the senate, and that is "if," it is dead on arrival. and second, the good news is if the process has already started where republicans and democrats are trying a fix on obamacare, putting this legislation aside to try to get something done, the broad mass of the american people and those democratic and republican senators who are in the middle can agree on so we can get real healthcare reform. that is where the prospects are. >> jon: would you agree obamacare is collapsing? >> it certainly has very real problems. i've been a critic of it for six or seven years on this network, i don't take one word of it back. but this is a step backward. with the four vote margin, i don't think republicans want any other votes on it in the house, certainly in the senate because it's not going to get the type of support you want it to. i think american people require

it. >> jon: given the controversies embroiling the white house right now, does that slow down the prospect of this legislation? >> i don't think it does. obviously, it it takes -- a lot of things going on. but doug is exactly right pure no one wants to vote on this again. having said that, if they have to, they would do it, and i suspect it will be like the first line, but the other thing that is happening is the senate is going to take some time. this is not going to the senate floor quickly, it will take some time in republicans are working among themselves and some are reaching out to democrats. the question is, can we move from this government-oriented system to a patient-centered system? that is where republicans want to go. >> jon: some agreement between republicans and democrats, thank you, gentlemen. >> julie: we are learning swedish prosecutors are dropping sexual assault charges against julian assange. that is right. the wikileaks founder and fact may not be off the hook yet, though. live from london with more on

this, and of course, this is not anywhere close to being over. >> absolutely. wikileaks founder julian assange is, however, off the hook at least for now on some elements of his difficulties. he emerged on the balcony of the ecuador embassy here in london just a short while ago. that is where he has been holed up since 2012. he looked victorious after basically facing down the possible rape charge in sweden dating back to 2010. swedish chief prosecutor today saying that due to legal obstacles basically that he fled the country soon after that incident, they are dropping the investigation. here is a bit of what julian assange had to say today. >> today was an important victory and an important vindication, but the road is far from over. the war, the proper war is just commencing. >> when we were in sweden just a

few months ago for a fox news investigation, we did see indications this was all coming to a head. authorities they are telling me today that they did not make a judgment on the innocence or guilt in this matter. they could even reopen the case, but i doubt that will happen. as for that war commencing that julian assange just referred to, he is talking about his believed threat of extradition to the united states to face possible charges stemming from the release of classified defense and the state department on the wikileaks site, while candidate trump spoke kindly of him in the dnc leaks last year, he and his administration are now talking tough. we have to confirm there was no indictment officially confirmed or any sort of exhibition papers filed by the united states, but we can confirm that the u.k. would like to get a hold of this guide. he jumped bail back in 2012 and has cost them something like $70 million in security cost. that is why he is staying but in

that is it right now. >> julie: greg palkot, thank you so much. >> jon: as president trump heads overseas for visits to saudi arabia and israel, some voters are heading to the polls peered how that could affect the residential election amid more saber rattling. the u.s. announcing new sanctions against the missile program. who we are targeting and what it means as the administration pursues peace in that part of the world. but when family members forget, trust angie's list to help. [ barks ] visit angieslist.com today.

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>> julie: this is a fox news alert, iran voting today in a tight presidential election where the country's nuclear program looms large. the president facing a very serious challenge from hard-liner, this conservative candidate accused the incumbent of failing to capitalize on the program which was supposed to

boost iran's economy. meanwhile, u.s. announcing new sanctions over their ballistic missile program. the sanctions targeting senior iranian and defense officials as well as a chinese network accused of helping to fund the program, this comes as president trump kicks off the very first overseas trip with a visit to iran's main rival in the region, saudi arabia. that spring and mark do bullets commit ceo of the council for a defense of democracy, thank you very much for talking to us. how big of a danger is the iranian regina to america and will the outcome of this election make any difference? >> it is the leader, it's got patient packed with icbms or think north korea but with an economy that is much more powerful and a revolutionary ideology that is expansive and

seeks domination in the islamic world. >> julie: this election ultimately though has little effect, this is not the united states and our politics on the iranian regime considering the only person with real power in iran is the supreme leader. how does that impact the trump admission strategy then to get a successful nuclear deal if sanctions do not work? >> that is exactly right. this is not a normal election, it's a shame election. it's going to be rigged no matter which way it goes, and it is between two hard-core revolutionaries, ebrahim raisi and hassan rouhani who are dedicated revolutionaries dedicated to imperialism abroad, repression at home in a nuclear weapons program. how will affect the trump admission policy as they should ignore this presidential election. they should focus on the supreme leader who really has all of the power, and they need a conference of the strategy to use all in first instruments of american power to rollback the iranian aggression. >> julie: the office of

finance acid control designates who contributed to the sale of explosives to syria. talk about iran and that relationship there. after president trump delivered u.s. air strikes obviously delivering a very strong bold message to the assad were jame, what does he do to send a similar message to iran? and china by the way considering that china-based network was also designated by them for supporting iran's military by supplying millions of dollars worth of missile applicable items. >> that's exactly right. in iranian defense official who was designated for supplying not just explosives but also was supporting their very research center in syria responsible for chemical weapons attacks on serious people. so what the trump administration needs to do is continue to do what they are doing which is a much more muscular policy where they recognize the assad regime is a close iran ally, it's not an ally in the war against isis, they need to rollback the aggression in lebanon and yemen

and need and all government approach to do that, country by country to subvert iranian power. >> julie: reaches you, thank you so much. >> jon: more dangerous weather taking aim at the middle of the country. we will have an update on the latest threats. plus, this. >> holy [bleep]. >> jon: talk about dangerous weather. life report from oklahoma where folks are picking up the pieces while bracing for more tornadoe.

>> hi, everyone, i'm jenna lee peered president trump about to embark on his first overseas trip as commander in chief. he will take off at the top of the hour and we will watch along with you as he begins his trip. and the deputy attorney general briefing the entire house today and the departure of former fbi

director james comey. we talked to a congressman briefing asked about what he learned and a key development in the fight against isis. new details coming up. >> jon: fox news alert, the threat is far from over as tornadoes tore through a plane with the strong storms expected from texas to the midwest that could bring damaging winds and even more tornadoes. that is unwelcome news in western oklahoma where families are picking up the pieces from a violent storm just one day ago. my mental, city for us now is will carr. >> more bad weather sweeping across the country right now, it comes on the heels of two dozen tornadoes that sent down in that southern plains yesterday. take a look at one that was caught on camera. here in oklahoma, at least six large, violent tornadoes and set down yesterday including what was estimated to be an ef 3 and 4 with wind speeds up to 20.

luckily, the tornadoes hit rural areas, could have been deadly if they developed a more populated cities like oklahoma city where we are now. along with the tornadoes, we saw strong winds up to 80 miles per hour, lightning that really electrified the skyline throughout the course of the day and hail the size of golf balls. this region has really been battered throughout the course of the week. there were several fatal tornadoes in wisconsin and here in oklahoma on wednesday. with that in mind, there is still the threat for more tornadoes throughout the course of the day. authorities across the state and really the region are asking for residents to pay attention to their text alerts and any sirens in the area if they hear those to try to get to safety. >> jon: will carr joining us from oklahoma city, thank you. we will be back in just a moment as we await president trump to depart the white house. his first overseas trip as commander in chief, air force one is fueled and ready on the tarmac at joint base andrews.

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>> a fox news alert. we take you to joint base andrews in maryland. there is the presidential 747 sitting on the sunway -- sitting on the tarmac waiting for president trump. he will be jetting overseas on his first overseas trip as president. >> this is going to be a very big deal for him. this will put the true test to president trump on his intelligence briefings and his relation ship with foreign diplomats. he will be entering saudi arabia which in fact they are very much welcoming and they are looking forward to his trip. we talked about how the president was being praised there. they have american flags. our relationship with the middle eastern countries very critical with what is going on in the fight against isis. >> he will be meeting with the king and benjamin netanyahu as well as the leader of the

palestinians, mahmoud abbas and the pope in rome. >> you know iran will be watching closely. >> they will. >> that's gonna do it for us. thank you very much for joining us. you have a great weekend. >> you, too. america's news hq starts now. >> president trump set to make his firstover seas trip as commander in chief. hello everybody and welcome. i'm jenna lee. we have a live look at joint base andrews near the nation's capitol where just moments from now air force one is set to take off. the president will make stops in saudi arabia, israel, as well as the vatican in a symbolic mission to reunite three of the most prominent religions followed by some in belgium and italy. it is a very very long trip. nine days in all. we have benjamin hall in the saudi capital of the president's first stop. we begin at the white house. a gathering political storm in the russian investigation. >> reporter: no question about that, jenna