tomorrow. by the way, hannity is always fair and balanced. bret baier is next. we will see you tomorrow back in new york. we'll see you back in new york tomorrow. the president takes a victory lap in the heartland. >> they hit me harder, harder, harder. they have now learned i think it doesn't work. the truth is people love us. all of us. they love us. >> republican congressional candidates keep up their winning streak with elections in south carolina and georgia. thank you for believing in me. >> bret: meanwhile, the clock is tick for the republican effort to repeal and replace obamacare and the senate leaders preparing to unveil the plan. >> we have offered ideas for a better way forward. and we will finally have the chance to turn the page on the failing law. >> bret: the state of missouri joins two others to

take on big pharma. over the opioid epidemic. >> something no parent should have to do is bury their own child. >> bret: we'll talk to missouri's attorney general about his crusade. all of that, plus the all-star panel and breaking news changing everything. news in washington across the u.s. and around the world. a special late night edition of "special report" starts right now. good evening. welcome to washington. i'm bret baier. 11:00 p.m. in the nation's capital. 8:00 p.m. on the west coast. we're begin tonight's primetime edition of "special report" with president trump out of the washington bubble. and back in the heartland for a campaign style rally, with up is -- supporters in iowa. the speech taking on a much different tone and filled with news. chief white house correspondent john roberts joins us live with more on what the president had to say from iowa. good evening. >> good evening to you. the president's rally was a

sendoff to the former iowa governor who leaves on june 26 to take up his new duties as the u.s. ambassador to china. it was also an important opportunity to focus on the new agenda and given it new momentum by the end of the special election season. >> president trump: it's always terrific to be able to leave that washington swamp and spend time with the truly heart-working people. >> reporter: president trump returning to cedar rapids in a sell-out crowd of 6,000 people. taking a victory lap after big congressional wins. >> president trump: i want to also extend our congratulations this evening to karen handel of georgia. [applause] we can't forget ralph norman

in south carolina. >> reporter: democrats had tried to make the georgia race a referendum on president trump. hoping a win could be the first ripple in a 2018 congressional tidal wave. >> president trump: their plan isn't working. they thought they were going to win last night in atlanta. they spent close to $30 million on this kid who forgot to live in the community that he was in. >> reporter: the president is hoping that running the table in competitive special elections will give new momentum to his legislative agenda. including the push for a healthcare plan in the senate. president trump tonight predicted people will like what they soon see. >> president trump: i hope we will surprise you with a really good plan. i've been talking about a plan with heart. i said add some money to it. >> reporter: whatever plan emerges from the senate will be a surprise to most people. the process has been shroud in secrecy. tonight tom price had a listening session.

this time for people in rural america who are at risk to lose coverage. there are still a lot of blanks to fill in. >> they didn't offer any plans or any insight of what will happen in the future. but i did feel like we had people listening and that goes a long way with me. >> reporter: president trump also revealed he will soon seek new legislation on immigration that will bar new immigrants from receiving public assistance. >> president trump: i believe the time has come for new immigration rules which says those seeking admission to our country must be able to support themselves financially and should not use welfare for a period of at least five years. we'll be putting in legislation to that effect shortly. >> reporter: the white house cites studies that found 51% of households headed by an immigrant have used public assistance. a much higher rate than nonimmigrant households. but the numbers have been

disputed as too broadly interpreted and don't take into account the nuances of many immigrant families compared to nonimmigrant. the president also pitched tonight for the first time if public an idea he floated to congressional leadership a couple of weeks ago. a proposal to when he builds the wall on the border with mexico cover it with solar panels and sell the electricity for cash. that, the president said, would make it less expensive for mexico to pay for the wall. the higher you build it, the more money you will make. >> bret: john roberts live on the north lawn. thank you. bring in the panel now. stephen hayes, weekly standard. molly hemingway. and chris stirewalt from fox news. molly, i'll start saying you like the solar panel idea. >> i'm not a huge fan of the wall but i like solar panels on the wall.

>> bret: transition to the speech. classic donald trump. iowa campaign trump. your thoughts? >> he seems to be more comfortable speaking of conservative principles. it's like it's not a second language for him which at times it has seemed. he was funny and conversational and he hit the big agenda items he is interested in. he emphasized his successes. the plan about work requirement, a requirement that the new immigrants not receive welfare. it's a popular thing that bill clinton did to tie welfare reform to work requirements. it's gutted in the previous administration. it's a policy that has broad appeal. >> bret: he has the wind at his back with the special election wins. you can feel that and sense it in the delivery. >> this has been a

psychological boost for the white house. they have been in a rough stretch. people including the president have felt under siege. so the combination of a win in georgia, an election that democrats were gunning for. to win there and then to be out on the road which is where the president feels most comfortable. i think it will leave the white house in a good mood. they are also in a phase where they know if you look toward the end of the year, they have a couple of big things they knead to get traction on. healthcare is number one. tax reform. if they can make progress on those two, the presidency suddenly looks different than a few weeks ago. >> bret: the president talked about both of those in a look ahead in the speech. here he is talking about what is ahead, the work to be done. and how history may look back at it. >> we are working really hard on massive tax cuts. i would be if we get it the way i want it, the largest tax cut in the history of the united states of america. i think healthcare will happen. infrastructure will happen. you can have a lot of exciting

things over the next few months. and i look forward to being able to produce it. let's see what happens. if we set aside the cynics and the critics, we have a chance and a great chance. it lies before us to do extraordinary things for hour country. in the years ahead. history is written by the dreamers not the doubters. >> bret: steve? >> well, i think the discussion about healthcare, one of the times when donald trump wasn't speaking conservatism, he said what are we going to do? add some money to it. that is not exactly the kind of thing that will get conservatives who are concerned about the cost of healthcare and reform of obamacare on board at a time when i think the president needs them on board. more broadly i think one of the challenges for the president in this sort of post 100 days environment, he can't

do what he did in the first 100 days. he was the chief executive and that's why he did it but now he needs to work with congress. did he do anything to advance the agenda in it's a good rallying cry but is he advancing the agenda? is he making inroads with skeptics on capitol hill? >> bret: isn't the question, after the special elections that there are now some democrats who maybe are doubting the position of being obstructionists all the time and they may pluck some of the folks off the obstructionist wall? >> or at least cause them to make noises that sound slightly less obstructionist. go to where they were at the beginning, think dishonest cooperation between the parties. that becomes a possibility. that sort of lowers the temperature and makes it better. right now the democrats have a more important question to figure out, who will lead them? and they have leadership team that essentially unchanged

since 2006. both of the top two leaders in the house are in the 0s, late 70s. the party has failed in three consecutive elections to retake the house. despite a success for the president in 2012. democrats are asking real questions today. can nancy pelosi continue to be the top democrat in the united states? is this really the right way for them to go? where is the new look? >> bret: to your point, on another network tonight, a democrat who actually ran for the minority leader position was asked about nancy pelosi. >> you think nancy pelosi is more toxic than donald trump? >> you know what? the honest answer is in some areas of the area yes, she is. there have been a lot of people who spent a lot of money running negative ads against her. in some areas it doesn't benefit the candidates to be

tied to her. it's not fair but it's true. there is a reason why republicans are still losing it. >> bret: molly? >> karen handel outperformed donald trump in the race. even though her opponent had ten times the amount of money and infinity fawning media coverage. there is a belief in d.c. that donald trump is very toxic. but the real toxicity is the democratic party. this is a huge challenge for them. when you look back to the last time they were able to gain a lot of seats they recruited moderate candidates with appeal in purple districts and local. they were able to achieve some success that way. that is not what is happening now. many people in the democratic party are getting more extreme at a time when that is not the mood of the country. >> bret: this was suburban atlanta. this was not rural u.s. that is a whole other kettle of fish when you talk about those candidates in those districts. to the question there, nancy pelosi. i mean is she going to hold on to her position?

>> it's pretty extraordinary. you saw the two faces of the democratic party with tim ryan representing broadly midwestern rural states and nancy pelosi in san francisco. this the battle for the soul of the democratic party. we have seen it. it's not just happening now. you can argue it was happening in 2008 with hillary clinton versus barack obama. the question for democrats is how they respond to this and do they react in a smart way and re-calibrate or do they overreact? what you have heard a lot in the past 24 hours is democratic need to go hard left. this is the answer. they need to embrace the far left democratic party. there are districts that it will be work but that is not going to be come pemming across the country. >> bret: it fires up the base but you lose the middle. are there talks about picking off the democrats on tax reform and less so on healthcare? >> there are discussions about it but i think they're realistic.

i think the republicans on the hill are realistic at this point. it's as much and it would be better for the policies if you could present them to the country as bipartisan. even if you had a small number of democrats. republicans i talk to on the hill today were pretty realistic if they are going to pass healthcare and if they move to the tax reform these will be largely republican only proposals. >> bret: the president agrees with you trying to get the votes. here he is in iowa. >> president trump: if he had just a little democrat support, just a little, couple of us, you'd have everything. they just want to stop, they want to obstruct. a few votes from the democrats would be easy and beautiful and you'd have cooperation. >> bret: the president is criticized for a lot of things but tonight he was hyper. sometimes on the prompter, sometimes doing his shtick. it worked. >> i think this is what i call a campaign greatest hits

remix. bring it back out. the late campaign trump even better because it was after he got on the prompter a little bit. more message discipline and let him out of the flight. do the comedy part to keep the crowd engaged, all of that stuff. my question for white house is why don't you keep him out there? why don't you have one of these every fortnight and do one every few nights a month? >> bret: listen, i have heard people say what if he went out to urban districts throughout the country? and did a spiel in all the places and talked about renewal. wouldn't that change the dynamic? >> this is one of the come founding things about the white house strategy for the last few months. president trump is at his best when he is outside of washington. it doesn't really matter what type of crowd he is in front of, actually. he feeds off a crowd. he can be a compelling speaker. he can really engage an audience. they have kept him in the bubble.

it's really baffling to me. >> it keeps him happy and busy and engaged as opposed to brooding over the latest news. >> go back to the meeting the president had with paul ryan. ryan refused to endorse him and they got together to talk about policy. trump ended the meeting and said i'll let you handle the policy on capitol hill. the question was what will you do if you are elected president? he said i'll make america great again and do speeches and rallies. this is what he wants to do. this is donald trump on his own. >> bret: we'll bring back the panel later. still ahead, intelligence officials report on the number of targets and how far russia got in the attempt to hack our 2016 election. what specifically was the substance of what did happen and what didn't? first, the opioid epidemic. why missouri is joining a list of states trying to take a big

of states trying to take a big chunk out of big

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correspondent matt finn in the newsroom with what has led to the outbreak of lawsuits. >> the scale of the epidemic we face is startling. >> reporter: missouri's attorney general josh hawley filed a scathing new lawsuit against three popular drug manufacturers, arguing they committed fraud by lying to doctors and consumers about how addictive and deadly the prescription drugs can be. >> every parent disabled by drug abuse is a tragedy. every child lost to this epidemic is irreplaceable. >> reporter: missouri named one of the largest lawsuits in state history and says the companies helped create the worst drug abuse epidemic missouri has ever seen. contributing to roughly 500 opioid deaths in to 15 alone -- in 2015 alone. >> something no parent should have to do is bury their own child. >> reporter: jamie said her high school age daughter died from a hidden opioid

addiction. >> we never got to see her graduate from high school. we never got to see her graduate from college. he never got to walk her down the aisle. if this sounds like a nightmare, it has definitely been a nightmare for our family. >> reporter: fox news reached out to each drug company named in missouri's lawsuit, in an e-mail jansen responded -- we have acted appropriately, responsibly and the best interest of the patients regarding our opioid medication." missouri is not the first to take action. it joins a list of states, counties and cities investigating or suing drug companies amid a nationwide epidemic of opioid abuse. new government data just released shows there was 1.2 million opioid-related e.r. visits in 2014 alone. a 99% increase compared to 2005. president trump repeatedly pledged to bolster federal efforts to combat the opioid crisis. the president and the congressional leaders insisted

their plan to repeal and replace obamacare will not pull out the rug from americans who rely on the law for their substance abuse treatment. brett? >> bret: thank you, matt. let's talk more about why missouri is joining other states in suing drug companies over opioid abuse. joining me now is missouri attorney general josh hawley. general hawley, thank you for being here. >> great to be with you, bret. >> bret: what brought the state to this action? what brought you to this point? >> bret, announced a suit against the major drug manufacturers today to hold them accountable for a campaign of fraud and deseat that has helped perpetrate -- deceit that helped perpetrate opioid epidemic in missouri. they engaged in a campaign over a series of years to convince doctors and convince consumers that opioids are not addictive. that opioids are perfectly fine to treat chronic pain and they have long-term benefits. all of those things are false

and the drug companies knew they were false. >> bret: we have a chart that chose missouri versus the rest of the country in deaths. opioid deaths. 2015, 2014, 2013. still you are at 1,066 deaths in 2015. it seems like it's a problem not only in your state but around the country. >> around the country, missouri has 160% of the national average in opioid deaths so we are actually above even where the rest of the country is. in 2015, there were 30,000 hospitalizations and emergency room visits in the state of missouri because of opioids. so it's an enormous problem in the state of missouri. that represents a 200% increase over the last decade. it truly is an epidemic. it's an epidemic nationally but an epidemic in our state and the state of missouri because of what the drug companies have done. >> bret: what is the remedy? what is the ultimate goal with

the suits? >> well, the goal is to hold the drug companies accountable. we are seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in damages and hundreds of millions more in civil penalties. here is what i would like to see ultimately. i'd like to see fully funded recovery programs for those who are suffering because of the epidemic. rehabilitation programs. job training programs for those who have been taken out of the workforce and the labor market because of what they suffered through. programs to help people get back on their feet and help communities heel. that is the ultimate goal. to be accountability, recovery and ultimately healing for those who have been so badly affected. >> bret: let me ask you from this point of view when you talk to people who are in chronic pain. they are concerned that by this action and by the lawsuits here, that perhaps pharmaceutical companies will be prevented or will scale back the ability to get the drugs that they need to fight the chronic pain.

they are worried about that. even though they acknowledge and the country acknowledges that there is a major opioid abuse issue. >> no one wants to see drugs that patients need not be available. that is not the point of our suit at all. but i need to say this, bret, that the drug companies, those we are going after today deliberately tried to convince doctors and patients, consumers that the drugs are far safer than they actually are. so there are ways to manage chronic pain. we want doctors to have all the tools at their disposals to do that. but they need to be fully informed. in fact, they have been subject, doctors have, and consumers to a campaign of lies and deceit that told them that opioid drugs are safer, are appropriate to treat chronic pain when in fact in most cases they are not. >> bret: you have joined mississippi, and ohio, so far. do you expect more states to join in the lawsuit? >> well, i think that is a

distinct possibility. i can't speak for other states but if you look at the scale of the epidemic nationally and the scale in missouri and you consider the evidence of the drug companies and their fraud and deceit and outright lies, i think it's hard not to see that something needs to be done and that is why we have taken bold action today. >> bret: last thing, how long do you think this will take the process, the lawsuit, moving this forward? >> well, there will be due process for all involved. the drug companies will have a chance to answer for their misdeeds. but i hope it will be swift. we will certainly push for it to be swift because the truth is, brett, people need help. those who are addicted need help. the families who have lost loved ones need help. and, of course, state programs, recovery programs need help, need funding. when -- we need to move forward. we'll push as hard as we can to see justice is done and the companies that perpetrated the injustice are held accountable. >> bret: missouri attorney general josh hawley. general, thank you for being here.

>> thank you. >> bret: when we come back, new information about what the russians were after when they tried to hack the election. plus terror in the homeland after a man stabs an officer at a michigan airport. liberty mutual stood with us when a fire destroyed everything in our living room. 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. take the zantac it challenge! pill works fast? zantac works in as little as 30 minutes. nexium can take 24 hours. when heartburn strikes, take zantac for faster relief than nexium or your money back. take the zantac it challenge.

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from over 200 booking sites... ...to save you up to 30%... ...on the hotel you want. trust this bird's words. tripadvisor. the latest reviews. the lowest prices. >> bret: one of the obstacles to the president's agenda is the investigation of the campaign's alleged collusion with the russians and now allegations of obstruction of justice. today on capitol hill, two more hearings and new insight into what went down in 2016. and when? here is chief intelligence correspondent catherine herridge. >> we have election systems in 21 states targeted. >> but in no case were actual vote tallies altered in any way, shape or form. >> correct. >> reporter: voter

registration data stolen from arizona and illinois to help the russians understand what it consisted of and how it might be manipulated -- >> possibly impacting future elections and/or targeting particular individuals. >> what are the dangers of manipulation of voter registration databases? >> if voters are removed from the registration data base and they show up on election day, that is going to cause problems, they wanted the stories to be out there. someone pinged in the system creating a specter of being able to argue at some point that the election was invalid. >> the other 19 affected states are not publicly known. >> no interest in trying to embarrass any state. we have seen it for too long that people sweep it under the regular and it will go away. >> reporter: frustration at the house panel where the former homeland press secretary was pressed on the obama's response.

>> why didn't the president of the united states say a foreign power is interfering in our affairs? we were very concerned that we not be perceived as taking sides in the election. >> reporter: more than six months after the federal election, frustration still lingers at the state and the local level. >> the former d.h.s. secretary jeh johnson repeatedly told my colleagues and i that no specific or credible threats existed in the fall of 2016. it's unclear why our intelligence agencies would withhold timely and specific threat information from election officials. >> reporter: witness after witness warned 2016 is only the beginning. >> this is of the utmost urgency for the department and the government to ensure that we have better protections going forward. >> reporter: the public debate comes on the same day special counsel robert mueller met with senior senators behind closed doors to ensure the separate probes do not conflict. special counsel robert mueller did not take reporters' questions today. in a statement the senate judiciary committee leadership

called the meeting productive, adding both parties committed to an ongoing dialogue as the investigations move forward. >> bret: catherine herridge on the hill. thank you. the u.s. is putting new pressure on china tonight to push north korea to change. this just a day after president trump appeared to throw in the towel on china's efforts to rein in the unpredictable kim jong un. chief washington correspondent james rosen has the report from the state department. >> reporter: following the first session of a new ministerial dialogue with china held by the trump administration held mostly behind closed doors, rex tillerson deems north korea the top security threat to the united states and he told it to the chinese visitors. >> they have a diplomatic responsibility to exert much greater economic and diplomatic pressure on regime. if they want to prevent further escalation in the region. >> reporter: the session followed the death this week of otto warmbier, young ohio native held hostage by china's

client state north korea and returned to u.s. soil last week in an unresponsive state. >> this is going beyond any kind of understanding of law and order, of humanity. >> it's a disgrace what happened to otto. >> reporter: president trump visibly moved by the case tweeted out that america's effort to rein in north korea's behavior said it has not worked out, at least i know that china tried. >> read it with the april 11 tweet where he said if china cannot solve north korea the united states will do so alone. if he still believes that, it means that there is going to be american action on north korea. and presumably that would be soon. >> reporter: the chinese foreign ministry defended beijing's server as a mediator and pledged to redouble the efforts. even arizona senator john mccain who rushed to proclaim otto warmbier's a murder by the regime of kim jong un urged calibrated response by trump. >> within rocket range of the

d.m.z, the boundary between north and south korea is a whole bunch of rockets that could hit a city of 26 million people. i.e., seoul. >> reporter: secretary tillerson said the three americans still detained in north korea are being held there it quin lawfully" but an aide said the state department does not regard those three americans as the "pivotal issue" here. >> bret: james rosen, thank you. up next, tropical storm cindy bears down on the u.s. gulf coast. we look at the long list of things congressional republicans want to do before the end of the year.

>> bret: the gulf coast is racing for a pounding tonight from tropical storm cindy. a boy at an alabama beach was struck and killed by a log that washed ashore in storm surge. cindy is spinning bans of weather from the florida panhandle to east texas. louisiana's governor declared a state of emergency earlier tonight. the f.b.i. is treating an attack at a michigan airport at an act of terrorism. investigators say canadian man shouted "allahu akbar," arabic for "allah is the greatest" and said it was about afghanistan when he stabbed an officer at bishop

international airport in flint earlier today. the f.b.i. says amor ftouhi entered the u.s. legally from canada last week. they do not believe the suspect was part of a wider terrorist plot. the officer is said to be in stable condition tonight. stocks were mixed today. dow lost 57. s&p 500 down 1. nasdaq gained 46. republicans in the senate are just hours away from the big reveal for obamacare repeal and replace. the bill they have been working on. plus there is a to-do list including tax reform, budget, raising the debt ceiling and tackling infrastructure. a long list without much time left before summer break. but will there be a summer break? chief congressional correspondent mike emanuel on what to expect in the morning. >> reporter: the senate republicans will review a draft of healthcare reform first thing in the morning. it's expected to be more moderate than the house bill, cutting off medicaid expansion

slower and providing generous subsidiaries for low income people. sources familiar said it would be tougher in the house than slowing the growth of medicaid spending. >> for the past seven years, obamacare continued to hurt people we represent. for the past seven years the republicans offered ideas for a better way forward. soon we will finally have a chance to turn the page on this failing law. >> mcconnell is in a tight spot. only able to lose two senate republicans to pass the bill with vice president pence serving as the tie-breaker. republicans from states where the constituents are losing insurance options under obamacare say the status quo is not sustainable. >> far too often i hear that high monthly premiums are sweeping pocketbooks. and that soaring out-of-pocket costs like deductibles and co-pays make coverage unaffordable. >> democrats have attacked the g.o.p. for look of transparency and senate democratic leader chuck schumer suggested if the

senate g.o.p. plan were any good, republicans would be bragging about it. >> they would be preaching it from the mountain tops. there would be a brass band down every main street in america announcing a new legislation. but no. they are afraid to even whisper. whisper about their bill. they want it out in the open for as little time as possible. >> reporter: others accuse the g.o.p. of rushing it. >> ten days. start to finish. to rewrite the healthcare system of america. ten days on a measure that has not been disclosed to the republican senators. not all of them. let alone the democratic senators. let alone the american people. >> even some veteran republicans are expressing concern about how this healthcare reform has been crafted. >> well, i'd like to see leaders debate an amendment on the floor of the senate. i would have liked to have been more involved in frankly what almost none of us have been involved in, that is

shaping it. >> reporter: but the calendar is becoming an issue. after the 4th of july holiday, lawmakers are expected to work on a fiscal year 2018 budget. that budget will be critical if leaders intend to keep their pledge to do tax reform later this fall. passing it with 51 votes in the senate instead of 60 votes using budget reconsolation -- reconciliation. they will have to address a debt in july or september. there is also f.a.a. reauthorization due september 30 with funding the government. there is also the pledge to do infrastructure, something big in the campaign but sources say has not gotten much attention in recent weeks. when you consider an august recess, if the democrats continue stall tactics, time becomes a factor. >> bret: mike, on the healthcare bill, what about defunding planned parenthood? is that in the senate bill? >> we are getting mixed signals. some day it's in, some say it's out. if you defund it some conservatives looking for a

win. but you risk alienating the moderates. that shows the tightrope that mitch mcconnell is walking. we'll see in the morning and we expect to get a congressional budget office assessment by monday. >> bret: tiptoeing through the republican caucus there. mike emanuel live on the hill. thanks. next up, the panel on the trump agenda and specifically the senate plan on healthcare coming out later this morning. pressure. i feel it every day. but at night, it's the last thing on my mind. for 10 years my tempur-pedic has adapted to my weight and shape, relieving pressure points from head to toe. so i sleep deeply but feel light. and wake up ready to perform. even with the weight of history on my shoulders. find your exclusive retailr at tempur-pedic.com

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people know obamacare is broken. and what reader mcconnell in the senate has done is he is putting together a plan that he knows rips out obamacare, branch and root and let's remind people why this is being done. this is not done to keep a campaign promise. this is an empertive. moral imperative for the millions of americans who thought they would get better healthcare. >> bret: kellyanne conway, senior aide to president trump on "hannity" earlier tonight. this is as more news today that two more healthcare companies are pulling out of indiana and wisconsin. two of the four health insurance companies in the

obamacare, the a.c.a. program. and we are back with the panel. stephen hayes, editor and chief of weekly standard. molly, federalist. julie pace, washington bureau chief and chris stirewalt from fox news. julie, is there a chance? you are saying there's a chance. the republicans can shoot the gap here in the senate and get to 50 votes? >> they are trying to move in that direction. they have a long way to go. you'll see the full plan tomorrow from mitch mcconnell. they have been negotiating in secret. we have some details to avoid what the house did on the preexisting conditions. doing away with the waivers that states would half. to allow premiums to increase. there are two school of thought in the senate. one is they will push the

legislation through. rather quickly. perhaps by next week. the second school of thought is mitch mcconnell sitting in his office, just wants to get republicans a chance to vote. simply wants to let them do that so he can move on to other issues. >> bret: and possibly use it as an election issue? >> well, no. i think both things can very much be true. it is possible they will put together -- i use the vultron analogy -- that different part of the robot will form up and ted cruz will say here is my piece. part of the working group will put it forward and people will say we like it. this is good. let's go for it. they will vote it, pass it out and send it to conference and away we go. the upside for mcconnell, even if it fails and they bring it out and nobody likes it, they can sink it to the bottom of the ocean in a 55-gallon drum saying no more, we are done talking about this. on to taxes. >> bret: the problem with that is they control the white house, the house and the senate. as the insurance companies are leaving the states people are feeling that. and so who is to blame when they get the bill? or when they don't fund the insurance? is it the guy in power or the

guy that created it at the beginning? >> right, the actual issue is that obamacare is broken. and it needs to be fixed. that is something that is the republicans' hand to deal with. the white house today had an event they were people who were victims of obamacare coming to talk. that is something we don't get a lot of coverage of. we get people of people who -- we get coverage of people who would lose out under the changes but obamacare has caused pain for a lot of people. premiums to rise by a large portion. penalties for people forced to buy insurance that they don't want. this needs to be fixed. it needs to be dealt with. they should go ahead and make a good plan. some of what we are hearing thus far is not the most promising, even stuff like delaying when medicaid expansion will be cut off, which will really just make it so that it pushes the can down the road rather than dealing with the fundamental problems that are cooked into obamacare. >> bret: here is how they write it up on the health bill draft. "the bill largely mirrors the house measure that narrowly

passed last month but with some significant changes. and to please moderates. the house legislation tied federal insurance subsidies to age the senate bill would link them to income as the a.c.a. does." obamacare. "the senate cuts off medicaid more gradually than the house bill but would enact deeper cuts for low-income americans and removes language restricting federally subsidized health plans for covering abortions which may have run afoul of complex budget rules." the people we talk to on the hill, steve, said easy, there are a lot of moving parts here. but that is the "washington post" write-up. >> it's not clear that the abortion regs would run afoul. there is debate. this is the dilemma for republicans. the things we describe in the "washington post" piece might be enough to please susan collins and lisa murkowski, moderates on the bubble. what will they do to rand paul, mike lee, pet cruz, tom cotton?

these are people who expressed deep reservation about the house version of this. if this is the house version taken to the left or more moderate or trump might say left meme, you will lose the people. they won't vote for that. they have been outspoken critics of what the house has done to come back and vote in favor of it would be a huge bridge at this point. >> bret: all right. so do they get it or not? >> basically, they can get it if they fake it. the easiest way to do this is go back to paul ryan plan "a," fake repeal, fake replace. we'll do it later. repeal it now. take the tax revenue back out at the beginning. then we'll replace it later on. when we eventually do repeal it. at that point, rand paul starts ringing the claxon horn and everybody runs for cover. >> bret: that's what people hate about washington. we are also one election away from solving big things. >> one election away from solving the big things and if

we try to solve big things it's along clear partisan lines. >> bret: we will follow it all. that is it for the panel. i promise next time, molly. next a hero's welcome on the next a hero's welcome on the pitcher's moundray's always bee. last year, he said he was going to dig a hole to china. at&t is working with farmers to improve irrigation techniques. remote moisture sensors use a reliable network to tell them when and where to water. so that farmers like ray can compete in big ways. china. oh ... he got there. that's the power of and.

speak to the capitol police officer being held as hero in last week's shooting at a congressional baseball practice, out of the hospital and back on the ballfield. crystal garner, shot in the ankle, throughout the first pitch tonight at the congressional softball game against the media. he was working as part of the house majority with the security detail last wednesday. suspect fired several rounds, and he was 1 of 2 capital officers credited with helping to bring that suspect down. remaining in the hospital, but now listed in fair condition. thank you for your service officer, and thank you for

inviting us into your home tonight. that is it for this "special report," fair, balanced, and still unafraid. we are back tomorrow >> this is a fox news alert. welcome to "hannity." we're broadcasting from sin city. president trump just finished his rally in iowa. democrats are in total disarray after last night's major within for president run the and for republicans in the georgia sixth district. the left has no idea. they're out of touch with you, the american people, as we have been telling you. we'll also expose the biggest conspiracy theorist in the media. that's tonight in the opening