[laughs] >> you've got to love terrence. that's all theme time we have lt this evening. as always, thank you for being with us. we will always be fair and balanced . alert, i'm bret baier. big news tonight from both ends of pennsylvania avenue. senate republican leaders have decided to push back the traditional five-week august vacation in order to try to get something done on health care. nominations and the budget. and the white house is dealing tenant with yet another revelation in investigations into russian interference in the 2016 election and allegations of collusion with the trump campaign. we are getting a look today at the emails that set up a june 26th meeting between donald trump, jr., and a russian lawyer who was said, in the email, to have incriminating information about hillary clinton and the russians. the president's son released emails this morning and what his

father called an act of transparency. they were released ahead of a "new york times" story that claimed to have the email threa thread. his father's enemies are sharpening the political pitchforks using words such as "perjury" and even "reason" as they try to prove russian tried to sway the election and try to help the trump campaign. we are hearing tonight for the first time from donald trump junior. what we know is that his email chain has changed the dynamic in investigations and the coverage of them. correspondent kevin corke has the facts tonight from the north line. >> good evening to you, bret. the emails certainly making a bit of a political firestorm in washington today. in fact, the unveiling of those emails really brought into much sharper focus the intent of that now infamous meeting between donald trump, jr., and a russian lawyer, but it's also raising new questions tonight about whether or not that itself constitutes collusion.

>> things are going a million miles an hour again and hey, wait a minute i've heard all these things, but maybe this is something, i should hear them out. this was just basic information that would possibly be there. i didn't know them enough -- the talent manager from the miss universe had this kind of thing. i wanted to hear it out. >> donald trump junior released a slew of private emails and effort he says to be transparen transparent. likely beat "the new york times," which separately planned to publish them. the emails laying out his conversation with a british tabloid publicist, rob goldston goldstone, who offered to set up the encounter. this is obviously very high-level an end sensitive information he wrote, but as part of russia and its government support for trump adding that it would incriminate hillary and her dealings with russia and would be very useful to your father. responded "if it's what you say, i love it, especially later in the summer." in his first comments, the

president issued a statement, my son is a high quality person and i applaud his transparency. white house officials acknowledged the president is a comic increasingly exasperated. >> i think the president is, i would say frustrated with the process of the fact that this continues to be an issue and he would love for us to be focused on things like the economy, on health care, on tax reform, on infrastructure. that's the place that his mind is and that's what he would like to be discussing. >> on capitol hill at lawmaker suggested a meeting at corroborating emails were far more serious than a mere distraction. >> this is obviously very significant, deeply disturbing, new public information. all of the campaign denials of whether we knew this was going on or whether the russians had any involvement, whether russians wanted to help this campaign, obviously now have to be viewed in a completely different context. >> this is moving into perjury,

false statements and even potentially treason. >> natalia veselnitskaya, the russian lawyer who may have used the dirt on clinton bruce to secure the connotation of atomic conversation the campaign. donald was very interested in anything she might have about the clinton campaign. >> it's quite possible that maybe they were looking for such information. they wanted it so badly. >> have you ever worked for the russian government? do you have connections to the russian government? >> no. >> experts say this looks a lot like what it's like collusion and the case of gross political naivety. >> they might be chumps, that doesn't make them criminals. the fact that they had this meeting is not evidence of treason. people need to really think about the implication of what they are suggesting. >> strong words by jonathan turley.

assignment judiciary committee, he said that committee will not be prioritizing the interview or at the very least testimony from donald trump, jr., as soon as possible for his part. trump junior says he would be happy to pass along what he knows. >> bret: i know you've seen all of the pretaped interview between donald trump, jr., and sean hannity that will air tonight at 10:00 p.m., is there a sense in the interview that donald trump, jr., understood the gravity of what he was being offered here, what exactly he was looking for at the end of that email? >> reporter: a terrific question, i don't think there's any question that in listening to him very carefully, you get the sense that this is what happens when you are a political novice. if you have weighty experience in politics, you almost instinctively know immediately not to take that on. maybe you have a lower level snapper comic staffer sniff it out. in particular when you involve senior campaign people like paul manafort and jared kushner, an

obvious messed up and that's putting it mildly. i don't think he really understood that and that is clear in listening him. >> bret: you would think he would have given his all of his experience. one must question me about the interview, was the follow-up? did they get anything eventually. he doesn't say he got anything from that meeting, what was there anything as far as information along those lines after that? >> he mentioned there was a great deal of frustration on the part of that british tabloid publicist saying this was really effectively not what he was told originally that they would somehow have this information about the clinton campaign. not only did i not get any in that meeting, they didn't get any in the follow-up afterwards and that seemed to be a little frustrating for them, but it's a lesson learned, one that will have to deal with now perhaps for quite some time to come. >> bret: kevin corke live on the north line, thank you. they may all have to be under oath at some point. donald trump, jr., will tell his side of the story. it's a hannity exclusive,

10:00 p.m. eastern right here on fox news channel as all of these investigations continue on full effort on capitol hill according to republicans and democrats today. there's also a lot of other things happening on capitol hil capitol hill, the top republican in the senate is delayed the start of the august recess to get more work in on big agenda items that have so far eluded the g.o.p. and the president. chief congressional correspondent mike emanuel has tonight update from capitol hill. >> not so fast, says senator mitch mcconnell. with no deal insight on health care reform, the majority leader announced he is delaying recess until the third week of august and blasted senate democrats. >> we are getting zero cooperation on the personnel part of the senate portfolio, which is confirming nominations. therefore we will be in session the first two weeks of august. >> white house officials are serious dumb experience with democrats, accusing them of the

slowest confirmation process in american history. 197 presidential nominations, the senate has confirmed only 49. and only two of the president's 23 judicial nominees have been confirmed. white house officials are singling out senate democratic leader chuck schumer for leading what they call an unprecedented campaign of obstruction. this afternoon he fired back. >> i have sympathy for the republicans. if i were them, i wouldn't want to go home and face the voters either, because they're not getting a very good reaction when it comes to this bill. >> earlier today ten republican senators called for in august recess adjustment and less meaningful progress has been made on fixing health care, funding the government, dealing with the debt ceiling, passing a budget resolution, and improving the tax code. >> some very important issues with got to get done and get results for people back home. >> we can be moving forward on a whole bunch of different fronts. a whole bunch of different priorities.

most of them bipartisan. >> other rank-and-file republicans say they don't want to be rushed on an issue as important as health care. >> we will want to have some time to talk to people that are experts in the industry that know what works and what doesn't. it's going to take some time to work through that and make sure we understand it. >> the conservative house freedom caucus praising the move by mcconnell to keep the senator for part of august. it's calling on house leadership to do the same. i'm told if they are finishing up a big issue like health care reform, it is possible house lawmakers stick around, too. >> bret: mike emanuel live on the hill. the house appropriations committee has unveiled a new plan for the border with mexico. you, not mexico are paying for it so far. $44 billion home security funding bill. there is no plan you have to bring this to the house floor as of now. the u.s. message to north korea

tonight, we can shoot on your short and medium-range missiles. meanwhile, china has a message for the u.s. north korea is not just a problem. national security correspondent jennifer griffin has the latest from the pentagon. because the u.s. missile defense agency successfully shot down a missile over the pacific using a thaad antiballistic missile battery based in alaska. his target was launched north of hawaii. today's test comes one week after north korea launched a long-range intercontinental ballistic missile capable of striking alaska. >> this is a stabilizing force. today is not a good day to destabilize and upset the apple cart because we are going to be able to protect ourselves to some degree by the way we are going to come after you in response. >> thaad missiles are used against short and medium-range missiles, not the kind

north korea launched, which traveled 1700 miles into outer space, nearly seven times higher than the space station. the u.s. has other interceptors in alaska and california for a long-range missile threats. today a south korea lawmaker said his country's intelligence service questions whether the recent north korean tests succeeded after all in achieving the crucial reentry phase. kim jong-un sat next to what he promoted for that ballistic missile launch as they watched a girl band concert. just days earlier the u.s. military flew a pair of b-1 bombers and dropped dummy bombs. today china's foreign ministry spokesman hit back an unusually strong terms at repeated calls from the u.s. to put more pressure on north korea urging a halt to what he called the china responsibility theory. >> china is not to be blamed for the current escalation of tension, nor does china hold the key to resolve the issue. >> about 90% or so of the trade

that north korea does is done with china and we continue to say thanks for what you time, but we expect and want you to do a whole lot more. >> right now the pentagon would like to send four more thaad interceptors to south korea but the south korean government has put the plan on hold, not wanting to provoke north korea or china. >> bret: jennifer, thank you. authorities in mississippi are trying to figure out why a military refueling plane went into a death spiral and crashed into a soybean field last night. 16 people were killed. correspondent jonathan serrie is in our conference room in the search for answers. >> they are trying to find what the because the fiery crash. >> it was loud. scary. i've seen all the black smoke. >> the plane was a kc130t used

for midflight refueling operations and cargo and supplies. it's a workhorse of the military. part of the gmdr squadron stationed at stewart erin national card. it was carrying equipment and personnel to enable air facility in california. the plane disappeared from radar while flying over mississippi, crashing in a soybean field near greenwood. >> they will be taking statements from air traffic control and any witnesses on the ground that may be able to contribute something to what happened. there were no reports of injuries on the ground but the marines confirm all 16 service members on board the aircraft died in the crash, they include 15 marines and one navy corpsman. >> every resource that we have that we can pull from will be used to determine what happened

and every source that we can give to the family as well will be made available to them. >> this morning, president donald trump tweeted "marine plane crash in mississippi is heartbreaking, we send our deepest condolences to all." the commander of the newly forces reserved offer, he offered his sympathy. the marines and sailor involved in this incident were among our finest. they dedicated our lives to our core values of honor, courage, and commitment. they will never be forgotten. speak with the marines are withholding the name of the service members who died in ina crash until they finish notifying their families. >> bret: jonathan, thank you. federal agents in oklahoma are treating a facility that houses a recruiting center as a possible act of domestic terrorism. officials are looking for surveillance video of the suburban tulsa area where it exploded monday. the location is also home to a multiplex theater and other

businesses. authorities in a rural part of pennsylvania are looking for four missing young men. officials fear foul play is involved and have one arrest so far. it's a mystery. senior correspondent rick leventhal is about 30 miles outside of philadelphia. >> an intensive search involving thousands of local and state police and federal agents, scouring roughly 90 acres of farmland in upscale rural pennsylvania looking for four young men who went missing last week. >> we have not recovered any human remains to this point, but we continue to work very, very hard on establishing all kinds of investigative leads. >> 19-year-old jimi patrick was last seen last wednesday. the others, 19 oh dean finocchiaro, mark sturgis and tom meo, disappeared friday night. 20-year-old cosmo dinardo is a person of interest in the case.

dinardo was rearrested monday on weapons charges first filed in february for possession of a 20 gauge shotgun of ammo, illegal because of his history of mental illness. authorities say he was once involuntarily committed to an institution and his parents owned the farm now being searched. dinardo's connection to the missing man is unclear, but he's being held on $1 million bail, unusually high for a weapons charge. >> that was at our urging because he was a person of interest. i think if somebody is charged with something and becomes a person of interest it's fair to say to a judge that you have now become a greater risk. >> authorities reassure the family this mystery will be solved. >> anything from major construction equipment all the way down to the finest sifting equipment that you can imagine, because some of it is just heavy, bulky work, construction work, and others as we want to be careful not to miss the tiniest piece of evidence.

i suspect that we will find bot both. >> the d.a. called this investigation massive in scope and said the entire 90 acres being searched is a scene of interest. if you wouldn't say have any weapons have been recovered but did say so far no human remains have been found and their holding out hope that the four missing men are still alive. >> bret: rick leventhal five, thank you. 200 miles west of there are another tragic story is playing out, this one involves a penn state university fraternity pledge died after a night of drinking. 18 young men could face trial on charges as serious as manslaughter. correspondent brianna brian has the latest. >> he looked expletive dead. brendan young to his girlfriend about 19-year-old college timothy piazza.

the preliminary hearing continues into his hazing death. the district attorney says text messages from young and other fraternity members shall the brothers were worried about going to jail and tried to cover up evidence after piazza suffered lethal injuries at the fraternity house during a drinking hazing ritual called the gauntlet. they say he messaged daniel casey, the pledge master. "make sure the pledges clean the basement and get rid of every evidence of alcohol. he also wrote was girlfriend i don't think you fully account for the situation. i will be going to court, paying for an attorney, going to jail. piazza died in the hospital the next day after consuming deadly amounts of alcohol. prosecutors say he would be alive today if brothers had not waited 12 hours to call 911. eight fraternity brothers now faced involuntary manslaughter and aggravated assault charges. ten others face lesser crimes

like tampering with evidence. all are represented by individual defense lawyers. some blame in part penn state university student run interpreters may council for monitoring social parties. others also point fingers at ti tim, a penn state football trainer and living, sr., advisor at the beta house, who is not facing charges. >> it just doesn't sit well with me. >> others note that piazza drank voluntarily, a notion his family denied. >> this is a case of alcohol poisoning, not of drinking. make no mistake about it. >> it's been highly emotional. today the victim's father stared down and try to confront a defense attorney inside the courtroom over a question he found insulting, the preliminary hearing is expected to continue in august. a judge will decide if this case goes on to trial. >> bret: brian, thank you. up next, why would a decorated u.s. army veteran switch sides and work for isis? that story coming up.

first what some of our affiliates are coming on the country, fox five in new york at the funeral for a police officer gunned down on the fourth of july. >> the nation was born and she died a patriot defending all of us. >> bret: the mayor spoke with the service, she was sought while sitting at a command post. law enforcement officers lined up for blocks outside the church where the service was held. box 13 in tampa has 80 people form a human chain to rescue a family caught in a recurrent off panama city beach. nine people were stuck in about 15 feet of water saturday, one of them had a heart attack during the ordeal but survived. this is a live look at los angeles for our affiliate box 11. the big story there, l.a. gets the olympics.

international olympics committee members voted unanimously to give los angeles the summer games in either 2024 or 2028. parents will get the other. decision on the year comes in september. congratulations l.a. if that's tonight's live look the beltway. the beltway. we will be right

the beltway. we will be right for years, centurylink has been promising

fast internet to small businesses. but for many businesses, it's out of reach. why promise something you can't deliver? comcast business is different. ♪ ♪ we deliver super-fast internet with speeds of 250 megabits per second across our entire network, to more companies, in more locations, than centurylink. we do business where you do business. ♪ ♪ >> bret: american intelligence agencies are working to confirm a report that the most wanted man in the world is dead. in british-based humanitarian organizations has isis leader has been killed. russia's defense ministry has been saying that for weeks, it may have killed the terror leader and a late may air strike on a gathering of isis

commanders. a top u.s. intelligence official tells fox news there is still no credible confirmation of his death. a decorated combat veteran is in custody tonight charged with trying to help isis. the man's attorney says he has service related mental issues that have never been addressed. here is adam housley. >> in a federal criminal complaint filed in hawaii prosecutors say he attempted to provide material support to isis and offer to betray an undercover agent to help fight for the islamic state. according to the fbi, kang bought a drone price is to use against u.s. forces and said he wanted to use his rifle to "kill a bunch of people." >> he made a loyalty approach to isis. >> the army jeep, sergeant was trained as an air traffic controller. his father says the family is in

shock, insisting ikaika was a great kid who had recently tried to convince his father to join his new islamic faith. >> he had the quran and he gave me one and he kind of pushed me to study it. >> document show the army reprimanded the soldier several times for threatening other service members and for arguing pro-isis views. an fbi forensic computer also found classified military documents and hundreds of articles referencing isis and violence. >> the u.s. army is very vigilant in this investigation and they brought the matter to our attention. >> kang's father and his defense attorney believe the decorated sergeant, who served in both iraq and afghanistan, may suffer from service related health issues. >> i was quite concerned when he came back from a tour in afghanistan, one tour in iraq, if he had ptsd. but he has never, ever talked about isis or anything like that. >> after a year-long

investigation the fbi says it believes kang was acting alone and that no classified materials or information ever actually ended up in the hands of isis terrorist. he next appears in federal court on thursday. >> bret: thank you. we have new videos and i of what syria's government says are its troops fighting isis terrorist in the southwestern part of the country. hearings news agency reported military source says army units and pro-government allies inflicted heavy losses on isis personnel and equipment. it said the army reestablished for control over a number of strategic villages and towns while driving isis fighters for the desert. no independent confirmation of that. sporadic fighting continues in iraq a day after the prime minister declared total victory over isis. several air strikes hit the old city neighborhood that was the scene of the first battles final days. the top u.s. commander in iraq says there may be a couple hundred isis fighters still

inside, some of whom are trying to surrender to iraqi forces. secretary of state rex tillerson appeared to be making progress in ending the standoff between qatar and its area neighbors. >> a friend of the region. >> secretary of state rex tillerson is intensifying his efforts to end the crisis between u.s. allies that has dragged into its second month. after he met with the foreign minister, the state department announced qatar in the u.s. find a memo pledging a combined effort to track and share information. the state department called the agreement a hopeful step forward. >> i think qatar has been quite clear in this position and very reasonable. we want to talk now how do we take things forward. >> saudi arabia, the united arab emirates have cut diplomatic ties with qatar over what they

say is it supported terrorism. last week saudi arabia and its allies omitted 13 demands they expected him to agree to in exchange for ending their blockade. qatar rejected them. its adversaries say they value the efforts, adding they should completely and finally stopped his activities and implement the list of 13 fair and legitimate demands in addition to any demand that the four nations may later announce. qatar says it has for weeks discussed this terrorism memorandum with the united states and says it is unrelated to the blockade against it. qatar is now demanding the adversaries follow suit. >> the blockading countries have accused qatar of financing terrorism. now it's the first country to sign this memo of understanding with the united states. we invite other blockading countries to join this understanding. >> are not certain if this memorandum is going to be extended to the other nations. i don't want to get ahead of the secretary. i suppose there could be

separate memorandums that would come of these conversations. >> >> secretary tillerson traves tomorrow to saudi arabia again when he last visited in may, the administration pushed unity. this time the secretary is trying to piece on that back back together. >> bret: thank you. last week's speech about president trump in poland has been called reagan-esque by his supporters, others have considerably less flattering things to say. whether speaking of western civilization is racist. >> the leader of the free world has a worldview shaped by western values and he has a plan to protect them. you could call it the trump doctrine so far. >> while we will always welcome new citizens who share our values and love our people, our borders will always be close to terrorism and extremism of any kind.

>> following that he thinks america and countries like it will flourish. aco i declare today that the west will never, ever be broken. our civilization will triumph. >> talking about our civilization and the west is interpreted by some on the left as just promoting white values or even racism. in a speech in poland on thursday, donald trump referred ten times to the west and five times to our civilization. his white nationalist supporters will understand exactly what he means. experts don't see western civilization as so walled off. >> the united states has done spectacularly well, it's created space for everybody, regardless of where they are coming from because they share the ideas of the united states, and i see countries in europe, countries in asia moving toward that. >> one liberal commentator thinks the left's problems may happen with the president's policies but with things he did

during primary campaigns. >> taking a number of weeks to condemn david duke. we see him but really try to understand the black lives matter movement, so as all those pieces that have led those people to know so that everything is president says has some sort of dog whistle or some sort of racial inclination to it. >> conservative think liberals complain about president trump need a history lesson. >> lyndon johnson, the great liberal warrior gives a speech on the occasion of the 1,000th anniversary of christianity in poland. two-thirds of it could have been a cut-and-paste job for donald trump speech, exactly the same themes. >> in a different era, democrats may have applauded a defense of western civilization, but in 2017 even an attempt by the president to explain what he thinks make the u.s. and its allies stronger than terrorists trying to destroy them is immediately discounted by critics on the left. >> bret: peter, thank you.

critics also say the irs is overstepping its authority in seizing property from small business owners. we have one case in point tonight. jeff is in chicago. good evening. >> is an interesting one. the irs can seize your goods if you don't pay her taxes, but by law they have to wait at least ten days to give you a chance to pay or perhaps appeal. i ask you, bridal gowns, perishable or imperishable connect because of their perishable the government can go ahead and sell them right away. if they are not perishable they have to wait for ten days. in the case of this in texas, the government says bridal gowns are indeed perishable goods. the story of's is owned and operated by u.s. citizen since 1983. one day the government came in with 20 armed agents and sold off all their gowns. at the irs -- the lawsuit against the irs says "irs agents

wrongfully classified as stock more than 1600 designer bridal gowns at perishable goods and invoked extremely seizure and sale process for such items. the gowns were worth -- that irs got $17,000 and some of the agents apparently bought some of the discounted gowns which averaged about $4 a gallon for the designer gowns. we checked the irs manual about what is a perishable good and what isn't and in the case of a nursery for example, flowers and plants, those are perishable goods, the government can sell those off right away but items like gardening equipment and pottery and vehicles, not perishable. can't sell those off right away, at least not by law. by the way, the tax bill for the couple, $30,000 which the lawyer tells fox business they didn't even owe. >> we have not conceded that they actually owe that in the first place, which adds another

wrinkle. even conceding that they do, a $30,000 liability certainly does not prompt or warrant the actions here. >> checking the irs manual again it says there must be an expectation that a great loss in property value will occur, the loss must be rapid, according to the allowance is a quick sale. bridesmaids gowns and wedding dresses, perishable goods? you decide. >> bret: jeff, thank you. the labor department says job openings fell 5% in may to 5.7 million. meanwhile, hiring climbed 8.5% to just under five and a half million. stocks were mixed today, the dow gained one half, the s&p 500 was down 2, the nasdaq finished ahead 17. donald trump juniors email chains, the latest. donald trump, jr., speaks to hannity.

more of that interview after the tech: when you schedule with safelite autoglass, you get a text when we're on our way. you can see exactly when we'll arrive. i'm micah with safelite. customer: thanks for coming, it's right over here. tech: giving you a few more minutes for what matters most. take care. kids singing: safelite® repair, safelite® replace.

>> my take away when all of this was going on is that somebody has information on our opponent. this was 13 months ago before i think the rest of the world was talking about that, trying to build up this narrative about russia. i don't think my sirens went off or the intent is one of this time because of it, because it wasn't the issue that has been made out to be over the last nine months, ten months. >> on its face this is very problematic. we cannot allow foreign governments to reach out to anybody's campaign and say we would like to help you, that is a nonstarter. >> we are now beyond obstruction of justice in terms of what is being investigated. this is moving into perjury, false statements and even potentially treason. >> bret: some of the reaction as you are donald trump junior speaking with sean hannity. we will have another clip of that interest moments. he speaks tonight at 10:00 p.m.

but this is all over an email chain that trump junior released himself today hours before we expect "the new york times" had a story about that very email chain. in these email the talk about setting up a meeting tonight, 2016, rob goldstone, a publicist to donald trump, jr.,, the crown prosecutor of russia met with his father this morning and there made an offer to provide the drum campaign with some official documents and information that would incriminate hilary in her dealings with russia and would be useful to your father. this is high-level and sensitive information but it's part of russia and its government's support for mr. trump helped along. what do you think is the best way to handle this information and would you be able to speak to him about it directly? he has another contact through the miss universe with the trumps. if i can send this info to your father via his assistant at

trump tower, but it is ultrasensitive so i wanted to send to you first. donald trump, jr.,: thanks, rob, i appreciate it. i'm on the road but perhaps i should speak to them first. if it's what you say, i love it, especially later in the summer. it goes on and set up this meeting. this is the lawyer they met with, june 9th, she spoke to nbc this morning. >> what was the purpose of that meeting? >> i never knew who else would be attending the meeting, all i knew that mr. donald trump, jr., was willing to meet with me. >> they had the impression it appears that they were going to be told some information that you had about the dnc, how did they get that impression connect >> it's quite possible that maybe they were looking for such information, they wanted it so badly. >> bret: she went on to say that she did not work for the kremlin, that's what she told nbc. let's bring in our panel.

steve hayes, mercedes schlapp, columnist for "the washington times" and jonathan swan, national political reporter. welcome back. your thoughts and reactions? >> the white house internally, there's really two trains of thought they're both happening simultaneously. one is who leaked this? >> bret: the email thread? >> what the view is it internally is the first on the last doors were probably linked by opponents of theirs, possibly people in the intelligence community. if the second story by "the new york times" that sites three advisors to the white house, that the story everyone is focused on and there wondering who are these people and of course there's a view internally that there's a race to bring arrivals, cover your back, and that opens up all sorts of possibilities. it's created this atmosphere when no one trusts anyone come up there all throwing out names, discussing could it be this person, could it be that person,

people are opening up all the factions internally. it's a crazy environment there. as for the substance of it, they don't even try to pretend this is not bad. privately they are saying this is a really bad story, it's terrible. the one thing they do say is there is no crime. this perception problem, not a crime problem. that's the line there sort of testing out. i see point number three is i would expect them to turn this -- that's what i'm already scary, caring internally, the real story is obama's unmasking and that comes from the very top, donald trump himself said that. >> bret: the political problem, mercedes, is what white house aides and donald trump junior himself had said previously about efforts to meet with russians, no efforts on collusion, any effort to take on hillary with the russians and that the problem in this case, is that right? >> there are several problems, that being one of them in terms of them saying that they don't

recall having these meetings with russians and this happens. it brings up a second question, which i'm hearing out the legal community, which is there's a chance that there's more of these meetings? are there more contacts out there that they had with the russians? my question is wherewith they can pick up, camping lawyer during this process? in terms of when you're in a campaign, your campaign where it is critical in helping to that a lot of these meetings for example. i think the mere fact that it was such a decentralized campaign with the family members running it to a certain extent, it creates a bit of a disservice because there's the fact that they are not understanding that they could be -- there could be a legal ramifications for the actions they take. >> bret: if paul manafort goes to that meeting, as campaign manager, he has decades of experience in politics, jerry kushner is a different story as far as political experience. but they are in that meeting, they have to know something before they get in the meeting, right? >> that's what it appears at this point, but i do believe

that they didn't know what they didn't know. they believed this was going to be a meeting to figure out if there was information on clinton. when you look at it from a legal perspective and you look at the cases out there, for example blooming versus the fec, it really does restrict what foreign nationals can do, whether it spending money or spending number on candidates or express advocacy. i think from a legal perspective donald trump, jr., is probably in a better spot. the question becomes that the democrats are now pushing this narrative of treason where i think they are overplaying their hand. i don't think that's where they should be going because at the end i feel that donald trump, jr., and the team didn't necessarily know that this could create a problem. >> bret: steve? >> the story here is not president obama, it's not the deep state, it's not the media, if not the democrats. it's donald trump, jr., these emails. this doesn't require interpretation, it's not coming to the filter of

"the new york times," the emails say what they say. this is one of those moments we have to stop and think all we really having a debate in this country in washington about the propriety of the son of a presidential candidate, a leading presidential candidate, meeting with representatives who he thought more of a hostile foreign power for the purposes of winning the election? we have to have a debate about whether that's proper or not? that's an incredible moment in our history that we are having this debate. i think you are right on the legal question, democrats are overplaying their hands. there some lawyers talking today about whether he would be in legal jeopardy or not, probably not. that seems to me to be a different debate and it almost misses the point of what we learned over the past three day days. just three or four days ago story from the trump campaign was no contact, then the story was a harmless meeting but adoptions. then the story was a meeting to get information about clinton, then the story after that was a supposed representative of the russian government coming to

provide this information so trump could win an election. that's an incredible moment. >> bret: pushed back, how do they know she was in the russian government connect the email says if you believe rob goldstone, she is representing or somehow representing the russian government in its efforts to help the trump campaign, she goes on to tell nbc that she was now working for them at the time. >> even worse she was working for fusion gps, a private contractor, the group that released a dossier. how did she get a visa? there's all these other questions that need to be asked and actually fusing gps is stonewalling congressional investigation right now. those are a second set of questions that need to be asked. >> bret: you were going to finish her point, sorry. >> diffusion gps, there are questions there. either congressional congressional investigation or bob. she represented herself as a

representative of the russian government -- goldstone. donald trump, jr., took the meeting with the intention of colluding. i think that is the problem here, that the big take away, wherever all of the rest of this is, . >> one of the biggest problems is the credibility gap that opens up now. st pointed out, this whole thing is phony, there's nothing to it, it's not only fully, it's ridiculous to suggest that we knew any russians or dealt with any russians and then we have this amazing timeline now we have the email dated june whatever it was where he heard that this was the russian government and a month later you have done, jr., on television with jake tapper on cnn saying this whole thing is ridiculous. >> bret: we are going to hear another clip from sean hannity's interview with donald trump, jr., it airs tonight at 10:00 p.m. eastern, we have an exclusive another clip on the other side of the break. we will finish this up and talk about what it possibly means for

about what it possibly means for the trump agenda up on about what it possibly means for the trump agenda up on ♪ we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. ♪

>> in retrospect i probably would have done things a little differently. this is before the russia mania. before they were building it up in the press. for me this was opposition research, they have something, it may be concrete evidence to all the story i've been hearing about but were probably unreported for years, not just during the campaign, so i think i wanted to hear it out. really it went nowhere and it was apparent that that wasn't what the meeting was about. >> it is absolutely not only a breach of norms but a breach of civic responsibility to the country if you get approached by a foreign government offering to interfere in a presidential election you go to the fbi, he

reported, that's what a decent citizen would do. this was unethical, it was i think in violation of the oath of citizenship to willingly solicit, receive, encourage foreign intervention in our elections. >> bret: there you see some reaction. that interview tonight at 10:00 p.m. with donald trump, jr., back with the panel. to some final thoughts on this and a look ahead. congress, the senate now saying they are postponing august recess and taking two weeks away trying to get things across the finish line. we haven't really heard from the president, specifically only one statement, statement saying his son was very transparent and he's a good guy. where does this go? >> we don't know what the investigation. this investigation will last a very long time and robert could blast; a very point lot of different directions. as for the legislative agenda, i think it should have a lot more to do with nominations and other

things they need to get done. they've got a horrific september, a debt ceiling coming up, mitch mcconnell, he wants to make it less horrific. health care, we will see. it's a pretty tough spot at the moment. >> bret: does this hurt the ability to do all that other stuff? >> absolutely because then what happens, especially the senate intelligence committee, it will be their primary focus and it eats a lot of time. when the stories are so much more focused on russia every day in the news as opposed to the health care reform or tax reform, it's very different, difficult to sell this message to the american people. >> there is a decided that that all the focus is on the shiny thing over here and we get to lobby some people and not be in the press about the health care vote. i'm not sure i'm buying it. >> i don't think i'm buying it either, the lobbyist might like it, but i think you want to see the president out there talking

about his legislative agenda, going out to the states and basically selling his message. if all the focus is on russia, he loses momentum and remember, you lose political capital as the year goes on and you get into the midterm election year. >> bret: we know we will hear from the president in france and oppressed, press conference with the french leader. don't know if we will hear from them before then. >> that's one of the questions, if you look at the way they responded to past incidents like this, there hasn't really been something like this, but past -- it's meant to be aggressive, to go after the people who are asking the questions, to go after the media. i think going after the media in this case doesn't work, because these are his own words and going after bob muller and the investigators, that may buy them some time, i don't think that when them the argument. >> bret: it's tough with manafort in the room? >> it is and he was caught with

the emails. he saying he didn't read it. >> being an amateur explains to me why you didn't take the meeting, you have to be a professional to know what's right and what's wrong. it's been with the story obviously not ending and more just on the other side of this break.

♪ >> bret: just another programming note. a reminder that donald trump should and will tell his side of the story tonight here on fox news channel. with sean hannity. we'll get reaction to the rhetoric coming out of democrats, some republicans even, and the democrats using words like perjury and even treason. it is a "hannity" exclusive here on fox news channel. you don't want to miss this. set the dvr if you're not going to be home. there will be talking about it for a number of days, as will

be, and cover all of the news here on "special report." that is it for "special report.. "hannity" with donald trump jr., next. >> sean: thanks to our friends on "the five." donald trump jr. is here to set the record straight about his june 2016 meeting with the russian lawyer. he will join us for an exclusive in-depth interview. that's coming up. by the way, for all the members of the district or media that have to tune into my show tonight, get out your pad and pen. you may actually learn a thing or two. we have a message for you. maybe you want to take notes. we want to lay out the real scandals that you are not covering that you should be covering. if you were actual journalists, you would be. let's lay out the facts of this story. that is tonight. important opening monologue. earlier today