we won't have lasagna, we'll have ribs and bar -- barbecue and hope you'll join us because it's friday. >> doctor, nick, thank you very much for dropping by. see you tomorrow. >> bill: good morning, everybody. moments from now a key witness set to testify on the evils of the russian government and how far he believes vladimir putin will go to silence his enemies. this testimony is stunning stuff, too. good morning, everybody on thursday. it's crunch time. >> shannon: i'm good and looking forward to this. to read a preview of that testimony is a spy novel. he is in the chair there. i'm shannon bream in the hot sit bill brow dear foamer head fund manager in russia. he is familiar with the attorney that met with donald trump junior. >> bill: the chairman chuck grassley said i don't know if the minority is trying to block

testimony but i'll bet two bits that had paul manafort or donald trump appeared at the hearing it would not have been prematurely shut down. we understand what's important now. catherine, good morning. >> bill brouwder is not a household name but will be after today's hearing. how that relates to what happened in the 2016 election and the smear campaigns. he is a long-time critic of vladimir putin and also a critic of russian corruption. he has firsthand knowledge and dealings with the russian lawyer, who is the driving force behind the 2016 trump tower meeting jared kushner and paul manafort and donald trump junior and knows the mechanics

how the smear campaigns work because he has been the target of one. what matters today is that he will help connect the dots. a lot of the same players were involved in an effort to repeal sanctions against the russian president and it's known as the magnitz ke, act. >> they employed glen simpson as part of this campaign to get this act lifted. what glen simpson did he pitched that sergei hadn't been mur erd and died of natural causes which is false. >> the other names is the opposition firm fusion gps and glen simpson. this was the group that commissioned the anti-trump unverified dossier and just one more point. we can see a pattern here based

on filings to the british court against buzz feed for publishing the anti-trump dossier, christopher steele, the spy, said in the documents that he was asked by fusion gps to brief reporters, "the new york times," the "washington post", yahoo news and others about the trump dossier. you can see a pattern in how fusion gps operates. >> bill: there is a lot wrapped up in this. the big picture then, catherine, take us there. >> the big picture here is we've now had testimony from a top f.b.i. official who runs counter intelligence or ci. that means espionage. what other countries are doing inside the united states to steal our secrets. he said that the u.s. is under siege. >> the threat posed by our foreign adversaries is growing both in volume and complexity. our country is under relentless

assault by hostile state actors and their proxies. >> one of the things that may have been lost in the politics of this discussion is that when you look back on 2016 there is an argument based on the testimony we heard yesterday that the objectives of the russians was really just to damage the system so they collected and spread negative information not only about hillary clinton, but also about then candidate trump, bill >> bill: more to come on that. laying the ground work. >> shannon: next up the push to repeal and replace obamacare with 10 hours of debate left in the senate. a so-called skinny repeal appears to be gaining momentum after lawmakers rejected a full repeal last night. >> my guess is we have to figure out a skinny down version. we'll have to keep this process moving otherwise we're stuck with the mess that is obamacare. >> they want anything to vote for so they can get it in

conference and everything goes by the wayside. we had a hard time getting to where you've gotten to. it's failed with your own members voting against it. let's work together. >> kevin corke is live from the north lawn. good morning to you, kevin. >> let me tell you, this is very interesting. when you talk to white house officials they say the president will keep applying the pressure. in particular on those gop senators that you talked about. either we're going to be talking about repeal or replace, repeal and delay or some form of skinny repeal. but no matter how you slice it, the president feels like he has to apply pressure on these senators who either lied when they said they did want to repeal and replace the affordable care act or don't have the courage to act now that they have the power to do so. the president once again laying on the twitter hammer, this time writing come on, republican senators, you can do it on healthcare. after seven years, this is your chance to shine. don't let the american people down.

now, seven moderate republicans voted against the clean obamacare repeal bill in the senate. six previously voted to do so. the so-called six who flipped. we show you the seven who voted against it. alexander, heller, mccain, mckowski and susan collins voted against a repeal. vice president mike pence says despite the struggle on the hill, the fight isn't over. >> the president is determined as you saw this week to continue to hold congress accountable and we couldn't be more grateful to the leadership in the house that moved legislation to repeal and replace obamacare and we're grateful for all the members of the senate who moved us forward, the debate is going on even as we speak and we won't rest until we give the american people a fresh start on healthcare. >> fresh start, we'll see if it happens and we'll be watching the hours of debate and that

means a very late night for those of us at the white house. shannon, back to you. >> shannon: you look none the worse for where. you do it well, kevin corke at the white house. >> bill: more on that. want to bring in chris stirewalt to analyze. good morning. in a simple way they're trying to find a way to yes, can they get there? >> they're trying to find a way to get to keeping it alive. it is not even really yes. the skinny repeal is not -- not a repeal, it's nothing. it is essentially an empty vessel that allows them as senator manchin was talking about. that allows republicans to keep moving the process forward. this is like a bad date that won't end and the republicans don't want this legislation, the country doesn't want it, but they're afraid if they stop when they get to the end that they will not be able to patch the hole in obamacare for next year without the help of democrats and then they are going to be -- it will be more embarrassing. let's be clear.

policy is out the window at this point. >> bill: but this skinny version would get rid of the stuff that republicans do not like, individual mandates, employer mandate, taxes on the medical devices. that's something they can agree on. >> yeah, but i want to be really clear. this bill is a joke. it is not a real bill. if the members of the senate thought -- if the members of the senate thought it would become law, no one would vote for it because it would blow up the insurance industry and harm the healthcare of every american. this is just political bait. this is the leadership putting forward these things about the nice stuff and don't dare vote against it. voting for repeal when they new obama would veto it. this is as much malarkey as that was. this is the same thing. it is i dare you to vote against this. ifm -- let us get into conference with the house. >> bill: a vehicle to keep it alive is where we are now.

on the russia matter, bill browder. he goes right after vladimir putin and describes him as a guy who runs a major shakedown of a country to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars and puts people's lives on the line as a result. now, how is that going to go over today? >> standing on the world stage and calling one of the most brutal killers, one of the most unflinching oppressors when it comes to free speech and opposition, putin kills people, he has them killed. he is a monstrous guy and bill browder has dedicated his life to it. after his lawyer, after putin orchestrated the death of magnisky in a russian prison, this guy has devoted his life to fighting vladimir putin. he has taken his wealth and access and he has devoted himself to this and he knows as

he does it, he and his family are in jeopardy because that's who vladimir putin is and that's what this kremlin does. >> bill: it will be gripping stuff. chris stirewalt helping us with that in washington, d.c. one of the allegations he makes is that the russians are trying to get him to sign a deal that he was guilty of stealing 23 million dollars. he got out. others along the trail did not and what he is about to tell these lawmakers. >> shannon: he has called out a lot of people in washington who have enabled this whole thing to happen and do some public shout-outs to those folks under oath today. we'll see, stand by. president trump's new communications director not pulling punchs on leaks in the white house. >> there are hold overs and we have to move quickly. >> shannon: how many heads have to roll inside the administration to get the leaks to stop?

the options facing the president, plus this. >> why would the attorney general of the united states tell the f.b.i. director of the united states go tell the american people something that is not true. last time i checked he wasn't director of the federal bureau of matters, but the federal bureau of investigation. >> bill: jim jordan turns up the heat of comey. documents -- the story has not gone away. we'll talk to the congressman coming up momentarily. >> shannon: a day at the fair ends in chaos and death after a popular ride malfunctions sending riders flying. >> it flew off. her leg hit her leg just like blew her whole leg. she wasn't breathing when she hit the ground. you don't let anything

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>> big problems. senior people are really the guys doing the leaking and they ask junior people to leak for them and so i'm very proud to be reporting directly to the president so that i can seal off the communication team from this sort of nonsense. >> bill: anthony scaramucci talking about where he discovers the leaks in the white house and he is out to plug them saying he won't let it continue. doug schoen former advisor to president clinton and ned ryun former speech writer to president bush. the comments is senior people and you have the back and forth between scaramucci and reince priebus. what's behind it? >> scaramucci and priebus are rivals for power. they were in the campaign and in the transition. they are now, priebus fought to

keep scaramucci out to report directly to the president means i'm not dealing with reince priebus. scaramucci has also implied that priebus may have been involved in leaking his financial information and where this is going is to a showdown and at this point i wouldn't want to be reince priebus. >> bill: the feeling i get, doug, is that the president wants his people in there. he wants -- he did not come in there entirely with his people. they came from the rnc. >> precisely. that's it. the so-called senior people anthony spoke of are rnc people. we've already had spicer's departure. we will have more departures. we may have priebus's departure sooner than later. >> the thing that's taking place now is coming and saying you know, did donald trump make too many concessions to the

d.c. establishment. doug is right. this really does center around scaramucci and some of these rnc folks that are still inside the west wing and we'll see how it all plays out. the thing i want to emphasize to people watching is these leaks are either personal or political vendettas. when scaramucci is talking about we have to address it, he needs to read the riot act to all the white house staff and say there will be no more leaks, zero tolerance. >> bill: he has done that. within the week he has left his mark. >> that's true. people need to understand if it happens again you're fired. there is no tolerance to this. the thing he addressed last night that needs to be emphasized is the interagency leaks with the intelligence community. two things that can be done on that front. first of all attorney general sessions, this would make trump happy and he announced things late yesterday. doj and the f.b.i. need to make this their number one priority that they're going to track down obama holdovers doing the leaks that are really

weaponizing classified information to undermine trump and bring him down and make convictions happen. i would argue they should start with their investigations and center on ben rhodes, former dep see of nsa with his echo chamber. it comes to a dumb dozen people doing most of the leaking and using three to five outlets with media enableers. you get one or two in handcuffs you'll silence a lot of leaks. the second thing -- the second thing that i really think president trump needs to do is emphasize the president's intelligence advisory board. something eisenhower started because he was having trouble with his intelligence community. board needs to stack it with trump loyalists and use them to bring reform to the intelligence community. >> bill: good context. it appears to me, doug, that the rest of the administration is getting the message. department of justice said this. we agree the staggering number

of leaks is undermining our government to protect the country. whenever a case can be made we'll seek to put people in jail and aggressively pursue leak cases wherever they may lead. maybe that leads to handcuffs. the vice president told this to tucker just last night also, watch. >> the washington way is to talk behind people's backs. it's not president donald trump's approach. he speaks candidly and openly and expressed his disappointment. that doesn't mean we don't recognize the good work the justice department has been doing. >> bill: seems to me the message is traveling quickly, doug. >> it is traveling quickly. shorthand, scaramucci is winning, priebus is losing. bet your money on anthony and even anthony as a potential chief of staff if and when priebus goes. >> bill: thank you. appreciate it. 20 minutes past the hour. >> shannon: fox news confirming that iran has launched a rocket towards space. a news group says the rocket

put a satellite successfully in space. they tried it before but hasn't succeeded. a course under u.n. sanctions and banned from conducting ballistic missile tests. new outrage after a man who served as an i.t. staffer to house democrats is arrested while trying to flee the country. officials say it's sparking national security concerns. >> bill: a deadly moment. a state fire ride breaks apart in midair sending passengers flying. what they're doing about that today. >> passengers were ejected at high speed with high energy. at least 20 or 30 were into the air and crashed at a significant distance from the ride. in jellyfish. in clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve short-term memory. prevagen. the name to remember. bp engineered a fleet of 32 brand new ships

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hey you've gotta see this. cno.n. alright, see you down there. mmm, fine. okay, what do we got? okay, watch this. do the thing we talked about. what do we say? it's going to be great. watch. remember what we were just saying? go irish! see that? yes! i'm gonna just go back to doing what i was doing. find your awesome with the xfinity x1 voice remote. >> bill: big moment later today. president trump will attend a

white house ceremony honoring first responders at lat month's shooting at the baseball practice last month. the louisiana congressman now is discharged from the hospital and going through rehab. a long road for him. always injured in that attack crystal griner. she was the one who threw out the first pitch at the congressional women's softball game. steve scalise has gotten outstanding medical care and treatment. we hope for the best for him clearly. if you thought that john mccain moment was something earlier in the week, wait until steve scalise comes back to the floor of the house. something we're pulling for and hope it happens soon. >> shannon: great the president will recognize those who probably averted what could have been by a lot of estimations a massacre. they're heroes. well, tragedy striking an ohio state fair leaving several people fighting for their lives after a ride actually breaks apart in midair. one person is dead, others

injured. governor john kasich calling the incident terrible and ordering all the rides to be shut down for now. >> you go somewhere to celebrate and have a great time and you are with friends and sometimes with family and the fair is about the best things in life. and then tonight with this accident, it becomes a terrible, terrible tragedy. >> shannon: we are joined live with the latest. mike, what are we hearing from witnesses to this whole tragedy >> worst nightmare is the phrase we keep hearing from the witnesses. the video is hard to watch. the opening day of the state fair. the ride is called the fireball categorized as an aggressive thrill ride. the ride started. some witnesses said they heard the sound of metal cracking before tragedy struck. >> you know everything started normally. and then it started shaking

real bad, the girl is like my seat keeps shaking. and then it flew off. her legs hit -- her leg -- her whole leg -- and then the girl hit the ground and she wasn't breathing. >> an 18-year-old man was killed on impact. seven more hospitalized. three in critical condition. the rest are serious or stable. according to the columbus dispatch inspection of the rides was delayed by all this bad weather that rolled through the midwest. inspectors were forced to work long hours to get the state fair open in time. the ride was instructed on the truck, while he was being assembled and after it was assembled. the governor ordered all the rides shut down pending further inspections. >> shannon: this is the time of year where people are out across the country enjoying the fairs. how will this incident impact those? >> so far we know of the orange county fair in california, they have a similar ride.

the fireball. they immediately shut that down pending notification from the company that everything is okay and there is the perception out there the traveling amusement rides are less safe than the permanent structures at the big amusement parks, however, the traveling rides get inspected more often, shannon. >> shannon: mike thank you very much. >> bill: a big fair. a suspect in custody. a mysterious case unraveling on an alaska cruise ship after a woman has been found dead in her cabin. >> shannon: u.s. officials warn of further missile testing in north korea after the sanctions. let's talk with texas congressman max thornberry when he joins us next on that. >> we have no time. a year is no time at all. sanctions have never worked. they won't work. it won't stop the north koreans.

it gives us a sense of complacency.

>> bill: north korea marking the 64th anniversary of the korean armistice. they're picking up things that point to another missile test. greg palkot is live in london and what do we have now? >> this is a landmark day on the korean peninsula and some officials thought perhaps pyongyang could use it as an excuse to cause more problems. it isn't turning out that way. for the past several days officials are saying they see activity using a site used in the past for a launch that north korea could stage another test, maybe even a repeat of the launch we saw earlier this month, the icbm launch. officials in the past 24 hours

have told fox news that bad weather at the site could be preventing any kind of launch. there has been no activity there today. it has not stopped the regime of kim jung unfrom blasting the united states. they celebrate what it calls its victory over the u.s. in the past and declares the only way out of the current conflict is for the united states to, quote, kneel down and apologize before the north korea army and its people. south of the dmz in seoul there was a formal ceremony marking the armistice signed between north korea, u.s. led forces and china. south korea's prime minister said he will never give up his efforts to build peace on that peninsula. peace is not there yet. president trump getting involved declaring today a national korean war veterans armistice day. he remembered the more than

36,000 americans who were killed in that fighting back in the 50s and we know this very well from firsthand experience, the 28,000 americans who are still in south korea very much in harm's way. back to you. >> bill: thank you, greg palkot on that from london. >> shannon: house an senate republicans appear to have nailed down a deal for tough sanctions against north korea, iran, russia and includes limits on the president's ability to undo or modify them. senate foreign relations committee bob corker releasing a statement says going forward the house is committed to expeditiously consider and pass enhancements to the north korea language which members of the senate hope to make in the very near future. joining me to talk about this and more texas congressman max thornberry the chairman of the house armed services committee. thanks for your time this morning. i want to start with iran since we get word of them. it looks like they successfully launched a satellite. what do you make of that?

your reaction? is it about a satellite into orbit or testing something else? >> well, we saw this pattern with north korea. they would have launches that they said were peaceful space launches. what they were really doing was improving their missile program. and so while we have all been focused on north korea's improvements on missiles that can reach the united states, the iranians have been doing the same thing. so we've not only got to worry about missiles launched from north korea, we've increasingly got to worry about the iranian missile program, which by the way, is not constrained at all under the treaty dealing with nuclear weapons that the obama administration signed. >> shannon: and there has been ratification of their compliance even though a lot of people have a problem with that step recently taken done by this administration. so looking forward now you have the new rounds of sanctions that have been passed. they will go to the president's desk. number one, do you think he will sign them? and how will they make a

difference in a way that sanctions in the past have not? >> your point is right. sanctions in the past alone have not been enough to achieve our objectives. so these sanctions try to tighten down on north korea, iran, and russia and among other things, they have what's called secondary sanctions. it is not just sanctions against north korea directly, it is sanctions against those who do business with north korea like chinese banks and others. hopefully this will be more effective. but i think we have to be clear eyed. sanctions will only do so much. there is no substitute for strong, military power. >> shannon: we understand there are both military and cyber and other things. here is what charles krauthammer said about where we are now with north korea? >> we're at the end of the road. the only option is war which is

utterly intolerable and to prevent act we seeens we have to say to china you have to stop this, you can do it. if not we'll encourage a nuclear japan or south korea. >> shannon: what do you make of our options with north korea? >> i tend to agree with charles. what we've done in the past has not worked. china unless there is a new incentive, has not so far shown that they are going to reign north korea in. my view is we've got to put more military capability right there in the region on china's doorstep and make it clear that if they want to reduce our military presence in the region, whether it's missile defense ships, airplanes, whatever, then they are going to have to do more with north korea. >> shannon: with all the discussion about iran, north korea, russia, it's interesting to me that your former colleague now cia director mike pompeo said, i think china has the capacity to present the

greatest rivalry to america over the medium and long term. he is signaling that this one is the one we really need to be worried about is china and we're counting on them with respect to north korea. >> what he said was medium to long term. in other words, it may well be that we get into some sort of adversarial relationship with china. they're testing us today. but it is also not inevitable that we are going to be enemies with china. but i think we have to get back to the basic principles. what china respects is the same thing that russia and iran and north korea respect, and that is military strength. unfortunately the united states has not been as strong as we should have been. we've been cutting the military budgets during the last several years. and so congress is trying to turn that around now. i think that will show china and everybody else that we're willing to stand up and defend

ourselves and our allies. that's what we have to do to make an impression. >> shannon: u.s. military policy the president announcing yesterday that transgender individuals won't be allowed to serve in the u.s. military. any reaction to that? >> there are a lot of questions about that. it was a complete surprise to the department of defense and so we don't know if that means they will kick people out who are there, we don't know if that means they aren't going to allow people who need no treatment to come in. there are lots of questions to be answered. i think the standard should be that we need people in the military who can fight. and if they can meet those standards, if they can fight, then the rest of this stuff probably doesn't matter. if they can't fight, however, the military cannot be a social program for some other agenda. >> shannon: all right. chairman max thornberry always good to see you. >> bill: more to come on that. 20 minutes before the hour. street free speech under fire on college campuses after scenes like this break out at

our institutions? so in fact at this hour lawmakers are holding a hearing on how college protestors are shutting down free speech. tell you what's going on there and there is this today. >> when you have the justice department intentionally, willfully misleading the american people, that warrants examination and why we're calling for a special counsel. >> jim jordan has called for a new investigation into hillary clinton's emails. why he says it's important not to allow this matter to be let go. but this. >> shannon: i knew it was florida. police officer going toe-to-toe with alligator in my home state. his body cam captures the whole thing. i don't know why i didn't get screened a long time ago.

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the officer should get a medal for that. maybe there is a special one for gator wrestling. instead of waiting for folks at the fish and wildlife department he did something himself. he later put the animal in the back of his squad car and then he took it to a nearby canal. removing the tape from the animal's mouth and setting him free. another day in my home state of florida. i like that. >> bill: he caught 'em. >> shannon: i like that he safely disposed of the reptile. this is the humans and their safety. great teeth. great job. >> bill: there is now james comey for hillary clinton coming from republican members in the house. the judiciary committee is in search for answers as to how comey handled the clinton email investigation. that's not all they want. a bit earlier i talked with jim jordan and he was pretty fired

up about this. seems to me you're painting a broad brush. what do you want? >> we want the facts. the american people want the facts and why in the world would the attorney general of the united states tell the f.b.i. director of the united states go tell the american people something that is not true. remember, she said go call it a matter, not an investigation. as i said in committee yesterday, last time i checked he wasn't director of the federal bureau of matters but investigations. when you have the justice department willfully misleading the american people that warrants examination and we're calling for special counsel. >> bill: let me get to that in a moment. is this any part of a reaction what the president has been talking about? he tweets about matters like these. >> no, this is about getting the truth and what the constituents in the fourth district of ohio are talking to me about. looking at the rule of law and equal treatment under the law. how in the world does someone like secretary clinton get away

with something that no other person in the country could get away with, right? there is not two standards. one standard, equal treatment under the law. what we found during the middle of this election you had the subject of the investigation's husband meet with the attorney general three days before the subject of the investigation is scheduled to be interviewed by the f.b.i. when does that ever happen anywhere else? all these facts -- we need to examine them all. was there collusion between james comey and robert mueller when he leaked the memo to the "new york times" to create momentum for a special counsel? all those questions need to be answered. special counsel is the right way to do it. >> bill: it's almost august, why now? >> james comey just told us a few weeks back saying the attorney general of the united states told me to say something to the american public that wasn't accurate. we think we need to get to the bottom of all that information. >> bill: your colleague steve

cohen a democrat from tennessee it's about comey, not hillary clinton. apparently he had words yesterday if you heard them or not saying justice has left the room. we pretty much know where he stands. will you then get this special counsel that you are now asking for? >> we introduced legislation yesterday. we tried it yesterday as an amendment but it wasn't able to be put on this type of resolution from the democrats. we introduced a stand alone resolution. congressman gates is the lead sponsor on that bill. >> bill: you need -- you need jeff sessions' approval on that? >> a letter from the judiciary will go out with every republican's signature on it appoint the special counsel to look into the things we talked about. pass a resolution where the house of representatives can go on record and say this warrants -- this is so unbelievable that the justice department was in

the habit of misleading the american people during the middle of a campaign. we hear all this talk about russian influence in the election. how about the obama government's influence in the election? the attorney general directing the f.b.i. director not to be square with the american people? this is of such magnitude. go on record supporting a special counsel. we think it's much more likely that jeff sessions will appoint one to look into these issues. >> bill: something we'll watch. last topic. a hearing today on free speech on college campus. what is all that about today? >> if you've watched the news over the last few years you've seen these protests and you hear about these shoutdowns and people being invited and uninvited. college campuses have historically been where free speech is so robust, you make your best argument and have the real debate. that isn't happening in too many places. public universities getting all kinds of american tax dollars, maybe we need to think about what's going on there. this is a hearing to highlight those issues.

we have good witnesses, ben shapiro, and aclu. we'll talk about campuses are supposed to be where you have the full-fledged debate and you let the best ideas win. that's historically been how it's done in this country and need to make sure it continues. >> bill: we'll be watching from here. thank you for your time. jim jordan. come back. thank you. >> shannon: today two white house insiders potentially at odds right now is newcomer anthony scaramucci suggesting chief of staff reince priebus may be behind some of the leaks? bret baier will join us at the top of the hour. >> bill: the i.t. consultant arrested while trying to leave the country. why this case has a lot of folks worried about our national security. we'll explain next. ...to help minimize blood sugar spikes... ...you can really feel it. now with 30% less carbs and sugars.

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>> bill: there is a suspect now in custody after a woman was found dead on a cruise ship. a domestic dispute could be blamed for her death on tuesday. it happened on board the emerald cruise ship carrying 3400 passengers. the details about the death and her name and the name of the suspect have not yet been released. >> shannon: leaders urging worshippers to return to pray at a holy shrine in jerusalem after israel took out security measures. there is still a demand from protestors to open all the gates leading to the holy shrine. we're live in jerusalem. john, what are israeli police expecting today and tomorrow important days? >> the concern is more violence could break out. violence and the entrances to the old city were shut down.

metal detectors and security measures installed after the july 14th attack where two police officers were killed. there is that potential. israeli police are taking extra steps to try to basically quell the violence. in particular you mentioned the security or the entrances to the old city. four of eight that were shut down have been reopened. the four main entrances. so that again will help quell the people that are trying to get or any potential violence also israeli police as we know overnight wednesday and thursday removed the metal detectors and added security cameras that have been a main issue for palestinian muslim leaders installed after that deadly attack july 14th. and really that's been the main issue as far as people being turned away not allowed to get in. now one of the other issues here, potential problems, shannon, is that the -- jerusalem has called on all muslim worshippers to show up

at the temple mound mosque for friday prayers. go to the old city temple mound. that raises the specter for a violence of thousands of people showing up. at this point there is no reason to believe that people will not be able to get in. but again, police are on alert. >> shannon: how are they responding to those calls? >> well, let's put it this way. the commander of the jerusalem police district had a warning basically telling muslim and palestinian officials look, don't test us. there is high security presence at these entrances to the old city. israeli police are taking measures and steps to try to lower any specter or lower the possibility of any violence. i can tell you this, i live in the center of the city. i live about a five-minute walk from damascus gate, one of the main entrances. there is a high police presence

and certainly last friday there was a tense atmosphere. whether that remains the case tomorrow remains to be seen but i can tell you there is a high security presence. a lot of the roads and areas around there remain cordoned off. we'll see how it goes tomorrow. >> shannon: be careful, john. thank you very much. >> bill: takes one spark. watch that story. meanwhile at home on the hill senate judiciary committee resuming their hearing on russia after a delay yesterday from democrats. bill browder, former hedge fund manager in russia, long-time critic of vladimir putin and the corruption in moscow testifying now in a string of threats and bribes, assassinations and ties between putin's inner circle and efforts to influence u.s. lawmakers. we're watching this and bring you headlines when we get them from that hearing. in the meantime. >> shannon: the clock is ticking for republican senators to try to get some kind of healthcare deal done. will the so-called skinny repeal get enough support? bill cassidy joins us in moment. >> bill: the a.g. jeff sessions

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he improves his farm and invest in his community to make even better coffee. all for a smoother tasting cup. green mountain coffee. >> shannon: this is a fox news alert. new developments on a dust-up in the white house as two top level officials appear to be taking their feud public. welcome to a brand-new hour of "america's newsroom." if you paused for a second you'll miss something. i'm shannon bream. >> bill: good morning, i'm bill hemmer. good morning. is the new communications director anthony scaramucci calling out the chief of staff reince priebus a week into the job about leaks from the white house? at one point suggesting perhaps the burden of proof is on priebus to show his innocence. anonymous source at the white house telling fox news one of the worst things you can do the president trump is to show insecurity. sessions showed that and reince

priebus showed that. >> we're avoiding the elephant in the room. is reince priebus the big leaker? >> i'm not aware of the laters, leakers are easier to figure out than they may think. >> shannon: let's bring in bret baier on a swirling morning in washington, d.c. good to see you, bret. some start evidence -- started from tweets by scaramucci. he was asked are you saying reince priebus is one of the leakers? he said no and this is what he told cnn this morning. >> when i put out a tweet and i put reince priebus's name in the tweet they're making the assumption it's him because journalists know who the leakers are. if reince priebus wants to explain he is not a leaker, let him do that. let me tell you something about myself. i'm a straight shooter and i'll go right to the heart of the matter. >> shannon: what do you make of it, bret? >> there is trouble in river

city when it comes to 1600 pennsylvania avenue and a shake-up likely coming. clearly there are factions inside the white house going after each other. this started or this particular dust-up started when politico ran a story about scaramucci's financial disclosures. then he tweeted as you just mentioned, that he was going to the f.b.i. politico came back and it turns out that the financial disclosures could be released publicly based on when he was with xm bank and there is about a month lead time and july 23rd those disclosures were public to anyone who asked for them. and so until you found out the allegation of leaking, i think that there are real questions about how this is going down. clearly reince priebus is in the spotlight under fire. and he is -- we don't know if

we'll hear from him today but clearly the -- scaramucci also said the president has kind of authorized this kind of talk about his own chief of staff. >> shannon: it's interesting because we know from covering this through the campaign and now at the beginning of the presidency to this point six or seven months in there have been those who felt there were clear camps. more establishment, the spicers, reince priebus's and those guys and the bunch that says we're the ones that got him to the white house. we're not politicians, we have a different strategy and it seems like we may be reaching a breaking point between those two sides. >> i think there is this want to go back to the team that was at the beginning. the team that was successful on the campaign trail that can suddenly come together and be successful again. here is the problem is that washington is different than running a campaign. governing is different. to be able to pull the levers

of the bureaucracies and know where the skeletons are buried on capitol hill and get things across the finish line sometimes takes a wise washington hand. and as -- unattractive as that is to say it sometimes helps a white house operate more effectively. >> shannon: i want to make sure we touch on healthcare. that's the big story of the day. the senate continues to be as they head into some action we think late today, early in the morning tomorrow, friday morning. you guys have done late night shows tracking them. >> another one tonight. >> shannon: excellent. you will be there every twist and turn. what we have now as part of the skinny repeal idea is the idea it would end obamacare's individual and employer mandate and both sides of the aisle said they want to get rid of and tax on medical devices and cuts in prevention and public health fund. nobody seems to know. there seems to be an effort to

get into conference with the house. >> this skinny repeal is basically a vehicle. and then tonight they will start this vote rama and vote on all the amendments. democrats aren't putting forward amendments saying they aren't going to get involved until the repeal idea is over. you put this vehicle and then all these things are being pinned on the vehicle to make it more attractive to republicans overall. they have to get 50 votes. and tonight this will start this rolling vote on amendments very quickly without debate. by the way, shannon, today special report will be live at the white house covering all of the back and forth there. and tonight at 11:00 p.m. eastern time we'll be live on capitol hill for the vote and all the votes that are happening on the healthcare bill. a lot happening in washington >> shannon: you are in the middle of the action for all the biggest stories of the day including i want to ask you about attorney general jeff

sessions. it is interesting that when it's noted reince priebus may be on tenuous ground and the attorney general as well. will he survive the latest rollercoaster ride? >> he says he is staying on. he is talking to tucker carlson and i expect to hear a lot out of that interview. every indication we have is session intends to stay and the real question is whether the president intends to do something else and fire him more than what we've seen so far. this is a white house that is trying to get its feet under it. its sea legs. there will be some major shifts possibly this summer ahead of a fall push for tax reform. >> shannon: it seems to me between now and when we see you at 6:00 p.m. and then again at 11:00 there will be a lot of news developments. we'll see you then, bret. thank you. and again, as bret said we'll hear from jeff sessions the

attorney general tonight. tucker carlson appearing live with him from el salvador. he is there hunting ms-13 a series on the gang members and their attempts to infiltrate in many ways successfully in the u.s. that will air next week on the fox news channel. later senator lindsey graham will talk about the drama surrounding his friend and former colleague sessions. >> shannon: bret will be tlt middle of all of it >> bill: seven minutes past the hour and back to capitol hill. there is a key witness on all matters russia giving testimony now after democrats blocked him from appearing yesterday. bill browder is his name. his story connects the dots showing how all of this leads back to vladimir putin. >> like russia and other countries the way that the world works is that the president of that country

allows certain people to get rich, you often get a share of the wealth of those people. and then he can rely on those people to do the state's bidding in situations in which where it may not be appropriate or they may not want to show the government's face. >> bill: some of his story is stunning to listen to. we'll monitor this and bring you developments when we get them from the hill hearing now. in the meantime another big headline. it is crunch time for the senate on healthcare. it has come down to this. republicans placing their hopes on the so-called skinny repeal of obamacare we just mentioned that would strip a lot of taxes from the law. mike emanuel live on the hill. where are we heading into what appears to be a critical 48 hours in the senate, mike? >> good morning. looks like we could be heading for a very late night here as lawmakers vote on a variety of healthcare proposals related to healthcare reform. the complexity of the issue was the failure of two big proposal.

one from ted cruz to allowing selling stripped down insurance policies earned 43 votes. another one from rand paul essentially allowing repeal now and replace in a couple of years earned 45 votes. they need 50 votes to pass. major challenges to republicans voted against even taking up healthcare lisa mckowski of alaska and susan collins of maine. now there is a lot of talk about skinny repeal. basically stripping some of the taxes, getting rid of the government mandates. some senators are non-committal. >> i don't know what skinny repeal is. no indication what would be in that bill. we need a rescue plan for people in ohio who are in counties where there isn't a single insurer. 19 counties now. 27 counties with one insurer. >> the theory being passing something and then you'd go to conference with the house. they need 50 republican yes votes bill. >> bill: what's the play for

democrats at this stage? >> democrats passed when the congressional office weighed in on an impact of a narrow repeal bill. >> we just heard from the nonpartisan congressional budget office that under such a plan as reported in the press 16 million americans would lose their health insurance and millions more would pay a 20% -- 20% increase in their premiums, at least 20%. >> democrats are getting ansi. not what what mitch mcconnell might spring on them in the next 24 hours. >> shannon: a lot more coming up on the healthcare showdown. republicans trying to get something through that they can have a conversation with the house. bill cassidy has been working on this drafting his own measures. now how he plans to get his

colleagues on the same page. >> bill: looking forward to talking to him. wasserman schultz caught up in a case of international intrigue and some saying our national security may have been compromised. >> we have actual criminal elements. this guy was arrested trying to flee the country. we have interference from foreign politicians. everything they failed to find in the russian investigation is staring them in the face.

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>> shannon: debbie waser man schultz has obstructed and we need to know why the dnc never turned over their hard drive to the f.b.i. to review it as to their hacking. >> shannon: it is sparking national security concerns. imran awan arrested trying to leave the country on his way to pakistan is charged with bank fraud. a former communication director for senator marco rubio and pablo manriquez is also here. this stems from back in february five house staffers who had access to i.t. and materials were accused of stealing equipment from congress members offices and creating violations of the

house i.t. network. four of them were related including this guy. here is how mark stein sums up where we are now. >> it's about everything that the democrats and the media have spent months trying to prove that the russia investigation so-called is about. everything they've looked for and failed to find in the russia investigation is in fact going on under their noses in this particular story. we have computer interference. we have, as you said, a powerful political figure attempting to interfere with a federal investigation. >> shannon: pablo, i'll give you the first stab at this. >> the debbie wasserman schultz i know is a patriot. this staffer is about to go one of the most intrusive probes that we've seen a staffer go through in a long time. basically what it sounds like is a bank fraud allegation has been made but it involves a lot of in the political connect the

dots a lot of juicy key words, debbie, dnc, all the democratic party things that happened to the democratic party in the last few years but this guy was trying to flee on a flight path from qatar to pakistan. these two states have been rising concern on the list of states that sponsor terrorism or at least are places are terrorists go to fundraise. that is white collar crime involving a financial crime and then a flight to a place like qatar. >> shannon: and also pakistan. so people understand what we're talking about with the latest arrest that happened outside of d.c. monday night he applied for and got a $165,000 home equity loan on a rental property from the congressional federal credit union. against the credit union's policy to get that on a rental and wired $300,000 to people in

pakistan before showing up at the airport to take off. he didn't get away and have a chance to explain. >> he has been charged with very serious crimes. he has been under investigation for months. i think this is the key point in this story. he was under investigation for about five months. other democratic congressmen fired him. yet debbie waser man schultz kept him on as an i.t. consultant because he was under investigation he had no access to house computer systems any longer. she has serious questions to answer about why she would keep an i.t. consultant on staff even after capitol police said he couldn't be trusted with access to house i.t. equipment. that's the key question in this investigation. >> shannon: i read what his attorney says. it began as a frenzy of anti-muslim bigotry in the house of representatives. we have had slanderous statements coming not from the

ultrawhite wing media but sitting members of congress. your reaction. >> i don't think there is any place to bring race into what is a serious investigation that the capitol police department is conducting. other democratic members of congress didn't share those concerns. they were quick to fire him when they found out he was under investigation and no longer had access to i.t. equipment. i applaud the police and f.b.i. for arresting him before he left the country. we need to get to the bottom of this and the congresswoman explained why she didn't fire him. >> shannon: she finally did late tuesday at some point. >> after he was arrested. >> shannon: at one point when the police were conducting the investigation she unloaded on the chief of police. she didn't like what he was doing and the way he was handling equipment and said you should expect there would be consequences. she is saying that to the chief of police conducting this investigation and an agency

essentially that she controls the funding of as a member of congress. >> it doesn't look good at all. i don't think that this is -- i don't think this will end debbie. she said -- she has gone on the record before in moments when i feel like she has felt under attack. i know she is very protective of her staffers, maybe that factored into those comments. i agree with alex that the cry of anti-islam is the last refuge. >> i would think after last year at the dnc she would take i.t. security more seriously than she apparently does. >> shannon: thank you both for your time. >> bill: the parents of charlie guard ending the fight to keep their son alive. the very difficult decision they now face in his final days. >> shannon: two white house insiders at odds right now. anthony scaramucci is he calling out reince priebus over continued leaks? he says it's up to priebus to explain.

the white house communications directing vowing to crack down. >> if there is illegality in the process. i'm not asking him to do dirty politics and all that nonsense. here are the laws and any laws have been broken? no laws have been broken. no f.b.i. or no department of justice. i like mentioning them because i know knee knockers when i see them.

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few hours. >> when people do things wrong. you mentioned the f.b.i. and department of justice, you watch, i told the president this morning, when the iceberg hits, the boat, the rats start flying up from steerage. >> bill: anthony scaramucci talking about the latest intrigue at the white house. as we sort through the story i want to bring in jonah goldberg. we've been waiting on vice president pence. i think we want to drop in now. just to pick up a little bit of what he is talking about here in crunch time for healthcare and so many other things. let's drop in there for a second. >> businesses have given them a voice in the halls of government. today those of you gathered in this auditorium at the united states capitol represent a staggering 325,000 small businesses from every state in this country. and it's remarkable to think about the impact that each and every one of you have.

you create jobs, you provide a pathway of opportunity for generations of americans. and you are literally the cornerstone of american communities from the smallest towns to the largest cities. you know, president trump probably said it best when he said small businesses in his words embody the american pioneering spirit and remind us that determination can turn aspiration into achievement every single day and he couldn't be more right about small businesses in america. give yourselves a round of applause for the difference that you make each and every day. [applause] you know, i just had the joy of meeting with about 20 small businesses from my home state of indiana. it's great to see so many good friends here who i know make a tremendous difference back in the hoosier state. >> bill: let's see if he talks about leaks in the white house. he is knee deep in the

healthcare matters with the senators on capitol hill. jonah, i want to try to figure out what the real story is between scaramucci and reince priebus and what's going on on the inside. a senior official told fox earlier today one of the worst things you can do to president trump is show insecurity. sessions showed it and reince priebus has showed that. what are we to understand as we tie this together? >> there is a enormous soap opera aspect to all of this. reince priebus and scaramucci don't like each other. bannon and reince priebus tried to keep scaramucci out of the white house. he has said he is declaring war on reince priebus. and last night scaramucci tweeted that his -- that his financial disclosure form had been illegally leaked to politico and that was a felony and he was going to contact the

f.b.i. and he included reince priebus's twitter address in the tweet suggesting according to everybody and was backed up later by reporting from both "the new yorker" and the "washington post" that scaramucci was, in fact, accusing reince priebus of being -- committing a felony, which is sort of unheard of in the history of internal white house political skirmishs to publicly accuse the white house chief of staff of committing a felony. it was then revealed to scaramucci. a detail some people on fox hadn't picked up on but it was later revealed it wasn't an illegal leak, this was a public document that was gotten through normal public channels by politico and not leaked. scaramucci then deleted his accusation tweet and this morning on cnn in sort of a

movie-like conversation of bizarreness between cuomo and scaramucci, he threw up a lot of smoky never accused anybody of committing a crime. my own theory and what you hear from a lot of people. first of all the long eyes are out for reince priebus inside the white house. but secondly, that scaramucci has decided the way to win over donald trump's heart is to be this aggressive pit bull going after the president's enemies using a lot of these story lines about leaks to change the narrative away from more difficult things like the jeff sessions controversy and by conflating two very different things. there are bunch of outrageous, illegal leaks from the intelligence community of classified information. and then the vast majority of leaks are perfectly legal, non-criminal gossip about the internal struggles and power politics of the white house. scaramucci and the white house

want to basically conflate these two things and make all the leaks equally bad. >> bill: you are making the case that the story is not about the leaks at the moment, it's about a power play within the west wing. >> absolutely. this is a power struggle. >> bill: we can see the president pulling in his own people yet again, right? six or seven months in because some of the folks who work there came from you want to call them outsiders but work for the rnc, right? they were a package deal that came in in january. so the suggestion then would be that it's time to maybe not clean house but to rearrange house. last word. >> yeah, look. donald trump respects two kinds of people. really rich people, including celebrities, and members of his own family. and we've seen the people like reince priebus and jeff sessions and others who he does not consider either his peers

or part of his loyalists to be suspect. they have every right to clamp down on leaks. >> bill: he is the ultimate manager and figure out a way for it to work for him and we're seeing it play out. thank you, jonah. >> shannon: right now republicans are racing against the clock debating another measure to in some way repeal parts of obamacare. can they pull it off this week? we'll talk to louisiana senator and doctor bill cassidy just ahead.

>> bill: deadline is almost here for the senate push on healthcare. right now you're watching the action unfold on the senate floor by the rules. there are about 10 hours of debate left. president trump giving his encouragement a bit earlier today. want to bring in republican senator bill cassidy. a physician and welcome back. it's good to have you back. this from the president three hours ago on twitter. he said the following. come on, republican senators, you can do it on healthcare

after seven years this is your chance to shine. don't let the american people down. end tweet. what's going to happen? >> well, i hope we what happens is we go forward. we won't have the final bill today most likely but push the process forward. i like pushing the process forward. i'm working on the grant/cassidy amendment to helpful fill president trump's campaign pledges and give senators and representatives a good thing to vote for. >> bill: this thing called skinny repeal so our viewers know, this is what's being considered on screen yet again. end obamacare's individual mandate and employer mandate and abolish the tax on medical devices. is that healthcare reform or keeping the issue alive? >> both. it moves the issue forward. the american people don't like the mandates and having to pay a penalty if they choose not to purchase insurance.

it turns out 50% of those paying the penalty have a reported income of $25,000 or less. this is a tax that is on lower income americans. they want rid of those taxes. ideally we have more and continue to go back to the grant cassidy amendment. allowing states to come up with their own solutions. a good add-on to complete what president trump. >> bill: would you vote yes on that now? >> yes, we have to move the process. we can't stay at this impasse. >> bill: meadows said the following on screen yet again. we support the concepts in there but it is not a repeal. not even close to repeal. we see it as a vehicle to hopefully continue the negotiations. that's the point you make. >> make the point and again i would add it blocked money back to states. we've used it for welfare reform and other issues. we think it's the way forward coupled with the skinny bill. >> bill: your big idea and you

touched on it. return power to the states. how does this do that? >> so whoever controls the dollar has the power. we give the money back to the state. ted cruz's amendment originally part of it that allows health savings accounts to purchase premiums gives a mechanism for the state to return the power to the patient. pre-funding the health savings account the patient can purchase the insurance she wants from the company she wishes to purchase it from. that gives her the power. ultimately that's where it needs to be. great conservative solution. >> bill: do you think it can live in the end? >> absolutely. heller on fox said the only reason he voted for the motion to proceed was to get onto the graham cassidy amendment. we think those folks who are not pleased with what's being offered would find a home with graham cassidy. >> bill: we've pushed it for some time and talked about it for some time as well. when do you think we'll know in

the next 36 hours or less than that? >> we'll vote sometime early tomorrow morning. the graham cassidy bill will have to be scored and that will take a week or two in which case that going to conference gives an opportunity for that score to be completed and hopefully for graham cassidy from my perspective to be put on top of that skinny bill. >> bill: we'll follow it by the hour. senator, thank you for your time. long hours up there. thanks for coming back here. >> shannon: fox news now confirming iran has launched a rock ert towards space. it comes despite sanctions banning the country from conducting ballistic missile tests. we're joined live at the pentagon where it appears has happened. what can you tell us about the launch? >> u.s. official confirms that iran's rocket blasted off at 5:30 a.m. eastern time or 2:00 p.m. locate, located 140 miles

east of tehran. it is not clear if the rocket reached outer space or deployed a satellite. they have never put a satellite in orbit before. it comes two days after a u.s. navy warship fired warning shots at an iranian patrol boat in the persian gulf after it approached rapidly while ignoring repeated radio calls and flares. the first time since president trump took office that a u.s. navy warship fired warning shots toward an iranian vessel. >> bill: top republican senators has words for president when it comes to his handling of the attorney general jeff sessions and where it stands right now. lindsey graham in a moment on what he means about this. we'll talk to him live. >> shannon: stunning new video of a daring escape. inmates recording their own jail break and life on the lamb? >> we were so grateful they decided to help us. this man is truly a hero.

is >> inmates making a daring escape from a jail in southern california happened a year ago using a cell phone camera. they narrated their own break-out as they removed a grate squeezing through the tunnels. one of them sounding apologetic for the f*us they caused. >> we scared the hell out of people and caused a lot of anxiety and fear and at the end of the day i can't say i feel good about that. >> bill: one way of doing it. all three inmates back behind bars eight days later. they were caught up in a manhunt. >> we believe that using gps should have registered because they were acting on behalf of the russians. >> that's creek correct. >> these are the people that were trying to undermine donald trump. by showing he had nefarious

ties to russia, is that what you're saying? >> what i'm saying with 100% certainty is they were working to undermine the act and the tiej of that. >> the russians are behind fusion gps who were going after trump. is it common for russia to play both sides against the middle? >> yes. >> shannon: that was senator lindsey graham questioning bill browder familiar with the inner workings of the russian government. that hearing is still underway right now. the subject of that exchange has to go with the co-founder of fusion gps who is believed to have written the unverified trump dossier. he stepped out of this hearing to join us live. good to see you this morning, senator. why should americans care about what this guy is telling you this morning and what it means with regard to russia? >> who is this guy? he was the lawyer for a gentleman killed by mr. putin

because he disclosed fraud inside putin's russia. as a tribute to him he is trying to tell the world how putin works. it was the most fascinating exchange yet. fusion gps is an organization that was colluding with the democratic party, hired a former british spy to go out and try to find dirt on donald trump and the russians. the dossier that the famous dossier came out of this exercise and this man in 2016 filed a complaint against fusion gps saying they were actually working for the russian government. so what blows my mind is that the russians were backing fusion gps, who produced a dossier to undercut donald trump and the russian lawyer who met with don junior was also a russian agent in the eyes of mr. browder because he filed a complaint against her in 2016 that she was acting on

behalf of the russians and didn't disclose it. >> shannon: end of the day is this all about the fact -- i don't know if we'll ever get there, is it all about the fact that people allege the russians want to get dirt on everyone. they want to divide and conquer from within. they'll get dirt and trump and hillary. >> what we learned today is the russians were behind the organization that tried to get dirt on trump. the dossier against donald trump has created by fusion gps and their organization and guess what? the russians were helping them? this man says the russians were behind fusion gps. we all know they hacked into the dnc and pods take's email and the lawyer who meant with don junior, manafort and others was working for the russians, too. they're trying to play both sides against the middle and i hope the country wakes up to

the threat russia presents to us. >> shannon: i know the country hopes that you get clear-cut answers about what happened during our presidential election. >> we will. >> shannon: we were showing chuck grassley and he had an interesting tweet i want to share with folks. everybody in d.c. should be warned that the agenda for the judiciary committee is set for the rest of 2017. ag no way. seems to be signaling to the president don't even think about getting rid of jeff sessions. you have had to say this. there will be holy hell to pay if sessions is fired. you've gone on to say if the president fires mueller, the special counsel, he could be laong at the beginning of the end of his presidency. those are strong words. >> i hope they can understand two things. i want to help the president where i can. i like his agenda on foreign policy. he has been a good commander-in-chief. wants to rebuild the military and cut taxes and try to replace and repeal obamacare. we have a lot in common.

without any hesitation what i can say jeff sessions is a fine man, great conservative who doesn't deserve the treatment the president is giving him. mr. mueller the special counsel appointed under the laws of the land. the president cannot draw a red line as to what a special counsel might do. that's inappropriate. if mr. mueller has a conflict, bring it to us and we'll deal with it. the idea that he would be dismissed while investigating the president and his team is unacceptable unless there is cause. i'll create a statute that would say any time a special counsel is impaneled to investigate the president or their team a dismissal has to be reviewed by the courts. it's what we did in the 1990s as a check and balance against all future presidents, not just this one. >> shannon: would you get bipartisan support for that? >> yes, it's a basic concept. jeff sessions had no option. there is rules in place.

if the campaign is under investigation and you're a principal person in the campaign you can't let a campaign investigate itself. jeff sessions had to step aside because he is so prominent in the trump campaign. mr. rosen stein appointed mr. mueller who has a lot of respect on both sides of the aisle to look at all things russia and i hope he will look at fusion gps. i'll ask him to do that and look at the ukraine's potential collusion with the democratic party, the new f.b.i. director will do that. at the end of the day mr. mueller cannot be fired by the president. he cannot be dismissed by any attorney general unless there is cause. and what i want to make sure is that a court would look at the dismissal as a check and balance against abuse of power by anybody. >> shannon: i want to ask you, knowing jeff sessions as you do, do you think he would resign or do you think the president if he wants to is going to have to step up and fire him? >> i think the president will have to fire him. i would suggest quit

humiliating jeff. he deserves better. one of the most decent people i've met. a good patriot and good conservative and trying to serve the president well. at the end of the day if you believe jeff sessions is not the right guy, fire him. quite humiliating this good man. he deserves better and most of us don't like what you're doing, mr. president. >> shannon: always good to see you. a programming alert. attorney general sessions responding to president trump's tweet. tucker carlson with an exclusive interview with the a.g. tonight. >> bill: the smash and grab case at a gun store has police on the hunt. why they say it's a growing problem. don't let anything keep you sidelined. that's why you drink ensure. with 9 grams of protein and 26 vitamins and minerals. for the strength and energy to get back to doing... ...what you love. ensure. always be you. finding the best hotel price is now a safe bet. because tripadvisor searches over 200 booking sites -

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>> major development over the battle of u.s. healthcare. a straight repeal of obamacare

rejected late yesterday. a new strategy emerging to pass a so-called skinny version that might get enough support to send to the house. stay tuned for the drama. plus new white house communications director anthony scaramucci making big waves this morning. what he is saying about a possible white house shake-up six minutes away "happening now." >> bill: thank you. as you mentioned on healthcare, take you to the floor of the senate right now and we'll be watching this for hours, folks. a lot of republicans believe right now that if they can get this skinny version of healthcare to 51 votes they could go to a conference with house members. use that as a vehicle to keep the whole issue alive. if they cannot perhaps does it die a death for now? does mitch mcconnell find a way to bring it back later? this is the drama unfolding. democrats have withheld amendments. they are arguing they don't know what it will cost or what the final bill looks like and

chuck schumer and the others have held their fire. that will likely change throughout the day. if you listen to what john cornyn says about moving forward on the skinny version, seemed to have a lot of benefits, he argues. getting us to a conference. what are the skinny details? some of them are here on screen now. and the individual mandate that republicans have argued against for seven years and end the employer mandate. a lot of tax on the medical devices. cut the prevention of public health fund. that seems to be a version that is getting a lot of traction at the moment. whether that's enough in the end we do not know, shannon. >> shannon: it's interesting. as you pointed out mark meadows one of the most conservatives on the house side among the gop is saying they aren't real excited about the idea of the skinny repeal. they wanted was a legit repeal and they don't think it comes near that. you need a vehicle going to get into conference. what would go into that conference would come out looking radically different.

the house conservatives will be a key to getting anything passed over the hurdle as we saw the first time around. >> bill: you've had the argument made by people by rob portman of ohio, they didn't want to eat in any medicaid cuts. if you do the provisions we described on screen here you would get broad support by leaving medicaid alone and you would in all likelihood get their votes of support. so this is playing out in realtime and keep an eye on portman and others and johnson certainly from wisconsin. he was a hold-out for a period of 15 minutes the other day and no one was quite sure which way it was going to go. there is chuck schumer as they continue on the floor of the senate. we've almost reached that hour. >> shannon: the battle to repeal obamacare is entering the critical phase. republicans taking another crack at it today. what will they get done, if anything?

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>> shannon: are you going to stay up all night? >> bill: don't move, folks. could happen any time. or not. "happening now" starts now. >> jon: fox news alert on the battle to repeal obamacare this morning, it's all coming to a head on the senate floor where we are waiting another vote. does that surprise you? >> melissa: no, not at all. >> jon: i'm jon scott. >> melissa: i melissa francis. we are alive on capitol hill whereafter failed back-to-back attempts on health care legislation week alone, republicans are now pinning their hopes on a narrowly focused bill, the skinny repeal, that undoes the most unpopular elements of obamacare lite the individual mandate and attacks on medical