>> harris: rachel, you wore this at the republican national convention and he wore it so beautifully today. thank you for being here. we will see you tomorrow -- no him on monday. noon eastern. if a like a weekday. "happening now" starts now. >> jon: of fox news alert on another big shake-up at the white house, president trump has decided to remove chief strategist steve bannon. >> heather: apparently he found about 40 minutes ago, some new details continue to emerge as we determine what is going to happen next. >> jon: normally friday afternoons are the time when you make big personnel changes in washington, this one came relatively early. kevin corke is at the white house for us. all right, i'm sorry. he is in bedminster new jersey, the operating white house while the president is there.

kevin, tell us about the departure of steve bannon. >> we are very close to camp david, we've been following the president sort of bounced aroun around, we are in suburban maryland here not far from camp david, frankly not very far from the nation's capital where once again the center of the political world is focused. steve bannon is out, we have heard rumblings, you may have seen yesterday in that wide-ranging interview he really seemed to take some shots at not only some administration officials but certainly seem to depart from what the president was saying about north korea. we are not suggesting that that in and of itself was enough to move him out of the job but make no mistake about it, steve bannon's departure is in part driven by the fact that the president has never felt like he was somehow the puppet master. you may remember what "time" magazine called the great manipulator, it certainly did

not make the president happy and others have now been reporting, steve bannon is out. this does not come as a great surprise, we hope you get much more information about his departure as we continue our coverage this afternoon. as for the president, here at camp david, he's got some major discussions to have with his national security. some big names, people at homewood now, mike pence, mattis, nikki haley, rex tillerson, jeff sessions among those who will be there. if you know about the battle between mcmaster and bannon, that is pretty interesting as well. they are here to talk about a number of major issues including north korea, the ongoing missile crisis there, what exactly is the next step and how to best prevent north korea from getting the ultimate weapon. we also expect to hear them talk about the president security

agenda and that will certainly include the border. keep in mind the president next week will be talking about that at length, he is going to get conversation -- not just on the strategic side but the legal side about the ongoing fight to secure america's border. and speaking of the fight, how about the extended, protracted fight in afghanistan, a war that is now america's longest period of 17 years, trillions of dollars and thousands of lives. what is the best move forward from there? how on earth can we end the bloodshed and extract america from its longest war ever? here's what the president had to say about this meeting just a few days ago. >> i'm going to tell you very quickly, the president said look, we are going to take a close look. what does he mean by that? simply speaking, he has been in concert with a lot of people who feel like enough is enough for america in terms of what it has extended and spent in that region of the world.

will that line up with what his generals have to say? we will see what general mattis and others have to say about that, we will all be watching very carefully but clearly the big story this hour, steve bannon is out and we will continue to circle around that story and bring you all the latest details this weekend but for now back to you. >> heather: i have one question for you, do we have any additional information as to how steve bannon was told? we have the one report that he was told 40 minutes ago, do we know how he was told and do we know anything about the president's reaction or mood at this point regarding a? >> good question. we don't have a sense of the president's mood about this but i think the president tipped his hand in talking about steve bannon the other day when saying he joined the campaign late, deflecting this idea that somehow he was the main force behind the trump train. he also said he's a good man, we

will see. when he said that, it laid it out right there like we felt the writing was on the wall. what does that mean in terms of how soon he found out after those comments? did it happen suddenly? i've been doing what i should do and that is checking my phone and texting back and forth with administration officials. i don't have tons of guidance to share with you. let me double check that i didn't get anything, we will let you know. i don't have anything more but as i get it i certainly promise i will pass it along. >> heather: we will check back with you, thanks. >> jon: kevin corke is on top of things. joining us on the phone, dana perino, former white house secretary under george w. bush. when people hear about this, chairs being shuffled around, they might not think it effective and maybe it doesn't, what in your view does the departure of steve bannon me

into this administration? >> a couple of things, first i do think it is true for a company as the government that personnel is policy. who you have it there is important. i think that this is a continuation of general john kelly helping the president refocus the white house and i'm going to give you three words. steve bannon has become a distraction because he was getting a lot more attention than the president, you saw the president's frustration with the book, there was also reportedly distrust amongst the white house staff when it came to leaks and the belief that steve bannon was leaking about them and their colleagues and friends. and third, i would say destruction. he has reportedly said he did not plan to be at the white house for longer than 8-12 months. it's august, the eighth month of the presidency and he hit his deadline. i think when it comes to destruction, what he called the

reporter of the american prospect the other day and just laid it all out there and really basically undermined president trump on his north korea policy, i think that was probably the final straw for the president. >> jon: and for his chief of staff, general john kelly who is a military man after all. for him to read those words from steve bannon, that essentially there is no military solution to the north korean problem, that is what bannon had to say and for general kelly, that's not acceptable. >> the president just told north korea you will fight with fire and fury and that was a successful move. north korea backed down, they did not shoot missiles at guam this weekend you've also got china from from a diplomatic standpoint. i think this is a resettling of

the white house, i've never seen this much change within personnel in a white house but i think this is probably going to be good, especially for the staff. apparently steve bannon says he is prepared to help the president with his agenda when he is outside of the white house as well. we will see if that is helpful or hurtful, i don't know if this means that bannon's advice was helpful with the president dealing with the aftermath of charlottesville, but time will tell. >> heather: that is what i was going to ask, do you think this is also an effort to distance the administration from the alt-right nationalist? >> when bannon was head of brietbart, he said he was providing a platform for the alt-right. in some ways, symbolically that would be the case. in some ways, whether it was the firing or the resignation, "the new york times" is

reporting that he submitted his resignation on august 7th and the president had waited to decide what he was going to do, he doesn't like conflict in his inner circle and i do think he appreciates some of the work steve bannon has done to help get him to the presidency. he wants to be the main event. regardless of what an advisor can tell the president to do, the president himself or herself in the future, they are the ones responsible for what they say. i don't know if this will help in the future in regards to dealing with crises like we saw this past week but certainly for the country i hope so. >> jon: i will read a quote from an associated press piece, she writes, one white house source twist the knife, bannon's departure may seem turbulent in the media but inside it is very smooth, he has no projects or responsibility is to hand off. >> that's a big burn right there, that's what they call

that. it means you are so irrelevant to the operation, it doesn't matter but please go, you are a distraction, we don't trust you and you have been destructive to the white house and the party and it will be better if you are not here. >> jon: at this point in time when so many republican senators and members of congress are so critical of the president for his handling of the charlottesville incident, does the departure of steve bannon hold out hope that maybe there will be a little less rancor within the republican party? >> it's a curious thing, during the health care debate as i understood it, steve bannon was actually trying to be pretty helpful. when it didn't and ash initially in the house, there were rumblings that he said you are obligated to vote with this president and this agenda, when it moved on and finally passed to the house was getting through

the senate, apparently a lot of members of congress felt like they actually could get a phone call returned from steve bannon and he was somebody you could work with. i don't know if members of congress will think it will be easier or harder to work with the white house now but i don't think he was entirely unhelpful to this president, i think he did some good work for him if you are looking at it from president trump's point of view. >> heather: some information that has just come our way, apparently -- this is not entirely unexpected. 19 conservative groups are protesting the removal of steve bannon and possibly kellyanne conway as well, do you think she is next? >> i certainly have not heard that at all, she was utilized today very effectively by the white house to give some context and information for reporters this morning. i certainly haven't heard that. i think one of the things steve

bannon wanted to do, he could not stand the establishment. he exposed the establishment for what he thought it was and he helped drive the vision within the republican party, may be division that was going to be inevitable but he drove it through. you hear there are possibly other people out at the white house, this again could just be the resettling after general john kelly took over as chief of staff or it could mean there are more departures to come because of the leaks or whatever but i certainly have not heard that about kellyanne conway. >> jon: we just saw an acting communications director appointed, hope hicks took the job at the ripe old age of 28. if you are calling up a prospect and railing about the things he railed about, is that the kind

of thing a communications director wants to rein in? i guess what i am asking is, as there been an established person in that position, what he felt free to pick up the phone? >> possibly not but i think the person who most would want to steve bannon not to make that phone call is the president of the united states. that would it's really the egregious part. i think hope hicks could do a good job, she obviously has the ear of the president, i understand there could be some more stories like the ones we've had this week. that job is so important, one of the most important things you have to be is an honest broker for everybody at the white house because everyone will have a different point of view for policy and how it should be communicated and you have to be the one who makes the final decision. it's a lot of long-range planning, that is not day-to-day press work. that is the job of sarah huckabee sanders. >> heather: we do have one

official statement right now, it just came in from the white house that says white house chief of staff john kelly and steve bannon have mutually agreed today would be steve's last day, they are grateful for his service and wish him the best. short little statement there. >> jon: if you would be good with enough to stick with us, we want to go back to john roberts for any updates there might be in the headline of the hour, steve bannon is out at the white hous white house. >> of course this along with reince priebus's firing has been rumored to be in the works. that discussion he had with the writer appear to seal the deal, at least in general john kelly's eyes, that perhaps steve bannon wasn't exactly a team player in

the way that kelly would need people inside the white house to be a team player. the white house as it was mutually agreed upon by general kelly, the new chief of staff and steve bannon that he would be departing the white house today and it would be his last day. "the new york times" reporting that he tended a resignation a couple of weeks ago on august august 7th, we are looking into whether or not he had left that resignation with the president for him to decide on or whether he decided he maybe wanted to try to get the resignation letters back. it would appear with discussions with john kelly, we've also confirmed that the head of the office of public liaison is out today as well, he was an ally of reince priebus. this is not a surprise, this is him and that has been in the works for a while now at the white house, probably relating more to reince priebus'

departure than steve bannon's departure. they will also be looking for a new person to run the office of public liaison. the big question is, a number of conservative groups are protesting bannon soused at the white house. what type of effect is this going to have on the president? he was widely seen as being a link between the president and a very strong element of his base though there are other people in the white house who have links to the base as well. and stronger links with women than steve bannon. we don't really know what the political upshot of that is going to be right now. there are still more than three years to go before the next election, maybe a couple of years before they start to actively campaign. there is no question that he was well respected by many people in the conservative side of the republican party, he was very antiestablishment, and so much of a populace that he was a lone voice in the wilderness on the

tax reform where he said he wanted the top tax bracket for people making more than $5 million a year to start with a four and there was nobody else who what was pushing anything like that. we did spend some time with steve bannon back on the 100 days mark, it was literally a war room inside there, he had whiteboards upon two of the walls with all of the proposals and policy items that he wanted to get past. there were a few checkmarks on that wall but the majority of what he wanted to get through still remained up there without a check mark on it. there are probably some people who would say, how effective was he and was he more of a divisive figure than a unifying figure at the white house or in terms of a figure who was getting things done at the white house. the final story with a steve bannon, his tenure at the white house as well and how his departure came about still to be

written, we are checking with some folks on the latter and we will report back to you as soon as we find out. >> jon: john roberts, our chief white house correspondent, thank you. >> heather: i think we still have dana perino on the phone, if you are still standing by, what do you make of actually replacing steve bannon, the chief strategist position was something we hadn't really seen before president trump. >> actually, karl rove was considered the senior strategist. and possibly in the obama administration it was valerie garrett. i think it's an important position, you look at the promises the president made in the campaign, policy he wants to achieve, hold that up against a calendar and try to decide how we can help the president achieve his or her goal. i think a chief strategist is a good one and not to add anything more to her plate but i feel like kellyanne conway already

plays that role to a extent, she is wearing many different hats right now but in many ways i think she is perfect for the role of chief strategist of the president. >> jon: i want to point out the major stock averages are up, on the news that steve bannon is out, it's funny how the stuff works but the dow jones was down about 109 points this morning until around 1115 eastern's time when it was announced that today would be steve bannon's last da day, and right around 11:15, the dow jones went into positive territory and it is up right now, just a couple of points. wall street seems to like the departure of the president's now former chief strategist. >> i don't know anything about markets really. what people look for and i understand markets like our certainties. there's been a question out

there for about a month, will steve bannon stay or to go and the president answered a question about it this week, not even calling him steve which i thought was a hotel that he would not be added to the house much longer. i thought that was steve bannon saying he was ready to go. i feel like i've done all i can do here. apparently there is also reporting now, that he will be returning to brietbart, that was from a source close to him, i can't confirm. >> jon: we need to let you save some of your thoughts for "the five" later on tonight. thank you for coming on, we appreciate it. it day and i was the press secretary for george w. bush and knows well the inner workings of the white house and how the key

players work. >> heather: not quite like this, we've never seen this before. a former counterterrorism advisor to vice president cheney and a fox news contributor, thank you very much for joining us. today's development, steve bannon out, what do you think that means for the administration in terms of foreign policy. >> the new white house chief of staff was a former commander, a former key military aid to the secretary of defense, he is used to running tight military ship. you are there as a staff, you are there to advise the president to be very candid with your own views, when the

president makes a decision everybody gets into lockstep. in my view, as part of the interview bannon did earlier this week, basically pulling the military option off the table and saying everybody knows he is very close to president trump. hey china, we are serious this time, we mean it. this is a real option here, that we are not going to allow nuclear east asia, we are not going to allow a nuclear north korea. and then to essentially undermine that days later, starting to get into a more diplomatic effort, i think for general kelly as chief of staff it was the straw that broke the camel's back. >> heather: what did you make of his comment, it did not make any sense at all for him to do that interview, he knows better. his comments about china and korea, also the enemies he claims to have in the administration.

>> look, this goes to the populist movement that he represents, i think he is a real force within the republican party and within our political body. the president won with a lot of working democrats coming over. and part of that is losing jobs to china, losing jobs overseas and i think bannon is right in saying we are to a large degree in economic warfare with china, who is going to be the predominant economy around the world and that goes to the dollar being the basic currency overseas versus something else. i think he is right and that being a key part of his focus. i don't necessarily agree with all of the solutions rather than looking at how to beat china at its own game. >> heather: do you think that was basically a version of an exit interview that he gave?

>> if you believe the reporting that is out there, he tenure at his resignation week. even earlier. it could have been. keep in mind as well, there are other key events going on in terms of the president, his national security team meeting today to try to finally come the way forward, there was apparently a real heated back and forth between mr. bannon and general mcmaster over the way forward there, i think he was clashing with so many folks and then being seen as rising above the president in terms of who the real strategist is and who the decision-maker is that i see general kelly's fingerprints on this. we cannot support the president effectively as one voice moving forward as the u.s. government when we have all of these outliers. >> heather: in terms of general kelly, what do you think

this signals for the entire communications department moving forward? >> i think it goes back to what i was saying earlier. in private, we can yell at each other, we can have real disagreements, you can storm out of the room, apparently there was a story going around about general kelly sending two staffers out of the room to hash it out when they were talking about some trade policy with china. but once you present those various options to the president, he makes the decision, that's it. you move forward and you support the president in his views. not only just supporting the president, but that is supporting the country. to have different messages going to an adversary like russia, like china, like north korea is truly dangerous. if you think about those soldiers who are at the pointy end of that spear who see the media, it can be quite confusing

and really harm morale. >> heather: we were discussing it earlier with dana perino, it was different in the trump administration because of the level of access and the responsibilities. they have been heightened. who do you think would replace him if the spot is replaced, do you think general kelly would bring in somebody else from the military? >> i think dana is right in that kellyanne conway is already essentially in that role, it is an important role and a lot of folks going into this new national security council in this new team, working for general mcmaster, we can put -- you guys can put great policy forward but you have to understand that once it leaves the national security council and enters the oval office there are all kinds of other things involved. the congressional peace, political peace, this broader

coalition, how it's going to be communicated and i think that chief strategist role is very important to keep the president on track with not only the coalition that got him there but already looking forward to reelection. >> heather: it's interesting, these 19 conservative groups who have sent this letter to the white house, against him being released seem to be concerned that kellyanne conway may be next. they are trying to put that out in advance. thank you very much for joining us, we really appreciate it. >> thanks so much. >> jon: let's bring in ed martin, president of the eagle forum and former chairman of the g.o.p. republican party. and leslie marshall, fox news contributor and host of a syndicated radio show. as you watch, the departure of steve bannon from this white house, what comes to your mind as to the immediate effect? >> first of all, i think it

alienates some of the extremely conservative base that to the president has and when i say conservative, i'm sorry, that alt-right portion of the conservative base because remember, steve bannon is certainly one of the people who was extremely influential in getting the president elected but like i said during the campaign, a campaign is not a presidency and we are seeing that now. i also think it shows the strength of kelly in his position and his influence and i also think it does show, because this is becoming a pattern, that the president does not like infighting as we know mr. bannon did not get along and play nice with everyone. additionally, very irresponsible to have a conversation that should have clearly been set off the record when he granted that interview. i definitely think this shows that there is somebody there saying hey, you haven't been able to rein in this president that you got to be president, i

think steve bannon was keeping donald trump, much like the campaign donald trump and not the president that he is now, with the no filter, unhinged tweeting and speeches that we have heard most recently. >> jon: we mentioned you are the author of "the conservative case for trauma." are you sorry to see steve bannon go? >> i think steve bannon is one of the more talented people i have seen in politics and polic policy. it is not only communication skills but he is a real policy guide. i'm sorry he is leaving because he is talented but this proves yet again, donald trump is in charge, no one else gets to call the shots, he's not a manchurian candidate and i think steve bannon will be the first -- if you know politics and if you know real leadership, when the boss says go, you submit a resignation and you go.

conservatives, i am not unhappy with anything other than the fact that the president is being tied up by too many moderates in the republican party from getting more of his agenda. steve did a great job, he will be a great player wherever he i is. president trump is in charge and it's great for the country. >> jon: there are rumblings that he intends to return to brietbart where he will obviously have quite a platform. what if his positions there don't agree with this white house? what if essentially there becomes some kind of a war between brietbart and the trump administration? >> if you are asking me, he disagreed with lots of authority, he disagreed with trump periodically, most good people i think trump is good, i think everybody on the show is good and want to get better things happening. when they disagree they will disagree and i don't think that will be a war, i think it will be a disagreement about the direction of the country and we will see where it goes.

this is playing out in alabama by the way, more conservative and senator strange is left but senator strange worked with president trump so there are disagreements, that's okay. the progress is for america first because our country has been really stuck and our people have been stuck and trump is bringing us out of that. it's all good from where we are sitting out here in the conservative heartland. >> jon: leslie, would you agree with that assessment? >> no. absolutely not. i think the president does and says what's best for the president and i think quite frankly some of the very damaging tweets he'd made have been damaging to the country, whether you are threatening other nations with a war or a nuclear war, whether you are saying irresponsible things that did not exist, that imply the slaughter of a religion if you will to control isis, the list goes on. i think what we see is a

white house, especially with secretary kelly being put in the position to perhaps clean things up a bit, trying to put america first and trying to keep the president on course and the job he was elected to do and not go off the rails and b, unhinged as we have seen as of late. i think steve bannon is not in agreement with some of the family and of course secretary kelly, they have seen not only the president's poll ratings decrease and the support and people who have said over and over "i voted for trump and regret it." or they see where this is headed. not only for the country before the future and possibly reelection of donald trump. >> jon: i think ed wants to debate you on that. >> this is the same people a few days before the election was at the polls show trump would only win by 4%, he won by 19%.

the american people are sick of the bubble in washington, in the media and the political class. they don't want to hate, that is true but they want a leader who is going to say isis is evil, we are going to get those guys no matter what. north korea, we are going to fight back. trump is doing that and he is putting us over china and all the folks that think something has shifted in america where the voters are, we are feeling better. not perfect but we are feeling better for the first time in a long time, that's what's happening out here. >> jon: the stock market is feeling better, the stock market is feeling better today after the ouster of steve bannon, that's interesting. ed martin, leslie marshall, thank you both. let's bring in bret baier, the anchor of "special report." this is sort of a slow-motion dismissal or resignation, i'm not sure we have ironed it out exactly. i guess he did tender his

resignation sometime ago and it was finally accepted today. >> i think this was in the works for some time, obviously the president was asked about it on tuesday and his words about steve bannon were tepid at best. and basically we will see. remember steve bannon has been the guy that has been trying to keep the president on track when it comes to his campaign pledges, what he promised to do. he had a big white board in office that had all the campaign promises and pledges that candidate donald trump made and that is one of the things he wanted to do, is keep those promises front and center. it became too much in the dynamics of the white house but just to set the table here, the chief strategist is gone, we have seen the chief of staff leave, the press secretary, the deputy chief of staff, the fbi director, the national security

advisor and the communications director. six months into president trump's time in offic office. that is a lot of change inside and administration with that short a time. this was something that had been brewing for some time, we are told. you're right. it facilitated itself this week. >> jon: dana perino was on with us a moment ago and said she thought in her view, steve bannon brought distraction, distrust and destruction. clearly, the president would not have kept him around the song if he didn't like him. especially since that interview with "american prospect." he seemed to get in over his head. >> there was that interview, he also talked to "the new york times" and "the washington post" and clearly he put himself out there either to draw some of the fire away from president trump, or to make his final swan song, if you will before he was leaving the

white house. at that interview with "american prospect" raised a lot of eyebrows here in washington on a number of fronts, namely china and the fact that china should be our number one adversary and that everything we do should be pointing to either us or them. that philosophy, he was feeling he was taking that to the president and trying to outdo his counterparts. also, his comments about these confederate statues and the policy he believed that democrats are continuing to talk about race, only helping the trump administration in the long run politically. i think there were a lot of people inside the administration who believed that is not the policy that this president should be following. >> jon: this departure would seem to mark the chief of staff, general john kelly putting his stamp and asserting his muscle

in the oval office. >> i think you can say that but i do think this decision was coming from president trump who had been hearing from a number of different places that steve bannon may be a problem for him. inside and outside his administration. general kelly clearly is trying to clean up house and trying to make it orderly, but i don't know if you put this decision on general kelly as far as this final oust. >> heather: how do you think this will impact the agenda moving forward? there are some big things coming up, tax reform, the budget, how do you think this will affect those? >> i think there are lawmakers who were pushing to have this cap have been on capitol hill, if that is somehow an olive branch to them, perhaps they can work a little bit better.

at this is a tough environment after this week, clearly the worst week of the president's time in office, just by the series of events that happened and if he can somehow get back to a place where he can work with lawmakers, just in the republican party, not even talking about democrats, you have some big things that are going to happen in the next few weeks, the raising of the debt ceiling, the budget, these things deal with the shutting down of government potentially and he will need capitol hill to get on its course. >> heather: the deadline is quickly approaching. >> mid-september. >> jon: there is apparently no -- with the departure of d steve bannon there is no chief strategist at the white house, is that a job that falls on kellyanne conway or what are you hearing? >> i think he's got a lot of cooks in the kitchen now and a lot of people who feel emboldened in this environment, who does this politically

benefit? it benefits jared kushner, his position, he obviously had a rivalry with steve bannon at one time. you have general kelly, who is in a position of authority now and has been and was given that by president trump and i think there are others who will maneuver themselves, kellyanne conway among them. >> jon: we will see you tonight on special report, we know it is going to be an interesting friday night progra program. >> "special report" tonight, 5:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m. >> heather: a lot going on to talk about. obviously, front and center in the news, this terrorist attack that happened in spain, we have 13 people dead, we have 24 countries impacted all across

the world. how do you think this will impact our foreign policy? >> i think it reinforces the fact that we are still fighting islamic fundamentalism. and in fact, even as the trump administration puts the final touches on dislodging isis from syria and iraq, but we are going to see is a dispersal of many of these g fighters coming back to where they came from. we are going to see i think more attacks of what we saw yesterday in spain and this is going to create the need for greater coalition with our allies across the world. >> heather: do you think this will mean we will have a tougher response? steve bannon was known to promote this but we also have general john kelly and we've been talking about his strength

and the things he can accomplis accomplish. >> i think general kelly, general mcmaster, you've got a strong team there. not only on islamic fundamentalism and isis but also on issues like iran and north korea, i don't think the team the president has assembled is going to back down on these issues, i think it will be interesting to see whether there are nuances in terms of the rhetoric, and that is something we will just watch for in the coming days. >> heather: the rhetoric seems -- someone says one thing and another person says another thing, it will be interesting if they can coalesce behind one common message. thank you so much for joining us. >> jon: let's check in with our media panel now. thanks both of you for being here. melissa, from a media standpoin

standpoint, does the departure of steve bannon, will it quiet down some of the coverage, some of the criticism that's been directed at this white house, especially over the last week? >> i think steve bannon's departure is going to play a big, i think them big media outlets to look at will be brietbart obviously, he oversaw brietbart as its chairman and they have been known to come to his defense. his future and his role with the administration has been a major part of the intrigue we have seen come from the white house, really since president trump's inauguration in january. obviously it seems like the hope is that now that he is departing the white house, maybe this ends a period of chaos and turmoil for the trump administration. the question is how this plays out on a broader media stage. >> jon: does it quiet some of the criticism the white house has received? >> i don't think so.

as we know, any ceo -- president trump is the ceo of that organization sets the tone and i think we are going to see a lot more infighting among the palace big shots, i don't think this is going to end it at all and i think changing index on the titanic, changing chairs on the deck of the titanic will not make a difference, i think we are going to see much more palace intrigue. >> jon: the president is clearly upset about what happened to him this week, he called it fake news again and said the press is dishonest about what he said about neo-nazis and so forth, melissa, do you want to take that one on? >> i think when you look at his base among republican voters, there was recent polling that showed that the republican party, those who supported and approved of the president's response to what happened in

charlottesville -- >> jon: which response? we need to thin that down. >> i believe cbs news did some polling after the tuesday press conference and what they found was that when asked if the president's response about shifting blame too many sides of those involved in the protest, the large majority of republican voters, i think it was 68% said they felt they agreed with that statement and there was blame to go around on both sides. obviously president trump takes criticism from the media seriously. obviously, whether or not he can redeem himself from those comments in future weeks, that is up to him. >> jon: james murdoch, one of the heads of this organization very publicly said there is no such thing as a good nazi and put on the president for failing

in his view to state exactly what happened in charlottesville and how we should respond to it. other media outlets seem to be doing the same thing. >> we need more james murdock's to say what they think, i think that's what's really going to happen here. you are going to have a president who continues to treat no matter what the new chief of staff does. this is going to continue on, chief kelly is going to be very disappointed. i think we have a president who is as some say off the rails. >> jon: off the rails? >> if you continue to tweet the things you should not be tweeting, he needs to listen to his staff. if he's going to control what happens and what is said about him in the press, listen to your staff, listen to the people who have been around a longer time then you have. he's a businessman, listen to what they have to say and don't

go message off rails, don't go off message, don't tweet, just listen to what they have to say and that is how he is going to get positive press. >> jon: there did seem to be sort of two different points of view regarding what happened in charlottesville and that's what's so many in the media found disturbing. >> obviously president trump for a strong condemnation, not only from congressional democrats but from republicans and members of republican leadership as well, saying he needs to come out and announce specifically the white nationalist protest in charlottesville. he obviously came out and address those concerns with his statement on monday but when we saw him give that impromptu press conference at trump tower on tuesday, he completely reverted back to his original comment on the violence in charlottesville and seemed to really double down on his belief that there were very fine people

on both sides of the violence there and that there was blame to be placed both on the counter protesters as well as the groups -- the white nationalist groups protesting the removal of the statue of robert e lee. i think this really showed on tuesday, we saw a little snippet into what president trump really thought about the events in charlottesville. >> jon: you covered the white house, after every departure there, after reince priebus left, after anthony scaramucci left, after general flynn left, there are always expectations, that things are going to quiet down and that it will be a more streamlined -- >> if i were generals kelly, i would ask the president in terms of the press to throw away his tweeting, do not tweet and to just listen and react as a president. his numbers would go up if he did that.

but i don't know that he can be controlled and that kind of way. >> jon: interesting developments going on on a friday. melissa and alan, thanks for being our media panel today. >> thank you. >> jon: we are going to take a quick break on this, the day steve bannon has said good-bye to his role as the chief strategist at the white house for president trump. back with more coverage in just a moment. 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. ugh. heartburn. sorry ma'am. no burning here. try alka-seltzer heartburn relief gummies. they don't taste chalky and work fast. mmmm. incredible. can i try? she doesn't have heartburn. alka-seltzer heartburn relief gummies. enjoy the relief.

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>> jon: a fox news alert, president trump has decided to remove steve bannon as chief strategist, the national press secretary for the democratic committee released the following statement which is pretty scathing "there is one less white supremacist in the

white house but that doesn't change the man sitting behind the desk. donald trump has spent decades fueling hate in the community including his recent attempts to divide our country and give a voice to white supremacist. we need leaders to represent all of us and the diversity of our country, we need to continue to rise and organize to bring about change. that is why democrats will continue to represent our country in this deeply troubling time." you might expect they were pleased to see steve bannon go. live at the state department now. >> good afternoon. the rift between steve bannon and the secretary of state rex tillerson was really on full display here yesterday at the state department. the previous evening, steve bannon had written there was no military solution for north korea and that "they got us." rex tillerson was asked specifically about that, given his efforts around the region and around the world to address

the problem in north korea. he said he had no specific response but then effectively responded to his comments, saying it is quite clear in our policy and posture towards north korea. james mattis did jump into say the united states stood ready to act if north korea acted first. also as part of that interview he gave to "the american prospect." he talked a lot about changing staff here in the state department, he targeted one official in particular, that is susan thornton, the acting head of specific affairs here at the state department. he made it a point yesterday, before a meeting with japanese counterparts at the state department, secretary tillerson went over to susan

thornton who was part of this meeting and shook her hand as a public display of support for her, even though steve bannon the night before had called her out in this interview. it really boils down to a difference in worldview in particular as the secretary of state and the state department engage china to try to get china to crackdown and pressure north korea, the carrot and stick approach that is going on with china, steve bannon talking about a full-blown economic war with china. open little bit of nuance here, that is something steve bannon did not appreciate in the two butted heads very openly yesterday. >> jon: thank you. >> heather: joining us now is oliver mcgee, former deputy assistant transportation secretary, thank you very much for joining us. first of all, i want to get your response to the latest news

coming out of the white house, are you surprised steve bannon is out? >> yes i am, like the rest of the world. what i have to share in my first take on this, leadership is about showing the way and sharing a vision for the future. essentially this choke hold we see in presidential decision-making is probably normal in an early administration but ultimately the president's powers are the power to appoint, sign and ultimately persuade. there might have been a little bit of rough and ready in the persuasion part. i think what you will see right now is that the president's national security instrument is being kelly-ized to get a little bit of control in the white house. >> jon: "the washington post" put out this list, if my math is

correct i believe steve bannon makes number 15 who has either resigned or been fired since the inauguration. from someone who has worked within an administration, what type of atmosphere does this to do, how does this impact the workings inside? >> what we see in the trump administration is an adjustment from campaigning to governing. most presidential administrations go through that. you might say if you look back in presidential history, this is more of an andrew jackson type of presidency but that was then, this is now, the 21st century. with the 24/7 news cycles, social media and all the advances in technology, the art of persuasion for the presidency has definitely been changed. as we see president trump become more in the mind of what the presidency is, the diplomacy, the law and order, we are going

to see a little bit more order. every tweet, every verbal communication -- >> heather: i will have to wrap you up, we are going to a heart a break. thank you very much for joining us, everyone, we will be right back. ♪ now give up half of 'em. do i have to? this is a tough financial choice we could face when we retire. but, if we start saving even just 1% more of our annual income... we could keep doing all the things we love. prudential. bring your challenges. can make anyone slow downt and pull up a seat to the table.

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>> another busy friday. thank you for joining us. "america's news hq" starts now. >> sandra: breaking fuse from the white house. fox news now confirming the departure of chief strategist steve bannon. hello, everyone. i'm sandra smith. let's get right to it and bring in our chief white house correspondent who has followed bannon from the very beginning. john roberts. john, how did this all go down? >> reporter: sandra, good afternoon to you. it did not all go down this morning. it wasn't something that suddenly happened today. this has been in the works for some time. we have heard, via "the new york times" that steve bannon may have tendered his resignation as early on as a