and he said it again, "let there be light, daddy." >> sean: you can bring the whole family and bring tissues. that's all the time we have. always fair and balanced. stay tuned. steve hilton is next. >> steve: good evening. i'm steve hilton. this is "fox news tonight." they let me back. we have great stuff to get to. will john mccain be grandstanding to win the approval of the elite. and "the new york times" looking at the nfl. president trump was answering questions from the press when he provided another example of why he appeals to americans who are fed up with open borders and free trade run amok. >> i will not allow our country, the united states of america, to

be taken advantage of by so many other countries all over the world. if you look at our trade deficits, massive trade deficits. you look at our jobs moving out to certain countries and the companies are leaving and they're firing the people and the product is made elsewhere and then it's sold back into the united states. i'm not going to be allowing that. so i can understand how certain countries and the leaders of certain countries may feel, but we're just not going to allow the united states to be taken advantage of by other countries anymore. steve: joining us now for reaction in washington. ashley, i want to start with you. what he was saying there was a very clear expression of the america-first message that he also spoke very clearly about to the u.n. a few weeks ago. what's wrong with that message? >> i think there's a lot wrong here. the fact that he ran on this and got elected, that's great.

the message that he's putting forward when he tweets and when he says things like this is one not of collaboration. as a world leader here at the united states, be able to work with other countries and be seen as a leader. yes, we must protect and look out for our own interests. it's not at bad idea at all. we should always do what is in our best interests, but if we want to be a world leader and that shining beacon of hope on that hill, we need to act like it. his leadership is not showing that. >> steve: he did say that. he literally said, what america-first means is sovereign nations working together. what it doesn't mean is unaccountable, global institutions where the power is sucked away from national governments. charlie, i want to bring you in here. do you think he's delivering on

the message and specifically on one aspect -- he talked about trade there and jobs. the big one there is china. and what i'm worried about is that although he has pulled out of the paris climate agreement and the rest of it, but with china, in this mode of sucking up to them because he's been told by the elite, he has to do that in order to get any progress in north korea. do you think he's delivering america first? >> when it comes to things that he can do by himself, he has been. with immigration and things like that, he's done some of the executive orders and he's held very firm to that agenda he ran on and won on. when it comes to working with congress, he's failed. republicans across the board have failed.

you know this from politics, the group thing, the tendency for group think to take over somebody's personality and agenda has destroyed washington for decades. good people come to washington and they get corrupted by this place. he may not have a slough of successes to point to, the thing that i there i is so interesting and we heard it today in that press conference with the prime minister and the speech at the heritage foundation, he has an inner gyroscope that keeps him directed to the america-first thing, so while it's not a huge thing, it's an important thing. we had a previous president that hated what we stood for and apologized for everything we stood for. and now we have a guy who is proud of it and supports it and that's -- >> steve: just a second. to put my cards on the table, i completely agree with what you just said and i think he's doing

well in pushing back on the group think generally. there's one exception and it's china. ashley, you are dying to get in there and you didn't like what i said to you after your first response. have a go at me. >> i'm a republican, too, but back in 2008 when john mccain ran he ran on country first and now we're calling him elitist. he was hated by people in the establishment at that point in time. and he had a country-first agenda. now we're talking about donald trump's america-first agenda and saying that he's hypocritical, a war hero that donald trump has criticized. that's another story. he loves his country and he's saying we should not be touting this nationalism that will get us nowhere when we need to work with other world leaders and if we want to be that shining beacon on a hill, we need to act like it and not pick fights with other countries all the time. >> steve: you made the point

that i want to make. i had forgotten about that. you are quite right. how is that not nationalist? how is it different? >> i think it's donald trump's version of nationalism that's a crazy one muttered by steve bannon and taken up by the conservative alt-right. >> steve: specifically in terms of action, what is your problem with it? >> a lot of trump supporters consider john mccain and people like myself to be neo cons that they can go into other countries and make it better. this is exactly why donald trump was elected by his supporters because they didn't want that. to come out here and say that he has an america-first agenda, it's hypocritical to me, if they're going to go after john mccain. he has had an america-first agenda -- >> steve: we're going to talk

about mccain later. i don't know how you can say it's crazy. >> the alt-right is crazy. >> steve: he started it and he accused the president as half-baked nationalism. >> to say that mccajohn mccain not patriotic is -- >> no one is saying that. john mccain is john mccain first. i'm not saying he was always like this. for a long time he was probably a very good servant. there was a time that even i liked him, over the past 10, 12 years, he's turned into this maverick that the media loves. and the reason they love him -- >> you can say that about donald trump. >> he's dumping on republicans and the campaign he ran against barack obama in 2008 was a lifeless, failed campaign and he lost and i have a hard time looking at the situation now and not sensing that john mccain isn't, again, john mccain first,

screwing over the president because the president accomplished something he could never accomplish. >> what has donald trump accomplished legislatively? >> steve: to be fair, he made the point that legislatively not the case, but on the things that he was able to do. he's been able to do through executive action, for example, pulling out of t.p.p., paris acards, what he's done on border enforcement. all things that are clear examples of -- you can call it nationalist if you want. i'm still waiting to hear -- >> these are executive actions, executive orders, things that conservatives for years hated about the obama administration. >> steve: but what is wrong with the substance of the policy? >> i'm saying that the alt-right in this nationalist agenda put forward by bannon is not at all conservative. >> who is the alt-right? >> steve: you have not said

anything about his policy. >> people who have never been conservative, but hijacked the republican party that makes it unrecognizable. >> steve: that is going off on slogans. >> this alt-right, i have never understood what the alt-right is. >> nationalist agenda. >> it's made up to accuse people of being racist in which there is no evidence that they're racist. >> steve: good summary. i like that. thank you, both. good debate. president trump giving a prime time speech about putting more money in your wallet. we'll have more after this quick break. break. whoooo.

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>> steve: just hours ago, president trump delivered a major speech to the heritage foundation about his plan to overhaul the tax system. >> we're also simplifying the tax code. under our framework, the vast majority of families will be able to file their taxes on a single sheet of paper. in addition to simplification, the other pillar of our tax plan is reducing our crushing business tax so we can restore america's competitive edge. >> steve: joining us with

reaction, ed henry, chief national correspondent. when i see the president in this setting, it seems to me that when he's talking about the economy, he's in his element. he understands the policy. knows what he's talking about and seems happier than any other topic. watching tonight, was there anything new we learned about the content or when it might be delivered? >> what's new is there was movement today suggesting that rand paul, john mccain, some of the other republicans, who have been holding up the president on healthcare, for example, are going to move forward on the budget process and that opens the door to potentially the biggest tax cut in american history. so there is procedural votes on wednesday and thursday. so watch this the next 36 to 48 hours. there will be all kinds of things in the swamp that will be

confusing. at the end of it, it looks like if things go the president's way, he will have not just the biggest tax cut in american history, but the biggest win legislatively. he's had all kind of executive actions, but has not had that big, legislative win on capitol hill that he can lock in and go into the end of the year and say, i had a big win. >> steve: you are sounding upbeat about that. you were here a day ago in that press conference with the press conference with mcconnell and, we'll try to do it this year, maybe next year. you sound like you are more optimistic. >> they're still hedging their be bets, but john mccain came out today after battling with the president on healthcare said, i will vote to move this budget process forward. again, it's not done yet. there are all kinds of votes in

the next 24 to 36 hours, but they can open the door to the biggest individual tax cuts. the president said it will go to the business. and could lower the tax corporate rate to 20%. >> steve: and the other thing that's striking about this process is the president is selling it, as he was again tonight. will there be more of that? >> yes. some of the top aides have been telling us that he will go on the road again. we've seen him in battleground states like pennsylvania pushing this. the most important point is the one you made at the top of the segment, which is that when he's talking about the economy, talking about jobs, the first ceo president, first president with real business experience is in his element and i think you

nailed it, and that's why the tax cut is his best opportunity at a big win. it's not there yet, but they're feeling a lot better tonight than yesterday. >> steve: that's great news. i was depressed yesterday. i think this was the main thing he was elected to do. >> if i can cheer you up, i'll feel good. >> steve: we'll rebrand your intro. thank you very much. >> good to see you, buddy >> steve: the president emphasized what we can do for people in poverty. >> we'll lift our people from welfare to work, from dependence to independence and from poverty to total, beautiful prosperity. >> steve: adam michelle saw president trump's speech firsthand. he was in the room. great of you to join us.

what did you make of it? you were there. >> yeah, thanks for having me on. the speech was everything we wanted to hear. we talked about individual tax cuts for every american and focused on the economic growth and wage growth that comes from tax reform and cutting the business tax rate down to 20% and bringing profits home from overseas and just making america a place where businesses want to do business and hire americans. >> steve: so put my cards on the table, i agree with all that. i've been a proponent of it all along and people on fox have seen me many times arguing for this plan. what i'd like to do is get your reaction to some of the arguments that are being put against it, well armed against those that say it will not work. let's take one of them. this idea that cutting taxes is going to lead to more economic growth. that may be true, but there will be people that are left out of that, even if you go back

decades. we've had tax cuts. they've boosted the economy, but incomes for working americans have been flat or falling actually for decades. how will it be different this time even if we get the growth promised from this tax plan? >> reducing the corporate tax rate and business tax rates in general has been proven time and time again across countries and states to lead to higher wages for workers. we've seen this across the border in canada. over the last 15 years, they've slowly racheted down their business tax rates and we've seen wage growth in canada exceeding that of neighboring countries. so the examples are out there. and so the c.e.a. report, council of economic advisors, the $4,000 wage increase for the average american, that's a real number and it will materialize. >> steve: it's real in one

sense. and, again, i'm a supporter of all this, but it's an average. an average can hide really big differences. one of the things that's been going wrong in our economy is that you've had parts of america that are booming, particularly in the -- on the coast and other parts that have really not shared in that prosperity. and an average that pushes them together. how can we be sure that the people that have been left behind will benefit this time around. >> the current tax code is a code that benefits those rich and powerful. it's so complicated and so long that people that can hire the expensive attorneys and good lawyers are the ones that can get ahead in that system. so it's not just about lowering the tax rate, which has benefits, but simplifying it and making it so people know and businesses know what they have to send to washington at the end of the year. >> steve: here's another

argument that people make. corporate profits now are at record levels. companies have a huge amount of money. they don't need more money to make the decision to invest. if you cut their taxes, the only people that it will benefit are the owners of the businesses. it will not change their behavior, because they've got plenty of money they could be investing, but they're not. >> one of the pieces of tax reform is changing our current system where we tax the worldwide profits of our businesses. this is where the president talks about bringing home trillions in dollars overseas. it's money that businesses haven't been able to bring back to the united states for fear of getting our high corporate tax rate levied on it. the current system does distort business activity. if we can make america an attractive place for american businesses and also for foreign businesses to invest in the united states and hire american workers, that competition for

additional workers drives up wages and drives the economic growth that the president is talking about. >> steve: i buy that argument. the corporate tax rate is the highest in the world. if you are making a decision about where you will locate your business, i think it will have an impact. critics would point out that we had that kind of cut in the repatriation in the bush administration and it didn't lead to more jobs, what it led to was more money for the rich, the shareholders. >> the problem with that temporary repatriation is that it was temporary. and anytime we talk about temporary tax policy, it changes the incentives of businesses. if we can make a permanent lower tax rate, a permanent move to territorial system, permanent expensing, which another piece that the president talked about today, it will be an amazing

incentive for businesses to invest here, which is the foundation for economic growth. so we'll see the economic growth being predicted if we can get those pieces right. >> steve: remind me what they are again. we have to remember these arguments, because people will say this tax plan is just for the rich. what do we say in response? >> lowering the corporate tax rate to 20%, which is currently the highest in the industrialized world. a territorial system where businesses can do business in the united states and not be penalized for selling out of the united states. and full expensing, allowing businesses to deduct fully and so they can invest in new equipment and factories. >> steve: thank you for setting that up to clearly for us, adam. >> thank you. >> steve: high stakes meeting was being held at the nfl.

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>> steve: nfl players and owners met for three hours today. president trump has been loud and clear about his position that players should stand during "the star spangled banner." here's what he told brian kilmeade earlier today. >> hillary clinton said it was okay for the nfl players to kneel during the anthem. i disagree. maybe that's why she lost because it's bad. it's real bad. we have to respects our flag, our country, our anthem. >> steve: he says things so clearly. that's what people love about him. "the wall street journal" said that "the new york times" has a double standard about all this, because the newspaper praised colin kaepernick for kneeling, but just announced a policy that

prohibits its own reporters from making political statements on social media. joining us now, howard kurtz, you see him on sunday mornings host of "media bug." first of all, is it right for "the times" to clamp down on its journalists and is it hypocritical for them to do that to their own employees while saying that the nfl employees should be able to speak their minds? >> i will blow the whistle on this analogy, but let's start with cracking down on journalists on twitter. it's long over due, because a number of "times" journalists have been snarky, undermining

the president. reporters are not like sports players. we were fought good at sports. that's why we're writing. when you pop off about politics, you are seen as representing the organization you work for. >> steve: so you agree with the clampdown. >> i think it's overdue. everybody likes to have a personality on twitter and gain a following, but femme don't following those that work for networks, or espn, who had the suspension, or "the new york times" because we're so cute and witty. it's because we have a big platform. >> steve: okay, fine. they said very clearly if it was completely wrong for the nfl to constrain the ability of its own people to say whatever they wanted and infringe on their free speech rights. why isn't that true for their own people? >> one factor here is that the

executive editor does not oversee the editorial page. i do think it's fair to take a poke at the "new york times." when colin kaepernick of the 49ers first did the kneeling protest, it wasn't that interested. but when donald trump got involved, it became a crusade for free speech. in fairness, you have a president taking on the nfl and there's been massive media coverage for weeks, so, of course, "the times" liberal editorial page will take shots at the president. there is a different standard between professional athletes -- and i don't think they should be doing it during the anthem. they can do it in other ways -- and journalists who at least have a pack with viewers and readers that they will keep their personal opinions -- not the columnists, but you are a reporter, you try to cover the president and the political system fairly. i see it as apples and oranges.

>> steve: the comeback on that is that the nfl does have tough rules about what they can and can't do. and the arguments is that we've heard about when they try to make other protests, that they've been banned from doing that because of the very strict rules. so they do actually have rules. isn't that exactly the same as what "the times" is doing? >> what "the times" is doing is tightening its rules, not banning anybody, or saying, get off twitter. one recently closed up his twitter account because of the criticism that happens when you get too personal. there were rules against spiking the football and all of that sort of thing. what's happening now -- clearly president trump has thrown the nfl for a also and they're trying to figure out a face-saving way to stop the protests, which is hurting the

league. roger goodell has changed his tune from criticizing the president but saying he agrees without ticking off the players' union. they want this issue to go away because it's hurting the nfl. >> steve: do you think "the new york times" wants it to go away? >> i think it's become a left-right thing. if trump's for it, liberals are against it. and it's a nice way to say, we believe in the right to protest against police brutality and racial protests. sure, but if you are paid millions, maybe don't do it during "the national anthem." to millions of people, it seems disrespectful. much of the country agrees with the president. that's why the nfl is giving ground on this issue. >> steve: you made the point that there's a distinction between the reporters and the opinion. to me, it's completely gone. i remember when i first moved here from england, i was struck

that that line between the two sides seemed to be strong, certainly in comparison to british newspapers. when you see the coverage of the administration and the headline-writing and the way that stories are presented, all the way through the paper, it feels like it's completely an anti-trump publication. >> there was much more of a church and state division when i was in newspapers. if you want to say, yeah, "the times," for example has a liberal editorial page and the coverage leans that way, i will not give you a big argument. there are many, many, many stories are negative to president trump. some of it is legitimate. some of it is investigative reporting that newspapers should do. but if you want to say that there's a lot -- that "the times" as an institution, even its own former public editor

appears to be liberal, i will not have a strong argument. >> steve: i agree with you. you always try to be fair, but i think that they've changed since the arrival of donald trump. >> a lot of people have. >> steve: thank you. john mccain delivered a stark warning about the rise of nationalism. we'll tell you what his beef is ahead. when you're close to the people you love, does psoriasis ever get in the way of a touching moment? if you have moderate to severe psoriasis, you can embrace the chance of completely clear skin with taltz. taltz is proven to give you a chance at completely clear skin. with taltz, up to 90% of patients had a significant improvement of their psoriasis plaques. in fact, 4 out of 10 even achieved completely clear skin.

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>> steve: senator john mccain and steve: john mccain received the liberty medal. he had a stark warning for u.s. leaders. >> to abandon the ideals we've advanced around the globe to, refuse the obligations are inter national leadership and our duty to remain the last best place of earth for half-baked nationalism cooked up by people that would rather find scapegoats than solve problems is as unpatriotic is any attachment of dogma from the history in the ash heap of history. >> steve: we have juan williams

here to help clear this up, well known to our audience, co-host of "the five." juan, what do you think he was trying to achieve with this? it seemed to me that what john mccain is up to is burnishing his legacy and seeking the approval of the media elite, the morning crowd that lap up this attack on donald trump. >> i think he's speaking to america -- i don't think at this point in his life of his career or life on earth, i don't think he's in a position where he has to indicate tore any of -- cater to any of the elite and speaking from the heart. when you look at the iran deal, climate deal, the idea that we somehow would withdraw from our role as a global leader, that he thinks it's not in the best interest of america. >> steve: but where is -- what

withdrawal? the iran deal saying it's a bad deal and we want to withdraw from it. that's exerting leadership. >> i don't mind if you exert leadership and you have a clear vision, but the vision so far is limited and this is where mccain spoke about "half baked." i don't like what this deal is, but i can't tell you why and i'm not even going to deal with it. i'm going to kick it over to them and i will say to my followers, we won because i've undone the deal. and steve said, no, no. he pushed it over to the congress. >> steve: if something is bad and you want to correct it, it is leadership. the elites don't like it because it's undoing the policies that many people argue completely failed. >> people can argue about it, but when it came down to it, the people that signed the deal, including the president's top advisors, told him it was in

america's best interest to stay in the deal. he made a campaign promise, said it was the worst deal ever, and he said, if i give it to the congress, i can say to my followers, i did away with the deal. if the congress doesn't do away with it, he said, it's on the congress. >> steve: i don't want to talk about the iran deal specifics, but changing policy is the same as withdrawal, that's not fair. another example. paris climate change. that's another one saying, that's america retreating. isn't it just a different kind of leadership to say, this deal is going to hurt our economy and it doesn't even deliver the gains that the people that put it forward climb? it's a different kind of leadership. >> we need to take this conversation to a different level. the president is suggesting that in pursuit of what you were discussing, which is america first, that we need to retreat

in terms of our global influence. >> steve: i don't think he is saying that. >> i hear that loud and clear, apparently john mccain hear that. he wants to appeal to this nationalism and tribalism saying, we're americans and we'll protect ourselves against the evil world, rather than, we'll be an example to the world. >> steve: that's not what he's saying. he's saying america first is the same strategy as you have and the way we get progress is sovereign countries working together to solve problems, rather than putting everything on to this global institutions where there is no accountability and you get international bureaucrats that make policy he's saying it's about democratic countries deciding what is in their best interest and cooperating. to me, that's leadership. all of this about nationalism is sloganized. >> we're not any nation.

we're an exceptional nation. we have the strongest economy in the world, the top military in the world. our cultural messages to the world through hollywood, number one source of entertainment and cultural norms in the world. so for us to be just like any other sovereign nation is to reduce us in stature. in fact, i argue that the president should be enlarging us in stature and saying, ala reagan, we're the shining city on the hill and this is an example of what we're willing to do to keep our air clean and make deals with people who could destabilize the middle east. >> steve: i agree with what you said. i really do. and i think that the argument he's making is that we do that by our example. for example, on the air. it's a fact -- the reduction in emissions because of changes in our energy have put us in a leadership position. not joining the climate

agreement but what america has done. >> if you make a deal, you can act as an example, a leader, to other countries that say, why should we come along and why should we do anything, especially if you are a third world country that aspires to be on par with the american economy or even a china and you say, oh, no, we're making a sacrifice to give you an example of what's possible. what a great nation is willing to do to serve its people. >> steve: i think that the president, who is proud of america, would agree with what you have said and this discussion is in a slogan level that doesn't reflect reality. we will not setting it here. >> john mccain, patriot, good guy. >> steve: i agree, and so does the president. >> i wonder. [laughter] >> steve: thanks, juan. good to see you. the draft memo written by james

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>> steve: today the f.b.i. in heavily redacted documents

acknowledged that james comey began to draft his announcement that hillary clinton would not face charges in the email scandal two months before the f.b.i. even interviewed her. comey denied that he made any decisions about clinton before she spoke with the f.b.i. >> director, did you make the decision not to recommend criminal charges related to classified information before or after hillary clinton was interviewed by the f.b.i. on july 2? >> after. if colleagues of ours believe i'm lying about when i made this decision, urge them to contact me privately so we can have a conversation about this. all i can say, the decision was made after that because i didn't know what was going to happen in that interview. maybe she lied in that interview in a way we could prove it. >> steve: joining us for reaction, a former spokesperson for hillary clinton's campaign.

adrienne, thanks for joining us. >> thanks for having me, steve. >> steve: you saw this today. does it make you hate james comey more or less? >> well, i'm certainly the last person in the world that will defend the way that james comey handled the investigation of hillary clinton. first of all, this is not new information. we knew several months ago that he had written some sort of memo, statement, in regards to what he ultimately said in july when he said, you know, case closed, i'm -- the f.b.i. is finished with this investigation and hillary clinton did no wrongdoing. we also know that he's a very copious note-taker. >> steve: you can say that again. >> yeah, yeah. he's -- he is a self-declared copious note-taker. so none of this is surprising, but i know that republicans are trying to use this to reopen the door here. was james comey biased in any way, shape or form? donald trump made it clear when

he fired james comey -- he said he fired him because of the way he handled the hillary clinton email investigation, which we all know is wrong, and now republicans are trying to say, oh, he -- james comey was biased in some way towards hillary clinton, which is the last thing in the world that most of us who watched the investigation and how aggressive james comey was toward hillary clinton would ever conclude. >> steve: well, there's one point in what you said that maybe there's an agreement between republicans and democrats which is not how he handled her, but the fact that you can't believe a word this guy says. he's untrustworthy. and all sides can agree about that. >> well, look, i will say this, james comey -- i think he mishandled the investigation to hillary clinton's server, but he's a tough investigator. he is very -- he was very aggressive with the facts. he's been known as a very tough f.b.i. director.

in my view, the way he handled the optics of the investigation and the reopening it 12 days before the actual election day, which i think largely cost us the election, the mishandling of the investigation is far different than the way he went in and dealt with the facts. >> steve: the things he says does not stack up. he said the reason he was getting into all this was because of the tarmac meeting with loretta lynch and bill clinton and so he had to take over. but that was months after he wrote this. if that was realitily the reason he was expressing this view, what was going on with the memo a couple of months beforehand? >> well, again, i'm -- i've made it clear that i will note defend james comey's tactics or how he handled the investigation, but you know it's not uncommon, for example, for judges to write

opinions before they issue a judgment. going back to what james comey has said, he said, is with a copious note-taker. i wrote everything down. we don't know why this memo was written the way it was before he came out, but anybody that would say that james comey was not tough on hillary clinton wasn't following the investigation. >> steve: well, whatever -- the main conclusion is that he wrote things down that would help james comey and you cannot trust a single thing he says. adrien adrienne, thank you. >> and now he's writing a book. >> steve: please spare us. more "fox news tonight" after this. more news for you tonight, after this.

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>> steve: laura ingrham, she is so great. i'm excited about her show. i wanted to say thank you for being with us. i've had a great time hosting "fox news tonight" and i take this shameless opportunity to remind all of you to watch my show, "the next revolution," which is sunday night here on fox news at 9:00 eastern. this sunday, judge janine piero will join us. we'll talk immigration, so expect some fireworks. check it out and follow me on twitter. have a great rest of the week. good night from new york. good .

♪ >> tucker: a fox news alert, president trump has just finished speaking to the heritage foundation in washington where he has promoted a republican plan to reform america's tax code. good evening and welcome to "tucker carlson tonight." in just a minute we will talk about a meeting at the weinstein company in los angeles today. also, there is no information about the laws of vegas security guard who apparently vanished into thin air, one of the rare eyewitnesses inside the hotel, the latest on that. but first, here's part of what the president just said about his tax plan. >> our framework provides a one time, low tax on profits currently sitting on the shores so that this money can come back right where