cannot be president and if he peter strzok saying that hillary should win 100 million to zero. >> over the last week we've seen of course how bad the establishment is what we are fighting against. >> sean: more analysis on this tomorrow. fox news continues on the alabama senate race. >> laura: welcome to the ingram "the ingraham angle" from washington. an earthquake in alabama and in that potentially pivotal night in american politics. still too early for the fox news decision desk to project a winner but we should have a call any moment now, so stay right here with us. you don't want to miss a minute. while we wait, let's bring in fox's bret baier and martha maccallum at our election does to break down the significance of what we are seeing as these numbers trickle in. take it away. >> so what we are seeing from our decision desk is that the raw numbers you see on the screen has roy moore up over doug jones, but you add in the existing counties that are still out and the analysis, the

fox news motor analysis that we have looking at the questions that we ask voters today and over the past couple of days. and right now doug jones, the democrat is leading in this alabama race. it's too close to call as you just mentioned, but we are seeing kind of a shift that way in the past hour or so. >> martha: we watched it shift back and forth over the course of the night. and as brett says, we have a raw vote in there, but literally it is a toss-up. and if you look at all the different parameters that we are covering, it's close to toss-up territory or leaning slightly towards jones and a lot of the feedback we are getting, but our numbers show that roy moore is up by a slight amount as we wait for these totals to come in from some of these outstanding counties. >> bret: i will say there are a few companies were moore underperformed where donald trump performed. he won mike alabama by 28 points over hillary clinton and there are a few key counties where

moore significantly underperformed. in fact a couple of them were doug jones won the county. so that is not a good sign for the g.o.p. but there are still some democrat counties that are existing, that are out that you don't know how jones is going to perform and if the numbers don't add up in the raw vote total then that's why it's so close and we can't make the call as of yet. >> laura: i think it's incredible that there was only 1% of write in votes so far it looks like. you would have thought that with all the publicity for people who didn't like either choice her mother would have been for right ends, but not. people want for either moore or they decided to go for jones despite the fact that a good chunk of people said the allegations, they did find them disturbing. 51% according to some of those exit polls said it didn't really affect them at all. i would have expected mickey mouse to be written in. >> martha: i would agree.

they got absolutely no direction on that. senator shelby, who said i'm not going to vote for roy moore. i'm going to write in someone, a man of great integrity. there was never any concerted effort, which could have been the way to go when these allegations first came out. could have been a directed effort to write in luther strange. none of that ever transpired and it sort of sat back and let things lie as they did and the president came over and supported roy moore. that's going to be one of the things they analyze closely if roy moore does lose, whether or not they should have went all of that hit the fan, so to speak, recalibrate and come up with a new plan. >> bret: just to point out that this is -- if jones pulls this out, and again we are leaning that way, he leading at the moment. it's 25 years since the democrat has won a senate race in alabama and it's a two-year seat, it would be up again in 2020, but this would be earth shattering when it comes to alabama politics.

>> laura: think about supreme court nominations that might be coming up. all these judgeships that trump wants to fill. obviously tax reform. the daca fix or some kind of deal for the dreamers. we have murkowski, collins, flake and mccain still in there. it's not like they have a real kind of working, reliable majority as it is. one less boat, that could be curtains for much of the trump agenda if this doesn't turn out well for the republicans. and there will be hell to pay. >> bret: if jones gets reelected one would think he wouldn't be the traditional democrat in a number of voting stances he takes. if he wants to get reelected in alabama one would think you would be more like a mansion or hide to camp. they haven't moved yet but there will have to be issues where they kind of change their colors if they are going to appeal to those states. >> laura: if you think about that, republican voters have been elated that they finally have the white house, the senate

and house of representatives. now they have an alabama senate seat that they could potentially lose, which puts a lot of that agenda in jeopardy, and that's what president trump was talking about when he supported roy moore. he never said i really like this guy, i think it's fantastic. he said we need to have them in there if we want to get my agenda through. if this happens, and we need to stress that we don't know yet. i don't it sounds like -- our indications are sort of a crosswise. give the popular vote which everyone is looking at on the screen which is showing moore slightly ahead and then you have some of the other indicators that show it is leading closer to jones. but if jones wins this, there will be a lot of soul-searching on the republican side. >> bret: the tax reform boat will happen. if the government doesn't shutdown and taxes move forward in the next week or two. the senator, whoever it is, jones or moore is not going to be sworn in until january. the secretary of state of alabama as of now, december 26 would be the day and everything gets certified.

>> laura: i think right now there will be a lot of monday morning quarterbacking. mcconnell's role in all of this, he jumped in big for luther strange. a lot of the alabama people like mo brooks and others. a lot of people were knocked out in that special election runoff. there will be a lot of people asking a lot of tough questions all the way around. and we appreciate both of your continued analysis and reporting. for more analysis let's bring in fox news contributor by byron d washington. former chair of the alabama g.o.p. marty connors in birmingham. and ralph reed in atlanta. ralph, i want to go to you because your group and others like it try to really mobilize the evangelical vote in alabama tonight for roy moore. but we don't know yet, but it's looking like it's going to be tougher for roy moore than a lot of people thought. he might lose the seat. if that happens, what you take

away from this? >> if you look at the exit polls, it indicates that about 44% of the vote is conservative evangelical and they voted 81% for roy moore and only about made teens for doug jones that vote came in for him. i would have frankly expected him to hit a little bit higher. maybe mid 80s. maybe even high 80s. but 81% is enough. what really is going to decide the outcome of this race is two things. number one, how bad is the bleeding in jefferson county and birmingham in those more moderate and centrist suburban republican precincts? the 63% of that vote is in righ now. and it's overwhelmingly jones. >> laura: brutal. both counties look brutal.

>> overwhelmingly. >> laura: it's a suburban, a lot of women. we have to get by reading here and marty. byron, a lot of women turning out, suburban women. a very upscale, a lot of them couldn't hold their nose and vote for moore. >> i was in the area a few weeks ago i saw a lot of jones signs, subzero roy moore signs. i think this is going to come down to whether this ended up being an election about roy moore. remember, roy moore was elected in 2012 in the supreme court election with 51.76 of the votes. this guy does not get landslides in alabama. or was it going to be republicans voting strategically saying we have to keep 52 votes in the senate and it looks now like it's more of a referendum on roy moore himself. >> laura: marty, your state spent two decades plus as a democrat, won a senate seat there. it would tell us about what is happening. why is it turning out the way it is in the reddest of red states

we thought? >> i think the main reason i have to kind of agree with ralph in a different way. it's that suburban republican voters either stayed at home or decided to do something significantly different. this is ultimately -- it's not a referendum on the republican party. it's a referendum on some accusations. i think that's what it may come down to. i think it's 1.3 that is now a right in vote with a projected two-point win by jones. right in also had an impact as well. >> laura: i want to go back to the mcconnell involvement early on. they poured a lot of money in for luther strange. an earlier people were saying it might not have been the best idea. it kind of pushed people to the more right wing side of the equation with moore versus a more of a mainstream conservative like the guy i endorsed, which is mo brooks.

>> the majority leader was hugely unpopular in alabama. after the primary when there were these postmortems going on to see what were luther strange's biggest problems, his biggest problem was how he received the senate seat from the governor, robert bentley, the former governor who reside in scandal. but his second biggest problem was mitch mcconnell. extremely unpopular with alabama republicans. >> laura: i wonder your take on this. the establishment g.o.p. in washington. did they tilt this in a way that gave this wide running room to someone like a roy moore and then the democrats went in there and these women came out and then it was kind of off to the races again. it's too close to call, basically dead even right now but the turnout and some of these key counties looks like it's going to be fairly negative to roy moore at this point. >> you're right. if you go to any watering hole

and let's say suburban alabama or rural alabama, everybody there is very, very angry at washington. they are blaming the republicans, which is the rise of roy moore in this race. let's had tax reform been passeo months ago, this would not have been an issue. had obamacare been repealed or replaced this would not have been an issue. i think the lack of action is also created the success of roy moore. what i'm watching for now is in the final minutes, hours of this race, alabama is very similar to georgia in the sense. birmingham will give jones a 40 plus thousand margin just like atlanta does. the rest of alabama has to catch up with that margin. the rest of alabama -- at the question is can they. underperforming in counties where moore should do better, suburbs of huntsville, fairhope

down in baldwin county, right now it doesn't look like a trending that way. >> laura: ralph i want you to touch on that and also what brent was talking about earlier. if indeed jones pulls out the big, big victory tonight, if he does, would he have all this pressure on him to be kind of a centrist democrat and maybe even support donald trump on some issues? or is he going to say i will take two years, i will not get reelected anyway probably, i will take two years and do all of the more liberal stuff that my party wants me to do? >> i think they will be counter pressures and i think he's going to be -- if he were to win tonight he would be sort of a southern fried version of a joe manchin in west virginia. he will throw a vote every now and again like he did for neil gorsuch, but not much. on obamacare he voted with schumer. on the tax cut he voted with schumer. and look, we don't know what's going to happen tonight. this is a very, very close race. it is on a nice edge, but if roy

moore is able to pull it out, it will be because on these issues, taxes, obamacare, judicial nominations, the life issue, that doug jones was not a centrist. he was not a zell miller or that kind of democrat. he was a hard-core liberal democrat and even with all these accusations and everything swirling around moore, voters of faith and other conservatives and pro-lifers were torn over the overall dynamics, but on the issues moore was with them. >> laura: byron? >> i think ralph is actually right because doug jones is not just going to become an old-fashioned centrist democrat like in the 1970s. >> laura: those days are over. it's just not going to happen. >> the problems with trying to rule the senate with 51 votes is going to be really, really tough for mitch mcconnell.

>> laura: great analysis. by the way, when the democrats can't win at the ballot box they will use any means necessary to gain power and now they're trying to unseat trump, exactly as i told you they were due last week. stay here, loads of details of next. ♪ sa you are going to be a big surprise. (whining) aww, i see a big puppy. i see a b-i-i-g pu-u-ppy. hey greg! that's ford, america's best-selling brand. now get exclusive holiday offers, with 0% financing for 72 months across a full line up. for a limited time, get an additional $1,000 cash back on top of 0% financing for 72 months. get these exclusive offers during the ford year end sales event.

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>> laura: allegation circuit and the plot to take down the president. that's the focus of tonight's angle. i hate to say i told you so, but i told you so. it's all unfolding exactly as i said it would. on december 6th when senate democrats were giving al franken the bum's rush based on allegations of impropriety, he almost entirely tonight, what did i say? >> before you joined the march to the castle to capture the monster, i have a word of caution. they have come down with a sudden case of feverish morality but what it really is is nothing more than a political calculation by the dems. they have two pads to destroy the president. the first is the mueller investigation.

the second way they will try to destroy the term presidency is the war on women. that old song. they have not determined that it's worth sacrificing franken just like they did john conyers. throw him overboard to save the political titanic that is their party. what does this do? it sets the precedent for the democrats to try to drive roy moore from office should he win the alabama senate race. in two this is the next step in the quest to impeach president trump. >> laura: and let me tell you, bingo. like clockwork it was a coordinated reentering of the grievances that began just yesterday. complaints by the same trump accusers that voters had already heard from before they elected our 45th president. then with impeccable timing a quartet of democratic senators called on the president to

resign. never mind that the president has long denied the charges. 1:30 years old and that there was nothing new in any of them. in a dangerous climate we have today that the liberals have created, allegations are enough to strip anyone, especially any man of his career. senator kirsten gillibrand is the de facto leader now of the cat trump crusade. he remember her voicing such concern for bill clinton's accusers when he was appearing at her fund-raisers? neither do i. and more troubling, women who were part of the trump administration seem to be kind of hedging their bets. on sunday at u.n. ambassador nikki haley had the perfect opportunity to stand up for the president, really strongly and call out this politically motivated hysteria. instead, she kind of took a pas pass. >> women who accuse anyone should be heard.

they should be heard and they should be dealt with. and i think we heard from them prior to the election and i think any woman who has felt violated or felt mistreated in any way, they have every right to speak up. >> laura: and women who see themselves as presidential materials need to be heard most of all. today, nbc's megyn kelly in what seems to be a new daily future showcased another of the old trump accusers. >> i demand that he is subjected to an investigation by the ethics committee. i think it's important that we hold this man to the highest standard and if 16 women have come forward, then why hasn't anything been done? where is our investigation? >> laura: it's curious, don't you think, how this accuser issued a call for an investigation just as 59 house democrats released a letter demanding a congressional investigation into these allegations against the

president. i'm sure it's all just a total coincidence. here's the reality. congressional democrats know that time is not on their side. while roy moore was still in the headlines and the #metoo-itus with all the rage, the liberals had to make their move. it got the booming economy, consumer confidence rising. trade deals being renegotiated. you have trump judges getting confirmed. things are looking up for the president, so the democrats needed a new story line and this is it. but my friends, do not be fooled. for the party of ted kennedy and bill clinton, the sexual misconduct crusade has never been about protecting women. it's about taking back power by any means necessary. so now that mueller's impeachment report is at least somewhat tainted and the president is scoring some big

wins, dams needed chum in the water. this is it. i say they let them eat their own if they wish. but they cannot be allowed to kill off the political adversaries with unproven allegations. and female politicians and activists should also be really careful when they take this because someday, maybe, that men might decide to turn the tables on them and start launching their own, maybe it's called #mentoo movement. if you don't think it could happen? just watch. then who's going to be left to call for some modicum of due process or fairness before lives are destroyed? and that's the angle. let's go right to brett and martha as we have breaking news. what do we know? >> martha: we can now call the race in alabama. fox news is not projecting that doug jones will defeat

republican roy moore to become the first alabama democrat in a quarter-century to be elected to the united states senate. >> bret: this is a dramatic democratic upset in deep red alabama and it cuts the g.o.p. from 52 to 51. further dimming republican hopes of enacting major legislation backed by president trump. but as we pointed out, it's likely that tax reform is going to be voted on in the conference committee prior to the seating of this senator. >> martha: there was a lot of discussion about whether or not a roy moore win would be a win, really, for the g.o.p. and there are some questions tonight about whether or not there is some silver lining for republicans tonight. a victory by moore, who is embroiled in a sex scandal might have made it more difficult for the g.o.p. to gain control of the senate in next year's midterm election. and we have watched as democrats have made that a major talking point in recent weeks. >> bret: looking like now. >> martha: pointing the finger

at sore stomach sort of a war on #metoo. >> bret: at the headquarters in montgomery and the jones headquarters in birmingham. this were just getting out as we are making this race. joining us tonight to breakdown the race chris wallace, brit hume, dana perino and juan williams. chris, we haven't heard from you yet, let's start with you on this election result. >> this is a big win for the democrats. they went all in, they had a major get out the vote effort when you started seeing people like devol patrick and cory booker going down there this last week to try and mobilize the african-american vote when president obama, former vice president biden made calls over the weekend. they were really going all in. they had a once in a generation chance to win a senate seat in alabama they went for it. and it is significant, obviously. a two vote majority has been pretty tough to govern with in

the senate, now it's going to be a one-vote majority. 51-49. on the other hand, i've got to tell you i talked's who don't to some top officials even in the trump administration weren't sure -- guess they wanted the boat. they wanted moore to win, but they also feared the burden that he would put on the party. they looked back at todd akin, who made the comments as a republican saint candidate misery in 2012. that was kind of a poster boy for republicans running at that election. they worried about roy moore and that it would just be a constant burden. albatross that they would have to deal with that every time a senator walked down the corridor, what do you think about roy moore? what's going to happen in the ethics investigation? are you going to vote to expel him? so on the one hand yes they would have rather won than lost, but on the other hand they also thought that roy moore in the senate was going to be a real burden for them and what

promises to be a tough midterm election in 2018. >> martha: let's bring in brit hume. do you agree that perhaps a roy moore victory would not have been worth it for the g.o.p.? >> that's what i've been saying all along. senate republicans and the question is which one would hit them. the one that hit them is the one that cost them a seat. but as chris has ably suggested, a moore win would have been no better roses either. i totally agree with that assessment and i would add one more thought for everyone, and that is what does this mean for the great steve bannon, amanda with with been given to believe is a master political strategist. he would like everyone to think that he's the man whose wisdom got donald trump elected. all of donald trump obviously doesn't like to hear that. but he went down and did go all in for roy moore. this is a state where it's very hard for republicans to lose and his men lost and he lost as the

result of a fact that enough people in alabama thought enough of what those women said about roy moore that they didn't want him as their senator and that is the result tonight. it remains to be seen how this will affect the standing of steve bannon who we thought was a pretty big player outside the white house. >> bret: you cover the last democrat. it's been a long time. >> it's been quite a long time. i remember how helpful and well. while he was a democrat was of a democratic breed that no longer really exists. he was pretty conservative on a lot of issues and he wasn't somebody that the democratic leadership could count on. i think looking at roy moore's record. he will be pretty much a down the line vote for things -- doug jones, i'm sorry. of course. this is not somebody that the

republicans will be easily able to win over. on the other hand, it seems fair to say that from day one he will be among the most vulnerable democrats in the senate the next time around. >> martha: what does it say about sexual harassment charges. roy moore was one of the few that was seen in recent weeks to actually try to fight it, who said that they are not true, these allegations are false, and he lost. >> i think that based on what we've heard from our voter analysis and also from the outcome is that his denials were not credible enough, but also i think that we are in an era of political disruption. nobody thought that from good win at the beginning in that june of 2015. he's our president. democrat hasn't been elected in alabama in 25 years. this is also i think just a very specific circumstance. without these allegations i think roy moore would definitely be the senator from alabama.

one thing to look out is is the eternal pattern similar to the rate that happened just last month in which ed gillespie the republican lost big time in virginia. one of those things to look at is that president trump in virginia won married women by ten points. ed gillespie only wanted by one point and he lost so big. that said, the 2018 map for the republicans in the senate is very, very good. i think that they will retain the majority. they also think of a possible couple of pickup opportunities like in missouri and indiana. they are worried a little bit about nevada. they are pretty sure about tennessee but they have a strong candidate, the democrats do, in philip felt reticent thing we know for sure, while mcconnell'n had been to always support the incumbent, there's going to be a focus on quality of candidates going forward and you can bet that 2018 will be a very expensive race.

>> bret: juan? >> to me this is a red state and everybody will talk about joe's on the appeal to the democrats, even charles barkley the basketball superstar who went to auburn was in there last night campaigning for jones. what strikes me is picking up on what dana was talking about, suburban republicans, especially women, who, according to all that we can see tonight, outside of birmingham, even outside of montgomery, were quick to decide either to stay home or to vote for jones. this is a surprise. and this suggests that this argument, some call it a civil war within the republican ranks, is really at a boiling point. that's why steve bannon is such an important player here. remember steve bannon persuaded the president to back roy moore. the president had backed luther strange and it was steve bannon who was taking on the senate majority leader of the republican party, mitch mcconnell, and i believe just recently said it's a special place in hell for people who are

republicans did not back roy moore. what we have here now going into '18 is, yes, it is a good landscape for republicans because they have more seats but they are holding while democrats have more seats that are open, but to my mind what you're looking at is democrats anticipating a wave in the midterms of 2018 and thinking that this is more evidence that donald trump and steve bannon are hurting the republican party. not anything the democrats are doing, because i don't think democrats have a strong message or even strong candidates in many places. it's what's going on within the republican party and how republicans especially republican women feel about the party. >> bret: you acknowledge that this race was unique in the sense that it had to do a lot with these allegations? didn't have to do with the trump agenda. if you would put the trump agenda up in an election alabama it would be an overwhelming win.

>> if trump backed luther strange, luther strange should have won over roy moore. instead, steve bannon back roy moore and roy moore beat the trump candidate. then steve bannon is calling in the oval office and sank to the president you made a mistake. jared kushner misled you. you should be back in roy moore. he's a populist and you are a populist president. this is the guy who's going to discombobulated, shake up the establishment. and look what happened tonight. >> bret: it will be interesting to see the fallout here. we will toss it back to laura. laura, to your point on your ankle, i think that this is going to embolden democrats to use this issue, specifically against this president. you are already seeing it as you predicted last week. but it's only intensifying in recent days. >> laura: i would like to hear from the panel about this. it may be brit hume can weigh in on this. if they are able to take out a

senate candidate in alabama with these allegations as lurid as they were, what does this mean for the umpteen number of democrats who will inevitably come forward to urge the president to resigned. the constantly airings of the old allegations from october 2016 and putting this pressure all the way from 2018 midterm elections, the war on women. i think we see this all the way through 2018. >> we may, laura, but there's one thing that is clear here, and that is that whether you believe that the women are not, nothing new really has emerged about donald trump. what we are hearing is a re-airing of allegations that were made before the election. and the voters had a chance to judge them and judge them accordingly, and they decided whether you like it or not that he should be the president.

one thing that a new story requires like this is news. endless repetition of the same all charges i don't think really moves the ball very much and i'm not sure how long this latest spate of repeated accusations can last. i could be wrong about this, but my sense about this is that absent something new and something more recent, these are likely to die down. >> laura: chris wallace, we have the ongoing mueller investigation at the same time. the other cudgel to hit this president with as time goes on in the next year, it may wrap up soon, make a one another couple of years, we don't know. but that's the other boiling point here in washington, d.c. >> i want to go back to something that dana said, laura, and that is that the math, just in terms of the schedule. because 2018, all the people who won in 2012 when obama was reelected.

democrats have to defend 25 seats, republicans only have to defend ten seats. the republicans are going to be playing offense, democrats are going to be playing defense and i find it hard to think that somebody is going to lose in a state a republican candidate who's got no charges of sexual harassment against him or frankly anything to do with the russian collusion because of people's feelings about trump, that may be on the issues they might vote against him, but if you are running as a republican incumbent in some state -- in a red state this time, i find it hard to think that if you don't have -- we had a perfect storm in alabama. yes, there were allegations against donald trump, but there were also very serious new, fresh allegations against roy moore. if you don't have that kind of baggage and you certainly are going to have any baggage in terms of russian collusion, i just don't know how that carries

over into senate races. >> laura: dana, on the issue of substance that juan williams brought up, saying this is kind of a referendum on trump -ism. i would take issue with that as bret said. going forward with the immigration, trade deal, deregulatory efforts, judges, where does this leave the republican party when you have flay, murkowski, collins and mccain more obviously on many issues really on the opposite side of donald trump? >> i think in many ways the president is in pretty good shape on that. as bret has been saying all night, the tax reform bill is going to get voted on most likely before jones is ever set. i'm not convinced he wouldn't have voted for anyway. let's say they get tax from done. then the president is that he wants to move on and do border security, immigration and an infrastructure bill. democrats want to work on an infrastructure bill. there's nothing here that would change the past judges. i think i'm trade the president

can actually do a lot just administrative leave. so actually the president has i think a decent case to make that the end of his first year is accomplished a lot, people feel good about the economy and consumer confidence is high. stock market is high, unemployment is low. everything is sort of going his way economically, so i think that it's very hard to disrupt that right now. the democrats, they are going to have to defend all of those seats. as chris wallace was talking about, they might be able to pick up a couple of places. i think the thing to really think about is the candidate recruitment. in some of these places, talking about the house side for a second, you have up to 17, 18, 19 people running in some of these democratic primaries. that's going to pull a lot of those democrats way to the left, but we saw in the presidential election in 20 2016, that's not where the country's. i think alabama is definitely an outlier. do think voting patterns are interesting to maybe compare to governors race, but ultimately roy moore, allegations he could not overcome.

specific to him, he's the one who lost the race. >> laura: and remember that first interview he did with sean hannity? that has to offend one of of the worst interviews on radio. oh, my gosh, he's further incriminated himself. he said well, i always ask the mother's permission. i don't know what he called the them. >> generally i don't date teenagers. >> is not helping himself. >> laura: that began i think his downfall gradually. that interview was terrible for him. >> it was. but i thought he made a comeback from it. at certain points it looked like the people were putting it in the past, and in the context here is so important because you had the harvey weinstein stuff, it really accelerated and you had democrats and a lot of the hollywood elite getting involved, and it was easy to play into a narrative that since we in alabama -- don't believe the elitist "washington post" an establishment out the tell us what to do and look down on us,

but roy moore, it seems to me, never was able to stir the idea of a big turnout among the voters he needed to win tonight. there's going to be a lot of talk about this turn out issue. if you look at the numbers, it comes back about 25% of alabama voters, of the electorate turned out for this very high profile special election. guess what? about 20% of the states voters are african-americans, mostly in the southern tier. we were going to see an increased turnout there. this takes me back into the whole notion about what the democrats need tonight. do they have hope, or do they see this as just peculiar and based on roy moore and based on the charges against him, of sexual improprieties? and what i'm seeing right now is the people are saying look at virginia, look at what happened there. >> laura: is a totally different state. totally different state. >> it's a totally different state, but look, laura, look at where you saw increases in

turnout and we as a people stay home and people having to run on the immigration issue. >> laura: here's the problem, ed gillespie bush republican who laid in the game tried to move to trump's position. that wasn't believable from the outset. >> you in virginia, but he tried to play populist republican politics. it wasn't him. i think he is a bush republican, but he tried to be a trump republican. >> laura: but he was from new jersey. >> you are a tough customer. >> laura: without red alabama and basically blew virginia. it has changed demographically, immigration, the beltway is all big government, voters want bigger and bigger government. i think that comparison is a little wobbly. but great analysis from the panel. bret and martha, thank you so much. let's get to fox's doug mckelway in birmingham with the supporters of doug jones. peter is in my comer it with republican roy moore's campaign. doug, let's start with you.

tell us what you know there. >> this is as excited a crowd as i have seen in a long time where the projection was announced here. by the way, i should say that as you know, a totally overwhelmin overwhelmingly democratic crowd so both of the monitors are tuned to cnn. their production for doug jones came about 10 minutes after fox news' election. they were unaware of the fox news projection. what had happened on, a thunderous round, a boolean crowd, hugging each other, kissing each other, toasting each other. chugging beers and chugging champagne and it continues to this point. we don't know when doug jones is going to make an appearance her here. but at this time i am reminded of the words as well, mitch mcconnell, some weeks ago said that we pride the ultraconservative candidates of the past. made tension on the 2010 tea party chair in nevada and christine o'donnell in delaware,

who were not ready for prime time. they prove that and that man's will be the case here with judge moore as well. coming out on that horse today to go vote reminded me of the fact that alabama is not the perceived backwater that so many of the coastal elites say it is. this is a state which has been progressively moving forward. home to the marshall space flight center. four or five international automobile manufacturers have made their home in alabama. a lot of high-tech manufacturing going on here. people want to move forward and they didn't sense that in the judge moore campaign. they did sense it in the doug jones campaign. and he is every bit as much the law and order kind of a candidate as judge moore was, although with more bona fides as you might say. she was bone and raised in the state his father was a steelworker in birmingham. u.s. attorney, serve

senator supper and how. many other credentials , much more important about his appeal -- he tried ku klux klan men were responsible for deaths. they resulted in the deaths of four little african-american girls. this is, bottom-line, or really, really excited crowd. we don't know when doug jones going to come out, but i suspect that the applause round will be as thunderous as any way for tonight when he does. >> laura: let's go to peter doocy, who is in macomber, a much more somber crowd. peter, we are reminded, remember that roy moore ran twice for governor and lost. this is not mitch mcconnell's fault, he said. moore would have had a hard time winning the nomination in a full primary. we forget all those facts, but there you have it. >> but this is not over here at

the moore campaign election night headquarters. something extraordinary happened about 2 minutes before you guys came to me, and mc went up to the stage and said to a very somber crowd, i know that some of the networks have started to call the race for doug jones, but we are not ready to call it in the mc then left the stage. they are playing some poppy music right now trying to get the crowd going. you can see they've still got "the new york times" projection that shows some right counties in blue counties and that away for a little while because they switched over to the local news that still hadn't called it, but as soon as the race was called the local affiliate took a shot of jones headquarters where people work standing behind doug mckelway celebrating, cheering, drinking beer. that quickly was taken off of the screen. a much different scene here right now. there's a lot of confidence at the beginning of the night. their work calling at the mix and mingle time before roy moore got here.

a lot of folks have left, some who were standing are now sitting. still haven't seen roy moore on the stage, but he is on the premises, and we do expect at some point if they do concede, which all the networks say at some point is going to be the result, including fox, we expect to see a big finger pointed at mitch mcconnell. my understanding talking to folks here and talking to the folks who really, really were trying to help roy moore win. if you want was going to be next to president trump and all of his supporters. the rally in pensacola nearby, the calls that were out and even turned into a radio ad that we are driving from birmingham to montgomery today. but if moore lost, it would be squarely at mcconnell's fault, and so at some point, again no update on the timing, whether we will hear from moore soon or a surrogate soon, but we do expect a singular focus, at least based on what we were hearing before

the election was called. they are really mad at the establishment as they have been, especially mitch mcconnell. >> laura: peter, my same source in alabama says jones is a lame duck from day one. he has zero chance of winning in 2020. this state love strong. this is not an anti-trump result. we will see how that goes. >> what's interesting -- a chairman, cory gardner is already saying that he hopes doug jones will do the right thing and just start voting with the republicans in the senate. we have no indication that that would actually happen, but he's trying. >> laura: that's funny. peter, thanks so much. fox news -- the anti-trump texts by peter strzok that led to his ousting from the bob mueller special council team. two heavy hitters weigh in on that. we will talk to dershowitz and ken starr, stay with us.

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>> laura: okay, is it time for an investigation of the investigation? bob mueller's team is looking pretty tainted among these revelations about bruce ohr,

natalie ohr, fusion gps, the fbi, the doj. the trump outside counsel jay sekulow tells fox news a new separate prosecutor should be appointed to look into all of it. tonight, fox news has obtained the anti-trump texts. these are fun. by fbi agent peter strzok that led ultimately to his removal from bob mueller special council team. one of them, written on march 4th, in 2016, is between strzok and his gal pal back then, lisa page. strzok text, "would he be a worse president than ted cruz? "that is how liberals text each other, hilarious. page response, trump, yes, i think so. strzok says, i'm not sure, omg. he's an idiot. joining us now with reaction, our law school professor emeritus alan dershowitz. we just call you dersh, that's our production nickname. >> my students call me that. >> laura: we are just copping

this duty ends. the author of the new book, about how it endangers democracy. he draws her from san francisco. the man who investigated president bill clinton, former independent counsel and judge, ken starr. let's start with you, judge ken starr. we'll get into these texts in just a moment, but a quick reaction from both of you, from what we saw tonight in alabama, looks like a .1% victory but nonetheless, a victory for a democrat doug jones. judge starr, is this a rejection, a repudiation in any way of the trump agenda or is this generous to keep it in the legalistic terms? >> i love that. exactly, a one off. all politics are local, but that was especially a local election, just given the issues that popped up. it's a one-time election. i love the suggestion that the

senator elect, if he holds onto the victory, we heard that report, is already a lame duck. alabama is a heavily republican state, and judge moore was viewed as a severely flawed candidate and look at the turn out. turnout was suppressed. >> laura: let's go to professor dershowitz on this. professor, people were saying it was impossible for a democrat to win, allegations were raised against, of course, roy moore. he didn't really have a great reputation and the one major interview he did with sean hannity, then you had richard shelby come other respected republican mainstream senator come out yesterday, hitting moore, friends of mine in alabama said that to the lot to suppress voter turnout in the republican party for moore and a lot of people just stayed home. >> this was not a win for the democrats, it was a loss for judge moore. it was very, very personal. it was a referendum on harvey weinstein, on all the

allegations that are now swirling around so many people in the world, and moore could not survive the accusations that were leveled against him. this tells us nothing that would allow us to predict other elections and other states. it is a completely one-off, i completely agree with my friend, ken starr, on this one. >> laura: we are going to hear from doug jones in just a moment and we will have to go to that when he speaks. but let's go to you, judge starr, on the texts from peter strzok. do they change her mind about the special counsel's investigation? mueller steam? more tainted after reading these are less? >> of course. it's outrageous, and it really does go to bob mueller's judgment. you need to assemble a team when you are talking about investigating the president of the united states. it really is above reproach. these books have their first amendment rights, so let them say what they want to say. >> laura: i'm sorry to

interrupt you. we have to go right to doug jones in alabama and his victory speech. pardon the interruption. let's listen. >> i have been waiting all my life and now i just don't know what to say! [cheers and applause] let me -- if you will indulge me, just a moment -- [laughs] let's just get sworn in first before -- folks, i'm overwhelmed. i want to -- let me first make a couple of kind of brief comments. you know, i have said throughout this campaign that i thought that december 12th was going to be a historic day. [cheers and applause] but i got to tell you, and you know where i am headed, decembea

historic day for the jones' family! this is, as you know, my aunt louise's 25th wedding anniversary! i want to thank my partner. i could not have done this without her. the love come of the support, te encouragement. earlier in the evening, when she kicked me in the rear and when i was down, so this has been a wonderful night. i got to thank my family, i've got my wonderful sons, carson, christopher, my daughter, courtney, and my beautiful granddaughter. my son-in-law. all of these friends back here. u.s. attorney buddies. my mom, who made it here. my dad, who is here with us in

spirit, who's too ill. unfortunately, my sister, carrie kim and her husband, scott, hey, girls, thank you! thank you, she couldn't make it either. [cheers and applause] i am truly overwhelmed. i am truly, truly overwhelmed. but you know, folks, and you have all heard me say this at one point or another in this campaign. i have always believed that the people of alabama have more in common than divided. [cheers and applause] we have shown, not just around the state of alabama, but we have shown the country the way that we can be unified! [cheers and applause]

we have spent so many hours. i have got so many people that i can think but i will tell you just very quickly. there are three people that i want to acknowledge tonight, because of it wasn't for them, we would not be here. they are the folks that sat me down in early may and said, dogs, you can do this, and they showed me the way. and i want to make sure that everyone in this room, and we have an incredible staff. it started with a small group of folks, just, and wade, and tray. but the three people i need to acknowledge before i go any further. i have one of the greatest political going consultants the world in joe. i know you are a tired of seeing my ads but they were all his work and he showed me the way. doug turner, we have been friends for so long, showed me the numbers.

and then, the one that i call the yoda of the campaign, giles perkins! [cheers and applause] giles has had his own issues to deal with -- >> shannon: this is a fox news alert. we want to take you back live to alabama where democrat doug jones is celebrating his victory, having been just elected to the u.s. senate. let's listen in. all right, we are going to work on that audio. just take with us a minute. he pulled off a race that just weeks ago, many would've thought impossible. that was before allegations against roy moore dating back decades in some cases surfaced and voters we saw today were really conflicted over whether or not they believed those