cagey. the art of distraction, clearly. the only problem is there was a camera up there. >> there you go. >> i don't know if the faces made it on there. might make it difficult. what a tuesday. thanks, bill. "happening now" starts right now. >> jon: a fox news alert on this tuesday and the director of the c.i.a. mike pompeo set to discuss the most pressing national security challenges facing the united states. a live look there at the american enterprise institute in washington as we await the c.i.a. director's remarks. expected to touch on north korea's nuclear program, the rise of china and russia and ongoing threats from terror groups like isis and al qaeda. we'll keep you updated on this very important story. we begin today with uncle sam turning the lights back on all across the country as president trump signs a bill reopening

the government after a three-day shutdown. good morning to you. i'm jon scott. >> melissa: i'm melissa francis. the president praising a big win for republicans after congress voted for a stopgap funding bill but it is a different picture on the other side of the aisle with democrats blasting chuck schumer for agreeing to the deal. white house press secretary sarah sanders saying that democrats had no choice but to compromise. >> democrats realized that the position that they had taken frankly was indefensible and that they had to focus on first funding our military, protecting border patrol agents, funding vulnerable children through the chip program. these were things that they didn't disagree with. >> melissa: this could be only a cease-fire in the shutdown battle with a new fight looming over immigration reform. john roberts is live on the north lawn.

>> good morning, melissa. start with a headline here and it is a headline because we just learned about it. not that it just happened. fox news has confirmed that within the last week or so the attorney general, jeff sessions, was interviewed for several hours by the special counsel's office of robert mueller. they were talking about the russia investigation, the idea possible of obstruction of justice in the comey investigation, not to say they believe there was. just checking to see if there might possibly be. he is the highest ranking member of the trump administration to be interviewed by the special counsel's office. last hour mercedes schlapp, the white house director of strategic communications weighed in on it. listen here. >> sessions is continuing his work. the president has confidence in attorney general sessions and the work he is doing. as we've said we have cooperated fully in this investigation. >> the president will be spending much of today preparing for his trip to davos switzerland. he leaves tomorrow sometime.

he has a number of bilateral meetings including theresa may, benjamin netanyahu and speak with the leader of one african nation and one other person as well. looks like four bilateral meetings and a big speech to the world economic forum on friday. the president had daca on his mind this morning tweeting nobody knows for sure the republicans and democrats will be able to reach a deal on daca by february 8th but everyone will be trying with a big additional focus put on military strength and border security the dems have just learned a shutdown is not the answer. the president's legislative affairs director marc short will be heading to capitol hill about midday today to resume negotiations on daca pushing back on claims this morning by chuck schumer that negotiating with the president is like negotiating with jello. here is short earlier. >> the president i think has been crystal clear what we want on immigration. we laid out specifically what our priorities and principles

were and we refined that list to be more careful and specific on exactly the four pillars we're asking for, fix daca, handle border security, end chain migration and end the visa lottery program. >> before the house and senate voted yesterday on the congress gretional resolution the president was holding meetings on daca with john corrin, cotton, lankford and grassley and senator tillis of north carolina and a separate meeting with joe manchin, a senator from west virginia and doug jones from alabama. the first time the president has met with senator jones. they are taken to be moderates on the democratic side. people the president believes he can work with. the white house says there has been progress in negotiations over daca. there has been a realization on the part of the democrats that they need to provide more money for construction of the wall and that at the same time the white house is willing to give a little bit on the number of

actual daca recipients there might be out there. melissa, the current number that folks are working with is 690,000. the democrats contend there could be as many as two million because a lot of daca -- potential daca recipients haven't come out of the shadows. the white house indicating that two million number may be a little on the high side but willing to go up from the number of 690,000. >> melissa: the truth is nobody really knows and we won't know until we do something about it. it is interesting to try to guess. john roberts, thank you. >> jon: a "wall street journal" column on the shutdown caught our eye this morning. it reads in part most americans want their government to stay open and want legal status for the dreamers. but are getting neither at a time when a compromise to have both was and is available. joining us now the writer and executive washington editor of the "wall street journal." you point out the in-- most people

want the government open and 75% of americans according to the polls want some kind of legal status for the dreamers and those two things clashed and we ended up with a shutdown government over the weekend. why? >> look, i think this was a cash cash case in which the base of each party had more influence than the people in the center until the weekend when you had that bipartisan group of 22 senators in the senate who asserted themselves and said essentially let's do the deal that's available now. let's fund the government, let's give ourselves three weeks to solve the dreamers' problem to come up with a bipartisan solution and meantime we'll get the rest of the government back open. that's ultimately what happened. that deal was probably there to be done last week and it's there to be done this week and that's what is puzzling about this. i do think now the key question is whether people can come to a solution for the dreamers and whether people in congress can figure out particularly in the

senate in the first instance what is president trump's bottom line. will he accept a deal on the dreamers and give republicans cover for giving them legal status? >> jon: if you touch a hot stove you get burned. who got burned and more is more likely to bend a little bit in this circumstance on the dreamers' question? >> that's the classic washington question. the consensus at the moments is democrats got burned and they will pay the price. i think we've also learned having gone through these things over the years that the way that looks now may be different by november when election rolls around. there were times which republicans thought they had gotten burned in a shutdown scenario and did fine in the next election. my guess is the answer to your question really doesn't turn on what has happened so far but what happens over the next few weeks. is this resolved? do democrats get out of this process a deal on the dreamers that they can take to their base and say we succeeded here and do republicans -- are republicans allowed to say we got in return for that the kind of things on other border

issues, on the wall, on chain migration, and the visa lottery system that the president demanded? it may be both parties walk away from this saying we got what we really needed out of this deal. >> jon: there was that offer of compromise, the lindsey game dick durbin legislature lace would have had immigration status for daca and -- >> the democrats' complain comes in. durbin felt they had a deal along those lines. the democratic senator from illinois and a top democratic leader in the senate. we went to the white house and couldn't figure out why the president wouldn't accept it. we didn't know what his bottom line was. the white house says look, we've been consistent all along. our position was separate these two things. keep the government funded we'll work out the details and we at the white house prevailed on that question. so that's where the disconnect

came, i think. but i think what's frustrating to most people, most average americans, i think, and a lot of people in congress as well, is that the deal to prevent that was there for the taking. it just wasn't seized. >> the tail is wagging the dog in both parties you're saying. >> to some extent that's right. in the short term most people think the white house got the better of this particular episode and the white house is very happy right now with the way it has turned out. they think they had a message that said we'll get this resolved. let's separate the two things and push ahead. that's where we are right now. as i said the real bottom line is going to be determined in about three weeks because everybody is forgetting we haven't solved this problem. only pushed it down the road for three weeks. the next couple of weeks are really crucial. >> jon: executive editor of the "wall street journal" in washington, d.c. >> melissa: talks taking place next week between the u.s. and three european countries on

iran. rex tillerson to outline the flaws in the iran deal and try to get europe to help restrict missile testing and development in iran as well as an increase in inspections. president trump, as you know, not a fan of the 2015 iran deal and has said he wants to get out of the agreement unless changes are made. >> jon: chapter one of the shutdown battle is over. chapter two is coming now with a looming battle over immigration reform. a republican senator joins us live next.

>> jon: fox news alert and fascinating turn of events in washington where fox news has confirmed the attorney general, jeff sessions, the top law enforcement officer of the united states, sat down for an interview with bob mueller's team investigating russian interference in u.s. elections

and anything else that might be related to that. the attorney general recused himself from participation in anything involving the russia investigation, which is how the mueller investigation sprang to life in the first place because attorney general sessions decided to sit this one out. we know that he was there, the attorney general, with his attorney. we don't know what he said. that may come to light in the coming weeks and months but it is a fascinating time to watch politics in washington we'll continue to stay on top of it for you. >> melissa: fox news alert. the government shutdown may be over, but a new battle is just beginning on capitol hill as lawmakers have less than three weeks to come up with a comprehensive immigration deal including a fix for the dreamers. senate leaders from both sides making their opening arguments. >> if an agreement isn't reached by february 8th, the senate will immediately proceed to consideration of legislation

dealing with daca. the process will be neutral and fair to all sides. >> let me be clear, this immigration debate will have a level playing field at the outset, and an amendment process that is fair to all sides. >> melissa: let's bring in republican senator bill cassidy of louisiana, a member of the finance committee. thank you for joining us. do you believe those words that you heard? that is quite a difference from what we've seen from washington lately. it would be nice to think that everybody is on a level playing field to have an adult conversation about this. unfortunately we haven't seen a lot of that lately. >> there has been a lot of conversation. i agree with your point. that said there has been a lot of conversation regarding immigration and i take the leader at his word. there will be an open amendment process. everybody can throw up the amendments they wish to propose. a full vetting, full debate and hopefully we come up with a

product that increases border security and addresses the other concerns. >> melissa: you do not doubt, i don't think from where we sit, that everybody wants a solution on this. it has been a problem for a long time both border security and what to do about immigration in this country, how to make legal immigration more straight forward and what to do about illegal immigration. do you think there is enough give and take? both sides have things that they want and both sides have things they can't possibly abide by. >> it is not comprehensive. it is not comprehensive. there are four pillars focused on and bipartisan agreement on that. the president, who has said he really wants border security, he is willing to deal with daca. so the president, i think, is the one who makes or breaks this. and i think he has the ability to make it. so the left is going to say oh my gosh he is going back on his word. give him border security and he is willing to deal but he won't take a half measure on border

security. >> melissa: you talk about the four pillars. forgive us for that mistake. we've seen others bring in other things and insist on them. most recently with the continuing resolution where democrats insisted on attaching daca which had nothing to do with the conversation at hand. do you think you'll be able to limit it to those four pillars. >> the only way you get it through is limiting it to that. it spills out into something with neither right or left can tolerate. if you focus on the four pillars there is a deal to be had. >> melissa: the other concern is february 8th is right around the corner. how far apart do you feel like you are? do you think it's enough time? >> whether or not it's enough time we don't know. keep in mind daca doesn't work out -- doesn't end until march 5. so the february 8th is the time when we would begin debate on a bill but the bill would not have to be completed, if you will, until march 5th. and i'm sure it could be extended a little beyond that.

so yes, that date is out there but we have a little more room than that would suggest. >> melissa: can you give us a sense, you talked about talks already going on. can you give us a sense of what those conversations are like both in tone and content at all? >> it is mutually -- i'm speaking of the republican side but i have spoken to democrats, too. it is respectful. it is an understanding that if we go beyond the parameters of the four pillars we'll lose everything. i notice that democrats are speaking about border security once more. if you will, going back to where they were a few years ago. they are coming back to it. understanding that it is a quid pro quo. we have to have border security. if we have that, then we can address the issue of daca. >> melissa: the hang-up has been that democrats have said they agree with the idea of border security. the president said a wall system. instead of a wall from end-to-end we cleared up what

it actually means. both sides on that are close together. it's about allocating funds. democrats generally like to spend money, it would be surprising if they don't want to allocate funds. >> you have to be careful if we'll give you $2 billion now and $23 billion in future years. the chrcek is in the mail, i don't believe that. my office is looking at a lot of supposedly $120 billion in ill-gotten gain that go from the drug trade south of the border. is there a way to capture a portion of that using a percentage of that to fund the wall? it wouldn't be the mexican government funding the wall, it would be the mexican cartels. it's a viable solution and we're looking into the practicality of it. >> melissa: thank you for spending time with us today. >> thank you. >> jon: a volcano erupting in the philippines, heavy lava and ash forcing thousands to

evacuate. senate democrats facing criticism for their negotiations to end the government shutdown. >> we are always confused what the strategy was to say we'll shut down the government, take all the american troops paychecks hostage and customs and border patrol paychecks hostage. we've been preparing for this day. over the years, paul and i have met regularly with our ameriprise advisor. we plan for everything from retirement to college savings.

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>> melissa: the philippines on high alert. volcanic eruptions that began monday were followed by several blasts today shooting ash into the sky and spewing lava. several villagers were forced from their homes. officials setting the danger zone at a five-mile radius from the crater.

it could soon expand. >> jon: fox news alert. we have learned that the attorney general of the united states, jeff sessions, sat down for an interview with robert mueller, the man investigating russian interference in the u.s. elections last time around. and anything related to that. an investigation that has touched former members of the president's inner circle. joining us now principle white house secretary raj shaw. it is the big news of the morning. how does the white house characterize that meeting between the attorney general and the mueller team? >> thanks for having me on. in general, we don't comment on witnesses or other matters concerning the special counsel. we've been supportive and cooperative of this process and we believe it will end soon and finally we've known all along, which is there was no collusion during the 2016 campaign and no

findings of wrongdoing and we expect it to wrap up soon. >> jon: can you tell us any details? was this an interview with mr. mueller personally, was it his investigators, how long did it last? >> i'm not aware of the details concerning it. we've been cooperative as the white house and administration and we believe the special counsel will find what we already know. >> jon: and you believe that this investigation is going to be over quickly? >> the white house's view is that it will be wrapping up in short order. we want it to be done thoroughly and above board but we have confident the special counsel will find what we've known all along. no collusion and no findings of wrongdoing. >> jon: let's turn our attention to the other big issue of the day, the government is back open once again. the lawmakers in washington managed to pass a short-term spending bill that ends the government shutdown. critics are slamming democrats mainly chuck schumer when it came to negotiating, raj shaw,

our current guest, saying the democrats blinked. >> i think the fact that they are voting in favor of the proposal they rejected a few days ago is evidence they blinked. >> jon: let's get back to our interview with raj shaw deputy white house press secretary. that characterization that democrats blinked you stand by that. >> absolutely. look, chuck schumer and the other democrats were offered a solid bill on friday. it was to keep the government open for about four weeks to pay our military, to pay our first responders, and also to extend children's health insurance. they rejected that deal on friday and got put into an untenable position of saying they wanted unrelated legislation about immigration reform to be a part of any effort to keep the government open. you can't take the interests of 600,000 illegal immigrants over the interests of hundreds of millions of law-abiding american citizens who need

national security, who need basic government services. they are in an untenable position and voted to reopen the government just a few days later. >> jon: need a quick answer from you. a lot of people are scratching their heads this morning wondering what was accomplished by the shutdown? what's your answer? >> i'm as confused and scratching my head as much as anybody else about what chuck schumer was thinking. you would have to ask him. we've heard a lot about how the president may have not been as vocal or forward leaning in some of these measures but he got the job done in three days without holding any press conferences. schumer had three and got nothing for it. we believe it was handled the right way. schumer put him and his democratic colleagues in an untenable and irresponsible position and happy they came to their senses and did the right thing. we're sad it took three days of a shutdown to do that. >> jon: you don't think it will be back here february 8th going

through the same drill again? >> we want to move forward and we're welcoming a debate about immigration reform. that's what the democrats want and the white house and republicans want. we want a bill that deals with the daca population and also deals with the issues we talked about. ending the visa lottery, reforming the extended family chain migration system and border security with a southern border wall. if we can get those things in a package. forget february 8th. we'd love to get it tomorrow. we would have a deal. we want to move forward on that. we think shutting down the government for hundreds of millions of americans while we're working on immigration legislation is not appropriate. >> jon: raj shaw is white house deputy press secretary. >> melissa: stunning revelations of tens of thousands of missing text messages between two f.b.i. officials under fire for anti-trump bias. how will this affect the russia investigation?

>> jon: a big magnitude 7.9 earthquake off alaska's kodiak island this morning. officials asking residents to go to higher ground. tsunami warnings issued earlier but they have now been canceled. we're live in los angeles with the latest.

>> jon, this is what people heard. get in your car and get to higher ground. that was the warning issued early this morning to residents in parts of alaska and canada. 7.9 magnitude earthquake rumbled to life 300 miles south of anchorage prompting the tsunami warning center to issue a warning for alaska and canada and watch for washington, oregon, california and hawaii. residents in several alaska towns woke up to a cell phone alert and siren and a loudspeaker urging them to evacuate either drive inland or find the highest point they could. in san francisco officials told people to be prepared to evacuate. the warning was canceled. it hit in an area called the ring of fire where the pacific

and north american plates collide. in 2011 a quake in the area caused a small tsunami that rocked boats and caused damage in santa cruz. this quake lasted one minute and only caused minor damage compared to the 9.2 quake of 1964 which leveled anchorage and caused waves and created this warning system that they used today. >> jon: good news, no tsunami. thanks very much william, out of los angeles. >> melissa: a fox news alert on the russia investigation special counsel robert mueller's team interviewing attorney general jeff sessions last week. this as the house intelligence committee is now severing communications with the justice department and the f.b.i. because republican leaders believe both agencies are not cooperating in their request for documents in several investigations. meanwhile, tens of thousands of text messages between f.b.i.

officials under fire for anti-trump bias are now missing. reaction from trey gowdy. >> what's also troubling to me is this text that johnny radcliffe found last night about this secret society. now, i have no clue what that means because that was not the phraseology i would use. it's the day after the election. it's the same two people that were discussing a little later in the text the damage they had done with the clinton investigation and how they could, quote, fix it and make it right. that is a level of bias that is stunning among law enforcement officers. >> melissa: a former media consultant to four republican presidential campaigns. and a former chief counsel to the house judiciary committee and staff director of the government reform committee. patrick, let me ask you, in one of these texts trey gowdy went

on to say they said perhaps this is the first meeting of the secret society. these two f.b.i. agents. that is really disturbing coming from two f.b.i. agents the day after an election that they clearly didn't agree with. this is upsetting stuff for the american people. what do you think? >> i think, melissa, the more we talk about some of this language, secret societies and this idea of, you know, insurance policy. the f.b.i. are sounding more like the mob than the f.b.i. here. this is like something out of a dan brown novel. the purpose of this investigation was to preserve the credibility of robert mueller. democrats and republicans both agree when mr. mueller got this job that the one thing he brought to the table, his stock and trade, was his credibility. unfortunately, these institutions around him, some of his investigators have muddied that a bit and the opening that president trump

needs, i think, to throw a little fuel on this fire and basically indicate this is not a legitimate investigation. forget the legality of this. this is about optics and politics and it's not good right now. >> melissa: the facts of this case so far look really bad. more than 50,000 texts where first of all i don't know if i've ever sent my husband 50,000 texts in my life. that's a lot. and the five months between december and may those are mysteriously gone missing after the election when this group may have been doing, you know, what is the scariest of their work after election they didn't agree with. now those texts are all suddenly gone and can't be retrieved? it looks terrible. >> it does look bad and there should be a complete investigation and the inspector general is investigating it and let the chips fall where they may. to hear republicans come on television and compare the f.b.i. to the mafia, that has

been led the two recent directors have been life long republican appointees is shocking and i think while this is bad, certainly you want to know of any bias that's going on at any level of the f.b.i. mueller removed the two individuals involved from the investigation. i think that will help mueller and the credibility in the investigation. remember, there have been multiple attempts now to kind of impugn the credibility of this investigation. but we have four indictments, two guilty pleas. multiple efforts by the trump campaign to meet with russian surrogates. multiple instances in which trump associates lied about those meetings during the campaign and during the transition. and there have been all of these efforts to discredit what even republicans on capitol hill are saying is a very important legitimate investigation. i just don't think given that mueller removed these individuals it will work. >> melissa: we've revealed all this other stuff and patrick it is not even two agents anymore who were biased. these are people who appear to

be weaponizing law enforcement on a federal level to attack a political opponent. >> look, everybody has the right to their own political opinion. the question is if you can leave that at the door during an investigation like this, you should have the right in america to have your own political thoughts and feelings. the problem here is that's not the case. and the investigation has been impaound by the investigators. this is not a question of mocking the f.b.i. this is a question of looking at what has happened and realizing they have put themselves in a very, very difficult place to effectively and with credibility prosecute this case. the bottom line here is the mueller investigation was designed to find out who higher up the chain might have known about this russian collusion. the person that has been in the white spotlight of this has been the president. this has been a terrible distraction. bottom line is they've lost their ability to effectively prosecute this case. >> you did mock the f.b.i.

you compared them to the mafia, a shocking thing for a republican to say that. >> melissa: what we're hearing is a shocking thing, gillian. one at a time, gentlemen. hang on. >> you are a big guy. >> melissa: go ahead, gillian. >> the republicans on capitol hill are the ones saying it's a legitimate investigation. we heard the steele dossier that would discredit the investigation and then the rubio campaign started the steele investigation. they wanted steele to be prosecuted and referred him for prosecution and democrats released his testimony before the senate and then all that went away. then there was an effort to discredit mccabe and then the trump-appointed f.b.i. head told the white house to back off on that. so you keep seeing all of these efforts to discredit the investigation. >> melissa: you think it's a --

you think there is no there there. >> the fact there was bias by two investigators was a bad thing but mueller removed these two investigators and nobody has gone after in a serious way to impugn the credibility of this investigation which is getting worse. this is a criminal investigation into the obstruction of justice by the president. >> that's a good try but the bottom line even if you believe this investigation might have some credibility you want it to be done correctly and fairly. this investigation has been compromised. at the end of the day you guys won't get what you want out of this. too bad about that but i'm sorry. >> what we want is the truth. what should mueller have done? >> melissa: save it for next time. >> jon: congress passes a spending bill to keep the government open but a new deadline is coming fast and the battle over immigration is heating up.

are the democrats winning this debate or did they overplay their hand? we'll discuss it with larry sabato. the suspect who drove a truck into pedestrians on a new york bike path on halloween appears before a judge in manhattan today. >> a tragedy of the greatest magnitude. >> this was an act of terror. whoooo. when it comes to travel, i sweat the details. late checkout... ...down-alternative pillows...

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get the recipes at walnuts.org. >> melissa: new information on the deadly terror attack along a bike path in new york city last halloween. the man accused of killing eight pedestrians by driving a rented truck onto the bike path is appearing before a judge today. lawyers say that the defendant is willing to plead guilty to the attack if the justice department takes the death penalty off the table.

>> jon: the government shutdown is over with president trump signing a spending bill last night but it just sets a new countdown clock in motion. here is arkansas senator tom cotton. >> i think what we learned is that the american people don't want to have the government shut down for illegal immigration. we're now on the back side of this shutdown, thankfully. what we've seen is that the democrats' obsession over amnesty for illegal immigrants is not popular and i think that strengthened our hand going into the immigration negotiations to have a responsible -- responsible bill for the daca population while also controlling for the side effects. building the wall, securing our border and ending chain migration. the defendants badly overplayed their hand here. >> jon: dr. larry sabato. it's a judgment call i'm asking you for. what about what senator cotton

had to say there. did democrats overplay their hand? >> in one answer yes and most of them agree with it. for the life of mef i can't see why they went into this. they had no real strategy. for once they got into a government shutdown and i suppose to their credit they recognized it quickly, the shutdown lasted only one real working day before they caved. now, they claim to have gotten a deal. we'll see how that works out in three weeks. you and i are trained to be cynical with good reason given our jobs, but i actually think something might be worked out. at least in the senate given senator mcconnell's very public pledge. i've always found that he does fulfill his pledges if he makes them in that kind of very overt way. >> jon: there are a number of the more liberal democrats who, by the way, happen to be talked about as presidential contenders in 2020, people like

pamela harris, cory booker, elizabeth warren, they are all very unhappy -- they voted against reopening the government. why? >> they have the best of both worlds. they knew very well it would pass. it got over 80 votes in the senate. you can't get a mother's day resolution to get 80 votes in the senate anymore. but they were sending a message to the democratic base that votes in primaries hey, i might run for president and notice, i'm with you. because the democratic base was furious at chuck schumer and the other democrats for, quote, caving. look at what they said on twitter. it was pretty hot. >> jon: didn't schumer respond to the democratic base in dialing up this shutdown in the first place? >> well, he did. he was responding to the base. i think democrats thought they could get republicans to cave.

why? because overwhelmingly the american public does support the dreamers. you noted that earlier in your show. second, they figured that president trump and the republicans would not want this shutdown to occur on the first year anniversary of president trump's presidency. well, guess what? they didn't care. it was a miscalculation on the democrats' part from the word go. >> jon: the idea that voters are going to punish -- i don't know, one party or the other come november, the democrats had to be worried, i guess, that they were getting the black eye in this because that's why they relented so quickly. >> if it went on and on -- it could have. we have had shutdowns last for a month. and they are a disaster. generally the party not in the white house ends up paying. i don't know if that would have been true here. so far the public opinion was split and even was more

critical of republicans but who knows how that would have changed? the republicans were in a better position to carry forward their point of view than were the democrats who were the minority in both houses and don't have the white house. >> jon: interesting times. larry sabato, university of virginia, thank you. >> thank you, jon. >> melissa: eight thunderbolt jets heading to afghanistan where the u.s. military is deploying them now and neil diamond stepping away from the spotlight. the diagnosis that led to him canceling his tour next. ♪ ♪

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>> six minutes from now. mueller has conducted his first known interview with a member of president trump's cabinet jeff sessions. investigators grilling him for hours. the white house says it believes the investigation is beginning to wrap up. >> the a.g. is vowing to leave no stone unturned to find out what happened five months worth of missing texts between the f.b.i. officials who exchanged anti-trump text messages. will this investigation need a special counsel? >> we'll break the news on who is "outnumbered" >> melissa: the air force sending jets to afghanistan to help fight the taliban. what sparked this decision, lucas? >> the pentagon wants to copy the success it had against isis

in iraq and syria by deploying the jets to afghanistan and move more u.s. troops closer to the front lines to call in air strikes. now the taliban receives a lion's share of revenue from narcotics but jets are bombing processing plants. these 12 jets were originally headed to turkey. but military brass decided that jets and more drones were needed in southern afghanistan to ramp up the fight against the taliban. more air force special ops helicopters have also been deployed for search and rescue comes as roughly 1,000 more u.s. troops were deployed this spring to shore up afghan forces decimated in recent years. u.s. military dropped more bombs in afghanistan last year than in 2012 when it had roughly 100,000 troops on the ground. the state department said multiple americans were killed and others wounded in last week's rampage at a popular hotel in kabul.

last month the vice president said the u.s. military would not be leaving any time soon. >> clearly after six years of a precipitous withdrawal from afghanistan our enemies were just planning to wait us out. we're here to stay. we're here to stay until they are defeated and freedom wins. >> it has a gatlin gun liked by troops despite its old age. >> jon: five months of crucial text messages missing, they passed between these two f.b.i. officials that could be used about bias. how general jeff sessions is reacting. my dentist said something interesting...my teeth are like

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has parkinson's disease and makes it hard for him to travel and perform but he does plan to continue composing and recording. we wish him well. >> absolutely. i think it so much for joining us. >> "outnumbered" starts right now. >> sandra: fox news alert, new investment, conforming to fox news, special counsel robert mueller's team questioned attorney general jeff sessions for several hours last week. this is "outnumbered." i'm sandra smith in here today, harris faulkner. the editor of townhall.com, katie pavlich. former deputy spokesperson marie harf and joining us on the couch today, to senator mitch mcconnell, josh holmes is here and he is outnumbered. a name your former boss, one has been a lot lately. >> harris: had a good week. we have a lot to get to so good to have