shot. thank you very much. >> sandra: there it is. lovely day in washington. >> bill: prime minister now inside with the president. we will get immediate reaction. >> sandra: trade night be part of their conversation. >> bill: you are the 0%. >> sandra: feeling better. thank you for joining us, everybody. "happening now" starts right now. ♪ >> jon: we start with a fox news alert. president trump welcoming irish prime minister to the white house today. the president and the prime minister are scheduled to meet right now to discuss several topics, trade likely to be at the top of the agenda. after this meeting both mr. trump and the irish diplomat will participate in whain -- and the overhaul of the trump team is not complete yet with more changes apparently on the way. good thursday morning to you

so i'm jon scott. >> i'm melissa francis. the door is spinning as chief economic advisor a day after mike pompeo was tapped to replace ousted secretary of state rex tillerson and the turnover at the top could continue. chief white house correspondent john roberts is live with the story. john? >> jon: melissa, good morning to you. get to that in a second. breaking news in the last half hour. the treasury department is implementing sanctions against 1 individuals in russia. this is the same group of individuals that were indicted through the mueller investigation attorney general rod rosenstein a couple weeks back. in addition, five companies in russia that were supporting hacking activities in the 2016 election, the influence campaign had been targeted for sanctions as well as six individuals who were operating according to the treasury department on behalf of the russian

government. this, despite the fact that on saturday ntsb aired an interview with vladimir putin in which he said that the russian government was not involved and questioned whether the 13 people charged by the mueller investigation were russian at all. now to the staff changes, you mentioned at the top the president has picked new chief economic advisor larry kudlow chief economist and cnbc commentator will be coming here to the white house to drive economic policy with the president. the two have known each other for a long time. they see eye to eye on a lot of topics. some issues on which they differ. the president though looking forward to the partnership saying in a tweet this morning larry kudlow will be my chief economic advisor as director of the national economic council. our country will have many great years of economic and financial success with low taxes unparalleled innovation, fair trade and everexpanding labor force leading the way. in announcing yesterday he was taking the job, kudlow played down the notion of

nikkei as in the white house over all the staff changes. listen here. >> he is completely in command. and as he always does, not only does he explain stuff he is thinking, but he asks questions. this is an old thing between us. and he asks good questions. so if i try to give him the kudlow thing. [laughter] he is going to come back and is he a smart man. so i -- look, i haven't been in the white house as a staff, you know, so i can't tell you what all goes on there, but i didn't hear any of that. >> sources tell fox news that more changes may lie ahead. put them on the screen so you can follow along. david shulkin the secretary of the veterans affairs administration has fallen into disfavor recently with the president. inspector general's report, there was a problem with having taxpayers to have his wife travel with him to europe. though he did reimburse the government. rick perry was talked about as a potential replacement for shulkin moving from

energy to v.a. i'm told that neither the president nor perry have been talking about him moving over there. ray washburn was a choice to go to the energy department if perry left. that may not be happening now. but, a name that is beginning to rise again here at the white house is that of "fox & friends" host pete hegseth, we don't have a picture of apparently. he was considered to be a candidate for v.a. secretary back during the transition. he chose -- the president chose shulkin over hegseth. hegseth again now under consideration. and actually, when the president was having an oval office meeting with david shulkin he got hegseth on the phone to run a couple of ideas by him. the other pictures you put up on the screen earlier put those back um. h.r. mac master the national security advisor. been a long rumors for a long time about him leaving. i'm told that may be closer rather than farther away. john bolton the former u.s. ambassador to the united nations george bush administration a topic to

replace mcmaster. there was kind of a couple of jobs that bolton would have liked to have had in the white house. one was secretary of state. pompeo has got that national security advisor. good fall back position. the white house though this morning is playing down any notion of more changes being imnegligent. listen to what the deputy -- the principle deputy press secretary raj shaw said about that this morning. >> frankly, you know, here at the white house we get a little annoyed with all the rumor, all the innuendo, all the nonsense that's put out there. when the president has a decision to make, he will make that clear to everyone, but, right now all the particle lore games there is quietly frankly too much interest who has a job in the west wing and the administration. not enough focus who has a job out there in the country among the american people. >> so there. while policy is very important to cover, the people who are making the policy are important to know about as well.

so, when you talk about melissa, changing your cabinet around it's important for the public to know how are thinking about replacing those folks with. >> melissa: john, along those lines, larry kudlow people in the media too ignorant or lazy to talk it up have talked about him as a tv host. i mean he was an economist with the new york federal reserve. he was chief communist at bear stearns. he was at the omb. he was in the reagan administration. he was a serious economist long before he was ever on television. that should be noted. that's my two cents. >> he has a rich background in economics there no question about that. >> melissa: john roberts, thank you. >> thanks. >> jon: so the white house is trying to move the focus off staff changes. >> i don't have any personnel announcements. i have to say i'm just fascinated with all the stories about palace intrigue and personnel and a lack of stories about policy. it really is amazing. thank god the president himself goes out across the country like he did for two solid days this week and takes his message directly

to the people. >> jon: joining us now white house correspondent for the daily caller. i should mention, sawinger, it's likely our chat is going to be interrupted by the president and irish prime minister. the prime minister meeting with the president today. so, change is very much in the air at the white house these days, sager. >> that's absolutely right. we are hearing there could be imnegligent departure of energy secretary mac master. mcmaster is exploring excellent opportunities there. there is an idea that the president could simply give him a fourth star and a commission outside in the other branches of the u.s. army. however, you know turn over at the v.a. -- ♪ >> jon: and we interrupt for this video moment. the president with the irish prime minister leo.

>> i have property there. >> you play golf. >> and you play golf, right? >> i don't. but i'm always willing to learn. play a few rounds. >> that's an interesting border, also. we have two interesting borders. one happens to be where you are, right? it's going to be interesting to see what happens. it's my great honor to have the very popular prime minister of ireland with us and we we are having some good talks about trade and about military and about cyber and all of the other things that we are talking about. the relationship is outstanding. and only getting better. and it really is a very special group of people. a tremendous number of irish are living in new york where i grew up and they are living in the united states. and these are truly wonderful people. we love them. and, mr. prime minister, great to have you. thank you. >> my pleasure, thanks for the invitation to be here.

>> inaudible question. >> i'm going to be in new york on saturday marching on fifth avenue. >> that's good. i would like to do it with you. >> it has trump tower. >> it does go right by trump tower. i used to watch it all the time. so you will be there on saturday. >> yeah. a lot of my -- american side of my family came to new york. they are all in new jersey and florida now. >> this is the first time in the oval office. that's special. >> i was telling president trump i was here before congressional intern in 2000. they did not let me in the oval office. >> now we do. have you made great progress. thank you for being with us. >> looking forward. >> any comment on the russian sanctions, mr. president? >> putin was behind this, mr. president? >> it looks like it. i spoke with the prime minister. and we are inn. deep

discussions, very sad situation. it certainly looks like the russians were behind it. something that should never ever happen and we're taking it seriously as i, i think, many others. >> any more staff changes coming, sir? >> the story was very false. they wrote a story about staff changes today that was very false. we made a wonderful change. i think mike pompeo is going to be an incredible secretary of state. we have some wonderful ideas. i have gotten to know a lot of people over the last year. i have been to washington for a little bit more than a year where some people have been here for 30, 40 years. i have gotten to know great people. there will always be change very little that was a very false story. it was very exaggerated and false story. but, there will always be change and i think you want to see change. and i want to also see different ideas. larry kudlow just came in a little while ago. and i think larry is going to be outstanding as economic advisor. so we look forward to it.

but we will talk to you about it later. thank you very much, everybody. thank you. >> thank you, mr. president. >> thank you, everybody. >> thank you very much. >> thanks, everyone. >> that could happen, yeah. if that helps. >> thanks, everyone. >> i look forward to being there. great country. i guess i have. >> thank you. thanks, everyone. >> i would go to the border. >> thanks, guys. >> thank you all very much. >> come on, guys. thank you all. thank you all. >> say hello to the people. >> thank you all. >> great people. >> jon: you can hear the voice of the press aide saying thank you, thank you very much. trying to usher the very persistent press corps out of the oval office where the president is meeting with the prime minister of ireland leo varadkar.

they are going to be spending the today today. lunch on capitol hill thrown by the irish speaker of the house paul ryan. he will be throwing a saint patrick's day lunch and the president will participate in that. also other events with the prime minister. we will have those throughout the day. saager, enjeti. you asked ask about the new russian sanctions. the president chose not to address that. but a pretty hard line against russia taken by the white house this morning. >> yeah. that's absolutely right, jon. we have seen 19 different russians sanctioned by this administration along with multiple entities of the russian government. you know, we heard from a lot of officials throughout the u.s. government here at the white house just earlier today when the sanctions were announced. and this is really appears to be an entire whole of government approach. what's really interesting here that the sanctions which the president has been most criticized for not enacting and the new sanctions passed by congress

last year are for the first time being used to target the russian government for its meddling in the 2016 election. and specifically we saw that many of the individuals who were named in the mueller indictment are now also being targeted by the department of treasury. by the dhs and also for much of the russian military, you know, malicious cyber attacks. what was really scare from that call is that they revealed that the russian government has actually mounted cyber attacks at the u.s. energy grid. this goes far beyond the 2016 election. we're dealing with the here and now and you are hearing, you know a big response from the white house today. john which makes it all the more interesting that h.r. mcmaster the president's national security advisor is a guy who maybe doesn't have the full trust and confidence of the white house right now. >> yeah. that's right. i mean, we are seeing a major push against russia in the midst of an imminent staff change or likely imminent staff change. but, you know, we should mention as the leading contender here john bolton

is no friend of the russian government. he sparred with them quite a bit at the united nations. he hats taken a hard line against them as long as i have known. if there is a change to be had here, it is only going to be harder in the russian direction. you are seeing, you know a very united response. i'm not sure if you saw the joint statement put out by the u.s., u.k., france, and germany. that's a pretty rare and wholesale condemnation of the russian government and very extraordinary chem chemical attack in the middle of a civilian area in the united kingdom. >> jon: something that the north koreans know something about too after the dispatch of kim jong un's half-brother. what a day in washington. saager from the daily caller. thank you. >> thanks for having me, jon. >> melissa: hillary clinton says the make america great campaign takes our country backwards she didn't stop there. what else she said which is keeping the democrats

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>> melissa: hillary clinton once again slamming president trump. the former secretary of state saying the president's make america great again campaign was looking backwards, saying the agenda doesn't support helping minorities or women, media buzz host howard kurtz racking to their remarks writing quote the democrats are gearing up for the mid terms emboldened by apparent razor thin win win by conor lamb in a pittsburgh area district donald trump carried by 20 points. kirsten gill grand, kamala harris, terry mcauliff and others maneuvering to take the party past bernie sanders and joe biden. yet again here comes hillary clinton and some democratic lawmakers are distancing themselves from her latest remarks. howard kurtz joins me now. tell us more, howie. >> i'm tempted to call these remarks deplorable but that

would be too easy very reminiscent of the hillary clinton gaffe during the campaign. this goes further. she is entitled to criticize president trump all she wants. now she is credit sizing his voters saying the people who voted for trump in what she calls the middle of the country, they are opposed to blacks getting rights. they are opposed to you women getting jobs. so she is basically not very careful language a bunch of yahoos and racists and misoggists. i'm really struck as she continues to mitigate the election that she is going to make part of her legacy that she is attacking half the country that voted for this president. >> melissa: i watched the whole thing in length and i was shocked. at first i thought it was a fake video or something because it's so outrageous. when i watched again she insulted everyone including people like myself saying that white women, white married women especially voted for president trump because their husbands or

their sons pressured -- there we go pressured them to do so if you want to scroll up on the prompter there. i was trying to read that quote for you. that your husband, your boss, your son, whoever believes you should. someone like me, i vote the way my husband or my son pressures me to vote? i mean, it would be one thing said that it would be incredibly insulting for another woman to tell me that i don't have my own mind, that i'm being pressured by my son and my husband? it's just so offensive. i don't know -- i mean, democrats have no choice, i guess, but to distance themselves. why would she do this? >> well, it was equally stunning to me as a guy that, you know, the first female nominee of a major party for president would so insult so many of the women who made a different choice. there may be a few women in the country who perhaps felt pressure the guy they are married to in 016 and say this in 2018, i think it is

insulting it's fascinating how democrats and take my word for it are actually kind of running away from their nominee on this. senators from the middle of the country like claire mccaskill in missouri saying these are fighting words. sherrod brown saying he doesn't want to talk about this from ohio and robby mook hillary clinton's campaign manager saying 2016 is over. she can say what she wants. we want to look forward. they don't want to be having this debate about what she called the deplorable trump voters. >> melissa: she talked about how people in areas where they're making more money, where the g.d.p. is stronger like rich people are more sophisticated she forgets it was those people that feel like they were economically left behind dissatisfied with the current regime. that was one big lesson. howie, i have got to go. i'm sorry i took up so much time. >> that's why she lost the election, michigan, pennsylvania and wisconsin. >> jon: i will tell you what they had for lunch later. a short-term fix for daca

may be back on the negotiating table but protecting the dreamers could come with a price. what the president want included in this deal. i had frequent heartburn, but my doctor recommended... ...prilosec otc 7 years ago, 5 years ago, last week. just 1 pill each morning, 24 hours and zero heartburn. it's been the number 1 doctor recommended brand for 10... ...straight years, and it's still recommended today. use as directed.

>> jon: reportedly president trump is again proposing a deal that would protect the so-called dreamers. but the short-term daca fix would hinge on funds to build the president's long-promised border wall. similar plans have been shot down in the past. so, will this one get any traction? let's bring in senate g.o.p. conference chair john thune of sout south dakota. senator, what do you think of this idea three years of daca extension for three years of border wall funding. >> well, it solves the problem in the short-term, john. and i think that a lot of us

are looking to come up with a solution. the president, obviously, sees the bill that's currently moving through the congress as an opportunity to do that. it's important, i think, for him and many of us who believe we have got to strengthen our border security to get that wall system built, to get funding allocated to that. so if there is a deal that could come together, i'm certainly nod adverse to it i think the administration has walked a little bit from that more recently as well. i think getting it tachesd to this. >> bill: that's moving through right now is probably a pretty heavy lift. i'm not sure we would have the votes to do that. >> jon: my understanding the president has walked it back in part because the opposition from republicans. >> i don't think it would be so much opposition from republicans. i do think the democrats would probably october to it. and at this point anything that goes into this legislation that's moving at the moment pretty much has to enjoy bipartisan support, because it takes 60 votes to pass in the senate. so, like i said, i'm not dissing it. i'm certainly open to it. and i think anything we can do to help address the

border situation is action we should be taking. >> jon: the president went above and beyond what a lot of people were expecting. offering citizenship to 1.8 million dreamers and ultimately democrats wouldn't go along with that. so, you know, what does the future hold? >> that's right. i mean, this president went where no other president had gone before. i think that the democrats were a little bit shocked by that but they weren't going to have anything of it. which tells you, i think, maybe they are more interested in having the issue than they are in having a solution. the idea that you could get citizenship for almost 2 million daca recipients in exchange for a border wall funding was a deal that the president, i thought, very ambitiously put out there on the table. and the democrats said no go. so, we'll see where it goes. we know it's still an issue that has to be resolved. we have got to do something to provide legal protection for daca. but we also at the same time have to make sure that we're addressing, preventing the problem in the future and that's border security.

>> jon: i want to talk to you about dodd frank there is an effort in the senate to roll back some of that banking legislation, a lot of experts say that it hurts small banks and community banks. but democrats are having their own fight over whether to do that. elizabeth warren, for one, doesn't like the proposal. >> of course she doesn't. wilbut, you know, if you think about this, what dodd frank has done, jon it's made big banks bigger and small banks smaller. created less competition. hundreds of banks have gone out of business because of the overburdened overreaching regulation cost of compliance particularly for community banks, credit unions and smaller lenders in the country. it divides democrats because most democrats particularly those who represent rural areas understanding this is an issue that needs to be addressed. if they want to make credit available, loans available and mort gages available on main streets across this country, then we have got to lessen this avalanche of regulation, thousands of pages of regulations that we dumped on smaller community banks.

>> jon: it's going to be interesting to see who wins the food fight on this one because, again, they are having a bit of a circular firing squad in the democratic party. a number of democrats support it. some like elizabeth warren do not. again, we will keep our eye on that. >> it is a food fight. yeah. i'm okay watching this one, actually. but it's good for the lenders in this country if we get this addressed. >> jon: senator john thune republican of south dakota. good to have you on. thank you. >> thanks, jon. you bet. >> melissa: the democratic special election too close to call but conor lamb is declaring victory. how soon until we have a clear winner there?

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results and you can see right now why. a difference of 627 votes as of now. but, if the democrats do win this seat, this will be very different from the presidential election results when donald trump won the district in a landslide. >> i'm a republican. i'm very worried right now, because the democrats are fired up. we're fielding good candidates. that's a big lesson from this and we are organizing everywhere. and we're talking about the issues that people care the most about. >> jon: joining n.i.e. me now our political panel juan williams fox news political analyst and co-host of the five, of course, also kevin mccullough syndicated radio host. tom perez the top democrat says that republicans should be nervous as a result of the results of this race. should they? >> i'm hesitant to jump all the way off that cliff just because have you got a 70,000 plus democrat registration. trump did carry it. he carried it like he carried much of the rust belt on his message to steel

and coal and all of that. look at this race. you had a scandal plagued incumbent. had you a candidate that the republicans put up that who did not work very hard for the seat. and you had a guy that they came in really much more conservative. very non-nancy pelosi like. i don't think it's a consistent picture of what you are going to have in all the other races but i think republicans need to take the lesson that they have got to be prepared for every one of them. >> jon: conor lamb did run against nancy pelosi and you have to wonder if he does get the seat how that is going to go over in the democratic caucus. is that a strategy for some democrats? >> well, i think what the strategy is for republicans is to demonize nancy pelosi. they made her the centerpiece of their advertising. >> jon: but this is a democrat who went after nancy pelosi. >> he didn't go after her. he simply said he wouldn't vote for her to lead the caucus. then he brought in tim ryan the congressman in ohio who ran against nancy pelosi last time. so clearly he is identifying with the anti-pelosi

contingent. >> jon: still a big slap in the face for the minority leader. >> the slap in the face is if it sets a precedent, jon, and then you start to see this as a wave. remember, nancy pelosi beat tim ryan and is holding ton her leadership. the question here, i think, is what happened to the message about tax cuts that president trump thought would carry the day. what happened to the message about tariffs in a steel community, steel base economy. again, he thought this would be enough to push the cone over the finish line. >> jon: most elections are about the economy. why, if things are turning around, in that part of the rust belt, why did the republicans not prevail? >> this is a values driven district. look at who mr. lamb said he was. pro-life, pro-tariff which identified with the incumbent president. this is a group of people that vote more on what they believe maybe than just typical party lines. i think with the scandal and i don't think can you overstate that had you a

pro-life incumbent who pressured elicit girlfriend to have an abortion. that's what the premise of this special election was about. that's always going to go bad for the party that it happens to. i think when you had a non-motivated candidate to replace him and you ran somebody that was very appealing on the values issue. it's not surprising to me that this -- now, does that translate to other races, you know, the democrats have to pick up 24 to take control. have you got 23 seats that republicans hold in states that hillary won. republicans better have their game on. but i don't think can you paint a broad brush. does this open the door for some blue dogs to get in? probably. so republicans need to be on the offense. they need to tell the message of the economy and telling it long and loud. >> jon: the party in charge can't take anything for granted come november this year. >> no. and remember, republicans put a lot of money in outside groupings put in 7 or $8 million, jon. they outspent the democrats in this race. but, what we have a

situation where in alabama, the virginia -- alabama senate, virginia governors and a bunch of special elections, democrats have seen success. what you are saying the democrats don't have a strong message except its anti-trump. for the moment, that has excited the democratic base. you see good turnout from democrats. >> jon: but you rarely win elections being against something. >> correct. that's why i think they need a better message. >> the senate race they had to demonize a judge to being a child molester to in essence take that seat. you can't judge anything on these unilaterally yet. >> jon: juan williams, kevin mccullough. thank you. >> melissa: the house intel committee clearing the trump campaign in russian meddling probe of collusion. the committee's top democrat wants to keep the investigation open. >> american people need to know whether the russians still have something they can hold over the president's head. the president of the united states. so, our work is far from done.

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liberty mutual insurance. >> melissa: house republicans wrapping up investigation claiming there was no collusion with the trump campaign. the intelligence committee top democrat isn't satisfied with the outcome and adam schiff says there is more work to be done. >> the only authorized investigation in the house of representatives into what the russians did in the last election, what the u.s. government response was and the issue of collusion with the trump campaign that was a terrible disservice to the country and american people. >> melissa: joining me now is doug collins a member of the house judiciary committee. sir, thank you for joining us. what is your response to what adam schiff just said there. >> you have to decide if adam schiff the ranking member of the intelligence committee is adam schiff now moved over to the dccc keep

narrative going. they have found -- what the president has said that there was no collusion. what we did find is if russia was involved. we saw that and that is coming out in the report. what adam is wanting to do, adam schiff is wanting to do continue to make a political point and political statement about the president without really focusing on anything of fact. is he looking at innuendo, possibilities, this looks a little bit funny. this is a narrative spun by them from day one. they don't want the issue solved. they want the issue for the election cycle. >> melissa: you know, it does seem like both parties are interested in possibly attaching or making sure that the russian actions aren't attached to them personally. but then what gets lost is actually doing something about how much meddling and damage they are doing everywhere. including, you know, what went on on u.k.'s soil, whether a nerve agent was used. you know, by the russians inside someone else's country. this is -- it all amounts to scary stuff for the american people. and some feel like politicians are bickering

rather than taking care of it. >> you know, look, way before this story became popular on the news channels, i have been in the military now for almost 16, 17 years. when we look at russia, russia has always been this kind of player. they are a disruptive agent. putin is a classic cold warrior. he comes from that mentality. he wants to be disruptive agent and relative. none of us are saying this didn't happen. the sanctions initiated by the treasury department are directed at what they did during elections and what they are doing overseas. i agree with nikki haley. a. agree that we need to stand with the u.k. that the russians involved over there is dangerous and need to support it. these are actions that take place. again as you look at it from overall perspective. we need to make sure our elections are hardened and we understand what's going on. our intelligence community has always been about that. >> melissa: you mentioned the sanctions from today. do you think that that's enough? >> i think they are a step forward in the right direction, here is where we're going and where we are

needing to be going in this. to punish those actually looking at this. look, this is a decision in a complicated process in which russia has decided to play in elections and also play in internal politics just as they have always wanted to be relevant. it's not an american phenomenon. i have been traveling in eastern europe. you see it in the middle east. you see it with russia today and propaganda network. they do this to try to continue to paint a picture of russia that is not reality. i think this is just putin being putin. >> melissa: ambassador john bolton said earlier today that deterrence has to be very strong. that's how you respond to something like this. you hit them so hard after they do it that they think twice before they do it again if they're operating from that cold war mentality. what does that include in your mind, very strictest terms. what would that be. >> some of the things already discussed starting with's is as and continuing to the process to say as we see this happening in the u.k. supporting our ally in the u.k. take action of expelling diplomating and doing the things that need to be done. beginning to check them in

other places across the world where they're coming in, and we have the stronger hand. i'm very proud this president has said we will have a strong presence in areas and not let other countries. we will work with countries when we can but strongest presence across the world and putin will know he will be checked wherever he goes. >> melissa: that one is an important one i hadn't heard earlier checking russians where they are exerting influence around the world. that's going to be you have it. that's a tall order. thank you for coming on today, sir. take care. >> appreciate it. take care. >> jon: president trump has called iran nuclear agreement the worst deal ever negotiated with changes in his administration might now be scrapped.

>> harris: we're ready.

are you ready for noon? sources telling fox news more big white house shakeups on the way days after president trump fired secretary of state rex tillerson. the president saying today we are seeing some wonderful changes. what he is looking for and what it all means going forward. >> katie: and a top house democrat calls republican ads attacking nancy pelosi sexist. this after democrat conor lamb distanced himself from pelosi during his campaign in the special election. whether more democrats should follow suit. >> harris: i think i strained my face because i was looking inquisitive there. plus in the center seat one lucky guy outnumbered on top of the hour. see you soon. >> katie: see you soon. >> melissa: the search is on -- ♪ >> melissa: the search is on for illegal immigrant accused of murdering a california man san diego law enforcement saying that ernesto martinez attacked his exgirlfriend at the gym and then killed her new boyfriend alexander.

two weeks later alexander's father now speaking out. >> i want president trump to know about this. i want him to be aware that there was a true patriot, a wonderful human being that was an exemplary citizen that was lost because of this problem with our border. >> melissa: police now think the suspect fled to mexico after the attack. there is a reward for information leading to an arrest. martinez was deported back in 2004. but he later returned. as you probably know, president trump has made it clear he is not a fab of the iran nuclear deal. with rex tillerson now gone, fox news has learned mr. trump may be looking to withdraw from the agreement even faster. >> rex and i have been talking about this for a long time. we got along actually quite well. but we disagreed on things. when you look at the iran deal, i think it's terrible.

i guess he thought it was okay. i wanted to either break it or do something, and he felt a little bit differently. so we were not really thinking the same. with mike, mike pompeo, we have a very similar thought process. i think it's going to go very well. >> jon: joining us now jack keane chairman for the institute of the study of war and fox news senior strategic analyst. general, do you agree that the as sense of mike pompeo to be secretary of state suggests that the undoing of the iran deal could come sooner? >> yeah, i think that's a distinct possibility. first of all, let me just say i think the selection of mike pompeo as secretary of state is absolutely an enlightened one. and clearly there is no separation between mike pompeo and the president when it comes to foreign policy and national security issues what's on the table now, jorn, we have given the

europeans and someone participating in the negotiations the latitude let's see if we can make changes to the current deal. what are they doing? what think want to do is add things to the deal. iran's maligned deal in the region as one two ballistic missile testing. then they want to fix things in the deal. one of those is that we can't get to iran's secret military bases where they are doing all the research at. they are not a part of the inspection protocol. makes no sense. the other thing is this so-called sun set clauses where in time and several years from now, iran can go to full enrichment, which obviously is a gateway to nuclear weapons. why that's in the deal? it's the most significant impediment in the deal is the thing that turns most people off because it is a pathway to a nuclear weapon. so that's what's on the table. but, frankly, jon, it's unlikely that the administration will be able to get the europeans to

agree to all of that. >> jon: i was going to say. this is not something that president trump can undo with a stroke of a pen. this was not an executive order by barack obama that can be undone by his successor. so we have to get allies on board. >> yeah, absolutely. i mean, we're negotiating with five other nations to be able to do. this all signators to the deal. obviously the iranians are the sixth nation. the point is that we have another review coming up, jon, in may, may 12th to be exact. so the clock is kind of ticking here. i suspect that if we are not able to make substantive change to the deal, in other words, truly fix it as prime minister netanyahu said, he said fix it or knick nix it, thn the trump administration whether pompeo is secretary of state or not by that time i don't know, it's likely i think they will probably walk away from the deal.

>> jon: mike pompeo might have some trouble getting past rand paul. here's what he had to say about president trump's nomination. listen. >> one of the things i have always admired about president trump is his opposition to the iraq war, his forth rightness about this. and his condemnation of the regime change. so i'm perplexed by the nomination of people who love the iraq war so much that they would advocate for a war with iran next. i think it goes against most of the things that president trump campaigned on, that the unintended consequences of regime change in iraq actually led to instability in the middle east and actually made the conditions worse in the middle east. so, it perplexes me that he is now nominating for secretary of state someone whwho has advocated and pushed for regime change in iran. >> jon: so mike pompeo will not get his vote to be secretary of state. do you want to address what senator paul had to say? >> well, certainly.

i understand the senator's concern. but, i think the reality here, it's a misrepresentation of the trump administration and their foreign policy. what their national security strategy has done, and i think accurately describes the world as it is, that we return to an era of a russian, china they want to eliminate the international order that has sustained peace and prosperity for 70 years in terms of big war. and i think we have got this thing just about right we are pushing in that direction returning american leadership. no one is looking for a war with iran. >> jon: fox news senior strategic analyst general jack keane. thanks for coming on. >> good talking to you, jon. >> jon: you too. >> melissa: we want to take to you hood county where firefighters are battling a fire at an explosion cha at a chemical plant.

one person missing and another badly injured in the blast. we will keep you posted on this story. cold. i'll take a sick day tomorrow. on our daughter's birthday? moms don't take sick days... moms take nyquil severe. the nighttime, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, fever, best sleep with a cold, medicine.

>> jon: thanks for being with us today. >> melissa: outnumbered starts right now. >> harris: we begin with a fox news alert on a very busy hour. president trump is set to speak at any moment now. we will take that at the friends of ireland lunch on on capitol hill after hosting ireland's prime minister at the white house earlier today ahead of saint patrick's day. all of it when it happens you will see it here. this as we await a decision from attorney general jeff sessions on whether he will fire fbi director, deputy director andrew mccabe. mccabe reportedly in the hot seat over reports that he lied to investigators who were looking into the handling of matters connected to the 2016 presidential campaign. you're watching outnumbered. i'm harris faulkner. here today town hall editor and fox news contributor katie pavlich. anchor of the intelligence report on fox business trish regan and