good job. i played hockey my whole life. that was kind of every day. i know it's not allowed in this day and age. it's illegal. that's all the time we have left. we will be fair and balanced. thank you for being with us. let not your heart be troubled. laura ingraham. remember the old days, hockey, fighting? everybody gets so upset. oh, my gosh, fighting. >> laura: i think baseball players, they never quite get the punch in. the hockey players. they are closer. they are too big and gangly. they try to do it. if you want to fight, you've got to really land a punch. >> sean: in hockey, the philadelphia flyers, they would throw the glove than it was on. >> laura: that's actually quite enjoyable to watch. the baseball fights are a scrum and you can't see the action. they need to separated out. >> sean: that's awesome. >> laura: great show. good evening from washington. i'm laura ingraham. this is "the ingraham angle." we have so much happening tonight. so much ground to cover. let's get right to it.

leaks, of course, coming from james comey's book. what we see now is if this is all they have, they've got nothing. it's like petty and insignificant issues and it's more like mean girls gossip than blockbuster. will the next house speaker be a trump conservative? or another d.c. insider swamp monster? reince priebus gives his analysis in an exquisite of interview. plus, we are going to get his first reactions to the big comey dud. also congress holds an emergency hearing on illegal immigrant caravan coming to the united states. coming here from mexico after shocking reports emerge. and the man who called the hearing, covers ben ron desantis, has stunning details. by the way, michelle malkin is going to stop by. she's going to expose the dark forces trying to suppress free speech in our latest installment

of "defending the first." you do not want to miss this. we are going to name names. first, was the raid on trump's personal attorney just a proxy move by mueller in his fishing expedition? that's the focus of tonight's angle. do you hear that drip, drip, drip sound? those are the nonstop leaks coming from the offices of the u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york which on monday as we know executed the raid on the home, the work, and the temporary residence of trump lawyer michael cohen. from unnamed sources with knowledge of the investigation, we learned that the search focused on documents related to porn star stormy daniels and potential crimes may include bank and wire fraud along with campaign finance violation. yesterday there were more leaks that investigators were scouring for information related to, and i kid you not, the access

hollywood tape. and a new report today in the new yorker alleging possible payments to a trump tower doorman. and others during the campaign. bottom line, right now, as things are, russian collusion seems to be a faint memory. after all the hype about that trump tower meeting with don jr. and the russian attorney, all after all of the "hide the ball" tactics the doj used to apply for the fisa warrant. you think about it. after all the speculation about trump's relationship with russia, mueller has come up with goose eggs. now, team trump is properly worried that mueller is just using the southern district of new york as a proxy to do their dirty work. in other words, have the new york agents vacuum up a whole bunch of stuff in cohen's files on the presidents personal business deals, arguably outside the scope of the special

councils jurisdiction. and then shoot it back over to us if it's helpful to our cause and going after the president. that way, mueller gets credit for initially going to rod rosenstein, deputy attorney general, with the information in the first place. what do you think we should do with this? but he gets none of the downside by being the guy who executes the search warrant against the president's personal attorney. never happened in the history of the country before. remember, last summer, president trump said that the effort, any effort by the fed to look into his personal finances is mm-mm. >> looking at finances, your family's finances unrelated to russia, would it be a redline? >> i would say yes. >> laura: the whole process is totally out of control. this is why the special counsel statute in my mind is unconstitutional. think about it this way.

mueller's office resides within the executive branch. and that means if he wants to and if it's politically appropriate for him to do so, as they headed the executive branch, the president should be able to fire him. but if mueller did get fired by trump for whatever reason, all hell would break loose. >> firing rod rosenstein or robert mueller would provoke a constitutional firestorm. >> no question that if president trump fired mueller, rosenstein, or even sessions, he would set in motion a constitutional crisis. >> a new level of crazy for trump. a new level of being out of control. they, i think for the first time, are really petrified he's going to take that step and they will be in the midst of a constitutional crisis. >> laura: aren't you tired of the ponded echo chamber? they keep repeating themselves day after day. no original thought. do you know what a constitutional crisis is? when an unelected and largely

unaccountable band of hyperpartisan attorneys loyal to the previous president and maybe even hillary clinton, they are able to spend millions of your tax dollars in search of a crime merely to undo the results of a presidential election. that's the thing that should worry us, and that's the angle. joining me now for reaction, in raleigh, north carolina, the deputy independent counsel and the bill clinton investigation. with me in studio, joe digenova. geo, the more you look into what happened with the execution of the warrant against cohen and the thinking now and it took me a while to get there, that this was all just a big pretext to vacuum up more personal information from the president that they couldn't otherwise get. >> definitely pretextual search warrant designed to gather up information, as you said, mueller ponded off on the

southern district of new york because he didn't want appear to be touching it but this is his dirty work. this is about gathering information for impeachment. it's not about information for criminal cases. but here's the problem. the problem is from the beginning, this investigation has been illegitimate, and that's because rod rosenstein had no authority to appoint bob mueller. rod rosenstein had multiple conflict of interest. he wrote the letter and the memorandum firing james comey. he was party to conversations with the president and others about the firing of james comey. he is a witness in this case. he cannot be supervising mueller. guess what. he isn't. he is letting mueller do whatever mueller wants to do. that's a disgrace. it's an investment. jeff sessions should fire mueller -- should fire rosenstein tomorrow. tomorrow. tomorrow he should fire rosenstein. >> laura: your reaction.

>> i couldn't disagree more with joe. i think rod rosenstein clearly has the authority to appoint a special counsel. he did there in the regulation. >> no underlying crime. >> do i get to talk? i listened to you, joe. i couldn't disagree more with joe. if there is a conflict of interest, i have no doubt that mueller and rosenstein would have discussed it, and rod would have recused himself. i'm going to tell you something, laura. you have been nice enough to have me on your show several times. i think your viewers now know i call it like i see it. i will admit to you i'm a little biased here because i have known rod for 21 years. i know of nobody in the department of justice with more integrity than rod rosenstein. it doesn't mean that he or anyone else in the department, including bob mueller, is immune from criticism. if they have done something that's wrong, go ahead and criticize them. i'm just telling you what i'm

telling your viewers, i know nobody with more integrity, and i will tell you something else. there are three things about rod that i keep hearing, not on your show come about by anchors and other shows and none of them are accurate. one is that rod is a liberal democrat. he is a lifelong mainstream republican. two is that rod and comey were good friends. as far as i know, they weren't friends at all, much less close friends. and three that he is a protege or was a protege of bob mueller or a good friend. that's completely wrong. >> laura: i don't care what other people are saying on others shows because i haven't said that. >> you haven't. >> laura: point well taken. this is what newt gingrich said on fox yesterday. let's watch. >> the fact is rod rosenstein has not done his job. he has not supervised mueller. this whole thing is an absurdity. >> laura: not supervised mueller. >> no question he hasn't done that. he's allowed them to do whatever he wanted to do. let me disagree with sol.

the regulations require a crime. criminal activity be investigated. no crime or criminal activity was stated in the memorandum appointing mueller. that's because there was no crime. rod rosenstein pointed mueller to get rid of a hot potato. it had nothing to do whatsoever with criminal activity. he didn't want the responsibility, like jeff sessions had done, by appointing mr. hubert to investigate crimes inside the justice department about fisa. rod should have done that. he didn't do that. he appointed a special counsel where none is justified under those regulations. as far as i am concerned, this isn't about integrity or anything else. it's about doing your job. it's about being able to carry out the duties of the deputy attorney general. and i've known rod a long time. i don't know him as well as you do, and i don't know anything about the things you were talking about. these various relationships. i do know this. he did not have the authority to make the appointment the way he

did it. >> laura: here's what i think -- >> may i respond? that point, joel's first point. first of all, there doesn't already have to be a crime. you've got to have an investigation before there is a crime. there does have to be a criminal investigation. it's now clear. remember the charter says that mueller could look into anything in the investigation that james comey announced when he testified before congress. it's now been made explicitly clear that comey, if you want to criticize somebody, i am all for criticizing comey. comey had already launched a criminal investigation of several matters, including two very important matters relating to paul manafort, whether he had colluded and taken money from the ukrainian ex-president. there was clearly already a criminal investigation. >> laura: but not of the president. not focusing on the president.

the import of this investigation, what we know happens with special counsels, sol, i think what joe is saying, what you're looking at better have been going right to the president. and it looks to me like you guys are a lot more experience than i am on this. i haven't practiced law in a long time but it looks like an investigation in search of a crime that they hoped was committed by the president of the united states or the candidate himself. that's why going to vote we started with, they ran out of steam on this collusion argument. then they had to go to the southern district. what can you get in the offices of the attorney? i don't like that. >> i will agree with joe on one thing. first of all, we don't know. we don't have all the facts yet so we don't know the full facts about this search. but it certainly has the suggestion of a pretextual search. the supreme court has said.

textural searches are okay if you, you can have probable cause to look for something even if you are really looking for something else. but that doesn't make it right. i will tell you this. for them to have searched that office instead of issuing a subpoena, they're better have been very strong evidence. >> rod rosenstein authorized it. >> actually destroying, was actually destroying documents. we don't know that. >> laura: i am with dershowitz on this. they don't do that with the mob. >> joe, can i ask you a question? speak >> the president was tolds not a target. he was told he was the subject. that means they didn't have a case against him. so what are they doing? pretextual investigation in new york to create an investigation. >> laura: it's interesting. it's an interesting point. >> it doesn't mean that. joe, you are a u.s. attorney.

>> thank you, sol. >> doesn't mean they don't have a case against you. a subject is between a witness in a target. it means they very well may have a case against you. >> totally was not a target. >> laura: we are dealing with -- >> being told you are a witness. >> laura: we've got to move to something else. >> i don't get to ask him a question, laura? >> i am not your witness, sol. >> i am curious. >> i'm sure you are. >> laura: we have to go ahead. if you want to host the show, go ahead. >> joe, you never searched and attorney's office? when you were u.s. attorney? >> not once. not once. >> thank you for the question, sol. >> laura: i don't know who would want -- >> that search in new york was a disgrace to the department of justice. >> you don't know that. you don't know the facts. >> oh, yes, i do.

i'm sure they are riveting. riveting about women. i'm sure mueller is thrilled. >> laura: we started with russian collusion. we are now at the billy bush tape. that's where we are right now. let's be clear. that's probably where we are. they are going to billy bush tape, going to the doorman, whether the doorman got money. it's all an impeachment set up from the beginning. i guess trump could be meeting with russian oligarchs in central park. we don't know that. >> i agree in terms of what it looks like, the southern district is looking at. >> laura: you know they are leaking. >> bank fraud. >> laura: they are leaking information on a daily basis. that office leaks, it always has. >> they shouldn't be leaking. even the stuff they are leaking, it's not a big deal. you're talking about garden-variety crimes. in the case of campaign finance,

we don't know if it is a crime. >> laura: okay, let's talk about the fact that it looks like cohen actually may have, again, according to sources, did record the various meetings with associates but again, reportedly some of them were actually replayed for the president. i don't know if they were worried about what people were saying. this was over the years. presumably the southern district of new york has seized recordings, if those exist, they took hard drives, they took his phone. took his phone out of his hand. this is what i'm saying. we don't know where this is going to go. there is a lot of questions marks here. i don't know why anybody would be -- i think the recording conversations. >> it's not a good practice. >> laura: why would the client donald trump want that? another thing i have to ask, there's a piece that came out in the atlantic today that expanded

on the criticism or the analysis, i would say, that cohen really wasn't acting as an attorney. that cohen was more of a mediator, troubleshooter and that many stages in his association with trump, it seems he is drooling work not legal in nature makes light of his own poor performance in the courtroom. is it possible to use an attorney as a shield to protect information? do people do that? i imagine they do. i'm not saying that was done here. that's what the left is clearly trying to put out there, that he really wasn't an attorney. he was like a fixer guy. so he doesn't get the benefit of the attorney-client privilege. >> i think that's ridiculous. as you know, laura, i think he was clearly his attorney. but it doesn't mean everything he did was privileged. you can have an attorney who also functions as a business

official in an organization. and then you have to determine, is he acting as a business advisor or as a legal advisor? i don't think there's any question that there's many privileged communications between cohen and trump. doesn't mean everything in the office -- >> laura: joe, we will do comey next segment. we have a barn burner of a segment coming up on comey. your reaction to the excerpts you've seen thus far. >> i find it to be gossipy and juvenile, but that is comey. he's a very, very sick man. >> laura: why do you think sick? >> so self-possessed and immoral beyond the pale. i think he's suffers from an ego the size of mount rushmore. it's been his undoing. >> laura: trump has a big ego. come on. >> when you're the head of the fbi, you're supposed to be different than a businessman. >> for once, i agree with joad

to jen about once. i agree with everything he said. >> only for once. >> laura: you know how some people, he comes off as kind of priggish, comey, imperious, sanctimonious. literally and figuratively looking down on you pace to go cardinal comey as we used to call him. >> i think you've got him pegged. he went to hollywood with the ashcroft testimony and has really never gotten over it. >> laura: able to do a book tour but we can't get them back to the committee to give testimony. basically gave the stiff arm to the committee, doesn't want to come back. if it was "good morning america," he should be doing good interviews on capitol hill. thanks so much. speak of the committee is not important enough. >> laura: good point. i like it when you don't agree. we need this bias, we need the disagreement. washington is abuzz over the

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>> laura: leaks from the upcoming tell-all book from jim comey seem more tabloid than telling. former fbi director reportedly revealed such nuggets as president trump's hands are smaller than his. trump's ties are too long. looks like he's using goggles. for good measure, comey called trump on ethical and a liar.

democrats may swoon over the book, just as they cheered comey's role in the russian investigation but are still livid. comey sat reopening of the hillary clinton email investigation late in the campaign. believing it could've cost the election. our next guest has choice thoughts. former white house press secretary ari fleischer. great to see you. this book, usually you put out your hot stuff to get people to buy it. if this is all they have. i think it's a big snore. i don't see why this book is going to sell copies. let's start with the personal stuff. seems petty. >> he called him a congenital liar, actually, and an unethical man. my point here is if that's what the fbi thought of the commander in chief, the president to whom

he does report even though he is tenured and independently appointment appointed, the honorable thing would have been for him to resign. how can you work for somebody he considers unethical? he does work for the president. he's the fbi director, one of the more powerful positions in government that answers to the present. the honorable thing, if that's what he thought, would be to resign. the james comey i know has always been a grand standard. it has always been in this book shows that even more. >> laura: an interesting tweet by former fbi agent. "james comey book section 2.4 of fbi's manual covers prohibited disclosures. fbi employee shall not discuss information that relates to the substantive merits of any ongoing or open investigation or case." the implication being he shouldn't be talking about this investigation or anything close to it.

>> i have more reason, then you are i or anyone watching, to disparage jim comey. he in no way helped hillary clinton. donald trump, i can make the argument, wouldn't be in the white house than without him. i think donald trump would be in trump tower. towering inferno. >> laura: come on. that's bad. liberals are really salivating the fact that someone in trump tower? i get criticized. no repercussions for those comments. i want to see paul begala. he said mr. comey needs to put his big boy pants on, admit his unethical actions swung the election to trump and beg for forgiveness." my aunt fanny's bean dip makes

me mildly nauseous. call me swinging the election took trump makes me sick. >> every time i see them, i burp a little bit in my mouth. sanctimonious, selfish, self-involved person. a word i've not used with him and i don't believe he's a liar. if you don't like him, and you don't like the book, don't buy the book. we are where we are. this is about bob mueller. bob mueller is in the middle of doing something we don't know what he's doing. we know what the republican party is doing and we know what the president is doing. they are doing everything they can to stop this man. >> laura: democrats tried to go after ken starr in the '90s. >> i don't it's a good example because ken starr started in '94 and went on beyond bill clinton being in office. i don't know why, what is everyone afraid of to just let this man do his job? >> there is another issue. james comey's judgment, it gets to the core of whether he did a good job as head of the fbi. take the investigation of

hillary. whether you agree with what he found her didn't, james comey had no role or responsibility to usurp the duties of the attorney general and the department of justice and decide no reasonable prosecutor would settle this case. the proper thing to do would have been to silently make his defiance known known to the det of justice. comey couldn't do that because he couldn't resist the camera. he had to go out and hold a news conference where he concluded basically that hillary broke the law and then he said but no reasonable prosecutor would prosecute her. >> laura: he allowed peter strzok and a couple others to edit the remarks. to make them not comport. how do you do that? can i read an excerpt? >> we are where we are. >> that's true. >> so what. just don't buy his book. >> laura: let me read. hold the thought. i want to read this one thing.

this is a full screen, another excerpt. >> jim comey did everything wrong prior to election day. and they really don't care whether he said sorry. apology not accepted. >> laura: is this comey standard justice, justice by polling? >> he is enjoying being the hero and the victim in the spotlight and the author and the guest. we have to endure it for 15 minutes. but he started something that was based on legitimacy that's been handed over to bob mueller. >> laura: based on legitimacy?

we can do an hour on that, whether it was a legitimate opening of investigation? >> you have five people. >> laura: we could go through a floor of any building. if you want to indict someone. >> mueller was a person of high ideals, clear sense of purpose. >> laura: we are not going to do this. >> it is ari from 2001. >> i still believe that about bob mueller. bob miller is not james comey. where james comey shows is that prosecutors who have bad judgment will make mistakes, not everybody is perfect at the department of justice or the fb fbi. it's an interesting and important reminder for bob mueller as he goes forward. what we know about james comey, and you said it, the things he did before the election were wrong and it goes back to the bush administration when he grand standard on one of the intelligence programs we had and

created this whole drama about himself when there was a program the fbi had previously approved that the justice department previously approved and james comey had this dramatic moment at our hospital to reverse everything that the department of justice previously did. >> laura: i've got her read. it's like pillow talk. this is comey on loretta lynch, whether she was impartial. so we find out in this book that there's information for making call into question the attorney general's independence and overseeing this investigation. >> we already know. he left it out because he's

embarrassed. "the washington post" reported months ago that he fell for a fake email someone in the clinton campaign, sent from a woman named loretta lynch was an energy lobbyist in california. the guy is naive. the guy is a rube. bob mueller's command we should be talking about. bob mueller was appointed. >> we are talking about comey because he's writing a book. >> he is writing a book that led to the investigation. >> comey has been deified by the press corps. they loved him when he took on bush. they loved him when he let hillary go. >> laura: he loves being in the spotlight. he loves his moment in the sun. >> i that you want us to her, no one is going to ask hard questions. such as you said you leaked that memo to the columbia university professor. who else did you routinely leak things to? >> laura: we are out of time. we forgot to mention that. anyone who gets in the car and writes a memo to the file is not

someone i trust. sorry. all right, guys, fantastic. next, a man who attended some of the comey-trump meetings, former chief of staff reince priebus weighs in exclusively. also on paul ryan. up to 50% faster today at invisalign.com

>> laura: house speaker paul ryan's announcement is not going to seek reelection has ignited a contest to replace him between the established wing of the

g.o.p. and the more conservative populist wing. in last nights angle, i said the secret departure is a clear sign trump's vision, not ryan's, is the future of the party. that the establishment may finally be ceding the party to the man who took it from them in the first place. however, ryan claimed today that the more populist steve scalise has conceded the speakership to the establishment favorite, kevin mccarthy. that's not exactly what steve scalise said this morning. >> you are in the room next to your colleague kevin mccarthy. you are seen as the front runners for this role. would you run up against him? >> no, and i've said that befor before. i've never run against kevin and i wouldn't. >> laura: why not? is kevin mccarthy untouchable? come on, steve. that leaves a lot of wiggle room. let's discuss this with someone who one chaired the g.o.p. party in ryan's home state of

wisconsin. former white house chief of staff reince priebus joins us for an inclusive interview on "the angle." i thought you were going to be in studio. i am so bummed. where are you? why aren't you here question! i have an early flight in the morning. thank you for having me. i appreciate you letting me do it remote. >> laura: no problem. great to see you. we are going to get into the comey nonsense and a second, the comey book. now we are just howling because it's like, his ties to long. we will get to that in a second. tell me about the ryan departure. some conversation today i heard that there's a push to have ryan leave sooner. don't spend the next six months with this intrigue about who's going to replace him. if you're going to leave, why not leave now? instead of the end of the year? is there any wisdom to that? to go i don't think so, laura. i think if you look at what mark meadows said today, he didn't think so either. i think that's really important.

when people like mark walker from the study group and mark meadows from the freedom caucus and people in the middle are not saying that, i think it tells you what you need to know. i don't think that's going to happen. and i do think, i know it's hard to believe in politics. i think ryan leaving and all of the other intrigue is more coincidental with his timing, how long he wants to serve. it's been talked about, he's been talking about this actually for years, of hanging it up and spending more time at home. it was a tough call. >> laura: so it's not, so it's not -- sorry to interrupt. reince, it's not because he's frustrated they are going to go in the minority. they are going to push the remove trump from office, it's going to be a nightmare for the next year and a half. you don't think that played into it at all? >> well, no, i don't. i think if you run and you win and you have, you only have a

two vote majority, he can't leave then either because then what are you going to do? you are going to be the speaker of the house with a two vote majority and put a congressional seat in play? you really had no other option. he could have run again, gotten in the minority, and then resign but it wouldn't of been honest the people that were there. i don't see any other way. when you go to pancake breakfasts, laura, and i know you know politics and you do these things too. when you go to pancake breakfasts for 20 years and these little towns you represent, it's very difficult to ask people to put up four by 8-yard signs all over the district knowing that come january, you're only going to say i'm out of here, and then you have to go home and live with the people that you just ld to, there's no way around it. the other thing i would say, privately talking to paul, and i know him well.

he was having a lot of fun and getting a lot of the work done, and he had a lot of fun and had a lot of enjoyment out of working with president trump. >> laura: people don't think that. >> it's not true. certainly they have their times in the beginning that were come and go and hit or miss. once they got to know each other and once they started spending time together, he actually was having a good time. >> laura: that's nice. that's nice. glad to hear it. very hallmark. they do have different views, trade, immigration, way different views. is it a trump party now, reince? >> wait a second. i don't think, on immigration, i don't think they had a different view. the president and paul ryan were pretty much locks up. on daca, the president went from 800,000 to 1.6.

that was something the president did. >> laura: the original. >> you have come a long way too, laura. >> laura: trump on the campaign trail, paul ryan was uncomfortable every minute of the day. even after trump wins the nomination come he didn't give a full throated endorsement. it was like pulling teeth. it's crying over spilled milk. i'm going to ask about the comey book. >> i'm not denying that. i'm saying is they got to know each other, they worked well together. >> laura: do you think kevin mccarthy gets it? >> i know the president likes him whole lot but he also really respects steve. so i think it's a tough call for the president. i think it's a tough choice for the people in the house. but look, i think there's plenty of time for this. the good news is that the $40 million has already been put in the bank so everything now that the parties bringing in is icing on the cake. the rnc is also top of it,

crushing the dnc. money is not going to be the issue. >> laura: chances we keep the house? >> 4.5? i think it's right around a coin flip. i think the wind is at the republicans' face. some of the recent elections are pretty scary. i think the wisconsin outcome is a wake-up call for the party. they have to triple down on voter identification turnout and i think it's time to make sure that we've got the right candidates on the ballot. if it's possible to get rid of some bad candidates, we should. we should put better candidates in their place. that's where it's going to come down to. >> laura: this feed book, we are almost out of time. give me your thumbnail read. i know you had a few interactions with comey at the white house. what's your take? >> i did. listen, i've heard all the conversation you had. it was great in the segment before and i don't disagree with a lot that was said. one thing i would say that i

haven't heard is how generally improper it is for the highest appointed law enforcement officer in the country to turn around a half year later and write a kiss and tell about the president. everyone has their gripes. and i'm sure i could tell you privately a few grapes of my own. it's just not a proper thing to do today, especially given he was the director of the fbi. >> laura: did you like him? did you like him when you dealt with him? >> i actually didn't deal with him all that much, laura. sort of a dubious type of thing where it's just someone who comes in and out very carefully, very quietly. some interactions in the situation room. some initial interactions early in trump tower. other than that, there wasn't a whole lot better. a lot more is analyzed and made

up of it than it actually was. >> laura: reince priebus, great to see you. thanks so much for coming on tonight. all right, and also today, congress held an emergency meeting on the caravan of illegal immigrants heading up to mexico to the u.s. border. we are going to tell you why there are serious new concerns next.

>> laura: house oversight subcommittee held an emergency hearing this afternoon titled "a caravan of illegal immigrants, a test of u.s. borders." why was that necessary? because there are new reports in ms featuring members are posing as minors traveling with the migrant caravan. lovely. as if that weren't enough, this week in the jacksonville, florida, area, a twice deported illegal immigrant from el salvador was charged with manslaughter over the 2016 death of the officer trying to track

him down. deputy eric oliver was a navy veteran and described as a hero in his community. he was 32 years old, and his daughter was six when he died. joining me now is republican congressman ron desantis, who chaired today's hearing. he is also running for governor of florida. i endorsed you so long ago it's not even funny. let's talk about the caravan crime and our open borders. how are you? this is wild because we see reports of large numbers of people. forget the caravans, crossing the border altogether at one time. then they are taken into custody and they are like, who are you, for you. one guy says i'm being recorded for ms-13 in los angeles. it's wild. we need this wall. not funded in the omnibus. we need the wall. >> the consensus amongst most of the witnesses today with that trump boarded a catch and release to be done but yet they are still --

>> laura: that's what i'm saying. they are still doing it. >> when you have the massive border searches, that really is a godsend to the drug cartels and the amount of fentanyl and all this junk that they've been able to bring into the country that has caused a lot of people to lose their lives. we have to get this under control. >> laura: what does it mean without a wall? we keep going back to the wall. isn't everything? it's not everything but it's a big deterrent. >> walton do not have prosecutorial discretion. if a bureaucrat doesn't want to enforce the law. if you want to do the old obama policies or if you have an administration like obama where they basically just give up on enforcement, then you don't have your laws being enforced but the wall is a wall and the places where they haven't like san diego, it works. >> laura: i want to read this to be full so they understand the numbers we are talking abou about. agents assigned to the yuma station in arizona came upon a large group of 61 illegal

immigrants who crossed the border monday afternoon. this is from breitbart. near the san louise port of entry. the illegal border crossers consisted of a single mexican national and 59 guatemalans. one salvadoran who claimed to be an unaccompanied minor. according to the information that they received, then they questioned them, it turned out, the once posted unaccompanied minor was an adult who was an ms-13 recruit. from the l.a. ms-13. do you know, when they come in, then what happens to them? we have gotten a lot of the, gotten rid of a lot of the detention centers. >> it depends on what they say. we have asylum laws that people know what to say to claim asylum. in almost every instance, it's pretty obvious when they are coming from guatemala that they are not necessarily qualified. asylum is like you are being persecuted because of race, religion, political opinion.

>> laura: you could say that life in guatemala is persecution. >> they have problems but it's not enough. once they do that, they get a trial in two years. they get released into our country. >> laura: what you are saying is despite with the administration has said, catch and release is still happening. >> it's still happening against the wishes of the elected president. that's the problem. you have caravans coming. they should be stopped at the border. >> laura: they should not be allowed to cross the border. people watching the show now. why is this happening? it is infuriating. they know they can do it. the yuma sector in arizona is reporting that they are seeing a surge in larger groups. now they are not doing the trickle through. they are doing large groups moving across the border. you use the word invasion. people say that so mean. what else is it? >> you have human trafficking, drugs. >> laura: there is an ad being run about you that makes you

look like a combination of dr. jekyll, frankenstein, and a terrorist. we can play it? let's watch it. >> this is the same ron desantis who voted. ron desantis says he wants to help president trump drain the swamp but when a reporter asked desantis if president trump was mentally stable, he refused to answer or defend the president. this is the same ron desantis who voted to give food stamps to illegal immigrants. hardly part of the presidents make america great again agenda. ron desantis. can we trust the swamp creature to leave florida? >> laura: so ridiculous. adam putnam did that add? >> one of his supporters. >> laura: you have been one of the most stalwart supporters of this president on almost every issue i can think of.

which is why months ago i endorsed you. how do people even get away with saying that? >> they are running on radio. some of the radio station that had to take it out already because it's false. when they say voting for food stamps, then they cite a bill where i voted against the farmville that had obama's food stamp policies in there. i voted against all the food stamps. certainly wouldn't do it for people here illegally. it's a hundred percent false. radio stations of taken it down. working with tv stations. it's absurd. >> laura: how is the race looking in florida? rick scott is moving on. >> the fact that they are running ads against me. dogs don't bark at parked cars. i am on the move. they see it. it rattles people. >> laura: i want you to continue to educate the people on what's happening at the border because i think americans, when they hear catch and release is still happening, they are infuriating and shocked, and the president needs to step up and take members of congress for allowing this to happen to task.

ron desantis, thank you so much. michelle malkin up next. inside scoop on the sinister forces trying to suppress the free speech of conservatives. we are going to name names, expose their tactics. latest installment of "defending the first" ."

>> laura: time for another installment of our new series "defending the first." we expose the enemies of the first amendment, free expression, and free thought. you all know michelle malkin is a fierce champion of free speech, particularly online where she has a pioneering entrepreneur. tonight she is going to shed light on the dark forces behind organized efforts to silence conservatives. michelle malkin, welcome back to "the ankle." great to see you. it's so important for the people watching fox tonight to see and understand what this all is really all about. i want to start with george soros. george soros has funded left-wing groups, as you pointed out, the center for american progress. i think we have a graphic. the color of change. people for the american way, media matters, action network. connected with media matters. there we help all those organizations. telus, michelle, which are the worst offenders and enemies of

free thought and free expression? >> media matters has been at the forefront of the speech squelch her's who are highly organized, incredibly disciplined and obviously deeply funded not only by george soros but a number of left-wing foundations. i think it's really important to note that so many of these outfits are tax-exempt. that they enjoy so much largess as a result of irs loss. and that under democratic administrations, the definition of 5o1c3s and fours have been stretched so that these blatantly partisan political organizations have cast themselves the somehow educatiol or social welfare groups. you have media matters that have gone after every prominent conservative perspective voice in the public square, they will use any pretext.

these people do this for a full-time living. as a result, it is undeniable, laura. we have been in this arena for so many years in talk radio, on broadcast, and on social media where it's been so important for independent conservative voices to get their messages out. we know that the encroachment of these sensors and these bullies in the public square has left an undeniable cloud over the first amendment and free expression. >> laura: michelle, people say well, this is all the free marketplace of ideas. everyone else, they want to complain about someone who says something, they do that. and that's part of the democratic process too. each side has their own opinions on one side wants to become a whatever they are doing, you have these corporations that get

100 emails from some left-wing activists. meanwhile millions of conservatives are like, are you kidding me? makes no sense. >> in some cases these supposedly back lash that elicits this response from corporations that just don't want any bad publicity, sometimes constitutes a couple tweets, right? then you have the media matters and color of change that exploit their social justice status. they have an absolute immunity shield to go after conservatives for expressing mainstream thought and opinion. that's what people need to know about the agenda. the agenda of these left-wing character assassins is to marginalize mainstream thought. >> laura: awesome. we are going to be right back. michelle malkin.

>> laura: what did you think of that joe digenova, mueller, comey, they could make a great

weekly segment, don't you? sweet to me, @ingrahamangle. steve on radio tomorrow morning. all the time we have tonight. now we have shannon bream and the "fox news @ night" team. they have a fantastic show on tap as always. shannon? >> shannon: you could sell tickets, maybe do a pay-per-view situation on that. >> laura: next time. >> shannon: thanks, laura. hello, welcome to "fox news @ night." i am shannon bream in washington. general jack keane on syria, congressman jim jordan on a special counsel, and the "washington examiner"'s byron york on former fbi director james comey, they are all straight ahead. first tonight, president trump speaking this evening with british prime minister theresa may as "the wall street journal" reports that britain, france, and the united states are uniting around "broad plans for a military strike against syria." still to be worked out, the scope and the purpose of any coordinated response to a suspected chemical weapons attack.