today with neil cavuto at 4:00 given the fallout for the last few hours we'll see what happens. >> please join us then. >> a lot of hope for these three americans being held in north korea. we hope today is the day. >> thanks for joining us today. "happening now" starts right now. >> jon: we begin with a fox news alert as we await president trump's comments on the national day of prayer. after new revelations from his lawyer about everything from the russia investigation to the stormy daniels case, good thursday morning to you. i'm jon scott. >> i'm heather childress, nice to be here. a live look at the rose garden now where the president is set to speak as he helps celebrate the national day of prayer. looks like a fantastic day outside. this is the time when americans of all faiths are encouraged to pray for our nation and this comes amid, as jon was saying, the stunning new comments from the president's attorney, rudy

giuliani on the mueller investigation, ousted f.b.i. director james comey and stormy daniels case. giuliani saying while president trump did reimburse his personal attorney michael cohen for the $130,000 payment to the adult film actress, he didn't know about the specifics until very recently. >> he didn't know the details of this until we knew the details of it, a couple weeks ago. maybe not even a couple weeks ago. maybe 10 days ago. remember when this came up? october 2016. i was with him day in and day out then. i can't remember the details of what happened. >> john roberts is live for us with more. hi, john. >> good morning to you. beautiful day here at the white house. not a cloud in the sky for a rose garden ceremony. stormy still taking center stage here and that stunning revelation from rudy giuliani last night on sean hannity's program the president reimbursed michael cohen for

the $130,000 he paid to stormy daniels for the non-disclosure agreement. while it sounded like a bolt out of the blue and appeared to take sean hannity by surprise the whole thing was arranged with his counsel and the president last night. rudy giuliani insisting the president didn't know anything about where the money was going. he had michael cohen on a monthly retainer for services rendered and for expenses incurred. giuliani saying this morning that the money was not for the campaign but the money was to protect the president's reputation. listen here. >> this was for personal reasons. this -- the president had been hurt personally, not politically, personally so much and the first lady by some of the false allegations. that one more false allegation six years old i think he was trying to help the family. for that the man is being treated like some kind of villain. i think he was being a good

lawyer and a good man. >> the president weighing in with a tweet sets the record for the link. he tweeted mr. cohen, an attorney, received a monthly retainer, not from the campaign and having nothing to do with the campaign which he entered through reimbursement a private contract between two parties as a non-disclosure agreement. these agreements are very common among celebrities and people of wealth. in this case it's in full force and effect and will be used in arbitration for damages against miss clifford. the agreement was used to stop the false and extortionist made by her about an affair. prior to its violation by ms. clifford and her attorney it was a private agreement. money from the campaign or campaign contributions played no role in this transaction. clearly a shift in strategy here at the core of all of this and the reason why it came out last night is the belief that the u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york is going after michael cohen

for illegal campaign contributions. giuliani told me last night the disclosure of the reimbursement takes off the table the notion that there was any fec federal election commission violation. one big thing hanging out there, though, back on february 13th michael cohen insisted he paid the money out of his own pocket and did not get reimbursed. in a statement he said neither the trump organization nor the trump campaign was a party to the transaction with ms. clifford and neither reimbursed me for the payment either directly or indirectly. well now we know that's not exactly true. with all of this going on negotiations for an interview of the president with the special counsel robert mueller continue. rudy giuliani told me on the phone laying down some conditions saying the scope of the questions has to be whittled down to the central issues, russia and the comey firing. everything else is -- he would only give mueller a brief opportunity to question the president likely two to three hours.

listen here. >> that's the amount of time, steve, that we would allow only because that's what clinton got. he got only 2 1/2 hours and he fought with them over discovery. we've given them over 1.2 million documents. we could have raised presidential privileges and other privileges. we gave them a complete picture what's going on. if they have a case they can do it in 2 1/2 hours or dispose of it. >> he has not yet made a decision whether or not the president should sit down with mueller. a lot rests on whether they think mueller would keep an open mind. that it could be comey who is not telling the truth and the president is telling the truth. he said if that's the case then maybe they'll consider a sit-down interview. giuliani also saying they're willing and ready to fight a subpoena should it come for that. as for the timing of anything, heather, giuliani said with the president focusing on his upcoming summit for kim jong-un there isn't time to prepare him to sit down and give a deposition and any deposition

likely wouldn't be until sometime in the early summer at the earliest. he wants to get it done by the end of summer and would be seeking that guarantee from mueller. anything else, heather? >> that's a long list. a lot going on. john, thank you so much. >> jon: no wonder the president's tweet was so long. more on this now with francesca chambers, white house correspondent at the daily mail.com. rudy giuliani is clearing the air but is he muddying the waters? >> rudy giuliani says he spoke to the president about this and that the president gave him permission to make this stunning disclosure. however, i've been told that senior white house staffers were surprised by giuliani's comments yesterday while he may have spoken to the president about this, not everybody in senior staff would have been looped into that conversation or in the room. so some of them yesterday were learning about this for the first time as they watched that interview on fox news. >> jon: you have michael cohen

and his account from february was pretty clear. he said he was never reimbursed for that money that he paid to the adult film star. now rudy giuliani is coming along and saying yeah, mr. trump reimbursed him. >> the white house is deflecting questions on this saying they have to come from mr. trump's personal attorneys which include rudy giuliani. but also jay sekulow who is running point on this now. they're saying at the white house this is a personal matter for the president. this isn't a white house matter. and that it has to stop and there has to be a clear delineation who is responsible for what and this isn't their problem. >> jon: it is clear robert mueller is not the one going after the president's attorney, michael cohen. that is a prosecution coming out of the southern district of new york. it has nothing to do with mueller's office but apparently information mueller developed during the course of his investigation and it doesn't seem to have anything to do

with russian campaign meddling, election meddling. >> that's where this whole entire thing is getting a little tricky because there are some areas, of course, where there is a little bit of overlap and some areas such as that where the white house is able to defer a little more to the president's personal attorneys. of course, you will hear a lot of questions today in the white house press briefing about this matter and you when probably be asked what the president knew about the payment and when he knew about it regardless of having to go through the personal attorneys. >> jon: i served on a grand jury and james comey was the prosecutor there at the time. and it seems like the prosecutors there are, you know, new york city-based prosecutors. they aren't going to be the kind of people who generally like president trump. and it would seem that in handing this case over to the southern district, mueller knew that he was going to be getting some people who would go after

the president pretty strictly. >> well, at this point it's michael cohen who is involved in that case. the president hasn't directly been involved in that case yet. of course you also have stormy daniels lawyer saying at this point that there is no way the president can't get sucked into that and that president trump's former lawyer, current lawyer michael cohen will have no choice at this point but to tell them everything that he knows and how the president was or what potentially was involved. >> jon: by leaning hard on michael cohen who knows many of the secrets to businessman trump's kingdom, they are obviously trying to squeeze the lawyer to ultimately squeeze the president, aren't they? >> then, of course, within the mueller case they can also squeeze the president which is why rudy giuliani doesn't want him to sit down potentially with robert mueller and the special counsel and would want to cap that at two hours he is saying or not talk to him at all. >> jon: giuliani made the point

the president is dealing with north korea, iran, nafta. has a bunch of big issues on his plate and yet giuliani and others have to take up his time talking about an adult film star and a $130,000 payment. >> that's absolutely correct and again, though, it will take up a lot of time at the white house today as they're pressed not on the issues but on this issue of the payment and if the white house had any involvement or knowledge of this. some of the people who were on the campaign are now working in the white house. so what did they also know about this at the time? >> jon: you said some of the folks at the white house seem a little stunned or seemed a little stunned by the rudy giuliani revelations last night on hannity. normally these kinds of things are very carefully choreographed. you kind of give everybody a heads-up so they're all ready to react. did that not happen in this case? >> well, it's unclear what happened in that conversation between the president and rudy

giuliani that rudy giuliani says took place in which the president gave him permission to reveal this. other white house officials may have been involved in that meeting or that call, rather. but some of them in senior staff necessarily wouldn't have been involved in that so they would have been watching this on television and not necessarily have been looped into the fact this is about to happen because the white house has worked so hard to keep the president's personal matters to his personal attorneys and white house matters to the white house. >> jon: the president's team is saying this is an event, this stormy daniels allegation is an event that happened in 2010 well before he was running for president and well before he was elected for president and they are suggesting that she sees a bigger payday now that he is the president of the united states and she thinks she can make a lot more money off this. >> the difficulty for the white house this morning was that sarah sanders, the white house press secretary was mobbed by press after her appearance on fox who had a lot of questions

about this and she pushed them off saying the president has spoken at length about this and the president has tweeted about it several times. we've only heard the president speak on this matter once and so moving forward reporters will want to speak to him about this. will we see the president take additional questions on this matter or will we see his lawyers continue to handle this? that will be up to the president. >> jon: francesca chambers, the white house correspondent for daily mail. >> any minute now we'll hear from president trump live from the rose garden and we'll have that for you live as it happens. meanwhile there are reports that three americans detained in north korea could soon be freed. what this could mean as president trump and north korean leader kim jong-un plan a summit. stay with us.

>> jon: right now there is word north korea released three americans from a labor camp

relocating them to a hotel. that happened last month about a year after two were first detained. the other was arrested in october of 2015 ahead of president trump's upcoming meeting with north korea's leader kim jong-un and mike pompeo's meeting with him where they discussed the american prisoner. president trump tweeting this about the development. stay tuned. >> heather: the president's new attorney rudy giuliani blasting the russia investigation and former f.b.i. director james comey. giuliani telling sean hannity last night that comey shouldn't be trusted. >> i know james comey. i know the president. sorry, jim, you're a liar. a disgraceful liar. every f.b.i. agent in america has his head down because of you. it would have been good for god if god had kept you out of being head of the f.b.i. >> heather: joining me now is michael hopkins, a democratic

strategist, attorney and alex con yit and partner at firehouse strategies. we're keeping an eye on the rose garden and have to break away when the president comes out to speak. in the meantime let's talk about this and michael, i want to begin with you. not only did giuliani question the f.b.i., he also went so far as to say that comey should be prosecuted. >> yeah, look. i think first rudy giuliani should really choose his words carefully. on this national day of prayer i know giuliani and trump want to pray away the mueller investigation but it is a serious investigation and know how it will move forward. when giuliani talks about james comey, the liar and things like that we also need to look at the president and the comments he made on air force one when he lied to the american people. >> heather: there has been a lot of changes in the past couple hours in terms of rudy giuliani going out on these programs giving interviews. what he has said and also changes to the legal team as

well for president trump. what do you make of all this? >> i think president trump is very frustrated. look, this investigation has been going on for nearly two years in some form or fashion and yet it doesn't appear to be near concluding. i think president trump is very understandably frustrated this investigation after his previous legal team told him months ago it was wrapping up. now it appears there is no end in sight. i think he is making changes and told mr. giuliani to go out and defend him. he wants to see people on tv defending him. this is a political issue as much as it is a legal issue and will need the american people to support him if he gets through it. >> heather: in terms of frustration and it being a political issue, michael, giuliani went on to say something related to the president being upset that he does not believe that he has been treated in the same way others have. specifically hillary clinton. listen to this.

>> look, cards have been dealt. if you do it for clinton, i'm sorry, maybe they would like to give us all the things clinton got. memo written before the interview. no under oath. like making up his mind before he ever interviewed her and lawyers in the room making signals at you. >> heather: do you think he is being treated fairly, michael? >> no. and i would also say i think rudy giuliani, by saying that, is really misleading the american public because as u.s. attorney he knows that when an investigation is ongoing that a u.s. attorney would write a letter like was done in the case of hillary clinton when the investigation looks like it will wrap and they aren't found guilty. he also knows the president is not above the law. he can be subpoenaed. when rudy giuliani does this it not only hurt the president's

case but the american's ability to trust what they're hearing. >> heather: one could argue in hillary clinton's case there was an actual crime being investigated. people say the there is not a crime being investigated and no russian collusion and this is interviewing president trump in search of a crime. >> i think that's right. there is no evidence of collusion. nobody has provided any evidence of collusion. even in the questions that were leaked from the special prosecutor and special counsel's office to the "new york times" this week the questions weren't about collusion but about all the other things that there is no -- not necessarily a crime at the center of all this. so i think that is also why president trump is deeply frustrated this investigation has been going on for nearly two years now. >> i want to say i agree collusion is not a crime. the question is whether conspiracy was committed by the president. whether he knew and intended to aid russia in some hacking. whether there was election

fraud. money laundering. not for political reasons but because one, the president could be open to blackmail and two, americans need to have confidence in our system. >> heather: a lot of work needs to be done. there is north korea going on, the iran nuclear deal. so work needs to be done. thank you both for joining us. we appreciate it today. >> jon: so we are awaiting the president to appear in the white house rose garden for the national day of prayer. there you see the vice president making some opening remarks when president trump takes to the microphone, we'll take you back there live. ght, i brought in high protein to help get us moving. ...and help you feel more strength and energy in just two weeks! i'll take that. -yeeeeeah! ensure high protein. with 16 grams of protein and 4 grams of sugar. ensure. always be you. mother...nature! sure smells amazing...

even in accounts receivable. gain botanicals laundry detergent. bring the smell of nature wherever you are. >> jon: fox news alert. we're outside the white house in the rose garden. the president getting ready to mark the national day of prayer. we thought that the president was going to be speaking immediately after the vice president but obviously that's not the case. some of the opening remarks and opening prayers being offered now. >> heather: obviously people from across different faiths there today. from what i understand, jon, there are 40 thousand events taking place nationwide on this the 67th national day of prayer. i know that you are an historian and no doubt you know the history of the national day

of prayer was what. president ronald reagan signed and amended law designating the first thursday of may as a day of national prayer? >> jon: right. that's what they're marking in the rose garden right now. you can see by the garb on the various faith leaders who are represented there that this is an ecumenical event. vice president mike pence was just at the podium saying that president trump is working to insure the federal government will never penalize any personal for their religious beliefs. president trump has been accused of being anti-muslim. this is one way of answering that charge. all right. so again we're waiting for the president when he steps up to the microphone there we'll take you back there live. and this just in, a preacher who helped radicalize the

brothers behind the 2015 "charlie hebdo" attack in paris is speaking out on his transformation away from jihadism. amy kellogg has the story. >> you know france is really struggling with the scourge of extremism and the threat of terrorism. even though the so-called caliphate has fallen apparently isis propaganda in france is very fierce and people like this man are proving to be useful tools against that propaganda having lived the jihady life and rejected it. he has worked with one of france's top deradicalization specialists claiming he has kept dozens of young people from going to iraq and syria even though he once worked as a preacher in paris encouraging young men to wage jihad in iraq. among his followers were the two brothers that carried out

the massacre of "charlie hebdo". they were in jail. in jail he detached from extremism and he hung out with people who didn't agree with his theology. it led to deradicalization and the kindness of his long-term jewish neighbors. >> the other thing that really helped me was the assistance of my jewish neighbors. they knew i had been in prison. it is well-known that jihadists don't have a nice opinion of jews but they opened their door to me. >> he began studying to be a nurse highly in prison and began working at the very hospital where the "charlie hebdo" victims were taken. after that he was barred from nursing and claims that he tried but ultimately failed to deradicalize the man who went on to carry out the attack on "charlie hebdo". when he heard about that he was

shocked and said he went directly to the french secret services to tell them and they were recognizing him very scared that he would blow himself up in their police station. so the bottom line it's very hard to trust these people who have repented but at the same time they are in many ways useful in trying to get at kids who have been brain washed by groups like isis, jon. >> jon: hearts and minds can change. a fascinating story, amy kellogg. thank you. >> heather: and the national day of prayer aimed at hearts and minds. we continue to monitor the rose garden right now for when the president steps up to say some words. we'll take you there live when we return. imagine traveling hassle-free with you

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with just a few clicks or a phone call we'll pick up and deliver your clubs on-time, guaranteed, for as low as $39.99. shipsticks.com saves you time and money. make it simple. make it ship sticks. >> heather: welcome back the international guard saying all nine crew members on a military cargo plane died in a crash in savannah, georgia yesterday. the plane was on its final flight before retirement when it fell out of the sky. >> across the air national guard we work together all the time in various situations. so we're brothers and sisters. we supported one another in these missions and so no matter who it is, you know, it hurts us when something like this happens and it affects all of us. >> heather: steve harrigan is live in savannah with the

latest. >> emergency responders have been down throughout the night and putting down foam from the cargo plane that crashed on this highway behind me at 11:30 a.m. yesterday. they've been trying to make sure that situation is secure. you can actually see when the plane took off it cleared the trees behind me and seemed to pause in the middle of the air before the nose pointed down and it crashed on the median of the highway. locals here said the sound was deafening, a fireball and black smoke that lasted for hours. it may have been the pilot was able to steer the plane in the final seconds onto that median avoiding what officials say could have been a much worse tragedy. >> as far as we know there were no cars hit in this crash. it is a miracle. at that time of day and that intersection. >> this plane was scheduled to

be decommissioned. and put in storage in the bone yard. puerto rico officials have said the plane was 60 years old. military will be in charge of the investigation. results could be known in a few weeks. back to you. >> heather: what a crash site. thank you very much, steve harrigan live for us. >> jon: just in on the harassment claims against two network news stars after a "washington post" report that sexual misconduct incidents involving charlie rose were widespread. another woman comes forward accusing tom brokaw of inappropriate behavior. howie kurtz and author of media madness, the war over the truth. howard, i guess one of the disturbing parts of this "washington post" piece is not just the accusations and the widespread nature of them but

the way management reacted over at cbs. >> a whole bunch of disturbing parts to this story. the level of graphic detail is chilling. 27 different women, some of them on the record talking about charlie rose groping them, engaging in lewd talk, exposing himself and so on. so that in and of itself shows he has been doing this sort of thing allegedly since 1976. you put your finger on the button. on at least three occasions according to the post report cbs managers were warned about his behavior and did nothing raising the question of whether or not the brass there felt that charlie rose was such a big star they gave him -- looked the other way at this repeated behavior according to this story. >> jon: now that he is gone, i guess the belief is that sort of the problem has been taken care of. >> yeah, but that's not quite a case. for one thing how did cbs -- the question has come up at

other networks including fox news. how did the culture there allow it to go on where specific women were complaining and nothing happened? one cbs young woman, many of these women were young and laughed at when she talked about not wanting to be alone with him and it happened at pbs, too. the executive producer didn't do anything there after building told of this kind of alleged sexual misconduct. some of these women plan to sue. a lot more will come out. i'm not saying everybody at cbs news knew about it. one said he respected charlie's talents but if i knew there was a darker side he never would have been hired. >> jon: rose's response, your story is unfair and inaccurate. not exactly a denial. >> sorry, but that won't cut it. a one word statement saying

this didn't happen really doesn't give anybody any confidence given the fact that so many of these women are recounting in detail what happened over a period of 30 years or more. and some of them, as i say, are on the record. >> jon: there were so many stories written about this network over the course of the last year or two when various employees were accused of misbehaviors. but the charlie rose thing and the tom brokaw charges are not getting the same kind of coverage. >> well, this round of the charlie rose allegations that just broke early this morning. we'll see where it goes there. i do think when he was fired by cbs and pbs it got a lot of coverage. matt lauer got a lot of coverage. the tom brokaw story, by a former fox news host of forcible kissing and another woman has come forward and written a piece about 50 years

ago brokaw allegedly kissing her forcibly. i think the media have given him a pass. i covered tom brokaw for years. had distinguished career. a lot of friends in the business, he is 78 and a lot of people aren't giving it the kind of attention that other news organizations including fox received when there were these kinds of sexual harassment problems. >> jon: true when linda vester brought the story forward she is talking about a time period 25 years ago. it is not -- it's not that recent. >> heather: -- >> this is what happened with the me too movement, women are talking about things that happened decades ago. it is in a different category in the case of charlie rose, some of it happening in recent years including in his time at 60 minutes. >> jon: sometimes where there is smoke there is fire but also sometimes when somebody sees somebody who is, you know,

fallen off the pinnacle it is easy to take pot shots at them, too. we have to keep in mind that these are allegations and none of this has been proven. >> we have to keep it in perspective. especially the fact that some of it happened decades ago. these men are entitled to the presumption of innocence. when they don't respond and issue a one-sentence brushing it off i don't think it helps them but you make a good point. >> jon: in the case of nbc, matt lauer was the golden boy of the network and tom brokaw is a legendary figure there. still works occasionally for the network even in semi retirement and they obviously have a vested interest in trying to protect him and his reputation. >> he was the face of nbc news for a quarter century, an icon in the business. in the case of matt lauer and charlie rose i give them credit for firing them immediately but the story doesn't end there because now as this post story suggests there were warnings to

management why was it allowed to go on for so long with what we now know are more than two dozen women? >> jon: howard kurtz, thank you. good to see you. >> heather: we've been monitoring the rose garden where the president, president trump is set to speak at the national day of prayer. several speakers have said some words, about 200 people we're told from across faith-based communities on hand to listen to what the president has to say. there will be another ceremony this evening around 7:00 p.m. there is actually a theme for today. the theme is unity. we expect the president to touch on that among some other things. let's pause and listen. >> president trump: thank you. please, thank you very much. what a day, what a beautiful day. our country is doing very well. you will see some good announcements very shortly. it's wonderful to be here on this glorious spring morning as we celebrate the national day

of prayer at the white house in the rose garden. [applause] i want to thank vice president mike pence and karen for joining us. very special people. thank you very much. [applause] we are truly blessed to have a vice president and a second lady who believe in the power of prayer and the glory of god and they do believe. i'm with them a lot. they believe. thank you, mike. thanks also to the members of the cabinet who have joined us today along with so many amazing faith leaders from across the country, including my good friend paula white who has done such an incredible job. paula, stand. [applause] thank you, paula. and the president of the national day of prayer, dr. ronny floyd.

thank you, doctor, thanks, ronny. [applause] i especially want to recognize sissy graham lynch. you like it that way better, right? i like it that way, too. i like it that way because you are married to a great gentleman. fantastic man. sissy, thank you very much for being here. we appreciate it very much. [applause] priests, sister bingham, chaplain, rabbi, cardinal, and the hope christian church choir. i heard you right inside the oval office. that was beautiful. that was great music. thank you. thank you very much. [applause] as we gather this morning our thoughts also turn to the memory of a man who awakened

the light of god in the hearts of millions of americans, pastors and that's the great legendary, wonderful billy graham. great man. [applause] so sissy, i want to thank you for carrying on your grandfather's incredible towering legacy. today we remember the words of reverend graham, prayer is the key that opens us to the treasures of god's mercy and blessing. always beautiful. when he said it, it meant so much. when i say it, it means something but i like when he said it better, right? he did that a little better than i do. reverend graham's words remind us that prayer has always been at the center of american life because america is a nation of believers. right? [applause]

the prayers of religious believers helped gain our independence and the prayers of religious leaders like the reverend martin luther king, great man, helped win the long struggle for civil rights. faith has shaped our families and it has shaped our communities. it has inspired our commitment to charity and our defense of liberty. and faith has forged the identity and the destiny of this great nation that we all love. [applause] americans of faith have built the hospitals that care for our sick, the homes that tend to our elderly, and the charities that house the orphaned an they minister to the poor so

beautifully and with such love. we're proud of our religious heritage and as president i will always protect religious liberty. we've been doing it. we've been doing it. [applause] last year on this day i took executive action to prevent the johnson amendment, a disaster, from interfering with our first amendment rights. i was so proud of that. i've been saying from the beginning, you know that. [applause] i was saying for a long time we are going to do that. across the government we have taken action to defend the religious conscience of doctors, nurses, teachers, students and groups like the little sisters of the poor. [applause] in january of this year, i was proud to be the first president to stand here in the rose garden to address the march for

life. a very special day. [applause] and my administration has spoken out against religious persecution around the world, including the persecution of many, many christians. what is going on is horrible. and we are taking action. we are taking action. [applause] we condemn all crimes against people of faith and today we are launching another historic action to promote religious freedom. i will soon be signing an executive order to create a faith initiative at the white house. [applause] the faith initiative will help design new policies that recognize the vital role of

faith in our families, our communities, and our great country. this office will also help ensure that faith-based organizations have equal access to government funding and the equal right to exercise their deeply-held beliefs. we take this stepbecause we know thatin solving the many, many problems and our great challenges faith is more powerful than government, and nothing is more powerful than god. [applause] with us today is a living reminder of this truth. his name is john ponder from las vegas, nevada. where is john. come up here, john, get up here, john. [applause]

john grew up without his father. as he tells it, my mother was strong but she wasn't able to keep us out of the gangs and off the streets, right? john was in and out of jail for years until at age 38 he was arrested for bank robbery. you don't look like a bank robber, john. he has come a long way. john soon ended up in federal prison relegated to solitary confinement. that's where god found him. john began to read the bible and listen to christian radio, right? incredible. one morning at 2:00 a.m. he

woke up to the voice of the great billy graham. reverend graham's words came through the airways, jesus wants to be lord of your life. that night john dedicated his life to christ. [applause] he spent the rest of his time in prison praying, studying the bible and bringing the lord to his fellow inmates. the day after john's release, a visitor knocked on his door. it was the man who put him in jail, f.b.i. special agent richard beasley, who is here. richard? come on up, richard. [applause] i want you to know that i've

been praying for you very strongly, he said that. god called me to the f.b.i. in part because of you, john. the two are now life long friends. john, do you like him? >> i love him. >> president trump: you love him? that's nice. [applause] that's beautiful. john runs a ministry that has helped more than 2,000 former inmates rejoin society and he is the talk of the country. the job john does is incredible. john and richard, you are a living testament to the power of prayer. [applause] your story reminds us that prayer changes hearts and transforms lives. it uplifts the soul, inspires

action, and unites us all as one nation under god. so important. and we say it here, you know? [applause] a lot of people don't say it. but you know what? they're starting to say it more just like we're starting to say merry christmas when that day comes around. you notice a big difference between now and two or three years ago? it was going in the other direction rapidly, right? now it's straight up. our country was founded on prayer. our communities are sustained by prayer and our nation will be renewed by hard work, a lot of intelligence, and prayer. [applause] today we gather to remember this truth. we thank god for the faith of

our people. we praise god for the blessings of freedom, and we ask god to forever bless this magnificent land that we all love so much, america. thank you, god bless you, and god bless the united states. thank you, everybody. thank you very much. thank you, john. [applause] >> jon: so as the president wraps up his remarks in the rose garden outside the white house we're expecting him to sign this order, this executive order to be begin a faith initiative, as he called it, at the white house, to stress the vital role that faith plays in our country and to make sure that people of faith have equal

access to government funding. the president said faith is more powerful than government and nothing is more powerful than god. i'm reminded of that situation, the lutheran church playground in columbia, missouri that was denied federal funds to resurface the playground because even -- well because it was an application that came from a religious institution. that case went all the way to the supreme court and that's the kind of thing the president seems to be hoping to address with the signing of this executive order. [applause] >> heather: there you go. he also said prayer is the key to opening god's blessings and talked about reverend billy graham and referenced reverend martin luther king saying faith as shaped and inspired people in the united states and that faith has forged the identity and destiny of this great

nation. >> jon: so the ink is now dry on his executive order and the rose garden ceremony wrapping up there with president trump on this national day of prayer thanking those who have assembled there. quite an amazing story of john ponder, the former bank robber and federal prison inmate who has begun a ministry and supported in that effort by the f.b.i. agent who put him in prison. >> heather: coming up this evening we talked about the next ceremony, which is about 7:30 this evening and he is actually going to have pastor frank and sherry pomeroy of the first baptist church of sutherland springs, texas. we have other stories we'll continue to follow. let's take you to the iran deal. president trump has just over a week to decide if he will remain in the iran nuclear deal. he has been a vocal opponent of

the agreement since it was signed calling it one of the worst deals he has ever seen. you've heard him say that. our european allies and u.n. secretary general are urging the president to change his mind. william boykin is a former deputy under secretary of defense for intelligence in the george w. bush administration and executive vice president at the family research council and joins us now. you are an ordained minister. thank you for joining us on this national day of prayer. >> thank you very much. glad to be with you. >> heather: in terms of this iran deal what do you believe the president is going to do? >> well, it's hard to say for sure but i think that the president campaigned on getting out of this iran deal and i think that he is going to do so. i don't think that he will be foolish about it in terms of the way he does it. i think he will invite the other six parties, the other six signatories to this iran deal to take another look at this and come up with some

additional provisions that we can demand from iran on this, which they'll probably reject. but i think ultimately he is going to insist on getting out of this deal. if our allies will not cooperate in relooking at this thing. >> heather: just over the week to decide. you mention additional provisions. what would some of those be that you think should be in there? >> i think it would have to include the testing of their long-range intercontinental ballistic missiles and even some of their shorter-range missiles in the jihad category. i think it would probably include unfettered inspections being able to go into their military installations and inspect them. not having to give them a lot of advance notice of an inspection coming. that's the only way you can be sure they are complying. given what prime minister netanyahu unfolded just a couple of days ago, i don't think anybody in the world can

question the prudence of relooking at this deal. >> heather: what do you think about that? israel came out and said they had 55,000 pages of evidence and 183 cds relating to the secret nuclear weapons program. as you were listening to all that what were your thoughts? >> well, my thoughts were that there is no surprises here. i think that this is certainly more detailed than any of us outside of the intel community would have thought but there is no surprises here. we've known for a long time that they had every intention of maintaining a capability to produce a nuclear warhead very rapidly. particularly as the sunset clause sets in on this iran deal. and the thing that surprised me the most was, number one, was the way the prime minister was giving a really tactical level brief. i have never seen that before. number two, how on earth do the intel apparatus got all this

information out of iran. i have to tell you, that was a surprise. >> heather: it was amazing to think how that all unfolded in terms of getting in there, getting the information and then getting back out. moving down the road you were talking about the sunset clause. what would happen if that was taken out next? >> well, of course, you know, they have the -- within this deal they have a provision that allows them to develop more modern centrifuges and keeping centrifuges as well. now with these advanced centrifuges, to actually produce material quickly when the sunset clause has occurred. and that's assuming they're not doing it now underground or out of sight. so i think this is -- everybody that has done an objective analysis on this believes that in a very quick period of time they can use these centrifuges

to make a nuclear warhead. >> heather: a big sticking point with president trump. thank you so much for joining us, general. we appreciate it. >> thank you. glad to be with you. >> heather: we'll be right back. stay with us. child: bye, grandpa and if you have heart failure, entrusting your heart to entresto may help. entresto is a heart failure medicine that helps improve your heart's ability to pump blood to the body. in the largest heart failure study ever, entresto was proven superior at helping people stay alive and out of the hospital compared to a leading heart failure medicine. don't take entresto if pregnant. it can cause harm or death to an unborn baby. don't take entresto with an ace inhibitor or aliskiren, or if you've had angioedema with an ace or arb. the most serious side effects are angioedema, low blood pressure, kidney problems, or high blood potassium. ask your doctor about entresto.

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>> happy thursday. outnumbered starts now. >> fox news alert surprising new details in the stormy daniels controversy. now, rudy guiliani revealing president trump reimbursed his long-time lawyer michael cohen for that $130,000 payment to the adult film star. guiliani says the president did not know the money was going to daniels. and insists nothing illegal happened on behalf of his campaign. this is "outnumbered." i'm sandra smith, host of kennedy on fox business, kennedy. hoe coast of cox fox and friends weekend abby huntman. fox news analyst marie harff.