million more americans to poverty and the food stamp role, and we are doing much better now. we will always be fair and balanced, but let not your heart be troubled. there she is, i got the football. this is a hannity original football. >> laura: i have one question, is that a regulation sized leather football? >> this is a hannity football, it's unique. >> laura: . my 5-year-old could catch that football. i want a big football made in the united states. >> i will sign one to laura and graham. take it over, i have great show. >> laura: raymond through it, i don't know if it was all that

good of a throw. good evening, this is "the ingraham angle." what a day of bombshells over the molar mueller investigatiod trump. we will tell you how they are big wiretaps group missed the mark just a bit. and remember rob but gloria bl? well, tonight she is here with a message for them and a warning for president trump. and ben shapiro will join us to defend himself against the outrageous accusation that he incited a deadly attack on a mosque. but we begin with nbc walking back its big story today, that the feds had wiretapped the phones of the president's personal attorney michael cohen. the story now has a lengthy correction on top saying that

three senior officials disputed that report, but the correction explains that they were monitored but not wiretapped. and investigators didn't actually listen to his calls. well, fox news has confirmed that at least one of his phones was monitored with a device that records phone numbers dialed and the length of those calls and rudy julie rudy giuliani se reports same, we think it's untrue because it would be totally illegal. disclosing a wiretap is itself a federal felony. all of this came after giuliani emphasized that the trump team will know longley comic mongers sit idly by while mueller's investigation creeps into every aspect of the president's life.

>> this started with the collusion of the russians. no. now they go to obstruction of justice, collusion among the players. what they are really trying to do is trap them into perjury and we are not suckers. >> laura: let's get into today's developments with white house secretary ari fleischer, and a former fec chairman, bradley smith. guys, we have so much to get through. i want to go to you first, bradley. there was a moment during the interview this morning with rudy giuliani, where he again reiterated that this was not a campaign contribution, and then he added another thought that seem to contradict the first thought. let's watch. >> if we had to defend this as not being it campaign contribution, i think we could do this. this was for personal reasons, this was the president had been hurt personally, not politicall politically. and the first lady, by some of

the folks' allegations. that one false allegation was six years old, and i think he was trying to help the family. for that, the man is being treated like some kind of villain and i think he was just being a good lawyer. imagine if that came out on october 15, 2016, and the middle of the last debate with hillary clinton. >> so to make it go away, call me made it go away, he did his job. >> laura: bradley, do you see my point there, it was all during the campaign. whether it was three weeks before the election or two weeks before the election, i wasn't quite getting that particular point. and whether it makes a difference in terms of any sec violations. speak to write, i don't know exactly what rudy was thinking, but the basic law on this is, many things that can influence a campaign or not it campaign expenditures. so if the candidate thinks, i would look great in that new

suit, he might spend $1800 on a suit, but it's not a campaign expenditure. if he thinks, i would do better on this grueling campaign, if i had a week at martha's vineyard first, not a campaign expenditure, personal expenditure. the rule on this is not that something related to the campaign is a campaign expenditure, it's something related to the campaign as a campaign expenditure. the sec rejected those. that has to be an obligation that would not exist but for the campaign. i think there is a strong argument at least from what we know publicly where trump would have said, we would have made these payments. celebrities would have made these kinds of payments. he would have reasons like, protecting his family, protecting his commercial viability, not wanting the distraction. all of those things that might have made him want to do it. they have made similar payments in the past, and even stormy

daniels if we are to believe her said in her "60 minutes" interview that it is as far back as 2011 she was told not to say anything about this, suggesting that long before he was a candidate they wanted to keep this quiet. i think there's a very strong argument that this is not a campaign contribution, whether cohen paid it and trump reimbursed him or what, but it's not a campaign expenditure. >> laura: does it all go to the state of mind of donald trump, when he was reimbursing, during what time frame, is not relevant here to look at this? because away bradley just described it, i completely understand that. but the way of course it's being reported across most media today, it is burned down the house kind of stuff. your reaction? >> bradley: well i would never burn down the house for this kind of campaign law violation,

assuming it is one. this is not the crime of the century, its relatively small potatoes. bradley is more of an expert on the election law than i am and i always thought the test was, is it for the purpose of influencing the campaign? so it's always a question if you do something 11 days before the campaign, but it's relatively a fact question. and by no means would be easy to prove. but again, in the grand scheme of things, it's relatively minor. i can't imagine any president being impeached, much less prosecuted for a felony for that. it doesn't change the fact that rudy isn't really talking about it in a very intelligent way and that it's very dangerous to go on television and start talking about what your client said and did. >> laura: regarding i want to r you a montage that media com did about this wiretap issue. watch. >> they were able to get texts, emails and wiretaps on his many

phone lines, leading up to the rate and continuing. >> if you are involved in a conspiracy, crime or dirty tricks. >> or cover-up or obstruction. >> if there is evidence of the crime, i don't care if you are the president's lawyer. you get the same treatment i do, you go to the judge and say, i want to listen to his phone. >> well it turns out that that didn't happen and you wonder why people call it fake news. they were positively jubilant all day, like we will have the recordings, we will be able to the speculation about what the conversation might have been if trump actually had a conversation, i have never heard anything like that. your reaction to this media feeding frenzy? >> ari: the whole direction of the press has been blaming donald trump for everything. when nbc hears about something

like this, they haven't explained how and why they got it wrong. they run with it and, cnn, msnbc and cbs have never explained how they put a story on the air saying multiple sources read a memo saying that donald trump jr. had advanced notice of the wikileaks. now they have to retract that because a person reading the memo got a date wrong and the notice was after the wikileaks was aired. but they never explain how they possibly all could have had multiple sources getting that story wrong because this threshold is so low for anti-trump stories. and it's hurting journalism, it's one of the reasons america splitting into two, frankly. you have those who don't believe the press and others who hate donald trump. it's not healthy for the countries who have the press get it wrong. >> laura: and by the way, the attorney for stormy daniels was invited on the show but he declined.

he was also out there saying, this is a fact. i noticed they are treating him like he's just an objective analyst, whether it's about the law or what happened. he keeps saying, it's a fact. and you see these journalists stroking their chin, it's a fact. of course it wasn't a fact, it wasn't a fact, it was in effect at all. >> ari: they treat him the way they treated adam "press play" shift. they have no cynical tough questions asked. >> laura: i want to go to you on this other developer that we learned today. the email that michael cohen used too i guess facilitate or finalize the deal with the payment to daniel, was a

trump.org email. does not have any bearing on this case and will not be looked at by mueller, who we know -- and we will get into this in the next segment -- we know can be overzealous and pushes the boundaries of the law to get something he wants. it's not first time it's happened. we saw that with the blood goya veg case. spivak of course, i can't say what mueller will do. but if it's not a campaign expenditure, if it wasn't an obligation that would not have existed but for the campaign, then it doesn't matter how it was paid. it would have to come from someplace else. in fact this is one of the problems. imagine if the trump folks had paid for this with campaign funds and reported this as a campaign expenditure. i can guarantee you, and you can bet the farm, they would have filed complaints alleging that this was an illegal diversion of

campaign funds for personal use, and that is the problem that you have here. so either they will get them coming or going and if he spent his campaign funds, they would say you can't spend campaign funds for that, it's personal. if he spends personal funds they would say, that had to have been to benefit your campaign and that's illegal, it can benefit both. >> laura: let's move on to monitor of perhaps text messages. who was being texted, not the content but who was being texted. and it, monitoring of cohen's phone calls. to whom was he speaking? so not the content, but the log of the calls. is that surprising to you, unusual to you, or what would that indicate that mueller believes? >> it's actually -- first of all, remember this is a southern district issue, not a mueller

issue. but it's relatively standard operating procedure and you don't need probable cause for that. you've seen hundreds of thousands of cases throughout the country, and by the way, on this nbc thing, if nbc had talked to anybody who is knowledgeable on criminal law and white-collar cases, he would have immediately said, that can't be right. that story can't be right because giuliani is right about that, it's a crime to leak something like that. it's incredibly serious, more serious than leaking grand jury information. i knew the story couldn't be right when i heard it. why didn't they check with somebody who actually know something about criminal federal law before going with this? >> laura: the southern district, what it finds however, if it finds something and all those documents that they took from michael cohen's various places of residence, and

anything related to russia or ten tangential to the russian investigation, that could be used as a proxy to get information for mueller, right? >> if you are cynical, you could use it as a proxy. >> laura: you know me after all this time, i'm a little cynical about this. >> you are right. >> laura: i am a former defense prosecutor diff attornu are a former prosecutor so you know. >> if i come across something that is evidence of a crime and it's in mueller's valley wick, goes back to evidence. but you look at what numbers you are dialing, how many times are they talking to this person, but they are not actually getting the content of the message. >> laura: sold they say after

his offices were raided, he made a phone call to a white house number, they can put the screws on cohen and asked to whom did you speak and what did you speak about? right? he can refuse to answer or they could get someone at the white house to answer that question, otherwise they won't find out what happened. >> right, but i guarantee you as a general matter, they will be putting the screws to cohen across the board. that's obvious from the way they are conducting this investigation. the question is, what do they have on him that has nothing to do with the president? >> laura: i have to play this for him. to indeed the press focused right on -- well you said the opposite about stormy daniels. >> explain why the president, when he asked questions to reporters, a few details about

the $35,000. why the president was not truthful with the american people? >> as mayor giuliani stated, and i will refer you back to his comment, this was information that the president did not know at the time but eventually learned. >> how are the american people to trust or believe what is said here and i'm the president? >> we give the best information that we have at the time. >> circle may 3 on the calendar because this is the day when we look back in the briefing that sarah sanders made it so painfully clear that she has lost the trust of the reporters in that room. >> laura: i think it's so funny for sarah sanders to talk about losing credibility with the american people. that really stood out to me. she goes out and says what she knows, and i thought that was a low blow, cheap shot by that cnn political director.

>> ari: that's tough, it's a hard job especially when you are giving and complete information as the press secretary. and if incomplete information is given to you, you are particularly vulnerable. and they were being precisely accurate. but they both omitted crucial information. sarah, when she briefed the press and said no payments by the president, either sarah went one step too far and over spoke, or the president gave her information that turned out to be incorrect. i don't know which of those two is the fact. but the timetable, sarah, is 100% right and it's entirely reasonable for the president not to have known with specificity what michael cohen did in october of 2015, but he learned it later. that makes all kinds of sense and i wouldn't be surprised if they actually have that as the usual routine. michael cohen cleans it up and doesn't fill in all the details

and the president is happy to know not not to know the details. tough day to be the press secretary but there is irony in the day the nbc gets it wrong and media and cnn regularly has it wrong. blame the press secretary forgetting something wrong. >> laura: it's interesting today, we will go to bradley on this and then saul. george conway, i've known him for 25 years, very smart lawyer. he decided to tweet out -- i believe it was a regulation. he says, not considered the candidates personal funds. and then he recites the relevant part of the statute. that was considered to be interesting because of course, he is the husband of kellyanne conway. it would lead people to believe that george conway, another smart lawyer, is saying he is

trying to influence the election with this michael cohen payment. to me, that seemed like a huge leap, bradley, and it was like a head-scratcher for me. and i love george, i was like, why the heck are you sending out that tweet? he doesn't know the background on this and i don't think any of us do. it still being developed. >> bradley: one of the things we can't for the last year, everyone lets conclusions outrun the facts on the ground. the statute basically says a campaign expenditure, something for the purpose of influencing a campaign, but that has to be considered in conjunction with other definitions of the statute. and another part of the statute specifically says what are not campaign expenditures. and things are not campaign expenditures if the obligation would have existed irrespective of the campaign. like buying a new suit, getting a haircut, or for some people, i suppose having to pay off people

who are harassing you with threats. >> laura: >> laura: for nuisanc. now saul, i want your opinion on that. for this operation, it's a huge organization and he's a big target as a celebrity. this probably could have been done before? or was done before, i have no idea. but if it was, that goes to the intent issue. >> saul: it is a fact question, like i said. 11 days before the campaign, it will be a fact question. the reason i think george -- i don't know him, but i will call him george. the reason he sent that out is because giuliani said, the president paid for it with his personal funds. ergo, for sure it is not a campaign violation. i think he is just pointing out that it's not who pays the funds. he's not saying it is a campaign violation but, he saying for the guy that pays the funds, that's the purpose of it. >> laura: maybe he's just

saying, i'm smarter than you are. i'm just teasing. the russia probe isn't the first time that mueller and his pals have been accused of trying to railroad a huge politician. our exclusive interview with blagojevich and his wife, coming up. is different. flonase relieves sneezing, itchy, watery eyes and a runny nose, plus nasal congestion, which pills don't. flonase helps block 6 key inflammatory substances. most pills only block one. and 6 is greater than 1. start your day with flonase for more complete allergy relief. flonase. this changes everything.

>> laura: could history be repeating itself with overzealous prosecutor seeking fame and glory? mark vargas cited the fate of former illinois governor, rob blagojevich of illinois. democrat is serving a 14 year sentence for corruption. vargas argued that the stomach he was a victim of overzealous prosecution.

it was then that fbi director bob mueller, who in 2008 authorized a totally unnecessary and ruthless predawn raid of the governor. here with us exclusively are blagojevich's wife, patty, and chicago attorney lynn goodman, who represents the former governor. it's great to see both of you. patty, your husband has been in jail for now seven years of a 14 year sentence. he was convicted on a couple of different corruption charges, bribery and extortion i believe. i think when people hear that they think, he must have taken a bribery, or promise to do something for someone giving him money, and he must have been heard or there must have been documentary evidence saying all that. but in fact, none of that happened. >> none of that at all. for me listening to your show, it's almost like yogi berra says, deja vu all over again.

ten years ago, the same people, comey, fitzgerald and mueller, these out-of-control prosecutors came after my husband with their unchecked power to undo an election by the people. these people are so far from eliot ness, they are a million light light years away. they are using their offices for their own personal enrichment to further their career to sell books. speed >> laura: i don't think bb muller needs to further his career, he is the fbi director. he's esteemed by republicans and democrats. however, and you could get in on this, he did authorize a raid that was reminiscent of manna pl manna fort and cohen.

it was a predawn raid, they go in and take everything out of the apartment. and it happened to you guys. >> it completely unnecessary and a white color case. they could have called the lawyer and he would have come down and surrendered. to do that to his two young children was disgraceful. >> we have to remember that patrick fitzgerald, for people that are watching are like, why are you talking about this guy, patrick fitzgerald? it goes back into the 80s, and he went back to scooter libby. outrageous prosecution, and he went after conrad black. the court part of that conviction overturned by the supreme court. and of course not once but two times, they tried blagojevich. the court sadly didn't take the case a couple of weeks ago and they could have cleared up this ridiculous federal bribery statute which is extremely confusing, wide enough to drive

a truck through. and yet he is praised for being -- is the most esteemed person. he did the enron investigation and the enron case. but there were problems there, too. arthur anderson ends up getting exoneration exonerated, meanwhile they laid off 85,000 people in the interi interim. in some cases, they are protecting them but they have unchecked power often times and it can be out of control. and i'm sorry, but as i speak of the former criminal defense attorney, i don't want to be on my high horse, and say the defense is always right because it's not. but if they want to get you for something, they will get you. >> that's true. blagojevich was investigated early on in his administration. he and his family endured a five years of investigations. he sat for two interviews with the fbi.

he was someone who believed in the system and believed he was interested in doing right. as patty said, he never took a bribe, never took a kickback, the only elected officials that have ever been prosecuted for corruption. fund-raising and doing fits political deals. they went after him, and when the federal government invest resources and their credibility in making the case that someone is corrupt, they will do whatever it takes. >> laura: if their job is to prosecute, and you have come up empty, he didn't take a bribe, he didn't fly in a fancy jet, he didn't take vacations on someone else's time. but the court will convince a jury to say, he believed that he might have to do something that a donor wanted him to do. that is crazy. bob mcdonald ultimately got exonerated for that.

but we can't really -- i have to say to the people watching. bob muller, jim comey and patrick fitzgerald, just because they are smart guys and went to great schools and have done some stuff in their careers doesn't mean they will always get it right. if you are overzealous and you have a history of being overzealous in the high profile cases, we just listed three. patrick fitzgerald, conrad black, stuart libby and now has paul >> powell comey. you have to start asking tough questions. patty, i will let you speak. i know you have a heavy heart and walked on your mind. but if you could tell donald trump one thing other than pardon your husband or commute his sentence, what would you tell him about bob muller ?

>> patty: i think the president knows that when people have unchecked power it's a very dangerous thing. and we believed in the courts. we believe the court system would work properly. and so without -- and unfortunately, our trust was myth to misplaced. without the justice system at work and people operated in true and honest motives. we were sadly mistaken and this is something that he is seeing now unfortunately what we have gone through ten years ago and what we have been going through for the past ten years. if they can bring down my husband who was governor of the fifth-largest state, for asking for campaign contributions, no one is safe in this country. not a single donor is safe and not a single politician who has to ask for campaign contributions is safe. >> laura: thank you both for being here tonight, for telling your story. litigating the case in the press

is very difficult but, at some point i guess i feel like they have no other options given the enormity of the special counsel's office. the power they have, the manpower they have. they have lots of legal eagles working for them and now trump has beefed up his team, so i guess bring it on. and by the way, immigrants in that caravan we talked about at the border have begun applying for asylum. but their american organizers are very and inpatient with the legal process. >> the fact that they can't move this group of 150 refugees is not lack of capacity, its lack of political will. >> laura: stay right there with my exclusive interview with the mexican ambassador to the united states, who has the very latest for us. don't go away

>> laura: most of those caravan immigrants are now in the united states for processing and are expected to file for asylum. but the groups american organizers are bowing to get every single one of most of those central americans into the country, and to say >> to stay permanently. meanwhile the doj has sent dozens of prosecutors and judges to the border to make sure those asylum claims are valid. they have their work cut out for them. let's discuss the situation as it relates also to mexico as this caravan is now kind of an annual thing. geronimo gutierrez, the mexican ambassador to the united states is with us.

which mucho gusto. people are wondering, how do people do this annually? they take this long trek through mexico and at one point the honduran ambassador marched with the migrants saying he was on orders to do that, which was wild. but how do they manage to get across the border in mexico and then four weeks make their way to the u.s. border? >> they started it several years back to call attention to human rights fundamentally in mexico. and the united states and mexico are obligated by international law on asylum matters. and the truth is this year at the caravan so much attention that people were much more interested, and some of the people that were not originally in the caravan joined it. and that's the truth.

the caravan select >> started with around 3,000 people. and the truth is, i can understand why here people get the perception that the mexican government is not doing much, which is certainly not the case. first of all, i will give you the figure that over the last ten years, mexico has repatriated around 1.1 million people. according to law and due process -- . >> laura: how many of the caravan folks did you deport? >> geronimo: around 260 were repatriated. several were actually offered some form of humanitarian assistance, and some indeed got to the border. >> laura: were some not wanting to stay in mexico?

i kept thinking, if you want to get out of trouble in honduras, why not apply for asylum in mexico? mexico has to be called a safe country, is that correct? >> wherever migration takes place, throughout our country, in fact we have very good cooperation with cbt and dhs. we don't see eyeball on eyeball to everything. but i think we left that behind. >> laura: i'm never leaving that behind. but, mexico is in favor of sharing orders. >> former president of mexico, a very interesting guy and very colorful figure.

let's watch. >> laura: so we shouldn't have a border? >> we should have a border. >> laura: do you have a fence in your house? >> if it should have been, it should happen in the next generation because we will be 1 1:1. >> laura: no border, is that a common feeling in mexico? >> geronimo: to tell you the truth, i actually served with president fox. and i have to disagree with him on this one. borders exist for a reason and good borders make good neighbors. now that is not what everybody believes in mexico, we believe in having secure borders. we are working very closely in that regard with the united states. >> laura: i know the united states is offering assistance in the southern border. it's how long, about 800 miles long?

>> geronimo: we work very closely with different agencies in mexico. >> laura: but people are streaming across, correct? >> geronimo: if you look we have work according to international law and due process, and repatriated over 1.1 million people in less than ten years. they are essentially coming to our southern borders. >> laura: will if you guys are doing your jobs, why is jeff session saying this? >> we are adding 35 board >> agents to the border, and we are also announcing we are moving 16 or 18 immigration judges to the border. we are going to not let this country be overwhelmed. people are not going to caravan or otherwise stampede our borders. >> laura: i got to meet you a month or so ago, two months ago.

you lived in texas, i mean if you are american, you would be a conservative republican. you are in a tough pickle though because we have now had a 238% increase year to year from april of 2017 through april of 2018. that southwest border, not coming from clan mike canada. >> geronimo: but the number at the border is way down. >> laura: that's because it's a tough rhetoric, we will build them all and while in mexico ps for it. we are doing catch and release, we are catching them, processing them, and saying, goodbye. i think they have a shared interest in making sure that whatever takes place is legal, safe and orderly. and we do need to make sure that

there are sufficient avenues for that. if you look at the future immigration for mexico, and that's not the fault for the responsibility of the u.s. the u.s. should also recognize that there is at the need for those people here. mexicans don't have a cheap plan saying, go on break the law in the u.s. >> laura: immigration in mexico is actually way down but the northern triangle is up. that is where a concerted effort between mexico and the united states to stop these people from making the track, because if it is 200 that are getting in under asylum, that's phony. it's just going to keep getting worse and worse. >> geronimo: last year that's why we had the u.s. and mexico had a meeting that took place to address both the development side of the equation, and also

the migration and security side. we should do more of that. we cannot be satisfied will >> with what is going on. nor the central united states nor the americans. >> laura: we had lots of remittances going back to mexico for years and years, and those are down. you don't want the guns in the united states going in mexico, we don't want the drugs from mexico coming to the united states or the cartels or human traffickers, we don't want any of that. but i'm telling you, honduras loves the american dollars going in, it's 19% of the gdp. 20%, let me do the math. that's one fifth of the gdp, that's a lot. it's good to have you on. i think there is a lot mexico and the united states can do to improve the united states. and i'm optimistic about nafta.

are you optimistic? >> geronimo: we still need to tackle some issues but nafta is very important for the u.s. and mexico. i think there is a good faith effort, and i think good >> that good faith will be crucial. >> laura: we have to get it done now. mr. ambassador, thank you so much. stay right there, free speech on campus, is there any? ben shapiro defends himself against allegations that he incited a terrorist attack, no kidding. that's next in our "defending the first" segment. in the aisle - without starting any conversations- -or paying any upcharges. what can i say? control suits me. go national. go like a pro.

>> laura: time now for our "defending the first" where we defend the amendment, and free thought. you all know ben shapiro, and if you don't, where have you been? he's become one of the nation's leading figures in the efforts to preserve free speech, especially on campus.

he's also been a frequent target of leftists for trying to shut down his free speech. what's the latest attempt? i was waiting for this. this is a campaign to blame ben shapiro for inciting a deadly terror attack on a canadian mosque last year. we welcome back to the angle, ben shapiro. the editor and chief of the daily wire. he looks so unassuming, and what do you weigh, like 150 pounds? >> 165, come on. laugh [laughs] >> laura: what you don't look like anything. explain how you are allegedly involved in inspiring this horrible attack on a mosque, because you made comments about islamic terror in the past and it was all stitched together? >> ben: there was this evil piece of human that shot up a mosque last year and he happened to be somebody that saw some of my tweets on twitter.

he had also seen tweets from people, from you and a bunch of different people but i guess my account was the one he had viewed the most. now i have 1.4 million twitter followers so if someone views enough of my tweets, they are inevitably going to become a terrorist. we are that i don't have a space of enormous terrorism across the country thanks to my twitter following, but none of this is real. people on the right did not say this was bernie sanders' fault. he is a crazy person. >> laura: well he plays fair and we don't care about those rules. their goal is to intimidate other conservatives using you as an abject lesson, we will use you as an example. and it doesn't matter if it's in canada or australia. we will brand you a hater, try

to stop your livelihood, stop you from making money and stop you from getting >> making speeches. that's what it's about. we have seen it with the southern poverty law center with their obscene list of islamic -- -- whatever it is, i think i'm on that list. >> ben: well, they are responsible for the attack on a family research council, since the guy who shot up the family research council was the founder of the splc. they apparently used their map of hate groups as a target. all of this is really dangerous and all of this is leading to an attempt in the united states by people on the far left to imitate what they have seen in places like britain and canada to actually shut down dissenting points of view if they do not meet with the politically correct standards of the left. so the fact that i have tweeted out about the evils of radical islam, and the percentage of muslims worldwide who believe

radical things based on poll data, this is apparently enough to blame me for a terrorist attack that was committed by a pure evil. but all of this is nonsense in order to shut down free speech. >> laura: connie west has -- kae west has become controversial, and now it turns out that we are seeing, perhaps connected to, i don't know, and increasing support amongst african-americans, especially african-american men. double support to -- i guess the figure is now up to 22%. it was 11% approval but now 22%, where the overall level is

increasing. that is interesting. is it just a coincidence here with kanye west? >> if that is a threat to the left, and it demonstrates how identity politics has to shutdown any real debate. i don't think kanye west should be nominated for the foundation. but what he did say here, listen. i'm not just a black guy, i'm an individual with my own thoughts and feelings and i get to formulate my own logic and i also get to figure out what i believe. if everyone else thought like this then perhaps we could have these conversations that we have been able to have so far. at least he began the conversation. i'm sunk >> stunned that he is doing it but it's in a pretty amazing thing that he's doing.

as hard, abusive and unjust as his past was, it doesn't have to define your future. and many philosophers have said that. hillary clinton was out there yesterday, or the day before yesterday, with a q&a about socialism, america, whatever. let's watch. >> you may be the only presidential candidate since world war ii that actually had to stand up and say, i am a capitalist, and you did. did it hurt you? >> probably. i mean it's hard to know but if you are in the iowa caucuses, and 41% of democrats are socialist or self-described socialists, and i answer >> ask if you are a capitalist and you say yes but with appropriate regulation and accountability, that probably gets lost in the, oh, my gosh, she's a capitalist. >> laura: all right, ben. one sentence.

>> ben: she actually stumbled across something that was true, and she said it. >> laura: inadvertent, but nevertheless. up next, religious liberties. at the white house and donald trump, what he did today. stay tuned. announcer: victory is coming at the kenneth copeland sacramento victory campaign, may 31st through june 2nd at the sacramento convention center. kenneth: god is a god of joy. the joy of the lord is our strength. female: i would

definitely come to hear kenneth copeland live. it's much more personable, and i'm telling you, it will really ignite your faith. announcer: join us for the kenneth copeland sacramento victory campaign, may 31st through june 2nd at the sacramento convention center. admission is free. register at kcm.org/sacramento.

>> laura: president trump established a new office in the white house to create partnerships between the government and faith-based groups. it was part of an executive order called white house faith and opportunity initiative that trump signed it today during a national day of prayer ceremony. >> we are proud of our religious heritage and as president, i will always protect religious liberty. the faith initiative will help design new policies that recognize the vital role of faith and our families, our communities and our great country. we take this step because we know that in solving the many, many problems and are great challenges, faith is more powerful than government, and nothing is more powerful than god. >> laura: i love that moment. trump may often sound like the most pro-faith president in modern times, but they're so much more to do.

it was a hot day, and outside of the white house there, a lot of evangelical christians, people were stunned. like, how do you guys support donald trump? married three times, all that deal. why does he speak to the faith today? >> while he's a total hero, this executive order this year was part two. last year at this national day of prayer, he ordered basically an audit of the entire federal government to determine every single example where religious liberty was violated, with a whole cabinet sitting there. this year he's saying, we cleaned all that up, and there is a whistle-blower element. he sank to the public, if you see a problem, tell us about it. how can we partner together as a faith community, and doing it in the rose garden, steps out of the rose garden was a powerful symbolic. >> laura: everything going on

and swirling around him. did any of you get together to pray regularly with him? >> we pray with the administration all the time. we pray with him and we pray with others. someone asked me, is it true that there is an evangelical in the white house every day? and i said, there are at least 25 per day, and a bunch of them on the cabinet as well. this is a faith friendly administration. >> laura: while he said, the help for the poor and the contraception mandate, we are getting rid of that. but congress has to do some of this stuff, but couldn't he with an executive order address that issue, then probably head to the course? >> the obama administration had deconstructed civil liberties. it took them an entire year to entice some of this. i think the little sisters of the poor, they will fight this to the very end because they were taken advantage of.

>> laura: while president trump is going to make sure this doesn't happen, but they are mandating contraception coverage to these nuns. >> 100% of the time, president trump has said he is supportive of civil liberties. i think when it is all said and done, when we see it again and again, the proof is in the policy. that's what we will see. and it is a national day of prayer. for eight years, obama had a private celebration. this was a powerful ceremony. >> laura: it's great to see you and we are praying right along with you. we will close it out. stay there, we will be right back. my day starts well before i'm in the kitchen.

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covered by most insurance and medicare plans. ♪ tresiba® ready ♪ >> laura: that's all the time we have left tonight. ed henry was at a charity event in new york and guess who he ran into. rudy giuliani. he is going to tell shannon what he found out up next. the "fox news @ night" team is going to take it from here. all of the new developments.

mueller and cohen and rudy. on and on. news didn't break totally tonight before your show but without you we'd give you a little bit of a reprieve. >> laura: we appreciate that we will get the inside scoop. thank you, laura. stay on fox news confirming president trump lawyer michael cohen was not wiretapped but federal investigators did keep a register or log of his phone calls. tom dupree joins us with legal analysis, and then jessica tarlov and jason chaffetz to beat the political fallout. and our very own head henry with rudy giuliani's might. we have the inside scoop on everything from his call to the attorney general to step in at his surprise revelation last night about the stormy daniels payment. tensions flaring with beijing. the pentagon accusing china of using lasers to injure two u.s. pilots over the skies of africa. hello, welcome to "fox news @ night." i am