after reading a description of the officer 65 and buff, the department was able to identify the secret shopper as school resource officer mike kelly. congratulations to him. thanks for joining us, everyone. i'm dana perino. >> shepard: it's noon on the west coast. 3:00 at the white house where we are about to hear live from president trump. he is honoring military moms and spouses. we will see if he mexicos any omentionsany of the stories developing now. white house briefing is set to start at the bottom of this hour. the first since we got word that three american prisoners are headed home from north korea. plus, the president's personal lawyer and fixer, michael cohen reportedly got cash from a company with ties to russia and hundreds of thousands of dollars from american companies a few months after paying off stormy daniels. why? why were they sending cash to michael cohen? let's get to it. >> now, shepard smith reporting live from the fox

news deck. >> shepard: first o on the fox news deck this afternoon president trump's pick to run the cia says torture does not work and she is vowing to never again allow it. >> i have on this issue. i want to be clear. having served in that tumultuous time i can offer you my personal commitment clearly and without reservation that under my leadership, on my watch, cia will not restart a detention and interrogation program. >> shepard: gina haspel appeared in front of the senate intelligence committee for a hearing today. the cia director nominee says there is no proof that enhanced interrogation techniques or torture helped get information from suspected terrorists. >> the president has asserted that torture works. do you agree with that statement? >> senator, i don't believe that torture works. i believe that in the cia's program and i'm not

attributing this to enhanced interrogation techniques, i believe as many people, directors who have sat in this chair before me that valuable information was obtained from senior al qaeda operatives that allowed us to defend this country and prevent another attack. >> is that a yes? >> no. it's not a yes. we got valuable information from debriefing of al qaeda detainees. and i don't think it's knowable whether interrogation techniques played a role in that. >> shepard: that matter is under dispute and others have said they got false information as a result. the former undercover agent faced tough questions about her role in a cia black site in thailand where interrogators used waterboarding and other torture methods following the attacks of 9/11. lawmakers also grilled gina haspel about her knowledge of why the cia shredded dozens of videotapes showing agents using torture. haspel said the recordings showed the faces of undercover spies and that put their lives at risk.

a lot of details about the cia's now outlawed interrogation program remain classified. waterboarding is torture and is not permitted under army guidelines. torture is illegal under international law. the supreme court noted in 2004 that the united states has a historical record as regarding waterboarding as a war crime and has prosecuted individuals for such practice in the past. our chief intelligence correspondent catherine herridge is live on capitol hill. catherine? >> well, shep, gina haspel testified today that there were 92 videotapes and that it was the decision, the call of her supervisor, jose rodriguez to have those videotapes destroyed for the reasons that you just mentioned because they showed the faces of cia officers and they were deeply concerned that the videos might be leaked and the officers' identities exposed. she also argued that there was no legal reason to keep the tapes because after multiple reviews it was

found that a transcript was enough as long as it was recorded in a cia cable which is considered a document of record. the interrogations that we're talking about have to do with an al qaeda operative, the accused mastermind of the 2000 bombing of the "u.s.s. cole" in the gulf of aden. so there were 92 tapes. they were destroyed. and they showed the detention and interrogation of that al qaeda operative. this was a central focus of the exchanges with senator dianne feinstein. >> were you an advocate for destroying the tapes? >> senator, i absolutely was an advocate. if we could, within and conforming to u.s. law. >> are you aware of what those tapes contained? >> no. i never watched the tapes but i understood that our officers' faces were on them and that was very dangerous at a time when there were unauthorized disclosures that were exposing the program. >> the number four person at the cia at that time who

released that policy or helped set policy for the interrogation program was john brennan. he was confirmed by the senate and many members, many democrats on the committee today when he served under president obama. for that reason republicans today called out a double standard because they said gina haspel was not a senior level decisionmaker a mid level manager that had no impact on policy, shep. >> shepard: some senators are talking about a possible conflict of interest for gina haspel. >> if there has been one issue that the democrats have been very strong on is that they want more records declassified about haspel's 32-years as a covert agent, so working under cover so that the american people can really independently assess her record and her work at the cia. there was a very important exchange with independent angus king over who is making the call to release those records. >> we are following the existing. >> who is we? >> well, i have chosen to follow the guidelines that exist. >> so you are making the

classification decisions about what material should be released to this committee? >> i'm electing not to make an exception for myself but i am adhering to existing rdi guidelines. >> we got some new information within the last half hour from chad pergram who reports that the state of play is that they expect to vote at the committee level next week and if haspel clears that hurdle she will have a full vote on the senate floor the week of the memorial day weekend. and we just learned in the last few minutes that senator joe manchin will vote in favor of gina haspel. that's important because republicans need to flip some democrats to get that confirmation across the finish line, shep. >> shepard: catherine herridge live on capitol hill. thank you. three americans who were prisoners in north korea are right now on their way home. president trump announced their release on twitter this morning. he says they are traveling back to the united states with the secretary of state mike pompeo and that they seem to be in good health. north korea released the

americans while secretary pompeo was in pyongyang where he met, again, with the north korean leader kim jong un, we're told. the president also tweeted that the date and location are now set for his talks with the north korean leader. president trump would be the first sitting u.s. president to meet with a north korean leader. he says the white house will announce the details in the next three days but that the meeting will not happen in the dmz, an idea he had suggested. >> we picked a time. we've picked a place for the meeting or summit, as you like to call it and i think it will be very successful but, as i always say, who knows? who knows what's going to happen. it's going to be a very important event. again, i think this is somebody something thought wouldn't happen for years or more. i really believe it's going to be a good thing for north korea and north korea and japan. >> shepard: last summer president trump was calling

kim jong un little rocket man and threatening fire and fury like the world has never seen. and kim was throwing around his own threats and insults. rich edson is live at the state department. rich? >> shep, there was no guarantee that secretary of state mike pompeo was going to be returning right now with those three american prisons. officials say he met 90 minutes this morning with kim jong un, returned to his hotel. when he did the reporters traveling with him asked if he had secured the three americans' release. pompeo would only cross his fingers. shortly after that i will an official says a north korean official arrived to the hotel to inform pompeo that tony kim was granting kimmie hacksaw and. it was a hard decision for kim to release the three americans. president trump expressed his appreciation for the goodwill gesture. >> it will be, i think, a very special time. nobody thought this was going to happen. and if it did, it would be years or decades, frankly.

nobody thought this was going to happen. i appreciate kim jong un doing this. >> flying back to the united states now, pompeo says that the doctors on board are reviewing their health. but they appear right now, at least on appearance, to be in pretty good shape. on top of that, also, as they left north korean airspace, pompeo says that the crew there informed the three former detainees that they had finally exited north korea. pompeo says they were thrilled. shep. >> shepard: there's an indication that some of the details of this meeting still to be finalized. is that right? >> right. a senior u.s. official says they have agreed north korea and the united states to meet again in person in some capacity to finalize the details of this summit between the president and kim jong un. pompeo has said he was on the ground for 13 hours in pyongyang. they ironed out a number of details. this will be a one-day sum mid they could extend to a second day. during a toast, also, one of

the luncheons that they had between pompeo and senior north korean official, that north korean official said wanted to stress that north korea had concluded a precise nuclear program that it was now deciding to turn its attention to rebuilding and working on its economy. and he also wanted to stress that the u.s. sanctions regime, the international sanctions regime had nothing to do with that decision. shep? >> shepard: rich edson at the state department, thank you. let's turn to tara mueller former cia advisor for the counter extremism project. good to see you. >> good to be here with good news with the release of these three prisoners. >> i was going to say it's a turn of events for your presence here. >> when you look at it in and of itself it's a success. three prisoners held in north korea home. having said that it's a success for their release but it's a good show of faith for the north koreans in terms of the upcoming summit but it doesn't

necessarily mean we will see the summit be a success just because of this. it's a confidence building measure. it shows they are trying to establish trust and make some good gestures in the leanup. it could mean they want something in turn. something we may or may not be willing to give in return. praise is due to mike pompeo to work day in and day out to gte the release of brings. >> explain to our viewers' stated goal is for the sit down between the two leaders and afterwards what difficulties there may be. >> sure, going into any negotiation you obviously want to have one major goal in mind. in this situation it's denuclearization. that means to the united states getting north korea to give up its nuclear program. i think that means for the united states getting the north koreans to give up its missiles, its nuclear facilities and materials, everything that contributes to its nuclear program. that's our goal going into it.

on the north korean side of the equation they might see things differently. give up missiles potentially hit the united states. might be able to give up certain materials and freeze their programs. that's where we are going to cece what the united states is willing to compromise on. president trump needs to go in there well prepared. he needs to be fully aware of what the united states is and is not willing to yield on and keep all of this. this is very important transparency measures around verification. even if we get the north koreans to agree to our terms which i don't think is going to happen in their entirety. north koreans have cheated on numerous agreements before. while the saying usually goes trust but verify, with the north koreans it's don't trust and verify. and i think that was said just the other day by former -- president obama's former energy secretary because they have been known to cheat before. you need to be able to get inspectors in there to make sure there is no cheating going on. >> shepard: we have words to describe what may or may not

come later, but we know what the actions have been so far. for kim jong un inside north korea, what's happened to this moment. >> how would that be for him domestically where he was clearly shaky. >> i think you raise a good point and epg thing to watch in the lien up and aftermath is the construct. what happens in the room is going to be important but spun by both sides afterwards and then the nitty gritty details are going to be worked out of on both sides. >> shepard: good to see you. >> thank you. >> shepard: shouting dietl to america after president trump's decision to violate the terms of the iran nuclear agreement. now president trump is hitting back with fiery language of his own. plus, an isis-levie-lead ambush leaving several officers dead. now we are learning it all started with a fight over food. all that as we are waiting for president trump to speak

from the white house live on the fox news channel and followed by a press briefing on this wednesday afternoon.

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>> shepard: president trump announcement that the united states will no longer abide by the terms of the iran nuclear deal leaving one very big question. america first? or america alone? words and actions in the coming days and weeks will answer whether this decision boosts america's standing in the world or isolates the united states. well less than a day after the announcement, president trump with a warning for

iran. >> i would advise iran not to start their nuclear program. i would advise them very strongly. if they do there will be very severe consequence. >> shepard: the president's decision angered many in iran. lawmakers in tehran burned pictures of the american flag today and shouted death to america. iran's supreme leader had words for president trump saying you cannot do a damn thing. the u.s. six partners in the iran deal today are scrambling to see if they can hold that agreement together without the united states being in compliance. the three u.s. key european allies, the united kingdom, france and germany want to stick with the agreement. but iran could now ask for new concessions. analysts say negotiations could get messy. certainly there's a lot to unpack. and for that let's turn to benjamin hall tracking the story from our middle east newsroom tonight. benjamin? >> hi, shep. as you can imagine the response and reaction to president trump's

announcement has been varied and continuous and also very polarizing. on the one hand have you people say this is courageous decision puts iran back in the box. then you have people say this is the worst thing for peace in the middle east and a bad decision. nevertheless, here in the region, praise for the decision is being led by benjamin netanyahu prime minister of israel. who is actually visiting president putin at the moment. quite a significant visit there. he as well as his allies, ba bahrain and united emirates have come out strongly in favor. russia has said they are going to stick with the deal. they want to see how they can move forward in this. we are hearing that china, according to regional reports out of asia also looking at ways to possibly continue. now when president trump first signed this deal, european allies took no time at all in responding and responding in unison. they came together that they wanted to keep working together and seeing how this deal could be done. today, general mattis came out and he said the u.s. would indeed continue

working with allies. have a listen to this. >> we will continue to work alongside our allies and partners to ensure that iran can never acquire a nuclear weapon and work with others to address the range of iran's maligned influence. >> meanwhile, in iran as well as those seeing flag burning. president rouhani came out yesterday and he said that iran would consider restarting uranium enrichment if they felt the deal was going to fall apart. just in the last hour the saudi foreign minister has come out and said if iran starts pushing for a bomb, so too will saudi arabia. that is a great threat that we were worried about the risk of that escalation over here. also, worth pointing out that european allies have done a lot of business with iran. shep? >> shepard: reports on iranian base inside syria. what do you know? >> yeah. just breaking yesterday this appears or the report suggests it was israeli planes that bombed an

israeli base killing 8 iranian revolutionary guards. concern about that as well. we have seen the two square off in the region for some time now. few details coming out about that now. again, a worry there, shep? >> shepard: live tonight in jerusalem. a fight over food turned into a deadly prison riot in indonesia and isis claimed some of its fighters were involved. this happened near jakarta the capital with a prison with a lot of inmates suspected militants. five police officers and one prisoner are dead. investigators say it started when a prisoner banged on the walls because he didn't get enough food or didn't get it on time. it quickly escalated with you inmates breaking into an ammunition room, seizing guns and having a shootout with counter terrorism officers. relief after a senate candidate lost a primary. don blankenship is an ex-con convict did time after mining accident killed 29 workers. had he won republicans said it would have hurt their

chances of winning the general elections. that race in west virginia just one of several that could help determine who gets control of congress in november. the race results and way to matters. that's next. ♪ ♪ti but mania, such as unusual changes in your mood, activity or energy levels, can leave you on shaky ground. help take control by asking about your treatment options. vraylar is approved for the acute treatment of manic or mixed episodes of bipolar i disorder in adults. clinical studies showed that vraylar reduced overall manic symptoms. vraylar should not be used in elderly patients with dementia due to increased risk of death or stroke. call your doctor about fever, stiff muscles, or confusion, which may mean a life-threatening reaction, or uncontrollable muscle movements, which may be permanent. side effects may not appear for several weeks. high cholesterol and weight gain; high blood sugar, which can lead to coma or death; decreased white blood cells,

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>> thank you. thank you all for being here today. i'm honored to host everyone at the white house to celebrate you mothers. please sit down. mothers day, which is this sunday, is celebrated just one time per year. i don't know, about all of you, but i think mothers should be celebrated each and every day. [applause] as a mother myself, i know

what goes into raising a child. it takes an incredible amount of strength, a lot of time, a generous amount of patience and all of your love. as moms, we are so incredibly privileged to be able to bring children into this world and part of helping them grow into adults. children bring us endless amount of both joy and fear. they fill us with pride and they love us in a manner that only other mothers can understand. because of the powerful bond between a mother and her child, when they feel emotions so do we. whether they are happy or nervous, sad or excited. we feel those things with them. i think it is one of the most powerful and beautiful parts of motherhood. today, i want to thank this

opportunity to let you all know that as a mother, members of the military community, you deserve recognition for not only your love for your children but for the dedication and sacrifice you make on behalf of our country each and every day. i know i speak on behalf of my husband, the vice president and mrs. pence when i tell you how much this administration supports all those who serve, which includes not only those who are -- but their families, too. in closing, i want to thank you all for your unique role as a military mother, whether you are enlisted, actively serving or if you have a child in our military. you are such a special part of this country for all that you give. i hope you enjoy today's performance by the united states army chorus and we are so honored to have you

here today. before i turn this over to my husband, i want to thank our second lady karen pence as well as kellyanne and ivanka for all of the hard work they have done on the executive order he will be signing. because of your commitment to the military, there will be more opportunities for military spouses who are looking for jobs within federal government. thank you, ladies, for your hard work on this important topic. [applause] thank you all again for being here today. now it's my pleasure to introduce my husband, the president of the united states. [cheers and applause] >> thank you very much, melania. she has become a very, very

popular first lady. i'm reading that [applause] i'm seeing all those stories and they love melania. thank you. karen, karen and ivanka, kellyanne, thank you all for being here. thank you very much. to all of the military spouses here with us this afternoon, welcome to the white house. a very, very special place. we are honored by your presence and we celebrate your heroic service and that's exactly what it is. too often military spouses do not receive the recognition they deserve. do you know that feeling? do you know that feeling? i don't think so. you endure long separations during deployments and some of them are much longer than you ever bargained for. you routinely move your families around the country and all over the world. you maintain morale in your family and across the military community. your support is essential to

making our military the mightiest fighting force in the world and getting stronger all the time. we just approved $700 billion for our military. [cheers and applause] we're going to be having the best equipment ever known. and next year $716 billion. i wanted to let you know. [ applause ] and by the way i know you don't care about, this but that also includes raises for our military. [laughter] [cheers and applause] first time in 10 years. your love, resilience and courage uplifts our heroes and indeed our nation. we are forever in your debt. i also want to thank all of the spouses here today who are serving in uniform. you are an inspiration to us all, a great inspiration.

[applause] today i'm here to tell you that my administration is totally committed to every family that serves in the united states armed forces. that is why earlier this year i was proud to sign that big pay raise that i have already spoken about. and i am proud of it. and i guess there will be others, too. would you like one sooner or do you want to wait another 10 years? [laughter] we're also taking action to expand employment opportunities for our great military spouses and i know what you have gone through. the competence is so high and yet, it's so difficult. that's not going to happen anymore. one of the things that helps is our tremendous jobs situation in the united states. we just hit 3.9% unemployment which is the biggest of this century. the best of this century.

so that helps. that really helps a problem. but even beyond that you're going to be given treatment like never before. as you know, the unemployment rate among military spouses of whom more than 90% are women is estimated to be four times higher than the unemployment rate that i just spoke of. but, we are going to change that and we are going to change it as quickly as we can. it will go fast. you have seen what we have done, and we will do it. we will get it done. we are working with states across the country to encourage them to remove licensing barriers so that spouses who work in careers such as teaching, nursing, and law, many others also can get a job in their profession no matter where they move. and in just a moment, i will take executive action to promote military spouse hiring across the federal government. something that people have wanted presidents to do for

a long time. military spouses have already shown the utmost devotion to our nation and we want to show you, our devotion in return. [applause] we will now ensure that you have better access to federal jobs, by taking this action today. we're leading by example and encouraging american businesses across the country to expand job opportunities for our incredible and talented and highly educated military spouses. this includes opportunities to work remotely, which technology, as you know, has made more possible and more of everything in life possible than ever before. america owes a debt of gratitude to our military

spouses. we can never repay you for all that you do. we know what you do. and your spouse knows what you do. we can never repay you for that. but we can and we will give you the opportunities you deserve. today we take one of many important actions to ensure that you are free to pursue your careers, support your families, and continue serving this nation that we all love so much. when you are strong, your families are strong. and america thrives. thank you, god bless you. and god bless america. thank you very much for all you do. thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you. [applause]

>> should i sign it? [cheers] [applause] [applause]

thank you all very much. this has been a great honor and we will see you around. thank you. [applause] [applause] thank you, everybody. >> shepard: the president and first lady celebrating moms and spouses. military moms and military spouses in the east room of the white house. now let's move over to the other side and there you go, live remote flash to the briefing room. the briefing is set to start at any moment now. we're waiting to hear what the white house has to say about today's big headlines including word that firms with ties to a russian billionaire paid the president's attorney and fixer michael cohen half a

million dollars sending the money to the same company that cohen used to pay off the adult film actress stormy daniels that's according to daniels lawyer michael. cohen claims the lawyer doesn't have his facts straight. >> any response? >> any response? >> the document is inaccurate. >> how do you feel about you may have changed an election? >> shepard: the russian oligarch in question is victor. daniel's attorney claims he used his cousin's firm to make a series of suspicious financial transactions to cohen last year. the firm admits that it made those payments. but claims that they were for investment advice and had nothing to do with this particular russian oligarch. the oligarch denies having any contractual relationship with cohen. the "new york times" has reported the special counsel robert mueller's team stopped and questioned this particular russian oligarch at an airport earlier this year as he got off a private

plane. all as part of the russia investigation. there is more to this as well. our chief white house correspondent john roberts is live in the briefing room for us. hello, john. >> shep, good afternoon to you. not sure how much the white house will have to say about this. have to ask the question cleverly. may revolve around the idea that the treasury department's office of the inspector general has launched an investigation today into how the records of michael cohen's company became public. among the documents and the payments that were detailed in an online posting by michael avenatti, $500,000 payment as you mentioned by the company columbus nova connected to the russian oligarch victor vehicles in a statement he told fox news neither victor or nova has had any contractual relationship with cohen. you have to ask mr. andy intrader because columbus nova is a company managed and owned by him.

fox did reach out to andy intrater. columbus nova saying a management company solely owned and controlled by americans after the inauguration the firm hired michael cohen as a business consultant regarding potential sources of capital and potential investments in real estate and other ventures. reports today that victor used columbus nova as a conduit for payments to michael cohen are false. you saw as cohen was leaping into the cab there that he contends much of what was posted online by michael avenatti is inaccurate. citation on july 149, 2016. michael co-were cashed a check in palm beach county, florida. michael cohen is actually on vacation with his family on the italian island of capri on july 14th, 2016, shep? >> shepard: that is the information that we have. there is more to this. at&t and the drug company novartis acknowledged they paid this same firm, this

same llc of sorts which is michael cohen hundreds of thousands of dollars after the election. for what? john, what do they say? >> . $200,000 at least to at&t. and this was at a time when tat was seeking government approval for merger with time warner which owns cnn. $1.2 million paid to cohen's company over the course of a year by kno novartis. essential consulting was one of several firms we engaged in early 2017 to provide insights into understanding the new administration. they did no legal or lobbying work for us and the contract ended in december of 2017. in a statement to fox news, which i'm trying to get out of my notes here, give me a moment because the pages are stuck together, novartis saying believed michael cohen could advise the company as to how the trump

administration might certain healthcare matters including the affordable care act. after one meeting novart sir. would be unable to preside the services anticipated related to u.s. healthcare policy matters and the decision was taken not tone gauge further. basically they gave michael cohen $1.2 million for a single meeting, shep. things didn't work out. michael avenatti will not say where he got the information on the financial records. the treasury's office on the inspector general looking into all of that shep? >> shepard: john roberts back live when the briefing begins. first to defense attorney and former prosecutor u to be clear, russian oligarch and then novartis says there was one meeting and they determined oh, not so much but they kept paying him every month $1.2 million. the question is re they giving money for access to trump and did any of the money eventually go to trump? >> those are the questions that are unanswered, shep. certainly that is something that the fbi, not only is

looking at, already has looked at. and let's not forget that the charges that are being looked at were remanded back to new york so they may not have seen anything necessarily with a connection between cohen's activities and the trump-russia investigation. you know, shep, what happens in politics and when you investigate political corruption cases is guys like cohen want to sell. they want to peddle out there hey i have influence. i have got access. i can help you out. you have pay me money i will give you inside track. i will let you know what the candidate is thinking. i will let you know how to approach him. it could be that those companies went out there on the under the line of the law but not over the line. >> shepard: close to someone making a representation. i got his ear. i will let you know in advance what he is thinking. they could pay for that access. when it becomes dicey orism legal is if the money changes hand between that person and the person now employed by the people of the united states. that's what we don't know.

>> right. i call it straight as a prosecutor. it's thought a democrat or republican issue. when he would jumping to conclusions that somehow trump even knew what it was that michael cohen was doing. it could well be. >> shepard: who jumped to that conclusion? >> people are saying in the media weapon. >> >> shepard: we could know he is investigating. bob mueller's team had already interviewed this russian oligarch who stepped off a plane one day, they tried to look at higg digital records. phone. whether they did or not is another matter. documents requested to. they are way ahead of public knowledge on this as they have been on all of. this they had the data and after they interviewed the oligarch, what did they do? they didn't retain jurisdiction. >> shepard: that's right. >> it was sent back here. which, to me, indicates at least in that aspect that they're not seeing a connection between trump, rickenbacker shah quote, unquote collusion and these

payments. more of a michael cohen problem. >> shepard: detractors have said that could be that the special prosecutor or the special counsel in this case is trying to protect parts of the investigation from maybe the disbanding of a special counsel by putting off parts of this investigation to other entities, including the southern district of new york. >> right. it is possible that that is true. >> shepard: we just don't know. >> we don't know. southern district may be told hey, guys, if you find out a little bit of anything about anything that's going on with cohen files, these records or whatever you think we need to know about, don't be surprised, shep, if it winds up back with the mueller team. >> shepard: there is still time. bob, good to see you. >> good to see you, shep. >> shepard: we are still waiting for the white house news briefing to begin. we are expecting it will at any moment. while we wait, a quick commercial break on fox news channel.

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ago sigh of relief after the crowe anceo and blankenship lose state senate primary last night. this is a republican primary. he defeated blankenship and also the west virginia congressman evan jenkins. a number of republicans, especially national ones, smicial mitch mcconnell did not want a blankenship victory because they didn't think he could beat a democrat in november. blankenship spent a year in prison after a deadly mine explosion in 2010. that blast killed 29 people. blankenship is also criticized senate majority leader mitch mcconnell. frankly they have been in a heck of a war he called him cocaine mitch in his ads that critics said were also racist for other reasons. days before the primary president trump told voters don't vote for blankenship because he won't be able to win in the fall. at the time, blankenship said president trump doesn't know him and that the g.o.p. establishment was misinforming the president. west virginia, of course,

one of several states that wrapped up key primary elections last night. and they could go a long way to helping determine which party controls congress after the mid terms. let's start right there in west virginia. our peter doocy live in charleston. hey, peter. >> shep, the majority leader mitch mcconnell is really rubbing it in that don blankenship is not going to be on the november ballot. now even jokingly embracing the nickname that blankenship gave him cocaine mitch. the political twitter account belonging to mcconnell's office tweeted a parody photo that is supposed to be based on the netflix show about pan bow escabar shows mitch mcconnell covered in white powder thanks for playing, don. i have spoken to blankenship since his third place finish. president trump tweeting to voters in a state he won by 42 points on instruction not to pick blankenship really did him in. >> i think. so they think the trump impact was much bigger than

we hoped it would be and much bigger than we antidotally being told that it was. so i think it was a huge factor and i think it was a huge mistake on president trump's, you know part but at the same time, i think he has got the right ideas for america. >> blankenship did not call the winner attorney general patrick morrisey to congratulate him. shep? >> shepard: peter doocy live along the river bank. thank you. we are led to believe the white house press briefing will begin shortly. when it does we will interrupt this commercial break if it starts while you are away. conservative businessman, john cox.

leading the opposition to jerry brown's sanctuary state. and chairman of the initiative campaign to repeal the gas tax. join me and let's make california great again.

i thought after sandy hook, where 20 six and seven year olds were slain, this would never happen again. it has happened more than 200 times in 5 years. dianne feinstein and a new generation are leading the fight to pass a new assault weapons ban. say no to the nra and yes to common-sense gun laws. california values senator dianne feinstein say no to the nra and yes to common-sense gun laws. leading conservative the opposition john cox. to jerry brown's sanctuary state. and chairman of the initiative campaign to repeal the gas tax. join me and let's make california great again. >> shepard: waiting for the white house news briefing to begin as always. when it begins we will take you there while we wait for that, getting a first-hand look at the folks who can make driverless cars try to

convince people that they're safe. part of a highway in tampa shut down today so that people could take a ride and use these driverless cars themselves. couple of months ago a self-driving car hit and killed a woman in arizona. this video from inside the car froze it before that deadly collision obviously. uber reached a settlement with that woman's family. we would love to tell you more on that and matt finn is live in the car but here is sarah sanders. sorry, matt, maybe next hour. >> this morning the family of three americans detained in north korea received the news that they have long been hoping for. their loved ones will be coming home. the president views this as a positive gesture and a step in the right direction from the north korean leader. however, total denuclearization will remain the top priority. the president, joined by the first lady, looks forward to welcoming secretary pompeo and these brave three brave americans back to the united states early tomorrow morning at andrews air force base. this will be a proud moment

for all of america. as you all know, cia acting director gina haspel appeared before the senate intelligence committee today. she was introduced by two former members, democrat evan bayh and republican saxby chambliss. mr. bye a former senator and governor of indiana noted she is without question the most qualified person ever nominated for the position. mr. chambliss a former vice chairman of the committee says he cannot name the last time so many former intelligence professionals agreed on a single nominee. and in her opening statement, acting director haspel outlined what she is focused on to better position the cia for tactical and strategic success and to accomplish its mission. the acting director clearly demonstrated why the president selected her, her character, her experience, and her commitment to protecting the country. she is the right person to lead the cia and the senate should confirm her. because the president is traveling tomorrow and we won't have a briefing, i'm

going to take advantage of this opportunity to wish my daughter scarlet, who will be 6 tomorrow, a happy birthday. and with that i will take your question. jeff? >> sarah, you mentioned the cia director nominee gina haspel says today that the president asked her to do anything, to restart the interrogation program that the cia was criticized for that she would not do. is that something that the president would ever ask. >> i'm not aware of any requests by the president to the past cia director or what we hope to be the new cia director very soon. >> may i ask you one more question, sarah, on a separate subject. following up on the iran announcement yesterday from the president. the europeans are working hard now to keep that deal alive despite the united states pulling out. can you say will the white house ensure that european companies who trade with iran will not suffer the sanctions that the united states is going to put back on? >> the sanctions that were

in place prior to the deal will go back into place. but, for the specifics, i know there is a wind down period for specifics on any particular company i would refer you to the department of treasury. >> thanks, sarah, the president today on twitter suggested stripping journalists of press credentials. is that a line as press secretary you would be willing to cross. >> i'm standing up in front of you have right now taking your questions. i think a number of you have mentioned both off air or on air, in private, and in a number of other occasions this is one of the most accessible white houses. we are very committed to a free press and i think we demonstrate that every single day not only by me being up here and taking your questions as i'm doing right now. the president did it just a couple of hours ago and has made multiple sets of remarks and will be in front of the press later tonight as well. >> how is the suggestion of taking american journalists press credentials away advocating for a free press in this country?

those two don't go together. >> the fact that i'm standing here taking questions. the fact that the president took questions from your colleagues just two hours ago demonstrates this white house's commitment to accessibility and to providing information to the american public. at the same time, the press has a responsibility to put out accurate information. just yesterday the "new york times" accused the secretary of state for being awol. awol when he was flying across the globe to bring three americans home. that is outrageous claim. just earlier this week "the washington post" accused the first lady of not living in the white house. that outrageous claim was then repeated again in this room. we are here. we are taking questions. we are doing everything we can to provide regular and constant information to the american people and there is a responsibility by you guys to provide accurate information. and we're going to try to continue to work with you as i'm doing right here right now and as the president did a couple hours ago. >> be able to ask those questions without those credentials in this room?

>> i'm sorry? >> we wouldn't be here to ask those questions. >> and you are. you are clearly sitting here asking them right now, john? michael cohen, were made public and prompting the inspector general to launch an investigation. among those were payments from at&t when they were looking for government approval and also payments from the pharmaceuticals at the time the president was talking about bringing down the cost of the pharmaceuticals. is the president concerned about any aspect of what we have learned? ndue to the complications of the components i would refer to outside counsel to address those concerns. >> reporter: is the president

concerned that major corporation concerned. >> i haven't heard any specific concerns about that. >> do you believe that michael cohen, was qualified to provide insight. >> i will not get into someone else's qualification. that is something an individual will have to make and not me. >> we know that michael cohen, received millions of dollars pedalling the insight that he could provide to the large corporation. is the president concerned or embarrassed with that intachl behavior. >> it would be the up to the individual whose make the decision to hire just as the same way the companies you work for think you are qualified think you are concerned and has nothing to do with the white