it's time to bring jobs back home and build together. more workers, more trade, more prosperity, more security. for generations, this ally to the north has been here. and for generations more, we'll still be here. right by your side. [title: ontario, canada] [title: ontario.ca/partner] [title: paid for by the government of ontario] >> tom: thank you to our guests and you, our studio audience. "fox news at night" is next. on behalf of greg gutfeld, i love you, america. [cheering and applause] >> trace: good evening, i'm trace gallagher. 11:00 p.m. on the east coast, 8:00 in

los angeles and this is america's late news, "fox news @ night". breaking tonight, the manhunt intensifies for the assassin wearing a mask who shot and killed a prominent ceo outside of manhattan hotel. we will show you the shocking video of the suspect firing several shots before disappearing into central park on a bike. >> i hear three shots and when i looked to theirs a man down and then the man was here on this corner the whole night. >> trace: we will have expert analysis in moments on what police are calling a targeted attack. plus this... represent the constitution. every right to preside over the meeting. [indistinct] >> shame on you. >> trace: a new jersey resident ejected from a town council meeting for waving an american flag in protest of a rule that forbids props ring

remarks. do you consider the flag a prop and is there ever a reason to ban the american flag? we want your thoughts in the nightcap. and, mysterious car sized drones seen flying over new jersey about president-elect trump's new jersey golf club. "fox news at night" investigates but we begin with the targeted attack on united health care ceo brian thompson as the manhunt continues. senior national correspondent kevin corke live in d.c. with the latest on this. >> reporter: new york is often referred to as the city that never sleeps. a place where it takes admittedly on awful lot to shock the senses but this morning's assassination of unitedhealthcare ceo brian thompson did just that. tonight the manhunt for the killer is ongoing. the 50-year-old married father of two from minnesota shot in the back, caught on surveillance camera. by the way thompson was rushed to a nearby hospital, mount sinai, where he was later

pronounced dead. tonight the nypd has released images of the suspected gunman holding a pistol equipped with what appeared to be a silencer and another of him riding away from the scene on a bicycle. >> many people past the suspect but he appeared to wait for his intended target. the suspect fled first on foot and then on any bike and was last seen in central mark -- central park on center drive -- on an e-bike -- i want to be clear, at this time every indication is that this was a premeditated preplanned targeted attack. >> trace: >> reporter: tonight there are crime stopper posters blanketing midtown manhattan with an offer of at least $10,000 for information leading to the arrest of the killer. as for thompson's wife, tonight she said that before the shooting, her husband had received threats related to his job as america's leading largest

provider of health insurance, the ceo of that company dead tonight at the age of 50, trace. >> trace: baffling a lot of people. kevin corke live in d.c., thank you. let's bring in former san bernardino county sheriff's deputy meagan mccarthy and fox news contributor and former nypd inspector paul mauro. thank you for coming on. i want to play some sound from the nypd chief of detectives and we will get your take on this. i want to play it because there's good information here that has to pertain or pertains to the case and i will get your thoughts. watch. >> steps onto the sidewalk from behind a car, he ignores numerous other pedestrians, approaches the victim from behind and shoots him in the back. the shooter then walks toward the victim and continues to shoot. the motive for the murder currently is unknown but based on the evidence we have so far, it does appear that the victim was specifically targeted. at this point we do not know why. this does not appear to be a random act of violence. whether or not he's a

professional, we have no way of knowing that. from watching the video it does seem he's proficient in the use of firearms as he was able to clear the malfunctions pretty quickly. >> trace: i mean he was meticulous about this. it appears he was proficient with a gun. the question was, was he a pro? nobody knows. what do you think of this? >> it depends on the definition of a pro. let me pour a little bit of water on this idea that he was a "hired hit men." they don't really exist. in fact when they do hit the news it's because somebody tries to hire them and then it gets to the police because somebody get set up. that doesn't mean murders for higher don't exist but the idea that he is a hit man, a soldier of fortune or something is really fanciful. the police don't really care about that at this point. they are looking for the data points that can lead us to him, looking at digital data, looking at the bicycle, looking at the type of gun because it looks to be unusual. and they are looking at where he came out of central park.

a lot of cameras around central park. that's going to be the next day the point where he might show up. >> trace: it's interesting because the shooter, he left shell casings, we know that, he covered his face, he used a silencer, but he left shell casings and he possibly left a bottle with may be fingerprints on it and a cell phone, maybe the biggest piece of evidence also might belong to him and then went away on a bike that has gps. what do you think? >> i think it's interesting people are questioning whether he was professional or amateur. at the end of the day this is a human being that took another human beings life. we need to focus on the investigation. we have the best investigators in the world. they will be looking at that touch dna. he clear the malfunction on the gun and the rounds dropped. he had to have loaded the magazine so his dna will be all over the scene. this was a husband and a father and the unfortunate fact is this happens every single day in these cities that have defunded the police. they have shown that crime can run rampant.

you are enabling chaos so the point is we need to get back to restoring law and order and showing people that you cannot commit a homicide and get away with it. >> trace: the police have their hands full. they will probably get this thing done. moving on if i can to the penny case because it looks like the jury could have a verdict in this by maybe tomorrow. they played police and bystander video again up the choke hold today. what is your take on this, paul? >> it's hard to say. it's gone on for a couple of days. my initial prediction for what it's worth was that we may get a hung jury but let's admit the other possibility here, which we haven't heard too much about, which is the possibility of a split verdict. two different standards of proof. one is reckless, one is negligent. one of them imports the idea of intentionality. the jury may decide that he was not reckless but they maybe trying to split the baby here and go with the negligence charge. i don't think the case should have gone to a prosecution to

begin with but this is in manhattan, a jury that convicted donald trump in essentially a date so nothing would surprise me. >> trace: this is kind of a guest put out want to play this video because everybody is fascinated. these are drones, car-sized drones. but these up on the screen. somewhere over new jersey. they think they are close to trump's golf course. these are big things and nobody can tell us plot out what they are. i'm not asking you because you aren't a ufo expert but if you are investigating something like this, where do you start? >> i think you first need to get them out of the air. people are going to feel safe with his over their house. they have an expectation of privacy. you cannot allow these things to be in our sky without knowing the origin. we've seen them used in malicious events like october seventh. we don't know who they belong to god why they are here so we need to start with the investigation, it them out of the sky, it people feeling safe and then we can work on the investigation. >> trace: they would freak me out, i can tell you that. meagan mccarthy, paul mauro, thank you both. meantime pete hegseth pressing on fighting for the

chance to serve as president trump's secretary of defense even as reports show trump may have a backup plan. senior white house correspondent jackie heinrich in west palm beach with more on the confirmation battle ahead. good evening. >> reporter: good evening trace. publicly president-elect trump is sticking with his nominee to lead the department of defense. the transition team shared pete hegseth's op-ed, a defiant peace that he wrote in "the wall street journal" earlier this evening, sharing that in an email blast with everyone. he framed the controversy that he faces as a manufactured media takedown. but trump also has a plan b if hegseth's confirmation gets further bogged down. we've learned he's eyeing florida governor ron desantis for the position. the two did speak yesterday. senate republicans though have mixed takes on what is most likely to happen here. >> it's not 100% clear to me. >> i think that's probably not

accurately spoken. president trump told me he wants to see pete get confirmed and i think there's a path to get there. it maybe a little narrow but i believe we can did him confirmed. >> reporter: hegseth will continue meetings with senate republicans tomorrow. a half-hour talk with a senator, a combat veteran and sexual assault survivor. it did not produce an immediate endorsement. the meeting was called frank and thorough. senator roger said he received assurances from hegseth that he would not drink if he's confirmed to the job, something that senator kevin kramer said he would like to hear. hegseth can only lose three republican votes but his attorney says the fbi vetting will help his case. >> he cannot wait to do the fbi background check. they are not way to just take a few anonymous complaints and put that in the report, they are going to try to corroborate it. the fbi background check is going to exonerate him up the vast majority of these claims and so he's very much looking

forward to that. >> reporter: the new surrounding hegseth overshadowing some other announcements today. peter navarro will serve as senior councilor for trade and manufacturing, he served prison time for defying a subpoena from the democrat lead january 6 committee. former congressman billy long will serve as irs commissioner. former senator kelly leffler tapped to be a small business it administration. >> trace: jacqui heinrich, thank you. let's bring in california a supplement bill essayli and rnc spokeswoman elizabeth pipko. bill, to you first, g.o.p. senator kramer talked about this about meeting with pete hegseth today. >> i ask him about is there anything else that we don't know that could surprise us and he said there's absolutely nothing. unless some but he make something up. i said well that's always a possibility.

but i said one of the things that hurts people most in this business, in my business, our surprises. >> trace: meantime pete hegseth attorney says he's getting the bret cavanaugh treatment. what do you think? >> i think it's incredibly important he gets confirmed. they've taken out matt gaetz from the running. if they are able to take out pete on these allegations that have never been proven, he's never had it in mission of guilt, there's never been charges, it's an accusation that's been launched by an anonymous person. if that's enough to take out a presidential cabinet nominee, they are going to use that as a playbook for other nominees as well. >> trace: it's interesting elizabeth pipko because pete wrote this in "the wall street journal", and op-ed, saying, it's a textbook manufactured media takedown, they provide no evidence, no names and they ignore the legions of people who speak on my behalf, they need to create a bogeyman because they believe i threatened their institutional insanity that is the only thing they are right about. and he's right on one point.

the legacy media really is not giving him a fair shake so far, elizabeth. >> you are right. what keeps coming to mind for me is something president trump talks about all the time. he always says the system that's in place not only tears apart those that want to go into public service and may be shake things up and do some good, the system discourages folks from doing just that. that's what we are seeing unfold. not just with pete hegseth but some of these other picks. the fact is we have a process in place, we have that process for a reason. pig -- pete hegseth and the rest of these folks will get to speak not only to those who are in charge of voting for their confirmations, but actually to the american people and that's what should matter. we want the facts to come from them, full transparency given to the american people. that's what they deserve and that's what we should be excited about, not hearing negative stories made up by those who are upset donald trump won the election. >> trace: you see what's happening to pete hegseth, was happening to daniel penny. who's going to go into public office? we are just waiting people from doing that. i want to move on, "politico"

rights, biden white house is discussing preemptive pardons for those in trump's crosshairs. it goes on to say the deliberations touch on pardoning those currently in office, elected and appointed as well as former officials who have angered trump and his loyalists, those who could face exposure including such members of congress january 6th committee senator elect adam schiff and former g.o.p. representative liz chaney of wyoming. it sounds like democrats are little concerned about what's going on here if you are talking about preemptive pardons. >> it's a terrible precedent to set because then every president will do this on their way out. but also the biden administration is the only administration that has grimly gone after their political opponents. trump has already been in office and this never happened. this is a figment of their imagination. >> trace: you think maybe they do the same thing to us that we did to them. rick scott said this about the preemptive pardons, elizabeth. >> it's interesting that the biden doj which targeted trump,

targeted catholics, targeted christians, targeted parents, they are the ones who are saying that they are worried about being targeted. this is rich. >> trace: what he's saying is oh, my goodness they targeted everybody and now the lawyers are running for cover. >> who would have thought? i think it's comical for a few reasons. i'm wondering why they want to do this, what they could be guilty of, what president trump and his team could unearth, but i think also what's funny is they are continuing the narrative against donald trump. he's already won the election in a landslide and they are still trying to use whatever power they have left to get the message out that donald trump's evil, is going to go against his political opponents in a way that only they have ever actually done. >> trace: elizabeth pipko, bill essayli, thank you both. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> trace: the "fox news @ night" common sense department

is a little baffled by the reasoning from the mayor of frederick, maryland, population 78,000. if you don't know, frederick is about 50 miles or so outside of washington, d.c., and is among the few cities in america that allows non-americans to vote in city elections. now the mayor wants to create what he calls a legal advocacy fund. it means he wants to pay the legal expenses for people living in frederick illegally. essentially he is pushing for an illegals legal, funded of course by taxpayer money, or at least what used to be taxpayer money before the government took ownership. the mayor says the money will assist "residents who may be harmed by policies from the new administration." common sense thanks he means the people being deported by donald trump because they broke laws. but many are wondering why the mayor it does not up a legal fund for those victimized by illegal immigrants.

sadly the city of frederick is much like denver, much like boston, much like most of blue america, where helping your own residence is really not part of the plan. it's interesting that frederick is officially known as the city of clustered spires. common sense thanks it won't be long before frederick is known as the city of clustered funds. >> this is not a political issue, this is a safety issue for everyone living in the united states. not only was kayla's life put at risk and taken, so many other children and adults were at risk. the biden-harris administration is not putting the american citizens safety first. >> trace: the migrant crisis continues to impact everyday americans and yet another blue state mayor as we told you taking off the taxpayers in his city over a plan to fund legal support for immigrants. let's bring in frederick county maryland sheriff chuck jenkins. great to have you on the show. i want to play a very quick

sound bite from your mayor to kind of give the folks the just of what he's trying to say. watch. >> we refused to aid and abet outside agencies attempting to detain, deport or remove any residents from our community. >> trace: what do you think of the mayor setting up the legal fund for illegal immigrants? >> what he's saying directly as we are setting up a sanctuary city. he has angered taxpayers, he's on the wrong side of this issue. he certainly does not have the right to use taxpayer money. he's naive, foolish and his view is he wants frederick to be a century city and it's not going to be. it's not going to happen here. >> trace: it's interesting sheriff because delving back into what was happening to you in that same area, federal prosecutors accused two of helping a local gun shop of tame machine guns. we know the charges have now been dismissed but you call this a legal and political assassination attempt. what do you mean by that,

sheriff? >> listen, i was indicted with absolutely no evidence. i lived through hell for 587 days after being indicted in april of 2023 until recently on november 12th without a shred of evidence, without any evidence whatsoever, and i felt that i was a political target because of what i stand for in frederick county. it goes to a broader issue about the weaponization of the department of justice. i feel like i was a target. so therefore much like an assassination. >> trace: when you say what you stand for, what would the people of frederick believe that you stand for? >> they know that i stand for law and order, the rule of law. for 16 years i worked with i.c.e. in a very successful program that maintains safety in frederick county, it's a safe community. we probably got the lowest crime rate in the region in large part due to the 287g and their work

with i.c.e. michael is to continue that. i've got a good relationship, president trump means business and i will support that 1000%. >> trace: it's interesting, i wanted to get your take on this because the illegal immigrant who allegedly killed the 16-year-old, he wants an insanity evaluation. her mother says he knew exactly what he was doing. i want to play a little sound, because i think it's well worth it. watch this. >> i stand with all the mothers and fathers who are for this. lakin riley's family, all of them, we are all united by the same tragedies but that could have been prevented. the biden and harris administration failed comp completely. i'm losing hope. >> trace: it's amazing. i ask you that because it's one of those things were common sense ask the same question, why doesn't your mayor

start a fund for the victims of some of these illegal immigrants? >> you would have to ask the mayor that but i would like to put the mayor in a room with any parent of any victim anywhere in the usa and have him explain to that family why he feels the way he feels, what justifies his view on this, and while he wants to protect people that are in this country illegally. we are looking at the most violent criminals and gang members and cartel members on the face of the planet coming into our country. we have to get serious about cleaning up the problem. when is it going to be time to protect americans? >> trace: it's a very good question. sheriff chuck jenkins, thank you for coming on the show, we appreciate it. >> thank you. >> trace: coming up, what the cohost of the view was told as they continue to defend biden over the pardon of his son hunter. and later in the nightcap... >> to illustrate why this is wrong, i'm holding up an american flag to represent the constitution values.

>> if you continue... >> your position should be forfeited. by your action, you forfeited your right to preside. >> trace: a new jersey resident was escorted out of a town council meeting for waving, as you saw, an american flag in protest of a new rule that forbids props during public remarks, including american flags. is there ever a valid reason to ban the american flag, do you consider the american flag a prop? let us know x and instagram @tracegallagher, we will read your responses coming up in the nightcap. ♪ ♪ it's odd how in an instant things can transform. slipping out of balance into freefall. i'm glad i found stability amidst it all. gold. standing the test of time.

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♪ ♪

when he kept saying things like, you know, nobody is above the law, i respect the jury's decision, he did not believe that but he did not have to volunteer that lie to begin with. >> i'm going to stop you for a second. >> oh, no,. >> only because you don't know that it was a lie. we don't know why he changed his mind. >> you think he just changed his mind over thanksgiving weekend all of a sudden? >> i think he changed his mind because he got sick of watching everybody else get over. >> why can't you say when democrats are wrong? >> i will tell you when democrats are wrong. >> that's ridiculous. >> trace: cohost of the view being taken to task over their dishonest coverage of trump and incessant defense of the hunter biden pardon. let's bring in political commentator james klüg and york post reporter lydia moynihan. lydia, i play that sound but it was 38 seconds. it's long for us but worth it because it's kind of a good back-and-forth where you have charlotte main the god, no fan

of trump, going after whoopi goldberg because it's ridiculous they can't self analyse. there's no self-reflection at all. >> there's so much diversity of viewpoint. you have far less -- far left progressives who support the hunter biden pardon and those who are opposed to it. i'm joking. i think what's really interesting in that clip though is that whoopi goldberg is trying to jump in and essentially silence what charlamagne tha god is trying to say. i think this is representative of what we are seeing in the far left as a whole, where you cannot have a conversation about what's going on. it was really striking to me that she's basically trying to silence a dissenting opinion and it seems like this is an issue that we are seeing, you know, the far left is leaving x to go to blue sky because they are not comfortable with other people expressing their opinions. i think this is a huge issue from the democratic party, particularly as they try to figure out a way forward, because if you can't listen to people who have a different

perspective, even if they are in the same political sphere as you, you are going to have real issues. >> trace: they've been shutting down dissent for a long time now. here's the obama pros talking about self-reflection on the save america podcast, talking about the biden pardon as well. watch. >> now everyone looks stupid. everyone looks for love [bleep] and i think that's a piece of this i'm most frustrated with which is joe biden looking like a typical lying politician. i think that leads to a cynical feeling that all politicians are bad and they are all the same and that this is just par for the course. >> i feel like a [bleep] pool. that's what makes me mad about it. >> trace: he makes me laugh that joe biden has been lying to these people for 40 years and now they suddenly feel like they are fools week come on. just now catching on? >> right. while it certainly going to wake some people up. biden repeatedly told the american people he was not going

to be pardoning his son and then the media was cheering him on about this, they were celebrating it and then he goes and does his 11 year blanket pardon which is in all the specific amount of time by the way. but when it comes down to it, over the last four years, the media and democrats repeatedly told everybody nobody is above the law. it turns out biden's family is. who could have seen it coming? >> trace: definitely above the law. meantime lots of talk about shaking up the white house press corps, maybe the white house press briefings look a little different. saying people close to trump have said in recent days he should dramatically change who gets access to the president, suggesting podcasters, internet personalities and media deemed more friendly to him could replace outlets like the major television networks, "the new york times" and "the washington post" in the rooms front rows. i mean come on, everybody is going to get a shot at the president, everyone is going to get into these things and be able to ask their questions. what did you think about all of this, you know, up in arms

tightly wound stuff? >> it's interesting because it was biden who just recently under his term tried to completely overhaul the white house press corps and actually barred to certain conservative outlets like the daily signal from even participating at all. that's what we saw with this administration. i think what we are hearing from people close to trump is that they want to have a press corps that is reflective of how people are consuming media. it's not that they are trying to keep people out, it's that they are trying to expand the tent and they recognize, as they did this summer, going on these different podcasts, a lot of people aren't consuming conventional media, they aren't reading "the new york times", instead they are going to podcasts, paying attention to twitter. they respect independent journalists even on sub stack and so the white house press briefing room should reflect that. these people who have in some cases much larger audiences than "the new york times" deserve to have a seat at the table and i think it makes a lot of sense that they want to update the

press court to reflect changing media tastes. >> trace: i think that's fair. my favorite sound bite of the day comes from john brennan of the hunter biden laptop, has all the heart -- hallmark served as information he says now, and i quote that "trump has no respect for institutions." >> looking at the other people he's identified, kash patel, this demonstrates across the board then he has no regard, no respect for these institutions that really help keep this country strong and safe and make sure that we are able to maintain the rule of law. >> trace: when you get scolded by john brennan about truth and morals, you are getting it. >> we are living in quite the timeline right now. what is he even defending? is he defending law fair? this is exactly why people voted for donald trump. for change, they voted against law fair and as far as i'm concerned when it comes to the

elite outrage about kash patel being the fbi director pick, the more they are outraged, i think the better the candidate. >> trace: maybe the better job they will do. james, lydia, thank you both. meantime surprising numbers from the annual reagan national defense survey where trump voters surveyed after this year's presidential election reveal how they feel about a number of defense related issues. here's chief national security correspondent jennifer griffin. >> no arsenal or weapon in the arsenals of the world is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. it is a weapon our adversaries in today's world do not have. it is a weapon that we as americans do have. let that be understood by those who practice terrorism and prey upon their neighbors. >> reporter: with russia on the move in ukraine, china in taiwan and a new access of autocrats aligning themselves from tehran to pyongyang, the

trump administration inherits a world on fire. despite indications americans who voted for trump are becoming more isolationist, the seventh annual reagan national defense survey found the opposite. a majority of americans want to the united states to lead with a strong military with global bases overseas. overall, 80% of americans view russia as an adversary. 60% support the nato alliance, 59% support ukraine negotiating for peace, even if it means conceding some territory to russia. when it comes to taiwan, in the event of a chinese invasion, 73% report recognizing taiwan as an independent country. 58% back moving u.s. military assets into the region. a little over half support establishing a no-fly zone and possibly shooting down chinese warplanes. 48% are in favor of committing u.s. forces to defend taiwan. trace. >> trace: jennifer griffin of

the pentagon, thank you. be sure to tune into a special edition of "fox news at night" this friday, live at 11:00 p.m. eastern, 8:00 here in southern california, from the reagan national defense forum. of course at the reagan library, a great night, a lot of great guests, tune in, it's going to be very instructive. coming up, new clues about how the supreme court will decide on gender altering care for minors. that's next. ♪ ♪

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♪ ♪ >> trace: the supreme court appears to be divided over whether states should allow minors to be given puberty blockers and hormone therapy to help them change genders. christina coleman live with more on the arguments before the court today and what's next. good evening. >> reporter: good evening. multiple media outlets are reporting that it appears as though the conservative leaning supreme court justices are going to uphold the law being challenged in this historic case. the associated press writing, a

high-profile culture were clash, the supreme court on wednesday seemed likely to uphold tennessee's ban on gender-affirming care for minors. the ruling in this case could have sweeping applications since at least 25 states have similar laws on the books. today during the hearing, just as breck have not noted some of the major concerns over gender-affirming care for minors. 's payment you say there are benefits from allowing these treatments but there are also harms from allowing these treatments, at least of the state says so, loss of fertility, the physical and psychological effects on those who later change their mind. and want to detransition, which i don't think we can ignore. >> reporter: meantime, adjust is pushed back on the notion that states should be left to regulate the issue. >> when you are 1% of the population or less, it's very hard to see how the democratic process is going to protect you. >> your honor.

>> you are a larger part of the population and it did not protect them. it did not protect women for whole centuries. >> reporter: it could take months for the justices to reach a decision in this case. they have until next june. >> trace: christina, thank you. let's bring in advocates for faith and freedom, attorney julianne fleischer, and expression public policy director, thank you for coming on. we are going to get to the controversy and a minute but i want to get your take on the supreme court thing going on especially this, fox news headline here, compares trans medical treatments to aspirin. question about side effects during oral arguments. going on to say there will always be a percentage of the population under any medical treatment that is going to suffer harm so the question in mind is not do policymakers decide whether one person's life is more valuable than the millions of others who get relief from this treatment? talk about comparing an aspirin

to transgender therapy, whatever they call it. it's amazing because you can't give a kid an aspirin in school without parental permission. >> that comparison is appalling considering we are talking about care in which -- lack of care in which we are asking or telling minors it's okay to chop off body parts. it's quite appalling comparison. i would like to ask the justice what would you say to the detransition nurse who now have to live with the consequences of these types of surgeries that adults permitted them to have when they were minors. >> trace: i would love to hear the answer to that. we talked about this, the new jersey lawyer, tossed out of the town council meeting for waving an american flag to protest the new banned. in fact it's our nightcap question. it's kind of fascinating where you are like the american flag now in some parts of the country is apparently considered a prop. >> did not believe it when i saw the video. a complete overreaction to this

form of symbolic expression. the lawyer holding up an american flag, joel bassoff, and a copy of the constitution, and it was in no way disruptive. he was holding up these symbols of the freedoms that he claimed that the township council was trampling on and the council president kind of proved his point when he reacted by kicking him out of the meeting just for the way that he was expressing himself when probably what he should have done is said hey, thank you for bringing that constitution, i would love to read it myself and learn more about it. >> trace: it's exactly right. meantime, talk to me about the teacher's. we've done this story before. but this picture on the screen, had the backpack, the trump backpack and she was suspended. what's the update? >> as of a couple months ago this school board voted to terminate her employment, she lost her job with the school district.

so now we are deep in litigation, we filed a complaint and now we are going to move forward with discovery and hold the school district accountable for this censorship. >> trace: is she maintaining she lost her job because she wore a trump backpack? >> that's right. she brought a trump backpack and some of her coworkers did not like that trump was -- she had a water bottle that had a trump sticker on it and one of her coworkers said i don't like trump looking at me. so because of those complaints, her administration terminated her employment. >> trace: cannot wait to see how this case comes out. finally, the headline in the daily signal reads, main school board asks church what he believes about marriage, abortion, gender before denying a lease. it goes on, a main church that outgrew it's meeting space applied with a local -- local school board to lease space at a high school for worship services but the school board appear to apply a religious test to the church and negotiations fell through.

i mean you just can't make this up. >> this looks like a classic case of viewpoint discrimination which is a cardinal first amendment sin. the government, including public schools, can't discriminate against speakers were groups based on their beliefs or expression, including religious expression, and there's supreme court case law that says when schools open up their facilities for groups outside of school hours, they cannot tonight use of those facilities just based on the beliefs or speech of those groups. >> trace: it's amazing and i know you know that case as well. thank you. appreciate it. great to have you on the show. meantime as we told you, a new jersey resident was walked out of his town council meeting for holding an american flag in protest of a new rule that forbids props. is there ever a valid reason to ban the american flag? do you consider the american flag a prop? let us know x and instagram @tracegallagher, we look come right back with the nightcap

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♪ ♪ >> trace: back with the nightcap crew, kevin corke, christina coleman, bill essayli,

meagan mccarthy and elizabeth pipko. tonight's topic, flag for removal. a new jersey man escorted out of a town council meeting for waving an american flag in protest of a new rule that forbids props. is there ever a valid reason to band the flag? do you consider the american flag a prop? elizabeth pipko. >> as you know, this is infuriating to me. as you know and many others know, people in this country take advantage of the fact they can legally burn the american flag. if you can burn the american flag you should be allowed to always proudly waive that american flag whenever and wherever you see fit. >> trace: i think that's a good assessment. bill essayli. >> no, the flag is not a prop. it's a symbol of our constitutional republic in this council should be ashamed of themselves and chased out of office. >> trace: christina. >> it's not a prop and i think it's anti-american to kick him out of the meeting because he's holding an american flag. >> trace: kevin corke, your thoughts? i find it interesting they would literally say you cannot have it

in their, that's a prop, you know the rules on props. [laughs] >> literally that's how i felt when i was watching that. i love my country, i don't think it's a prop and i really feel sorry for the people who had to suffer through that. it's wrong on every level. >> trace: it really is. somebody like you, meagan mccarthy, a law enforcement officer for much of your career and you see somebody doing this and using the flag as a prop, what does it make you think? >> i don't think the men and women who have given their lives for that flag view it as a prop and i think that city council member should be removed from office and if you are in the viewpoint that our flag is a prop then you should be forced to leave our country. >> trace: that's exactly right. the responses, is it a flag -- it is a flag, not a prop. overly broad town council rules need to be band, not flags, nor citizens. vicki says nothing wrong with reminding council members what country they are in. jack says there should not ever

be a time when the american flag is banned. this is the land of the free so let's keep it that way. and he says the american flag is not a prop and should never be band, it should be flown respectfully. jeffrey says any council that bands the bearing of the american flag at it's meetings is a council that should be banned. maria says am i in america or not, there is never a good reason. john says our flag is not a prop it's a symbol of our republic so it should never be banned. finally, i don't think seamstress betsy ross had prop in mind while creating the flag. thank you for watching america's late news, "fox news @ night". thank you all for joining the nightcap. don't forget to join us at the regular -- reagan library friday night. we will see you back here tomorrow night for another "fox news @ night". ♪ ♪

>> i'm jumping on you rudely. here's "the five." >> ♪