david: on that, how much do you want to run against mitch mcconnell? last year aabama lot of unique factors, but the exit poll coming out of that was that republican voters were not fond of mitch mcconnell. is there any way to make the selection a leadership choice between democrats and mitch mcconnell? mr. poersch: that question has two answers. be so shown himself to unpopular nationally because he is unpopular with both democrats and republicans, which is unusual. as a result, his leadership has ability toed and his impact republican primaries have been undercut. a national issue, it isn't so much mitch mcconnell as the leadership in washington and the leadership in congress. i think people are more and more telling us that this is a change thetion and they think congress is broken and mitch mcconnell is very much part of that. alexi: how do you get trump supporters to vote for democrats? -- poersch: the way the math map has shown itself is we have 24 incumbent senators, 10 of them in states that trump ran, and i think it is actually a misnomer that

republican voters were not fond of mitch mcconnell. himself tohas shown be so unpopular nationally because he is unpopular among both democrats and republicans. that's unusual. as a result, his leadership has been weekend and his ability to impact republican primaries have been undercut. as far as initial issue, it isn't so much mitch mcconnell as the leadership in washington and in congress. i think people are more and more telling us this is a change election. i think they think that congress is broken and mitch mcconnell is a part of that. >> how do you get from supporters to vote for democrats? map shows itself incumbent 24 senators, 10 of them in states that trump ran. thatnk it is a misnomer our challenge is to win over trump supporters. quite's a sickly come our challenge in this cycle is to keep the trump supporters that incumbents have. most of our democrat incumbents are leading races. huge tranchesave of support that voted for trump. a party in the senate, are performing better with trump supporters than we did in 2016. we s

against the establishment is a trademark of a lot of campaigns, but listen to this. >> captain mitch mcconnell has created millions of jobs for china people. while doing so, mitch has gotten rich. in fact, his china family has given him tens of millions of dollars. mitch is swamped running false ads against me. i will ditch joe manchin and mitch for the sake of the kids. >> this comes up with campaigns, it has forever, but normally you say look at the fringe guy, look at the extremist guy. and you try to say, are they taking two points, three points, or five points away from the other candidates? this guy could win the primary. >> but his campaign against mitch mcconnell is effective outside washington, d.c. we saw it in alabama. mitch mcconnell's approval rate throughout the united states is actually quite low. that's something roy moore used. he ran against the establishment in washington. i covered that senate race and i was shocked how people could name him in things he's done and go after him specifically. don blarnkenship has used this terrible language, and i think people dislike mitch

. >> mitch mcconnell has created millions of jobs for china people. tten rich. in fact, his china family has given him tens of millions of dollars. i will beat mitch mcconnell. >> that is in reference to drugs found on a ship owned by a family of blankenship's wife. if he gets a nomination, running against democratic incumbent joe m manchin, but he's mostly running against the incumbent mitch mcconnell and is disparaging mcconnell's wife and family. elaine chow was born in china. her family came over when she was just eight years old. here's how she described it to dana bash. >> as an adult looking back and seeing my mother who was only like 27, how frightening it must have been for her as the only woman aboard this cargo ship with three young girls. i mean, that's pretty rough. >> chow's family started a shipping company. she rose to be the first chinese american to serve on the cabinet under george w. bush. she is now head of transportation. the same organization that blankenship says he's running for the senate to support. >> for young people and yo

how about mitch mcconnell?particular election given the fact that there's no love lost between these two men? >> it's similar to what we saw in alabama. we haven't necessarily seen mitch mcconnell going out and making statements to the press but mitch mcconnell has a very robust political machine that does operate in some of these primaries and the accusations from blankenship is that some of the negative ads that he's facing are being funded and being pushed by mitch mcconnell and his allies. we do know that when different candidates, including roy moore, make it apart of their campaign to attack the majority leader, mitch mcconnell a savvy operator in washington doesn't take that lying down and even though they're members of his own party, he takes the fight back to them and that's what we've seen in west virginia. he's very much hoping that blankenship does not make it out of this primary race and there are a lot of negative ads attacking mr. blankenship that would make it difficult for him to push through a

an apparent reference to blankensh blankenship's nickname for mcconnell, "cocaine mitch." only in 2018. more from ryan nobles in charleston, west virginia. >> reporter: there is no doubt that the results here in west virginia come as a relief to republicans in washington, particularly senate majority leader mitch mcconnell and president trump. the former coal baron ended up with a disappointing finish coming in third place. there was some thought that don blankenship's campaign was surging, that he had an opportunity to defy all the odds. this despite the fact that president trump put out a tweet telling voters in west virginia to pick anyone other than blankenship. it was that tweet that blankenship believes was the difference between a win and a loss. >> it didn't work out. i -- i'm being asked, of course, whether some of the things we did, whether it's cocaine mitch or whether it's some of the criticisms of mitch mcconnell or china people made the difference. i really don't think so. i think if there was any single factor based on the polling at different times, the deb

going to go to washington, d.c., and drain the swamp and don't know whether they will vote for mitch mcconnell are not is not telling you the truth because mcconnell has to go to drain the swamp. when he went to d.c. 35 years ago the national debt was $2 trillion and now the national debt is $22 trillion. $20 trillion while mitch mcconnell has been there. he has conflicts of interest with china. his family is very powerful in china and very powerful in the united states. one of the fate of the president trump is going to face is economic dealings with china where they now have the $358 billion surplus over us and trade. he's also going to face issues about human rights and a whole source of other things. mitch mcconnell was one of the few senators that voted after tiananmen square not to have punitive actions against china for human rights violations. they killed 500,000 500,000 pet tiananmen square. you have to wonder what he's doing. if he wants something else coming he interferes with elections all over this country. he is interfering with this election. how are these guys going to stand up

mitch mcconnell was in the same briefing. president says there was an illegal spying operation on his campaign. not majority leader says this. >> it was a classified briefing and consequently i don't really have any observations to make about it. i don't have anything new to say on that subject. two investigations going on that i think will give us the answers to the questions that you raise. the ig investigation in the justice department and the mueller investigation. i support both of them. and i don't really have anything to add to this subject based upon the gang of eight briefing that we had today which was classified. >> now, just quick translation. he's not going to say the president is spreading conspiracy theories, the president is wrong or nuts. mitch mcconnell won't say that. but he does say we have two investigations going on. i support them. and i learned nothing today's in this briefing to change that opinion. again, that speaks volumes as does nunes silence. >> nunes silence was not just to the press. afterward

our mitch mcconnell?! if that's true, someone's cutting mitch's blow with ambien!r ) but primary frights work their stupid magic on both sides and in new york democratic governor andrew cuomo who made his name as a moderate is being challenged by activist and progressive cynthia nixon, and i couldn't be happen queer about her candidacy, and i know you're expecting me to make a sex in the city joke by saying i'm such a miranda. but the show ended 14 years ago so get over it and stop being such a charlotte! ( applause ) and while polls have nixon trailing quoam o he's been swerving left than a bruce driver on bath salts. >> cuomo is following nixon entrance by checking off a list. >> governor quoam-had an order to give prison parolees the right to vote. >> a major push to legalize marijuana. >> cynthia nixon came out in favor of legalization and governor cuomo is considering it. >> governor cuomo wants to ban plastic shopping bags throughout the united states. >> cynthia was leading a rally with environmental activists. >> no more plastic bags in new york! finally, e

to elaine chao, who is asian american. >> swamp captain mitch mcconnell has created millions of jobsy has given him tens of millions of dollars. mitch's swamp people are now running false negative ads against me. they are also childishly calling me despicable and mentally ill. the war to drain the swamp and create jobs for west virginia people has begun. i will beat joe manchin and ditch cocaine mitch for the sake of the kids. >> yeah, he said china family and china people there. he also said cocaine mitch, which seems to be a reference from an allegation years ago that drugs were found on a cargo ship on the other hand by chao's family. it's worth noting blankenship spent a year in jail because when he was the owner of a company called massey, one of the mines clapped. >> anderson, if don blankenship is saying provocative things tomorrow, it will not be as a candidate for the united states senate. cnn can now project he is going to run third in the republican primary. you see the results right in here. don blankenship just shy of 21%. the state attorney general patrick morrissey cur

>> mitch mcconnell has an even ask for my support. i think it's way too premature.andidly mitch mcconnell deserves a debt of gratitude for being able to hold a supreme court seat open so neil gorsuch could be on the supreme court today. what i'm interested in doing is getting through the november election bringing a much-needed republican vote to the united states senate and then we will see who's running for senate. i'm not ruling anybody end, i'm not ruling anybody out. nobody has asked for my support. what i would do is make a decision on who is going to lead the senate to support the president trump agenda. >> bret: i'm noticing you are not raising your hand either. >> i'm not the product of the liberal establishment. i think that's why you are saying all the conservatives come out for me.

. >>> swamp captain mitch mcconnell has created millions of jobs for china people. doing so, mitch has gotten rich. in fact, his china family has given him tens of millions of dollars. >> is that guy about to win a primary in the republican party? establishment republicans are freaking out tonight about that very possibility, the possibility that despite a criminal record, no natural political constituency, and shall we say charitably a notable lack of charisma? notorious coal baron don blankenship may be about to win that senate nomination in west virginia. blankenship served a year in federal prison you might remember for his role in violating mine safety rules in the 2010 upper branch mine accident that left 29 miners dead. despite that fact, blankenship has been surging ahead of tomorrow's west virginia primary with internal gop polls reportedly showing him narrowly leading two more establishment rivals. blankenship has done it by spending heavily on the race and by essentially embracing the role of the villain, someone who rails against mitch mcconnell as cocain

having a progress report as a possible defendant in an ongoing investigation. >> so you heard what mitch mcconnell said. nothing surprising coming out. a source telling cnn devin nunes' take on this is not to dispute what mcconnell or schiff are saying but to say, we didn't get what we wanted. in other words, to imply that it's still out there, right? that seems to be the implication. speaker ryan says republicans are getting the cooperation necessary, being very clear to say that the doj and fbi are cooperating. do you think that they need to provide more information? or is nunes' sources that are talking about nunes trying to stir the pot? >> devin nunes and the house intelligence committee and the senate intelligence committee are responsible for oversight. but it's oversight of the intelligence community, not of an ongoing criminal investigation in the department of justice. in fact, i'm on the judiciary committee. we have oversight responsibility over the fbi and the department of justice. there is no evidence, none, of any spy placed by the fbi in the trump campaign to benefit hillary clinto

senator mitch mcconnell, thank you. >> thank you.

i wonder about the mitch mcconnell piece.portive of the president agenda on the economy and confirmations, especially with judges, mitch mcconnell has actually been quite instrumental to help support president trump's agenda on that. >> yeah. one of the big questions in this primary is what does it mean to be a republican in the trump era? it was notable that none of the republicans running for the senate in west virginia said they would endorse mitch mcconnell as the majority leader. jenkins and morrisey kind of caveated their responses and said they could support him later on. but it tells you that trump is the leader of the republican party and all three canaled dates were trying to -- three candidates trying to be closer to trump than mcconnell. >> dana: you have to wonder if president trump would come out and be supportive of mitch mcconnell. but then again if this is what is important for republicans to be against the establishment in washington, d.c., maybe he will take a hands off approach? >> one thing that is intere

racist ads were aimed at mitch mcconnell's asian american wife. he is breathing easier tonight. he thinks either one of these candidates will be competitive, potential being able to take this away come november. had it been blankenship, you would see the republican party as early as tomorrow pull out on the money. it looks like one of the establishment candidates will win the race in west virginia tonight. >> we'll keep checking the results of those races. >>> to tonight's other breaking news. cnn has learned that mueller investigators have questioned a russian oligarch for hundreds of thousands of dollars of paymented paid to michael cohen after the election. the purpose of those payments is unclear tonight, but michael avenatti, the attorney for adult film star stormy daniels is alleging that cohen received a transfer of half a million dollars from victor vekselberg after the president lex. cnn has reviewed documents that appear to show the payments. we have not independently thought catersed those documents. i spoke with michael avenatti earlie

>> captain mitch mcconnell has created millions of jobs for china people, doing so, mitch has gotten rich. at the china family has given him tens of millions of dollars. i will meet joe manchin and ditch cocaine mitch for the sake of the kids. >> martha: leader mcconnell says this about the whole thing. >> well, my father-in-law is an american who lives in new york, works in new york, and i don't have any comments about ridiculous observations like that. >> martha: so the blankenship campaign try to back up their facts, but fell flat after a fact-check from "the washington post" which found this, four immersed group, the company elaine child's father owns is not a chinese company it is an american company linked in new york. no evidence that mcconnell's father-in-law had "given mitch and his wife millions of dollars over the years." neither the nation who reported the story nor the colombian navy ever reported that the cocaine that was found on that ship was worth $7 million or that anyone knew who stash the relatively small amount on the ship and no charges were ever filed. here now

mitch mcconcconnell's fingerprints all over it. >> he wanted to get in there and knock this guy as hard as he could. blankenship has attacked mcconnelllled him cocaine mitch. gone after his wife. >> in racist terms. yeah. >> mitch mcconnell is out of the 535 members of congress the one least likely to have experimented with cocaine. blankanin shhh is arguing essentially as many other candidates this year are arguing in republican primaries that he is the trumpiest. so much so that when the president attacked him today he actually said i'm even trumpier than trump. >> i think we have that cocaine mitch ad. let's look at it. >> they are running ads that say the coal mine blew up and i went to prison. there is no surprise there. if you want jobs and if you want to end the drug epidemic and if you want to protect the unborn you need to vote for me. up with of my goals as u.s. senator will be to ditch cocaine mitch. >> that of course did not include the incendiary remarks about mitch mcconnell's wife that you referenced. i'm not sure i have ever seen a political ad like that in my career. >> some of the viewers may be too young you approx

mitch mcconnell has present a -- tons of president trump nominees and mitch mcconnell might open up thext majority party which could be democrats. trade deal i don't see because of what nick outlined the next phase two of the tax cuts even happening. it could happen in the house, but i don't see them making much progress. >> the reconciliation to get a tax cut in the first place. that does allow you a one-time shot at a 51 vote, which we got. i agree with you is very unlikely they're going to revisit this. as to the minority party, using this against republican the next time around is almost a guarantee that republicans will be the minority party unless they get more accomplished. voters are angry about the fact that republicans have the white house, senate in the house and there are so few things on the agenda which i pass because chuck schumer has made this his resistance. they are basically slow walking the work of the senate. i think mcconnell needs to move en masse and i don't think there's not much downside risk. democrats will do it if the gop does not. neil: molly, there is a fl

listen. >> trump kept mitch mcconnell for millions of china people. his china family has given him tens of millions of dollars. i will ditch cocaine mitch for the sake of the kids. >> wow. is that going to work? >> you know, i watched that ad probably 20 times and it makes me wide eyed every time. you know, i don't know if that will work. it is interesting because blankenship has been running as the trump-esque candidate. trump himself said do not vote for this man. blankenship is coming out and giving the cocaine mitch nickname. very trumpian move there. blankenship doesn't have the support of the republican establishment. he is running in the state where republicans should be able to win because trump won by 40 points in 2016. they need a strong candidate to beat joe manchin. i don't know if blankenship is the guy. >> 2018. a racist ex-con. internal numbers show him leading in west virginia. what would it mean for the president and for republican politics for the brand if he were to win today? >> you know, you say that, but it is funny. that sounds l

i think the american people should be bringing along mitch mcconnell and paul ryan. they should be letting them know it's time to stop this. the ignorance is palpable on he perspective when you look at what's happening with this special counsel. it's politically and ideologically rigged. they are far worse than that. these are left-wing activists on the payroll of the special counsel attacking and trying to undermine the president of the united states. all of the crimes i can find as i said earlier on this broadcast. the dnc, the fusion gps, the phoney fraudulent dossier. the roll of james comey, bob mueller and all of this. you just go through it, and the crimes are all in the shadows of the united states government rather than demand they are trying to subvert president trump. >> i think it's quietest the president is frustrated. he's the only one trying to protect the rule of law from mueller's even kroavment. you have maybe four members on the-hill. lou: the freedom caucus is standing up, ron desantis. this is the moment in our history where people who stand up w

. >> trump captain mitch mcconnell has created millions of jobs for china people. >> so why is the presidentuing against him? but first the "nightline" 5. our 3 contestants are all at the big ikea table. contestant #1, impressive knife skills. but contestant #2 fights back by using fresh parsley. make room for the judge! what's your dream? at ikea, we help you live it. make the dream yours. our 3 contestants are all at the big ikea table. contestant #1, impressive knife skills. but contestant #2 fights back by using fresh parsley. make room for the judge! what's your dream? at ikea, we help you live it. make the dream yours. >>> good evening. we begin with the story of tyra patterson. sentenced to decades in prison after she says she was coerced into a false confession. she used her time behind bars to start a career and become an inspiration to others. tonight she is free and she says it's thanks in part to a group of high school students in cincinnati. here's abc's deborah roberts. ♪ free ♪ free, free, free tyra >> reporter: this is a moment tyra patterson has dreamed of. finally embracing

mcconnell more than the other guy. the other guy says no i hate him more. blankenship tried to wear a hat on stage that said, "ditch mitchhey do it because they think there is advantage in it. mcconnell is saying nice try. >> dana: take me to other states. indiana, you had two congressmen on the republican side running to get the g.o.p. nomination to be the senate candidate. but they canceled each other out and now neither of them is in the senate or the house. >> this is just sad. it was a pitiful undertaking. both of them should think a lot about how much they wanted the job and why they wanted it and the willingness to campaign in the fashion they were in the ugly attacks against the fellow members of congress. fellow republicans. it's distasteful. the primary season is just now heating up. this is a warning side for the republicans and the democrats. if you attack each other enough you will create the deficits where you once had opportunities. mike braun seems like he will run -- here is a prediction for you. this will be a fairly boring race. >> dana: indiana? >> in indiana. because braun and the incumbent joe donne

it begins with senate majority leader, mitch mcconnell. this is half an hour. >> good afternoon everyone. this week, we are in the process of proving an fha nominee and fbi nominee ambassador to luxembourg. but most important, the veterans bill that senator isakson will describe in a few moments. on the harassment issue, senators luntz and senator klobuchar have been meeting for some time now. senator blunt will discuss that. everyone will be able to sign off on this i with that i will turn to the author of the bill.

it's actually for his completely original views on mitch mcconnell. >> one of my goals as u.s. senator will be to ditch cocaine mitch. when you vote for me, you're voting for the sake of the kids. >> trevor: "cocaine mitch?" ( laughter ) are you serious? there's no way that mitch mcconnell is on cocaine. ( laughter ) i mean, it is fun to imagine that he is, like, he's actually only 35 years old, but he parties so hard that he just looks like that now. ( laughter ) that will be funny-- so don blankenship set himself up as the trumpiest candidate that you can imagine, anti-establishment, and definitely not p.c., which is why he also ran an ad targeting mitch mccconnell's chinese american wife. >> swamp captain mitch mitch has gotten rich. in fact his china family has given him tens of millions of dollars? >> trevor: "china family?" you know, it's one of those things where i know i should be offended, but i'm extremely confused. ( laughter ) because "china family." like china family sound like how your racist uncle refers to "fresh off the boat." "change the station, i don't want t

he and mitch mcconnell have not always had the closest relationship. it's improved dramatically in recent months. he wants to hold on to his majority. he'll do anything, even if that means stay away. >> it's one thing for the president to say he embraces you. got to go from the president. >>> coming up, it's a big anniversary. are you celebrating at home? do you remember what it is, one year ago today? think about it. ♪[upbeat music] ♪now i'm gonna tell my momma ♪that i'm a traveller ♪i'm gonna follow the sun♪ ♪now i'm gonna tell my momma ♪that i'm a traveller ♪i'm gonna follow the sun transitions™ light under control™ but prevagen helps your brain with an ingredient transitions™ originally discovered... in jellyfish. in clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve short-term memory. prevagen. the name to remember. but if something happened to you... you need life insurance! and chances are selectquote can get it for you for under a dollar a day! selectquote found michael, 38, a $500,000 policy for under $23 a month. selectquote found anna, 37,

are you saying that this mitch mcconnell is high on coke? laughter ) mitch, i say this as a friend, you need to do harder drugs. ( laughter ) ( applause ) meth, mitch? i don't know. something to kick the energy up. well, here's what blankeship actually means: mitch mcconnell is married to two-time cabinet secretary elaine chao. chao's father has a shipping company, which, blankenship's campaign says, "was implicated recently in smuggling $7 million of cocaine and that is why we've deemed him cocaine mitch." okay, so now you're liable for your father-in-law's crimes? watch out, jared. ( laughter ) get out of there! ( cheers and applause ) and blankenship took some of his other concerns about mitch's father-in-law to local talk radio. ( audience reacts ) >> jon: whoa, now! whoa, now! >> stephen: "china-person"? ( laughter ) mr. blankenship, you're starting to sound like a real ass person. ( laughter ) well, a lot of folks took exception to the term "china person," but donny defended himself. >> this idea that calling somebody a china-person-- i

mitch mcconnell and paul ryan should have the guts to stand side by side with this president. they do not. the aba should be embarrassed that the legal profession is behaving as it is. because this is a corrupt and i mean to the bone corrupt judicial system and legal system that we are watching work. >> oh, it absolutely is. this is the unfettered power of rogue agencies that are now the so-called deep state. lou: yeah. and with that, greg, as always, good to see you. >> thank you, sir. lou: be sure to vote in the poll. the question is subpoena threat clear proof, clearly out of control, acting for disregard for this president and the nation. cast your vote on twitter @loudobbs. >>> up next, red storm rising, the pentagon cracking down on chinese technology. they're concerned that they're making it too easy for the chinese to spy on us on our military bases. i wonder who is responsible for that. that's right. our military leaders. more on that next. coppertone sport. proven to protect street skaters and freestylers. retail. under pressure like never before. and it's connected

guest: i think it's very clear that mitch mcconnell opposes blankenship's candidacy. someone.he will back it's playing in a nativist street, talking about mitch mcconnell being married to elaine chao. it's going after her ancestry. this is a primary where racism can have a big role. host: don is in michigan. go ahead. caller: good morning. i have a lot of people calling ll about howraise he about a person trump is. fdr had a girlfriend when he was in office. he was with him before passed away himself. we had jfk, he had girlfriends. we had the missile crisis, we had the bay of pigs mess. was --inistration involved in south vietnam. we were in vietnam up to our next. then we had clinton. he deployed troops 40 different times. he writes that in his own book. host: bring us up to today. do you think his personal life matters to voters now? is there more of a focus in the media on that? caller: that i have no opinion on. it really doesn't matter. people are raising so much cane that arep about things a thousand times worse. kennedy got us into the vietnam war. that cost u

we'll learn whether paul ryan and mitch mcconnell will align with president trump or the koch brothers, the business round table. ed rollins with us tonight. >>> our t top story, the attorny leading the president's legal team is out, ty cobb retiring. cobb is known for his nonconfrontational approach to the defense of the president. cobb has declared throughout that the white house has been fully cooperative with mueller despite the counsel's outrageous overreach. cobb being replaced by emmett flood, an attorney who represented president clinton during his impeachment proceedings. serve as as george w. bush's lead counsel and special counsel dealing with congressional investigations into the presidency. flood represented vice president dick cheney and clerked for justice antonin calea. trump hired former new york lawyer rudy giuliani taske. he outlined the conditions and profession spects of me interview with mueller. >> are they objective about the president's interview, meaning do they have an open mind to the fact he may be telling the truth and comey may be lying. if they have an o

are you saying this mitch mcconnell is on coke? a friend, you need to do harder drugs. ( laughter ) ( applause ) that mitch? i don't know. something to kick the energy up. well, here's what blankeship actually means: mitch mcconnell is married to two-time cabinet secretary elaine chao. chao's father's shipping company, which, blankenship's campaign says, "was implicated recently in smuggling $7-million of cocaine and that is why we've deemed him cocaine mitch." so now you're liable for your father-in-law's crimes? watch out jared. ( laughter ) get out of there! ( applause ) and blankenship took some of his other concerns about mitch's father-in-law to local talk radio. >> his father-in-law is extremely wealthy and runs a shipping company and owned some ships in china and he's very well-connected in china. i don't have any problem with chinese people, chinese girlfriends, chinese anything--but i have an issue when the father-in-law is, you know, is a wealthy chinaperson-- ( audience reacts ) >> jon: whoa, now! whoa, now! >> stephen:

lou: i have to tell you, this is embarrassing to this nation, that senate, majority leader mitch mcconnell, speaker of the house, paul ryan, the judiciary itself, supreme court has a role. the aba, left wing as it is, wall street, corporate america should all stand up for this president, and standing solidly against any further exploittation of what has been a serying two years. almost a year investigate by fbi of this so-called russian collusion, then another year by should bspecial council producig nothing. that is nothing less than a farce. >> yeah, lou. i am sure you, agree. i was darn critical of president obama, we sued that don adminisn hundreds of times it did not occur we would have criminal investigations, targets president every time we didn't like what he did that, is the approach now. lou: from the left. >> outside of norm in terms of rule of law and our constitution republican, president has to be able to be president, if you don't like him in office, then there is a political process for removing him. but justice department and investigatings it own over things he did with r

blankenship go after senate majority leader mitch mcconnell in a pretty outrageous way. that is -- there's no justifying what he did or his description of elaine chao, the transportation secretary who is married to mitch mcconnell. those sorts of things are disgusting and should be rejected by everyone. >> how do you think he's going to do today? >> he's obviously going to do better than anybody thought a few weeks ago. i think president trump's tweet, given his strong support in west virginia, not just in the general electorate, but he has over 90%, some say 95% among those that will vote in the republican primary. there's a small number that will vote in that primary because not that many people in west virginia are registered republicans. there are tens of thousands of democrats registered democrats that now regularly vote republican. the problem is they can't vote in the republican primary. only a handful of independents plus the registered republicans can vote. >> thanks, larry. good seeing you. this is one of the many issues we'll follow on fox business. coverage a

we welcome you to the old state capitol for the lecture of mitch mcconnell entitled kentucky lawmakers and the evolution of the united states senate leadership. senator mcconnell we are honored to host your final lecture in this series and gratified that you chose the old state capitol is the venue. constructed in 1830 this national historic landmark served as the seat of our historic government for 80 years. after it opened on a brisk january day a group of patriotically inclined citizens gathered in this building to establish the kentucky historical society. they wanted to ensure the early settlement story be preserved for the future. we often say history has a lot more to do with the future than the past. i tell you this story because there's a strong connection between the kentucky historical society and the united states senate. from the first day when john brown was elected the first president. to further illustrate this connection you should know the second president was former u.s. senator john rall and. today it's my distinct privilege to introduce another history-minded gover

blankenship and mitch mcconnell. the president weighed in.eality, voters in all the states are looking for leaders who will embrace policies president gotten through on tax reform, reasonable regulations, productive energy policy matters. clearly in having people say gosh, who he is want as a leader. the winners are taxpayers. who don't want to pay higher taxes again. small business owners who don't want burdensome costly regulations. and productive energy policies, mean jobs, more opportunities, more affordable electricity. obviously a more competitive america for making things and manufacturing things here in america. the winners are republicans broadly, by nominating candidates who are not just running on a negative issue of being against either the leader or whatever they're against. you have to say what you're for. if you give me that honor, that responsibility of fighting for you in the u.s. senate, here is what i'm going to do. so there will be more jobs, more opportunities, a better quality of life and a more competitive, winning amer

don blankenship was railroaded. >> reporter: mitch mcconnell to donald trump's own son don junior. asked voters to not vote for blankenship. >>> you think don junior is misled? >> they're all mislead. >> reporter: blankenship blames mcconnell who's ads have blanketed him. in response. >> mitch mcconnell has created millions of jobs for china people. his china people are given him tens of millions of dollars. i will beat and dismiss mitch. >> people are offended. >> they shouldn't be. i'm a west virginia person. you're an nbc person. in order to have a racist statement, you have to mention a race or derogatory comment about a race. >> don tells it like it is. just like trump did. and that's why he's getting support in this state. >> absolutely unreal. republicans had thought that they had successfully pushed blankenship to the edges of this race and that they were going to end up with morrissy or jenkins, one of the two. i would argue it would be more generic republicans on the ballot. what did you find? do you think blankenship is having a late surge based on your reporting? >> it

month before the election warning of russian interference but was thwarted of doing more because mitch mcconnellgo along with the bipartisan statement. mr. rhodes called mr. mcconnell's refusal staggeringly partisan and unpatriotic. you were involved in all of this. you had a front row seat to this. were there partisan roadblocks thrown up to alerting the american people as to what was happening? >> yes, there were and my book has much the same account. there was a great deal of discussion about a more robust reaction earlier, but there was concern on the part of the president himself, because of the allegations of rigging which the candidate trump was then espousing that anything that the president did would be viewed as political and he would be putting his hand on the scale and favor one candidate to the disfavor of the other. i think ben's exactly right even my book comports with his account. >> but not for mitch mcconnell perhaps there would be more said. did mitch mcconnell stand in the way? >> the republicans, in general, did. there was reluctance on their part to enter into a bipartisan

hey, peter. >> shep, the majority leader mitch mcconnell is really rubbing it in that don blankenshipt 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. th