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tv   Special Report With Bret Baier  FOX News  November 7, 2018 3:00pm-4:00pm PST

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i can't believe jesse has never seen "love actually." >> greg: >> jessie: set your dv, never miss an episode of "the five" ," brett is next. >> bret: this is a fox news alert, good evening i'm bret baier. just hours after the midterm elections president trump's attorney general is cleaning out his desk at the president's request. jeff sessions resigned a few hours ago after a call from the president's chief of staff. he departed the department of justice with a handshake to his acting successor and applause from the crowd as you're looking there gathered in the courtyard. the move coming following a split decision in the boat for the midterms, some verbal haymaker's throne at the presidential news conference. it was a busy day, we start off with chief white house correspondent john roberts.
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>> up until about 2:30 this afternoon, the news was all about the midterms and how president trump had lost control of the house. after the president held a lengthy news conference to go through all of that, he decided to shake up the etch-a-sketch and create a brand-new headline. [applause] moments after the news first broke on fox, president trump confirmed that attorney general jeff sessions was out and that matthew whitaker, chief of staff to attorney general jeff sessions will become our new acting attorney general. the president went on to thank jeff sessions for his service and wish them well, adding that a permanent replacement would be nominated at a later date. it was minutes earlier that president trump deferred when asked about possible changes to his cabinet, even though chief of staff john kelly had already called sessions this morning to ask for his resignation. >> president trump: i'll
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answer that at a little bit different time, were looking at a lot of different things. >> the press conference was the president's first opportunity in person to comment about the results of yesterday's midterms. president trump losing control of the house but increasing his margins in the senate. >> president trump: i thought it was a very close to complete victory. >> the president said he looked forward to working with the democrats. >> president trump: there are many things we can get along on without a lot of trouble that we agree very much with them and they agree with us. i would like to see bipartisanship. >> nancy pelosi the presumed speaker of the house said to the democrats would pursue bipartisanship but many democrats have already talked about an endless blizzard of subpoenas and investigations into everything from the russia investigation into the president's cell phone use, to his tax returns. >> president trump: if that happens, then we are going to do the same thing and the government comes to a halt. i would blame them. if they do that, then all of this is as a warlike posture.
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>> for nearly 90 minutes, the president held forth on the election saying some long simmering issue is. at several moments, the news conference growing extraordinarily contentious. >> president trump: you're a very rude person, the way you treat sarah huckabee is horrible. i'm not a big fan of yours either. >> president trump: even as he duked it out with the media, president trump said he would prefer to adopt a softer tone. >> president trump: i would be very good at a low tone. >> president trump said he's still considering an executive order to ban birthright citizenship for the children of illegal immigrants, to respond to the killing of the saudi journalist jamaal khashoggi. he made news saying he would be willing to raise rates on some people in order to get a deal with democrats. >> president trump: if the democrats come up with an idea for tax cuts, i'm a big believer in tax cuts, i would pursue something even if it means some adjustment.
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>> he said today losing control of the housemate were cut to being a good thing, he said it would force the democrats to come up with ideas, not just opposition and he and they would begin negotiations. >> bret: john roberts live on the north lawn. we will have more on those exchanges between the president and the press later in the program. from media analyst howard kurtz. first, a closer look at jeff sessions in the way forward for the administration when it comes to the attorney general, many insiders expected the mild-mannered attorney general to be gone at some point following that rocky relationship with the president, but today's action did catch a lot of people off guard especially since the president was asked about it at the news conference. catherine harris is here with us with details, what do we know about how all of this came to be? >> based on the reporting i heard from contacts, in the midterms, the president, the republican party was able to expand its majority in the senate, the president would move very quickly to push out jeff
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sessions which is exactly what we saw today. >> bret: what does this mean for special counsel robert mueller? >> we haven't heard from the acting attorney general about the special counsel but there's a lot of attention tonight on the knob that he wrote last summer that said if robert mueller investigates the finances, that would be a redlined crossed. it doesn't take a lawyer or even a formal federal prosecutor to conclude that investigating donald trump's finances or his family's finances falls completely outside of the realm of his 2016 campaign, and allegations that the campaign coordinator with the russian government and anyone else goes beyond the scope of the appointment of the special counsel. that seems prescient now given the calls from democrats to look at finances specifically. >> bret: the doj is saying he will oversee the russia special counsel probe, jeff sessions did not. he had recused himself, matt whitaker has not recused himsel himself. >> if you talk to people inside
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that white house and justice department circle, they say he is very well-liked by the president. more importantly he was seen as someone who is an outsider, someone who did not come up through the ranks with former fbi director james comey, also the special counsel robert mueller, attorney general rod rosenstein, he's an outsider who would be more in tune with the president's thinking. >> bret: it was interesting, the images of that goodbye for sessions. the handshake with whitaker. >> we take a closer look at that video again, the attorney general leaving. if you pay attention to the handshakes at one point he is coming out of the building, he's surrounded by a lot of justice department employees, their clapping. and then he turns to shake hands and you can see one of his deputies there but then if you just pause one moment, you'll see a very tall gentleman and he will shake his hand and sort of pat him on the shoulder, that's the solicitor general there.
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now if you look there, the very tall man that's whitaker. there is good chemistry between the two men, a smile. i thank you and he departs. >> bret: interesting. let's talk more about the sessions retirement, really firing with south carolina republican congressman trey gowdy who sits on the judiciary and intelligence committees and chairs the oversight and government reform committee. thanks for being here. your thoughts of this news. >> it was going to happen, i knew it was going to happen after the election. i didn't think it would happen before all the votes had been counted but he's been a proverbial dead men walking for several months now. >> bret: chuck schumer had a real problem with the acting attorney general, take a listen. >> our paramount view is that any attorney general whether this one or another one should not be able to interfere with
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the mueller investigation in any way. if they shouldn't be able to end markets, limited or interfere with mueller going forward and doing what he thinks is the right thing. that will help guide us as we go through this process. >> bret: their concern is that matt whitaker is going to do that. >> every prosecutor has jurisdictional boundaries. i don't know a single prosecutor that does not. mueller's jurisdictional boundaries have been set by rod rosenstein and they were amended in the memo that we have not seen. there has never been a prosecutor that had unfettered power to go investigate whatever the heck he or she wanted to do. if your estate prosecutor you can't investigate federal crimes. if you're in new york you can't investigate things in idaho. the notion that we are going to create a special counsel that has no boss, no jurisdictional structures at all is just typical chuck schumer and i
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think it's why so few people take them seriously. >> bret: what about rod rosenstein in his role here? he's a deputy if the attorney general is not there that he would step in as acting. >> these are interesting times that we are in. rod rosenstein, i was ready to question him, i had 37 pages with questions for him, a couple weeks ago. he was alleged to have wanted to vote the 25th amendment and question the president's fitness for office, i'm not sure that would've been the right pick. he is overseeing the speed probe right now, i don't think anything is going to happen to rod until after mueller finishes it his investigation. >> bret: rosenstein had a meeting today at the white house, do you have any sense when the spirit moves forward with anything? do you have any timeline >> for
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whatever shortcomings people perceive that he has, he's done it a good job of keeping his business private. i have not seen a single piece of evidence that suggests collusion between the trump campaign in russia. no one has interviewed more witnesses and i have. i think mueller is going to issue an exhaustive report on what russia did which should unify america and then he's going to disappoint cnn and all my democrat friends by saying there is no evidence of collusion. that's what i think he's going to do and i think it will happen before the end of the year but i don't know that. >> bret: do you think acting attorney general whitaker could expand the investigation the other way? into looking at the fbi, the early parts of the investigation from inside the administration?
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>> he could. chairman goodlad and i wrote a long time ago, we wrote attorney general sessions and said we think there ought to be a second special counsel. i say that to somebody who used to work for the department of justice and wants to see that institution restored to its greatness. i think there ought to be a second special counsel to look at the origins of the russia probe and the way the fbi conducted itself. chairman goodlad and i have been investigating to the extent that we can without a grand jury or compulsory process, we've been looking at what we can and i am deeply troubled about what the department and the bureau did. i think another special counsel is warranted and i thought that months ago. >> bret: is there more likely that it happens with acting attorney general whitaker than not? >> my chances were zero with sessions, not to quote the movie "dumb and dumber," i guess it's not wanted a million but it's better than it was with session sessions. >> bret: you're saying there's
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a chance. your reaction to losing the house? >> not surprised, historical headwinds, retirements, it's tough to win in off years. we picked up seats in the senate, i'm sorry for some of my friends that aren't coming back. mia love and stevie russell and others, it's an unusual line of work that we have chosen and the jury has spoken in the jury is always right. >> bret: what about the president saying if you didn't stand with me, too bad. today at the news conference. >> we lost the seat in south carolina, katie arrington stood with the president much more so than mark sanford. regrettably, she did not win. i think he had tremendous success in the senate seat that he involved himself with, the house, it's a different entity. it's tough to win in off years. the historical headwinds, the money that poured in, the
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retirements, i think kevin and paul knew that we were in trouble even though they fought like the dickens to prevent it. i think it was inevitable. i didn't see us picking up seats in the senate, that was a plus. >> bret: we appreciate your time as always. here's how the balance of power stands right now. as of tonight with some races still pending out there, republicans have picked up three seats in the senate. 52-46 lead at this time. a couple races out still. democrats take the house so far picking up 27 seats, that's 222 to 196 advantage at this time. it appears nancy pelosi will regain the speakership she held from 2007 to 2011, she is speaking softly right now. other top democrats carrying a bigger stick. >> we will strive for bipartisanship, we believe that we have a responsibility to seek
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common ground. where we can. where we cannot, we must stand our ground. >> it sounded like a call from compromise for the presumed next figure of the house minutes after the president tweeted that the conciliatory, the next term and of the house oversight committee elijah cummings signaled a different approach. "i want to probe senior officials across the government as well as president trump's decisions to act in his own financial self interest." other committee chairman are salivating at the prospect of subpoenas, hearings, and investigations of all things trump. >> including corruption that has permitted the president to reap personal financial benefits from industries they govern. >> trump gadfly adam schiff is on tap to head the intelligence committee, he wants to probe further into russian collusion
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regardless of what the mueller investigation finds. >> where they laundering money to the trump organization, that will be a very high priority that can get an answer to. >> slated to chair the financial services committee. >> president trump: a seriously low iq person. >> on the con man will say anything. >> california's maxine waters has repeatedly threatened impeachment proceedings as well as regulating banks. nancy pelosi remains wearing of committee chairs over reaching history offers a good lesson. >> we impeach president clinton, his numbers went up and hours went down. >> political mutually assured destruction, as the presidents had an early morning tweet today "the g.o.p. will have a larger senate majority now that means turtle can play that game. ">> bret: thanks, let's go over to some of the big contests
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from last night. start off in florida, republicans were ecstatic, two apparent state wins. correspondent peter doocy is in naples tonight. >> confetti was flowing in florida. >> now that this campaign is behind us. >> incumbent democratic senator bill nelson has hired a lawyer and has said we are proceeding to a recount, the spokesman for the lawmaker in the lead governor rick scott has said this race is over, it's a sad way for bill nelson to end's career. he's trying to hold onto something that no longer exists. the florida secretary of state is set to rule on a recount saturday. if scott holds on, florida will be one of the laces presidential pressure paid off. on stages in front of thousands. >> we have a narrow window. we've got two years to show that as conservatives we can make
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things work. >> scandal plagued democratic senator bob menendez one represent a new jersey and a close contest last night and today montana senator jon tester found out he held on. the democratic ranks when they return in january will have thinned. indiana senator joe donnelly and missouri senator claire mccaskill are out. >> i know my mouth gets me in trouble a lot, right? but believe it or not i had to be careful. not anymore. >> jackie rosen is responsible for the only republican loss in the senate last night. >> to move the supreme court to the right, that also was a generational achievement. i was pleased and proud to be part of that. >> as heller exits a former leader of the party enters. >> i'll be the junior senator. >> ted cruz be the highest profile challenger of the cycle,
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congressman beto o'rourke. >> they were seen as future leaders of the democratic party, maybe even presidential candidates and they both lost. now attention shifts to the ranks of the soon-to-be democratic-controlled house where new democratic veterans are on their way like jason pro who beat congressman mike coffman and colorado and where there will soon be a record number of women serving together, included the youngest woman ever elected, new york's democratic congresswoman-elect, alexandria ocasio-cortez. >> we advocate and champion the causes of our neighbors and economic dignity and come with ambitious plans for our future, there is no community beyond victory. >> late here in florida, senator nelson launched an emergency recount fund and he's using act blue -- that's the same online tool that helps democrats in dozens of districts
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out raise republicans this cycl cycle. it lets money come from outside of florida and it lets small donations stay anonymous. >> bret: thanks. some of the other extremely close races, republican scott walker will not have a third term, he was defeated by democrat tony devers by about 30,000 votes in the end. republican brian camp has declared victory, he has led the georgia governors contest by about 63,000 votes over stacy abrams who is refusing to concede. in arizona, counting continuous. republican martha mcsally leads kyrsten sinema by about 15,000 votes. up next the president and the fresco added in unprecedented fashion. we'll look at the fireworks nex next.
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♪ >> bret: it was a tense atmosphere today at the white house, that's an understatement. president trump put his disdain for much of the media on full display. many members of the media tried to give it right back in the q&a. fox news media analyst and host of fox news media buzz howard kurtz on what happened
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and what it means. >> won cnn's jim acosta was called on in today's news conference, he chose to debate president trump about the migrant caravan. >> president trump: i consider it to be innovation. >> is not an invasion. >> after several exchanges he tried to move on but acosta amazingly would not surrender the mic. >> president trump: that's enough, put down the mic. cnn should be ashamed of itself, having you working for them. you are a rude, terrible person. >> a racially charged question. >> you called yourself a nationalist, some people called that white nationalist. >> president trump: it's a very terrible thing that you said. >> one april ryan tried to shout a question the president wasn't having it's such a hostile media. >> the session highlights the hostile relations with the president attacking the fake
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news as the enemy of the people. other presidents have faced argumentative questions and deflected them. >> for many years, i was a democrat. >> president obama was once interrupted by a daily caller reporter. >> is not time for questions. not while i'm speaking. >> the war of words as unprecedented as underscored by cnn's response today. the ongoing attacks on the press have gone too far, they are not only dangerous, disturbingly un-american. president trump said he hoped the tone of relations would improve but it starts with the media. the press corps didn't help itself today with interruptions that came off sounding rude. >> bret: now that midterms are over, democrats start jostling for position in the 2020 presidential race, already. beyond our borders tonight. firefighters in marseilles
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france said that death toll has risen to six in the collapse of two dilapidated department buildings, the fire service has been toiling day and night with cadaver dogs to sift through the pile of rubble and beans. russia wants to discuss the possible easing of sanctions against north korea during a session at the united nations security council tomorrow. russia and china have repeatedly supported such a move. the russian request comes as secretary of state mike pompeo postpones a meeting with north korean officials in new york. thousands of troops in world war ii uniforms marched across moscow's red square today in a reenactment of a historic wartime parade. in 1941, red army soldiers went directly to the front line during the battle of moscow to repel the invading forces closing in on the soviet capita capital. just some of the other stories beyond our borders tonight, we'll be right back. see a little blood when you brush or floss?
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♪ >> bret: investors are just glad midterms are over, maybe they the like divided government but the dow exploded on the day after the election, finishing ahead of 545. the s&p 500 was up 58, the nasdaq surged 195. the trump administration is finalizing an exemption that allows some employers with religious or moral objections to opt out of providing no-cost birth control for women workers.
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new regulations apply to nonprofits and small businesses. major companies whose stock is sold to investors are not eligible for this opt out. under obamacare, most employers must cover birth control with no charge as a preventative service for women. let's take a look tonight at some of the big initiatives on the ballot, midterm ballots all over the country, voters in alabama and west virginia passed measures that could pave the way for new limits or a full ban on abortion if those states if the conservative majority in the u.s. supreme court overturns the 1973 ruling that legalized abortion, roe v. wade. florida has restored the voting rights of more than one and a half million felons who have served their sentences, the sunshine state also -- approved bands on greyhound racing, offshore oil drilling, and workplace invading. massachusetts beat back a repeal attempt and reaffirmed a 2016
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law affirming protections for transgender people including the use of public bathrooms and locker rooms in north carolina past a photo i.d. measure, michigan legalized recognized recreational marijuana, and colorado approved a measure that could sharply reduce fracking. if you thought electoral politics was over for a while, think again. democrats are already gearing up for the presidential season. many of those will come from the senate where majority leader mitch mcconnell says he may have some attendance issues but it should be "fun to watch." here's senior political correspondent mike emanuel. >> it's on to 2020. [cheers and applause] >> beyond massachusetts senator elizabeth warren, plenty of senators are expected to consider a presidential run. cory booker, kirsten gillibrand,
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tim kaine, amy klobuchar, kamala harris, and bernie sanders. >> harris is considered generating a lot of interest because she is new, a fresh fac face. >> we are going to take back the power. >> this is the closest i'll ever have in my life to an i am spartacus moment. >> trying to create a moment during the justice kavanaugh confirmation and has tested his message in iowa. >> you are never defined in life by what happens to you, you're defined by how you respond. >> there are also governors andrew cuomo and john hickenlooper, deval patrick of massachusetts, and former virginia governor terry mcauliffe. >> they've run a campaign on fear, hate, and division. they have tried to divide america. >> mayors considering a run, eric garcetti of los angeles,
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mitch landrieu of new orleans and michael bloomberg. >> the mayor of new orleans and he is one of those candidates very charismatic when you see him in person, really great retail politician. >> there are the familiar faces from the obama years, vice president joe biden, attorney general eric holder, by then spent a lot of times in the mid terms trying to help claire mccaskill over the finish line line. >> they want to try to go with someone who's younger, a fresher face, looking to the future. >> one big pressure to my question is whether hillary clinton will make a third attempt at the white house. democrats will need to consider who is best suited to take on president trump? it might be unorthodox but, someone knocked on the radar yet. >> bret: we have time. the midterms are over, the president changed the news cycle
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by asking attorney general jeff sessions to resign. the panel on that, next. just one free hearing test at
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♪ >> president trump: jeff sessions never took control of the justice department. he took the job and then said i'm going to recuse myself. the only reason i gave him the job, i felt loyalty. i was disappointed that he recused himself. >> can i assume he's gone? >> president trump: you can't assume that. >> he's been frustrated by my recusal and other matters but we have been so pleased and honored to be given the responsibility to execute his agenda. >> president trump: and very happy with most of my cabinet. we are looking at different people for different positions, i didn't want to do anything before the midterms. >> bret: after the midterms, about an hour after the news conference, news came out that jeff sessions is no longer going to be attorney general, leaving
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today in the resignation letter saying "at your request, i am submitting my resignation, i've been honored to serve as attorney general and have worked to implement the law enforcement agenda base on the rule of law that formed the central part of your campaign for presidency, thank you for the opportunity." leaving, he had a moment outside the justice department in which he shook hands with the acting attorney general, matt whitaker who is the chief of staff for jeff sessions. that choice is getting a lot of attention. "washington post" columnist marc thiessen, mar eliasson, and mollie hemingway. >> i think the president of the united states is learning from his mistakes. if he had done this with james comey after the 2016 election, there would be no molar probe today. the reality is the president of the united states is, to reshuffle his cabinet, to tell some people to leave another people to come. when i was in the white house in
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2004, president bush waited until after the election for donald rumsfeld to replace him. >> bret: which he did the day after the midterms. >> this is a normal process. if he had waited to do this and this and all of a sudden some development came in the mueller probe or some controversy with the justice department and people started speculating -- we would be in conspiracy theories about obstruction of justice. the election has changed and he's moving on. >> bret: a lot of people are asking what has happened in the possibility of deputy attorney general rod rosenstein who was at the white house today, should he then assume the top spot? i asked trey gowdy about that earlier in the show. >> he is alleged to have wanted to vote the 25th amendment and question the president's fitness for office, so i'm not sure that would've been the right pick. he is overseeing the mueller probe right now. i don't think anything is going to happen to rod until after mueller finishes investigation,
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and then what happens after that. >> that's the big question, that's why people are all up in arms especially democrats. rod rosenstein oversees the mueller probe but if the attorney general is not recused, whoever replaces him can take that. >> bret: doj said later in the afternoon, with whitaker come again who is not recused himself, he will now -- >> he will have that responsibility. the question is what does he do? he has spoken about ways in which you can start of the probe, de facto shuts down. there should be a redline looking into the president's finances, that would be a bridge too far -- democrats want to protect the mueller investigation, they don't want that shut down and that's going to be the next big controversy. >> bret: we should point out that bob mueller, everything that he knows, he passed off the finance stuff to the southern district of new york and we don't know when he's coming forward.
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you mentioned matt whitaker talking about that, here's a sound bite. >> the budget of the special counsel and that is well within the purview of the attorney general. i could see a scenario where jeff sessions is replaced with a recess appointment and the attorney general doesn't fire bob mueller but he reduces his budget so low that his investigation grinds to a halt. >> bret: democrats are asking is he that acting attorney general? >> this is an interesting thing that might be worth doing, we haven't had a lot of accountability for the special counsel. we don't know what the limits of the probe are because that memo that rosenstein revived has not been made public. the american people don't know much about what's going on there and it would be great to finally have someone who actually can oversee this. jeff sessions is a fine and honorable man and not honor was used against him by people who believe in this russia conspiracy theory to get him to recuse himself. he didn't need to do that, he
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was too naive to believe that was a reasonable thing to do. americans believe law enforcement agencies and police forces shouldn't be rogue, they should have a civilian accountability over them and it's good to have someone in place you can do that. >> bret: trey gowdy said it's possible whitaker is the person who might be the impetus for another special counsel looking at the fbi. >> it's one day after the midterms and we are already back into whittling this down into more special counsel's and more controversy. this is generally the pivot where it's got to be. you've now get a democratic majority in the house, that's a chance for some bipartisanship on both sides. are we going to go down the rathole of having all the expanding probes and special councils, more controversy, or are we going to try to see whether the two sites can work together and do with the american people said they wanted them to do which is to unite and get some things done. >> bret: americans must have answers immediately the
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reasoning why the president is removing jeff sessions from the dust of the apartment, why is a process of making this change? who was the authority over the special councils investigation? we will be holding people accountable. do you think you will be holding people accountable? >> i happen to ride the train down and he talked in my presence about how democrats plan to be taking over investigations and they are all in on the russia investigation. you might wish that democrats might work on legislation instead of continuing on some of these probes but the executive branch needs to be smart about this >> bret: you always have to go with the quiet car. as a lawmaker i think the quiet car is the way to go. next up, breaking down the midterms.
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♪ >> president trump: now we have a much easier path, because the democrats will come to us with a plan for infrastructure, a plan for health care, a plan for whatever they are looking a at. and we'll negotiate. from a dealmaking standpoint, we are all much better off the way it turned out.
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>> bret: talking about the house going to the democrats and picking up seats in the republican senate, we look at the balance of power. there are still a couple races out, the republicans picking up three -- two sees not already called and in the house balance of power you have 222 democrats right now, 17 seats officially not called. but it looks like they could be heading towards 34 is a total number. let me show some fox news-footer analysis, the most important issues in the country. health care tops the list at 26%, then immigration, then the economy. the importance of the kavanaugh nomination debate, 74% not very or not at all, 25%. >> i think as the indiana race showed where donnelly lost after
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voting no on kavanaugh compared with the west virginia race where mansion was able to pull out the victory because he did vote for matt kavanagh, this was an important issue for voters and it was the difference between people who were able to keep on and not keep on for many reasons. the question is whether democrats will move to a legislative agenda on where they can work with trump. nancy pelosi sounded like she wanted to do that last night. then you have what we discussed, he understand the basis pushing hard for impeachment proceedings, for investigations -- that type of approach might help donald trump in 2028, have to figure it out. >> donald trump was also asked about this and he said he's willing to work with them but only if they don't investigate him. he said if they do, then we are going to go back and forth and it will be on a warlike posture. he doesn't seem to think you can do both things at the same time. other presidents have been investigated by opposition congresses and they've worked on legislation together. >> bret: what's your take away overall?
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>> overall, i think democrats had a great night, they had to win the house back and they did, anything else would've been an abysmal failure. they failed to minimize their losses in the senate, that was another metric of success for them i don't think they got there. republicans already could confer more judges even if they hadn't picked up the seats but it makes it a lot easier. >> trump built a red wall and it held up against the democratic wave. the reality is, barack obama lost 63 house seats and senate seats in 2010 and he had a six-point higher approval rating going into the election than donald trump did. donald trump deserves credit for holding the losses down in the house and for winning and expanding seats in the senate. the question now becomes we pivot in this press conference is in a of this. he wants to cut deals and negotiate. his critics in the media and capital he'll want to fight.
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if they have to make a decision because the reality is donald trump until a few years ago, he was a democrat. he's a dealmaker, not an ideologue. one of the greatest fears among conservatives was is he going to start cutting deals with chuck schumer? they were more interested in resisting him and biting him and so they pushed him to the right, they pushed him towards conservatives. now the question is do they want to keep fighting or get some things done? trump waited out today, he's willing to cut deals on taxes, health care, immigration, he's even willing to cut congressional republicans out. he said i want to get a deal on health care that will get some republican votes. that means he is willing to do things with a democratic majority and some republicans. that's a big announcement. he is willing to cut deals. >> bret: there is shaky things in there from your perspective. he also said there's some republicans i could vote for nancy pelosi. the governor's races are really
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interesting. iowa, ohio, florida, new hampshire, all republicans that will factor in 2020. you mention the press conference, take a look at this exchange. >> i have one question i am a ask on the russia investigation. are you concerned -- >> president trump: i'm not concerned about anything. it's a hoax. that's enough, put down the mic. >> are you worried about indictments coming out? >> president trump: cnn should be ashamed of itself having you working for them. you are a rude terrible person. you should be working for cnn. >> bret: cnn put a statement out defending jim acosta, saying the president was out of line. what about this exchange? >> i covered the white house, i've never seen anything like it. >> the shame the rhetoric around the media is so he did, we do need to have a conversation about how awful the media have been but you want to be able to talk about that without calling
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them the enemy of the people. they are at the very least enemy of the president of the people who voted for him. >> if the president was loaded for bear, he also got into confrontations with other reporters he called one a racist for asking a question. the question was racist. >> bret: the microphone thing was really -- i got to go. surprise proposals and the president's news conference. ♪ ♪ ♪ to learn about their medicare options before they're on medicare.
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♪ >> bret: an impromptu exchange of the white house news conference, during which president trump formally popped the question to vice president mike pence, would he be his running mate? >> will the vice president be a running mate? >> president trump: i haven't asked them but i hope so. mike, will you be my running mate? raise your right hand, i'm only kidding. will you? thank you braden the answer is
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yes. >> bret: that's confirmed. that's real news. thanks for inviting us into your home tonight. fair, balance, unafraid, the story hosted by martha maccallum starts right now and we would like to thank you for making us number one in all of the networks for election coverage last night. >> martha: great night, and you hightailed it back early today. great to be with you, good to see you. thanks for watching. with the election behind us now, president trump is barreling in two-part two of his term and he's sending a pretty strong message that basically this. either you're with me or you're against me. i martha maccallum and this is the story unfolding tonight, at time wildly contentious news conference president trump saying he could get some good things done with nancy pelosi if she doesn't make it all about