by studio c! >> new mexico one president trump wins over conservatives at the largest conservative gathering of the ye stepping up his attacks on certain media outlets and, "fakeness." this is "special report." ♪ good evening, welcome to washington, and bret baier. president trump was given a very warm welcome today by conservatives, many of whom have grown to love him, many more of whom say they love the fact he defeated hillary clinton. the president used his address at cpac in suburban washington to escalate his attacks on the media and what he calls fake news to reinforce his top agenda

items and to hint at what he calls brand-new action to prevent terrorists from entering the country. fox team coverage tonight, howard kurtz on the unique nature of the war with the media. we start off with chief white house correspondent john roberts. good evening. >> last year, the president didn't even attend cpac and for much of that conference was the subject of ridicule from his opponents who did attend. what a difference winning the white house makes. all of these years we've been together, and now you finally have a president, finally. took you a long time. >> he opened his address by doubling down on his board with the media. >> i want you all to know that we are fighting the fake news. it's fake, phony, fake. the enemy of the people. >> complained when the white house did not invite a number of news organizations to

an off-camera briefing with press secretary sean spicer. the white house pool, which covers events on behalf of all news organizations, was in the meeting, along with several other unilateral correspondence including fox news, nbc, abc, and cbs. when asked about the exclusions, spicer said the white house has gone above and beyond would ang themselves available. >> a source says donald trump is a horrible, horrible human being. let them say it to my face. >> spent much of the date responding to bad news, about contacts trump campaign officials allegedly had with russian intelligence. a senior administration official said, to the contrary, it was the fbi's beta director who contacted priebus to say the story was "b.s.." he was later told that there is nothing to correct the record by

both mccain and james khomeini, though he was given the green light to share it on tv. >> i have talked to the highest level of intelligence officials, and they have assured me that "the new york times" story about constant contacts is grossly overstated and inaccurate. >> the president went off on the fbi for yet another leak, tweeting, "the fbi is totally unable to stop the national security 'leakers' that have permeated our government for a long time. they can't even find the leakers within the fbi itself. classified information is being given to media that could have a devastating effect on u.s. find now." in between fighting political fires, the president got some business done, signing another executive order on regulatory reform. this one directs agencies to establish task forces to identify and rescind regulations the president claims are stifling economic growth.

>> the regulatory burden for the people behind me, an impossible situation. we want to solve it very quickly. >> the next big agenda item will be the rollout of his new executive order on the immigration ban. sources tell me that the plan at the moment is for him to sign that on wednesday, the day after he gives his address to a joint session of congress. bret? >> thank you. let's talk more now about the war and what he calls fake news and his idea today of eliminating -- howard kurtz has that on the story. >> president trump went beyond his charge to accuse media organizations of publishing outright fiction when they quote anonymous sources. >> because they have no sources, they just make them up.

, there are no nine people, i don't believe there was one or two people. they shouldn't be allowed to use sources and less they use somebody's name. >> the president is referring to a story on the pre-inauguration contact with the russian ambassador and the false accounting gifted vice president pens. but esme said today, that story was later confirmed for the administration and led mr. trump to fire his national security advisor. >> follow the money. >> where? >> i can't tell you that. >> it occurred during the watergate scandal, said these are crucial to investigative reporting. still, ordered his staff to reduce the u.s. because they skew stories are can be wrong. but trump's top officials regularly speak as unnamed sources. just this morning, a senior official briefed reporters on reince priebus' contact with the fbi. that person can't be identified.

the president also claimed that they can't criticize dishonest coverage because of the first amendment. i'm not aware of anyone saying they don't have a constitutional right to push back. let's face it, media bashing generates plenty of coverage. >> let's go back to that news. what do you make of all this? >> it is a pretty strong brush back page, especially since some conservative journalists allowed in. called this an acceptable for reporting facts they don't like. joining the complaint about this gaggle. i should point out that space irregularly calls on outlets like cnn and the times, every administration holds selective briefings for favored outlets. because this was a pool event, it does feel like a troubling slap and news organizations. >> we should point out, because it was a pool event, it is about which organizations were allowed in and which weren't. >> the information was made

public, but every organization wants to be able to ask questions. >> and access is what is key when it comes to covering the white house. thanks. what do you think? do you favor the elimination of the use of anonymous sources, and what about president trump's take on media coverage and what they are doing about it? let me know on twitter. you can use the hashtag #specialreport are on facebook. democrats are in atlanta tonight. they will pick a new party chair tomorrow. there is much uncertainty, not only regarding who will win but not mike just how far left the new leader may take the party that seems tonight to be closer to elizabeth warren and bernie sanders than perhaps a more moderate center. also in atlanta tonight. >> hundreds of leading democrats are meeting in atlanta to rebuild their party after stinging defeats in november's presidential election. >> and we are not afraid of

donald trump. we are not afraid of the opposition because we are going to unify, come together, and kick some ass, we are going to take names. >> with seven candidates buying two replaced donna brazile, the leading contenders include tom perez, who enjoys strong support from the democratic party establishment. says he plans to support perez. >> this is a generally centrist country. mainly in the center, got to have a message that resonates across the board. >> the other front runner, minnesota congressman keith ellison, an early supporter of bernie sanders. but ellison has had to defend himself against accusations of anti-semitism because of his now severed ties with nation of islam leader and comments he allegedly made in graduate

school. >> these are false allegations, and that is why i have 300 rabbis and jewish communities supporting me. >> with many dnc voters still uncommitted, the other candidates have a fighting chance. >> i like all of them. i have really narrowed it down to four, and i am intending to remain open to persuasion right up until the vote. >> political scientist saying that the young mayor there is a mother another candidate to watch. >> he points to successes in his party and state legislative races. he wants to not be totally progressive or totally establishment but try to figure out a way to bring all types of people together. >> and that is really the delicate balancing act democrats hope to achieve. on one hand, they want to capitalize on strong anti-trump sentiment among the parties younger, more liberal base.

at the same time, they hope to win back their reputation as being the party of working americans, a group that, in the last election, came out and large support for president trump. >> jonathan, thank you. the government will begin accepting bids for work on the president's border wall next month. customs and border protection says it plans to start awarding contracts in april during his cpac speech this morning, president trump set the ball is ahead of schedule. a federal judge in brooklyn is ordering government lawyers to work with attorneys representing people stopped from entering the country during the first hours of president trump's first executive order and travel ban pete senior correspondent rick leventhal was in that courtroom today. >> when president trump's executive order went into effect temporarily banning travelers from seven predominantly muslim nations from entering the u.s. it sparked protests and lawsuits.

it also affected far more people than originally claimed by the administration. speak with the white house, the president said that there are only 109 people who were minimally inconvenienced by the executive order, and for the first time, the government has revealed that there are over 700 people who had some contact with customs and border protection under the executive order. and we don't even think that that number is complete. >> in a hearing friday morning, attorneys said they were simply handed a list of names but no other information to help track down the 746 people who may have been wrongly barred from entering the country in the first 26 hours after the ban took effect. >> we are trying to assemble a jigsaw puzzle. the government already has that puzzle together, and they could disclose that tomorrow if they wanted to. >> in court, the judge ordered the two sides to work together in sharing information. but there are still questions about how a new executive order, expected next week, might impact this and other cases. >> what we are working with is

like a 26 hour slice of a much larger problem which begs the question of what the government is hiding and why they're hiding it. >> at the justice department declined to comment on the specifics of this case, but in court, a u.s. attorney told the judges they cooperate by giving giveaways additional information on all of people who were turned away. this issue is not raised during today's off-camera white house press briefing, but it is expected that next week when the new executive order is issued that will allow anyone holding a legal visa to enter this country, no matter where they are coming from. bret? >> bret: rick leventhal tonight. thank you, expecting that sometime next week. a white house spokesman is dismissing a security report saying there is insufficient evidence that citizens of seven muslim majority countries including president trump's travel ban pose a travel threat to the u.s. the spokesman calls it an open source report, says it does not

contain high side classified intelligence, this source calling it incomplete at best. we are learning more tonight about what may be in the republican plan to repeal and replace obamacare. one crucial point, medicaid expansion. correspondent peter doocy has the latest. >> fans of obamacare like to point out that more than 26 million people got coverage through the law, but a majority got covered through expanded state medicaid programs which cover low income americans. 31 states and the district of pe tab with expanded funding from the feds that republicans suggest will be reduced. but the g.o.p. should be aware, because 84% of those surveyed by the kaiser family foundation want congress to keep the expanded funding in place. and g.o.p. leadership isn't just under pressure from the public. they are hearing it from house speaker paul ryan's predecessor. >> fix obamacare. i shouldn't call it appeal and

replace. that's not what is going to happen. >> he was >> during dozens of successful votes is off-base. >> i sure hope he is wrong. we need to do that, it is a commitment be made. >> . >> a 106 page documented published today by political reportedly contains the gop's long-awaited replacement in terms of plans to talk cut oute individual mandate. dr. sica manual has been warning against this. >> it would be a disaster. the first thing is, and the first year, 18 million americans will lose their health insurance paid >> democratic governors now probably make protesting. >> i think what congress would love to do is push all those costs on to the states. >> republicans lawmakers hope that even there if there is les funding they will have more flexibility. >> the federal government wants to be involved in who gets

covered, get the money to me and let me figure out if i can do it better. >> one of the 16 republican governors who took money to expand medicaid coverage in his estate, john kasich, was at the white house today, and he is heading back tomorrow to meet with hhs secretary to explain my he thinks the feds should keep sending states like his money for medicaid. bret? >> bret: think you paid the gal rallied late, posted its 11th reset my consecutive record close. the nasdaq gained ten, the dow was up about a percentage point. the s&p 500 gained two-thirds. the nasdaq finished i heads about one seventh every percentage point paid up next, a special fox news investigation into a tax text taxpayer funde. it is a story you will only see here. first, what some of our fox affiliates around the country are covering. fox 13 in tampa, officials say a

prayer that damaged this tampa area mosque overnight was arson. calling it terrorism and offering up a reward. the fire was extinguished quickly, but the facilities sustained significant water damage. fox 5 in new york where bill de blasio was interviewed as part of a public corruption investigation, at issue, or that a democrat broke the law to benefit his 2013 campaign or his shuttered nonprofit. the mayor's office says it is confident everyone acted appropriately. and this is a live look at the long beach, california, from our affiliate, fox 11, one of the big stories there tonight, and i'm police are maintaining watch on a neighborhood where a raucous demonstration erupted after an off-duty los angeles police officer scuffled with teenagers and ended up firing a gun shot into the ground. the anaheim police chief is suspending these decision -- defending the decision not to arrest the officer. tuesday's confrontation was the

result of an ongoing dispute between the officer and teens who have reportedly walked on his lawn. tonight's live look outside the beltway. for "special repopopopopo

♪ 's the one tonight, a fox news exclusive investigative report. a school that takes your tax dollars and may be taking much more in terms of military intelligence that might be heading to china. the federal probe dates back to the obama administration might run into roadblocks. katherine harris has tenets exclusive story. >> in december 2012, the fbi raided the northern virginia offices of unc, the university of management and technology.

it advertises as military friendly, helping vets complete new and advanced career. that same day, agents raided the home of umt president. she is watching agent searcher home. 3 1/2 3 1/2 years later, here ss speaking at the 2016 graduation. >> we are excited for our students. >> the school has received upwards of 6 million taxpayer dollars from the defense department but school officials didn't want to talk to fox news about how umt is run. >> it is a bad bill for the soldiers, and is a bad deal for the taxpayer paid >> he is stepping forward for the first time. >> absolutely disgusts me. it needs to stop. >> he says he worked at umt recruiting vets when they approached him in 2012.

documents reviewed corroborate key elements of history paid >> where you asked to be an informant in a case? how long did he do that? >> about three years. >> documents reviewed suggests there is another side to umt's leadership. in this solution, he suggests that paid >> one of the first things she ever threw out, i was a colonel in the army. >> yanping told her she was a member of the chinese military? >> absolutely. >> the a west point graduate we one of the definitive books about the chinese military. this picture from the mid-'80s appears to show chen before she went to george washington university. >> if someone was wearing that uniform, i would say there is a great likelihood that they were in the people's liberation army. >> what can you tell me about

that uniform? >> this is a pla officer's uniform, between 1987 and 2007, and from the epaulets, you can see that this three stars and two red stripes would be a full colonel. >> after the 2012 raid, chen denied being a colonel in the chinese military, and she checked no on this form when asked, are you now or a few ever been in any way connected or associated with the communist party? chen became a naturalized citizen. fox news asked an expert to review the form. >> if she has marked no on the petition but if, in fact, the answer is yes, that we have a false statement, and where that comes into play most assuredly is in the arena of passport fraud. the answers she provided on these immigration documents ultimately ends up being her approval to become a naturalized

u.s. citizen. >> with no laws preventing a natural u.s. citizen running a school like umt cannot rose remains concerned about the security of vet records. >> got uploaded into a drive, personal military bio, where they were trained, how they were trained, how that could be remotely accessed. >> during its investigation, the fbi discovered the contractors in the umt beijing office have access to the student database. >> she was very interested in wright-patterson air force base paid >> a technology hub, their crests apparently went further. >> she wanted me to go out to these remote reserve and national guard centers to get the information. >> how did she react? >> oh, you don't tell him anything. we don't know each other. you don't know what you don't know was her buzz phrase. >> was the fbi aware of that?

>> they were. >> these emails show rhoads and at least one fbi agent alerted the office, yet confirming another multimillion deal was signed. >> how much money was you into getting from the defense department and the va every month? >> between $200,000.300000 a month. >> the eastern district of virginia, got the case, but it stalled after a disagreement with the fbi over how to proceed. neither the bureau nor gillis would comment to fox, but separately, the naval criminal investigative service, ncis, confirmed the case is an ongoing investigation but said nothing further. after repeated interview requests, fox went to umt where we were told chen and dr. frame were in the office. but both refused to come out after learning it was fox news.

according to umt's web site, graduated 1700 students, contact by fox news, a spokeswoman said they are reviewing the deal which runs through 2019. and fox news put a series of questions to the chinese embassy here in washington but there was no immediate response. >> bret: we will see if there is any follow-up on capitol hill. >> we will definitely follow up. >> bret: thanks. the help wanted sign us up at virtually every federal agency here in washington, but the matter of actually getting those openings filled has become something of a political football. chief washington correspondent james rosen tells us how and why. >> as his deputy, rex tillerson picked a veteran who has written a book about the israeli-palestinian conflict, then someone in the white house, and abrams has his suspicions

about who it was, red flag that had characterized president trump as unfit for the presidency, just like that, till or since joyce was out. >> they are called political appointees for a reason. the idea that people who come into this government should want to support and enact the president's agenda that he campaigned on. >> and aid to the secretary designate was escorted from the building after his october op-ed in "the hill" resurfaced last week. >> you would hope when the president is in this time of reflection and learns more about the critiques toward him by people in the community. >> and the nsc's new latin american chief was sent back to national defense university after off-camera remarks last week critical of the president reaching the white house. political reports -- political reports they are starting to reach them in the filling of the sub cabinets 400 jobs while supporters of abrams stated white house is hardly applying a

consistent standard. >> nikki haley. >> donald trump is everything i taught my children not to do in kindergarten. >> the candidate fired back, the people of south carolina are embarrassed by nikki haley paid since then, haley has been confirmed as the president's ambassador to the united nations paid supporters of the administration contended is not just loyalty that is slowing down staffing. >> the approval of the trumpet nominees. >> of the 4,000 positions, those who make the executive branch run, upwards of 1200 require congressional confirmation. as of this week, the trump administration has just over a dozen confirmed nominees. bret? >> bret: james, thank you. there are signals coming out of the white house tonight that he trumpet administration may take enforcement of federal laws against recreational marijuana use much more seriously than its predecessor.

but with recreational pot exploding into a multibillion-dollar industry, some are asking, is it too big to jail? >> white house press secretary said the marijuana industry and the in the states -- >> i think that is a question for the department of justice. i believe you will see greater enforcement of it. >> in 2013, president obama's doj said it would take a hands-off approach to states approving recreational use. no questions abound. in california, which recently passed recreational use, many medical marijuana dispensaries are making plans to expand their customer base. >> we have taken all of the preparations that we possibly can, and we are ready to face that music. >> recently, a cannabis industry representative said it is going to be difficult to unwind these laws. >> if the federal government starts to pull the rug out from

under these businesses, i think you are going to see, obviously, business owners being very disrupted, but also you're going to see state and local leaders speaking up and saying, you know what, our voters chose this. >> eight states in the in and e district of columbia have legalized medical marijuana. last year, the three states combined collected nearly half a billion dollars in tax revenues from recreational weed. confusing matters, comments made by then-candidate trump on the campaign trail. >> then i really believe you should leave it up to the states. it should be a state situation. >> during a confirmation hearing, jeff sessions put the ball squarely in the court of lawmakers. >> if that something is not desired any longer, congress should pass a law to change the rule. >> in a pull out this week, 71% of americans said they support -- against states that already

legalized medical or recreational medical marijuana. when asked by fox news, the department of justice declined to comment on spicer's comments. >> alicia, thank you. in international news, and syria, isis car bomb suicide bomber killed people a day after the town was liberated, meanwhile, syria peace talks resumed in geneva today. serious u.n. ambassador says his delegation is considering details of an unspecified paper presented by the u.n. envoy for syria. malaysian officials say the people who assassinated the estranged half-brother of north korea's dictator used a powerful chemical warfare agent banned by international treaty. senior foreign affairs correspondent greg palkot has more disturbing implications. >> the north korean regime of kim jong-un unleashed a weapon. the dramatic new claim by malaysian authorities investigating the death of kim

jong-nom. the tocsin was apparently applied by two young women, one who was nauseous after the attack. experts say north korea has some 5,000 tones of chemical weapons, and the small amount needed could have been smuggled in. >> while there was only one person who died in this, we have to be fairly clear that the north koreans are willing to use the world's most destructive weapon on a regular basis. >> seven north koreans being sought, the one under arrest, also a chemist. officials there continue to deny involvement. malaysian foreign minister shot back. >> the investor has been formed of the process involved, but he continues to be delusional. >> in fact, experts say this public killing could be pyongyang's way of sending a

message. like the former number two who recently declared the regime's days are numbered. he is now reportedly and hiding. it could be a message to a longtime ally china as well-paid north korea criticized this week new rules beijing against pyongyang in the wake of a recent missile watch. saying kim jong-nam had long been protected by beijing at his home in a chinese territory. back in the '90s, domestic terrorists used this to kill. it could be first time that north korea north used it. >> bret: president trump takes a victory lap in front of adoring conservatives at cpac then drops the hammer on certain hi. i'm dave nemeth.

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>> and i love the first amendment; nobody loves it better than me. nobody. so i'm not against the media, i'm not against the press. i don't mind bad stories if i deserve them. but i am only against the fake news, media or press. they should put the name of the person. you will see stories dry up like you've never seen before. >> bret: president donald trump at cpac, and rock star welcome there. he spent a lot of time talking about, as he does, the media and "fake news" ." sean spicer hadn't on the record off-camera gaggle, it is called, were not the press pool, what he

called an expanded pool. he did not include some networks and some organizations, and that caused quite a kerfuffle. the white house correspondents association said the wac a board is protesting strongly how it is being handled. organizations that were allowed into share information and were not. the board will be discussing this further with white house staff. fox joined the complaint in the pool to the white house staff as well. but the material was accessible. it was put out by the press poo pool. let's bring in our panel. byron york, chief political correspondent of the washington examiner, charles lane, and charles krauthammer. i want to get to the overall message that president trump continues to hit on here. and the specifics of this gaggle and why it caused a lot of

people to question access. >> i think you were like when you called it a little arcane. i think that is probably true. i think the first thing you should say, all of us in journalists should be in a favor of access. that said, i don't think this was the worst thing in the world. the white house has had briefings for limited numbers of journalists for quite a while. as you point out, not only did they get a cool report pull ret a recording of the whole thing. my guess is, you won't see it again, and if the white house wants to stick it to organizations, they will find more subtle ways to do it. i think the bottom line is, we should be in favor of more access for everybody. >> bret: that is a key, the excess. i guess on a day when he is out saying he is going to do something about it, then this happens, this expanded pool that includes "the washington post," "the new york times" ," time,

others, cnn, that kind of send a message that sent set off alarm bells. >> denial of access wasn't random. it was selective and targeted at various media that have been sort of, you know, on his blacklist for some time. and he has been complaining about them specifically on calling them fake news. i have to say that what struck me about his remarks though, there was a hint of defensiveness in and for the first time. he took pains to say, no, i wasn't really saying all the media is the enemy of the people, just a fake media. nobody loves the first amendment more that i prayed in the scheme of things for donald trump, that sounded like kind of a climbdown in the sense that it seemed like some of the criticism he had been getting for that awful enemy of the people remark had started to hit home. you remember the admiral said it was one of the most dangerous things he has ever heard or

words to that effect. what the president is trying to do in a time when conservatives have a lot of internal disagreements amongst themselves, one thing they can agree on is that they don't like the mainstream media. he is trying to use that in addition to pursuing his own little quarrels with particular media, trying to strike this one theme that all conservatives agree on and take advantage of that. >> bret: here is another little part of the speech. >> somebody said, a poll came out, and i say, what network is it? and they'll say, a certain -- let's not even mention names, right? we have a lot of them. look, the clinton news network is one.

we have to fight it. >> bret: charles, a popular message with his supporters, what steve bannon talked about. is it working, does it work long-term? >> it works on the base. he will get the cheers and applause. i don't think it works anywhere else. i think people are rightly somewhat concerned. they may not be alarmed. what happened today was symbolic and minor, as a real thing. nonetheless, the symbolism is alarming. the president uses a phrase from lennon, enemies of the people. if you were an enemy of the people in lenin's day, you were dead. these are serious historical terms that shouldn't ever be used, and you are sending a message that you are hostile to certain media outlets. as you say, on the same day, you explicitly, and subtly exclude them from any gaggle. in the scheme of things, that doesn't matter, but i am glad to see that fox joined with all of the others, we being a favored

outlet for trump, remembering that when obama excluded fox from access way back when, everyone rallied around us and said, if you don't include them, we're not going to be there. it is the only way to do it. the press can't allow itself to be bullied. and i'm glad it's not. >> bret: but i can hear middle america in my head, i can hear them say, god, they are obsessing about this white house gaggle, and their heads were exploding about the words he is using. i can hear it, i can hear it on social media. it is important though. >> it is important but i will speak for middle america. i went to the speech day. trump comes out and talks for a long time about the press, 10, 15 minutes. then he says, in conclusion, and you think, is that all he's going to talk about today. then he delivered a long speech, the speed you thought he would give about his agenda, talking

about what he has done and what he intends to do. i counted a dozen bullet points, border security, violent crime, tpp, lots and lots of stuff. so in an alternate universe, you could cover the, say, two-thirds of trump's speech that was about his actual agenda. >> bret: i should point out to command the was included, "new york times" ," and the "l.a. times" were not. >> on the other hand, he took a shot at "the washington post" in his speech, talking about the story with the nine sources. >> you know what we're not talking about today and every network is not talking about today, this whole fbi deal and whether reince priebus talked to the fbi about getting the story straight about "the new york times" reporting create the white house put out a very detailed kind of background on what priebus says happened, that "the new york times" story was wrong. but we're not talking about tha

that. >> as in many other cases, it's hard to decide whether this was a deliberate act of misdirection or whether it just happened to turn out this way. i always tend to not believe in intentions and conspiracies because it gives anybody that you talk about, even washington, too much credit. they couldn't organize a two car funeral if they tried. i would assume it was random. but it did actually take attention away from an odd story and one that seems to imply that even though the impetus came from the fbi, there was the white house political sort of operatives trying to persuade the fbi to make them look or to help to dismiss a story about russian influence, and those kind of interactions -- >> completely pushed back on that. president trump tweeting the fbi is totally unable to stop

the national security 'leakers' that have permeated our government for a long time. they can't even find the leakers within the fbi itself. classified information is being given to media that could have a devastating effect on u.s. find now." he says. to your point, byron, he did come on to talk about the travel band that's coming up, as well as repeal and replace of obamacare, at house speaker john boehner says is not going to happen. there was substance in there. >> here is the important thing about the speech in that room, the conservatives in cpac. it was very well received. it was not below the roof off well received, but it was well received. and the people who love trump, they left all of it, but the people who really didn't love trump, about that supported ted cruz. most of them had come around to support trump, some of them not completely, they left parts of it, the part about cutting regulation, tax reform, increasing military spending.

>> and they loved the part that cpac with clinton. >> came to cpac, hasn't happened in a long time. >> bret: democrats choose a leader, what is going on with leader, what is going on with north korea, plus winners a a aa

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>> because of the absence of transparency in the democratic primary, there was a crisis of trust. what we need in the chair of the democratic party is to make sure that, in fact, and in perception, every single day you are fair and neutral. >> i believe i am the unity candidate in this race because i supported bernie sanders and

hillary clinton. i believe i could pull people together so we can come together as a party and we can win elections so we don't have to go through this thing anymore. >> tom perez and keith ellison actually leading in the hunt for the dnc chair. there are seven candidates still up for grabs voting tomorrow in atlanta. a couple of the candidates have dropped out. the question is, which may what does the democratic party go. we are back with a panel. byron? >> the interesting thing is how little it has to do with why democrats just lost. and why they have lost so many seats and so much power and influence across the country. it started basically as kind of a real fight of the hillary-bernie fight with tom perez being the hillary stand-in and keith ellison being the bernie stand-in. now it seems to be a heading

trump contest. >> bret: what is clear, either one, chuck, going to take the party, it seems, towards the elizabeth warren-bernie sanders wing. >> or even further to the left. all of the energy now is on the left. so much so that chuck schumer has actually, through pressure from the base, been forced to endorse keith ellison. this has been described in some of the press as group therapy for a defeated party still trying to make sense of novembe. the question i think a lot of people are saying privately among the party, if we brand ourselves so far today left coming out of this, will we be able to recover in those

battleground states? >> bret: quickly to north korea. you have this strange story that continues to get more strange, the assassination, which now they are saying was a chemical nerve agent that was used on this half-brother of kim jong-un. and you have north korea threatening missiles and launches and tests to come. >> outlook, the vx agent that was used is very rare, very sophisticated, and probably the deadliest agent on earth. it is not something you pick up at walmart. it clearly makes this an obvious part by an obsessed and paranoid leader in north korea who happens to control some nukes and is working on missiles. i think this is sort of the signature of a regime plot, and it just reminds people, including the chinese, of how dangerous this regime is. >> this one lightning, winners or losers, winner first. >> winner, mike pence, putting pressure on nato to spend more money, saying, i want you to expand your plans to spend more, if you don't have a planned, get

one. >> bret: loser? >> andrew mccain, the second guy who's managed to get himself involved in both scandals. republican saying he was in the tank for hillary clinton, democrats complaining he is in the tank for the trump white house. there is no winning. >> bret: winners and losers? >> my winner, teresa may, favored her candidate in an ancient labor constituency, in another district, her enemies on the right were defeated. she commands the center and the political high ground in britain as a result. my loser is milo yiannopoulos. it seems like ten years ago, but it was this week when his career crashed and burned for some comments he made about how great pedophilia is. i say good riddance to him.

>> bret: winner and loser? >> kim jong-un is the loser. so enrich that the chinese have cut off outgoing exports out of pyongyang, 40% of their exports. my winner, of swords, julian assange, the weekly -- wikilea. apparently has been visited with increasing frequency by pamela anderson who says that she spent more time with him than with her three ex-husbands. family show. i'll leave it there. slow and that was worth the extra seconds i gave you. >> i needed all three. >> brerererere

bret bret it's time for your friday feedback. we asked if you favor the

president's war on fake news: yes. no accountability. fire heather? no i do not agree with it. the press is supposed to call out those in authority. if they don't, who does? also asked if the democrat party would move toward the center. gary harden running to the left as fast as leadership can take them. leaving much of mainstream leadership behind. during alicia acuna's story that should enforce president rules against it none your business, no. if he was smart like he claims, he would start collecting tax revenues from it and make it federal. casey kelly, yes, because it's illegal. i don't care about the facts of its benefits. he i actually agree with the studies i have read bottom line drugs equal illegal. that's your friday feedback thanks to all of you. on twitter @ bret baier very close to 1 million followers. if you don't follow me at bret baier. thanks for inviting us into your home tonight. that's it for this "special report," fair, balanced and

unafraid. don't forget to tune in to "fox news sunday" this weekend. chris wallace your host. check your local listings. special guest scott walker, terry mcauliff, first 100 now. thanks for joining us tonight, we'll see you monday, "hannity" is next. ♪ >> welcome to "hannity," president donald trump delivers a major speech at speed 26, and kimberly guilfoyle. watch this. >> president trump: if you remember my first major speech, sit down from everybody, come o on. the dishonest media, they'll say he didn't get a standing ovation, you know why? because everybody stood and nobody sets. also he never got a standing ovation. they make up