>> let's have a cocktail and raise a glass. donald trump drain the swamp. >> "hannity" is next. >> good luck, allie.cicicicicic. >> i am bill hemmer in for bret baier. senate republicans are waving the white flag at least for the week on health care reform. the vote before the july 4th vacation will not happen after all. chief congressional correspondent mike emanuel on the hill on why the effort has been put on pause. good evening. >> good evening. back to the drawing board for health care reform. senate republicans back from a powwow at the white house, forced to pull the bill this afternoon after a division among their ranks forced leadership without enough votes to bring the bill to the floor. the president remains unwavering. >> this will be great if we get it done, and if we don't get it

done it's going to be something we don't like and it's okay and i understand that. i think we have a chance to do something very, very important for the public. >> 52 senators invited to the white house to huddle with the president after shelving one of his signature campaign promises. >> it's a complicated subject. i remember how challenging it was for the democrats when they were enacting this in 2009 and 2010. we are optimistic. >> i believe we will get to yes. it's going to take more discussions in the most critical question is how do we lower premiums? >> chuck schumer wasn't ready to unfurl the victory banner just yet. >> we know the fight is not ove over. we are not resting on any laurels. >> numbers for the majority leader didn't add up. started with four senators who said they would not support the procedural motion to proceed.

as the day wore on, those numbers grew, and after the bill was pulled, even more republican nos came out of the woodwork. g.o.p. leadership was talk. >> not willing to accept we are not going to be successful because i think the consequences are very bad. >> democrats say mcconnell is about to start cutting deals. >> senator mcconnell has a stack of chips in front of him he is going to be playing. >> to have a bill done in a back room with a limited number of people to give input with probably a lot of cigars and steak and whiskey is a bunch of garbage grade >> republicans hope to find a solution. while he was one of the original four no vote, one conservative critic told fox he just didn't want to rush it. >> we need to fix these collapsing markets that are obamacare. we need to drive premiums down. i want the time to consider it

thoroughly and allow my constituents in wisconsin a chance to review it, provide their input and feedback. i am not asking for months but let's take a couple weeks. >> leader mcconnell said he has a really good chance of getting there with health care reform. it will just take a little more time. the concern for republicans being time consent time's stiff and the resistance. >> bill: thank you. mike emanuel from the hill. more with the senator from wyoming still at the white house. thank you for your time read how big of a disappointment is this? >> we are being deliberate. we know have to get this done for the american people. the pain of obamacare is getting worse every day. you continue to hear and see the headlines. another obamacare rate shock. the american people can't handle this and we need to find a way to get it passed. i believe we will. we are committed to it and the

president was very strong in the meeting talking about we owe it to the american people. we need to get this done. it's about health care, not about politics. >> bill: we saw him on camera. what did he say to you after the cameras left? >> he kept talking about the failure of obamacare and the fact we have an obligation to try to rescue the american people from this collapse of the obama health care markets where the premiums continue to go up. they have doubled in wyoming. we only have one choice to buyback insurance. there are many counties where there is no one selling obamacare insurance. somebody with a pre-existing condition and no one willing to sell insurance, then they are not going to have insurance. republicans are committed your protecting people with pre-existing conditions. >> bill: how did the arguments or the promise, rather, on repealing and replacing obamacare? >> he was very good, very strong about the idea of the fact that

obamacare is failed. there have been seven years now after obamacare has been passed into law. we see rates continuing to skyrocket, markets continuing to crumble in terms of options people have, a limited number of doctors people can go to. he said we owe it to the american people to get this right. you had every senator around the table committed to doing it. there are people who have obamacare insurance. i had a woman from wyoming into see me today was insurance but the deductible is $6,500 for her and for her husband. she said we have insurance but my husband is not going to go to the doctor. we can't use it even though we are probably counted as somebody who has insurance. it's useless to them. >> bill: you had at least a half-dozen senators who wouldn't go forward with a vote to move the motion for debate. did he address their concerns specifically? the seating arrangement was fascinating. you had the senator from alaska,

susan collins from maine, dean heller from nevada, was been the target of attack ads in his home state. did he talk to them directly about their concerns? >> each of them had an opportunity to share their concerns with the president. he listened very carefully. he's a very good listener in meetings, and i think about 15 different republican senators had a chance to speak. he met with another group of 15 for lunch that i attended week or so ago. he is committed to getting to yes. we have republican senators committed to getting to yes because we have an obligation to the american people to deal with the fact that obamacare is going over -- is a bus going over the hill. it's crashing and the democrats are saying stay on the bus and we are trying to rescue people. the president is fully involved. republican senators are committed to getting it done but there is an urgency.

what we see across the country with the collapse of the insurance markets, premium skyrocketing and the predictions for next year. in some states, here in maryland, talking 58% increase. >> bill: this doesn't move forward with white house involvement. do we agree on that? how would we characterize the level of involvement the president has had over the past week or two? >> the president has been very involved. he had a number of us for lunch last week. the vice president has been at all of our policy lunches, a group i cheer every week. he's been there for the last number of months. tom price, secretary of health and human services has been involved. the president has been calling individual senators. we have the head of the care and medicare services at the meetings. we are committed to solving this problem for the american people. the american people deserve much better than they've gotten with obamacare which has raised their premiums, cost them choices and doctors they liked.

one obamacare promise after another has been broken third we need to solve this problem. i'm committed to doing it and so is the president. >> bill: susan collins from maine has issues with defunding planned parenthood. this is what she said. >> this president is the first president in our history who's had neither political nor military experience. thus it has been a challenge to him to learn how to interact with congress and how to push his agenda forward. >> bill: the comment about it's been a challenge to learn how to interact with congress to molt what do you make of it? to go i thought he was totally engaged today in our meeting, listening to us, making some suggestions, having some discussions and i am encouraged leaving the white house that this is something we will get on urgency to get it done as people

are seeing rates skyrocketing for next year and companies continuing to leave the market. in so many places, half of the country next year, looks like there may be only one choice. that's not a marketplace as promised by the democrats. that's a monopoly. stay on democrats taking credit for the delay. we will get to that later. senator, thank you for your time. john barrasso, republican senator from wyoming. an american president telling bashar al-assad to back off. late last night report surfaced that assad was prepping another chemical weapons attack. the last time he pulled the trigger, president trump fired almost 60 missiles into his country. the latest engines are being greeted with both denials and dismissals by syria and its biggest sponsor, russia. it also comes as the u.s. is fighting two wars in that troubled region. we have fox team coverage. jennifer griffin at the pentago

pentagon. and look at u.s. forces fighting in iraq but we start with kevin corke at the white house. >> good evening. the white house is making it plain and clear to the syrian assad regime and certainly there are stakeholders in russia and iran. the use of chemical weapons on the syrian people, specially when you consider their latest details coming out of the pentagon about a particular air base 100 miles from damascus. >> the statement from the white house was unmistakably direct, putting leaders in damascus, tehran, and moscow on notice. activities similar to preparations before the april 4, 2017 chemical weapons attack. as we had previously stated, the united states is interior to eliminate the islamic state of iraq and syria. if mr. assad conducts another mass murder attack using chemical weapons he and his military will pay a heavy price.

the message a response to new activities had to have taken place at a syrian aircraft hangar long associated with chemical weapons. the very same base of the u.s. military struck with 59 tomahawk cruise missiles in early april. on capitol hill, nikki haley said the u.s. method was clear, placing the response billy for any possible american response at the feet of russia and iran. stick with goal is not just to send assad a message like to send russia and iran a message that if this happens again, we are putting you on notice. and my hope is that the the presidents warning will get russia and iran to take a second look. >> syrian president bashar al-assad visited a base in his country. a spokesman for vladimir putin saying certainly we consider threats to the legitimate leader

unacceptable. the statement drew skepticism at the state department. >> are we supposed to buy what the syrians are saying that there are no chemical weapons preparations underway? we know they have killed their own people, women and children. if they say they are not making preparations, i'm not certain we are going to buy it. think of a military strike would come with the support of the united kingdom whose defense minister said his country was ready to stand with the u.n. >> we supported their last strike that took out the airplanes and support they required to drop chemical weapons. if the united states is considering a similar strike, then we will support that too. discussing this with the american defense secretary at our next meeting in brussels on

thursday. >> there was a bit of confusion earlier in the day about whether or not the state department was caught offguard by the president statement but white house officials insist every relevant agency was involved in this process from the very beginning. >> bill: thank you, kevin corke at the white house. this evening we continue with our on the frontline series by checking in on u.s. forces fighting in iraq, still fighting a war there that then president obama's head was over six years ago. here is national security correspondent jennifer griffin. >> august 8, 2014, the u.s. launch is the first air strikes against isis in iraq from the uss george h.w. bush. two and a half years earlier president obama had pulled all u.s. forces out of the country, declaring the war over.

then defense secretary leon panetta was there as the american flag lowered. he was uncomfortable with the move then and doesn't want to repeat the same mistake twice. >> i think the united states is going to have to have a long-term presence both in iraq and afghanistan. if we are to maintain stability. >> u.s. effort in iraq dates to 1991, the first gulf war. u.s. air force has had a near constant presence in the skies above iraq ever since. >> american and coalition forces in the early stages of military operations. march 20, 2003. president george w. bush announces the start of the war. more than 90,000 u.s. troops set off on their thunder run to baghdad. saddam hussein was found, tried,

and hank. they were devolved into a civil war. president bush ordered the surge of 30,000 u.s. forces. american troop levels rose to 166,000 at its peak. the leader of today's isis movement had been jailed by u.s. and iraqi forces during those surge years. he launched his self-proclaimed caliphate in mosul in 2014, less than three years after the u.s. troops pulled out. >> when there is an absence of forces, that provides a vacuum and others can go in there. >> now the u.s. has deployed about 5,000 american troops on the ground in iraq, advising iraqi forces and calling in air strikes. another 1,000 u.s. troops are doing the same in neighboring syria. defense secretary jim mattis says the plan is to surround isis. >> we carry out the annihilation campaign so we don't simply transplant this problem from one location to another. >> nearly 4500 u.s. troops were killed in iraq from 2003 to

2011. more than 30,000 wounded. the uss george h.w. bush, the same aircraft carrier strike group that launched the first strikes against isis, is poised in the mediterranean to the president ordered another strike should assad use chemical weapons again. >> bill: thank you, jennifer. tomorrow night, on the front lines in south korea with an eye on the north. hope to see you then. another major cyber attack is hitting computers throughout much of the world. russia's top oil producer, ukraine's power grid, and a danish shipping giant have been affected. the u.s. drugmaker merck says its systems have been compromised. not known who is behind the hacking. experts say it is close to a rogue program called goldeneye that has been circulating for about a year. two democratic covers men and one senior aide under scrutiny

by the house at -- ethics committee. peter doocy is on the hill. >> good evening. when democratic lawmakers staged a dramatic sit in on the house floor last year, they said it was to raise awareness about gun control laws but now one participant is being accused of using the sit in to money for himself. new mexico democrat accused by a conservative group called the foundation for accountability and civic trust of using a photo of him sitting in this part of a fund-raising flyer. his office says "this announcement is the result of a frivolous complaint filed by a highly partisan outside group about activities during the sit in last year." another democratic lawmaker the ethics committee is weighing action against is michigan congressman john conyers, accused of paying a staffer who had been fired.

the office says "this is not a new controversy but rather involves this a matter that the office of congressional ethics released back in february." a third democrat, staffer for john lewis is being looked at for potentially double dipping, getting paid by the congressman's campaign and his congressional office at the same time. his actions were also flagged by the conservative group. >> part of the reason that they are so borten does because house members and their employees are paid with taxpayer funded salar. we expect house members and their staff to be working on official actions and doing official business rather than being paid from outside sources. >> none of these three democrats are under investigation yet. their cases have been referred to the ethics committee which now has 45 days to decide what they want to do. >> bill: busy day for you, thank you.

peter doocy on the hill. meanwhile another deadlock in the house over the budget. republicans have canceled a planned vote this week before it was officially scheduled. conservatives are pushing for greater debt reduction by trimming programs like food stamps. they are up against -- why dozens of republican lawmakers want supreme court justice ruth bader ginsburg to sit out all matters drop and that would include the travel ban.

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doug mckelway tells us why. >> in a letter to supreme court justice ruth bader ginsburg 58 house republicans wrote to ask the justice to recuse herself from the case involving president trump's travel ban. it cites her public criticism of candidate trump when she said "i can't imagine what this place would be. i can't imagine what this country would be with donald trump as our president." it notes she called trump a faker. asked about a future president trump she said "i don't want to think about the possibility but if it should be, then everything is up for grabs." she later apologized. >> judges should avoid commenting on a candidate. >> it has done nothing to deter house republicans. >> if your impartiality can be question, you recuse yourself. >> if she was a lower court judge, there would be no question she should recuse yourself. these type of public comments

are wildly inappropriate. >> the judicial code does not apply to the supreme court. chief justice john roberts once wrote "a court normally does not sit in judgment of one of its own members recusal decision in the course of deciding a case break" only ginsburg can do that. our request to her office for comment went unanswered. that's no surprise. just as often resent meddling from reporters or congress. that hasn't stopped congress from trying. >> i believe her comments bring into question her ability to objectively adjudicate these issues. >> this may all be an attempt to gain the supreme court's decision on the travel ban. that's been tried before. justice anja and scalia went on a 1994 hunting trip with vice president dan cheney, there was a flurry of angry calls for him to recuse himself from a later case involving janie. justice scalia refused to step aside. since 2005, supreme court justices have recuse themselves for more than 90 cases, usually

for a financial reason. recusal raise rarely occurs based on the merits of a case. >> bill: from overseas the european union has slapped google with a monster fine, record $2.7 billion. saying that the internet giant took advantage of its dominance in online searches. directing customers to its own online shopping businesses at the expense of other companies. google says it's considering an appeal of the ruling. back here in the u.s., a california is a step closer toward becoming the first state to require roundup to come witha new warning label. roundup's main ingredient will appear on a list of potentially cancerous chemicals. roundups maker monsanto appealing back, denies the cancer link. state health regulators will decide if there's a high enough amount of the main ingredient to

pose a risk to human health. on the market, stocks were down. across the board, dow lost 99. s&p was off 20 points. nasdaq traded lower, about 100 points. from utah, a state lawmaker they're placing the blame for the nation's largest wildfire at the feet of those who are trying to preserve the land. more than 1500 people have been forced from their homes and cabins, and the blaze continues to spread. national correspondent william la jeunesse on the politics of fire. >> one returned the forest service to the tree hungers in the rock liquors, we turned our history over. the fire is going to do more damage. >> the worst fire and 25 years, 9 million spent, 70 square miles burned, a dozen homes destroyed. >> with the type of fuel conditions out there, with the

hazards and snags, et cetera, there is not a lot we can do. because some politicians blame the fire's destructiveness environmentalist and a tiny bark beetle which kill billions of trees over the last decade. >> the largest insect epidemic ever recorded in north america. >> many local communities while those dead trees gone and further offending to reduce fire risk. but environmental groups have repeatedly stopped those effort efforts. >> litigation is one tool. collaboration is a perhaps and better and more durable way. >> 40% of all lawsuits against the forest service are intended to stop active management. most lawsuits, even when unsuccessful, delay thinning projects by up to five years. >> we are going to lose our soils, wildlife, and our scenery. the very thing you people wanted to try to protect. it is plain stupidity.

>> environmentalist: unfair, blaming climate change and fire suppression. the u.s. used to harvest 12 billion board feet of timber a year. today it's less than half that while the amount of four is consumed by fire has doubled. >> bill: william la jeunesse, thank you from our studio in l.a. in california, if you work in the san francisco bay area and want to complain about something like the environment or health care, your thoughts might give you time off to do it and pay you for it. claudia cowan has that list. >> employees paid to leave the job and go protest. it is happening in the bay area as scores of activists flood the streets. town halls and rallies, blasting president trump with the blessing of their boss. >> civic engagement as the foundation of our democracy and company should encourage it. >> at a marketing firm, the ceo gives his staff to days of

action a year. >> they can participate in the protest, volunteer for a cause. >> he says while he is a liberal, the policy is neutral. so long as it's not a group that promotes violence, employees can support whatever political group or because they want. conservative activists aren't buying it. >> they want a harder left turn then we are saying now. >> it's a risk for employers. consumers opposed to an official endorsement of protest culture might take their business elsewhere. companies like patagonia adult care. the apparel maker says it hirers activists passionate about the environment and at times protesting is part of the passion. facebook let its employees attend may day rallies. >> employers are taking note that social change and positive action matters to employees both in and out of the workplace. >> a survey from employment firm

glassdoor found more than half of employees believe they should have time to advocate for social change. if the trend continues, expect to see more companies include days of actions in their benefit packages and more employees to take paid time off to protest. >> bill: claudia cohen from california. here in washington president trump is growing about the resignations of three cnn employees. he says it's more proof of fake news in the media. our media analysts here and host of "media buzz," howard kurtz will look at the consequences. >> president trump has been battling cnn for a long time. >> i'm not going to give you a question for you are fake news. >> he renewed his attack as cnn retracted story. story led to three resignations.

"wow, cnn had to retract big story on "russia," with 3 employees forced to resign. what about all the other phony stories they do? fake news!" the story alleges anthony scaramucci, top trump advisor, was under investigation over ties to a russian investment fund and discussed lifting u.s. sanctions against moscow and a secret meeting with the fund executive last january. anthony scaramucci says there was no secret meeting. after a speech, the russian official came up to him to say hello. the not work said it did not meet cnn's standards but did not cite the allegations were untru untrue. scaramucci said it's a lie and should never have been published. he has accepted cnn's apology. >> reporter: if the media can't be trusted to report the news, then it's a dangerous place for america. you mentioned the scaramucci story where they had to have reporters resign. >> cnn responded about its ratings thing down by saying it

had its most-watched second quarter ever. cnn reported before james comey's senate testimony that he would contradict the president by saying he had never told mr. trump he wasn't under investigation in the russia probe. comey said the opposite. for a president who is rallying cries fake news, he tweeted today that cbs, nbc, "new york times," "washington post" are also in the category. it was a day to claim vindication brain cnn has suffered a blow to its credibility but may have mitigated the damage with the quick retraction and by parting company with the journalists involved. >> bill: thank you. howard kurtz in washington. in a moment, how much trouble as the senate health care bill really" like we will talk to our panel. first here is what some of our fox affiliates are covering. fox 5 in new york city, subway train derailment causing serious problems across multiple subway lines. crews responding to reports of a train derailment unity 125th street station in harlem.

writers evacuated through darkened tunnels. fire officials reported 34 people suffering nonlife-threatening injuries. fox 30 touche, chicago former police officers are indicted in charges conspiring to cover up the actions of white white officer who shot and killed an african-american teenager. he shot the teen 16 times. he has been charged with murder and has pleaded not guilty. fox 10, phoenix. day two of the trial of a former sheriff charged with contempt of court. yesterday prosecutors presented comments the former sheriff of maricopa county made. bragging about tough immigration enforcement. live look outside the beltway from

>> this will be great if we get it done, and if we don't get it done, it's just going to be something that we are not going to like. and that's okay and i understand that very well. but i think we have a chance to do something very, very important for the public. very, very important for the people of our country that we love. >> bill: from a few hours ago at the white house, president trump responding to the action by the senate republicans moments ago. we sent out two more messages. by way of twitter. "with zero democrats to help and a failed expense of obamacare, the republican senators are working hard. just finished a great meeting with republican senators concerning health care. they really want to get it right." i want to bring in the panel.

laura ingraham, mara liasson, and syndicated columnist charles krohn hunger -- charles krauthammer. the last time we were here was in february. >> and mitch mcconnell is unable to deliver on time, you know this is difficult because he is sort of the wizard of capitol hill. he is a incredible technician. wasn't able to pull it together in time. the one thing he has going for him other than his own skills is the fact that in that cbo report which generally had a negative effect in terms of public opinion they projected $320 billion surplus. money for the treasury coming out of this bill. which means mitch mcconnell can

deal from that lump of money, some of it, may be the majority of it, to buy off -- let's be realistic about it -- to buy off the senators who are holding out. for example if there is somebody who thinks we should be doing more for opioid, you could throw in. if you've got a ton of money, so he's got chips he can deal and having it go over the fourth of july weekend is probably a negative because there will be a public reaction against it. but it does give him extra time to call the senators one at a time and be old-fashioned about it and say what do you want to? how much will it be? and does not buy your vote? to put it crudely. >> bill: we saw a lot of that seven years ago with obamacare. >> this is exactly -- >> bill: what's your sense

about the position the president takes in trying to push them over the line as he did in the house? >> i think he is leaving a lot of the heavy lifting and negotiating and haggling to mitch mcconnell and the reason i am not as optimistic as charles, mitch mcconnell had to do that this week. he was going to give them more opioid money and they couldn't. the problem is the president has focused almost exclusively on the obamacare exchanges, individual marketplace. that's only 8% of americans getting their health care that way. the bigger chunk of this bill, the true kind of biggest change that's making republican so nervous is the medicaid, transforming it to a block grant. mitch mcconnell does not have a magic wand to solve that problem. that's why people like susan collins and dean heller are not going to vote for it. >> bill: let me characterized, in the words of mitch mcconnell, what he had to say after meeting with the president. >> it will be dealt within 11 of

two ways. either republicans will agree and change the status quo or the markets will continue to collapse. we will have to sit down with senators schumer. my suspicion is that any negotiation with the democrats would include none of the reforms we would like to make on the market side and the medicaid side. >> bill: so you can pick option one or option two. >> that is all well and good. you hear a lot about mitch mcconnell is the brilliant tactician, expert and all that. and he has been in many regards but this is a complete embarrassment for the republicans. this is poorly coordinated. communications on the republicans, and almost every state you see the people revolting against what has

happened on health care. they were supposed to deliver this. the fact that the white house comes out and says we are having great conversations, and on. mitch mcconnell, brilliant tactician, trying to shift blame in "the new york times" a few minutes ago the story came out that says want to deal with vice president pence. mitch mcconnell should deliver. >> bill: he still has time. >> you go over the fourth of july holiday, independence day. republicans promised independence from the obamacare mandate. they promised repeal of obamacare in the dirty truth is visitors not repeal of obamacare. there is a lot of the mandate still in there. regulations haven't been lifted. we can say they can do their own cornhusker kickback. that's what the republican party is? they are going to do the horsetrading? there is a reason hospital, insurance, big pharmacy stocks have gone up.

very little is changing when it comes to bringing down the cost of health care. >> bill: do you think republicans should be as bearish as laura? >> forgive me. this is not a failure of communication as an "cool hand luke." this is a failure of expectations. the country does not want to see the entitlements handed out by obamacare retracted. it's not communication. it's not the lack of coordination between the house and senate. it's the fact that medicare was inflated. it was supposed to be for women and poor children and the disabled. it was inflated by obama to include able-bodied workers up to 400% of the poverty line. completely out of its original intent for the fight now and the reason a lot of moderate republicans are scared is because of this bill, it goes

from 400% down to 350%. this is a marginal retrenchment. what makes you eligible for medicare. people are used to what was. they don't want to give it back. that's the reason obamacare repeal is in trouble. the country is not where it was seven years ago. it's the reason the left usually wins because when you hand out goodies, since the new deal, it's extremely hard to bring them back. that is the core issue. >> bill: is essentially in trouble? >> what laura is saying is important. the base of the republican party expects obamacare to be repealed. they have been voting for this in congress for seven years and they said "give us the house, give us the senate. all we need is the white house." they got it and if they don't deliver, this is the political bind they are in because their voters expected.

many republicans think if they can't get this done, they are not going to get tax reform and any of the other things they want. >> can they govern or not? a year ago obamacare was a lot less popular than it is today. we elected president trump. we copy publican house and senate. and we don't have a communication strategy? that indicates if we do the following, the cost of health care is going to come down. we are going to bring transparency to pricing, we are going to have hospitals having to post what a colonoscopy costs here versus what one costs there. were going to bring the prices down like it occurred for lasix eye surgery to every common surgery in the united states prayed that's what's going to happen. i think if a really good strong communication strategy on a free-market approach to health care was done, i think you would have a much better look at the public approval polls for both the republicans and obamacare. i think that was absent here.

i think part white house failure, part congressional republican failure. there is a lot of think tank guys in capitol hill but they don't speak in practical terms that most people can understand. that's a failure, and the democrats are exploiting it. >> bill: ron johnson from wisconsin is making that case. go for innovation and that will bring price down. >> it's happened. it's happened in technology, procedures that are not regulated like procedures or regulator. i will go to see 17 stocks, insurance stocks, hospital stocks all going up. they all had their hand and the writing of this legislation. >> bill: in a moment, the panel on president trump's latest threat on the syrian leader bashar al-assad. what that is all aboooo. you're searching for something. ..

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>> another humiliation came on president obama drew a redline in syria. and the whole world knew it meant absolutely nothing. >> is the goal is come at this point, not just to send us out a message but to send russia and iran a message that if this happens again, we are putting you on notice. >> i think the message from that statement yesterday was extreme the clear. i don't think it was a gray area. pretty black-and-white. >> bill: tends times in syria with so many factions operating in the same theater. there was a report about 24 hours ago that bashar al-assad is getting ready to deliver another round of chemical weapons. back with the panel to talk about it. blackline, white line, redline?

whatever you want to call it. is it a new? >> it is a new. the real question is why was this a public threat on our part. i think normally you would expect you go to russia, russia, syria, and say we have intelligence you are preparing a series of chemical attacks. you do it, we're going to hit you very, very hard. that would work. they would know. once you make a public then you've got to an entirely new realm. you box yourself and perhaps. to the point where you have to do it. if you do it in private, you can always wheeze aloud. if you do it in public, you can't, particularly after what trump has said about obama, what trump did in the first attack a few months ago. we are at a really high point of

escalation because there will be no doubt that if the syrians defiance on this, we have to act. what nikki haley said is even a higher escalation. because it implies -- i don't think it means we are going to do it, but it implies we might actually retaliate not just against the syrians but against iranians and russians which would be a whole new level which is sort of sarajevo like. >> bill: it has been a toxic stew. keep in mind you have the u.s. forces to the east and southeastern part of the country and we believed last week they were threatened by syrian jets. >> there has been a lot of complaints from the hill and elsewhere that there is no overall syria strategy. the president got a lot of praise when he made the tomahawk missile strike after the other chemical weapons attack. now he's raising the possibility, would he do

something preemptively? i think if the syrians use chemical opens again have to hit them again. he has laid down whatever line were going to call it and he's got to do it. he has basically set up sub up as the anti-obama. where obama didn't act, he woul would. in the first couple hours, no other agencies in the government seemed to know what he was referring to or what the plan was buried today the white house as they did coordinate. they clarified it. they did coordinated. even lindsey graham was complaining about that. >> bill: let me take you back to april of 2016. this is what candidate trump said he would do as president, as commander-in-chief. >> we must, as a nation, be more unpredictable. we are totally predictable. we tell everything. we are sending troops, we tell them heard we are sending something else, we have a news conference. we have to be unpredictable. and we have to be unpredictable starting now. >> bill: i think you could

argue that the unpredictability element is there. but with regards to serious matters like these, how is the white house handling at? >> changing from obviously a candidate. back in 2013, he urged president obama not to strike against syria. he said explicitly he was changing on syria before the last assaults with the missiles after the chemical attack. it is dangerous territory, and i think general mattis has been -- a few hours before that story came out he had indicated that being involved in the syrian civil war was difficult for the united states. that's not he -- what he campaigned on. he campaigned against preemptive strikes. are there any other countries, any other allies who can help? where is the european community? they were against these types of chemical weapons attacks if this

is what's happening. this in a lot of skepticism after the leaks in the intel community. what is real? true? i think a lot of people would say there was a report. maybe there are, maybe there aren't. we have russia breathing down our neck now in syria. wars start in very strange ways, and do we want to be involved in a war in syria? >> bill: based on what charles said, the foreign minister from iran sent this out on twitter. >> another dangerous u.s. escalation in syria on fake pretext will only serve isis." russia said we don't have case here. >> i think that explains what's going on. this is not three years ago. right now isis is not on the rise. it's being destroyed. it will be out of mosul in a few

months. syrian rebels are inside raqqa. isis is not going to exist as a state with territory within a year or so. what this is all about is the maneuvering for after, who will control the rest of syria and this i think is one of the first steps, but it's a public one and therefore a dangerous one. i think it should have been in private. >> bill: thank you all. laura, mara, charles

>> bill: finally tonight, president trump getting recognized for poetry. the website poet in chief allows you to take the president's tweets and turn them into poems. the object of golf is not just to win, perfect for mother's day, call in. should be a great day, #free #freespeech,doesnotworkthatway: #freespeech,doesnotworkthatway: . if you take on the line of the original tweet. it has to do with phil mickelson. thank you for watching everybody here on "special report," good

♪ re on "special report," good

heather: it is going to be a lovely day wherever you are waking up this morning, beautiful in new york city, you are watching "fox and friends" first this wednesday. thanks for starting the day with us. rob: senate republicans delay their vote on repealing and replacing obamacare until next month. >> donald trump asking leaders for a better bill to serve the american people. good morning. >> remember when i told you republicans were planning to vote on the bill before the fourth of july recess, that is not going to happen. mitch mcconnell delaying the bill after it became clear it stood no chance of passing in their own ranks, nine gop senators saying they would not vote for the bill for a variety of reasons. after a meeting at the white