we'll be right here at 9:00 p.m. tomorrow, if you can't take it, don't forget to set your dvrs. "hannity" is up next you're not going to want to miss that. to c work of the first responders. "special report" begins now. >> bret: this is a fox news alert. i am bret baier in washington. it's extreme southeast texas and southwest louisiana's turn to feel the wrath of tropical storm harvey. the re-energize remnants of the deadly hurricane dumping several inches of rain in that region on top of the drenching already received. authorities believe at least 23 people have been killed since harvey made landfall. houston saw the sun a bit today but the city is still inundated from the worst tropical rainfall event in u.s. history with thousands of people seeking shelter. steve harrigan joins us from

kountze. hello, steve. >> when you get 49 inches of rain in five days, you get towns completely surrounded by water. these two men are headed out. to a lake 16 miles away, population 10,000. right now it's completely cut off. the lone star state sharing in harvey's misery. the storm focusing its energy on golf communities around beaumont near where it may liam fall overnight. port arthur's mayor says the entire city is underwater. this nursing home in port arthur among the facilities being evacuated quickly. >> nurses have said these patients were in the water for up to 24 hours. tensions were at a high level when i came into this facility from relatives and even some of the volunteers come to try to take these people out. >> desperate family members posting on social media photos

with pleas for help seeking any information on missing or isolated relatives and friends. across east texas, touching acts of kindness and bravery. these men, trapped for hours and trees, rescued by an armada of volunteers. this human chain to help a pregnant woman who went into labor get to the hospital. also to the rescue: 24,000 national guard forces will soon be on the ground in texas. around houston, a site for soggy eyes, the sun rising for the first time since friday, and officials say nearly all of the waterways have crested. search and rescue operations remain in full force. >> we are still in the emergency response phase. >> at least 21 people have been killed by the storm, including a family of six believed to be writing in this van found today. 18,000 rescued so far across the state.

including this baby airlifted in college station. with damage estimates conservatively pegged at $160 billion in nearly 50,000 homes damaged in the houston area alone. officials say many residents will not have much to return to. >> one water sits in a house for several weeks, the house begins to degrade. >> more than 32,000 people across texas remain in temporary shelters. this one in port arthur is flooded, creating unsafe conditions. >> people slipping and falling. very, very, very unsanitary. >> another concern is looting. an overnight curfew in houston being strictly enforced to prevent thefts, armed robberies, and those impersonating police officers. some residents understand the temptation but aren't taking chances. >> it's a combination of desperation. people needing things, don't

have cash. a lot of people just taking advantage of the opportunity. i don't typically ride with my pistol, but i have it right now. >> all day long, these volunteers have been pulling people out of subdivisions. to my left, to my right, men, women. i saw a toddler with a knapsack on her back prepared for a destination to who knows where. it's the amazing stories. we were listening to some of these dramatic rescues as they were happening live just before the show. let's head to trace gallagher. he is in the helicopter performing some of those rescue missions above beaumont. >> it's a little loud. we apologize. we just took off and we are heading back out. those were watching earlier might have seen we brought this family aboard and we pulled them off their rooftop. it was absolutely stunning. mom, dad, son and daughter. we had to get the dog. they lost everything today.

their house, and they lost everything but they have each other. we know they are going to be kept together and taken to a local shelter and they will be together, which is the most important thing. i want to stand over here because we are heading back in this area of beaumont. this is the waterway. this is supposed to have water. you can see the shrimp boats and you can see the fishing boats, the port of entry. as you sweep back over this area, across the river, and did neighborhood is being inundated. we were talking earlier that there's 170,000 people combined in beaumont and port arthur. no one near the 2.5, 3 million people in houston but we know at least 1,000 rescued today. if you imagine the context, it gives you an idea of 170,000 people. you rescue 2,000 or 3,000, it means every family, everybody knows someone who is affected by

this. that's just the people who were rescued. many people were taken out on their own. they were able to walk out. they were able to drive their cars out in the early going. that's just the people who were rescued. this has affected everybody because if you look around, all these towns are underwater. it's not just neighborhood and then dry neighborhood and then white neighborhood. it's everybody. look at these homes down here. and the refinery, and every business aspect of beaumont and port arthur is affected. it's a stunning sight to see. the orchestration of the air here, it's amazing. we have beaumont airport. we had a black hawk land behind us. both of them were back in the air back flying looking for more people. it goes on and on like that from daybreak until dusk. we have been witnessing these guys bone tired going out and

picking up people again and again and again. they do it because it makes them proud. >> bret: let me ask you. did they see sheets outside homes? have they been alerted to these people? how are they getting to the rescue sites? >> most of them are 911 calls. the 911 calls were flooded. they got 9,000 calls in the early going. what happened is they are trying to follow-up on these 911 calls. at the time they get to a lot of these neighborhoods, many people have been taken away by boat or other helicopters. they are still going out and checking it out. we haven't got to the point yet here in beaumont where they are asking people to put towels out to say you need help. that was one of those things we did in houston because they weren't sure if people were still inside. you get, and the rain is coming down so hard, you don't want people standing on the roof waiting for help to come.

you tell them to go inside the house, not in the attic but on an upper floor and put towels outside and we will come by with a boat or get a helicopter. when you hear it or you hear the vote, please go outside. we haven't seen any of those towels here in beaumont because i don't think they are quite at that point. you can see it's a 911 call flurry. spewing trace gallagher with the rescue missions there. governor john bel edwards says the threat of flooding in southwest louisiana appears to be diminishing at this hour. tropical storm harvey pulls away from the region. senior correspondent rick leventhal is in vinton. good evening. >> good evening, bret. even though the storm is moving on in this state was spared the worst, there are still streets and communities like this one in southwest louisiana that are still flooded. this neighborhood in vinton, a

resident says it hasn't been this bad since the 1970s. authorities are worried the water can get higher before it receives. southwest louisiana has been inundated by rain from tropical storm harvey, flooding streets, swapping vehicles and isolating homes. >> is rising so fast. >> while the situation here is nowhere near as bad as texas, nine straight days of downpours have drenched the ground and filled every body of water up to or over its banks. every new squall brings more road closures and the need for rescues. dozens of them in vinton. more than 500 in speed 27 parish since monday. >> it's a powerful storm. a lot of rain will continue to drop. we know that the ground is saturated. the wind are sufficient to topple trees and any time that happens, power outages are also going to happen. >> the interstate is closed a

few miles from the state line but first responders and some volunteers from the cage and navy are being allowed through to help with rescue operations. at least 40 officers from florida fish and while for among the army of outside agencies traveling through to assist, briefly stating here a mile from the border and then rolling into texas with her airboats and flat bottom tracks. empty buses are heading west and coming back full of evacuees. new orleans, swamped by hurricane katrina 12 years ago this week, got less rain than expect about residents sandbagged and officials had emergency operations up and running just in case. back in vinton, despite knowing there will likely be more flooding, gus says he is staying put. >> i moved here 20 years. i'm not going nowhere. >> we hear that often in the aftermath of disasters like these. people love where they live and they would rather rebuild and relocate. >> bret: thanks. to talk more about the federal

involvement and response to hurricane harvey and all the aftermath, the secretary of housing and urban development, dr. ben carson. secretary, thanks for being her here. hud will play a key role. there are people facing a real housing crisis. >> a lot of times people think about hud further down the road but we are involved at the beginning working vigorously with fema. we have many people allocated to work with them. recognizing people are in distress right now. that's one of the reasons we are helping states and local officials reallocate some of the funding they have toward disaster relief. one of the reasons we've put a sensation on many foreclosure proceedings, mortgage insurance. rehabilitation insurance.

making loans available, section 108 loans. those kinds of things make a big difference and also determining where the units are that are available. we have staff out making sure where those are, determining where the people are however that helped by hud programs. and then matching those up. working very vigorously with fema. >> bret: we have seen something like this, but this seems historic. back when hurricane katrina. how long it took to iron out some of those issues, some of them still go on today. you have 80% of the population there possibly who didn't have flood insurance. that's a lot of folks dealing with housing issues. >> no question. it's going to be a mammoth issue and it's going to be something we are going to be involved in for many months and maybe even a few years. but we are going to be there for the long haul, recognizing that

the home is something that is so precious to people. and it's not just the bricks and mortar. it's the emotion attached to it. in many cases, the family memorabilia, all these things lost. it's emotionally quite taxing for people. in the last thing they need is to have to go through this incredible bureaucracy in order to get any help. people can go to disaster.gov and find out about many things available to them but also they can find out what they can do to help others. one of the things that's been very gratifying, as we went down there yesterday, is looking at the cooperative spirit between local government, state government, and federal government. everybody who's been involved in these things say it's unprecedented the level of cooperation occurring. that's something we want to

continue. and it's one of the reasons we've got involved early so that the transition can be a seamless transition from the reactive phase and the rescue phase to the recovery phase. >> bret: will continue to put up the website for people who need the help. i want to talk about your job at hud. we are seven months in. your thoughts, concerns, your vision for where this agency is heading. >> it's a bureaucracy. and i'm not a big fan of bureaucracy. bureaucrats are people who think the rules are more important than the goals. we are actually reimagining the way hud works right now from the bottom up. including the vision of many of the people who've been there for 10, 20, 30, 40 years rather than just imposing things upon them. we want to reduce the regulatory

burden so that we become somebody who is responsive to people when they call us. we want to develop people. in the past, hud has been a little bit of a place that puts people into a shelter. we recognize that our people are human capital to be developed. and that's what strengthens our country. we think there are things we can actually eliminate, like homelessness. there's been a great deal of progress made in that area. i think we can make some tremendous inroads. lead in some of the environmental issues. the health and housing, there is a nexus there. >> bret: you have a budget where hud has been cut for 2018 from the trump administration. 13% reduction from 2017. you have programs being cut. community development block grants, homes, choice neighborhoods, self-help

home ownership programs, native hawaiian home programs. the recipients of some programs saying, what am i supposed to do? >> i have seen the allegations there's going to be a lot of the evictions and people out on the street. let me just say first of all our conviction is no eviction. we will do what is necessary. do recognize that with some of the reorganization that we've done already, we have realized some tremendous savings. this is a concept that's foreign to a lot of people in washington. the whole concept of efficiency and saving. having said that, the budgets are not final. and we will use whatever money we have in an extraordinarily efficient way. but i think we cannot only

shelter the people we've been sheltering but we are going to be able to recreate the way communities are done. we are rethinking how communities are done too. they need to be nurturing places. they need to be places that will help children to be able to maximize their potential. and not have a goal of just staying where their mother or grandmother was. >> bret: part of the issue, secretary carson, the people below you, spots have not been filled. and the president tweeted the other day "we are not looking to fill all those positions. don't need many of them. reduce size of government." this is in response to a statement by laura ingraham. there is an issue filling those spots for hud to work effectively. >> i don't have a deputy secretary. who is generally the person who runs the operation.

while the secretary is doing other things. i haven't been able to travel as much because you are involved in doing what everybody else -- i don't have a general counsel. a lot of top positions, and a lot of it is politically motivated. be that as it may, a deep bench, a lot of people willing to step up to the plate and help to fashion things and keep things moving in a positive direction. it's been good. >> bret: you are optimistic. >> i was told i would be met by a lot of hostility from the residual previous administration and the people who tried to torpedo everything. there are a few people like that but the vast majority of people have stepped up. they are professionals. they recognize what their response abilities are. >> bret: the new york magazine piece that was really kind of attacking you. is anybody home at hud? the dismantling of the administrative state is taking

place under secretary ben carson. you would say that's not right. >> i would say you should ring the doorbell before you conclude no one is at home. [laughter] i don't think they did a very good job of journalistic investigation. >> bret: secretary carson, we appreciate your time. you're welcome back anytime. >> thank you so much. >> bret: up next, president trump tries to rally the heartland on tax reform ♪ there's nothing more important than your health. so if you're on medicare or will be soon, you may want more than parts a and b here's why. medicare only covers about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. you might want to consider an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like any medicare supplement insurance plan, these help pick up some of what medicare doesn't pay. and, these plans let you choose any doctor

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chief white house correspondent john roberts has the tax reform pitch from president trump tonight. >> good evening. the president's helicopter landed in a short time ago here at the white house. he chose a location in springfield, missouri, is a metaphor, using the birthplace of america's main street route 66 to promote economic renewal for main street america. as president trump kicked off the campaign for tax reform, a new fox news poll finds his approval rating at 41%. that is down four points from april. 55% of registered voters disapprove, a seven-point rise since april and a record high. 50% of registered voters think president trump is tearing the nation apart versus 33% who believed he has drawing the country together. his highest marks were on his handling of the economy. 49% gave him a thumbs up. >> we hit 3% in gdp. >> the president's speech in

missouri was all about why tax reform is important for the economy, not how he plans to do it. a particular focus of the people who put them in the oval office, middle income americans. we go we believe ordinary americans know better. then washington how to spend their money and we want to help them take home as much of their money as possible and then spend it. stick out the president's speech set the table for meeting the white house next week. the tuesday will strategize with the big six on tax reform. mitch mcconnell, paul ryan, orrin hatch, kevin brady, steven mnuchin, gary cohn. wednesday he will meet with the bipartisan congressional leadership. tax reform not officially on the agenda but likely to come up. after the appeal of obamacare shelf -- fell flat, he laid out a plan. >> i am committed to working with congress to get this job done.

i don't want to be disappointed by congress. do you understand me? >> he took specific aim at majority democratic senator claire mccaskill. >> she must do this for you. if she doesn't do it for you, you have to vote her out of office. >> president trump appeared to take notice of criticisms of his visit to texas and his fire station address. people said the tone lacked empathy and was more akin to a political rally. >> we love you. you are special. we are here to take care of your speaker at the top of the missouri speech, the president reached out to victims of harve harvey. >> to those affected by the storm, we are praying for you and we are here with you every single step of the way. >> back on tax reform, the poll found 49% of registered voters say tax reform is very important to them.

however, 70% of people say they don't think it will get done this year. consider that the president's approval rating the new poll is 41%, that compares with congress at 15%. he may have the upper hand. >> bret: john roberts live on the north lawn. thank you. whether it was tax reform or something else, a good day for the markets. dow up 27. s&p 500 rose 11. nasdaq jumped 66. the top democrat in the house is condemning the far left group known as antifa. william la jeunesse reports from los angeles. >> it weakened of -- a weekend of violence in berkeley. antifa attacked one dozen peaceful trump backers. >> according to the

san francisco chronicle, 100 antifa members pepper sprayed and beat the group. they took this man's glasses, hat, and spit on him. in charlottesville, many condemned the violence perpetrated by neo-nazis but asked to disavow the antifa antagonist by name, virginia governor terry mcauliffe would only say "i denounce any individual who commits a crime." unlike charlottesville, berkeley wasn't about white's pharmacy. a mob attacked those in trump hats and american flags, they're peacefully to "say no to marxism." on monday, joy gibson challenged democrats. >> how long are you going to stay silent on antifa? it's almost like they are using antifa to their benefit to attack free speech. >> confronted on tuesday, democratic leader nancy pelosi said.

>> people have a right to express themselves and other people have a right to respond. there should never be any violence. >> hours later, pelosi said "the violent actions of people calling themselves antifa deserve unequivocal condemnation and the perpetrator should be arrested and prosecuted." to go those on the hard left, including antifa, use violence as dr. king said, undermine the because they seek to promote. >> no other leading democrat has publicly condemned antifa violence. a committee of lawmakers on tuesday approved a resolution treating violent acts by whites premises as a terrorist act by not -- but not those of the left-wing group. >> bret: dianne feinstein shocked a group of supporters tuesday when she said president trump could be a good president. feinstein, like other leaders in

san francisco, has been a harsh critic. >> this man is going to be president most likely for the rest of this term. i just hope he has the ability to learn and to change. and if he does, he can be a good president. and that is my hope. >> bret: you may have heard the crowd reacted with stunned silence. liz afternoon, the senator sensing political peril released a clarifying statement criticizing the president for his charlottesville comments and pardon of joe arpaio. "the duty of the american president is to bring people together, not catered to one segment of a political base to solve problems, not campaign constantly." i am under no allusion it's like that happen and will continue oppose his policies, i want president trump to change for the good of the country." the fbi says there's not enough interest in the hillary clinton email investigation to release its files to the public.

the bureau is refusing a freedom of information request by a new york city attorney. it says the lawyer did not demonstrate the public's interest in disclosure outweighs the personal privacy interests of the subject. up next, president trump says talking is not the answer with north korea but his defense chief says something in little different whoooo. i enjoy the fresher things in life. fresh towels. fresh soaps. and of course, tripadvisor's freshest, lowest... ...prices. so if you're anything like me... ...you'll want to check tripadvisor. we now instantly compare prices... ...from over 200 booking sites... ...to find you the lowest price... ...on the hotel you want. go on, try something fresh. tripadvisor. the latest reviews. the lowest prices.

>> bret: reading between the lines, two conflicting signals from the trump administration on north korea. the president tweeting that talking is not the answer with the north. his defense secretary insists we are never out of diplomatic solutions. jennifer griffin reports from the pentagon. >> the u.s. missile defense agency says it's successfully shot down a medium-range ballistic missile off the coast of hawaii. the uss john paul jones, a

guided missile destroyer, successfully launched a interceptor missile which intercepted the target fired from a base near kawai. it was designed to send a message to north korea. a day after it fired a ballistic missile over japan. defense secretary jim mattis hosted his south korean counterpart at the pentagon. >> we are never out of diplomatic solutions. >> that was not a message from the white house today. president trump tweeted "the u.s. has been talking to north korea and paying them extortion money for 25 years. talking is not the answer." north korea's leader promised to fire more missiles, describing the most recent launch as a meaningful prelude to pyongyang's effort to contain guam which a north korea newsreader described as an

advanced base of invasion for the united states. the former director of national intelligence, james clapper, admitted he agreed with ousted trump senior advisor steve bannon that there are no realistic military options to stop north korea. >> our options are limited. we may have to hold our nose and consider concessions. >> the latest fox news poles shows 42% of voters think president trump hasn't been tough enough on north korea, a 40% change from june. 59% of those polled are extremely or very worried about the possibility of a war with north korea. that's down since north korea's july 4th launch of a missile that could reach the u.s. 43% of those polled approved of the president's handling of north korea. 50% disapprove. >> bret: jennifer griffin at the pentagon. thank you. defense secretary matt a is a sibling a panel of experts to help him decide what to do about transgenders in the military. last week president trump

directed the pentagon to extend the ban indefinitely but gave mattis the authority to determine the fate of those already serving. the coalition against isis says it will not rule out strikes against terrorist evacuating the lebanon border and heading into eastern syria. the convoy was organized under a controversial deal brokered by hezbollah. the coalition spokesman says the allies are not party to such an agreement. the top u.s. envoy tweets "ice terrorist or be killed on the battlefield, not bust across syria to the iraqi border." president trump starts his push for tax reform. we will get reaction from the panel when we come

>> this is our once in a generation opportunity to deliver real tax reform for

everyday hardworking americans. and i am fully committed to working with congress to get this job done. and i don't want to be disappointed by congress. do you understand me? do you understand? and your senator claire mccaskill, she must do this for you. and if she doesn't for you, you have to vote her out of office. >> bret: president trump today on the first official pitch of his tax reform effort. this in the backyard of a democrat up for reelection, claire mccaskill, one of several democrats up for reelection in 2018 in states that president trump won. here is the tax reform in a nutshell. cut the number of income tax brackets to three with a top rate of 35%, lower the rates of 25% and 10%. top rate right now is 39.6. double the standard deduction

that americans can use to reduce their taxable income. you've got basically married couples, also individuals under the proposal would go down. reduce the corporate tax rate, this is a big one. the initial plan was to cut the rate from 35% of 15%. there is some talk .. mentioned 15% today. repeal the alternative minimum tax and the estate tax known as the death tax. that's a big one. and the 3.8% investment income that was opposed by obamacare. that's a nutshell. we will see what happens in congress. let's bring in the panel. byron york, chief political correspondent of the "washington examiner." mara liasson, national public radio. mollie hemingway, senior editor at "the federalist." >> president trump sounded like he couldn't wait to get to election day buddies got a long with gone tax reform forgets to blaming claire mccaskill. tax reform is an opportunity for republicans to get all back on the same page with the

president. but i think the big question, the nutshell isn't necessarily work congresses. the president is going to have to get his republicans together. the treasury secretary said this is going to be passed by august. and it hasn't been paid for members of congress and tax-writing committee members have different ideas than the president about the rates, the corporate rates. he's got a long way to go. there are a lot of details. tax reform at something, released tax cuts something republicans should be able to unite around. >> bret: frankly, they need a w. >> they do. the economy is something that has gone well for donald trump already. it's something his treasury secretary said is his number one priority. 3%, 4%. in order to make that happen, you need to see some reform of corporate tax rates. we've not had tax reform in more

than 30 years. when ronald reagan was able to accomplish that tax reform in 1986, which is a bipartisan effort, the lowered tax rates, some were as high as 70% by having this increase in the corporate tax rates. we have corporate tax rates that are the highest in the developed world. this is something that should be broadly bipartisan. >> bret: the president mentioning 3% gdp, touting that today. there's a poll in here, fox bulx reform this year, is it important. 49% of those polled said it's important. no, 46%. is it likely? there is some skepticism. >> after obamacare, there would have to be skepticism. it was a disciplined speech, a focused speech. trump stayed on script, which is always good news for him.

the most important point he made was his second reason for tax reform. create more jobs and higher wages. republicans are doing a lot of research on what they need to do to win next year, and it all boils down to more jobs at higher wages. trump picked a good place to go. he won missouri by 19 points. he won big there. if that could create some pressure on claire mccaskill. they do realize they need to wi win. mike lee was on fox business this morning and said we were elected to repeal obamacare and reform taxes. we have not revealed obamacare and if we don't do this "we are dead." >> bret: ann coulter, known conservative and a big supporter of president trump on twitter. "it's so obvious trump is only getting polite applause for tax cuts. want to get the crowd hollering. talk about the wall."

it is like the night of the living dead. this is the worst, most tone-deaf speech. job had better ideas. strong letter to follow. >> i'm sure ann coulter would be excited about a speech on the wall but most people are concerned about the economy. and a lot of people in the media care about this tweet or this thing donald trump is saying that actual people want to have economic growth. we really didn't cover how sluggish the economy was for eight years. president obama never had a single year with 3% growth. last year was 1.6%. we have a quarter, the most recent quarter upgraded. projections are the rest of the year will go well but we need to see sustained growth. that's something everybody cares about. when you look at the data, i don't think that many people care about -- the wall was part of his bid but this is a

universal thing everyone cares about. >> bret: one more sign -- sound bite. >> you can't do a big bill. they can't do tax reform. in my view, just with republicans. this man is going to be president. most likely for the rest of this term. i just hope he has the ability to learn and change. and if he does, he can be a good president. >> bret: was that a crack in the wall? she is in san francisco. >> and she was saying if he can learn and change, she's open to working with him, as every member of congress should be. it's totally reasonable. she also said before that, she said tax reform is to move big bipartisan coalitions. that's what happened the last time. and if you want to do real tax reform, not just tax cuts, you're going to need some democrats. and he needs to reach out to them, and he also must make sure

there's a real middle-class tax cuts. to the extent ann coulter represents the trump base, they are going to be more excited if their big middle class tax cut isn't just corporate tax cuts. byron. >> in the big picture, i think republicans have better prospects for this than they had for obamacare because if you look at the polls on health care, voters trust democrats a lot more than republicans to handle health care. but if you look at the polls on the economy, jobs, taxes, they trust republicans more to deal with it. republicans are a little bit more on their home turf doing this, and i think this will be a much easier lift than their failure on obamacare. >> and they had low expectations. >> bret: next up, democrats, or democrat versus antifa

..

>> any of the people that come with an attitude -- i'm not talking about trump supporters. i respect them. i don't like characterizations that are being made. but i do not support those who attract white nationalists, supremacis supremacists. there should never been any violence involved in that. >> house minority leader nancy pelosi talking about the violence around the antifa

protests and attacks of demonstrators. the violent actions at berkeley has taken out condemnation. larry o'connor writes "democrats are loathed to condemn antifa because they represent their base. the same thugs that polluted the occupy wall street movement. now they're weaponized with the coordinated violent attacks that we see in battles on a regular basis in the same cities." sanders and other democrats are counting on them. back with the panel. molly? >> antifa or other violent leftist groups have been doing

this protesting going back to the 90s. you think about the clinton administration, they were pro free trade. there was distance between the leftist violence groups and the democratic party. as the democratic party has moved to the left, it's stunning you don't see people asking ties about the leftist and the violent groups. and steve scalise was a leftist that attempted to assassinate republican leadership. you don't see people calling to denounce that rhetoric. >> that statement by pelosi, people have a right to express themselves and other people have a right to respond to it. sounds a lot like both sides. >> yeah, but then she later issued a statement that she condemned them by name as she should have. i feel like condemning antifa is a no-brainer. every democrat should scream it from the rooftops. it's an easy thing. >> at least the ones in california. >> how about anywhere?

and people who wear black masks and beat peaceful protesters have no supporters at all. it's an easy thing. it's why everybody was god smacked that president trump was more willing to condemn neo-nazis. democrats should be racing to the microphones. there's nobody out there that supports these groups. they won't lose any votes. it's a give-me. i'm surprised that there's that much hesitation. what is the difference between a guy carrying a tiki torch he bought in costco and those guys beating people in berkeley? it's the same thing. >> it's wednesday. we're getting the statement today. there's been -- obviously we've had a lot to cover with harvey, with north korea, with harvey, everything else. no questions about the delay. >> democrats have not been encouraging this.

so compliments to nancy pelosi. it's a straight equivocal condemnation by name. no questions about that. the reason why some democrats have been hesitant to go after antifa is because if they did that, it might lend some credence to donald trump's c contention is there were bad dudes on the other side in charlottesville. it makes things more complicated if there's bad people on their side. >> they should get themselves on record right now in case it happens again. this is not charlottesville. this is berkeley. they can condemn it there. they should get themselves on record. >> when we come back, good news from the hurricane zone. think your heartburn pill works fast? take the zantac it challenge! zantac works in as little as 30 minutes. nexium can take 24 hours. when heartburn strikes, take zantac for faster relief than nexium or your money back. take the zantac it challenge.

>> businesses in the houston area continue using their resources to help those in need. even though in houston area mcdonald's are closed because of hurricane harvey, some are reopening to serve first responders for free. the company released the statement saying -- >> a houston area bakery also shut down during harvey trapping workers inside. the bakers made good use of their time there. they made plenty of bread and now distributing it to others suffering from the storm.

air bnb is letting those affected by harvey stay for free. people are staying in dallas, austin and san antonio homes until september 25th free of charge. a furniture company send out a large truck to rescue some 200 people and allowing them to stay in their warehouse for free. keep doing it. thanks for inviting us in your home. that's it for this special report. fair, planed and unafraid. "the story with martha maccallum" starts right now from new york. a special report online begins in seconds. todd: this is a fox news alert, breaking right now, major

chemical plant 6 feet underwater exploding just moments ago. live on the ground in texas. you are watching "fox and friends" first. heather: straight to bed fox news alert, we learned two explosions at a chemical plant in crosby, texas. >> they are 6 feet underwater, griff jenkins live in houston with the latest. we knew this would happen at some point. it happened now. >> reporter: it happened at 2:00 am local time. good morning. here is what happened. when the ceo of the chemical plant put out a statement last night he said because temperatures would rise we cannot prevent, having lost power and having been flooded and able to tool these products, we cannot prevent fires and possible explosions.

officials got in front of this and evacuated a radius of 11/2 miles and law enforcement keeping people away, this is 30 miles northeast of houston near a small town called crosby, that is going to be a story unfolding. we believe at this hour most of the residents, folks in that area where pre-evacuated, moved out of the way. we will learn from the press conference scheduled for 9 am local, that may be coming sooner to ease fears, harris county officials in that area, we will be following this all morning and there is an additional story playing out just south of the barker reservoir in houston, if you look behind me versus canyon ranch, you see the water up very high, people