excellent. all right, he's bringing us the news and he's willing to share. ladies and gentlemen, mr. bret baier. "special report" is up next. >> bret: you are going to run out of them. thanks, greg. this is a fox news alert. i'm bret baier in washington. coming up in a few minutes, my exclusive interview with nicaraguan revolutionary turned president daniel ortega about the growing unrest in that central american country. you do not want to miss that. first up tonight, president trump is considering revoking the security clearances of some of his biggest critics. the list includes some of the top intelligence, law enforcement and national security officials of the last decade. let's find out why these individuals and why now. catherine herridge is here tonight. good evening, catherine. >> thank you. good evening. the announcement from the white house podium this afternoon mostly influencing

obama administration -- just on reporters. >> he's also looking into the clearances of comey, clapper, hayden, rice and mccabe. >> former cia director john brennan, james comey, former tops by director of national intelligence james clapper. former national security advisor susan rice as well as former deputy fbi director andrew mccabe. >> the president is exploring the mechanisms to remove security clearance because they politicize and in some cases monetize their public service and security clearances. >> the issue came up at the briefing after republican senator rand paul tweeted that he would ask president trump to pull brennan's clearance. after the helsinki summit brennan tweeted that the president actions were treacherous. >> being influenced by russia against the president is extremely inappropriate and the fact that people with security clearances are making these

baseless charges provides an appropriate legitimacy accusations with zero evidence. >> michael hagan seemed to brush off the threat writing i don't go back for classified briefings, won't have any affect on what i say or write. clapper said it's kind of a sad commentary for political reasons. a friend of comey's asked the former fbi director whether he even has the security clearance to revoke and space comey required nope. she said her clients clearance was already deactivated. >> this strikes me as a way of lashing out at the president's critics. but that's part of the job, to defend your positions, and attacking them this way seems to me to set a pretty dangerous precedent. >> the president also weighed in on the weekend document dump from the justice department. heavily redacted, the 412 pages released late saturday indicated that the unverified dossier funded by the dnc and clinton campaign help secure the surveillance warrant for trump

campaign aide carter page. on twitter the president tied in the robert mueller special counsel russia probe and the national security court known as fisa. the fake dirty dossier that was knowingly and falsely submitted to the fisa, which was responsible for starting the totally conflicted and discredited mueller witch hunt. >> house republicans on the intelligence committee want the president to immediately declassify two key sections because they believe the fbi's use of the dossier violates strict internal rules. if sanders said today the president has chosen to remain uninvolved and once the justice department to be fully transparent. >> bret: thank you. president trump is threatening iran with historic consequences. the president and the iranian leader are exchanging hostilities verbally about the possibility of exchanging hostilities of a more destructive nature. the spat is an outgrowth of the u.s. withdrawal from the iran nuclear deal negotiated by then

president obama. gillian turner has the blow-by-blow. >> if anybody is inciting anything, look no further than iran. >> it is now exploded into a full on war of words between washington and tehran. yesterday the iranian president had warnings. >> mr. trump, don't play with a lion's tail. this would only lead to regret. you will forever regret it. >> "never, ever threaten the united states again or you will suffer consequences the likes of which through throughout history have ever suffered before. we are no longer a country that will stand for your demented words of violence and death. be cautious." just a short while ago iran's foreign minister jumped into the fray with a tweet of his own. "color is unimpressed. we have been around for millennia and seen the fall of empires, including our own, which lasted more than the life of some countries. be cautious. a few hours after the president

'has comments yesterday, secretary pompeo delivered a highly anticipated speech at the reagan library. he upped the ante by accusing the iranian government of terrorism around the world. >> this tells you everything you need to know about the regime. at the same time they're trying to convince europe to stay in the nuclear deal they are covertly plotting terror attacks in the heart of europe. >> he also focused on corruption, accusing the supreme leader, head of state and leader of the religion of operating a $95 billion hedge fund. he also took care during his remarks to distinguish the care of the the american governments dislike of the iranian government and the respect for its people. if a rep from the arabia foundations of the trump team in tough rhetoric is proving to be more effective than the obama administration's diplomacy. >> in the region it was seen as an emboldened iran daring to humiliate the right united states.

the impression today is that the iranians wouldn't dare to put such assault on america. >> the deadline for the u.s. to impose the so-called snapback sanctions on iran draws closer. in just two weeks the trump administration also plans to start penalizing countries including close u.s. allies who continue to do business with the regime. now the hottest western in washington is whether this war of words will result in a trump summit in the near future. >> bret: that has been the blueprint. thank you. breaking news from toronto no. police have just identified the suspect in yesterday's fatal shooting. they say he fired a handgun into restaurants and cafes downtown. two people were killed, 13 wounded. hussein was killed by police. authorities are not talking about it yet but not ruling out terrorism. the attack comes three months after the driver of a van plowed into pedestrians on a toronto sidewalk, killing ten people. president trump is keeping up the pressure on the rest of the

world over trade policy. however, many americans are feeling the pressure as well. correspondent kevin corke is at the white house with details tonight. >> america never waives the white flag. we only waive the red, white, and blue flag. the era of economic surrender for the united states is over. >> even as president trump welcomed to the white house a shining array of u.s. manufacturers, business owners and producers for the annual made in america showcase, economic storm clouds were brewing over the impact of his aggressive trade and tariff policies that some fear could limit the ability for many of those same manufacturers to sell their wares abroad. in recent weeks, mr. trump has slapped billions of dollars in tariffs on china and the e.u. citing national security concerns, unfair trade practices and the need for reciprocal market access. but then the e.u. retaliated, hitting the u.s. with higher tariffs on motorcycles, jeans and bourbon. beijing responded targeting u.s.

agriculture products. >> remind you that tariffs really are consumer taxes. >> administrations officials insist any short-term discomfort will be weighed out by increased fairness for the american workers. $43 billion in may. that's actually down $3 billion from april. >> these trade issues didn't occur overnight. president trump is determined to have free and fair and more balanced trade and we just want to make sure american companies and american workers are treated fairly and yes i do see a light at the end of the tunnel. >> the trade back and forth comes as the administration is touting a robust jobs outlook with more than 3.2 million new jobs created since the president took office and we record low unemployment. >> all this happening in a week that we expect to see the president of the european commission come to the white house. that is planned for wednesday,

no doubt hoping to tamp down that budding trade war. >> bret: live on the north long, kevin corke. thanks. china's foreign ministry says threats and intimidation on trade will never work. today's comments come after the u.s. treasury secretary friday raised the prospect of designating china as a currency manipulator. america's trade battle with china, which include significant new tariffs on both sides, is hitting many u.s. industries. president trump will talk to farmers in iowa later this week. tonight we look at how trade policy is affecting lobster men in maine, were definitely feeling the pinch. >> maine lobster industry, a staple of the state economy is becoming a casualty in the burgeoning trade war between the u.s. and china. >> the hard part is that it was an up-and-coming market. >> china's appetite for american seafood is voracious. the country consumed a nearly

record 18 million-pound of lobster alone, roughly 20% of the american lobster industries $648 million export total. but it was new u.s. tariffs beijing struck back, slapping an additional 25% levy on u.s. lobster. the changes threatened profits for dealers like michael. >> 50% of what we do what the lobster company do to go to china. since july 6th we've sent none. >> his company employs 20 people. worker hours have been cut and he hopes to avoid layoffs. >> it doesn't affect just my crew, it affects the lobster catchers, they are crews, the trap makers, the guys that do rope, the guys that do buoys. >> advocates fear lost access to the chinese market will hit the whole industry from wholesalers to harvesters. >> it's a lot about rural job for us. it does have a huge impact to our rural communities, our island ends our coastal stones. >> michael floyd has been pulling lobsters from the sea since childhood.

>> right now the price is pretty stable, but the season has just barely started. once the lobsters really arrive in the whole state, we don't know how it will go. >> he has weathered many storms in his decades long career and wonders what this latest one will mean. >> if the old adage, we are not going to starve, but i don't know if we are going to get rich either. >> the hope here is that the new chinese tariffs go away and fast before buyers in china established new connections with lobster dealers in other countries like canada where the tariff stands at just 7%. the fear is that once the business is gone it won't come back. >> bret: thank you. up next we talk exclusively with nicaragua's president daniel ortega about calls from within his country for him to step down. first, what some of our fox affiliates around the country are covering tonight. fox 2 in st. louis has the tour boats that sank in southern

missouri is brought back to the surface. the duck boat went down interning waves near branson. are the victims included nine people from the same family. the national transportation safety board in the u.s. coast guard are investigating what exactly caused the boat to sink. fox 5 in new york as the "new york daily news" says it will cut half of its newsroom staff. the owner say the paper will focus more on digital news. the daily news was sold to the owner of the "chicago tribune" last year for $1. the newspaper has been a key fixture in new york city for the last century. andrew cuomo is urging the owners to reconsider. this is a live look at detroit from our affiliate fox 2. one of the big stories there, a real life rosie the riveter it's a milestone. she celebrated her 108th birthday. in world war ii she stepped in to help the war effort.

she served her country is one of the original rosie the riveter's working on b-17 bombers for six months. that's tonight's live look outside the beltway from "special report." we will be right back. ♪ ask if xeljanz xr is right for you. xeljanz xr is a once-daily pill for psoriatic arthritis. taken with methotrexate or similar medicines, it can reduce joint pain, swelling, and significantly improve physical function. xeljanz xr can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections, lymphoma, and other cancers have happened. don't start xeljanz xr if you have an infection. tears in the stomach or intestines, low blood cell counts, and higher liver tests and cholesterol levels have happened. your doctor should perform blood tests before you start and while taking xeljanz xr, and monitor certain liver tests. tell your doctor if you were in a region where fungal infections are common, and if you have had tb, hepatitis b or c, or are prone to infections.

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>> bret: this is a fox news alert. a man who led the revolution and one central american country in the late 1970s, now he's back in power and the target of modern-day opposition. they say he's become too comfortable with that power. we will talk exclusively with nicaraguan president daniel ortega in just a moment. first, a look the growing discontent among the people there and what the revolutionar revolutionary-turned had at the establishment is doing to counter it. here, national security correspondent jennifer griffin.

>> nearly 40 years after marxist-lead guerrillas over through a u.s.-backed dictator in nicaragua, the man who led that revolution, daniel ortega, remains in power. since april, tens of thousands of protesters have taken to the street. human rights groups say nearly 300 antigovernment protesters have been killed after the government tried to scale back social security for nicaraguans. now those protesters are demanding ortega and his wife, whom he made vice president, step down. after returning from exile more than a decade ago, ortega is consolidating power after winning his fourth term in 2016. he was embraced by venezuela strongman hugo chavez and cuba's communist leader. six years ago, iran's former president joined him on stage. all have been thorns in the sides of successive u.s. presidents since ronald reagan secretly funded the contras to remove ortega from power.

on thursday, during celebrations of the 1979 revolution, ortega turned on the catholic church, calling its priest cool mongers. >> i don't have any intentions of carrying out a coup, because i'm not a politician, nor are the bishops politicians. >> u.s. legislators are warning the white house of the national security implications of a civil war in nicaragua. >> the migrants leaving nicaragua may be headed towards the united states. you will also see the ability of drug gangs who are using other countries in the region to open a new court or through nicaragua to send their cocaine and heroin here to the united states. >> such a migratory crisis could flood the southern u.s. border, overwhelming the immigration system. >> bret: thanks. president daniel ortega joins us tonight from nicaragua. mr. president, thank you for being here. >> good evening. greetings.

>> bret: mr. president, there are multiple human rights organizations tonight saying that some 350 people have been killed just over the past 80 days. why are paramilitary forces involved in armed actions against those who are protesting your government? >> translator: it's been a week now that the turmoil has stopped. matters are becoming more normal in the country and there have been some demonstrations, both against and in favor of the government. it all started as a result of a law on changing social security. changes that were indispensable

for our country. in the response was totally violent. first it started with some demonstrations at night, but then there were armed attacks on the part of paramilitary groups. that started these attacks against organizations of the state against the police and against families that are loyal and then they started blocking the entire country. they were closing the country. they started arresting citizens and torturing citizens. >> bret: you are saying that you don't control these

paramilitary groups? if you don't control them and they are acting on behalf of the government, who controls them? >> translator: these are groups that obey political organizations. some have even elected deputies to the national assembly. they are members of the liberal party. others did not participate in the elections, they refused to do that they have been organizing these paramilitary groups for some time now and they have taken advantage of every small situation in launching attacks. >> bret: mr. president, they are attacking protesters who have called for you to step dow down. they are attacking protesters who say that you were eliminated term limits, that accuse you and your vice president, your wife, of setting up an authoritarian

dynasty. they are attacking the catholic church that has spoken out against your government. so you are distancing yourself from all of these attacks? >> translator: first of all, none of the peaceful demonstrations have we been attacked. at night we have had clashes provoked by the paramilitary forces organized by people who are against the government and to have fought against police stations. first of all, we are not on any dynasty. it never occurred to me to set up a dynasty. my wife, it's the first time

ever she's been vice president. she has not been vice president before. >> bret: if you aren't funding and arming these paramilitary groups, who is? >> translator: some are financed with drug trafficking. others have tried to obtain financing from different organizations, even in the united states. organizations that have programs and activities and they have funds and those funds have been used to train paramilitary groups and help them get weapons in order to murder tens of policeman. you have to use more time

weaponry. there have been no persecutions of the catholic church. rather, we invite the catholic church to continue with the dialogue so the dialogue can grow and develop in an open manner. >> bret: mr. president, as you said, the catholic church was mediating discussions for some time, but now they believe, the catholic church believes they are under attack by pro-government forces. we've seen the images, we'd seen the video. if you have the auxiliary bishop in managua tweeting out the government of nicaragua crosses the limit of in human and immoral. the international community cannot be indifferent. this is a bishop in managua. obviously the catholic church believes they are under attack from you.

>> that response was a certain way of thinking. ever since the bishop came to nicaragua -- why wasn't he here during the war? he wasn't in the country during the war. he was in rome. there is not a single priest that we are persecuting. there's not a single priest who can claim that he's been attacked by the government, by the government officials. the church is provided with all kinds of facilities in the episcopal conference, we have no problems with the catholic church. >> bret: mr. president, obviously the catholic church they are on the ground believes that they are under attack. pro-government forces fired on the divine mercy church in managua, two protesters killed

inside. would you tonight condemn any attacks on a sanctuary? >> translator: no nicaraguan has died in any church. not a single nicaraguan has died in any church, that's false. >> bret: to listen to the people talking that get their images out, talking about what they see our attacks and to hear their cries, take a listen to an aunt and a mother. >> please, the people, united nations. come together to save us from the disgrace that we are living through. this is not just for the government and police to be able to do this to us. innocent boys will have a future in front of them, dead university students. god help us during these times when the youth are fleeing their homes. we bury some of them. we don't know where they are taking the others. >> bret: how do you respond to them? >> translator: the saddest

thing of course is the loss of life. this terrorist attack, because it's really terrorism, what's happening here. and in addition to seeing that mother crying because of the death of her son, there are other mothers who were shown where the bodies are burning. they torch the young people and they burn them. the situation is made public to scare people, to scare people to so fear and terror among people. these are groups that obey political organizations. some even have elected deputies to the national assembly.

they are members of the liberal party. others did not participate in the elections. they refused to do that and they have been organizing these paramilitary groups for some time now and they have taken advantage of every small situations in launching attacks. >> bret: mr. president, this week the u.s. congress is going to pass, we are told, a resolution condemning the violent actions of the nicaraguan government against its citizens. among other things, it will say the recent protests led by students have been met with violence and brutal response. the murders in the violence have continued. torture, disappearances. the government has also shut down media outlets, denied basic medical care to protesters and attempted to poison their food and water and sanctioned the murder of political opponents. that will pass the u.s. congress

this week. what message do you have to the u.s. that this is going to come to an end? >> translator: it's totally untrue. they have cheated everybody. the is plenty of proof of that. people have been taken care of. it's been a campaign of lies. terrible lies to try to hurt the image of nicaragua and of its government. and in support of activities that have become more and more prevalent. this is not new that the congress of the united states deals with matters having to do with nicaragua and take measures

against nicaragua. the history of our relations with the united states has been painful. we don't want to repeat it. >> bret: mr. president, 40 years ago you were a young revolutionary fighting, as you say, abuse brutal family dictatorship. now the protesters on the street chant "fortes ortega and symbole the same thing." to end the violence and help your country, would you consider you and your wife stepping down from power? >> translator: we were elected by the voters. so there are term limits and our electoral period ends with the elections of 2,021, when we will have our next elections.

and then we will have to be see who will be voted in for the new administration. >> bret: you agreed in may to help her early elections but then you rescinded that decision in june. would you agree to have early elections? speak of this business of moving up the elections is something i have heard about. i've heard people talk about, but i haven't indicated that the elections need to be moved up. to move up the elections would create instability insecurity and make things worse. >> bret: why did you agree to this interview? what message do you have to the american people and maybe to president trump? >> we are a small country with a fragile economy, but we reserve respect. we deserve respect as any state of the united states deserves

respect, no matter how small that state of the union is. they deserve respect and we deserve respect. we are a country in this hemisphere, in this part of the world and we have strong links of all types with the american people. >> bret: president daniel ortega from nicaragua. mr. president, thank you for your time. up next, pulled into directions, some democrats want to go left. others want to move to the middle. we will have reports from one midwestern battleground.

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♪ >> bret: the senate has just confirmed the president's third picked to run the veterans affairs department. robert wilkie is promising to shake up complacency at the va, which has struggled with long waits in providing medical treatment to millions of veterans. the president selected him in may after firing his first secretary amid ethics charges and internal rebellion at the department over the role of private care for veterans. tonight we continue our reporting on the move to the left of the democratic party. not all democrats are welcoming that shift, especially with crucial midterm elections just months away. correspondent leland reports from one city where the battle is particularly fierce,

st. louis. >> st. louis, home to the highest murder rate in america and the first congressional district have been represented by william or his son lacy clay since 1969 and now that dynasty is under threat from the left by corey busch, who rose to fame during the ferguson riots. >> what do you offer that lacy clay doesn't? >> a fight, a fighter. an advocate. >> bush is just one of the far left challengers across the country endorsed by democratic socialist alexandria ocasio-cortez, who has hit the campaign trail with another socialist. >> and i have no doubt that what alexandria did in the bronx, you are going to do right here. >> has brought her message to st. louis. >> the movement for economic, social and racial justice knows no zip code.

>> running on a form of medicare for all, free college tuition and the elimination of ice, cortez rocketed to fame by knocking off joe crowley, who some saw as a potential house speaker. >> welcome back to the voice of st. louis. >> mike kelly says moderate democrats need to stage a counter revolution of their own. to the center. >> this true progressive stance that's popping up even in urban areas like the city of st. louis, that's a message that doesn't sell in suburbia. >> voices outside the democratic party are sounding the alarm too. james comey tweeted democrats, please, please don't lose your minds and rush to the socialist left. in states like missouri that went hard for president trump, democrats worry that 2018 senate candidates like incumbent claire mccaskill here will have to answer to democratic socialist

talking points, making an even less palatable to potential crossover voters. >> bret: leland, thank you. stocks were mixed today. the s&p 500 was up 5. the nasdaq gained 22. up next to the panel on president trump possibly revoking the security clearances of some of his critics. first, beyond our borders tonight, israel activated a joint u.s.-israeli missile interceptor for the first time today. it came in response to rockets from the fighting in neighboring syria that were believed to be headed for israeli territory. they landed in syria instead, the system is called david's plane. it is meant to counter the lebanese-hezbollah militants. flooding by tropical storm has killed at least 20 and left more than a dozen missing in northern vietnam. one local residents of the floods came so quickly it gave people a little time to escape. the rain stopped over the

weekend, but the national weather forecast says another topical oppression is heading towards north vietnam this week. britain's top diplomat is warning the country could crash out of the european union next year without an agreement on future relations with brussels. chairman hunt says the european commission, which is leading negotiations, is waiting for london to blank. he insists that is not going to happen. if britain leaves the e.u. next march. just some of the other stories beyond our borders tonight. we will be right back with the panel. ♪ clip a passing car. minor accident - no big deal, right? wrong. your insurance company is gonna raise your rate after the other car got a scratch so small you coulda fixed it with a pen. maybe you should take that pen and use it to sign up with a different insurance company. for drivers with accident forgiveness liberty mutual won't raise their rates because of their first accident. liberty mutual insurance.

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mccabe. the president is exploring the mechanisms to remove security clearance because they have politicized end in some cases monetized their public service and security clearances, making baseless accusations of improper contact with russia or being influenced by russia against the president is inappropriate. >> bret: white house press briefing today and talking about security clearances. started with senator rand paul. he had the biggest concerns. take a listen. >> there is a great danger to having people on television who are speaking off-the-cuff, forgetting classified information. if there's a great danger that they could reveal something that they shouldn't reveal. so i think they should apply relate to most people who are retired. i can imagine other than in a transition from one administration to the next why you would allow top-secret clearance to people who are no longer active. >> bret: the white house is buying that and reviewing the security clearances for john

brennan, james comey, james clapper, michael hayden, susan rice and andrew mccabe. let's bring in our panel. a senior political analyst brit hume. chris stirewalt, politics editor. charles lane, opinion writer for "the washington post" and we welcome judge jeanine pirro. author of the new book. this is a friendly confines i think, different than some of your appearances, but we will talk about that. what about the security clearances? >> i've never heard of this being done. i wasn't even aware that those guys still had security clearances, although i guess i'm not surprised. it will be said that it's unprecedented on his part, but of course the behavior of some of these former senior intelligence officials has been unprecedented as well. they have rarely, in the past, engaged in the kind of attacks of a political nature that we've seen from some of these people, brennan in particular. i don't think mccabe still has security clearance, so i think he's probably out of the pictur picture. but this will suck up all the

oxygen in the room for a couple of days. i don't think it amounts to very much, i don't think there's a lot of evidence that classified information has been improperly disclosed by these people or that they will be much affected by the loss, although it could be embarrassing, which may be with the administration is looking at. >> bret: opponent saying it's political retribution, a white house shouldn't do this. michael hayden, i saw a tweet, it doesn't matter to me. >> this is political retributio retribution. they've been going after him hammer and tongs and i was pushing back. the president has repeatedly said if somebody hits you hard you hit them back twice as hard. there's a distinction to be drawn between what rand paul was suggesting, which was a blanket removal of all former officials security clearances. that's a reasonable proposal, but this is selected, this is picking out six people who have been his worst critics and accusing them of monetizing and so on. and i think it's true that they have been pretty out there in

their statements as well but i guess we all just have to make a judgment, who was it on to sort of rise above it? is at the president of the united states or the formal officials? >> what generally happens is you have to ask the question why do they have security clearances? apparently there's a sunset and in order for you to continue with your clearance, you have to request it and there's a whole process through which you go. but to me the issue is this. why do we need to talk to them? why do they need the clearance? it's apparently because they have institutional knowledge. but to your point, when someone who is the head of the cia says that, you know, the president is in the pocket of putin and he has security clearance, i think the people say jeez, probably more credible. he's got to know something that we don't know. so what is the point? does jimmy carter still have his security clearance? we don't really know what the process is. >> bret: chris. >> jimmy carter is a member of the ex-presidents club, he's got

it all. as former president and the reason that jimmy carter can go look at these things, it might be that one of his successors said will you please come and advise me and help me and the reason that we in the united states keep the security clearances around for these guys is so that in a moment of crisis or if there's an urgent question that somebody has institutional knowledge, you can call them back and say you worked on russia in the 1990s, do you know about that is, do you know about that? as far as monetizing goes, and that goes to rand paul's point, the monetization of security clearance in washington, d.c., is a big deal because you have a lot of defense firms and a lot of contracting firms that are providing services to the federal government that you can't work for without a security clearance. that's a whole other kettle of fish. >> bret: meanwhile, iran and what the president tweeted, what has been said in the focus on iran. take a listen. >> do not play with the lion's tail or else you will regret it. it will bring you eternal regre

regret. >> not at all. >> years straining to identify a political moderate. some believe the president fits that bill. the truth is they are merely polished front man for the ayatollahs international con artistry. >> bret: big focus on this tweet. it never, ever threaten the united states again or you will suffer consequences the likes of which few throughout history have ever suffered before. we are no longer a country that will stand for your demented words of violence and death. be cautious. in capital letters. from iran, colorless unimpressed. it the world heard even harsher bluster, albeit more civilized one for 40 years. we have been around for millennia and see the fall of empires, including our own. be cautious. what about this? >> i think the thing to watch your not so much the exchange of

tweets but what mike pompeo said in that speech, which is clearly intended to give what the administration plainly believes is an administration any run that is on shaky political ground a knowledge in the hope that it may fold. the administration will say of course that we don't have a policy of regime change, but they certainly are acting like they do and they are acting like they think this regime in iran may be right for just that. the comments from him about the mafia-like behavior of those leaders over there, about the personal fortunes they have amassed while the iranian people are suffering under sanctions is clearly aimed right at the iranian people. >> bret: secretary pompeo's street was pretty expensive at the ronald reagan library last night. but judge when you look at the blueprint here, if you look at these tweets, it kind of matches north korea and some people in this town are saying this means that we are heading for a summit sometime soon. >> i think it makes sense.

i think that what donald trump does is he talks in a language the people at the other and understand, which is how we ended up sitting down with rocket man. i think that this kind of language recognizes two things. all of the problems that are going on in iran right now because of their economy and all of the problems that they are having, but also it recognizes that there are diplomats that are running diplomats will are involved in some very dangerous situations like the attempted bombing a couple of weeks ago in paris. >> bret: chris? >> what russia is part and this is is going to be fascinating to see because as we deal with iran we are really talking about the coming partition of syria. we are talking about russia's role behind iran, backing iran to the hilt. >> bret: and we don't know what was said. >> we have no idea what's on the table in terms of was the president able to get some concession about iran, from the ruler of russia and back and forth, so there is some real --

there are a lot of cards on the table right now. we will be in for a very interesting six months or so. >> i don't know if this is the prelude to a full-blown summit meeting but chris is right in calling our attention to the coming deal that's about to be done over syria and certainly if you, president trump are preparing to maybe concede iran some influence in syria, a way to prepare the ground for that domestically would be to pound the table and threaten them. i have to say i sure hope it was an empty threat because i don't know that a war with iran or that responding to something that can be called a threat with the kind of response the president outlined there is necessarily a threat we are going to want to have to follow up on. >> bret: here again, secretary pompeo from that ronald reagan's speech. >> i have a message for the people of iran. the united states hears you. the united states supports you, the united states is with you. for 40 years they have heard from their leaders that america is the great satan. we do not believe they are interested in hearing the fake

news any longer. >> bret: this is something the obama administration didn't do because they were so intent on getting that deal as a legacy deal. but this administration has reached out. >> we are only back to the freedom agenda where iran is concerned of george w. bush. this is saying we are standing with you and the subtext is please overthrow the government. we are with you. i think that's where we are. as i said before, i think as bombastic as the president's tweet was it are less important. >> bret: when you hear senator jeff flake's a foreign policy by tweet is not the right thing to do, what do you think? >> i think that what donald trump does is he has an impact on people and when you think about how obama took -- president obama tried to influence dance with the devil in iran, just did anything to make sure he could get that deal done. i think that this president, by being more direct, he's getting

a response other presidents haven't. >> bret: finally, this interview with daniel ortega. >> daniel ortega has shown the distance he's traveled since the mid and late 1980s when i was covering nicaragua as a foreign correspondent on there. it's pretty amazing to think of this ultra leftist now coming on fox news and attempting to influence president donald trump's view of him. i don't know actually what he was trying to do because his message was so muddled and confusing. i just want to clarify for people who are watching what is actually going on in a nicaragua, which is that there was a peaceful protest movement that he and his paramilitary groups that respond to his political party went out and crushed with a great deal of violence and led to this massacre that has gone on in nicaragua, very much like, as they say, the same thing as the '70s. it would be wonderful to sit

around and reflect on the irony if it weren't such a potential catastrophe, which may have implications for us as well. >> bret: we've been following it a lot here. but it was a little surreal to hear him say i don't have anything to do with any of those. >> exactly. the gambling. gambling here. but i would just say every american who hears that and watches what's going on in nicaragua should remember this is why we have to get our politics right, because what's going on there is mob versus mob, violence versus violence. violence in the streets. this is why we have to preserve our institutions. we have to preserve civil discourse and respect for each other because the road gets short quicker than you think. >> bret: panel, thank you. judge, congrats on the book. when we come back, overcoming barriers. ♪ oh no. schwab, again? index investing for that low? that's three times less than fidelity... ...and four times less than vanguard. what's next, no minimums? ...no minimums.

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interview. we have a lot of questions for her. thanks for inviting us into your home tonight. that's it for this "special report." fair, balanced and unafraid. "the story" hosted by martha maccallum starts right now. did you see that video? >> martha: i love that video. you might see it again and this hour i love it so much. thank you, good to see you tonight. breaking tonight, an exclusive interview with the man urging the president to strip top-secret security clearances from formal officials who are now some of his largest, loudest critics on tv. >> i use the terms that this is nothing sort of treasonous. >> i really question his fitness to be in this office. >> i know we are not nazi germany but there's a commonality. >> they have assumed vladimir putin interest. >> lies, person not fit to be president