this be one i'm chris wallace. midway through his term in the wake of dramatic election results, president trump at a turning point. this hour, we will bring you our exclusive interview with the president inside the white house as he shakes up his team for the next two years in his run for reelection. >> if you can't carry michigan, wisconsin and pennsylvania, you're not going to get reelected. >> chris: facing the end game the special councils russia probe. >> if whitaker decides in any way to limit or curtail the molar investigation, are you okay with that? >> chris: and who's behind the murder of jamaal khashoggi? >> did mbs lie to you sir? >> chris: plus the president

responds to criticism for not going to arlington cemetery on veterans day. >> barack obama went every year he was here in d.c. >> chris: we will get reaction to the interview from our sunday panel and mr. trump takes us inside his office and describes how he makes his toughest decisions. all right now on "fox news sunday" ." and hello again from fox news in washington. as president trump starts the final two years of his term, he faces new challenges. for the first time he must deal with a divided congress after democrats regain control of the house. robert mueller's russia probe appears to be reaching its conclusion and there are new challenges overseas like challenges from saudi arabia and adversaries like north korea. we sat down with mr. trump friday in the roosevelt room just across from the oval office hoping to explore the presidency at a turning point.

>> chris: mr. president, thank you for talking with us. >> thank you, chris, very much. >> chris: let's start with the state of donald trump. there are a number of stories out there that you're angry about the midterms, about your treatment in the media, about the way you are treated when you were in paris. at one story said that you were in a "cocoon of bitterness and resentment." we will get into all the details later but how dark is your mood? >> president trump: it's very light, it's fake news. it's disgusting fake news. i read a front page in the washington press. they never called me, nobody ever calls me. i don't think they have sources, i think they just make it up like it's fiction and i will tell you i'm extremely upbeat and the white house is running like a well-oiled machine. it's doing really well. i have great people. i will make some changes, but not very many.

i'm very happy with my cabinet other than a couple of exceptions and even there i'm not unhappy. and i will tell you that it's so wrong, the reporting about me is so wrong. i'm loving what i'm doing. i did well in france. i did have a problem where i wasn't able to go to a cemetery because the secret service would not let me do it. >> chris: we will get into all of this. >> president trump: i'm saying the secret service would not let me do it and they made it a big deal. >> chris: you've set a lot of things there, let's try to unpack them. there's a lot of talk about staff changes. your deputy national security advisor was moved out after your wife did something i've never heard of a first lady doing before, publicly calling for her removal. are you comfortable with the way that went down, where it's kind of look like your wife was firing one of your advisors? >> president trump: i didn't know the advisor well, really. did a great job in africa and she was not treated properly,

she really worked so hard. they came to me, they wanted to go a little bit public because that's the way they felt and i thought it was fine. we are going to move her around. she was with me for a long time, although i don't know her. she is really somebody i don't know very well but were going to move her around because she's got certain talents but frankly she will never be put in the united nations, let me put it that way. >> chris: meaning she's not too diplomatic. >> president trump: she's not too diplomatic but she is talented. >> chris: are you happy with kirstjen nielsen at dhs? >> president trump: i like her a lot, i respect her a lot, she is very smart. i want her to get much tougher and we will see what happens there but i want to be extremely tough. >> chris: what are the chances she will be dhs -- >> president trump: there's a chance. that's what happens in government. if you leave, you make a name, you go. the people that have left have done very well. the people that have left have done very well for my white house.

i like her very much, i respect her very much. i would like her to be much tougher on the border. much tougher, period. >> chris: back in july you said that chief of staff john kelly will be here through 2020. can you still say that? >> president trump: look, we get along well. there are certain things i love what he does and certain things i don't like that he does. at that aren't his strength. if it's not that he doesn't do -- he works so hard. he's doing an excellent job in many ways. there are a couple of things where it's just not his strength. it's not his fault, it's not his strength. >> chris: such as? >> president trump: i haven't even thought about john in terms of this but at some point he's going to want to move on. john will move on. >> chris: so 2020 is no no longer written in stone? >> president trump: could be. let's see what happens. i have three or four or five positions that i'm thinking about. of that maybe it's going to end

up being two. but i need flexibility. >> chris: you have all already made one big change, what will mike matt whitaker as your attorney general. he has a long record of speaking out against the special counsel and his probe. >> i could see a scenario where jeff sessions is replaced and that attorney general doesn't fire bob mueller but he just reduces the budget so low that his investigation binds to almost a halt. >> the truth is there was no collusion with the russians and the trump campaign. >> chris: did you know before you appointed him that he had that record and was so critical of robert mueller? >> president trump: i did not know that. i did not know that he took views on the mueller investigation as such. >> chris: and when you found that out? >> president trump: i don't think it had any effect. >> chris: there's no collusion collusion. you can starve the investigatio investigation. >> president trump: what do you do one a person's right?

there is no collusion. he happened to be right. if he said there is collusion, i'm supposed to take him -- the number one reason is the fact that he would have been wrong. if he said there's no collusion, he's right. >> chris: he's going to have to make and could potentially make a lot of big calls in the mueller investigation. if mueller decides he wants to subpoena you, the attorney general, whitaker, can block that. if he issues a final report, he can decide how much goes to congress or doesn't go to congress. you tweeted this week about "bob mueller and his gang of democrat thugs." >> president trump: right. >> chris: if whitaker decides in any way to limit or curtail the mueller investigation, are you okay with that? >> president trump: it's going to be up to him. i think he's astute politically. he's a very smart person. a very respected person. i really believe he's going to do what's right. >> chris: but you won't overrule him if he decides to

curtail -- >> president trump: i would not get involved. i have all these people that say i'm going to end the investigation. how long has this gone on? >> chris: since may of -- >> president trump: how long have i been looked at? from the day i announced i was looked at as a candidate with no proof, with phony people like mccabe and peter strzok and his lover, lisa page, his lover. these people are looking at me, they wanted an insurance policy just in case i won or hillary lost and this is an insurance policy, it's a scam. there was no collusion whatsoever in the whole thing is a scam. >> chris: your team is preparing written answers -- >> president trump: not my team. i'm preparing written answers. i'm the one that doesn't answer. are they writing them out? yes. they are writing what i tell them to write. >> chris: are they going to be submitted? >> president trump: at some point very soon. i completed them. it wasn't a big deal, by the

way. the questions were asked and answered. it wasn't a big deal. you're going to make it like i had meetings for many, many hours. i got the questions, i responded, we wrote them out, i read them once, we need some changes, that's it. very simple. i did nothing wrong. >> chris: here's my question though. you are committing written answers to the council about the collusion but not on obstruction of justice. >> president trump: there wasn't obstruction of justice. i think they may agree with me. if >> chris: is that your final position, there will be no sitdown interview and nothing written or in person on obstruction mike >> president trump: i would say probably. probably. i can change my mind, but probably. i think we've wasted enough time on this witch hunt and the answer is probably. we're finished. >> chris: 100? >> president trump: i gave

very detailed -- and very successful actually. we gave very, very complete answers to a lot of questions that i shouldn't have even been asked and i think that should solve the problem. i hope it solves the problem. if it doesn't, you know, i will be told and we will make a decision at that time. but probably this is the end. >> chris: the turkish president says he has shared a tape with the u.s. and other countries that is of the killing of jamaal khashoggi inside the saudi consulate in istanbul. have you, one, either heard the tape yourself, or been briefed on it, and if so, to your mind what is it? >> president trump: we had the tape, i don't want to hear the tape. no reason for me to hesitate. because it's a suffering tape. it's a terrible tape. i've been briefed on it.

i said shut eye and they said you really shouldn't. i know exactly what happened. >> chris: and what happened? >> president trump: it was very violent, very vicious and terrible. >> chris: a month ago you said you had spoken with the saudi crown prince and he had told you directly that he had no knowledge of this. >> president trump: and still says that. >> chris: we now know that some of the people closest to him, some of his closest advisors were part of this. question, did mbs lie to you, sir? >> president trump: i don't know. who can really know? but i can say this, he's got many people know that say he had no knowledge. >> chris: what if the crown prince, speaking to you, the president of the united states directly lied to you? >> chris: he told me that he had nothing to do with it. he told me that i would say maybe five times at different points. as recently as a few days ago. >> chris: do you just live with it because you need him?

>> president trump: he did have certainly people that were reasonably close to him and close to him that were probably involved. very heavy sanctions, massive sanctions on a large group of people from saudi arabia but at the same time we do have an alley and i want to stick with an ally that in many ways has been very good. >> chris: so if congress were to try to move to cut off any involvement in the war in yemen or to block any arms sales, you won't go along with it? >> president trump: i want to see yemen end. it takes two to tango and iran has to end also. iran is a different country than it was when i took over. for a weekend because of what i did with the so-called iran deal, iran nuclear deal, one of the great rip-offs of all time. i want saudi to stop but i want iran to stop also. >> chris: when democrats flipped the house back in 2006 and picked up 30 seats president bush 43 had a news conference the next day and said we have a thumping.

last week in this election the house picked up so far it's 36 seats, it may be on the way to 40 seats in your reaction was that it was almost a complete victory. >> president trump: i won the senate, you don't mention that. i won the senate. >> chris: i understand that. this is a historically big defeat in the house. you lost 36, maybe 40 seats, some would argue that it was a thumping and i want to talk about some of the ways in which you lost. you lost in traditionally republican suburbs. not only over liberal cities like philadelphia and d.c. but also red state big cities like houston and oklahoma city. if you lost among suburban women. if you lost among independents and in three key states that i think you remember pretty well, wisconsin, pennsylvania, michigan, you lost both the governor's seats and senate seats. >> president trump: are you

ready? i won the senate and that's historic too. because if you look at presidents in the white house, it's almost never happened where you won a seat. we now have 53 as opposed to 51 and we have 53 great senators in the u.s. senate who won. that's a tremendous victory, nobody talks about that. that's a far greater victory than it is for the other side. number two, i wasn't on the ballot. >> chris: you are saying -- you said pretend him on the ballot. >> president trump: you see the polls, how good they are. i people that won't vote unless i'm on the ballot. and i wasn't on the ballot in almost every body that i won -- i think they said it was 10 out of 11 and i won against president obama and oprah winfrey and michelle obama in a great state called georgia for the governor and it was all stacked against brian and i was the one that went to brian and

brian won. look at florida. i went down to florida, rick scott won and he won by a lot. i don't know what happened there, those boats disappear at the very end and if i didn't put a spotlight on that election before it got down to the 12,500 votes he would have lost that election, in my opinion. that would've taken that election away from him. rick scott won florida. a man named ron desantis' note dear governor, your new governor of florida. wonderful man is your governor of the great state of ohio. remember what they used to say before my election? you cannot won unless you won ohio. i won ohio. we had a tremendous set of victory. you look at the victories. >> chris: but if you can't carry, and you certainly didn't carry it two weeks ago, michigan, wisconsin and pennsylvania, you're not going to get reelected. >> president trump: i didn't

run. i wasn't running. my name wasn't on the ballot. there are many people that think i don't like congress that like me a lot. i get it, i will never vote unless you are on the ballot, i get it all the time. people are saying sir, i will never vote unless were on the ballot and i say go and vote. as much as they try and convince people and go vote, i'm not on the ballot. >> chris: off next, much more from our exclusive interview with president trump. we have a spirited exchange about is calling fake news the enemy of the american people and mr. trump makes a rare admission, he would like a do over.

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♪ >> chris: we are back now with more from our exclusive interview with president trump. about an hour before we sat down with the president there was breaking news, a ruling on the cnn lawsuit against the white house for pulling a reporter's press pass. cnn argued that trump administration violated its first amendment rights. administration lawyers said mr. trump can exclude any reporter he wants from the white house grounds. and that's where we started in the second part of our interview with the president. >> chris: a federal judge who you appointed has just rolled that you must give cnn reporter jim acosta's press pass back. your reaction? >> president trump: it's mine. it's not a big deal. what they said was we have to create rules and regulations for conduct. were doing that, were writing them up right now and miss

behavior, we will throw them out or we will stop the news conference. >> chris: what are your rules going to be? this is over the line -- >> president trump: we are doing them now. you can't keep asking questions. we had a lot of reporters in that room. many, many reporters in that room and they were unable to ask questions because this guy gets up and starts doing what he supposed to be doing for him and for cnn and just shouting out questions but i will say this, look. nobody believes in the first amendment more than i do and if i think nobody is acting out of sorts i will leave, i will say thank you very much everybody, i appreciate you coming and i will leave. and those reporters will not be too friendly to whoever it is that is acting out. >> chris: why didn't you call on him in the first place? it seems to be a simple solution, just don't call on hi him. >> president trump: i like to do it but in many cases i don't. he's unbelievably rude to sarah

huckabee sanders, a wonderful woman. unbelievably rude and i see that and i actually ask her the same, why do colonies people that are so nasty and i think one of the things we will do is we will turn the camera off that faces them because they may don't have any time. i will maybe be sued for that. you never know it's going to happen. >> chris: let's get to the bigger issue. in 2017, last year you tweeted this and i want to quote it accurately. "the fake news media is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the american people. >> president trump: it's true, 100%. at the media. i'm glad you're finally quoting it correctly because they like to leave the fake news out. >> chris: but that's what you said. >> president trump: the people that are supporting me in particular, they are very smart people. they are hardworking, great people. they know when the news is fake and they get angry when they see all of the fakeness.

>> chris: people who have been critical of other presidents, no president had liked his press coverage. john kennedy and your oval office canceled the subscription to the new york herald tribune. nobody called it the enemy of the american people. >> president trump: the fake news is the enemy -- it's fake, it's phony. i don't mind getting bad news if i'm wrong. if i do something wrong, like for instance the cemetery. i was not allowed to go because of the secret service, because they expected to take a helicopter. they had zero visibility. they said we are totally unequipped for you to go. in addition to that the cemetery was far too far away from air force one which is sort of like a control center that you have to be near. not one paper that i saw wrote it that way. they said i stayed out of it because of the rain. and yet the following day i made a speech at the american cemetery. it was pouring.

it wasn't even really raining but the fog was tremendous. >> chris: leaders and in authoritarian countries like russia, china, venezuela now were press the media using your words. >> president trump: i can't talk for other people, i can only talk for me. i'm not talking about you. you sometimes may be but i'm not talking about you. the news about me is largely phony. it's false. even sometimes they will say sources say -- there is no source. >> chris: i understand you don't like your coverage. >> president trump: 94%. >> chris: can i bring the bigger issue up? mcraven, retired admiral, navy seal 37 years, former -- >> president trump: hillary clinton fan. excuse me, hillary clinton fan. >> chris: led the operations,

commanded the operations that took down saddam hussein and killed osama bin laden said that your sentiment is the greatest threat to, chrissy in his lifetime >> president trump: hillary clinton backer and an obama backer and frankly -- >> chris: he is a navy seal. >> president trump: would have gotten osama bin laden a lot sooner. it wouldn't have been nice. living in pakistan, beautifully in pakistan and what i guess was considered a night mansion. i've seen nicer. we get pakistan $1.3 billion a year when they don't tell them. >> president trump: you're not even going to give them credit for taking down bin laden? >> president trump: look, there's news right there. he lived in pakistan. we are supporting pakistan. we are giving a $1.3 billion a year, which we don't do anymore, i ended it. i'm totally in favor of the media, i'm in favor of free

press. when it's fake -- >> chris: you don't get to decide what is fair and what's not. >> president trump: i can tell you what's fair and what's not. and so can my people. >> chris: i understand that but -- >> president trump: when you do something very good -- as an example -- >> chris: barack obama whined about fox news all the time but he never said we were the enemy of the people. >> president trump: he didn't talk about the news. he didn't talk about anything. i'm only saying it very differently than anyone has ever said it before. i am saying fake news, false reporting, dishonest reporting, of which there is a lot, and i know it. i know it because i'm a subject of it. a lot of people don't know it but when i explained it to them they understand. you know that better than -- you don't have to sit here and act like a perfect little wonderful innocent angel. i know you too well, i know your father too well. that's not your jane. >> chris: i think some of the coverage of you, and i've set it on the record, is biased, but i

don't think -- >> president trump: most of it is biased. >> chris: i don't know but the idea that you call us the enemy of the people. >> president trump: i'm not calling you that. >> chris: we are altogether. >> president trump: no. i'm not calling you -- >> president trump: it doesn't matter when you call me. when you call cnn and "the new york times," we are in solidarity, sir. >> president trump: fakeness, fake reporting is what's tearing this country apart because people know, people like things that are happening and they are not hearing about it. >> chris: where do you rank yourself in the pantheon of great presidents? there is a lincoln and, there's fdr and reagan. do you make the top ten? >> president trump: i think i'm doing a great job. we have the best economy we've ever had. >> chris: so where do you rank yourself? >> president trump: we would be in war with north korea if that administration had continued forward. i hate to do it but i will do it. i give myself an a+.

is that enough? can i go higher than that? >> chris: can you envision a situation -- you talk about six wires, can you envision a situation well into your second term where you think that you are so good for the country and so essential for the progress of the country that you would try to amend the constitution so you could serve a third term? >> president trump: no. >> chris: why not? >> president trump: it just won't happen. i think the eight year limit is a good thing, not a bad thing. >> chris: we talked a lot about the cemetery and the fact they didn't go because it was a security concern and you did go the next day. >> president trump: excuse me, not security concern. they wouldn't allow me to go. they said -- secret service said sir, you cannot go, we are not prepared. you cannot go because there was supposed to be a helicopter but the helicopter couldn't fly. they said you cannot go. >> chris: here's the question, you are back in washington on

monday, veterans day, why don't you go across the river to arlington for that ceremony? barack obama went every year he was here in d.c. >> president trump: i should have done that. i was extremely busy on the calls for the country. we did a lot of calling, as you know. >> chris: but this is veterans day. >> president trump: in retrospect i should have, and i did last year and i will virtually every year but we had come in very late at night and i had just left literally the american cemetery in paris and i really probably assumed that was fine and i was extremely busy because affairs of state, doing other things. but i would have done it. >> chris: why haven't you visited our troops serving in war zones and iraq and afghanistan and the two years you've been in office as commander in chief? >> president trump: i think you will see that happen. there are things that are being planned. we know what to talk about it

obviously because of security reasons and everything else but there are things that are planned. as you know, i was very much opposed to the war in iraq. i think it was a tremendous mistake. i don't think anybody has been -- as a president in terms of funding, in terms of all of the things i've been able to get them including the vets, i don't think anybody has done more than me. i've had an unbelievable busy schedule and i will be doing it, on top of what you have those phony witch hunts. on top of which -- we've just been very busy but i will be doing that. >> chris: just before the midterms said your biggest regret is that perhaps you should have had a softer tone in her two years as president, but since then, some could argue you've been on a tear. the press conference the day after the election. you mocked some of the republican congressman who lost, not embracing you. >> me a love gave me no love and

she lost. too bad, sorry about that. >> chris: that you went two african-american reporters and basically said that there were dominant. >> the same thing with april ryan. i watch her get up. you talk about somebody that's a loser. she doesn't know what she's doing. >> do you want them to reign in robert mueller? >> president trump: what a stupid question that is. what a stupid question but i watch you a lot. you ask a lot of stupid questions. >> chris: question, i was in st. joe's missouri this last weekend, talking to a lot of loyal republicans. they love what you've done to the economy. they love the fact that you have basically put isis out of business. the one thing they say is why do you have to be so divisive? why don't you do more to bring the country together. >> president trump: i think that if i was very different i wouldn't have gotten what we had to get. the biggest tax cuts in history,

and water approved. got rid of the individual mandate, the most unpopular thing you could imagine, health care. i got rid of it, everybody said it would be impossible to get rid of it. the regulations. i think if i was a more modified, more moderate in that sense i don't think i would have done half of the things that i was able to get completed. with that being said, other than you have to have a certain ability to fight back, and as you know people -- they take strong stance on me both ways. love and hate. i would like to see it maybe a little bit more right down the middle but something that is important to me but a lot of times you can't practice tone because you have people coming at you so hard that if you don't fight back in a somewhat vigorous way you're not going to win and we have to win. this country has to win. we have a lot of victories coming and i think if i go to loki were not going to have

those victories. >> chris: mr. president, thank you. >> president trump: thank you. >> chris: at one point of clarification, admiral mcraven never endorsed a candidate for president in 2016. but in a hacked email, clinton campaign chair john podesta discussed him as a possible running mate. after the interview, president trump took us into the oval office to talk about how he makes those tough decisions that come across his desk every day. that's next. ♪ r ride hailing, car sharing, carpooling... ...mobility services are proliferating. and there's a new generation who don't seem to want to own cars in the first place. it all means massive disruption to the car industry, cities, businesses and investors. ♪ ♪

a moment of joy. a source of inspiration. an act of kindness. an old friend. a new beginning. some welcome relief... or a cause for celebration. ♪ what's inside? ♪ [laughter] possibilities. what we deliver by delivering. >> chris: next, the president takes us on a tour of the west wing and describes how he has adjusted to life in the white house after two years in office. >> have you gotten comfortable with the place yet sir? >> chris: and then reaction to our exclusive interview for with the president from

♪ >> chris: after our interview, president trump took us across the hall to the oval office in the room where it happens, the president discussed his transition from real estate tycoon to leader of the free world and he gave some insight into how he makes the tough decisions he faces every day. >> chris: so if you gotten comfortable with the place you have to? >> president trump: i have. i feel very comfortable. it took me a little while. it sort of incredible. you say you're the president of the united states and i say wow and it takes a little while to get over. >> chris: the first time that you're in the oval office by yourself, everybody is gone, you're looking around the room. the iconic room. >> president trump: i've had people come into this -- the biggest people in the world, presidents, prime ministers, the heads of the biggest countries in the world and they always stop and they say this is the oval office. this is the oval office. there's nothing like it in the

world. this is the resolute desk, very famous. this is where john john at the time, right? john kennedy was right here. a little deal that opens up and a famous picture. i could show you that picture, but this is a very important task. seven desks and as president you can choose any one of the desks. i think this is the most beautiful in terms of the carving. in many respects it's just some people that i respect. >> chris: when you're sitting at the desk, how do you make decisions? do you agonize over them? do you a second ask yourself? >> president trump: i don't think about it. i don't think about how i make them. i make what i consider the right decision. i have great people working at the white house. they don't get enough credit. i have some tremendously talented people and i will talk to them and sometimes i will

have them go at each other. i do like that. they are very competitive people and at the end i make a decisio decision. and certainly on the economy, we've made a lot of good decisions and i want to keep it that way. >> chris: do you ever second-guess yourself? >> president trump: all the time. i've done things where i wished i went a different route. but then what you do is you change course and you bring it back. >> chris: toughest decision you've had to make as president? >> president trump: i think north korea has been very tough. we were very close. when i took over, president obama said that's by far the biggest problem that this country has. and i think we had a real decision as to which way to go in north korea. and certainly so far i'm very happy with the way we went, very good relationship. i don't believe that. could be. that's the way it goes, that's

the way it goes. i go with the way we have to go. but so far it's been good. we have a very good relationshi relationship. we made i think some great decisions for the people of this country and i do -- i put america first and everybody should put themselves first. it's not like everybody else -- other countries are proud of their countries but we were putting our country in many cases last. we were more worried about the world than we were worried about the united states. that's not going to happen with me. >> chris: what we want to get some reaction now to our interview with president trump from our sunday group. former republican congressman jason chaffetz. jonathan swann, who covers the white house for axios. former democratic congresswoman donna edwards and gerald seib from "the wall street journal." jonathan, i was struck by a lot that the president said. first, he really seems to be

closing the door to any interview with robert mueller. he said probably it's finished. and he seemed to be opening the door to possible oversight of mueller by the new acting attorney general matt whitaker. >> this is the first time i've ever heard him acknowledge on the record what has seemed to all of us to be reality, which is that there was no intention of him sitting down. we heard for months that he wanted to. he had said publicly that he wanted to but his team really didn't want him to. if that's the first time i've ever heard him basically shut the door to that end with whitaker, i don't know that it's credible when he told her that he wasn't aware of the statements that whitaker had made about robert mueller. it seems that trump is very happy with him and his job. it's notable that he sort of left it open that he could constrain budget or other things. he didn't shut that off. >> chris: he said his decision, i will leave it to hi him.

then, jerry, the president's refusal to acknowledge any defeat in the midterms and when it came to the losses that republicans did sustain he absolutely flipped the script from the campaign and the rallies at the end to say i wasn't on the ballot. >> the election is about me, the election wasn't about me turn which is probably what you would expect but he does seem fairly sensitive about the outcome. i thought the fascinating part of the conversation and the fastening part of the midterms is the details. it's not just the number of seats, it's where the defeats happened for republicans. happened in suburbs that they really need to win and in three states you correctly pointed out that are crucial to the term coalition. this wasn't just a defeat, it was a defeat in some places that are very sensitive politically. i will say he's right that we held the senate we've added a couple of seats. that builds a firewall against overturning the tax cuts, overturning the regulation. in that part the president is right. >> chris: he said i'm not going to say which house is more

important but he made it clear up the appointments i want to make to the bench, to the cabinet, whatever i can get through the senate. i don't have to deal with the house. >> both the republican caucus in the senate and the republican caucus in the house will be more pro-trump now than they were before the election. enemies and critics of moderates -- >> chris: congresswoman edwards, what struck you about the president's reaction to the midterms and do you see and what you heard from him any basis to believe that there's going to be any serious dealmaking, compromising, governing with the house democratic majority? >> i heard the president acknowledge his mistake on veterans day but he wouldn't acknowledge his mistake when it comes to the elections. we had bush who described it as a thumping, obama a shellacking and the president, victory is mine. so what the president has underscored is the ability of the house of representatives now

to embark on investigations that they want in a measured kind of way. but also possibly doing something on prescription drugs, on infrastructure, on immigration even if the president is willing to negotiate with the house. but i think we will have to see and right now the house of representatives i think is not in a mood to negotiate, at least the base of the democratic party but will come to a time where that will be true. it's been >> chris: congressmane president had some interesting things to say about the murder of the journalist. he said he won't even listen to the tape, it's too violent, it's a suffering tape he said. he left open the possibility that the crown prince may have been involved but he made it really clear that he's not going to do anything to jeopardize relations with saudi arabia. >> the president is in a very difficult spot because there is so much on the line. if i thought it was interesting about what he said about yemen.

focusing back on iran. he wants to get rid of what's going on in yemen but they've got to get the iranians and you need saudi arabia to triangulate them. i think that was pretty fascinating and also fascinated about what he said about pakistan. i thought that was very newsworthy about the foreign ai aid. that does not look good for pakistan, which has nuclear capabilities and it will be interesting to see where that goes. >> chris: and then, jonathan, the president's decision not to go to the cemetery in paris. i should say, the order he got from the secret service on saturday and he brought that up several times on his own. i wasn't asking him about it and a rare admission of a mistake by this president in not going to arlington this last monday. >> this is the second time i've seen the president acknowledge a mistake on camera. the only other time i can recall was after access hollywood when he did what looked to many of us like a hostage video and

ultimately after he apologized flipped right back and brought the clinton accusers to the debate. so it's unheard of for him to acknowledge a mistake. these are the matters that he fixates upon. it's the optics of the presidency, it's the ceremony of the presidency, the visuals of the presidency and the symbolism of the presidency and this was such an obvious mistake that it's clearly gotten under his skin. >> i was going to say there was that but there was also this fascinating place you had with them about tone in which you try to get him to talk a little bit about why doesn't he moderate his tone even though he has hinted at it a few times and he said essentially this is the way i succeed, this is what i do so he admits a mistake but he's not really going to change his style, don't expect that at all and he said essentially that's the formula for success for me. >> chris: we have to take a break here, but when we come back there is some other news.

the race for house speaker, nancy pelosi meets with a potential challenger. plus, election trauma in florida, who would've thought. the senate race between rick scott and bill nelson goes to a hand recount. ♪ you need to buy a car

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...uniting the world. ♪♪ >> say to everybody, and income of the water was warm. >> chris: house democratic leader nancy pelosi and a potential challenger, ohio congresswoman martha fudge engaging in a little trash talk about who will be speaker in the new democrat-controlled house. back now with the panel. congresswoman edwards, 17 house

democrats have signed a letter saying they oppose the election of nancy pelosi as speaker and marcia fudge, who we just heard there is one of them but you have an article today in "the washington post" with this provocative headline. don't blow it, democrats. there's only one choice to be the next speaker and you say that choice is nancy pelosi. >> absolutely. >> chris: why? >> coming out of the 2018 election, the most historic victory that democrats have had since watergate led by nancy pelosi, staying on message, raising health care as an issue around the country democrats need to come back and get to work on health care, and infrastructure and immigration, government accountability and instead they're having a fight about the speaker. the rest of the country i think doesn't really share that, at least among democrats and it's time for democrats to get together and i'm convinced that nancy pelosi will be the next

speaker of the house. i think she's going to come out with an overwhelming majority in the caucus and that is going to follow her to the floor, and it should. she's a tactician, she's a strategist. she has held democrats together. she raised more than half of the money the democrats took into get the house majority. >> chris: as we say, a number of house candidates, democrats campaign pledging. it was an issue in the campaign and in campaign ads, they would not support nancy pelosi for speaker. do you think she's in any real trouble getting elected? >> some trouble, but not real trouble i think. it's hard in politics to beat something with nothing and there's no viable alternative. nobody has built the groundwork, nobody's laid the predicate, one person has and i think the end the noon members who said they won't support or can vote against her when the democrats decide who their choice is what then can vote for her on the floor because there's no alternative and that gives them a way out. if you don't have something.

>> chris: martha fudge is at least toying with the idea. >> but not there yet. >> chris: would she be a serious contender? >> no groundwork has laid. >> here's what we know, when they vote as a caucus she's going to win and then it goes to the floor. what are they going to do, not both for her? sit silent? are they going to vote for kevin mccarthy? i think it will be a very clarifying choice. >> chris: let's turn to the recount, the continuing recount in the florida senate race where there are continuing claims of fraud from both sides. take a look. >> he can't stand the fact that he's not going to be elected for, what, the first time in decades and he's just here to steal this election. >> he's been using his power as governor to try to undermine the voting process. >> chris: congressman, there are growing signs as the boats start to come in from the manual recount that rick scott is going

to be able to hold onto his lead, which is about 12,500 boats. is this over, is he going to take the senate seat and replace bill nelson, and why, not that you are an expert on florida but i guess to a certain degree all of us are, why are florida elections so often a mess? >> i don't know. it's embarrassing in florida. the same problem in utah where there are still thousands of votes that have not even been counted for the first time. the margin is so great. i think we're looking at senator scott because 12,000 votes is insurmountable. historically these hand recount may be sway 100 or 200 boats here but not the 12,000 that would be necessary. >> chris: and do you have any insight into why florida? >> i think governor ron desantis has a big job and task in front of him. since 2000 you think we would have cleaned this up. i don't know why all the counties are going their own direction when somebody in a

documented way leading elections has the type of problem she has. she should have been pushed of office out, the long time ago. >> chris: who could have done it? governor rick scott. >> i think there's a lesson for all the governors out there to pay more attention going into not only the elections in 2020 but the census, which is right on her heels as well. >> chris: jonathan, let's look ahead to 2020. not just a question, congressional election, that is a presidential election. it is interesting that the blue wave -- it's become more of a blue wave as we see the final victories. it's astonishing. i read today that the entire congressional delegation from orange county in california is going to be democrat. reagan country, goldwater country. it's all going to be democrats. but the blue eighth did not hit in florida, which as we always think of as the key swing state. what does that tell you about 2020 that it looks like they are going to elect may be by slim margins a republican senator and governor?

>> tells you one thing. one thing trump is right about is he does have an impact in florida. rhonda ron desantis would not be governor without donald trump. most republicans consider him a horrible candidate. trump's numbers aren't terrible in florida. where his problems exist if there is a clear path for democrats to take back the white house, the upper midwest. you identified those three states and yes donald trump wasn't on the ballot but he didn't even go to those three states for the very reason that his numbers had fallen so much. so there is this sort of perennial democratic fantasy about arizona and texas but they don't need to do that. they can just go through the midwest. >> chris: we talk about the speaker's race, you've got to beat somebody with somebody. if we don't know who the democratic candidate is going to be so yes certainly there were warning signs in the suburbs and the upper rust belt but it's donald trump against the unknown at this point. >> and who writes the ways? is it somebody who speaks to those voters in those three industrial states he spoke of

somebody who speaks more to the coastal enclaves where the real strength of the party is? and by the way, is texas a swing state? ohio state doesn't look like a swing state anymore. republican. texas is a great question. if nevada looks more blue but arizona looks like a swing state. it is going to be a slightly different if not significantly different presidential map in 2020 than the one we've been used to seeing. >> chris: i'm glad to see we actually waited until a week and a half. thank you panel, so you next sunday. we will be back with a final word. ♪ beyond chasing down network problems. to knowing when and where there's an issue. beyond network complexity. to a zero-touch, one-box world. optimizing performance and budget. beyond having questions. to getting answers. "activecore, how's my network?" "all sites are green." all of which helps you do more than your customers thought possible.

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>> chris: for more on the florida recount and the california wildfires tuned to this station and fox news channel. and that's it for today, have a great week and we will see you next "fox news sunday" ." ♪

. good morning to you. welcome to "mornings on 2". it is sunday, november 18th. i am claudine wong. >> and i am frank somerville. we will have -- frank mallicoat. we will have the headlines in a moment. but first, we are talking about unhealthy air here in the bay area. >> yes. we are still scratching through that air, but things will get better in the coming week, rosemary says. more uncertainty for the victims of the paradise fire. we have rain coming soon that could make life even more difficult in the tent city set up for evacuees. >> we have