Pro-Clinton PAC uses Trump's words on women against him
Trump campaign spokesperson Katrina Pierson responds to criticisms on 'The Kelly File'
This is a rush transcript from "The Kelly File," March 31, 2016. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
MEGYN KELLY, HOST: Breaking tonight. For perhaps the first time in this entire election season, analysts are saying it appears that Donald Trump's campaign is approaching full-on damage control mode. Following a week of troubling headlines for the Republican front-runner.
Welcome to "The Kelly File," I'm Megyn Kelly. His campaign manager has been hit with a criminal charge after police say he grabbed a female reporter against her will. In response, Mr. Trump attacked that reporter as a liar and then mocked her. This just days after he retweeted out this photo mocking the looks of Ted Cruz's wife, Heidi for which Mr. Trump has refused to apologize. Then yesterday, Trump appearing to misstep badly by telling Chris Matthews on an MSNBC town hall that women who have abortions if abortion is illegal should be punished.
Remarks that were almost instantly condemned universally by both the pro- choice and the pro-life movements. The Trump campaign quickly walked back those remarks, but as you'll see in a moment, the damage had already been done. All of this comes just five days before the next big contest in campaign 2016. The battleground state of Wisconsin this Tuesday. And a brand new Fox Business Network poll finds Mr. Trump has some serious ground to make up in that state. Or Ted Cruz is now ahead of him by ten points. Tonight we're joined by Charles Krauthammer. Trump's spokesperson Katrina Pierson and Washington Post columnist Marc Thiessen.
But we begin with Trace Gallagher reporting from our West Coast, Newsroom. Trace?
TRACE GALLAGHER, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: And Megyn, despite a contentious relationship with the Republican National Committee and despite Donald Trump this week backing away from his pledge to support the eventual GOP nominee and not to run as an Independent candidate, Trump today showed up at a surprise meeting with RNC Chairman Reince Priebus. Trump called the meeting nice saying, he was quote, "Looking forward to bringing the party together." But togetherness is not the best word to describe Trump's effect on the GOP this week.
First came the news that his campaign manager Corey Lewandowski was being charged with battery for grabbing Breitbart news reporter Michelle Fields. Even with video apparently supporting her claim, Trump stood by Lewandowski and mocked Michelle Fields intimating that she posed a threat to him. Trump stirred the pot more with controversial statements on National Security issues. First insisting he was against nuclear proliferation, then encouraging Japan and South Korea to get nuclear weapons. Trump also would not rule out using nuclear weapons in Europe. His comments attracted bipartisan criticism. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. JOHN KASICH, R-OHIO, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's clear that he is really unprepared to be commander-in-chief, leader of the free world.
BEN RHODES, DEPUTY NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: It would be catastrophic were the United States to shift its position and indicate that we support somehow the proliferation of nuclear weapons to additional countries.
GALLAGHER: But Trump's statement on abortion is what continues to make headlines today. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS MATTHEWS, MSNBC HOST, "HARDBALL": Do you believe in punishment for abortion, yes or no, as a principle?
DONALD TRUMP, R-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The answer is that, there has to be some form of punishment.
MATTHEWS: For the woman?
TRUMP: Yes. There has to be some form.
MATTHEWS: Ten cents, ten years, what?
TRUMP: That I don't know.
MATTHEWS: Why not?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GALLAGHER: The Trump campaign then tried to walk it up saying it was a misspeak than tried to clarify by issuing two new statements, first saying the states should handle abortion issues, later saying, health providers who perform abortions are the ones who should be punished. The clarifications did not placate either side of the abortion debate or the GOP rivals. Watch.
Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. TED CRUZ, R-TEXAS, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: That comment was wrong, and it really is the latest demonstration of how little Donald has thought about any of the serious issues facing this country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GALLAGHER: You mentioned the FOX Business poll. A new Wisconsin poll also gives Ted Cruz a ten-point lead in Wisconsin, but it was taken before any of these controversies -- Megyn.
KELLY: Trace, thank you. Well, following those remarks on abortion last night, it took less than 24 hours for a pro-Hillary Clinton PAC to use Trump's words against him. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Must be a pretty picture, you dropping to your knees.
You wouldn't have your job if you weren't beautiful.
MATTHEWS: Do you believe in punishment for abortion?
TRUMP: There has to be some form of punishment.
MATTHEWS: For the woman?
TRUMP: Yes, there has to be some form of punishment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KELLY: Katrina Pierson is national spokesperson for the Trump campaign. Katrina, good to see you again tonight. And so --
KATRINA PIERSON, DONALD TRUMP CAMPAIGN NATIONAL SPOKESPERSON: Hi, Megyn.
KELLY: You know, the abortion remarks were so controversial that he was condemned by both sides almost instantly. There was no one defending him, no one. And he came out and did a full 180 on those and now he's claiming he misspoke. To those who say Mr. Trump misspeaks a lot, he said the war in Afghanistan was a mistake, and said that was misspeaking. He said that Obamacare, that he likes the mandate, and then said no, he misspoke there. He said women should be punished for abortion if abortion is ruled illegal. And now he says he misspoke there. What say you?
PIERSON: Well, I say when you are a political candidate for eight months, you are speaking off the cuff. Mr. Trump, that's actually one of his appeals that he's not a scripted politician. With regard to this specific account with abortion, Mr. Trump did provide a statement two actually. One on the proposed ban. Because at first, Megyn, the media frenzy was that Trump called for a ban on abortion, which in fact he did not. That was the original statement about leaving it to the states. And the second was with regard to women where he wanted to clarify that he does not support punishing women for having an illegal abortion.
KELLY: Why did he say he did? Because what his critics say is, it shows he hasn't thought the issue through, and this is not something that he's given any real consideration to.
PIERSON: Well, his critics are going to say anything at this point. We know there's a full-blown anti-Trump movement going on. We know that the full-blown main stream media as we saw with Chris Matthews. Everyone is out to try and stop Donald Trump from winning the nomination.
KELLY: Was the question unfair?
PIERSON: No, not at all. Mr. Trump answered the question, he just answered it after Chris Matthews said, but for women, and he just said yes. Because Mr. Trump was speaking about the legality here. This was a hypothetical context of something happening that was illegal. Mr. Trump was just reinstating yes, if something is illegal, they should be punished. And then that's why he clarified for distinguishing the difference between the woman and the actual person --
KELLY: OK.
PIERSON: -- committing the procedure that is not legal.
KELLY: Let me ask you about these polls that show trump has a 73 percent disapproval rating with women. Seventy three percent of American women disapprove of him. His unfavorable. Mitt Romney was viewed as unfavorable by 51 percent of women before the 2012 election. He lost with women, he only got 44 percent of their vote and he was killed in that election. So 51 percent unfavorable vote, he only managed to get 44 percent of the women voting for him. And he lost in an electoral landslide to Barack Obama. How is Donald Trump going to do better than that with a 73 percent disapproval rating with women?
PIERSON: Well, I think there are a couple of things. Mitt Romney is not Donald Trump. I mean, at this point in time, Donald Trump has more votes than Mitt Romney did at this point. And, you know, when you look at the national polls, everybody wants to talk about the head-to-heads, as if there is a crystal ball. Ronald Reagan was 23 points behind Carter at this point in his general election. With regard to women, we saw this early on when Mr. Trump entered the race that he had unfavorables with women. But as people started to vote, the issues are what began to take over and of course, there is a negative perception out there. You now have Republicans joining in the war on women bandwagon against Mr. Trump. But we are going to have a --
KELLY: But there's a reason for that, Katrina. There is a reason for that. They didn't just start that out of nothing. He did several things that led them to voice those concerns.
PIERSON: Yes, absolutely right. He's not politically correct. But I don't think that fits with the war on women. Mr. Trump has been very outspoken against men and women. Also with praise for men and women. It's just there's one aspect that they want to focus on here. And Mr. Trump is going to have about six months to get out there in the mainstream and really show America who Hillary Clinton really is.
KELLY: Great to see you, Katrina. Thanks for being here.
PIERSON: Thanks, Megyn. Great to be here.
KELLY: Joining me now with more, Marc Thiessen, Fox News contributor and former chief speechwriter for President George W. Bush. Marc, what do you make of that?
MARC THIESSEN, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, basically what it is, what Donald Trump said about abortion is something that no conservative would say. But it's something that a liberal pretending to be a pro-life conservative would say. It's like when he say two Corinthians instead of second Corinthians. It's a tale that he really is not conversing, doesn't understand what pro-lifers really believe. He said in that interview with Chris Matthews, he said, this is a direct quote, conservative Republicans would say, yes, they should be punished. No, they would not say that. And what Donald Trump does is because he doesn't understand what conservatives think or he doesn't understand what pro-lifers think, he repeats the liberal caricature of conservatism and he says it because he thinks that is what conservatives want to hear.
But it's really what Liberals what to hear because Liberals and Democrats want to run against the caricatures of conservatives, they want to run against the Republican who wants to put women in jail. Not the Republican who wants to stop abortion because women are victims just like the babies are. So, he doesn't understand the issues. And so he's saying things that are utterly silly.
KELLY: Let's talk about the women issue. Because Katrina accurately points out that Mr. Trump was doing poorly with women for a while in his campaign, and then his numbers with women went up -- they went up considerably. And now they're in a freefall. And the question is whether he can stop the freefall and in fact turn the numbers around again. Your thoughts on that?
THIESSEN: Well, because for years Democrats have been trying to wage this war on women battle against Republican thing. Republicans are anti-women. Every time Donald Trump opens his mouth, he says something that feeds that narrative. And it's not just this comment, I mean, it's obviously, when you say that you want to put women in jail for having abortions, they take that as anti-women. But it's not just this one comment in isolation. As you showed at the beginning of this segment, he tweeted out that horrible picture of Heidi Cruz. He made fun of Carly Fiorina's face. He said, this is a quote from a tweet that he re-tweeted, if Hillary Clinton can't satisfy her husband, what makes her think she can satisfy America?
That's from the future president of the United States? And then his sick obsession with you. The comments he made tweeting out calling you a bimbo and a liar and crazy. And now with Michelle Fields. Every time he tweets or opens his mouth, he says something that alienates women. And this is not what Republicans need. Republicans are pro-women. Donald Trump projects a caricature of conservatism that Liberals are trying to project. He is doing their work for them.
KELLY: Uh-hm. Marc, thanks for being here.
THIESSEN: Thanks, Megyn.
KELLY: So what is all of this mean in this election? The University of Virginia politics team took all of the recent demographic data and dropped it into a hypothetical Trump versus Clinton match-ups in the Electoral College. As of today, the results they came up with gave Clinton a solid win by a margin of 156 electoral votes. They'll predicting it will be a landslide for Hillary Clinton.
Joining me now, the man who lead the analysis, director of the University Of Virginia Center for Politics Larry Sabato. Larry, thank you for being here. So, you start your piece today by saying, I know everybody wants me to say it's going to be close. We all like to say, it's going to be close. Your prediction is it would not be close.
LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA CENTER FOR POLITICS: Well, you used the right phrase, Megyn. You said as of today. We also said in that piece that we have to deal with reality as it exists. The best indications that we have and there's some research suggesting that right about now the outlines of the general election returns start emerging. So there is some substance to this. However, it's inevitable that we're going to revise this. It will revolve over time. New circumstances. You can think of a load of things that would change at least to a certain degree. Change the dynamics.
KELLY: That can lower your poll numbers. I've never seen it happen before, but I'm assuming.
SABATO: Yes, no, it could change the poll numbers. A recession, you know, a terrorist act. You know, all kinds of an indictment of a particular candidate. Not to mention any names.
(CROSSTALK)
SABATO: Sure.
KELLY: But on the other hand, you know, Trump's numbers, as we just discussed with a core group of American voters, which is half the population of women, are going in the wrong direction for him. And it's not like they don't know him. He's got 100 percent name recognition.
SABATO: Exactly right. You see, when you're unknown, you can really manipulate poll numbers. You can change them dramatically within a few months. But when you have name I.D. approaching 100 percent as both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump do, it becomes much more difficult to change perceptions. That's why we pick them. They are the front-runners. And they're the two best known by far.
KELLY: What about the theory that he has energized a section of the electorate, you know, white male voters in particular, that, you know, we've never seen before, and that these people are going to come out and make up whatever deficits he may have with minorities, with women, et cetera.
SABATO: Megyn, he absolutely has energized that segment. And let me tell you a few other segments he's energized. You mentioned one, women, minority and white women and they tend to be anti-Trump. He has energized minority voters and increasingly they seem to be anti-Trump and finally, don't forget about college educated, graduate educated, professionally trained white voters. They also have tended to be anti-Trump. They're energized by Trump. So he's gaining some votes in one sector and he's losing them in other sectors.
KELLY: Uh-hm. But he has six months as Katrina points out, he's got six months if he, you know, turns this thing around.
SABATO: A lot can change. Sure.
KELLY: To change the opinions of him. And he's a master of messaging. Larry, great to see you.
SABATO: Thanks, Megyn.
KELLY: So, now the Trump critics are suggesting that maybe he peaked. Maybe that was it. But before jumping on that bandwagon, you will want to hear what Charles Krauthammer has to say, next.
Plus, Donald Trump met with the RNC chair today to talk about uniting the Republican Party and National Review editor Rich Lowery and former Senator Scott Brown are here on what appears to be a very divided GOP at the moment.
Plus, Brian Kilmeade will join us to report on how the State Department decided to start tweeting about spring break -- oh, boy -- and assigning women, I guess, numbers? Maybe it was the guys who were getting rated and how it went very wrong, very wrong. Girls, stop that!
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KELLY: Breaking tonight. New polls just out from Fox Business Network gives Senator Ted Cruz a ten-point lead in the upcoming fight for Wisconsin. What's more, this is the second poll in a week showing Donald Trump taking a hit with women voters. Now some political writers are starting to ask whether the front-runner may have peaked in his support.
Joining me now, syndicated columnist, Fox News contributor and author of the book, "Things that Matter," Dr. Charles Krauthammer.
Charles, good to see you. That's the question, whether I know others have said it many times, but whether you believe we have seen a Trump peak, and the momentum is shifting in this race.
DR. CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, look, I've said it many times and I was wrong every single time. We've heard the expression "Peak Trump" about as often as we've heard peak oil for the last 50 years and oil is gushing all over the world. So, look, I think it is likely that he recovers. But if there is going to be one incident or one series of incidents happening together, as we've seen in this week, that would actually stop his momentum and actually put a question mark in some of his supporters, this would be it. This was a terrible week. And there's something about the abortion question. It's not just that it will alienate a lot of particularly suburban, moderate just right of center women that I think is a constituency that he has been able to hang on to, to some extent. But I think it's a deeper question.
Donald Trump, people like me who have been accused of being an elitist intellectual poignant headed snobs about has said that he doesn't know anything, that his policy credentials are one inch deep, and on a ton of issues he doesn't seem to know what's going on. We, of course, have been denounced as an elitist establishment. Fine. For most issues, people say, who cares if he knows about the nuclear triad, Hezbollah, Hamas, or Quds, that's stuff he can learn in a half hour. That's fine. But abortion is the central issue of the conservative movement from the last 30 years in terms of social issues. It is a deep one that anybody involved has thought through.
The fact that he could give such an answer, which is so far afield from what the pro-life people and the movement think tells you A, that he's not actually thought it through. And I think it might actually raise doubts in his supporters who have stuck through him through all the other incidents and gaffes, to say, well, if he hasn't thought through this, this central issue, what has he thought through on other issues? And what does he actually know about the other issues that we have ignored up until now?
KELLY: What do you make of these, you know, the poll numbers when it comes to where he stands? Sixty seven percent of the country has an unfavorable view of him. Three quarters of women, two-thirds of Independents, 80 percent of young adults, 85 percent of Hispanics, nearly half of Republicans and Republican leaning Independents, all have an unfavorable view of him.
KRAUTHAMMER: Well, the only thing you can say is that, if he's not able to change these numbers, say he becomes the nominee, then he will lose in a landslide. I know people talk about he will put certain of the mid-western states in play where Reagan Democrats will be recalled, the ones who stay home, the ones who had defected back to being Democrats. Are they going to come back? Yes, but this cannot outweigh what will be a demographic tsunami.
KELLY: And we've seen, you know, some within the Trump supporters starting to openly voice concerns about him. And some more open minded to Ted Cruz and start to complain more about Trump's behavior. Even Ann Coulter was complaining about his tweet about, you know, Heidi Cruz's looks, comparing her unfavorably to his own wife Melania. I mean, Ann Coulter who's been a staunch defender of his. And the question is, whether you think Trump's behavior in the past week is really behind some of that softening we appear to be seeing among some supporters or whether it's something else that they're just starting to have general doubts about the man they've been backing.
KRAUTHAMMER: When Ann Coulter calls you mental, you've got a problem. And I say that as a retired psychiatrist. Although you could argue that they cancel -- two negatives cancel each other out. But still, there's a lot of trepidation. I think the abortion question and all the other stuff that went on, the charging of the assault of his campaign manager and Trump's furious defense of his and essentially insulting the woman who was involved, the fact that as Ann Coulter has pointed out, he's mocking the looks of his opponent's wife. I mean, and doing all this at once, it makes people think as to the temperament issue, as to the knowledge issue and to the seriousness issue. In my view, that's been around for nine months. So, as an observer, I'm surprised it took this long.
KELLY: Before I let you go, do you still think that the Sanders thing is a mirage or do you think there is something going on there?
KRAUTHAMMER: It's a real phenomenon. But the whole thing is been cooked against him, with all those establishment figures who are going to be the super delegates, the ones who are not elected, the math is almost impossible. I think he will be a force. He will be a figure. He will speak at the convention, and he will leave a legacy. For example, I could see him as a way of making the peace, and he would have to, because Hillary is going to need his supporters, particularly the young, he could say here is who I want as the vice president. Somebody who would carry on his legacy.
KELLY: Uh-hm.
KRAUTHAMMER: So he's important. He's made himself important. But he's not going to be the nominee. And he better not, because I still have no money on him.
KELLY: Charles, always a pleasure.
KRAUTHAMMER: Thank you.
KELLY: Well, late today, Donald Trump met with the RNC to talk about uniting the Republican Party. National Review editor Rich Lowry and former Senator Scott Brown are here on whether that can happen, next.
And the Brian Kilmeade reports on why some spring break advice from the State Department, yes, the State Department, is causing such a controversy.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: From the World Headquarters of Fox News, it's "The Kelly File" with Megyn Kelly.
KELLY: Breaking tonight, Donald Trump met with RNC Chair Reince Priebus today and the GOP frontrunner emerge having this to tweet. He said he had a, quote, "Very nice meeting with Reince Priebus in the GOP," and that he is looking forward to, quote, "bringing the party together." But can that happen? The polls show an extremely fractured Republican Party right now that has had implications well beyond the political realm, as outlined by our own Greg Gutfeld on "The Five" yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GREG GUTFELD, CO-HOST, "THE FIVE": From a micro level to a macro level, you can look at conservative websites like Breitbart, how much that has fallen apart since the Trump nomination. You can look at "The Five," on any given day, we have tension over this nomination, over these candidates. You can look at our network as a whole, which is -- where we are having issues within a family of anchors over this stuff. You can look at the party. So in every area where there is conservatism, there is strife.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KELLY: Joining me now to discuss it, National Review editor Rich Lowry and former Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown. Both are FOX News contributors.
Rich, do you -- do you believe the call for unity now in the Republican Party will be heeded no matter who is the nominee?
RICH LOWRY, NATIONAL REVIEW EDITOR: I doubt it. This is a party that is at war with itself. Donald Trump is incredibly a polarizing figure, and has done nothing to make it better.
You know, usually at this stage, a front-runner, for a major party's nomination, begins to unite the party. What have we seen from Donald Trump the last two weeks? He has threatened and mocked Ted Cruz's wife, and then said the other night incredibly that he doesn't want Ted Cruz's support. That is insane.
KELLY: Senator, do you -- do you think that this party can unite behind Donald Trump? Because the latest polls show, this according to Pew, just 38 percent of republicans believe the party would unite solidly behind Trump if he becomes the nominee.
SCOTT BROWN, FORMER MASSACHUSETTS SENATOR: Well, then we'll have Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton as president. And with that goes the loss of the ambassador, the loss of a cabinet position, the potential loss of the vice president if the Senate is gridlocked.
So, there is a lot of losses and people have to look themselves in the mirror and say, I would rather have that than having you know, not supporting the ultimate nominee if it's Donald Trump.
And here is the -- Megyn, I'm a glass half full kind of guy. I want us to get together. I want us to find that common bond and that's going to be a lot of healing, no doubt. This has been one of the most amazing elections that I participated in, and I've run 20 of them.
I've never seen anything like it, where the conservatives and the establishment are attacking the front-runner. He's getting it from all sides. I mean, the people who are left aren't talking to each other.
KELLY: And giving it, too.
BROWN: It's unbelievable.
KELLY: Given it, too. Rich, that's the thing. Is it people -- what's happening in the Republican Party right now is another layer to this. I mean, real acrimony is developing between sides. You know, those who support Donald Trump and whose who are part of the never Trump movement.
And the party, they use words like "unforgivable" now when they talk about the other side.
LOWRY: Yes. It's deep and it's hard to see how it's going to get papered over. And Scott says warns us about electing Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders. But every single objective indicator, every single poll we've seen in recent weeks shows that the most likely way to get president Hillary is to nominate Donald Trump for president. For every single indicator says that.
(CROSSTALK)
KELLY: But you know what, his supporters say, they pay his numbers will go up once he starts on her and if he becomes the nominee.
LOWRY: We'll see. But look.
(CROSSTALK)
BROWN: Yes. Megyn.
KELLY: Wait, let him first. Go ahead, Rich.
LOWRY: These numbers, 70 percent -- 70 percent of women disapprove of him. It doesn't matter how many people on the right who write op-eds and all the rest of it say they will or won't support Trump. It won't matter if 70 percent of women in this country are convinced that this guy is a disaster for them.
And every single day, he's doing something to make it worse. If he wants to unify the party and begin to take steps that way, apologize to Heidi Cruz, apologize to Michelle Fields. Go and learn something about policy so you're not embarrassed by Chris Matthews asking a basic question.
And those are the sort of things Donald Trump has shown no capability of doing and no willingness to do.
KELLY: What about it, senator? Because you look at the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll, three quarters of women view him unfavorably. Two thirds of independents view him unfavorably, 80 percent of young adults, 85 percent of Hispanics, nearly half of republicans and republican leaning independents view Donald Trump unfavorably. Overall, he has a 67 percent unfavorable rating in the country right now.
BROWN: Sure. I'm aware of all the stats. Listen, you can throw the stats out all over the place, I get it. I'm surprised they're not quite frankly worse with all the attacks he's been getting from every side.
That being said, obviously there are six months to go and I think it's critically important that he meet with people like he did today. One of the biggest things that I've heard when I speak to my former colleagues, is that they just want to meet him. They want to get to know him. They haven't meet him.
They're relying on sound bites they're relying on stats that you're pushing forth. And that being said, I think there is an opportunity, and that will depend on who he surround himself with, who he chooses as vice president; who he starts to criticizing the highest leaders.
(CROSSTALK)
LOWRY: But, Senator, how about -- how about apologizing to Heidi Cruz?
BROWN: Rich, with all due respect, I don't agree with what he did, OK?
LOWRY: So, should he apologize?
BROWN: I'm not...
LOWRY: If you think it was wrong and you're a supporter of his then you're on -- you're on here to...
(CROSSTALK)
BROWN: Rich, can I answer the question?
KELLY: What about, Senator, we've heard that, so we've heard that criticism before of Donald Trump that why doesn't he just apologize when he's wrong? Every human being makes mistakes. I have, both of you have. Why not just I'm sorry when you know you're wrong?
BROWN: Well, he did correct himself recently. He did -- if I could answer the question, guys. He did -- he did obviously put a statement out regarding his misspeak and his error with regard to the abortion issue.
I've already been on record with that issue with Heidi Cruz and whole host of other issues. I don't agree with him on everything.
That being said, that's one of the things that people like about him is that he has the -- he's not a politician. He's not a seasoned guy like you have Ted and Marco and everybody else who has been participating in this problem -- in this process.
(CROSSTALK)
LOWRY: I don't think that people like that he mocks ted Cruz's wife.
BROWN: He's going to make mistakes. Hey, Rich, listen.
KELLY: Let him finish with his point, Rich.
BROWN: Rich, with respect, I know what your position is on the guy, and that's great. But you have a choice after this is over. You can either, you know, support the nominee, you have a choice. It's not over.
(CROSSTALK)
LOWRY: You have a choice is to nominate Ted Cruz.
BROWN: It may not be him. The difference between me and you...
LOWRY: That actually know something, he's a conservative.
KELLY: OK. OK, don't talk over each other, please.
BROWN: The difference between me and you, Rich...
KELLY: Hold on.
BROWN: Rich, the difference between me and you is that I, in fact, will support the ultimate nominee for the benefit of our party and the country and you won't. That's the problem.
KELLY: OK. I got it. Rich, I'll give you the quick last word. Go.
LOWRY: Well, let's nominate Ted Cruz, let's unite around him. He won't embarrass us. He actually knows things. Chris Matthews could spend hours and hours hammering away at Ted Cruz and he would never have a blank look in his eyes and take a wild guess at what the right answer is on a public policy issue that has been contended for decades.
KELLY: OK.
LOWRY: That would never happen with Ted Cruz.
KELLY: OK. Great to see you both. I'm not sensing unity, but it's still early.
Coming up, when college students complained that they felt threatened by seeing a pro-Trump message in chalk, like this one, look what it says, vote Trump. The school took action. Brian Kilmeade will show you what happened since then.
Plus, while the GOP is worried about getting along, new reports today suggest the democrats may be worried about Hillary Clinton going to prison.
Former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy says Mrs. Clinton may face three options and not one is good. He's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KELLY: Developing tonight, new reports the FBI's criminal investigation into Hillary Clinton's private e-mail server may be nearing completion. Federal agents are reportedly preparing to interview her.
And our chief White House correspondent, Ed Henry just filed this report.
ED HENRY, FOX NEWS CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Megyn, as Hillary Clinton hits speed bumps with Bernie Sanders, but continues to rack up those delegates, the last major hurdle to her getting the nomination really is this FBI probe.
Clinton vowed at the beginning there was no classified information on her personal server. Since then, hundreds of classified e-mails have been found on that server, though, she maintains they were not marked classified.
The FBI, of course is sorting all of that out and now there are indications that this is getting closer to a resolution. It's such a serious case that dozens of FBI agents are working on it. And the FBI director James Comey has been personally involved getting briefings almost every day and he's known as a straight shooter.
Attorney General Loretta Lynch has said she's waiting for the FBI to either give her a criminal referral or not, but there's a lot of skepticism whether a democrat Justice Department would really move forward with an indictment.
Time Magazine reporting the next phase is the FBI preparing to interview some of Clinton's top aides, and then maybe the candidate herself. Clinton aide, Brian Fallon told me today, the FBI has not yet requested an interview with Clinton but they are eager to cooperate and will do so if an interview is requested.
What campaign aides in general hate more than anything are unknowns. This FBI probe is hanging over the campaign as a great unknown, what some have dubbed the Comey primary. Megyn?
KELLY: Ed, thank you. For more on this, we're joined by Andy McCarthy, a former federal prosecutor and National review contributing editor. Andy, good to see you.
So, James Comey, you know him, you've worked with him, you say he's a straight shooter and he's going to present Mrs. Clinton with what you say are three bad options. What are they?
ANDY MCCARTHY, NATIONAL REVIEW CONTRIBUTING EDITOR: Well, either she testifies in the grand jury, which is not a good option because she doesn't get to bring her lawyer in for the questioning.
She submits to the questioning by the FBI, which can be used to develop leads in the case against her, but at least she gets to have her lawyer there with her to have the conversation, or she takes the fifth, which legally is probably good advice that a lawyer would give her, but politically it's suicide.
KELLY: Suicide. So, what do you think she's going to do?
MCCARTHY: I think she'll meet with the FBI.
KELLY: With the lawyer?
MCCARTHY: Yes. Because it gives them a sense of what the FBI's case is and what the government's case is overall. She gets to process it with the lawyer, if she has trouble in the middle of the interview, the lawyer can jump in and, you know, sort of delay and help her get through it.
KELLY: What should we glean from the fact that they want to interview her?
MCCARTHY: Well, you always want to interview the lead defendant, especially in a case where, you know, they have to prove whether she was reckless in the way that she designed this communication system or if there was willfulness involved.
So, if it's a state of mind thing, you always want to sit down with the -- with the person.
Their guidelines basically say that if a subject or target of an investigation wants to come in and testify, that they should allow that to happen. Now, I think she's publicly saying she wants to do that, because what is her alternative? She has to say that. But as long as that's the position she's taking, I invite her in to speak.
KELLY: Do you think an indictment could possibly come down?
MCCARTHY: I have a hard time believing that Loretta Lynch will pull the trigger. But on the other hand, if they wanted to whitewash the case, there's no reason that there would be an investigation.
I mean, the FBI basically is part of the Justice Department. If they didn't want this investigation to be happening, they could have stopped it from the beginning.
Now, you know, Comey may have ranted and raved and they may have had to put up with that. But a lot of the stuff that's happened here could not happen, like the giving of immunity to this guy who ran the communication system, the e-mail server. You need a prosecutor to grant immunity. The FBI doesn't have authority to do that.
KELLY: So, the DOJ clearly working with the FBI to some extent here.
MCCARTHY: Right.
KELLY: And so, you can't rule it out.
MCCARTHY: Correct.
KELLY: You really can't rule it out.
MCCARTHY: Yes. I don't -- I don't know that we'll necessarily get a decision though. I could also see her just sitting on it.
KELLY: Andy, thank you, sir.
MCCARTHY: Thanks, Megyn.
KELLY: Up next, Brian Kilmeade, spring break. Don't miss this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KELLY: Well, there's a new free speech fight on a college campus tonight. Surprise. Surprise. And this time it involves Donald Trump. It's happening at Emory University where someone starting writing Trump for president signs in chalk around the campus.
Before long, some students were complaining that the words, just the words made them feel threatened and wanted it check down.
Brian Kilmeade is the co-host of Fox & Friends and the host of Kilmeade & Friends on Fox News Radio. He is also our original and occasional roving reporter on the campus security beat.
BRIAN KILMEADE, FOX & FRIENDS SHOW CO-HOST: At least for the first story.
KELLY: So the words?
KILMEADE: Yes.
KELLY: And the cop keys could not function at the mere sight of a pro- Trump writing.
KILMEADE: Look, there was a time when you didn't write chalk on steps in school. I thought that was the story. But the fact that one candidate is written there, Trump 2016, I had no idea would be perceived as intimidation.
Forty students got together and petitioned. They said they were outraged. The school wasn't listening and they're in pain because of the quote, "because of Trump 2016."
I mean, as if Swastika or KKK hood. It's just flat-out unbelievable. But Jim Wagner seems to have caved.
(CROSSTALK)
KELLY: The university president.
KILMEADE: Jim Wagner, university president, he now has a series of things he's going to adjust to. He is going to have a retreat. A racial retreat. He's going to have structured opportunities.
(CROSSTALK)
KELLY: Because some of the students are pro-Trump?
KILMEADE: Listen to me, he's going to have structured opportunities for difficult dialogue. That's your "b" block, difficult dialogue. And a full process, institutional difficult reviews and address social injustice. Unbelievable that this is happening.
KELLY: You know what, they'd be better off making the students sit next to each other and yell mean things to each other. That's what you need to get used to function in the world.
KILMEADE: That's the America we grew up in.
KELLY: Right. Come on, toughen it up.
KILMEADE: Come on, what's going on here. Why are you all of a sudden yelling at me?
KELLY: I'm trying -- because I'm trying to toughen you up. I've seen you.
KILMEADE: Thank you very much. We do but it is -- the alumni stood up and wrote a big thing, how they're embarrassed by the way, the way Emory is going.
KELLY: Yes. I'm with you, Emory. I'm with you, alumni, I should say.
KILMEADE: Yes.
KELLY: State Department spring break. What did the State Department -- they're rating women? The State Department is out rating women?
KILMEADE: They are guilty of trying to be clever and cool and they should, they turned themselves in.
KELLY: How?
KILMEADE: Essentially they said this, in a message to spring breakers who are no longer welcome in Panama City, thanks to Angelie Earhart. That have reporting on spring break. This is exciting. They are fearful that a lot of them they are teens 19 to 22 are going to go are going to go overseas.
And they tweeted out this, "if you're a 10 in the U.S., you're not a 10 overseas. And they're worried about Americans naively thinking.
KELLY: If you're not -- this is a State Department tweet. "Not a 10 in the U.S., then not a 10 overseas." They are talking about how beautiful you are.
KILMEADE: How beautiful and daring -- yes. Like a Bo Derek.
KELLY: What is that supposed to mean, like if you're ugly here, you're ugly there. So, don't let -- don't get them -- don't let somebody's beer goggles fool you into thinking -- what does it mean?
KILMEADE: Here's the thing. Let me bring you this scenario, you're at a bar, and you don't usually in America get much action. But suddenly you're in London, and a guy, and a woman walks up to you, she's quite attractive and all of a sudden you buy her expensive drinks or she says hey, you're cute, here's some luggage.
And if she gives you luggage, you think, I must be hot. You're not hot. That luggage is lined with coc and you're going to get arrested.
KELLY: Oh, boy.
KILMEADE: Buy my knockoff stereo, bring it back, get arrested for buying knockoff equipment. So, they're trying to tell Americans, if you're not hot here, you're not hot there. And it's really not the message I expect from my State Depart. So, they have since apologized and they say just don't buy hot women drinks if you're not hot. And said it's sexist, they shouldn't be clever. It was so clever it made you wonder is this real?
KELLY: Yes.
KILMEADE: And everyone tweeted in response. So, they apologized for being...
KELLY: Inappropriate. OK. So, how about, so an EgyptAir flight was, you know, we thought it was being hijacked. As it turns out it was a fake suicide belt. But for a while there they thought it was real. What did some guy do?
KILMEADE: As a viewer of Fox & Friends, you know, we covered it as a real hijacking because when the plane was diverted to another place. And they said there is a bomb on board, call me gullible.
KELLY: And we tend to believe that.
KILMEADE: So, this is EgyptAir flight 181. And this guy is on there. Evidently, he wanted to get the attention of his ex-wife. And instead of e- mailing or texting her, he thought he'd take the plane.
So, one guy on there...
(CROSSTALK)
KELLY: Sure. Sure.
KILMEADE: ... who was still on board is from England. He's 26 years old and he's the coveted job of health and safety inspected auditor. And he decides in the middle of this tense moment -- and there's video out there, but it's truly not that great -- to go up to the hijacker, get a flight attendant to translate, say can you see if I can have a picture with him.
KELLY: Before he knew it was fake.
KILMEADE: Before they knew it was fake. So, he said, what the heck. So, with 26-year-old safety inspector auditor sits there with the hijacker who stops and takes a picture with him with the body bomb fully in display, then goes back to his seat and calls his mom.
(CROSSTALK)
KELLY: You know what he...
KILMEADE: And his mom said, whatever you do, don't call attention to yourself. He goes, I didn't tell her that I took a picture with the hijacker. You know what this goes to show you, this is my opinion. Do you want to have some deep thoughts?
KELLY: Tell me.
KILMEADE: America thinks that their social media feed is more important than the network they try to get on. He wants to be star of his Instagram rather than survive a hijacking. He's crazy.
KELLY: Let me tell you something. As I see it, he has the last laugh because his instincts were dead on. It wasn't real. It was going to become a big story. And nobody got hurt. So, they're great. Good for him.
KILMEADE: He's on the cover of every newspaper...
KELLY: Well, there you go.
KILMEADE: ... from The Daily Mail to The New York Post.
KELLY: Speaking of weird behavior on planes, ponytail girl got in a lot of trouble. Tell us why.
KILMEADE: Well, here's the deal. This woman had a ponytail flipped over the back of the seat. You're about to see the picture. And it's blocking the TV screen.
KELLY: This is so wrong.
KILMEADE: A reporter from The Boston Globe was there and takes this picture. He says "I can't believe this," no one is moving the ponytail and this person is force to watch the TV through the ponytail.
KELLY: So rude.
KILMEADE: Well, this picture goes viral. As everyone just can't believe and marveled at how oblivious this woman is. I'm not a ponytail wearer and never have been. I didn't know you can't feel the ponytail.
KELLY: You know what?
KILMEADE: I didn't know you didn't know.
KELLY: You can. You can feel the ponytail. Let me tell you. She's lucky that like Gutfeld that wasn't sitting behind her. Because the next thing you know she looks like this, she has this hair.
KILMEADE: It's cut. Good something like that. So, that's the story that come. Well, The Boston Globe reporter said I feel so sad, I write great stories that's supposed to reveal things and one photo gets more traction than everything he does...
(CROSSTALK)
KELLY: Because he get irritated by people's rudeness especially in public places. It's happened to all of us.
KILMEADE: America likes the trivial.
KELLY: Well, and honestly, like, the coarsening of our culture. And she is an example of that ponytail girl. Sweep it around the side. Sweep it around the side. They're on the side is the way to go when you have that long Soviet hotness.
KILMEADE: I did not know. Right. You put it with Soviet hotness?
KELLY: That's what I call it. Because you watch The Americans, the greatest show on television.
KILMEADE: Right.
KELLY: Well, that's how the lead character wears her hair over here.
KILMEADE: I was thinking Pocahontas.
KELLY: I was channeling that for a while and then, you know.
KILMEADE: I didn't know. And then it's gone.
KELLY: And then I needed to lose 10 pounds and didn't want to dye it so I did it this way. Brian, great to see you.
KILMEADE: It's great to see you. Welcome back from vacation. You've been gone, like a month.
KELLY: Thank you. Is that how it felt?
KILMEADE: It really felt like a month.
KELLY: That's me.
KILMEADE: Don't go away again.
KELLY: Fine.
Up next, Seven of Nine.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KELLY: So, the guys on my crew are big fans of "Star Trek." And apparently of Seven of Nine. And they saw something tonight. What do you think? What do you think? Taking your comments. Facebook.com/thekellyfile. See you at the convention in September.
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