President Trump vs. the intelligence community

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President Trump vs. the intelligence community

Brennan, Clapper hit back after being criticized by the president; reaction on 'The Story.'

This is a rush transcript from "The Story," November 13, 2017. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

MARTHA MACCALLUM, HOST: So, President Trump calls out the former Obama intelligence team, and it gets pretty ugly. The president calls former CIA Director John Brennan and former head of National Intelligence Jim Clapper, "political hacks." He believes that many in the agencies have become politicized and that they're using the Russia investigation to achieve political goals. The two were offended, they went on TV to defend themselves.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BRENNAN, FORMER DIRECTOR, CIA: He was referring to us as political hacks because he was trying to delegitimize the intelligence community assessment has done. Secondly, I feel very honored to be associated with Clapper and Comey in the same category. And considering the source of the criticism, I consider that criticism a badge of honor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: Brennan and Clapper then went on to say that the president is "being played" by Vladimir Putin and President Xi. So, is it wise or is it wrong for these former U.S. militaries and CIA officials to criticize the sitting president while he's overseas, and the discussion at that moment with foreign leaders. They believe it is "a badge of honor." So, is it? Tony Shaffer and Ambassador John Bolton join us with their take on this in moments. But we begin with Trace Gallagher, live and in our West Coast Newsroom tonight. Hi, Trace.

TRACE GALLAGHER, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Martha. It wasn't just the former spy chiefs under President Obama, James Clapper, and John Brennan, who criticized President Trump's statements on Vladimir Putin. GOP Senator John McCain also expressed concerns that the president accepted Putin's word over the consensus by U.S. intelligence community that Russia meddled in the election. But what Mr. Trump set aboard Air Force One is this, quoting: "Every time he sees me," meaning Vladimir Putin, "he says, I didn't do that, and I believe, I really believe that when he tells me that, he means it."

But the audio wasn't released and our chief correspondent John Roberts, who heard the interview says, the president's voice inflection is very important because it's clear the president is not saying he believes Putin, he saying he believes Putin means it when he says he didn't do it. The president later clarified his remarks by issuing his clearest comment yet that he agrees with U.S. intelligence. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I believe that he feels that he and Russia did not meddle in the election. As to whether I believe it or not, I'm with our agencies, especially as currently constituted with their leadership. I believe in our intel agencies, our intelligence agencies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: The president went on to say it's important to get along with Russia and China, especially as it relates to North Korea. Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper calls the president naive. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES CLAPPER, FORMER DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: I think it's very naive, and, again, in fact, perilous to this country to make an assumption that Russia is going to behave with the best interest of the world, or certainly the United States in mind, they're not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GALLAGHER: Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, responded by saying the president is not getting played, he is simply trying to get Russia on board with our strategy. Martha.

MACCALLUM: Trace, thank you very much. Joining me now, Retired Lieutenant Colonel Tony Shaffer, is a CIA Trained Intel Operative; John Bolton is former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and a Fox News contributor. Gentlemen, welcome. You know, this struck me when I watch this play out yesterday. I mean, everyone, of course, is entitled to their opinion, but to watch this unfold while the president was in the middle of these, you know, diplomatic discussions overseas was interesting, to say the least. Tony.

LT. COL. TONY SHAFFER, FORMER TRAINED INTEL OPERATIVE FOR CIA: Well, Martha, you're completely correct. I mean, these guys are behaving like apparatchiks trying to undermine the government to create a Soviet Union -- it's evil. Look, Jim Clapper is the last guy to be talking about someone being fooled. I briefed that man into an operation that only 10 people know about, and at the end of the briefing, he looked at me like he had no idea what room he was in. This is completely insane. These people are being not only disloyal, they're being destructive. People -- they're actually involved, as far as I can tell, in a campaign to disrupt everything.

Clapper, Comey, Brennan all testified there was no hack. What President Trump said, to clarify the issue regarding Putin was that, yes, there were three agencies and one DNI who said that it was hacked; he's got his current guys in there right now. Martha, I talked to the current folks. They are very much aware of the Russian threat, but to the president's point, we cannot go around trying to poke people in the eye for what happened last year when we are now aware and we need to hold them accountable, but we have other things we have to do. Remember, President Obama himself admitted that he ignored this threat and these two guys allowed them to do that.

MACCALLUM: John Bolton, what do you think?

JOHN BOLTON, FORMER AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: Well, I think it's the end of a long trend for the country that's been very destructive to see the heads of our intelligence agencies in the news so much. I really think the entire intelligence community has got to close the door behind them and go back into the shadows. I think it's wrong in, this sense, to have supposedly career officials out in public like this.

I think as many people in the military have said just because you become a civilian when you retire from the military, it impairs the civil-military relationship to become a public figure. I think much the same applies to the intelligence agencies, especially when you're dealing with military figures. So, I think this incident is regrettable, but I'm afraid it comes at the end of a long series of episodes of people doing this kind of thing.

MACCALLUM: Yes. I mean, you look back at the period under which these two gentlemen ran their organizations. And, Tony, in your opinion, how was their record in terms of handling, you know, other country's leadership being -- having a good understanding of what the dynamics were?

SHAFFER: Well, that was the issue. As I mentioned, President Obama himself acknowledged that he ignored this threat. These men, in turn, did not do their job to say, Mr. President, you really need to take this seriously. Look, John Brennan, as far as I'm concerned, should've been at least twice brought up on charges, for one thing, he leaked to reporters before when he was still working at the White House, President Obama, leaked information to the press that resulted in MI-6 losing a critical humid net in Yemen.

This is no small thing. And as my information, he's done other things before he left office to leak to the media to The New York Times in particular. So, he has no record to stand on, and as John's point is. I believe that these men have become political ponds in a larger political game. They don't like -- they don't want to walk away. They missed having the authority they did. But during the time they had the authority, Martha, they abused it badly as far as I can tell.

MACCALLUM: Ambassador, what about the notion from James Clapper that the president is being played by Vladimir Putin and President Xi? Do you think there's anything to that?

BOLTON: I don't think so. I think, you know, next perhaps General Clapper will become a shrink. I mean, listen, these opinions are not based on contact with the president. They're based on their reading of the political atmosphere. And I think it's reflective of the sad and very unfortunate politicization of the intelligence community under the Obama administration, and not necessarily gross things like distorting specific facts or adding in facts, it's the ideology that they carried out. Remember, General Clapper once said the Muslim Brotherhood was "a largely secular organization." That was the Obama administration ideology that radical Islam doesn't exist. That's not based on intelligence, that's based on ideology, and they were guilty of it and they're just continuing it in these public statements.

MACCALLUM: You know, what about the interaction between Vladimir Putin and the president, Tony, in terms of him saying that you know, he believes that Vladimir Putin believes that they weren't involved?

SHAFFER: Well, Putin is -- look, the Russians set up tripwires, Martha, for both political parties last year. They meddled. Nobody is denying that. The issue is obviously, we've got to hold the Russians to a certain level of -- Russians are going to do what the Russians are going to do. They've done this always back to the Cold War. So, the president is, I think, responding correctly. We've got a deal with them in Syria. We've got to deal with them on North Korea.

We've got to convince them that there are some areas that we have to cooperate on, at the same time understand that they're up to no good; they will do whatever they can to undermine what we're doing. It's just the way they operate. We have to have the relationship with our eyes open, but with some level of the idea of what we want to do with that relationship.

MACCALLUM: Gentlemen, thank you very much, good to see you both tonight.

BOLTON: Thank you.

SHAFFER: Thank you.

MACCALLUM: So, coming up next, it looks like the tables have turned.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I will destroy all of this.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: Did you catch this? We're going to show it to you in a moment. The Democrats, now the ones getting roasted on Saturday Night Live as old and out of touch -- ouch! Will the party's leadership finally take a look at this, and maybe decide that they need to make some changes? Who should be the new face of the Democratic Party? Charles Hurt and Zac Petkanas, join me, coming up next.

Plus, the pressure is building on Capitol Hill on the hour. Republicans have their work cut out for them on the tax reform bill over which there is a tremendous amount of haggling and some dikes that spurting some water in different places. We're going to show you what's going on. The brand new opposition, not from the Democrats, but from Republicans on this, and it does threaten the future of tax reform.

Also, despite the empty stands -- near empty. I mean, looking pretty lean last night in some places. The NFL Commissioner, Roger Goodell, says there's not going to be any changes to stop players from protesting the national anthem. It's not the only comment that he has said that made fans furious, what? According to the reports, $15 million a year. Governor Mike Huckabee is fired up about that, and he joins me in a little bit. Stay tuned, we'll be right back with more story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The flight gets disgraced in this country, I'll be the first one who's there. I'll fight for that flag.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONNA BRAZILE, FORMER CHAIR, DNC: I think, I hope I contribute to the healing of our party. I want us to run campaigns in all 50 states. And if my book allows us to run campaigns in all 50 states, great. If my book allows us to invest in candidates and down-ballot races in Kansas and Georgia, Montana, great.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: Donna Brazile wants to heal the Democratic Party, so will she be part of the future that could include Joe Biden? Even "SNL" is calling out the Democratic Party for being short on new faces, and even perhaps worse, questions now as to whether the Clinton Campaign broke campaign finance law in their dealings with the DNC. A lot of news on this front tonight. Fox News Chief Correspondent -- National Correspondent, Ed Henry, joins me now from the White House with the backstory on that tonight. Hi, Ed.

ED HENRY, FOR NEW CHANNEL CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Martha, good to see you. It was nothing short of a political earthquake when President Trump shocked the world by writing to victory on that vow to drain the swamp. The tremors, still being felt in both political parties with establishment Republicans like Bob Corker and Jeff Flake heading for the exits, others feuding with Steve Bannon. But the real tremors are being felt on the Democratic side of the aisle were Hillary Clinton has simply refused to leave the stage one year later, making it difficult for her party to rebuild with a new generation of leaders.

And while you heard Donna Brazile there tell MSNBC she wants to help lead the healing of her party, her new book has torn some liberals apart with the revelations about the Democratic National Committee appearing to collude with the Clinton Camp. And some conservative lawyers pushing for the Justice Department to investigate whether the effort to tilt the Democratic nomination away from Senator Bernie Sanders was more than just unethical.

Republican Attorneys Cleta Mitchell and (INAUDIBLE) -- today writing in The Wall Street Journal that the law does not "allow a single candidate to control a political party's operations and expenditures." And the memo signed by the Clinton Camp allowed them full access to all research work and tools paid for by the DNC "despite Federal Election Commission Regulations that prohibit private sharing such research with the candidate without either reporting the cause as an in-kind contribution or having other disclosures."

Then, there's the fact that even the notoriously liberal "Saturday Night Live" on MSNBC, this weekend took aim at the advancing age of the Democratic leaders. And as if on cue, this morning, former Vice President Joe Biden, turning 75 next week, went on NBC's Today show to say he may be running yet again.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You love our fresh and new ideas delivered by fresh, new faces like me, Nancy Pelosi.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And me, Dianne Feinstein.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And me, Chuck Schumer.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And we also have some great new leaders waiting in the wings like hot young thing Elizabeth Warren, and also, that's right --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's Biden time!

JOE BIDEN, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT: I'm not closing the door. Look, I've been around too long. I mean, I with great respect to having faith, and, but who knows what situation is going to be a year and a half from now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: Now, in January 2021, Joe Biden would be 78, Hillary Clinton would be 73 -- and to be fair, President Trump would be 74. Martha.

MACCALLUM: 7o is the new 50, though.

(LAUGHTER)

MACCALLUM: Keep that in mind, Ed. Thank you very much.

HENRY: That would be best.

MACCALLUM: So, here with more, Charlie Hurt joins us now, Political Columnist at The Washington Times and a Fox News Contributor; and Zac Petkanas a former Senior DNC Advisor who worked also on the Hillary Clinton campaign. Welcome, guys, good to see both of you. I want to get to, sort of, the news side of it, and then I want to talk about the cultural effect of the SNL sketch and Joe Biden.

But Zac, let me start with you with this Wall Street Journal story, which basically says that Hillary Clinton's group basically monopolized the funds of the DNC, and didn't, like, sort of, adhere to the idea that everybody puts their money in and it becomes sort of a common pot of money. And that that could mean that she could face some issue -- some concerns that they broke federal election law.

ZAC PETKANAS, FORMER SENIOR ADVISOR, DNC: I mean, the only thing that The Wall Street Journal piece proved is that The Wall Street Journal has no idea about campaign finance laws. If they -- if the Hillary Clinton Campaign broke the law, then Donald Trump broke the law, then Roy Moore when he signed an agreement with the RSC, they broke the law as well in addition to being a pedophile. So, I think that's the only I really worried about: the stupidity coming from The Wall Street Journal.

MACCALLUM: Charlie?

CHARLIE HURT, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR AND POLITICAL COLUMNIST AT THE WASHINGTON TIMES: You know, I don't know how dumb you think people are, Zachary, but, you know, the point of campaign finance laws is to govern how candidates -- how much control candidates have over the finances that come into their campaigns. The idea -- the fact that the Democratic National Committee chairman, herself, said that she couldn't write a press release under the DNC name without permission from the Hillary Clinton campaign means that Hillary Clinton was controlling not only her own campaign but all of the money -- the big money that was coming into the DNC.

MACCALLUM: All right. You know what, you guys are going to agree to disagree on this one but -- hang on one second, I do want to bring you some breaking news.

HURT: But let me -- let me just finish.

MACCALLUM: Go ahead, Charlie, finish a thought, then I want to show you the breaking news.

HURT: But what does it say about Democrats that they're having a hard time beating a pedophile in Alabama?

PETKANAS: I mean, there are three polls that just came out and said we're ahead. So, what does it say about a party who nominates and sticks by a pedophile?

HURT: Well, congratulations.

(LAUGHTER)

HURT: That's great.

MACCALLUM: All right. We know the charges, and we know what's going on there. We're going to talk about in just a moment. But I do want to bring you this, because we just got this information a few moments ago, Jeff Sessions has now opened the door to the possibility of a special counsel on the Uranium One story, and on Hillary Clinton scandal with regard to the Clinton Foundation and the e-mails, and all of what surrounds that. Concerned about that, Zac?

PETKANAS: I mean, look -- I mean, what this shows is that we have yet again another attempt by this administration to undermine the Russia investigation and throw up smoke to try to distract people from what's actually going on as indictments are coming down, as people are going to jail, and as we expect more indictments to come down as well. This so- called scandal has been debunked so many times from fact-checkers. I mean, time after time, after time.

MACCALLUM: Charlie, do you want to respond to that?

HURT: You know, you know, Donna Brazile can kind of try to cut back some of her comments talking about the Hillary Clinton campaign rigged the election, the DNC rigged the election last year. But the fact remains if you listen to the things that she said and the accusations she leveled, it's clear that the system was rigged. And Donald Trump became president, and did the statesmanlike thing, and decided, you know, I'm not going to try to prosecute these things, I'm not going to prosecute my old enemies. But I think it's becoming very clear that so much of the crimes and bad things that the Clintons did, Hillary Clinton did, the Clinton Campaign did, that maybe he was being too generous, and maybe these things are serious enough that we should start --

MACCALLUM: They're going to give us another hearing and another look. Jeff Sessions is going to testify before Congress tomorrow morning. So, no doubt a lot of this is going to come up. And they released this evening, that they are open to the idea of another special counsel. With regard to "Saturday Night Live," I mean, this is pretty interesting in terms of the way they went after all of those individuals and even Hillary Clinton. Look at this one from the end of that bet -- let's play the Hillary Clinton part.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We won't stop now because we need another path for our country.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Another vision for America.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Another chance for me, Hillary Rodham Clinton. Just one more chance. And maybe one more chance after that.

(LAUGHTER)

MACCALLUM: She laughs. One more chance, Zac, and Joe Biden in the wings according to potential interviews -- according to the interviews that he did this morning. What do you think about it?

PETKANAS: Here are things I know: I know Hillary Clinton is not going to run again, and I know that we have an incredibly dynamic party with a very deep bench of people of all different ages and experiences from Kamala Harris to Cory Booker, to Jason Kander, to Elizabeth Warren and others, who are not old, they just have years of wisdom gained.

MACCALLUM: Charlie, significance that "SNL" is going after the Democrats now?

HURT: I think it's an obvious target, and it's a very easy target. I mean, Joe Biden has been with us for -- he's been in Washington for 44 years, and Bernie Sanders is a spring chicken, but he's also a communist.

MACCALLUM: We'll leave it there.

(LAUGHS)

MACCALLUM: Thanks, you guys, good to see you! So, those are the options. Coming up tonight, we have this as well: at least five big-name senators in just the last hour calling for Roy Moore to step down in the Alabama senate race as a new person has come forward to accuse him of inappropriate behavior decades ago. Judge Napolitano weighs in on this huge controversy and the pushback from some in the party as well.

Also, tonight, the final details on tax reform being hammered out on Capitol Hill to get the plan up for a vote by the end of this week. Everybody wants a tax cut, right? Nobody is going to say no to that. Republicans promised it, so can they deliver? Congressman Pete King wants to make sure that they do what they promised they would do, coming up next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI, D-CALIF., HOUSE MINORITY LEADER: The Republican leadership is asking their members to walk the plank.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACCALLUM: Breaking news, moments ago, as it continues to pile on in terms of Judge Roy Moore. This now, coming from Ted Cruz, who did support Roy Moore. Now tonight, just revealed, I am not able to urge the people of Alabama to support his candidacy so long as these allegations remain unrefuted. So, more on that situation in just a moment.

Also breaking tonight, critical week, as you know for tax cuts. The Senate Finance Committee begins their markup today of the tax cuts bill, which as it stands right now has some very stark differences from the House version. It also appears to have a better chance of passage overall, at least that's the latest take on it. They're going to bring the vote in the House on Thursday. However, a key sticking point is: are you going to get to deduct our state and local taxes? That's one of the big issues in some of the most populous states in the country. Here with some answers, New York Republican Congressman Peter King. Congressman, welcome, good to have you here tonight.

REP. PETER KING, R-N.Y.: Thank you, Martha.

MARTHA: I want to start with this, I understand that you wrote a letter to try open negotiations on this, did you get any response to that?

KING: No, we haven't gotten any response, but tonight there is a meeting at the Whip -- Steve Scalise has called after 9:00 in his office; he's invited the New York delegation, so I will be there to see if they're going to have any negotiation or if they'll just explain the bill the way it currently is. But as it currently is, I cannot vote for it, because what it does: it takes away most of the property tax deductions, and all the state income tax deduction and that would be devastating to people in my district -- middle and upper-middle-income people -- who are, by the way, the backbone of Trump supporters. Because I have a Democrat a district and voted twice for Obama, but nine points; but Donald Trump has had a 14-point turnaround.

MACCALLUM: So, do you think -- I mean, if they hadn't responded to you, say, now that you've heard from Steve Scalise. But do you get the feeling that they don't really care about your district at this point? That they think it's blue and they're not going to worry about those areas of the country? New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Illinois, California?

KING: If there is a political decision made, it is certain to benefit the red states at the expense of the blue. Now, Steve is a great guy, so he does care. But I don't see how they can get me to vote no, because again, up until now, we spoke maybe several times, and there's been no counteroffer at all. There's nothing on the table right now, and it would really -- it would actually result, I believe strongly, in a tax increase for many people in my district. And these are not high-end people.

MACCALLUM: You know, that's what I wanted to ask you, Congressman King: give me an example of somebody who's considered, you know, upper-middle- class in your district.

KING: Yes, I know this sounds like a lot to the rest of the country, but if you are a police officer, and schoolteacher, firefighter, construction worker, you can be a husband and wife working together, especially if one of them has a second job, they could have an income over $300,000. But our property taxes and state income taxes would come to at least between 25 and $30,000, the cost of living is much higher.

And for them to lose that deduction, and in addition to that lose other deductions such as the personal exemptions, which comes to $18,000 for a family of four, that ends up definitely being a tax increase for them -- and that's wrong. And these are, again, are not wealthy people; they're hard-working people, and they're very high cost part of the country. Again, if they want to do this -- indexing, maybe, I mean, some states you can buy a mansion for $100,000. In my district you would need a half a million just to get started.

MACCALLUM: Very true. Congressman King, thank you. Always good to see you...

KING: Thank you.

MACCALLUM: ... thanks for coming in tonight. So let's speak now with Marc Lotter former special assistant to President Trump, and press secretary to Vice President Pence, he joins us now. Marc, this is the problem with this bill, because you have people like the couple that was just described by Congressman King, who certainly do not consider themselves wealthy and, in fact, would probably have to cut back dramatically on buying a new car, or building another house, or expanding. They're spending would have to be cut back under this plan, how was that good?

MARC LOTTER, FORMER SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, one of the things that the plan does is it doubles the standard deduction, or nearly doubles at $224,000 from the current level, so that helps offset some of those losses. And let's remember, too, for the vast majority, about 80 percent of the people who benefit from the deductions of the state and local income tax deductions are making six figures. Now that might impact some folks there in some high tax states and some high-cost states.

(CROSSTALK)

LOTTER: But on the other side, you also have to turn around and look to a state where I am from, which is Indiana, that's very low-cost, low taxes. What you're actually now doing is you would be impacting the ability to cut their taxes, because we're offsetting the tax and the high taxes of other state and local governments that are not...

MACCALLUM: I get it. But what you're telling those Republicans in all of those blue states is that they're actually -- they're not going to get a tax cut. They're considered rich when they know, you know, they do their own checkbook every night, they never imagined that they would have a house, senate, and president, all Republican, and that their taxes were going to go higher in that scenario.

LOTTER: Well, what you're looking at right now that was part of the legislative process. The house has a $10,000 deduction for property taxes in their proposal. The senate doesn't. At the end of the day, the house will vote on their bill today, or this week. The senate will come back next week after thanksgiving and vote on theirs. And then the two sides will hash out the final details on an agreement that can pass both chambers, but that's one of the areas that they're going to have to definitely address. The house does make an attempt of doing it, the senate does not. And I have faith they'll get there at the end.

MACCALLUM: You know, I think a lot of those people wonder why staying at 1.5 trillion has to kind of be on their backs, and why they can't have spending cuts, why the government can't find any other way than to take the money out of their pockets. Why not take it out of some of the bureaucracy in Washington and drain the swamp and save some money that way?

LOTTER: Well, these are two separate processes. So under the senate rules, you're capped at $1.5 trillion over the ten years before the taxes, you can deal with the other stuff on the budget side in a separate bill, and you know that the Republicans will do that. The president introduced a budget blueprint that was definitely shrinking the size of government earlier this year when he introduced that. So all of those things do go together. This is going to be one of those areas, especially when it deals with state and local income tax -- state and local tax deductions that is definitely have to be something that's going to be...

(CROSSTALK)

MACCALLUM: I remember the doctor fixed in the health care bill, so I'm wondering if there's a suburban fix coming in this tax bill, but we're going to talk about a lot tomorrow night. Marc, thank you very much, good to have you here.

LOTTER: Thank you.

MACCALLUM: So tomorrow night, do not miss our tax reform town hall. We're going to ask these questions and more to House Speaker Paul Ryan, who'll be there live. We're going to have a live audience and they're going to ask a lot of question as well. It's going to be fascinating. We will be in Northern Virginia, Bret Baier and myself. We will speak to Speaker Ryan about the path forward here, what the bill actually looks like, and what it means for you and your family. Plus, Virginia voters will take their questions, as I said, straight to the speaker. It gets started at 6:00 tomorrow night, 30 minute "Special report," one hour town hall, 30 minute addition of "The Story." So we're looking forward to that, join us tomorrow night for that.

Coming up next, the NFL anthem protest reversed as fans are now the ones making a political statement turning away from football stadiums across the country in droves last night. Governor Mike Huckabee has some advice for the NFL and the dying brand straight ahead. And also tonight, a growing number of GOP leaders say that if Roy Moore wins in Alabama, they may move to banish him from the senate. It's been hundreds of years, at least 100 years, I think, the judge is going to tell us in a moment since that has happened. Judge Andrew Napolitano coming up next with the answer when we come back with more of "The Story."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNINDENTIFIED MALE: I believe the women, yes.

UNINDENTIFIED MALE: The Republican Party and the leader of the Republican Party are cowards.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACCALLUM: So we've got a lot of breaking news tonight. Senator Ted Cruz just moments ago dropped his support for embattled Snate candidate Roy Moore in the wake of even more allegations of sexual abuse. Cruz saying, quote, I'm not able to urge the people of Alabama to support his candidacy as long as these allegations remain unrefuted. He's just the latest on a growing list of Republican lawmakers calling for Moore to step aside. Twenty nine days ago before that election, and now there's word of a plan that is being hatched on Capitol Hill to oust him if he wins the race. Ellison Barber in D.C. with the latest political fallout today. Hi, Ellison.

ELLISON BARBER, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Martha. The calls to step down are growing, and as you said, they are quickly growing. Arizona senator Jeff Flake just tweeted that if the choice is Roy Moore or the Democrat, he would vote for the Democrat. At least eight Republican senators are explicitly saying Moore needs to drop out of the race.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNINDENTIFIED MALE: But he should not be a United States senator. Whatever it requires.

UNINDENTIFIED MALE: For the good of yourself, your family and your state, step aside.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARBER: Today, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called on Moore to step aside, as did Lindsey Graham, Susan Collins, Jeff Flake, Todd Young and Chuck Grassley. Senator John McCain first called on Moore to step out of the race on Thursday. And then, Senator Mike Lee, Steve Daines and Bill Cassidy hold their support this weekend. The NRSC chairman, Senator Cory Gardner says Moore should not run, and if he wins he should be expelled from the senate. Moore is accused of making inappropriate sexual advances on at least five women when they were in their teens and Moore was in his 30's. Moore denies the allegations. He says they're a political witch hunt, and now he is threatening legal action against the Washington Post, the paper that first broke the story. Reporters at the post said they spoke to over 30 people, including four accusers, a fifth accuser, Beverly Young Nelson spoke out today. She says Moore sexually assaulted her when she was 15 years old. Nelson says Moore offered to drive her home from work, but instead of taking her home the then-district attorney parked his car near a dumpster and began touching her chest.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNINDENTIFIED FEMALE: I tried fighting him off, while yelling at him to stop. But instead of stopping he began squeezing my neck, attempting to force my head onto his crotch. He said you're just a child and he said I'm the district attorney of Etowah County. And if you tell anyone about this no one will ever believe you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARBER: Moore has a lot of support in Alabama, but even if Republicans wanted to replace him on the ballot, they can't. The deadline already passed. Expulsion, which is what Cory Gardner suggested, it's a rare move, two-thirds of the senate would need to vote in favor of it. According to senate records, the last time a senator was expelled it was 1862. The ethics committee recommended expulsion for Senator Bob Packwood back in '95, but Packwood resigned one day after that recommendation. Martha?

MACCALLUM: Ellison, thank you very much. Fox News senior judicial analysist, Judge Andrew Napolitano. So if the people of Alabama elect him senator, can they push him out?

ANDREW NAPOLITANO, FOX NEWS SENIOR JUDICIAL ANALYSIST: Well, the short answer is no. If he's elected senator, congress can't add to the qualifications in the constitution, there's only two, that he's 30 years old and that he's a resident of the state from which he's elect. So they can't add the following. You shall have behaved properly, unlawfully, throughout your life before you're in the senate, so they have to see him. Can they expel him from the senate for something he is alleged to have done before he was in the senate? There's no precedent for that whatsoever. In the history of the United States congress, no one has been expelled from the house or the senate for something they did before they were in congress. The rules contemplate expulsion only for behavior while in congress. So I think the Republicans will be stuck with him. And Jeff Flake may have come up with a more desirable solution, defend the rights of women, condemn this behavior, because the allegations appear to be more credible than the denial, and lived with the Democrat.

MACCALLUM: Mitch McConnell and Steve Bannon have found something else to the -- heads about. Watch these two comparisons.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNINDENTIFIED MALE: Do you believe these allegations to be true?

UNINDENTIFIED MALE: I believe the women, yes. I think he should step aside.

UNINDENTIFIED MALE: Why don't we get the Republican Party to back off? OK? Where is the leadership of Mitch McConnell, or where's the leadership of Paul? Do know what it is? Is just like Billy Bush weekends. It's like this thing down there with Judge Moore. It's just like on this. They're petrified of the opposition party.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NAPOLITANO: So he is sending a signal to his candidate, Judge Moore. Stay the course, like Donald Trump did. He overcame the Billy Bush weekend, we've all remember that. It seems like everybody was deserting him at that point. He ended up, of course, getting elected as president. Stay the course and you'll get elected, you'll be seated, and they can't expel you. That's the message that's coming from Steve Bannon. So there's a lot of things at play here. There's Steve Bannon against Mitch McConnell. Steve Bannon against his former boss, the president of the United States. There is the fear on the part of the Republican establishment that they may lose the vote of married women, which they did lose in New Jersey and in Virginia just last week. And there's the belief that it might be better to have a Democrat in the senate making their majority at razor-thin, 51-49, but stand up for the rights of women.

MACCALLUM: Yeah. You know whenever there's one of these situations that's sort of, people hearken back to other times when people have been accused of awful things.

NAPOLITANO: Right.

MACCALLUM: And I thought this is interesting. Chelsea Handler tweeted this, and she was talking about Roy Moore, imagine being molested by an older man, then that man denies ever doing it, and then goes on and gets elected to the United States senate. What kind of message does that send to young girls everywhere? And then, to all the men who abuse women? So then, Juanita Broaddrick. Remember Juanita Broaddrick?

NAPOLITANO: Oh, yes.

MACCALLUM: Pipes in with this.

NAPOLITANO: This is an unbelievable answer.

MACCALLUM: She says, yeah, I can imagine. I was raped by the Arkansas A.G., who then became governor and president. NBC held my interview explaining the rape until after his impeachment hearing, but I'm sure you don't want to go there. Always a double standard.

NAPOLITANO: Well, you know, there's a lot to be read in there. It is all of this because he's a conservative Republican? Would he be treated differently if he has been a Bill Clinton liberal Democrat? We don't know the answer to that. But for the national Republican Party is in a mess right now over all of this. Jeff Sessions is not going to leave. The write-in campaign is not going to work. It's beginning to look more and more like it's either going to be Judge Moore, and he's going to for his seat, or it's going to be the Democrats. And then Chuck Schumer is one vote away from becoming the majority leader of the senate. Talk about a nightmare for Donald Trump.

MACCALLUM: You'll never know what's coming down the pipe, right? Quick question before I let you go. Jeff sessions, we just broke this news a few moments ago, has basically open the door to a special counsel on Uranium One and on the Clinton investigation.

NAPOLITANO: I think he needs to do that for two reasons. One, the evidence is there. And secondly, he's going to confront the house judiciary committee tomorrow. The Democrats are going to say, why didn't you tell everything you know about the Russians and the campaign? The Republicans are going to say, why don't you investigate the Hillary Clinton and Uranium One, and pick up the ball that Jim Comey dropped in Hillary's emails. While he's almost done with the Republicans want tonight, so he's going to have some defenders tomorrow, rather than being attacked at that committee hearing by both parties. Good move. It's a little late, but it's a good move.

MACCALLUM: Judge, thank you very much, we'll be watching tomorrow. Judge Andrew Napolitano.

NAPOLITANO: Good luck with that town hall. I'll be watching that.

MACCALLUM: It will be very interesting. All right. So coming up tonight, as the NFL remains in battle over controversial protest, the league's commissioner, Roger Goodell, reportedly making a huge request for salary and a private jet for life. According to the report. Governor Mike Huckabee weighs in on that coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACCALLUM: So it's Monday night -- are they going to show up and be fans for the NFL tonight after this scene? Look at this. I mean, look at it closely. There was a lot of empty seats out there last night. And this tweet from the Bears game that shows that image. Now a lot of fans protesting the NFL this weekend in the wake of their NFL protests, and over the Veterans Day weekend. So now there are reports though that given that scenario, Roger Goodell has requested almost $50 million a year in his new contract and a private jet for life, for the rest of his life as he negotiates. Here now, Mike Huckabee, who just flew in on his private jet, former governor of Arkansas and a Fox News contributor. So is he worth that money?

MIKE HUCKABEE, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: You know, Martha, let me ask you something, if your ratings tank and nobody was watching your show, fortunately they are in great numbers, but if they weren't, do you think Fox would renew your contract and say, hey, and we're going to give you a jet to go back and forth so nobody will watch you. The NFL is a business, and when you insult your customers and those customers go elsewhere to do their shopping, well, guess what? Your revenues are down, and you don't give people raises in the midst of that.

MACCALLUM: I thought it was very interesting, there was one comment on ESPN, you know, that people aren't talking about football anymore, they're talking about Roger Goodell, they're talking about Jerry Jones, they're talking about people not showing up, they're talking about taking a knee, you know, very little discussion about the game, and that's a big problem for them.

HUCKABEE: It's a huge problem. The fact is if people wanted politics, they'd just watch the Oscars. They don't want politics on Sunday afternoon, they want football. And they don't want somebody to lecture them on what they should feel. This is why this is so crazy, and they've allowed these players to protest on company time, wearing the costumes that are owned and paid for by the company. And look, if you want to protest, that's fine, but do it on the courthouse steps, or do it on the capitol steps, but don't do it at midfield, and certainly don't do it in disrespect for people in uniform or the flag.

MACCALLUM: Yeah. I did see a lot of very emotional players last night when they played the anthem. And there was a lot of military presence on that field, which was a very good thing on Veterans Day, and some of it was very well done. Switching gears in a big way. I know that you are friends with the pro-life activists Star Jones -- Star Parker, excuse me. I want to play this for you this background, this back and forth between her and Representative Steve Cohen of Tennessee, and then I want to get your thoughts on it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNINDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel it's disingenuous that the issues of Medicaid would come up, and other opportunities for us to re-address what has happened and broken down in our most distressed zip codes. Abortion is the leading cause of death in the black community today.

UNINDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not disingenuous about anything I say about Medicaid, or Medicare, or Life --, or snap programs. To suggest I'm disingenuous shows your ignorance, or your absolute inability to deal with congress people the way they should. I believe in those issues and I think they're proper. And to say I'm disingenuous is just wrong, and I expect an apology.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: She was very moving on this topic, governor. Your thoughts on that exchange?

HUCKABEE: Star is a person who's had an abortion in her early life, she was on welfare. She was a high school dropout. She turned her life around. If there's anybody in this country who can speak with authority, it's Star Parker. Cohen owes her an apology. And what is most tragic in all of this is that imagine if a Republican had said to an African-American woman what he said to her, tell me, would there not be cries for him to resign?

MACCALLUM: I'm sure you're right about that. Governor, thank you very much, always good to see you, Governor Mike Huckabee.

HUCKABEE: Thank you.

MACCALLUM: So still ahead, the emotional moment that you may have missed from the president's trip to Vietnam.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNINDENTIFIED MALE: It's an honor to be here as 1 of 7 Vietnam veterans representing the 58,000 heroes who never made it home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACCALLUM: A moving moment from President Trump's Asia tour. While he was in Vietnam, he met with seven Vietnam veterans, called them brave men, national treasures, and he thanked them for their service. Here's what the vets said in return.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNINDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you for your dedication to our military, our country, and we're all behind you in making America great again.

UNINDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you for your support of the military, and it's an honor to be here as 1 of 7 Vietnam veterans representing the 58,000 heroes who never made it home. Thank you so much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: So "The Story" tomorrow night goes to Virginia. We want to hear what you think about the tax cuts. Bret Baier and I will be at a town hall with Speaker Paul Ryan. Good questions, lots of info. Tucker is coming up next, see you tomorrow.

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