Bernie Sanders declares victory in chaotic Iowa caucuses

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Bernie Sanders declares victory in chaotic Iowa caucuses

Democratic presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg campaign in New Hampshire ahead of primary; Peter Doocy reports from Derry.

This is a rush transcript from "Special Report," February 6, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

BRET BAIER, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: I like the ferret with the Mohawk. All right. Thanks, Dana.

Good evening, welcome to Washington. I'm Bret Baier. BREAKING TONIGHT, we are covering two major stories, even more turmoil as hard as that is to be believed this evening among Democrats over the chaotic Iowa caucuses.

The head of the National Democratic Party wants a recanvass. The head of the state Democratic Party, says that request is not good enough to get it done. We'll explain.

Meanwhile, Republicans seem to be as united tonight as Democrats are divided. President Trump turned an expected impeachment victory lap into a marathon today, alternately praising his supporters and castigating his detractors in an hour-long stream of consciousness performance, ending with thanks for all who stuck with him, including his family.

Also tonight, the top Democrat in Congress says it's imperative the country have a new president next year and called Tuesday's State of the Union speech, a copy. Of which she dramatically tore up, a manifesto of mistruth.

The president called Speaker Pelosi, an evil person today. Chief White House correspondent John Roberts, starts us off on this evening. Just another one from the North Lawn. John?

JOHN ROBERTS, FOX NEWS CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Around here, Bret, we call that Thursday. There was a lot of pent up frustration and relief that came to a head here at the White House today. The president calling together his legal team, his staff, and his supporters in Congress to say thank you, and to give a big raspberry to his opponents who have been trying to take him down.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It was all bullshit.

ROBERTS: After two years of the Mueller investigation and nearly six months of impeachment, President Trump today took to the East Room to unload and declare victory.

TRUMP: I never thought a word would sound so good. It's called total acquittal.

ROBERTS: The President thanked his Republican colleagues, all but one of whom stood by him, and took sharp aim at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Manager Adam Schiff.

TRUMP: Adam Schiff is a vicious, horrible person. Nancy Pelosi is a horrible person. It was the second time in just a few hours that President Trump, rip the Speaker. At the National Prayer Breakfast with Pelosi looking on, the president scorched her and Mitt Romney.

TRUMP: I don't like people who use their faith as justification for doing what they know is wrong. Nor do I like people who say, I pray for you when they know that that's not so.

ROBERTS: At her weekly news conference, this Speaker fired right back.

PELOSI: He's impeached forever, no matter what he says or whatever headlines he wants to carry around, you're impeached forever. You're never getting rid of that scar.

ROBERTS: Pelosi also defended ripping up her copy of the president's State of the Union speech.

PELOSI: It's necessary to get the attention of the American people to say this is not true, and this is how it affects you. That was not a State of the Union. That was a state -- his state of mind.

ROBERTS: In the East Room, President Trump predicted, Pelosi will soon be replaced by Kevin McCarthy.

TRUMP: You're going to be Speaker of the House because of this impeachment hoax.

ROBERTS: And while Mitt Romney was fully expecting it, the president letting him know, he's now an outsider.

TRUMP: And say hello to the people of Utah, and tell him I'm sorry about Mitt Romney.

BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Bringing this process to a conclusion.

ROBERTS: In his post acquittal speech, 21 years ago, President Clinton apologized to the nation.

CLINTON: I want to say again to the American people how profoundly sorry I am for what I said and did to trigger these events.

ROBERTS: For President Trump today, a different kind of apology.

TRUMP: I want to apologize to my family for having them have to go through a phony, rotten deal by some very evil and sick people.

ROBERTS: He prompted hugs from daughter Ivanka and First Lady Melania Trump. But the president predicting, his acquittal likely won't end it. That his opponents will be back for more.

TRUMP: But I've beaten them all my life. And I'll beat them again if I have to.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTS: There was no effort for a reconciliation with Nancy Pelosi today. In fact, exactly the opposite. There was an appeal from the president for bipartisanship, saying that if Democrats and Republicans could come together in Congress, they could get some incredible things done. Bret.

BAIER: We'll see. John, thanks.

"BREAKING TONIGHT", chaos at the caucuses. We still do not have final results from Monday's kickoff to the presidential selection process. Right now, with 96 percent of the precincts reporting, Mayor Pete Buttigieg holds a razor-thin margin over Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. That's in the delegates. However, Sanders leads in the popular vote.

The Democratic Party's top official wants a recanvass of the whole thing. His counterpart in Iowa appears to be resisting. All of this happens as the candidates focus on Tuesday's primary in New Hampshire.

We have "FOX TEAM COVERAGE". Peter Doocy in Derry, New Hampshire, shows us what the contenders are doing today.

First up, though, senior correspondent Mike Tobin in Des Moines, where confusion still reigns. Good evening, Mike.

MIKE TOBIN, FOX NEWS SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Good evening, Bret. Of things were convoluted enough, the chairman of the Iowa Party and the chairman of the National Party are now conflicting.

Just after 11:00 a.m., a tweet from Tom Perez, the chairman of the DNC read, "Enough is enough. In light of the problems that have emerged in the implementation of the delegate selection plan and in order to assure public confidence in results, I am calling on the Iowa Democratic Party to immediately begin to recanvass."

Now, this follows reports of human error in the precincts on caucus night. Of paper records being sent by snail mail and a reliance on a smartphone app, which had not been subject to stringent testing.

The chairman of Iowa's Democratic Party responded that they need to finish the original caucus tally, and request for a recanvassing, needs to come from the campaigns.

Part of the statement from Troy Price, reads, "Should any presidential campaign in compliance with the Iowa Delegate Selection Plan request to recanvass, the Iowa Democratic Party is prepared.

Senator Bernie Sanders, says Iowa voters are getting the short end of this deal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: That screw up has been extremely unfair to the people of Iowa. It has been unfair to the candidates -- all of the candidates and all of their supporters.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TOBIN: The Buttigieg campaign, says from their perspective, nothing changes. They have enough momentum moving forward. Bret.

BAIER: Mike Tobin, live in Des Moines. Mike, thanks. Both Senator Sanders and Mayor Pete are in New Hampshire tonight, where they are just days away from the first in the nation primary. They are both, as you heard, claiming victory in Iowa.

Meanwhile, former Vice President Joe Biden is not in either state. He's in Delaware tonight. Correspondent Peter Doocy is in New Hampshire and has our story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANDERS: Wow!

PETER DOOCY, FOX NEWS GENERAL ASSIGNMENT REPORTER: Bernie Sanders is doing something he couldn't do in Des Moines.

SANDERS: So, what I want to do today, three days late, is to thank the people of Iowa for the very strong victory they gave us at the Iowa caucuses.

DOOCY: Sanders is the leader in Iowa's popular vote.

SANDERS: When 6,000 more people come out for you in an election. Then, your nearest opponent, we hear in Northern New England, call that a victory.

DOOCY: But Pete Buttigieg leads with state delegate equivalence, and says he won.

PETE BUTTIGIEG (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: To be fair to Senator Sanders, he and I as these numbers are coming in, are neck to neck. But, via, the vice president's quite a bit further behind.

DOOCY: Today, Joe Biden isn't campaigning anywhere. Last night, he spoke emotionally about helping young people overcome stuttering, the way he has.

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What I say to any -- anybody out there, and I need the people you work with, young people who stutter. I'll give you my phone number, not a joke.

DOOCY: Since Biden is off today, rivals are responding to recent attacks like Sanders.

BIDEN: I don't criticize as he calls himself a Democratic socialist.

SANDERS: Let me tell my good friend, Joe, that when we're dealing with somebody like Donald Trump, who lies all of the time, he will pin any label that he wants on any candidate.

DOOCY: And Buttigieg.

BIDEN: Is he really saying that Obama-Biden administration was a failure? Pete, just say it out loud.

BUTTIGIEG: The bulk of the credit for the achievements of the Obama administration belong with President Obama.

DOOCY: A Monmouth poll and a Boston Globe Suffolk University poll both find the top four, as Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg, Joe Biden, then, Elizabeth Warren.

Michael Bloomberg isn't competing here but may soon join the debate stage because of recent DNC rules changes. And if he does, the DNC might get an earful.

SANDERS: I think that, that is an absolute outrage and really unfair. People like Cory Booker or Julian Castro, or Tulsi Gabbard, who work really, really hard. They were excluded. But they are not multi- billionaires. That's wrong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DOOCY: Elizabeth Warren still has a lot of interest in New Hampshire Democrats turning out to see her. And the pressure is on because for months, rival campaigns have been telling us they are worried that Warren from next-door Massachusetts or Sanders from next-door Vermont could have a home-field advantage here in New Hampshire. Bret?

BAIER: All right, Peter, we'll see you this weekend. Thank you.

Let's bring in our panel early, Byron York, chief political correspondent, The Washington Examiner. Susan Page, Washington bureau chief at USA Today. And Tom Bevan, RealClearPolitics co-founder, and president.

OK, Susan. We didn't think it could get any stranger, but the fact that Tom Perez comes in today and throws another kind of wrench into this, what does this mean to you?

SUSAN PAGE, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, "USA TODAY": And that the Iowa Democratic chairman, says, no thanks.

BAIER: No, thanks.

PAGE: Yes, it's amazing. I think you should watch this closely because this isn't going to happen again, because Iowa is done. I cannot imagine that four years from now, Democrats allow there to be caucuses in Iowa to start off this process after these results.

And in fact, I think the party is moving away from caucuses. And generally, seem very archaic, they seem undemocratic. And the fact that counting them is so complicated that apparently it can't be done in the space of day after day, just unacceptable.

BAIER: Tom, we'll put up the RCP average since we're talking to the RealClearPolitics guy.

TOM BEVAN, CO-FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT, "REAL CLEAR POLITICS": OK.

BAIER: New Hampshire, Nevada, South Carolina. These are the three states coming up. And we saw some movement in the latest polls in New Hampshire. The Monmouth poll has Pete Buttigieg kind of bouncing up.

This is real issue for Joe Biden. And is that part of why the party establishment is throwing up the siren about Iowa?

BEVAN: Well, yes, look, Biden had a terrible performance. And if anything is probably helped obscure how bad it was. And the pressure is definitely on a New Hampshire. I mean, he cannot afford another -- he doesn't necessarily have to win. But he can't afford another fourth-place finish that's double digits behind the two leaders. And that looks to be kind of where he is right now.

You mentioned Pete Buttigieg has definitely got a bump out of this. Bernie Sanders has not really, his numbers are still -- is still solid up there. But I think he was really robbed off potentially.

And I -- you just sit there and you listen to Bernie talk about this. I mean, just imagine what Donald Trump would have done in the same situation. Bernie Sanders is sort of taking this, I think very, very well and very gentlemanly, probably not the way many of the supporters are feeling. And we'll see whether it cost him in the end.

BAIER: Well, in parties taking it well, because he's leading the popular vote which his campaign called for -- he called for after 2016.

BEVAN: Yes.

BAIER: But the whole Iowa thing, here is a Democrat running for president, talking about the reaction to it, Andrew Yang.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDREW YANG (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's going to be harder to convince Americans that we can entrust massive systems with government if we can't count votes on the same night in a way that's clear, transparent, and reliable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER: I heard from Democrat officials, that's a Republican talking point. This is Andrew Yang, he's a candidate.

BYRON YORK, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: The reason we're having all this trouble. The reason the DNC chairman got into this is, for the first time, the Iowa Democratic Party has had to release popular vote totals.

In the past, they kept them secret, and they just told you they calculated these delegate equivalents. And then, they announced that to the public, and we didn't know how many votes any candidate had gotten. And it was because it was very close between Bernie and Hillary Clinton in 2016.

The Sanders people pushed and pushed and pushed and forced this reform. And what it is done, it is open the curtain and shown a really, really messy project, much messier than we ever really thought.

BAIER: Meantime, Susan, there are now attacks head-on Mayor Bloomberg. Take listen. Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDERS: These worth $55 billion. And I guess if you're worth $55 billion, you can get the rules changed.

BUTTIGIEG: Part of the idea of, of the role of the early states, those South Carolina, Nevada, Iowa, where we just were in New Hampshire, where we are now, is to force candidates to actually have human contact. And that's so important precisely so that you can't just purchase the presidency by throwing money onto the airwaves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER: I mean, something tells me, we're going to hear more and more of that as the -- continues to dump in money, and they continue to do the honk and wave in New Hampshire,

PAGE: You know, he is pouring in unbelievable amounts of money and he's getting results. He's coming up in the polls in the Super Tuesday states. He may do something that no one's ever done before, which is skip those early states, come in late in the game, and take it away.

Especially if we -- if we continue to see Sanders doing well, when the first state popular vote likely to win New Hampshire, and Joe Biden continuing to falter. That is the scenario that Bloomberg was counting on to create an opening for him to come in on Super Tuesday, do well in California and other big states, and we have a race.

BAIER: You know, we're not talking about Elizabeth Warren neighboring state in fourth in this Monmouth poll. I mean that, that is not a great thing for her, she's down to 13 percent.

The POLITICO has a report saying that "A half dozen women of color have departed Elizabeth Warren's Nevada campaign in the run-up to the state's caucuses with complaints of a toxic work environment in which minorities felt tokenized and senior leadership was at loggerheads. The six staffers have left the roughly 70-person Nevada team since November, during a critical stretch for the race. Three of them said they felt marginalized by the campaign, a situation they said didn't change or worsened after they took their concerns to their superiors or on to human resources staff."

Josh Kraushaar, our friend, says, "Yikes. As bad as Biden's Iowa fall out is, arguable that Warren's in even worse shape, in fourth in a state next to her home state where voters know her well, and now this story raising serious questions about her viability in Nevada."

I mean, these stories are heading up.

BEVAN: Absolutely. And I agree with Josh. I mean, that was sort of underreport. If she has another week finish in New Hampshire, her campaign is done. While she has enough money to continue on, the path for her doesn't look very good as they head to --

BAIER: Which would then embolden Bernie Sanders.

BEVAN: Which would then -- absolute --

(CROSSTALK)

BAIER: One would think.

BEVAN: You would think that, that would -- some of her votes would certainly flow to Bernie Sanders. And I, I'm going to disagree with Susan a little bit in terms of Michael Bloomberg. He's risen in the national polls, but the last poll I saw at a California had him at four percent.

So, he's spending all this money and he's going to be spending even more, he's going to -- I think, hire 800 staffers, I think in California, sending letters to 2.5 million people. I'm not sure it's getting him where he needs to go, he may be wasting a lot of money.

If Biden falters, that creates more opportunity for him, but I'm not sure that the Michael Bloomberg scenario is going to play out.

PAGE: Although his goal seems not to be only to become president. That's obviously one of his goals, but he is committed to doing this even if he ends up not as a nominee, keeping his folks on staff, continuing to buy these huge amounts in T.V. ads.

And his T.V. ads have been interesting, and that they target Trump. They don't target the other Democrats. In this way. Bloomberg could be a factor regardless of whether he becomes a nominee.

BAIER: Well, especially, in a contested convention.

YORK: Yes, but the early contest do matter. I mean, if Biden does as badly in New Hampshire as he did in Iowa, that affects people in South Carolina. They see that and his standing goes down there. Early contest matter.

So, I still do not believe that a candidate can skip them all. And then come in, if you have a strong Bernie Sanders and a strong Pete Buttigieg, come in and say, well, that doesn't matter. Vote for me.

BAIER: Finally, someone who will not be the nominee, but I'm not sure she knows that yet, still popping up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: You've got to be responsible for what you say and what you say you're going to do. We need to rebuild trust in our fellow Americans and in our institutions.

And if you promised the moon and you can't deliver the moon, then that's going to be one more indicator of how, you know, we just can't trust each other.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER: Essentially, Susan, talking about Bernie Sanders there, but for -- there have been a lot of high profile Hillary Clinton sightings lately.

PAGE: Yes.

BAIER: And Ellen is one of them.

PAGE: So, the 2016 election, apparently not over yet. At least between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. You know, I think that Hillary Clinton wants to have a role voice. I don't think she thinks she's going to be the nominee.

But, you know, she won the popular vote last time around. She wants to continue to be a part of this conversation.

BAIER: Tom?

(CROSSTALK)

PAGE: I'm not sure every Democrat is going to be --

BEVAN: I was just going to say, I think a lot of Democrats who would just - - would wish that she would just kind of exit the stage because I don't think she's necessarily doing any favors trying to re-litigate the 2016 election.

BAIER: OK. We'll follow it. Panel, thank you. We'll see you later in the show. Up next, words of warning over China's expanding influence.

First, here's what some of our Fox affiliates around the country are covering tonight. Fox Five at New York as prosecutors in the Harvey Weinstein rape trial case rested their case.

Now, Weinstein's lawyers are presenting their defense. Weinstein maintains any sexual encounters were consensual.

KFOX 14 in El Paso as the government files hate crime charges against a man who said he was targeting Mexicans when he shot to death 22 people at a Walmart store last August. Patrick Crusius has pleaded not guilty to stay charges of capital murder.

And this is a live look at San Francisco from our affiliate Fox Two. One of the big stories there tonight. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration approves a company's request to deploy a self-driving vehicle that does not meet federal safety standards for human-driven cars and trucks.

The Silicon Valley robotics company will run a low-speed autonomous delivery vehicle with outside and rearview mirrors and other safety provisions required vehicles driven by humans.

That's tonight's live look, "OUTSIDE THE BELTWAY" from SPECIAL REPORT. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BAIER: China's president is declaring what he calls a people's war against the coronavirus. Here in the U.S., there are now a dozen confirmed cases with hundreds of Americans who have returned from China now in quarantine.

Tonight, correspondent Jonathan Serrie has the latest from Atlanta.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JONATHAN SERRIE, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is sending test kits to public health the governments around the country and internationally to speed up detection of the new coronavirus.

NASIA SAFDAR, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN HEALTH: Anyone who has a confirmed coronavirus, their close contacts need to be evaluated and monitored as appropriate.

SERRIE: There were now 12 confirmed cases in the U.S. The most recent, a Wisconsin traveler returning from China, now recovering in isolation at home.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has pledged up to $100 million to enhance international efforts to fight the outbreak.

In China, an infant born to an infected mother in Wuhan, tested positive for the virus, despite the hospital's efforts to immediately isolate the child.

Doctor, say other babies born to infected mothers have tested negative. So, further study is needed to determine whether the virus can spread from mother to child in the womb.

In Japan, health officials say, 20 passengers aboard a quarantine cruise ship more than Yokohama port have tested positive for the coronavirus including three Americans. And the State Department continues to evacuate U.S. travelers from Wuhan, bringing them to U.S. military bases for 14-day quarantines.

HENRY WALKE, DIRECTOR, DIVISION OF PREPAREDNESS AND EMERGING INFECTIONS: They're not being restricted to their rooms. We are asking them to have some social distancing more than six feet between family units.

SERRIE: Of 540 passengers already here, six were taken to hospitals for testing after developing fever or cough. Results are back for one child who tested negative for the virus.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SERRIE: A Chinese physician who got in trouble with authorities for sounding an early alarm on the outbreak reportedly acquired the virus from one of his patients. Today, the hospital treating him tells the Associated Press, Dr. Li Wenliang has died. Bret?

BAIER: Jonathan, thank you.

Well, the markets are shaking off the coronavirus scare. All three indices closed at record highs again. The Dow gaining 89 today. The S&P 500 finished ahead 11. The NASDAQ was up 63.

There are growing concerns tonight within the U.S. government about the expanding role of China on the world stage. The FBI director and the attorney general are both urging action even as the U.S. tries to improve trade relations with Beijing.

Correspondent David Spunt looks at the situation tonight.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there any -- anything that's out there that hasn't been through?

DAVID SPUNT, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: A Harvard University chemistry professor arrested last week and charged with lying about receiving millions of dollars from a recruitment program run by China's government. Just one of two dozen FBI arrests related to alleged Chinese espionage in the past year. Including a hospital researcher accused of trying to smuggle biological material.

U.S. officials again sounding the alarm that Beijing is trying to steal its way up the economic and scientific ladder.

WILLIAM BARR, ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES: The stakes for our country couldn't be higher. China wants the fruits of America's brainpower to harvest the seeds of its planned economic dominance.

SPUNT: The FBI says, it has more than 1,000 ongoing investigations involving China's attempted theft of American technology, which officials estimate is costing the economy $600 billion annually.

It involves top corporate firms, high tech startups in government and academia. Across the defense, medical, energy, and agricultural sectors, among others with cyber intrusions and recruiting of American insiders. All with the goal, says the Trump administration, of China becoming the global economic and political power by 2049. Some American business leaders urge caution and compromise.

CRAIG ALLEN, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES-CHINA BUSINESS COUNCIL: American companies if they're going to be global leaders, they must be in China, It's time to double down in our economic engagement with China, while carefully protecting America's national security.

SPUNT: China's government warns the latest American rhetoric threatens continuing economic cooperation.

GENG SHUANG, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY INFORMATION DEPARTMENT (through translation): I would like to admonish certain people in the U.S. that if they lock all the doors on the pretext of security, in the end, they will find themselves locked out of the world.

SPUNT: It's a delicate diplomatic and political strategy for the Trump administration. Push back on China's alleged economic threats, while still doing business with an Asian superpower.

TRUMP: For decades, China has taken advantage of the United States. But at the same time, we have perhaps the best relationship we've ever had with China.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SPUNT: Of particular concern to the U.S., China's efforts to dominate the next generation of high-speed wireless networks, 5G for example, the administration has been warning other nations, including Britain to be wary of Chinese tech firms.

Especially Huawei, because of cybersecurity concerns. Bret.

BAIER: David, thanks. The NASA astronaut who set a record for the longest ever space flight by a woman is back on solid ground tonight. Christina Koch spent nearly 11 months aboard the International Space Station. She ended her 328-day mission today, landing in Kazakhstan, along with two crewmates.

Koch, says the highlight was taking part in the first all-female spacewalk. A short time ago, President Trump tweeted out a congratulatory note, telling Koch she is an inspiration to young women.

Up next new ban on flavored e-cigarettes and whether it will curb abuse by teenagers, we'll bring you that story.

First, "BEYOND OUR BORDERS" tonight. A high-speed passenger train has derailed in northern Italy. Authorities say the motor car completely detached and slammed into a railroad building, killing two railway workers, injuring 27 people there.

Turkish rescue workers, aided by sniffer dogs scanned an avalanche field in eastern Turkey today. They're searching for a final missing person after two avalanches killed dozens of people. A media report says two more bodies were recovered today bringing the death toll from the two avalanches to 40.

Israeli forces killed two Palestinians in clashes in the occupied West Bank today. A third Palestinian was killed in Jerusalem after he opened fire at police. This occurred hours after a car-ramming attack elsewhere in the city, wounding 12 Israeli soldiers.

Just some of the other stories "BEYOND OUR BORDERS" tonight. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BAIER: Breaking tonight, moments ago the White House confirmed the death of the head of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, AQAP. The statement says President Trump authorized this counterterrorism operation in Yemen resulting in the death of Qasim al-Rimi. He was the deputy to Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.

A new ban on flavored e-cigarettes is in effect tonight. The idea is to stop the sale of some of the most popular products among teenagers. But correspondent Doug McKelway tells us tonight their appears to be no simple solution.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DOUG MCKELWAY, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: With the regulations taking effect today, the Trump administration is trying to strike a balance between steering teens away from vaping, allowing adults a regulated choice, while not destroying the multi-billion-dollar vaping industry.

TRUMP: We are talking about the age. We're talking about flavors. We're also talking about keeping people working.

MCKELWAY: The enforcement action bans the use of all closed container vaped cartridges with mint or fruity flavors that tend to be popular with teen. It leaves unrestricted those closed cartridges with menthol or tobacco flavorings and open tank vaping systems popular with adults. It comes a day after vaping industry executives were grilled by House Democrats who want wider bands put in place to stem the epidemic of youth vaping.

REP. DIANA DEGETTE (D-CO): Would you agree that nicotine could cause respiratory health issues, blood pressure, heart rate, and brain development issues?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As I said before, nicotine is addictive, and tobacco products can cause harm.

REP. FRANK PALLONE (D-NJ): I heard all of you over and over again say you were responsible men, men of integrity. That is not true. People who have integrity and are responsible don't sell products which after listening to Ms. DeGette's questions you admit make people sick.

MCKELWAY: South Carolina Republican Jeff Duncan countered by citing research from Europe where vaping is credited with helping people break the breaking habit.

REP. JEFF DUNCAN (R-SC): Clive Bates, former chief of the U.K. charity Action on Smoking and Health said this, you are terrifying people who are benefiting from vaping by not smoking.

MCKELWAY: An executive from Juul Labs, vaping's leading manufacturer, cited the broad consensus that vaping remains vastly safer than smoking.

K.C. CROSTHWAITE, JUUL LABS CEO: Public health authorities agree that it's not the nicotine but the burning of tobacco and smoke the causes disease and death.

MCKELWAY: In fact, 480,000 Americans die every year from smoking related causes compared to 60 deaths total from vaping.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCKELWAY: Many teens seem to be one step ahead of the feds by moving on to something new, fruit flavored disposable vapes. Disposables are not covered by today's ban. Bret?

BAIER: Doug, thanks.

President Trump appears to be trying to make things as difficult as possible for travelers from New York state in response to that state's openly defiant move against federal immigration enforcement. Correspondent Bryan Llenas has the story tonight from New York.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRYAN LLENAS, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is accusing President Trump of retaliating against New York state for its so- called sanctuary immigration policies which shield undocumented immigrants from deportation.

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): This is unbounded arrogance, disrespect of the rule of law, hyper-political government. And this is another form of extortion.

LLENAS: In a letter to New York State's Department of Motor Vehicles Wednesday, Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf announced that effective immediately all New York state residents will no longer be able to enroll or re-enroll in trusted traveler programs that expedite international travel. TSA Pre check is not affected.

Wolf says the move is a direct result of New York state's new greenlight law which allows undocumented immigrants to apply for driver's licenses. The law prevents federal immigration officials from accessing any DMV information without a court order. Wolf says ICE agents rely on DMV information for most of their arrests in New York, and without it, they can't do their jobs, like vet applicants for travel programs.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ICE uses that as they build cases and they are investigating criminal networks. They are using that personal data that they get from that database.

LLENAS: In his State of the Union, President Trump blamed New York City Sanctuary laws for the January rape and murder of a 92-year-old woman in Queens.

TRUMP: If the city has honored ICE's detainer request, his victim would still be alive today.

LLENAS: The suspect, 21-year-old Reeaz Khan, was arraigned Thursday.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LLENAS: Khan is in the U.S. illegally from Guyana. Six weeks before the murder he was arrested for assaulting his father but then released. Bret?

BAIER: Brian, thank you.

When we return, impeachment may be over, but the Democrats will probably go after this president again. We'll have the story.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BAIER: Not even President Trump thinks congressional Democrats are going to accept defeat in the impeachment saga. He said today, quote, "We'll probably have to do it again." And chief congressional correspondent Mike Emanuel tells us from Capitol Hill tonight it is a fact some Democrats are already plotting a return to the battlefield.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE EMANUEL, FOX NEWS CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: In the aftermath of President Trump's impeachment trial acquittal, some House Democrats are still talking about issuing subpoenas for people like former national security advisor John Bolton.

REP. MADELEINE DEAN (D-PA): I did talk with Chairman Nadler on my own yesterday. I believe we will be doing continuing oversight, including having Mr. Bolton in. I don't know the timeframe for that.

EMANUEL: House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff told FOX, quote, "We haven't made that decision yet." And the House speaker sounded very noncommittal when asked today about bringing in Bolton.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): We have some cases in court now, McGahn and taxes and that. And that will take time. Those cases still exist. If there are others that we see as an opportunity, we'll make a judgment at that time, but we have no plans right now.

EMANUEL: Guy Cecil, who heads a major Democratic super PAC, Priorities USA, warns "If Democrats want to win, we, and most portly our candidates for president, must increase our focus on the issues that affect voters' lives on a daily basis." A prominent House Democrat agrees.

REP. DEBBIE DINGELL (D-MI): What we really need to do now is to remember that the American people want to see us work for them. We've got to come together and work for them, and that's what I'm focused on.

EMANUEL: Following impeachment, some Republicans are signaling they intend to do some investigation of their own. Two powerful Senate chairman, Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson, want answers from Secret Service about Hunter Biden when he received protection. "We write to request information about whether Hunter Biden used government-sponsored travel to help conduct private business, to include his work for Rosemont Seneca and related entities in China and Ukraine." Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters some oversight will continue.

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): The investigations will go on. That's sort of Congress does. We have done it when we were in the majority and there was a Democratic president. They have done it. I wouldn't expect that to stop.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

EMANUEL: The painful reality for House Democrats and the speaker is after several high-profile investigations, including impeachment, it appears they have energized the president's base, and that may be why some prominent Democrats want to turn the page. Bret?

BAIER: Mike Emanuel live on the Hill. Mike, thanks.

When we return, the panel comes back on the president's comments about his impeachment acquittal and what comes next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I have done things wrong in my life, I will admit.

(LAUGHTER)

TRUMP: Not purposely, but I've done things wrong. But this is what the end result is.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: People think we are doing so well. They liked the State of the Union speech.

PELOSI: I tore up a manifesto of mistruths.

TRUMP: I don't like people who use their faith as justification for doing what they know is wrong.

PELOSI: He's talking about things that he knows little about, faith and prayer.

TRUMP: I doubt she prays that all.

PELOSI: He can say whatever he wants, but I do pray for him, and I do so sincerely and without anguish.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER: It was quite a ping-pong match rhetorically across Pennsylvania Avenue between Congress and the White House today.

We're back with the panel. The president's victory lap was unique. We hadn't seen anything like that in the East Room of the White House. His supporters, Byron, would say he's entitled to it because it's been a long haul and he feels justified to be able to say these are the people that stuck with me. These are the people who didn't.

BRYON YORK, CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, "WASHINGTON EXAMINER": After a big traumatic event, politicians sometimes say it's a time for healing and to bring the country together. This was not that, not anywhere close. But it was classic, classic Donald Trump. He extravagantly praised the members of Congress, House and Senate who had defended him so often either in Congress or on television. And he extravagantly criticized all the villains of the piece, Nancy Pelosi, Adam Schiff, and others.

And I think really the question that comes out of it is, is this show just going to continue? Will Democrats continue, and as Mike Emanuel was reporting, continue their investigations, more subpoenas, more this, all the way through the spring and the summer and into the campaign? Or will it actually turn to issues at some point?

BAIER: It seemed like Nancy Pelosi, Susan, was saying it is going to continue. She mentioned the Supreme Court decision on his taxes, the president's taxes, whether that can come out. She mentioned the court decision about whether the former White House Chief of Staff Don McGahn can testify, and we are hearing about possible subpoenas for John Bolton.

SUSAN PAGE, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, "USA TODAY": There's a lot of Democratic anger about losing on impeachment, although that was, of course, preordained from the start. I actually think there's a debate going on in the Democratic Party about exactly how to proceed, because Nancy Pelosi has been pretty focused on trying to pass legislation, much of it goes to the Senate and dies there, that affects people's lives, like the chant that you heard of the State of the Union of HR-3, which the prescription drug bill that the House has passed that's waiting in the Senate.

So I think Nancy Pelosi does have a sense that that's what they need to do in the next year. But Democrats are mad enough that it will not be possible, I think, to constrain them from continuing to do some oversight, and certainly to continue to pursue these court cases that are already in the works.

BAIER: But Susan, we saw the Senate majority leader say Nancy was right at the beginning before the September 24th moment where she said and launched the impeachment probe.

PAGE: And remember, she stood up against a lot of Democratic energy that wanted impeachment until the report of the phone call.

BAIER: Can she stand up again if it goes on that train -- that train starts to leave the tracks of investigation, we have enough, let's do it again?

BEVAN: That's a great question. I think her base, they still want a fight. And certainly, Donald Trump said, as he said today, that he's willing to fight them and beat them again. I don't think politically, though, I think this has been a debacle for the Democrats. I don't think it's helped them and I don't think they want to extend it. I think the cooler heads in the Democratic Party will take a look at this and say, look, this did not go the way he wanted it to.

And as Guy Cecil said, this is the irony is the Democratic candidates for president haven't really been talking about impeachment. They've been talking about issues, but they have struggled to get the message through because everybody inside this town, the media and the Democrats have been focused on impeachment for so long there's been that real disconnect.

BAIER: I think it's fascinating that Nancy Pelosi felt that she had to do the ripping of the speech to make a moment. She even pre-ripped the speech at the beginning. But when doing that, it seems that she doesn't get the payoff politically, and Donald Trump eventually ends up with a "W" even though it's not the way, people think, usually you get there.

YORK: Look, being not guilty is a win in this case, there's no doubt about it. And I think she looked worse than he did on State of the Union night because he did appear to shun a handshake, but this whole tearing thing was really quite extraordinary.

I think the most practical argument against impeachment was always that we are going to have an election in nine months. Two or three months from now, that argument will be actually far stronger, and at some point you can't just be impeaching on Election Day. Maybe I shouldn't say that, but I don't think you can. So at this point, that kind of thing is probably over.

BAIER: Meantime, Mitt Romney, here is Senator Scott and Lee on Mitt Romney.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TIM SCOTT (R-SC): I think it's always a dangerous place to be saying that God tells you to do something specific, especially when you have a lot of God-fearing people who are diametrically opposed your position.

SEN. MIKE LEE (R-UT): The evidence as presented didn't even come close to supporting an impeachable offense.

I don't see what he says on this, and I strongly disagree.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER: So obviously he's a lonely person in the Republican Party now, but he may have taken the independent baton away from Susan Collins, which could be a problem for her in Maine.

PAGE: It could, because he did the thing that a lot of independent voters in Maine wish Susan Collins had done. He also gave -- I think he also gave some protection for some of those conservative Democrats like Joe Manchin who might have considered voting to acquit the president on at least one count of impeachment. So I think he had actually a big effect.

You can disagree with where Mitt Romney came down on this, and every other Republican did. I think it is unseemly, though, to say he didn't do it for the reasons that he said. I think he's a man of faith. He talks about his faith. This is not the first time he's talked about the importance of his faith. And So I take him at his word that this was the reason that he came down where he came down even if you substantively disagree with him.

BAIER: Do you think that this victory lap, this speech, is the end of the retribution from the Trump White House to either Mitt Romney, or --

(LAUGHTER)

BEVAN: No. No. I like to call what happened today, it was a victory lap by Ricky Bobby. It was triumphant, it was funny at times, but it was all over the road. And Trump was doing doughnuts in the infield. It went on for a long time. In some ways it was the same as a rally. As Byron said, he managed to get it, praise all of his allies --

BAIER: What's the stat that you found at Real Clear Politics on the B.S.?

BEVAN: There is a tweet of the congressional record, and there were six mentions, six references to B.S. One was from a singer, one was from Kanye, and four of them were from Donald Trump.

BAIER: So he has the record so far.

BEVAN: He has the record.

BAIER: All right, panel, thank you so much.

When we come back, W.C. Fields said never work with animals or children. A TV reporter finds out why.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BAIER: Finally tonight, a reporter gets some unexpected input during her on-camera stand-up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He just bit my microphone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just stand still.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER: Yes, that happened. She's not sure about it. Australian reporter Sarah Cawte got quite a shock when a snake went after her microphone during a story on snake safety. She was not hurt, but she may be rethinking the story idea about great white sharks that she has planned.

Thanks for inviting us into your home tonight. That's it for this SPECIAL REPORT, fair, balanced. "The Story" by Martha MacCallum starts right now.

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