Bloomberg memo warns Sanders could be ‘impossible to stop’ unless rivals drop out

 This is a rush transcript from "Special Report," February 19, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

JESSE WATTERS, FOX NEWS CHANNEL HOST: Sorry, Emily. You're not the first or the last person to get big-footed by Geraldo.

EMILY COMPAGNO, FOX NEWS CHANNEL HOST: But just really quickly, we're so glad that Ryan Newman, NASCAR racer is out of the hospital. Prayers were answered. Prayers continue for him in his recovery.

WATTERS: Yes, we are. All right. "SPECIAL REPORT" is up next with Bret.

BRET BAIER, FOX NEWS CHANNEL ANCHOR: God, we got that in. Thanks, Jesse. Good evening. Welcome to Washington. I'm Bret Baier. Breaking tonight, we are covering two major stories.

First, anticipation for tonight's Democratic debate could turn into a rhetorical bare-knuckle brawl as former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg faces five other presidential candidates for the first time.

Meantime, Washington is trying to decipher the real relationship between the current president and his attorney general, and what that may mean with big events in coming days.

Chief White House Correspondent, John Roberts, starts us off tonight on the North Lawn with that. Good evening, John.

JOHN ROBERTS, FOX NEWS CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Bret, good evening to you. White House officials insist that the relationship between the president and Attorney General William Barr remains strong. And Barr does remain a strong ally of the president, but he appears to be increasingly compelled to tell the public that they don't see eye to eye on everything.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTS: Sources tell Fox News that Attorney General William Barr has considered quitting over the president's tweets, but DOJ officials making it clear he's not going anywhere at the moment.

Spokeswoman Kerri Kupec, tweeting, "Addressing beltway rumors: The attorney general has no plans to resign."

The disclosure that Barr was thinking about quitting is seen as another attempt by the attorney general to assert his independence in the face of ongoing criticism and calls for him to step down.

But his protestations about the president's tweeting have had little effect. President Trump continuing to weigh in on the Roger Stone case.

HOGAN GIDLEY, WHITE HOUSE PRINCIPAL DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY: There's a long precedent of presidents talking about various cases that are ongoing, as you well know. The president can make his opinion, know he has a right to do that and does so on a routine basis.

ROBERTS: Stone is scheduled to be sentenced tomorrow, though Federal District Judge Amy Berman Jackson will delay sending Stone to prison while she considers a motion for a retrial.

The man President Trump released from prison yesterday, Rod Blagojevich, met the media today. The Democratic former Governor of Illinois with nothing but praise for the president.

ROD BLAGOJEVICH, FORMER GOVERNOR OF ILLINOIS: But President Trump is not a typical politician.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's right.

BLAGOJEVICH: He's tough, he's outspoken. He gets things done. He's a problem solver in a business where too many politicians don't want to sell problems. I'm a Trumpocrat.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Trumpocrat, that's right.

ROBERTS: Criticism at the commutation was bipartisan. A group of five Republican members of Congress from Illinois, who had urged the president not to do it, saying in a joint statement, "Blagojevich is the face of public corruption in Illinois, and not once has he shown any remorse for his clear and documented record of egregious crimes that undermine the trust placed in him by voters."

Today, President Trump shed more light on why he freed Blagojevich from prison, pointing to former FBI Director James Comey. The president tweeting, Rod Blagojevich did not sell the Senate seat. He served eight years in prison, with many remaining. He paid a big price. Another Comey and gang deal."

And there were more Ukraine related personnel changes today. President Trump asking John Rood, the undersecretary of defense for policy for his resignation. Rood had certified back in May that Ukraine had done enough to fight corruption to become eligible to receive military aid from the U.S. Aid, the president later withheld.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTS: Sources tell Fox News that Rood was not held in particularly high regard by the White House and was seen as a possible impediment to implementing the president's agenda.

Still, the president thanked Rood for her service in a tweet earlier today. Bret.

BAIER: John, thank you.

It's fitting that tonight's debate between Democratic presidential contenders will be held in Las Vegas, home to many championship prizefights over the years. The late addition of Mike Bloomberg to the field could make tonight's contest a heavyweight bout.

What is certain is that the Bloomberg camp is taking Bernie Sanders very seriously. The real question is, who is the real target tonight? The billionaire accused of trying to buy the race or the Democratic socialist who is clearly leading it?

Correspondent Peter Doocy has our story from Las Vegas.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you.

PETER DOOCY, FOX NEWS GENERAL ASSIGNMENT REPORTER: All the money in the world might not be enough to beat Bernie. An internal Bloomberg campaign memo obtained by Fox, concludes that the bottom line is, "that if Biden, Buttigieg, and Klobuchar remain in the race, despite having no path to appreciably collecting delegates on Super Tuesday and beyond, they will propel Sanders to a seemingly insurmountable delegate lead."

Sanders is the national front runner in another new poll from the Washington Post and ABC News, hits 32 percent puts him up double digits on Joe Biden and Michael Bloomberg who lobbed this grenade today.

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Mike has what every public official should have. Passion match with principle. Your legacy extends well beyond the five boroughs.

DOOCY: Biden took the bait and quickly pushed back.

BIDEN: The truth is he's basically been a Republican his whole life. The fact of the matter is he didn't endorse Barack or me when we ran. This is a guy talking about, you know, he's using Barack's pictures like you know, they're good buddies. I'm going to talk about his record.

DOOCY: The field remains unsettled. But on the sidelines, failed Gubernatorial Candidate Stacey Abrams has changed her mind and is now open to being someone's running mate.

STACEY ABRAMS (D-GA), FORMER GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: Of course, I want it.

DOOCY: For the first time, Nevada Democrats can vote early in their caucus. There have been long lines and turnout is already more than half what it was in 2016 when locals only had one day to vote.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The reason why I actually came to early vote was because of what was happening in Iowa. I didn't want to be in a caucus.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We thought that early betting would be faster, probably worked out to be about the same.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was daunting, but we always vote and we always try and vote the first day.

DOOCY: A strong debate in New Hampshire helped Amy Klobuchar finished third there and as she tries to stand out in another debate, she is stressing, size matters.

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I love doing the president went after Michael Bloomberg, and the president said that Michael Bloomberg was 5"4'. And Michael Bloomberg is like, no, I'm not I'm taller than that.

I'm the only one that has a claim to be 5"4'. I want to be very clear.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DOOCY: Michael Bloomberg is the only Democrat who has been personally attacked by other top tier Democrats. They've referred to his record as racist. They have called him an egomaniac. They even called him a Republican. So, it does seem like tonight it's going to be all about Michael Bloomberg, even though he's not even on the ballot here in Nevada. Bret.

BAIER: Peter Doocy in the spin room. Peter, thanks. We'll have full coverage after the debate tonight on "FOX NEWS @ NIGHT".

Bloomberg's addition to the race means three of the Democrats' top candidates are either 77 or 78 years old, older than Ronald Reagan was when he left office after two terms.

We have new polling information tonight indicating that could be a problem for some voters. This evening, correspondent Doug McKelway, looks at presidential candidates and how old is too old? Plus, is their health a fair election question?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DOUG MCKELWAY, FOX NEWS CHANNEL CORRESPONDENT: It was a presidential debate one-liner for the ages.

RONALD REAGAN, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I am not going to exploit for political purposes. My opponents, youth and inexperience.

MCKELWAY: President Reagan was 73 at the time, running for a second term that quip helped to quiet growing doubts about his age and mental acuity. Fast forward to 2020, Bernie Sanders and Mike Bloomberg are 78, Joe Biden is 77, all older than Reagan in 1984.

An NBC poll released Tuesday found 53 percent of voters have reservations or are very uncomfortable with a candidate who's older than 75. Health is coming into sharper focus today as the Sanders and Bloomberg campaigns exchange barbs over which candidate is healthier.

Sanders' press secretary targeting the Bloomberg camp for what she calls unfair accusations, lobbying her own suspect claim over Bloomberg health issues.

BRIAHNA JOY GRAY, NATIONAL PRESS SECRETARY FOR BERNIE SANDERS: And it's really telling given that man have the same concern is being demonstrated for Michael Bloomberg, was the same age as Bernie Sanders who has suffered heart attacks in the past.

MCKELWAY: She later apologized on Twitter, "I misspoke when I said Bloomberg had a heart attack."

The Bloomberg campaign released a statement, saying Bloomberg did have two stents in 2000 after a stress test revealed blockages. His doctors described in last December as an outstanding health.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How are you feeling, Senator?

MCKELWAY: Sanders had a heart attack last October on the campaign trail, but kept it under wraps for days before revealing it. Last night, Sanders said he won't release any more medical records.

SANDERS: I don't -- I don't think we will know.

MCKELWAY: Joe Biden's doctor revealed in December, the 77-year-old has an irregularly irregular heartbeat. He takes cholesterol medication, his --

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCKELWAY: And then, there is Trump. He's a 73 years old, clearly sleeps little, and is a lover of fast food. Results of his 2019 physical exam showed the president was technically obese. But his Dr. stated that he was in very good health overall and that he expects the commander in chief to remain healthy, "for the remainder of his presidency and beyond." Bret.

BAIER: This will be a big issue. Doug, thanks.

The coronavirus death toll in China has now eclipsed 2,000. But officials insist the rate of infection is declining there with fewer cases being reported for two days in a row.

Also tonight, hundreds of passengers who've been quarantined on a cruise ship in Japan are one step closer to finally going home. Correspondent Jonathan Serrie has the latest tonight from the home of the CDC in Atlanta.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JONATHAN SERRIE, FOX NEWS CHANNEL CORRESPONDENT: Today, passengers began leaving the Diamond Princess after a 14-day quarantine in a Japanese port. However, American passengers received a letter from the embassy in Tokyo, informing them they will not be permitted back in the U.S. for an additional 14 days. Because despite efforts of quarantine there is a high risk of exposure to COVID-19.

More than 600 of the nearly 3,700 passengers and crew have already tested positive for the virus.

MICHAEL RYAN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: It will be very important to study this particular event and see what the issues have been -- have led to transmission to the people who been on that ship.

SERRIE: Earlier this week, the State Department evacuated more than 300 American passengers from the Diamond Princess to multiple quarantine sites in the U.S., including 14 passengers who had tested positive for the virus in Japan.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: It was the right call to bring them back because the situation on the vessel itself, there was a considerable amount of infection there.

SERRIE: As a precaution, evacuees from Japan are being kept separate from earlier groups evacuated from Wuhan, China. Yesterday, 346 evacuees from China were cleared to leave their quarantines at two California military bases.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm looking forward to see my baby boy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, maybe a beer and a hamburger.

SERRIE: Disease detectives are investigating another cruise ship, the Westerdam, which disembarked in Cambodia. An 83-year-old American passenger tested positive for COVID-19. After traveling on to Malaysia, where she's now hospitalized in stable condition.

Her 85-year-old husband insisted on staying by her bedside.

DZULKEFLY AHMAD, HEALTH MINISTER, MALAYSIA: His accompanying his wife.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But, he is at risk --

AHMAD: He is at risk, but he took his own risk here and we allowed for that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SERRIE: And today, Iranian media are reporting that COVID-19 has claimed the lives of two elderly citizens in that country. If this is confirmed, that would bring the total number of deaths outside China to five. Bret.

BAIER: Jonathan Serrie, live in Atlanta. Jonathan, thank you.

Easing fears over the coronavirus helped stocks today. The Dow gained 116, the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ jumped to record highs. The S&P finished ahead 16, the NASDAQ surged 84.

"BREAKING TONIGHT", Fox News can confirm President Trump will name his current ambassador to Germany Rick Grenell, as the new acting director of National Intelligence, which does not require Senate confirmation.

The sometimes outspoken Grenell has been a longtime Trump loyalist. Grenell would replace the current Acting Director Joseph Maguire and would be the first openly gay cabinet member.

The mother of a British teenager killed in a wrong way vehicle accident by the wife of an American diplomat is pleading for President Trump to, in her words, do the right thing.

Charlotte Charles is asking for the American driver to be extradited back to Great Britain. Correspondent Bryan Llenas has tonight's update.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHARLOTTE CHARLES, MOTHER OF HARRY DUNN: And was really hard not being able to talk to him before he died.

BRYAN LLENAS, FOX NEWS CHANNEL NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Nearly six months after her 19-year-old son Harry Dunn was hit and killed by an SUV driven by Anne Sacoolas, the wife of an American diplomat, Charlotte Charles is once again pleading for justice to be served.

What is your message for President Trump?

CHARLES: You have no idea how much a heart can break until you lose a child. So, she needs to go back to the U.K. President Trump is the one that can make that decision.

LLENAS: The U.S. State Department has denied the U.K.'s extradition request, calling it highly inappropriate, saying it would be setting an extraordinarily troubling precedent. Charlotte disagrees.

CHARLES: It doesn't matter to me what her job role was, or is, or who she was married to, or who she is employed by. She, unfortunately, took the life of our son.

LLENAS: In October, Charlotte pleaded with the president at the White House. And to her surprise, Sacoolas was in the room next door.

The woman responsible for your son's death.

CHARLES: Yes, and it was just an immediate no.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I offered to bring the person in question in, and they weren't ready for it.

LLENAS: Charlotte, says the U.K. needs to do more.

CHARLES: We're not going to go anywhere. This campaign will keep going.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LLENAS: U.K.'s Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised Parliament he would continue to seek Sacoolas's extradition. Her lawyer says Sacoolas is devastated and grieving over the tragic accident.

BAIER: We'll follow it. Bryan, thank you. Up next, the president's top diplomat meets with leaders of a key American ally in the Middle East. First, here's what some of our Fox affiliates around the country are covering tonight.

Fox 9 in the Twin Cities as officials in Becker keep a close eye on air quality there. Well, a fire at a recycling facility burns for a second straight day. Suppression efforts continue, but officials say will take several days to fully extinguish that fire.

WFXT in Boston as police in Cambridge are told not to arrest illegal immigrants driving without a license. It's part of a new law encouraging police to issue summons to unlicensed drivers instead of arresting them.

One city councilor says the policy keeps the undocumented immigrants, "out of the clutches of the Trump administration."

And this is a live look at Orlando from our affiliate Fox 35. One of the big stories there tonight, stock car driver Ryan Newman, walks out of the hospital with his daughters, following Monday's fiery crash at the Daytona 500.

On the final lap of that race, Newman's car spun into the wall, went airborne, was hit by another car, and ended up upside down on fire. It took a safety team nearly 20 minutes to remove Newman from that car. He is doing well tonight.

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

ANNOUNCER: This program is brought to you by Otezla. Learn more at otezla.com.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BAIER: A lawyer for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, says the Trump administration offered Assange a pardon if he agreed to say Russia was not involved in leaking Democratic National Committee e-mails during the 2016 presidential campaign.

White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham calls the claim absolutely and completely false.

Assange is being held at a British prison while fighting extradition to the U.S. on spying charges. He has an extradition hearing next week.

The Pentagon is releasing details about two recent maritime seizures of what it claims are Iranian produced weapons. The first took place, know in November, last November by the USS Forrest Sherman. The second was 10 days ago by the USS Normandy.

Central Command is saying that the U.S. has intercepted six such shipments with advanced Iranian weapons all heading to Yemen in the past five years. There is new information tonight linking Iran to an attack on Saudi oil fields and arming the Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Two reports say, a small instrument inside the drones that targeted the Saudi fields matches the type recovered in downed Iranian drones in Afghanistan and Iraq. The instrument is also found in weapons used by the Houthi militants.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is in Saudi Arabia tonight. He will talk about regional security, economics, and human rights with leaders of the kingdom. His visit comes as the Saudi government takes intense criticism back in the U.S.

Senior correspondent Mike Tobin reports tonight from our Middle East newsroom.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE TOBIN, FOX NEWS SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: As Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrives in Riyadh, he says he is certain to raise the case of Walid Fitaihi, a doctor from the Boston area who has dual citizenship with the U.S. and Saudi Arabia. Fitaihi was arrested in 2017 and has been held since without specific charges or a trial date.

MIKE POMPEO, UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF STATE: I'll bring up that issue and a wide range of human rights issues as well. Each of the visits I've had to the kingdom, during my time both as CIA director and as Secretary of State, we raise these important issues.

TOBIN: Fitaihi's arrest occurred during what was described as an anti- corruption crackdown, initiated by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Around 200 princes, businessmen, and ministers were detained in the Riyadh Ritz- Carlton, many were held for weeks, even months.

Fitaihi was later moved to a prison, south of the capital. His family claims the doctor was beaten, electrocuted, and subjected to other tortures. Ultimately, he was released from detention, but Fitaihi and his family are barred from leaving Saudi Arabia.

The crackdown reportedly served as a mechanism for Crown Prince bin Salman to silence his critics and consolidate his power. This is the same crown prince who was tarnished by the killing of a Washington Post journalist.

Jamal Khashoggi had been living in exile in writing about bin Salman's crackdowns in critics and activists. Saudi officials track Khashoggi to a consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, where he was killed and dismembered. Bin Salman has always denied connection to the murder, but cannot escape suspicion.

Two days of meetings with bin Salman, as well as King Salman are off to a bumpy start as a meeting this evening was abruptly canceled with no explanation.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TOBIN: The topics will not be limited to human rights. The U.S. and Saudi Arabia have a common concern in terms of regional security, in particular, tensions with Iran. Bret.

BAIER: Mike Tobin in our Middle East newsroom. Mike, thanks.

Up next, is Mike Bloomberg getting a pass about his wealth from the same people who condemned rich Republican candidates? We'll look at that.

First, "BEYOND OUR BORDERS" tonight. Domestic flights between Syria's two largest cities have resumed for the first time since 2012. A Syrian passenger jet landed in Aleppo today from Damascus.

It's seen as a symbolic move days after Syrian government forces consolidated control over the northwestern province of Aleppo and seize the last segments of the strategic highway linking the two cities.

Secretary of State Pompeo, promising $8 million to support East African nations fighting a massive locust outbreak.

Billions of locusts travel in swarms the size of major cities. It's said to be the worst such outbreak in 70 years. There are significant worries the insects will worsen an already dangerous food security situation in the region.

And surgeons at King's College Hospital in London have removed a brain tumor from a woman who played the violin during the procedure. Doctors for 53-year-old violinist Dagmar Turner, mapped her brain before the surgery to identify areas that were active when she played the instrument and those responsible for controlling language and movement.

Doctors then woke her during the procedure so she could play to ensure surgeons did not damage any crucial areas of the brain. Wow.

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BAIER: "DEMOCRACY 2020" now, it is debate night in Las Vegas. Six presidential contenders, Democrats will be on the stage. The newest entry, former -- there we go, New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg figures to have a target on his back.

Bloomberg has spent more than $400 million in a huge national advertising campaign and staffing up in Super Tuesday states while bypassing the first three primary season contests, including Saturdays Nevada caucuses.

Some believe the attention given Bloomberg's wealth is exposing a double standard compared to coverage of rich Republican candidates. Here is national correspondent William La Jeunesse.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HARRY REID, FORMER SENATOR OF NEVADA: The words out that he hasn't paid any taxes for 10 years.

WILLIAM LA JEUNESSE, FOX NEWS NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It was a defining issue with Mitt Romney in 2012. And candidate Trump in 2016.

HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: For 40 years, everyone running for president has released their tax returns.

LA JEUNESSE: Like President Trump, billionaire Michael Bloomberg has not released his tax returns.

LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR POLITICS, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: The Democratic Party for four years has criticized President Trump for not releasing his tax returns. Well, now they've got a candidate who won't release his tax returns.

MICHAEL BLOOMBERG (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have to raise taxes on the wealthy.

LA JEUNNESE: Taxing the wealthy is a big issue. Nevada's then-Senator Harry Reid helped make it one, when he accused without foundation, Mitt Romney of paying zero taxes.

REID: Let him prove that he has paid taxes because he hasn't.

MIKA BRZEZINSKI, CO-HOST, MORNING JOE, MSNBC: Mitt Romney can't seem to get out of his own way.

JOE SCARBOROUGH, HOST, MSNBC: No.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Especially, when it comes to looking like a rich guy who's out of touch.

LA JEUNESSE: Pundits maligned Romney's wealth. The Washington Post featured a calculator, so readers could compare the size of his home to theirs.

DAVID BROOKS, OP-ED EDITOR, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Several of his beach houses don't have elevator.

BRZEZINSKI: OK.

LA JEUNESSE: Bloomberg owns at least eight homes in New York, London, Bermuda, Florida, and Colorado. He not only failed to release his tax returns, but also a lengthy financial disclosure form required by the FEC, which gave Bloomberg an extension until March 20th, after 70 percent of Democratic voters will have already cast their primary ballots.

SABATO: The whole point is to get it in public so that you can prevent conflicts of interest. You can't prevent conflicts if you don't know what the conflicts are.

LA JEUNESSE: Romney eventually did release his tax returns prompting criticism, he used loopholes to pay an effective rate of 14 percent. President Trump continues to refuse, claiming his taxes are under audit.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LA JEUNESSE: The Bloomberg campaign said today it will release the billionaire's tax returns if elected, not before. It also said Bloomberg will sell his media company or put its holdings in a blind trust just as Romney did when he entered public office. Bret?

BAIER: William, thank you.

A federal appeals court says Florida cannot bar felons who served their time from registering to vote simply because they have failed to pay all fines and fees stemming from their cases. That ruling upholds a Tallahassee federal judge's preliminary injunction against the measure approved overwhelmingly by voters in 2018. Judges say the rule amounts to an unfair poll tax that would disenfranchise many of those felons.

There are growing concerns among Democrats tonight about the possibility that none of their presidential candidates will have enough delegates to secure the party's nomination outright at their convention this summer. That opens up the prospect of a contested convention, a brokered convention. Whatever you want to call it, it's potentially a mess. And it's much more of a reality tonight than it ever has been before. Correspondent David Spunt tells us what this all means.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS, (D-VT) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We are on a path to win the Democratic nomination.

JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It ain't over, man. We are just getting started.

(APPLAUSE)

DAVID SPUNT, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: With Bernie Sanders rising, Joe Biden falling, and Mike Bloomberg making a splash, this may be the year that no candidate has enough votes to seal the deal in Milwaukee.

BRAD WOODHOUSE, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I do think we can survive a brokered convention. I sure don't want one, though.

SPUNT: When a convention begins and no candidate has the majority of delegates, it's considered contested. A candidate needs to reach 1,991 delegates to win the nomination. If multiple candidates refuse to drop out and split the delegate count, reaching that threshold won't be easy.

WOODHOUSE: I have heard this story of a brokered convention almost every cycle that I've been involved in presidential politics.

SPUNT: Though not in recent memory, contested conventions were common before primaries came into play. In 1924, it took 16 days to choose a nominee, the longest convention in history.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The eyes of the whole world are upon this convention.

SPUNT: In 1948, Republicans cast multiple ballots, same story in 1952 for Democrats, 2016 was close for both parties.

SEN. TED CRUZ, (R) TEXAS: If that would happen, we will have a manifest revolt on our hands.

SPUNT: But this year we have the most candidates in history still in the race.

WOODHOUSE: I do think we will know a lot more about the potential for a brokered convention after Super Tuesday, because by then so many delegates will have been allocated.

SPUNT: A spokesman for the Democrat National Committee told FOX News in part, "There's often chatter about this when there's a primary and we have yet to see it happen in modern political history. Right now about two percent of delegates have been allocated."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SPUNT: When delegates get to the convention on the first ballot, they'll vote with their state. If it goes to a second ballot, all bets are off, and that may decide who will face President Trump in November. Bret? 

BAIER: Something to watch. David, thank you.

First Lady Melania Trump touted her Be Best program and the Trump administration's battle against the opioid crisis as she accepted the Woman of Distinction award from a Florida Christian college today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MELANIA TRUMP, U.S. FIRST LADY: Creating a safer and more healthy world for our children cannot be accomplished by just one person. It takes compassion and care from families, communities, schools, and places of worship, all coming together to give our children the very best future.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER: Misses Trump says the U.S. experienced its first drop in opioid deaths in three decades last year.

Mike Bloomberg takes the stage against five other Democratic presidential candidates tonight. We'll get predictions and analysis from the panel when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS, (D-VT) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Mr. Bloomberg has every right in the world to run for president of the United States, he's an American citizen. But I don't think he has the right to buy this election.

PETE BUTTIGIEG, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What else do you call it when you dip into your endless reserves of millions and billions and don't go through the process of campaigning in states like Nevada or Iowa or New Hampshire?

JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Truth is, he's basically been a Republican his whole life. The fact of the matter is he didn't endorse Barack or me when we ran.

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR, (D-MN) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Not everyone agrees with everything that is set on the Democratic debate stage.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER: So what happens on this Democratic debate stage in Las Vegas? Mike Bloomberg is on that stage taking a lot of incoming, will he, on the stage? Who knows? The president just wrapped up an event in Bakersfield, California, talking about water accessibility, and specifically about farmers. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This meeting, Kevin was just saying, was set up long before, Devin and Kevin set it up, long before we heard that Mini Mike hates the farmer, long before we learned about his hatred of the farmer, disrespect of the farmer. So I don't know. I don't think he is going to be the candidate anyway, to be honest with you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER: President Trump talking about, as he says, "Mini Mike" he calls Mayor Bloomberg, talking about previous comments he made about farming.

Let's bring in our panel, Steve Hayes, editor of "The Dispatch," Mollie Hemingway, senior editor at "The Federalist," and Michael Crowley, White House correspondent for "The New York Times." OK, Steve, it just seems that going into this debate that Mike Bloomberg seems to have the target on his back, whereas Bernie Sanders is leading this race exponentially. You look at the latest ABC/"Washington Post" national poll, he is up eight since January, that's a national poll. And the RCP average on national, Nevada, and South Carolina puts him within striking distance of Biden in South Carolina in recent polls.

STEVE HAYES, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: If you are a Democrat, this is not where you want your party going into these important debates and going into these important contests eventually into Super Tuesday. You have got two 78-year-old candidates, probably the leaders in the Democratic field, going after one another about their relative heart health at this point. That's not really the debate that you want to have. If you look at where Mike Bloomberg has spent so far, it's approaching $450 million through two contests which he didn't participate in.

BAIER: We've never seen anything like that.

HAYES: Never anything like that. For perspective, Hillary Clinton in her entire campaign in 2016 spent about $1.2 billion. Donald Trump won by spending roughly $650 million. So you've got Michael Bloomberg before he has been a candidate anywhere, before he has been on a ballot anywhere, having spent what is approaching what Donald Trump spent in the entire thing. So this is totally new territory.

I think Michael Bloomberg is likely to be the target of a lot of attacks tonight, which I think is sort of shortsighted. You can imagine why Democrats on the stage with him would want to go after him. He's new, he's a billionaire, he's a former Republican, he's not really from their party. So he presents an attractive target. But it's shortsighted because each one of those candidates wants to be the one left standing to take on Bernie Sanders, who is the strongest.

BAIER: And Mollie, it does not seem like any of those candidates in the moderate lane are ready to get off the highway. It seems like they are still driving, even though the prospects, as you keep going along here, get smaller and smaller for some of these campaigns.

MOLLIE HEMINGWAY, SENIOR EDITOR, "THE FEDERALIST": It does seem to be a perfect storm here where nobody has any incentive to get out at this point. It's still early, but I think it's also worth looking at how the Democratic Party itself led everybody to this situation. They had for a really long time clearly supported Joe Biden, the establishment pick. He was supposed to be doing really well. He was supposed to basically have things on his way to wrapping up by South Carolina. I think that people took their eyes off Bernie when he had his heart attack and they just assumed that he was going to be out of his race. He came back stronger than ever.

Elizabeth Warren was having her surge right at that time, so I think that also added to why people thought that it was going to be a time. Then for some reason the party puts forth this impeachment proceeding that ends three days before Iowa, utterly destroys Biden. So now everyone is glomming on to Bloomberg as this savior, and he's had to spend half a billion dollars to still say in the low teens in votes. This is kind of a disaster.

BAIER: Michael?

MICHAEL CROWLEY, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, "NEW YORK TIMES": What's so interesting about Bloomberg, there are certain parallels, to me, with Donald Trump. I think there are a lot of moderate centrist Democrats who see Bloomberg as a savior, but I think a lot of Democrats think this guy is coming in and hijacking our party the way a lot of Republicans felt about Trump. Where are his Democratic credentials? He's a former Republican. He has taken all sorts of positions that are anathema to party gospel, including -- I believe he compared the teachers unions to radicalism, in his words, of the NRA.

BAIER: I would assume some of these soundbites and some of these comments are coming up tonight. If I know Chuck Todd, he's going to bring some of --

CROWLEY: And look, remember, when we went into the Republican debates in 2016, everyone thought, boy, they are just going to let Donald Trump have it. He has said so many wild things. He has said so many things that break with Republican orthodoxy. And Trump did a pretty good job of, number, giving as good as he got. And I will be interested to see tonight whether Bloomberg is on his heels or hitting back and knocking his opponents off balance.

BAIER: Speaking of which, Bloomberg, March, 2019, talking about a Biden here, about Biden running for president, but take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, (D) FORMER NEW YORK MAYOR: To start a four-year job, maybe an eight-year job at age 79 may not be the smartest thing to do. Joe Biden went out and apologized for being male, over 50, white. He apologized for the one piece of legislation which is actually pretty good, anti-crime bill, which if the liberals ever read it, most of the things they would like is in that bill.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER: So Mike Bloomberg turns 79 February 14, 2021, and he's talking about the prospect of -- it is an issue, the age and the health. It may not be the issue they want to focus on, but it is an issue. If you've got two guys leading that potentially are older than Reagan was when he left office, that's a big deal.

HAYES: Yes. And we should know everything we can know about their health. This is why it's problematic for Bernie Sanders to have reversed himself now and suggested he's not going to put out his full medical records. I think we'll see this is a test of the proposition that Michael raised, and I agree with him. The question will be what is the tolerance among Democrats who are looking for an alternative to Bernie Sanders for this kind of rhetoric from Mike Bloomberg? Do they say, we are going to go with Bloomberg because we think he gives us the best chance to take Donald Trump and the swallow all of their concerns. I think that would be hard for a lot of progressives.

BAIER: Mollie, NBC/"Wall Street Journal" poll about having some reservations, or very uncomfortable with a candidate who is a socialist, had a heart attack in the last year, over the age of 75, self-fund's own campaign, under the age of 40. Bernie Sanders is one, two, three of the first five, Michael Bloomberg is the fourth, and Pete Buttigieg is the fifth.

HEMINGWAY: Sure. They have problems on all of these scores. It's also true, though, that people tend to make decisions on more personal thing then in the abstract, and Bernie Sanders is getting a lot of crowds.

I do want to say one quick thing about the comparison between Trump and Bloomberg. You hear people say they are both New York brash billionaires. I think the big difference is that Bloomberg seems to have the support of the establishment in his party and the media, whereas Trump had to fight against those things, but he had support of the people in taking on actual issues -- immigration, interventionist wars, trade deals. And with Mike Bloomberg, clearly the establishment is willing to make this deal hoping that he will be able to stop Bernie Sanders from getting enough of a plurality. Will the people be that way, though?

BAIER: It is amazing, if you think about it. Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders, Mike Bloomberg, this is the Bronx, Queens, and upper east side. We might as well just all move to Manhattan and just cover it there.

CROWLEY: At a moment when all this energy is on the west coast and the tech companies and the millennials are taking over the world, supposedly, it's a bunch of old white guys from the northeast. Nancy Pelosi, 80 years old, speaker of the House.

But I will just say one last thing, Bret, that 80 is kind of the new 70 or even 60.

(LAUGHTER)

CROWLEY: So we are having these conversations now. And people are living - - we laugh and it's funny, but also people are living longer, they are staying sharper, and so it's somewhat of an interesting commentary on how we are evolving as people, that --

BAIER: But just in context, all the uproar about President Trump's health and whether he was healthy or not, and now it's like are we going to get Bernie Sanders medical records?

HEMINGWAY: What do you need to know? He had a heart attack four months ago and he is 78. Do you really need to know more?

BAIER: I don't know, if you're a voter.

HEMINGWAY: You're either going to have a problem with that or you're not.

CROWLEY: But I think it's another way Trump is changing politics. It's the same way with Mike Bloomberg and his tax returns. There's less transparency. People are seeing what you can get away with. They release less because they see Trump isn't releasing things, and they think, well, why should I do it? And also, how much has he really been punished for it?

BAIER: We're going to talk about the debate and also the president right after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, (D) FORMER NEW YORK MAYOR: Obama did basically nothing. That administration did almost nothing.

JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Mike has what every public official should have -- passion matched with principal. The thing I like about Mike, it's not about words. It's always about action.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER: Two digital ads that launched today, Mike Bloomberg against Biden, Biden against Mike Bloomberg. Back with the panel. We're not talking a lot about Joe Biden, Steve. In part because of the fourth and the fifth, it's early in this contest, but can he make a rebound?

HAYES: It's early in this contest, but he came in as the prohibitive frontrunner with the greatest name i.d., the potential to raise the most money, and he faltered. And I think if you look at him on the debate stage or you see him out on the campaign trail, he looks like somebody who is not up for the job. That is not necessarily a statement about his age. He just looks like he can't be the guy to take on Donald Trump. I think that matters a lot to rank-and-file Democrats who see him, especially in these early states, you see him up close, you're in the room, you have a chance to ask him a question. He doesn't seem like a vigorous candidate to take on Donald Trump, and some of these others, I think, present an alternative.

BAIER: Michael, what level of urgency is the Democratic Party at right now with the state of this race? Is it four alarm, five-alarm fire? What kind of --

CROWLEY: How many alarms can we go up to? Whatever the maximum is, I think it's five. I think it's five. And it's because there are a couple different things going on. One is there are so many problems with the field and there are so many flaws with the candidates. And Bernie Sanders has a strong base but very strong opposition. Michael Bloomberg has strong support among a small minority right now in the party and a lot of people who can't tolerate him.

But then, on top of it all, you have a process that looks like it could stretch out for a really long time. You could have the field divided up. You could have nobody get a majority of delegates. This could go to the convention. Every time we head towards a convention, people say you are going to say you have a brokered convention, contest. And there are a lot of years where people say this is really the time and it's not. But it does seem like you have the stars aligning in a very plausible way right now. It's a nightmare scenario because Democrats feel like this is a national emergency. They just want to get Trump out at all costs, but they can't agree on how to do it.

BAIER: So you're saying there's a chance?

(LAUGHTER)

BAIER: I think as you move closer and closer, it really does seem that way. And all the time we have said this is going to go to a contested convention. This one seems like it could to.

HEMINGWAY: I always root for a contested convention, but this one really could. On the other hand, it's also true that there is someone who's doing a good job of being a frontrunner and who seems poised to do well heading into Super Tuesday who really, if he were anyone else, would be agreed by everyone was the presumptive nominee, and that is Bernie Sanders. It's just that the establishment is so opposed to him they just don't acknowledge that he won the most votes in Iowa, that he won the most votes in New Hampshire. And he is poised to do well in Nevada and South Carolina.

BAIER: The more they speak up about that as a group, the more his supporters come out in droves to support him to say to the establishment --

CROWLEY: Donald Trump is being very canny here. He is saying they are trying to take it away from you. He's messaging in a way that is further dividing the party, and I think it's what Bernie's supporters are on guard for is the establishment trying to rig this, and Trump is pressing that button. I don't think "rig" is the right word for it, but to the extent that the establishment is opposing Bernie, I think Trump is seeing that happening, calling it out, and his supporters, Bernie supporters are going to get --

BAIER: What about, quickly, these commutations and pardons? Does it take away from the President Trump's message that he had with Alice Johnson, Kim Kardashian's commutation, that he ran at the Super Bowl ad? Does it take away from that message?

HEMINGWAY: I'm not sure if it takes away. It's just that some of these commutations and pardons are going to people that people really do think deserve their full sentences. It's always controversial when presidents do these, and in fact President Trump is much further behind in commutations and pardons than his predecessors.

BAIER: Blagojevich on your side, you are happy or sad about that?

HAYES: I think he should probably still be in prison. He could have had a longer sentence.

BAIER: All right, panel, thank you. When we come back, some teamwork to do a good deed for an American hero tonight in Arizona.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BAIER: Finally tonight, a patriotic moment that happened just moments ago in Arizona.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CROWD: USA! USA! USA!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER: Look at this, a group of people made sure a veteran had a good seat for President Trump's rally in Phoenix tonight. Kari Lake from Fox 10 was at that event. She tweeted "Lots of teamwork here carrying a World War II veteran to his seat" and making sure, and the crowd chanting "USA" as they did that. How cool is that? It's pretty cool.

Thanks for inviting us into your home tonight. That's it for the SPECIAL REPORT. Fair, balanced and unafraid. "THE STORY," guest-hosted by Trace Gallagher starts right now.

Hey, Trace Gallagher.

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